History of the iiNet (AS4739) Coffee Cam

In the beginning...

CoffeeCam started life in the middle of November 2008, as a simple way for the coffee drinkers in the Network Design & Deployment team to avoid having to get out of their chairs (and walk around the fridge) to see if the coffee machine was empty.

Life was simple and easy.

Happy Customers

There are very few rules around the consumption of the coffee, but you have to be part of the team to use the machine.

Lessons along the way...

We have gained some insightful knowledge along our path, the most important being "turn the machine off over the weekend".

Distant memories...

Some time in 2009 the team relocated within the building, and our river view now belongs to others. This is one of the last shots from the old location, after we had moved the machine.

Our current home

Given the current location of the camera, the position selected typically isolates the view of anything or anyone else. For this we are quite thankful.

Whirlpool noticed us...

Somehow Whirlpool spotted us, the discussion is ongoing (for reasons beyond our comprehension) here.

To satisfy the curiosity of those with an excess of spare time, here is a picture of the coffee cam itself.

We really should clean the table thing this machine is on.

The old machine died...

Some time around early April the switch on the old machine stopped working, we started to look at fixing it, but lost interest very quickly. So we bought a new one, it is a different colour.

Someone stole the Ethernet cable...

Somebody stole the cable for someone else. We've stolen it back. Here is a copy of the static picture we had for quite some time.

We fixed it again

We plugged the camera in a week ago, but apparently it was on the wrong network. We fixed that today (2009-05-20), so the view of the coffee pot is back (why?!?)...

Mystery Hand

Today a hand (not belonging to one of us Engineering types) appeared for a short time on the CoffeeCam, with a message.

We moved...

This week (starting Monday 17th) we moved office, from the CBD to Subiaco. We're still looking for a new home for the camera. Stay tuned!
This is the last picture from the old location...

We are back!

After realising that we had no need to point a camera at a coffee pot (as the coffee is now elsewhere in the building), we found something else to point the camera at.

The new location (caution: contains spoilers)

For those of you who lack the creativity to imagine how we have the camera setup right now, here are some pictures.

Mmm new candy...

After a period of neglect, and some missing firewall rules, we decided to fix up the old cam.

At least there is no proof that the banana looking man existed now...

Engineering notices something...

After a period of time passes some people noticed that the corporate types had taken over our camera. Six months later we remembered this factoid and decided to do something. At first, it wasn't anything interesting.

Now we have provided formal notice of our intent to reclaim the old camera (in the only way technical people know how, mspaint.exe), and maybe something to do with coffee. I've only had two today, need another three if I'm going to make it to lunch... It's not even 11am yet.

And something seems different...

Aahhhh, old glory!

The reviews of CoffeeCam2.0 are in, we can certainly smell what the pot is brewing!

Hmmm. CoffeeCam moved, and socks, and moving again...

One of the recent (or maybe current) promotions for customers was offered for staff recently, where the key prize (as far as we are concerned) was a pair of nifty socks (socks are important, what sort of dedicated IT professional needs a bike...). We put them up on display, because we could. Notice the watch strategically blocking the fez, which we are confused about how that ended up with the camera but NOT on the coffee machine!
Our keen viewers will have noticed the camera is in a different location, and that would be as a result of some people moving between desks - keeping everyone on their toes.

The message today (2011/12/08) with the 'packing tape' is a sign that we're relocating again. The remnants of the old NDD team (now rebranded as various Engineering and Products teams), along with some others, are being packed up and being moved downstairs.

And we are offline now...

Fear not, we will be back! We like our coffee too much to pay any attention to the rules about not having this sort of stuff in the work area near us...

We're back (December 2011 edition) and 'behind the scenes'

Yep, we plugged the camera back in, ignoring our network embargo currently in place. It was a 'network fault', honest... Also, a new shot of the new home of the camera, to ruin the magic behind the entire thing.

Feb 2012 Update

Some people decided to play with the camera, I decided to keep the picture which showed up during the day. No reason really...

Feb 2013 Update

It has been a year. We were tired of waiting for some new pictures on our Piix, so we decided to clean the coffee machine by buying a new one.
Cheaper this time as well!

Nov/Dec 2013 Update

Yes, the November update is appearing in December, because it is also the December update.
We (the collective we) thought it would be nice to post a nice message for Simon Hackett, which I've stolen and re-posted - we also decided it would be good form to post one of the many pictures which appeared for our CEO Michael Malone

We took a picture of how the camera was setup, before it went a little crazy with random things around it... and a picture today.

Feb 2015 Update

We noticed some marks on the wall today, behind the pot, and couldn't quite work out how they helped out with the current situation.
Also, we noticed there were no updates during 2014. If we ~~cared~~were engaged with the needs of our audience, something would have been done about that. At least the picture still updates.

Hopefully this is the most complicated problem the folks responsible for the mess have to handle today.

May 2015 Update

iiNet has been in the news a bit recently, the bit we think being the most ~~interesting~~relevant is the following article by the folks at Mashable.

And after some folks in the office noticed they responded in kind.

May 2016 Update

Wow, it has been a year already. How time flies.

The keen observer may have seen that we have a new coffee pot, this came about via the same process as the Feb 2013 replacement.

We decided to clean it, by buying a new one.

This machine is good, it has more buttons, and still contains a clock that we will never bother setting. One day, we'll buy a machine with a clock that automatically sets via GPS.

October 2016 Update

We have noticed that the camera has been offline for a while. Our uplink is being replaced, something about sun spots or solar flares or whatnot. So here is the vacation message, retained for eternal glory. Or something.

October 2017 Update

The camera is offline and is taking a break while we move between floors in our building. Here is a reminder of what was.

And here is the vacation placeholder, for eternal glory. Back soon.

January 2018 Update

How time flies when you are having fun. Also, we moved inside the building again. We now have reclaimed some space which has natural light!

March 2019 Update

It was pointed out to us that we neglected to inform the world that we have a new coffee machine. We cannot remember why we have a new one, but it was probably because something needed cleaning. That is the usual reason, but there is some speculation that the last one may have actually been broken. Probably due to lack of cleaning.
Unfortunately it does not have a clock which is set via GPS, or at all.

The WD40 is for flavour.

August 2019 Update

We just noticed that we missed out remembering the 10 year anniversary of CoffeeCam, and this update will do nothing to remedy that. It will display how effective our cleaning efforts are with this fancy machine, instead of throwing it out and buying a new one, we tricked one of the local team into cleaning it.

December 2019 Update

A few months have gone by, and people have decided that we need to change desks again - we assume it is to ensure they are well cleaned.
When we find ourselves settled into our new home, we might put something back in here. Otherwise, the camera is off (literally and figuratively) on a holiday.

December 2019 Update - Supplemental

So we are still relocating, waiting for cables to be plugged in, switches to be turned off and on again, etc. Noticed the camera is a bit broken, much like the small plants we were growing in the sunshine. Shout out to our friendly local Admin team for the photo frame. At least we won't be upset by the lack of photo content in this one, unlike the Piix we had with no good pictures.

December 2019 Update - Supplemental behind the scenes supplement

So the glue turned up early, and we found a cable to plug it all in. This might even work.

After the glue dries we will reattach the camera to the stand.

July 2020 Update - COVIDwatch

So with this global pandemic going on right now we've mostly been working from home, but are slowly starting to go into the office - mostly for the free heating.
With people back at work, the coffee is brewing again. Sometimes.

Perhaps it is just a reflection of the general mood with the ongoing lockdowns and risk of spread, fingers crossed the smart science types can solve this one.
Also, probably more importatly, the glue dried and the camera still works.

November 2020 Update - COVIDwatch

Still calling this COVIDwatch, because absolutely nothing else interesting is going on in the world right now ...
Still mostly working from home, not much coffee being brewed. So we dug up an old friend.

Thankfully, someone here actually knows how to look after it. Unfortunately that person is also WFH, so, we'll see what happens next.

If we can find pictures of some of the recent stuff, we'll put them up.

If you really must, you can view the latest image here.

Last Updated: 2020-11-05 16:51:51+0800 acb