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A recently published Apple patent application reveals that the company last year toyed with the idea of integrating a tiny video camera into the latch of a future laptop design, presumably with intentions of leveraging its iChat audio-video conferencing software.
According to the filing, the invention includes a positioning device for controlling the rotation of the latch (and hence the camera) about an axis. The camera also includes a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor or a complimentary oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor.
While it's unlikely that Apple will release a PowerBook with a built-in camera in the immediate future, reliable sources have recently reported sightings of a PowerPC-based iMac prototype that is said to sport similar functionality.
The sources describe the iMac G5 prototype as being marginally thinner than the current model and including a scaled down version of Apple's iSight video camera that is built into the computer's display bezel. The iMac design, which could see the light of day in coming months, is also said to sport a memory card reader and Bluetooth remote control capabilities.
Apple has so far sold iSight video cams separately for its computers, coining them the "eyes and ears" of its iChat AV software that allows users to video-conference with up to three people simultaneously (or audioconference with up to ten). The latest version of the software, iChat AV 3.0, is one of the most touted features of Apple's new Mac OS X "Tiger" operating system.
Although much of the hoopla lately has surrounded Apple's music products, the potential and quality of its iChat video-conferencing solutions have not go unnoticed. As recently as last month, CNN announced that it had begun experimenting with iChat AV to conduct face-to-face interviews on the show "Situation Room", which is hosted by Wolf Blitzer.
"What really is important about this is by using cheap Internet technology, they will be able to reach people all over the world on very short notice," said Joi Ito, one of the first interviewees to appear on the CNN show. "I think that there are a lot of interesting possibilities and I hope they experiment with the format and break some new ground."
Apple itself has flirted with broadening the possibilities of iChat video-conferencing in recent years. Back in 2003, the company began beta testing a service referred to as 'AppleCare Video.' It was designed to allow iMac customers with a video cam and iChat AV to video-conference one-on-one with an Apple customer support representative. The concept bled with promise of redefining customer support for the average personal computer user, but for reason's unknown to AppleInsider the service never got off the ground.
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29 Comments
First post, neener neener nee-ner...
Anything to keep costs high, I guess...
the success of video-chat hinges upon any two people being able to do it at one time. like the fax machine, it had NO foothold so long as only one person would buy one. no one wanted to take that first step. i have flirted with the idea of an isight, but who would i talk to? no one else has gotten one that i know of. and i'm not sure they'd get one just to chat with me.
but if it's built into each shipping mac, then ichat's video conferencing (which apple is investing and marketing the crap out of) might actually take off before anyone else can.
they do, however, have to work on bandwidth management, though, after this hurricane, i have a new found respect for the dial-up connection. i had become spoiled by broadband, thinking everyone has it., actually, no, and in many cases, especially during natural disaster, cable connections go down much faster and much MUCH longer than a good ol' fashioned landline phone.
If this weren't a year old patent App I would think that this was just Apple trying to add value to their machines to maintain sales during the run-up to the transition period. I guess it could be, depending on how long Apple has been seriously considering the transition.
On the software side, I'm sure many of you remember CuSeeMe; a large part of its popularity was the fact that you could have many people conferencing in a "video chatroom" of sorts with 10 or more feeds going. For some reason this just hit me, but if Apple used an excellent quality, fast lens (say f/1.2 or in that range) to seriously limit depth of field, they could actively mask out the out of focus background (as an alternative to carrying around a greenscreen) and create a truely "virtual" video chat room.
Of course the problem with something like that is you know porn type sites and the more exhibitionist population would run hogwild (hopefully not literally) with such a thing.
While I'm sure Apple would make a elegant implementation combining software with hardware, the whole integrated video camera in a laptop is already here.
Asus does this here
While I'm sure Apple would make a elegant implementation combining software with hardware, the whole integrated video camera in a laptop is already here.
Asus does this here
Sony's long had models with this feature as well, going back at least 5 years.