Slashdot Mirror
Google Is Adding a VR Shell To Chrome To Let You Browse the Entire Web In VR (roadtovr.com)
An anonymous reader writes: While it's possible to create and view specially built virtual reality 'WebVR' websites through today's browsers, traversing the web in VR means taking your VR headset on and off as you come across VR websites and non-VR websites. Google is working to fix this by adding a 'VR Shell' to the Chrome browser that will render non-VR websites in a virtual environment, and allow seamless transitioning from them to WebVR sites. Recent developer builds of Chrome on Android reveal both the WebVR API and VR Shell directly integrated into the browser. The company is also working on adding support for headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on desktop.
Sergei found out bout a VR pr0n?
Sounds like Disclosure or Jurassic Park Who wants to browse the web visually?
antipaucity
Ahhh! It's VRML all over again!
Most information on the internet is best presented as text. Some is best as audio, and some as video. It's delightful that the latter two (and now VR format) are available. But the medium should be chosen by the type of information, not because it's new and shiny.
I've ranted before about Youtubers posting videos for every kind of thing they may want to communicate. A video of a static image. A video of a slide show. A video of a graph. A video of a man reading a paragraph of text. Only in that last format is it even possible for the video format to add value. And I've seen game reviews where the person is just reading his review text with completely unrelated and detached gameplay in the background. They don't do it because video is the ideal way to absorb the information. They do it because they can get ad revenue.
Now I don't have anything against VR as a medium. I love it! But converting static text to video format is as useless as converting video to VR format. If it doesn't need 3-D visualization, you're wasting bandwidth and making it harder to take in the presented information.
It's very simple. If you have formatted text with topics, text, and bullet points use a text medium. If you want to include links to related pages, use hyperlink medium. If you need to present things that should be heard (either for ease of understanding or because text doesn't easily translate to the sound) use audio. If you need to show visual information that doesn't change dynamically, use a picture. I don't think I need to go on. If and only if 3D pictures or video is ideal, use VR. Otherwise you're just getting in the way.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
I'm surfing the web on a computer in VR!
I'm surfing the web... in a movie theater!!
I'm surfing the web while white water rafting! Whoa! Look out for that log while I'm composing this message! Heh heh! :rollseyes:
Really? Is it April Fools Day?
Do not want VRML or whatever this new 3d crap is. Do not want auto-video. Want per-tab audio on/off controls. In general, don't follow Firefox's path to Bloatville and we'll still respect you in a few years.
We did this once. It didn't work. Had some neat ideas but way ahead of it's time. Maybe the "bookmarks as a mall" idea will return.
Didn't people want to do this in the 90s?
Just use VirtualDesktop or BigScreen Beta?
Your entire desktop is in VR, then.
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
It's a UNIX system.
Doomed to waste copious amounts of investor cash repeating the same stupid ideas every 20 years.
Also aging alzheimeric venture capitalists. Doomed to keep funding the aforementioned young dipshits.
I'll be happy when California floods.
GopherVR?
(I like the idea of moderating /. with a katana.)
Will it support VRML?
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Lawnmower Man 3
Hopefully this time the rendering will be better due to more modern tech. The VRML sites I messed with back in the 90s were awful and took forever to load due to the size of the data.
Did they hire Elroy Patashnik?
That last paragraph is key.
Sure, don't post pictures of text* and videos of pictures. On the other hand, just as a picture can be worth a thousand words, a 3D model can be worth a thousand pictures - in some circumstances.
* Come to think of it, "pictures of text" also have their uses, such as database diagrams, flowcharts, etc.
Bingo!
As in, it seamless trouble at the time, so we decided to greenlight it, and bring this product forward, said the pointy-headed man.
I'm fine with it as long as there's a way to turn it off. Or am I being to optimistic or naive?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I'm not really looking forward to the porno popups.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Will this interface allow me to grab a website, tear it to shreds, light the shreds on fire, and sweep the ashes into a dustbin? I'd like to start with Slashdot Beta.
And, later this week, maybe next week, HR people will suddenly begin posting for positions to program for this,
requiring '3+ years experience' and 'architech-level understanding of the synergy'.....
HA.
AAAAHHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Man Slashdot is going to be so cool in VR. I mean it will be like I'm right there.
Is this new chrome for Chrome, or are they merging Samsung's additions to their Chromium build for Gear VR?
Leela: "Is all the work done by children?" Alien: "No, not the whipping."
Sit up straight. Get your eyes the proper distance from the screen. That leaning forward slightly is killing your spine.
Sure your eyes are OK? You might need corrective lenses to do this all day without eyestrain.
Screen is a little sharper and brighter. Now it's bigger.
Got that CRT scan line refresh flicker and jitter out. Great!
Keyboard the proper height? Mouse fite comfortably? (Everyone should try a trackball at leastonce, works better for some)
Alright, now lets get onto fonts. Choose a good one as default that lets you skim text quickly without strain.
Choose your default base size based on the acuity of your vision.
Now you have paragraphs of text laid out and --- despite the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle --- you have hedged your bets as well as can be done.
If the Internet were a saxophone, it would now be at the precise angle to maintain embouchure and you'd be ready to play.
Well BLOW ME DOWN! IT'S ALL EXPLODING NOW AND SKIDDING OFF INTO SPAAAAACE! I'm surrounded by words and to achieve the cheesy 3D effects their skidding around and changing perspective. Everything is in distorted orthographic rectangles! More than half the shit is too small to read! Stupid Elements Of Style are so big right now and the content is small! There is lots of empty space (just like real space!) that is wasted to maintain this stupid illusion. Half the time I'm looking up into the 'sky' or having my shin hit my chest. No markup on the web means it all devolves into simple distorted rectangles... it's as pointless as using your computer by standing in the doorway of the room at some ridiculous angle to the screen and squinting just to make out headlines. Turn it off. TURN IT OFF!
Think I'll just read a book for awhile.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
It's the sound of inevitability. It's coming on/before the year 3000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...