谷歌已跟GoPro达成合作关系，这是为进军虚拟现实(VR)领域采取的第一项重大措施，希望把这项技术变成一种大众市场产品。
Google has teamed up with GoPro to make its first big push into virtual reality, in the hope of turning the technology into a mass market product.
周四在旧金山举行的谷歌 I/O开发者大会上，谷歌公布了Jump“环绕式视频拍摄”工具，这也是这家公司承诺对虚拟现实部门投资的第一步，分析师们预测，虚拟现实领域将变成各大互联网巨头的下一个战场。
Jump, a “spherical-video” project, was unveiled at Thursday’s Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco and marks the first step of what the company promises will become a sustained investment in a sector that analysts predict could become the next battleground for large internet groups.
GoPro正在开发一种16个摄像头的相机阵列，摄像头面向外面排成一个圆圈，以确保录像内容的同步和拼接，再通过处理后进入具备VR功能的媒体。
GoPro is developing a rig of 16 cameras, arranged in an outward-facing circle that ensures the video is synchronised and combined in such a way that it can be processed into VR-ready media.
片段镜头上传到云后，谷歌将使用其算法把声音和图像整合成为360度的3D影像。
Once the footage from those cameras is uploaded to the cloud, Google will use its algorithms to stitch together the sound and images into 360-degree, 3D films.
这让该公司可以把录像内容发送给Cardboard观察镜——一款今年1月推出的低价头戴式视图器。任何一部近来的智能手机都可以接入该设备，充当屏幕。
This will allow the company to deliver the videos to users of its Cardboard viewer, a low-cost headset it launched in January. Any recent smartphone can be inserted into the kit and used as the screen.
分析师表示，与其最相近的增强现实技术一道，虚拟现实技术有潜力把应用范围从游戏与娱乐延伸到通信与商业。
Analysts say that along with its close cousin, augmented reality, VR has the potential to broaden beyond gaming and entertainment to include communication and commerce.