Say Hello To Gmail Voice And Video Chat

[george]

Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat

That's why today we're launching voice and video chat -- right inside Gmail. We've tried to make this an easy-to-use, seamless experience, with high-quality audio and video -- all for free. All you have to do is download and install the voice and video plugin and we take care of the rest. And in the spirit of open communications, we designed this feature using Internet standards such as XMPP, RTP, and H.264, which means that third-party applications and networks can choose to interoperate with Gmail voice and video chat.

Once you install the plugin, to start a video chat, just click on the "Video & more" menu at the bottom of your Gmail chat window, and choose "Start video chat."

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/say-...video-chat.html

[nikster]

Cool - good to have another alternative.

Skype seems to get worse and worse in terms of quality, not sure why. Plus, they enabled back doors now so "interested" governments can listen in. No thanks.

Does anyone know whether that's encrypted? I would think so with Google, but you never know...

I am a bit wary of having this in my browser though - it seems like that would be an open invitations for hackers from all over the world to use these plug-ins to break into my system. A standalone app would be much better.

[phaethon]

If it doesn't hijack telephone numbers on my webpages and screw up my layout I'd be happy.

[surface]

Knowing google they'll probably feed you ads based on the content of your conversation, while also recording and saving the conversation for marketing purposes (and anyone who has a court order).