As a few of you know I quite like my gadgets, so when I saw that Apple were selling a CCTV system you could access directly from you iPad/iPhone/iTouch I had to get one.

First things first, although being sold in the Apple stores it's not an Apple device, it's made by a company called Stem and to use the camera you do need to download their free app.

Now I already have CCTV that is recording 24/7. and I have webcams that can be logged into, but there are always costs getting a fixed IP and they're not the easiest (for the non technical) to set up, so I was interested how this would be different.

It was a doddle, download the app, log in to the camera using the app, then give it the password for your router... done.

It doesn't need a computer, doesn't need to be plugged into the router (it's wireless) and it's so small can pretty much go anywhere.

It has a dome type stand you can either screw to the wall/ceiling/desk or just leave freestanding, and the camera itself is cylindrical with a magnetic concave base, so you can point it anywhere using the stand.

You can can log into it wirelessly, and watch as long as you want to, or remotely and watch for 5mins before you have to log off and back on again, for another 5min.

The picture is colour and it also transmits sounds.

It has lots of extras such as you can set it up to record (to YouTube) and notify you if it detects movements or sounds above a certain level.

There is a real-time delay of about 20secs, which can be fun when you're setting it up and the software can freeze. The other thing is that they hsve put the controls for another device (an alarm clock) that they do in the same app, and you have you have to scroll each time to pick which one you want. Just make two apps, please.

In the future the company intend to add the ability to watch continously but it will be charged for, they are also looking at removing the time-delay, but the freebie version works well (apart from the points mentioned).

They're a nice design and I think for someone that wants to remotely watch home or business without having to get the local geek in to set up your cameras they're ideal.

iZON

Thank you so much for this Doc.

I'm really interested in getting this, and I've shared the link with a some of my friends (other ASD parents). (hope thats ok?)
This is perfect for us (as parents) in the world of autism, and trying to keep our kiddies fully supervised when they are in their bedrooms, especially when they have specialised bedrooms like my little boy does.

Am I reading this right, a TWENTY second delay between the camera taking footage and you receiving it?

Do you pay for these incredible extras or do they come free?

It's only been out a few weeks so I'm sure things will change but yes, you watch the video online with a 20 second time lag

Strangely they also market it as a baby monitor, however not sure I'd want to know the danger they were in 20 seconds ago I'd want to be able to do something about it.

For me the real benefit is vIewing home or business if alarms go off.

Well I was thinking about Snickas wanting one for his kid. I'd imagine if a kid is sat with a pencil looking at a plug socket you'd probably want to know that with less than a 20second delay ...

yes...i had discussed this with the girls and we live for the moment that the lag is improved upon, so we'd appreciate, really appreciate it Doc if you could let me know if and when it has improved, please...a lot of fellow parents are loving this.

We kinda figured in the end, compared to how things are when a majority of our kiddies go to bed, alot of us don't have web cams, etc monitoring. Alot of us tend to use two-way baby monitors, so we can reassure them, verbally. But we can't see what they're getting up to...
Some parents are using night vision web cams in the corners of rooms...but are then restricted to supervising over comp screens, etc.

of course, in ex0's terms, majority of us parents obviously have set up bedrooms to protect the child from being able to stick pens/pencils into plugs in the first place.
My little boy can't even get to a plug or to any other electrical equipments as his autism is that severe.

So even with a lag, its a better tech and its improving all the time (we will use and will try anything if it helps) BUT we'd still have to use the 2-way monitors. And thats for some of the parents that actually can get some sleep!

I have one that loves sleep and the other is afraid of it
he hasn't slept longer than 2 hrs at a time, for 17yrs.

Apologies if that came out wrong, I truly wasn't implying anything about your son. It was just the first applicable situation that came into my head - young children and safety around electrical stuff.

Don't worry! You weren't to know.
And I can imagine alot of people would have that immediate thought as well, but no...we (asd parents) do strive to make our homes as safe and secure as we humanly possibly can, we have to

Snickas, can't you just use video baby monitors? They have day and night vision and sound, and it's "live" no lag

Have tried 2 Wiggi and they both broke/worn out/burnt out in 12mths!!!
I don't think they were made to be left on all the time. Alot of other asd parents have said the same as well.

As I explained, best thats worked so far is the 2 way baby monitors because we can answer them back or give them the reassurances they need right at that moment. Trust me, alot of parents are up and down all night long otherwise, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and they do need to give the 1:1 to settle them back to sleep...but it does make things a little easier for a lot of asd parents.

Ah yes sorry never thought about it being on in the day time, we had our first one break after about 12 months and that was only night time use.

Good luck in finding something suitable snickas, hopefully with a few updates this system being talked about may be good for you