The Immersive Wire - 31 October 2021 (Sunday edition)

By Tom FfiskeCurated VR/AR analysis every Wednesday and Sunday 

// 31 October 2021

'Tis the spooky season, and I will celebrate it by going to three Halloween parties. The introvert in me is storing social energy more efficiently than a Tesla motor.

Out now on the Oculus Quest and Quest 2.

TOP STORIESHave you Meta the metaverse?

Editor's note: The following is a portion of a piece I wrote for Tech Informed, which goes into (a lot of) detail on the Meta announcement. Please consider supporting the site and read the full piece here. Facebook has faced a torrent of political challenges, controversy and criticism in recent years. Campaigners and policymakers critique how the social media giant handles radicalisation on its platform, with leaks from whistleblower Frances Haugen adding to Mark Zuckerberg’s woes. Haugen, who formerly worked for the company, claimed it is “making hate worse” with its managing of disinformation.The difficulties remain today, but the critics will now be taking aim at the same company under a new name and brand. Meet Meta, Facebook’s rebranded umbrella company, which was unveiled yesterday at Facebook’s Connect event.The new branding neatly outlines the social firm’s vision of becoming a metaverse company in the future. But it will still face great challenges ahead, both from a political and branding perspective. Meta remains an elephant in the social media chatroom, though its blue hide has been painted a new hue.  Meta will be the new umbrella company that comprises of all of Facebook Corp’s owned subsets, such as Facebook (the original platform), WhatsApp, Instagram, and the (newly renamed) Reality Labs. The set-up is similar to the creation of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, which oversees the wide range of services which the company provides. But similar challenges may arise, too. Though Alphabet is the umbrella company, most people and analysts still colloquially refer to them as Google, nearly six years after the change. Although the name is different, the pillar of brand strength still lies in Google – a challenge which Meta may face as Facebook is incredibly embedded into society. (Further, the FAANG may need a rearrangement; MAANG does not have the same ring as its former name, and the less said about MANGA the better.)Read the full piece I wrote for Tech Informed. 

The hit PC VR and LBE party game Loco Dojo is Unleashed on Oculus Quest!

“Just what Quest needed!” says ThumbCulture, giving the game their Platinum Award.

“I didn’t realise I wanted to be bellowed at by Brian Blessed in VR until now!” says another happy customer. Average review score: 85% VRGameCritic, Average Oculus Store Score: 4.5/5

Whack bats, ride pigs, sling snakes, and more only on Oculus Quest & Quest 2.

ADDITIONAL STORYConsidering OS for AR glasses 

The Q&A section is taking a short break as part of the spooky season. Want to have your story appear here? If you want to be featured, email me at tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com or reply to this newsletter. In the meantime, here is a snippet from my upcoming book, the Immersive Reality Revelation. Another core element about AR glasses to consider is OS. When it comes to new hardware, there needs to be a framework of solid software that can work with the systems. All of this comes with a solid operating system. It's a bit like baking a cake; you need a solid biscuit base, or the rest of it would wobble and collapse in on itself. So what is Facebook's approach? In a recent interview, both Zuckerberg and Bosworth confirmed they are working on a new OS. The new system will be built on preexisting systems, while also optimised to lower the thermal envelope. The main focuses are efficiency and safety, so that software can run on people's frames without overheating their faces: ‘These new platforms are so different from everything that’s come before it – not just the input, but the app model, how you’re going to discover things, how tightly they need to be optimised. If you’re building a pair of glasses that need to look like normal glasses, you need to have the system be so tightly optimised so you can basically do all the computation that you would expect from a modern computer, but do it on someone’s face within a thermal envelope and a power envelope that can last all day long. So that’s a very big challenge.'And for Apple? Who knows. Rumours circulate that they are working on something called rOS, likely labelled as reality OS. But at best it's an internal codename, and at worst it's a sensible guess by a pundit. But the goals will likely be similar to Facebook; an efficient system that can run programs without overheating.  It is difficult to comment further without any further details from both companies. But what's certain is that building an OS sets the framework for future innovations with AR glasses. And as Microsoft has shown, and slip-ups with OS can have long-lasting ramifications - which might not be a pleasant Vista to observe. We’ve mentioned Google before, and their approach can be summarised as a shrug followed by a skitter-scatter of announcements here and there. But their influence is massive; there have been 200 million AR-related searches on the platform since it was launched, and they showed off some athletes in AR as well. Additionally, Live View AR had been updated on Google Maps to provide street labels, landmarks, and indoor directions in places like airports and malls. A blessing, considering how many families get lost in transit hubs.

Jobs boardINTERNSHIP, US. The intern will be primarily focused on developing proficiency in the use and application of tools designed for experiences in VR/AR headsets. GRIP-IE interns will assist the Get Real management team and clients in the design, development, and implementation of features within both internal and partner platforms. Interns will follow industry best practices including continuous improvement through code reviews of existing and new code. GRIP-IE interns will also be responsible for managing communication with software vendors on a variety of topics including bug identification, feature requests, troubleshooting, and documentation materials. Click here for more. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, UK. Here at CIRCUS (an award-winning creative agency, specialists of Virtual Brand Experiences) we're on the lookout for an enthusiastic B2B Business Development Manager on a part-time, remote basis. If this sounds of interest and you love all things virtual, we'd love to tell you more. Click here for more. SENIOR WEBXR ENGINEER, US. Build a human-centric metaverse with a stellar team at www.urnowhere.com. Full-Time Position, Fully Remote Team, Core hours (10AM-5PM EST). NOWHERE aims to revolutionize gathering with patent-pending video presence technology that allows serendipitous social mingling between conversations with friends or colleagues at conferences, meetings, or parties all within dynamic web environments. Nowhere combines expertise from veteran founders, experience experts, engineers, game designers, theatre-makers, VFX artists from Windmill Factory to build a healthier digital future. Please share with anyone you think might be interested. JOIN NOWHERE.FULL STACK DEVELOPER, remote position. Looking for a competent Software Engineer with 4+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated Web development team. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER (Node.js), remote position. Looking for a competent Senior Software Engineer with 5+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated Web development team.  This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR DEVELOPER (VUE.JS), remote Position. Looking for an experienced JavaScript developer who is highly skilled with Vue.js. You will be joining our Web development team to develop and enhance customer facing Web Applications, where you will be responsible for following best practices to produce modular and maintainable code. Click here for more. QA LEAD, remote positions available. Looking for a competent QA Lead with 2+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated QA Team in Waterford.  This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR UNITY GAME DEVELOPER, remote position. Looking for a competent Senior Unity Developer to join our team with 5+ years industry experience.  The talented individual must have vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more.  SENIOR PRODUCT OWNER, remote position. Looking for a competent Product Owner. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. UI DESIGNER, remote position. Looking for a competent UI Designer. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. UX DESIGNER, remote position. Are you looking for a unique challenge working in virtual & augmented reality with a bleeding-edge technology company? Then read on. Click here for more.ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN DIGITAL MEDIA, UK. We are looking to appoint a dynamic and adaptable course director for our BA (Hons) in Digital Media to lead and deliver teaching, learning and assessment on the BA Digital Media and steer  its next phase of growth.  As well as a track record of academic leadership you will have extensive practical experience in digital media such as immersive storytelling (AR/VR/XR), modelling and animation, creative media design / production, or web / mobile app design and development. Click here for more.SENIOR IMMERSIVE LEARNING DESIGNER, UK. Make Real is looking to expand our digital learning team with a Senior Immersive Learning Designer. Your role will be to consult with clients in order to create exciting and imaginative design solutions. Your designs will affect behaviour change in order to deliver on specific learning outcomes, while being achievable within a set budget and timeline. Click here for more. SENIOR UNITY DEVELOPER, UK. As a growing and exciting business, we are looking for full-time talented multi-disciplinary Unity developers to join our expert team in central Brighton. Our ideal candidates will have a broad range of technical experience with a proven track record of delivering interactive Virtual & Augmented Reality projects across a range of HMD & mobile hardware. Working as part of our existing team of designers and artists, the roles will primarily involve the delivery of VR/AR projects for our global clients. Click here for more. Display your vacancy in front of thousands of talented VR/AR professionals in just a few clicks. Click here for more info.

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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) immersivewire (dot) com. Have an excellent day!