I have several webcams monitoring the exterior and some interior rooms in my house. We run Vitamin D software from http://www.vitamindinc.com/ that emails me whenever there is activity based on rules I setup. It saves the video files to a wireless NAS that I hid in my ceiling so if something happens I can at least review it later. My co-workers call me paranoid.

Our next door neighbor was robbed maybe 7 months ago. The crooks opened their garage door and pulled the van right in. Nobody was home except the dog, a german shepherd, which they beat up with a baseball bat.