GOOG-411 OFFERS ALTERNATIVE TO 411

Google just might take over the world. No longer happy at just being the world's foremost Internet search engine, Google keeps coming up with new ideas and services that continue to help improve the way we do things. Most of us know about Gmail for example that offers free email addresses that come with lots of storage. Then there's Google Earth and Google Maps that let you find most anyplace on Earth, and shows you how to get there. And they continue to improve too. Google Maps recently added Street View where you can literally see how a street location appears as if you were driving on it.

I just came across yet another Google service that is proving to be extremely useful and a real money saver when I'm using the phone. At first blush, I thought that GOOG-411 was similar to the telephone company's information service but when I actually began using it, I realized that it's so much more. Basically, GOOG-411 lets me find the phone number to most any kind of business and then connects me to that business free of charge.

GOOG-411 is operated completely by your spoken commands. Now before you go off thinking that this is just another voice-recognition service, this is one that you will really use and you'll use it a lot. And let me remind you again that unlike the phone company's 411 service, GOOG-411 is completely free. I can't completely confirm this but I suspect one of the main reasons Google can offer this as a free service is because it doesn't require live people at the other end. It will hear what you have to say, act upon your request, find the number and connect you and it does all of that with an almost supernatural degree of accuracy.

Here's how it works. Let's say you are looking for a restaurant in your area. You just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and it will ask you in what city and state do you wish to search. After you say "Palm Beach, Florida" for example, it will ask "What business name or category?" Let's say you want Hamburger Heaven. Just say it aloud and it will confirm your selection by saying "Top Listing, Hamburger Heaven on South Country Road. I'll connect you." That happens when it finds an exact match. You are connected, again with no charge for the information nor the call. Of course your telephone company may apply regular charges for making a phone call so you may want to check on that little detail.

If you say "Details," GOOG-411 will offer up even more information. In this example, you will hear it say "Hamburger Heaven, 314 South Country Road, Cross Street- Worth Avenue, Palm Beach , Phone Number 561 655-5277. Here it is again" and then it repeats the information once more. From this point it will dial the number for you or you can even send it as a text message to any cell phone if you like.

If you say a general category like "Lawyers" you'll begin to hear a listing of lawyers in the area. When you hear the one you want, you just say the listing you want and it will dial the number for you.

Needless to say that GOOG-411 can be indispensable on a cell phone. And while I'm not condoning the use of one when you are driving, this certainly does make things a lot easier as opposed to fumbling with the phone and pressing buttons trying to find something. I personally own an iPhone and while Google Maps is a thing of beauty on the iPhone, sometimes just saying what you want and having it found and dialed for you can literally be a life saver.

So now I have put GOOG-411 into my auto-dialer on both my office and home phone, and it's in my address book on my iPhone as well. No more big 411 charges (many charge $1.00 or more every time you dial 411) and so far it's been completely accurate in its findings. Currently GOOG-411 only works with business listings and not residential. For those numbers you're still going to need to dial Information. You can watch a small video about GOOG-411 and read more about it at www.google.com/mobile/goog411/index.html but just dial it up and it's pretty much a no-brainer. Just follow the simple instructions you hear and begin finding the numbers you want. And stay tuned because there's lots more coming from Google.

www.google.com/mobile/goog411/index.html

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