Following in the dubious footsteps of Creative, ASUS just announced a dedicated videophone all its own. The AiGuru SV1 followup to the voice-only S1, enables virtually unlimited video calls without a computer — a world’s first to get a big thumbs-up from Skype.

The SVI packs an 800 x 600 pixel 7-inch LCD, integrated speaker and mic (or jacks for your own), a VGA-quality webcam, and connects to the Internets over 802.11b/g WiFi or Ethernet. It’ll even run off battery for up to 20-minutes if absolutely necessary. Available for pre-order in Europe and North America today for a netbook-priced, $300 beans — ships in October.

Interesting Reading..

• December 29, 2008 -- HP Releases New Home Servers for Mac, PC Users (1)
• December 4, 2008 -- Up next for Apple: An ultrathin, ultralight $600 multitouch Mac netbook? (0)
• July 8, 2008 -- GPSmile 61 by Holux , now official (0)
• January 13, 2009 -- First Internet car radio a hit at consumer electronics show (0)
• June 1, 2008 -- Michael Bay’s “Transformers” Blu-Ray Release…CONFIRMED (0)
• February 22, 2009 -- Inspiron Mini 10 finally shows up at Dell’s website (0)
• January 5, 2009 -- New Palm Handset and OS Coming on Thursday? (0)
• October 13, 2008 -- Yoggie launches first miniature security computer for Mac laptops and desktops (0)
• September 25, 2008 -- T-Mobile Removes G1 Data Cap (0)
• May 26, 2008 -- Samsung intros 256GB SSD that may reach MacBook Air (0)
• January 2, 2009 -- Torus Power intros AVR series of power conditioners (0)
• September 17, 2008 -- HTC Touch HD and Iphone, Side by Side (0)
• November 27, 2008 -- Analyst firm cuts 2009 PC growth expectations by 64% (0)
• October 3, 2008 -- Rubik’s Cube Subwoofer from Elac (0)
• January 7, 2009 -- Samsung Unveils Connected Blu-ray Home Theater (0)
• June 1, 2008 -- Nokia N96 is expected to begin shipping in the end of July (0)
• January 4, 2009 -- Verbatim Unveils Quad-Interface Desktop Hard Drives (0)
• July 24, 2008 -- Samsung i8510 shown off in NYC (0)
• November 21, 2008 -- Marantz IS301 Bluetooth iPod media dock (0)
• June 5, 2008 -- Verizon to Acquire Alltel In $28 Billion Deal (0)