7 Non-Creepy Uses for IP Cameras – A Few Ideas for Fall & Winter

The long, dark shadows of Fall are upon us. So to counteract the early nights and the cold days ahead, I thought we might do a quick list of non-creepy uses for IP cameras (or network cams).

I know that people immediately go to the dark side when they think IP cams. They fear big brother, peeping toms, traffic light systems, work surveillance, Vegas casino cams and the like. But it’s not all doom and gloom out there.

People are using networked cameras for a lot of interesting projects and day-to-day monitoring. So, without further adieu, here’s my current list of seven non-creepy uses for IP cameras.

1. Monitoring the birth of kittens, puppies, colts and more. A search of YouTube will turn up lots of these. Check it out. It’s great for breeders who are monitoring their business. But it’s also cool for recording births remotely – e.g. if the kids are at school or you’re at your office and don’t want to miss that magic moment.
2. Telecare. This is the term for monitoring and caring for the elderly or disabled remotely. For certain circumstances – like looking after people at risk of falling, or those with mild mental illnesses – it’s ideal. With the right camera and speaker/microphone set-up, people under care can live longer in their homes and avoid the disruption and distress associated with moving into a facility.
3. Time lapse photography. Again, check YouTube for this stuff. Here’s one where a guy placed the ip camera in various spots around his apartment. There are lots of possibilities for nature experiments, weather tracking and so forth. Your imagination is your only limit. IP cam software allows you to set frame captures that are spaced out over days and even weeks – so it’s easy to do.
4. Practical jokes. Ok this one can be creepy if played out in certain ways, but think of all the fun. You can set up pranks like those America’s Funniest Home Video scenarios where people put plastic wrap in hallways then record via IP camera. Here’s the standard kind that’s done with a regular digital camera. With an IP cam, however, you can be even sneakier. You can monitor it remotely, so there’s no set-up suspicion. You can record the event when motion is detected. And, you can mock the person remotely via speakers and microphone (The D-Link DCS-6620 cameras have this capability).
5. Baby Monitoring. This is the most well-known IP camera scenario. It’s just cute, loving, and exciting. Parents simply don’t want to miss those special developmental moments when they’re stuck at work or on the road.
6. Remote surprise parties. With IP cameras, you can pull friends that are out of the country or state into your surprise party plans. If there’s someone who can’t make it to your mom’s 60th birthday party, for example, why not plug in a low-cost IP cam and let them see the event live? A good IP camera offers much better image quality than usb-type web cams, too.
7. Solving mysteries.  These raccoons were caught feasting on farm feed with a low-light sensing IP cam. If you set the camera up to record only when motion is detected, you can solve a lot of these kinds of mysteries. You don’t have to be present to figure it out, of course. You can also use IP cameras to simply observe nature. This clip shows a bunch of different animals caught on an IP camera. The title of the post says it’s a Web cam, but it’s not. You’ll see the raccoons goofing around at the end of the clip, and they’re visible because of the low-light sensor on the camera.

Do you have any other good ideas/uses for network cameras? Please share here. I could try some out and post the results.

Now – back to the creepy season.

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