Professional Documents
Culture Documents
200803
200803
Editorial
W
WHILE YOU ENJOY this issue—filled with the latest
in portable media players, and the other goodies
that come with Digit each month, I would like you to
spare a moment to consider the security of our
country’s borders.
The US has just erected a ‘virtual’ fence along a
portion of its border with Mexico. The project cost
$20 million to complete, and consists of sensor
towers and advanced mobile communications. The
plan is to extend this ‘virtual’ fence to other parts of
the border as well.
This is the future of defence technology. Why Sujay Nair Editorial Director
doesn’t India embark on a similar project to secure
its eastern and western borders?
Because of its long and porous border, our “The benefits of securing our borders
country faces the problems of illegal immigration through technology would far
from the east and militant infiltration from the
west. High-tech surveillance would certainly help outweigh the costs...”
solving these problems. Unmanned aerial vehicles
and computer-controlled radar systems would go a the US are already welcoming that country’s
long way in boosting security. increased spend on security, going to the extent of
The question that might be asked is whether this predicting that a refurbished, high-tech Homeland
technology can justify its costs. To answer that, India Security could be the best thing to happen to Silicon
is already paying a heavy price for not being able to Valley in years.
keep illegal immigration and infiltration in check. Will India be able to get its tech security act
The benefits of securing our borders through tech- together? Being a global IT powerhouse, it is only a
nology would far outweigh the costs involved in matter of time—according to my opinion—before pol-
such a project. icymakers chart out a tech roadmap to prepare our
A team from India should visit the US installation country against hostile alien attacks.
and get a few tips from the American department of
Homeland Security to understand how the high-tech
system operates. Our government can then float a
global tender to invite bids from major players—like
Boeing in the US’ case—to set up this virtual fence.
The reason I brought this up is because tech-
nology fundamentally changes almost every facet of
a particular situation. Using technology lets you
think outside the box, and then ask crucial ques-
tions on a particular issue that might never have
been asked in the first place.
Remember, India is a prime target for terrorism,
and to fight this global war on terror, it needs to beef
up its technology arsenal first. Several strategists in editor@thinkdigit.com
NEW_FINAL_FINAL_COLOPHON_March_08.qxd 5/13/2008 10:45 AM Page 4
17
28 An Unprotected Vista PC
In the age of viruses and threats all over the
cyber space, we went the extra mile by risking a
make—read this
interesting article
for the inside story.
Sony Ericsson's
latest beauty—
the XPERIA X1
prepares to take
Vista PC for a month without any security
measures. Read on—to know the findings
73
on the iPhone
20
Cell phones can
now read your
Take A Crack
Fake Your Vista
Experience Ratings
With the arrival of Vista, has emerged a latest
36 Drool Maal
Stuff To Lust After
Record video at 1280x800! Listen to literal
30
“crystal clear” music, with diamond tweeters and
Smart Business
CRM Can Help
Customers are indeed Kings!
Impress them with customised
text messages for solutions and prompt service
fad—experience ratings. Learn how you can also silver and gold components for the best sound.
you
show off those high Vista Experience ratings All this and much, much more...
37
Enhance
Know Your Camera
We all have been guilty of doing injustice to our
The EeePC, sleek mobile phones, motherboards, A PC at
9,000 bucks! Through this section, keep at pace with the
latest information from the market. Its truly a bonanza
42 88
camera, by setting it to “Auto”—clicking—and at the Bazaar area
complaining about the results not being too Test Centre
good! Learn how to improve your Pump Up the
photography skills here
70 Volume
With scores of portable media
players in the market, we test an
exhaustive list and presented
111
We know the
significance of
labels, macros
A-List you with the winners and sub-routine
libraries in
Only The Best A perfect guide if you’re looking
programming.
107
Get all the relevant to buy one
Game On Get to know the
information needed—your
guide to getting the best Tabloid Tech
Gears Of man behind them
deal in MP3 players, Crazy Celebs And Technology War
113
Agent 001
Computing For
66 drives, PCs and
accessories 122 January witnessed the untimely death of actor Heath Ledger.
However, technology will allow him to be resurrected in The
Imaginarium by the magic of computer graphics imagery
One of the leading titles for the X360,
GOW is simply awesome! Get into the
world of Marcus Fenix and his team
against the locust horde
Now, even
hackers recruit
professionally
Everyone Q&A
Read this informative article to learn about Solutions For Your Problems
62 Opinion Poll......................................13 30 Days with ....................................28 Whatever Happened To ..................110
REGULARS
an effective yet affordable PC—meant Your CD Writer keeps ejecting that CD you popped in— The Digital World .............................14 Droolmal..........................................30 Bluff Your Way Through ..................112
for those with a tight budget System Restore no longer works—Irritated by that nasty Beat That ........................................16 Take A Crack at ...............................36 Digit Diary ......................................113
Automatic Update? Read on to find solutions Stat Attack ......................................17 Q&A ................................................62 Blogwatch ......................................113
Buzzword Of The Month ..................17 Agent ..............................................96 Tech Quiz ........................................114
Productivity
PERSONAL yourself. Don’t strain yourself in that lets you control Google Web Toolkit (GWT) for
Celestia 1.5.0 maintaining your items and trying to multiple Windows Windows 1.4.61
Celestia is a real- keep track of their location, start using systems using the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a Java
time space Data Crow today keyboard / attached software development framework that
simulation that to one computer. It is makes writing AJAX applications like
lets you eHour 0.7.2 designed for folks Google Maps and Gmail easy for
experience our eHour is an open source Web-based time who have two (or developers who don’t speak browser
universe in three dimensions. Unlike tracking tool for consultancy companies more) computers set quirks as a second language. Writing
most planetarium software, it doesn’t and other project-based businesses. The up at home and find themselves regularly dynamic Web applications today is a
confine you to the surface of the Earth primary objective is to keep time sliding from one system to the other tedious and error-prone process. You
tracking as simple and user friendly as spend 90 per cent of your time working
ClipX 1.0.3.8 possible, while still being very effective ■ Natural Word 0.9.8 around subtle incompatabilities between
ClipX is a tiny at measuring and reporting the amount ■ NolaPro 4.0.2851 Web browsers and platforms, and
clipboard history of time your team spends on a project ■ GFI FAXmaker for Exchange/SMTP JavaScript’s lack of modularity makes
manager Client 14.1. sharing, testing, and reusing AJAX
GreenPrint components difficult and fragile
Data Crow 3.1 GreenPrint’s patent-pending software PERSONAL
eliminates unwanted pages saving paper, Ccount 1.2 Joomla 1.5
ink, money, and millions of trees Ccount is a PHP click counter which can Joomla! is one of the most powerful
also be used as a download counter. With Open Source
Input Director 1.0.8 its help, you can count clicks on any link Content
Input Director is a Windows application on your Web site. A great tool if you want Management
to know how many times a link has been Systems on the
Data Crow allows you to create a huge clicked, a file downloaded (“download planet. It is used
database containing all your collected counter”) and similar. You can also hide all over the world for everything from
items. You can use the excellent online your affiliate links with PHP click simple Web sites to complex corporate
services to retrieve the information counter. As long as it’s a link—Ccount can applications. Joomla! is easy to install,
instead of typing all the information count clicks on it simple to manage, and reliable
8 DIGIT MARCH 2008 For any queries regarding the CD or DVD, e-mail help@thinkdigit.com with “CD/DVD” as the subject.
If the subject is not mentioned, your mail might not reach the right person.
Contents Interactive
Productivity Gaming
PERSONAL FREE station construction and additional in a GameHouse Jigsaw collection.
OpenTTD For Windows airports. Perhaps the most significant
feature compared to the original game
is its multiplayer capability. It offers
LAN and Internet play via public, world-
wide servers for up to ten players
■ Hedgewars 0.9.2
UltraMon 3.0.2 ■ Mad Truckers Each of the fifty colorul images in
UltraMon is a utility for multi-monitor ■ Onslaught this collection contains a unique
systems, designed to increase image of an exotic butterfly. Analyze
productivity and unlock the full DEMOS the Anna Blue and wonder at the
potential of multiple monitors. With Jigsaw Butterflies West Coast Lady, each butterfly is
additional window buttons, you can OpenTTD duplicates the original game The butterfly is one of nature’s most accurately named for those who
quickly move windows or stretch a feature-wise, but also has numerous glorious examples of beauty and are curious
window across the desktop additions, including canals, revised rail transformation, and is now available
PODCAST
system runtime that allows Web Introduction To Joomla
application developers to use their Hosting your own fully functional
existing Web development skills and easy to maintain Web site is
(HTML, Javascript, Adobe Flash, simple with Joomla! In this episode
Adobe Flex, AJAX) to build and deploy Nick, from ITIdiots.com
rich Internet applications to the demonstrates the latest version of
desktop Joomla, and shows you how to
quickly set up great looking Web site
■ Apache HTTP Server for Windows in around 30 minutes
■ Arachnophilia 5.3 Build 2177
■ Rapid Environment Editor 1.8
Tools
MULTIMEDIA 1by1 1.63
■ Belvedere’s friendly interface to create and queue files, and the second lets
Scribus ClrMamePro 3.109c
■ advanced rules to move, copy, delete, you control who can do things like
Scribus is an open-source program that ■ ComicRack 0.9.75 rename, or open files based on their name, remove files from the queue, pause
brings award-winning professional page ■ Desktop Picture Frame 1.0.1 extension, size, creation date, and more playback, and so on
layout to Linux / Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 ■ Fennec 1.2 Beta 1
and Windows desktops with a combina- ■ Inkscape for Windows 0.46 ■ Process Lasso 3.42 ■ Blogger Backup 1.0.9.22
tion of “press-ready” output and new ■ K-Lite Codec Tweak Tool 2.2.4 ■ SharpE 0.8 TD4 ■ Flickrdown 2.43
approaches to page layout ■ MP3Gain 1.2.5 ■ SUMo 1.5.0.36 ■ Fresh Download 7.94
■ Nokia Nseries PC Suite 2.0 ■ Task Manager Free 4.9.1 ■ gDocsBar 0.5.4
■ Spider 2.2 ■ Winpatrol 14.0.2007.0 ■ SpeedBit Video Accelerator 2.2.1.8
■ Subtitle Workshop 4.0 ■ XP-AntiSpy 3.96-7 ■ twhirl 0.6
■ Video Memory Stress Test 0.11b ■ XFilesDialog 3.50.183 Beta
■ DipTrace 1.50 ■ Xplorer² 1.7.0.10 LINUX
■ DrmRemoval 3.2.0 xVideoServiceThief for
■ Power Mixer 2.4 INTERNET Linux 1.4
WWWinamp 4.2
SYSTEM WWWinamp is a simple Web server-like
Serif PagePlus SE Belvedere Automated File application that allows remote control
Manager
Keep your desktop or any other folder on
your hard drive organised and under con-
Online
By Demand
You get to choose what goes
on Digit Interactive. This
month, you chose:
Windows XP Service
Pack 3 Release Candidate
Size: 436 MB
Total: 4,122
A little colour and better paper
would go a long way 45%
Replace it with a
It’s perfect, comprehensive
leave it Make it a Colour, multimedia
Web Special Here’s everything you need to the way it is! Interactive PDF tutorial on the
20.5%
Connecting The know about BitTorrent on the DVD
14%
DVD 17%
taste technology at
www.thinkdigit.com
FEATURED REVIEW FROM THE DIGIT FORUM (www.thinkdigit.com/forum)
This month we feature a member review from the forum.
Security Watch
Indian Overclocker Beats World Alliance Will Promote PC As A Gaming Platform have not been significantly is all poised to be the
Mumbai-based Harshal Tank hit the world’s highest 8800 The newly formed PC Gaming Alliance, aims to create a Adobe Reader might affected by all the hue and market leader with a Toshiba
GT 512 MB 3DMark 06 score in Taiwan this February. He common platform for hardware and software creators, be infected cry among the Blu-Ray and global installation base of For being a sport,
runs an Intel Core 2 Extreme 9650 processor with a dry developers, publishers and others committed to PC The Problem HD-DVD camps. The average 30.2 million units. On the and finally
ice-cooling solution, on the soon-to-be-launched Gigabyte gaming. This alliance comprises both software and surrendering to
GA-X48T-DQ6 motherboard.
According to iDefense Labs, in Indian consumer, till now other hand, the Xbox 360 the more
hardware giants such as Intel, Microsoft, AMD and Dell, among others.
January banner ads have has been happy with the has struggled in Japan and powerful forces
actively been delivering normal DVD format. With Europe, where the Sony that drove Blu-ray to
malicious files, and Adobe’s significant certainty, now brand formerly dominated, supremacy. They’re even
T
he greatest war for however, was the gaming significant of them was gets installed on to the system. to 20.3 million users and
the next-generation industry. Microsoft, the Time Warner, which This trojan, then disables the by 2011 will be the getting over 750,000 people
Nick Desai, CEO, Juice Wireless to buy them, outselling Blu-
video format has makers of the Xbox 360 has switched totally from HD-
T
recently visited India to launch system’s antivirus software he gaming industry industry leader.
ray units for a while, and
JuiceCaster. Primarily targeted at finally come to an end— been a strong supporter of DVD to Blu-Ray, leaving and downloads additional had witnessed In India, however, the then calling it quits! We can
mobile users, users can upload, Toshiba’s pulled the plug the HD-DVD standard. In Sony with a virtual malware. So banner ads can be phenomenal growth Xbox 360 leads in terms of hear the early adopters’
download and share rich media on its war with Sony’s Blu- contrast, Sony—the makers monopoly in the DVD dangerous, since the hacker last year, with major market share. However, screaming even from here!
content using JuiceCaster. Ray. According to latest of the PlayStation 3—have format arena. So where might’ve corrupted them with players such as Nintendo, with Blu-Ray getting the
What makes JuiceCaster reports, Toshiba has does Toshiba go from here? malicious code by exploiting Sony and Microsoft posting upper hand in terms of
different from other online formally announced And what about Sony? Adobe’s Flash technology. massive sales figures. being the preferred DVD WHAT YOU MISSED
photo/video service providers? that it would not be The latest news says According to research firm format, Sony has a lot to
JuiceCaster aims to provide
seamless and synchronous continuing its HD-
DVD business. This
that Sony is in talks
with Toshiba to sell
The Solution
Adobe has issued patches by
iSuppli, the PS3 will pose
the strongest growth
gain. What happens to
Xbox 360 users who use
MS, Yahoo,
connectivity over any platform.
It is available as JuiceCaster
Player and is embeddable on
race was definitely
fiercer than the
its PS3 chip
manufacturing
addressing the vulnerabilities figures among all video
game consoles. The
HD-DVD drives with their And Them
as critical. Update to version gaming consoles is still to
social networking avenues such
as MySpace, Facebook, Hi5 and earlier video battle plant for an 8.1.2 to prevent any malicious projected worldwide sales be seen. The users hit the
over Betamax and amount to figures this year are 10 most, are those who
T
many others in addition to Web code from adversely affecting he world is going
sites and blogs. JuiceCaster VHS. This time, it was supposedly in them. The update is available million units for PS3, 12.2 bought external HD-DVD abuzz with talks
Mobile application (native) and companies that were excess of $ 858 at http://tinyurl.com/28z9qs. million units for the Wii, drives for their Xbox 360s. between the two east-
JuiceCaster WAP are available
for phones with WAP 2.0 deciding what the million. Both Avoid clicking banner ads and and 7.5 million units for How Microsoft coast companies—Yahoo
browsers. Also, we’ve launched consumer gets and Toshiba and Sony do not open any PDF the Xbox 360. compensates them, is a from Sunnyvale, California
JuiceCaster D for desktop, which not the other way Corporation, have documents if you’re not sure With strong sales, lower matter of concern and will and Microsoft from
completes the seamless circle of round! With reportedly partnered about its authenticity. prices and broader appeal be closely watched in the Redmond, Washington.
sharing rich media content.
companies such as with Sony Computer among audiences, the Wii forthcoming days. Surprisingly, Google was
How is JuiceCaster going to be Sony and Toshiba Electronic
accessible to the common pitted against each Entertainment Inc.
Indian man? Which type of Web application do you use the most besides mail and chat??
With camera phone prices other, it was stiff (SCEI) for the Opinion Poll
gradually dropping, India competition all the production of high- (You, too, can participate in this poll—at www.thinkdigit.com)
already has a large number of way through. For performance
mobile phone subscribers. It is A File Storage B Multimedia streaming streaming (Video and audio)
Sony, it was a semiconductors. The
indeed a potential market for C Massively Multiplayer Online Games D Blogging, wikis, discussion forums
us. We’re in talks with various matter of prestige to whole DVD fiasco
cellular operators in India for win this battle, as it doesn’t seem to
making the JuiceCaster Player had already lost with have ended on a Option D. I get a chance to express my Option D. The objective behind the cre- Option B is what I’d like to choose. At
for mobiles and its services Betamax to JVC in the bitter note after all... views and the whole world could be my ation of Internet was information shar- work, I listen to streaming music to relax.
available by the Q3 of 2008. Illustration Harsho Mohan Chattoraj stage; they also give me a ing, wasn’t it? With a medi- In my free time, I watch lot of
Individuals carrying camera VHS days. Most technological chance to be introduced to a um like this, we know and instructional and tutorial-
phones with active Internet data On one side was the understandably supported developments and gadgets rare and endangered species—
the practical intellectual. read different paradigms and based videos online.
connectivity can capture Blu-Ray consortium led by the Blu-Ray format. As a enter Indian shores after
images/videos to upload, and Bijoy Yohanan perspectives. Amit Shah
Sony, with Apple, Dell, HP, result, the soaring sales of they have been tried and Nidheesh P.K. Mumbai
share them straight away with Bangalore
others without the need of a PC. Sharp, Philips, Panasonic, gaming applications have tested in Europe and the Mumbai
Hitachi and eight other yielded a significant rise in Americas. For example, the
What comprises your target companies on Blu-Ray’s the sales of Blu-Ray discs. iPhone has not yet been
audience in India?
Initially, in India, JuiceCaster will board of directors. On the With half the battle won in launched in India—the I’ll go for option D because knowledge I choose D. Visiting forums and wikis I choose option B since I spend lot of time
be targeting the young, peppy, other hand, the HD-DVD the gaming industry, the average Indian consumer sharing and public views on various sub- help me troubleshooting at my work. watching online videos and listening to
tech-crazy and those up-to-date front was led by Toshiba, remaining half of the normally complains about jects are obtained. I enjoy Also, through interaction music. Of course it is better
with IT. Specifically, people followed by Sanyo, NEC and battle was decided by this fact. However, this online debates by veterans as with other people at these than reading irrelevant discus-
between the age group of 18 to well as freshers on any topic. places, I can broaden my
Memory Tech. This time, Hollywood. Till recently, time round we should be sions at some websites. I listen
35 years would be our target knowledge.
audience. As per our research, however, the battle was Universal and Paramount thankful for the late entry Sharlet Macwan to the latest music on stream-
we’ll also target people from prolonged, and there was a Studios were the only of the high-definition DVD Mumbai Dhaval Pancholi ing sites or radio stations.
other age groups, since they too Baroda Parin Sutaria
host of factors that decided Hollywood studios to back battle into India—actually
are avid users involved in the Baroda
social networking phenomenon. the outcome. The most HD-DVDs—the majority had it hasn’t got here yet!
significant decisive factor, backed Blu-Ray. The most Overall, Indian consumers (You, too, can participate in this poll—at www.thinkdigit.com)
■ LG to roll out Android phone in early 2009 ■ Microsoft helps nab $900 M piracy ring through large-scale investigation in 22 countries ■ ■ Nintendo and Microsoft unveil indie games services to tap into individual game developers ■ Google to store patients’ health records ■
12 DIGIT MARCH 2008 DIGIT MARCH 2008 13
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Enter
The Digital World A Round-up Of Technology News From Across The Globe
GERMANY DENMARK
Nokia's announcement to close down Going anti-piracy, courts
its unprofitable cell phone plant in order Danish ISP Tele2 to
Bochum sparks dispute with the block customers’ access to
government. Over 4,000 people the popular P2P file-sharing RUSSIA
protest outside plant premises site The Pirate Bay As per the computer security firm
Sophos' survey, 8.3 per cent of the
world's spam or one spam in
every 12 junk mails makes Russia
a “spam superpower” after the
current leader, the US
ROMANIA
Nokia opens factory as part of their low-
cost locations program for production of
mobile phones and parts, for Europe, CHINA
Africa and Middle East. About 1,200 The first Cloud Computing Centre for
people will be employed on an average software companies of the country was
salary of $318 (Rs 12,402) per month announced recently by IBM, along with
SPAIN (before taxes) by the end of the year Wuxi Tai Lake Industry Investment &
Cops arrest more than 76 people Development Co. Ltd
nationwide, for Internet fraud. Some
suspects were involved in auction
fraud—they scarpered after
collecting the cash for plasma TVs
without delivering the goods
also active in the media, both Softbank and Yahoo, only going to improve with western countries with
this time around playing are common investors in the competition. They’ve figures being one in every
spoiler by claiming that Alibaba. Being a dominant got to! 191.5 emails in the US and
Microsoft would use the player in China, this deal is one in every 158.4 e-mails
deal to gain too much of being closely watched by YOU’RE HIT! in Canada. In New Zealand,
control over the Internet. Chinese authorities— Web security levels were
We have also heard concerned over foreign The Great pretty good—one out of 768
reports about AOL talking control of Chinese mails was virus infested,
to Yahoo! for a likely deal. businesses, especially with Indian Virus while for Australia, the
We believe that’s not Microsoft, considering its figure was one for every
coincidence, considering monopolistic policies and 298.7 mails. The study goes
the fact that Google owns a practices.
I
ndia and technology on to reveal that the global
5 per cent stake in AOL. The deal between the seem to be in the news spam ratio is 73 per cent.
Rupert Murdoch’s News two companies has not yet quite often these days. A This translates to one in
Corp. also joined in the been signed, and it already few weeks back, it was low every 1.36 emails. This only
league, by recently holding has effects on China and browsing speeds due to the further reiterates the need
talks with Yahoo! Japan. But what are the cut in the Middle Eastern for us to be updated with
The Chinese portal possible impacts in India? optical fibre (FALCON) the latest anti-virus, anti-
Alibaba, however, is an As far as Indian surfers are belonging to FLAG Telecom, spam, anti-spyware and
important factor in the concerned, Google ranks under the flagship of the other proactive tools to
whole deal. For those of the highest, followed by Reliance ADA group. To add ensure safety. In taking
you’ll who haven’t heard of Yahoo! at a distant second to these woes, a recent such measures, not only
it, Alibaba is a Hangzhou- place, and then MSN. study on virus activity by a are we safer as individuals,
based e-commerce / e- Unlike other countries web security services but rather reduce the risk
auction company, and a where the competition is company indicates that to others, especially our
significant player in China’s stiff, in India, Google really India has the highest friends and close
search engine and online holds a significant lead incidence of virus attacks. associates.
marketing industry after over the other search As per the study
Baidu. Yahoo! is a major engines. Could this conducted by MessageLabs, SOMETHING INSIDE
stakeholder in Alibaba. translate into a reduction “Virus activity increased
Softbank, a Japanese in PPC rates for online across a number of Micro-buzz
telecommunications advertising? SEO countries in January,
company, which bought out professionals would surely including India, which
Vodafone Japan, also owns a be watching this closely. takes the number one spot
A
fter the series of
3.9 per cent stake in Yahoo So, for India, things don’t with 1 in 30.5 emails”. As anti-trust battles
US and 40 per cent of Yahoo seem to be as significant compared to India, the Web between Microsoft
Japan. In addition to this, anyway. Surely services are attack was far less in and the EU, it now seems
■ Game consoles can model black holes, drug molecules ■ Software gets smart cars talking ■ MySpace opens to software developers ■
14 DIGIT MARCH 2008
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Enter Enter
2007, Microsoft is all set to has already hinted that
slate a 2009 launch of a Windows 7 would be
successor. Named Windows “touchier”, similar to
7, it will be more human- Apple’s iPhone. On the
X-force’s graph on Vulnerablities
friendly with increased other hand, Microsoft plans
Digit Caption input options, as per Bill to do away with DirectX 11.
Look! Web access! 47% of men Gates, Chairman Microsoft.
According to him, touch,
Apparently, with the
hardware requirements of
would give up sex
for six months, for speech and written text DirectX 10, and the
Last Month’s Winner!
Abhishek Tiwari, New Delhi a 50-inch plasma would be the significant customer resentment as a
“What was the shortcut to TV, compared to development in the latest result of it, the software
Connaught Place?” just over a third of version of Windows. Gates giant seems to have become
women claims that technical proactive. We wonder
advancements in the areas whether our cell phones
of touch and speech would are becoming PCs or the
Roughly be incorporated into other way round.
2.1% of people have had a Windows 7. In a recent On the other hand, has
virus in their handset, 68,000 servers speech to Stanford Microsoft just added up
E-mail your caption with the 11.6% know someone who on the Internet University, Gates said, “It’s features from their work
a big step forward in terms on the Surface PC, the
subject “Beat That”, and your has had a virus and 86.3% are returning of ink. It’s a big step much hyped touch-enabled
postal address, to
beatthat@thinkdigit.com of people have never heard malicious forward in terms of touch”. computer. With focus on
and win of anyone with a mobile Domain Name So what does that touch, that is what it
phone virus—McAfee Survey mean? In two years, Vista is seems to be. Yet another
Fix Your Own PC
by Corey Sandler
System results no more? Was this all a bit of Microsoft hype...
Nearly 40% of all phone according to tactic to get people to move only the future will reveal
calls, fail to meet set industry out of XP and then force the facts.
funnier,
Georgia Tech them to switch to another
tion for a photo. Com
e up with someththing Published by standards, even in developed
Each month Dig it will carry a cap
accepted by the 20 of this month.
markets like the US and and Google product? It started with ALL IN THE HEAD
Photograph Ram Hari Koirala tea m at the ir own game! Entries
and beat the Digit
survey gamers who were literally
Western Europe forced to upgrade to Vista Gamers To
because of the DirectX 10
to be the turn of Intel, the business, venturing into has a presence in your bank, asking you for move, to do away with slow the Web space is now a compatibility issues Get Brain-
world’s largest chip this area is as risky as a kid Bangalore as well—focuses your password, or any pace of processing, bank prime target for exploits. springing up.
manufacturer. Some days attempting to eat the on processors with low other sensitive transactions that are This justifies social In fact, Microsoft is controlled
ago, the European juiciest burger in front of power consumption. information. According to paperless or online should networking sites giving directly working with
Commission raided the the class bully. Although very secretive the IBM X-Force 2007 Trend be verified with a hard cautious alerts to be aware manufacturers, and in all Headsets
Munich offices of Intel. To Microprocessor start-ups about their plans, there Statistics Report, of the top copy as well. of phishing activity. probability computers
add to Intel’s woes, the are a rare, if even extant, are speculations that 20 companies targeted by According F-Secure would come fitted with
Commission also raided commodity these days. The Montalvo will make public phishing in 2007, the Security Labs, the SVP OPEN THE WINDOWS touch screens and be able
W
ith exponential
the retailers that sold available opportunities in announcements this year. report says, 19 are in the National Police Academy in to accept inputs in the progress, even the
Intel’s products. the form of server business Among its workforce, are banking industry. With Hyderabad, had a Bank of Windows 7 form of touch. Microsoft means for
These raids come in the are pounced upon with all former employees of widespread risk of online America phishing site entertainment are going
wake of charges that Intel might by the niche group Transmeta, NexGen, AMD transactions, we are all at operating on one of their Gets Touchy high-tech. The latest
has slashed prices below of companies such as Sun and others. This name is risk to the latest pestilence. servers. After all, when it development for the
costs, and also offered huge and IBM. In the last decade, surely going to be under The X-Force collected and comes to money, there is gaming industry is from
rebates in an effort to drive a company by the name of the lens in the days to analysed 410,000 new no pride or tech-savvy
W
ith Vista having the US / Australian firm
AMD out of the market. Transmeta Corporation— come, and most definitely malware instances in 2007, talks—it’s the money that borne tough Emotiv. Scientists have
The Commission is already which once had Linus by Intel! which is approximately 30 matters. With the rise of comments from developed a neuro-headset
investigating charges on Torvalds on its payrolls— per cent more than those social networking sites critics to the extent of that interprets the
German retailer Media had attempted to eat into ITALIAN JOB? analysed in 2006. So, what such as MySpace and being regarded as the interaction of neurons in
Markt, surrounding its sale the microprocessor pie, but is the average user Facebook, even this area of biggest disappointment of the brain, which enables
of computers. Media Markt seems to have fallen Thieves supposed to do in the
sells Intel-powered PCs, but miserably. midst of significant forgery
none that run on AMD Montalvo Perry, a Ahoy! and phishing online? As it
XPERIA X1
processors. In response to former CEO of Transmeta is said through the days—
these raids, Intel’s Corporation, went on to old is gold. What started Claimed as yet another iPhone killer by Tech evangelists The X1 also has loads of other features like quad-
spokesman Chuck Mulloy found Montalvo Systems, to and bloggers, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 has on band GSM as well was UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA network
T
hese days, most off as a revolutionary
said “there has been a raid venture into the prime account transactions incredibly high-resolution (800 × 480), 3-inch VGA support, WiFi, aGPS, microSD (400 MB on phone
on our offices in Munich. zone of ultra low-power happen online. In touch screen display. With a unique arc-slider design, memory by default) and of course, Windows Mobile 6.
As is our normal practice, microprocessors. Montalvo these e-banking days, the X1 features a new desktop GUI called ‘Experia X1 aims for the Web convergence market since it runs
we are cooperating with Systems is once again in phishing refers to e-mails panels’, a nine-panel interface that’s eye candy on the the Microsoft Windows Mobile OS for blending
authorities.” the news for claiming to that appear to be sent from high-resolution display. These panels are finger-friendly multimedia with Web communication. All the hype
In the days of Core 2 have developed a multi- a legitimate source in an marvels that permit access to applications running on around the X1 leaves Sony Ericsson fans in
Duo and Phenom, and the core, energy-efficient CPU effort to obtain sensitive the phone via the home screen. Navigation is possible anticipation, and it is expected to hit markets over
combined market for notebooks and “ultra information from a user. either by touch, arc-sliding QWERTY Keypad, 4-way the second half of 2008. There’s no way can you
dominance by Intel and portables”. The Santa For example, the email joypad and an “optical joystick”. expect it to be cheap. Nevertheless, keep drooling!
AMD in the microprocessor Clara-based start-up—which appears to be sent to you by
■ College Coders Working With IBM’s Project Zero ■ Nokia says it will incorporate Google search engine in cell phones ■ Net firms reject monitoring role ■ Doctors use Wii games for rehab therapy ■ Netscape officially dead; AOL says use Flock or Firefox ■ Google lunar challenge gets underway
16 DIGIT MARCH 2008 DIGIT MARCH 2008 17
Enter MAR_08.qxd 5/13/2008 10:54 AM Page 20
Enter
gamers to interact with the Biswas, is called the Three- cannot transmit. Just as
virtual world using their dimensional Photonic electronic bandgaps
thoughts and emotions. Crystal Add-drop Filter, and prevent electrons within a
Tan Le, President of enables enhanced trans- certain energy range from
Emotiv says, “It picks up mission over multiple passing through a
electrical activity from the wavelength channels semiconductor, photonic
brain and sends wireless (wavelengths of light) crystals create photonic
signals to a computer. It travelling along optical bandgaps that confine
K-NFB READER allows the user to fibres. This is a significant light of certain wave-
What's the K-NFB Reader? manipulate a game or milestone in the lengths. The idea of using
knfbReader is a mobile phone virtual environment development of all-optical photonic crystals for add-
software for the blind,
naturally and intuitively.” transport networks to drop filters is not new.
developed by Ray Kurzweil (the
father of text-to-speech) in
Although the concept of eliminate electrical Since the mid 1990s, many
association with National reading neural activity is components from optical groups worldwide have
Federation for the Blind. not new, Emotiv claims that transmission links, been working to develop
the Epoc headset is the first resulting in virtually the technology with two-
How does knfbReader work? consumer device that can flawless data reception for dimensional photonic
It’s a text-to-speech software be used for gaming. end users of the Internet crystals.
that takes its input from the Emotiv is also in talks and other fibre-based “It works,” Biswas said,
mobile phone’s camera and with IBM for developing the telecommunication “but there is loss of some
then uses optical character technology for use in systems. intensity to the end user
recognition technology and “strategic enterprise Biswas explains, “There because 2D photonic
text-to-speech capability to
business markets and are up to 160 wavelength crystals don’t confine the
read out text. It displays each
virtual worlds”. According channels travelling light completely. For
sentence and highlights each
word while it’s being read out to Paul Ledak, Vice through an optical fibre at example, in a phone
at a user-adjustable speed. President, IBM Digital the same time. That means conversation, voices would
Thousands of pages can be Convergence, brain a lot of dialogue is going dim out. But with 3D
saved in text format using computer interfaces such as on simultaneously”. photonic crystal add-drop
memory sticks. Braille support the Epoc headset are an Biswas, who is also an Iowa filters, the communication
is available on request. important component of State University adjunct would be clear.”
the future 3D Internet and associate professor of Although Biswas and
Which phone models can the future of virtual physics and astronomy and his team have shown that
sport knfbReader? communication. electrical and computer 3D photonic crystals would
Currently, knfbReader is paired Future 3D Internet! engineering, explained make highly efficient add-
with and designed for the Nokia
Sounds interesting! India that as information is drop filters, there are still
N82, Symbian Series 60, (3rd
Edition) platform with
has a perfect blend of the transported over these problems to address.
50 MB of flash storage. crème de la crème in the multiple channels, it’s Getting the size of the
high rises of metros and necessary to periodically photonic crystals down to
Who's going to benefit from it? new-to-gaming kind from drop-off individual 1.5 microns to work at the
This technology will benefit the mid-sized and small cities. wavelength channels at wavelengths used for
visually impaired and those While the Internet evolves different points on the Internet communications
suffering from dyslexia— towards 3D and games fibre. At the same time, it’s is a big challenge. The
generally those who need increasingly tech-heavy, the essential to be able to add Ames Lab group now has
assistance for reading text. It pricing and distribution of data streams into the some of these photonic
will make them more these gadgets in the Indian empty wavelength crystals working in that
independent and boost their
market is what we look channels. “When the data range, but to make these
performance at professional
and personal fronts.
forward to. being transported in controlled structures with
multiple frequency one input, another output
Why will it make a difference? LIGHT SPEED channels over an optical and a defect, required
This mobile reader program is fibre comes to a receiving significant amount of
expected to eliminate the need
to carry multiple devices and
Optical station, you want to be work. A future direction is
able to pick off just one of to simplify the design of
ulitmately make the mobile
phone a unified solution. The
Networks To those frequencies and send the add-drop filter by
it to an individual end reducing the layers in the
mobile reader can also function
with GPS programs and access
Blaze Faster user,” said Biswas. “That’s photonic crystal—perhaps
where these 3-D photonic having all the action
PDF files. Besides, accessibility
crystals come into play.” happen in one layer.
to other mobile functions can
R
esearchers at the U.S. To further prove their This comes as a ray of
be improved by using software
such as MobileSpeak and Talks, Department of finding, the researchers hope to the average Indian
developed specially for the Energy’s Ames used a three-dimensional, surfer, and more so the
visually impaired. Laboratory have come up microwave-scale photonic host of IT and ITES services
with an ideal way to sort crystal constructed from companies based in India,
When will the knfbReader be and distribute data transfer layered alumina rods, where ISPs claiming to be
available for purchase? over optical fibres across containing a full broadband providers are
knfbReader was released on the globe. The new bandgap—a wavelength not able to provide enough
February 15, 2008. Get it at technology, developed by a range in which throughput to keep the
http://www.knfbreader.com/ team led by physicist Rana electromagnetic waves customer content!
■ Microsoft SkyDrive no longer just a Beta ■ Microsoft warns on Vista update—third party drivers may not function normally
Digital
Insight
Behind The
Picture
Ever wondered what makes graphics
cards tick, and tick so well?
Michael Browne
F
rom the movies we watch to medical sciences
and imaging, educational simulations to
defence applications, and even manufactur-
ing processes (Computer Assisted Manufacturing)
the impact that 3D rendering has had on the world
is phenomenal. 3D accelerators (or graphics cards)
have acted as catalysts for the growth of 3D model-
ling, rendering, and animation.
The year 1981 and the first PC video card from
IBM seems ancient history. We’ve gone from single
colour video cards to cards that can work with
millions of colours. The real graphics war for desk-
top PCs didn’t start till 1997 when 3dfx delivered
Voodoo to the world with (then) powerful features
like Mip-Mapping, Z-buffering and AntiAliasing.
Rivals NVIDIA came up with their TNT and TNT2
cards following the Voodoo 2, and these were the
first AGP-based cards. Though it may seem that
things have stagnated from those initial gigantic
steps, nothing could be further from the truth.
Enter NVIDIAs GeForce 256 graphics card (August
31, 1999). It essentially had 4 pixel pipelines that
could each handle a single, half precision (16 bit)
pixel operation in a clock. Core and memory
speeds were 120/166 MHz and with a peak output
of 480 million pixels per second and 15 million
triangles per second, the GeForce 256 was hard to
beat. November 8, 2006, seven scant years later and
the GeForce family’s eighth generation of graphics
cards were unveiled. Their latest 8800GT, which is
a very value oriented card, churns out 16.8 billion
triangles per second, a difference comparable to
the difference between the sun and the moon.
Regardless of the difference in specifications,
there are certain characteristics common to all
graphics cards which we’re going to look at. We’re
also going to see how all this comes together. Let’s
look at the individual parts of a graphics card, and
what they contribute to the whole.
2
Heatsinks
6 4 conceal
Heatsinks the RAM
conceal the chips
RAM chips
7 3
1
5
Radeon HD2900XT
triangles. Here’s where the software comes in. added for added realism. This is a cosmetic sharply inclined, Just to compare this figure to the fastest of that brilliance actually working. The following
Developers will use either of the computer graph- process similar to the make up used by ramp mainly because system memory based on PC8500 DDR2 RAM three connects are common to nearly every graph-
700 million
each triangle into the graphics pipeline, but one additional textures to add an additional layer of (1066*64)/8 = 8528 MB/s or 8.5 GB/s HD-515: Commonly known as a D-Sub, or VGA
resolution that
512 bits
vertex at a time. The GPU can assemble vertices detail and believability. These textures are stored As you can see current generation cards offer connector. It is an analog connect and has 15 pins
R600
2007
is taking place—
320
into triangles as and when needed. in the GPUs memory, where each pixel calcula- ten times the bandwidth that the fastest and was designed for CRT displays. It has its
512
These days due to the infinite Shader program- tion can access them. This is where memory band- users want as memory offers and with DDR4 this bandwidth issues—electrical noise (being an analog signal),
ming possibilities available, developers are able to width and the quantity of memory plays a vital realistic an is set to cross 100 GB/s. This enormous amount image distortion, and sampling errors (due to
give advanced light-based properties to objects. role which is why we see graphics cards with more experience as of bandwidth is used to feed the data hungry downscaling).
For example, the way water in a pond interacts memory generally performing better. GPU with enough raw data to keep it busy, DVI: A digital standard developed for LCD and
with light, the surface sub-scattering of light by possible which is no easy task considering that the GPU Plasma panels. It uses the computers native reso-
Radeon X1950XTX
translucent materials of varying densities, like Stage 7: Hidden Surfaces has an internal bandwidth of over 180 GB/s, and lution without any compression of any sort and
384 million
Stage 2: Transformations writing each pixel to memory. In that case the is fed via VRAM which holds such data till time mind other devices which may need to interface
256 bits
R580+
GPUs have their own localised coordinate system most recently written triangle would get written the pipelines of the GPU need feeding again. with a display card such as DVD players, large
2006
48/8
512
and they can use this to specify the position of first, in which case (for example) a chair placed While VRAM holds vertex data, perspective data screens, game consoles, video recorders, etc.
each object in a 3D scene. For utilising their own behind a table would be displayed while the table and lighting information, it can never actually
coordinate system the GPU has to convert all the itself would be hidden behind. This stage involves hold texture data which is held by the PCs main Interface
objects to a common tracking system. At this sorting of triangles from a back to front view. This memory. The GPU accesses these textures from Let’s face it—graphics cards wouldn’t be the speed
point the GPU cannot perform complex modifi- is where a GPUs depth buffer comes in. The depth system memory directly through DMA (Direct demons that they are today unless they could
cations to the objects for fear of warping the trian- buffer stores the distance of each pixel from the Memory Access) and there is no CPU interfer- interface with PCs using high bandwidth ports. A
GeForce 8800GTX
gles, simple operations like scaling and rotation viewer and before writing a pixel to the screen the ence. The resultant output of the GPU is also GPU works in tandem with the CPU, Northbridge
575/1800 MHz
can be done. By representing each vertex in a GPU does a check to see whether the pixel occu- buffered in part of the VRAM which is utilised (or Memory Controller Hub), and system memory,
681 million
homogenous coordinate the GPU can perform a pying that position is the closest to the user and as a ‘frame buffer’. and its only means of communication happens to
384 bits
single operation on triangles en masse. At this stage if it is, it is sent to the monitor. be that little slot it’s plugged into. The specifica-
RAMDAC
2006
of the pipeline, the output is a stream of billions tions of the same little slot have changed a lot too
G80
768
128
of triangles on the basis of the GPUs common Memory The RAMDAC or Random Access Memory Digi- over the past few years—so much so that the latest
coordinate system in which the orientation is the VRAM is present on the PCB of the graphics card tal to Analog Converter is a component of a specification is not backwards compatible. From
Quick Facts
viewers’ perspective. and is as important to it as system RAM is to the video card that is responsible for converting IBMs 16-bit ISA interface with a speed of 8 MHz to
CPU. Very basically VRAM feeds the GPU with raw digital images into analog signals that can be the current PCI Express we’ve come a long way.
Stage 3: Lighting data and passes on the results after the GPU has displayed by an analog monitor like a CRT. The Currently graphics cards utilise the PCI Express
GeForce 7900GTX
By now, each triangle is placed in a global coor- worked on the data. VRAM is also sometimes RAMDAC may be a separate card on the graph- interface (also called PCIe or PCI-E). PCIe 1.1 has a
dinate system and the GPU can now calculate called ‘frame buffer’. In the past three years or so ics cards PCB (for example like on the 8800GTX) maximum bandwidth of 8 GBps, consisting of 32
650/1600 MHz
each triangle’s colour on the basis of the lights in the importance of VRAM has sharply inclined, or could be integrated on the GPU die. The parallel lanes each capable of a maximum
278 million
the scene. The lighting could be as simple as a mainly because whole visual revolution that is RAMDACs ability to support greater refresh throughput of 250 MBps. PCI 2.0, which has just
256 bits
single source (a light bulb in a room), or as taking place where users want as realistic an expe- rates depends on its internal data transfer rate, debuted in the latest ATI Radeon 3xxx series and
2006
24/8
G71
512
complex as a street lit up by a row of streetlights. rience as possible while playing 3D games. In fact (which depends on its speed, in MHz), and the NVIDIA 8xxx series, offers 16 GBps.
In the latter case, the GPU is tasked with games are the numero uno reason for advance- precision of colour bits used. However the
summing up the effects of each light source and ments in graphics cards’ performance over the concept of flicker applies only to CRTs and with The Shape Of Things To Come
computing their overall effect on colours and years. From 32 MB of VRAM on the GeForce 256 the advent of the DVI (Digital Video Interface) DX 10 wasn’t the big affair it was said to be and
GeForce FX 5900
luminosity of the triangles in the scene. Today’s DDR, to 768 MB of VRAM on the 8800GTX, the on most LCD monitors and graphics cards the we’re not going to say “see we told you so!” Both
425/1100 MHz
GPUs are also complex enough to colour surfaces quantity of memory has increased more than 20 RAMDACs days are numbered. All LCD and manufacturers NVIDIA and ATI have realised the
of the basis of their physical surface properties— fold. This goes in tandem with the improvements Plasma screens work entirely in the digital follies of developing a graphics card for a standard
135 million
matte, gloss, etc. Advanced lighting techniques to the core of the GPU. domain and do not require a RAMDAC. In case that has yet to be properly implemented, and the
256 bits
NV 35
2004
like specular highlighting, and diffusion and Not only has the quantity of video memory they have an analog input, the signal is simply fact that hardly anyone uses Windows Vista as a
256
8/4
occluded lighting are also possible. gone up, but the type of memory has changed too. converted to digital again after the RAMDAC gaming platform doesn’t help. NVIDIA has just
Current graphics cards use DDR3 memory, and has fed out an analog signal from the original released the first card of their new 9xxx series—
Stage 4: Getting Perspective although DDR4 memory is waiting in the wings, digital signal. This double conversion is lossy to yes, the GeForce 9600GT has finally arrived. Based
The next stage of the pipeline projects the (now) it hasn’t seen much adoption yet. say the least. on a 65nm manufacturing process it’s a mid-range
coloured triangles on to a virtual plane, as viewed The bus width of memory has also gone up, offering meant to take over the reins from the
120/300 MHz
GeForce 256
from the users perspective. These coloured trian- from the 64 bits of yore to 256-bit and even 384-bit Video BIOS capable 8600GT. Rumours abound of the presence
23 million
gles and their respective coordinates are finally bus width (GeForce 8800GTX). All this speed is Like a motherboard’s BIOS the VGA BIOS is a of a mighty 9800GTX, but the company them-
128 bits
ready to be turned into pixels. required too, as today’s games demand more than chip that contains the firmware (hardwired low- selves are tight lipped about specifications. One
NV 10
1999
4/0
50 times the resources than the games released level instructions) that controls the graphics thing we know is these cards support DX 10 which
32
Stage 5: Rasterization eight years ago. The ultimate goal of manufac- card’s operation and allows the computer’s is nothing new. ATI has already released a host of
Core/Memory speed
representation. Here, an image that is described necks which occur in the memory, as 90 percent about the graphics card such its core and Radeon 3850, with the mid-range Radeon 3650.
the GPU handles all the pixels in parallel—one video card (works for system memory too): come with re-flasheable BIOS’ which may plateau, and the real meat may arrive after DX 10
of the reasons that manufacturers upped the An 8800GTX has memory clocked at 1,800 improve performance for affect stability matures as a platform and application support
Shader unit count on GPUs to speed up this MHz, and this memory is 384 bits wide, the favourably. If the BIOS is flashed incorrectly, the picks up. Till then we’re sitting pretty, literally.
parallel processing. formula for total bandwidth = (clock speed card can be permanently damaged. michael.browne@thinkdigit.com.com
An Unprotected Vist
Nimish Chandiraman
a PC
i
After reading a millio
n white papers on ho
net the Windows-hati w Vista implements
ng world would have security and, coming
well, my version of rea me believe (on paper, to the conclusion tha
lity, if nothing else. Ou at least), I decided to t it isn’t the virus-ma
defaults—firstly, becau t went the anti-virus; see if that holds good g-
se that’s what you get I left the settings for in the real world—
thing-at-a-time policy. when Vista is installed Windows Defender an
, and secondly, becau d Firewall at their
se I have a strict only-
one-stupidly-brave-
Day 5:
My daily activities pr Day 18:
ogress as usual, with
significant change: I one Th at’s odd. My PC’s still
spend a lot of time mo bafflingly untainted.
my running tasks an nitoring giv ing up this easily, thou I’m not
d services, and I open gh. I have procured a
least twice a day—th Defender at drive Flash
e last time I ever open wh ich I’m told is infected
see what it was, just ed it was to Th at with an Autorun virus
af ter I installed Vista ou ght to do some dama .
on UAC (User Accoun . I’ve turned ge.
t Control) again, just Un lik e XP, Vista doesn’t bli
what’s going on in th so I know so when I attach the ndly execute autorun
e system. drive, I still get a dia .inf—
All systems stable for as ks me whether I want to op log bo x th at
now, but I’m biting en the drive or run
more, and I suspect my nails “explore.exe”. Sharp
some stress-related ha knife that I am, I choo
needs to pass. Soon. ir-loss. This drive and delete the au se to open the
torun file. It’s amazing
feature as simple as th how a
Day 12: is can thwart a virus
.
It’s passed. Working Day 30:
like this has been un
far—my start-up list eventful so Sti ll clean. Of course, I ha
hasn’t changed, perfo ven’t actively hunted
remains the same an rmance ma lware to subject my PC for
d UAC hasn’t flagged to—nobody should—an
suspicious. The nail-b anything no do d I have
iting has stopped, an ub t that I could infect thi
stays on with new res d my hair tha s thing if I really tried
olve. I’m almost starti t wa sn ’t why I did it—I want . But
this might actually wo ng to believe abou ed to see if I could go
rk! I’ve even turned off t my daily business without
again—when it’s not UAC turns out that I can. an anti-virus, and it
protecting me, it’s ju The two times that I cou
st annoying. faced infection are pe ld have
Day 15: rfectly realistic scenario
happen to anyone. I kn s—it could
This is starting to ge ow there are viruses ou
t boring. Here I am su the probability of a ra t there, but
Internet, an open invit rfing the nd om infection like the
ation to any Dark Fo som eti me s faced with XP seems on es I
might want to destroy rce that con to have gone down
my PC, and nothing. sid era bly. Until further notic
love me anymore? Is Don’t they anti-virus-free. e, my PC is going to be
Vista really that secur
just not living dangero e? Or am I Then again, with my
usly enough? luck, I’ll get infected tom
orrow...
Day 16: nimish.chandiraman
i@ thinkdigit.com
Aha! My sister’s PC (W
indows XP) seems to ha
infected with some sor ve been
t of worm. And my sh
are writable, too! Now ared folders
let’s see what this thi
Any minute now... ng’s made of.
32
Droolmaal_March_08.qxp 5/13/2008 11:23 AM Page 30
The good stuff l Stuff to lust after l Stuff for the well-moneyed
Drool
Maal General Dynamics
Itronix Duo-Touch II
Apple Macbook Air The Duo Touch II is a Core 2 Duo powered tablet PC
It’s a laptop that’s thinner than any you’ve ever that’s been beefed up to take a battering. It’s been
seen! Get this—1.93 cm at its thickest, and 0.4 cm made to deliver a perfect computing experience
at its thinnest point. Weight? 1.36 kg. It’s not like for the people working in hostile environments.
they removed all the excess fat by removing vital Connectivity options are plenty with everything
components either. It still has a Core 2 Duo, an from Bluetooth to WiFi to GPRS and EDGE. It
80 GB hard drive, a 13.3-inch screen and 2 GB RAM comes with Windows XP Tablet Edition
along with all the extras that you find on every installed, or you can opt for Windows Vista.
other laptop. Prices start from £1,199 (Rs 93,000) There’s a standard 40 or 80 GB drive you can
and go well over £2,000 (Rs 1,55,000) choose from or even a 16 or 32 GB solid state
drive. You can use your fingers on the 8.4-inch
touchscreen to control the Duo Touch II or use
a stylus. What’s even better is that it weighs
under 2 Kg, so you don’t have to be a body
builder to carry it around
Garmin
Nuvifone
The Nuvifone’s got the whole
iPhone design going, with a large Bower and
3.5-inch touchscreen, MP3 / Wilkins 800D
MPEG-4 / AAC playback and
camera, and yes, GPS. Garmin This sound setup which looks like they put a
even has an online service that bowling ball on top of a speaker, is one of the
works with the phone that’ll most exotic speakers from the big names
notify you of traffic problems, Bower and Wilkins themselves. The 800D
weather and local events— weighs around 125 kg, and has been made
perfect when you’re lost in bad using silver and gold components to pre-
weather and need to rush to the serve quality. Diamond tweeters are used for
closest fast food joint. It’s the high frequency range. For such exotica,
expected to be out in the third you pay £13,000 (Rs 10,00,000)
quarter of this year
Belkin
Vision Research TuneStudio
Phantom v12 The TuneStudio has a 4-channel
6315. No, it’s nothing to do with the mixer that can be used to play, mix
resolution—it’s the frame rate that the and record tracks to and from iPods.
Phantom records at—with a resolution of All recording is all done at 16-bit and
1280 x 800! Drop the resolution, and 44 kHz, and there’s normalisation
they say it can go even faster—a built into the mixer to keep volumes
ridiculous million frames per second! It within acceptable limits. One of the
comes with 8 GB of high-speed DRAM, major plus points of TuneStudio has
and there are 16 and 32 GB versions too. to be its appealing looks and funky
Price on request, which really means that design—with loads of knobs, LEDs
twenty people in the world can afford it and dials all over the place
My Guide
single source for all the information you need as you travel
the galaxy—from how to deal with an irate Vogon to the
recipe for a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. We’ve got something
like it already in development—it’s called the Wikipedia.
Now consider that right next to many places of interest on
Google Earth, you’ll see a little Wikipedia icon, which shows you
the Wikipedia entry on that place when you click on it. Not so
Being Polite
Remember when the cell phone first entered our lives? How
we’d cringe every time a phone blared out an ugly ring or a
cheap imitation of a song? Cellular etiquette is as important,
and as shamelessly ignored as it was back then, but there is
hope in sight. Researchers at Intel are working on software
for your cell phone that’ll make it more aware of your
surroundings, and even decide whether to interrupt with a
phone call or take a voicemail message instead.
The software will analyse your speech—not the words them-
selves, but the tone, pitch, volume, and the time for which you
go on—and the speech of the people around you, and deter-
Context? mine what sort of situation you’re in. For example, a conversa-
Think your PDAs Nimish Chandiramani In geek speak, context awareness is the ability of a tion between you and your friend will have a casual tone, and
and cell phones system (a nice, generic term for a piece of hard- since you’re friends who don’t mind interrupting each other,
Y
ou’re bored. Quite understandable—it ware that runs software) to be able to recognise the conversation will have a lot of overlapping speech. If you’ve
are essentials? happens to everyone. Worse still, you’re its environment—location, temperature, alti- told the software that it’s all right to interrupt casual conver-
They’re about to in a city that you don’t call home. What tude, that sort of thing—and act accordingly. A sations, you’ll feel that familiar buzzing when you get a call. If,
do you do? If you’ve got GPRS, you could whip GPS device is one of the simplest context-aware on the other hand, you’re in a meeting, the phone will detect
become out your mobile phone and consult the computer—it’s aware of your position, and the formal, subdued tones, and tell the caller to leave a voice-
indispensible almighty Google—“leisure activities [your based on that, is able to tell you what time the mail message instead. At the very least, it could automatically
current location]”, you’d type, and browse sun will rise or set where you are. switch to Vibrate. The software will also be able to detect your
through the results. It would do well to be Context-aware Computing is just another mood based on how you speak, and act accordingly—not inter-
sitting down, because these things take time— piece in a much larger (and more Utopian) rupt you when you’re ticked, for instance.
picking a worthy site among all that rubbish jigsaw puzzle called Ubiquitous Computing. At this stage, social interactions are still being analysed to
can be tedious. Still, the information exists, The term was coined back in 1988 by Mark help the software
which is what matters in the end. Weiser, who was the chief scientist at Xerox’s make decisions
But what if your phone would do that for PARC (Palo Alto Research Centre). The idea is better—it isn’t particu-
you, without your intervention? What if it that all technology around us—down to the larly accurate with
detected that you’re not in your home city and humble light-bulb—will connect to, and inter- mood detection (and
would eventually feel the need to see the sights? act with each other, and adapt to suit your we doubt it’ll go
What if it told you that you’d just crossed the needs. Biometric chips in your clothes will tell beyond a point), and
city’s best pub, and almost missed out on the your air conditioner that you’re too cold, and hasn’t been tested on a
experience? Call it Context Aware Computing the AC will turn up the temperature to make cell phone. Indeed,
or Ubiquitous Computing or whatever name you feel better, for example. You could cook up even the most power-
that catches your fancy, the fact remains that a million scenarios like this, and they’ll all be ful phone today can’t
with some connectivity and a lot of informa- plausible in a world with ubiquitous comput- stand up to the punish- Intel used this unobtrusive sensor to collect
tion, such scenarios won’t remain the product ing, and therein lies the catch—it’ll likely be ment of getting all data about the wearer’s social interactions
of an over-active imagination. many years before this could happen. that data from a in their trials
Win!
The method of making the cosmetic WS_VISIBLE | WS_BORDER | WS_GROUP |
modifications to the Desktop Settings is by WS_TABSTOP, 131, 3, 119, 212
editing the Shell32.dll file, present in CONTROL “&Browse...”, 30049,
the SYSTEM32 directory (usually BUTTON, BS_PUSHBUTTON | WS_CHILD |
C:\Windows\System32). This file can be WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP | WS_TABSTOP,
edited by Resource Hacker. Make sure that 35, 122, 50, 14
you backup the Shell32.dll file, because if CONTROL “&Position:”, 30055,
something should go wrong, you may not STATIC, SS_LEFT | WS_CHILD |
be able to boot into Windows and will have WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 37, 148, 50,
to repair or reinstall it. Also make sure you 8
exit any unwanted applications before CONTROL “”, 30051, COMBOBOX,
you continue. CBS_DROPDOWNLIST | WS_CHILD |
WS_VISIBLE | WS_VSCROLL |
Take a Crack Step 1: WS_TABSTOP, 37, 158, 50, 38
and win Download CONTROL “&Color:”, 30057, STATIC,
Developing Software Resource Hacker SS_LEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE |
for Symbian OS from WS_GROUP, 37, 177, 50, 8
by Steve Babin http://www.soft32 CONTROL “”, 30054, BUTTON,
Published by .com/download/63- BS_OWNERDRAW | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE
59509/ | WS_TABSTOP, 37, 187, 50, 13
ResHack.zip. Just CONTROL “”, 30053,
extract it and “BackgroundPreview2”, 0x50020000, 4,
LAST MONTH’S WINNER open the 12, 125, 107
The original layout of the
ResHacker.exe CONTROL “Customize &Desktop...”,
Ankita Shalin Desktop Properties window file. 30050, BUTTON, BS_PUSHBUTTON |
Patna WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP |
Step 2: Go to File > Open > WS_TABSTOP, 18, 200, 90, 14
C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll }
Alternatively, you can just use the mouse
Step 3: Go to Dialog > 29952 > 1033 to drag, place and resize the elements in the
Rules and Regulations
Readers are requested to preview window to make the changes.
send in their answers by the Step 4: In the right hand pane replace the
th
15 of the month of text with the following. Step 5: Now click on Compile Script
publication.
Enhance
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you will not around with, rather than the camera doing
become the greatest photographer over-night. it for you. After all, you and your friends are
But remember, when those friends of yours going to cherish the photos, not the camera!
Digital Tools l Enhance
Manual focus, manual settings for aperture unrelated settings. Therefore, take some time
size and shutter speed are some features you out to go through the menus and set a suitable
should definitely look out for. white balance before taking a shot... err... in the
dark! D-SLR users on the other hand have the
Introduction freedom to change the white balance of a photo
There’s a fair share of terminologies you need after it has been shot—thanks to RAW—data
to get familiar with, in order to get involved which you can read about later in this story.
in digital cameras and photography. You will
get a fair dose of it here. The aperture is the Focus Modes
gap through which light enters the camera, Cameras today come with focus modes meant
and plays a major role on how much light is to improve on the autofocus features seen in all
allowed. The aperture size is decided by the f P&S cameras. Some cameras come with multi-
number. The smaller the f number, the greater spot focussing features, which focus on multi-
is the aperture size and vice-versa. Generally, a ple spots or jump spots in a scene. This way,
small aperture yields crisp images. The shut- the user loses control over what’s constantly
ter speed, also, goes hand-in-hand with the in focus. You should, therefore, ensure the use
aperture size to allow an optimum amount of of the centre focus or the spot focus, which
light to enter the camera. The faster the shut- focuses on a small spot at the centre of the
ter speed, the lesser the light that enters the scene. This ensures that whatever you’re point-
camera and crisper are the resultant images. ing the camera at, comes out perfectly in focus.
Some cameras even allow you to set a fixed If you want to focus on something that’s not
aperture size or shutter speed while the camera at the centre, then point the camera at the
adapts the other settings. subject and half press the trigger button then
point the camera anywhere you wish. When
ready, complete the click to take the shot. If
your P&S camera has a manual focus, then you
get increased flexibility and your shoots yield
amazingly professional results.
ISO Rating
The ISO ratings in a camera are related to the
sensitivity of the sensor. They’re considered simi-
lar to the film speed on film cameras. Changing
the ISO ratings is useful for low light situations
or to get the best quality images. Dropping the
A higher ISO Rating adds a considerable amount of graininess to the photo
ISO number to the least possible value, say,
ISO 100 or ISO 80 will get the best quality out
of a sensor. However, this requires a well lit up
Exposure Metering Modes scene and is best for studio light setups or broad
Your digital camera senses light intensity in a daylight. On the other hand, for darker places,
scene and chooses the appropriate settings for increasing the ISO number will help but images
it. In most cameras, there are multiple modes by will turn out grainy. For best results in such
which the camera can detect the surrounding cases, a good balance between the ISO ratings,
light. This light measuring can be done through aperture size and shutter speed is required.
a single tiny spot in the centre or the entire
screen. Sometimes, if only the centre of a scene is Flash Settings
a bright colour—say someone’s white shirt, then Cameras have some control over the intensity of
the camera might be fooled into thinking that the flash used. The Fill in flash mode is a moder-
the entire scene is well lit-up—the image, as a ately powerful flash that is used to add some
result might turn out pretty dark. In such cases, lighting in darker areas. This is useful when
switching the exposure mode to screen mode your subjects have a shadow cast on their face
can help, so that the entire view is evaluated for and the filling light can illuminate such areas.
the surrounding lighting conditions and a more The other option for the flash that you might
realistic and natural photo is captured. find is the Slow Sync mode. This mode is espe-
cially useful in poorly lit up areas, where the
White Balance flash is required. The Slow Sync feature allows
Each lighting source—a bulb, tubelight or the some detail to be added to the shot where a
sun, for example—has a colour temperature. normal flash would result in sharp shadows and
White Balance is a neglected option in the everything beyond the target to be completely
camera (yeah... the term sounds familiar!) and
most people unknowingly continue using Auto What is RAW and why the fuss?
White Balance. AWB chooses a white balance,
which it thinks suites the scene. The camera gets
it wrong a lot of times and photos then end up
with an odd colour tint. You can get awesome
A RAW image is an untreated or uncompressed file that is usually found on
D-SLR’s and many choose to call it the D-SLR’s equivalent of a negative
film. Changes, if required, can be done through software that can handle
results by simply selecting the appropriate white RAW images like Photoshop for example. The unfortunate part is that P&S
balance for the type of lighting you are in. cameras don’t support RAW files. In general, these are much larger than
Selecting from among the pre-defined profiles JPEGs. RAW is of utmost most significance for the professionals.
given with your camera, changes a lot of other
38 DIGIT march 2008
Digital Tools l Enhance
darkened out. The drawback in this is that you
need to use a tripod or hold the camera really
still while using this feature. Now you know
why pros move around with those tripods!
Scenarios
Outdoor Photography
Outdoor locations are probably one of the
easiest options to capture great snaps. There’s
plenty of light and with cloudy skies, it gets
even better. If there’s ample sunlight, then you
need to crank up all the settings. The same goes Wrong white balance settings can give very odd colours
with indoor shoots with decent lighting. Drop
the aperture to the minimum—F8 or as high an Action Shots
f-number as your camera can go. Turn the ISO Action photography could be shots taken during
level to as low as possible and the shutter speed a cricket or football match or maybe photos of
to the bare minimum. While you’re doing all vehicles zooming by. In such cases, it’s neces-
this, keep an eye on the EV-rating number on sary to keep the shutter open briefly but not
the screen. Think of it as a reference value too short because we want to capture the tiny
for getting the perfect exposure. Preferably, it bit of motion blur. If you’re trying to shoot a car
should be 0, but if you see your images getting passing by, then try and follow the car very accu-
underexposed, you’ll find the number drop- rately by moving your hand sideways. Be sure to
ping below 0. In such cases, you’ll need to focus the car properly so the car itself appears
compensate by either increasing the aperture sharp but the surroundings come out with some
size or turning down the shutter speed down a amount of motion blur as a result of your hand
little, say 1/125th from 1/1000th. movement. Lower aperture sizes help too.
There are a few other things you need to
keep in mind—avoid shooting directly towards Low Light And Night Shots
the sun. An obvious problem is that the expo- Low light photography is tricky, and it’s a must
sure level will go completely off scale. By all to own a tripod. No amount of change to aper-
means, you’ll mostly end up with a very bright ture size and ISO levels is going to prevent you
afternoon sun and everything else underex- from having to use long shutter speeds. Shots
posed. That would mean day and night all in of city skylines can be taken by mounting the
the same photograph! camera on a tripod, or by using a table or stool
as a stable base. As mentioned earlier, to get
Indoor Photography decent shots in the dark without the use of
Shooting indoors can get a little trickier. During tripods, you must get a powerful flash that can
the day, there is a fair amount of ambient light illuminate larger areas.
and it’s a good idea to take photos near windows.
Do refrain from using the flash at all costs—it Macro Shooting
ruins photo—you lose natural colours, and the Macro shots involve close-ups. Firstly, set your
photos get unnecessarily increased contrast with camera to the macro mode and then get as close
sharp shadows. There’s also the issue of back- as possible to your subject. Nevertheless, don’t
grounds going dark with only the closer objects get too close or your camera would lose focus
getting illuminated. If possible, purchase a of the subject. While taking macro shots, you
powerful flash that can be attached to your can get that authentic look with some depth of
camera. This is very rare in P&S cameras. field blurring. This has to be done by increasing
The other issue is that without a flash, you your aperture size e.g., f 2.8 or so. Using manual
will have to set the camera to use largest aperture focus if available, you can focus onto one specific
size, the highest ISO number and a manageable region of the object and have the rest blurred.
shutter speed. A longer shutter speed will sadly Zoom is generally a bad idea.
result in very blurry photos which we all dread
the most. If you’re shooting static objects and not Portrait Photos
people, then a tripod is a good investment. A larger aperture size blends better with
portrait photos by giving great soft focus shots.
Camera Care In portrait shots, we generally want the subject
to appear fairly sharp and the background to be
40 DIGIT march 2008
Bazaar Mar_08.qxp 5/13/2008 11:35 AM Page 42
T he Odyssey Internet
Multimedia Keyboard
Mouse is a wired optical
mouse and a multimedia
keyboard combo.
The keyboard has a
standard layout, and the
keys don’t offer good
feedback. It has
multimedia keys to control
your browser and other
multimedia applications,
though funnily, the volume high-end gaming mice, or that has a good feel, but Unfortunately, that’s all it
controls are placed near even USB ones. The mouse not enough feedback when has going for it. Bottom
the directional arrow keys. is sturdy though, and has a scrolling. line? An acceptable
The keyboard comes with a glowing blue scroll wheel The shape of the mouse keyboard but a terrible
detachable palm rest, but is actually pretty mouse.
attaching the palm rest RATINGS comfortable to use, and
takes some doing, while Features bumping the refresh rate
removing it is just Performance to 200 cycles a second Contact: Compuage Infocom Ltd.
downright painful. Build quality improves the performance Phone: +91-9212100193
The mouse is a PS2 Value for Money
a tad. E-mail: info@compuageindia.com
mouse, so tracking is At Rs 400, this keyboard- Web site: www.compuageindia.com
Overall
nowhere as smooth as mouse combo is dirt cheap. Price: Rs 400
Zenith Admirale
The Value Laptop For Office
105.4
100 103.6
102
103
101.9
100.8
equally good fan. There’s no Specifications
91.1
89
86.4
cooling for the memory, 80 GeForce 8800GT, 1GB DDR3,
85
82.6
79.6
78.3
77.1
76.3
74
73
Prey
(1920x1200)
F.E.A.R.
(1280x960)
C.O.H.
(1600x1200)
Prey
(1600x1200)
Phone: 022-67668800
Bundle
E-mail: Media_india@asus.com
Value for Money
Web site: http://in.asus.com/
Overall ASUS 8800GT 1GB Palit 8800GT 512 XFX 8800GTX
Price: Rs 18,900
N ot everyone wants to
play games, and the
performance you can get
To keep it quiet, the CPU
fan has been surrounded by
a thick foam packing. The
layout, though.
In encoding tests and
general synthetic tests on
out of today’s PC is a lot size of the motherboard SiSoft Sandra, results were
more than required for itself is a tad smaller than average. The advantage of
basic office applications the standard Micro-ATX. using a dual-core processor
and movie playback, for Even the hard drive is was obvious as well—it ate
example. AMD believes it’s mounted vertically next to through the 1080p HD
time for cheap and clips that we threw at
quiet low-power PCs to it. This setup isn’t cut
make their mark and out as a gaming PC at
they’ve been pushing all—Doom 3 struggling
hard for it. at just 20fps at 800 x
The DTX system 600 and medium
uses a dual-core settings. The
Athlon X2 BE-2350. performance in Far
The machine that we Cry was a little better at manufacturers. There’s also
tested came with 1 GB 40fps at minimum a growing demand and
of RAM and an settings, but gaming trend in compact form
onboard graphics really isn’t going to be factors as people start
solution. The entire PC its forte. moving their PCs into their
was housed in a As power efficient, living rooms. If AMD is to
compact case with all quiet and cheap market this product as an
the bells and whistles. machine, it has entry level PC or an HTPC, it
No PS2 ports on this everything going for it has everything necessary to
machine, so you will especially when there’s be a possible hit if they
have to use a USB support from a large keep the price around the
keyboard and mouse. number of hardware Rs 10,000 mark.
Easy Snapper!
Western Digital RE2-GP WD1000FYPS
T he Canon PowerShot
SX100 IS is the first ultra-
zoom camera boasting 10x
manual focus, colour swap-
ping, panorama mode and
so on. The 10x optical zoom
performs admirably even in
low ISO settings—we got
excellent photographs even
abroad, ask them to get you
this camera. Going Green Is Costly!
optical zoom in its compact combined with an excellent at 80 ISO. Higher sensitivity Specifications
body. Touted as the perfect
camera in the hands of any
image stabilisation works
wonders taking distance
ISO setting such as ISO 800
and 1600 are completely use-
8 MP, 10X optical zoom, Image
stabilization, 2.5-inch display,
E verything seems to be
about saving the
environment these days,
where the RE2-GP actually
catches up to the Caviar
SE16 is in the SiSoft tests
family member, we found it shots. The flash on this less—grainy images. Manual focus, Scene modes, and Western Digital’s latest with data rates sequential
to be true—the SX100 IS is camera is simply superb—in Working with manual Video capture, SD memory card drive with the GP badge is and random file transfers
simple to use, and delivers fact, the best flash we have focus and macro was fun, (512 MB included) all about green computing. differentiated by just 1 to
superb photographs with seen on any point-and-shoot and it delivered some really GP stands for Green Power, 2MBps. HD-Tach also degrees
minimum tweaking. camera. The SX100 IS uses good shots. The best part Contact: Canon India Pvt Ltd and WD claims these drive recorded similar data C cooler
The SX100 is relatively AA size batteries—on an about SX100 IS is the ease Phone: 1800-345-33-66 are more energy-efficient. transfer rates. In real-world than the
bulky and can only be car- alkaline pair, we got around with which anyone can take E-mail: info@canon.co.in The one we have for review tests where files were others after some
ried around in a pouch—too 120 photographs; using Ni- good photographs. Video Web site: www.canon.co.in is a 1 Terabyte monster. The copied to and from the intensive
large for any pocket. Similar MH, batteries we got 400 capture is excellent. A 20- Price: Rs 19,000 drive has been developed to drive, the RE2-GP fell benchmarks—which is
to other A-series cameras shots—terrific. The down- second video requires 30 give as much performance behind other drives. a lot. It is also very quiet, necessary, it’s something
from Canon, the SX100 has a side to the use of AA bat- MB of space. as possible while keeping The temperatures tell and the sound of the drive you would want to buy—but
plastic body, however it is teries is the flash recycle Priced at Rs 19,000, the power down, by making the entire story, though. itself is drowned out by it’s still is too costly to
well put together and exudes time—painfully long, and PowerShot SX100 IS is cer- optimum use of the cache Just by feeling the drives any fast fans that may be consider for home use.
a built-to-last feel. Instead of becomes noticeable when tainly expensive in and spin speeds of the we were using, it was clear running—such as the
a five way rocker, the SX100 batteries are low. India. At less than drive. WD claims that the the RE2 GP drive was graphics card fan. Specifications
IS has a rotating click wheel Colour rendition is accu- $300 (Rs 12,000) power consumption for the considerably cooler. At The RE2 series isn’t Capacity: 1 TB, 16 MB Buffer,
for browsing the menu— rate and natural. The camera abroad, the drive is 3-4 Watts less than around 40 degrees C, the aimed at the desktop SATA-II Interface, Perpendicular
quite intuitive to use. camera is a steal the others. WD RE2 GP ran some 7 market. The price for the recording
The SX100 IS an 8 RATINGS for the features Considering this is a drive is Rs 17,000, which is
Megapixel camera with 10x Features and performance RAID Edition drive, the RATINGS a whole lot more than a
optical zoom, face detection Performance it offers. If you performance isn’t near the Features standard 1 TB drive. The Contact: Western Digital
and image stabilisation. The Ease of Use have any friends best by any standards. Even Performance performance is above Phone: 9321029204
camera has other features coming from the desktop Caviar SE16 Value for Money average, but if low E-mail: amarjeet.singh@wdc.com
Value for Money
typical to the A series of drives beat it in many Overall temperatures, reliability Web site: www.wdc.com
Overall
cameras—scene modes, places. The only place and low noise emissions are Price: Rs 17,000
Palit N73PV
Aged nForce Powered Entry Level Board
T he Palit N73PV is a
micro-ATX format
LGA775 motherboard for
upgrading that you might
want to do. There are only 2
DIMM slots, which means
Intel processors. It’s based you can’t plug in more than
on the nForce 610i chipset 2 GB of RAM.
and uses the GeForce 7100 The layout of the board
as the graphics solution. It is compact, and there are
has native support or 1333 no major flaws with it. A
MHz processors, so the graphics card with a large
Core 2 Duo E6x50 cooler could render the is no supplied software regular use with an
processors will run adjoining PCI slot useless other than the necessary extremely tight budget.
without the need to flash leaving only 1 slot for drivers for the board.
the BIOS. expansion—a TV tuner card For users who are Specifications
The focus is on being an for example. Luckily, the looking for performance in NVIDIA MCP73PV, Upto 1333
entertainment board—it SATA ports have no such a gaming machine, there MHz FSB, Socket 775, 4 SATA
features a DVI-D port and a issues. The bundle is are cheap P35 based ports, Realtek ALC883 7.1
7.1 channel Realtek HD extremely basic, and there motherboards available Channel Audio, Realtek Gigabit
audio onboard sound card. starting from around Rs network controller
The onboard graphics RATINGS 4,500 which would make a
solution isn’t great, with Features better buy than the Palit
Doom 3 giving frame rates in Performance N73PV. The price for this Contact: Tirupati Enterprises
the 20s on medium settings Bundle
motherboard is a mere Rs Phone: 09339207519
and low resolutions. There 2,950 which makes it ideal E-mail: abhishek@tirupati.net
Value for Money
is a PCI-E 16x slot and two for anyone building a HTPC, Web site: www.palit.biz
standard PCI slots for any Overall or maybe just a PC for Price: Rs 2,950
300
282.7
264
262
250
Intel with their quad core cannot be
220
219
221
aggressive assault by matched with a dual core
215
200
194
releasing the Wolfdale line processor just yet even with
192
175
170
171.17
150
160
133
100
there hasn’t been enough Q6600 shoots ahead in the
action from the AMD rendering and video 50
CoH
1024x768
Far Cry
640x480
Doom 3
640x480
CoH
800x600
Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks
[Ctrl] + [X] that lets you undo the significantly improve your Internet offered, they also offer a 30 day free and detailing them would exceed the
closed tab. This is a free extension and browsing experience. trial—get it on this month’s DVD. available space. Take, for instance, the
can be downloaded from http://tinyurl. In the Registry editor, go to Whenever you open a file in Envelope option (Effects >
com/3yzhlv HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Mi Soundforge, the track is displayed in a Envelope). Envelope is a tool used to
crosoft/Windows/Current series of waves and troughs, resembling make the soft parts sound louder and
Inline Search: This add-on mimics the Version/Explorer/RemoteCompute seismograms. From the graph, you lower the volume of the louder parts.
Old look in the new browser find as you type functionality of Firefox. r/NameSpace/{D6277990-4C6A- could figure out regions with either a You can adjust the volume depending
11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} and high pitch or, say, low bass. on some preset parameters. It is used
regedit. Navigate to delete the key named Printers. That when you need to give different types
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Micr ought to do the trick. Effects of “fade” effects. You have custom
osoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar For opening up to 16 simultaneous You enjoy a particular soundtrack, effects provided, however by using the
\WebBrowser and click on it to view connections with the remote server, but don’t want to hear the applause at graph you can create your own effects.
the contents on the pane. Right click on Now mimic Firefox’s [Ctrl] + [F] and hence pushing your speeds up the start and end of the track? Just open The waveform changes when the
the WebBrowser item and use Select considerably, you need to modify (or the track from the Open menu and hit envelope effect is applied as you can see
> New > DWORD. Name the DWORD Press [Ctrl] + [F], and a toolbar will create, if they don’t exist) two values in the play button. Once you encounter from the screenshots here.
ITBar7Position and hit [Enter]. appear at the bottom of the browser the registry. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_ the regions in the soundtrack where the
Double click on the new value and window. All the instances of your search USER\Software\Microsoft\Windo clapping and whooping takes place, use Hush
assign a value of 00000001. Make it a string are highlighted in the window. ws\CurrentVersion\Internet the cursor to select them and hit the Many audio tracks, which would
hexadecimal value. Close the editor, and There are still some important shortcuts Settings and check these two delete button. On the other hand, if you otherwise sound awesome, remain
restart IE 7 to see this view when you to remember: Esc closes the search pane, DWORD values: want to retain only a particular part of unheard and unappreciated because of
enable the menu bar. [F3] or [Enter] takes you to the next MaxConnectionPer1_0Server and the file, and cut the rest out, go to Edit an unfortunate problem during
occurrence while [Shift] + [F3] or The different colour codes in WOT MaxConnectionsPerServer. Change > Trim/Crop. recording. Now with noise reduction
Printing [Shift] + [Enter] will take you their values to 0000010 and tools available, you don’t need to bury
When you need to print a Web back. This add-on is free. Get it from http://www.mywot.com/en/ download/ie, 00000010 respectively. After doing the your recordings of that baby talk
page and you have to adjust the settings www.ieforge.com/InlineSearch/HomePage check the top right corner of your customary restart you will notice because of honking in the background.
for headers, footers and margins, click browser window. Monitor the colour of increase in browsing speeds. Use the noise reduction tool from
on File > Page Setup. Click on GooglePreviewIE: This add on is a the ring as you keep browsing. In case Tools > Noise Reduction to get rid
Page Setup with the [Alt] key boon for product and image searches. you come across a Website that you Normalizing The Size Of A New of all external noise. There are options
pressed. In the pop up, type in your Also present in Firefox, this toolbar suspect is harmful you can also submit Window such as Noise bias, Attack speed
measurements for the page setup, shows image previews of Web pages the link for potential inclusion into the IE 7 has this annoying behaviour where and Windowing overlap. All these
which are in inches. For changing them when you run a Google search. This is list of malicious sites. clicking on a link in sites causes options reduce the external noise. The
to millimetres, go to Control Panel not an official Google offering like another window to open in the middle best way to edit, for newbies, at least, is
> Region and Language Options. Google Toolbar. Get it from IE’s Compatibility Issues of the screen. Most people maximise by trial and error—tweak around the
You can also change the size settings to http://ackroyd.de/googlepreview/ IE 7 has started to adopt Web this window by clicking on the
A3, A4 and A5 and also choose between standards for rendering HTML elements, Maximize button. However, the next
WOT for IE: in contrast to the previous versions that time you open a link the same
Window title &w With had a plethora of standard-related issues. behaviour is repeated.
URL &u incidences like However, due to an almost 90 per cent There is a simple tweak to get rid of
Date in short format (as specified by Regional and Language Options) &d online fraud share of the browser market, most Web this behaviour. Whenever you open a
Date in long format (as specified by Regional and Language Options) &D and phishing developers had to hack their source code new link in a new window stretch the Options in the edit menu
Time (as specified by Regional and Language Options) &t on the rise, it in “illegal” ways so that their rendering window so that it covers 100 per cent of
Time in 24-hour format &T is very would not be broken. Many sites you will the desktop. Restart IE again and click The Effects menu has additional
Current page number &p important to visit on the WWW have still not updated on the links. You should see the new options to manipulate files. All these
Total number of pages &P know the their code, and will be rendered horribly, window open full size. effects, when used sensibly and
Right-aligned text (following &b) &b reputation of a with fonts and links askew. A registry combined together, can mean the
Centred text (between &b&b) &b&b site hack can allow you to display such sites difference between a professionally This tool provides options for removing
A single ampersand (&) && beforehand.
WOT (Web of
in IE7 with IE6’s default behavior.
Go to Start > Run, type regedit
SOUNDFORGE edited track and an amateur recording.
Each option has several sub options,
external noise
and press [Enter]. Go to oundforge, a proprietary audio sliders and preview the effect each
Portrait and Landscape options. In the
Header and Footer section, there are
some operators such as &w, &b and &p. A
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mi
crosoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Internet Settings\5.0\User
S editing package by Sony, is used by
professionals as well as amateurs to
insert audio effects to sound tracks,
time. When you are satisfied with the
output, hit the OK button.
complete list of the variable is given Agent. Right-click on the white space repair damaged tracks, master and mix Mix And Match
above. These variables can be also and select New > String Value. them and perform encoding tasks. What’s the difference between DJs
combined in the header and footer Name the string Version. Right-click Costing between US$299.95 to and us? They mix music, we don’t.
fields. Finally, use File > Print on the new value and select Modify. US$319.95 (approximately Rs. 12000 to Mixing audio tracks may sound a bit
Preview to view the changes. Insert MSIE 6.0, close the registry Rs. 12800), depending on the packaging This was the waveform before the envelope
editor and restart IE. All sites will now was applied
Add-ons For IE View image previews of search results with be rendered properly.
In our past articles we have talked GooglePreviewIE …and after.
about add-ons for IE 7. Here, we are going Speed Up IE Notice the
to touch on a few nifty ones: Trust) is such an extension that Like Firefox, IE is very slow to load difference in
constantly checks any Website you pages. There are various reasons for the wave-
IE7 Open Last Closed Tab: This is a open, against a community submitted this: the number of simultaneous form
common problem for users of IE 7 who list and displays its appropriate ratings. connections that IE makes with the
savour the Tabbed windows. Clicking This is based on a colour code, with server is limited and it also keeps
on the X and all your open tabs close. green being highly reputed and red searching for network shares and
This add-on will come in handy for being potentially dangerous. After printers. There are some registry
such accidents. It creates a shortcut installing this add-on from tweaks to get around this problem and Soundforge graphically displays music Mixing two or more tracks in Soundforge
Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks
intimidating, but it’s as easy as a copy- result burned on a CD. This can be you can perform other tasks such as
Batch Work
Take Free Flight into the 3D world with Wings3D
track will appear. For further a host of presets to choose from, while In some cases, you might need to
without any renderers. It has a basic choice. Now to set a view, click on View convenience, go to the Windows menu the sliders would enable you to apply the same effects to multiple
Rossi Fernandes default OpenGL-based renderer along > View Along and select the axis you and choose either the Align Horizontally manually adjust settings such as tracks. Such tasks call for the use of the
with it. To render a scene, click on File want to set the camera to. or Align Vertically option that will align selecting the maximum and minimum Batch Converter. Go to Tools > Batch
he entire CG scenario has evolved > Render > OpenGL. To change the all the windows. After you have decided sound levels in decibels. After you are Converter and select the files that
T since the late 90s and world class
results can be achieved from pretty
quality settings click on the block sign
next to OpenGL.
Unwrapping The Model
One of the steps involved in creating a
on the particular sections of the tracks
that will go into your mixed track, use
need you to apply the effects. Select the
effects to be applied, the format in
much anyone’s computer. Open source You can also install custom renderers model is the unwrapping of the model the cursor to select them and paste them which the files are to be saved and
and free 3D modelling tools such as such as Povray. For that you first down- where the object is spread open, by cre- in the empty workspace. Finally, use the finally hit the Run Job in the Status
Blender have closed the gap with com- load and install Povray (www.povray.org). ating cuts on key edges. The unwrapped Mix option to combine the tracks, and window to start the conversion.
mercial software. Today, we look at Install it into the default location. Then you’re done!
Wings3D, which is a 3D modelling soft- in Wings3D, click on File > Render
ware similar to Blender, but easier to > Povray to use this renderer. Replicate
use. You can download it from For some specific purposes, the
http://www.wings3d.com or get it from Object Management Replicator function is another nifty tool.
our DVD in this month’s issue. There Wings3D, like If you need to extract a specific portion
are Windows, Linux and Mac versions any other 3D of audio, say about 10 seconds from a 5
of Wings3D. modelling minute clip the Replicator is precisely The waveform before using the volume
software has a the tool you need. Or say you need to control function
Handling The Viewport Easily Objects can be hidden or resource man- replace certain sections of the audio with
The biggest issue when you’re so com- locked and also put into ager, which repetitive sounds. Copy the audio that
fortable with commercial software wireframe mode using the gives a single- you need to replicate, and go to Edit >
such as 3ds Max or Maya is that a tran- object manager—Geometry window view The unwrapped model can be used to create Paste Special > Replicate. Select Different formats available for saving
sition to completely different software, Graph of all the a texture in an image editing software either Copy Partials, if you want to
be it free or paid, becomes very objects in a fill the selected region completely with Conclusion
annoying. One of the most significant scene with decent control. The model is used to create a texture for it. effects. Whole Copies option means that Soundforge is among the best sound
changes is that you need to get used to Geometry Graph in Wings3D does There are many ways to unwrap a only an integral number of replications editing software out there. Even though
be the way you handle the viewport just that. Click on Window > model, and it depends on the way the will occur. it is incredibly complex, it can be used
and manoeuvre the camera. By default, Geometry Graph. You will see a small model structure has been made. from the absolute amateur to the
Wings3D sets the mouse controls to window all the objects listed. There are First, select the faces you want to polished professional. You need to
invert which makes working on three tiny icons to the right of each unwrap by selecting the face mode and practice a lot in order to master sound
Wings3D even more confusing than object. The eye icon is used to hide or clicking on multiple adjoining faces. editing. However, with tools such as
some others. unhide the object. The lock icon locks Right click and then select UV Volume control effectively adjusting the Soundforge and slight added effort, you
Click on Edit > Preferences or unlocks the object being interacted Mapping > Direct. In the window sound levels no longer have to run to an audio
and go to the Camera tab. Click the with, while the last icon toggles the that opens, once again select the faces Selecting the section to be replicated parlour for your home-made videos
dropdown for the Camera mode and wireframe view for the object. and right-click, choose Continue > done, click OK and you have the perfect and audio.
select 3ds Max if you are comfortable Unfolding. Throughout these steps, track—nice and tidy within the limits
using it. Click OK. Now you can use Customising Views you can choose different kinds of map- you’ve specified.
3ds Max’s keyboard and mouse config- Another obstacle with Wings3D is the ping to unwrap the model. Your selec-
Mono Sound
WINDOWS VISTA
uration to handle the scene. You can lack of side views from different axes. tion will now be unwrapped. ere is another round of Vista tips,
also choose from any other software
in the list.
Instead of those views, you just have one
big perspective view window. Wings3D
allows you to create as many windows as
To export the unwrapped model,
right click in the UV Mapping window
and click on Create Texture. Click on
The final effect
While stereophonic sound is all
well and good, sometimes you might
need to know how your fantabulous
H served piping hot. As usual,
backup your registry before trying
any of the registry hacks.
Using Third-party Renderers you need. You can resize a window by Window > Outliner, to enable the track sounds in the Mono mode. This is
Contrary to popular belief, Wings3D is clicking and dragging the right bottom Outliner window. In the outliner, look Burning needed in certain applications, Defrag Faster
not a plain modelling software, tip of the window. Each one of these win- for the map with the outline, right click Sometimes you need a reference especially broadcasting where there are We have talked about the
dows can be set to an axis. First, create a on it and click on Make External. CD for a quick sampling of how your plenty of TVs and radios running on importance of defragmenting your hard
new window by clicking on Window > When prompted, enter a name for the final effect sounds. A third-party CD mono speakers. The stereo sounds can be drive earlier, but the fact remains that
New Geometry Window. Drag and drop image you want to export. Click Save. burning tool such as Nero can be quite changed to mono by using the Process defragmentation takes up too much
the window to the location of your Once you’re done with creating a inconvenient for a quick burn. Go to > Channel Converter option. Apart time. However, a free tool bundle is
texture in a different application, you Tools > Burn Track-at-Once from converting from stereo to mono,
need to import the image by clicking on Audio CD and select the options like
File > Import Image. Choose the burning speed. The Track-at-Once is
image and click Open. You can see all similar to a multi-session disc, where
imported images here. You can even drag more tracks can be added later.
and drop images into the UV Window.
Finally, it may be a bit difficult and Limit Yourself
needs a different approach to get used When you are mastering or editing
to, but there’s no denying that in the a digital soundtrack, you need to take
end, you can get the same results model- care of distortions. It might not sound
ling in Wings3D that you expect from a very bad when you are wielding the
Customised renderers can be used with Additional views can be added and positioned suite costing several thousands! scissors, but it will sound chalk-
Wings3D within the Wings3D window rossi.fernandes@thinkdigit.com scratching-the-blackboard bad if you
don’t pay attention and get the final Channel converter presets Options for defragmenting
Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks
going to change that sad story. click on Start > Properties > short on system memory and want to
Download Power Defragmenter from Start Menu and click on the use a flash drive. However, no software is
F
L Studio (formerly Fruity Loops) instead. Hold down the middle click section of the window can be used to software and you’ve created a basic close the window and you will
is an audio creation tool that button and move the mouse to navi- change the volume of the beats—so tune, you can also record small clips find the newly added folder in
works by creating sequence of gate through the playlist window. every individual beat has its own in real time. We’ll try using the the browser. Like other tracks,
sounds. It’s been around for years intensity. To further customise beats, scratching feature in FL Studio as an left click and drag your clips to
now, and generally gives the impres- Creating Loops Using Step Sequencer click on the Graph Editor icon on the example. Before we start the record- the step sequencer. Keep in mind
sion that music creation is easy. A step sequence is to be created, right top of the Step Sequencer ing itself, we first load the scratcher, that large MP3s will hog up the
Sure, anyone can randomly go about because in the end, your entire track window. Use the scrollbar to switch to and click the Record button next to system resources and signifi-
clicking to add beats and get a will be made up of many such steps. a different property. the playback buttons. If you click the cantly slow down FL Studio.
respectable sound, there are a few There are a few things that can be 321 icon on the same toolbar, you FL Studio also has a very
features and steps that need to be done in the Step Sequencer. The Using Scratching And The Mixer will be given a countdown before versatile inbuilt audio editing
understood first. An interesting feature to use in FL recording starts. Click the Playback plugin called Edison that can be
Studio is the Fruity Scratcher, which button to start the recording itself. enabled by clicking on the Open
Creating A Suitable Base Project allows you to create the same sounds All your loops and tunes will play as New Audio Editor icon on the
By default, an empty file is created that you hear from DJs scratching usual—if you want the recording to top toolbar. This is useful to
when you start, but you can create a discs. To add a scratcher to Fruity loop, then click the Loop record / create your own samples.
new project based on a few bundled Enable Overdub icon in the main
templates. Some of these templates toolbar. Tweaking FL Studio Completed tracks can be exported as MP3s and
are set for certain genres of music or Fruity Loops might seem opti- other formats without any problems
types of tasks such as surround sound The loop step sequencer is one of the most mised when you’re working on driver itself, you can then set a
panning and recording. Go to File > basic, but vital, starting points for a song a few channels, but it becomes a buffer length to it. A shorter buffer
New from template and select a
length will reduce latency, but will
template that best suits your plan. length of a step can be increased in
hit performance. If your sound is
a similar manner to the tempo of
already stuttering, you should try
Set The Tempo the track. On the top left of the Step
increasing the buffer length.
The tempo for the track is the speed Sequencer window, click on the
at which your track plays. Most empty text box and drag it up to
newcomers will leave the tempo— increase the number of beats per Exporting The Final Result
which is denoted in beats per bar. You can now put in more steps Encode.tif—Completed tracks can be
minute—at the default value. It per beat. Here again, you can drag exported as MP3s and other formats
should be set to suit the style of the and drop new effects from the without any dramas
track you’re composing. browser. The view can be filtered to When you feel your track is
The tempo value can be changed show just drum beats or recorded ready, and it’s time to export—go to
by clicking on the BPM value next to sounds—use the drop-down menu at File > Save As or File >
the playback buttons. Click and drag the bottom left of the Step Downloaded or custom made audio samples Fruity Loops can be unforgivable if loaded Export > MP3 File. Select the
the mouse cursor upwards or down- Sequencer window to do this. To can be added to the Fruity Loops library with too many tracks—so tweaking is format, and if you choose MP3, you
wards, to change the value. You can make any changes to the properties necessary can choose from quality settings
also enable a metronome to get the of a channel, click on the channel Your very own personal turntable for disc Adding Audio Samples To the library such as bit rate and depth of the
idea of the tempo by clicking the name and a new window should scratching in Fruity Loops FL Studio has loads of audio presets completely different beast when you song. The approximate resulting file
Metronome icon from the toolbar at open which lets you do that. and sounds that will keep you busy go large-scale. It then becomes neces- size is also displayed, so you are free
the top. Loops, click on the View Mixer icon for a very long time. When things do sary to make a few adjustments to to make any changes. Click Start to
Using the Piano Roll on the right of the upper toolbar. turn a little dull, you can also choose the audio settings to optimise the start the encoding process.
Adding Items To The Playlist The Piano Roll feature allows you to Click the drop-down there and go to to use downloaded or self-created program a bit. Go to Options > That’s it, then! It is pretty obvious
The playlist is one of the most impor- give each note a characteristic sound— Select > Fruity Scratcher. Load Audio Settings. that there’s a lot of that can be done
tant windows and is centric to FL you can set the velocity at which the a music file using the folder icon on If you haven’t with FL Studio, but it’s only a matter
Studio. It contains the entire track, notes are hit and make very minute the left. When that’s done, click Play made use of ASIO of messing around in the software to
and is where all the loops and and accurate notes on the sheet. and you can click and drag the yet, enable it by know the best ones.
patterns come together to create a mouse over the disc on top or the selecting it from
proper song. Most people end up status bar below. There are controls the dropdown Shortcuts For FL Studio
creating a random loop and adding on this window for the speed and menu for Output. Some helpful keyboard shortcuts
sounds and effects to it, but audio sensitivity of the turntable. ASIO4ALL is a that’ll make working with FL Studio
tracks can be added to the playlist as The Fruity Loop Mixer is a feature driver, which much easier:
well. This is useful in places where that allows you to plug in multiple gives very good Toggle Step Sequencer — [F6]
you want to add vocals to your track. processors and generators in a loop. latency on most Toggle Mixer — [F9]
Like image or video editing software, The Fruity Loops Scratcher is one sound cards—it is Send to Piano roll — Alt] + [P]
multiple tracks and effects can be such add-on. Similarly, you can add installed along Toggle Piano Roll — [F7]
arranged in layers. The lower section many other plugins in a chain. The with FL Studio. Toggle recording countdown —
of the playlist window is where these volume for each plugin can be Changing the [Ctrl] + [P]
recorded sounds can be added. The controlled individually as well. sampling rate Next pattern — [+]
browser tab on the left contains all Instruments and items can be using the drop- Previous pattern — [-]
the sounds and tools that can be used excluded from being affected by the down menu can Solo step—[Ctrl] + [1] to [0]
to create tracks—simply drag and drop The Piano Roll feature allows accurate added plugins, if required. The Fruity also help. If you
sounds from there on to the playlist. notes and beat plotting Loops Mixer is a great way to make Edison is an audio editor built into Fruity Loops choose the sound rossi.fernandes@thinkdigit.com
Dream Come True The ASUS EN8600GT costs around Rs 7,000, and
I have put together my dream gaming rig after is terrific for the price.
T
his is for the reader who e-mailed me Here’s my Ultimate Value PC: Anonymous
recently—he was finally building his first Component Model No Price to the screen I’m using. Please suggest the one with
PC after a number of years of reading Digit. CPU + Intel E2140 (1.6 GHz) + Intel Rs 5,350 the best performance in the 20 to 22-inch size cat- For Rs 12,000, you can swing a sweet deal—
He had a very modest budget, and wanted some- Motherboard D945G egory. My budget is Rs 15,000 to 16,000. Also, com- an 8800GT-based card which will satisfy
thing that would work—allow him to use MS RAM 1 GB Transcend Value DDR2 667 Rs 850 ment on the above configuration and suggest any all your gaming needs. A whole lot cheaper is the
Office, and run Windows XP. I decided to build HDD Seagate ST380815AS 80GB SATA Rs 1,500 improvements. 8600GT (Rs 7,000) chipset but this is also around
a good PC from scratch, for those on a very tight Monitor LG E500 15” CRT Rs 3,000 Reuben “Re. J” James 250 per cent slower. Creative’s EP630 are in-ear
budget. At the same time, I want some sort of Keyboard + Logitech multimedia combo with Rs 550 plugs available for Rs 900 and deliver out-
Mouse optical mouse
future-proofing—after all, we all know how most Firstly, your system is very good, and a standing sound for the price. Among the larger
Cabinet Zebronics Krish Rs 950
users expand their applications for the PC after Power Supply Adcom 450 watts Rs 700
true gaming rig—congrats! Secondly, I circum-aural sets, the Sennheiser HD201 is avail-
a few months of use. Optical Drive Liteon LH20-A1H 20x DVD Writer Rs 1,350 suggest a 22-inch monitor for that budget. Look able for around Rs 1,400.
I took a trip to Lamington Road last week to Speakers Creative Inspire 245 2.0 Rs 750 at Dell’s E228WFP or BenQ’s FP222W—two of the
check what I could come up with. I was surprised Grand Total Rs 15,000 better panels I’ve come across. If you must go 20-
to find single-core processors totally out of stock inch then the Dell SP2008WFP is a very good buy. Finally!
with most vendors. Dual-cores have well and truly I have saved a little bit, and finally want to go
gone mainstream, with the best deals being right? A multimedia keyboard and optical for the long-pending dream—my own desktop
combo packs. I was faced with two options—the mouse from Logitech was available for Rs 550— Reviving An Ancient Rig PC. My budget is about Rs 40,000 (keeping away Rs
Intel E2140 processor and Intel D945G mother- sweet! Next, I went cabinet shopping. I saw a few I want to buy a new motherboard which supports 5,000 for Windows Vista). This includes everything,
board is available for Rs 5,350, while AMD’s 4000+ cabinets from the likes of iBall, Zebronics, VIP an old 478-pin Intel Pentium 4 processor, and 512 literally (what I mean is, the motherboard, processor,
CPU is available on a Jetway GeForce 6100 for and Intex, but didn’t like any of the designs. MB DDR RAM at 333 MHz. I also want a 256 MB graphics graphics card, DVD writer, cabinet, monitor, mouse,
Rs 100 more. Both processors have comparable After browsing a couple of catalogues at a few card and an SMPS (for gaming) in same budget even if keyboard, SMPS, UPS, speakers). My main purpose
performance, but the AMD 4000+ is a little snap- vendors, I came across a value series cabinet the performance increment is mediocre. Help! would be movies and games. Although I know the
pier than the E2140, which is a severely cut down from Zebronics called Krish—a neat-looking box Sumit Lal budget does not suffice for the aforementioned,
Allendale core (Core 2 family). I went for Intel, decked in black with cooling features like a PCIe please suggest whatever you can. I want to play Far
mainly because the E2140 (1.6 GHz stock) is a vent and CAG duct. Best of all expansion, is good An upgrade would still leave you well Cry, Prince of Persia—The Two Thrones, etc. But, if
very cool product, and overclocks very, very well, with three external 5.25-inch bays; at Rs 950, this behind the hardware curve, and enjoying somehow Crysis runs on it, I’ll be thrilled!
and runs very cool at stock. The 945G comes was a must-buy. most year-old games would be well beyond your After taking into consideration the Zero1
with onboard graphics—a boon for a value PC For the power supply, I couldn’t find any- setup. DDR memory is still available, but the price Awards I have zeroed on the following:
that doesn’t require a graphics card. There is an thing decent below Rs 1,000 till I came across a would be around double the price of DDR2 1) Hard Drive—Western Digital Caviar SE16
x16 PCIe slot for future upgrades, however, as 450-watt Adcom power supply for Rs 700. I’ve had memory, simply because nobody is manufacturing WD3200AAKS 320 GB
well as two PCI slots. For as little as Rs 700, I good experiences with Adcom power supplies in DDR anymore. Assuming your motherboard even 2) Graphics Card—ASUS EN8600GT
could get myself 1 GB of generic DDR2 667 MHz the past—one of my old download rigs used has an AGP slot you’re out of luck, unless you Please, don’t tell me to expand my budget
RAM; Transcend’s 667 MHz value RAM comes for Adcom power for over three years. manage to find an older GeForce FX5200/5500 or much. The reason is simple, I can’t. Also, I can wait
Rs 850. I was thinking 512 MB for price reasons— My DVD writer (yes, budget PCs get to burn a 6200 graphics card. What I suggest is a complete for another month or two if necessary. So, if there
Transcend (667 MHz) was priced at Rs 500, but I DVDs too) was a Liteon LH20-A1H, a 20X burner— upgrade after some saving up. Invest in a DDR2- is a probable price slash looming ahead…
decided not to be too skimpy and went with the very reliable, very cheap, and just Rs 1,350. My based rig and a Core 2 Duo processor and you’ll be Koustav Bhattacharya
1 GB. For a hard drive, I decided to go with last remaining component was a set of speakers; well set for another two years or so. You’ll also have
80 GB, since basic browsing and I decided on a non-woofer setup, a plethora of powerful and affordable PCIe Rs 40,000 is a good budget, although
office work will rarely since speakers can always be graphics cards to choose from. keeping in mind you also want to buy
require significant space. upgraded if better music perform- Vista you’ll have just 35,000. Why not keep your
Seagate’s ST380815AS 80 ance is needed later. Creative’s hardware budget at Rs 40,000?
GB, 7200 rpm SATA drive is Inspire 245 is a gorgeous looker, and Beyond Onboard The ASUS EN8600GT is a very good card, and
priced at Rs 1,500 and at Rs 750, a good deal. Hi, I have an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ you can’t go wrong there. For the hard drive, I rec-
comes with a three Finally, after six hours and three Processor with an MSI K9N6GM (NVIDIA ommend the new Seagate 250 GB 7200.10 series,
year warranty, with shops, I’ve got a PC that will happily GeForce 6100) motherboard, 2 GB of DDR2 800 Mhz which is a single-platter drive and costs Rs 2,800
doorstep replace- run all essential applications, and RAM and Windows Vista Home Premium. I am not now. It’s a superb buy and is blazingly fast, too.
ment—hassle free. will even allow moderate multi- satisfied with the graphics performance. I can’t run
With my core media usage—all for just Rs 15,000! games like NFS Pro Street or Call Of Duty 4. Can Ask Away! Agent 001’s Recommendation Price
components chosen, A genuine copy of Windows XP you please recommend a good NVIDIA GeForce Processor Core 2 Duo E6550 Rs 6,400
Want a tech product, but
I was at a loss Home OEM costs Rs 3,900. I recom- graphics card? My budget is Rs 4,000 to 5,000. Motherboard Galaxy 650i LT Rs 4,800
don’t know how to go
deciding between a mend an original copy for the tech sup- Sumith Mohan RAM 2 x 1 GB Transcend DDR2 667 Rs 2,200
about buying it? E-mail
CRT and an LCD. Cheap port you can avail of if things go wrong. agent001@thinkdigit.com Graphics Card ASUS EN8600GT Rs 7,000
LCDs aren’t very clear, and a Instead of shelling out for more software, I suggest you save up a bit more and with your complete HDD Seagate 7200.10 250 GB—single Rs 2,800
value CRT is a much better option. I you can find free essential software like invest in an 8600GT-based card—its per- contact details, and he platter disk
chose a 15-inch LG 500E, which after Avast! Antivirus on our CDs every month. formance far surpasses the 8400GS and 8500GT might answer them here! Monitor Dell E198WFP 19” LCD Rs 11,000
bargaining a bit came for Rs 3,000. It’s a agent001@thinkdigit.com chipsets which are priced around your budget. Please note that Keyboard + mouse Logitech Rs 500
nice screen, and better than a lot of the The 8600GT is a real mid-range offering, unlike Agent001 only answers Cabinet Zebronics / VIP Rs 2,000
purchase-related SMPS VIP 500W Rs 2,000
cheaper CRTs around—just because you’re on Chaitanya Surpur Want more of Agent 001? Turn over to read his the 8400GS and 8500GT which are meant more questions in this space. Total Rs 38,700
a budget doesn’t mean your eyes should suffer, answers to your buying questions for powerful HTPCs rather than gaming setups.
Memory Matters
So how does Flash Memory really work?
legacy SLC devices. Such devices are already in
the market, and though they cost more than
Bhaskar Sarma SLC ones, research is on to cut costs and make
them more available.
M
ost of you know that the most compact Unfortunately, the laws of physics set a limit
memory type is called Flash memory. on the amount of miniaturisation possible—too
Currently, Flash memory is most popu- much, and leakage of electrons causes data loss.
larly available as USB drives, cell phone or cam- Multi-level cells are created by stacking two
era memory, portable media players (PMPs), “dies” of the same size, hence doubling the
handheld consoles, and even laptops—basically capacity. This is the type of memory used in
anything that’s built to be portable. There’s even iPods. However, though MLCs double the capac-
talk of Flash replacing the bulky and power-hun- ity, they also reduce access speeds.
gry hard drives that have been around for ages.
Flash too, is not very young, and was invented by NAND vs NOR
Dr Fujio Masuoka in 1964, while he was working NAND and NOR flash drives have considerable
for Toshiba. differences. Those with NOR gates provide high
speed and random access to data. This means that
Gates And Stacks data can be read and written to any location in
At the most basic, microscopic level, flash the memory without having to access the memory
memory is composed of an array of floating gate transistors blocks sequentially. The minimum information that can be
called cells. These cells are of two types: NAND (Not AND) retrieved from a NOR flash is 1 byte. This makes NOR suitable
and NOR (Not OR). The cells are also classified in two ways for use in BIOS chips and for storing mobile phone firmware,
depending on how they store data—binary 0s and 1s: SLC where high-speeds and minute data transfers take place.
(single level cells), which are older, can store only one bit at NAND, on the other hand stores and retrieves data sequen-
a time, while MLC (multi level cells) store more than one bit tially, one block at a time. It also has a fixed lower limit below
per cell by varying the electrical charge. Obviously, MLC which it cannot transfer data. This data is usually what resides
devices will be able to store more data per unit area than the in an individual block, also known as pages. NAND flash mem-
ory is used for data storage and can be found in external hard
drives, pen drives, memory cards and the like. NAND drives
typically have higher capacities, and are cheaper.
Formats
For use as a data storage medium, NAND flash comes in
several formats. The oldest is SmartMedia, with other newer
standards like MultiMediaCard and CompactFlash.
MultiMediaCard (MMC) has a new avatar in the form of the
Secure Digital format, which itself has several component
formats such as SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity).
MicroSDHC, microSD and miniSDHC. Most of these cards are
used in consumer electronic devices such as cameras and
mobile phones. Besides, there are several proprietary stan-
A flash cell is made up of two transistors separated by a thin dards like Memory Stick (Sony) and xD Picture Card (Olympus,
Fujifilm) that are used in products made by specific manu-
oxide layer. These transistors, either NAND or NOR, are called
facturers. A newer standard, UFS (Universal Flash Storage) is
floating gates and control gates. A floating gate is connected to being developed by a consortium for release in 2009, and
the array by a link called the wordline, which passes through will be backward-compatible with present formats.
the control gate, as shown in the figure. When the link is con-
nected, the value of the cell is 1, which is the default state. To New Hope
change the value to 0, a process called tunnelling is used. The Manufacturers are aggressively working to increase data
process is simple—apply enough charge to reverse the direction densities and reduce costs. A 3D flash technology is being
of flow of electrons. Data is erased when a voltage of about 12 developed that inserts silicon columns between layers,
to 15V is applied to the blocks. When the charge of a block is instead of trying to stack multiple layers. Although not
over 50 per cent of this value the bit state is 1; less than 50 per immediately available on the shelves, you can hope to see
cent means the bit state is 0. such flash cards and devices in a year or two.
bhaskar.sarma@thinkdigit.com
68 DIGIT march 2008
Alist mar 08.qxd 5/13/2008 11:33 AM Page 70
Internal SATA Hard Drives Internal SATA Hard Drives Digital Cameras Graphics Cards AMD AM2 Motherboards Intel Integrated Graphics Mono Laser Printers
WD Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS WD Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS (High-End) (Mid-range) Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H Motherboards HP LaserJet 1020
Fast transfer speeds Canon PowerShot A570 IS ASUS EN8600GT Gigabyte GA-G33-DS3R Good combination of speed,
Value for money,
None in particular Good overall performance Well priced, fast Well built, feature rich print quality, and warranty
performance None in particular
None in particular Lacking in macro None in particular Very good layout A bit slow in comparison to
Contact Champion Computers performance Contact Asus Technology Pvt Ltd
Pvt Ltd Phone +91-22-67668800 Contact Gigabyte Tech India Ltd
Expensive others
Contact Champion Computers Contact Canon India Pvt Ltd
Pvt Ltd Phone +91-11-26214751 Web site http://in.asus.com Phone +91-22-30616666 Contact Hewlett-Packard India
Phone 1800-345-3366 Contact Gigabyte Tech India Ltd
Phone +91-11-26214751 Web site www.championindia.com Price Rs 8,800 E-mail sales@gigabyte.in Sales Pvt Ltd
E-mail info@canon.co.in Phone +91-22-30616666
Web site www.championindia.com Price Rs 7,500 Price Rs 6,900 Phone +91-124-2566111
Price Rs 13,995 E-mail sales@gigabyte.in
Price Rs 4,500 Price Rs 9,500 E-mail kakuni.mahto@hp.com
Price Rs 6,999
Wi-Fi Access Points MP3 Players up to Rs 5,000 Processors LCD Monitors (19-inch) Multimedia Cell Phone Business Device Office Inkjet MFDs Mice
Linksys WAP54G Apacer Steno A4351 Intel QX6850 Core 2 Extreme AOC 197S above 20,000 Nokia Communicator E90 HP Photosmart C4188 All-in- Logitech MX Revolution
Great performance Good performence Extreme performance Good looks and performance Nokia N95 8 GB Extremely powerful One Has a flywheel
None in particular Tacky build, Screen quality Expensive Gloss finish catches smudges Great all round performance Heavy, bulky Good print quality Expensive
Contact Intel Tech India Pvt Ltd Contact AOC India
Slightly bulky No fax
Contact Ingram Micro India Pvt Ltd Contact Apacer Technology Contact Nokia India Contact Logitech Electronic
Phone +91-9833823474 Phone 1800-425-4318
Phone +91-9323112279 Phone +91-80-25702208 Contact Nokia India Web site: www.nokia.com Contact HP India Sales Pvt. India Pvt Ltd
E-mail saranya.rustagi@intel.com E-mail info@in.aocmonitor.com
E-mail sunil.z@ingrammicro.co.in E-mail suraj_raina@apacer.com Web site www.nokia.com Price Rs 40,499 Ltd. Phone +91-22-26571160
Price Rs 52,000 Price Rs 12,000
Price Rs 3,816 Price Rs 1,720 Price Rs 28,000 Phone +91-124-2566111 E-mail response@logitech.com
E-mail kakuni.mahto@hp.com Price Rs 8,000
Price Rs 7,999
5.1 Speaker Sets MP3 Players up to Rs 10,000 Projectors Performance Laptops
Artis S6600R/FM Acer PD726W PC Webcams HP DV6226tx
Samsung T10
Good performance, radio Great overall performance Logitech QuickCam IM Funky Looker, features
Good music quality, nice
None in particular Lacks remote sensor at rear Strong performer Needs better graphics
screen
Contact Kunhar Peripherals Pvt Ltd Tacky exterior Manual focus Contact Hewlett-Packard India
Contact Acer India Pvt Ltd
Phone +91-22-66345758 Phone +91-124-2838700
Contact Samsung India Ltd Phone +91-9880544226 Contact Compuage Infocom Ltd
E-mail mail@kunhar.com E-mail tapoti-t.tipnis@hp.com
Phone +91-11-41511234 E-mail alankar_s@acer.co.in Phone +91-22-65297356
Price Rs 8,500 Price Rs 56,990
E-mail jitendra.c@samsung.com Price Rs 1,35,000 E-mail india_getcreative
Price Rs 6,600 @ctl.creative.com
LCD Monitors (17-inch) Price Rs 1,995
AOC 177V
Good performance
None in particular Value Executive Phone
Below Rs 12,500
Contact AOC India Sony-Ericsson W910i Nokia E51
Phone 1800-425-4318 Great sound Loads of features
E-mail info@in.aocmonitor.com Flat and clumsy keypad None
Price Rs 9,800 Contact Sony Ericsson Mobile Contact Nokia India
Comm. India Pvt Ltd Web site www.nokia.com
Web site www.sonyericsson.com Price Rs 13,000
Price Rs 19,000
71
Tools-3 Incredibly-March_08.qxp 5/13/2008 11:28 AM Page 72
Shortcuts To Geekdom
Samir Makwana
Enhance your keyboard wizardry, and know what’s really going on behind the scenes in Windows
www.keyxl.com www.processlibrary.com
W
hen an OS takes ages to load, hangs, and eventually dies, it’s
U
sing a GUI without a mouse might seem insane at first,
but you see these people around you every now and time to take a peek into system processes. Many simultaneous
then, the types who seem unaware that there’s a processes run silently on your computer. It’s generally not
mouse by the side of the keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts save possible for you to know what a process (say, “lsass.exe”) does—the
time—precious seconds of your day, to be precise—but more Task Manager doesn’t
importantly, it’s one more fun skill to show off, and it saves state anything about it!
you from moving your hand between the two devices. ProcessLibrary.com is
recommended for when
you find yourself in such
a situation.
ProcessLibrary is a
comprehensive online
database and reference
source about system
processes along with spy- Process library is, well, a library of processes
ware and Trojan threats,
and it’s all explained in simple English. You can get to know about the
nature and purpose of the processes that should run on the system,
and which ones are unwanted or suspicious and should be terminated.
The Library tab shows a list of processes, information about each of
which is available on the site. When you narrow it down to a particular
process, say svhost.exe or AlrtIntl.dll, you’ll have an explanation about the
process and its path detail, as well as the level of threat it carries—you can
check the Security Risk (Spyware, Virus, or Trojan) associated with the
You can find 3D objects for free download, and much more! process .exe or .dll. On the same page, you’ll see a box on Removal &
Security, which offers you the options to perform a free scan. Also, using
KeyXL has the largest database (believe it till we dis- that software, you can “boost”—as in fix—the process you’re looking up.
cover otherwise!) of keyboard shortcuts—you’ll find short-
cuts for Windows, Linux, Mac, and popular Web
applications. Even the latest software—like Photoshop
CS3—figure, and there’s a short description with each www.docstoc.com
shortcut. As a matter of fact, you can learn complicated
software more quickly once you know, memorise, and
practise the keyboard shortcuts. The ever-useful search
field is there on the main page, and you can search for
shortcuts for various software.
Shortcut lists for different programs are constantly
being added, and you can submit your own list(s), too.
I
f you need to make, say, a budget plan or a consulting
agreement, the first step would be to visit docstoc.com
to find the right starting document. The site is an online
document sharing community where you can post, view,
download, comment upon, and rate thousands of docu- Docstoc is your one-stop doc shop
ments, searchable category-wise (registration is required
to comment or rate). The tabs you’ll see are Legal, Business, There are also educational documents like research papers,
Financial, Technology, Educational, and Creative. term papers, and other study material for students as well as
The document collection here can be classified into three teachers. Creative and user-created material like Learn Japanese
broad categories—Business / Legal, Educational, and other (in English), various user guides, tips & tricks, tutorials, scripts, e-
user-generated material. Business / legal templates and docu- books, articles, etc. also figure in the document database.
ments can be reused after modification. Take a look around; it’s a great collection! You’ll find documents
As an example of the broad variety of documents available, if ranging from Asset Purchase and Sale Agreement to Configure DNS
you’re looking for a specific legal document, the Legal tab brings up in Linux to How to control your brain at will. They’re categorised,
several sub-categories: Contracts, Employment, Family, Forms, but there’s a virtually unlimited range of documents available. We
Incorporations, IP, Real Estate Agreement, Wills & Trusts, and more. really can’t go into more detail—this site is a must-visit!
Digital
Business
How Technology Can Help Your Organisation
76 Handle with Care 80 Get Self-published
Smart Business
EXL PR/NANOPOINT_AD_FEB_ISSUE_08
Business Lead Feature-March 08.qxd 5/13/2008 10:56 AM Page 76
andle
an Orkut that could result in your losing it.
Responsible Behaviour
With that freedom—to paraphrase the Indian We’d guess you don’t want your boss to see this
Constitution—comes responsibility. And for a
change, this responsibility is not towards socie-
Care
ty or the country—it’s towards you. In the lais- First impressions slaving over your profile and leaving it to be
sez faire world of social networking, it’s almost seen by three friends. But there is a downside
W
hat do most of us do when we fire up people from all over the world these Web sites like they have been spewed by a chat bot. profile and posted a few NSFW (Not Safe For
our browsers first thing in the are the online equivalent of the office water- Choices are yours—the sky is the limit. You Work) photos, be assured that someone will
morning? Chances are, apart from cooler. Most of them offer features like writing might even become an Internet celebrity based still be able to access it even after you became
checking e-mail, we log in to social networking short messages to friends, uploading pictures on a YouTube video: a case in point is respectable and deleted them.
sites to check up on friends and acquaintances. and videos and projecting a unique identity by Lonelygirl15, a “teenager” who posted a series Since it is always better to show than talk,
This trend is more noticeable with the current customising profiles. Still other sites focus of videos where she talks about her lonely life, we fired up Spock. Here you can search for per-
generation of professionals, many of whom exclusively on sharing photos and videos, and and which were followed by millions of people sons by name and/or e-mail ID, while more
believe that e-mail is so last century. If you are thereby aim at creating a community. In fact, as avidly as they would follow a blockbuster TV advanced search options let you narrow down
in the age group of 15-30, when was the we’ve covered these sites exhaustively in our show. That she was later revealed to be an the search by age, sex, location, tags and picture.
last time you had e-mailed a colleague Fast Track To The Social Web. What we haven’t actress and those videos were professionally We entered a few sufficiently generic names—
shot is another matter. we won’t mention the—and entered the tag
The point is that people can draw erro- “sex”. A second later, the whole page was full of
neous conclusions based on your online pres- profiles where the “sex” word was either in a TV
ence—they say that on the Internet, a dog could show or in the name of a movie or a book they
be a man, and nobody would know. The reverse recently saw or read. Later in the page, we hit
is also unfortunately true. The Web is a biased paydirt: people who’ve put “likes sex” (along
judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one. with books, movies and what not) on their pro-
For example, not so long ago the gruesome pic- files. Oops! While we won’t be judgemental, and
tures of Nicole Castouras, a young girl killed wish them the best of luck, we can bet that when
in a high speed crash were leaked by officers of any of them walks into a room with a Web 2.0-
the California Highway Patrol. Those pictures savvy interviever, their applications will be
eventually appeared in more than 1600 Web looked at with at least one raised eyebrow.
sites and made life hell for the Castouras
family, who had to repeatedly endure the sick Employees In Sights
photographs of their daughter’s decapitated That’s actually sad, because many of them
body posted on these sites and also mailed to might have made those profiles just for fun.
them, some accompanied by comments which But first impressions are incredibly hard to
insinuated that she got what she deserved. dispel and such keywords always raise warning
flags in minds of prospective employers and
Many A Slip partners. Videos and photographs can also get
It doesn’t take gruesome accident pictures to out of hand pretty fast and become viral. While
ruin your reputation and peace of mind. Your job oriented Web sites allow candidates to post
Orkut profile is just as effective. Think about it: video resumes of themselves, putting irrele-
while you are in the race to impress your peers vant material there would risk your present
by snagging the most number of female friends and future job prospects, especially if it
and updating fake photos which show you off showed off your tap dancing skills with a half
as über-cool, there are some other people out naked partner, and if it ever got popular on
there that would possibly take a dim view of YouTube. As a candidate, we always research
this whole scenario. One group is your family; prospective employers, looking not only at
another group is potential and present financial reports but also how good the work
employers. For the purpose of this article, let’s environment is. It stands to reason that
focus on the latter. employers would also check not only our aca-
By default, profiles, photos, videos and demic background, but also our social back-
such other badges of identity in most networks ground as reflected in such sites. As Ulhas
is public. They have to be—there is no point in Aher, HR Head of Datacraft—a unified com-
Digital Busine
ss l Smart So
d
Ho
Write
Self-publishe
Get here are p ub lishing solutions tha
fessionals
t yield
Test
it do n e. nee d of th be gi n de in
to get ishing is the ire- yo
u yth
ake sure ever xt and images— window, select Small Publications > Wide
Desktop publ e outsourcing their requ r you need to m le va n t te Business Card. Wide Business Cards are Land-
ar ough th ei er all th e re ecif ic
and many So
Hos
ca u se ev en th
o- G at h
co m pa ny logo—in a sp you scape-oriented, while Tall Business Cards are
hy ? Be th e pr g yo u r . N ow
ments. W not require includin project folder Portrait-oriented.
ishing may are that folder. Use this as your gePlus.
desktop publ of an agency, the softw in g Pa Before you start work on the card, in order to be
ch results launch your very
fessional tou ve professional looking uark can start by sk is to help you design . To do certain that you view all the available tools, click
d to ac h ie o le gs ! Q Th e fi rs t ta n es s ca rd
is use and tw g busi on View > Toolbars and check all the toolbars.
em an ar m In Design own professional-lookin pl e steps in
will cost th 00 ! A do be so m e si m
out Rs 32,0 most eed to follow
Express 7—ab s 28,000! There’s no way ly for this, you n The Business Card
t R ci al PagePlus.
CS3—almos penses, espe The blue rectangle that you can see in the
stify such ex ere free
SoHos can ju ishing needs. That’s wh l you middle of the page is to guide you while
bl al
occasional pu e software comes in, and suits aligning the text and images. Similar to a grid
en so u rc d on e th at
and op to fin
look around serifsoft-
in the background, it helps you decide the
For almost 7 years, you have
have to do is Pl u s SE (www.free appropriate position of the various elements in
W e fo u n d Pa ge
s.ne t ) to be the
you. ri bu s (www.scribu u can the card. contributed to our success as a reader
an d Sc e— yo
ware.com) p publishing
softwar Start by inserting your company logo. To do
fr ee de sk to
best CD. this, go to Insert > Picture > From file (or
this month’s
find both in you can simply press [Ctrl] + [G]). It’s time to take it to the next level...
re You Leaplpanning. Before you
Look Befow
To insert text for your business card, click on
ork needs tify your the Artistic Text Tool (the alphabet “A”) on the
All creative ware, you need to iden Tools toolbar. Alternatively, you can insert text
ft re you
search for so Whet her it’s a brochu ting from any file by clicking on Insert > Text
ir em en ts . es ig n ed vi si
requ
ak e, a fl ie r, or a self-d , si t down File (or simply pressing [Ctrl] + [T]). You We’re looking for Writers,
need to m g else
u do anyt hin y and plan out can further adjust the font size, height, width,
yo
card , be fo re
l and paper
and tr
ue line spacing and positioning through the Copy Editors and Test Centre
wit h a penci to achieve. This holds tr
wh at yo u w an t
ish in g yo u
Change toolbar. Reviewers, based in Navi Mumbai
desktop publ Each text or image component forms a box that
for any sort of , arrange, execute! you can easily move around the page, either by
an
may have—pl ental picture of dragging with the mouse or using the cursor keys.
Frame a m ut of
propriate layo After inserting all relevant image and text, our
the most ap es—this aids in next step is to insert a separator, which is a line Send your resume to
ag
text and im sk at
on of the ta towards the bottom of that card, separating the
fast er ex ec u ti
nting fo r th e best address of the company. To insert a line, click editor@thinkdigit.com
hand. Go hu ur requirement— on the Straight Line Tool. You will find this tool
it yo Remember to specify the post applied for in the subject line
images to su lty-free
gl e to find roya e of the just below the artistic text tool. After selecting
use Goo on
y one from this tool, click on one end of the intended posi-
images, or bu at of fer them. TIFF or tion and drag the mouse to the other end
ic es th PI
many se rv tion of 200 D
G im ag es with a resolu erred, because forming a straight line. You can adjust the posi-
PN
generally pref on tion of the line by using the up and down
or higher are es may seem alluring cursor keys.
th ou gh im ag s di ffer on ce
al lt
r screen, resu In the same way, insert the address of your
your compute d. organisation and proceed to view your card by
te
they are prin doing a Print Preview.
Smart SoHo-March 08.qxd 5/13/2008 10:59 AM Page 82
Digital
Lead Feature
Chaitanya Surpur
The
ULTIMATE
Gaming Guide
Gaming is a far better pastime
than watching movies, and can be
just as cinematic and riveting. But
you’ve got to start somewhere,
right? Here you go...
D
you of happy hours spent in soles vie for your atten-
front of a Nintendo Game Boy, tion—the Xbox, Xbox 360
or does it have you fondly (X360), PlayStation 2 (PS2),
reminiscing with memories of PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Wii,
late night Quake 3 frag and even handheld consoles
sessions? Does a pleasant like the PlayStation Portable
game of Spider Solitaire relax (PSP). In fact, getting into
you? Maybe you like to gaming can be daunting for
remember yourself poised with a the sheer variety of choice.
twitchy finger curled around the Not all of us can afford a
trigger of your carbine with an super- PC, an X360 and a PS3 with
enemy’s skull in your sights? a 50-inch plasma screen— console, and vice versa. Again,
Gaming brings different levels of resources are limited, and a deci- remember that you will probably
satisfaction in different ways to sion has to be made. If anything, migrate to different genres as
different people and though we the fact that your cash is going to you get more and more involved
Indians are well and truly on the be spent on leisure rather than with gaming. You may, for exam-
gaming bandwagon, our journey work, education or productivity ple, start with racing games and
into the realm of interactive will ensure that your budget is get hooked on FPSes after playing
entertainment has just begun. even skimpier. And for good rea- a couple of them, or RPGs may
For me, gaming began with son too—while spending on a gam- start to interest you. In my opin-
classics like Art of Fighting, Contra, ing setup, it’s all too easy to lose ion, both PC and console make
Mario, and Spartan. The move to your sense of financial decorum. equally good gaming boxes, and
PC gaming came around with Unlike music—where one which one suits you largely
classics like Doom, Quake and piece of equipment plays all depends on the genre of game.
Diablo on an old Pentium 2 kinds of music equally well— Speaking of which...
machine, and it’s been a move there’s another variable. The
from whence there’s no return. platform you choose—PC or con- The Genres Explained
But that was in the late sole—is going to affect your gam- Shooters
nineties—today’s gaming market ing experience with different This is the most popular genre.
has evolved tenfold. For one, there genres of games. What plays well Such games have, (in general),
are more options available. Two— on a PC may not play well on a much easier learning curves, and
offer instant gratification which is Warhammer, the being able to shoot fireballs from The best visual treatment,
why many newbies dabbling in Civilization series and the your hands. Games like Mortal graphics, effects and realism are
games for the first time start here. Warlords series are leg- Combat, Art of Fighting, and even often found in this genre. Not to
Shooters can be of a number of endary turn-based classics like Contra and Spartan mention the most realistic, vis-
types depending on the type of games. RTS games tend to fall into this genre. ceral action. PC gaming’s worst
action and tactics employed, or be a little faster paced, There are a whole lot of other proponent will agree when that
even the camera angle. since you actually build, genres like sports games (foot- consoles suck at FPSes. They
expand and defend in real ball, basketball, tennis, etc.), require accuracy and precision
FPS (First Person Shooter): time. Examples are music based games (want to be a while wielding weapons that
The most popular type. Warcraft 3, Company Of rock star? Play Guitar Hero), puz- only a good mouse can provide.
Characterised by combat from Heroes, Age of Empires and zle solving games, and other fun RTSes and RPGs also play
the perspective of the player—as if Warhammer 40,000. games like pinball which don’t best on a PC—this is mainly due
you are holding the weapon. The really fit into any specific genre. to the fact that both these gen-
best graphics and the most action RPG (Role Playing Games) So now, let’s take a look at res have a lot of environment
are generally found in this genre. Traditionally, an RPG will your two major options: interaction, or even group con-
Some shining examples are Crysis, have you playing the game as trol of characters or units. Most LAN, gaming mice are worth a cur-
Far Cry, Prey, Doom 3 and F.E.A.R. an adventurer of sorts. There PC Gaming: A Window RTS and RPG games also have a lot sory look (at least). My advice is to
are usually classes of charac- Seat To The Action of sticky key shortcuts (such as skip the keyboard unless you real-
TPS (Third Person Shooter): ters like wizards, barbarians, How can I not sound biased when [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [E]) or ly plan to take your gaming seri-
These shooters usually take a bards, rogues and so on, but I say that I’ve always been a fan of some other combination, which ously—a regular multimedia key-
“behind the shoulder” view to the classes and the skills that the computer? Its unmatched flex- you simply cannot execute on a board will suffice. Note that the
deliver a slightly more cinematic each class has depends on ibility is the key—learn on it, send console. Most of these games have mouse is more important for near-
(if less realistic) view to the action. the story’s setting. Typically, e-mails, work, listen to music, surf been designed for the PC, and con- ly all genres of games than the
They usually have slightly deeper an RPG tries to create a the Internet, watch movies—the sole versions remain poor ports. keyboard, so choose one carefully.
storylines and a little less violence believable world out of fantasy PC has something for everyone. Some of the best RTS games like Visually speaking, the PC also
than FPSes, but this is no hard settings, and you are an individ- It’s shockingly adept at each of Company Of Heroes, Warcraft 3, Age delivers the best visual experi-
rule. Grand Theft Auto 3 (GTA 3), ual in that world, living, travel- these tasks, and far from the jack Of Empires and Warhammer 40000 ence. Of course you need a mod-
GTA San Andreas, Manhunt and the ling, eating, sleeping, adventur- of all trades that it may sometimes all have strong roots in the PC, on estly powerful rig, but with the
Max Payne games are examples. All RPGs will have some sort of points ing, fighting and so on. All RPGs appear to be. While consoles can- which they play the best. right components, the graphics
will have some sort of points sys- not even dream of approaching Of course, the PCs forte has on a PC will blow consoles out of
Tactical Shooter: system, where you get to level up, tem, where you get to level up, the functionality that the PC been customisability. A variety of the water—though the X360 and
These are based on either FPS or thereby increasing your character’s thereby increasing your charac- offers, they do have one very note- keyboards and mice are available PS3 have bridged the gap, there’s
TPS camera angles, but offer the skills—for example, a warrior may be ter’s skills—for example, a war- worthy advantage where gaming specifically for gaming— still a decent way to go before con-
additional element of stealth. A rior may be able to perform new
tactical shooter could also be a able to perform new moves, or a wizard moves, or a wizard may be able to
squad-based action game where may be able to cast new spells cast new spells. Neverwinter
you work with a team to, say, Nights, The Witcher, Knights of the
take down a group of terrorists. Old Republic, Mass Effect, and
The best examples of stealth- Hellgate London are some of the
based tactical shooters are the better known RPGs around.
Splinter Cell series, and the Metal
Gear Solid series. For squad based Vehicle Simulation
tactical shooters, G.R.A.W, the This is another wide genre, as it
Delta Force series and the Rainbow could involve a multitude of vehi-
Six series are the best examples. cles from cars, aeroplanes and
motorbikes, to fighter aircraft,
Shoot ‘em Ups: battle tanks, and even spaceships.
Games like the Serious Sam series Such games can be very serious,
simply have one objective—fun. simply fun, or somewhere in
Just shoot anything that moves. between. The most common of is concerned—they were designed Logitech’s G15, Microsoft’s soles get to where current-genera-
the vehicle simulators are car rac- specifically from the ground up Reclusa and Razer’s Tarantula are tion PC graphics are.
RTS (Real Time Strategy) ing games—cars are something for that purpose. The X360 and gaming keyboards designed to The
Although the RTS genre is as everyone can relate to. Games like PS3 also have limited Web surfing make the overall gaming experi- Hardware Requirements graphics
diverse as Shooters, most RTS Microsoft’s Flight Simulator accu- and movie-watching potential, ence more fun. Such keyboards When talking PC, the ugly issue of
games have one thing in com- rately depict flying an aeroplane, which simply means that their have a number of additional fea- the “hardware upgrade curve” card is the
mon—use resources to build up an while the Colin McRae series have manufacturers are trying to bring tures like extra configurable but- usually surfaces. Computers aren’t primary
economy and gradually build you racing in rallies with realism. them closer to their competitor… tons, macro keys (keys that can exactly easy on your wallet once
structures of different sorts which Games like the NFS (Need For Speed) store multiple keystrokes and use- you try to get them game-ready, component
give you certain benefits like addi- series are fun, with hardly any Games People Play ful for executing combos in and the process of converting a PC for gaming,
tional units or technology deep simulative nature. Computers reign supreme for arcade fighting games) and back- into a gaming rig can be expen- and
research options. Then build up games of the FPS, RTS and RPG lit keys (for gaming sans illumina- sive! Once you start building a PC
an army, and attack. RTS games Arcade Fighters genres. They also match consoles tion). Mice like Razer’s Lachesis, for gaming, there’s virtually no upgrading
can be very slow or lighting fast. These games usually have you as for TPSs and many adventure Copperhead and Logitech’s G5 end to the expenses you can face, it will yield
Some strategy games are turn- a combatant in a series of fights games, sometimes even overshad- and G9 will leaving opponents and you will also need to save up
based as opposed to real-time, against a single opponent or a owing them. With one or two quaking (no pun!) in their boots. for at least one upgrade per year! the biggest
where you make a move and wait multitude of other combatants. shining exceptions, the moment Whether you’re playing your For the biggest gains keep perform-
for the enemy to move (somewhat You will have an array of special you say First Person Shooter, I’ll first FPS or starting up a Quake 3 this order in mind: ance gain
like chess). For example, moves and powers to aid you, like happily point you towards a PC. frag-fest with your friends on a 1. Graphics Card: This is the
primary component for gaming, and something more powerful. button system. But really, it’s
upgrading it will yield the biggest per- So when you go with a con- titles that sell consoles; the only
formance hike sole, you needn’t think point of difference that matters
2. Processor: Your CPU feeds your GPU with about future-proofing. to the user is applications—in
data. The faster the CPU, the faster the this case, games.
GPU will work The Hidden Costs So what games feel better on
3. Memory: if have less than 1 GB, then So then, a console seems to the controllers of a console? Well
upgrading your memory to 2 GB can have all the answers. Why the most convenient candidates
give you a boost of around 40 per cent! not buy an X360 for are arcade fighters and hack-em-
If you are not very discerning about how Rs 20,000, instead of a PC up games that require a lot of
good your game looks, then a mid-range, which costs Rs 50,000, and frantic key presses (called button
Rs 8,000 graphics card will get you through eas- which you have to upgrade mashing) to execute combo
ily. Discerning gamers who want to play the lat- repeatedly? There’s a pit- moves, or use special powers.
est games in all their visual splendour will need fall to consoles too. Most Accessories like racing wheels
to keep a budget of around Rs 15,000 for a good consoles have anti-piracy are also available for consoles as
card. I recommend NVIDIA’s 8800GT-based card measures built in and so do the game titles, but The most they are for PCs, and racing games on a console
(Rs 13,000) to the discerning gamer, and unlike PCs where you can have cracks and registry have the added advantage of being played on a larg-
NVIDIA’s 8600GT core (Rs 7,500) to the more editors, you must have the original game DVD in
convenient er screen as opposed to your PC’s monitor.
budget-minded. For the extreme gamer who your drive before you can start playing on a console. titles for The next thing you need to look at is the present
wants to run games at very high resolutions If you’re like a bowling ball at an arcade with game consoles and upcoming crop of game titles for each console.
with all the visual settings kept at maximum, a titles you’re going to chalk up quite a bill, especial- This is very important, because unlike a PC which can
single graphics card may not suffice. But for the ly considering new titles for the latest consoles are arcade be used for many things other than gaming, you
simple reason that PCs get outdated so fast, I (X360, PS3) can cost as much as Rs 3,000. While this fighters don’t want to be stuck with a console that hasn’t got
don’t recommend investing in an SLI or doesn’t mean that you should buy a PC just so that adequate title support. Garnering developer support
Crossfire (multiple graphics cards) setup. handheld device—is a console in the strict sense of you can play pirated games, PC titles are generally
and is important—more game developers developing for
The second component you need to inspect is your the word. Over the past two years, we’ve seen a lot of more varied than console titles, and tend to cost hack-em-up your console equals better games. Development stu-
CPU. The faster the clock speeds, the more frames per developments in the world of consoles. One serious less, and you also get special editions where you can games that dios have been taken over (a so called forceful con-
second you will get in any game. Intel’s latest 45 nm advantage over the PC remains that consoles are buy an entire series in a single box for much less version) and we’re even seeing developers who are
Penryn processors (codenamed Wolfdale) are just out. designed keeping games and game developers in than the individual titles. require a working on titles for both consoles. Franchisees
The Wolfdale E8400 which runs at a speedy 3.0 GHz, mind, and it takes a console a couple of years to Most people who buy an X360 use their TVs to lot of change hands too—we’ve seen Devil May Cry 4 being
is priced at just under the Rs 10,000 mark, and is an mature and to get proper development support. play games, and then complain “man, the graphics announced for the X360 as well as the PS3, previous-
excellent solution for gamers. In fact, this processor is After all, what good is a shiny new, powerful console suck!” And why not? Consoles like the X360 and PS3
frantic key ly this franchisee was a Sony exclusive.
a killer deal for any kind of fast PC, and I heartily rec- with no games to play? The PS2, for example, was have been designed with a resolution of 720p presses The PS3 doesn’t have many noteworthy titles to
ommend it. If you must have something cheaper, released in the year 2000, and still enjoys a much (1280x720 pixels) in mind—a regular television can- speak of—in fact, God Of War 2 (the sequel to the best-
Intel’s older 65 nm Core 2 Duo based E6750 (2.66 GHz) larger fan following than the PS3. In fact, it was a not even hope to meet that specification, and you selling God of War) was announced for the PS2 and
is available for Rs 7,900. Quad-core proces- title that was released much later the image you see is blurry, lacks colour, resolution not the PS3, which clearly proves the point I was
sors are also available, but the two addi- that actually sold the PS2—God of and even detail. An additional cost which you making about the longevity of a console as com-
tional cores don’t do much for gaming, War. Even the X360 experienced a should incur is to buy yourself an LCD / Plasma pared to a PC. That aside, the PS3 is a very strong
since most games are heavily single- Keep in mind that these recom- tremendous boost in sales with screen to go along with the console—this is really contender for your attention, especially considering
threaded. The cheapest quad-core is Intel’s the release of Gears of War—a third where a console will earn its stripes and the expe- that most of its big titles are scheduled for 2008
Core 2 Quad 6600, a 65 nm, 2.4 GHz chip mendations are generic, and person shooter that was launched rience will be enjoyable and immersive. launches. However, the PS3 makes a costly proposi-
(Rs 11,000). As for memory, opt for a mini- certain genres of games will a year after the console. Whereas For a viewing distance of around 10-12 feet, a 32- tion and costs 60 per cent more than an Xbox 360.
mum of 2 GB of DDR2 system memory—its run easily on even lower-end you would have undoubtedly have inch LCD should do the trick. Brands to look out for Microsoft has another distinct advantage when it
dirt cheap these days at Rs 900 per GB— had to upgrade your PC a number are Sony, Samsung, and LG. If you have a larger liv- comes to the X360—they have very strong roots in PC
and you’re set to go as far as your PC’s per- hardware. Racing games and of times from 2001 to 2007 to play ing room then go for a bigger screen, since chances gaming, where their Windows rules supreme as a
formance goes. Look for good brands like adventure games are not as games, and spent more than a are you’ll be sitting further away, and remember gaming platform. It’s a simple matter, therefore, to
Transcend, Kingston, and Corsair. lakh on components, if you had a that such a screen, in addition to your console, approach developers to develop games for their con-
But wait…the devil is in the details, harsh on system requirements console like the PS2, chances are makes for a killer movie-theatre like experience. sole platform as well, or even release X360 versions of
right? A good monitor is essential to get you’d still be enjoying the experi- In fact both Microsoft and Sony have gone PC classics. We’re seeing games like Universe at War:
the best out of premium components, ence. In fact, the best titles for any through pains to ensure that their consoles are Earth Assault, Rainbow Six: Vegas, and Fallout 3 all head-
and these days the name of the game is console tend to release at least two more than just gaming stations. The X360 is a full ing for the X360 as well. The reverse is also true, and
widescreen LCD. A 22-inch widescreen LCD will or three years after the console is launched, that fledged HD-DVD player, while the PS3 comes with a many Xbox / X360 titles make their way into PC—
sport a native resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels, and being the period of time it takes developers to churn Blu-Ray DVD drive. This kind of future proofing Gears Of War, Halo, and Jade Empire are a few examples.
should cost around Rs 15,000. 24-inch TN panels are out a good game. ensures that your console is ready for the next gen-
in the realm of 19,000 bucks and I feel this is superb The X360 is in no way a mature platform. Sure, it eration of content, although on a minus point such In Retrospect
value for money. Brands to look out for are Dell, has some great titles, like Gears Of War, The Elder Scrolls drives do increase prices. Regardless of how much you spend, the hardware you
ViewSonic, AOC, Acer, BenQ, Samsung and LG. 4: Oblivion and Mass Effect, but the best is yet to come. use, the platform you choose, or even the genres of
Keep in mind that these recommendations are In fact, I remember when the Xbox came out, What To Consider your taste—the main aim of games is to have fun. They
generic, and certain genres of games will run easily Microsoft only had a single big title for it—Halo. Consoles use controllers to interface with them. involve us, pull us into a world where anything is possi-
on even lower-end hardware. Games like racing Consoles also cannot be modified to improve per- Some of them are wireless, which give you the lib- ble, and you’re at the centre of it. You get to control
games and adventure games (in general) are not as formance and parts can’t be swapped out like a PC, so erty to sit far away from your screen without hav- events around you...playing God can be fun! Games in
harsh on system requirements as other genres, a developer has to think of the hardware of the con- ing a clutter of cables. Both the X360 and the PS3 moderation will benefit your thinking, and can even
although there is no hard and fast rule. sole and its limitations when he writes code. With a have such controllers, while other consoles like the have effects like lowering stress levels, or even improv-
PC, on the other hand, most developers know that Nintendo Wii (pronounced “we”) has a special ing hand-eye coordination. You’re never too young or
Consoles: Single Minded Purpose they can design something a little heavier than what remote control unit that makes use of built in too busy to start, and it’s never too late to get into it.
Consoles are broadly of different types and the term current generation hardware can run comfortably, accelerometers and gyroscopes as well as infrared As for me, I’m gearing up for our next Quake 3 session
console is used to signify that the gaming station is a and manufacturers like NVIDIA, ATI, Intel and AMD tracking to make use of user gestures and actions to which begins in another 15 minutes…
device other than a PC. Even the Sony PSP—a tiny will just go back to their drawing boards and design control actions in a game, as well as the traditional agent001@thinkdigit.com
all the honking around you, or that the fact that no cell phone
Michael Browne the din made by fellow trav- can approach the kind of mul-
ellers aboard your daily 9.30 am timedia functionality (camera
S
ilence speaks a thousand local train? aside) that a PMP will give you.
words. Poetic but true, For many of us, the Portable PMPs in general have bigger,
though the sheer amount Multimedia Player (PMP) is a better screens and better
of noise pollution these days blessing sans disguise. The music playback quality—that
means you may well need some next time you’re travelling, alone is enough to ensure a
silence to hear anything, or be just ask anybody with earplugs steady demand from more dis-
heard yourself. If you’re a stuck in his ears what it means cerning users.
metropolitan who spends a to him. Music soothes, relaxes, A PMP is as personal a
couple of hours commuting to and is akin to the daily morn- device as a cell phone or head-
work, you’ll probably lament ing cup of fresh tea. To further phones, and no two people will
Whether road warrior or daily com- the lack of time spent with testify the popularity of PMPs, have the same requirements.
muter, your journey just isn’t com- loved ones. To make things just visit any electronics While someone may want to
plete without a good dose of music—to worse, the couple of hours of store—chances are you’ll see watch videos in bed, another
mandatory travel are marred by many such devices—they sell may need something with
soothe your soul, bust stress and relax all kinds of pollution. Short of like hot cakes these days. Not exemplary music quality to use
your nerves. We’ve got 46 faithful scrapping hydrocarbon-spew- only are they immensely func- as a portable source. Someone
ing automobiles totally, there’s tional, but whip out an iPod else may need a basic player to
companions, just waiting to take that nothing that can be done about and a couple of people around tune in to music en route to
dusty, noisy ride with you... air pollution, but what about you will surely perk up. Add to their workplace. PMP vendors
Imaging Rohit A Chandwaskar
88 DIGIT MARCH 2008 Photograph Jiten Gandhi & Sandeep Patil DIGIT MARCH 2007 89
Leisure TEST March 08 NEW.qxd 5/13/2008 11:18 AM Page 90
Features
year, with a sideways sliding
body that opens to reveal the
inbuilt speaker and disable the
S amsung’s been known to
make excellent PMPs—
our only issue has been their
feature in case you want to transfer music
from it to your cell phone or even PC, but
the S5 itself requires to be synced with a
S5 and the T10 slug it out with
the Apple iPod Nano 3G, the
SanDisk Sansa E280 and the
shock you—85 per cent of the M A R C H 2 0 0 8 SanDisk’s Sansa E280 has experi- headphone jack. Both these play- atrocious pricing, thanks to PC to transfer music. While on the topic, Cowon iAudio 7, with the iRiver
840’s performance at just 46 per enced a sharp decline in pricing— ers feature illuminated touch which hardly anyone is seen sound quality is very good, and the S5 X20 neck and neck with every-
cent of the price. That’s it’s an 8 GB PMP, priced lower controls—great flaunt value, but toting a Samsung player. approaches the quality of costlier players one. Both Samsungs aren’t flaw-
value for money! than its 4 GB sibling was last perfectly usable. One irritation Someone in Samsung’s top easily. Its got a very clean and crisp less, however—closer tests reveal
Supercomp’s Semp3-S7A year! The E280 is built like a tank; was the volume level on the brass must have heard our not sound to the vocals, and both male and what seemed like a slight roll-off
was another such player— it’s also very traditional-looking, headphone out getting reset to so silent plea, and here goes— female vocals seem to come alive. While for lower frequency sounds in
very decent music quality at and has a nice solid metal back 50 per cent each time you switch the YP-S5 has more features it doesn’t go as low as the Cowon D2 or the first couple of octaves. The
a price of just Rs 1,500, and it finished in matte. The scroll from the loudspeaker to the than the YP-K3 we tested last the iPod Nano and Touch, the bass highs sound excellent, however,
even manages a tiny screen— wheel dishes out some feedback, headphones. Very unassuming year, and costs just a fraction of definitely can’t be termed as deficient and female vocals are delivered
excellent value for someone but it’s a scroll-type wheel and and un-glamorous the Philips its predecessors’ price of in any way. It also provides sufficient outstandingly. If we were to
looking at something entry- not touch-sensitive like the GoGear might be, but it’s a well- Rs 18,000, at just Rs 6,600. An volume to drive most headphones choose the two best-sounding
level. Digit’s Best Buy is an award iPod’s. Speaking of which, the built, satin black player that’s amazing deal, this, considering properly, and we didn’t notice any issues on PMPs from this excellent lot, the
few like to share, but we’ve new Nano 3G (third genera- replete with features. The only the S5 is a potent all-round PMP. It has our two reference models. laurels would rest with the iPod
seen enough to award it jointly tion) is gorgeous! It’s nearly let down is the screen—not as an amazing LCD screen—that at first If you’re looking at something Nano and the iRiver X20. From
to the Supercomp Semp3-S7A half the length of the previous bright or as clear as we’d hoped. glance appears to be an OLED screen— extremely usable at a great price, but you the lower to the upper bass
and the Apacer Steno AU351. Nano, and a little wider with Not unreadable, but for a video and soft touch controls that are backlit in want something that stands out and feels ranges, low frequencies are
Other noteworthy products a slightly larger and brighter PMP, we expected better. very pleasing colours such as cool blue far more expensive than its price, the S5 is defined and tight, yet the
in this category are the duo screen. The smudge-happy YES’ YMP 45 is a neat PMP, and light yellow. We can guarantee looks a tailormade fit. It represents the best thump is very apparent—some-
from Sony and the Sansa yet utterly sexy chromed made attractive by a strip of red from just about anyone if you just whip value amongst the sub-Rs 10,000 PMPs thing that is as important for
Express. Surprise picks, yet rear makes a comeback, and plastic that runs around the out this player, because chances are and is one of those rare products that bass-heads as it is for audio-
equally good products, were the the new Nano is compact screen and adds a touch of piz- people will figure it for being at least actually offers more satisfaction for the philes. The mid-range is well-
duo from the Zebronics stable— enough to sit in the tightest zazz to a rather ordinary black thrice as expensive. compensation it demands. defined, smooth and full bod-
superb price for the sound qual- Samsung T10 pockets without fuss. It’s got body. Mitashi’s MWI-4GA has a ied, and guitar detailing will
ity—Rs 1,650 for the Gamma, Slim is good... video playback now, and Apple chrome-finished posterior, but
and Rs 1,750 for the Beta. YES’ claims to have upped the bat- it seems to be plastic and not that’s been moulded to look
YMP 30 was another excellent tery life as well. Their click-wheel metal. Although the player is like ripples in water after a
performer as far as music goes, is as good as we remember, and attractive, build quality is splash. Note that the Zen has
and we have no qualms about with the controls designed into mediocre and the tackiness of a large-ish screen, and is tar-
recommending this to someone it, there are no protrusions of the buttons is unacceptable. geted at video aficionados.
who’s a little more discerning any sort on any part of the body. Creative’s Zen is a plain looker Cowon’s iAudio 7 is another
with sound quality. Samsung’s T10 is even slim- with a black glossy front and neat looker—very compact and
Aigo’s MP3 watch catches mer than the Nano, and lighter, matte-finished plastic rear very well built. The screen
your fancy, but doesn’t offer isn’t as good as some of the
either the performance or the other players, particularly
usability to please. If you’re look- Cowon D2: A Different Beast the Samsung models, the
ing for a watch, chances are you’ll iPod Nano, the Sansa E280
look elsewhere. Do the same in
case you want a good PMP. When we think wild, performance
uncontrolled, we think Touch. When
we think features, power, usability we
and the iRiver X20.
The Sansa E280 has all the
features you need—music,
MARCH 2008
FLASH-BASED PMPS think D2. The Cowon D2 was last year’s photo and video support, FM
Between Rs 5,001 And winner, and the reason for making it two radio, text support and even
Rs 10,000 in a row is as complicated as it is simple. expandability (should 8 GB not
Anyone spending more than Why improve on perfection, or as close to suffice). The iPod Nano has most
Rs 5,000 on a PMP had better it as is possible in this imperfect world? and performance of these features (excluding FM
know what he’s buying, and The Cowon D2 is a very unassuming per cubic inch than any radio and expandability), and Apple iPod Nano 3G 4 GB
that’s what we’re here to ensure. player—as small as a Nano, but twice as other device we can think of. the addition of nifty add-ons Pocket audiophile
In general, these players have thick—and with very unappealing lines that The D2 is all about functionality and like a stopwatch, alarm, calen-
more storage space, a better list make you go “Yuck!” at first. By then, you features, and you will find lots of settings dar and contacts make the Nano
of features and even better audio quickly realise that first impressions aren’t to play with while playing music and even a superbly converged device.
and video performance. And not necessarily the last, and it’s more a device movies. In fact, we were surprised at the Unlike older Nanos, this one can
for nothing, because they vie for that you can live with daily rather than equaliser options, where cut-offs can be also be used as a pen drive. Both
attention amidst sub-Rs 10,000 admire from a distance, much like the set for each frequency range—for example, Samsung PMPs also have
multimedia cell phones, which neighbourhood belle when compared to a you can set the first equaliser from 40 Hz Bluetooth support, which can
have their own added benefits. supermodel. to 80 Hz or to 110 Hz. Our only possible be used to transfer music to (but
Features such as FM radio and You want features? How does FLAC issue with the D2 is it’s a little thick for its not from) other devices—that’s
better screens are taken for support, inbuilt FM radio, expandable small dimensions, and may not gain taking anti-piracy nuttiness to
granted. What you need to look memory, a touchscreen, text reading and popularity as an in-pocket jogging the limit, in our opinion.
at is the quality of audio and notepad support sound to you? This device is companion as the iPod Nano 3G. We’re Sony’s NWZ-615F also
video, as most of these PMPs will an amazing music player as well, and sorry not to find anything else to nitpick, impressed with its feature list,
support movie playback—unless although the screen is on the small side, it but it’s the way of a class A device to the only thing missing is
they’re specifically targeted at offers a fantastic movie experience as well. deliver all the goods with nary a hint of expandability (and Bluetooth,
music only user groups. Also look It’s very powerful, and offers more features bad in sight. which was exclusive to the
at photo viewing options—a neat Samsung PMPs).
Price (Rupees) Rs 1,500 Rs 1,650 Rs 1,720 Rs 1,750 Rs 2,090 Rs 2,240 Rs 2,500 Rs 2,599 Rs 2,990 Rs 3,150 Rs 3,250 Rs 3,399 Rs 3,490 Rs 3,500
Comments + Compact, light + Very compact, + Built well, good + Very compact, + Funky concept, + Great build quality, + Good set of + Solidly built, + Compact, funky, + Neat looking, + Very light, neat + Good performer, + Large screen, well + Novel concept,
weight solidly built performance built well solidly built good performance accessories compact belt clip inbuilt compact looking built well laid out menus compact
– Build quality, – Tiny screen, display – Poor screen – Tiny screen, screen – Low performance, – Small screen, non – Tiny screen, tacky – No screen, buttons – Volume button – Less storage space, – Requires batteries, – Tiny screen – Low performance, – Low performer, un-
slightly tacky keys quality quality quality slightly bulky intuitive menu buttons little hard tacky hard buttons build quality tacky buttons intuitive controls
Grand Totals (Out of 100) 43.87 42.98 47.15 42.98 27.23 47.53 50.91 49.28 51.77 48.01 39.94 53.13 43.31 33.77
Features (Out of 35) 10.85 9.45 12.53 9.45 4.20 12.53 18.20 15.44 14.77 17.01 10.85 14.77 16.38 5.67
Performance (Out of 65) 33.02 33.53 34.62 33.53 23.03 35.00 32.71 33.84 37.00 31.00 29.09 38.36 26.93 28.10
Features
Capacity 1 GB 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 1 GB 2 GB 2 GB 1 GB 1 GB 512 MB 1 GB 2 GB 1 GB 512 MB
Display Type OLED OLED LCM OLED NA OLED OLED NA OLED OLED LED OLED LCD NA
Display Number of Colours 1 1 1 1 NA 1 single NA 1 65K Single (multiple backlit) 1 262K NA
Display Size 1.1 inches 0.9 inch 0.9 inch 1 inch NA 1.3 inches 1 inch NA 1 inch 1.5 inches 1.2 inches 1.1 inches 2.2 inches NA
Type of Battery Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion AAA Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion AAA Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion
Weight of Device 26 gm 26 gm 28 gm 30 gm 32 gm 30 gm 28 gm 18.5 gm 25.8 gm 40 gm 25 gm 31.1 gm 45 gm 38 gm
Firmware Upgradeable (Y/N) Y N Y N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Memory Upgradeable (Y/N) / Type of N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA Y / SD N / NA
Memory
FM Tuner (Y/N) Y Y Y Y NA Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Voice Recording (Y/N) Y Y Y Y NA Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Audio Formats supported MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV, MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA MP3
audible
Photo Viewing / Video Playback (Y/N) N/N N/N N/N N/N N/N N/N N/N N/N N/N N/Y N/N N/N Y/Y N/N
Video Formats supported NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA SMV NA NA MPEG-4 NA
Performance
General Display Performance (So 10) 1.5 1.75 1.5 1.75 NA 1.5 2.25 NA 2.5 4 2 2 6 NA
Video Performance (Movies) (So 10) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 4 NA
Music Performance (Out of 10)
Eagles—Hotel California 7.25 6.75 7.25 6.75 4.75 7.25 7 7.25 8 6.5 6 8 5 6
The Corrs—Brid og ni Mhaille 6.75 6.75 7 6.75 4.75 7 6.5 7 7.5 5.75 4.75 7.75 4.5 6.25
Charlotte Church—Bridge over 7 7 7 7 5 7 6.5 7 7.25 6 5.5 7.75 4 6
Troubled Water
Pink Floyd—Speak to Me / Breathe 6.5 6.5 7 6.5 4.5 7 6.25 7.25 7.5 6.25 5.75 8 5 6
Dire Straits—Sultans of Swing 6.5 6.75 7 6.75 4.75 6.5 6.75 7.25 6 6.25 7.5 3.5 6
Guns N’ Roses—November Rain (Live) 6.25 7 7 7 4.5 7.25 6.5 7 7.5 6 6 7.5 4.75 5.75
Eric Clapton—Layla 6.5 6.5 7 6.5 4.25 7 6.25 7.25 7.5 5.5 6.25 8 5 5.5
Chand Sifarish (Fanaa) 7 7 7.25 7 4.5 7.5 6.75 7.5 7.25 6.25 6.25 7.75 5 6.5
Beedi (Omkara) 7 7 7.25 7 4 7.25 6.5 6.75 7.25 6.25 6.25 7.5 5 6.25
Bundled Headphone Quality (Out of 10) 4.75 5 5 5 5 5.25 5.25 5 5.5 4.25 4 6 2.5 NA
Battery Life (Actual Tested) 6.5 h 8.3 h 7.7 h 8.1 h 6.7 h 6.5 h 11.2 h 7.6 h 9.1 h 10.2 h 23 h 14.2 h 8.2 h 4.6 h
Scoreboard Flash Based PMPs Up to Rs 5,000 Flash Based PMPs from Rs 5,001 to Rs 10,000
BRAND Transcend Sony Aigo YES iRiver Creative YES Sony YES Samsung Mitashi Philips Cowon Sony
MODEL T.sonic 840 NWD-B103F MP-F585 YMP 35 S7 Zen Stone Plus YMP 30 NWD-B105F YMP 45 YP-S5 MWI-4GA GoGear 4GB iAudio 7 NWZ-S615F
Price (Rupees) Rs 3,750 Rs 3,990 Rs 4,000 Rs 4,150 Rs 4,399 Rs 4,399 Rs 4,950 Rs 4,990 Rs 6,490 Rs 8,900 Rs 6,790 Rs 6,999 Rs 7,750 Rs 7,990
Comments + Good performance, + Compact, well built, + Well built, good + Looks cool, + Neat looks, built + Compact, clear + Good music quality, + Compact, well built, + Large screen, stylus + Built well, great + Large, clear screen, + Well built, good + Powerful sound, + Good screen, good
built well good controls features compact well screen, built well built well good controls provided music performance loudspeaker menu system great music quality features
– Tacky buttons, – Tiny screen – None in particular – Hard buttons, un- – Overpriced, few – Overpriced, hard – Plain looks, no – Tiny screen – Lacks music quality, – Bulky, prone to – Poor music quality, – Mediocre screen, – Looks too simple – None in particular
slightly heavy intuitive menu features buttons video support build quality fingerprints unintuitive menu lacks volume and unassuming
Grand Totals (Out of 100) 55.51 47.65 46.81 48.01 40.14 50.32 45.23 47.65 44.38 64.20 46.74 56.86 63.13 57.04
Features (Out of 35) 19.60 15.05 11.90 17.01 7.70 15.44 13.51 15.05 13.23 22.09 19.53 17.01 19.60 17.15
Performance (Out of 65) 35.91 32.60 34.91 31.00 32.44 34.88 31.72 32.60 31.15 42.11 27.21 39.85 43.53 39.89
Features
Capacity 2 GB 1 GB 1 GB 1 GB 1 GB 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 4 GB 4 GB 4 GB 2 GB
Display Type LCD LCD LCD OLED NA OLED OLED LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD
Display Number of Colours 65K 65K 65K 65K NA 1 (blue) dual-colour 65K 262K 262K 262K 65K 262K 262K
Display Size 1.8 inch 1 inch 1.8 inches 1.5 inches NA 1 inch 1.3 inches 1 inch 2.4 inches 1.8 inches 2.4 inches 2.2 inches 1.3 inches 1.8 inch
Type of Battery Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion
Weight of Device (gms) 70 gm 30 gm 50 gm 40 gm 17.5 gm 21 gm 35 gm 30 gm 60 gm 78.7 gm 45 gm 60 gm 50 gm
Firmware Upgradeable (Y/N) Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Memory Upgradeable (Y/N) / Type of N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA N / NA SD N / NA Y / SD N / NA N / NA
Memory
FM Tuner (Y/N) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Voice Recording (Y/N) Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Audio Formats supported MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA MP3, WMA MP3, WMA, WAV MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3, MP3, WMA, WAV, MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, WMA MP3, WMA, WAV MP3 AAC WMA MP3, WMA MP3, WMA MP3, OGG, WMA, ASF, MP3, AAC, WMA
WMA, ASF, OGG, MP3 audible FLAC, WAV
Photo Viewing / Video Playback (Y/N) Y/Y N/N Y/Y N/Y N/N N/N N/N N/N Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y
Video Formats supported MTV NA AVI SMV NA NA NA NA AVI MPEG-4 MPEG-4 MPEG-4, WMV MPEG-4 H.264, MPEG-4,
AAC-LC
Performance
General Display Performance (So 10) 6.25 2 3.5 4 NA 2 2.25 2 6 6.25 6.5 5.5 2.5 6
Video Performance (Movies) (So 10) 5 NA 4 NA NA NA NA NA 4.25 6.25 4.5 5 3.5 6.5
Music Performance (Out of 10)
Eagles—Hotel California 6.75 7 6.5 6.5 6.75 7.25 6.25 7 5.25 7.25 5 7 8.5 7.5
The Corrs—Brid og ni Mhaille 5.75 6.5 6.75 5.75 6.75 7 6.25 6.5 5.25 7 4.75 7 8.25 7
Charlotte Church—Bridge over 6 6.5 6.25 6 6.5 7 6.25 6.5 5.5 7.5 3.75 7 8.5 7.25
Troubled Water
Pink Floyd—Speak to Me / Breathe 6 7 7 6.25 6.5 7.25 6 7 5.75 7.25 5 7 8.5 7
Dire Straits—Sultans of Swing 6 6.25 6.25 6 6 6.75 6.25 6.25 5 7.25 3.5 6.75 8.25 6.25
Guns N’ Roses—November Rain (Live) 6.25 6.25 6.25 6 7 7 6.25 6.25 5 7.5 4.5 7 8.5 6.5
Eric Clapton—Layla 6.25 6.25 6 5.5 7 7.25 6.75 6.25 5.25 7.75 5 7 8.25 7
Chand Sifarish (Fanaa) 6.5 6.5 7 6.25 6.75 7.5 6.5 6.5 6 7.5 5 7.5 8.5 7
Beedi (Omkara) 6.5 6.25 6.5 6.25 6.5 6.75 6.5 6.25 6 7.25 4.75 7.5 8 6.75
Bundled Headphone Quality (Out of 10) 5 5.5 4.5 4.25 6 5 5 5.5 3.5 6 2.5 6 6.75 5.5
Battery Life (Actual Tested) 9.5 h 8h 6.3 h 10.2 h 7.5 h 7.6 h 13.2 h 8.1 h 11.3 h 19.4 h 6.7 h 11 h 29.8 h 20.2 h
Price (Rupees) Rs 8,490 Rs 8,800 Rs 6,600 Rs 8,999 Rs 9,499 Rs 9,999 Rs 10,999 Rs 11,000 Rs 11,400 Rs 12,999 Rs 13,999 Rs 17,700 Rs 22,000
Comments + Decent screen, + Great music quality + Good music quality, + Good performer, + Built well, neat + Good screen, decent + Feature rich, feature + Very good perform- + Great music quality + Feature rich, good + Good screen, decent + Amazing performer, + Amazing performer,
feature-rich and screen nice screen feature rich navigation music quality rich ance and features and screen performer music quality great interface great interface
– Scroll wheel feels – No FM radio, – plasticy exterior, – Slightly costly, – Low quality screen – None in particular – Slightly costly, – Slightly bulky, – Lacks FM radio, – Slightly costly, – Slightly costly – Pricey – Pricey
tacky smudge prone back slightly long controls tacky spoils video controls tacky weird looks smudge prone back controls tacky
Grand Totals (Out of 100) 68.15 69.48 62.68 69.08 57.05 63.46 69.21 73.90 69.48 69.21 63.46 73.20 73.20
Features (Out of 35) 23.45 22.93 21.04 23.45 20.41 21.81 23.45 26.95 22.93 23.45 21.81 24.96 24.96
Performance (Out of 65) 44.70 46.56 41.65 45.63 36.64 41.66 45.76 46.95 46.56 45.76 41.66 48.25 48.25
Features
Capacity 8 GB 4 GB 2 GB 2 GB 6 GB 4 GB 4 GB 4 GB 8 GB 8 GB 8 GB 8 GB 16 GB
Display Type LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD LCD
Display Number of Colours 65K 262K 262K 262K 65K 16.7M 262K 16M 262K 262K 16.7M 262K 262K
Display Size 1.8 inches 2 inches 2 inches 2.2 inches 1.5 inches 2.5 inches 2.2 inches 2.5 inches 2 inches 2.2 inches 2.5 inches 3.5 inches 3.5 inches
Type of Battery Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-Ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-Ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-Ion Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion
Weight of Device (gms) 76.54 gm 49 gm 43 gm 15 gm 76 gm 65 gm 15 gms 91 gm 49 gm 15 gms 65 gm 120 gm 120 gm
Firmware Upgradeable (Y/N) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Memory Upgradeable (Y/N) / Type of Y / Micro SD N / NA N / NA Y / Micro SD N / NA N / NA Y / Micro SD Y / SD N / NA Y / Micro SD N / NA N / NA N / NA
Memory
FM Tuner (Y/N) Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y N N
Voice Recording (Y/N) Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y N N
Audio Formats supported MP3, WMA, WAV MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV MP3 AAC WMA MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3, MP3, WMA, AAC5 (.m4a), MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF MP3, WMA, AAC5 MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV
WMA, ASF, OGG WAV (ADPCM), Audible 2, WAV (.m4a), WAV (ADPCM),
3, 4 Audible 2,3,4
Photo Viewing / Video Playback (Y/N) Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y
Video Formats supported AVI, MPEG-1/2/4, DAT, H.264, MOV, MP4, MPEG-4 MPEG-1/2/4 AVI, SWF MJPEG, WMV9, MPEG-4- MPEG-1/2/3 AVI, MPEG H.264, MOV, MP4, MPEG-1/2/3 MJPEG, WMV9, MPEG- H.264, MOV, MP4, H.264, MOV, MP4,
ASF, MOV MPEG-4 SP4, DivX4 4/5 and MPEG-4 4-SP4, DivX4 4/5 and MPEG-4 MPEG-4
XviD4 XviD4
Performance
General Display Performance (So 10) 6 6.5 6 6.5 2.5 7 6.75 6.5 6.5 6.75 7 8 8
Video Performance (Movies) (So 10) 6 6 6.25 6.5 3 7.5 6.5 7.5 6 6.5 7.5 7.75 7.75
Music Performance (Out of 10)
Eagles—Hotel California 8 8.75 7.5 8.25 6.75 7.25 8.25 8.5 8.75 8.25 7.25 8.75 8.75
The Corrs—Brid og ni Mhaille 8 8.5 7 7.75 7 7 7.75 8.5 8.5 7.75 7 8.5 8.5
Charlotte Church—Bridge over 7.75 8.75 7.5 8 7 7 8 8 8.75 8 7 8.75 8.75
Troubled Water
Pink Floyd—Speak to Me / Breathe 8 8.5 7.25 8.25 7 7.25 8.25 8.25 8.5 8.25 7.25 8.5 8.5
Dire Straits—Sultans of Swing 7.5 8.25 6.75 8.25 7.25 6.75 8.25 7.5 8.25 8.25 6.75 8.25 8.25
Guns N’ Roses—November Rain (Live) 7.75 8.5 7.25 8.25 7 7 8.25 8.25 8.5 8.25 7 8.5 8.5
Eric Clapton—Layla 8 8.75 7 8.25 6.5 7.25 8.25 8.5 8.75 8.25 7.25 8.75 8.75
Chand Sifarish (Fanaa) 8.25 8.5 7.5 8.5 7 7.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 7.5 8.5 8.5
Beedi (Omkara) 8 8 7.25 8 7 6.75 8 8 8 8 6.75 8 8
Bundled Headphone Quality (Out of 10) 6.75 5 6.5 5.5 6 5.5 5.5 6.5 5 5.5 5.5 5 5
Battery Life (Actual Tested) 14.1 h 19.2 h 17.6 h 14.3 h 13.24 h 14.5 h 14.3 h 36.5 h 19.4 h 14.3 h 14.5 h 16.5 h 16 h
Performance
The Creative Zen Vision W is a
superb music player—a fact
which became apparent just a
few minutes into our MP3 tests.
It’s even better than the iPod Creative Zen Vision W Conclusion
Classic, which is a superb PMP Pocket Theatre The best video performance
for music in its own right. Once would have to go to the Cowon
again, when you’re talking are a little more evident. A3—a brilliant screen, very good
about brilliant PMPs, a few Musically, the Vision W scores music performance, and a very
points of difference is hardly a slightly more due to its very decent all rounder to boot. The
big thing, but the fact is that strong mids and vocals, both of Creative Zen Vision W occupies
the Zen Vision W is one heck of which are the most important the pinnacle of the audio tests,
a PMP—it scored well because of component of any genre of an outstanding product, consid-
its superb screen, which made music and usually the high- ering that the other Creative
movie watching and navigation light of any track. The iPod products didn’t make such a
a fun-filled affair. The Cowon A3 Classic rules the high frequen- splash. But the Zen Vision W is
is another excellent video play- cies where the detailing is very costly, and at Rs 29,999, it’s
er; in fact, the slightly smaller close to the iPod Touch. The nearly double the price of the
screen is, if anything, even Touch and the Nano are an Apple iPod Classic, which has 98
crisper than the Vision W. We extra inch better than the iPod per cent of its musical capabili-
tried watching a 720p movie on Classic for music, and both are ties, 40 per cent of its video
the A3, and were blown away by also better at mid-range fre- capabilities, nearly the same
the extent of immersion that quencies than the Cowon D2 features, and half the price (Rs
such a small screen can bring. and the Vision W. 15,500). Then there’s the small
In comparison, the two iPod The Cowon A3 takes a back- matter of nearly thrice the stor-
Classics don’t seem to make as stage when it comes to sonic age space. For its brilliant all
round capabilities, we’re award-
Contact Sheet MP3 Players ing our Best Buy to Apple’s iPod
Classic 80 GB. It’s also a bril-
Brand Company Phone E-mail
BridgeOne Technologies Pvt Ltd contactin@bridgeonecorp.com
liant music player for the
Aigo 0484-4049450
Apacer Apacer Technology Inc. 080-25702208 suraj_raina@apacer.com price—go with this if you want a
Apple Apple India 080-25744646 indiasales@mac.com great looking, excellent sound-
Cowon Lipap Systems Pvt Ltd. 9819917440 iaudio@lipap.com ing, feature rich, and large
Creative India Digital lifestyle Distributors 011-46096400 contactus@idldpl.com capacity PMP.
iRiver SALORA INTERNATIONAL 011-29207100 / 01 taku.rajeev@salora.com If you’re looking for a colos-
Mitashi Mitashi Edutainment Pvt. Ltd. NA vishal@mitashi.com
Philips Philips Electronics India Limited 9833033804 a.k.mathew@philips.com
sal amount of storage, you may
Samsung Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd., 011-41511234 jitender.c@samsung.com consider its older brother the—
SanDisk Rashi Peripherals Pvt Ltd 022-67090909 sandisk@rptechindia.com the iPod Classic 160 GB. For
Sony Sony India Pvt. Ltd 1800-11-11-88 sonyindia.care@ap.sony.com video, go with the 30 GB ver-
Supercomp Supertron Electronics Ltd. 022-23881397 / 23881924 info@supertronindia.com sion of the Cowon A3—it’s avail-
Transcend Mediaman Infotech Pvt Ltd 022-23818100 / 3200 sales@mediamangroup.com
able at three fourths the price
Yes India Digital Lifestyle Distributors 011-46096400 contactus@idldpl.com
Zebronics Top Notch Infotronix India 044-26616201 enquiry@zebronics.info
of the Vision W.
michael.browne@thinkdigit.com
SOCI AL
Revolution?
“energies”—Creativity, Authority, Prosperity, Spir-
ituality, Knowledge and Productivity. You could
build an Authority-heavy totalitarian regime, a
stainless steel IT powerhouse, or your own little
artists’ village depending on the buildings you
choose. On paper, this is a brilliant concept, but it
falls apart in the game.
For some unfathomable reason, building
energies only affect other buildings! So if you
decide to be Big Brother and take joy in oppress-
ing your Sims, you’re in for a nasty revelation—as
long as they’ve got a home, a job and a little recre-
ation, they’re sickeningly happy. Which brings
me to the second thing I don’t like about this
game—it’s (ugh) easy. Unlike the previous games
where you’re always caught in a battle to keep
your Sims happy without running your city into
debt, it’ll take some serious effort to muck up in
Societies. In some cases, even if you build struc-
tures based on their energy rather than their
Nimish Chandiramani function, you’ll survive.
What I could get used to, however, is how visu-
I
f you’ve got half a strategising bone in your ally wonderful this game is. You can choose from
body, you’ve loved the SimCity (SC) series all various architectural styles—cartoon-like, Cyber-
these years. Each game is practically timeless— punk, glass-windowed towers—the variety is
I could even pick up SimCity 3000 (released more ridiculous. Building animations are sometimes
than ten years ago) even today, and not have a very cool, and attention to detail throughout the
complaint beyond the slightly dated graphics. I game is impeccable.
couldn’t help but expect the universe from SimC- Maybe I’ve been a bit unfair—in the first few
ity Societies now, could I? hours (even days) that you play the game, SC: Soci-
Instead of continuing with the original eties is wonderful—even if it’s only because you’ll
manage-a-large-city theme, SC Societies takes a leaf need all that time to explore what you can do.
out of the book that Caesar III wrote so well. You Checking out all the buildings and their effects is
don’t assign residential, commercial or industrial mesmeric, and gets addictive. It’s only later—when
“zones” anymore—you now have the freedom to you’ve started to invest time in serious city-build-
choose which structures to build where. Even the ing—that you realise that the gameplay isn’t
focus of the game’s changed—instead of strategi- exactly the cat’s meow. It’s a game that you need
cally managing a city, the scale of the game to experience, but that can wait till it becomes a
narrows to managing societies and their values. 500-Rupee EA Classic.
As someone who’s played the previous SC games nimish.chandiramani@thinkdigit.com
for days on end, I can tell you that this departure
from the original can be a little disorienting—if
Rating: 6/10
you’re a fan, you’ll have to keep an open mind
while playing this. Developer: Tilted Mill Entertainment
So here’s how the game works: you’ll be Publisher: Electronic Arts
managing small urban settlements (on the scale Distributor: Excel Interactive
of your locality, if that helps) and building struc- Contact: customercare@excelinteractive.co.in
tures that contribute to, or consume various
Digital Leisure l Game On
Universe at War:
Earth Assault
For thousands of years, mankind has stared
at the stars with awe and wonder. After
today, we’ll wish we were blind
O
h God no!–Not another alien invasion…please. These
were initial thoughts. Thanfully, UAW: EA does things a
little differently. At the beginning, I’d go “jeez, couldn’t
they make this game better looking?” but then you find that
the graphics aren’t as archaic as they seem, with some nice
transparency effects and more. The cut scenes definitely need
some make up work—they’re bland, along the same lines as
the cut scenes in Warcraft 3, a six year old game! UAW: EA has a
couple of tricks up its sleeve, which become apparent once you
spend some time with the game. For one—it plays a slightly dif-
ferent storyline (no spoilers!) but you will be entertained. The
second trick won’t be apparent till you play through a good bit
of the game—Unlike most RTS’ which have different units with
similar properties, you’ll find a completely different menu
system for each faction—unique research trees and even more
unique units—types of weapons, even modes of travel and each
unit gets a unique ability...yay!
The Story: The Novus play the crusaders, come to rescue
the sentinents (humans) from a hostile alien invasion force
(the Hierarchy). The humans fade into the background, as
the fighting between these two factions awakes a third and
ultimately more dangerous force lying dormant somewhere
inside the planet—the Masari. With such an intergalactic sto-
ryline, it’s nice to see mankind take a backseat for once. Gaming PC
The Novus is a faction of cybernetic beings that are basi- XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra,
cally hit and run experts characterised by fast movement Intel Core 2 Duo E6600,
Rating: 8.5/10
speeds, fast attacks, and low health. They befriend you in the 4 GB DDR2 RAM,
Developer: Petroglyph
beginning of the single player campaign, where you play as Windows Vista Ultimate x64
Publisher: Sega
earth forces, and soon you’ll be controlling the Novus. The
Novus basically thrives on mobility and they have an energy to your resources. They also have the option of going light or
network through which collector drones travel (at speeds of dark with the energy produced, which alters the abilities of
light) and forage for resources. You can even instantly trans- some buildings and units.
port armies from power node to power node. All three factions have hero units, and in the cam-
The faction Hierarchy are the bad guys, and all their powers paign, if your hero dies—its game over. Thankfully, most
centre around walkers. They have the Habitat walker—a lum- heroes are capable of taking care of themselves, unless
bering colossus, armed with a number of powerful weapons swarmed by enemies en masse. In the campaign, you’ll
in addition to the ability to spawn troops from pods. He has eventually play as all three civilisations, one at a time,
a number of nodes that can be upgraded to create units, or through three distinct campaigns.
wield deadlier weapons. While the Novus survive with hit-and- A very good game, definitely a must try for RTS fans,
run tactics, the Hierarchy follows a brute force approach. with a decent plot and entertaining units. The big let down
The Masari are the last race in the game and they don’t for me was the inability to zoom out of battles, and the
have the guerrilla tactics of the Novus, nor the numbers of camera control could have been much better—a blemish
the Hierarchy. Instead, they have fewer, costlier and more on an otherwise spotless canvas. A refreshing change from
powerful units. The Masari also have a twist in their resource most RTS’—this, and one which should keep you engaged
gathering and don’t salvage like the other two races. Instead, with a robust online multiplayer component as well.
they build batteries that charge up slowly, and gradually add michael.browne@thinkdigit.com
Gears Of War:
A Cog full of Testosterone!
G
ears Of War for the X360 smart, but they are fast, and
was one of the console fearless, as well as a little on
selling titles, personally I the juicy side…yum-yum.
loved it! Typically, console GOW is all about combat,
ports suck. Moreover, following team tactics, and proper use of
the footsteps of greatness is strategic points like cover,
never easy so you’ll forgive my machine gun nests, even
trepidation while reviewing the elevated positions. There ain’t
PC version. It’s been two days, no live heroes in this
and 18 hours… and I have one game…The locust horde takes
word for you—awesome! The many forms from the grunts,
controls on the X360 were nice who are man-like, a little
(a rarity for third person taller, to the boomers—slightly
shooters on any console) and larger rocket wielding grunts,
the mouse totally rocks. Now to much larger enemies like
headshots are only limited by spawners . Combat is never
weapon recoil and a twitchy boring, and you can actually
arm. The gameplay is as fre- melee an enemy with a spiked
netic as the X360 version, and grenade…watch ‘em run and
with five new levels GOW has go pop…voila, lovely red
something for you even if paintjob.
you’ve played it on the console. One of the things I really
Marcus Fenix, ex-con and liked was that GOW never at
ex-COG (Coalition Of Govern- any point feels like a console
ments) special forces, and his port, and having played the
team are up against the locust X360 version, I never once felt
horde—a race that have this was second best. The
mysteriously emerged from graphics are better, and
the very bowels of the earth appear naturally sharper and
through worm holes. with more detail, due to the
Your mission is to plant a higher resolution a PC is
very large explosive device at capable of. Note that this is no
the core of the hordes hives, Crysis, and this is the only area
deep, deep underground. Fire where GOW lets down a bit…it
fights are unavoidable and just hasn’t got enough eye-
why the heck would you want candy for us PC freaks. With
to? Fenix is the classic grunt— nice visuals, an extensive mul-
all muscle and abuse, and he’s tiplayer component where you
as likely to make worm kebab can partake in battles online
with his assault rifle as he is and rank yourself, and a deep
likely to make grub salami storyline that we’re told will be
with his chainsaw. In fact, this concluded later (shhhh!) GOW
weapon (the under-barrel is one adrenaline load you
mounted chainsaw) makes for shouldn’t miss. Indulgence is
some of the goriest and the best form of worship…so GAMING PC
squishiest moments in the get this and play it now… Rating: 9/10
XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra, Developer:
whole game, where you get to Intel Core 2 Duo E6600,
melee the locusts if they get michael.browne@ Microsoft Game Studios
4 GB DDR2 RAM, Publisher: Epic Games
too close. The enemy ain’t thinkdigit.com Windows Vista Ultimate x64
First
Chennai Wilkes
T
he Gizmondo,
in war zones have found a check. Seems the men in corps—after all, if you’re manufactured by Tiger
new way to kill their fatigues gave a whole- kicking some butt in co-op
boredom right in their hearted thumbs-up, what mode, that makes you
Telematics, was a
handheld gaming console
WIN!
tents. It comes with a shiny with the game finding a comrades in arms. Latest Send in your entry and you could win an exciting gift by sharing an amusing picture
with GPRS and GPS with a tech angle to it. The picture should have been shot by you, and should not
green X, and plays games place among the tools reports indicated that the capability. Launched in have been published anywhere earlier.
where you blast the hell out of war. top brass was seriously 2005, it didn’t manage to E-mail your picture with “DigiPick” in the subject line, mentioning your postal
of aliens and Nazis. It’s One of the reasons why mulling over discontinuing make a mark and sold address, on or before the 20th of this month to digipick@thinkdigit.com. One
called the Xbox 360, and the games have found such a regular pep talks by squad poorly. By February 2006, prize-winning picture will be published each month.
war zone in question is Iraq. great following among officers in favour of this the company discontinued
Soldiers on a tour of soldiers on the front is approach. production and was forced
Iraq pack their kit bags that war has a habit of This is probably why into bankruptcy. outlawed for civilians. and yet others say, “For the content. The case, as of
Maurice
with more than weapons keeping people on even psychologists, who The console included a Games would become community, by the writing is still undecided.
and rations, apparently. tenterhooks—one moment otherwise roll out charts GPS module for in-car standard issue, and video community.” In the second case where came up with the concept
Most of them carry video you’re getting sniped and and presentations navigation which could also game developers would However, whenever this oceans were concerned, of ‘Micro-programming’
game consoles along with a bombed and shelled, and detailing the harmful be used to track player become part of the strategy is followed, there Google cannot blame users’ for processors in 1951.
few favourite games like another moment you are effects of violent video movement in real-time for military industrial are always pitfalls. Though misplaced sense of Later the concept of micro-
Halo and Call of Duty. In holed in a bunker or games on society, agree multiplayer games. It also complex. They would lobby it may sound good in geography. Some days back, programming was widely
fact, Halo has a long history trench waiting for the that games were just what had a VGA camera mounted Congress to continue theory, in practice there are the body of water called the adopted by the industry
with Iraq. Way back in other side to make a move. they would have ordered. on the rear of the device. It pumping money into wars, plenty of controversies—the Persian Gulf was referred to for CPU development. One
2006, the beta release of Such long waits on a By the way, here is another could send e-mails and even and would be buddy-buddy almost regular as the Arabian Gulf in thing was sure, that his
Halo 3 was first released by constant alert create high of our insights: at the rate SMS / MMS messages. with the likes of Lockheed controversies about Google Earth. Indignant concept was too advanced
Microsoft and Bungie levels of stress, and which mass media is Known for being Martin and Boeing. Wikipedia articles are an Iranians promptly took for his time.
Studios (the game nothing beats stress than painting video games as extravagant and unnaturally ample indicator. And now Google to task, pointing out Besides, he’s also
developers) to be played by spiking a Covenant minion. the Ultimate Villain and lavish, the UK-based arm, Google Earth has also that a similar goof-up by known for suggesting
MAP THAT
troops stationed in Iraq. You get to breathe easy, the source of all mental Gizmondo Europe (GE) filed caught the Wikipedia bug. National Geographic was labels, macros and sub-
Smart wits at that time
opined that Bungie was
and not take out the
aggression on the POWs or
distress, it might be that
violent games would be
for bankruptcy on January
23, 2006 with an estimated
Trouble Turns out that one town in
Israel named Kiryat Yam
corrected later. Google has
not officially responded to
routine libraries, the
fundamentals used in
My Desktop
loss of $210 million. Soon
after, retail locations in
Spots was described as built on
the ruins of a Palestinian
the accusation, but we would
like to think that they will
high-level programming
languages as we know
both the US and the UK shut village after the 1948 Arab- revert back to status quo. We them today.
Arun Bala, Kalavakkam, Chennai
T
How he did it: shop, and finally the he Big G has tripped Israeli War. The locals were assume that the best course He has also worked on
XGL Desktop Customization - Mac Dock look Gizmondo Web site was also up. Again. After not amused, because the of action for Google would be the early stages of time-
alike - 6 desktops can be dragged using a simple
shut down. In addition, their making enemies with official version is that to show the whole Middle sharing systems (now
mouse action like a XGL cube - Options include
game development arm also the residents of an Israeli Holocaust survivors built East as an amorphous whole, known as Multi-user
support forzooming & menu options etc - There's town, it is taking to the town ground up in a and leave the contending operating systems) and
also a bottom dock for reflection which uses went out of business.
action scripts to process the images - This also Recently, the Chairman renaming oceans. Confused? barren desert. They took parties to fight it out distributed computing. A
includes a menu which can be panned along of Gizmondo, Carl Freer, Google Earth has user Google to court, demanding regarding nomenclature. graduate from Cambridge
horizontally
stated in an interview in generated content where the removal of the Knowing Google, they University, he developed
November 2007 that he was users can describe what the offending citation, which wouldn’t have too much keen interest in computing
Participate in this contest
interested in the production place is about, with short had a link to a pro-Palestine problems in churning out a methods after his
and win next month
of the Gizmondo again, and snippets about local history site. Google pointed out the foolproof method, complete experimental research of
Professional and culture. Sort of like a terms of its end user with DNA profiling and iris radio wave propagation in
Adobe Flex2 plans a potential launch in
the Q3 of 2008. With all the map-based Wikipedia. This agreement, which was scans. This would kill two the ionosphere.
by Rich Tretola, Simon Barber,
Renaun Erickson past associated with it and is a classic Google strategy— probably not read by 99.98 birds with one stone—nobody His brilliance was
Send us your desktop with a description of how you get the users to do all the per cent of the residents, will accuse Google of being utilised to its best during
Published by the way Gizmondo has been
made it to mydesktop@thinkdigit.com with the subject work for them. Some call it and washed its hands off biased, and the process World War II, when he
handled, all we can say is—
“My Desktop”, and tell us your postal address, too. wisdom of the crowds, the matter saying that they remains all open source and worked on the Radar
Carl, your Gizmo…no…do!
others call it crowdsourcing are not responsible for such community driven. system.
■ Vivid blames Google and Yahoo! for kids finding porn ■ Woman sues Best Buy for $54 million over lost laptop ■ Shareholders sue Yahoo! for not selling to Microsoft ■ Hackers use Google to find flaws in sites ■ Sarkozy “get lost” video an Internet hit
110 DIGIT MARCH 2008 DIGIT MARCH 2008 111
Escape March_08_Latest.qxd 5/13/2008 10:50 AM Page 112
Escape E sc ape
no site is 100 per cent safe,
Wild Wild Web and if you want to keep
photos completely private,
keep them on your PC. Or
Bang!
In The Nudesights
hat do you get when
categories—location,
permission to serve alcohol
Catty Exercises
ou have a cat, and you love
better yet, print them out
and keep the photo album
F ebruary’s a short month, and in
general, we don’t approve of it. Where
We have plans for this one...
MuwahahaHAHAHAHA.....
Social Networking
W you combine Google
Maps with the local
and distance from landmarks
like airports.
Y her to bits. You also swear
by yoga and think everyone
in a locked box. Hacker
proof, the old way.
did the Gregorians get off stealing our
precious extra days from us? Things get
And now for the bad news. First,
(naturally) Sanket wasn’t available for
extra-crazy around here anyway, but this work this month, so the Test Centre’s
Poke: This is a Facebook knowledge of where the best By simply pointing out to should do some asanas once in February will go down in history... job became that much tougher. The
trademark. A poke can mean peep shows are held? You get the location, users can rate a while. You pamper your cat You’d probably expect the cribbing to result: Raaabo’s already sparse scalp even
anything—a way to announce BUSINESS SENSE
Nudar—advertised as a radar and review them. This means so much—it has become start right here, but some good things gets sparser.
your presence to friends,
reminding your partner how
for nudity.
At http://nudar.nudar.com
that if you are in any city
and want to get a bit of
overweight and lazy! If you are
worried that the cat could have
Outsourcing happened, too: Sanket bit the bullet and
got himself hitched earlier in the month.
Nimish was on leave too, spending
time with his visiting mother. The result:
much you miss their TLC, or just
another way of saying Hi!
(it’s not safe for work, so
look before clicking), Google
action—no more embarrasing
questions.
arthritis or bad liver, go over to
www.yogakitty.com and look
Malice Surely you’ll join us in wishing the couple
many years of giddy happiness.
Raaabo’s sparser scalp starts to sweat...
And again, we must bring up the fact
Wall: This is Facebook’s
alternative to Orkut’s scrapbook
Maps is used to locate strip For people who have GPS at the videos which shows you We’ve also got us a new addition— that February is an unacceptably short
clubs, nude resorts, nude units, you don’t have to look how to do yoga with your cats.
O
with the option to send only utsourcing, Nash David has joined us as our new Copy month, and we’ve got the Powers That Be
text. This is however, not the beaches, topless bars and all at the Web site. Custom Yes, you heard right! And no, globalisation and Editor. Rumour has it that after watching breathing down our necks. Well, Raaabo’s
primary means of other similar establishments. made maps with emphasis we are not delusional. catering to local needs us for the first two weeks, he had his head neck, to be precise.
communication. The default wall Currently available in US and on skin spots are on sale by We haven’t watched all the are not only buzzwords buried in his hands and was murmuring Last we checked, Raaabo was roaming
is supplanted by applications Canada, this Web site aims the Web site. Buy the videos here (the connection among the legalised to himself “Dear God, what the streets in a daze, asking people if
like FunWall, which is more to map out similar places package for $29.95 (Rs 1,196) was really slow) but the titles businesses. The villains of have I done?” he could borrow a gun...
flexible in terms of usage. around the world. and waltz across cities and are sufficiently exotic—“Clearing cyberspace—hackers,
Scrap: This is Orkut’s primary These places can be alleys fearlessly, homing in past karma”, “Electromagnetic spammers, phishers and
method of communicating with searched based on different with unerring accuracy. Frequency”, etc. their ilk—have discovered creating sites without any would hit the Delete button English is booming, and like
people. Members in Orkut, that going local pays big typos or grammatical without thinking—but if any good business, the
have an area called scrapbook files, expecting to see that this security hole had time. This theory seems mistakes: too often, a fake that offer was for one in hacking networks are
where all the messages, which PUBLICLY PRIVATE
something else, they were remained unpatched in perfectly reasonable when site can be differentiated Mumbai, maybe you would spreading their wings.
they have received are seen.
You can send videos, Hole In greeted with images of
babies, weddings, fat ladies
MySpace for the last three
months. Many people who
the tone of the help wanted
postings in underground
from the real goods by lousy
language. Another benefit
be a wee bit more interested.
Besides, knowing local
Will this strategy work
for India? Will hackers, in
animations and pictures along
with plain text in scraps. Space pushing prams, people
toasting at parties or guys
continued to download
them regarded this as
channels—which are the
cyber equivalent of seedy
of going this route is that
they can sound more
conditions would make
their attacks more
the future send mails
offering Pongal gift packs in
Hot list: A list of your special wearing skirts and tops. The cocking a snook at the site, bars where criminals hang genuine when they refer to sophisticated—it is better to Tamil, or Diwali gift
friends in Orkut—this is for your
M
ySpace is like a big comments in the forums and also to scare other out—is inspected. something that makes more spam P2P networks in certificates in Hindi? Expect
eyes only. A similar feature is the
crush list. However, if both the
sieve where there revealed quite a few gems. people into thinking twice According to the sense in local context. Japan, gaming sites in China to know in, like, 7 years!
persons have added each other are no secrets, even One unlucky pirate before uploading personal postings, programmers with Because face it, if you get a or banks in Brazil. The (Disclaimer: that figure is our
in their crush lists, they will get a if you have used the bemoaned that instead of photos. In fact, with the Mandarin, Russian and long unsolicited mail market for malicious guess, but don’t sue us if you get
message that there is a match. “private” setting. It thus wasting bandwidth to rash of hacker attacks Portuguese skills are in hot offering you houses for sale software products in cleaned out by such a rogue a
Teaser: This is a private wasn’t a big surprise when download 17 GB of baby reported all over photo- demand. The focus is on on the US East, coast you languages other than few months from now).
message in Orkut, which only about 500,000 photos in photos, he would have done sharing sites—where
the recipient will see. Teasers private areas were accessed better to download the real private or restricted photos Robert Scoble to the mainstream media, and public perception that
are categorized into different by hackers exploiting a thing. Yet another stricken have been accessed by http://tinyurl.com/ysq3ls these sites are operating illegally. The lawyers of the
moods and can be customised security hole in the soul pined for image (he outsiders—we have come to http://scobleizer.com/2008/02/04/what-you-all-are- MPAA, RIAA and IFPI maintain they’re illegal so that’s
too, apart from the score that platform architecture. These meant porn) this conclusion: missing-about-google/ often enough to cost an admin—if his identity is
is provided. photos totalled about 17 GB detection What you all are missing about Google compromised—lots and lots of worry, and probably
Tweet: In Twitter, your update is in size, and were one of the software. The The bloggers are going nuts, once again, over the email money too, regardless of his status under the law….
called Tweet. It’s a short most hotly downloaded third that a Google lawyer sent to Microsoft regarding
message, with a maximum of Google’s cold
items on The Pirate Bay. At commenter had Microsoft’s proposed purchase of Yahoo. Guy Kawasaki
140 words. one point, about 6,700 a you-gotta-lie- shoulder towards Here’s what’s really going on: http://tinyurl.com/2tc5bw
Nudge: This is a reminder downloads were underway in-the-bed-you- Microsoft’s proposal 1. Google doesn’t mind this deal going through at http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/02/into-thin-air-
system in Twitter. If you are not at full speed, which tapered made attitude: to buyout Yahoo!, a all. Google knows they will be able to outrun a h.html
updating your Twitter, you might off sharply as the comments his comment MacBook Air user’s “Microhoo.” Why do they know that? Because they’ve Into Thin Air: How I Spent $5,000 on Air and Made
receive a nudge from your
of the first downloaders was simplicity experiences and been able to outrun them both separately. As I said on Fifty-Year Old Women Swoon
friends. Needless to say, there is
no restriction on when you can
started trickling in. personified—“If Torrent sites being Channel 5 news on Friday night: put two turkeys …Day 7: Having read all the specs and reviews
nudge someone. Most of the people who people want to see shut by media hype together and you don’t get an eagle.... about the Air, decide that this “no-compromise”
Usage: Within half an hour of downloaded the private porn, they should are part of this machine has way too many compromises. For
opening my account, I got three photos were thinking of only download porn”. month’s blog watch Enigmax example, no Ethernet, no CD/DVD drive, tiny hard
pokes and seven wall messages. one thing: porn. They Even after http://tinyurl.com/2ybmof disk/solid-state drive (I have forty gigabytes of
Meanwhile, in Orkut my scraps assumed that because it was people were http://torrentfreak.com/how-a-bittorrent-tracker- pictures alone), incompatible with my 30-inch
are touching 15,000 while MySpace, and because it was warned that the owner-hides-from-the-anti-pirates-080206/ Apple monitor, and a ridiculous new power supply.
teasers and crush list matches private, those half a million photos were not How a BitTorrent Tracker Owner Hides from the Therefore, order a totally souped-up MacBook
from my girlfriends are filling my photos would be of girls in as expected, MPAA/RIAA Pro 15-inch.
inbox. I have, however, yet to see various states of undress. many In most countries around the world, the legality of Day 8: Entourage database corrupted for the
the benefits of Twitter—the Sure beats having to pay continued to running a tracker is still uncertain, in that definitive umpteenth time. Old MacBook Pro hard disk now too
Tweets are too short, and I have sites dollars for the daily download court decisions have not been made. Even in the US, the small to rebuild (my email database file is 9 gigabytes).
no friends to nudge. They don’t dose, right? Well not so fast, them. In this last two big trackers to be shut down—LokiTorrent and Need to do something soon. Delete to make space and
seem to like Twitter! buster. As the first context, it must EliteTorrents—weren’t shut down by a court, but thanks rebuild Entourage for hopefully the last time.
downloaders opened up the be mentioned
■ New Jersey is first state that requires a background check for dating sites ■ Shakira is 9th fastest falling in search queries globally ■ YouTube blocked in Pakistan because of anti-Islam videos ■ Man jailed for 3 years for fake Facebook profile of Moroccan prince
112 DIGIT MARCH 2008 DIGIT MARCH 2008 113
TQ_March_08.qxp 5/13/2008 11:13 AM Page 114
Time to think!
(d) He invented the gourmet activities.
1 What does the SLOOP [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Delete] (d) Microsoft’s next venture into
project refer to?talk
about? combination the home business is the
(a) Sloop? There is no such term kitchen computer.
(b) Steady Learning Over Obvious 5 I am a former student of
Problems Harvard Business School, 8 What is the electric pencil?
(c) Scientific Lessons had a small bicycle business, then (a) Similar to the stylus, just
On One Principle introduced push button phones in that you write with a pencil
(d) Sharing Learning India. Today I head a major (b) Handwriting recognition
Objects in an Open telecom company in India. Who software
Perspective am I? (c) First word processor
(a) Ratan Tata (d) Stationary company
(b) Anil Ambani
2 What does spitting in the (c) Kumarmangalam Birla 9 Galvin Manufacturing
technology arena refer to? (d) Sunil Mittal Corporation went on to sell
(a) Sending VoIP spam car radios. How do we know it
(b) Breaking down a firewall 6 What does LG stand for? today?
(c) Bookmarking an article on (a) Luci Gudisheeni (a) Dunlop (b) Goodyear
Digg.com (b) Lucky Getty (c) Michelin (d) Motorola
(d) Editing a Wikipedia entry (c) Lucky Goldstar
Did ? You
3 What is UMPC?
(d) Left Gear
T he voice in the
famous AOL ad saying K
“Hello! You’ve got mail”, is
now
(a) Ultra Miniscule Personal 7 The kitchen computer is a
Computer term hardly heard of these that of Elwood Edwards, an
(b) Ultra Micro Personal Computer days. What is it? American voice-over actor who
(c) Ultra Mobile Personal Computer (a) You must be kidding. Why has also dubbed for Simpsons,
Got an (d) Ubiquitous Mode Per Channel would someone need a kitchen also advertising for the movie
interesting computer You’ve Got Mail.
question? 4 What is David Bradley (b) A PC placed in the kitchen is
Answers
Send it in with famous for? called a kitchen computer 5. d
the answer to (a) For starting Bradley Computers (c) There was in fact a kitchen 9. d 4. d
TQ@thinkdigit.com (b) He started in the 70s sitcom computer released by 8. c 3. c
Mark “TQ” in the Brady Bunch Honeywell years ago to assist 7. c 2. a
subject area. (c) He invented the transistor women with recipes and other 6. c 1. d
January’s Winner
Crossword Dushyanth R
Mysore, Karnataka Win!
ACROSS 14. Character that represents an action in computer
7. An integer’s property of being odd or even (6) programming (8)
8. Characterized by slanting characters (6) 15. Ad serving program run by Google (7) Send in your entries to
9. Readable and writable external storage medium (4) 18.System for detecting the position and movement of a
10. Chatterbot predecessor (5) remote object by radio waves reflected from its surface (5)
TQ@thinkdigit.com on
11. American dance form is also a windows application 19. Sound emitted by the computer to indicate that or by 20th of this
development system that uses predefined templates (5) something requires the user’s attention (4) month. One lucky
13. Storage device that holds incoming messages from the 21. Challenge-Handshake Authentication participant
Net (7) Protocol(abbr) (4)
16. Multiple----- - collection of information arranged for
will win
processing by a program (7) 3ds Max 9 Bible
17. To go into partial deactivation to save power in By Kelly Murdock
hardware technology (5) Published by
20. 8th letter of the Greek alphabet (5)
21. To have a real-time conversation online (4)
22. To correct problems in hardware or software (6) February’s Solution
23. Representing data in continuously variable physical
quantities (5)
DOWN
1. Collection of information that is organised
for it to be accessible and upgraded (8)
2. Collection of information stored on a computer (4)
3. Common units of computer storage from
desktop computer to mainframe (5)
4. ‘D’ in DVD (7)
5. Side by side interface—used for connecting the printer
on a PC (8)
6. ---- Up—temporary connections between
machines over a telephone line using modems (4)
12. A pointer to a program or information file in
Windows (8)
Write to the Editor Digit will publish the best letters on these pages. Letters may be edited for clarity.
Please include your complete address in all communication.
E-mail: editor@thinkdigit.com
For subscription queries
Snail Mail: The Editor, Digit, KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30,
send an e-mail to help@thinkdigit.com
Vashi, Navi Mumbai 400 703
Inbox
stay in touch and keep my passion alive. No, No, NO! Oh Fine...
Unhappy Feet I would suggest that you keep up the Give Me My Space I Want More I’m writing to you after a
I think Digit feels that we’re all good work and add more tutorials and I have had a lot of trouble over the past I am a regular reader of Digit since long time. I used to buy a
penguins—experts at Linux. Although articles about computer education, few issues of Digit. My problem is that August 2003, and I haven’t missed a lot of IT magazines, but
Linux is my passion, and I enjoy using instead of just product-specific articles. I your text and pictures are being placed single issue since. This magazine is now I only buy Digit. Letter
the Open SuSE 10.3 that you gave me, I hope you will forgive my earlier blunder too close to the bound edges of the simply mind blowing. I keep reading However, you guys have of the
am disappointed with the Linux content of buying other magazines, and accept magazine. all my magazines throughout the to make certain
on the DVDs. Yes, it’s true that your me as a member of the Digit family. Please provide more of a gap at the month, and this helps me keep improvements. The disc Month
DVDs have the best content, the Linux Vasanth Kumar Jagan Mohan bound edges, because, since I have only updating my tech knowledge. packaging is getting
content is all provided as tarballs. Not all MD, SA Musicals one hand, I find it difficult to read the Although I am very happy with Digit, I worse. This month’s DVD
of us can compile from source. I know magazine. I hope you will consider my still have some suggestions: and CD refuse to sit in place
the basic commands, such as We’re actually glad you bought those “other” request and implement this soon. 1) Please increase the size of the because of the poor jewel case. I have
“./configure”, “make”, and “make magazines. It’s good that you got a first hand Raghu GS Tips & Tricks section. also been getting DVDs with a few
install”, but many software require look at them and chose us for being better. Bengaluru 2) Please add more about Vista, corrupted files on a more regular
February 2008 basis, and the Entertainment DVD of
special libraries to work. I wish you guys Unlike jealous spouses, or significant others, Linux and the latest hardware.
your anniversary issue did not run at
would look at the requirements and we’re always forgiving and welcome you back Wow, it’s heartening to see that your disability 3) Don’t give us those old movies all. I expect better from India’s No. 1
Rich Man’s Mag? provide those libraries as well. At least with open arms. has not stopped your passion for technology, or in the entertainment section. magazine! Also, you said you’d provide
I am a Subscriber of Digit—my provide the software manuals, or give us Team Digit for Digit. We have forwarded this mail to our 4) Provide the latest games, movies the missing Google Fast Track on the
technology navigator. I am from a lower RPM packages. designers and they promise to look into the and wallpapers in every issue. following DVD, but the DVD-Guy
middle class family, and like everyone Also, you give us Avast! Home Edition BOO! matter, and stop trying to pack in too much 5) A Fast Track to DirectX 10. forgot—please add it when you can.
else I have some wishes to fulfil in my and it’s update every month, but I feel My brother has been a “die hard” fan content into the bound edges. 6) Give us more information on As for the Fast Track, you need to
life—one of them is to own a computer. that it’s not the best free anti-virus. I since 2000—when Digit was called Chip, Team Digit Web sites and freeware. take it to the next level, and add topics
The reason I’m writing this letter is think Avira and AVG are much better, and I was in class two. Now I’m in class I hope you will consider my such as Adobe Flash, Programming,
to tell you that you’re a “rich person’s” and you don’t even give us the virus 10, and we’re both fans. This time we Slow Track? suggestions. Dreamweaver, etc.
magazine. You have no products for definitions for them. Please provide us actually got your magazine five days I have been a long-time reader of your Imran Of course, only criticism and no
customers like myself. I would love it if with updates for the same every month. earlier than usual, thanks for that. I was magazine, through all its name changes, Kashmir praise is not fair, so I should tell you
you reviewed CRTs or 17-inch LCDs, a Still, thanks for providing us with terribly disappointed by your mobile :). I find Digit extremely interesting and that your disk interface is the best of
budget 160 GB hard disk, low priced such a variety of software. I would also phone reviews. I wish you would have useful, but this is the first time I am Hmm, so let us get this straight. Basically, all the magazines. The other
speakers (Rs 500 to 1,000), etc. like to thank you for switching me over to compared them the way you normally writing to you. Perhaps this is because I you want more Tips & Tricks, more Vista, magazine’s discs do not run on my old
I know you cannot test everything open source. Although I do have a pirated do, because all the phones seemed to get have two small requests. More Linux, more... well... Digit! computer, but your disc runs
that exists in the Indian markets, but copy of Windows as dual-boot, I’m trying ratings of 3 or 4. How are we supposed to 1) Please add the latest version of Although we all wish we could double perfectly—it’s good that you went for
once in a while why not test budget to do everything possible on Linux. I hope tell which ones to buy? I would have OpenOffice.org as soon as possible. the size of the content on a regular basis,
usability and not fancy, irritating and
heavy interfaces. When I return to my
phones and the like, to tell us what to Microsoft will forgive me because I am a preferred a comparison test. 2) Please include the previous we’re all quite afraid that our families will
village, where I have 128 MB RAM
buy. Aren’t the Nokia 1112, 5070, 6070, student and I’m poor, but I promise to Still, I have to admit that you have month’s Fast Track book in PDF version disown us, our employees will drop of machines, I don’t even bother carrying
6030, etc., considered to be good phones? either switch over to Linux completely, or helped me learn technology, and I am on the discs. exhaustion, or worse, quit! anything but Digit’s discs with me.
I know you have limited pages, but buy Windows with my first salary. considered a “tech consultant” in class. I I would be especially grateful for the Jokes apart, we can understand your Please start adding movie trailers
perhaps you can test them for us and tell Aswin Babu K also liked the article Settling Differences, second request, because I am tired of my point of view, and will try and provide you again, I loved those.
us which budget products we can buy. Alapuzha, Kerala about which is more secure, Linux or friends “borrowing” the Fast Track books, with the overdose of information that you Also, one of my friends is following
I’d like to be able to buy a budget Windows! and then never getting it back. seek. Of course, we have to keep our costs your advice in the Tech Careers section,
computer, and do not need a quad-core We hope Microsoft will forgive you too! We will Akash Agrahari Adding the PDF to the subsequent and our health in mind, so all we can and is doing well. I thank you on his
gaming rig. So what about readers like also try and provide you with executables and Lucknow month’s DVD will prevent me from promise to do is try our best. behalf. Please continue to be our
myself? RPMs instead of tarballs, which we give so that having to chase it around my city all Team Digit technology navigators! I would write
I don’t know if you will read this any users of any Linux distro can compile from We’re glad that you’ve followed in your month while it’s out on its “walk”. more, but both you and I do not have
letter or not, but I still would like to source. We’re very glad that you’re choosing brother’s footsteps, and we hope you’ll I can’t wait till your December or I Want My Big Mac? such luxuries with time...
thank you for a great magazine. open source over piracy, and hope that more continue to do so. The reason why we did June issues to get my hands on the PDF I am a fan, and read your magazine Inderdeep S
Antu Kanta people will continue to do so. Keep writing in, individual reviews for the mobile phones was versions. faithfully. I loved the article Settling
Durgapur, West Bengal and let us know whether you finally make the to bring out finer aspects of all the mobiles. Sandeep M Differences, but I feel you should have Wow Inderdeep, you’ve really taken the time
switch or when you buy Windows. Unlike graphics cards, hard drives, CPUs and included Mac from the security angle. to send a feedback letter. We’ll look into the
I rarely answer letters in this space, but I was Team Digit the like, it’s a lot harder for us to tell you what Well Sandeep, we’re sorry to tell you that not Since the Mac is quite a mystery to us DVD jewel case matter, though sometimes a
moved by your letter. We want you to go out to like or hate about a phone. We’d rather give only are you doing yourself a great injustice, PC users, a little information in that handful might be damaged during packaging
and buy a computer, and we thought the best Confessions Of A Serial Reader each one its due and let you, and all our but us as well. You should consider forcing the regards would have been useful. Please and transport. We request you and all our
way to inform you of what to buy would be to When I first got your magazine, I readers, decide on what best suits their needs. subscription form on to your friends, and also add more articles about Linux. readers to write to help@thinkdigit.com to
base my column on this very topic. The team committed the blunder of trying to Of course, we also thought about people like insisting that they subscribe to Digit. Manish Sharma get free replacements for damaged DVDs.
also promises to try as hard as they can to get, compare it to the others. After a few you who wanted to compare the phones and Not only will this safeguard your copy of Yes, apparently the “DVD-guy” fell
test and include products for all budgets. months of buying them, all I realised wanted detailed scores and feature lists, and Digit and Fast Track, it will also be good for all The article focussed on Linux and Windows asleep again, and forgot the Fast Track to
All I can do is promise that I will keep my was that none of them could beat Digit. I provided you with the tables at the end of the your friends and us as well. mainly because pretty much every desktop Google PDF again. Seriously though, he was
eyes open on shopping trips, and see if I can was born into a middleclass family, and article. We’re not going to kid ourselves and As for the Fast Tracks in PDF format, we’ll in the world runs either a Unix-based OS or on leave and the rest of us are to blame for
spot deals in the budget categories. Keep no one but me has an IT background. I imagine that we can please you all, but you see what we can do. Though you have to admit Windows. Apple’s OS is based on BSD, which that. We’ll include it as soon as possible.
writing in and send us more suggestions, we used to work for a hardware vendor, so I can rest assured that we’ll keep your that adding the Fast Tracks in PDF to our is another Unix-based OS. But yes, we will Thanks for appreciating everything else,
love to help whenever we can. picked up a lot on the job. Now, I’m in suggestions in mind for the next test. special issues does make them worth the wait. try and include more Mac-centric content. and please keep writing in and giving us your
Agent 001 the music business, but I still use Digit to Team Digit Team Digit Team Digit valuable suggestions.
Team Digit
Crashed Career
N
o matter how much we Hong Kong entertainment
try not to be prophets of industry in “compromising”
doom and leave a bad situations. Since this is Tabloid
taste in your mouths, in the Tech lets be blunt: they were all
interests of truth we have to spill photographed having sex with
the bad news. Folks, when you Chen. In his defense, he says the
have a broken computer take photographs were not taken
care to save the data that is on without permission, but we’re
your hard drive. If the hard drive guessing that he did not intend
is broken, have the computer them for public distribution.
People And Events That Grabbed The Headlines—For Better Or For Worse guy make a house call. But on no However, thanks to his
account let the hard drive out of indiscreetness and carelessness
sight. Or else….oh well, read on. all these photos are now stored in
W
e have featured a fascinated by the clans and Departed had problems with his apology to all his co-stars and has
clutch of celebs in myths and guilds that are the customised MacBook and had to resolved to quit the Hong Kong
these pages who are heart of modern day games, drop it off at a computer repair movie scene, introspect on the
technophiles at heart. The especially MMORPG and, for a shop. Nothing out of the mess he created and go
latest to join the list is Robin newbie and a guy on the wrong ordinary. What was out of the underground for some time. As
Williams, the funny man and side of 50, picks up stuff pretty ordinary was the data stored in for the actresses who found
sensitive actor. well. In fact, his analysis on the hard drive—his “personal” themselves unwittingly exposed
Robin Williams discovered how mods make a good game pr0n collection! The number of for no fault of theirs, they are all
the Internet after giving up greater, as well as how pictures was 1300, and all were keeping a low profile and hoping
addictions like drugs and modding evolved, is as good as pictures of various stars in the the storm will blow over.
partying. Once he was hooked that coming from a hardcore
and logged on, there was no gamer. Way to go, Robin.
prying the man away from the Apart from online gaming
computer. Things had come to and chatting, William’s other
such a pass that he would not online activities include
stay in a hotel without a Net trawling the auction sites for
connection. Besides being kicks and checking on game
active on chat rooms—where sites. Curiously, like most of
he was once accused of the rest of the world he does
impersonating an 8 year old not check himself out, even
girl—he is an avid gamer. though there are fan sites
His favourite genre is first devoted exclusively to him.
person shooters, and gets his We think he is adopting a
kicks playing online against wise course, as the Internet is
other players. Half-life and a free-for-all field, and
Warcraft 3 are what he anybody can speak their
nominates as his favourites, mind. No sense getting upset
though he is game for other about stuff that you can’t
titles too. Williams is control, right?