This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dropcam for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have a lot of stuff. I would like to keep most of it.
Dropcam is an easy way to help me do that.
I have never owned a car. As a result of this life choice I have–on occasion–found myself possessed with disposable income other folks in my situation and tax bracket might not also enjoy. A wiser ant would have likely stowed this extra money away for a rainy day, but I am a happy-go-lucky caterpillar and have instead chosen to largely waste it on frivolous junk.
Now most of this junk has no value beyond what it means to me, but there are–amongst the odd action figures, DVDs and vintage movie posters–a few items that are actually worth $. I have house insurance, so I could probably get them replaced were I to be robbed, but I know plenty of folks who have gone through a messy rathole of bureaucracy in order to reclaim what they were due, so if it’s possible for me to avoid that then I’ll be a a happy clam.
Barring the installation of a security system that would likely cost more than what I’m securing, I decided to go with a nice (much more affordable) option–the Dropcam Pro Wi-Fi camera. It literally takes just a minute to set up and is a great deal for anyone who doesn’t want to take their eyes off the prize, but absolutely has to–because of life and stuff.
Once removed from the package, all I had to do was plug the camera into a nearby power source via its USB adapter and set it up by using the Dropcam app on my iPad, which allows you to access your feed wherever you are. Within a minute, I could see the following on my screen:
Using the app, I was not only able to see what was happening in front of the camera in real time (even if it was dark–thanks to its night-vision capabilities), but also review footage saved via the Dropcam cloud service. (This feature allows you to have access to a continuous record of whatever you are filming whenever you need it.) Best of all, I could set-up the app to alert me with a message every time the camera sensed movement. And when it did, I could zoom 8x into the image to pick up clear details of whatever caused the disturbance.
Wanting to test this feature, I decided to move the camera around to various spots in my house. I started in the guest room, where my cat–Oliver–frequently likes to nap. As I sat at work, my phone and iPad alerted me a dozen times over the course of the day as he went back and forth to his favourite spot.
I had more fun playing with all the different sneaky spots I could stash the camera and quickly discovered that “Overhead Security Camera” is the least flattering angle from which I can be photographed. Nothing but eye level for this guy from now on!
The app allows you to set up multiple cameras and watch them all in realtime. This is incredibly useful and allows you to view multiple locations from wherever you happen to be at any given time. You can keep track of your home and your work space and anything else you deem worthy of the attention 24/7/365 so long as you have Internet access. Now that’s home security! The app allows you to set up multiple cameras and watch them all in realtime.
The Dropcam has a microphone, so you can also hear what is going on in whatever you are recording and the app also allows you to communicate through the camera from wherever you are–giving you the ability to immediately inform whoever you see that you can see them doing it. This allows you the opportunity to enjoy clear two-communication–no matter how far you happen to be from the other person.
Not everyone needs a full-time security force for their protection, but Dropcam is an affordable way to instantly secure some sweet peace o’mind. It works right out of the box and can pretty much go wherever you need it. If you’re lucky it’ll only ever be used to take very handsome pictures of yourself like this:
But just in case something DOES happen that really sucks, Dropcam home monitor will let you know about it instantly AND provide all the evidence you need later on.
Sure Oliver may soon start humming a certain famous Rockwell tune (which would be weird because he’s a cat and doesn’t possess the requisite vocal cords), but that’s a small price to pay now that I know that the junk that means so much to me is that much safer than it was before.