Making the Case for Video-Chat
Linked by Eugenia Loli on Mon 16th Aug 2010 06:41 UTC
PDAs, Cellphones, Wireless I've seen it so many times in the movies and TV: a person wakes up in this futuristic world, walks by his kitchen, and a computerized voice is telling him that someone is calling him. But instead of picking up a receiver, the call is actually a video-call, and his TV is used for the conversation. If you put 2 and 2 together, this is not really that futuristic. Having a camera attached on your TV, and a VoIP SIP or Skype connection with it, is not mad science. So why don't we already have this on our TVs?
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RE: Comment by kaiwai
by Zifre on Wed 18th Aug 2010 22:12 UTC in reply to "Comment by kaiwai"
Zifre
Member since:
2009-10-04

I must be about the only person on the planet who loathes the idea of using a telephone - the idea of a video phone sends shivers up the spine only matched by the sight of Palin giving a speech on economic management. There something about the phone I find impersonal which makes me sooner meet the person face to face - there are a whole heap of clues which are missing when one just relies on a voice for communication.

I mostly agree. For me, telephone is the worst form of communication. Next is writing (e-mail, snail mail, etc.). Video phone is next. And then face-to-face is best. My guess as to why I feel this way is that I hate the sound of my recorded voice. Telephone, being all recorded voice, sends a shiver up my spine. Personally, I wouldn't really mind video phone (it's the voice part that annoys me, not the video), but I don't think it's a good idea, because most people seem to hate it.

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