Gmail Calling offers unlimited free calls to and from the U.S. and Canada.

Gmail, Google very popular free e-mail service, has been offering free Internet based calls to and from the U.S.and Canada regardless if they are made to a computer or to an actual phone with Gmail Calling. But Gmail Calling works best with a free Google Voice account, which assigns you a phone number that links to all your other lines – work, home or mobile. It acts like a personal switchboard operator, allowing you to decide which phone will ring when someone dials your Google number. Without Google Voice, you can only place outgoing calls through Gmail.
Gmail is hardly the first Internet phone service. Skype has offered VoIP calling to computers since 2003 and telephones since 2004. Skype's presence is greater with nearly any computer in the world able to call any phone or other computer. Gmail calling now works only for U.S.-based Gmail accounts and charges for calls to international numbers cost from 2 cents a minute to landlines in much of Europe and Asia, to 99 cents a minute to Cuba. But Gmail calling with Google voice is versatile, because it can handle calls to your other phones. For the moment, it's also cheaper for certain types of calls. On Skype, computer-to-computer calls are free. But calling a phone costs 2.3 cents a minute to the U.S. and many other countries, or 2.99 a month for unlimited calls to the U.S. and Canada. On Gmail, all outgoing calls to U.S. and Canadian numbers and all incoming calls are free, through at least the end of the year according to the Wall Street Journal.

For more, see WSJ.com

Textfree app will let you send texts without owning a phone.

The business of text messages is a big one for wireless carriers and people seem not to mind using them a lot. Some of them even text more than they talk, specially teens and pre-teens. But for parents not ready yet to let their youngest own a cellphone or people whose ability to text is limited by their wireless' plan, there is a way to get around that. The solution is the possibility to send and receive text messages without a cellphone being involved. The only requirement is an iPod Touch and the willingness to download an app called Textfree from a company called Pinger. The service assigns users a real phone number and allows them to send and receive text messages for free. Users are connected through Wi-Fi with the only trade-off being the presence of banner ads at the bottom of the app.
With the assignment of a phone number, Textfree has the capability to offer also voice service.
That option is in the works with a beta phase set to debut in late September. Called "Textfree with Voice", the service will give users the option to pay for voice minutes or earn free minutes by performing tasks like downloading free apps, filling out surveys or performing other tasks, according to CNET.

For more, see CNET.com

Google to introduce automatic caption to YouTube videos.

As if being already the world biggest video site isn't enough, YouTube owned by Google, has announced last week that it is adding automatic caption that will bring text captions to many videos on the site.
YouTube has already several hundred thousand videos with close captioning but they are mostly from broadcast networks and some other professional Web sites. What the new initiative will achieve, is to allow anyone who upload a video on YouTube, to use the technology which is called "auto-timing", to upload as well a text file of the words spoken in the video and have them automatically turned into captions by Google.
The underlying technology for auto-timing is the same as the one used for Google Voice service which is used among others things, to transcribe text messages into voice messages.
For now, Google is adding captions on its own to videos from selected channels like the ones from PBS, the National Geographic and some Universities. The reason given for this gradual roll 0ut is that Google recognize that the technology isn't perfect and that time is needed to get feedback from the video owners and the viewers before being released to the public at large.
Also, the automatic captions will be available in English only for now, but can be translated to 51 languages using Google Translator service.

For more, see news.Yahoo.com