How to Choose the Right Webcam Surveillance Software?

Many people want to have some kind of spy equipment for better home security. However, besides wireless spy cameras, VCR or DVR systems, there is also special software used to control those surveillance gadgets.

Large companies use professional security systems along with already built in (embedded digital video recorder or PC based DVR soft) spy camera control software. But what about smaller guys? Do you also have to spend thousands of dollars for professional spy security system and software to feel safe and secure in your house? And the answer is not necessarily.

Webcam for Spying Purposes

You have the ability to use your webcam (connected to your PC) as a surveillance tool. And to control it, all you need is inexpensive webcam surveillance software. As a matter of fact, such software allows you to connect more than one camera. It can display as much as 16 webcam views on your computer screen.

Moreover, webcam surveillance software even allows you to detect motion and start capturing an event within milliseconds. This means that you don´t have to keep your webcam surveillance software turned on all the time in order to secure the area. By using motion detection webcams, you can also save your computer´s HDD (hard drive) space.

You know, video takes a lot of hard drive space. Non stop recording for 24 hours can cost you 1GB of HDD space a day. Well, it depends on the chosen image quality. Lower quality images will require less bandwidth. Also, if you set lower FPS (frames per second), then you´ll save even more HDD space.

But if you have a large HDD (like 160GB or more), then there´s nothing to worry about.

What to Look for in Webcam Surveillance Software?

Before you decide to order webcam surveillance software, there are a couple of things to consider. Let´s take a look at some of the features of webcam software that you should seriously consider, ok.

* Audio Capturing - Does your webcam surveillance software have audio capturing option? If not, then you should consider that carefully. If you want to record a conversation, it´s crucial.

* Compressed Files - Does your webcam software compress video files? If not, then the space of your HDD might fill up quickly. Try to search for software that compresses the video without losing its quality.

* Remote Access - This is very important. If you leave your webcam to record the area, you should have the ability to access your webcam´s view via internet connection. This is very neat function that is absolutely must in webcam software.

* Motion Detection - We´ve already mentioned that. Motion detection is also extremely important. You don´t want to record the area when nothing´s going on, right. So make sure that motion sensing is enabled in your software.

* Alert Options - Does the webcam surveillance software have an alert option? Some webcam software alert when they detect something. They can alert via email or even dial a phone number. You should seek for this feature, because it´s very neat.

* Multiple Webcams - Can your surveillance software record a live view from multiple web cameras? 2, 4 or 16? If you want to connect more than one camera to your PC, then multiple webcam support is absolutely must in the software you choose.

* Stealth Mode - Does the webcam software run in stealth mode? Stealth mode means that nobody can see if the software is running or not. Not even if they Press "Ctr+Alt+Del" and look at Windows Task Manager!

Look for webcam surveillance software that allows you to do all or at least most of the functions mentioned above. If your software isn´t capable of detecting motion, doesn´t have alert option, doesn´t have audio recording options, then search for a better solution.

In Conclusion

Webcam software (for spying or home protection purposes) combined with a few inexpensive webcams, can definitely serve as a basic home security system. You can put your webcams in the most important places and have your PC to record each camera´s view. And if motion sensors detect something unusual, they can alert you via email or phone.

However, if you´re really looking for quality and all-in-one solution for professional home protection, then a more powerful DVR security system with multiple spy cameras could be your best shot. Such systems cost over thousand dollars, but they´re ideal for quality home or office protection.

About The Author

Marie Johnson
http://www.guarddogsurveillance.com

Mars Rover Mission - Why not Present Science with the Aid of Virtual Reality Software ?

2004 started a new era in planetary exploration. Two Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed successfully on the surface of Mars and a short while later started to send lots of images and other data. The rovers were designed to work properly for only 90 days on the Martian surface but, believe it or not, they are still in a good health and do not seem to stop working. During over 3-year period NASA has received a huge amount of data that are hard to present for the wider public. The solution of this problem has been provided by Sciterian Technologies. Its VRPresents technology, especially designed for this purpose, gives astronomy lovers a new interesting way to introduce the planet. Now you can just take a virtual tour of Mars.

High resolution panoramic images of Mars are quite difficult to view in many similar VR technologies, which one can notice even at NASA's web sites, but VRPresents not only displays these panoramas warped correctly, but it provides also a lot of other useful features that make learning scientific results easy and enjoyable.

Virtual reality technology seems to be the answer to the question "how to present complex scientific data and not to bore the common man ?". In VR world you can just move in any available direction and see many places that were visited earlier by the rovers. It is you who decides where to go, what to watch, what to see closer or what information to read. If you want to see what is around you, just start turning round. If you would like to move somewhere in the virtual world – no problem, just click a hot spot which will take you to another panorama, and your direction in 3D space will not change like it does in many other VR technologies. You do not have to read any information to learn where a specific place is and you do not have to imagine all these fantastic places on the surface of Mars since you do not watch just panoramic images, which are introduced in different projections, but you see really something similar to what you would see standing on the surface of Mars, without distortions.

"VRMars-Spirit – The Red Planet Mars 3D" is the first VRPresents-based product that presents the results of Mars Exploration Rover Spirit Mission with the aid of virtual reality, released by Sciterian Technologies. The software is really interesting. I recommend it not only for scientists and hobbyists but for school teaching purposes as well. Science really can be fun.

About The Author

Daniel Onyszczuk is the author of the VRPresents Technology and virtual reality software. For more information on VRPresents-based software visit the following web sites:
http://www.vrmars.com/VRMars-Spirit-The-Red-Planet-Mars-3D.htm
http://www.vrpresents.com
http://www.sciterian.com
http://www.vrmars.com

B2Evolution---Software with the Most Comprehensive Feature List

When François Planque forked b2evolution from version 0.6.1 of b2\cafelog in 2003, little did he assume that within three or four years this newly forked software will emerge as the most favorite tools among the bloggers---beginners or seasoned.

This huge popularity can be attributed to the loads of features it come with; that turn it into much more than any other blogging tool. It is characterized by the ease of installation; if the webserver of the host happens to be LAMP compatible (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), the system can be installed in the server within minutes.

B2Evolution makes for a multi-lingual, multi-user and multi-blog publishing system, which is distributed under the GNU General Public License and as such can be downloaded free of charge. With the latest version of B2Evolution installed in your website, you will no longer need configuration file editing; all configurations will be handled through the installer or administrative back-end.

B2Evolution is popular for the extra punches that it packs in its package. Let’s learn about them:

Multiple blogs support

* B2Evolution supports multiple blogs at the same time. It will require you to install the software once and you can use it for up to 1000 blogs at the same time on different pages, in different folders, or on different domains.

This feature also allows you to display several blogs on the same page and you are allowed to add Photoblogs, Moblogs, Linkblogs, Blogrolls or likes in a snap.

AntiSpam Deluxe

* With an efficient combination of active and passive antispam measures, and with the help of community shared blacklist, the software works for blocking comments and referring spams.

Multiple users and authors support

* Through a comprehensive and detailed permission management, any user can be given permissions to read, write, edit or fully change any number of blogs.

Blog skins

* With the help of wide array of Evo-skins, you are not only allowed to customize the look and feel of your blog, you can also control how it behaves. The skins can be easily downloaded and installed.

Plugin framework

* To add more volume to its already expansive list of features, you can take help from the B2Eevolution's advanced plugin framework.

Some of the popular B2Eevolution plugins include Textile, Auto-P, Greymatter, BB code, Texturize, LaTeX, and graphic smilies.

Plugins are also available to facilitate full integration with third party tools such as Gallery 2, YouTube and digg.

Advanced categorization

* This feature will help you break your blog into several categories and sub-categories to organize the posts under different themes. The software even allows assigning multiple categories to one particular post. In addition to that, it allows cross-posting among multiple blogs at once.

To run b2evolution, you will simply need a webserver that can run PHP4, and a MySQL database. It remains the simplest and fastest way of taking your voice farthest across the web.

About The Author

Fat Jack Hosting is the Internet Marketer’s Dream when it comes to hosting. Not only do we have great ongoing 24/7 support, but we understand the small business owner, entrepreneur and internet marketer because we are owned and operated by an extremely successful one. That’s why you get great customer service, tips, strategies and support. Go here right now to get your hosting account—>> http://www.fatjackhosting.com