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Messaging app 'Talko' available Tuesday for iPhones; designed to bring back emotion of human voice

Posted at 3:58 AM, Sep 23, 2014
and last updated 2014-09-23 11:37:07-04

Longtime technology guru Ray Ozzie wants to bring back the emotions of the human voice to phones.

His mission began more than two years ago as Ozzie noticed people were increasingly communicating through texts, emails and social media posts instead of calling each other.

Ozzie, Microsoft's former chief software architect, hopes to orchestrate voice's comeback through Talko, a mobile application being released Tuesday for the iPhone. A version for Android phones is expected in a few months.

Talko sends the equivalent of text messages in the form of a spoken word. Talko users can record a voice message and send it over the Internet to anyone else with the app. Recipients listen to the recording when it's convenient, rather than being interrupted by a traditional phone call.