Canary helps the internet of things take on home security

4 hours ago Jul. 22, 2013 - 3:00 AM PDT

One of the most popular reasons for connecting your home has been to monitor it. People have been placing Dropcams in their houses as well as downloading apps such as the People Power Presence app that turns an old iPad or iPhone into a camera. As far back as 2003 I was visiting startups that tried to use a houses broadband access as a window into the home when the owner was away.

So of course, the latest crop of connected gizmos would target the home security market. Canary, a 6-inch by 3-inch device is just the latest of these to launch. The company behind the product is based in New York City and put the Canary on Indiegogo Monday hoping to score customers and some money. The $199 device (early birds get it for $149) sits inside a room and has sensors that track motion, acceleration and sound. It also has an HD camera with night vision and a wide-angle lens.

Its portable, requiring only the sensor-laden device and a hub that plugs into your wireless router, so renters can partake of this particular connected experience, unlike the Nest or some of the locks that require homeowners to possibly modify their domiciles and break their leases.

The idea is that people plop the Canary in a main room and the devices detects anomalies. When something happens that isnt accounted for under its algorithms, it notifies you. Heres where CEO and Co-founder Adam Sager throws out all the stats about the high cost and low usage rate of home security systems like those from big home security firms such as ADT. However, in viewing this product its less about security as a way to prevent harm, and more about security in the sense that you know whats going on in your house.

For example, this is a nifty product for those wanting to know if someone entered their house while they were on vacation, but less aimed at those who view a security system as something to scare away an intruder or protect people inside a home. Sager says that ability is coming, with an ability to hook in the system to a call center, but thats not the priority today.

It will compete with plenty of other options on the market, from hacked-together Dropcam systems to security-focused projects such as Scout, Alertlyand others that are sure to launch in the coming months. I know it is early days, but I feel like so far the internet of things has given us a variety of connected devices that are logging lots of data and giving us many alerts, but arent taking the next steps to prompt or generate action.

Im eager for the next phase when we start using this data to drive people to take action, whether its my Jawbone Up trying to change my behavior through suggestions, or my home security systems detecting trouble and notifying someone even if the notification is just to all of my other connected devices to defend my home like the furniture in Disneys Beauty in the Beast fended off the invaders.

And now, with the image of a Sphero rolling under a robbers feet and my Ecobee thermostat suddenly blasting him with hot air fresh in my mind, Im off to find a connected killer robot.

Subscriber Content

Go here to read the rest:
Canary helps the internet of things take on home security