PatronManager

I’ve been in a bit of a blogging lull for the past week or so, as nothing has really inspired me.
But this morning something happened which was a technologically seamless
experience that lived up to the promise of the digital revolution.

I was
on my way to an 8:00 AM meeting on Sixth Avenue in New York, and I didn’t
remember the address correctly. So, I decided to use the free, voice activated
and completely automated phone directory service that Google offers (called
Google 411). It recognized when I told it my city and state, and then correctly
"heard" the name of the company I was visiting. Then after it repeated the phone
number, the voice said something like, if you want detailed information sent to
your cell phone say "text." In about 5 seconds I got a text message with the
correct name and address of the company I was visiting. And I got to the
meeting early.

A technological slam dunk. In a world in which my Microsoft Outlook crashes every day, I had a
little early morning celebration of how great technology is when it works right.