Google intends to make the entire internet available to be explored in virtual reality (VR). With this aim, the search engine giant company is working to include VR support in its Android mobile Chrome browser.
Road to VR reports that Google's latest developer and beta versions of Chrome for Android include open source WebVR support. The developer version also includes a "VR Shell" feature that will enable mobile device headsets in the future to browse any website regardless of whether it uses WebVR.
Engadget reports that Chromium guru François Beaufort explained on a blog post that the Chrome Developer's "VR shell" will allow Daydream and Cardboard users to browse the internet with a headset. That means the VR version of Chrome for Android will work with all websites, not just the ones designed for virtual reality.
WebVR is a JavaScript API that aims to facilitate the creation of websites that are VR-ready. Up until now, WebVR's main issue has been a lack of support for the rest of the web.
Google's new VR Shell for Chrome offers for the first time the possibility of a one-size-fits-all approach. Every website on the internet becomes now explorable in 360-degree virtual space.
At this time, the VR Shell option is not fully functional. Google software engineers are still working on the project. It is likely that this feature will become useful only when Google will finally release its Daydream platform.
Announced at I/O developer conference in May, Daydream has been announced at I/O developer conference in May as a kind of successor to Google Cardboard, according to The Verge. The Daydream platform combines hardware and software optimizations in order to provide a more advanced VR experience.
With Daydream's entirely new app ecosystem users can access special VR versions of Google apps and explore an outdoor landscape. Users can also access third-party software compliant with Google's standards.
