Sometimes you get a comment on a post that’s so good, and so relevent, that you have to share it. In the post below this one, The Dangers Of Texting While Driving, I got a comment from a man named Erik Wood. He’s the inventor of an Android app called OTTER, or One Touch Text Response, which enables users of the app to protect themselves from the urge to respond to texts while driving, or just whenever responding to texts is inconvenient.
Basically, how OTTER works is that it has a built-in GPS. When you travel over 10 miles an hour (like in a car), OTTER automatically disables the vibrate, tone, and light-up features of your phone that alert you to texts. It also sends an automatic response to the person who texted you, saying that you’re currently driving and can’t text back. When you stop traveling at 10 miles an hour, OTTER shuts itself off and you can resume texting as normal. Alternately, you can program Otter in order to send back one-touch sentence responses to the most common text questions/requests you get.
Interestingly, OTTER also features a text management system. Basically, if you want a few hours away from the digital chains, you just schedule a blackout period. OTTER tells your interested friends that you won’t be available until whatever time you specify, and you get some much-needed peace and quiet. Sounds like my kind of app!
OTTER is currently available only for Android phones, but they’re looking to expand and develop the product for the iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile platforms. This is the kind of thing that will be a must-have app for me when I finally switch from a dumbphone to a smartphone.
Image: Android App Inspection
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