Live Webcams - A Guide For A Newbie
A webcam has become a ubiquitous accessory for the personal computer. While primarily intended for video conferencing over the Internet, live webcams were soon deployed by working parents to keep an eye on their kids at home. Similarly, many companies have deployed live webcams to replace expensive closed-circuit TV-based surveillance systems. With the improvement in broadband penetration levels, live webcams have taken over an entirely new perspective.
Webcams are now used to allow anyone in the world to view something or someplace in real time, just as if it was a live television broadcast. The first live webcam, which was accessible from anywhere in the world, was set in the University of Cambridge and the cameras sight was trained on to a coffee maker. Popularly known as the Trojan Room Coffee Cam, this live webcam went live in 1991 in the University of Cambridge. This forefather of all live webcams was a black and white camera that showed extremely low-resolution (128 X 128) images within the universitys network. It was put up on the Internet in 1993, when Mosaic, the first web browser that could display images was released. While on the Internet, the coffee cam became one of the most visited destinations on the Internet. It was shut down in 2001, but was subsequently restarted by Spiegel Online.
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Today, live webcams are being used extensively for security purposes, in offices, in places of importance, but most publicly accessible live webcams are run by enthusiasts to allow the world to see the place that they would like to the world to see again and again. There are a number of live webcams that target the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Statue of Liberty in New York. Live Webcams were even installed at the World Trade Center tragedy site to help locate missing people. These live webcams now show the construction of the Freedom Memorial being built at Ground Zero, as the site is now known as.
Live webcams have both advantages and disadvantages. Whereas, live webcams provide a convenient visual connection with people all around the world, concerns about privacy cannot be discounted. Some live webcams can be remotely triggered and the recordings forwarded to a pre-assigned destination, which can then be used for malicious purposes. Moreover, some live webcams provide high-bandwidth streaming and therefore the content that they stream is not accessible to you, if you are in an area in which you have to rely on a dial-up connection. All in all, live webcams are useful, if you want to see your baby take his/her first step as well as if you want to keep an eye on someone who is not well. It can bring your home right on the monitor of your PC or laptop but be sure to keep the camera lens covered when you do not use it.
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