Featured Image Credit: Amazon/Ring
Topics: Technology, US News, Amazon
Joe Harker
You might have heard about the flying mini drone from Ring which is designed to patrol around your house when you're not in.
It's the latest thing from smart doorbell company Ring, those people who make those doorbells that record anyone coming up to your house so you can see who came to visit even when you're out.
While they let you know if you've got a delivery or hopeful relative outside your door when you're not in to greet them, they also let you spot nefarious types who might come up and decide to case the joint.
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There have been a few concerns in this direction, however, as Ring is allowed to send the footage their doorbells record over to the police without the homeowner's consent if the company reckons it's urgent enough.
People have been discovering that the doorbells also double up as a pretty handy anti-theft device for their cars, sticking them near the filler cap to deter anyone who thinks about siphoning off a bit of fuel.
While the doorbells spot ne'er-do-wells approaching from the most obvious angle, they might miss more subtle types who notice the front door is being watched.
To fix that particular issue you can get a mini drone from Ring to fly around your house and show you different views of what's going on while you're out.
You can program the 'Always Home Cam' to fly a set number of routes around your house so it can check on whatever you want it to.
Apparently it's 'as loud as a vacuum or a blender', and you can bet some of your more inquisitive pets left home alone would love to take a swipe at it as it flies by.
It's also only got about five minutes of flight time before it has to go back and recharge, so don't think the drone will be spending hours at a time patrolling your house.
If you want to get your hands on one of these little gizmos you'll have to be patient as it'll probably go on sale by 2024 at the earliest, but if you can't wait that long you might be able to snag an early version.
Amazon are already listing the 'Always Home Cam' on their site, though it's only for people living in the US at the moment and you can only get one by invitation.
If you want to get one of these earlier than everyone else you can 'request an invitation' and Ring will decide if you're the sort of person they'd want to ship a drone out to.
You'd be getting what they call a 'Day 1 Edition', meaning you'd be able to give Ring feedback on how well the drone works before they put it on sale for everyone else.