Gmail's new "call phone" feature

ON WEDNESDAY, less than two weeks after Skype, the internet chat and calling company, filed for a $100 million IPO, Google announced that it was finally merging its fantastic Google Voice product with its massively popular Gmail email and chat platform. That means you can now call any phone in the US or Canada from your Gmail account—for free (at least for now). What exactly makes Google Voice so amazing? The features, folks. Ars Technica's Jacqui Cheng has a good rundown:

For those just now getting acquainted with Google Voice, it essentially lets you set up a new phone number that can ring multiple phones. You can also set up personalized greetings per-caller or per-group, screen your calls, listen in on voicemails as they're being left, access your voicemails (and their text transcripts) online, and more. You can also block individual numbers on your own—no more begging your phone company to block your crazy ex—send free SMSs, make cheap international calls, and even port your existing number if you don't want to sign up for a new one. (It should be noted that if you're going to use Google Voice to make calls on your cell phone, you're still using cell minutes.)

Here's a short video explaining what just happened:

For me, this is a game-changer. I already have Gmail open almost all day. I forward work email to it. I use it to text chat with sources. I stay in touch with people over video chat. Now I can call people's phones from it, too? That's just swell. Google's international calling rates are quite reasonable—as low as $0.02 a minute to western Europe. Make no mistake: Google just sent Skype a message. There's nothing like "free domestic calls" to say "we're coming for you."

Do you folks use video chat, internet phones, or anything else along those lines while you're on the road? What do you think of this latest development? Let us know in the comments.