The idea of video phones has been around for years but it has never caught on - probably because people like the relative anonymity and the ability to continue to multi-task while they talk. This is not proving to be a deterrent to Vonage, which is apparently preparing to launch a videophone over its Internet telephony service. Vonage, which has signed up more than 300,000 customers, has signed a deal with Viseon to market a new product called the VisiFone II. Frankly, this strikes me as more of a publicity campaign by the PR-savvy folks at Vonage than a viable business opportunity. It's one thing for people to adopt Internet telephony - which is happening at slower pace than most media coverage would suggest - but quite another to convince people to migrate to Internet telephony and use a video-phone.