Christmas 2012

Christmas Lights Webcam - view and control stuff! ;-)
Christmas 2011 is over and here are some ideas for Christmas 2012 - you can also comment on the christmas blog and/or email me your suggestions.

1. Possible new bells & whistles with Webcam and Webcontrol.   The Webcam and WebControl (which allowed folks to not only view the lights in real-time, but also turn them ON and OFF) is a big hit, so I'm always curious to see what technologies come my way for christmas 2012 and see how they can be used.

2. Streaming video on webcam.   Related to point #1 above, I'd love to do streaming video rather than refreshed JPEG's ... although the later can be used to make some decent crazy christmas videos.

3. Better quality webcams.   A higher quality webcam was donated in 2011 which provides a better picture of the front lawn - perhaps some "Santa" will donate another to help the effort.

4. Alternative home automation technology.   X10 isn't bad, but it would be way cool if some sort of cheap, easy-to-use, home automation technology could be deployed for 2012 Christmas that had milli-second latencies, two way communication, and 99.99% reliability - hey, I'm not asking for much! ;-)

5. More fund-raising.   It was not only fun raising money for celiac disease but it made me feel "good" ... so I'll be doing that again - total after Christmas/2011 was over $70,000!

Be sure to check back here around Thanksgiving 2012 for the christmas decorations where you can view and control 'em via the christmas webcam - christmas 2012 should be even better!