Have you ever been stuck on a train and needed to check your e-mail? US-based Brite Voice Systems is developing a system which could make collecting your e-mails just a phone call away. The system uses text-to-speech software to convert the e-mail to a voice or sound file. "The user will dial into our normal voice mail systems and then we'll lay the voice file over the phone," says Mr Andrew Beacock of Brite. "So they can pick up their e-mails while they are on the road." The main task is to adapt text-to-speech packages so that they can cope with the idiosyncrasies of emails. Current conversion software, for example, would not distinguish between the dots used in an e-mail or web address and the full stops at the end of a sentence. The company is working a on a trial system that will also include Web access.