Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Canadians can now rejoice, well maybe that is a little bit much, but they can now get business listing information by calling 1-800-GOOG-411. The free information service has been available in the US for some time now, and while it is still listed as experimental for those in Canada it does still offer the same features, which include the ability to find and be connected with a local business. When GOOG-411 is called from Canada users will be promoted for their “city and province.”

As of this posting the GOOG-411 service is still just in English, so any French speaking Canadians may have to wait a little longer, however Google has been “working hard to make it disponible en Français dans un proche avenir.” Google has also “incorporated some Canadianisms such as “eh,” “Traw-na,” “Cal-gry,” and, of course, “aboot.” into the service, which should hopefully take any such accents into consideration.

Via [Official Google Mobile Blog]

The GPS, the 21st century version of the compass. Invaluable to weary travelers who feel the air suck out of there lungs when they are unaware of the location of the nearest Starbucks. The technology, created by the US military and released to the public in the mid 1980’s by Presidential decree has blossomed into a top holiday gift and dashboard staple. Perfected with the discontinuation of selective availability in 2000 which helped to refine the systems accuracy, and thus enhance its marketability. Companies like Garmin and Tom Tom have lead the market with these tech must haves.

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Ask has released a mobile directions service called Click To Speak. This will allow users to enter an address using your voice instead of typing it out. Simply speak the city and state, then the street address for both your destination and also your starting point.

To use the new Click To Speak just visit http://m.ask.com from your mobile browser, click the Directions link, then click on the speak the address option. Once there you will just hit “Continue” and you will then begin the voice prompts, after you finish you will receive a text message with the details of your directions. The directions are available in either a list view or turn-by-turn view and can even be switched back and forth between driving and walking routes.

With just a quick test myself it seems pretty good, check out the video below for a quick walk through.

Ask Mobile with Dial Directions from xbrendanx on Vimeo.

Read [Ask.com Blog]

A popular request - the ability to store personal addresses on Google Maps, has just been honored. To use the feature simply go into Google Map’s “Saved Locations” folder and edit away e.g. change the name of 1530 West 10 street to “home” and 95 Fifth Ave to “work”. The best part? Auto-completion!

Want to find a pizza shop near work? No problem, type: pizza near work and Google will automatically interpret it as 95 Fifth Ave. Pretty neat, no?

Via [Google Operating System]

Are you that person that is always listening to their iPod and never paying attention in the car, hence leaving you direction clueless? Now you will have the edge. Yahoo Maps and the iPod are now in-sync with an online service called iPod-Directions.

What is it? iPod-Directions is a step-by-step directions tool that will export online driving directions from Yahoo Maps results and import them into your iPod Video, Nano or Photo, and without the need of additional software!

The website http://www.ipod-directions.com is very simple to use. Just like using Yahoo Maps, you would enter your starting and destination address in the corresponding online form. Once you have entered your start and destination information, simply click on “Verify Directions” to make sure that you’ll be given correct and accurate driving directions. Your very last step is to click on the button “Get Directions” and the website will prompt you to download a ZIP file that contains your driving directions. All that’s left to do is to make sure you extract the ZIP file to your iTunes Photo Folder, connect your iPod to your computer, sync your iPod and then you’re ready to roll! This program is easy to use for any event when you are in the need for driving directions to any location in the US or Canada, and best of all, it’s FREE!

Read [iPod Directions]
Read [Mobility Today]