NEWS / WINDOWS

Gmail Launches Voice And Video Chat

12 Nov, 2008, 12:47 pm IST | tech2 News Staff | Windows

Google has launched Gmail voice and video chat, making it easier for people to chat in high-quality video for free right within Gmail.

Users only  require a webcam and a small web browser plugin, to start video chatting.

Gmail voice and video chat lets users start a video chat without switching to another application or signing up for another account. Users who don't have a webcam, can simply chat by voice.

To get started, users have to open a Gmail chat window, click on the "Options" menu at the bottom, and choose "Add voice/video chat," which will take them through a one-time installation of a free plugin (a quick 2 MB download). When Gmail is re-opened users will notice that their "Options" link in their chat window has changed to "Video & more". Opening this menu and clicking "Start video chat" will start it off. Users can pop out the video and change its size and position, or switch to full screen.

Gmail voice and video chat is being rolled out on PCs and on Macs.

Google Apps customers get this service as well, at no extra charge, and can voice or video chat with any other Gmail or Apps users.

To use voice and video chat, a PC must have Windows XP or a more recent version, or an Intel-Based Mac with Mac OS X v10.4 or later. It works in browsers that support the latest version of Gmail (Google Chrome, Firefox 2.0+, Internet Explorer 7.0, and Safari 3.0).

Tags: Google

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