$1.79 or Free? I think I'll take free.

OK. Sometimes I do things just because I want to. That doesn't make me a bad person, does it?

Case in point: I bought an I-Phone (or iPhone, or IPHONE, or however Apple spells it) because I thought it was cool. But primarily, I bought it because I am addicted to the internet. (Hi. My name is Ernie and I'm an internetaholic. "Hi Ernie" (btw, that was your line)).

The iphone billing plan is such that you pay $40 a month for voice and $20 a month for data. And the data side doesn't use any of your voice minutes. (That's the least expensive plan, and I am the ultimate cheapskate (unless it comes to things that I want), so that's the plan that I got.)(Did you know that oatmeal raisin cookies heat up at a different rate in the microwave than white chocolate macadamia nut?) Anyway, for $20, you get unlimited internet access. For $40, you get 450 minutes of talk time. The internet is, by far, the better deal. And when you are an internetaholic, devices such as this are just too tempting to not acquire.

So I got the iphone. One of its pre-installed apps, that pops up on the home screen is Google maps. But... you touch an icon on the screen and it locates you on the map using the tracking device in your phone. (All of the mad scientists soon discovered that there was no need for under-skin implants to track people when all they had to do was give them a phone.) Actually, it just looks to see which towers your phone is in contact with and puts you in the vicinity, but it generally works reasonably well. Here's the cool part. I'm driving around in the greater Phoenix area this week doing some training. I have my portable nav system with me that tells me how to get where I'm going. But I didn't spring for the $600 version (cheapskate) that has live traffic flow data on it. Guess what? I don't need it! (Take that, nav traffic system seller!) I fire up the nav to tell me where I'm going, and open the maps app on my phone to see live traffic flow information on the freeways! Is that cool, or what?! (One can never be using too much technology while driving.)

So what does all of this have to do with $1.79 or Free? Come on, people... you know me by now. I have to give you the background before I get into the story.

So, I've got this IPHONE, (which I had to switch to ATT for, because they're the only people that have it. I had Sprint for years, and was always extremely happy with the service (thanks Sprint for all of those good years!), but their iPhone wannabe was an extremely poor excuse for an imitation.) and eventually I have to call some place that I don't know the number. So I dial 411. $1.79 on my bill for using their directory assistance, for about 30 seconds of information. That comes to just shy of $215 an hour. I thought I had a decent job. And the 411 operator is a machine! So anyway, I'm reading the paper tonight after I get back to my hotel room. Eating my Mexican food dinner (I found Chico's Tacos just down the street, so I've had Mexican food every night for dinner this week (and leftover Mexican food for lunch)) (What... you probably eat American food every day!) (Cheapskate, remember?) And in the USA Today business section, there's an article about syncing all of your files on all of your computers and phones and pdas so you've got your stuff wherever you are and whichever device you're using. Pretty cool technology. But a 30GB plan is $10 a month, or $100 a year. A sidebar article references a Microsoft alternative that is in beta that is free. So I go check it out.

So while I'm there, I'm thinking to myself, "You know, I bet Google probably has something like this". So I open up another tab in Firefox and go to Google and click on the "More" link. I don't see anything that seems appropriate, so I click on the "Even more" link. (Gotta love the guys at Google.) So I'm scanning the list of More Google Products and there it is - GOOG-411. I forget all about the sync thing, remember the $1.79 that ATT took out of my pocket, and click on the GOOG-411 link. 'Cause right under the link, it says: "Find and connect with businesses from your phone, for free". So, $1.79 or Free? I think I'll take free.