Still dialing 411 for information??

Are you still getting your information by pushing 411? Of course not, you have an iPhone3G and use Google on the Internet, right?

Well, for those of us who haven't yet made the leap to iPhone technology and don't happen to be in a WiFi area for our laptop, do we still dial 411 for the location of the nearest McDonalds or In-and-Out Burger?

A few days ago Carolyn showed me a Web page advertising Google's "new" 411 service called Goog-411 (making up innovative names isn't their forte). If you have phone service, you have access to Goog-411 simply by dialing 800-GOOG-411. For land lines add a 1 at the beginning. You will be connected to a voice recognition computer which will try to interpret what or who you're looking for. Not willing to take their word for it, I did dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and asked for various businesses. I was impressed with the artificial intelligence used by the computer I was talking to. I was also delighted to hear what I thought was background noise until I listened more closely. The computer was "thinking" and saying "boop beep blip plop do dee wap wap..." Just like we've always suspected, computers mumble just like humans.

I also Googled "Google 411" and checked Snopes for any listings. Both produced hits. On Google I found a very good review of Goog-411 and Microsoft's rival program 1-800-CALL-411. You can access that review at http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2007/10/get-lost-a-google-411-and-microsoft-live-search-411-throwdown.ars The only problem with the review is that it is almost 1.5 years old, pretty old in computer development time. At Snopes I learned about 1-800-FREE-411, yet another service providing essentially the same thing.

I did a study of the three services. It wasn't extensive but it gave me a feel for what is out there. I think Google has improved their product since the ARS review. I don't think Microsoft has. Free-411 had the hardest time understanding "Carmichael" and seemed to have the smallest database, giving me a Roseville address for the nearest McDonalds. Goog-411 seemed to understand spoken words better than the other two but it was almost too quick to connect me to the business found. And I was disappointed that residential information is not provided at this time. Sure, you can get it with just 411 but you'd think the other services would want it for completeness.

Summary - I think this is a good idea but all three services need to work on their program. For one thing, I think that the computer voice should halt upon hearing that command (or STOP). Some thought will need to go into having a virtual menu that is extremely user friendly.