Any of us who spend a good deal of time on the California freeway system ultimately feel the crunch of hours wasted on the road. In an effort to combat this increasingly unproductive part of our day, we resort to strange methodologies for staying in touch and getting things done. Whether that means texting with three fingers on a mobile phone while driving in and out of rush hour traffic via stick shift or talking on our cell while writing a manifesto e-mail it all becomes increasingly more dangerous.
In addition to this, the state of California has mandated that it is now illegal to talk on a cell without a handsfree unit. It is also illegal to send text messages.
Driving into CSG Corporate in downtown Los Angeles as well as visiting our customers can keep me in my Prius 2-3 hours per day. Crazy? You bet. Part of everyday life in LA? Yes. Have I found a helping hand? I think so!
Enter Jott- a virtual assistant of sorts that lets you record notes and ideas with your voice. It also lets you send e-mail too which can be very handy while in the car and much safer than typing on your Blackberry while driving.
Jott makes software for the iPhone and the Blackberry. You can record to-do’s, appointments and notes while on the go. Jott’s amazing voice recognition technology converts your voice notes to text which is then synced with their system. From here, you can even sync with Microsoft Outlook and CSG’s Harmony Hosted Exchange Service. Jott also provides you with a toll-free number. Depending on your service level you can record jotts or retrieve RSS feeds while on the go using your cell phone. To learn more about Jott click here.
As you can see, I’ve had good experience with this product. Being able to send e-mails and record ideas and notes while on the road or anywhere else has resulted in a much better use of my time. I’ve used both the Blackberry and iPhone versions of the software and while there’s some definite improvements to be made Jott is on the right track and I encourage you to give it a try.
Do you use Jott? If so, let me know what you think of it.
As some know, I am a UCLA Alumni and as such it is always a thrill to work with other Alumni and Students. This afternoon I had a conversation with Anantha Ramamurti (MBA, 2009 Anderson School of Management) in regards to a project that his class has been assigned. Anantha and his team are providing market research and consulting for a data recovery firm located in Chile. I was contacted to offer my feedback to a strategic plan being offered to this foreign firm wishing to penetrate the US data recovery market. While data recovery services are typically expensive, this firm hopes to offer a lower cost alternative, but not sacrifice quality or security.
I want to thank Ryan Grant of Ingram Micro for treating me to lunch today at Ingram’s Santa Ana corporate headquarters. Ryan oversees multiple Ingram Communities including 
