The Design Behind ... The WebCam
Quentin Stafford-Fraser, one of the researchers involved in starting XCoffee shares the story behind the webcam.
In 1991, a group of coffee-loving researchers pointed a networked camera at a coffee pot to know exactly when it was brewed. They created custom software to allow the image from the camera to be displayed on their computer screens, known as XCoffee. By 1993, the camera was connected to the web, transforming into the first webcam. Quentin Stafford-Fraser, one of the researchers involved in starting XCoffee shares the story behind the webcam.
This segment was produced by The Current's Shannon Higgins.
Just a note... one of the "star" coffee pots was later auctioned off on Ebay. Der Speigel magazine in Germany bought it - we're told - for $5000.
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