Net Work
Alan Winstanley
This month, Net Work discusses tech for WFH – working from home – especially the all-important
webcam for the new normal of video conferencing.
O
ne of the knock-on effects
of the Covid-19 crisis has
been the migration towards
working from home (WFH) rather
than commuting to the office. What
the commercial office landscape will
look like ‘post-Covid-19’ remains to be
seen, but for now many workers are
stuck in a strange and surreal world
of using a private home (theirs) to
conduct their employer’s business,
blurring the boundary between work
and home life. The sale of monitoring
and tracking systems has also boomed,
which enables creepy bosses to keep
tabs on remote workers at home in the
same way that call centres control the
productivity of their agents. For UK
workers and employers facing the need
to work from home, a lot of sensible
guidance is published on the ACAS
website at: http://bit.ly/pe-mar21-acas
The WFH phenomenon has also
crept into popular culture. In Britain, a TV advert for the Wickes DIY
chain focuses on homeworkers busy
on video calls, and ponders whether
they suffer from so-called ‘housebarrassment’ – a Wickes portmanteau for
showing a tatty kitchen in the background! Naturally, Wickes has the
answer in the shape of a trendy new
kitchen. It’s also become the norm to
watch TV news commentators and
journalists broadcasting from home,
and the phrase ‘you’re on mute’ has
landed in our lexicon, aimed at those
whose microphone was accidentally
turned off.
The novelty of video conferencing
probably wore off long ago and some
embattled schoolteachers are understandably struggling to cope with the
pressure of Zoom lessons. Some tutors
now cite privacy concerns about webbased teaching because their personal
property appears in the background
during live video sessions, and some
schools are forbidding live lessons altogether. Video chat software can often
blur the background or swap it for
something else, and free stock images
of weighty bookshelves (eg, from unsplash.com) can easily be superimposed
as a backdrop. Pop-up blank screens are
also being sold that physically block
off the background vista altogether.
In Japan and China, the centuries-old
concept of shoji resulted in those paper-thin sliding partitions made from
wooden lattices, which offer privacy
as well as diffused lighting, and WFH
teleworkers can now buy a stand-up
noise-reducing shoji screen of their own
(see http://bit.ly/pe-mar21-wfh) albeit
without the paper, or the wooden lattice for that matter.
A nice problem to have
The combination of a global pandemic
and working from home has been both
a blessing and a curse for Logitech, the
US/Swiss-based maker of stylish computer keyboards, mice, speakers and
webcams. During 2020, Logitech saw
some explosive growth in sales attributed to WFH, though Logitech’s CEO
Bracken Darrell claimed that the changes in work patterns due to
Covid-19 and WFH were
already under way: the
pandemic simply accelerated those trends. Among
other things, Logitech had
already predicted the day
that video calling would finally overtake audio calls
and the workplace would
move out beyond the
office, he said; doubtless
boosted by improvements
in Internet speeds. NeverWFH and ‘housebarrassment’: a ‘dodgy’ background
theless, Logitech and their
hides a tired old kitchen in a video session (Wickes TV
suppliers have been caught
ad, Youtube)
12
Logitech’s C920s is a Full HD 1080p USB
webcam with stereo microphones and
privacy shutter – if only you can find one.
desperately short by the pandemic, as
the stampede towards video conferencing and web chats has cleared out
stocks of webcams everywhere. Logitech
can’t make the things quickly enough.
Totally ilLogitech
About ten years ago a decent quality
Logitech webcam with a Carl Zeiss
lens might cost £40 (as seen in Net
Work, Feb. 2012), but today’s modern
devices are trading at a premium of
£150-£250 – that’s if you can even get
one. A recent PC upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 went smoothly
enough for the author, but the aforementioned Logitech HD 9000 proved
cludgy and temperamental, its legacy
software not marrying very well with
Windows 10 or Skype. The camera settings needed coaxing into operation
every time, using some very convoluted
adjustments. Hence the quest for a new
webcam was soon under way, but this
would highlight the chaos that reigns
in the market for webcams following
the rush to work from home.
The author’s search for a replacement
started with Amazon, who listed a desirable Logitech C920s HD 1080p stereo
webcam (the ‘s’ suffix denotes a flipdown privacy shutter), so one was duly
Practical Electronics | March | 2021
As you would expect, Chinese makers
have been quick to fill the demand by
offering obvious Logitech-lookalikes,
mostly sporting strange brand names.
Claims about ‘no drivers needed’ imply
that they probably have no native software and are simply dumb, driverless
Plug & Play devices with no image controls. Some disappointed reviewers
regretted their purchase and recommended waiting for Logitech cameras
to return into stock, but others found
them good enough for their purposes.
Camera connections
Manfrotto’s MCLAMP phone grip and PIXI
Mini tripod hold a smartphone firmly in
place to help with desktop video sessions.
The clamp has two tripod screw threads.
Sold separately.
ordered in November 2020 with delivery slated for next February(!). Then,
some good news – suddenly it was
on the way from Amazon Spain, with
delivery due before Christmas. After
sourcing, what seemed to be the last
Logitech webcam in Europe, the package arrived at a UK airport before being
couriered to an Amazon depot just 30
miles away from the writer. Having
travelled all the way from Madrid in
Spain, it then disappeared without
trace and was never seen again; one can
only speculate about why a valuable
and much sought-after webcam disappeared from Amazon’s local depot.
Amazon’s online webchat was silent
except to say that ‘it may be lost’. A
promised phone call from Amazon
never happened, but they added that
the webcam could not be replaced
either, just to rub it in, and so a refund
was forced onto me.
Looking to buy direct from Logitech’s
website instead, I learned that UK deliveries had been suspended anyway
due to impending changes in shipping and customs regulations caused
by Brexit, so I drew a blank there as
well. UK catalogue store Argos recently
listed the same camera on their eBay
store as ‘Click & Collect only’ – but a
journey to collect a non-essential item
from their store is arguably illegal under
lockdown laws.
I don’t see an improvement any time
soon, though Logitech is now accepting
orders for the C920 HD (without privacy
shutter) at £89.99 or the C922 streaming
webcam (ditto) at £94.99. More details
of Logitech webcams are at http://bit.ly/
pe-mar21-cam if you want to try buying
direct. When googling around, beware of
bogus screenscraped Logitech software
and driver websites with logos similar
to Logitech’s but which simply want to
cash in on Google traffic instead.
Practical Electronics | March | 2021
Attention then turned to other gadgets
that contain cameras – could I use a
smartphone camera as a PC webcam
instead? As it turns out, a number of
apps are designed for that very purpose. DroidCam by Dev47Apps installs
on an Android or iPhone and has a
corresponding Windows PC or Linux
client program. The program can utilise either the phone’s front (selfie) or
rear camera and it works via Wi-Fi or
USB. After starting DroidCam on your
phone, log into the (Windows) client
using the suggested IP address. A small
window shows the video streaming
from your phone. In programs such
as Skype, select ‘DroidCam Source x’
for the camera. Although there is no
Mac client, the vendor suggests OBS
Studio and DroidCam OBS. If you have
a spare phone, DroidCam might also
double as a security camera. A paidfor, ad-free upgrade is available. You
can download the app via the usual
stores, and the PC client can be fetched
from: www.dev47apps.com
Another practical issue is that of
using a smartphone hands-free when
it’s used as a webcam. All manner of
phone holders is sold online, and none
really stood out above the others. Some
had a pop-out Bluetooth trigger fob for
taking photos or selfies by remote control. Also consider phone grips that have
a built-in tripod screw thread or suction
cups. I like the Manfrotto MCLAMP
phone grip, which has a small popout angled prop for desktop use, and
it will also screw onto a tripod. The
matching Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod
has a smooth push-button ball-joint adjustment and provides a high-quality
desktop mount about 150-175mm high.
Each part is bought separately and is
available from photographic stores or
Amazon at around £35 the set.
via a network connection. Back then,
£40 bought an unbranded PTZ camera
that worked on Wi-Fi or Ethernet and
its spec looked promising – on paper,
if nothing else. It had the usual IR night
vision LEDs, and its motorised mount
could ‘patrol’ or sweep a preset path,
recording any events to disk. I hit numerous problems in failing to record
to disk, ‘laggy’ operation, losing Wi-Fi
connections, failure to send email alerts
or display images on a mobile phone,
the absence of tech support and all the
rest of it. It was returned to the vendor.
Technology has come on apace since
then, and regular Net Work readers
might recall my recent test of an outdoor IP camera made by HeimVision,
which generally gave good results (Net
Work, December 2020). I tried both
its Wi-Fi and Ethernet feeds over a
Devolo-based PLC network with success. HeimVision also produces a PTZ
camera for domestic use and a Christmastime price drop to £30 meant it was
definitely worth trying. The HeimVision HM202A is a dome-shaped 3MP
camera with a motorised base that
pans almost a full circle (355°) and tilts
up and down up to 95°. It uses either
2.4GHz Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet and
has a microphone, speaker, two-way
audio of sorts and an empty microSD
slot (128GB max). A paid-for cloud
service is also available. Once again, I
found HeimVision’s supplied manual
was of good quality, well written and
superior to many, with just a few minor
variances noted in practice.
Owners must choose wireless or Ethernet at the outset, but installation was
simple enough, prompted by voice commands issuing from the camera speaker,
and after the camera scanned a QR code
on a mobile phone it set itself up on the
Wi-Fi network. The Android app was
then installed on an Android phone
(iOS versions are available).
HeimVision PTZ test
I had to search all the way back to the
September 2012 issue of Net Work to
find my last review of a ‘PTZ’ camera,
a pan/tilt/zoom IP camera that could be
used for home security or monitoring
HeimVision’s HM202A is a well-sorted
domestic PTZ camera with 355° base,
audio, microSD and optional cloud storage.
It’s very good value at under £35.
13
Christmas, he had
never seen so many
empty Amazon cartons at the local
recycling centre
(rubbish dump)!
It seems anything
can be shipped by
courier: one of the
strangest deliveries
I ever signed for was
a neighbour’s live
tarantula, which
arrived in a large
carton with airholes punched in
XPeng’s G3 Smart EV from China is their first model aimed at
European markets. Sales have started in Norway.
the side. Perched on
the kitchen table, I
For the price, performance hasn’t been kept a beady eye on the box waiting
bad, but the Wi-Fi camera has disconnect- for a hairy leg to pop out and greet me.
ed and needed resetting a couple of times:
In January’s Techno Talk column,
no good if you’re away from home. The Mark Nelson recounted how ‘squirrel
app warns that the camera is offline and cage’ filament bulbs caused radio blackit also controls the pan and tilt motors; outs for pilots flying in or out of Glasgow
sometimes a time lag needed factoring airport. It turns out these vintage-style
in, otherwise it overshot the target. Op- bulbs can generate RF interference like
tionally, individual zones can be set up crazy. It reminded me of a friend who
for monitoring and an audible alarm can also lives in Scotland, and one day she
sound when the camera detects motion. went outside to sign for a delivery. She
The microphone proved very sensi- described how the courier struggled to
tive and sound events could also initiate open the van doors because the central
recording. Alerts can be pushed to a
locking had stopped working. ‘Oh, it’s
smartphone but the ‘nagging’ can become because we have a ghost!’ my friend
intrusive after a while. Over the home exclaimed. She went back indoors ‘to
network, playback in the app of video have a wee word with the ghost’ and
saved to the microSD card was very good returned moments later. The central
and could not really be faulted. Live foot- locking sprang back into life and an
age could be viewed and heard in a web ashen-faced courier fled the properbrowser as well, and shared privately with ty, vowing never to return again. The
up to 10 ‘family users’, though they have ‘ghost’ was in fact the under-cabinet
no control of lens movement. (Up to four lights in the kitchen – switching them
HeimVision cameras can be watched in off enabled the driver’s key fob to work
multi-view mode.) On the home LAN, again. Works every time.
performance was reasonable, but I cannot
vouch for results when viewed over the Finally...
A trip to a local Tesco supermarket, not
web halfway round the world.
The camera also records clips if it visited for many months due to lockrecognises ‘humanoid outlines’ but the downs, revealed a surprise in the car
‘Intelligent tracking’ option was of limited park: new electric vehicle (EV) charging
use. A plastic mounting bracket is ade- points had appeared and one EV was
quate for interior wall or ceiling fitting, already hooked up while its owner went
inside to do some shopping. Installed
and images can be flipped 180° when
ceiling-mounted. So far, the HeimVision in co-operation with Volkswagen and
HM202A is proving a reasonably good Pod Point, Tesco aims to install more
PTZ package with none of the rough than 2,400 charging stations in 600
edges that unbranded Asian devices often stores nationally, they say. Expect to
have, but don’t expect the earth at these see some ‘Voltswagen’ [sic] charging
budget prices. It would be adequate for stations in a Tesco car park near you
monitoring kids, pets or elderly people any time soon. In the US, Volkswagen
at home, for example. It’s available from is testing how well EV charging staAmazon (code B0861535NG) – keep an tions operate in extreme conditions,
having recently built a test site with
eye out for discount vouchers.
25 bays in the middle of the Arizona
Giving up the ghost
desert, says Autoevolution.
Deliveries by courier (webcams exThe dizzying scramble for electric
cepted) have become the norm for vehicles continues. BMW has opened
many households during lockdown, its order book for its new electric SUV
and a nearby resident said that, after called the iX. Laden with luxury and
14
dripping with tech, the BMW iX has a
100kWh battery and a range of about
375 miles. BMW is currently taking
pre-orders online, and a new one is
estimated to set you back an estimated
£80,000, the What Car web site says.
Chinese brand Xpeng Motors (or more
fully, Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors
Technology Company Ltd.), currently
unknown in the UK, has launched what
it describes as a ‘super-long range smart
SUV’ called the G3, selling 100 of them
in Norway with ambitions to follow up
with a very stylish gull-wing P7 saloon
across Europe. For a sign of things to
come, see http://bit.ly/pe-mar21-p7
China’s Great Wall Motor (GWM) previously had a short-lived foray into the
UK market, selling a basic but sturdy
pickup truck. Farmers liked them but
it seems spares were difficult to obtain
and eventually trucks got laid up in
farmer’s sheds. The brand withdrew
due to EU engine compliance laws, but
in China GWM now has a joint venture
with none other than BMW, and aims
to produce a new upmarket brand of
both internal combustion and EV autos
which could see GWM on sale once
again. Add in the lower-cost electric
cars sold by a reborn MG Motors (see
Net Work, December 2020), and plenty
of innovations in the EV segment are
heading our way.
Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) has received UK
type approval for their broadband terminals designed for the expanding Starlink
low-earth orbit satellite network. A new
company (Starlink Internet Services UK
Limited) was formed in August 2020 to
handle the sale of SpaceX satellite-based
broadband to UK customers, and the
hardware is expected to cost £439 with
services costing £89 per month, according to tech site The Register. It will be
interesting to see whether some English homes need planning permission
for SpaceX dishes; in the early 2000s
when two-way satellite broadband was
tested in Britain by Tiscali, the writer’s
local council demanded planning permission if your property already carried
a satellite TV dish.
Meanwhile OneWeb, rescued from
bankruptcy by the UK Government and
India’s Bharti Global, has successfully
launched 36 more satellite launches into
low-earth orbit using a Soyuz vehicle,
bringing the count to 110 satellites as
a precursor to providing commercial
services later this year. If you live in
a broadband ‘not spot’ then satellite
Internet services may be the solution.
Join me next month for more Net Work!
The author can be reached at:
alan<at>epemag.net
Practical Electronics | March | 2021
