In his latest column for The New York Times (free subscription required), David Pogue gives high marks to Apple’s iChat AV video conference software and iSight, the company’s Web cam. While sitting in an Internet Café in London, Pogue had the opportunity to try the video chat duo first hand to talk to his wife back in the US. “And then, suddenly, there it was: My wife Jennifer’s live image and her voice, transmitted in real time 3,500 miles across the globe — instantly, crystal clear, and (by the way) free,” writes Pogue. “I paraded around the coffee shop with my laptop and the iSight, showing her the local ambiance. (Jennifer, grinning: “Hey, buy me one of those chocolate croissants!”) Maybe I was just overtired and sentimental, but it was an almost overwhelming experience.”