Tech Life Brain dead simple

Webcams as Holy Shit?

Eliza demonstrated a potential holy shit the other day when she sent the following message showed up in a chat window… “Click to see my video”.

Being a regular surfer of the Internet, I immediately thought, “Cool, porn.”

PirateWhen I clicked on the link, I was surprised to see a small window appear with Eliza in it. She was working at her desk, typing away. This happened also immediately with no plug-ins or software to install… it “just worked”.

A reminder: “just working” is a leading indicator of a holy shit experience. The Mac “just worked”. Using a web browser “just worked”. Looking up in Quake “just worked”. What “just working” means is there is zero difference between what you expected to occur and what actually occurs.

Live webcams have been around forever. I remember showing off CuSeeMe to co-workers back in 1995-96, so why in the world would I call this Eliza experience a holy shit moment? What about her webcam showing up so easily on my desktop made me run to my garage and grab my box of technical odds’n’ends, looking for my old Logitech camera? It was because Logitech made it brain dead simple.

In the past, setting up your live webcam involved purchasing the software, setting it up, making sure you had a connection that supported it, and then, this is the killer, finding people to broadcast to. In the Eliza experience above, all I needed to do was click on a link. That’s the beauty of the solution. Logitech solved the last mile problem of finding people to broadcast to by riding piggy back on great source of quality people you care about, your AIM or Microsoft Messenger buddy list. Coupled with the fact that Windows XP/2000 has the entire infrastructure built in that is necessary to receive a live cam, it’s likely that you can receive this streams right this very second.

Why has Logitech made it so easy? Duh, they want to sell cameras. They’ve probably already sold a ton, but they want every person with an AOL-level intelligence and higher to buy one. They want Suzie Lou and Grandma Ethel to be able to see their nephews and grandkids. They want MARKET PENETRATION. With instant messaging integration and zero set-up, they’ve taken a large step forward.

Useful video on the Internet stalled when promise of unlimited bandwidth disappeared along with a good portion of your 401k savings. In the past week, I’ve shared a birthday party with close friends who have moved to Seattle and to Portland. I saw the daughter of a friend in New York for the first time. During that time, I am also directly responsible for selling three Logitech cameras. I am willing participant in Logitech’s viral marketing campaign because I love the product and so will you.

[Update 3/23/03]: By the way, the software requirements to broadcast are reasonable, but they are Windows only. Blah.

10 Responses

  1. been using that software for a couple months now. it has revolutionized how i instant messenge.

  2. SPIRAL MAN 21 years ago

    Maybe I missed where you mentioned it, but were you on a Mac or Windows when you received the broadcast?

    I’m guessing Windows, considering how immature the Mac AIM client is. You can’t even use the voice thingie.

    But there is a rumor that iChat will soon support video. Who knows?

  3. yojauta 21 years ago

    Funny you mention CUSeeMe… the software brought to you by some really ***great*** cocksuckers at a big hellhole in Bumfuck, NY.

  4. Brady 21 years ago

    Actually, you can get the AIM voice thingy to work on a macintosh. I haven’t tried it on iChat, but on an old iMac using 9 point whatever, I managed to harass a buddy of mine with it. It mostly seems to do with the way your respective networks are setup –I couldn’t do it at school, but cable modems at home were fine. But I don’t know crap about this stuff really, so maybe it was just luck. I hope the sofware, or something similar, becomes available for mac, because I need something to do with this webcame besides trying to see what I look like trying to lick my own balls.

    (hello jeph, long time no see.)

  5. Note that I am wearing the much-revered Top Hat for His Randsness. Probably another reason this was so Holy Shit. (how many things can I capitalize in here to look coolauhguablgbalh)

  6. Stonewall Jackson 21 years ago

    That’s the first girl to comment on a Rands in Repose feature, by the way.

  7. rands 21 years ago

    Your answer is… incorrect.

  8. Stonewall Jackson 21 years ago

    I bet you had to check.

  9. tripwood 21 years ago

    hey Rands, this is unrelated, but it has to do with an holy shit moment, being mine though.

    http://www.gbax.com/gp32review.html

    looks incredible. what do you think?