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I used to dread it when my wealthy aunt dragged out the magic lantern, put up the screen and proceeded to torture us youngsters (and I am sure our less-traveled parents) with fuzzy slides and stilted stories about her encounters with the pigeon pocked monuments of Europe. Now, thanks to the internet, we have tedium on demand...or as it is on demand and we might not choose to demand it, we can choose spontaneity and entertainment instead. And that fun, these days, could just come from the little device that has become our love it/hate it sidekick, our mobile phones.

Qik is a game changer in video.

Qik is a free software program that works on almost any video-capable phone, that enables you to broadcast live video on the internet for the world to see: to your own free Qik page, to YouTube, to MySpace, to almost any place your cyber-pals lurk. It also stores your video on line, so those who are asleep while you are mugging your way through the Montmartre can watch it later. But Qik's possibilities are endless, like catching an evil-doer in the act and storing the evidence online before he can wrench the phone from your hands. I spent some time with Rishi Malik of Qik.

Most Qik video is not ready for prime time...yet. It is not the fault of Qik, but of mobile phone manufacturers who use poor quality cameras and codecs (the software schemes that process video). My wife's Samsung Blackjack delivers passable video while my Blackberry Bold is virtually worthless. Rishi's Nokia produced a good picture. But Rishi says the future is HDTV. Samsung has a phone (the Omnia HD) that shoots 720p high definition television, which, if your carrier can handle the bandwidth, should look just fine on that big Plasma TV you went into hock for.