Crazy FX with the Creative Optia AF Webcam

Sometimes the hits of CES for me are not high-priced, state-of-the-art devices that promise to change the world. Instead, I'm often wowed by simple gadgets that are addictive and fun. Such is the case with the Creative Optia AF Livecam—the world's first autofocusing webcam (or so I think). This means you can move around and be assured that the person at the other end can see you clearly. I visited the Creative booth today and got a chance to play around with the camera, which attaches to the top of your laptop or desktop monitor.

Autofocus is handy, if not a little too distractingly on top of the job at times, but the features I want to rave about are the Advanced Video FX and the Advanced Audio FX. Advance Video FX is a series of graphics—silly hats, funhouse illusions, and crazy hairdos—that are superimposed over the live video you transmit (so your friends can see the altered you in real time). I've included some pics of the various visual twists I put on myself with the Video FX.

New to this webcam is Advance Audio FX, which alters your voice so that the person you're videoconferencing with hears you speaking in, say, a "nasal," "emotional," "old," or "robot" voice. The robot voice is a hoot, since it essentially maintains the basic timbre of your voice but keeps the pitch the same, so you sound like a soulless robot with no intonation going on.

Nothing earth-shattering here, but guaranteed fun when it comes out in the spring for around $129.