iSentry

iSentry is a free webcam security system for the Mac. For a free application, iSentry has quite a lot of features, and it provides almost everything that you need to setup a surveillance system on your Mac.

The most important feature that you need in such a system is its motion detection, and iSentry has it, and it is quite customizable. When you launch the application, you will see the image captured by your webcam, and a sliding bar below that. You set the sensitivity of the motion detection feature with this bar. In its default value, the slightest motion will trigger an alert, which isn't bad, but I thought this value was too high, since random lighting changes triggered an alarm, as well.

If you access the settings, you can further customize the system. For example, you can tell the app to record photos or video following a schedule, or when motion is detected. You can also tell it to put the recorded images or videos on your hard drive or create an album in iPhoto. You can customize the alarm and set the application to send you an e-mail when motion is detected or upload the images to ImageShack.us.

To conclude, this is a great free app that can help you setup a comprehensive home security solution. The only thing that it is missing is a feature to connect to the app from the Internet to see what is going on at home.