Review: Sherlock- Season S4 E3

Was this the last Sherlock we will ever see? Is the last time Cumberbatch (no, I’m not going to make the ‘joke’) and Freeman join up as Sherlock and Watson to play the iconic duo?

I don’t know, but I hope not.

I have mixed feelings about this last episode. I recorded my thoughts as I watched and at every scene, I was like WTF? Sometimes positive, sometimes negative. There was too much twisty turny curly wurly wtf moments. It didn’t feel… serious? It didn’t feel like a real episode. It felt like we were being tortured- in all fairness that was great audience-character empathy, because (spoilers!) they were too. But I didn’t really like it. As I watched I thought to myself, “that’s pretty cheap”.

It gets boring after a while when they- the people behind Sherlock, I don’t know who to point to- try and cheaply mind-blow you with ever so obvious, why didn’t I think that stuff like (spoilers) making out that John Watson was actually shot by a tranquilizer gun. What?! Why would she, Euros do that? She’s a heartless killer, they show, and she doesn’t have the heart to kill Watson?! I DON’T SEE THE LOGIC HELP ME! Or Mycroft being stupid enough (spoilers) to not be prepared for everything that could come his way. He’s a bloody head of security at some place ISN’T HE?! So Sherlock (ok, he's Sherlock), could so easily out smart and trick him into (spoilers) revealing that they had a sister? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

However, in many ways it felt like a return, somewhat, to the old; this episode was distinctly different from Ep 1 and Ep 2, at least in my opinion.

Let’s try and talk about something good now. The cinematography is BEAUTIFUL! I loved every minute of it. The scene transitions, the camera work and the colour grading. Just what I’ve come to expect from the team behind Sherlock of course, never boring- always epic. The CGI was shit though, like really, really bad. The episode was very creepy and maintained a tone of being gory and full of horror- like Silence of the Lambs. That was, what I believe, the effect they wanted. Well, good job guys! I still like it was a bit too crazy to be believable, something which I thought Sherlock tries to be?

In this episode, Sherlock was made into a human. He always likes to think of himself as being above that, but as they show here, he bloody well isn’t. Euros does an amazing job at bringing out and making him behave like a person- a human. People like that. Me? I don’t mind. Don’t like it that much though, I like him being removed and analytical, but as Euros shows that might also be one of his biggest weaknesses.

(Spoilers) Drones, bombs, jumping out windows, pirating ships, are they really needed? The James Bond theme that people have complained about lately sticks. Do I really care- me being the action lover? Well, kind of. I like Sherlock for the technical stuff, the real life beauty, the “believability”. Why would you take that away? That’s kind of sad, that they have to turn to that sort of thing to keep Sherlock going. A bit lazy, don’t you think?

I wanted this post to be an opinion post. Not quite a review; I just wanted to talk about how I felt of it. But it kind of did become a review at the end didn't it? I really liked the other two episodes in the series and I really like this one too. But I felt like I tried to analyse this one a bit too much, and because of reading other opinion posts, developed a more critical eye. Plus, I was annoyed by the horrible CGI. How even?!

So, do I recommend this episode? Of course I do, there’s no reason to not watch it. The acting is AMAZING. The cinematography is AMAZING. The music is AMAZING. The story… it got me down at the end, thoughtful- EPIC! (Thanks 9gag for killing the mood). So all together, this episode is a win at least for me. I like it, not as much as I’d want to, but I do. I just hope they can bring the next series, whenever that ever is, back to what Sherlock series 1/2/3 were, real, believable and with the old charm.

So yeah. Watch it, but Sherlock- fix your stuff. Thanks for reading.

Thisath.

Review: Into the Wild (2007)

Yasaru here with first installment in our movie reviews section and I feel like we're opening with a strong one.

Sean Penn's beautifully directed movie with amazing cinematography fully equipped with a story that is thought provoking in more ways than most pop culture films today. The movie revolves around Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) and his struggles to experience life with the hardships that come along with it. At the risk of spoiling the film, it is , in a nutshell, a story about a man who refuses to live in a world that is built upon what society tells him to and as the name suggests forces him into the wild to be "who he always wanted to be".

Whenever I talk about this film the first thing that comes to mind is it is emotional, very emotional. The messages that this story implants in it's viewers as the movie progresses is what really makes this film what it is, along with the interesting characters that help Christopher with his journey. With that comes my first nitpick (proceed with caution, spoiler alert) the characters aren't given that much of time to be embraced and understood by the viewers and to see how their relationship with him really means anything to the viewer.

However the movie certainly does have ideas that are wonderfully implemented into the storyline. The whole idea of how man must be one with nature is evident throughout the film. But the emotional trip that Penn elegantly takes the reader through is one that will stick around for a while. Penn does an absolute work of art of capturing the essence of the true story the film was written upon and does little to change the authenticity of it. The film is paced well enough with a certain lackluster scenes occasionally but nevertheless it manages to keep the viewers engaged.

This movie truly is a great watch; IMDb wouldn't have put it on their "list of films to watch before you die" for no reason, to be fair.  If you want something more than the rather stagnated films that rarely ever affect your life in by even the simplest of ways, Into the Wild is an absolutely phenomenal film.

                                Interest Concentrated (Yasaru) rates this film: 8.5/10

                                                                                       

Review: AKG K451

Hello, it's Shehan aka Tyrant Beast!

Today I'm going to review something different. I'm going to review my headphones, my AKG K451!

Released at £50, you can soon understand why it won the "What Hi-Fi? Product of the Year Award" in 2012.

They're a pair of a foldable mini on-ear headphones. The earpads are super soft and just touch your earlobe, so like all on ear headphones, they aren't noise cancelling. The adjustable ear pieces are really comfortable for long listening sessions. The ear cups rotate freely and can be fit however you like!


They can also fold  in (like I suggested earlier) when you're not using them for easier transport, a very nice touch if you don't have a large bag or need a very compact pair of cans.

The headphones are also very stylish, with the contrasting black and silver plastic build. It feels pretty good in hand and is quite premium.

If you buy your very own AKG K451 headphones you get:

•Two detachable 3.5mm cables, one with an inline remote control and microphone and one without.
•A 3.5 to 6.3mm converter
•A carrying case

The headphones are able to reach from 11Hz to 29.5kHz so it has amazing bass and treble. Weighing in at 120g, its also very light. The headphones are specifically engineered for portable devices, but that doesn't stop you from using it at home full time, like I do!

Overall it's a great add on for any commuter.  I myself found it very relieving to upgrade from my old Philips headphones (which were really, really bad, trust me on this one) to these AKGs. I would highly recommend it!

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out our tech reviews by clicking the Reviews and Technology labels.

Note: I recently purchased a new phone (which I will make a review of very soon). I will be able to write more often, so expect to see more of me :)

Why Do Macs Suck at Gaming?

This here is an article I wrote last month for a school project. I covered the ever interesting topic, Mac gaming. I wanted to develop a deeper understanding of why this is such a big issue. It had to be written assuming the readers had no understanding of the topic, so please excuse any over simplifications and the like.

“For years, Mac gaming has almost been an oxymoron” states TechRadar in a post from 2015, writing about how there was being in explosion in the Mac Gaming scene. As someone who’s lived and worked with Windows and Mac computers all my life, I decided to dig deeper in the truth of this claim, having heard it countlessly myself. In this article, I’m going to present my findings, running over why exactly Mac has such a bad reputation as a platform for gaming as well as why that might be about to change!

So why are Macs renowned for being so bad at gaming compared to their Windows counterparts? It's a topic which has plagued the computer communities for years. There is a list of problems, both with the software and developers themselves that contribute to it.

The biggest issue is simply the number of Mac gamers, or the lack thereof. If you look at the Steam statistics, out of all their users, Apple users only make up about 8% (which, I admit, has probably increased since the time the survey was taken) of their total users. If you think about it, this is a very niche group of people, and game developers aren’t people with a lot of time on their hands. Porting their games to Mac OS would simply be too much trouble for too little. While stats show that Apple users are more likely to pay more for products than other users, for developers, there simply wouldn’t be enough revenue to be made from the effort they’d have to put in. It’s also worth reporting that many developers also say that Mac is much harder to programme for than its counterparts, because of its API.. Time is money, the initial cost to the final income is simply not enough to fund the development of these games.

The next key issue is that MacOS uses a different Application Programming Interface to Windows. While Windows uses Direct3D, a subset of DirectX, Apple uses OpenGL. What is an Application Programming Interface? An API is a tool that applications use to render 2D and 3D computer graphics. The key difference between them in general is Direct3D is a proprietary API created by Microsoft for Windows. On the other hand, OpenGL is an open standard API, which comes from MacOS’s roots as Unix based operating system, that provides the same or similar functions to Direct3D.  This doesn’t mean however, that Direct3D is superior to OpenGL, a topic which I will get onto again.

The problem lies in the fact that many PC developers write their rendering engines implementing only DirectX APIs and don’t really concern themselves with the OpenGL side of things, so therefore leaving behind the Mac gamers. The problem with creating a DirectX game into an OpenGL game is translating them from one API to the other API, an issue which is only now slowly being fixed through OpenSource translators.

There are functional differences in how these two APIs actually function. For example, while Direct3D expects the Application to handle hardware resources, OpenGL expects, in essence, the computer to handle it.  This makes developers rethink the foundations of the software when porting a game from Windows to Mac, which again links back to my previous point where it simply takes too much effort to actually make games for MacOS.  

Apple themselves haven’t been very helpful in getting developers interested in bringing games to Mac. They have always been slow in bringing updates to their APIs, and even then, they fail to deliver the latest possible. Apple hasn’t shown much interest in pushing the gaming capabilities of MacOS primarily because if they focused on that, they would undermine their professional market. That said, if you don’t consider the price tag, Mac’s do have respectable specifications, with usually pretty capable graphics and processing power.

So rounding up, why do suck at gaming?
1. It’s due to the lack of gamers on their operating system,
2. The fundamental difference between Windows and MacOs
3. And finally, the fact that Apple themselves haven’t been interested in catering to gamers or game developers.

Lately, however, developers have begun to take steps to make MacOS a better place for gamers. The number of ordinary people using Apple computers has been steadily increasing, and developers are finally seeing a market big enough for them to invest in. This means that they can finally focus on bringing out new games that work on Apple’s OpenGL API. There has been a noticeably high number of new games hitting both the Steam and Apple library of games, and while they are generally just Indie Games, the future looks bright for bigger and more capable games to make themselves onto MacOS.

Apple has also recently put in effort in bringing the latest versions of OpenGL to all their new operating systems, and as they showed in their new MacBook Pro presentation, they have started to think about how games perform on their computers. Given, they don’t have the best graphics or the fairest price, but the fact is, they too have begun to transition from catering primarily to just professionals to a more general market.

This brings with it the challenge of catering to all types of people, and these people may need good gaming performance, today and in the future. For developers, open source DirectX to OpenGL translators are becoming increasingly widely available so it’s only a matter of making sure they optimise this so that performance will be similar on both platforms, which is currently not the case. It is still noticeably more efficient to dual boot Windows onto an Apple computer through BootCamp to get better performance in gaming.

So there we go. Mac's are inherently bad at gaming because of the fact that people simply haven't bothered with gaming on a Mac. Because, at the end of the day, who buys a Mac to game?

Is VR a Gimmick?

I recently had a keyboard warrior tell me, “VR is really, genuinely unhealthy. There are case studies to prove that VR is damaging to the brain and mind. VR is unnecessary because they are gimmicky and tricky, to convince you to buy them, when in reality they have no true technological merit besides the engineering”. 

Of course, there was a lot more to it than that, but it got me thinking, do people really see VR as a gimmick?

On the face of it, it really does look like a phase, a gimmick that will come and go out in a few years. I mean, smartphone VR is pretty bad- there are hardly any good experiences and the experience is very fragmented. At best it’s mildly annoying and at worst it’s plain irritating. I’ve got a Google Cardboard headset and I use it on a LG G3 and LG G4. To be clear, when it works, it’s amazing. The way it transports you into space, a singer’s stage, a roller coaster or even your own mind, it’s simply stunning. I was wowed by my first experience.

But soon enough the annoyances set in. First, the lack of good apps to use on VR. There’s hardly any good VR apps that truly give you the experience that you want from VR. I found some good games, about three of them, that give me the experience of mind blowing that I was seeking. Not much more than that. Second, the annoying way you have to take your phone out every time you want to switch apps- there’s little to no form of a VR platform. I found an app that offered to do this but I didn’t find it useful to do what I wanted. Other things like the lack of controls you have to see where you’re going or the fact that it’s simply quite expensive to get into VR for real, make VR pretty much look like a gimmick for the ordinary person.

The better VR experiences offered by devices like the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive are simply too far off for ordinary consumers to ever buy or experience, because the amount of power needed to run them is very expensive- you need a highly specced gaming PC, and the total cost for all of that will be over a £1000 pounds at least.

So it’s easy to come to the conclusion that VR is just the next big gimmick that manufacturers want you to buy, but while that, in essence, is true, there is more to VR than meets the eye.

Let’s start off my dissecting my keyboard warrior "brother’s" argument against VR.

He says, “VR is really, genuinely unhealthy. There are case studies to prove that VR is damaging to the brain and mind”. How true is this?

First, let’s put this into context. VR is a new technology. People are scared of it; just like they are with every other new technology. There are studies done on our mobile technology and computers too, they too "damage your brain". Everything we use has some element of harm; we have to use it properly to not harm ourselves, it's obvious. Heck, when TVs first arrived everyone was just as worried about them as we are of VR: “they hurt your eyes”, “they hurt concentration”, “they are distracting”, the whole lot. There is an element of truth to them, you can’t deny it, but we’re still alive aren’t we? We haven’t been doomed by them, we haven’t become a lesser species because of them. Go back even further and look at radios. I’m sure there was as much of a fuss about them as there was for TVs. Your grandparents survived the radio and our parents survived the TV. What on earth is there to say about the VR generation? We’re going to survive that too.

So to answer the question, there’s always going to be some “bad” effect on us, but let’s be clear: it’s not “dangerous”. I mean, they’re going to be about as bad as any technology we’ve met before them. There is no real evidence to say that they damage our brain, that’s utter rubbish. If they do, it’s down to the adverse effects of our reward seeking nature binging on it to get a dopamine rush, which is something we’ve always done- it just has to be controlled and used correctly. So unless you’re an absolute nut and watch VR to seek a dopamine rush every time, which is very unlikely- there are better ways to get this done- you’re perfectly safe using VR in the correct environment, in the correct way, for a safe amount of time, JUST LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE. I wouldn’t even go as far as to say it’s in anyway bad, hence inverted commas.

The next thing, our friend says “It’s unnecessary because they are gimmicky and tricky, to convince you to buy them, when in reality they have no true technological merit besides the engineering”.

We’ve already covered the point as to whether it the next big thing that manufacturers are trying to convince us to buy; it’s true, but like everything else, if you think about it only as a trick, what good thing on this earth isn’t advertised to us?

So, is VR a gimmick or not? At face value, to us, it does seem like an awful lot like a gimmick, but I strongly beg to differ.

VR and Augmented Reality are amazingly practical and it's shown by how it’s being used in their science, in policing and journalism as well as entertainment. My favourite example is how NASA is using the Microsoft Hololense to build their next Mars Rover and prepare astronauts for Space Travel. It's irreplaceable to them: They have said many times that is indispensable in aiding their development, and it is one of the most useful technologies that they've ever got their hands on. There are some amazing videos of how NASA engineers are using AR and VR on the Microsoft HoloLens to visualise the next Mars Rover and the surface of Mars.  Virtual reality training has also made it easier for the teams of future astronauts to work together and communicate too, which is a classic application of the technology.

Police Agencies are using them to train people or to recreate crime scenes so that people can remember the incidents and so that other people can experience them. Auschwitz camps victims are given VR experiences which recreate the conditions during the war so that survivors can remember what the camp was like and hopefully flash back and remember the soldiers who tortured them, data which international agencies will use to relocate those soldiers and give them the punishments they deserve. They've already managed to use it to aid the prosecution of a surviving Nazi soldier.

VR is also being used in Journalism. The Guardian used a VR film to give ordinary people the experience of living in solitary confinement in 2016 as one of their first forays into the world of world of VR. Mobile phone companies have started to release phones in VR worlds, most notably beginning with OnePlus’s OnePlus Three launch and Samsung’s S7 launch which featured VR extensively, and the “Project Syria” VR experience by Nonny de la Peña sought to give people the experience of being a Syrian child refugee.

We all know how extensively the entertainment industry plans to use VR! Gaming is obviously a big one. Steam already has a huge section dedicated to VR games and there are some games to buy, if you can run them. VR on mobile is also mostly focused on gaming too, but like I said there aren’t many great apps to choose from yet. You can’t, however, deny that VR gaming when done right, is just amazing. You can see how much fun you can have with VR gaming if you simply search YouTube, and in my opinion, it’s the next logical step for gaming technology.

So is VR a gimmick? In actual reality*, hell no it ain’t!

It’s the next big thing; it’s about as important as TVs or smartphones. It’s a real technological advancement, it has the potential to change our lives, our society. Right now, it doesn’t have quite enough development to make it so influential, but I look forward to the day the ordinary person can buy one like they buy a TV or a smartphone. It’s an amazing piece of technology that can be applied in so many ways that we never thought was possible. It’s our own reality, and it takes us back into sci-fi, heck, it takes us INTO sci-fi! It should be given the time and attention necessary to become a very enriching experience as part of our society. Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality is the next generation of magic that is technology. Give it some time, it can get better.

Thanks for reading!

*virtual reality- actual reality? Haha, haha! No?

Ponderings:

VR could probably replace the TV in future- but at the expense of losing the social aspect of TV, which I think should be given a lot of thought. Instead of cocooning a person in their own world, like a smartphone or tablet, developers need to work on keeping some aspect of social interaction in VR. TV, it has that ability: it can connect people- bringing together in one place- in front of the sofa, the store front or hotel lounge. Smartphones, they connect us to the distant world while separating us from the immediate world, which I think is their biggest flaw. VR, while it has all its perks, looks like the next big advancement in isolation technology, and I don’t there’s anything good about that. 

What do you think? Comment below!

Dan The Man: Gaming Guide

Heeey guys! Welcome to another 'mobile-gaming' guide with me.
Today I'm sharing a review of an arcade styled mobile game.

From the creators of  'Jet Pack Joy Ride', 'fruit ninja', 'fruit ninja FX', 'Fruit Ninja Kinect', 'Fruit Ninja whatever-the-hell', we present to you 'Fruit Ninja....' Just kidding!

This time 'Half Brick' studios made a new kind of game. And not just any game, a game where the story videos are more popular than the game (ok, probably not anymore), a game with some history...

This year Half Brick released 'Dan the Man', a retro styled game. The game's protagonist, named 'Dan' is quite popular on YouTube.

The game starts at stage 8 of the story and the rest of the 7 are on YouTube, one for each stage. It would help you understand the story if you watch all the videos so you could get a clear view of what happens as the game doesn't help you understand what happened before, but the game helps by linking the game to YouTube so you can easily watch the videos without having trouble searching for it.

The game lets you choose from 4 characters:
1. Dan
2. Josie
3. Barry Streakfries ( you may know him from jet pack joy ride)
4. And a custom character

The game's simple but effective controls takes the game a long way and trust me, it's great to kill time, especially when you're at your grandparents place without wi-fi. You can even throw an enemy overhead, forward and even backwards! The creators even remembered to insert the standard 'special moves'. I mean have you seen any fighter game characters without special moves?

They did a great job in the retro looking graphics (like check out the background dude) and the cliché Kung-Fu shouts. Oh and those soundtracks tho, mhmm, 8-bit and rock. Yeaaaaaah dude!

The many hazards and ledges will definitely keep you over the edge and the unending number of enemies will keep you glued to your device.

The game consists of 3 modes:
1. Story mode (campaign)
2. Events (events change every week)
3. Battle (a mode where you keep on fighting wave after wave)

The levels are quite lengthy with many checkpoints, there are a total of 12 levels.

Shops can be entered as you come across a shop to refill health, buy health potions, reload ammo or buy weapons.

As usual, you get your score list when you finish a level which consists of:
1. Time taken
2. Number of enemies defeated
3. Secret areas discovered
4. And objects smashed

The game also makes your character stronger by letting you upgrade your character and weapons which consists of:
1. Shurikens
2. Throwing knives
3. Modern rifles
4. AK rifles
5. RPG7 (a missile launcher)
6. And a 'Carlgustav' (another missile launcher, sounds good eh?)


Another smart thing they have done is that (and don't ask me how they did it) when you play music, the in-game music stops (but not the SFX sounds). And that's a good thing, you don't get annoyed since both are not being played at the same time, or worse, your music stops.

In conclusion this game is a great time killer. With a story which makes sense and effective controls keeps you entertained and focused. And if you by any chance (probably not) be new to gaming. This is the best starter.

Thanks for reading,
Tyrant Beast :)

MacBook 2016: Impressions and Opinion

This is the MacBook Pro 2016 (non touch bar)

This is the MacBook Pro 2013

I decided to cover this new MacBook Pro 2016 as this has been fairly trending news these days and it's a laptop line up which I've grown quite attached to.

I've used the Mac Pro's, the MacBook Pro of both 2013 (retina) and 2008, and several other Mac products over the years. While I never owned one myself (I came close to a MacBook Pro or MacBook 2016 while shopping for a PC a few months ago), I have loved having them in my household and I've loved using them. 

They're amazingly well made products with a very wide field of use in both the amateur and professional world. Don't agree? Look how many professionals use them. Stupid, you might say, they don't know the power of the Windows. Well shucks, they still bought one and a majority of them love using it, so in practical terms, that's your argument dis-validated. 

Firstly, I've got to make a bit of a disclaimer. I own a Surface Pro 4. A very Windows PC. All of the computers I've owned in the past have also been Windows. I love, and I mean LOVE my Surface Pro 4. It's an utterly, utterly magical computer and it's so good I've been through 4 replacement Surfaces because the first impression of my first one was so good. Their quality control however, not so good. That's another story right there, but this is on the MacBooks so I am not gonna go there. 

So that said, while it might seem like I'm hypocritically bashing Windows in general at some points in the article, I don't want to. My Surface was in the range of the MacBook Pro price bracket and I could easily have gone with one but I didn't. I'm Team Windows.

(Fun Fact: I'm writing this on a MacBook Pro Retina.) 

Onto the MacBook Pro 16.  An overpriced hunk of jewellery. A twist to what the MacBook Pro of old represented. Isn't that what it was? I watched the keynote. While I hate them on some sense, I really want them to start wowing me the same way they did when they made the iPhone 5. That thing blew my mind at the time. But for the last 3 years, they have consistently depressed me. 

This MacBook reveal was very lacklustre. It felt... fake; forced. Apple is now at this point where they realise they say 'thinner, lighter, faster' way too much. You could sense it. The cheesy jokes? They felt like it was Apple mocking themselves from the inside. 

But you know what's sadder? The fact that the people at Apple seem to have lost faith in their products. To those who watched the KeyNote 2016 October, I dare you go onto Youtube and watch the reveal videos for the iPhone 4 and MacBook Retina and not feel the excitement and passion the designers were feeling for the product themselves. Go on. Pause this now and go do that. 

I'm not going to bother you with the specs and the technicals. You probably already know them. That's not why I'm here anyway. I will bother myself with saying this one thing. It's overpriced. A lot overpriced. for what it offers at least. Then again, Microsoft does more of the same on it's Surface Book, but it offers way more besides basic MacOS privilege.

I think the MacBook Pro 2016 is Apple ditching the professionals they initially made the Pro for in 2006 up till 2016. They differentiated this product as being capable and offering reliability for tasks that needed it, and being powerful enough to do anything that a professional could want to do, with gorgeously elegant looks casing it all in a slim and elegant package- something that was almost unheard of at the times.

A state of the art Windows laptop in 2006: Toshiba Portege m400

MacBook Pro 2006

 That there sums it up.

Apple, from the day they last released a redesigned (arguably) MacBook Pro in 2012 (which was still great) has transitioned from being a professional's toolkit essential to a typical 'Starbuckers' essential, if you excuse the huge generalisation there. But that is what it is. Apple has gone from the Pro's expensive laptop that everyone wants to the laptop everyone has.

Is that good? Is it really? Does it really retain any of the Pro-ness that made it special when all it caters to is the ordinary person? Given, most people like to think that they are pros and want to buy a MacBook Pro to feel like a pseudo-pro, and be more productive; but if you switch your demographic from the Pros to the ordinary, won't you be loosing the original Pro appeal? You won't have a laptop packed with real professional specs like before; you'd have something for the ordinary person.

There is the overhanging thought that maybe ordinary people are becoming more and more demanding while the pros are becoming less and less demanding, but if you look at the other side of the world, the Windows world, you're going to see that actually isn't the case. Pro users still demand more than the ordinary person.

If you look at Apple as a whole, they've abandoned their real professional tools, like the Mac Pro, or the Mac Mini and are making iPads which tarnish what it really means to be Pro in the first place. They don't understand what a Pro is now- but I'll admit, it's hard to describe what a Pro is the first place. I'm talking graphics designers, editors and the like, to whom the efficient Mac exclusive software really appealed to. This MacBook is only the next one to fall prey to Apple destroying their own Pro lineup.

The lack of ports is stupid and very easily showcases that Apple only cares about your money. I cannot think of one reason why they would not put a single USB A 3.1 port in there other than to make you pay for adapters.

You might say, "Hey, they're getting ready for the future!". But I ask you, why the hell would they pack in a Intel 6th Gen chip with some mediocre graphics if they really cared about the future? The KabyLake chip has been out for a while now. There's really no excuse to not have packed either that with all USB C or minimum 1 USB A port with the SkyLake.

The lack of a SD Card is either a hilarious oversight or an example of how Apple has transitioned from Pros to Bros (sorry). It was an absolutely essential port that had no reason to go anywhere. A huge majority of MBP customers are photographers or editors, and Apple very well knows this. The SD Card port was simple and slim, and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere in the future. Why would they remove it? Why?

Money, of course.

Actually, I wouldn't be going down so hard on my beloved MacBook Pro if Apple wasn't so greedy and actually included an adapter with all the lost ports to make up for it in the box. I really wouldn't.

The SD Card still hasn't been replaced, and it's the most efficient way to transfer data from a camera to a laptop. Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior VP, said they removed it because "it’s a bit of a cumbersome slot. you’ve got this thing sticking halfway out". Which is absolutely genius, because I mean how beautiful is a huge, chunky, heavy adaptor with an SD Card sticking halfway out, right?

This SnapChat by Marquees captures the struggle creators are facing

You're paying 3000 pounds for an already overpriced as is computer, and you have to shell out another, what, 100 pounds to use it properly? What?! I mean how simple could it have been: include a single hub adapter with a USB A port, a MiniDisplay port and a SD Card port. Apple probably makes these for about 5 pounds each so why the bother, right? Except it'll hurt their ego so bad to do this, to admit that they were perhaps wrong.

I just don't get this about Apple. They think they are so perfect, so visionary and so amazing, that they can't admit it when they make a mistake and amend it.

One last point. The Touch-Bar. I see how useful it. I see the point.  It's a new way of thinking and I think if Apple does it right, they can do something good with it. But there is one major flaw with it.

It can't be used if the laptop is docked. My father uses a MacBook Pro (it's what I borrowed to write this on), and he has always used it docked to a Monitor and with an external wireless keyboard and mouse. It's only removed for transport. This, I'm told, and have seen, is how a lot of professionals actually use this. You see where I'm going with this. That Touch-Bar is pointless if you dock it, and completely inaccessible. It's a great idea, but I think this flaw really devalues it. Oh and those emojis? No, that oughtn’t be a feature. That's the 'hipstery’ things I’ve going on about the whole while.

That said, this isn't all going to be bad stuff. There's somethings which I inherently adore about the MacBook Pro 2016.

(now changing to the SurfaceType Cover)

First, the trackpad. Awesome! I never felt the current MBP’s one was small, but it’s nice to see it bigger. Mac's have always had the best trackpads, hands down, and this is just where it needed to go. Reviewer have complained that it is too big, and when I used it, it did seem a bit too big, but I think it’s alright all around.

That's how big the TrackPad on the 13" MBP16 compared to my hand.

This is the old 13" MBP13 trackpad compared to my hand. Note the difference of the keyboards.

The keyboard, whatever you might think of the ButterFly mechanism, is actually not bad! I hated the keyboard on the 2015/6 MacBook (the tiny one) because it had almost no feeling to it at all. It was exactly what a keyboard shouldn’t be, and I had similar expectations for this one.  This time Apple has taken heed of the raging reviews and have tried to give it some depth and feeling to it. My favourite keyboard right now is the SurfaceBook and Surface TypeCover (I like the flex it has), and while I think the older MacBook keyboards were good, but comparing it directly to the new one, it’s a bit too mushy for my tastes. I’m going to go as far as to say it’s, for me, a good improvement.

The display is also a good improvement. Microsoft has truly been killing it with the display tech lately, and it was time Apple needed to change their stuff up a bit. They essentially added the iPhone tech to their laptops, and I’m guessing it wasn’t much of a hard task for Apple. Apple has caught up with the market, but not beaten it. I LOVE my Surface Pro display, and I think the Mac is now more or less on par with that.

I guess I now have to comment on the improved specs and graphics, but I really have to? The competition offers better specs for almost half the price, and these specs aren’t very impressive on the Mac either. I’m just going to avoid this, and I’ve already raged about an aspect of it above. The new faster SSD though is a nice addition.

There’s also something I’m divided on. Why does this laptop need to be so thin? Having felt around it, I can agree it’s very appealing, but it just doesn’t feel any better. I never thought the current MacBook was fat, and I don’t think anyone else did either. It seems like Apple fulfils some their huge ego every time they needlessly make a product thinner. It is though much lighter, which is probably what people wanted, but the cost of better battery life, which is not what people wanted. It doesn’t seem to have quite the fantastic battery the old one did, as several reviewers have complained about.

I can’t comment on the speakers because I didn’t get to try them out, but they’re supposedly very good, much better than the old one. I think the old ones are great, so I expect the amazing.

To round this post off, what is the MacBook Pro? Has it filled the shoes of the old MacBook?

The MacBook represents the new direction Apple is taking, now trying to cater to ordinary people more than the professionals; pushing the prices up as far as they can to increase their brand value. It’s trying to become the laptop to the laptop world that the iPhone is to the smartphone world. Unlike the iPhone however, the MacBook already reigns king among the creative professionals, so Apple had a hard task in making the replacement Pro any better. Have they done it? To me, partly. To you, maybe not. To the rest of the world? They’re split over what it actually brings to the table with that huge price tag. And so am I. If Apple priced this fairly with the $4000 one at about $3000, I think the reviews would be raving. 

The MacBook, as Dave2D says is, “a thousand dollars overpriced”, and at the price it’s hard to justify this purpose unless you are a huge Apple fan, absolutely need Final Cut (or other exclusives), or don’t really care about the price. My verdict on whether or not to buy this is a resounding no. As I’ve highlighted in the points I’ve made above, I have slowly grown from hating to loving to disliking it. As even my long time Mac user (and 'never going to switch') father would say, it’s simply too much for too little. It hasn't got the presence of the 'older' MacBook.

This remains the sweet spot of the MacBook Pros

This, I believe, is the future.                

Thanks for reading! I look forward to writing more of these tech articles; I've already written ready for  publishing in the next few weeks. Don't forget to drop your email address in the gadget thingy below for updates on our latest posts. You'll get notified every time we post. 

If you have any suggestions of want you want me write about next, or want to hear my thoughts on something (I didn't know I was this interesting..), pop a comment in below! 

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Boom Beach Review

Hey guys! This is week I have brought you a review of the mobile game 'Boom Beach'.

Created by 'Supercell', the mobile game developing company originating from Helsinki, Finland. This is the their third game following 'Clash of Clans' and 'Hay Day'.

 TL;DR?

To put it basically, it's just another Clash of Clans copy, even though it doesn't look like it in-game. If you are tempted to try it out then go for it, because as you know it's hard to keep your phone down to games made by SuperCell (if you know what I mean!).

The game has better graphics than Clash of Clans though, and has a few Easter eggs which makes it kinda fun. But as you know, these types of games tend to get repetitive and is almost like 'The Sims' and MineCraft. What I am trying to say is, these type of games don't really have an end. So proceed with caution...

Technicals:

Released on 26 March Of 2014. It is much similar to Clash of Clans than Hay Day, as you have to (like Clash of Clans) build armies, raid others in multiplayer and defend too. But it drops Clash of Clan's fictional characters for more modern types of characters such as:

1. Soldiers
2. Heavies
3. Medics
4. Zookas (shoots from bazookas)
5. Warriors (they regenerate health as they fight)
6. Tanks
7. Grenadiers
8. Scorchers (a tank with a flame thrower)
9. Cryoneers (shoots ice)

Boom beach is also free-to-play but supported by in-app purchases.

The game starts as you are on an island, unlike clash of clans where you're in a clearing in the middle of a magical forest.

Single player enemies and multiplayer enemies are in the same map called the 'Archipelago'.

Players are to build and improve the player's base in a strategical manner to fend off attacks by other players in the online multiplayer option and the blackguard (the single player enemies).
Troops are to be upgraded, and are for raiding other players from multiplayer and single player enemies as the blackguard.

It technically has the same foundation as Clash of Clans, you are to upgrade both defences and armies and unlock new troops and defences as you level up.

There is a co-op form where the player has to collect 'intel' to start task force operations where the game makes a base which is tough enough for everyone to attack. Intel can be found by attacking, defending or by rewards. Intel is used to 'sabotage' defences in these computer generated bases when the task force is unable to take down the base.

Victory points, similar to 'trophies', can be obtained by raiding single player bases and multiplayer bases.

Victory points are used to determine your rank which breaks down into:
1. Private
2. Corporal
3. Sergeant
4. Cadet
5. Lieutenant
6. Captain
7. Major
8. Colonel
9. Brigadier
10. General
11. Marshal
12. And legend

And each of these breaks down to 3 more ranks like 'rank one' and so forth.

The game currency consists of gold, wood, stone and iron. Gems are the premium currency. It's very easy to find gems though, so it's not that bad. You can either buy or you can collect by defending raids or finding treasure chests on the map. I recommend that you choose the latter because even though gems look valuable, they can't really do a lot of stuff.

'Power stones' are to be collected and can be turned to 'artifacts' with various powers and in different strengths.

Artifacts are classified into 3 types:
1. Idols
2. Guardian
3. Masterpiece

And power stones are broken down into 3 types:
1. Fragments
2. Shards
3. Crystals

There are 4 types of power stones:
1. Life (everything related to resources)
2. Magma (everything related to attacking)
3. Ice (everything related to defending)
4. Dark (makes random powers)

*Note: There can be one masterpiece of each bonus type*

Power powder is used to boost these artifacts by doubling its percentage for 3 days minimum, more powder can be added to lengthen this time but it does not double the percentage of the artifact anymore than it is.

The gunboat carries weapons such as:
1. Flares (these are used to direct your troops in the direction you want)
2. Artillery
3. Barrage ( a 'barrage' of missiles)
4. Medkit (produces a ring of healing, like a healing spell from clash of clans)
5. Shock bomb (temporarily stops defenses from attacking your troops)
6. Smoke screen
7. Critters ( tiny robot bugs)


Thanks for reading my review and follow our Facebook and Instagram page for the latest updates!

Tyrant Beast :)

Tomorrow

“Another Gang Attack Busted”--The Guardian-- 

As he opened the door, he took an almost casual look around the top and the bottom of the street. 

Dark clouds rolled overhead, and with every breath, cold mist created a freezing bubble around his head. He saw no one on the streets. He started taking the steps down to the pavement. In one hand he held a case and some bulk was evident as he carried it down. In the other hand he held nothing, for the moment. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he stopped again. He took another glance at the street, and then with his free hand patted his front coat pocket. It was there. With a look of reassurance, he briskly started walking towards the end of the street.

The man in the car at the far end of the street smiled when he saw him step out. He kept his piercing eyes locked on the case when he saw it. His eyes sparkled as he said to his companion in the car,

“Step on it!”

The companion saw the look and grinned. He revved up the V8, and rolled out of the parking. The man in the passenger put down his camera and reached into the back, while talking to a crackling radio.

“C18A acquired, rolling out. Rolling out!” he screamed into it.

Out of the back he ripped out his favourite toy. This was gonna be fun. He smile grew as he companion revved up the car again and stepped on the accelerator and raced down the street.

The moment ‘C18A’ took his fourth step down the street, he heard the car. He knew what it was. His reactions sped up. He reached into the pocket and pulled out his Beretta 92A1. His steps quickened, and as he looked behind him, he saw the Ford Mustang pull out of the underground parking.

His initial thought was concerning what an American muscle car was doing in London. But then he realised that it was after him. The car’s sharp running lights cut through the darkness of the street. In another context, it would have been gorgeous, but here? It was terrifying.

As he saw the car rip though the street, he knew wouldn’t have a chance running. But he ran.

He angled out his Steyr AUG machine gun to face the street. The houses flew by.
500 meters to go.
400.
300.
200.
100.
90.
80.

He saw it coming closer, and closer. He was at loss for ideas. Then he saw the open door. As he looked back, he saw it coming nearer and nearer. With a leap of faith and energy, he pulled himself up the railing flung himself into the space between the door and the wall.

A spilt second later, the sound of machine-gunfire ripped through the quiet London streets.

-10.
-20.
-30.

As he flew by the doorway, he hardly saw the man fling himself in, but he infered it, as saw the lack of body on the pavement. He grimaced as they sped down the street. His companion saw it and as they reached the end of the empty street, he pulled the handbrake, and turned the wheels to perform a tight handbrake turn. With that single manoeuvre, they were speeding back up the street.

And they saw that he was out again. They were going to make sure that was the last mistake he ever made.

As he heard the car speed by, while was in the door way, he heard the gunshots break all the windows in the neighbourhood and dent all the metal. As soon as he heard that finish, he stepped out to run and saw how close he had been. The agency were sure to have heard it by now, but would they activate the forces quick enough? No, it would take them more than a minute, at least.

He made up his mind. What he had to do was make or break, but the problem was his choice could end up doing either. Or both. Never none. He had to make a choice.

He stepped out of the door, and ran out on to the street, not forgetting his case. As he ran out, he heard the squeal of the tyres performing the handbrake turn and the roar of the engine as it started to gain speed again.

He suddenly realised his pursers weren’t done yet.  He looked back to the doorway. Too far. He kept running. He saw the agency building. He heard the Mustang's engine get louder and louder as it grew closer. The agency was too far. He looked over his shoulder. Too close. Too close.

The man grinned in cold blood as he as he pulled himself back into the seat. He got ready to pull the trigger.

As the car drew in, the roar of the engine was overwhelming. Afterall, it was doing what it was made to do.

C18A looked over his shoulder one last time.

He heard the sound of bullets ricocheting off concrete and metals. Then, for a second, there was a tiny, silent squiching sound.

The normal ricocheting sound resumed again..

The sound of gunfire reached his ears too late. As heard it, intense pain flushed his body. Then he heard the ricocheting. Then the momentary pause. Then the resuming. The pain over took him. His eyes glazed. His hands went numb. His feeling grew light.  But as he fell, he felt the handle of the case and pressed hard with his thumb. ‘Protect’ was his last thought. And then, boom.

The man in car saw the bright flash. He saw the explosion.  His mind stopped for a moment. No. No. NO! The case, the case, where was the case?!

It was gone.

Burning papers caught in the current flew up and around. Then the sound of the police ripped through the screaming silence.

It was time to get going.

The news that night recalled a story of crazy gangs attacking a rich politician's house but had messed up their plans. The gang were dead and luckily, no civilians were attacked. But the stock market, what a fall...

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It might have been a bit cliche, with all the shooting and hiding and James Bond-esque theme, but I wanted to try out writing action and tension, and so when one of school work projects was to write a tension filled story, I took the opportunity and made the best of it. 

If you enjoyed it, please share it, and remember to follow our blog (submit your email in the gadget above) to get all the latest first! 

Thanks for reading! 
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Check out my other stories:

Crash, a short story: http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/crash-short-story.html

1:49, a horror story: http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/0149-pm.html

My Baked in Irony series:

Engrossing, a twisted short tale of irony:

http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/engrossing.html

Sorry…..

http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/sorry.html

Noticed….

http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/noticed.html

Check out Rayhaan's stories:

Flipside 1: http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/the-closed-door.html

Flipside 2: http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/flipside-2.html

Flipside 3: http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/flipside-3.html
Flipside 4: http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/flipside-4.html
Flipside 5: http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/flipside-5_90.html

MirrorMan: http://interestconcentrated.blogspot.com/2015/08/mirrorman.html

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

www.interestconcentrated.blogspot.com

Flipside 5

FlipSide 5 is here, and so is Rayhaan! Hope you enjoy this! If you did, be sure to share. More like this already available on blog (find under label Stories and FlipSide) and coming up next month! 
Thanks for reading!

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How Many Times

How many times have I stopped before this grand mansion of purpose unknown to me?

The sun shone the same way and the trees swayed with the same grace, with the same people on the same days,and why it was so was beyond me. I opened the giant mahogany doors, the same flash of golden-white light blinding my eyes for a split second; before I walked onto the velvet carpet of the entrance hallway. The fragrance-candle wax and lavender-remained, propagating my sense of smell beyond recognition, and my eyes teared at the aroma. I looked to the left and then to the right; big, ivory windows and crowds of people, very mundane people, murmuring and meandering towards the main hall. The lighting was almost non existant. In all the times I've come here, not once did I look up, which is probably why I dont remember a chandelier. And yet my stubborness prevails, for without gazing towards the ceiling, I move forward yet again. But why? Why go ahead at all?

"Just turn back,and run, as fast as you can," my conscience is screaming at me. 

Somehow, I can't listen to it. Its all beyond me. I get to my destination, I open the exit door, and... it happens. I can't stop it. I can't intervene. I can't change my decisions. 
This will happen again and again, and I don't know why. I inch closer to the main hallway, past the staircases and corridors shrouded in ominous shadow and the passing crowds. Then, suddenly, my world starts to make sense again. The exit door; shining on my right with a sign above it, calling out to me. I feel my eyes widen with hope as I run towards the door and grip the knob when a thought creeps into my head that makes me pause. This door was never here before. Neither was the "EXIT" sign above it. It wasn't right. By the time i had finished pondering about this I realised only a second had passed as I look up at the clock, and protocol takes over. My intervention is stopped; my hope for freedom, destroyed. 

The door swings open with a force that could have broken my nose had I failed to move away as soon as I did, and standing in front of me, staring blankly at me, are my parents. Behind them, two more emerge from the shadows; their parents before them. I hadn't seen them in the longest time. Not since I started this sick game. Not since I traversed the corridors of this mansion every moment of my life.

It felt like I almost... forgot them. It took me a moment to recognise them, but it all came back to me. I couldn't decipher what they were saying, but I was hoping they were part of the deviation;that they would help me escape the loop. I was wrong. 

They beckoned me to the main hall, coercing me to proceed no matter how much I begged them to let me go into the exit. The one deviation in a million years, and that too steers me back to the loop. I can hear the sounds of metal and marching outside, I'm closer to the main hall. I look back at the people who raised me, and wave. I must have been crying; the loss of hope for escape was crushing me slowly, but it was too late. 

Amongst the crowd I grabbed the door handles to the main hall and left the light, and the crowds behind. I fall into the main hall, a dark courtyard made of metal, it's exit simply the absence of a fourth wall, almost like a house was cut in half and exposed. I see the land ahead, outside the mansion, the steel floor that stretched out for a thousand miles, and the deep sinking feeling of my heart as the footsteps grow louder, and the flashes of past trials come back to me. 

It's all happening like its supposed to. Now they will come,and they will take me. I sit, powerless, on the ground. The end is nigh for me,and I am doomed to repeat the process of grief, without escape, for another millennia, as far as I know. A surge of emotion suddenly electrocutes my senses and I rise to my feet, facing the white light of the sun outside and the infinite stretch of nothing. 

The footsteps grow louder and my pulse grows with it. I look to the black door upstairs- that's where they come from, where they take me. Every. Single. Time. 

But not today. Now that I'm standing strong, I realise I no longer need to wait for a deviation to save me; for an anomaly. I am the anomaly. I fight back the winds of a never ending earth before me and take one heavy step towards the exit. 

The footsteps are here.

I clench my fists and grit my teeth; I will not be taken this time. I push against the force of a million punches and step closer. And closer. The door comes banging down. 

They are here.

I scream in pain as I feel my skin tear off slowly, and I take my final step, out into the steel courtyard. The force stops. I am free.

The men come bolting behind me, and I run faster; the white sky shining off the jet black steel surface of the ground beneath me,and I reach the destination, uncaptured, no longer afraid. 

The men stop dead in their tracks,their emotionless faces gazing into mine. I turn around; their superior stands behind me, looking down from his great height. He doesn't say a word, but the points to the ground before me- there's machinery there now. I motion for it slowly, and I observe him growing in aggression. Something takes over me at that point. 

It's not the protocol, not whats supposed to happen. This feels...right. 

But the man shakes his head. His soldiers standing behind him, ready to pounce on me should I disobey. I gaze at the panel before me, and gaze around at the stretch of infinity all around me, the wind howling in my face. 

This is truly the end. 

A sense of urgency takes over and I launch my hand at the panel, destroying the course of events that held me back in the loop, imprisoning me to cruel pre-destination that has held me captive for so long. 

The blinding white light fills my eyes as the steel beneath me slides away into oblivion and I rise, tears floating away from my eyelids. The sound of infinite bell rings fills my ears and it gets harder to breathe. I slowly lose sight, and like a breath of relief, I close my eyes. 

I am free.
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Work of Rayhaan Mubarak, Interest Concentrated.