Butterfleye is a wireless home surveillance camera that’s joining the growing ranks of intelligent, smartphone connected webcam systems designed to keep watch while you’re out and about. In addition to allowing you to check in on a live video feed whenever you like via iPhone, this smart camera comes equipped with a thermal sensor, motion detector, and facial recognition technology.
Using a 1080p sensor, video and still shots are captured by the Butterfleye when motion, heat, or faces are detected. Butterfleye’s collection of smart sensors and connected software is branded "Active Eye Technology" by its creators.
If your dog or child is particularly camera-friendly, you might get a collection of "selfies" sent to your iPhone throughout the day. Each of these photos will be available for instant sharing with social networks.
If your dog, child, or significant other is hanging around the camera while you’re watching live, you can also use Butterfleye camera’s microphone and speaker to converse with them.
When you’re connected to the Butterfleye camera with your iPhone and you come within range of the device, it’ll change modes. The Butterfleye camera’s Wi-Fi and iBeacon technologies detect the iPhone and the camera switches from "away" to "home" mode or "auto shutdown."
Butterfleye is also aiming to integrate the camera into the smart home ecosystem by collaborating with developers for connectivity with additional 3rd-party software and devices. The company says its Active Eye Technology suite will eventually work with devices like the Pebble smartwatch and Jawbone Jambox, as well as intelligent lighting systems.
At launch, Butterfleye will work with the iPhone only. At the moment there’s no word on whether or not other smartphone models will be adopted into the ecosystem.
The Butterfleye camera and app is slated to ship in early 2015. At the time of this article’s publication, Butterfleye is still in production, with pre-orders available at a cost of US$199 per unit.
In the video below, the team behind Butterfleye demonstrate its abilities in brief.
While the Butterfleye's array of sensors could give it an edge on other wirelessly networked cameras like Dropcam, we have seen two very, very similar products aimed at modern "smart" security that are headed to market now or early next year – the Blacksumac Piper and The Canary.
With Piper you’ll have many of the abilities offered with Butterfleye, but in a package that’s wired to your wall.
The Canary presents a security solution that’s almost identical to Butterfleye. It has a wide-angle lens with HD capture, motion detection, and the ability to sense a fire. Canary also has a three-axis accelerometer to sense its own movement, night/infrared vision, humidity sensor, temperature sensor, and an air quality detection system.
At $199 and set to be delivered this May (after raising $2 million dollars in funding on a $100k goal with IndeGogo earlier this year) Canary looks to be Butterfleye’s biggest competitor.
Source: Butterfleye
