Siri: Iris 9000 Helps You Control iPhone 4S From a Distance

We all knew Siri was heading for this one day, but ThinkGeek's new iPhone 4S peripheral gives the voice control app a HAL 9000-like edge.

Dubbed the Iris 9000 voice control module, the new product is an iPhone dock that lets owners use their Siri voice control app from across the room. Since you actually have to press a button to activate Siri, the module comes with a remote that lets you activate Siri from far away. The product works from a 50-foot distance, but you might have to shout in that case.

Siri is a new feature only available on Apple's iPhone 4S, so Iris 9000 is only compatible with that phone model. Siri is an intuitive voice control that understands natural sounding commands. Users can interact with almost every part of the iPhone with just their voice. Siri can make calendar notes, set the alarm, write and send texts, find nearby restaurants and search Wolfram Alpha among other functions.

Key features include the single-button remote, an embedded speaker amp and a glowing LED red eye that flickers along with Siri's speech. The glowing red eye is reminiscent of homicidal AI, HAL 9000, from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Siri app is known for the little humorous touches Apple developers have hidden inside its programming. If you ask Siri to sing you a song it might reply Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do, a HAL 9000 reference no doubt. Iris 9000 shouldn't instill any murderous impulses into the voice interface app, but don't put Siri in control of your oxygen supply just to be on the safe side.

Iris 9000 won't be available until sometime in 2012, but you can sign up for email updates on the product as it comes out. Until then you can check out this eerie YouTube video of Iris 9000 and Siri in action.