
Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams - awaythrower
A Logitech 925e ($99 USD MSRP) currently goes for $180-$260 on eBay and $358 on Amazon.
======
TheAdamist
Wyze cheap security cameras released a firmware that turns them into a webcam.
Still in stock.

You will also need a USB a-a cable that I didn't know existed or was legal.

And a 32gb microsd.

I did this last week, came in one day on Amazon prime. Under $50 for
everything.

Setup went okay, although the 3-4 minutes for firmware write was under a
minute for me with their branded microsd.

Quality is passable, lens is more fisheye than I'd prefer so you see my messy
office, but it works. 1080/30 the software claims. Note it has a speaker, so
check your sound mixer settings to have it not steal audio out.

[https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-
us/articles/360041605111-W...](https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-
us/articles/360041605111-Webcam-Firmware-Instructions)

~~~
40four
I would not touch a Wyze camera with a 10 foot pole. Given the recent enormous
security breaches, the likely connections to the Chinese government, and the
incredibly low price point, there are red flags waving everywhere.

Read this blog series about Wyze, and then make up you mind if you are
comfortable having that piece of hardware in your home. I think it is pretty
clear the risks are not trivial.

[https://blog.12security.com/tag/wyze/](https://blog.12security.com/tag/wyze/)

~~~
quit32
Great write up. I agree I do not trust them very much and would not use them
on a network that has internet access.

They are a great cheap option when using their custom RTSP firmware with
synology surveillance stations. I throw them on their own SSID that is
isolated from other local networks and does not have internet access. The SS
can reach into their network but they can't initiate connections out.

Still they briefly need internet when setting up to enable RTSP but I'm more
concerned about them being remotely accessible at anytime and having access to
anything else on my network. Even my setup would allow my email and the
isolated network's topo to leak bc of brief internet access.

~~~
runnerup
I don't think that was a great write up. I'm no panda-hugger but I was hoping
for evidence/walk-through for the following claims made in the article, and I
didn't find any direct evidence in the article. Did I not read it closely
enough? (Pretty sure the claims are made without support)

> Yi Camera is a front for the Chinese Ministry of State Security. Full stop.

> Yi Cameras send all customer data to Xiaomi as I have previously claimed
> with Wyze.

~~~
40four
To be fair, I updated the link to the the ‘tags’ page, since it includes the
whole series, after @quit32 commented. They might have been referring to one
of the first couple in the series , the link originally pointed to #1.

Honestly I’m not familiar with the Yi cameras, I haven’t read that newest
post, I’ll have to look into it. But, 12 Security is credited with disclosing
the 2nd Wyze security breach in December 2019 (the 1st one not even a full
calendar year before).

Wyze reluctantly admitted the breach days later, but went into damage control
mode, claiming the DB was only exposed for part of the month of December. 12
Security says otherwise, that it was exposed for the majority of the calendar
year, and many parties across the globe accessed it according to logs.

[https://web.archive.org/web/20200306023236/https://www.nytim...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200306023236/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/business/wyze-
security-camera-breach.html)

------
fab1an
It's incredibly annoying that you can't use your APPLE iPhone camera as a
webcam for your APPLE Macbook, but instead are forced to use the atrociously
terrible cam that comes with the Macbook.

I've tried workarounds using the excellent OSB, but there's currently no
software that let's you reroute video on a Mac (like Loopback does for audio)

EDIT: I stand corrected, as user wolfhumble points out below, EpocCam seems to
do this - thanks! [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epoccam-webcamera-for-
computer...](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epoccam-webcamera-for-
computer/id435355256)

~~~
wolfhumble
There is this, but I haven't tried it: [https://apps.apple.com/app/epoccam-
webcam-for-mac-pc/id44913...](https://apps.apple.com/app/epoccam-webcam-for-
mac-pc/id449133483)

~~~
vhold
Looking at the reviews, I see multiple people saying that the developer
required paid users to write a review in order to unlock the ability to use
the front camera. I think it goes without saying that is an incredibly scummy
practice.

~~~
schwartzworld
rating an app to unlock features is scummy? compared to all the other
practices and anti-patterns apps use today?

~~~
BossingAround
Yes, it's still scummy. Bad practice doesn't make another bad practice good...

------
buro9
I bought an Elgato CamLink instead... hooked it up to a DSLR I already owned,
and it makes for a stunningly crisp and clear, high quality, webcam.

Of course, using a 42.4 Megapixel sensor and a Carl Zeiss Sonnar lens it
would.

[https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/cam-
link-4k](https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/cam-link-4k)

Turns a HDMI input into a USB web cam.

~~~
vetinari
I used to use Gopro this way. The problem was, that Gopro runs on battery when
turned on (even when not recording, just in monitor mode), but charges it only
when the camera is off.

With my old battery, the sessions were... short. So I managed to snatch a Brio
last week, and I'm much more satisfied.

~~~
windexh8er
This isn't correct for, at least GoPro 6 and newer. I often times will run my
GoPro with an external battery pack when doing extremely long running time
lapse videos. The camera can definitely be run on external power and record -
minimally a Hero 6 Black and a Hero 8 black both can be used in this manner
from personal experience.

~~~
vetinari
Gopro 3 (black edition). I said the battery was old :) (it is the original
one).

------
post_break
Also bidets, nintendo switches, instant yeast, powdered milk, etc. I actually
snagged some wine yeast on amazon and I'm on my third loaf of bread. Bidet was
the best "waste of money" I have spent in a long time. My TP usage has been
slashed.

~~~
MisterTea
A few friends switch to bidets a while ago and wont look back. Personally I
just jump in the shower if it's that bad.

~~~
wegs
I find bidets as or more useful if it's not that bad. You're often talking
about just one or two square of toilet paper (literally, not figuratively).

Try cleaning your hands with paper instead of water some day, and see how that
works out for you. It's the same thing.

~~~
daxorid
Feces comes in all manner of consistencies and textures. There is a range of
consistencies for which bidets are wholly useless. Specifically, sticky ones.
For these, you need friction from a solid, high-surface-area object.

I'm sure you've had brown streaks inside the bowl that could not be removed in
N flushes, but a simple toilet brush made quick work of the matter.

To use your handwashing analogy, try removing crisco, or some other substance
that adheres to your hands with a stream of water. Now try physically wiping
it with a paper towel. The towel will win every time.

This is to say nothing of the fact that it's quite nice to leave the bathroom
with dry hindquarters rather than a bad case of SA.

~~~
hombre_fatal
If your bidet can't wash off some sticky feces, you simply have a weak bidet.
That's one of the main instances where bidets are so nice instead of wiping
and wiping.

~~~
olyjohn
A weak bidet... Or too many Quarter Pounders in your diet.

------
Semaphor
Yeast. I haven’t needed yeast in years, recently I found a recipe with yeast I
wanted to try and found out that, at least where I am in Germany, yeast is
sold out.

I heard about the webcam thing from my boss, he asked me if he gave me a
webcam years ago when I started remote working. He did, but it was in the
attic and I had to go looking for it ;)

~~~
coob
You can make your own yeast:
[https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/31/21199708/yeast-diy-
baking...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/31/21199708/yeast-diy-baking-
covid-19-shortage-make-it-yourself-bread)

~~~
Semaphor
Yeah, I know. But it doesn’t seem worth it to buy a kg of flour just to make
yeast for a single recipe ;)

~~~
L_226
Also in germany, you don't need 1kg, see
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n9yh5lDvts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n9yh5lDvts)

I did this last weekend and made a pretty good loaf (my first time).

~~~
Semaphor
So the thing is, the recipe is for a nut-flour based pizza dough. I’m not sure
if a sour dough starter works for that. And as I never made the recipe before,
I wouldn’t even know if any problem is because of the recipe or some problem
with the starter.

~~~
L_226
Fair enough, I would still just try anyway as that's the only way you'll know
for sure. The yeast is pretty forgiving, all it does is eat sugars in the
flour and convert into CO2.

------
noodlesUK
If you’re the typical hacker news reader, I suppose there’s a good chance you
have a decent quality SLR or mirrorless camera. If it has a clean HDMI output,
you can use it with a capture card (80USD or so) on amazon and you’ll have the
best webcam money can buy. Couple that with a cheap lavalier mic or similar
and you’ll have far better quality than any video call is likely able to
transmit.

If you’re feeling really hacky you might be able to do without the capture
card and use gphoto2 to stream your camera over usb, and then use something
like OBS virtual am or V4l2loopback. This is fiddly though and only works with
a few cameras.

~~~
1-6
RIP capture cards.

------
ivankirigin
Why shouldn’t the price increase with a supply chain disruption and demand
boom?

Would you prefer a shortage with no incentive to increase production?

~~~
DangitBobby
If I used to produce 100 units per month because that's how many I could sell,
but now I know I can sell 10000 units per month, that is incentive enough to
increase production. Notice here that raising the price is not at all required
to increase profits. It's just something companies tend to do because they
know they can get away with it in high demand markets.

And since raising prices to increase profits is not necessary with hugely
increased damand, it's seen as profiteering to do so on essentials (or in this
case things that make you feel less isolated) during a global crisis.

~~~
losvedir
> _If I used to produce 100 units per month because that 's how many I could
> sell, but now I know I can sell 10000 units per month, that is incentive
> enough to increase production._

For what it's worth, this isn't how "supply and demand" works in economics.

The idea is that a given firm is _already_ producing as much as they can at
that price. There's not usually a ton of slack just laying around that could
respond to a spike in demand. For instance, my wife who works at a soap
factory right now, has seen a ton of demand. They would _love_ to increase
production to accommodate but it's just not immediately possible, without
retooling the factory. They're managing to increase supply a little, by not
offering as many varieties of scents and such, but that's the extent of what
they can do immediately.

The reason prices increase with an increase in demand, according to standard
economics orthodoxy, is because that allows more firms to enter the market, as
well as existing firms to do less efficient things (more workers, more
expensive supply chain, etc), to meet that demand.

~~~
tbihl
Yeah, the higher output factory idea only works to the extent that you can
find factories that can still add a shift and, more importantly, can find all
the upstream capacity to support them doing so.

------
lwhi
I wanted to buy a new webcam; basically because I'm finding half my life is
spent using one.

Ran into the problems mentioned in the article, and put a Logitech camera onto
pre-order.

Cancelled that order last night though: possible to use an android phone as a
webcam that's most likely better quality than the current generator of USB
webcam. I chose this app [1], others are available.

[1]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pas.webcam...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pas.webcam&hl=en_GB)

~~~
ce4
How do you use the IP webcam address in programs like teams, zoom, skype?

I resorted to buying a magewell hdmi-2-usb converter. Better quality, I can
focus and zoom from further away (no huge nose) and depending on your gear you
have automatic background blurring (aperture+sensor size)

[http://www.magewell.com/products/usb-capture-hdmi-
gen-2](http://www.magewell.com/products/usb-capture-hdmi-gen-2)

~~~
lwhi
It's possible to create a virtual V4L device
([https://github.com/umlaeute/v4l2loopback](https://github.com/umlaeute/v4l2loopback)).
The app I chose, provides a script to set this up.

There's also a windows driver, but I haven't used that yet

~~~
mmm_grayons
> There's also a windows driver

Is the driver signed? If not, you have to enable "test mode" and windows will
drop a God-awful watermark in the bottom right of your desktop letting you
know "test mode" is on. It's one of the seemingly-small things that bugs me
the most about it.

------
PAPPPmAc
I ran into that the other week as well.

Get a UVC industrial camera with a M12 or CS mount lens to use as a webcam,
most are better cameras than the "webcam" models and not everyone has noticed
UVC cameras _are_ webcams so the prices are normal.

I grabbed one with an OV2710 sensor (does 1920x1080@30fps, 1280×720@60, and so
on) and a 2.8-12mm CS lens for $65 that took a little over a week to arrive (I
paid a slight premium from Amazon instead of Aliexpress because it looked like
there was US stock... turned out to be the same seller shipping from the same
place in China. Oh well).

I'm trying to limp the hands-on portion of some sophomore-level EE courses to
the end of the semester, so I've got mine mounted as an overhead camera for
drawing/demonstrating/etc. the crap laptop built-in is plenty for facecam.

The major problem is getting the video conferencing apps not to drop cameras
to super-low quality, Zoom usually won't even use the full resolution mode of
my built-in (except occasionally and apparently at random it decides to and
changes the frame by selecting a 16x9 mode instead of the 4:3 it usually
picks), and offers no real camera settings that I can find.

~~~
Arelius
Neat, where did you order yours from? I've actually been looking for a sensor
without a Bayer filter on it to use with a spectrometer, and this looks like
the sort of thing that might be able to be used for that.

~~~
vidanay
I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for, but there are a lot of machine
vision cameras available that do not have Bayer filters and are grey scale
only.

[https://www.baslerweb.com/en/products/cameras/](https://www.baslerweb.com/en/products/cameras/)

[https://www.alliedvision.com/en/digital-industrial-camera-
so...](https://www.alliedvision.com/en/digital-industrial-camera-
solutions.html)

These cameras most likely DO HAVE a NIR (near IR) filter on the sensors. You
would need to check on specific models.

Basler provides some documentation for removing the filter from specific
camera models.

[https://www.baslerweb.com/en/sales-
support/downloads/documen...](https://www.baslerweb.com/en/sales-
support/downloads/document-downloads/how-to-remove-the-ir-cut-filter-holder-
from-a-basler-ace-camera/)

~~~
Arelius
They do look like exactly what I'm looking for, I'm just turned-off by the
pricing model of "Contact Sales" When I'm just looking for a single camera to
fit in my budget for personal projects.

~~~
PAPPPmAc
Basler has very well-made equipment and lovely software (Pylon) compared to
most of what is available in the imaging world. If you want to see what things
would actually cost at open market price, look at Edmund Optics listings for
the cameras (eg. [https://www.edmundoptics.com/f/basler-ace-
usb-3.0-cameras/14...](https://www.edmundoptics.com/f/basler-ace-
usb-3.0-cameras/14831/) ), they are expensive by consumer standards but quite
reasonable by industrial standards. Basler also tends to be pretty friendly
with academics or other potential partners who might increase the value of
their line, so it may be worth asking, depending on what sort of thing you're
considering doing.

Their area-scan features turned out to be unsuitable for what I'd hoped to use
it for, but having looked at Pylon in determining that, I really wish I'd been
able to, because the alternative I ended up with has been closer to
"magnetized needle and steady hand" than "lovely API."

~~~
vidanay
I'm curious as to what you found to be unsuitable about the Basler cameras?

~~~
PAPPPmAc
I needed triggering behavior that the restrictions on their Stacked ROI
mode(s) didn't let me rig up.

The project is doing a sort of frameless capture off a conventional sensor, so
I was hoping to use Stacked ROI as a sort of threshold trigger for selective
updates, but (for entirely good technical reasons) there are ordering, size,
and number limitations on how the regions can be configured.

~~~
vidanay
Ahhh. Stacked ROI and through the lens triggering are both features I have
never needed.

------
fireattack
It's has been like this for quite a while. I tried to buy a webcam for a
project about 3-4 weeks ago and found they were all gone.

Funny enough, at that moment, I just thought it was because Amazon had problem
on stocking and delivery. I didn't even realize it's because of the high
demand for remote work etc.

~~~
skinnymuch
Makes sense. There likely weren’t that many cams to begin with. Not exactly a
burgeoning market. Wouldn’t take much to be out of stock world wide.

~~~
ghaff
I assume most people have webcams built into their computers and/or use their
phones for these purposes. I have a highish-end external one but then I'm
someone who was spending a couple hours a day on video conferences even before
the current situation.

------
JCharante
It's been like this for 1.5 months. It's been commonly brought up at
universities when some professors require webcams for exams but some students
don't already have them.

I imagine professional headsets are under similar price constraints because on
the BBC I've seen at-home reporters using gaming headsets with RGB LEDs.

~~~
cvwright
Headsets are definitely in short supply. I bought a mid-range Jabra in March
for about $150-160. The same model on Amazon is now over $200 and has
increased by $10 since the last time I checked just one week ago.

~~~
dangerboysteve
I can also confirm, many local computer stores and distributors have had a
huge run in basic headsets and webcams. Game headsets are in stock.

------
dirtyid
Sold out couple weeks ago in Canada, asked hackernews about apps that turn
android phone into webcam. Two that worked fine:

iriun

droidcam

Turns out your phone's selfie / front camera and microphone is vastly superior
to most laptop webcams. Grab yourself selfie tripod. Lots of compliments about
picture and sound quality. Coincidentally WSJ covered this topic yesterday.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daqPLDDAntA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daqPLDDAntA)

~~~
51Cards
Thanks for this, going to try these.

------
whiskers
It looks like you can take a Raspberry Pi (Zero variant or 3A+ should all work
since they support gadget mode) with camera module and have it behave as a USB
webcam.
[https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=148361](https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=148361)

I haven't tried this, but will ask one of our team to give it a go and confirm
- that would make a more affordable option around £40 or so.

Disclaimer: Co-founder of Pimoroni (Raspberry Pi re-seller)

~~~
Nexxxeh
If you guys can post a good working tutorial for the Zero W, it would be very
much appreciated and I'll definitely be placing an order for a camera with
you.

------
mellosouls
It's irritating that some historical price comparison sites (e.g.
CamelCamelCamel - at least in the EU) are being leaned on by Amazon to cease
their activity.

Where items are available, I actually would like to know who's profiteering
before sending them my money.

~~~
mcescalante
If anyone's curious about this from 3 camels standpoint they made a blog post
about this. I was curious what the non-Amazon opinion would be so I went
looking: [https://camelcamelcamel.com/blog/amazon-eu-
covid-19](https://camelcamelcamel.com/blog/amazon-eu-covid-19)

~~~
rdtwo
They are being generous to amazon. You can clearly see that amazon raised
prices 30%+ on things like dishwasher tablets and other stuff. It’s not
showing up on camel camel because amazon is showing them a different price
then what you get as a logged in user. As soon as you login to order amazon
jacks up the price on you. That’s their “scam”

------
jurip
Feels like Apple could boost their ecosystem by making great iPhone/macOS
webcam integration. There's Kinoni's EpocCam and it seems to work, but it is a
bit rough and requires installing their driver which I don't love.

~~~
RBerenguel
I’ve been using CamTwist
([http://camtwiststudio.com/](http://camtwiststudio.com/)) for it after
checking the alternatives. Even if old-looking it works well (in Catalina and
Mojave) and has converted my old iPhone into a good-quality webcam. OBS studio
is getting virtual webcam support soon (see a recent post about OBS studio)
and will allow for that as well (I have tried the proof of concept
implementation)

~~~
skinnymuch
Ah I didn’t know camtwist can use your iPhone as a cam.

Unfortunately it isn’t working anymore on one of my Catalina installs. Which
is my primary daily driver. Luckily works on secondary older Mac that I use
for Zoom frequently. Will try it out, thanks!

~~~
RBerenguel
Oh, interesting, it works for me on Catalina. For some unknown reason I had to
restart to make it work, _and_ only works on Chrome (for Meet) and some other
selected programs. I guess it shows its age, I may have been lucky it works
for me.

~~~
skinnymuch
I reformatted a 2014 Mac Mini a family member was going to throw away :p.
First by accident to Catalina. It was fine there in the hour I used it.
Downgraded the Mini to 10.14 so it can actually run though.

My main driver already has other minor issues like too much cpu usage from
certain Mac processes etc. I’m sure if I took the time, I’d be able to get
Camtwist working.

But yeah if for you it works depending on browser and software. Yeah age is
showing.

------
exabrial
Couldn't we just use our smartphones on a stand?

~~~
lima-lima
Perhaps useful for others: I had this thought as well (that my handy camera is
already a high quality webcam) and had great performance on Linux with the app
DroidCam [1], which includes the V4Lloopback module when you install the
desktop program and presents the android camera as a webcam at /dev/video#.
Connected to my computer via USB (ADB) it shows no noticeable latency. This is
a bit different to all the IP webcam apps which expose the handy camera over
your LAN (but that is an option as well).

The desktop app allows you to toggle the handy LED flash for better front
lighting, to lock exposure, to trigger autofocus, and to adjust white balance.

I tried it first with the free version, which doesn't allow HD video. The full
version is a few dollars; doesn't contain ads.

I have no connection to the developers, but am a happy user. Works flawlessly
anywhere a webcam is expected (for me so far: skype, Zoom, Jitsi).

The desktop app is open source, but unfortunately not the android app. I was
surprised not find an open source version of this concept (and don't currently
have the time to develop it).

[1] [https://www.dev47apps.com/](https://www.dev47apps.com/)

~~~
MrGilbert
On a side note: I guess it's still "mobile" in english - "handy" is pretty
german. ;)

Not sure if it's still valid, but "handy" has a different meaning in slang:

[https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=handy](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=handy)

Again, a native speaker might consider different, but as a german the usage of
"handy" immediatley caught my eye. :D

~~~
frosted-flakes
OP's usage is correct. Handy means "at hand", or convenient.

~~~
MrGilbert
I know what "handy" means in English.

So if I ask an American to show me his "Handy", he knows that I want to see
his "mobile phone"?

Because that's what "Handy" means in Germany. It's actually "mobile phone",
hence the confusion. I learned that "Handy" is almost exclusively used in
Germany.

~~~
frosted-flakes
The German usage of "handy" as a noun does not exist in English. "My handy
camera" doesn't mean "my mobile camera", it means "my camera that is
conveniently at hand".

("Mobile phone" isn't very common in the US either. Common usage used to be
"cell phone" or "smart phone", but is now simply "phone".)

------
Paraesthetic
Went to the computer shop to get a few wekcams for our remote workers. The guy
said they had 30 cameras in that morning and had two left. I got those two.
Its a computer shop I only use as a last resort because they are useless.

Seems to be the case across the board though, I bought some Microsoft LifeCam
Studios because Microsoft had some in stock. But couldn't find much else
anywhere else.

~~~
delecti
It seems odd to note that you think the only store which had the product you
were looking for is useless.

~~~
Markoff
he clearly meant useless under normal circumstances when you have much more
and cheaper options online than in brick and mortar store

------
slezyr
I just duck taped the selfie stick to the monitor's stand and use the phone
with skype/zoom apps. Camera, mic are already there and you can use headsets
with it.

------
postingawayonhn
And standing desks. I've been trying to source some for my business (to
retail) and all of the cheaper models are sold out. The models we have been
able to source are a harder sell at their price point.

[https://www.elementrelocations.com.au/work-from-
home](https://www.elementrelocations.com.au/work-from-home)

~~~
numpad0
Just an idea, would it be possible to use plumbing pipes or construction
scaffolding instead?

~~~
postingawayonhn
I'm sure you could hack something together if you're not too worried about the
design or long-term duribility. For us it's really just a side business right
now to compensate for our main business not attracting many customers right
now.

------
kyrra
I saw this mentioned in a WSJ piece yesterday.

> You can get an external webcam—although top models are sold out across the
> web. ( Logitech says it’s increasing production and distribution to meet the
> new demand.)

[https://www.wsj.com/articles/living-the-coronavirus-work-
fro...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/living-the-coronavirus-work-from-home-
life-here-are-all-the-tech-tips-you-need-11585059841)

------
s1t5
Similarly, I felt that I outgrew my kettlebell and tried to order a new one -
absolutely impossible right now, like most other home exercise equipment. At
least it's something completely non-essential.

I'm just grateful that we have food in the stores at the moment.

~~~
taborj
This is a prime example of why letting prices go up to a certain degree on
certain items is a _good_ thing.

Case in point: you wanted to buy a new webcam, not because you needed one, but
because you felt it was time to do so. You can't, because the prices are too
high. But for someone for whom a webcam is essential (think a doctor providing
televisits to patients), a high price isn't as much of a deterrent (within
reason).

Because you couldn't/wouldn't buy at the higher price, there was stock
available for the doctor who absolutely needed the device.

~~~
krupan
Exactly. Without price controls, prices go up some finite amount. With price
controls, things sell out which means prices have essentially gone to
infinity. Which is more of a price control?

------
TrackerFF
After bars and restaurants closed down here, some 3 weeks ago, various
alcoholic drinks have become very scarce. People are just hoarding wines and
beers like never before - was going to pick up a couple of bottles of wine,
but walked out with cheap vodka.

~~~
pwg
> People are just hoarding wines and beers like never before

Are they? Or are all the people who used to go to the now shutdown bars and
restaurants, where their beers and wines were supplied by the
bars/restaurants, and therefore, commercial supply houses, now drinking at
home instead, and so there is much more purchasing on the retail side,
resulting in shortages because the retail side was not ready for a substantial
X% instant increase in consumption?

I.e., all the beer/wine that used to flow via the commercial supply houses now
has to flow via the retail stores.

~~~
_ph_
And if you take beer, that is delivered to bars and restaurants in barrels,
while shops carry bottles. Same as with flour, the limitation isn't supply of
the base but of packing/botteling.

------
enra
One ProTip: You can order directly from Logitech website.

Couple of weeks ago there was no stock for C922 on Amazon, but was able to
purchase it direct from Logitech. Shipping was free I think and it arrived in
week or so.

~~~
sp332
Every webcam I checked is "out of stock due to high demand."

~~~
sneeze-slayer
They come back in stock sporadically, probably worth it to check at odd hours.

------
Raed667
Also Nintendo Switch, where it is now selling for (450$~650$) when you used to
be able to find it for (250$~$300).

~~~
mikestew
Switches have been out for a while. I had surgery at the beginning of March,
figured it was a good excuse to _finally_ play Legend of Zelda. Had to look a
little bit, but I found one for online delivery from Best Buy for MSRP. Could
have even bought an Animal Crossing special edition.

A week later, maybe the wife would like one: none to be found. You can still
get a Switch Lite, though.

------
plafl
And gym at home equipment is completely sold out, at least here in Spain,
except the very expensive.

~~~
dirtyid
Yeah, weight plates selling for $3-4 per pound. Usually less than $1. Can sell
a few plates to recoop home gym. Strange times.

~~~
WalterBright
There's the old fashioned way of buying a calf and carrying it around all day.
As it grows, you grow strong like bull.

~~~
dirtyid
If only that's compatible with condo life and quarantine. Somewhat related to
people complaining about flour, pet food / animal feed prices also
skyrocketing. My gymless friends ended up buying sandbags.

------
rootusrootus
Also Chromebooks. Seems like everyone is grabbing them for their kids since
that's what schools have been using. Just getting a couple of them for my kids
involved paying half again as much as the same ones were going for a month
ago, and two involuntary canceled orders. Fingers crossed that Best Buy won't
cancel again on the ones that I'm supposed to pick up on Friday.

~~~
Spooky23
Chromebooks were heavily impacted by Wuhan supply chain issues. There was zero
inventory of devices with FHD screens 6 weeks ago, now big schools are
ordering thousands of the things.

------
jefftk
On March 25th a friend noticed them being out of stock on Amazon and I found
that they could get just the camera module, no box:
[https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+camera+module&i=electronics](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+camera+module&i=electronics)

These still seem to be available, though you'll need to be careful with them
or build a box.

------
Kaibeezy
And flour. Had to put my sourdough starter in cryosleep.

~~~
24t
Since retail and commercial supply chains are different I'd suggest reaching
out to a restaurant you have good rapport with or contacting a local drygoods
supplier.

Flour is out there it's just not making it to the shelves.

~~~
OJFord
In the UK a few weeks ago commercial suppliers were complaining that they had
all this stock they couldn't shift because it was packaged incorrectly - not
flashily marketed or sized too large.

Now the ones that did open up to retail customers seem widely sold out of the
desirable stuff...

------
martin_a
Look no further than simple headsets.

Wanted to have a light, cheap one from Sennheiser (one of those for 20 €) for
homeoffice use. Sold out on Amazon. Estimated delivery mid or late May.

And it's like that for all the inexpensive "business headphones". If you want
some shiny-blinky-bulky-"gamer headset", Amazon will be happy to send you a
dozen till tomorrow morning.

It's crazy.

~~~
dannyw
Just wear a gamer headset then.

~~~
dasyatidprime
I use a Sennheiser GAME ZERO for audio calls on a regular basis, including
professionally, because the sound quality is quite good for voice. (I do also
use it for gaming, and for music listening.) For audio calls they're not going
to see it anyway, and I don't think most of the people I talk to would care if
they saw it on a video call; the design doesn't scream “business”, but the red
metal tracery is the only flashy thing about it, and that's kinda subtle.

What's more of a problem I might run into soon is that my setup was already
out of date for video calls; this seems increasingly like a hard expectation
rather than an optional plus; and the pseudo-docking way I use my primary
laptop at my desk doesn't currently allow me to orient the builtin camera so
that it catches my expression at a reasonable angle while also letting me
leave the monitor in front of me. Putting the laptop where my monitor
currently is might be workable, but it could also get squint-inducing at that
distance… I might have to play around with this.

~~~
martin_a
Same for me on the camera angle part: I have connected the work laptop to my
private 4k display, but I'm not using the Logitech camera which sits on top of
the 4k display (mostly because I would need to clean my "hobby desk" then, not
really in the mood for that :-D), so I use the integrated one. This leads to
me looking straight at the large display and the camera facing me from the
lower right. Well... Could be worse.

------
summm
The webcam and video call market has stopped to improve like, 10 years ago.
There's some exceptions, like the Brio, but they are worse and more expensive
than a whole cheapo phone with 2 cameras. Overall we're mostly stuck with
1280x720 fixfoxus usb-2.0 crap. On the software side, things don't look
better: UVC 1.5 finally does support hardware encode with bitrate control, but
software support is scarce. Completely unsupported by Linux even. Don't get me
started about free videoconference software and open, end-to-end encrypted
systems. Am I missing something? Is this really that hard?

~~~
user5994461
Home broadband has not improved much in the past 10 years. Home users simply
couldn't stream a 720p video back then and most still can't as of today.

So there is no point in making higher resolution cameras, that won't run 5
frames per second.

Besides, high-end phones have very good cameras nowadays but they sell for a
$1000 and upward. The typical webcam budget is rather in the $20-30 range. If
you're willing to put hundred(s) in a webcam, like businesses and streamers,
there are good options.

~~~
ceejayoz
This doesn't appear to be accurate.

[https://www.statista.com/statistics/616210/average-
internet-...](https://www.statista.com/statistics/616210/average-internet-
connection-speed-in-the-us/)

Anecdotally, my local ISP has gone from everyone getting 10/1 to 100/5 in the
base package in the last few years.

~~~
lotsofpulp
Upload bandwidth for 95% of homes in the US is the same as it was almost 20
years ago. It’s so bad it’s not even advertised. If you have access to fiber,
then you’re very lucky in the US.

I would also say 5mbps upload is hardly an upgrade. A single FaceTime call
uses a couple mbps, so it’s probably just enough for that, assuming everyone
in the neighborhood isn’t uploading too, which they are nowadays.

~~~
ceejayoz
Again, anecdotally, mine's gone from 1 Mbps upload to 30 in the last ~10 years
or so. I don't have fiber, I've got Spectrum over the cable lines, in a small
market with not much competition. (It's either Spectrum, or the local phone
company's shitty DSL offering. There's one local fiber company, but only in a
couple percent of households... including literally my neighbor, but not me.)

Specific data on upload speeds is harder to come by, but
[https://www.tomsguide.com/us/internet-speed-what-you-
need,ne...](https://www.tomsguide.com/us/internet-speed-what-you-
need,news-24289.html) says "According to Ookla, the average U.S. broadband
download speed is 96 Mbps and average upload speeds are now at 33Mbps."

~~~
lotsofpulp
I can easily tell which of one of my family has fiber internet versus not
fiber internet just by the consistency and quality of our FaceTime calls. Even
between the US and England, the fiber to fiber connections are far more high
quality and stable than cable and other types.

The ISPs can claim whatever numbers they want, but the real test is what it
feels like when you use it.

------
jetti
I bought a webcam off of AliExpress that was supposedly shipped from the US
and they said they had stock. It was ~$25 so I'm not expecting much but it
will be something. I'm doing facetime/facebook video chats with family members
so they can see my 15 month old son. We have been using the built-in camera in
either a phone or laptop but my son keeps trying to reach out and smash the
keyboard or touch the phone screen. The idea is to use a webcam and then hook
the laptop up to the TV so that we can be visible.

------
znpy
Meh, I'm using the integrated webcam in my work Dell Latitude . It's
sufficient.

I really don't see the need for super-high-res webcams for work meeting
(unless you have to stream a whole room).

------
ck2
Speaking of which, there could be a serious opportunity for a startup to
create an actually decent webcam stream service with low lag and low/no
artifacts because I have no idea why the national media has such horrible
connections in 2020, makes zero sense to me, it's like watching 2001 tech.

Sound correction for dead rooms or echo-y rooms would be nice too. If AI can
magically "fix" video with almost no pixels and poor sound a hundred years
old, they should be able to apply it to webcam broadcasts.

------
tmnster85
Akaso Pro 4k - The thing is a knock off gopro but it has the embedded webcam
drivers so it's plug and play. I spent about 4 hours trying to get the Costco
version of the GoPro4 to work with a bunch of drivers from some guy in Europe.
Did not work. Any GoPro solution sounds hacky

The other thing is old phones and tablets. Wipe them, root, install something
like Lineage and then get an IP camera app, dead simple and provides a second
display for what you're presenting on the camera.

------
lancefisher
I ran into this a couple weeks ago getting my son set up for remote school. I
ended up buying a 24” Dell monitor with a webcam, speakers, and mic built in.
They are surprisingly few choices for monitors like this, but I’m really happy
with the P2418HZm that I ordered. It was $280 on Amazon and took a week to get
here. You can also use it to login with your face.

The other option I was looking at was just picking up a cheap chrome book with
a camera built in.

------
logfromblammo
I pulled my old Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 out of storage, to find that the
video feed functions only when plugged in to a USB 2 port, and my current home
desktop just has USB 3 ports.

I haven't yet tried fixing it, because honestly, nobody really needs to see
any of... _this_. As I gesture vaguely at myself.

Video conferencing is vastly overrated. I'd rather share an image of my
desktop or a drawing canvas.

------
Robotbeat
And VR headsets, which have been sold out for a while (especially Oculus Rift
S and Quest) and every time they're brought back in stock, they sell out
within minutes or seconds. I managed to grab a Quest... with delivery date
like May 1st or something.

(Granted, there were some 'rona-caused supply chain problems with the headsets
and also Half Life: Alyx just was released, but still.)

------
nailer
Yep the 920S has doubled in price. However oddly the high end Logitech models
models (4K with face unlock for Windows) are still available.

~~~
michaelt
It had never occurred to me that, during a shortage, the most expensive
products would sell out last.

It makes sense now I've seen it happen, but I've always associated food
shortages with austerity - instead I'm suddenly buying premium organic free
range duck eggs.

~~~
summm
This is because this is not an actual shortage. This is people panic-buying
things they don't really need, and then of course they can't justify spending
that much...

~~~
wegs
And the coronavirus was just a flu. And there's pent-up demand in out economy
which will just explode when we get out of this.

No. This is not panic-buying or hoarding. There are actual supply chain
disruptions, shifting demands, fewer workers going to work, and things just
aren't keeping up with major disruptions to economic structures based on low
margins, having just enough capacity, and doing everything just-in-time.

They're addressable, but we're not addressing them. Instead everyone tells
themselves pretty stories about how the problems aren't real, and everyone
else seems to believe it.

As far as I can tell, no one actually keeps an eye on these things either. We
have no idea if we will have too much or not enough food in 6 months, and my
guess is not enough (B2C producers aren't scaling up due to pretty stories,
while B2B ones are shutting down due to lack-of-demand).

~~~
wayoutthere
> As far as I can tell, no one actually keeps an eye on these things either.

Our current political system is invested in manipulating the truth to poke
your political rivals in the eye; and there's no way you can keep an eye on
things if you fire everyone who doesn't tell you what you want to hear...

------
tmaly
I am in the process of building a new machine. Sadly I forgot to order a web
cam for it.

One of my co-workers mentioned there is an android app that sets up a server
on the phone and it allows you to turn your phone into a web cam for your
computer.

I also just discovered that certain DSLR cameras can be used as web cams with
certain software.

------
paganel
Laptops were also in very high demand 2-3 weeks ago when quarantine started
for the majority of us (I live in Romania).

------
ssully
I started working from home in early March, and even then most webcams were
sold out on Amazon. I ended up finding the camera I wanted on Bestbuy without
any problems and it was delivered pretty quickly. I just checked again, and
the same webcam I got off Bestbuy is now only available for in store pickup.

------
tareqak
I discovered this myself around March 24, 2020. Here is a screenshot of the
product page of the Logitech C922x on Amazon.com with the keepa.com browser
plugin installed: [https://imgur.com/a/GyvLY0m](https://imgur.com/a/GyvLY0m) .

------
conceptme
A lot of laptop stand, external monitors and bread baker machines are out of
stock here too.

------
crazygringo
I don't see any evidence webcams are worse than other stuff though.

Amazon's been sold out of current-gen iPad Mini's for a while too. (Though
regular iPads are there.)

Global supply chains are disrupted, so all sorts of random individual products
are either jumping in price or sold out, while plenty of other ones are
perfectly fine. But aside from masks/TP/sanitizer/rice and similar, I'm not
seeing a lot of whole product-category trends.

~~~
Robotbeat
iPads are really nice for video calling. My in-laws recently (within last 2
months) got one almost entirely for FaceTime with family (they had Skype on
laptop but was always a hassle for them). So this is the same kind of thing as
a webcam.

~~~
wenc
I've resorted to "draping" my iPad with folding cover (it's stable!) on top of
my 24" monitor (old airplane seat trick) for video conferences.

The resulting camera angle is just perfect [1], and the iPad's camera is
excellent compared to a laptop's.

[1] Tom Ford's guide on how to look good on a video conference. Tip 1: camera
should for top of head.

[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/style/tom-ford-video-
chat...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/style/tom-ford-video-chat-
tips.html)

------
NikolaNovak
I got SparkoCam and use my DSLRs as webcam, as I just couldn't handle the
quality of laptop or regular webcam :(

A bit pricey software, but now I can put transparent images or greenscreen the
output, which gives daily amusement to the team :).

------
Rafuino
I've been looking for a C290s for a couple months now, which sell regularly
for $70 or less. They're now on Craigslist for $140+, and on Amazon for $200+.
Can we enforce price gouging on private sellers?

~~~
foofoo4u
Enforcement by what means? By law? If so, then I would advise against that,
given price controls lead to shortages[1][2] and is generally not accepted by
economists[3].

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_controls#Criticism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_controls#Criticism)
[2]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging#Opposition_to_la...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging#Opposition_to_laws_against_price_gouging)
[3]:
[https://economics.stackexchange.com/a/34439/27218](https://economics.stackexchange.com/a/34439/27218)

------
boyband6666
Yep - things have been sold out as people work from home. I've bought a cheap
Chinese 'Action Camera' i.e. knockoff gopro from Amazon. £30 and it works
perfectly well as a webcam for conference calls!

------
Angostura
Also computer headsets and hairclippers and outdoor table tennis tables etc
etc

~~~
WalterBright
I'm glad I'm not the only one with a bad haircut during this quarantine :-/

~~~
csomar
I used my beard trimmer and to my surprise the result I got was at least as
good (if not better) than my barber.

~~~
0-_-0
That's one weird trick your barber doesn't want you to know

------
tvanantwerp
I noticed this last week when a coworker asked if he could get one. A normally
$40 Logitech webcam was selling for $136 with very long waiting/shipping
times. I told him, no, he cannot have a webcam...

------
snowwolf
Relevant: [https://martinfowler.com/articles/effective-video-
calls.html](https://martinfowler.com/articles/effective-video-calls.html)

------
chadlavi
I don't understand how Amazon has not shut this down. I went to buy one a
month ago and it was already at this piratical price. Don't they actively
prevent price gougers when they find them?

~~~
walkon
Allowing the price to move up with market demand will encourage increases in
production. It just takes some time, especially in a pandemic, for the
production to catch up.

~~~
TomMckenny
Which might be fine for things like web cams but for critically and
immediately needed sanitation products, it proves a fatal flaw in markets. The
reward for quickly buying up commodities and reselling them at enormous markup
always out weighs stockpiling them for years and potentially never selling
them at the same mark up.

Not to mention destructive hysterical hoarding. There is someone in this
thread who noticed an extreme shortage in webcams so when only two were left
in a shop, he bought both.

~~~
foofoo4u
People are hoarding, because they are not rationing. They are not rationing,
because prices are too low. Prices are too low, because it is either illegal
or retailers would rather have a shortage than tarnish their brand. If you
allow prices to rise, then we will see both an increase of supply and
increased rationing by the population.

~~~
TomMckenny
People started hoarding out of hysteria. Which creates shortages for no
reason. Which drives the prices up for no reason. Which benefits and
encourages hoarding. Which encourages yet more hoarding out of speculation.

Which means resources needed at this instant are instead sitting idle, at best
awaiting higher prices at some arbitrary future date. And earnings, rather
than going to producers, are wasted on pointlessly destructive arbitrage. So
in crisis, the market has led us into a soviet style toilet paper shortages
for no reason. Not to mention far more important critical supplies.

~~~
foofoo4u
@TomMckenny, is there a resource that speaks to this economic theory of yours?
Because the sources I cited here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22815572](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22815572)
reflects mainstream economic theory and what I have learned in my economic
courses at university.

~~~
TomMckenny
Mainstream economics understands the flaws in markets such as panics, run on
banks, imperfect information, monopolies, cost to enter a market, lag in
ramping up production, transportation time and bubbles. All of which are at
play at the moment.

I can't know what was said in your classes. Assuming no control on prices in a
crisis, did they say how holding a large stockpile of a rarely needed item for
the long term with it's associated storage cost and risk is in some way more
profitable than simply cornering the local market on the commodity at the time
it is needed and indeed helping those prices rise rather than fall? In
honesty, that may be a hidden assumption against price gouging more than an
ideal market example used in a classroom.

At any rate, few if any mainstream economists suggests that sudden
monopolization of emergency commodities that are needed immediately but
briefly during a crisis would be remotely a good thing. It is more a Cato
institute / libertarian position driven by ideology rather than real world
data and history which consistently refute it. It is also why no sane society
allows it in emergencies on crucial goods.

As if to prove the point, the theory has just been tested yet again: there are
no world wide government price caps on toilet paper and yet there is an
enduring shortage at the moment.

If interested in this, here is a Nobel prize winning economist writing right
now on the issue:

[https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1246431163050266624](https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1246431163050266624)

------
syshum
TIL people actually use WebCam's....

I have mine always disabled, before the new Lenovo's it was tape, not Lenovo
has the disable built into the hardware, I super glued mine to the closed
position

------
eugenekolo
I paid $40+shipping for a Logitech C270 when it normally goes for something
like $25. Such is life. Took me a while to find it (sparkfun.com if anybody's
interested in getting one too).

------
KoftaBob
I still don't understand how the quality of front facing cameras on smart
phones has gotten so high, and yet even the most high end laptop's built in
cam caps out at 720p. Why?

~~~
spuz
It's because the standard webcam interface is based on a slow USB 2 interface
which can only support enough bandwidth for 720p video. To upgrade your
webcam, laptop manufacturers would need to make significant changes to both
the interface and the operating system. Add that onto the lack of economic
incentive, it's just not worth the cost.

Here's a good video that gives a run down:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BLgS7m0W94](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BLgS7m0W94)

~~~
KoftaBob
Very interesting, thanks for the info!

------
UncleOxidant
I noticed this a couple of weeks ago when I was looking for a webcam. Check
Aliexpress, banggood and other chinese sites for much more affordable options.

------
speedgoose
Note that you can use your smartphone as a wireless webcam.

------
paleogizmo
Price gouging my old webcam at 2x purchase price on Ebay. The free market has
to work somewhere in the pandemic, right?

------
smoyer
WebCams were actually quite scarce in early March ... I looked everywhere on-
line as well as quite a few physical locations.

~~~
erikig
So were headsets - while most people were stocking up on toilet paper, it
seems companies were buying all the Logitech H390s they could get their hands
on.

------
freepor
Ordered 2 Logitech Brios but then when I saw the resale price made $450 profit
and went back to my 720p webcam.

------
throwaway55554
On Amazon, there are some lesser known brands still available. I wonder how
well those actually work.

~~~
wegs
My experience: Better than Logitech.

A $10 webcam I picked up 5-10 years ago vastly outperforms my fancy Logitech
which my work bought for me.

Coincidentally, eBay, AliExpress, etc. have a bunch of cheap ones, but with
long lead times (shipped from China). I can't vouch for specific models.

------
lysp
Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing alcohol) - main ingredient in sanitiser, also gym
equipment.

------
beamatronic
Noticed this too! Was considering posting about it here also.

------
51Cards
I tried to pick up a webcam last week... nothing anywhere.

~~~
technofiend
I think it was covered previously but Wyze offered an image that makes their
security / surveillance camera into a webcam. Requires a USB cable and sd card
in addition to the camera. I see Wyze cameras available on Amazon at a markup
and with some delay, but their website seems to have them in stock? I didn't
go through the checkout process to verify.

[https://wyze.com/wyze-in-response](https://wyze.com/wyze-in-response)

~~~
51Cards
Thanks! These are new to me, one normal and one Pan on order. Thank you again!

~~~
technofiend
You're quite welcome!

------
pjmlp
Count home cycling bikes as well.

------
mister_hn
the C270 sold at 70€

------
tehjoker
Price hikes in a crisis allocate scarce resources to the rich. The price
gougers should be cracked down on hard.

------
jamieweb
Why would you want a video feed anyway? If you're just having a talking
meeting, I don't really need to see your face, and also don't want you to see
mine.

Edit: Maybe I'm antisocial, but I have talking meetings all of the time with
people I know well, but never feel the need for video.

~~~
tibu
Metacommunication is a really important part between communicating parties

