Applications for the Apple iPhone aren’t taking up the internet bandwidth and space. Actually only one company have developed an VoIP (Voice over IP) application, the Israeli company fring.

If you haven’t heard about fring, then perhaps you know one of the people behind it – Avi Schechter. He was one of the founder of the once very popular chat-program ICQ. I still remember my ICQ number 7914159, which was stolen by a hacker some time ago.

The idea behind fring is free access to your favourite instant messaging service like Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk or AIM. You can also connect to your Skype contacts and use twitter.

It requires some kind of high-speed connection. That can be either 3G, Wi-Fi or GPRS. I wouldn’t recommend the latter though.

Since you often will use 3G (or GPRS) I would recommend a free data-plan. fring might be free, but the data you are transmitting when talking through Skype isn’t. You’ll still get a bill from your service provider.

I’ve been a happy fring-user for almost a year now. I have it on my Nokia N80IE and Nokia E51. If I had an Apple iPhone I would install it on it too.

As I mentioned fring is the first company to launch a VoIP application for iPhone. You can download fring for iPhone here.

Jonathan MacDonald has written a guide to installing fring on iPhone.

So do you fring while you Skype? Or is it the other way around?

Do you ever consider the environment when you buy a new gadget? I tend to forget and pick gadgets with lots of features, nice design and geek status.

However eco-friendly gadgets are also a competitive parameter. The gadgets manufacturers has found out that consumers are interested in green products.

So which gadget should you buy if you want to be green?

Greenpeace recently launched a report “Searching…for Green Electronics“. The report analyses several parameters among others; dangerous chemicals in the product, energy saving and can it be recycled. Several companies refused to participate in the survey. This includes Acer, Apple, Asus, Creative, Microsoft, Nintendo, Palm and Sharp. I’m very disappointed in you guys. I own an iPod, Zen Vision M, Xbox360 and Nintendo Wii…tsk tsk @ me.

The scale goes from 1 to 10, 10 being the best grade and this is the top 3 lists:

Cell phones:

1. Sony Ericsson T650i – 5.30 points
2. Nokia N95 – 4.40 points
3. LG Electronics KE970 4.05 points

PDA or Smart Phones:

1. Sony Ericsson P1i – 5.10 points
2. HP iPaq 510 – 3.95 points
3. Mio Technology P350 – 3.15 points

Notebooks:

1. Sony Vaio TZ11 – 5.29 points
2. HP Compaq 2710p – 4.82 points
3. Toshiba Protégé R500 – 4.74 points

Greenpeace states that no manufacturers score high within all criteria. Still, Greenpeace give Sony and Sony Ericsson a thumbs up! I guess this must make Sony’s competitors green with envy…If I’m looking at our latest energy bill, our consumption is equal to a family of four. We are only two adults and a 5 month old toddler. All our domestic appliances are power saving. The same goes for the light bulbs. Nothing is left in stand-by mode either. EXCEPT… My PC runs 24/7 with router, ADSL modem and all kinds of power adapters. Two laptops and a 42″ plasma TV. I guess they eat a bit too.

If you are interested in more green gadgets, cars and scooters. Read “5 Green And Eco-Friendly Gadgets”.

Do you own any green gadgets? When you buy new gadgets do you prefer the eco-friendly ones? What are you doing to reduce energy consumption?