Free Republic

Ever wonder how you could maximally harass a Mac user with a minimal amount of effort? If that person is an iChat user, it’s really quite simple: Just add that person’s iChat ID to the Buddy List of a Mac in an Apple Retail Store. You’ve just doomed them to a grim future of fielding countless requests for AV conferences from Apple Store customers sampling iChat and the built-in iSight cameras that come with new Intel-based Macs. Not that I’m bitter about this or anything. Yes, I fell victim to just such a prank/unintentional mistake/colossal irritation when, a few weeks...

NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters) - America Online on Thursday said it will let users of its instant messenger service communicate over a live video connection for the first time, months after federal regulators lifted limitations on the company. AOL, the world's largest online service and owned by Time Warner Inc. , also said it will link its live video chat service to Apple Computer Inc.'s iChat service. The deal expands a May 2002 relationship between the two companies that linked their respective messaging services. More than 35 million active users per month send on average 1.5 billion messages...

Apple Macintosh and iSight Video Conferencing technology . . . There's a lot of junk in technology, a lot of hassle and frustration, a lot of disappointment. But this moment was like a TV commercial. It was an emotional, powerful, simple, perfect example of how technology can change a moment, solve a problem, and despite the gulf of time and distance, bring you face to face with the people you love.