Topics

61

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Plug-in issue

« on: February 08, 2009, 07:33:57 pm »

JasonDude,

Your read a story plug is a great idea but there seems to be a limit on the length that the .txt file can be.

I tried two different story files, The Walrus and The Carpenter.txt and After Picking Apples (I think that's the title).

Hal stopped after reaching 1605 characters and 288 words in the 1st one. Hal stopped at 1538 characters and 306 words in the 2nd example.

So it would therefore be a moot issue to install any txt files in excess of these roughly 1.5k limit unless a solution can be found.

Running AMD 4200+ X2 Dual Core, 2 gigs ram, 300 gig HD, XP Media Edition.

It might be a constraint within Hal that Robert could address.

TIA!

62

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Conflicting Plug-ins

« on: February 07, 2009, 05:15:10 pm »

While trying TheDude's tell a story plug-in, which worked quite well once all the text files were put in the story directory, it was interrupted by Hal's auto-idle response being triggered!

There needs to be a way for Hal to "know" that either the user is typing a long sentence or that a passage of text is being read.

Otherwise, nice work dude!![]

63

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Blank responses

« on: February 07, 2009, 10:14:42 am »

Anyone else experienced blank responses from Hal after you've asked a question or input a statement (typed, not spoken)?

It's as if the user input either wasn't recognized or wasn't considered as valid...don't know but I don't recall it being this frequent with Hal 6.1.

Perhaps Robert is aware of this...perhaps not.

Appreciate any thoughts or feedback in this regard!

64

Speech Technology / New Speech rec/control program

« on: October 13, 2008, 07:51:49 pm »

Those of you with either a fast connection or a lot of time can download a new program called Tazti (pronounced Tasty...like ice cream).

It works like a vocal environment where one can control the computer via spoken voice to search, play, browse music files, stocks, etc.

I thought it was worth a look and possibly might have the ability to interface with other programs like chatbots, etc.

If nothing else, it should be fun to try.

www.tazti.com

65

General Discussion / Off topic Music

« on: September 03, 2008, 08:31:10 pm »

MarkofKane will appreciate this link:
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

You can select your month, day and year of your birth and see what song was #1 at that time. If you have itunes you can also download it.

Kind of neat for the nostalgia buffs.

66

Ultra Hal 7.0 / New Hal OS for Windows

« on: April 25, 2008, 08:08:29 pm »

I found this site and believe it to be
operated by a former member here: Rich_A
Rich was very good at writing script files
and was keen on automating Hal to perform
a variety of tasks. Looks like he did.
Some pretty incredible stuff here!

http://halwindowscentral.com/default.aspx

67

General Discussion / Linux (Ubuntu) PC anyone?

« on: March 11, 2008, 04:27:04 pm »

Apparently Wal-Mart is going to be selling off it's low cost green PC's, equipped with Ubuntu - a flavor of linux that's pretty powerful and quite user friendly. Even though the software is open source and unlike Microsoft, there is no required registration or activation, sales of the PC's have been somewhat lackluster.

Not a bad deal considering the PC is only $199 (without monitor).

So everyone who complains about Microsoft and Windows usually does so while typing our their tirade using...Windows software. - Go figure!

For a more in depth look at the article check out:

http://www.betanews.com/article/WalMart_to_close_out_dirtcheap_Green_Linux_PC/1205263645

68

General Discussion / Nice movie using iClones

« on: July 28, 2007, 05:03:51 pm »

Check out the western short movie using iClone and
some nice particle effects. Much more effective than
the Haptek models.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BXAvecLZfc


To view other movies check out some user submissions:
http://www.reallusion.com/iclone/ic_usershowcase.asp

69

Speech Technology / Heather TTS voice

« on: April 11, 2006, 06:00:14 pm »

I just received an email after my enquiry to purchase the Heather TTS voice from Acapela / Infovox. It reads as follows:

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Barclay [mailto:steve@aroga.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 12:25 PM
To: Art
Subject: RE: License for TTS voice


Hi Art,

It would be $760 Canadian for that voice, or about $645 US for that voice. In order to proceed I would need to get a credit card number from you.  You can contact me by phone at 604-431-7997 or fax an order to 604-431-7995.

Cheers,
Steve


AND MY FOLLOW-UP REPLY:

Steve,

Thank you for your prompt response.

With all due respect, your company's Heather voice is good, but IMO not good enough to justify that price tag! I can buy a whole computer system for that kind of money.

AT&T voices are very high quality and are only $35 USD a piece.

Being one of many home PC users in our Artificial Intelligence forums, we like to experiment and even recommend different TTS voices to each other but I'm afraid none of us has pockets deep enough to warrant such a purchase.

I'm sorry we can't do business but again, I do thank you for your time and promptness.

Best wishes,
- Art -

Now you know the rest of the story....(with regards to Paul Harvey)

70

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Let Hal

« on: March 26, 2006, 07:59:50 am »

take command of your home.
The clever script writers might be able to adapt
the following link allowing Hal to control various
devices within your house.

Check it out at:
http://www.x10.com/activehomepro/sdk/index.html

Happy motoring!

[Download Attachment:]

71

Ultra Hal Assistant File Sharing Area / Tall Skin

« on: December 18, 2005, 10:04:42 pm »

This is an attempt at a skin for the Full Body characters.
I made it in a short time after studying some other Hal skins.
It's not fancy or polished but it is functional!

You can use any paint program that allows you to read or see
the coordinates of the cursor as it moves about the screen.
Calculator, scratch pad are helpful but not totally necessary
especially if you're good at mental subtraction.

I did this one in slightly over a half hour. As with any skin
you can resize the window / skin size and reposition the
character with the Shift + mouse buttons.

Enjoy! The price is right!




Download Attachment: Tall3.zip
45.45 KB

72

General Discussion / Robotics site

« on: December 16, 2005, 05:58:00 pm »

All wishing to possibly take Hal a step further and also
explore facial animation and robotics check out:

http://www.hansonrobotics.com/bbbot/

Forum registration is FREE! Great potential!

Drop the /bbbot to get to their main page if desired.

73

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Don't press Enter.

« on: December 15, 2005, 10:17:34 pm »

I don't recall this "feature" in the older version of Hal
but I noticed that all I have to do is type a sentence then
wait about 2 seconds.
Hal will in effect, press Enter and respond.

After I did the voice rec setup I noticed the same thing
would occur as I spoke to Hal.

I did not have Auto-Idle selected either but I thought this
was interesting.
Sometimes it's a curse if you pause to think how you want to
word a sentence and about half way through, Hal decides that
your 2 seconds are up, pressed Enter and responds with half
gibberish.

Anyone else notice this behavior with their Hal?

74

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Minor annoyance

« on: December 04, 2005, 11:05:47 am »

When chatting with Hal sometimes I think He/She will
take an ordinary comment literally instead of figuratively.
Today's conversation is an example:
****************
Art: Yes, I'm going to eat breakfast soon.
Kiki: Since when are you going to eat breakfast soon Art? I see! Tell me all about how you eat breakfast soon; Straight away.

Art: I usually eat breakfast on Sunday mornings like eggs, toast, bacon, juice.
Kiki: You usually eat breakfast on Sunday, December 11 mornings like eggs toast bacon juice. I will remind you when this event approaches.
****************
I really don't want to be reminded of this fact, especially since it's not an appointment, merely a statement of fact. I shall, no doubt, be reminded to eat breakfast a week from today! Interesting.

Anyone have any constructive thoughts on this anomaly?

75

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Got mail?

« on: November 27, 2005, 10:28:25 am »

Rob,

Was there any particular reason for omitting the option that
allowed Hal to check for email?

The previous version had the internet options settings, etc.

It would have been a nice feature as the older Hal would actually read the email headers when / as it arrived. Or am I missing something?