“When we started working on LifeCam Cinema almost a year ago, we were motivated by the fact that new computer displays were predominantly widescreen and top social networking sites were allowing widescreen video,” said Stuart Milton, systems engineer for Microsoft Hardware. “LifeCam Cinema sets the stage for the next generation of webcam use: uploading widescreen videos with amazing quality to social networking sites and soon chatting live with friends and family in widescreen format.”

Feel Like a Movie Star in Virtually Any Light

LifeCam Cinema was created to deliver an experience like the movies, with great high-definition (HD) video and clear sound. However, life doesn’t happen on a movie set, and most people don’t have a lighting team in their house to make them look camera-ready. In common indoor settings (low-light situations4) Microsoft Corp. is delivering an easy way to show amazing video quality in these scenarios. Maintaining a high frame rate even in the lowest lighting, LifeCam Cinema helps ensure that users look well lit and that video remains smooth.

Webcam Goes Wide

As the only PC consumer webcam on the market today with a native 720p sensor that delivers widescreen video capture at 16:9,2 LifeCam Cinema provides 720p high-definition video and features Auto Focus to keep video sharp from across the room all the way up to 4 inches from the webcam. Also launching with LifeCam Cinema is Microsoft’s ClearFrame Technology, which offers faster image processing technology to help deliver smooth video at any resolution and improved noise reduction technology to reduce image graininess and keep video sharp. Finally, the LifeCam Cinema webcam’s widescreen technology allows the widest angle of capture ever for a Microsoft webcam, at 74 degrees — no need to worry about leaving anything out of the shot again.

New LifeChat Headset

Microsoft also today announced the LifeChat LX-1000, a headset with high-quality audio and a noise-canceling microphone. The Microsoft LifeCam and LifeChat family now offers a full range of products meeting consumers’ needs at multiple price points and for desktop, notebook and netbook communication needs.

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LifeCam Cinema Introduces 720p HD Widescreen Video

The camera allows for the study of bioluminescent creatures that produce light through chemical processes. Inside certain cells of bioluminescent organisms an enzyme called luciferase catalyzes a light-producing reaction between a pigment called luciferin and oxygen.

The Eye-in-the-Sea depends on an external source of far-red light to light up its surrounding area. Most deep-sea creatures cannot see red light, because their eyes have evolved to focus on the shorter blue and green wavelengths that travel furthest through water.

Scientific American has put together a small slideshow of some of the deep-sea creatures and a video that depicts a large squid that is lured to the webcam.

More information can be found at the Scientific American website:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=edith-widder-bioluminescence

Photos Courtesy: Scientific American

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Deep Sea Webcam Provides New Light On Ocean Life

Footage and infromation is provided by The Select Committee on Energy Independenceand Global Warming:

View Videos >>

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Live Oil Spill Webcams

Webcams are one of the most common addons to any computer today.

The first webcam was activated in 1991.
A webcam was pointed at the Trojan room coffee pot in the computer science department of Cambridge University.
The camera was finally switched off on August 22, 2001.

One of the most popular webcam sites was JenniCam, started in 1996.
It allowed Internet users to constantly observe the life of its namesake, a bit like reality TV series Big Brother.

Typically webcams are mounted at bridges, public squares and other public places.

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Webcams

Different lenses are available, the most common in consumer-grade webcams being a plastic lens that can be screwed in and out to set the camera’s focus.

Webcams are used for inexpensive, real-time video chat and webcasting, in both amateur and professional pursuits.

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Webcam

From instant messaging to video conferencing, the live video chat that results has revolutionized online communications.

Many sites use webcams to enable conversations between prominent journalists, scientists and bloggers.

One may find webcams access offered by Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Windows Live Messenger, Skype, iChat,  Gmail, and more.

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Webcam Chat

The National Zoo is home to 2,000 individual animals of nearly 400 different species. Their best known residents are the giant pandas, but great apes, big cats, Asian elephants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, aquatic animals, small mammals, and many others can be found at the Zoo.

You can take a virtual visit to the Zoo any day of the week by tuning into their series of live webcams, which feature many of the Zoo’s animals.
This would include the Amazon River Cam, Asian small-clawed otters cam, cheetah cam, clouded leopards cam, ferret cam, gorilla cam and many many more.

Webcams have taken on educational value over the years and afford many the opportunity to view environments that they would not normally have.

Visit Site >>

You are also invited to help support the webcams and Zoo by joining Friends of the National Zoo or making a donation.

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National Zoo Cams

The Global Warming Webcam site allows visitors to connect with a live weather satellite camera SAT CAM weather satellite.

Visit Site:
http://www.webcamsearch.com/links/cgi-bin/frames.pl?id=18821

What is Global Warming?

Global warming refers to the temperature of the earth near surface air. It allows the earth to be habitable, as it absorbs some of the heat from the sun.

Greenhouse gases that have been released into the earth’s atmosphere are contributing to the rise in the surface air temperature. What impact is this having on earth right now?
Scientists show that the average temperature has risen in the last century.

It’s believed that most of that increase has come in the last couple of decades. With the increase steadily rising, scientists believe that it will continue to rise at an even faster pace for the future.

Arctic ice is slowly disappearing over time. The warmer temperatures caused by the global warming effects are melting the ice. Polar bears are feeling the effects of the melting ice as they find themselves stranded in the middle of the open sea. Ultimately, these polar bears are losing their life by drowning in the seas trying to find more ice patches to climb onto.

With the melting of the ice, we’re seeing a rise in the sea levels. Currently, the rise is a small amount, but since the temperatures are soaring at a fairly rapid rate, the rise will become a problem in the future.

The water level will be raised to a point where flooding will occur, which could make it difficult in pumping it out of the areas where people live.  Precipitation is increasing as well.

The warming temperatures are also causing more evaporation to occur. The more evaporating we see, the more chances for these storms to develop, which could ultimately result in the high category hurricanes, we’re seeing today.  The heavier rainfalls will occur, driving people from their flooded homes.

Global warming is showing some slow effects right now, but they are believed to increase over time unless we start to do something to reverse it.

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North Pole is Melting

Note, however, that it’s often very windy in Gerlach, and the camera may get blown out of whack. It takes some significant effort (e.g. a boom lift) to get it reoriented, but we get to it as we can.

Currently, the camera is aiming the right direction, but the image is a little blurry. We’re fixing that, but in the meantime, just pretend you took the blue pill.

What is Burning Man?

Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind. In this section you will find the peripheral definitions of what the event is as a whole, but to truly understand this event, one must participate. This site serves to try to paint a picture of the Burning Man experience to those who are new to the project, as well as to give those participants looking to keep the fire burning in their daily lives an environment in which to connect to their fellow community members.

The Burning Man project has grown from a small group of people gathering spontaneously to a community of over 48,000 people.

Visit Site >>

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Burning Man Live Webcam

Webcams are not only used to display images of scenery, homes, offices and freeways, but are now commonly used tools for webcam chat, video conferencing and webcam security surveillance.

This new webcam section will allow viewers to find popular webcams.

Select from a wide array of categories that include webcams from manufacturers such as Logitech, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Creative Labs, Apple, and more.

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Webcam Products