Veo online cocktail party

Have toys, will play

Palm Springs and Saratoga, 16-Oct-03. So Jim said, "Want to get together for a drink on Thursday before Survivor?"

And I said, "Sure."

Then Jim said, "Great, I'll invite Bob and Carolyn, too."

A drink with friends. Perfectly normal. Except that I would be in Palm Springs, and Jim would be in Saratoga.

Enter Veo. Jim and I both have Veo webcams. Shortly before the appointed hour we each logged on to the other's camera, ready to let the good times roll.

Enter Murphy's Law. We had hardly established our mutual voyeur sessions when we both lost our connections. After a good deal of fretting and consultation via AOL Instant Messenger, we re-established live streaming video and audio. On my end, the router had given the camera a new IP address, but did not make the corresponding change in the list of ports to forward. On Jim's end, who knows; cycling the camera power off/on fixed the problem.

Jim would project me on the big screen with his InFocus projector. At the same time, I would attend the party on my laptop.

Mix the martinis! And not a moment too soon. One sip, and Bob and Carolyn arrived.

All in all, it was quite fun. To be sure, the audio is a little disconcerting — the slight transmission delay over the internet means that you can hear yourself being picked up by the other microphone, but a second or so behind.

And if you focus both cameras on each other's screen, you get one of those surreal recursive images of yourself watching yourself watching....