Please speak after the tone

 

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Posted on 31 Oct 2000 at 12:22

Do you have no memory for telephone numbers? Do find it embarrassing fumbling with your mobile every time you want to call home? Don't fear, Digital Mail Limited are offering you a lifeline.

The company is offering a low-cost, Voice-Activated Dialling system that enables the subscriber to do away with phone books and organisers. The service features real-time itemised billing and a standard tariff of 5p per minute. There is also enough space to store up to 3,000 contact numbers. For more details, click here.

The idea is that you just dial the service number and then speak the name of the person you want to call. The dmCalls system then uses speech recognition to dial the required number.

Robert Darwin, the Managing Director of Digital Mail Limited said of the service: "People remember names. Numbers just get in the way, and I regard them as an endangered species. This is an evolutionary step towards user friendly communications."

It's a great idea for people who have had a little too much of the jolly juice and are so inebriated that they can't operate their mobile phone. But will the system be able to cope with the slurred speech of a drunk?

Author: Darren Lock