Instructify

Even with the luxurious feature of T9 Text prediction on my cellphone, I still end up with garbled little memos in my message folder that read things like “buy act done” instead of “buy cat food.” Despite getting to adopt a new cat every week or so, this process is not the best way to keep notes of important deadlines or spur of the moment decisions. I could go out and buy a tape recorder or an iPhone, sure, but I have this expensive cell phone so I might as well take advantage of it, right?

Thank ye Internets for bringing us Jott.com, a simple-to-use Web application that allows you to use your phone to leave yourself and others voice messages which will be converted to an email or a text message and sent directly to whatever number or email address you like. The service is free and rather easy to use. Though it’s still in beta, it works just fine. Basically, you sign up with an email address, pop in your phone number, and then call an 866 (toll free) number to access the directory.

It’s all automated in a friendly lady’s voice who will guide you through the steps as easily as possible. The email is sent right away, and you have the option to listen to your recorded message in case anything gets lost in translation. Nonetheless, I was able to conveniently have in my inbox my note to self: “Remember to buy lunch of cat food because otherwise the cat will starve and you don’t want to buy new cat this week.”
jott.com

-JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

[UPDATE 1/14/09: Sadly, Jott will drop all their free services as of February 2, 2009.]