Google Adds Voice to Gmail

Google is rolling out voice capabilities to its Gmail program. You can now call any phone in the US and Canada for free and at low rates internationally. The word is the service will be free through the end of this year. You’ll need a Google Voice account to utilize the service, and you will also need to activate the chat feature in Gmail. This poses a huge threat to the de facto service in this space, Skype. Of course, the jury is still out as to whether everyone will flock to use this latest service offering from the online giant. Recent offerings from Google such as Wave and Buzz were met with less that stellar enthusiasm… but hey a free call is a free call.