Google-holic finds something new to love: Free 411 by Microsoft Works 7

Filed under: Products again services, MSN (GOOG), Verizon Communications (VZ)

Admittedly, I'm a Google-holic -- Gmail, alerts, web pages, RSS reader, the works. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) seems to have a knack for releasing a new product just at the moment I realize I need such a product. The latest? Free voice-interactive 411 service.

I tried it for the first time last weekend, looking for the number of a local pizza joint. Sure, the phone book was in the next room, and my laptop was on the floor next to my recliner, but my cell phone was right there in my pocket. I called 1-800-GOOG411, and asked the computer to find the number of Iacono's Restaurant. It took a couple of seconds of computer muttering that sounded like an LP played backwards (Paul is dead?) for it to offer me a list of potential matches, none of which hit. After a few more tries at deciphering my steel-belt accent, though, it recognized my request, and connected me. For free.

Very cool. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), you can stick your 411 charges!

Another service I've become addicted to is Google's SMS search. For example, I was in the burg of St. Paris recently, looking for a particular church. I texted "Churches St. Paris OH" to GOOGLE (466453). In ten seconds, I received back a text message with the names and addresses of all the churches in town.

I so love living in a future where a company has billions of dollars to spend on making my life easier.