No, not really. This was a couple of years ago and I haven't done anything since. I always meant to write a blog post about it, but never got around to it.
I disconnected it completely a long time ago because it started to make the relays stick and all the switches in the house stop working. It's actually my parent's house, so I didn't want to make modifications to it or affect the current switches at all, just add a little smartness. I still want to get back to it when I get the chance.
The house was built in the mid-70s by a commercial electrician, and even the closet lights are connected to it. There are about 50 switches/relays in total. We've had to replace 3 or 4 of them in the last ten years, but that's all.
All the low-voltage wiring is out in the open. The relays are cylindrical and poke out of knockouts in the relay panel. The relays are of the latching type, so only require power to switch on/off. Three wires to each relay and switch: red/on, black/off, and white/common.
Touch ID is set to require a passcode after five failed attempts, One could use an unregistered finger or knuckle to intentionally fail the five attempts and force a passcode requirement.
Of most IP cameras, Dropcam's form factor is enviable. The lack of local storage is not. I've been on the search for something inconspicuous and similarly-priced for a while.
I've been down this road a bit. There are many ip video cameras made in Asia that are locally controllable. The Dericam H502W is particularly hackable, but the content is not encrypted unless you add that at the internet router via stunnel or a VPN. But if you do that you have an encrypted 720p video feed that records on motion in the dark that you can fully control for less than $100 per camera.
You can choose to use the other camera features like email, ftp or http photo alerts just realize that all that data will be "in the clear" as they travel past your router unless you encrypt them.
NOTE: Simply using an SMTPS to Gmail SMTP server is not protecting your content. That's just wrapping your content up in a pretty box for direct delivery to Google.
One thing that's pretty important to remember here is that it's incredibly easy to boot from any of the peripheral busses on modern computers, especially OS X.
If home or professional replacement of a HDD was necessary but unavailable, Thunderbolt could be a viable alternative (and USB 3.0 an inexpensive one).
10gbps would definitely cover your fastest SSD on SATA 6.0gbps and there wouldn't be a need for heat guns, etc. Not exactly SATA but damn close.
