I’ve been in Seattle for the last few days as you know, and I came across the article below in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. When I lived in Seattle, I read John Cook’s column religiously - and I actually have two of his feeds that I read daily in Idaho as well.

So, last week on the fabulous new TechBoise website, I wrote that we really need to see Micron and HP engineers leaving their posts and creating new ventures if we want the tech community in Boise to grow. This is the way it works in places like Seattle, as John Cook’s article makes clear. So that is the first thing we need.

The second thing we need is in the subject of the article. Former Microsoft employeee John Pollard has created a company called Jott, which will allow you to respond to text messages verbally, as in when you are driving in a car, and can’t get your thumbs free to use the little tiny keyboard on your Blackberry. Man do we need this.

So, John Pollard, congratulations, John Cook, thanks for writing a great column - and say . . . all my dear friends over at the Idaho Business Review - why not a permanent column on new ventures, like John Cook’s?

Full text of the Cook article below:

Jott scores $5.4 million to covert voice to text

Jott Networks, which has developed a technology to convert voice to text and then have the messages broadcast via e-mail or text message to individuals or groups of people, has landed $5.4 million in a deal led by Boston-based Bain Capital. Other investors in the 13-month-old mobile startup include Ackerley Partners, Draper Richards and the investment firm of Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom.

The technology could help solve the problem of people thumb-tapping messages on their Blackberries while driving, though two analysts questioned the market potential of the idea.

“Conceptually, I think it makes sense. But how wide of an adoption and can they make money on it is the question,” said Neil Strother, a wireless analyst at JupiterResearch.

John Pollard, the former Microsoft manager who co-founded the company 13 months ago, thinks there is a big market opportunity since 40 percent of cell phone use is in cars. And with recent laws that could limit the usage of portable devices while driving, Pollard believes they are hitting the market at the right time.

“I think phone usage in the car is fine it just has to be a hands free situiation,” he says.

More from my column today and from my story last December when Jott first launched.

Anyway, it’s been a good week for startups that begin with the letter “J.” In addition to Jott, Internet TV startup Joost (co-founded by Skype’s Zennstrom) announced $45 million and Internet telephone startup Jajah (a Skype competitor) raised $20 million.

Posted by John Cook at May 11, 2007 7:24 a.m.