Diana,
I
answered the questions right inside your email below.
Sincerely,
Steve
and Tessa Cook
www.321cam.com
651-321-3131
-----Original
Message-----
From:[parenting
editor]
Sent:
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 4:19 PM
To:
steve@321cam.com
Subject:
Parenting article/How safe is your daycare
Hi,
Steve:
I
just got off the phone with you. To give you some background on the
story
I'm writing for PARENTING, it's about how parents can learn
more
about the people who are watching their children, whether in a
daycare
environment or at home.
I'm
approaching the article from the parents' point of view versus
the
daycare provider's pov.
So
my questions to you are:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Question:
How popular is streaming video becoming with daycare centers and
with
private citizens who have childcare workers in their homes? (You
mentioned
on the phone that the technology is getting cheaper, so I
assume
that means it's becoming more popular.)
ANSWER:
It is becoming so popular by more and more people that it is now and
expected feature. Some
people drive further to a daycare that is wired with video than one that
isn’t. Wouldn’t you drive 2-3
miles a day further to have that peace of mind of being able to check up on
your child anytime you want. Video
is becoming more and more a requirement by some parents especially true when
so many people are office workers with a readily available pc and internet
connection at their work.
Live
video feeds are streaming across the World Wide Web from atop highway light
poles and outside restaurants, from the cribs of babies to the high school,
from uninhabited corners of the Earth and the most crowded urban subways.
As video camera and computer prices have dropped in the last few years,
applications have burgeoned.
Cameras
in stealthy positions, for instance, have arguably made people safer by
helping to nail criminals and catch child care abusers.
No
one seems to know how many Webcams are out there, but "Web rings" -
Internet groupings of active live, worldwide feeds - now number in the
thousands and each web ring can have a thousand themselves.
And the estimate of private webcams like the ones running in a home
licensed daycare could be in the tens of thousands.
About
60 percent of all such cameras are trained on people or things inside homes,
but businesses are starting to catch on to what home users have known for a
few years now. An Internet
based camera that can have its video recorded for later viewing and also
viewed live from any internet connected PC or even viewed from a Cell Phone
are gaining popularity at a staggering rate.
Companies
are setting up surveillance cameras inside nurseries and day-care centers,
beaming encrypted images privately to parents' desktops.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Question:
Would you be able to walk me through how a parent could check up
on
their child during the day??
ANSWER:
Child
is at a Daycare provider:
The
daycare would give each parent that day’s unique password when the parent
drops off their child.
If
the daycare has a website:
The parent could click a link on the daycares website and be prompted
with that days password. Each day
there would be a brand new password. That’s
it. No software to download or
install. Watching the video
is quick and easy.
If the daycare doesn’t have a website: the daycare and parent can use
ours at www.321cam.com.
The parent would use our search function to find the daycare’s camera
and click on that link. Once they
do, they will be prompted with that days password . That’s it.
No software to download or install.
Watching the video is quick and easy.
Some
people do not sit in an office with a computer so those parents can watch the
same live webcam using their video enabled cell phones.
Child
is at their own home:
They
install the software only one time after they purchase the video system.
Each
day: All they have to do is start the webcam’s software, and click “start
broadcasting”. That’s
it. Nothing else needs to be done
at home, its all set up for remote viewing when the parent(s) gets to work.
I know that Parents do not have any spare time in the morning to set up
the system so we streamlined it, all settings are saved from the initial
installation and the best news is that the webcam system can be
up and running within about 10 seconds after they turn their computer on and
get connected to the internet.
Once
they start the software in the morning it automatically creates a web link that is unique to the
parents own computer. No
one else knows what this link is. The
parent will either write it down and take it with them to work (or) they send it
to themselves via email. When
they get to work they can just click on that web link and they are watching
the webcam video live. Great
for grandparents too. Give the
grandparents this web link, and they too can watch their grandchildren live
and help monitor things at home.
SECURITY: The parents have the ability to password protect the
video and also they can create a different password anytime they want.
View
From your Cell Phone: Some
people do not sit in an office with a computer and those parents can still watch the
same live webcam using their video enabled cell phones. This
feature is truly unique!!!.
All
the basic and also all the advanced features come with each complete webcam
system purchase
and are installed at the same time without any extra charges (no monthly fees,
nothing else to buy).
LASTLY:
Parents can set up their webcam to record the video and those same
parents can watch that recording while they are at work the same day or even
after they get home later that night.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Question:
How much would it cost for a parent to set up streaming video in
the
home so that she can check in on a babysitter during the day? Can
you
set up more than one camera in multiple locations? Can the
cameras
be hidden? Do you see any advantage to the cameras being
hidden
versus out in the open?
ANSWER:
The
total cost for one video system is $229.99
No
monthly fees, no website, no hidden charges.
All they need is a PC and internet connection.
Parents
can have up to 4 webcam video systems all connected to one pc and each of
these webcams can be viewed on the internet just like individual webcam
systems. Each of these 1 to
4 webcams can be in different rooms of their house and they can even put one
or more outside. What is
neat is that the webcam video systems can automatically move following
movement (called auto-tracking movement).
Not
Hidden Camera:
If you use the remote control base, then it is pretty difficult to hide
them. Remote control bases allow
the parents and grandparents to move the camera up, down, left and right so
they can see other parts of the room where the camera is located.
All the moving the of camera (called pan, tilt and rotate) are done
using the parents internet connection at work.
They move the camera using their mouse or keyboard.
Hidden
Camera:
The remote control base is big enough with the motor in it that it is
difficult to hide it unless you get really creative. It can be hidden behind
one way mirror. If
you try hiding it with between things such as two books on a bookshelf you
will limit the view because the system is designed for being able to pan,
tilt, rotate all around the room. If
you put it in between some books when its turned to look left or right the
books will block the view.
Hidden
Camera:
Do not buy the remote control base, only buy the webcam and you can
hide the webcam much easier than trying to hide both the webcam and the base.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Question:
Are the cameras wireless i.e. so they can be set up around the house?
ANSWER:
BRAND
NEW THIS WEEK (May 24th, 2004): No PC needed with our
Wireless
Pan/Tilt Webcam system. We
are working on supporting the network camera with all the advanced features
until then, none of the additional features like the website listing,
tracking, zoom, motion detection, cell phone access, will work.
Viewing and moving the camera are the main applications of the network camera
right now.
I'll
give you a call on Thursday a.m.
Thanks,
Steve!
21st
century technology.htm 21st
century technology.doc
