The Arlo Home Security Camera is a palm-size battery-operated wireless camera. Dong Ngo

Netgear has just announced an addition to the home security space -- the $350 Arlo Smart Home Security Camera Kit, available January 2015 on Arlo.com and later in Q1 2015 in the UK and Australia. (No international pricing information is available yet, but the US price converts to 220 or AU$410; final prices are likely to vary quite a bit.)

Although pricey -- you have to buy the entire kit before adding any stand-alone Arlo hardware, similar to Philips' Hue and Hue Lux starter packs -- the Arlo kit does include two cameras and a hub. And its unique features promise to bring something new to DIY home security.

Unlike other DIY home security cameras we've covered, the Arlo cameras are battery-powered, claim to deliver 720p image quality (although you'll be able to adjust the resolution down, as needed), are rated for both indoor and outdoor use and offer 24/7 live streaming. That makes these little cameras, which are "smaller than a bar of soap," according to Netgear, pretty darn intriguing.

You get 200MB of Netgear-provided cloud storage free with each Arlo kit. To make that possible and to preserve battery life, Arlo uses very high video compression and transmits data to the hub at the speed of 1.5Mbps, the upload speed of most home residential Internet connections. During a Netgear demo event for Arlo, the video quality looked quite good.

The hub itself connects to an existing home network via an Ethernet connection. It also comes with two USB ports but currently there's no option to store recorded video locally. Each hub supports up to 15 Arlo cameras and uses a customized low-power version of the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard with a top speed of just 6Mbps. The Wi-Fi range, however, remains the same, at up to 150 feet.

The Arlo Home Security Camera Kit includes two cameras and one hub. Dong Ngo

The indoor-only Homeboy camera I recently reviewed has a rechargeable battery that's supposed to last for three months on a single charge. To achieve this long-battery-life feat, the team employed its own low-power Wi-Fi tech, a meager 640x480-pixel resolution and did away with live-steaming capabilities altogether.

Given that, it's pretty surprising that Netgear claims its Arlo cameras can last for up to 6 months. The camera does host up to 4 CR123 batteries (regular and rechargeable ) though it only needs two to operate. Netgear bases its battery life claims around the idea that you will only view the camera for about 4 minutes a day. Obviously the battery life will go down with longer usage.

In addition to these features, Netgear's new security kit comes with a Web app, a free mobile app for Android, iOS and Kindle users and 200MB of free cloud video storage. This gives you the opportunity to view live streaming and recorded video clips, receive alerts and change your settings. You can enable email and app alerts, arm and disarm each camera's motion sensors and view up to four cameras at a time -- additional cameras are available for $170 (110, AU$200) a pop.

Read the original post:
Netgear's new 720p security cameras can handle the elements

Form Devices

2014 has seen a veritable glut of security-minded gadgets on crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, all of them looking to add some sort of sensor tech into your living room. One of the latest examples is Point, an app-enabled smoke detector with additional sensors capable of monitoring things like temperature spikes, humidity levels, and unusual noises.

Point's low-key design promises "a softer take on home security," and at a Kickstarter price of $79 (50, AU$92, converted roughly), it costs considerably less than competing all-in-one sensor units like Piper or Canary. The obvious tradeoff is that you aren't getting a built-in camera -- though Point's team paints this as a positive, claiming that surveillance devices ultimately compromise the sort of relaxed atmosphere you want when you're at home.

Form Devices

The camera-less design puts Point more in line with devices like the Quirky Spotter and Nest Protect, neither of which seem adequate as standalone security gadgets, and don't market themselves as such. To set itself apart, Point promises a robust smartphone app with fully customizable alerts. Along with the usual push notifications, Point can sound an alarm during an emergency, or glow a specific color to provide a more subtle alert when it detects something like cigarette smoke, or a TV turned up too loud late at night.

In addition, Point is promising IFTTT compatibility, which should open the door for useful integrations with other smart home devices, including Philips Hue LEDs, Belkin WeMo Switches, and SmartThings. For what it's worth, Point's also claiming to work with Lockitron to offer remote control over your deadbolt -- though most of that gadget's initial backers still haven't received their devices.

Form Devices

With so many new security options out there, it'll be interesting to see whether or not Point's approach can pull away from the pack. As of writing this, the Kickstarter campaign looks to be well on its way to a successful finish, but we'll reserve final judgment of the product's merits until at least July 2015, when units are expected to begin shipping out.

Read the original post:
Subtle home security from a single Point

Cocoon

There are plenty of microphone-equipped DIY security cameras, but only some actively listen for ambient noise and alert you when it's detected -- and even fewer are equipped with specialty sound sensors.

But Cocoon, a cute little home security camera that recently kicked off an Indiegogo campaign, has a feature called "Subsound Technology."

Basically, this is Cocoon's way of saying that it can pick up on infrasound -- sound so low in frequency that the human ear can't typically hear it. This level of audio detection can travel beyond physical sound barriers so Cocoon can supposedly sniff out something fishy even if it's in a different room or more impressively, on another floor. That also means that you might not need multiple Cocoons (even in a larger home), since it's designed to cover more ground than a traditional sound sensor.

Think of Cocoon as a guard dog (dogs are known for their ability to hear ultrasound, or sound frequencies above 20,000 Hz, while infrasound is below 20 Hz but you get the idea); one that can send you a push notification and an email whenever something seems amiss. And of course, it can also detect run-of-the-mill sound frequencies too.

Cocoon

So how does Cocoon limit its superhuman hearing to true security threats? Supposedly, it takes those ambient sounds from your environment and notes their custom audio signature. Similar to a fingerprint, these sound signatures allow Cocoon to differentiate between, say, a door opening when you aren't home and wind turbines near your property.

This "built-in machine learning" is designed to adapt to your routine and zero in on anything that falls outside of the norm. That's definitely intriguing, but even the most predictable schedule gets off track sometimes. It's a good thing that Cocoon relies on geofencing to know whether you're home or not -- that way you know that it won't be triggering the alarm when you call in sick, forget something and run back home mid-day or otherwise deviate from your regular routine.

This Wi-Fi-enabled device can do a lot more that listen, though. The camera has a wide angle, night vision and an HD resolution, and it's also outfitted with a siren, a speaker, a motion sensor and a temperature sensor.

Cocoon's recently-launched Indiegogo campaign is already closing in on its $100,000 funding goal. The first two contribution levels that get you a Cocoon unit -- $179 and $249 -- sold out fast, but you can still snag one for $299 (converted, that's about 187 or AU$348). Units ship to the US, the UK and Europe for free, but a fee applies for shipping elsewhere. Cocoons are scheduled to reach backers by the end of 2015.

More here:
One Cocoon can keep your whole house safe

Image: Mashable Composite

By Emily Siegel2014-11-05 16:10:50 UTC

When planning a vacation, our minds fill with images of sandy beaches and rain-drizzled, cobblestone European streets not of the look on our miniature schnauzers face when he realizes the house is being burgled.

With more than two million homes burgled in the United States each year, its important to protect yourself from incursions especially during times your house is left unattended. Below is a list of the top tips and tricks to ward off criminals, so that your travels go off without a hitch.

Its important to keep tabs on your home, even when traveling to the far reaches of the world. The easiest way to do so is by installing security cameras. Most modern cameras are equipped with night vision and motion sensors, and can be synced with your mobile device or tablet.

The other way to check in on your house is to either ask a friend to do so or to program your computers built-in webcam to act as a security camera. There are several apps on the market that enable users to access their web camera from afar so that you wont miss anything at your home.

It's important to consider that simple surveillance may not be enough in the event of a break-in it's one thing to watch your home being raided, and another to ensure that swift action is taken in a worst-case-scenario situation. There really is no comparison to installing a professional security system to keep an eye on your home. Watching the place yourself can be time-consuming and can detract from your vacation. It also doesn't allow for quick reactions should you notice anything amiss. Consider a professional home monitoring system, and let the experts take care of any home security breaches in the event of an incident.

An abandoned home makes for an obvious target, so do your best to make it look like someone is at home. There are several ways to keep up the facade: Have your mail stopped, keep up with the yard work and shovel the snow. Have a neighbor park their cars in your driveway. You can also ask someone to take your garbage bins out on collection day no one needs to know that they're empty.

Another obvious trick is to automate specific electronics in your home, such as programming your lights or a stereo to switch on a certain time. The flurry of activity will make your house looked lived in. A low-cost, energy efficient way of doing this is with a push light. Switch on the battery-powered light before you leave, and let it glow throughout the duration of your trip. Smart plugs also offer the ability to control your lamps remotely.

See original here:
5 home security tips for frequent travelers

By Neil J. Rubenking

Got antivirus? If not, stop reading this article and go install an antivirus utility. There are plenty to choose from, and some, like Avast Free Antivirus 2015, are completely free. With this edition, Avast adds a network protection scan that finds any problems with your home router's security. I'm a big fan of this network scan, but the product's central antivirus protection is just average.

The user interface hasn't changed much since last year. Oh, the colors are slightly different, but it still features four big panels for fast access to your favorite security components and a line of buttons down the left side to access everything else.

Out of the box, the four quick-access panels link to Browser Cleanup, Home Network Security, Software Update, and SecureLine VPN. A menu link in each panel lets you change that panel's association to any of 13 security components. I would recommend swapping in one of the system-scan choices.

Scan Choices In addition to the expected scan for malware, Avast offers three other security-related scans. It can check your installed programs for missing security patches, analyze your router's settings to flag security problems, and check for performance issues. Clicking Smart Scan runs all four scans in sequence. That's handy! I'll go into more detail about the additional scans later on.

A full scan of my standard test system took 32 minutes, just a little above the current average of 27 minutes. With some products, a repeat scan runs extremely quickly. Trend Micro Antivirus+ 2015, for example, managed a second scan in less than a minute. Avast's repeat scan still took 23 minutes, but that's some improvement.

Real-time Protection For some antivirus products, the minimal file access that occurs when Windows Explorer displays the filename is sufficient to trigger real-time protection. Avast waits until just before a program executes to run a real-time scan. In testing, it wiped out almost 80 percent of my malware samples immediately on launch.

Avast detected most of the remaining samples at some point as they attempted to install and run. In a couple of cases, it activated a powerful analysis tool called DeepScan. Avast also invoked DeepScan to make sure that a couple of my malware-testing programs weren't themselves malicious.

In one case, fortunately the last sample I tested, Avast requested a boot time scan for complete cleanup. That scan took almost an hour, and required my attention every so often to make decisions about the disposition of particular malware traces. You can launch a boot time scan at will, if you suspect the regular scan has missed something.

See the rest here:
Avast Free Antivirus 2015

TUSCALOOSA COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - Experts say homeowners may accidentally be making their homes more inviting to thieves. So we turned to a former burglar to find out how to thief proof your home.

From landscaping to lighting, wooden doors to window blinds, the choices you make at home could mean the difference between a thief targeting your house -- or skipping it altogether.

"I'm always concerned about crime," said Porsche Stevens.

Andre Guy-Reed spent years living a life of crime, but now he is out to help others.

After looking at Stevens' house he had plenty of concerns. He points out windows without bars, a fence blocking the view of the backyard and a lack of dead bolts as major concerns.

"You can take a butter knife and get in with that right there," says Guy-Reed while looking at a lock on Stevens' door.

He says, exterior doors should have a cylinder lock as well as a deadbolt. Also, make sure your doors are solid not hollow.

For added protection, install a metal screen door or hurricane door with break-proof glass. Pastor Guy also points to proper lighting and landscaping.

"You would put a motion light with something that makes noise," said Guy-Reed.

In flower beds, choose wood chip mulch or gravel that makes noise when it's stepped on. Plant bushes beneath windows but keep them trimmed.

Continued here:
Ex-burglar shares home security tips to thief-proof your house

Whats better, dispatching the cops after a burglar breaks into your home? Or convincing the criminal that your place just isnt a desirable target? The BeOn Burglar Deterrent promises to do the latter in a minimally intrusive way.

Like a Nest thermostat, BeOns smart LED light bulbs will quietly learn your patterns. When you leave the house, use a smartphone app to set the bulbs to away mode, and theyll automatically turn on following similar patterns (although each day will be somewhat unique). If someone rings the doorbell while youre away, the bulbs will automatically turn on in a sequence that suggests youre walking from another part of the house toward the door. In either situation, a burglar casing your home will get the impression that the house is occupied and will likely beat a hasty retreat.

BeOn launched a Kickstarter campaign today to bring its product to market. The company expects to deliver its bulbs to backers in April 2015 if it can raise $100,000 by December 19. Yeah, we get tired of these crowd-funding campaigns, too. We do our best to cover only the most compelling projects, and this one fits that description.

The yellow part of the bulb is a plug-in module. This design allows BeOn to develop new modules with different functions, so you can add features without throwing away the rest of the bulb.

We think people want products that solve problems, versus investing in platforms, BeOn CEO Alexei Erchak told me during a quick demo last week. We wanted to approach home security the way the experts do, in layers. But we didnt want to be just another video camera, or a motion sensor, or an alarm. Once an alarm sounds, the break-in has already happened; the emotional trauma is already there. The best home security starts before the break-in. So we embraced an unloved spacethe security deterrent.

Erchak said his team also wanted to avoid over-reliance on the smartphone. BeOn has an app, but the only thing he thinks youll use it for is to put the light bulbs into away mode. The app, still in development, might also have an optional reminder that alerts you to arm the lights once youre out of Bluetooth range, but Erchak didnt seem to like the idea. We want to get away from the phone as much as possible, he said.

BeOn bulbs operate just like normal incandescent light bulbs, but theyre outfitted with a Bluetooth Low Energy module; a microphone that listens for your doorbell, your smoke detector, and your carbon-monoxide alarm; and a battery backup that can turn the light on even in the absence of AC power.

The smoke detector/CO alarm use case could be a lifesaver if youre home when a fire breaks out or your gas appliances malfunction, turning on lights to guide you out of the house to safety (something the otherwise-excellent Leeo Smart Alert Nightlight can't do).

The battery backup is both a safety feature and a crime deterrent. A burglar faced with a neighborhood of darkened homes would never pick the one thats all lit up.

BeOn bulbs are available in two configurations: Standard (they look just like a normal incandescent bulb) and Recessed (these look more like floodlights and are designed to be installed in ceiling cans).

Read the original post:
BeOn Burglar Deterrent uses smart LED light bulbs to deter home break-ins

Theres currentlyno shortage of smart security devices for your home, due tothe ascendancy of the smart home market as a whole, coupled with a hardware renaissance driven bythe rise of crowdfunding. Theseconsumer home security devices usually consist simply of an Internet-connected camera of sorts, combined with motion detection and a supporting cloud service and smartphone app to ping you when a potential intruder is detected. Debuting on IndieGoGo today, however, is Cocoon, which adds infrasound into the mix.

By listening to infrasonic sound waves sound below 20Hz, which is undetectable to the human ear combined with machine learning, the device claims to be able to monitor an entire home, including detecting intruders through closed doors and in rooms in the home other than the one where the Cocoon is situated. Should the technology stand up, this potentially solves the shortcomings of most camera/motion detection-based smart home security systems, which are either limited to a single room or require the setting up of zones using multiple devices.

We believe that traditional home security doesnt work. Most people in the UK/U.S. dont have a home alarm system because its expensive and complicated. Those that do, find that they forget to set their alarm or are worried about false alarms disturbing their neighbours or receiving call-out charges from the police, Dan Conlon, co-founder of Cocoon, tells TechCrunch.

We believe that there is a smarter, more accessible way to deliver home security. Our SUBSOUND technology allows a user to protect a typical home with a single, simple device whilst machine learning algorithms learn what is normal for your home to reduce false alarms. Smartphone alerts deliver actionable information to you enabling you to take meaningful action. Were putting people at the heart of home security.

In addition to its infrasonic sound sensor, the Cocoon device packs a traditional motion sensor, microphone and HD camera with night vision and wide angle lens. The idea is that, should unusual activity be detected, youre pinged on your smartphone and can stream live audio and video to check out the scene for yourselves. The accompanying Cocoon smartphone app will use geofencing to enable Cocoon to know if any household members are home so as to eliminate false positives. The device also claims to be pet friendly so that a dog or cat wont set the thing off a loud alarm can optionally be emitted to help disturb an intruder.

On the issue of whether or not a single Cocoon can really listen to and protect an entire house a claim we should treat with a little scepticism, since this is pre-funded and pre-launch the UK startup had this to say:

When any wave fits through a gap it will spread out a bit. The greater the wavelength, the more it will spread out. Because the ripples or waves of air pressure changes Cocoon monitors are of very low frequency they spread out a lot allowing them to travel a long way around a building, even though the tiniest of gaps.

Cocoon is packed full of high quality sensors that it uses to detect these ripples which it converts into digital signals. Each action is different and creates it own digital signature, like a fingerprint, that Cocoon uses to build profiles and determine whether activity is normal.

The company says it has several working prototypes already being beta tested in the wild, and that its raising on IndieGoGo to gauge consumer demand and fund a first production run. However, the Cocoon device wont ship to early backers until Q4 next year. Yes, you could wait an entire year or more before getting your hands on the unproven device. Thats one of the perils of crowdfunding, perhaps at its extreme in this case. Or maybe, unlike more naive hardware startups, the Cocoon team are actually being realistic though the smart home security space could look a lot different in a years time.

To that end, Cocoons British founders have a very respectable track record, including a number of successful exits. Conlon most recently founded cloud storage service Humyo, which sold for $18 million to Trend Micro in 2010. Prior to that he started web host Donhost while still in high school and sold it for $11 million in 2005. Meanwhile, Sanjay Parekh was previously CEO of Webexpenses, which sold in 2012, and Cocoons other co-founders, Colin Richardson, Nick Gregory and John Berthels, have held various roles at Humyo and Trend Micro.

Read the original post:
Cocoon Is A Smart Home Security Device That Uses Infrasonic Sound To Detect An Intruder

The Internet-connected home is arriving faster than you think -- offering conveniences but also new security perils with every smart device you bring inside. Here's how to protect yourself.

Internet-connected home devices like the Nest thermostat promise a new world of convenience -- and new security risks, too. James Martin/CNET

There's a good chance you'll soon have to worry about your house getting hacked.

Everything from door locks and ovens to thermostats and refrigerators are being connected to the Internet to make them "smart," giving you the ability to control or reset these household stalwarts through an app on your smartphone or tablet. You can turn on the heater so you don't have to enter a cold house, unlock the front door for kids or guests who have arrived early, or peruse video from cameras in your living room to see what the cat is doing.

Companies big and small are investing heavily in what's loosely referred to as the Internet of Things, a catch-all term for the technology that makes all the parts of this connected new world work. In fact, researcher IDC expects the market for Internet-connected devices to top $7 trillion within the next six years.

But for every technology step forward, there's nearly always a step back. With the Internet of Things, the very act of giving previously "dumb" appliances intelligence opens the door to new security risks.

Why should you be on guard? Consider that, as a whole, Fortune 500 companies spend about $80 billion a year on Internet security. Yet hackers breach many of these companies' networks.

Devices and networks for the home must be secured against intruders just like those used by a business.

But for many Internet of Things makers, these considerations are often afterthoughts. A case in point: Security researcher Paul Vixie found the quality assurance budget at General Motors was about $50 per car, but a paltry $5 per unit for a cable modem that enables Internet connectivity.

Security snafus wrought by smart-home devices made headlines earlier this year. One firm claimed it found an Internet-connected refrigerator transformed into a spambot, surreptitiously sending out junk email without the owner's knowledge. More ominous and unnerving: Someone tapped into a baby monitor's security camera to verbally harass an infant.

Follow this link:
Lock your doors: Protecting your Internet-connected home

Ive never been all that interested in home surveillance. At my house Ive slept well for years with an old-fashioned burglar alarm and a deadbolt, and despite my love of all things electronic, spy cams have always seems a bit too Scarface for my humble abode.

That is, until someone tried to break in. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and nothing was stolenmy low-tech solution worked well and scared the would-be intruders awaybut as I watched the cops fruitlessly dust for prints on my busted door and unscrewed porch light, I suddenly saw the benefit of a cloud camera. If I could have accessed my video feed from the night of the incident, I might have been able to see who was trying to get in and give the cops a solid lead.

So after a few sleepless nights, I decided to do some research. Even if I never used it as a crime-fighting tool, I figured an extra level of security would at least give me back some of the peace of mind I had lost.

Home security has become something of a cottage industry in our app-connected, always-on world, and the landscape is teeming with cameras that all promise to keep a close eye on your family. Even some baby monitors can do double-duty as a security cam once the little ones grow up, so narrowing the list is a monumental task. But for my purposes, I at least knew where to start.

Dropcam Pro is pretty much the gold standard, but it's starting to get some stiff competition.

You dont need to be a security expert to know the name Dropcam. The original Wi-Fi video recorder was the first to make surveillance simple, and there arent many bad things to say about it. Our own review praised its video quality and image enhancement features, and you can feel its quality as soon as you take it out of the box. Setup is an absolute breeze, and I was literally up and running in seconds, watching crisp, reliable video feeds with wide angles and vivid colors, and enjoying seamless, lag-free streams. In short, its a remarkable little camera.

Since most people probably dont want to obsessively monitor every alert that comes in, the real benefit of the Dropcam model is automatic cloud storage. It can get a little priceyto store a weeks worth of video costs $99 a year, and 30 days of footage will set you back $299but its an indispensable part of the process. Otherwise, youd just have a high-tech burglar deterrent, not a real tool for tracking down crooks.

Quite frankly, I could have stopped my search right here and adequately filled my needs, but since this was about the safety and security of my family, and I wanted to make sure I was buying the very best. So I pitted the $199 Dropcam Pro up against three of its closest competitors: Simplicam, HomeMonitor HD and Belkin NetCam HD.

Much like the iPhone, Dropcams svelte, teardrop look has inspired a generation of similarly designed cameras. HomeMonitor ($200) is different. Housed in a small white square, it looks something like a sawed-off walkie-talkie, right down to the small antennae protruding out of the top. Setup wasnt complicated, but not as simple as Dropcams. Along the way I was required to plug in a supplied Ethernet cable (a necessary step for either wired or wireless connections) and manually enter the cameras 12-digit ID number, which seemed more annoying after zipping through Dropcams near-automatic process.

HomeMonitor comes with an optional stand, not shown here.

Continued here:
HomeMonitor, Simplicam, and Netcam HD: Can any of them beat Dropcam?