For most an IP camera is an item that is meant for home security or for monitoring. With their small for and ease of use they are fast becoming more and more common in the home. So what happens when someone combines the stealth of a security camera with social networking? This is what Astak has done with their MOLE IP camera. The MOLE features both wireless and wired connections to your network as well as remote management through an off-site server. But even more than that the MOLE is capable of sending pictures and video directly to Twitter and You Tube. Can this “socially” aware camera fit into the Home Security market, or will it fall into the Frat Party novelty niche.
Package -
Astak has chosen to package the MOLE into a sleek black box. On the front we see a nice image of the camera itself with the name of the product in a large font.
The back has a nice diagram that shows how the mole fits into your home network. Interestingly they show an iPhone as a possible output device. There are also a pair of diagrams that show some of the features of the MOLE.
On the side of the box is a listing [well a group of icons really] that show the MOLE’s features in a more “clear” manner.
On the top of the box is something interesting. It is a three-step instruction set. These instructions are refer to the Yoics connectivity which allows remote access to your MOLE over the internet.
Inside the box is a plastic tray; this tray holds all of the items that Astak have included for you to connect your MOLE to your home network.
The MOLE -
The MOLE is undeniably an attractive IP camera. It has a glossy black outer shell and a sleek form that draws your eyes to it. However despite the outer aesthetics the MOLE is still bound by the same form that all Pan and Tilt IP Cameras are bound by. Still Astak has managed to give the MOLE a great look. Surrounding the small camera lens is a ring of IR lights for better low-light viewing. Above this ring is a single Green power light while along the lower edge of the base are lights for SD Card [If one is inserted] and for network activity. Unfortunately, these lights cannot be shut off while the MOLE is in use also the IR light shine brightly red when active; these lights combine with a very audible “click” that sounds whenever the MOLE switches from normal to low light making the MOLE very obvious when in use.
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The MOLE's Range of Motion
As we mentioned above the MOLE is a Pan and Tilt style IP camera. This means that you are able to move the MOLE’s lens to face different direction. The mole has a range of 270-degrees in a horizontal arc and and 125-degrees in a vertical arc.
The back of the base holds all of the connectivity options and also a slot for an SD Card. The MOLE can work over both wireless and wired networks, and also has options for a microphone port and external speakers. This allows for two way audio transfers making this a potentially good device for monitoring a child’s room or even something like a communications room [or that frat party you might be planning].
Overall the MOLE is a well put together device and one that shows excellent workmanship; it does unfortunately show a lack of forethought with regards to the lack of a stealth mode. Let’s hope the performance can overcome some of this.
Setup -
Setting up the MOLE is actually very quick. Much like other IP cameras and network devices Astak provide software to allow you to quickly setup your MOLE to run on your network.
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Quick and Simple Setup
After the software finds your new MOLE you will be able to easily change the IP address and get it ready for access on your network.
Web UI and Yoics -
The Web UI for the MOLE is not as clean as its out shell would indicate. I was more than a little disappointed at the layout and controls found once I was logged in. The layout is not that bad but the controls are a little awkward and I was expecting more in terms of event triggers and other security tools.
Starting out on the home page you get a live view of what the camera is looking at. The action buttons on the left side are very clear in their use as are the controls for moving the MOLE’s view. What is missing though is any type of preset movement except setting a single “home” position.
Clicking on the Media Button gives you the options for the video and captured image quality. The Image page contains general controls for video quality, these affect both captured still images as well as captured video. The video page has settings specific to captured and displayed video.
The advanced tab is where you find settings for [you guessed it] all of the advanced options on the MOLE. The page you are greeted with when you head over here is the network settings page.
The Remote page lets you setup external access using the Yoics service. This service is interesting all on its own and we will talk more about it later.
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Easy Pages
The User page is self-explanatory as is the e-mail page. The Alarm page allows you to choose the option [or options] you want to use for when the MOLE detects an event that would send it into Alarm.
Other configuration options include remote storage; normally this would be to a connected NAS or possibly an FTP site. However as the MOLE is aimed at social networking you have options for YouTube and Twitter to accompany the single normal FTP option.
The Schedule page is where you setup times for alarms to be active. You can setup weekly schedule, a work schedule and an all times schedule. The MOLE’s motion detection page is interesting.
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IE8-W/O Java, IE8-W Java, FF3.5 W Java
The motion capture page will be sure to frustrate many Internet Explorer users. The reason for this is that the overlays for the motion detection areas is not visible in IE8, even if you use compatibility mode.
After trying multiple fixes for this we found that you have to install the Java plug-in for IE to get this working. We even checked to see if using an alternate browser would work. We had limited success as you can see above. In Fire Fox 3.5 we did see the overlay, but were only had access to one of the windows even with the Java Plug-in installed.
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The rest is pretty easy to follow. You can setup an auto capture to send you images one a regular basis [From one to 1440 minutes apart]. The system pages allow you to setup the time source, update firmware [on the initialization page] and also view logs [access and system] as well as information about your MOLE.
Yoics -
Yoics is an online service that allows you to share internal network resources easily over the internet. This service will also frustrate Internet Explorer users that do not have the Java Plug-in installed. The page will simply not work in IE until this is installed. If you are a FireFox user you will also see a few things to raise concerns. The first is the issue with the security certificate on the page that you enter your information to register your MOLE IP camera. This shows up in both IE and FireFox.
After you get by that you can setup and register your camera for access through Yoics servers. The problem is that you only get 30 days of service before you need to pay $24.99/year to maintain what is possibly an insecure service.
With Yoics you can also share your camera with people you chose.
Now the reason for Yoics is that you can “easily” share this camera with others and also access it across the internet without the need to connect directly to your home IP address. The service setups up a proxy service to complete this connection. You will need to open a port on your firewall for this though. Otherwise the service will simply stall when trying to send the QuickTime video stream to your system [or iPhone].
Performance -
The MOLE has good image quality and speed. Where it fails as a security device is in its lack of a stealth mode [no lights on], the loud and obvious clicks it makes when turning on the IR lights and the noises if makes when moving. These draw attention to it in a way that is simply not acceptable in a camera named MOLE [with the indication that it is a covert item]. The MOLE does excel in one main area though. The number of IR lights gives it an excellent night range. The down side of this is at close range these lights can “white out” details. Interestingly enough as you could see in the UI section the image quality when viewing through FireFox is not as good as Through IE8. IE8 just takes more setup to get going properly.
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Day and Night Image Quality
The MOLE also tends to be more of a toy than a real monitoring device. The inability to send files to an NAS device reduces its use in a real security setup. However the social networking features do help it find an interesting niche in today’s market especially with the popularity of Twitter and YouTube. The Web UI also needs some work [especially the Java requirement]. Still the MOLE does perform well in the role of a non-security based IP Camera.
Value -
If you are interested in getting the MOLE you are going to need to shell out about $280. At this price the MOLE is at the higher end of the Pan and Tilt Wireless IP cameras. The price also pushes it out of the security role again as you can get lower prices IP cameras with the ability to capture to networked storage. This leaves it in the realm of a high-priced toy unfortunately
Conclusion -
When we first saw the MOLE we thought it was a great looking product with promise. After all it is black, sleek and seemed to be much stealthier than other IP cameras on the market. However once we got it in place and compared it to other security based IP Cameras we saw that it did not meet our expectations.
The MOLE was still sleek and clean looking, but it was not stealthy by any means. There is no way to turn off the three activity lights, the IR LEDs shine a bright red and the camera makes way too much noise [including loud clicks when it shifts from normal to IR mode]. The MOLE also seems to be more social networking oriented with its ability to send to Twitter and YouTube automatically. But even with this we simply do not feel it warrants a $280 price tag. In the end while the MOLE is very cool looking and has some “fun” features we cannot recommend it for anyone looking for an IP camera for security or for monitoring.