Digital video feeds allow business executives and families to talk over the Internet, emulating the futuristic videophones in the ''Jetsons'' cartoons. Single shots can be used to update Web pages, can be sent via E-mail to friends and relatives or can be manipulated in photo editing programs. More than 1,000 Webcams are sold each day, according to NPD Intelect, a market tracking firm in Port Washington, N.Y.Īll Webcams on the market can take single shots and can record digital video.
That model was also featured in a pivotal scene in the recent movie ''American Pie.''
Jennifer Ringley, of Jennicam fame, uses four Webcams for her broadcasts, including a Connectix Quickcam Pro, a model now sold under the Logitech name. For less than $100 and a dial-up Internet connection, home computer users can set up their own cameras, hook them up to the World Wide Web and become one-person broadcast studios. Prices for Webcams have become reasonable rebates and discounts available for many models can bring the cost of Webcams down sharply from list prices. Last year there was Monicacam, which surveyed the building office doors of Monica Lewinsky's lawyer. They are overshadowed only by webcams that cater to voyeurs, like the well-known Jennicam. Animals, in particular, seem to draw large Internet audiences to sites like Puppy Cam, Catcam, Sharkcam. com, has become a trendy technological suffix for sites like the Spam Cam (the Penguincam (and the Davecam (./staff/davecam.shtm). SPAM decomposing on a plate, penguins falling on their faces and a cubicle dweller coping with day-to-day office life: Webcams have brought out an odd combination of the voyeur and exhibitionist.