Panasonic and Skype now live, thanks to Viera CAST-enabled HDTV models

Panasonic and Skype’s partnership has finally borne fruit, with Viera CAST-enabled HDTV models finally hitting the market (2010 models apply), alongside the availability of Panasonic’s Skype-enabled communication camera (otherwise known as the TY-CC10W). This collaboration with Skype was first shown off at CES 2010 this January (see our hands-on), where you can now make both voice and video calls to family and friends wherever your TV is located, although you will need to fork out another $169.95 for the aforementioned Skype-enabled camera. A novelty, that’s for sure at the moment, but it could become commonplace in the future. We believe that many people would still be more comfortable talking over the computer or notebook, but perhaps as time progresses and TVs in the living rooms gain more interactive capability, it might just take over such a role. [Press Release]