3 ms·

I love how Apple focuses on emotion -- those family FaceTime videos were so moving. Intersection of Liberal Arts & Technology, indeed. Well done, Apple.

pxlpshr 16y ago
They did that back in 2004 when iChat AV was introduced, and AV didn't disrupt or shift habits away from traditional audio and text. I think video conferencing is a great feature no doubt, but it's largely too intrusive for most people. Certainly making it more accessible and standardized will help some however, even amongst the most savvy early adopters (and MM+ of college students with MacBooks), video chatting has remained a niche.
- isamuel 16y ago
  Maybe not for most people. But there is a large segment of people (primarily younger than the readership of this site) who use iChat AV _all_ the time, and they wouldn't do so if they didn't all have Macs with iSight cameras and iChat AV. Old people are slow to change and sometimes never do. As we get old, we've got to remember that the failure of a product to change our ways of behaving is not proof that it will not, over the long run, change everything. Our resistance to change will be solved actuarially.
  - pxlpshr 16y ago
    I'm not convinced. In 2004 when iChat AV came out, I was 22 years old and still in college... I do agree about age and change.
    - cmelbye 16y ago
      I video chat on a regular basis with fellow high school students with macs using iChat AV.
  - modoc 16y ago
    My company/startup uses iChat AV for video conferencing pretty much daily. Huge fan. My wife uses it with friends and family. My mom and my sister use it several times a week.
- adamesque 16y ago
  iChat AV has always had an interesting usability / interaction issue. Because the camera is located on the display bezel, and not in the middle of the screen where the video window sits, you can't ever make full eye contact with the person you're talking to. It makes the entire conversation feel a little "off". I've always thought this was a subtle yet important reason computer-based video chat never took off, and was super excited by patents that hinted that Apple was going to put the camera behind the display. Hopefully the new iPhone 4 camera is close enough to the display to make eye contact possible.
  - nooneelse 16y ago
    Interesting bit there at the end. Just by being human I can say we are quite capable of telling if someone is looking at a point a couple of inches from our eyes from across a table (can usually tell which eye they are dominant in and which of your eyes they are looking at). So if your face is in the middle of other screen and they look down at that image instead of at the camera, the question becomes will the resolution of your image of them be enough to tell? I bet it will be easier to tell if they look back and forth between the camera to the image. And better video quality and distances to the phones will, of course, make it easier to see the lack of true eye-contact. So, in addition to just holding your phone further away, maybe everyone can aim their own phone's camera so that the image of them on the other phone has their eyes as close to the camera as possible. One might just find that people start gravitating to that "off center" camera aiming without thinking about it (since it would minimize the other person's eye-jitter). Anybody reading this done much hand-held video calling? Where are the thresholds on these variables?
  - pronoiac 16y ago
    The offset between the iPhone camera & screen is several times smaller than a laptop with a built-in camera, & if you have a separate webcam, it can be even worse. So I'd say the iPhone is an improvement, at least.
  - pxlpshr 16y ago
    I agree with this. It wouldn't surprise me the least if existing associations to a "phone" will make video chatting a lot more comfortable for people; myself included. Anyhow, how long do you think it will take your average female to get ready for a FaceTime phone call? It's for this and other behavioral issues that video calling will always be nice but never necessary. At least that's my prediction for the next 10 years.
- lutorm 16y ago
  Both me and my fiancee uses skype video calls to our parents all the time, and they are not exactly "the most savvy early adopters". ichat's firewall sensitivity and mac requirement means that i have yet to complete a single ichat video call. Skype just works, including video.
crocowhile 16y ago
I actually really don't like that. Reminds me of TV ads pasta barilla had in italy. Matter of taste, I guess.
byw 16y ago
I think it's hard to top VW in this department :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GuBdvA7Qus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GuBdvA7Qus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOW9fLT9eY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOW9fLT9eY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIvARfHHI4k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIvARfHHI4k

pxlpshr 16y ago

They did that back in 2004 when iChat AV was introduced, and AV didn't disrupt or shift habits away from traditional audio and text. I think video conferencing is a great feature no doubt, but it's largely too intrusive for most people. Certainly making it more accessible and standardized will help some however, even amongst the most savvy early adopters (and MM+ of college students with MacBooks), video chatting has remained a niche.

isamuel 16y ago
Maybe not for most people. But there is a large segment of people (primarily younger than the readership of this site) who use iChat AV _all_ the time, and they wouldn't do so if they didn't all have Macs with iSight cameras and iChat AV. Old people are slow to change and sometimes never do. As we get old, we've got to remember that the failure of a product to change our ways of behaving is not proof that it will not, over the long run, change everything. Our resistance to change will be solved actuarially.
- pxlpshr 16y ago
  I'm not convinced. In 2004 when iChat AV came out, I was 22 years old and still in college... I do agree about age and change.
  - cmelbye 16y ago
    I video chat on a regular basis with fellow high school students with macs using iChat AV.
- modoc 16y ago
  My company/startup uses iChat AV for video conferencing pretty much daily. Huge fan. My wife uses it with friends and family. My mom and my sister use it several times a week.
adamesque 16y ago
iChat AV has always had an interesting usability / interaction issue. Because the camera is located on the display bezel, and not in the middle of the screen where the video window sits, you can't ever make full eye contact with the person you're talking to. It makes the entire conversation feel a little "off". I've always thought this was a subtle yet important reason computer-based video chat never took off, and was super excited by patents that hinted that Apple was going to put the camera behind the display. Hopefully the new iPhone 4 camera is close enough to the display to make eye contact possible.
- nooneelse 16y ago
  Interesting bit there at the end. Just by being human I can say we are quite capable of telling if someone is looking at a point a couple of inches from our eyes from across a table (can usually tell which eye they are dominant in and which of your eyes they are looking at). So if your face is in the middle of other screen and they look down at that image instead of at the camera, the question becomes will the resolution of your image of them be enough to tell? I bet it will be easier to tell if they look back and forth between the camera to the image. And better video quality and distances to the phones will, of course, make it easier to see the lack of true eye-contact. So, in addition to just holding your phone further away, maybe everyone can aim their own phone's camera so that the image of them on the other phone has their eyes as close to the camera as possible. One might just find that people start gravitating to that "off center" camera aiming without thinking about it (since it would minimize the other person's eye-jitter). Anybody reading this done much hand-held video calling? Where are the thresholds on these variables?
- pronoiac 16y ago
  The offset between the iPhone camera & screen is several times smaller than a laptop with a built-in camera, & if you have a separate webcam, it can be even worse. So I'd say the iPhone is an improvement, at least.
- pxlpshr 16y ago
  I agree with this. It wouldn't surprise me the least if existing associations to a "phone" will make video chatting a lot more comfortable for people; myself included. Anyhow, how long do you think it will take your average female to get ready for a FaceTime phone call? It's for this and other behavioral issues that video calling will always be nice but never necessary. At least that's my prediction for the next 10 years.
lutorm 16y ago
Both me and my fiancee uses skype video calls to our parents all the time, and they are not exactly "the most savvy early adopters". ichat's firewall sensitivity and mac requirement means that i have yet to complete a single ichat video call. Skype just works, including video.

crocowhile 16y ago

I actually really don't like that. Reminds me of TV ads pasta barilla had in italy. Matter of taste, I guess.

byw 16y ago

I think it's hard to top VW in this department :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GuBdvA7Qus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GuBdvA7Qus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOW9fLT9eY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOW9fLT9eY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIvARfHHI4k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIvARfHHI4k