A few days ago I wrote about a remote control helicopter that you could fly with your iPad or Iphone, well today I have something even better for you.

The same shop is now selling a remote control helicopter that you can control via your iPhone or Ipad, but with an extra, it comes with a tiny video camera mounted on the helicopter, which streams its images directly back to your phone or iPad.

I am not sure if I should be happy and amused by this idea, or appalled to be honest.   If it is used to simply amuse, and nothing more, well, OK.  But if it is used for a less friendly purpose, more like its larger cousins used by the world’s military, namely to spy on people, then I am not so sure I like it.

As the helicopter uses an electric engine to drive its propellers, it is effectively silent in operation, and quite small, so it could happily hover outside your window at night and you would be none the wiser…  Bothering thought, eh?

The blurb for this toy says the following about it:

Unmanned aerial surveillance drone technology was developed for, and been used by the military and civilian police forces around the world for years. Now you can experience the action yourself with our Remote Control Spy Helicopter, complete with mounted camera, internal GYRO technology for stable flight control and a light for night flying.

Apparently the video stream works via WiFi, so the helicopter is set up with its own WiFi point, so all you need to do is set up your iPad or iPhone to work with that particular WiFi station, and then the video will pour into your device… Simple really, but ingenious.

Here are its main specs:

General

Battery Capacity

1100mAh

Battery Life

7-9 min

Operating Range

30-40m

Imaging

Effective Pixels

0.3MP

Recording

Video Resolution

640 x 480

Sensors

Gyroscope

Yes

Also a Tank: 

Since writing this post I have heard from Kogan who tell me that they also have a remote control tank (also controlled by your iPad or iPhone) which has a video camera, exactly as with the helicopter, so now you can spy on people from above and below.

It also costs AUD 99.

Where to get it: Kogan:Price: AUD 99.00

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Do you also feel slightly uneasy about this toy?  Or am I being paranoid?