Google has launched an experimental service called Google Voice Local Search which makes local-business searches accessible over the phone.

And it’s free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. So stop dialing 411 and paying those astronomical Cell phone charges!

Here is a sample call I made to demonstrate:

To try it yourself, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone.
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I’m a big fan of Google Earth because frankly it lets you do things that no other software has ever allowed before. That, and the fact that it’s completely FREE! (Thanks Google!)

Google Earth will allow you to plan trips, see the planet from a satelite view, and generally waste time. It is also required for some of the posts on my blog which offer a virtual tour of famous places.

Here are a few quick videos that demonstrate exactly why you should download and install this free software if you haven’t already!
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The Google Translator plugin allows Wordpress to add a number of alternate languages to your blog.

This plugin is derived from Scott Hough’s WP Translate, but makes a number of changes:

• The Google Translate service is used, which does a much better job of maintaining page layout then Babelfish.
• Height and width attributes are included for all images.
• ‘rel=nofollow’ has been added to all links to prevent search engines from following them.
• Alternate text for all images have been improved.
• The plugin fully validates under XHTML.

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Google Maps shows real-time information about traffic for most major US cities. To see this, switch to the map or hybrid mode and click on the new traffic button.

Google Maps will add a layer that colors the roads in green, yellow, red, or gray. The colors represent how fast the traffic is moving:

• Green: more than 50 miles per hour
• Yellow: 25 - 50 miles per hour
• Red: less than 25 miles per hour
• Gray: no data available

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I’ve come across a couple of sites which serve to provide real-time updates about which parts of the planet are currently dark, and when exactly sunrise is going to occur.
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If you are one of those folks that has a set walking or jogging path that you like to follow, but you don’t know exactly how far you’re covering you can use the new Geodistance.com site to help you answer that very question.

It’s quite simple to use… just zoom in on the Google Map until you’re at the magnification level desired. You can click and drag the mouse to move the maps, then when you’ve got the map where you want it in the screen simply click on the starting point to insert a starting pin and then begin clicking along the route.
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Religion is one of those topics I normally don’t want to touch with a 10 foot pole. I’ve found that no one ever agrees when it comes to this topic. Heck, I’ve seen Christians arguing with one another over the meaning of a particular passage of scripture, so you know no good can come of a debate with an Atheist.

Having said that, I was very disturbed to learn that some YouTube staffer decided to ban a member on religious grounds. Nick Gisburne, an outspoken member of the YouTube community recently posted a video comprised solely of a slide show of quotes taken from the Qur’an. All of the quotes deal with the negative aspects of being a non-believer - such as going to hell, being killed and burning for eternity.

Clearly this video illustrates just one side of the discussion, and I would imagine an appropriate Islamic response would have been a video depicting passages of love and peace from the same book. But no one had the chance to issue such a response.
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For those of you that recall the video I posted previously of the famous film about a car speeding through the streets of Paris, here is a link to a site that has actually created a real-time Google mashup showing the route taken by the driver. It’s pretty cool…

In the past I’ve blogged about sites which allow you to get an idea of what your home is worth, and a site called Redfin.com which is awesome… but only for people in San Francisco. Well, now we’ve got a site that covers the entire US which integrates the full MLS with Google Maps.
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FBOWeb.com has created a very cool real-time flight tracking feature for Google Earth. Obviously, in order to try this out you’re going to need Google Earth (if you don’t yet have it, you can learn about and download it here.)

Essentially, FBOWeb’s servers update the status of all the aircraft coming into the following airports (they are constantly adding new ones, so check their site if you’re reading this more than a few weeks after publishing):
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Do you have a friend or relative in another country, and you’d like to give them a call but don’t remember what time it is there? Well, now you can just check GChart.com.

All you need to do is click on the map and you’ll see the local time as well as other related information such as blogs, photos and more.

As previously mentioned, I’ve been using Kayak for travel planning for some time now, but I actually just discovered a new feature that is one of, if not the, best tools I’ve yet seen for helping to plan vacations that involve air travel.

The Kayak Buzz section offers a very cool, Google Map enabled shopping comparison tool which overlays destinations onto a regional or world map. The site lists the top deals for any given period of time and generally helps you decide where to go on vacation.
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