Google's new Gmail calling feature offers free calls to the U.S. and Canada

Today Google announced that Gmail users can now call phones directly from their Gmail account. Calls to the U.S. and Canada are free "for at least the rest of the year," and Google says calls to other countries are priced at low rates. Calling the U.K., France, Germany, China, and Japan, for example, costs $0.02 per minutes. To use the feature, click "call phone," at the top of your chat list and dial a number. The feature is rolling out over the next few days. For more information, visit http://gmail.com/call.