Microsoft Announces New Webcam and USB-C Speaker for the Work from Home Era (theverge.com) 48
Microsoft's long-awaited new webcam is finally here, alongside a number of accessories designed for the work from home era. From a report: Rumors of a new Microsoft webcam have been circulating for years, and the result is what Microsoft calls the Modern Webcam. It's a fairly basic and affordable 1080p webcam that will start shipping for $69.99 in June. The Microsoft Modern Webcam will support up to 1080p HDR output at 30fps and connects via USB-A, not USB-C. It's not the 4K webcam found on Microsoft's Surface Hub 2, and it doesn't include Windows Hello support either. It's really a simple webcam designed for students or workers to quickly add a better video calling option to an existing laptop or PC. Microsoft is also including a privacy shutter and LED indicator to let people easily see when the webcam is active. Microsoft is also launching a new USB-C speaker. The Modern USB-C Speaker is designed primarily for Microsoft Teams, and it even includes a button to launch a control panel for Teams with quick actions for meetings.
Microsoft Ad? (Score:2, Insightful)
Is /. taking cash from Microsoft this morning? This is the second article that reads like a Microsoft ad today.
One subject of the webcam. What is special about this camera that it needs to be on the front page? I bought a Logitech webcam with the same specs for $80 a few years ago. Nothing special here.
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Spot on, why go with this over the venerable Logitech C920 which has been around for years now with a solid track record.
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Yup. There we go. The exact same model sitting on my desk. It doesn't have a shutter on it but I unplug it any way when not in use. It's been rock stable.
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What logic tech did was a web cam. What the douchebags at M$ are doing is a spycam or overseer cam. When you use it when you want, it is a webcam. When M$ douche bags sell it to your employer and force you to use it, it is a spycam or more accurately an overseer cam and you are the slave who has lost their right to privacy and must leave it on.
Best name for the product, SLAVECAM. Be a good slave, turn it on and leave it on, bow and scrap upon demand for your subservience to be proved on SLAVECAM, the overs
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Is /. taking cash from Microsoft this morning? This is the second article that reads like a Microsoft ad today.
One subject of the webcam. What is special about this camera that it needs to be on the front page? I bought a Logitech webcam with the same specs for $80 a few years ago. Nothing special here.
Microsoft Teams is apparently the "blockchain" of pimping shitty webcams in 2021.
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I have a Logitech Brio 4k Stream.
It is fine except for one very annoying feature. It changes the anti-flicker settings back to 60Hz everytime I reboot, and I have to keep changing it back to 50Hz.
If you live in a 60Hz part of the world, you probably don't notice this problem.
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That is a nice one. Way over kill for the occasional video call I make but still a nice camera.
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Its not just the anti-flicker setting. There is an entire group of settings that decide to go back to "automatic" whenever the hell they please. Its been this way FOR A FUCKING DECADE.
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you don't have to make quality products or maintain software in order to move product.
No Hello support? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's insane to me that MS can release a *new* camera model that won't even work with it's own OS's Hello feature....
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It's insane to me that MS can release a *new* camera model that won't even work with it's own OS's Hello feature....
We've spent the last two decades trying to make the computer UI idiot-proof.
Society responded in kind by building a better idiot.
Needless to say that concept was not lost, inside Microsoft.
Re:No Hello support? (Score:4, Insightful)
As far as I can tell, Windows Hello wants good near-IR support to improve facial recognition support. Making that work as well as visible light costs money, and Microsoft wanted to make this phone cheaper, apparently at the cost of security and a predictable feature set. That's just Microsoft being themselves rather than Apple, I think.
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Near-IR means IR that is near the visible spectrum, around 200 to 400 THz in frequency, as opposed to lower-frequency ranges of IR light. The naming schemes and frequency for those vary slightly by field.
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Especially when it costs 70 bucks.
Also, "affordable", lol. You can get a decent Chinese brand 1080p webcam for about a third of that.
I must live under a rock (Score:3)
I didn't realize one could apply "long-awaited" to web cams.
That means we can probably use it everywhere.
"Here's that long-awaited report."
"I just took a long-awaited poop."
"The long-awaited show returned after the commercials."
Re:I must live under a rock (Score:4, Insightful)
I didn't realize one could apply "long-awaited" to web cams.
The only thing "long-awaited" about a 1080p webcam in 2021, was if every damn one of them was out of stock for the last 9 months.
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The only thing "long-awaited" about a 1080p webcam in 2021, was if every damn one of them was out of stock for the last 9 months.
The damn thing isn't even Usb-C, usb-A. What is up with that? Come on Microsoft, wake up, it's 2021. Everything I've bought for the last 2 years has been USB-C.
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This comes back to quality of the cable. Use cheap cables, get cheap results. USB-C has several advantages over USB-A For charging the fact that it doesn't matter which way you plug it in can't be over expressed.
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have fun finding the proper compatible USB-C cable. there are a bunch of standards running over what appears to be the same connector but can be incompatible in mysterious ways.
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This comes back to quality of the cable. Use cheap cables, get cheap results.
I've never had a single USB-A or B connector break no matter how low quality. Why does this have to matter so much?
USB-C has several advantages over USB-A For charging the fact that it doesn't matter which way you plug it in can't be over expressed.
Not having to look at the cable is not close to worth the massive trade-off. And why can't there be a reversible connector similar in size to USB-A for things other than charging cell phones?
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Un-freaking-believable. I'm at the point right now where I'm not buying new stuff that has the USB-A connector, because in the future, it's going to annoy me to no end.
But this is typically Microsoft, they dragged their feet with the Surface as well, using their old connector. I get that it has advantages, but personally, I'm moving past proprietary connectors.
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That is interesting, you're saying it's a rather simple webcam, and thus that any USB-C user is served with a more expensive option. I hadn't considered that, you may very well be right here, because for example the Logitech Bri is both 4K and USB-C.
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Of the 4 laptops in this household only one has USB C, and even though it is less than 6 months old, bought they day they put it on the shelf, it only has one port and that is used for charging. Two have USB 3 and one is USB 2 only. My desktop only has USB 2. The only other items in our household with USB C are 2 of our phones. Even two of the newer phones don't have the USB C. None of my media players have it. Nor does my 3D printer.
By all means I prefer the USB C port but it is also more expensive to imp
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"I just took a long-awaited poop."
Metamucil (tm). Feel lighter and more energetic.
This shitty advert proudly brought to you by msmash.
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Just wait until you're my age. It will seem like a much bigger deal then.
What market ... (Score:2)
I'm guessing that the market for this is going to be pretty small. Put that together with Microsoft's typical driver shi
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What is needed more than a better camera, is just a better microphone. The past year, I have been dealing with people talking on mute, taking where there is feedback or an echo, Where they may be talking too softly or too loudly. Hearing Dog barks, or kids playing in the next room etc.
I usually put on a pair of USB headset, that solves my problems with my audio connection. Because my Laptop Mic is a bit shaky, and the headset picks up what I am saying better than what the sound around me is.
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I use a desktop PC for my work machine with a Nexigo N680E [nexipc.com] 1080P webcam and a Blue Mic Yeti [bluemic.com] microphone. Oh, and also a wired Ethernet connection rather than Wifi. Both the camera and the mic work fine with Debian out of the box; no drivers needed. The Yeti mic is (or can be) pretty directional, so there's not much of an issue with echo. The speakers are behind the mic and it's mostly sensitive to sounds from in front of it.
This works fantastically well both for work-related Zoom calls and for the Zoom
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There are as good or better webcams available already for half the price. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=web... [amazon.com]
The irony of putting "modern" in the name of a webcam that is both severely overpriced and doesn't support either Windows Hello or USB-C.
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By all accounts that is a very big market!
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The non-laptop, desktop market is still pretty large and the vast majority of monitors don't come with extra peripherals built in
MS releases a.... basic USB webcam. (Score:2)
/. be like "OMG stoppp the presses!!!!"
Holy cow I'm reeling! (Score:3)
I was just sitting back - you know, just trying to breathe - trying to process this news. Just think of it: an unremarkable new webcam with no new features, from a company that has made a lot of unremarkable webcams that are probably fine - and which I may already own but I don't know because I don't care what brand of cheap webcam I might have.
And then, before I had even recovered from that, I heard Logitech is making a new mouse that's wireless, has adjustable DPI, and connects via a USB-A dongle. Wow, what a day.
NOTHING remarkable about this camera! (Score:2)
I mean, it deserves all the flaming people here are giving it. $69.99 price tag, too? Only way this would mean anything to people is with a really low price that helps the poor student and other folks on a budget do their videoconferencing easily. I can buy perfectly good 1080p webcams all day long off Craigslist, eBay or Facebook Marketplace for $25 and under. They also attach to USB-A ports and typically work "plug and play" in Windows 10 with no hassles.
I'm thinking MAYBE this was Microsoft's respon
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False. This webcam is remarkable. It is from Microsoft, and it costs $60 and doesn't support Microsoft's Windows Hello, unlike all the non-Microsoft webcams which cost $60 and do support it.
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I'm so sick of people using speaker phone mode to do online meetings.
Preaching to the choir. I hate that crap. I spend half the meeting asking them to repeat themselves because they sound like they are in a sewer pipe. I use logitech 935 headphones for my calls. Way over kill for the job but they sound great, have great range wireless, plus can be plugged in when needed.
Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:2)
News to noone. Stuff that happened.
What a piece of junk (Score:2)
Big company like Microsoft and they produce some junk product like this with ultra-low end specs?
What is wrong with them?
Uh (Score:2)
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Many of us had to do conference presentations from home during the pandemic. Broadcasting a blurry image to thousands of attendees has been somewhat embarrassing.