User-generated videos are getting a new perspective, thanks to Kogeto’s Dot, a lens attachment that lets the iPhone 4 family of smartphones shoot panoramic footage. Jeff Glasse, founder and CEO of New York-based Kogeto has been busy in his offices in the Soho neighborhood developing what he calls an “ecosystem” for users to share videos taken with his company’s device.
Kogeto’s Dot iCONIC lenses, which went on sale in late October, fit over the camera lenses of iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S smartphones, and let users shoot videos with 360-degree perspectives. They can hold their phones or lay them down and let Dot capture the surrounding area for them. The lens is paired with Kogeto’s free Looker app. Viewers can pan around the video, changing the vantage point of the footage. Glasse demoed the device at the NY Tech Meetup on Nov. 29, a monthly showcase for startups that typically brings out some 700 techies and investors.
Dot users can share their videos on Facebook, Twitter, and Kogeto’s website. It’s sold through select Apple Stores, Amazon.com, and other retailers and is priced at about $80 depending on the seller. Dot is the second product from the company; the first is a larger desktop-mounted panoramic video camera called Lucy, which Glasse says has been used backstage at the Ellen Degeneres Show.
Glasse is a veteran of startups and the video production industry. In the 1990s, he founded a company called DIGIT New Media, which produced videos used in museums. Teachscape, one of Glasse’s clients, acquired DIGIT. Glasse remained with the company, and while developing video capture equipment for observing classrooms, he says he saw an opportunity to pursue the consumer market.
Founded in June 2010, Kogeto raised $120,000 this summer through New York’s Kickstarter, a funding platform for inventors, artists, and filmmakers. Though he already has some commitments from private investors to
