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List:       isn
Subject:    [ISN] A Webcam Watchdog
From:       mea culpa <jericho () dimensional ! com>
Date:       1998-08-29 10:28:19
[Download RAW message or body]


[Moderator: I actually know of a few companies/people that have
 used Quickcams in place of security cams. Overall opinion is that
 they are a more viable solution in some regards.]


Forwarded From: phreak moi <hackerelite@deathsdoor.com>

http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/14709.html

A WebCam Watchdog
Wired News Report

4:00am  28.Aug.98.PDT

Pentax Technologies, on Thursday unveiled its VersaCam Web camera. The
device can be programmed to automatically take surveillance pictures that
can be transmitted via the Web to a variety of destinations: a Web site,
LAN, email account, closed circuit TV network, or PC. 

The camera can be configured for use with a modem, ethernet, or cellular
network, and images can be compressed and resized to maximize transmission
rates. Once the camera is configured, all it needs is a phone line and a
power source, and surveillance workers can view the images on a Web
browser. 

"It’s a pretty versatile thing," said Carl Shushan, project manager at
Pentax. "If you have a fire truck, you could put these on the dash, and
plug them into the cigarette lighter so the fire chief could see what’s
going on without being at the site. Or if you have a railroad, and you
know that certain crossings have a tendency to wash out with flash floods
— it’s a whole lot cheaper to have a snapshot come in every hour than have
a train go off the track." 

It can also be used to monitor traffic and road conditions, remote
pipelines or bridges, common vandalism sites, ski conditions, hazardous
facilities, and construction sites. 

The VersaCam weighs less than a pound, measures 3 x 3 x 6 inches and has a
quarter-inch CCD (charged-coupled-device) color camera, with a resolution
up to 640 x 480 pixels. 

The camera can be configured with software on a PC to adjust the pixels,
frequency of photos taken, and where the images are to be sent. The camera
can also use triggers -- such as opening a window or stepping on a
pressurized pad under a welcome mat -- to prompt a photo. 

Pentax will demonstrate the camera's capabilities from 1-3 September at
the International Security Conference tradeshow at the Jacob K. Javits
Convention Center in New York City, and from 14-16 September at the
American Society of Industrial Security tradeshow at the Dallas Convention
Center. Pentax expects the camera to be available by the end of this year. 

-o-
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