monitor
Gonzo Code-Monkey Challenge: Low-Cost Internet Baby Monitor
The world needs a better baby monitor – and so the gauntlet is tossed at the feet of code monkeys everywhere. The potential market is huge and technology is here to deliver the promise. All it will take is a little grit and some creative thinking. The proliferation of iPhones and other internet-capable devices calls for the end of the venerable, over-priced and under-delivering RF-based baby monitors.
Truth be told some “baby steps” have already been made. Smart developers have built iPhone apps like the CodeGoo Baby Monitor for iPhone. Great for iPhone owners but even for them it requires a PC or laptop w/ webcam whirring away in your toddler’s bedroom. And therein lies the rub. A client-only solutions is only half the solution. It ties up a useful PC/Mac. And in many cases parents will be forced to monitor the monitor – we don’t want a sleep-walking child anywhere near my valuable laptop!
Enter the SheevaPlug plug-in PC , a fully featured computer so small you simply plug the hand-sized device right into a wall jack. SheevaPlug seems the perfect platform to extend parent’s freedom beyond the poor range and interference frustrations of RF baby monitors. Several hardware vendors already offer implementations of this plug-in-and-play platform with prices ranging between a modest $80 – and $99. Plug a SheevaPlug device into the wall and the system has power. Add internet connection and USB webcam and you have a permanent, unobstrusive
What the world (and SheevaPlug Platform) needs is a low-cost end-to-end solution. And the key to this is software.
Features we’d like to see:
1. Streaming Audio and/or Video
2. Still-capture history
3. Security
4. Default Web Interface (Mobile Browser-friendly)
5. iPhone & BlackBerry Client Apps
6. Audio histogram w/ ability to replay “spikes”
7. Alert feature that can email/sms/phone/etc. in response to customizable criteria
8. Long-Term History (Geek Moms and Dads love metrics right? How about a “sleep quality index” based on analyzing and storing audio trends each evening. How about a way to measure trends of average length of sleep sessions?)
You up for the challenge? If interested, email us: Brett -at- GonzoGadgets.com
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