Joshing Online

By JOSHUA QUITTNER

Ever wanted to set up your own Webcam--a video window on your world that everyone in computerland could see? No? Me neither. But you and I are different--we're not like...the others. Apparently, great numbers of people have been connecting always-on digital cameras to the Net, beaming back pictures and even full-motion video of themselves as they sit dully at their computers, mill around their homes and otherwise live their lonely and hollow lives. A New York Times article estimated that 10,000 live Webcams are out there now, with some 250,000 people doing this. Perhaps it's I who's living the empty life?

I ventured out of my cocoon, briefly, to see what I was missing and got hold of a Logitech WebCam ($79, after a $20 mail-in rebate). The cigarette-pack-size camera has begun shipping bundled with software that makes it easy to create a Truman Show--starring you. A CD that installs the camera also helps you create your own point, click and broadcast site at SpotLife.com which will host your exhibitionism for free. Of course, as is always the case online, free means you have to register and give up some of your privacy. But do we exhibitionists care? We do not.

One thing that did bother me, however, was that Real.com which installed its popular streaming video software as part of the setup, had the temerity to crawl into my browser and change the settings. The program replaced my home page (which I had designated as google.com the search engine) with the address of its own site. Bad, Real.com bad! I fired off an e-mail to someone at LogiTech, who said other people had complained about this too. LogiTech says Real is going to quit it, any day now.

Aside from that, the installation was as simple as advertised. In about 15 minutes. I created my own site, Little Al's Video Horror Show, within a channel called Warp ("Avant-garde, urbane, sci-fi, beyond"), which is one of 14 channels on SpotLife. I also tweaked the performance of my site; I could tell my Webcam to click an image of me once a minute, or every few seconds, then upload it to my site. Or I could send live video out to the Net; users are limited to 240 "live" minutes a month. I could make my own short video (up to 15 megabytes) and put it on the site. And I could even add a chat feature so that the up to 25 people at a time who could be connected could exchange messages with me in real time. Since I am by nature a modest exhibitionist, I password-protected Little Al so that only people I invited could see me in my native habitat--staring vacantly at my computer. Maybe eating a doughnut.

I was ready to go live from my office on the 23rd floor of the Time & Life Building. I instant-messaged the Little Al's URL to my wife, who is always online in her home office. (Are we a wired couple? Yes, we are.) "NOW WHAT?" she shot back. I told her to just click on the address and see. She did, and went to the SpotLife site--where she observed me sitting at my desk. Eating a doughnut. Blink. "SO?" she I.M.'d me. O.K., there was something underwhelming about the Webcam experience. Frankly, it was more interesting to peek into the windows of the hundreds of other people who were "live" on SpotLife. I especially liked the Webcast of the two basset hounds. Now that's entertainment.

If you really want to see Josh, almost live, check out www.spotlife.com/littleal/webcam You can e-mail him at jquit@well.com