The First Webcam Was Invented to Watch a Coffee Pot
A grainy early-90s webcam image of a half-full coffee pot in a cluttered university break room with a CRT monitor displaying the feed
In 1991, researchers at the University of Cambridge set up a camera pointed at a coffee pot in the Trojan Room so they could check if coffee was ready without walking downstairs. It later became the first live image streamed on the web in 1993.
Why Itβs Interesting
The entire webcam industry β which now powers video conferencing, security systems, and streaming β was born from sheer laziness about checking a coffee pot. The pot itself was sold on eBay for 3,350 pounds in 2001 after the camera was decommissioned.
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