VOIP (Voice Over IP (Internet Protocol)) is becoming the in thing at the moment due to the money it can save you with free international telephone calls. Skype is one of the leaders of this growing technology boasting 161,473,977 downloads of their software so far and increasing by the second.

The latest beta version released yesterday boosts:

• Our call quality is the best ever for talking, laughing and sharing stories.
• It’s now faster to get set up, and easier to add your contacts, so you can get more friends talking for free.
• You can forward calls on to mobiles, landlines and other Skype Names.
• Make calls instantly from Outlook email or Internet Explorer with our new toolbars.
• Personalise your Skype — play around with sounds, ringtones and pictures to show the world who you are.

You can download it for free from the official skype site

In the time it took to write this post another 5,000 copies have been downloaded (161,478,749) which is kind of crazy.