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Just the other day I got an email from our CEO, John Pollard, about how much he loves using the Google Calendar Jott Link to add events both to his personal calendar and his family’s shared calendar. It dawned on me, that many of you might not even know that is possible to link to more than one Google Calendar from the same Jott account. Well… you can! Here’s how:

1) Login and click the “Add Jott Links” box in the right side column.

2) Go to the “Premium Links” and add a Google Calendar link.

3) Change the name of the link to something like, Work Calendar.

4) Save and enter all the necessary info to connect your Jott account to your Google Calendar (don’t worry, we don’t have access to any of your Google Account Info, you’re just giving us permission to send messages there).

Repeat steps one through four for as many Google Calendars you have. Just make sure you remember to name the link something different each time, otherwise you’ll hear a “We found multiple contacts with that name” message when you call Jott. If you have a shared calendar, others can link to the same one from their Jott account as well.

Thanks to everyone who sent in a story about how they use Jott. It was great to read so much about all of you, why you value the product and how it’s come to help in your everyday life. Below are the ten best stories we received, plus an extra one (it was too hard to choose ten!). The grand prize winner announcement is in this month’s newsletter!

Terry G. uses Jott to juggle the many duties his job as a Housing Administrator of a non-profit requires of him. With a staff of only two people, Jott is a resource Terry depends on to keep track of the condition of building and grounds he manages and communicate with residents.

Kerryn is a busy mom of two, who wrote to tell us about two times Jott helped her out with her kids. The first time Jott served as a way for her five year old daughter to create a list of Chanukah gifts, adding all the toys in the store she’d like, while still letting her Mom get her shopping done. The second time as a reminder to mend a stuffed animal, ensuring that a favorite Eeyore doll would be repaired and drying the tears of an (understandably!) upset child.

Andy C. used Jott to announce to all his Twitter friends that he was off to see his first grandchild! He wrote to let us know how easy it was to share this great moment with his entire network, even while embarking on a six hour drive.

Kimberly C. uses to Jott to juggle all the different companies she works with for her bookkeeping company. She credited Jott with helping her stay profitable and on track!

Paula G. at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay uses Jott for the campus’s emergency website. She’s set up a system that allows a Jott Link to act as a backup means of communication in case of a computer outage on the campus.

Kathryn P. uses Jott to stay in touch with her many students. As the director of an education non-profit that gives adults living on low incomes access to free classes, she uses Jott to stay in touch with alumni and students through group messaging. She says it plays a big role in keeping current students motivated, and those who have graduated still connected.

Jason L. wrote to tell us how Jott helped him overcome difficulty typing, making it easy for him to text, keep lists and update his Facebook status.

Dennis S. wrote to say that Jott has saved him $150 at a time, more than a few times, by reminding him of important appointments that he could not miss.

Glenn H. works for trade shows and uses Jott to keep track of prospective clients and what they talked about. He notes that his prospects are always amazed at his great memory and grasp of details.

Jamison H. used Jott one day to save his wife from having to sit in traffic. Knowing she would be heading out on the same road he was on, and one an accident had just happened on, he was able to send a Jott message to his wife so she could avoid the mess and get home on time.

Eddie M. wrote to tell us how he used Jott to blog while on a cross country trip with his wife. He would send short posts from different cities he was in, or to note an important event. His blogging was even picked up by a few travel sites as a great way to keep track of travels!

The new Motorla headsets with Jott on (and an offer inside) the box!

If you haven’t heard yet, I Want Sandy is closing its doors on December 8th at 5 p.m. PST. All the details of this, and the CEO’s move to Twitter are available in a nice post from Rael Dornfest. So, what does this mean to all of our Jotters who love Sandy and use the I Want Sandy Jott Link?

1) Your I Want Sandy Jott Link will no longer work, but all of the Jott messages you have sent to I Want Sandy are still available to you on the Jott website, and in Jott Express.

2) Start adding items to your to-do lists via email with Jott and still receive email reminders. Follow the links to learn how to add a Jott Note or an item to a list via email or text message

3) Login to your Jott account, or open Jott Express and set a reminder by clicking on the bell icon. You can choose to receive that reminder via email and/or text message at a specific time and date.

We usually talk about ways to be more productive, but getting things done is always easier said than done. For every task that lay ahead, there is always something or someone happy to distract you from your work. Sometimes these distractions are welcome breaks and sometimes a small break can spiral out of control to be an all out unproductive hour. It’s hard, after all, to stay focused and motivated 100% of the time. Below is a look at the five greatest weapons in what I call, “The War on Productivity”.

1) Construction and other loud noises
As I write this, I am working from home. Why? Because today is the day (thank goodness!) that someone has come to fix the leak in our ceiling that happens to be right in front of my desk. What started out as sheer joy on my part that a life without buckets full of brown water greeting me as I enter the office would soon be over, quickly turned into pipes being cut through, clogs being unclogged and other generally loud construction noises. One half hour spent debating about leaving and a fifteen minute bus ride home, and I’m finally back to work.

2) RSS feeds
This is both a necessity for me, and a danger. On the one hand, part of my job is to be up to date on the latest news. On the other hand, when my little Google Reader tells me I have (14) new items to read, I can’t really focus till I’ve read them. I’ve had to create new reading times for myself, much like the people who check their email three times a day, now I only check my RSS feeds three times a day.

3) Twitter
Again, a hazard of my job. Finding balance between staying in the know and actually getting things done can be hard, especially now that there is Twitter search. It’s endless entertainment! So endless in fact that it has once again been quarantined in my quest to accomplish more in one day, to special visits done in the morning and later afternoon.

4) Facebook
Why, oh why, Facebook, must you send me emails notifying me that someone has commented on my status, or added me as a friend? Well, I know why, because it gets people like me to stop what they are doing a second, login to their account and then get sucked into the Facebook world. It’s strategic, it’s effective, and darn it - it’s just about the best weapon they have against productivity.

5) Smells, especially microwave popcorn
Recently our office was gifted a case of microwave popcorn. This is both a blessing (who doesn’t love popcorn?!) and a curse. Once a single bag of popcorn gets popping, that sweet smell of buttery, or in this case Smart Balance, goodness spreads throughout the office and literally forces me to stop what I am doing, appreciate the smell and remind myself that I can wait till later to have a snack.

So let’s hear it, what are your biggest distractions, and how do you work around/though/against them?

We’ve got some routine maintenance to take care of tonight, so the Jott service will down beginning at 10 p.m. PST for about ten minutes. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, but it’s necessary to keep things running smoothly!

From this week’s PostSecret installment…

I have to admit, I do this too.

If you have an iPhone and a premium Jott account, then this trick is for you…

You can add Outlooks tasks and create draft emails from your iPhone app!

Here’s what to do…

1) If you haven’t already, download the Jott for Outlook add-in.

2) You’ll see three lists appear on your Jott account, and on your iPhone app: Outlook Calendar, Outlook Tasks, Outlook Email Drafts.

3) From your iPhone app, open the Outlook list you’d like to add something to.

4) Tap the record screen and say your message.

5) Once the iPhone app syncs with your account, and your account syncs with your Outlook, the tasks and/or email drafts you created will appear in your Outlook.

This post was written by Alicia Power, VUI Design Engineer

When we speak in person, there are environmental, context and body language cues which help others understand what we say or mean even if our words are not crystal clear. Voice recognition on the phone has none of these advantages, and it helps to keep that in mind when calling Jott. You really are talking to a machine! Here are a few tips to help with voice recognition:

Avoid bad connections
As we all know from having conversations with others on cell phones, it can be hard to hear the person on the other end if there is bad reception or background noise. Voice recognition when calling Jott is no different. If your voice can’t be heard well enough, it won’t get through to the system and you will hear: “Sorry, didn’t get that.”

Speak loudly and clearly
If you hear “Sorry, didn’t get that” intermittently, try speaking louder. It sounds simple, but it is really the first step to good voice recognition. Shouting or over-enunciating is not necessary and will not help the system understand you. Just speak with a bit of projection to overcome any unconscious tendencies to speak quietly, mumble or slur your words together.

Be careful of name pronunciation
If you hear the message: “Sorry, we couldn’t find that name in your contacts”, it means that your words were heard, but we couldn’t match them with a contact, list or Jott Link. Often, trying again and saying the name slowly and clearly fixes the problem. Listen carefully to the way the name is read back to you when it asks “Is this correct?” as this can give you clues as to how the voice recognition system expects to hear the name.

Try the Sounds Like feature
If you are always having a hard time getting Jott to understand a name, it may be because you say it differently from the phonetic pronunciation. There is a really easy remedy to this! On the Jott website, go to the Contacts tab, and click on the contact this is happening with. You will find a Sounds Like text box. Fill in this text box with the phonetic spelling of how you say their name and the Voice UI will use this instead of the First and Last names to find your contact. For short names, add a word or two, like “doctor” or “mister”. It sounds silly, but if a name is really hard to recognize, you can simply fill in the Sounds Like field with a fun phrase or a few words which are easy to pronounce.

Just a quick post to let you all know that the Jott service will be down tonight starting at 10 p.m. pacific time for some scheduled maintenance. The whole thing shouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes, but we wanted to let you all know in case you had a big Jott evening planned.