This morning a package arrived. I was going to hold off on building it until after I had coffee, once unboxed though the thing nearly made itself. One cut, a few fold, slots into tabs all numbered…done. Really…done. Slotted my old S3 in, ran demo. Holy Shnikees. 

I do not know how many of you of a similarly  advanced age  remember the first time you looked into a View Master, that first understanding  you were seeing in depth a place that might never exist or you might never visit in the flesh…but there you were. Now take that and add movement, sound, lighting. 

Yes I have putzed with  gear over the last few decades of promised VRtopia. Nothing made me this happy. What a few decades of techwhiz and biz spin could not deliver on a slab of cardboard, two lenses and a slightly older smart phone have. 

Is it the best head mount ever in the world? Its a few bucks of cardboard, glass and an old phone…No. Is it good enough for  a lot of cool experiences? Beyond any expectations. 

The one draw back to my set up, the included magnet is not in the right place nor strong enough to do what it needs on my old S3. I have a stronger magnet and that seems to work. I will have to jigger with placement and such. 

And now, having spent all of a half hour looking at the community springing up around this idea, I am filled with mods to make tablet sized cardboard devices, apps to let em play games, watch movies and go visit new places (I call this the ViewMaster Mode) . 

Oh brave new world of cardboardpunk.

#cardboardpunk   #googlecardboard   #viewmaster