It's certainly effective, though, the surprisingly loud speaker has us crossing our fingers for a mute button in the final version.

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On one side, you'll find a large volume rocker, mute button, 6-in-1 memory card slot, two USB 2.0 ports, and headphone and mic jacks.

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He heard a mute button switch off and a voice he recognized as that of a senior executive in New York came on the line.

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He was dying on the phone when he heard another mute button switch off and the voice of an even more senior executive came on the line.

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That last comment is yet another confirmation of the first rule for listening to either politicians or Sabbath Gasbags: whenever one of them is about to tell you what "the American people" want or what "the American people" believe, you would be well advised to hit the mute button.

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The "mute" button of every TV remote control in the world is another good tool for keeping noisy and insulting commercials at bay.

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Suddenly it was as if someone had pushed a button and put the city on mute.

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Straddling the edge of the hinge we find a set of touch-sensitive controls, including a power button and one-touch access for mute, WiFi, volume controls, LED backlighting and a few keyboard status lights.

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