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Do More with Your Webcam with Free Tools




The webcam that came packaged with your computer system can do a whole lot more than just let you video chat. With the right tools, you can turn your webcam into a watchful surveillance tool, a face recognition-enabled computer login utility, a time-lapse movie-maker, and more. Let's take a look at some ways you can get more out of your underutilized webcam.

Keep In Touch with Friends and Family

Let's get this one out of the way from the get-go: If there's one thing you're already using your webcam for, it's video chat. Whether you're using Skype, iChat, or even web-based video chat with Meebo, you've got tons of options for keeping in touch with friends and family using your webcam. Video chat alone is worth the cost of a webcam, but your webcam is capable of so much more than that. Let's take a look at a few more obscure but very worthwhile alternative uses.

Turn Your Webcam into a Motion-Sensing Security Camera

Apart from video chat, the coolest thing you can do with your webcam is turn it into a surveillance camera. If you're a Windows user, several free tools are available to help you do just that. The best option of the bunch is probably the Windows-only Yawcam (original post). Yawcam does motion-sensing with very little setup, then automatically backs up surveillance images via FTP or email. Alternately, there's the open-source Dorgem (original post) and web service HomeCamera (original post). Each tool has a slightly different feature set, but between the three of them you're bound to find the features you want from your security webcam.

Linux users can get the motion-sensing goods with the open-source app Motion, and if you're nuts for Twitter, you could try setting up your webcam to send a Twitter notification with your motion-sensing webcam.

Login to Windows with Your Face

Freeware application LemonScreen (original post) adds face recognition to your Windows login screen, allowing you to login to your locked PC by simply sitting down in front of your computer. It's not foolproof by any means, but it's unquestionably cool.

Snap Pictures of Would-Be Thieves

The open-source, Mac-only application iAlertU (original post) is like a car alarm for your laptop, sounding an alarm and snapping a picture of the would-be thief using your Mac's built-in iSight camera. iAlertU isn't new, but the demo video above is still mind-blowing. For added security, you can take iAlertU one step further by automatically uploading the thief's picture to an FTP server.

Not all thieves physically steal your computer, though—some just want to get to your data. With a little scripting on your Mac, you can snap iSight pictures of every invalid login attempt so you can keep an eye on anyone who tries to login to your computer without your permission.

Create Time-Lapse Videos

The New York Times says webcams are replacing alcohol at parties, and though we don't consider them mutually exclusive, there are plenty of ways to enhance your good times with your webcam. For example, with freeware applications like Webcam Timershot (Windows) or Gawker (Mac), you can create incredible time-lapse videos like I did of my birthday party below:

Check out more ways to document your parties with simple photo projects.

Turn Your PC Into a Photo Booth

Mac users have the super-fun Photo Booth built in, but chances are your webcam came with a similar software of its own for taking photo booth-style pictures. Even if it didn't, web-based photo booth applications like Cameroid (original post) or Waves.TV are great options. (No matter what software you're using, you still might need a few tips to perfect your webcam picture.) If you are using Photo Booth on a Mac and you love Flickr, be sure to check out FlickrBooth, a plug-in that automatically uploads new Photo Booth photos to your Flickr account (and catches thieves).

Chronicle Your Face

If you like photo projects like the previously mentioned Project 365 (in which you take a picture of yourself every day for a year), web site Flickaday (original post) makes it easy to snap and compile your very own Project 365 with your computer's webcam. If you're a Mac user, I published a simple script a while back that will automatically take a picture with your iSight once every day.

Document the Weather

When you really want to know what the weather is like somewhere, weather icons aren't always the most helpful or accurate. On the other hand, nothing beats a live-streaming weather camera providing real-time visuals of the weather. Not only does weather web site Weather Underground display live local weather from webcams—it also lets you add your own webcam to their service and help out anyone looking for a live weather update in your neck of the woods.

Set Up a Birdfeeder Webcam

Love a good stint of bird-watching but don't want to miss the rare birds that stop by your feeder? DIY web site Make details how to make a birdfeeder webcam (original post).

Repurpose Your Cell Phone as a Webcam

Don't have a webcam and would prefer not to shell out cash for one? Free Windows application SmartCam (original post) turns your Symbian Series 60 smartphone into a wireless Bluetooth webcam.


How do you put your webcam to good use? Tell us about your favorite cam tools in the comments.

Adam Pash, Lifehacker senior editor, uses his webcam more than his digital camera. His special feature Hack Attack appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.