Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

With last weeks train accident in California, the general public is waking up to how consuming flying thumbs on a small keypad can be.  It is said the engineer on the train was texting instead of doing his job and this contributed to the event.  Could technology have prevented this?

Hands free texting solutions exist
Jott thinks so.  Their voice-to-text software turns your phone into a hands free texting machine, email responder, even voice control for many of Microsoft Outlook functions.  When I spoke with a founder and Jott CEO John Pollard earlier this year, he was extremely excited about their new app for BlackBerry.  Indeed, it is impressive allowing great functionality like replying to emails by voice.  Simple say “reply with Jott” and what you record will be sent off, as simple as that.

Who’s buying this?
Clearly, this works well for the mobile warriors who I envision behind the wheel day in and day out.  These are the folks that are going to pony up the $12.95 per month for the Pro service. The company also offers a Jott base service for a mere $3.95 per month that includes everything but the Jott for BlackBerry support.  Even an ad supported service is available that lacks BlackBerry and Outlook support (but does include iPhone support, interestingly).  There is also a pay-as-you-go plan that will charge you by the minute for the use of their service.

Save the texter, save the world?
Back to preventing train wrecks, could Jott have helped?  Sure.  Could it prevent?  Tough to say.  Hang out on a NYC street corner watching the folks just being able to walk and text, much less anything else and you’ll witness how engrossed people get while texting.  Talking, even hands free, via phone in a car is probably a fair comparison.  Getting wrapped up in a conversation remotely is much different than speaking to someone next to you.  Bottom line: tech can only help prevent, not eliminate.

Product website [Jott]