SkyBell: A Security Camera You Can Plug In Anywhere

These days many homeowners have installed CCTV security systems to insure home security. Since criminals know most people will be at school or work, the majority of home break-ins occur during daylight hours. Yet even when homeowners and technicians take care to position their cameras correctly, many cameras don’t capture suspected intruders well enough to identify them.

Sometimes criminals enter a house through a room that lacks surveillance. Not knowing the home’s vulnerabilities, the homeowners didn’t think the room needed a camera. They can’t just pull a camera out of one room and stick it in another. Security technology has come a long way, but flexibility has been lacking.

Unless someone can afford cameras that move as they detect motion, there’s always a chance they won’t catch a good view of the perpetrator. From a hardware perspective, there’s nothing flexible about home security cameras. Once you install your cameras, they’re in set positions. You can zoom and pan, but you can’t change the overall angle. Standard cameras aren’t flexible enough to capture more than general, long-range footage.

If you want to monitor another room, you need to buy an additional camera and have it mounted. Also, if you suddenly decide you want to try to catch your cat knocking over plants, you can’t put a camera in your kitchen on your way out the front door.

At least, you couldn’t – until earlier this year, when SkyBell launched a plug-in camera that integrates with Google Home. A plug-in camera is exactly what it sounds like: a camera that plugs into an electrical outlet. How’s that for easy installation and a reliable power source?

This device is changing the way people monitor their homes

It’s strange to think it took this long for a plug-in camera to hit the market, but it’s here, and it’s already changing how families integrate home security into their lives.

For instance, people are using these cameras to keep an eye on their elderly parents, or watch their kids during the day. If a parent wants to quickly check in with the kids, the intercom functionality can be used to communicate without having to pick up the phone.

Another advantage: During a power outage, the only way to maintain a hard-wired security system is with a generator. A camera that plugs into an electrical outlet can run off of a power bank, provided the wattage is sufficient.

A supplement, not a replacement for a professional setup

How many times have you thought about getting a home security system, but decided against it because it would be too involved to set up? Even today’s systems that can be controlled with a smartphone require professional installation. Still, nothing is superior to a professionally designed CCTV setup.

While a plug-in camera won’t replace a professionally mounted CCTV camera system, it’s a wonderful supplement to add flexibility to how you monitor your home, and what you monitor.

For instance, say you have a new puppy and need to run to a store where dogs aren’t allowed. If you want to know how your dog handles being alone, you can put your puppy in the bedroom and plug in a camera. When you get home, you can move the camera back to where it usually resides.

Or, say you need to send your child to his or her room on a timeout and want to monitor the child’s activities there. A plug-in camera would be the perfect solution.

Google is transforming the future of every industry

What isn’t Google transforming? When the company launches a new platform, it creates more possibilities for industries to innovate. Since the launch of Google Home, a wide range of possibilities have already become a reality.

For instance, now that Nest has integrated with Google, the company is “trying to bring voice [control] to utilities.” Voice commands are what people want. Even the SkyBell plug-in speaker connects to Google Home and can be given commands to take photos and start recording.

You don’t need to have a “smart home” to use the plug-in camera’s capabilities. Using Google Home will make it fun, but it’s not necessary.

This innovative way to use and power a camera gives a new and literal meaning to the term “plug and play.”