Google Cardboard Camera app: What you need to know about VR photos

Google has been busy beefing up the Cardboard platform as of late, with the most recent addition being the launch of a dedicated camera app that lets you take immersive panoramic photos with sound.

Last year, Google partnered with Disney on a StarWars-themed virtual reality experience just for Google Cardboard. As if that wasn’t cool enough, Google then gave its its Cardboard users a new camera app capable of capturing something called “VR photos”. That app, called Cardboard Camera, can also record sound for VR photos, and it’s now available for iPhone users too.

Here’s everything we know so far about the Android and iOS app.

Google Cardboard: What is it?

Google launched Cardboard in 2014. Cardboard gives you a rich virtual reality experience without the big price tag. It’s basically a cardboard do-it-yourself kit that turns into a VR headset. Your iPhone or Android smartphone provides the headset with a display and processing power, as well as access to VR content from app stores. There are also Cardboard rivals available, and some are certified to work with Cardboard apps.

Google Cardboard: What is Cardboard Camera?

It is a new camera app for Android and iPhone, and it works specifically with Google Cardboard. The idea is that – with Cardboard Camera – your smartphone will turn into a virtual reality camera. Cardboard Camera can capture something called “VR photos”, which are basically three-dimensional panoramas, with slightly different views for each eye.

Google Cardboard: How do you take VR photos?

Google

Because VR photos are comprised of slightly different views for each eye, things will look both near and far away, thus creating a 3D-like effect. To take a VR photo: open the Cardboard Camera app, then tap the capture button, and hold out your phone. Be sure to move your phone around you in a circle to grab all sorts of angles. You can even record sound, adding another layer of dimension to the whole immersive experience.

To capture a VR photo with Cardboard Camera, hold your phone vertically, tap record, then turn around as though you’re taking a panorama.

Google Cardboard: How do you view VR photos?

Google

Slot your phone into the Cardboard headset in order to view the VR photo.

The headset basically lets you explore the new type of image in all directions. Simples! Also, starting 12 September, you can also share your VR photos with friends and family on both iPhone and Android devices. Just select multiple photos to create a virtual photo album, tap the share icon, and Cardboard Camera will generate a link that can be emailed, messaged, or posted in apps and on the web, according to Google. Of course, your friends will need a Cardboard-certified viewer to see your VR photos.

Google Cardboard: When will Cardboard Camera be out?

Cardboard Camera is now available in Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. It’s free to download and use.

Google Cardboard: Does Cardboard Camera work with other VR headsets?

Yes, it does. Here’s a list of all the Cardboard-certified viewers available. Pocket-lint has this round-up of all the best Cardboard rivals, as well.

Want to know more?

Check out Google’s blog posts here and here for more details.

MIT uses radiation to read closed books

There are some books that are simply too delicate to crack open — the last thing you want to do is destroy an ornate medieval Bible simply because you’re curious about its contents. If MIT has its way, though, you won’t have to stay away. Its scientists have crafted a computational imaging system that can read the individual pages of a book while it’s closed. Their technology scans a book using terahertz radiation, and relies on the tiny, 20-micrometer air gaps between pages to identify and scan those pages one by one. A letter interpretation algorithm (of the sort that can defeat captchas) helps make sense of any distorted or incomplete text.

This doesn’t mean you’ll be reading fragile manuscripts any time soon. The current implementation can only read about nine pages deep before it’s overwhelmed by noise, and it can’t even gauge the depth beyond 20 pages. MIT will need to improve both the power and overall accuracy of its terahertz tech before you can read that precious first-run copy of War and Peace. The very fact that it’s a possibility is exciting, however. Historians could read books that they’re too afraid to touch in the first place, or let fellow researchers have a peek at a book they’ve read without worrying about additional wear and tear.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: MIT News

ACLU and Amnesty International ask Obama to pardon Snowden

The American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International, two of the highest-profile human rights organizations in the United States, are calling for President Obama to grant clemency to Edward Snowden. The “Pardon Snowden” campaign kicks off today with a petition to “let President Obama know that the American people stand with Snowden.” It’s seeking 60,000 signatures and is hosted by the ACLU, which has signed on as Snowden’s legal adviser.

The ACLU says that Snowden, who leaked classified information about the NSA’s global surveillance systems in 2013, is a “great American who deserves clemency for his patriotic acts.” Snowden is living in exile in Russia, though he has raised issues about that country’s Orwellian government systems as well.

“If tens of thousands of us join together to deliver our message as one, we have a real chance of bringing him home,” the ACLU writes.

Amnesty International and the ACLU have also launched PardonSnowden.org, though the site is locked down for anyone without login information.

It’s unlikely that President Obama will pardon Snowden. The current administration has continuously called for Snowden to be tried in the US and it has shown little leniency for other whistleblowers such as Chelsea Manning.

In a case of curious timing, the Snowden biopic, a dramatic reenactment of the NSA leak directed by Oliver Stone and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, hits theaters on September 16th.

Via: BBC

Netflix calls on the FCC to fix ‘unreasonable’ data caps

Like most people, the execs at Netflix think data caps on home internet service are unreasonable. Unlike most people, however, Netflix has a directly line to the Federal Communications Commission and the company has asked the agency to reject those data caps on the basis that they limit individual consumers’ ability to watch video online.

According to Ars Technica, that’s the gist of a filing that Netflix submitted to the FCC last week during a review of the Telecommunications Act. The review is a mandated part of the act and is meant to ensure that new technologies are rolled out to regular citizens in a reasonable way. If something like high-speed internet isn’t reaching the people in a timely fashion, the FCC actually has the power to force providers to hurry it up. In this case, however, Netflix is claiming that data caps are essentially blocking access to unfettered video streaming.

“Data caps (especially low data caps) and usage-based pricing (‘UBP’) discourage a consumer’s consumption of broadband, and may impede the ability of some households to watch Internet television in a manner and amount that they would like,” Netflix wrote. “For this reason, the Commission should hold that data caps on fixed-­line networks ­­and low data caps on mobile networks­­ may unreasonably limit Internet television viewing and are inconsistent with Section 706.”

On the one hand, cable companies often use data caps as a way to limit streaming video and push viewers back onto their own TV service — a practice that Netflix claims is discriminatory and creates an incentive for ISPs and cable providers to keep their data caps low. On the other hand, Netflix obviously has a lot to gain by making sure everyone has unlimited access to all the Stranger Things they can binge on. Netflix also argued that a 300GB monthly cap on home internet service is barely enough for the average user in the US, even before you factor in non-video use like gaming or even standard web browsing. “Today’s ‘above-average’ Internet consumer is tomorrow’s average Internet consumer,” Netflix wrote.

Still, it is currently unclear how much power the FCC actually has to remove or raise data caps in this situation. In the past, the FCC has invoked the same Section 706 in order to boost the minimum broadband speeds, but more recently the Commission lost out on its attempt to protect municipal broadband service. For their part, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association responded that factors like “broadband subscription, performance consistency, and usage allowances” were “only tangentially relevant to broadband deployment or availability” and thus not covered by Section 706.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: FCC.gov