· PCWorld magazine, October 2000 Issue - Also, chosen as #2 Pick of the Top Ten Sharewares to download.
· Windows Magazine, January 1999
· Inc. Magazine, July 1998
· PC Magazine, March 16, 1998
· EDN, January 15, 1998
· Advanced Imaging, January 1998
· PC Week, December 1, 1997
· GOTCHA! Catches Thieves at Comdex, Fall 97
· Prescient Systems signs contract with Winnov
· Trialware released with Diamond Multimedia Supra Video Phone Kit 3000
· Prescient Systems signs contract with Augur Industries Limited - July 97
· Prescient Systems signs contract with McAfee
· Computer Currents Magazine - June 97
· GOTCHA! at the IFSEC show - UK National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. - May 97
· Prescient Systems signs contract with BlazeMedia
· GOTCHA! at Comdex, Fall 96
GOTCHA! Catches Thieves in Action at Comdex
Las Vegas, Nevada (11-17-97) - Prescient Systems really puts to use their video surveillance software called GOTCHA! at Comdex, one of the largest technology shows in the country. GOTCHA! is located in the Silicon Vision booth to demonstrate with Silicon Vision's high quality iCam digital video cameras. GOTCHA! was setup Sunday night to watch over the valuable equipment within the booth area. Early Monday morning some unsuspecting thieves entered the area and left with several PCs. Little did they know they were being recorded by GOTCHA!. Once Prescient Systems and Silicon Vision arrived at their booth ready to start the show, they had the unpleasant surprise of some missing PCs, but were happy to see that GOTCHA! caught everything. The GOTCHA! video file was handed over to the police for further investigation.
Who's been naughty and nice? Gotcha! can turn your PC into a personal watchdog.
WHO'S WATCHING THE STORE?
As I finish this column (and my third beer), things are happening back at my home office. And Prescient's Gotcha! is recording every movement.
Gotcha! is a devilishly ingenious motion-detection program. Connect a video camera to your PC, and Gotcha! creates a video file of everything that happens in the office.
The program has several record modes. My favorite is Intrusion. Gotcha! records any movement in the camera's view. If there's no movement, the recording stops. And no one's aware it's happening. When Gotcha! notices movement, it starts recording and pops up your screensaver.
Aim the camera at the door, set the LookOut mode, and start playing Solitaire. If Gotcha! detects movement--say, your boss or spouse--it minimizes the topmost application.
Less interesting is Time Lapse, which takes snapshots at fixed intervals. Non-linear Time Lapse is subtler, recording the slightest change in the camera's view. I used this mode to record a wilting flower coming alive after it was watered.
The program's VCR-like controls let you view and save events, fast forward and reverse, go frame by frame, and view specific clips. You can also save files in AVI format to share with, um, friends.
You can even use Gotcha! to guard your cubicle from intruders or keep track of after-hours workers. I used it to see what in the world my dog does when I'm not around. I always thought he sat there and chewed the rawhide. Nope. The damned dog jumps up on my desk chair, pulls Computer Currents off the shelf, and paws through it.
© 1997 Steve Bass. All rights reserved.
Originally appeared in Computer Currents magazine, Berkeley, CA, www.currents.nethttp://www.currents.net/magazine/national/1511/gizm1511.html
GOTCHA!
Need a close-circuit video camera? Any PC camera user can create video files of events that occur over extended periods--and you won't have to give up half your hard drive space to do it. The motion-activated program captures images only when it's triggered, and provides a time-stamped video of events as they occur without recording the inactivity between events.