I have been an early adopter in the past. I experimented with Linux in the early 2000s. I was fascinated with wifi when it came out. I had an early Palm Pilot and endless derivative gadgets. I tried the Psion 5 and Phillips Nino. I still have a Kodak ZI8 HD video camera--and a cell phone HD camera that does basically the same thing and a bunch of other stuff.
It's a pain in the neck being an early adopter because much of the time you end up with an overpriced paperweight.
Still it's fun to get to use the technology early.
The main use of 360 video, to me, is as a tool to preserve vacation memories. Sure a phone camera is fine and probably your phone will have some sort of 360 camera on it in the future. But today, with every trip you take, you can preserve some immersive video. That to me is more valuable now than waiting until later.
I think 360 photo video is a pretty big step forward compared to conventional photos, in the history of photography. I have heard the Gear 360 compared to a handheld drone, which I think is not a bad way to think about it.
I haven't gone the drone route because I think they're invasive and distracting. My whole goal with 360 video is to relive a memory immersively. It's hard to do that if your gear is attracting a lot of attention because of noise.
Google Cardboard is such an awesome invention, and I really appreciate Youtube's support of the format.
I think compelling travel 360 videos will have an impact on travel. I worry people would be more likely to stay home, but perhaps they would be more stimulated to travel. The next generation of Rick Steves and Anthony Bourdains will find a way to incorporate this new technology.
Human memory itself is so imperfect compared to even the video and viewers we have today.
There are not a lot of videos on "Hey guys, here's how to shoot 360 video" because I think there aren't too many people who know how to do it well. It's like a new musical instrument. Guitar has been around a long time, so there's plenty of people who do it well, and who can teach it. 360 video has only been around a few years at most, and most of its practitioners are real estate video people. Clearly there's going to be a long learning curve. Social acceptability is also still around the corner. Giving out Google Cardboard out with the New York Times was a nice stunt, but it hasn't sparked a huge mindshare so far.
YouTube will take video up to 128Gb. Facebook says they will only allow up to 1.75Gb, but they may take more. The video upload may be the most painful part of the whole process because it's pretty slow.
TimeWarner in LA recently upgraded internet and now offer a home product with 20Mbps upload speed. An hour of 360 video is 30Gb, so the faster upload speed makes a big difference. Never did upload speed matter so much.
It's kind of like the olden days when you had these multi-Mb downloads on dialup, except now you don't have to tie up the house phone line for hours sending or receiving files.
Facebook allows more granular control over who sees the videos. Youtube gives all-or-none permission. Youtube offers the goggle experience.
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