Amazon is coming out with a new consumer drone product - it actually flies inside your house.
According to the story, "Amazon's indoor drone, called the Ring Always Home Cam, flies to take video in predetermined areas and will cost $249." The idea seems to be that if it is activated and you aren't home, if there is a disturbance it will fly to the location to see what the problem is. It also will allow people to check things out remotely - if you're concerned about the stove being left on or a window being left open, you can check that out, too.
The drone is positioned as part of Amazon's Ring security brand. Here's a video showing it working:
Reuters also writes about how Amazon yesterday introduced "Ring Car Connect software that first will be compatible with Tesla models. The software will play back video and tell customers if their vehicle is unlocked, among other features."
Amazon also "announced new spherical Echo speakers, upgrades such as a deletion feature for all prior recordings on voice-controlled products and an improved ability to discern whether speech is directed at Alexa or at others in a household.
- KC's View:
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A drone flying around indoors whenever it hears an errant sound? Hard to imagine anything going wrong with this…
Actually, Amazon already offers a drone-less version of this. Try talking to your Alexa … say, "Shields up!" (Yes, a Star Trek reference.) It'll then listen for things like broken glass or other sounds that shouldn't be there, and will alert the user. (It won't call the cops. You have to do that.)
I have several Ring cameras around the exterior of my house, and I must say they make me feel secure … and when there were a series of car break-ins in the neighborhood, we had video. But I'm not sure that I'm ready for a drone to be flying around in my house.
