(Return To) Experimental Proof-of-Concept Mobile Web Cameras

Mobile iPAQ PocketPC Cam

Status: 7/29/2005:We are live transmitting from Interstate-81 in Virginia, our first successful live mobile webcam. There are some issues...

Status: 7/24/2005:We are testing the camera from inside the house as a real wireless transmission, in preparation for a real test on vacation next week.

Status: 3/8/2005: I wrote some perl code to handle the image checking on the server -- now I can show an archive of the previous images without duplicate images building up or me having to get on the server each time. Only disadvantage is that it displays the images backwards in time. See tonight's inside test.

Status: 3/7/2005: I had the first successful test of the webcam today on the drive home (plus walking to the mailbox). Outside testing will probably wait until I have a new PDA mount for the car, so you can see something more interesting.

Status: 3/4/2005: FINALLY someone wrote some software to do this thing. Thanks for the tip, Scott Burningham! Scott beat me to it - he has his IPAQ mobile cam up and running. He contacted a guy in Germany who wrote software which will either 1.) capture and transfer images from the new LOOX 720, HP iPAQ h6315/h6365 and more, OR 2.) transmit captured images from a folder on any IPAQ (like my 5450) with a camera (like my Spectec SD Cam) which automatically saves images based on a timer in its own software (which we found out below mine does!) Here are the first test photos transmitted over the Internet from my IPAQ! See also my thoughts on this first real test - there are a LOT of issues.

Status: 8/25/2003: I left the iPAQ on its cradle today at work and had it automatically save off pictures like a standard webcam as an "inside test." It definitely resembled something I had done 7 years ago. I haven't heard back from the software company yet and don't expect to. I will investigate further later. For now, I give up.

Status: 8/24/2003: I took the cam on a trip tonight and had it automatically take a picture every 60 seconds with no manual intervention. This was an initial test and I did not attempt to upload the images to the Internet live. However, I did save the images and got some interesting results.

Status: 8/23/2003: I have uploaded, manually, a test image (yeah that's me in the dark), wirelessly through the 3G network and am waiting for tech support from the FTP software company to see if I can automate it. The camera itself WILL automatically take pictures but one issue is that it names them on a rolling basis.

Status: 8/20/2003: I am one step closer with the purchase of a SpecTec SD Camera for my HP iPAQ 5400 with Verizon's Express Network & on-board LAN.

This will be my largest endeavour and if it is conceived... I may have made the first handheld webcam on the Internet. Should I ever figure out how to do this, it would be semi-live.

Precedent: None that I know of as of 2003. If you do, email me. NOTE: See 3/4/2005 entry above for the guy who beat me to it.

Equipment: See about this camera for the latest hardware and software list.