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Mobile-phone texting has evolved into an essential form of communication—a brief e-mail on the run. But for those who find texting cumbersome, a quicker solution has arrived. Woburn, Massachusetts-based VoiceSignal has created VoiceMode, which allows mobile-phone users "to say it, see it and send it."

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It takes approximately one minute and 75 taps of tiny keys to create and send this text message: "Leave tix at box office—running late." Dictate the same text with a VoiceMode-enabled phone in seconds. VoiceMode's current discrete dictation means that users must pause between words, but CEO Rich Geruson says, "The next step is to speak naturally and continuously in full sentences. This summer Europe will be the first region to get the world's first continuous dictation product—VoiceMode 2.0." Luddites, multitaskers and the hopelessly maladroit will rejoice. voicesignal.com

• Brooke Carnot
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