Tag: WEBCAM

Google has acquired Green Parrot Pictures, a company that specializes in video quality improvement technology. It sounds like Google (and its massive YouTube wing) want to do something about the low-quality video that comes from smartphones and webcams -- and judging by the demonstrations of its technologies on the Green Parrot Pictures site (embedded after the break), it looks like Google ...

It seems that Skype 5 for Mac, by design, blocks any other application from using your webcam while it's installed. A commenter on the bug report suggests that it also affects Windows machines, but we were unable to replicate the bug with Windows 7. The crazy thing is that you have to uninstall Skype 5 before using your webcam with other programs, including Flash applets on websites. It almost ...

Luxand Blink's claim to fame is its ability to log you onto Windows using face recognition with no password required. It's one of the only free applications that does this, and the concept sounds quite neat (at least on paper). While I covered it before, I was unable to test Blink at the time because it simply didn't work on my 64-bit Windows 7 installation. Luxand has recently released a 64-bit ...

Google's been putting out some pretty decent informational videos over the last couple of years, and yesterday they turned their sights on the hardest targets around: Our grandmothers. Granted, the idea behind this video likely applies to more mothers than grandmothers, it's still a good point that Google's making here -- the generation gap is pretty wide when it comes to technology. So, aside ...

Wow, that didn't take long! Chatroulette, the trendy new random webcam chat service started by a Russian teenager, is so popular that a company is now selling "start your own Chatroulette clone" scripts. If you've got $100, CamChat will hook you up with your own private Chatroulette, with extra charges to remove branding and get professional installation. I guess I can see why people want to ...

RandomDorm is a new site that's following in the footsteps of the explosively popular random video chat service Chatroulette, but adding its own twist: it's for college students only. To use RandomDorm, you need a .edu email address or a Facebook account with a .edu address as the primary email. RandomDorm is also limited to the US right now (it's "geotarded," as Lee is fond of saying). ...

Yay privacy! Students in Philadelphia received laptops from school to get a better learning environment, which is actually a good thing. But the build-in webcams can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students - and more shocking: their families. Yes, at home. The issue came to light as a kid was disciplined for "improper behavior in his ...

Chatroulette is the hot new site that throws you into a webcam chat with another randomly-selected user, until you hit "next" and move on to someone else. It's become all the rage in the past few weeks, especially with tech journalists, sociologists, teenagers and creepy naked dudes. Chatroulette is not for the faint of heart. You might run into someone dancing, making balloon animals, ...

Have you ever wished you could see what you look like with only one eye? Yeah, me neither. But, if you DO want to, there's a web-toy called Monoclopse that will let you do exactly that. The site offers up a grid of other users' pictures that they created using Monoclopse, and you can click the camera icon to create your own. Rather than using your webcam to take a photo, Monoclopse asks you to ...

Skype has always been a pretty popular video conferencing program and is looking to keep the streak alive with high-definition video. The service recently announced that they will begin supporting 720p high-definition video conference calls, provided users have an HD webcam and enough bandwidth to handle it. The new HD features come as part of the Skype for Windows 4.2 Beta. According to PC ...

[Update] The folks from A Story Before Bed contacted us and have offered a coupon code that allows users to try the site including sharing a story for free. The code is good until the end of November. Just enter MT9C-WN6Y-TF6J at the point of checkout, when you're asked to pay for the story you recorded. Having to be away from your young children at bedtime is probably the absolute worst part ...

Yfrog, one of the most popular photo-posting services for Twitter, is making a move into video and offering webcam support. You can record and tweet, right from the Yfrog site. To get started, check the space where you'd normally see the option to upload an image or enter a URL: the new webcam option has been added right next to those. When the video window pops up, you can record a video, take a ...

Recordr is an extremely easy way to make audio and video recordings of yourself online. It only takes one click to record from the Recordr website or by using a bookmarklet. It's extremely lightweight, with no registration or download required. In fact, Recordr doesn't even require a webcam - you can make audio posts without one Recordr is even more bare-bones than YouTube. It's got no editing or ...

Glow Doodle is a quirky drawing app that lets you draw with light, and you can try out if you've got a webcam. If you've ever taken a photograph of something moving and seen the streak effect, you'll get how it works. Open up the app, and get some kind of light source, like a cellphone, and move it around in the air. It will leave a trail, and you'll have a light drawing. The controls for Glow ...

FluidTunes is an app that lets you control iTunes from a webcam, using your hands, head or feet. The main screen looks like CoverFlow, with the image from your camera image lightly visible behind it. You can swipe across the album covers to navigate, or swipe the large forward and back buttons for finer control. Play is at the bottom of the screen, and stop is at the top. It reminds me a lot of ...