Killer app for cell phones: Jott
Have you ever been driving, remembered something you wanted to write down or remember for later. What do you do? Safest is to pull over and write it down. But, by that time maybe you have forgotten it (I’m often on the freeway and can’t pull over quickly). Another way is to simply use Jott. Call the Jott number, it beeps, you leave a message.
To yourself.
Then Jott goes into action. They send your audio recording off, get it transcribed (my video explains how), and send it back to you as an email with both the original audio as well as the text of what you said into the phone.
My friend Buzz Bruggeman swears by this service.
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March 17th, 2007 at 11:46 am
So far, Jott’s been great. I would like to see some sort of integration into either Google Widgets, Office, or Dashboard. I also wonder about pricing once the get out of beta. Either way, I think we’ll need to get a family pack!
March 17th, 2007 at 11:58 am
It’s so simple and elegant it is bound to succeed. Is there a revenue model?
March 17th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Oh, this is nice. I’m in. I really appreciate the privacy policy.
Hey, a comment on the player: I was surfing while listening and some rude website took over the page playing the interview. It was not easy to get back to the spot where I was to pick up the balance of the interview.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
“Killer app”
You keep using that phrase. I don’t think it means what you think it means :-)
March 17th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Jott rocks!
Very useful in a real world sort of way.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Tim: I go with the Wikipedia description. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application
Oh, about Wikipedia, Patrick’s library teacher told him Wikipedia shouldn’t be used as a source cause it’s unreliable. So, I’m using it just to piss her off. :-)
March 17th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
I saw this at DEMO, but I guess I’m in the minority in that it doesn’t seem that much of a “wow” to me. I can leave myself a voice mail pretty easily … sure it isn’t transcribed, but presumably I’m remembering a quick idea, not the first chapter of the great american novel. Or you could just be a dummy like me and email yourself while driving! :)
March 17th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Chip: I hate voice mails. I want them to come to my email. And, having text, is really great, cause I can start a blog post on the road.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
But of course it’s US-only :-/ (unless I want to spend all my money on calling the US from my mobile phone in Germany)
Is there something similar for Europe with eventually more numbers to dial?
I don’t need it in german actually, english would be ok, too.
(So please, US startups, please think of the rest of the world, too! :-)
March 18th, 2007 at 9:27 am
[...] Scoble] Productivity | Software posted on Sunday, 18 March 2007 13:27:17 (Pacific Daylight [...]
March 18th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
[...] Posted on March 18th, 2007. Killer app for cell phones: Jott [...]
March 18th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I am using a reminder function on my cell extensively, since I am terrible about remembering dates. It would be sooo cool if you could leave a voice-to-text note in a calendar program that would remind me when the date is due.
March 18th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
For all of us strapped for the time to get all life/work things (like vmail) “done” each week, you could try this new service that a friend tipped me to: http://www.mymissinglife.com/
March 18th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
This is great technology. Im using a different more broad service called spinvox. They convert my voicemail into a text/email among other things. I also use them to update my blog and leave myself memos. Im on a free trial that I signed up for at http://www.spinvox.com
March 19th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Sounds cool, but I can already record voice messages on my cell phone at the touch a button, and I can understand my own voice so I don’t need it transcribed for me.
Other than the cool tech factor, I don’t see the point.
March 19th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Wanderley: I hate voice mail. Why? Cause go 15 voice mails back and try to listen to that one you left in the system two weeks ago.
I’d rather have these things in my email inbox for that reason alone.
Then, having text makes search work. I guess you don’t use desktop search to try to find random things.
So, I can find my random notes to myself using search. You can’t.
March 19th, 2007 at 7:26 am
OK, so it may take a little bit of discipline, but it works for me. And I agree with the search aspect, although I myself don’t see much value in it, since I transcribe any important random notes myself (I think they deserve that much and doing so helps me keep things in perspective) and they are just as searchable after I transcribe them.
I wasn’t talking about voice mail, by the way: it’s voice recording, in the phone not on network. So my phone only contains my own notes to myself in a nice list indexed by timestamp (in the Razr; don’t know about other cell phones).
But hey, if Jott works for you, that’s cool. It’s just not compelling to me.
March 19th, 2007 at 9:06 am
This is cooler app for me as I hate voice mail. I almost never listen to my voice mail. Have caller ID and I will call you. But I never miss my emails, so it is good to get that shopping list in email! blackberry in supermarket
March 19th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Sidenote: using a mobile phone while driving is illegal in the UK because it’s so dangerous.
March 19th, 2007 at 11:01 am
[...] app for cell phones: Jott « Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger Killer app for cell phones: Jott « Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger Have you ever been driving, remembered something you wanted to write down or remember for later. [...]
March 19th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
I use Opera. So you don’t want me.
“Your browser is not currently supported and some features might not work. Supported browsers include Firefox, Safari, IE6 and IE7.”
March 19th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
We have a service called AAngel here in New Zealand, launched backin 2004. It no only does this but you can have Contacts, Calendar and Notes items recorded and then the transcribed version is sent to your phone via SMS as a vcal, vnote or vcontact file that is automatically loaded when it arrives. Check a review on Geekzone at http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=2652
March 19th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
[...] picked on a Jott reference over at VOIP IP TELEPHONY that includes links to a video interview with the people that started [...]
March 20th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Technorati’d Jott, and found this: http://blogwithjott.blogspot.com/2007/03/jott-5-steps-for-using-jott-and-browser.html
March 20th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Great info. Thanks to you and Jeff Turner I’m signed up and ready to go!
March 21st, 2007 at 12:52 am
Here is another version of blogging with Jott:
http://res.realestateshows.com/jott/
May 10th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
[...] 30 seconds - not 15. I can’t find that on their FAQ’s but I seem to recall it from the Scoble interview where I first learned of Jott. Speaking of which, thank you Robert! So, instead of continuing to [...]
May 11th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Wanderley: This is by no means a way to convince you to like Jott, BUT for those who are stumped with the question “why is jott so speacial?” I have found many uses with Jott ( for my self and what others have come up with). As for me, I use it as a musician tool. I am forever coming up with ideas for guitar riffs and when I get to my guitar, I FORGET IT! Jott has allowed me to, haha, sing to jott and I can listen to the audible version of it at home…because 99 percent of the time the transcriptions are just a bunch of blahblahs.
I’ve googled a guy that has integrated Jott with his personal blog and uses Jott to blog anywhere he may roam! However, the blogs are only 30 seconds worth, he seemed to get something on the go! Check it out… http://res.realestateshows.com/jott/.
Anywho… I’m sure one can find their own personal use for jott. Good to see jotters out there!
September 8th, 2007 at 10:15 am
[...] mad. It’s all because of Jott. It’s one heck of a brilliant idea. It’s been raved about here, here and here. Tips, tricks are being tailored for it to make it even more useful. And I can’t [...]
December 7th, 2007 at 9:04 am
While the technology is already pretty useful, especially with the recent Google Calendar integration, the usefulness would increase by an order of magnitude if it were to be integrated with a device or a platform.
For example, I own an iPhone, and one of the major points of frustration is the keyboard and the amount of time it takes to enter a reminder or even to google something.
I’d love to be able to simply speak “google Robert Scoble” or “lunch with John at 5pm tomorrow”
adk
May 25th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Been using Jott for as long as I can remember, highly recommended for the highly forgetful :0
October 10th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Thats a great plugin work perfectly on my iphone. Nice site btw I get your updates on my iphone LOLOL