A Creative webcam

A web camera (or webcam) is a real time camera whose images can be accessed using the World Wide Web, instant messaging, or a PC video calling application. Generally, a digital camera delivers images to a web server, either continuously or at regular intervals. Image File history File links A Creative webcam, taken by me, Orange Goblin. ... Image File history File links A Creative webcam, taken by me, Orange Goblin. ... Creative Technology Limited (SGX: C76) (NASDAQ: CREAF) is a listed manufacturer of computer multimedia products based in Singapore where the firm was initially founded by Sim Wong Hoo (born 1955) on July 1, 1981. ... It has been suggested that Real-time computing be merged into this article or section. ... A camera is a device used to take pictures (usually photographs), either singly or in sequence, with or without sound, such as with video cameras. ... WorldWideWeb. ... A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface An instant messenger is a client which allows instant text communication between two or more people through a network such as the Internet. ... A SiPix digital camera next to a matchbox to show scale. ... The term web server can mean one of two things: a computer responsible for serving web pages, mostly HTML documents, via the HTTP protocol to clients, mostly web browsers; a software program that is working as a daemon serving web documents. ...

A webcam is also the name of a class of video camera devices which connect directly to the PC for the purpose of video calling over the internet.

The first webcam was pointed at the Trojan room coffee pot in the computer science department of Cambridge University. This webcam is now defunct, as it was finally switched off on 22 August 2001. The final image captured by the camera can still be viewed at the webcam's homepage [1]. The Trojan room coffee pot was the inspiration for the worlds first webcam. ... REDIRECT [1] ... August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

As with many new technologies, webcams and webcam chat found their earliest commercial adoption and most aggressive technology advancement through use by the adult industry. Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφία pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) (also informally referred to as porn or porno) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. ...

The adult industry required 'live' images and requested a Dutch developer to write a piece of software that could do this without using so called 'plugins'. This led to the birth of the 'live streaming webcam', which is still available in various forms today.

Initially intended for personal videoconferencing, it was quickly realised that World Wide Web users enjoyed viewing images from cameras set up by others elsewhere in the world. While webcam refers to the technology generally, the "Web" part is often replaced with the "Category" of images the camera provides. Categories: Wikipedia cleanup | Groupware | Telecommunications stubs ... WorldWideWeb. ...

Today there are thousands of webcam that provide views into homes, offices and other buildings as well as providing panoramic views of cities (Metrocams) and the countryside. Images from satellites are frequently posted on the World Wide Web. Webcams are also used to monitor traffic with TraffiCams, the weather with WeatherCams and even volcanos with VolcanoCams. A volcano is a geological landform (usually a mountain) where magma (rock of the Earths interior made molten or liquid by extremely high temperatures along with a reduction in pressure and/or the introduction of water or other volatiles) erupts through the surface of the planet. ...

As webcam capabilities have been added to instant messaging text chat services such as Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and MSN Messenger, one-to-one live video communication over the internet has now reached millions of mainstream PC users worldwide. A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface Instant messaging is the act of instantly communicating between two or more people over a network such as the Internet. ...

Many companies have tried to jump on the 'live video' bandwagon, most notably 'vdolive' (an Israeli company), Spotlife (a Logitech daughter company) and many others, most of these have since failed.

In mid-January 2005 two easy to use Google search strings have been published in an on-line forum. These can find thousands of Panasonic- and Axis-made high-end web cameras. Most of such cameras are running on default configuration, which does not require any password login or IP address verification, thus once again generating public controversy over webcam privacy issues. 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Google, Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), is a U.S. public corporation, initially established as a privately-held corporation in 1998, that designed and managed the Internet Google search engine. ... String searching algorithms are an important class of string algorithms that try to find a place where one or several strings (also called patterns) are found within a larger string or text. ... Panasonic is principal sponsor of the Toyota F1 team Panasonic was also the name of a road bicycle racing team and a Finnish electronic music duo. ... A password is a form of secret authentication data that is used to control access to a resource. ... Look up Controversy on Wiktionary, the free dictionary A controversy is a contentious dispute, a disagreement in opinions over which parties are actively arguing. ... Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to stop information about themselves from becoming known to people other than those they choose to give the information to. ...

See also

• Quickcam
• EyeToy
• Video camera
• List of digital camera brands
• List of live webcams of places around the world

Quickcam is the brand name of a line of webcam PC video camera products from Logitech. ... The EyeToy is a digital camera device for the PlayStation 2 similar to a webcam. ... A video camera can be classified two ways: Professional video cameras, such as those used in television production Camcorders used by amateurs This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... List of digital camera brands past and present, updated to 2005, but may miss some. ... This is a list of external links to webpages that feature live (in real time) webcams that are placed in a particular location in the world. ...

External links

• Web Camera Compare Side by side comparison of web camera.
• [http://www.cuatesycuetes.com/ Live webcam from Puerto Pallarta Mexico.
• WebCamPlaza Huge collection of WWW webcams.
• Webcam links from the Open Directory Project
• Globocam GmbH Webcams all over the world.
• Cam Central Large index of webcams.
• Earth Cam Webcams set up throughout the world.
• WorldLIVE A comprehensive webcam directory.
• GearLive: Google exposes web surveillance cams (with links for searches).