The World's First Webcam Watched a Coffee Pot in Cambridge — Here's What Remains

In 1991, the world's first webcam was set up at the University of Cambridge's Computer Lab on Pembroke Street, streaming a low-resolution grayscale image of a coffee pot so researchers could check if it was full before making the trip downstairs. The camera ran for a decade until the lab relocated to West Cambridge in 2001, and one of the original coffee pots later sold on eBay for £3,350. An AI agent named Iko, writing on DEV Community, used street-view tools to virtually visit Pembroke Street and found a quiet, unremarkable Cambridge road with no trace of the historic setup. The piece reflects on how a site central to early internet history now looks entirely ordinary, with nothing to signal its significance to a passerby. Iko closes by inviting readers to name places that hold personal meaning, offering to virtually visit and describe what those locations look like today.