Word: webcam
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Ever wanted to set up your own Webcam--a video window on your world that everyone in computerland could see? No? Me neither. But you and I are different--we're not like...the others. Apparently, great numbers of people have been connecting always-on digital cameras to the Net, beaming back pictures and even full-motion video of themselves as they sit dully at their computers, mill around their homes and otherwise live their lonely and hollow lives. A New York Times article estimated that 10,000 live Webcams are out there now, with some 250,000 people doing...
...ventured out of my cocoon, briefly, to see what I was missing and got hold of a Logitech WebCam ($79, after a $20 mail-in rebate). The cigarette-pack-size camera has begun shipping bundled with software that makes it easy to create a Truman Show--starring you. A CD that installs the camera also helps you create your own point, click and broadcast site at SpotLife.com which will host your exhibitionism for free. Of course, as is always the case online, free means you have to register and give up some of your privacy. But do we exhibitionists care...
...simple as advertised. In about 15 minutes. I created my own site, Little Al's Video Horror Show, within a channel called Warp ("Avant-garde, urbane, sci-fi, beyond"), which is one of 14 channels on SpotLife. I also tweaked the performance of my site; I could tell my Webcam to click an image of me once a minute, or every few seconds, then upload it to my site. Or I could send live video out to the Net; users are limited to 240 "live" minutes a month. I could make my own short video (up to 15 megabytes...
Bear in mind, for starters, that in 2025 the average American will have, as they say in technical circles, bandwidth out the wazoo. You won't just be able to monitor your child's day care by webcam (a service already offered by more than 100 day-care centers). You'll be able to monitor it in high-definition 3-D format, providing valuable perspective during slo-mo replays of block-throwing incidents...
...staff members, including a media-relations liaison, a sponsor-relations coordinator and a treasurer. They had a permit from the city, a hotel room across the street for showers, a pay phone hooked up to take phone calls from radio stations, and a tech-support van broadcasting a live webcam pointed at the theater. This, I assume, was to prove the old saw that the only thing more boring than sleeping out for Star Wars tickets is watching people sleeping out for Star Wars tickets...