A fellow worker alerted me to a genuinely free service (no charges I see) offered by what appears to be a young startup company that works really well.   You call a toll free number, you tell it who you want to email   then you speak what you want typed.   They deliver the transcribed email!

You begin by setting up a free account on their website, registering your cell # or even a landline.   You type in the names & emails of several contacts that you might want to send an email to. (If you are Internet or disability challenged in any way, you can have a friend do this web setup for you. After this,  it's just you and your cell phone)  Note:  this service never calls you or your contacts - all they do is send emails when you command... read on:

Finally  Save this company's 866 (toll free) # on your phone

Example:

Let's say you want to send a quick email to a friend that you preregistered in your signup  e.g.  Bill Short

Here's how it works:

Call this company's toll free number

They will ask "who do you want to Jott"

You speak only  "Bill Short"   (when u registered you set up Bill Short & gave his email address)

They speak the name back "Bill Short , is that correct?"

You say :  yes

Then you simply hear a beep

Now You just speak whatever u want to email to Bill   eg  "Hi Bill this is a test   I am driving on the expressway  and I knew u check your email constantly "

You pause for a few seconds so they know you are done,  it beeps again  & says  "GOT IT "

You hang up..

In a few moments , Jott's server emails old  Bill Short a  remarkably good transcription of what you spoke  AND it's nice enough to include your recorded voice in a clickable link in the same email.  Sorta transcribed voicemail via email.   There are more options available if you hang on after it says "got it" but you get the idea....

I use it when I don't want to wake my napping wife (Jaime has MS and naps frequently) but I know she checks email on waking.

It's rather clever.

Again it's called Jott

Try it at NO cost at   http://jott.com/default.aspx

You might just find a use for it,  you might not.  It's a written voicemail after all.

But it is novel enough to try on a lark.

Doug J

This reminds of another service that converts web text to speech for free. It's called Odiogo.com. So, bloggers and other web publishers can enhance accessibility to their sites by converting their text to speech and providing a link to listen to the text.

Both the Jott and the Odiogo could be very useful for people with limited vision. The Jott service is also useful for people who don't want to type or have limited hand mobility.