CES 2016

Back in the day, canaries would be carried down into mine tunnels to warn of any dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide. When the canary died, you knew it was time to get the heck out of dodge. This modern Canary is designed to protect your house while you’re away and notify you of any break-ins.

Security systems are often elaborate affairs that require a variety of sensors to warn of intrusion and a monitoring contract to notify the authorities of an intrusion. The Canary is a ridiculously simple DIY security idea that installs surreptitiously in moments, requires no contracts, and notifies you almost immediately in the event of a break-in.

The Canary looks a bit like a freestanding, multi-terabyte hard drive, and includes a variety of sensors to monitor and protect your home. First, it has a 1080p HD camera that continuously captures 147-degrees of video. The built-in microphone also records audio. (While two-way communication is possible, it currently isn’t enabled in the product.) And like the canaries of old, this modern Canary also measures the room’s air temperature, quality and humidity.

If the Canary’s built-in motion sensor senses any activity, the video is pushed up to the cloud where it is analyzed to determine if it a real threat or something benign like a pet of waving shadow. If it is a real threat, the video is pushed out to a pre-selected contact list and you can in turn download the video to the Canary app and alert the authorities.

Canary is shipping now and sells for $199.