Address book.

[sweetalker]

I have quite a substansial address book with names, birthdays, phone numbers, addresses, etc.  I understand that Hal can help me keep track of all that, but is there a way to input that information without having to go through the Brain Editor?  It took FOREVER just to input names/addresses/phone numbers for the first 5 people in my book!  (I also tried just feeding him the information bit by bit, but he kept interrupting me, sometimes when I was only halfway through a sentence.)

The second dilemma is, many people have more than one phone number (home/cell/work/etc.).  It seems that Hal cannot tell the difference between one phone number and another, so if I ask him to call a particular person, he will just call the first (or last) number that I offered him.

Now for the third dilemma.  I would like Hal to be able to recall information like family members at will (such as, Client X has a wife named Jane, two daughters named Lily and Rachel, and a Dalmatian named Prince.  Or possibly, Client Y hates country music and is a recovering alcoholic, or Client Z loves daffodils but is allergic to roses).  Is there a way to say, for instance, "Tell me about Client X" and have him tell me everything he knows about that subject?

I am also curious to know if all this information is kept confidential?  It is very important that privacy is maintained in my business.

[registrychecker]

I think that information should be kept confidential. Let Hal know if you think other wise.

[Baerdric]

Unfortunately, the emphasis on Hal being a conversational robot leaves it fairly limited as far as an actual address book. It's possible that plugins exist to do some or all of what you ask, but by itself, probably not.

For second phone numbers you might be able to get Hal to store as two separate names, "Bob Jones Home" or "Bob Jones Cellular". I haven't tried this, but it's possible.

As far as confidentiality, the file is not encrypted, but is available to anyone who can look at files on your computer, or who is standing in earshot at the time you say the wrong phrase and Hal responds with client info.

However, with a little bit of scripting, someone could develop an administrative assistant plugin. By "a little bit" I mean a concerted effort by an experienced scripter. You would say a sentence with a code phrase and the person's name, and Hal would read off the information.

As a general principle, Hal will become just about anything that enough people want it to become. If folks like you keep asking for more capabilities in the professional range, someone will develop them. That's the strength of Hal and these forums. Please feel free to post all your questions and wishlists!

And Welcome, as I notice this is your first post.

[ramccoid]

This sounds like a very interesting project to develop. I haven't scripted anything in a while and this appears to be something that's well within my capabilities. I'm going to give it a go.

 

quote:(I also tried just feeding him the information bit by bit, but he kept interrupting me, sometimes when I was only halfway through a sentence.)

Sweetalker, have you enabled your mic button? This allows you to respond to HAL with speech. If it is, HAL will only give you so long before it responds, whether you have inputted your whole sentence or not. Try turning it off when you are just typing in information.

Roy.

[Bill819]

Sweetalker
Everything you menntioned can be put into Hal, but there are no short cuts that I know of, unless you could get the "read from clip-board" to work for you.
Bill

[sweetalker]

Thanks guys.  One more question.

Is there a way to link HAL with Google Calendar yet?  Has someone come up with a plug-in?