5 ms·

Show HN: Artist designed and self-adhesive webcam covers for digital privacy

4 points by slimaarons 10y ago

tribaal 10y ago
Since I use my webcam for valid reasons (videoconf with my distributed team), this product is unfortunately completely inadequate for me. A much better alternative is something like what soomz.io sells (https://soomz.io/en/detail/webcam_covers_a10 https://soomz.io/en/detail/webcam_covers_a10) which lets you open and shut the blind as you see fit. (I'm not affiliated with them in any way - except for being a happy client)
- slimaarons 10y ago
  Hey @tribaal — and thanks for the feedback! We understand that it's important for people to be able to move the webcam cover on and off the actual cam, so our PEEPING TOMS are self-adhesive (no glue) and super easy to move around on your screen/display. Hope that answers your question :)
  - tribaal 10y ago
    Oh, thanks for the precision, that makes your product much more attractive indeed. "Self adhesive" makes it sound like they are stickers however (English is not my first language), perhaps changing that to something like "reusable" would do better from a marketing perspective? Annectdata, but still.
LordWinstanley 10y ago
5 tiny stickers for €7?! It's not my webcam needs covering after reading that —it's my keyboard! Here's an alternative: Get any kind of peel-off sticker or label. Punch a hole in it with a hole punch. Collect punched out section. Peel off backing. Stick over webcam. Approximate cost: Dozens of 'webcam covers' for the price of the original sticker or label (depending on size).
ullarah 10y ago
1050 14mm black adhesive dots - $4.50 I get that these are designer dots, and fun to look at, but come on. You can even get multi coloured ones for around the same price. If you need to use the webcam, peel off the sticker, you've still got 1049 to use!
qwrusz 10y ago
I think these are cool. Folks who comment about the price or that they could make something similar themselves maybe don't get it or don't understand there are customers out there who appreciate having nice-looking, interesting physical objects in their lives and will pay money for it. A similar product that I have heard complainers not understanding is physical bookmarks (the thing that holds your page in a book made of paper). Physical bookmarks can cost more than $7, they also have designs inspired by novels, and they have been a product successfully sold for centuries while any old strip of paper would work and be cheaper too. So clearly someone is buying them. My feedback is not about design or price. Rather my experience when it comes to smaller products like this and similar when encountered online that are 'nice to have but not need to have' is the time and effort needed to buy it (ie get out my wallet, fill out my name, my address, my credit card info, etc.) while not a huge hassle, is enough that compared to what the product is the purchase just doesn't happen. That might sound lazy or petty but it is what it is. The product is cool but not get out my wallet and spend those minutes to go through a purchase cool. I would love to see them sold at the check out register at a tech store or a gift shop, or bundled at Barnes and Nobles when you buy a Le Carre or Orwell novel, or companies buy them and give them away to employees and customers. Good luck.
mfruhling 10y ago
Make this available to me on amazon and I'll buy. Unfortunately, I'm not interested in giving my personal details and payment information to your site, considering I don't know much about it.

4 points by slimaarons 10y ago

Since I use my webcam for valid reasons (videoconf with my distributed team), this product is unfortunately completely inadequate for me. A much better alternative is something like what soomz.io sells (https://soomz.io/en/detail/webcam_covers_a10 https://soomz.io/en/detail/webcam_covers_a10) which lets you open and shut the blind as you see fit. (I'm not affiliated with them in any way - except for being a happy client)

slimaarons 10y ago
Hey @tribaal — and thanks for the feedback! We understand that it's important for people to be able to move the webcam cover on and off the actual cam, so our PEEPING TOMS are self-adhesive (no glue) and super easy to move around on your screen/display. Hope that answers your question :)
- tribaal 10y ago
  Oh, thanks for the precision, that makes your product much more attractive indeed. "Self adhesive" makes it sound like they are stickers however (English is not my first language), perhaps changing that to something like "reusable" would do better from a marketing perspective? Annectdata, but still.

LordWinstanley 10y ago

5 tiny stickers for €7?! It's not my webcam needs covering after reading that —it's my keyboard! Here's an alternative: Get any kind of peel-off sticker or label. Punch a hole in it with a hole punch. Collect punched out section. Peel off backing. Stick over webcam. Approximate cost: Dozens of 'webcam covers' for the price of the original sticker or label (depending on size).

ullarah 10y ago

1050 14mm black adhesive dots - $4.50 I get that these are designer dots, and fun to look at, but come on. You can even get multi coloured ones for around the same price. If you need to use the webcam, peel off the sticker, you've still got 1049 to use!

qwrusz 10y ago

I think these are cool. Folks who comment about the price or that they could make something similar themselves maybe don't get it or don't understand there are customers out there who appreciate having nice-looking, interesting physical objects in their lives and will pay money for it. A similar product that I have heard complainers not understanding is physical bookmarks (the thing that holds your page in a book made of paper). Physical bookmarks can cost more than $7, they also have designs inspired by novels, and they have been a product successfully sold for centuries while any old strip of paper would work and be cheaper too. So clearly someone is buying them. My feedback is not about design or price. Rather my experience when it comes to smaller products like this and similar when encountered online that are 'nice to have but not need to have' is the time and effort needed to buy it (ie get out my wallet, fill out my name, my address, my credit card info, etc.) while not a huge hassle, is enough that compared to what the product is the purchase just doesn't happen. That might sound lazy or petty but it is what it is. The product is cool but not get out my wallet and spend those minutes to go through a purchase cool. I would love to see them sold at the check out register at a tech store or a gift shop, or bundled at Barnes and Nobles when you buy a Le Carre or Orwell novel, or companies buy them and give them away to employees and customers. Good luck.

mfruhling 10y ago

Make this available to me on amazon and I'll buy. Unfortunately, I'm not interested in giving my personal details and payment information to your site, considering I don't know much about it.