I’ve started to accumulate quite a heap of old smartphones, and would really like them to either get useful or get gone. It was my initial intent to “simply” hook one up as a networked webcam, and have it serve images via HTTP, not unlike the units sold by everyone from Axis to Panasonic. Â Sadly, however, this proved more complicated than I’d imagined.
After quite a bit of procrastination and some help from the guys down at the Makery, I found a package called WebCamera Plus, which only partly fit the bill. Â Half of this packages’ functionality requires a client installed on a PC, where the actual web serving happens. Â Without that “server” PC, the best it can do is FTP photos out on a timed basis.
Adding insult to injury, about the time I was ready to bite the bullet and spend the $20 on this thing, the company sorta disappeared.  On the upside, the company’s website did resurface a few weeks later, with the software now priced at $9.99.  The decision had already been made, however, to go in a different direction.