Hey yo, what's the 411, hun?

Google Labs has quietly rolled out a new 411 service accessible by dialing 800-GOOG-411.

According to TechCrunch:
"The product is completely automated and there is no way to talk to a human for additional or clarifying information. You tell it your city and state, and then ask for a specific business or business category. In my tests the product was excellent... Results are spoken back or text messaged back to you, and you are automatically put through to the phone number requested."

Yet again, the rug is pulled out from under old school business. Another cash cow lost to progress.

DRM R.I.P.

Apple and EMI announced on Monday that EMI’s entire music and video catalog will be available in May without any digital rights management (DRM) protection. The two companies will also offer higher quality sound songs. These songs will be 30¢ more than their DRM counterparts, but album prices will be the same, $9.99.

While I never really had a problem with iTunes' DRM restrictions, they're fairly unobtrusive, many people did. The thing that excites me the most however is the "higher quality" songs. 128kbps songs just don't sound all that hot in a car or through a home theater system. These new songs will be offered at 256kbps... a happy boy that makes me. Also of note; you can upgrade your current songs by paying the 30¢ difference. I'll be upgrading my entire purchased library.

One can only hope the rest of the music industry follows suit. DRM was DOA and I for one await the ETA of a DRM free industry. <- Acronyms FTW!