Dropcam, the company that makes
WiFi cameras that let you stream live video of your home, is working on a
new product that can alert you when a person walks in front of your
camera.
Right now, Dropcams can
detect motion, but they can’t tell the difference between say, your dog
and your three-year-old toddler. This summer, the company will push a
software update that can tell the difference. In theory, it’ll help
reduce unnecessary alerts that get pushed to your phone. The obvious
goal here is to accurately alert you when an intruder enters your home.
Dropcam cameras let you stream live video to your iPhone, iPad,
computer, or Android device. You can also pay $10 per month or $99 per
year for an extra service that continuously records the last seven days
of video. The new people detection feature will only be available to
customers who pay for the recording service too. Dropcam cameras start
at $149. The best model, the Dropcam Pro, costs $199.
All of the processing for
Dropcam’s people detection is done in the cloud, so users won’t have to
buy any new equipment. Greg Duffy, the CEO of Dropcam, told Business
Insider that the company was able to teach its software the difference
between people and other objects by analyzing the feeds of people who
publicly broadcast their Dropcam feeds.
Dropcam also announced today its first accessory for its camera,
called Dropcam Tabs. Tabs are $29 rectangular devices about the size of
a stick of gum that can talk to your Dropcam using Bluetooth and detect
motion or presence. For example, you can put a Tab on your front door
so your Dropcam knows when you enter the house. Tabs will go on sale
this summer.
Dropcam is one of the buzziest hardware startups at the moment. Last year, the famous Internet analyst Mary Meeker mentioned Dropcam in her presentation on the state of the web,
saying that user-uploaded video is one of the next big things. In fact,
Meeker said Dropcam users upload more video to the Web than YouTube
users.
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