There are many people who have many reasons to make phone calls to Japan, after the disastrous tsunami. Some US operators have shown sensibility to that, given also that this is a good occasion to buy some goodwill. Among them is Vonage, which is offering free calls to Japan to its members. The offering will end on March 18. Read more

Mac users have nothing to be jealous of vis-a-vis PC users, but they have to face a fact, among others. Windows being more popular (at least in some milieus), Mac has less VoIP applications. So as not to waste on your time with those VoIP services and avenues where there isn't' a VoIP app for your Mac, here is a short list where you can find something to power up your Mac with voice and video calling capabilities, for free or cheap.

Image: Apple iMac © apple.com

Gizmo5, which was once a good VoIP service and app provider, is now the property of Google, since its acquisition back in 2009. Google has continued the Gizmo5 VoIP service and has also used its technology to create GMail calling, allowing users to make calls directly from their mailboxes.

GMail calling uses only a small part of the technical potential Gizmo5 came with, like a VoIP client for the desktop, mobile VoIP and SMB PBX integration. When Gizmo5 closes down on April 3, GMail calling will carry on, with Gizmo5 technology. I believe Google is closing Gizmo5 service down in order to build something new out of it. So if you want my opinion, expect something big in terms of VoIP app in the future, something like a desktop VoIP client with tremendous capabilities and features.

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• GMail Calling - Free Calls From Your Mailbox
• How to Receive Phone Calls on GMail
• How to Set Up Google Voice

Rather earlier that one would expect, Apple is releasing a second version of its very successful iPad. The new version, iPad 2, has a considerable amount of tweaks and improvements. Apart from being lighter and slimmer, from having having a more powerful processor and other stuff, the iPad 2 comes with a front camera and a rear one. This makes things much more interesting.

Firstly, it improves multimedia features, but more importantly, it allows users to use video conferencing applications like Apple's FaceTime app and third party apps like Skype and others. We can be sure to see even more VoIP services and apps mushrooming in the future for iPad 2. This is for me one good reason to ditch your iPad for the iPad 2, especially given that the price is not higher, as my colleague Christy says. Read more on the iPad 2 at Apple.
Image: Apple iPad 2 © apple.com

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• How to Make Free Calls Using Your iPad
• Facebook Messenger - Free Voice Calls for Mac and iOS Users
• Skype Launches Version 5 for Mac