Security camera streaming

You likely have a bundle of old cell phones or tablets hanging around, or can get your hands on some.

So here’s a little bonus streaming idea: Set one up as a security camera, and beam the goings-on of your household to wherever you happen to be. It may take a bit of creative mounting and wiring to put them in place, though the Dockem mobile wall mount ($15) may be all that you need. The software side of things is actually remarkably easy; grab IP Webcam (Android, free) or iVideon (iOS, free) from your device’s app store, run the app, point the phone’s camera at the thing you want to watch, and install the appropriate client on your PC. VLC’s stream capture function is enough for IP Webcam, while iVideon asks for its own server, downloadable from ivideon.com/get/.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg, though. With multiple mobilecameras, standard webcams — which you could hook up to any old streaming box with little overhead — or dedicated IP cameras, you can set up multiple simultaneous streams to a multi-cam server, such as the aforementioned iVideon or iSpy ( ispyconnect.com). iSpy records footage to a hard drive, triggers itself with customisable levels of motion detection, and even alerts you to intrusions with a private video uploaded to YouTube. A subscription (from $10 per month) gets you access to your security camera network online, although there’s nothing to stop you getting a little creative; why not stream your local cam server online using something like TeamViewer, for instance? It’s absolutely less convenient, but a darn sight cheaper. Alternatively, you could always revert to iVideon, which gets you online access with limited features on its free plan, or more if you want to expand your coverage for a fee.