Dress nicely before using videophone
Packet8's new videophones come with helpful instructions. Never wear stripes, and always introduce everyone.
It's $500 and only works with other phones like it, but Packet8 is selling a Net-based videophone to supplement its ordinary Net telephone service.
The company offers very helpful "videophone etiquette" to avoid misunderstandings. So remember, never call before 10 am or after 10 pm (except on Christmas, of course), never wear stripes or white, and be sure to introduce everyone that's in the room with you.
David Foster Wallace told the best future history of videophones' rise and fall in Infinite Jest. In summary: People loved them, then realized they looked grungy, so started dressing up to be on the phone, then started wearing beautiful-person masks, then started putting little caps over the camera that showed beautiful apartments with beautiful people in them – and then people realized that nobody was actually using the video after all, and videophones went the way of the dodo.