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The RSS Feed
Stay in, stay entertained
C
onsider the way our lives have changed. industry is set to grow at over 12 per cent per
In just a few short years we’ve gone from annum, and cross the $20 billion (almost Rs.
struggling to find information to being 90,000 crore) mark by 2013. And you’re going
overloaded with it. We’re connected all to experience most of that growth in your living
the time, working all the time, and doing so many room. Sure there’s mobile entertainment and on-
things with our time that we never seem to find any the-go goodness also planned, but I think we all
of it just for ourselves. Of course, the increasing know that our homes are going to remain the
stress and constant neural activity has us on edge primary source of entertainment for us all.
a lot more, and thus the need to unwind increases. So where does technology come in? It will be
Thanks to the overcrowding of cities, and instrumental in ensuring that you get your daily
the sheer physical exhaustion of the rat race, dose, and making the current experience even better.
unwinding is no longer as easy as catching a 3D TV, for example, is one area where a lot of
flick in the local theatre, or sitting by the sea-side people see the next big change happening. HD
enjoying a cool summer breeze. broadcasts and video on demand are hot topics in
Robert Sovereign-Smith
Editor Take the theatres for instance. If you think the DTH space, HD media players let you use your
you can show up at a theatre on a weekend, on a HDTVs the way they’re supposed to be used. And
whim, and hope to get tickets for any movie worth 4K (pg. 38) promises to outdo HD in the near future.
watching, think again. Like everything else in life Like with any other technology segment, com-
today, you have to plan your outings well in advance. petition is fierce, and the choices you have to make
Besides, even if you get tickets for that blockbuster are too numerous to list… That’s where we come in.
you’ve been dying to see, it’s not like you’re guar- Most of the topics mentioned here are in the
anteed a fun time. If the traffic and war for parking magazine, in the form of tests of reviews, or features,
spaces doesn’t get to you, the other people in the to give you a better insight into what to buy, what
theatre will. Just when the movie’s getting inter- to look forward to, and how to entertain yourself.
“the Indian media esting, the person next to you will get a call, proceed Of course it’s not just about the hardware.
and entertainment to answer it, and stupidly think that a 10-minute Myriads of artists are jostling for a time share of
conversation being carried out less than a foot from your speakers and screen, and a lot of them are
industry is set to your right ear will not disturb you. Yes blue T-shirt entertaining you for free.
grow at over 12 per guy with an iPhone and the yelping dog ring tone, If there’s one article I want you to focus on
cent per annum, who sat next to me when I saw Avatar a few months in this issue, it’s the one on page 34, because I’d
and cross the $20 ago, I mean you. As for sitting by the sea-side, what- like to encourage all of our readers to share their
ever’s left of it, summer breezes these days are likely creativity with the community.
billion (almost
to singe your eyebrows thanks to global warming, At Digit, we want to make sure that apart from
Rs. 90,000 crore) and give you whooping cough because of all the everything else that we’re doing, we also want
mark by 2013” pollution and particulate matter in the air. to give you a voice and a platform to be heard. If
So what options are you left with? Stay indoors of you’ve created something, anything, and want to
course. Relax on your sofa, or in your bed, do things share it with the community, use one of our online
at your own pace, and find new ways to entertain platforms, or mail us and tell us.
yourself and the family. Thankfully, there’s a big Personally, I’m especially interested in artists
push on by the entertainment industry to help us who want to share their music and movies for
do just that. With large screen HDTVs being pushed free, and also those who have interesting ideas
in your face at every electronics store, superstars of for Digit’s I Think Green initiative.
Bollywood coaxing you to get DTH services, new Also remember to catch Digit’s 9th Anni-
and improved home theatre systems, a gazillion versary Special next month. Visit thinkdigit.com/
ways to get content to your living room, affordable june to get more details, and also to give us your
prices of hot, new categories like HD media players, suggestions.
and lest I forget the entire gaming industry and the
internet, I’d say we’re pretty spoilt for choices.
According to a study conducted by KPMG
and FICII, the Indian media and entertainment editor@thinkdigit.com
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 1
May 2010 • Volume 10 • Issue 05
PRODUCTS REVIEWED THIS MONTH
HD MEDIA PLAYERS TEST .......................... 78
Amkette Flash TV
ASUS O!Play Air HDP-R3
ASUS O!Play HDP-R1
Iomega ScreenPlay Director
Managing Director Executives M P Singh, Mohd. Nadeem Ansari, Seagate FreeAgent Theater+
Dr Pramath Raj Sinha Shashi Shekhar Singh
Printer and Publisher WD TV
Kanak Ghosh Sales and Marketing
Publishing Director Vice President Naveen Chand Singh WD TV Live
Asheesh Gupta Product Manager Navneet Miglani
Manager - Product Marketing
WD TV Mini
Editorial Chandan Kumar Singh
Xtreamer
Editor Assistant Brand Manager
Robert Sovereign-Smith Arpita Ganguli
Editor-at-large and Online Architect Co-ordinator / Scheduling
Ahmed Shaikh Kishan Singh DESKTOP COMPARISON TEST.................... 84
Head - Copy Desk
Nash David Circulation and Subscription Acer Aspire IE3450P
Writers Aditya Madanapalle, Co-ordinator Vijay Mhatre
Siddharth Parwatay Acer Aspire IE4750P
Customer Service (Helpdesk)
Test Centre Prerana, Poornima, Itishree, Pinky
Acer Aspire IQ4832P
Mgr - Test Development and Sourcing +91-22-4078 9612/13/14
Acer Emachines eM3450
Michael Browne
Mgr - Testing and Processes To advertise HP Pavillion p6373in
Rossi Fernandes South: Vinodh Kaliappan
Trainee Reviewer Nimish Sawant Email: vinodh.k@9dot9.in Lenovo IdeaCentre B500
Mobile: +91-97407 14817
Multimedia Phone: +91-80-2554 6370/73 Zotac MAG
Fax: +91-80-4151 8330
Project Head Robert Sovereign-Smith
Content Head Aditya Madanapalle West: Sachin Mhashilkar
Email: sachin.m@9dot9.in BAZAAR ....................................................... 64
Design Mobile: +91-99203 48755
Sr Creative Director Jayan Narayanan Phone: +91-22-2437 2214/19 Acer Liquid
Art Director Binesh Sreedharan Fax: +91-22-2448 2059/1123
Associate Art Director Anil VK ASUS K52F-SX060D
East: Jayanta Bhattacharyya
Lead Designer Vijay Padaya Email: jayanta.bhattacharyya@9dot9.in
Manager Design Chander Shekhar
Buffalo HD PXT320U2
Phone: +91-93318 29284
Sr Visualisers PC Anoop, +91-33-2231 7344/46 ECS Elitegroup H55H-M
Santosh Kushwaha
Sr Designers TR Prashanth, Anil T, North: Lalit Arun Epson Stylus Office T1100
NV Baiju Email: lalit.arun@9dot9.in
Mobile: +91-95822 62959
Sr. Photographer Jiten Gandhi Gigabyte GA510UD
International: Navin Chand Singh Intel Core i5 661
Production and Logistics
Email: nc.singh@9dot9.in,
Sr. GM - Operations Mobile: +91-99717 94688
Shivshankar Hiremath Kingston HyperX T1 6GB
Production Executive Vilas Mhatre Cover design LG GM200
Asst. Mgr Vijayaraman Menon Anil T
LG GW620
The Digit Community Advisory Council
Lian-Li Lancool PC-K62
Ejaz Ashraf Natraj Kadur Anuvrat Parashar
Norton 360 V4.0
Mayur Gaikwad Rohan Mathew Dipankar Saha
Bhuveneshwar Gupta Amitabh Mishra Dilip Sanghvi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470
Prashant Joshi Abhineet Mittal Suvra Sarkar NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480
Romin Joshi Dev Mukerjee Arun Sriraman
Sandisk Cruzer Blade
Disclaimer TAG-760B
For every Digit contest, there will be only one winner, unless specified otherwise.
In the event of a dispute, the Editor’s decision shall be final.
TrustPort PC Security 2010
Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 256 GB
Printed and Published by Kanak Ghosh, for Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd. C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near
Sanpada Railway Station), Navi Mumbai 400 703, Phone: +91-22-4078 9666, Fax: +91-22-4078 9540, +91-22-4078 9640 Zotac NM10 – ITX WiFi
Editor: Anuradha Das Mathur, C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Navi Mumbai 400 703
Printed at Silverpoint Press Pvt. Ltd, Plot No. A, 403, MIDC, TTC Industrial Area,Mahape, Navi Mumbai 400709
2 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
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Contents
MAY 2010 VOLUME 10 \ ISSUE 05
QUICK
NAVIGATOR
006 ENTER
Inbox
Buzz
CONNECTIONS
014 Web Watch
Mobile Watch
Industry Connect
024 DIGITAL LIFE
Drool Maal
Geek life
Green buildings
032 SCI-TECH
Tomorrow’s tech
How stuff works
Workshop
046 TOOLBOX
Q&A
Tips and Tricks
DIY
090 STREET SMART
Agent 001
Killer Rigs
Price Watch
Consumer Protection
34
104 TECH@WORK
Work@Tech
Developer corner
HD media players tested
Entrepreneurship All the benefits of an HTPC without the
108 ESC hassle and the cost
Unwind
Hidden gems of gaming
Game reviews
Unwind
Digit 101
78
TRIED & 064
TESTED APPLE IPAD
A hands on
sneak peek
069
KINGSTON HYPERX T1
Perfect for high end setups
071
SANDISK CRUZER BLADE
Expensive plastic
4 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
This is a modern DIY
1337 wear Green Griha Free Media implementation of an old technique
Digital life 28 Get to know what geeks consider cool fashion. You’ll
find some exciting trends in urban culture 32 The world’s going green. Tips on how you can
transform your home and save the planet 34 Artists are now creating and distributing content for free. We’ve
profiled some artists from this new community
for 3D video capture, using identical
Samsung HD camcorders Droolmaal
Harman Kardon GLA-55
Tools Games
The GLA-55 (to be read as “glass”) is one of the costliest
Mythos XTR-50 desktop speakers around. For $1,000 (Rs. 44,485)
Quality sound from a wall-mounted flat screen you can get your hands on a good desktop instead. If
TV has always been a problem. The Mythos you have a little extra money though, then this pair
XTR-50 protrudes just 38 mm from the wall. of alien looking speakers are for you. The interiors
Its brilliant design uses lightweight aluminium of the GLA-55 are delicately crafted, mostly using
that doubles up as a heat sink for the unit.
There is no compromise on quality despite the
slimness of the speakers. Each unit houses
chrome tubing. The best bit is that the volume control
is touch sensitive, doing away with knobs or dials FREEWARE ONLY APPLICATIONS FOR A GAME DEMOS, INDIE GAMES AND
the base and tweeter components, and a pair
would set you back by $14,000 (Rs. 62,195).
BETTER DESKTOP EXPERIENCE FREEWARE GAMES
• Darsana
Sharp Aqous LC-60LE810UN
Goldmun Eidos Reference Blue
This is the Blu-ray version of the Goldmun Eidos Reference series of multimedia disc players. The Goldmun
While the announcement of the new Aquos range by Sharp was
made back in CES 2010, the range is here with a bang. The top
of the range LC-60LE810UN is a 60-inch monster that stands
out in the LED LCD market. This is because of the addition of a
Internet • Fraxy
Reference line has always been for the top end audiophile market, and the player is primarily meant as fourth colour pixel to the regular gamut of RGB, with a Y (yellow)
a source of music. The player does not offer all the features of Blu-ray players in the market such as BD-
Live. There will be only 50 of these devices made, and each sells for $135,000 (Rs. 60,03,320)
element that greatly increases the representation of some shades,
including skin tones, gold and of course, yellow. The TV has an
energy star certification, plays photos, videos and music out
• KooLoader 2.0 • OrBlitz
of USB drives, and uses Netflix as a source of content as well
• LDC++ 1.00 2a • Rock Station
• Naviscope 8.70 • Space Corps 5 Doomsday
BenQ Joybee GP1 Mini Projector
• Phex 3.4.2 Build 116 • The Whispered World Demo
The Joybee GP1 from BenQ is a palm-sized projector that is small,
but efficient. There are smaller Pico projectors around, but the image
clarity is what makes this one stand out. The tiny projector can throw
out images at a maximum size of 80 inches, which is impressive for
a device that small. Just plug in a USB drive with your multimedia,
• Soulseek 1.57 NS 13e • Wolf Team
• TeamDrive 2.2.070
and the device can start playing it back. You can pick one of these up
for anywhere between $500 to $700 (Rs. 17,786 to Rs. 31,125)
24 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 25
• VIP Torrent 3.4
024 • Writemonkey 0.9.8.0
Drool Maal
• Xenu Link Sleuth 1.3.5
Multimedia
Four pages of the best multimedia and home • AndreaMosaic Portable 3.32.3
entertainment systems • Any Video Converter 3.04
• CDBurnerXP 4.3.0.1991
• Chasys Draw IES 3.24.01 Hidden Gems of Gaming
032 Green Buildings • DISCInfo 1.7.0b
• FotoSketcher 1.96
• Battlezone II
• Chromadrome
The technologies out to make our lifestyles greener • Jet Screenshot 2.2.1 • Comix Zone
• Kodak EasyShare 8.2 • Croc: Legend of the Gobbos
042 How Stuff Works: DX11 • MediaCoder 0.7.3.4616
• Photobie 7.1
• Duke Nukem Manhattan Project
• Cogs
After the DX10 fiasco, we now have the DX version • QWave 1.6 • Jazz Jackrabbit
• Rhapsody 4.0 • Metal Fatigue
• Severance: Blade of Darkness
• Star Guard
Movies
• The Amazing Mr X
• The Little Shop of Horrors
038 110 Production Distros
ALL THESE DISTROS CAN BE USED FOR
IDEs
Enter the matrix Metro 2033 CODING ENVIRONMENTS FOR
DEVELOPERS, WITH OTHER DEVELOPER
MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION, INCLUDES
AUDIO SYNTHESIZERS, MIXERS, VIDEO
EDITORS, AND MORE
We check out the latest The return of Kratos, perhaps for
TOOLS • Dyne:Bolic 2.5.2
technologies in the domain of the last time, and how he fares
immersive entertainment against the Olympic pantheon • ACE (Another C++ Editor) 2.0 • Musix 2.0 Beta
• Adobe AIR SDK 1.1 • Puredyne 9.11
• Assembler IDE
FREEWARE, • Code::Blocks 1rc2
LECTURES, VIDEOS, • Construct 0.98.5
MUSIC, GAMES, • Eclipse Classic 3.5.2
HD TRAILERS AND
DVD MORE GOODIES
SEVEN LINUX DISTROS
ROS
• Java SE 6.0 (JDK 6) 1.6.2
• NetBeans IDE 6.8
INSIDE • RegDevelop 1.0
• SharpDevelop 1.1
• TierDeveloper .NET (Free) 6.1
• Ultimate++ IDE 2007.1
Linux Distros
A SELECTION OF NEW RELEASES
074 • Mandriva Spring Beta1 Gnome
073 ACER LIQUID • Ubuntu 10.04 Beta2
ASUS K52F-SX060D Is it as fluid as it • SimplyMEPIS 8.5.01 RE1
Affordable computing claims to be? inside
• TinyMe 2010
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 5
Inbox Apple Win- cally changes with
XP and 2000, the software dows Virtual PC. Click on the requirements.
may not run in Windows XP the Windows XP Mode. Set the The newly
compatibility mode. We’ve password for the XP mode and created virtual
had quite a few people calling continue. Next, choose whether Selecting the type of virtual drive for the virtual machine machine should
up with this problem. Thank- to use the network security show up in the
fully, there is a way. Windows features or not. Once that’s in the form of ISO and IMG window. Double-click on it to
7 Virtual PC allows you to run done, the Virtual PC setup files to install applications and start the virtual machine. It
Windows XP as well software from. You can create should run in a window.
as other operating sys- additional virtual drives as
tems. You don’t need well by clicking on Tools > VM on host
to even own Windows Settings. Browse down to the Applications installed on the
XP separately. Hard Disk 2 and 3 options. virtual machine can also be run
The component by the host OS. For example,
needs to be down- Running another OS if you installed Opera on the
loaded from Micro- The Windows 7 Virtual PC fea- XP virtual machine, you can
soft’s site (www.microsoft. ture will also allow you to run also find the shortcut for it in
com/windows/virtual-pc/). other operating systems on it the Windows Virtual PC menu.
Click on the “Get Win- Windows XP running within the virtual machine similar to what Virtualbox or The application runs in the vir-
dows XP Mode and VMWare do. To create other tual machine but without the
Microsoft Windows Virtual will begin. It’ll take some time virtual machines, go to the Virtual PC interface around
PC now” link. Choose your to complete – usually between same Windows
version of Windows 7 and 5 to 10 minutes. Virtual PC menu
then the language. Download Once that’s done, the vir- in the Start menu,
the links in the order and install tual machine will be ready for and click on Vir-
use. You can install pro- tual Machines.
grams on it just like you This window
would on a dedicated PC shows you the list
running XP. All of the of all the already
Windows XP and 2000 configured virtual Opera installed within the virtual machine but accessible
applications should run machines. Click on Windows XP
here without any prob- on Create virtual
lems. If you maximise machine on the menu on top. the windows. This way, you can
the window, the virtual In this window, enter a have all your programs setup
machine will switch to name for the virtual machine in XP mode but access them
full screen mode. The and then the location for the without manually starting
Set the Windows account password for the local physical drives will VM data to be stored. Click up the virtual machine every
virtual machine still appear as drives but Next, and enter the amount of single time.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 47
Tips & Tricks
ICQ 7.1
ICQ (I – Seek – You) was the
pioneer of Instant Messaging
Services on the web way back
in 1996 and is still going strong
with more than 42 million users
and roughly a billion messages
being exchanged every day. The
new ICQ 7 (followed quickly
by ICQ 7.1) is packed with a
whole lot of features that just
might make you want to switch
over from your favourite Chat
Client. Here’s how.
Get started ICQ 7.1..................................................................................................................33
You can download ICQ 7
from www.tinyurl.com/digit-icq. Data Crow 3 .......................................................................................................34
Once you’ve gone through the Disk Space Fan ..................................................................................................36
motions of setting it up, you’ll Jokosher...............................................................................................................37
Text them from your desktop
find an eye-pleasing window
asking you to sign in. NetBalancer ........................................................................................................39 Click on ‘Add’ and you’ll
receive a message informing
you that the contact is now a
part of your list of friends.
Send text messages
You can even add the phone
number of your contact. Click
on the ‘Select contact type’
Try this or ICQ Lite arrow in your ‘Add Contact’
window and choose ‘Phone
Since you’re probably a first Contact’ from the drop down
time user, you’ll have to click on This message proves you’re in menu. The India code 91
the ‘New? Register Here’ link should appear prefixed by
under the ‘Accounts’ tab. the activation link will be sent default. Add the number of
When you register, be sure to that address. There are no your contact in the blank tab
to fill in a valid email id because obligations to provide your next to it. This means that you
real address, phone number, can now send text messages
etc. Once you’ve selected an through ICQ – but not yet in
id and password and filled India because, as the message
in the necessary details, click says, ‘You currently cannot
on ‘Finish’. You’re all set to go send SMS messages to this
but don’t forget to activate the Chat directly with your AOL Instant country or cellular network’.
account from the link in you Messenger friends in ICQ Hope they fix that bug quickly.
email inbox first. You can even send messages
Else you could use the directly to phone numbers in
Add contacts shortcut F5 to go to the contacts six countries (including the US
Once you’re a part of the feature immediately. If your but not India) by clicking on the
ICQ inner circle you’ll be contact has an ICQ account, you fourth icon in the list of tabs
asked to add contacts from just have to fill in the nickname under the ‘What’s happening
your email accounts. If you’ve or ICQ id and he or she will be now’ space above which says,
skipped that step during reg- added to you chat buddy-list. well, ‘SMS’.
istration, you can access it by This, however, is with the con-
clicking on the Menu button dition that your friend already Importing contacts
above and choosing the ‘Add has an ICQ id. For the rest, an To add your friends from your
Contacts’ option in the Con- account with AOL’s messenger favourite email service, click on
Complete the formalities tacts menu. service (AIM) would do as well. the ‘Import contacts’ option in
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 10: 33 Digit | May 2010
Tips & Tricks
Link up with your other email accounts
Change how ICQ feels
the ‘Add contacts’ list that you planet are you from, anyway?)
can access from the ‘Menu’ ICQ allows you to set up one Personalize interaction more pleasant to
button above. instantly. Otherwise, just ‘Log ICQ 7 gives you the option the year. In the ‘Tweak my
ICQ allows you to bring in in with Facebook’, fill in your to change how the window ICQ’ menu, click on the ‘More
all your email contacts from Facebook id and password looks and sounds. All of this Sounds’ link.
the most popular email sites and click on ‘Connect’. Click is possible with the help of the You have a choice of twenty
such as Yahoo, Windows Live on ‘Allow chat’ to enable ICQ to ‘Customization’ features in the different sounds under five
and Gmail. Select the one you pull chat feeds from Facebook ‘Settings’ window (Menu>My heads all of which you can
want, fill in your email id and in real time. Continue to click Tools>Settings). To change the preview if you click on ‘Play
password (which will not be all’ button at the bottom-
stored) and click on ‘Find’. ICQ right of the window.
will scan your friends list and Most of them are speech
identify which of them don’t sound-bytes with inter-
have an ICQ account yet. You esting themes such as
could uncheck the boxes of the ‘Drakula’s Assistant’ and
friends you don’t want to invite ‘Angry French Waiter’. If
or skip the step altogether. you’re not in the mood for
funny lines and exagger-
Connect with ated accents we suggest
Facebook you stick to the default
The great thing about ICQ 7 is When you see this you’re almost done ‘Standard ICQ Sounds’.
that you can finally chat with
your Facebook friends through on the ‘Allow’ buttons to ensure appearance of the interface, Data Crow 3
it without having to log in or a seamless and complete inter- click on the ‘More skins’ link If you’ve got tons of stuff and
post messages in Facebook itself. action with Facebook and you’ll under the ‘Tweak my ICQ’ list go crazy looking for things,
You can write on your wall and soon find that the only reason of options. what you need is a catalogue.
bring in updates from Facebook you’ll go to the Facebook site is This will take you to http:// You could, perhaps, write it all
friends directly into ICQ. Click to play Farmville. download.icq.com/download/skins/. down in a book. But then again
on the big button in the ICQ Once you’re done, you can As this article goes to print, you could use Data Crow.
window, which says ‘f-connect’. see every post that your friends ICQ has yet to add more skins Data Crow is a free and con-
If you don’t have a Face- put up as a feed, directly in your for you to download but keep venient Java application that lets
book account already (which ICQ window. checking the site because “A you ferret out information about
new ICQ skins collection for virtually anything from the web
ICQ 7 is on its way”. and add it to a database. Its port-
Luckily, the ‘Xtras’ site for ability and ease of use makes it
ICQ is ready with several dif- a handy tool for keeping track
ferent sounds that make your of your collections.
For those who aren’t on Facebook Data Crow lets you have a bird’s eye view of almost everything you own
Digit | May 2010 | vol 10: 34 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
Add an item using the ‘Item Wizard’ button
When you install and run that has a magic wand for an
Data Crow, the main window icon and can be accessed from
appears with a list of ‘mod- the File menu too. You could
ules’ in a column on the left. opt to search from Amazon or
Modules are basically folders Barnes and Nobles (great for
with tags to classify different books) or MusicBrainz and Dis-
media such as audio CDs, cogs (for music) among others.
movies, images, programs Change the server you want to
and even non-digital collec- access from the drop-down
tions such as books, people menu that displays options
and stamps. You can either when you click on the arrow
add the information about near the server tab.
an item manually or get it Click to select any one of
from the web. Data Crow lets the results displayed and click
you find and add details for Open for Data Crow to retrieve
your database directly from additional details. The results
reliable sites like Amazon, Choose the module first are remarkably comprehen-
MusicBrainz and Internet sive, giving you every little
Movie Database. Search the web can also do your online data- piece of information including
To add an item, select the It’s tedious to type innumerable delving directly from the book jacket images, list of music
kind of module you want details such as publishing dates ‘Online Search’ in the toolbar tracks and in-depth reviews.
to create or add to from the and audio genres manually into on top. Click on the ‘Online If you find the item you’re
icons listed on the left. The the form, so Data Crow down- Search’ button and fill in the looking for, Close the window
and click on the ‘Add Item(s)’
button to feed it into your
module’s database.
Keep an account
of loaned items
If you’ve got a really large
collection of things, you
might loan out items and
then forget. You can keep
The right server gets you better results a record of whatever has
left your collection by first
keywords you’re looking for adding the persons name and
(for example, Paulo Coelho email id (and other details if
or Nickelback). Click Find you wish) in the ‘Contact Per-
and you’ll get the same results sons’ module (Contact Per-
as the Update function. sons > New > Name).
An even faster way to look You can further manage
Start cataloguing for stuff from the web is by these entries by dividing them
main window will display loads the information straight
the items already existing in from the Internet. For example,
the module. if you want to add in the details
To add a new one, click on of the latest music CD you’ve
the ‘New’ button in the toolbar bought, just click on the ‘Music
above (or use the familiar Album’ icon on the left, click
shortcut [Ctrl] + [N]. This ‘New’, fill in the name of the
opens up the Item form. singer, group or album in the
All you really need to fill in ‘Title’ field and click on ‘Update’
is the title but if you have more at the bottom of the window.
information that you feel is Automatically, the Online
crucial, feel free to fill in the Search dialog box opens and
other field boxes provided in displays relevant material
the form. accessed from the web. You Classify contacts into folders
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 10: 35 Digit | May 2010
Tips & Tricks
into Family and Friends cat- person from your contacts list
egories or make new ones by in the Contact Person tab and
right-clicking on the contact’s then click on ‘Lend this item’.
image, and then clicking on the Now each time you click
Maintain Categories option on the item, Data Crow will
in the Administration menu. give you all the details about
Once you’re done with this, whom you’ve lent it to and
just right-click on any item when you should expect it back.
(audio CD, book, etc) and click Once the item is returned you
Instantly summarizes your drive’s data
easily generated by going to the as Windows Explorer and gets
‘Movie’ module and clicking full marks for visual pleasure
on ‘Create Report’ in the Tools too. All the exciting features,
menu (you could click on the however, are in the Pro version
‘Create Report’ button in the which you’ll have to pay for if
toolbar or use the shortcut you want to use it for more than
[Ctrl] + [E]). This will open 15 days.
the Create Report wizard.
You can save the report Scanning drives
in HTML or PDF format and At first start up, Disk Space Fan
choose to view it in detail or as gives you an instant snapshot
Manage your library and prevent items from getting lost a list. of all your drives,
Click ‘Run’ and on their capacity and
on ‘Loan Administration’ in simply need to go over the same ‘Open Report’ once how much space you
the menu which appears. Data process again, fill in the return the export process have left on each.
Crow will tell you whether the date and click on the ‘Return’ is done. Save the But the real beauty
item is with you or out already. button to add it back to your opened file in the of the interface sur-
The start date is set by default list of available items. folder you wish and faces when you scan.
but if you’ve already lent it it’s ready to be sent. Disk Space Fan is free Choose one of your
out or planning to do so in the Create reports hard disk drives on
future, click on the calendar Data Crow has a useful fea- Disk Space Fan the left by clicking on it and
icon next to the ‘Start date’ tab ture for those of us who like If you find disk analysis a click on the ‘Scan for details’
and choose the date applicable. exchanging lists of things we’ve drag and you’re fed up of the button. The scan is remarkably
Do the same to select a due got. A report of your collection sorting through lists and col- fast and before long you have a
date. Pick the dates, choose the of movies, for example, can be umns, check out Disk Space summary of all the files in your
Fan. While it looks remark- drive. The summary tells you
ably similar to DaisyDisk for the number of temporary and
Mac OS X, it does the same job duplicate files and what kind
Format reports the way you want Start scanning
Digit | May 2010 | vol 10: 36 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
boxes and click on the
‘Delete Selected’ button
above. If you don’t want
to go through the trouble
of selecting each file, let
the software do it for you
by clicking on the ‘Auto
Select’ button. This will
tick the doubles for you.
Click on ‘Delete Selected’
to get rid of them for-
ever. If you think you’re
Here’s a bird’s eye view of the audio files on the going to lose precious
drive backup files with the
Use the mouse-hover for information in brief Auto Select feature, just
click the same button
of files occupy the maximum This should open up an again which now would
space on the drive. empty tab. Click on the button have changed to ‘Cancel
Close the summary window next to the tab and a box opens Select’ to uncheck all the
and you’ll see the distribution up to let you browse and choose boxes again.
of the data on your drive liter- from the folders in your drives.
ally fanning out before you Click on ‘OK’ and then ‘Scan’. Jokosher
with a list of all the key files and In less than no time the con- Most music-mixing soft-
folders on the left with details tents of the folder will be dis- ware tends to, sooner or
of how much memory they’re played as a fan. Duplicate files Cleans up folders too later, get pretty technical
using up. These are colour in the folder are also traced and and inconvenient. Joko-
coded as well and if you drag can be easily removed. take the proper action. Take a sher is a great open-source
the mouse over the fan you’ll deeper look into your folders multi-track studio which
see the folder name displayed Using Filters by right clicking on any sec- lets you edit, mix, record and
along with details about how It gets easier to see exactly how tion of the fan. This will pop export audio files with really
many files are in the folder and much and what kind of stuff out a context menu which lets simple commands and a good
the space they occupy. you’ve got loaded in the drive you open the folder, browser looking User Interface. You can
As you click on different if you use a filter. through its contents, check out get acquainted by first down-
sections of the fan, it closes Disk Space Fan lets you its properties or get to its root. loading it for free from http://
in to show you what the data parse the files into Audio, www.jokosher.org/.
Erase duplicate files
While most duplicate files Start a Project
are for backup, there are Once you open Jokosher, click
several that are inadvert- on the ‘Create a New Project’
ently copied and pasted twice, button. You will then be asked
downloaded several
times, etc. Deleting
these can free a lot
of disk space and
optimize computer
performance.
Scan the disk Be a DJ
View each folder as a smaller fan you want to clean up
and click on the link
distribution of that particular Video, Application, Image and on the top right of
folder looks like, with the data Document categories. Select the window which
summarised on the left. any one of them and you’ll says ‘Duplicate files:
see a smaller fan which you (no.) Click to View’.
Scan Folders can survey the same way as Choose the files you
Scan specific folders by clicking described above. This is really want to delete from
on the ‘Scan Folder’ button at handy because you get to know the list of doubles
the bottom of the list of drives which kind of files take the that is displayed
on the left of the window. most space and allow you to by checking their Let the music play to
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 10: 37 Digit | May 2010
Tips & Tricks
give your project a name, This lets find and choose a
address and author. file from your computer. Choose
Give it a title and the rest of one and click on ‘Open’ or just
the details and click on ‘OK’. double click on it and the track
You’re now all set to begin your will be loaded into the Jokosher
sound-experiment. workspace. Loading might take
In case, however you a few seconds so don’t lose your
already have a project you’d patience. The window doesn’t
like to tweak and spruce up, have a ‘Back’ button but you can
you’ll probably see it in the trace all the windows you’ve
‘Recent Projects’ box on the progressed through in the tabs
left. Double-click on the rel- displayed above.
evant link and you can begin Presently they’re just tags for your tracks
working on it instantly. If it’s Import Audio clips
not in the box, you’ll have to be understood as another name your own templates and give from Freesound
hunt for it using the ‘Browse for ‘track’. Click on the ‘Add it your own names or titles by For this you’ll have to reg-
for an existing project’ button. Instrument’ tab on the top left checking the box with the ‘Use ister on Freesound first (http://
Open the one you choose by of your window. You could Project Template’ option, and www.freesound.org/) . Freesound
either double-clicking it or also access it from the File drop clicking on the ‘Edit project is the Creative Commons
clicking on the button which down menu. templates’ button next to the endeavour to collect and give
templates tab. access to hundreds of sound
bits and bytes.
Fill in the form on the Free-
sound site and then click on the
‘Extensions’ button in the Menu
bar above. Click on ‘Search
Freesound’ and log in through
the dialog box that appears.
Once you’re on the Free-
sound site you have hundreds
of sound clips to choose from
which you can import and add
to your current project.
Editing Tracks
Take a shortcut to your earlier tunes You could either import an
audio track as above or record
says ‘Open Selected Project’. There is a variety of instru- it from an external input. Once
Clicking on ‘OK’ will reveal a ments to choose from the Make templates with existing that’s done Jokosher allows
blank window with a few tool- Tom Tom to the Saxophone. instruments or add your own you to edit it using purely
bars on top. Clicking on one and then on visual cues.
‘Add’ (or just double-clicking Adding an Audio You can split a track into
Adding Instruments on the icon) will add it to your File two blocks by double-clicking
Instruments are presets for the project workspace. You can add an audio file from with the mouse at the point
Graphic Equalizer that will The new Jokosher allows your hard disk, CD, DVD or pen you wish to put a break in the
enable you to prioritize cer- you to create your own tem- drives directly into your project track. This will split the track
tain kinds of acoustics in every plates (preferred combina- workspace. Click on the ‘Add into two blocks, both of which
track or project you create. But tion of instruments that can Audio File’ tab in the toolbar or you can juggle around by
that’s a project in progress and be set for further projects) right click on the workspace of clicking, dragging and drop-
so, as of now, ‘instrument’ must by choosing the instruments your instrument. ping as you please.
already set or choosing an
audio file. This would act as a
Preset for your project but as
of now it doesn’t really serve
you much because the instru-
ments aren’t really functional.
However, while they’re trying
Using the toolbar is easier to fix this, you could still create Keep the parts you need
Digit | May 2010 | vol 10: 38 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
NetBalancer Set upload/
When you’re online, you download priority
sometimes have several Fed up of waiting for that
applications working simul- YouTube video to download?
taneously. Often (when Just give it the highest priority
you’re downloading torrents, among all your applications
Heading for a split for example) you may have and watch it get saved in a
found yourself wondering trice. Open the NetBalancer
You can select any part of Saving your project why the process was so interface, right-click on the
the track by holding down the Click on File>Save As and a slow or if your broadband application you’re using (your
‘Shift’ key and dragging the dialog box will appear. Give was “broad” enough. Enter web browser, for example) and
mouse over the audio block. your project a name, choose the NetBalancer, an internet set the download priority (in
Selection will reveal the ‘Trim’ destination folder and click on traffic controlling tool for green) to ‘high’. If you want to
button below. Click on it to ‘Save’. You can now access and Windows, which lets you upload a heavy file, right click
delete everything in that block add to your track safely, when- prioritise applications as you on the app and set the upload
except the part of the tune ever you wish. deem necessary and monitor priority (in red) to ‘High’.
you’ve selected. Another way to secure
You can even cut, copy and your project is the Mixdown
paste selected portions of the option in the ‘File’ menu which
track in the usual way. Right lets you export your project to
click on the selected portion for an existing audio file on your
the context menu for the editing computer or elsewhere. Con-
Remix your tracks Keep an eye on the traffic
options or from the ‘Edit’ tab figure it by clicking on the all the traffic between your You can also set the priority
on the top. You can remove ‘Settings’ button (bottom PC and the web. You can of a particular application by
the parts you wish and replace right) above the ‘Mixdown’ download NetBalancer for selecting it and then clicking
them elsewhere, or copy and button and fill in the filename free, but the Pro version is on the appropriate arrow in the
repeat them in the same track. and location you want to only free for a month and you toolbar above.
You could also check and export it to. Click on ‘OK’ and have to pay for it if you wish NetBalancer allows you to
alter the volume levels of each you’re done. to use it any further. let set the priority of an applica-
track you’re attempting to mix tion to ‘Normal’, ‘low’ or ‘high’
in a single project. Click on the so if there’s an application that’s
‘Audio Mixers’ button next to working on text, for example,
the ‘Recording’ one on top and you could set it to ‘low’ because
you’ll see the volume levels of it’s not going to use up much
the tracks on the left and the bandwidth anyway. You can
Master Volume on the right. confirm the change in pri-
Make changes with the but- ority by checking if the status
tons provided at the bottom of has changed in the ‘Priority’
the display for each instrument. column.
The ‘Mute’ button silences the
instrument it displays, while
the ‘Activate Solo’ option puts
all the others into ‘Mute’. Use
the mouse to click and drag the
volume indicator towards left Use the buttons as shortcuts to set
or right. Save it the usual way priority
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 10: 39 Digit | May 2010
Tips & Tricks
Check if the priority has been changed
Edit Level Severity at 50. As you increase the
You might be wondering value, you’ll see the Low Pri-
what exactly ‘High’, ‘Low’ ority speed decreasing and the
and ‘Normal’ refer to. To put ‘High’ increasing. This indi-
it simply, they are just labels cates that if you set a particular Multiply the relative allotment of bandwidth
for different proportions of application to ‘High’, it’s going
allotment of bandwidth to to hog the bandwidth till you ‘Default’ button in the Level toolbar. To block individual
particular processes. You can change the settings again. This Severity dialog box. applications from uploading
change these according to your would significantly hamper or downloading data, click on
requirements by clicking on working with simultaneous Limit and Block the (green or red) arrow in the
the ‘Level Severity’ icon in the apps so we suggest that you With NetBalancer, you can set toolbar that is marked with a
toolbar above or choosing the keep the value at fifty or sixty limits to the speed of certain dash in front of it.
same from the ‘Edit’ menu. unless you have some really applications. Click on the half- This is really useful if you
urgent downloading/ coloured arrow (green for down- find certain applications which
uploading to do.
Don’t forget to click
on the ‘Apply’ button
Set the parameters to incorporate the new Return to original settings
values, and then on ‘OK’
This will open the ‘Level to shut the window.
Severity’ window. There NetBalancer also lets you
are two major changes you alter the Severity by manipu-
could make here. First, you lating the Severity Value Mul-
could change the value of the tiplier. You can change this in Police the speed limits
severity. If you want to allot multiples of one to ten.
the maximum space to ‘High’ If you don’t think the loads, red for uploads) in
and virtually none ‘Low’, changes have made any dif- the toolbar above.
increase the value level to ference, you could always Once you click on any
your heart’s content. Click revert back to default settings one of the above and increase
and drag the knob under the by clicking once on the button or decrease the speed value
head ‘Select Level Severity’. that looks like a bulls-eye in the in the dialog box that
The value is set, by default, toolbar above or click on the appears using the down and
up arrows next to the tab. If
you want to limit the speed
to a value other than multi-
ples of ten, simply select the
value in the tab and type in
the one you want.
Click on OK and the
Priority status immedi-
ately changes to ‘Lim- Prevent activity of suspicious applications
ited’. Please note that this
will not affect any of the above shouldn’t be uploading any-
speed limits or severity values thing at all suddenly display
for other processes. rising upload levels.
If you wish to block all You could right click an
traffic, click on the ‘Block all application and choose ‘Block’
Make ‘High’ mean ‘Higher’ network traffic’ button in the for the same results.
Digit | May 2010 | vol 10: 40 | www.thinkdigit.com
April Fools gag Another Yammer?
Youtube launches new design on Microsoft doing internal tests of a microblogging
April Fools Day service called OfficeTalk Q&A
“Don’t play stupid with
me, I’m better at it”
Mocking viruses, erratic drivers and failing drive problems solved this month
Two instances of partitions or drives, you
Windows XP! could have simply formatted
One of my friends had this the drive from the other OS.
same problem. He got the The entries for the boot loader
same Windows file error mes- can be changed by going to the
sage. He inserted the Windows System properties menu, then
XP SP2 bootable CD and in clicking on Advanced system NVIDIA Display driver stops responding at times while playing games
spite of using the repair option, properties. Look under the
it installed Windows all over Startup section. You should with the card itself. Try rein- any compatible one? Can it a
again on the C partition. Now, be able to edit out the extra stalling the display drivers. problem of adaptor?
there are two Windows instal- entries there. Deleting folders Your system is good enough Abhinandan
lations on the same drive and can be confusing and risky so for most recent games. The
it shows a multiple boot option do it carefully. processor is pretty powerful You should contact HCL
at start up. How do I remove as well, so only a graphics for a new power adapter
the newly installed Windows Display driver card would be required. I sug- instead of using some random
and restore my old Windows hiccups gest a GeForce GTX 260 or a low voltage one just to make
XP SP2? Both Windows instal- I use a XFX GeForce 9600GT Radeon 5850 depending on sure everything is running
lations were done from the 1 GB DDR3. Lately, when I your budget. fine. The boards used on lap-
same disc. was playing Race Driver GRID, tops are not available for sale
Ankur Gupta an error message appeared Laptop display in the market, so the price of
showing that my display issue the board isn’t easy to find out.
driver stopped working. I have an HCL LX INFINITI The VGA component could be
This happened over and POWERLITE 9200GL laptop. a problem but that’s some-
over again, and I was won- I have been facing problems thing you can only be sure
dering if it was an issue for the past two months. It has once you replace the power
related to my graphic card. been working fine but after adapter. We suggest you take
I’m using an Intel Core running for 15 to 20 minutes, the laptop to the HCL service
2 Quad Q8400 2.66GHz, its display suddenly starts flick- centre to have it looked at.
4 GB RAM, Intel Desktop ering and some horizontal lines
Board DG43GT. I’m not appear. I can’t continue using Game won’t run
sure how good the moth- the laptop after that. I restart After installing Soldier Front
erboard is because my my laptop and then again after provided on Digit’s DVD, I can’t
brother chose it. I was 15 to 20 minutes the problem launch it. When I try, to launch,
wondering if this was returns. I have re-assembled all an error message appears
a good setup for playing the components. I changed the saying “cannot run multiple
upcoming games. If not, display cable, checked for FM instants of soldier front (2)”.
Removing entries of installed Windows could you recommend Invertor also, but the problem What is the problem? Please
operating systems from the boot loader me something for a better hasn’t gone away. My laptop let me know how I can fix the
system? adapter burnt out, so I have problem? Does the game need
You can’t uninstall or Emil Mathew been using another one rated an internet connection to run?
remove Windows like you at a lower voltage. Susanta
would with any other appli- The display driver failing Is it a problem of the VGA
cation. If you had two Win- is random at times. It could chip? What will be the cost The reason you’re getting
dows installations on two be bugs in the driver or faults of the same motherboard or that error because the same
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 57
Intel does an iStore OpenGL returns
Intel launches Appup Center, an online app portal for ATI launches OpenGL 4.0 support in latest
Q&A Atom based devices preview drivers
game has run multiple times The problems that show behind this? Please help me. and D and another WD 320 GB
in the last few minutes. Make up VBS scripts in Windows Do I need to upgrade the hard disk with a single G parti-
sure you only run the game suggest that it’s definitely whole system? Also, please tion. I am in trouble because
once. It’s an online game, so some kind of worm or virus. suggest a graphics card which all my games are stored in
you should be connected to The only way out is to try can handle the latest games that disk and Windows is not
the internet at all times. some other antivirus/antispy- like Left 4 Dead 2 and lots able to detect it. Earlier I got
ware programs such as Ad more. My total budget is messages like “Delayed write
Aware ( http://www.lavasoft.com/ Rs. 10,000. error”, when I was wanted to
“Don’t play index.php). Gaurav Das play HALO 2 and data in some
stupid with me, I’m folders seemed to be deleted,
better at it” Is my PC Win- Most game demo installers now I am not even able to see
I have been using an Intel dows 7 ready? are huge archives. They need the icon to access the drive! I
Pentium 4 3.06 GHz powered My configuration is Intel Core 2 to be extracted by the installer also had some keyboard detec-
computer with an 80GB HDD, Duo 2.8 GHz, Gigabyte S series into a temporary folder on the tion problem before. What
1.25GB RAM and an on-board Motherboard, Samsung 160GB local drive before the actual do you think is causing the
graphics card. I got it from a SATA drive, UMAX 1 GB RAM, installation itself, so game problem?
HP dealer five years back with 18.5-inch AOC LCD monitor, demos in general do take quite Can you suggest a good
only one partition. Microsoft keyboard and mouse. some time to start. 1GB graphics card to play good
I’ve been having this I wanted to know if my system If the system itself is slow, games in high resolution within
problem from the past 6 is well built for Windows 7 and it could be due to a number of Rs. 6,500?
months. Every time I switch on if I need to upgrade any of the reasons. Start by checking for Himankan Kashyap
my computer I get the normal components? worms and viruses. Upgrade Guwahati
boot screen, then the Windows Sangeeta Chakravorty all the drivers and defrag your
XP logo. After that just before disk as well. The delayed write errors
getting the screen where I Your system is fine for If you want a graphics could be signs of a failing
choose the user accounts, I Windows 7. We recommend card, look out for a Radeon drive. If the drive shows up
get a small window (The title using it on 2 GB of RAM. 4850. It should be around in the CMOS, then you could
of the window is ‘Windows’!). We’ve even seen Windows 7 Rs. 7,500. It should run games possibly be able to recover the
The window says - “ Don’t running just about okay on
play stupid with me I’m better 512MB of RAM.
at it” !! The screen vanishes
only after I click the OK button Game installa-
below the message. Till I tions slow
click OK I cannot choose the I have a branded PC (HP
user accounts. A6440in). The configuration is
After I click the user account, as follows:
the desktop appears but with Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Delayed write errors on Windows could be caused by a bad drive
another window titled - “VBS @2.40 GHz
Script Host Settings”. Here I RAM: 2 GB such as Left 4 Dead 2 just fine. data using software. Check for
usually I click CANCEL, instead Graphics: Integrated NVIDIA If you’re spending Rs. 10,000 loose connections or damaged
of OK or APPLY. And just after GeForce 7100 on a card, it is also recom- cables connecting the hard
the “VBS Script Host Settings” OS: Windows Vista Home Basic mended that you go in for a drive to the motherboard. The
window opens, the My Docu- SP2 major processor and mother- keyboard detection problems
ments window automatically Monitor: HP w1907 board upgrade first. have nothing to do with the
opens up. Also, my computer Power supply: 250W hard drive. I would suggest
name and registration changes Many games run very slow. Hard drive prob- going in for a system overhaul
to “Deepak CSE MSRIT”. But I Some games also take a lot of lems instead of just a graphics card
am able to change it back. Yet time to launch or to install - I have a PC running on Intel upgrade. Most recent games
my start up problem still exists. mainly those which have large Pentium 4 2.66 GHz Processor, a need a good CPU otherwise
I use Avast 4.8 antivirus and installer sizes - up to a GB. Foxconn motherboard, 2 sticks you would be limiting the
regularly update it. It does not System start up is also very of 1 GB RAM, and a NVIDIA performance of the card by
detect any virus as such. I’m slow and sometimes it says GeForce FX 5200 graphics card. a lot. If you do upgrade, I
not able to figure out why this that some programs are not I have two hard disks – Seagate recommend a Radeon 4770
is happening. responding or have stopped ST340014A 40 GB which has or a Radeon 5670 for that
Zac V working. What is the reason two partitions: Local Disks C price range.
58 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Android 2.2
Google already testing Android 2.2, rumoured release
date is May 19th
HD playback 1 TB=1024 GB
problems 1 GB=1024 MB
I have a strange problem. And so on...
I’m unable to play high-defi- The conversion calculation is
nition video content on my done using 1000 as multiplier
Windows 7 system, though low According to them,
resolution videos are working 1TB=1000GB
fine. I already use KMplayer, VLC 1GB=1000MB and so on...
and Media Player with K-lite So in your case, you have got
codec but all in vain. When- 80GB HDD.
ever I am trying to play a high 80x1000x1000x1000
resolution video file, there’s an bytes=80000000000 bytes
audio mismatch. That is, audio (manufacturing method)
is going at normal speed but In reality, you have
video moves a little slower. (80000000000/
I have a 1.8GHz Athlon Proc- (1024*1024*1024))
essor, 1 GB RAM, MSI mother- =80000000000/1073741
board and VIA graphics driver 824=74.50580 GB
installed. Hope my calculations are
sumangh01 from Thinkdigit correct
Forum CA50 from Thinkdigit
Forum
If it’s working in
Windows XP, then it should Clean software
work in Windows 7 also. removal
Maybe Windows 7 takes After uninstalling any software
lot of memory compared to from Add/Remove Programs, I
Windows XP and you only notice that there are still some
have 1 GB of RAM! That’s the files associated with that soft-
minimum configuration of ware left in the system.
Windows 7, try adding 1 GB of Is there any way by which I
RAM more or shifting back to can completely remove the files
Windows XP. associated with software that I
khmadhu from Thinkdigit uninstall from my system.
Forum bajaj151 from Thinkdigit
Forum
Missing drive Revo Uninstaller fits
space the bill. It sometimes man-
I recently formatted and ages to erase traces of the
reinstalled Windows XP on registry bomb, removes
my PC. I find that each time all hints of trial software
my hard disk shows 3 GB from the PC, allowing you
of space missing. Where is to reinstall it again and
this missing space going and again. Perfect for mainte-
how can I recover this space. nance of PC as it cleans the
Please suggest a software registry completely too.
for this. Usually you need to hunt
harshit099 from Thinkdigit down leftover file manually.
Forum But the Revo Uninstaller
removes those leftover files and
It is true that you will not leaves almost no traces.
find 80 GB in an 80 GB HDD,
because computers use 1024 Thewisecrab from
for conversion of sizes Thinkdigit Forum
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 59
Recycle Got ideas? Get featured!
Don’t throw away old hardware and accessories. We’ll show you Demonstrate exciting DIY ideas at our office and get a
DIY how to put them to better use with exciting projects. Stay tuned chance to be featured in Digit. Email us your ideas now
Make some
melody
Although playing a piano can
be fun (even if you don’t know
music), nothing comes close to
the joy of playing a piano you
built yourself!
Nash David nations of 8 basic notes from according to a tuner emitting What you need
nash.david@thinkdigit.com A to G. Depending upon the the specific frequencies. In
IC 555, 9V battery, preset
medium of music, be it Western order to create our basic single- 100k – 8 nos, 0.1 uF ceramic
A
piano is an old or Indian, they are expressed tone, single-octave synthesizer, capacitors – 2 nos, 1k resistor
instrument that as Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti we’ll require the frequencies – 1 no., 10 uF electrolytic
capacitor – 1 no, speaker – 1
uses keys to cause and Do; or Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, in a single octave. Considering
no, connecting wire, bread
hammers to strike Dha, Ni, and Sa. Essentially, note A as the base, the rest board – 1 no., multimeter
tuned strings. Today the term these have distinct frequencies, follow an increase and decrease 9V battery snap – 1 no,
piano is popularly used (rather and all instruments are tuned in frequencies with respect to A. tiny screwdriver for tuning
frequencies.
ignorantly) for most musical
instruments with keys on
them! The ideal term would be Once you are able to gen-
synthesizer because what they erate these frequencies, you
primarily do is synthesize or have a functional synthesizer.
recreate the sound of a musical Our “pocket piano” as we’ll
instrument electronically. call it, is based on a 555 timer
In order to understand how IC. This is a really cheap and
a basic synthesizer works, we multi-functional chip used in
need to understand what goes timer and counting circuitries.
behind it. Music to be precise. The configuration of the cir-
Those sheets musicians read cuit is called an astable mul-
from while performing are tivibrator. Such a circuit does
made up of octaves or combi- not need any input trigger, but
rather oscillates into desired
Key Notation Hz Each preset will decide the pitch and note of the octave frequency depending upon the
63 B5 987.77
61 A5 880 How to use a breadboard
59 G5 783.99 In a typical breadboard as
57 F5 698.46 shown in the image, the grid
56 E5 659.26 in the middle is connected
54 D5 587.33 vertically in sets of 5 holes
52 C5 523.25 each. Similarly, the grid on
51 B4 493.88 the top and bottom of the
A4 concert breadboard is connected
49 440 horizontally. If you have to
pitch
47 G4 392 connect ICs where there are
45 F4 349.23 multiple pins that should
be connected together, use
44 E4 329.63
the gap in the middle of the
42 D4 293.67
breadboard. This way the pins
40 C4 261.63 on either side are isolated.
The notes differ in frequencies and Using connecting wires
these sets are replicated for additional you can make the required
The pin near the notch is pin 1. Here pin 4 (bottom right) is connected to pin 8,
octaves connections.
and pin 2 is being connected to pin 6
60 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Stay tuned
Exciting projects coming your way next month in
our anniversary special
You’re nearly done. You need to connect the probe from pin 7 to the presets
The complete piano. Preset arranged on the left. The long black wire serves as your
probe. Touching them to the end of each preset plays a note from the speaker
resistor-capacitor combination. check the resistance values and
In the pocket piano, the resis- then tune the presets till you get
tors that are needed for calcu- the required resistance values.
lations are R1 – 1k, R2 – 100 k Once you’ve got the correct
preset and C – 0.1 μF. values, you can assemble the
The formula to calcu- circuitry together. Preferably
late the frequency is F=1.44/ use soft push-to-on switches to
((R1+2R2)*C1). The values of get a feel of a piano.
resistors are in Ohms and Connect the speaker
capacitors are in Farads. Effec- between pin 3 and ground
tively, the note with the lowest (negative terminal of the bat-
frequency is C4 (262 Hz). To tery). In order to get the desired
High Performance Memory
• Lifetime Warranty
• Major Brand Chipset
You can arrange the keys as shown here. To repeat the second octave, use the
frequencies for C5 to B5 from the accompanying table
calculate the value of resist- tone, touch the probe connected
ance to which you need to set to pin 2 and 6 to the preset. STRONTIUM TECHNOLOGY INDIA PVT. LTD.
the preset, use the formula Connect pin 1 to ground and F-10 2nd Floor, Kalkaji, New Delhi – 110019
Phone No: +911140568675
R2=(1.44/FC1)-R1)/2. pins 4 and 8 to the positive Sales Query: indiasales@strontium.biz RMA or
Using this formula, you’ll terminal of battery. If you Technical Query: techsupport@strontium.biz
arrive at approximately 21k have connected the circuitry
for 330Hz, 20k for 349Hz correctly, you should hear the
and so on. Using a multimeter, notes distinctly.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 61
Indulge Speed up your PC
Tried & Tested 64 This month we have the iPad, a processor,
mobile phones, printers and more 75 Your PC could be slow despite a decent
configuration. Find ways to get on track
Channel surfing
Just push pause? This is an important aspect to
the whole DTH and DVR phe-
nomenon. Both offerings have
easy to use scan menus that tell
Airtel’s digital TV recorder vs. Tata Sky+. Let the war of you what’s on the other chan-
the remotes begin nels, without actually changing
the channel. What this means is
Robert Sovereign-Smith such as Discovery HD on a service both have very straightforward that you can record that Saas-Bahu
editor@thinkdigit.com such as Sun’s HD DTH service. menus, Airtel’s is a little more serial without missing a second
I’m going to focus mainly on nested, and requires a click or of your cricket match. When you
I
’d been searching for a local the DVR capabilities, because if two more for some operations. change to a new channel, the
version of TIVO for years, you’re just thinking of shifting Everything’s easy to find though, Airtel box lags a bit more before
and when Tata Sky launched over to DTH, you’re reading the but something tells me grandma displaying the channel. Not a
their Tata Sky+ service some- wrong article. would prefer Tata Sky+’s inter- big deal if you just go to the next
time last year, I was one of the face. For most of us though, it’s channel, but can become irritating
first to hop on to the bandwagon. Interface and really a no-brainer after about 30 quickly when you’re channel
With work, travelling and World remotes minutes of clicking and exploring surfing. Tata Sky+ wins here.
War 2.5 beta being fought in my Considering that a DVR device is the menus. So basically a tie in
living room over who controlled something that everyone in the
the remote, I rarely got a chance family is going to use, the ease of
to put on my Manchester United use of the interface and remote is
jersey, dig into a bowl of chips and pretty important.
scream “Foul! Penalty! Arrrgh, Airtel’s remote is decently
you blind oaf of a referee…”, at my ergonomic to hold, but the button
,
TV whilst sloshing cola all over layout leaves a lot to be desired.
the floor. Much to my terrified pet Tata Sky’s remote, on the other
cat’s chagrin, this happens all too hand, seems like a much better
often now. Anyone know a good thought out and put together
cat whisperer? implementation – serial channel
As wonderful as owning a surfers will like it. Perhaps it’s Airtel digital TV Recorder
Digital Video Recorder was, the the Sky moniker adding experi-
fact that it was a one horse race ence and good design sensibili-
made me uncomfortable. Not that ties to the mix, because this round this aspect, with Tata Sky+ just Pause, record, etc.
I had complaints with the service, clearly goes to Tata Sky. Button nosing ahead if you’re the type to Here’s what you’re buying a
but competition is always good layouts aside, the fact that you shake a fist at all the confounded, DVR for in the first place, so
for the consumer, and encour- can program Airtel’s remote to new-fangled gadgets around you. read carefully. On both offer-
ages price drops, better service control basic functionalities of ings, you can set a 90 minute
and all-round cheer. your TV and thus act as a uni-
, Connectivity buffer, which means that if you
versal remote, shifts the advan- Airtel wins hands down here, haven’t changed the channel, and
De-bunking the tage straight back to Airtel. because it’s just nice to see an are watching a channel, you will
jargon Coming to the actual user HDMI connector on a device be able to pause or rewind live
One simple rule. Ignore it all. interfaces, Airtel’s interface is that’s mostly going to be used programming up to 90 minutes
Digital signals are digital signals. snazzy-looking with white text with HDTVs. Although it may earlier. Of course, every time you
They’re better than analogue and on black backgrounds, and the only reduce cable clutter, and change a channel, this buffer
that’s it, nothing more. Although theme’s supposed to be change- not really offer any significant starts filling from scratch, so this
you’ll hear claims of “superior” able, but I couldn’t get that to work picture improvements, since is only useful when you’ve been
technologies, and have jargon – early days yet. Tata Sky’s theme neither is offering anything near watching a particular channel
thrown in your face about satellite is a cool blue and white, and per- HD quality video, I still think for a long period.
technologies such as DVB-S and haps a little easier on the eye cable clutter’s reason enough to When recording, Airtel can
DVB-S2, the fact of the matter is it’s than Airtel’s default. Although have an HDMI-out. be set to record a maximum of
all pretty much DVD reso- 20 minutes before and after
lution and not HD – except We’ve compared satellite services previously: the program ends; Tata Sky
www.thinkdigit.com/d/dth_services
if you opt for HD channels offers up to 30 minutes.
62 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Free flowing goodness Desktop PCs
78 Exciting HD media players tested this month. Sit back
and enjoy! 84 Promising desktops from well known brands tested
this month. Take your pick from this month’s test Feature
ering the average family record a program, from literally
Tata Sky+ to have four people, anywhere in the world! Now this
this means that each was a really cool feature that set
of the four can set their Airtel’s offering apart, but as I was
favourites. However, typing this article out, Tata Sky
as I mentioned before, announced that by end of April,
you have to go through all subscribers to its DVR service
a few more clicks to get will be able to instruct their STBs
there in Airtel than in to record any program from their
Twenty minutes is more than no way can I say that Airtel has Tata Sky, which has a dedicated mobiles, or any internet connected
enough for 99 per cent of the pro- got this right. For example, I series button that directly takes you to devices. Ah, the joys of being a con-
grams you’d ever watch, but every linked Friends, and when I tried the first channel in your Favour- sumer in a hotly contested market!
now and then, with soccer finals to change the channel to watch ites list. One additional feature that Another feature that’s
going into extra time, it’s better to some sports, it promptly told me Airtel offers here is Most Viewed, emerging is Video on Demand
have more of a buffer. However, I could not, because two chan- which lists the channels you’ve services, which thus far con-
the higher this setting, the lower nels were already being recorded spent most of your time watching. sisted of you watching movies
the total number of programs you – Zee Café and WB. “When did I Clearly, Airtel wins in this regard. that are played at certain time
can record. I recommend that tell it to record WB?” I thought. Not that it happens very slots, for a fee. Now, thanks to
you set this to 5 minutes, and to Flicking over to WB I found my often, but if you want to reset competition kicking in, we will
ensure that you record special answer. Airtel was trying to record your favourites list, Tata Sky be able to get movies, documen-
events fully, just record the next all programs called “Friends” on users will find this easier, as taries and episodes of popular
program as well – works well all channels. Hardly what I’d it has a delete all favourites serials, anytime we want them.
for me. call a satisfactory solution, but function – while Airtel needs One Airtel-only feature
If there’s one particular func- still a lot better than my Tata you to de-select each channel is Widgets. You get cricket
tion of Tata Sky+ that’s given me Sky+ experience. individually from the long list updates, stock reports, weather
nightmares, it’s the Series Link of channels in the guide. in your city, and more, all dis-
function. The theory’s simple. If Favourites played in a small box on your
you like a particular program, Although this is a feature that’s Other cool stuff screen. What this does is, for
Series Link it, and it’s automati- not really limited to only the Apart from all of the above, both example, help you keep track of
cally recorded every time it’s DVR boxes, I have to mention service providers come with some a cricket score while watching
aired. However, with Tata Sky+, the implementation of Airtel’s really cool features that you should another program, without ever
sometimes the option just auto- Favourites feature. Whilst Tata know about. Airtel launched with changing the channel.
magically appears, but most Sky offers up to 20 channels to be a feature called Mobile Recording,
times it’s just impossible to find. set as favourites, Airtel has four which allows you to download Decisions, decisions
With Airtel, this option is easily sets of 15 favourites each. This is a little app to your mobile that The bottom line of this article
accessible, and easy to set, but in well thought out, because consid- will let you instruct your STB to is supposed to help you decide
which to buy. Honestly, if you’re
At a glance subscribing to one of these pro-
Airtel digital TV Recorder Tata Sky+
viders already, there’s no real value
Price
in switching. Like the mobile pro-
For new subscribers Rs. 6,990 Rs. 5,999
vider wars, this segment is all set
For existing subscribers Rs. 6,990 + Rs. 1,000 credited to account Rs. 5,999 + Rs. 500 credited to account
to get crowded, which will mean
Hard drive capacity, recording hrs 160 GB, 100 hours 160 GB, ~100 hours
more features, more entertain-
HDMI, Component, SPDIF, Ethernet, Audio/ Component, SPDIF, Ethernet, Audio/
Connectors ment, and at cheaper prices. The
video out, 2 x USB video out, 2 x USB
Feature packed Easy to use interface battle’s only just beginning.
Mobile recording Fast channel surfing If you arm-twisted me into
Easy to series link Easy to set and delete favourites making a decision, I’d have to
Positives
Soon to offer Mobile and Internet acti- choose Airtel, but only because
15 x 4 favourites
vated recording, true video on demand Tata Sky’s response, although
HDMI output announced, hasn’t been imple-
STB hangs occasionally, and Series linking feature works erratically mented yet, and as it stands at
Widgets don’t work sometimes Lacks features the end of April 2010, Airtel’s
Negatives Series link records from multiple channels Only 20 favourites digital TV Recorder offers more
Interface needs more clicks No HDMI features for hardly anything
Channel surfing is slow more in terms of price.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 63
Intel on a roll
Intel has a stunning first quarter and spoke about Apple of Dell’s eye
“Sandy Bridge” and “Tunnel Creek”. Samples of A few photos of Dells new iPad look-alike
Bazaar Sandy Bridge have also started to ship have leaked, it’s Android powered
...SNEAK PEEK... don’t live in that parallel uni- prepare to rip them; ditto for
verse, we can’t have both (yet). Blu-rays. If you have movies
Apple iPad The issue? Depending on
your eyes, you might not be able
to handle long periods of reading
from other sources, then con-
sider buying Air Video – an
excellent application that
A touch-feel first look on the Apple iPad’s screen due to transcodes everything that
its backlit nature. The iPad’s dpi isn’t tied down by DRM. It
As an internet
W
hile not offi- is also not as high as the iPhone’s does the transcoding on-the-
cially avail- device so the fonts rendered aren’t as fly, over-the-air and streams
able yet, Digit While Safari is capable enough, sharp as the iPhone’s. it to your Apple iPad. It also
got its excited the browser is let-down by the handles off-line transcoding
little paws on the Apple iPad 256MB of RAM in the iPad. You As a comic and queues. Bottom line: if
a while back. The thoughts won’t be able to browse certain book reader you have a lot of videos, Air
that ran through our head forums or sites, especially those The screen is just a tad smaller Video will be the best $3 you
when we first laid eyes upon with lots of images, or worse - than ideal. About 2-inches will spend on the Apple iPad.
it were: (1) wow, (2) it’s smaller GIFs. The browser might stall more and it would make a
than we thought, and finally, and fail to completely load As a gaming
(3) it’s heavier than we would such pages. Safari also console
like it to be. The Apple iPad doesn’t render some sites The Apple iPad is currently
is about 200gm too heavy for as it should - but these are the most powerful hand-
most postures which do not few and far in-between. held console. So what’s the
involve assisted support of the However, since Apple issue? Controls: A lack of any
device and does not make for refuses to support Flash, physical keys will invariably
a comfortable viewing experi- some sites will simply dampen your experience with
ence over an extended period not work. You thus can’t more traditional games and
of time. access the entire Internet genres. Over time, you could
If the weight brings a tiny on the iPad. Hopefully, grow accustomed to on-screen
frown to your face, the iPad’s the industry will sort this d-pads and thumbsticks and
screen will turn it upside mess out and we can move what-nots; especially for
down and split it ear to ear. The forward without leaving slower genres such as RPG
Apple iPad’s IPS display is a our favourite sites behind. and strategy. But your mileage
real winner with an amazing may vary. If you can overcome
viewing angle and capacitive that hurdle – the games are
multitouch support. It turns excellent on this platform. In
the iPad into a new window Own this ad! many ways, the Apple iPad is
to traditional content such sted iP
Digit-teaway the piece wee the true indie platform. You
ing pric
as websites, e-books, comics, We’re giv d you decide the will often come across a gem
tested, an 1
arts at Re.
photos, maps, etc. The iPad Bidding st 7678
perfect comic book replace- that will hook you for a week,
bid to 56
experience can be summed SMS your the text: ment as comics would fit as is. developed by a bunch of geeks
with ount in R
s.>
up with the word “immediate”. D
Uninterruptible Power Supply Run. Type services.msc and right click on
Wireless Zero Configuration the process, click on Stop. Next, disable the
Processes to be shut - Windows 7 process by right-clicking on the process and
Application Experience clicking on Properties.
Windows Update
Cryptographic Services So what’s recommended..?
WLAN Autoconfig By looking at all the scores across all tests,
Windows Search turning off processes is the way to go. We’ve
Printer Spooler seen that turning on a single process or
IP Helper turning it off takes a couple of seconds. It
Diagonistic Policy Service helps in boot up and shutdown times and
also saves a ton of memory. Turning off the
them, deleting them, uninstalling programs page file completely is a bad idea in general
all leaves data scattered on your hard drive no matter how much memory you have. Let-
and that’s mostly to blame. Defragging doesn’t ting Windows set a page file is fine but if you
affect the speed of running applications but want to limit the amount, setting a 2 GB or 4
just the process of moving large amounts of GB file on one of your partitions is fine. When
data seems to take a little more time. A defrag an application crashes, the physical memory
on Windows 7 did better than what Windows will run out quickly and eventually slow
XP did. Registry cleaning by itself also seems down everything.
to do little to the system performance and For those who’ve wondered whether
there was almost no difference there. Windows 7 is any better than Vista or XP,
Moving on to running Windows without then the answer is yes, it is. We saw this in
a page file enabled, we expected a somewhat a lot of the tests we ran. File transfer speeds
large boost in performance. This would be showed the biggest difference and even after
because of the memory handling doing its being heavily loaded with data and software,
task instead of sharing it with the hard drive. there wasn’t the same drastic drop in file
The physical memory has more bandwidth copy speeds that could be seen on Windows
than a hard drive. There was a substantial XP. Quake III Arena running on the same
increase in performance in startup times with graphics driver versions showed a tiny but
it disabled on both operating systems. Some- yet, appreciable 3 per cent jump in frame
times, not all the changes result in large per- rates. Applications which normally feel
formance boosts. That was the case with tests lighter and launch quicker, in fact are loading
run with the page file disabled. There was faster on Windows 7. We noticed a tiny drop
also a major drop in file transfer times espe- in Firefox performance on Windows 7 and
cially while moving large amounts of data. in general, start-up times lag behind Win-
Applications once loaded into the memory dows XP. With faster systems than the one
performed the same as previous scenarios. we used, it’s even better. It’s also the fact that
Maybe running many more memory inten- Windows 7 seems to degrade a little slower
sive applications simultaneously would affect than Windows XP when you install all kinds
performance. Defragging or running registry of rubbish on it. So all in all, it’s thumbs up
cleaners didn’t change things around. for Windows 7 from us.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 77
4.5 lakh iPads Light Peak
Apple sells 4,50,000 iPads in the first Intel working on Light Peak, a technology
HD Player Test
Speaker test week itself for data rates faster than USB 3.0
Free Flowing
A high-definition
television playing
low-res content isn’t
cutting it. It’s time to
HD Goodness go full HD! We test
the best HD players
in the market!
Rossi Fernandes almost all cases, high-defini- solution, but it too would be all kinds of video formats on
rossi.fernandes@thinkdigit.com tions are a total waste watching expensive and it’s bound to be your large screen TV and some-
cable TV or even DTH. High- bulky, have higher power con- times even deliver quality con-
L
CD and plasma TVs definition content is rarely sumption and most of all, the tent over the internet, all this
are expensive prod- available on DTH. software can be very slow and in the comfort of your couch
ucts. Even then, Before we start, there are painful to customise and setup. using a simple remote con-
people have been few options to consider. You The easiest and simplest trol. You don’t need expensive
willing to spend lakhs on them. could buy a Sony Playstation solution out there is then HD oversized keyboards either. All
We buy these 42-inch and 3 or an Xbox 360, but they’re media players. Some call them this makes the HD player a very
50-inch TVs and use them to both pretty expensive. If you media streamers while some simple product to handle and
watch cable TV. It never really aren’t a gamer, then it’s an others call them digital media something that anyone, even
occurs to us that we aren’t get- even bigger waste of money. players. Either way, they are your grandparents can use. It’s
ting the best out of our TVs. In An HTPC would be the ideal devices that will let you play even simpler than using some
78 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Dual core netbooks Browser benchmarks
Intel planning on launching dual core Atom After Futuremark, Rightware launches new browser
processors for netbooks benchmark - Browsermark HD Player Test
DTH services! All you do is its side. One of the two ports same USB and eSATA ports on to be one of the smaller players
plug in your portable drive and can also be used as an eSATA the other as the R3. you can buy. It comes with an
view the content off it. port. The body has a plain The only problem we faced HDMI port, 2 USB ports and
The HD player market has matte finish and a glossy front with some of these products composite connectors for audio
been bubbling with activity with the indicators. It looks like was the inability to manually and video. It’s built well and
in sync with the TV market a fancy set top box. enter an IP address or PC name you could even hide it near
since the trend started off. WD The remote is somewhat to access shares if they don’t your TV if you wanted to. Being
was one of the first to enter to fat and larger than some of the show up automatically in the the first of its kind, it came with
market and we received three other players, but more com- list of network devices. We had no Wi-Fi or even a wired net-
of their products. We also fortable to hold than some of problems running media over work connection.
received a Seagate HD player the small, thin The interface is pretty – it
and two ASUS products. remotes. The but- has lots of simple icons with
Xtreamer, a product that has tons are pretty a very basic colour scheme
been doing very well interna- large as well. The to it and is still one of the
tionally was also available for playback but- nicer interfaces. The remote
this comparison review. Each tons could have is extremely simple to use.
player had something unique been as large as It’s small and maybe a little
about itself. While there were the directional too small for some. There are
some that couldn’t play all the buttons. Place- no volume level controls on
popular formats, there were ment isn’t ideal ASUS O!Play HDP-R3 the remote which makes
some which could stream video either the play- things a little more difficult.
podcasts and some which could back buttons lie at the top the wireless network setup, You have to run to your TV or
even download BitTorrent files and the volume buttons at the as was expected on most wire- audio system remote.
to the drive. We had the task of left bottom of the remote. The less networks. There are no You can have music playing
finding which one did the most remote has a good range as antenna provisions made in the background while you
and how well. This meant we well, but you need to point at available either. The problems browse through all the other
had the grueling task of playing the player for it to work well. were present even with the folders for more music, videos
lots and lots of high-definition The interface is designed player kept some three feet or photos. Video quality
movies and clips for extended well. It’s very responsive. from the router. Using the wire- appears somewhat harsher
periods of time. There’s little load time for less functionality is not recom- and grainier. Fast forwarding
movies and device startup mended in general if you’re doesn’t seem to be effective with
ASUS O!Play times are also equally low at thinking of
HDP-R1 just under ten seconds. Videos streaming
ASUS sent across two players. ran fine and there was little to 720p or 1080p
The first player we tested was complain about the quality. We content over
the O!Play HDP-R1. The player faced some problems with cer- the network
sits horizontally taking up tain standard resolution FLV on 802.11g
some table space but keep in files where as high-definition networks. We
mind most HD players are the ones worked just fine. faced similar
size of a thick diary. As a player problems with
that will hardly see rough use, ASUS O!Play the formats as
it’s built well. There are TV HDP-R3 we did on the
and Ethernet ports at the back The O!Play HDP-R3 model HDP-R1 model WD HD TV Player
of the player and USB ports on is almost identical to the especially with standard FLV
HDP-R1 in almost formats. All the other formats all formats. The speed of fast
all aspects. The played flawlessly. forwarding isn’t constant.
user interfaces and The FLV sample gave us
the products look WD HD TV Player some problem playing. Other-
the same. There The WD HD Player was one of wise, it’d be a perfect HD player
are a couple of the HD players to first arrive for a family that requires no
things that make in the market and it was a network support, just a cheap
it different – there phenomenon then. It was one dependable HD player. If lack of
is a memory card of the most versatile and reli- FLV support doesn’t bother you
reader on one side able players to get the job done. so much, this is a good player
ASUS O!Play HDP-R1 of the player but the The WD HD player continues to consider.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 79
HD Player Test
MAY 2010
HD Player Comparison Test
Brand Amkette ASUS ASUS Iomega Seagate
Model Flash TV O!Play Air HDP-R3 O!Play HDP-R1 ScreenPlay Director FreeAgent Theater+
Price (Rs.) Rs. 2,995 Rs. 10,500 Rs. 9,000 Rs.12,000 Rs. 9,500
Overall (Out of 100) 27.23 60.00 57.16 69.97 67.86
Features (Out of 50) 7.15 24.40 22.40 36.50 32.50
Performance (Out of 50) 20.08 35.60 34.76 33.47 35.36
Features
Max resolution supported 1080p (upscaled) 1080p 1080p 1080p 1080p
Connections
USB / ports 1 2 (1 Shared) 2 (1 Shared) 3 2
eSATA / ports 0 1 1 0 0
Ethernet (standard) N Y / 100Mbps Y / 100Mbps Y / 100Mbps Y / 100Mbps
Wireless (standard) N Y / 802.11n N N N
File support
Video (MKV / FLV / Real video / MOV / MP4) N/N/Y/N/Y Y / Y* / Y / Y / Y Y / Y* / Y / Y / Y Y/Y/Y/Y/Y Y / Y* / Y / Y / Y
Audio (FLAC, WMA / AAC) N/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y
Web content support
Youtube / Google Videos N/N N/N N/N Y/N Y/N
Flickr / Picasaweb N/N N/N N/N Y/N Y/Y
RSS feeds / Weather / News N/N/N N/N/N N/N/N Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y
Network support
Windows shares / FTP N/N Y/N Y/N Y/N Y/N
Remote access (web) N N N N N
Bittorrent N N N Y N
Internal storage
Capacity NA NA NA 1 TB NA
Drive form factor NA NA NA NA 2.5-inch
NAS support N N N Y Y
HDMI N Y Y Y Y
Component Y N N Y Y
Composite / RCA Y/N Y/N Y/N Y Y/N
Digital audio Y Y Y Y Y
Performance (Out of 10)
Startup time (sec) 6.5 8.1 9.6 114 9.03
Movie load time (sec) 5.9 5.1 6.6 7.59 4.25
AVI (480p) (Performance) 8 8 8 8 8
AVI (480p) (Quality) 6 7 7 7 7
MKV (720p) (Performance) NA 8 8 8 8
MKV (720p) (Quality) NA 7 7 7 7
MKV (1080p) (Performance) NA 8 8 7 7.5
MKV (1080p) (Quality) NA 7.5 7 6.5 6.5
Video skipping 8 8 8 8 8
Build Quality
Buttons NA NA NA 6 NA
Stand 8 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5
Body 8 7 7 7.5 7.5
Remote Control 6.5 6.5 6.5 7 7
Range 7 8 8 5 8
Noise 8 8 8 6 8
Heat 7 7 7 7.5 7
WD TV Live and the “Live” moniker in the operations between different The interface and theme are
When we first turned on model name denotes the net- paths. Although possible, it’s more or so the same as the other
the player connected to the work capability. The device simpler to use a desktop to WD players. The player runs
internet, it had already detected even shows up on your network move files about. a little warmer than the WD
a firmware upgrade for itself. list of PCs with TV player. While some other
All we had to do is confirm the shares for players have preview options,
the update. Updating was the drives you they’re very slow to render
therefore, simple. The player have connected the preview. The WD TV Live
is the same size as the HD TV to it. This can does this a lot better no matter
player. All the ports and con- be turned off what file size or format, but it
nections are identical. There as well. It even does slow the menu options
is an additional Ethernet port allows file WD TV Live down a bit.
80 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
HD Player Test
MAY 2010
While Youtube and Flickr the other at the rear. Wired
WD WD WD Xtreamer
TV TV Live TV Mini Xtreamer should cover most people’s network connectivity is also
Rs. 6,500 Rs. 8,500 Rs. 4,500 Rs. 8,990 (Wi-Fi) needs, it would have been nice present. Wireless connectivity
49.43 62.01 31.08 69.13 to have support for other serv- is an optional feature.
15.90 28.05 10.15 33.15 ices and maybe even implement Updating of the firmware
33.53 33.96 20.93 35.98
a small web browser. There can be done over USB or over
1080p 1080p 1080p (upscaled) 1080p is also online music support the internet. We chose the
in the form of Live365.com internet option but it takes
2 2 1 2 and Pandora. Live365.com is a surprisingly long time to
0 0 0 0 a temporary trial provided update the firmware even
N Y / 100Mbps N Y
with the player and Pandora though the download was com-
N N N Y(optional) / 802.11n
isn’t available in India unfor- pleted in a jiffy.
Y/N/N/Y/Y Y/Y/N/Y/Y Y/N/Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y/Y/Y tunately. Some of the Live365 The interface looks like fun,
Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y free stations still work. Again, but it drastically slows down
a Shoutcast radio listing when you try and stream con-
N/N Y/N N/N Y/N
N/N Y/N N/N N/N
would have been somewhat tent over the internet or list
N/N/N N/N/N N/N/N Y/N/N simple to implement and would internet channels. There was
have added a lot of value to also some flickering of the
Y/N Y/N N/N Y/N this product. Quality and per- screen while going from one
N N N Y
formance is identical to the WD menu to another.
N N N N
TV player. Poorly designed network
NA NA NA NA congestion errors are also dis-
NA NA NA 2.5-inch Seagate FreeAgent played every now and then. The
N Y (shares) N Y Theater+ online video feeds section like
Y Y N Y
The Seagate FreeAgent the rest of the interface has col-
N Y Y N
Y/N Y/N Y/N Y/N Theater+ covers a larger area ourful artwork designed to look
Y Y Y Y on your table. It’s flashy and very authentic. There is sup-
comes with a glossy finish. port for text RSS feeds, weather
5.12 7.09 7.8 50.5 There is a covered drive bay as well. All in all, the web con-
6.59 4.6 3.4 5.8
that’s designed to accommo- tent is presented well and its
8 8 8 8
6 6 4 7.5 date a Seagate portable drive. almost like choosing from a list
8 8 NA 8 If you don’t have a Seagate drive of channels on a DTH service.
6.5 6.5 NA 7.5 or one with the same dimen- Another great design aspect is
7 8 NA 8
sions as a Seagate
6.5 6.5 NA 8
7.5 7 8 9
external drive, that
space is a waste.
NA NA NA NA The FreeAgent
7.5 7.5 8 7 Theater+ could
7.5 7.5 8 7
have been a com-
6 6 6 7
8 8 8 8
pact player. There
8 8 8 7.5 are also standard
7 5 8 7.5 USB ports, one
at the front and Seagate FreeAgent Theater+
Moving upwards Infinity Ward Respawns
AMD announces profits of $257 million Ex-Infinity Ward members create new Respawn
HD Player Test in the first quarter of this year Entertainment
the status bar at the bottom of players, there’s always the WD features, the settings menu isn’t
the display. This shows you the MAY 2010
TV Mini to ponder about. With subdivided into many subsec-
current position like any other a product size that’s no larger tions, so you scroll through one
player but it also displays the than three small slices of bread long list of parameters.
amount of cached video while placed one on top of another, it’s If you need something very
streaming online content. It’s a capable of playing most com- compact for a CRT TV, and that
pity performance in the menu monly used formats. There is can be hidden away behind it,
deteriorates so much. no HDMI connectivity but you this might be it. Keep in mind,
have component and composite remote control range isn’t great.
Iomega ScreenPlay connects which should be fine
Director for most TVs. It does upscale to Amkette Flash TV
The Iomega ScreenPlay 1080p which means you can The Amkette Flash TV player
Director HD player is a some- use it to play standard is very similar to the WD
what bulky media player in DVD quality Mini. Just when we thought
comparison to some of the other rips. Anything things couldn’t get smaller,
products that we received. It’s more, typically the Amkette goes one step fur-
a product that comes with a around 720p ther. It’s the smallest player in
glossy finished plastic case. resolutions cannot this test. It connects to televi-
It has an internal one terabyte Iomega ScreenPlay be processed. Some for- sion sets in the same way as
desktop drive which makes Director mats can run at higher reso- the WD Mini. This too comes
the product a little heavy but lutions than
sturdy. Powering on the device some of the video and audio some others.
takes ages – something we internet streams are easily Although it
discovered when we plugged accessible through the player, might seem
it in for the first time. It’s likely any advanced options cannot like a low power
it’s reading all the data on be setup on the player. You need device, it can
the drive. to register on the Iomega site, power standard
The remote control is log into it, and then use a pesky 2.5-inch port-
large and almost identical Flash powered interface to get able hard drives
to the Seagate FreeAgent things going. It could have been just fine.
Theater+’s remote. a much simpler ordeal is all The menus Amkette Flash TV
In terms of video quality, the we’re saying. are designed to
colours appear somewhat paler be a little from other the WD with a single USB slot but also a
and washed out if compared to WD TV Mini players. It’s simpler and quicker card reader for SD/MMC cards.
the other players. Detail was For those looking at cheaper to operate due to lacking fea- The remote control is slim,
more or less the same as the alternatives to full-fledged HD tures. Videos are also able to runs off a button cell bat-
others. One of the specialities be fast forwarded tery; range is decent. For the
of the remote are the dedicated and skipped much somewhat simple feature set,
buttons for music, video and quicker because the remote seems overkill.
audio, which let you quickly of this. There is Buttons are really small but
jump between the types of con- a visible drop in there are many of them. The
tent without going back to the video quality that interface feels basic but it’s dif-
start screen. Switching between is magnified on ficult to get lost. For example,
menus is very slow. BitTor- a large 46-inch the player starts into a display
rent is difficult to get working TV like ours. showing only the drive and the
although instructions given The WD TV and settings option.
are straight forward. While WD TV Mini Live and all other For a compact basic player,
players rendered the video quality is a lot better
CONTACT DETAILS
standard defini- than the WD Mini although
Brand Contact Phone E-mail Web site
tion much better. the Amkette refuses to play
Amkette Rahul Gandhi +91-11-2638 9876 rahul.gandhi@amkette.com www.amkette.com
ASUS ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd. +91-22-6766 8800 media_india@asus.com www.asus.in The resolution and many more formats. Fast for-
Iomega Iomega 1800 180 2237 malaia@iomega.com www.iomega.com performance drop warding and skipping across
Seagate Fortune Marketing +91-11-2641 4468 sales@fortune-it.com www.seagate.com also can be seen in the video isn’t as fast as the
WD Anil Kukreja NA anil.kukreja@wdc.com www.wdc.com the photos as well. WD Mini either. It comes with
Xtreamer Xtreamer India +91-11-2751 5000 india.sales@xtreamer.in www.xtreamer.in With the reduced a text reader so you can read
82 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
$1997 woofer Next stop : 14nm?
Bang & Olufsen to launch BeoLab 11 subwoofer TSMC already preparing for 14nm fabrication
starting from a price tag of $1997 processes HD Player Test
a few ebooks on the screen and online content in the HOW WE TESTED
A
if required. For example, form of Shoutcast (audio) and ll the players were tested on of FLV, Real Media and MOV videos. For
FLAC and FLV files are out Youtube streams is available. a 46-inch full-HD Vu LCD test the audio test, we primarily used FLAC.
of the question. There is no The presentation and sorting at 1920x1080. We used HDMI We also recorded the time players
way of running music in the isn’t as professionally done connections on all the players. In the take to startup and to load high-defini-
background while browsing like on the Seagate FreeAgent compact products with no HDMI con- tion movies. One of the most annoying
through photos or even reading Theater+, but it isn’t shabby. nectors, we used the component con- moments is fast-forwarding a video clip.
text files! There are plenty of podcasts nectors. We had our sample videos and Some of the players we received came
as well. movies in different formats. Primarily for with many other features which allow
Xtreamer The network component quality, we used a 1080p (1920x1080) users to access content on network
The Xtreamer got into the test isn’t there for simply streaming trailer, a 720p (1280x720) clip and a shares and even stream content over
at the last moment, and we’re content from Youtube. It can standard DVD quality 700MB clip. The the internet. Weight was allotted for
glad it did. The Xtreamer is in a be used as a NAS. It has sup- high-definition clips used were prima- each one of these features. Build quality
class of its own. It doesn’t come port for a web server, a media rily MKV files and the DVD quality test of the player, the remote and the range
in any fancy clothes as some of server and a FTP server com- sample was an AVI. We also used a lot were also kept under consideration.
the other players in looks. It’s a ponent. You can even control
little smaller than the bulkier the device using a web browser.
products and can house a 2.5- It even lets you upload content Final tures, the Bittorrent
inch hard drive within it. The and stream content directly thoughts functionality and
device comes with an optional off the player on a browser. Of the two compact also the humon-
USB Wi-Fi module for wireless There’s even an iPhone app players, the WD gous terabyte drive,
connectivity and it also has an for it. We tried the web appli- TV Mini and the which makes a good
Ethernet port. cation on Wi-Fi using Amkette Flash TV, overall package.
The remote control a Symbian phone the Flash TV feels However, the
and device allow and it worked limited. It might Xtreamer is the one
for good multi- MAY 2010
just fine. perform better than the WD TV to seriously consider. Except
tasking. Music Other than Mini in image quality but what for the Bittorrent feature which
while through it’s long (50 use is it without good format would have been nice to have
the other menus second) startup support. In all honesty, the WD on this player, and a feature
is possible. You time, it’s at par Mini is only a little better. The that would definitely make
can even go to with all the standard WD TV is the better it beat the Iomega Screen-
the Setup menu other players. option of the lot. Play Director, it’s got pretty
without exiting Quality is top On the other hand, if you’ve much everything you need
a movie. You can notch as well. spent a lot on a full-HD LCD / – performance and quality
even enter the All in all, this Plasma TV, you shouldn’t be and if you think about, very
time you want to is an abso- hesitate over a couple of thou- affordable if you’ve just
fast forward to. lutely excel- sand rupees more. For that spent on a TV worth Rs. 50,000
It’s almost as good lent product. little more, you get much more or so. For all these reasons, we
as using a HTPC The Rs. 8,990 media support and features. award it the Best Buy award.
in several ways. price tag The Best Performer award Although the Iomega beat it,
Format sup- isn’t bad goes to the Iomega ScreenPlay there’s only a gap of 0.84 in
port is excellent Xtreamer either. Director for the number fea- between them.
Lenovo C200 All-in-One USB SSD drive launched
Lenovo’s C200 features the NVIDIA Ion 2 GPU, an Buffalo’s SHD-LVS-BK USB SSD drive is powered
18.5-inch screen, with an aspect ratio of 16:9, a 160 over USB 2.0, has a 64 GB storage capacity, and has
Desktop PC
Speaker testtest GB HDD, and capable of 1080p playback probably started a segment for external SSDs
Desk
Invaders
Desktop PCs are here to stay no matter how portable computing
gets. We sample some desktops across form factors this month
Acer’s eMachine 3540 is
a low-end PC, marketed by
Acer. This PC is meant for
those who want a system with
average computing power, and
will only play the occasional
entry-level games. The cabinet
is very ordinary, featuring two
USB slots, a FireWire port and
Nimish Sawant for this months test, covering perhaps revisiting this cat- audio jacks on the front panel.
nimish.sawant@thinkdigit.com all the form factors. We got four egory later in the year. On the rear, you’ll find outdated
desktop PCs from Acer, one looking connectors, such as
Acer Desktops
P
ersonal computing from HP, one all-in-one from serial, parallel and VGA ports,
may have become Lenovo, a nettop from ZOTAC We got four Acer machines four USB ports, three line
portable with the and an Apple iMac. Sadly, our of which three were from the audio jacks and a LAN port.
unprecedented test coincided with year-ending Aspire series and one was The eMachine’s PS/2 keyboard
growth of notebooks, net- and accounts closing for most an Acer eMachine. Except is very basic, and doesn’t have
books and smartphones, off companies, meaning the de for the different processors, enough space to rest your
late. But when one needs more facto product line refresh was all three Aspires were pretty palms. Typing on this is not
processing power, or comfort underway, which is the reason much the same configura- that great. The keyboard’s
within your home – nothing for this rather paltry figure. tions – motherboard, chipset, made of strong plastic, and is
beats a desktop. We have not declared any etc. The Acer eMachine comes very light. The optical mouse
Desktops are varied beasts. winners, but look forward to with a different keyboard and also has a PS/2 connection.
The reason for the varied form mousethan the Aspires. The Aspires had cabinets
factors that we see nowa- that are black matte fin-
days is the need to address ished metal, with the Acer
various usage scenarios. logo embossed on the
Most desktop PCs still follow sides and an Aspire logo
the cabinet monitor setup, on the front panel.
but all-in-ones come with The keyboard pro-
just a monitor, keyboard vided along with these
and mouse for the ulti- machines had an inter-
mate space-saving design. esting design. It’s an all
Net-tops on the other hand black, plastic body with
come in a very compact form a glossy finish on the top
factor. Based on Intel Atom where the multimedia
processors and motherboards keys are. The top right-
with a mini ITX form factor, hand corner has a volume
these devices are meant
for users who are looking
at basic computing with
decent internet experience.
We got around eight PCs in all Acer Aspire
84 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
56 inch monster monitor Will this kill USB 3.0?
TVLogic LUM-560W is a futuristic 56 inch Quad HD 4K Intel’s Light Peak which boasts of data transfer
LCD monitor sporting a 1.07 million colour LCD panel speeds of 10 Gbps to come out in 2011 Desktop PC test
control dial that gives the key- wires there. All the capaci- HOW WE TESTED
W
board an artistic feel. tors on the motherboard are e tested all the PCs with the compression decompression gives a
The bundled optical mouse electrolytic. Edges inside the operating systems that they good idea of the CPU and memory
feels like it’s made of cheaper motherboard are rounded, came with. Most of the PCs performance as well. Other than these
quality plastic, but its quite to protect you from getting came with Windows 7. In certain PCs we had the 4 GB sequential and assorted
responsive and has a rubber scratched up – thoughtful. which did not have a pre-installed OS, file transfer tests which gives an idea of
coated scroll bar. The cabinet comes with an we installed Windows Vista (32-bit). The the data transfer speeds.
The components in the inbuilt Delta Electronics power proprietary software which would affect As most of the systems are used
cabinet are neatly laid out, supply which has a moderate performance scores was uninstalled. to convert file formats we also checked
and there’s enough space 250W rating. An air flow guide While testing a desktop PC, we have the time it took for converting 100MB
between the DIMM slots and is attached on the inner, left- to take into consideration many factors VOB file to DivX format. We also checked
the processor in case you want hand side of the cabinet, for as there are lots of components involved. the gaming prowess of the system by
to change your heatsink solu- enhanced cooling. So we used benchmarks like PC Mark observing the frame rates for games like
tion. The two DDR2 DIMM We got the Acer P195HQL Vantage and 3D Mark 06 for testing the Doom 3 (at 800x600, medium resolution)
slots can house up to 4 GB of LCD monitor along with the core system performance. SiSoft sandra and Company of Heroes : Tales of Valour
RAM. The board has one PCI Acer PCs. This 18.5 inch LCD was used to test the memory perform- (1024 x 768).
Express x16 slot, a PCI express monitor has a native resolution ance of the HDD. Apart from these tests which were
x1 slot and two PCI slots. of 1366 x 768. The P195HQL is In the real world tests we used performed on the system, we also looked
The problem area on the board surrounded by a black glossy Cinebench R10 to test the rendering at the features provided, connectivity
is the gap between the PCI x16 bezel and has a power button prowess which depends on the proc- options, ease of use, accessories etc and
slot and the DIMM slot. There on the lower right-hand corner essor and system memory. WinRAR points were alloted accordingly.
is a very little gap between the with the monitor controls
two if you are planning to add located just beneath.
a large graphics card. Also the We ran DisplayMate on IQ4832P had the highest scores use – documents, surfing the
four SATA 2.0 ports on the the LCD monitor, and got poor in the synthetic benchmarks. It internet and watching movies.
board point upwards rather results in tests for black to grey had an overall PC Mark Van- The Acer eMachine 3450
than sideways which can transitions – we could barely tage score of 4,345 with the is priced at Rs. 18,999 while the
cause problems. Then again, tell the shifts between black IP4750P coming in second at Acer IE3450P sits at around
this PC is not meant for high- and grey. Also certain com- 3,899. In the 3D Mark overall Rs. 24,299. The only differ-
end gamers, so these issues binations like white text on a scores the IP4750 managed a ence seems to be the extra stick
are negligible. yellow background and vice score of 267. In the real world of RAM in the IE3450P.
The board has two redun- versa were unreadable. The tests, the IQ4832 was the fastest The IE4750P is priced at Rs.
dant IDE ports just behind monitor’s strictly average, and with the 100 MB VOB to DivX 27,999, while the IQ4832P
the DIMM slots. Space prob- features DVI and VGA ports. conversion clocking in at 47 comes in at Rs. 30,513. Quite
lems arise when attaching In terms of performance, we seconds. Compare this with competitively priced.
discovered that the Acer Aspire 52 seconds for the IP4750
and 65 seconds for Lenovo B500
the Acer eMachine Lenovo’s B500 IdeaCentre is
3450. As expected, quite an eye-catcher. An all-
The gaming bench- in-one (AIO) desktop PC, this
marks did not yield machine has quite a unique
high scores, with design thanks to the angular
both the IP4750P cuts at the right places. The
and the IQ4832P colour theme maintained
barely managing 25 throughout is black, grey
fps. If you’re looking and orange.
to game, you’re going The Lenovo B500 is tar-
to need a better GPU. geted at multimedia enthusi-
The desktops asts., and comes with a 23-inch
seem suited for home monitor with a black glossy
bezel and tapered corners. Just
below the monitor you will find
the inbuilt JBL 2.0 speakers.
Located just below the mon-
Acer eMachines eM3450 itor is an LED light that runs
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 85
Plug and Print Welcome Bendy
HP LaserJet Pro P1100 Printer series is going to Bendy M is a quirky mouse designed by Kim
be the first ‘Plug and Print’ printer which requires Hye-Shin which bends a flat strip into an
Desktop PC test no CD installation infinity shaped device
Desktop PC Test
Brand Acer eMachine Acer Aspire Acer Aspire Acer Aspire Zotac
Model eM3450 IE3450P IQ4832P IE4750P MAG
Price (Rupees) Rs. 18,999 Rs. 24,299 Rs. 30,513 Rs. 27,699 Rs. 17,500
Performance (Out of 55) 11.75 12.45 18.44 14.90 10.60
Features (Out of 45) 19.10 20.80 23.20 21.70 18.10
Total (Out of 100) 30.85 33.25 41.64 36.60 28.70
Processor Model No. / Speed Dual Core E5400 / 2.7GHz Dual core E5400 / 2.7 Core 2 Quad Q8300 / 2.5 Core 2 Duo E7500 / 2.93 Atom 330 / 1.66
RAM (MB) / Type / Speed (MHz) 1024 / DDR2 / 800 2048 / DDR2 / 800 2048 / DDR2 / 800 2048 / DDR2 / 800 1024/DDR2/800
Chipset Intel Express G31 Intel Express G31 Intel Express G31 Intel Express G31 Nvidia ION
Graphics Solution Intel Express G31 Intel Express G31 Intel Express G31 Intel Express G31 Nvidia ION
Audio Solution Intel HD audio Intel HD Audio Intel HD Audio Intel HD Audio Nvidia HD audio
HDD size (unformatted) (GB) 298 298 596.17 298.09 149.05
Screen (inches) / Resolution (native) NA NA NA NA NA
Operating System NA NA NA NA NA
Specifications and General features
No of USB ports 6 8 8 8 6
No of eSATA ports 0 0 0 0 1
No of FireWire ports 1 0 0 0 0
Audio connectivity (Coaxial / SPDIF) Y/N Y/N Y/N Y/N Y/Y
Video connectivity (VGA / DVI / HDMI) Y/N/N Y/N/N Y/N/N Y/N/N Y/N/Y
Memory Card reader (Y/N) N N N N Y
Speakers NA NA NA NA NA
PCI Slots
x1 1 1 1 1 NA
x16 1 1 1 1 NA
PCI 2 2 2 2 NA
DIMM slots 2 2 2 2 NA
Power Supply (in Watts) 250 250 250 250 NA
Performance
Synthetic Scores
PC Mark Vantage
PCMark score 3535 3699 4345 3899 1725
Memory 704 787 919 782 1369
TV and Movie 2691 2867 3584 2882 1324
Gaming 1388 1450 1466 1569 1700
Music 4220 4157 4683 4503 1764
Communication 4293 4404 4919 4824 1309
Productivity 4030 3516 4592 3827 1504
HDD 3721 3728 4493 3925 2594
SiSoft Sandra 2010
HDD
Drive Index (MB/s) 82 75.73 96 85.3 48
Random Access Time (ms) 19.85 19.52 11.81 19.41 18
Memory Bandwidth
Integer (GB/s) 4.4 4.39 4.6 5.41 3.12
Float (GB/s) 4.38 4.4 4.54 5.16 2.7
3DMark 06
CPU 2241 2248 3258 2460 853
Overall 229 258 262 267 1407
Cinebench (CPU) 5498 5446 9340 6057 1547
Cinebench (GPU) 1239 1237 1163 1366 1197
WinRAR file compression (KB/s) 933 941 1128 1033 406
Real World Tests
100 MB DivX file conversion (secs) 65 60 47 52 170
4 GB Sequential file transfer (secs) 217 187 112 150 264
4 GB Assorted file transfer (secs) 184 167 125 145 235
Doom FPS (800 x 600, medium detail) 12 10.8 11.1 10.4 28.2
Company of Heroes TOV (1024 x 768) 14.9 13.7 24.2 24.5 39.5
Webcam Quality (Out of 10) NA NA NA NA NA
Speakers (Out of 10) NA NA NA NA NA
Keyboard / Mouse usability (Out of 10) 5 / 6.5 7.5/6 7.5/6 7.5/6 NA
86 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Google Earth 3D
New York City can now be seen in 3D thanks to 3D film camera
Google Earth. Only other cities with this facility Holga 120 lomo-cam is capable of shooting 3D images
are London and Cape Town on a 120 mm film thanks to its dual lenses Desktop PC test
across the length
HP Pavillion Lenovo
of the monitor. It’s
p6373in IdeaCentre B500
Rs. 47,990 Rs. 37,590
ideal for illumi-
26.81 30.72 nating your monitor
35.50 29.50 in the dark. This light
62.31 60.22 can be turned on
Core i3 530 / 2.93 Core 2 Quad Q8400 / 2.66 or off with the help
4096 / DDR3 / 1333 4096 / DDR2 / 1066 of the touch button
Intel H57 Express Intel 4 series chipset
indicators located
NVIDIA GeForce GT220 NVIDIA Geforce GT240M
on the bottom right
NVIDIA HD Audio Realtek HD Audio
697.64 931.51
corner of the mon-
NA 23 / 1920 x 1080 itor bezel. There
Windows 7 Home Premium Windows 7 Home Premium are also brightness
and volume touch
8 6 controllers.
0 0 The left hand
1 0
edge of the AIO has
Y/Y Y/N
two USB ports, two Lenovo B500
Y/Y/Y NA
Y Y audio jacks and an
NA Y SD card slot. On the right you will find ZOTAC MAG
the power button and a tray mounted ZOTAC Multi All-in-one is an Intel Atom
3 NA DVD drive. 330 processor based net-top. It comes in a
1 NA Four USB ports, a TV-in port, a LAN compact casing which has a glossy black
0 NA
port, a PS/2 port and an AV-in port finish on the sides. It rests on a stand
4 NA
embellish the right side. The absence of and comes with an additional all plastic
300 NA
an HDMI port is quite shocking consid- accessory with which the net top can be
ering the 23 inch monitor is full-HD com- attached behind a monitor.
pliant. The JBL sspeakers sound is quite The MAG is powered by an Intel
6692 6395 crisp, and there’s no screeching at higher Atom 330 processor running at 1.66
4488 4477 volumes. Bass and treble are also decent. GHz, and is based on the NVIDIA ION
4274 4325 The wireless remote that comes chipset. It comes with 1 GB of DDR2 RAM
5153 5083
with the AIO can be used to play the and houses a 160 GB hard disk drive.
6937 6635
games that are bundled in the CD As soon as the nettop is turned on, an
5566 6298
5551 6257
called 3Dijoy. The remote control has orange circle glows just below the ZOTAC
5332 4774 Windows Media Centre controls, so symbol. On the front portion you have
you can use the AIO as an HTPC. the power button on top followed by two
The Bluetooth keyboard is slim with a status indicator lights below. In the lower
85.73 97.74 tapering design, and is sturdy. The key half we have a USB port, an SD card slot
13.18 16.27 placement is pretty good, and lends itself which can also support Pro, XD formats
to a wonderful typing experience. and two audio jacks.
11.34 6.62
The mouse accompanying the key- On the top, you’ll find a single USB
11.26 6.65
board is also Bluetooth enabled. It has a port with the air vent covering most
3069 3789 lovely black glossy finish on the top with of the area. There are four USB ports, a
6860 6580 an orange scroll and rubberised black LAN port, VGA, eSATA, HDMI and an
7460 11239 edges. The grip on the mouse is quite optical output.
4354 3521 good and it responds quite well even at a The main bone of contention in this
1535 1341 distance of 6 feet from the PC. otherwise decent nettop is the heating.
PC Mark Vantage gave us a score While running programs, the board tends
40 43
of 6,395 and 3D Mark06 gave an overall to get very hot. We found the system just
109 82
121 103 score of 6,580. It’s pretty decent for hanging due to the overheating – and in
161 188 gaming, and Doom 3 gave us a score of 188 an AC room at that. We had to manually
59.7 60 frames per second. increase the fan speed, but the system still
NA 7 The price of Rs. 37,950 for this product runs hot. As it’s a net top, and is targeted
NA 8 is extremely economical for the kind of at those who only need a basic system
7/7 7.5/6.5
features and performance on offer. that’s capable of decent multimedia, the
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 87
1TB SSD Drive
Drag and Drop Attachments OCZ Colossus LT 3.5-inch is a Solid State Drive Series
Gmail has added the drag and drop functionality to its with a 1 TB capacity designed for pro-sumers and
Desktop PC test attachments on Chrome and Firefox browsers as of now enthusiasts looking at maximising storage arrays
On the rear, presence of a sound card and PC comes alive in the multi-
there are a a GT220 is HP’s way of tar- media department. With the
variety of con- geting this product at mul- IR remote control, this system
nectivity options timedia and basic gaming can also be used as an HTPC or
thanks to the enthusiasts. a TV apart from a PC. Its these
populated PCI The hard disk drive is additions that integrate various
slots inside. The smartly placed vertically. The applications is what gives the
graphic card has board has four SATA 2.0 ports HP Pavillion the edge over
VGA-, HDMI- of which two point sideways other PCs that we tested.
and DVI-out and two point in the upper In terms of performance,
ports. It has a TV direction. The power supply is this PC delivers decently. It
tuner card that provided by a 300W Bestec unit. gave a PCMark Vantage score
adds standarn The Bluetooth keyboard and of 6692 which was highest
connects. The mouse are quite good, but among all the PCs that we
TV tuner card we experienced problems set- tested this time around. 3D
comes with a full ting up the keyboard. It would mark gave us an overall score
fledged remote really be helpful if there was of 6860. WinRAR compression
control which an option to add a USB cable / decompression gave a good
can also control to connect to the keyboard score of 1535 KBps which was
Windows Media as the bluetooth requires again the highest among all the
ZOTAC Mag Player. There are AAA size batteries. The tested PCs. Real world tests also
IR receiver ports response of the keyboard is yielded decent scores. It took
scores obtained were not as on the rear. Also, there are two quite good though. merely 40 seconds to convert
high as the other desktop PCs. Wi-Fi antenna outs thanks to The overall experience a 100MB VOB file to DivX.
We got a moderate 1,725 overall the Wi-Fi adapter on one PCIe of using the HP Pavillion Gaming also gave scores like
PC Mark Vantage score, and 3D x1 slot.
Mark gave an overall score of The cabinet
1,407. Real world tests such is opened easily
as our 100MB VOB file conver- thanks to the use HP Pavillion 6373in
sion , and gaming benchmarks of thumbscrew.
gave us very ordinary scores. It houses an Intel
The ZOTAC MAG is ideal 845 E chipset.
for use as a basic no frills Four DIMM slots
system, or as a low-powered are present on the
download rig. board which can
At Rs. 17,500 the price is a house up to 8 GB
little too steep for our liking. DDR2 RAM. This
It’s a decent buy if you can get PC comes with 4
your hands on it for about Rs. GB DDR2 RAM,
14,000 – heating problems not- and has three
withstanding. PCI Express x1
slots of which two
HP Pavillion 6373in are occupied by
The HP Pavillion desktop PC the AVerMedia
is the only Core i3 desktop DVB-T/PAL TV
PC we got and a first glance Tuner card and the
leaves a lasting impression. The Wi-Fi adapter. An
cabinet front panel has a semi- NVIDIA Geforce
circular bulge. The all-black GT220 graphics CONTACT DETAILS
cabinet is very sturdy, and has card is bundled Brand Contact Phone E-mail Web site
a glossy finish on the front. The for gaming enthu- Acer Acer India (Pvt) Ltd +91-80-4070 8700 ravi.hansdak@acer.co.in www.acer.co.in
topmost area is occupied by a siasts, and it occu- Lenovo Lenovo India NA NA www.lenovo.com
universal card reader slot. The pies the only avail- HP HP India NA NA www.hp.com
power button is placed on top able PCI Express Zotac Vardhman Technologies Pvt. Ltd. +91-22-2500 7002 amit@panache.co.in www.panache.co.in
of the cabinet. x16 slot. The Apple Apple India 1800-425-0744 indiasales@mac.com www.apple.co.in
88 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Acer eMachine EL1352-H22C 2800 fps at 1080p
Acer has announced the launch of small form factor PCs Vision Research’s camera Phantom Flex can capture
with EL1352-H22C running on a 2.7 GHz AMD Athlon II X2 1080p images at a whopping 2800 frames per second
215 dual core processor with a 1000 ISO sensitivity Desktop PC test
APPLE IMAC 27 INCH
A
pple does it again. With its 27 This iteration of the iMac is pow-
inch iMac, Apple has set new ered by an Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 run-
standards yet again, in terms of ning at 3.06 GHz. It comes with 4 GB of
screen resolution. At a massive 2560 x DDDR3 RAM with an ATI Radeon HD5670
graphics card. It can run games smoothly
1440 pixel, this is probably the only all-
in-one with that kind of resolution. Theat HD resolutions of 1920 x 1080, but
screen comes with an expensive IPS paneldon’t expect exceptional frame rates at the
with LED backlighting. Thus the contrastfull 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution.
ratio is very high and the output is highly The traditional black and silver-
gray colour combination is followed
luminescent. It has a very high pixel den-
alongwith the aluminium build which
sity of 109 pixels per inch, which is higher
than the 30-inch Cinema Display screen, is very sturdy. The screen is surrounded
thus making the text and images on the by a black glossy bezel which is quite
reflective. The speakers are housed on
screen appear very crisp. It has an aspect
the bottom edge of the screen. All the
ratio of 16:9 and despite the large size,
port connections are present on the rear
the viewing angle at 178 degrees is quite achieved at the cost of the number pad. and the mouse is Bluetooth-enabled.
side of the iMac screen. There are four
good. It will definitely take some time get- buttons like Page Up, Page Down, etc. It comes pre-installed with Mac OS X
ting used to the large screen size. USB ports, one mini DisplayPort, one The keyboard is somewhat uncomfort- version 10.6.2 with inbuilt applications
FireWire 800 port, one able to use, due to its ridiculously small such as Aperture, iMovie, Final Cut
Brand Apple LAN port and the audio form factor. Pro, Garage Band, etc. This is good for
Model iMac 27 inch 10.1 jacks. It’s very annoying The wireless magic mouse on the professionals who work on specialised
Price Rs. 89,900 of Apple to place audio other hand is an innovative acces- software. The large screen size allows
Intel Core 2 Duo jacks on the back of a sory that has support for multi-touch you to divide the screen into a work-
Processor model / Speedv
E7600 / 3.06
PC. A power button gestures. Running your fingers down bench and output sections easily.
RAM (MB) / Type / Speed (MHz) 4096 / DDR3 / 1066
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon 4670
is merged with the its length executes a scrolling action, We ran a couple of benchmarks like
HDD Size 1TB chassis on the left this explains the missing Page Up and Xbench and Geekbench, and also real
Screen (inches)/ Resolution 27 / 2650 x 1440 bottom edge, and is Page down buttons; by moving fingers world tests. XBench gave a score of 176,
OS Mac OS X v10.6.2 easily missed. On the sideways on the mouse, you execute while GeekBench gave an overall score
Specifications and General Features right edge you will find the next/previous commands. The two of 4214, which is 200 points higher than
No Of USB ports 4 the optical drive and an black plastic fins present under the the iMac 24-inch with an Intel core 2
No Of FireWire ports 1
SD card slot. Sadly the mouse, make operating the mouse Duo E8435 @ 3.06GHz. Real life tests like
Video Connectivity Mini DisplayPort
iMac does not sport somewhat sluggish. Either ways, navi- data transfer took 81 seconds for a 4 GB
WiFi / Bluetooth Y/Y
Performance
a Blu ray drive, but it gating the huge screen from end to sequential file transfer, and 91 seconds
Xbench 176 does come with 1 TB end with this tiny mouse, will require for a 4 GB assorted file transfer.
Geekbench 2.0 of HDD storage. some getting used to. Keeping in line with the Apple tradi-
Overall 4214 The keyboard is This is one lifestyle product aimed tion the iMac 27 inch comes at a hefty
Integer Score 3632 equally disappointing. at professionals. At the same time, the price tag of Rs. 89,900 which is under-
Floating Point 6027 The keyboard is blue- ease of setting up the system and get- standable considering this the only
Memory Score 3074
tooth enabled, with an ting started with using it leaves one desktop in the market with such a huge
stream score 2192
extremely slim body. thoroughly impressed. Startup time screen and build quality is also absolutely
Cinebench R10 6528
4GB Sequential 81 This compact sized is as quick as 25 seconds. It just has top notch - this is a quality product. It’s
4GB Assorted 91 keyboard has been one power connection as the keyboard practical and powerful.
DIGIT RECOMMENDS
121 frames per second for Doom
W
3. The HP Pavillion 6373in e decided from the outset that we would not award of the all-in-one Lenovo B500. At the same time its price was
will set you back by Rs. 47,990 any winners this month due to the limited number also the highest. Among the Acer PCs, the performance purely
which we feel is a bit expensive of products. Also the products spanned various depended on the processor as all the other accessories were
considering you only get an 18.5 categories: from normal PCs and all-in-ones to a nettop. We the same.
inch monitor along with it. In decided to give you the scores based on the performance and We’d recommend any of the Acer PCs to those looking for
terms of performance its only features so that based on your usage scenarios, you can decide an entry-level PC that does decent graphics. For those looking
marginally higher than the for yourself which PC is ideally suited for your needs. at high-end graphics, the p6373in and B500 are both very close.
Lenovo B500, but it’s priced at In terms of performance, we found that the HP Pavillion If price is the deciding factor then B500 is ideally suited as it is
Rs. 10,000 more. p6373in was ahead of everyone, but only marginally ahead around Rs.10,000 cheaper than the HP.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 89
Street smart 92 Price Watch 94 Consumer Protection
ZOTAC. I did not come across any cards
from ASUS, although they are avail-
Game on able if one wishes to order through a
dealer. EVGA was not available at all
– most dealers quoted no stock with the
Agent goes on hunting distributor. Palit typically uses innova-
for the latest and greatest tive coolers on their higher range of
DX11 GPUs cards, but I feel the quality of PCB used
by Palit is a little inferior to the likes of
Agent001 ZOTAC, XFX and Sapphire. If you’re
agent001@thinkdigit.com looking for a graphic card to use in an
HTPC I suggest looking for something
L
ast September, AMD under Rs. 2,500 – there’s no sense
shocked everyone by Decision making spending more if you are not going to be
announcing DX11 parts, Siddharth wanted something basic – gaming and even an entry-level graphic
slightly before DX11 was avail- this was his first GPU and “don’t go card will easily run 1080p content. A
able. Seven months down the line, they overboard” was his only prerequisite, GeForce 8400GS chipset will suffice,
have a slew of new DX11 parts at all price other than DX11-compatibility. A wise I recommend Palit or MSI, both of
points and finally, finally NVIDIA has move, because, a year down the line, you which should be available for around
woken up with a DX11 offering of their would probably only find DX10 and Rs. 1,800. Siddharth wanted something
own. My quest for shopping for a new DX11 titles, meaning DX9 cards would to game on as well. AMDs Radeon HD
card began quite unexpectedly. Sid- not work with these titles. Up to a year 4670 and HD 5670 were available, for
dharth, one of our newer team members ago, the market was mostly NVIDIA Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 5,600 respectively
suddenly decided to assemble a new dominated from top to bottom i.e. at all – the latter is a DX11 card. NVIDIAs
PC, spurred on no doubt, by taunts price points. Although NVIDIA still GT 240 is also available – a really fast
from old timers Rossi and Michael to dominates the entry-level market, the card, for 5,500 bucks. For AMD, I saw
join them online for Quake 3, Warcraft 3 mid-range spectrum is a little more options from Sapphire, PowerColor
and Bad Company 2 matches. Siddharth’s competitive since only AMD has newer, and Palit whereas the NVIDIA options
PC, being the fossil it was, would DX11 GPUs. The high-end segment is were Palit, XFX and MSI. He opted for
barely run the former two games, but pretty much AMD dominated, although the Sapphire HD 5670 and I was able
the latter well beyond its capabilities. the introduction of the GeForce GTX to haggle and get him the card for a
Our editor in typical fashion, suddenly 480 and GTX 470 might change that. hundred bucks less.
decided, that he too wanted a new However, nothing much changes In the high-end spectrum, I could
graphic card, so I was in business. when dealing with shopkeepers as I find no DX11 NVIDIA cards in the
discovered, and they still try to suggest market. The GeForce GTX 295 is the
Eleven doubts the cheapest card on hand, to make a sole campaigner along with the slower
If you are wondering what the fuss sale. Most vendors are so eager to make GTX 285. AMDs Radeon HD 5870 and
about DX11 is about, you can read more a sale that they hardly bother suggesting HD 5850 which are their higher end
about it on page 42 in this issue. Both something that is “bang for buck” prefer- DX11 offerings were available and
NVIDIA and AMD will sell you a lot ring instead to recommend the cheapest PowerColor was priced a little below
of PR talk about how GPUs are not item available. One Lamington Road the Sapphire cards. In the end, I chose
just for gaming and using one with the dealer, who obviously did not remember a HD 5850 for our editor and after a
relevant application support will result me, actually offered me a GeForce 6200 quick phone call, he agreed. The price
in your GPU doing a lot of CPU-like for 900 bucks – a Jurassic card that I difference between Sapphire and Pow-
tasks. For example, video encoding, would not have kept if given free. I even erColor was close to 600 bucks and I
where an NVIDIA-based CUDA appli- saw a Zebronics GeForce FX5500 – I managed to haggle with the dealer for
cation is shown to be five times faster urge people to skip such ancient chipsets a better price. After 15 minutes of bar-
than a CPU at video encoding. Sure altogether. I also get a lot of mails from gaining, I picked up the PowerColor
– this is true – and today’s high-end people who have AGP slots and want to HD 5850 for Rs. 16,600 – this card
GPUs are several times more pow- game. I recommend against this, as AGP will run all games on resolutions up to
erful than the best of CPUs, but they cards command a premium since they’re 1920 x 1200 – and is a good choice for
weren’t designed with X86 applications end-of-life. It’s better to simply upgrade gamers looking at something future
in mind and are not going to replace to a PCI Express-based motherboard. proof but not too expensive, for the next
a CPU any time in the near future, The market is full of cards from series of GPUs are due by the end of
irrespective of the hype generated. XFX, Sparkle, Palit, Sapphire, MSI and this year.
90 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
HD 6xxx soon?
96 Killer Rigs
Rumours abound of AMD coming out with an HD 6xxx
series by November 2010, that is faster than the GTX 480 Agent 001
I want to buy an LCD monitor GB. Even the CPU you are using is
(around 22 inches) within Rs.
DON’T MISS OUT ON THE FUN pretty weak for gaming – at least a
11,000. Please suggest me a MEET FELLOW MAKE NEW INTERACT WITH Core 2 Duo E8400 should be consid-
TECH-LOVERS FRIENDS TEAM DIGIT
brand, preferably Samsung. What ered. However, if you’re looking a
JOIN US AT FACEBOOK.COM/THINKDIGIT
do you think? And also I want to decent GPU within 2,000 bucks, I
buy an all-in-one deskjet printer recommend you try getting a
within 9000. I hope you will do me little more. I do not recommend a GeForce 9400GS – you will need to hunt
this favour. touch-screen phone, unless you’re willing a bit to get a good deal.
Subham Gartia to spend above Rs. 26,000. Although if
you do wish to buy one on the cheap with I’m looking to buy an assembled PC
I would recommend looking at brands a good feature set – look at Nokia’s 5800 without the monitor and speakers with
such as AOC and BenQ, instead of XpressMusic for Rs. 13,500. a budget of 30k that would be future-
limiting yourself to just Samsung. The proof for at least the next 2-3 years. I’ll
BenQ G2220HD was a decent monitor – I want to buy a Laptop (Brand name be doing gaming at moderate settings
this one is well within your budget at Rs. preferably DELL). My Budget is around on a 17-inch LCD monitor in a non air-
9,200. For an all-in-one deskjet printer, I 30,000 to 35,000. Please provide me a conditioned room. From the webinar, I
recommend Canon’s MP496 – it’s best model under this range. concluded that the following configu-
available for around 6,000 bucks – a R. Lakshmanan ration would be would suit my needs -
good deal, with decent print quality AMD Phenom II x4 945, HD 4850, WD
for photos. I do not think any technology is future 500 GB HDD, 2*2 GB DDR3 RAM.
proof for five years, let alone a notebook Please suggest a good motherboard,
I’m planning to buy a notebook in that price range. If you must get Dell, CD drive, PSU, keyboard, mouse and
nothing fancy something between Rs. only the Inspiron 14 fits that price cabinet. If it gets too expensive I can
20,000-Rs. 30,000. I’ll just be using it bracket. Else I would recommend an Acer go for a 9600 GT and a Seagate HDD.
for presentations watching movies Aspire 4736 which is priced well within Please specify the edition of HDD in
surfing and burning DVDs your budget. WD I should go for (or will any do). If
Frank Siangshai possible please include a UPS within
I am using an XFX GeForce 9600GT. the budget and please tell me the
Check out Acer’s Aspire 4736 – a good I want to upgrade my graphic card. market price of the products.
choice with good components on a good My Budget is 10,000. I would like an Dhruv K
budget. It should be priced within your ATi graphic card, but NVIDIA is also
budget and will meet all your needs. It fine by me. Hi Dhruv, thanks for attending the
has a good Core 2 Duo processor, 3 GB of Emil webinar and I hope it was a learning
RAM and a 250 GB HDD. experience. For a 17” LCD, that graphics
For Rs. 8,800 you can pick up a card is enough. You can go with an AMD
Can you suggest me a mobile with Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 – a DX11 card 785G board – the Gigabyte MA785GM-
the best features available in range of that will be quite a performance upgrade US2H priced at Rs. 4,400 will be a good
Rs. 20,000. I want GPS, games, touch, over the 9600 GT. A Radeon HD 5830 choice. A Corsair VX450 (Rs. 3,800) will
good speed, good camera, Wi-Fi, would cost you just around the Rs. provide sufficient juice for this PC, even
Bluetooth and good sound quality as I 10,000 mark. if you upgrade, or you could opt for a
love music. I would love wireless FM too. VIP Gold 500W that will cost you Rs.
Ankur Gupta I want to buy a graphic card for 2,300. For the cabinet, choose something
my PC that can run games like that has fans on the side blowing on the
I would recommend either a Nokia N Prototype, Transformers etc. My CPU – 2 x 80mm or 1 x 120mm fan(s)
series device or a Sony Ericsson. That budget is Rs. 2000. My PC configura- would be ideal. Other than that a 120mm
being said, even a Nokia E72 worth Rs. tion is, processor: Intel core2 duo fan on the rear to exit hot air from the
17,500 on the street will be a good choice E4600 (2.40 GHz). Motherboard: Intel CPU and a couple of 120mm fans on the
except that it has a mediocre camera and D945GCPE: RAM: 1.24GB front. For the keyboard and mouse, go
does not have a touch-screen. Your Aditya Kalsi with a regular Logitech multimedia
budget actually straddles two categories keyboard and optical mouse. You can
– smartphones and smartphones with Firstly, if you wish to run such games upgrade to a Logitech MX 518 (Rs. 1,350)
really good touch interfaces. For the at high resolutions and/or with high level later. For a CPU a warranty of three
former, any phone between Rs. 12,500 of detail, you will need to spend more, say years is standard. Any WD Caviar Blue/
and 20,000 will be a good choice, while around Rs. 8,000. You will also need to Green Edition drive will do. The Black
for the latter you may need to spend a upgrade your system RAM to at least 2 Edition is faster, but costlier.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 91
3D Technology Awards
With a slew of 3D movies hitting theatres, the International 3D Society has
Price watch come up with an award ceremony for the same
SPEND SMART
The latest peripheral prices
updated every month. Go ahead,
plan your configuration today
Processors
Model Brand Market Price Socket/Interface Brief Specs Tested in
Sempron 140 AMD Rs. 1,810 AM3 2.7 GHz / single core September 2009
Athlon II X2 240 AMD Rs. 3,000 AM3 2.8 GHz / dual core September 2009
Athlon II X2 245 AMD Rs. 3,175 AM3 2.9 GHz/ dual core -
Phenom II 550 AMD Rs. 4,830 AM3 3.1 GHz/ dual core September 2009
Phenom II 555 BE AMD Rs. 5,250 AM3 3.2 GHz/ dual core -
Athlon II X3 425 AMD Rs. 3,700 AM3 2.7 GHz / 3 cores -
Athlon II X3 440 AMD Rs. 4,600 AM3 3 GHz / 3 cores -
Athlon II X4 630 AMD Rs. 5,250 AM3 2.8 GHz / 4 cores -
Phenom II X3 720 BE AMD Rs. 6,450 AM3 2.8 GHz / 3 cores September 2009
Phenom II X4 945 AMD Rs. 7,750 AM3 3 GHz / 4 cores September 2009
Phenom II X4 955 BE AMD Rs. 8,400 AM3 3.2 GHz / 4 cores September 2009
Phenom II X4 965 BE AMD Rs. 9,430 AM3 3.4 GHz / 4 cores September 2009
Celeron 430 Intel Rs. 1,890 LGA 775 1.8 GHz / single core -
Pentium Dual Core E5400 Intel Rs. 2,900 LGA 775 2.6 GHz / dual core September 2009
Core 2 Duo E7500 Intel Rs. 5,150 LGA 775 2.93 GHz / dual core -
Core 2 Quad Q8400 Intel Rs. 8,100 LGA 775 2.66 GHz / 4 cores September 2009
Core i7 920 Intel Rs. 14,100 LGA 1366 2.66 GHz / 4 cores September 2009
Core i7 930 Intel Rs. 14,800 LGA 1366 2.8 GHz / 4 cores -
Core i7 980 Extreme Intel Rs. 58,000 LGA 1366 3.33 GHz / 6 cores April 2010
Core i3 530 Intel Rs. 5,850 LGA 1156 2.93 GHz / dual core -
Core i5 661 Intel Rs. 13,500 LGA 1156 3.33 GHz / dual core May 2010
Core i5 750 Intel Rs. 10,400 LGA 1156 2.66 GHz / 4 cores -
Core i7 860 Intel Rs. 14,500 LGA 1156 2.8 GHz / 4 cores -
Core i7 870 Intel Rs. 27,400 LGA 1156 2.93 GHz / 4 cores -
Motherboards
Model Market Price Socket/Interface Brief Specs Tested in
ASUS P6T Deluxe Rs. 20,450 LGA 1366 2x PCIe x16, 8-channel audio, 8 x SATA ports September 2009
ASUS Rampage 2 Extreme Rs. 24,500 LGA 1366 2x PCIe x16, 8-channel audio, 8 x SATA ports September 2009
ASUS Rampage 2 Gene Rs. 16,400 LGA 1366 2 x PCIe x8, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports -
Gigabyte X58 Extreme Rs. 21,200 LGA 1366 2 x PCIe x16, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports September 2009
Gigabyte X58 UD5 Rs. 17,100 LGA 1366 2 x PCIe x16, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports September 2009
MSI X58 Pro-E Rs. 11,300 LGA 1366 2 x PCIe x8, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports September 2009
Gigabyte P55 UD6 Rs. 17,100 LGA 1156 1x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x8, 8 channel audio, 8x SATA ports October 2009
ASUS P5P55-D Rs. 9,750 LGA 1156 1x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x8, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports October 2009
MSI P55 GD65 Rs. 9,100 LGA 1156 1x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x8, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports October 2009
ECS P55-HA Black Rs. 8,900 LGA 1156 1x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x8, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports April 2010
MSI P45 Platinum Rs. 9,100 LGA 775 1x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x8, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports September 2009
ASUS P5Q Rs. 8,500 LGA 775 1x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x8, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports
ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe Rs. 13,500 LGA 775 1x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x8, 8 channel audio, 6x SATA ports September 2009
ECS AB 890GXM-A Rs. 7,100 AM3 2 x PCIe x16, 8-channel audio, 6x SATA ports April 2010
Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H Rs. 7,900 AM3 2 x PCIe x16, 8-channel audio, 8x SATA ports April 2010
ASUS M4A78STD-V-EVO Rs. 6,500 AM3 1 x PCIe x16, 8-channel audio, 6x SATA ports -
ASUS M4A78T-E Rs. 8,800 AM3 2 x PCIe x16, 8-channel audio, 6x SATA ports -
ASUS M4A79T-DELUX Rs. 13,100 AM3 2 x PCIe x16, 8-channel audio, 8x SATA ports September 2009
Gigabyte MA78GMT-USB3 Rs. 5,950 AM3 1 x PCIe x16, 8-channel audio, 6x SATA ports -
92 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
High Gains Bionic Man is here
The markets have opened up, and tech companies including Yahoo!, Apple and HCL are Russians doctors have successfully managed to implant Price watch
posting promising first quarter earnings, IBM is an exception with a drop in profits a completely artificial heart into an old woman
Power supplies
Model Price Tested in Capacity Modular
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 460W Rs. 3,705 - 460W N
Cooler Master eXtreme Power 650W Rs. 4,200 - 650W N
Cooler Master GX 550W Rs. 4,500 March 2010 550W N
Cooler Master GX 650W Rs. 5,500 - 650W N
Cooler Master GX 750W Rs. 6,500 - 750W N
Corsair HX 850 Rs. 10,100 January 2010 850W Y
Corsair CX400W Rs. 3,200 Sept-09 400W N
Corsair HX620W Rs. 7,650 - 620W Y
Corsair TX650W Rs. 6,700 - 650W N
Corsair VX450W Rs. 3,950 - 450W N
Corsair VX550W Rs. 5,700 - 550W N
FSP Blue Storm Pro 500 Rs. 3,650 - 500W N
Seasonic PS S12II-430 Rs. 3,850 - 430W N
Silverstone 400W Rs. 3,100 - 400W N
VIP 600W Rs. 2,900 - 600W N
Zebronics Pro 600W Rs. 4,000 - 600W N
Cabinets
Model Price Tested in 5.25-inch bays 3.5-inch bays Bundled fans Expansion slots
Antec Nine Hundred Rs. 7,100 6 3 4 7
Antec NSK4400 Rs. 1,700 May-08 3 5 1 7
Antec Three Hundred Rs. 3,900 Oct-08 3 6 2 7
Cooler Master 690 (with sidepanel) Rs. 5,000 - 5 5 3 7
Cooler Master ATCS 840 Rs. 16,100 Nov-09 6 7 4 7
Cooler Master Cosmos Rs. 15,000 - 5 6 1 7
Cooler Master Elite 100 Rs. 3,100 - 1 1 0 0
Cooler Master Elite 310 Rs. 1,600 - 4 7 1 7
Cooler Master HAF 932 Rs. 10,000 6 6 4 7
iBall Baby 306 Rs. 2,000 - 1 3 2 0
Thermaltake Armor+ Rs. 13,700 - 7 7 3 10
Thermaltake Armor+MX Rs. 7,800 - 5 5 3 7
Thermaltake M9 Rs. 4,800 - 6 3 2 7
Cell Phones
Model Price Tested in Screen size Camera resolution Platform
HTC Hero Rs. 26,500 Feb-10 3.2-inch 5 MP Android 1.5
HTC Touch HD 2 Rs. 35,000 - 4.3-inch 5 MP Windows Mobile 6.5
LG KP500 Rs. 7,300 Jun-09 3.0-inch 3.15 MP -
Nokia E55 Rs. 17,000 - 2.4-inch 3.2 MP Symbian S60
Nokia E63 Rs. 9,700 Nov-09 2.36-inch 2 MP Symbian S60
Apple iPhone 3G 16 GB Rs. 35,500 June 2009 3.5-inch 2.0 MP iPhone OS
Nokia E72 Rs. 19,500 - 2.36-inch 5 MP Symbian S60
Nokia N97 Rs. 31,000 Aug-09 3.5-inch 5 MP Symbian S60
Nokia XpressMusic 5330 Rs. 9,000 - 2.4-inch 3.15 MP -
Nokia XpressMusic 5800 Rs. 13,500 3.2-inch 3.15 MP -
Samsung Omnia HD i8910 Rs. 29,500 December 2009 3.7-inch 8 MP Symbian S60
Sony Ericsson Satio Rs. 30,000 March 2010 3.5-inch 12 MP Symbian S60
Sony Ericsson Yari Rs. 12,800 Feb-10 2.4-inch 5 MP -
Blackberry Bold 9000 Rs. 26,500 Jun-09 2.4-inch 2 MP Blackberry OS
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 93
All Consumer mate initiatives are supported by the Digit Test Centre.
If you have grievances related to your products, Consumer mate will
Consumer Support speak on your behalf
Time to exercise…
In a world where companies are out there to
earn profits by every passing moment, don’t
be the convenient bait. It’s time to exercise…
your rights as a consumer. You don’t have
to flex your muscles when you have laws to
work for you
Case File #14
A
fter reading
our LCD
monitor test
in 2007,
Sudip Kumar Saha
decided to buy a View- The black spots visible on Saha’s ViewSonic monitor
Sonic monitor. It was
encouraging to learn
how he based his buying would inform the Bangalore head office about it.
decision after reading On 29th, Saha got another call from the Bangalore
our verdict. After decent head office - they told him they will replace the
performance for close to monitor with another model expected by 2nd April.
two years, the monitor On 1st April, he got another call and was told that the
developed some problems replacement unit will reach him by April 06.
with spots appearing on On the 6th, Saha called up their West Bengal branch
the display. When Saha and enquired about it and they told him it was
first wrote to ViewSonic, shipped from Pune. At 6.30 pm on April 06, 2010,
they told him, “After the defective unit was replaced with a new one.
studying your case deeply
and verifying all the Case File #25
L
technical specifications ast month was all about a Nokia customer
of the products, we have ViewSonic replaced the faulty monitor with a brand new who wrote to us about his Nokia N72 that
come to this conclusion unit two months before the warranty expires abruptly started malfunctioning. Within a
that the black patches/ year of purchasing the phone, Srirengam’s
spot that appeared on the screen is a result of phone just died. He approached Nokia’s service per-
misuse, external pressure e.g. touching small sonnel at the respective service centre in his locality.
dot(s) on LCD screens or physical damage and is Unfortunately, he was told nothing could be done
not covered under warranty. All such problems about his phone.
basically come up due to mishandling. Such A response such as that could be so disheart-
cases do not fall within the scope of ViewSonic.” Expert buying ening. You buy a product with immense hope,
advice and probably most of the time after a lot of asking,
What transpired consulting, saving and waiting. And one fine day,
On March 22nd, Saha sent an email to servicewatch@ Visit Consum- all you hear is nothing can be done about it, it’s
thinkdigit.com and a copy of the mail to the editor. ermate.com gone forever. Amidst the despair and rage, there
Two days later, On the 24th, Ahmed Shaikh, Editor- for expert buy- needs to be a sense of restraint. Patience will take
at-large and online architect, called Saha asking him ing advice and you places, not reckless pursuit. In order to see
for all the details of the case. comprehensive your product working fine, you could take on one
On the 26th, Saha received an email from View- information on stupid move that would absolve the company of
Sonic along with a RMA/Complaint No. The next Laptops, Mobiles, any responsibility.
day, RT outsourcing’s West Bengal branch called TVs, Cameras and He wrote to us and we promptly started our
Saha and told him that the panel for his model is not Camcorders follow up. We shared his email with Nokia, and
available, and will take 3-4 days to repair the monitor. waited for responses. A month later they did get
Saha asked for a replacement and was told they back to us saying the customer had tampered with
94 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Stand-by Time Important buying factors
The duration you can leave your fully charged phone on, before the Before you buy a laptop, read important advice at
battery dies out. Check out similarly used jargon at http://bit.ly/8XPb6F http://bit.ly/aeVmVN Consumer Support
the handset. Although that because all warranties and seem very content.
may sound surprising, we guarantees absolve companies Maintaining a
must be ensure none of the from any obligation if the end neutral stand here,
steps we take are detrimental user tampers with the equip- we got in touch
to our course to justice. Una- ment, in this case a mobile with Reliance
ware of the proper course to phone. The fact is although Communications.
be followed, Srirengam gave Srirengam himself didn’t open Never for once did
it all away because of haste. the mobile phone, he did in fact we mention that
Consumermate.com has an go to the local mobile repairer Michael Browne is
informative guide to your expecting a miracle to happen. an employee of 9.9
safety as a consumer. Be wise, and keep your side Media or Digit.
Go to www.tinyurl.com/digit- of the case strong from the We presented
protect to read some really very beginning. In fact, save his case as a
valuable tips. For example, all documentation and receipt reader of Digit, in
point 2 of the checklist states, from the day you purchase the same way we
in case any defect/deficiency your product. represent you. It
is detected in the product, It is a universally accepted started on March
first you should approach the fact – quality does cost money. 07, 2010 when a
seller and preferably submit When you pay a higher price, franchisee agent Saha’s excited about his brand new monitor
the complaint in writing you have a right to demand went to Browne’s
giving complete details. In better quality and service. residence to check
case the seller agrees to rectify Similarly, when you take the on his newly installed us. He said, “this is a one-off
the problem to your satisfac- cheaper way out, you’ll find connection and since “he case where due to an error
tion, ask for time it should yourself sooner or later calling happened to meet him” also somewhere in the flow, things
take to do the same and have out for help with no one collect the bill amount of Rs. get out of hand. However, we’ll
a copy of acknowledgement of obliged to help you. If buying 800. Not sensing any foul- do our internal investigation
receipt of complaint for your your next mobile phone costs play, Browne handed him the and find out about the same.
records. If the seller fails to you marginally more to get amount and continued his Since we are certain about the
attend the complaint in due you a receipt, go for it. The normal schedule of online credentials of the customer
course of time or creates dis- same bill will be your first gaming and streaming music. and know it is not a wrongful
pute, the buyer can approach documentation that you could A couple of days later while denial of payment, we’ve made
Consumer Court, MRTP present in your legal battle in office, he received a call the necessary modifications to
commission , Weight and should there be a malfunction stating his services have the database.”
Measurement Department, or as Srirengam experienced. been discontinued because That sounded reassuring.
file criminal complaint in case he hasn’t made the neces- His net was up and running in
of cheating. Now a days, con- Case File #48 sary payments. Most of April a couple of hours, and Browne
A
sumer courts are very effec- surprising victim passed without Internet was happy. There were frus-
tive in helping the consumer this month was services and he was levied an trating hiccups again. The net
resolve disputes. Digit’s Michael additional bill for the month was disconnected again and
If only Srirengam had fol- Browne. We’re along with the outstanding of he was receiving calls saying
lowed these words of advice, all consumers after all. He has Rs. 800 mentioned earlier. his earlier request for discon-
he would have been assured been using broadband services Here he was, paying money, necting service was finally
of a solution from Nokia. by Reliance Communications. then charged for it again, and closed. Overall, it was a state
Today, although his would As a customer, he says he’s levied with normal billing of absolute confusion where
be a genuine case of injustice, pleased with their network. despite termination of all serv- one executive didn’t know
there is nothing he can do to Technically, they satisfying. ices. We could see the frustra- what the other was talking.
get a replacement or a service But as a service, he didn’t tion building within him. We Once we initiated communica-
decided to follow it up for him, tion with Reliance, Browne
without any bias. We presented was even asked about some
the case as we saw it. We got other Reliance services he
If you’re facing a problem in touch with the Corporate had subscribed to in the past!
with your purchase, Communications department Everything is now at ease with
write to us at help@ of Reliance Communications. him enjoying the luxury of a
consumermate.com Anuj Bakshi was the spokes- fast broadband connection in
person who was in touch with the comfort of his home.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 95
Basic rig = Rs. 22,050
KILLER RIGS
everything you will ever need to build your own PC. whatever your budget.
Multimedia cum gaming rig = Rs. 34,950
High-end PC / Gaming rig = Rs. 54,850
Ultra high-end PC / Gaming rig = Rs. 1,28,310
PRIMARY SECONDARY COMPONENTS
COMPONENTS
CABINET POWER SUPPLY MOUSE
PROCESSOR
AMD AthlonII X2 240 / Rs. 2,900
AMD Athlon 2 X4 630 / Rs. 5,050
Phenom X4 945 / Rs. 7,600 VIP 350 Watts / Rs. 850 Logitech 3 button scroll / Rs. 300
Intel Core i7 920 / Rs. 15,100 VIP 400W Gold / Rs. 850 Logitech 3 button scroll / Rs. 300
Corsair VX 450 / Rs. 3,800 Logitech MX518 / Rs. 1,300
Corsair HX 620 / Rs. 7,100 Logitech MX518 / Rs. 1,300
Zebronics Antibiotic / Rs. 2,100 SPEAKER OPTICAL DRIVE
Zebronics Antibiotic / Rs. 2,100
CoolerMaster 690 / Rs. 4,400
Antec 900 / Rs. 6,500
SOUND CARD
MOTHERBOARD None
ASUS NVIDIA 7025 M2N68-AM / None
Rs. 2,250 None
Gigabyte MA78GM-US2H / ASUS Xonar DX / Rs. 3,700
Rs. 4,200 None LG H55N / Rs. 1,100
ASUS M4A78-PRO / Rs. 5,850 None LG H55N / Rs. 1,100
MSI X58 Pro-E / Rs. 11,400 Altec Lansing VS2421 / Rs. 2,200 LG H55N / Rs. 1,100
Altec Lansing MX 5021 / Rs. 6,500 ASUS BC-1205PT / Rs. 11,010
KEYBOARD
RAM Logitech Multimedia / Rs. 400
2 x 1 GB DDR2 800 MHz (Kingston) / Logitech Multimedia / Rs. 400
Rs. 2,000 Logitech Multimedia / Rs. 500
2 x 1 GB DDR2 800 MHz (Kingston) / Logitech G15 / Rs. 4,000
Rs. 2,000
2 x 2GB DDR2 800 MHz (Corsair) /
Rs. 4,000
3 x 2 GB Kingston HyperX T1 2000
MHz / Rs 17,500
GRAPHICS CARD
MISCELLANEOUS
None
ZOTAC GeForce TABLET HEADPHONES PRINTING SOLUTIONS
9600GT / Rs. 4,750
Sapphire Radeon HD
4850 / Rs. 6,900
Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 / Rs. 25,500
HARD DRIVE
None None
iBall Design Tablet PF1209 / Rs. 8,900 Sennheiser HD 201 / Rs. 1,500
Wacom Intuos4 Medium (PTK-640) Sennheiser HD 280 Pro / Rs. 5,500 Canon PIXMA iP1980 / Rs. 2,695
Rs. 21,280 Canon iP3680 / Rs. 5,595
Seagate 500 GB 7200.11 / Rs. 2800 Epson B-500DN / Rs. 22,999
Seagate 500 GB 7200.11 / Rs. 2,800 GAMING CONTROLLERS
Seagate 1 TB 7200.12 / Rs. 3,950 MOUSEPAD
WD Black Edition 1 TB / Rs. 6,100 POWER PROTECTION
MONITOR
ViewSonic VA1928wm / Rs. 7,900
AOC 2236Vw / Rs. 8,400
AOC 2236Vw / Rs. 8,400
AOC 2436Vw / Rs. 14,500 None
Razer Goliathus Speed (Oversized) /
Rs. 1,400 MS Xbox 360 Controller / Rs. 1,450 None
Everglide Titan / Rs. 1,650 Logitech Momo / Rs. 5,500 APC 550W / Rs. 2,400
Steel Series QCK Heavy / Rs. 2,000 Logitech G25 / Rs. 17,500 Numeric 1 KVA / Rs. 4,200
96 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
How I Did it Work from home
Tech@work 102 Sasken’s Founder and CEO Rajiv Mody narrates his
journey through the years 104 Telecommuting employees is often overlooked as a
m
viable option when considering cost cutting measures
TECHNOLOGIES
10
THAT
MATTER
Illustration: Anil T
India’s IT managers review, analyse and reflect on the latest technology
trends – and vote on the ones that will make the cut this year
Deepak Kumar and IT managers are once again being rate infrastructure and services recommend
readersletters@thinkdigit.com tasked to identify and evaluate tech- and select the technologies and solutions
nologies that can help their organisations for their organisations. A big challenge
T
he robust performance of the capture and monetise new opportunities, for IT managers making these decisions
Indian economy over the past and improve operational efficiencies. is to cut through the hype and hyperbole
few months has reinforced the The beginning of a new year is also the – and identify the ideas that will matter.
belief that downturn, at least time when industry experts and vendors The IT Next team identified a range
in India, is well and truly behind us. IT identify the latest technology trends and of technologies that have the potential
budgets that were hurriedly slashed a few make predictions for the year. This is also to make a mark in 2010 – and asked the
quarters ago are being slowly reinstated. the time when IT managers responsible for community of IT managers evaluate
Shelved project plans are being revived, creating, maintaining and operating corpo- and rank them on four dimensions:.
98 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Make your own visualiser
Next month in Digit
106 The next time you watch the psychedelic display while
listening to music, just create your own effects High-end cell phones tested next month Work@tech
1. Leverage of existing IT assets: information protection, followed by other equally strong reasons to do it.
With increased organisational emphasis on endpoint protection and network protec- These include measurable cost sav-
cost control, the ability to reuse and leverage tion. Essentially, it is about having data ings, improved productivity and effi-
existing technology and infrastructure is a at the center of the security policy. ciency across the organisation.
huge plus since it not only helps optimise It would be advantageous for IT The ideal ingredients for a data center
capital expenditure but also reduces the dif- managers to use the social media and transformation would include virtuali-
ficulty of transitioning to a new paradigm. integrated communication tools to sensitise sation, server rationalisation, site con-
2. Maturity of technology: Tech- users about security policies, and develop solidation, and energy management.
nology maturity often has a direct cor- security champions for addressing security- IT Next advises IT managers to
relation to ease of installation, deploy- related concerns in the dynamic enterprise. develop a data center transformation
ment and management. IT managers roadmap that will distribute the capital
responsible for ensuring application and Business Intelligence expenditure (capex) over a period of years
infrastructure reliability tend to value
technology maturity over novelty.
2 and Analytics
While BI can help analyse
while ensuring return on investments
for each year or a periodic interval. For
3. Potential benefits and utility: business information better, the value example, you could identify inefficient
Evaluating a trend or technology on is in performing a predictive analysis and energy hogging servers and chart a
this parameter helps organisations sift The economic crisis that caught many phased plan to replace these by smart form
hype from reality. Issues like return- enterprises and governments unpre- factor servers that are more efficient.
on-investment and time-to-market pared, also spawned the realisation that Data centers often operate with more-
are important considerations here. a greater use of BI and BA tools could than-surplus cooling equipment, to fight
4. Cost of implementation: Superior have facilitated a speedier damage con- off ‘hot spots’ that get built up in certain
or new technologies often come at a signifi- trol in the aftermath of the crisis. zones due to air-flow deficiencies. Experts
cant cost, or can become expensive to deploy. Market intelligence teams in enterprises have pointed out that most data centers
A discrete assessment (of the technology) on are now placing greater emphasis on such suffer from the problem of over-loading and
cost considerations ensures its relevance. tools to help their organisations captivate on that the solution lies in identifying the hot
We now present the Top 10 Tech- new opportunities as the economy recovers. spots and creating airflow in those zones.
nologies that will matter this year. While business intelligence focuses You could draw measurable benefits by
on monitoring operational informa- installing energy monitoring and man-
Security 2.0 tion for understanding the gaps and agement software in the data center.
1 Just protecting devices in the
network will not suffice – the
taking corrective measures, business
analytics aims to perform a predictive Virtualisation
focus of security needs to be the data
As 2010 sees uptake of several community-
analysis of the market and the business.
In today’s globalised and highly
4 A virtualisation strategy
will help you get the
based technology and communication para- competitive marketplace, BI and BA best out of your IT infrastructure.
digms like UC, TP and Social Media, the tra- tools can help your organisation com- Evaluate and perform a mid-
ditional perimeter security models will need pete better. Line managers increas- term adjustment, if necessary
to change and give way to a paradigm that ingly rely on their IT counterparts for Given that the most pronounced goal of
is more user-driven and user-propagated. improved performance management. virtualisation is to leverage existing IT
Information dissemination and IT Next urges you to evaluate and infrastructure and reduce buying, its
user awareness will play a more recommend BI/BA tools that can be neatly relevance for you as an IT manager will
important role, and IT managers will integrated with your enterprise IT systems, continue to be very high in the prevailing
need to pay more attention to imple- and help market intelligence and marketing economic situation. So, stick to your
menting security policies in a relatively teams in your organisation use the data virtualisation roadmap, and do the neces-
open and dynamic IT framework. to formulate smart growth strategies. sary adjustments and refinements, if you
Now that the boundaries of enter- are already working on one. If not, put
prise networks are no longer rigid, with Data Center your virtualisation act together, especially
partner and client networks meeting
in fuzzy zones, protecting devices in
3 Transformation
Virtualisation, server
if you have a data center to manage.
In general, server and storage virtualisa-
the network is not enough. Even pro- rationalisation, site consolidation, tion will make immediate sense because
tecting the servers and storage devices and energy management are redundancy of these resources is usually
that contain data will not suffice—the ideal ingredients of a data high in many organisations in India.
focus of security has to be on data. center transformation recipe Adoption of desktop virtualisation
IT Next is of the view that it would be While ‘measured green’ alone would and application virtualisation would
meaningful to develop security policies be a good enough reason to initiate a work on a small scale, at least through
that lay greater emphasis on data and data center transformation, there are 2010. One, because for virtualised desktop
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 99
Cloud Print Deloitte predictions
Google is believed to be developing a service enabling you to print a Watch our interview with directors from Deloitte on our Playware
Work@tech document from any device to any printer even in the absence of drivers DVD, as they chart out tech trends for the coming year
environments to be cost competitive, the concerns such as location tracking similar study for India, the rate at which
implementations need to be fairly large- and integrated view of inventory. data center adoption has grown over the
scale, something that one may not be past couple of years leads to the conclusion
Unified
inclined to consider, particularly when
transitioning through a recovery phase.
Investments in application virtualisa-
6 Communication
The key advantage of
that the situation could be much worse.
If we take into account the fact that
power supply situation in India is not
tion could be worth postponing while the UC lies in its ability to resolve a dependable and that generators have
SaaS paradigm gains momentum. That query in a given session. This become second way of life for most data
is because SaaS could reduce the need for increases productivity, and reduces centers, we’re on a dangerous path...
additional licensed software – and reduce resource and time costs You as an IT manager have a pivotal
the need to virtualise applications. The commonly accepted key components of role to play here: you can use ‘green’ to
Overall, the larger your organisation, a UC solution are: e-mail, instant messaging, effectively address the concern, while
the more visible would be returns on a vir- IP telephony, and presence, with video also contributing to your organisation’s
tualisation investment, especially for large conferencing getting added to the suite. CSR and sustainability initiatives.
and larger-among-the-medium enterprises. The benefit is the integrated connectivity A good market development is that
However, vendors are also offering virtu- among different communication media and the cost of deploying green IT has come
alisation solutions for smaller businesses. platforms like texting, voice and video. It down significantly with IT vendors
ITNext believes that in a dynamically allows the user to switch from one medium now shipping green IT as a mainstream
evolving market and technology scenario, to another, literally at the click of a button. rather than in a niche product.
a two-phased approach to virtualisa- You can use UC in your organisation for, IT Next is of the view that you are
tion is the way to go: while need-based say, a customer query resolution, within the ideally positioned to be a green agent, and
part-virtualisation projects should be span of a given session, to increase produc- bring about the change in your organisa-
rolled out for quick benefits, end-to-end, tivity and reduce resource and time costs. tion. Make the most of this opportunity to
full-blown virtualisation projects may be This is radically different from traditional contribute, and save the environment.
evaluated from a long-term perspective. communication which relies on a single
Private Clouds
5 Enterprise Mobility
Enterprise mobility solutions
medium, say email or telephony, and would
typically involve multiple sessions spread
over many days, even weeks, to close a
8 Get your vendor to
package infrastructure,
will give businesses query, business deal or customer complaint. platforms, and applications together
much-needed dynamic flexibility IT Next recommends UC, especially for greater economic benefit
in competitive market places because the cost of implementation A private cloud is an emulation of the public
The scope of enterprise mobility ranges is not high, and given that UC lever- cloud in a controlled enterprise environ-
from intra-premise to inter-premise, and ages and integrates existing commu- ment. Given the perceived advantages of
from intra-city to inter-city connectivity, nication platforms like IP, hybrid PBX, (public) cloud computing, and the security
and seamless access to enterprise appli- e-mail and IM in the enterprise. and availability concerns surrounding
cations. As enterprises strive to better it, a private or internal cloud holds the
compete in the marketplace, enterprise Green Technologies promise of offering the best of both worlds.
mobility is becoming a key differentiator.
Enterprise mobility is expected to reg-
7 Besides addressing
the concern of rising
A private cloud, however, is not likely
to be as cheap as a public cloud equiva-
ister higher adoption levels across a wide energy costs, the focus on lent. Yet, if offered by your long-standing
range of verticals in 2010. The fact that ‘green’ can contribute to CSR and trusted vendor or solution provider,
laptop shipments will continue to grow and sustainability initiatives IT Next suggests that you go for it. While
at much higher rates than desktops, and As an IT manager, you may have been virtualisation provides significant
smart phone shipments are already higher witness to power and cooling require- improvement in infrastructure utilisation
than PC sales, is a testimony to the ground ments associated with IT rising to rates, a good cloud management solu-
being ready for enterprise mobility. alarming proportions. You may even be tion can drive utilisation even more.
IT Next believes that enterprise directly affected if this expense now goes A private cloud offering would make
mobility solutions will give businesses from the IT budget, as is the case for an even more economic sense if the vendor is
the much-needed dynamic flexibility in increasing number of organisations. able to package infrastructure, platforms,
competitive market places. In particular, A couple of years ago, a report by the and applications together in a seamless
if you manage IT in businesses such as Environmental Protection Agency of the fashion as a robust solution. And, contrary
insurance, retail, logistics, transporta- US estimated that data center energy usage to perceptions, private cloud offerings
tion, manufacturing and healthcare, would nearly double by 2011 over 2006 in 2010 will be useful and economically
adoption of EM could bring in substan- levels if the then prevailing operating viable even for smaller businesses.
tial business benefits, and also simplify practices continued. While there is no IT Next suggests that as you take calculated
100 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Free Microsoft
With free software suites such as OpenOffice eating into profits, Microsoft released Office Starter
2010 with stripped down versions of Word and Excel and excludes PowerPoint Work@tech
steps towards private cloud computing model, which has fueled buyer interest prise, haunted by security concerns? It’s
for your organisation, look for good and adoption. However, it can be cor- time to realise that the use of social media is
‘appliance’ versions of such offerings. rectly argued that an enterprise-wide a cultural-cum-generational shift in human-
These appliances are likely to be rela- usage would demand contract pricing to to-human communication. The best way
tively cheaper, have better plug-and-play come into play, and perhaps render the to defend against its perils is to embrace it,
characteristics, and would typically be cost advantage of XaaS less obvious. with security filters built in. That’s what
a fusion of proven discrete products, Yet, XaaS will have a clear overall enterprise-grade social software is all about!
say a platform and an application. advantage over box-based pricing Deployment of social media in the
models, despite the leasing and financing enterprise will earn IT managers accolades,
XaaS
9 Since any thing as a service
reduces the risk of failure,
options promoted by box vendors.
IT Next’s opinion is that XaaS would be
a particularly good bet when experimenting
not just for providing the communication
environment that employees are already
used to, but more importantly for initiating
it is a good bet when experimenting with new software and solutions for non- a cultural shift that will help enterprises
with new software and solutions core functions, as it lowers risks associated compete better in the marketplace.
While software-as-a-service (SaaS) is the with failure. You may consider XaaS alter- A salient feature of enterprise social
better known and talked about category, but natives for proven solutions deployed in the networking is “collaboration in context”.
there are others too – infrastructure-as-a- core, only after being convinced by success This can be achieved by plugging in
service, platform-as-a-service, and so on. All studies and robust proofs of concept. social media collaboration features into
these services are delivered over the cloud. an enterprise application or process to
In India, as elsewhere, telecom Enterprise-grade enable information sharing between users
service providers are emerging as main-
stream XaaS channels and providers,
10 Social Software
By plugging social media
right when the need for sharing is felt.
IT Next suggests that IT managers
as part of their attempt to offset falling tools into an enterprise application spend time in evaluating various enter-
average revenue per user in their regular or process, organisations can prise-grade social media solutions and
voice and data service offerings. achieve ‘contextual collaboration’ looking for success studies. Carry out the
XaaS has largely been marketed Have you fought against the invasion of var- deployment only after you are convinced of
as a pay-as-you-use or utility pricing ious social media platforms into the enter- the benefits.
Inmarsat Low salaries
The British satellite communications company that Sasken created the According to analysts, IT companies will not increase
Entrepreneurship handheld phone for was founded in 1979 as a United Nations body joining salaries of engineering graduates.
From the garage to
the stock exchange
It’s a classic Silicon Valley start-up. Rajiv Mody,
along with his two friends, left his job to
build their dream project out of a garage in
California. The business soon travelled miles
away to Bangalore, where it continues to
rake in millions of dollars in profits. Sasken
Communication Technologies is known for its
expertise in developing software embedded
within chips, and multimedia technology for cell
Always learning,
phones. Nearly 50 million handsets worldwide carry Mody feels his
intellectual property created by Sasken. Mody is willingness to learn
and experiment
now pulling all-nighters to wrap up his final-frontier has helped him
immensely in building
project – the next generation of satellite phones. his million-dollar
business.
As told to Jacob Cherian I gleaned a valuable lesson – wife could practice there, but Almost simultaneously,
readersletters@thinkdigit.com consider the view point of the not in Washington. I joined we also applied for an Export
person sitting on the other side VLSI Technology, where I met Oriented Unit licence in India.
I
was born in Mumbai of the table. These years also my future partners, Suresh I am a believer of the old adage
and did my schooling in taught me the importance of Dholakia and Badru Agarwala. that luck favours the bold.
Rajkot. After I completed preparation and the trick to We would throw around ideas We were given the licence on
my engineering in 1981, I dealing with a rough crowd. and dissect them over lunch. the condition that we would
went to the Polytechnic Insti- In 1983, a campus interview The concept of building a ven- export Rs. 90 lakhs worth of
tute of New York University. In got me placed at Advanced ture, which would have a face our product in the next five
my second year there, I began Micro Devices, better known in the US but would leverage years. The exchange rate stood
teaching undergraduate stu- as AMD. We did a lot of skunk the cost advantage of India, at Rs. 14 to a dollar. It seemed
dents. It was a tough job – I work there, trying to look for emerged during such meetings. like a huge target back then,
was teaching a class of nearly the best possible approach In October 1989, all three but we surprised ourselves by
50 students about things that I for circuitry on microchips. It of us quit on the same day and achieving it in a year and a half.
wasn’t completely sure of. was a great time to be in Cali- began working out of Badri’s In April 1990, we sold our dig-
The American students fornia. The area was full of old garage in Fremont, Cali- ital simulator, called Vx-SIM, to
asked really difficult ques- friends doing similar work at fornia. We managed to raise NTT and Konami in Japan for
tions. After my very first class, good companies. US$200,000 from investors US$250,000.
someone reported me for doing Two years later, I moved out and added to that our grand My wife and I headed back
a lousy job. I had to face the of California. I joined a small savings of US$35,000. By home. It was a risky decision,
administration. Thereafter, I company, called Seattle Silicon, January 1990, we had our but I still had my Green Card
fought hard to overcome the and did some cutting-edge first order from Bell-Northern if things went terribly wrong.
fear of teaching and went on stuff. By 1987, I moved back Research Labs to develop soft- I shuttled between India and
to teach graduate students. to California since my dentist ware at a distance. US, meeting potential clients.
102 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Growth costs Sign up
According to T V Mohandas Pai, Head of HRD and Education and Research, Infosys, You can’t be afford to be left behind. Sign up for
salary hikes and employee promotions costed the company Rs. 590 crore last quarter Digit newsletters at www.thinkdigit.com/newsletter Entrepreneurship
We also concentrated on get- technology, which we licensed who is passionate about some- “My biggest challenge
ting some really smart people. some of that work to a company thing to a person who can look has been to look at
I visited IIT Bombay, where in the Valley in 1998. Thirdly, at things holistically. I learnt to things holistically;
professors like G Venkatesh we began work on 3G WCDMA step back and see if the object step back and see
and Sunil Sherlekar, who later technology – a pretty ambitious of my affection is actually good if the object of my
joined us, were doing cutting- move at that time. The credit for business. affection is good
edge work in the communica- for these decisions primarily At the turn of the century, for business.”
tion technologies field. lies with Venkatesh, whose the tech bubble went bust. We
We began sponsoring technical expertise and knowl- had to ask people to take a 20 Nokia, as a customer. Our plan
projects for Rs 10,000 a year; edge helped us spot trends well per cent pay cut. The gloomy worked; it is our single largest
the money helped students get in advance. air and the nervousness of that customer. That same year, we
a masters degree in technology Four years later, Intel and August afternoon reminded also set up shop in Mexico.
and helped us strike up a rela- Citibank channelled US$10 me of my teaching days. I learnt Then, in 2008, the economy
tionship with some of the best million into Sasken for a that day that when people cratered and survival became
brains on campus. This fuelled 10 per cent stake. We used see your vulnerabilities, they the order of the day. At the
our technical developments. By that money to build our Banga- usually understand you, same time, Texas Instruments
1995, we had become a destina- lore facilities. and accept that these are tem- exited the chip design space.
tion for quality talent. The same In 2000, we decided to porary times. This was really bad news for
year, Suresh and Badru, spun focus our energies better. We Three years later, we went us, since they were a partner.
off our chip design simulator removed electronic design for a public listing. Those Tough times bring on tough
product into another company automation from our bouquet were heady days; like being decisions. I had to ask Hari Iyer,
and left. of services. Our turnover grew on opium. We were over- head of HR, and Sri Kannan-
Three significant decisions from US$17 million in 1999 subscribed 72 times. Later kote, head of marketing, sales
helped boost our stand in the to US$28 million the next that year, we were voted the and offerings, to resign. We
market. We started working in year – simply because we were second-best place to work at started downsizing from the
GSM with Nortel, not realising more focussed. by a survey. top. Since then, we have been
that this would become the de As an entrepreneur, my In 2006, we acquired focussing largely on raising the
facto world standard. Secondly, biggest challenge has been to Botnia Hitech in Finland for bar on our efficiency.
we were working on ADSL transform from being someone US$45 million to get close to We are now working to
finish the satellite phone. The
launch date is July. Our cell
phones transmit a signal one or
two km to the closest transmis-
sion tower. A satellite-phone
signal will be able to push
past 36,000 km, and yet not
kill the six-hour battery-life of
the phone. It’s a project that has
almost come to represent the
next frontier. We are proud of
this accomplishment.
I believe it is important for
every person to challenge
themselves to do things that
seem impossible. The hardest
part is the act of doing some-
thing; once you take the plunge,
there is nothing more grati-
fying . The journey that follows
is your reward.
Content courtesy:
Resonance of success, Rajiv Mody ringing the bell at the Bombay Stock Exchange in 2005. The public issue was
oversubscribed 72 times.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 103
Motion control SMERA
Project Natal from Microsoft drives the latest Xbox controller that enables you to SME rating agency of India Limited (SMERA) is an initiative by
Feature perform dance moves or kick a ball, while a camera tracks your movements SIDBI (www.sidbi.com) and several leading banks in the country
PHOTOS.COM
Getting ’em work
in 2006 to 11% in 2008 amongst smaller
companies, it has jumped from 8% to 27%
amongst medium level enterprises. These
figures point to the growing importance
from home
Telecommuting
of telecommuting among Indian SMBs.”
In small businesses, telecommuting
penetration is highest among professional
businesses followed by manufacturing
For a growing number of businesses, units, that have remote production facili-
employees can deliver telecommuting has proved to be favour- ties and specific service needs. However,
big gains only if able for both employer and employee. in the medium business segment, the
enterprises adopt If your company is in a business where penetration is highest in the banking and
robust technologies employees do not need to be physically finance sector as they have agents and
and the right policy present to carry out work, or if your brokers working from remote locations.
organisation is facing problem finding an But, like in other technology deploy-
measures adequate and suitable workspace, then tel- ment, the concept cannot be rolled out
Pragya Singh ecommuting can be an answer. The concept without a proper enterprise strategy for
readersletters@thinkdigit.com has come of age, thanks to the availability telecommuting. IT managers need to
of high-speed connectivity and handheld understand a host of issues – from security
W
ork is something we do, devices, at least in major Indian cities. to performance management, policies for
not something we travel According to Kalyan Banga, Research data classification and defining access
to. While this is not yet Analyst at AMI Partners, “Telecom- rights – to prepare their organisations.
a catch phrase in Indian muting penetration is on the rise across Says Dr Deepak Shikarpur of Com-
organisations, but it seems well on its way Indian enterprises, particularly amongst puter Society of India: “Telecommuting
getting there. With urban centres such as SMBs. While it has increased from 3% is possible wherever there is clarity in
Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad the role, and data security is in place.”
getting more congested, the corporate sector “Telecommuting In addition, telecommuting requires
is presenting its employees flexible work is possible robust technological support to enable
options that enable them to cut travel time wherever there is hassle-free communication between
and boost productivity. A recent survey con- clarity in the role, the organisation and the employee.
ducted by IDC revealed that 81% of execu- and data security According to Shikarpur, a PC with wide
tives polled across the Asia-Pacific region is in place” screen and high bandwidth Internet
strongly agree that telecommuting improves Dr Deepak Shikarpur, with adequate audio is the minimum
productivity. In 2005, only 61% thought so. Computer Society of India setup needed for home operation.
104 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Vue’s wireless home video network is an effective
way to keep a close watch on your home Feature
“Secured access to the corporate about how to assess a telecommuting are facing personal problems. In the
network is also a must,” he says, employee’s work and productivity. case of women staff, this option works
adding, “Privacy at home and a good “We also have clear processes and particularly well during times of
telephone instrument with speak- advanced communication technology in family pressures or maternity leave.
erphone facility would be ideal.” place that allows employees to work effi- Says Rajesh A R, Vice-President (tempo-
ciently, no matter where they are. As the rary staffing) at TeamLease Services, “The
Performance management employees’ bonus is mapped onto pro- concept can bring in potentially large gains
Security becomes a major issue in ductivity, it also provides a clear reason to in productivity and substantial savings in
telecommuting. Adopting measures deliver on work assigned,” he explains. time and cost. At the same time, it offers
such as secured access to business data, good work-life balance to the telecommuting
phone systems, applications and other Hurdles and benefits workforce. However, for these benefits to
resources through secured, wireless and Despite the fact that the advantages come to fruition, it is extremely important
fast Internet connections can go a long of telecommuting, such as increase in for companies to have excellent perform-
way in making remote functioning pos- number of productive hours, better ance management systems in place.”
sible (see box “How to make it work”). professional and personal life balance, Besides, telecommuting can also
For long-term benefit, it is important less exhaustion due to reduced or no help enterprises in terms of talent
for an organisation to put in place a clear- commutes and, more importantly, reduc- retention and offering the staff flex-
cut security policy as well as performance tion in carbon footprint outweigh the ibility on a regular basis, or when
measurement tools. It also needs a way to negatives, the proportion of organisations they are on long vacation or leave.
handle softer issues by clearly articu- adopting telecommuting is still small. However, to be the change agent driving
lating the total number of work-hours Many employers have difficulty in the concept, IT managers need to carefully
for such employees, and vaccation time. breaking free from the ‘keeping an eye’ explore the options provided by various
Amit Malik, Vice-President–East, mindset, and evaluating the employees vendors. They also need to examine the
Cisco India and SAARC, says, “Telecom- on the basis of their physical pres- various technology options and weigh the
muting is feasible only if the organisation ence, rather than their performance. pros and cons before offering a solution
has structured performance management However, providing flexible working that can help the organisation extend this
approach in place.” According to him, options does enable organisations to facility to employees.
organisations need to be very transparent retain the best talent, even when they Content courtesy: ITNEXT.IN
For more effects Internet radio station
Read Microsoft’s page on plug-ins for Windows Media To learn how you could set up your own internet
Developer Corner player at tinyurl.com/digit-effects radio station, go to tinyurl.com/digit-wa-tutorial
Watch your music!
ticle. The right pane will change now
and show you various options that
you can associate with this module.
Choose a colour that you want in the
Add colour to your favourite psychedelic music colour box that pops up when you click
while watching amazing visualisations that add on the label “color” in that. Enable the
to the whole effect! Onbeat Sizechange option. By now,
you’ve created a blob of colour that
Rahil Banthia What’s AVS?
readersletters@thinkdigit.com For starters, AVS is the mother of all
Winamp visualisation plug-ins that
V
isualisations in any media lets you build a countless number
player, are just dynamic of custom visualisations from an
add-ons or plugins that ever-expanding library of effects. It
produce images, colours supports windowed/fullscreen ren-
and textures that change based on dering, preset customisation, module
elements in the music being played. stacking, skinnable windows, support
If you’re not happy with the default for Sonique visual plug-ins, and a Add the Water, Blur and Movement trans modules
visualisations, worry not! We’ll ton of other features. The best part is
show you how to create your own. that it comes bundled with all versions moves based on the music that you will
Although we’ll create our own of Winamp after v2.6, so everyone can play along with this visualisation.
visualisation in Winamp, you can get a taste of its visual sonic goodness. Let’s add some transitions to it,
do create similar visualisations in because come on, how interesting
Windows Media Player, KM Player How to create presets? is a moving blob of colour? Click
or any other player that supports Let’s start by making a simple preset on + and add three Trans modules:
plugins. Winamp offers two primary with one render module and a few trans Water, Blur and Movement. In the
modules that will subtly Movement module, select sunburster
manipulate the effects. To from the right pane. This is our basic
get started, run Winamp visualisation, more or less. You can
and change the present experiment with any permutations of
to AVS from Preferences. the existing modules and with minor
Then right-click on the modifications, they turn into com-
AVS window and open pletely new effects. An interesting
the AVS Editor. Click on one to check out is the Effect module
preset. This will give you “up or down” which ensures that your
a drop down menu, where visualization plays with sequencing.
you’ve to choose the New If you want to delve deeper into
blank preset option. AVS and create visualisations with
Click on Main in the more effects, you’ll not be left disap-
new window
Adding a Module in AVS that pops up
and make
visualisation plugins: AVS(Advanced sure the option to “Clear
Visualization Studio) and MilkDrop. every frame” in the right
These allow you to create different pane is unchecked, so that
presets, the term used for outputs the screen is not painted
of a visualisation platform. Using black at the start of each
these,you can customise the visual- frame. This will make the
isers and get any effect you want. visualization appealing and
Let’s start with AVS visualisa- continuous. Now, lets add
tion environment and see how we can an effects module to this
combine the library of inbuilt effects new preset. For this, you’ve
in endless ways and create our own to click on + and then select
AVS visualisation preset masterpiece. Render > Moving Par- The right pane of a Mosaic module with the settings available to you
106 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
9 VLC media player
Mathematicians call the number 9 a “magic number”, and you’ll find To develop for VLC media player, go to
Section opener
out why next month, when Digit celebrates its ninth anniversary tinyurl.com/ digit-vlc-develop Developer Corner
Box with a colour of your choice. and so on. Each preset is saved as a file
Also select the Bass Spin in with a .milk extension and you can use
the Main Render module. MilkDrop’s in-built “preset-editing
This will give you a dark menu” (the [M] key), to edit presets
coloured Simple effect overlaid on the fly, on-screen, from within the
over the white Bass Spins because program. You can make slight adjust-
AVS will place the Bass Spin on the ments to existing presets, or even write
main preset buffer and the Effect insane new mathematical equations,
list on a secondary buffer. This of your own imagination, into your
buffer starts out black (cleared preset files and come up with things
every frame), ignores what is in its that MilkDrop has never done before.
parent buffer and a Simple wave- To edit the properties of the current
form is drawn into it. Now that all preset, press [M] while using MilkDrop.
effects in the Effect List have been It will bring up the Preset Editing Menu.
How to change the transitions in MilkDrop processed, the secondary buffer is From here, you can either change the
blended back into the parent buffer existing presets or write your own .Milk
pointed. Everything in an effect list using the blend mode Subtractive Blend 1. file to make your own preset. To check
gets rendered into a separate buffer What this means is that you can prevent out how to write .Milk files, go to http://
before being added to its parent Trans modifiers from affecting whole dev.winamp.com/wiki/MilkDrop_Unleashed_Guide.
buffer. Because of this very fact, you groups of modules, which
have the power to create completely in turn gives you much finer
separate effects off screen, manipu- control over the visual effects.
late them freely, possibly blending You can keep trying other
them together, all before finally things in AVS and we’re sure
displaying the final effect in one shot. you will come up with very
To demonstrate this feature, we will interesting visualisations.
create a new preset and add an Effect
List in the similar fashion that we What is MilkDrop?
used in the previous example. Check MilkDrop is yet another
the Enabled and Clear every music visualiser plugin for
frame check boxes in the right frame the Winamp music player.
of the Effect list and select Ignore for As you listen your music in
the Input blend mode and Subtrac- Winamp, it creates spec-
tive Blend for the Output blend mode. tacular visualisations that How to edit a .Milk file along with a sample .milk file
Next add a Mosaic Trans module and take the actual music you’re
a Simple Render module. After this, hearing, and uses beat detection to trigger It’ll give you a fair idea as to how you
exit the Effect List menu and go back myriad psychedelic effects and create a will need advanced mathematics with
to main. Here, add a Fadeout Trans rich visual journey through sound. The the knowledge of MilkDrop variables
module and set it to Fade to Color best part about this is that it takes the full to create fascinating presets. Every
power of modern graphics chips line of a .Milk file is a variable and
and programmable pixel shaders the value associated with it. You can
to the realm of music visualisation. find a sample preset for the butterfly
Hundreds of complex instructions effect at www.thinkdigit.com/d/butterfly.
can be executed for every pixel on
the screen, every frame to create Advanced Stuff
the effect that you will cherish. You can even write your own Winamp
Like AVS, it is also a fully Visualizations plugin if AVS and
configurable platform that comes MilkDrop doesn’t provide you with all
in-built with Winamp and allows the transitions that you intend to have in
you to design and create your your visualisation. You’ll need the
own MilkDrop visual presets, Winamp plugin SDK at www.winamp.com/
which for MilkDrop is a col- nsdn/winamp2x/dev/plugins to get it to work
lection of parameters that tell with Winamp. We’ll instead leave this to
MilkDrop how to draw the wave, your creativity and programming skills.
MilkDrop 2 Settings how to warp the image around, Send us your creations.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 107
Metro 2033 Dawn of War 2
Esc 110 Enthrallingly, and eerily atmospheric – an
adrenaline ride not to be missed 112 The return of the finest warriors of the
Emperor, and they have some new tricks
Hidden Gems of Gaming
Over the years, there have been a number of games that
did not get the attention they deserved. We compiled a list
of the best hidden gems of gaming. All the games below
are on this month’s Playware DVD
Comix Zone
Comix Zone is a fourteen year old game that is still ported to the latest consoles because of how great the
gameplay is. The art of the game follows the comic styling, so the graphics are not dated even today. The
protagonist is a comic artist known as Sketch who is drawn into a comic book (literally) by the comic book
villian, Mortus. Now, Sketch has to cross his own comic book story, while Mortus draws villians and other
obstacles in the panels. The game progresses as if you are reading a comic book, with dialogues delivered
as the classic callouts. It’s fun to beat up villians with “Pow!!” and “Wack!” bubbles showing up. The game is
pretty hard to cross, and works well even on Windows 7.
Chromadrome Battlezone
Irritating graphics, a horrible soundtrack, and There are many titles with the name
the kiddish animations are all together, not Battlezone, we are talking about the 1998
enough to stop you from playing this indie release. Games that are a hybrid between
game. Chromadrome is an action game where RTS and FPS are not too common, mostly
you have to follow a track, avoid bullets, and because how complicated the gameplay
traverse obstacles such as loops, jumps and becomes. Tremulous is a recent example,
rings. The initial levels may seem slow and and Battlezone works on the same princi-
uninteresting, but increase the speed and ples. Players basically have to shoot enemy
each level becomes addictive. If you really tanks in a campaign or multi-player setting,
want to challenge yourself, go for the Warp speed mode, an almost impossible task to accom- and at the same time manage the mining
plish. Although the game can be played by very young kids, it is a difficult game to play. The operations on soemthing known as bio-
game is similar to a modern version of Skyroads, but with loads of interesting enemies and metal. The RTS element in the gameplay
guns. If you want a no-brainer to beat the stress, this is it! occors parallel to the shooting, but this is
not too complicated as there is just one
resource to manage without a complicated
Duke Nukem: tech tree. The game is great at stepping up
Manhattan Project the pressure, and it is easy to feel the heat
Duke combats the usual variety of mon- of the battle.
strosities in this ignored release of the
franchise. The game was confused for
Duke Nukem Forever, which is the most
famous game that never existed, and
fans were disappointed. However, the
sidescrolling platformer is pretty well
designed, and if you liked Duke Nukem 3D,
this game is the only option for some more
Duke goodness. Yes, there are the babes, the mutant monsters, the pig-cops, the strange
weapons and a bunch of giant cyborg ladies that we suggest you stay away from. One irri-
tating aspect of teh game is the Mighty Boot kicking in and killing off enemies when you step
on them, not giving you the satisfaction of blowing up their mutant faces with the Golden
Eagle (Duke’s pistol).
108 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Dawn of War 2 Unwind
114 Command an arsenal of vehicles, weapons and even a killer
grappling hook, leaving a country in smoking ruins at the end 116 The latest theories on cosmology, the
cities of the future, Digit Diary, and more
Feature
Metal Fatigue
Metal Fatigue is a RTS that was released in
2000. The game still plays pretty well, provided
players are not expecting a typical RTS game.
Metal Fatigue stands out in the sense that there
are only a handful of units, most of the game-
play involves creating and deploying Combots
(combat robots), or giant fighting mechas, and
who does not like these. The Combots have
to be “grown” in parts, and assembled, before
being unleashed on enemy forces. Players can also re-use abandoned parts of Combots. There
are three campaigns, RimTech, MilAgro and Neuropa, focusing on the various aspects of the
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos gameplay (speed, strength, stealth etc). This game does not play well on Windows 7.
Croc is a third person 3D game with some
very well designed gaming environments. The
game is a 3D platformer, and the protagonist is Cogs
a crocodile in a strange land. Over the course Cogs is an indie puzzle game, and is a pretty inventive
of the game, players have to collect crystals, one when it comes to designing new challenges. Each
navigate across many islands. Each island has level in the game can be considered a seperate puzzle to
a graphic theme, the ice domain being our solve. Players have to complete a number of contraptions
favorite. The game has some nice touches, Croc by moving around blocks, these range from flying cubes,
will slip frequently in the ice levels, and there gas filled flying balloons, to steam engines. The replay-
are some elaborate puzzles to solve on the way ability of this game is very high, as there are a number of
as well. This is a long and engaging game, and awards for completing a level in a minimum number of moves, as well as a minimum amount
when you are done, there is a sequel, Croc II, of time. Apart from the inventor mode, the challenge mode can also be unlocked, which is a
which is as good. set of time trials or lowest-move games. Although the levels don’t become increasingly tough,
you do need to think out of the box every now and then to solve some puzzles.
Severance: Blade of Darkness
This is a RPG game from the turn of the century, and has amazing graphics considering the time it came out.
Players can choose from four different characters, The Barbarian called Tukaram (yes, we would like to know
why they chose this name too), Naglfar the not-so-short dwarf, Sargon the Knight or Zoe the thief/huntress. The
game has stunning environments, with some great work on aspects such as light rays in lamps, or the refrac-
tion on water surfaces. The over-the-top combat is the heart of the game, and the most gripping aspect. There
are a number of weapons to choose from, and some very satisfying combos to discover. The animations on the
weapons are something to look forward to in this game.
Star Guard Jazz
Star Guard is the only Flash game on the list. It is a stand-alone execut- Jackrabbit
able, and use very minimal graphics to present a very accomplished Jazz Jackrabbit is
game. You have to guide a small green man down into the catacombs, an old sidescrolling
crossing hordes of monsters and obstacles. The platformer is very adventure game, and
basic in terms of looks, but pretty innovative in terms of gameplay. is fun despite the
Fortunately, you can save the progress, and this is not an easy game outrageously dated
to play. The game is good at throwing new things to catch you off- graphics. This is a
guard, and it is refresh- game from the DOS era, so playing it on modern machines requires
ingly entertaining to a DOS emulator such as DOSBox. You play as a fire shooting, hover-
play with some old boarding rabbit in search of princess Earlong. The levels are typical
school graphics. The platformer fare, but the soundtrack is pretty catchy, and has some
game would not look early forms of ninjatune elements. The game is a sort of a revenge on
out of place in the Alley the tortoise-and-hare story, as the enemy is played by a monstrous
Cat days. (and evil) tortoise.
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 109
SKOAR! Special METRO 2033
Publisher: THQ
Developer: 4A Games
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360
Metro 2033
Price: Rs 1,299
THE SKOAR
8.5
Enthrallingly, eerily atmospheric – an
sell off looted gear to hawkers for
adrenaline ride not to be missed better weapons – the currency is pre-
war ammunition! So you use rounds,
Michael Browne glow exuded by odd radioactive fungi to buy rounds, although the ones you’ll
michael.browne@thinkdigit.com that flourish in certain parts of these use, pack less of a punch than the
dank tunnels. And the game can be factory manufactured rounds. It’s a
Welcome to the future… unnerving at times; you’ll hear snarls matter of sheer quantity over quality.
Post nuclear fallout, beneath a frozen, and expect to round the corner into
debris-ridden, irradiated wasteland, a fight only to find an empty stretch. Dilapidated beauty
death is constantly one false step away. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a couple of Often you’ll just stop, gaping in awe at
Humanity clings on; driven by per- creatures will rush you, while one the realism of your surroundings. On
haps the most primal instinct of them pops up from behind a trash heap you the surface, you’ll spend time watching
all – survival. Russia’s underground dismissed as a part of the scenery. the play of moisture and gusts of wind
rail system forms the ecosystem to While your headlamp is pretty potent on your gas mask. Underground too,
which mankind clings tenaciously, for and goes a long way in exploring the the corona and particle effects gen-
the surface is no longer inhabitable. derelict corridors of the Metro and erated by a campfire or lantern will
even unearthing potential cover, it’s enthral you. Both light and the lack of
Into the Metro also a dead giveaway, so you’ll always it have been used exceptionally well to
While the stations remain safe, the be faced with a dilemma. The enemies create a believable, riveting world. The
tunnel system is anything but. Dan- range from prowling ravagers that use textures, detail of weapons and envi-
gerous beasts lurk around corners, teeth and claws to smaller variants ronments are all pretty immaculate. If
prowling around for what little game that employ nasty hit-and-run tactics to anything, facial expressions could have
is at hand. The ambience is chilling, massive winged beasts, although the been worked on, but hey – it’s not like
and Metro 2033 uses darkness to latter you will only encounter on the you’re going to be seeing many people
very good effect in this regard. Often, surface. There are human foes too, and anyway. Weapons have a nice impact
there is nothing more than the light these will often test your tactical skills, to them giving combat a visceral feel.
of your headlamp and the greenish although they’re seldom as hard to The audio component also dishes out
dispatch as the monsters, for the latter atmosphere and realism in spades.
use speed and agility to great effect. The single player campaign is long,
Once in awhile, you’ll emerge to the Metro 2033 features a few DX11 tricks
surface, in which case a gas mask is and the game engine is splendid. If
mandatory. Often, passing such levels you’re wondering whether your 9800
is a test of speed, as you continuously GTX will do justice to the game, I sug-
hunt for gas filters for your mask – run gest you upgrade. However, even if your
out of these and it’s a sure trip to your system does not pass the buck – the
maker. Throughout the Metro, you’ll gameplay alone justifies taking a ride
pass through stations where you can on this Metro.
110 SKOAR! | May 2010 | www.skoar.com
SKOAR! Special
DAWN OF WAR II: CHAOS RISING
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Relic
Platform: PC
Price: Rs 999
THE SKOAR
8
Dawn Of War II: Chaos Rising
The Emperors finest...return
Michael Browne
michael.browne@thinkdigit.com
A
vitus, Tarkus, Cyrus and
Thaddeus are back; and
thanks to a new level 30
level cap, have a few new
tricks up their sleeve. A huge warp
storm has blown up. This has resulted in
the appearance of a colossus-like ghost
ship that travels along in space and is
spotted only once a hundred years. And
our Blood Raven’s best ex-buddies – the eral small but noticeable tweaks that
forces of Chaos are there as well. Their makes it much more fun and addictive. Chaos Rising is a good expan-
objective is to raise one of the servants There are now five playable factions sion pack to what was already a novel
of Nurgle – who once freed will rain including the Eldar, Space Marines, (and successful) attempt at trying
suitably epic destruction down on the Orks, Tyranids and Chaos Space something new with what was dan-
surrounding region. Naturally this Marines, more multiplayer maps are gerously close to becoming an over-
doesn’t bode well for the Space Marines, also included. The single player cam- used franchise. Whether or not the
for whom this cluster of planets repre- paign is also pretty interesting and the name of Emperor gets you on your
sents prime recruiting worlds for their missions are quite varied. New equip- knees in supplication, Chaos Rising
chapter; and thus the battle is on. ment, new skills and a challenging will entertain – the graphics engine
While the single player campaign new enemy are just some of the things is nicely detailed, combat is pretty
is much shorter than the original, that await you. A betrayal from within bloody for an RPG and suitably right-
the multiplayer component has sev- the chapter is also an unexpected. eous voice acting seals the deal.
112 SKOAR! | May 2010 | www.skoar.com
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THE SKOAR
8
A just cause or for no cause at all? Command an Side-mission are littered across
arsenal of vehicles, weapons and even a killer the map and new ones appear and the
grappling hook, leaving a country it in smoking game progresses. While most of these
side-missions may appear similar at
ruins at the end. Saddam wasn’t half as bad... first-glance, it is impressive to see
that the level design and enemy types
Faiyaz Shaikh parts that are scattered across the keeps things fresh and challenging.
readersletters@thinkdigit.com map. Alternatively, the player can also Compared with the choice of vehi-
jack any vehicles from the game-world cles, the game has limited arsenal of
R
ico Rodriguez reprises his that are not available for purchase. weapons. However, in all fairness it is
role as a CIA operative in the The game-world is huge and there adequate to carry out any type of mission.
sequel to Just Cause-- the 2006 is an impressive variety of transporta- Avalanche studio has used an
sandbox-style action game tion means with a plethora of ground- improved version of the engine that they
developed by Avalanche Studios. This based vehicles, motorboats, helicopters used to develop the first game in the
time around his mission takes him to and airplanes. The player can even series and the result is mostly positive.
the fictional island country of Panau hijack and fly around in a Boeing 747! The load-times are impressively low and
situated in Southeast Asia. The mis- For a more unconventional mode of the textures scale very well without any
sion is to destabilize the newly instated transportation, the player can use the ‘popping-in’ effect or noticeable drop
government led by a certain Baby Panay. combination of Rico’s trademark grap- in the frame-rate. However, the game
Working undercover as a hired gun, pling hook and parachute to slingshot suffers from occasional clipping errors.
Rico works with three other factions across the map. This method – if used Another area where the developers
in Panua that are just as keen to usurp effectively – is one of the fastest ways of could have done a lot better is with the
the incumbent government’s rule. getting around with maximum mobility. game’s script and voice-acting. The
The game’s paper-thin plot unfolds The grappling hook is invaluable whole game takes around 20 hours to
like a typical US black-ops mission even in combat as it can be used is finish, and a roller coaster ride it is.
that is often discussed in the fringes of a variety of ways to quickly turn the In my experience, sandbox games
political debate, but never in the main- tide of a battle in your favour. For are fun to begin with, but just as easy
stream. Cash earned can be used to instance, when the player is on foot to lose interest in. Just Cause 2 in
purchase equipment and vehicles from and is pursued by a helicopter, one can one of the exceptions as it manages
the agency. These vehicles and weapons grapple onto the hull of the chopper and to keep you engaged and interested
can be upgraded by spending upgrade subsequently take control of the craft. right till the end and beyond.
114 SKOAR! | May 2010 | www.skoar.com
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Star Factory Nokia Comes with Music
A number of newborn stars ten The Comes with Music service launched in China
times the size of the sun have allows users to download thousands of DRM
been spotted in this dust cloud free music for free. The service is going to be
ESC
Unwind known as the Rosetta Nebula. launched in India soon.
Bleeding Edge
Fresh theories, concepts and speculations from the world of science
THE OMG PARTICLE: Theoretical quantum these claims though, and it is equally probable
physicists are having some problems because that there is a Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray
their theories are falling short of observed fact. gun at every galactic center. The scientists are
The oh my God particle is a form of radiation good at covering up their lack of knowledge
with so much energy, that there is no way with a sense of humour though, and the OMG
that scientists can explain it. These particles particle is named as a comic retaliation to
are observed in gamma ray showers, or to be the God particle. The LHC at CERN made the
very accurate, extreme-energy cosmic rays. search for the God particle famous. The atom
Apart from being unable to explain how the smashing scientists are breaking open atoms
particles have such high energies, the scientists to understand how they work, which is similar
are at a loss to explain where the particles to throwing a computer from a building,
come from. Although not proven, the most looking at all the components, and figuring
likely candidate for the origin of these particles out how the computer works. This approach
are supermassive blackholes in the center of might not make too much sense, but that is
galaxies. Scientists have almost no proof for what they are doing.
The gamma ray emission jet from the active galactic nuclei of the M87 galaxy. If you travel along the jet at the
speed of light, it will take you five millennia to traverse.
THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE: both intelligent and otherwise in a variety of The 2006 COROT mission launched by the
This is not to be confused with the search for ways. Bacteria is a good place to start, as these French Space Agency is marking down small
extraterrestrial intelligence. The SETI program little creatures live in the most demanding planets. There
was dedicated to analyzing radio waves from geographic locations, lava vents that are deep are two major
space in the hope that if an ET was calling, we underwater, cracks in the Antarctic ice cap, planet hunting
would at least pick up the signal. However, we and in the atmosphere close to the boundary missions in the
ourselves used radio waves for broadcasting of space. There are clouds of amino acids and offing, NASA’s
for a very short period, and mankind switched alcohol (enough to make the all the people who Terrestrial Planet
to fibre optic and other undersea cables as the will ever live drunk for life) floating around in Finder and The
principle mode of communication. Scientists space - especially in nebulae, and this is similar Kepler Mission.
are aggressively looking for extraterrestrial life, in composition to what scientists call “organic Want to know
soup”, the primordial base out of which life is the currently An artist’s vision of Gliese 581 d
believed to have emerged. Bacteria could even identified extra-
be found in our solar system, in a comet or solar planet most likely to contain life? It’s
wherever ice is, on the Moon, Mars or Europa. called Gliese 581 d. Gliese 581 is a Red Dwarf
The new planetary rovers have small labs in the planet in the Libra constellation with a number
robotic arms that can analyse soil samples for of planets orbiting it.
signs of life, using recently developed tests and According to a small group of scientists
techniques. Meanwhile, the hunt for extrasolar though, life in the universe is superabundant,
planets (planets around other stars) has become and we could always see it. Specks of dust in
extremely aggressive, with monthly updates to space are suspiciously close in size to bacteria.
an ever-growing catalogue. The problem is in These scientists believe that space dust is just
locating tiny planets that appear very close to dormant bacteria, and a comet or a meteor
A famous photograph of a Martian meteorite, which the large stars. To understand more about this, smashing into any planet (even the extrasolar
possibly shows the signs of bacterial life. view the Astronomy 160 lectures in our DVDs. ones) seeds life on that planet.
DARK FLOW: Astronomers have a problem, nearly 3.2 million kilometers per hour. The
galaxies are not moving in the sky the way they great attractor has a known influence of at least
should. There is a mysterious object known fifty thousand Milky Ways, but the Dark Flow
as the “great attractor” which is termed a anamoly is greater. Dark Flow is gravitational
“gravity anomaly” as it is the origin of a large influence from outside the observable universe,
amount of gravitational force. Unfortunately, that is changing our skies - at least twenty
this gravitational anomaly is hiding behind the degrees of it. In fact, the scale and the distance
Milky Way, so we cannot really observe it too of the distortion suggests that this may be
well as our own galaxy obscures it. Dark Flow influence from material outside the universe.
is a related concept, only much larger than Some scientists even believe that we may be
the great attractor. There is some mysterious seeing two universes rubbing shoulders here.
force, at the edge of the visible universe, that The universe is maintaining it’s mysteries Centaurus A is close to the region in the sky where the Dark
is sending entire galaxies hurtling along at despite the dissection by the scientists. Flow was detected
116 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Opera mini on iPhone Organic Chopper
This unlikely combination resulted from an approval This concept bike called M-org actually has
on the official app store for the Opera build. However, portions of it that are grown. The headlamp looks
it may not last long as Apple has a penchant for like it is made up of a cluster of LEDs, and the
unexpectedly pulling apps from the store. spokes are a little strange to say the least. Unwind
Future Flash Games: Blueprint
We bring to you some of the most exciting concepts for
future cities.
RAS AL-KHAIMAH GATEWAY THE LILYPAD PROJECT
The Ras Al-Khaimah Gateway city The Lilypads hope to float
is a planned capital city for the humanity, 50,000 at a time when
UAE, that is being constructed glaciers melt, and sea levels rise.
as you read this. The entire city is Tidal, wind and solar energy are
being built in desert wasteland, part of the design of the city, and
about a three hundred kilometers there are living areas, gardens, and Blueprint is a flash game that requires you to
from Dubai. utility areas above and below the re-arrange blocks on a grid to guide a ball to the target.
waterline. You would need about These blocks are parts of different devices, that push
THE a 1,34,000 of these to support all
FREEDOM of mankind.
the ball along, make it bounce, funnel it through pipes,
SHIP and various kinds of ramps and curved piping. The
The freedom game is well designed, and there are a handful of
ship is a levels which will nonetheless take about an hour and
project to build a massive floating
ship-city to move some of the
half of intense play to finish. The puzzle game is not
urban population out of the too difficult in the initial levels, but quickly changes
landmass and make some more with the progress of the game.
room for more people. The ship is
designed to be self-sufficient. ON OFFICE TURBINE CITY DIARY
This is On Office, a Norway based
architecture firm’s design for a city Vijay escaped into the USA for a monthlong vacation,
off the coast of Norway that could taking a well deserved break but leaving the office
provide all the renewable energy largely empty. The regular sessions of Quake have still
Europe needs by building this not resumed, ever since Rossi went on a rail rampage
turbine city. and spoiled all the fun.
Siddharth is plagued with reboots, as he is still
CITY OF milking the beta version of Windows 7 for all it is
ANSAN worth. He has become so tuned in to his computer,
This is a that he can predict when the machine is going to shut
part of the down by just listening to the amount of noise on his
THE VENUS PROJECT proposed speakers. If the hiss dies on your speaker, you have two
The Venus Concept is a project plan to seconds to pull a [Ctrl]+[S] before all your data is lost
that includes underwater cities, redevelop
on a Windows 7 machine.
and space colonies. Architect Ansan.
Rossi sneakily purchased a cycle, part of his mission
Jacque Fresco’s visions for Apart
humanity’s future includes massive from the
to commute to work in an eco-friendly manner. Robert
construction robots pictured shift towards organic forms in wanted to jazz up the bike with loads of gadgets,
above, and urban areas over Architecture, the sensibilities of the and screens. Rossi got scared of the idea and let the
engineered to handle a drastic project are also eco-friendly and cycle be, choosing to commute to work in polluting
increase in population. sustainable. rickshaws, rather than let Robert hack his bike.
Three more calls New Steam UI
Activision all set to release three titles of the Steam’s new UI should comes out of beta by the time you
Community COD franchise in the coming two years read this; lots of changes including move to Webkit over IE
Digit thanks each one of the
readers who gave us valuable
feedback. We have 75 of
these goodies to give Graphics Card Strontium 500GB
away! Here we mention only Vivek Datar, Mumbai External HDD
Sonu Kumar, Gaya Suresh M Jamkha-
some of the lucky winners. For a
ndi, Belgaum
full list of winners head over to
thinkdigit.com/d/surveywinners
McAfee Internet
Security 2010
Varun Bhide, Navi Mumbai Strontium 16 GB USB
Niral Rana, Bharuch Karamveer Mudgle,
Sachin Kabra, Hyderabad Sampla
Karan Shah, Mumbai
Amkette Flash TV
Syed Zubair, Victorinox Knife
Bangalore (Exclusive for online
Naresh Kumar, entries) Strontium DRAM
Mohali Tejakumar Dharmaraju, Omkar Rajpurkar,
Avinash Srivastava AndraPradesh Mangaon
Kunal Dharamsi, Vinayak Vinz,
Indore Mangalore
Interesting user reviews on the Thinkdigit Forum www.thinkdigit.com/forum
CHECK YOUR TECH QUOTIENT CONTEST
WINNERS
1st Week-Akshar Kaul
2nd week- Rohit
An excellent value for money product contrary to my 3rd week- Inderjit Kaur Uppal
own belief that Sony Vaio laptops are not value for
money products, and that Sony charges a premium These winners get T-shirts / Pen
for its laptops. But after experiencing this laptop I drives / Victorinox knives. To stay
really don’t think that I am going to go back to any updated on the latest happenings
other company for laptops (the only exception may in the world of technology and to
be Apple). If you are looking for a laptop in the similar
enter other such contests sign up for
price I would suggest that this one is a real good buy.
our daily Newsletter at http://www.
thinkdigit.com/newsletter.php
Facebook Logo design contest winners...
1st Place - Ritwik Rakshit 2nd Place - Keerthi Teja 3rd Place - Tanmay Gawankar
facebook.com/thinkdigit Winners get DVD titles such as IronMan / Startrek / Transformers
118 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
Stay tuned for June
The coming month will be a celebration of the
Digit Community Community
Head over to www.facebook.com/ithinkgreen. Remember, joining is the first step.
Lets do our bit and help our planet. We have interesting surprizes in the store for all who join.
MAY 2010 Digit is taking interactivity to a new level, and will be organising events every month. You
get to meet and interact with people that you wouldn’t in the normal course of your life —
industry experts, Team Digit, and other readers with similar interests. Stay updated and stay
ahead of the curve by looking for this page in every month’s magazine.
Digit Webinar Gadget buying guide
Want
Want to buy a budget DSLR, or a high end CPU cooler? Let experts at digit advice you on what
products to buy. You tell us what your requirements, budget and we’ll tell you what you can go
in for LIVE ! Have all your smallest doubts answered including compatibility issues, upgrade
options and future proofing your buys. Come join us for a lively interaction... Who knows, Agent
MAY 15 001 might just make a special guest appearance.
TIME: 17:00 HRS
Career Webinar Android Development
In this webinar join Siddhartha Singh as he guides you though the basic features of the
Android SDK such as the Application framework, Dalvik virtual machine, WebKit engine
based browser, 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification etc. He will also
talk about the rich development environment including the device emulator, tools for
debugging, memory and performance profi ling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE. This
open platform presents many opportunities since nearly all Handset manufacturers are
setting up dedicated Android development teams. Career opportunities are limitless.
MAY 21
TIME: 1700 HRS
For details on upcoming webinars and to view past webinars, visit thinkdigit.com/webinars
Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com 119
Digit 101
That Memory Card has a name!
There is a wide variety of memory cards and flash storage media in the market, and in common use. We have seen people calling these everything
from “memory” to “GB”. Memory cards following the specifications of SanDisk, the specifications of the Secure Digital (SD) group with Panasonic,
SanDisk, Toshiba and Kodak and propriety Sony specifications are commonly in the market. Although they might look similar and serve the same
purpose, the Sony Micro, is not compatible with the microSD specification. SanDisk is the only company that manufactures memory cards of all
these specifications, and is even involved with Sony. The SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) variants for the SD cards offer more storage capacity
within the same form factors.
The SD Flash card is com-
monly used in consumer
digital cameras, some
camcorders and PMPs
A CompactFlash card is
typically used in prosumer,
superzoom and dSLR
cameras The Short Lived MiniSD
specification, was used
in PMPs, cameras and
some mobile phones
The MicroSD card is the smallest flash memory
available to the general public, and is used in phones, Taking care of your flash memory
gaming consoles, increasingly in PMPs and small Minimise the number of times you access the card.
digital cameras This means tracking every read and write opera-
tion, and carefully reading only the number of times
necessary. Copy the files off the card before editing
them or uploading them.
Wipe the card clean, but don’t do this excessively.
Use the “safely remove” or “unmount” option before
removing your card from a computer
The Memory Stick Pro Duo is a newer Don’t “hot-swap”, which is removing or putting in a
standard by Sony, used in camcorders, memory card when the device is turned on, even if
cameras and for gaming consoles your device supports this
The Memory Stick
Micro M2 is not Keep a backup card handy at all times, so that your
to be confused Sony Memory Stick, used on older work does not stop in it’s tracks.
with the MiniSD cameras and camcorders. If you have
Brace for memory failure, your card is going to go
card, and is used in a device that uses this, it is time to
mobile phones and get a replacement kaput some time or another. Be prepared for it with
some PMPs regular backups.
What to do with an .iso file 2 Extract the 3 Mount the
contents image file
Y
ou got your hands on one of those
Burn a CD/DVD
.iso files, and have no clue how to
use it? An .iso file is an “image” of 1 If the size of the .iso is less than
You can directly access the contents of the
.iso file on your computer. This action is
There are applications available that
confuse the computer into thinking that
a CD or a DVD medium. This means that 700 MB, it can fit on a CD, otherwise you similar to unpacking a .zip or .rar archive. there is another DVD drive attached,
all the data that could have been burned need a DVD. You need a drive that can Note that this approach will not work for when all the software is doing is reading
on these media are stored, shared or burn the media for this. operating systems and some games. the .iso file as if it were a CD or DVD
distributed using a convenient package. Step 1: Put a blank CD / DVD in the Step 1: Install an unpacking applica- drive. This approach also will not work
Instead of a folder with the media DVD drive tion that supports .iso files. 7zip or for installing operating systems.
contents, an .iso file is used. There are Step 2: Install a disc burning applica- MagicISO will work fine. Step 2: Right Step 1: Download and install MagicDisc,
some benefits however, an .iso file can tion such as Nero or Burn4Free click on the .iso file, and select “unpack it is a small virtual drive software
contain instructions for the processor Step 3: Open the .iso file using the here” or similar option Step 2: Start up MagicDisc, and go to
to boot an operating system within the application. If you drag/drop the .iso file Step 3: Choose location for extracting File>Open
image file. There are many approaches into the window of the burning applica- the data, and use it directly from there Step 3: Navigate to the .iso file, to
to use a .iso file. tion, the .iso file will be burnt as is. mount the .iso on a virtual drive
120 Digit | May 2010 | www.thinkdigit.com
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