Evolution of Webcams and Webcasting
Webcams have carved out a large market since their earliest use in 1991. It is hard to believe the impact something so small and cheap and plasticy can have on our privacy, our friendships, our news delivery, and yes (drumroll please) even our sexuality. You saw that coming, right?
We have come a long way since the first known webcam, which was focused on the coffee pot in the Trojan Room at University of Cambridge.
I remember the early days with my overpriced Cracker Jack toy-like camera. Trying to push that grainy picture through the comparatively tiny pipes we had for Internet access back then was like a poodle giving birth to a rhinoceros.
It was not very long before coffee pots and animals gave way to Internet video sensations like Jennifer Ringley of JenniCam, and technology webcaster Chris Pirillo.
Later, the boom of the webcam forged a huge spam market similar to that of the little blue pill. They were cheap and available everywhere. Not only that, we finally had more ways to use them.
As the technology improved, we started seeing more instant video from all over the place. It went mobile, and not just people going out to get video and putting it on YouTube twenty minutes later. The live video streaming sensation went mobile in a big way.
I am no Al Gore (self-proclaimed creator of the Internet), but I felt pretty darn excited on the day I decided to go mobile with a webcast. I was programming my home security IP cameras (so I could spy on my cat while away) and I had this crazy idea of a webcast from the car. “How amazing would that be?” I thought to myself. So I went about finding all of the right equipment to take my show on the road. I crammed a bunch of camera equipment, laptops, and cellular booster into a Corvette for a nine day live mobile webcast of the Cannonball One Lap of America. I packed as many wires as a guy could pack into that car. If not for a lot of careful tucking and routing, the car would have looked like a big bowl of black spaghetti. I brought a lot of equipment for the long 6,000 mile (9,500 km) trek from race track to race track, and a whole different setup for webcasting my racing events live at 175 miles per hour (280+ kph). I even threw in a live GPS feed and called myself Cop Magnet. I was feeling pretty high-tech … for way back in early ought-eight.
Today we can look back at all of the genius of nearly a decade since that coffee pot and what have we got now? Phones that can send a stream straight to the Internet. Not just phones, but incredible handheld wonders that grandma wouldn’t have seen coming in her wildest dreams. Better yet, they are not just sending streaming video to some obscure server, they are sending it to big communities like USTREAM, Qik, Kyte and others. Then they archive and upload episodes to YouTube, and Facebook, and send it out on Twitter, FriendFeed, Ping, and etcetera. The service I use even maps my GPS coordinates as I move along and allows viewers to chat with me right through my viewfinder. All of these cool features just by pushing the red button! So much for my rats nest of wires.
The most amazing thing to me now is that as the technology has grown so vast, many people seem to have become more shy. I think is scares a lot of people just how quickly they can make a fool of themselves in front of a global audience. This begs the question: “Isn’t that what we wanted?”
It is your turn. Feel free to leave your video reply, but if you are feeling particularly shy, just go ahead and type it out like they did in ought-nine. Here is my video from just before I pushed “publish”. I am sorry, but I didn’t get my hair all just right and I have not shaved, but you cannot call me a chicken!
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Filed Under: Android • Cameras • Social Media • Streaming Media • iPhone
Dude, webcasting hasn't taken off because there are too many fat, ugly bastards hiding behind avatars that were taken in 1997. haha… I speak from first-hand fat bastard knowledge.
When you used to be 180 and you bust over the 200 mark into no-mans land… you are hesitant to video your fat ass for the world.
lol
Come on, Travis, moobs are the new pecs. Show them off and wear them with pride. When you were 14 you would kill for fleshy lumps like that!
My recent post Shove Your Followers, I Want Disciples!
My lumps, my lumps… ♪♫