Secret iChat hardware feature in Leopard?
Leopard introduces huge improvements to iChat, the largest since Panther in 2004:
2005 encrypted chats, Jabber multi-user
2004 H.264, 3D video with reflections, multi-way audio, parental controls, Jabber single-user, support for iChat Server, AIM video
2003 video and audio chat
2002 debut: AIM and .Mac, speech bubbles, inline photos, My Network (Rendezvous), integrated with Finder, Mail, and Address Book, file transfer
Features in Leopard like screen sharing and iChat Theater let you video chat in new ways, while backdrops and Photo Booth effects improve how you look while you chat.
But there’s a problem.
In real-life, we rely on visual cues during conversation to help us interpret what others are saying. We watch for eye contact in particular to be sure others are listening and interested. Breaking eye contact when others are speaking can offend.
Look at our language. People who don’t see eye-to-eye can’t agree. Someone who won’t look you straight in the eye is lying, ashamed, or embarrassed—all subliminal and negative qualities associated with avoiding eye contact, including during a video chat.
But in a video chat it’s nearly impossible to maintain eye contact. To watch each other onscreen you have to look away from the camera, making it appear as though you’re looking somewhere else. When you see others looking away, it’s confusing on a fundamental level. Logic says they’re interested, instinct says they’re not. They’re not looking you in the eye.
Even Apple’s marketing materials admit there’s a problem. Look at this photo on the left from Apple’s Leopard website demonstrating the new video backdrop feature.
She’s looking down at your keyboard, not you! This happens because while she is watching you on her screen, her camera sits higher up, maybe an iSight attached to the top of a large monitor.
Putting the built-in cameras close to the screen on newer Macs helps, but the broken eye contact is still noticeable. And it’s even more noticeable in HD.
Then Apple had an idea.
What if the screen is the camera? What if you could look right at the screen during a video chat? Wouldn’t that solve the problem? Wouldn’t people then think you were looking right at them? Wouldn’t that make video chats even more personal and emotional?
We may soon find out. Apple filed a patent application in 2006 for placing sensing elements between the pixels of an LCD monitor. Each sensor only sees a tiny part of the whole, but software merges those tiny parts into a complete picture. With fast Intel processors and H.264 encoders, possibly in hardware, this could all happen in real-time.
Leopard may introduce new Macs and monitors with these remarkable new cameras-in-the-screen.
Um.. yes please.
Amazing idea. Alternatively, they could hang a small set of mirrors in front of the screen to capture the image from the middle of the screen. This would be a tad bothersome but it should be tolerable.
Put one solid mirror just in front of the camera to make it look down. Make the mirror in front of the screen half-silvered so you could see through it and suspend it by a thin plastic bar and you’ll be able to see through that also.
This is why I prefer my original separate iSight camera to the build-in ones. While the built-in iSights are OK for smaller laptops, it sits too high if on 24″ iMacs or 30″ displays.
I quickly determined that the Griffin SightFlex worked very well for me. It is basically a goose-neck iSight stand. With my 30″ cinema display, placing the camera on top or too the side of the display produces the “uncomfortable” camera angles shown above. With the iSight stand, I actually position the iSight right in front of my screen, immediately adjacent to the iChat window. It is slightly obstructive, but the 30″ display has plenty of real-estate. Obviously the camera does not stay there. I only use it for certain video conferences.
My iChat AV hints:
- Use iSight flex stand and place camera in front of screen, just adjacent to iChat window. This also moves the iSight microphone closer to my mouth, so I don’t have to talk or use a separate head-mounted mic.
- Don’t have a sunlight filled window behind you. Do have one about 30 degrees to your side (10 or 2 oclock).
- Fill the display background with a colored image that enhances your complexion. I chose one that gives my a more tanned image (rather than my Conan-like paleness). Avoid a screen that is mostly white or the default blue Mac OS X background. Blue-white light is very unflattering for the average complexion.
- Minimize or hide unnecessary apps/windows. This avoids distracting clutter, allowing you to appear more focused. It avoids you hunting around through dozens of open windows searching for a bit of info. It also allows the background color to illuminate your face better.
- If you wear glasses, get an anti-glare coating on the outside or go without the glasses (if possible). This helps reduce the display’s distracting reflection in the glasses.
- The built-in microphones in Apple laptops and iSight cameras are condenser mics. They tend to pick up surrounding noise. Try to quite your environment - turn off fans, radios, etc. Close doors and windows if there is a lot of outside noise. Don’t set that wind-tunnel Quicksilver PowerMac on the desk next to the display. If you are working in a noisy open environment, consider using a noise-cancelling boom mic.
FYI, looking people in the eye and maintaining eye contact are very culturally specific. Among some ethnicities, it is NOT a good thing to look someone in the eye and hold eye contact if you are lower on the totem pole than they are, or if you don’t have a personal relationship with the other person. Eye contact could be interpreted as challenge, insolence or over-familiarity. I think this may be why some white people interpret some non-whites as being surly in certain situations. (Maybe it’s also why some people interpret the over-use of eye contact as phoniness on the part of some white people.)
Wouldn’t you find it somewhat creepy? I had my MAC hacked into once, and the hacker actually took control of the iSight camera. Luckily, I noticed the green light on next to the camera, which actually alerted me that my MAC had been hacked into. With a screen like this, someone would be watching you and you would literally never know…
It should still have the green light so you know you’re being watched. Besides…. stop acting so guilty.
Still, when am I going to be able to chat with my MSIM and Yahoo buddies?
Just wanted to add to Lancer’s question….. he did not mean bad jabber, the question is when will we be able to Vid and Voice chat and consitently send files…….we can’t be on iChat and expect the Window’s user to download their Horrible Version of AIM messenger……
Um… isn’t that the patent for multi-touch displays? It’s not about vision… it’s about touch screen interfacing. Bye bye mouse.
From the abstract: “The sensing display includes display elements integrated with image sensing elements. As a result, the integrated sensing device can not only output images (e.g., as a display) but also input images (e.g., as a camera).”
As long as there is a *physical* switch to turn off the camera, I’m in. Anthony’s story would turn into a _nightmare_ otherwise with such a new screen