Canadian Carrier's True Video-Chat Phone: Sex Chat 2.0

Yet it was a decidedly subdued Shatner who showed up in Toronto on Monday to help Rogers promote its new wireless webcam service. After the first hour or so cheerfully extolling the virtues of the new product, the first of its kind to launch in North America, the 76-year-old Canadian-born thespian appeared understandably fatigued.

After a goofy video clip that showed him backstage being primped by makeup artists and demanding more powder for his nose, Shatner emerged on stage to the strains of Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" and then spent the next hour or so posing and chatting happily for the TV cameras.

"Canada's always been known for its great talent, and to be on the cutting edge of technology - it's really made me proud to see that's happening," Shatner told a news conference after John Boynton, Rogers senior vice-president, showed a Youtube.com download from his phone of Shatner doing a spoken-word performance of Elton John's "Rocket Man" a few years ago.

"I never thought video would come out of science fiction, and now it's science fact. It's incredible."