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Intel’s multi-angle cameras come to three Premier League soccer stadiums
Intel's work in sports can be found across the world's best leagues, from the MLB, NBA and NFL in the US to Spain's La Liga soccer tournament. Over the past few years, it has been trying to make games more immersive for fans, using camera technologies that offer people more viewing options than a traditional broadcast, like enjoying matches in virtual reality or watching 360-degree video replays. And now Intel plans to bring this to the English Premier League. Through a new partnership with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City (three of England's biggest clubs), Intel will start utilizing its True View tech at their stadiums, which will capture "every match from every angle," the company says.
GoPro improves Fusion VR camera resolution via software update
It's not often a camera gets a resolution upgrade purely through software, but GoPro appears to have managed just that. The company has released beta firmware that lets its Fusion VR camera capture 5.6K spherical video at 24 frames per second. That's not a huge bump over the original 5.2K, but it could still be noticeable in the confines of a VR helmet. GoPro manages the feat by capturing footage at 5.8K and stitching it together to produce the finished video.
Facebook and RED unveil their Manifold 3D VR camera
Facebook and RED are finally ready to show their 3D VR camera after months of teasing. They've revealed Manifold, a ball-shaped array that uses 16 of RED's Helium 8K sensors (with 180-degree Schneider lenses) to capture a complete, 60FPS VR video in one scene, including depth information. The The result is high-quality 360-degree video that reacts when you move your head. You might not walk directly through a video, but you wouldn't be stuck in one camera position when watching with an Oculus Quest or a similar six-degrees-of-freedom headset.
The Rylo 360-degree video camera now works with Android
Rylo is one of a handful of 360-degree cameras that only requires an editing suite as big as your smartphone. Much like the cheaper Insta360 One and more expensive GoPro Fusion, Rylo's companion mobile app lets you play editor and director. Users can set specific focal points or objects for the frame to follow within a 360-video after the fact, before sharing their masterpiece to Instagram or Facebook. With two 208-degree lenses, 4K video resolution and auto-stabilization tech, it's a pretty neat little camera. Since launching last fall, though, it's only worked with iPhones and iPads, but today, as promised, Android support has arrived.
Waymo's 360-degree demo ride shows what self-driving cars 'see'
One of the big steps necessary to roll out self-driving cars is getting the public to trust them, and Waymo's latest attempt to achieve that is with a new 360-degree experience. Viewable on a computer, your phone or a VR headset, it feeds a simulation of mixed video and sensor data (LiDAR, radar and cameras) from one of the company's Pacifica Hybrid minivans to give you a feeling of what it "sees" while driving along.
Visit the British Library’s ‘Harry Potter’ exhibit from your sofa
Assuming your Hogwarts letter got lost in the mail (it happens from time to time) and you still want a peek at The Boy Who Lived's coursework, Google has you covered. The search juggernaut has digitized the British Library's "Harry Potter: A History of Magic" exhibit and tossed it on the Google Arts & Culture mobile-and-web app.
Orbi's 360-degree camera glasses are set to ship this spring
A delicate balance must be struck when using action cameras, between capturing your adventures and keeping your hands free. But with Orbi's 360-degree camera glasses, you might no longer have to make that choice.
Facebook adds a sound and music library you can use for video
Facebook has a bunch of new tools for video creators. First up, it has launched a community hub for 360 degree video (which isn't live for everyone just yet) that gathers educational bits like how to use 360 degree cameras, how to edit said videos and a primer on spatial audio. Speaking of editing, the social network has also launched 360 Director, a page with tools for adding annotation, setting zoom level, and the ability to save a video as a draft, among others. Facebook will also loan out the pricey cameras, starting with the GoPro Fusion and ZCam S1 at launch.
Samsung's 360 Round camera livestreams 3D VR
Samsung already has a virtual reality camera in the form of the Gear 360, but it's not really for pros -- it's for everyday users who want to record a 360-degree video on the street. What if you're a pro, or a well-heeled enthusiast? Samsung has you covered: it's launching the previously hinted-at 360 Round. The disc-shaped device carries a whopping 17 2-megapixel cameras and six microphones (plus two mic ports) to create 3D (that is, stereoscopic) VR video. It's powerful enough to livestream 4K VR at a smooth 30 frames per second, helped in part by software that promises to stitch together immersive video with virtually no lag.
ISS crew’s 360-degree video is the closest you’ll get to space
You can always count on the crew of the International Space Station to harness technology to bring us up to the heavens with them. Back in July, they uploaded enough footage to map the entire station out on Google Streetview. Today, the crew uploaded the first spacewalk recorded in 360-degree video. Immerse yourself in footage of mankind maintaining its farthest outpost at the border of space.
Take your own Street View images with Ricoh’s latest camera
Ricoh Theta's newest 360-degree single-shot camera model comes with a bunch of cool new features, including 4K video capture, spatial audio recording and live streaming. The Theta V, which is the first Street View mobile-ready camera to be certified by Google, also uses high-spec photography technology originally developed for top-of-the-range Pentax DSLRs, which means you can expect eye-wateringly high-quality images. And you can get them where they need to be quickly, too, as the camera's new high-speed data transfer is 2.5 times faster than previous Theta models. The camera can be connected to and controlled by any Android or iOS-based device using the Theta S app.
Samsung hints that another 360-degree camera is in the works
The Gear 360 camera only reached shelves a few months ago, but that might not stop Samsung from readying a quick follow-up. The tech giant has quietly applied for a trademark on "360 Round," hinting at the possibility of another VR camera in the works. There aren't any obvious clues about the hardware's features, but its familiar-sounding RM-R260 model number (the 360 is the RM-R210) suggests that it's very much a sibling to the Gear 360. The "Round" badging also hints it might be a more compact, strictly spherical device versus the Gear 360's eyestalk shape, but it's hard to say for sure.
Facebook's mobile apps now take 360-degree photos
Standalone cameras and apps that can take 360-degree photos and videos are a must if they're essential to your job or if they fit your lifestyle. But if you find yourself taking spherical images merely once in a blue moon, you may not need them at all. Facebook's iOS and Android apps can now capture 360-degree photos without the help of a third-party application or an extra device. All you have to do is launch the app and pick the "360 Photo" option at the top of your News Feed. Press the blue button and follow the path on screen to complete a full spherical image -- you can then choose the photo's starting point.
GoPro bets its near future on the Hero6 and Fusion cameras
Ever since becoming a publicly traded company in 2014, GoPro hasn't had the most positive financial results. The camera maker has been struggling to be profitable, as shown by its past few quarterly earning reports, but its future isn't completely bleak. Today, GoPro exceeded Wall Street expectations, thanks to $296.5 million in revenue during Q2 2017, versus the roughly $270 million the market anticipated -- it's also a huge jump over the $220.8 from the same quarter last year. That said, GoPro still isn't profitable, since it reported yet another revenue loss. This time however, it was $30.5 million, which is much less than the 91.8 second-quarter loss in 2016. In other words, at least it's moving in the right direction.
YouTube is bringing 360-degree videos to your TV
Google's I/O 2017 developer conference isn't just about its search engine getting smarter. The company has also announced that YouTube's 360-degree videos are coming soon to TVs, expanding beyond smartphones and web browsers for the first time. "It's not just about the size of the screen," YouTube product manager Sarah Ali said before demoing a 360-degree video from Coachella. "It's about giving you an experience that [traditional] TV just can't match."
Google is making 360-degree cameras Street View-ready
It can be a pain to upload your own Street View photos even if you have a 360-degree camera. You may have to stop to take photos every few feet, and then there's the question of getting the spherical shots from your camera to the internet. Google thinks it can help. It's working with hardware partners on "Street View ready" standards that will certify 360-degree cameras based on how easily you can post shots. Street View mobile ready devices let you post directly from an app, with no PC required; auto ready cameras, meanwhile, are designed for capturing high-accuracy shots from your car. VR ready cameras collect the geometry you need for (what else?) virtual reality and connected 360-degree shots, while workflow ready cameras come with publishing tools that upload directly to Street View. In at least some cases, uploading is just a matter of recording some footage (even on the move) and loading an app.
B&O puts its smallest speaker in your pocket for $169
What's next for high-end audio company Bang and Olufsen following last year's handheld BeoPlay A1 speaker? Making a smaller model, of course. The Beoplay P2 fits in the palm of your hand and perhaps more closely resembles an earbud case than it does a speaker. But maybe don't fret that sound quality diminished because the speaker's size did. Like the A1, the P2 blasts sound out in 360 degrees and it inherited a tweaked version of the mid-woofer from last year's model. 2016's sound carries forward in another way as well -- the P2 shares its 0.75-inch tweeter with the A1.
Periscope opens 360-degree broadcasts to everyone
When Periscope debuted live 360-degree broadcasting late last year, it was only available to a handful of users. That changes now. A tweet from the company announced that as of today anyone who's broadcasting either from the iOS app (with an attached Insta360 Nano) or via the Producer software can be part of the spherical zeitgeist. Periscope says that you'll need the Producer app specifically if you want to do a 360 broadcast from an Android phone, in addition to a Ricoh Theta S or Orah 4i.
YouTube boosts the quality of online VR video
When you stream VR video online, you usually have to sacrifice visual quality. There's a lot more data, so something has to give. However, that isn't stopping Google's YouTube and Daydream groups from improving what you see. They're introducing a new projection technique, the equi-angular cubemap (EAC), that promises to increase the practical level of detail for 360-degree footage. Where conventional methods produce pictures that are only sharp in certain areas, EAC is extremely consistent -- it distributes an equal number of pixels across all angle changes. It may not be as theoretically sharp in certain areas, but there are no glaring weak points.
Facebook's Gear VR app helps you find 360 photos and video
A ton of 360-degree photos and videos are uploaded to Facebook every day. The challenge, if you own a Gear VR headset, is finding the best stuff in the Oculus Video store, or amongst the deluge of selfies and viral videos that make up most News Feeds. To help, the social network has built a new app for Gear VR called Facebook 360. It's a basic interface with four tabs that help you browse and launch 360-degree media. "Explore," for instance, lists the most popular uploads, while "Following" collects everything posted by your friends, and the pages and people you follow.
