Amazon Acquires Connected Camera and Doorbell Startup 'Blink'

In an effort to push further into smart home and connected security products, Amazon has acquired Blink -- a wireless security camera company that launched back in 2014 and then subsequently closed a million-dollar Kickstarter campaign. SlashGear reports: The deal was announced today, and for the moment will see Blink continue to operate as-is, with no changes to the company's line-up. That includes the recently announced Blink Video Doorbell. Blink first broke cover back in 2014, then the following year announced a crowdfunding campaign aiming to raise $200k for its entirely wire-free security camera. Unlike rival systems that require a wired power connection, or the few battery-powered cameras already on the market which generally had relatively short battery life, Blink's promised more than a year of home monitoring from a single charge. The campaign was a success, with Blink raising five times the amount it initially targeted.

It's not hard to see, therefore, why Amazon might have been interested. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed at this stage, but the retailer is making a serious push into smart home and connected security products. That started with the Amazon Cloud Cam, a streaming video camera that requires mains power, and which is an instrumental part of Amazon Key, its home delivery service.

wire free?

[b0s0z0ku]

wire free? I want cloud free. if it can't stream securely and directly to a device I own without a clown ... I mean cloud ... interloper, then they can keep it. I can get up and look at a peephole or have a non cloud WiFi camera without streaming images of all comers to my home to the Amazon Borg.

The younger generation knows what "IoT" means.

[Anonymous Coward]

I recently attended a meeting of a local C++ programming language user group. Also in attendance were some college aged students, probably in their early 20s.

One of the presenters was talking about using C++ to interface with cloud based IoT web services. He was an older fellow. Not quite a greybeard, but probably in his mid 50s.

At one point early on in his presentation he asked the crowd, "What does `Internet of Things` mean to you?"

A couple of attendees raised their hands and gave pretty typical answers i

Re:

[hughbar]

I'm 67 and have a 40 year career in computing and I understand it. It's probably not just cohorts, more people who are capable of doing a little cynical (I would say realistic), deeper thinking about feasibility and motives when everything in your house is connected to for-profits that are busy maximising shareholder value.

As for the 'cloud', as someone wisely said, "it's just someone else's computer".

Re:

[rogoshen1]

maybe it's because amazon is feeling left out of all the creepy shit that google and facebook get to do with our online habits -- so they wanted to get a head start on being creepy, invasive, and just plain evil in the physical world.

All your house are belong to us

[SlaveToTheGrind]

With this, Amazon can just deactivate your security system on demand whenever the delivery person needs to use the Amazon Key to get in.

Sign. Me. Up. </sarc>

Diminishing returns on technology

[avandesande]

We've definitely reached the point of diminishing or even negative returns on quality of life from digital technology.

Sort memory spans

[thinkwaitfast]

Didn't I read here yesterday that people don't use doorbells anymore, they just call the person when they're at the door?