From Linda Roeder,
Your Guide to Personal Web Pages.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

Webcams are lots of fun to watch. They also come in handy when you want to share what you or someone in your family is doing. Your parents, or other distant relatives, can watch your kids play or you can see what's going on outside your house. You can watch your kids and their babysitter while you're at work or chat with friends online.

Webcams to Buy

The Creative Webcam Ultra and the Creative Webcam Notebook Ultra are two very easy webcams to set up. They are also full of options and fun things and ideas you can use your webcam for. I've reviewed them both for you and found them to be very similar. The only real difference I noticed was in the way they look and clip to your computer. They both require your computer to have a USB port.

Creative Webcam Ultra
The Creative Webcam Ultra is the larger of the two. It is oval in shape with a base that can be used for setting it on a desk or somewhere else. The base is made of two parts. The top part is shaped like a claw with two points, one on each side. This is so you can clip this webcam to your computer or desk or somewhere else. The camera part of it turns so you can easily point it in the direction you want to point it. You can focus it too with the focus around the eye of the webcam.

Creative Webcam Notebook Ultra
This webcam is smaller and does not have a base. It has a clip that is perfect for attaching to your notebook or laptop computer. It is only about an inch thick and flat on the one side so you can lay it on it's side if you want to put it somewhere else besides on your laptop computer. The eye peice swivels from one side of the webcam to the other so you can view the ceiling if you want to, or lay it on it's back and point the eye to the top of the webcam which will be forward. There is also a focus on the lens in case your webcam is out of focus.

Placing Your Webcam
You can place your webcam on your computer or on your desk. If you get a USB cable extention you can place it just about anywhere.

When you have decided where to place your webcam make sure you point it in the right direction. After you install the software you will better be able to point your webcam and focus it. Do not plug in your webcam until you have installed the software and the installation process tells you to do so.

Install the Software
Put the CD into your CD drive and follow the directions. When it tells you to, plug in your webcam. Open the program when it's done so you can point and focus your webcam.

Webcam Software Options

The software that comes with your Creative Webcam allows you to use your Creative Webcam as a digital camera or video recorder that is stuck to your computer. As long as you have it plugged in and you have your software running you can take pictures or video of anything within range.

• Capture - This feature lets you take pictures or video. Organize your pictures and video the way you want. Then you can send your pictures and video using email or instant messaging.

• Remote Monitoring - Monitor your home from anywhere. Set up your webcam on a Web site and see what's going on from work or anywhere you have access to the Internet. There are templates available to help you with this by clicking on "Tools" then "Settings". Set up your FTP settings and send your page.

• Motion Detection - This option is cool for seeing what happened in the room when you weren't there. Everytime the webcam detects motion it turns on and records video until the motion stops. Find out who's taking cookies from the cookie jar at night.

• Time Lapse Video - If you want to watch your garden grow you can set your webcam to take a picture every so often for a month or so. Then play back the video and watch the garden grow.

Extra Software

This webcam also comes with some other software. With the extra software you will be able to edit your photos and video, create a collage or send multimedia email. Install it and have fun with your photos.