Monday, April 13, 2009

Google 411


I was watching David Pogue's TED talk recently and was reminded of a service I use frequently but have never mentioned here. Google-411. A free service that works like a regular information.

  • Call 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-44110).
  • State what you are looking for: donuts
  • State the city and state

You're given several choices and then the option to connect. It hasn't let me down yet.

It's great unless you are like me and often forget within seconds the address given on one of these calls. Pouge came to my rescue and also shared another trick. Google SMS.
  • Text Google (46645)
  • In the body of your text state something like Donuts 80241.
  • Send your text
In a few seconds you will get a text back with several locations in that zip code. I love this as I don't have to fumble to find a piece of paper or write an address on the back of my hand.

Oh so handy!!

[Image captured from Google SMS website: http://www.google.com/mobile/default/sms.html#utm_campaign=en&utm_source=hussss&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google%20sms&dc=gh0sss]

1 comment:

  1. Hey Al,

    My name is Aaron from the Microsoft Live Search Outreach Team. First of all, that's awesome that you're teaching technology to high schoolers. We didn't even have that when I went to high school.

    Have you used the Live Search 411? Yesterday we just added our traffic feature, which allows you to call from any phone and get up-to-date traffic info. You can even save routes like from home to work.

    It would be great feedback if you tried out the Live Search 411 for a couple days and then commented back about how you think it compares with Google 411.

    Here's a link to the most recent blog post about
    Live Search 411.

    Thanks Al!

    Aaron
    Live Search Outreach Team

    ReplyDelete