Google launches new camera and better software for its 360 video platform

What's circular, black, and has 17 integrated cameras?

No, it's not that drone that keeps flying by your yard (but seriously, what is that?) — it's the latest entrant into the ultra-hot 360-video camera space courtesy of Google, and it's called the Yi Halo.

The Halo is the next-generation Jump camera. Jump, you may remember, is Google's platform for 360 video cameras. What makes Jump different from consumer 360 cameras like the Samsung Gear 360 are two things:

1. The cameras are aimed at pros or semi-pros, combining several cameras in a circular array so the video actually has depth — as opposed to a "flat" video that looks like it's painted on the inside of a sphere.

2. Jump is actually a camera platform, not a camera itself. Google gives guidance on the camera rig and builds the software for syncing and combining the footage from the individual cameras to create the 360 video Read more...