New Freebie Voice-to-Text service: Jott!

I learned it from PC World's Steve Bass, (no relation!) and I've been using it regularly. Jott is a new free tool I highly recommend.

After registering online for the service, you can easily create reminders or dictate memos for yourself--or others--using your cell phone.

Let's say you've had a "Eureka!" moment while in the car. Dial Jott's toll-free number (866/568-8123) or, even better, push the speed-dial button you've assigned to it. I use "J."

Almost immediately, a female voice responds: "Who do you want to Jott?" If the message is for yourself, just say, "Myself." After the beep, start talking. Messages can be up to 30 seconds long. When you're finished, simply stop talking. A few seconds later, the voice will say, "Got it." Within a few minutes, the message you dictated is transcribed and delivered to you via e-mail, text message, or both.

That's just one way to use Jott. Here are some others I've tried:

Create a reminder. You can tell Jott to create a reminder for a specific time. Jott will send you an e-mail and text message reminder 15 minutes before the event.

Send e-mail or text messages to your contacts. Need to send an e-mail or text while you're driving? Easy! If you've uploaded your Outlook or other contact database entries into Jott, you can just press the Jott speed-dial button on your phone and tell Jott to whom you want to send a message. The service will verify the name or ask for clarification. Dictate your message, hang up, and your contact will receive your message as a transcribed e-mail and/or SMS text message. You can send one message to multiple people, too, as long as you've set up a Jott Group.

Jott isn't perfect; it can have difficulty identifying the requested contacts if you're in the car or a noisy place. And make sure to clearly enunciate your words, as if you were dictating to your secretary.

Jott's transcriptions of my voice messages have been nearly always 100 percent accurate. If you're using a more complicated word, like a name, just spell it after you say it. Don't tell anybody, but the voice file you create goes to India, where human beings do the transcribing! That's why it is so much more accurate than the Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software I use at the office.

In short, Jott just allows you to bypass the need to tap out e-mail or text messages on phones with tiny, awkward keyboards.

Best of all, this service is FREE for now. They'll probably find a way to charge for it in the future or create some kind of "premium version."

So grab it while it's free! Go to www.Jott.com and join up already!