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TechnologySurprise 4/5Difficulty 2/5Reviewed on September 15, 2026

The first webcam was invented at Cambridge University in 1991 simply to monitor the coffee levels in a break room.

Why it is true

Researchers were tired of walking to the break room only to find the coffee pot empty, so they created a camera that streamed real-time images of the coffee pot's status.

Source: Computing History

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