Back in Britain, when we lived in our cottage in the country, I had a basic security system setup. We did not have a security problem per se, I just wanted to learn a little about the processes required. The setup was relatively simple, I had a webcam trained on the door to the computer room, and when a new image did not match the previous image by more than a certain percentage, a 5 minute video was automatically recorded. The main reason for allowing a small change from image to image was that if the sun went behind a cloud, the resulting change in lighting would originally trigger the system. I also had the video feed served up by my PC, and I could check the live feed from my mobile phone, albeit at around 1 frame per 12 seconds. Although the whole home camera setup was very Heath Robinson-ish, it did teach me about several technologies simultaneously. As we lived out in the country, I didn’t have an ADSL connection back then, we ust had two phone lines. One was connected to the net at 49.2Kbps 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and so I could check how things looked at home day or night.

If you would like this sort of system, but professionally created, and therefore more reliable, or simply don’t want to go to the hassle of installing a full blown server on your home PC and learn how to write scripts, then HomeCamera.com have the perfect software for you. The best part of this information? The software is FREE! Thats right, as the software is still in Beta phase, customers can currently sign up and use the service without spending a penny. The fact that almost any device that connects to the net can access pictures streamed from your camera, or even video if your device and connection can handle the bandwidth required means that if you own a webcam and a mobile phone, you are ready to go.
The site itself is written in a refreshingly down to earth manner. The guys obviously know their techy stuff, to be able to put the system together, but the terms used are plain English, and even come down on the side of friendly chatter, rather than simply quoting capabilities and leaving you to figure out how you might use it yourself.
If you think you might be interested in trying this out, take a quick tour and see how it works.

This post was financially backed by HomeCamera.com - they specifically asked bloggers to provide an honest opinion though, so the words and sentiments above are all mine