Google Gmail Supports Voice & Video Chat

Google has added another feature to their popular Gmail program which now supports voice and video chat. The prerequisites requires a web cam [with mic] to be used with the Gmail system. Setup is simple and took only a matter of minutes.

According to their site Google states that:

Since sometimes reading “lol” doesn’t deliver the same punch as actually hearing your friend laugh at your jokes, you can now use voice and video capabilities in your Gmail chat. From within Gmail, you can have an actual conversation with someone (seriously, out loud), or even chat face to face over video.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• Download the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in, quit all open browser windows, and install the plug-in.
• Sign in to Gmail.
• In the Chat section of your Gmail, select the contact you want to call. If they have a camera icon next to their name, you can make a voice or video call to them; just click Video & more.

If your friend doesn’t have a camera next to their name in your chat list, you can invite them to download the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in from the Video & more menu in a chat window. Even if your friend doesn’t have a video camera, you can still make a voice call or a 1-way video call.

I’ll be giving this software a test run this week to see how well it works. I’ll report back in about a week or so and let you know how it is going.

Comments welcome.

Source.