Google+ is bringing people together. The video chat service is just so easy to set up with a click-and-go sort of system. It’s so easy that, as a Lifehacker user pointed out, the Hangouts are perfect for an impromptu video surveillance system.

You will need two Google+ accounts to make this work — one for the camera side and another to view the stream. But that shouldn’t be that big of an issue. Simply start a Hangout on one side and then email yourself the URL. Once you’re at work, or wherever, just open the link to look through the other side of the portal.

The little puzzle here is that like many video streaming services, inactivity will kick you from the Hangout. Use a program like Mouse Jiggler to prevent this. It simply sits in the background and inputs fake mouse movements.

But once you’ve spent three minutes setting this up, you’ll have a dead-simple way to monitor the cat, front door, or stove top. I’m totally going to use this to monitor my grill from within my air-conditioned house.