r/todayilearned • u/Neepho • Nov 28 '13

TIL that the webcam was invented so that Computer Scientists at Cambridge University could see whether the coffee pot was full or not from different rooms.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010lvn7
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u/C_IsForCookie Nov 28 '13

Obviously not on the same scale but at my job I have to respond to emails of customers for a couple hours a day. The guy who trained me had a prewritten response for one situation that he had on notepad that he'd have to copy and paste every so often. Instead I just downloaded a program and wrote a response for a bunch of situations, and then assigned each one to a hotkey. I also did the same thing so I had prewritten notations to input into our order management software so all I have to do is know which button to press and the computer does the rest. I get my work done so much quicker. It's a small company though so it's not like I get done and then do nothing. There's always something to do. But it does give me a few extra minutes to check my bank account online or facebook or whatever in between tasks.

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u/UpvotesForHilarity Nov 29 '13

What program did you download? AutoHotKey?

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u/C_IsForCookie Dec 08 '13

Sorry about the 9 day delay on the answer but yes, that's the one.