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Ready to 'Jump'? Google, GoPro Team Up on 16-Camera Virtual Reality Rig

Not content to have simply launched a flying six-camera drone on Wednesday, GoPro announced a 16-camera rig Thursday in a partnership with Google.
GoPro/Google

Not content to have simply launched a six-camera drone on Wednesday, GoPro announced a 16-camera rig Thursday in a partnership with Google. Jump, as it's called, is an initiative related to Google's "Cardboard," a cheap virtual reality set made of cardboard that you slot your phone into. The Jump rig produces video content for Cardboard by having 16 GoPro cameras in a circle all recording at once — software stitches it together into a huge 360-degree video. Plug that video into a virtual reality display and you can turn your head and look around the captured footage "like you're actually there," to borrow Jump's tagline.

Of course, 16 GoPros will cost you several thousand dollars — so it's just as well that Jump won't be available to the public any time soon. Instead, Google and GoPro are working with YouTube creators to produce cool content you can consume at home with your Cardboard headset. The headset, by the way, you can order here for $20 or so, or download the instructions to build your own.

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