Hi Darrin,
So... There are lots of very cool new things in HAL v6 that will allow your imagination to run wild... We now have augmented HALi with HALws (WebServices) which allows you to interact with HAL from virtually any platform. It could be in an application or in a java web page. So unlike the HALi app that had to run on the HAL server, a HALws app can run anywhere.
With regard to the open ended google like questions, we really haven't given that much thought since so many people use their cell phone for looking up that type of information. I'm sure we could do something like that. Just the other day I was thinking it would be neat to incorporate that old app called Eliza to have an interesting dialog with your computer...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA
Well it's getting late but I will post more on HALws and HALi in the coming week.
Regards,
Tim
ps If you open this Zip file in windows 7 or 8 you will need to Right click on the file, select properties and Unblock in order to view it...