MotorMouth – Get the Word Out

An audible version of Twitter!

MotorMouth by Dan Jacoby is a neat little free app that runs on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. What is it, you ask? The name does sound kind of odd, but at the end of the day, this app lets you connect with others around you to hear about what they are doing, where they are, and what may be happening around them. If you really want to stretch it a bit, you could consider it to be an audible version of Twitter.  The added benefit to these posted voice comments is that they are geolocated – people will know from where you left your audible post.

So, what would you use this app for? Well, first off, at a very social level, you could leave comments about a restaurant you just dined at, a movie you watched, or a great art exhibit you are currently viewing. It can be real-time or you can leave your message as you are finishing up. The absolute beauty of MotorMouth is the fact that you can share information in real-time. So, people know what you are doing and how great, or maybe how bad, it is. So really, as the name may indicate, you really don’t have to be in your car to use this app. You could be just about anywhere, sharing.

To use, you download and register with the app. Settings include being able to filter the range in miles of shout-outs you would like to “hear”. You can also set how you want access to other posted messages, such “newer first”. By default, you will see messages based on proximity. The app’s main screen is essentially a roadmap, a satellite picture, or a hybrid of both, that pinpoints and marks locations where messages have been recorded and posted. To listen, simply tap on a marker, they look like upside-down orange teardrops.

You’ll see a rectangular box appear showing who left the message, when it was left, and a PLAY button to hear it. You can also STOP the message midway, which will force you to listen from the start again when you press PLAY. If you press the PLAY button that is at the very top right of the screen, you will hear all messages currently posted in the range you’ve specified in settings. Don’t worry, if you get tired of hearing them, just press STOP. Once you’ve listened to a message, it turns from orange to transparent; and, you can still listen to them a second time.

I found MotorMouth to be somewhat useful, and its potential will surely explode as other apps tap into its feeds. I can see this being a great supplement to many other apps that serve ratings and feedback on places around town and maybe to a place you may be visiting. One thing that would be nice would be the ability to pause the message. This really isn’t absolutely necessary, because most messages are very brief. But, it still would be nice.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is always out and about and would like to stay connect with friends through audio. The more I used MotorMouth, the more it felt like tweets for the ears.