Comment by nickthegreek

4 days ago

It tells me when packages are on the porch. This is the main value add for me.

I’ve been debating adding a camera pointed a bit more outward, as there at least 5 2 car accidents a year at the intersection outside my house of a 1 way road without a stop sign and a 2 way narrow city road with a stop sign. At least 1 of these accidents every 2 years ends up hitting my neighbors house.

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nickthegreek

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leetbulb  4 days ago

Yep, I mostly just enjoy generally knowing what's going on around my property at a glance, especially when it's inconvenient to go outside.

Checking if there's a package at the garage or front door. Generating a time-lapse of outdoor projects. Discovering the neighbor's idiot contractor that wants to dig on the property or get through the fence for something. Observing weather while taking shelter. Figuring out what caused the loud bang on a window (usually birds) or the roof (usually a tree branch). Observing the behavior of neighborhood or wild animals that manage to slip through the fence. Keeping an eye on outdoor contractors while I'm busy with work. Ensuring that one of the neighborhood kids aren't sneaking around being a liability with the pool, hot tub, or countless other dangers. Checking if I forgot to place the trash at the curb after randomly waking up at 3am. Capturing the hilarious moment a buddy and I shot a stream of E85 directly on a stack of 2x4s when we upgraded my car's fuel pump and forgot to connect the low-pressure line. My partner likes to watch squirrels eat nuts that she sets outside.

Sometimes it's fun to play around with the several months of recorded data just for the sake of experimentation. Similarly, I also enjoy capturing stuff on ISM bands like 433MHz, and not because I am nosy, paranoid, or have malicious intent; but, because it's free and open data observable within the environment that I live, and analyzing it is simply interesting to me.

IAmBroom  3 days ago

There used to be a FedEx delivery guy in Pittsburgh that would photograph packages in place, then steal them. I know this because I once got the notification while he was still pulling away - and the package was gone. Happened a few times, but only when there was a photo taken (back then, it wasn't common for them to do that).

Wish I had a video cam back then.