Google reinvents virtual reality game with $4 devices

Google intends to allow people to explore the world from the comfort of home

Tech giant Google announced during its recent I/O developers conference several programs that would allow people to use their smartphones or online video sites, YouTube, to view 3D movies, utilizing the company's virtual reality viewing device called Cardboard.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Google's virtual reality device was revealed at last years I/O conference intended to be an inexpensive virtual reality device available to the general populace, and true to form it costs just $4.

The Cardboard device appears to be a large box, and a smartphone sits in the front of the users eyes. Looking through plastic lenses the images on the screen appear to be in 3D.

Google released the Cardboard's design online so other people could build them, and the population has obliged, making the device out of materials like foam or aluminum.

"We wanted the viewer to be as dumb as possible and as cheap as possible because we basically wanted to open VR for everyone," said one of the Google engineers who designed Cardboard, David Coz.

But this years conference saw the release of new software programs that will make it much easier to build Cardboard apps for Apple products, including iPhones. The cardboard program was also redesigned so that it is much easier to fold and can be used with any other smartphones, or even small tablets.

This isn't Google's only offering in regards to virtual reality, they also have developed a camera that can take pictures in 360 degrees, utilizing 16 video cameras rigged onto an apparatus that looks like a chandelier. Currently Google has these devices filming around the world, which will be put through special software that will allow the location to be visited with a virtual reality device.

Google also announced during the May 28 conference that they are partnering with GoPro to develop cameras capable of recording virtual reality images that would be available to the general public. Currently no expected price has been announced.

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