Eyes on You

It seems as though you can’t go anywhere without cameras tracking your every move. There are cameras on street intersections, in malls, and even in schools. This is more than enough to make a sane person more than a little wary about the big brother effect, and I am not referring to the T.V. program. The only place where you can seem to find peace is in the confines of your own home.
I am by no means a fan of the eye in the sky, but I do understand need in certain instances. Say that you are a parent and you told your child not to have friends over after school, but you are not sure if they obeyed you or not. If you are the jealous type and you have suspicions about your somewhat significant other. Lets’ say that you do not live in the best area, and you worry about your property when you go out of town. In all of these scenarios, it would be nice to have a few cameras around that are looking out for you while you are not home.
Well, you can have your very own private eye looking out for you when you are away, and it will not cost you an arm and a leg, or even a tank of gas. You can set up your own home monitoring system. The first thing that you will need is a computer; this is a technology column. Next, you will need a web camera. They can set you back $5 to $15 dollars. Finally, you will need a web camera broadcasting software. This software will allow you to record whatever your computers’ web camera sees. The images are downloaded to a file on your computer that you can review at your convenience. Web broadcasting software can average from free to the hundreds of dollars for the high end programs with all of the bells and whistles. I found some really nice and free, web broadcasting software at cnet.com. Cnet offers freeware and shareware software at reasonable price. When you open the page, look in the upper right hand corner for the downloads link. Once you have that link up, perform a search for web broadcasting software.
When you get the hang of it, you can see its real potential. If you have broadband internet connection like DSL or Cable, you can set the software settings so that it broadcasts live images of your house to a web page that only you have access to view. This way, whether you are across town or across the globe you can have a degree of peace of mind. If you really want to trick out you monitoring system, you can install wireless night vision cameras. You will be able to view your home 24 hours a day without running wires all over your house. Keep in mind that this will cost you more, but it is still cheaper than what home security companies will charge you.