• Registered: 2006-08-29
  • Posts: 272

Topic: Webcam Widgets for Non-US Viewers

Just something to keep in mind as you expand the collection of widgets...

While the idea of the San Diego Zoo webcam widgets is great and something I'd really love to watch on my chumby, in reality,  I am staring at a very black screen for elephantcam and an empty pen for pandacam for most of my waking hours in Australia. Please keep time zones in mind and seek out equivalents for non-US users as you move out of the prototype phase. I will keep my eyes open for some ideas. Have to admit it seems hard to find good quality ones though!!!

If anyone knows of great webcams in diverse timezones perhaps you could post some suggestions?

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
  • Offline
  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,197

Re: Webcam Widgets for Non-US Viewers

We use these particular cams mainly because they're compatible with Flash, not because they're physically near us.

In order to work the ways these cams work, the cam must be a sequence of JPEG files, and the domain that's hosting them must have proper Flash access rights (through the "crossdomain.xml" file).  There are several sites that meet the first criteria, but not the second.

I've looked at several webcam aggregation sites, and there really aren't a lot of cams that have a reasonable frame rate, an open format, and don't require a special client (like Java).  A huge percentage of cam links are simply dead or haven't updated the image in years.

All in all, I have to say the current state of interesting, functional webcams out there is pretty disappointing.  I think the reason for this is that hosting a cam is expensive bandwidth-wise.  It was one of those really good Web 1.0 ideas until people realized that it costs real money.

Duane's Website

  • Registered: 2006-08-29
  • Posts: 272

Re: Webcam Widgets for Non-US Viewers

Thanks for explaining that Duane!

I did a fairly wide search for Australian webcams before I posted that comment. I had real trouble finding non-defunct cameras and ones that were true webcams not just video footage. A couple of good ones have been turned into subscription services, for example, surf cams. Given the technical criteria, I imagine my usable search results were probably close to zero.

Oh well...back to coolhunting some Flash content.... but I have to say I do love the animal webcams you do have...perhaps I need to work on becoming nocturnal like many of my Australian animal friends... wink