Webcams and video streaming represent a major slice of web traffic and billions of dollars in business, but it can all be traced back to one source: a humble pot of coffee in a lab in Cambridge. No, really. Video calls, TV streaming, legions of YouTube content creators—all owe a debt of gratitude to a handful of computer engineers who just wanted to monitor their coffee supply. University of Cambridge, 1991. The main computer lab was called the Trojan room, and it was the home of a truly precious resource: a coffee pot.
Working from home means communicating with the wider world is of supreme importance, and after your internet connection and phone, the most important...