With a creative mind and a little code, it is quite amazing what can be done. Bil Simser, Fear and Loathing, demonstrates a very creative way, using javascript and jQuery, to update calculated columns with little work. Note while reading his article, all of this work is done on the client-side; meaning, nothing needs to be installed on the server.
Great article Bil.
http://www.endusersharepoint.com/2009/10/14/calculated-time-left-columns-in-sharepoint-with-jquery/
