Just had a thought on a (expensive) upgrade for hal. How about (faked) holographic display? I was digging into this today, and found that for about 4 or 5 grand you can actually fake a good holigraphic display. Basically, you use a video projector (check out tiger or newegg) onto a special type of screen. If you want to check out the screens, here are the links.
http://www.mountsandmore.com/Draper-HoloView-Series-2080DR1256.htmlor
http://www.laser-magic.com/transscreen.htmlThe second one is the effect used in the movie Minority Report.
Can anybody imagine a life sized Hal?
