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·Mohit Saxena: The theme of his talk was "Starting your start-up from a
local player to a global giant". Educated from IIT Roorkee, he is the co-
founder and VP of InMobi Ltd., one of the giants in the mobile advertising
market. Initially he managed the technology operations at Virgin mobile.
He had also worked in AT&T. He emphasized on the notion of having an
idea and making it global. His talk basically comprised of his version of 6
commandments for building a successful global business. He very
beautifully ended his talk with "...success is never cheap; it inflicts pain and
requires patience and discipline; but at the end of story the situation is very
beautiful".
·Nehha Bhatnagar: Nehha Bhatnagar is a Bharatanatyam dancer and a
disciple of her Guruji, Padmashree Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan. She has a
degree in International Relations from the Knox College, USA. Her main
point of focus was equality between men and women. She presented her
thought through a mesmerising dance of "Ardhanareshwar": ardh-nari-
ishwar or half-women-lord or lord who is equally man as well as women.
Mathew Chandrakunnel: He is a Professor, Scientist, Theologist,
Journalist and much more- a complete dynamic personality with a
complete new field of interest of mixing science with religion. His talk was
on "The evolutionary nature of Humanity: From Quantum Holism to
Cosmic Holism".
·Harish Natrajan: The MD of Bausch and Lomb, he presented his talk on
the theme "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans".
According to him, it's human nature to love the feeling of control and make
elaborate plans for future but life is so full of uncertainty that one cannot
truly expect everything to happen according to one's plan.
·Jodie Underhill: She is the lady of action. Jodie is the co-founder of a
voluntary waste management organization "The Mountain Cleaners". A
simpleton among her fellow speakers, this lady is defined by her action and
the result of her firm determination to clean India. Her talk was on "It is our
land to clean: Make a difference by following your dreams" and she very
aptly gave the audience a live example of the success one can achieve by
sheer determination and hard work. She started her talk by uttering "India
is dirty..." and went on to elaborate how she works towards cleaning India.
Her earnest talk was so inspiring that she received a standing ovation.
·Anup Tapadia: Born in Pune, the guy was probably India's youngest
'Origamist' at the age of 4 and had designed more than 1000 models by the
age of 7. He bagged 2 masters degrees in Computer Science by the age of
21. Anup is an alumnus of University of California, San Diego. At the age of
14 he became the world's youngest professional to pass the Microsoft
Certifications (MCSD, MCSE, MCDBA). He is the founder of TouchMagix
Media Pvt. Ltd. His talk was on "Art and Innovation: Revolutionizing the
Science of touch". The central idea which he presented was how
technology can be fused with art. He gave numerous examples of how
technology can emotionally connect to a user. In his words "... just art is
passive and just technology is boring".
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1TEDx IIT Roorkee
CES 2013
PARAM Yuva-II
The Centre for Development of Advanced
Computing (C-DAC) unveiled its latest
computing innovation, the Param Yuva-II
supercomputer, at the C-DAC facility in Pune on
February 12th.
The capabilities of Param Yuva II surpass those
of its predecessors by a whole order of
magnitude (10 times faster). It can crunch data
up to 524 teraflops. A flop is a single arithmetic
operation performed on two floating point
numbers. For e.g. 2.3x4.5 being calculated in 1
second is 1 flops.
524 teraflops = 524 x 1000,000,000,000 = 524
trillion floating point operations per second
A huge number… but still far behind the world's
fastest, the U.S. Department of Energy's top
supercomputer- Titan, that works at 17.6
petaflops. In fact, the Param Yuva II ranks 62nd
amongst the world's supercomputers.
According to C-DAC, such processing power will
give a significant boost to the field of aircraft
designing, drug discovery and weather
forecasting owing to the NP hard nature of the
problems that arise in these areas. The
computational requirement for such problems
rises exponentially with just a slight increase in
the number of variables. Hence, the need for
massive number crunching.
The boost in processing power will be beneficial
to the entire bioinformatics industry to work and
formulate better vaccines and drugs to ward off
illness. The Param Yuva-II is also designed to be
energy efficient as it reduces the cost of energy
by a whopping 35 % as compared to the Param
Yuva.
The facility is a stepping stone for India's plans to
develop the fastest supercomputer by 2017, a
petaflop version of the Param Yuva II.
PARAM YUVA II: India's Fastest Supercomputer
TEDxSo on 9th February, 2013, our college graciously became the host of 6 of the
most riveting talks in its recent memory. The event was TEDx (x stands for
independently organized event) and no, as clearly pointed out by its curator Mr.
Nishant Chandra, it was not a 'nakli wala' TED talk.
For the uninitiated, TEDx is an independently organized TED (Technology,
Entertainment and Design) like event at the local level. The talks in the event are held on the
exact same lines as the main TED talks i.e. the speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to
present their ideas. As per the TED guidelines for the event, the event cannot host an audience of more than
100 people, a minimum of two official, pre-recorded TED Talks must be shown at events and all original stage
content must be recorded on video.
IIT Roorkee
Indian Ethnic Wear
RASHMI AKSHAY
KARISHMA
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onCampus Magazine Partner
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The Param YUVA II clocks in at a just-slower-than-light speed
of 524 teraops. Comparatively, its
predecessor the Param YUVA clocked in at a modest 54
teraops at peak speed.
Geek Gazette launching the rst in its
series of comic strips, Daisy Bell : Anecdotes
from IITR
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With the launch of Xperia Z, Sony has a new addition
to its premium segment. Xperia Z traverses a path
different from its predecessors, with a glossy design,
smoother finish and a larger and better screen. It's
effectively a forensic sheet for fingerprints and
smudges but has a sound form factor. At the same
time, Sony has been able to keep its profile relatively
thin. It's a mere 7.9mm thick, making it almost as
skinny as the iPhone 5.
The beautiful giant proudly presents a 5-inch 1080p
display powered by Sony's Mobile BRAVIA 2 engine,
which brings your content to life with its high contrast,
robust color reproduction, and sharp viewing angles. It
has a pixel density of 441ppi, far greater than the
iPhone 5's 326ppi. Once in hand, the beauty of the
phone does not fail to win your heart. Sony has made a
huge leap by incorporating an IP 57 certified water and
dust proof system.
The Xperia Z is not just a pretty body, it also has
blazing fast internals, sporting a 1.5GHz quad-core
Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 processor
coupled with 2GB of RAM. Graphics are powered by
an Adreno 320 GPU, so gaming and 1080p video
playback are no big deal. AnTuTu benchmarks the
phone at a respectable score of 16954 points, only
behind the Optimus G, Nexus 4, Note 2 and S3.
Flip the phone over to catch a look at the impressive
13-megapixel auto-focus camera that features an
Exmor RS sensor, LED flash, and 1080p video
recording. Additionally, i t supports 4G LTE
connectivity, a microSD card slot, 2330 mAh batteries,
and NFC. The phone also has a HDMI TV-out to easily
stream HD videos from your phone to your TV.
On paper, the Xperia Z seems to be a powerhouse
and one well-suited to be Sony's 2013 flagship phone.
The quad-core processor and generous RAM should
help it power through more than everyday tasks and
the high-resolution screen is certain to display crisp,
life-like images and videos. The real competition will
be the Samsung Galaxy S4, but its flashy new design
and clever pricing may prove a trump card for Sony.
The television industry has taken a big leap during the fall
of 2012. Our home entertainment experience is going
through a revolutionary change. 1080p is no longer the
gold standard. Televisions with Ultra High Definition
(UHD) i.e. 3840x2160 resolution are ready to take us to a
whole new world of television viewing experience. More
pixels mean higher detail, more clarity and sharpness to
the image quality. TV viewing will become more
immersive than ever before. Major brands like Sony,
Samsung, and LG etc. have announced their multiple
UHD products .It might be bugging you that without
content, what will be the benefit of UHD. But companies
like Sony and Nikon have announced their UHD
recording professional cameras that will become future
industry standard. Netflix has already demoed its
upcoming UHD streaming services.
These next generation TVs use OLED-Organic Light
Emitting Diode panels to offer viewers a cinema-like
experience. Unlike the current technologies like plasma,
LCD, or LED, the OLED can completely shut off the
emission on per pixel basis. Theoretically it provides
infinite contrast ratio. OLEDs have the thinnest form
factor as compared to any existing display technology.
TVs as thin as 4 mm could be expected in near future.
Moreover this display technology consumes less than
half the power as compared to the current available
technology and thus making it eco-friendly.
These televisions give a whole new definition to smart
TVs. They bring multi core processors to handle the
massive delivery of content to user. They are more
integrated with social networking than ever before. The
highlight of such televisions is the new multi-view
technology that enables more than one person to watch
different programs at the same time on the same
television set without compromising the screen real-
estate. A pair of vertical and horizontal polarizing shutter
glasses have made this possible. It has vast potential in
multiplayer gaming.
From the current trend the direction of the digital
entertainment industry is crystal clear. And this shift
proclaims the death of 3D technology. One will no longer
have to wear a clunky pair of polarizing glasses for an
immersive experience as new UHD technology ensures a
more realistic experience and is more future proof.
Major hurdles preventing it from shooting off are ultra-
high cost and limited availability of UHD content, but
OEMs are working hard for it to be available to the
masses, ushering a new era of television industry.
Valve's CEO Gabe Newell confirmed that the company
was working on a Steam Box in December last year.
Think of Valve's Steam Box as a handheld PC. Its early
prototypes might be squished into a small cuboid at the
moment, they might be more at home under your
television than your monitor, and - most shockingly - it
might not even be running Windows: but it is sure as hell
a computer. The Steam Box is designed to play games
over Steam; Valve's proprietary game downloads
service, boasting a huge library of
computer games.
Valve's first foray into the world of
hardware has been unveiled as a PC-type
box by high-end PC maker Xi3, a Steam
Box appropriately codenamed Piston
ready to go in a brushed chrome case.
It's a prototype system, which means we
shouldn't expect to see this particular model any time
soon, but the Piston project is intended to show off Steam
game play on large high-definition TVs, making use of
Steam's "Big Picture" mode, which was created
specifically for use with larger screens.
Newell and Valve have spent the last year decrying the
oncoming Windows 8 and its new Metro UI, while singing
the virtues of free, open-source operating systems. Such
is their approval that they've hired Linux developers to
port their own titles over for Linux-based OSs and have
confirmed that their own take on the Steam Box will use
the system in place of Windows. Not that you'll be forced
to use it, though: again, Newell's watchword is openness,
and he stated specifically that users can "install Windows
if they want." It could change PC gaming from a
Windows-centric model to something even more open
and disparate.
If your Steam Box can run games at
better resolutions, without restrictive
proprietary networks, and for a
c h e a p e r p r i c e t h a n a n e x t -
generation Xbox or PlayStation, then
the choice seems simple. By
divorcing it from the top of your desk
and simplifying the game delivery
mechanism through Steam, the Steam Box should also
go some way to removing the remaining stigmas from PC
gaming.
Don't expect the first Steam Boxes to arrive with the
fanfare of a new console launch. They're a new trend,
rather than a brand new machine, but they might turn
out to have more of an influence on gaming than
anything else over the next few years.
The only thing the awestruck crowd could reply, on being
asked by Paul Jacobs, the Qualcomm top-man, 'Are you
Born Mobile?' was an intensely ebullient 'Yes'. This
January, Qualcomm Enterprise bagged much awaited
attention in consumer electronics section by hosting
CES 2013 Keynote, which was previously the territory of
PC manufacturer like Microsoft. The firm, after producing
11 billion silicon chips, affecting almost every other
smartphone device on the planet, left no stones unturned
to let its presence be felt.
Living up to the challenge, Qualcomm's anticipation to
illustrate how its technologies affect at consumer level
through actors, proved out to be supercool. An OMG
jabbering popular girl, a gamer geek and a silicon
wannabe entrepreneur, believed to constitute
'Generation M' demoed that they are all born mobile. But
the biggest star for the audience was Steve Ballmer, the
Microsoft CEO, who ran out on the stage to show off
three Windows 8 products.
As Jacob mentioned in his talk, 84% of people worldwide
say they can't go a day without their mobile device. With
increase in consumers craving smartphone interface on
everything they have, the Android mobile operating
system is expanding beyond smartphones and tablets to
smart TVs, cameras and even Google's Project Glass
smart glasses. Qualcomm's chips have an even broader
reach, appearing in smart TVs, game consoles, home
automation devices and even cars. This arises from the
fact that everything in future will be connected to internet,
a concept called 'Internet of things', with cars, household
appliances and mobile devices communicating with
each other.
The chipmaker Qualcomm also took the opportunity to
unveil two new processors: Snapdragon 600 and 800.
Most people who will benefit from these faster, more
energy-efficient chips won't know their names. But for
the ones who will, this event was just as great as the
wand maker Ollivander unveiling magical wands with
Dragon Heartstring or Phoenix Feathers core. Well,
Geeks do have their own fantasies. And we find this
company geeky enough to seize its place in people's
heart.
The design is startlingly simple. A full
plastic body wraps around a 1.26-inch
screen - a black and-white "e-paper" panel
with a backlight built in, a vibrating motor, a
magnetometer, ambient light sensors and
a three-axis accelerometer. The face is
slightly curved outward and the buttons on
each side stick out just far enough to be
pressed with ease. It's waterproof and
scratch-resistant. It connects to an
Android or iOS device using Bluetooth 2.1
and also includes support for Bluetooth 4.0
(Bluetooth Low Energy). It quotes a battery
life of 5-7 days on a single charge. It has
apps pre-installed, including a cycling app
to measure speed, distance and pace
through GPS, and a golf rangefinder app
that supports more than 25,000 courses
along with the music controls and
changeable watch faces. More apps can
be downloaded from the phone, and a
Software Development Ki t is a lso
available.
This 'wearable tech' can be considered as
a notification bar that detaches from your
phone and sits on your wrist and alerts you
with a silent vibration. It can show
notifications for incoming calls, SMS
messages, calendar reminders, weather
alerts, emails, Gmail messages (multiple
accounts), Google Talk messages, Google
Voice messages, Twitter & Facebook
messages, and WhatsApp messages with
silent vibrating alarm and timer.
With a price tag of $150 it makes a great
companion for class, the movies, or any
situation where you would rather know
what the notification is before actually
pulling out your phone. With a few
limitations that it has support for only a few
apps at present with support being added
for Android apps , it's a simple, minimal yet
fashionable product that easily blends into
everyday life.
The 2013 International CES was held from January 8 to 11 at Las Vegas. Over 3,000 exhibitors showcased a wide range of innovative products this year. This year the categories include 3D, Accesories, Audio, Automotive Electronics, Embedded Technology, Lifestyle Electronics, Wireless & Wireless Devices to name a few. 2013 International CES however was not necessarily being noted for announcing the newest products, but getting a lot of press for the fundamental changes about to hit the digital world; such as motion detection sensors, the driverless cars and digital home safety and technology We at Geek Gazette present to you the highlights of this much acclaimed and awaited event with several big names revealing expected as well as products so unexpected that you would believe that the participating companies are switching their agship products. We cover amazing new gadgets by NVIDIA, Razer, Sony and Panasonic. Particularly special are the new offerings by Pebble, a smartwatch to act as a notication companion to your smartphone and the rst prototype for a Steam Box, very aptly named the Piston by high-end PC manufacturer Xi3.Last but not least, how could we fail to cover the unbelievable Born Mobile press conference by Qualcomm. Our established lexicon is not worthy of describing the event. Do watch the whole conference!
RAZER EDGE: QUALCOMM:
In our Autumn 2012 issue, we covered the prototype,
codename Project Fiona and now at CES 2013, Razer has
unveiled their almost finished product named the Razer
Edge, a true gaming tablet.
It packs an Intel 3rd gen ULV CPU and NVIDIA GT 640M
GP. For a tablet this is ridiculous amount of power (It's the
same GPU that Sony provides in its full blown laptops). The
Edge on its own is pretty chunky at 0.8 inch; but its soft
touch outer body allows easy handling. The Intel
processors provide good firepower for gaming and with
such a powerful GPU, a tablet cannot get any better.
Featuring a 1366x768, 10.1 inch IPS display, it boasts
sharp graphics and a large viewing angle. It sports the
Synaptics ClearPad, which provides accurate touch
response and more than 10 touch inputs simultaneously for
an error free gaming experience. With an onboard 40Wh
battery it provides over three hours of PC gaming on the go.
The Razer Edge is not just the raw power it houses as a
tablet, but also the dedicated collection of accessories that
complement it. Razer showcased a dock with dual Xbox
like controllers that also contains another 40Whr battery for
the tablet. The dock itself is very ergonomic and allows to
game on-the-go with two hands just like PSP but with built-
for-PC games. Among other accessories is a keyboard
dock with extended battery that also houses many other
connectivity ports.
The size of the tablet will make a few people reconsider,
and there is also the question of CPU throttling due to a
very compact design for such powerful internals. But, then
again the Razer Blade was revolutionary and engineers at
Razer are confident that they have created a next-gen
thermal design and have successfully delivered mighty
performance in a small form factor.
Tentative availability is scheduled for Q1 of this year with
different configurations available. We believe it will garner
a lot more interest upon its launch, and being avid gamers
ourselves we are dying to buy a few of these.
Born Mobile. That Really Happened.A r m i n g T h e G a m i n g R e v o l u t i o n
PROJECT SHIELD: Handheld Gaming Reinvented
XPERIA ZA Revolution In Your Hands
One of the hottest topics of CES 2013 was NVIDIA's
handheld gaming offering – Project Shield. The company
seemingly came out of left field with the device's
announcement during its Monday press conference.
Calling it 100% Android, the full-size controller plus 5 inch
multitouch screen houses the new Tegra 4 processor.
And mind you, Project Shield runs
Android Jelly Bean 4.2.
"Project Shield was created by NVIDIA
engineers who love to game and
imagined a new way to play" said Jen-
H s u n - H u a n g d u r i n g t h e p r e s s
conference. Surely, the company's
assertion was that Project Shield will do
to gaming what iPod and Kindle have
done for music and books. NVIDIA wants
to bring portable gaming to another level.
Its 20 plus hours of game time and 720p, 294 dpi retinal
screen make it a great handheld entertainment device.
Project Shield has access to the biggest launch line-up for
any handheld gaming system ever. You can't beat the
countless pc games, more than 18000 Steam games and
675000 plus Google Play games and apps. One of the
best parts of NVIDIA's Project Shield is the fact that its
launch games are familiar-it's everything that you can
already own on the PC, Steam, Google play, and
NVIDIA's own TegraZone Store. PC and Steam games
can be streamed to the device through Wi-Fi so long as
the PC running the games is packing an NVIDIA GeForce
GTX GPU.
Under Project Shield's game pad exterior lays a NVIDIA
Tegra 4 processor, which has a 72-core GeForce GPU.
It's also the first quad-core application of ARM's most
advanced CPU core – the Cortex A-15. All of this
translates into beautiful graphics
with maintained snappy movements
and lag free gameplay.
Essentially NVIDIA's doing what
Netflix and Onlive have done for
users-having all the major resources
handled in another location and
using Wi-Fi bandwidth to offload the
heavy duty processing. On disk
capacity, NVIDIA has confirmed that
there will be a microSD card slot for
expandable storage. Other ports include a microUSB port,
a headphone jack, and an HDMI port for easy video output
to a big screen. NVIDIA, working with Valve, ensured that
Project Shield would take advantage of Steam's Big
Picture mode.
The technology is awesome but the inability to stream all
the games and pricing may limit the appeal of NVIDIA's
portable PC. Unfortunately, PC and Steam games can
only be streamed via local Wi-Fi, as there needs to be a
PC running the games; this controller based handheld
device is just a receiver.
PEBBLE SMARTWATCH: It Even Tells The Time
The Pebble Smartwatch is not just a watch but a lot more– it's the latest attempt to turn your wrist into a launchpad for a wearable computing revolution. It's the rst watch built for the 21st century claiming its well-deserved position among one of the top 10 gadgets unveiled in CES 2013.
STEAM BOX: Valve's Take On Console Gaming
If your Steam Box can run games at better resolutions, without restrictive proprietary networks, and for a cheaper price than a next-generation Xbox or PlayStation, then the choice seems simple.
A New era of Digital entertainmentUHD TVs:
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