Dropping the hammer.

This is the living room of my house.

Some of you have been here, most of you have not.

The couch needs replacing, thanks to the abundant sunlight and the new sleeping habits of my dog. In the past we never let Nellie up on the furniture, but she's old now and probably on her last days, so we bit the bullet and acceded to her comfort.

We could probably use some new chairs and the hardwood floors need to be resurfaced. Those things can wait.

What couldn't wait was my new Dropcam.

As you can see from the watermark in the lower right hand corner, I now have 24/7/365 video surveillance of the inside of my house. To a control freak, like myself, this is Nirvana. You know, as much as nirvana can coincide with being in Culver City.

I'm sure you've heard of Dropcam, they are kind of relentless with the banner ads. They're made by the same company that revolutionized thermostats, Nest, which you can spot on the wall by the staircase.

The camera itself is tiny and unobtrusive. It has a very Apple-like aesthetic to it. It delivers an incredible 110 degree wide HD image. With astonishing digital zooming.

But unlike the video cameras I have mounted on the outside of my house which feed into a DVR hidden in the closet, the Dropcam sends all its data to the cloud.

In the event a burglar broke in and spotted the camera there is no way he could do anything about being caught on film. It's so delicious in its design I'm almost hoping someone tries to break in my house.

In fact, I've started to leave the windows open and all the doors unlocked. And I've left some shopping bags from Tiffany and Cartier out by the garbage cans.

Is the Dropcam without its faults?

Not exactly. You see my wife is not thrilled that I've turned our home into a Gestapo-style "police state." And questions my sanity with regards to security, among other things.

Which means a conciliatory move is in order. Which means a trip to the furniture store for a new couch will probably be sooner than later.