Who has cameras?

July 12, 2009 8:13 PM

So who's engaging in tenth birthday webcammery?

I've just chucked together a list of the mefi meetups in order of commencement, in case people wanted to see where there may be a concurrent meeting. I'm hoping that if I do this, someone else will work out whatever's needed so that, for example, people from Melbourne aren't forced into chatting with Sydney types. (It turns out we should be making friends with those in Dallas, and Mexico City, among others).

NB, I haven't adjusted for daylight savings, because I'm a lazy bugger, deep down inside. Also, it's winter.

So, is anyone actually going to be camming? I think we're taking cameras along, but I'll leave the net techishness to others...

posted by pompomtom to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:13 PM (33 comments total)

Let's do it, people! Let's awkwardly wave into webcams on 7 continents!
posted by Kattullus at 8:21 PM on July 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

Let's awkwardly wave shirtless into webcams...nowait
posted by not_on_display at 8:54 PM on July 12, 2009

I'm not concerned about shirts, I have one on order. Does this mean I have to wear pants? I don't know where to acquire.
posted by piratebowling at 9:04 PM on July 12, 2009

I got a webcam that my folks bought me, but none of my computers support it. You know, in case somebody in LA has a laptop or something but no webcam.
posted by klangklangston at 9:16 PM on July 12, 2009

Literal webcams aside (and I'm for 'em but don't know if we'll manage that for Portland, though I'll probably bring my Macbook Air and that might work as an ad hoc source), it'd be cool to get "live" flickr streams going, let people update a tenth-party group with photos in real time throughout the weekend. Even if it's just cameraphone snaps for the most part, it'd be a fun stopgap solution for documenting the whole process.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:52 PM on July 12, 2009

I'll turn on my webcam for you guys. I just hope the shower doesn't fog it all up.
posted by secret about box at 11:36 PM on July 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm happy to bring my laptop (with webcam) to the Boston meetup, but will we have internet access? Anybody know?
posted by DiscourseMarker at 11:37 PM on July 12, 2009

As the Sydney meetup will be on the roof of a pub, I'm a little reluctant to bring my laptop along. I can definitely upload Flickr photos and YouTube videos throughout the day from my iPhone though...
posted by web-goddess at 11:42 PM on July 12, 2009

Hey, pompomtom, that's a really nice spreadsheet, but it lists the Portland and New Orleans meetups as taking place at the New York meetup address/time. Thought you'd want to know.

Also, I like webcams. Webcams are good.
posted by maqsarian at 11:51 PM on July 12, 2009

gak. Will amend.
posted by pompomtom at 12:17 AM on July 13, 2009

So who's engaging in tenth birthday webcammery?

wendell.
posted by krautland at 2:04 AM on July 13, 2009

I'll be dollars to donut holes that Chris Mear and assistants are rigging up some 3d holographic webcam affair at the London meetup. Failing that my MacBook webcam will be in tow & I'll bet again that it won't be the only one...
posted by i_cola at 2:30 AM on July 13, 2009

The Hong Kong meetup just became official, the 17th at 7pm local time. We will not have a webcam.

Which is a shame, because we'll be doing a 10th anniversary interpretive dance.
posted by milquetoast at 2:33 AM on July 13, 2009

milquetoast - I'm picturing that, and it's a perfect representation of the portobello mushroom thread...
posted by russm at 2:52 AM on July 13, 2009

i just ran a total on the numbers, substituting '1' where # of attendees is blank, and it looks like there will be 1001 people attending anniversay meetups at 70 different sites! signed, not the biggest webcam fan in the world, but understand why webcams are important here.
posted by msconduct at 3:32 AM on July 13, 2009

Be sure to record the video, because it will be useful in the ensuing investigations.
posted by DU at 5:22 AM on July 13, 2009 [2 favorites]

Man, the last time I engaged in tenth-birthday webcammery, it didn't end up too well.
posted by koeselitz at 6:06 AM on July 13, 2009 [3 favorites]

Not sure where you got Indianapolis's time zone as UTC-6. We're UTC-5 in the winter, UTC-4 in the summer (since we joined the rest of the world 3 years ago in observing DST, which remains the topic of heated debate among Hoosiers). I know you said you were ignoring DST but even then we'd be UTC-5.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:19 AM on July 13, 2009

I don't know about cams, but the time mapping is great: we'll be drinking in Montreal in sync with Mefites in Honolulu, Tucson and Milwaukee.
Very cool, thanks pompomtom.
posted by bru at 7:23 AM on July 13, 2009

The New Orleans meetup has a Twitter feed and I'll be putting up pics on Flickr just as fast as my fat little fingers can. I'm bringing my laptop to the meetup Saturday night, so we should have fairly live action shots as well.
posted by ColdChef at 7:43 AM on July 13, 2009

Is there a flickr tag we can use for all the meetups? mefi10th?
posted by vacapinta at 7:50 AM on July 13, 2009

Also, London should be the first big (more than a few people) meetup!
I'll try to at least take a short video with my camera.
posted by vacapinta at 7:52 AM on July 13, 2009

mefi10th would work, yeah. Maybe we could put vital keyword details up in the current party-is-coming spot or something, once the weekend commences.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:01 AM on July 13, 2009

Webcammery? I'm more concerned with the webscammery I'm engaging in.

Speaking of; as a Nigerian prince, I've got this crap-ton of money I need to move. Anyone want to send me their personal information so that I can put it in your bank account?

On the topic though, while the Milwaukee meetup time and location changed due to the problems with Paddy's being closed and all, the new bar does have free WiFi so if we want to try the web cam thing, it should be doable.
posted by quin at 8:09 AM on July 13, 2009

We have cameras.
posted by empath at 8:41 AM on July 13, 2009

Does this mean I have to wear pants? I don't know where to acquire.

T-shirt + directions + patience/skill = pants.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:51 AM on July 13, 2009

Mathowie says here that mefi10 is the flickr tag to use.
posted by chudmonkey at 2:54 PM on July 13, 2009

Qik is also an option. It supports lots of phones including jailbroken iphones.
posted by zerokey at 3:41 PM on July 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

Apologies to Portland, New Orleans and Indianapolis. Also people who are good at using google docs.

New link here
posted by pompomtom at 4:10 PM on July 13, 2009

Qik seems pretty cool. I'm certain that I will use it for evil.

So I got that going for me.
posted by quin at 5:28 PM on July 13, 2009

I'm bringing my macbook, and will try to upload pics to flickr. Only problem is wifi at the teahouse sucks, so it's a matter of luck if I can get online.

Anyone at the meetup with better webcam knowledge than me can play around with my macbook.
posted by Alnedra at 7:49 PM on July 13, 2009

OK, signed up for Qik... seems well within my technical capability.
posted by pompomtom at 9:49 PM on July 13, 2009

There should be wi-fi at the Vancouver meet-up for my MacBook, so if it's Skype or iChat that can be accomplished quickly. I've got Fusion, too, though I've not yet used the webcam in PC mode...
posted by birdsquared at 7:14 AM on July 14, 2009