A webcam is a small digital video camera designed to stream or capture video and still images for use with a computer, typically connected by a cable such as USB or built directly into a laptop or display. The company Connectix released the QuickCam in 1994, widely credited as the first mass-market webcam, a grayscale camera that plugged into a Macintosh and could capture and transmit images over a computer network. Webcams became central to video calling, online conferencing and internet broadcasting as home internet connections grew fast enough to carry live video, and later models added color, higher resolution and built-in microphones.
Facts
SignificanceThe Connectix QuickCam of 1994 was the first widespread commercial webcam, a black-and-white camera made for the mass market. 1 Sources
1. Webcam, Wikipedia
Early development (early 1990s), first sentence
First developed in 1991, a webcam was pointed at the Trojan Room coffee pot in the Cambridge University Computer Science Department
Early development (early 1990s), QuickCam sentence
The first widespread commercial webcam, the black-and-white QuickCam, entered the marketplace in 1994, created by the U.S. computer company Connectix.
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