Jott Assistant - Personal Productivity on Steroids

Over a year ago, I walked away from Jott Assistant (then simply called Jott) because it moved from free to paid. But I'm back, I'm paying - a modest $3.95 a month - and couldn't be happier.

Here's just a sample of what Jott Assistant does for me:

1. Let's me send email just by speaking into my phone. I have around 80 contacts individuals and groups of people I've set this up for and I can add as many as I want. Individuals, committees, volunteer organizations, teams, I can email them all simply by talking. This works with dumb phones as well as smart ones.
2. Reads my favorite RSS feeds back to me. You want cool? Try this in the car with your bluetooth earpiece on. I need to keep track of media constantly throughout the day. This really helps.
3. Sets up events and appointments for me in Outlook Calendar when I tell it to - and reminds me of them when I want it to.
4. Allows me to set up categories for every hat I wear and for any meeting or label. Then, it transcribes my voice notes into them. This is unbelievably handy. Throughout the week I simply dictate a Jott note or agenda item, tell it to dump it into the appropriate category, then review the whole bunch a couple of days before the meeting. When I walked away from Jott in early 2009, I had 27 categories spread throughout my home, work and church life. They were all waiting for me when I signed up again.
5. Sends the people I email a slim voice file along with the transcription.
6. Plays well with all my devices. I can Jott on my iPad, iPhone or desktop and the information is always current. Wherever I am I can Jott and read my Jotts. And it works on the Blackberry, too.
7. Let's me print my Jotts. In a pinch, this can become an instant agenda.

There is so much I haven't tried yet - like voice posting to Google Calendar, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Remember the Milk, Toodledo and dozens more. But I'll tackle those if and when I need them.

All I can say for now, is that coming back to Jott Assistant is a real kick. It gives me another way to keep the balls in the air when I'm on the run - which is pretty much always.

Like most teachers - and people like me that work for them - I like free. But free can be so limiting.

If you're in the market for a reasonably priced productivity app, you've got to check this one out. Jott Assistant is not merely a clever voice-to-text toy.

In these fast and frantic times, it's a tool to lean on.

(Disclosure: I have no investment in Jott whatsoever, but I'd like to ; )