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Undertoad · 06-26-2014, 03:34 AM

I lied, I've been here in Derby all week. Someone should have noticed from my posting times. Do you think I'd be awake at 4:30 in the Ante fucking Meridiam if it weren't required for my continuing employment? I just didn't want to say until I'm due home, because you people would ransack my shithole rental and steal all my string. I know you.

But it's not really necessary. For fun, I set up a cheap burglar alarm. I have an expensive one that the landlord pays for, but that won't show me who has broken in. Here’s another idea.

I have a Logitech webcam, and it has a motion detection setup where it will start recording to a file when it detects motion.

I configured it to save these videos to my Google Drive.

Then I used this page:

http://www.jellybend.com/2012/12/19/...e-apps-script/

...to set up a Google Docs spreadsheet to monitor the folder where these videos are saved. (Why a spreadsheet: Google has put a nice system of notifications where you can be notified of changes to a spreadsheet. Some clever dude hacked it to include changes to any top-level folder on your Google Drive.)

Bottom line: anything moving in my rooms is recorded, and I am sent an email of the videos.

This is good not just for burglars and ne’er-do-wells, but if there is a roof leak worse than the current one, and infrastructure tumbles or something. Of course if there’s a tornado, the FIOS link and electricity will probably be off before the damage is done. Battery backups are for the real alarm system.

But the down side:

I've been sent 44 videos so far. Whenever the sun goes behind clouds, it changes the image enough for the software to believe there is motion.

06-26-2014, 03:34 AM	#67
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	I lied, I've been here in Derby all week. Someone should have noticed from my posting times. Do you think I'd be awake at 4:30 in the Ante fucking Meridiam if it weren't required for my continuing employment? I just didn't want to say until I'm due home, because you people would ransack my shithole rental and steal all my string. I know you. But it's not really necessary. For fun, I set up a cheap burglar alarm. I have an expensive one that the landlord pays for, but that won't show me who has broken in. Here’s another idea. I have a Logitech webcam, and it has a motion detection setup where it will start recording to a file when it detects motion. I configured it to save these videos to my Google Drive. Then I used this page: http://www.jellybend.com/2012/12/19/...e-apps-script/ ...to set up a Google Docs spreadsheet to monitor the folder where these videos are saved. (Why a spreadsheet: Google has put a nice system of notifications where you can be notified of changes to a spreadsheet. Some clever dude hacked it to include changes to any top-level folder on your Google Drive.) Bottom line: anything moving in my rooms is recorded, and I am sent an email of the videos. This is good not just for burglars and ne’er-do-wells, but if there is a roof leak worse than the current one, and infrastructure tumbles or something. Of course if there’s a tornado, the FIOS link and electricity will probably be off before the damage is done. Battery backups are for the real alarm system. But the down side: I've been sent 44 videos so far. Whenever the sun goes behind clouds, it changes the image enough for the software to believe there is motion.