AIM offers free local phone numbers

arstechnica.com: "Faced with a declining user base for its dial-up service, AOL has turned its attention to AIM in the hopes of keeping eyeballs (and ad revenues) from further defections. The newest initiative to be bundled with AIM is "AIM Phoneline," a VoIP service integrated directly into the instant messaging software. The big draw here is a phone number - AOL is giving one away for free to each user.

If you're thinking to yourself, "Self, there must be a catch," you're right. The free phone number will only accept incoming phone calls, and you'll still have to sit at your computer"

Great, hopefully this will heat up the competition and Skype will feel compelled to something similar.