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Google To Shut Down 411 Service

taco8982 writes "After three years of providing free directory assistance in exchange for voice samples, Google has announced plans to shut down the GOOG-411 service, in order to focus on 'speech-enabling the next generation of Google products and services across a multitude of languages.' The service will close on November 12th."

5 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Sad Day! by odin84gk · · Score: 5, Informative

    Goog411 was amazing! No ads, good results. Thankfully I have a smartphone, but there were still times that Goog411 was faster than using my smartphone.

    I guess I will go back to 1-800-Free411

  2. Re:Sad day by Anti_Climax · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just SMS the name of the business to 46645 (googl) with your non-smart phone and get similar results messaged back

    --
    Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
  3. Re:what? by odies · · Score: 4, Informative
  4. Re:Sad day by rm999 · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can thank competition: http://www.discoverbing.com/mobile/411/

    OTOH, msft copied Google on this one. Does that mean they will copy Google on discontinuing the service? ;)

  5. Re:what? by NatasRevol · · Score: 4, Informative

    Or even something... authoritative.

    http://www.googlelabs.com/

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure