Tired of getting those $1-$2 charges on your phone bill every time you call information? Google has just launched a free 411 telephone directory service. Call 1-800-GOOG-411 or, 1-800-4664-411, to check it out. Absolutely brilliant. It really works!

I love the way that Google is using a YouTube video to blast the message out that this new service is available. Talk about doing a product launch in the new Web 2.0 world. Google puts a link to a fun, non-stuffy, non-overworked video on its site. It instantly gets thousands of viewers, and people like me with blogs to repost their video. Contrast this to everything Apple does – exceedingly polished, but very closed. Not so easy to repost an Apple ad, or a Steve Jobs keynote.