San Jose Mercury News columnist Chris O'Brien may be in the tech world's epicenter. But he admits in his column that he had shied away from video chat.

He notes: "But that's about to change because of an e-mail from my mother.

"Seemingly out of nowhere, this note from her landed in my inbox: 'Have you heard of Skype? Apparently you can use it to do free video calls on the computer.'"

O'Brien notes: "My mother, who lives just outside Kansas City, tends to be a reliable barometer for when a technology is gaining adoption outside the hermetically sealed bubble that is Silicon Valley. Well, my mom, and Oprah. As one of only a handful of people on the planet who don't watch Oprah's show every day, I had missed the fact that she's recently begun using Skype to make regular video calls with her audience.

"So, get ready for your close up, America. Video chat has entered the mainstream."