Matthew Gryczan, a MAKE contributor and the author of a great book that explains how carnival games are rigged, called Carnival Secrets: How to Win at Carnival Games, wrote about a cheap “wormhole system” from Mozilla.
While corporate America is starting to discover the advantages of using expensive HDTV “wormholes” — continuously running video links between distant locations — web developers at Mozilla have cobbled together systems for under $(removed),000.
The result: sight gags and proud parents showing off newborns. And just like at home, all of the fun takes place in the kitchen.
Senior web developer Les Orchard at Mozilla says the company has dedicated webcam portals that run continuously for days connecting company kitchens in its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters with its offices in Toronto, Canada.
So when the Toronto contingent got envious about Mountain View’s snack tray one Friday morning, they posted a note: “Toronto office just licked all the donuts.” Adding insult to injury, the Canadians also gave the Americans a spelling lesson. It’s “doughnoughts,” not “donuts,” you hosers.
Orchard recalls that the monitors between the locations “are old HDTV sets we had lying around, formerly hooked up to Xbox 360’s for after-hours gaming. And I think the “portal” consists of a Mac Mini + an iSight in Toronto and a Mac Mini + Logitech webcam in Mountain View.”
The parts may be $(removed),000 new, but Orchards figures it would be about half that if someone scrounges for the components on eBay. And the Skype connection is free.
(Image: Those Canadian bastards!, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from dolske’s photostream)