Google Voice sounds like the best thing to happen to telephony since the cellphone, but it does lack one important ingredient: a softphone client. That’s about to change as Google acquires Skype competitor Gizmo5.

The obvious synergies of this deal make a Hell of a lot more sense than eBay buying Skype four years ago — and will probably produce a ton less drama. Gizmo5 may not have Skype’s enormous userbase, but Google clearly bought the VoIP service for its technology and not its userbase. Once Gizmo5 is fully integrated into Google Voice, expect Mountain View to throw its marketing muscle behind the combo.

New signups for Gizmo5 have been suspended, but expect its VoIP features to make their way into Google Voice and Google Talk in a year or two.

Apple’s recent lies about the rejection of the Google Voice iPhone app give us insights into their deception development process. Since this isn’t the first time they’ve been caught in a lie, the process must be pretty refined by now.

The Joy of Tech offers a flowchart of that process.

Some months ago we covered Nimbuzz for the iPhone. The company now announced that they will also offer their service, even without available 3G or Wi-fi, after they closed a deal with Belgian service Voxbone. Thanks to the new offer from Nimbuzz, VOiP and Skype now also are available over 2G. The service will offer a local area number to call over 2G and then Skype contacts and VOiP is available. With the Skype application for iPhone you need to be connected to a Wi-fi network.

Nimbuzz is also available for several other smart phones such as the Nokia N97 and phones based on the Symbian platform.

Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, revealed that it has delivered over 15 billion minutes of voice services, demonstrating the rapid growth and broad adoption of VoIP in Second Life. The company also revealed its product roadmap for the remainder of 2009, such as introducing new features that will enhance the Second Life platform and provide unique monetization opportunities. With 700,000 unique users consuming more than a billion minutes a month, voice has become an integral component of the Second Life experience.

Over 50% of Second Life users, a group that includes a broad range of consumers, educators and large enterprises, use voice as part of their everyday inworld experience. In addition to making education, business meetings, simulations, training and casual conversations more meaningful, realistic and fluid, voice is also a key component of Linden Lab’s business model and strategy moving forward. With several key product launches scheduled for the latter half of 2009, Linden Lab expects this rapid adoption to continue while also adding several new revenue streams for the company.

In addition to revealing its roadmap for the rest of the year, Linden Lab is also introducing a new service called AvaLine that enables residents to receive voice calls inworld from an outside number. Greatly extending the reach of the Second Life experience, AvaLine lets friends, customers, colleagues and business associates connect to the Second Life viewer via a landline, cell phone or VoIP application.

Skype has named Scott Durchslag as its Chief Operating Officer. Scott brings 20 years of experience from Fortune 100 technology corporations, start-ups, and professional services to this newly created role. His post is effective immediately and he will report to Josh Silverman, Skype’s president who was recently appointed to the role March 24, 2008.

Scott was previously with Motorola where he spent 5 years on the top management team of the $25B Mobile Devices Business. Most recently, he was Corporate Vice-President of Global Product & Experience Invention, where he led product strategy, innovation, intellectual property, design, user interfaces, consumer experiences (music, video, imaging, productivity and mobile internet), partnerships, product marketing, and customer care.

Durchslag will have his hands full, together with Silverman, in convincing eBay that Skype remains a good buy, all worth of $2.6 billion.

Ribbit, Silicon Valley’s first phone company and a new platform for developing Web-based voice applications, has formally launched today.

Combining the power of Web-based VoIP and open development platforms, the company boasts its superiority among other companies in the market.

“The world doesn’t need another phone company,” said Ribbit cofounder and CEO Ted Griggs. “What it needs is a new kind of phone company, one that liberates voice from its current confines — devices, plans, and business models — and more readily integrates into the workflow of our professional and personal lives.”

Ribbit SmartSwitch is the core technology behind this startup company. It is a sophisticated multi-protocol soft-switch that bridges the worlds of traditional telephony with next generation networks and protocols.

It works well from any location with an Internet connection and with any Flash-enabled browser. Compared to existing VoIP operators, users can receive and place calls without downloading any soft-phone application.

Ribbit supports other Web-based services including Skype, Google Talk, and MSN. It can even transcribe voicemail to text messages similar to what other paid services like SpinVox and Simulscribe do.

Via NewsFactor

Wizzl is the first all-in-one virtual phone that allows you to talk, chat, cam, listen to internet radio, watch online TV and play games all at the same time and totally free of charge, wherever you are and whatever your device.

“Unlike other online VoIP services, Wizzl software does not depend on super nodes; which is good news for processing speeds and even better news for bandwidth usage. On 23 November, we will officially launch the beta version for desktops and laptops,” said Jaap Korevaar, CEO of Wizzl.

First-time downloaders get up to 10 minutes of free calling time to landlines and mobile phones across the world.

Over the last three years Wizzl has developed free communication software which will allow its users (’Wizzlers’) to make free voice and video calls over the internet, and calls to local and international phones and mobiles from only 1.5 Eurocents per minute.

Moreover, Wizzlers will have direct access to live TV, internet radio stations and the most popular web games around. Personal photographs, music and videos will also be at users’ fingertips.

LignUp Corporation announced that Ancestry.com is implementing voice-over-IP (VoIP) enabled applications based on the LignUp Communications Application Server. Ancestry.com is using the applications to enable site members to capture their oral histories and record memories about people or events in online family trees. The availability of applications that combine voice with rich media will help to increase families’ use of the site by creating a richer experience for Ancestry.com members.

The first two LignUp-based applications that have been implemented for Ancestry.com are:

• Record my memories. The consumer calls into a number, and at the prompt, records his or her oral history. The recording is saved and stored online for family members to access.

• Record conversations. The consumer initiates a call between him or herself and a family member directly from Ancestry.com. Once the call is connected, the caller can “interview” the family member or share memories. The caller uses Web controls to start and stop the recording functionality.

TokBox, a communication service that enables people to talk over live video in a single click, has launched the first voice/video calling product on the meebo Platform.

It requires no registration, download, installation or configuration and is now seamlessly integrated into millions of meebo conversations.

According to Nielsen/NetRatings, meebo is the fastest-growing IM destination in the US – ahead of Google Talk and Skype. The addition of Tokbox is what meebo CEO and co-founder Seth Sternberg will bring them “one large step closer to becoming the Web’s live interaction destination.”

“TokBox is making communication much more personal, where we can easily see our family members, friends, co workers or new acquaintances – no matter where they are,” said Serge Faguet, CEO and co-founder of TokBox. “By merging the extreme simplicity of TokBox with the world’s most popular live platform, we are providing for the richest form of communication and messaging online today.”

MySpace and Skype announced a partnership to empower the MySpace community with voice communications. With more than 110 million monthly active MySpace users and 220 million Skype registered users around the world, this partnership connects two of the most popular communications platforms on the Internet to create the world’s largest online, voice-connected community.

The announcement unveils MySpaceIM with Skype, a new product that integrates MySpace’s popular IM client with Skype’s free, high-quality voice-calling capability. The partnership will also enable users to link their MySpace profiles and photos or avatars to their accounts on Skype. Both products will be available to users starting in November.

Financial terms of the MySpace and Skype deal were not disclosed.