Technology At Its Coolest...And Most Practical

I'm a sucker for new technology. While I may not be the type to camp out for a week to get my hands on a new gadget before anyone else, I'm generally an early adopter and definitely a geek at heart. Since joining Optaros (www.optaros.com) in June of this year, I've become a much greater user and follower of many of the Next-Generation, Web 2.0 enabled applications that are available. Two applications that I've come across and begun to use this week represent to me technology at its coolest...and most practical. Enter TripIt and Jott. As someone who travels quite a bit, I can see these apps really making my life easier on the road.

• TripIt (www.tripit.com) - Basically, you forward all of the travel confirmations (air, hotel, rental cars, restaurants) that you get via email to TripIt, and the application builds out a master online itinerary for your trip(s). Maps, directions and weather for your destination are automatically included in the itinerary, so no more having to pull that information yourself from separate sites. Plus, you can access the itinerary online from any computer as well as share your itinerary with friends, coworkers and family. The kicker, though, is that you can even email TripIt and ask it to email you a specific itinerary on demand...and this feature makes TripIt the killer app for anyone like me who has gotten to the the airport and can't remember his flight info or arrived at your destination and forgotten at which hotel you booked your reservation.
• Jott (www.jott.com) - Call Jott's excellent interactive voice response system, tell it whom you want to Jott, and then leave a voice message up to 30 seconds in length. Jott then transcribes your voice message and emails it to your recipient. The recipient can also pick the message up at jott.com and hear the actual voice message as well. You can Jott yourself (think to-do lists at 75 mph as you drive down the freeway), any contact that you set up to receive your Jotts, or even distribution lists (your son's baseball team, your sales team, etc.). You can even use Jott to post to your Blog, Twitter, Jaiku, and more.

Give TripIt and Jott a try and let me know what you think. And while you're at it, be sure and let me know about any other web apps out there that you think I'd get a kick out of.