Yeah...but where are all the chicks?

January 16, 2008 9:35 AM

These webcams were found automatically through a variety of clever search techniques and update several times a day. Their owners may or may not have intended for them to be public, but they obviously are. Via Opentopia.

That's just the most popular cams in the US, btw. There's plenty more to browse through. Looked pretty SFW to me, but I guess there's potential.

posted by allkindsoftime (35 comments total)

Tomatocam?
posted by rtha at 9:48 AM on January 16, 2008

We They have cameras.
posted by joe lisboa at 9:50 AM on January 16, 2008

It's not outside the realm of possibility that someone in this view in a computer lab at Purdue University, could be looking at Metafilter, and reading this post, and seeing themselves. And I think that would be pretty neat.
posted by dirtdirt at 9:51 AM on January 16, 2008

it's not really live video, it just displays real time snap shots.

but as a person who likes stop motion video stuff, this could be very useful for me!
posted by localhuman at 9:52 AM on January 16, 2008

Six months until tomato season. Tomatocam is a god damned beautiful, wonderful, terrible tease.
posted by stavrogin at 10:00 AM on January 16, 2008

All the chicks are here. HTH.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:01 AM on January 16, 2008

you can use google hacks to find some cameras on your own...
I like the ones that let you pan, tilt, zoom.
There's even some with night vision you can turn on/off.
posted by TechnoLustLuddite at 10:03 AM on January 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

The Port of Seattle one was fairly cool. (Assuming you think container shipping is cool.)
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:03 AM on January 16, 2008

Previously
posted by octothorpe at 10:09 AM on January 16, 2008

Best comment on the Pet Boutique cam: HOW COME THAT BROWN HAMSTER IS NOT MOVING? OH NEVER MIND IT'S JUST DOG POOP.
posted by marxchivist at 10:10 AM on January 16, 2008 [5 favorites]

Wow that is a shitload of boring there.
posted by Mister_A at 10:11 AM on January 16, 2008

dirtdirt: A friend of mine put together a page with most of Purdue's webcams a while back. Odds are, if you've been to Purdue, you've been on one of them.
posted by pmdboi at 10:13 AM on January 16, 2008

This is awesome. It's like exploring an abandoned building at night, but I don't have to leave my chair! I can't wait for ubiquitous nanocams to open the possibilities even further!
posted by DU at 10:22 AM on January 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

Seems there are some that update quickly enough that it might as well be live video. I've been watching this dude type on his laptop in some university. You can see individual keystrokes (if not keys). Kind of scary.
posted by Mister Cheese at 10:27 AM on January 16, 2008

I think all the ones I looked at were basically slow video.
posted by DU at 10:30 AM on January 16, 2008

Oooo, cardinals on a bird feeder in Kentucky! Now I don't have to look out my own window.
posted by pernoctalian at 10:34 AM on January 16, 2008

Mores sources for webcams
posted by jwarren93 at 10:38 AM on January 16, 2008

This was really hot shit back in 1995. Our friends had an "iguana cam" and had quite a cult following at the time. When my ex and I got married, the same friend set up a video feed to do a similar thing for our wedding (which was rather complex, since we were married on the Jeremiah O'Brien and had to do it over a wireless modem - very hi-tech back then). It crapped out in the middle of the ceremony, but it was still a cool idea. That being said, 13 years later it's a lot like watching paint dry.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 10:40 AM on January 16, 2008

/me registers paintDryr.com and grassGrowr.com, makes millions
posted by DU at 10:42 AM on January 16, 2008

I'm surprised that this is not a double. I remember seeing that site years ago, and even then webcams were already boring.
posted by Memo at 10:45 AM on January 16, 2008

"it was still a cool idea. That being said, 13 years later it's a lot like watching paint dry."

I don't follow. It either was a cool idea, and is still a cool idea, or it wasn't a cool idea. You were webcasting (for lack of a better term) your wedding simply because the technology was new, and if it had nothing to do with wanting to have other people be able to have a (admittedly imperfect) view of the ceremony?

Ithink the ability to watch these things remains cool, even though it's old. I like paintings, books and telephones, too.
posted by dirtdirt at 10:49 AM on January 16, 2008

Wow, people really want to watch a webcam of a Starbucks inside a university Grand Rapids? Seriously? Like...

isn't there a LOCAL Starbucks where you can watch people do nothing expensively? Just wondering.

Not to slam this post, because I saw some neat stuff on here, and the post is great... but...

FUCKING STARBUCKS???@@@!!!!!

Edit: the ski slopes one was very nice.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 11:09 AM on January 16, 2008

i've gotten so jaded that i won't click on any webcam links unless you promise me cheerleaders having sex with aliens.
posted by bruce at 11:19 AM on January 16, 2008

what's really needed is the AI, or wikipedia like community, to highlight significant areas to watch.

Slightly on topic; Surfline.com has web cams of popular surfing spots, which honestly can be quite helpful when trying to choose destination.
posted by oblio_one at 11:44 AM on January 16, 2008

Cool!
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 11:49 AM on January 16, 2008

Where are all the chicks? Pfft, there are no women on the internet! Wasn't there an essay posted to the blue recently proving this? Do your research!

Anyway, I saw a cam with a pig sleeping (I hope, anyway) in a corner. I wish there was a cat curled up on it's head, though.
posted by Talanvor at 12:00 PM on January 16, 2008

Take a look at the two with the statue in the middle of a snowy city. It's identified in one cell as Satterlee Square Park and in another cell as Golden Heart Park. (The IP address traces back to Festival Fairbanks which says the webcam is in Golden Heart Plaza.) The same webcam gets higher ratings as Satterlee Square than as Golden Heart.
posted by forrest at 1:01 PM on January 16, 2008

doesn't look like I'm missing much
posted by whahappen?! at 1:40 PM on January 16, 2008

The one I think is cool is the one where a guy at a computer is wearing a jacket like mine and typing when I type and... oh.
posted by mmrtnt at 1:41 PM on January 16, 2008

This office in Dallas is hosting some sort of teleporters convention. Either that or the camera doesn't refresh very often, I dunno.
posted by jack_mo at 2:47 PM on January 16, 2008

I don't follow. It either was a cool idea, and is still a cool idea, or it wasn't a cool idea.

Wow. Really don't feel like defending my post right now - so I'll just ask you not to read my next one so carefully, ok?

It was cool because it was new and rare (though a bit boring). It is now old and rather pointless (and boring). Much like the phone book (unless you are in a strange city, looking for pizza).
posted by The Light Fantastic at 4:09 PM on January 16, 2008

This one at Duke has the potential to be cool.
posted by artifarce at 4:56 PM on January 16, 2008

as octothorpe said it is a double. And the link in this post even mentions (and links BACK to) the original Metafilter post under the "Links: sites that have mentioned this page."

But it's all good. I love webcams (self-link that looks better during daylight hours on the east coast of the US).
posted by terrapin at 7:45 PM on January 16, 2008

Unicorn on the cob writes "isn't there a LOCAL Starbucks where you can watch people do nothing expensively? Just wondering"

And have to venture out into the big blue room?! What are you crazy?
posted by Mitheral at 8:04 PM on January 16, 2008

I know webcams have been around forever now but I can't help but really love this link.
posted by justina at 3:55 AM on January 17, 2008