HUA HIN, Thailand - Google is to offer the ability to make phone calls over the Internet via the company's Gmail services, setting up Skype as the latest target in the search giant's efforts to achieve total internet domination.

Google software engineers touted the service by stating, "We've been testing this feature internally and have found it to be useful in a lot of situations, ranging from making a quick call to a restaurant, to placing a call when you're in an area with bad reception."

Google has offered voice and video services for a couple of years but both parties have to be at their computers. The new calling service will allow communication direct to telephones, putting the company in direct competition with telecommunications

companies in addition to Skype, which has been doing exactly that for seven years.

Gmail users will be able to install a browser plug-in enabling them to make a call with their computer, microphone and headset anywhere in the United States and Canada for free, and internationally from 2 cents per minute to around a dollar.

This could be worrying for Skype, which has an estimated 124 million users, as the number of Gmail users comfortably exceeds that, at around 200 million. On August 9, 2010, Skype filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States to raise up to US$100 million in an initial public offering. A rewriting of the share sale prospectus could now be in order, and a rethink of the future earnings possibilities, given Google's challenge.

It is also a worry for eBay, which bought Skype in 2005 and still holds a minority stake after selling 70% last November to a consortium comprising Silver Lake Partners, CPPIB, Andreessen Horowitz, and the original founders - Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennstrom and Dane Janus Friis.

The free phone calls offer another possible revenue stream for Google, which makes its profits from advertising, such as the stuff that pops up along with search results. Soon, users of the new phone service will doubtless have to listen to an ad before they make their call, which may or may not be logged into Google's vast humanity information database.

Industry
Yahoo finally cemented its partnership with Microsoft this week by completing the transition to Bing for its search results. Following an agreement signed last year, the Internet pioneer has switched its backend search technology to Microsoft's fledgling engine to strengthen the competition to Google's market dominance.

The transition also incorporates the amalgamation of the online advertising departments of both companies; Microsoft is aiming to move all of Yahoo's US advertisers and publishers onto its AdCenter platform. The combined efforts will give the companies close to 30% market share, still leaving them a long way behind Google, with over double that.

Hardware
AMD has announced details on new architecture for two new microprocessor families code-named "bulldozer" (aimed at high-end servers and PCs) and "bobcat" (for laptops and low-power notebooks). According to the company, the redesign will provide a third way between traditional multi-core processing and simultaneous multithreading. What this means in layman's terms is that they will be a lot faster, be a lot more powerful and have better power consumption than their predecessors.

The bulldozer architecture will allow shared resources to enable the chip to crunch more data simultaneously than previously; multiplying the processor cores will double, triple and quadruple the capabilities. The design has been viewed as chip evolution rather than revolution, the next stage in micro processing.

Browsers
User interface details on Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9web browser have been leaked by one of the company's Russian websites this week. The screenshots reveal a very Chromey feel, with some additional features such as quick release tabs and a new address and search bar. Microsoft has been very quiet about the general appearance and user interface of its new browser, probably because a lot of it may well have come from its competitors.

IE9's first beta version will be available for download on September 15, with the final edition, which is likely to be very Bing focused, expected to be released in the first quarter of 2011.

Mozilla is also following in the footsteps of Google's Chrome with its newest browser, Firefox 4, which is due for release in October. The cleaner look is definitely the big thing as Mozilla has moved the tabs to the top on the new version and introduced a new "panorama" tab management feature.

Firefox 4 will include a synchronization function, which will recognize user preferences such as saved passwords, bookmarks and open websites across multiple devices.

Science
China has been extending its space ambitions recently with the launch of a new earth-mapping satellite. The Tianhui 1 satellite was launched in a circular orbit about 500 kilometers above Earth following liftoff aboard a Long March 2D rocket from Jiuquan base on Tuesday.

The satellite, built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, will mainly be used to conduct scientific experiments and carry out surveys on land resources and mapping, said a statement on the Ministry of National Defense website.

The launch was China's seventh this year and the 128th in total for the country's Long March series of rockets, which first lifted off in 1970.