Directory of The Trojan Room Coffee Machine Resources

Home > Computers > Internet > History > The Trojan Room Coffee Machine

The coffee machine was set up in 1991 so that researchers at the Computer Laboratory, the University of Cambridge, England could know there was coffee in the machine before they traveled through the seven floor building to the one coffee machine in the department. It was originally broadcast across the network, and viewed with an application called xcoffee. Since 1993, when it became the world's first webcam, it has attracted around 2.4 million visitors worldwide. In March 2001 it was announced the coffee machine camera would be no more, since the laboratory was moving to a new building. The camera was finally switched off at 0954 UTC on Wednesday 22nd August 2001. One of the coffee pots, which starred on the web from October 1997 until March 2001, was auctioned on eBay, and fetched £3,350.

Resources in This Category

• ABCNEWS.com: Plug Pulled on Web's Historic Coffeepot

  http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=81417&page=1
  Report by Leela Jacinto, looking at the coffeepot's practicality, invention, and rise to fame.

• Demise of Early Online Star (a Coffee Machine) Puts Web's Evolution in Perspective

  http://siteselection.com/ssinsider/webpick/wp010319.htm
  History of the coffee machine, covering the reasons for its invention, its impact on the web, and its demise.

• Farewell, Seminal Coffee Cam (Wired)

  http://archive.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/03/42254
  Reuters report announcing the end of the coffee pot webcam.

• Guardian Unlimited - Plug Pulled on Web's Historic Coffee Pot

  http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2001/mar/07/education.highereducation
  Report on the announcement that the first webcam was going to be taken offline, and a brief history of it.

• The Register: Do you Want to Own the Trojan Room Coffee Pot?

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/08/01/do_you_want_to_own/
  Article discussing the sale of the coffee pot on eBay.

• The Register: World's First Webcam Coffee Pot to be Scrapped

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/03/07/worlds_first_webcam_coffee_pot/
  Article discussing the reasoning behind the coffee pot camera, its history, and its end.

• The Trojan Room Coffee Machine

  http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/coffee/coffee.html
  The official site. Includes the final image of the machine being switched off, a non-technical biography, and an audio copy of a 1994 radio report.

• Wikipedia: Trojan Room coffee pot

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Room_coffee_pot
  Encyclopedia article with history and sitings in popular culture.

Related Categories

• Home > Reference > Education > Colleges and Universities > Europe > United Kingdom > England > University of Cambridge > Departments and Programs > School of Technology > Computer Laboratory

 

Home > Computers > Internet > History > The Trojan Room Coffee Machine

 

---

 

Thanks to DMOZ, which built a great web directory for nearly two decades and freely shared it with the web. About us