Just got off the iChat AV with my sister and her husband, who are snow-bound in their apartment in Brooklyn. They’ve upgraded to Panther, and we just put the new iSight to the test. Success! Works fairly well cross-country. Slight lag on the audio, and the lighting matters, but definitely smooth and easy, although I don’t know why the Canon video camera on our end doesn’t automatically show the picture. Audio only works well, too.
Until we have an iSight here in San Francisco, there are a few too many cables to connect, so it’s a bit hard to have an impromptu session. An iSight for this end of the conversation will be my Christmas present… in case you’re interested in my list, that one is already taken (thanks to my wife).
Until the iSight is a permanent fixture on (at least) the desktop computer, the idea of piphony won’t replace the regular phone conversations. Piphony is a term for Picture in Picture phoning coined by Mitch Ratcliffe, according to Doc Searls.