Are Webcams really such a great idea?  Short answer:  yes.  But they didn’t always seem so great.  I mean, what’s the best thing about the Internet?  The anonymity!  Anonymity makes the Internet go.  Would so many people be popping off with their insane opinions all over the Internet if they had to stand up and show their face while they spoke?  Hell no!  Nobody wants to be seen on the Internet.  Thanks to the mask of anonymity, we can all skulk around the Web like Batman, doing whatever we want and making absolutely preposterous claims that we’d never sign our real names to.  It’s fun!

That’s why I was reluctant to get a Webcam.  I didn’t realize that it could make the Internet BETTER.  Take today’s daily deal, for example.  Without a iOne Phenix-Q9 SXGA USB 2.0 Webcam, I wouldn’t have been able to take a picture of my Gordon Ramsey Halloween costume and post it on my Facebook page.  And I CERTAINLY wouldn’t have been able to have a few drinks at a party that night and later post an expletive-filled IMPRESSION of the Hell’s Kitchen chef on my Facebook page, a truly bizarre impression that, without video evidence, I would have absolutely no recollection of attempting.  Webcams aren’t about hiding—they’re about sharing.  And sharing is what really makes the Internet great.