GoPro today announced the U.S. and global launch of the GoPro Labs, a platform that it describes as a unique opportunity for its most hardcore fans to try out all off the latest experimental features as they are being developed.
Or, for a slightly more cynical perspective: GoPro Labs is essentially a glorified open beta program that’s permanent in nature and expects you to work for free. Because as is usually the case with such services, joining means agreeing to provide regular feedback to developers and failing to comply could result in you getting kicked off the service.
Not that this woul be the likeliest course of action but still, you should be aware of what you are getting yourself into less you end up disappointed. But in the meantime, GoPro Labs is debuting alongside one such experimental feature called wake-up timer. The said functionality is… well, a wake-up timer, and was used to record a recent launch of one of America’s Antares 230 rockets, i.e. satellites.
Making matters even more interesting is the fact that this trigger was achieved with the GoPro HERO8’s QR camera. Which makes this entire episode quite a feat of both software engineering and photographic expertise.
