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Digit Magazine - 2005 March Edition
Digit Magazine - 2005 March Edition
Digit Magazine - 2005 March Edition
Note
I
I recounted the many firsts that set Digit concentrate on one topic every month,
apart from the rest of the technology giving you comprehensive coverage on all
magazines in India—the first magazine with you really need to know on that subject.
a regular CD, the first to bundle two CDs, the We decided to begin with Digital
first to give away a movie VCD and then Photography, a domain most magazines
India’s first magazine to distribute a DVD touch upon only in skimpy detail. You could,
with every issue. of course, buy a book on the subject, but
But last August was so long ago! that would only dent your pocket, not to
Our readers are demanding, and surely mention dealing with dilemma of which
are India’s most knowledgeable technology author to go by. A quality book from your
users. You expect nothing but favourite magazine, bundled free with
groundbreaking innovation from your every issue, therefore, makes for a
technology navigator. Consistently. perfect combination.
Having said that, at Digit we believe Value-additions like this one are the only
innovation does not mean adding DVDs or reason why Digit has consistently been able
CDs. Innovation must be inspired, and it to retain its leadership position among
should serve a specific purpose. technology publications in India. But the
Fast Track, the book accompanying Digit, secret to being India’s No. 1 magazine goes
was born out of this belief. beyond innovation. It’s about passion and
Fast Track is Digit’s latest value addition. loyalty. The passion that every single team
Sub-titled ‘Your Handy Guide To Everyday member at Digit brings to work everyday, and
Technology’ this book, with 200-plus pages, the unshakable loyalty that you—our
is the ideal partner to the main magazine. esteemed reader—have displayed. Leadership
Digit will continue to retain its flavour of is but the natural outcome.
being Your Technology Navigator; reviewing
the latest products, satiating your appetite
for gizmos, giving you productivity
solutions, helping you in business,
introducing you to the other side of
technology and how it touches (and can
touch) our lives in a million different ways. maulik44@jasubhai.com
Editorial
I
I DON’T KNOW who Vipin Saxena is, but he pisses
me off!
Saxena, who operates from the upscale Mumbai
neighbourhood of Nepean Sea Road, sent me an error-
ridden SMS recently that read: “CAD/ProE/iDEA
AutoCAD, AMDT Corporate Class Engg.Drawing
Classes Excelant dEsign Engg.Software”. This was fol-
lowed by three telephone numbers and an e-mail ID
that asked me to buy the software and services he sells.
To cut to the chase, I had received spim, or spam SMS.
Since I did not know Vipin Saxena from Adam, I
called him, and asked him why he sent me the SMS. He
said it was a promo SMS. Well, d-uh!
“Where did you get my number from?”
“I send promo SMSes to random numbers.”
“Can you tell me who gave you my number, and
also give me your details so I can register a police com- Sachin Kalbag Executive Editor
plaint against both?”
“Of course,” he said, and sent another SMS with
his address and telephone numbers.
He also told me—very politely—to go ahead and reg-
“The time has come to
ister a complaint. I realised that I was not the only one
he had angered, and that he must be getting several
join hands against
such phone calls from “aggrieved parties”. He was
used to it.
spammers—both of the
Pavan Duggal, India’s leading authority on laws
that govern information technology, sympathised
e-mail and SMS kind”
with me on this, but told me plainly that Saxena can too should be brought under the ambit of civil and
very well tell me to go to the police because under the criminal liability. Right now, though, there is no legal
Information Technology Act 2000 of India, I cannot recourse against spam of any kind in India.
register an FIR against him for invading my privacy, The time has come to join hands against spam-
nor can I sue him for sending me spam SMSes. The mers. We could start waging small battles like calling
Indian IT Act 2000, while being stringent on e-com- each spammer back and giving him a piece of your
merce transactions, maintains a deafening silence on mind until he cringes; and if we keep waging these
privacy and spam. Saxena knows it. small battles, we may just win the war.
Saxena represents a band of IT Act manipulators
who know spam is immoral and unethical, but not
illegal. I don’t know a single person who does not
receive SMS or e-mail spam. Yet, we only either pri-
vately crib about it, or ignore it as another fact of life.
Harsh Pathak, who recently got good press because
he filed a PIL against telemarketing calls, missed out
on spam e-mail and SMS. Why Pathak appealed only
against voice calls and not against SMSes, may remain
a mystery, but Duggal emphatically states that spam sachin_kalbag@jasubhai.com
Tell Us What You Feel About Digit Advertisers’ Index
Each month, Digit walks through the
technology maze to bring you the most Company Page
YO U R T EC H N O LO GY N AV I G ATO R
relevant, most researched stories. If you have Amkette .............................................. 15
an opinion about anything published in Digit, Busy .................................................... 55
March 2005 • Volume 5 • Issue 3
or about technology in general, please write to
Canon ................................................ 113
Chairman editor@thinkdigit.com
Cisco .................................... Back Cover
Jasu Shah
Printer, Publisher and Editor Product Testing Dell ................................................ 16, 17
Maulik Jasubhai Want your product reviewed by Digit? HCL .................................................... 87
President and Publishing Director Contact our Test Centre at:
L Subramanyan HP ...................................................... 99
Head, Publications & Web sites testcentre@jasubhai.com HSBC .................................................. 37
Louis D’Mello
IBM .................................................... 41
Editorial Software on CD
To submit and suggest software for IIT Roorkee ........................................ 27
Executive Editor Sachin Kalbag
Associate Editor (Technology) Sumod Hajela inclusion in the Digit DVD or CD, contact us Lexus .................................................. 31
Deputy Features Editor Aditya Kuber at: cdcontent@jasubhai.com LG........................................ IFC Gatefold
Senior Writer Ahmed Shaikh
Writers Meera Vankipuram, Logitech ............................................ 69
Preethi Chamikutty Help! Maxtor .............................................. 105
Copy Editors Robert Sovereign-Smith, For any subscription or copy-related issues,
Ram Mohan Rao, Renuka Rane Microsoft........................................ 74,75
send an e-mail to help@jasubhai.com
You may also contact the following Moser Baer ................ Inside Back Cover
Test Centre
Deputy Head Deepak Dhingra executives for local queries: Nokia.............................................. 32,33
Senior Reviewer Aliasgar Pardawala Bangalore: Marshall S (09341809286) Priya Ltd ..............................................51
Reviewers Sanket Naik, Varun Dubey,
Jayesh Limaye Chennai: L R Laxmanan (09380229283) Ricoh .................................................. 21
Coordinator Gautami V Chalke Delhi: Puja Punj (011-51608659) Samsung ...................................... 9, 109
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Senior Designer Shivasankaran C Pillai Mumbai: Arpita Ganguli (022-27629200) Seagate ................................ 78,79,81,82
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Coordinator Rohini Dalvi Endorsements/Reprints Wipro.................................................. 45
Interested in ordering article reprints, or Zenith.................................................. 13
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46 Take a Crack
You could win if you can get Windows
18
Adnan Sami on to display your company logo before
what tech the XP login screen
means to him
Contents Magazine
Digital Tools 70 New & Notable
A look at the most eye-catching products of
49 Blog On The Go the month, including MSI’s portable player,
There happens to be only one Indian mobile the Mac mini, and the iPod Shuffle
blogging site. Can one make money off the idea?
66 Bring It Home
Ever wondered how DTH—Direct-to-home—works?
76 Keeping (AC)Count
It’s tax season again! We test the top
Here’s an introduction to the technology, and an
eight accounting/tax software available
explanation of how it works
March 2005
Digital Leisure Escape
111 And Then, There Was Light 120
A tasteless
Computer education is an important invention that
part of the training imparted at the lets you talk to
Helen Keller Institute for the Deaf the dead
and Deafblind
Incredibly Useful Sites ....................20 prepaid SIM card ............................77 Blogwatch ......................................123
REGULARS
Contents Interactive
DVD
Star Wars: Republic Commando NASA WORLD WIND BusyWin DESKTOP THEMES
Windows-based Business Accounting ■ Universal Crystal XP BricoPack RC1
Software covering Financial Accounting,
Multi-location Inventory, Sales Tax
Reports including VAT, Excise Registers,
Order Processing and Invoicing
Enter the dark military side of the Star World Wind allows any user to zoom ■ 189 Tux PNG Icons from CrystalXP.net
Wars universe as a squad leader of a into any place on Earth, leveraging high ■ 100+ Icons for Windows
Republic Special Operations unit. resolution LandSat imagery and SRTM ■ High quality icons from the GANT
elevation data to experience Earth in pack
FOUR FULL GAMES visually rich 3D ■ 15 WindowBlinds Themes
■ Grand Theft Auto Timeless Time & Expense
■ Grand Theft Auto 2 AUTOPATCHER XP Schedules4Team is an ideal workgroup SMALL GAMES
■ Wild Metal With the latest patches for Windows XP, collaboration tool allowing you to ■ AstroAvenger
■ Steel Panthers: World at War this release will work with ANY version create and access a common workgroup ■ AirStrike 2
of Windows MS Outlook calendar, Free/Busy time ■ Mario Forever
PLUS and share appointments, meetings, ■ 2D Counter-Strike
Unreal Tournament 2004: Air events, and resources without a server ■ Frutti Freak for Newbies
Buccaneers MULTIMEDIA ■ Magical Broom Extreme (FULL GAME)
■ Template Package I for NeroVision
Express E-BOOKS
■ DJ Jukebox 5.2 ■ Just in Tokyo
■ Acoustica Beatcraft 1.0 ■ Books on the Laws of Physics
■ Live 4.1 including:
■ Pulse Master 1.7 Conservation Laws
■ AudioCommander 3.0 Newtonian Physics
■ Focus MP3 Recorder 3.0 Vibrations and Waves
■ Rosoft Audio Recorder 3.6.4 Electricity and Magnetism
Optics
SYSTEM The Modern Revolution in Physics
■ Spyware Doctor 3.1
■ OSL2000 Boot Manager Platinum WHITE PAPERS WALLPAPERS
GAMES KNOPPIX Edition 8.79 ■ Managing and Securing IM in the ■240+ Wallpapers including
A Live Linux CD containing more than ■ Recover My Files 3.10 Enterprise: Why It Should Be a Top Hollywood/Bollywood Celebrities,
50 playable games! ■ nVidia video driver 66.93 Priority Games and Cool Cars
■ ATI video driver 5.1 ■ The Adoption of ITIL in Large
■ VIA Hyperion 4 in 1 Driver 4.53v Enterprises
■ Password Depot 2.0.6
■ System Cleaner 4.97 PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS
■ BestCrypt 7.11.04 ■ ECTI 1.5
■ BCWipe 3.06.3 ■ InBoxer for Outlook 2.0
■ PowerStrip 3.56 ■ UseBestMail 1.0.1.18
■ Blender ■ SpamWeed 2.0
■ Quick Heal
INTERNET
■ Yahoo Toolbar with Anti-Spy 5.5.5
Also Included ■ Cold Fusion MX 2004 Developer Ed
■ KDE 3.3.2 ■ BookmarkSync 1.7.2
■ Mathematica 5.1 ■ GetGo 2.55
■ Grouper 1.3 Beta
DEV TOOLS ■ GoGoData Toolbar 3.0.1
■ Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME), ■ Super Ad Blocker 1.0.1670 ■ Biometric Employee Punch Clock 1.1
■ Wireless Toolkit 2.1 ■ All-in-One Secretmaker 3.9.8.5 ■ Database Designer Enterprise Edition
■ J2SE and NetBeans IDE 3.6 ■ Trillian 3.0 ■ KnowHowDB 2.4
■ MinGW ■ Schedules4Team 2.51.0028
LINUX ESSENTIALS
■ MPlayer 1.0 pre6a ■ Adobe Acrobat 7.0
CD
taste technology at
www.thinkdigit.com
There’s something for everyone on the Digit Forum www.thinkdigit.com/forum
Enter
AN INDIAN RAINBOW
Adnan Sami
Musician
n accomplished concert
Made In India: The Handheld
A pianist, singer and
composer, Adnan Sami is
often called the ‘fastest
Of Tomorrow
keyboard player in the
world’. A tech-savvy
musician, he does not
hesitate to try new gizmos.
I t looks like a PDA; it
weighs as much as and
feels like one. But
functionally, it is more like
How do you use a laptop computer and a
technology on a mobile phone shrunk into
daily basis? the body of a pocket PC.
I e-mail often and And it has been developed
browse the by Indian engineers at
Internet to read iWave Systems
about the latest in Technologies, an up-and-
technology, software coming embedded products
and music. firm based in Bangalore.
What gadgets do you use? The ‘Rainbow’ handheld
I keep upgrading my mobility platform is one of
hardware and software. I the first devices in the
have an Apple G5, digital world to exploit the power
and DV cameras (Sony), a of a new chip, the Bulverde.
56-inch GVC Plasma display The Bulverde was launched
TV, BMW home theatre by Intel just four months
systems and Onkyo amps at ago to fuel tomorrow’s
home. In the studio, I use a ‘convergence’ products.
Compaq laptop, Yamaha The Rainbow has iWave first applications software
mixers, Tascam tape multiple wireless Internet demonstrated the Rainbow provider. The NIIT-SAP
recorders and CD burners. options: GSM/GPRS via the a few weeks ago at the alliance will focus on
How does technology help mobile phone, WiFi, infra- Embedded Technology implementing projects in
you create music? red and Bluetooth. Conference in Yokohama, the Government and
My music production is It is also one of the first Japan. The company’s Public sectors.
entirely digital-based. I handhelds to exploit the engineers expect that the Arvind Thakur, CEO,
work in London and Linux OS. There is 128 end price would be NIIT Technologies spoke
Mumbai studios, use megabytes of on-board somewhere between that of about the significance of
numerous music creation, memory and a gigabyte of a high-end phone and a the tie-up. “India is the
editing and sound-related expandable disk space. laptop, which should make fastest growing IT market in
software. I use several The full-function it around Rs 30,000 the Asia-Pacific region. Our
synthesisers including keyboard is larger than in India. strong competence in
Roland Fantom and what most handheld PCs providing solutions around
Yamaha Motif. provide, while the display is THE ALIANCE WILL WORK the SAP solution suite and
How do you keep update a 10-cm diagonal screen, WELL FOR BOTH proven track record in
yourself about news and which doubles up as a enabling government
technology trends?
I surf music and software
touch-sensitive panel. A
camera is integrated.
NIIT Ties Up bodies to be more effective
and efficient, will enable
related sites and read The
New York Times and
However, it is the Bulverde
that gives the Rainbow its
With SAP both organisations to
grow,” said Thakur.
Variety. However, real strength—for instance, Alan Sedghi, President
‘information overload’
makes it difficult for me to
sift the genuine news from
it also has the ability to
send and receive DVD-
quality digital still and
N IIT Technologies has
entered into an
alliance with SAP, the
and MD (Indian
Subcontinent), SAP, added,
“Governments in India are
the trivial. video pictures. world’s largest enterprise increasingly taking
UNITED KINGDOM
In a poll of 2,000 UK customers, 71 per cent of JAPAN
UNITED STATES respondents believe that mobile phone services are Technology-induced memory loss is now a proven
getting more complicated to understand and social phenomenon. A study by Kohno Clinical
The grade school in Sutter, California, is requiring
configure. The poll suggests that ease-of- Medicine Institute said more people are suffering
students to wear radio-frequency identification
use issues could deter them from from short-term memory loss caused by their
badges that can track their moves. The system was
upgrading to 3G handsets. reliance on digital devices and a lack of interaction
imposed as a way to simplify attendance-taking,
reduce vandalism, and improve student safety. with other people.
KOREA
Korea’s Internet penetration rate crossed
the 70 per cent mark at the end of 2004.
Korea also has the world’s highest per capita
use of high-speed Internet.
AUSTRALIA
Digit Caption
So is this what Modern Art
has been reduced to?
Last Month’s Winner!
Beena Mohan, Bangalore, is the
winner for her caption:
“Technology a la carte?”
release of Windows. A beta RADIO, TIVO-STYLE will remember if you are a are more flexible and also
version of Internet Digit reader, is much like much easier to get. They
Explorer 7 will debut this
summer, Gates said.
Can an audio magazine
subscription: a subscriber
can be listened to at any
time because a copy is on
Longhorn is still slated for
a 2006 release.
Podcasting receives regular audio
programs delivered via the
the listener’s computer or
portable music player, and
Mike Nash, an executive
in Microsoft’s security
Save Radio? Internet, and can listen to
them at leisure.
they are automatically
delivered to subscribers,
business and technology Podcasts differ from hence no active
unit, said in an interview
that it has not been
determined how or when
P odcasters are pioneers of
sorts right now. Like the
bloggers before them, they
traditional internet audio
in two important ways. In
the past, listeners have had
downloading is required.
Podcasters are by
nature an experimental
the final version of IE7 will are changing the nature of to either tune in to Web group. Podcasters are now
ship. The new browser the medium. Podcasters radio on a schedule, or experimenting with the
version will run on may, indeed, revitalise the they have had to actively nature of radio itself:
Windows XP Service Pack 2. art of radio itself. download individual files unique placement of
IE7 will have stronger, Podcasting, which you from Web pages. Podcasts pacing elements, new
inbuilt security features, forms of
including new narrative, and
protections against so on.
viruses, spyware and By pod-
phishing scams. The move casting, some
is the latest in Microsoft’s podcasters are
three-year effort to beef already
up security developing
in order to protect its broadcasting
software products. skills that radio
The presence of veterans have
Firefox, with its rising spent years
popularity, seems to be learning.
playing a role in the Despite radio
development of IE7: the stations’ best
new browser could also efforts, radio is
include interesting rarely
features such as headline- considered
watching capabilities to ‘appointment
allow it to better compete listening’ by the
Illustrations: Shyam Shriram
with Firefox. audience in the
Digital
34 Jewellery
Your Phone
For
38 Enter The Matrix 42 How Do I Get
There?
Passion
Fuelling the pursuit of technology knowledge
Lead Feature
Big Business
Aditya Kuber Even now, the numbers are not small, given the
size of the market. It is believed that almost six
obile phone users in India grew to almost to seven lakh games are downloaded daily across
M 50 million in 2004, and now outnumber
landline users in the country. While this
India. “Ringtones are the current leaders in
downloads by mobile users, but games are catch-
has opened the doors to many allied industries, ing up slowly,” says Rajiv
mobile gaming is being seen as the next big thing. Hiranandani,
And why not: in 2004 itself, the mobile gaming country head,
industry is said to have been worth $26 million Mobile2Win.com.
(Rs 113 crore), and is believed to have the potential As has hap-
to grow to a massive $336 million (Rs 1,460 crore) pened with other IT
by 2009. Given the numbers, activity in this services, India may
industry is currently hectic, and all the major soon find itself the pre-
players want to carve out a niche for themselves ferred destination for cre-
before the big bang! ating games as well. Given the
Jewellery
for your
Phone!
Here’s looking at some eyeball-grabbing accessories for your cell
air and they flash a message you have written
Varun Dubey on them!
There are hundreds of face-plate options avail-
A
re you one of the millions of cell able that let you personalise the look of your
phone fanatics who go into phone. Though the majority of face-plates will
depression if the cell doesn’t buzz only fit Nokia phones, alternatives for other
for a while? Is your cell phone your loved brands such as Sony Ericsson are available. If you
one? Do you want to pamper and spoil it? have the money, your phone can take on a new
We take you through the myriad acces- avatar everyday—perhaps matching your outfit for
sories available to dress up your beloved the day. The costs? As little as Rs 60 in the grey
and enhance its functionalities. market, for the popular mid-range Nokias, to as
much as Rs 2,500 for an original Sony Ericsson
Standard Bundles P800 face-plate.
Most cell phones today come in a fairly So, what next? You can now choose from a
bulky package, which contains a whole range of stickers and cool flickering LEDs,
charger and a vanilla hands-free set. which can be stuck behind your phone, near the
More expensive models come with antenna. These will jazz up your phone, and with-
driver disks and data cables for syn- out burning a hole in your pocket—the LEDs start
chronisation with your laptop or at as little as Rs 30. If you can afford them,
PC. These, however, are just the Swarovski crystal embedded tattoos will give your
basics. A little more investment, phone the uniqueness you yearn for.
and you can get a lot more func-
tionality and convenience. Free Your Hands!
Now that your cell phone is all jazzy-looking
The Cosmetics with blinking lights and colours that border on
The first thing that people change on the outrageous, you probably never want to have
their phones is the face-plate—Nokia calls to pull it out of your pocket, except for special
them XPress-On covers. The Nokia 3220, for occasions or when the lights go out! The solu-
example, has Wave Covers—wave them in the tion? Go hands-free!
Pricelist
Apart from hiding your
Headsets (regular) 100 - 500
phone, hands-free kits will
Headsets (Bluetooth) 2,800 - 6,000
liberate you from the chore of
Bluetooth Enabled phones 7,500 - 40,000
pulling your phone out of your
USB/IR adapters From 1,000/500
pocket every two minutes and
Chargers 100 - 500
15 seconds to answer a call or
Nokia Medallion 8,000
view an SMS. Just set the phone
Digital Pen 12,000
to auto-answer, and plug in
your hands-free! Be careful
though—you will need to get used to people look-
ing at you strangely for walking about talking
to yourself!
So what’s available? A standard made-in-an-
Indian-back-alley wired hands-free for as little as
Rs 100, the real deal for Rs 400 or more, and futur-
istic-looking Bluetooth headsets that start at Rs
2,800 (grey market). Good Bluetooth headsets are
really tiny, have a range of about 30 feet, and cost
anywhere from Rs 4,750 to Rs 6,000. Check the
talk and standby time of the cheaper models.
Jabra has released its BT800 Bluetooth hands-
free, which has an LCD screen that lets you access
last-dialled and recently-called numbers, send or
read SMSes and access your phone’s voice tags—
remember, you still can’t access your phone’s
menu or your contact list!
Even if you are one of the unfortunate few
stuck with a phone without Bluetooth, there are
adapters available that set your phone free of
wires. Nokia retails theirs for Rs 2,300, and it
works with almost their entire range of colour-
1 col Ad
screen phones.
More, More...
Another type of hands-free that is available is
radio hands-free. This headset has radio inte-
grated—you can hum your way through the
chores of the day! An original Nokia radio headset
is priced at around Rs 1,800. Local-made radio
hands-free sets are available for as little as Rs 100,
and their clarity is decent enough.
For MMS-enabled phones, Nokia has released
a headset with an integrated camera that retails
for about Rs 3,450. Now you can snap pictures and
share them via MMS. This will make your phone
look really cool and you, tech savvy—though the
ladies might avoid you like the plague!
Speaking of public broadcasting, who says
your hands-free kit and phone conversations need
to be personal? Get Bluetooth-enabled hands-free
speaker sets with inbuilt batteries. Now, people
can hear both you and your caller yelling over the
phone while travelling in crowded buses.
What is Bluetooth?
Staying connected all the time is now a reality! Other Cellular Eye Candy
Almost all manufacturers offer external cameras
that you can use independently. The Nokia
Medallion costs Rs 8,000, can be worn around
the neck, and displays the photos you click.
Nokia also has the Digital Pen, for approxi-
mately Rs 12,000. You can scribble notes and
send handwritten personalised notes via MMS.
Whatever you scribble is stored in the pen itself,
and can later be transferred to a PC. It also boasts
2.4 GHz of Bluetooth and an integrated camera.
Another useful but quaint accessory is the
Cell Socket. Connect your phone to its
cradle and receive cell phone calls via your land-
line—like an EPABX system.
Another cool accessory is the Travel Pac Wire-
1 Mbps less Handsfree Kit, which connects to your phone
speaker and beams the voice at any of two preset
frequencies that you can catch on your car’s FM
radio using the car speakers as a hands-free kit!
This is just the beginning. Accessories are
being invented by the thousands—just think of a
way life could be easier, and accessorise! Not all
the aforementioned accessories are readily avail-
able in India, but then again, what good are rela-
tives who live abroad?
Using Bluetooth, you can achieve data transfer speeds of 1 Mbps between your devices varun_dubey@thinkdigit.com
T
hink of the way you use ing world. Just as everywhere else, this boils
your mobile phone, down to money. The reason why one of us has an
anywhere you have AMD Athlon XP 64 and the other still works
network. Think of how you on a Pentium 3 500 MHz, is the Computer
charge it: at least 10 Caste System.
points all over your What about electricity? Every little house in
home, your office, your India’s big cities enjoys the once-luxurious
car charger, in hotels, commodity called power. Another example is
airports, airplanes Internet penetration. This has increased in
and trains! Now, orders of magnitude over the past decade. Why?
think of these The keyword here is utility! A computer or a car
network areas and are examples of luxuries; electricity, water,
electric supplies public transport and the like are examples of
becoming comput- utilities. You pay for as much as you use!
ing power outlets… Most of us cannot think of buying a limou-
There’s a fundamental reason why sine, but we can rent one to impress a client. So
Illustration Binesh Sreedharan
you cannot store a two hour DivX movie imagine if you could use computing power as
on your handheld computer; it’s the variably as you do water or electricity. At the end
same reason you cannot do high-end video of the month, you receive a ‘computing bill’. This
rendering on your old Pentium III is not a dream; in fact, experts say it’s only a
computer. Resources! matter of time before it becomes the norm.
From RAM to computing power and hard
disk space to optical drive resources to network Utility Computing
bandwidth, every aspect of our current As we mentioned earlier, every traditional
computing experience is marred by bound- computer environment setup is limited to itself,
aries, by limitations. Computing technology is every computer is self sufficient, or actually, self
on the verge of evolving past these bound- limiting. Every component of a computer is
aries—researchers have been coming out with treated as an individual product—each
solutions to the current limitations. computer’s graphics card for example, dictates
Digital Passion l Tomorrow
what that computer can achieve in terms of
display. The same applies to hard drives and As technology
other components. Networking has reduced the becomes more
limitations of storage space—now other compo- pervasive than
nents of the computer need to break free. ever, your PC
In a Utility Computing (UC) scenario, noth- might soon wield
ing is bound to anything else. There is a virtual
pool of resources, available to any task, and as a more power
result, any user, who needs it. The dynamics of than today’s
this resource pool are constantly changing as supercomputers
the needs of the collective user-base change.
In order to understand the functioning here,
imagine a PC just the way it is, with the difference
being the fact that none of the components in your
computer belong solely to you. In a UC environ-
ment, your computer’s unused resources could be
allocated to other users in the same UC grid. It all
boils down to leasing computing resources just as
we do for electricity. Billing can also be done easily
on a per-grid, per-group or per-person basis. We
could have next-generation Params sitting in
government labs, computing for the masses.
Soon, My Computer will become ‘Our Computer’
What About Software?
Current software is as limited as our hardware, download and install the SETI@home client, your
but this will need to change in order to achieve computer will download a small chunk of radio
Utility Computing. In a true UC environment, data from SETI, and when you are not using your
things such as an OS don’t mean a thing. Users computer, it processes the data.
are not classified according to ‘Windows’ or Because of the millions of people running this
‘Unix’, but merely by the task they want done. program, SETI benefits from free computing that
Yes, applications need to remain familiar, but would otherwise cost them millions of dollars in
hardware and software need to become two supercomputer time.
independent entities.
‘Our’ Computer?
So You Mean Grid Computing? Utility Computing, however, is not just about
No, we do not! Grids may simply enable utility number crunching. It is about sharing every
computing. Grid computing is used to achieve resource that a computer currently uses. And
impressive number crunching capabilities, as is more importantly, UC is all about ‘on-demand’
the case with the SETI@home project. resources.
The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence In the ideal UC scenario, terms such as speed
(SETI) revolves around capturing radio waves from and capacity do not exist. When a task needs to be
space and computing them to look for patterns— completed, it is done as fast as the overall UC grid
as in communication. The problem is that all solar will allow. So, say you want to render a two-hour
masses in the universe release radio waves into animation you created, you don’t need to worry
space. Essentially, the SETI project is looking for about which drive to store the large file on, or
the proverbial needle in a haystack the size of our shutting down applications to make the process
universe. Since they don’t have multi-billion faster. Hard disk space and CPU and GPU
dollar research grants, they hit upon the idea of resources would be allocated as the need arises.
using the Internet as a distribution tool and Gigahertz clock speeds and GBs of disk space
getting computing help from the masses. If you would mean nothing. A system specification
Stanford Sophomore
Rohan Verma’s initial ideation was followed by
exhaustive research on the technology back-
end, the business model, and design specifics.
Post the launch, in the first month alone, the
Web site registered a million hits—a number
that has been steadily on the rise.
The MapMyIndia.com team currently
comprises software developers, cartographers
and GIS digital experts.
Rohan Verma is currently pursuing a BS
The more detailed the query,
in Electrical Engineering at Stanford
the better the search results.
MapMyIndia also University in the US. At Stanford, Verma is
provides customised business involved with the Hindi Film Dance club
solutions: companies, banks, (“There is only one kind of Indian dance out
hotels, and the likes, could here, and that’s the Bollywood kind!”), sports
be featured on the map of a and entrepreneurship cells.
particular area He has earned many accolades, including
the ‘Best Work Study Student Award’ from the
Stanford University Registrar (for making the
Write In Stanford Bulletin Web site more accessible and
Net-friendly), and the President’s Award for
Done something just Academic Excellence in the Freshman Year.
as geeky? Verma foresees a career in chip design or
Tell us about it. architecture. “I also want to develop and offer
Write to editor@ some world class location-based services to
thinkdigit.com people in India,” he says.
meera_vankipuram@thinkdigit.com
Nokia 7710
and readers for Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Multimedia dances to an integrated music
player with stereo audio, a one mega pixel
camera with 2X digital zoom, an extensive set of
video features such as playback, streaming and
recording, and an FM radio, which the Martians
like to call the ‘Visual Radio’.
Underlining its yuppie leanings, the 7710 is
the businessperson’s best friend with support
Digital
52 Keeping
(AC)Count 66 Bring It
Home 83 Back To The Basics
Tools
Technology For Personal And SoHo Productivity
Jumpstart
Blog On The Go
Deepak Pawar marries the growing capabilities of mobile phones with the next big thing on
the Internet—blogging. The result is a potential moneyspinner
Aditya Kuber Deepak Pawar of Midas minimal fuss and least require-
Events, the company that has ment of technological know-how,”
logging, with an esti- put up Mobylog.com, India’s says Pawar.
B mated 25 million active
users, is the next big
first and so far, only mobile blog-
ging site, thinks the concept will
The idea was born when Pawar,
a self-professed tech freak, was
thing, say pundits all across certainly work. wondering what to do with the
cyberspace. Taking this to the “As of right now, there are a hundreds of photos he had on his
next level—mobile blogging— number of mobile phone users phone. Scouring the Net for a
would be logical thing to do. But who have upgraded to camera resource, he found a few, but they
how will this work? Are there phones, and these guys are not were all either paid or did not facil-
enough people interested in sure how to share their photo- itate mobile blogging.
blogging using their graphs. Such a site would help
mobile phones? them by not just storing their
photos, but also sharing them with
Imaging: Binesh Sreedharan
Keeping (AC)Count
It’s that time of year again—tax season! We take a look at the top nine tax and accounting
software available to help you decide which the right one for your company is
Deepak Dhingra, only because Munshiji no longer spectacles if you dare inquire
Preethi Chamikutty and exists. He was replaced by a about Form 16…
Robert Sovereign-Smith computer and accounting soft- We take an in-depth look at
ware. The air is no longer musty, the top nine tax and accounts
T
he air is musty and carries and the old ledgers have been packages available in India to help
the stench of old books. An incorporated into the you decide which one suits your
old, balding, bespectacled computer’s hard disk—always needs best.
man sits punching available as hard copies, cour- The software—ACE 7, atACC,
numbers at an ancient tesy the printer. Today, even BUSY, Ex Personal Accountant,
machine. People have long since forgot- small companies need to imple- Expert Quick Accounting 3.0,
ten his name, and know him only as ment a corporate style of process Simply Accounting Pro, T++, Tally
‘Munshiji’. The name is always spoken management, and accounting is 6.3 and Wings EZ—are packed
in fearful awe; for Munshiji is the be- one aspect they can least afford with tools and functions that can
all and end-all of all things financial to skimp on. Luckily, profes- make cash adjustments, debit,
in the company. None dare disturb him sional accounting software solu- credit and invoicing a lot easier,
when tax season comes rolling in... tions don’t cost an arm and a leg. maybe even fun… maybe.
If this sounds like the begin- Neither do they threaten to peer Early on, this test discovered
ning of a fictional whodunit, it’s into your souls through ancient that all nine had nearly identical
EX Personal Accountant
www.tcs.com/0_products/exper-
A lthough we have a battery of technology experts right here at Digit, they’re not quite
professionally trained to test accounting software. So we brought in a couple of
accounts experts to help us test software the lineup. Here’s a little information about them.
sonnal/products_expersonnal.htm
This accounting solution has a Mehta is a Chartered Accountant. Shah is a Chartered
very easy installation procedure He has 13 years’ experience in Accountant and
and interface navigation. Setting accounting and finance. An consultant who writes
up your account is easy as well. alumnus of Ruparel College, he regularly on technology
You can set up accounts under also holds a diploma in Business and related issues for
different groups, unlike in other Administration. His interests various publications. He
software, where you have to first include reading, learning about assists companies in
define a group, and then go to Anish Mehta, software technologies, and .Net Vipul Shah, testing pre-release
ledger accounts and define Chartered programming. A partner with R Chartered products, and also
accounts under that group. Apart Accountant M Mehta and Co, Mehta is a Accountant reviews released
from the standard feature set, consultant for the industrial products. He can be
sales tax handling for purchases lubricants trade in India. He can be reached at reached at digit@
and sales are done through the anish@lubricantsindia.com. vipulshah.com
Charges Module, the setting up of
T++
www.tplusplussolutions.com
Anish Mehta, one of the experts, was thoroughly
impressed by T++. He called it “clean and refresh-
ing.” The interface of the package is a cross between
a Web browser and Windows Explorer. It has
VAT Demystified
VAT has gained substantial importance tax payable by dealer B will be only Rs 2,
V AT, or Value Added Tax, is a multi-point
levy of sales tax, which enables one to
claim a set-off of the tax that he or she pays
due to the decision of the Government to
introduce VAT in the states from April 1. It
being the difference between the tax
collected of Rs 12 and tax already paid on
on purchases. VAT is levied at every stage of has been introduced with the primary purchases of Rs 10. Thus, dealer B has paid
production, and is levied only on the value objective of bringing into the legal system a tax at 10 per cent on Rs 20, which is the
added by the last seller. All over the world, neutral tax regime, and removes the value addition at his hands.
VAT is payable on goods and services, as overlapping effects of taxes.
they form a part of the national GDP. In simple words, VAT will replace the Purchase price: Rs 100
VAT is a form of collecting sales tax, present sales tax system. Under the current Tax paid on purchase: Rs 10
under which tax is collected in each stage single-point system of tax levy, the (input tax)
on the value added to the goods. Here’s manufacturer or importer of goods into a Sale price: Rs 120
how it works: a dealer charges tax on the state is liable to sales tax. There is no sales Tax payable on sale price: Rs 12
full price of the goods sold to the consumer, tax on any further distribution channels. It (output tax)
and at every end of the tax period, reduces is a multi-point levy on each of the entities Input tax credit: Rs 10
two things—(a) the tax collected on the in the supply chain with the facility of set- VAT payable: Rs 2
sale, and (b) the tax charged to him off of input tax—the tax paid at the stage of
by the dealers from whom he purchased purchase of goods by a trader, and on Sales not liable to be taxed under
the goods. He then pays this to the purchase of raw materials by a the VAT Act
Government as tax. manufacturer. Only the value addition in Since the VAT Act applies only to sales
The VAT system is so designed that the the hands of each entity is subject to tax. within a state, there are some sales that
final burden of the tax on goods is borne by VAT levies will be administered by the will not be governed by the VAT Act :
the final consumer. Firstly, the tax liability Value Added Tax Act, and the rules made
on the sale made by the dealer will be thereunder. Sales in the course of inter-state trade
calculated on lines similar to the present Let’s take an example: Dealer A or commerce, which shall continue to be
Sales Tax Act, and thereafter, tax paid on purchases goods for Rs 100, on which a tax liable to tax under the Central Sales Tax
purchases will be deducted—and the net of Rs 10 has been charged. Now he sells the Act, 1956
amount will be paid, or claimed for refund, goods for Rs 120 to dealer B, on which he Sales that take place outside the state
by the dealer. charges a tax of Rs 12 at 10 per cent. The Sales in the course of export or import
W
e have mentioned Bayesian Eudora, then
spam filters before in Digit. You can choose either or both at this screen Install as option 2 (that is
Here, we give you a 30- Server/Proxy application), as
minute brief on the most popular for all other (non-Outlook) POP3-based specified above.
Bayesian spam-guard called, very mail clients. Right-click on the icon in the
innovatively, SpamBayes. The way it SpamBayes will appear as a toolbar system tray and click configure. You
works is, the program, using Bayes’ when you start Outlook. will come to a Web page-based
theorem, assumes that each message settings menu.
has evidence for being spam as well The Training Here you need to enter your e-mail
as ham, or ‘not spam’. Every time you After the installation, the first
see a message, you ask yourself about time you start Outlook, you
it: “Is it spam or ham?” Then, what will get a pop-up asking you whether
you do with the message answers the or not you have the folders configured
program’s question one way or the as mentioned in step 2, or if you
other, and the system learns. The would rather let SpamBayes learn. If
program thus learns according to you do have the folders configured,
how you deal with messages. So, if simply point SpamBayes to them and The Web-based manager for SpamBayes
over time, your preferences change, it will analyse all your e-mails, and
so will your spam settings—and that create its own set of criteria that will server settings and the requisite ports.
too, automatically! govern where future messages go. Generally, use port 110 for the POP3
If you do not have the folders server and 25 for the SMTP server.
Get it configured, then just check your mail Once this is set up, you need to
To set up SpamBayes, you will as you normally do, and when you go to the connection settings for
need to download the want to classify something as spam, your e-mail client and set the POP
installation file from http://snipurl. just select it and hit the button address to 127.127.0.0. If for some
com/cupc. marked ‘Delete as spam’. The message reason this doesn’t work, then just
This is a complete installation file will be moved to your Junk folder. If type in ‘localhost’.
and will work on Outlook you accidentally delete a message that Now every time your mail comes
2000/2002(XP)/2003. It will not work is ham, just select it and click in, SpamBayes will analyse it and
with Outlook Express. ‘Recover from Spam’.
Hold it! Once you have this To edit SpamBayes settings, click
downloaded, don’t just install it. SpamBayes, and then SpamBayes
There are some preparations you manager. Here you can see how many
need to do in order to make messages it has on hand to learn from.
SpamBayes function. Obviously, the more the messages, the
better the filtering.
Pre-Installation Preparation The settings page for Outlook Express
SpamBayes learns by example,
so you need to show it a set of classify it a ham, spam or ‘unsure’.
good mails (ham) and a set of bad You can configure it to add the
mails (spam). There are probably good classification word in the subject
mails residing in your Inbox right line of your message. Or you can
now. And there is probably some spam create filters to direct the mail into
in your Junk Mail folder. Just keep the folders accordingly. You can
these two sets of examples ready. If for correct improper message
some reason you can’t set up these The SpamBayes toolbar classifications via the Review
two folders, then you will just have to Messages page, the link to which is
let SpamBayes learn as you classify Since the program just awards found on the home page.
and delete mails as and when you points (probabilities) to messages to What remains to be seen is how
check them. classify them as spam or ham, you good the system will be at filtering
can edit the points and the folders out spam of the future, and whether
Installation associated with those points via the spammers can come up with
When you install SpamBayes it Filtering tab. something innovative enough to beat
will ask you to choose from The training tab allows you to SpamBayes. But for now, you are set!
two options: Microsoft Outlook Addin specify the folders from where the
or Server/Proxy application, which is program will learn. varun_dubey@ thinkdigit.com
::
Cable transmission can be of two kinds—unlimited A Conditional Access—pay B Unlimited access via a cable
only for select channels. connection to your TV.
Infographic Binesh Sreedharan
67
Microsoft PowerPoint Facing flak for PowerPoint presentations acting up?
Read on for some solutions to easily avoidable glitches
name. This can reduce the file size up to Solution: PowerPoint 2002 supports
Ram Mohan Rao 50 per cent. multiple background masters. Open the
first slide and go to Insert>Slides From
1. PowerPoint does not display 3. An audio clip can stop playing File. Browse to the second set of slides
fonts correctly when you advance slides and choose the ones you want. In the
Reason: When used on a system other Reason: This can happen due to the lower left hand corner of the dialog box,
than the one on which the presentation was default settings in PowerPoint. tick the checkbox that says ‘Keep Source
created, fonts may not display correctly. Solution: If you are using PowerPoint Formatting’. The slides you add will keep
This can happen when you transfer or open 2000, insert your sound file and go to their backgrounds.
a PowerPoint presentation file on another Slide Show>Custom Animation. Check the For PowerPoint 2000 and earlier
PC that does not contain the fonts that are versions, from the ‘Format’ menu, select
installed on your system. Background. Check the box that says ‘Omit
background items’ and this will make the
Solution: Embed TrueType fonts. When slide ignore the Slide Master’s design. You
you save your presentation, use the ‘Save can now apply whatever design you prefer
As’ command and in the ‘Save As’ dialog to the slides.
box, choose ‘Embed TrueType Fonts’ from
the ‘Tools’ menu. In PowerPoint 2002 5. Text is not very readable in
(also called PowerPoint XP), go to front of a certain background
Tools>Save Options and check ‘Embed Reason: You may not notice it while
TrueType fonts’. editing your presentation in front of a
screen, but dark text on a dark
background does not read very well. If you
want to keep your background, but would
You can choose what sound file sizes to link like to lighten it a little to improve
and what sizes to embed readability, there is a way.
Rating Rating
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
iPod Photo 40 GB
Mac Mini
Watch Playmates On This One!
T he newest entrant in the hard disk-based MP3
players segment is the iPod Photo. It is essentially
I t’s small, resembles a lunch box, and costs as
much as six years of school education. Take
the more than Rs 30,000 base price of the
the regular iPod, with added photo-viewing mini, add the price of 256 MB of memory—$75
functionality—hence the name. or Rs 3,300—and the official “most affordable
The black-and-white screen makes way for a Mac ever” tag, while true, seems ludicrous.
spanking new 220 x 176 screen capable of displaying The mini is obviously a “try me” for the
65K colours. You can also view your photos on a TV PC crowd, a fact underlined by the missing
or a projector via the bundled AV cables. monitor, keyboard,
The bundled iTunes 4.7 automatically converts speakers, and mouse.
popular image formats to its own proprietary format, The question then, is,
and optimises them for viewing on a standard or should you pay a small
widescreen TV. To Apple’s credit, the images fortune for a dip in the
appeared crystal-clear on a 25-inch TV screen. The Mac OS X pool?
device displays 25 full-colour thumbnails of stored If your computer
images. It can also synchronise automatically with albums created with usage is bracketed by the
iPhoto, Adobe Album 2.0 and Elements 3.0. However, once you have the tasks of word processing,
images in your iPod Photo, you cannot play around with them in any way— Internet surfing, e-
rotating, panning, or even deleting directly from the device is not possible. mailing, listening to
Considering the new colour display, we expected a significant drop in MP3s and watching a
battery life, and were stunned to see that the battery life had actually been movie occasionally—then yes, by
prolonged to a cool 15.5 hours on a single charge! all means add the mini to your tech col-
Though it is still a great music player, at the end of the day it all boils lection. The hardware, once beefed up with
down to price. And at Rs 35,000+, Apple really is asking for the moon, 256 MB of additional RAM, is good enough to
considering that you can get full-fledged portable media players which do drive these tasks and the odd OpenGL game or
all that the iPod photo does. two on a 23-inch LCD screen (we tested the
However, there’s one reason you might want to buy this piece of luxury: mini on one). Mac OS X is a wonderful, user-
Playboy has come out with seriously hot content for the iPod photo, and has friendly and mostly consistent OS to work
named the service iBod! Now we really wish the screen was a lot bigger! with. If you have the cash and the missing
hardware on hand, this Apple experience is
Company Apple India indeed worth the price of the ticket.
Price Rs 36,000
Phone 080-25550575
Web site www.apple.com Rating Company Apple India
1 2 3 4 5 Price Rs 32,300
Phone 080-25550575
Looking for more information on any of the products featured here?
Web site www.apple.com
Please write to products@thinkdigit.com. The DIgit Test Centre will be delighted to
respond to your queries. Rating
1 2 3 4 5
1 Poor: Has serious drawbacks and needs improvement before it can be used for its target application. 2 Mediocre: Does not live up to expectations, needs improvment
in many areas. 3 Average: Reasonably competent but nothing spectacular about the product. 4 Good: A good buy, better than most products in its category.
5 Excellent: A brilliant combination of price, performance and features - far beyond expectations.
Gizmodo.com
“Gizmodo is an online review dedicated to gadgets, gizmos, and cutting-edge consumer
electronics,” says its home page. They are lying! It’s so much more…
Robert Sovereign-Smith
Dialling the ‘Balance Inquiry’ number informed Thankfully, the service I use gives me a balance
There's a lot of choice available in the amount to I realised I would need at least Rs 300 to get any
choose to recharge and the higher the value of the value for the recharge and my choice, for long,
Handing over the cash, I pulled out the voucher Once at the ATM, I had to wait my turn. Soon
3
and scratched the code hidden behind the strip on enough, I slid in my card, put in the details and
the card and punched it into my phone. Then, I chose the prepaid recharge option. I entered the
sent it as an SMS to the service provider and my recharge value I wanted and that’s that! I’m done!
account was topped up.
And
The TATMheincurred
tech way wins but only narrowly. While costs
are the same, shorter queues at the
or the shop could change the equation. One
while you might have to look around a while for a
shop and pray he has the voucher in the
denomination of your choice. No such hassles with
Winner thing that tilts the equation in favour of the tech the ATM. In the end, it's about convenience and
Is... way, is the fact that you know where your ATM is using either mode could be just as easy or difficult!
A
t some time, we have all been album, (you can also add multiple slideshows
stranded because the people we by clicking the button on the bottom left, On the right, there are two more
wanted to share our digital photos labelled ‘Add Slideshow’), you will need to tabs. One that lets you add the
with don’t have a PC and making prints from arrange the photographs in the order you photos or videos, while the second
digital photos is just too expensive. But with would like to show them. For this purpose, tab lets you can add custom background
changes in technology, it is actually quite basic buttons such as Renaming, Removing and music. In order to do this, simply select the
simple to create a VCD of your favourite Rearranging a slideshow have been provided. button with the musical note icon and select
photos and view them on a VCD player.
Before you start sending invites for the Adding Effects
premiere, though, here are few things to do… Now that you are done adding
You will need software called photos, let us add some effects to
photo2VCD. The trial version of this your transitions! To do this, click
software can be downloaded from on the ‘Options’ button on top and you get a
www.photo2vcd.com. You will also need a window, next to the ‘Basic’ tab that lets you
CD Writer to burn your final product on and a choose between VCD, SVCD and DVD tabs
blank CD. And most importantly, you will for TV format (NTSC/PAL). If you are
need lots of digital photos! These obviously confused about this, just select your country
need to be on your PC. and it will choose the right format. Effects,
audio options and some other options are
Getting Started You can use MP3 and WAV files here
Download and install the trial version
of the latest Photo2VCD Studio 3.0. all the files you want. You also have the
On start, you will have the ubiquitous option of fading in/out and normalising the
pop-up wizard which will pretty much beg you volume of your music files.
to help it create the VCD for you. Follow the
simple steps and you should do fine. If you are Burn It!
a little more adventurous, click ‘Cancel’ and Once you have configured the back-
let’s get our hands dirty! ground music and photos and the
The interface is really slick, albeit a little various effects to your satisfaction,
slow. It is divided into two panes like the just hit the ‘Burn’ button on the top right and
The configuration window go make yourself some coffee and sand-
wiches and start sending the invites, for the
found under the ‘Options’ tab.
The default ‘Effect’ tab will let you
apply two kinds of effects: one to the photo
itself and the other to the transition of one
photo to another. It will also let you set the
duration the photo is displayed for, the
duration of the effect and has, of course, a
huge list of effects to choose from.
The default ‘Effect’ tab also has a neat
The Photo2vcd wizard feature that lets you preview the various
effects before you actually apply them. It
Windows Explorer. In the left pane, you can uses a preset image which morphs into
select your slideshows; each of these will be another image using the effect settings Burn your photos!
played as a single movie. which you choose.
Once you have added photos to your software takes some time to encode it to the
VCD format and then of course, it needs to
actually burn the CD.
Once it says ‘Done’, take your VCD
out and pop it into any—old or new, cheap
or expensive—VCD player and get nostalgic
with those memories!
The trial version will add a stamp
across your photos displaying the website
name. If you do not want this, you could just
buy the software for about $39.95 or
The main window Preview your effects approximately Rs 1,800.
M
y next-door neighbour just bought a Look at as it is to believe, IBM and Dell keyboards are
spanking new multimedia PC and also available, and are sold in the Rs 600 to Rs
thinks he has the perfect reason to look
ergonomic key- 700 range. I tried my hands on one IBM key-
down upon me. Well, actually it’s just the cord- boards if you do board and it was quite good.
less keyboard and mouse that are better than a lot of typing
what I have. However, his scorn was exactly and value your Multimedia Basics
what got me looking out for a new wrist; after all, If the new multimedia range of keyboards with
keyboard and mouse. plenty of keys thrown around is something
Unlike components such as monitors,
keyboards can be you’re looking forward to, don’t worry, there
which are installed once and are seldom replaced but are plenty of them. They start from as low as Rs
touched except during cleaning sessions, key- your hands can’t! 900 and go up to Rs 2,500. iBest has some real
boards are subjected to harsh treatment day in snazzy models to choose from, but remember
and day out. They therefore simply have to be that multimedia keyboards require the proper
sturdy. Mechanical keyboards of yesteryear drivers to work correctly.
were a different breed; today, almost all key- On the mouse front, you can settle for a
boards use a membrane with a rated life of a decent optical mouse for Rs 500; entry-level mice
maximum of five years. But remember that from Logitech and Microsoft fit the bill. If you
your usage should determine what device you are always on the Internet, I say you should go
buy, not the technology the device uses. for a five-button mouse; the Back and Forward
So, as usual, off I set to Lamington Road in buttons are great, and will get you hooked. Mice
Mumbai. Enquiring in a few small shops, I was with five buttons are available in the range of Rs
greeted with just one question—corded or cord- 1,200 to 1,500, with Logitech’s and Microsoft’s
less? It does seem that cordless desktops have devices standing out from the crowd.
gripped the imagination of most people, and Touch-typists demanding firm key feedback
are moving quickly off the shelves. Personally, I should look for the TVSE Gold keyboard, proba-
am not in favour of cordless devices: first, due bly the only mechanical keyboard on the
to their high running cost—they require batter- market. Gamers could also look forward
ies to run—and secondly, I can’t imagine peo- to this keyboard for the ruggedness over
ple sitting a mile away from a PC and membrane-based keyboards, which give
working. away early when stressed. Gamers who
However, if you want a clutter-free need that extra precision when it
desktop, cordless is what you should comes to mice should look no further
go for. Alternatively, you can go in for than the MX series of mice from
a combination of a cordless mouse Logitech. You can go in for the MX-510
and a corded keyboard, since key- corded mouse, which will set you back by
boards are hardly moved around. With Rs 3,750. If you want a mouse with loads
a mouse, though, the cord can be a of features—such as horizontal scroll
limiting factor. and pin point accuracy—look to
Logitech’s laser mouse, the Mx-1000.
Basics For All This one costs Rs 5,500!
The cheapest keyboard
and mouse that you Do You Type A Lot?
can probably buy cost If your job involves a lot of typing—like
around Rs 150 each; how- in the case of writers, editors, and
ever, don’t expect them to data entry personnel—I would recom-
last too long. More often then mend a look at ergonomic keyboards. I
not, you will be lured into buying have used Microsoft’s Natural multimedia
such low-cost devices, but my advice is, steer keyboard and can say it offers good comfort,
clear of them. However, if you own a cyber- but at a price: it retails for Rs 2,350. Buy it if you
café, you might want to look at these. If they value your wrist; after all, keyboards can be
don’t suit your taste, you can hunt for devices replaced but your hands can’t!
in the Rs 250-300 bracket. Logitech, Samsung, I finally settled for Microsoft’s Internet key-
iBest, Adcom and others have some decent board and a Logitech five-button optical mouse,
products in this range. all for under Rs 2,500—the best of both worlds!
For our general users who get their PCs
assembled, I would recommend the new Want more of Agent 001? Turn over to read his
Logitech Easy keyboard Deluxe, which retails at answers to your buying questions
Rs 500, or Microsoft’s Internet keyboard. Hard Illustration Shyam Shriram
Digital
90 Anywhere
Roam
You
102 Playing
Safe
It
106IsEffective?
SMS Marketing
Business
How Technology Can Help Your Organisation
Case Study
No-Strings-Attached
Hospitality
Hotel Golconda in Hyderabad has deployed wireless LAN across five floors. Find out why Wi-Fi is the new
buzzword in the hospitality industry
Meera Vankipuram
deployed across five floors (and two more
ith information technology changing would be networked soon with six additional
W the face of corporate India, it was only
a matter of time before this had an
access points). Guests can now access the
Internet from anywhere in the hotel at an addi-
impact on other businesses. Cities in IT hubs tional charge of Rs 200 per day.
of the country are Internet access being a
facing a new chal- prerequisite for almost all
lenge—catering to the business travellers, Wi-Fi
tech savvy clients. Even enabled hotels have
hotels are not spared become more the norm
of the ever-changing than the exception. In
needs of this fraternity. India, deployment of
Perhaps, they could Wireless LANs has largely
take a leaf out of Hotel been restricted to four-
Golconda’s book and and five-star hotels (about
create a haven for the 200 such hotels in India
tech-enabled traveller. are Wi-Fi enabled).
“Thanks to IT, the
face of Hyderabad has Wi-Fi Central
changed in the past Golconda, which derives
decade. Today, the hospi- its name from the majestic
tality industry in partic- fort located on the out-
ular, is catering to a new skirts of Hyderabad, is
segment—IT and Biotech nearly 15-years-old, and
professionals—who has a capacity of 150
demand certain services rooms. Says Reddy: “The
and use those facilities hotel was inaugurated in
actively,” says Suresh August 1989 and has been
Reddy, executive director, renovated since. About a
Hotel Golconda. year-and-half ago, we were
Located in the heart one of the first hotels in
of Hyderabad, Hotel Hyderabad to offer Wi-Fi
Golconda, which falls connectivity to our cus-
into the three-star cate- tomers. The response has
gory, recently installed been excellent.”
a Wireless LAN on their To set up the Wireless
premises. This wireless LAN, Cisco Aironet 1100-
“hotspot” has been series Access Points were
Location Courtesy CenterOne, Vashi
Photographs Jiten Gandhi DIGIT MARCH 2005 85
Imaging Binesh Sreedharan
Location Courtesy A K Hafizka Institute of Hotel
Management & Catering Technology
T
here is something to able on your PDA), we shall accept ones, while offering the necessary
be said about a world the status quo and make the best digital entertainment via movies
that expects you to of it. We will, therefore, take a and songs. The most important
carry your work with look at the best means of staying criterion here is, of course, porta-
you, wherever you may mobile with your precious data. bility, quickly followed by quick,
be, whenever. As a digitally With mobility on our mind, convenient and safe retrieval of
connected society, we are our focus will be on two that portable data. Right now,
programmed to take blurred consumer devices—laptops and laptops offer all this in an afford-
timelines, back-breaking roads, PDA-phones. able package, and are quickly
jetlag and virtual meetings in our replacing desktop computers.
stride, and sally forth to bring Did Someone Say Going hand-in-hand with
back that winning deal. While it Status Quo? laptops are handhelds. Indeed,
is tempting to take a philosophi- An interesting and recent devel- the competition on this turf for
cal look at this state wherein “no opment has been the prolifera- both size and features is so fierce
time to stand and stare” is an tion of laptops in business houses, that it has become quite a
accepted reality, such meander- and to a lesser degree, within mental exercise to differentiate
ings are best left to others. homes. These portable PCs are a phone from a ‘smartphone’,
How We Tested
Performance graphics subsystem. HalfLife 2 supports
T he laptops were assessed on four
main parameters—features,
performance, usability and price. The
To gauge the performance of each
laptop, we ran a battery of tests to
different versions of the DirectX API.
The games were run at 800 x 600 and
weightages applied to these parameters evaluate each sub-system. The following 1024 x 768, and the average frame-rate
varied from one category to another benchmarking suites were used to test was noted.
depending on the relevance of a the laptops. Screen display tests: DisplayMate Video
particular parameter to that category. Edition was used to evaluate the quality
We used a fresh copy of Windows XP PCMark 2004: This is a system-wide of the LCD display. We used the test to
Professional SP1 as the OS. After the benchmark that tests individual gauge the sharpness and level shift of
installation, all the latest drivers were components such as the processor, the LCD screens. Pixel Persistence was
loaded for optimum performance. memory, hard drive and the graphics tested using the PassMark Monitor Test
sub-system. It returns aggregated suite, in which white moving blocks
Features scores as well as individual scores by were observed for the tearing effect,
We noted features such as the type of running different applications used in and the screens were rated accordingly.
RAM, hard disk capacity, type of optical day-to-day work, such as file The laptops were then taken outdoors
drive, types of ports, connectivity encryption, virus scanning and so on. to see how viewable the text and video
options, and so on. SiSoft Sandra 2005 Professional SR1: on the screen was in sunlight. The
This was used to evaluate CPU, memory laptops were placed such that the sun
Usability and hard disk performance. fell on the screen at a slant, rather than
A laptop’s usability is evaluated on the Ziff Davis Business Winstone 2004: ZD perpendicular to the screen.
basis of how simple or difficult it is to Bench’s Business Winstone—a benchmark Digit Battery Meter: In order to stress
handle in day-to-day life—primary that tests the system with applications the battery to the utmost, we ran a VOB
importance was given to weight, that are used on daily basis—evaluates file until the battery ran out,
dimensions, and other ergonomically- complete system performance, and to gauge whether the notebook
inclined issues such as keyboard feel, returns a unified score. battery would last a full movie—pretty
touchpad sensitivity, etc. Video Encoding: A 100 MB VOB file was real-world.
encoded using Dr. Divx 1.0.6 to the AVI Wi-Fi Test: To evaluate data throughput
Package contents format, and the time taken to encode over Wi-Fi, we used the NetCPS
We noted whether the vendor provided the file was noted. program—a utility that pumps in data to
an OS, a recovery CD, a user’s manual Gaming benchmarks: Call of Duty was check the TCP/IP connection. We also
and driver CDs with the laptop. We also used because it doesn’t work on copied 52 MB of assorted data, and
noted the extra software provided, and graphics chipsets that don’t support streamed a movie file, to further check
the accessories—power adapter, carry Hardware T&L (Transformation and Wi-Fi performance.
case, etc—bundled along. Lighting), and tests the OpenGL
drive—all the others had 4,200 build quality of the Toshiba to be The Zenith As we noted before, a fast hard
rpm drives. On the graphics front, the best. The Acer had an uncon- Presidio VU drive goes a long way in improv-
only the Fujitsu LifeBook S2020 ventional, round touchpad and a ing your computing experience.
came with the ATi IGP 320M small keyboard. The Zenith
has an The Toshiba M100 with its 5,400
graphics chipset: the others had featured a touchpad whose feel inbuilt swivel rpm drive was certainly the
the vanilla Intel Extreme Graph- was worse than the feel of the Web camera, fastest, logging an impressive 32
ics 2, which is a decent solution surrounding surface, and the ideal for MBps as the drive index and offer-
when you limit usage to presen- touchpad keys were tacky to boot. ad-hoc video ing an access time of just eight
tations, movies and office appli- The Toshiba did not feature a ms, which is usually in the range
cations. touchpad at all, going for a point-
conferences of 10-12 ms. Applications will
The Acer and ACI ing stick instead. launch faster, and data will be
models came with All these laptops came saved and backed up faster on
external optical bundled with Windows XP this laptop.
combo drives—the Professional, with the excep- While you might not play
Acer had a FireWire tion of the Zenith Presidio VU, games on these machines,
drive, the ACI a USB which came without an OS. gaming scores reflect the capabil-
one; the other laptops Only the Fujitsu came ities of the video card, and are
came with inbuilt with a complete important if you are a CAD/CAM
combo drives. software pack- designer or an architect.
It is important to age, which In Call of Duty, an OpenGL
note that in this cate- included a game, the Acer 381TCi gave the
gory, an external recovery disk, highest frame rates of 25.3 fps at
drive grants RecordNow—which 800 x 600. In Half-Life 2, a DirectX
greater flexi- is CD-burning soft- game, the Fujitsu S2020 with
bility. By not ware, Norman Virus its Athlon XP-M processor and
integrating an Control and Cyberlink an ATi IGP320 chipset returned
external drive PowerDVD 4. It skipped the the highest scores of 15 fps and
into the device, the driver CD, though. The 12.22 fps at 800 x 600 and 1024 x
laptop can be smaller; Toshiba Portégé 768 respectively.
you are granted the free- Acer TravelMate 381TCi M100 made While testing viewing angles,
dom to only use it when system restora- all the screens offered readable
needed. Thus, the Acer tion easier by text from angles as high as 160
was the lightest laptop tested at providing a restore DVD instead of degrees, with the Toshiba going
1.66 kilograms, followed closely multiple CDs. as high as 170 degrees. For
by the ACI at 1.72 kgs. movies, however, the Toshiba
Notably, the Zenith Presidio Performance was visible within a range of 130
VU had an inbuilt swivel Web When we put these laptops degrees, whereas the Fujitsu
camera, ideal for ad-hoc video- through the Winstone suite of offered 150 degrees. When tested
conferences. Also worth noting tests, the Toshiba Protégé M100 in daylight, except for the
was that the Toshiba lacked a scored the highest at 19.4. Toshiba M100, the others were
touchpad, which made naviga- Surprisingly, the ACI Ethos too dark to be readable.
tion a torture. Lite with a 1.7 GHz Intel Pentium When it came to battery life,
M processor could only manage the Zenith Presidio and the Acer
Usability 9.5, which is a very low score. 381TCi went 170 minutes on a full
As pointed out earlier, the Acer We encoded a video file to charge, which is as
and ACI models were the smallest determine the muscle of the good as it gets for an
and the lightest, thanks to their processors. Here, the Zenith ultra-portable. The
external optical drives. For those Presidio VU took just 217 seconds Fujitsu, with a 100-
who will always require an opti- to encode our VOB file to AVI. The minute battery
cal drive, the Fujitsu offered the ACI was once again the slowest, at
best portability. One negative 287 seconds.
about external drives is that they The Zenith will offer you the
occupy a port while in use. best frame rates if you plan on
Speaking of ports, the Fujitsu’s watching movies while in transit.
ports are not placed all that well, The ACI did do well in the
but the device made amends with synthetic SiSoft Sandra 2005 CPU
its touchpad and keyboard, which test, which tests the CPU in
we found to be the best to work isolation, a scenario that is
with in this class. We found the hardly practical. Toshiba Portégé M100
Contact Sheet
Brand Company Telephone E-mail Web site
Laptops
Acer Acer India (Pvt) Ltd 080-25219520 raghu_s@acer.co.in www.acer.com
ACI Allied Computer International 022-56943260 hirji@aci-asia.com www.aci-asia.com
BenQ BenQ India Pvt Ltd 022-25705230 SalesEnquiryIn@BenQ.com www.benq.com
2005
MARCH Fujitsu Fujisan Technologies Pvt Ltd 022-56368718/25 gathani.paresh@fujisan.co.in www.fujitsu.com
IBM IBM India Ltd 080-22063199 sanmenon@in.ibm.com www.ibm.com/in
MSI Maxtone Electronics 022-23011434/37 maxtone@vsnl.com www.msi.com.tw
Toshiba HCL Infosystems Ltd 0120-22520977 notebook@hclinsys.com www.toshiba.com
Wipro Wipro Limited 1600 333312 littlegenius@wipro.com www.wipro.com
Zenith Zenith Computers Ltd 022-28377300 kalpak_bhatt@zenith-india.com www.zenith-india.com
PDA-phones
Blackberry Bharti Cellular Ltd 9892754000 mumbai_blackberry@airtelindia.com www.airtelworld.com
Motorola Motorola India Pvt ltd 0124-5191760 W4440C@motorola.com www.motorola.com/in
Nokia Nokia India Ltd 011-22677900 jay.bakshi@nokia.com www.nokia.co.in
O2 Creative e-biz 011-51619800 creative@goldkist.net www.myxda.com
O2 XDA II mini Palm Esource Global 9820822205 sales@esourceglobal.com www.palmone.com
1/2 H Ad
What Do I Need?
NAS (Network Attached Storage) Now comes the hardest part—choosing a solu-
Basically, a NAS is nothing more than a very tion, or a combination of solutions, for your
simple computer with many hard disks and a company. There are three broad categories that
simple OS, used mainly to increase the capac- any business would fit into, based upon the
ity of existing servers, or to supplement the amount of data that needs to be backed up, and
storage capacity for users over a LAN. The the frequency at which backups are performed.
hardware and OS are made specifically to Let’s take a look at the three hypothetical
enable fast file transfers and handle many companies and their backup solution setups.
simultaneous requests. A NAS device can also
be used as a backup device that can be Small Business
plugged in when backups are needed, and Company A has two or three network servers,
stored away for safety after the backups are and has less than 80 GB of critical data. Their
done. The beauty of a NAS is that it costs less daily backup is less than 40 GB, and they require
than a backup server, while still providing all archiving of data at least once a month. The
the desired functions. company has a per-user backup policy—each
NAS devices are available from all the top user is solely responsible for backing up his or
vendors in the country, such as HP and her own data on the servers. The solution they
Iomega. A typical NAS generally offers use is an additional network server with dual
anywhere from 250 GB to 2 TB of storage space. hard drives running with RAID 1 configuration.
The advantage of a NAS is that it uses drive- Backups are taken at the end of every working
based storage, which offers data transfer day. At the end of the month, data for archiving
speeds that are much higher than traditional is manually burnt onto DVD media.
tape-based storage. Also, NAS devices are very Company A runs personal software on every
easy to add to an existing LAN, as they are user’s computer to back up data onto their
more or less plug-and-play. network file servers. Then, software on the
backup server copies the data from the network
Tape Drive Servers servers—it is scheduled to do so about an hour
These servers use magnetic tapes to store large
volumes of data. They are great for high Online Storage
volumes of data storage, but have slower read
and write speeds. Tape media is also a high-risk
storage medium, as the media is frail, and
needs to be stored carefully.
W ith broadband penetration in India increasing, online backup solutions are
looking more attractive, especially for offices. The advantage of this solution is
that your data is accessible from anywhere in the world—only to you. It is also the
Systems engineers also need to constantly most convenient in terms of ease of use and infrastructure. All you need to do is run
monitor the media and avoid overuse of a tape, the provided software, select which folders you want backed up, and then back up
as this could lead to wearing away of the the data. There is no hassle about maintaining hardware. The drawbacks are that
magnetic layer and thus, loss of data. Also, you are dependant solely on your Internet connection, and you might not trust the
tape drives need to have regular maintenance Internet for critical company data that may contain trade secrets, proposals, etc.
done, especially the heads that read the tape— The costs are falling here too, but are still a lot more than using tape or hard
these need frequent replacement or cleaning. drives as backup solutions. If you do opt for this backup technique, make sure to
The biggest advantage of tape servers has check for hidden costs, data redundancy at the provider’s end, encryption and
always been cost. For volumes of data backup in security, and, of course, company reviews and experiences.
terms of terabytes, nothing beats tape on per-GB Fifty GB of backup space can cost anywhere between Rs 80,000 and
cost. Also, the portability of tape cartridges Rs 3,80,000, depending on whether you need a single-user or workgroup backup
means that off-site storage of archived data is solution. Some online backup providers are: www.ibackup.com or www.xdrive.com.
easier, faster and cheaper.
eople often do not understand the difference between backup and archival. Many Conclusion
P small offices have a DVD-Writer as a backup solution for working data, and over-
spend on media. Due to these costs, backups are infrequent and loss of data may
These three models broadly categorise all
medium to large-sized businesses across the
mean an unacceptable setback of days. On the other hand, some offices may have a globe. Your business may be exactly like one of
server or external hard disk solution for archival purposes. This results in running these, or be somewhere between any two.
out of hard disk space and in deletion of archives. If you choose carefully, and wisely, you can
You need to identify whether your requirements are backup- or archival- use various combinations of the hardware and
based. A simple rule of thumb here is to use the previous self-assessment you software mentioned here to find a perfect
did: if your backup requirements are infrequent and less than 5 GB, you are backup solution for your requirements.
better off using DVD-R or DVD-RW media. robert_smith@thinkdigit.com
“Y
ahoo! India does not believe in
unsolicited, spamming on behalf of
advertisers. All communication is
pull-based—initiated by the subscriber.
Y! India Mobile currently has tie-ups with
all leading Indian cellular operators in India
including Airtel, Hutch, RPG, Escotel, Oasis
and Spice Telecom.
Yahoo! India uses its short code 8243, to
power advertiser’s SMS responses. Pull-based
marketing invites the customer to participate,
Rajeev Tyagi
and it is non-intrusive.
Yahoo! aids a variety of marketers (ESPN,
Vishal Maheshwari Pepsi, and Motorola to name a few) to
Head, Yahoo! India Mobile establish an SMS-based communication link
with subscribers. And these clients have
reported 50 to 60 per cent conversions on sales
leads using the SMS medium.
Is Sms Marke
Indian corporates wanting to exploit new media to reach out to customers, are increasingly
relying on SMS to market products. How do they keep the line that divides marketing from spam?
“A
irtel uses SMS marketing to promote
its own services and products—
informing the customers of new
offers and value added services. SMS targets
audiences who are difficult to reach through
traditional media channels. The conversion
rates are as high as 80 to 90 per cent.
Over 1 million text messages are sent
every month, and SMS messages are always
read, making SMS a highly personal
communication tool. They can also be timed,
to achieve maximum impact.
Proper profiling is a must. For example, if
we want to communicate to young women
Jayant Khosla about attractive schemes, we use our database
CEO, Bharti Cellular Ltd. to customise our message to suit her needs.
Mumbai Circle Mobile marketing is at a nascent stage in
India. Though there are no official figures
regarding SMS, according to industry
estimates, approximately 2 billion SMSs were
Bhagirath
More recent examples are the figures available for Indian Idol—
American Idol got 30,000 fewer responses than Indian Idol! This proves
that Indians are more than willing to participate.
Alok Kejriwal The mobile phone enables one to one communication with the
CEO, Contests2Win.com customer—certainly an advantage to businessmen. This form of
marketing is certainly more cost-effective than the conventional
advertising mediums. Responding to an SMS short code is much less of
a hassle than writing a letter, for example.
ting Effective?
“U
sing the mobile phone as a medium of marketing means
providing some benefits to the end consumer. This could
mean the ability to respond (votes, polls), interact,
participate (Contests), download (ringtones, games), etc, based on our
shows. STAR also provides its many clients with interactivity. We do
this by enabling their advertising through 7827.
Many of our customers only use SMS as a return path for generating
leads. Organisations that are so driven in this direction would confirm
that well-designed and integrated interactivity works, and works well.
As this is a personal medium, we try and individualise the
responses, keeping in view the activity, the potential customer
profile and similar factors. The advantages are that it is personal,
direct, confidential, immediate and digital!
This service is cost-effective and efficient, as it allows you to target the
Viren Popli potential customer without the attendant wastage. Also, it makes your
Senior Vice President, other media work harder to allow you to deliver specific results.
Wireless, STAR India Most marketers use it for spam, which is wrong. They miss out on the
interactivity of the medium and all the attendant benefits. Since we do
not spam on the mobile platform, we do not have mailing lists. Our
whole service runs based on delivery of solicited information only. We do
not give mailing lists nor support such ideas even from our clients.
“W
e believe that unsolicited communication, including
SMSes, invade the privacy of our users and is
tantamount to spamming. We do not have tie-ups with
any corporate or political bodies to sending bulk messages to our
subscribers, and do not intend to do so for any consideration.
Harit Nagpal
Chief Marketing Officer,
Hutch E-mail: preethi_chamikutty@thinkdigit.com
It is a little early to say that MFDs MFDs work out cheaper, and are
are better than standalones easier to operate
R E
ediff.com is an online provider of news, information, stablished in 1995, Spanco Telesystems and Solutions
communication, entertainment and shopping servic- Limited is a networking and systems integration
es. By and large, Rediff.com uses standalone solutions company, with offices in Mumbai, Pune,
machines and prefer those over MFDs. Gurgaon, Kolkata, Bangalore, Lucknow and Guwahati.
“Our standalone devices provide good scanning and Spanco prefers MFDs over standalone devices.
printing speeds, good colour reproduction and so on. “We use MFDs because they offer an all-in-one solution,
Scanning and printing is slower with MFDs. Moreover, centralised technology, ease of maintenance and a
there is virtually no queuing with standalone devices as smaller footprint that saves space. Moreover, MFDs work
the various machines print, scan and fax independently. out cheaper than single-use solutions. An MFD combines
“With standalones, there is proper distribution of all the essential features otherwise provided by separate
equipment area, since one can divide and deploy work. devices into a single, convenient desktop unit. Indeed, an
Moreover, downtime is considerably less with single-use MFD offers all the benefits that standalone machines offer
devices. For instance, if a printer develops problems, that such as copying, printing, faxing, scanning and
alone can be sent for servicing, and hence the functions of telephone—plus optimal utilisation of relevant features.
the entire department need not come to a grinding halt— “Shifting from single-use machines to MFDs was a
which is bound to happen in case an MFD malfunctions. As drastic change. We took some time to adjust, and also had
a media organisation, our functions never come to a stand- to train the operations staff. The major benefit we have
still, since all is not dependant on one piece of equipment. seen after shifting to MFDs was ease of operation. It is a
We must have alternatives to resort to. really a big boon—there is no more running to and fro as
“Products that are properly maintained have delivered all the work is done at one place. This obviously saves time
value for money till date. Maintenance is 10 per cent and has led to higher productivity.
cheaper with a standalone machine. “The main advantage of MFDs is multi-location usage;
“I feel that MFDs are appropriate for secretarial cadres they can be conveniently used in the office or at home. For
and extremely convenient for home users who need a print- general applications, scanning, printing and faxing is as
ing and faxing solution with a small footprint. It is a little good with standalone machines. However, for specialised
early to say that MFDs are better than standalone machines. usage, standalones serve the purpose better. For instance,
Improvements in technology and an increase in efficiency, the quality of the zoom and sorter feature in our MFD’s
coupled with a drop in prices, will make MFDs more attrac- scanner is almost same as that of a regular office-use
tive to buyers—and single-use devices may one day become scanner. The image quality and resolution in printing is as
a thing of the past. good as that of a regular office-use printer. However, the
“At the same time, one cannot deny the possibility of memory capacity of an MFD is lower.
standalone machines getting outdated due to consumers “I feel that MFDs and standalone devices have their
demanding multi-functioning products. Nowadays, don’t own target markets and complement each other—there is
people prefer to buy a CD and DVD combo over a separate no question of competition. MFDs are reliable and never
CD-Reader and DVD-Writer? completely break down; any issues with specific functions
“Having said that, I would still advise other businesses are taken care of by the service network of the vendor.
to use standalone machines and not MFDs, since the “Since we have deployed MFDs very recently, there have
combo features have not worked well so far. By and large, been no maintenance, upgradation or downtime issues so
MFDs are not yet equipped to meet the rigorous demands far. Of course, it is advisable to have multiple MFDs if the
of professional work.” user base is large.”
As told to Renuka Rane (renuka_rane@thinkdigit.com)
Digital
115 Too
A Smartphone? 120 Dead
Dumb For Talk To The
136 Preference
For Pink
Leisure
Technology Beyond Work
Touched By Tech
“A person who is severely handi- bet on your palm and tap your “Hi Zamir.”
capped never knows his own hidden wrist to signal the end of each “Hello.”
source of strength until he is treated word. After this novel exercise in “How are you?”
like a normal human being and palm printing follows an interac- “I am doing fine.”
allowed and supported to shape his tive session on the computer. “Tell me more about yourself.”
own life—for life is either a challenge “I first came to the Helen Keller
and an adventure or nothing at all.” Institute for the Deaf and Deaf-
- Dr Helen Keller blind when I was 12…”
Does this resemble a chat tran-
Imaging Jayan Narayanan
Photographs Jiten Gandi
T
hey gently feel your hands, Dhale, who is deaf-blind. Dhale
your watch, the shape of cannot use the mouse, can’t see
your fingernails and the the monitor and neither can he
texture of your skin. Their hands
talk and are, in effect, their eyes.
They write the letters of the alpha-
S
ounds familiar? It’s the story most likely needs to be formatted,
of every second person who and of course, all the stuff on it I
decides to ‘upgrade’ to a new, tried to back up will be lost forever.
feature-packed cellphone. Connecting to GPRS was
One day you are perfectly another nightmare. Simply saving
happy with your trusty two-year- the settings sent by my cellphone
old handset—it does the two provider was not enough. I had to
things that a phone really needs actually visit the provider’s store
to do, call and SMS! The next, you where an executive explained that
are seduced by a younger, slim- my phone required ‘advanced’
mer model packed with a dozen settings. Hidden somewhere deep
oh-so-cool features. inside the menu!
You feel vaguely guilty about Is it any wonder that a recent
coughing up Rs 20,000 for a palm survey in Europe found that 85 per
sized contraption—an amount that cent of consumers admitted to
could buy you a full size fridge, two being ‘too dumb’ to access or use
21-inch colour TVs, or three Illustration Shyam Sriram mobile services—mainly due to
microwaves! But when was there increasing device complexity?
ever a sense of logic in lust? Nearly three quarters feel that
Two months later, the passion I guess the first phonebooks, and no, we don’t handsets have become ‘too difficult
cools. Your new companion’s asli have backups! to navigate’. Another study found
roop is now evident—high on main-
generation of Technosexuals love complexity. 30 per cent of participants rated
tenance, low on efficiency. The smartphone The rest of humanity just gives up. ‘not knowing what features are
phone is too complicated to use! users will be This is a species which will available’ as their top complaint.
And no, this conclusion isn’t a case the bakras who skimp on everything else, but own Bottomline: There’s so much
of sour grapes—I speak not from will help the latest, jazziest gizmo. One such packed into the average smart-
envy, but from experience. member of the geekerati, a student phone that basics often take a
Take the simple task of text
companies I know, has a call centre job. He backseat. On the Nokia 6670, the
messaging. On my ancient Nokia figure out what sports a Rs 30,000 Sony Ericsson green and red buttons generally
3310 it took three lightning quick it is people S700i, but isn’t concerned about used for making and ending calls
finger flicks. On my new Nokia really want the holes in his socks. are designed for a circus midget’s
6670, initially it took me six The engineers who design fingers! And yet, overall, these
keypresses, and not all the buttons smartphones probably share this phones are generally bigger and
were close enough for comfort. profile. And so, they end up design- bulkier than average—you don’t get
Eventually, I learnt to do it in four, ing instruments that are compati- that comfy palm-fit feeling.
and then, hallelujah, I discovered ble with folks like themselves. I guess the first generation of
a one touch option. So why did I buy a smartphone? smartphone users will be the
OK, so I didn’t—a junior office Partly because of peer pressure. I bakras who will help companies
colleague who happens to be an had the oldest and ugliest phone figure out what is it that people
alpha geek figured it out for me. amongst anyone I knew—partially really want. In the interim, they
He’s the kind of guy Wired maga- chipped after kissing the ground a need to help users figure out what
zine would describe as ‘techno- few hundred times. But mainly, I the technology in their hands can
sexual’. The difference between picked up the Nokia 6670 for its really do. I mean, if refrigerator
technosexuals and ordinary one-megapixel camera. The with- companies can send a guy home to
mortals can be summed up in you-at-all-times factor made the give a ‘demo’ (I kid you not!), surely
three quick observations: camera phone a must have. handset makers can do the same?
Technosexuals are never ‘too Although I must say I am pretty Until then, scream for help!
lazy’ to read user manuals—even satisfied with its picture quality, There are always alpha geeks lurk-
if they are the size of telephone the same can’t be said about the ing, dying to rescue the ‘damn cell
directories, which is what way the camera functions. It does in distress’.
smartphones will soon be not respond as rapidly as a conven-
accompanied by! tional digital camera. What’s Rashmi Bansal is founder-editor of the
‘Fiddling around’ is harmless more, downloading the pictures is popular youth magazine JAM
fun for technosexuals. Ordinary a pain. The data cable just refused (www.jammag.com). She can be
mortals end up deleting their to connect the computer and reached at rashmi@jammag.com
First
Escape
FIVE FEET UNDER IMMORAL NET USE
Inbox
Bust The Google Myth Some Random Observations Apple Of My Eye
On Page 81 of the February 2005 issue of Digit’s December and January issue were
Digit, in the story relating to Gmail, the simply great! Thank you for the I learn, breathe and sleep design at
Web site address provided in Step 1 was Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise the National Institute of Design
incorrect. The correct address is Edition CD. It was a pure treat to read (NID), Ahmedabad. I may not be a
www.viksoe.dk, and not www.viskoe.dk all the gadget reviews, and I even got to technologist anymore, but I have to
as mentioned. learn a lot about Formula 3, courtesy deal with it in every product, which
But that is not the real reason for the race driver Karun Chandok. The I design or think of.
writing this mail. The media the world story on Jagdeep Dangi and his Hindi For years, Digit had been my
over goes gaga whenever Google does browser was unique, and was a positive ‘navigator for technology’, and it
something. It may have been justified at piece on how one can overcome continues to be so for me, a loyal
one point of time. Not any more. Google challenges to succeed in life. subscriber, even after that
may have become synonymous with When I read the piece I wondered ‘sensible’ decision I took to Letter
online search, but if Microsoft’s beta why Indian technology biggies do not leave all the so-called service of the
version of search is anything to go by, come out with affordable software packs, patches, blue screens, Month
then hard days are up ahead for Google. products for the Indian market. Given and viruses behind and switch
Search for any term on both Google their expertise and financial prowess, over to the Apple Macintosh!
and MSN, and check the results for the they could easily give even the giant As expected from the Mac cult,
following: Microsoft a run for its money, and it is not just brand loyalty that
Number of results generated greatly help in reducing piracy due to prompts me to write this mail. The
Relevance of the results cheaper software. “Old Way Tech Way” article
Speed of loading the page comparing an iPod with the
Last updated date of the cached Walkman (Digit, February 2005)
version of the page does no justice to the
Apple product.
Admittedly, the Walkman was a
revolution when it was introduced.
It created a new concept of carrying
music; but so did iPod change the
Is MSN Search really better than Google? way people buy and share music.
Even Steve Jobs might not have
The truth is that MSN wins hands anticipated that music could bring
down in most cases. I am no MSN junkie more revenue for Apple than all
nor am I being paid by Microsoft to write their products put together.
this mail. I also know there are a lot of Does Digit really feel your brand
people who swear by Google, and will head’s Walkman deserved a smiley
vehemently disagree with me on this. So, face for that it takes more than an
how about checking it out on your own? hour to load a 20-song playlist
Maybe Google could strengthen compared to less than half an hour
its search capabilities, and retain its Digit: navigating you through more than just tech the executive editor took to import
No 1 position. your entire music collection for life
Ramanpreet Singh I have a similar opinion about to an iPod? Or do you feel the total
New Delhi hardware. Unless India gets cost of Rs 1,055 for only 20 songs is
manufacturing plants to produce all the much cheaper than Rs 15,000 for
Dear Ramanpreet, components of a PC here, I doubt 3,000 songs? I guess the total cost
Cola wars are part of advertising and marketing whether we will be able to achieve the for the Walkman didn’t consider
folklore. The 21st century’s online history could sub-Rs 10,000 PC dream. the cost for hiring a truck to
well begin with the war of the searches. With Let’s hope that we see a day when carry the entire music collection as
Google, MSN and Yahoo vying online for a piece affordable computing becomes a reality. audio tapes!
of the search pie, it is only logical that all three It is a wrong to say that Apple
Nitin product owners are only show-offs;
players come out with more and more
Via E-mail
innovative products every month. While most the user-experience that one goes
people at Digit prefer Google, we are not Dear Nitin, through can never be replaced by
loyalists. If a better search engine comes along, Your observations are well thought-out and anything else! I did not expect Digit
we will hop there. Having said that, we just perceptive. It is indeed a paradox as to why India to make a comparison based only
cannot take Google lightly. After all, it has some supplies some of the world’s best customised on someone’s personal views.
of the world’s best software engineers and software to various countries, but has no product
leaders including Sergey Brin, Larry Page and to show off for the domestic market. Perhaps the
Eric Schmidt heading its dynamic team. Our day will come soon when we will be able to Nithin Ismail
opinion is, don’t write off Google just yet. assemble sub-Rs 10,000 PCs in India. Ahmedabad
—Executive Editor —Executive Editor
Sleeptexting!
Preference B
ritain is a nation of
prolific texters, as we
reported earlier. As a sort
Ashley Jones saying: “Help, I’m
in trouble, someone’s chasing
me.” She immediately rang
for Pink
of ‘proof’ of this, it has emerged back, and found that he had
that a man in Swansea, Wales, been only dreaming and was
sends text messages in his not in trouble.
sleep—a sign of the times, Another text, referring to
according to a sleep expert. the film Jungle Book he had
The associate, Richard Griffiths, 23, has seen, read: “Baloo, have you
who asked to sent a series of messages while seen Bagheera?”
remain anony- asleep—one even mirroring a Sleep expert, Professor
mous, said Griffith nightmare he was having. Chris Idzikowski, said: “I
came right up to He said: “I text so much it’s have not heard of this before,
him and “pretty second nature. But I was still but it is entirely plausible—
much demanded” freaked out.” He once sent a and possibly a sign of the
a pink iPod mini. text message to his friend modern age.”
The mini was in
‘Cybersex’ Takes
short supply, and
the associate told
her there were
none in stock.
He told Wired
News, “She then
proceeded to get
On New Meaning
K
pissed off at me im Jong-Hwan, director focused only on the functional-
personally of IRRC (Intelligent ity of the machines, but we
because we didn’t Robot Research Centre) think in terms of the essence
have any in stock. in South Korea, plans to give of the creatures,” said Jong-
She said we have a the gift of sex to robots. He Hwan, a leading authority on
special stock of has developed a series of arti- the technology and ethics of
iPods for people ficial chromosomes, which, robotics. According to him, the
like her.... I hadn’t he claims, will allow robots to ‘essence’ is a computer code
Melanie Griffith: I want pink—now! seen any celebri- “feel lusty.” It could eventual- modelled on human DNA.
ties there up until ly lead to them reproducing, “Robots will have their
S
ales associates at the four then, so at first I was like, reported Free Internet Press, the own personalities and emo-
Apple retail stores in the ‘Oh wow, cool, Melanie news portal. tions, and as films like ‘I
Los Angeles area have Griffith.’ But then she OK, so it’s all about soft- Robot’ warn, that could be
plenty of opportunities to rub opened her mouth and used ware in the end. Jong-Hwan very dangerous for humanity.
elbows with Hollywood me as a doormat.” said the software would, If we can provide a robot with
celebrities. And it turns out Other celebrities who amongst other things, give good, soft chromosomes, they
isn’t always pleasant. have indulged in pompous, the machines the ability to may not be such a threat,”
Hollywood actress Melanie obnoxious or cheap behav- “feel, reason and desire.” Jong-Hwan said.
Griffith, according to one iour at Apple’s LA stores “We must consider this as We are not very clear on
associate, threw a tantrum include singer Pink, and the origin of an artificial what “good, soft chromo-
when she was unable to buy a actors LeVar Burton Val species. Until now, most somes” means—but let’s wait
pink iPod mini early last year. Kilmer and Fred Durst. researchers in this field have and watch.
136