A virtual face-to-face encounter

Having a bad hair day used to not matter on the Internet.

But last month Apple introduced the first practical software for online video chats. With a fairly inexpensive camera-microphone unit that sits atop the computer and a broadband connection, you can communicate with people around the world not just by typing, but with talking, laughing, hand gestures and smiles. You can say hello to a loved one far away, show off the baby, hold philosophical discussions and, of course, flirt.

It’s almost like real life. With major asterisks.

So far, this technology -- which shows action in full motion, unlike earlier attempts at Internet video chats that looked like communications with a distant planet -- only works on Apple computers.

Officials at Apple Computer Inc. would not discuss specific plans for the software, called iChat AV, but if it’s a big hit you can bet the technology will not be limited to Apple-to-Apple use for long. (It might follow the development of Apple’s popular iPod music player, which debuted as an Apple-only product then became Windows-friendly).

The audio is even clearer than a telephone’s, although there is a sound delay, sometimes quite pronounced, that takes getting used to. And while the image is not nearly as good as one on TV -- it’s a bit washed out and pixelated, depending on the speed of the connection and the computer’s processing power -- the iChat AV picture is a huge step up from the halting, postage stamp-sized images of previous video chat attempts.

It’s even a much better image than those produced by picture phones that were available for a while in some parts of the world.

“I had a friend who bought a picture phone from Sony about five or six years ago,” said Emiel Efdee, 36, a graphic designer speaking from his home in Rotterdam, Holland, on Tuesday morning (evening, his time). “It had a tiny picture, terrible, like some people use to look at who is at the door.”

This was Efdee’s first video chat. He had just gotten an iSight, the automatic-focus camera and microphone unit ($149 in the U.S.) Apple is selling for the chats. Digital video cameras, many of which have built-in microphones, can also be used. On my end, I could clearly see his blond hair sticking straight up in a stylish cut, his close-cropped beard, even his blue eyes.

Efdee got the unit in hopes that his girlfriend could use it to keep in touch with her sister in New York. “We will save all those phone call charges, and she will be able to see her sister. I can’t believe it,” he said.

Others have already found practical uses. Photographer Ron Lussier, 42, of Sausalito is using it to plan a sailing trip with his father, who lives on the East Coast. “He always wants me to help him with something on the computer,” Lussier said. “It’s frustrating on the phone. Now I have him turn the camera around and show me the screen.”

Efdee and I went through the usual rituals of a first-time video chat -- he called his girlfriend in from the other room and introduced her, and then held his cat up to the camera. I showed him my dog (who was getting tired of being hauled before the camera the last few days) and picked the camera off its holder to give him a tour of my home office.

When another graphic designer, Hadley Stern, 32, in Boston got the video tour, he took one look at my shelves and the image was clear enough for him to ask, “Aren’t those from IKEA?” He was right.

His wife, Meiera Stern, 31, joined in the conversation and wrote in a follow-up e-mail that the experience “felt like what it must have felt like -- to a lesser degree, of course -- the first time people spoke on the phone. There was a sense of intimacy that was both real and false.”

That’s certainly true. Earlier that same evening I chatted with Andy Ayer, 35, also in Boston, who does computer work for a mutual fund company. He was a very nice guy, but it quickly became clear we didn’t have a whole lot in common.

Likewise, it was neat to chat with Anthony Brown, 37, a marketing executive in Melbourne, Australia, but I’m not sure we’ll hook up again except maybe for a friendly hello.

Conversely, there was an immediate connection with the Sterns, and I hit it off so well with Lussier and his boyfriend, software developer Dan Greening, 43, that after a laugh-filled hour we were talking about trips to visit each other’s homes. I don’t think we would have made such a quick bond on the phone.

With video chats, the possibility for true dialogue and informative discussions also seems to be increased; just the fact that two people can see each other should lead to more civil discourse. Also, with the ability to read body language, an off-the-cuff remark can be seen as the joke it was meant to be and not taken the wrong way.

At this point, only one-to-one conversations are possible. Hadley Stern, who has a Web site of essays and commentaries on Apple products, www.applematters .com, speculated that the company would strive to eventually make the chats multi-user.

(It’s inevitable that one of the uses of video chats will be pornography. Here’s hoping it doesn’t completely overshadow the use of the medium).

For those Mac OS X users interested in trying the technology, iChat AV can be downloaded for free at www.apple.com /ichat. The software is now in beta form; Apple plans to include a more polished version in an operating system upgrade later this year. For those who want to stay with their current OS version, the finished software will cost $30. The iSight retails for $149 or you can use your digital video camera, although the image quality seems to vary widely among models.

If you want to chat with someone who does not have a camera, one-way video chats are possible -- both of you would be able to hear the audio. Again, this can only be done Apple-to-Apple, and both parties would have to use iChat AV.

It’s much too early to tell if this rendition of the videophone will take off. There was resistance to a telephone-based version, partly for privacy reasons -- people didn’t want to worry about looking presentable every time they answered the phone. But the Internet is different: You can use the technology on specific occasions. And the fact that calls around the world are essentially free adds to the attraction.

After the novelty somewhat wore off, I found myself being almost casual about making video calls to friends (you can keep a handy electronic “buddy list” on your screen to see who is online and available for chatting).

I even automatically adopted speech patterns while in chat to compensate for the slight audio delay and began to use hand gestures to make points. I let myself freely smile and laugh, knowing someone was watching.

“One can imagine as this technology becomes more common that conversations and the way we communicate will change again,” wrote Meiera Stern. I think there’s a healthy chance that she’s is right.