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Tag: Cardboard

  • Google Gives An Update On Its Cardboard Numbers

    Google just provided an update about its Cardboard virtual reality efforts, saying that it has shipped over 5 million viewers after 19 months.

    The company says that in the past 2 months alone, there have been 10 million “immersive app experiences” launched. There have been over 25 million installs of Cardboard apps from Google Play.

    Here’s a look at the top five:

    Google says over 350,000 hours of YouTube videos have been watched in virtual reality and that over 750,000 VR photos have been taken with Cardboard Camera.

    “Students around the world have taken VR field trips to the White House, the Republic of Congo, and 150 other places around the globe with Expeditions,” says Clay Bavor, VP Virtual Reality at Google.

    According to the company, over 500,000 students went on “expeditions”.

    Google promises more “creative, entertaining, and educational” experiences in the near future.

    Images via Google

  • Google Releases Cardboard Camera App For Android To Let You Make Your Own Virtual Reality Pictures

    Google is taking its virtual reality efforts to the next level with the launch of a new app called Cardboard Camera, which enables Android users to create their own virtual reality content using the cameras on their phones.

    With the app, you can just hold out your phone and movie around you in a circle. Then, when you put your phone in a Google Cardboard viewer, you can experience the photo in virtual reality.

    “With Google Cardboard, you can take amazing trips to faraway places and feel like you’re actually there,” says software engineer Carlos Hernandez. “But what if you could also use Cardboard to go back in time—to step inside personal moments like your favorite vacation or a holiday dinner with family? Now you can with the new Cardboard Camera app for Android.”

    The photos are 3D panoramas that provide “slightly different” views for each of your eyes. This makes it so that near things look near and far things look far.

    You can look around to explore the image in all directions, and even record sound with your photo to hear the moment exactly as it happened,” explains Hernandez. “With Cardboard Camera, anyone can create their own VR experience. So revisit the mountaintop that took hours to hike, or the zoo where you saw (and heard) the monkeys, or your birthday party with the cake out and candles still lit. Capture the moments that matter to you and relive them anytime, from anywhere.”

    The app is available on Google Play in seventeen language so far. It requires Android 4.4 or higher.

    Images via Google

  • You Can Totally Make A Boat Out Of Cardboard

    Cardboard can be just about anything when you’re a kid. The possibilities are nearly limitless and all you need is a box and some imagination. Things aren’t as much fun when you’re a boring adult, but you can at least still have some fun with cardboard.

    The folks over at Hard Science are back again with another experiment that looks into the buoyancy of cardboard. Of course, some cardboard thrown onto the water is going to float, but can you take that cardboard and turn it into a boat for two?

    As it turns out, you can make a boat out of about $20 worth of material. All you need is some large slabs of corrugated cardboard, some duct tape, a box cutter and some wood glue. You then shape a boat out of the cardboard, secure the pieces together with wood glue and use duct tape to keep the bottom of the boat from taking in water. From there, you have a fully functional boat fit for two people.

    For more fun with staying high and dry with science, check out Hard Science’s attempt to walk on water oobleck.

    Image via Hard Science/YouTube

  • Cardboard Flash Drives?

    Why yes, those are cardboard flash drives. Not only that, but they are functional cardboard flash drives. Does this mean plastic is no longer the material of choice mobile device cases? Not exactly, but the concept, courtesy of the Art Lebedev Studios, is still pretty damn cool.

    For familiarity’s sake, the studio responsible for the cardboard flash drives also developed the Optimus Maximus keyboard, the digital keyboard where the keys act as programmable displays instead of predetermined characters. Having conquered cool keyboard development, the studio has turned its sights towards portable storage, a field that’s already littered with tons of mash-ups and modifications.

    Instead of creating another Darth Vader flash drive, the creative team went another, unexpected direction — cardboard — and the results are impressive. Unfortunately, however, the site doesn’t reveal much about these drives. True, the site is presented in the Russian language, but even after Google Translate does its thing, the information isn’t exactly overflowing.

    Thanks to the Technabob.com blog, however, there’s at least some information about the nifty drives available:

    What you are looking at is a block of four cardboard disposable flash drives that have different amounts of storage on them. You just rip one off when you need to store data or share data with someone and they can slip them into a USB port to read the data.

    Unfortunately, however, Technabob indicates the cardboard drives are only usable once.

    Cardboard Flash Drives

    With that in mind, at least the cardboard case allows for personal expression, and/or, easy labeling. There’s also some question as to whether or not these devices are simply concept pieces or will they be available to the public. While the Technabob piece discusses pricing, no amount was given on the blog post or at the Art Lebedev Studios website.