Webcams flying off shelves

That's good and bad. Webcams are being used for some creative films that are being uploaded by teens to video-hosting sites like YouTube.com. On the upside, for example, a creatively edited 75-second video called "Breakup," by 17-year-old "Bowiechick" (her YouTube screenname), received more than 210,000 pageviews as of yesterday, CNET reported. It's not clear, CNET says, how much "Breakup" affected sales, but "after Bowiechick posted a second video, it was revealed that she shoots her clips with Logitech's Quickcam Orbit MP, which retails for about $100," and Logitech's Webcams "were among Amazon's 100 best-selling electronics items on Friday." By yesterday, "two more of the company's cameras broke into the top 100, including the Quickcam Pro 5000." It's the Webcam sales part that's good and bad. The kind of creativity and initiative "Bowiechick" showed is great, as long as that's what all these Webcams are used for. But they can also be used for child exploitation (see "Kids & Webcams: Disturbing story"). And CNET hints at the potential for a different kind of exploitation: "after reviewing 'Breakup' and another video where Bowiechick demonstrated Logitech's avatar effects, [Logitech spokesperson Nancy] Morrison said the company would like to know more about the budding filmmaker," though Morrison said the company has had no contact with her. It's good her public only knows her as Bowiechick; maybe she'll strategize with some trusted adults before she reveals her real name. [Is YouTube the next MySpace? Since the site's launch in December, it has gone from 3 million video viewings/day to 30 million and was the "talk of Tinseltown" this week, CNET reports.]