Webcams a global peepfest

You can check out the surf or spy on a daycare centre, reports CHRIS DANIELS

Ten years ago, programmers at the Cambridge Computer Laboratory in Britain pioneered the concept of a webcam.

With people making long trips to a coffeepot only to find it empty, the team trained a camera on the pot, enabling others to check how full it was from their computers.

The coffeepot cam was switched off last August and the historic pot sold for more than $10,000.

In the decade since the researchers put their coffee online, the number of sites featuring webcam images has exploded.

Webcams are now staring at everything you can imagine: tigers, beaches, aeroplanes and people.

And you will come across the good, the bad and the downright disgusting, so be warned. Webcams are the perfect technology for the purveyors of internet pornography - if you are looking for cute pictures of animals or bridges, be careful what you click on.

New Zealander Kama Bailey has taken a more wholesome approach to using a webcam.

She broadcasts pictures of herself working at the PC, or shots of her Christchurch garden.

Hardly riveting stuff, but she says the reaction from around the world has been fantastic.

"It was just a cheap one, as you can probably tell from the quality - it was just one of those $100 Warehouse jobs, but I just wanted to see how easy it was to set up - and it wasn't bad.

"You might have got a shot of the garden outside if I turned it around, but that was pretty much it."

Kama Bailey says setting up a webcam was fairly simple, but required basic knowledge of internet software.

Although the cam is no longer on, her fans still keep in touch.

"I got heaps of e-mail and reaction - I still do, even though it obviously isn't being updated.

"I got e-mails from all sorts of people around the world, just saying they liked my site and thought the webcam was cool."

The novelty value of the webcam is being replaced by a more hard-headed commercial approach, with many companies now convinced a camera is the perfect way to spice up a boring website.

Chris Parkinson, managing director of Auckland company Netgate Communications, helped to set up Webcam.co.nz, which has been broadcasting pictures of New Zealand for four years.

"One of my friends was really keen on surfing so he thought it would be good to put some cameras up at some of the surf beaches."

Now the webcam.co.nz site is "more like a fun hobby", says Mr Parkinson, and a way of steering business to him - he installs webcams for corporate sites.

One of his favourite cams is a beautiful shot of the Auckland skyline, taken from the house of a friend in Devonport.

Two cameras he installed on Mt Ruapehu allow skiers to check the weather at the Turoa and Whakapapa fields.

Mr Parkinson says the cameras provide a commercial advantage for skifield operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts.

"They want people to be able to see the site. Unfortunately when it's snowing you don't actually see that much, but at least they know it's falling."

Tourism operators such as the skifields love webcams, he says.

They provide an easy way to decorate webpages and drag in curious customers.

"Everyone shows pictures, but if you can show live pictures, or even ones taken in the past half-hour or so, then it gives them a real good view of what is happening.

"I think it's just part of the whole package. It might not necessarily get people to make the booking, but it ain't going to hurt to have it there as a plus."

Another local expert on webcams is software developer Bob Prangnell.

He has developed a program called Webcam Watcher, which allows people to monitor hundreds of webcams at once, with the software updating pictures when anything new happens.

Mr Prangnell says the home user should realise that webcam images seen live on the internet are different to what most people can do with a small camera on top of the PC.

"You need a website, webcam software and a camera. Buying a webcam and installing it is fairly easy, but setting up a webcam to show pictures over the internet is a fairly big job."

He says the number of webcams available on the internet doubles annually, and they cover any topic imaginable.

"There's an awful lot of webcams around. You can watch wildlife parks in Africa, see the lions eating, watch traffic all around the world - traffic is a pretty important thing."

Some corporations have installed a webcam of the office cafeteria queue, so workers can check how long the line is before leaving their desks for lunch.

"It's more than just a gimmick. I think this technology is going to be used much more in the future for security.

"People are going to want to set up a webcam at home and watch it from work."

Mr Prangnell says the webcam is a way of travelling the world and viewing things in real time that you would not normally see.

Webcams are slowly coming out of the novelty phase and showing practical benefits.

Parents in the United States can send their children to daycare centres that offer webcam access.

Parents can log on to the centre's website during the day to check whether their youngster is being bullied by other children or mistreated by staff.

The reassurance of seeing live pictures is the same for security guards and those with more sinister purposes.

Mr Prangnell says he has no doubt that webcam technology is being used by military forces in Afghanistan.

Everything from porn to traffic jams, coffeepots to cats are now being broadcast round the clock.

Some of it is fantastic, most of it dull.

Mr Prangnell says there are no limits to what a webcam can be used for.

"It's not hard to see the value of live images being accessible from anywhere in the world.

"It's a concept that is only limited by your imagination."

Links

Webcam.co.nz