I received a tweet a few weeks ago asking me for my opinion on a new home security camera. The device is simply called Hive.
It is an all-in-one battery powered camera with built-in motion detection. Operating off of two AA batteries and communicating using a local WiFi connection, the Hive camera is extremely simple. What makes Hive different from other WiFi home security cameras is the Hive alarm notification, which uses crowd sourcing instead of a professional monitoring service.
In the event your Hive camera detects motion, while armed, it will send a message out to a group of your chosen friends, family, and neighbours. This group (your “Hive”) is then able to look in on your camera’s video feed and decide how to respond. The camera costs $99, and there is a $5 monthly service fee.
Click here to view Figure 1.
Would it work?
There are several challenges I cannot see the Hive camera overcoming. Let us imagine I have a new Hive camera. I set it up and call all my friends and family to ask them if they are willing to monitor and respond to my camera alarms. At best, half of them agree.
The next day I decide to take a vacation; I arm my camera and leave for the week. That night, at 1:00 a.m. in Toronto, someone breaks into my home and activates the camera. The message is distributed to my Hive, who all happen to all be sleeping since they are all in the same time zone. Fortunately I am vacationing in California, where it is only 10:00 p.m., so I get the alert. I see the burglar and immediately dial 911, which results in me reaching the local California emergency line, which is unable to help me.
I hang up and start calling my friends; one of them finally picks up. I tell him about the burglar, and he immediately grabs his baseball bat and heads straight to my house where he meets an untimely death at the hands of a professional criminal.
This is perhaps a bit of an extreme case, but I think it illustrates the various liabilities involved with such a system. These are simply the logistical issues. On a technical front, one motion activated device is far from adequate alarm coverage. WiFi is also unreliable and, in most residences, is not battery backed up.
I can appreciate the appeal of such a simple and cost-effective device. I can even think of a few good uses for it like securing a rental room, but monitoring the camera still seems challenging. Crowd sourcing will continue to achieve many great things, but alarm monitoring will not likely be one of them.
Related post:
Free Download: The Video Surveillance Report 2023
Discover the latest developments in the rapidly-evolving video surveillance sector by downloading the 2023 Video Surveillance Report. Over 500 responses to our survey, which come from integrators to consultants and heads of security, inform our analysis of the latest trends including AI, the state of the video surveillance market, uptake of the cloud, and the wider economic and geopolitical events impacting the sector!
Download for FREE to discover top industry insight around the latest innovations in video surveillance systems.
Fully agree Colin, response is the area often overlooked in security solution design. If the camera is reliable enough how about linking it to your house by switching on all external and internal lights for say twenty minutes to deter intruders or perhaps a sequence of lights to make it appear that somebody inside is responding?
As an aside, I’ve been researching battery operated cameras for a while now and have sourced a solution from New Zealand, do you know how many activations the 2 AA batteries will last for?
Thanks, thought provoking post as always.
Tony,
I would be interested to hear of your battery solution providers – would you ever be able to email me: [email protected] with your results?
I know the blog example was kind of out there as an extreme example but how about a more real world example. Let’s say you install one of these and every time a stray cat decides to take a nap on your car it sends alerts to all of your friends. Eventually they are going to stop paying attention or tell you to take them off the list. Eventually if you do have a break in chances are your friends won’t catch it because they are so used to the alerts that they ignore them. The same has happened with… Read more »
I’d be interested in hearing about that as well, maybe we can share that in the form of an article, Tony? Give us an email at editors@IFSEC Insider.com 😉
Ugh, car alarms. We’ve got one neighbour who’s alarm goes off all the &*%”£ time! *And breathe*
It’s a very god point, safensane, and certainly a little less extreme that Colin’s (!). It’s of course the same with all alarms, the difference with a professional monitoring station being they’re paid to keep listening.
Minimising or hopefully eliminating false alarms is the absolute priority for any kind of alarm system whether it be intruder, CCTV, network, building management system, etc, in other words any kind of system that is remotely monitored or where a local response is hoped for. Otherwise its the old “crying wolf” syndrome which has been around for centuries and not just newly invented for alarm systems! A 2 to 4 week soak test of any new system is critical BEFORE you hand over the cash or at least a substantial proportion of the cash. Any company confident in its solution… Read more »
I think it would make sense to use as power source for this camera solar panels or as extra add on option…. at the later time…
In the event your Hive camera detects motion, while armed, it will send a message out to a group of your chosen friends, family, and neighbours.
@Colin Atkins, thanks for the post. In this case the group is limited to chosen friends, family and neighbours. But there are companies like interneteyes which plans to have volunteers remotely monitor video surveillance cameras over the Internet. I think that will be more secure since more number of people are doing the surveillance.
If the camera is reliable enough how about linking it to your house by switching on all external and internal lights for say twenty minutes to deter intruders or perhaps a sequence of lights to make it appear that somebody inside is responding?
@william gillett, that is a very interesting idea, worth implementing. I dont think currently such solutions are available in the market. I think along with lights we can play some voice sounds so that it sounds like somebody is inside.
Let’s say you install one of these and every time a stray cat decides to take a nap on your car it sends alerts to all of your friends.
@Mike Clauss, I think we need process the images before alerts are sent to friends. For example I am sure there are algorithms available which will identify if its human object or not. So we can implement such solutions to remove false alarms.
interesting point, I did see this technology during one of the security seminars… also option available if the system id human object or not… if human to compare it face with data base of friends/relatives… or …
Now we’re talking a whole lot more involved system than just crowd sourcing basic functions. If they can keep the cost down I can see this working but if it’s comparable to a monitored service I don’t see the point. I could see that being useful for people with PPOs though who suspect someone they know is snooping around their house but I would still worry about the human factor in the crowd sourced part.
Yes and if I’m going to annoy someone, I’d rather it was someone who is getting paid not to ignore the 10th night in a row that an alarm goes off. As far as crowd sourcing goes though, I think the first step for something like this is getting to know your neighbors. Recently I had a conversation with some neighbors about a problem in the neighborhood 10+ years ago. Someone broke into a couple sheds and people in the neighborhood ignored them. The long and short was they didn’t know who lived in the houses so they didn’t think… Read more »
@Alexander Stephens yes it does come with an optional small solar panel that has been proven to trickle charge even in the dire UK climate!
Ok Rob, I will try and put something together as there appears to be a major gap in the market!
good to know 🙂 for me solar is way of the future… in Canada we are moving towards green 🙂
Thanks Colin. I interviewed the CEO of Hive at the end of last year and wrote about them, see below; http://www.memoori.com/2012-a-pivotal-year-for-home-security-innovation-a-market-disruption/ Personally I don’t agree with you. But I guess it’s all about how you define alarm monitoring and what the end user wants to achieve. Hive is a consumer app. A well designed little camera, cheap, easy to use, software and hardware in a neat package. Anyone who is serious about security probably won’t use their service; but what about all the other whimsical use cases people might have in their daily lives? Watching their pets when they are at… Read more »
We came across Hive cameras about six months ago, liked their ‘friends and family’ approach, but were mainly impressed with their proprietary ultra low power Wi-Fi technology running on 2x AA batteries (developed with initial grant from Australian Govt – no such visionary funding from UK Govt’s Internet of Things). We believe, burglary interruption and prevention relies on (a) instant notification with visual verification, and (b) direct response via ‘live’ interaction. Hive has many positives, but some of the negatives are: 1) Only works with a Hive camera, owners of other IP cameras cannot benefit 2) $5 p.m. is an… Read more »
Jim, thanks for your feedback. I agree with you that there are dozens of other uses for the Hive camera besides alarm monitoring. Then again, if you are not going to use it for alarm monitoring there are dozens of alternatives as well. There are only really two proprietary features to this camera, the Hive alarm monitoring network and that it is battery powered, making it completely wireless. The Hive monitoring network is clearly flawed and not a reliable method of alarm monitoring. Battery power is a unique advantage to this camera. However I don’t think it is worth paying… Read more »
If the camera is reliable enough how about linking it to your house by
switching on all external and internal lights for say twenty minutes to
deter intruders or perhaps a sequence of lights to make it appear that
somebody inside is responding?
@william gillett, that is a very interesting idea, worth implementing. I dont think
currently such solutions are available in the market. I think along
with lights we can play some voice sounds so that it sounds like
somebody is inside.
Thanks
Schultzy
HR@Yourmechanic
According to me, nothing else can match the peace of mind that we would feel when we have a home security system helping to protect our family.
http://www.burgolarm.ie/
Aditidaiwik and if you need repair here is the quickest way to book it: http://booking.guardsys.co.uk