This is a pretty cool app. I installed it last night and called everyone I know in Canada.

I'm writing this app review from a hotel room in Wellington, New Zealand, as I'm here visiting Weta Digital, the renowned visual effects company responsible for the "movie magic" in flicks such as Avatar, The Lord of the Rings and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

But I found some other magic of my own: an app that lets you place a call anywhere in the U.S. or Canada -- for free -- even from Down Under.

After all, calling home to speak to my wife and kids would cost a pretty penny if I did it with the phone in my hotel room or with my smartphone. Instead, I decided to try out a free app from MagicJack -- from the same folks who sell that small device you plug into your computer to make inexpensive phone calls over the Internet.

Aptly called Free Calls with MagicJack, this free app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch lets you make free calls to U.S. or Canadian phone numbers. It worked like a charm in Toronto to call elsewhere in North America, but I wanted to see if it could be used to call the U.S. and Canada from overseas, as the app description promises.

Link: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2012/01/free-calls-with-magicjack-turn-ipad-into-phone/1#.UFnfhWt5mSM