Something "neat" from Google!
Google introduced an experimental (but functional!) "Voice Local Search" today in Google Labs. "Voice Local Search" is Google-speak for "free 411 business listing service that works using speech recognition." The key word here is free. My cellular carrier charges $1.49 per 411 call and I think my landline service charges $0.49. Google's "Goog-411" service charges $0.00! It does not do residential listings, so we'll still have to pay for these, at least for now. If you're calling from a cell phone you can tell the service to send you the search results via an SMS text message. You can even simply tell it your town and "pizza" and get what you need!
Go ahead and turn over a little bit more of your soul to the great corporate juggernaut that is Google and try Goog-411 today! Hooray! [link via TechCrunch]
1. Google connects you directly to the business you are looking for, while 800Free411 does not (it only connects you to one of its advertisers if you happen to be interested in the offer).
2. There are no ads on Goog-411.
Google wins again! :)
800 Free 411
which has defaut voice recognition - and eventually, a live operator if needed