If you take a quick glance at the people driving the cars next to you on the road today, you'll likely find a number of them not paying attention to the road. A big problem these days -- especially with young drivers -- is texting behind the wheel. Both hands on the wheel. Eyes on the road. That's how we're supposed to drive. But just about everybody is guilty of breaking the rules now and then...some more often than others. Texting while driving can be deadly.
Last June, five girls were killed in an accident near Rochester, New York. Police say the driver had been text messaging just before the crash. Text messages were sent and received on a 17-year-old driver's cell phone moments before the sport utility vehicle slammed head-on into a truck, killing her and four other recent high school graduates, police said. "The records indicate her phone was in use. We will never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messaging. ... We all certainly know that cell phones are a distraction and could be a contributing factor in this accident." This type of crap has got to stop and now there is a service that allows you to do it handsfree...it's called Jott and to me, it's the hottest thing out there!
Jott is a transcription service that makes sending an email or text message while you're on the road easy! You can use any cell phone to make a simple, toll free call, and the service allows you to create messages in email, SMS, text, and even to-do lists with your voice. They take your voice, and transcribe it into text automatically, and deliver it to where you want. Basically, it's hands free productivity, unlocking messaging and saving To-Dos in scenarios where you don't want to be thumb typing or don't have access to a keyboard. It's free, and there are no downloads. Click Here or on their logo to get it! This is my biggest and most blatent product endorsement ever. I've been promoting it since I got back from my NY trip and people are signing up like crazy!How does it work? Here's and example of a paragraph I wrote which I read for this blog and how it was translated. Okay, I didn't read it exactly but you'll get the point...
Thank you for reading Discover Insanity. Today I am talking to you and blogging about Jott, a digital transcription service which translated what you say into the phone into an e-mail or text message. I have been using this service for a couple of weeks and I love it. It is a great way to send a reminder to yourself or and email to anyone in your address book. And best of all...the service is free! Be sure and check out Jott at www.jott.com. You'll be glad you did!Within minutes, Jott translated my message and sent me an email. The transcription was excellent considering I was in a 2-bar cell phone reception area outside my local Starbuck's...where else? Here's the transcription as I received it in my email...
"Thank you for reading "Discover Insanity". Today I'm talking to you and blogging about Jott, a digital transcription service which translated what you say into the phone into an e-mail or text message. I've been using this service for a couple of weeks and I love it. It's a great way to spend a reminder to yourself or e-mail someone in your address book and best of all the service is free. Be sure and check out Jott at www.jott.com. You'll be glad you did. "
You can actually view the email and listen to my lousy voice on the cell phone by clicking on the picture of the funky guy to the right. I am amazed at how well Jott works. Even with road noise the translation quality is excellent. I can send an email to anybody in my Jott address book (yes, you can upload your addresses from outlook and other services) and never, thanks to Bluetooth, have to take my hands off the wheel or my eyes off the road. It's cool being able to send email while flying down the 210-freeway at 85 miles per hour...oops.
So how does Jott make money? I searched and couldn;t figure it out but in an article in Northwest Innovation, founder John Pollard (a genius in my opinion) said, "Our strategy has been not to raise too much money, but rather to raise enough to get going, and build the product out to where we can really get tight on some scenarios, understand customers, and what they want to do, before going out and raising more money, which we'll be doing in several months. It's free right now. Fundamentally, this will allow us to make money in future .The transcription works, and for certain scenarios that is a very valuable asset. One way or another, they will pay for that long term--whether that's through advertising or something else. If we can help them (people like me) accomplish things they are Jotting, we'll be able to paid for that. We're very optimistic about that.
As simple as it sounds...it all comes down to responsible driving. Anything that distracts you from two hands on the wheel and both eyes in front of you is a problem and Jott is an excellent solution to the problem! Heck, it's FREE! What have you got to lose? The technology of Jott allows you to pay attention to what you're doing when you're behind the wheel of that automobile. Now if only I can figure out how to drink my Grande Drip handfree then life would be wonderful!
