Today is a combined Automation Monday and Doubleshot Tuesday Tips.  So, without further ado, here’s a small, but very useful automation tool for your home.

Home Security Made Easy
This week, I set up the webcam atop my HDTV as a security camera.  This was very simply accomplished via the software Yawcam (Windows only), and very easily monitored using Dropbox.  Yawcam gives you the ability to upload a picture on an interval to a file server, FTP a snapshot, allow seeing the image over HTTP to a web browser, stream the webcam in a web browser, and even allow for motion detection.

Since the file, FTP, and HTTP are more for simple viewing, I’ve turned those features off.  The streaming and motion detection are what make this software perfect for security.  The streaming can be received by the client browser either by Javascript refresh or Java Applet.  The motion detection has a lot of intuitive features including sensitivity and threshold where it can take action.  Yawcam can drop a snapshot in a folder when the threshold is reached and can also email the notification.  If you combine this functionality with Dropbox, you can get the pictures on your phone/computer from anywhere, and an email will let you know that your webcam has detected motion.  The scheduler for this app helps to make sure you don’t have unwanted pictures flowing into your Dropbox at hours when you may be home.

The only drawback is the inherent insecurity of the streaming server.  It has password security, but without any SSL certifying built in, which means no encryption.  To solve this issue, if you are brave enough, you will need to set up an SSH server to which you can log into and forward the port that the server is running on (research more on SSH port forwarding).  This will give you the desired encryption so that no one can eavesdrop on your home security cam.  For more on this automation idea head over to Yawcam’s site. [Yawcam]

Doubleshot Tips for Tuesday

  • Black Friday tip – look out for the good online deals.  Many start around the same time brick & mortar stores do, but from the convenience of your home.  Get online early and start clickin’! [Newegg]
  • Game console/Router tip – most routers these days come with Universal Plug and Play functionality which your game console needs to easily see past the router’s inherent firewall properties.  Make sure you can find the functionality on your router and activate it for faster gaming.