Google and GoPro have entered a partnership to develop a 360-degree "rig" that will provide virtual reality video from its 16 specially positioned cameras.
The rig, which holds the 16 cameras in a circle, will initially be sold by GoPro and then Google will make them available to all comers,
according to CNN Money.
"A rig is part of a new set of tools from Google called Jump for creating and sharing (virtual reality) content," wrote CNN Money's Heather Kelly. "Once you've recorded a scene, the Jump assembler software turns all those slivers of video footage into immersive high-definition VR content that also shifts to appear 3D. Jump will be available to some users later this summer."
Variety reported that Google also introduced the second generation of its do-it-yourself cardboard virtual reality viewer, simply called Cardboard, at this year's input/output conference.
"Cardboard is essentially a brown cardboard box that includes cheap plastic lenses, a single magnetic button," wrote Variety's Janko Roettgers. "There's also a slot to insert one's own smartphone as the display, just like its predecessor, which was first unveiled at last year's I/O conference."
"The 2015 edition of Cardboard is slightly larger than last year's version to accommodate ever-growing phones, and also now works with Apple's iPhone," said Roettgers.
Google's Cardboard proved to be popular at the I/O conference.
"Soon, I hope we'll all be able to jump between the 1,000 most beautiful places on earth with Cardboard," Clay Bavor, Google's product vice president and project lead, told
USA Today. "We're going to enable anyone who's motivated to capture events and places anywhere in virtual reality. We're leveling the playing field."
CNN Money noted that Cardboard is already being used in schools for things like campus tours and art projects. Another program, dubbed Google Expeditions, allows students to go on virtual field trips to the Great Wall of China, deep diving and to different periods of time, using Cardboard, phones and a teacher tablet.
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