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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 (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 23 hours ago by sanitation@lemmy.today to c/interestingasfuck@lemmy.world
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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.

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[-] The_v@lemmy.world 16 points 22 hours ago

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

[-] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 21 hours ago

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 3 points 21 hours ago

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

[-] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 16 points 20 hours ago

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

[-] ReptilianCleric@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 hours ago

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

[-] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

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

[-] mappe@moplemmy.fyi 3 points 13 hours ago

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 points 8 hours ago

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

this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2026
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