Google has launched a free, experimental directory assistance service. There are no ads, although it wouldn't be surprising to see them show up in the future. You dial 800-466-4411 (800-GOOG-411) and get a robot that asks for the city and state, then the name of a business or a category. (No residential numbers.) As with many speech recognition systems, it can stumble on proper names (try Convoq) but it does a great job with categories (try Taxi or Pizza). You can ask for the address by saying "details" or (my favorite feature) say "text message" to receive an SMS. It will also connect you to the number free of charge. Sure beat paying Cingular or Verizon for the same service.
Some other features:
- You can say punch in the zip code instead of saying the name of the city and state
- Press 9 or say "text message" to get the details
- Press "*" or "start over" to go back to the main menu
- Say "go back" just about anywhere
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