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Walmart test lets customers shop a curated, virtual apartment
Walmart announced this week that it's introducing a new way to shop on its site. Starting today, customers can take a virtual shopping tour of an apartment that includes around 70 items sold by the retailer. The various products, from both national brands and Walmart's own labels, are noted by a dot. Hover your mouse over it to see what it is and a link will take you right to its product page. You can explore the curated rooms on your computer or check it out in VR with your phone and Google Cardboard or a Samsung Gear VR headset.
Google makes it easy to create your own VR tours
With Google Expeditions, you can take tours of ancient sites like Machu Picchu, visit attractions like the Burj Khalifa or even take a trip to the International Space Station and now Google is making it easier to create tours yourself. With a new platform called Tour Creator, anyone can now put together a VR tour of whatever they'd like using their own 360-degree photos and Google Street View images. "The tool is designed to let you produce professional-level VR content without a steep learning curve," says Google.
Discovery and Google team up on globe-spanning VR travel series
Discovery is partnering with Google on a virtual reality travel series that spans all seven continents. The 38-episode experience explores the rituals and traditions of cultures in North and South America, Asia, Australia, Africa, Antartica, and Europe. Emmy award-winner Sascha Unseld, who also directed Oculus Story Studio's Dear Angelica VR short, served as creative producer on the series. You can take in Discovery TRVLR for yourself starting tomorrow using Google's Daydream headset (or Google Cardboard). The show will be viewable on YouTube, DiscoveryVR.com, and on the Discovery VR app.
Gorillaz are throwing a house party in mixed reality
Your favorite virtual band Gorillaz has a new album called Humanz on the way (as well as a TV show, it seems), and the record has had an active promotional campaign so far. The group has shared a series of social media "books" that detail what the band members have been up to the past few years, they've shared some new songs, and now, they've just released a mixed reality app.
Google's latest virtual tour takes you inside 10 Downing Street
A few years ago, Google was allowed access to London's famed Downing Street to look upon the iconic black door of Number 10. And now, the search giant has been welcomed inside so we may all roam the gaff of post-Brexit hot potato winner and current Prime Minister Theresa May. As Wired notes, this isn't the first time rooms in the residence have been papped in 360 degrees, with Eye Revolution holding that honour. More than a simple addition to Street View, though, Google's Arts and Culture division has given Number 10 the virtual tour treatment.
Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is now a virtual reality music video
We've all heard the dramatic faux-opera that is Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody -- but have you ever wondered what a song like that might look like? The folks at Google did. In a new collaboration with Queen and Enosis VR, artists and developers at Google have created The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience -- a virtual reality experiment created to take viewers on "a journey through frontman Freddie Mercury's subconscious mind." That's a fancy way of saying they turned the iconic song into a 360-degree virtual reality music video.
Google's VR camera app comes to the iPhone
One of the biggest challenges facing virtual reality is a matter of creation. If you have lots of cash, you can make things happen, but it's been a bit more challenging for people whose best camera is their smartphone. Google's working on changing that -- last December, it released the Cardboard Camera app for Android, and today it has arrived for iOS.
Google offers 360-degree tours of US National Parks
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the US National Parks Service, Google has put together a collection of virtual tours combining 360-degree video, panoramic photos and expert narration. It's called "The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks" and is accessible right from the browser. You can choose from one of five different locales, including the Kenai Fjords in Alaska and Bryce Canyon in Utah, and get a guided "tour" from a local park ranger. Each one has a few virtual vistas to explore, with documentary-style voiceovers and extra media hidden behind clickable thumbnails.
Google was reportedly developing a standalone VR headset
Google's virtual reality ambitions have slowly but steadily progressed over the last few years. It started with the cheap, humble cardboard headset, but Google formally announced Daydream, a new Android-based VR platform at I/O this year. However, it sounds as if the company originally had more ambitious hardware in mind. According to Recode, Google had a full-fledged VR headset in the works that would compete with the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive -- but the company shut it down in an effort to streamline its VR plans.
Google's virtual reality field trips are available to everyone
Have you been slightly envious of kids going on Google's virtual reality field trips? Don't be. As part of a broader educational push, Google is making the necessary Expeditions app available to everyone. So long as you have an Android device (iOS is coming soon), you too can pay a VR visit to the Great Barrier Reef and other wonders of the world. You don't need Cardboard or another VR viewer to make it work, but this might give you an incentive to get one.
Google's Android-powered VR platform supports Unreal games
Yesterday during Google's annual I/O keynote, the company made a point of mentioning that Electronic Arts and Ubisoft -- two of the biggest third-party game studios -- were working on projects for Google's new virtual reality platform, Daydream. Now the company is ready to announce another: Epic Games. The latest version of the company's powerful and ubiquitous game-design toolset, Unreal Engine 4, is coming to Google's next-gen mobile VR system. For developers it ensures easy porting of existing apps to Daydream with little extra work required. For consumers, it means higher-quality mobile VR experiences, and maybe more of them too.
Gesture control is coming to phone-based VR
Right now, gesture control in virtual reality typically requires an expensive PC and specialized sensors. But what if you can only afford (or simply prefer) VR on your phone? Don't worry, you're covered. EyeSight Technologies has developed gesture control that uses your phone's rear camera to allow touch-free input. It should work with any Android or iOS device, and it isn't picky about headsets. Anything from Gear VR to Google Cardboard should work, although we can't imagine Cardboard owners having much luck if they don't have a head strap.
YouTube for iOS now works with Google's Cardboard headset
You no longer have to pick up an Android phone to watch YouTube videos with a Google Cardboard headset. YouTube has updated its iOS app to introduce Cardboard support, so you can watch any clip (not just virtual reality videos) using your iPhone and a low-cost paper box. You've already had 360-degree video support before, but this is a big deal if you'd rather not swipe the screen to view footage from every conceivable angle... or if you'd just like to immerse yourself in 2D. There aren't any other big upgrades here, but Cardboard support may be all that matters if you've been itching to try VR without spending a fortune or switching phones.
Virtual Boy emulator digs up VR's embarrassing past
The Virtual Boy is often considered a bit of a failed experiment for Nintendo, but an intriguing collector's item for gaming enthusiasts. Unfortunately, it's never been comfortable or enjoyable by any means to actually sit down and play one unless you want to invite eye strain or other physical irritants, until now. One crafty Reddit user has brought the Virtual Boy catalogue to Google Cardboard and the RetroArch emulator.
NY Times sends 300,000 Google Cardboard viewers to subscribers
After last year's rollout of the NY Times VR app, the 165-year-old paper is sending out another 300,000 Google Cardboard kits to digital subscribers. This year's promotion coincides with the release of the Times' new virtual reality film "Seeking Pluto's Frigid Heart." The film actually debuted earlier this month at the Tribeca Film Festival but will hit the NY Times VR app on May 19th. When it lands, users will be able to virtually fly over the "rugged mountains and bright plains," or stand on the surface of the dwarf planet while the moon Charon hangs in the sky. The film is a joint project between the newspaper, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the Universities Space Research Association, and the data used to create the virtual Pluto was gathered in 2015 by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. The Times will be selecting Cardboard recipients based on how long they've been subscribers, so if you're just signing up today for a trip to Pluto, chances are you'll get left behind. Don't fret, though: You can still catch a modified 360-degree video version when it drops in May.
Watch the first live VR surgery stream on April 14th
Virtual reality has already been used to assist with surgery, and now it's giving you a chance to see that surgery as it happens. Medical Realities says it'll host the first live VR stream of surgery on April 14th, using a 360-degree camera to show the entire operating table. You'll only need the company's app and Google Cardboard (or a viable alternative) to tune in. The surgery isn't particularly risky (it's a fairly standard tumor removal), but the company is aware of the dangers -- the feed is delayed by a minute in case something goes awry.
Google Cardboard takes you 'Inside Abbey Road'
Almost a year ago Google launched "Inside Abbey Road," a special site containing an interactive tour of the legendary recording studio in London. Today, the company is back with an Android app that repackages the experience for Google Cardboard. Instead of clicking around in the browser, you can slide your phone into a compatible headset and peek around naturally. It's mostly the same content, combining detailed Street View imagery, 360-degree video and some audio narration by Giles Martin, the son of record producer and "fifth Beatle" Sir George Martin.
Pichai unveiled Cardboard before seeing the final design
Deep within a long, expansive profile piece about Google's CEO Sundar Pichai, BuzzFeed's Mat Honan has offered a fresh tidbit about the unveiling of Google Cardboard. Clay Bavor, VP for virtual reality at Google, says he was summoned to Pichai's office in 2014, eight and a half weeks before the company's I/O developer conference. Pichai was impressed with Bavor's work and told him to get Cardboard ready for a launch at the event.
Take a 360-degree video tour of Google's Oregon data center
Google's latest 360-degree video provides a virtual tour of its data center in The Dalles, Oregon. We've seen glimpses of Google's server farms before, through Street View and other high-res photography, but this new upload offers a better sense of immersion. It's also presented by Sandeep, one of Google's developer advocates, who explains each room and interviews some of the data center staff. The video is highly curated, but there are some fascinating shots and tidbits, including a biometric eye scanner that every employee has to pass through. There's also a monstrous hard drive shredder and a look at Google's colorful mechanical equipment room.
Google uses VR to put you inside a Bruegel painting
The Google Cultural institute has been working for half a decade to make the world's art accessible to everyone (with an internet connection). It's done a decent job of it so far, digitizing thousands of paintings and sculptures from hundreds of museums and galleries across the globe. More recently, it created a 360-degree video to put you inside the orchestra pit of New York's Carnegie Hall. Building on that experiment, it's now used a lot more creativity to produce a similar video for the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium. A video that takes you inside Bruegel's The Fall of the Rebel Angels.
