Remotely Watch Your Home Over the Web with a Wireless Mole
For a while, I was using a webcam and Orb software to spy on my cats while I was out. The solution worked well, but was fairly limited. And I got frustrated seeing all of the cat shenanigans in my home office — these two felines bat at each other like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots when we’re not around. Since my webcam is fixed, I really can’t see what’s going on off-camera though. When the Astak folks pinged me last week about their brand new $299 wireless Mole camera with tilt and pan, I said I’d be happy to take a look at a review unit.
The Mole arrived late last night, so I’ll have to put it through the paces for a few days yet. From a specification and features perspective, it sounds pretty impressive. Like many standard webcams, the resolution isn’t all that high — we’re talking QVGA and VGA at up to 30fps here. But, it’s a standalone camera so it doesn’t need to be tethered to a stationary computer. The Mole has integrated Wi-Fi so it works as long as there’s a wireless signal. And if you need to extend your viewing beyond your network, there’s an SD card slot to record what the Mole sees and hears. The Mole can also upload videos directly to YouTube which I’ll test, but I’m not sure I’d use that feature all too much.
As far as remote access, you can view the live stream from any Internet connection. Astak says that it even works on the iPhone, so I’ll have a look-see on my 3GS. Remote tilting and panning is also supported: the vertical tilt range is 120-degrees while the horizontal panning is a wide 270-degrees. 15 LED lights help the Mole see in the dark and there’s a motion sensor feature too. When the Mole detects movement, it can email or tweet. I see a number of good uses for the Mole, so I’ll get it set up and take a closer look. Kitties — you have been warned!
Setting up a quartet of these for a home surveillance system would be ideal, but at $299 a pop, I’m still keeping my wallet closed.
I’ve been watching this space for a while waiting to do just that… but 5 years later they are all still $300-350 a cam! Get them to $89 and I’m in.
Kevin … did you consider what would be the typical reaction of a cat to a moving tilting object in the house?
I would just speculate that you may not have a solid integrated object to return to these folks
Tal
Oh they’re easily scared by small, sudden movements. In fact, I just might move the camera to mess with them.
Ohh I want to hear about that please
Don’t forget giving us the followup story on that! please …
I’d say the LED lights would be the most disruptive to my cat. I’ve always wanted to spy on my cat to see what she does. She most likely sleeps most of the time, if I had to guess.
Those LEDS are IR they are for night illumination only