Oculus Rift, Project Morpheus, whatever Samsung has planned… it seems that the world has gone bonkers for VR and Google’s unafraid to jump on the bandwagon. The difference is, the search company is doing it with nothing but cardboard. And a smartphone. And maybe a magnet and some rubber bands. But that’s a whole lot less costly than a whole new peripheral living in your home.

It seems like Google would be kidding about Cardboard, which is what their VR headset/smartphone/app combination is known as. Introduced at Google I/O this year, the concept is quite simple. Fold some cardboard in a prearranged shape (you can find Google’s design files here), download the app and pop your smartphone into the provided slot and you’ll be able to experience inexpensive virtual reality.

The Cardboard app is available on Google’ Play Store and, at the moment, lets users watch YouTube videos, experience a Street View tour or Google Earth flyover, play with a series of animations and images or even find out what 360 degree video looks like. The company also has a VR toolkit for developers who are feeling adventurous enough to create their own VR-like tech.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going back to cutting up boxes.

Source: The Next Web