Dial2Do
Dial2Do seems to offer more than just voice to text translation by performing tasks such as ’send email’, ‘check calendar’, ‘post to Twitter’ and many more. I know Jott allowed you to post to some of your other web accounts such as Twitter, but I always used it for simple note taking on the go. Dial2Do is free throughout their BETA (let’s see if they end up like Jott).

SpinVox
SpinVox offers many of the same function as Dial2Do (i.e. blogging, texting, memos, etc) but has more of an international focus. I am very suspicious of their pricing. I can’t seem to find anything more than ’start a free trial’ on their website. It probably means that you will get caught up paying for this after 30 days. I will share my results if I end up registering with them.

ReQall
ReQall is another voice to text service that also expands beyond just your mobile phone. You can use it from an IM account, web browser or SMS as well. One benefit ReQall has it that you can record and listen to a shopping list on the go (or any other form of a to-do list).

Drop.io
Drop.io allows provides you with a unique number for each account. You can then call and leave voice mail to this number with up to 100mb of storage. Although this doesn’t provide direct voice to text translation, the practically limitless storage space is a plus.

TwitterFone
If where your notes are captured is not a big concern and your a fan of Twitter, you could easily use TwitterFone to ping your Twitter account while on the move. If you are also concerned more with mobile note taking in general and not on voice mail to text translation, then you can always message Twitter directly and check your feed later.

I don’t want to be just another customer willing to switch as soon as a service I find valuable decides to charge me on what they provide. However, for those interested in free Jott alternatives, the above list should cover your options. I’ll let you know if I cave and switch providers.

This post is for those new to RSS, those who have not fully witnessed the glory of RSS and those who are a little frustrated with RSS. I’ve broken it down into three steps (each with a little video demonstration):

Step One: What is RSS?
Step Two: Great, but which Feed Manager Should I Use?
Step Three: Information Overload! How do I Handle All of these Feeds?

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, but off the bat does not seem all that simple. Rather than writing paragraphs on the technical wizardry behind this fantastic little gizmo, here is a great video tutorial explaining what RSS is and how you can use it:

Great, but which Feed Manager Should I Use?

There is an extensive array of RSS feed managers to choose from and frankly, I would rather not list them all. If you want an overview of all the available feed managers out there, read Mashable’s Productivity God article. Personally, I think the answer is indisputable: Google Reader. Here are just a few reasons why it kicks so much ass:

• Integrates with your Gmail account
• Allows you to star and share items
• Very easy keyboard shortcuts
• Google Gears allows you to download ALL of your feeds!

Again, I have included a little video tutorial to help get you up and running on Google Reader:

To make life even easier, here are some great keyboard shortcuts for Google Reader courtesy of Mashable:

j/k – selects the next/previous item in the list
space/shift-space – moves the page down/up
n/p – in list view, selects the next item without opening it
o – in list view, expands or collapses the selected item
enter – in list view, expands or collapses the selected item
s – stars the selected item
shift-s – shares the selected item
m – switches the read state of the selected item
t – opens the tagging field for the selected item
v – opens the original source for this article in a new window
shift-a – marks all items in the current view as read
1 – displays the subscription as expanded items
2 – displays the subscription as a list of headlines
r – refreshes the unread counts in the navigation
shift-n/p – selects the next/previous subscription or folder in the navigation
shift-x – expand or collapse a folder selected in the navigation
shift-o – opens the item currently selected in the navigation
gh – goes to the Google Reader homepage
ga – goes to the “All items” view
gs – goes to the “Starred items” view
gt – allows you to navigate to a tag by entering the tag name
gu – allows you to navigate to a subscription by entering the subscription name
u – hides and shows the list of subscriptions
? – displays a quick guide to all of Reader’s shortcuts

Information Overload! How do I Handle All of these Feeds?

Subscribing to RSS feeds quickly becomes addictive. I started with around 20 and found myself over reading over 80 different websites within only a few weeks. Although RSS makes information management ridiculously easy, it can put a huge damper on your productivity if you spend all day reading your latest feeds. Here is a video interview conducted by Tim Ferriss with Robert Scoble on how Scoble manages to read 622 RSS feeds each morning:

To add my own little productivity tip on managing RSS feeds, only allow yourself to read them during your 30-60 minute lunch break and DO NOT open Google Reader for the rest of the day. This is very much like only checking your email twice a day, but if you have enough will power, you’ll find that you can still get all of the important news read (even when you have over 100+ feeds).

Well, now you know How to Master RSS in Three Easy Steps! Just remember, reading your Feeds can get very addictive. You have been warned.

Here is an outline of the updated Daily Action Map. My upcoming series will have in depth explanations for all of the concepts behind it.

Layout:

• Date: Helps put a time line on your productivity
• Mantra: Personal mantra that helps for motivation or focus
• Daily Pebbles: Four most important tasks for the day
• Weekly Stones: Four action steps that move you closer to your mountains (goals)
• Mountains: Four goals that you would like to accomplish in the next 3-6 month period
• Company Milestones: Four weekly goals that will bring your company closer to success
• Notes: Jotting down any thoughts, ideas or references that you need to remember
• Task Catcher: Other tasks (often tasks that can be batched) that need to be completed but not the most important for that day
• Communication: Any emails and phone calls that need to be made
• Watch List: Items that you need to follow up on such as delegated tasks
• Reminders: Personal statements that keep you focused/motivated
• Checklist: Items that are daily habits you are trying to instill

My Daily Action Map is still a work in progress, as I am constantly shaping and changing my habits to improve effectiveness. I’m sure you will see a Version 3.0 as well.

Download and customize your own daily-action-map

I’m going to give the service a trial over the next few weeks and will let you know how it turns out. The one issue I see is that the features such as digital voice mail only work if the GrandCentral issued number is called, not your direct existing cell number. I guess this would require you to issue out this new number to all of your existing contacts. None-the-less, I think it has real potential.

Although some people prefer paper or hard-journals (I too have a moleskin that I use to capture some of my ideas), most of the time I enter my thoughts in .LOG files. Check out the .LOG notepad hack on how to turn windows notepad into a journal. These logs allow for quick time-stamped entries that I can easily return to during my weekly reviews.

It might seem like wasted time to enter your thoughts and things you have already done into a journal but you will be amazed at how much it helps in evaluating your ideas and habits.

If you haven’t heard of Tim, you are doing yourself a misfortune. Check out his blog and you will see why. Or if you do know what he’s all about, pick up a copy of his book:

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

GTD Dashboard for Outlook

Todoist

GTD Tiddlywiki

However, each time I venture into using a new digital tool, I always find there is either too much setup time required or it’s simply not accessible enough – having to sign online each time I need to check my todo list, really isn’t productive.

I continually find myself returning back to my legal pad in an effort to organize a solid list of the things I need to do. At times, however, my action items get mixed with my follow ups which get mixed with my notes and so on – the whole thing turns out to be a mess.

So, a solution that I have come up with and that I am continuously developing:

Daily Action Map

Layout:

• Tasks: list of action items with a column to associate a project or context with them
• Communication: list of follow ups with a column to associate a project or context with them
• Notes: space to jot down thoughts
• 15 Minutes: the one task I need to accomplish for each of my projects (see my post on working 15 minutes a day)
• Four Stones: the four major goals I want to accomplish that week
• Reminders: List of thoughts and actions I need to remember to implement throughout the day

I’ve only been using this template for week, but so far I have found it very helpful. Please feel free to download it, give it a shot and let me know your feedback.

Download and customize your own Daily Action Map

There are a few guidelines to the ‘productive desktop’:

1) NO DESKTOP ICONS.

The first thing to do is to organize all of your desktop icons so that your programs are in a program folder and your documents are in a document folder. Check out my article on color-coding your folder to help in organization. Next, right click your desktop, select ‘arrange icons by’ and un-check ’show desktop icons’. Whoa! Where did they all go? There is nothing left!! What will I do? Proceed.

2) NO TASK BAR.

Since I am not hooked on just using an app-launcher (although I do experiment with Launchy every once-in-a-while) and the alt+tab method of selecting programs – I say keep your task bar, but don’t let me see it! Use AlphaXP Lite to set your task bar on full transparency. This will hide any possible start menu, task bar and icon tray distractions. It’s also pretty cool to see the task bar fade in and out when you hover over it.

3) DESKTOP GTD

I employ a very modified and simplified GTD system on my desktop, which consists of a basic to-do list and a ‘thoughts to remember’ list. I use Samurize to embed these text documents into my desktop. I gave my desktop a basic dos-like feel, but Samurize is pretty customizable.

I have been using this system for weeks now and have not had any problems running my programs out of the windows explorer. I really like seeing my to-do’s every time I glance at my desktop – it’s all in an effort to focus.