Earlier in the year I posted a mention about [URL="http://dpnow.com/forum2/blog.php?b=271"]Kogeto Dot [/URL]- a fun looking add-on for your iPhone 4 that lets you shoot 360 degree videos and play them back so you can move the 'camera view' around as if you were there during the recording. Now a British outfit, which has had a long standing record in the commercial applications of 360 degree imaging, is about to launch Bubblepix, which is similar in many ways to Kogeto Dot, but, according to them - better.

[URL="http://bubblepix.com/bubbles/166"][IMG]http://dpnow.com/files/blog/bubblepix.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[I]Click on the picture to go to the Bubblepix site and view a 'bubble'[/I]

Due to be launched in the early summer when first shipments of the Bubblepix hardware arrive, the package will cost �69. You can already download the Bubblepix iPhone app and play with pre-recorded 360 degree movies, which Bubblepix call 'bubbles'. It's also possible to shoot 360 degree bubble stills.

I'm told that the Bubble hardware design is better than the Kogeto Dot because, unlike their rival's device, the Bubblepix 360 degree lens is not restricted to being used with the iPhone laid flat and with the screen mostly out of view. The Bubblepix device pops out of a cylindrical barrel and there is no plastic window to compromise the optics. You can also leave the case, into which the lens attaches via a bayonet mount, on your iPhone to protect it.

Bubblepix is also looking at other markets beside iPhone and hints that it has an Android offering in the pipeline.