Inside Lady Gaga’s high-tech Grammy performance

When Lady Gaga started singing "Space Oddity" at the Grammys Monday night, virtual drops of red paint dripped down her face to form a lightning bolt. The image -- a meticulously planned facial projection -- instantly evoked David Bowie's face on the...

From ‘Halo’ to Miles Davis: One woman’s life behind the scenes

A long, winding drive through Lucas Valley leads to the wooden gates of Skywalker Ranch. Inside George Lucas' exclusive estate, well-manicured gardens blend in with the sweeping wilderness of California's Marin County. Past an empty baseball field an...

It takes a village: The rise of virtual pop star Hatsune Miku

The crowd waves neon green glow sticks in the air. The performer they came to see is loading on a screen. After a kaleidoscopic burst of magic dust, Hatsune Miku, one of Japan's preeminent pop stars, appears on stage. As she breaks into a song-and-da...

For VR to be truly immersive, it needs convincing sound to match

I'm staring at a large iron door in a dimly lit room. "Hey," a voice says, somewhere on my right. "Hey buddy, you there?" It's a heavily masked humanoid. He proceeds to tell me that my sensory equipment is down and will need to be fixed. Seconds late...

Even your academic advisor might one day be a robot

We Google things we're too lazy to remember or ask another human. We've become accustomed to asking Siri and Cortana about the weather. The current generation of artificial intelligence can pull facts from the web, keep track of your appointments and...