CyberBuddy does have speech rec option in ver.3 & 4.
It might be possible to make a transparent skin for Hal
and combine it with a non character window.
Usually Hal acts on certain "key" words or phrases like:
Open, Run, Search, Find, etc.
Hal does have an appointment calendar and will remind the
user as the time approaches as well as phone book and
a huge reference libray of data, not to mention that Hal's
brain is now in the form of a database instead of individual
brn or brain files as was present in previous versions.
BTW, Welcome to the forum!!