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Cardboard Hits Half a Million Mark, Gets an SDK

Posted by timothy on from the or-you-can-make-it-yourself dept.

PC Magazine reports (citing a blog post from project manager Andrew Nartker) that Google's Cardboard -- first introduced to some laughter -- is growing up, with a small but growing collection of compatible apps and a recently announced SDK. And while Cardboard itself is pretty low-tech (cardboard, rubber band, a magnet) and consequently cheap, the resulting VR experience is pretty good, which explains why more than 500,000 of them have now shipped.

28 comments

  1. Recycle by rossdee · · Score: 2

    Yeah there are lots of cardboard boxes this time of year

    1. Re:Recycle by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      I don't know why you need an SDK, though. A decent box cutter does just fine if you to do something with it.

  2. Steve Martin says... by envelope · · Score: 2

    "I bought cardboard when it was only 14 cents a ton. And it's up to what, 16 cents now? Well, I bought three tons of it. So that's about...well, you do the math. Plus I made a special deal where I only have to keep 2 tons of it at my house."

    --

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  3. Why would this be a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Seriously, why would anyone think this is a joke? You have a screen. Attach some convex lenses (like very strong reading glasses) in front (cost like $1 or $2) and put your image on the screen in front of them.

    Heck, you can even have these lenses adjusted for prescription of a given person.

    Especially with the "retina displays", these things will produce very nice resolution and you have automatic 3D.

    Cardboard is just to hold your device and lenses at proper distance from each other and attached to your head. It's cheap and it works. But clearly not as sturdy as plastic, so there will be some less-than-perfect collimation issues.

    1. Re:Why would this be a joke? by Provocateur · · Score: 1

      not as sturdy as plastic

      If I remember the steps correctly, the next step in your case would be Order another pizza You owe it to yourself to check it out at least before dropping all that cash on the Occulus (Rift).

      --
      WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
    2. Re:Why would this be a joke? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Because it sounds like a joke. The pre-printed cardboard probably fits only one phone type, the response on most phones is not good enough to do head tracking very well, network response is too slow and this completely depends on that since there is no local computer to do the processing. I can barely get my phone to search on google in a responsive manner.

      On the other hand Oculus Rift sounds like a joke also.

    3. Re:Why would this be a joke? by TropicalCoder · · Score: 2

      "The pre-printed cardboard probably fits only one phone type"

      - not necessarily. As far as I could tell it handles a range of sizes, though the info was less than clear about that.

      "the response on most phones is not good enough to do head tracking very well"

      - ah - but it does! It has a novel and innovative strapless design that forces you to hold this thing up to your head with booth hands. Then you cannot move your head around quickly, because you are now limited to trunk movements.

  4. Wow! Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Out of pure curiosity to see how far this technology can go, does anyone know of a porn site using this?

    Like I said, just for research purposes.

  5. 3D printers? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

    Has Google made any 3D printer version available for download?

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    1. Re:3D printers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, Most printers will jam if you use anything heaver than card stock. Most cardboards are too thick..

    2. Re:3D printers? by TropicalCoder · · Score: 1

      Umm,,, He said "3D" printer. These don't use card stock

  6. Translation by javilon · · Score: 2

    The head tracker API returns a 4x4 matrix from the sensors:

    public void getLastHeadView (float[] headView, int offset)
    Provides the most up-to-date transformation matrix.
    Parameters
    headView An array representing a 4x4 transformation matrix in column major order.
    offset Offset in the array where data should be written.

    I wonder how reliable the translation information is. The angle seems to work quite well from the apps I have checked, but no app is trying to use translation information. Having it available, if it is reliable enough, would enable a whole lot of new cool applications.

    Did anyone test this?

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    1. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe the API is fairly forward looking -- it assume that there will be technology in the future that can track reliably well. I suppose it would help if they could expose an API that allows the dev to query how accurate the position tracking is.

  7. Order it from china... 5 dollar by leuk_he · · Score: 2

    The lastest cardboard app (the 1.3) is broken for me(display drivers?), but the cardboard is for sale at 5 dollar in China (paypal recommended)

    That is including cardboard,lenses,magnets, velcro and shipping.

    I might not be at your doorstep before chrismas, but such a small amount is nice for 10 minutes of fun.

  8. iPhone version? by ciurana · · Score: 1

    I'd love to see support for the iPhone 6+ through Unity.

    Cheers!

    --
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    1. Re:iPhone version? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cardboard is available for the iPhone6:

      http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/60075191755/High_quality_recycled_paper_packaging_box_for.jpg_350x350.jpg

  9. oh wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nice!

  10. Where did the 500k number come from? by Wycliffe · · Score: 2

    Where did the 500k number come from? As google isn't selling the kits, is it an estimate of the big suppliers?
    Also, as the $25 for a simple cardboard contraption is kindof rediculous, my guess is a lot of the people are
    opting to build their own so there is probably a lot more than that out there.
    If google really wants it to take off, they should start selling the kits for $5 a piece and maybe a more durable
    plastic version for $25. If google's not up to the logistics, they could put them up on amazon.
    Ok, scratch that, it does look like there are already some low cost 3rd party versions for under $10 on amazon
    with free shipping.

    1. Re:Where did the 500k number come from? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Both of those are available.

      Ebay lists cardboard versions for between $5 and $15.
      3D printed alternatives are around the $20 mark.

    2. Re:Where did the 500k number come from? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heck, I bought some for $2.25 each from eBay.
      For some reason they thought replacing the magnets with extra "magic pastes" ( i,e, more velcro ) was appropriate?
      I tried to explain that the magnetic field is important but to no avail. Local dollarstore nickel-sized 8 for $1 magnets worked fine. So i guess I paid $2.50 each ;)

    3. Re:Where did the 500k number come from? by choseph · · Score: 1

      cardboard is cheap. when I went to find the specific lens they called for, it ran $10-15. Maybe I could have gotten that cheaper, but I'm no optics guy and I had really little clue what I could safely swap. When I read about the cardboard, it recommended a specific thickness and weight that wasn't what my standard boxes had (closer to pizza box I think?). So, I paid $10 for some cardboard that was already stamped and cut as I needed and was the right thickness, and came with the recommended lens and other pieces. I could have saved $5-$10, but I probably would have wasted an hour or more and likely failed somewhere if left to my own devices to source and draw/cut the parts.

  11. Cardboard Usgae by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Our cardboard gets picked on weekly on each recycling day. The town requests that smaller boxes be broken down and placed in larger boxes to make the process more efficient.

  12. Cardboard usage statistics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the US EPA (emphasis added):

    A large portion of the estimated 29.5 million tons of corrugated cardboard generated each year comes from commercial establishments.

  13. vary cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I has impress

    1. Re:vary cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no you English speak

  14. The experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The experience is awful. I mean yea its a cheap and cheerful toy, but it isn't immersive or even enjoyable for more than a minute or two before your eyes hurt.

    1. Re:The experience by JohhnyTHM · · Score: 1

      I didn't find this at all, and testing how it made my eyes feel was why I bought it.
      I had been looking at getting the OR DK2 for a while, but what was putting me off is that I have pretty bad sight in my right eye. I don't watch 3D movies as they quickly makes my eyes ache, followed by a headache, and I didn't want to spend the money on the DK2 if it was going to be the same.
      So, I ordered Cardboard, stuck my HTC One M8 in and was pretty impressed with what it could do, and the fact that I was actually seeing proper 3D without the eye pain. After a week of playing with it I ordered the DK2 and have had no problems with that either.
      It probably will vary from person to person, depending on any eye problems that you have, but Cardboard is a pretty cheap way to test what results you can expect before you waste your money. And if don't mind spending some time setting it up it will even run Elite Dangerous :)

  15. Cardboard for sale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here is cardboard for sale by the pallet:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/PALLET-OF-250-13-13-75-11-25-Shipping-Box-Corrugated-Cardboard-Brown-Packing-Box-/171018204430?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27d17ab50e