How It Works

Gmail Video and Voice requires a and either a microphone (for straight audio chatting) or a Webcam (for video and audio chatting) to function. The plug-in -- a proprietary, non-Flash-based system -- runs about 2MB and supports , Firefox 2.0+, Internet Explorer 7.0, and Safari 3.0. As of now, the video chat service will not be made available within the standalone Google Talk application.

Once the plug-in is installed, all you do is click on a contact within your Gmail Chat list. If they also have the required software, a camera icon will pop up next to their name and let you initiate a two-way multimedia session. If they don't have the hardware, you can still start a one-way session in which they'll be able to see and hear you, even if you can't see and hear them. The service is expected to be fully rolled out to all Gmail users by the end of Tuesday.

The technology, by the way, comes from Google's last year. Google hired the engineers involved in the software, at the time declining to reveal its ultimate plans.

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