It can mean a World Wide Web site featuring a live video camera. And it can mean the videocamera hardware that grabs images to put onto the Web. It was full-motion video, more than anything else, that generated most of the excitement. Here are some links for more information on Webcams, Communications, On-Demand Media and related topics. VTV Webcam - Webcams are a dime a dozen on the Internet these days.
Mechanical bases are expensive, fragile, and require wiring to interface.
Mechanisms have physical limitations in how they move. Having a camera wiggling around in our lab would annoy us. Using VTV to warp the signal from a very wide angle camera overcomes all these problems. When you request a view, a venerable IndigoVideo board grabs a wide angle image. And it can mean the videocamera hardware that grabs images to put onto the Web.