[via Dvice, Red Ferret]

When I bought a webcam for my front door – mine is the Linksys WVC54GCA – I was faced with a predicament. The built-in motion detection software bombarded my email inbox with images of an empty frame. It was set off by the motion of a leaf or a reflection, rendering one of the most important aspects – notification of trespass – ineffective.

At an impasse, I decided to build a cyberbiomimetic AI using a cockroach brain and a vat of amino acids. The resulting system, while effective at spotting intruders, eventually threatened to become self-aware and so I had to shut it down. Finally, I tried Vitamin D. Problem, as they say, solved.

Vitamin D is a three-step piece of software. You point it at a webcam on your network (it’s compatible with a few models right now) and tell it what to do when it sees evil people encroaching on your turf. Be they the UPS guy or brain-eating zombies, the system will record a clip of their activity and can even notify you via email and an audible chime when it senses movement. In short, it allows you to create a very powerful security system in a few minutes.

You can add multiple cameras and the system grabs only the most important parts of the day, ensuring you don’t miss a single entry or exit. Because it’s compatible a number of webcams, including webcams over a network.

I was able to connect my webcam and start recording in less than a minute. It’s a great feeling to know that the webcam has suddenly become more than a way to watch your front step. Sadly, you need a PC or Mac running the Vitamin D software to record 24/7 video but if you set this up on an always attended-to system it makes for an interesting and valuable upgrade.

It’s free right now and you can download the beta here. A subscription version will be sold in early 2010.

Note: My webcam is sideways because that’s how I mounted it in my window. Long story.

And there won’t be ANY sex in it.

From the product page.

Disney Princess USB Web Cam is not only a Mirror, but also a web camera. Now, you can always look beautiful when you are videoconferencing with your friend. The mirror contains 7 LED lights surrounding. When it gets the connection, the LED lights and sound will be turned on. It can also be used as a spy web cam since it looks like a funny gadget more than a webcam.

I’m curious however, exactly who will be using this product, and for what. It can be controlled remotely (even pan and tilt) via a web interface, has 15 LEDs for night time recording, and a two way microphone so the person being filmed can have a conversation with the viewer. The internet feed to the camera comes via either an ethernet port, or an internal wifi card. Recording quality is pretty standard, with the high quality mode set at 640×480. The camera can also be set to a motion sensitivity mode, and capture movement as it happens, and record it for later.

The obvious usage is for home or small business security, this sounds like something that Biggs would be into given his quest for a home monitoring solution. The website suggests that it would also make a good baby monitor, which certainly sounds reasonable.

The Mole cam will ship early this November for $299.

[via Electronista]

So, the LifeCam HD is like a regular webcam, except it has a real glass lens, a mic that actually sticks up and isn’t just a pinprick on the camera’s surface, and of course, it’s capable of HD. Whether your messaging or video chat application is ready for that is a toss-up, but I guarantee in a few months it will be.

It’ll sell for $80, or £70, which is pretty much a huge ripoff for the Brits. Sorry guys, I’m just the messenger.

[PSGallery=9kjx410o3h6]

So now Logitech offers – ready? – the Webcam Pro 9000, Portable Webcam C905, Webcam C600, Webcam C500, Webcam C300, Webcam C250, and the Webcam C200. Oh, and all these cost under a $100.

I imagine that the conversation between a Best Buy computer salesmen and your grandma will go a little something like this.

“Ma’ma, you don’t want the $29 Webcam C200 because it doesn’t have a built-in mic and the $39 C250 doesn’t have the glass lens element of the $49 C500. But let me recommend that you step up to the $79 Webcam C600 or $99 Webcam Pro 9000 because they both do *air quotes* HD Video.”

“I’ll take the cheap one.”

“Great! Let me tell you about the awesome Best Buy service plan.”

Ecamm is producing a webcam exclusively for the Mac OS. And while it’s certainly not a terrible product, it doesn’t make much sense to me.

I mean, it’s a decent camera. Nothing amazing, but for $150 bucks, it’s respectable. 640×480 resolution, about 4 hours of battery life. Even comes with a min-tripod. Seems okay. I guess if your computer didn’t come with a webcam, yeah — it might be something you’d think about buying. I guess it could be used as a possible nanny-cam or something like that, but otherwise I don’t see much of a point. If you do want one, they’ll be shipping at the end of March this year.

[via OhGizmo]

It takes Happy Time Recording!

Granted, this webcam isn’t loaded with the latest gizmos and widgets, but it’s so cute. And it holds your pens and pencils! The whole cute and cuddly monkey webcam only goes for $25 too. Look at it. So cute!

USB Geek via Shiny Shiny

Obviously the world didn’t end on Wednesday when the Large Hadron Collider fired its first particle beam. The geeks at the LHC aren’t going to make anything that will kill us. They even have a couple of webcams so wannabe’s like you and I can see what’s going on. So far, there are only two of ‘em but I’m sure more will come later on. Just screenshots above, the live ones are here. Enjoy!

How many webcam videos have you seen where the subject of the video is constantly looking down at his or her monitor to see how they look on camera? Millions? Skillions?

Well here’s a 1.3-megapixel webcam that might actually be able to solve that problem. It’s an $80 device with a mirrored face surrounded by LED lights. Behind the mirror is the actual camera itself, so you can finally look your video viewers in the eye. Nice. You gotta use an AC adapter though, which is not nice. Oh well. It’s probably for the LED lights and perhaps some of the mirror trickery. If you do a lot of webcam videos or video conferencing, though, this might just work out really well for you.

USB Mirror Web Camera [Brando]

When it comes to buying a webcam, there seems to be two distinct product groupings. On the one end, you have inexpensive cameras that sell for between $20 and $50. These cameras often feature relatively low resolutions like 320×240 or 640×480 and are relatively simple to operate — you stick the camera on top of your monitor, fire up AIM, Windows Live Messenger, or Skype and then start your video chat.

Then there are the $80+ cameras that feature higher resolutions and carry features like automatic face tracking, low-light adjustment, and stuff like that. Most regular consumers will opt for the less expensive models but those that opt for the higher-end cameras often have a very specific reason for doing so and, as such, put a little more time and effort into researching their various options.

So that brings us to my story. I’ve been looking for a good webcam for a while now and I needed one that could handle the specific task of grabbing decent videos of gadgets at very close range. I didn’t want to spend a bundle because I didn’t need things like HD or even very high resolution due to the face that the width of the CrunchGear page is only 560 pixels wide. So I needed something that did 640×480 at the most and I didn’t need head tracking or anything like that found in the more expensive cameras.

However, the cheaper cameras were just that – cheap. I’ve gone through a few of the lower-end Logitech and Microsoft cameras and I’ve either had problems with low-light or poor microphones. I have a camera built into my VAIO laptop but it’s only 0.3-megapixels and the microphone picks up the way-too-loud fan that plagues the VGN SZ650 series of VAIO laptops (if you listen closely, you can hear my laptop’s fan running and grinding in almost every video I’ve put up here on this site).

So, long story short (too late): It just so happens that there’s a camera out there that somehow manages to straddle the canyon between cheap and expensive webcams. It’s the IPEVO POV webcam and it costs a mere $40.

Features

The main selling point of the POV camera is that it can be held in the hand kind of like a pen and then can focus down to within 2.3 inches of an object. There’s a little focus ring around the lens of the camera that allows you to switch between landscape and macro mode and a snapshot button on the top of the camera that allows you to grab stills. For regular video chatting, the camera snaps into a small clamp that sits on top of your monitor.

The cameras resolution is 640×480 (which can be software-enhanced to 800×600) and video is captured at 30 frames per second. There’s also a quick send button on top of the camera that provides you with one-touch e-mailing of photos and videos. The camera is USB 1.1 or 2.0 compatible and works with most Windows-based instant messaging software. Sorry, no Mac support.

Here’s a short video with some footage from the camera itself, starting at the one minute mark.

Pros

It’s inexpensive for what you get. At $40, the macro mode alone makes it an easy choice over all of the other lower-end webcams out there. Aside from that, videos appear crisp, even in low-light, and the one-touch snapshot and e-mail buttons are nice touches. Also, the ability to hold the camera in your hand or use it on its stand make it fun to use. I was videochatting with my wife via Skype when I was in Japan and she asked me to show her my hotel room. I simply detached the camera from its stand and started pointing it at various things. Easy.

Cons

There have been various complaints that the included software doesn’t really do much. It’s true, it doesn’t. It only captures snapshots, not video. However, the camera is designed to work with instant messaging programs and it worked quite well when I tested it with Skype, Windows Live Messenger, and AIM. If I need to capture non-live video for later, I use Windows Media Encoder.

The lack of Mac support is a little troubling, as I’m sure there are plenty of Mac users out there that could benefit from a detachable, movable webcam as a supplement to the built-in iSight cameras that come with most new Macs.

Finally, the drivers are a bit wonky on both Windows XP and Windows Vista systems. After I’d installed the software and drivers, I’d still occasionally get a “driver not found” message after plugging the camera back into the USB ports. I found that opening the POV software before plugging the camera in on toggling the camera’s power switch off and then back on solved this problem whenever it popped up.

Conclusion

If you need an inexpensive webcam that does more than the average inexpensive webcam, the POV camera is a great deal at around $40. The macro mode, alone, makes the camera worth the price of admission.

IPEVO PoV Web Camera [ipevo.com]

Like this video? View more here…

It’s not really that exciting to watch, of course, but the event itself is great. Anyone else know of any good stories where robberies, cheating spouses, or alien visitors have been caught by a webcam?

Although this video mainly convinces me never, ever to try getting into Second Life again, the glimpses you get of the actual technology behind this depth-aware webcam are pretty compelling. I think the accuracy and responsiveness need some improvement before it’s ready for mass consumption, but this isn’t meant to be a finished product, simply a demonstration of basic capability.

With a little tweaking, it could perhaps track the features of your face for real-time expressions, or offer the same level of resolution as a mouse by tracking the tip of your finger. It’s all pretty much fantasy at this point, but a proof-of-concept like this is probably what gave birth to the technology behind the Wii. The mouse-and-keyboard (or gamepad) scheme is increasingly inadequate, though we make do with extra buttons and programmable functions. Who’s to say what’s next?

Sneak Preview: iPhoneCam [Mac Daddy World]

The Creative Live! Cam Optia AF (man, that’s a mouthful) has a lot more going for it than the 2-megapixel sensor, though. For example, it’s completely plug and play, so there’s no driver installation necessary. Just pop the USB cable into a port and you’re ready to start chatting with friends and family or making odd videos of you and your friends humping the ottoman. Of course there’s the auto focus and auto tuning features, too, making sure you’re in focus with the best lighting and brightness levels while you violate the furniture. Dual adaptive array microphones are built in as well to capture every bump and grind.

It works with every major video-chat app (it is Windows only, however) and there’s a bunch of software extras like Creative’s proprietary Audio FX for modifying your voice and Video FX that lets you change backgrounds and add special effects.

Creative Live! Cam Optia AF [product site]

Sony brought out the next generation Playstation Eye webcam and it sure looks pretty…pretty lame. OK, it’s not really lame, but it has a weird design. I know the microphone is said to be heavily improved over its predecessor, but wouldn’t it look better if it were below the camera? I suppose the adaptability to specifically pick up on voices to filter out background noises for higher quality chats and voice commands is the most important part. I still think it looks ugly, but I digress.

A new futuristicexpialidocious sensor makes those low-light situations bearable and improves the frame rate to better track movements for motion-sensitive games. VGA-resolution images swing on by at 60 FPS, while QVGA images speed up to 120 FPS. It also includes EyeCreate, which allows PS3 owners to record audio and video onto the HDD and you can even apply mind numbing effects! The software also allows you to film slow-mo videos and much improved time-lapse snaps of your slothiness.

Look for the USB-based Eye this summer. No word on price.

Sony launches PLAYSTATION Eye cam for PS3 [Electronista]

That’s where the 5-in-1 webcam comes in handy for any situation you or any secret agent might encounter. The camera can take up to 2,000 photos of secret documents at a resolution of 640×480. You can record up to 10 minutes of video at 15 fps or 20 minutes at 7.5 fps with 320×240 resolution. Unfortunately, you’re going to need more than 128MB of storage for all the files that you’ll be downloading. All good secret agents can get their enemies to spill the beans on the diabolical plans they have for the world, which is where the recording function comes in handy; two hours should be long enough to get all the dirt you need. In fact, 1.5 hours should be enough time to get what you need to save the world. Also, $195 is chump change for a secret agent.

Product Page [via Red Ferret]

This camera can be situated just about anywhere, where it relays the images it captures via a GSM/EDGE network to the destination of your choice, including Web sites or smartphones. Really. With a little ingenuity, the object of your dirty desire would never know that you’re watching her (or his, Raj) every move. You’re so naughty.

SCIRC t1 [Digital Xtractions (more like Digital XXXtractions, haha!)]

Memory Stick and Cam in One [AVING]