Jott is one of those deceptively useful services for mobile phone users that can make your phone far more useful than it is without it.  What makes Jott so great is that you can create text reliably without using that darn phone keypad.  You call a number that Jott gives you when you create an account and you call it up when you want to email someone by voice.  You set up the contacts you want in your list and speak the name of the desired email recipient.  Then you speak the text of the email and Jott accurately transcribes it into a text email and sends it the designated target.  It is fast and very reliable and can be used in innovative ways.

Many Jott users send "notes" to themselves this way which gives them a written transcription of their voice note.  The clever folks at Lifehacker have even outlined a method to use such voice notes with Evernote to provide searchable notes strictly using Jott.  Like I said it’s deceptively useful, you don’t realize how much until you try it.  That’s why it’s exciting that Jott for Blackberry goes live today so we Crackberry addicts can use Jott like everyone else.  What makes this Blackberry version of Jott cool is it integrates totally into the great Blackberry email functionality and you can send voice emails straight from there.  Jott for BB is free as it’s in beta but will be a paid service after that so don’t wait.

Word has come out that the Asus EEE PC with Windows XP instead of Linux will start appearing at Best Buy in early April.  The Asus EEE PC 4G  will set you back $399 and is the same as the Xandros-based model 4G just with Windows installed.  Laptop Magazine has gotten their hands on one early and have published a hands-on review including video of this WinXP mini-notebook.  They seem to like it better, at least found that some things that don’t have drivers on the Xandros version work fine under Windows.  Here are the complete specs for the 4G:

• Colors: Pearl White, Black
• LCD Size / Type: 7″ Wide
• LCD Resolution: 800 x 480 (~WVGA)
• LCD Type: TFT
• Graphic: Intel UMA
• Chipset: Intel Mobile Chipset
• Processor: Intel Mobile CPU
• Memory: 512MB DDR2
• S.S.D Storage (Solid State Disk): 4GB
• OS: Windows XP Home Preloaded
• Software: MS Works, Windows Live
• Audio: High-Definition Audio CODEC
• Microphone: 1 Internal Microphone
• Speakers: 2 Internal Stereo Speakers
• Audio Jack-Out (3.5mm)
• Audio Jack-In (3.5mm)
• Wireless Included: 802.11 b/g
• LAN / Connector: 10/100 Mbps / RJ-45
• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• Memory Card Reader: MMC/SD(SDHC)
• VGA Port 1 (D-sub 15 pin)
• Integrated Camera
• Battery: four-cell 4400mAh
• Battery Life: 2.8 hours
• AC Adapter Output: 9.5V, 22W
• AC Adapter Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
• Unit Weight: 2.0 lbs (with battery)
• Unit Dimensions: 8.86 x 6.30 x 0.79 ~ 1.26 inches

Now that I have the Q1 Ultra Premium, it’s time for me to say goodbye to Samantha, the Samsung Q1P. She’s up for sale and before I go the eBay route, I’m offering her to any jkOTR reader that can give her a good home. The UMPC is 14-months old, but doesn’t look a day over 3-months. I’ve looked all over the device to find any physical flaws and can find only one minor issue. The right side of the screen has some wear and tear from all of my scrolling. It really doesn’t affect anything you’re viewing and hey, I’ve broken in the scroll bar area for you. Seriously, if this is a concern to you, I’ll take some close up pics if you request them.The unit is factory restored to Windows XP Tablet Edition. I don’t have the AVStation partition working because I left the 2 GB of RAM in the unit for you. I’ll include all three factory CDs if you want to futz with AVS. I no longer have the original box or packaging so I’ll wrap her up real nice-like in protective bubble-wrap. Here’s the package up for grabs:

• Samsung Q1P UMPC with 1.0 GHz Pentium M and 2 GB of RAM. 60 GB hard drive, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, CF slot, 2 USB ports, VGA out, Ethernet jack, dual-array microphone, and stereo speakers
• 1 standard 3-cell battery
• 1 extended 6-cell battery
• AC adapter
• Samsung soft case
• USB Data cable for connecting to another PC
• Extra 2 GB USB drive and a PC Card MoGo mouse… just to say thanks for taking care of Samantha.

Please contact me directly at kctofel@jkontherun.com with questions and/or to make me an offer. I’d rather not go back and forth on a price, so please just make your one best offer. If you are interested in Samantha and my Asus Eee PC 4G, make an offer for the package. The Eee PC is in stellar shape and would come in the factory packaging with all manuals and CDs. I’ll factory restore Xandros Linux on that unit. In either case, I’ll pay for UPS ground shipping, U.S. only. I simply don’t want to deal with customs on a foreign shipment. Payment to be via PayPal.

Today has not gone the way I envisioned it, not by a long shot.  It started innocently enough with me grabbing the Fujitsu P1620 out of the dock to get some work done in slate mode while watching the morning news.  It went downhill quickly from there.  The first thing I was confronted with was a dialog box from OneCare that told me it had detected a trojan on my system.  A trojan is one of those malware programs that invades your system by looking like something else and then sets about doing untold harm to your Windows box.  Fortunately for me I had OneCare duly protecting my system and it spotted the trojan right away.  I have no idea how it got into my system as I am very careful about things like that but if it’s clever enough I guess it can get in anyway.  I am happy with the way OneCare protects my systems and much more so now that it’s stopped this trojan in its tracks.

OneCare asked me if I wanted to clean the trojan off my system and I of course said yes.  I neglected to write down exactly what trojan it had detected but no matter.  OneCare proceeded to clean the offender off my system, a process that took about 10 minutes.  It must have invaded quite a bit of territory in my PC kingdom.  When the cleansing was comnplete OneCare restarted the Fuji and that’s when the fun times started.

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I am sitting here in my local Starbucks, ducking while typing as there are four (4) kids running around the front of the store throwing things at each other (and me in the process).  They are totally wired and bouncing off the walls, tables, chairs and anything else that gets in their way.  It’s like watching a YouTube video on super fast speed.  It will soon settle down though as Mom is in the line getting their drinks.  Here she comes now with four of those creme drinks made out of sugar.  That’s just what they need.    OUCH!  Not fast enough on the duck.

On the run in your car with mobile devices all the live-long day? Belkin’s Travel Power Adapter might be the best friend your glovebox every had based on this overview at TabletPCReview. For around $100, you get the adapter that fits in your vehicle’s cigarette lighter and 11 interchangeable tips. Simply plug in your notebook or other device while you’re driving and you’ll be charging up your laptop on the go. Hey, if you’re driving, there’s pretty much 100% chance you’re not using the laptop at the same time, right? [If your specific answer to that question is 'no', please don't tell me....]There’s over eleven-feet of cord from end-to-end of the adapter, so your lappy can even ride in the back seat while getting re-juiced. Alternatively, you can go the cheaper route of buying a power inverter for your vehicle. I’ve seen some in the $30 to $50 range, but they tend to be much larger than this solution from Belkin. Note: Dell owners will want to pass this one by… I noticed in the review that Dell laptops wouldn’t work with this.

In the "won’t they ever learn" category the city of Los Angeles intends to levy a 9% tax on VoIP service.  The last I heard there is a federal moratorium on taxing Internet-based services so I wonder if this is even legal.  It’s headed for the courts for sure I’ll bet.  This measure passed when city officials snuck it onto the ballot and voters approved it with no information about it.  While public safety was cited as the need for the tax the measure does not allocate the additional taxes gathered from telephone bills for that purpose.  Politics as usual in other words.  In case you were worried about them telemarketers get a 50% break on taxes as part of the measure passed.  Only in California.

(Heartland Institute via VoIP Watch)

Looking for a fresh, new place to find everything related to Windows Mobile? You’re in luck because My Today Screen launches on April 1st… no foolin’! Actually, the site appears to have soft-launched earlier in the week, so there’s already some WinMo content for your perusal.My Today Screen is the brainchild of Doug Goldring and Tariq Bamadhaj, who have collectively contributed to great sites like Gear Diary, Just Another Mobile Monday, Eten Blog dot Com and Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine. Having read their content at various outlets over the years, I can tell you this: these guys and their fellow contributors are more than qualified to talk about Windows Mobile. Hop on over to their new site for a preview now and then stay tuned because they’re offering a full week of giveaways starting next week! Good luck gang; we wish you all the best!

I know there’s been some free-after-rebate deals on the AT&T Palm Centro lately, but if you missed ‘em, you can hit Best Buy this coming week. I just received the weekly circular with the morning paper and they’re offering the Palm smartphone for $39.99 with a two-year contract. Already have a basic feature phone on AT&T’s network? You can grab a Centro for $79.99 with a new two-year agreement starting tomorrow.The Centro might not be the most powerful smartphone or be running the most advanced operating system, but as a first step into a touchscreen device with a QWERTY keyboard, you can’t beat the price.

Since I compute more on web-based apps these days, I’m don’t often use the integrated search features in Vista and XP’s Desktop search tools. Still, I’m thinking of downloading the new Windows Search 4.0 preview version that became available yesterday. According to the Windows Vista Team Blog, the new version is 33% faster when compared to the search tool in Vista’s original RTM version. Multiple device owners stand to benefit as well since the Remote Index Discovery function efficently accesses the indices on other Windows devices. And if your index ever gets hosed, the new Windows Search won’t take days to build it from scratch. A rollback feature will pull in the last, known good index so your PC will only need to categorize files after the index went kablooey.