Google Chrome VR lets users browse the internet in virtual reality
You can now browse the web in VR using Google Chrome.
The release of Chrome 61 means that Daydream VR users can browse websites using their headsets and experience VR through WebVR. The new chrome is the latest stable build of the company’s Google browser.
Chrome team member François Beaufort announced the news in a post on Google+:
“…this allows users to view and interact with any website in VR, follow links between pages, and move between 2D and immersive viewing for sites that support WebVR.
“Users can give this a try today by navigating to any site in Chrome and then simply putting the phone into their Daydream View headset.
“This is just the beginning for web browsing in VR so stay tuned, there’s more to come!”
While Google added WebVR tech support in Chrome in February, but the Chrome 61 update will allow users to visit any site on the web regardless of whether it has specific VR features. Users simply need to navigate to any site on Chrome using a Daydream-compatible phone and then place it into their headset.
Opera adds VR video shortcut
In other VR-web browser related news, Opera has unveiled a very specific feature that looks to solve a single pain point. Anyone who has huffed with annoyance while switching online videos between their desktop browser and their VR headset will likely appreciate the feature introduced in its Developer 49 build.
The new feature means that, as long as there is a headset plugged into your PC, the browser will display a ‘watch in VR’ button at the top of any video. This allows the user to easily switch between the two, whether the video is a normal clip or a 180-degree or 360 videos.
Support for the new feature is currently confirmed for YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo, but it is possible to watch any normal video through the headset. This means that there is no longer the requirement to download the video, open a VR player and use that to watch it.
This feature currently works with HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, OSVR HDK2 and other OpenVR headsets.
