XCIV Presents: Vantage Point

It has been a while, hasn't it? The last post on this blog was in 2019, which in itself is a long time, but when you factor in the impact Covid-19 had on the world, it feels like an entirely different era. In this entry, I'm going to talk about how this unprecedented phase of time led me to get back into a hobby I haven't reconnected with since my childhood - Skipping. But first, let's talk about the pandemic briefly and create a back story as to how I reacquainted myself with jump rope exercises. Huge lifestyle adjustments had to be made by virtually everyone to adapt to the measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. These measures include social distancing, remote working when possible and - the topic I am going to focus on today - home workouts. I will be honest - I did not really have much of a workout routine before the pandemic. To maintain a decent level of fitness, I would take 15-minute walks during my commute, leave the desk periodically and on some days, per...

From the offset, there appear to be a couple of things wrong with this post: For starters, it is out about a month late. That's simply because I couldn't brainstorm an interesting enough topic to discuss until now. Secondly, looking at the title you may think this entry is just a cop-out since I am writing about what appears to be a trivial object, but bear with me as things do get techy and interesting as I'll explain below. Inspired by Unbox Therapy , I discovered that wallet designs are becoming increasingly outdated, especially for those of us who prefer cashless payments. Most of us would be accustomed to the foldable wallets, designed primarily to hold a large set of bank notes or receipts. Once these wallets become increasingly full, they become less practical to hold in your back pocket and a more significant wallet bulge makes you more vulnerable to thieves and pickpockets. Thanks to modern payments systems favouring cashless transactions and certain banking...

Are everyday smartphones becoming too capable for their own good? Reports show that Samsung, one of the most prominent brands in the smartphone industry, was hit with a 60% drop in profits last year, despite launching the new S10 range which featured a heavily revamped design and better performance than previous models. Despite the futuristic infinity display, the rest of the phone didn't really offer many real-world benefits over the already-incredible S9 launched last year, which was a a very minor revision over the S8 from 2017... Yet the some S10 models can easily eclipse the £1,000 mark should you choose to opt for more storage. It is not just a Samsung issue, phones across the board are becoming incremental upgrades of former models, even though new models are not getting any cheaper. We are getting to the point smartphones are becoming very competent in their current form factor and getting people to depart with a significant amount of cash to have the latest and greatest ...

Just before the fourth anniversary of me launching my first blog , I seem to have thought I want to pursue yet another new direction for my personal writing space. It seems like I really can't make my mind up on what I want to write about these days... No don't get me wrong - unlike my transition from my first blog to my second , the plan is to keep that running alongside this blog, with posts still being created on a monthly basis (just ignore the fact there was no post in August 2018, and I have done a really good job at sticking to that schedule!) Vantage Point is where I intend to continue the non-car related stuff I liked discussing on my first blog, along with sharing my opinions and reviews on stuff that I have tried out or experienced. So while Code XCIV is more based around cars and a mix between factual and opinion based content, most of the stuff here will be opinion based and will divert away from motoring content. I just wanna prove my writing skills can g...