Have
you ever known a voyeur? Or
an exhibitionist? When
I was growing up, a lady in our neighborhood spent most of the day
peeking from her window. She
watched her neighbors from behind her slightly drawn curtain.
One
day a young lad decided to satisfy the old lady's voyeurism; he
stripped shamelessly and danced about where she could see him. Five
minutes later a police car pulled up.
She had been upset by the young lad's exhibitionism.
The boy, knowing he was in trouble, ran; but the old lady
knew that her peeping had been detected.
With
the advent of the Internet and Web cameras, both exhibitionists and
voyeurs have found a medium for their fancies.
For those interested in seeing how other people live, a
number of exhibitionists have set up Web cameras in their homes or
student dormitories.
Several
people have even started charging Web surfers for viewing their
on-line activities.
A
large number of Web cameras (commonly referred to as Webcams) have
been set up around the world in scenic places for a different kind
of viewing pleasure. These,
of course, have nothing to do with voyeurs peeping or exhibitionists
showing off.
A
great site to visit for recommended Webcams around the world is
Leonard's Cam World.
Leonard does an excellent job of keeping up to date with his
recommended viewing sites.
You'll
find interesting links to live
Webcams, including The Statue of Liberty, Fifth Avenue New York,
Bermuda, Tokyo, Mt. Everest, Kennedy Space Center, Africa and The
Kremlin.
A
very large index of live cam sites around the world is located here.
Be forewarned, however, that a number of sites listed are no
longer available. Webcam sites seem to come and go faster than other
sites. The owner of the
site hasn't been very good about updating the list.
WebCam
Central has listed thirteen pages of college and university Webcams.
Click on "Categories" and then on "Schools and
Colleges." In fact, at WebCam Central, you can search for Web cam sites
by any or all of forty-eight categories.
Those categories often include a large number of sites.
"Animals"
has 19 pages of links!
Bourbon
Street Webcam in New Orleans covers the activity on the famous
party street at any time of the day or night. During the Orange Bowl
or the Mardi Gras festival, Bourbon Street is active round the
clock.
For
those who might enjoy views from around the USA, a page in The World
Webcam Directory has links to them all over the country.
You
can enjoy a view of the city of San
Francisco from atop the Fairmont Hotel.
San Francisco, one of the best cities in the world, can be
overcast or foggy; but on a clear day you'll leave your heart there.
An
interesting view of Fifth Avenue shopping in New York, can be found
at MTE.
The picture is updated every five minutes, and the viewer
needs to reload the page to see the new view.
No
need to take a honeymoon trip to Niagara
Falls. Visit the Webcam from the comfort of home.
The picture of the falls updates every fifteen minutes.
Undoubtedly
one of the most interesting groups of 10 Webcams on the Net is the
Times Square Cam in New York City.
They update the images continuously.
Fancy
having a look at what you can see live from the bridge of a cruise
ship? Many ships
now have webcams on their bridges. You'll find links to all
the major cruise lines that have them here.
Want
to watch the bikini-clad roller-bladers or the most muscular women
in the world? Venice
Beach, Earthcam
has a twenty-four hour live Webcam.
Whether
Webcam views of various places around the world can be considered a
pleasure or a waste of time depends on the viewer.
Sometimes these sites are slow loading, particularly with
dial-up connections. Often
the best viewing times during the day in one part of the world
happens to be sleeping time in another.
Some
Webcam sites change their images only when there's activity at the site, while
others update their views anywhere between every 20 seconds and five minutes.
Webcams
have another use besides passive viewing.
Jesse Berst of ZDNet writes, "Don't pooh-pooh Webcams as toys. You
may be using one sooner than you think. A new study predicts 85% growth for
Web and streaming conference services in coming years."
Most
Webcams come with programs allowing users to connect with others, either
directly or through recorded video and voice messages.
Often referred to as "camcorders," Web cameras can be used to
record messages for later sending by email.
Webcams,
or camcorders, can also be used for either one-to-one meetings or video
conferencing. A program like
Microsoft's NetMeeting works very well at transmitting live video interaction.
You
don't need a Webcam to receive video messages, but you do need one to send
them.
