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Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

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Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#121

Post by blntechie »

RBerenguel wrote: post #82
jurip wrote: post #68

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.

I’ve been using CamTwist ( 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)

Thanks for this. My MacBook’s camera is broken and I should probably try this with my iPhone.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#124

Post by summm »

michaelt wrote: post #47
nailer wrote: post #42

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

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.

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...

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#125

Post by organsnyder »

skinnymuch wrote: post #91
jurip wrote: post #68

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.

How’s the cpu usage? I was looking at it. I have been hoping if I can use an iOS device as external cam and mic (mic not necessary I guess), that it would drop the computer’s cpu usage. Is that true for EpocCam?

What kind of machine are you using where CPU usage is an issue during videoconferencing?

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#126

Post by 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.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#127

Post by pwg »

TrackerFF wrote: post #23

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.

> 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.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#128

Post by organsnyder »

Xylakant wrote: post #98
JeanMarcS wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s something I don’t really understand here (south east Ireland). There also is no flour. Mmm, I mean « normal » flour. Was in Tesco yesterday for the (now) weekly shop visit and they were putting bags and bags of flour. But only self raising and plain ones. I wonder if the producers of the flour do this on purpose (those flours are way more expensive than basic ones)

in germany, getting kilo-packs of flour is hard. I have access to metro, which is a supermarket/distributor for businesses and they had tons of flour, but only 25kg packs for commercial buyers. It's even marked on the package "Nur zum gewerblichen Gebrauch". So there's flour - it's just not in your distribution chain.

There's been an article floating around that posits that the same thing is happening with toilet paper: plenty of "institutional" product is available (since many businesses are closed), but not "home" product (since people are not only hoarding but also using the restroom at home more).

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#130

Post by michaelt »

skinnymuch wrote: post #99
Paraesthetic wrote: post #50

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.

Why is it useless otherwise?

I can't speak for Paraesthetic, but in more normal circumstances in-person retail regularly has a smaller selection at higher prices, and the quality of help from shop assistants can be variable.

It's not the shops' fault, it's the economics of the industry. Economies of scale mean for some products, Amazon's retail price will be lower than the shop's wholesale price. Cashflow and volumes make it hard to stock a broad range of expensive items like CPUs and laptops. Competent help can often do better than retail wages and working conditions.

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