Texting while driving has been in the news quite a lot lately as to the increased risk of an accident for those who are texting behing the wheel. Anti-texting laws are now in effect in 30 of the United States.
The U.S. Department of Transportation says that drivers who do anything with a handheld device increase the risk of getting in an injury crash by four times.
AdelaVoice is based in East Falmouth, Mass., a state where, beginning October 1, 2010, texting while driving will carry a penalty of up to a $500. The company has come up with what it says is a solution for the problem, called StartTalking. Instead of starring at your phone, AdelaVoice says, you'll just be able to talk to it, and have it send what you say as a text. Likewise, when someone sends you a message, it will read it back. What is very unique is that this is free of charge.
Once installed on your Android phone, it runs in the background and listens for voice prompts to begin an action. The two prompts that are coming in this first iteration of the product are "computer" and "operator," though in future versions you'll be able to program in whatever word you want. AdelaVoice has plans to expand the capacity of other phones that will be able to use the platform in the near future.
