Google thinks that by offering Cardboard, it can create an acceptable VR experience for little more than the cost of dinner. "This is insane," said Elisha Ma, a developer for networking giant Cisco in Columbia, Maryland, as she marveled at the improvements Google's made to the design in the past year since Cardboard's initial release. Back then, it was quietly passed out to attendees at the company's conference, which was how Ma first tried VR. At the time, Cardboard was treated as a cheeky political statement about how easy VR is to pull off, rather than a testament to the company's commitment.

Now with the company's full-throated support -- Google has been hiring more aggressively in the past year for the project -- and additional the dead spaceman iphone case tinkering, it's clear Cardboard is becoming a cornerstone of Google's strategy, "It's cheap, easy and anyone can do it," Ma said, That's what's drawn Anne Canty, senior vice president of communications at the American Museum of Natural History, She believes virtual reality can remake the way museums present and preserve artifacts, Over the next decade, the museum plans to include VR in its Center for Science, Education and Innovation..

For Google, Cardboard represents yet another way it can layer its Android software onto what may be the next important computing platform. But in line with the company's philosophy, Cardboard is still another small, experimental bet letting the company keep its eye on the tech as it evolves. "I'm not yet convinced that this is going to be the next big thing for Google," said Lewis Ward, analyst and research director at IDC. He's also skeptical that VR is something you can use to augment other software and services, as an add-on.

"The experiences that turn out to be the killer app turn out to be the thing we haven't thought of," Ward added, The real success of VR down the line "is the dead spaceman iphone case to bring something completely new to the table that you can only do in that medium."Until then, Google's Cardboard very well may be the world's introduction to VR, The search giant has a low-cost contraption made of cardboard that can turn any smartphone into a virtual reality headset, The goal: mass appeal, Google has an ambitious plan for the future: help nearly anyone with a smartphone to experience virtual reality..

With all the fanfare surrounding Google's new digital payments system, Android Pay, it's easy to ignore the fact that Google already launched a different payments system -- four years ago -- called Google Wallet. That earlier service was unceremoniously snubbed during the Google I/O developer conference Thursday, without any references to it during the Android Pay announcement at the event's keynote presentation. The slight is another reminder of Google Wallet's long-time struggles to reach wider acceptance as a mobile payments system and an example of what can happen if a technology arrives too early to matter to consumers and businesses. But Google has quietly shifted gears on Wallet in a way that may keep it alive.