Crave giveaway: ArcSoft Simplicam Wi

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Editor’s note: this contest ended at noon PT on Monday, November 3.

Important-announcement time: We notify Crave giveaway winners via email, so please make sure the email address connected to your CNET account is current. Otherwise you might miss your prize, a misfortune that has befallen several giveaway participants in recent months.

Now that that PSA is out of the way, we’ve got a brand-new freebie, an ArcSoft Simplicam Wi-Fi security camera. It lets you check in on your kids, pets, chairs and sofa from your smartphone.

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• CNET’s review of the ArcSoft Simplicam

The camera has the motion and sound alerts typical for surveillance cams but stands out for its facial-recognition capabilities. It can’t actually distinguish between faces, but it can recognize that it’s looking at one, and theoretically, notify you that a human, as opposed to a cat or a rustling branch, has triggered its motion sensor.

The facial-recognition feature is available through an optional cloud service starting at $5 a month (ArcSoft is tossing in a $49.99 one-year subscription to the Closeli Cloud for this giveaway). Without cloud-recording services, you still get motion and sound alerts and live 720p streaming to your smartphone, tablet or computer via the free Closeli app.

In her CNET review of the ArcSoft Simplicam , Megan Wollerton has a few minor quibbles with the $149.99 Simplicam, but says that “Simplicam impresses and in some ways surpasses pricier models.” So how do you go about snagging one for free? There are a few rules, so please read carefully.

• Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the “Join CNET” link to start the registration process. If you’re already registered, there’s no need to register again.
• Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it’s funny or insightful, it won’t help you win, but we’re trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
• Leave only one comment. You may enter for this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
• The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) ArcSoft Simplicam, and a one-year subscription to the Closeli Cloud service, with a retail value of $200.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified via email. The winner must respond within three days of the end of the sweepstakes. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, November 3, 12 p.m. ET.

And here’s the disclaimer that our legal department said we had to include (sorry for the caps, but rules are rules):

NO PURCHASE OR WIRELESS DEVICE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. DATA RATES MAY APPLY. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. YOU HAVE NOT YET WON. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OLD OR AGE OF MAJORITY, WHICHEVER IS OLDER IN YOUR STATE OF RESIDENCE AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS, AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 12 p.m. ET on Monday, November 3, 2014. See official rules for details.

Good luck. (And be sure to follow Crave on Twitter: @crave)

Up close with the Arcsoft Simplicam (pictures)

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