So throughout 2007 I’ve gotten into video podcasting and life streaming in a big way. If you check my blog you can see links to my lifestreams (kyte.tv, qik.com, seesmic, and youtube) Now of course what makes most of this possible is a decent webcam. Even if you aren’t into the whole lifestreaming side of things you may still want to consider a webcam for sending video messages to friends and family who perhaps you don’t get to see as often as you would like. I also know some people use their webcam as a poor-mans home security solution. As you can see the options opened up to you upon owning a webcam and pretty extensive.

The nice thing about webcams is that you don’t need to pay the earth to get a pretty decent camera. Take for example the Creative Cam Notebook Pro, one which I have owned in my time. This camera is small and portable, ideal for those on the move and will hook onto the lid of your laptop. The camera can also swivel 180 degrees to take an image behind it - perfect for the James Bond fans among you. Despite its small size this camera packs quite a punch, delivering 30 frames per second (fps) at 640×480 (vga) resolution. As I said I had this camera and found it perfect for video calls on the road.

If you are after a webcam for use at home then you may want to consider the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000. This camera offers 30fps, similar to the Notebook one above, but this time the maximum resolution is 1600×1200. I’ve also been a fan of the QuickCam range, owning a QuickCam Pro 4000 at the moment. The nice additional feature to this is its small size, meaning once again you can take it on the road.

Finally don’t forget that quite a few PC manufacturers are building a camera into the lid of the laptop. Although this probably won’t be up to the standard of the QuickCam Pro, in terms of resolution, the benefit of having the camera built in could be one to consider when looking for a new laptop.