VoIP & Gadget News – Home Surveillance using Dropbox Catches Possible Thief in the Act

I’ve been meaning to test out my home surveillance recipe which combines a standard webcam, Dropbox (hosted backup solution), iPhone & iPad mobile Dropbox app, and the free Yet Another Webcam Software (Yawcam). I went to Cape Cod last week and hired a pet sitter to watch our family’s dog (Jessie) and cat (Boaz), which offered a perfect opportunity to test out my “poor man’s home surveillance” setup. What I found happening in my house while on my vacation shocked me!

But first, my home surveillance recipe:
Setup and install Dropbox (comes with 2GB free). If you use this link, I get 250MB more storage.
Create two folders within the main Dropbox folder. One called ‘homeimages’ for motion detection pictures and another called ‘homeimages30s’ for capturing a snapshot every 30 seconds.
Download the free Yawcam software
Launch Yawcam and it’ll look something like this:
Click ‘Settings’, ‘Output’, ‘File’ and Browse to your Dropbox ‘homeimages30s’ folder as shown here:

For the filename format use something like this:
C:UserstkeatingDropboxhomeimages30s{date}-{tstamp}.jpg
Next, click ‘Window’, ‘Motion Detection’, ‘Actions’.
Check the box for ‘Save File’ and click ‘Settings’ next to it.
Within ‘Settings’ you want the quality to be around 85%.

I set mine to snap 5 images with a 1000ms (1 second) interval. You can also activate the flood control. For the filename (‘Save file:’) use my example for the filename format:
C:UserstkeatingDropboxhomeimagesmotion_{date}_{tstamp}_{tstampMS}.jpg
This timestamps each photo with the date and time.
Enable the Motion detection by clicking the ‘enable’ button next to ‘Motion’. You’re done! Go check out the Dropbox folder and see if photos are being dropped there.
(optionally) Configure HTTP (web) access and streaming. They are pretty straightforward and use ports 8888 and 8081 respectively. You just have to configure your firewall to forward these ports accordingly.
The beauty of Yawcam is that its live streaming feature uses a JavaScript applet that works on the iPhone & iPad using Safari! No special software required – it’s simply leveraging MJPEG (motion JPEG). Here’s a screenshot of me viewing a live stream of my downstairs family room: (exact URL erased for security reasons)

The livestream video frames per second was decent – anywhere from 2-10fps when viewed from a browser (iPhone, PC browser, etc.). Just to have motion video surveillance via my iPhone and iPad made this a win-win solution. But wait, it gets better!

Another reason why I set this up was so our family could check in on our pets, which often greet us by the garage door & adjacent back door. First, I should mention that we specifically told our pet sitter that the downstairs family room, which includes two computers, various gadgets, and a large flat screen TV, was off limits. So the only photos the camera should capture of the pet sitter is her coming in the back door, as well as her walking into an adjacent room to the family room where she needs to change the litter box. I had no intentions of “spying” on our pet sitter, but certainly would like to make sure no one is touching my stuff, which includes our digital media (home videos, photos) as well as financial data.

Well at around 11:30pm I decided to peruse the Dropbox photos from my iPad. I was missing my dog Jessie and was hoping to see some photos of her. Indeed I did…

Jessie sniffing something on coffee table.

Jessie thinking about getting on the couch. Don’t do it! You’ve been specially trained only to get on the couch when invited!

Bad dog! You’re not supposed to be on the couch uninvited!

Sleeping Boaz (cat) pops his head up to look at Jessie. Jessie makes herself comfortable.

Boat wants to cuddle with Jessie. Jessie, not so much. Jessie leaps off.

Ok, at this point, I think my DIY home surveillance system is great. I get to see my pets, saw them interacting, caught my dog acting a bit mischievous, and laughed when I saw Boaz cause Jessie to give up her spot on the couch. But wait, what’s this I see? I swipe the iPad to view the next photo…

I’ve pixelated and blurred the identity of this stranger in my house. Note how he is holding my wireless keyboard.

Our new pet sitter is female and yet here I am sitting in Cape Cod, 3.5 hours from my house and I see a male stranger typing on my wireless keyboard hooked up to my HTPC. Who the heck is this guy? Do I call the police?

Continue reading Home Surveillance using Dropbox Catches Possible Thief in the Act…

Tags: camera, cape cod, dropbox, home surveillance, ipad, iphone, streaming video, surveillance, webcam
Related tags: dropbox homeimages, motion detection, click settings, surveillance recipe, users tkeating, dropbox