Have a ball with this one ...

December 23, 2010 1:43 AM

"Snowball Cam has no visible moving parts but [is] able to roll across most terrains, even up hill." A new generation of spycams - very mobile spycams - have been prowling the northern arctic islands of Norway for an upcoming BBC TV program on polar bears. Bilzzard Cam has two electric motors that propel it across the snow - on skis - at speeds up to 40 mph. When threatened by the bears, it releases the onboard decoy device - the Snowball Cam - seen in action here.
posted by woodblock100 (34 comments total)

Zeroids, roll!
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 2:07 AM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Job: Arctic Stylist
Description: Shampoo heads of polar bears to clean off layer of encrusted gore in preparation for assorted greenwashing photo-shoots. Shovel snow over seal carcasses.
Remuneration: Danger money.
Prospects: Limited.
posted by rongorongo at 2:25 AM on December 23, 2010 [7 favorites]

win
posted by finite at 2:26 AM on December 23, 2010

You still have time to get me one for Christmas, you know.
posted by louche mustachio at 2:40 AM on December 23, 2010

A new generation of spycams

A lot of us old-timers sit around on the porch and reminisce about the old spycams.. I remember when spycam imagery was only available in black and white, and only 14 hours a day. Good times.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:54 AM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

I think driving that thing would be nausea enduing. Why don't they at least set it up so that the image rotates when the camera does, keeping everything level?

I always thought it should be possible to build a 360°² camera that takes a complete image of it's surroundings by putting a bunch of cameras together and then stitching the images together with computers. Such a thing, I imagine, would be pretty cool.
posted by delmoi at 3:20 AM on December 23, 2010

The most exciting aspect of Snowball Cam, it seems to me, is the promise of many more hours of polar bear football on BBC Sport.
posted by mykescipark at 4:16 AM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

My favorite thing is the bloody corpse paint on the bears. They're so fucking metal.
posted by NoMich at 4:39 AM on December 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

This, and the phrase "encrusted gore," has already made my day.
posted by milarepa at 4:43 AM on December 23, 2010

That is very cool.
posted by callmejay at 4:51 AM on December 23, 2010

That was so very cool and so very terrifying. Polar bears are frigging huge and wear the blood of their meals as wear paint.
posted by nomadicink at 5:11 AM on December 23, 2010

Why don't they at least set it up so that the image rotates when the camera does, keeping everything level?

Probably it moves to fast to really do on seamlessly, but it can right itself, according to the product page: "It could also film on the roll thanks to a self-leveling high definition camera."
posted by nomadicink at 5:15 AM on December 23, 2010

I believe the BBC may have just won Christmas.
posted by Hogshead at 5:16 AM on December 23, 2010

When they open up Snowball Cam's shell, I'll bet it's full of little pixel poops.
posted by orme at 6:03 AM on December 23, 2010

This is wonderful and a great chance to mention a wonderful book which I'm always surprised didn't get more attention.
posted by bovious at 6:30 AM on December 23, 2010

Why the pink faces? Oh.
posted by zeek321 at 7:21 AM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

This would be really cute if their faces weren't covered in blood.
posted by cazoo at 8:11 AM on December 23, 2010

Holy shit, Troy Hurtubise has built waldos.
posted by ryanrs at 8:16 AM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Don't they sell the ball cams at Petco, with an attached racoon tail?
posted by msbutah at 8:40 AM on December 23, 2010

It doesn't look like they got any good footage from the ball-cam. The shots are all crooked and wobbly. All the good shots are from a distance
posted by cman at 9:10 AM on December 23, 2010

Yeah, I would think that the snowball-cam would be hard to control. I'm surprised that it's able to get around at all, considering how small it is - I would've thought it would become stuck very easily.
posted by XMLicious at 10:14 AM on December 23, 2010

Also:

Narrator: David Tennant

posted by XMLicious at 10:16 AM on December 23, 2010

The Bukkake snowball cam is 129.95$ (extra for Shipping and Handling.)
posted by clavdivs at 10:51 AM on December 23, 2010

But who provided the good shots, and how? The narrative here is of the plucky little robotic camera that can get close to the bears. Its shots are some of what you see, but they're uncorrected and wobbly. Who shot the good stuff, and why did they leave the narrator out of the picture in which the issue of the narrator's point of view is central?
posted by stonepharisee at 11:46 AM on December 23, 2010

Check out the first link, which shows some of the other cameras and couple of other videos.
posted by nomadicink at 11:54 AM on December 23, 2010

All they have to do is electrify it and they'll have a fairly passable Ruum.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:21 PM on December 23, 2010

Ok, so how do I get one of these so I can watch my kitties from work?
posted by phliar at 1:27 PM on December 23, 2010

Put a camera in a ball of string.
posted by nomadicink at 2:49 PM on December 23, 2010

I'm hoping they don't find the rebels.
posted by mecran01 at 3:10 PM on December 23, 2010

It doesn't look like they got any good footage from the ball-cam. The shots are all crooked and wobbly

Well, what we are seeing here is a teaser for the program itself, and mostly showing us the tools. I think the main use of those cameras was simply to get close to the bears, and sit there unobtrusively filming them as they went about their business. Roll the camera up to where the bears are, wait until they've finished 'playing' with it, and then just keep shooting ...
posted by woodblock100 at 6:05 PM on December 23, 2010

If by "good" you mean "the exact same angles of polar bears we've all seen a million times" then yes, there are other cameras capturing the "good" shots.

The snowball cam is getting shots that, while wobbly, you will never see short of in your final moments as you are about to be ripped apart.
posted by nathancaswell at 7:05 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

We need one of these for the Firefox cubs
posted by quarsan at 7:03 AM on December 30, 2010

[Update: The spycams did apparently serve their purpose, getting excellent candid shots of the bears, but - as this YouTube clip shows - they were no match for the bears in the end ...]
posted by woodblock100 at 8:25 PM on January 6, 2011

Wow. That snowball cam is amazing!
posted by nickyskye at 5:56 PM on January 10, 2011