# I won a webcam. Now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 7, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-won-a-webcam-now-what/278481 "2004-12-07T03:10:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-won-a-webcam-now-what/278481/1 "2004-12-07T03:10:40Z")
Yesterday, when I got home from work, there was a note under the door that I needed to go to the post office because there was a package that I needed to sign for. This had me mystified, because I’m not expecting any packages. Today, in my lunch hour, I toddled off to the post office, and took possession of a non-descript brown box. Inside, was a webcam, along with a note saying that I was one of 200 lucky winners in a competition I don’t even remember entering. Yay! The thing is, I have never felt an abiding need to own a webcam. ANd although I have a lovely warm, fuzzy feeling now that I do, I still don’t quite know what to do with it… I’m open to suggestions - what should I do with my shiny new webcam? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-won-a-webcam-now-what/278481/2 "2004-12-07T03:18:52Z")
Wooooooo! Take it off!! 😃 I don’t know. I have one myself, but I never use it. I occasionally check out one of those “live webcam” sites [sub]the clean ones, you perverts![/sub] You know, you can watch some guy at his home office pick his toenails, or play Starfleet Command or something. Woo. How about setting it outside your window and letting it scan the outdoors? Tripler I don’t know. Got me. . . ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-won-a-webcam-now-what/278481/3 "2004-12-07T03:59:25Z")
What great scam, sending random women rigged webcams that are always on, even when they look like they aren’t… Seriously, use Yahoo Messenger to make video calls to distant friends and family. Even if they don’t have a web cam, at least they can see you. > **[Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](https://www.yahoo.com/)** > > Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo! ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-won-a-webcam-now-what/278481/4 "2004-12-07T07:57:25Z")
It’s not rigged or dodgy (I hope!)… Although come to think of it - a single woman with a broadband connection who lives alone… hmmm 🙂 I finally got home from work and got it going. It’s all spiffy. But I still don’t know what to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-won-a-webcam-now-what/278481/5 "2004-12-07T08:18:20Z")
Obviously, you get nekkid. Link, please 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-won-a-webcam-now-what/278481/6 "2004-12-07T09:04:51Z")
Find something marginally interesting to point it at (the bird feeder in your garden, a houseplant, the view from your window etc) and set up a web page; use a freeware utility like [this one](http://www.snapfiles.com/get/yawcam.html) to upload images at timed intervals. ---
**Author:** ![Bendarr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e56c9b/32.png) [@Bendarr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bendarr)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-won-a-webcam-now-what/278481/7 "2004-12-20T22:10:48Z")
> [@robinc308](#): > > Yesterday, when I got home from work, there was a note under the door that I needed to go to the post office because there was a package that I needed to sign for. This had me mystified, because I’m not expecting any packages. > > Today, in my lunch hour, I toddled off to the post office, and took possession of a non-descript brown box. Inside, was a webcam, along with a note saying that I was one of 200 lucky winners in a competition I don’t even remember entering. > > Yay! > > The thing is, I have never felt an abiding need to own a webcam. ANd although I have a lovely warm, fuzzy feeling now that I do, I still don’t quite know what to do with it… > > I’m open to suggestions - what should I do with my shiny new webcam? In my case getting a webcam sorta lead to romance. I and my GF use MSN messenger on a regular basis. First with simply typeing then that lead to Headphones/ Microphones. Then I got a webcam so that she could see me. then I got a second one so I shipped her my first one. So now on a regular basis we talke, hear each other and see each other even though we live in diffrent states. Romance has been a result. One advantage is that we both know what each other looks like and sounds like so there will be no unpleasent surprises when we finally do get together. So I figure your getting a webcam could lead to bigger things. I wish you luck! 🙂