Pete Dudchenko

Jott announced some new features today from their email sent out to beta users. If you haven’t used Jott before its a pretty simple but helpful concept. You call their toll-free number, after registering, and leave a voice message. That message is then transcribed into text to be emailed to yourself or someone else. It’s great for leaving yourself or others tasks, reminders, or communicating to groups. Below are some of the new features added:

Jott Links: Now you can update your blog, Twitter™, add to your 30 boxes™ to do list or send a message through Yahoo Groups™ – all with Jott! For example, when Jott asks you “Who do want to Jott” just say “Twitter”, speak your message and your update will appear in text on Twitter…

Jott Reminders: With the new Jott Reminders, Jott can remind you of important events 15 minutes before they start. Just say “Reminder” and Jott will ask you for the date, time, and subject. Now you can stop worrying about remembering those important appointments in your busy life.

Jott Folders: With Jott Folders you create preset categories for your Jotts to self. Set up folders for family, expenses, to-do list, or anything that you want. Then simply say the name of the folder the next time you leave a Jott and it’ll be waiting for you in that folder.

Personally I find this useful in the car or on the go. I can easily set a task or reminder and have it sitting in my inbox the next time I log onto my computer.

Link: Jott

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I recently upgraded my phone’s data plan to an unlimited data plan. Now the question is what are some of the coolest sites and applications out there that I can use for my mobile? Below is my top ten list:

10) TellMe – I’ve already covered TellMe By Mobile and so far its been pretty cool. This app installs onto your phone and you then speak the name of the business you are looking for into your phone. TellMe’s service will recognize your voice and return a list of businesses that meet your search. From there you can call the business or see its location on a map.

9) Opera Mini – The “mini” is about the file size, not about the functionality. This is a great browser replacement for anything on your phone. The browser connects to its own servers to access the net which actually optimize the sites you visit for a mobile display and to reduce data size for faster browsing.

8) Citibank Mobile – This one only works if you use Citibank but it’s all the functionality of the website, rolled into your phone. Check your balance, pay your bills, transfer money between accounts, all in the time it takes to open your laptop and wait for it to load up.

7) TuneUsIn.com – Looking for free ringtones or wallpaper? This site has a large database of great songs and pictures you can download directly to your phone…did I mention it’s free?

6) Google Maps – This application downloads to your phone and works just like the Google Maps we’ve all come to love. plus there’s real time traffic updates as well.

5) Surfline – Those of you by the beach will probably love this one. Surf reports and forecasts on your phone. Get the latest swell height, temperatures and even a live image before you hit the beach.

4) logabottle – Like wine? My problem is that I always forget what bottles I like or which ones I want to try. Why remember when I can check my own wine review database. Not only is this a great site on its own but the mobile access to my own reviews allows me to recall which wines I like while I’m browsing the aisles at the store.

3) Remember The Milk – This is another great site on its own. Its a web 2.0 to-do list which I use to manage my personal tasks. The nice thing is that my to-do’s aren’t limited to just my computer. Wherever I am I can see my tasks.

2) Netflix Mobile – Access your Netflix queue, search for movies to add and more.

1) Google Reader – There are plenty of reasons to use Google Reader. This is just one more reason.

Honorable Mention:
TagTag – Don’t like any of the WAP sites out there? Create your own and host it on TagTag’s website. Its mostly simple read-only functionality but its nice to use if you need a website to access easy to forget things like recipes, directions, birthdays, anything you need to remember while on the go.

Anything I missed?

All, Geek, Wine, Weblications | 2 Comments »

Here’s a tip fo those that use Google’s calendar. if you have a cell phone that supports SyncML or OMA (most newer phones do), you can set it up to automatically sync with your calendar using GooSync.

Syncing with your main Google Calendar is free but if you subscribe to more than one, you’ll need to pay for it.

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Have you heard of TellMe? If not, do this (I’ll wait)...pick up a phone and dial 1-800-555-TELL (8355). You’ll be greeted by an automated voice which will start to list some of their main menu items like stock quotes, movies, sports, etc. Just say the name of the item you’re interested and it will provide more information about that item or present you with more options to pick from. It’s all voice-activated and having used it for a number of years now, I must say its pretty darn good at recognizing my voice commands. In fact for those of you who subscribe to Cingular, they currently offer this service already.

I just recently found out that they’ve started a new beta program. For those of you that have a data plan on your cell phone, you can go to TellMe’s beta site and install a java app that will allow you to voice navigate their system to find local businesses. Its kind of like 411 and Google maps rolled into one (or so they say). You start out by installing a java app onto your phone (about 130Kb) and then after starting it up and using a “press to talk” command, you speak the city you want and the business type or name you’re looking for. It interprets your words and returns the results, allowing you to select a business or navigate further. Selecting a business allows you to see the phone number and address. From there you can click to call or click to see a map of the location to get directions.

I’ve had it for about an hour and haven’t played with the maps section yet but it does seem pretty interesting. Supposedly the voice recognition system hasn’t been completely configured yet so there may be some slight adjustments coming (remember, it’s still in beta) but for those of you who aren’t crazy about using your thumbs to type, this may be an alternative solutions. I think this product’s ultimate success however will be determined by it’s ability to handle directions and maps should a user want to actually find the location of the business they just looked up. A list of supposed phones is provided.

Anyone else using this yet? I’d love to hear some feedback.

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“Web 2.0” is a buzz word that can’t last. It’s a version number, just like Windows 95, which was cutting edge when it first came out but now is pretty ancient. So I’m calling a new section on my site “weblications” for online applications over the web. In the future I’ll be posting some finds online regarding web 2.0 applications.

As a start, take a look at Gliffy which is an application very similar to Visio. It allows for:

Diagramming in your web browser without downloading additional software
Desktop application feel in a web-based diagramming solution
Add collaborators to your work and watch it grow
Link to published Gliffy drawings from your blog or wiki

Create many types of diagrams:
Flowcharts
UI wireframes
Floor plans
Network diagrams
UML diagrams
Any simple drawing or diagram

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