[cshall1128]

My father-in-law is 93 and lives alone. Many times he calls to ask why something won't work. Most of the time the solution is fairly simple but since we can't see what he is doing, it is hard to respond intelligently. He has an i-Mac Pro (running as if it is a PC), FIOS internet service, Skype and an i-Pod Touch. Is there a camera available that he could use to show us what he is looking at? It would need to be battery powered and mobile and would need to be able to connect wirelessly with his PC. Audio would be a plus.

[LiveBrianD]

I don't know about that, but for PC problems, as long as you have internet, the Windows Remote Assitance tool works well, I've used it several times with my grandparents who live an hour away. They launch the tool, it sends you an email with a little file attached, you open it and type the password (if they set one, newer versions of windows require it), and you can see their desktop and control things.

[amphi]

cshall1128, on 15 October 2011 - 12:00 PM, said:

My father-in-law is 93 and lives alone. Many times he calls to ask why something won't work. Most of the time the solution is fairly simple but since we can't see what he is doing, it is hard to respond intelligently. He has an i-Mac Pro (running as if it is a PC), FIOS internet service, Skype and an i-Pod Touch. Is there a camera available that he could use to show us what he is looking at? It would need to be battery powered and mobile and would need to be able to connect wirelessly with his PC. Audio would be a plus.

You can use a CCTV. Some CCTVs can be operated or seen through the internet or mobile.

[smax013]

cshall1128, on 15 October 2011 - 12:00 PM, said:

My father-in-law is 93 and lives alone. Many times he calls to ask why something won't work. Most of the time the solution is fairly simple but since we can't see what he is doing, it is hard to respond intelligently. He has an i-Mac Pro (running as if it is a PC), FIOS internet service, Skype and an i-Pod Touch. Is there a camera available that he could use to show us what he is looking at? It would need to be battery powered and mobile and would need to be able to connect wirelessly with his PC. Audio would be a plus.

Which generation iPod Touch is it? Is it one that has a camera in it? If so, then you might be able to make use of FaceTime. This would require you to also have an iPhone, iPad 2, iPod Touch with camera, or a Mac running the Mac OS 10.6 or 10.7.

Another alternative would be an external web cam. It could be used with Skype or some other video chat/conference utility.

Now, either option might not be the best option as video chat stuff is usually not the clearest image in the world.

The completely other direction would be some short of screen sharing function...along the lines of what LiveBrianD suggested. There are a number of choices out there.