Ever call someone, leave an explicitly detailed message, and they call you back immediately saying, “I didn’t get your voice mail. What’s up?” Annoying right? Unfortunately, we’re all guilty of it. Well Jott has worked out a way to reduce that uniformed call back. I received my first Jott Voice Mail on 8/25/09 – and I can say without question, it could very well be the best $10 / month I spend on a mobile app.

Jott converts your voicemail into text, allowing you to process it the same way you process email. No more calling into voicemail to wade through menus or listen to endless streams of messages. You can still call in if you want, but we doubt you will.

They are right. Jott’s accuracy is spot on, once you start using it you will no longer feel the need to listen to your voice mails at all. Here is an example transcription I received this morning while still in bed, not yet prepared to answer an unknown caller:

Hi Scott, this is Aman [broken audio, please listen] Risk Management Team. We’re calling today to verify that you are the person that added the credit card on oDesk. If you are not aware of this action, please call us immediately at 650-853-4134 or e-mail us at security@odesk.com. If you are aware, please disregard this message. Thank you and have a great day.

If you have ever used any other voice mail transcription services, you will appreciate the accuracy of this transcription. (notice the proper capitalization of oDesk) From my Blackberry, and most smart phones, one click on that phone number or email and return contact without to writing anything down. (You have the option to receive transcriptions via SMS and/or email.) Further more, I know the level of importance of that voice mail and that I should return that call immediately.

This is also particularly helpful while roaming. Since most carriers offer unlimited international roaming Blackberry emails (something about Blackberry’s infrastructure) for an added $20/mo, you don’t have to worry about dialing in to check voice mail – which is worth the $10 in itself.

Jott has a plug-in for Outlook contact syncing, but I’m not particularly impressed. Ideally it would connect on the back end with Google Apps for Hotmail Contacts (or Facebook!). They were acquired by Nuance Communications back in July, so I expect those additional resources to only improve their offerings.

Happy Jotting!

http://jott.com/

I was forwarded this viral email today. While I don’t generally trust “fw: emails” particularly ones with absolute statements like “100 percent survivability”, this one make some sense on the surface. So, I did my obligatory Snopes check and it did not pass, but it didn’t fail either. After some additional research which included a message from the Red Cross, I have come to a conclusion.

The US and other first world countries’ strictly enforce building codes, requiring  structures meet or exceed massive earthquake resistance specifications. Even older buildings require earthquake retrofits if they undergo significant enough other tangential improvements. So if you are in such a building, the fear isn’t necessarily that the building will collapse. The fear is that light fixture and giant mirror falling on you, in which case the standard “Drop, cover and hold on” message makes tremendous sense.

However, since a good number of us spend a significant amount of time overseas, and often in 3rd world countries, the real fear is not flying flat screen televisions but rather the entire building crashing down on top of us. This makes the following article at least worthy of consideration, despite its author’s questionable credentials.

The following are not my words, but rather the words of a person whose expertise is under question. For ‘official’ advice on how to react during an earthquake, visit FEMA and the American Red Cross. Enjoy:

My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world’s most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries.

I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years. I have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn’t at the time know that the children were told to hide under something. I am amazed that even today schools are still using the “Duck and Cover” instructions- telling the children to squat under their desks with their heads bowed and covered with their hands. This was the technique used in the Mexico City school.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the ‘triangle of life’. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the ‘triangles’ you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Almost everyone who simply ‘ducks and covers’ when buildings collapse ARE CRUSHED TO DEATH. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. That position helps you survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs. Concrete slab buildings are the most dangerous during an earthquake.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Almost everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different ‘moment of frequency (they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads ? horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn’t collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

8) Get Near the Outer Walls Of Buildings Or Outside Of Them If Possible – It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and lying in the fetal position next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

In 1996 we made a film, which proved my survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul, University of Istanbul Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did ‘duck and cover,’ and ten mannequins I used in my ’triangle of life’ survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble and entered the building to film and document the results.

The film, in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific conditions, relevant to building collapse, showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover.

There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using my method of the ‘triangle of life.’ This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the rest of Europe, and it was seen in the USA, Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.

Work-Life Balance: There's 24 hours in a day, so why aren't you working 12?

When your PC has more face time with you than your wife, you know that things aren’t what they used to be. We owe this rearrangement of our lives to Hotspotting – all communication empowered by the web. The 2 main facilitators? Cloud Computing and SaaS, software as a Service.

The tools that flow from these two are (amongst the many out there):

• Email, instant messaging, and texting
• Twitter and blogging
• Peer2Peer productivity black holes/hobbies – Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace, etc
• Then there’s fumbling in your car with mp3 players, map books, following GPS
• 2^nd Life – as a fantasy world hobby, as a customer support tool
• Unified communications, especially for ‘Road Warriors’ & Virtual Customer Support Contact Centers
• Collaboration – Google Docs/Wave, WebCasting, WebMeetings, TelePresence (videoconferencing on steroids), and Wikis

You might ask, “What’s next?”. Well you guessed it, an unveiling of a car brought to you by by Ford and Microsoft, allowing your car to read Twitter messages, with drivers being able to Tweet replies using voice recognition; enabling the drivers’ social lives while keeping their eyes on the road.

Now while some of us think of these tools as god sends (except perhaps for a car that can send and receive tweets), one can’t help but to wonder if all of it is really making our lives simpler or more complex. Wi-Fi/Wi-Max Warriors and a new generation of 1099ers have to use the new tools 24/7/365 to be competitive with local labor, which could prove a double edged sword for us knowledge workers.

No matter what, a once ‘proper’ Work-Life balance may now be passé and an impossible dream till the costs of those economies move closer to ours. So while the hours we work may not necessarily ever improve, hopefully the our view will.

Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge TripIt advocate, which had a great iPhone app but nothing for Blackberry. Well today my calls have been answered:

We’re pleased to announce that TripIt’s free BlackBerry app is now available! With TripIt for BlackBerry, you can access your upcoming TripIt itineraries from your BlackBerry while you’re on the road, with or without an Internet connection. TripIt for BlackBerry has calendar integration. Trip details from your TripIt itineraries are automatically synced to your BlackBerry calendar, which in turn can sync to your Outlook calendar.

Previously I had to hack this solution together using Google Apps and TripIt’s iCal feed (which is a great way to share your travel calendar with folks, btw) but no longer.

Thanks TripIt – keep up the good work!

This is great thinking. To quote Emmy’s recent article, Why sit up, when you can lay down? Which I have since learned, the title refers to a Churchill quote where he was asked, “to what do you attribute your success?” “Conservation of energy – never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit up when you can lay down.” Genius.

Among many other aspects and nuances of laptop design and engineering covered in the class, one group of students investigated the physical ergonomics associated with the use of smaller computing devices, and discovered that a conventional small clamshell laptop is most comfortably used lying down, with the device on the thigh and the knees kept elevated.

I completely agree. This is how I work every morning as soon as I wake up. I even found the article while laying on my couch with my legs propped up. Now while I will likely never buy the Laptop Laidback, I’m certain there will be times where I wish I had it.

Via WebWorkerDaily

DKNY's New Cosy

One of the dangers of working from home is not making time to change out of your bathrobe, until the overnight delivery person knocks on your front door. DKNY’s new “cosy” sweater is a very stylish alternative for all you woman Hotspotters. It is easy to throw on quickly: you can wrap it, twist it, belt it, and drape it in at least 12 different ways. Pair it with black leggings, a pencil skirt, skinny jeans or any other pant. Of course, if you choose one of the drape options, you may want to pin it up with a stylish brooch, or it may keep falling in your morning cup o’ joe.

Cosy Instructional Video

The Cosy Lookbook

Churchill's Office (or Bedroom?)

When I think of Sir Winston Churchill, teleworking isn’t necessarily the first word that comes to mind. However, as it turns out, not only was he one of the 20^th Century’s most influential people, but he was a fellow hard working Hotspotter as well. Historian Paul Johnson, his latest book is a biography about Winnie aptly named Churchill, says, Churchill had an “efficient habit of spending a working morning in bed, telephoning, dictating, and consulting.”

Of course, most of us Hotspotters don’t want the reputation of working from bed, though admittedly it is oftentimes the most convenient place to work when you’re on the road going from hotel to hotel. (Can someone explain why are those hotel room desks are so pokey and covered with crap you don’t care about?)

Armed with this knowledge, there is very little reason for a knowledge worker to have to drive to an office every day - if a person can run a country and a world war from bed, you can certainly trade stocks or program a website from your living room. Of course, Churchill was canned after the war, proving that winning a war is one thing, but showing your face around the office from time to time doesn’t hurt either.

Do you know any other famous historical figures who are also mobile workers? Let us know!

Let’s face it, ALL of us use a laptop. This can post some security concerns, including theft and the possibility that your financial and other information will fall into the wrong hands.Here are 14 some what obvious, albeit a bit obvious, techniques (but good reminders regardless) to help keep a lid on your data:

While Traveling

1. Carry your laptop in a nondescript case. It should never look as though you’re carrying a computer. However, make sure it protects against bumps, drops, rain and other factors that can damage the fragile equipment.

2. Keep an eye on your laptop. Carry it with you at all times and don’t check it with your luggage if you are traveling by train or plane. When you go through airport security, hold the bag until the person in front of you has gone through the metal detector. Then take the laptop out of the case and hand it to the guard before walking through.

3. If you travel by car, keep the laptop out of sight, but don’t put it in the trunk unless there is no other alternative. Thieves assume valuables are in a trunk and that’s often the first place they look.

4. Secure your laptop in the hotel safe when it is not in use. (You might want to call ahead and make sure the hotel safe is large enough to store it.) Keep in mind that when the maid is cleaning your room, anyone could walk in unnoticed and take the computer. If you must leave it in your room unattended, take the removable storage disk with you.

5. Be aware of your surroundings. When attending meetings, secure the laptop during breaks. Make sure the doors are locked and take notice of the various ways to enter the room. If you are unsure, take your laptop with you.

6. Store files on a removable CD, DVD or flash drive.

7. Engrave or permanently mark the computer with ID information or built in an RFID chip.

At the Office (wherever that may be)

A laptop’s portability also makes it a security risk even in your own office, where you should:

8. Secure the computer when you aren’t using it.

9. Lock it up or take it with your when you go to lunch or a meeting, or use a laptop security cable;

10. Keep a record of the make, model, and serial number.

Data Loss

If your laptop is not insured, check into buying a policy that provides coverage in the event of theft, accidental damage, vandalism and other losses (often times you can add a rider to your homeowners or renters policy). However, the value of the information on your laptop computer is often much greater than the cost of the equipment itself. That information can include bank account details, credit card information and Social Security numbers, as well as confidential company data such as salaries, new product and marketing plans, customer lists, pricing models, finances or confidential medical information. Even worse, stored passwords may enable thieves to hack into your company’s network.

To help minimize the risk, take these steps:

11. Backup data regularly so that you won’t lose valuable documents in the event of a theft or an equipment failure. I use an extremely well done free file syncing program called Live Mesh by Microsoft.

12. Minimize the amount of proprietary data or intellectual property you store on your laptop’s hard drive.

13. Encrypt all data, without exception, stored on the hard drive. If you use Windows activate BitLocker.

14. Develop a two-tiered password system.

While I doubt cab drivers are likely to keep up with the latest in technology, I pray the word will get out. As a device agnostic device, Square seems simply brilliant.

Start accepting payment cards immediately with Square. No contracts, monthly fees, or hidden costs. Effortlessly manage all the money you take with an easy and intuitive interface. Read payment cards from any device with an audio input jack, including your mobile phone. Accepting payments has never been faster or more convenient.

Could this mean the end of the “I don’t accept credit cards (unless of course you’re going to the airport)” conversations with those militant cab drivers? I certainly hope so, not to mention some other great implications for us non-cab driving Hotspotters.

Merry Christmas!

via Square.

Starting to see a theme on the hardware front for Hotspotters. While I still prefer the Windows envirnment (I own a Macbook Pro running Windows 7), it seems that a large number of the independent mobile workforce uses Macbooks. “it just works” is a compelling reason, and I whole heartedly agree – unless you have a client that produces a competing system, in which case its best to just assimilate yourself.

First of all, there is the hardware I use in my “work anywhere” office. The main piece of hardware I use is of course Macbook The reason I use the Mac computer can be summed up in three words, “it just works”.

Beyond the Macbook recomendation, there are some other good application ideas in here, where google seems to win the all up prize. My suspicision is mainly cost effectiveness, though there is probably more to it than that.

We would love you hear your comments.

Via My Work Anywhere Office | Home Office Warrior.