[steven]

I can't wait! I love skype on the computer. My dad says he can use it on his blackberry, which I guess you can use in Japan somehow. I don't know if that helps... he said something about a "sim" card? I don't really know (my 50 something year old dad knows more about that stuff than I do).

I think we're on the verge of seeing computers/cell phones colliding with the i-pad and things like that. The DSi is also a bit on that level (if only it could get internet anywhere like a cell phone can). Imagine just using a DS like thing as a video-phone. You could also keep a calendar in it, use it as a camera, digital book reader, watch movies (as they'll be data by then), and it has a touch pad, too. I think that's where we're heading. I doubt you'll be seeing that while you're in Japan, though. I'd give it another 5 years or so.