Flickr's Developing Its Own VR Experience

If you have Google Cardboard or any sort of more sophisticated virtual reality headset, you've likely used it to watch videos and look at photos. Doing so isn't common at this point, but companies are working quickly to embrace the technology, and Flickr is no different. Over the weekend, Yahoo's photo-hosting service detailed its own virtual reality effort, saying that next year users may be able to view 360-degree panos using Oculus' Rift headset.

Starting next year, Flickr's aiming to allow its users to click a link (or a button, maybe) on panoramas that span 360 degrees. Doing so will put it up for viewing on a supported VR headset, of which Oculus' Rift DK 2 is presently being used. Which VR devices will be supported isn't clear, and may not be known.

The project is still in an early stage, but once it arrives, Flickr may complement it with a dedicated portal of some sort where 360 degree VR-friendly content is aggregated. This would join YouTube's 360 degree videos and more to expand "experiences" available at the virtual reality level.

Yahoo's photo service detailed the project at XOXO Festival over the past couple days. At some point in the possibly very distant future (likely when VR is more common), the so-called Flickr VR platform may being updated to include support for browsing and managing a user account using a VR headset.

SOURCE: Engadget