When X10, a company that sells home-automation gadgetry, recently launched a massive Internet advertising blitz for the XCam2, a miniature wireless video camera, Web users and the media threw a fit. The collective sentiment was: "How dare they violate my computer screen while I'm enjoying free, high-quality information from sites such as the New York Times?"
I didn't mind the ads so much myself (they were relatively unobtrusive and easy to close) until after about the 700th time I saw one. When I went to X10.com to click a button that would block the pop-unders, I ended up buying an XCam2, on sale for $69, including shipping. So the ads seem to work, but what about the camera?
The system is so easy to install, I didn't need to refer to the skimpy manual. I just attached the base station to my TV with the supplied coaxial cable, then hooked up the battery pack to the camera and started using it.
The pop-under ads always feature pictures of comely young women, so it's not hard to guess what the implied use is. But pity any high-tech Norman Bates who uses one of these to satisfy his voyeuristic cravings. Even though X10 claims the camera is "smaller than a golf ball," the camera's base and optional battery pack (which you need unless you have nearby AC power) bring it up to baseball proportions. The working range, advertised at 100 feet, drops dramatically if the radio signal has to go through walls. And the colors are oversaturated and the images grainy. (Imagine a third-generation video copy of a Mexican soap opera.) The best use I've found for it so far is to occupy my 3-year-old daughter, who, it turns out, loves to watch herself on television.
It's not Panavision, for sure, but for $69, it's a pretty cool 21st century toy.
