I’m sure many of you have used iChat’s video chat feature. I love it, especially when I’m able to do a multi-party chat. It’s just incredible, and I am really looking forward to the new version of iChat in the upcoming version of Mac OS X (10.5 Leopard). Also, I like being able to use iChat on the road anytime with my Sprint Treo 700p. It’s very useful being able to video chat with my wife, catching up on with each other while I’m on the bus home. Instead of watching hearing people chatter away on their cell phones, I can just imagine what a spectacle I make with my hands signing away seemingly to myself! At least I’m giving some entertainment to some of those poor souls who don’t have any imagination to bring at least a book with them on the bus! I do make use of HOVRS’ hovrsWidget while on the road to make some VRS calls too.

Unfortunately, since I’m so mobile, one downside is that I really don’t have much control over lighting – as you all know, it’s essential to have good lighting so that you can read facial expressions and body language – and be able to easily understand the other party on a iChat video call, rather than trying to work hard and decipher the hand/arm movements and facial expressions, etc. when experiencing poor lighting situations. We all know that sometimes we need to turn on a lamp (or two) at certain times of the day when we sit down in front of our videophones or our desktop Macs. We don’t have that luxury when we’re mobile. Ecamm Network’s iGlasses comes to the rescue. iGlasses is a small plugin for iChat that is also very cheap ($8!!), and comes with a big bang for your eight bucks!

So, what does iGlasses do for me? Well, since I can’t control lighting on the bus – if it’s an overcast day, I can use iGlasses to make things brighter. iGlasses hooks into the lower levels of iChat, allowing me to brighten my picture with just one click!

There are eight presets, and three of these are brightness-related. For many situations, these presets will suffice.

However, if you are feeling a bit more adventurous, you can click on the “More Adjustments” triangle to display many more settings, including a brightness and a contrast slider allowing you to customize your video picture to your needs!

Did you ever have to turn out the lights because your significant other was sleeping, and find yourself unable to iChat with a friend (or three) due to the lack of light? Well, iGlasses even has a “Night Vision” setting that simulates what you would see with night vision goggles. It doesn’t really use the same technology, but it does really work especially if there is ambient light.

There are some other “fun” settings:

iGlasses does work with other programs that use the iSight, including iMovie, Yahoo! Messenger, and more!

It’s great for experimenting with, and annoying your friends too!

Another nice feature is that if you have an older G3 Mac under 600 mhz (the minimum for iChat), iGlasses will enable your Mac to run iChat! Video quality may not be the best, but it’ll do when you have nothing else.

I find iGlasses indispensable, and recommend that every deaf Mac user add this program to their arsenal of useful Mac programs. There’s no excuse not to – it only costs $8!!

We love iGlasses SO much, we wanted two lucky DeafMac.org readers to get their own copy of the program, so we are running a giveaway of two licenses for iGlasses! Check out the info on top of the main page to find out how to enter!