Wednesday 28 October 2015

Poems Concentrated Ed 11


Once upon a summer night,
Within the chambers of rest,
Awoke the weary Quasimodo,
Bearing burden on his chest,

T'was the call of recreation,
That woke poor Quasimodo,
An answer twixt upon his lips,
Fathomed by his best.

"What fine fare thou hast offered!"
Exclaimed the caller of fare,
"To give a fair dame your humour,
Tis' most noble,Quasimodo!".

Verily humoured by the effort,
Quasimodo dared to dream,
Twas a noble deed,not gone to waste,
He saw through the seams.

The fair dame from afar
Seemed Inhuman behind her veil,
And to his caller's despair
Quasimodo hath realized
This bizarre guise,
That She was never there.

For this week, I've got you another amazing, rather classic poem from Rayhaan!
I know the real story behind it, and its rather funny. Not for you. :-)
He's shifted into a more classic tone lately (considering his newer poem which for the next edition), and it works to some credit. It's more of story than poem.
Also, the poems have been getting more and more professional of late, and this is just testament to that. He's stretching his poetic biceps if anything.
It's amazing how many different things poets can gain inspiration from, and how quickly they can do too. Rayhaan said he perfected this poem in less than 30 minutes. I was left feeling star struck. If I want to write up a poem, it takes me more than 30 minutes to think of some inspiration itself. Poets are amazing creatures, they really are. Or maybe I'm such a bad poet. :-D
Reading through, I sense similarities from 15th to 19th century poets, from Shakespeare, Lord Byron to Robert Browning, all great poets from ages.
You're probably wanting to know about the poem, so I don't want to hinder you. Read on for the summary written by Lord Rayhaan himself!

In the poem Quasimodo is called upon by a friend to amuse a young woman in a distant Land with his literary prowess. He does so, much to his associates satisfaction. Quietly, the troubled Quasimodo hopes this lady will love him for his talent, and not for his looks. However, he soon uncovers a conspiracy where he finds, to his sadness that the woman never existed.

I wonder if I should reveal this, but this mostly reflects Rayhaan's own struggles. He likes to think of himself as French humpback....
I feel this edition has been so fragmented. But you're here for the poem, and atleast you got that, and that's pleasing.
I don't think I've offered enough of my opinion, and I'm leaving it like that.
But what about your opinion?
Whether you like it or not, don't forget to +1, share and follow our blog (enter your email up there in gadget!)! We really appreciate it! We love knowing that people do actually enjoy our articles and it offers motivation to keep going!
In terms of what's next week, I have another great poem by Rayhaan for you. But that'll only get released if this get adequate views. Or it'll be just a rerun of this.So please do share!
Finally, thanks for reading! :-D

You might enjoy our:
Poems Concentrated Series:



Tech Section:

10 original memes of the week:
Edition 1: http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.com/2015/10/10-original-memes-of-week.html

More Random but Interesting Articles by me:

Games Reviews:

Check out my stories:
My Baked in Irony series:
Engrossing, a twisted short tale of irony:
Sorry…..
Noticed….

Check out Rayhaan's stories:

Or just check out everything in the order they came out in by clicking this:

Saturday 17 October 2015

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact Review

Sony Z3 TC review
So, I’m running into my second second week with the Z3TC.  In this review I'm going to try and detail what I love and what I hate (now that is a task. This tab is nearly perfect, if not purely perfect). I’m going run through everything under specific sub headings. Enjoy!

Screen
The screen on the Z3, though not the sharpest around, looks fantastic.  Mind you, when I say not the sharpest around in no way do I say it’s not sharp.  It’s very sharp, the display being a 1200x1920 LCD IPS panel, making the display resolution over 1080p, which is more than necessary for crispy viewing!
The display has beautiful, punchy colours and reaches levels of eye searing brightness (when I say that, I mean it!  It’s very very very bright; accidently turn it on at night and say bye to your eyes!  😉), 680 nits to be exact. This sort of takes its toll in max dimness, but for something that isn’t an AMOLED panel, it’s good.  Blacks are black, and the whites are very white. I personally use the X-Reality display setting, which make colours more saturated than normal,  but if you don’t like that, Sony offers comprehensive white balancing settings and 2 more modes of display saturation,  which are features not many OEMs include.
Sunlight legibility is, of course no problem at all, as you’d expect.
Reading is easy and enjoyable, the screen being perfect in size (to me)  for anything from browsing the web, reading all my daily tech news feed and reading an eBook at night. 
Watching video is a delight, paired with the rather great speakers.  There are of course, two black bars above and below the video if it is at 16:9 aspect, but it is nothing compared to the two bars when watching video on an iPad for instance. This is because the display is set to the 16:10 aspect ratio, away from the traditional 16:9. It’s hardly noticeable though, being only about 0.5cm in from the bezels. 
The screen size, 8” diagonally, is more or less the sweet spot for tablets.  Go below, it’s a bit too small, go above, and it’s uncomfortable to hold. Stay within 8-8.4” and except for some small compromises to a select audience, the tablet is easy to hold, easy to store but big enough to offer a good reason not use your phone on the same task (web browsing). 8” is my personal favourite for screen sizes and for a great many people out there too.
But one thing makes this tablet stand out from the others.  And that’s lightness. That is what makes the whole package so amazing!

 It's very good and easy to read in sunlight:



Ergonomics
The Z3TC fits my hands very well. It’s a tablet that you can hold perfectly well in one hand. Sure, it requires you to stretch out more than you would for your phone, but its width is about the length of how far your thumb and forefinger extend, so you’ll be used to it quickly. I’ve never really experienced the feeling that I would fall off my hands except in the position of changing my grasp on it, where you might finding yourself losing grip, but that in itself is something you’d experience everyday on your phone.
The best thing about the Z3TC is how incredibly light it is. It’s just 270g. You might think that’s heavier than your phone, but in contrast to the huge screen and everything it packs in it, it feels like air.  For comparison, Apple 5.5” iPhone 6s Plus weighs 192g! It’s seriously light, you have to feel it for yourself.
The materials that the Z3TC are constructed are alright. Sure, it feels more premium that a majority of the other expensive tabs out there, but I’d have really liked the Z3TC to have followed the footsteps of the smartphones; be made of glass and metal. But to ask a tab to be made of glass seems stupid, so I think Sony made the only choice left open when they chose the matte plastic back, metal not being part of their design language. To me, there are no shortcomings to Z3TC design. It is what it should be, and there are no signs of cheap design and cheap materials (*cough cough* Tab S).
From the front, the Z3TC looks stunningly sharp and professional, with its beautiful display panel of glass and seamless design. The display isn’t easy to scratch, and feels very sturdy, and it doesn’t have the cheap ‘knocky’ plasticky feeling you have when you tap the display of the iPad Air (once noticed, impossible to not notice).
Overall, I’m a fan of Sony’s Omni-balance design and it really works for me.7















Performance
The Z3TC is equipped with the SnapDragon 801 and 3GB of RAM. So as you’d expect the Z3TC, is incredibly snappy. I’ve never noticed it slow down, and it breezes through all the tasks I require it to do, because 3GB of RAM is almost overkill for such a tablet, and even most flagship tablets of today don’t have it. It scrolls through screens flawlessly, handles browsing like a king, multitasks like a king and… well, it does everything like a king in my opinion. It’s perfect.
To show you what my tab is like, I’ve uploaded a video of browsing the home-screens, playing Minecraft and watching video.
I’m going to put Sound under Performance too, and to sum it up, the Z3TC has two great front facing speakers. They get quite loud and still retain clarity too. Enough to serve as the sole source of sound for a small room. Watching video or playing a game is a great experience because of this, the sound being directed right up your face. Other than the Nvidia Shield tablet and Nexus 9, I think this is the only tablet that has dual front facing speakers. Like so many other have said before me have said, it’s a wonder that other OEMs don’t include this on their devices.


Battery
The battery on this just amazing. I nearly always achieve over 8h of screen on time, and that is so incredibly useful and amazing, meaning you can run 2 days without a worry, and 3 days with moderate usage. Because of this, I’ve found all the phones are having increased time on because we’re spending time browsing on this instead, and it’s a win-win situation. My G2, I estimate wouldn’t need technically need to be charged for upto 3 days, but of course I always plug it into charge every night with usually about 60% remaining, so if your considering this as your only device, you’ll find yourself only charging both your phone (it might, of course, depend) and tablet once every 2-3 days.
As tested by PhoneArena, the Z3TC was hailed king of tablet endurance (as of last year) but you’ll find that there still not many tablets that can best this.
I think I should mention the built in QuickCharge feature, which can charge your tablet in under 1:30 hours, which although I use, haven’t really tested. It’s there if you wanted to know.
So overall, I’m very, very happy with the battery life on this monster, and if you buy it, I’m sure you’ll see too.

UI
I’ve always been a fan of Sony’s stock UI, and as always this is the same. I actually haven’t put any launchers on it, even though I’m usually vocal about how people actually still use stock UIs on their devices. Sony’s UI is beautifully simple and useful and it’s the only stock interface I have only ever liked. I’m sticking with it.  I just love the looks, from the notification tray to the settings menus to the icons. You’d never hear me say that about Touchwiz.
Sony has several extensive options for you to tinker with, and although not as extensive as some that LG offers, you’ll find you don’t actually need to mess with them to get your device running beautifully.
One thing I’d have loved to see though is apps that take use of the big screen, like dual window. I always find myself using the Small Window feature, but I’d really have appreciated more, because I love squeezing productivity out of a device.
One tip: Buy a stylus, install OneNote or Evernote, and use it as a notepad, something I find very useful for doing complex maths on.

(Check out the video under performance for a glimpse into the homscreen)

Camera
One downfall of the Z3 is its camera. I really expected more out of Sony camera wise on this. The rest of the Z3 series had great cameras and I’d have loved it if Sony had jumped the fence and made a tablet with a great camera (something virtually non-existent).
Still, the camera isn’t all as bad for a tab. It performs well in good lighting, suffering badly in bad lighting. I’ll include some photos I took on it for you to look at below.
The front facing camera (don’t you dare say selfie cam) is relatively good, but something I never use. Picture included.
Still, I don’t think society has a very good outlook on Tablet photographers.

Thanks to Google pretty cool photo sharing service, here are some picture taken from the Tablet itself:











And in case you wanted, a photo from the front facing camera:


WaterProofing/ Ingress Protection
This is a part I forgot to add, and if it wasn't for my friends at the Z3 Tablet Owners community, I don't think I'd have remembered. 
The Z3TC, like all the products in the Z3 range is dust and water protected for a maximum of 1.5m in a maximum time of  30 minutes. This means that you're free to take this tablet into your pool or bath tub and watch Netflix while relaxing, or in  a more usual case, use it without a problem on the beach or kitchen and just wash it off when you've finished.
But you must make sure the power and SD card slots are closed, or the water might seep in that way.
I myself haven't used this feature as of yet, but it was one reasons I bought over the completion. It's always good to know your protected!
(Try doing that with an iPad. ;-D)

Conclusion
I’ve always been a fan of Sony’s devices and outlook, and this device is a worthy heir to that title. I’m very impressed with it, and it has never let me down. It’s a truly great tablet and to my purposes, has far, far more potential than an iPad. The only tablet that could provide a worthy opponent to this is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S, but I’m not a fan of Samsung’s design or values. This is the one and only.
One word on their successors, and why I didn’t even mention them throughout. The Z4 is best tablet you can buy today, after the Surface series, but it’s far too expensive, and as for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, well, it’s just a really bad iPad.
One thing I’d have wanted more than any more improvement on the Z3TC is more base storage. Mine has only 16GB and comes with only 11GB remaining, which is soo little in today’s standards. Sure, it has MicroSD, but it’s not like you transfer most apps to the card. In a week mine has only 2GB remaining. A tab really should come with more (there is a 32GB version available, but I couldn’t find any).
So, if you’re looking for one, here’s some links:


Oh, and if you're looking for more, look forward to our upcoming review of the Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge!
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Thanks for reading!


You might be interested in our other reviews and tech talk:

Check out my stories:
My Baked in Irony series:
Engrossing, a twisted short tale of irony:
Sorry…..
Noticed….

Check out Rayhaan's stories:

Poems Concentrated Series:

Or just check out everything in the order they came out in by clicking this:

Flipside 4

Flip-Side 4!
Finally, a flipside by Rayhaan again! Yes, he's back for now! 
This time he's bought with him another amazing heartfelt story. It goes deep and personal. Always be grateful for what you have. You'll only miss it when it's gone. 
These words are yours for now, enjoy them while you still can. 
Read on.

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Flipside 4

The great white light of the sun shone upon the survivor's garden.The morning heat was intense, and was enough to awaken the man. He was aged; his features chiseled. He had enough to keep him disturbed, and he only slept because of the pain he felt in parts of his weary body.
  The survivor was just a boy when nuclear warfare began. It was a strained idea at the time, not even a last resort for most nations: under the façade of "world peace". He could still remember the shrill cries of women next door once the warhead was launched. In a few seconds, the government pleaded to the citizens to run for the nearest shelter, and all hell began to break lose. Babies were crying. Animals moaning. The end was nigh.

 The survivor rose from his bed; a deep sigh rolling down his nostrils. It wasn't really a bed, he thought. The sheets were rags, tearing away at its ends. His pillows were sacks of soft beach sand, decades old, as he was.

Gradually, within the span of, at most, 2 decades, most of the unhealthy adults passed, and without many adults, a few younger ones could not survive either. His sister was the youngest of the children, and was not strong enough. Upon recollection, the survivor often broke into tears, "Why me? What's the point of living when all I have are these damned chickens?"
He would often kick the cage door in frustration. Suicide was not an option either. He was stronger than that, and as his loved ones passed away in his arms, he vowed he would survive for their sake, and survive he did.
     Afternoon came, and he retreated to the kitchen. He opened the food vaults and stared into it. The ample amount of nutrition mocked him. It stood for what would keep him alive, what would keep him in his lonesome, vulnerable to the ghosts of his life past. The survivor cooked and dined heartily, as his mother had taught him. He sat at the dining table. In his mind, mother was standing beside him, waiting for him to slip up on his etiquette so she could correct him. A single tear dripped down the sullen face of the survivor, as he remembered mother and her sharp features. He could never tell her how good her cooking was. He was too much of an idiot, enjoying the food when she fed him.


He finished his lunch and opened grandfather's dilapidated house, conveniently built next to his almost a century ago. He marveled at grandfathers paintings. His aged fingers rubbed the surface of the portraits. The world was so beautiful, why did it have to end the way it did? 

The survivor could bare these ghosts no more. He grabbed a Geiger meter from grandfather’s office and headed out of the lead gates. He walked down the street, onto the main road, and into the city.  He walked on, past the destruction of yesteryear. The Geigermeter began beeping. The radiation levels were increasing. The survivor went into ice cream shops, shopping malls, and restaurants, all with his family beside him. 
Finally, he ventured to the the coast and sat on the rocks. The radiation he was being exposed was gnawing away at his skin, but he didn't mind. The toxic seawater sprayed on his toes as it hit the rocks. He tried his best. He really did. But he had his family again, in his mind, and they were comforting him. Everything was going to be alright. The survivor shed his last tears as his skin melted away atop the coastal rocks, he had made his family proud, and survived for three quarters of a century.


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As always, a great story. 
Here's a bit of a sad fun fact for you. The reason this story is so short is because Rayhaan lost one important paragraph during transit. The paragraph between 'as he was.' and '.Gradually....'.
You might have not noticed it, but according to Rayhaan that way a key point in the story, which would have technically made it more exciting and given some background story. But whats gone is gone, and like I said, let's be grateful for what we have.

And that's it for this week. I hope enjoyed it, and if you did, please remember to +1, share and follow our blog (enter your email into the gadget above)! It really helps get us known, and is very much appreciated. 

Thanks for reading!

Or just check out everything in the order they came out in by clicking this:

Saturday 3 October 2015

Cookies by Douglas Adams

So this is a story I've read many times on the internet but never actaully seen credited to the real author, Douglas Adams. So now I discovered who actaully wrote and realised that I had to put up a story today, this is the first example that came to mind! I still laugh everytime I read this, and I'm sure you will laugh too!
Enjoy!
Cookies by Douglas Adams
This actually did happen to a real person, and the real  person was me. I had gone to catch a train. This was April 1976, in  Cambridge, U.K. I was a bit early for the train. I’d gotten the time of  the train wrong. I went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword,  and a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table.
I want you to picture the scene. It’s very important that you get  this very clear in your mind. Here’s the table, newspaper, cup of  coffee, packet of cookies. There’s a guy sitting opposite me, perfectly  ordinary-looking guy wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase. It  didn’t look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was  this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore  it open, took one out, and ate it.
Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the British are very bad at dealing with. There’s nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies.
You know what would happen if this had been South Central Los  Angeles. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming  in, CNN, you know. . . But in the end, I did what any red-blooded  Englishman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a  sip of coffee, tried to do a clue in the newspaper, couldn’t do  anything, and thought, what am I going to do?
In the end I thought, Nothing for it, I’ll just have to go for it,  and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was  already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, That settled him.  But it hadn’t because a moment or two later he did it again. He took  another cookie. Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow  even harder to raise the subject the second time around. “Excuse me, I  couldn’t help but notice . . .” I mean, it doesn’t really work.
We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole  packet, I mean there were only about eight cookies, but it felt like a  lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally,  when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away. Well, we exchanged  meaningful looks, then he walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief  and sat back.
A moment or two later the train was coming in, so I tossed back the  rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the  newspaper were my cookies.
The thing I like particularly about this story is the sensation that  somewhere in England there has been wandering around for the last  quarter-century a perfectly ordinary guy who’s had the same exact story,  only he doesn’t have the punch line.
Still laughing? Me too!
This is probably one my top favorite short funny stories. After my own, of course
:-D.
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Read more:
The Poems Concentrated Series:
Check out my stories:
My Baked in Irony series:
Engrossing, a twisted short tale of irony:
Sorry…..
Noticed….
Tomorrow
Check out Rayhaan's stories:

Stories not by Interest Concentrated, but still amazing and worth reading:
http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/the-open-window-by-saki.html

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