For Thursday, December 20, on Digital Trends Live, our host Greg Nibler sat down with the Director of Emerging Tech for USA Today, Ray Soto, to talk about how the news organization is using virtual reality and augmented reality to create compelling interactive stories. Soto started his career as a video game developer, never imaging he would enter the world of VR. "I did not expect to get into creative storytelling within USA Today and news, but when I think about, it's a perfect fit, virtual reality and augmented reality the tools are very similar to what you find in the video game industry. When you consider my background -- video game developer -- we are passionate about telling stories. It was definitely a transition, it was a challenge, because when you consider video games being highly creative, in the news space you can't make stuff up, so there was quite a bit of a learning curve but something that I very much appreciate having the opportunity to make that transition from video games into creative storytelling. The conversation about integrating VR started five years ago and the initial challenge was finding how it would fit in the world of USA Today. "The conversations really started off with what do we do with this platform, that provides a unique perspective for the audience.

A new technique that uses the artificial intelligence methods of machine learning and deep learning is able to create 3-D shapes from 2-D images, such as photographs, and is even able to create new, never-before-seen shapes. Karthik Ramani, Purdue's Donald W. Feddersen Professor of Mechanical Engineering, says that the "magical" capability of AI deep learning is that it is able to learn abstractly. "If you show it hundreds of thousands of shapes of something such as a car, if you then show it a 2-D image of a car, it can reconstruct that model in 3-D," he says. "It can even take two 2-D images and create a 3-D shape between the two, which we call'hallucination.'" When fully developed, this method, called SurfNet, could have significant applications in the fields of 3-D searches on the Internet, as well as helping robotics and autonomous vehicles better understand their surroundings.

Following Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL)'s first-quarter results, Loup Ventures' Gene Munster said the results reiterate the company's artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality ambitions. Munster noted Google CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized on the earnings call his "AI-first" mantra. The analyst noted increased machine learning investment was highlighted in at least two segments of Google's ad model, namely smart bidding and universal app campaigns. Loup Ventures explained that smart bidding helps machines predict in real time how an ad should perform in front of a particular target and adjusts advertiser bids to maximize ROI. In universal app campaigns, machine learning is being used to best promote developer apps across Google properties including Search, YouTube and the Display Network, the firm added.

Retailers are pushing for more technology to enhance consumers' shopping experience, such as chatbots, virtual reality and augmented reality, but new research shows customers might not care so much about it. The report, Reality of Retail Tech shows consumers are not that psyched about new tech from retailers, especially chatbots and smart mirrors. Research for the report was conducted by mobile commerce and engagement platform, GPShopper, along with research and consulting organization YouGov. Data show there is clear disconnect between companies and shoppers over what technology people want to use. "Developments in mobile are further giving way to more advanced technology like virtual reality and chatbots, being brought into the shopping experience," said GPShopper Co-founder and CMO Maya Mikhailov in a statement.

Dematerialization is going to continue. We'll see hardware that is thinner and lighter. New materials are coming on the market, like stretchable electronics. Imagine what that could do for wearable technologies. Everything is going to be computing in the future, whether it's your shoes, clothes, or the temporary tattoo that you wear to monitor your health.

Technology has always changed the way that we live; the invention of the wheel, the printing press or your new smartphone – they all have tangible consequences. Another inevitable occurrence is our desire to know that our lives and our family's lives will mean something. Technology can help us to find meaning in our lives, but the effort that organizations make to humanize technology will never replicate raw human to human interaction and experience. Some of the best aspects of technology are just copying and enhancing the basic, bad-ass things that make us human; sharing, connecting, interacting, learning and listening. All of a sudden, it feels like we're reaching a crossroads.

Researchers at Purdue University are approaching virtual reality with a concept that uses powerful learning algorithms from a "deep learning" software that they are calling DeepHand. Specifically, the research team is addressing the problem of accurate hand tracking in virtual reality and augmented reality and proposing an interesting solution involving neural networks and a multitude of 3D sensors. The thought process behind this experiment makes sense given the increasing importance of powerful and accurate hand tracking in augmented reality and human-computer interfaces. In both augmented reality and virtual reality, better hand tracking means a better user experience. In real life, hand movements are something that we generally take for granted (i.e.