Saturday, July 31, 2010

About the Download Section on Foscam web site

If you have visited the Foscam Download Page lately, you may have noticed that the firmwares files are now composed of a WebUI firmware, an explanation.txt and another notice.txt file, but no system firmware!

The explanation.txt says:
Dear customer:
    there may be lose of data when you download the file because of the network, and if there is data lose of system fimware, it will cause a serious consequence.
so we decide not to offer the system firmware download, thank you.

The notice.txt says:
If you use this firmware,the must notice that:
 1 the system firmware version is:11.14.2.17
 2 and the compressed file size is: 788,655 bytes
if the two conditions cannot be met,you can not use
the APP firmware to upgrade.

So we're back to the old time where we could only get new firmwares by contacting Foscam directly.

I don't see why the precaution they take by providing the file size of the WebUI would not be good enough for the system firwmare as well. An MD5 checksum would do just fine too...

It's too bad because this, with their above average tech support was an distinctive advantage over the other ip camera brands of this class.
 
I suggest that you email them to request that they put the system firmwares back online and provide the compressed file size for it as they already do for the WebUI firmware. 
Maybe, with enough feedbacks they will come back to some reason.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Rovio with a Chinese twist

Well, the comparison is presumptuous and a bit insulting to Rovio, but reading about its numerous criticisms , this might well be one of the alternative left (aside Spykee). Too bad Woowee abandoned the Spyball project !

An early version of Roomba vacuum cleaner with a Pan and Tilt wireless IP Camera mounted on it.

The CVOA-G182 from Chinavasion.com (€382.92) should make everybody happy: housewife and geeky husband alike.


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Foscam Firmware: 11.14.2.17 once again!

There is a newer firmware on Foscam web site.
It will still show versions 11.14.2.17 and 2.4.8.14 but the time stamps of these files are from June and July 2010! (The last 11.14.2.17 was from May)

The main change is in the Web-UI that now includes PTZ settings for controling the patrol speed..


Monday, July 19, 2010

Big fingers friendly app



I recently got totally converted to Swype for Android. This is by far the best Android keyboard alternative and obviously will be found standard on many upcoming phone models.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Eclair: Update finally available for Irish Spica owners!

After a long wait that drove most O2 GT-I5700 owners mad, there's at last an official update to Android  2.1 "éclair" available through NPS.