Hasta La Gadget!

 Canary has had a big year. After smashing through its Indiegogo campaign goal and picking up an extra $10 million in VC funding, the company is nearly ready to ship its home security product.

Due to a couple of hurdles, Canary units won’t arrive until “this summer,” but to tide us over, the team has given us our first real look at the complementary smartphone application. Read More

Ottawa-based BlackSumac may not be the first startup to try and revamp the home security system, nor is it the first to use a crowdfunding platform like Indiegogo to make it happen. What this batch of Canadians did do however is create one of the sleekest-looking bits of security hardware I’ve seen. The Piper is to security hubs what the Nest is to thermostats.

But what does it do?

The Piper unit itself is about the size of your average desktop computer speaker, and it’s hard not to look at it without being drawn to the user-controllable camera pod (complete with fish-eye lens) right smack in the middle of the thing. More importantly though, the Piper itself is loaded up with temperature, humidity, and motion sensors, and can also act as a base station that communicates with different external sensors thanks to its included Z-Wave support.

It’s also got a bit of an IFTTT streak, as users can tap into those sensors to create custom rules based on what they detect from the Piper iOS and Android app. Did something just make a loud sound in your apartment? You can create a rule that automatically kicks on the lights (assuming you’ve got some Z-Wave friendly controllers installed). Is something (other than Fido) moving around the bedroom? Piper can automatically start recording video, and if you spring for the cellular model, it can also fire off a text message to let you know what’s going on. Of course, different situations require different sets of rules, so the Piper app allows users to be lumped into categories for when you’re at home, at work, or on vacation.

Now is this thing going to replace a more traditional, professionally installed security system? No way. If anything, Piper is likely to find its niche among renters and tech-savvy home owners who want some level of security without having to shell out for a full-blown home monitoring scheme. BlackSumac has at least one notable competitor to do battle with in that space — Canary is yet another Indiegogo darling that wants to simplify home monitoring, but its lack of Z-Wave support means the system isn’t nearly as extensible as Piper.

And the Piper already seems to have to struck a chord — it’s only been two days since the Canadian startup behind it launched an Indiegogo campaign and the project has already made it a third of the way to its $100k funding goal. Just be warned if you decide to take a plunge on this thing: the cheapo early backer spots have all been filled, so you’ll have to shell out at least $209 to trick out your flat.

There are some 90 million homes in the U.S. without any security system whatsoever. Many of them are renters who don’t want to invest heavily in a place they don’t own, among hundreds of thousands of home owners who are simply priced out. There has never been a convenient, all-in-one system that could offer home security at an affordable rate, much less one you could pick up at the local Best Buy.

But that all changes with Canary, the latest crowd-funding sensation to hit Indiegogo. We caught up with NYC-based founder Adam Sager to discuss the project.

Canary is a little console, slightly smaller than the size of a paper towel roll, that’s packed with a host of sensors, a mic, and an HD camera.

For $200 down, this little guy will connect to the Wifi, sync with your phone, and constantly watch your home. I say watch, and not monitor, because Canary can only see as far as its sensors will allow, whereas most home security systems are wired in to monitor every crack and crevice of a home. Canary can only hear as far as the mic allows, or the camera sees, or the sensors can sense.

However, Sager believes that when you place the Canary in the central part of your home, near the front door perhaps or watching over the living room, that a real threat, like a burglar, will likely set off the Canary no matter where it enters from.

Plus, if you have a larger space or want added security, you can always link more than one Canary (up to four, Sager tells me).

Canary’s sensors include night vision, motion detection, temperature, air quality and humidity, along with a live feed to the HD camera at any given time. The phone will instantly alert the user whenever the home experiences a random change, like a temperature fluctuation or sudden movement.

But Canary is also smart enough to learn your home, sensing the difference between a burglary and a pet. It even understands when regularly scheduled events occur, like the arrival of a nanny or a dog walker at the same time each day, so that you don’t have a panic attack each time Rover needs to take a wizz.

Canary’s distribution model is different from any other home security system in that you will eventually be able to go pick one up at a local electronics store on the cheap. This has never really been available before, and the potential market is huge with 90 million homes completely unprotected and priced out of the alternatives.

Sager admits that margins on the hardware itself won’t be that high, but the plan is to offer value-added services like monitoring (delivered by a TBD third-party) for $10/month.

Canary has been on Indiegogo for four days, and has blown far beyond its $100k goal to be at $550k at the time of writing. It only took a few hours to reach $100k, according to Sager.

If you’d like to back the project, head on over to the Canary website or check out the Indiegogo campaign.

Things that were once dumb are now smart. At least that’s the trend for home appliances as of late. Canary, the self-proclaimed world’s first smart home security system, is launching today on Indiegogo and it might actually work.

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