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But he's seen the consequences of paying more attention to th... e gadget than what's ahead.

"I saw someone walk right into a sign," recalled the 32-year-old Silicon Valley resident. "She didn't hurt herself but she was startled. She dropped her phone, then her friends starting laughing at her. It was funny but I guess it could've been more serious."

While using a cell phone while driving has triggered the most alarm bells and prompted laws in several states, experts say, pedestrians are also suffering the consequences of mobile distraction - tripping on curbs, walking into traffic, even stepping into manholes as they chat or type while walking.

To help these sidewalk stumblers step out more safely, technology companies are now stepping in, creating applications that do everything from make a smartphone screen transparent to transform speech into text.

Whether the technologies will prevent injuries and embarrassment remains to be seen, they are being welcomed as a move in the right direction.

"I don't think we're going to eliminate people from walking into things outright and of course we want people to be responsible, but what we're trying to do is eliminate the friction point ... and give the user back a little mental bandwith," said Travis Bogard, the executive director for product management and strategy at San Francisco-based Aliph, which makes bluetooth earpieces.

Aliph's Jawbone earpiece incorporates voice-to-text technology which eliminates the need to glance down at the keypad to send an e-mail or text message. It also has caller ID that speaks to the wearer so he or she doesn't have to pick up the phone to see who is calling and a function that allows wearers to call up their contacts using their voice rather than fingers.

"All of this gets rid of the need to touch your phone, which causes your eyes to move away from what's in front of you," Bogard said.

Other programs also on the market aim to make it easier to type while walking. They tap into a smartphone's camera to beam an image of what's in front of the user over the message screen so typers can see what's ahead. They include Text Vision, Type n Walk and Email 'n Walk.

"See-through screens, yes, would solve part of the problem," said Clifford Nass, a professor of communications at Stanford University and one of the authors of a study on multitasking. "But there's still a second problem, which has to do with engagement of the brain."

Same goes with voice-to-text technology, Nass said.