“Mr. Watson – Come here –I want to see you.” With those few simple words Alexander Graham Bell and his invention - the telephone - forever changed the way the world communicates over long distances.

In many ways, computers have become for the twenty-first century what the telephone was for the nineteenth. Just as Bell was stepping into new territory with his invention, the World Wide Web has had to face its own challenges in developing an effective and easy way to integrate its system with voice.

In recent years several new technologies have emerged attempting to bring voice to the internet: Voice over IP, podcasting, audio chat rooms, instant messaging, and streaming audio are finding ever increasing audiences.

However many of these technologies are using internet just as a way of delivery and distribution. Regarding the web content, text is still the king, but this situation may change in the near future.

Everyone would agree that there are benefits to using voice instead of typing. For one thing it is easier to say something than to type it. For another, text can never convey emotions with the ease and confidence that hearing your voice can convey. Imagine being able to better instill credibility online by allowing people to hear your real voice?

In the todays competitive world, being able to use voice along with text, pictures, charts, and spreadsheets will become more important than ever. Using audio is more “real”, friendly, personal, and intimate. Nothing conveys confidence like hearing someone’s voice.

Did you know that you can now record your voice, upload the voice file and insert a link to it to e-mails, blogs, websites, and more with the ease of a couple of mouse clicks? Imagine the benefits of using voice on Ebay auctions, sales websites, online dating services, and social networking services such as MySpace and Hi5? The person on the other end can then click on a link and listen to your voice. They can do the same and you can have a conversation via the internet similar to conversation in forums or in blogs when people leave comments and bloggers reply to them. But all this done in real voice rather than typed text. As more and more people start using this technology, audio will become the norm instead of the exception when using the internet.

Free tiny windows application that makes it possible is called SayAndPost and it can be downloaded from http://sayandpost.com. The program seamlessly combines voice recording and uploading and makes it exceptionally easy to publish your voice online. Sayandpost.com site will also host your voice files for free.

Can such a simple tool trigger widespread usage of voice on the internet? I certainly believe it can. But don’t take my word on it. Check it out yourself!