Swarovski-coated webcam: because everything should be shiny
By Laura June 
posted October 31st 2008 3:01PM
posted October 31st 2008 3:01PM
Vicious and Divine's Laplace webcam had it all... 2 megapixel photo and 1.3 megapixel video resolution, an integrated flash so that it could handle innumerable lighting situations, a folding mechanism that particularly suited it to mounting on laptops or flat panel monitors, plus that compact and sleek design. It was the jet-set of webcams, some might say, but it seemed to lack something -- some essential quality of life. Possibly a higher purpose? As it turns out, all it needed was to be absolutely, 100 percent covered -- bedazzled, if you dare -- in Swarovski crystals. The results are pretty... stunning. And not at all obscene. It comes in both black and clear crystal variations, and €49.99 (about $63) seems a small price to pay for something that's going to make you the envy of all of your friends -- but it seems to be available only in Europe. Your loss, rest-of-the-Earth!
Update: According to a commenter, the actual price of this camera is €399, not €49.99. We missed that in our frenzied excitement.
Update: According to a commenter, the actual price of this camera is €399, not €49.99. We missed that in our frenzied excitement.
I really don't get it. Those "crystals" are just little adhesive pieces of plastic, i don't even know why there is a trend of covering gadgets with them... Oh right, people are insane...
-Taylor
+1
This is utterly unnecessary.
As hideous as this stuff is, it is not plastic. Swarovski has been one of the leading manufacturers in the world of fine crystal for more than 100 years.
crystal glass is, basically, glass mixed with various mineral elements and then cut. there's nothing magical about it, it's just bucket cand for some reason people think that it should be somehow valuable or special!
let me correct your statement: "has been one of the leading manufacturers in the world of fine crystal" => "has been one of the leading marketing companies in the world of fancy glass".
Call it what you will, it isn't plastic but for it to be "crystal" means something of a higher grade than ordinary glass.
Not that it makes it any more functional. I can get a glass of water out of a mason jar just as well as out of a Waterford goblet. It's just a matter of aesthetics.
Is that leaded or normal crystal?
While I think it is a bit excessive, you could say the same about cars. Do you need a 500 HP Viper when you can get around town in a Smart? Anyway girls would love this =)
That being said, we need more web cams with an optical glass lens!
Did anybody ever make something with them that didn't look worse than before? I'm curious, you'd think it was theoretically possible to use these crystals in a nice way, but I've yet to see any evidence.
I still don't understand the highest rank for calling this stuff plastic. I agree, it's ugly and superficial, but could someone tell me where it says that it's plastic?
They are actually pieces of lead crystal glass, I guess they plaster them on everything because lead-containing crystal that once was so popular was found to be unhealthy to use and is now not allowed for consumption use anymore, and how many vases can you sell really.
Still, I'd rather put a lead crystal glass on a shelf and look at it than any product plastered with these swarovski things I think.
The crystals may not be plastic but the rest of the webcam is >>PLASTIC
I have an idea...I'm going to coat a piece of sh!t in swarkrapsi crystals and sell it for €1000.
THIS DOES NOT NEED TO EXIST.
Madness!
Everything has to be covered in Swarovski crystals.
Madness?
THIS IS SHININESS!
how did we EVER live without camera bling before?
Now if I could get a computer with the same dazzle I'd be good to go, or maybe not...
In before Mac Book comments....
...Wait, does this count?
ESAT,
No.
I call 6 months before the Paris Hilton iMac comes out cover in this carp.
@Tim
If a Paris Hilton macbook comes out, it will be covered in something, but it won't be crystals...
-Taylor
Taylor,
You mean if a Paris Hilton version comes out, it won't be covered in anything. Or useful.
@Nacho
No, i meant it would be covered in something, and it would not be crystals.
It was a sexual joke. I'll give you a hint, it starts with a "C", and ends with um.... hmm, well, now i forget.
-Taylor
This looks like something Paris Hilton would buy, and she's an idiot.
Hang on just a minute, you can't possibly say that about her.
She's a good few levels below 'idiot': lower than a chipmunk but slightly higher than an algae growth layer on top of a slightly neglected pond in someone's back garden*.
You just accurately described her vagina.
...
I
....
I love the comment sections in articles like this. Really brings out the creative side in people :)
that's hot.
I wish they made a diamond version to go with my gold PC.
Are these the same people that hand out saftey-pinned condoms, spreading AIDS Awareness to the masses?
The promo pic used looks like another presidential debate, Obama and McCain.
I haven't been following the election from across the pond, but I fail to see how I missed the fact that both candidates for your next president are cyborgs....
I need to pay more attention to the news.
Don't worry, you haven't missed much.
Incidentally, do you mean to keep switching your avatars back and forth between beer drinking ( i assume that's you) and that red no entry sign thingy?
I'll bite: uh, that's the -1 vote button.
You can blame the shitty avatar uploader for that. No idea why it keeps doing that.
Wouldn't the light reflecting off the webcam cast those shiny rainbow colored spots all over the user's face?
I'm sorry, but does that say VD on it? LOL!
When would you ever what something that looks like its been infected with bedazzle. Looks like something Lisa Frank threw up.
You know, I wouldn't mind bling on things that don't really suit it if it actually looked good but it doesn't. Those things look hideously tacky.
"something that's going to make you the envy of all of your friends" Those are not the kind of friends I want.
one of my friends worked for a company that put these little crystals on everything. She made some joke about "bedazzling": apparently that term isn't appreciated AT ALL among the people who take this seriously. (customers, her boss, etc.) I guess it reminds them that in a few years this fad will end and they'll all look kind of dumb and have to deny they were ever involved. Or at least I hope that this ends.
I thought it was funny that no one involved had any sense of humor about that, except for the person who actually did the work in making this kind of stuff.
Tell them to try to get the pentagon to make swarovski covered weapons, that should make them rich quick so they can get into a real business.
"...but it seems to be available only in Europe. Your loss, rest-of-the-Earth!"
Pff, more like our win.
Is there a way to maybe track he location of these webcams, by which I mean produce co-ordinates that would makes sense to, say, a cruise missile? Just wishful thinking.
Get your translation straight please.. It's not 49.99 euros for this camera.. It's 49.99 for the camera without any crystals. The camera with them is 399 euros, has a two month waiting list and is only by special order... For those who speak german (or those who know how to use any online translate tool: http://www.presseportal.de/pm/72153/1292455/boh_me_public_relations )
@Translator:
Thanks, that clears things up. I was starting to think this was a cheap piece of crap!
Swarovski is an overused whore.
Perfect for keeping a watchful eye on my Bedazzler™!
eerp
It almost made me barf a perfectly good Mallow Cup!!
@OFFTOPIC:
Genuine Activation Windows 7
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Finally, a great way to show appreciation to your top-grossing webcam girl