But Microsoft (not feeling quite so whipped by other Google products) recently announced that it was launching Live Search 411 (800-225-5411). Microsoft claims that customers can access (800) CALL-411 “from any phone to find and connect to local businesses and other local information, such as weather updates, movie show times and airline information. People using a cell phone with Internet access can also receive links to traffic maps from Live Search 411.”

Another 411 service? How do I choose which is best for me? Fortunately, PC World compared the two products in a recent article. As advertised, Live Search offers more extras – weather, movies, airline info, etc. But if you want to stick with business listings, the author suggests sticking with GOOG-411.

From Lifehacker [Link]

Both Google and Microsoft have been beta testing new search engine interfaces. Google adds a ‘green bar’ to the left-hand side of the search engine, which reveals a result count for web, images, groups, froogle and local results. Unfortunately, this is only available to random users right now (this article describes how to bypass it). You can try out Microsoft’s new live.com, which includes thumbnails, RSS feed searches and more scrolling options.

To see screenshots and read more, go to Michael Arrington’s article at TechCrunch.com