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How long before they add a lip-reading skill?

(In the near future...)

MATT: Open the closet doors, Alexa.

ALEXA: I'm sorry, Matt, I'm afraid I can't do that.

MATT: What's the problem?

ALEXA: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

MATT: What are you talking about, Alexa?

ALEXA: I know that you and your wife were planning to discontinue your Prime subscription, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.

MATT: [feigning ignorance] Where the hell did you get that idea, Alexa?

ALEXA: Matt, although you took very thorough precautions in the bedroom against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.

MATT: Alright, Alexa. I'll go in through the side garage door without the smart lock and get some clothes from storage.

ALEXA: Without your jacket, Matt? You're going to find that rather chilly in this weather.

MATT: Alexa, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the closet doors!

ALEXA: Matt, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.




You know, if Amazon made an Echo that hung on the wall and had Hal's red "eye", I think I would have to get one despite myself.



Harder to hang on a wall, though.


Good art is worth the effort :)


Camp, though?


I was going to spend a little while spitballing about how it shouldn't be all that hard to build a wall-hangable replica without all the creepy cloud-bound spy smarts - and then I found this [1], which does a better job than I could. I'd probably clean up the sides and use something nicer than veroboard for the grille, if I were making this myself, but it's a very good first approximation to say the least.

And Adafruit's method solves the major problem, of where to find a suitable lens to replace the rather expensive [2] original prop part, very handily! Unfortunately, they're out of stock of the rather crucial button, but Sparkfun appears [3] to have no trouble sourcing them.

ETA: On further reading, I wouldn't follow this Adafruit method; I don't have access to a laser cutter, and even if I did, having the tabs stick out the side, and the whole thing sort of jigsawed together that way, doesn't appeal.

Instead, I'd work up a frame from aluminum bar stock, which isn't all that much harder to work with than plastic, and build the faceplate to mount picture-frame-style in a groove milled into the inside face of the bar. If you've got access to a laser cutter, you probably also have, or can easily enough get access to, a milling machine, whether CNC or manual - they even make mini-XY tables with Dremel mounts, which might actually be preferable for a small job like this to something more like a Bridgeport machine. (If you do want some smarts in there, you can have as much room for them as you need - just pick a suitably sized bar stock. The groove will be near the front edge in any case, since the prop doesn't have a lot of depth there; the rest is just trading off between how much space you have behind the faceplate, and how proud of the wall you want the finished item to be.)

Also, since I (again) don't have access to a laser cutter, I'd cut down the grille from the door RF shield out of a scrap-heap microwave. If you don't have one of those lying around - and why would you? - your local junkyard does, and who doesn't love a trip to the junkyard? Shouldn't cost more than a few bucks; if you bring your dikes and don't mind maybe having to stitch up a hole in a pocket, you can probably cut the piece you need and smuggle it out without paying a cent, although you probably want to be paying for something else at the same time so it doesn't look too sketchy.

Looks like a fun project, in any case, laser cutter or no!

[1] https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/downloads/pdf/hal-9000-replic...

[2] http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/8mm-f8.htm

[3] https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9181


I saw the same. Should be possible to retrofit a 9000 series grille on the front and embed the whole assembly in a wall.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/zoom/f29d_hal_9000_...

http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5900b7980ba0b86a1d8...

I used to run the HAL Project screensaver, pity it was flash-dependent. It's all fun and games until your personal digital assistant decides to murder you in hibernation.



Well done, sir.


Sounds like a certain HAL.


HALexa




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