The Immersive Wire - 16 May 2021 (Sunday edition)

SUNDAY READ EDITIONCurated VR/AR analysis every Wednesday and Sunday

// 16 May 2021

Frankly, we all need a holiday.

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And who can blame them? Working remotely means people are surrounded by screens over time, and with no traveling to distract them unless they take longer walks. Strapping on a VR headset after a tiring day saps energy, like a headcrab of fatigue. Even among the most passionate people in VR, they are stepping slightly further away from using the headset doing other hobbies, like (finally) seeing friends or painting.

Is it something to worry about?

Not really. Not everyone in an industry plays items from the same area every day. Even game developers want some space away from a screen, or footballers playing any other sport. It's a matter of self-healing, of finding the hobbies which help people heal up and ready for the next week.

I mention this because, having had an absolute belter of a week, the last thing on my mind is donning a headset and shooting some zombies. No, I want to lie down in a bath and read

A Closed and Common Orbit

, with absolutely nothing else to do. Zilch. Nada.

I recognise the importance of doing as many VR or AR applications as possible and learning from them all. But after weeks of work, its sometimes beneficial to take a small break, a step back, and try something else. Having a break doesn't sap time away from a passion; it helps grant a clear head before diving in again, healthy and ready to go.

Take a small break, even away from a headset. Photo credit: FitXR.

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Q&A with.. a mobile web technical specialist

Rupert Breheny, Technical Specialist (Mobile Web), Google

What have you done recently?As a long-serving Googler (14 years and counting) I’ve had the good fortune to work with many teams, the highlight being a stint at Daydream managing a small team of vendors responsible for the performance of the Google Earth VR rendering pipeline.I’m still obsessed with speed, and my last project was helping a retailer with a marketing campaign that centred on a 10 MB animated GIF. By rebuilding the entire asset using CSS animations we got the file size down to just 1% of the original. Performance doesn’t always have to be about compromises, it’s trying to figure out the most elegant solution to a problem that respects your user’s time and hardware.What's a key lesson you would give to young developers?Find a mentor at work if you can, somebody that isn’t afraid to give a strong critique, ideally via code or design reviews. I learned more from bruising feedback from colleagues than I did from any formal technical education, and once the sting subsides, the lesson remains.Keep an eye on what technology interests you two years from now. If you can learn that in advance of mainstream demand, then you will have recruiters chasing you, rather than you chasing them. Just be more forward thinking than your competition.And for the broader picture, keep a flow of inspiration from both inside and outside your field. It’s easy to get stale referring to what your peers are doing on GitHub or Behance. Be open to what you can learn from documentaries, museums, architecture, theatre. We are surrounded by incredible creativity in every industry – keep looking outwards.How did you learn your skills?I’m pretty much self taught. I fell in love with the web 25 years ago, and it’s the kind of endeavour that rewards happy tinkering. After learning the basics from a little book taped to issue 14 of .net magazine, the rest just accrued over the years of paying work and pet projects.For more on web performance,

check this out. And this for my favourite piece of sublime inspiration this year.

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That's all for this week! Want to have a chat, let me know about a news story, or talk business? Either reply to this email, or contact tom (at) virtualperceptions (dot) com. Have an excellent day!