We're Live!

I'm delighted to report that the PAWS Elephant LiveCam went up on the internet at 11:51 pm on May 31, 2005.

HUGE thanks to everyone who participated in the testing. All of you made this possible and as a PAWS volunteer I simply cannot thank you enough.

As of 7:00 am, we had sustained over 100 connection requests and by 8:00 we were streaming 20 simultaneous connections. Considering that we haven't formally announced the cam or sent a press release, this sort of response is particularly exciting.

The image quality so far this morning has been reasonably good, although the camera connection has hung several times. A restart seems to have corrected the problem, but I've yet to determine the cause.

A personal thank you to the following individuals for your support and patience during the webcam implementation:

-->Our wonderfully generous webcam angel donor, without whom this project would never have happened.

-->Martin Szymanski, our Starband satellite installer, who donated the installation of the satellite system, developed our innovative power solution AND who has never failed to arrive at ARK, day or night, to help us resolve any bumps in the road.

-->Todd Erickson and the crew at SeeMore Wildlife Systems, who developed the turnkey camera solution that "just works," and who so kindly donated many of the components.

-->Michael Pak and Nathan Kessler at Limelight Networks, who host our streaming video.

-->Gary Ferguson, our website guru, who established our cam's presence on the internet.

-->Tom Alteri, our onsite camera/generator/satellite wrangler, who can diagnose and troubleshoot any problem.

You've helped the elephants. Need I say more?

Bravo!

What's Going on Now?

Minnie, Rebecca and Annie were hanging near the barn this morning, so the ARK crew took the opportunity to soak Minnie's toe before coaxing them down into the big habitat. They're out now browsing and enjoying the sunshine.

The camera is currently on Winky and Wanda, who are enjoying their morning foot soak (and sugar frosted flakes). When that is complete, Pat and Ed will try again to entice Wanda and Winky out into the Asian habitat. Wanda may choose to head out to join the other girls, or may want to stay close to the barn with Winky. Over the past couple of days Wanda will not leave the small yard unless Winky is willing to accompany her.

8:46 -- Waiting for Foot Soaks

Good morning. The girls are lined up at the gate in the small yard waiting for foot soaks to head out to the Asian habitat.

Pat and I spent yesterday developing an FAQ for the Asian habitat and composed a "Day in the Life." Stay tuned. I'll post it here when it's ready!

First Glimpse -- 8:38 am PDT

This morning the elephants didn't walk into the frame until 8:38. I've left the camera intentionally long this morning so we can experiment with some stationary presets.

Happy viewing.

--jag

Looking Good

Pat was able to drive the camera from the African barn at ARK this afternoon while I simultaneously broadcast the stream to the internet from San Francisco.

Control of the camera has been decoupled from broadcasting to the internet!

Day 2 of the testing has gone extremely well thus far.

9:04 -- Winky and Ed

Winky grows more confident every day -- with lots of love, reassurance and reinforcement from Pat and Ed.

Isn't she a dear?

8:59 -- That's Annie

If you're tuned in you can see Annie playfully tossing grass on her back. The image quality is quite good at the moment -- I'm able to pick out distinct blades of grass.

Pat, Ed & the Girls

This morning I fired up the system around 7:10... and waited for a glimpse of the girls until about 8:30. What a treat to see Pat and Ed leading them out into the habitat: a wonderful example of their methods of reward and patience when handling the elephants.

Obviously one of the girls just had a bath!

Stay tuned and spend today with Winky, Wanda, Annie, Minnie and Rebecca as we pan the Asian habitat!

24 Hour Test

The systems at the barn are about to pass the 24-hour test!

Now I can begin to tweak the software/image quality.

The camera will be available until sundown tonight and starting again at 8:00 am tomorrow. I'll keep it going for as much of the day as possible. Tune in often.

--jag

Webcam UPdate

Our failed battery charger has been replaced with a loaner from Martin while we await a replacement from the vendor. Meantime, we can continue the testing.

The webcam will be up tomorrow from 6-10am and from 6pm until sundown. It may bounce around a little bit, but I'm planning to keep it live as much as possible.

The image quality was astonishingly good tonight. While Rebecca stood by the lake I could see her reflection in the water and the wrinkles on her skin. Pretty exciting.

Let's see if we can go 24 hours without a problem! :-)

Reminder - Cam Availability

During the beta test period stable cam availability is limited to the following hours:

6:00-9:00 am
and
7:00-9:00 pm PDT

I'll be able to expand the hours more over the weekend but right now the software appears to require semi-regular intervention.

So if you don't see any elephants from 9am-7pm M-F, don't fret.

Visual Quality

I'm getting reports today of very poor visual quality: the image looks "blocky" and pixelated.

The satellite connection to Starband has been shaky all day, so some degree of visual fluctuation is to be expected. Please let me know if you're seeing a blurry, blocky image.

If you are, please let me know the following:

1) How you connect to the internet (dial-up, DSL, cable modem, etc);
2) Your Operating System (Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, Macintosh, Linux, etc);
3) Whether Windows Media Player is launching automatically when you click the link or if you're opening the URL from within the application;
4) If you run firewall software on your computer/network.

Again, thanks for participating in the testing.

--jag

Take a Look

The satellite connection came back up this morning about 6:40. The webcam is on and you can get a good view of the Asian habitat near the lake.

I'll keep it on for as much of today as possible.

Please post your comments.

Yippeee.

--jag

Well that was brief

At approximately 11:30 last night the satellite connection dropped and I haven't been able to ping the modem since. I've asked Tom, who's onsite at ARK, to take a look at the hardware. I've contact SeeMore to see if Starband is having problems.

Sigh.

Traceroute times out after hitting the starband pool router.

--jag