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Google is reportedly acquiring Lytro, a company that made light field cameras and hoped to pivot to virtual reality video capture. Google appears to have gotten a good (or at least cheap) deal:
Multiple sources tell us that Google is acquiring Lytro, the imaging startup that began as a ground-breaking camera company for consumers before pivoting to use its depth-data, light-field technology in VR.
One source described the deal as an "asset sale" with Lytro going for no more than $40 million. Another source said the price was even lower: $25 million. A third source tells us that not all employees are coming over with the company's technology: some have already received severance and parted ways with the company, and others have simply left. Assets would presumably also include Lytro's 59 patents related to light-field and other digital imaging technology.
The sale would be far from a big win for Lytro and its backers. The startup has raised just over $200 million in funding and was valued at around $360 million after its last round in 2017, according to data from PitchBook.
Despite a lot of hype, Lytro had little success with its expensive, ergonomically challenged, and low resolution light field cameras for consumers.
Also at 9to5Google and Engadget.
Related: LinkedIn's Top 10 Silicon Valley Startups for 'Talent Brand' - Note: Both Lytro and Theranos are on the list.
A Pocket Camera with Many Eyes - Inside the Development of Light
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Booga1 on Wednesday March 21 2018, @09:01PM (6 children)
As a photographer, I so wanted this. It would be one more tool in the bag for getting shots that couldn't be had any other way. Being able to take a moment and change the focus to anywhere in the shot is groundbreaking.
Unfortunately, the resolution was what killed it for me. It was just too low a resolution, especially at launch, with only 1 megapixel output. When it came out in 2011, cheap point and shoot camera sensors were already 12 megapixels. Flagship cameras were 18 megapixels.
If it had launched with say, 5 megapixels, I think they might have had something worth buying.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday March 21 2018, @09:10PM (1 child)
I agree entirely. I looked at these several times, but the price put me off. Probably 2 times what I would have spent.
(Score: 2) by cocaine overdose on Thursday March 22 2018, @01:19AM
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday March 21 2018, @09:13PM (1 child)
This is the most technically advanced smartphone camera ever made [businessinsider.com] (Huawei P9)
Dual-camera phones are the future of mobile photography [theverge.com]
Understanding the dual camera systems on smartphones [gsmarena.com]
Most people will be introduced to these features by their smartphones.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @03:15AM
I'm not a photo guru, but those all sound like software improvements not hardware. Just two cameras with software to mix the photos in different ways. CAT has an IR camera on their phone and can mix the IR and visible light pictures together.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21 2018, @09:20PM (1 child)
Agreed. I also wanted this to succeed. There's another company called Raytrix, that also does light field cameras, but they make industrial stuff.
I really hope Google doesn't just screw this thing and abandon it like they have done with pretty much everything.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21 2018, @11:27PM
I really hope Google doesn't just screw this thing and abandon it like they have done with pretty much everything.
This is just one more reason to make patents and copyrights non-transferable. They should be allowed a perpetual license, not the patents themselves. As long as intellectual property law remains this corrupt, it should be given nothing but contempt! It is theft of the worst kind.