Intel PC camera helps us see things through the Net
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): During the New Order era, each time you heard the word "Intel", for the country's intelligence agency, you immediately had a sinking feeling.
Today, when you hear the same word spoken, you may have a mental picture of a microchip. However, as you may also know, Intel has for many years gone beyond making the processors for our PCs. Digital cameras for PCs are one of their strengths.
I was lucky to get a chance to play around with not one but two PC cameras. Intel calls the model that I received the "Intel Deluxe PC Camera". I was doubly lucky, actually, because at the same time Hewlett-Packard also let me test-drive its hard-to- resist Pavilion 9850, which uses a Pentium 4 processor running at 1.3 GHz, so I was able to connect one camera to my own PC and the other to the Pavilion.
If you go to any good computer shopping center, you will find PC cameras everywhere. Intel offers at least seven different types (I wonder if the company makes any peripheral for the Mac, though). However, the Deluxe PC Camera has received at least one Editor's Choice award. I have actually been mulling the idea of buying one for myself for some time, but so far I have not been able to come up with the justification for an investment of between US$100 and $150 that my wife would willingly accept.
That was why I was so lucky when, courtesy of PT Intel Indonesia, I was able to satisfy my curiosity and learn a few things about this quite interesting piece of peripheral, which, somehow, I believe will become a standard feature on every PC in the future.
Easy to install
The cameras, which have actually been around for more than a year, came with a USB connector, and this made plugging it into the back of my PC a snap. The Pavilion has two USB ports in front, so connecting the camera to that speedy monster was even easier. Both my Windows 98-based PC and the Windows Me-based Pavilion recognized the new hardware immediately. The cameras came with a CD-ROM that contained all the drivers and software that were required.
If you do not have a USB port and do not want to buy an add-on USB card, you can buy Intel's Create & Share Camera Pack 2.0 PCI Version. But, then again, if your PC does not have a USB port, it must be an already aging one (according to Intel's standard, not yours), and chances are it will not have the power necessary to enjoy the games that the camera comes with.
A number of other hardware makers have come up with a variety of cute designs to make the camera less like the eye of an owl staring at you as you stare at the screen. Personally, I found the design of the Intel Deluxe PC Camera one of the most attractive. It has a cover that we have to slide over to the left to turn it on.
This cover also protects our privacy, so that people will not catch us working on our PC in pajamas, for example. On top of the camera unit there is a button that we can press to create a snapshot, and in front of the button there is a dial that we can use to focus the camera for capturing an object that is very close to the lens. It is possible to capture a couple of lines of text with this camera by holding it close enough.
We can also adjust the hue, sharpness and color saturation using the software application. There is also an option that will compensate for the paleness effect of fluorescent light.
Applications
What can we do with this gadget? First, we can create snapshots and send electronic postcards to others over the Internet. Of course, we can do this with a digital camera, but with a PC camera the file will already be available on the hard disk. We can also create a video and send it as an e-mail attachment. The Intel Create & Share software that comes bundled with this camera has all the facilities that will be needed. I sent myself a video clip that I had created with this camera, and the result was acceptable. Of course, you will need a broadband connection if you want to play around like I did. The Create & Share application has a gallery of ready-to-use postcard designs that look quite attractive.
A more specialized use of the hardware and software would, perhaps, be the Automatic Snapshot utility, which is also part of Create & Share. This can work as a surveillance camera, only it can send the snapshot automatically through e-mail. We can set the program to take snapshots at regular intervals, or only when the camera senses motion. We can also tell it to take snapshots 24 hours a day or only between certain hours. If we still rely on a dial-up connection, the program can be set to dial the ISP number automatically. So, if you are away from home and there is nobody there, you can leave your PC running and it will be your sentinel.
A PC camera can also expedite the development of multimedia Web sites. However, just like any other digital technology, there are always people who will use the camera for purposes that belong to the gray, red and even black areas -- the Webcam sites are good examples.
Finally, the bundled software also comes with a few games. My favorite was Shoop. It was actually an onscreen basketball game, and I could hit the ball on the screen with my own hands. The camera would track the movements of my hands and the ball would bounce based on the direction and speed of my hands.
What is the purpose of this game? Well, if for nothing else, it serves to show you that you do need a very powerful PC to be able to see smooth and realistic 3D movements on the screen, as I could see on the Pavilion. That notwithstanding, I do think a PC camera can be a lot of fun and can also have many practical uses. (zatni@cbn.net.id)