Siri, the voice of reason on the iPhone 4S, has some similarities to HAL - mainly the cool answering of questions and knowledge of how to answer the famous request concerning the state of the pod bay doors.

HAL an archetypal computer - polite, yet evil to the core (pun intended) and who wouldn't want one!!

Siri, the voice of reason on the iPhone 4S, has some similarities to HAL - mainly the cool answering of questions and knowledge of how to answer the famous request concerning the state of the pod bay doors.

Well now you can, or will soon be able to, mix Siri with HAL. ThinkGeek will sell you an accessory called the Iris 9000 (not to be confused with Iris the free Android look alike) control module for Siri. It may be called Iris but it has a glowing red "eye" that is clearly modelled on HAL's.

It has a sort of serious purpose as well as looking cool. You simply pres the wireless remote and Siri beeps and is ready to take your question. When she answers the red eye flickers along with the voice. You can also use it as a standard speaker phone to make and receive calls but lets be honest this is just about fantasies of saying "Open the pod bay..." to something that looks a bit like HAL and having Siri answer.

Take a look at the video:

.. but you will have to wait until April next year to get one. The price is irrelevant but it is good to know that it is expected to be $59.99.

If you can't wait that long you will have to mock one up from an Arduino, some wire and a refurbished HAL vision sensor module.

More information

Iris 9000 voice control module for iPhone and Siri

How Siri "Really" Works

Iris - Siri for Android proves Apple doesn't have an edge

HAL 9000 "born" on this day in 1997

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