The world's first webcam was switched off 25 years ago today; 128x128 grayscale feed predated the World Wide Web to monitor a Cambridge coffee pot

https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/webcams/the-worlds-first-webcam-was-switched-off-25-years-ago-today-128x128-grayscale-feed-predated-the-world-wide-web-to-monitor-a-cambridge-coffee-pot

Twenty-five years ago today, the world's first webcam was switched off. The 128x128 grayscale feed predated the World Wide Web and was originally set up to monitor a coffee pot at the University of Cambridge, allowing staff to check whether there was coffee before making the trip.

120 points · 8 comments · view on lemmy.world

8 Comments

The_v@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 10d

It all started with a top notch intranet and has gone downhill from there.

Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · 8 pts · 10d

A little sad, tbh.
Doesn't give a reason for the switch-off, also not on the cam webpage about the switch-off event:
https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/coffee/qsf/switchoff.html

MML@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 10d (5 replies)

Idk if a "webcam" can predate the web...

SmoothOperator@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 10d (4 replies)

It predates the World Wide Web, which is a specific protocol.

ReptilianCleric@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 10d (1 reply)

No, http(s) is a protocol. The Web is not.

SmoothOperator@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 10d

Fair, I was being imprecise. The world wide web is a specific network.

mappe@moplemmy.fyi · 2 pts · 10d (1 reply)

Methinks the point they were making was calling it a webcam before the web existed. It's a point of pedantry I can respect.

SmoothOperator@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 10d

There were webs before the world wide web. They just weren't as wide as the world. And we're probably just called networks.