Miku Hastune

In something that could only come from Japan, they have an artificial performer: Miku Hastune. Her story begins with the creation of a program called Vocaloid, software that replicates a human voice for singing (taken from Japanese voice actress Fujita Saki). The first project went by rather unnoticed despite the impressiveness of the software. So when Vocaloid 2 was released it was done with a created character, Miku Hastune ("Miku" means "Future", Hatsu means "First" and Ne is "sound") was born with a handful of others and became instantly popular. So why does this software get mention (you can buy games on the PSP here in Japan with this program on it)? Well it would just be easier to show you:

Yes, Japan has a Holographic performers with a computer generated voice. If you have ever watched the Macross series you would know that this is not a new idea. In the distant future Japanese sci-fi introduced the idea of a performer that was not real. This however, is a reality, and something worth sharing. If you look closely in the video you can see the screen that is over the front of the stage that allows you to actually see the projection, but in my opinion this does not make it any less amazing. This is a performer created by technology and people love her. This could usher in a future where people with no talent for playing instruments or singing could write and perform hit songs. It opens the door for a new dimension in creative freedom. If you're interested in more of the history and information about Miku or Vocaloid you can check out the link here:
http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/Hatsune_Miku
By the way, if you think she looks familiar you may be thinking of an old profile picture I had on facebook:

The girl on the right is dressed as Miku Hatsune.