Once you have downloaded/updated the application from Apple’s App Store, simply tap that “g” icon, and, when the app has loaded, put the phone up to your ear. You will hear a ding sound, signifying that you can speak the word or phrase for which you are searching.

Speak your query and then you will see the application looking up the search (it’s actually sending the recording to Google’s servers, which do the lookup to you).

Within seconds you get your results, fine-tuned based on your current location. If you have the iPhone 3G, that means based on your GPS position (hence why the app asked to be able to use you current location when you first started it). The location-aware search means you don’t have to ask for “pizza in Baton Rouge” — you just ask for pizza and you get pizza in Baton Rouge.

I tried searching for what everyone searches for when they’re first trying out a search engine: their own name. I put the phone to my ear, heard the “ding”, said “Jonathan Schellack”, and waited maybe three seconds before seeing the results, which sadly were for Jonathan Shellac.
That is a common spelling of the word I said (if not the best one), so really I was impressed at how Google understood me without a bit of training based on my voice.

Since the application is free, it’s definitely worth the download, especially for when you are driving around and need to search for something.

Ask Avery Griffin, who switched to an Apple Inc. computer a few years ago for its audio recording software. The 24-year-old musician said his new machine wouldn’t stop freezing up and crashing. But he said all he heard from Apple was, “At least it’s not a PC.”

The PC he uses now works just fine, he said.

My favorite:

Feature	OS X Snow Leopard	Windows 7
Ability to operate in sub-freezing temperatures	Excellent	Also surprisingly excellent

Below is an example, allowing me to craft this whole post solely from my iPhone (using the Wordpress app)!

To celebrate, I thought I would share with you what has made me so happy about all of this. Below is a chart showing just how much spam has been blocked out over the last six months: a grand total of 7928 spam comments, which account for more than 99% of all of the comments made on this blog (sadly, I don’t get more legitimate comments, though this is a great opportunity for you to change that!).