The Giz Wiz, Week of December 10th, 2013 Netcast 1446

I love my Dropcams, and I love my new Dropcam Pro even more.

I have one on my boat and it’s a great way for me to give a quick look no matter when I am, to make sure everything is okay. And I have two Dropcams in my Gizneyland studio. I turn them on when we record The Giz Wiz, so folks can see ‘backstage’. And now there’s a completely reengineered Dropcam, called Dropcam Pro. This next-generation camera incorporates a six-element, all-glass lens, a first in the home monitoring category, and a larger image sensor to provide 2x sharper video during the day and 7x better performance in low-light conditions and at night. Dropcam Pro supports an amazing 130-degree field of view – 20% wider than the prior-generation Dropcam. And it now offers pinch-to-zoom with an enhance feature that supports up to 8x zoom for Dropcam Pro and 4x zoom for Dropcam.  A new microphone offers double the sampling rate and a new speaker for sound that’s louder and clearer. And for iOS folks, there’s mobile setup so you can set it up without a computer. (iPhone 4S or later, iPad 3rd generation or later, and iPad mini). Dropcam Pro supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks for improved wireless connectivity. And in beta is Activity Recognition. Using advanced computer vision and machine learning technology, Dropcam Cloud Recording can now recognize motion patterns in your video stream and group together like activities. Customers can name these activities and customize alerts for them. Bluetooth LE. Dropcam Pro integrates a low power Bluetooth LE radio that is used for mobile setup and allows Dropcam to integrate with additional devices. Greg Duffy, Dropcam CEO and co-founder should be proud of his latest ‘baby’.  Dropcam Pro and Dropcam include full 720p streaming, motion and sound activity alerts, night vision, two-way talk, and pinch-to-zoom. With the optional Cloud Video Recording service, customers can access stored footage for the past seven or thirty days. It’s still an indoor camera system, so keep that in mind when you’re installing it. Dropcam Pro retails for $199 while the Dropcam (formerly Dropcam HD) continues at $149. Live video monitoring is always free, but there’s Optional Cloud Video Recording. CVR plans are $9.95/month for seven days of continuous recording, $29.95/month for thirty days. Discounts are available for annual subscriptions and multiple cameras.

www.dropcam.com

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