As a generation of us cell phone users continues to age and  remembering appointments, dates, contacts, etc. becomes increasingly difficult, some of us need a personal assistant to help us keep track.  Jott.com is a free service that allows a user to call a toll free number and send themselves (or others in their contacts list) an email or text message.  Simply dial the toll-free number from your cell phone, say the name of the recipient you’d like to email (like “John”, “Work”, or “Myself”) and begin with speaking your email. The voice recognition system does the transcribing and does surprisingly well.  Some mistranslations are inevitable, of course, and people have begun collecting some of these “misjotts” on websites such as http://misjott.com.  

Another great feature I love is the reminder function.  This will send you a reminder of an event 15 minutes prior to its scheduled time.  No excuses to be late for another meeting, right?

Finally, importing your contacts list onto Jott could not be easier.  With a “add contacts” wizard, it makes adding your Outlook, Gmail, AOL, Yahoo or CSV (from excel, etc).  It can have your entire contacts list.

 Find out more by reading their blog: http://jott.com/jotters/

Google is best known for it's search engine which is used by 60% of web surfers for their search needs.  However Google has a lot of free applications and tools that can help your business or just help make your use of technology more effective.  Here is a link to a presentation and links to some of the Google tools I gave on Google tools last fall.  It is a little out of date because Google is constatently upgrading and added tools but that is one of the reasons for the blog, to keep you updated on new technologies as them come to our attention.

On February 4, 2008 TracSoft was announced as a winner of the Columbus Area 2008 Torch Award, honoring their “Commitment to Character, Honesty and Integrity in the Market Place”.

The Torch Awards have been given annually since 2001 to businesses that demonstrate a high regard for ethical marketplace standards.

Nominees for this years award were judged in the following areas:

1. High ethical standards of behavior toward customers, suppliers, shareholders, employees and communities in which they do business.
2. Demonstrated ethical practices surrounding their buyer/seller relationships.
3. Long-standing history/reputation of ethical practices in the marketplace.
4. Marketing, advertising communications, and sales practices which reflect a true representation of what is offered.
5. Acknowledgement of ethical marketplace practices by industry peers, news media, and/or in the communities where business is transacted.

TracSoft has proudly served the Columbus area since 2005 and has been a member of the Better Business Bureau since October of 2007.  They offer technology solutions including IT consulting, software development, web design & video, and project management.

I got this great directory from Jim Bowie who got it from realtechnews.com They have a complete list of secret numbers and tips to bypass 108 IVR phone menus and get straight to a human. Just a sample:

 This is just a sample of the list.  The companies are broken down by industry which also is a plus.  100’s and 100’s of companies listed. Click here for complete directory.

Welcome TSBlog our blog about technology for the small business.  Our purpose here is to help small businesses become aware of technology available over the internet at low or no cost. With a virtually unlimited array of free tech tools out there, small business owners might not have the time to search for and understand how to use these tools. That is where this blog comes in. We hope to provide the tools and some instruction on how to use them and how me and my colleagues utilize .  Finally, we wish to provide an open community for readers to submit their own questions, comments or tips and…maybe have a little fun along the way! Expect to find posts of fun facts, interesting viral videos and other poignant found items.  Also there will be post on some of the work TracSoft is doing to give our customers a little exposure.

Even thought this blog will be geared toward the small business it will also be helpful to anyone that is a user of technology. We will not only cover tools available on the internet but will also cover tools most everyone uses on a daily basis such as Windows and Microsoft Office products.

This blog will be updated often (or at least once/week) so please check in on a regular basis.  Remember: The best things in life are free…and just a few clicks away! We’re here to help you find them.