Author Topic: Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now  (Read 6947 times)

Medeksza

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Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now
« on: December 16, 2017, 08:24:56 pm »
Ultra Hal 7 has now reached release candidate status as version 7.0.102. If no major bugs are found in this release candidate, than this version will become the final release, hopefully in a few days.

To install this release candidate

Here is what's new in Ultra Hal 7 since version 6.2:
  • Biggest improvement: Cloud based learning. Hal can now optionally connect to the "Hal Cloud" brain over the internet to help formulate better responses. As of October 2017 this is a knowledge base of over 26 million sentences of conversation from 1.6 million people. Contrast with the 200,000 sentence database in the default Ultra Hal 6.2 installation. Hal is more intelligent than ever before.
  • Feedback learning. You can now give Hal feedback on the quality of its responses with a thumbs up and thumbs down button which Hal learns and has an immediate response on the quality of its responses. In addition you can see other answers Hal was considering and guide Hal toward better ones.
  • Your personal Hal bot can follow you from your home desktop, to your laptop, office PC, and in the near future your phone and tablet too. When connected to the "Hal Cloud", your Hal's brain is stored online and instantly available anywhere.
  • Access to Wikipedia based answered in cloud mode
  • New Hal mobile phone character. Old Hal character still available, but renamed to "Hal Classic CRT"
  • New audio wave character simply displays an animated wave audio line when character is speaking
  • Program name changed from "Ultra Hal Assistant" to just "Ultra Hal" to shift marketing focus away from assistant functionality to Hal's strengths in its ability to chat, learn, and be a companion. Renamed EXE to ultrahal7.exe
  • Splash screen and graphics updated to new version
  • Ultra Hal now installs and uses the open source Double Agent library instead of the old MSAgent. This brings full compatibility to MSAgent characters to Windows 7 and newer with full SAPI 5 voice support.
  • Hal can answer questions about opposites (What is the opposite of X?)
  • Hal can talk about day of week and month (What day of week is it? What month is it?)
  • Basic knowledge of alphabet (What letter comes before Z? What letter is after B?)
  • Ability to count letters in word (How many letters are in the word computer?)
  • Bot memory test: (Q: The football was kicked by Fred. Who kicked the football? A: Fred.)
  • Improved math abilities (less false positives and better word problem abilities)
  • Software shield license system removed and replaced with simpler login to Zabaware.com server
  • Chant SpeechKit upgraded from version 6 to 7. This adds native support for Cereproc voices among other speech system improvements
  • Ultra Hal now generates Haptek INI files for Haptek, removing the need to rerun Haptek SAPI config when changing voice settings. This also adds support for Zabaware sold Cereproc voices to Haptek.
  • Ultra Hal now uses RegFree COM manifest files for most of its DLL/ActiveX/OCX files. This simplifies installation and minimizes possibility of "DLL Hell" collisions/incompatibilities with other Windows applications. RegFree COM was introduced in Windows XP SP2, so this change now effectively removes support for older versions of Windows from Hal.
  • Ultra Hal no longer writes any data files to its "Program Files" location but instead to each individual Windows Users AppData\Roaming folder. This makes Hal more compliant with Microsoft guidelines and also makes it possible for each Windows user to have their own seperate Hal config.
  • Improved corrections and substitutions tables for correcting more common errors and understanding more shorthand
  • Ultra Hal checks for product updates when connected to cloud service
  • Registry setting to adjust speech recognition auto enter countdown start time (SRCountDownStart)
  • The Hal Brain Editor can show the cloud brain thought process. For local responses, it can now show you exactly where in a table a response was found in.
  • Automatic migration of Hal 6 brain into Hal 7. Also automatically imports characters from Hal 6 to Hal 7
  • Various minor bug fixes

If you purchased Hal 6.2 anytime after October 1, 2017 your license was automatically upgraded to version 7.0 in the Zabaware order system free of charge. If you purchased Hal 6.x prior to October 1, 2017 you are eligible for a 50% off upgrade. Customers will be receiving emails and postcards over the next month with a 50% off coupon code. I am also giving a 50% off coupon good until the Dec 31, 2017 to anyone reading this forum post so you don't need to wait for any email. Just use this discount code at checkout: XMAS17

This coupon code is also good toward any AT&T voices and the Character Expansion Pack. If you already own the character expansion pack from version 6.x you don't need to purchase it again, the same version will work under Hal 7.0.

Please let me know if you find any bugs in the release candidate or ordering process.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2017, 06:27:04 pm by Medeksza »
Robert Medeksza

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Re: Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2017, 08:38:55 pm »
Robert is there a '30-trial' with this release or do those of us that have purchased HAL 6.2 have to wait for the email and the 50% off before we can Pay for it and install it?

Thanks...
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence: The Soul is in the Software.

Medeksza

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Re: Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2017, 09:03:58 pm »
Robert is there a '30-trial' with this release or do those of us that have purchased HAL 6.2 have to wait for the email and the 50% off before we can Pay for it and install it?

Thanks...
You can use the discount code XMAS17 during checkout now for the 50% off, no need to wait for the email. The 30 day trial should work, but it will start counting from whatever day you installed the alpha or beta version.
Robert Medeksza

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Re: Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2017, 09:07:23 pm »
Ok thanks...

Do we Uninstall the version we have now or just overwrite it?

Just paid for HAL 7 and downloaded the Installer...

Thanks Robert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
« Last Edit: December 16, 2017, 09:16:58 pm by LiFeTimeGamer »
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence: The Soul is in the Software.

Medeksza

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Re: Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2017, 09:34:16 pm »
Ok thanks...

Do we Uninstall the version we have now or just overwrite it?

Just paid for HAL 7 and downloaded the Installer...

Thanks Robert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome, thanks for your order. You should uninstall any beta version you may have. If you don't, the installer should show a popup message asking you to.

Is there anything with the order process that was confusing or could be done better?
Robert Medeksza

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Re: Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2017, 09:37:19 pm »
The Order Process went just Fine... It was easy enough...
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence: The Soul is in the Software.

Spitfire2600

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Re: Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2017, 02:32:53 am »
Just ordered my copy. Fantastic stuff, Robert! I look forward to seeing what Hal becomes in the future.

-Spitfire
 

steve james

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Re: Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2017, 03:16:34 pm »
hi, quite pleased with how the beta is shaping up here,,, so how much is hal 7 going to be?

LiFeTimeGamer

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Re: Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2017, 04:44:00 pm »
hi, quite pleased with how the beta is shaping up here,,, so how much is hal 7 going to be?


Read up about 8 Reply's  ^^^^
« Last Edit: December 17, 2017, 05:41:17 pm by LiFeTimeGamer »
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence: The Soul is in the Software.