(Great) Cellphone Tools

The cellphone, computer and Internet are converging technologies, which, soon enough, will be only one. Thus, many services are being created that start on a phone. Among these, the ones I find particularly useful are:

1) ChaCha
ChaCha is much more helpful to mobile phone users than typical computer-driven search engines. ChaCha is conversational, fun, and easy to use. Simply ask your question like you are talking to a smart friend and ChaCha’s advanced technology instantly routes it to the most knowledgeable person on that topic in our Guide community. Your answer is then returned to your phone as a text message within a few minutes.
Try it, it is unbelievable!!

2) Google 411: Phone GOOG-411 and there you get directory assistance, free.

3) Last but definitely not least, is JOTT. Register, then you’ll see. I can call JOTT and utter a statement: for instance “Remind me to buy wine at 7pm today”. It will then interpret it, convert it to text, and email me a note, and set my calendar! Instead of using humans, JOTT is fully automated. A tiny secretary in my cellphone! Basic service is free, but premium access is cheap. JOTT is being used in conjunction with Twitter:
1) I JOTT down a Tweet
2) JOTT sends the note to my Twitter-flow
3) I save time by not typing a message on my cell’s tiny keyboard.

This reminds me that the convergence between cellphone-computers and the Web will be centered around oral or visual interfaces, much more than textual ones. Unfortunately, JOTT is available only in English, but I’m sure soon…

About Antonio Vantaggiato

Professor, web2.0 enthusiast, and didactic chef.
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