For Christmas, I picked up a Google Cardboard viewer. It's the easiest (read: cheapest) way I know to get a virtual reality headset for home use. When I co-wrote Augmented Reality: A Practical Guide for the pragmatic programmers (in 2006), headsets for augmented reality or virtual reality were expensive and bulky.
That certainly has changed. Google cardboard devices are literally made of cardboard. There are lots of choices. I got the I AM CARDBOARD® 45mm Focal Length Virtual Reality Google Cardboard. So far, I'm impressed with the inexpensive device. Enabling clicking in the virtual user interface by moving a magnet on the side of the device is ingenious.
Unfortunately, I quickly ran into a problem with the set up. When asked to use my phone's camera to grab the QR code on the cardboard, I received the error "URL not recognized" or "Problem in parsing the Url." QR codes represent a URL and if that URL changes, they can break. The solution was to find the manufacturer's website and search for a QR code there. In this case, I found a working QR code for the I AM CARDBOARD. Now I'm looking forward to trying out more of the apps with my daughter.
Update: My daughter loved it! I shot a video of her reaction that I'm sharing with family. So cool.
BTW: from the site -- "Calibrate your VR headset using the QR code found in this listing images. To do so, open the Google Cardboard app, select "Configuration" menu option, click on "Switch viewer" and scan the QR code."
BTW: from the site -- "Calibrate your VR headset using the QR code found in this listing images. To do so, open the Google Cardboard app, select "Configuration" menu option, click on "Switch viewer" and scan the QR code."
