Relive your childhood nightmares on VR with ‘Goosebumps’ app

If you were a ‘90s kid or have a child who lived in the ‘90s, it’s most certain they carried around at least one of R.L. Stine’s popular Goosebumps books. The nostalgia got relived a bit recently when the series became a movie starring Jack Black. If you want to make that experience a bit more immersive and most likely surprising, try out the new Goosebumps VR app available for both Android and iOS.

The app has you joining Black a.k.a. R.L. Stine in the film as you try to escape a giant praying mantis. Yes, it might not be too scary for you now but if you’re a kid, this might be the thing to scare them out of their wits. It’ll work with compatible smartphones and virtual reality viewing devices like Google Cardboard and Merge VR Goggles. If you don’t have a VR headset on you, you can also use the “360-degree video mode,” which lets you experience the chase from your phone only.

Source: Android Police | Download: Google Play Store (Free) + Apple App Store (Free)

Google wants to bring spatial audio to Cardboard

Google’s Cardboard division, the group in charge of the development of the company’s Virtual Reality Platform recently announced that they’re updating the SDK of the platform to allow for spatial audio to be added into developers’ apps. Spatial audio—or 3D or binaural audio—is designed to allow sound to shift between channels when you move the position of your head to create an immersive audio experience. The new SDK for Cardboard doesn’t just allow developers to determine the relative position of sound, they can also emulate the material and size, even with having to work on a smartphone CPU. So, the next time you use an app with Cardboard, you might even be able to hear things like planes flying by.

Source: Google Developers Blog

YouTube now plays virtual reality videos

Get to watch videos that’ll make you feel like you’re there on YouTube. The streaming video giant is letting you watch virtual reality videos on Android. All you need to do is to have a Google Cardboard viewer and the YouTube app on hand. To get to watch a VR clip, just tap on the Cardboard icon seen in the additional options of a video and you’re good to go. You can try out the Hunger Games Experience or the other VR clips here. For creators, Google is offering you check out technologies like Jump to help you make VR videos.

YouTube on Android has also added the capability to watch any YouTube content on Google Cardboard. Again just tap on the Cardboard option from the video’s additional options and get that virtual movie theatre experience.

Source: YouTube Official Blog | Download: Google Play Store (Free)

Tech specs for Google Cardboard version 2.0 surface

Back in May, Google debuted version 2.0 of its Google Cardboard VR headset. Now, the company’s released the technical specifications and drawings for Google Cardboard v2. Those who have bigger phones and couldn’t fit in their devices before can do so now. The second iteration of the VR headset can handle larger phones. With the drawings up, you can start building your own headset. But we can also expect manufacturers to start building their versions, if DIY isn’t your thing.

Source: Android Community | Download: Google