PastorHacks

Jay Kelly on Jott vs ReQall

"I’ve long been a big, big fan of Jott.com. Jott is a tremendous voice to text transcription service that boasts a ton of super rich features and integration with other sites. A few days ago they announced a move to a tiered pricing structure (while retaining a free service). Bravo for them since the service is WELL worth paying for.

My use of Jott is almost exclusively to leave myself messages, and then manage them in Gmail. The email part of the service will now cost $3.95/month. No big deal and more than worth it.

However, at that announcement, I took a quick look around to see if there were any decent alternatives to Jott.

I have a high degree of loyalty to Jott; so I was more than willing to pay a few bucks a month to support such a wonderful company.

But . . .

I found ReQall...."

Read the rest here

Getting things done with Jott

I love both Jott and Pinger- Pinger I use mainly to send short voice messages to people. Why not just call?  Well, when I'm in the car and have ten  calls to make, it's incredibly helpful to just be able to leave a message with folks with all the pertinent info and skip the small talk.
I know, I know... weasely. But I'm not the only one who's ever felt relief at getting someone's voicemail, right?  Pinger just guarantees it.

Jott I use mainly for myself. When I'm on the go and get an idea, need a reminder, etc... It's also great for sending emails to other people- just speak it and it's magically transcribed (I suspect elves. I think Jott uses elves) and sent.

Here's a great run down from Lifehack of how to get things done with Jott:

All it takes is a little set-up, first in your Jott account, then on your phone, and you can start Jotting things to any number of online services. Here’s how.

First things first: send yourself a message

The easiest thing to do with Jott is to send yourself a message — useful for reminders and quick collection of random thoughts while on the go.

1. Sign up for a Jott account. You’ll enter your phone’s telephone number, which acts as your username — any call from that phone number goes to your account.
2. Add a speed-dial entry to your phone for Jott. The number is 1 (866) JOTT-123 [1 866-568-8123, for those without standard phone keypads]. I have my Treo set to call Jott whenever I press and hold the “J” key.
3. Call Jott. 
4. The operator will ask who you want to send a message to. Say “Myself”. 
5. Record your message. 
6. Hang up. 
7. A few minutes later, a text message will arrive with your transcribed message. Goggle at the wonder that is today’s technology.

Send yourself a reminder

You can have Jott send you a text message 15 minutes before an event.

1. Call Jott. 
2. When the operator asks who you want to send a message to, say “Reminder”. 
3. Jott says “What time?” and you reply with the time. 
4. Jott says “What day” and you give a date, or say “today” or “tomorrow”. 
5. When you hear the beep, record what you want to be reminded of. 
6. Hang up. 
7. 15 minutes before the event, you’ll get a text message with a transcription of your recorded message. 
8. Get somewhere on time, for a change.

Send text messages (SMS) with your voice

1. Login to your Jott account. 
2. Add contacts under the “Contacts” tab. You can either enter them one at a time, or import them using either Plaxo or by uploading an exported CSV file from Outlook.
3. Call Jott. 
4. When the operator asks who you want to send a message to, say the name of the person you want to send a message to. Speak clearly!
5. The operator repeats the name back to you. Since the operator is a computer, she will say it in a funny way. Don’t laugh! Instead, if it’s correct, say “yes”, or say “no” to try again.
6. Record your message. 
7. Hang up. 
8. A few minutes later, your friend will receive your message, neatly transcribed into standard English. They won’t have any idea what it means, though, since they only read Textish.

Send a text message to a bunch of people at the same time

1. Log into your Jott account. 
2. Click the “Groups” tab. 
3. Click “New Groups” and walk through the wizard. You’ll now have a group whose name functions exactly as any other contact. When you call Jott, instead of saying the name of a person, you’ll say the name of the whole group, e.g. “Family” or “Friends”.
4. Call Jott. 
5. Record your message as usual. 
6. A few minutes later, everyone in the group will receive the message at the same time. They’ll look at each other in awe, wondering how you typed so fast!

Read the rest, including how to use Jott to schedule calendar event, add to-do's to an online taskmanager
, keep track of expenses, etc... here

Jott and Google sittin' in a tree...

Bill Reichart (www.BigCreekChurch.com) sent this one in...

"I just got this from JOTT, and this has got me even more jacked up about using JOTT...

'We've been working hard on the official release of the Google Calendar Jott Link, and we're happy to announce it's finally here. Why is this cool? Because you can now create a Google Calendar event in a single step, from anywhere, simply using your voice. Just call Jott, say "Google Calendar", and then the time of the event and what it's about….and you're done. We'll take your voice, convert it to text, and insert it into your calendar for you. "Meet Cathy at 9 am next Thursday" is no longer a to do that needs another step, it's something that's recorded in your Calendar.

Joining in the Jott Link fun are our friends at Mosio, Xpenser, Gumiyo, and Vitalist. They offer amazing services, and now they're even more accessible to you with Jott. For more information on these Jott Links and others, please visit http://www.jott.com/jott-links/.'"

I love Jott. Do you love Jott?

Who needs a Smart Phone?

David Rudd emailed me with his work-around for the smart phone:

"I pay 9.99/mo. for my data plan with cingular (i refuse to call it AT$T),  that gets me unlimited text messages.

Using teleflip.com I can have my email forwarded to my phone via SMS (longer emails will require 2 or 3 text messages).  It's up to me to set the email senders who will be forwarded, so I am guaranteed no spam.  I only have to receive emails from the people i want to.

My brother's biggest reason for using a smartphone/PDA is that he can set reminders.  Although backpack provides this via email, now there's an easy way to set a reminder while you're on the road.
Jott.com has added a reminder feature.  When i am asked who I want to jott, I just say "reminder."  It will ask me what day and time I want the reminder.  Then I give the message.  At the requested time, I'll receive a text message reminding me."

Cool, Dave... thanks for helping us to keep it (somewhat) lo-tech :)

Anyone else have a good idea for PastorHacks?
Email them to ideas (at) pastorhacks (d0t) net

Ta-Da list...

After being frustrated by the BackPack/iPhone experience, I tried out Vitalist... That didn't quite make the cut for a number of reasons, but I've since discovered Ta-Da List and am extremely happy with both the laptop/desktop as well as iPhone experience. You may not have an iPhone... you may not need one (though you know you probably want one!)
But if you are looking for a simple task list that can be used from you phone or any computer... give Ta-da List a shot...

Here's a write up from the 37Signals blog...

A few months back, we flipped the switch on Ta-da List for the iPhone. If you have an iPhone, just visit tadalist.com and you’ll see the iPhone version. You can access the standard web version with your desktop web browser. Both versions share data and lists.

Just Another Mobile Monday, a mobile news site, just profiled different iPhone to do list applications. The author says, "For those who want no frills and a very basic feel, I’d go with Ta-Da List."

In a Nutshell: Strong on ease of use.

Ta-da List is made by 37signals, the well-known company behind popular online applications like Basecamp (for project management) and Highrise (simple CRM). It’s described by the company as ‘just ultra-simple, easily sharable to-do lists.’

That description is accurate. Ta-da List is very easy to work with. All its screens fit well on the iPhone and feature a simple, minimal design feel. It uses large buttons to help you quickly add a new task, edit an existing one, and switch back to list views.

Currently you are not able to add a priority, due date, or notes to a task. Also, if you want to re-order your lists you need to be on a desktop browser, where you can just drag and drop to re-arrange all items on a list.

From the desktop, you can also mail yourself a copy of a list, and subscribe to be notified of changes to a list via RSS.

Pinger/Jott combo (plus Mac Address Book integration!)

I blogged awhile back about both Pinger and Jott. Just an update on how I am using/loving both...

Right now Pinger is my go-to when I have about 10 things to get out to people, including a number of groups, and I'm on the run or sitting in traffic. I have Pinger on my "favorites" dial it up, say the name of the person or group I need to get a message to and voila'... off it goes. There are times when I want personal contact and small talk with people. There are times I just need to convey some info without getting into too many conversations and sending an email isn't the best option (like when I'm driving)... Pinger to the rescue!

And the coolness factor just went up about ten-fold. For those of you with Macs, Pinger has just rolled out Apple Address Book integration for easy set-up and syncing. Very nice- makes keeping Pinger up-to-date a snap.

Jott is my mobile Hipster (I realize if you are new to this blog, that sentence makes no sense whatsoever...).

When I'm out and about and need to capture a thought, a to-do, or even send an email to someone I know doesn't get/like Pinger, I use Jott. Dial the number, say the name (if it's a reminder for myself, I just say "self") and speak... Jott transcribes the message and sends an email, with a link to the original voice file. I don't use Jott for getting things to others quite as much, mainly because the transcription tends to be a little hit-and-miss, but for capturing a thought or to-do for myself when I'm in the car or otherwise unable to write something down in my "ubiquitous capture tool", Jott is very, very cool...