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Imaging Smart Home

Koova security camera does everything but chase intruders away

In the United Kingdom and many points beyond, cameras are everywhere. With smartphones, security cameras and the increasing presence of the Internet of Things, they’re being crammed into everywhere else at a fraction of the cost they previously were.

Cue Amaryllo International and their Koova, the device it’s claiming to be the world’s smallest auto-tracking camera. The company sees its low-cost Koova being used in home, garage, office and small business situations. The sleek looking cylindrically shaped device is Wi-Fi connected, boasting HD quality and 8GB of onboard memory.

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Imaging Smart Home

Remocam looks over a human family, controls its own device family

Once upon a time, the idea of a camera ready to capture anything in a home would have sounded like something out of 1984, But the past few years have seen no shortage of connected indoor security cameras that allow for surveillance of those unwelcome in a home or ways to check up on those who are welcome.

Remocam looks a bit like a levitating black golf ball. It includes night vision capabilities, takes a unique approach to the security cam market, going beyond watching to doing. Some of this is handled by the camera itself, which includes a speaker for, say, singing your baby to sleep remotely  But to take full advantage of the system, users will need to buy in to the company’s eclectic collection of smart home gadgets that include mainstream outlet adapters and bulbs, but also an automatic pet feeder called RemoPet. The latter is at least aggressively priced. The company seeks $50,000 in its Indiegogo Flexible Funding campaign. The basic Remocam is $199, a $50 discount off the expected retail price.

Remocam represents a middle ground between simple cameras and cameras loaded with home security sensors such as the Oomi Hub. That system also works with its own family of devices, but can also tap in to any Z-Wave device. Both systems have a great opportunity to take advantage of a larger family of devices in the connected home.

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Automotive Cell Phone Accessories Imaging Video

RV Rear View Camera streams video to keep trailer towers safe on the road

Those who travel the world in the front seat of a car attached to trailers are an admirable bunch. Most people would agree the amount of freedom they have is enviable but like all good things in the world, it comes at a cost. Having a long trailer attached to the back of any vehicle automatically makes it much harder to drive, and actions as basic as changing lanes or braking suddenly become much more dangerous.

The RV Rear View Camera system allows users to attach an Internet protocol camera, or IP camera, to a trailer’s rear window. Once attached, video is streamed to an iPhone mounted on the dash of the vehicle doing all the heavy lifting. This alleviates the blindspots created by towing an RV around and offers an increased sense of security to those traveling.

Unfortunately, those with Android devices are out of luck although those are in the works. For now, only iPhones 5 and 6 work with the $400 system. The product is expected to ship in January 2015 with a successful campaign of $10,500.