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

Skype video-calling software is availlable on some Internet ready TVs.

Made popular by Skype, video-calling service has gone from being the thing of early adopters, to becoming more widely used by the general public. But until now, it was confined to computers or smartphones, leaving out one ovious device, the TV set. That is about to change with the introduction of a Skype software designed for TV sets.
It comes preloaded on some TVs models which when hooked to a TV webcam, will anyone to make high-definition video calls on the big screen.
The only limitation is that the software is available only on some models of Internet ready TVs like the Panasonic with Viera Cast and the Samsung 7000 and 8000 series with Samsung Apps.
LG 's Netcast models are said to be next in line to get the Skype software, according to the New York Times.
With either brand of TV, users will have to spend about $150 on a new webcam to be hooked to the TV. Skype is not planning to stop with the TVset with the announcement of a a software development kit or SDK that will allow third parties to embed Skype video software in all kind of devices like navigation unit, automobiles dash boards, PBX telephone etc, the Times said.

For more, see NewYorkTimes.com