YOUR nifty mobile phone, which probably already does everything from taking pictures to playing music, could now help you keep tabs on your home or office, thanks to M1's new webcam service.
Through an extensive network of webcams and CCTV cameras being set up across the island, the service will enable M1 subscribers to receive live pictures on their phones from certain locations.
Users can also connect personal webcams to the network in order to view certain locations. For example, a parent can locate a camera at home to monitor his or her children, but change it to a private mode to prevent unwanted voyeurism.
'The service gives peace of mind to working parents, as they can now see what the little ones are up to at home, and can even use the product's motion detection features to automatically receive an MMS when an intrusion is detected,' said M1.
Entertainment-inclined users can also receive live photos taken by cameras that M1 has arranged to be set up at beaches on Sentosa and at East Coast Park, as well as nightspots like Forbidden City and Aquadisiac.
The cameras can be accessed through the MiWorld Mobile WAP Portal, M1's MiWorld Web Service Portal, or a combination of SMS and MMS. The webcam service, developed entirely in-house, currently sends static pictures over coloured-WAP phones and MMS phones, but will soon be extended to allow live video clips and streaming.
The service is available to existing M1 subscribers only, and costs an extra $2.99 plus GST for 30 free picture downloads a month, or $4.99 plus GST for 50 downloads, with each additional download costing another 30 cents, plus GST.
M1 also invites subscribers to set up cameras at public locations, to broaden the reach of the network. For example, if a subscriber lives at the Holland Village URA carpark, he or she could set up a camera pointing out of their window at the carpark, allowing others to see whether there is parking space.
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