Online Cams
Webcams (web cameras)
Are small cameras, whose images can be accessed using the World Wide Web, instant messaging, or a PC video conferencing application. The term webcam is also used to describe the low-resolution digital video cameras designed for such purposes, but which can also be used to record in a non-real-time fashion.
Web-accessible cameras involve a digital camera which uploads images to a web server. Either continuously or at regular intervals. This may be achieved by a camera attached to a PC, or by dedicated hardware. Videoconferencing cameras typically take the form of a small camera connected directly to a PC. Analogue cameras are also sometimes used (often of the sort used for CCTV), connected to a video capture card and then directly or indirectly to the internet.
History
Started in 1991, the first webcam was pointed at the Trojan room coffee pot in the computer science department of Cambridge University. This webcam is now defunct, as it was finally switched off on August 22, 2001. The final image captured by the camera can still be viewed at the webcam's homepage.
The oldest webcam still operating is FogCam at San Francisco State University, which has been running continuously since 1994.
As with many new technologies, webcams and webcam chat found early commercial adoption and aggressive technology advancement through use by the adult industry. The adult industry required 'live' images and requested a Dutch developer to write a piece of software that could do this without requiring web browser plug-in. This led to the birth of the 'live streaming webcam’, which is still available in various forms today.
One of the most widely reported-on webcam sites was JenniCam, started in 1996, which allowed Internet users to constantly observe the life of its namesake, somewhat like reality TV series Big Brother, launched three years later.
Technology
Webcams typically include a lens, an image sensor, and some support electronics. Various lenses are available, the most common being a plastic lens that can be screwed in and out to set the camera's focus. Fixed focus lenses are also available, which require no adjustment. Image sensors can be CMOS or CCD, the former being dominant for low-cost cameras, but CCD cameras do not necessarily outperform CMOS-based cameras in the low cost price range. Consumer webcams usually offer a resolution in the VGA region, at a rate of around 25 frames per second. The higher resolution of 1.3 Megapixel is also available from the “big-name” brands.
Support electronics are present to read the image from the sensor and transmit it to the host computer. Some cameras - such as mobile phone cameras - use a CMOS sensor with supporting electronics "on die", i.e. the sensor and the support electronics are built on a single silicon chip to save space and manufacturing costs.
Some webcams feature built in microphones to make video conferencing more convenient. Creative Technology has introduced a webcam featuring built in noise cancellation to focus the audio to the speaker who is directly in front of the camera, excluding ambient noise.
The USB video device class (UVC) specification allows for interconnectivity of webcams to computers even without proprietary drivers installed. Microsoft Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.5 have UVC drivers built in and do not require extra drivers, although they are often installed in order to add additional features.
Web-accessible cameras
In addition to use for personal video conferencing, it was quickly realised that the World Wide Web users enjoyed viewing images from cameras set up by others elsewhere in the world. While the term "webcam" refers to the technology generally, the first part of the term ("web-") is often replaced with a word describing what can be viewed with the camera, such as a netcam or streetcam.
Today there are millions of webcams that provide views into homes, offices and other buildings as well as providing panoramic views of cities and the countryside. Webcams are used to monitor traffic with TraffiCams, the weather with WeatherCams and even volcanoes with VolcanoCams. Webcam aggregators allow viewers to search for specific webcams based on geography or other criteria.
Software
Webcams connected to PCs can act as web-accessible cameras with certain software. The software uploads pictures to an internet server, from which they can be made accessible to anyone over the web.
Usually, this kind of software works with almost every webcam. Webcam software can be configured in many ways and will often include options for image size and quality, overlaying logos, and time stamping images. Many different programs are available, some of them are free and open source.
Videoconferencing
As webcam capabilities have been added to instant messaging text chat services such as AOL Instant Messenger, one-to-one live video communication over the internet has now reached millions of mainstream PC users worldwide. Increased video quality has helped webcams encroach on traditional video conferencing systems. New features such as lighting, real-time enhancements (retouching, wrinkle smoothing and vertical stretch) can make users more comfortable, further increasing popularity. Features and performance vary between programs.
Videoconferencing support is included in programs including Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Windows Live Messenger, Skype.
Some online video broadcasting sites have taken advantage of this technology to create internet television programs centred on two (or more) people "diavlogging" with each other from two different places. Among others, BloggingHeads.tv uses this technology to set up conversations between prominent journalists, scientists, bloggers, and philosophers.
Cybersex
Cybersex, computer sex, internet sex or net sex is a virtual sex encounter in which two or more persons connected remotely via a computer network send one another sexually explicit messages describing a sexual experience. In one iteration, this fantasy sex is accomplished by the participants describing their actions and responding to their chat partners in a mostly written form designed to stimulate their own sexual feelings and fantasies.
Cybersex can occur either within the context of existing or intimate relationships, e.g. among lovers who are geographically separated, or among individuals who have no prior knowledge of one another and meet in virtual spaces or cyberspaces and may even remain anonymous to one another. In some contexts cybersex is enhanced by the use of webcams to transmit real-time video of the partners.
Characteristics
Cybersex is commonly performed in Internet chat rooms and on instant messaging systems. It can also be performed using webcams, voice chat systems like Skype, or online games and/or virtual worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life. The exact definition of cybersex--specifically, whether real-life masturbation must be taking place for the online sex act to count as cybersex--is up for debate.
Though text-based cybersex has been in practice for decades, the increased popularity of webcams has raised the number of online partners using two-way video connections to "expose" themselves to each other online--giving the act of cybersex a more visual aspect. There are a number of popular, commercial webcam websites that allow people to openly masturbate on camera while others watch them. Using similar sites, couples can also perform on camera for the enjoyment of others.
Cybersex differs from phone sex in that it offers a greater degree of anonymity and allows participants to meet partners more easily. A good deal of cybersex takes place between partners who have just met online. Unlike phone sex, cybersex in chat rooms is rarely commercial. In online worlds like Second Life however, internet sex workers engage in cybersex in exchange for both virtual and real-life currency.
One approach to cybering is a simulation of "real" sex, when participants try to make the experience as close to real life as possible, with participants taking turns writing descriptive, sexually explicit passages. Alternatively, it can be considered a form of role playing that allows a couple to experience unusual sexual sensations and carry out sexual experiments they cannot try in reality. Amongst "serious" roleplayers, cybering may occur as part of a larger plot - the characters involved may be lovers or spouses, or a character could be raped to initiate a plotline. In situations like this, the people typing often consider themselves separate entities from the "people" engaging in the sexual acts, much as the author of a novel often does not completely identify with his or her characters.
