Google has integrated calling phones with GMail.

If you haven’t already heard, starting today, you can call phones from GMail.

I tested out the VOIP calling this morning and I loved it. The volume on my mac was a little soft, and there was a bit of lag, but nothing you’d notice so much when not listening in to both conversations at once.

When Skype started offering its VOIP service, it also offered it “free for the rest of the year” to Canadian and US customers. I made good use of that offer.

Now, there is extra incentive for me to use this as I am an Android user and all my phone umbers will already be in the Google Contacts. Even if it’s not free, calling local for $0.02 a minute is pretty attractive considering my cell phone plan averages about $0.35 a minute. Google has somehow managed to get pretty amazing rates.

I might start calling my relatives in Asia on this system, even though I have never called them using Skype.

Too bad they don’t a voice mail service with voice recognition, so someone can call a local number, state my email address. If I’m at my computer, connect to me  through voice on GMail. Otherwise, leave me voice mail that can then be transcribed into text in my inbox.

For all we know, Google might actually be working on something like this since it probably could use technology from GOOG-411.

Google is reportedly going to install phones in campuses across North America to showcase their technology.

Google also unveiled plans to install U.K.-style red phone booths across universities and airports to promote Google Voice. Users will be able to make free calls from the booths, which employ Google Voice, to anywhere in the world.

~ dailytech.com

To be honest, when I made my first web page, with blinking animated gifs, never would I have thought that software displaying my page would one day be able to call my phone.

I love you G<3<3gle.