A closer look
Cambridge University researchers invented the world's first webcam in 1991 for the sole purpose of monitoring a coffee pot in the Trojan Room computer lab. Tired of walking down the hallway only to find an empty carafe, these brilliant computer scientists rigged a camera to capture a grayscale image every few seconds and broadcast it across their local network. Thus, the foundation of modern streaming infrastructure was born entirely out of pure, unadulterated laziness and caffeine addiction. Decades later, this exact same groundbreaking technology is primarily utilized by millions of remote workers to pretend they are actively paying attention during endless corporate Zoom meetings, proving that human innovation always peaks when we are trying to avoid minor inconveniences
