News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by rahimnathwani on Monday July 14, 2014 @07:43PM (#8033904)
FYI if you live in China, you can buy a kit (including machine-cut cardboard, velcro and lenses) for <50 RMB ($8). Magnets and NFC can be bought cheaply from other taobao sellers.

I made one by hand myself, and bought kits from two different vendors.

- the one I cut myself works, but it looks like trash and is not durable. Also, the lenses I used distort too much

- the one from the first vendor is great. The design has been modified so that the lens holes are a little wider, to accommodate the wider lenses supplied: http://tb.cn/qdMexXy

- the one from the second vendor was almost as good, but the doesn't have the slightly wider lenses/holes

If you're using an iPhone, I recommend the app '3dtube' for watching 3D videos. Also, search the App Store for 'durovis' to find other compatible apps.

Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by makomk on Tuesday July 15, 2014 @04:38AM (#8035375)
Neat! If you don't live in China, you should be able to buy them from the usual places like Aliexpress and eBay for a slight markup. Looks like there's a handful of people reselling them. (Some stuff doesn't make it over but the more consumer-oriented stuff usually does.)
Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by SimpleMinds on Monday July 14, 2014 @09:33PM (#8034277)
Thank you very much for posting to vendor. Could you also post links and/or names to other parts? That way it will be complete information
Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by rahimnathwani on Tuesday July 15, 2014 @01:20AM (#8034925)
Sure. I didn't buy any NFC tags, but used these magnets:

- Ring magnet 20mm x 4mm: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=23637980267

- Ceramic magnet 20mm x 3mm: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=18786950677

I haven't bought an NFC, but this might work: http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=38598120822

Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by morsch on Monday July 14, 2014 @07:02PM (#8033753)
Interesting. Seems like the flat die (spoiler: works like a cookie cutter) would work fine on a much smaller scale. For example, you could manually press it down on a piece of cardboard, maybe with a lever action. A cursory search seems to indicate such contraptions exist.

Seems like that ought to get you up to laser cutter speeds (3 mins/part) with a much smaller investment.

PS - not usually one to complain about this, but the contrast of the font on that page is ridiculous.

Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by donclark on Tuesday July 15, 2014 @10:30AM (#8036604)
Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by drjacobs on Monday July 14, 2014 @08:45PM (#8034095)
I got to try one of these out at a wedding last weekend, it was a ton of fun and well worth the price. Going to have to buy one of my own to play around with.
Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by utopkara on Monday July 14, 2014 @07:17PM (#8033800)
It is cool that somebody is doing this. I wouldn't mind cutting and making one for my own as a weekend project though. The lenses cost $3-$4, you can get them from your local toy store packaged inside toy binoculars.
Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by ZoF on Monday July 14, 2014 @10:50PM (#8034489)
These guys did well moving quick to capitalize on this.

Saw several ads for it, probably sold quite well; getting to use 'Google' in your product's title definitely lends it some extra credibility too.

Re:How To Make 1 to 30,000 Virtual Reality Cardboard Headset... by sfeng on Monday July 14, 2014 @07:49PM (#8033924)
I would love to know the unit cost for each method.