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Identity crises
F
rom the good old 386 days, to the been cribbing about the same bloat. Mac users
multi-core monsters today, we’ve have complained about sluggish performance,
all watched excitedly as Moore’s especially irritating when it’s everyday tasks
law, or interpretations of it, held that you’re doing, like searching for files. Even
steadfastly and stubbornly true. It Linus Torvalds himself has complained about
all got crazy about five years ago, bloat in the Linux kernel.
when each time we upgraded our hardware, Thankfully, Windows 7 and Apple’s Snow
a few months later a friend or acquaintance Leopard, both, seem to be a step in the right
would outdo us, and have a better rig. But that direction, with reduced bloat, and better
wasn’t the only irritating bit, what really got optimised code. This is exactly what we need
on our nerves was that said friend spent way from OSes — to stay light.
less than us, for something way better. “Ahh, Considering that the future is obviously
technology!” we’d say, nodding our heads in portable, OSes have no choice but to stay light.
disappointment, and move on... slowly, thanks The lighter the better, in fact, considering that
to our already outdated machines. battery technology hasn’t really done anything
Robert Sovereign-Smith, Editor
The one industry that is the epitome of to speak of in recent times. Portable hardware,
this trend is gaming. That’s one area where in fact, has become more energy efficient to
hardware has been left far behind. As all those compensate for this, and as a result, slower than
of you who have played games like Crysis will the average desktop.
testify to, no matter how new your PC is, some Although we’re all wow-ed by the new
games will just bring it to its knees. Some call looking OSes and all their eye-candy, we should
it future-proofing the game engine, I just call it be looking for usability, and functionality.
showing off. Take for example the whole touch thing.
The one vertical that shouldn’t follow It’s rumoured that Windows 7 will cause a
OSes cannot afford that trend, however, is the operating system major shift in device design, with new touch-
to “show-off” the industry. It’s acceptable to us to have hardware centric gadgets hogging the spotlight. We’ve
way the gaming that will not allow us to play the latest games. heard about all these upcoming “multi-touch”
industry can We’re even fine, for example, with running devices, and yet none of them really seem to
Adobe’s CS 1 suite instead of the latest CS4. be exploiting the possibilities that exist. If
However, it’s not acceptable for an OS to you don’t believe me, watch Jeff Han’s multi-
“require” a major hardware upgrade. touch demonstration at TED (http://tinyurl.
Windows 7 launched a little while ago, and com/45jz4a). I know I’ve spoken of him before,
of course I’ve been using the pre-release version but can you blame me for repeating it, when
on one of my non-critical computers for some what we have today, over three and a half years
time now. One stark difference between Vista after that demo, is still nowhere close?
and 7 that struck me was the performance. I certainly hope OSes get out of the identity
I’m not talking about benchmarks on super- crises they’re in, and stick to improving
high-end hardware that less than 1 per cent functionality, only, leaving the eye-candy, and
of the computing population can afford; I’m the attempt to be everything to everyone on the
talking about the everyday, run-of-the-mill back-burner. Let the “Ultimate” versions of the
hardware that most of us own. On mid-range OS come with all the bells and whistles, but
configurations, Windows 7 actually seems to do let’s not stop focusing on the innovations and
better than Vista. Sure you don’t get to use any advances in usability. Enough with our eyes, it’s
of the eye-candy that those with gaming rigs can now time to start designing for the other senses,
show off, but at least it works! starting with our fingers.
I remember people cribbing about the insane
(at the time) requirements of XP, and sticking
to Windows 98, just to be able to have a usable
PC, instead of a good-looking UI that crawled
through everyday tasks. It was no different for
the switch from XP to Vista, with a lot of people
turning their noses up at Vista – me included.
Some say Vista was ahead of its time, and
I’m inclined to agree. However, the OS industry
cannot afford to do that. OSes cannot afford editor@thinkdigit.com
to “show-off” the way the gaming industry
can. I’m not talking just about Microsoft here,
because those who use alternates have also
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 1
November 2009 • Volume 9 • Issue 11
Managing Director Sales and Marketing To advertise
Dr Pramath Raj Sinha VP Naveen Chand Singh
Printer and Publisher Product Manager Navneet Miglani South East
Kanak Ghosh Business Manager Chandan Sisodia Vinodh Kaliappan Jayanta Bhattacharyya
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Production and Logistics
Editor-at-large and Online Architect Sr. GM - Operations Shivshankar Hiremath Sachin Nandkishore Email: pranav.saran@9dot9.in
Ahmed Shaikh
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Shariff
Rossi Fernandes Client Page No Map my India 23
Trainee Reviewer Rohan Naravane
Customer Service: AOC 33 Microworld 15
Design +91-22-4078 9612/13/14
Creative Head Kabir Malkani Asus 17,79,113 Mitashi 49
Art Director Rohit A Chandwaskar AVG 3 NVIDIA Back Cover
Lead Designer Vijay Padaya Head Office: Editorial, Marketing
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Cover Design Jayan Narayanan Cover Photography Manas Parekh
Lipap 122 Transcend 25
Cover ImageCredits D-roll by Hao Hua, Portable PC Theater by Jinwoo Han
“Level 10” by BMW Group DesignworksUSA, Munich Studio for Thermaltake, Products reviewed this month
Taipeh, Taiwan
Bazaar........................64 ASUS EN 9800 GT HB XFX GX-260X-ADJF
Apple 24-inch Cinema Display ASUS EN 9800 GT MATRIX XFX GX-260X-AHBF (Black)
Apple Aperture 2 ASUS EN 9800GTX DK TOP XFX GX-295N-HWFF
Tell us what you feel about Digit Apple iPod Nano ASUS EN GTX 260 XFX HD-477A-YD
Each month, Digit walks through the technology maze to Asus RT-N16 ASUS EN GTX 260 MATRIX XFX HD-483X-YDFK
bring you the most relevant, and the most researched Circle Keyboard and Mouse ASUS EN GTX 275 XFX HD-485X-YD HD
stories. If you have an opinion about anything published
CoolerMaster ATCS840 ASUS EN GTX 285 XFX HD-487A-ZW
in Digit, or about technology in general, please write to
editor@thinkdigit.com Cabinet ASUS EN GTX 285 TOP XFX HD-489A-ZDD7
Corsair H50 Water cooler ASUS EN GTX 295 XFX PV-T98G-YN
Product testing Creative Inspire T6160 ATI Radeon HD 5770 ZOTAC GeForce 9800 GT
Want your product reviewed by Digit?
Contact our Test Center at Gigabyte 700W PSU ATI Radeon HD 5870 Synergy Edition
testcenter@thinkdigit.com Nikon D3000 Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250
Nokia E63 Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 1 GB ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 1 GB
Help!
For subscription or copy-related issues, Norton 2010 Internet Security Galaxy GeForce GTX 275 ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250
send an e-mail to help@thinkdigit.com NVIDIA 3D vision 896M D3 AMP! 1 GB
Philips GoGear Raga MSI N9800GTX PLUS ZOTAC GeForce GTX 260^2
Endorsements / reprints
Interested in ordering article reprints, Philips GoGear Vibe -T2D512-OC ZOTAC GeForce GTX 260^2
or using our logos? Contact Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 MSI N9800GTX-T2D512 AMP!
reprint@thinkdigit.com WD Mini TV MSI R4850-T2D512 ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275
Business enquiries Palit GeForce GTS 250 1 GB ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285
For any business-related enquiries, contact Graphic cards Palit GeForce GTX 260 216 ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 AMP!
business@thinkdigit.com test...............72 SONIC ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295
News and new product launches ASUS EAH 4770 PowerColor AX 4770 512MD5-M
To announce new product launches, and press releases, ASUS EAH 4850 MATRIX PowerColor AX HD 4850 1GB Intel P55 Motherboard
email us at pressrelease@thinkdigit.com ASUS EAH 4850 TOP PowerColor AX HD 4870 1G Test.....84
ASUS EAH 4870 PowerColor AX HD 4890 ASUS P7P55D Deluxe
Disclaimer: 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. ASUS EAH 4870 MATRIX Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 MSI P55-GD65
Printed and Published by Kanak Ghosh, for Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd. C/o KPT House, Plot ASUS EAH 4870 TOP Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R
41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Navi Mumbai 400 703
ASUS EAH 4890 Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6
Editor: Anuradha Das Mathur, C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station),
Navi Mumbai 400 703 ASUS EAH 5870 Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 MSI P55-CD53
Printed at Printed at Silverpoint Press Pvt. Ltd, Plot No. A, 403, MIDC, TTC Industrial Area, ASUS EAH HD 4870 x2 1 GB Intel DP55KG
Mahape, Navi Mumbai 400709
ASUS EAH HD 4870 x2 TOP XFX GS-250X-YD GS Biostar Tpower I55
2 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
NOVEMBER 2009
Contents
VOLUME 9 \ ISSUE 11
QUICK
NAVIGATOR
008 ENTER
Inbox
Industry Connect
Buzz
026 CONNECTIONS
Web 3.0
Crawling, Digit style
Portability Mania
030 DIGITAL LIFE
Web 3.0
DESIgn
Portability Mania
Drool maal
052 SCI TECH
Mobile Virtualization
Going the biotech way
089 TOOLBOX
Tips and Tricks
QnA
100 STREET SMART From the morning click of the gas lighter to the
Agent 001
Killer rigs
Price watch
116 ESC your own game
030 mattress we retire on, we’re surrounded by design.
We explore all that goes behind design
Bazaar
Make
using Atmosphir
Shadow Complex
FIFA ‘10
Unwind
Community Exciting gadgets, accessories
Unwind
Community and must-haves reviewed
064
TRIED &
058
ICONS OF TRUST
Which brands do
072
GRAPHIC CARDS
We’ve looked at high-
084
CORE I5
S
MOTHERBOARDS
TESTED readers trust the
most. Read more to
find out
end and mid-range
graphics cards this
month
Motherboards for
Intel’s latest Core i5
platform tested
4 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
THIS TIME IN DIGIT...
Industry Connect
We spoke to Sumeet Gugnani,
Director, Communications
Business, Microsoft and Ajay
Pande, VP Engineering, Adobe
010 India
Connections
This month, we take a keen
look at what Google is up to.
050 Plus web 3.0 and what’s in
store for us in the future
022
Drool maal Tech Careers
Your dose of eye-candy. From cameras Are you serious about
to speakers, you’ll find it all developing your career and
proud of being an uber geek?
Make a bright career...
018 Web 3.0 109
Web 2.0 instantly rings a bell, and so do version Game Review
numbers. Here’s an insight into what the future Explore the underground with
of the web holds for us Shadow Complex, play some
football with FIFA ‘10 reviewed
040 Design Flops 120
this month
We’ve covered interesting goof-ups by some of the
most renowned companies out there REGULARS
[001] The RSS Feed
[006] DVD Content
[008] Inbox
[014] Buzz
043 052
&TIPS [050] Drool maal
Look. Feel. Going the TRICKS 089 [097] Q&A: Your Q our A
biotech way
What magic are user
interfaces made of? [100] Agent 001
An often ignored field,
biotechnology is changing Firefox Extensions [103] Price Watch
Twitter
our lives
Windows 7
and more...
[106] Tech@work
SABAYON OS,
PES 2010 AND [123] Unwind
THE FIRST
EPISODE OF
DVD DIGIT TV!
TURN PAGE TO SEE ALL
L
CONTENTS OF THE DVD Give us your feedback at
www.thinkdigit.com/d/nov09
068
CINEMA DISPLAY
One of the best
designed monitor out
there, reviewed
069
NIKON DSLR
Nikon’s latest
entry-level dSLR, the
D3000 reviewed
070
NOKIA E63
Almost identical to
the E71, but more
affordable. Read to
80
PRODUCTS
find out more TESTED
inside
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 5
DVD Contents
• Free YouTube Download • Registry Repair Wizard 2009
2.3.1.63 • Second Copy 7.1.0.36
• Home Ftp Server 1.10.0.135 • UltimateZip 5.0
• TomTom Home 2.7.2.1825
• Boost Machine 1.5.7 Entertainment
• BitDrom 1.1 Music
• Darq Software Transmute 1.61 • Dj Tibo - Mister Dee’Jay
• ShareDix 1.1.0 • jazzcomputer.org - Elsewhere
• WireStack 1.1.0 • Killing Jazz - Killing Jazz
• MobileWitch YouTube • Promising crew - Mix
Downloader 1.1 Dubplates
• Video Download Toolbar 1.5 • SEBRIDER - Heaven and Sea
• GetGo Download Manager • Sydney Poma - Compositions
4.3.0.382 • Audiovisu’Elle
• 900 Plr Articles with Resell
Rights Free 1.0 HD Trailers
• ZoomFoot Send Photo 1.0.25 • Black Dynamite
• KooLoader 1.4 • Disney’s A Christmas Carol
• Download Accelerator Plus • Fantastic Mr. Fox
9.3.0.4 • Saw VI
• Twhirl 0.9.4 • The Crazies
• Gladinet Cloud Desktop • The Vampire’s Assistant
Starter Edition (32-bit) 1.2.190 • Visual Acoustics
• BitSpirit 3.6.0.300 Stable • Zombieland
• BitComet 1.15
• Arclab Thumb Studio 2.1 • Shareaza Turbo Accelerator Videos
Tools • My Photo Index 1.23.3361 3.7.1 • Airheads
Multimedia • Fly Free Photo Editing & • TubeMaster++ 1.4 • Apoptosis
Fresh View 7.80 Viewer 2.18 • FrostWire 4.18.3 • Blip
• Jet Screenshot 2.1 • TyBit Unified Search 0.3.10.5 • Egg
• SmoothDraw 3.2.1 • TweetDeck 0.30.5 beta • Enemy at the gates
• ArcSoft Print Creations 3.0 • Core FTP Server 1.0 build 307 compositing
• Hornil StylePix 1.0.0.912 • Nomee 1.2 • Evolved Virtual Creatures
• Aoao Photo Editor 3.3 • Free YouTube Utility 1.52 • Introducing the DSLR
• Contenta-Converter Basic 4.6.2 • Lavza YouTube CD/DVD Gunstock Shooters
• High Quality Photo Resizer 5.0 Burner 0.8 • Pipe Dream
• Picoly WebImage Lite 1.2. • Sorry I’m Late
• Picture Frame Wizard 1.0 System • Talin
Organise and view multimedia build 20 CrystalDiskInfo 3.0.2 • The Way of the Mantis
files (images, audio, and video). • PhotoScape 3.4 CrystalDiskInfo is a HDD • Toybox
Fresh View lets you watch • TMPGEnc Instant Show health monitoring utility. It
movies, listen to music, and Presenter 1.1.3.72 displays basic HDD information, Gaming
view graphics in a slide show. • UltraSlideshow Flash Creator monitors S.M.A.R.T. values and Games
• SView5 1.48 1.21 disk temperature World of Zoo - Animal Creator
• Photo Pos Pro 1.74 • Photo Collage Maker 2.27 • 3DP Chip 9.07
• Track ‘n share your GPS • Photo Enhancer 1.51 • Allway Sync 9.2.21
adventures 3.0 • Focus Photoeditor 6.0.11 • Baku 4.1.3500
• TwistedBrush Open Studio • BatteryCare 0.9.6.3
16.07 Internet • CZ Print Job Report 2.0
• MIT 1.3 Gigatribe • Defraggler 1.12.152
• Pos Free Photo Editor 1.26 • DriverMax 5.1
• Image Analyzer 1.31 • Duplicate Cleaner 1.3.2
• Picasa 3.5 • Fast Clean 1.0
• Chasys Draw IES 3.01 • FileMenu Tools 5.7 World of Zoo takes players
• Moo0 ColorPicker 1.03 • Fresh Diagnose 8.14 beyond the fences and into
• Moo0 ImageViewer 1.61 • Fresh UI 8.37 their own zoo, using hands on
• JetPhoto Studio 4.6 • InSight Desktop Search 2.0 interactive gameplay.
• Best Free Image Converter 2.5 GigaTribe allows you develop • MyDefrag 4.1.2 • Pro Evolution Soccer 2010
• FastPictureViewer (32-Bit) and manage your own file- • PC Wizard 2009 1.88 • Machinarium Demo
1.0.109 sharing (P2P) network. Use it so • PeaZip Portable 2.6.3 • Supreme Ruler 2020
• XnView 1.96.5 you can exchange large files with • PureRa 1.4
• Horizon33 1.1.3 your friends. This software is • Seeker 3.10.0.1 Trailers
• FastPictureViewer WIC Codec ideal for those wish to share their • TreeSize Free 2.3.3 • Guns of Icarus
Pack 1.20 information and files privately. • DTweak Pro 4.7.1 • Interstellar Marines
• Mayachitra Imago 1.0.3.90909 Only the users you have invited • Easy Tweak 1.7.3 • Obscure: The Aftermath PSP
• Addin Media Editor 1.5.1 will see the files (and folders) • EnhanceMyVista Pro 2.6 • Operation Flashpoint: DR
• Falco Auto Image 3.6 you share. • Magellan Explorer 3.33 • Modern Warfare 2
6 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
DVD Contents
the world. Bing aims at making
Tools mobile communication for a
Featured closed group of friends easier,
k7 Antivirus more interactive and cheaper.
• Bluetooth File Transfer 1.2
• Easy Wi-Fi
• F-Secure Anti-Virus for S60
Third Edition 3
• Freesms 1.23
• Fring for Symbian 8 3.2
• iSkoot for Skype
• LCG Jukebox
K7 TotalSecurity 9.8 is the fastest • Mobile Messenger 0.9
way to make sure that your PC is • Mobile Radio 1.02.01
completely protected from virus • Mundu Radio
threats, spyware and hackers. • NetQin Anti-virus
• Norton Internet Security 2010 • Nimbuzz for Windows Mobile
• Bolidesoft All My Movies • Pocket PC 1.1
• Infordesk All Business • PowerCall 1.50
Documents • ScreenShareS60
• Infordesk ParmisPDF • SMS Preview 1.12
• Ultra Mp3 1.52
Mac • WeFi for Symbian 1.4
Audacity 1.3.9 • WOWScreens 1.51
Drivers shapes our cities
• NVIDIA GeForce 32 Bit XP • Evgeny Morozov speaks on the • Lecture 23 - Other
• NVIDIA GeForce 64 Bit XP internet and dictatorships Constraints: The Cosmic
• NVIDIA Geforce 32 Bit Vista • Frans Lanting’s Lyrical nature Microwave Background
Win 7 photos • Lecture 24 - The Multiverse
• NVIDIA Geforce 64 Bit Vista • Gordon Brown Wires a web for and Theories of Everything
Win 7 global good
Audacity is a free audio editor. • ATi Catalyst 32 Bit XP • Parag Khanna maps the future Introduction to Computer
You can record sounds, play • ATi Catalyst 64 Bit XP of countries Science
sounds, import and export • ATi Catalyst 32 Bit Vista Win 7 • Stewart Brand with Squatter • Lecture 7 - Cryptography,
WAV, AIFF, and MP3 files, and • ATi Catalyst 64 Bit Vista Win 7 Cities Bugs, Integer Casting, and
more. Use it to edit your sounds • Taryn Simon shares secret sites Functions
using Cut, Copy and Paste (with OS • Tim Brown urges designers to • Lecture 8 - Local and Global
unlimited Undo), mix tracks Operating Systems think big Variables, the Stack, Return
together, or apply effects to your Sabayon 5.0 • Ueli Gegenschatz soars in a Values, and Arrays
recordings. wingsuit • Lecture 9 - Strings as Arrays,
• Avidemux 2.4.4 • Will Wright makes toys that Command-Line Arguments,
• Camino 1.6.10 make worlds and more Cryptography
• Cyberduck 3.3b4
• Doom 3 1.3.1 Rev A Astronomy 160 Game theory
• Google Earth 5.1.3509.4636 Lecture 22 - Supernovae Lecture 6 - Nash Equilibrium:
• iPhoto 4.0.3 Dating and Cournout
• JAlbum 8.5 We apply the notion of Nash
• Jing 2.1 Equilibrium, first, to some
• Miro 2.5.2 more coordination games;
• Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 Sabayon Linux is a live DVD in particular, the Battle of
• MPlayer 2.0b8r5 designed to transform a the Sexes. Then we analyze
• Opera 10.0 computer into a powerful Gentoo the classic Cournot model
• Paintbrush 2.0.1 Linux system in less than 5 of imperfect competition
• Picasa 3.5.1.68 minutes. Gentoo Linux is a between firms. We consider the
• Remobo 0.20.1 Linux distribution powered by a difficulties in colluding in such
• Skype 2.8.0.722 software install manager engine Professor Bailyn offers a review settings.
• TextWrangler 3.0 called “Portage”. of what is known so far about • Lecture 4 - Best Responses in
• TinkerTool 3.96 the expansion of the universe Soccer and Business
• Transmission 1.75 Videos from observing galaxies, • Lecture 5 - Nash Equilibrium
supernovae, and other celestial
Symbian Digit TV phenomena. The rate of the We will be accepting user
Bing Messenger 1.05 expansion of the universe is made content for the DVDs.
Your friends are an important TED discussed along with the Big
Send in animations, artwork,
videos or any kind of content
part in your life and you would • Beau Lotto demonstrates how Rip theory and the balance of to
like to be connected anytime we see dark energy and dark matter in dvd@thinkdigit.com
with all your friends from all over • Carolyn Steel on how food the universe over time.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 7
Win... mo? The art of acrobatics
We spoke to Sumeet Gugnani, Ajay Pande, VP, Engineering,
Enter Inbox 10 Director of Communications
Business, Microsoft India 12 Adobe India on design, India and
the future
u I am an avid reader of your possible to make a computer
esteemed magazine. I have a that uses digits, decimals or
suggestion for Digit. It would be hexadecimals instead of binary?
a great idea if start conducting If yes than why they are not
some sort of annual techfest; made earlier?
where upcoming talents can get Sudhanshu Gupta
a nice platform for launching
their dreams. More than 50% Binary uses zeroes and
of your readers are teenagers ones, not ones and twos. This
(my approximation) and many is because modern processors
of them are doing something use a number of switches, and a
or the other for people around zero or one stands for the on or
them in field of technology off state of the switch. For more,
but many more of them aspire have a look at the Computer
for some platform to perform Science lectures on our DVD.
where world can see them or This has so far proved the
hear them; there are existing simplest and most economical
platforms like Imagine Cup way to make computers. There
etc. but they are too high for are experiments where the light
them. Like many reality shows spectrum, electrons, and even
on TV which give chance to the monthly DVDs which my When you install two or bacteria are being used for
young singers or performers friends borrow and then forget more Operating Systems, each computing, but these are still
to showcase their talents, we to return. It is also cumbersome Operating System will occupy a in the labs and a long way away
in field of Computer Sciences to store all the DVDs and certain amount of space on your from becoming mainstream, if
should have some platform. I search for the particular issue Hard Drive. The boot sequence they ever will.
personally feel Digit has this when required. I know the Digit will involve a step where you Rossi
capability (you are in habit of archive is helpful but it simply select the Operating System you
doing big things) to change is a headcahe with all the DVDs wish to boot into. There is no u Finally I recently jumped on
lives of masses. I myself would and absence of some of them. real drop in performance in the the broadband bandwagon. Its
love to participate in it. Moreover some of them even system, unless you consider the been four years since I picked
Prateek Gupta get damaged after a long time. amount of scratch disk space, or up the first magazine from a
Hence the Ext. HDD with an swap space used by some appli- news-stand and since then I
That is a great idea Prateek. updating tool would be very cations. You can however, cross- have not stopped reading your
Rest assured that we are always helpful so that we can update the swap or allocate the partition of magazine. Each one of them
exploring new ways to reach out HDD monthly and store all the your other Operating System(s) have been outstanding.Yours is
to our readers, and interact with important updates in one place. as your scratch disk space. Linux one of the best tech magazine
them. I am sure many readers will is fundamentally made from publication. The videos
Robert welcome this too. a networking point of view, so provided by you, especially the
Aurojyoti almost any Linux distro is great TED videos are awesome. The
u The september issue was with networking. The GUI for Fast Track issues are simply
great as always and I really Congratulations on your win. Linux is not a standard with great. It has become a great
enjoyed it. I have a very special If magazines ever start giving every distro, and there are many source of information. The
thanks for your team. Thanks away external hard drives with GUIs available. KDE and GNOME October issue really rocked.
to you I am the champion of their issues, we will be among are the bost common. KDE has Well i have a few
TCS IT WIZ Bhubaneswar the first to do so. Meanwhile, the most eye-candy. Linux Mint suggestions. Hope you will fix it
edition for the 2nd consecutive watch out for an archive of is a great distro that looks good, in the future..
year! all previous Digit issues in the and plays most multimedia 1. Please x 1000000000
This time I got a Lenovo December DVD. formats out of the box. However, times bring back the Digit
G230 along with a lot of other Robert Sabayon, which is in this month’s Software Archive.
prizes. The laptop is OK - it DVD, also plays most formats 2. Its about time you guys
only has a 12” screen. Now my u I am one of the die hard out of the box too. It is a multi- changed the DVD interface. It is
old CRT looks bigger! Your reader of Digit. For last two media centric distro, so try it out getting really boring :-(
efforts really help us students years, I have not missed a single and tell us what you think of it. 3. Bring back the crossword.
to learn about all the tech issue of Digit. Well, there are Aditya That is all I am asking. Fulfill
surrounding us. The Fast track some questions in my mind these wishes for me and I will
on the history of computing which u I’m a new fan of Digit be the happiest person on this
really helped me. I have a 1. Does installing two or magazine. A friend of mine planet.
suggestion to make: Why more Operating Systems on recommended that I read this Keep Rocking :-) :-) :-)
don’t you release an External a single system hamper its magazine. After reading it, I Mahesh Bharadwaj
HDD annually, filled with performance? am also recommending this
all the important upgrades, 2. Keeping in mind GUI & to my friends. One question Great to know that you got
software and the 12 issues in multimedia with networking, that always strikes me is that broadband. Visit us at www.
pdf (though at an extra price of which linux distro is the best computers only uses binary thinkdigit.com, and you will find
course!) out there? Please provide it, if codes (1 or 2 ) to perform its a lot of contests and giveaways.
It would be so helpful as you have not provided it yet. work. These are pretty regular, so sign
I keep going mad at losing Pratik My question is that is it up for our newsletter to stay
8 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Buzz Where to write in
Shop for international To reach the editor, mail editor@thinkdigit.com. For faulty
14 products the easy way. Check
out how.
DVDs, magazines etc, write in to help@thinkdigit.com. For
anything related to the DVDs, DVDcontent@thinkdigit.com
updated. Join our forums to LETTER OF THE MONTH
interact with other readers, and
give us more detailed feedback. u I am an avid Digit reader like millions on this friends to find the gadget they were looking for.
We are working on a new version planet. I found technology my best friend and Now I am in 10th class and am planning for an IT
of the Digit archive, and a better Digit is my day-to-day tech-helper. I got some career. I hope your magazine is going to help me
interface. Digit CDs back in 2004 when I was 10. I bought to fulfill my dreams. I bought a Nokia N79 last
my PC and started exploring the virtual world. I year and Octobers Fast Track to Mobile Phones
Aditya
started reading Digit from my library and found helped a lot in understanding my phone. I told
it interesting. Finally this August, I subscribed many of my friends about Digit and now I feel
u I am a subscriber of Digit that I am a proud member of the Digit family.
to Digit. Your every article is a perfect piece
now. I received my second of writing and because of its versatile content At last I thank all the Digit team for not only
subscription copy today with and intellectual sections, Digit is my technology providing us top class content but the whole
a disappointment of the PLAY navigator. The QnA section helped me a lot in Tech-World in 160 pages. Digit is the best
disc missing. tackling day to day computer related problems available source of tech-gyaan that a human can
I love Digit since I was in and How Stuff Works is like a teacher to me. ever dream of.
class 8th, that was the time Diwali’s Special Edition Digit was nothing less
when I dint even know about than a surprise to me which helped many of my Jaydeep Chakrabarty
computers and today I am
a proud reader and a tech
guru among my friends. This I realized that I cannot pretend be printed but, anyways... We always appreciate those
is something all the readers anymore that I can miss an 1. The quality of paper who write in to us with feed-
of Digit claim to be. It really issue, and subscribed to it last started deterioating frm last 2 back. There was a problem with
proves it’s “Your Technology month. Keep up the good work! years. even after a price hike paper sourcing, which affected
Navigator” punchline. By the way I would like to of 25Rs. I mean look at your all of India. Generally, magazines
With wifi connection I came buy the Samsung LN65B650 competition, they are offering with smaller print runs could
to know that when one of our that you featured in this month much better package at the afford to buy better paper at
seniors uses his MacBook, all Digit Drool maal section for same price. higher prices. We could not do
other laptops using net stop Rs.29,300, can you please tell 2. Product reviews are this without increasing our price
working. There are Linksys Wi- me where I can get it? :-D outdated, the competition offers even further, and we always
Fi 2.5 GHz routers on each of Regards, latest reviews. for instance take made sure that our quality of
the three floors. His Mac pulls Kaustuv intel’s core i5, there was no content was better than the
in all the three connections. sign of it in your diwali issue, quality of paper it was printed
Digit inspired me a lot about You got us there! We missed competition has a full fledged on. However, we have upped our
open source and I removed my out on a zero. review on it with benchmark paper quality recently, and it is
Pirated Windows and Installed Aditya tests. now comparable to any maga-
Ubuntu. I wanted to know 3. My favourite section in zine out there.
is there a trick in Linux or u Hi, your magazine was Agent001. We did get the core i5 on
Windows to do the same. Digit First of all kudos for your I loved the way he went to the 20th of last month itself.
is really very addictive and the Diwali special edition, lamington road searching What kind of content goes in the
best. I’ve got my Economics there are indeed loads for hardware arguing magazine is an editorial deci-
Mid Term Exam tomorrow but of contests for this with salesman, sion, and we cannot find space
am busy reading Digit. month. and finally getting for all the products that we get.
Siddharth Jaiswal Now coming the stuff. Now he You will find a very detailed and
to my story, I’ve sounds more like in depth review of the core i5
If you have a missing DVD, been reading your a reviewer tellin on our website, www.thinkdigit.
send in a mail to help@think- magazine since I the product name, com.
digit.com, your DVD will be sent was in 7th std. at specification and I still love hanging out at
over to you. We suggest that that time jasubhai price. Lamington road, but how the
you talk to your network admin owned Chip as far as 4. Please improve the vendors behave there is differ-
about the bandwidth leeching, I remember and later it was presentation of your magazine. ent from how vendors behave
instead of trying to imitate the stopped and Digit came into Learn from international in other parts of the country.
person who is doing it. existence. players. Based on a lot of reader feed-
Robert The sole reason at that time Now one suggestion please back, I decided to stick to giving
u Hi, for buying your magazine give the reader an option of you information that everyone
I am a reader of Digit for the was the bundled CD. As a buying only the magazine in the country could use, and
last 5 years but writing in for Kid I was fond of the game (without dvd) at a cheaper rate. less on what was happening at a
the first time. I was buying Digit demos which came on it. I’ve never run your dvd since particular street I frequent.
from a magazine stall all these Now I’m 21 pursuing final past 2years. I think readers like We did pilot a few news stand
years, because I used to think year in Engineering. I’d been me will praise your move. versions of the magazine, where
that I may not want to buy a a loyal reader till an year ago. I have a soft corner for ur only the magazine was sold.
particular issue. Days went Yes, I stopped buying your magazine because, all that Reader’s demand just the Fast
by and it became increasingly magazine and I bought this I know is because of your Track, or just the DVDs. Our
difficult for me to miss even a issue viz. october after an magazine. Please take my letter core product will always be the
single issue (I even asked one interval of 11months. Now not as a hatemail but as a letter magasine, we will let you know if
of my friends to buy and keep the reasons why I stopped from a loyal reader giving some we come up with a subscription
it for me one particular month buying the mag. advice offer for just the magazine.
when I was abroad), and finally I know this letter will never Priyank Shivhare Agent 001
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 9
6.5.1
Industry Connect Did you know? According to downloadsquad.com,
The Windows Mobile operating system is believed Microsoft is already working on a update
to be based on Windows CE, which was designed for Windows Mobile 6.5 with a rewritten,
for simple computers and embedded systems finger-friendly contact application
Win...Mo?
Sumeet Gugnani, Director, Communications
Business, Microsoft on Windows Mobile 6.5
Siddharth Parwatay
siddharth.parwatay@thinkdigit.com
Tell us a little bit about Windows Mobile 6.5 and what
separates it from the rest?
Windows Mobile 6.5 is an inflection point for Microsoft for very
fundamental reasons. For long, this industry has been dominated by
hardware. People used to buy phones for their specs, the megapixel
count of the camera, etc. Over the last few years, it moved up to the
next level, which is hardware plus software. The software experience
started becoming more important. That’s when we came into the
picture, because Microsoft is of course fundamentally a software
player. Therefore, all our versions - Windows Mobile 3, 5, 6, and 6.1,
have been talking about software as the key differentiator. take over. The R&D team will go through the application and certify
What Windows Mobile 6.5 brings to the table is our claim to the it. Only after certification will it get placed on Marketplace. Once it
services side. At this point we’re announcing two new services after does go there, it’s placed in a fairly user friendly manner. You have
a fair share of consumer insight. The first service is the MyPhone the ‘most popular’ and category wise kind of organisation and a user
service that will be available with 6.0 and above, but is being rating system.
launched right now. The insight that helped develop MyPhone, was
the fact that a lot of people literally trust their phone to do everything So can you still get third-party applications?
for them. Their whole digital life is contained in this phone. People Yes you can as before, from third-party web sites. A very small subset
don’t even carry multiple devices these days. Therefore in a situation of that will be certified. The third vector of differentiation has more
where this phone gets lost, stolen, damaged, or misplaced, you just to do with the UI. We’re talking about the ability to personalise the
don’t loose a device or machine worth 10,000 rupees, you loose screen to whatever you want. You can do cool stuff like have widgets
your whole set of memories. Photographs – pictures of birthdays, from Windows 7 installed on winmo 6.5. Alternately you can go to a
family, friends, contacts, music – all gone in a stroke. What MyPhone skin generator site to make a theme.
does, is give you 200 MB of free storage on the cloud so everything
that you have on your phone gets synchronised. All you need is a Tell us about your plans for India?
Windows Live ID and it syncs everything and anything you choose We always go through our partner ecosystems. So we have 6 or 7
right from messages to music, videos, contacts, calendars, docs, etc. leading names of the phone industry associated with us. We have
The stuff is all compressed when stored online but you can view it more than 25 models. Each of those models, gives you a different
via a browser. So if you loose your phone apart from the expense of user experience. You have form factor variations like touchscreen
buying a new one, you can come back to the MyPhone web site and with a qwerty, a touchscreen with a slider, a non touch with a qwerty,
you have everything right back in to your phone. The transmission and so on. In this way we have best of the evolution of hardware to
takes place via GPRS, and syncs can be scheduled and chosen as per service. We’re actually very delighted with the progress we’ve made
convenience. in India over the last three years. Back then we used to sell about
25,000 phones a year. Today we’re selling about 3,00,000 phones a
What are the other services on the new version? year. We’re the fastest growing platform here. We outsell every other
The second service is Marketplace. This is interesting because it is major smart phone player, with the exception of Nokia which is more
new and old at the same time. It is new in the sense that with 6.5, a universal end-to-end kind of player. So the consumer acceptance of
this is the first time we’re offering an application store on the mobile. the Windows brand is very high.
But it is kind of old to the extent that applications is what we do
for a living. We’ve got more than 20,000 applications already there Market share trends abroad are completely the opposite for
through our developer ecosystem. So there’s really a whole universe Windows Mobile.
of applications available. But our challenge was not to get an x We don’t see this as a market share game at all. For a very simple
number of application up there. Earlier, we used to make it available reason – a smartphone is hardly four percent of the phone universe.
through third-party web sites. Our challenge was how to certify and So this is really about market expansion. Who grows faster in that
make sure what we give is the best. So we set up filter criteria on market, are dynamics that can change. Someone comes up with a
applications. For example, the application cannot be more than 10 great new something so sales spike. Apple came up with a great UI
MB in size. Eventually, consumer experience is important. Especially, back then and they did well. But the point is this is a long term race
what they download over the air - if it is more, then the experience and there are a few players in for the long haul. We’re in it for the
is not that great and you end up consuming more bandwidth. long haul. We were the first to innovate in this platform. With version
Secondly, it cannot have any objectionable content. What is good for 3 we gave people the option of pull mail, with 5 we shared push mail,
the developers is that there is no new learning curve. The SDK is the 6 we said take HTML email, with 6.1 threaded SMS, with this one we
same, the .NET framework is the same, Visual Studio is the same. All have services. So we’re here, we’re gonna keep investing in R&D and
the developers have to do, is use those, submit the application and we over the years the choice is going to be made by the consumers.
10 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Industry Connect Mobile Photoshop
Adobe patches You can now edit your photos effectively
Adobe has fixed 29 vulnerabilities on your mobile handsets with Adobe’s
in Adobe Acrobat and Reader Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone
The art of Acrobatics
Ajay Pande, VP Engineering, Adobe India on
Adobe’s Indian operations, engineering and
design vision
Nash David
nash.david@thinkdigit.com
Tell us about the engineering and product design teams
at Adobe India
Adobe India’s engineering and product design teams are based out
of two locations – Noida and Bangalore. We’ve been operating out
of India and exclusively focussing on several products for the past
12 years. Our current engineering headcount for India is 1500.
What kind of talent do you look for while recruiting?
Sheer brightness and brilliance is something that excites us. For
this, we go to the top institutes. For engineering and business
talent, we look for people with passion and love for technology.
The person should be willing to experiment and have the
willingness to learn. We do not prefer people who keep switching
between technologies or someone who is on the run. Adobe
products are benchmarks – always the best. This translates even to
our resources. We get the best whatever be the field. In addition,
we have a strong rotation process, whereby engineers can move on
to the product line of their choice depending on his/her interest.
Which is the most extensive market for Adobe? If US/
Europe, is it still convenient to develop here and market
it abroad?
When it comes to our products, approximately half of it is
consumed in the Americas and the other half comes in Europe Considering the criticality of our software applications, we
and Japan. We have managed to grow with corresponding growth r
consider this to be our business in all respects, and we carry all
in the respective industries. We are excited about this and expect development work ourselves. Although we do have development
to continue this trend in the years to come. Adobe Elements partners, we do not outsource any of our development work.
shipped to the world, was developed in India. Overall, Adobe is Basically, our product development cycle or product lifecycle
not geographic specific. If you compare Adobe with other software begins with what is called a seed idea. A seed idea could come
manufacturers, Adobe is clearly the leader. Our products are not from anyone, be it an engineer or a manager or a director. When
localised to such an extent that their behaviour patterns change. someone has an idea, they can communicate the idea by means
In fact, whenever our client/customer industries have grown, of forums dedicated for this purpose. This is known as the
Adobe’s stable has grown. For example, in a country such as India, incubation board. While the idea grows there, it is also reviewed.
with the growth of the print industry, InDesign has seen rapid This whole process could take anywhere between 9 months to 18
growth. Similarly with the future moving towards the cloud, Flash months. The dedicated team then works on the idea as a start-up
is witnessing growth. within Adobe. When results are visible, the senior management
reviews the idea as a business plan. This review by the senior
What is significant about Elements? management is called the concept accept. The whole atmosphere
Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premiere Elements were is informal for the idea to evolve. However, once it takes the form
recently shipped globally. These product lines were developed of a business idea, it is strictly process driven and very formal in
entirely in India. Designers, especially for web and print platforms, nature.
extensively use Photoshop. Similarly, video editors use Adobe
Premiere. Our latest addition, Adobe Elements, is targeted at Can you tell our readers more about the Indian names we
hobbyists. Although not as critical as designers and editors, see during startup of Adobe products?
hobbyists do want their product to appear as professional as These names are mostly engineers and some managers. If you look
possible. This is where Elements steps in. at Acrobat, half of the names in the credit are Indians, not just
by nationality, but based out of the India office. There are over a
Does Adobe do all of its development work, or do hundred Indian names. Even in Photoshop, you will find several
you outsource? Tell us more about it from an Indian Indian names. One such name is Seetharaman Narayanan, who is
perspective. Also tell us what goes in the whole cycle. one of Adobe’s early engineers based out of USA.
12 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
It’s official Blast the moon
Buzz Analytics platform agency ViziSense
recently crowned Gmail as the numero
NASA crashes rocket on the moon
in search of water. Unfortunately
uno email service, ending Yahoo! the spectacle could not be captured
Mail’s 10-year reign at the top on camera
What’s the buzz in tech-land?
Update your digital quotient as we bring you the juiciest news from the cutting edge of technology
Nokia to sue Apple for to establish standards create for which is provided globally
patent infringement! intellectual property, which by AT&T and its international
The 5800 XpressMusic failed others then need to compensate partners.
to make a dent. The N97 has for,” said Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice
drawn yawns from most users, President, Legal & Intellectual Windows 7 is out. And
and laughs from iPhone owners. Property at Nokia. “Apple is also cheaper too!
The upcoming N900 looks expected to follow this principle. On October 22, Microsoft
promising, but initial reviews By refusing to agree appropriate launched its most highly-
have it pegged as nowhere near terms for Nokia’s intellectual anticipated product, Windows
Apple’s high-selling handset. So property, Apple is attempting 7, across the world. And for
here’s Nokia’s latest attempt at to get a free ride on the back of once, users in India have gotten
an iPhone-killer: a court order! Nokia’s innovation.” a break.
The Finnish mobile phone Although the amount of According to Microsoft,
giant seems to believe that money involved hasn’t been the Windows 7 beta program
when you can’t beat ‘em, the disclosed, it is speculated that had over eight million people
best option is to sue ‘em. In a Nokia would be looking for a signing up for it, making this the
complaint filed at the Federal royalty payment close to 1-2 per most widely-tested beta product
cent ($6-$12) of every Now you can hold ebooks in your in the company’s history. The
iPhone sold. With 34 hand different versions of Windows
million iPhones sold 7 are available in India at the
to date, that comes The screen has no backlight, following prices. Home Basic -
to about $204-$408 so it doesn’t give out the glare Rs. 5,899. Home Premium - Rs.
million in damages. a normal screen would. The 6,799. Professional - Rs. 11,199
Ouch! navigation is fairly simple and Ultimate - Rs. 11,799
Most importantly, all the text content is custom The prices are significantly
Apple seems to be on formatted. So the Economist lower than the product is
the back foot in this will not look exactly like the retailing at in the US. So far, the
one since invalidating magazine, but more like any cheapest way to get Windows 7
such a large number of other novel. User customisation seems to be in Indonesia, where
patents is hard to do. is also a great tool, allowing you the Home Basic package costs
Given Nokia’s recent to change margins, increase font Rp 9,00,000 (Rs. 4,400 approx).
Nokia’s N97 is considered over-rated
losses, they wouldn’t size and even annotate sections There is more good news
District Court in Delaware, mind the extra cash, surely. How with notes. in store for those who bought
USA, the company is alleging do you like them apples? “Many readers have reported Windows XP or Windows
that Apple’s iPhone infringes 10 that they read faster now and Vista after June 26, 2009.
Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS Kindle now in India read more. That’s also because Microsoft India has a Windows
and wireless LAN (WLAN) Since its launch, Amazon’s the Kindle is always with them” 7 Upgrade Option Program for
standards. Kindle has been somewhat of said Laura Porco (Director, such consumers to avail of an
The patents comprise an object of desire. The idea of Kindle Books). upgrade to Windows 7 at no
technologies that are having access to thousands of So does that ring the death additional cost. The Windows
“fundamental” to making books over the air, all in a sleek knell for actual books? Going Upgrade Option Program is
phones, and have been infringed little gadget, is quite tantalising. by some of the astonishing available to Indian consumers
by Apple since it started making Amazon recently announced numbers quoted by Laura, it and businesses with less than
the iPhone in 2007, Nokia that the Kindle would be may actually be so. “Currently, 25 PCs, through participating
claims. available globally, and officially for every 100 physical books OEMs – Acer, Dell, HCL, HP,
The world’s largest handset launched it in India at an event shipped, we have 48 on the
manufacturer may be in the in Mumbai. Kindle.” she said. Indian
right, though. Nokia has already Kindle wirelessly downloads users can avail of a catalogue
successfully entered into license books, magazines, newspapers of 2,80,000 books, each
agreements including these and personal documents to downloaded in about a minute
patents with approximately 40 a crisp 6-inch electronic ink over 3G GSM or EDGE.
companies, including virtually (e-ink) display that actually There are no data charges for
all the leading mobile device looks and reads like real paper. downloading a book, the service
vendors.
“The basic principle in the
Read more on the features of the Kindle at
mobile industry is that those
http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/kindle2/
companies who contribute
in technology development
Office 2010 is coming out with a ad-supported starter version that will only include Word 2010 and Excel 2010, with basic functionality for creating, viewing and editing
14 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
500 Million strong AVG 9 out
Buzz At the current rate of growth, by
either this December or January
Developers of the world’s most popular
free anti-virus software, recently
of next year, India will have its 500 announced that its family of free and paid
millionth mobile subscriber internet security products, AVG 9.0, is out
Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba and To know about Google’s foray into music: International
Wipro – as well as channel http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/gmusic/ shopping made easy
partners for assembled PCs. Who doesn’t love some good
The upgrade to Windows 7 is integrate this data into its search long averse to. Still, you need old retail therapy once in a
globally available from June 26, over the “coming months”, to “enable Secondary Click in while? But when it comes to
2009 through January 31, 2010. Bing’s Twitter search is available System Preferences.” online shopping, our choice is
Also, contrary to reports of right now at http://www.bing. The Bluetooth mouse is largely limited to stuff available
the Windows 7 launch being com/twitter but is apparently powered by a set of AA batteries, within the geographical
delayed in India, Mr. G. Ramesh still too good for India. No which will last it for four months boundaries of the country.
(Director Windows Client worries, just change your of battery life, according to You will surely relate to the
Business Group, Microsoft location using the link next to Apple. The Magic Mouse will stressful times of trying to
India) told ThinkDigit that all “Preferences” in the top-right come packaged with the new get your friends or relatives
its OEMs have started shipping corner and select “United to carry stuff along for you.
new machines on Windows 7. States - English” (this will Although, one can oder items
take you back to normal from abroad, the process is
Now realtime search Bing search, however your very complicated and has still
We all want information five next visit to http://www. not reached the mainstream
seconds before it’s even created, bing.com/twitter will allow consumer. There’s duties,
and today, Google and Bing you to start searching) foreign exchange, shipping and
have both accelerated towards a whole lot of other things to
that goal. An Apple a day figure out. Whatever happened
Both Microsoft and Google, Recently, as part of a major to Globalisation and ‘the world
announced within hours of overhaul of its computer is flat’, we wonder.
each other (Microsoft going products line-up, Apple iMacs, or can be purchased Well, it looks like eBay India
first), their plans to incorporate introduced the world’s first independently for $69 (Rs. is out to change things with the
Twitter in their search results. touch-sensitive mouse, called the 3,200 approx). launch of its latest initiative -
Bing had earlier added limited ‘Magic Mouse’. Putting an end Apple also announced a Global EasyBuy (ebay.in/geb).
support for searching Twitter to the previous Mighty Mouse, new MacBook, two new iMacs The promising venture might
updates by including tweets the Magic Mouse is a wireless and upgraded the current soon become the international
of famous celebrities in their mouse with no mechanical Mac Mini. The new MacBook online shopping destination for
results. buttons, no scroll wheels and no is what interests us the most. Indians, by offering shoppers
To many, who still take scroll balls: it works purely on Apple renovated its lowest-end convenient access to around 18
Twitter’s “What are you doing?” multi-touch interaction. ‘plastic’ MacBook with a million international products.
rather too literally, it may seem Users can scroll in new unibody design The products available are
like a waste of time, however any direction using that includes those that comply with the
what lies in its timeline is a multiple fingers, as the new built-in country’s importing regulations
history of events, changing well as use familiar battery offering up and categories include luxury
thoughts, memes and moods: finger-swipes. to seven hours of brands, electronics, books,
information some may find Clicking the left battery life – all for hardware, musical instruments
more relevant than the average and right buttons $999 (Rs. 46,400 etc. Well international here
search. apparently offers approx). Yes that’s is a misnomer. The website
The real-time nature of physical feedback, right they actually say currently has products mostly
Twitter and Facebook is of depressing the entire white seven hours ! from the US, but who’s
immense value, for anything polycarbonate surface of the The durable polycarbonate complaining. The way it works
between getting the latest mouse. Those lucky few who got material uses the same is that the consumer gets to pay
updates during events, helpful to experience the device say that techniques as the higher-end a single amount (inclusive of
messages during disasters, or the mouse moves a little when aluminium MacBook Pros. product cost, shipping and any
just getting rescued from a drain. scrolling via touch. Along with a glass multi-touch applicable duties) in rupees. In
It is just one of those things we We’re sure glad that the trackpad, the device features turn the original shipper from
didn’t knew we needed, till we mouse has the ever elusive a 13-inch LED-backlit display, the US ships the product to a
did, and now any search result ‘right-click’ that Mac were for 2.2GHz Intel Core2Duo central hub in his country from
is out of date if it doesn’t take processor, 2GB RAM, Nvidia then on eBay takes over to bring
into account what people are GeForce 9400GM onboard the item to your doorstep. The
discussing at the moment. graphics, 250GB hard drive and process takes place through
Google’s suspiciously short 8x SuperDrive. eBay’s secure payment gateway
announcement stating their called PaisaPay. Head over to
intention to include Twitter data www.ebay.in/geb to experience
seems to be more of a reaction it first hand and quench the
to Microsoft’s announcement of shopaholic in you. The site
the same, than a premeditated looks fine, though be very
disclosure. This is what careful with cached memory. At
competition is all about, and it’s times with ‘products last looked
good, the race between Google at’ it may just take you to ebay.
and Bing can only benefit us. Gestures from From left to right: Single Click, Two button click, 360 scroll, zoom, com which is not where you
While Google plans to two finger swipe. want to be.
Eric Schmidt of Google not wanting to be evil is reported to have said that if they had an “evil room” and behaved in an “evil way”, they would be destroyed.”
16 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Mobile watch Web watch
Google’s Android, not the iPhone With Google Wave invites being
Connections Feature 22 OS is predicted to be one of the top
contenders in the mobile OS war 26 given away, is it really as useful as
everyone wishes it to be?
Shrikrishna Patkar
What will Web 3.0 have in store for us? The most educated guesses will be short-sighted, but there are
a few tantalizing hints from the bleeding edge of Web 2.0 development.
Aditya Madanapalle own memory. If you have ten clusters of ten Bridging the great divide
aditya.madanapalle@thinkdigit.com computers each, depending on the wires The first challenge was to
was not feasible. The answer to this was to get people online at all. The
make each computer a host, identify it with a network of computers had to
T
hink of the web as an ecosystem, number, and allow for navigation using these spread slowly from continent to
a constantly evolving, organic and numbers. This was a protocol that laid the continent and country to country.
volatile entity. Just as real world foundations to the internet, and was called Phone lines were initially used
ecosystems have eras, the web TCP/IP. These protocols themselves have for this, soon to be replaced by a
too goes through phases. The first phase versions numbers, and currently version 4 massive grid of fibre-optic lines. The
was the e-era or the dot com era. It became is being used. The next generation will be next challenge was to standardise
commercially viable to offer content and version 6 that will allow for more computers the HTML language. This lead to the browser
services online, and a big bunch of companies to be interconnected. The number of digits wars, where Netscape, and IE would render
that were known primarily by their internet available in the original standards have been the tags slightly differently, and sometimes
addresses came up. This stage of the web was exceeded by the growth of the internet. support tags that other browsers did not. So
also known as the “bubble”. Web 2.0, came Now you have hundreds of computers, if someone who created a web site wanted
into existence roughly in the second decade connected to each other, each with a uniquely text to scroll across the screen in a marquee,
of the internet, and this was the “cloud” stage. identifiable number on the network. What one browser allowed users to view it as such,
User interaction, social networking, and user then? but the other did not. The browser wars
generated content are some of the hallmarks Each computer, or host, on the network, have toned down a bit now, but are still an
of Web 2.0. Right now, we are on the verge had something to offer, usually in the form ongoing source of irritation for the users of
of another era, moving beyond what Web of data. One solution was to give access to the web. Another important breakthrough
2.0 has to offer. Tentatively called Web 3.0, documents in whatever format they were necessary was something to make sense of,
exciting times lie ahead, where the web will created in. This would, however, cause a lot and consolidate all the information on the
get more firmly ingrained as a part of our of problems. For one, not everyone could web. Imagine going online, without Google,
lives. Most of the technology used in Web read all the formats of all the documents. if you can. That is how the web was for quite
2.0, the wikis, the widgets, and the APIs, were This would mean that every user would some time. Without a search engine to direct
around on little used sites, and on design have to install a large number of document you to the information that you wanted, the
boards long before the onset of Web 2.0. In readers, which was not practical at all. web was a meaningless heap of content that
fact, some of these ideas were around since Moreover, this would heavily eat up the could not be navigated. The only way to get
before the internet itself came into being, let limited bandwidth available. The other anywhere before search engines was through
alone the web. To get a clear idea of where solution was to represent all the data in portals, that heavily selected the direction of
the web is headed, it is necessary to have a a common and simple language, as close your surfing. However, crawlers that jumped
deeper understanding of the technology that to plain text as possible, and have a client from blue lines to blue lines, and indexed all
drives it. On the way to Web 3.0, users have software interpret the data to display on the information on the web came into being,
conquered massive digital divides, survived a screen. This was the approach taken for the allowing for a window into the wide and
massive bubble burst, and even endured a full web, the client software was a web browser, complex web.
fledged war. and the data was represented then in HTML. The web back then was basically for
Hyper Text Markup Language was an information. You wanted to know about
Laying the foundations innovative answer. Tags owe their existence something, you went online, searched for
The web is made up of to these early days of the web. Each line it, browsed through it, and logged off. The
many layers of standards in a plain text document was tagged in a users were spectators, without any real active
and protocols. Assume ten way that allowed a browser to interpret the participation. People who generated content
computers are connected to tag, and display the text attached to it, on did so on their own home pages. Email
each other, and needed to screen. This was a simple, and robust enough forwards had their day, one of the few ways
communicate with each other. system. Anyone could set up a host, write in that people could actually reach out to there
The simplest solution was in the a few lines of code, and offer their content people and say “hey! check this out! this is
wiring itself. Ask for something in and information online for the world to see. interesting”. We could have actually used 1GB
a remote location, and you got it as if you There were however, a few challenges at this mailboxes back then. Success stories such as
were navigating to another location in your juncture of the internet. Usenet and Napster were few and far between,
18 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Mashups DBpedia
Mashups are a combination of two or
more web applications or APIs into a
DBpedia is an effort to consolidate all
the information on Wikipedia to be
Feature
single web application. Head out to used as smart resources by Web 3.0
Webmashup.com for more apps. Contribute at wiki.dbpedia.org
and soon died out for various reasons. To common to all these services? Not just the fact of some kind of fad or to better promote these
post images online, a few tech-savvy users that all of these heavily depend on the users services. These are real worlds, changing the
relied on software that churned out HTML to create content - user generated material on social, political and economic landscapes. The
web galleries. A few services like Geocities and Facebook, for example, can hardly be called web is no longer made up of static pages of
Angelfire allowed users to create and upload content. These are not just web sites, these information. Instead, the web is now made up
their own content, but this too required an are platforms, and can be consumed in more of dynamic platforms and applications, which
understanding of HTML, and how hosts ways than simply navigating to a particular are two different things. There are many,
work. For a good ten years, this was the URL. The key words here are tags, feeds, invisible ways in which the web has changed.
web, but dramatic changes were in the offing APIs, widgets. You can write applications that Creating, designing and maintaining web sites
behind the scenes. interface with the wealth of data in Facebook, takes much more time, effort and money now,
Ward Cunningham was working on a Twitter or Flickr, you can navigate through than it used to. The process has become much
system that allowed users to edit databases, the content on Stumble Upon and Blogger more complicated instead of simpler, and
and quickly change and generate content. through a feed reader on your desktop, you the end user is often oblivious of these shifts
A Harvard kid with a laptop called Mark can post videos from YouTube or songs from in the way sites and services on the web are
Zuckerberg was contemplating comparing his Grooveshark in your blog’s sidebar by copying conceived.
friends to farm animals, and have his buddies some lines of code. Many Twitter users have Think of an application that you run
vote between the two. A company called never seen the Fail Whale graphic of Twitter, on your computer. Every time you click
Ludicorp was thinking of ways in which on something, the computer checks the
users could chat and pool photos at the same memory for further instructions, and changes
time, while playing their online multiplayer the screen according to your input. On the
game. Pyra labs was working on a setup that web, this was a different story. Your input
allowed users to easily create and generate data would be compressed, transferred to
content in the form of online journals. These a server where it would be processed, and
ideas were dormant for some time, and thrown back at you. Web 2.0 uses a bunch
needed some kind of a catalyst. Something of technologies to reduce this difference
that fundamentally shifted the way the web between applications run on the desktop,
was used. That came along, as a major reality and applications run through a browser. A
check for the web in the form of the dot com portion of the processing is done on your
bubble burst. machine, while another chunk is done at
the server. However, users no longer have
Handyman services to wait while a set of instructions are sent
Web sites could no longer to the server, and can continue to use the
set up interesting portals, service. Instead of the entire page refreshing,
The Fail Whale is seen everytime Twitter goes down
or put up content and expect portions of the same page change now, once
to earn money. The focus and have never even gone to Twitter.com. a web site is loaded. Online image editing
shifted to getting users actively To them, Twitter exists only on their mobile applications such as Pixlr, or services such as
involved in the process of phones. The possibilities of how to use these Google Maps are examples of this shift. You
content generation. Wikis, so far platforms are not limited to what the creators might have noticed how search suggestions
used for side projects and coding of these web sites could think of. They are on Google change in real time while you
communities, emerged as a massive political open to the world, to do what they want to do search. This was something undreamed of in
statement in the face of online reference web with them. The technology driving the web the original implementation of the web. Web
sites such as Encarta and gave them a run for is no longer restricted to browsers, or even 2.0 is about now - what is trending right now
their money. A simple method for editing, and web pages. HTML already feels like stone age on Twitter, what is happening right now in
creating content balooned out of proportion, technology, because of how much the fabric of your friend circle on Facebook, what is the
and became the de facto authority for gaining the web has evolved within two decades of the buzz in the blogosphere right now. Things
information online. Yahoo! bought off Flickr web’s existence. have started “happening” online. Another
from Ludicorp, as a platform for sharing and major introduction is the use of third-party
pooling photos, and Google came up with it’s Rewiring the web applications with a platform. It’s fairly simple,
own Picasa Web as an image hosting solution. JavaScript, AJAX, LAMP, PHP, for example to make a slideshow screensaver
Stumble Upon and Digg, both small services, Flash, Silverlight and Air are the of all the images on Flickr with a particular
occupied the same space as the search most common technologies used tag, and scroll text of Twitter or Blogger
giant Google for being windows to the web. in Web 2.0. These are not entries of the same tag over these images.
Facebook spread from Ivy League collages in merely improved ways of Open APIs are not only a way to encourage
the US to the general population as a powerful allowing web browsers to more users to get personal with the web
platform for social interaction. Blogger was display more eye candy on service or application, they are a way to use
bought out by Google, and became a platform screen, although this has definitely the pool of content in new and interesting
for everything from meaningless meandering happened. Instead, they are ways ways. Another shift is in how much Web
to citizen journalism, an independant and means by which users can interact with 2.0 allows people to collaborate on projects.
source of news and ideas that soon became the web better. Most of these services form Web sites such as Jamendo, Sourceforge,
mainstream. YouTube became the web’s another sphere, a content rich network in its OPsound and Vimeo allow users to create,
equivalent of television, offering almost any own right, another layer above the web itself. share, distribute and remix music, videos
kind of video content on demand. Recently, The Blogosphere, the network on Facebook, and software. This is where the web stands
Twitter emerged as another powerful platform and the Tweetosphere are not named because right now, and this was the approach desktop
that has managed to achieve so much by
Read up on what businesses can do on Web
encouraging users to post so little.
2.0 http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/88212/
Can you spot something fundamentally
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 19
Feature Google Squared AJAX
Google’s experiments with semantic Read up on why the term was coined,
search are at www.google.com/ and what it means at www.thinkdigit.
squared com/d/29349/
software should have taken long ago. So, difference between the two. Your data will the location using a pretty low-res mobile
what’s next? be accesible from any computer, and you phone camera - without any appreciable load
The web has a few shortcomings, which can drag-drop content from the web to your time at that. No search engine does all this yet.
will get amplified rapidly now. Searching for system folders and items from your desktop Wolfram-Alpha is a step in this direction. The
Web 2.0 sites is already a difficult thing. A to say, an attachment in your email. Google functionality of the service is very limited, and
search engine is made to crawl hyperlinked Wave, will offer some of these functions when falls drastically short of its claims, but that just
pages, and throw up the answer. Almost any it is released to the common public. Another goes to show the staggering task in designing
Google search now gives you a Wikipedia important line that will get blurred, but over a the next generation of search engines. A
page as the first or second link. Because of period of time, is the difference between using single search engine for all these applications
the way Web 2.0 has evolved, we are, or soon your computer and your mobile phone. The would be great, and no guesses for which one
will be, back to where we started, in the pre- interfaces are pretty low-key even on high end will try the hardest to get there, but smaller
Google days, without some kind of a search mobile phones with customised applications engines with highly specialised and robust
engine to make sense of the web. Spiders are for Web 2.0 services, but these will get better. application can get ahead. For example, both
not designed to crawl content-rich sites, go to You can expect to be connected and online iTunes and TrackID on Sony Ericsson phones
the deep back end of web-based applications, all the time, and use the Web 2.0 in a more use Gracenote’s database and search facility
because the web is no longer made up of mere personalised way. A large role will be played to identify songs. Gracenote is well ahead
hyperlinks. Consolidating a database of web by the search engines of Web 3.0. of Google when it comes to searching using
services is the next big challenge for search Search engines will have to become much snippets of songs, or their tags.
engines. There is only so far that the tags more smarter, presenting portals based on Web 3.0 will require some kind of system
and metadata of today can take you. Internet the search term as their result, instead of a where all the applications can pool their
search will have to undergo a radical change set of pages. For example, if you search for resources. Some common language such
to keep pace with Web 2.0. In fact, what it as XML, that will describe the
means to search the web itself, might change content generated by the users,
radically. and their relation with each
other. There are no standards as
Plans for the future yet for this language, but when
The next generation of it comes, it will help the web
social networking will probably understand us better.
use the current services as There are two divergent
the back-end. The “front” paths that the web is taking.
will have to consolidate One approach is to consolidate
the web activities of users everything in one central
across a wide range of web location, and the other is to
services. Say a common service distribute everything to the
for updating your status on both user. Google Docs, On Live and
Twitter and Facebook is one of the most basic AMD’s Fusion render cloud
functionality to start off with, something Wolfram Alpha’s search results are not always what most people expect are examples where data is
that a service called Plurk already offers. The “India”, the search engine should throw up centrally located, and worked on by remote
next step is auto-updating the status message a page which has snippets from wikis with applications. This includes applications where
based on the current activity of the user. To a different focus (say travel, encyclopedic, a game for any console can be played on
a limited extent, there are applications that and pop culture), feeds from recent blog any console. Another approach, drastically
say monitor your activity on Last.fm and entries, tweets and plurks, as well as photos different, is Opera’s Unite browser, and
re-submit the scrobbles as a status update on from different pools. Possibly, airline tickets software such as Freenet. Both of these
Twitter. A new generation of customisable to popular airports, festivals in the country, bring the power of web hosting to individual
middlemen, engines that let you take feeds, and recent news from the location could also computers. Applications such as Seti@Home
remix them, and feed them back to another show up. The specifics of this would depend have long been using distributed computing
service, or the same service are in the offing. on user preference and history. Additionaly, for processing large amounts of data. Web 3.0
Again, bots on Twitter do this to a limited the content will have to change depending on will incorporate both of these approaches,
extent. Swearbot, for example, monitors all whether the search is made from within India further blurring the lines between personal
instances of swearing on the Tweetosphere, our outside. There are many more demands and public digital space.
and reprimands the swearer for using strong that users will have from search engines There is a flip side to all of this as well.
language. Flock is a web browser that lets you of Web 3.0. If you walk into a store, click a These trends are not exciting to everyone.
plug in to Orkut, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, photograph of something on sale, and search There is a small minority of people who don’t
Twitter and other Web 2.0 services from using that photograph, the search engine really approve of the direction in which the
one easy interface. Much more of that is should be able to throw up prices on nearby web is going at all. According to these people,
headed your way. Theorists are talking about stores, and directions to the cheapest location blogging just introduced a whole bunch of
a “lifestream”, a steady flow of data of what of sale. The back end should be pretty robust, clutter, Twitter is an irritating phenomenon,
you are doing online, used by a multitude of so as not to disappoint out of the way requests and all of these are passing fads. Privacy, and
services, for a multitude of applications, but by users who really need it. Say, a person the use of personal data for advertising is
the lifestream itself being invisible as a whole. spots a great looking city while flying, and another big concern, even if this is done by
Another important line that will be photographs it from the air, the search engine machines without human interaction. These
breached is the difference between online and should be good enough to resolve and identify concerns can not stop the web from going
offline applications. Web 3.0 where it will though, and for the
applications will fuse seamlessly digital community, the world
A more detailed look at Wolfram|Alfa
with desktop applications in continues to grow smaller by the
http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/65572/
a manner that there is little second.
20 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Core 2 Cortex Galaxy’s younger cousin
The Samsung i5700 Spica is the company’s
Mobile watch ARM announces the Cortex-A5, the
world’s first multi-core processor for second Android phone. It comes with the
mobiles. We should see devices with similar features as the i7500 Galaxy
these processors starting next year
Portability Mania
We’re talking about the newest entrants in the portability space. Be it operating systems, applications,
or devices themselves!
Attack of the droids is simple. We’re going to control over the developer any phone that supports Java
There are indicators that call it the Google integration community, and still making apps, that are supported by
suggest a sea change is in the scheme. The idea is to get it worth their while. The almost every phone with a
offing for the smartphone Android to as many users as developer community is colour screen today. Its latest
market. And this change is possible, thereby creating an quite averse to too much version (1.5) was launched
reportedly being spearheaded ecosystem where many of control so there needs to be recently and is very similar
by none other than Google’s the company’s services, right a fine balance. Some reports to the Opera Mini in terms of
Android mobile operating from search to maps to mail suggest that the developer functionality. Bolt claims that
system. Rewinding to just a will be seamlessly delivered to community is already irked “many of the most significant
year back, we had only one consumers. Remember, these with having to work with a upgrades occur ‘under the
Android phone in the software that needs to hood’, but you are sure to
market; the T-mobile support so many diverse notice the results. Version 1.5
G1. A year later, and hardware specs. Now is the most reliable, fastest
there are now several that Windows Mobile browser we have ever released
phones available 6.5 has its Marketplace – more than 15 per cent faster
through multiple software delivery than Beta3.” A complete web
OEMs, and counting. mechanism, in the future site can either be viewed in a
Current research we may see a system of split-screen mode, wherein a
suggests that Android is certifying applications. tiny thumbnail of the entire
going to be the mobile So will Google succeed? site covers the top end,
OS of choice in the Whichever way the and a magnified version is
near future and years cookie crumbles, this showcased at the bottom.
to come. Currently, space is going to be One of the star features of
Android has a two per interesting to keep an Bolt include the ability to play
cent market share when it devices have tight integration eye on especially with players back videos off any web site.
comes to smartphones. While with Google’s services. From LG and Motorola coming How convenient watching
Symbian is the consolidated this point on the backbone out with their own Android videos on a slow EDGE
leader in all phones, a Gartner and revenue generator of all phones soon. For a sneak connection is a matter of
report suggests that it will be Google’s activities kicks in - preview of Android 2.0, check personal choice, but its a nice
Android that will challenge advertising. A strong foothold out our report on http://www. feature nonetheless. Although
Symbian’s position by 2012, in the mobile advertising thinkdigit.com/d/and/ Flash Video (FLV) format
and not iPhone. Why is this market is what Google will is supported, the browser
so? When you look at the obviously look for, since the Full HTML glory on cannot handle Flash-based
current undisputed ruler of industry is expected to be at your small-screen content on web sites. Also
the smartphone market - the $10 billion by 2013, according phone! supported are subscriptions
iPhone - you only have one to a study by Heavy Reading Opera Mini has been a boon to RSS feeds, highlighting
form factor. Android phones Research. for all those people who text for copy-paste and the
on the other hand come in want the full HTML browsing regulars like favourites and
a variety of form factors. What are the challenges? love of the iPhone, but are history. It also has a built-in
Whether it is hardware Form factors, which itself is confined to a device that download manager and a pop-
QWERTY, full touch, scroll an advantage for Android, costs as much as one EMI of up blocker. For people keen
wheel and other differences to in some ways could be it’s the iPhone itself. Here comes to use secure web sites, the
fit preference. biggest downfall. A similar along another competitive browser supports a 128-bit
problem is faced by Windows app, named Bolt which boasts secure (SSL) connection; a
Google’s game plan Mobile as well. The trouble “lightning fast browsing” on standard mode of encryption
The mobile operating system is that since there are many used by such sites. We tried
is open source but developed variations in hardware,
by Google. Google has the software needs to be
invested a lot in the platform developed for the lowest
with seemingly little apparent hardware specification unlike
returns. It makes you wonder Blackberry or iPhone whose
what Google’s game plan is, software is built specifically
since it is the biggest investor for the phone. Then there
in Android. Well the answer is the issue of keeping
Leaked Windows Mobile 7 screenshots suggest a massive overhaul in the user interface which apparently has made it as finger-friendly as the iPhone or Android UI
22 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Storm: Take 2
Mobile watch Updates to the BlackBerry Storm N900 Delay
2 include improvements seen in its The Nokia N900 launch gets delayed
input mechanism; it also comes with by a month; now to ship during
BlackBerry OS 5.0 and Wi-Fi support November 2009, hopefully
the app out on a Windows readers of their own. Adding The colour touchscreen is configured to be used with
Mobile phone and it handled to this list is Barnes & can be used for browsing AT&T’s 3G network in the US
full-fledged web sites quite Noble’s ‘nook’. Other than its content as well as typing and also has Wi-Fi support.
well. Navigating through striking resemblance to the using an on-screen QWERTY Two GB of internal storage
pages was an easy affair. Kindle 2, it has a few distinct keyboard. For connectivity, it is large enough to hold
We’d definitely give Bolt our evolutionary features to thousands of books.
thumbs-up! separate it from the crowd. One of the great things
For starters, it marks its about books was the ability to
Barnes & Noble place as the world’s first share it with your loved ones
plays nookie ebook reader based on after you’re done devouring
Amazon believed that people Google’s Android operating them. Devices such as the
were ready to jump from system. Also, in place of Kindle 2 put brakes on this
kind of convenience. The nook
Check out what Amazon thinks of nook plans to bring it back by adding
http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/nook/ a ‘lending’ feature to share
ebooks with other nook users.
It is priced at approximately
flipping pages to clicking the Kindle 2’s hardware Rs. 12,480 ($260) and will
buttons when they launched keyboard, the nook will use start selling in the US by the
the Kindle, an ebook reader. a multi-touch colour screen last week of November. We’re
A few other companies (like positioned below a standard unaware of when it will be
Sony) have followed the grey scale E Ink display launched in India and the
trend and come up with -- a first for ebook readers. response it will get.
5 RIDICULOUS IPHONE APPS
While we know that there dollars richer now, don’t we Hold On – This app presents
are many cool, useful apps Mr. App developer? you with a button. The task
for the iPhone, there are also is to keep your finger on this
many that make you wonder iFart – Possibly one of the button for as long as you
if Apple has hired monkeys dumbest apps in the store, can. After which it gives you
in their App Store monitoring this one-dollar software detailed reports regarding
department. Here’s our list of generates a fart sound at the your progress. No thanks,
some of the most ridiculous touch of your finger. The only we’d rather waste our time by
iPhone Apps that came to utility this app could possibly listening to Britney Spears’
existence. records all day long!
I Am Rich – This app created Alarm Free – Aimed as a self-
waves of controversy when defence application, it has a
it was being sold at the large button on the screen
iTunes App Store for a which when pressed, emits a
ridiculous asking price of time as a mathematical riddle. faint beeping sound via the
Rs. 46,500 ($999). The poor, When living in this fast-paced iPhone’s speakers. Aside from
unsuspecting (yet stupid) world is already too tiring the fact that nobody would
users who actually went for many, who in their right actually actually hear your
ahead with the purchase were mind would want to use a phone’s cry for your rescue,
shocked to see that when the considerable part of their why wouldn’t the robber
app opened, the only thing brain just to tell time? make away with your iPhone
they could see is a red gem instead of your money?
with a motivational statement
written below. We all know for
sure who is a few thousand
serve is a few giggles for the
first few times you use it. But
apparently, 13,000 people
seem to have thought of
other constructive ways to
use it, thus actually putting
it at the No. 1 position at the
App Store at one point. Let it
“R.I.P”, we say!
Enigma Clock – This app uses
a unique algorithm to display
Samsung recently launched its new app store, and the company now initiates a developer contest for the Samsung Omnia 2 with up to a total of $330,000 in prize money
24 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Foto of the year Learn a new skill online
Web watch FotoFlock.com, the India-based portal
dedicated to all things photography,
Check out howcast.com, a website that has
great videos on how to pick up any skill;
announces the ‘Photo of the Year’ right from bathing your dog to washing
contest your hair
Crawling, Digit style
This month, we take a keen look at what Google is up to and examine the continual question of
whether to trust the cloud.
later stage of development, Apparently none, apart who reply independently.
you can even rewind and from a few bugs. It’s just that Even with how well Gmail
play back the events. So in a people are having a hard time conversations are organised,
way, wave creates feature-rich evaluating whether it’s only you will find mails overlapping
conversations that can be ‘fun’ or it can be used for and then finally one person
searched, revised, discussed enterprise level work. And in the work group will be
and finally the end result after what is this ‘work’ it can be put assigned the task of extracting
refinement can be used. All this to. There is also speculation the relevant points from all
is just the tip of the iceberg. of whether this will be just the mails and put them in a
Surfs up! Will you ride Wave is essentially a platform another communication tool document. Google Wave makes
the wave? Or will it be on which developers can create that needs your constant all this redundant as whatever
a mondo wipeout! common objective you’re
As with any so called discussing or ideating over, gets
revolutionary technology, commented upon and refined
initially, there is always a then and there.
great divide between those Some early users are
who become early adopters/ finding the learning curve a
proponents and those that bit problematic. Here again,
remain on the sidelines the perception has more to
watching sceptically. Google do with the generation divide.
Wave is currently in that Most users who have grown
position. Since the time Google using social media tools
sent out its first batch of invites, as their primary means of
people have been trying to communication will find the
evaluate whether it’s just a interface intuitive. While the
cool gimmick or does it have old timers who can’t get around
any value. For those who came the fact that “this doesn’t look
in late, Google Wave is a real like Outlook”, will definitely
time collaborative tool that have a tough time. The bottom
purges the line between instant line is that once the platform is
messaging, email, collaborative made public (even in Google’s
tools, wikis and social media. forever-beta style), people will
If you have the patience, you find ways to make it work for
may want to watch Google’s them. We’re eagerly waiting
really long video (1 hr 20 for our invite and Google has
min) on the official site. In assured to include us in the
a nutshell, Wave is a power- next round of invites.
packed set of tools for creation.
It allows you to create dynamic Heads up in the cloud
‘waves’ (wiki-like documents) A lot has been said over
in which you can invite the past year about cloud
people to have conversations computing. It’s been mainly
and collaboratively create, about moving this service
brainstorm, share pictures or that application “into the
Collaborative features of Google Wave in use
videos, while even taking polls cloud”. We’ve always been
on topics of debate, among either robots or extensions to attention while operating in pretty ‘meh’ about the whole
other things. It allows for rich perform certain tasks, taking the already cluttered space affair, so lets look at what cloud
text and the best feature is the Wave’s functionality to a new of blogs, email, IMs, social computing really is. And what
ability to annotate any part of level. For instance, there is a networks and Twitter. Will kind of things are being moved
the wave with comments. robot called Rosy that translates Wave do away with all of those? into the cloud?
People on the wave can text in real time and there’s a In our opinion - not yet. But If you’re sitting in an
reply to the comments and gadget that can create real time it will certainly reduce clutter. airplane with your laptop,
participants can view what polls that can be embedded If you’re used to working it certainly is not cloud
is being typed ‘in real time’ into a wave. All of this sounds in teams, you’ll relate to the computing. The definition
- as it’s being written. If you really exciting, so what’s the confusion caused when one of cloud computing is kind
were invited to the wave at a catch? mail is marked to several people of nebulous (pun intended).
A U.S. District Judge gives a verdict in favour of the free online advertising website Craigslist.com, which was accused for unlawful content like prostitution on their site
26 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Right to have internet! How not to do stuff
Web watch Finland is the first country in the
world to make 1 Mbps broadband
Videojug.com, other than some seriously
useful stuff, has some really funny videos
access a legal right to its 5.5 million in their humour section. Go check them out
Section Opener citizens for a few laughs
The crux is that it allows to get its finger in all pies. And
you to perform certain tasks, last month’s announcement
much like your desktop that it will launch a new ebook
applications but on a remote store called Google Editions
server, for instance Google next year, only strengthens its
Docs. In effect, you leverage position. The ebook market is
the computing power and the currently dominated by Amazon
software environment of the and Barnes & Noble who sell
online or ‘cloud’ service. Data, ebooks that are tethered to
software, computing power devices such as Amazon’s Kindle.
are all accessed from a cloud Google Editions on the other
of online resources. Users can hand will allow more number
access these resources and their of soon-to-be-launched ebook
data from anywhere using just a readers to be compatible. In
browser. Therefore, it becomes fact, any device with a browser
a great tool to synchronise can access these books. Initially,
information, leaving you to not when Google rumours around
be restricted by the specific this were circulating on the web,
machine you normally use. speculation was rampant that this
You can start being productive will be a cloud based service. That
from any PC with a internet means you don’t own the book,
connection. Your documents but only the rights to it as long as
and other personalisations you’re able to access it. But fears
simply get loaded from the were soon put to rest as Google
cloud. This kind of application recently clarified that users need
support is known as SaaS only access a particular book
(software as a service). once from their device of choice,
So what are the advantages? and a copy is automatically
And where will cloud cached for later use. This might
computing take us? The spell huge trouble for Amazon
advantages are present - no and its Kindle.
Illustration: Chaitanya Surpur
version issues, and no upfront Google Editions will be
costs in software licensing, to launched with a repertoire
name a few. Netbooks are only of about half a million titles
the first wave of devices that sometime in the first half of 2010.
will eventually come out once Leveraging its superior search
cloud computing takes off in technology, Google will make
a big way. Devices will move the books fully indexed and
towards being ultraportable, searchable. So how would the
and highly stripped down near applications. Some people fiasco have made it clear that endeavour work for Google? It
empty shells, with much of abroad have already begun it is not as reliable as we might will follow three modes of access.
their computing taking place in downloading their torrents think. The ubiquity of the First, the books can be bought
the cloud. Many are looking at on these EC2 virtual comps internet is what has resulted in from Google directly in which
the cloud as a viable platform and streaming them straight the feasibility of devices such case Google keeps 37 per cent of
for an operating system onto the screen. Sounds like a as the SideKick, which store the amount, while the other 63
Cloud services aren’t all very nice picture right? Nope all user data on the cloud. per cent goes to the the publisher.
about productivity either. The not quite. For people to start Now, however, the illusion that The second route will allow
cloud can be about fun. Another customers to pick up the books
service that is served up to For more perils of cloud computing from a partner retailer where the
you from the cloud is internet www.thinkdigit.com/d/cloudy publisher gets to keep 45 per cent
radio. With services such as and the remaining 55 per cent is
last.fm or your music being depending on the cloud, certain your data is safest in the cloud split between the online retailer
streamed to your cell phone via infrastructure prerequisites is lost. Last month T-Mobile and Google in some proportion.
cloud services such as Winamp need to catch up. SideKick customers had been The third option is to purchase
remote, it is now becoming Connections have to become facing a total outage, with no directly from the publisher’s web
possible to leave the MP3 player more stable, secure, and much access to their data, with a lack site. No details are known yet
at home and tune into the cloud. faster. There is also the issue of of local storage this meant that about the last avenue.
Cloud computing even allows server-side failure. That means a simple restart of the device All in all, there is going to
hardware to be utilised remotely. answering the question of would mean a total loss of all be a lot of action in the ebooks
Amazon Elastic Compute “what if the cloud disappears?”. your private data. segment in the coming months
Cloud, also known as “EC2”, As the cloud becomes more and we’re quite keen to see which
is a commercial web service lucrative as a destination for Move over hard player emerges as the winner. Be
that allows paying customers your data, instances such as the copies, Google it the multitude of device makers
to rent computers on which Twitter leak, the many Gmail Editions are here that are entering this sector or the
to run their own computer outages, and now the T-Mobile Google has forever been trying content provider.
Google’s Eric Schmidt believes business customers are the company’s next biggest growth opportunity Bing to display realtime Facebook and Twitter search results
28 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
DESIgn Flip side of design
Digital life Feature 38 India is realising the need for
superior design 40 A look at how design failed some
of the most hyped products
Siddharth Parwatay
siddharth.parwatay@thinkdigit.com
P
roduct design is not just about
seemingly trivial objects. Take
the blood sugar monitoring
gadgets used by diabetics to
your all important personal computer;
they’re are also results of product
design. So, like all great endeavours
begin with a simple question that
has many complex answers, let’s ask
ourself – what is design? Apart from
the test book definition of design,
there are a lot of schools of thought
about design and the profession of
product design. In an interesting talk
on TED.com, celebrated designer Tim
d t design is ll d t ’ l t l bli i
Product d i i all around us yet we’re completely oblivious t to Brown urges designers to think big and
the ways in which these products affect our lives and what goes questions whether design is just about
into creating them putting an “attractive shell on a piece
of technology, or making things more
30 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Droolmaal Feature
Look. Feel. The Modscene Your dose of eye candy. From
43 User interfaces and the thinking
that goes behind creating them 46 Game modifications in the past
and now... 50 cameras, HD players to speakers,
you’ll find it all
attractive, making things a bit easier to advantage.” Yet, design is now certain ways to achieve universally
use”. Some of today’s product designers very much as part of pop culture appealing aesthetics.” According
do indeed end up making designs that are with even a full featured reality to him, the first principle is –
only fit to be found in exhibitions and art show on BBC called Design For Body attracts. A well resolved
galleries. Life. The show is hosted by the form factor always helps.
Product design could also be more famous recusant French designer Form-material relation is one
about what Rodger Martin, a business Philippe Starck who is in search of the demanding parameters
school professor at the University of of the next rising star of product of a good-looking product. It
Toronto suggests – “integrative thinking”. design from amongst 12 rather makes it desirable. And finally,
That’s the ability to utilise opposing nice-to-look-at student finalists. colour adds the oomph factor!
ideas and opposing constraints to create Eskild Hansen, the Head of Looking good, or more so the
world-changing innovations. The stress the European Design Center at appeal that a product induces
is on world-changing, while the opposing Cisco had a slightly different in the consumer is mainly
ideas and constraints here are conditions view of design and one that driven by understanding
that every product inherently should fulfil the new breed of goatee- the preferences of the
– desirability, technical feasibility and sporting-designer-glares- consumer based on their
economic viability. toting bohemian designers of past experiences, and
Paul Sandip’s designs have garnered today will not like. He says what would they desire
him substantial recognition abroad. He is “Design is an integrated and from the product.
a great exponent of contextual innovation strategic part of building Products that a person
and went on to explain what it means. big businesses. Integrated uses are in one way
“Emerging markets need new products means if you have a strategy a depiction of one’s
and fresh designs that have not been in a business group it’s values, personality
force-fitted to the new environment. While important for designers and the image that
designing for a new market segment, an to support that strategy. one wishes to portray
in-depth study of its culture, lifestyle, The design should be as an individual,
and preferences becomes vital to be integrated into different and hence the
able to effectively determine the type of business groups like consumer should
products, services, messages, or strategies technology, engineering, be able to relate to
that will fulfil the needs best. Contextual the market, customers and the product with
innovation is a consumer insight-driven finally design. If all these the attributes that
design process that puts users at the very are aligned towards the depict the same
front of product development, creating same thing you get good values, personality
an entirely new kind of usability-driven design.” and image.
product platform.” he said. He believes in Incidentally, The Juicy When products
redefining the mundane and ubiquitous design is theoretically Salif is more look good to
to create something that is completely defined as “the idea an aesthetic consumers,
new. “When we re-define, as the word generation, concept object than a they meet these
itself suggests, we work on the soul of the development, testing functional attributes, and
product, we question its very existence. and manufacturing one when they don’t,
Thus, giving the product a new mind and or implementation of they are never
a fresh body.” he adds. a physical object or service.” and that noticed after the first few months of
A report by Boston University on “Product Designers conceptualise and release.
product design and product personality evaluate ideas, making them tangible Aesthetics are therefore determined a
says, “Design is not just a cultural through products in a more systematic great deal by emotion too. Take the case
phenomenon; it is also a key strategic approach.” Hence, there are certain of a seemingly simple and ordinary object
variable that can assist companies in elements of design remain constant like a orange juicer that was designed
securing or defending a marketplace irrespective of the school of thought Philippe Starck. The orange squeezer
from which product design is came to be known as the Juicy Salif and
looked at. went on to become a cult product. These
pieces became coveted objects and in turn
Elements of design: all the more desirable. Hence, novelty,
Why do certain fashion, symbology also form a part of
products look good aesthetics.
and function well
while some don’t? Ergonomics and Interface design
Aesthetics Ergonomics has a lot to do with the
In product design, this branch human interface that machines have to be
of study relates to our sensory built with. As a science, it tries to improve
responses to an object. If human interactions with products,
an object is aesthetically equipment, environments and systems. It
appealing, it is pleasurable takes into account human biology, stress
to look at, to touch and feel. analysis and material engineering to make
Sandip says “Looking good is products that can be more easily used and
The crew of the reality TV show – Design for life
subjective. However there are will cause less stress to the human body.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 31
Feature Sleek book reader
Plastic Logic has a nice looking prototype of its
soon to be released Que ebook reader with a
capacitative screen
Thus simply designing with the end user design, which causes the consumer’s
in mind. Ergonomics must also closely decision to tip in its favour. But
follow aesthetics. For instance you can’t more importantly, design is crucial
make a digital camera that looks fantastic not merely as an act of making
but is just too difficult to hold. However commodities more appealing, but also
depending on function, following to cater more as a problem solving
aesthetics, ergonomics is the first one approach to the issues that our society
to take a back seat in certain cases. Cars faces in this century. Thus, design
designed to achieve high speeds may not becomes an all pervasive act required
be very ergonomic i.e. comfortable to use, to strategically create or “design”
but they serve their purpose. products, services, systems, tools or
Much of the products of today are any other manifestation that solve the
electronics. Although interface design omnipresent problems and addresses
does not strictly come under the purview to needs and aspirations of the
of ergonomics it goes a long way into individuals, businesses, the society
the usability of a product. Interface The device helps position a knife properly in front of the rocker and the ecology.” he says.
design has to work in tandem with the knife as well as a tool to help hold food So as we’ve come to realise design
limitations or capability of the underlying can be put to use for the greater
hardware. “With the advancements in creators were able to spot functional good of society too. “I think that in
defects and the end result was a fool-proof today’s world consumers need something
machine. to excite them. but good design is
life changing.” said Hayley S. Rosen,
Why is design important in Industrial Design student at Philadelphia
today’s world? University. “During my third year, we did
From a manufacturer’s point of view a project with a group of occupational
“Design is the only differentiator when therapists and got an opportunity to work
companies reach a common technological with clients that have various medical
platform. It is that aspect of a product needs and couldn’t do certain things.
which first attracts a customer towards My partner Dan and I had three clients
with three different needs. We were able
to make prototypes and test them so we
could make a final product. For example,
DO THIS we had a client that couldn’t use a knife
Have you always been scribbling and properly due to the lack of muscular
sketching designs of seemingly weird development in his hands. We ended
One of the early prototypes of a typewriter concept designs in a little notebook up taking an already existing product
all your life? Chances are that you’re and adding a piece on to it so he could
computing, processing is moving towards a product designer at heart. Read our position a fork properly so he could cut
multi-core and multi-chip configurations. career story on product design and in his food. The real prize was when he
We constantly work with hardware the meantime, here’s something you used the device and was able to cut his
can do. If you decide that you have
manufacturers and do customise our food better than he could. It was very
an eye to go beyond just seeing and
software depending on factors such as rewarding to see that his confidence level
actually looking at design, go ahead
the instruction set of the processor. But went through the roof because he could
put your pencil to the drawing board.
overall, we work towards the best for our Once you’ve created something now do such a seemingly simple task
user”, said Ajay Pande, VP Engineering, that’s unique there is a very popular without any problems”.
Adobe India. website called coroflot.com, where
you can actually showcase your So what are the challenges
Prototyping and testing designs to the world. It’s an easy way designers face?
In Donald Norman’s legendary book to get your creative projects online The natural process of evolution of
titled “The Design of everyday things” and in front of the right people. The products is a slow and time consuming
the author quotes an interesting story website also has an extensive job one. In the market conditions that
about the evolution of the modernday support system. It’s a great place designers operate in, there is rarely that
typewriter. The inventors conceptualised, to just browse through innovative liberty. The pressures include demands of
designed and redesigned their creation products and learn. time, forced innovation to come up with
till about thirty experimental devices a new release of the product every year.
or prototypes were made. Each one Plus designers have to conform to the
was slightly different and potentially design philosophies of their organisation
incrementally better than the other. These itself.” says Sandip. It helps the end while retaining their individual mark.
products were then sent to stenographers user as he gets access to a much better In the cutting edge world of technology
and people from other walks of life. A product. Himanshu Mishra, a Product designers also have to put more juice
particular one amongst these, a Mr. James Designer from CPDM, IISc, Bangalore who into a gadget while working within the
O. Clephane, drove the instruments so is currently associated with Innovation pressures of technical limitations. Design
hard that he ended up breaking them Labs – Tata Elxsi, echoes this sentiment. being an activity which has a myriad
faster than the creator was able to supply “Being faced with enormous choices for range of stakeholders from people who
them with more pieces (to wreck). Yet each of the commodities in today’s world, manufacture it, market it, buy it, take care
with the help of these prototypes, the one key differentiator that has evolved is of after sales service to people who recycle
32 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tog on Interface
Feature A fun and highly entertaining book by Hotel with a view for all
Bruce Tognazzinion on interface design if Designer Richard Hywel Evans has designed a three storey
you want to know the basics of the subject building, 61 meters in diameter that is placed on a very slow
and don’t want to get bored by a text book moving continuous turntable rotating 1.3 times per day
it, it imposes a huge set of demands which moving, says in a video on videojug.com
the product should adhere to during all “The number one is communication.
the stages of its existence. With many of I think most product designers really
these demands being contradictory, it outsource their marketing, copy, branding IDEO
becomes a trade off by favouring some and packaging. They design a product one of the world’s leading
the product’s attributes over the lesser and then they shot gun it out to thirty design firms, predicted these
ones. “For example putting in extra people and you have just too many design trends for the future
components and tightly packaging the voices which creates noise and clutter.
product to miniaturize it might make it What the product designer really needs • Ever-increasing simplexity
difficult to service it, or replace parts later, to do is not only be a product designer, • Diagnostic everything
and even create problems in recycling the but also be able to communicate what • Mobile and wireless everything
components.” says Himanshu. his product does for the consumer. And • Virtual prototyping interactions
Besides, designers in different countries being a product designer in the green and living
face different challenges. “In India, space, you know what I’ve learned is • Context awareness
• Sensors everywhere
design awareness is still at a nascent that communicating green is you have
• Your identity everywhere
stage. However, a designer having a tiff to be very specific about your impact.
• Smart surfaces
with engineers from R&D on grounds Generalities do not work for the green • Data visualisation
of techno-aesthetic feasibility is quite people. A perfect example, is when we • Deliberate hackability and open-
normal, regular and universal. Designers started renting boxes, we had customers source-ness
• Peer-to-Peer
“Designers have • Mashups
moved up from • Co-created everything
• Body hacking
concept design • Radical transparency
• Collaborative innovation
and aesthetics to • Techno collective action
something much
more strategic expectancy of the product. “Designers can
be seen as creating for the next landfill
such as innovation meaning that products become obsolete
and understanding very quickly. Originally, products were
designed to be kept for a long period of
users in a new way” time and now a days, things are discarded
Eskild Hansen, Head of the European Design Center at Cisco in months.” says Hayley. Hence designers
that would say “What’s have a choice about whether to design
always work with non-standards and your carbon offset? What’s your carbon for longevity or design to make way for
create new procedures and processes footprint? How much energy is used to the “new and improved” version of the
which at times become difficult to reason produce this box”? You’d better have same product. Here many corporate
out to people with rational thinking,” says those answers. If you design a product considerations also come into play.
Sandip. and you’re going to design a green “Design is also about the experience the
Economic viability is a very pertinent product, you’re also going to need to be product gives. This includes packaging,
concern for designers. “One of the open and transparent in your work. If so in our little way, we do our bit by say
major challenges faced by designers is you’re not transparent and if you’re not instead of having a book inside can we
keeping a product under budget given going to share the impact in specifics, print as much of the information on the
the technology and manufacturing you’re going to get crucified. Don’t show box itself, thereby saving paper. Being in
constraints while trying to match up.” the field of technology, things change fast.
the vision that marketing has for the If you look at your cell phone from three
product. For instance, a designer might Where are we now and where years ago, it’s no longer relevant. Still,
propose that glass is a suitable material is design headed in the what we strive to do gives higher quality
as against acrylic for a particular use. But future? products, so even though people would
it may happen that the manufacturing Design has evolved quite a bit over the keep our products for a longer time, we
process incorporating glass might years. First the focus was on automation, have a better position in the market.” said
slowdown production speeds or then it moved on to speed and finally Eskild from Cisco.
increase expenditure. So a designer design. Now we see a whole new direction Some designers like Nithin David
has to constantly evaluate his design from intuitive designs to products believe going green is “only a “story”
based on the budget so that he delivers becoming green. Let’s look at what that can be used to sell design, while
the best given the money”, says Nithin experts have to say on some of these being responsible for the environment.”
David, an independent industrial design trends. He says “In the future, I expect material
professional. usage, etc to be regulated by governments
For an independent designer Going green trying to reduce the impact of industry on
communicating your message correctly The design life of a component or the ecosystem. Sustainable products are
is as important as the product itself. This product is defined as the period of time important and that is the way forward for
is true especially for designers working during which the item is expected by its any product manufacturer in the future.”
in the green space. As Spencer Brown, designers to work within its specified
founder and inventor, earth friendly parameters; in other words, the life Micro vs. Macro trends
34 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Feature Research Process of product design
Forms a significant part of the product design process. This It’s not all about creativity when it comes to product design. A
includes comparative product research and user research, lot of analytical processes take place involving research and
to determine the ways in which products are used engineering. Then comes sketching, modeling, and CAD design
Micro trends can be defined as some liked not only from a distance
of changes we’ve seen in very well but during the usage, like in
established sectors, like white goods/ handling, carrying, operation
consumer durables being available in all and storage, to mention a
colours and designs as opposed to their few. For example, computing
earlier standard visual appeal. devices that fit snugly into
“A macro trend, and this is what we’re pockets or are extremely light
more interested in, is coming into focus weight and small yet powerful
because of globalisation. This puts even are common.”
smaller companies on a level playing field
to be able to compete with the big guys. Collaborative
As a result of this, designers have moved Innovation
Himanshu Mishra, Product Designer,
“Everyone has good ideas
CPDM, IISc, Bangalore
but what was lacking in the
last century was a way for
companies to harness these
ideas and work collaboratively
to generate solutions for tricky
problems. Innocentive.com is
a good example of providing
a platform for everyone to
collaborate and work on
thorny issues.” says Paritosh
Desai – Design Planner and
Strategist, alumnus of IIT
“Crucial ingredients that Institute of Design (Illinois
Institute of Technology,
go into the design might Chicago).
get affected when an Innocentive.com is the first
global web community for Designers at work at Cisco’s design studio
enthusiast executes a open innovation, enabling
scientists, engineers, professionals and to learn apart from the creativity of an
design as opposed to a entrepreneurs to collaborate to deliver individual. Hence, I believe it has affected
designer” breakthrough solutions for innovative
R&D-driven organisations.
the print and graphic design industry
in a bigger way, but when it comes to
up from concept design and aesthetics to “I personally believe that participatory cross disciplinary design like product
something much more strategic such as design is the way of the future. There development, I think it still has a long
innovation and understanding users in a are users in every context (whether it be way to go.” says Himanshu.
new way.” is Eskild’s opinion. Defining in the development of jets or web sites) Being a democratic process,
it further Himanshu says “Specialisation, and their input has tremendous value crowdsourcing has its pros and cons. The
and scope for exploration for the user, are in helping not only create a successful pros being that everyone contributes with
other trends that are emerging especially product but also inherently create strong their own ideas to a common platform,
when it comes to personal devices as brand loyalty. Similarly, this power could giving all those with a creative bent of
they allow the consumers to challenge be leveraged by corporations as a means mind to give the design exercise a shot.
their limits and explore beyond the to get their consumers involved in setting Also, the goal gets a pool of fresh ideas
established norms of usage of a device, direction, modifying products and in unaffected by the way the designers
for example multi-level connectivity creating a strong brand loyalty.” Paritosh think.
on a communication device like a cell adds. “On the flip side, the major con being
phone through social networks and that there are certain peculiarities of
network services, or features that allow Crowdsourcing every design exercise, however simple it
enhanced quality of experience by being In our open source special (August issue) may seem to an outsider, and hence the
more capable in hardware. As far as the we went in depth into crowdsourcing sensitivity to those crucial ingredients
embodiment is concerned, there is a trend which is being used to develop several that go into the design might get affected
for more usable designs which are more categories of products including green when an enthusiast executes a design as
cars. But as we found, it’s mostly at the opposed to a designer.” says Himanshu.
concept level. “Primarily, the kind of To conclude, we leave you with what
design that is getting crowd sourced Paritosh told us about the imminent
is the type in which the tools required future. Definitely something to mull over.
to design are easily available, and easy “In the future, the role of the designer
will change. The designer’s role will be to
facilitate conversations, decipher insights
“I personally believe and create seeds for products that the
participatory design is the way average user can then morph to their own
needs and tastes. The designer will be a
of the future” researcher, facilitator and the gardener of
Paritosh Desai, Design Planner and Strategist, people’s gardens of ideas.”
alumnus of IIT Institute of Design (Illinois)
36 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
CEED
Feature The Common Entrance Examination for Designticket.com
Design is conducted by the IITs every An Indian product design company that
year for admissions to their design designs products from product research to
courses prototype development
Illustration: Shrikrishna Patkar
Chic and vogue are not exclusive to Europe anymore. We spoke to Indian designers and corporate
trendsetters on what they had to say on the changing times in India
Nash David and efficiency significantly increased, container, or even a bottle of water!).
nash.david@thinkdigit.com product design by itself has bifurcated and Sandip adds, “I actually wanted to
become an industry by itself. tell the world the Indian way is not
something to look down upon. The self
I
ndia has grown significantly over the The globe recognises India destructing mug ensures there is no waste
years. In this modern era, there is no The average Indian’s preference for washing lying around. It is cheap, efficient and
third world. Not long ago, there were to wiping is not a well guarded secret.
reports of attacks on Indian students NID alumni Paul Sandip saw the need for
in Aussie land. Several questions were ‘contextual innovation’ to the Indian lota
asked. Some were disturbing. It went on rather than loathing about Indian ways.
from Indians smelling of curry (tinyurl. It all started when Sandip, as a student,
com/indianarticle), to our sanitation habits, used to travel long distances by train from
thereby questioning the world’s view of Kolkata and used to find it an ordeal to get
Indians. a reserved train ticket on the world’s largest
A young India foresaw the need for rail network. Sanitation, in such situations
design, and passed the Industrial Policy is prime concern in India. Every citizen has
Resolution in 1953. This gave birth to the a right to basic sanitation. One glance at
National Institute of Design in 1961 that the lavatory and you’ll find a basin on one
cemented the road for Indian design. The corner with a mirror too. Although, toilets
world has grown and with time, products are provided in trains, it is rendered useless Paul Sandip’s Disposable mug won him accolades at
have evolved. While product automation without a tap (useless without a mug or home and abroad
GOVERNMENT POLICY
The National Design policy recently Indian designs and making “Designed in innovation economy.
approved by the Union cabinet envisages India” a by-word for quality and utility • Enhancing the overall tangible and
the following: in conjunction with ‘Made in India’ and intangible quality parameters of products
• Preparation of a platform for creative ‘Served from India’. and services through design.
design development, design promotion • Promotion of Indian design through a • Creation of awareness among
and partnerships across many sectors, well defined and managed regulatory, manufacturers and service providers,
states, and regions for integrating promotional and institutional framework. particularly SMEs and cottage industries,
design with traditional and technological • Raising Indian design education to global about the competitive advantage of
resources. standards of excellence. original designs.
• Presentation of Indian designs and • Creation of original Indian designs in • Attracting investments, including foreign
innovations on the international arena products and services drawing upon India’s direct investments, in design services and
through strategic integration and rich craft traditions and cultural heritage. design related R&D.
cooperation with international design • Making India a major hub for exports • Involving industry and professional
organisations. and outsourcing of designs and creative designers in the collaborative development
• Global positioning and branding of process for achieving a design-enabled of the design profession.
38 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Red dot design awards FICCI Design Conclave Feature
You can track all the latest design Design Conclave is a FICCI forum on Business of
marvels on red-dot.de Design, Innovation and Technology
eco friendly.” Sandip’s award winning
design is a disposable mug made of
biodegradable paper and bound together
by organic glue. It is capable of holding
1.2 litres of water and disintegrates within
20 minutes. This design was a finalist
at INDEX this year, the biggest design
award in the world that carries a sum
of €5,00,000. In addition, Sandip’s mug
has also been recognised with the Best
Indian concept at the Business World
Design Excellence Awards 2004. The
Central Railway had invited him to deliver
his product on a pilot project on the The ATE Pencil eater (left) by Paul Sandip, and Sandip receiving the Red Dot Design award in 2007 (right)
Kolkata sector. Five years later, Sandip
is still hunting for investors to realise development — intelligent features, user-
this idea. India is not short of ideas or friendly applications, innovative materials,
creative ideas at that. The major hurdle is and of course, attractive visual appearance.
arranging manufacturers and financing to Design is not an isolated process at Sony
present your idea in the market. We hope Ericsson. At the heart of our design strategy
Sandip doesn’t have to hunt for too long, lies ‘User Experience’ (UX) and how best
as this holds promise for the millions in can we energise this experience in the
India who don’t have an easy access to hands of the consumer.”
sanitation. While the keypads in the Gulf would
Another creation by Sandip, the have Arabic keys; those in Russia, Russian,
ATE Pencil eater was awarded the Red consumer preferences especially when
Dot Design award in 2007. Basically a it comes to product behaviour is now
sharpener, Sandip named it ATE because averaging and becoming ‘global’. Effectively,
of its resemblance to the numeral 8. Jindal the mobile phone will behave exactly the
Steel has recognised his design with the same way to each key pressed. Sethi adds,
Jindal Stainless Innovation Award 2007. “Our Sony Ericsson Creative Design Centre
A significant share of Adobe’s has an extensive studio base spread across
development work is carried out of India. Sweden, London, the USA, Asia and Japan
Yet, when the products are shipped abroad, where industrial designers work alongside
it is the final product that is identified. What human interface designers, colour and
stands out is the usability and functionality “Our designers are actively material designers and graphic designers.
of the product. The fact that a team of involved in the product Industrial designers develop the underlying
Indians did it, doesn’t stand out. According
to Ajay Pande, VP Engineering, Adobe
development process and help us shape of the product, while themes, interface
designers choose graphical
human
icons
India, it is a global market with the user in deliberating on various design and wallpaper for the screens. Colour and
being global. Earlier, and even today with aspects to optimise the material designers work with the texture,
other vendors, products are significantly product cost” materials and colours, and packaging and
localised geographically. This limits the Anil Sethi, President, Sony Ericsson India graphical material is created by graphic
usability, something Adobe has identified. designers. The number of designers
Pande adds, “Our products cater to users According to Sethi, “At Sony Ericsson, working on each project varies, but they are
irrespective of their geographical location.” product design is not deciphered as all part of a team that collaborates to break
a function of good looks, but is well new ground in design. We at Sony Ericsson
Design is holistic integrated in to each step of product believe in making technology more human,
Design does need a holistic approach and hence the focus
so individual factors such as geographies Give us your feedback at on ease-of-use
alone cannot result in the ideal design. http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/nov09 and one touch
What was earlier the Indian choice, no access user
longer holds true. Even Indian consumers interfaces.”
are now becoming global consumers and YOUR DESIGN ON CHILDREN’S DAY
their preferences are becoming global.
According to Anil Sethi, President, Sony On Children’s Day this year, yes November 14th, the
Ericsson India, “The basic premise behind Doodle on Google’s homepage will be the creation of
launching the R&D facility in the country an Indian school student. This is part of a joint effort by
was indeed to improve cost efficiencies by Google and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.
Google India has reached out to around 10,000 schools
designing global products locally. However,
across India and has publicised this exciting event. In fact,
as an emerging trend it can be observed
Dennis Hwang, Chief Google Doodler (what a cool job!)
that the needs and behaviour of the Indian has given tips on how to go about Doodling your very own Google Doogle. You can
consumer are becoming tantamount to their watch this video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOOY0xuQ3TU. While this year’s
global counterparts. Hence, we would like to submission deadlines have passed by, keep tab on www.google.com/doodle4google for
leverage our local resources to create cutting- new entry dates.
edge products for the global market.”
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 39
Making of a Stop sign The Kindle flaw
Feature Check out this hilarious video on
product design at its worst.
Amazon’s first generation
ebook reader, Kindle is
http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/ criticised for having over
stop sensitive page turn buttons
Design Flops
Ludicrous compulsions force companies typically renowned for their design sensibilities to end up
creating massive blunders. Let us delve into what happens when design goes bad.
Siddharth Parwatay time crunch and lack of talent can’t the giant is immune to design failures?
siddharth.parwatay@thinkdigit.com be helped. There are however some Certainly not. In 1993 Apple launched
ludicrous compulsions due to which a product that would go on to become
companies known for their good design the precursor to an entire category of
A
lbert Einstein once said “The sensibilities end up creating blunders products (PDAs or Palm Pilots as they’re
intuitive mind is a sacred gift and of epic proportions. Flops can happen wrongly known) — the Apple Newton
the rational mind is a faithful to anyone. Flops can happen in any MessagePad. The device however was
servant. We have created a category of products. Heck, flops can criticised for being too bulky and the
society that honours the servant and has happen to an entire category of products. handwriting recognition software on it
forgotten the gift.” However, this maxim Buckminster Fuller, the famous architect too buggy. Perhaps they were hasty with
does not hold true when it comes to and futurist put it quite succinctly when incorporating handwriting recognition
product designers who have to stretch the he said “When I am working on a problem when underlying technological
boundaries of creativity to come up with I never think about beauty. I only think infrastructure was not quite in place.
products that aspire to become the next about how to solve the problem. But A blogger on networkworld.com said,
big thing. Often in this process designers when I have finished, if the solution is not “What these reviews don’t tell you is that
lose sight of things that are important beautiful, I know it is wrong.” Apple did get the handwriting recognition
such as rationality and common sense. down soon after its initial release, to the
We, the aesthetically challenged lot, get a Too ahead of its time point where the handwriting recognition
glimpse of this in the movie Elizabethtown Designs and products that go beyond the worked as fast a typing, at least for me.
— a humorous take on a product designer norms of what is acceptable for that point But since most Americans can’t write,
who falls from grace when he ends up in time usually don’t work. Consumers the Newton is an easy target for using
making a shoe that goes on to become want to be fed changes one mouthful at ‘selective memory’ in the media blurbs
not just a failure, but a fiasco of mythic a time. Progression amounts to on it.” Aptly put. But Apple should have
proportions. Like the case of products stuffing ones mouth and leads nailed down the peculiarities of its
in real life we don’t know exactly what to choking i.e. rejection. In audience before the releasing
went wrong with the shoe except for the keeping with this philosophy, the product.
fact that it was inspired by a stingray and Panasonic’s slogan until
ended up looking really stupid when some time ago was “Just Too simple?
worn. Not many people would want a fish slightly ahead of our Forgive us, but
on their feet right? time”. They were trying Apple comes
There can be several things that go to proclaim their into the picture
into making a bad design. Aesthetics — as semblance for the again. Case in
in the case of the above narrative, is just contemporary. What point; Mac and
one example. We tend to overlook these happens when you its single click
fauxpas and focus on the products that don’t? Take the mouse. Agreed
are design successes. The fact remains case of Apple. that things need
that good design is difficult to come by. Some of the to be simple, but do
The bulk of the products — especially best products you need to dumb
in the consumer goods segment — are recognised for things down so much
badly designed. They are inefficient, their design for the common
cumbersome, difficult to use, and will not have come denominator of
have any of the elements that we’ve come from the the audience? For a
to expect out of good design. Products by gloriously long while up until the
and large are wasteful, and worst of all, creative mouse came into being,
not nice to look at or touch. drawing Steve Jobs stubbornly stuck
So why exactly do product designs boards of to philosophy of having
fail? It can’t be that designers set out to this company. a single button on a mouse.
make crappy designs. Somewhere along Does that mean Twitter is another product that
the way the goal probably gets obscured faced the problem of
by mitigating factors and the end result over-simplicity that
is a sub-optimal product. The standard necessitated a whole
set of reasons like budgetary constraints, The Apple Newton MessagePad was criticised for faulty handwriting recognition
40 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Touchy Touchy Slippery controllers
The Razr 2 from Motorola featured
an exterior touch screen that
The Wii is surely a revolution, but the glossy
controller is famous for slipping out of your
Feature
launched stuff while sitting in a hands and heading straight for the screen.
user’s pocket. Highly undesirable. Nintendo had to issue latex grips as a quick fix.
beauty in an object is if it works the way it
should and gets the job done in a proper
Stay Updated with Digit
fashion. Aesthetics can sometimes Subscribe to the Digit newsletter to get a
daily dose of tech delivered to your inbox.
be a shell for a great
Head over to www.thinkdigit.com/newsletter.
idea.” Back in the php and sign up.
day Nokia came up
with a phone called
the Nokia 7600. Sure, This flop on an otherwise great product
the design was unlike probably happened because Apples new
anything ordinarily design ethos of sharp edges is a little to
witnessed, but what err sharp for comfort.
about usability? The
phone had a screen in Ignoring consumer
the centre and two lines categories
of buttons at either Very often designers are guilty of
end. Because it didn’t designing for those that are aesthetically
follow the conventional enlightened i.e. connoisseurs with an
arrangement of keys, eye for design. These designs will surely
typing became a pain. work in concept awards, but will they
Eventually users did get work on-road? The choice of words here
used to it but at the cost of refers obviously to cars, since they’re the
speed and the learning curve most likely to fall prey to this oversight.
was painfully steep. Another Traditionally cars have had some of the
example of this would be the most beautiful and atrocious designs
new Mac Book Pro. Surprised? that have seen the light of day. Cars also
Yes it is an excellent piece of ignored for a long while an entire segment
machinery that looks great, is fast of consumers — women. Many women
and very powerful. But the notebook would find that great looking cars were
The Mac mouse with its single click button not ergonomic to use. They faced simple
actually hurts like hell when you use it
legion of third party apps that run on top for a while! The edge of the palm rest issues like chipping fingernails in badly
of it or use the API. In fact, they recently gouges into your wrist with every passing designed door handles to grave ones like
had to beef up the level of complexity of hour, till ultimately you’re left with large fatigue with bulky vehicles. An exception
their home page. The inference we can suicide-attempt like welts on your wrists. to this norm was the 1990 Mazda Miata —
make here is that a reasonable amount of
complexity might add to the feature set
of a product or device, while definitely
making it more suitable for so called
‘power users’ — people that thrive on
complexity. Whichever way you look
at it, we feel the choice of the level of
complexity should be left to the user,
much like video games have varying levels
of difficulty.
Design before usability
Some designers fall into the trap of
making products that pick design
aesthetics over usability, comfort and
ergonomics. This leads to some serious
consequences. We asked Hayley S. Rosen,
Industrial Design student at Philadelphia
University what she thought. “This is the
age-old question of form vs. function”, she
said. “I feel that the beauty in products
is if the form dictates the function. The The MacBook Pro literally has cutting edge technology
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 41
Novelty not good design Feature Creep
Feature Take this mirror chair designed by Kai Linke
makes you wonder how people are supposed
A designing pet peeve in which products are
packed to the brim with features. The more things
to use it. Unless of course the designer had you ask a device to do, the harder it becomes for
some very ahem intimate use for it. you to make it perform its core function.
a sports car loved by the female populace. differentiate them quickly. The older just disappeared”, says Anirudh Maitra
We wonder why some men prefer not to generation of coins were so different that of Pictualize Edutech, a start-up engaged
be seen in one of these nimble machines. you could tell them apart just by feel and in designing educational and learning
touch. enhancement products. Another one
Product differentiation would be the 1995 offering, Sega Saturn.
Form factor is very important when Uninvited Innovation It’s often criticised as one of the worst
it comes to product differentiation. Sometimes mundane objects can go gaming consoles in history. It was built
Companies that have a handful through a revamp with the thought of on the cutting edge of technology yet
of products need to follow a strict bettering them. The adage ‘old is gold’ something went wrong. The complexity of
differentiation policy in terms of form holds true and some tried and tested its dual Hitachi CPUs caused problems in
factors. Cowon for instance has a few things should be left alone. Questioning game development. Soon game designers
PMPs in its portfolio. Each one is unique tradition for being irrelevant is fine but started moving towards the easier and
in form and design. When this is not respecting it for its longevity of existence cheaper PlayStation platform. The
followed it can lead to confusion in the is also a virtue. The perfect example of problem was no scalability thus sealing
consumers mind. One product might end something that doesn’t need reinventing, Saturn’s downfall.
up cannibalising the other or eating into apart from the wheel, is perhaps the chair.
each other’s market segment or share. We’ve been sitting on these things for The me too effect
The Windows Mobile platform may not ages now and there’s not much room for Have you noticed that most MP3
be something to write home about. But as something radical to be done there as the players coming to the market lately look
Mr. Sumeet Gugnani, Director — Mobile human form hasn’t changed much over conspicuously like iPods. The same round
Communications Business, at Microsoft the past 2,000 years or so. A while ago, dial, similar screen size and all other
put it “Windows Mobile 6.5 comes in the we came across a design called Stenstool attributes, only they look like country
widest range of form factors through our cousins of the original. ‘If it
partnership with a number of OEMs. You worked for them why can’t it work
have everything from candy bar to sliders for us?’ — is perhaps the thought
to QWERTY to full touch. All options design houses are struggling
are available.” It can have disastrous with. Since the CoverFlow format
consequences when differentiation is not of displaying elements became
followed in the public utilities domain. popular, you find it in every other
Take the freshly minted batch of coins place from TV programming to
from the Indian treasury. The rupees websites to even print. Websites
one and two denomination coins today follow the tried and tested web
do follow certain design norms 2.0 sensibilities and end up looking
like keeping in mind the illiterate like they came out of the same mould.
sections of society by clearly If it works, it works but here is the
displaying value using symbology caveat - at some point people are bound
depicting hands holding up the to get up and say – hey this is getting
appropriate number of fingers. boring now. What then?
Yet the coins are so similar in
size and shape that we can’t Sega Saturn didn’t find too many game developers
Chair by Jimmy Kessler. It’s
basically a stool that’s a rock supported
by four spindly legs. Why would you
want to sit on a rock? After all, it was
these that prompted our ancestors
to invent chairs in the first place!
Another example is the Sidewaysbike
by inventor Michael Killian. You sit in
the centre but face and pedal sideways!
Wonder how that would work. Check
out sidewaysbike.com for pictures and
videos of this weird contraption.
Ignoring scalability
When you build something, it should
form a platform on which further
improvement can take place. Take
the case of pagers. “Pagers lasted
for sometime but never reached the
potential they were touted to reach they
were not the easiest to use and not very
intuitive. They were banking on text
for communication thereby limiting the
One of the many iPod look alikes
usage amongst literate population. With
Whatever happened to comfort?
the advent of mobile telephony they
42 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Keep them maximised 3D isn’t useless
If you find yourself closing applications often, keep them The new 3D desktops are heavily Feature
maximised — when you throw your mouse cursor to the steeped in direct manipulation,
top-right, you’ll always reach the close button so they’re more enjoyable
Look. Feel.
and rotate and push and pull and drag and
drop (aha!) — and DM interfaces must fulfil
those desires. Interfaces should feel like
‘driving a car’.
But why driving?
In 1990, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a
What magic are user interfaces are made of? Hungarian professor studying happiness,
described the concept of flow — a state of
mind where you feel immersed, involved,
and in control. And one very important
Nimish Chandiramani describes the time to acquire a target (that source of flow is…yes, driving.
readersletters@thinkdigit.com is, be able to click on a button, hyperlink, And so, DM interfaces must give you a
or menu item) as a function of the distance sense of flow. Games do this all the time
to it, and the size of the target. You can test — the best games, as you have no doubt
I
t all started back in November 2006, this right now: if your mouse cursor is in the experienced, match themselves perfectly to
when we were coming up with new middle of your screen, it’ll take you less time your skills. They never feel so hard that you
ideas for the interface for Digit DVD to reach an icon that’s closer — obviously. want to give up, but never so easy that you
(which, you might remember, made If you turn on Large Desktop Icons, you’ll feel bored. Like driving.
its debut in December 2006). In our be able to hit those icons faster — by And so, armed with these two pieces of
(shameless) imitation of the Vista desktop, milliseconds, of course, but those add up. knowledge, we can explain the mysteries of
several questions popped up: why is the There are important conclusions to be the universe! At least, those that pertain to
Start button on the bottom-left? Who drawn here. Firstly, big targets are good. interfaces.
decides where the close button goes, and Secondly, targets should be as close to
why must we use these little boxes called the mouse pointer as possible. The most The Answers
“windows”, when we maximise them to fit important conclusion, however, is this: And now, we come back to some of our
our desktops anyway? But it was 4 am; we the edges and corners of the screen are original mysteries, and some new ones.
were sleep-deprived, and had deadlines. infinitely huge.
But the questions still remain. How do Think of it this way: no matter how The case of the Windows Start button
interfaces work for us, and why in heaven’s much you move the mouse, the cursor will Now that we know the implications of
name do we actually enjoy some of them? never go beyond the edge. So unlike a target Fitts’s law, this one isn’t hard to crack:
Let’s start with some background... that’s placed in the center of the screen,
you’ll never overshoot a target that’s placed
The Science at its edge.
Yes, there’s actual science at work here, What does all this mean? Ah, but we
and it dictates both the way user interfaces must keep you on the edge of your seat for
(UIs) are laid out, and how they become a bit longer. There’s another aspect to UIs,
enjoyable. and it comes from the science of happiness.
The Law The Flow
All interfaces — more specifically, the Since the 80s, Apple has been throwing
ones that require pointing — start with its weight behind an interface style called
a mathematical model called Fitts’s Law Direct Manipulation (DM). With the ability
(some people will tell you it’s Fitt’s law, to point and click at objects on screen Even though it’s a big glowy round button, the
or Fitts’ law). They are wrong. The law comes the desire to control them — to move Windows 7 Start button still respects the corner
corners are good, so if you’ve got something
important you want users to access — say, a
single button that gives users access to every
function on their computer — you stick it
in a corner of the screen. You’ll notice that
even though the big, round start buttons
in Windows Vista and 7 don’t touch the
corner, you can still activate them by just
throwing your mouse cursor to the bottom-
left and clicking.
The case of the Mac menu bar
This one is a common irritant for Windows
users who are used to menu bars being
inside their programs — on the Mac, the
menu bar is always on the top of the screen.
Despite the culture shock, this is a good
thing, according to Fitts’s law. The top edge
of the screen is infinitely high, so no matter
how far up you move the mouse cursor,
A Mac desktop, with icons optimised for maximum hit-ability you’ll always be able to use the menu bar.
43 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Touch too
Feature Forget the Dock Yes, the science of user interfaces applies to touch UIs as
If you’re a Mac user, or a Windows user who loves fancy well. Some concessions can be made because the finger
docks, stop it. They’re more pretty than useful. On Macs, is easier to move than a mouse, but Fitts’s law still keeps
get your hands on DragThing; on Windows, use Windows things sane
Stay Updated with Digit
Subscribe to the Digit newsletter to get a
daily dose of tech delivered to your inbox.
Head over to www.thinkdigit.com/newsletter.
php and sign up.
Ubuntu tries to do the top bar thing like the Mac, but putting the “log off” button in such an important
position is just silly
The case of the contextual menu
You can’t really appreciate the importance of
a right-click (contextual) menu until you’ve
used a one-button Mac mouse. Not that Macs
don’t have the contextual menus — the pre-
Mighty mice just don’t have a right mouse
button. But that’s not the issue here.
We have contextual menus because of
the ‘keep the targets close to the cursor’ bit
of Fitts’s Law — the menu appears wherever
you right-click, and the menu item you want
is a short distance away. The contextual
You can save screen space by making the dock small, but then you have these big icons jumping up at you
things about pie-shaped menus: first, all screens, which don’t give us much vertical
the menu items are the same distance from space anyway. You can work around this by
your cursor, and second, you don’t need making the dock really tiny, but turning on
to remember the names of the items — magnification so the icons get bigger when
eventually, you’ll be able to access them just you approach them.
Apple tries to keep the length of its context menus through motor memory. To add to the annoyances of the dock, it
in check. Sometimes, they’re even successful gives you moving targets. As you open more
The case of the Mac Dock programs, the dock resizes itself, taking the
menus we have today aren’t the best We seem to be a bit fixated on the Mac, Trash icon with it. So if, at any point, you
solutions, though: they’re vertical, so if the don’t we? The Dock is one of the ‘likeable’ thought you’d commit the Trash’s location
item you want is at the bottom, you have to things that Steve Jobs goes on about, to your motor memory, tough luck.
move the cursor a longer distance than if it and makes for some really nice-looking And yet, this happened:
were at the top. promotional material. But is it Fitts-y good?
The best way to create contextual Let’s look at what we have, here: it’s on The case of the Windows 7 taskbar
menus that embody all that Fitts would the bottom edge, so that’s nice. It’s got As Microsoft’s answer to the Dock, the
approve of is the pie menu — all the menu big, shiny targets; that’s nice too. What Windows 7 taskbar inherits much of its
items arranged in a circle—though very isn’t nice, though, is that those big targets silliness — the unnecessary height (there
few programs use one. There are two good take up a lot of vertical space — on wide really wasn’t much wrong with the original
short-but-wide taskbar, really) and the
confusion between open applications and
regular old shortcuts, to name a couple. On
the other hand, it does bring some useful
targets closer to the mouse cursor by way of
jump lists — you can access recent folders,
web pages, and so on just by right-clicking
on the program’s icon. UI design-wise, then,
there’s nothing to jump about, but there’s
nothing overly awful here, either.
Moving on, then.
The case of the 3D desktops
This is another thing we must blame Mac
OS X for. Features like Exposé brought
to us the idea that windows don’t need
to be drawings on a screen — they can be
Pie menus are fine for a few menu items, but they can get messy for bigger menus real objects than can be tossed around a
44 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Sorry, Keyboard Warrior Less is More Feature
UI design is dedicated exclusively for use with the Another UI “Law” is Hick’s law, which essentially says
mouse, though Windows does a respectable job of “more buttons means more time to choose one”. It’s the
keeping the keyboarders happy reason iTunes doesn’t have a Stop button
file, rather than open it. After spending days
reading about the science of UI design, we
were able to explain nearly everything we
saw and interacted with, except for this one
silly, silly thing. And so, we turned to Bruce
Tognazzini, who founded the Apple Human
Interface Group. As you read, remember that
DM is a mouse-centric philosophy: “Apple
wants to facilitate direct manipulation, and
that means that you can change the names of
things without having to go somewhere else,
like a properties window, to do so. There is
no need or reason for someone to click on a
document with the mouse, then move to the
keyboard to press the Return key to open it
when double-clicking will do.”
It’s a fair argument, but it confirms
another thing that’s annoyed us about
There’s some good and bad here, but nothing that warrants the words “love” or “hate” Mac OS X: Apple doesn’t expect you be
using the keyboard that much; tough luck,
screen, spread out like a pile of papers, The case of the Enter that renames keyboard warriors.
and brought back together. Then came If you’re using the keyboard to navigate There. Now we can get some sleep.
Microsoft’s Aero in Vista, and the Compiz/ the Finder on the Mac, you’re in for a nasty
XGL/Beryl/whatever in Linux systems. surprise if you try to open a file or folder by Endnote
Working with windows became so much hitting the [Enter] key; for the Mac interprets If, by any chance, none of these mysteries
more satisfying — grabbing your Linux hitting [Enter] as your desire to rename the have ever bothered you, you might want to
desktop and rotating it like a cube,
watching windows scroll like a pack of
cards — it all became so much more real. A
little more like driving a car.
Yes, its Direct Manipulation at work
here, for a change. Now that even the most
basic graphics card can handle the load of
windows that are rendered as 3D objects,
we can look forward to even more DM-
oriented interfaces. BumpTop, for example,
tries to bring the direct manipulation joy
that you get out of your physical desk
to your virtual desktop (it’s even got pie
menus, incidentally). It lets you grab files
and toss them around, resize their icons,
and all sorts of things that you can do with
real physical files.
And while we’re on the subject of DM,
we can use it to explain one thing that’s
baffled us for ages. It may not be the most productive of interfaces, but BumpTop’s full of DM fun
re-think what you’re doing with your life.
Too many TV rays mush-ifying your brain,
perhaps?
Without knowing what makes for an
optimal experience, you can’t begin to
customise your OS to work better for you. For
example, Ubuntu users: get rid of that silly
top panel and reclaim the top-right corner for
something better — like closing maximised
windows. And don’t think you’re being a
‘power-user’ by using small icons in toolbars —
you’re actually slowing yourself down.
If, armed with this new knowledge,
you’re able to solve your own unique UI
mystery, share it with people. If you manage
to customise a program in a way that makes
the UI better, share that too. You could all
be part of Digit’s Famous Five Hundred (UI
Many may hate it, but Aero did make Windows a lot more fun Chapter).
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 45
Geek life GTKRadiant Modders’ hub
The most popular level editor for At moddb.com, you can keep a
Quake based games, including watch on upcoming mods, and
Nexuiz, Half Life and Urban Terror download mods that are ready
The Modscene
that the internet also started spreading its
tendrils across the planet, so communities
could grow around the activity of modifying
games. Game modification now is a much
more complicated affair than simply editing
H4xx0rs are not the only 1337 kids that dig into the source code, maps or changing the way a particular
pull stuff apart, and put them back together in a better way... game looks. Some of the people from the
Modscene have been hired by the official
developers of the game, for later iterations
Aditya Madanapalle disturbing the way it functions. Secondly, of the product, or for developing new games
aditya.madanapalle@thinkdigit.com the internet has helped considerably change because of their experience in certain areas.
the way in which media is produced and A typical modern computer game is
consumed. Technology has grown to a broadly made up of two basic parts; the
Cog in the machine point where enthusiasts and amateurs can game engine and the libraries. The game
Game modification is the creation of new create and publish content on the lines of engine consists of a set of rules, that govern
gameplay environments or scenarios using studio-backed media. This can range from how 3D objects are drawn, how they are
a released game as the base. The Modscene fan flicks on the lines of big budget movies, painted, how characters within the game
came about as a result of a convergence of to fan fiction using the same universe as move, and a system for managing the
two trends of technology usage. Firstly, in popular books. Computer games were a physics of the game. Often, there are many
a world where products were rolled out of very fertile ground for these two trends game sub-engines, say a separate engine
an automated production line, users had to come together. Not only could you get for managing the physics of projectiles
a need to distinguish their own products into computer games and change the way like rockets and bullets, and an engine for
from the rest. This involved either changing they work, but you could also put together managing the particles, as in smoke, fog,
the surface of the product, say in painting modifications and share the content you water and sparks. The library is a set of
a car in a particular way or adding vinyls. created with other people. files that contains all the game information.
There were those who however, changed Some of the really early games to This includes the maps, the models of the
the inner workings, tuning the mechanics encourage participation from the consumer characters, the textures used to paint the
of a car for a particular purpose, and were in terms of creating the gameplay surfaces, the weapons, the storyline etc.
interesting in making changes that were not environment were games released with map
just cosmetic. Washing machines, toasters, editors. These were fairly simple editors, The Doom days
computer hardware, and software were all which simply involved a space where Doom, when it was first released, the
taken apart and put together better suited users could paint on objects, and save libraries of the game were saved in what are
for a particular purpose. This trend is what is their creation as maps. These maps could known as .WAD files. WAD is an acronym
referred to as the “hacker ethic”, finding out be loaded, and the game could be played for “Wheres all the Data?”, and packaged the
how something works by pulling it apart, in the custom environment. It was in the sprites, sounds and levels or maps together.
and making it work better. This is analogous early 90s, with games such as Wolfenstein ‘Sprites’ are animated or static pictures of all
to putting a cog in the machine that makes 3D, Doom and Quake that the Modscene the elements in the game, including the
it work better rather than really took off. It was around the same time characters, the
Imaging: Shrikrishna Patkar
46 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Macologist.org Rom hacking Geek life
The premiere site for coders to port mods made The Ancient NES Roms had their
for Windows and Linux to Mac machines. If you own modders, who used to hack
own a Mac, go here for Mac based game mods the Roms with Hex editors
enemies, the weapons, the ammunition Modscene actively, to the extent of hiring spawning, the spawn points themselves,
and the explosions. These .WAD files were the biggest contributors to the modscene. as well as add in entirely new weapons
easy to modify, create and distribute over A number of people who made .WAD files and items to the existing mix. While the
the Internet. The Modscene started with played an active role in developing Quake, modification of Doom was restricted to
this game, and within a span of two years Unreal Tournament and Half Life. All these making the game look different, as in say
thousands of .WAD files were created and games are known to have active modding Doom with characters from the Batman
distributed over the Internet. More than one communities. A few of these mods are universe, or from the Alien series of films.
thousand five hundred of these .WAD files actually played more than the original Quake took the concept of modding way
were distributed during later versions of the games. beyond such cosmetic changes, bringing to
Doom game, and the game enjoyed a market light a number of nuances of multiplayer
life-time of more than five years because Rocket science gameplay as fundamental considerations
the modifications required the original One of the reasons for the popularity of during the design of any such game (see
game to be installed on the system. Another Doom was the multiplayer aspect of the box).
important feature about the modification game, and the deathmatch mode, which OSP (Orange Smoothie Productions)
community around Doom was that the allowed players to battle it out against each and CPMA (Challenge ProMode Arena)
developers released tools specifically meant other in a gameplay
for modding. Id Software encouraged the environment. Follow Digit’s Urban Terror community on
modification community to the extent, The Quake series http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/69793/
that they even released the source code amped up the
of the tools used to create the game. A multiplayer aspect, so much so that Quake are two popular Quake 3 mods that were
number of map editing utilities by third 3 was released with a very rudimentary played more often than Quake 3 itself,
party developers also came out. Another single player campaign with heavy focus referred to as Vanilla Quake, as the original,
important aspect established by Doom was on multiplayer gameplay. The Quake 3 unmodded version. These were changes
that the copyright of the game was limited engine had a very modular approach, and in the physics of the game, in the weapons
to the library, but the game engine was is one of the most versatile and beautiful balance (see box) and a set of map packs
released with a more modification friendly game engines around. Modders could which were changed for better gameplay.
license. In 1997, the source code of the game change individual characters, or avatars, A typical online Quake 3 game consisted
was released with a GNU licence, paving and change the way they look while playing of custom avatars being played on a
the way for gamers to have more control a match. Modders could change the maps, custom map using modded physics, all of
over their modifications. The producers of or create new ones, as an arena in which which were compatible with each other.
games realised at this time that allowing the a deathmatch or capture the flag game is Sometimes, mods were made to specifically
gaming community to modify their games conducted. Modders could also change go against the tide of many of the design
boosted their sales. Valve and Id Software the underlying physics of the game, the considerations of other mods. While most
in particular are known to encourage the damage of the weapons, the timing of item Quake 3 mods focused on easier to navigate
MODIFICATION PRINCIPLES
Spawn Points – Spawn Points in a ammunition or weapons to re-spawn are also Technology Tree Balance – In RPG and
multiplayer environment are almost of carefully timed after a lot of test gameplay RTS games, which involves controlling a
paramount importance. Spawn points are and thought. Weapons Balance also has to large number of units which evolve over
locations on a map, where the player, items be co-ordinated with the Items Balance to the gametime, growing in terms of the
or weapons ‘appear’ at frequent intervals equalize the overall gameplay for all the in-game technology of the races being
during gameplay. The positioning of the players involved. played, the races often have a unique growth
spawn points are important for balanced path. Important landmarks in the growth
gameplay. Items Balance – Items in the game are of a race is called a level, and two races at
things that players can pick up while the same level should be evenly matched
Weapons Balance – There are a number of playing a game. These include the medkits, in a hypothetical perfect game. No race
weapons in any multi-player game. While the armour, power-ups, weapons and should have an overpowering and obvious
designing these weapons, an important ammunition. The spawn points of these advantage over any other race. For RTS
consideration should be that any player items, their positions relative to the spawn games, finding this balance is a very difficult
with a particular weapon does not have an points of players and the re-spawn timings and long process. The amount of damage
outrageous advantage over another player of these items have to be carefully planned that a particular unit can do to another unit
with a different weapon. The firing time so that no single player has an inherent or building, and the amount of damage that
between two consecutive shots, the range advantage while playing a game. Consider a a particular unit can take under attack can be
the weapon, the availability of ammunition, simplistic scenario involving just two players tweaked very slightly, but drastically change
and the splash damage caused by the in a deathmatch with two power-ups and no the over-all balance of the game. For this
weapon are all used to even out the odds of other items except the weapons that they reason, most RTS games frequently release
two players using different weapons. Some spawn with. One power-up gives a player patches to continuously even out the balance
weapons are known to be tremendously full armour, and the other power up gives of the technology growth, so that amongst
powerful (eg. the BFG and variants) but these a player full health. Now, the map and the equally competent players, the races that are
are balanced out when amateurish use is spawn points should be designed in such a used are equally matched.
as likely to kill the player who is using the way, that no player should have access to
weapon as the player who is getting fired both power-ups. Logically, each player should AI – Sometimes a game can be improved
at. Additionally, the spawn points of the get one of the two power-ups before they vastly by just tweaking the artificial
weapons and ammunition in any single map, continue trying to dismember the other. The intelligence of the in-game characters or
are positioned in such a way that the players same applies for other kinds of games as bots. Many mods for popular games focus on
have a more or less even chance of getting well, for example the locations of items and just creating a better AI, and nothing else.
hold of any weapon. The time taken for creeps in an RTS game.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 47
Level editing
Geek life Going retro Game modification can be as
Publishers can revive old titles by simple as editing levels of your
upgrading the graphics themselves. favorite games. Try creating
Dark Athena is a recent example levels for Pingus or Moto X.
maps, better spawn locations and better player mods had a storyline or scenarios to them, change the locations of in-game
weapons balance. Due to this, players that for a player to cross. Wanted! is one of the cameras, change the behaviour of units, and
knew the maps, knew the spawn points, most famous of these, which had a wild skin the GUI of the game. Neverwinter Nights
and the timings at which any item spawned, west themed storyline. The game was later is remembered as one of the few MMORPG
could navigate to these items better than on bundled with a commercial release of games that encouraged user-made content.
those that were new to the map. This Counter Strike, a multi-player Half Life mod, The changes were largely superficial, with a
practice is known as ‘resource hoarding’, based on Half Life’s ‘Goldsrc’ engine. few power tools for modifying beneath the
where getting an item gives the particular Counter Strike started as a mod of Half surface. However, the source code was not
person an advantage. Rocket Arena was Life, but grew on to become a stand alone released with any license that allowed the
one modification threw all these design game. Counter Strike is one of the biggest users to create stand-alone games.
considerations in the bin. Players started success stories of the modscene. Counter RTS games such as Battlefield 1942, Age
with a lot of ammo, all the weapons, the Strike remains till date the most played of Empires, Command and Conquer, Rise
armour and health maxed out. There were game online, in LAN parties, and at gaming of Nations and the Warcraft series have
no items in the maps at all, and the players tournaments. There were other Half Life all been modded to various degrees. The
just had to battle it out with what they had. multi-player mods too, like Day of Defeat approach is to create an RTS games for a
The modifications could be so versatile, that and Firearms, but these were not embraced particular universe, such as the Lord Of
there were a few racing games made using as wholeheartedly by gamers. Counter Strike The Rings legendarium or the Star Wars
the Quake 3 engine. Since the source code had many iterations, including Counter continuum. Units, scenarios, maps and
of the engine was released, there have been Strike: Condition Zero, and Counter Strike: campaigns are made for these universes and
many successful total conversions of the Source, the latter was based on the Source distributed over the internet. Civilisation
game. These are not just mods that can be engine used in Half Life 2. Counter Strike has IV is a very modder-friendly RTS games,
played by loading the mod using the original also been ported to the Xbox console. which allows users to change any aspect
game, but stand-alone, re-distributable The easy access to the code of the game of the game using python scripts. GTA Vice
games that are totally independent of allowed Quake 3 and Counter Strike modders City is another popular game for modding.
Quake 3. Urban Terror, Alien Arena, Open to create scripts and aimbots that put other Modders for these games focus on realism,
Arena, Warsow and Tremulous are just some players in a gameplay environment at a adding objects, or adding storylines to the
Warsow, an artistic modification of Quake 3 Arena A Counter Strike H4X that let’s players see through Crysis Sandbox, a level editor for Crysis
walls
of the free, stand-alone multiplayer games heavy disadvantage. These ranged from guns game, instead of total conversions. Total
based on the Quake 3 engine. You could that automatically targetted players, allowing conversions have been made, but many
play Pro Mode on a third party map using users to see through walls, or cones in front of these require a licenced version of the
custom avatars. The versatility of the Quake of other players that showed where they original game, so have not spread as much
3 engine also allowed modders to create were looking. as Quake or Half Life based stand alone total
maps specifically for the skill of the users This heavily changed the kill to death conversions.
in using weapons for movement, called ratio of the gamers using these fixes, called Crysis is one of the most technologically
‘trickjumping’. DeFrag was one of these H4X. Servers would use cheat detection advanced games to be released in recent
mods, where the aim of the game was scripts to deter these, Punkbuster in Quake times. Its engine, CryEngine2, is cutting edge.
creating speedruns on DeFrag maps, and and the VAC for the official Counter Strike Despite this, even before the game itself was
showing off trick jumping techniques. The Servers. Although these were very effective, released, the engine and toolsets to create
Quake engine has also been heavily used by really crafty users could and can still get mods were released to select modding
the Machinima community, and in fact, gave around these prevention mechanisms. The clans for the creation of mods based on the
birth to that technique of animation. server operators usually ban players with engine. The web site www.crymod.com is
disproportionate kill ratios. an official portal for Crysis based mods. The
Boom! headshot sandbox toolkit that ships with the game
Another game that was heavily modded was Modding today can be used to create, edit and share maps
Valve’s Half Life. A number of modders who Neverwinter Nights was one of the first with other players. This is another example
had worked on .WAD files in the Doom days MMORPGs that allowed for the creation of publishers supporting the development
were part of the development team of Half and sharing of a lot of user made content. community.
Life, so the game was purposely made to be The game shipped with the Aurora toolset How friendly a new game is to modding
modder-friendly. The game itself came with a that allowed users to edit the different has now become an important consideration
bunch of toolkits to help modders, including aspects of the game in a stand-alone editor, for video game publishers. The ability to
the Hammer Toolkit which was meant save their creations as ‘modules’ and then allow users to easily create and share user
for editing maps. There were two kinds of play them or distribute them. The tool set made content has become an important
mods that originated from Half Life. Single could change or resize objects, add textures factor in the gameplay experience.
48 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
eBook craze More Megapixels!
Drool maal Barnes and Noble have their answer
to Amazon’s kindle. It’s called the
16.1 MP images, 1080p video
recording, and $5000, the EOS
Nook, comes with a touch screen 1D Mark IV is Canon’s answer to
display and thousands of free books the Nikon D3s
Sanyo Xacti CG11
These simple to use camcorders from Sanyo come in a range of
eye-catching colours, and can shoot 720p resolution HD videos.
The best little feature is the ability to directly upload videos on
YouTube as long as there is a Wi-Fi connectivity around. The
default storage is a little disappointing though, you will have only
40MB to play around with. You can pick one up for Rs. 14,660
($318).
Flip Mino HD
At first look, the Mino HD looks like a very old fashioned PMP.
You will need to stare at the massive lens at the back of the
device for the fact that the Mino is an HD camcorder to set in.
Everyone loves big chunky red buttons, and the Mino has one
for recording at 720p resolution. There are no wires involved as
you “flip” out the USB to transfer video to your computer. The
website (www.theflip.com) let’s you add on any custom designs
you might have. Definately a steal at Rs. 10,604 ($230).
Duncan Wilson Otto
No, these are not your regular run of the mill speakers. In fact,
these are not any kind of gadget that you have ever heard of.
The world around you is full of very slight, almost imperceptible
sounds. Your desk, your glass of water, even your walls, all produce
very slight vibrations, that you could not hear - till now. The Otto
can attach itself to almost any surface using a combination of
magnets and vacuum pads, and amplify the slightest sounds
emanating from that source. Thinking of getting one? Dream on,
these are made but not on the markets.
50 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Slim Speakers Retro gaming
JVC’s ultra thin home
theatre system with SP-FT
You don’t need to throw away those
NES cartridges just yet, just plug in
Drool maal
speakers and a AX-FT amp the Sega2USB on your mobo, and
is just 31 mm thick revisit those retro games
Eye-Fi
The Eye-Fi card is innovative use
of technology that has slipped Wi-
Fi capabilities in what looks and
functions as a standard SD card.
The card interfaces with popular
Web services with open APIs such
as Flickr and Facebook, and let’s
you upload photos from your
Onkyo P3 phone or camera. It is basically
an easy way to bring the internet
Atom processors on Ion platforms make for too tiny to believe to your device, if it does not have
computers. This new breed of computers are a strange hybrid between in-built Wi-Fi support. There
netbooks and desktops, called nettops. The specs are a modest 160 GB are a range of cards for specific
hard drive, 2 GB RAM and a CPU that runs at 1.6GHz. The Onkyo P3 can purposes, starting from Rs. 2,300.
get even smaller if you just slide out the DVD-ROM. We were unsure if
anyone would actually pick one of these up, till we read a thread on our
forums asking for a small, portable desktop. Well, here is your answer,
but you will have to shell out Rs. 35,500 ($770) for it.
MiShare
Trust the Chinese to come up with something like this. The miShare is a simple device that transfers data between
two iPods. Pretty useful for those situations where you want to swap songs without having to use a computer as an
intermediary... which you cannot (officially) do anyway when it comes to iPods. The device sells for a measly Rs. 4,610 ($100),
but we wish the Chinese would come up with something like this for our portable hard disks.
Logitech G110
Gaming keyboards from Logitech are always at the
forefront when it comes to keeping the needs of
gamers in mind. The G110 is actually much more sober
than it’s predecessors, and chucks out some of the
unnecessary features such as the LCD display. However,
it retains the style factor with customizable backlights
for the keys. There are a total of 36 pre-programmed
key combinations which the gamer can save, as well as
game recognition which creates keyboard profiles for
each game. Yours for Rs. 3,687 ($80).
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 51
Sci-Tech Feature
Srikanth R etc., to describe the various associations, For example, hydrogen peroxide, which is
readersletters@thinkdigit.com a more meaningful division could be: red used to bleach cotton, needs to be removed
BT, denoting all BT activities that relate from the fabric before it can be dyed. There
to medicine/healthcare; green BT, for all are peroxidase enzymes which can do the
“B
iotech” (BT) conjures an agriculture/food related BT activities; blue same job, saving a lot of water which would
image of cutting edge research BT, includes all activities relating to aquatic otherwise have to be used for rinsing.
undertaken in sterile high applications of BT; and, white BT, referring Enzymes also play a role in creating the
tech labs, the products of to all activities relating to BT applications in “stone washed” look in jeans – this was
which rarely concern the common man. various industries. We shall see how each of originally created using pumice stones, but
But, contrarily, BT has been in the public these BT subclasses has impacted us. no longer. Cotton, being white, needs to be
consciousness for many reasons and also dyed to create textiles of any other colour,
since antiquity – that belies its cutting edge Applications requiring a lot of chemical dyes. BT cottons
image. For example, the common process of White BT that have been genetically modified to
converting milk to curd is BT, or the process The Industrial Revolution, while improving express colour makes the process of dyeing
of making dosa batter sour. lives, has destroyed environments. Stringent redundant.
In general, “technology” refers to environmental laws and greater awareness • Textile cleaning industry
the application of science. In the same have meant that industries need to treat Stubborn stains can be broken down by
vein, Biotech or Biotechnology is “any their wastes before disposal, a cost that specific enzymes; for example, stains left by
technological application that uses biological effects their bottomlines. This has spurred oily substances can be broken down using
systems, living organisms, or derivatives the search for greener alternatives. This lipases. Enzymes that work well at normal
thereof, to make or modify products or search has zeroed in on enzymes. Enzymes room temperatures obviate the need for high
processes for specific use” – as defined by are chemicals that are naturally generated temperature and harsh chemicals for the job.
the UN. The “biotech” in the conversion of by living beings to break down food. Their In India, premium detergents like Ariel and
milk to curd involves the use of bacteria to action is similar to those of catalysts in Surf Excel include enzymes to tackle tough
break down milk protein into lactic acid. normal chemical reactions; and being stains without damaging the cloth (or the
biodegradeable they don’t need further environment).
What is BT? treatment before disposal. There are different • Paper industry
BT is not a discrete field of study, rather a types of enzymes, and they are classified Converting wood to paper requires removing
convenient association of different sciences based on their target molecule. For example lignin from the wood. Fungi produce the
with biology. This association is driven lipases are enzymes that aid the breakdown laccase enzyme that can breakdown lignin,
by the need to find greener alternatives to of Lipids or oily substances, cellulases are and is ideal for this job. Another case: in
present processes. And it is evident that the enzymes that aid the breakdown of cellulose, order to make used paper fit for reuse, it
thrust of BT has two directions: firstly to etc. BT has exploited this natural ability in needs to be free from glues or other sticky
discover organisms that can do biologically micro-organisms (MOs), and in many cases materials. Esterase enzymes that attack the
what is presently being done chemically, enhanced or modified this ability to serve bonds that allow the sticky substance to
and secondly to modify existing biological mankind. Some places where BT is applied: cling to the pulp are used for the separation.
agents to improve their efficiency. While * Textile industry Traditionally, both these steps require
there are terms such as industrial BT, textile Enzymes are increasingly being used in treating the pulp with chemicals at a high
BT, medical BT, food BT, agricultural BT. different processes instead of chemicals. temperature. With enzymes, the process
52 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Fuel on the go And now, Biohackers
NASA is looking into bionanotech
that will convert plant and human
Renegade scientists are now manufacturing mutant
bacteria strains in homebrewn labs using videos on
Feature
waste into fuel for long distance space the internet. More at http://snipurl.com/ql1xw.
programmes.
becomes significantly cleaner and cheaper. involve leakages and spills that taint the
Bleaching the pulp to create white paper can vicinity. MOs are also used in these areas to
be achieved with enzymes called xylanases, clean up the mess.
instead of the usual chlorine-containing • Biofuels
chemicals, reducing the need to treat the These are the subject of a lot of public
waste water. attention, especially after petroleum prices
• Plastic industry skyrocketed in the recent past, and also
Plastics have revolutionised our due to concern about global warming.
lives, but their recalcitrance to The Jatropha plant has been in
degradation have made them Ethanol the news for being a source
ecologically unacceptable. can be used as an of biodiesel – oil derived by
Bioplastics offer the best additive to normal crushing its seed is mixed
of both worlds. These are with alcohol to make
different from normal petrol – a mixture of biodiesel – which is an
plastics in two ways – the 85 per cent ethanol ideal substitute to diesel.
raw material and their and 15 per cent petrol BT offers other avenues
molecular makeup. Normal has been found usable of creating substitute fuels
plastics use petroleum with minimal engine such as ethanol (ethyl
as the main raw material, alcohol), which can also
and their complex molecular modification be used in modern vehicles
structure makes them resistant that otherwise run on petrol. The
to decomposition by micro organisms. core process involves using appropriate
Bioplastics, on the other hand, use starch enzymes to break down plant matter to
as the raw material – starch is abundant create the ethanol. The plant matter can be
in plants such as corn, potato, etc., which plant products such as corn, or sugarcane,
are renewable and easier to obtain. Also, or any plant waste product or even wood
their molecular structure is more simple from trees – the enzyme needed to perform
making them more biodegradable. Just as the break down changes with the source.
with normal plastics, there are many types Ethanol can be used as an additive to normal
of bioplastics, all with different molecular petrol – a mixture of 85 per cent ethanol
structures. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a popular and 15 per cent petrol has been found
bioplastic material. This has its starting usable with minimal engine modification.
material lactic acid that is produced by the Biogas/”gobar”gas plants are quite well
enzymatic breakdown of starch. Bioplastics known here in India, and BT plays a role in
can be moulded into different shapes and
share the same utility possibilities as regular
plastics.
• Bioremediation
This is the reclaiming of any area that has
been polluted beyond human/animal
inhabitablity, using biological agents. Take
the case of cleaning up oil spills. The BT
answer to dealing with this challenge is
to spray the slick with bacteria that prefer
oily environments. These bacteria break up
the oil and in the process release carbon
dioxide and water, as part of their normal BT: An enemy of an enemy
metabolism. The environmental impact of
the cleaning up operation is almost nil (some the process of using bacteria to break down
chemicals need to be added to encourage dung/”gobar” into methane which can then
the bacteria to speed up the process), since be used as burning fuel.
there are no by-products that are unsafe. Oil • Biomining
slicks are accidental in nature, but normal MOs are used to aid the process of extracting
petroleum extraction and delivery activities metal from its ore, mostly sulphide ores.
This process is used in the extraction of
metals such as copper, nickel, gold, zinc,
etc. At present, about 25 per cent of the total
copper mined uses MOs to extract impurities
from the ore before further processing. Gold
miners also benefit from using MOs in the
extraction process. Algae are used to improve
the oil output from oil wells. Once injected
into the oil well, algae, as a normal by-
product of their metabolism, produce carbon
Biodegradable plastic cutlery is a dioxide gas which displaces the petroleum
commercially available product and facilitates recovery.
Indian swine flu vaccine
Feature The Department of Health Research is Bioplastic race
actively developing an indigenous swine One of the major efforts by biotech firms
flu vaccine around the world is to find a cheap, bio-
degradable substitute for plastic
Green BT Cows have been genetically allowing even minute samples were the topic of much
The Green Revolution was modified to carry human genes to be used for testing. It is the discussion in the recent past.
powered by chemicals in the responsible for the creation process behind such techniques “The most powerful food in the
form of fertilizers and pesticides. of lactoferrin – an iron as DNA fingerprinting world.” Spirulina is an algae
The environmental cost of this carrying protein which can be used to that is rich in many essential
reliance on chemicals is only that is essential uniquely identify any nutrients, proteins, vitamins,
now being appreciated. for infants. The Enzymes create living organism. iron, etc. Medicines from
• Biofertilizers milk produced the “stone PCR can also marine life include a painkiller
Rhizobium bacteria absorb by these cows washed” look in be used to test that is actually a neurotoxin
atmospheric nitrogen and makes is iron-rich jeans, originally genetic material and part of the defence
it available in a form that can be in contrast to for identifying mechanism of cone snails.
absorbed by plants. Nitrogen normal cow
done by pumice disease agents – Algae are being seen as an
is an essential nutrient for milk, making it stones the test to detect important source of biofuels,
plants, and a major component ideal infant food (to the Swine flu virus especially since algae seem
of commercial fertilizers. substitute human milk). (H1N1) is based on PCR. to thrive on waste water –
Rhizobium naturally attaches Spider silk is acknowledged to The use of animals as test irrespective of the source:
itself to legumes by forming root be the strongest natural fibre, subjects is controversial, and either from factories, mines or
nodules, but through BT it is and this has many potential yet the only way to ensure a residential complexes.
possible to increase the number applications where a right mix drug is fit for human trial. The
of such nodules, thus increasing of strength and weight is needed search for a cancer treatment The Future
the rate of nitrogen absorption. – bullet proof vests come has benefited from a special type The future will see greener
Similarly, non-leguminous to mind first. By genetically of mouse called Oncomouse or alternatives replace most, if not
plants are associated with modifying goats with spider Harvard Mouse, which is a BT all, environmentally unfriendly
Azetobacter bacteria for nitrogen genes, spider silk is produced product. This GM mouse has chemicals and fuels, thanks to
absorption. All that is needed is along with goat’s milk in much a human gene (oncogene) that BT. Butanol, which is seen as
for seeds to be coated with these larger quantities than can be makes it susceptible to cancers, a replacement for petrol, and
bacteria prior to sowing. produced by spiders. Needless and hence is an ideal test subject ethanol are expected to be
• Biopesticides to say, the issue of animal rights for anti-cancer research. produced in larger quantities
Bacillus thuringiensis is a is a major stumbling block in • Medicines using GM bacteria.
bacterium that is used as a this area. BT has made it possible to It needs to be noted
natural pesticide because it generate medicines for human that unlike most other new
infects many pests, and can be Red BT consumption by genetically products, BT products have
sprayed over crops instead of The decoding of the human modifying MOs, and insulin a very long gestation period
regular pesticides. Going a step genome has allowed scientists generating MOs have already from lab to market, and
further is Bollgard BT cotton. to identify the genetic basis been mentioned. Other even then public opinion
This is a product of Monsanto of human susceptibility to medicines that are BT products can drown down scientific
Company, and the first GM many diseases, but the full include recombinant EPO reasoning – particularly where
crop to be planted in India. benefits of these findings are (Erythrpoeitin) a protein that food is concerned. So while
The Bt in “Bt cotton” stands for still some time away. Even so, is responsible for red blood cell many interesting concepts are
Bacillus thuringiensis, which is BT has already contributed to generation. EPO is created on discovered, applied, tried and
the source of the gene inserted healthcare in many ways: a large scale by inserting the tested in the lab, they need not
into the cotton DNA, that • Testing technologies human gene responsible for survive the trip to the market
causes the production The traditional EPO production to Chinese shelf. Some BT food products in
of a protein that method of testing hamster ovary cells which are the pipeline: nutrition enhanced
is toxic to the
The test to for disease then cultured. EPO is the most food: potatoes containing
pest American detect the involves taking widely sold BT medicine, and vaccines against hepatitis virus,
Bollworm that Swine flu a sample (blood, is needed for anaemic patients rice fortified with vitamins, iron
destroys cotton virus (H1N1) sputum, etc.) and – such as those suffering and omega3 fatty acids, etc.,
balls. This is based on PCR culturing it over from kidney failure. We have drought resistant GM corn – a
innate resistance a period of time mentioned the potential uses of result of inserting a bacterial
reduces the need for to allow microbial bioplastics. In the medical arena, gene that imparts resistance
pesticides. growth, and then bioplastic surgical thread is used to the organism from adverse
• GM livestock identifying the organisms. for stitching up surgical wounds. environments into the corn
Besides plants and MOs, BT This delay has been dramatically It gradually self dissolves, saving DNA.
has also modified large animals, reduced by using tests that the patient another hospital And some wishful thinking
mainly farm animals such as directly check for unique visit. doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
cows, pigs, goats, etc. High patterns of proteins or DNA So far, human genes have been
yielding cattle are in demand (much like anti-virus software Blue BT transferred to MOs to enable
for selective breeding among flags suspicious programs). Marine organisms have been a them to produce human
dairy farmers; this is an ancient Monoclonal antibody testing source of food and medicines products. In the future, one
practice which takes a long is based on the principle of since ancient times. Different can expect the reverse – genes
time to produce results. BT the unique antibody-antigen forms of algae serve as protein coding for the best features of
speeds things up by genetic relation. Polymerase Chain rich food, a source of gelling plants and animals transferred
manipulation. Besides improved Reaction (PCR) is another BT agents used as additive in ice into the human, creating a man
milk production, the nature of product that is used to rapidly creams, as lubricants, etc. The that can run as fast as a cheetah
the milk can also be modified. make copies of genetic material wonder properties of Spirulina and fly as well as a bird.
54 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
VMware goes mobile Growth ahead
VMware Inc., the leader in desktop virtualisation, A recent Gartner report predicts that by How stuff works
recently announced its Mobile Virtualisation 2012, 50 per cent of new smartphones
Platform (MVP) for mobile phones will use mobile virtualisation
Shrikrishna Patkar
Virtualisation Goes Mobile
We take a look at mobile virtualisation and what it means for the smartphone market
Jasnoor Gill when there may be extremely high load on machine, and has access to the hardware of
readersletters@thinkdigit.com the server. The rest of the time, the server the base machine through the hypervisor
stays idle with low utilisation. With multiple software. Each operating system is known as
servers installed in a data centre, you can see a virtual machine. Clearly, the advantage of
H
ave you ever downloaded an that the average utilisation will be low while this approach is that multiple virtual machines
application to your smartphone, the power consumption and cooling expenses can be running at the same time on a single
only to find that it is not will be much higher. Though virtualisation was piece of hardware. The resources of the
compatible with the operating initially implemented by IBM for increasing base machine are shared among the virtual
system installed on your phone? Have you ever the utilisation of its mainframe systems, it was machines by the hypervisor. The resource
bought a new cell phone, only to realise that only recently that people started using it on allocation can be changed dynamically
all your carefully backed up applications are normal servers as well. So how exactly does according to demand to give more resources
incompatible with your new phone? The latest virtualisation help? Here’s how... to virtual machines that are under a higher
smartphones come installed with a variety of The core of virtualisation technology load. Virtual machines can even be moved
operating systems, all of them incompatible is a piece of software called a ‘hypervisor’. from high utilisation machines to those with
with each other. To top it off, none of these This hypervisor runs on top of the system lower utilisation without having to shutdown
operating systems has a clear advantage. hardware in the form of a thin layer or interface the machine. Virtualisation also simplifies
This confusion forces you to make trade-offs, between the hardware and the operating backup and disaster recovery processes since
trying to pick one operating system over the system. The advantage of the hypervisor is its the virtual machine can be copied to a backup
others. Your decision will usually depend on ability to support multiple operating systems location and recovered in the same way from
the application ecosystem, and its overlap running in parallel on top of the hypervisor. the backup. As a result of implementing
with your requirements. As a result, no such Each operating system behaves as a separate virtualisation, the average utilisation of the base
decision will be perfect, because sooner or later server hardware is much higher. This in turn
you will run across an application which you results in cost savings in terms of hardware,
want but cannot have. Mobile virtualisation power and cooling expenses. Virtualisation
Apps
is a potential solution to such issues. In fact, has been used for testing multiple operating
Apps
enterprise research firm Gartner has predicted systems as well as running web servers which
that by the year 2012, more than 50 per cent have low average utilisation among other
of all new smart phones will contain some uses. Mobile virtualisation is the latest form of
kind of virtualisation technology built into the OS1 virtualisation to emerge in the IT industry.
OS2
handset by the manufacturer. Mobile virtualisation is similar to server
Over the last few years, virtualisation has virtualisation, except that here we are running
developed from a niche technology to one that multiple mobile operating systems on top
is being increasingly used to run servers and Hypervisor of a small software hypervisor. Due to the
data centres more efficiently than ever before. limitations of these mobile platforms, available
Most servers used for different applications Hardware memory is much lesser, requiring slim
usually run at 20 to 40 per cent of their hypervisors which will not use large amounts
maximum capacity. This is required since Two operating systems running side by side on a of memory. The basic concept remains the
we need to provide a buffer for short periods single server same with some slight changes. For example,
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 55
How stuff works Evoke QA4 Xen
Motorola’s new messaging phone, the Evoke QA4, The open source virtualisation
is the latest high profile handset to incorporate project, has incorporated support
OKLabs virtualisation technology for ARM mobile processors
the virtual machine may be a smartphone A major application of virtualisation is in data on their phones. In case of mobile
operating system for complex tasks and terms of security. Users can have one secure virtualisation, all personal data is present in
applications running in parallel with a real-time virtual machine for business applications and the virtual machine. So, any user upgrading to
operating system (RTOS) which takes care of a second one for personal use with ringtones, a new smartphone can simply copy his virtual
the regular phone functions. There are different song, games etc. The advantage of this setup machine to the new device, thus avoiding any
types of virtualisation being implemented and is that the secure virtual machine is protected issues with regards to applications or data.
tested by different vendors. from any issues occurring due to the personal The manufacturer can offer phones with a
The most basic form of virtualisation is virtual machine. Any malware or crash will choice of operating systems since the operating
actually application virtualisation which is only affect the personal virtual machine leaving system is just a virtual machine which can be
almost the same concept as the Java runtime the secure one intact. installed at the point of sale. This increased
environment. Here, the hypervisor software With the help of mobile virtualisation, choice to the user may indirectly increase
runs on top of a normal operating system users can also have multiple profiles on their competition between operating systems while
and supports different applications running phones, one for business use and one for giving more options to the user.
on top of the hypervisor. The advantage of personal use. This is particularly helpful for Mobile virtualisation also results in
this approach is that the developer does not users who usually carry multiple phones with cost savings for manufacturers in terms of
need to develop separate applications for them to office etc. Depending on the particular the hardware used in the device. Instead
each platform or operating system since the implementation, the user may be able to use of separate microprocessor chips for each
hypervisor takes care of all interactions with function, virtualisation and the software
the base operating system and hardware. hypervisor enable a single core chip to perform
Another advantage is that this can run on all the different functions which are split into
basic feature phones and provide advanced separate virtual machines.
applications to users which are normally Mobile virtualisation also translates into a
provided by smartphones. shorter time to market for operating system
Cloud-based virtualisation is also gaining developers. This is because for traditional
ground these days. With the advent of cloud smartphones, every new phone has a different
computing and more and more enterprises chipset and so the operating system for
moving data and applications to the cloud, each new model must be tweaked for the
mobile virtualisation can also take advantage specific hardware in the device. With mobile
of this technology. Cloud-based virtualisation virtualisation, the same operating system
involves a virtual client interface running on can be used on multiple devices since the
the mobile phone where all inputs are given hypervisor takes care of any differences in the
while all the actual processing and storage hardware for each new model.
actually occurs in the cloud. Cloud computing Application development becomes a much
minimises the need for powerful mobile simpler process for developers in case mobile
processors since only display capability is virtualisation is being used. This is because
required and also reduces power consumption. they will only need to develop their application
A major advantage of cloud computing is data for one platform. Using mobile virtualisation,
security since the actual application and all the application can automatically be used on
the data resides on the cloud which can be “Your phone is becoming a other smartphone platforms as well. e.g. an
secured in a much better manner than cell combination of your PC and application written for the Android operating
phones storing the same data. However, cloud wallet all rolled into one. system can be run on a Windows Mobile
based virtualisation requires a constant online This could become the most smartphone using mobile virtualisation which
connection which may not be possible at all will run the Android operating system in
places. important device a consumer parallel with the windows mobile operating
Virtualisation is also used for gaining can own.”
Integrated Single UI
remote access to machines running other Srinivas Krishnamurti
operating systems such as Windows. This Director of Product Management and Linux Stack
may be considered an extension of the cloud Market Development, VMware Inc
based virtualisation model since we use the Modern Software Stack
Linux
application to display data and information both profiles together or login into one profile Applications
being processed at some other place. at a time. This will also allow the user to bring Apps JVM
Applets
The most useful kind of virtualisation is the a device of his choice to work since he can then
one most commonly used in servers around use a secure corporate connection for business
the world. Multi-OS virtualisation is used related activities. JVM
to execute multiple operating systems on a This will also be helpful to corporate IT
hypervisor running on a common piece of departments in their standardisation processes Driver Framework
hardware. The operating systems can either be since they can load the same secure operating
running side by side or the machine may need system image on all phones without any
Linux OS RTOS
a reboot to switch between the two operating hardware differences. Also, in case of any issues
systems depending on the implementation. In with the virtual machine, IT can simply wipe
the rest of the article, we are going to look in the secure virtual machine and copy a new one OKL4
more detail at multi-OS virtualisation in mobile in its place without affecting any personal data
environments. stored on the device in other virtual machines. ARM 926ejs
Mobile virtualisation is useful for everyone, Since its now possible to do more and more
starting from handset manufacturers to activities using smartphones, an increasing Mobile Virtualisation: Motorola Evoke Hardware
application developers and end users. number of people are keeping their personal Structure
56 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Bazaar
Check out the latest 24-inch Apple Graphics cards
Tried & Tested Icons of Trust 64 Cinema display review among other
really cool products 72 AMDs latest DX 11 monster, the
Radeon HD 5870 in test
In this fourth installment of Digit’s ‘Icons of Trust’ survey, we’ve listened to
T
some of the lakhs of Digit readers out there, heard their opinions,
tabulated everything, and come to conclusions. The results are out, and
it’s time to hear what India’s largest and most influential technology
community has to say to all the brands out there
HOW WE TRUSTED
THE FACTOR How is trust
calculated?
All respondents are asked to
complete a rather long and
comprehensive questionnaire,
information about it, how well-
informed were the sales people
about the product, how easy was
it to get after-sales support... you
get the idea.
Team Digit
editor@thinkdigit.com which aims at arriving at scores
for five parameters: Awareness, Loyalty: A lot goes into making
T
Satisfaction, Cost of Ownership, people stay loyal to a brand.
he Icons of Trust survey we do is much more than a Although our interactions with
simple study of market perceptions. Whether it’s a large Credibility and Loyalty. These five
factors are what determine how fanboys online is not always a
screen TV for the family, or a business phone for your good experience, you have to
much the respondents “trust” a
boss, you — the average Digit reader — are generally well give credit to brands for being
brand.
informed, and take the trouble to know about brands, products able to incite passion in their
and technology in general. With the recent shift of Digit readers Awareness: We’re not likely to buyers. To ascertain the loyalty
from consumers to prosumers, your impact on the Indian buy or recommend something that respondents held for
technology market is a given, which is what makes your opinions we’ve never heard of before. To brands, we asked them a series
more important than anything else. get figures for awareness, we of questions such as “Would you
This survey is of equal interest to readers and brands alike, asked the respondents some buy another cell phone of the
because as readers, this is a sort of validation or reference to questions to see how many knew same brand again”, and whether,
what your peers think and feel, and more importantly, have of the brands in this segment. based on their experiences,
experienced when buying technology. This is what will help This is again sub-divided into they would buy a product in a
you buy smarter and ensure that money you (or your family first, unaided recall, such as, different category from the same
and friends) spend, is spent well. For brands, the results have “Which is the first brand that brand. We also gauged how
comes to mind”; later, we eager the respondents were to
obvious implications — listen to your customers, give them
provided people with a list of the recommend products from this
what they need and in return, sell more as a result. It’s all about
brands, and asked them which brand to friends and relatives,
making sure your voice reaches the ears of those who are making
they were aware of to measure and whether the respondent
products to sell to you, and we're just playing catalyst here. generally spoke positively or
This year we covered the hottest selling categories in aided recall.
negatively about the brand.
technology: cellphones, laptops, HDTVs, PMPs, desktop PCs,
Credibility: Questions
digital cameras, PC monitors, external storage and MFDs/ Total cost of ownership: Not all
were asked to gauge what
printers. The difference from last year's survey is that we products can be bought once,
respondents felt about the
combined MFDs and Printers into a single category, and more used forever. There’s expenditure
quality, durability, technological
importantly, included HDTVs. advancement, design, even after the purchase for
innovativeness, etc., of each servicing and repair, which
brand. may or may not fall under the
warranty period, thus affecting
Satisfaction: As owners of a your total cost of ownership.
brand’s products, how satisfied To ascertain this, we asked the
you are with their products is one respondents a series of questions
of the key factors that influence to determine how much they had
how much you trust the brand. spent on a brand after purchase.
In this regard, we questioned the This factors in the warranty,
respondents as to how satisfied repair costs, upgradation (if
they were after purchasing a any), etc. We also sought the
product, how easily available respondents' opinions about
was it, how hard was it to find which brands they felt were
cheaper to own...
58 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Core i5 motherboards Cellphones Cellphones Icons of Trust
The best of the Core i5 In awareness, advertising seems to When asked, people wanted to buy other
84 motherboards tested — there’s
something for everyone
have helped Nokia, SE and LG, but
not Samsung and Motorola
products mostly from Samsung; but other
mobiles mostly from Nokia and SE
Cellphones / PDA Phones
Same old song and dance
O
bviously, being one are. The only times SE was
of the most bought displaced from its runner up
technology items, slot were in the credibility
the mobile phone and TCO parameters. It’s
category is also one of the most very interesting to note that
hotly contested, with brands Apple seems to have more
fighting tooth and nail for every credibility than SE amongst
decimal of a percentage of the our respondents — quite a
market share. feat considering Apple has
Nokia did it again. All said basically just one phone
and done, here’s one brand model to its name! As for
that remains unchallenged in TCO, Samsung edged out SE
the mobile segment. Although by a smidge, giving us the I was looking for innovative applications and Apple does that really
Sony Ericsson comes in impression that Samsung well. Also, I love the web browser on the iPhone.
second, it would be a lie to owners just spend less on Samrat Mazumdar, Bhubaneshwar
say it was a close second. In repair and maintenance after
all five of our parameters — purchase. In my house we have four handsets and they are all Nokia. We’re all
awareness, credibility, loyalty, Samsung rose two ranks very used to Nokia. Also, once we bought a Motorola and it gave us a
satisfaction and TCO (total cost this year to come in third, just lot of trouble. If we dropped it, it had problems. With Nokia, you can
of ownership) — Nokia stood edging out Apple, who is our
alone at the top. biggest climber — leap-frogging
drop it 3 or 4 times also and it will work fine.
Parimal Patel, Vadodara
Sony Ericsson came in 3 ranks up from last year.
second in most parameters, BlackBerry fell two spots, and
and was no lower than third Motorola and LG have both for a brand that not many A resounding victory for Nokia
in any of the five. What this slipped a notch from last year could identify with in last in the end, but we can’t wait for
means is that for once, we — thanks mainly to Apple’s rise. year’s survey. Also, we have to next year, and hope that one of
have a clearer runner-up, We also saw two new entrants, mention ASUS, who climbed the others can give them a run for
which is not something the Intex and HTC/Dopod. The an impressive two spots this their money — stiff competition
Nokia guys will ignore, no latter shot straight into sixth year, validating their increased between brands is what brings joy
matter how far ahead they place, which is commendable efforts in this category. to the consumer, after all.
Desktop PCs
Score one for branded
W
hat’s big here For satisfaction, most people
is that Dell has stuck to Dell and HP/Compaq
rallied from third as their top two. Interestingly,
place last year Apple, again, got very high scores
to take the crown away from for quality of their products —
HP/Compaq. It’s a close fought coming in second behind Dell.
battle, but Dell won four of the As expected, when it came to
five battles in the race to be the how easily available products
Icon of Trust. were across geographies,
It’s a two horse race when HP/Compaq obliterated its
it comes to awareness, with opponents, with only Assembled
unaided recall revealing that if PCs being able to tussle for top
you ask the average person to spot. Dell machines are priced just right. They have excellent after-sales
name PC brands, Dell and HP When it comes to loyalty, service.
are pretty much the only answers it’s more of the same. The only Amit Ranjan, Guwahati
you will get — again, advertising interesting change here are
bucks well spent. that when asked whether the I’ve been using Lenovo and I’ve had no problems. My friends own
Credibility sees Apple jump respondents were confident
Compaq and HP and always complain about the DVD drive.
from nowhere into third behind buying another product from Ratul Nandi, Gurgaon
the big two. Apple is the third the same brand, in a different
most trusted in terms of build product category, Sony got a big
quality, and comes in second thumbs up, coming in second. third for TCO. Dell fell to fourth Lenovo and Apple, climbing
for innovativeness. Dell and TCO questions led us to place in this parameter. three and two places since last
Apple (in that order) also rule believe that the assembler market In the overall trust index, it year. On the flip side, Acer fell a
the roost when it comes to what is still the cheapest way to get was Dell all the way, with HP/ massive three spots, which is sad
the respondents thought was a service and repairs. HCL jumped Compaq a close second. The for one of the world’s largest PC
stylish brand. into the fray here, coming in at major improvement here is by manufacturers.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 59
Icons of Trust Digital Cameras
Desktop PCs Sony tops the list in terms of aided recall,
Lenovo is considered to listen and respond to knowledge of sales people and quality of
customer feedback more intently than the rest after sales service
Digital Cameras
Pointers for the shooters
F
or those of you who excellent top of mind recall.
remember, last year, we Sony and Nikon are not far
were unable to separate behind, but the rest of the
Canon and Sony, with pack is sorely lagging — looks
both brands winning our trust like it’s time to up those ad-
award. This year, Canon edges expenditures.
ahead of Sony by a whisker, to Credibility was a much closer
claim Digit’s 2009 Icon of Trust contest, again between Canon,
Award, for digital cameras. Sony and Nikon. In every aspect
Samsung seems to have the of our questioning, it was really
biggest loss, falling four places hard to tell these brands apart,
to seventh spot. Olympus, with almost an equal number of
surprisingly jumps three spots respondents vouching for each of I love my Canon because I can use pen torch cells and it has a great optical
zoom. These are the two main reasons I bought this camera.
ahead to end up at fourth. Nikon these three brands throughout. Govardhana Rao, Bengaluru
continues its steady climb by going For innovativeness, however,
from fourth last year to third this Sony ruled, with more people Canon was better than Sony at When it comes to cost of
time. But that’s just the numbers, feeling Sony trumped Canon. resolving queries, and faster at ownership, Canon and Sony
what does this all mean to us? When it came to ease of use, also, fixing problems — a nice area were the top two, indicating
When it comes to top Sony and Canon (in that order) to win. that they are sturdy, and people
of mind, unaided recall, were quite a bit ahead of the rest. As for brand loyalty, digital don’t spend too much on them
Canon was far ahead of the When it came to satisfaction, camera owners who had bought after purchase. However, Kodak
competition. Sony and Nikon Sony edged out Canon by a a Canon seemed quite loyal to the jumped up to secure third place
were second and third, with fraction, with Nikon coming brand, with more people vowing ahead of Nikon
almost equal top of mind recall in third. Availability seems to to buy Canon again. Even when In terms of overall trust,
amongst the respondents. be key here, with most people it came to recommendations, the big three in the camera
Overall, in terms of feeling that Sony cameras most people said they would markets seem to be duelling
awareness, Canon was the were more available in stores. recommend either of the top it out, and leaving the rest
ultimate winner here, with The respondents felt that three — Canon, Nikon or Sony. far behind.
Monitors
The reign continues
L
ast year’s survey Dell on almost every question
revealed that Samsung — people did feel that Dell was
and Dell were the top just a tad more technologically
two monitor choices, advanced and had more
and this year that remains innovative features. However,
unchanged. However, last when it comes to quality,
year’s third placed HP has sturdiness, improvements,
slipped a massive three places responsiveness to consumer
to sixth this year. AOC is a new needs, and style, Samsung won
entrant, and debuts straight on all those counts.
into fifth place — ahead of HP When it came to satisfaction,
The product quality of Dell is quite good. I have three monitors in total and
— impressive. The biggest fall LG displaced Dell in second the picture quality from the Dell is definitely the best.
was Lenovo, who fell 4 spots to place, indicating that lot of Aditya Poddar, Pune
a disappointing ninth. This is people were buying LG as
a closely fought category, with well, and were quite satisfied best at making desired models the respondents were loyal to
four brands battling for AOC’s with what they had. It’s not available for purchase across LG, Viewsonic, HP and AOC
fifth place. surprising because both India. as well.
Samsung was miles ahead Samsung and LG scored much Samsung and Dell users When it came to ownership
of all competition in the higher than Dell in terms of are also very loyal, and a vast costs (TCO), however,
awareness field, and actually availability in stores. People majority of respondents wanted there was a deviation of
stood first in all five categories. also felt that Samsung, LG and to recommend them in that perceptions. Although
Consider this: half of all Viewsonic were the brands that order to their friends. The same Samsung stood like a rock in
the respondents polled said made information about their held true when answering the first place, Dell fell behind
“Samsung” when asked which products available most easily, question, “Would you buy this LG, Viewsonic and BenQ,
monitor manufacturer first and educated their sales people brand’s monitors again?”, as to fifth. This implies that
came to mind. the best. According to the well as “Would you buy other people feel that Dell is a little
In terms of credibility, respondents, the same three, products from this brand?”. more expensive to own and
Samsung was just ahead of in the same order, were the Apart from the big two, a lot of maintain than it should be.
60 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
External Storage HDTVs Icons of Trust
Although behind Transcend overall, people Top-of-mind recall: 50% Sony, 33% Sansung
believe that Kingston has better after-sales and 17% LG. Not one person named another
support than the former brand as the first they think of
External Storage
A volatile market
S
torage, whether hard brands who want to stay ahead
drive- or flash-based, is in such volatile circumstances.
notorious for being a We had three new entrants to this
volatile market. The only category: HP in at eighth, OCZ
other segment that’s considered in at twelfth and Freecom in at
more volatile is the memory fifteenth.
market, as most of us going out When it came to awareness,
to buy any of these products can Seagate, Transcend and Western
testify. There never seems to be a Digital (WD) led the pack by a
right time to buy here, with prices comfortable margin. Top of mind
changing often. recall saw half of our respondents
This year, the term external name Seagate as the brand that I am an engineer, so I understand the technical aspects of these
storage seemed to have more first came to mind. The other drives. I’ve tried other brands and see that the performance is the best
people thinking hard drives, half either put in Transcend or
rather than flash drives — a stark Western Digital, with hardly
in WD, especially the response time.
Gaurav Salvi, Vasai
contrast from last year, when anyone else naming the other
flash ruled. As a result, we have brands in this survey. Aided recall everywhere, Seagate ruled again. differentiating with the time taken
some ridiculous comebacks, helped that a lot, but Seagate, The only place it lost out on was to resolve queries and problems
such as Western Digital’s 11 rank Transcend and Sandisk stayed the availability in retail stores, where with the products.
upheaval to second — up from last top three, respectively. it lost to Transcend. WD and The top five also seem to
place just a year ago. Seagate took When it came to credibility, Transcend effectively fought for have very loyal customers, and
top spot this year, a rise of eight despite all our grilling and
placing over last year’s placement Read the full story online at: questioning, the margins for our
of ninth. All this climbing had http://thinkdigit.com/d/IOT_2009 loyalty test weren’t very large.
to be done by standing on The same also held true for total
someone’s shoulders, and the Seagate took top spot in all second place, and Western Digital cost of ownership. This category,
unfortunate ones were Apacer (fell questions. Western Digital was won the battle by just a tad. The although very volatile, seems to
eight spots), Hitachi and Samsung second throughout as well, except major contributing factor to that have thrown up very little variation
(both fell 5 spots). that when asked about ease of use, was that WD seems to have better in terms of the parameters that we
It’s categories like this that tell Transcend scored more than WD. after sales support, according to calculate trust on.
us a lot about the markets and Kingston and Sandisk were pretty our respondents. All the top five Congratulations to the top
buying trends, and these results much left fighting for fourth place. brands did well to keep customers five, but as we can have only one
are all the more important to In terms of Satisfaction, almost satisfied, with respondents hardly winner, Seagate takes the crown.
HDTVs
Fighting for every pixel
T
his is a new category three once respondents were
this year, and is perhaps helped out with a list.
one of the most popular In terms of credibility, the
in middle- to upper- top three remained unchanged,
class houses. It’s almost a status again. Samsung edged out Sony
symbol these days, the way cars in terms of style and design,
are, with success being measured but only just. LG led from the
by the size of HDTV you own. front in terms of ease of use,
The results put Sony at the top, with more people believing that
by a wafer thin margin, over their products are easier to use
Samsung, who in turn just edged than Sony or Samsung.
LG out for second. Those who purchase from
Based on the responses, these three brands also seem to
the average Indian has only be a satisfied lot. All three were
one of three answers if you ask said to be really easily available, I like LG because it provides options. It has excellent picture quality
them to name the brand that gave out enough information, and I can use it with everything — DVD player and computer as well.
first springs to mind — Sony, and had pretty well-educated Sankar Baisnab, Kolkata
Samsung or LG. Not a single sales people. Samsung was a turned around. Sony, our leader maintain. Panasonic, Philips and
person named any of the other teeny tiny bit ahead of Sony in in all the other parameters fell Sharp were also considered to have
brands as the first that comes terms of after sales service, and to sixth place. Samsung and LG a better TCO than Sony.
to mind — the surest symbol of also for making all their models stayed at the top, thus indicating Overall, winning in four of
a stranglehold by the top three. available at most retail stores. that they have the right price the five parameters was enough
Philips and Panasonic were It’s in the total cost of points, and people generally find to keep Sony at the top, but not
pretty up there with the big ownership that everything is Sony to be expensive to buy and by much, as you can see.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 61
Icons of Trust HDTVs Laptops/Netbooks
The difference between Sony and Samsung, based In terms of innovation, Sony edged out
on responses for certain questions under credibility Apple in the results, and when it came to
and satisfaction, was often less than 1% ease of use HP was the chosen one
Laptops and Netbooks
Everywhere you go
T
he results saw Dell remember that Compaq
emerge as the eventual still makes laptops —
winner ahead of HP jumping it to second
and Sony. What’s spot in a tie with HP.
commendable is that Dell Apple jumped into
gained four ranks from last year the fray with a rather
to capture the top spot, while high credibility amongst
last year’s winner Lenovo fell the respondents, who
to fourth. Last year, HP and felt that they could trust
Sony were tied for second, and the quality of Apple’s
this year HP stays at second, notebooks the most. I’ve been using laptops for over five years and Apple is the best one I’ve used in my life.
inching ahead of Sony. Sony was second in that Durgapur, Shyamson Goswami
Last year we had a three- regard. The responses
way tie for seventh between also indicated that Dell I use Zenith and I like it very much. I would rate it higher than an HP or Sony of the same price.
made the sturdiest Charu Peer , Mumbai
Fujitsu, Zenith and LG. This
year, these three fell the most in products, while Dell and
the rankings — Fujitsu fell eight Lenovo, in that order, were listed had the best after sales service, thought of as too expensive,
places, Zenith fell by six, and as the brands that listened to responded to queries better, and fell to the bottom of the
LG dropped four spots. We also consumer needs the best. People and had the quickest turn- ranking. Dell, Compaq and
had four new entrants this year also felt that Apple’s products around when repairing faulty Acer were considered the
— ASUS, Alienware, ACI and were the most advanced, but just products. cheapest in terms of purchase
MSI. ASUS debuted straight a tad more than Dell’s. When it When it came to loyalty, and maintenance. HP came
into twelfth place, which is a came to style, Apple won, with more people spoke positively fourth in that same list, and
big jump in such a crowded Sony close behind. about Sony to their friends, lost a lot of points in the overall
space of seventeen players. When we quizzed the and more also said they would running.
When it comes to awareness, respondents about satisfaction, recommend Sony as a purchase In the end, Dell dominated
Dell and HP dominated in terms Dell, HP and Sony emerged to friends. Dell owners seem to every aspect of our trust
of top of mind, unaided recall. as the top three. HP was be a satisfied bunch, and Dell calculation. We do expect a
The other brands that people recognised as the brand was the answer when we asked major scrap in this segment,
were able to recall easily, without most easily available all over people if they would continue so we hope to see the top five
help, were Lenovo and Sony. India, and also had the most to use the same brand. chop and change ranks over
When it came to aided recall, models available on demand. For TCO, however, Sony, the course of the year until our
everyone seemed to suddenly Respondents also felt that Dell Apple and Alienware were next survey.
PMPs
Rock the vote
L
ast year’s results Credibility saw Sony
saw Sony at the top, take top spot, and Apple
with Apple quite a was a close second with
bit behind. This year, Philips, Creative and
however, Apple’s fought back to Samsung following.
claim the top spot, with Sony When it came to quality
very close on its heels. Apple of the products, Sony
won on overall, despite Sony edged ahead of Apple,
winning in three of the five and remained there It’s the ultimate music player and world leader in this department. The iPod is just perfect.
parameters. So how exactly did when we asked about Raghav Gupta, Udaipur
this happen? sturdiness. People also
The answer lies in the felt that Sony was more best after sales service, and had When it came to cost of
awareness factor. Despite technologically advanced, more the best turnaround time for ownership, Philips, Creative
contributing the least weight responsive to consumer needs, repairs. Apple was regarded and Transcend won the top
to the overall score, Apple kept and also a tad more stylish. as the brand to make all their three spots, with Apple and
up with Sony on all counts, When it came to satisfying models most easily available. Sony at sixth and fourth
but trounced the entire list of customers, owners of PMPs People were more inclined to respectively.
brands here when it came to felt that Apple products talk positively about both Sony All the buzz around Apple’s
awareness. Consider this, over were of a better quality than and Apple to others, but more products has earned it this
60 per cent of all people polled Sony. People also voted that people were keen on using Apple award simply because most
said “Apple” when they were information about Apple’s products over the coming years. people think Apple (or iPod)
asked to name the first PMP players was a lot more easy to Sony was way ahead when we when they think of PMPs. This
brand that came to mind. In get, but salesmen knew more asked the respondents whether was by far the hardest category
comparison, only six per cent about Sony products. Philips they would buy products of to call, with the smallest margin
of people said “Sony”. was considered to have the different categories. of victory.
62 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
PMPs Readers of distrust
Laptops/Netbooks When asked which brand people would Some people were disqualified from Icons of Trust
When it came to buying different products from the recommend to friends and family, Sony the Readers’ of Trust competition for
same manufacturer, Sony won, but more laptop was just a tad ahead of Apple by a trying to find innovative ways to vote for
owners said their next laptop purchase would be a Dell fraction of a per cent themselves — several hundred times
MFDs / Printers
An easier call
L
ast year, HP dominated overtook Epson to get to
this category, with second place. Canon did
Canon and Epson left better than Epson in terms of
fighting for second quality of products, durability,
spot. This year, not surprisingly, improvements, listening
there was no change in the top to consumers, advanced
three, again. The biggest change technologies, design style,
was Wipro’s fall from fourth to innovation and ease of use.
eighth this year, and the biggest Basically, Canon was no match
climb was Brother — up two for HP, but managed to beat
places to sixth. Epson on all counts in the Because it is one of the most trusted brands, I use only HP printers. I’ve tried
When it came to awareness, credibility index. my friends printers, of other brands, and I find the printing and ink quality to be
HP dominated the top of Despite losing a rank to better on an HP.
mind recall, and over 71 per Canon in terms of satisfaction Jepil Philip, Coimbatore
cent of people had HP spring as well, Epson did manage Epson for the third spot behind ownership, Samsung came
to mind when thinking of to upset Canon in terms of HP and Canon. Samsung in a commendable second,
printers or MFDs. HP topped availability of products and was the second most popular ahead of Epson and Canon.
aided recall as well, with Wipro information. Canon got its own brand, when we asked whether Although this fight hardly
coming in second. Overall, HP back by having better informed people would purchase other seems fair, it’s still good to see
was first and Epson second sales people, after sales service, products of different categories a lot of competition, because
in the awareness field. HP quicker resolution of queries from the brands. Samsung was our Indian market certainly
actually topped in all the five and problems and also having also second when people were has the space for at least three
parameters, so we’re going to more models available for asked whether they would or four big players. As of this
stop stating the obvious and purchase at stores. continue to use the same brand year, our readers have spoken,
look at the rest. Samsung was the surprise for some time. and for this category, HP is the
As for credibility, Canon here, and managed to edge out Even in total cost of undisputed king.
PRASHANT JOSHI, 46 YEARS OLD, NAGPUR,
ROHAN MATTHEW, 23 YEARS OLD, KALPETTA
SELLS HARDWARE AND CONDUCTS IT TRAINING TECHNICAL ASSOCIATE AT A RESEARCH
Made most recommendations in the PCs, Netbooks and
INSTITUTE
Laptops categories. Twenty-five years in IT has given
Made most recommendations in the Assembled
Prashant Joshi plenty of learning room and 1000s
PCs, Monitors and External Hard disks categories
of people who have gone with his recommendations
Living in rural Wyanad, Kerala can be tough for a
before making their purchase. Prashant says he is in the
technophile or even anyone who just wants to choose
‘business of faith’, because so many people have trusted
a new computer. Internet connectivity just about got
his word before buying their computer. “We would
there and there is only shop that sells your favourite
provide consultation before people made their purchase.
magazine, says Rohan. He says that there is an increased need for advice
In some cases we even told a potential customer that they didn’t need to buy
in his neighbourhood and he seems to have become the local consultant
a computer. We would say ‘buy that computer only if you’re going to use it for
for gadget-buying advice. Friends, family and people he's never met
at least one hour a day’,” he says, continuing, “This would usually surprise the
call him up regularly to make sure they make the biggest bang for their
customer, but then they grew to trust us because of this and this made our
buck. He recalls how he's made the most recommendations, based on the
clients into an extended warm family, instead of just clients.”
Monitor-special issue of Digit. He's been a regular reader since 2001 and
Many of his clients went on to build multi-crore businesses from the terminals
he says this has been the biggest source of his learnings. He gives advice
he sold them. He therefore feels a sense of participation in helping build these
on scanners, printers, speakers, laptops and almost everything else PC-
businesses. Along the way, he says, Digit has helped him at many points. He
related as he is the only person that can provide that sort of advice there.
points out the issue on netbooks in particular, which has helped convince
many people to not waste money on a full-blown laptop when their
requirements were just for net-based computing.
ANISH SAWANT, 24 YEARS OLD, VASAI, a good guidance for his salesmen about their wares.
MUMBAI, recommendations. His recommendations He’s never considered making money
ENGINEERING STUDENT have spanned 10 years. Yes, that’s right. out of this hobby, especially since it’s
Made most recommendations in the Since he was 13 years old which he calls been with family and friends. “It’s just
Mobile phones and Laptops categories the “AIWA CD player days”. It was around the passion and interest of knowing
This young guy has a special place in that time he came across a 286 PC. From as much as I can about this stuff that
the heart of a cellphone shop in the there he relates how he spent hours upon makes me the person people come to for
Borivali area. He’s got over 40 people, hours researching the inner workings of advice. They know that they can trust me
among his friends and family, to buy computers and everything that surrounds because there isn’t any money involved
a cell phone from that shop. He says it. He would then go into shops and and that’s all that matters to me,” he
that his subscription to Digit has been spend even more time just talking to the says.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 63
Windows 7 Vendors bet big How stuff works
Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista, will Mobile Virtualisation firm VirtualLogix is funded by
incorporate virtualisation technology called XP Cisco, Intel Capital, Motorola and Texas Instruments,
mode for compatibility with older programs all big names in the technology business
system. The same argument holds true for by the company supporting the virtualisation ARM’s ARM 9 processor family. Samsung
users as well since they can use an application hypervisor. is developing cell phones based on mobile
developed for a different platform on their The mobile virtualisation hypervisor must virtualisation and the Xen project.
smartphones using mobile virtualisation and a be provided by the handset manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of
corresponding virtual machine. as a built in feature when shipping the the popular Blackberry software, have also
While we have just seen many advantages product. As a result, it becomes critical for announced that they will release a version of
of mobile virtualisation above, some challenges the virtualisation companies to partner with their blackberry operating system which will
lie ahead for this technology as well. handset manufacturers and ensure that run on Windows Mobile phones. This is also
Under mobile virtualisation, each virtual enough partners are on board to support and based on Multi-OS mobile virtualisation.
machine has its own scheduling processes use their technology. While VMware is a major player in the
and tasks running in the background. Unlike Now that we understand the technology, virtualisation space, it does not have a
a single operating system, multiple virtual we can take a look at the major companies smartphone based on the Mobile Virtualisation
machines will not share data regarding which are working on mobile virtualisation. Platform in the market yet. Both of its
scheduling requirements for different tasks and The largest firm in this group is VMware major competitors, Open Kernel Labs and
processes, etc. This can result in degradation Inc., owned by storage major EMC. VMware VirtualLogix have already released products
of performance across all virtual machines was one of the early pioneers in virtualisation for mobile virtualisation and are backed by
running on that device. and is a global leader in the virtualisation large hardware companies who will benefit
Mobile virtualisation suffers from some space. Though it is not available to when mobile virtualisation takes off. So these
performance and battery life issues. There is manufacturers yet, VMware entered the mobile two firms may be targets for an acquisition
a performance penalty since all commands virtualisation market with the VMware Mobile once the mobile virtualisation market develops
to the mobile hardware must pass through Virtualisation Platform (MVP) which they further. The Xen open source project also
the hypervisor which adds an extra layer of acquired from Trango Virtual Processors in has substantial technical expertise behind it.
waiting time since multiple virtual machines November 2008. The MVP software contains a It was responsible for the drop in prices of
are attempting to use common hardware. So hypervisor and supports mobile virtualisation server hypervisor software since open source
the designers have to ensure that performance on ARM processors and multiple smartphone software is free of cost. Hence, it too cannot be
does not drop noticably when multiple virtual operating systems. VMware demoed a Nokia underestimated.
machines are started on the phone hardware. N800 running Android along with Windows According to Gartner research, the mobile
Most smartphones are tweaked for battery life CE at VMworld Europe in February 2009. virtualisation segment is expected to grow
as part of a process that involves significant Open Kernel Labs is an existing provider at a fast pace by the year 2012. However, the
interaction between the operating system, of mobile virtualisation solutions for multiple current market is growing quite slowly. While
device drivers and running applications. smartphone operating systems. It has some of this can be attributed to the effects
However, since each virtual machine functions partnered with heavyweights like Motorola, of the worldwide economic recession and
in its own silo, none of them may be able to Citrix, ARM and a number of handset reduced spending on IT, the fact remains that
make decisions regarding energy management. manufacturers for incorporating mobile server virtualisation also took some time to
While time to market for the manufacturer virtualisation into their products. It has become prevalent in datacenters. The positive
decreases since they do not need to tweak the already launched a phone based on mobile sign is the entry of established virtualisation
operating system each time, the hypervisor virtualisation called the ‘Motorola Evoke QA4’. companies like VMware into this field because
needs to be able to support the many different VirtualLogix is another company in this shows that they are also expecting this
hardware comnbinations which may be used the mobile virtualisation field. Cisco, Intel, market to grow in the future. Considering
in the smartphone market. Companies like Motorola and Texas Instruments (TI) hold these facts, mobile virtualisation companies
ARM license their chip designs to mobile a stake in this company for development of have sufficient time to work on its negatives.
companies who may make their own design products based on mobile virtualisation. On the other hand, looking at the benefits that
modifications to the processors. In order to Xen is an open source project in the users get from mobile virtualisation, we can
support that particular hardware, the chip virtualisation field which has also released safely say that mobile virtualisation is going to
design and modifications must all be verified support for mobile virtualisation using be mainstream one day.
SMART OS
There are seven smartphone operating • Windows Mobile: Windows Mobile is support are expected in the upcoming
systems that are widely used in the market Microsoft’s smartphone operating system, Version 7.
today: currently at version 6.5. Substantial • iPhone OS: This is a lighter version of
• Symbian OS: Symbian, owned by Nokia, improvements and better touch screen Apple’s Mac OS X. The latest version is 3.0.
has the largest share in the worldwide • Linux: Linux is an open source operating
smartphone market although its market Palm webOS Others system. Many companies, including
share is very small in North America. 1% 1% Motorola, use it in their smartphones after
Although Symbian is used by other handset Linux changing the source code as per their
manufacturers as well, each of them uses Apple iPhone 8% requirements. Linux is available free of cost.
its own implementation of Symbian due 11% • Palm webOS: Palm has been losing market
to which all applications are incompatible Windows Mobile share over the last few years. The new
12% Symbian
across the different versions. 47% Palm device, the Palm Pre has gotten good
• RIM Blackberry: Research In Motion’s reviews as an iPhone challenger.
Blackberry is a well-known business phone RIM • Android: As of Q2 2009, Google’s Android
20%
known for its strong email and productivity had a 2.2% share of the worldwide
applications. RIM is soon going to release smartphone market (Source: Gartner). It
a version of Blackberry that will run on is based on Linux and is an open source
Windows Mobile as a virtual machine. The pie chart shows sales of smartphones as of Q4 operating system.
2008. Source: Gartner Research
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 57
3D notebook? Liquid
Acerfirst Android-based
Bazaar Acer’s Aspire 5738DG claims to be the
world’s first 3D laptop. The screen has
It’ll be the
smartphone to have a 800x480 pixel
a 3D coating which is used along with capacitive touchscreen and a 1GHz
polarized eyeglasses Snapdragon processor
Corsair H50 Hydro CPU Cooler
Keep your processor chilled-out!
T
he Corsair H50 is a
water-based cooling
solution for your
CPU. It is meant for
people who want to fiddle with
the overclocking possibilities Contact
of their processor without the Tirupati Enterprises
need of a fire extinguisher! Phone: +91-93392 07519
The setup consists of a pump Email: mail@tirupati.net
connected to a radiator and Web site: http://www.tirupati.
a 120mm intake fan. All the net
necessary accessories such as Price: Rs. 5,900
motherboard backplate, screws
and pump ring are provided Specifications
in the package. It isn’t very Cooling type: Liquid pre-filled,
hard to setup. Dimensionally, Intel heatsink. Prime95 was Here, the idle temperature was closed-loop, 120 mm fan
it won’t fit easily in a standard- used to load the CPU to 100 at 33 degrees. On working up Socket Support: LGA 775, LGA
size cabinet. Thus, for our per cent. We monitored the the CPU, it stabilised at 57 1366, LGA 1156, AM2/AM3
testing we used the Cooler CPU temperature using an degrees. As you can see, there’s
Master ATCS 840. We used an application called Everest. The a quite considerable difference RATINGS
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 temperature was at 40 degrees of 17 degrees and this delta Features..........................7
2.93 GHz processor which is centigrade under idle. After will only rise on overclocking. Performance...............7.5
known to run fairly hot along running Prime95 for about 5 At Rs. 5,900, it is expensive
with a MSI P43 Neo 3 board. minutes, it shot to 74 degrees as compared to basic water
Build quality...............6.5
The machine was powered on stock cooling. Next, we coolers. But it does the job Value for money ........6.5
by a Corsair HX620 PSU. replaced the stock heatsink well, and we’re giving it our Overall ............................7
Initially, we used the stock with the H50 cooler setup. thumbs up.
NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision
The Third Dimension
N
VIDIA has just given a monochrome LCD and it
gamers a serious works by alternatively blocking
shot in the arm, and light to either eye.
we’re not talking Therefore only certain
about the yet unreleased GT300 frames are visible by each
chip that is causing quite a eye, while others are blocked
stir. At first glance, you’ll be and alternating frames are
forgiven for mistaking the 3D slightly offset — while this
Vision to be a really goofy green makes the monitor blurry to with seeing two aiming reticules
and black pair of sunglasses, look at with the naked eye it are unforgivable. Batman Contact
which they’re obviously not! also serves to allow the wearer works flawlessly with a little Aditya Infotech Ltd
Given the abysmal history of to perceive 3D where there tuning, however, and the game Phone: +91-11-46665666
attempting to give gamers a true is, (obviously!), none. Driver characters and environs seem to Email: sales@adityagroup.com
3D experience, these are quite a integration is good, although reach out and grab you — super Web site: www.adityagroup.com
revelation. Not without the odd there is definitely scope for immersive and this was, we Price: Rs. 11,490
flaw as we found out. They’re improvement. All graphics cards have to admit, something that
well built and there’s a mini USB from the 9800 GTX era and later frankly adds a whole new layer RATINGS
port on one of the temple-arms are supported. to the gaming experience.Priced
for charging the tiny built-in Obviously games need to at Rs. 11,490 it’s expensive but
Features.........................8
Li-Ion battery. There’s a small IR support this and we had two hardcore gamers will not mind. Performance..............8.5
transmitter-cum-USB controller, titles that did — Crysis Warhead When more titles support the Build quality................7.5
two extra nose-pieces for fit and and Batman Arkham Asylum. 3D Vision properly, we’ll heartily Value for money ........6.5
a rather long DVI-to-HDMI cable Warhead looks decent but is recommend it. Till that time, Overall .........................7.5
bundled. Each lens is actually full of glitches, especially issues hold your horses.
Unigine ‘Heaven’ DX11 benchmark is just out showcasing the visual splendour of DX 11 Marvell’s custom designed Armada based on the ARM SoC design scales 1
64 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Core i7 notebook Nikon D3s
HP Pavilion dv8 stocks a Core i7
CPU with a full HD screen, up to
Nikon’s D3s is announced and it sports
a 12.1 megapixel sensor with 720p24
Bazaar
8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT230 video mode and a ridiculously high
graphics and Blu-ray maximum ISO of 1,02,400
Circle Multimedia Keyboard and Mouse
A razor-thin keyboard and a mouse with striking looks
T
he Circle Multimedia design raises an eyebrow. It mouse can be given the boot,
C44 keyboard is a seems to be designed with unless you are really
wired USB keyboard. better ergonomics in mind. smitten by its
With a thickness of While it feels good to use at weird looks.
just 15 mm, it’s way thinner first, it can be a little painful
than your average keyboard. to use after some time,
Combined with the large especially for large hands.
palm-rest the keyboard is quite Secondly, the design is not
comfortable. Unfortunately, ambidextrous. The mouse
the build quality is a bit flimsy. offers good sensitivity for basic
The function keys feel weird usage purposes. Other than
to use at first, owing to their the scroll, it does not have any
different, rounded design. other shortcut buttons. Contact
The keyboard has a plethora Out of the two, we feel the Circle
of hotkeys. It offers a soft key keyboard is a decent buy! The Phone: +91-22-6671 1234
input response. Certain typical Email: sales@entercircle.com
Neon Mouse C44 Keyboard
positions like the navigation Web site: www.entercircle.com
keys or the Home-Page rows of RATINGS RATINGS Price: Rs. 699 (C44 Keyboard)
keys are reorganised and takes Features.........................6 Features..........................7 Rs. 549 (Neon Mouse)
some time to get used to them. Build Quality ...............5.5 Build Quality ...............5.5
The mouse is USB-powered
Performance.................6 Performance..............6.5 Specifications
as well. As soon as you plug Sensor resolution: 800 dpi
it in, the centre lining of the
Value for money ...........5 Value for money ..........6 Buttons: 2 buttons + wheel -
mouse emits an orange glow. Overall .........................5.5 Overall ........................6.5 mouse, 16 multimedia buttons
This, along with the odd - keyboard
Apple iPod Nano
Shoot! It’s got video...
F
irst reactions are ‘WOW! inability to zoom in and lack of
– they actually included flash or low-light assist ensures
a video camera’. Then, the recording functionality is
sadly, you use it. That is basic. Music performance is
Specifications how we’d like to sum the latest identical to earlier Nanos —
8/16 GB flash storage, video iPod Nano. It’s identical to the which is pretty excellent. Only
recorder – 640 x 480 pixels, FM previous generation except the the treble is a little unruly
Radio with live pause silver version we got looks ultra compared to the iPod Classic and
Screen size: 2.2-inches classy — it’s not matte finished the bass isn’t as focussed and
Weight: 36.4 g like its predecessor, but the detailed, but these are nitpicks
aluminium has a satiny finish by someone of a discerning
Contact and this is quite frankly more nature and most people will
Apple India reason to buy one than the not find anything amiss. The
Phone: +91-80-4140 9000 integrated video camera. With display, now larger at 2.2 inches,
Email: indiasales@mac.com the 8 GB one costing Rs. 9,400 is good for video and seems to
Web site: www.apple.co.in and the 16 GB Nano priced at have marginally better colours
Price: Rs. 11,200 (16 GB) Rs. 11,200, they’re significantly than the older Nanos. There
better value-for-money than the are a number of colour options
RATINGS earlier Nanos. Another addition available for both 8 and 16 GB
sure to go down well with Indian versions, unlike earlier when
Features.........................8 audiences is the FM Radio with certain colours were reserved for
Build Quality .................9 live pause — a first for iPods. the larger capacity models.
Performance..............8.5 The video camera captures A worthy successor with two some work. It’s a great buy and
Value ...............................7 at VGA resolution (640 x 480 nifty additions — one a godsend is highly recommended though
Overall ...........................8 pixels) and while quality isn’t for many — FM radio. The other, current Nano users gain little
bad, (for the resolution), the the video camera that needs from the upgrade.
GHz Watch out for AMDs ‘Hemlock’, 3200 stream processors promise to pack a wallop Intel has delayed USB 3.0 support on their hardware till 2011
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 65
Proximity Sensor
Bazaar NIO bluetooth security
device can be placed on your
Nokia’s Booklet 3G
netbook is reportedly
valuables and warns you if it going to sell for USD
goes out of proximity 600 (Rs. 28,800).
Cooler Master ATCS 840
Aluminium monstrosity!
T
he ATCS 840 from for the hard disk and the optical
Cooler Master is drive, although the latter did
part of the elite not fit in as securely. Another
range of cabinets great thing about this cabinet
for really discerning folk. An is the removable motherboard
all-aluminium design gives tray that makes installation
this huge cabinet a classy and quite easy. The cutout on this
corrosion-resistant look. Given tray allows easy installation of
its size and weight, it’s not backplate coolers. The cabinet
something you’d want to move comes with an external GPU
often. The external ports neatly cooling chassis that we doubt
hide in a clickable flap on the will be a necessity for such a
top. It’s got a total of three giant well-ventilated cabinet.
230-mm fans on top and front, At Rs. 15,000, it’s obviously
and a standard 120-mm fan at not for everyone. We have
the back. You can also place a almost no qualms, except that
fan at the bottom grille which is the price could have been a
protected by a neat removable couple of thousand rupees
dust cover. Both side covers as cheaper, considering it’s not as
well as the top are removable well built as Cooler Master’s
via hand-removable screws. But Stacker RC 830.
the covers don’t slide back in a
single stroke. RATINGS Contact
The two 230-mm fans on Features.......................7.5 Cooler Master
the top can be replaced by a Phone: +91-94225 01592
radiator on top and there are
Performance...............7.5 Email: Specifications
openings for cooling pipes. Build quality...................7 Tanmay_l@Coolermaster.com Size: Full tower
A PSU can either be top, or Value for money ...........6 Web site: Cooling: 2 x 230 mm, 2 x 120 mm
bottom mounted. We liked the Overall ............................7 www.coolermaster.com fans
easily removable mechanisms Price: Rs. 15,000 Weight: 13.25 kgs
Gigabyte ODIN Plus 700W PSU Contact
Priya Ltd
Phone: +91-22-4220 3100
Email:
No Thor’s hammer sales@priyagroup.com
Web site: www.priyagroup.com
T
he Gigabyte ODIN aids excavation of hot Price: Rs. 10,499
uses the more air. Surrounding the
expensive active fan are blue LEDs. For Specifications
Power Factor those who don’t want Dimension: 150 x 150 x 86 mm
Correction (PFC) thus this lighting effect, a (W x L x H)
providing more efficient power small power switch is Weight: 2 kg
frequency, than a passive PFC. provided to turn the 24-pin Motherboard Connector: 1
It is also certified with an 80 LEDs off. 4+4-pin +12V CPU Connector: 1
Plus Bronze rating which is It’s got two 6+2 (6+2)-pin PCI-E 2.0 Connectors: 2
a standard to gauge energy- pin PCI-E connectors SATA Connectors: 6
efficient power supplies. that are colour-coded 4-pin Peripheral Connectors: 4
It’s build quality isn’t as for easy identification. 4-pin Floppy Connector: 1
sturdy as Corsair’s HX series Thus running under SLI mode power connectors, it also has
SMPS’, but is quite fair in is possible, provided your the typical molex connectors RATINGS
general. It is not based on a graphic card just needs one for older hard/optical
modular design, that is, the power connection each. Many drives without the need for
Features.......................5.5
power outlet connectors are high performance cards these conversion wires. At over Rs. Performance..............6.5
detachable. At the bottom, we days need two connectors. 10,000, it grossly overpriced. Build Quality ..............6.5
have a standard 120-mm fan Thus, using them under SLI One of our major qualms with Value for money ...........3
for exhaust purposes and a would be impossible with this PSU is its non-modular Overall .........................5.5
honeycomb grille at the rear this PSU. Along with SATA design.
Built for Tesla, watch out for NVIDIAs Fermi GPU, with 3-billion transistors set to debut in 2010 Rumoured HTC Leo confirmed as the Touch HD 2, with a
66 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
X4 flash!
Samsung’s Blue Earth
phone is a 3.5G full-
Sandisk ships world’s first X4-based
memory card. The X4 technology
Bazaar
touch handset that can hold twice as many cells as
sports a solar panel traditional NAND chips
Creative Inspire T6160
Surprise punch
T
his is the latest 5.1 we brought out our
channel speaker Creative Audigy 2
offering from Platinum soundcard
Creative’s stables. and gave it a thorough
However, this diminutive run with tracks from
audio device acquired quite a various genres, before
Contact few double takes. Let’s look moving on to the
Compuage Infocom Ltd at the physical attributes and games and movies.
Phone : +91-92233 25430 build first. The wires for the The sound quality was
Email: vinod.thakkar@ rear satellites are adequately unexpectedly good,
compuageindia.com long, while the ones for the especially the highs.
Web site : http://in.creative.com front pair were a tad short. The mids were slightly
Price : Rs. 4,999 The volume control is on a suppressed and
wired remote dial similar to instrument separation
Specifications the older Creative Inspire started dropping in
Power: 6 Watts RMS satellites systems like the 5200, except the more instrument
20 Watts RMS subwoofer for the bass control, which is heavy tracks. Bass
Frequency response: 40Hz ~ located on the back panel of was quite tight and
20kHz the subwoofer. This is quite while being more
SNR: >75dB a pain since most of us don’t powerful than we
have perfectly normalised expected considering
RATINGS files and have to reach for the RMS rating and size of the this range. Coming to movies
Features.........................6 the bass control almost as downward-firing subwoofer, and games, the rumble of
Performance..................7 often as the volume knob. it could’ve been better. The the theatre and the location-
The T6160 speaker system is speakers retained clarity based sounds of games were
Build quality...............6.5 positioned as a gaming and without distortion till about rendered quite well. Overall,
Value for money ............7 movie entertainment device. 70 per cent up its volume a worthy contender if you’re
Overall ............................7 Still, what else is a good spectrum, which is quite shopping for an entry-level 5.1
speaker for, if not music? So good for a speaker system in system.
WD TV Mini Media Player Contact
A tiny digital media player Western Digital Corporation
Phone: +91-93210 29204
Email:
T
he WD TV mini is a it could not play were high- amarjeet.singh@wdc.com
tiny media player definition video files (720p Web site: www.wdc.com
that connects resolution and above), but Price: Rs 6,000
to your TV and that’s what differentiates it
plays media from any from its elder cousin, Specifications
USB storage medium. the WD TV HD. Video: AVI (Xvid, MPEG1/2/4),
Unlike its elder brother, Music as well as MPG/MPEG, VOB, MP4/MOV
the WD TV HD, the mini photos played (MPEG4), RM or RMVB 8/9/10
does not sport an HDMI port. without a Photo: JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG
On connecting it to our full hitch. Its file Audio: MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM,
HD LCD TV, it automatically management WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, OGG, APE
detected the optimal resolution. TV’s remote for the same. menu lets you Interface: Component A/V ,
The interface looks cool and To test the device, we threw copy-paste and delete files on Composite A/V, USB 2.0, S/PDIF
is fairly responsive. The nifty a variety of encoded video files the connected drive.
search feature lets you key in at it, and it played most of them At Rs. 6,000, the WD Mini is RATINGS
the file that you’re looking for. perfectly. One of its features way overpriced. Its functionality Features......................6.5
We are happy to report that is upscaling typical videos to can be served by any sub-Rs. Performance...............7.5
NTFS formatted storage is 1080i resolution. Comparatively, 3,000 DivX-compatible DVD
supported. The bundled remote the difference in quality is not player with a USB port. We
Build quality...................7
is comfortable to use; but sadly, as good when up-scaled. But would have recommended it, Value for money ...........4
there is no separate volume overall, we were pretty happy had the price been around half Overall ........................6.5
control, so you’ll need to use the with the video quality. What of that.
1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and a 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen. And that’s not all…it runs on WM 6.5 Apple to add Windows 7 to BootCamp
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 67
Aino & the PS3 Power-saving
Sony’s touchscreen all-in-one PC
Bazaar Sony Ericsson’s Aino can turn
your PS3 on and off, browse
lets you switch the PC part off
and use it as an LCD monitor
its user interface and access
content on the PS3’s hard drive
Contact
Rashi Peripherals Pvt. Ltd.
Asus RT-N16
Phone: -1800-209-0303 Boasts ‘high’ performance and ease-of-use
Email: response@rptechindia.
com
A
Web site: www.asus.com SUS’ RT-N16 has a on a USB
Price: Rs. 7,000 distinct appearance drive. You can
— a cool white shade also connect
Specifications and three protruding printers and
LAN ports: WAN x 1, LAN x 4 RJ- antennae. It’s a tad larger scanners to
45 for 10/100/1000 Base T than some other routers. its USB port
USB port: USB2.0 x 2 Although having support for and use them
Size: 216 x 161.9 x 40.5 mm 802.11n, it’s sad to know that wirelessly.
Weight: 470 g it doesn’t support the 5-GHz We tested
Encryption: 64/128-bit WEP, band; which comes in handy this router
WPA/WPA2-PSK, WPA/WPA2- to reduce interference if you by physically
Enterprise, Radius with 802.1x have many 2.4-GHz devices connecting it
Network Protocol: ic IP ,Static around (like cordless phones). to our test PC.
IP, PPPoE(MPPE supported), It has an easy-to-use interface. We hooked up
PPTP, L2TP The automatic diagnostics an Acer Aspire
and setup tutorials are quite 4736z laptop could observe, the router does
RATINGS helpful. Some of its key to the router in the 802.11n a good job when the device
Features.......................7.5 features include file sharing mode. We tested in three zones is used at moderate ranges.
on USB over FTP, automatic — Zone 1 was close, Zone 2 At longer ranges, the speeds
Performance..............6.5
bandwidth allocation and a was roughly 10 meters away would be hampered. We liked
Build Quality ..............6.5 nifty app called Download outside a closed room and the feature set on this device
Value for Money ........6.5 Master that lets you set HTTP, Zone 3, was on a lower level in but it’s pricey at Rs. 7,000.
Overall ............................7 FTP as well as BitTorrent the same building. Moreover, it’s not the best
downloads to be saved directly Overall, from what we performer around.
Apple LED Cinema Display
24-inches of Mac-only joy
A
pple’s 24-inch Cinema typical 24-inch LCDs on account so-beautiful reflections. Movie
Display is built around of the aluminium bodywork. It quality is good and the display
the same design uses an S-IPS panel with LED gives very decent contrast and
ethos as their latest backlighting. colour with no noticeable pixel Contact
Macbooks — slick, sleek and Our Spyder3Elite reported lag. The inbuilt web camera and Apple India
tough. It’s much heavier than the maximum contrast ratio speakers have good quality and Phone: 1-800-425-0744
at 745:1, which is volume. Email: indiasales@mac.com
very respectable A mini DisplayPort connects Web site: www.apple.co.in
for an S-IPS panel. to all the latest Macbooks and Price: Rs. 60,900
Brightness levels Macbook Pros. There is no DVI
are a bit weaker or HDMI connectivity, and so Specifications
than expected i.e. forget using this with a regular Response time: 14 ms
325 cd/m^2, but PC or notebook. Maximum supported resolution:
not bad for an S-IPS There are a few quirks when 1920 by 1200 pixels
panel. After doing using with any Macbook Pro Ports: Three USB 2.0, mini
a few calibration like a bit of an input lag while DisplayPort, Magsafe power
tests, we were pretty using apps like MS Office 2008.
impressed with its Priced at Rs. 60,900 it’s RATINGS
colour rendition. expensive as similar panels sell
For some reason, for as little as Rs. 40,000. But its
Features..........................5
Apple chose to LED based, slim and sexy and of Performance.................8
impart a glossy course only for Mac users who Build Quality .............. 9.5
finish to the panel. are used to paying premiums for Value for Money .........5.5
The result? Loss in hardware — so we’ll give it a nod. Overall ............................7
beauty with not-
Rumoured HTC Leo confirmed as the Touch HD 2, with a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and a 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen. And that’s not all…it runs
68 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Android & XP Storm part deux
The Acer Aspire One AOD250 is
the first netbook to dual-boot
The BlackBerry Storm 2 previews
hit the internet and it seems to
Bazaar
between Google Android and provide faster and smoother
Windows XP OS typing than its predecessor
Philips GoGear Raga and Vibe Media
Players
A swarm of portable music players
T
he square-shaped Vibe are quite tactile, especially
GoGear Raga has a the navigation ones. The sound
metal-clad red body quality on the Vibe is, fortuantely
that makes it feel tough better than the Raga; and unlike
and look cool. The front bears it, the output delivered by the
a small three-line monochrome default pair of earphones is quite
display. The navigation buttons decent. Voice recording and FM
are a bit stiff. The simple-design like the Raga is pretty average. Specifications Specifications
UI works swiftly. FM reception The Philips GoGear Raga 2GB GoGear Raga Vibe Media Player
is average. Its voice recording is available for Rs. 2,499 and the Screen: 128 x 48 pixel, 3 line LCD Screen: 128 x 128 pixel, 1.5-inch
feature couldn’t capture voices Vibe 2GB sells for Rs. 3,499. Off Audio Format: MP3, WAV, WMA LCD
very clearly. Sound quality is just the two, we’d recommend the Built-in memory: 2GB Audio Format: MP3, WMA
about average but the earphones GoGear Vibe if you’re looking Other features: FM Radio, Voice Built-in memory: 2GB
are a bottleneck. It sounds for a pocketable MP3 player with Recorder, FM recording Other features: FM Radio, Voice
somewhat flat and will not tingle decent sound. Playtime on internal battery: Up Recorder, FM recording
your audiophile senses. However, to 27 hours Playtime on internal battery: Up
swapping to a better pair of Contact to 25 hours audio or 4 hours video
earphones will do the trick. Contact: Philips Electronics
The Philips GoGear Vibe is a India Ltd. RATINGS RATINGS
slightly advanced cousin of the Phone: 1860-1801111 Features.........................6 Features......................6.5
Raga. It looks quite decent; it’s E-mail: customercare.India@
built decently too. The Vibe has philips.com
Performance...............5.5 Performance..................7
a 1.5-inch display that’s easy to Web site: www.india.philips.com Build Quality ..................7 Build Quality .................6
read; but definitely not that good Price: Rs. 2499 (Raga), Rs. 3499 Value for Money ........6.5 Value for Money ........6.5
to use the video playback feature (Vibe) Overall ...........................6 Overall ............................7
religiously. The buttons on the
Nikon D3000
Contact Within reach of many
Contact: Nikon India Private Ltd
I
Phone: +91-124-468 8500 ntended as a replacement The high ISO
Web site: www.nikon.co.in for the D60, Nikon’s new performance is rather
Price: Rs. 39,990 D3000 comes with the good and ISO800 is
same standard 18-55 mm passable; although it’s
Specifications VR, 3x optical zoom lens found definitely not in the
10.2-MP CCD sensor (23.6 x 15.8 on other entry-level models. D90s league.
mm), 18-55 mm VR lens There’s no lens motor in the Nikon’s Guide
Shutter speed range: 1/4000 - body — typical for its price range. mode simplifies things
30 seconds The sensor is the same 10-MP for newbies with a
ISO range: 100 – 3200, 1080 CCD unit in the D60. colourful main menu
mAH Li-ion Nikon battery The body is a bit bulkier for the basic operations. The and it gives very good results. It
Dimensions: 126 x 97 x 64 mm than the D60 with a larger controls are simple to use and has a great aperture range and
Weight: 485 g 3-inch screen. Live view is still unlike the costlier dSLRs, there shutter speed. At Rs. 37,950, it’s
missing. In contrast, Canon has is no dedicated ISO button and a worthy replacement for the
RATINGS this feature on their cheaper the D3000 makes do with a entry-level winner of our dSLR
Features..........................7 EOS 1000D. The move to an single jog dial. So, you’re forced test — the D60. For those who
Performance...............7.5 11 focus point system up from to use a few more buttons while already have a D60 or any other
Build Quality ...............7.5 the 3-point system is good — a shooting — good for newbies but cheap dSLR in this range, this
welcome feature. Image quality not hardcore dSLR users. isn’t for you. You’re better off
Value for money ............7 is good with the default lens, The D3000 is a good camera with a Sony A330, a D5000 or
Overall ............................7 although it’s a bit inadequate — the body has the right build, even the D90 if those fall within
for various shooting conditions. the controls are pretty simple your budget.
on WM 6.5 Engineers from North Carolina State University have created a new fingernail-size chip that can hold 1 trillion bytes (a terabyte) of data.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 69
Bazaar The iDriver app for
the iPhone is able
The next firmware version
of the Playstation 3 rumours
to wirelessly drive a to have cross-game voice
prototype test vehicle chat support
Nokia E63
Contact
E71 minus some equipment Nokia India Pvt. Ltd.
Phone: 1800-4253388
N
okia’s E63 is a cheap mm audio jack to plug in any E-mail:
alternative to the other earphones. The quality of communications@nokia.com
E71 business phone. the 2.0-MP camera is average. Web site: www.nokia.co.in
One of the biggest Unlike the E71, the E63 doesn’t Price: Rs. 12,699
differences between the two have GPS.
phones is the standard plastic The E-series phones might
body on the E63. Thanks to the be designed for businessmen,
Specifications
slightly wider body, the keys but with so many people 2.36-inch screen, ARM 11 369-
are larger and thus typing on looking out for QWERTY MHz processor, 2-MP camera,
it is easier. It fits in easily into phones for the sake of a good QWERTY keypad, Symbian S60
pretty much any pocket. keyboard for messaging and 9.2, WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth
The processor and the rest of emailing, the Nokia E63 is the 2.0, 3.5-mm audio jack, microSD
the hardware is identical to the perfect solution. At Rs.12,699, memory expansion slot
E71. We noticed no slowdown it’s easily one of the more Dimensions: 113 x 59 x 13 mm
while using the phone’s built-in affordable QWERTY phones. Weight: 126 g
applications. The interface is When you buy the E63, you
simple to use. Audio quality on can be rest assured that you’ve RATINGS
the phone is great and so is the bought something that’s pretty Features..........................7
reception. The signal strength much the E71 except for the
stays high and stable even in fancier metal back and the
Performance...............7.5
areas that usually don’t give built-in GPS. If you need those Build Quality ..................7
great reception. The bundled features, you can still go in for Value for Money ...........8
earplugs are average, but the E71, but for a whole Rs. Overall .........................7.5
fortunately the E63 uses a 3.5- 4,300 more!
Samsung Omnia Pro B7320
Just another QWERTY phone...
T
he B7320 has a classy, a camera phone. Call quality Contact
business-friendly and network reception is Samsung India
appeal although the pretty good. Surprisingly for Phone: +91-11-4151 1234
brown color tone may a Windows phone, the phone Email:
put-off a few. It’s sleek and fairly belts out decent audio quality sarfaraz.b@samsung.com
light. The fairly-sized screen and the headset also has a Web site:
disappoints owing to average 3.5-mm headphone jack. The http://in.samsungmobile.com
sunlight legibility. The keyboard phone lasted about 1.5 days
has well-sized keys, but they’re under heavy usage, which is Specifications
hard and not intuitive to use. quite fine. Spec-by-spec, it is Network: Quad-band GSM,
On the inside, we have the comparable to the Nokia E71. HSDPA at 3.6 Mbps
ageing Windows Mobile 6.1 OS If heavy typing is what you’re Dimensions/Weight: 111.8 x 59.6
laced with Samsung interface looking for, we’d recommend x 12.6 mm / 110 grams
customisations. The internal the E71 over this one. But if Screen: 2.4 inches 320 x 240
hardware is fairly powerful to you are specifically looking pixel
run the UI at a decent pace, a for Windows Mobile device, Processor: Qualcomm MSM
welcome change from the laggy then it’s not a bad option to 7201A 528 MHz
performance we’re used to from consider, but we feel, that, for a Memory: 256 MB RAM, 256 MB
Windows Mobile devices. non-touch device it should have ROM
The praise ends there. been priced lower. OS: Windows Mobile 6.1
Internet Explorer is simply Professional (upgradeable to WM
unusable to view full-fledged RATINGS 6.5 when released)
web sites. It comes only with Connecitivty: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g,
viewers for MS Office files, Features..........................7 Bluetooth 2.0, HSDPA, A-GPS
there’s no option to create Performance..............6.5 Camera: 3.2 MP auto-focus,
documents. GPS works well Build Quality .................6 Geo-tagging, face and smile
with Google Maps. Photos from Value for Money ........6.5 detection, Video
the camera appeared slightly Overall ........................6.5 Battery: 1480 mAh
washed out, but acceptable for Price: Rs. 16,500
They said their nanostructured Ni-MgO system can store up to 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text US company and its Chinese partner are
70 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
N97 mini WD TV
The Nokia N97 Mini to get
a Limited Edition design
WD TV’s new Live
model supports
Bazaar
in collaboration with 1080p, HDMI and an
fashion brand RAOUL Ethernet jack
Aperture 2
Let the photos flow
A
perture 2 is a powerful the installation. Both Mac Contact
photo management newbies and fanboys alike Apple
and post production will find the software pretty Phone Number: 1-800-425-0744
image editing software intuitive. The software Email Address: indiasales@
for Mac, that is aimed mainly at handles EXIF data and RAW mac.com
professionals. For a Windows files well. You can create Web site: www.apple.co.in
layman, Aperture is essentially smart albums from multiple Price: Rs. 9,500
like Picasa on steroids. It parameters that allow you
includes several features to to filter down to the exact Requirements
manage workflow and make photos that you want. Once Mac Pro / MacBook and above
life a lot easier for professionals you have a set of images, you last month’s camera test. The Mac OS X v10.4.11 Tiger
who ordinarily shoot tons of can work on them in different application imports very well Mac OS X v10.5.2 Leopard
pictures. ways; be it a light table or from a camera, but importing 5GB of hard drive space
In terms of image editing, comparing them side by side. from folders was quite a pain 1 GB RAM or 2 GB on Mac Pro
the software has functionality Loupe is very useful tool in this as it didn’t recurse sub-folders
that is akin to developing film regard that essentially mimics automatically. Still, such minor RATINGS
in a studio, i.e post production magnification. The heads-up irritants aside, this software is Features..........................7
touch ups such as hue, tint, display brings the Projects, a must have for a professional Performance..................7
white balance and exposure Metadata, and Adjustments photographer as well as any Ease of use .................6.5
rather than full-scale image panes together in one tabbed Mac user who has more than a
manipulation offered by suites pane for easy access. We loaded cursory interest in photography
Value for money ............5
such as Photoshop. The ease a few sample projects as well as and a great deal of money to Overall ........................6.5
of use comes across right from the multitude of test shots from spare.
Norton Internet Security 2010
A good primary line of defence
W
ith this latest are downloading, with data called SafetyMinder — a small
edition of NIS, from other users who’ve gripe since it could have as
Norton aims to downloaded the same file. If well been included in the main
enhance user there isn’t enough information package. At Rs 2,495 for a
experience and bring more about the file, it asks you to three PC license, and Rs 1,450 tact
Contact
information to the user. To steer clear for a while. Still, for a single PC license you may Symantec Corp
this end, the Insight feature going by the way it works, we consider buying it as a step up Phone: +91-99209 29298
lets you view processor and fail to see how Quorum can over free suites, for personal as Email:
memory usage, important work without sacrificing the well as small office use. nortonindia@symantec.com
downloads, installations and first few proverbial lambs. Web site: in.symantecstore.com,
scan points historically against Other options in the package norton.com
a timeline. At the same time, include customising idle Warranty: 1 year update
Norton has muted the pop time usage for scans as well subscription
up alerts by giving users the as battery management for Price: Rs. 2,495 (3 PC) and Rs.
option to control notifications. portables. With this edition it 1,450 (Single PC)
2010 is compatible with takes a page out of NIS 2009,
Windows 7, yet on our RC1 by keeping its footprint as System Requirements
machine, it popped up a non- small as possible. Rounding Windows XP SP2 / Vista / Win7
compatibility error and refused up all the modules in this suite 300 MHz or faster processor
to live update or register an such as firewall, new safe web 512 MB RAM
account for a while. One of protection that annotates
the newer features added to links in search results, network RATINGS
this edition is a reputation security map and password
engine called Quorum. management; NIS 2010 is a
Features..........................7
This is Norton’s attempt good overall AV solution for Performance..............6.5
at going beyond heuristics most purposes. There is also Ease of use .....................7
and virus signatures to try a parental control feature that Value for money ...........6
to detect unknown threats. requires users to download Overall ........................6.5
It cross references files you another small application
piloting a bus powered by ultracapacitors in Washington DC. Ultracapacitors are considerably cheaper and can be recharge completely in under a minute
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 71
Graphic Cards Test DirectX 11 games
AMD showcases the DX 11 games NVIDIA SLI Update
roadmap from now till the end of New version adds SLI support for
2010 more games with the 191.07 drivers
Michael Browne
michael.browne@thinkdigit.com
G
one are the days when choosing a GPU was simply decided by
Graphics gurus ATi and NVIDIA at the coins jingling in your pocket, because of the meagre options
each other’s throats again and vying available at any price. And a bittersweet goodbye it is, for while
choice is a boon it also a bane as it involves ‘proper’ decision-
for a place in your motherboards PCI making — a task easier said than done for most people. Additionally, GPU
Express slot. We test all the latest manufacturers have been guilty of ‘kissing-up’ to game developers on
GPUs available, putting them through occasion for optimising a game for their hardware thereby making your
the best games around. Who won, who choice (sometimes) dependent on the titles you play. If this isn't bad enough,
DX 11 is around the corner and while everyone is thrilled to bits about
lost? And which one will you buy? it being backward compatible, this only pertains to DX 11 working on
Windows Vista. Obviously, your shiny new ATi Radeon HD 4870 will not
support DX 11 and while it will play a DX 11 game in DX 10, (or even DX
9), mode, you will miss out on the goodness that DX 11 brings; be it in the
form of eye-candy or frames per second (fps hereon). In fact, DX 11 has a lot
of goodness promised and as sceptical we were given the DX 10 fiasco, we’re
pleased that for once Microsoft has really worked well with game developers
and hardware manufacturers alike. To conclude, the next-gen API is shaping
up well.
The Battle
Rages On...
Photography: Manas Parekh
Imaging: Chaithanya Surpur
72 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
ZOTAC MAG Flash on mobiles Graphic Cards Test
ZOTAC enters net-top business Adobe launches Flash player
with its compact, Ion-powered 10.1 with GPU support on
solution called the MAG mobile phones
Mid-range cards up to HD 4850 cards’ cooling solution. pretty hot, the body of the NOVEMBER 2009
Rs. 10,000 The infamous single-slot cooler cooler and the rear of the
This was the most populous was woefully inadequate and card also heats up. The
category by far and with good these cards heated a lot. It ZOTAC 9800 GT Synergy
reason — 80 per cent of the wasn’t uncommon to see core has no requirement for
gaming fraternity will look temperatures soar northwards additional power and
to spend within this range. of 90 degrees. Sapphire's custom makes do with the power
No fools themselves, ATi and cooler with aluminium fins and a supplied by the PCIe slot.
NVIDIA are wise to the fact. Such small shroud only covers the core The cooler on this card
cards are more than suitable but it is a dual-slot design and has a large surface area Galaxy GeForce GTS 250
for gaming and you can buy obviously better than the stock and covers nearly the
a fair bit of graphics grunt for solution. XFX’s HD 4850 (HD- whole card with a lot of Galaxy’s GTS 250 cards have a
under Rs. 10,000 these days. 485X-YD HD) has a heatsink fins and a small fan. Palit’s GTS unique cooler — neat design and
A sweet, shiny-new entrant to and shroud like NVIDIAs cards 250 has two 6-pin molex power slightly smaller than a full length
this category is ATi’s shiny new — it's large, runs along the entire connects unlike the two ZOTAC cooler as the shroud is a lot
Radeon HD 5770. Codenamed card and is dual-slot design — in cards that have a single 8-pin smaller but the cards get slightly
‘Juniper’, this card is a DX 11 part fact, XFX seems to be using this connect. ASUS has designed a hotter than stock-cooler bearing
and surprised us (spoiler!). The very same design on a lot of neat cooler for their MATRIX GTS 250 cards.
other GPUs falling into this price their cards. ZOTAC's GTS 250 series and they persist with the MSI 9800 GTX (N9800GTX-
range are the NVIDIA GeForce 512 MB is a small card — no same design for all cards which T2D512) has an issue with the
GTS 250, 9800 GTX and 9800 bigger than the PCB of a 9600 is a bit disorienting since there cooler shroud foiling with the
GT, and ATi Radeon HD 4850, GT and it has a neat custom is no NVIDIA or ATi badging retention on the 6-pin molex
4830 and 4770. cooler with large aluminium to tell, say a Radeon HD 4850 power connects although the
Sapphire is careful with their fins. Unfortunately, it also gets apart from a GeForce 9800GT. flexible shroud bends slightly
HOW WE TESTED
O
ur test configuration All games and benchmarks were this means the Radeon HD 4850 card. In general anything above
had to be the fastest installed on D: drive and after was compared to the GeForce 30 fps is playable, although for
around since we needed install we patched everything to 9800 GT and the GTX, while the first person action games we
to minimise bottlenecks. So we their respective latest versions. Radeon HD 5870 was compared recommend a frame rate in the
chose premium components Once installation was done, a to the Radeon 4870 x2 and range of 50 to 60.
throughout. Our unanimous disk cleanup was run on both the GTX 285 / 295 combo. This We used Riva Tuner's latest
choice for the CPU was Intel’s partitions. Both partitions were ensured that a costly 9800 GTX version to record temperatures
Core i7 975 Extreme (3.33 GHz). then checked for errors and (for example) would find itself and also checked the drivers
For the motherboard, we used defragmented. with other 9800 GTX cards and reading for the same to check
our last month's Best Performer, For game benchmarks, we not compared to a GTX 260. for discrepancies. The cards
the ASUS Rampage 2 Extreme wanted something that was fairly Within a single category, a specifications were noted by
motherboard (Intel X58 chipset- new with really good engines. division on the basis of price was using the latest version of
based). This is a uber feature- The challenge was selecting titles made. GPU-Z. We used the latest
rich board that’s packed to the that are also popular. We tried For the high-end cards version of drivers from NVIDIA's
gills with quality components. a lot of games, around 15 in all above the Rs. 10,000 price mark, and ATI's websites. For NVIDIA,
Kingston’s HyperX tri-channel and tested each game on four we used higher resolutions – this was version 190.62 while for
DDR3 kit (3 x 1 GB, 1600 MHz cards, two ATi and two NVIDIA. 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050 the Radeon cards, we used the
@ 9-9-9-24) and a 10,000 This allowed us to check scaling – common for 24 and 22-inch newest driver for the HD 58xx
rpm, 300 GB Western Digital on cards from both vendors. We LCD monitors. This screen series since it works fine with the
Velociraptor hard drive were also eventually selected six of the size is affordable for someone older 4xxx series of cards as well.
used. Corsair’s excellent HX620 best games on the basis of how spending on a high-end card. Besides raw fps values, we
provided the juice to power well they scaled in performance, For lower graphics cards that also used took two screenshots
this system. For the display the visual appeal of the engine were in the price range of Rs. each from Crysis Warhead
component, we used HPs 2475 and of course the popularity of 7,001 to Rs. 10,000, we used and S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky for
LCD monitor, a 24-inch display the game. We also watched out resolutions of 1680 x 1050 pixels visual comparisons. Taken at
based on an H-IPS panel. if any game seemed to favour a and 1280 x 1024 pixels, but at fixed points in the timedemo
In the BIOS, we disabled all particular vendor. Such games the same visual settings for the benchmark, we used a resolution
dynamic stepping, multiplier were removed to prevent giving sake of comparison. Similarly, of 1920 x 1200 pixels, with
and voltage settings thereby an unfair advantage to either FSAA was used at 4x for all maximum Anisotropic Filtering
ensuring the i7 975E processor ATi or NVIDIA. Latest versions cards. Shader detail and other and 4x Antialiasing and all
ran unimpeded at 3.33 GHz all of all games were used. 3D effects were kept at maximum. effects set to maximum. The
the time. The memory was set at Mark Vantage Professional was For benchmarks that allowed score for each game marked
1600 MHz at timings of 9-9-9- patched to its latest version it, we recorded the maximum on a scale of 10 is a result of
24. Two partitions were created. 1.0.2.1. and minimum fps as well as the aggregates of visual quality –
We used a 32-bit version of We segregated cards into de facto average fps. Although Specular Highlights and HDR
Vista Ultimate and disabled all two categories on the basis of the maximum value is pretty lighting quality, Shader Detail,
unnecessary features like System what chipsets they were based useless for anything more than shadow detail and quality, MSAA
Restore and Remote Logging. on and not primarily on price a cursory comparison with and its effectiveness as well as
Unnecessary services were also (pricing was the secondary pretty figures, the minimum particle effects like smoke, fog
disabled and a 6 GB permanent factor). Similar GPUs from AMD fps gives a realistic look at how and explosion effects, quality of
swap file was created on C: drive. and NVIDIA were compared – fast the game will run on that body physics.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 73
Graphic Cards Test
NOVEMBER 2009 NOVEMBER 2009
Mid-Range Graphic Cards
Up To Rs. 10,000
Brand XFX XFX Galaxy Sapphire ZOTAC ASUS Galaxy
Model HD-483X-YDFK PV-T98G-YN GeForce GTS Radeon HD 9800 GT Syn- EAH 4770 GeForce GTS 250
250 4850 ergy Edition 1 GB
GPU Radeon HD 4830 GeForce GeForce GTS Radeon HD GeForce Radeon HD GeForce GTS 250
9800GT 250 4850 9800GT 4770
Price (Rs) Rs. 6,000 Rs. 6,100 Rs. 6,300 Rs. 6,900 Rs. 7,000 Rs. 7,000 Rs. 7,300
Grand Totals (Out of 100) 53.33 52.61 57.09 61.68 55.27 55.80 58.50
Features (Out of 15) 7.35 6.00 5.48 6.75 6.98 6.60 5.48
Performance (Out of 85) 45.98 46.61 51.61 54.93 48.29 49.20 53.02
Features
No. of Stream Processors 640 112 128 160 (800 / 5) 112 640 128
Core / Shader Clock (MHz) 575 / - 550 / 1375 738 / 1836 650 / - 550 / 1375 750 / - 738 / 1836
Memory Type / Memory Clock (MHz) GDDR3 / 1800 GDDR3 / 1400 GDDR3 / 2200 GDDR3 / 2000 GDDR3 / 1600 GDDR5 / 3600 GDDR3 / 2200
Memory size (MB) / Interface 512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit 512 / 128-bit 512 / 256-bit
Connects on card 2 x DVI, 1 x S- 1 x DVI, 1 x 1 x DVI, 1 x S- 1 x DVI, 1 x D- 2 x DVI, 1 x 2 x DVI, 1 x 1 x DVI, 1 x S-Video,
Video HDMI Video, 1 x HDMI Sub, 1 x HDMI S-Video S-Video 1 x HDMI
In the Box
Bundled Connects and Cables 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub S-Video - 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub S-Video -
converter, 1 x converter Component converter, 1 x converter converter, 1 x Component
4-pin to 6-pin converter HDMI converter, DVI - HDMI con- converter
power converter, 1 x 4 pin - 6 pin verter, HDMI
1 x S-Video to molex power audio cable, 1
component converter x 6 pin to 4 pin
converter molex power
converter
Software and Games - - - - - - -
Performance
Temperature (Idle / load) 42 / 63 40 / 54 48 / 60 38 / 48 43 / 51 44 / 54 49 / 62
3D Mark Vantage (Overall / GPU) 7823 / 6443 6012 / 4627 8457 / 6637 8770 / 7347 6100 / 4760 8121 / 6734 8523 / 6682
Game Benchmarks (in frames per
second)
Crysis Warhead (1680 x 1050, Max / Avg 16 / 12 / 7 15 / 10 / 6 22 / 14 / 8 19 / 14 / 9 16 / 11 / 7 18 / 14 / 8.2 22 / 14 / 9
/ Min)
Crysis Warhead (1280 x 1024, Max / Avg 21 / 15 / 10 20 / 13 / 8 27 / 18 / 11 25 / 18 / 12 21 / 14 / 9 22 / 15 / 10 28 / 19 / 12
/ Min)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (Day, 1680 x 1050, 23.6 / 12.4 / 4.9 22.1 / 10.5 / 6.3 28.4 / 12.2 / 4.7 29.3 / 15.7 / 6.8 22.3 / 11.7 / 7.2 25.4 / 15 / 7.1 28.2 / 13.2 / 5.6
Max / Avg / Min)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (Day, 1280 x 1024, 33.7 / 16.3 / 5.2 32.1 / 14.7 / 7.5 43.2 / 15.6 / 4.3 40.2 / 20.5 / 10 32.1 / 15.1 / 8.9 35.4 / 17.2 / 6.5 44.5 / 16.4 / 6
Max / Avg / Min)
Far Cry 2 (1680 x 1050, Ultra High, 4x AA) 44.7 / 18.7 / 6.5 44.23 / 29.23 / 63.2 / 40.27 / 18 48.57 / 29.95 / 44.84 / 30.84 51.2 / 18.3 / 7.1 66.3 / 41.2 / 19.2
Max / Avg / Min 19.32 16.82 / 20.66
Far Cry 2 (1280 x 1024, Ultra High, 4x AA) 112.3 / 35.84 / 50.32 / 34.17 / 55.24 / 37.23 162.62 / 37.6 / 51.34 / 35.51 / 115.3 / 36.3 / 56.43 / 36.43 /
Max / Avg / Min 23.62 25.73 / 12.3 26.99 26.13 25.2 13.15
Unreal Tournament 3 (1680 x 1050 / 1280 89 / 123 87 / 109 125 / 145 111 / 139 93 / 114 98 / 128 126 / 146
x 1024)
Company Of Heroes: Tales Of Valor (1680 162.2 / 92.1 / 42.1 221.2 / 101.2 / 231.2 / 118 / 195 / 108.3 / 199.2 / 95 / 173.2 / 96.4 / 241.2 / 119 / 57.5
x 1050, Max / Avg / Min) 46.2 56.2 50.7 45.4 44.3
Company Of Heroes: Tales Of Valor (1280 194.2 / 119.1 / 316.4 / 142.2 355.4 / 172.2 / 252.4 / 145 / 309 / 133.9 / 216.8 / 128.3 363.9 / 173.2 /
x 1024, Max / Avg / Min) 66.2 / 71.8 84.3 77.6 67.4 / 72.4 85.4
Visual Quality (Out of 10)
Crysis Warhead / S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky 8/8 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8/8 8 / 7.75 8/8 8 / 7.75
to accommodate the power most visually splendid. Far Cry the other cards, we feel this is
connects — this wasn’t an issue 2 is infinitely more forgiving. due to improved multi-sample
on other 9800 GTX cards ATi’s Radeon HD 5770 makes antialiasing techniques among
NOVEMBER 2009 using the same stock cooler. quite a splash as it dominates other visual tweaks.
One thing’s for sure — proceedings. The GeForce GTS However, let it be said that we
none of these cards can really 250 and 9800 GTX GPUs can don’t recommend any of these
handle Crysis Warhead, unless still give it some competition but cards for someone looking to
of course you’re really willing they’re built on older, costlier play the latest and upcoming
to sacrifice on eye-candy, but manufacturing processes and games at high resolutions
then that’s a major part of the with it’s 40 nm core, the 5770 and with eye-candy enabled.
charm. Clear Sky is another is also cost-effective. When it However, if you’re willing to
game that is surprisingly comes to visual quality, the sacrifice on the detail for the
taxing. Unfortunately, both Radeon 5770 has a very slight most taxing games around, you’ll
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 these games are also the but noticeable edge over all be rewarded with some sweet
74 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
WD TV Live GPU-Z update Graphic Cards Test
This new model adds network A new version of the graphics card
support to the already popular diagnostic utility GPU-Z (version
HD-playback evice 0.3.6) is released
ZOTAC Sapphire PowerColor XFX XFX XFX ZOTAC PowerColor Palit
GeForce GTS 250 Radeon HD 4770 AX 4770 GS-250X-YD GS HD-477A-YD HD-485X-YD HD GeForce GTS 250 AX HD 4850 GeForce GTS
512MD5-M 1 GB 1GB 250 1 GB
GeForce GTS 250 Radeon HD 4770 Radeon HD GeForce GTS Radeon HD Radeon HD GeForce GTS 250 Radeon HD GeForce GTS
4770 250 4770 4850 4850 250
Rs. 7,500 Rs. 7,500 Rs. 7,500 Rs. 7,900 Rs. 8,000 Rs. 8,400 Rs. 8,400 Rs. 8,500 Rs. 8,750
65.77 55.43 54.55 61.32 57.07 57.97 63.38 62.16 65.33
8.25 6.38 5.85 7.58 7.35 5.03 8.55 5.25 6.00
57.52 49.05 48.70 53.74 49.72 52.94 54.83 56.91 59.33
128 640 640 128 640 160 (800 / 5) 128 160 (800 / 5) 128
740 / 1836 750 / - 750 / - 738 / 1833 750 / - 650 / - 740 / 1836 625 / - 745 / 1848
GDDR3 / 2200 GDDR5 / 3600 GDDR5 / 3600 GDDR3 / 2200 GDDR5 / 3600 GDDR3 / 2100 GDDR3 / 2200 GDDR3 / 1900 GDDR3 / 2200
512 / 256-bit 512 / 128-bit 512 / 128-bit 512 / 256-bit 512 / 128-bit 512 / 256-bit 1024 / 256-bit 1024 / 256-bit 1024 / 256-bit
1 x DVI, 1 x D-Sub, 1 x DVI, 1 x D-Sub, 2 x DVI, 1 x 2 x DVI, 1 x 2 x DVI, 1 x 2 x DVI, 1 x 2 x DVI, 1 x S- 1 x DVI, 1 x D- 1 x DVI, 1 x D-
1 x HDMI 1 x HDMI S-Video S-Video S-Video S-Video Video Sub, 1 x HDMI Sub, 1 x HDMI
2 x 6 pin to 4 1 x DVI - HDMI 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub NOVEMBER
1 x DVI - D-Sub 2009DVI - D-Sub
1x 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - HDMI
pin molex power converter, 1 x DVI converter, 1 x converter, 1 x converter, 1 x converter, 1 x converter, 2 x converter, 1 x converter, HDMI
converter, audio - D-Sub converter, 4-pin to 6-pin 4-pin t- 6-pin 4-pin t- 6-pin 4-pin to 6-pin 6 pin to 4 pin 4-pin to 6-pin audio cable, 1
HDMI cable 1 x 4-pin to 6-pin molex converter molex converter, molex convert- power converter, molex power molex converter x 6 pin to 4 pin
molex converter 1 x S-Video - er, 1 x S-Video 1 x S-Video to converter molex power
Component - Component component converter
converter converter converter
- - - 3D Mark - - XIII Century: - -
Vantage Profes- Death Or Glory
sional
43 / 56 42 / 52 43 / 53 46 / 57 42 / 50 44 / 62 45 / 58 34 / 54 39 / 50
8372 / 6637 8134 / 6754 8132 / 6783 8543 / 6729 8159 / 6781 8811 / 7396 8234 / 6543 8358 / 6967 8534 / 6813
18 / 13 / 9 18 / 13 / 8 18 / 13 / 7.4 23 / 15 / 9 23.2 / 14.2 / 6.1 20 / 14 / 10 18 / 12 / 7 19 / 14 / 10 22 / 14 / 8
26 / 19 / 11 22 / 16 / 10 23 / 15 / 9 29 / 19 / 12 23 / 16 / 11 25 / 18 / 13 26 / 18 / 9 24 / 17 / 12 30 / 19 / 12
29.3 / 14.2 / 8.9 24 / 14.4 / 6.1 25 / 14.5 / 6.4 29.5 / 12.6 / 5.3 26 / 14.6 / 6.9 26.6 / 15.7 / 7.3 28.2 / 14.1 / 7.6 28.4 / 16.5 / 10.1 30.2 / 15.3 / 9.1
43.3 / 19.5 / 11.1 35.3 / 17.9 / 6.7 35.3 / 17.5 / 6.5 44.5 / 16.9 / 5.5 36.2 / 18.9 / 7.2 41.4 / 20.7 / 7.8 43.2 / 18.6 / 10.4 39.2 / 20.9 / 11.8 44.3 / 20.3 / 11
56.32 / 39.4 / 27.2 48.11 / 20.42 / 49.2 / 19.3 / 7.3 63.5 / 41.36 / 33.43 / 18.72 49.12 / 32.77 / 55.34 / 38.82 / 146.68 / 33.42 / 56.53 / 40.37
6.12 19.75 / 9.98 22.32 25.84 22.66 / 28.2
76.32 / 44.24 / 120.62 / 36.98 / 117.54 / 37.64 56.21 / 38.07 56.01 / 37.68 / 54.04 / 27.37 / 74.53 / 41.23 / 158.95 / 39.8 / 80.12 / 46.43 /
32.53 26.03 / 25.3 / 13 24.68 15.94 29.3 28.08 32.24
126 / 149 96 / 124 97 / 125 126 / 148 98 / 125 112 / 140 123 / 148 105 / 132 128 / 151
255.3 / 133.4 / 173.3 / 97.3 / 45.4 172.6 / 96.4 / 233.2 / 123.2 / 177.2 / 97.7 / 192.6 / 106.8 234.1 / 124.5 / 194.6 / 102.2 286.4 / 137.3 /
65.7 46.4 61.3 48.6 / 48 62.12 / 47.5 66.8
368.5 / 189.7 / 218.5 / 128.5 / 223.3 / 127 / 70.2 356.3 / 177.5 216.3 / 127.7 254.2 / 144.4 355.91 / 178.19 / 233.5 / 131.9 389.5 / 196.5 /
93.2 70.7 / 87.5 / 71.3 / 77.2 89.74 / 72 95.4
8 / 7.75 8/8 8/8 8 / 7.75 8/8 8/8 8 / 7.75 8/8 8 / 7.75
priced offerings that can easily support, great performance Mid-Range cards
run most games, excluding the in DX 10 games and a new above Rs. 10,000
deadly duo of Crysis Warhead 40 nm process that means This has to be a category for the
and Clear Sky. its quite affordable at just rich. We say this because many
When talking graphics cards, under Rs. 10,000. Being NOVEMBER 2009 of the cards in this category
bang-for-buck is all that matters super new, this was the don’t offer optimal bang for
and our two Best Buy winners only 5770 card we received, buck. If you take a look at the
have that in spades. Sapphire’s but other manufacturers neighbouring high-end cards
Radeon HD 4850 and Galaxy’s are bound to come up with you’ll see many of them are
GeForce GTS 250 win owing offerings and a couple of priced similarly. This may seem
to their very competent pricing. vendors have promised us weird — having two cards with
The Best Performer was none Radeon 5770s which we the same price in two different
other than ATi’s newcomer — should have by the time categories but we felt that it
the Radeon HD 5770 — DX11 you’re reading this. ATi Radeon HD 5770 should be the lineage of the GPU
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 75
Graphic Cards Test
NOVEMBER 2009
Mid-Range Graphic Cards
Above Rs. 10,000
Brand MSI MSI ZOTAC ATI ASUS Sapphire
Model R4850-T2D512 N9800GTX- GeForce GTS 250 Radeon HD 5770 EN 9800 GT HB Radeon HD 4850
T2D512 AMP! 1 GB 1 GB
GPU Radeon HD 4850 GeForce GeForce GTS 250 Radeon HD 5770 GeForce 9800GT Radeon HD 4850
9800GTX
Price (Rs) Rs. 9,000 Rs. 9,500 Rs. 9,900 Rs. 9,990 Rs. 10,850 Rs. 10,900
Grand Totals (Out of 100) 56.93 59.74 69.36 72.31 51.61 63.77
Features (Out of 15) 6.98 5.85 8.18 7.13 6.98 6.38
Performance (Out of 85) 49.95 53.89 61.18 65.18 44.63 57.39
Features
No. of Stream Processors 160 (800 / 5) 128 128 800 112 160 (800 / 5)
Core / Shader Clock (MHz) 625 / - 720 / 1750 750 / 1890 850 / - 600 / 1500 625 / -
Memory Type / Memory Clock (MHz) GDDR3 / 1986 GDDR3 / 2200 GDDR3 / 2300 GDDR5 / 4800 GDDR3 / 1800 GDDR3 / 1986
Memory size (MB) / Interface 512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit 1024 / 256-bit 1024 / 128-bit 512 / 256-bit 1024 / 256-bit
Connects on card 2 x DVI, 1 x S-Video 2 x DVI, 1 x S- 2 x DVI, 1 x S- 2 x DVI, 1 x HDMI, 2 x DVI, 1 x S- 1 x DVI, 1 D-Sub,
Video Video 1 x DisplayPort Video 1 x HDMI
In the Box
Bundled Connects and Cables 1 x DVI-D-Sub 1 x DVI-D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub - 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub
converter, Crossfire converter, Cross- converter, 2 x 6 converter, 1 x DVI converter, 1 x HDMI
connect, S-Video- fire connect, S- pin to 4 pin molex - HDMI converter, converter, 1 x 4 pin -
Composite connect, Video-Composite power converter HDMI audio ca- 6 pin molex power
S-Video to compo- connect, S-Video ble, 1 x 6 pin to 4 converter
nent to component pin molex power
converter
Software and Games - - XIII Century: - - -
Death Or Glory
Performance
Temperature (Idle / load) 45 / 85 40 / 58 44 / 57 46 / 57 52 / 62 44 / 56
3D Mark Vantage (Overall / GPU) 8322 / 6936 8223 / 6462 8699 / 6853 10124 / 8657 6019 / 4623 8480 / 7077
Game Benchmarks (in frames per second)
Crysis Warhead (1680 x 1050, Max / Avg / Min) 19 / 14 / 9 21 / 14 / 8 23 / 16 / 10 22 / 16 / 10 18 / 12 / 7 29 / 16.7 / 10.2
Crysis Warhead (1280 x 1024, Max / Avg / Min) 25 / 17 / 12 29 / 18 / 11 30 / 20 / 13 28 / 19 / 13 23 / 15 / 9 40 / 21.4 / 12.4
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (Day, 1680 x 1050, Max 28.5 / 15.5 / 9 41.3 / 13.5 / 5.3 31.5 / 16.8 / 10.2 36.9 / 19.3 / 10.5 23.3 / 9.9 / 4.5 29 / 16.9 / 10.6
/ Avg / Min)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (Day, 1280 x 1024, Max 39.6 / 20.1 / 7.5 44.3 / 17.2 / 7.5 46.7 / 21.4 / 12.9 50.3 / 23.9 / 13.5 34.2 / 12.3 / 2.6 40.1 / 21.4 / 12.3
/ Avg / Min)
Far Cry 2 (1680 x 1050, Ultra High, 4x AA) Max 37.8 / 18.06 / 7.81 56.33 / 34.23 58.8 / 41.41 / 150.41 / 43.45 / 43.23 / 26.23 / 50.27 / 33.9 / 23.14
/ Avg / Min / 11.3 30.13 28.02 16.85
Far Cry 2 (1280 x 1024, Ultra High, 4x AA) Max 53.57 / 36.99 / 65.27 / 41.62 / 80.36 / 47.23 / 130.49 / 51.4 / 46.32 / 32.12 / 149.5 / 40.56 /
/ Avg / Min 24.03 18.78 35.32 36.82 24.78 28.73
Unreal Tournament 3 (1680 x 1050 / 1280 x 107 / 133 128 / 146 129 / 152 125 / 153 93 / 112 107 / 135
1024)
Company Of Heroes: Tales Of Valor (1680 x 195 / 101.8 / 47.1 323.2 / 137.4 / 289.1 / 138.5 / 282.8 / 147.1 / 69.5 183.3 / 89.3 / 188 / 102.5 / 45.3
1050, Max / Avg / Min) 61.4 67.5 43.2
Company Of Heroes: Tales Of Valor (1280 x 246.2 / 135.8 / 69.7 412 / 176.1 / 89.2 398.8 / 197.2 / 383 / 200.3 / 302.5 / 129.4 / 237 / 136.9 / 70
1024, Max / Avg / Min) 97.3 106.4 64.9
Visual Quality (Out of 10)
Crysis Warhead / S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky 8/8 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 9 / 8.5 8 / 7.75 8/8
and not the price tag of the card the previous category, we see a little better equipped to handle Radeon HD 4870 cards, needless
that determines its placement the Radeon HD 4850 vying for demanding resolutions and the to say someone shopping for a
either the high-end or mid-range power with the GeForce 9800 Sapphire HD 4850 with 1 GB of graphics card in this price range
category. ASUS’ Radeon HD GTX cards. With the resolution RAM clearly has a lead especially should consider buying one
4850 MATRIX has a dual-slot, and details cranked all the way in the minimum fps values. based on a higher GPU.
dual-fan cooler but it’s the tiny up, these cards start to huff and This makes us believe that the
cooler aboard the ASUS 4850 puff when running Clear Sky extra video RAM is alleviating High-end cards up to
TOP that takes the cake as far as and Warhead. At times we see the bottleneck that occurs with Rs. 17,500
cooling goes. MSIs N9800GTX an inexplicable drop in frames, higher resolutions and visual A small but increasing number
PLUS-T2D512-OC was a real like the ASUS Radeon HD 4850 settings. This means the GPU on of gamers and enthusiasts in
cool customer in 2D mode, but TOP dropping to a minimum of the 4850 is powerful enough to our country are shopping for
start up a game and this card 4 fps in Far Cry 2 at a resolution be bottlenecked by 512 MB of the right GPU in the price range
clocked the highest temperature of 1680 x 1050. Such oddities RAM, something not commonly of Rs. 15,000 and though, (we
in this category (65 degrees). are difficult to explain — it could seen on cards in this price range. repeat), this is a rarity it’s also an
While not dangerous, you will be due to the card overheating Unfortunately, this card is also interesting category for a number
need good air circulation inside at some point or some internal comparable in price to some of reasons. For one, prices of
the cabinet you’re using. fault in terms of design could be of the high-end graphics cards GPUs have tumbled and while
Among these cards as in the culprit. The ATi cards seem including some of the cheaper Rs. 15,000 may be considered
76 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Stream power Graphic Cards Test
NVIDIA shows interest in YouTube, the popular
using CUDA with antivirus online video hosting service
software gets a billion views a day
MADE FOR EACH OTHER
MSI ASUS ASUS ASUS ASUS
N9800GTX PLUS- EN 9800 GT MATRIX EAH 4850 TOP EAH 4850 EN 9800GTX DK TOP
Matching your display size with your
T2D512-OC MATRIX graphics card
GeForce 9800GTX GeForce 9800GT Radeon HD 4850 Radeon HD GeForce 9800GTX So you just spent Rs. 15,000 on a new
4850 graphic card and you’re burning to see
Rs. 11,000 Rs. 13,000 Rs. 14,950 Rs. 15,700 Rs. 15,700 how good Crysis Warhead looks on
63.51 51.47 58.94 58.74 62.48 a large screen. So you buy a 24-inch
5.85 5.48 6.23 5.85 6.60 LCD monitor. Upon running the game
57.66 45.99 52.71 52.89 55.88 at a glorious resolution of 1920 x 1200
pixels at ultra settings you suddenly
128 112 160 (800 / 5) 160 (800 / 5) 128
realise your game is framing and in-
760 / 1880 600 / 1500 680 / - 625 / - 775 / 1950
game gunfights sequences appear to
run in slow motion. You, sir, are a victim
GDDR3 / 2300 GDDR3 / 2600 GDDR3 / 2100 GDDR3 / 1986 GDDR3 / 2360
of ‘improper-display-matching’ as we
512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit
like to call it. The fact is when choosing
2 x DVI, 1 x S-Video 1 x DVI, 1 x S-Video, 1 2 x DVI, 1 x S-Video 2 x DVI, 1 x 2 x DVI, 1 x S-Video
a monitor for gaming you need to be
x HDMI S-Video
doubly careful about the kind of games
you’re going to be running. There’s
1 x DVI-D-Sub converter, 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub 1 x DVI - D-Sub
Crossfire connect, S-Vid- converter, 1 x DVI - converter, 1 x DVI - converter, 1 converter, 1 x DVI -
no sense in buying a super large
eo-Composite connect, HDMI converter, HDMI HDMI converter, HDMI x DVI - HDMI HDMI converter, HDMI monitor only to find the games you
S-Video to component audio cable, 1 x 6 pin audio cable, 1 x 6 pin converter, HDMI audio cable, 1 x 6 pin play slowing to a crawl and having to
to 4 pin molex power to 4 pin molex power audio cable, 1 to 4 pin molex power adjust the resolution and/or eye-candy
converter converter x 6 pin to 4 pin converter down as it’ll ruin the experience. Unless
molex power you’ve got pots of money to blow
converter on SLI and Crossfire configurations
- - - - - involving high-end cards, pay close
attention to which games you play
and how fast they run on your current
41 / 62 52 / 65 45 / 51 43 / 55 52 / 60 monitor and resolution. For people
8798 / 6936 6221 / 4789 9092 / 7655 8499 / 7098 9041 / 7137 looking to play demanding games like
Warhead, Clear Sky, GRID 2 and so on
23 / 16 / 10 18 / 12 / 6 20 / 14 / 6 20 / 14 / 9 24 / 16 / 10 here are a few formulae to help you:
30 / 19 / 12 23 / 15 / 8 25 / 18 / 12 24 / 17 / 11 31 / 20 / 12 generally, for an NVIDIA GTX 260 / ATi
45.1 / 18 / 7.4 23.5 / 10 / 4.8 30.5 / 16.5 / 9 28.5 / 15.5 / 9.1 32.4 / 13.2 / 5.5 HD 4870 class card, we recommend a
19 to 22-inch display, nothing larger.
46.1 / 18.1 / 8.7 31.4 / 13.4 / 6.4 42.4 / 21.1 / 7.5 39.7 / 20.1 / 8.3 46.7 / 18.4 / 7 This equals a resolution of 1680 x 1050
pixels. Those with NVIDIA GTX 285
58.37 / 38.2 / 16.23 46.03 / 28.23 / 14.88 41.75 / 17.97 / 4.04 47.22 / 30.44 / 55.6 / 37.14 / 12.75 / ATi HD 4890 and above cards can
19.01 consider a 24-inch display (equating
67.4 / 42.92 / 20.19 50.61 / 36.24 / 22.37 163.69 / 39.87 / 28.06 51.1 / 26.86 / 93.01 / 44.07 / 20.32 to 1920 x 1200 pixels). If you have
15.8 anything in the GeForce 9800 GTX /
130 / 163 99 / 122 114 / 143 108 / 136 132 / 155 Radeon HD 4850 range of cards forget
about anything larger than a 19-inch
289 / 138.3 / 65.2 239.2 / 104.8 / 47.9 197 / 108.5 / 50.7 253 / 140.9 / 319.6 / 143.9 / 64.3 LCD with a maximum resolution of
70.7 1440 x 900 pixels. This will ensure your
425.5 / 190.1 / 93 326.6 / 146.2 / 76.7 250 / 148.8 / 72.2 196 / 103 / 44.9 420 / 199.8 / 100.8 games run at playable fps, although
to be honest this is also dependent on
the games you play.
8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8/8 8/8 8 / 7.75
an extravagance by some there is used to distinguish between the difference was using GPU-Z. Radeon HD 4870 and 4890 are
actually good value-for-money to two is horrible. The older, (and Although the newer 216 SP GPU also nearly identical GPUs. AMD
be had. Sounds shocking doesn't supposedly phased out), GPU, is faster, an overclocked GTX chose to keep the same number
it? People build entire PCs for Rs. is called the GTX 260 260 can easily perform of clusters of SPs, so both have
15,000 these days, but we’re not and has 192 stream comparably. ATi’s 800 units. However, the clocks
talking about those PCs. We’re processors. The on the HD 4890 are higher,
talking about gaming rigs replete newer one has 216 evidently with the 4870 over-
with quad core processors, 4 stream processors NOVEMBER 2009 clocking really well, it was only
GB of RAM and RAID 0 storage and is called the a matter of time before AMD
etc. ATi’s Radeon HD 4870 and GTX 260 216. Some tweaked things. With the core
newer 4890 clash with NVIDIAs people like ZOTAC running at a whopping 850
GTX 260 and GTX 275 GPUs. choose to call theirs MHz, the HD 4890 meant to
And a mighty battle it is, with the GTX 2602 while take on the GTX 275, while the
contestants from both sides others like ASUS HD 4870 is positioned against
drawing blood. One thing needs and XFX do not the GTX 260 216.
clearing, NVIDIA officially has really differentiate Unlike the HD 4850 that
two versions of the GTX 260 and the only way Palit GTX 260 SONIC 216 had a pretty useless single-slot
and the naming convention we could tell the cooling solution the HD 4870
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 77
Graphic Cards Test
NOVEMBER 2009 NOVEMBER 2009
High-end Graphics Cards
Up to Rs. 17,500
Brand XFX PowerColor ZOTAC Palit XFX ZOTAC XFX
Model HD-487A-ZW AX HD 4870 1GB GeForce GTX GTX 260 216 GX-260X-ADJF GeForce GTX GX-260X-AHBF
2602 SONIC 2602 AMP! (Black Edition)
GPU Radeon HD Radeon HD 4870 GeForce GTX GeForce GTX GeForce GTX GeForce GTX GeForce GTX
4870 260 216 260 216 260 260 216 260 216
Price (Rs) Rs. 11,000 Rs. 11,000 Rs. 11,200 Rs. 11,500 Rs. 11,500 Rs. 12,000 Rs. 12,500
Grand Totals (out of 100) 54.00 55.48 55.66 57.68 54.22 58.77 58.26
Features (Out of 10) 6.05 4.95 7.60 6.25 6.15 7.40 6.15
Performance (Out of 90) 47.95 50.53 48.06 51.43 48.07 51.37 52.11
Features
No. of Stream Processors 160 (800 / 5) 160 (800 / 5) 216 216 192 216 216
Core / Shader Clock (MHz) 750 / - 770 / - 576 / 1242 -/- 576 / 1296 650 / 1400 666 / 1440
Type of memory / Memory Clock (MHz) GDDR5 / 3600 GDDR5 / 3600 GDDR3 / 1998 GDDR3 / - GDDR3 / 2000 GDDR3 / 2100 GDDR3 / 2300
Memory size (MB) / Memory Interface 1,024 / 256-bit 1,024 / 256-bit 896 / 448-bit 896 / 448-bit 896 / 448-bit 896 / 448-bit 896 / 448-bit
Connects on card DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S- DVI x 2, S-Video
x1 x1 x1 x1 x1 Video x 1 x1
In the Box
Bundled Connects and Cables 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin 1 x DVI-D-Sub 2 x 4pin to 6 pin 2 x 4pin to 6 1 x 4 pin to 6 2 x 4pin to 6 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin
molex, 1 x DVI- converter, S- molex, 1 x DVI- pin molex, 1 pin molex, 1 pin molex, 1 molex, 1 x DVI-D-
D-Sub converter, video-Composite D-Sub converter, x DVI-D-Sub x DVI-D-Sub x DVI-D-Sub Sub converter, 1 x
1 x S-Video - connect 1 x DVI-HDMI converter, 1 converter, 1 x converter, 1 x S-Video - Component
Component converter, HDMI x DVI-HDMI S-Video - Com- DVI-HDMI con-
audio cable converter, audio ponent verter, HDMI
cable audio cable
Software and Games - - 3D Mark Van- 3D Mark Van- Far Cry 2 3D Mark Van- Far Cry 2
tage Advanced, tage Advanced, tage Advanced,
Race Driver Grid Race Driver Grid Race Driver
Grid
Performance
Temperature (Idle / load) 44 / 50 45 / 51 50 / 68 46 / 66 47 / 70 46 / 72 43 / 71
3D Mark Vantage (Overall / GPU) 10,507 / 9,022 10,914 / 9,425 11,484 / 9,197 12,640 / 10,162 11,610 / 9,298 12,835 / 10,321 12,896 / 10,387
Game Benchmarks
Crysis Warhead (1680 x 1050, Max / 25 / 19 / 14 26 / 20 / 15 26 / 20 / 14 29 / 22 / 17 26 / 20 / 14 29 / 22 / 16 30 / 22 / 15
Avg / Min)
Crysis Warhead (1920 x 1200, Max / 21 / 16 / 12 21 / 17 / 12 21 / 16 / 12 23 / 18 / 14 21 / 16 / 12 23 / 18 / 13 24 / 18 / 12
Avg / Min)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (Day, 1680 x 38.1 / 20.4 / 9.4 39.2 / 21.8 / 11.2 39.7 / 20.9 / 12.8 43.8 / 22.8 / 40 / 21 / 12.9 43.9 / 23 / 13.7 43.6 / 23 / 14.2
1050, Max / Avg / Min) 13.9
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (Day, 1920 x 32.3 / 18.2 / 9.5 33.1 / 19.3 / 9.7 30.2 / 16.4 / 7 33.4 / 18 / 7.2 30.5 / 16.5 / 7.2 33.5 / 18 / 7.4 33.1 / 18.2 / 7.5
1200, Max / Avg / Min)
Far Cry 2 (1680 x 1050, Max / Avg / 151.71 / 40.77 / 154.59 / 44.55 / 84.34 / 47.89 / 83.22 / 51.18 / 69.28 / 48.26 / 105.86 / 53.05 95.55 / 53.22 /
Min) 28.32 31.64 36.72 38.12 37.02 / 40.04 39.68
Far Cry 2 (1920 x 1200, Max / Avg / 53.42 / 37.75 / 135.5 / 40.84 / 62.18 / 43.24 / 68.1 / 47.53 / 61.57 / 43.22 / 68.07 / 47.54 / 89.8 / 47.56 /
Min) 27.86 27.29 32.41 34.37 33.21 35.32 35.75
Unreal Tournament 3 (1680 x 1050 / 141 / 115 146 / 119 138 / 118 149 / 129 138 / 118 149 / 129 148 / 129
1920 x 1200)
Company Of Heroes: Tales Of Valor 233.5 / 120.6 248.5 / 130.8 / 388 / 162.9 / 381.6 / 179.3 283 / 140.3 / 366.6 / 179 / 384.4 / 183.7 / 87.3
(1680 x 1050, Max / Avg / Min) / 55.1 54.9 72.3 / 85.1 58.3 82.2
Company Of Heroes: Tales Of Valor 195.8 / 102.6 200.5 / 107.4 282 / 134.5 / 310.6 / 149.2 372.6 / 168.4 311.6 / 150.2 350 / 156.5 / 78
(1920 x 1200, Max / Avg / Min / 46 / 47.7 61.8 / 67.4 / 75.5 / 64.8
Visual Quality (Out of 10)
Crysis Warhead / S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear 8/8 8/8 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75
Sky
has a nice dual-slot cooler. editions. The cooler is large, expected. We feel this is actually
PowerColor goes but the shroud is plastic and good heatsink design since the
NOVEMBER 2009 a step further with the heatsink minimal keeping GPU core is cooler and heat is
a custom heatsink its weight down. There are two being whisked away into the
that although bulky large fans that do a pretty good metal parts of the heatsink
looks neat with job of cooling as we see XFX thereby radiating away from
three embedded and ZOTAC cards with stock the core. On that note, kudos
heatpipes. Palit’s GTX solutions get quite hot during to everyone who participated
260 216 SONIC also testing. Curiously, while the in this test — not a single card
has a custom cooler, heatsinks become quite hot to crashed throughout the entire
whose design is shared touch, the temperature showed test. Even XFX’s HD-489A-
by all Palit’s ‘SONIC’ by Riva Tuner is not as high as ZDD7 (HD 4890) clocked at
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 2602 AMP! Edition
78 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Graphic Cards Test
NOVEMBER 2009
Rs. 17,501 to Rs. 24,500
PowerColor ASUS Galaxy ZOTAC XFX ASUS ZOTAC ZOTAC ASUS
AX HD 4890 EN GTX 260 GeForce GTX GeForce GTX HD-489A-ZDD7 EAH 4890 GeForce GTX 285 GeForce GTX EN GTX 275
MATRIX 275 896M 275 285 AMP!
Radeon HD GeForce GTX 260 GeForce GTX GeForce GTX Radeon HD Radeon HD GeForce GTX 285 GeForce GTX GeForce GTX 275
4890 216 275 275 4890 4890 285
Rs. 12,750 Rs. 13,850 Rs. 14,000 Rs. 14,000 Rs. 14,500 Rs. 19,500 Rs. 21,000 Rs. 22,000 Rs. 22,000
56.78 55.53 59.30 61.33 58.53 58.57 65.28 66.98 60.18
5.15 6.75 5.25 7.40 6.25 5.90 7.60 7.60 6.05
51.63 48.78 54.05 53.93 52.28 52.67 57.68 59.38 54.13
160 (800 / 5) 216 240 240 160 (800 / 5) 160 (800 / 5) 240 240 240
850 / - 576 / 1242 633 / 1404 633 / 1404 900 / - 850 / - 648 / 1476 702 / 1512 633 / 1404
GDDR5 / 3900 GDDR3 / 2000 GDDR3 / 2262 GDDR3 /2268 GDDR5 / 3900 GDDR5 / 3900 GDDR3 / 2484 GDDR3 / 2592 GDDR3 / 2268
1,024 / 256-bit 896 / 448-bit 896 / 448-bit 896 / 448-bit 1,024 / 256-bit 1,024 / 256-bit 1,024 / 512-bit 1,024 / 512-bit 896 / 448-bit
DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video DVI x 2, S-Video
x1 x1 x1 x1 x1 x1 x1 x1 x1
1 x DVI-D-Sub Leather mouse- DVI - D-Sub 2x 4pin to 6 pin1 x 4 pin to 6 pin 1x 4 pin to 6 pin 2 x 4 pin to 6 pin 2 x 4 pin to 6 pin Leather mouse-
converter, pad, 1x 4pin to converter, 1 x 4 molex, 1 x DVI- molex, 1 x DVI- molex, 1 x DVI- molex, 1 x DVI- molex, 1 x DVI- pad, 1 x 4 pin to
Crossfire con- 6 pin molex, 1 x pin - 6 pin power D-Sub converter,D-Sub converter, D-Sub converter, D-Sub converter, D-Sub converter, 6 pin molex, 1 x
nect, DVI-HDMI DVI-D-Sub con- converter 1 x DVI-HDMI 1 x S-Video Crossfire connect 1 x DVI-HDMI 1 x DVI-HDMI DVI-D-Sub con-
converter, S- verter, 1 x S-Video converter, HDMI - Component, converter, HDMI converter, HDMI verter, 1 x S-Video
Video-Composite to component audio cable DVI - HDMI con- audio cable audio cable to component
connect, S-Video converter verter, S-Video converter
to component to Composite
converter
- 10% off discount - 3D Mark Vantage HAWX - 3D Mark Vantage 3D Mark Vantage 10% off discount
coupon on up to 5 Advanced, Race Advanced, Race Advanced, Race coupon on up to 5
games Driver Grid Driver Grid, Ter- Driver Grid, games
minator Salvation Terminator Sal-
download Voucher vation download
Voucher
48 / 65 41 / 60 46 / 67 43 / 71 49 / 65 48 / 62 46 / 75 52 / 72 50 / 69
11,826 / 10322 11,589 / 9,285 13,786 / 11,110 13,673 / 11,020 12,334 / 10,839 11,858 / 10,355 14,739 / 11,945 15,567 / 12,650 13,786 / 11,124
28 / 21 / 16 26 / 20 / 14 30 / 23 / 16 32 / 23 / 16 30 / 22 / 16 28 / 22 / 15 33 / 24 / 20 36 / 26 / 19 32 / 25 / 17
24 / 18 / 13 21 / 16 / 12 25 / 19 / 14 25 / 19 / 14 24 / 19 / 13 23 / 18 / 14 26 / 20 / 17 28 / 22 / 16 23 / 18 / 13
43 / 24.1 / 15.1 40 / 20.9 / 12.9 47.5 / 24.5 / 14.9 46.9 / 24.3 / 14.9 44.8 / 25.4 / 16.1 43.1 / 24 / 12 51.5 / 26.6 / 16 54.2 / 28 / 16.9 48.4 / 24.6 / 15
36.3 / 21 / 10.2 30.5 / 16.5 / 7.2 36.2 / 19.2 / 8 35.8 / 19.2 / 7.9 37.9 / 21.9 / 11 36.4 / 21.2 / 10.5 39.4 / 21.2 / 13.6 41.9 / 22.4 / 14.2 36.1 / 19.5 / 8.3
71.65 / 48.56 / 95.49 / 48.32 / 94.35 / 54.77 / 99.4 / 55.27 / 75.08 / 50.75 / 129.28 / 48.61 / 99.2 / 57.17 / 42.5 106.99 / 61.34 / 95.71 / 54.7 /
27.92 35.53 41.33 39.79 21.76 35.63 45.72 41.27
147.3 / 44.94 / 69.8 / 43.07 / 81.83 / 49.27 / 91.61 / 49.64 / 123.66 / 46.58 / 138.8 / 44.94 / 88.35 / 51.6 / 94.62 / 55.24 / 100.44 / 49.25 /
31.28 32.49 37.08 37.14 33.36 31.68 39.39 41.26 37.18
158 / 129 139 / 118 155 / 136 153 / 134 163 / 134 157 / 130 165 / 150 166 / 149 163 / 135
275.1 / 138.1 / 319 / 137.2 / 60.2 403 / 199.1 / 415.5 / 193.6 / 268.4 / 145.8 257.7 / 142.6 / 465 / 206 / 97 499 / 216.9 / 408.5 / 194.6
68.1 94.9 92.2 / 67.2 62.4 90.6 / 96
221.3 / 119.6 / 291.1 / 139.3 349 / 169.6 / 85 347.3 / 157.6 226.7 / 128 / 247.5 / 141 / 366.2 / 170.9 / 82 395.2 / 183.9 351.6 / 166 /
49.8 / 58.1 / 76.6 56.1 63.9 / 83.4 78.9
8/8 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8/8 8/8 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 79
Graphic Cards Test
NOVEMBER 2009
High end Graphic Cards Test
Above Rs. 24,500
Brand ASUS ASUS ASUS ASUS ATI Sapphire
Model EAH 4870 TOP EAH 4870 EN GTX 260 EAH 4870 MATRIX Radeon HD 5870 HD 5870
GPU Radeon HD 4870 Radeon HD 4870 GeForce GTX 260 Radeon HD 4870 Radeon HD 5870 Radeon HD 5870
216
Price (Rs) Rs. 22,175 Rs. 22,425 Rs. 22,800 Rs. 24,295 Rs. 24,990 Rs. 26,000
Grand Totals (out of 100) 49.81 46.78 52.33 52.54 71.96 75.61
Features 5.90 5.60 5.95 5.60 3.65 5.70
Performance 43.91 41.18 46.38 46.94 68.31 69.91
Features
No. of Stream Processors 160 (800 / 5) 160 (800 / 5) 192 160 (800 / 5) 320 (1600 / 5) 320 (1600 / 5)
Core / Shader Clock (MHz) 815 / - 750 / - 576 / 1242 770 / - 850 / - 850 / -
Type of memory / Memory Clock (MHz) GDDR5 / 3700 GDDR5 / 3600 GDDR3 / 2000 GDDR5 / 3680 GDDR5 / 4800 GDDR5 / 4800
Memory size (MB) / Memory Interface 512 / 256-bit 512 / 256-bit 896 / 448-bit 512 / 256-bit 1024 / 256-bit 1024 / 256-bit
Connects on card DVI x 2, S-Video x 1 DVI x 2, S-Video x 1 DVI x 2, S-Video x 1 DVI x 2, S-Video x 1 2 x DVI, 1 x HDMI, 1 2 x DVI, 1 x HDMI, 1
x Display Port x Display Port
In the Box
Bundled Connects and Cables 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin Leather mousepad, Leather mousepad, 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin 2 x 4 pin to 6 pin
molex, 1 x DVI- molex, 1 x DVI-D- 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin molex, 1 x DVI- molex, 1 x DVI-D-Sub
D-Sub converter, Sub converter, 1 x S- molex, 1 x DVI-D- molex, 1 x DVI-D- D-Sub converter, converter
Crossfire connect Video to component Sub converter, 1 x S- Sub converter, 1 x S- Crossfire connect
converter Video to component Video to component
converter converter
Software and Games - - Alone in the Dark - NA Battlestations Pacific,
Dirt 2 voucher
Performance
Temperature (Idle / load) 51 / 67 49 / 76 44 / 71 50 / 63 48 / 61 48 / 61
3D Mark Vantage (Overall / GPU) 11,277 / 9,780 10,648 / 9,148 10,778 / 8,613 10,637 / 9,353 16,832 / 15,845 16,991 / 15,984
Game Benchmarks
Crysis Warhead (1680 x 1050, Max / 26 / 19 / 13 25 / 18 / 13 25 / 19 / 13 24 / 18 / 13 38 / 28 / 21 39 / 29 / 21
Avg / Min)
Crysis Warhead (1920 x 1200, Max / 21 / 16 / 11 21 / 15 / 11 20 / 16 / 10 19 / 14 / 9 33 / 24 / 17 34 / 25 / 18
Avg / Min)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (Day, 1680 x 34.4 / 20 / 10.5 36.8 / 19.1 / 9.7 37.1 / 19.7 / 12.1 40.2 / 21 / 9.2 70.2 / 35.6 / 15.7 71.9 / 36.3 / 16.1
1050, Max / Avg / Min)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (Day, 1920 x 29.6 / 17.6 / 6.5 28.4 / 16.6 / 6 28.6 / 15.5 / 6.8 32.3 / 17.3 / 6.2 58.6 / 30.2 / 14.2 60.5 / 31.6 / 14.7
1200, Max / Avg / Min)
Far Cry 2 (1680 x 1050, Max / Avg / 60.12 / 37.03 / 15.62 54.04 / 24.27 / 83.57 / 47.16 / 34.8 155.3 / 43.63 / 128.6 / 76.2 / 53.4 144.79 / 76.26 /
Min) 10.78 30.43 55.76
Far Cry 2 (1920 x 1200, Max / Avg / 55.73 / 35.96 / 17.99 52.03 / 29.14 / 10.55 61.36 / 41.97 / 31.14 134.32 / 40.11 / 138.5 / 66.4 / 46.74 139.04 / 67.08 /
Min) 26.33 47.22
Unreal Tournament 3 (1680 x 1050 / 151 / 123 143 / 116 133 / 113 147 / 118 194 / 169 195 / 171
1920 x 1200)
Company Of Heroes: Tales Of Valor 235 / 132.8 / 58.7 219.7 / 124.9 / 57.6 332 / 156.5 / 62.6 253.2 / 130.2 / 53.1 445.3 / 215.3 / 434.5 / 219 / 101.1
(1680 x 1050, Max / Avg / Min) 100.2
Company Of Heroes: Tales Of Valor 203.5 / 110 / 47.6 195.2 / 107.2 / 42.8 287 / 129 / 50.4 198.5 / 105.3 / 478.3 / 241.4 / 502.4 / 266.3 /
(1920 x 1200, Max / Avg / Min 45.4 110.3 130.7
Visual Quality (Out of 10)
Crysis Warhead / S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear 8/8 8/8 8 / 7.75 8/8 9 / 8.5 9 / 8.5
Sky
an incredible 900 MHz showed — definitely not for the hardcore without enabling FSAA and
no signs of overheating gamer who wants a future-proof jagged edges aren’t as apparent.
— testament to build offering. Clear Sky is nearly as Older games like UT 3 and Tales
quality as well as ATi’s bad and at times worse. In fact, Of Valor are no challenge for
NOVEMBER 2009 excellent RV 770 GPU. owing to the huge levels and these cards. A strange trend is
Warhead proves viewing distance, the frames noticed when one looks closely
a bit too much for dip to unplayable levels when at the fps scores. While Warhead
these cards. Sure, the settings are maxed on these and Clear Sky are equally hard on
maximum fps values cards. Far Cry 2 is playable, but both ATi and NVIDIA cards, Far
are impressive but it starts to become a little choppy Cry 2, which is also a new game
isn’t representative of at a resolution of 1920 x 1200 seems to favour the Radeon
gameplay. When one pixels; however, if one turns HD 4890 over the GTX 260
looks at the minimum fps values, off FSAA, things become much cards. UT 3 is also faster on ATi
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 we find none of these cards can better. Warhead is one game hardware, only Tales Of Valor
reach even 20 fps at a modest where FSAA kills nearly all cards. favours NVIDIA.
resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels Thankfully, the game looks great If you’re looking at value for
80 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Graphic Cards Test
NOVEMBER 2009
ASUS ASUS ZOTAC ASUS XFX ASUS ASUS ASUS
EN GTX 285 EN GTX 285 TOP GeForce GTX 295 EAH 5870 GX-295N-HWFF EN GTX 295 EAH HD 4870 x2 EAH HD 4870 x2
TOP
GeForce GTX 285 GeForce GTX 285 GeForce GTX 295 Radeon HD 5870 GeForce GTX 295 GeForce GTX 295 Radeon HD 4870 Radeon HD 4870
x2 x2
Rs. 29,150 Rs. 29,800 Rs. 30,500 Rs. 31,900 Rs. 32,000 Rs. 39,250 Rs. 39,990 Rs. 41,100
63.75 65.60 79.60 74.14 75.11 77.63 74.56 75.09
6.05 6.05 7.95 5.65 4.35 6.30 5.90 5.90
57.70 59.55 71.65 68.49 70.76 71.33 68.66 69.19
240 240 240 x 2 320 (1600 / 5) 240 x 2 240 x 2 160 x 2 (800 x 2 / 5) 160 x 2 (800 x 2 / 5)
648 / 1476 670 / 1550 576 / 1242 850 / - 576 / 1242 576 / 1242 750 / - 790 / -
GDDR3 / 2.484 GDDR3 / 2600 GDDR3 / 1998 GDDR5 / 4800 GDDR3 / 2016 GDDR3 / 1998 GDDR5 / 3600 GDDR5 / 3600
1024 / 512-bit 1024 / 512-bit 896 x 2 / 448-bit 1024 / 256-bit 896 x 2 / 448-bit 896 x 2 / 448-bit 2048 / 256-bit 2048 / 256-bit
DVI x 2, S-Video x 1 DVI x 2, S-Video x 1 DVI x 2, HDMI x 1 2 x DVI, 1 x HDMI, 1 DVI x 2 DVI x 2, HDMI x 1 DVI x 2, S-Video x 1 DVI x 2, S-Video x 1
x Display Port
Leather mousepad, Leather mousepad, 2 x 4 pin to 6 pin 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin Leather mousepad, 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin
1 x 4 pin to 6 pin 1 x 4 pin to 6 pin molex, 1 x DVI-D- molex, 1 x DVI- molex, 1 x DVI-D- 1 x 4pin to 6 pin molex, 1 x DVI- molex, 1 x DVI-
molex, 1 x DVI-D- molex, 1 x DVI-D- Sub converter, 1 D-Sub converter, Sub converter, 1 x molex, 1 x DVI-D- D-Sub converter, D-Sub converter,
Sub converter, 1 x S- Sub converter, 1 x S- x DVI-HDMI con- Crossfire connect DVI-HDMI converter Sub converter, 1 x S- Crossfire connect Crossfire connect
Video to component Video to component verter, HDMI audio Video to component
converter converter cable converter
10% off discount 10% off discount 3D Mark Vantage Dirt 2 voucher Far Cry 2 10% off discount - -
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games games Driver Grid, Ter- games
minator Salvation
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43 / 69 49 / 70 47 / 76 47 / 61 46 / 70 48 / 76 44 / 79 45 / 87
14,832 / 12,013 15,407 / 12,505 21,656 / 18,324 17,035 / 16,029 22,013 / 18,824 21,870 / 18,640 16,543 / 15,491 17,603 / 16,726
33 / 24 / 20 34 / 25 / 21 52 / 38 / 29 42 / 29 / 21 51 / 36 / 28 53 / 38 / 29 43 / 31 / 22 47 / 32 / 21
26 / 21 / 17 28 / 21 / 18 43 / 32 / 24 34 / 25 / 17 41 / 32 / 24 42 / 32 / 24 38 / 27 / 18 40 / 28 / 18
52.1 / 26.4 / 16 54 / 27.7 / 16.5 83 / 41.4 / 20.9 72.3 / 36.5 / 15.8 83.1 / 41.4 / 18.8 82.8 / 41.4 / 20.4 60 / 33.8 / 13.3 76.1 / 41.4 / 15.5
39.8 / 21.4 / 13.5 42.2 / 22.1 / 14.1 63.4 / 30.1 / 11 60.4 / 31.7 / 14.6 64.4 / 30 / 10.4 63.1 / 29.8 / 10.3 71.3 / 38.4 / 16.3 65 / 36.2 / 13.4
102.1 / 57.46 / 35.33 113.4 / 58.71 / 44.76 129.47 / 85.48 / 129.14 / 75.71 / 134.2 / 82.34 / 138.5 / 82.49 / 155.94 / 73.96 / 150.15 / 79.35 / 55.3
59.2 52.37 56.47 55.39 50.92
88.57 / 51.66 / 85.04 / 52.57 / 116.92 / 79.12 / 111.99 / 66.81 / 112.46 / 76.21 / 110.81 / 76.06 / 160.79 / 66.95 / 157.38 / 71.31 /
38.71 39.48 56.08 38.71 51.35 56.38 44.19 45.26
165 / 145 170 / 150 178 / 177 195 / 171 184 / 178 204 / 176 221 / 195 224 / 174
453 / 204.4 / 98.5 489.2 / 223.2 / 341.3 / 191.2 / 77.5 451.5 / 236.8 / 342.3 / 189.3 / 78.2 347 / 195.2 / 78.4 351 / 190.3 / 92.7 331 / 192.3 / 96.3
108.6 109.3
357.2 / 177.4 / 79.9 374.7 / 185.3 / 299.5 / 142.3 / 70.1 488 / 237 / 112.4 306.4 / 141.3 / 310.3 / 143.2 / 71.3 294.1 / 162.9 / 85.1 308.6 / 174.5 /
84.2 69.3 79.4
8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 9 / 8.5 8 / 7.75 8 / 7.75 8/8 8/8
money, Palit’s GTX 260 216 there were a couple of GTX 285 amount on a graphics card, it think the ZOTAC cards are built
SONIC and ZOTAC’s GTX cards from ZOTAC that kept goes without saying cheaply — quite the contrary!
2602 will satisfy and owing to things interesting. Other than you’re expecting Both of them feature a
their price to performance ratio, the ZOTAC cards, the rest of performance, tons 10-layer PCB — the stuff that
they’re joint winners of our Best the bunch were all ASUS cards, of it. Suffice to say, the best cards are built on.
Buy award. which are known to be slightly all the Radeon HD
NOVEMBER 2009
costlier than others. There were 4870 and 4890 cards
High-end cards ASUS cards based on the GTX will not cut it and the
between Rs. 17,501 and 275, GTX 260, HD 4870 and ones in this category are
Rs. 24,500 HD 4890 GPUs — all interesting in our collective opinion,
This category is somewhat of a options but not at these prices. overpriced, regardless
spin-off from the previous one The ASUS Radeon EAH 4870 of the features. Give us
because we found many graphic MATRIX was the only card with a lower priced vanilla
cards based on the same GPUs a custom heatsink; everything card sans fancy heatsink
but priced higher. This indicates else was on reference coolers. anytime. Based on higher- Sapphire Radeon HD 5870
lower value for money, although When you are spending this end GPUs, one might
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 81
Graphic Cards Test Cyberlink and AMD 320 GB Blu-ray
The two companies will work hand- TDK announces 320GB optical
in-hand to improve performance discs which can be played on
using Stream and DirectX 11 Blu-ray drives
ZOTAC's duo of GTX 285s excitement: the new Radeon than the stock GTX 295 fan and fps in Warhead at 1920 x 1200
are faster than the other cards HD 5870 GPU from AMD. placed in the middle. pixels, but the GTX 295 skids
in this price range and quite Codenamed ‘Cypress’, there were With double the shader units past this figure (but only just).
understandably so since both three of these DX 11 offerings of its predecessor, the Radeon Older games are a cakewalk
feature high-end GPUs with a around, one each from ASUS HD 5870 is furiously fast, and with these cards, but what’s
full 240 stream processors. If and Sapphire and one reference easily the fastest single-GPU more important is that cards
you’re shopping for a card within card from AMD. The Radeon solution till date. It is easily based on the GTX 295, 4870
this price range you’d probably HD 5870 also has a neat cooler faster than the NVIDIA GTX 285 x2 and 5870 should be able to
be best off settling for a ZOTAC — very long, encase entirely in a solutions although it still cannot run most upcoming games. Of
GTX 285 — the winner of our plastic shroud but owing to the manage an average fps of 30 course, every category has to
Best Buy award. Priced at Rs. 40 nm process the card doesn’t running Crysis Warhead on either have a shining star and ATi’s
21,000 it blows away everything get as hot as its predecessors. of our test resolutions. Similarly new Cypress is it. That a single
at a similar price. While on the topic of monster Clear Sky is also choppy — it’s GPU card can hold its own amid
cards, the GTX 295 is a dual- not often that older generation dual-GPU monsters is testament
High-end cards above GPU setup featuring to its pedigree. It’s also the first
Rs. 24,500 two GTX 285 GPUs DX 11 card available, so future
This price point is where we (at lower clock speeds) proofing should not be an issue.
start to get dreamy-eyed as and a massive 1792 MB Obviously, these are early days,
all the big guns come out. of DDR3 VRAM. The NOVEMBER 2009 and NVIDIA promises a DX
Admittedly, super high-end older Radeon HD 4870 11 monster of their own early
cards are the most expensive, x2 is also around, and next year, but for now the HD
but paradoxically manufacturers ASUS had two cards based 5870 rules supreme. But wait!
also make the biggest losses on this solution. One of — didn’t we just say the GTX
selling them. This is because which had one of the 295 cards were faster? Well,
both NVIDIA and ATi load their most massive looking true, but it’s not always about
biggest, most technologically cooling solutions we've raw fps values. The Radeon
advanced GPUs on these cards seen, with a large heatsink HD 5870 is the future and will
and it is here that the pinnacle and three large fans. Needless ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295 definitely spawn faster variants.
of today’s technology is found. to say, the 4870 x2 heats up AMD is reportedly working on
Two GPUs on a single PCB, quite a lot and the stock cooling games do this to latest hardware ‘Hemlock’ a dual GPU 5870
512-bit memory buses and other solution doesn’t really cut but it has happened, whether variant which will surely be
similarly tantalising goodies are it, making ASUS’ innovative a result of improper, inefficient faster than the GTX 295. We
to be found here. No wonder, heatsink a godsend. XFX also coding, or engines that classify also noticed better visual quality
margins are slim. To be honest, uses a unique cooler on their as before-their-time or whatever, with the Radeon HD 5870, just
it was surprising to see ZOTACs GTX 295 that looks very similar the fps numbers dip before our like the 5770 in the mid-range
GTX 285 cards well below this to the cooling solution on the eyes. Throughout the tests, the category. Add to this support
price point, kudos to them. NVIDIA 7900 GTX of old. There GTX 295-based cards are faster for DX 11 — a little future
But it was another entrant that is a full-length heatsink with by varying margins. Even the proofing can't hurt! Although
had us all wet-palmed with heatpipes and the fan is larger HD 4870 x2 cannot manage 30+ the difference is minor, it’s
Choices and decisions
You Need You Need You Need You Need
The fastest single graphics card A high-end GPU that is A gaming graphics card within a The best gaming card for a price
on the planet at the moment also future proof and not budget of Rs. 10,000 of Rs. 15,000
astronomically priced
We Recommend We Recommend We Recommend We Recommend
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295 Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 XFX HD-489A-ZDD7
Rs. 30,500 Rs. 26,000 Rs. 6,300 Rs. 14,500
Things to check Things to check Things to check Things to check
Your power supply. This should At least a 500-watt power A decent 450-watt power supply A 500-watt power supply and
be at least 600 watts and of a supply from a reputed brand should suffice. And make sure a well ventilated cabinet — this
good brand your board has a PCIe slot baby can get hot!
82 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Kindle in India NVIDIA Tegra Graphic Cards Test
Amazon's E-book reader, Nintendo might grab
the Kindle is now available NVIDIA's Tegra to power
globally their upcoming handhelds
Contact Sheet
Brand Company Phone Website Email
XFX Rashi Peripherals Pvt. Ltd. +91-22-67090828 www.rptechindia.com response@rptechindia.com
ZOTAC Aditya Infotech Ltd. +91-11-46665666 www.adityagroup.com sales@adityagroup.com
ASUS ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd. +91-22–67668800 www.asus.in media_india@asus.com
PowerColor Tirupati Enterprises +91-9339207519 www.tirupati.net mail@tirupati.net
Palit Tirupati Enterprises +91-9339207519 www.tirupati.net mail@tirupati.net
Galaxy Technology And Gadgets +91-22-23823331 www.technologyandgadgets.com manish@technologyandgadgets.com
MSI MSI +91-11-41758808 http://in.msi.com marketing@msi-in.com
Sapphire Aditya Infotech Ltd. +91-11-46665666 www.adityagroup.com sales@adityagroup.com
ATI AMD India 1800-425-6664 www.amd.com fusion.india@amd.com
visible and the Sapphire Radeon visual quality and flexibility that or in terms of development still this seems intentional.
HD 5870 wins out Best Buy a PC offers is something console or problem-solving / hurdle- NVIDIA cards can run FSAA
award for a very good price to fans have ignored. DX11, it overcoming is rendered (pun!) on a selective (need) basis that
performance ratio — something seems, will restate the part to developers. But aggressive varies scene to scene and of
the GTX 295 cannot achieve. about image quality. And for the marketing ploys play spoilsport. course MSAA can also be used.
The Best Performer award goes first time, this occurs without After all, when working with a Sadly, ATi cards can do nothing
to the ZOTAC GTX 295 for the accompanied performance developer to optimise a game here and even a Radeon 5870
its slightly lower price than hit — DX 11 titles run 30 per for ones hardware, it’s all too is slowed to a crawl — slower
the ASUS and XFX GTX 295 cent faster than their DX 10 easy to implement techniques to than a GeForce 9800 GTX.
cards that had nearly identical versions. AMD is first to market limit performance and/or visual Needless to say we dropped
performance. with a DX 11 part as the Radeon quality on competitors products this otherwise spectacular
HD 58xx and 57xx cards have and quite honestly, this is sad title from our test repertoire.
The game continues... been birthed from their 40 nm for the gaming industry as a And both parties have been
With DX 11 just around the womb. We’ve tested the Radeon whole. One such example is the guilty of such tomfoolery in
bend, and a slew of new DX 11 HD 5870 and Radeon HD 5770 game Batman Arkham Asylum — the past, a disturbing trend
titles already promising to line and they’re really interesting to an excellent title in every respect we're hoping (against all hope)
shelves before the year is out, say the very least. and optimised for NVIDIA cards. will cease. After all gaming is
there is much happening in the Into this seemingly bright When we tried to benchmark different things to different
PC gaming space. For everyone future comes the proverbial this title on AMD hardware we people — a sport, a hobby as
who embraced consoles and cloud — wilful sabotage on were surprised to see its abysmal well as a leisurely activity and
wrote off PC gaming as history, the part of game developers. performance in terms of fps. Not we’re happy to report that the
the proverbial finger has been We’ve seen titles optimised only this, but we were unable industry is growing. But it needs
flashed by the industry, as it, for a particular brand and to to set any sort of antialiasing to grow as a whole and the pie's
as a whole fights back. The fact be honest this is part of the and without this the game large enough for everyone to get
that no console can offer the industry as aid whether financial loses its visual appeal; worse a healthy slice, so play nice…
You Need You Need You Need You Need
A cheap multi-GPU solution Something that will play all Something that will play all The fast gaming solution
games with high settings at a games with high settings at a available, price no bar
resolution of 1920 x 1200 with
resolution of 1680 x 1050
FSAA enabled
We Recommend We Recommend We Recommend We Recommend
Galaxy GTS 250 x 2 (SLI) ZOTAC GTX 285 ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295 ZOTAC GTX 295 x 2 (SLI)
Rs. 6,300 x 2 = Rs. 12,600 Rs. 21,000 Rs. 30,500 Rs. 30,500 x 2 = Rs. 61,000
Things to check Things to check Things to check Things to check
Does your motherboard support At least a 500 watt power supply At least a 600 watt power A high-end 850 watt PSU and a
both SLI and Crossfire? You need a from a good brand and a well supply and a high-end cabinet to high-end cabinet, a core i7 CPU
PSU with four PCIe power cables ventilated cabinet dissipate all the heat and an SLI-ready X58 mobo
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 83
SuperTalent announces
Motherboard Test The DFI Lanparty BI G43-T33 is a
microATX board based on the G41
P55 based DDR3 RAM
kits with speeds ranging
chipset. It supports DDR3 memory from DDR3-1600 to
and on-board GMAX4500 graphics DDR3-2200
Of Chips And Sockets
Craving to upgrade to a Socket LGA 1156 processor? You'll need a supporting motherboard. Here's a
look at the boards that support Intel's latest CPU
Rohan Naravane And then there were To point out a few differences mid-range performer in Intel's
rohan.naravane@thinkdigit.com two sockets... between the Core i5 and the line-up. Thus Intel plans to do
For a long time, the LGA 775 Core i7 —- first, the Core i5 will away with the LGA775 socket
was the mainstream socket not feature hyper-threading. associated with all the Core 2
L
ast month, in our design used by all the Core 2 Second, it will not support processors. There will be a Core
extensive motherboard series processors. Currently, tri-channel memory; only i3 in the future to cater to the
test, we saw a variety of the LGA 1366 socket is what dual-channel like the Core 2 entry-level segment.
boards for both Intel the high-end Core i7-9xx platform. Lastly, it will also not A quick brief on the major
and AMD platforms. From Intel, series sit on. The platform is feature Intel's point-to-point differences between the
the mid-range performance the X58 chipset that we tested interconnection system called predecessor (the P45) and the
segment comprised of boards last month. Two months ago, QPI (QuickPath Interconnect). successor (the P55); first, we
having the P45 chip-set for Core Intel gave the world the Core i5 But the Core i5 brings have the memory controller
2 series of processors while the processor. A newer LGA 1156 performance improvements integrated into the processor
high-performance ones were the socket was developed, which over the Core 2 series being on the P55. Second, (and
X58 chip-sets for the Core i7. is compatible with all the Core based on the mighty Nehalem this is a new achievement for
After Core i7, Intel has planned i5 and the Core i7-8xx series architecture. Thus, we have the any platform), which is the
to continue with the Core “i” processors. This socket will Core i7 as the performance connectivity of the available 16
moniker for future CPUs. be based on the P55 chipset. king, while the Core i5 as the lanes of PCI Express 2.0 to the
Photography: Manas Parekh
84 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Motherboard and GPU
MSI's 'Big Bang' is the first maker ZOTAC launches
motherboard model to utilize the
Lucid HYDRA chip which allows to use
its first NVIDIA ION based
Nettop with a dual-core
Motherboard Test
NVIDIA and ATI based cards for multi- Intel Atom, 2 GB memory
GPU scaling and 160GB of HDD space
HOW WE TESTED
F
or all seven boards, Velociraptor HDD. Graphics the popular 'Cinema 4D' 3D followed by a single large file
we used Intel's Core was provided by an Asus modelling program was used and assorted 8GB file transfer
i7 870 processor GeForce 9800GTX+. All the to test just the processor test to simulate sequential and
running at 2.93 GHz, boards were powered by and memory. Another way assorted from one partition to
since this is the Corsair's HX620 PSU. We ran to test the processor was by the other.
fastest processor till date for PCMark Vantage to test the using WinRAR 3.9s built-in In order to see how these
the P55 platform. Corsair's performance across various benchmark tool. boards performed in the
Dominator dual-channel DDR3 usage scenarios. That was Coming to the real world graphics department, we tried
4GB (1333 MHz) kit was used. followed by the ScienceMark tests, we tested the itme taken running S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky
During the test, Windows Memory Bandwidth to encode a .VOB video file benchmark and the Crysis CPU
Vista Ultimate Edition ran test. CineBench R10, an into the DivX format using and GPU benchmarks as well.
off a Western Digital 300GB independent tool based on DivX Encode 7.0. That was
processor directly; thus reducing and a two-digit LED status code
the CPU-GPU data transmission display. All six SATA ports are
latency and bottlenecking that placed in an array on the right
occurs as a result. This brings us corner. Nowadays, motherboard NOVEMBER 2009
to another shortcoming of the manufacturers are skipping the
P55 chipset as compared to the keyboard/mouse PS/2 ports
higher X58 chipset that might altogether. The Biostar has at
displease gamers who want least had the decency to place
to play every game at its best the PS/2 keyboard port on the
quality. The P55 will support two board. Automatic or manual
graphics cards that will utilise over-clocking can be performed
those 16 lanes of PCI-E 2.0 only either through the BIOS or via a
at x8 mode, whereas the X48 Windows-based application. MSI P55-GD65
supports up to 36 lanes, hence
supporting two graphics cards MSI P55-GD65 Unlike quick-boot OSes we've feels pretty spaced-out since it
running at full x16 speed. The MSI board has two seen earlier that are directly has one tiny heatsink as opposed
Since Core i5 is currently heatsinks as compared to three embedded onto a separate to the dual-piped heat-sinks
the hot stuff, we decided to give on the Biostar board above. Now memory on the motherboard, on the GD65. The RAM slots
you a comparison of the latest this frees up a little space and Winki runs via either a bootable are packed closely. The CD53
motherboards based on the P55 possibly makes space for one USB drive or DVD. Next is a nifty bears a single PCI Express slot,
platform. more PCIe x1 slot. The build bootable HDD backup utility. and thus isn't meant for a SLI/
of the board seems to be quite Another cool feature on this CrossFire setup. The board's
Biostar TPOWER I55 satisfactory. MSI is trying to win board is the 'Power eSATA' port, build otherwise is quite similar
The first thing that the Biostar overclockers’ hearts by providing which means that eSATA devices to the GD65 and is satisfactory.
TPOWER I55 reminded us hardware buttons on the board will not require an additional The auto overclocking and base
of was The Transformers. This itself. There's one that activates power cable while connecting to clock tweaking buttons are still
resemblance we feel is pertaining the automatic overclocking the eSATA port. present.
to the three heat-sink units feature and a plus/minus button
surrounding the CPU — a very to change the CPU base-clock MSI P55-CD53 ASUS P7P55D Deluxe
Optimus Prime-ish look. Overall, without any kind of software/ Hot on the heels of its We'd call the P7P55D
the quality of the materials used BIOS intervention. MSI also older brother — the from ASUS as
seems to be pretty good. All that provides a couple of utilities GD65, comes the P55- something that isn't
metal makes the board feel heavy bundled with the package. CD53. To cite the major commonly associated
and pretty sturdy. The heat pipes Some mentionable ones are a differences, this board with motherboards; eye
NOVEMBER 2009
are also built well. There are light-weight fast-booting Linux
dedicated power/reset switches distribution called Winki.
Biostar MSI P55-CD53
TPOWER I55
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 85
Motherboard Test
NOVEMBER 2009 NOVEMBER 2009 NOVEMBER 2009
Motherboard Test
Brand ASUS MSI Gigabyte Gigabyte MSI
Model No. P7P55D Deluxe P55-GD65 GA-P55-UD3R GA-P55-UD6 P55-CD53
Price Rs. 18,650 Rs. 9,200 + Taxes Rs. 13,800 Rs. 20,000 Rs. 7,000 + Taxes
Overall (Out of 100) 76.17 76.39 77.69 80.40 69.56
Features (Out of 60) 41.04 39.78 40.68 42.99 33.00
Performance (Out of 40) 35.13 36.61 37.01 37.41 36.56
Max. Memory Supported (GB) / No of DIMMs 16GB / 4 16GB / 4 16GB / 4 16GB / 6 16GB / 4
No. of SATA ports / IDE Ports 9/1 7/1 8/1 10 / 1 8/1
No. of E-SATA Ports 0 1 2 2 0
No. of PCI Express x16 graphics slots 2 2 1 2 1
No. of PCI / PCI x1 / PCI x4 Slots 2/1/1 2/2/1 4/1/1 2/2/1 3/3/0
Multi GPU (SLI/CrossFire) Support Y Y N Y N
No of PCIe Lanes per GPU X8 / X8 X8 / X8 N/A X8 / X8 N/A
Integrated Audio Controller VIA VT2020 Realtek ALC889 Realtek ALC888 Realtek ALC889A Realtek ALC889
Number of Sound channels 10 8 8 8 8
SPDIF Port / Optical Port Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y N/N
No of Gigabit LAN Ports 2 2 1 2 1
Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) N N N N N
No. of ports - USB / Firewire 8/1 7/1 10 / 0 8/2 10 / 0
All Solid State Caps (Y/N) Y Y Y Y N
BIOS options
CPU voltage range 0.85~2.1 volts 0.87~2.07 volts 0.5~1.9 volts 0.5~1.9 volts 0.006~0.371 volts
CPU Voltage increments 0.00625 0.006 0.00025 0.00625 N/A
Memory voltage range 1.2~2.5 volts 0.906~2.405 volts 1.3~2.6 volts 1.3~2.6 volts 0.906~2.405 volts
Memory Voltage increments 0.0125 volts 0.006 volts 0.02 volts 0.02 volts N/A
BIOS update flash drive/External USB Y Y Y Y Y
device (Y / N)
Board Layout (So 10)
Region around the CPU 7 6.5 7 8 4.5
Location of SATA ports 7 7 8 6.5 7
Placement of Memory modules 6.5 7 7 7 6
Graphics card slot and PCI slots 6.5 7 7 7 7
Package Bundle
No of SATA / PATA Cables Provided 6/1 4/2 4/1 6/1 2/1
Other Miscellaneous Accessories Overclocking con- USB bracket - E-SATA bracket -
trol switch, USB +
E-SATA bracket
Performance
PC Mark Vantage (Overall) 6919 6951 6967 7528 7394
TV & Movies 5126 5250 5186 5320 5241
Memories / HDD 5235 / 6231 5148 / 6043 4964 / 6122 5371 / 6053 5239 / 6186
Gaming / Music 8199 / 5720 7890 / 6632 7909 / 6573 8520 / 6920 8145 / 6714
Communications / Productivity 5949 / 5986 5662 / 5623 5769 / 5882 6707 / 6420 6154 / 5748
ScienceMark (Memory Bandwidth) 9476 12007 12257 13179 12510
3D Mark Vantage (Overall) 8688 8774 8785 8759 8767
3D Mark Vantage (CPU / GPU) 41205 / 6878 42027 / 6943 44985 / 6927 44031 / 6913 41402 / 6943
CINEBENCH R10 (CPU) 13602 13711 14827 14975 13498
WinRAR 3.8 3872 4313 4453 4479 4236
100 MB file Video Encoding (VOB-DivX 6.8) 24 22 22 21 22
(sec)
File Transfer - Sequential / Random (8 GB) 36.74 / 44.3 42.01 / 44.3 39.77 / 44.3 38.64 / 43.81 40.55 / 43.81
(Mbps)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (1280 x 1024, low) 79.1 81.9 82.2 81.4 81
Crysis (CPU - 1024 x 768, low) 74 75 79 79 75
Crysis (Graphics - 1280 x 1024, high) 44 44 44 44 45
86 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Dane-Elec has stated that their
USB 3.0 compatible spinning AMD's Congo platform for Netbooks
and solid state disks will be
available soon. Sizes range from
to be out soon sporting AMD's Athlon
and Turion Neo processors and ATI's
Motherboard Test
500GB to 2TB (HDDs) and 80 & graphics chips that support HD and
160GB (SSD) DirectX 10.1
Northbridge. All heatsinks are
Intel Biostar piped in a linear fashion — from
the top all the way down to
DP55KG Tpower I55
the Southbridge. Build-wise,
Rs. 11,000 Rs. 14,480 this board is all quality. It
69.13 75.13 incorporates six RAM slots. It’s
33.06 38.82 also got a status LED display
36.07 36.31 that was missing from the
16GB / 4 16GB / 4 UD3R.
8/0 6/1
Intel DP55KG
2 2 Intel's Extreme series board for
2 2 the P55 chipset has a rather odd
2/2/1 2/1/1 design. For starters, although
Y Y the board is designed for the
X8 / X8 X8 / X8 ASUS P7P55D Deluxe full ATX form factor, there
seems to be a lot of empty space
Intel HD Audio Realtek ALC888S
on it. Intel has decided to do
10 10 candy. From the glowing LED
Y/N Y/Y design at the Southbridge to
1 2 the radically-shaped blue heat-
N N sinks at the top, this board is
certainly quite the looker. The
8/1 8/1
build quality is pretty amazing
N Y and the Northbridge heatsinks
are plated at the bottom, thus
N/A + 0.7875 v (max) adding a bit more firmness.
N/A 0.00625 Other than the Power/Reset
1.3~2.0 volts 1.6~2.53 volts buttons on the board, it also
has a clear CMOS switch
0.01 volts 0.015 volts
placed along with the array of
Y Y peripheral ports to the side. Gigabyte P55-UD3R
The RAM slots have an odd
one-sided lock design which
5.5 7.5 is slightly inconvenient. The x4 slot. Thus, SLI/Crossfire
6.5 6.5 RAM chips don't pop-out as setup on it is out of question. away with the IDE port, which
6.5 6.5 they usually do when unlocked. Otherwise, the board is very could be a hassle for somebody
While the MSI boards had basic in terms of features. There owning an older PATA optical
7 7
overclocking buttons on the are no direct control buttons for drive or even hard drive. The
board, ASUS goes one step overclocking, no dual LAN and heatsinks on the Northbridge
N/A 6/1 further by providing a wired no FireWire port. and Southbridge are smaller
- 6 SATA to Std. remote with the necessary over- than its counterparts. One of
Power cables clocking buttons on it. Thus, Gigabyte P55-UD6 the radical design concepts on
you can instantly bump up the For those not very intrigued the board is a skull at the right
bus speed or select a different by the vanilla feature-set of the corner that has two blinking red
6987 6975 profile without opening the UD3R, Gigabyte gives you the LED eyes. A feature seen on all
cabinet. This will be very UD6. This monster other boards, the DP55KG
5008 5124
convenient for overclockers. of a board packs two does not have all solid state
4720 / 5679 5171 / 6110 standard and one capacitors; that are known
8071 / 6455 7891 / 6617 Gigabyte P55-UD3R large heatsink at the for their longer life and
5239 / 6147 5955 / 5848 The Gigabyte UD3R follows NOVEMBER 2009
12607 12865 the ASUS’ blue-white colour
8765 8733 scheme. The dual heatsinks at
the Northbridge are as sturdy
41165 / 6943 41501 / 6913
as the rest of the boards we've
13921 13871 seen. Overall, the board has
4256 4331 a nice finish as it is typically
22 24 expected from Gigabyte. The
single PS/2 port can be used
38.82 / 43.57 41.80 / 44.52 either to connect a keyboard or
a mouse. Although the pictures
80.5 78.4 might be misleading, this board
actually has only one PCIe 2.0
73 74
x16 slot. The other similarly-
44 43 sized slot is actually a PCI-E Gigabyte P55-UD6
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 87
Kingmax introduced cap-less USB
Motherboard Test Logitech's G11 gaming keyboard supports
multi-color LEDs, automatic game
drives that are water proof, have
pressure resistance and can manage
detection for custom profiles, integrated temperatures in the range of 100 to
headset support and a USB port minus 40 degrees
stable operation over typical INTEL BEST PERFORMER COMPARISONS
electrolytic capacitors. A vertical
USB port is placed right on the Brand ASUS Gigabyte ASUS
motherboard — ReadyBoost Model No. P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi @n GA-P55-UD6 Rampage II Extreme
ready? Price (Rupees) Rs. 17,900 Rs. 20,000 Rs.28,500
Chipset Intel P45 Intel P55 Intel X58
Conclusion Socket LGA775 LGA1156 LGA1366
As you might have already
CINEBENCH R10 (CPU) 11847 14975 15490
known, there isn't a great
difference in the benchmark WinRAR 3.8 2530 4479 4722
scores in motherboards mainly DivX Video Encoding (100 MB VOB) 33.1 21 18
because a motherboard is more (sec)
a facilitator than a performance File Transfer - Sequential / Random 50.32 / 42.38 38.64 / 43.81 47.08 / 42.90
enhacing component like say, (8 GB) (Mbps)
a processor, or memory or a STALKER Clear Sky (1280 x 1024, low) 81.2 81.4 84.9
graphics card. Thus, it was Crysis (CPU - 1024 x 768, low) 84 79 83
important for us to give the
Crysis (Graphics - 1280 x 1024, high) 42 44 45
features of these boards more
weight than the performance. This table compares the best tested with the same ASUS would actually cost almost
With respect to features, the performing motherboards GeForce 9800GTX+ Dark Rs. 20,000 less, at around
Gigabyte P55-UD6 aced the list, from our tests using the P45, Knight graphic card. Identical Rs. 47,000. Intel's fastest and
with the ASUS P7P55D Deluxe P55 and the X58 chip-set memory was used, except on meanest combo (based on
just a single point behind it. platform respectively. The the X58 for which tri-channel the X58 chip-set above) would
The third in that list is the MSI P45 based board used an memory was used. make your pockets lighter by
P55-GD65. With respect to Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 As you can see, certain a whopping Rs. 76,500.
performance, the prize again 3.0 GHz processor. The P55 benchmarks like CineBench There you have it. This is
was bagged by the Gigabyte board (winner of the test in and WinRAR show your money's worth. This is
P55-UD6, with the MSI brothers this article) used the Core considerable performance what you'll get for spending
right behind at second and third i7 870 at 2.93 GHz which gains. The performance gain those extra thousand rupees
place. But aggressive pricing has is the fastest for the LGA is clearly visible in the DivX to be faster than others. If you
been MSI's biggest feat, with 1156 socket platform. The encoding test. To give you a compare the numbers of the
both the boards selling at a price X58 based one was paired rough estimate of how much P55 to the X58, there's not a
with a Core i7 975 Extreme it costs to build these rigs; the great difference that's worth
of under Rs. 10,000! Out of the
Edition clocking at 3.33 GHz; P45-based CPU-motherboard the extra Rs. 30,000. Thus, the
two, we feel the MSI P55-GD65
once again the fastest in the combo described above cost-to-benefit ratio tips in
is quite well priced at Rs. 9,200 would cost roughly around Rs. the favour of the P55 based
LGA 1366 based platform
+ taxes. It has quite a list of till date. All boards were 65,900. The P55 based setup setup.
features, is well built and lets
you over-clock at the click of a
button on the board itself. Thus, you can get your Core i5 based Thus, if you are in the market
CPU-motherboard combo for looking to upgrade or buy a new
lower than Rs. 20,000. The Intel Intel-based mid-range PC, we'd
DP55KG is just over Rs. 10,000, advise you to go for a P55 based
but does not give you a lot for chip-set to ensure compatibility
your money. The Gigabyte P55- of future processors based
UD3R is a decent performer, on the LGA 1156 socket.
but the lack of features such as Here comes another issue;
dual-LAN and Firewire ports the decision to either go for a
on-board doesn't quite justify its semi-conservative LGA 1156
Rs. 13,800 price tag. If you have based board, or go all-in on a
deep pockets, and want a really high-performing LGA 1366
solid board with the highest based one. The table above gives
performance, then the Gigabyte you a comparison of all Intel
P55-UD6 gives you all that, for platforms with the best of CPU-
Rs. 20,000. motherboard combinations.
Intel DP55KG We re-iterate that Intel We hope you make the right
intends to discontinue LGA 775. decision. Happy shopping!
Contact Sheet
Brand Contact Phone Email Web site
ASUS ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd. +91-22-67668800 media_india@asus.com www.asus.com
Biostar Abacus Peripherals Pvt. Ltd +91-22-40914603 sajid@abacusperipherals.com www.biostar.com.tw
Gigabyte Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. +91-22-40633206 viveks@gigabyte.in www.gigabyte.com.tw
Intel NA NA NA www.intel.com
MSI MSI Co. Ltd. +91-11-41758808 marketing@msi-in.com www.msi.com
88 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
More from Firefox GreaseMonkey
Firefox is a good browser, but While shopping at Ebay US or
it is the Extension Eco System any other site, you would’ve
that makes it a great browser. wished the prices were
Extensions allow you to add displayed in rupees instead
functionality and convenience of US dollars; or there were
to your Firefox install and no adds or sponsored results
help you enjoy flawless on the Google search page.
browsing. So here is our top May be even Google image
ten list in no particular order. results open directly as the
full size image. This extension
FoxTab is the genie’s reply to all that
Think of it as Windows’ and more. This extensions
Aero/Linux’s Compiz/Mac’s allows you to customise a
Expose in your browser. web page on the fly based
You can preview and then More from Firefox...........................89 Winamp ................................................95 on small bits of Java scripts
open all your tabs via this that can be downloaded
extension in various 3D Twitter.....................................................91 Deskcretary .........................................96 according to what you want
Views. You can select from Windows 7 ..........................................92 from userscripts.org. With the
six different views to display aid of this extension you can
the tabs. One interesting and make your choosen web sites
very useful feature is you can fit exactly into your desired
switch to Foxtab view (if you glory. If you find yourself what, this extension should mould. With the a strong and
have multiple windows open frequently working with more significantly reduce your large user base, you can be
with multiple tabs in each of than 20 tabs, some of which neural processing load. You assured of customisation, in
them) and it will show all the were opened a few hours can download FoxTab from the form of a user script. To
tabs from all the Windows before and have difficulty in https://addons.mozilla.org/ get this add-on, go to https://
for easy switching in full 3D remembering what is there in en-US/firefox/addon/8879 addons.mozilla.org/en-US/
firefox/addon/748.
RoboForm
Tired of repeatedly filling
forms and remembering
various login IDs and
password for the gazillion
sites that you have traversed
through till now, don’t
sweat — AI RoboForm is the
answer. It is not the only
player in this area, but of the
various options evaluated, it
is the most user friendly and
feature rich option. It comes
complete with AES encryption
to store your passwords. A
version for various browsers,
3D Goodness of the FoxTab Extension including for iPhone and
even an online interface is
available, ensuring you can
access your data and details
from where ever and when
ever you want. Install it once,
fill in your details, and you
won’t have to ever fill those
irritating forms manually
again or remember those
excruciatingly complex
passwords. Add RoboForm to
Firefox from https://addons.
mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
addon/750.
Sage RSS Reader
To satisfy the RSS-holic in
you, Sage RSS Reader is the
perfect compromise between
FoxTab in a different avataar
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 89 Digit | November 2009
Tips & Tricks
the extremely limited live browsing the internet,
bookmarks feature of Firefox this extension eliminates
and a separate RSS client. almost all ads from most
Sage RSS reader neatly web sites. When you
integrates within your start the extension for
browser window, is light on the first time, you can
memory, enables full print subscribe to a block list.
and you never have to leave Also, if you find out later
your browser window to that an ad that should be
keep yourself updated about blocked, isn’t, you can
global news or your friend’s add it manually or even
blog. It packs decent punch add them on a generic
in terms of features and has pattern basis. You can
support for RSS 2.0 and Atom also white-list any
and even has feed discovery. content you really need
Makes shifting from one client but has been mistakenly
to another easy by supporting blocked by AdBlock as
import and export of OMPL an advertisement. This
lists and even connects with extension gives you a
the Firefox bookmarking much cleaner and leaner
system to give you a seamless web page to browse
browsing experience. You can through. To get relieved Xmarks setting window, you can choose your sync and other settings over here
add Sage RSS reader from from ads, download the
https://addons.mozilla.org/ add-on from https:// automatically synchs the direct view and repeatedly
en-US/firefox/addon/77. addons.mozilla.org/en-US/ bookmarks according to having to check it to monitor
firefox/addon/1865. your specified settings. You your download progress
EchoFon can merge or overwrite the can be inconvenient. The
If you’re a Twitter WebMail Notifier extensions, depending on download status bar supports
ambassador, this is a must- This Firefox extension your choice. Also, the latest multiple downloads at once
have Firefox extension. This automatically checks for your version adds functionality to and automatically assigns a
is a non obtrusive way of online web-based accounts such your search results on Google different coloured progress
tweeting and keeping yourself as Gmail, Yahoo! or Hotmail and and other search engines. bar to each for easy tracking.
updated about your friend’s notifies you on the arrival of a There’s an icon next to the Get it from: https://addons.
tweet. It supports direct new mail. It supports multiple link, indicating that link has mozilla.org/firefox/26/.
tweeting of the current tab account at the same time and been bookmarked by other
link, so you can tell the world resides as a small icon in your people, greatly aiding in FlashBlock
about the awesome site you Firefox notification panel. The finding quality content out of It blocks all Flash content
just visited in one click. It extension uses the inbuilt search results. The bookmark from any web site, leading
has separate internal tabs for Firefox password manager discovery feature also doubles to faster downloads and
direct messages and replies to store your password for up as an alternative to Digg rendering times. But it still
along with showing your enhanced safety, so that neither and Reddit. To add this leaves a nice placeholder
timeline. All links can be are passwords stored locally extension, go to https:// there with a play icon,
opened by clicking on them without encryption or are stored addons.mozilla.org/en-US/ so that you can click and
in a new tab from a tweet. It online. A lot of web sites are also firefox/addon/2410. selectively allow whatever
supports multiple accounts supported via user scripts. Give Flash content you want.
so you can tweet conveniently it a try and you will never turn Download StatusBar Effectively, on a YouTube
from multiple accounts. back. It is also a “recommended” Simplicity is the USP of page, you can allow just
The reply tab also shows add-on by the Firefox team. You this extension. It creates a your video to play and block
references to you from across can get this add-on from https:// coloured status bar for all all the unnecessary Flash
the globe, so you can track addons.mozilla.org/en-US/ your downloads and the paraphernalia on the web
your popularity. You can even firefox/addon/4490. progress is depicted by filling page. Currently, it supports
assign a keyboard shortcut the tab icon in the status bar. blocking Macromedia’s Flash,
for checking the latest tweet Xmarks It auto hides when not in use Shockwave and Authorware
to satisfy the ninja in you. Formerly known as Foxmarks, and does its job very well. content. It works flawlessly
EchoFon also notifies you this is the easiest and You can pause and cancel on Windows, but some users
pop-up alerts for new tweets. simplest way of synching your a download by clicking on have reported problems with
Add this extension at https:// bookmarks across different the status bar. Very useful Linux installations. Add
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/ machines and across different with Windows 7, because this extension from https://
firefox/addon/5081. platforms. You simply create with auto-grouping, your addons.mozilla.org/en-US/
an online account and it download tab is hidden from firefox/addon/433.
AdBlock Plus
If you think your productivity
is being hampered by the
extra download time of those
irritating ads or you just plain
find them annoying while The Download Status bar extension
Digit | November 2009 | vol 9: 90 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
Twitter ratio and the clout seems to
be unique features of this site.
Twitter Analyzer The former tries to estimate
http://twitteranalyzer.com the ratio of your useful tweets
If you’re one with attention to to pointless babble. The clout,
detail and need statistics and as the name suggests is a
graphs, this one’s for you. This cumulative measure of your
is an analysis tool with a strong influence on tweeple. Satan’s
focus on quantitative analysis. guidebook suggest comparing
Xefer “Tweets per day”, “retweets”
http://xefer.com/twitter/ and “conversations”, as well
This is definitely the best visual as a qualitative picture of your
representation of your tweeting Twitter profile. By analysing
frequency with respect to your retweets and the number
time. It shows your tweets and of conversations among other
Twitter Analyzer is meant for you if you love statistics replies in forms of concentric parameters. It gives your profile
circles with radii proportional a social personality type, and
With Twitter Analyzer, you yourself to @aplusk as a way of to frequency plotted against even offers tips to improve if
can have all of this. You’ll get boosting confidence. days of the week and hours of necessary.
to know your “Reach”, which
is basically how many people Twitter Friends
saw your tweet including your http://twitter-friends.com/
followers and the followers of This analytics tool focusses on
the person who retweeted your your relationship with other
tweet if any. Twitter users. It gives you a
sorted view based on recent
Twitalyzer activity in terms of other
http://www.twitalyzer.com/ Twitter users you replied to.
This online twitter analyser It just doesn’t stop at that,
is probably the most it even produces your own
comprehensive online tool for “twitgraph” that analyses your
twitter statistic analysis. As CQ (Conversation Quotient),
you can see in the attached LQ (Link Quotient) and many
screenshot, the focus here is many more. Hit the link for
qualitative — on the content a fun-filled 5-minute insight Xefer analyses are visually appealing
of your tweets, rather than into your twitter habits. It also
just numbers. The analysis, gives your follow cost — useless each day. Very comprehensive Twitt(URL)y
of course, is not completely but extremely interesting yet simple to grasp. A sure shot http://twitturly.com/
independent of your tweeting (http://followcost.com/about/ recommendation. This service doesn’t specifically
frequency. Signal-to-noise milliscoble). give you statistics relevant to
Twanalyst your profile, but gives the most
http://twanalyst.com/ popular URLs that people are
Don’t consider this to be a talking about on Twitter, in
replacement for a psychoanalyst. Digg style. It’s a good way to
This online tool gives you discover cool links floating
quantitative analyses such as around the web in real time.
Get to know the most popular URLs on Twitter with Twitturly
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 91 Digit | November 2009
Tips & Tricks
Windows 7 Change the Value data from
12000 (12 seconds) to 5000
Search within ZIP files (5 seconds). To be on the
Open Computer (Win + E) safer side, do not reduce it
Click on Organize > below 5 seconds because
Folder and Search Options some programs need a couple
Under the search tab, check of seconds to close properly
‘Include compressed flies’ and and killing before that will
click on Ok. result in data loss.
Faster Windows Multiple file selection
shutdown Whenever you have to select
multiple files, you need to keep
the [Ctrl] key pressed while
clicking on filenames. How
many times has it happened Multiple selection is convenient even through a long list of files
to you that you let go of the
[Ctrl] key before selecting Organize > Folder and with small hard-disk space. In
another file and your entire Search Options. case you get an access error
selection was lost? It’s irritating Go to the View tab. while the file is being executed,
when sorting large number Under Advanced settings, replace %username% in the
of files. Windows 7, however, check the item labeled “Use file with your Windows login
comes to your rescue with check boxes to select items” username.
checkboxes that allow you to Press Ok and you are done.
select files without having to Modify Add/Remove
Automatically delete list
temporary files If your Add/Remove list is
Windows 7 comes with the Disk getting cluttered after you
With Windows 7, you can search
Clean-up Wizard like Windows installed an application that
contents of ZIP files Vista and XP, but that utility only makes multiple entries in it
deletes your temporary files if (Visual Studio added more than
Windows takes some time to they are more than a week old. 10 things while we were testing)
stop or kill a service once you You can automate the process by and you have no intention of
give the Shutdown command. creating a simple batch file and uninstalling it from there, or you
But, in most cases, it does not then making it run at start-up want to remove a Key logging/
harm to reduce this delay and so that you never have to worry Screen Capture program you
boost your shutdown time. about manually freeing up space installed to monitor your kids
Here’s how: from your Temp folder. from the programs list because
Go to Start > Run and type Open Notepad and click on you don’t want your smarties
regedit. File > Save As. to simply uninstall it, there is
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_ In the File Name dialog box, a way to remove entries from
MACHINE > SYSTEM > Type “tempclean.bat” ‘Programs and Features’ List.
CurrentControlSet > Change the entry in Save As Open Run Dialog box with
Control in the left pane. You can select multiple items with Type dropdown box to “All [Win] + [R]
In the right pane, right- checkboxes files” Type RegEdit and press Enter
click on the key called Click on save. to Open Windows Registry
‘WaitToKillServiceTimeout’ hold the [Ctrl] key. Then in your file, type the Editor.
and click on Modify. Once in a folder, Click on following: Scroll to the entry:
cd C:\ HKEY_LOCAL_
Users\%username%\ MACHINE\Software\
AppData\Local Microsoft\Windows\
Rmdir /S /Q Temp CurrentVersion\
Save the File. Uninstall
Navigate to the folder where In the left pane, there are
the file is saved. programs installed on your
Right-click on it and click on computer, some represented
‘Create Shortcut’. by their name, and some by
Place this shortcut in your random numbers and letters.
‘startup’ folder in your Start Right Pane shows you their
Menu. display name.
Every time you log in Find the key of the program
to Windows, the file will be you intend to hide.
executed and your temporary Back it up so that at least you
files will be cleaned. This is very can uninstall it by restoring
A minor tweak can make Windows shutdown faster useful for netbooks an laptops the key. Select it in the left
Digit | November 2009 | vol 9: 92 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
Adding Favourites is as simple as drag and drop in Windows 7
present in the left pane of the
window. You can add your
frequently accessed folders
for quick access. Left-click
Optimising your Add/Remove list the folder and drag it on the
Favorites to create a link there.
pane. Then click on File
> Export and save it with Change the location of
a name that reminds you of your Personal Folders
what you are about to do. If you frequently reinstall your
Now delete the key by right operating system, or your
clicking it and Selecting primary hard-drive partition is
Delete. This removes the entry small and not enough for all
for that program from the your media and documents,
Programs list. You can Restore you will want your personal
it back by double clicking the folders point to a location that
reg file you just saved in the is on a separate partition. This
last step. also ensures that in case of a Change the default location of
system crash, you can just pop in your personal folders
Activate Regional the Installation disc and install Go to the Location tab
Themes Windows again on your primary Enter the address to which
Windows 7 comes with some partition after formatting it and you want to relocate your
very good themes by default. still not worry about losing your personal folder.
But in case you have already got You can activate regional themes in personal folders data. Click on Ok. Windows will as
bored of those, you will be glad Windows 7 Here’s how you go about it: you for permission to create
to know that there are some Navigate to your Users folder the folder if it doesn’t exist
hidden regional themes also folder and click on the theme by clicking on Start and then already.
with region-specific Windows file to activate it. Now, it will your User name, or Opening Windows will also give you an
7 wallpapers which only show also become available from Windows Explorer and option to move all your files
up if the appropriate region is your Themes menu in the going to C:/Users/. new location. We recommend
without going through the Right-click on the personal you click on yes as some
trouble of changing your region. Favourite Folders folder that you want to programs need access to
Open My Computer by Windows Explorer has a relocate and then click on them to function properly,
pressing [Win] + [E] great feature called ‘Favorites’, properties. like games for instance which
Click on Organize > store game profiles in the
Folder and Search Options Documents folder.
Go to the View tab.
Check ‘Show hidden files, Modify Windows 7
folders and drives’ under Search Index
Advanced Settings. Windows 7 uses a Search
Uncheck ‘Hide protected index for faster searches on the
operating system files’ and computer. Instead of looking
apply the changes. through your entire hard disk
Now navigate to C:\ for a file, Windows first just
Windows\Globalization\ scans the index and saves you
MCT a lot of time. You can notice the
The folders contain theme difference when searching in
files of respective regions locations that aren’t index. By
based on their name such as default, only your Users folder
CA for Canada, ZA for South and the folders included in a
Africa and US for United library are indexed. However,
States among others. you can add more folders to it.
Just open them, open theme You will see the list of themes depending on your location It is not advisable to index
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 93 Digit | November 2009
Tips & Tricks
your entire computer because to index. These folders will you might need to rebuild the Some useful
the Indexing service is resource appear in the Exclude column index. In Indexing Options, commands
intensive and your index will of the Summary of selected Click on Advanced. In the Normally you would not
also become too large and locations list. Index Settings tab, click on associate Windows with
your routine searches will slow If the index can’t find a file the Rebuild button under commands. For everything,
down. You should selectively that you know exists in a Troubleshooting category. you have to navigate through
add folders that you search from recently indexed location, a couple of menus using the
frequently to suit your needs. mouse before getting to the
To customise the Search concerned window/utility/
Index locations, tool. But Windows does come
Go to Control Panel > with commands that give
Indexing Options. you quick access to tools for
You will see the indexed configuring and fixing your
locations here. To exclude or computer. Some of these are
include folders from that list, very helpful if you prefer
click on Modify. the use of keyboard more
Select all the folders that you than your mouse and don’t
want indexed and click Ok like moving your hand back
to save your preferences. If and forth between them or
you want to include a folder, suddenly the touchpad of your
but not all of its subfolders, laptop stops working/ behaves
then click the folder, and clear erratically. Just press [Win] +
the check box next to any [R] to get the Run Command
subfolder that you don’t want Indexing reduces search time, but is resource intensive Dialog box to get started.
Command What it opens
%temp% Temporary files folder. Your recently downloaded files, unzipped setup packages, etc. will be present here
appwiz.cpl Add/Remove Programs window for uninstalling applications.
hdwwiz.cpl Add Hardware Wizard for connecting any new piece of equipment you recently connected to your computer
fsquirt Bluetooth File Transfer Wizard for sending and receiving files from your Bluetooth enabled mobile phone/ PMP
calc Calculator
charmap Character Map for inserting special characters such as copyright and trademark symbol
chkdsk Check disc Utility
devmgmt.msc Device Manager for troubleshooting hardware.
cleanmgr Disk Cleanup Utility for cleaning up your temporary files and retrieving wasted hard-disk space
dfrg.msc Disk Defragment Utility
diskmgmt.msc Disk Management to help you manage your hard-disk partitions and removable storage devices
diskpart Disk Partition Manager
desk.cpl Display properties for changing display resolution
gpedit.msc Group Policy editor
ciadv.msc Indexing Service settings
inetcpl.cpl Internet Properties. Very helpful when you want to change your proxy settings without going through Internet Explorer
iexplore Internet Explorer
logoff Log off from your account
main.cpl Opens Mouse Properties
main.cpl Opens Keyboard Properties
keyboard
ncpa.cpl Network Connections Window to manage your networks
netsetup.cpl Network Setup Wizard to create an ad hoc network among other things
notepad Notepad
perfmon Performance Monitor
powercfg.cpl Power Management to change power profiles
regedit Registry Editor
services.msc Services to disable unused services and boost computer speed. We, however, recommend you not to play around with
this, unless you are an advanced user
fsmgmt.msc Shared Folders
shutdown Shutdown Windows
msconfig System Configuration Utility, mainly used to change boot options and disable startup items
sysdm.cpl System Properties
taskmgr Task manager for killing processes that are not responding and monitoring resource usage
firewall.cpl Windows Firewall
Digit | November 2009 | vol 9: 94 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
Winamp Cheat Sheet
Main Window Playback Playlist playback
Shortcut Function Shortcut Function
[X] Play, Restart and Resume [R] Toggle repeat
[V] Stop [S] Toggle shuffle
[Shift]+[V] Fade out [L] Add file
[C] Pause and Resume [Ctrl]+[L] Add Location
[B] Next Track [Shift]+[L] or [Insert] Add directory
[Enter] Play file
[Z] Previous Track
[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[1] Sort by title
Right Arrow Rewind 5 seconds
[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[2] Sort by filename
Left Arrow Fast Forward 5 seconds
[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[3] Sort by path
Numeric key [7] Rewind 5 seconds [Ctrl]+[R] Reverse playlist
Numeric key [9] Fast Forward 5 seconds [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[R] Randomize playlist
Numeric key [1] Jump 10 songs back
Numeric key [3] Jump 10 songs forward Playlist Controls
Numeric key [0] Load file Shortcut Function
[Ctrl]+[N] New playlist
[Ctrl]+Numeric key [0] Load location
[Ctrl]+[O] Load playlist
[Shift]+[Insert] Play directory
[Ctrl]+[S] Save playlist
Numeric key [8] Increase Volume
[Alt]+[3] Edit tags
Numeric key [2] Decrease Volume [Ctrl]+[E] Edit file name
[Ctrl]+[A] Select all
Equalizer [Ctrl]+[I] Invert selection
Shortcut Function [Delete] Remove selected items
[1],[2],[3]...[0] Increase corresponding equalizer bands [Ctrl]+[Delete] Remove all but selected
[Q],[W],[E]...[P] Decrease corresponding equalizer bands [Alt]+[Delete] Remove all non-existent files
[`] Increase Pre-amp [Alt]+Down Arrow Move files downward
[Tab] Decrease Pre-amp [Alt]+Up Arrow Move files upward
Down arrow Select downward
[S] Open Preset menu
Up arrow Select upward
[Ctrl]+[S] Load Preset
[Shift]+Up Arrow Select multiple files upward
[A] Toggle auto-loading
[Shift]+Down Arrow Select multiple files downward
[Ctrl]+[F4] Close equalizer [Page Up] Move up by a fifth of the displayed playlist
[N] Toggle equalizer [Page Down] Move down by a fifth of the displayed
playlist
Menu Functions
Shortcut Function
Visualizer Window
[Alt]+[F] File Menu Shortcut Function
[Ctrl]+[O] Visualization Options
[Alt]+[P] Play Menu
[Alt]+[K] Configure current plug-in
[Alt]+[O] Options Menu
[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[K] Start/Stop current plug-in
[Alt]+[I] View Menu
[Ctrl]+[K] Open Visualization preferences
[Ctrl]+[P] Preferences Menu
[Alt]+[S] Open Skin Browser Global Hotkeys
[Alt]+[K] Configure Visualisation Shortcut Function Works on Winamp irrespective
of which program you are run-
[F1] Open About Winamp Window [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Insert] Play ning. Go to Preferences>Global
[Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Home] Pause Hotkeys and check Enabled.
MiniBrowser [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[End] Stop
[Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Page Up] Play previous track
Shortcut Function
[Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Page Down] Play next track
[Alt]+[Left] Go Back
[Ctrl]+[Alt]+Up Arrow Increase Volume
[Alt]+[Right] Go Forward
[Ctrl]+[Alt]+Down Arrow Decrease Volume
[Ctrl]+[L] Open “Go” Menu
[Ctrl]+[Alt]+Left Arrow Rewind 5 seconds
[Ctrl]+[O] Go to Location [Ctrl]+[Alt]+Right Arrow Fast Forward 5 seconds
[Ctrl]+[R] Refresh [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[J] Jump to Box
[Ctrl]+[Alt]+[R] Refresh links list [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[L] Open File Dialogue
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 95 Digit | November 2009
Workshop
Deskcretary first time, a wizard pops
Most people like their up with several options to
desktops to be neat and configure Deskcretary. Click
clean, devoid of any icons and the next button to set up
clutter. But do what you may, different attributes such as
your desktop gets cluttered exclusions, and scheduling.
with literally hundreds of You can choose to set up
icons. Sure, some people the application here itself or
take out free time to keep cancel the wizard to be able
their desktops tidy, but no to do it one at a time. Once
matter how particular we are, the archiving of the desktop
often we find our desktop to is completed, you get to view
be a complete mess. Apart all archived files through
from obscuring your jazzy the application conveniently
wallpaper, there are several sorted by file types. It also
niggles you face because of offers a tree view of archives
having a littered desktop. You by date.
waste hours trying to locate
that one particular file you Archiving
downloaded months ago, Before archiving files, click on
or that important notepad Tools > Configuration > Scheduling clean ups
file with some detail you Archiving tab to set up the
took down - of course you archiving parameters. Here, you to time. Click on Tools > You will find a single folder on
don’t remember its name or have two options for dealing Configuration > Scheduling the desktop called Deskcretary,
you’d use the search function with folders on the desktop. tab to view scheduling options. created by the application.
right? The Windows desktop The first option is to move Here you can choose Archiving In this folder, there are two
cleanup tool which pops up each file from a folder into frequency as Never, Daily, subfolders viz. Archive and File
every now and then is of little the archive, while the second Weekly or Monthly, from a Cabinet. Under File Cabinet,
use and doesn’t have too many one lets you compress all the drop down list. You can choose there will be further subfolders
options. Enter Deskcretary - a files in the folder (including the time and day for archiving for each and every file type
powerful desktop cleanup subfolders) into a single file and clean up to take place. such as DOC, EXE and PDF.
application that allows the on the desktop. You’ll find Depending on how cluttered Your files are automatically
user to perform manual and moving files from folders is your desktop gets in a certain sorted and slotted here under
scheduled desktop cleanups. more convenient and goes amount of time choose the the relevant folders! In the
It conveniently archives the through the software’s sorting appropriate option and click OK. Archive folder, you will find
cleaned up files and provides mechanism. Click OK after subfolders for each and every
a file explorer to view, search selecting the appropriate radio Restoring archiving date. Within these
and restore archived files button. Now simply click on While restoring there can be are shortcuts to the actual files
based on file type and date the Archive Desktop button several issues that crop up stored in the File Cabinet.
archived. Quite a nifty little at the top-right corner of the such as treatment of duplicate
tool that can actually double interface or hit [Ctrl] + [P] files or clashing file names. To Setting up
up as a file management tool. configure restoration, go to exceptions
Scheduling Tools > Configuration By default, Deskcretary
Getting started With Deskcretary, you can also > Restoration tab. Here, archives all types of files.
When you install and run schedule clean up instead of you can even select whether However, there are some
the application for the doing them manually from time files should be deleted once files that we absolutely must
restored or if a copy should have on our desktops. To
be maintained in applications set such exceptions, go to
archive. Select the appropriate Tools > Configuration >
option as per preference and Exclusion List Tab. Click
click OK. To actually restore on Add Files button to bring
files, you can navigate to the up the files on the desktop.
appropriate date of the archive, Select the files and click OK.
select individual files or entire
groups, right-click and say Search for files
restore. The files will pop right Apart from navigating by file type
back to your desktop. groups and date-wise archives
Deskcretary provides the user
Explore files and with a powerful search function.
icons without Simply type the keyword in
Deskcretary the search bar at the top of the
With Deskcretary you have the interface. It will then bring up
option of navigating to your advanced search options that let
files from its inbuilt explorer you filter by file type, date and
or you can do it the normal size. The interface even maintains
Navigating the configuration wizard way (with Windows Explorer). a clickable search history.
Digit | November 2009 | vol 9: 96 | www.thinkdigit.com
Google switches off Q&A
Google, once again reported power More graphics
outages during a maintenance AMD recently demonstrated
operation its dual GPU 5870x2 cards
Digit at your service
From antivirus to overclocking, all your questions answered!
• Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 find in India.
COM SURROGATE • Intel DG31PR motherboard If available,
problem • Transcend 1 GB DDR2 RAM they will be
I have a Dell Studio 15 laptop • 250 GB 7200 rpm SATA HDD extremely
with a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo • Sony DVD RW AW-G170A expensive. The
processor, 250 GB hard disk, 2 GB • Benq 52X CD ROM DRIVE price in the
of memory with McAfee antivirus • Windows XP Service Pack 2 US market is
preloaded. I haven’t updated my If this isn’t any good, how can I somewhere
antivirus and now, I have errors improve? My DVD writer doesn’t over Rs.
“COM SURROGATE has stopped read some DVDs. Those DVDs 20,000. A 4 GB
working” and “Rundll32 error; are playable on standalone Kingston Data
Windows has stopped working” DVD Players. What could be the Traveller USB
that occur when I open any folder problem? drive should Windows crashing on connecting to the internet
on my laptop. I need to know I need to buy a graphics card. be under Rs.
what the reason is for it and also My friends play great games on 500. Also, look around for OCZ tell me about it. Also, is there a
the solution. their PCs using dedicated graph- drives. limit I can overclock it to without
Sathiya Moorthy ics card. I would love to play using any cooling solution.
The problem you’re facing games such as Crysis, Burnout Internet Shrirang
is because of some kind of Paradise, The Sims, Far Cry 2, connection crashes Firstly, the motherboard
codec issues. If you use a codec Fear 2 and Call Of Duty. Please Whenever I connect to the you are using needs to support
pack, uninstall it and check suggest me a cheap graphics internet from the BSNL USB LAN overclocking features in the
if the problem is fixed. Try card. card, an error window pops up. BIOS. Get into the BIOS by
installing individual codec Are Blu-Ray writers available in After clicking on Don’t Send, the pressing [Del] during bootup.
from here on. Also, go to the the market? Tell give me more internet connections stops. Overclocking is extremely
Advanced System Settings from details. I also want to buy a My computer configuration is risky and is not recommended.
the Control Panel > System cheap 4 GB pen drive. Suggest given below: It involves changing the
menu. Try changing the DEP one. Intel Pentium 4 2.66 GHz, 768 multiplier and FSB of the
settings for the binary dllhost. Amal Raj MB RAM, 80 GB HDD. board in really tiny increments
exe. In our opinion, your PC Sandip Patel (by 1 MHz at a time) till you
is getting slightly outdated. The crash could have been get a stable overclock where
Multiple queries A processor upgrade will go caused by a number of things. Windows boots and runs
My system configuration is as a long way for now and you If you are using any kind of flawlessly. Run CPU intensive
follows: should also upgrade to 3 or 4 Windows theme enhancements games to be sure that the
GB of RAM. programs, turn them off or system is stable.
There might be a uninstall them completely to There is no set limit to
problem with your be safe. If you have any other what speeds a processor can
DVD writer. You Windows OS in dual-boot, try be overclocked to. If you see
should try using it using it to see if you have the that the temperature of the
on another PC. If it same problem with your LAN processor is already over 45-
isn’t working, send card. If the dialer comes as 50C, then there is little you can
it for replacement if an program, uninstall it and overclock. A separate cooler is
it’s under warranty. reinstall.
For the games
you want to play, How
look for a GeForce do you
9800GTX+ or a overclock?
Radeon HD4850 My PC consists
if your budget is of a XFX n630i/
under Rs. 8,000 Geforce 7100
or so. If you can motherboard,
spend around Rs. Intel Core 2 Duo
15,000, look for the E7200@ 2.53 GHz,
Radeon HD4890 or 2 GB Transcend
a GeForce GTX275. single channel
Do this after you’ve 800 MHz. I want
upgraded your to overclock my
processor. CPU but I don’t
Blu-ray writers know how to
are difficult to overclock. Please Windows crashing on connecting to the internet
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 97
Q&A Toshiba drives CG goes lucid
Known for its industry firsts, Toshiba is set to Lucid’s Hydra could allow AMD and NVIDIA
Tech@work launch 32-nm SSD drives graphics cards to work in harmony
recommended. It’s a matter of • 3 GB RAM
overclocking till you find the Many • 320 GB Western Digital
safest and most stable speed for queries HDD
that processor and setup. Which the most • XFX 8600 GT 512 MB DDR2
powerful antivirus The problem is that I
Game makes for my computer? I was using 1 GB DDR2 800
screen go blank have 512 MB of RAM Zion RAM (6-6-6-18), and
I have an ASUS motherboard and my processor then I added 2 GB DDR2 800
M2NPV-VM having Windows is 1.60 GHz. Is Avira (5-5-5-15) Starlite RAM. That
Vista Home Premium. I have an Antivir personal makes it 3 GB in all. After
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 graphic alright? I am also adding the 2 GB RAM, both
card. I have installed Call of not connected to the RAM sticks are running
Duty 4, but whenever I start the internet and I have at 667 MHz (5-5-5-15). Why
game, the monitor goes black to update my antivi- this is so?
and shows a “low frequency” rus manually. Virtualdub is a free compact software for working with video files Sayan Chakraborty
message. I thought it was a What is .net Kolkata
problem with the graphic card, framework? I also want to know GB DVDs. I tried to replace it at It look like some kind
so I installed a game with lower how to merge two video files. LG center but it worked fine on of mismatch is causing the
graphics requirements, but the I have a 2 GB Moserbaer pen their PC. Because of that, I can’t problem. I don’t think you
problem still exists. Advise. drive. I was formatting my pen replace it although it’s within should be very concerned
Tushar Agrawal drive using the format feature. warranty period. about the speed at what
The problem you are Then, I lost 0.3 GB of the total Rohit Dandnayak the modules are running. If
facing is because of the game is space on the drive. How can I If the drive works at the you’re certain that both the
running at a resolution much recover it? service centre, then try using modules are DDR2 800MHz,
higher than your display can Nishchay Maurya different media when you’re then you can force it do run
support. It could also be if It’s difficult to say that using the
the display refresh rate of the a particular antivirus is the drive and also
game is set to something much the most powerful. Generally, a different
higher. If there’s a configuration security suites and antivirus software. Make
file for COD4, delete it and programs from Kaspersky, sure that you
then try starting the game ESET, McAfee and G DATA are burn discs at
again. good ways to keep your PC 8x. Also, try
safe. There are no anti-virus that replacing the
Removing Ubuntu have a 100% detection rate. data cable
from the drive .NET framework is a to the drive
I have Ubuntu and Windows XP platform or a environment and make
on my PC. I deleted the partition for .net applications to run. sure there Offline NT Password & Registry Editor can help reset lost Windows
in which Ubuntu was installed Without it, you won’t be able to are no loose passwords
using Easus partition manager run .net applications. connections
but when I rebooted my PC, If the movies you’re trying with the power cable. If nothing at 800MHz in the BIOS. Use
it displayed a message saying to add together are standard works, try it another PC. DVD the default timings if you
“Boot loader missing error”. I AVI files, you can try using writers usually deteriorate over have to. If nothing works, it
installed GRUB boot loader again Virtualdub (www.virtualdub. time, so maybe your drive has might be worth upgrade the
from the Ubuntu CD. Now, it’s org) to do it. Windows Movie started acting up. motherboard BIOS to fix any
working again, but 10 GB of my Maker is another option that compatibility issues that might
hard disk is used by it. Now I you can try. Lost my Windows exist.
want to know how to remove it There is some amount of password!
without losing any data. Please confusion over the bits and I have forgotten my Window Is it time to go
help. bytes conversion while talking Vista administrator password. Is Vista?
Krishna Singh about disk space. It’s the same there some way of changing or I have a Gigabyte Motherboard
If you’ve already deleted reason you’ll never have 500 recovering the password. I need model M61PME-S2P having a
the 10 GB partition, that should GB of space in a drive. In a flash it because I cannot install any NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce
now be available as free space. drive, it’s obviously a lot lesser software on my computer. 430 chipset and running an AMD
It’s just not been added to any loss of space. Pawan Maurya Athlon 7750 dual core proces-
partition. You can create an You’ll have to use a sor with 2 GB RAM. Can I install
empty 10 GB partition and use DVD drive woes password recovery tool for Vista 64-bit on it? Will it support
that space. Disk partitioning I bought my DVD drive three Windows. Try www.password- Vista and will Window run
tools like Partition Magic will months bac. It worked well changer.com and http://home. smoothly?
be able to merge two partitions for 15 days but after that after eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/. Amarjit Singh
without losing any data. burning DVDs on it, it works Yes, Vista will run fine on
If you only run Windows for 2 to 3 uses. After that while Problems with your configuration. If you want,
XP and want to fix your boot accessing the discs, the the drive memory speeds try waiting it out for Windows
loader, boot through the shows them as blank discs. Digit My PC specifications are as 7. It’s a lot more optimised than
installation CD and you should DVDs work fine on it. All kinds of follows: Windows Vista and perform
be able to repair the existing CDs also work fine. The problem • Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140 better than Windows Vista on
boot loader. only comes with single-layer 4 • MSI G31M motherboard your system.
98 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Killer rigs
Make your dream configuration Pricewatch
Section Opener Agent 001 102 a reality. Latest prices of PC
components 103 The latest prices of components
for you
1080p fun
Agent gets a feel of the latest HDTVs available, searches for the neatest displays and sweetest deals
Agent001 not more than 1300:1. For the record, spending lots more for four and five HDMI
agent001@thinkdigit.com anything over 1,000:1 is good, and ports – ask yourself if you’ll use all of them
anything over 1,500:1 is superb. I am at the same time.
talking about the measured contrast ratio. There is a common myth that ‘LCD TVs’
T
he months preceding the year-end Such specifications are overstated and the and ‘LED TVs’ are two different things
are shopping time. Whether it’s for term ‘dynamic contrast ratio’ is misleading This misnomer is generating a lot of hype.
Diwali, Christmas or gifts for the as various methods such as varying the The fact is LEDs are just the backlighting
wedding season, shopping in the backlight intensity or even measuring the used; the display is still very much an LCD
last couple of months is always hot and what contrast over a period of time (and not panel. Traditionally, CCFL tubes were used
could be hotter than HDTVs? No doubt, being instantaneously as is proper procedure) for backlighting, but LEDs are compacter,
attentive readers, you will have absorbed all is resorted to, which is why you see such brighter and consume less power making
the gyan imparted by me on the topic. So I inflated numbers. Displays with a ‘static’ it a win-win situation. Obviously, this
will refrain from restating everything. But all contrast ratio of 1,000:1 are more than technique is pricier but better. Therefore,
the same, please keep the following points in enough for a great viewing experience. what is referred to as an ‘LED TV’ is
mind when shopping for an HDTV: Avoid getting confused between ‘HD actually an ‘LED-backlit LCD display’.
Size matters, but not in the obvious way. support’ and ‘1080p supported’ and other Technically, there is no such thing as an
Buy something that is suitable for your such generic statements. If you’re buying LED TV.
room size and viewing distance. A 32-inch a display today, 1080p is the resolution Between LCDs and Plasmas I’ve noticed,
HDTV is good enough for a viewing you should look at. Every display having a while the latter traditionally have better
distance of not more than 10 feet. At 12 feet screen size of 32-inches and above should blackness levels, LCDs are fast catching up.
or more, this display feels small; ideally a support this resolution. Look for the One issue is many plasma displays do not
display should be large enough to capture a phrase ‘native resolution’ – this should be display sharp text – people who want to
major part of your viewing area. Previously, 1080p (1920 x 1080 progressively scanned use the display with their computers please
a large display viewed from too close pixels) and not lower. note that the newer LCDs are better as
appeared pixelated; but this is no longer Many vendors are rushing to offer 19 and their text rendition is better.
an issue, thanks to higher resolutions. If 22-inch HDTVs – these are not HDTVs in If you are looking for a sweet value for
your viewing distance is going to be greater the truest sense and typically such displays money deal on a large screen, I recommend
than 10 feet, consider a 42-inch HDTV. use substandard LCDs. I feel a true HDTV LG’s 42LG80FR – we tested this model early
For anything over 16 feet, look at a 46- starts from at least 26-inches, do not be this year and found it’s performance to be
inch display. Obviously your budget also caught shopping for anything smaller – pretty amazing – great colour quality and
matters, as larger displays are costlier, but save up a bit more if you have to and resist surprisingly pretty good contrast for an IPS
this is ideally what you should look at. the urge to scratch the itch. panel. We also found text quality to be good
A dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1 is A lot of manufacturers state ‘IPS’ panels. – this is not the case with many LCD TVs.
nonsense. We’ve tested such displays Although brilliant, such panels are meant Prices have fallen and this display is available
and noted their ‘actual’ contrast ratio is for image professionals due to their colour for as little as Rs. 60,000 – a very good value
accuracy. They don’t have the best contrast deal. The recessed, slide-out speakers are neat
ratios for movies and games where absolute while build quality of the same is good.
colour accuracy and a 100 per cent colour If you want anything larger than 42-inches,
Illustration: Chaitanya Surpur
gamut isn’t necessary. PVA panels are I recommend looking at plasma displays.
much better for such applications since No matter how tempting LCDs look, the
their contrast ratio is superior meaning the larger ones are disproportionately costly.
panel is capable of Unless you want the sleek, uber expensive
purer blacks and slimness of an LED-backlit LCD HDTV
more variations in in which case I recommend Samsung’s
shade intensity. 46-inch UA46B6000VR – priced at around
HDMI Rs. 1,50,000, this display is all about
connectivity is performance. To be honest, though, I feel
important, but all a 50-inch plasma might be a better deal.
you need is one or Unlike what most people believe plasmas
two HDMI ports; aren’t inferior in ‘any’ way. Samsung’s own
the latter in case PS50B550 is a very good option – a 50-inch
you want to hook display with excellent colour and contrast at a
up two devices (like price of Rs. 1,00,000.
a Blu-ray player In case you’re shopping for something under
and an Xbox360) Rs. 30,000, look at Samsung’s Series 4 26-inch
simultaneously. LCD TV; it’s a decent performer priced at
Please do not end up around the Rs. 28,000 mark.
100 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
NVIDIA has launched their entry-level
IEEE Draft N2 finally becomes ‘N’
as all Draft N devices are deemed
Agent 001
GeForce GTX 210 and 220 desktop compatible with the final 802.11n
graphics GPUs standard
I have a Sony Ericsson W810i mobile. should I opt for? I want my motherboard with at least four USB ports, Ethernet
My old handsfree is dead and of no use. So to have Ethernet Port, Fire-Wire port and and the ability to add soundcards.
now I want a good replacement for it. My at least 4 USB ports. I want to add a FireWire isn’t a necessity but this
budget is Rs.1000 to 1300. I’ve 2 options: sound card. My budget is 50,000. motherboard has this port as well.
buy costlier SE handsfree like the HPM-85 Ashish Mathew
or better. Or, the buy lower SE handsfree First of all the applications you have I want to buy a digital camera with
(just for connecting to phone) + Creative mentioned are not really multithreaded a high optical zoom and better performance.
EP630 earphones. great deal so four cores will not I have a budget of Rs. 15,000 to Rs.
I’ve read lot of good things about necessarily be better than two. However, 22,000. I have visited various web sites for
Creative EP630 in your magazine. I want to taking future proofing into the angle I cameras and found several models suit-
know from you which way should I go? Or recommend an Intel processor over an able. Let me know your suggest.
is there any better option available? AMD – and your budget of Rs. 50,000 Aditya Didwania
Bipin Thite will allow you to easily opt for either a Canon’s SX10 IS should be available
I recommend buying just the regular Core 2 Quad or a Core i7/i5 based on the street at around that price. If not,
handsfree kit and buying a Creative system. With the former processor your Canon’s SX200 IS will definitely suit. In
EP630 that will give you much better platform will be cheaper giving you more fact I feel the SX200 IS is better built due
quality even when listening to music, money to spend on a graphics card while to its smaller size and partially metal
even when you are not using the with the Core i7/i5 system the body. The SX10 IS has a 20x optical
handsfree unit. The EP630 can be had for motherboard will cost much more zoom, while the SX200 IS has a very neat
under Rs. 1,000 from many vendors like meaning you have less to spend on the 12x optical zoom. From our tests the
computer and cellphone shops. video card – which is more important for SX20 IS had slightly better low light
gaming. I recommend a Core 2 Duo performance, however, owing to its
I am planning to buy a laptop. My based system based around a Core 2 longer zoom the output is pretty
budget is 40-45 K. I am a B.E final year Quad Q9550 CPU (Rs. 12,500), ASUS susceptible to barrel distortion. I
student of computer science. So I need a recommend the SX200 IS.
decent laptop. The brand doesn’t matter.
But a brand with good after sale service The Web is abuzz with news that Nvidia I want to buy a processor and a moth-
will do good. I am also a gamer so I need a might be killing its GT200 series of graphics erboard for my gaming PC. I’m consider-
laptop of that kind. And I am not going to cards. It all started with SemiAccurate’s Charlie ing Intel i7 920, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650
travel often so the backup or compactness Demerjian – who has long been criticised as a or Q8400. I don’t know which mother-
is not mandatory but a fair battery backup ‘tech tabloid’ writer by all and sundry – stating board to buy for it but it should support
of 3 hours will be nice. So please suggest that the company is set to kill its GeForce 8GB RAM and a PCIe slot for my NVIDIA
guys. GTX285, GTX275, and GTX260 graphics 8600GT 512MB GDDR3. My budget is
Kannan. R cards, and possibly the GTX295 too; thus around Rs. 16,000. Will I be able to play
I recommend Acer’s Aspire 5738G; abandoning the entire high-range and mid- games like Prototype at maximum details
available for Rs. 40,999 – it has very range graphics. Read more at www.thinkdigit. and resolution?
good specifications and a good graphics com/d/55378. Sumant kumar
solution. Getting three hours of battery You are naming high-end
life from a notebook with a fast CPU and components for a mere NVIDIA 8600GT.
good graphics is not really possible so I P5Q-E motherboard (Rs. 9,000), 4 GB I think you need to upgrade that
suggest if you game please sacrifice on DDR2 800 MHz (Rs. 4000), 500 GB graphics card before buying such
the battery life. Acer’s service reputation Western Digital hard drive (Rs. 3700) components. I recommend at least a
is pretty good and the 5738G isn’t overly and if your budget permits, a ZOTAC ZOTAC GTX 260 available for Rs. 11,500
heavy but has a nice 15.6-inch LED- GeForce GTX 285 (Rs. 23,000) – which that will utilise such components
backlit display. is a superb performer. In case you also properly. Your budget is way too paltry
need a monitor that will cut into your for a Core i7/i5 system. Therefore, go
I would like to buy a PC for purely GPU budget (since you haven’t with a Core 2 Duo E8400 and ASUS
multitasking, playing high quality games, mentioned anything), I recommend a P5Q-E board for Rs. 8,000 and Rs 9,000
watching full HD movies, etc. I have Palit ATi Radeon HD 4890 card (Rs. respectively. If you want a cheaper
decided to buy an AMD Phenom II X4 940 17,500). For an SMPS I recommend motherboard BioStar’s TPower i45 is
3 GHz and NVIDIA GTX 260 graphics card. Corsair’s TX 650W available for Rs. available for Rs. 7,900 and will also suit
What choice of motherboard and SMPS 6,200. All motherboards these days come the E8400.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 101
KILLER RIGS
everything you will ever need to build your
Basic rig = Rs. 21,350
Multimedia cum gaming rig = Rs. 81,100
Ultra high-end PC / Gaming rig = Rs. 1,51,700
own PC. whatever your budget.
HARD DISK CABINET
MONITOR Seagate 250 GB 7200.11 / Rs. 1,900 Zebronics Antibiotic / Rs. 2,100
ViewSonic VA1928wm / Rs. 8,200 Seagate 1 TB 7200.11 / Rs. 5,500 Cooler Master 690 / Rs. 4,400
AOC 2230fm / Rs. 14,000 Western Digital Velociraptor 150 GB Cooler Master Sniper / Rs. 11,500
Dell S2409W / Rs. 15,000 / Rs. 9,900 or Western Digital 1 TB
Black Edition / Rs. 7,400
POWER
VIP 350 Watts / Rs. 850
Corsair TX 650 / Rs. 6,500
Cooler Master RealPower Pro
850W / Rs. 11,200
GRAPHICS CARD
None
Palit Radeon HD 4870
1 GB SONIC / Rs. 18,100
MOTHERBOARD ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295 / Rs. 29,000
ASUS NVIDIA 7025
M2N68-AM / Rs. 2,250
Abit IP35-E Rs. 5,300
ASUS P5Q Deluxe
/ Rs. 14,000
MOUSE
SPEAKER Logitech 3 button scroll / Rs. 300
None Logitech MX518 / Rs. 1,300
Altec Lansing MX 5021 Razer DeathAdder / Rs. 2,500
/ Rs. 6,500
Logitech Z5500 KEYBOARD
/ Rs. 14,000 Logitech Multimedia / Rs. 400
Logitech G15 / Rs. 4,500
Logitech G15 / Rs. 4,500
SOUND CARD
None / NA
ASUS Xonar DX / Rs. 3,700
ASUS Xonar DX / Rs. 3,700
CPU
AMD Athlon XP 6000+ / Rs. 2,850
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 / Rs. 8,200
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 / Rs. 23,000
RAM
2 x 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz (Kingston Value) / Rs. 1,350
2 x 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz (Corsair XMS2) / Rs. 3,600
2 x 2 GB DDR2 OCZ Platinum 1066 MHz / Rs. 6,500
102 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Price watch
Motherboards
Model Market Price Tested In Socket PCIe x8/x16 slots SATA ports USB ports
ASUS M3N78-EM Rs. 4,300 November 2008 AM2+ 1 6 4
ASUS P5Q Deluxe Rs. 14,900 June 2008 LGA775 2 6 6
ASUS P5Q-PRO Rs. 9,650 LGA775 2 6 6
ASUS P5Q-E Rs. 11,350 LGA775 2 6 8
ASUS P6T Deluxe Rs. 20,975 October 2009 LGA1366 3 6 8
ASUS Rampage II Extreme (BEST
Rs. 26,000 October 2009 LGA1366 3 6 6
PERFORMER)
ASUS Rampage II GENE Rs. 16,450 October 2009 LGA1366 2 6 6
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe Rs. 13,050 October 2009 AM3 4 5 6
GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 Rs. 16,950 October 2009 LGA1366 3 6 8
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Rs. 8,900 LGA775 1 6 8
GIGABYTE MA790GP-UD4H Rs. 9,100 October 2009 AM2+ 2 6 4
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Rs. 14,250 LGA1366 2 6 8
MSI X58 PRO Rs. 11,300 October 2009 LGA1366 3 7 6
MSI P7N Diamond Rs. 15,200 LGA775 4 6 6
MSI X58 Eclipse Rs. 20,250 LGA1366 3 10 8
XFX nForce 790i Ultra Rs. 21,050 October 2009 LGA775 3 6 6
Zotac 780i Supreme Rs. 14,500 LGA775 3 6 6
Zotac nForce 750a Rs. 6,500 AM2+ 2 6 4
Digital Cameras
Model Market Price Tested in Sensor Optical Zoom LCD Screen Size
Canon Powershot SX120 Rs. 14,995 October 2009 10 MP 10x 3.0 inches
Canon IXUS 100IS Rs. 12,999 October 2009 12 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Canon Powershot A480 Rs. 7,499 October 2009 10 MP 3.3x 2.5 inches
Canon A1100IS Rs. 9,499 October 2009 12 MP 4x 2.5 inches
Canon IXUS 95IS Rs. 10,500 October 2009 10 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Canon SX200IS (BEST Rs. 21,500 October 2009 12 MP 12x 3.0 inches
PERFORMER)
FujiFilm FinePix F200 Rs. 17,999 October 2009 12 MP 5x 3.0 inches
FujiFilm FinePix S1500 Rs. 12,500 October 2009 10 MP 12x 2.7 inches
Kodak C140 Rs. 4,999 8 MP 3x 2.4 inches
Nikon P90 Rs. 23,995 October 2009 12 MP 24x 3.0 inches
Nikon Coolpix L20 Rs. 7,750 October 2009 10 MP 3.6x 3.0 inches
Nikon S220 Rs. 8,500 October 2009 10 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Olympus FE25 Rs. 5,995 10 MP 3x 2.4 inches
Panasonic FS4 Rs. 6,750 8 MP 4x 2.5 inches
Samsung ES55 (BEST BUY) Rs. 6,990 October 2009 10 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Sony HX1 Rs. 29,800 October 2009 9 MP 20x 3.0 inches
Sony S930 Rs. 7,800 10 MP 3x 2.4 inches
Sony H20 Rs. 17,500 10 MP 10x 3.0 inches
External HDDs
Model Market Price Capacity Interface Warranty (Years)
Seagate Freeagent GO Rs. 5,150 500 GB USB 5 years
Seagate Freeagent GO Rs. 3,250 250 GB USB 5 years
Maxtor One Touch 4 Mini Rs. 3,200 250 GB USB 5 years
Transcend StoreJet Rs. 2,725 160 GB USB 2 years
Western Digital MyPassport Rs. 2,850 160 GB USB 3 years
Western Digital MyPassport Essential Rs. 4,100 640 GB USB 3 years
Western Digital MyPassport Studio Edition Rs. 7,800 1 TB USB, FireWire, eSATA 3 years
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 103
Price watch
Processors
Model Market Price Tested In Socket Speed FSB L2 Cache
AMD Sempron 140 Rs. 1,950 September 2009 AM2+ 2.7 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1 MB
AMD Athlon X2 5200+ Rs. 3,200 November 2008 AM2+ 2.7 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1 MB
AMD Athlon X2 7850 BE Rs. 3,350 September 2009 AM2 2.8 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Athlon II X2 250 Rs. 4,100 September 2009 AM2+ 3 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Athlon II X2 550 Rs. 5,450 September 2009 AM2+ 3.1 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1 MB
AMD Phenom X4 9650 Rs. 6,025 November 2008 AM2+ 2.3 GHz 3600 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE Rs. 7,500 September 2009 AM3 2.8 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1.5 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 810 Rs. 8,350 September 2009 AM2+ 2.6 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 920 BE Rs. 9,650 AM3 2.8 GHz 3600 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Rs. 12,075 September 2009 AM2+ 3G Hz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE Rs. 13,100 September 2009 AM3 3.2 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
Intel Dual Core E2200 Rs. 3,000 September 2009 LGA775 2.2 GHz 800 MHz 1 MB
Intel Dual Core E5200 Rs. 3,375 September 2009 LGA775 2.5 GHz 800 MHz 2 MB
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Rs. 5,900 September 2009 LGA775 2.8 GHz 1066 MHz 3 MB
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Rs. 8,850 September 2009 LGA775 3 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 Rs. 8,650 September 2009 LGA775 2.33 GHz 1333 MHz 4 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 Rs. 8,750 September 2009 LGA775 2.4 GHz 1066 MHz 8 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 Rs. 12,100 LGA775 2.66 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Rs. 12,601 LGA775 2.83 GHz 1333 MHz 12 MB
Intel Core i7 920 Rs. 14,900 September 2009 LGA1366 2.66 GHz 4.8 GT/s QPI NA
Monitors
Model Market Price Tested in Size Resolution Contrast Ratio Response time
Acer V203H Rs. 7,250 20-inch 1600 x 900 10000:1 5 ms
ASUS VM193D Rs. 6,850 19-inch 1440 x 900 800 : 1 5 ms
BenQ E2200HD Rs. 9,950 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 1000 : 1 5 ms
Dell 1909W Rs. 6,800 19-inch 1440 x 900 1000 : 1 5 ms
Dell S1709W Rs. 7,200 17-inch 1440 x 900 600 : 1 8 ms
Dell S2409W Rs. 14,750 24-inch 1920 x 1080 1000 : 1 5 ms
LG 177WSB Rs. 6,300 May 2008 17-inch 1440 x 900 700 : 1 8 ms
LG W1942T Rs. 6,900 19-inch 1440 x 900 700 : 1 5 ms
Samsung 2033 Rs. 7,250 20-inch 1600 x 900 15000 : 1 5 ms
Samsung 733NW Rs. 6,550 17-inch 1440 x 900 1000 : 1 8 ms
Samsung 943NWX Rs. 7,500 19-inch 1280 x 1024 1000 : 1 5 ms
ViewSonic VA1918WM Rs. 6,600 19-inch 1440 x 900 1000 : 1 5 ms
VIEWSONIC VX2255WMB Rs. 12,500 May 2008 22-inch 1680 x 1050 1000 : 1 5 ms
ViewSonic VX2240W Rs. 9,900 22-inch 1680 x 1050 1000 : 1 2 ms
Graphic Cards
Model Market Price Tested in Core Speed Type of memory Memory
EVGA 9600GT Knock-out Rs. 6,650 November 2008 700 MHz GDDR3 512 MB
Power Color HD4850 Rs. 6,600 August 2009 625 MHz GDDR3 512 MB
Power Color HD4670 Rs. 4,650 August 2009 750 MHz DDR3 1024 MB
Palit GeForce 9400 GT Super Rs. 2,525 August 2009 550 MHz GDDR2 1024 MB
Palit Radeon HD 4870 SONIC Rs. 13,500 October 2008 750 MHz GDDR5 512 MB
Palit GeForce GTX 260 Rs. 1,0750 650 MHz GDDR3 896 MB
Palit GeForce GTX 275 Rs. 1,3900 633 MHz GDDR3 896 MB
XFX GeForce 8600 GT Rs. 3,150 540 MHz GDDR3 256 MB
ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 Rs. 9,250 738 MHz GDDR3 1024 MB
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 Rs. 26,000 Feb 2009 648 MHz GDDR3 1024 MB
104 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
KILLER RIGS
everything you will ever need to build your
Basic rig = Rs. 21,350
Multimedia cum gaming rig = Rs. 81,100
Ultra high-end PC / Gaming rig = Rs. 1,51,700
own PC. whatever your budget.
HARD DISK CABINET
MONITOR Seagate 250 GB 7200.11 / Rs. 1,900 Zebronics Antibiotic / Rs. 2,100
ViewSonic VA1928wm / Rs. 8,200 Seagate 1 TB 7200.11 / Rs. 5,500 Cooler Master 690 / Rs. 4,400
AOC 2230fm / Rs. 14,000 Western Digital Velociraptor 150 GB Cooler Master Sniper / Rs. 11,500
Dell S2409W / Rs. 15,000 / Rs. 9,900 or Western Digital 1 TB
Black Edition / Rs. 7,400
POWER
VIP 350 Watts / Rs. 850
Corsair TX 650 / Rs. 6,500
Cooler Master RealPower Pro
850W / Rs. 11,200
GRAPHICS CARD
None
Palit Radeon HD 4870
1 GB SONIC / Rs. 18,100
MOTHERBOARD ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295 / Rs. 29,000
ASUS NVIDIA 7025
M2N68-AM / Rs. 2,250
Abit IP35-E Rs. 5,300
ASUS P5Q Deluxe
/ Rs. 14,000
MOUSE
SPEAKER Logitech 3 button scroll / Rs. 300
None Logitech MX518 / Rs. 1,300
Altec Lansing MX 5021 Razer DeathAdder / Rs. 2,500
/ Rs. 6,500
Logitech Z5500 KEYBOARD
/ Rs. 14,000 Logitech Multimedia / Rs. 400
Logitech G15 / Rs. 4,500
Logitech G15 / Rs. 4,500
SOUND CARD
None / NA
ASUS Xonar DX / Rs. 3,700
ASUS Xonar DX / Rs. 3,700
CPU
AMD Athlon XP 6000+ / Rs. 2,850
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 / Rs. 8,200
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 / Rs. 23,000
RAM
2 x 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz (Kingston Value) / Rs. 1,350
2 x 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz (Corsair XMS2) / Rs. 3,600
2 x 2 GB DDR2 OCZ Platinum 1066 MHz / Rs. 6,500
104 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Price watch
Motherboards
Model Market Price Tested In Socket PCIe x8/x16 slots SATA ports USB ports
ASUS M3N78-EM Rs. 4,300 November 2008 AM2+ 1 6 4
ASUS P5Q Deluxe Rs. 14,900 June 2008 LGA775 2 6 6
ASUS P5Q-PRO Rs. 9,650 LGA775 2 6 6
ASUS P5Q-E Rs. 11,350 LGA775 2 6 8
ASUS P6T Deluxe Rs. 20,975 October 2009 LGA1366 3 6 8
ASUS Rampage II Extreme (BEST
Rs. 26,000 October 2009 LGA1366 3 6 6
PERFORMER)
ASUS Rampage II GENE Rs. 16,450 October 2009 LGA1366 2 6 6
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe Rs. 13,050 October 2009 AM3 4 5 6
GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 Rs. 16,950 October 2009 LGA1366 3 6 8
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Rs. 8,900 LGA775 1 6 8
GIGABYTE MA790GP-UD4H Rs. 9,100 October 2009 AM2+ 2 6 4
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Rs. 14,250 LGA1366 2 6 8
MSI X58 PRO Rs. 11,300 October 2009 LGA1366 3 7 6
MSI P7N Diamond Rs. 15,200 LGA775 4 6 6
MSI X58 Eclipse Rs. 20,250 LGA1366 3 10 8
XFX nForce 790i Ultra Rs. 21,050 October 2009 LGA775 3 6 6
Zotac 780i Supreme Rs. 14,500 LGA775 3 6 6
Zotac nForce 750a Rs. 6,500 AM2+ 2 6 4
Digital Cameras
Model Market Price Tested in Sensor Optical Zoom LCD Screen Size
Canon Powershot SX120 Rs. 14,995 October 2009 10 MP 10x 3.0 inches
Canon IXUS 100IS Rs. 12,999 October 2009 12 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Canon Powershot A480 Rs. 7,499 October 2009 10 MP 3.3x 2.5 inches
Canon A1100IS Rs. 9,499 October 2009 12 MP 4x 2.5 inches
Canon IXUS 95IS Rs. 10,500 October 2009 10 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Canon SX200IS (BEST Rs. 21,500 October 2009 12 MP 12x 3.0 inches
PERFORMER)
FujiFilm FinePix F200 Rs. 17,999 October 2009 12 MP 5x 3.0 inches
FujiFilm FinePix S1500 Rs. 12,500 October 2009 10 MP 12x 2.7 inches
Kodak C140 Rs. 4,999 8 MP 3x 2.4 inches
Nikon P90 Rs. 23,995 October 2009 12 MP 24x 3.0 inches
Nikon Coolpix L20 Rs. 7,750 October 2009 10 MP 3.6x 3.0 inches
Nikon S220 Rs. 8,500 October 2009 10 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Olympus FE25 Rs. 5,995 10 MP 3x 2.4 inches
Panasonic FS4 Rs. 6,750 8 MP 4x 2.5 inches
Samsung ES55 (BEST BUY) Rs. 6,990 October 2009 10 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Sony HX1 Rs. 29,800 October 2009 9 MP 20x 3.0 inches
Sony S930 Rs. 7,800 10 MP 3x 2.4 inches
Sony H20 Rs. 17,500 10 MP 10x 3.0 inches
External HDDs
Model Market Price Capacity Interface Warranty (Years)
Seagate Freeagent GO Rs. 5,150 500 GB USB 5 years
Seagate Freeagent GO Rs. 3,250 250 GB USB 5 years
Maxtor One Touch 4 Mini Rs. 3,200 250 GB USB 5 years
Transcend StoreJet Rs. 2,725 160 GB USB 2 years
Western Digital MyPassport Rs. 2,850 160 GB USB 3 years
Western Digital MyPassport Essential Rs. 4,100 640 GB USB 3 years
Western Digital MyPassport Studio Edition Rs. 7,800 1 TB USB, FireWire, eSATA 3 years
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 105
Price watch
Processors
Model Market Price Tested In Socket Speed FSB L2 Cache
AMD Sempron 140 Rs. 1,950 September 2009 AM2+ 2.7 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1 MB
AMD Athlon X2 5200+ Rs. 3,200 November 2008 AM2+ 2.7 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1 MB
AMD Athlon X2 7850 BE Rs. 3,350 September 2009 AM2 2.8 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Athlon II X2 250 Rs. 4,100 September 2009 AM2+ 3 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Athlon II X2 550 Rs. 5,450 September 2009 AM2+ 3.1 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1 MB
AMD Phenom X4 9650 Rs. 6,025 November 2008 AM2+ 2.3 GHz 3600 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE Rs. 7,500 September 2009 AM3 2.8 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1.5 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 810 Rs. 8,350 September 2009 AM2+ 2.6 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 920 BE Rs. 9,650 AM3 2.8 GHz 3600 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Rs. 12,075 September 2009 AM2+ 3G Hz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE Rs. 13,100 September 2009 AM3 3.2 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
Intel Dual Core E2200 Rs. 3,000 September 2009 LGA775 2.2 GHz 800 MHz 1 MB
Intel Dual Core E5200 Rs. 3,375 September 2009 LGA775 2.5 GHz 800 MHz 2 MB
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Rs. 5,900 September 2009 LGA775 2.8 GHz 1066 MHz 3 MB
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Rs. 8,850 September 2009 LGA775 3 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 Rs. 8,650 September 2009 LGA775 2.33 GHz 1333 MHz 4 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 Rs. 8,750 September 2009 LGA775 2.4 GHz 1066 MHz 8 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 Rs. 12,100 LGA775 2.66 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Rs. 12,601 LGA775 2.83 GHz 1333 MHz 12 MB
Intel Core i7 920 Rs. 14,900 September 2009 LGA1366 2.66 GHz 4.8 GT/s QPI NA
Monitors
Model Market Price Tested in Size Resolution Contrast Ratio Response time
Acer V203H Rs. 7,250 20-inch 1600 x 900 10000:1 5 ms
ASUS VM193D Rs. 6,850 19-inch 1440 x 900 800 : 1 5 ms
BenQ E2200HD Rs. 9,950 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 1000 : 1 5 ms
Dell 1909W Rs. 6,800 19-inch 1440 x 900 1000 : 1 5 ms
Dell S1709W Rs. 7,200 17-inch 1440 x 900 600 : 1 8 ms
Dell S2409W Rs. 14,750 24-inch 1920 x 1080 1000 : 1 5 ms
LG 177WSB Rs. 6,300 May 2008 17-inch 1440 x 900 700 : 1 8 ms
LG W1942T Rs. 6,900 19-inch 1440 x 900 700 : 1 5 ms
Samsung 2033 Rs. 7,250 20-inch 1600 x 900 15000 : 1 5 ms
Samsung 733NW Rs. 6,550 17-inch 1440 x 900 1000 : 1 8 ms
Samsung 943NWX Rs. 7,500 19-inch 1280 x 1024 1000 : 1 5 ms
ViewSonic VA1918WM Rs. 6,600 19-inch 1440 x 900 1000 : 1 5 ms
VIEWSONIC VX2255WMB Rs. 12,500 May 2008 22-inch 1680 x 1050 1000 : 1 5 ms
ViewSonic VX2240W Rs. 9,900 22-inch 1680 x 1050 1000 : 1 2 ms
Graphic Cards
Model Market Price Tested in Core Speed Type of memory Memory
EVGA 9600GT Knock-out Rs. 6,650 November 2008 700 MHz GDDR3 512 MB
Power Color HD4850 Rs. 6,600 August 2009 625 MHz GDDR3 512 MB
Power Color HD4670 Rs. 4,650 August 2009 750 MHz DDR3 1024 MB
Palit GeForce 9400 GT Super Rs. 2,525 August 2009 550 MHz GDDR2 1024 MB
Palit Radeon HD 4870 SONIC Rs. 13,500 October 2008 750 MHz GDDR5 512 MB
Palit GeForce GTX 260 Rs. 1,0750 650 MHz GDDR3 896 MB
Palit GeForce GTX 275 Rs. 1,3900 633 MHz GDDR3 896 MB
XFX GeForce 8600 GT Rs. 3,150 540 MHz GDDR3 256 MB
ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 Rs. 9,250 738 MHz GDDR3 1024 MB
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 Rs. 26,000 Feb 2009 648 MHz GDDR3 1024 MB
106 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Designing Careers Increasing productivity
Know what it takes to make it as a Working smart and working wise will let you
Tech@work Visual story 109 designer. The aptitude, the attitude
and more... 112 rest better, yet be more productive. After all
everyone gets 24 hours in a day
Great 10
ways to keep learning
Have Fun with Phun
Nimish Chandiramani
readersletters@thinkdigit.com
Ostensibly, Phun is a game, and we’re inclined to let that
description stand. You create objects, give them real world
properties – weight, restitution (that’s physics-speak for how
bouncy it is), and so on – and then set them loose within the
world of Phun. Whether you’re building a wall and chucking a
cannonball at it, or creating a complex gear system to drive your
1 1 crazy contraption of the day, Phun can be addictive. And while
you’re at it, maybe you’ll learn (or re-learn) all those physics
fundamentals you’ve forgotten.
For: Everyone
Get: www.phunland.com
Understand Science
According to a 2003 study by the British Association for the Advancement
of Science, children these days don’t seem to care much for science
subjects, much less for their advancement. Understanding Science
wants to change that. It has enough science to fill a school curriculum,
2 but is still as friendly as your everyday science documentary. Its other
purpose is to debunk all the... well... bunk that’s taught in US schools
today – Intelligent Design and such – and does so in a quiet, rational way
that can’t help but make sense.
For: High school students, teachers
Read: undsci.berkeley.edu
For: Everyone
Get: www.phunland.com
106 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Sodaplay.com Instructables.com Visual story
A highly entertaining web-based Java Connectviabooks A site with detailed how-tos on
game that offers physics simulations and A popular social networking building all kinds of contraptions
ready-made systems to play with web site for book readers at home
3
Make a Robot
Give the robot apocalypse a push in
the back by building your own. The
4
Society of Robots (not, as the name Talk Business
suggests, a precursor to Skynet) If you’re planning on starting your own company eventually (and who isn’t), head over to the
gives you a bunch of tutorials on US Small Business Administration’s web site for its free “Small Business Primer”. Learn how
basic robotics – from how to create you can start your own business (on a shoestring budget, even), manage technology, create a
a simple robot to all the information business plan, and a lot more. Even if you aren’t planning on running a business, the site is
you need on components to build loaded with plenty of management advice that applies everywhere – managing people, time and
a bigger, better bot. It’s even got resources, for example. If nothing else, it’s great ammunition for an IIM admission interview.
helpful tools to help you figure out For: Working professionals
what batteries you need and how Read: http://www.sba.gov/services/training/onlinecourses/TRANING_ATC_BUS.html
much energy your bot is going to credit: by Ajda Gregorčič (flickr)
consume. Finding the components,
though, will be an adventure on its
own.
For: Budding engineers, foolish 5
optimists
Read: www.societyofrobots.com
image credit: Mr. T in DC (flickr)
Become An Edu-tuber
Bookmark YouTubeEDU for your daily dose of academic lectures from
universities such as Harvard, MIT and Stanford. The channel hosts
almost every expert lecture being held at these universities, and you’ll
even find a course or two tucked away somewhere. Whether you want
to follow up on the latest developments in brain-computer interfaces
or the science behind Angels and Demons (spoiler: antimatter is
harmless), YouTubeEDU’s got the goods.
For: Everyone
Watch: www.youtube.com/edu
credit: doviende (flickr)
6
Scratch Up A Movie
Computational thinking is all the rage these days. Business and
design professors recommend it for students in their fields, and
the world is slowly realising that it pays to think like a programmer
– to apply the basics of computer science to solve problems, plan
systems, and even deal with other humans. And with Scratch, MIT’s
Lifelong Kindergarten group wants you (and your children) to
learn those basics by applying them to the fine art of silly-looking
animation. Use if.. conditions, for loops, and other such constructs
to tell a story, and you’ll be a much happier panda.
For: Ages 8 and up
Get it: scratch.mit.edu
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 107
Visual story Garry’s Mod Showmehowtoplay
The $9.99 Half-Life 2 mod allows An online service that lets you
realistic interaction with objects in 3D view and learn how to play
spaces similar to Phun or Crayon Deluxe musical instruments online
Pocket University Bonus! Five Ways To Keep
The academics also gather at iTunesU, imparting their wisdom as
they sit in your iPod. The podcasts range from iPhone Application Your Brain From Rotting
Programming to Ethics and Economics. It’s not all hardcore academia,
either – you’ll also find songs and poems by students, and even weekly
podcasts on the strange and wonderful The Set Game
7 things that make up the world (we
recommend Texas A&M’s Engineering
Start your morning with
something that’ll flex your little
Works!). Want to understand the current grey cells without taking as much
economic crisis? Download the podcast time as a full crossword. The Set
by Oxford University, and you’re ready Game is a new, insanely addictive
to make your journey to work that much game that tests your ability to
more productive. identify shapes and patterns. You
For: Everyone have twelve cards with squiggles,
Get: iTunes Music Store in iTunes ovals and diamonds on them, and
Credit: stuartpilbrow (flickr) have to create sets based on their colour, pattern and number
(it’s much harder than it sounds). Play it at setgame.com.
Make Math Pretty
Thanks to Wolfram|Alpha, the name Mathematica has become the
subject of lore. It’s the mathematician’s (and data analyst’s) dream Daydream!
come true. It turns massive mathematical equations into awesome According to researchers at Goldsmiths,
graphs, turns streams of data into interactive visualisations, and University of London, the unfocused
forms the backbone of Wolfram|Alpha. Trouble is, it mind is more likely to come up with
8 costs $295 for the Home edition. creative solutions to problems. So if it
If you want those same features, seems as if you’re banging your head
though, download Sage – an open against a brick wall, take a few minutes
source alternative. It’s got most off and think of fluffy clouds and open
of the mathematical goodness of fields, and maybe the solution will jump
Mathematica, and should be a must- out at you.
have for math geeks everywhere.
For: Engineering and Science
students Play A Tune
Get: www.sagemath.org If you want to try your hand at soothing
savage beasts, pick up an instrument
and go online for some free music
Learn Everything courses. Start with the basics of music
It’s annoying when your favourite program comes out in a new theory at MusicTheory.net, and follow it
version even before you’ve mastered the first. These days, it’s more up with the basics of guitar at Cyberfret,
important to keep up with new software and technologies, and for or piano at (the badly designed) GoPiano.com. And as Sohee Park
that, there’s Lynda.com. It has video courses for nearly everything – of Vanderbilt University found, you’ll probably end up using
from Illustrator CS4 (it’s actually got a whole CS4 both sides of your brain.
9 University) to AJAX – so you’ll
never have to go anywhere else.
Credit: MaltaGirl (flickr)
It’s $25 (Rs. 1,250) for a monthly Gear up for NaNoWriMo
all-access membership, so it makes National Novel-writing Month
more sense if you’re actually going (NaNoWriMo; nanowrimo.org) is
to use these skills at work. coming in November, and it’s a great
For: Working professionals way to unleash the creative juices in
Watch: www.lynda.com 30 days. And if you’re going to do it,
you might as well get better at the craft.
Invest a few hours in a free Fiction
Academic Earth Writing (or Essay Writing) course at the
Academic Earth is the site that came before YouTubeEDU. It started Open University, and you ought to be ready to hammer at your
with a bunch of guest lectures at universities, and is now the place keyboard come November.
to go for a huge library of courses. You can sit through a semester’s Credit: gadl (flickr)
worth of science, mathematics or history if you wish, or just pick
from individual lectures on a Learn a new language
variety of topics. In its current Learning a new language is a great
10 state, the site is a simple, no-frills way to keep your brain in shape.
affair, but apparently “social” LiveMocha (livemocha.com) not only
features are in the works. teaches you a new language, it lets
For: All students you test your new-found skills on a
Watch: academicearth.org native speaker.
Credit: LizMarie (flickr) Credit: Kim Scarborough (flickr)
108 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Designing Careers Increasing productivity
Know what it takes to make it as a Working smart and working wise will let you
Tech@work Visual story 111 designer. The aptitude, the attitude
and more... 114 rest better, yet be more productive. After all
everyone gets 24 hours in a day
Great 10
ways to keep learning
Have Fun with Phun
Nimish Chandiramani
readersletters@thinkdigit.com
Ostensibly, Phun is a game, and we’re inclined to let that
description stand. You create objects, give them real world
properties – weight, restitution (that’s physics-speak for how
bouncy it is), and so on – and then set them loose within the
world of Phun. Whether you’re building a wall and chucking a
cannonball at it, or creating a complex gear system to drive your
1 1 crazy contraption of the day, Phun can be addictive. And while
you’re at it, maybe you’ll learn (or re-learn) all those physics
fundamentals you’ve forgotten.
For: Everyone
Get: www.phunland.com
Understand Science
According to a 2003 study by the British Association for the Advancement
of Science, children these days don’t seem to care much for science
subjects, much less for their advancement. Understanding Science
wants to change that. It has enough science to fill a school curriculum,
2 but is still as friendly as your everyday science documentary. Its other
purpose is to debunk all the... well... bunk that’s taught in US schools
today – Intelligent Design and such – and does so in a quiet, rational way
that can’t help but make sense.
For: High school students, teachers
Read: undsci.berkeley.edu
For: Everyone
Get: www.phunland.com
108 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Sodaplay.com Instructables.com Visual story
A highly entertaining web-based Java Connectviabooks A site with detailed how-tos on
game that offers physics simulations and A popular social networking building all kinds of contraptions
ready-made systems to play with web site for book readers at home
3
Make a Robot
Give the robot apocalypse a push in
the back by building your own. The
4
Society of Robots (not, as the name Talk Business
suggests, a precursor to Skynet) If you’re planning on starting your own company eventually (and who isn’t), head over to the
gives you a bunch of tutorials on US Small Business Administration’s web site for its free “Small Business Primer”. Learn how
basic robotics – from how to create you can start your own business (on a shoestring budget, even), manage technology, create a
a simple robot to all the information business plan, and a lot more. Even if you aren’t planning on running a business, the site is
you need on components to build loaded with plenty of management advice that applies everywhere – managing people, time and
a bigger, better bot. It’s even got resources, for example. If nothing else, it’s great ammunition for an IIM admission interview.
helpful tools to help you figure out For: Working professionals
what batteries you need and how Read: http://www.sba.gov/services/training/onlinecourses/TRANING_ATC_BUS.html
much energy your bot is going to credit: by Ajda Gregorčič (flickr)
consume. Finding the components,
though, will be an adventure on its
own.
For: Budding engineers, foolish 5
optimists
Read: www.societyofrobots.com
image credit: Mr. T in DC (flickr)
Become An Edu-tuber
Bookmark YouTubeEDU for your daily dose of academic lectures from
universities such as Harvard, MIT and Stanford. The channel hosts
almost every expert lecture being held at these universities, and you’ll
even find a course or two tucked away somewhere. Whether you want
to follow up on the latest developments in brain-computer interfaces
or the science behind Angels and Demons (spoiler: antimatter is
harmless), YouTubeEDU’s got the goods.
For: Everyone
Watch: www.youtube.com/edu
credit: doviende (flickr)
6
Scratch Up A Movie
Computational thinking is all the rage these days. Business and
design professors recommend it for students in their fields, and
the world is slowly realising that it pays to think like a programmer
– to apply the basics of computer science to solve problems, plan
systems, and even deal with other humans. And with Scratch, MIT’s
Lifelong Kindergarten group wants you (and your children) to
learn those basics by applying them to the fine art of silly-looking
animation. Use if.. conditions, for loops, and other such constructs
to tell a story, and you’ll be a much happier panda.
For: Ages 8 and up
Get it: scratch.mit.edu
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 109
Visual story Garry’s Mod Showmehowtoplay
The $9.99 Half-Life 2 mod allows An online service that lets you
realistic interaction with objects in 3D view and learn how to play
spaces similar to Phun or Crayon Deluxe musical instruments online
Pocket University Bonus! Five Ways To Keep
The academics also gather at iTunesU, imparting their wisdom as
they sit in your iPod. The podcasts range from iPhone Application Your Brain From Rotting
Programming to Ethics and Economics. It’s not all hardcore academia,
either – you’ll also find songs and poems by students, and even weekly
podcasts on the strange and wonderful The Set Game
7 things that make up the world (we
recommend Texas A&M’s Engineering
Start your morning with
something that’ll flex your little
Works!). Want to understand the current grey cells without taking as much
economic crisis? Download the podcast time as a full crossword. The Set
by Oxford University, and you’re ready Game is a new, insanely addictive
to make your journey to work that much game that tests your ability to
more productive. identify shapes and patterns. You
For: Everyone have twelve cards with squiggles,
Get: iTunes Music Store in iTunes ovals and diamonds on them, and
Credit: stuartpilbrow (flickr) have to create sets based on their colour, pattern and number
(it’s much harder than it sounds). Play it at setgame.com.
Make Math Pretty
Thanks to Wolfram|Alpha, the name Mathematica has become the
subject of lore. It’s the mathematician’s (and data analyst’s) dream Daydream!
come true. It turns massive mathematical equations into awesome According to researchers at Goldsmiths,
graphs, turns streams of data into interactive visualisations, and University of London, the unfocused
forms the backbone of Wolfram|Alpha. Trouble is, it mind is more likely to come up with
8 costs $295 for the Home edition. creative solutions to problems. So if it
If you want those same features, seems as if you’re banging your head
though, download Sage – an open against a brick wall, take a few minutes
source alternative. It’s got most off and think of fluffy clouds and open
of the mathematical goodness of fields, and maybe the solution will jump
Mathematica, and should be a must- out at you.
have for math geeks everywhere.
For: Engineering and Science
students Play A Tune
Get: www.sagemath.org If you want to try your hand at soothing
savage beasts, pick up an instrument
and go online for some free music
Learn Everything courses. Start with the basics of music
It’s annoying when your favourite program comes out in a new theory at MusicTheory.net, and follow it
version even before you’ve mastered the first. These days, it’s more up with the basics of guitar at Cyberfret,
important to keep up with new software and technologies, and for or piano at (the badly designed) GoPiano.com. And as Sohee Park
that, there’s Lynda.com. It has video courses for nearly everything – of Vanderbilt University found, you’ll probably end up using
from Illustrator CS4 (it’s actually got a whole CS4 both sides of your brain.
9 University) to AJAX – so you’ll
never have to go anywhere else.
Credit: MaltaGirl (flickr)
It’s $25 (Rs. 1,250) for a monthly Gear up for NaNoWriMo
all-access membership, so it makes National Novel-writing Month
more sense if you’re actually going (NaNoWriMo; nanowrimo.org) is
to use these skills at work. coming in November, and it’s a great
For: Working professionals way to unleash the creative juices in
Watch: www.lynda.com 30 days. And if you’re going to do it,
you might as well get better at the craft.
Invest a few hours in a free Fiction
Academic Earth Writing (or Essay Writing) course at the
Academic Earth is the site that came before YouTubeEDU. It started Open University, and you ought to be ready to hammer at your
with a bunch of guest lectures at universities, and is now the place keyboard come November.
to go for a huge library of courses. You can sit through a semester’s Credit: gadl (flickr)
worth of science, mathematics or history if you wish, or just pick
from individual lectures on a Learn a new language
variety of topics. In its current Learning a new language is a great
10 state, the site is a simple, no-frills way to keep your brain in shape.
affair, but apparently “social” LiveMocha (livemocha.com) not only
features are in the works. teaches you a new language, it lets
For: All students you test your new-found skills on a
Watch: academicearth.org native speaker.
Credit: LizMarie (flickr) Credit: Kim Scarborough (flickr)
110 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Xxx Xxx
xxxxx CEED xxxxx
Section
SubFeature
The Common Entrance Examination for Open source designing
Design is conducted by the IITs every year Read the August 2009 issue of Digit for an
for admissions to their design courses interesting article on OScar — the open source car
Nash David Ahmedabad, Gujarat. We’d like to add here — there’s no limit for
nash.david@thinkdigit.com A neglected branch till recently, design talented designers in this country (some
has received the much needed fillip in India designers we spoke to earn much more
with several well known brands setting than these figures).
C
ase study House #8 was designed up local design studios and employing
in the ‘40s, when we as Indians design engineers and/or product designers Where we stand
hadn’t witnessed our tryst with in India. According to PayScale, an We spoke to academicians and
destiny. A glance at it and you’ll international employee compensation administrators who shared their insight
find it hard to believe it has been standing watchdog, a User Interface Designer with on design. Primarily, India has a long road
as a symbol of modern design for the past anywhere between one to three years of ahead. Prof. Balaram has been among the
six decades. Upon a request by the Indian work experience draws an average annual founding faculty at NID, Ahmedabad and
government, American designer couple salary of Rs. 3,50,000 compared to Rs. is currently the Dean of D J Academy of
Charles and Ray Eames presented the 2,00,000 for a software programmer with Design (DJAD), Coimbatore. With decades
India Report in 1958 that resulted in the the same experience – that’s a 57 per cent of experience as a designer, he feels there’s
first design institute popularly known as hike in salary. You’d probably not get that more we need to do as a nation. When
the National Institute of Design located in much even after your first salary hike. asked where India stood in terms of design
globally and what scope lied ahead for
someone interested in pursuing a career
in design, he said, “There are, not more
than, 20 design institutes across India.
With the number of students per class
averaging to 15, the number of designers
graduating each year is not more than
500. Compare this to China that has over
500 design schools, whereas Korea that
produces 36,000 designers every year. So
we as a nation definitely have a lot to work
in terms of infrastructure.” This also means
we are terribly short of skilled designers
and so employment opportunities are high
after completing a course in design from a
design school of repute.
What it takes
According to Prof. Sekhar Mukherjee from
NID, Ahmedabad, “Design is nothing, but
setting in order all the elements of life to
make life more meaningful. Design is a
tool to solve a problem, and effectively, a
designer is someone who thinks and cares
to improve our life with the intervention of
design solutions, be it communication or
product.”
Certainly, companies are on yare on the
lookout for creative designers and design
schools will let you in if you show traits of a
designer. “Every human being is a designer
by birth. But to specialise in this profession,
you need to go through a bit of design
process and experience the old design
education environment. Anyone who loves
to think, create, doodle and introspect
ideally are better!”
That’s interesting, anyone who thinks,
creates or doodles. So effectively, if you
were a back-bencher in school and were
always picked on for sketching in your
notes, you might just have it in you to
make it to make it to one of the best design
institutes in the world. But this just shows
being the studious one alone doesn’t get
you there. You’d need the right kind of
attitude with aptitude to stand out of the
crowd. According to Prof. Balaram, more
stress is put on aptitude and attitude
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 109
Digit | Month
Feature NIDUS artgraphica.net
A swanky outlet, inaugurated in 2005, An interesting web site in case you
displaying objects designed by faculty, want to harness your sketching
students and alumni of NID, Ahmedabad abilities
Image courtesy: ArchitectureWeek.com
rather than academics. “We look for
students with a creative bent of mind. The
aspirant should also have a strong sense of
aesthetics (form and colour) with a broad
outlook. Divergence is most important for
design and so is team work. We try to gauge
all these qualities in the probable student
by way of aptitude tests prior to admission.
Before offering admission we also conduct
a personal interview to confirm (as much as
possible) he/she is genuinely talented.”
The road ahead
After graduating from design school,
the obvious route is to design studios
that most MNCs have set up. In fact,
several Indian companies such as Onida,
Videocon and TI Cycles are also setting
up design studios in India and have
realised the need for scientifically designed
products. D J Academy of Design alumni
This ultra modern house was designed by Charles and Ray Eames in the 1940s and is known as Case Study
have successfully been placed in popular
House #8
companies such as Infosys, Wipro Lighting,
Tata Solar, Mahindra Tech and Onida.
If you want to pursue courses abroad, Design schools, in addition to imparting This is followed by an All India test in the
institutes such as Rhode Island School of skills to students, perform the function of month of April. This is known as Design
Design (Rhode Island, USA), California sorting probable designers. With enormous Aptitude Test. The next step is a studio
Institute of the Arts (California, USA), Royal rush for admissions to design courses test and personal interview in May, where
and the limited further elimination is done. Finally classes
infrastructure in the begin in the month of July.”
Pass your feedback at nation, selection
http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/nov09 criteria need to be Placement assistance
stringent and based MIT Institute of Design started in 2006
College of Art (London, UK) are options on quality (read creativity and innovation) and the first PG batch graduated in
you could consider. Prof. Mukherjee advises alone. March 2009. According to Mukta Khanna,
you try the best design school in the country, Deputy Registrar of MIT Vinayak “Training and Placement officer at MIT,
work for some time and then think of going Kulkarni adds, “The admission process the focus is always on innovation and
abroad for a course in design. This way, he begins in the month of November. The last new design. Last year, from over 750
says, “you’ll be sure of your decision and date for submission of forms is January 31. applications, admissions were offered
have a better understanding of the subject
rather than walking blindly on a lane”.
ur
Yo ign
s
de kit
As a designer, you’d need
to have a toolkit. Industrial
sculptor Paul Sandip has the
following recommendations:
• Common sense, which is
too uncommon
• Grey cells for sparking new
connections
• Pencil (but no eraser, because every idea is
worth trying out)
• Markers for attractive and informative
communication.
• Rhinoceros 4.0 or any other equivalent
software for 3D visualisation.
• Hypershot for photo-realistic renderings
NIDUS located in the NID campus sells products designed by NID students
110 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Adobe’s design Interest rates Feature
Read our Industry Connect with Ajay Pande, VP Considering average fees of design schools in
(Engineering), Adobe India to know what Adobe India, educational loans are available at an
seeks in a potential designer interest rate of between 10 to 12 per cent per year
FEE STRUCTURE
NID Ahmedabad DJ Academy of Design Coimbatore
Charges GDPD PGDPD Charges UGPD PGPD
Studio & KMC charges/I.T. infrastructure 10,000 10,000 Admission fee* 10,000 10,000
charges/Other services*
Convocation fee* 2,500 2,500
Hostel room rent/Electricity charges~ 13,500 13,500
Caution deposit* (refundable) 25,000 25,000
Insurance 200 200
Tuition fee (annual) 75,000 85,000
Tuition fee (annual) 65,000 82,500
Lab/Workshop charges 10,000 10,000
Student development fund 400 400
Hostel fees 13,500 13,500
Film club 200 200
Mess charges# 1,500 1,500
Security deposit (refundable) 10,000 10,000
Mess charges# 2,750 2,750
List of design courses
You’d be surprised to know the number of categories under
MIT Institute of Design Pune design, offered as a course, by premier design schools in the
Charges DP DM country. Some of the most sought after courses are as follows:
Admission Form 1,500 1,500 •Product Design •Transporta on & Automobile Design
•Furniture and Interior Design •Ceramic & glass Design
•Toy & game Design •Tex le Design •New media Design
Tuition fees 1,15,000 1,70,000
•Apparel Design & merchandising •Lifestyle Accessory
Development fees 30000 - Design
Security deposit (refundable) 10,000 10,000 •Graphic Design •Anima on film Design
Hostel charges 35,000 35,000 •Film & video Communica on •Photography Design
•Strategic Design management •Informa on & Interface
Mess charges 30,000 30,000 Design
Security deposit (refundable) 10,000 10,000 •Design for Retail Experience •Design for Digital Experience
* One time charges
~ Registration, jury, student amenities, modernisation, transcripts
# Monthly charges
Most design schools hint at an expected fee hike of 10 per cent every year. Effectively, summing all your expenses, your study at NID would cost you
around Rs. 1,50,000 per annum, with an increase of between 15 to 20 per cent every year. Typical under-graduate programmes are for 4 years, while the
duration of post graduate courses are typically two and half years. Similarly, a course at DJ Academy of Design appears slightly costlier, but the option to
pay your yearly fees in two half-yearly instalments would be a relief to many. In addition, The Ford Foundation, Government of India and NID offer fee
waivers, scholarships and grants to needy and deserving students. Also, the tuition fees for Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore is Rs.
1.25 lakhs per annum in addition to a non-refundable registration fee of Rs. 10,000 and a refundable deposit of Rs. 50,000.
to only 200. Seats are limited to 15 per
discipline.” Stay Updated with Digit
Khanna adds, “I target manufacturing Subscribe to the Digit newsletter to get a
and design houses as well as MNCs, as they daily dose of tech delivered to your inbox.
tend to focus more on design. Additionally, Head over to www.thinkdigit.com/newsletter.
there are enterpreneurial students and php and sign up.
internships that need to be arranged. Post
graduate students have a six-week summer politically correct to some extent, but in no
internship for which we assist our students. way is it acceptable to be called the “third
In fact, last year 100 per cent of our world”. If the world is measured by the
students were placed.” number of people in it, we should be the
Companies that have hired MIT first world (referring to skilled population)
students include Godrej and Boyce, Philips while the so-called developed nations
Design, John Deere, Ogilvy & Mather, would be the third world. Indians are
Daimler, BIG Animation and Whirlpool. making a mark internationally.”
The Future Group interviewed nine If you’ve been brooding over a career in
students and hired six of them, informs Design, but have held yourself back why
Khanna. not give it a try. We’ve provided you with
information to get you started. Let go of
Living it up “If the world were to be your doubts. If you don’t have it in you,
Overall, Indians have tremendous potential measured by the number of these institutions would let you know for
according to Prof. Balaram, “There is no sure and you won’t sit down later in life
third world. There should be nothing to skilled people, India would be with regret at not having tried your hand at
stop us. Calling us a poor nation may be the first world” design. Either way, you win!
—Prof. S. Balaram
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 111
Xxx Xxx
xxxxx CEED xxxxx
Section
SubFeature
The Common Entrance Examination for Open source designing
Design is conducted by the IITs every year Read the August 2009 issue of Digit for an
for admissions to their design courses interesting article on OScar — the open source car
Nash David Ahmedabad, Gujarat. We’d like to add here — there’s no limit for
nash.david@thinkdigit.com A neglected branch till recently, design talented designers in this country (some
has received the much needed fillip in India designers we spoke to earn much more
with several well known brands setting than these figures).
C
ase study House #8 was designed up local design studios and employing
in the ‘40s, when we as Indians design engineers and/or product designers Where we stand
hadn’t witnessed our tryst with in India. According to PayScale, an We spoke to academicians and
destiny. A glance at it and you’ll international employee compensation administrators who shared their insight
find it hard to believe it has been standing watchdog, a User Interface Designer with on design. Primarily, India has a long road
as a symbol of modern design for the past anywhere between one to three years of ahead. Prof. Balaram has been among the
six decades. Upon a request by the Indian work experience draws an average annual founding faculty at NID, Ahmedabad and
government, American designer couple salary of Rs. 3,50,000 compared to Rs. is currently the Dean of D J Academy of
Charles and Ray Eames presented the 2,00,000 for a software programmer with Design (DJAD), Coimbatore. With decades
India Report in 1958 that resulted in the the same experience – that’s a 57 per cent of experience as a designer, he feels there’s
first design institute popularly known as hike in salary. You’d probably not get that more we need to do as a nation. When
the National Institute of Design located in much even after your first salary hike. asked where India stood in terms of design
globally and what scope lied ahead for
someone interested in pursuing a career
in design, he said, “There are, not more
than, 20 design institutes across India.
With the number of students per class
averaging to 15, the number of designers
graduating each year is not more than
500. Compare this to China that has over
500 design schools, whereas Korea that
produces 36,000 designers every year. So
we as a nation definitely have a lot to work
in terms of infrastructure.” This also means
we are terribly short of skilled designers
and so employment opportunities are high
after completing a course in design from a
design school of repute.
What it takes
According to Prof. Sekhar Mukherjee from
NID, Ahmedabad, “Design is nothing, but
setting in order all the elements of life to
make life more meaningful. Design is a
tool to solve a problem, and effectively, a
designer is someone who thinks and cares
to improve our life with the intervention of
design solutions, be it communication or
product.”
Certainly, companies are on yare on the
lookout for creative designers and design
schools will let you in if you show traits of a
designer. “Every human being is a designer
by birth. But to specialise in this profession,
you need to go through a bit of design
process and experience the old design
education environment. Anyone who loves
to think, create, doodle and introspect
ideally are better!”
That’s interesting, anyone who thinks,
creates or doodles. So effectively, if you
were a back-bencher in school and were
always picked on for sketching in your
notes, you might just have it in you to
make it to make it to one of the best design
institutes in the world. But this just shows
being the studious one alone doesn’t get
you there. You’d need the right kind of
attitude with aptitude to stand out of the
crowd. According to Prof. Balaram, more
stress is put on aptitude and attitude
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 111
Digit | Month
Feature NIDUS artgraphica.net
A swanky outlet, inaugurated in 2005, An interesting web site in case you
displaying objects designed by faculty, want to harness your sketching
students and alumni of NID, Ahmedabad abilities
Image courtesy: ArchitectureWeek.com
rather than academics. “We look for
students with a creative bent of mind. The
aspirant should also have a strong sense of
aesthetics (form and colour) with a broad
outlook. Divergence is most important for
design and so is team work. We try to gauge
all these qualities in the probable student
by way of aptitude tests prior to admission.
Before offering admission we also conduct
a personal interview to confirm (as much as
possible) he/she is genuinely talented.”
The road ahead
After graduating from design school,
the obvious route is to design studios
that most MNCs have set up. In fact,
several Indian companies such as Onida,
Videocon and TI Cycles are also setting
up design studios in India and have
realised the need for scientifically designed
products. D J Academy of Design alumni
This ultra modern house was designed by Charles and Ray Eames in the 1940s and is known as Case Study
have successfully been placed in popular
House #8
companies such as Infosys, Wipro Lighting,
Tata Solar, Mahindra Tech and Onida.
If you want to pursue courses abroad, Design schools, in addition to imparting This is followed by an All India test in the
institutes such as Rhode Island School of skills to students, perform the function of month of April. This is known as Design
Design (Rhode Island, USA), California sorting probable designers. With enormous Aptitude Test. The next step is a studio
Institute of the Arts (California, USA), Royal rush for admissions to design courses test and personal interview in May, where
and the limited further elimination is done. Finally classes
infrastructure in the begin in the month of July.”
Pass your feedback at nation, selection
http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/nov09 criteria need to be Placement assistance
stringent and based MIT Institute of Design started in 2006
College of Art (London, UK) are options on quality (read creativity and innovation) and the first PG batch graduated in
you could consider. Prof. Mukherjee advises alone. March 2009. According to Mukta Khanna,
you try the best design school in the country, Deputy Registrar of MIT Vinayak “Training and Placement officer at MIT,
work for some time and then think of going Kulkarni adds, “The admission process the focus is always on innovation and
abroad for a course in design. This way, he begins in the month of November. The last new design. Last year, from over 750
says, “you’ll be sure of your decision and date for submission of forms is January 31. applications, admissions were offered
have a better understanding of the subject
rather than walking blindly on a lane”.
ur
Yo ign
s
de kit
As a designer, you’d need
to have a toolkit. Industrial
sculptor Paul Sandip has the
following recommendations:
• Common sense, which is
too uncommon
• Grey cells for sparking new
connections
• Pencil (but no eraser, because every idea is
worth trying out)
• Markers for attractive and informative
communication.
• Rhinoceros 4.0 or any other equivalent
software for 3D visualisation.
• Hypershot for photo-realistic renderings
NIDUS located in the NID campus sells products designed by NID students
112 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Adobe’s design Interest rates Feature
Read our Industry Connect with Ajay Pande, VP Considering average fees of design schools in
(Engineering), Adobe India to know what Adobe India, educational loans are available at an
seeks in a potential designer interest rate of between 10 to 12 per cent per year
FEE STRUCTURE
NID Ahmedabad DJ Academy of Design Coimbatore
Charges GDPD PGDPD Charges UGPD PGPD
Studio & KMC charges/I.T. infrastructure 10,000 10,000 Admission fee* 10,000 10,000
charges/Other services*
Convocation fee* 2,500 2,500
Hostel room rent/Electricity charges~ 13,500 13,500
Caution deposit* (refundable) 25,000 25,000
Insurance 200 200
Tuition fee (annual) 75,000 85,000
Tuition fee (annual) 65,000 82,500
Lab/Workshop charges 10,000 10,000
Student development fund 400 400
Hostel fees 13,500 13,500
Film club 200 200
Mess charges# 1,500 1,500
Security deposit (refundable) 10,000 10,000
Mess charges# 2,750 2,750
List of design courses
You’d be surprised to know the number of categories under
MIT Institute of Design Pune design, offered as a course, by premier design schools in the
Charges DP DM country. Some of the most sought after courses are as follows:
Admission Form 1,500 1,500 •Product Design •Transporta on & Automobile Design
•Furniture and Interior Design •Ceramic & glass Design
•Toy & game Design •Tex le Design •New media Design
Tuition fees 1,15,000 1,70,000
•Apparel Design & merchandising •Lifestyle Accessory
Development fees 30000 - Design
Security deposit (refundable) 10,000 10,000 •Graphic Design •Anima on film Design
Hostel charges 35,000 35,000 •Film & video Communica on •Photography Design
•Strategic Design management •Informa on & Interface
Mess charges 30,000 30,000 Design
Security deposit (refundable) 10,000 10,000 •Design for Retail Experience •Design for Digital Experience
* One time charges
~ Registration, jury, student amenities, modernisation, transcripts
# Monthly charges
Most design schools hint at an expected fee hike of 10 per cent every year. Effectively, summing all your expenses, your study at NID would cost you
around Rs. 1,50,000 per annum, with an increase of between 15 to 20 per cent every year. Typical under-graduate programmes are for 4 years, while the
duration of post graduate courses are typically two and half years. Similarly, a course at DJ Academy of Design appears slightly costlier, but the option to
pay your yearly fees in two half-yearly instalments would be a relief to many. In addition, The Ford Foundation, Government of India and NID offer fee
waivers, scholarships and grants to needy and deserving students. Also, the tuition fees for Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore is Rs.
1.25 lakhs per annum in addition to a non-refundable registration fee of Rs. 10,000 and a refundable deposit of Rs. 50,000.
to only 200. Seats are limited to 15 per
discipline.” Stay Updated with Digit
Khanna adds, “I target manufacturing Subscribe to the Digit newsletter to get a
and design houses as well as MNCs, as they daily dose of tech delivered to your inbox.
tend to focus more on design. Additionally, Head over to www.thinkdigit.com/newsletter.
there are enterpreneurial students and php and sign up.
internships that need to be arranged. Post
graduate students have a six-week summer politically correct to some extent, but in no
internship for which we assist our students. way is it acceptable to be called the “third
In fact, last year 100 per cent of our world”. If the world is measured by the
students were placed.” number of people in it, we should be the
Companies that have hired MIT first world (referring to skilled population)
students include Godrej and Boyce, Philips while the so-called developed nations
Design, John Deere, Ogilvy & Mather, would be the third world. Indians are
Daimler, BIG Animation and Whirlpool. making a mark internationally.”
The Future Group interviewed nine If you’ve been brooding over a career in
students and hired six of them, informs Design, but have held yourself back why
Khanna. not give it a try. We’ve provided you with
information to get you started. Let go of
Living it up “If the world were to be your doubts. If you don’t have it in you,
Overall, Indians have tremendous potential measured by the number of these institutions would let you know for
according to Prof. Balaram, “There is no sure and you won’t sit down later in life
third world. There should be nothing to skilled people, India would be with regret at not having tried your hand at
stop us. Calling us a poor nation may be the first world” design. Either way, you win!
—Prof. S. Balaram
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 113
Smart SoHo Linkedin Google Wave
Business networking can tremendously increase Despite all the encouraging hype, some web
your reach, improving results. But overdoing it sites even consider it to be a productivity killer.
can reduce your productivity for the day After all, beware anything addictive
Increasing Conan the Barbarian is historic.
Slogging it now, is not the
modern way of working but
just an indication of ineffective
planning. Planning well would
productivity let you unwind with a free mind
and party even harder
Nash David III-Not important but urgent, and IV-Not
nash.david@thinkdigit.com important and not urgent. Wisdom is in
prioritising it rightly.
While an assignment may be important
From being buried but not really urgent (quadrant II) in the
When was the last time work drove you morning, it could very well be important and
crazy? You probably hoped you didn’t have urgent by evening (quadrant I)! According
to do all that work dumped on you because to Covey, highly effective people live in
of a dogged list of unattended tasks. You may quadrant two and as a result of their efficient
probably be the nicest person around who way of execution and planning have time
is slogging day and night without getting to do their tasks at ease with no pressure or
anywhere. You must be chaffing when all the stress whatsoever. What he literally meant
prigs in office are busy planning their nights is although they stay on the pan, they never
Imaging: Chaitanya Surpur
of enjoyment with their higher-ups in praise step into fire.
for them. Life is so unfair, or so you think. Once you’ve identified the pattern of your
Feel left out? Someone’s whining. life by analysing it in a way similar to that
mentioned in the box, you can use several
...Desperate times... tools to make it easier for you. One of the
...Call for desperate measures. The problem most common tool is a calendar. A good start
lies deep within. Something’s not right in the is iCalendar Lite. To download it, go to www.
way we approach the task. “But there’s so tinyurl.com/icl0910. Install the executable.
much to do, so much to remember”, “I have Once you’re done, launch iCalendar. You’ll
only two hands and one brain”. Empires have a calendar on your desktop. Right-click
wouldn’t have been built if these reasons on the calendar to add events and tasks.
were valid. There ought to be a way out This way you can keep track of all tasks
of the mess we’ve landed ourselves in to. you need to do and live in quadrant II. You
The first thing you need to do clean all the can export calendar files from Outlook or
muddiness around. Identify your strengths even Google calendar (ICL files) and use
first, so you can bank on them to have them in iCalendar Lite. There is no end to
courage. Also, work on your developmental the number of software available that track
areas. It’s time to say no to IMs, social your time for you. But what use are they if
networking or streaming music - if that’s all you are going to do is figure out using
what hampers productivity. Once you’ve them. Outlook 2007 has a powerful calendar
identified the problem areas, the next step feature in case your company uses Outlook.
is to work towards improvement. If you’re continuously on the move, and
Among the most common areas switch computers often, then using time
of improvement are organising, management or organising software may
time management, efficiency and not be in good order. From the infamous
communication. Mumbai dabbawallahs to corporate heads,
organising, planning and prioritising tasks
Relief. But how? can vary from a smear of paint, to scribbling
Of all self-improvement on a spirally bound notepad to even PDAs,
terminologies sworn by, the four laptops and the cloud. As with Google
quadrant method is one of the most services, login to Calendar with your Google
popular. According to Dr. Stephen id. Enter all the tasks for the day at the
Covey (author of First things first), expected time. You can enter a task such
you can classify all your tasks in to as “Start preparing report at 4 pm” and set
four quadrants depending on their reminder as SMS and email. This way you’re
urgency and importance. Depending reminded of your task even while on the
upon priority, tasks are arranged into move, probably when you are on a tea break
four quadrants as — I-Important and whiling away time. To top it up, this service is
Urgent, II-Important but not urgent, free. You are not charged for SMS reminders.
112 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Subscribe now Quality control Smart SoHo
Ensure you never miss out on techniques The primary goal of complying to standards such as ISO,
to improve your productivity. Fill the Digit Six Sigma and TL is to ensure a minimum quality level
subscription form today (the best) and increase efficiency and productivity
Again, turn to our Tips and tricks section Learn from
for Evernote. It’s a note taking software. You mistakes
can take notes and use it as a post-it software. Once you’ve worked on your
This is an efficient way of remembering scheduling and straightened
tasks. Google, it is believed, uses scribble out your distractions, and
boards to jot down ideas that are randomly still find it difficult to meet
generated. You never know the moment your targets, then you need to
when you get the answer to your question/ harness your skills and learn
problem. As soon as you get an idea – note it better ways of completing
down. The best place to start could be Tasks your work. It’s never late to
in Gmail. If you don’t use Gmail, simply save improve. You can never be
it a draft in your mailbox or a note on your too old to learn. Improve
mobile phone. You can delete it anytime you your skill sets. If you’re one
have finished the task. of those Office-suite users,
you could probably fill in
Acting wise one an Excel sheet in a jiffy.
After you have overcome your But, on second thoughts
organising weaknesses, overcoming your tons of typing could be done
performance dampeners is very important. away with a macro. Nifty
Distractions such as IM, YouTube or even two-minute tricks can save
flash games (during professional hours) you hours of monotonous
not only are unprofessional, but also work. Depending on your
hamper your productivity. Eventually, profession, your tasks and A simple tool such as a calendar, and a conscious effort to track your time
without realising you’d be spending some tools could vary; but the will certainly increase your productivity
extra hours trying to get the same task never-say-die attitude will in the attitude rather than the available tools.
done when you could have completed always keep you going. Albert Einstein has For instance, email clients such as Outlook
those eons ago. Abstinence and self summed it up aptly: “You never fail until you let you flag your emails — red as being critical
control is the only way out of this. stop trying.” In fact, a task as prioritising lies coming down to green and even no flag as
being least on priority.
MANAGING YOUR DAY Freedom at last
Planning your typical day, the previous night, personal email. You can also plan any Some lessons are learnt the hard way.
will take you a long way. If you wake up at pending official tasks you may have. The Criticism and feedback are part of every
around 7 am every morning, you can start options are endless. Again, as the end of organisation. Learning early is evidence
off by identifying your “peak productivity” day approaches, rush hour work increases. of wisdom. There’s no running away
hours and also your slog overs. Your first All those daily reports need to go out and from this. Seldom will you get praise for a
hour, 7-8 am, would be spent in getting several people need to be reminded of tasks job well done. But mess up once and it’ll
ready – up from your bed till you're ready to left unattended. You should wrap up as continue to haunt you for a long while.
start your journey. Jot down all your tasks many critical tasks as you have by now. This Failures are stepping stones to success.
sequentially. Surprises and spoilers will erupt is your 11th hour for all practical purposes. Believe in what you do and you will soon be
and these are unavoidable. So get your Depending on how longer your list gets, avoiding hurdles that are higher than your
list in the order of priority; from highest to waking up tomorrow morning is going leap. As an old Ethiopian saying goes, “Do
lowest. Lunch time is not productive at all – to be more aggravating. Any remedies? not vacillate or you will be left in between
add to that half an hour before and a couple On advantage if you use public transport
doing something, having something and
of hours later when the answer to most is using your mobile phone to jot down
being nothing.” No one’s perfect. We’re all
troubles is 40 winks. unattended tasks. Irrespective of what you
improving. Just go ahead, reach out. Now you
Attempting critical tasks during these own, whether you jot them down on a piece
hours most certainly involves reorganising of paper, or access Google calendar from know how others could leave early when you
and reworking, thereby reducing overall your GPRS-enabled mobile phone – a record felt you were slogging alone. No one can stop
efficiency. You can lift up yourself by must be maintained and reminders need to you either. Remember the story we learned
attempting lesser critical tasks such as be set. as kids. The hare slept. The tortoise although
slow, achieved its goal because it persisted.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 113
Smart SoHo Linkedin Google Wave
Business networking can tremendously increase Despite all the encouraging hype, some web
your reach, improving results. But overdoing it sites even consider it to be a productivity killer.
can reduce your productivity for the day After all, beware anything addictive
Increasing Conan the Barbarian is historic.
Slogging it now, is not the
modern way of working but
just an indication of ineffective
planning. Planning well would
productivity let you unwind with a free mind
and party even harder
Nash David III-Not important but urgent, and IV-Not
nash.david@thinkdigit.com important and not urgent. Wisdom is in
prioritising it rightly.
While an assignment may be important
From being buried but not really urgent (quadrant II) in the
When was the last time work drove you morning, it could very well be important and
crazy? You probably hoped you didn’t have urgent by evening (quadrant I)! According
to do all that work dumped on you because to Covey, highly effective people live in
of a dogged list of unattended tasks. You may quadrant two and as a result of their efficient
probably be the nicest person around who way of execution and planning have time
is slogging day and night without getting to do their tasks at ease with no pressure or
anywhere. You must be chaffing when all the stress whatsoever. What he literally meant
prigs in office are busy planning their nights is although they stay on the pan, they never
Imaging: Chaitanya Surpur
of enjoyment with their higher-ups in praise step into fire.
for them. Life is so unfair, or so you think. Once you’ve identified the pattern of your
Feel left out? Someone’s whining. life by analysing it in a way similar to that
mentioned in the box, you can use several
...Desperate times... tools to make it easier for you. One of the
...Call for desperate measures. The problem most common tool is a calendar. A good start
lies deep within. Something’s not right in the is iCalendar Lite. To download it, go to www.
way we approach the task. “But there’s so tinyurl.com/icl0910. Install the executable.
much to do, so much to remember”, “I have Once you’re done, launch iCalendar. You’ll
only two hands and one brain”. Empires have a calendar on your desktop. Right-click
wouldn’t have been built if these reasons on the calendar to add events and tasks.
were valid. There ought to be a way out This way you can keep track of all tasks
of the mess we’ve landed ourselves in to. you need to do and live in quadrant II. You
The first thing you need to do clean all the can export calendar files from Outlook or
muddiness around. Identify your strengths even Google calendar (ICL files) and use
first, so you can bank on them to have them in iCalendar Lite. There is no end to
courage. Also, work on your developmental the number of software available that track
areas. It’s time to say no to IMs, social your time for you. But what use are they if
networking or streaming music - if that’s all you are going to do is figure out using
what hampers productivity. Once you’ve them. Outlook 2007 has a powerful calendar
identified the problem areas, the next step feature in case your company uses Outlook.
is to work towards improvement. If you’re continuously on the move, and
Among the most common areas switch computers often, then using time
of improvement are organising, management or organising software may
time management, efficiency and not be in good order. From the infamous
communication. Mumbai dabbawallahs to corporate heads,
organising, planning and prioritising tasks
Relief. But how? can vary from a smear of paint, to scribbling
Of all self-improvement on a spirally bound notepad to even PDAs,
terminologies sworn by, the four laptops and the cloud. As with Google
quadrant method is one of the most services, login to Calendar with your Google
popular. According to Dr. Stephen id. Enter all the tasks for the day at the
Covey (author of First things first), expected time. You can enter a task such
you can classify all your tasks in to as “Start preparing report at 4 pm” and set
four quadrants depending on their reminder as SMS and email. This way you’re
urgency and importance. Depending reminded of your task even while on the
upon priority, tasks are arranged into move, probably when you are on a tea break
four quadrants as — I-Important and whiling away time. To top it up, this service is
Urgent, II-Important but not urgent, free. You are not charged for SMS reminders.
114 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Subscribe now Quality control Smart SoHo
Ensure you never miss out on techniques The primary goal of complying to standards such as ISO,
to improve your productivity. Fill the Digit Six Sigma and TL is to ensure a minimum quality level
subscription form today (the best) and increase efficiency and productivity
Again, turn to our Tips and tricks section Learn from
for Evernote. It’s a note taking software. You mistakes
can take notes and use it as a post-it software. Once you’ve worked on your
This is an efficient way of remembering scheduling and straightened
tasks. Google, it is believed, uses scribble out your distractions, and
boards to jot down ideas that are randomly still find it difficult to meet
generated. You never know the moment your targets, then you need to
when you get the answer to your question/ harness your skills and learn
problem. As soon as you get an idea – note it better ways of completing
down. The best place to start could be Tasks your work. It’s never late to
in Gmail. If you don’t use Gmail, simply save improve. You can never be
it a draft in your mailbox or a note on your too old to learn. Improve
mobile phone. You can delete it anytime you your skill sets. If you’re one
have finished the task. of those Office-suite users,
you could probably fill in
Acting wise one an Excel sheet in a jiffy.
After you have overcome your But, on second thoughts
organising weaknesses, overcoming your tons of typing could be done
performance dampeners is very important. away with a macro. Nifty
Distractions such as IM, YouTube or even two-minute tricks can save
flash games (during professional hours) you hours of monotonous
not only are unprofessional, but also work. Depending on your
hamper your productivity. Eventually, profession, your tasks and A simple tool such as a calendar, and a conscious effort to track your time
without realising you’d be spending some tools could vary; but the will certainly increase your productivity
extra hours trying to get the same task never-say-die attitude will in the attitude rather than the available tools.
done when you could have completed always keep you going. Albert Einstein has For instance, email clients such as Outlook
those eons ago. Abstinence and self summed it up aptly: “You never fail until you let you flag your emails — red as being critical
control is the only way out of this. stop trying.” In fact, a task as prioritising lies coming down to green and even no flag as
being least on priority.
MANAGING YOUR DAY Freedom at last
Planning your typical day, the previous night, personal email. You can also plan any Some lessons are learnt the hard way.
will take you a long way. If you wake up at pending official tasks you may have. The Criticism and feedback are part of every
around 7 am every morning, you can start options are endless. Again, as the end of organisation. Learning early is evidence
off by identifying your “peak productivity” day approaches, rush hour work increases. of wisdom. There’s no running away
hours and also your slog overs. Your first All those daily reports need to go out and from this. Seldom will you get praise for a
hour, 7-8 am, would be spent in getting several people need to be reminded of tasks job well done. But mess up once and it’ll
ready – up from your bed till you're ready to left unattended. You should wrap up as continue to haunt you for a long while.
start your journey. Jot down all your tasks many critical tasks as you have by now. This Failures are stepping stones to success.
sequentially. Surprises and spoilers will erupt is your 11th hour for all practical purposes. Believe in what you do and you will soon be
and these are unavoidable. So get your Depending on how longer your list gets, avoiding hurdles that are higher than your
list in the order of priority; from highest to waking up tomorrow morning is going leap. As an old Ethiopian saying goes, “Do
lowest. Lunch time is not productive at all – to be more aggravating. Any remedies? not vacillate or you will be left in between
add to that half an hour before and a couple On advantage if you use public transport
doing something, having something and
of hours later when the answer to most is using your mobile phone to jot down
being nothing.” No one’s perfect. We’re all
troubles is 40 winks. unattended tasks. Irrespective of what you
improving. Just go ahead, reach out. Now you
Attempting critical tasks during these own, whether you jot them down on a piece
hours most certainly involves reorganising of paper, or access Google calendar from know how others could leave early when you
and reworking, thereby reducing overall your GPRS-enabled mobile phone – a record felt you were slogging alone. No one can stop
efficiency. You can lift up yourself by must be maintained and reminders need to you either. Remember the story we learned
attempting lesser critical tasks such as be set. as kids. The hare slept. The tortoise although
slow, achieved its goal because it persisted.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 115
Shadow Complex FIFA again
Explore the underground, After nearly being written off as the
ESC Workshop 120 after being thrown into a vast,
interconnected cavern 121 football game of choice, FIFA 2010 is
back with a
Level Up:
Another Game-creating Adventure
Create your own 3D puzzle/platform/adventure/whatever game with Atmosphir, then inflict it upon
the world
Nimish Chandiramani up for the private (as of this writing) beta. of points, defeat a number of enemies, or
readersletters@thinkdigit.com Go ahead now; we’ll wait. a combination of them all? Will there be a
time limit? How many lives will the player
Making the plan have? For now, let’s keep this simple: get
M
aking your own game isn’t easy, Once you’ve got your beta invite and from A to B.
even if you’ve got C code and downloaded Atmosphir, you can get into Finally, give yourself a clear idea of what
3D skills oozing out of every Design mode to start creating your level. But the level is going to look like: will it be huge
pore. Not surprising then, that first, you need to have a few things decided and sprawling, or a Tower of Doom? If you
we thought we’d run out of game-creation (don’t worry if some things don’t make go the latter route, you can create up to 100
tools to tell you about. If game-creation sense yet; they will as we progress): floors for each level, so there’s plenty of
tools were horses, we’d all be Bethesda. Or Firstly, where is your level going to take room to go nuts. That sounds good, so let’s
something like that, anyway. place? The current version of Atmosphir lets do the multiple floor thing.
But we were wrong. With a spanking you create levels using three broad themes: And now, to fire it up.
new program called Atmosphir, you can a generic stone theme (the Adventure Pack),
create your own 3D platform game (like a forest theme (the Forest Treehouse Pack), Getting started
Mario, but with a whole extra D), share and a desert theme (the Sand Castle Pack). If you’ve used even the most basic 3D
it with the Atmosphir community, and You don’t have to commit to any, though program, you should feel right at home. The
explore the games that others have created. you can mix and match as much as you panel on the left is where you’ll choose the
The game engine is capable of some want. For now, let’s settle for the regular elements of your set platforms, enemies,
ridiculously complex levels, so there’s much Adventure Pack. power-ups, and such.
fun to be had. Secondly, what’s the main challenge The big blue area in the middle is where
But first, you must head to http:// going to be? Will the player have to get from you’ll be creating your level. At the top right
atmosphir.com/download/ and sign yourself point A to point B, rack up a certain number corner of the window, you’ll see the floor
(10, by default) that you’re building on. At
the bottom left is the Capacity bar, which
tells you how much of the game engine’s
capacity you’re hogging. As your level gets
more complex, you’ll need to watch this bar
closely.
Let’s start with creating the floor. In the
left panel, select Adventure Pack under
Theme, and Basic Platforms under Category.
Choose the stone floor tile, and click within
the scene to create it. One thing you should
keep in mind is that these tiles are fairly
small — your character takes roughly two
steps to cross each one. As you create the
No one will grudge you your right to mix styles Ah, that taunting blank canvas
116 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Unwind The Water Trick Workshop
Thank you for sending us Community Atmosphir doesn’t support water, so lay blue tiles
123 greetings. Hope you enjoyed the
festivities 126 Discussions we had with some
readers. Some informative tips
on a floor, fountains one level below. The result is
a “bubbling water” effect
Use the Block Properties to tweak the breaking stone
floor, if you want to delete tiles you’ve placed, [Shift] + click to select it, and click on
right-click on them. the Block Properties button.
To examine your scene, you can use the Here’s what we’re getting to: create one
Pan tool (the hand in the toolbar, or hold breaking stone, tweak its properties, and
down middle-click and drag), and the Orbit then copy ([Ctrl] + [C], then click
tool (the atom-like symbol in the toolbar, or to paste) it to random locations. Create
hold down [Alt]+ middle-click and drag). another breaking stone, give it different
There. Now we can start doing some real properties, and then copy it a few times.
work. Rinse and repeat until you’ve filled the
room.
The first floor But why would players want to enter
We’ll go for a dungeon-esque look here, this crazy room? To lure them into your
because, well, why not? The next step, then, trap, you must stick in a fancy reward or
is to put down some walls. Under Basic two. Firstly, because Atmosphir won’t let
Platforms, select the Stone Block and lay you put a treasure and falling block in the
some of them down to use them as walls. same spot, replace one of the breaking
The blocks are low enough for your character stones with a standard block. Now, under
to climb on to, so you’ll have to repeat this Categories, select Treasure Props, and
on at least one more floor. Don’t worry about choose one of the props. Click on the
it right now, but don’t forget that, either. standard block to place the treasure on it.
There are a couple of problems with Now, you must test the level to make
Lay flags to decide where to start and end the game
isn’t the right orientation, use [R] to rotate
it. Place it at the entrance of room 5 (notice
that the door is three floors high). This door
needs a key, so select the Key, and put it in
place of the ritual mask.
To justify locking up room 5, we’ll give it
the elevator that takes players up to the next
floor (13th, because the skull door is going to
Lay down some walls for a floor plan A ritual mask rewards players for their troubles
take up 10, 11 and 12). First, then, let’s build
up to the 13th floor. Hold down [Alt] and
use the scroll wheel to move up or down
what we see here. Firstly, it looks really sure it’s not too frustrating (or not floors, and use stone blocks to build up the
drab, even for a dungeon. Secondly, none of frustrating enough, for that matter). For
those “rooms” seem to have any purpose. that, we’ll create temporary Start and Finish
And finally, it doesn’t look like much of a flags. Under Category, select Flags. Lay a
challenge, does it? Start flag inside room 1, and a Finish flag in
room 3. Click the green Play button on the
Danger Room toolbar to test the game.
Let’s start with turning room 4 into a It’s time, quite literally, to take this to the
death trap. First, we’ll start with a floor next level.
that crumbles under the player’s feet.
Under Category, select Falling Platforms, Doors, elevators, and nasties
and choose Breaking Stone. Delete all the First, let’s turn room 5 into an access-only
tiles (right-click) inside room 4, and click region — we’re going to put a locked door
anywhere in the room to create a breaking there. Under Categories, select Interactive
stone. To configure how that stone falls, use Props, and choose Skull Door. If the door They shall not pass!
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 117
Workshop The Little Details Use Props Wisely
Don’t make your floors bland and homogenous: swap Props give your level much-needed variety, but
out a few “standard” tiles for the unconventional, or don’t overdo them — they have a nasty way of
put patches of sand in a stone floor filling up your capacity meter
You can turn enemies into invincible moving props Despite what you may think, this sword doesn’t go
for added difficulty “FSHOONG!”
the path take various shapes; stop when it’s flag to the Finish flag”, but you can change
vertical. Repeat this all the way to the top that under File > Rules.
(paths show up as blue lines while you’re There’s just one thing missing...
editing, but are invisible in the game itself).
When you’re set with the path, you can All about character
put a platform on it. Still under Moving If you’ve tested your level, complete with
Platforms, choose one of the platforms (we enemies, you may have noticed one fatal flaw
picked the round one), and place it on the — your character doesn’t have any weapons.
path. To start or stop the platform, toggle To customise your character, you need to go
Simulation mode using [Space]. back to the start screen (save your design,
Build walls on the 11th and 12th floors, and put a
You can now add enemies to the then hit [Esc]), and select Character.
floor on the thirteenth
thirteenth floor (quite appropriate, we On the left is your character, and on the
walls. thought). Under Categories, select Hazard right is all the stuff you can get for your
When you lay the tiles for the thirteenth Props, and choose from the assortment character. To enable your sword, select
floor, remember to leave a gap for the of Muka baddies on offer. Use the Block Weapon in the drop down menu for your
elevator. Properties window to configure how character, and select the default Beechwood
Now go back to the 10th floor to start dangerous they are — you can even turn one Sword. Really, though, you should buy a
putting in the elevator. If you can’t see the of them into a boss. better sword from the store on the right.
floor in its entirety, click the Toggle Floor You ought to be comfortable with the Atmosphir uses its own currency (called
Visibility button in the toolbar a few times basics by now. If not, you’ve not been Atmos), which you can buy for real money,
until you do. paying attention, have you, you insolent but with the 200 Atmos you get when you
We’ll start with a path for the elevator. litt...sorry, that was a typo. You should now register, you can get yourself a respectable
First, delete the floor tile where you’re going be able add more of the standard platform sword (or frying pan, or golf club, or
to put the elevator. Under Categories, select game goodies — power-ups, jumping lightsaber, for that matter). You can’t sell
Moving Platforms, and choose Path. Keep platforms, and even more treasures. The your stuff yet, so watch how you spend those
clicking on the empty space — you’ll see default game rules are “get from the Start Atmos.
To use your weapon in-game, hit [Tab] to
equip it, and use the middle mouse button to
do your worst.
The Patience Game
You can look to Atmosphir’s Level of the Day
page (http://atmosphir.com/news/category/
level-of-the-day/) for some inspiration, but
don’t fool yourself into believing that you’ll
be cranking out games like these by the
dozen. Even half-decent games take a lot of
work, so keep at it. You may well give up after
the first few tries, but that’s all right too. We
Finishing the path Customising your character won’t judge you.
118 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
RATINGS
Game review
Xbox 360.........................(XBLA title)
1200 MS Points
Faiyaz Shaikh Metroid) but with an added depth. You often
readersletters@thinkdigit.com shoot across a two-dimensional plane, but
Developer .......Chair Entertainment,
certain enemies and bosses will rebel against Epic Games
S
hadow Complex is an inspired XBLA society and pop-up along the z-axis; the game Publisher .................Microsoft Game
romp — inspired in the very sense generally auto-aims at these misfits but
of the word — by Nintendo’s seminal you might have to intervene during the odd
Studios
classic: Super Metroid, released back occasion. There is also an element of melee Score ........................................8.5/10
in 1994 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment as you can punch and karate chop baddies
System (SNES). It borrows Metroid’s side- (sending them flying across screens as you
scrolling, platform-jumping, enemy-exploding, evolve) and kick bullet-spewing, plasma-hurling section where the piano is used wonderfully).
exploratory gameplay well; an inspired turrets (also across screens) if you are close It also could have offered 2009 a little more to
adaptation then, but one that does little else. enough. Finally, the game takes a page out the Metroid formula — traversing the map is
That’s not to say that the game isn’t good. It of Gears Of War and offers a pop-and-shoot tedious at times. Being able to teleport across
is. In fact, the game, much like its protagonist, mechanic: find cover, duck, pop out of cover at save points would have been a great benefit
stares into a vast abyss and questions the the opportune moment, and take out your foes to this game. Another point of contention, is
contemporary gaming industry’s obsession with well-aimed headshots. that the map of the game — a very vital piece —
with $60 price tags slapped on games with The fun and the real meat of the game, can sometimes be misleading: You might find
$60-million budgets that offer little more than is in the exploration. If you are the type yourself plan a romp across the map, carefully
6 hours of mediocre gameplay. In that sense, it that obsesses over finding out every secret, charting your progress in your mind, but be
is like an indie movie shaming the Hollywood charting out the last centimetre of a game’s stopped mid-way, frustratingly, as you find a
bigwigs — at 15 dollars of fun, Shadow Complex map; then this game will keep you sleepless wall that was not shown on the map, stopping
is the District 9 to Hollywood’s Transformers 2. over nights. The underground complex is vast you in your track. Or when the map shows a
— it offers varying landscapes from jungles to locked door but there is no such thing in the
The setup underground mines, to overarching commercial actual game. Plus representing a 2.5d world
For those new to Shadow Complex, the game ‘workplaces’, to tight, claustrophobic air vents. as a 2d map makes for some head-scratching
offers a simple setup: you are thrown into This sprawling complex then, is the true hero instances of “where is that damn item, it should
a vast, interconnected cavern with nothing of the game; the sole reason to keep going, be right here!” Moments like these make you
but a bad t-shirt and a torch. As you explore finding items, unlocking doors, and yes, question the validity of the map; a very bad
the underground, your repertoire of moves, punching the odd baddy in the face. Out of my thing when the map practically serves as the
weapons, and apparel will increase and way chum, there’s a missile pack behind you. game’s foundation. There are also minor bugs —
evolve, in step with your mapping of this the rag doll physics that see an enemy fly across
‘Shadow Complex’. In conclusion the screen will sometimes cause one to spin like
Your motive starts off as a ruse to rescue Shadow Complex does not evolve the Super a top.
your girlfriend, but quickly (and perhaps a little Metroid formula beyond its 2.5-dimension That it succeeds is both a testament to
too suddenly) takes a turn to saving the world presentation. Is that a bad thing? Not when the genre and to the audacity and meticulous
(or, in this case, San Francisco) from the evil you are inspired by perhaps the best 2d planning of Chair Entertainment (the entire
machinations of Cobra Commander. None of action game. It sticks close to Metroid’s game was built on a “massive sheet of graph
which matters — as soon as you take control formula and the greatness rubs off and paper”). As a $15 title that offers well over 15
of Jason Flemming, the protagonist, your transfers well. hours of entertainment, Shadow Complex, is
sole motive is to move left, right, up, down, The game could have used a bit more at the very least, a fresh approach to game
jump, shoot, explore the complex, explode the evolution though, some more time in the DNA releases. Hopefully, the game will rejuvenate
baddies. The game succeeds in that this simple vats of Chair Entertainment, the developers the genre, and spawn many like it in the years
gameplay mechanic is motivation enough for of Shadow Complex. Its music, for one, is truly to come.
the next dozen or so hours. underwhelming (except for one breath-taking You owe yourself the pleasure of
experiencing this game. If you have an Xbox
Where’s the fun? 360, an internet connection, and 1200 MS points
The game is actually a side-scrolling affair (about $15 or Rs. 730) to spare — download and
rendered in two-and-a-half dimensions: play the summer highlight of the gaming world
think of it as a Mario platformer (or Super (well, apart from ‘Splosion Man).
120 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Sub review
GameSection
FIFA 10
Faiyaz Shaikh
Only God knows what’s happening here!
become more effective at taking away
Form effecting stats means you can never get an
accurate fix on your players’ abilities
RATINGS
Score ............................................ 6/10
readersletters@thinkdigit.com possession of the ball. This is mainly Genre ........................................Sports
because the game allows tackling from
behind and mostly avoiding a foul.
Platforms ........... PS 3, Xbox 360, Wii,
I
t’s the fag end of the year and time Referees seem to be quite inconsistent at Microsoft Windows, PS 2,
for the two football video game giants calling foul on such tackles, so the best Nintendo DS, PSP
to pit their annual fruits of labor in option for the player with the ball is to
the ever shifting race for the top spot. pass it instead of shielding.
Developer ..........................EA Canada
This year EA Sports gets a head start with Publisher .................... Electronic Arts
the European release of FIFA 2010. Many of Single player career modes Price ...................Rs. 1,499 – Rs. 2,499
us had forsaken FIFA as the football game Manager mode and Pro Season (now
of choice. But, the last two installments called Virtual Pro) have been beefed
(depends on platform)
in the series showed developers at EA up with some new features. The most
were finally beginning to understand the apparent change in the Manager mode Some other issues faced include game
game. Let’s find out if FIFA 10 is another is in the menu system and the overall locking up, several animation glitches and
commendable effort in the progressive run interface. unresponsive game controller. We thought
of sequels or if this is a step backwards. Pro career mode has been given a of browsing through the discussion forum
wider scope, allowing you to use your on the official web site to check if this was
What’s in the game? created player with other single player just a case of bad karma on our part. As
The most touted addition (or improvement game modes like Manager Mode and it turns out, users have reported issues as
as they like to call it) is the “360° Kick Off in addition to online game severe as players just disappearing from
Dribbling” system. At least in theory, this modes. A scrapbook style tracker of the roster, only to find him playing for
means greater control over the player your career has been added to enhance some other club. This is just one example,
with the ball. In our experience however, this mode. Achieving certain milestones as one of the more resourceful users on
dribbling in FIFA remains something gives additional bonus to your players’ the forum had compiled a list of minor
of a dark art. Mastering dribbling (and attributes and also unlocks additional and major issues reported about the game
the complementing skill moves) in FIFA game content like football gear, goal — the last count was almost 70 in Manager
seem to require ninja-like reflexes and celebrations and player traits. Mode alone.
skills while handling the game pad. If you If you do not look beyond exhibition
ever find yourself looking for some close Relegated matches, no more than three or four
control to go past a challenging player, the Besides all the bells and whistles, after matches in a single seating, you may
only option seems to be unleashing a Skill playing 70 odd matches, issues with the actually like this game. Overall this feels
Move. As the name suggests, these require core system starts emerging. The game like a rushed product, at least through
just as much skill to pull off as their real- is not too bad, but we did have a few bad the testing phase. There are some very
life versions. For mere mortals as us, the experiences with the Manager Mode and prominent bugs in the single-player career
most reliable way of taking shots at the the Pro Season. The worst of all was losing mode that can be noticed after just a few
goal is still pretty much about through my saved games in both these modes. matches. Even when considering a single
passes and outpacing your opponents match, the game mechanics do not allow
with certain players. Crosses and often for a free-flowing game. An aggressive
even short passes are still a case of hit-and- defense system, a relatively inadequate
miss—an old grievance players have had dribbling mechanics,
with FIFA apparently remains disappointing passing
unaddressed. and crossing and referees
Another significant often getting in the way,
change with FIFA this year, makes for a very stifled
is the effect of a player’s and ping-pong style
current form on his of matches. If you
performance and vice-versa. are like me and
This effectively means all the A.I. is often aggressive with challenges and tackles need a year-long
players in your team will football fix, then
have dynamic attributes. we suggest
If you want to add some holding on to
realism in the game, this your existing
makes a lot of sense. football
Additionally, the effect game or
form has on player stats maybe wait and
is quite profound, at hope for Konami to
times changing them deliver).
by as much as ten
points.
Tackling has FIFA’s saving grace— impressive character models
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 121
Escape How To
==Digit Diary==
Geek culture : Time Travel
The concept is more fantasy than sci-fi, but Wikipedia lists “Time Travel” Here at Digit, we are very careful about our equipment. This is
as one of the unsolved “problems of science”. This pretty much means mostly because we tend to steal parts of each other’s systems
physicists sitting around on armchairs and labs theorising about space and just to get our job done. Robert’s computer was used as a
time and other stuff, have not yet totally ruled out the possibility of time general purpose burning rig, for which it accumalated three
travel, and their peers don’t call them loony. burners stolen by Rossi, Aditya, and no one really knows
about the third one. Michael was walking around looking for
a drive to steal, and not finding any.
Movies
To get the bluescreening right, the Digit Team started
stealing equipment from Jiten’s studio. First we got up a
few unused lights, then we got thermocol reflectors, and an
umbrella. Eventually, Jiten showed up with his tripod, leaving
his shoot of the products on hold. Siddharth was held hostage
by Robert till the wee hours of the morning.
What really sent the kleptomaniac tendencies overboard
was probably all the sweets that we got for Diwali. Thank you
Primer: A jargon Bill and Ted’s Timecrimes: A to all those who sent us e-greetings as well.
filled movie with excellent adven- thriller with a
an interesting and ture: A very light- series of conse-
fresh take on time
travel, depicted in
hearted and fun
adventure through
quences, all for
travelling by a
Portal in 2D
Still not over destroying GLaDoS in Portal? Do you want to
a realistic way. history. mere hour. expirience the gameplay for some more time in the hope of getting
to the cake? 2D Portal is your answer in flash, but this does not
mean that the game is any less challenging or immersive. Strangely
Games
enough, the 2D-ness adds another dimension to the gameplay,
as the number of creative solutions you can come up with are
drastically reduced, forcing you to think harder. Head over to
http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/portal.php
Anachronox: Braid: A fresh POP - Sands of
Sci-fi RPG, has a platformer with Time: Responsible
dedicated follow- many game worlds for reviving the
ing, made into an that rely heavily POP series, and
award winning on different kinds one of the best
machinima. of time changes. games of 2003.
Books
1337sp33k
Stay up to date with internet lingo, so you don’t wt? the next
time you are chatting with someone
-0rz: A commonly used suffix to turn anything 1337. Use with
Nomad of the Chronoliths: Millenium: People care, in the wrong situations, it’s just n00bish. Eg: H4x0rz,
Time Streams: Mysterious monu- from the future Lulz0rz etc.
part of the eternal ments from the try to rescue
champion series, future suddenly those who died epic: It means what it means, but using it is an art. Highly over-
with an eerie appear and unset- in a plane crash. used, so use it only when you really really mean it. Or something
alternate timeline. tle the present. Spawned a movie. really is legendary.
How we unwind
Movies Music Game
Wake up Sid: Siddharth The Resistance: A great new The Witcher: Michael is going
wanted to go for the free album by Muse, we particu- on and on about the RPG
screening and shout out “Sid!” larly like the track “Unnatural elements of the enhanced
just for the reaction. Selection” edition.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 123
Escape
I am my own Grandpa www.slideshare.net
All the buzz about the Hadron Collider spewing out miniature black Slideshare is a great web site that lets you upload and view
holes that will eat up the planet, or opening up gateways to alien your presentations from anywhere. What is really great is the
invasion, or bringing about an anti-matter cataclysm has died down, wealth of presentations already uploaded on the site. You can
mostly because the $6.4 billion project seems to be doing almost go through official presentations, browse featured presentations,
nothing. and even search for presentations. Slideshare is also a great
Now a bunch of scientists have unearthed a paper that claims way to embed and share slideshows on your blog, or social
to explain exactly why the Doomsday Machine is not working. The networking web sites. Slideshare business lets you upload
Collider was built to create and observe a certain “God Particle”, presentations for potential clients, and get leads.
something that aparently proves or disproves some theories of
physics that only physicists really care about. It won’t even solve the
energy crisis, or cure cancer, or for that matter, open gateways to alien
civilisations. What it does, however do, according to some physicists,
is create particles that nature dislikes so much, that there is a glitch in
the space time fabric. Now this glitch travels back in time, and creates
a parallel universe where the particles cannot be created in the first
place. This is something like nature having a restore point. You may
point out a dozen holes in this whole scenario, but how else can you
possibly explain so many scientists working so hard and just creat-
ing the world’s largest and coldest fridge? We just wish nature hated
humans as much as the Higgs-Boson.
tech art: MSPaint Art
For those who came in late
Muddled by so many terms used in the mag? Here’s your short
guide to the tech lingo
Heatsink: Any structure or device on a motherboard that dissi-
pates the heat produced by the processor.
Chipset: The kind of architechture, or the design of a processor.
Devices based on the same chipset are compatible with each
other.
Northbridge: The area on an Intel motherboard which is
reserved for the RAM and graphic card slots.
QWERTY: Short for a QWERTY slider, a form factor in phones
that incorporates a keyboard with individual keys for every letter
Image Credit: Grape Candy
for easier type input.
Heuristic: Heuristic scanning in Anti-Virus software is an
approach where different processes on a system are monitored
for their behavior. Based on past expirience, if the behavior is
suspicious, then the Anti-Virus software alerts of a possible infec-
Go to Start > Run and type mspaint, use the basic set of tools tion by malware.
to go wild, and it is an art form. There are videos posted on YouTube
that are too good to be true, and they are. These are worked back- Upscaling: Changing the resolution of a video. The process is
wards in Photoshop to look like they have been made on MSPaint. called upscaling even if the resolution is reduced, the “up” is an
However, there are some exemplary examples on the web that really indication of the intended display. Commonly used in screens.
stand out. There are some pretty advanced tricks you couldn’t have
guessed using the basic tool set. This is before the advanced version PSU: Power Supply Unit, the part of a computer that provides
of MSPaint in Windows 7 was around. Most MSPaint art is used the electricity to all the componants of the system.
for pixel art or sprite art, but a few really big, really great works are
around. Head over to http://www.neopets.com/~grape_candy for a API: An Application Programming Interface describes methods
really great tutorial. Also, bookmark www.paintmash.com for more in which third party coders can use the resources of a web app.
examples and an active MSPaint art community.
Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 125
Community We speak your language
Follow Agent 001 Think you have it in you as a coder?
For regular updates from Digit go Presenting Digit’s platform for developers.
to www.twitter.com/digitindia Log on to devworks.thinkdigit.com today
Let the shopping festivities begin !
Digit recently hosted a Festival Shopping Guide Webinar. Lots of Digit enthusiasts showed up to get invaluable street smarts for their festival
shopping. The Digit team had tested, reviewed, compared and haggled with vendors across the country to bring them the greatest festival
shopping guide. The highlight ? Agent 001 himself live with his sharp wit and insightful advice. Here’s an excerpt of the transcript. Read on,
maybe you can pickup some interesting buying tips!
Raaabo : Hi everyone, this is a CHAT ONLY meeting in order to Vineet : price?
protect Agent001's identity | Just type your question and don't Agent001 : 39K
forget to mention your budget, and Agent001 will respond in the Vineet : Wow that's huge
chat | Raaabo : Vineet for about 2.5K a month on EMIs with a down
Agent001 : Hey pop 'em questions my way :) payment of about 8K you can still get it.
Achuth : I need help in buying a game controller, but the problem in Vineet : Wow that's good news
my area is availability. Kiran : can any 1 tell me what will be de cost of a
Agent001 : My default suggestion would be a 1TB internal hard drive?
wired X360 controller. It's built well, affordable For more info on upcoming Agent001 : Rs. 6200~7100, depending on the
(1400 bucks), enough buttons for 90% of games. I webinars and to view videos of model.
use one on my PC for Prince Of Persia. previous ones head over to Raaabo : You want storage or speed?
www.thinkdigit.com/webinars
Vineet : Hi. Welcome all. Agent001 : Storage = WD Green Edition. Speed =
Agent001 : Hey Vineet, can I help you with WD Black Edition
anything? Buying decisions...except firecrackers ;) Agent001 : Seagate will be slightly cheaper, at
Raaabo : Everyone's too busy Diwali shopping I around 700~1000 bucks. But to my knowledge,
guess :) Seagate has reliability issues with their 1 TB drives;
Vineet : Ok I have a question. Whats the best video especially the 7200.12 series
cam I can afford? Raaabo : I would recommend the 1.5 TB Seagate, I
Raaabo : What's your budget? Around 30 to 35K? own one and no problems
Agent001 : The two main questions you need to ask Kiran : Wat should be minimum RAM capacity when
yourself are: HD or non HD? What choice of media? using a 1TB HDD?
Vineet : HD of course :) Agent001 : They are unrelated
Agent001 : If you want HD + HDD you will need to Raaabo : RAM and HDD have nothing to do with
pay at least 32K each other
Raaabo : I would recommend an HD camcorder, with hard drive Kiran : Ok. Also what will be cost of a 19inch TFT? Any brand would
storage do?
Agent001 : Unless there are special schemes where you can get it Raaabo : do NOT buy a 19-inch monitor, it's not worth it
for lower, tapes not worth it. They suffer from recurring costs, extra Kiran : Why?
service charges, higher maintenance costs and more hassles with Agent001 : Because a 22 inch is available at 1~2K more.
using and storing videos Kiran : Which brand?
Agent001 : HDD all the way! Agent001 : Viewsonic, Acer, Dell, Samsung, AOC -- take your pick.
Agent001 : Sony's XR100E is a good model. Agent001 : AOC is very cheap and they won in our LCD test.
126 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Digit Webinars
Community Get all the information you need by attending a Digit Latest tech news in your mailbox
webinar. This is your opportunity to hear from us — Subscribe to the Digit newsletter to get your daily dose
one on one. We also connect you periodically with of tech delivered to your inbox. To subscribe, log on to
industry stalwarts www.thinkdigit.com/newsletter.php
Forum Review: NFS Shift
nmenon
Right Off the Assembly Line
Join Date: Oct 2008•Location: Cochin•Posts: 37
I got my hands on NFS Shift original
version from my cousin.
Difficulty settings: Medium, TC, ABS,
Stability Control, Steering Assist on,
Auto Gearbox.
It seems to have borrowed
elements from 3 games - Race Driver:
GRID, Juiced: Hot Import Nights, and
Pro Street. It also is probably the first
NFS game to have the legendary
Nurburgring (Nordschleife 20.74km)
circuit, as far as I know its only Gran
Turismo that used to have it. The
damage model is similar to GRID but
on a lower scale with the extreme
damage being very rare. However
the effects on the driver are stunning.
Brushing the barriers gives blurred
vision, head on impacts elicit an
'Ooof' and a temporary blackout
and reaction on the radio. It also
has the return of the in cockpit view
where realistic head movements
are mimicked by the camera. Car
handling is mixed with the TC, ABS,
stability control preventing you from
countering a skid unless very careful,
strangely front wheel drive cars also
tend to have loose tails resulting in
slides which are nasty. The AI reacts
to your driving, barge someone off
the road and they will ram you back,
go through cleanly they'll show you
some respect. There are rivals to be
Digit’s foto freaks! Come join them...
Here are some of the photographs posted by forum members like Cool
G5. Visit the forum thread for more photos and discussions that followed
http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118227
challenged if you reach certain levels.
Driving style dictates the invitational
events available after driver level Buy a MapmyIndia device and get one year Digit
ups. Precise Clean driving results in
more Hot Lap races while Aggressive
driving results in more Eliminator races
subscription worth Rs. 2,000 absolutely free!
(Elimination of the last placed person
after a set timer expires). The Start of
a race look like the ones you see on
TV; Ladies with Boards (NFS icon on To avail this offer
them instead of numbers), mechanics
talking to the drivers etc, radio from
SMS DIGIT MMI to 567678
the pits providing last minute info
and instructions). The car collection is OR
pretty awesome with the possibility
of in depth tuning which is similar
Purchase online at www.thinkdigit.com/store
to the options in Colin McRae: DiRT.
Unfortunately, no Underground 2 style OR
of Dyno and ECU tuning. Send this coupon along with a cheque/DD payable
S
Personal Ratings to
Graphics : 4/5 (GRID is better)
Gameplay : 3.5/5 (Car handling on the
keyboard is temperamental, drifting is “NINE DOT NINE INTERACTIVE PVT. LTD”,
very difficult, else I'd give it 4 or 4.5) mentioning your name and shipping address
Audio : 4/5 (car sounds great, effects
such as the flexing of the armco
barriers making metal sheet like noise,
limited songs sadly)
Car Collection : 4.5/5 ADDRESS TO: DIGIT MAPMYINDIA OFFER, 9.9 INTERACTIVE PVT.LTD.,KPT HOUSE,PLOT 41/13, SECTOR 30, VASHI, NAVI MUMBAI 400703, INDIA TEL: +91-22-40789612 / 13 / 14
Overall: 4/5 *Product will be delivered to your shipping address directly by MapmyIndia. ** Prices include taxes and shipping fees.
128 Digit | November 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com