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Experimental
Proof-of-Concept
Mission To create (relatively) inexpensive, wireless, automatic, easy-to-setup, live (uploading static images) webcams that transmit images from unique perspectives. Background The time has come when inexpensive mobile web cams are possible. Here at WeatherMatrix HQ, I have been running several weather webcams since 1998 but in 2003 I became interested in the possibility of creating a mobile webcam, one that could transmit images from wherever I was, not just from my home here in Central Pennsylvania. What I mean here is not simply a wireless camera or even a camera that can automatically take pictures, but one that can automatically upload pictures to the web. Research and contact with other WeatherMatrix Members has shown some unique applications of this concept. It's Already Been Done (The TruckCam) Member John Van Pelt of Raleigh NC is my idol. He has had his mobile "Truck Cam" on the web for several years. He uses a HP Pavilion laptop with a Intel Pro Video PC USB Web Cam and Verizon Wireless' CDPD service to transmit the images to his website and he's been doing this since April 2001. Details and photos of the inside of the truck are available on his website. There are other people with similar setups -- see my laptop car cam page for details. Aerial Cams & Chicken Cams Member Jeffery Sharts of Greenwich NY once sent a video camera up in a remote controlled airplane then transmitted the video back to his house, providing a unique perspective on his farm. The camera did not transmit the live images to a website but the possibility existed (afterall, a video feed on the ground is as easy to connect to webcam software as a regular webcam). He also had a webcam in his chicken coops for a while which was quite interesting, for both the chickens and visitors to his website Other Human Endeavours... This type of thing is not unheard of outside of WeatherMatrix. Regular (?) people have put video cameras in hats, weather balloons, pigeons & rockets, and kites (site 1 | site 2). However, the general principal that these people are missing is that it's not just cool to DO that, it's cool to DO IT LIVE on the web. My Proof-of-Concept Cams... So over the next few months, keep an eye on this page for the results of some experimental proof-of-concept cameras that I plan to do. Most of them will probably never be live 24/7 because they are too expensive or unwieldy, but we can only assume in the future as bandwidth becomes cheaper and small devices with cameras become more prevalent... Similar to John's Truck Cam, this is a mobile webcam broadcast from my car. Similar to John's Truck Cam, except it is done with a handheld device and goes where I go. Yet to be realized, this would combine a wireless webcam and battery pack with headwear. Not as cruel as it sounds, you could theoretically outfit your kitty sweater with a wireless cam & battery pack. |
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