Google Does it Again with Free Directory Assistance

It's a consensus that we all are or we all should be simply amazed by the absolute genius of the Google research and development team. The search engine titan, Google, is at it again offering a new, relevant, and helpful service -- And if that were not enough they again are offering it to us 100% free of charge. Google's new Directory Assistance, which they are labeling Voice Local Search, is a phenomenal piece of work even though it is still in its Beta stage which means it's still being tested and the rough edges smoothed out and currently it's not available to everyone.

Normally, if you were on the road in your car looking for a place to eat, to get gas or to find a motel and needed the phone number to reach any one or all of these types of businesses you'd have to spend around $4 to $5 for one directory assisted call. You would also need to have an idea of who you wanted to call, what the name of the business is, the business address etc., because normally this is how Directory Assistance works.

What Google Voice Local Search does is allow you to call 800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone and simply speak to an automated service to get a listing of any business. Let's just say a Pizza Parlor. Now you can simply say "Pizza" or you could say the exact name of the business and the system will automatically look up all the pizza places near you and give you their information, including phone number and address. The voice recognition software Google has installed with this service is excellent and the process is very smooth.

Instead of trying to find a pen and paper to write down the info, in case you need the information at a later date, you can get the details sent to you by SMS if you're using a mobile phone. All you have to say is "text message" and Google's Voice Local Search will text all the details to you for future reference. Google doesn't charge you for the text message service either but you may want to check your cell phone contract to see if you'll be charged a fee for the incoming text message from your carrier.