I’ve been playing around a lot with cameras and security apps to increase the physical security at my house. I found a couple cool ones out there and am in the process of testing them. I really like iSpy! It’s open source! You can configure any webcam, sec. camera, microphone to record using the program. You can also make your computer into a security camera server. The best part about iSpy Connector is that you can actually program the camera to work the way you want it to. For example, you can set up motion detection and the camera will automatically record when it senses movement. I also have it set up to beep every 2 seconds while it is detecting motion. You can set the microphones to pick up noises and record when something is heard at a volume that you can set.

I have also been playing with Manything. Which is an app for iPhone or iPod touch.

Note: This app is still in beta!

I still really testing this one but it works well if your not going to be gone for more than 5 hours (on a free account). With Manything you can essentially turn any iPhone/iPod Touch into a streaming security camera. I had an issue when the camera just shut off after about 5 1/2 hours but I think this maybe due to storage. On a free account you get 1 GB cloud storage. So I’m not sure if the app is just supposed to delete the old footage automatically or if that’s why it quit recording. Either way its still pretty cool. It has both motion and voice detection and it will show you on a small graph below the recording. That way you can easily go back to where motion/voice was detected and see what happened. The best part about this app is that you can stream the live video to any device that can reach the internet. All you have to do is sign in to the website. Very easy and user friendly.

UPDATE 10-30-13:

iSpy v.5.5.8.0 is having a strange issue with Windows 8.1. I can start the program one time and use all of the functionality. However, once I close the program I have to restart my computer to get iSpy to even open. Haven’t found a fix yet and this is still the most current version. I’m going to see if I can find some more information on it tonight but I have little hope until a new update comes out to fix this strange issue.