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Periscope for webcam

I was just thinking about the latest notebooks having built-in webcams, thus eliminating the need for an external USB webcam… well, they don’t quite eliminate the need. The problem with these built-in webcams is that they are immobile by themselves, and to capture something other than the notebook user, the whole notebook has to be repositioned. This problem does not occur with external webcams, which can be moved around independently of the laptop (notebook).

Well, I came across an interesting ‘gadget’ that tries to solve this problem… for Macbooks. Though I believe it can be easily adapted for other notebooks. Meet the Huckleberry.

Huckleberry Mirror System (Periscope)Supposedly it should give the built-in webcam the ability to view what’s behind the screen, such as the person sitting in front of you, or the lecturer if you’re in a lecture theatre. Well, it does solve the problem of spinning your laptop 180 degrees to take a shot of what’s behind the screen, but it doesn’t quite solve the immobility problem.

Well, let’s hope and wait for something better… or study optical physics and make a better one ourselves. Or maybe we should just get a USB webcam like the Volvox webcam key.

Sources:
Huckleberry iSight periscope
Play "I Spy" with the Huckleberry – MacUser
Huckleberry Uses Mirror to Make MacBook More Versatile - Huckleberry - Gizmodo

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