Ravi’s Rants

This has been around for a while now, but its coming out of beta (a.k.a Google Labs) means that Google is serious enough to support this going forward.

Here’s how it works:

• Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (800-4664-411)
• Say where you’re calling from - City, State or Zip
• Say what you’re looking for (Pizza delivery, from the video below)
• GOOG-411 connects you with the one you pick from the spoken list (or you can get it text msg’ed to your phone)

GOOG 411 - Totally free 411

My “Video Unit” link wasn’t available yesterday when the announcement was first made.

Was able to see it today.

“Linked” my Adsense account with my YouTube account.

Got the confirmation from Google in a few minutes (they do warn that it could take up to 12 hours).

Created my “player”, got the code.

The ads load asynchronously, and they seem quite on target from the other sites I tested so far.

Way to go Google!

Going by the PageRank (PR 6), you can guess how many sites are linking to this post on JoelOnSoftware. The content is that powerful.

Here’s the summary:

1. Fix everything two ways
2. Suggest blowing out the dust
3. Make customers into fans
4. Take the blame
5. Memorize awkward phrases
6. Practice puppetry
7. Greed will get you nowhere

Post: 7 Steps To Remarkable Customer Service