Web Cams

The USB Snakescope Camera lets you peer into hard-to-reach places.

The camera head is mounted on the end of a long, semi-flexible tube, so it can easily see around corners and find its way into difficult nooks and crannies. Hook it up to a PC via USB and you'll be able to view what it sees in VGA 640x480 quality.

There are two LEDs at the front, so you can see in the dark, and there's even a magnetic attachment you can clip on so it works as a handy grabber for screws and other objects that have fallen out of reach.

The USB Snakescope Camera is available now for £29.99 from Firebox.

Cloning is still a little way off, so until the day comes when you can actually be in two places at once, there's WowWee's Rovio.

It's essentially a Wi-Fi webcam on wheels, so you can drive it around remotely and see exactly what it sees from afar. There's a speaker and mic built in, so you can even use it for video-conferencing.

There's no need to worry about its batteries going flat either, as it'll dock itself back on its charger to power up when it's running low on juice.

The Rovio is available now for £299, see WowWee for more information.

What's better than being able to look at things in microscopic detail? Being able to look at things in microscopic detail and then send pictures of it to your mates, of course.

This, among other things, is all possible with Veho's Discovery VMS-001 USB microscope. Simply plug it into a spare port on your PC and find something interesting to stick in front of its face.

You'll be able to examine objects at up to 200x magnification and if that wasn't enough, if you find something particularly interesting to share with the world then it comes with 2GB of online storage for showing off your close up snaps.

The Discovery VMS-001 is available now for £49.95 from I Want One Of Those.

United Pepper for further details.

Webcams aren't generally renowned for their picture quality, usually providing visuals that are grainy and drained of colour. This certainly isn't the case with the Creative Live! Cam Optia AF, which offers a two-megapixel resolution and auto-focus technology to guarantee sharp images.

Said to be the most advanced webcam on the market, it also features two microphones with noise reduction to isolate voice signals and minimise background noise, and smart face-tracking to keep you in the centre of the shot. The camera is packaged with a host of useful programs for editing images and video, applying voice effects, making video calls, sending v-mail, and remote monitoring.

The Live! Cam Optia AF goes on sale next month for around £80. Find out more at Creative Europe.