I think I’ve finally understood Brian Eno’s masterpiece, ‘An Ending’. During my typical late night trawl through my mind with this playing in the background, I stumbled upon two things.

Firstly, a comment on a forum that mentions the fact that after every ending there’s a new beginning. In other words, there technically really isn’t such a thing as an ending, if something else will just start straight after it.

Secondly, another review of the masterpiece mentions the fact that what makes it so special is the smooth transitions between different chords (I’m no musician, so it’s hard to me to explain, but you get the picture; a smooth transition between one note to another). Something then suddenly struck me: endings transition into beginnings all the time, in the same way that each chord of the piece transitions beautifully into the next. 

Trying to understand this piece has been an obsession of mine for the past ten months, and I’ve finally figured it out (I think). The way that the piece is constructed leads your mind onto the fact that out of every (often sad) ending comes a new (happy) beginning. This is the reason why there’s such a ‘schizophrenic’ theme to this song; it’s tremendously uplifting yet has a crushing element of sadness to it at the same time. It takes you through multiple endings (which is what happens in life), then takes you onto beginnings after each one. This is repeated for four minutes and twenty six seconds.

What does this all mean? Well, the song fucks with your emotions but in a good way; it takes you through ups and downs. I’ve finally realised why An Ending has such a massive effect on me - whenever I listen to it, negative emotions and memories are brought up, but seconds later a happier one is brought up, then another sad one, then a happy one, et cetera. It’s this that makes you take a deep trip through your mind. But the transitions between those memories is so smooth and painless, due to the ultra-smooth transition between each chord. Nothing else in the world conjures up emotions like this, it is so unbelievably powerful. 

I apologise for the rushed, ranty nature of this post, but I had to put it into words. This piece of music just got a thousand times more beautiful, now that I fully understand it. I don’t think there’s anything that sounds better than this. Brian Eno, you are my hero for creating this. At this point, I am totally speechless, so sit back and enjoy the greatest piece of music ever created by a human being.

Well here we go, folks; it’s that time again when I’m looking for yet another phone. This time, it’s more of a ‘political’ thing rather than me specifically needing a Nexus S. After all, it will most certainly be a downgrade from my current phone (HTC’s Incredible S) in terms of specs. So why am I selling a high-end HTC for a one-year-old, rather cheap-feeling Samsung? 

The main reason I’m pretty sure I’m going to the Nexus S is software updates. I am sick of HTC cutting their customers off after eight months. My phone was released earlier this year and it won’t get an update to Ice Cream Sandwich. To me, that’s outrageous. One of the main problems with Android is the fact that manufacturers like to install custom UIs, which slows down the update process for certain devices, and in some cases prevents an update from being available. 

The logical choice of Android phone in this situation would be the Galaxy Nexus, but as I’m a broke student, the Nexus S will have to do. I can’t sell my Incredible S for much, so the cost of me selling it will cover the cost of a brand new Nexus S off Amazon perfectly. The Nexus S will get ICS within the next few months, and it’ll probably get the next release of Android after that (most likely another eighteen months away); this makes it the only future-proof phone that I can realistically consider buying. The only real issue I originally saw with the Nexus S replacing my current device was the lack of HD video capture on its five megapixel camera, but the amount of phone photography I do is minimal, and for decent shots I’ll just use my Fujifilm S1600. 

I’m also fed up of HTC Sense slowing my phone down; something that was previously aesthetically-pleasing for me has just turned into a CPU hog/graphical nightmare of a UI. Stock Android is so much faster, and the Nexus S also has some pretty powerful graphics processing power. 

So at the end of the day, I’m happy to slightly downgrade my device for something that I feel will last me longer, and that will give me less grief. My current phone is like a Ferrari - powerful, but has a lot of flaws; the Nexus S is more of an Audi R8 - a sensible, slick, and reliable alternative. As a daily driver, I’ll happily take the R8 over a Ferrari. 

Look out for my final decision on Twitter over the next few weeks. 

Steve Jobs resigned as Apple CEO not long ago, and the reaction of most people (myself included) was sadness. I’ve never tried to hide the fact that I don’t like Apple’s business practise. I like companies that are constantly coming up with new things, rather than suing their competitors. However, Steve Jobs brought a consistently high standard of quality to Apple, and that is their major success. The cult following that Apple have is something to be admired (and no, I’m not talking about the fanboys/girls); the fact that people can have so much dedication to a brand is both a powerful tool for that company to utilise, as well as something to be in awe at. 

It’s truly heartbreaking to see someone driven to tears by the resignation of Jobs, and I’ve realised that Apple are too much of an easy target, and are criticised rather too much. I know this because I myself am guilty of it. I resent Apple’s attitude toward the rest of the mobile industry; I think they have no respect or consideration for others, but most people out there who buy Apple products are not concerned with the company’s business acumen. After all, isn’t the consumer the most important component? What I saw in that video wasn’t a fangirl, but someone who just loves the brand. I have enormous respect for iJustine simply because she loves the Apple brand yet doesn’t show nor direct any animosity toward those who prefer other companies or platforms. I respect Apple ten times more now than I did yesterday, simply because of some people’s reactions to Jobs’ resignation; it says a lot of good things about how the brand empowers people. People can make a very personal connection to Apple, and Steve Jobs was, and still is, a huge part of that.

Heck, I couldn’t make a personal connection to Google no matter how hard I try. 

Since this phone came out, I’ve always been drawn toward it more than anything else. It certainly lives up to its name. 

The Incredible S features a 1Ghz 2nd Gen Snapdragon CPU, with 768MB of RAM and 1.1 GB of internal storage. On front there’s a 4 inch SLCD display and a 1.3 megapixel camera; on the back there’s an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and 720p HD video recording. The phone runs HTC Sense 2.1 on top of Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread.

I love the design of this device. It features a sort of rubbery soft-touch plastic all round, and the ‘plateau’ on the back (under which sits the battery) gives the phone a rugged and industrial feel. I have a case on mine (not pictured), but even without that it feels pretty sturdy; with it on, the phone feels absolutely indestructible. 

The screen is breathtaking, and I honestly thought that the lack of an AMOLED display (present in my previous device, the Legend) would set the Incredible back, but the Super LCD really is super. One of its strongest points is colour reproduction; the screen presents colours in very high contrast and everything looks very natural. 

It’s fair to say that the screen dominates the front of the Incredible. Comparing it to the Legend, you can see that HTC have wasted no space on the front of the device, and really have made the screen as large as possible. On the Legend, the screen didn’t really feel like the ‘centrepoint’ of the phone; it certainly is on the Incredible. 

With the addition of that huge RAM and fast processor, the Incredible is incredibly (!) fast. Where this phone excels in terms of performance is web browsing; multitouch gestures are buttery smooth, and Adobe Flash content loads and runs perfectly. This is a testament to the new browser in Gingerbread, but also shows up just how good the combination of RAM and processor speed is in this device. 

Despite only using it for about a day at the time of writing, the Incredible S has been fantastic so far. Look out for continued coverage of my lovely new device.