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Toby Goodbar

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 8, 2006
400
0
i keep reading stories as i've been googling about how people catch thieves etc from remote viewing isight camera etc. but how do you do it? i should also mention i am a mobileme subscriber which hypothetically should make it easier.

any info here?
 
Remote View iSight

Hi Toby,

As you are a MobileMe subscriber, one of the features is Back to My Mac. This allows you to connect to your Mac remotely, and yes that includes activating applications. This is how one of the people in the news stories caught the thief: by logging in using Back to My Mac, launching Photo Booth, and taking pictures of the thief using the iSight camera.

Here's a link to the Back to My Mac User Guide:

http://images.apple.com/mobileme/docs/L358808A_BackMac_UG_v3.pdf

I hope you never have to use this feature to catch a thief, but it's good to know you're not completely SOL.
 
Simplest method is to download the $4.99 iCam app to your iPhone. You will then download the iCam source program for free to your MacBook or other computer. Now, just leave the screen up (let it go dark naturally, if you manually put it to sleep it will turn off the cam).

You can now remotely view and record motion-activated events from up to 4 cameras (wireless, macbook or pc cams, etc.) AND it will send your iPhone texts whenever motion is detected.

Cheapest security cam system I've seen yet!
 
Yeah, only $2000 for the "camera" itself and then another $2000 for the remote viewer. :rolleyes:
Hahaha, right right. I guess I think it's cheap because I already (sunk cost) had the iPhone, and I already had the MacBook. It was "only" $5 to build the bridge between the two devices to make them a viable digital security and early alert system.

Plus, I don't know what kind of "Rip Me Off Please" place you shop at, but my phone was $300, and my MB was $1000. I know, literary license, I understand, and it makes your point, you're right.

I'm just saying, it's a Mac forum, the OP probably already has at least one Apple device, there's a decent chance he already has the hardware (there's that sunk cost again) to do what he's trying to do with the simple and cheap addition of the $5 app.

But seeing how you made no attempt to answer his query and posted simply to slam mine, I'll be on my way now while I just assume I don't completely understand the Swiss sense of humor.

Cheers bro.
 
Hahaha, right right. I guess I think it's cheap because I already (sunk cost) had the iPhone, and I already had the MacBook. It was "only" $5 to build the bridge between the two devices to make them a viable digital security and early alert system.

I understood this.

Plus, I don't know what kind of "Rip Me Off Please" place you shop at, but my phone was $300, and my MB was $1000. I know, literary license, I understand, and it makes your point, you're right.

Did you pay for a contract to use your phone, or is there something I'm missing? If not, I'm jealous.

etc. etc.
Cheers bro.

I think you're taking things a little too seriously. Also, "Location: Switzerland" doesn't necessarily translate to someone being Swiss. Maybe I should make a generalization about stupid Americans now.
 
Chill. You slammed me, not the other way around. I humorously replied to your slam because I wasn't angry about it. Perhaps you don't understand the American sense of humor.

Ya know, if I wear an "I Am A Motherf*cker" T-shirt, there's an assumption I might be a M-F'er. If you put your location down as Switzerland, there's an assumption you might be Swiss, seeing how one usually chooses to show loyalty to their country of origin and do not usually want others to think they are from somewhere they are not.

If you don't want the possiblity of that assumption to exist, you might try harder to make it clear you are not Swiss if in fact you are not. If you don't care about the possilibity of the assumption existing, than why did you respond? If you did want the possiblity of that assumption to exist, then why are you complaining?

Enjoy your day, Cheers.

PS-- If you have any suggestions to aid the OP, I look forward to reading them.
PSS-- Contract or not, my iPhone's cost is a lot closer to my $300 than your $2000.

I understood this.



Did you pay for a contract to use your phone, or is there something I'm missing? If not, I'm jealous.



I think you're taking things a little too seriously. Also, "Location: Switzerland" doesn't necessarily translate to someone being Swiss. Maybe I should make a generalization about stupid Americans now.
 
Chill. You slammed me, not the other way around. I humorously replied to your slam because I wasn't angry about it. Perhaps you don't understand the American sense of humor.

Who is slamming who? You're making mountains out of molehills.

If you put your location down as Switzerland, there's an assumption you might be Swiss, seeing how one usually chooses to show loyalty to their country of origin and do not usually want others to think they are from somewhere they are not.

"Location: somewhere" makes no assumptions about where someone is from, only where someone is [currently].
 
Hi Toby,

As you are a MobileMe subscriber, one of the features is Back to My Mac. This allows you to connect to your Mac remotely, and yes that includes activating applications. This is how one of the people in the news stories caught the thief: by logging in using Back to My Mac, launching Photo Booth, and taking pictures of the thief using the iSight camera.

Here's a link to the Back to My Mac User Guide:

http://images.apple.com/mobileme/docs/L358808A_BackMac_UG_v3.pdf

I hope you never have to use this feature to catch a thief, but it's good to know you're not completely SOL.

me too lol, but 4 me it may be useful when i'm visiting my family 2 see which one has run off w/my macbook this time! ;) i keep telling them if yu sick of windows just buy a used mac if you cant afford the new cost. my g4 powermac still outperforms most modern windows boxes and i paid 289 off ebay few years back with the airport card still intact.

If you know how to forward ports over your router I would suggest iPhone Remote, also called telekinesis. http://code.google.com/p/telekinesis/ It's free and can do loads of things. Plus it works with and web browser and is secure.

i do know, and i've been using telekinesis w/my iphone and powermac for quite sometime now. i love it! not many people know about it. but its such a great....software or server, or w/e. BUT with a laptop you never know the IP address so i was wondering how this feat was being performed. so basically this is a "screen share" thing? there isn't a "silent" way of doing this w.out 3rd party software?

i saw someones previous post about iAlertU but was under the impression this could be done natively
 
me too lol, but 4 me it may be useful when i'm visiting my family 2 see which one has run off w/my macbook this time! ;) i keep telling them if yu sick of windows just buy a used mac if you cant afford the new cost. my g4 powermac still outperforms most modern windows boxes and i paid 289 off ebay few years back with the airport card still intact.



i do know, and i've been using telekinesis w/my iphone and powermac for quite sometime now. i love it! not many people know about it. but its such a great....software or server, or w/e. BUT with a laptop you never know the IP address so i was wondering how this feat was being performed. so basically this is a "screen share" thing? there isn't a "silent" way of doing this w.out 3rd party software?

i saw someones previous post about iAlertU but was under the impression this could be done natively

DynDNS.org

Sign up for free and download the daemon so your laptop will auto update the DNS. Then you just need to remember the name of your DNS rather than the IP, which is going to change.
 
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