Woohoo! Jott was selected as a WebWare 100 finalist and what an honor that is. Being a part of this annual awards program where the public votes for the favorite Web 2.0 application is very exciting for us and we’re spreading the word about our nomination. Show your support by clicking this link to vote for Jott or send this to your friends to vote too. You can also share with your friends on Facebook or Myspace using the url below.

http://www.webware.com/html/ww/100/2008/vote_comm.html?compid=103373

We went and gave ourselves a makeover! The Jott website is now faster, easier to use, and has more functionality. The new site is really the product of all the great feedback we’ve received about different ways people use Jott, different ways they wish they could use Jott, why we are great, why we are not so great, and what we should strive to be. For the past several months we’ve been chugging away at some great new features and sleek redesign, all to aide in the quest to Get Simple Back!

Check out what’s new:

Folders are now lists
Keep all those to-dos in one neat and tidy place! New functionality includes the ability to drag your Jott messages from your All Jotts to a list for simple additions, set items on your list as a reminder or as high priority (or both!) and cross them off when you are done. Last but not least, you can now print out your Jott Lists in a convenient check list to take with you wherever you go.

All Jotts feed
Rather than the traditional inbox, we decided to move forward with what is essentially, a feed of all your Jott messages. Basically, this means that all of the Jott messages you send, whether they are to yourself, to others or to Jott Links, as well as the Jott messages others send you, will all show up in this one place.

Drag and drop
You’re all used to this from Outlook and other email clients. Want to move something to a list? Grab the orange tab that appears when you roll over the Jott message and drag it there. You can send Jotts to other, to Jott Links, to your phone or printer this way too.

Contacts
Your most frequently Jotted contacts will show up in the right column under the Manage Contacts section. To see all of your contacts, import or add new ones, or change any of their contact information, simply click the Manage Contacts link.

Added reminder functionality
You can now hit the snooze button on your reminders. Reply to any Jott reminder whether via email or text message with Snooze and get another reminder 15 minutes later. You can also now add a reminder easily from the Jott website by typing the subject of your reminder in the Add Jott text box at the top of the All Jotts page and then clicking the Add a Reminder button.

Email and text message your account
The anti-Jott? Not quite! We’re bringing things full circle to offer you multi-modal access to your organization and communication system. Now you can add contacts to your account and items to your list by texting or emailing while away from your computer. Forgot that person’s email address but know you have it in your Jott account? Text message or email your account to retrieve that info.

As always, we are all ears and would love to hear what you all think. We’ll continue to work out some kinks over the next few weeks as we gear up for some truly outrageous new features coming your way.

Well, it may have taken us awhile, but new Canadian local numbers are finally here!

To give those you who are new to this issue a little background… most Canadian mobile providers do not pass caller ID information on to toll free numbers. Jott uses caller ID information to know who is calling and which account to look for. For more information on how Jott works, check out this post. This left a bunch of people in Canada without a way to easily Jott and us with the option to purchase local numbers across Canada.

We have had a local Toronto number (647-724-5814) for some time now, but that left everyone outside of that area having to pay long distance fees. So, after all of this and multiple rounds of trying to figure out the best solution, may we introduce to you all (drum role please)… OUR NEW CANADIAN NUMBERS!

AURORA : +12898020110
CALGARY : +14037751288
EDMONTON : +17806287799
HALIFAX : +19024828120
HAMILTON : +19054819060
KITCHENER : +15199572711
LONDON : +15194889331
MARKHAM : +12898000110
MONTREAL : +15146670329
OTTAWA : +16136861502
QUEBEC CITY : +14189072209
SAINT JOHNS : +17097570047
SHERBROOKE : +18193401636
TORONTO : +16477245365
TORONTO : +14168001067
VANCOUVER : +17787868229
VANCOUVER : +16044841347
VICTORIA : +12509847093
WINDSOR : +15198000031
WINNIPEG : +12042728154

Being a start-up can be crazy and exciting. Above all else, the intensity of it all creates a community of people who have done the same thing before you, are working on a start-up themselves, or hope to someday take part. This past Friday, The New York Times published an interesting article about that very community, Seattle Taps Its Inner Silicon Valley.

The whole world of start-ups is a little new to me, so I thought maybe it was time to reflect on what I’ve learned about it since I’ve been at Jott. With the help of The New York Times, I boiled it down to the following recipe:

Take 2 parts ex-Microsoft employees, 2 parts ex-Amazon employees, 3 parts drizzle, 2 parts UW grads, 5 parts coffee, 6 parts motivation and 20 parts really long work days. Shake. Pour into big pitcher you borrowed from your neighbor who knows the guy, who knows the lady ,who used to work for that other guy, who owns a pitcher factory. Serve at happy hour.

Ok, so maybe it’s not quite that simple, but that’s pretty darn close! It takes a tremendous amount of creative problem solving, resourcefulness and determination. Above all else though, the article is right that you need to be able to stare your failures in the face, not be afraid from them and embrace them moving forward as guidelines for improving. Stay tuned ’cause in the next few weeks what we have learned from all of you (the good, the bad and even the ugly) will finally culminate in some amazingly new Jott goodness!

Lately I’ve been working on being better about remembering the things I always forget. Trouble with that being that first I have to remember what exactly it is I forget! I’ve been sending myself Jott reminders as these things come to me (so I won’t forget, of course!). Here’s the list so far…

1) Birthdays
Just last year I forgot both my mom and my brother’s birthday. What makes it worse- they share the same one! How you forget two out of your four family members’ birthdays is beyond me, but I somehow managed to do it. (Sorry!) Which reminds me, today is my roommate Alisha’s birthday…

2) Calling people back
You’d think this would be an easy one, but it is never is. For instance, I’m on the west coast but my friends and family live on the east coast. By the time I get out of work they are almost ready for bed, so I always try and call on the weekend. Then things like pinball and movie watching and running get in the way and before you know it, the weekend is over and with it prime time to call my New York entourage.

3) Chores
Forgetfulness of selective memory? One may never know… Either way, I manage to forget about watering the plants almost every weekend. My poor Jade plant is really going to appreciate the Jott reminder I set myself for Saturday.

4) Switching the laundry over from the washer to the dryer.
Maybe this should really go under chores, but the frequency of it in my life warrants a separate entry in this list. This wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t share one washing machine and one dryer with the six other people who live in my building. I always feel bad when I forget to do this, but somehow manage to make it part of my laundry routine.

Since reminders are such a popular feature with Jott, I’m guessing I’m not the only one out there who forgets these types of things. If you’d like to share, we’d love to hear what you forget…if you can remember