Aaaaand while we didn't get a new 15-inch PowerBook today (what's up with that, kiddies?), we did get the sequel to last year's smash hit iChat. The marketing bigwigs missed a golden opportunity when they utterly failed to name the new version "iChat 2: I Still Know What You Did Last iChat" and instead went with the relatively blah and relevantly descriptive "iChat AV." Why AV, you ask? Because the latest incarnation of iChat is all audiovisual and stuff, and hence gets constantly stuffed into lockers by all the cooler apps between classes.

Yup, as expected, in addition to standard text-based instant messaging, iChat AV supports voice chats and one-to-one videoconferencing. All you need is a 'net connection wide enough through which to stuff all the bits (56 Kbps for voice, lots lots more for video) and a compatible microphone and/or video camera. And while any FireWire-based video camera will apparently do (for example, any DV camcorder you can use with iMovie), Apple's banking on people going so ga-ga over iChat-based videoconferencing that they'll rush right out and pick up an iSight to complete the experience.

That's right, folks, the iSight. Apple's first digital lifestyle device since the iPod is a decidedly different beast; it's a webcam that's not actually a webcam (or not meant to be, though we're reasonably confident there's no law against using it as such). Billed as "the eyes and ears of iChat AV," the iSight is a FireWire-based and -powered 640x480 auto-focus digital video camera and a dual-element noise-suppressing microphone all rolled into a single lipstick-sized barrel made of-- try to contain your shock, here-- aluminum. Plug it in and twist open the lens cap, and iChat AV fires right up. Ooooo, slick.

Apple claims that the iSight provides far superior video quality, audio clarity, and user experience than competing camera devices, and hey, who are we to argue? After all, they're pretty much always right about that sort of thing. However, we really have to wonder how many people are actually going to pony up $149 just for the ability to let people see what they look like when they chat online. We, personally, do everything in our power to prevent people from seeing what we look like when we're online, because we find that most folks are put off by big blue sombreros and Wonder Woman Underoos. It's a bitter, close-minded world, people. Here's hoping Apple did its market research.