Witness for iPhone turns your Mac into a home alarm system
If you have $40 and a recent Mac with an iSight camera, then you have the makings of a simple home surveillance system thanks to Witness. Developed by Orbicule, Witness is a surveillance app that turns your Mac's camera into a motion sensor. The application runs in the background on your computer and will begin recording video or photos if motion is detected.
The system includes a free remote iOS app compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. When an intruder is detected, Witness will send a notification to your iOS device and your web browser if it is open. Photos and video captured by the Witness app are available online and can be viewed using a web browser or via the Witness Remote application.
While it is not as robust as a dedicated multi-camera home surveillance system, Witness is an inexpensive alternative that would work well in homes where the computer is located near the door or other routes of entry. Besides intruder detection, it can also be used to spy on others in your house or office, which is especially useful if you want to find out who is lifting all the pens from your desk or stealing the cookies from the cookie jar.
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If you have $40 and a recent Mac with an iSight camera, then you have the makings of a simple home surveillance system thanks to...
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check out iGotchr for $4.99
April 05 2011 at 1:31 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHi,
I'm Peter Schols from Orbicule, developer of Witness.
I wanted to clear up some misunderstandings:
* Witness is a server-based system. If a thief steals an iCam-enabled Mac, you'll lose all evidence. If a thief steals a Witness-enabled Mac, all mugshots and video will still be available in your account at witnessapp.com.
* Sure you can upload your iCam images / video to an online server, but this is not free either. Witness is indeed more expensive than iCam, but partly because of the advanced server-side infrastructure that backs Witness.
* Witness is a home alarm system that happens to take pictures and movies as evidence. iCam is a remote surveillance camera app that happens to have motion detection. Although there is convergence between both apps, their concept is entirely different. If you want to watch the dog or the pool while you are away, I'd definitely recommend iCam. If you want an effective alarm system that can help you and the police identify the thieves, Witness seems the best choice.
* Witness can be activated remotely, which is not possible with iCam. This means that if you forget to arm the alarm, you either have to drive back home or leave your home unprotected. With Witness, you just flip the switch on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, wherever you are. Or you login to your account from any computer, Mac or PC.
* With live streaming solutions, you'll waste time and money transferring and viewing hundreds of megabytes of meaningless live footage. With Witness, you'll only be informed when there is actually something interesting to watch.
I hope this clears up some differences between the approach both product take. Don't get me wrong, iCam is a great app. We just think Witness and iCam have their own strengths.
Peter Schols
Orbicule
(developer of Witness)
Pretty pricey for something that has little value, I think I will keep the security system at my home intact. There is also GoToCamera http://www.gotocamera.com that are designed to use any web camera even from old phones and netbooks and works with both Mac and PC, plus it is a lot cheaper than this.
April 02 2011 at 12:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYeah, this would work perfectly if they don't jack your computer...
April 02 2011 at 9:41 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyEven then, I think the pictures are stored remotely so it would work great in that case.
April 02 2011 at 10:48 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWith iCam, you can also set the images to store to a remote server, like DropBox, so that way, even if they steal your computer, you still have the images.
Also, the images are stored in a high enough quality to see everything clearly, yet small enough that you can take days without using up a lot of space.
I stored a week's worth of images in about 50 MB.
AirCam is $7.99 and I can see AND hear everything going on around my iSight enabled device live on my iPhone and iPad.
April 02 2011 at 12:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyiCam is $4.99 and also allows live audio via you Macs' internal or external iSight cameras.
April 02 2011 at 9:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAnother satisfied iCam user. It even allows you to watch up to 4 cameras at once. I use it to keep tabs on my doggie while I'm at work.
April 01 2011 at 7:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI second the iCam. Been using it quite a while, and it actually came in handy when my apartment was burglarized a while back. Made the detective's work quick and easy.
April 01 2011 at 10:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply+1 iCam. $5 == multi camera solution
April 01 2011 at 7:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyUp to 16 cameras from one or multiple computers or IP cams.
April 01 2011 at 7:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI'm using this app for more than a month and it's really amazing. Very simple to set up and to operate. Regarding the value, they could lower the price a little.
April 01 2011 at 6:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyReally? $40. Icam is like 4.99 and does the same thing..
April 01 2011 at 6:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYou're right. I've been using icam for a year. It works great for $5 and it sounds like this $40 app has same features. Why waste the money?
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