How many times have you been without a way to note your thoughts, a caption, client information, and so on? For me, too many. Consider these:
- You're driving down the road, reach a stoplight, and have some brilliant idea, but no pen.
- You're with someone, and need to write down some information they are telling you, but neither of you have a pen.
- You're outside, and need to remember a product name, or specific part number, but, again, no pen.
Sound familiar? Similar situations? Enter
www.Jott.com.
So, I call up Jott's toll-free #, which I have set to speed dial on my phone, and am asked by the computer: "Who do wanna jott?". I speak "self", and it responds "Jott to self" and then the recording tone.
To solve the first issue above, I say: "I should get a medium format digital camera for this assignment."
Within less than a minute, I get an e-mail, TRANSCRIBED FROM MY VOICE INTO TEXT, that looks like this:
From: Jott Networks
Subject: [Jott to Self] I should get a medium format digital cam...
Date: June 3, 2007 5:00:00 PM EDT
To: john@johnharrington.com
Reply-To: notify@jott.com
-----------
I should get a medium format digital camera for this assignment.
Set reminders, assign, and manage this jott on Jott.com
Brought to you by Jott Networks, Inc.
Curious about how I sounded? Click the speaker graphic above, and you can also hear the audio.
Next, I am standing next to my friend Joe, who I am supposed to remember to call, but he has a new phone #. So I call Jott, say "self", and I say:
"Remember to call Joe at 202-555-1212" and here's what I get:
From: Jott Networks
Subject: [Jott to Self] Remember to call Joe at 202-555-1212.
Date: June 3, 2007 5:01:08 PM EDT
To: john@johnharrington.com
Reply-To: notify@jott.com
-----------
Remember to call Joe at 202-555-1212.
Set reminders, assign, and manage this jott on Jott.com
Brought to you by Jott Networks, Inc.
Again, click the audio icon, to see what the message sounds like.
In my third situation, I am in my garage, checking on the part # I need to replace on my lawn mower. I call Jott, and say:
"This spark plug is NGKBR8ES", and here's what I get:
From: Jott Networks
Subject: [Jott to Self] This spark plug is NGKBR8ES.
Date: June 3, 2007 5:15:55 PM EDT
To: john@johnharrington.com
Reply-To: notify@jott.com
-----------
This spark plug is NGKBR8ES.
Set reminders, assign, and manage this jott on Jott.com
Brought to you by Jott Networks, Inc.
The beauty of the audio backup, is when you say something like
"Remember to call Amazon and order The PBS special on Annie Liebovitz", and the translation is
, or "Remember to call Amazon and order the PBS special on Amy (?)", or
"Call Verizon and cancel my landline. I am just going to use my cell phone" and the translation is
"Call horizon and cancel by blind line, I am just going to use my cell phone." When the software just can't understand you because you slur your speech, or there is significant background noise, you get "[unclear speech, please listen]".
The service is amazing, and, it's free. Currently, it's in beta, but I think it's got everything in line to leave beta.
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The French, they have Visa pour l'image, known to most just as Perpignan (for the city where it's held each year), which is a gathering of top photographers and photo editors from around the world. Closer to home, we have what is the first of it's kind in North America - what I think will be the US version of Perpignan - Festival of The Photograph, in Charlottesville Virginia June 7th through the 9th. 