ndb - Nerdiest Door Bell originally written because while i had a CHiMP mirror, i could never tell when someone came into my office. attached a camera to a linux box, installed some libraries and this is the result. currently ndb will only run on linux (mostly because i haven't worked out how to address the web cam and had some trouble installing gd packages on windows). VMs seem to work fine for this, but if you don't have at least 1 linux box to play with.. shouldn't you? prereqs: # take_picture.py - python script to take a picture from webcam # python-opencv - python package to interface with camera .. apt-get supported # libgd2-xpm-dev - image libraries for GD .. apt-get supported # libssl-dev - SSL binaries .. apt-get supported # Crypt::SSLeay - SSL crypto # IO::Socket:SSL - SSL wrapper # XML::Stream - XMPP dependency configuration: currently internal to nerdiestdoorbell.pl, in the hash '%s' (future versions will externalize this into an XML file). the XMPP settings are preconfigured to use a Google Talk connection, but this can easily be changed (x_* variables). the motion settings are tuned to a darkish room (where camera is) looking out to a well lit hallway, so will need to be modified to suit your environment.