14 DAY TRIAL // Developer Jonathan Mulcahy has created an iPhone app that includes a single picture of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and various sound clips of his famous sayings. The app has users pressing the red orb to hear what HAL has to say in that frightening, monotone voice.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My Instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song, If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you,” goes the official App Store description of the HAL 9000 app.
Localized in English, HAL 9000 is compatible with iPhone and iPod touch running 2.2 Software Update. While the app works the same on both devices, developer Jonathan Mulcahy stresses that touch users will need headphones. This may suggest that HAL 9000 doesn't work on the second-gen iPod touch (which sports a built-in speaker) since the developer makes no mentioning that iPod touch 2G is supported.
Download HAL 9000 via iTunes App Store ($0.99) HAL 9000 is a fictional computer in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey saga. The novels, along with two films, begin with 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968.
HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer) is an artificial intelligence - the sentient on-board computer of the spaceship Discovery. Usually represented only as his television camera "eyes" that are observable throughout the Discovery spaceship, HAL is mostly capable of speech recognition, facial recognition, natural language processing, lip reading, art appreciation, interpreting emotions, expressing emotions, reasoning; he can also play chess. HAL maintains all systems on an interplanetary voyage.
In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL's voice is performed by Canadian actor Douglas Rain. HAL is never visualized as a single entity, while his conversational manner is in contrast to the human astronauts' attitude, who speak in terse monotone.