Proof is in the Pudding.

Voice recognition is finally everywhere you look, or listen, these days. And I can say 'finally' as someone who tried to sell it to anyone who would listen some 10 years ago. It's in your cell phone. It's in your car. It's of course at the other end of the line of every major call center you call. And increasingly, it plays a role in the myriad of new 411 services (including Google's) popping up here and there.

The 411 services are remarkable not so much for their use of speech technology but more so for being free. Almost. You just need to listen to strategically inserted ads which is another one of those things everyone said would never fly. Well, it's flying.

Now here's the real news and the reason for my long intro. A new PR machine (read as start-up) is using very advanced speech algorithms to deliver contextual (also known as Google) advertising. But you don't have to listen to them. You see them the old fashioned way, on the screen in front you. ThePudding offers free phone calls from your PC in exchange for the privilege of listening in on your conversation. Using the fancy algorithms, it pushes relevant ads and information at your PC. And voila!

I'm all for new companies doing anything in voice. And I believe in extending the ad-based model wherever it works. But this might be a stretch or maybe they have bigger plans for the technology and this is just a test run.

One last thing that makes me scratch my head. When will free calls become less interesting? Are there that many late adopters out there still paying meaningful long distance bills?

More Pudding anyone?