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Logitech made a $200 webcam for Apple's $5,000 pro display
Apple's newly available Pro Display XDR promises exceptional image quality, but there's one glaring omission for some users: there's no webcam. You can edit video in grand style with your $5,000 monitor, but you can't use it to hold a video chat with the production team. Logitech has a remedy, though. It just released a 4K Pro Magnetic Webcam built with the Pro Display XDR in mind. As the name implies, it sticks to your display without clips or other mounts, even when you rotate the monitor into portrait mode.
Apple quietly updates Macs to remove Zoom webcam exploit
It's not just Zoom scrambling to fix the exploit that allowed intruders to hijack Mac webcams. Apple has issued a silent, automatic update to macOS that removes the web server used to streamline access to the video conferencing app. The update isn't completely necessary when Zoom has already issued its own patch, but this ensures that people running older Zoom releases won't be vulnerable.
A flaw in Zoom's Mac app may have let attackers hijack webcams
A serious security flaw in the Mac version of conferencing software Zoom can hijack webcams, but also leave users vulnerable to phishing and DOS attacks.
Microsoft's first webcams in years might include Xbox One support
Microsoft hasn't been in the webcam game for a long time, but it might come roaring back -- and with some thoroughly modern hardware, to boot. Sources talking to Paul Thurrott (well-known for his Microsoft connections) claim Microsoft wants to return to webcams in 2019 with two 4K models, "at least one" of which would support Xbox One consoles in addition to Windows 10. This wouldn't necessarily replace the Kinect (you'd need depth sensing for that), but it could offer multi-user automatic sign-ins, Skype video chats and other features that either went away or require a third-party camera.
The best webcams
By Andrew Cunningham and Kimber Streams This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. After researching 19 top webcams and testing six, we think that if you need a webcam for video calls, streaming, or recording, you should get the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920. It takes better pictures and video than any of the other models we tested, beating even newer and more expensive models. It has sharp, 1080p video at 30 frames per second with fast autofocus and quick, accurate auto white balance; it's simple to install and use; and at around $60 it doesn't cost much more than lesser budget webcams.
CamSoda starts livestreaming erotic fitness classes
Plenty of companies are getting in on the live-streamed fitness class thing, so it's no surprise to see CamSoda leaping on the bandwagon. The webcam platform is launching CamSoda Fit, a way for folks to partake in hour-long, live fitness classes to help them get, or stay, trim and slim. Except, and you might have already guessed the twist here, the trainers featured are also webcam performers.
Facebook may have kept the videos you recorded but never published
Mark Zuckerberg's terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad 2018 keeps getting worse. As people have begun downloading their Facebook data, they've found something unsettling: videos they recorded, but never published on the site. Recently, a Select/All writer's sister was sifting through her data and found clips of her playing a scale on a flute, all without comments, and then one video with comments. The former were "takes" with mistakes that weren't published.
Huawei MateBook X Pro review: A polished yet quirky laptop
Laptops are exercises in compromise, with companies sacrificing what they deem to be unnecessary features on the twin altars of portability and longevity. The decisions on what to keep and what to ditch will ultimately be how the hardware is judged in the real world. Huawei's fourth traditional laptop, the MateBook X Pro, manages to avoid most of the pitfalls around cramming decent hardware in a slender, good-looking body. In fact, it might even be good enough to make laptop buyers think twice about simply running back to the usual cluster of brands.
Razer’s new webcam and microphone are made for streamers
Razer is known as a gaming laptop, mouse and keyboard maker, but it actually offers a wide variety of products, like Xbox controllers, power banks, and even an upcoming phone. Razer also makes webcams like the Stargazer, which is built for streaming video games. Now Razer is upping its streaming game with two new "streamer certified" peripherals, a webcam with a built-in ring light called Kiyo as well as a USB condenser mic named Seiren X.
Elgato's Cam Link turns your DSLR into a souped-up webcam
Most of the time, I buy cameras for specific purposes. My DSLR exists to capture vacation photos and product shots for Engadget reviews. When I go on hikes or long bike rides, I pull out a GoPro Hero4. For some reason, however, I just can't bring myself to buy a dedicated webcam for Twitch streaming or YouTube vlogs. I already have a handful of great consumer cameras -- shouldn't I be able to use one of those? In reality, that's easier said than done: Most cameras simply aren't designed to push a live feed out to a PC. It's a problem I've spent hours trying to solve, but never did. Then, I heard about the Elgato Cam Link, a USB capture device that can turn any camera with HDMI output into a functional webcam.
Xbox One gets third-party camera support for game streaming
If you're serious about video game streaming, you most likely have a PC with a decent capture card, microphone, camera and software like XSplit or OBS. It can be expensive and a little convoluted, which is why Sony and Microsoft are making their respective consoles better all-in-one streamers. On the Xbox side, Microsoft has added third-party USB camera support for "Insiders," or beta testers, on its "Preview Alpha Ring." It only works with Mixer, the company's Twitch rival, and strictly for broadcasting video — so you'll still need a headset or microphone to handle your vocal chords.
The semi-nude lives of webcam stars
Harli Lotts (not her real name) knows her audience better than just about anyone I've ever met in online media. In just two years, the bubbly blonde from El Paso, Texas, has gone from manager of a rent-to-own store to rising internet starlet by making personal connections with a loyal online audience. She arrived at our interview on a sweltering Friday morning in a hotel suite on the Las Vegas strip with a small entourage of two other budding social media influencers, Amber Vixx and Stefanie Joy (also not their names). NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts.
Photographer captures nature through surveillance webcams
Nature photography usually involves a lot of being outside and walking. That's fine for some, but photographer Marcus DeSieno captures our world's natural majesty from his computer, via online traffic and weather camera feeds.
Logitech's 4K webcam will make your chats more cinematic
If you've got a stylist, makeup artist and really fast internet connection, you're ready for Logitech's 4K Pro Brio webcam. It not only comes with high-resolution 4K at 30 fps (4,096 x 2,160), but also HDR, a 5X digital zoom and infrared facial detection tech that works with Windows Hello logins. We're not sure about Logitech's claim that it's the first 4K webcam, but it's certainly one of the best -- and it should be, for $200.
Porn doesn't need a XXX hologram
In December, the internet exploded with news of a XXX hologram. CamSoda, a small adult-cam site was bringing a holographic cam girl to the 2017 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. I had to see it for myself. Decades of work have gone into the pursuit of true, full-color video holograms as sophisticated as Princess Leia's cry for help in Star Wars. I didn't expect a porn conference to be the place where more than a half-century of scientific research would bear fruit. But two weeks after CES, I was on my way back to Las Vegas for porn's premier event. I was fully expecting an industry stuck in the past, but hoping for something more.
2016's biggest privacy threat: Your phone
When it comes to handing malicious hackers' intimate details about our lives, right now Yahoo is leading the pack as one of the worst threats to privacy in recent history. Yet there's one thing that has Yahoo beat in both the amount and sensitivity of the data being leaked, as well as the frequency. And like IoT appliances, it's a well-known and massive problem among security professionals, but it doesn't garner a lot of attention from the public. I'm talking about your smartphone.
Vulnerable webcams used in major internet attack recalled
This past Friday, some of the biggest sites and services on the internet were effectively shut down by a major distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). As the day wore on, it was revealed that hacked Internet of Things devices like webcams and other connected home devices were the tools used to carry out the attack, and now at least some of the hacked devices are being recalled. The BBC reports that Chinese manufacturer Hangzhou Xiongmai has issued a recall for its faulty webcams that were involved in the attack.
Logitech's newest webcam is for the livestreamers
With eSports shaping up to be a half-a-billion dollar industry this year, now would be a good time to step up your livestreaming game if you're hoping to get noticed among the packs of Twitch streamers and YouTubers. Enter Logitech's latest webcam: the C922 Pro Stream, designed specifically for gamers with 1080p streaming at 30 frames per second and dynamic background replacement to make your face streams really pop.
Facial recognition will find your disappointing sex-cam double
Using your face to unlock your smartphone, or seeing Google or Facebook's algorithms identify your friends and family proves that facial recognition tech can be useful. But where there's a will, there's a way to... repurpose technology for the adult entertainment industry. On webcam show hub Megacams, you can upload a picture of yourself and it uses machine-learning facial recognition magic to find your sex-cam lookalike. I'm not sure why you're looking for someone that's pleasing themselves on camera when they look just like you. Regardless, the technology is here -- although the site is (obviously) not at all safe for work-time browsing. I warned you.
The FBI recommends you cover your laptop's webcam, for good reason
FBI director James Comey recently recommended that we all cover our webcams with tape for security reasons. Comey believes that doing so is a simple step for people to "take responsibility for their own safety and security."
