If your pet hates to be home alone — or if you just like checking in on your animals throughout the day — you needn’t buy some fancy security camera.
All you need is an inexpensive tablet and a Skype account which you can make a homemade video chat system with.
The tablet
For the very best results, your tablet needs to run a modern operating system such as Android or Windows, have 32MB of free space and also a 1GHz processor.
Since the tablet may get be on the receiving end of some happy licks from time to time, choose an inexpensive tablet with these specs. You can uaully pick up an Android or Kindle tablet on Amazon or other stores for less than $60, £40 or AU$90, or you can simply go on eBay and snag a used one for around half that.
Now you should set up a Skype account
If you don’t have Skype on your work computer you’ll need to just download it and set up an account.
Then, go to the Skype for tablets download page and choose a download for the type of operating system that your tablet has if it doesn’t have Skype already. You may choose between iPad, Android, Kindle Fire HD and Windows downloads.
Once Skype is fully downloaded to your tablet, set up an account for your pet, since you can’t call yourself using your Skype account. A cute profile pic of your pet is mandatory, of course.
Set up the auto answer
Now you need to set up your pet’s account so that it will answer when you are calling. Log into your pet’s account and set the account to auto answer. Auto-answer will allow a Skype call to be answered automatically on the tablet since your pet doesn’t have any fingers to answer your call, or, you know, a solid grasp on the principles of web-based telephony.
Here’s how you can set it up through Windows:
Open Skype
Add your Skype profile to your pet’s contact list
On the menu bar, select Tools > Options
Select Calls, then click Show advanced options
Tick Answer incoming calls automatically and Start my video automatically when I am in a call
Select that you only want auto answer to work when your account calls your pet
Here’s how to set up auto answer on Android and Kindle Fire HD:
Open Skype
Add your Skype profile to your pet’s contact list
Click on Settings
Under the Voice and Video calls settings, tick the box that says Answer calls automatically
Here’s just how to set up auto answer with Mac:
Open Skype
Add your Skype profile to your pet’s contact list
Click on the Skype Menu and select Preferences…
Select Calls, then set Incoming calls to Answer automatically
Click Configure and select Answer automatically with video
Now that you have everything need set up correctly, it’s time to place your tablet. Find a spot in your home that your pet frequents and that’s by an outlet so that you can plug your tablet in.
Stick some strips of self-adhesive Then, velcro to the back of your tablet and stick the other side of the Velcro on the wall. Make absolutely sure that the tablet is placed so that your pet can easily see the screen. Stick the tablet to the Velcro and then turn on your tablet’s screensaver. Now you’re ready to interact with your fur-babies when you’re not at home!
