Apple today introduced a major revision to iChat, the company’s instant messaging application, by offering video and audio conferencing capabilities. In addition, the company announced iSight, a new digital video camera. Together the two products enable high-quality video conferences between two Mac users over any broadband connection. iChat AV also features audio conferences even over dial-up connections to the Internet. iChat AV requires no set up or configuration beyond installing the software and plugging in any FireWire video camera and microphone. iChat AV is a key feature of the upcoming release of Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther,” and is available as a public beta today for Mac OS X version 10.2. The final version of iChat AV will be included in “Panther” and will also be downloadable from Apple for US$29.95 as a standalone upgrade for users of Mac OS X v10.2.5 or later.