200902

FFOR OUR SECURITY special lastmonth, we decided to conduct a littlesocial experiment.We added in a littlebox on page 45 called “A forward youshould ignore”, which basically told youthat therewas away that you could getGmail passwords of other people.

There are several reasons why thisexperiment should have failed:1. The title of the box seemeddescriptive enough.2. The article it appeared in was about“social engineering”.3. The entire magazine was centeredaround “Security”.4. It was in Digit, and our readers aresupposed to be “tech gurus”.

As of last count, over 1,100 peoplehad happily parted with their ownpassword, to try and get into someoneelse’s account — with the numberincreasing onadaily basis, this is hard-ly a failed experiment.

So here I am, sittingwith over 1000passwords, and potential access to a lotof yourpersonal information.AlthoughI’mnotvoyeuristic (andamnotgoing toaccess your mail), all those of you whohave sent me your passwords, are cer-tainly quite the opposite.

Since I had to put your passwordsto some good use, I decided to do a lit-tle data mining...

The very first trend that emerged,was that most of the respondentsweremale, and looking for passwordsof females — so basically, a bunch ofvoyeurs, or stalkers.We even got a fewdozen women looking for passwordsof male friends, so apparently stalk-ing isn’t gender-specific. It’s also quiteapparent that no one really cares thathacking someone else’s emailaccount is illegal — fines, jail terms,that kind of illegal.

It’s not just about snooping either;I found that most of you use reallypoor passwords. Simple keyboard com-binations like “qwerty”, “123456” and“abcdefg” were common enough toupset me. What’s worse, a few people

were actually silly enough toput “pass-word” as their password!

Almost all of the passwords usedwereunder8characters long.Though itwas quite interesting to note that a fewof youwere smart enough touse strongpasswords — over 8 characters, withupper and lowercase letters, numbersand even punctuations — but dumbenough to fall for our little prank.

Themost ridiculous trendwas thatbetween10 and15per cent of youwereusing your mobile numbers as yourpasswords — so anyone who has evercalled you could potentially hack intoyour account. Also, some people usedtheir ownnames, or their postal codes.

A lot of guys out there seem touse girls’ names as their passwords,and of those, surprisingly, only about10 per cent were looking for pass-words for that same girl’s account.Interestingly, an equal amount werelooking for the password to a differ-ent girl’s account — you two-timers,you know who you are.

Although fewer in number, thegirls were more faithful, with most ofthe girlswhohad aboy’s nameas theirpassword, looking for that same boy’slogin details — perhaps suspicious ofthe two-timingguysmentioned above?

Celebrity names were quite com-monly used as passwords, with AamirKhan and John Abraham being themost popular. Religious terms werealso popular passwords, thoughbeing caught trying to hack anoth-er’s account is hardly ethical, letalone religious.

“Syncmaster” seems to be a pop-ular monitor model, with enough ofyou using it as a password to getnoticed. A few of you had “thinkdig-it” as your password, and we’re flat-tered. One password actually read“iamaloser”.

Quite a few of you got conned byour little ruse, and tried to regainaccess to accounts that you had for-gotten the passwords to, so we’ll be a

little less harsh on you, but youshould realise that what you didcould have lost you another account.

So what does all this tell me?Fromwhere I sit, a lot ofus Indians

seem to be inquisitive — bordering onvoyeuristic. Perhaps that’s why I knowof women on our Thinkdigit forumwhoprefer to pose asmen, just so theywon’t get harassed. In this particularcase, it doesn’t seem like the womenare any less voyeuristic though.

I suppose I should be thankfulthat less than 1 per cent of our read-ership has fallen prey to this so far,butwithmillions of hoaxmails reach-ing that same number on a regularbasis, even a few thousand victims iscause for concern. Get your act togeth-er people — re-read our last month’sissue if necessary, but secure yourselffrom your own gullibility.

Editorial

Robert Sovereign-Smith, Editor

Shame on you

“...no one really cares thathacking someone else’s

email account is illegal —fines, jail terms, that kind

of illegal.”

[email protected]

2 DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009

Y O U R T E C H N O L O G Y N A V I G A T O R

Printed and Published by Kanak Ghosh, for Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd. C/o KPT House, Plot41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Navi Mumbai 400703Editor: Sujay Nair, C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station),Navi Mumbai 400703Printed at Silverpoint Press Pvt. Ltd, Kohinoor Estate, 165, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel,Mumbai 400 013

To advertise

SouthSanjay BhanE-mail: [email protected]: +91 9341829285Phone: (080) 25546370-73Fax: 41518330Phone: (044) 28235186/88Fax: 28230731Phone: (040) 27894167/ 55221051Fax: 27720205

WestArvind AmboE-mail: [email protected]: +91 9819904050Phone: (022) 40373636/40373626/24494572/24467130/1Fax: 24482059/24481123

EastJayanta BhattacharyyaE-mail:[email protected]: +91 9331829284(033) 22317344/46

NorthPranav SaranE-mail: [email protected]: +91 09312685289,(011) 41608655/56/57/58

InternationalNavin Chand SinghE-mail: [email protected]: +91 99013 00772

Bazaar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

BenQ E900HD

Canon Selphy CP 760

Divoom XFORCE-1

Epson Stylus TX101

Intex IT-5400FM

LG KP500

McAcfee Internet Security 2009

Mitashi TFD-7608

Mr Site Takeaway Website

MSI PR201

Palit HD 4870 Sonic 1GB

Samsung T220

WD My Passport Elite 500GB

XFX 750a SLi

XFX 9800GT

Zotac GeForce GTX285 AMP! Edition

Entry-level Cell Phones . . . .51

LG KM380T

LG KP199

LG KP220

LG RD 3500

LG RD 3510

LG RD 3600

LG RD 3610

LG RD 6100

LG RD 6600

Nokia 2626

Samsung E1410

Samsung L700

Samsung M200

Samsung SCH F309

Sony Ericsson W350

Sony Ericsson Z555

Netbook Comparison Test . .46

Acer Aspire One

ASUS Eee PC 904HA

ASUS Eee PC 1000H

BenQ Joybook Lite U101

Lenovo IdeaPad S10

LG X110

MSI Wind U100

February 2009 • Volume 9 • Issue 2

Advertisers’ indexClient Page No

Corona 49

Creative Inside Front Cover

Dell 3

Elent 115

eSys 19

Fortune 117

iBall 11, 57

Microsoft 15

Microworld 63

MSI Inside Back Cover

MTNL 103

Ricoh Back Cover

Rx Tech 113

SBI 17

Top Gun 45

Vodafone 6, 7

Tell us what you feel about DigitEach month, Digit walks through the technology maze tobring you the most relevant, and the most researchedstories. If you have an opinion about anything publishedin Digit, or about technology in general, please write [email protected]

Product testingWant your product reviewed by Digit?Contact our Test Center [email protected]

Software on DVD/CDTo submit and suggest software forinclusion in the Digit DVD or CD, write [email protected]

Help!For subscription or copy-related issues,send an e-mail to [email protected]

Endorsements / reprintsInterested in ordering article reprints,or using our logos? [email protected]

Business enquiriesFor any business-related enquiries, [email protected]

News and new product launchesTo announce new product launches, and press releases,email us at [email protected]

Disclaimer: For every Digit contest, there will be only one winner, unlessspecified otherwise. In the event of a dispute, the Editor’s decision shall be final.

Products reviewed this month

Managing DirectorDr Pramath Raj Sinha

Printer and PublisherKanak Ghosh

Publishing DirectorAsheesh Gupta

EditorialEditor-in-ChiefEdward Henning

EditorRobert Sovereign-Smith

WriterAditya Madanapalle

Test CentreManager - Test Development andSourcing Michael BrowneManager - Testing and ProcessesRossi FernandesReviewer Kumar JhuremalaniProduct Co-ordinatorsKP Nambiar

DesignCreative Head Kabir MalkaniArt Director Rohit A ChandwaskarSenior DesignersMV Sajeev,U RavindranadhanDesigner Soumya MohantyIllustrators Shrikrishna Patkar,Ashwini BaviskarSr. Photographer Jiten Gandhi

MultimediaProject Head Robert Sovereign-SmithContent Co-ordinationAditya Madanapalle

Sales and MarketingVP Sales and MarketingNaveen Chand SinghProduct Manager Navneet MiglaniAssistant Brand Manager Arpita GanguliNational Marketing ManagerVikram DuggalMarketing CommunicationThomas VargheseCo-ordinator, Scheduling,MIS and Ad-sales Aatish Mohite

Production and LogisticsSenior GM - OperationsShivshankar HiremathProduction Executive Vilas MhatreLogisticsM P Singh, Mohd. Ansari,Shashi Shekhar Singh

Circulation and Subscription — SalesGM Circulation Milind PrabhughateCo-ordinator Pramod PatilCustomer Service Prerana Panchal,Vrushali Londhe

Customer Service:022-40789612/13/14

Head Office: Editorial, Marketingand Customer ServiceNine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. LtdC/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30,Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station),Navi Mumbai 400703Phone: 40789666Fax: 022-40789540, 022-40789640

Cover Design Andre Rodrigues

DIGITAL LEISURE

91Lead FeatureAlternate reality gamingEver wonder what it would be like to be a part of an adven-ture like Indiana Jones or a story right out of a Ludlumthriller? What if you could really be a part of somethinglike that —really a part of it?

100FeatureGame developers in India

104Game OnMirror’s Edge

Security Watch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Digital World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Stat Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Buzzword Of The Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

W5H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Tips & Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Tech Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Whatever Happened To. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

People Who Changed Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Bluff Your Way Through . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Wild Wild Web. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Blogwatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Digit Diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Inbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

The Last Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

5www.thinkdigit.com FEBRUARY 2009DIGIT4 DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009 www.thinkdigit.com

21Main StoryCleaning up the VistaA first-hand experience with Windows 7 Beta

27InsightThe return of the kingIntel’s i7 is the new kid in town. Sure it’s fast; but it has itsroots in the past. We tell you how and why…

32Drool MaalThe good stuff. Stuff to lust after. Stuff for the well-mon-eyed

34Main StoryChandrayaanIndia is only the fourth country to have its flag on the lunarsurface!

36Main Story3G and WiMAXHigh speed mobile connectivity is coming to India

DIGITAL TOOLS43FeatureCustomer satisfaction

46TestNetbooksWe check out THE latest, cheapest and lightest netbooks inIndia.

51TestThinking smallCellphones aren’t all about touch screens, five megapixelcameras, and a burning hole in your pocket. We showcase16 affordable marvels

83Agent 001Peripheral visionAgent 001 goes shopping for gaming peripherals

DIGITAL PASSION

February 2009

Enter12Sony Vaio P Series

13Dell XPS 16

13Mobinnova Ice Phone

14Casio Exilim EX-FS10

16Neutrano’s wrist phone

16Samsung P3

18Stat Attack

18Buzzword: VoFi

20W5H: Web 3.0

Escape

110Smellists rejoice

110Scientologists against HIV+ pro-

testers

111Australian tourism will pay youto relax

111China almost bans the web

112Chastity belts for the 21st century

114One really killer i-Phone app

Regulars

94Lead FeatureMost anticipated games of 2009

106Game OnStreet Fighter IV

108Game OnMortal Kombat vs DC Universe

85FeatureHigh in the meltdownThere’s a lot you can do to reduce your operating costs inthese days of economic turmoil — from optimally usingyour air conditioners to using your printers efficiently

88Smart SOHOSecond-hand PCs, a first-hand reportToday’s PCs may be more powerful than ever before, but whatabout affordability? Second-hand PCs offer the perfect budget solu-tion for your small office

CONTENTS

COVER FEATURE

DIGITAL BUSINESS

9www.thinkdigit.com DIGIT FEBRUARY 20098 DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009 For any queries regarding the CD or DVD, e-mail [email protected] with “CD/DVD” as the subject.If the subject is not mentioned, your mail might not reach the right person.

DVD Contents

MULTIMEDIACamstudio 2.5

This software is able to record allscreen and audio activity and createindustry-standard AVI video files andSWF files

ID3 Renamer 3.0

Do you have loads of MP3 files in adirectory and need to write a singlecommon piece of information intothem ? Do you need to clean someportion of the ID3 tag? Do you needto remove the diacritics? ID3Renamer can help.

� AfreecodecVT 2.0.88� AIMP Classic 2.50 Build 320� Any Video Converter 2.6.7� Audioblast� ATI Multimedia Center 9.16� AviDemux 2.4.3 r4532 Beta� Camtasia Studio 6.0.1 Build 782� DarkWave Studio 2.4� Dizzler Beta� DownUtube� DVD Flick 1.3.0.4� Evan's AVI Screen Capture 0.2.0.0� FAVC 1.07� GB-PVR 1.3.7� Gom Player 2.1.14.4525� HandBrake 0.9.3� ID3 Renamer 3.0� iTunes 8.0.2.20� KMPlayer 2.9.4.1434 Beta� Media Graveyard 11.0� MediaPortal 1.0� MP3 Repair Tool 1.5� MPEG Streamclip 1.2 Beta 2� MPlayer for Windows (Full Package)

2008-12-11 Build 44� Picasa for Windows� QuickCam 1.0� Real Alternative 1.9.0� Soundbase 2008.12.18� Stoik Video Converter� taksi 0.7.5.7 beta� TVersity Media Server� Virtual VCR 2.6.9� VirtualDub� YamiPod 1.7

INTERNETPoderosa 4.1.0Poderosa is a tabbed terminalemulator for Windows.

� SeaMonkey 1.1.14� 2hotspot 1.4.0.7 Beta 4� 3d Traceroute 2.4.39.2� AllegroSurf 8.1.0.6� BVRP Connection Manager Lite 1.0� Dial-Up Optimiser 1.0� FastNet99 4.3� FeedFusion 0.92� FreeProxy 3.92� HappyFish 1.5.0.2� Hitware Popup Killer Lite� Hotspot Shield 1.06� JDVoiceMail� KidRocket� LockJar� NetAnts 1.25� Netlimiter 2.0.10 Pro� Poderosa 4.1.0� Rss Bandit 1.8.0.870� Skype for Windows� Star Downloader 1.45� SySpeed 2.1.01� Transmute� WebRipper� WiFi SiStr 1.0.2678.17860� WinHTTrack

SYSTEM� Access Manager 2.1.58� Cobian Backup 9.5.0.201� DirSyncPro 1.0� EraseTemp� Filemon� FileZilla v3 for Windows� FreeFileSync 1.13� lastpass 1.43 RC2� Password Generator Pro 2008 1.4.02� Process Explorer� Universal Extractor� VirtualBox 2.1.0� Windows XP Pro Startup Disk

ESSENTIALS� .net Framework 2.0� .net Framework 3.5� µTorrent 1.8.1� Avast Home Edition 4.8� Comodo Internet Security Pro

3.5.55810.432� Foxit Reader 3.0� Free Download Manager 2.5

build 758� Irfan View 4.20� Java(TM) 2 Runtime� K-Lite Mega Codec Pack FULL 4.2.5� Opera 9.6� Silverlight� Spybot Search and Destroy 1.6.0� VLC Player 0.9.4� WinRAR 3.80

UPDATES AND ADD-ONS� Adobe Shockwave� Avast Update� AVG Update� Java runtime update� Kaspersky definition Update� Norton Internet security update� Spybot updates

ToolsPROGRAMMINGVisual Studio ExpressEdition with SP1

The Visual Studio 2008 ExpressEditions DVD will let you install thefollowing products: Visual Basic 2008Express Edition, Visual Web Developer2008 Express Edition, Visual C# 2008Express Edition, Visual C++ 2008Express Edition, Popfly, SQL Server2005 Express Edition, SQL ServerExpress, SQL Server Compact Edition.

� DEV-C++ 4.9.9.2� MPSKWIN(IQ) 1.2� Plotter 2.5.1� Snippet Compiler 3.0.2

OFFICEDooble

Dooble is a Secure and Open SourceWeb Browser that provides solid per-formance, stability, and cross-platformfunctionality

� BillQuick Lite 2008� Jarte 3.3� Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003� SmartDraw 2009� Static Thunderbird Backup Free 2.8d� EScan 10

CELLPHONENokia PC Suite 7.1.18.0Final

Free applications for Nokia phones thatlets you edit, synchronize and back upmany of your phone's files

� Nokia Synchronization 1.0.29� Samsung PC Studio 3.2.1 GL6� Sony Ericsson PC Suite 4.006

Productivity

GamingGAMESBMW M3 Challenge

Start the ignition to see just what theV8 high-rev engine is capable of. Shiftup through the gears to propel theBMW M3 Coupé forwards as itconstantly pushes the boundaries ofdriving pleasure even further. Brake

as you approach the first bend butkeep your steering tight, you don'twant to lose your advantage.

� Frets on Fire� Gunbound� HURRICAN

TRAILERSKillzone 2They said the morale of the Helghastwas at an all-time low, they weredead wrong.

� Scorched 3D� The Babylon Project 3.4b (Final)� Tyrian 2000� Ur-Quan Masters

OFFICEMolliAdress

MolliAdress ist a professionaldatabase program, to work withadresses. The adressprogram iswritten in Delphi, lazarus for linux.

� Bank Tao bank statement managementtool 1.1

� Bean Sheet 1.0.5

� CleanSheets� eOfficeWare� Icalc 0.1.2� Matrex 1.3� OBPM� pdf2oo� pyspread 0.0.10a� Retromessenger-V0.2� webxelleditor - v0.1.5� XSheet� ZK Spreadsheet 1.0.0-RC1

CREATE� Asymptote 1.56� DiscWrapper 1.1.0� GTK+ collage 0.3� GTKRawGallery 0.9.3� LaTeXDraw 2.0.2� Tint Photo Editor 1.0.1

DISTROS� Open Suse 11.1� Linux Mint 6

February 2009

Contents InteractiveContents Interactive

EntertainmentHD TRAILERSChe

November 26, 1956; led by FidelCastro (Demian Bichir), a band of 80rebels sails to Cuba. Among theseyoung rebels is Argentine physician,Marxist, soldier, Ernesto “Che”Guevara (Benicio Del Toro).

� Coraline

Fighting

A small-town boy with a naturaltalent for street fighting becomes astar brawler on the bare-knucklecircuit, but soon realizes the darkworld he's entered may be impossibleto escape.

� Friday the 13th� Night at the Museum: Battle of the

Smithsonian� The Curious Case of Benjamin Button� The Last House On the Left� Valkyrie� X-Men Origins: Wolverine

MOVIESDeath Rides a Horse

As a child, Bill witnesses the murderof his family by four robbers. Fifteenyears later, he embarks on hisrevenge...

� Jack and the Beanstalk� Zeitgeist: Addendum

MUSICGaldson – Roots

Classical piano instrumental freeMusic Album from Jamendo

NIN – The SlipNin Inch Nail's latest DRM free album,the Slip.

� Do-Up – Acoustic Lounge� Equals Conquest – Manifest Destiny� Esgi – Echoes in Time� JT Bruce – The Dreamer's Paradox� Lull – Duo Acoustique

By DemandMULTIMEDIADAEMON Tools 4.12.4

DAEMON Tools is an advancedapplication for Microsoft Windowswhich provides THE best opticalmedia emulation in the industry.

� Catalencoder 1.1 (French Only) / 0.7.9� Floola for Windows 3.2� Foxit PDF Reader 3.0 Build 1301� Gizmo Project for Windows 4.0.3.383� JetPhoto Studio 4.1.0� K-MeleonCCF ME 0.09 Final

MAME 0.126

MAME stands for Multiple ArcadeMachine Emulator. When used inconjunction with images of theoriginal arcade game's ROM anddisk data, MAME attempts toreproduce that game as faithfully aspossible on a more modern general-purpose computer. MAME cancurrently emulate several thousanddifferent classic arcade video gamesfrom the late 1970s through themodern era.

� Visions 1.0.1.1613� Windows Live Photo Gallery 2009

Build 14.0.8051.1204� XNView� Zune Software� Beauty Pilot 1.10� Maya� Xilisoft Video Cutter 1.0.27.0307

DRIVERS� Ati Graphics Card Drivers� Creative Sound Card Drivers� Nvidia Graphics Card Drivers� Realtek Sound Card Drivers� Driver Detective

DISTROS� Fedora 10� Vector Linux 6.0

Linux

taste technology at www.thinkdigit.com

10 DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009 www.thinkdigit.com

Online

FEATURED REVIEW FROM THE DIGIT FORUM ((wwwwww..tthhiinnkkddiiggiitt..ccoomm//ffoorruumm))

Learn one at a time. As forsoftware, ALL distros havesame set of software available.

I suggest keeping ubuntufor some time longer and thengetting fedora next year after afew months.

Keeping two distros onsame PC at a time would alsokill your internet connection.Lots to download if you wantto keep both updated.

Linux Mint is best said asUbuntu for the casual user.Don't consider it now that youinstalled Ubuntu. Its pointlessnow to install it. You wouldlearn much faster with

ubuntu.And OpenBSD is not linux.

Its a BSD. Definitely notrecommended at this stage.You have a long way to gobefore you can find OpenBSDcomfortable to use. First learnLinux.

Most collages are nowteaching Linux instead of Unixand most Unix commandswork on Linux. However, if youare one of the unlucky fewwho need to learn using Unix,the only 100% Unix compatibleOS which is free to use is SunMicrosystems' Solaris OS. Itsnot too hard to use BTW.

One of the basic thingseveryone needs to learn is howto compile your own kernel. Itsactually much much easierthan it sounds. You basicallyneed to scroll betweenhundreds of options andchoose add, discard ormodulize. I recommendmodulizing whenever possibleand if some feature isSERIOUSLY USELESS thendiscard it. You get to optimisethe kernel for several things,like support for upto 16GBRAM on 32bit OS, no. of cores,etc. Then compile using aready-made script.

Quite a simple job, butirritates the hell out of youand needs HUGE amount ofPATIENCE to read all thosedescriptions.

Luckily, you get to do theconfiguring in parts, and for aguy who lacks patience, it maytake a whole week of 1 hourlong sittings. But if you are areal gandhi, you can do it in asingle sitting. Experts don'tneed to READ the descriptionsso it takes them only a fewminutes.

Before that, you need toset your cflags right.

MetalheadGautham

Genuine LinuxUser[apple.jpg] Join Date: Sep2007Location:Gotham CityPosts: 5,371

Re: which distro is well suited for study purpose? I mean for learning a Linux system.

A quick and easy registrationprocess that gives you accessto all the goodness on offer

Download only thebest software onthe Net

Read the best tech blogsand submit and shareyour own blog withothers

Find the bestproduct reviewsonline, from theDigit Test Centre

Interesting andexciting videosfrom across theglobe

Buy and sell tech products topeople from all over India atour Digital Marketplace

India’s largest andmost influentialtech community canbe found on ourforum

Buy older issuesof yourfavouritetechnologymagazine online

Experts at the TechQ&A sectionanswers all thoseniggling problems

YOUR T E C HNO LO GY N AV I G ATO R

13www.thinkdigit.com DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009

Enter

‘person’ than a service.Currently the Pre is notavailable in GSM version butPalm is expected toannounce a GSM/UMTSmodel for Europe and Asiain mid-February. We’recertainly eagerly awaiting it.

THE CLONE

MSI X320

Why this particularnotebook? Becauseit’s the MacBook

Air’s twin. And a not sopricey twin at that. Whilethe Macbook air will set youback by $1600 this ultrathin notebook’s price rangeis from $800-$1,000. Still,there is more to this utra-thin notebook than just theprice. It’s not a cheapknockoff. The X320, like theAir, has an all-aluminiumbody. It weighs, in-fact, alittle less than the Air; itsLED screen is not differentfrom the Mac Air, with ascreen resolution of1,366x768 and a 16:9 formfactor. Where it differs is inthe keyboard and touchpad. The keyboard does notfollow the isolated style ofthe Air and of course thereare no gesture capabilitieson the touch-pad such aspinching and three fingerswiping etc. Yet, some of theX320’s features can actuallymake the Air squirm. Forinstance a total of threeUSB ports. VGA and

Ethernet ports are built in,and so are the SD slot andwebcam. The hard drive is160 GB but expandable to250 GB. There’s no internal3G wireless, but Bluetoothand Wi-Fi are present. MSIclaims the four cell batterywill give you 10 hours ofbattery life, which will haveto be put to test. But factremains this is the closestthing to a Mac without itreally being a Mac.

THE STUDIO NOTEBOOK

DELL XPS 16

Dell has positionedthis notebook as avery high end

lifestyle product, for thediscerning consumer whowants style, power and alittle bit of prestige thatcomes along with owning apc like this. Manymanufacturers are currentlyoffering near desktopconfigs in portable laptops,be it 4gigs of RAM, home-theater features, and bigscreens. But dell has uppedthe ante with its stunningdesign and inbuilttechnology, while of coursekeeping up with all otherspecs. Take the screen forinstance; a 16 inch RGB LEDwidescreen with a 1080presolution — perhaps agraphics professionalsdream. Its bundled with ablue ray reader and an HDMIport. The XPS 16 doesn’t

come cheap; you’ll have toshell out Rs. 90kto own this badboy. Good bangfor the buck.

THERE WERE OTHER PHONESTOO YOU KNOW

MobinnovaIce Phone

Though most of theaction was going on atthe Palm Pre booth,

another interesting handsetfound on the show floorwas the Mobinnova Ice. Itlooks quite funky with acomplete black body withno visible buttons when it’soff. So in effect it looks likea big black shiny box untilyou start operating it.Everything on the front istouch-sensitive and onlylights up as needed. Its gota 3 inch 240x400 touchscreen, and the controlbuttons next to the mainscreen. The phone gives avibration feedback whenyou touch buttons, so youknow what you’ve touched.It runs Windows Mobile 6.1Professional on a 528 MHzQualcomm 7201A processorand has your standard 3G,GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 3-megapixel camera, TV out,an FM radio and anaccelerometer.

THE TABLET NETBOOK

ASUS EEET101H andEEE T91

ASUS, who probablystarted the wholeNetbook craze with

its EEE PC, is nowhere closeto being overrun bycompetitors in the fray. Toprove this point itintroduced its newest

Security Watch

Downadup wormwrecking havoc

A worm by the name ofWin32.Worm.Downadup.B.is fast spreading across thenet. Within four days, itinfected four times thenumbers of computers itwas on. The rapid spread isbecause the worm skirtsaround AV software byusing rarely-used APIs inthe system. The worm hidesin a folder in the recyclebin, and updates itself bychecking upto 250randomly generateddomain names, which havecomponants.The safest way to preventthe spread of this particularworm is to not switch USBdrives between computers.If your USB drive has amysterious recycle binfolder, there is a goodchance that you have thisworm. Keep your work USBdrives seperate from theones for personal use toprevent either yourworkplace or your homecomputer from beinginfected.Microsoft has released apatch, but the fix itself wasfaulty.The worm affects XP,Windows 2000 andWindows Server 2003.There are no workaroundsas yet. The worm isspreading by exploitingmultiple systemicweaknesses, including weakpasswords. The wormrestricts some traffic (likesystem updates), but isotherwise not involved inany malicious activity. Themain threat at this point oftime is the worm allowingcomputers to be used by abotnet. These can be usedto send spam for example.Downadup is also known asConficker and Kido.

world print advertising � Qualcomm buys mobile technology from AMD, $65 million gets exchanged — in cash


ULTRA PORTABLE NETBOOK

Sony Vaio P

It’s not a Netbook — anddon’t you forget it. Sonycalls their nifty little

device a Pocket Style PC. It’san ultra thin, 594 gramsfully functional PC. It wasone of the hottest itemnumbers in Vegas and wegot our hand on one whenwe were invited for its India

Launch. The India producthead for Vaio pulled afamiliar stunt by pullingout the device from hisjacket pocket. But believe usthis is no stunt — it cancomfortably slip into a coatpocket. The device is assmall as a PC can getwithout compromising onusability. Its got a 8-inchultra wide screen with astunning 1600 x 768 display,and 2 gigs RAM which ismore than enough to allowthe preinstalled Vista OS tonot choke. Initially becauseof its small size we weresceptical about whether one

can really use the keyboardcomfortably. But Sony hasengaged in some good re-engineering there; they’vegot rid of the touch pad andput in a ThinkPad style ‘dot’to operate the cursor. Theadditional space created isengulfed by the keyboard,making it 92 per cent of afull size notebook keyboard.Numbers aside, it’s veryeasy to use with both hands(unless of course you’ve got

sumo fingers) and thetactile feedback is good.

Why is the Netbook tagblasphemy? Sony says this isbecause theirs is a fullyfunctional PC with nocompromises like otherNetbooks. We say it’sbecause of the price. Thetwo variants to be availablein India will be pricedaround Rs. 49,990 andRs. 64,990. The difference inboth models is in theprocessor and the Version ofVista. The higher variant(P15) is based on the AtomZ530 1.6 GHz processor,while the lower P13 has a

Z520 1.33 GHz processor.The P has a lot of little

features added to make iteven more easy to use thanit already is. If boot time isa concern it launched into aLinux based Cross MediaBar within 20 seconds,which lets you accessmostly everything you wantincluding internet access,email, music, and photos.Then there is the Windowarrangement utility buttonwhich quickly arranges allopen windows side by side.Plus the wide screenactually lets youcomfortably work on bothwindows. So no more alt-tabbing. Sony has alsothrown in noise cancellingin-earphones andapparently the noisecancelling circuitry is in theNetbook... err... notebookitself. With a supposedbattery life of 3 hours it’ssomething that a lot ofpeople ought to be lookingforward to in 2009.

IPHONE KILLER?

Palm Pre

Perhaps the first realiPhone killer, the PalmPre is being talked

about as the hottest productof CES 2009. Its small, light,has an intuitive touchscreen, but best of all its gota neatly tucked in slidingfull qwerty keyboard! Thelack of a keyboard is themost common complaint of

iPhone critics. The phonecomes with a 3.1 inchmultitouch display with aresolution of 320 x 480. Itruns on Palm’s new webOS,which from a usabilitystandpoint appears to betop-notch. Its not at allsluggish and seamlesslyfloats from one ap (or ‘card’as they call it) to another.Still it remains somewhat ofa mystery as reportedly thepalm representatives werequite cagey about handingover the phone to people fortoo long. Understandable,since the phone is Palm’sticket for a big comeback,after their sales plummeteddrastically over the years.Overall the phone lookspretty good and the slightbend the keyboard offerswill definitely help in itsbasic function — talking.Another area where it scoresover the iPhone is thecamera. Its got a 3megapixel camera with LEDflash. The touch screen hasits own motion--specificcommands. For instance toclose an application justflick it upwards. Whatabout independent aps? Asof now there aren’t any butthe webOS allowsdevelopment in Javascript,HTML and CSS. Other tid-bits include incredible webintegration with servicessuch as Facebook andMicrosoft exchange. Itfollows a unique form ofcollecting info like mail,messages, chats, around a

Enter

� Goolge replaced as best company to work for by NetApp in Fortune’s list � Mac turns 25 � Google discontinues its project on real

Like always, the Consumer Electronics Show this year had awhole plethora of products; some were impressive and somewere absolutely jaw-dropping. Well some were weird but we’ll

get to them later. The two noticeable trends were ‘small isbeautiful’ and ‘low-cost’; the latter being quite in line with thegeneral economic climate. The flashy larger-than-life stuff was

there but a fair bit of emphasis was on consumer models thanprototypes. We saw the lines between Netbook, Notebook andUltra-portable blurring and hi-end camera’s becomingunimaginably small. Now that the dust has settled its time for us tosieve through the chaff and give you a round up of things thatcaught out attention.


Enter

convertible tablet PCs, theASUS EEE T91 and the EEET101H. Both essentially justversions of each other, onecomes with 8.9-inch andwhile the other with a 10-inch screen respectively.Both have a hinge swivel toturn the display around andlay it back on top of thekeyboard. They run a Linux-based OS, but will probablyhave enough juice to handleXP. Not much about thedevice is known but it isspeculated thatspecifications will besomewhere close to being inthe Netbook range.

TINY CAMERA

Casio ExilimEX-FS10

Apint sized butpowerful 9 meagpixelcamera with the

ability to shoot up to 30fpsin burst mode, a speedfaster than a typical SLR.The camera is even capableof high speed video

recording with the abilityto shoot up to 1,000fps slowmotion video. A perfectexample of gadgets goingsmaller withoutcompromising on anything.The Exilim is equipped with21 Best Shot (BS) modes,including Multi-MotionImage and High-Speed BestSelection. There’s also a Pre-Record function, YouTubeCapture mode and LagCorrection, which comes tothe aid of those who areslow to hit the shutterbutton. Speaking of theshutter, the camera isextremely silent. Its got aslow motion viewing modeso you can capture thescreen shot of exactly the

fame you want whileviewing it on its 2.5 inchLCD. Its got additionalfeatures like 3x opticalzoom, 720P HD videorecording, Face Detectionand High-Speed Night Scenemode but strangely lacksimage stabilisation.

EASY TO USE

Asus Eee Top

Its Asus again and theirEEE line up seems to begetting increasingly

meatier and not tomention more interesting.This latest device is a 15inch touchscreen desktoppc. It has a special

Windows simplifiedinterface that allows foreasy touch operation andbig icons for the err simpleuser. It also has ExpressGate, which is an instantboot utility. It allows the1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GBhard drive machine toinstantly boot up showingonly Firefox, Adobe Flash,Skype, and a photo viewerso the user has instantaccess to almost all basicfunctions. The best part is— its slated to retail at only$400. Good to have aroundthe house don’t u think?

FOR USE IN BED

The ChoiixUcoolnotebookpad

There’s no place for alaptop in between thesheets right? But

people use their notebooksjust about everywhere,

A Round-up Of Technology News From Across The GlobeThe Digital World

USNew York citygives Touris-tshigh techinformationcenter based onGoogle Maps

GERMANYSupercomputers fromGermany becomeenvironmentallysustainable

AUSTRALIALinus Trovalds shavesBdale Garbee’s beardto raise money forpreservation of theTasmanian Devil

JAPANTmusk unveilsRobocop stylesecurity robotcontrolled by mobilephoneINDIA

Ghajini inspired 3Dvideo game, dubiouslydubbed indias first,hits the markets

SPAINSpain’s Pradomuseum displaysits art throughGoogle Earth

MIDDLE EASTCellphones arebeing used forpropoganda inGaza and Israel

� Dell XPS laptops to ship with 356 GB solid state drives � Video Games in the US to have health advisories, similar to cigarette packs

CHINAThe online population ofChina reaches 3 million


Enter

including the bedroom. Sooften you’d be sitting inbed with your laptop on apillow or precariouslybalancing it on you lap inweird kamasutra-like poses,wondering there must be abetter way. Well there is.The Choiix Ucool notebookpad is designed specificallyfor this purpose. Availablein your choice of blue,black, or green, it is anergonomically designedpad for when you want touse your laptop in bed oron the couch. The curvydesign allows for adequateairflow beneath yournotebook and, at the sametime, the Ucool is stiffenough to providesufficient support.

THE WEIRD STUFF

Neutrano’sWrist phone

Every tech showapparently must havea wristwatch phone.

Like some sort of a JamesBond fantasy that must befulfilled. This is the kind ofgadget we were referring towhen we said you will findproducts at CES that’ll makeyou wonder if they really areuseful. Nevertheless they arehi-tech. This piece of spyinspired equipment lookslike a standard chunky blackwatch but has a 1.4-inch,160x128 TFT LCDtouchscreen. A standardphone keypad curveshalfway over the wrist bandwhile there is a speaker overthe screen. It has a mediaplayer, 4 GB of space and fmand all that kind of guystuff but at a price tag of$250-300, we seriouslywonder if anyone willwillingly pick it up. Anothernotable mention in thiscategory is the LG GD910Watch Phone.

� Facebook starts allowing members to use its own markup language � Apple announces spectacular profit of $10 billion in the last quarter

A PHONE?

A Projector?

Everything seems to befusing with phones atCES 2009. The latest to

follow the trend is the LogicBolt. Logic Wireless thecompany behind the phoneclaims it can project a two-hour movie on a 36-64 inchscreen! And from almostany source, including anXBox or Nintendo Wii. Thephone uses an LCoS (liquidcrystal on silicon) projectorwith an LED backlight. Thephone also has a 320x240touch screen and a 3megapixel camera. Themost interesting part, apartfrom the projectioncapabilities, is the fact thatit will be sold subsidized byT-Mobile for $100. Lets makea note about this one andkeep an eye on itsdevelopment.

LETS ROCK

Guitar HeroPlatform

Ace Bayou showcaseda specializedwireless Guitar Hero

platform that vibrates and

surrounds you with somerocking tunes out of itsbuilt-in speakers. Thevibration will surely rockyour world. But the onlytrouble is that it’s a 2square feet platform, soyou can’t go Ac/Dc on it —meaning if your style is tojump around all over thestage- you can’t. Otherthan that it should be afun device for all thewannabe guitar heroes outthere.

BLU-RAY NOW WITHIN REACH

VBR100

It’s a Blu-ray player. Sowhy is it being featuredhere? For its affordable

under $150 price tag. Theplayer is being launchedas a part of Vizio’s effortto bring Blu-ray to a wideraudience.

This is certainly goodnews, because it looks likethe gap between DVD’sand Blu-ray is narrowing.A lower price will evenbenefit Blu-ray disk sales.But coming back to theVBR 100 its low pricedoesn’t appear to sacrificemuch in the way offeatures.

The player provides 7.1-channel analogue output(using a 108MHz/11-bitDigital to analogueconverter) and fulldecoding support forDolby TrueHD, DTS-HDMaster Audio, and PCMlossless audio formats aswell as common audioformats including DolbyDigital, Dolby Digital Plus,and DTS. It will alsofunction as DVD playercapable of providing up to1080p video output via itsHDMI port. It doesn’t looktoo bad either with itsilluminated touch-sensitive front panelcontrols.

FROM LCD TO LED

Samsung8000 Series240-Hz LEDHDTV

Samsung wants tofocus on LED TV as itsnew growth engine in

2009. So although itshowcased a whole lot ofhome theater products atCES 09, it has put a lot ofemphasis on its 8000 Seriesof energy-efficient, mega-fast-motion-capable 240HzLED-based 1080p HDTVs.LEDs offer higher contrastratios, slimmer designs,and lower powerconsumption as comparedto the regular LCDs. Themost interesting aspect ofthe 8000 series is its 240Hztechnology.

The cutting-edge “AutoMotion Plus” technologypromises enhanced picturequality even with lightning-fast action scenes. It will beavailable in 46 and 55 inchvariants. Its other featuresinclude “Ultra Clear Panel”for reduced reflection andincreased perceivedcontrast which should giveu great contrast even inbright light. The screensare to include built-inEthernet along with Wi-Ficapability so that itdisplays widget-basedcontent from Yahoo, Flickr,and other Web sites can bedisplayed through itspropriety “internet@tv”service.

COMPETITION FOR THE I-POD

Samsung P3

The Samsung p3player tries to giveyou something that

most touch based devices


Enter

lack. A tactile response orfeedback like on akeyboard. The P3, availablein 8, 16, and 32GB,features “haptic feedback”which means when youpress its 3-inch TFT LCDyou get a vibrationresponse.

It’s a direct competitorto iPod touch which hasno such feature. Thescreen has a true 16:9aspect ratio, which servesup video at 30 frames persecond.

It plays and readsalmost everythingincluding MPEG4, WMV,WMA and MP3 foraudio, as well as JPEG andTXT files.

It has fm and voicerecording but no internetcapabilities.

VoFi: VoFi stands forVoice over IP over Wi-Fi.

This means using the Wi-Fi hotspots found aroundmajor cities for making voice calls. While existingsoftware make this easily possible, VoFitechnology hopes to exploit the better sound

quality of Wi-Fi networks as compared totraditional cell phone networks. What this meansfor the user is a lot more of VoFi capable mobilehandsets coming into the market, which caninterface with both networks. Some phones, likethe G1 already have this capability.

Despite recession,tech-related salariesincreased by 4.6%

in 2008

Job Cut counts:Logitech — 600Autodesk — 750AMD — 1100Sony — 2000

Motorola — 4000Microsoft — 5000Ericsson - 5000Intel - 6000

VoFi

AMD announces$1.4 Billion

losses

3% Global ITbusiness

predicted to fallby in 2009

Venture capitalgoes down to

$3.4 billionin 2008 from11.7 billion

in 2007

� Google lays of just 100 staff — all of them recruiters � USB 3.0 poised to outperform nextgen eSATA and FireWire

NOT FOR FUN

3D TV

Well 3d TVs havebeen around forquite some time

but the biggest complaintis that they require thoseannoying glassed. They’reirritating and they make

THE BROWSER CAM

SonyCyber-Shot

Currently there arevery few Wi-fienabled camera’s out

there and none that comewith a built in browser. TheG3 then is the first Wi-Ficamera with a built in webbrowser. Now you canaccess networks on the flyand start uploadingpictures and video topopular sharing sites assoon as you click em. Sony’sgot its own “easy uploadhome page” set up to makethe process simpler and haspartnered with YouTube,Dailymotion, Picasa, andShutterfly. Features includea slim build, a high-resolution, 3.5-inch 16:9touchscreen (with 921,000pixels), 4 gigabytes of built-in storage, a 4X opticalzoom and 10.1 megapixelcaptures. Its Wi-Fi radio willbe compatible with802.11b/g networks.

you look like a dork. Butfinally there is a 3d screenthat doesn’t require them.Lets define first what 3dmeans. It doesn’t meaneffects that just create onlyan illusion of depth likeyour 3d wallpapers; itmeans that thingsoccasionally do jump outof the screen. But strangelyAlioscopy does not plan toput the TV into theobvious entertainmentapplication (for now).They are looking intousing the technology inmedical applicationsbecause you would be ableto view body systems in 3dimensions.


Enter

NOKIA

Bringingdeveloperstogether

Ibelieve that in twoyears time, many of youwould be sitting on

multi-million dollarfortunes earned by yourideas and innovations”,said Kenny Mathers, Head,Developer Relations,Forum Nokia addressing apacked audience at theNokia DevelopersConference 09, held at TajResidency in Bangalore onthe 20th January. The oneday event was attended byover 550 people, includingdevelopers, mobileoperators, industrywatchers, vendors, toshare their experiencesand explore the future ofpossiblities and challengesin the world mobilemarket.

“Indian developers arethe most valued people inthe world. Their quality,output and levels ofinterest are amazing. Theyare our partners as they

add value to Nokia’sservice and softwareexperience”, says SrikanthRaju, Director and Head ofProduct Marketing, ForumNokia.”The best way topredict the future is toinvent it,” said MahmoodKalantar, inviting thedevelopers to take aCustomer OrientedApproach to developingmobile applications.According to Kalantar, thefuture of mobile operatingsystem is Symbian OSwhich is Open Source anddeveloped not for profit byan independentfoundation and its sourcecode is available from dayone. Annirudh Mathuria,Vice President, SymbianIndia, identified MassiveData Holding, Graphicexperience, PowerManagement and HighSpeed Networking as themajor challenges fortechnology developerstoday. “As the bandwidthincreases, experiencechanges. When peoplestart using more and moredata, operators can earngreater revenue,” saidAnnirudh while talkingabout Symbian to the

Web 3.0What is Web 3.0The semantic web that has beentalked about for so long is one ofthe central themes — basicallythe machines understand humanneeds better. The best way toexplain this is the music portalLast.fm which throws up musicartists and bands similar to theartists and bands you like.

Why do we needWeb 3.0?Web 1.0 was about information,where users could go online andaccess and download data. Web2.0 was about production, userswould create and post content.YouTube, blogging, Flickr wereall web 2.0 revolutions. Web 3.0will go a step further, where theinternet can execute processesand have practical applications.

When will it hit us?Not soon. Web 3.0 will bedependant on a lot oftechnologies reaching theirmaturity, which will not happenfor at least another two years.The time period for Web 3.0 isexpected to be 2010 to 2020.

Where will its weight be felt?The biggest change in Web 3.0content will be the audiovisualaspect. Text based web pageswill give way to high definitionaudio and visual content. Someexperts are even talking about atotally 3D web experience, a lasecond life. Expect a much morefluid interface to the web.

Which technologies are likelyto be used?Dramatic improvements will beseen in data interpretation, thatis how a website is parsed orprocessed before being thrownup to the user.

Howwill it benefit users?Open standards, and APIs thateveryone can access are twothings people are talking about.Online collaboration on projectswill become a mainstay.Distribution of software andgames will become easier, andcheaper. Multimedia sales mayshift completely to onlinemarkets.

audience. Titled InfinitePossibilities, the eventpartners NAVTEQ unveiledthe LBS Challenge fordevelopers, an onlinecompetition with overUS$5.25 million prizemoney, in cash and datalicenses. “We have seenthe evolution of mobiledevices from Navigation toUser Generated Content inthe past 15 years.Consumers are nowmature and demand morepersonal security and eco(-friendly) Applications,”said Tom Tierney, Head ofPartner Alliances, NAVTEQ.Digit Magazine was themedia partner at the eventalso showcasedinnovations by Nokia’spartner developers. Theseincluded Quillpad-alanguage tool, NanoHanuman- an applicationfor remote controlling ofwater pump sets, andMaverick Secure Mobile —a security application thathelps protect data, trackstolen devices, retrievephonebook and disablestolen devices remotelyby working in a hiddenmode.

� Ebay’s income drops by 31 per cent � Microsoft donates code to the Apache open source project � Apple selling used products in China


Ahmed Shaikh

We hate Microsoft for Windows Vista.Here was an OS we were truly excitedfor — DirectX 10 accelerated, vector

graphics, an all-new communications layer,tweaks and rewrites at the kernel level, a newinterface — it promised all the right things. Anddelivered little more than a badly-imple-mented security feature (UAC), an Orbwhere the Start button used to be,a ridiculous enhancement to[Alt] + [Tab] (seriously, whouses the Flip 3D?), and aSidebar / Gadgets featurecopied from sundry, andfree, programs.

If you think we’rebeing a little too hardon Microsoft, thenright you are. After all,we need to spendalmost an entiremonth’s pay topurchase Windows VistaUltimate Edition, and allwe got for it was a half-decent game (Tinker), acrash-happy feature(DreamScene, a desktop back-ground utility that was promptlyripped and released for WindowsXP), and a bunch of stuff we don’t careabout (BitLocker, language packs, soundschemes, poker)… So yeah, it’s personal.

Apparently, we’re not the only ones witheither disdain or apathy for Windows Vista —market surveys by various organisations showthat Vista’s OS market share hovers around 20per cent, as of December 2008… It’s a broken OS.

Fixing VistaSo Vista’s a wash. The consumers know it, andMicrosoft knows it (hence the Mojave experi-

ment and the “I am a PC” advertisements).And so we have Windows 7. Microsoft’sapproach to this ‘new’ OS is clearly communi-cated through the Windows 7 web site —“Over the past few years, you’ve asked us tomake some changes to Windows…”, it says,“We listened closely.” Windows 7, is thus, allabout fixing Vista.

What are these fixes? Most of thechanges can be summed up in one

word — streamlined. Windows 7 Betais a more refined and stream-

lined version of Vista. Theannoying UAC is significantly

less irritating now, to thepoint of actually beinguseful and not constantmothering by an over-bearing OS. Windowsitself makes better useof some of the struc-tural changes intro-duced in Vista — Aero ismuch more than a shinycoat, Search is muchimproved, network

management is a lotsimpler, bootup is faster,

Windows itself feels a lotmore snappier, copying of data

across media is no longer a chore,and moreover Windows 7 Beta intro-

duces some welcome, and dare we say,great changes to the Windows way of

getting things done.While adding features, Windows 7 also

throws away some applications otherwisebundled. Whether this is a fallout of theirlegal escapades, we don’t know, butMessenger, Mail, and Gallery are now movedout of the Windows installation and packagedseparated under the Windows Live banner.Hopefully, this will allow for greater innova-tion from the Live team.

PassionDigital

27Fuelling The Pursuit Of Technology KnowledgeThe Return of

the King 34 Chandrayaan 36 3G and WiMax

Main Story

A first-handexperience withWindows 7 Beta

Cleaning up the Vista


Digital Passion l Cover Story

of transluscent windows, each representingeither a new document or a new tab. So let’ssay you have four Word files open — thisfeature will show you a preview of the fourand let you navigate to each tab or windowusing the mouse. You can also minimise,maximise and close a window using just thispreview, removing the need to [Alt]+[Tab] toit.3. Any program can be pinned to the taskbar.

This is similar to the Quick Launch feature ofpast versions — but much more useful since apinned program can not only launch aprogram, but also manage windows insidethat launched program. Think of pinning asevolving the taskbar to a more dock-likebehaviour of OS X (or the sundry-free dockapplications available for Windows).

4. The pinning behaviour, when applied toWindows Explorer, exposes another coolfeature — it lists your libraries. Why this iswelcome will become apparent when we talkabout libraries later.

5. Right-clicking on a pinned program pops up alist of recently open / created documentsunder that program — called a Jump List. Thisis a truly great feature as you can now openfrequently used documents right from thetaskbar, instead of hunting for them underExplorer or looking for them under aprogram’s menu bar. Furthermore, eachrecent item in Jump List can be pinned, soyou can quickly access important files bypinning them down, even if it’s been a whilesince you have opened them.

6. In some programs such as Windows MediaPlayer, you also see control overlays. You canthus play / pause, rewind / forward musicwithout leaving your current application.

7. Other small changes include a thin verticalbar on the extreme right of the task bar.When you hover over this bar, Windows letsyou peek at your Desktop. Moving awayfrom the bar brings you back to yourcurrent application. This is a quick methodof looking at gadgets that are now shown onthe desktop. The thicker taskbar also allowsfor both date and time to be shown, abouttime too…Personally, the ability to pin a program

along with the History pop-up has completelychanged the way we use the Start Menu — in asmuch as we rarely hit the Start button anymore.

Windows managementSome minor, but welcome changes to workingwith open programs: (1) You can drag openwindows to the upper screen edge to maximiseit. Dragging it back to the centre of the screenwill restore the window (2) You can also drag awindow to the left of your screen to make it fillthe left half of your desktop. Ditto for the right

The TaskbarEver since Windows 95 introduced the taskbarand the Start button, this central aspect to theWindows interface hasn’t seen any substantialchanges. Windows Vista, of course, replacedthe rectangular “Start” area with just a spheri-cal logo, and did little else. Windows 7 Betatakes the taskbar to an all-new level, and itdoes so by intelligently extending the currentfunctionality, not by introducing drasticchanges. The taskbar is now thicker, almosttwice the height of the older one. It also doesaway with the labels for programs launched(although this behavior can be changed).Finally, it introduces several key changes tohow programs on the taskbar now work:

1. When a program is launched,its icon appears on the taskbar.The default behavior is withoutlabels. When you hover over anicon, Windows 7 pops-up asmall snapshot of the app(called a preview), moving themouse over this snapshot willshow a preview of that applica-tion Window. Move the mouseaway, and the OS brings youback to your currently activeapplication. This is a great wayto quickly peek into otherwindows, without leaving thecurrent application.

2. Multiple windows of alaunched program (even tabsfor some supported apps) arenow grouped together underthe same icon in (1) above.This is similar to the groupingdone by XP and Vista, but is amuch more elegant solutionbased on how the group’selements are exposed on mouse-hover overa launched program’s icon. It shows a row

Managing open Windowsusing the taskbar

Windows Explorer recentitems and libraries



pane and WMP will play a preview of that file —only for music tracks.

FasterWindows 7 Beta starts up faster — it also shutsdown and restarts faster than our VistaUltimate copy. Putting the Beta to sleep andwaking it up is also a much faster and stableexperience. This mantra of faster, extends tothe entire OS as well. Aero no longer feels slug-gish to use. We’ve had mixed results copyingfiles across media — another commoncomplaint with Vista. At times, this is muchfaster (took us an entire 120 seconds less to copy8GB of files under Windows 7, as compared toVista). Similarly, it feels just as slow (note thatthe latter is not a scientific conclusion, just afeeling). On the whole, if you were keepingaway from Vista because of its speed, Windows7 Beta promises to fix that issue.

NetworkingRight off the taskbar you can manage yournetwork connections. One click on a “network”

icon next to the volumecontrol icon opens apop-up. From here youcan open the Networkand Sharing Center, getan overview of thenetworks you areconnected to, andconnect and disconnectyourself over dial-up,VPN, or Wi-Fi. TheNetwork and SharingCenter is also stream-

lined — letting you manage, setup, trou-bleshoot your networks.

New to Windows 7 Beta is the HomeGroup,which is exactly what it sounds like — you canuse it to connect your home PCs together,letting you share photos, music, videos and soon. When you setup a HomeGroup, you canselect the libraries and devices that you wantto share. This group can be password-protected, and you can set access permissionsas well. Computers must be running Windows7 to participate in a HomeGroup.

Action CenterThis is where all those irritating pop-upballoons have gone to die. Good riddance too.Notifications are much more subdued underthis Beta. No longer does it feel like the OS isscreaming for attention every time a filestubs its toe. The Action Center is a tiny flagicon sitting next to the volume and networkicons on the taskbar. From here, you canreview system messages and take steps toresolve pending issues. The Center breaks infodown into two categories: Security, whereinfalls Firewall, Update, virus, spyware andsimilar settings; and Maintenance, where youcan backup and restore data, and check for



Playlists are auto populated by WMP

WMP taskbar preview

Above: Network and SharingCenterLeft: Managing networkconnections

edge. This can be used to compare and copydata across different locations by draggingthem to opposite sides of your screen.

LibrariesThe promise of WinFS to bring intelligence, rele-vance, and relation to your data was so badlyneeded that we were extremely disappointedwhen the feature was unceremoniouslydropped from Vista — likely to be never heardfrom again. Libraries, while nowhere near a rela-tional database, somewhat takes the sting awayfrom losing WinFS. The concept is simple — youhave similar data spread across drives, folders,partitions, etc. — so why not logically store themunder a single virtual folder? Windows 7 Betadoes just that and we’re thankful for it. You canthus have libraries collating pictures, videos,music, documents, and create and define yourown libraries to boot. It’s a great way to storeand access information.

When you pin Windows Explorer to thetaskbar, a right-click on its icon shows you yourcurrent libraries. These can be permanentlypinned as well. Thus giving you access to yourentire content straight from the taskbar itself.

Another welcome addition is that the libraryis automatically shared across supported appli-

cations. No longer will you need to create inde-pendent libraries of your music / videos / photo-graphs under different programs — Winamp,Picasa, Media Player, Media Jukebox, and so on.If a program supports Libraries, it will immedi-ately and automatically gain access to all yourcontent. A drawback here is that there iscurrently no apparent way to exclude contentfrom being listed in a library, so sensitive dataalso shows up with everything else.

SearchSearch under this Beta is fixed in three ways: (1)it’s fast, so we actually use it; (2) it takes up the

entire Start menu width, so it doesn’t look messy;(3) search results now expose pre-set filters thatgo a long way to refining a search query. Searchin general is now much more usable.

Windows Media PlayerThis is a much snappier avatar of WMP. It alsosupports a wider range of codecs right off thebat, although not enough to throw away yourfavourite codec pack. While playing music orvideo files, WMP starts a minimal interfaceshowing just the media and playback controls— a no-nonsense approach that is appreciated.From the ‘Now Playing’ view you can switch tothe more traditional Library view which breaksdown WMP into three panes. Left is where younavigate through your libraries. Centre is whereyou find a library’s content, and on the rightyou have a task pane. The right pane offersfrequent tasks — Play, Burn and Sync. It’s amuch cleaner interface that takes a while to getused to because old habits die hard... Notably,you can hover over a track’s name in the middle

Maximised Window

Libraries are sharedacross applications

Faster search relevant results

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onPage 78, andwin tonnes of

exciting prizes



solutions to system and/or program crashes.The Action Center is also where the SystemRestore feature resides. Finally, we have theTroubleshooting option, which is a surpris-ingly useful (in that it actually solves issues,no really, it does!) list of tasks and wizards tohandle everything from running a programmade for previous versions of Windows topower management. It helped us run quite afew irate programs...

Miscellany1. Themes: Right-click on your desktop, select

Personalize and you will be able to changesundry items that give your setup its identity— colour, sounds, and the screensaver.Moreover, you can select multiple images tobe used as your desktop wallpaper and tellWindows to cycle through them after aspecific interval. Watching your desktopchange wallpapers (especially if they are coolabstracts) every 30 seconds is very coolindeed. You can also save your settings as atheme. Very nice.

2. Gadgets: We would love to tell you moreabout these, but no matter how hard wetried, we could not get them to work. Thechange in this Beta is that you now drop

gadgets to your desktop. The irritating sidebaris gone. But every time we dropped one, itwould simply disappear.3. On-Screen keyboard. This is finally using

vector images and is thus scalable.Moreover, it now offers text prediction andtext completion — making it a great featurefor those with weak eyes or for those toolazy to walk to their physical keyboard.

Closing thoughtsWindows 7 Beta does all the right things. Itfixes what was broken, introduces some greatand useful features, runs faster, feels snap-pier, and is reportedly less demanding onhardware. It’s everything that Windows Vistashould have been. We would go as far assaying that this Beta should have been a serv-ice pack to Windows Vista (and maybe somefeatures will indeed make it to SP2). While

this Beta generally cleans up after Vista, wewould personally like to see more innovationsas we head towards the retail release.

Through Windows 7, Microsoft hasthought it wiser to clean the slate and releaseanew, rather than try and salvage Vista’starnished reputation. That doesn’t change thefact that Windows Vista users might feelcheated. But isn’t that the nature of technol-ogy? Early adopters beware. If nothing else,Windows 7 seems on track to fulfilling prom-ises made during the Longhorn era.

For that alone, we are excited to see moreof Windows 7. What can we say? Somepeople never learn... �

[email protected]

Get yer shortcut keys hereNew shortcuts to navigating Windows 7Win+Home Minimize all but the active windowWin+Space See through to the desktopWin+Up arrow Maximize the active windowWin+Down arrow Minimize/restore the active windowWin+Left/Right arrows Dock the window to each side of the monitorWin+Shift+Left+Right arrow Move the window to the adjacent monitor

(for dual-monitor setups).Win+T Focus and scroll through items on the taskbarWin+P Adjust presentation settings for your displayWin+(+/-) Zoom in/outShift+Click a taskbar item Open a new instance of that application

Action Center

Create and save atheme

On ScreenKeyboard

27www. thinkdigit.com DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009

Digital Passion l Insight

We tested a Nehalem processor, the i7 965Extreme, a fewmonths back and compared it to the(then) fastest desktop processor in the world — theIntel Core 2 Extreme QX 9770 (3.2 GHz). Needless tosay, the Core i7’s performance was at least 15 percent faster, 90 per cent of the time, in both real-world tests and synthetic benchmarks. Not onlywas the i7 significantly faster than any AMDPhenom processor, it was also noticeably fasterthan the fastest quad-core Intel Yorkfield processoraround. When you consider that the Core 2 archi-tecture isn’t very old and Intel has been continu-ously churning faster Core 2 processors, Nehalembecomes something rather special.

One of the firsts for Intel in the desktop space isthat Nehalem is a native quad-core. Earlier, only AMDoffered native quad-cores with its Phenom X4 range.Intel’s quad-core processors before the i7 were basi-cally twodual-core CPUs slapped together on a singledie; a fact that has been of great interest to AMD, asit has thumbed its nose rather regularly at what ithas called a Jurassic design. The market is, however,more concernedwith real-world performance ratherthan on-paper specifications and the Core architec-ture is much faster than anything AMD has beenable to conjure up. And now the newcomer is outwith promises of even more processing grunt. Ofcourse, AMD isn’t whittling sticks either — itsPhenom 2 processors have justmade an entry — butthey have a very tough opponent to beat.

ScalabilityIntel claims to have designed the Core i7 with scal-ability in mind and looking at its released blockdiagrams we have to agree with them. In fact

everything about the i7 design is modu-lar, and while the current NehalemCPUs are native quad-cores we could justas easily see eight-core CPUs or evendual-cores with integrated graphics, inthe future. The fact is that Nehalem isdesigned from the ground up to be flex-ible and Intel can easily add or removecores and other components as permarket needs and demands. Nehalem

also resurrects an old trick — hyperthreading (HT) —which was dropped since the Pentium 4. Hyper-threading is Intel’s name for simultaneous multi-threading (SMT), a process in which operationsfrom more than one instruction thread can beprocessed by a single processor core.

A quad-core Nehalem CPU can, therefore,process eight threads, while an eight coreNehalem will actually process a previouslyunheard of 16 threads. This gives the i7 muchbetter multi-threaded performance while keepingthermal envelopes and silicon requirementsmuch lower than they would be, if additionalcores were added instead.

Doing more with less, seems to be Intel’sdesign motto for the i7. HT also means fewer

ReturnReturnof the

The

Michael Browne

Ever since its Conroe architecture took theworld by storm, Intel, the largest CPUmanufacturer in the world has been on an

undeniable roll. AMD has been unable to hitback with anything concrete and competitionhas been lean. Intel has even gone as far as prom-ising us something new in terms of processorarchitecture every two years or so. In fact, manypeople have made much of Intel’s “tick-tock”development model: each tick represents a die-shrink and each tock denotes a major architec-tural change. Late last year, Intel delivered thelatest tock in the form of the processor code-named Nehalem; finally given the marketablemoniker of Core i7, with its processor familydubbed “Bloomfield”.

KingIntel’s i7 isthe new kidin town. Sureit’s fast; butit has its

roots in thepast. We tellyou how and

why…

King



28 DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009 www. thinkdigit.com


searching. Although this secondary predictorunit is slower than the primary unit, its abilityto correct incorrect predictions made at thefirst-level and thus prevent any core overtimeshould more than compensate for its reducedspeed of operation. Then there is a buffer calledthe “Renamed Returned Stack Buffer” whichensures that correct data is pulled from theprocessor’s stack, even in the event of an incor-rect prediction. Therefore Nehalem beefs up thechances of a hit, and minimises overhead andlatency in case of a miss — a huge plus, to besure. HT together with this two-stage branchprediction should bring immense benefitswhen working with multiple threads. Thebranch prediction could also do wonders forsingle-threaded applications: Since each core’sresources are shared according to the workload,if two threads are pushed at a core then each ofthem gets one-half of the resources. If a singlethread is to be executed, it gets the full atten-tion on the core it is pushed to, giving it greaterperformance. While on the topic of parallelism,Nehalem can execute more in-flight micro-opsthan Penryn — the count is up from 96 to 128.Micro-ops, short for micro operations, aredetailed low-level instructions issued to imple-ment complex machine instructions. So the i7has an increase in parallelism at the instruc-tion level as well; a serious benefit when youconsider each core supports HT.

The IMCNow a little bit on that shiny new IMC. Intel’s IMCsupports three channels instead of two. So beprepared to see i7 based motherboards with sixmemory slots. This IMC supports only DDR3 andup to 24 GB of RAM. This is good for server config-urations or workstations needingmore than 8 GBof RAM. Although the IMC doesn’t support thefastest DDR3 memory, it doesn’t need to. Firstly,the theoretical bandwidth that tri-channelmemory configurations offer, even at memoryspeeds of 1,333 MHz, is higher than a dual-chan-nel configuration running memory clocked at1,800 MHz. Besides greater bandwidth than allprevious Intel systems, the IMC on each i7 CPUensures that latencies will be minimal. In fact,slower memory also means tighter timings —which we’ve seen as more conducive to perform-ance than higher memory clock speeds. All thiswill sound very familiar to most people followingprocessor technology over the past five years —this is exactly what AMD told us about itsmemory controller — theoretical bandwidthdoesn’t matter as much when using an IMCbecause most of the increased bandwidth getswasted with FSB latencies. It seems Intel waslistening to AMD as well. Thanks to the IMC,multi-CPU systems based on Nehalem processorswill consist of a dedicated RAM pool per CPU. If

one CPU needs access to some data which is inanother’s data pool the QPI link between boththe CPUs will come into play. This may result insome latency, but it should not be a lot. Obviouslythis won’t affect desktop users with a single CPU.

One of the main talking points of theNehalem architecture is the QPI link itself. TheQPI is a point-to-point interface, so there’s noconflict of interests for bandwidth. The QPI isthe means for cores to talk to each other. It alsoconnects the CPU to the motherboard chipsetand allows the CPU to talk with PCI Express,USB, and SATA components. So far all theNehalem desktop CPUs that Intel has releasedhave a single QPI link. Server CPUs will have twolinks, with the second link allowing crosstalkbetween CPUs in multi-socket systems. The high-est-end Nehalem, the i965 Extreme Edition, hasa link that allows 6.4 GT per second, (GT is anacronym for giga-transfer, yet another newterm!). The lower Nehalems have a QPI link thatallows 4.8 GT per second. The total bandwidthoffered by each QPI is 25.6 gigabits per secondand each consists of two 20-bit, bi-directionallinks. Note that the total bandwidth of 25.6 giga-bits per second is double the bandwidth avail-

able on the 1,600 MHz FSB of Intel’s X48 chipset.In a truly modular fashion, Intel can add moreQPI’s to a Nehalem CPU if the need arises.

The clock speed of all Nehalem CPUs is aderivative of the base QPI clock which is 133MHz. This is much lower than the FSB speedsof previous CPUs from Intel; where the baseFSB clock was 333 MHz, or even 400 MHz.Therefore all Nehalem CPUs have muchhigher multipliers. The L3 cache and the IMCoperate on a difference clock called the un-core clock. This figure is 20X the base QPIclock i.e. 2.66 GHz. This is similar to AMD’sPhenom design where multiple clocks areused for different parts. In terms of power-management Nehalem differs as well: WhilePhenom allows each core to request differentclock speeds, incidentally the reason why oneneeds to install the AMD Cool’n’Quiet driver;the Nehalem attempts to run all cores at thesame clock speed at all times. The only excep-tion being when Turbo Mode (see below) isenabled. In other words, if a particular core

Nehalem CPUsModel Numbers -> i965 Extreme Edition i940 i920Fabrication Process 45 nm 45 nm 45 nmCore Speed 3.2 GHz 2.93 GHz 2.66 GHzSocket LGA 1366 LGA 1366 LGA 1366L2 Cache Size 256 KB x 4 256 KB x 4 256 KB x 4L3 Cache Size 8 MB 8 MB 8 MBQPI Speed (giga-transfers per sec) 6.4 4.8 4.8Effective Multiplier 24 22 20TDP 130 watts 130 watts 130 watts


wasted clock cycles as each core has a muchbetter chance of being kept busy due to the factthat each core can be fed with two threads at atime, instead of a single thread. Nehalem’scores are much faster than those in a Pentium4, partly due to their being derived from themuch faster Core architecture and also due tothe much shorter execution pipeline; thismeans that HT on an i7 should be much moreefficient than HT was on the Pentium 4 CPUs.

Intel’s Penryn CPUs added support for SSE 4and Nehalem brings with it support for SSE 4.2.The main additions with the new SSE instruc-tions are improved XML processing support,voice-recognition, error-detection code calcula-tion, and DNA sequencing. What we’re seeinghere is greater emphasis on achieving moreperformance per watt. While Nehalem CPUs havea higher TDP (Thermal Dissipation Point) thanPenryn at 130 watts versus 95 watts, Intel claimsthat the performance hike is more than propor-tionate to the increased power requirement, or atworst, equal to it. In fact the Nehalem is designedon the Atom processor ethos: that is to maintaina 2:1 ratio for increments in performance andpower consumption figures at all times.

Nehalem is a native quad-core with four coressitting on a single die. Unlike previous quad-cores,wherein two cores shared an L2 cache, i7 offerseach core discrete L1 and L2 caches, with an L3cache in common. The Core i7 is made from abudget of 731 million transistors. In comparison,Yorkfield needed 820 million transistors. The diesize of Nehalem is larger though; increasing from214 mm^2 to 263 mm^2. That’s fewer transistorsand reduced density, which should bring thermalbenefits. Nehalem has the same L1 cache as previ-ous Yorkfield CPUs: a 32 KB instruction cache and32 KB data cache per core, but the L2 cache issignificantly smaller. Each core in a quad-coreNehalem CPU gets only 256 kB (1 MB in total),while Yorkfield CPUs had as much as 3 MB of L2cache per core. There is a single 8 MB of L3 cacheto which all cores have access.

Copycat?Now why did Intel make a high-end CPU with afraction of the L2 cache? Andwhy introduce an L3cachewhichwe know is slower than any L2 cache?The answer is one of the most radical architec-tural differences betweenCore i7 andCore 2— theinclusion of an on-die memory controller or inte-grated memory controller (IMC). Gone is the

memory controller on the Northbridge. This iswhere AMD fans will scream “copycat”. That’s notall. Gone is the ancient, bi-directional Front-SideBus (FSB) in favour of what Intel calls “QuickPathInterconnect”, which is equivalent to AMDsHyperTransport with a few differences. Intel had prettymuch reached the upper limits of what it coulddo with its FSB and with FSB frequenciesapproaching 1,600 MHz, even faster memorycould not alleviate the problem of keeping theCPU fed with data from memory. In fact, it is theIMC that resulted in the changed cache sizes onNehalem, and not the other way around. Industryexperts have rightly criticised Intel for hiding thehugememory latencies associatedwith having anFSB-based interconnect between CPU and RAM byadopting the brute force approach — increasingthe processor cache to sometimes crazy levels.Obviously this is an inefficient, not to mentioncostly approach. Now, thanks to the IMC, Intel canmake Nehalem shine with a relatively small L2cache. Another trick is the inclusion of a newsecondary Translation Look-Aside Buffer (TLB);earlier CPUsmade dowith a single TLB. The TLB isa CPU cache that is used bymemorymanagementhardware (like the IMC) to improve the speed ofvirtual address translation. Intel also copiesAMD’s way of designating the specific processorregions and the Nehalem is divided into two partstermed as “core” and the rather awkward “un-core”. The core includes the physical CPU coresand L1 and L2 caches while the un-core consists ofeverything else on the chip, including the L3cache and IMC.

The branch prediction mechanism of theCore i7 has also seen a significant change. Asecond-level branch predictor with a muchlarger data set and a deeper history has beenadded to the prediction unit in all Core 2processor cores. The deeper history in conjunc-tion with the larger data set allows for broader

Nehalem vs. Penryn: cache and memoryNehalem Penryn (Yorkfield)

L1 Size / L1 Latency 64 KB / 4 cycles 64 KB / 3 cyclesL2 Size / L2 Latency 256 KB / 11 cycles 12 MB / 15 cyclesL3 Size / L3 Latency 8 MB / 39 cycles NAMain Memory Latency * 107 cycles (33.4 nano sec) 160 cycles / 50.3 nano sec

* Using DDR3 1600 MHz (CAS Latency 7)



isn’t being used it’s simply power gated andeffectively turned off.

Turbo modeTalking about multipliers brings around theinevitable topic of overclocking. A decade back,just the mention of overclocking was enough toget people at Intel all riled up. But withNehalem, Intel is in one sense, encouraging it.The i7 supports a feature called “Turbo Mode”(TM). A processor will be rated to operate withincertain constraints — a maximum temperature,current and power consumption. If TurboBoost is enabled, and if the processor’s on-diePower Control Unit, which monitors the ther-mal condition and power usage of the cores,indicates that it is running within theseconstraints, one or more cores will start to oper-ate at higher clock speeds, enabling higherperformance for the threads they are executing.

When cores are clocked-up in thisway, steps of133.33 MHz are used — the base frequencymentioned earlier. When this increase in clockspeed occurs will depend on the conditions insidethe machine, most particularly the coolingsystem. The more efficient the cooling, the morelikely that clock speeds will increase. The mostlikely situation for Turbo Boost to be effective willbewhen a single- or dual-threaded compute inten-sive application is running, with little demand onthe other cores. In that case, the core running themain thread is very likely to be clocked up, withthe other cores not running, thereby reducingpower consumption and heat dissipation.

This feature addresses the one criticism ofmulti-core processors: that not all computeintensive applications have the inherent paral-lelism that can benefit from multiple cores,and that such processors give no performanceimprovement for single-threaded applications.With Turbo Boost enabled, such an applicationcan gain extra performance through theincreased clock speed of the core on which it isrunning. This is perhaps the most importantfeature expressing the scalability that Intelclaims to have built into this new architecture.

Cheap thrillsAt the outset, it’s evident that Intel adopted avery cost-centric approach to designing the i7. Itclearly draws on the best points of their previousarchitectures and with a borrowed trick or two,manages to raise the performance bar consider-ably. Partly inspired by the Atom design, the i7has a very low die-area cost.We foundNehalem tobe around 20 per cent faster than its predecessorand all this on a new platform that is bound tosee optimisations and further performance incre-ments. The LGA 1366 should be a good system toinvest in for those looking at a powerful desktopprocessor; yet the costs related to purchasing a

new motherboard coupled with the high pricesof DDR3 means Nehalem may find few takers inprice sensitive markets (such as India). As of now,the X58 platform is the only one available,although NVIDIA has obtained the necessarylicense from Intel and we could see NVIDIAboards supporting i7 soon. Intel also claims thatfuture eight-core Nehalems will also be designedfor socket 1366; this is serious longevity for theplatform although whether it keep its promiseremains to be seen. The mess of platforms fordifferent processors in the Pentium 4 / PentiumDera is all too fresh in our minds — we hope the1366-pin socket stays awhile; else early adopterswill surely have sufficient grounds for complain.

ParallelismIt seems Intel deliberately chose features thatwould ensure it excels in the server domain —which has, by far, been its Achilles’ Heel over thepast two years. In fact, a number of tricks underNehalem’s 45nm hood won’t even be noticedunless the i7 is used inmulti-socket servers. Mostof these tricks involve parallelism and of coursemore effective caches and prediction systems.Developers for desktops need to get cracking ongetting their applications more and more multi-threaded because this is where the i7 will shineand future processors will follow suit. Regardlessof intent, the i7 offers a nice performance boostacross applications in the desktop space as well.Gaming, 3D rendering, and video encoding arethe three biggest beneficiaries. In fact it evendelivers improved performance on a core-to-corebasis — so Intel has another architectural winner.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get muchbetter Intel throws us a few more delightfulsurprises. Eight-core Nehalems could reachmarkets by the end of 2009. We’ve also heardthat Intel plans to introduce a new Bloomfield-derivative family named “Lynnfield”. Identicalto i7; these CPUs sacrifice the QPI for a moretraditional DMI and also forego tri-channelDDR3 for a dual-channel setup. These CPUs willutilise a 1156-pin socket and here’s the killer —there’s an on-package PCI Express controllerthat supports 16 PCI Express lanes. Yes, thePCIe lanes are on the CPU itself! These 16 lanescan be used as a single x16 connect or two x8connects. Intel has also discussed “Havendale”which is a dual-core variant with 4 MB of L3cache. These CPUs will be the first Intel CPUs tohave a graphics core integrated as part of theCPU package. It also has the 16 lane PCI Expresscontroller from Lynnfield, but it cannot be runas two X8 connects. Of course, Lynnfield is stilla good four months or so from market; whileHavendale won’t debut till 2010. The only thingbetter than living in interesting times is theknowledge that the best is yet to come! �

[email protected]

How would youspend your

day at Digit?Turn to

Page 78and plan your

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32 DIGIT February 2009 www.thinkdigit.com 33www.thinkdigit.com� DIGIT February 2009

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Sennheiser HD 800The�German�company�has�introduced�a�new�set�

of�headphones�that�is�fast�becoming�the�new�reference�standard.�With�a�frequency�range�of�6�to�51,000�Hz,�and�oxygen�free�cabling,�

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TokyoFlash TenmetsuThe�innovative�people�at�TokyoFlash�never�seem�to�stop�in�their�ruthless�campaign�to�design�outrageous�watches.�We�are�not�complaining.�The�Kisai�Tenmetsu�tells�you�both�the�time�and�the�date,�by�showing�LED�lights�in�three�different�colours�on�a�2x4�array.�How�it�manages�to�do�this�is�anybody’s�guess,�but�if�you�really�want�your�watch�to�ooze�of�individuality,�this�is�something�just�for�you.�The�Tenmetsu�costs�$�255�(Rs.�12,469).


Digital Passion l Main Story

Digit: What were the kind of mission-specific require-ments that were factored in designing the TerrainMapping Camera? What is the image resolution ofon-board cameras like the TMC?IRSO: The aim of the Terrain Mapping Camera isto completely map the topography of the moon.The camera works in the visible region of theelectromagnetic spectrum and captures black-and-white stereo images. It scans a strip of lunarsurface which is 20 km wide with a resolution of5 m. Such high-resolution imaging helps inbetter understanding of the lunar evolutionprocess, as well as in the detailed study of theregions of scientific interest. When used inconjunction with data from Lunar Laser RangingInstruments (LLRI), it can help in better under-standing of the lunar gravitational fields as well.

Digit: How was the mission accomplished on such alow budget?ISRO: The total budget for Chandrayaan-1 proj-ect was Rs 386 crores, out of which about Rs 100crores was spent on the Deep Space Network,which has 32-m and 18-m antennas which canbe used for Chandrayaan-I as well as futuremissions. The Chandrayaan-I mission wasaccomplished within the budget by optimalutilisation of human resources, infrastructureand good planning.

Digit: What exactly is the Indian Deep Space Network(IDSN)? How does it counter any time delays?ISRO: The Indian Deep Space Network performsthe important task of receiving radio signalstransmitted by Chandrayaan-I spacecraft thatbecome incredibly feeble by the time they reachthe Earth. Besides, it can send commands to thespacecraft at a power level of up to 20 KW. TheIDSN consists of two large parabolic antennas,one with an 18-m, and the other 32-m diameterat Byalalu, situated about 35 km fromBangalore. Of these, the 32-m antenna with its‘seven mirror beam waveguide system’ wasindigenously designed, developed, built,installed, tested and qualified. The 18-mantenna can support the Chandrayaan-I lunarmission, while the 32-m antenna can supportany spacecraft mission deeper into space.

Digit: How would the Indian space programmecompare to NASA in terms of technology?ISRO: India is on par with the best in the worldin the area of satellite technology. India has thelargest constellation of remote sensing andcommunication satellites in the Asia-Pacificregion in civilian sector. ISRO is considered aleader in the application of space technologyfor the benefit of mankind and national devel-opment. The social applications such as tele-medicine and tele-education conceived by ISROand the setting up of village resource centres,

remote sensing services and communicationsatellites has drawn the attention the world.

Digit: What kind of future surface missions can weexpect post Chandrayaan-I? Is Chandrayaan the firststep in setting up a future moon base? Is a mission toMars on the cards?ISRO: Following Chandrayaan-I, ISRO has plansto launch Chandrayaan-II around 2011-12,carrying a lander and rover to collect sampleson the lunar surface and analyse the chemicalcomposition of the lunar soil. Studies havebeen initiated for undertaking an unmannedmission to Mars.

Digit: What is the significance of India being one offour countries to have its flag on the moon?ISRO: When the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) withIndian tricolor painted on its surface impactedthe lunar soil, India became the fourth countryto land a man-made object on the lunar surface.This is a significant achievement as the missioninvolved travelling a distance of 400,000 kilo-metres performing crucial manoeuvres to placethe satellite in lunar orbit and impacting lunarsoil at predetermined place with great accuracy.

Concluding thoughtsAlthough we were quite eager to know somedetails regarding the computer technologyused in the mission, such as processor, comput-ing power, AI (if any), unfortunately, IRSO waspretty tight-lipped.

We’re assuming that this may be sensitiveinformation, or just national trade secrets, whichwe obviously do not want to share with theworld. Stay tuned to this space, and we will tryand get continued updates about Chandrayaan,and future missions, as our nations flag iscarried proudly into outer space. �

[email protected]



in the visible, near-infrared, microwave andX-ray regions of the electromagnetic spec-trum. With this, preparation of a 3D atlasand chemical mapping of entire lunarsurface is being carried out. Some reallyfancy equipment like the Terrain MappingCamera (TMC), Lunar Laser RangingInstrument (LLRI), and some other spectraland X-ray imaging instruments were loadedon to the Chandrayaan.

The mission has certainly achieved someremarkable feats. The first one that comes tomind is more economic than scientific. Theentire mission was pulled off in a compara-tively humble budget of Rs 386 crores. Great!But some questions remain unanswered —why would you want to go to the moon in thefirst place? Didn’t the space race die out withthe Cold War? Agreed, the innate humandesire for exploration is undeniable, butthere have to be some real tangible benefits.Well we decided to find out through a one-on-one round with the scientists at ISRO. Andwhile we were at it, we bombarded them witha host of other questions regarding the tech-nology used, breakthroughs achieved, andfuture plans.

Digit: What were the motives behind the mission?Why would we need a detailed topographic mappingof the moon, and why analyse the lunar surface formineral deposits?ISRO: The primary objectives of Chandrayaan-I are: i) upgrade India’s technological capabil-ities, ii) expand scientific knowledge aboutthe moon, iii) provide challenging opportuni-ties for planetary research to the youngergeneration of Indian scientists. Outer spacewill be the next frontier of exploration formankind. The Moon will form an intermedi-ate base for undertaking exploration of outerspace. There is a need to identify the presenceof water to support astronauts undertakingdeep space flights, and for using water bybreaking up into hydrogen and oxygen as apossible source of propellant for futuremissions. There is also a need to exploitminerals and chemicals available on the lunarsurface. Preparation of a detailed topographicmap is essential to understand differentterrains of the Moon. Chandrayaan-I also aimsto look at the presence of Helium 3 on thelunar surface, which can be used as a fuel innuclear reactors that can be useful in solvingthe power requirements on Earth.

Siddharth Parwatay

Chandrayaan-I, India’s first mission tothe moon was launched on October22nd, 2008. At the time of going to

press, the mission has seen no major glitchesand has been near flawless, and we hope itstays that way. It has already beamed back toearth around 40,000 postcard-size high-defini-tion images of the moon. Soon, some 70 scien-tists from across the globe are expected topour over these images to unravel the myster-ies of the moon.

Overall, the mission had three objectives.The primary objectives of the mission are toexpand the scientific knowledge about theorigin and evolution of moon, upgradeIndia’s technological capabilities, andprovide challenging opportunities to youngscientists working in the planetary sciences.These objectives are to be achieved throughhigh resolution remote sensing of the moon

Chandrayaan

India is only thefourth countryto have its flagon the lunarsurface!

The Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft

SWIM(Solar-Wind Monitor)

CENA(ChandrayaanEnergetic NeutralAnalyzer)

MIP(Moon Impact Probe)

RADOM(Radiation Dose Monitor)

SIR-2(Infrared Spectrometer)

LLRI(Lunar Laser RangingInstrument)

TMC(Terrain MappingCamera)

CIXS(Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer)

M3(Moon MineralogyMapper)

Mini-SAR(Miniature SyntheticAperture Radar)

HySI(Hyper SpectralImager)

HEX(High-Energy X-raySpectrometer)

You can’t take a tripto the moon just yet,

but you cansee a few starson your way to our

Mumbai office.Details onPage 78



1-G technology involves the use of analogueradio signals for communication. Voice data ismodulated to a high frequency (usually beyond150 MHz) for transmission. Information trans-fer between telephone towers takes place in theform of digital signals.

2-G differs from 1-G in the use of digitalvoice signals for communication. The analoguevoice data is encoded into digital signals fortransmission.

How does 3G compare with the availabletechnology?3G is a substantial enhancement over thecurrent 2G technology, and is capable of facil-itating high-speed internet access and datatransfer. Adoption of 3G in India wouldinvolve substantial improvement in the exist-ing cell phones to be able to support 3G serv-ices. The idea of launching 2.5G services wasalso considered due to the difficulty ofmoving over from 2G to 3G. But the delay inlaunching advanced telecom services andlaunch of phones with 3G capabilities madethe choice easier.

High speed digital packet switchingnetworks are the source of the high speedoffered by 3G. Compared to the traditionalcircuit switching technology, packet switchingoffers better transmission bandwidth utilisa-tion, and hence higher data transfer rates.Additionally, advance multiplexing techniquesadd to network speed.

What changes can be expected due to 3G?The emergence of 3G is likely to act as catalystfor enhanced product and services. Creativesolutions evolving around user benefits areexpected to emerge.

� Quality of text, audio and video communica-tion would improve through:�Technology supporting more real-time, andnext to real quality communication

�Enhanced mobility and roaming�High quality e-mail and internet access

� 3G would enable heavy video broadcast(video conferencing, video lectures andvirtual classrooms, video sharing, etc.) anddata-intensive services (such as online moni-toring/surveillance, e-commerce, onlineeducation, telemedicine, music/software/datadownload, online gaming, etc.)

�High-end, light, feature intensive, and easy-to-use terminals would come into the marketwith creative interfaces designed to suitcustomer preferences.

Additionally, the strong business opportuni-ties around 3G are expected to attract a largenumber of players offering choice, affordabilityand quality to the consumer.

Differences between the three technologies1G1G technology was thestarting block in mobiletelephony offering qualityvoice service

Analogue voice service

Better sound quality than2G over long distancecalls

No data service

2G2G technology brought inenergy efficient digitalcommunication systemsfacilitating smallerhandsets and pricereduction

Digital encryption ofconversation

Better data security

Optimal spectrumutilization

Start of data services likeSMS

Limited e-mail access

Slow speed internetaccess

14.4-43.2 kilobits/sec datatransfer

3G"Launched in 2001, the 3Gservices have brought inhigh quality service andsubstantial userconvenience, but involveconsiderable investmentin technology for serviceproviders"

High speed internet onphones

Video communication

Heavy data transferservices

Quality and interactivityof services

Enhanced roaming

Strong network security

144 Kbits/sec (high speedmobile) & 2 Mbits/sec(stationary mobile) 7

Packet switching vs. circuit switchingCircuit switching involves dedicated link creationbetween two phones during a call leading to redundan-cies & high waiting time

In packet switching data is transmitted in the form ofencrypted digital data packets through the leastcongested route / nodes reducing redundancy in theprocess

Generation Switching Data type Period of Standardstechnology launch

1G Circuit switching Analog 1980 AMPS2G Circuit switching Digital Early 90s “TDMA, CDMA, GSM”2.5G Circuit switched for High speed Early 21st “GPRS, EDGE, 1xRTT”

access network & packet digital centuryswitched for core network

3G Packet switched Digital 2003 “WCDMA,broadband CDMA-2000”

The Generation Gap: 3G versus its siblings



Nishant Raman

India has seen rapid technological growth inrecent times, especially in the areas of infor-mation technology and communication.

Telecommunication has led the charge in thearea of consumer technology with rapid pene-tration of mobile telephony amongst themasses. India is already one of the largestconsumers of mobile phones, with an averagenine million users being added every month.The telecom tariff rates offered in India areamong the lowest in the world.

3G and WiMAX are the latest inclusions tothe mobile and internet communication fold,promising to take user-experience to a higherlevel through interactivity, greater convenience,improved access, and quality of services offered.This article aims to capture the essence of thesetwo technologies, analyze their impact oncommunication, and to conduct a comparativeassessment of relevance, and hence acceptabil-ity, of the two to the masses.

3GLaunch of 3G in IndiaDoors are opening for the launch of the muchawaited 3G service in India. The introduction

of advanced telecommunication services wasproposed in the tenth five year plan, pavingthe way for funding and resource allocationfor 3G services in the annual budget of theDepartment of Telecommunication (DoT). Theelectronic auctioning of the 3G spectrum isplanned to take place in two phases on 16thJanuary and 19th February, according to aDoT directive. This fresh initiative shouldpave the way for a wide range of products andmobile services being made available to theIndian consumer. 3G will facilitate high-speedinternet access through mobile phones andprovide mobility to a large number of servicessuch as video conferencing, gaming, and largedownloads.

Currently, the 2.1 GHz band is to beauctioned for launching 3G services in India.License winners are expected to roll out 3Gservices in 90 per cent of metro areas and 50per cent in other areas given to them (with aminimum 15 per cent rural coverage). Thiscoverage is expected by the end of the fifthyear, after spectrum allocation.

The 450 MHz band is currently beingutilized for radio communication, while the800 and 1,900 MHz bands are used for militarycommunication purposes. They will beauctioned when they become free.

What is 3G?“Third Generation wireless telecommunicationtechnology”, or 3G, is an advanced radio commu-nication technology which provides a marriageof high-speed internet access and high-qualitymobile telephony. The technology enables simul-taneous voice and non-voice data transfer.

3G

Frequency band Availability Freq block size Uplink Downlinkfrequency frequency

2.1 GHz 3 Available 2 x 5 MHz 1920-1980 MHz 2110-2170 MHz450 MHz 4 Proposed 2 x 1.25 MHz Undecided Undecided800 MHz Proposed 2 x 1.25 MHz Undecided Undecided1900 MHz Proposed 2 x 1.25 MHz 1900-1910 MHz 1980-1990 MHz

Table 1

WiMAXand

High speedmobile

connectivity iscoming toIndia





the third of its kind across the globe afterUSA and Taiwan.

According to the WiMAX forum, themarket for WiMAX in India, which includesdevice and service sales, will reach $13 billionby the year 2012. The forum pegs the numberof WiMAX users by 2012 at 27.5 million, anapproximate 20 per cent share of the world’stotal WiMAX user base at that time. Accordingto independent research by Maravedis, amarket research firm, the subscriber base forWiMAX in India is expected to reach 21million by the year 2014.

Leading global WiMAX companies, such asAlcatel-Lucent, Motorola and Samsung, arestarting their operations in India. Nokia hasannounced the launch of its first ever WiMAX-enabled phone which is scheduled to belaunched in India.

What is WiMAX?WiMAX, or “Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access”, is a broadband wirelesspoint-to-multipoint specification from theIEEE 802.16 working group, enabling wirelessbroadband networks with high speed. Leapsand bounds ahead of WiFi, WiMAX isdesigned to operate as a wireless metropoli-tan-area network.

WiMAX promises faster and superiorperformance, adaptability to various applica-tions, advanced IP-based architecture (enablingintegration of various applications with theinternet) and reduced rates to consumers.

WiMAX supports a range of modulationalgorithms to facilitate the realization of opti-mal bandwidth in all conditions. The theoret-ical maximum data bandwidth of 75Mbps canbe achieved with WiMAX using 64QAM 3/4modulation (only under optimal transmissionconditions).

Fixed WiMAX is limited to providing wire-less network access to fixed devices, a limita-tion eradicated by mobile WiMAX. WiMAX doesnot have the need for a direct line of sightbetween the source and endpoint of communi-cation/data transfer, unlike most other wirelesstechnologies. Mobile WiMAX supports SOFDMA

(Scalable Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiple Access), an enhancement overOFDMA256 which facilitates non-line-of-sightcommunication. SOFDMA also brings in betterthroughput and minimized sound fading inmultiple path scenarios.

What are the key highlights of WiMAX?WiMAX has some important features that haveattracted the attention of the whole informa-tion and communication community rangingfrom internet operators and mobile telecomoperators to fixed line telecom serviceproviders, and so on. The attraction of possiblegains in the future has brought many technol-ogy firms into the WiMAX fold:

� IP-based network: WiMAX specifications aredeveloped over IP and support IP-based appli-cations. The need to unify various communi-cation networks and to cut costs has inspired

Parameter ValueRange: Line-of-sight (LOS) ~50 KmRange: Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) ~10 KmMaximum data speed ~70 MbpsLicensed frequency band 2-11 GHzUn-licensed frequency band 10-66 GHzSwitching PacketMultiplexing SOFDMAModulation "BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM,

64QAM"Source: http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/16/

WiMAX specifications

Specification Description802.16-2001 LOS access in 10-66 GHz spectrum802.16c-2002 Improved QoS; support for HIPERMAN802.16a-2003 Added 2-10 GHz to existing standards802.16d-2004 Fixed WiMAX; supported OFDMA 256802.16e-2005 Mobile WiMAX; enhanced OFCDMA

multiplexing802.16f-2006 Information base management802.16g-2007 Mobility managementHIPERMAN Equivalent of 802.16 in EuropeWiBro Equivalent of 802.16 in Korea

Evolution of WiMAX

How has been the acceptability in othercountries?Japan was the first country to test and imple-ment 3G. The acceptability has been good for 3Gthere, with internet access, gaming and musicdownload being some of the prominent applica-tions. The objective of launching 3G in Japanand Korea was to develop an internal communi-cation network and hence the access charges forservice providers were kept low, resulting in low3G charges on consumers, and hence greaterpopularity and acceptance. 3G has done well inmost countries due to its good features. It hasbeen successfully launched and is being oper-ated in more than 50 countries currently.

On the other hand, the financial perform-ance of 3G operators has been poor in someregions due to high debts on service providers orhigh-access charges; especially in Europe. Theactual performance of 3G inmost places has beenlower than the specified speed standards and hascaused dissatisfaction among consumers, lead-ing to lower acceptance rates for the service.

What are the major concerns involving 3G?3G rollout in many countries has resulted infactors hindering acceptance of service amongconsumers and profitability of serviceproviders; India would do well to learn fromthem. Additionally, we foresee certain issuesthe operators are likely to face in India:

� High revenue expectations from 3G servicesresulted in high input fee/access chargeslevied on service providers for 3G servicelicenses.

� The price of 3G mobile services (includinginternet access) was kept excessively high insome countries, especially Europe, reducingthe attractiveness of the 3G offering.

� Heavy upfront capital investment is requiredfor developing local infrastructure capable ofsupporting 3G services in any country.

� 3G phones are more expensive compared to2G and other lower-end phones, making theswitch to 3G financially unfavourable forcommon consumers, especially in India.

� In India a substantial proportion of the popu-lation does not require 3G voice and data serv-ices in hand-held devices; this would limit thespread of 3G in the short term.

� Health impact of electromagnetic waveswould always remain a cause for concern.

� There is a general lack of awareness about 3Gservices even among the educated populationin India. It would take time for 3G services topick up, as has been the case globally.

What’s ahead for 3G?Organizations worldwide are involved in a raceto develop the next level of wireless communi-

cation, and hence to grab and maintain asubstantial market share. Some of the possiblenew areas of communication standard evolu-tion can be:� Universal networking: development of archi-tectures and middleware that support univer-sal networking between all communicationdevices leading to smooth communicationand data/application transfer from one deviceto another.

�Customized services: the user would have thepower over which function can be served bywhich device (one device acting as the centralcontroller for all other devices the user owns,music being played on one device while videoon another, etc.)

� Higher network speeds: with better band-width utilization and multiplexing technolo-gies, network speeds are expected to go up,enabling on-the-fly data transfer from onedevice to another.

� Other auxiliary services: other features andservices, such as heightened network securitythrough Bluetooth device-based protection,identification services, information servicescustomized to user preferences, centralizedbilling, etc would come up with the evolutionof communication technology.

� 4G: An upgrade over the current 3G systeminvolving some advanced features, such asbetter spectrum utilization, greater networkspeed, more simultaneous users per cellphone, better inter-operability across hetero-geneous networks, etc.

WiMAXLaunch of WiMAX in IndiaThe stage is set for the launch of WiMAX inIndia with the finalisation of dates for theauction of the 2.5 / 3 GHz spectrum by theDepartment of Telecommunciation (DoT). The3G and WiMAX spectrums are scheduled to beauctioned during January and February 2009.

In a recent announcement, the Indiachapter of the WiMAX Forum has madepublic its plans to set up an applications labat the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),Delhi. In view of the high business potentialof the Indian market, the WiMAX communityplaces high importance on India; this isevident from the plan to set up this lab, only

Date ActionDec 11 & 13 2008 Bidders meetDec 19 2008 Pre-bid conferenceDec 31 2008 Last date of submitting applicationsJan 05 2009 Pre-qualification of biddersJan 16 2009 First phase of auctioningFeb 09 2009 Second phase of auctioning

The timetable

Speaking of nextgeneration

technology, whyread about it, when

you canexperience it

when youvisit our TestCenter.

Flip toPage 78

and find out how.





� High speed data and telecom services:WiMAX specifications can be used by telecomoperators to design high speed communica-tion and data services for consumers.

� Providing Nomadic connectivity: MobileWiMAX would make it possible to providegood connectivity to communication devicesin motion.

� Connectivity systems for disaster situations:during disasters and calamities physical infra-structure can become damaged, limitingconnectivity in critical situations. WiMAXconnectivity can be vital in such conditions.

� Physical infrastructure substitution: highspeed data backhaul through WiMAX canlead to the transformation of many dataintensive services by the substitution of thephysical hardware by wireless connectivity.For example, Internet Protocol Television(IPTV) can substitute traditional cable-basedTV, backhaul for Wi-Fi hotspots can shiftfrom DSL, evolution of mobile data TV, emer-gency response services, wireless backhaul assubstitute for fibre-optic cable, etc.

What are the major concerns aboutWiMAX?Despite the mentioned advantages and the busi-ness potential, there are several potential issuesand roadblocks for a WiMAX rollout in India:

� Spectrum Allocations Issues: globally, the roll-out of WiMAX in many nations has beendelayed due to the required frequency bandsbeing occupied for other applications. The situ-ation was similar in India with a substantialportion of the required frequency being usedby the military. With the recently plannedauctions for WiMAX the roadblocks seem to belifting.

� Market downturn: due to the recenteconomic downturn, firms may find it diffi-cult to pull in financial resources to make thenecessary investments for WiMAX rollout.

� Other technologies: availability of existingtechnologies and required investments maydeter many firms from making the shift toWiMAX. Additionally, the long delayed 3Gwould also compete for market share in India,possibly leading to restricted growth forWiMAX.

� Performance Issues: In addition, some of thefrequencies utilized by WiMAX are subject tointerference from rainfade. The unlicensedWiMAX frequencies are subject to RF interfer-ence from competing technologies andcompeting WiMAX networks.

What’s ahead for WiMAX?Keeping in mind the technical superiority ofWiMAX over other wireless networking tech-

nologies, the possibilities are rife that WiMAXwould be used to develop higher generationdata and communication technologies like 4G.For instance, the US based telecom firmQualcomm has been pushing a standard for 4Gknown as 802.20, based on OFDMA, a multi-plexing standard developed for WiMAX.

Further new technologies like 802.20Mobile-Fi are expected to emerge challengingexisting standards and providing betterperformance in terms of bandwidth, speed,reduced latency, encryption (noise reduction &security), et al.

3G vs. WiMAXComparison of existing wirelesscommunication technologiesThe communications space has seen an array ofwireless technologies, each bringing in a newset of characteristics and raising performancestandards. 3G, WiMAX, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, arethe prominent ones.

In terms of data transmission capabilities,WiMAX leaves all the currently available wire-less technologies far behind. LTE, a technologybeing backed by Ericsson, is similar to WiMAXand is expected to surpass WiMAX in terms ofperformance in future.

Comparison of 3G and WiMAXBoth 3G and WiMAX have been touted as thenext big hopes for the communications sectorand particularly telecommunications technol-ogy. Globally, 3G has been present in themarket for a period of time and has acquired amarket share, while WiMAX is still a very recentphenomenon which has had limited deploy-ments across the globe. A comparative analysisof both follows:

� Existing infrastructure: in many nationslarge telecom players have invested heavily in3G technology in the last few years, creating

120

100

80

60

40

20

0802.16e HIPERMAN WiBro UMTS W-

CDMAHSDPA +HSUPA

UMTS-TDD LTE UTMS 1xRTT BV-DO 1xRev.0

Rev A

Rev A

Source: http://www.palowireless.com/i802_16/wimax.asp

Data Capacities of wireless technologies

Uplink Downlink

firms globally to shift telephony to VoIP,enhancing the importance of WiMAX. Theshift to IP-based network enables much easierand cheaper network monitoring and manage-ment with standard tools for telecom opera-tors.� Flatter and simpler topology: a datanetwork by design, WiMAX has a moresimple topology compared to cellularnetworks which have undergone layer addi-tions to accommodate data transmissioncapabilities. WiMAX also requires less timeand fewer hardware, investment and humanresource to set up than traditional cellu-lar/Wi-Fi infrastructures, resulting in lowerservice costs for end users. WiMAX alsoprovides the capability to scale up and downaccording to the application requirements.

�Adaptability to a wide range of applications:with its IP-based architecture, WiMAXsupports a wide range of communication anddata transfer applications. WiMAX alsoprovides the possibility of transforming theway a large number of services such as inter-net, telephony, cable TV, etc. are currentlyprovided to consumers.

� Inexpensive interface: the costs involved inmigrating existing hardware to WiMAX arelow, owing to the low prices of the requiredchipsets and interfacing devices.

How does WiMAX compare with WiFi?Even though a large number of comparisons aremade between WiMAX and WiFi, the similari-ties are limited when compared to the perform-ance differences between these two technolo-gies. WiMAX provides a wide range of advan-tages over Wi-Fi:

� Wider reach: Wi-Fi is short range (30-100metres) compared to WiMAX, which providesa coverage radius of about 50 kms. This leads

to Wi-Fi being limited to providing access onlywithin a shop or a floor of a building, whileWiMAX in comparison can cover much widerspaces.� Optimal bandwidth utilization: advancedmultiplexing provides better bandwidthutilization in WiMAX compared to WiFi.

� Higher speeds: Wi-Fi hotspots are typicallybackhauled over ADSL. Due to this, Wi-Fiaccess has poor upload speeds between therouter and the internet compared to WiMAX.Additionally, no traffic prioritization leads tofarther systems being made to wait longerthan the ones close by in a Wi-Fi network.Proper scheduling in WiMAX standards takescare of this issue.

� Limited hardware and manpower require-ment: to service an area covered by WiMAXusing Wi-Fi networks would need a largenumber of hotspots to be created throughrouters. This necessitates a much highermanpower and hardware requirement for Wi-Fi compared to WiMAX which only requires atower to be installed.

� Noise reduction: with stronger encryp-tion/modulation, WiMAX performs better innoisy conditions.

� Security: with enhanced encryption,WiMAX offers better security than Wi-Finetworks which have been notorious forsecurity breaches.

What are the potential applicationsof WiMAX?The bandwidth, reach and IP-based topology ofWiMAX make it suitable for a large number ofpotential applications. Some of the possibleapplications of WiMAX which stand to trans-form the way the whole information andcommunication business operates globally are:

� Shifting telephony to VoIP: globally, fixed-line telecom players are losing market shareto mobile operators. WiMAX provides anopportunity for these players to transformtheir cable-based systems to IP-based VoIPsystem and provide additional high-speeddata services.

� Last mile broadband connectivity:WiMAX isthe ideal technology for providing a wirelessalternative to cable and DSL for last milebroadband access to direct consumers.

� Connecting remote locations: remote loca-tions with limited telecom infrastructure andsparse populations can be financially infeasi-ble when connected through physical wire-based infrastructure. WiMAX provides a viableoption to provide connectivity in these areas

� Connecting Wi-FI hotspots: WiMAX can beused to connect various Wi-Fi hotspots witheach other and to other parts of the internet.

exit barriers for themselves. These playerswould find it economically unviable to shift toanother technology such as WiMAX withouthaving first gathered the fruits of their invest-ments. But in India, with the delay in imple-mentation of 3G, both WiMAX and 3G couldstart the race for market penetration on equalfooting.�Need: in a country like India where the pene-tration of broadband and dial-up has beenlimited due to the weak physical infrastruc-ture, the need for newer technologies thatcould reduce costs and dependence on physi-cal infrastructure, is even greater. While 3G isa strong technology, improving mobilecommunication standards substantially, itstill trails behind advantages such as lowercost of last mile connectivity, limited depend-ence on physical infrastructure, fasternetworks, higher data hauling capabilities,limited data fade, and enhanced mobility,offered by WiMAX.

� Availability of supporting applications: InIndia most consumers still use phones,computers, laptops and other devices whichdo not support 3G or WiMAX. Due to talk of3G being launched in India having beengoing on for some years, there are a numberof 3G supporting phones now available inhere, while the devices supporting WiMAXare yet to be launched in India. With bigplayers such Nokia and IMB, supportingWiMAX in a big way and their plans forlaunching chips and gadgets supportingWiMAX in the near future, this issue willsurely be taken care of.

� Cost of migration for consumers: Asdiscussed, WiMAX is a relatively inexpensivetechnology being targeted for the masses bythe big players. In the case of WiMAX, inter-facing equipment is available helping oldcosumers shift to the new technology withtheir old hardware, and the cost for the tran-

sition is expected to be very low due to the lowcost of related technology. Also, the cost of newhardware supporting WiMAX would be similarto that of their non-WiMAX versions. The samedoes nor apply to 3G where most mobilephones supporting it are substantially expen-sive and require complete discard of old hand-sets.� Telecom player’s perspective:

�Fixed line: 3G is a threat for fixed line oper-ators as it provides enhanced capabilities tothe mobile operators, providing an opportu-nity for them to attract more consumersand take more market share away fromfixed line. WiMAX provides an opportunityfor fixed line players to improve theircompetitiveness through reduction of costsaround the physical infrastructure, andimproved performance capabilities by shift-ing to VoIP.

�Mobile: Mobile operators worldwide haverecognized the importance of 3G, yetWiMAX would remain attractive, owing toits enhanced data transmission capabilities,providing an opportunity to offer enhanceddata and communication services.

� Applications: as discussed earlier, both 3Gand WiMAX would support the evolution ofenhanced communication products andservices, but the impact of WiMAX isexpected to be bigger and goes beyond cellu-lar communication — affecting a wide rangeof services including cable TV, fixed linetelecommunication, network data back-haul, etc.Close scrutiny suggests that both 3G and

WiMAX have a lot to offer to the Indianmarket, with WiMAX being a bit more suitedto the India condition especially with thedelayed deployment of 3G and weak fixed wire& broadband infrastructure. Opportunitiesare vast for 3G and WiMAX in India with thepossibility of them co-existing as complimen-tary technologies in the wake of strongcommunication and coverage needs here. It islikely that both technologies would continueto operate in India with the market being frag-mented between these two new technologiesand other legacy systems.

[email protected]

Standard Family Application Multiplexing Notes802.16e WiMAX MobileInternet SOFDMA Quoted speeds

achievable at shortrange; practically10Mbps at 10Km

HIPERMAN HIPERMAN MobileInternet OFDMWiBro WiBro MobileInternet OFDM Short range (<5km)UMTS W-CDMA UMTS/3GSM Mobile phone CDMA/FDD Roadmap showsHSDPA+HSUPA HSDPA up to

28.8Mbps from thebase station. Userscan get D/L of400-600 Kbps and~100Kbps uplink

UMTS-TDD UMTS/3GSM Mobile Internet CDMA/TDD Reported speedsaccording toIPWireless

Competing wireless communications technologies

Parameter 3G WiMAXCommunication for Download 2 Mbps; Download 10 Mbps;stationary devices Upload 0.15 Mbps Upload 2-3 MbpsCommunication for Low speed 0.14 Mbps High speed 2 Mbpsmobile devices High latency (>100 ms) Low latency (<100 ms)Bandwidth Theoretical maximum Theoretical maximum

2.4 Mbps 70 MbpsSecurity High HighQoS High High; latency as low as <10ms

Specifications for 3G and WiMAX


DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009 www. thinkdigit.com42

43www.thinkdigit.com F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 9

73ToolsDigital

51Technology For Personal And SoHo Productivity

83Cell PhoneTest

Bazaar Agent 001

Feature

In his column in the January issue ofDigit, Edward Henning promised that wewould start covering the issue ofcustomer service, and invited readers towrite in to us at [email protected], with any serious andproperly documented examples of badservice they had received. We havereceived some examples from readers,although at the time of writing most ofthese are still under investigation. Ofcourse, consumer rights are protected bylaw, and therefore, in this article, westart by looking at the relevant legisla-tion as well as an example problem fromone of our readers.

If you have a genuine problemwith a vendor, often, one of thequickest ways of getting them to

take action is to make it clear thatyou understand the law thatprotects you, and you are fullyprepared to make use of it.

Several years ago in the UK, Ilearnt that when confronted by ashop or other vendor that refusedto, say, exchange a printer thatdidn’t work properly, to say some-thing like this: “Are you not familiarwith the law, under the Sale ofGoods (Implied Terms) Act, 1972?

“I am, and so is my lawyer. Yourrefusal to exchange my printercontravenes that law. Are we goingto do this the expensive way?” Thatusually does the trick nicely. So,what is the equivalent here in India?In order to find out, I went along tothe Department of ConsumerAffairs, and met its Director, Mr. G.N. Sreekumaran. He told me that thestate of customer care in India is notup to the standards that I mighthave seen back in the UK, and thatmany companies either do not giveprompt and proper response, or theydo not even have customer caredepartments. Of course he is refer-ring to the whole range of compa-

Customersatisfaction

45www.thinkdigit.com F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 9

Digital Tools l Feature

cases, the resolution of complaints runs at about14 per cent, but with those companies in theConvergence Process, it is around 50 per cent.The main reason for the 50 per cent figure isthat many complaints turn out not to be valid.With the 14 per cent figure, however, there arealso many companies that simply do not comply.It is then that a consumer will need to turn tothe courts.

The court structure that has been set upunder the provisions of the Consumer ProtectionAct is a three-tier system, with District Forums ata local level, State Commissions at the state level,and the National Commission for the country asa whole (with the exception of Jammu andKashmir). These courts attempt to resolve alldisputes within a 90-day period. However, in prac-tice, this usually does not work out. The companyagainst which the complaint is made has to begiven time to investigate the complaint andarrange any defence — this usually takes theprocess over the 90-day period.

These courts are under the umbrella of theNational Consumer Disputes RedressalCommission (see: ncdrc.nic.in). Action throughthese courts is clearly a last resort, and thegovernment intends to set up a system ofconciliation and mediation that consumerscould use instead of going to the courts. Thiswill be along the lines of the UK’s ConsumerDirect Service, a government funded service forinformation and advice on consumer issues.That organisation’s web site states that it “willrecommend a clear course of action to follow”,but, “cannot intervene directly in consumermatters, such as taking action against a trader.”I get the sense that the Indian equivalent willperhaps have a few more teeth than the UKoriginal. Let’s hope so.

A free market is supposed to work by thelaw of supply and demand — notice that secondword. The market can only supply whatconsumers demand, and if we are undemand-ing — not just of the products we need, but alsoof the quality that we expect and the servicethat we deserve — then we should not besurprised to receive poor treatment. So, if youare treated badly by a company, make sure yourcomplaint is genuine, acquaint yourself prop-erly with the law and your rights, and pressyour complaint vigorously; if necessary, withthe help of the National Consumer Helpline.

Everybody benefits. Not just you if you endup getting your printer or ‘phone fixed, but theindustry as a whole, because complaints tendto push companies to providing better prod-ucts and services which in turn means thattheir customers are more likely to return tothem and purchase more. And the offer stillstands to let Digit know of serious problemsand we will contact the company concerned onyour behalf: [email protected].


Digital Tools l Feature

nies and goods and service.The relevant legislation is the Consumer

Protection Act, 1986, together with severalamendments (see: http://ncdrc.nic.in/1_1.html).The language used in a legislation like thismakes for pretty heavy reading, and so I shallnot quote from it extensively. However, one ofthe key points is that the consumer isprotected from goods having any “fault, imper-fection or shortcoming in the quality, quantity,potency, purity or standard which is requiredto be maintained by or under any law for thetime being in force under any contract, expressor implied or as is claimed by the trader in anymanner whatsoever in relation to any goods”.Services are also covered.

There is also mention in the Act of protec-tion regarding unfair trade practices, pricingand other issues, but the key point is that youare guaranteed redress, if something youpurchase doesn’t meet proper expectations —even if there is no warranty or the warrantyhas expired. For example, in an extreme case, if

you purchase a printer, and only try to use oneparticular function that is described in thedocumentation a few days after the warrantyexpires, and find that it fails, you have a verygood case for replacement if it can be shownthat this has not come about by normal wearand tear. This function may not have beenmentioned when you purchased the printer,but it is common in printers and is clearlydocumented — it is therefore a quality whichwas implied when you made the purchase, touse the language as given in the quote above.

If you are faced with a situation like this,and the vendor refuses promptly either to repairor replace the goods, or give you your moneyback, the first thing to do is to make it clear thatyou are fully aware of your rights under the law,and you are quite willing to use the law to seekredress. You should, of course, make sure in thefirst place that you have a genuine case, by read-ing carefully the warranty and any terms andconditions that might apply.

If this does not work, and the vendor is notaddressing your complaint properly, whatshould you do next? I put this question to theDepartment of Consumer Affairs’ Mr.Sreekumaran. He suggested that the first stepshould be to call the National ConsumerHelpline, on 1800-11-4000.

There are basically two levels of help thatyou might receive. The first one concernscompanies that have joined the curiouslynamed Convergence Process with theHelpline. Currently there are about 150 suchcompanies, and they include some namesthat will be familiar to Digit readers, such asAirtel, Reliance, Acer, BPL Sanyo, Hitachi,Lenovo, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Philips,Samsung, Sansui, Sharp, Sony and SonyEricsson. The list from which these nameshave been taken is at least two months oldand more have recently joined.

If a complaint comes in to the Helplineregarding one of these companies, the detailsare immediately sent electronically to theconcerned department in the respectivecompany. These companies have all stated thatthey will act promptly on the complaints theyreceive, and give feedback to both the aggrievedconsumer and to the Helpline. If this schemeworks as described, then the more companiessign up, the better. If any of you do happen touse the Helpline, do let us know results youobtain, either to the email address given above,or through the forums on thinkdigit.com.

If the company with which you have acomplaint has not joined the ConvergenceProcess, the level of help you get will vary. Thehelpline will do its best to help, advising youwho to contact in the company and how toapproach the problem.

According to Mr. Sreekumaran, with these

The case of a faulty monitor

One reader contacted us after her business monitor from ViewSonicfailed while still under warranty. She told us that the company

took six days to visit, but were unable to fix the monitor immediately.No replacement was offered, and time dragged on. After three weekswithout a working monitor, and several calls to ViewSonic, she wroteto Digit. We, in turn, contacted ViewSonic. The company acted veryquickly, and within a couple of days our reader had a new monitor.

So, what had gone wrong, if anything? We spoke to Mr. NeerajVerma, Customer Service Manager for ViewSonic India. He told us thatone problem with this case had been the fact that the particularmodel of monitor concerned was “End-of-Life.” This means that thecompany no longer sells it, or are just selling off the last ones, and sothey are running down the stock of spare parts, etc., making it diffi-cult to repair. This is clearly true, as the replacement monitor that hasbeen delivered to our reader is a more recent model.

The other main problem was that two components were faulty inthis particular device, and this was not realised when the monitor wasfirst inspected.

Mr. Verma told us that the company usually manages to fixcustomer problems within five days, sometimes in just one or twodays. So, judging by ViewSonic’s own standards, this particular readerwas not treated well, having been without a working monitor for overthree weeks.

One point Mr. Verma made that echoed comments from theDepartment of Consumer Affairs was to ask that customers checktheir facts fully before making a complaint. Check your warranty andterms and conditions — the ViewSonic web site has some informationon this — and make sure you have a valid complaint first. He said thatthere are a significant number of false complaints that are made, andthat these slow down the process of fixing genuine ones.

In summary, this was perhaps a more difficult case than normalfor ViewSonic, and the company did act quickly after we contactedthem, but it seems wrong to leave a customer without a workingsystem for so long.

Digital Tools l Netbooks Test

47www.thinkdigit.com DIGIT FEBRuaRy 2009


Rossi Fernandes & Kumar Jhuremalani

Many would agree that notebooks or laptops were considered tools

for the elite businessmen under a decade ago. That is no longer the case. Today, students carry them to school and colleges. Some even use it as their only computer because they make for a simpler purchase than a desktop PC, and a convenient one.

Price played a part in this shift of perception. Notebooks were expensive once, well beyond the reach of all but the elite businessmen that carried them; they have dropped in prices over the years. Today, you can easily purchase an entry-level laptop for less than Rs. 25,000. Still, there are a few problems with notebooks even though they are this cheap. although they have become smaller and more power-ful, power consumption also has gone up and down went their battery life. Thus most laptops that you can buy for around

Rs. 25,000 will have a battery life of about two hours. The other problem with laptops this cheap is they are heavy and painful to lug around; not exactly portable at that. While there is a solution — to opt for ultra-portable note-books, these typically start at around Rs. 75,000 and they are often out of the reach of most of us looking for portability.

The year 2008 changed the status quo though. It saw a wave of notebooks hit our shores with the launch of the highly antici-pated, low-power processors from Intel called the atom. The atom processor was (relatively) cheap, small and power efficient. With the first atom processors sprouted brands that used these in their low-power notebooks. These were quickly called net-books and they were targeted at users who wanted affordable laptops. Netbooks are so-called as they happen to be best suited for tasks of surfing the internet, along with mild office usage.

The first question to ask here is why anyone would want to buy a netbook. To start with, it’s probably not the best thing to own as your primary computer: if you have no other PC or laptop, a netbook won’t serve you best. at least not today, who knows what future processors bring to this segment... With that caveat, there are many scenarios that fit netbooks perfectly. They have long battery lives so you can get the same battery performance you would get on an expensive, power-efficient laptop. Netbook make great second computers to own. you can carry them wherev-er you want. you can use them to browse the internet while sitting in the living room on the couch, watching a game of cricket on TV. unlike most “laptops” these will actually fit in your laps and not run as hot as to burn you. For those who would like to buy a cheap PC, a netbook could be an option to consider — just remem-ber that you will have to do with-out an optical drive, as well as with a very cramped keyboard.

Prêt-à-Portable Looking for a light notebook that won’t break the bank? Then a netbook is what you need

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Today, almost every brand has a netbook to offer. This is then the right time for us to do a small comparison of the net-books available in the market. We received seven netbooks from six brands. One of the newest netbooks to come to India was the BenQ Joybook Lite u101. We weren’t given a price for this yet.

Acer Aspire One

The acer aspire One was one of the first netbooks to arrive

in India, along with the aSuS Eee PC and the MSI Wind. This is a smaller laptop in com-parison to the others. The aspire One comes with a 9-inch screen much like the aSuS 904Ha. The big differ-ence is that the size of the aspire is a lot smaller than the aSuS Eee PC 904Ha.

When it was released, many considered the aspire One to the best looking netbooks and its blue-coloured avatar was proudly

exhibited in almost every mall across the country. It was this netbook that we received. This One has a glossy finish on the top and on the insides surround-ing the screen. The hinge of the aspire One houses its status LEDs and the ends of the hinge have an orange tip compliments the look and finish of the netbook.

Build quality of the acer One is average; the outer shell feels

right but the keyboards have a light feel. Pressing them doesn’t require a lot of effort and the keys feel slightly wobbly.

Speaking of the key-board, we come to per-haps the biggest negative

of netbooks —being such small laptops,

they keyboards a c c o r d i n g l y shrink in size. For the aspire One, the keys

are smaller all throughout the key-

board. The touchpad too is small with the mouse buttons positioned vertically instead of horizontally. although get-ting used to the limited sur-face area of the touchpad is a problem for everyone, the but-tons were easier to get used to over time. The touchpad is so small that you have to swipe your finger many times verti-cally to move the pointer from the top to the bottom of the screen. Even changing the mouse sensitivity didn’t help a lot.

The audio quality is fine and fairly detailed; just not loud enough. If you think you might watch movies or TV shows on this netbook, you might need either laptop speakers or a good set of headphones. The screen isn’t so great for movie watching either: viewing angles aren’t for-giving and the backlight bleed-ing is clearly visible.

If anyone gets the impression that this isn’t a good netbook, then they are mistaken. Netbooks were expected to be under Rs 20,000 before they were to be released. Manufacturing costs drove the prices over that mark

but today. acer has informed us that the price for the aspire One is Rs 20,000 and it differs from model to model. The pricing for it on online shopping sites when we last checked for the aspire One with Linux was around some Rs. 14,500 and the one with Windows XP is Rs. 17,500. The acer aspire One in that case is good value for money.

ASUS Eee PC 904HA and 1000H

The aSuS EeePC 10000H and the 904Ha are almost identi-

cal to each other in shape and design. With their lids shut, the only real way to tell them apart is to look for the 1000H’s pro-truding battery. The 904Ha we received came with a 6600mah battery.

The 904Ha, as its name sug-gests, has a 9-inch screen and the 1000H, a 10-inch one. The 904Ha has two thick panels on the either side of its screen which look like speakers at first but the speakers are in fact at the bottom, for both these netbooks.

One of the complaints laid out at the Eee PC’s feet has to be about its small and narrow vents that run down the side of the netbook. This makes the Eee PC heat up a little more than the others as there isn’t a lot of air ventilation within the chassis. The Eee PC netbooks also look plain and don’t stand out much. The keys feel a little flimsy and the mouse buttons for the touch-pad are a bit tacky as well. One of the unique features of the Eee

Netbooks aren’t meant for high-end gaming or even for power-users. Having read up and fol-

lowed developments on netbooks for a while, it was expected that almost all the brands would be very close in performance, ruling out performance as the deciding factor while purchasing one. We modified our laptop comparison test sheets to better suit the netbooks. PCMark 2005 was used as the primary test for desktop application performance. We even ran an older 3DMark - 2005 on the netbooks to measure graphic subsystem performance. We also used SiSoft Sandra as a synthetic benchmark to gauge other subsystems including the memory subsystem and the hard drive.

One of the most important points we focused on was the battery life test. A video was run with the brightness of the screen and volume turned up. Some of the netbooks had built-in overclocking and battery saving features, which were all turned off for the test.

We decided to run Far Cry just to see what kind of gaming performance we could get from the netbooks. We also did a DivX video compression test and a WinRAR benchmark to measure processing power.

Scores and ratings were also given to the other features of the netbooks. We looked at screen quality, audio quality, build quality, touchpad and many other aspects of the netbooks.

How We Tested

DIGIT FEBRuaRy 2009 www.thinkdigit.com46

ASUS Eee PC 904HA

Acer Aspire One

48 DIGIT FEBRuaRy 2009 www.thinkdigit.com




PC is its multi-touch track pad which allows you to use gestures by sliding multiple fingers simul-taneously, like you would do on the new apple devices.

The keypad is one of the most usable, of all the netbooks we tested. There are dedicated but-tons for changing screen resolu-tion, Skype, performance modes and also to turn off the screen. There is no button or shortcut to disable the touchpad though. There are some small differences between these siblings though – the webcam is a 1.3-MP on the 1000H and a 0.3-MP on the 904Ha, the latter also misses out on Bluetooth.

The biggest differences between the two are their screen size and battery. We recommend the Rs. 23,990 1000H as are you aren’t saving any baggage space by picking the 9-inch 904Ha. On the other hand, if you value battery life above all, then the 904Ha is the one to buy. That’s available for Rs. 20,490.


BenQ is best known for the LCD screens and optical drives but

not so much for laptops in India. at first glimpse, things look very good for their new netbook. The first thing you notice about the BenQ Joybook u101 is its beautiful surface; complete with accented patterns under its blue glossy finish. It gives the netbook a unique look and makes it feel more personal.

With the lid opened, the inside of the laptop resembles the LG XNote and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10. It doesn’t look a lot different from the LG and the Lenovo here. a metallic power button, two sets of LEDs, rounded edges and a rounded combined mouse but-ton are some of things that stand out when you look at it.

The screen of the Joybook is 16:9 and runs at a resolution of 1024 x 576. This is a little less vertical workspace than the other 1024 x 600 displays.

This might be great for movie buffs but not so great when you need the most workspace avail-able for other applications. While rest of the hardware remains the same as the other netbooks, the Joybook Lite u101 is one of the

only ones to give you more than a gigabyte of memory to start with. The u101 comes with 1.5 GB of RaM which can be upgraded to 2 GB. This doesn’t show any drastic improvements over other note-books in performance.

although the performance in all tests match the other net-books, the battery life test shows that the 3-cell Joybook Lite lasts for just over two hours. That’s a bit better than 10-inch Lenovo S10 and a lot more than the LG X110.

The BenQ has nothing more to offer in terms of performance or features. a set of necessary feature and looks is what it has going for it mostly. Being a very new product, BenQ hasn’t provid-ed us a price for the Joybook Lite

u101. Still, the BenQ Joybook Lite in our opinion is a good option should the price be around the Rs. 20,000 mark.

LG X110

LG isn’t very aggressive in the laptop market but their new

netbook is an interesting one. The LG X110 is one of the best looking netbooks around and one which is very comparable to the Lenovo IdeaPad and the BenQ Joybook. One notable aspect of this netbook is a neat array of LEDs lining its bottom, and a glowing blue power button.

The entire look of the LG X110 makes it almost a Mac-like laptop when opened. The white is bound to get dirty over time, though. The touchpad is good and has a single piece button with two mouse buttons. The design and feel of the touchpad is great and is effortless to use. a hotkey can be used to disable the touchpad if you choose to use an external mouse instead; a welcome touch.

Its speakers are one of the weaker points of the LG X110. They are very loud but they have a very shrill treble output and don’t make for good music lis-tening. another kink in the LG is that the netbook has a front end where you normally rest you palm that sticks up from the surface you place it on. Typing becomes a little uncomfortable this way. Some other manufac-turers have chosen to bevel that edge so you can rest your palm.

a feature not seen on compet-ing netbooks is the 3G modem

built in as an option. a sim card can be inserted into the netbook which allows you to access the Internet. This

could be a very use-

f u l fe a -ture

when 3G services finally arrive in India.

The keyboard feels well built with nice, firm keys. The netbook has plenty of wide open vents at its bottom such that there is almost no heat given out off the top of the netbook. Having said that, the area underneath does get a little hot. all in all, exclud-ing the audio quality and low battery life, the X110 is a pretty decent netbook that rivals the BenQ Joybook for looks.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 grabs you attention with its deep-

blue top and chrome-finished Lenovo badge. The beauty runs to the inside as well though, with good attention to detail in places such as the camera, for example, which has a nice chrome ring around it.

Looks aren’t everything and it doesn’t take too long to notice a few functionality issues with the S10. The buttons on the touchpad are hard and the Function key is placed on the extreme left of the keyboard instead of the Control key—if you are used to desktop keyboards, your hand will invari-ably hit Function when you want-ed to reach for the Control but-ton. This is a problem also seen on the MSI Wind.

The F12 key, although not used often, is missing from the keyboard. It is only available as a hotkey. The Tab key is also much smaller. all these reduc-tions seem to have benefited the rest of the keyboard layout — it’s spacious. The keyboard also feels sturdy with little trav-el to the keys.

Performance figures for this netbook were also identical to most of its competitors. a detail to note here: 3D Mark 2005 refused to run due to the as the netbook lacked the minimum of 128 MB video memory required for the benchmark. We couldn’t set the video memory beyond 64 MB.

There aren’t any hotspots around the notebook. The only bit of heat can be felt on the sides

of the unit; nothing around the touchpad, which is a good thing. There is a compact and light-weight battery on the Lenovo S10 which kept the S10 running for 1 hr 48 minutes in our tests; which is a decent time.

There are many netbooks with better battery life and these are available for a lot less than the S10. at Rs. 26,000, it’s definitely expensive and is worth only looks matter the most to you.

MSI Wind U100

The MSI Wind is a 10-inch netbook and was one

of the first netbooks avail-able in India. Back when it launched, it was one of the favourites for its design. The Wind has a rounded and bevelled motif which many users seem to prefer to the more compact and bright glossy finishes found in competing netbooks.

The build quality of the Wind is average. One of the problems is that the hinge for the LCD screen is pretty weak and wobbles at the slightest opportunity. The keyboard isn’t so good either. Still, the keyboard feels a little better than the aSuS Eee PC. Much like the Lenovo S10, this netbook has the Function on the left as well, which takes getting used to. The directional keys are smaller and nar-rower and might not be so good for any simple games

that you might want to play on.The screen is decent but can

be a little too bright, to be of com-fort. There are LEDs for almost every kind of indication that you may need to see. The audio too doesn’t sound great and it tends to emphasise the highs a bit.

In terms of performance, the only place where the MSI Wind lacked power was in the drive related tests. For example, SiSoft Sandra showed a 39 MB/s drive index score whereas the others were around 50 MB/s.

ASUS Eee PC 1000H


LG X110

Lenovo IdeaPad S10

MSI Wind U100



The MSI Wind although a decent netbook, was expensive and difficult to get in 2008. The price is still a bit on the higher side, for what it offers.

What should you get?There was no clear winner, no net-book that stood out. all the net-books had minor differences in the components used which reflected in the synthetic and real world benchmarks that we ran; but these performance differences were not big enough to come to notice.

Battery life was the only important performance figure that emerged from this shootout. Battery life takes on more importance, since one would typically use a netbook away from a power socket; more often than not.

as far as battery performance goes, there is nothing to beat the aSuS Eee PC 904Ha. It is undoubt-edly the best of the lot. Four and a half hours is a really long time for a notebook to be running on batter-ies. It also is good value for money and wins the Best Buy awayd. The

Contact Sheet NetbooksContact Phone E-mail Web site

Acer Acer India 080-40708747 [email protected] www.acer.co.inASUS ASUS Technology 022-67668800 / 18002090365 [email protected] www.asus.inBenQ BenQ India 0124-4501400 [email protected] www.benq.co.inLenovo Lenovo India 080-22108490 / 18004252666 [email protected] www.lenovo.com/inLG LG Electronics India 0120-2560900 [email protected] www.lgindia.comMSI MSI 18002000004 [email protected] www.msi-in.com

Netbooks

BrandModel

AcerAspire One

ASUSEee PC 904HA

ASUSEee PC 1000H

BenQJoybook Lite U101

Lenovo IdeaPad S10

LGX110

MSIWind U100

Price (Rupees) 20,000 20,490 23,990 NA 24,490 26,000 25,000Grand Total (Out of 100) 69.00 76.12 77.01 78.93 74.85 75.14 70.16Features (Out of 70) 45.98 49.70 51.81 54.60 52.24 51.76 44.85Performance (Out of 30) 23.02 26.42 25.20 24.33 22.61 23.38 25.31Features and SpecificationsProcessor Model No Intel Atom N270 Intel Atom N270 Intel Atom N270 Intel Atom N270 Intel Atom N270 Intel Atom N270 Intel Atom N270Processor Speed (MHz) 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600Memory (MB) / RAM Type / Memory Speed

1 GB / DDR2 / 667 1 GB / DDR2 / 667 1 GB / DDR2 / 667 1.5 GB / DDR2 / 667

1 GB / DDR2 / 667 1 GB / DDR2 / 667 1 GB / DDR2 / 667

Chipset Intel i945 GSE Intel i945 GSE Intel i945 GSE Intel i945 GSE Intel i945 GSE Intel i945 GSE Intel i945 GSEGraphics Solution Intel GMA 950 Intel GMA 950 Intel GMA 950 Intel GMA 950 Intel GMA 950 Intel GMA 950 Intel GMA 950Audio Solution Realtek ALC268 Realtek ALC662 Realtek ALC662 Realtek ALC Realtek ALC Realtek ALC888 Realtek ALC888HDD Size (GB) 120 160 160 160 160 160 80Bundled OS XP Home XP Home XP Home XP Home XP Home XP Home XP HomeCharacteristicsScreen Size (Inches) 8.9 8.9 10.2 10.1 10.2 10 10Weight (kg) 1.23 1.4 1.45 1.05 1.2 1.19 1.17No of Ports (USB) 3 3 3 3 2 3 3Connectivity (LAN/Bluetooth/WiFi) 4 / 6 / 4 4 / 6 / 4 4 / 4 / 4 4 / 4 / 4 4 / 4 / 4 4 / 4 / 4 4 / 4 / 4Type of Memory Cards Supported SD / MMC / MS /

MSProSD / MMC SD / MMC SD / MMC / MS /

MSProSD / MMC SD / MMC SD / MMC / MS /

MSProBuild Quality (Out of 10) 6.5 7 7 8 7 7 6Ergonomics (Out of 10) 5 8 8 7 8 7 7PerformanceSynthetic ScoresPC Mark 2005CPU Score 1466 1500 1497 1497 1480 1499 1501Memory Score 2329 2442 2430 2369 2379 2402 2397Graphics Score NA NA NA NA 524 525 NAHDD 4271 4360 4382 4415 4425 4772 3953Overall NA NA NA NA 1540 1535 NASiSoft Sandra 2008 LiteCPU Arithmetic (Dhrystone / Whetstone)

4029 / 3347 4027 / 3351 4032 / 3343 4039 / 3340 4048 / 3338 4048 / 3352 4043 / 3314

CPU Multi-Media (Integer / Floating) 29469 / 19932 29437 / 19939 29342 / 19876 29449 / 19931 29503 / 19928 29562 / 20025 29277 / 20007HDD Index / Random Access Time 51 / 9 51 / 9 54 / 9 50 / 11 53 / 9 53 / 9 39 / 14Memory bandwidth (Integer / Floating)

2734 / 2404 3005 / 2603 2874 / 2506 2894 / 2522 2941 / 2550 2987 / 2587 2878 / 2484

3D Mark 2005CPU Score 252 247 241 241 NA 242 244Overall Score 1632 1622 1589 1571 NA 1632 1635Real World TestsAudio Test Speakers (Out of 10) 5 6.5 6.5 7 6.5 5 6WinRAR 3.8 Benchmark (kB/s) 348 356 369 353 370 366 368Farcry (fps) (640x480, low detail) 6.71 6.68 6.49 6.98 6.92 7.03 6.78100 MB File Conversion (min:sec) 4:27 4:09 4:25 4:27 4:23 4:23 4:22Battery Life (hrs:mins) 1:54 4:29 3:19 2:01 1:48 1:28 3:32

MSI Wind u100 with its 6-cell bat-tery is also worth considering if you want a 10-inch laptop. The aSuS Eee PC 1000H should be the next on the list.

If you just want a usable net-book at the cheapest price, then the acer aspire One is the king. We have learnt from the that you can buy the Windows XP version for around Rs. 17,500.

Of all the netbooks, the BenQ Joybook Lite u101 looked the best. So if you want something attention-grabbing, then this BenQ should be it. Its colourful back with its highlighted patterns will serve you nicely. It is also our Best Overall Performer with its great feature set, great speakers and build quality. n

[email protected] & [email protected]

F E B R U A R y 2 0 0 9 F E B R U A R y 2 0 0 9

Digital Tools l Cell Phones Test

Michael Browne

When we think of cell-phones we usually visualise a good cam-

era, WLAN connectivity for web browsing and a touch screen for fun interfacing. The average metropolitan has seen so many high-end cellphones that some of us forget that there is a whole new world that exists apart from PDAs and smartphones — a world for those of us that need just a phone. This may seem contrary to the aspirations of a college student or even those of a rick-shaw driver who might yearn to own a Nokia N96 or an Apple iPhone. But the fact remains that while these phones are indeed worthy of pursuit, not every-

body can afford to purchase one. Moreover, not everyone may even want to purchase one. There are even those people who already have a high-end uber cellphone and they need another cheaper, no-frills device mainly for mak-ing calls.

Through the following pages we address the bottom rung of the handset market. This mar-ket is dominated by CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) hand-sets and a few cheaper GSM (General Subscriber Module) handsets. There are many people

Thinking SMall Cellphones aren’t all about touch screens, five

megapixel cameras, and a burning hole in your pocket. We showcase 16 affordable marvels

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Nokia’s 2626 was the only Nokia phone in this entire test. Nokia did send us a couple of other phones but these were priced well above our cut off point of Rs 8,000. The Nokia 2626 is a solid little phone that feels extremely well built owing to its compact dimensions and the choice of materials used on its outer body. There’s no camera and no memo-ry expansion, and with an inter-nal memory of 2 MB it’s clear that the 2626 isn’t much more than a basic phone. At its price point we’d be surprised really, if it were to be anything more. you can get it in a plethora of colours though; the one we got was a bright postman red (eek!) that very few of us liked.

PerformanceAmongst the GSM phones, Samsung’s E1410 had the overall best performance. In fact we were impressed by the signal quality of this cellphone, as it has been our experience that ultra-afford-able phones typically use ultra-cheap antennas. This wasn’t the case here. We were disappointed with the Nokia 2626 in terms of in-call quality. The CDMA phones perform more or less similarly during the call and signal quality tests; the LG RD 3600 did have a very good quality headset pro-vided and call quality with the hands-free plugged in was quite commendable. Only the LG RD 6100 had a camera but it wasn’t too good; needless the inclusion of one is a feature that deserves mention in this particular price category.

and The Winner isLG’s RD 3600 has the best value for money for amongst all the sub-Rs 4,000 cellphones and is our Digit Best Buy Winner in this category. It’s suitable for some-one looking at a CDMA phone that has terrific value for money – it’s cheaper than its sibling the RD 3610 but manages to outdo it on both feature and performance tests – it’s got a better keypad too. The best non-CDMA handset would be the Nokia 2626 – a little

brick that will last a long time and is quite a good phone in the bargain. If you absolutely must have a camera, you have only one option in this category, LG’s RD 6100.

Cellphones above Rs 4000The bridge between affordable and pricey

For those looking for a phone with a few more features than the shoestring options list-ed below we have these — the phones priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 8,000. We feel this is perhaps the most interesting cat-egory of them all. The phones in this category may not have the appeal of costlier devices, nor do they move in the volumes that the sub-4000 rupee models do. But they do represent a good compromise between price and features. Chances are that any-one looking for a basic cellphone would at least demand some rudimentary features: a decent music player, the ability to take pho-tos and videos, and of course an expandable memory capacity. It is also likely that such a user would also want a slightly better screen, with a great-er viewable area and richer colours. Such phones will also be better built, offer (in general) better ergo-nomics and keypads. In short this category hits the sweet spot between functional and convergence. LG had four phones in this category; Samsung had three, while Sony Ericsson had two handsets.

FeaturesWhen it comes to looks its hard to ignore LG’s KM380T – it has a very neat

looking flap that covers the key-pad and opens downwards. In fact this reminds of us of some of the older Siemens and Motorola handsets and there’s something about the whole flap setup that looks very classy. The sides of the phone are chrome and the back is finished in dark grey matte plastic. Overall it’s quite a com-pact phone and is lightweight; this imparts a solid in-hand feel. The flap itself however isn’t as well built as the rest of the phone and a little rough usage may get it damaged. The flap has a few buttons on its surface that coin-cide with the buttons that make up the joypad, and while the joypad works normally when the cover is open, close the cover and the same buttons work as multi-media controls. This phone has a 3.5-mm jack; you can plug in your headphones directly. While the joypad and menu buttons are quite usable and ergonomic, offering decent feedback, the number keypad is just too clicky and basically horribsle. In fact

SMS junkies will rue the day they purchased this phone. Maybe people with extreme-ly small fingers may find it decent; we certainly didn’t. The keypad’s lighting is very bright and vis-ible, although it’s not even. Samsung’s L700 is a very simple look-ing phone but it’s built like a brick. If there were ever a phone that could be used as a weapon this would be it – a solid, thick steel rear-battery cover and a front bezel also of solid steel. This makes the phone heavier and it’s also quite a long device. This phone doesn’t work with-out a SIM i.e. offline mode which is a shock-ing omission since the cheaper Samsung phones work fine.

Sony Ericsson’s

who just need something basic yet functional. For such people i.e. those who cannot/will not spend more than Rs 8,000 on a cellphone, we present this test.

Cellphones up to Rs 4,000The minnows in a sea of sharks

Basic cell phones may be far from flagships but they rule

the volumes game. So while bud-get cellphones will not have fea-tures like WLAN, integrated GPS and a great camera, for every person who finds a high-end phone at least 20 more people buy an entry level handset. In fact, this segment is ultra com-petitive as peoples tastes change very fast. Phones like the iPhone are sought for the immeasurable sex appeal associated with the device; and a thousand reviews of the same bloom online. Demand for it remains more or less stable — people who want an iPhone

will remain fans. But what about a Rs 3,000 device which is only solid in India and that too only with a Reliance CDMA connec-tion? Details are sure to be scarce and reli-able views and opinions about as rare as rain in a desert.

We tested a total of seven phones priced below the Rs 4,000 mark. Obviously most of these phones are CDMA hand-sets. CDMA is very prevalent with the lower-

end of the handset market. This is because most people go for a CDMA phone simply because Reliance and Tata (the two main CDMA service providers) provide very cheap call rates. Another fac-tor is that the calls made within the same service providers’ circle are usually free. Many people who already have a smartphone with a GSM SIM card therefore opt for a cheap CDMA handset just to make local calls, or send bulk SMSes or any similar usage scenario.

Five of the seven handsets were LG ones while Nokia and Samsung have a model each in this category.

FeaturesLG provided us with four models that obviously form a steplad-der in terms of their placement in their product range. The RD 3500, RD 3510, RD 3600 and RD 3610 are all in a row of ascending features, ditto pricing. The RD 3610 is the highest and the prici-est model amongst the quartet. Both the RD 3500 and RD 3510 are SIM-based phones and both of these have rather plain colours and finishes. The RD 3510, espe-cially, has a very light-grey rear –

we feel this looks plain ugly. That being said both these phones are very compact and feel rather stur-dy. The RD 3510 has a diaphragm type keypad instead of the button type keypads we’re used to, and quite frankly this keypad is a let down in terms of key feedback; usability suffers as a result of this. Even the menu buttons are hard and feedback is not ideal. We also feel that this keypad will not last long, as our experience with diaphragm-based keypads over the years has taught us. Another ergonomic nightmare is the fact that neither of these phones — the RD 3510 and the RD 3500 — have a middle button on the joypad. Pressing the left menu button to select an option every time you wish to activate something within the menu is just a royal pain.

Despite the fact that the RD 3610 is the costliest of the quartet above, it’s also got the cheapest build quality of all the phones and we didn’t like its rough-finished rear. LG’s RD 6100 is the fifth LG phone in this cate-gory. It’s compact and well-built, with a choice of materials that is much better than the other LG phones. Once again it’s a CDMA handset. The phone has a very solid in-hand feel. Although the joypad looks like it would be awk-ward to use at first glance, it sur-prisingly works beautifully. Once again this handset is SIM-based. A camera has also been provided; something the other LG handsets missed, complete with a mirror for vanity shots. Samsung’s E1410 is the next phone in this cat-egory. It’s a basic looking phone that has a solid build and feels very dense in-hand. No camera and no video playback support means that this is pretty Spartan for those looking for multime-dia. That being said, the phone supports memory expansion via microSD. Samsung probably provided this feature for those wanting to store and listen to music. This was also the only phone in this category that fea-tured Bluetooth, and is also the costliest phone in this category.

We scoured the bottom-half of the market and decided to divide our contestants into two cat-

egories. The first category consists of cellphones up to the price of Rs 4,000, which we feel is a cut-off point for many buyers who want a basic cellphone. The other category consisted of cellphones priced above Rs 4,000. We decided to cut-off all cellphones priced above the Rs 8,000 rupee mark as anything higher than this approaches the smartphone territory.

Besides rating a phone’s specifications and fea-tures we also paid close attention to its ergonomics. We gave scores for keypad layout, keypad comfort, joystick/joypad feedback and general ease of use. Besides this, we also rated the build quality of the device, its keypads, and any movable parts, (such as sliders, battery covers etc.), and of course, the quality of its accessories.

In terms of performance the most important criteria for a budget cellphone is its call quality. We also rated their cameras and multimedia playback. In addition, the speed of the processor of a cellphone was also rated. We divided our test zones into two parts for the signal integrity and clarity test. Zone 1 was inside our office and represents a typical urban usage scenario where signal strength is good but not at its best. Zone 2 is the killer; it’s located inside our basement and where most service providers’ signals gets murdered.

how We Tested

LG’s RD 3600

F E B R u a R y 2 0 0 9

Samsung L700

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55www.thinkdigit.com DigiT FEBRuARy 2009


W350 is a nice looking phone with a black/orange colour tone like so many of the other SE walkman phones. It has a well spaced keypad and has the same chic keypad flap as on the LG. The outer flap also has the mul-timedia buttons integrated. Once again, like the KM380T, these buttons coincide with the joy-pad, which we find quite inno-vative. The phone itself is built quite well and is reasonably slim; it also has a solid in-hand feel. The volume and multimedia buttons that characterise Sony Walkman series are well done and very usable. The keypad on the W380 is quite good – the keys are well spaced out, reasonably bevelled and impart decent feed-back. SMS junkies will like this keypad. Even the backlighting, although dim, is very functional. Sony Ericsson’s Z555 was the sole clamshell phone amongst the candy-bar form factor. This phone is built very well and feels solid but doesn’t have the same style that the Sony Ericsson W380, which we tested back in August last year. The screen is also small-er than the W380, and not as crisp as we’d like for a phone in this price category. It has a decent keypad but the W350’s keypad is much better and has better backlighting.

LGs KP 199 and KP 220 are the cheapest phones in this cat-egory and despite the fact that the KP 199 is cheaper; we liked its fit and finish more than the KP 220. It’s cute looking with a nice rounded front bezel that is done with chrome rims which go well with the black colour of the phone. The back of the phone is finished rather cheaply and is the only facet that betrays its lower price. LG really scores with the KP 199’s keypad – it’s very well spaced and feedback is really good. This phone seems to have been built with the SMS junkie in mind, and even the menu but-tons and joypad are well laid out. The KP 220 itself is quite a bit larger and for such a big phone we found the screen to be dispro-portionately small. The keypad

Cell Phones

Cell Phone above Rs 4000

BrandModel

LGRD 3500

LGRD 3510

LGRD 3600

LG RD 3610

Nokia2626

LGRD 6100

SamsungE1410

LGKP199

Price 1099 1099 1450 1749 2229 2699 3200 4399Plus Compact, Solid build Compact, Solid Build Solidly built, good keypad Decent colour combo Well Built solid feel Well built, great keypad Neat looks Compact, well pricedMinus No middle joypad button Diaphragm-type keypad Menu button slightly tacky Build quality No camera Weak camera No camera Small, mediocre sceenGrand Totals (Out of 100) 24.99 24.44 34.16 32.88 35.05 36.13 44.81 50.33Features (Out of 75) 17.76 17.10 25.76 24.81 27.04 27.60 35.89 40.44Performance (Out of 25) 7.23 7.34 8.40 8.08 8.01 8.53 8.92 9.89FeaturesPhysical SpecsForm Factor Bar Bar Bar Bar Bar Bar Bar CandybarNetwork Bands CDMA (Reliance) CDMA (Reliance) CDMA (Reliance) CDMA (Reliance) GSM 900 / 1800 CDMA (Reliance) GSM 900 / 1800 GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900Screen Resolution (Pixels) / Size (inches) 128 x 128 pixels / 1.5 inches 128 x 128 pixels / 1.5 inches 128 x 128 pixels / 1.5 inches 128 x 128 pixels / 1.5 inches 128 x 128 pixels / 1.5 inches 128 x 128 pixels / 1.5 inches 128 x 128 pixels / 1.63 inches 128 x 160 pixels / 1.77

inchesMaximum Number of Colours displayed onscreen 65K 65K 65K 65K 65K 65K 65K 256KTouchscreen / Dual Screen (Y/N) 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6Dimensions (LxWxH) 101 x 46 x 13.9 mm 101 x 46 x 13.9 mm 101 x 46 x 14.3 mm 101 x 46 x 14.3 mm 104 x 43 x 18 mm 104 x 46 x 13.9 mm 108 x 46 x 15.3 mm 105.5 x 47.5 x 16.5 mmWeight 80 grams 80 grams 80 grams 80 grams 91 grams 80 grams 79 grams 95 gramsInternal Memory 32 MB 32 MB 32 MB 32 MB 2 MB 64 MB 4 MB 60 MBExpandable Memory Type / Hot Swappable (Y/N) NA NA NA NA NA NA microSD microSDAvailable Colours (If options) 6 6 6 6 Fiery Red, Spatial Blue,

Energetic Copper, WhiteNavy6 6 6

Other FeaturesCharging via USB (Y/N) 4 4 4 4 6 4 6 4

Address Book Capacity / No of calls in Register 500 / (60 calls total) 500 / (60 calls total) 500 / (60 calls total) 500 / (60 calls total) 300 / 20 dialled, missed, received

500 / (60 calls total) 1000 / (30 dialled, missed, received)

1000 / 10 (dialled, received, missed)

Talk Time / Standby Time * 3 hrs 20 min / 200 hrs 3 hrs 20 min / 200 hrs 3 hrs 30 min / 200 hrs 3.3 hrs / 200 hrs 3 hrs / 300 hrs 3 hrs 30 min / 200 hrs 11.5 hrs / 546 hrs 10 hrs / 880 hrsNo of Profiles # /Customisable 4 / 4 4 /4 4 / 4 4 / 4 7 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4Offline Opearability (Y/N) 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

ConnectivityBrowsing (GPRS/HSCSD/EDGE/3G) 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 4 / 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 Y / 6 / 6 / 6 4 / 6 / 6 / 6Connectivity (WiFi/Bluetooth/IR/USB) 6 / 6 / 6 / 4 6 / 6 / 6 / 4 6 / 6 / 6 / 4 6 / 6 / 6 / 4 6 / 6 / 6 / 4 6 / 6 / 6 / 4 6 / 4 / 6 / 4 6 / 4 / 6 / 4Bluetooth Version/A2DP support 6 / NA 6 / NA 6 / NA 6 / NA 6 / NA NA 2.0 / 6 1.2 / 4AccessoriesBundled Accessories Charger (data cable and

headset optional)Charger (data cable & head-set optional)

Charger, headset Charger, headset Headset, charger Charger Charger, data cable, headset Charger, data cable, headset

Size of memory card provided NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NAOverall Build Quality (So 10) 6 6 6.25 5 6.75 6.25 6 6.5Overall Ergonomics (So 10) 5.25 4 6 5.25 4 6.5 4.5 5.75Camera SpecsCamera Resolution (Megapixels) NA NA NA NA NA .3 NA 0.3Video Capture Resolution NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NADual Cameras / Auto Focus / Flash (Y/N) NA NA NA NA NA 6 / 6 /6 NA 6 / 6 / 6Camera Settings (So 10) NA NA NA NA NA 2.5 NA 2.5MultimediaMusic Formats supported NA NA NA NA NA NA MP3, WMA .MP3, eAAC+, WMA, WAVVideo formats supported NA NA NA NA NA NA NA .MPEG4, 3gpFM Radio (Y/N) 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4

PerformanceSignal Reception and Voice Clarity (So 10)Zone 1 / Zone 2 5.25 / 4.25 5.25 / 4.5 5.5 / 4.75 5.5 / 4.5 6 / 4.75 5.5 / 5 6.25 / 5.75 6.5 / 5Handsfree Clarity 4 4 6 5.5 5 5.5 5.5 5Captured Photo Quality (So 10)Captured Photo Colour / Crispness NA NA NA NA NA 1.5 0 1.5Captured Video Quality NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0Audio Quality / Bundled Earphones Quality (So 10)

NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 3

Video Playback Quality (So 10) NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0Processing Speed (So 10) 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5 5.5 5.5 5.5

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www.thinkdigit.com DigiT FEBRuARy 2009 57


Cell Phones

BrandModel

LGKP220

SamsungM200

LGRD 6600

Samsung SCH F309

Sony EricssonZ555

Sony EricssonW350

LGKM380T

SamsungL700

Price 4550 4900 4990 6300 6395 7495 7499 7800Plus Solidly built Large keys, well built Attractive chrome look Decent build quality Good finish, looks neat Looks funky, nice keypad Funky looks, lightweight Supremely built, spaced keysMinus Small screen Slightly long Keypad not very good Mediocre screen Small screen None in particular Flap build quality iffy Quite large, heavyGrand Totals (Out of 100) 52.52 54.64 50.09 44.26 51.83 54.36 55.51 58.17Features (Out of 75) 40.73 42.17 38.76 32.33 38.93 40.28 43.43 43.31Performance (Out of 25) 11.79 12.47 11.33 11.94 12.90 14.09 12.09 14.86FeaturesPhysical SpecsForm Factor Candybar Bar Bar Bar Clamshell Flap Flap BarNetwork Bands GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 /

1900CDMA (Reliance) CDMA GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900

/ UMTS 2100Screen Resolution (Pixels) / Size (inches) 120 x 160 pixels / 1.77 inches 128 x 160 pixels / 1.9 inches 176 x 220 / 2.0 inches 176 x 220 pixels / 1.9 inches 176 x 220 pixels / 1.9 inches 176 x 220 pixels / 1.9 inches 240 x 320 pixels / 2.0 inches 176 x 220 pixels / 2.1 inchesMaximum Number of Colours displayed onscreen 256K 65K 256K 65K 256K 256K 256K 256KTouchscreen / Dual Screen (Y/N) 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 / 6 6 /6Dimensions (LxWxH) 103 x 46 x 12 mm 107.6 x 45.6 x 12.9 mm 103 x 45 x 13 mm 113 x 46 x 10.9 mm 95 x 49 x 16.5 mm 104 x 43 x 10.5 mm 108 x 48 x 13 mm 109 x 46 x 12.8 mmWeight 72 grams 85 grams 76 grams 80 grams 95 grams 80 grams 79 grams 107 gramsInternal Memory 60 MB 20 MB 32 MB 20 MB 12 MB 14 MB 40 MB 40 MBExpandable Memory Type / Hot Swappable (Y/N) microSD microSD microSD microSD M2 M2 microSD microSDAvailable Colours (If options) 6 6 6 6 6 Electric black, Ice blue,

Hypnotic black, Graphic white, Wisteria Purple, Turbo Red

6 Titan Silver, Grayish Brown, Chargoal Gray, Noir Black, Rose Pink, Lilac Violet

Other FeaturesCharging via USB (Y/N) 4 6 4 6 4 4 4 6

Address Book Capacity / No of calls in Register 1000 / 10 (dialled, received, missed)

1000 / (30 dialled, missed, received)

1000 / (120 calls total) 1000 / 50 (missed, dialled, received) 1000 / 20 (dialled, received, missed)



1000 / (30 dialled, missed, received)

Talk Time / Standby Time * 3 hrs / 300 hrs 3 hrs / 300 hrs 3 hrs / 150 hrs 2.3 hrs / 200 hrs 8 hrs 20 min / 360 hrs 7 hrs / 300 hrs 3 hrs / 250 hrs 3 hrs 30 min / 280 hrsNo of Profiles # /Customisable 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4 7 / 4 7 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4Offline Opearability (Y/N) 4 4 4 4 N N Y 6

ConnectivityBrowsing (GPRS/HSCSD/EDGE/3G) 4 / 6 / 6 / 6 4 / 4 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 4 / 6 / 4 / 6 4 / 4 / 4 / 6 Y / N / N / 6 4 / 6 / 4 / 4Connectivity (WiFi/Bluetooth/IR/USB) 6 / 4 / 6 / 4 6 / 4 / 6 / 4 6 / 4 / 6 / 4 6 / 4 / 6 / 4 6 / 4 / 6 / 4 6 / 4 / 6 / 4 6 /4 / 6 / 4Bluetooth Version/A2DP support 1.2 / 6 2.0 / 4 2.0 / 6 2.0 / 4 2.0 / 4 2.0 / 4 2.0 / 4 2.0 / 4AccessoriesBundled Accessories Charger, data cable, headset Charger, data cable, headset Charger, Headset Charger, data cable, headset Charger, data cable, headset Charger, data cable, headset Charger, data cable, headset Charger, data cable, headsetSize of memory card provided NA 6 512 MB 512 MB 512 MB 1 GB 512 MBOverall Build Quality (So 10) 6.5 7 6 7 6 6.5 7.5Overall Ergonomics (So 10) 6 5.75 5.75 4 6 6.5 5 7Camera SpecsCamera Resolution (Megapixels) 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 2Video Capture Resolution 176 x 144 176 x 144 176 x 144 176 x 144 176 x 144 176 x 144 176 x 144 176 x 144Dual Cameras / Auto Focus / Flash (Y/N) 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 6 6 / 6 / 4 6 / 6 / 4Camera Settings (So 10) 3.5 3 3.25 3.25 5 5.25 6.5 5.25MultimediaMusic Formats supported .MP3, eAAC+, WMA, WAV MP3, AAC, eACC+, WMA .MP3, eAAC+, WMA, WAV MP3, AAC, eACC+, WMA .MP3, eAAC+, WMA, WAV MP3, AAC, eACC+, WMA .MP3, eAAC+, WMA, WAV MP3, AAC, eACC+, WMAVideo formats supported .MPEG4 MPEG4, 3gp MPEG4, 3gp MPEG4, 3gp .MPEG4, 3gp MPEG4, 3gp .MPEG4, 3gp MPEG4, 3gpFM Radio (Y/N) 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

PerformanceSignal Reception and Voice Clarity (So 10)Zone 1 / Zone 2 6.25 / 5 6.25 / 6 5.75 / 5 5.75 / 4.75 6 / 5 6.5 / 5 6.75 / 5.5 6.75 / 5.75Handsfree Clarity 5 6 6 5 5 6 5.25 6.5Captured Photo Quality (So 10)Captured Photo Colour / Crispness 3 4 2 4.5 4.5 4.5 2.5 5.5Captured Video Quality 2.5 3 2.5 3 5 5 2.75 4Audio Quality / Bundled Earphones Quality (So 10)

4 4 3.5 5 5 5.5 4 5.5

Video Playback Quality (So 10) 4 3.5 2 4.25 3 4.5 3.25 5Processing Speed (So 10) 5.5 4.5 6 5.5 7 7 5.5 7

F E B R u a R y 2 0 0 9 F E B R u a R y 2 0 0 9 F E B R u a R y 2 0 0 9F E B R u a R y 2 0 0 9



isn’t half bad though, ditto the menu but-tons. It also feels very solid in-hand.

Samsung’s SCH F309 is a CDMA phone and a decently built one at that. The body feels solid but the key-pad isn’t the best we’ve seen and for its price, we did expect more. LG’s RD 6600 sports a metallic mirror finish, and is the costliest of the CDMA phones in this comparison. It’s a nice looking phone and has a very decent screen. We also liked the number keypad which although a little cramped, works fine. The menu buttons are good, although we feel Sony Ericsson designed their menu buttons on the W350 better. Samsung’s M200 is a large, bulky looking phone and its inferior build quality aside could be mis-taken for the L700. But that’s not meant in a derogatory sense at all, as the L700 is unusually well built. The keypad on the M200 is nearly the same in terms of lay-out as compared to the L700 but its feedback is not as good.

PerformanceIn the signal quality tests we had a bit of a mixed bag. Firstly, the LG KM380T and Samsung L700 were the clearest phones in Zone 1. In Zone 2, which is a more difficult zone to perform well in — being deep inside our building and in an area that kills most service pro-vider signals — the Samsung M200 did better than its cost-lier sibling by a small mar-gin. Hands-free quality on the L700 was still the best though; with the KM380T losing to a few other phones as well. The Sony Ericsson also has a good hands-free unit, but then Walkman phones are known for their good head-sets. Samsung also has the most prolific camera amongst

the lot; it’s got a better specifi-cation (2 megapixels) and also performs the best. It’s surpris-ing then that this phone doesn’t have the best video quality – the cheaper Sony Ericsson Z555 gets that distinction. Both the Sony Ericsson W350 and the Samsung L700 have the best music quality and these are the phones to look at if you want something that doubles as a decent MP3 player. The same two phones also give the best video playback perfor-mance and it’s safe to call them the best overall multimedia phones of the bunch. Samsung’s

L700 is the costliest phone of this bunch at Rs. 7,800 and is also the best performing phone overall, proving that money and performance do, indeed have a directly propor-tionate relationship.

and The Winner isFor our Digit Best Buy we have a tie in this category. The joint winners are the LG KP220 and the Samsung M200. The M200 is a bit better than the KP 220 in terms of overall features, comfort and performance but this margin is small. Moreover

the M200 is also a lit-tle costlier. Both these phones will do very nicely for someone look-ing at a phone that has a camera and memory expansion, and for audio and video playback. If you want something a little more upmarket then look at either of the Samsung L700, LG KM380T and the Sony Ericsson W350. We pre-fer the latter two because they are more attractive and have a fancy flap design; although the L700 is the better built phone. Amongst the CDMA phones, LG’s RD 6600 is the best option and it’s much cheaper than the Samsung SCH F309. LG’s KP220 is also a good option for someone looking for a reasonably feature rich phone that

is also superb value for money.

To sum it upWe did something a little dif-ferent this time, and also took a look at CDMA handsets. unlike GSM handsets, which one pur-chases for the device alone, CDMA handsets are typically part of a service provider’s pack-age. Therefore, the actual qual-ity of service offered also plays a large part while picking up a CDMA device. For example, Reliance could offer a particular handset with only a select bunch of service plans thereby giving consumers the binary options of taking it, or leaving it. That being said it’s good to see some decent GSM handsets also available at shoestring budgets, although GSM handsets are still costlier than their CDMA counterparts, and will probably always be so. It was also refreshing to find some true jewels in the rough, as the phrase goes. We will be taking a more comprehensive look at the more drool-worthy handsets of 2009. But that’s another story, for another month. n

[email protected]

Joint Winners: LG KP220 and Samsung M200

F E B R u a R y 2 0 0 9

A 1 TB drive,DVD-sets, books,

full-version software,

and even anall expense

paid trip to our office,up for grabs.

Page 78for details...


All your computing niggles and nagsare dealt with here!

Your Questions, Our Answers

An overheating power supplyHi, this is Dhruv and I am a regular reader ofyour magazine. My configuration is an Intel

Pentium 4 HT (3 GHz), a ASUS P5VDC MX, aSamsung 80 GB HDD, a Sony DVD writer, an ATXcabinet and a gigabyte of memory. My problem isthat whenever I play GTA : San Andreas, my SMPSheats up and the game stops working. Pleasesuggest a solution. Is this system configurationenough to run this game? Please help.

Dhruv Karnick

If the game runs and you can play reason-ably well on it without any major slow-

downs, then the system should be goodenough to run GTA: San Andreas but we highlyrecommend that you upgrade your system. Anoverhaul that includes putting an Intel or AMDdual core processor and a graphics card will dowonders for you. If you are a major gamer, thenyou would enjoy a system like that. If GTA : SanAndreas is the only game that you want to play,then a graphic card upgrade will be just fine.

The problem of your power supply heatingup is likely to be a spoilt fan at the back of thepower supply. Check to see if its still running oris clogged with dirt. Do not open the powersupply but get it fixed or replaced if it’s underwarranty.

Laptop shuts down randomlyI have an Acer laptop that’s around six yearsold now. It keeps repeatedly shutting down

when I use it. There is always a fan noise when anapplication starts some other times; it just shutsdown on its own. What could be the reason? Pleasehelp me.

My laptop configuration is: Acer Travelmate2501LC which uses an Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz, anATI Mobility Radeon 9000 IGP, 256 MB DDR333SDRAM, 40 GB Ultra ATA/100 HDD and a DVD/CD-RW Combo drive.

Vishwas KamathYour laptop is really old and it’s a goodidea to get it serviced sometime. The fan

you are talking about might be failing or itmight be clogged with dust. It needs to beopened up and cleaned up. Also, get it lookedat by your laptop manufacturer if possible.

Conflicting information BIOS andsystemmonitoring softwareI recently assembled a desktop PC with followingconfiguration.

Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.00 GHz)Mother board : DG33TLHDD : 250 GBRAM : 2 GB DDR2 800 MHzI want your opinion. The BIOS of the system

say that system bus speed is 1333 MHz. The L2cache is 6144 KB there is no mention of the L1cache. The system monitoring software (Desktoputility version 3.0) supplied with the motherboardshows some other details.

System bus speed : 333 MHzL1 cache : Data cache 32 KB, Code cache 32 KB

per processor coreL2 cache : Not

SupportedWhy is the system moni-

toring software displayingwrong information aboutthe system and how can Isolve it? After two to threeseconds of starting up thecomputer, the systemswitches on momentarilythen goes off again. Afterthat, it switches back onnormally. Is this normal?

Sanjay Sinha

The delay in startup of thecomputer is normal onsome motherboards. Tryinstalling a different soft-

ware such as CPU-Z to identify details aboutyour processor. CPU-Z is free for downloadfrom www.cpuid.com. Look for any updates forthe system monitoring utility that came withyour motherboard.

Two odd problemsHi, I have two queries . Every time I start mycomputer I get these errors.

1. Cannot find script file“C:\WINDOWS\system32\boot.vbs”.

2. Windows cannot find ‘wproxp.exe’. Make sureyou typed the name correctly, and then try

CPU-Z is an easy way toverify processor informa-tion

VBS errors on startup area common sign of a worm


This is my system configurationProcessor: Intel Pentium 2.66GHz512 MB of RAMIntel 82865G integrated graphics card80 GB SATA hard driveI am currently running Windows XP SP3

Rajshekhar Sirimala

Installing Vista over XP will not be a prob-lem at all. Simply insert the Vista DVD on

system startup after you have set your DVDdrive as the bootable device. All you need is adifferent partition. Just be sure to choosewhich one carefully and do not format it if youhave any data on it. Once that’s done, Vista willinstall and changes will be made to the bootrecord so you can choose between the twooperating systems every time you boot.

System has slowed downI am a regular reader of Digit. It is the oneand only one tech magazine which always

keeps me up to date. I have a problem with mydesktop computer.My PC Configuration is:

Intel P4 processor 2.4 GHz, Gigabyte 845Motherboard, 256 MB DDR1 RAM and 1 GB DDR1RAM. I also have a 40GB HDD and a 160GB (IDE)OS Windows XP SP2

The problem is very critical. I was running myPC very well with 256 MB RAM and 40 GB and 160GB HDD. Last week, my system performancedropped by a lot. Even a simple application takesa lot of time to load.

1. I tried installing a new OS with differentdifferent CDs - no results.

2. I upgraded my memory with 1 GB DDR1 withsome good results, but my CPU usagereaches 100% even with small applications,or while installing some software. Even if Iopen a folder, the CPU utilization reaches to90% for six to seven seconds.

3. I tried changing power supply - no results4. I tried installing OS in another HDD - no

results5. Both fans are working well, CPU as well as

the power supply.6. The CPU temper-

ature is 44CNo vendor of my

city could solve theproblem.What do yousuggest?

Sandeep Goyal

One of the firstthings to do is to

update the drivers foryour motherboard. Ifyou’ve just added the1 GB of RAM, plug outthe older 256 MB andlook for any improve-ment. The CPUtemperature isperfectly fine. If youhave two drivesconnected, try discon-

necting the one without the operating systemto look for any improvements. If that works,then you know one of the drives might befaulty. Also, enable DMA for the hard drivesfrom the Windows Device Manager.

Digit! Please help! Booting issue!Hello Digit,

I bought a new rig after a week ofdetailed research on the Internet and your maga-zine. Here is the config I got.Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 2.66 GHzMSI P7NGM DIGITAL MotherboardPalit Radeon HD 4870 SONIC 1GB Dual Edition(with Dual BIOS)Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 HDD 320 GBCorsair 2 x 2 GB 800MHz RAMCooler Master eXtreme Power 600W PSUCooler Master CM 690 CabinetDell E1909W 19-inch LCDLiebert Emerson 600VA UPS

I installed Windows XP SP2 and Vista with SP1.From the very first day, whenever I switch on myPC, the motherboard logo flashes on screen andthen a strange three second beep can be heardfrom the cabinet. Immediately after that, thesystem hangs completely. I reinserted the RAMbut the problem persists. The strange thing iswhen I restart my PC,it still gives me that strangesound but it boots properly and I can login intoboth XP and Vista and even can play Crysis at veryhigh resolution for 10 hours at a stretch withoutany problems.

I would like to mention here that my hugegraphics card has physically covered almost allthe six SATA ports on my motherboard and theHDD SATA port was connected with very muchdifficulty. I even had to keep the entire cabinet ina lying down position as in the upright position mygraphics card was literally throwing its wholeweight on the HDD SATA port below and giving medisplay-related problems.

Is my graphics card clashing with my mother-board somehow? Or otherwise, is my SMPS notpowerful enough? The box for the Graphics cardsays it alone needs 500 W Power Supply.

Please help me as I’m going nearly crazy andlost all my sleep and peace of mind.

Amitava DasIf the graphics card manufacturer statesthat 500W is required for just the graphics

card alone, then the power supply is mostlikely the problem. Make sure that you have allthe necessary power cables plugged in. If possi-ble, borrow a powerful PSU from one of yourfriends and try starting up your PC. If yourgraphics card isn’t properly fitting into the PCI-E slot, then unplug the SATA cables and see ifyou have any beeps or errors during startup.

Buzzing soundHello, I get a buzzing noise when I move mymouse pointer on the screen. The sound is an

odd static which comes from the speakers. I havean Enter optical mouse. Please tell me what to doto fix this problem. My rig configuration is an

Enabling DMA mode forthe hard drive channel


again. To search for a file, click the start button,and then click search.

What should be done? Please help me.My PC Configuration is as follows:Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.00 GHzRAM: 480 MB of RAMOS: MS Windows XP Professional SP2

Kailash Subba

The script error you get is because of aworm. The other error relating to

wproxp.exe is also because of a worm.Download, install, update and scan yoursystem with an antivirus including any flashdrives you have for worms.

Problems with DVD DriveThe problem with my DVD drive is that itcannot play dual layer DVDs. Either the

system cannot detect the disc at all in the drive (itshows Used space : 0 Bytes, Free space : 0 Byteswhile checking ‘Properties’) or the system hangswhen I right click or double click on the DVD-RAMDrive icon, unless I eject out the disc. It works finewith other discs.

Recently after reinstalling windows XP, I foundthat I cannot install a few of the software ( likeTune Up Utilities, Alcohol 120% ) from the harddrive or DVDs, though I had no problem at allwhile installing them earlier.

A few games though get installed successfully,cannot be played by clicking on the icon. It ends upin a full black screen even if left for an hour or two,unless the computer is restarted.

I use Avast Home Edition 4.8 and update itregularly. Here is my system’s configuration

AMD 4000+ X64 Dual Core ProcessorMSI ATI Radeon Graphics Accelerator based

Motherboard1 GB DDR2 667MHz Ram (Transcend)160 GB Western Digital SATA2 HDDLG 18x DVD RW

Does this configuration lead to CPU bottle-necks and can be improved by expanding the RAMsize? Please suggest me a way to get rid of theseproblems.

Chayan

The problem with DVDs not reading couldbe due to the drive detecting that make of

media. The fix for that could be flashing thefirmware. Go to the manufacturer’s site anddownload the latest BIOS for the exact samemodel of DVD drive you own.

The problem of not being able to installsoftware is bizarre. Make sure your Windowsaccount is not set up as a limited user. Trycreating a new user. If the installer for the soft-ware is corrupted somehow, then that couldalso be causing the problems.

Try updating drivers for your graphics solu-tion on the motherboard to fix the problem ofgames blanking out the screen when run. 1 GBof memory is sufficient for Windows XP to runbut upgrading to a minimum of 2 GB is recom-mended anyway. You will find improvement inperformance. A dedicated graphics card forgames is also recommended.

Using other programs instead ofdefault programs

I use Windows Vista as my operating system.I use other programs instead of some of the

default programs that come with it like Notepad,Paint, Internet Explorer, Calculator, WindowsExplorer, etc. I use Textpad, Paint.net, Firefox,DreamCalc 3 Pro and Total Commander respec-tively); I want to get rid of these default programs.

Is there a way?Vikas Mahindra

You cannot unin-stall all of the

mentioned softwarefrom your WindowsVista installation butyou can remove a fewof them. Software likeWindows Explorerand Internet Explorerare vital to the operat-ing system in someways or for softwarethat you might installin the future.

To uninstall thefew selected software,

click on Start > Control Panel > Programs andFeatures. In the left panel, click on TurnWindows features On or Off. Here you canremove some of the software that come withVista.

I want to dual boot XP and VistaI want to install Windows Vista over my exist-ing installation of XP. Can I just install Vista in

another drive? Will it work properly? I have readmany books on it but I didn’t understand properly.Please help.

Exceptions for uTorrent maybe required toensure open access for it

Torrents aren’tworking on thelaptop

Hi,I have this laptop inwhich torrent down-

loads have been blocked.Please guide me through theprocedures to unblock it.Thanks!

Check your system fire-wall by clicking on

Start > Settings > ControlPanel > Windows Firewall.Go to Exceptions and checkyour torrent downloadclient. If you have any otherfirewall program, thenallow access through thatsoftware in the samemanner.

Jagdeep Virdi(TECH QNA Expert)

Question

of the

Month

Turning on and off ofsome of Windows Vista’scomponents is possible


ASUS A8V-VM Motherboard, anNVIDIA GeForce 7300GT 512 MBdedicated VGA Card, an AMD3500+ (Socket 939) CPU,Frontech Super TV internal tunercard, a LG- GH22N 22X DVDWriter and Transcend 1 GB x 2RAM (400 MHz) DDR1. I alsohave a 250 GB Hitachi SATA HDD.

Regards,Zubin

The sound you are gettingis most likely being chan-

neled through your soundcard to your speakers. Double-click on the Windows VolumeControl. Access the volumecontrols for both the the line-in and microphone in the play-back and recording panels.Mute all instances of them.

Orkut login on WindowsHi! This is Bhupesh. Whenever I login toOrkut, the username and password appears

automatically. I don’t want this to happen as mycomputer is on a network. Please help me.

Bhupesh Rawat

If your computer is on anetwork and only you

have access to your accounton Windows, then there isnothing to be worried about.If there are many other usersusing your computer, thenyou can clear out your exist-ing passwords and usernamesby clearing out private infor-mation in the browser. If youuse Internet Explorer, click onTools > Options. Click on theContent tab and then onAutocomplete. Click on theClear Passwords and ClearForms buttons. Similarfeatures can be found inOpera and Firefox as well.

System booting problemsI have a SG 1138IL Compaq Presario desktopwith 256 MB of RAM and a 80 GB SATA hard

disk. While formatting, I saved all the ProgramFiles to drive D by mistake, though it was to besaved in C Drive. After formatting, when I startedmy system, it asked me to select MicrosoftWindows XP to boot up further as there were twoinstances of Microsoft Windows XP. On selectingany one of them, my system worked perfectly.

But after some days my system starts askingfor password though I hadn’t set any password tomy system. I tried the password for Administratorbut it didn’t accept it.

To fix this problem, I formatted my systemcompletely. After this, my system has now beenworking fine but it still asks to select MicrosoftWindows XP during bootup.

Can you help me in fixing this problem.Thanks & regards

Arun Kumar

Now assuming that you have only oneinstance of Windows installed and just

two boot entries on startup, removing the addi-tional entries is simple. In Windows, click on

Start >C o n t r o lPanel >S y s t e m .Click on theAdvanc edtab andclick on theSettings forStartup andRe c ove r y.There is at i m e o u tt i m ed i s p l ayedwhich canbe changedso thatW i n d ow scont inuesto load

within a second of the prompt being displayed.

How to upgradeHi, I’m Devesh. By the end of your collectorsedition, I have become the biggest fan of

DIGIT. I need to know few things.My current PC configuration isIntel Core 2 Duo E4600 2.4 GHzIntel DG33 motherboard2 GB DDR2 RAMNVIDIA GeForce 8600GT 512 MB320 GB HDDI want to upgrade my PC to an Intel Core 2

Quad Q6600 and increase my memory to 4 GB andhard drive space by 250 GB. The question is, sincethe DG33 motherboard supports the quad-coreprocessor, can I simply just take out Core 2 Duoand replace it by Quad Core Processor withoutmaking any changes in the BIOS settings or anyother settings for that matter? And secondly,would it be wise to use two different internal harddisks at the same time (older 320GB and the new250GB).

Will any such changes effect my currentprograms installed in the PC? I have VistaUltimate and Windows XP Professional v2002 SP3.

Devesh

Installing the new Core 2 Quad Q6600processor will not be a problem. You

won’t have to make any changes in the BIOS. Ifyou have any problems, reset the settings todefault and save the BIOS settings. Two drivesor even more are not a problem. Upgrading tojust an additional 250 GB of disk space mightnot be the best way to go. Look for somethingaround 500 GB and above as prices are themare at an all time low.

Recording volumecontrols for line-in mighthave to be enabled

Clearing of passwordsand form entries is possi-ble on almost allbrowsers today

The timeout for choosing operatingsystems can be reduced to a smallamount

www.thinkdigit.com DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009Vol 9: 9

Adobe Photoshop CS4

Adobe Photoshop CS4 presents aspanking new interface with abunch of small, thoughtful

touches. For example, the titlebar hasbeen removed entirely, allowing morespace for the images to display. Thecursor now changes from black to whitedepending on the background, whichensures that it is visible at all times. Theusually empty space after the menu baris filled with tools. Esentially, not asingle inch of screen space has been putto waste. The immediate effect is thatyou have a much larger work area atyour disposal. There are also newfeatures for the power user, mostnoticeably, a panel view for workingwith multiple documents at once.Another welcome addition is that of atabbed arrangement when multiple filesare open; where you can undock singleimages.

Working with layersEvery time you wish to

make a change to an image,it makes sense to make thosechanges in a new layer. Thismeasure preserves the orig-inal image, despite anyadjustments you make. Go toLayer > DuplicateLayer to duplicate the imagein a new layer. To makeimage adjustments, use theLayer > New Adjustment

Layer option. The submenu in thisoption is the same as the submenu inImage > Adjustments. Every timeyou select an adjustment layer, you willsee the options available for imageadjustments. This means that you canrepeatedly tweak image adjustments inmultiple adjustment layers withouthaving to go back and forth betweenimage adjustments on a single layer.Every image adjustment layer is essen-tially a mask added to the image.

Using the Vibrancy adjustmentfilter

The Image adjustments tools are thebackbone of photo-editing on Photoshop.A new feature in CS4 is the vibrancy con-trol. By default, the middle left panenow has image adjustment tools shownfor easy access. Go to Image >Adjustments > Vibrance. Vibrance

is noticeably different from saturationcontrol, but it’s a filter that works withthe saturation of the colours in theimage. What vibrance does is increasethe saturation of all the colours in thephoto, while cutting off the magnitudeof this increase for the colours that arealready saturated. This means that theareas in the image with a lower satura-tion get a bigger boost in saturationthan the areas in the image with ahigher saturation.

Using the Photo FilterCS4 also has a new image adjust-

ment feature known as the Photo Filter.Many features in Photoshop are namedafter similar techniques and equipmentused by Photographers before the onsetof digital photography. Photo Filters is along overdue feature. Filters were add-ons to lenses that enhanced a particularcolour (like green) or suppressed a par-ticular part of the electromagnetic spec-trum (like UV light). The Photo Filteroption in CS4 has a bunch of presetswhich represent real-world filters avail-able in the market for photographers.The logic of using a filter is thus:imagine a landscape with a lot of trees,you can then use a green filter to betterreproduce the foliage, by enhancing thegreen in the image. The Photo Filteroption in Photoshop lets you chooseyour own colour. You can use the colourpicker to pick a colour from the imageand apply the filter. Go to Image >Adjustments > Photo Filter.

Matching colours acrossdifferent images

Often, a set of images taken at a partic-ular location or an event, look like theyhave been taken at different times, asthey look different. This can occur dueto many reasons, like a large span oftime between pictures or using multiple

cameras at a time. To makethe colours consistantacross images, CS4 has amatch colour option. First,open up all the images youwant to match the colourin, you will need a min-imum of two images. Next,select a reference image,which will be the imageyou will use to source thecolours from. Every timeyou match a colour in aparticular picture, you will

use the colours in your ref-

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The new vibrance adjustment feature

www.thinkdigit.com DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009

Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks

DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009 www.thinkdigit.com


you are currently working on. To startworking on a new snapshot, select thesnapshot in the History panel. You cansave as many snapshots as you want, butthey are not saved with the file so whenyou close a file, the snapshots are lost.

Allocate more RAM toPhotoshop

If Photoshop is running sluggishly, or isrunning short of resources, you can allo-cate more memory to the program. Bydefault, Photoshop CS4 uses around 50-60% of your available memory. Go toEdit > Preferences >Performance > Memory Usage andmove the slider to let Photoshop usemore resources from your computer.Note that this step is not the same asgiving Photoshop a higher priority inthe task manager.

Using Layer CompsLayer Comps, or layer compositions

can be used to show different permuta-tions and combinations from a singlePSD file. This can be useful when youhave to show a someone a different ver-sion of what is essentially the sameproject. Elements such as logos, namesand a few layers may be the same,whereas others like the background ortext effects may be different. A layercomp is a configuration of visible layersthat can be saved with the file itself. Goto Window > Layer Comp. First selectthe layers you want to display byclicking on the visibility icon next to thelayer. Once a number of layers areselected, go to the Layer Comp panelmenu, and select New Layer Comp. Tomake another Layer Comp, select a dif-ferent set of visible layers, and selectNew Layer Comp. You can select and edita Layer Comp. Layer Comps are storedwith the file and can be mailed toclients.

The new blend modes in CS4CS4 introduces some new blend

modes. You need at least two layers in animage to use the blend modes. Go toLayer > Duplicate layer to createa new layer, or use another image tocreate a layer. Then go to Layer >Layer Style > Blending Options> Blend Mode and select an optionfrom the drop down menu. The DarkerColor mode blends the two layers by dis-playing the darker of two possiblecolours. This layer will make no differ-

options to change parameters. The avail-able options are Position, Opacity andEffects. Position is the only parameterthat used in this particular animation,although you can use others. Forexample, you can change the opacity, sothat the ball becomes invisible when itbounces, and so on. For now, input thenumber of frames to add as five. Nowrepeat the procedure for the consecutiveoriginal frames. Select all the frames,and click on Play to preview the anima-tion.

Export individual layers asfiles

Photoshop lets you export individuallayers of the file you are currentlyworking on, into separate files. The filesgenerated are saved in the same folder,and automatically named. You canchoose naming, compression and filetype options. File > Scripts >Export Layers to Files. Tweak theoptions here as per your preference.Check Visible layers if you want toexport just the visible layers. Then clickon Run.

Working with snapshotsSnapshots save the current state of

your image. They are very useful forreverting to a previous state, and aremore reliable than the undo tool. Youcan save multiple snapshots for com-paring two different approaches to aphoto-editing problem. To create a snap-shot, first display the History panel. Goto Window > History. In the Historypanel menu, select New Snapshot. Entera name for the snapshot. You can nowchoose to store the entire image (whichis the norm), a version of the image withall the layers flattened, or just the layer

erence picture. Remember the file name.Go to Image > Adjustments >Match Color. Under Image Statistics,under “source” select the file name ofyour reference image. Your image shouldimmediately change the colour set. Theimage options that you see at this pointof time, are absolutes and have nothingto do with the reference image. Beforeyou do this make sure that the files youare working on are set to the samecolour space. This means that the check-marks in Image > Mode should beconsistent (this is also shown next to thefilename in the tab for the file).

Protecting the tone of theimage while dodging and

burning.Until the release of CS3, dodging andburning an image always looked unnat-ural because of the way the imagegrayed or darkened upon application.

The new burning anddodging tools have anoption known as“Protect Tones” whichbetter preserve thecolour information ofthe image. The pictureon the left showsdodging without theProtect Tones feature,while the one on theright shows dodgingwith the Protect Tonesfeature turned on. Thedifference is notice-able, but there is nostandard approach forusing this feature asthe usage is dependenton the kind of imageand the desiredoutput.

Increase or re-allocate the

scratch-disk spacePhotoshop uses its own virtual memorywhen it runs short of the system’s vitualmemory and the RAM. Usually, thescratch-disk space is used from the samedrive that Photoshop is installed on. Asthis is usually the C: drive, where theWindows virtual memory is also housed,this location is not ideal. Go to Edit >Preferences > Scratch Disks tochange this location. The window justlists the drives available, and theamount of free space on each. Just makesure you check the drives that have a lotof free space on them.

Enable Open GLPhotoshop CS4 can now use Open

GL for smoother operations and somefile effects. This has been includedspecifically for their support for 3D files,but it also helps in the overall user inter-face experience. To enable Open GL, go

to Edit > Preferences >Performance and check Enable OpenGL.

Further tweaks to optimise thememory usage

The undo history of CS4 takes up a lot ofspace. Go to Edit > Preferences >Performance, and reduce the steps ofundo operations to keep in memory. Thecache levels can be increased upto 8, ordecreased as per individual preferences.After a series of complicated operationsare finished, you can clear the memoryused by Photoshop by going to Edit >Purge and selecting an option. Theoptions available are Undo, Clipboard,Histories and All.

Create a PanoramaIf you have a set of pictures you

would like to be merged into aPanorama, doing so is an easy process onCS4. The merging is visibly better thanCS3. Wires, foliage and seascapes arehandled better. Go to File >Automate > Photomerge, choose theauto perspective, add the images fromyour system in order. To do this, click onthe Browse button, and select the filesthat you want to be merged into apanorama. If you have already openedthe files in photoshop (for editing), thensimply click on Add Open Files. Click onOK and sit back and watch Photoshop doits magic. This will take some time, andyou will see windows open and closerepeatedly, but do not worry.

Simple animation usingPhotoshop

You can use Photoshop to animateobjects and layers in a picture, and thenexport it as a GIF. This was possible inprevious versions of Photoshop as well,but CS4 provides users with tweeningoptions and further controls. To create asimple animation, of say, a ballbouncing, create a white backgroundwith a circle shape to represent a ball.Then, go to Window > Animation >Frame View. Select the first frame, andclick on the Duplicate Frame button(right before the trash can). Duplicatethe frame five times, for different keypositions of the ball. Select individualframes, and drag the shape to the rele-vant position to do this.

Now select two consecutive frames,go to the animation window and selecttween. You will see a window with

Vol 9: 11Vol 9: 10

Animation using Photoshop

Performance options in Photoshop

Matching colours to another image

The old dodge tool (left) and the new dodge tool (right), that preserves tones



Amarok MP3 PlayerAmarok is the MP3 player of choice formost Linux users. It is simple to installand to configure, and is packed with fea-tures. Amarok is available for downloadfrom http://amarok.kde.org. The MP3player will work on GNOME or any otherdesktop environment as long as the rele-vant libraries are installed. Just use thepackage manager to install Amarok, andyou should be good to go. Note thatsome of the features of Amarok are par-ticularly buggy on a few distributionssuch as Linux Mint and Ubuntu.

Getting started with AmarokAmarok cannot start playing MP3

files the moment it is installed. Themain reason for this is that the codec ispropriety, and cannot be distributed forfree. Before installing the codec, you willhave to install an engine. Go to thepackage manager, and choose both theyauap and the xine engines for Amarok.Once these are installed, install the mp3codec from www.fluendo.com. This is anonline shop that “sells” MP3 codecs forno money. Finally, build your MP3 collec-tion by pressing the Build button thatappears when you start up Amarok.Choose the folder with your MP3 files, orchoose multiple folders and click OK.Your music has now been imported intoAmarok, and you are good to go.

Play music from last.fmFor this procedure to work, you

will need an account with last.fm, somake sure you have one. To play musicfrom last.fm, go to Engage > Playlast.fm Stream > Custom sta-tion. Here, you will have to enter thename of the artist, a genre of music or aparticular band of your preference.Last.fm will choose similar songs basedon what you input in this box. You willthen be prompted for your usernameand password. Next, you will beprompted to accept cookies. This is justthe way last.fm works, and the songs youlisten to will be metered and counted bylast.fm. This keeps tracks of your statis-tics, as well as improves recommenda-tions that last.fm throws your way. Rightclick on the track you are streamingfrom last.fm to love or ban the track,directly on the server.

Turn on crossfadingTo turn on crossfading, go to

Settings > Configure Amarok >

Playback > Transition and selectcrossfading. Set a crossfade duration asper your preference. You can also chooseto implement the crossfade on only auto-matic track changes or on only manualtrack changes.

Add album art to collectionYou can automatically add album

art to your entire collection. If yourfolders have an album art, they will bedetected and shown. If there are missingalbum covers, Amarok can retrieve themfrom the Internet. This step requires aworking Internet connection. Go toTools > Cover Manager. Thisshould show you all the artists in yourcollection with the relevant covers.Blank cases are shown for artists withoutcovers. Click on Fetch missingcovers to update the covers for theseartists and albums. This will take a longtime depending on how many coversneed to be updated and the speed ofyour connection.

Find out the name of your songIf you have an album full of songs

without IDv3 information, or just a fewodd songs that have neither taggedinformation nor file name, you can stillfind out what the song is in Amarok.Right-click on one such track, and selectEdit Track Infromation. Under the

Tags tab, select Fill-In Tags UsingMusicBrainz. The program automati-cally searches for similar songs, and gen-erates the content for the tags. Note thatthis is not hundred per cent foolproof.

Look up the lyrics and artistinformation

While playing a song, look to the con-text menu, and then go to the Lyrics tab.This should throw up a choice of twoscripts for getting lyrics: Astraweb andLyrc. Choose one of the two scriptswhich should fetch you the lyrics of thesong you are listening. This will be dis-played in the window. The Artist tab inthe context menu brings up artist infor-mation from Wikipedia.

Play Shoutcast radio onAmarok

Go to Playlist > Radio Streams> Shoutcast streams, to find a longlist of Internet radio stations. Choose agenre, then select a particular station,after which you can choose a sub-station.Double-click, and the music should startstreaming.

Work with playlistTo load an artist or an album as a

playlist, right-click on the name of thealbum/artist and click on Load. You canalso select a few songs and click on Load.



Vol 9: 13Vol 9: 12

ence to the image if both the layers arethe same unaltered image. The LighterColor blending mode does the exactopposite, by displaying the lighter of twopossible colours. This mode will show nodifference if both the layers are thesame. The Hard Mix option is an inter-esting new feature. The blending addsthe color components on the channels,giving a display colour of 255 if thecolours add up to more than 255, and 0if they don’t.

Content Aware ScalingOne of the best features of CS4 is

content aware scaling. This is great forconverting regular wallpapers towidescreen wallpapers. This feature pre-serves the important aspects of imageswhile resizing them. This means thatwhile stretching images, important ele-ments like buildings or people don’t getdistorted. In this example, a picture witha width of 1850 pixels was stretched to a3000 pixel width. The picture on the leftwas scaled in CS3, whereas the pictureon the right was scaled in CS4 using con-

tent aware scaling. Go to Edit >Content Aware Scaling to choosethis option. Normally, Photoshop does agood job of preserving the content whenyou rescale an image. First, select thearea of the image you want preservedusing the select tool.Then go to Channels(the tab next to layers)and click on saveSelection as channel(the white circle in thegrey square). Now go toEdit > ContentAware Scaling, anduse the Protect dropdown box to select thechannel you just cre-ated. This is usuallyAlpha 1, but if you cre-ated more channels,these will be namedAlpha 2, Alpha 3...

Export all Layer Comps to filesInstead of manually saving layer

compositions to files, you can use a

preset script to export all existing layercompositions to files. For this procedureto work, you need to have at least oneLayer Comp saved in the file. Go to File> Scripts > Layer Comp toFiles. Select the output and compres-sion settings. Then click Run. While youcannot work on more than one LayerComp at once, you can select multipleLayer Comps to be exported. This can bedone by selecting the Layer Compsinstead of displaying them. Whenexporting, check the “selected LayerComps Only” option.

Working with 3D ObjectsPhotoshop can now work with 3D

objects, but just make sure that you haveplenty of RAM and plenty of ScratchDisk space before attempting to do so. Toopen a file, simply go to File > Openand choose a 3D object. You can rotateand resize such objects using the but-tons just below the traditional toolbox.You can paint directly on the 3D objects,and the filters you apply will be appliedto the surface or “texture” of the 3Dobjects.

Install missing features in CS4Veteran users will come across a

few effects and plugins that are missingin Photoshop CS4. These are extras thatwere included in the goodies folder ofprevious versions, but no included in thelatest version. The missing featuresinclude commonly used features likeweb photo gallery maker, the texture filland the PDF presentation maker. To fixthese missing features (and more), go tohttp://tinyurl.com/cs4missing and selectthe platform. You will need a farily pow-erful internet connection though, as thisis a 40 MB download. The files have to beplaced in the plugins folder.

The new Hard Mix blending option

Looking for album art

Working with 3d objects on Photoshop

Stretching without content-aware scaling (left) and with content-aware scaling (right)



Vol 9: 14

To further add artists/albums to anexisting playlist, right-click on thealbum/artist and click on Append toPlaylist. Go to Playlist >Playlist. Right-click on Playlist, andclick on Create new Playlist tocreate a new playlist. The next time youright click on artists/albums or songs,you should get an option to add thosetracks to this playlist, or subsequentones you might want to create.

Searching in a large databaseIf you have a large collection of

music, it can become daunting to searchthrough it for a particular song. For thisreason, the search bar in Amarok workswith smart tags. Searching for title:summer will show any songs from artistsor albums with summer in the title.Searching for “Summer Wine” willwork as a phrase search. You can searchby any field in the standard IDv3 format.

Use the tray icon to its fullestcapability

The tray icon for Amarok can be veryuseful. You can do a number of thingswith it. The icon itself indicates theprogress of track that’s playing. Hoverover the icon to get the song’s album art,title, artist, location and length.Hovering over the tray icon and usingthe mouse scroll changes the volume.Scroll up to increase volume, scroll downto decrease volume. Holding [Shift]and hovering over the tray icon andusing the scroll wheel goes back andforth through the track; doing this with[Ctrl], goes back and forth through aplaylist. You can drag and drop files intothe tray icon to play or to queue them.

Burn CDs with AmarokOnce a playlist is loaded, all you

have to do is go to Playlist > BurnCD. For this feature to work, you willneed k3b installed, which comes bydefault if you are using KDE. If not, usethe package manager to install k3b. Thewindow that pops up allows you to re-order songs, as well as add and removetracks.

Install additional scriptsSince Amarok is open-source, there

are a lot of independent developers outthere who have written small plugins forit. These are called scripts, and can beinstalled from the Script Manager. Go toTools > Script Manager and click

on Get More Scripts. Note that youneed an Internet connection for this fea-ture to work. Wait for a few seconds asAmarok updates its script database. Nowevery time you select a script, a smalldescription appears alongside. Readcarefuly and pick and choose scripts toyour liking; beware as some might bebuggy, or not work properly on all dis-tros. Also check the versions of thescripts: installing a stable version isbetter than installing an alpha release.

For the keyboard warriorUse [Windows] + [X] to play,

[Windows] + [C] to Play/Pause,[Windows] + [V] to stop.[Windows] +[-] reduces the volume,while [Windows] + [=] increases thevolume. [Windows] + [Z] plays theprevious track, and [Windows] + [B]plays the next track. [Windows] +[Shift] + [=] seeks forward into atrack and [Windows] + [Shift] +[-] seeks backwards. Use [Windows]+ [M] to mute, and [Windows] + [A]to add tracks to the player. You can go toSettings>Configure Shortcuts tocustomise these shortcuts and more.

Personalise the interfaceYou can make Amarok look the

way you want to, by removing tabs andfeatures you don't use, or by addingthose not available by default. Go toSettings > Configure Toolbars.By default only the Play, Pause, Forward,

Backward and Stop commands are acti-vated. Use a seperator to organise thetoolbar. You can, for example, removethe Forward and Backward icons, andadd the last.fm icon. At any point oftime, click on Restore Default to returnAmarok to its original state.

Change how Amarok looksGo to Settings > Configure

Amarok > Appearance. Then changethe fonts that Amarok uses, change theforeground and background colours,and the colour for a new playlist item.There are two browser styles available bydefault. Click on Download Styles,select one of the highest rated or hotteststyles, and save them to your systemfolder. Then click on install styleto add the style. The style will now showup in the Select a style drop downmenu. Pick it, and if you don't like it,repeat the process until you find some-thing that suits your taste.

Transfer files to your PMPGo to Settings > Configure

Amarok > Media Devices. Click onAutodetect Devices. Now plug inyour PMP, and Amarok should normallydetect it. You can transfer songs backand forth. If Amarok does not detectyour device, click on Add Device andmanually add the device. This procedurewill not work for the iPod, but there areslightly more complicated workaroundsfor this player as well.

stalling scripts


NVIDIA has just steppedup its game by releasing

the GTX285. This is thepumped up version to thegreat GTX280 that wasreleased last year. Zotac nowbrings to us an even morepumped up GTX285 AMP! edi-tion. The card looks the sameas the GTX280 one of the dif-ferences we noticed is thepower connectors.This one

requires only two 6-pin PCIeconnectors as compared to itspredecessor (one 8 pin andone 6 pin). The cover on theback was also removed. TheAMP! edition comes withclocks of 702 / 1512 / 2592MHz (core / shader / memory)as compared to the standard

edition of 648 /1476 / 2484

MHz. TheGTX280

in com-pari-son

comesat clocks of

602 / 1296 / 2214 MHz(core / shader / memory).

The GTX285 still comes with240 stream processors, butthe major difference is themove from 65nm to 55nm.

We benchmarked this cardin DX10 using a QX9650with 4 GB DDR3 RAM. 3DMark Vantage gave a score of15,206 with a GPU score of12,533. At a resolution of1920x1200 in Company ofHeroes with AA enabled, wegot 202.9 fps. With Doom 3we got 246.9 fps with 4x AAat 1600x1200. Crysis gave usinteresting scores — in DX9,the result we got were 46 at1600x1200 and 40 at1920x1200 while in DX10 wegot fps of 25 and 22 respec-tively. Unreal Tournament 3 at4x AA and 4x AF gave us ascore of 141 fps at1920x1200. The last bench-mark we ran was the slight-ly older F.E.A.R. with 4x AAand 4x AF. The card aver-aged 167 fps at 1600x1200and 127 fps at 1920x1200.

The GTX285 has definite-ly some good results withbenchmarks, but it’s not allthat far from the GTX280.

This is a high-end card anddefinitely is one of theworld’s fastest single GPUcards so the price is alsoquite exorbitant, but at thesame time knowing its capa-bilities you can’t say it’sunaffordable either.

Specifications:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 @702 MHz engine clock, 240Processor Cores @ 1512 MHz,1 GBB GDDR3, 2592 MHzmemory clock

Contact: ZOTAC International(MCO) Ltd.Phone: 011-46665666Email: [email protected] site: www.zotac.comPrice: Rs. 28,999

We test the latest hardwareand software productsavailable in the marketBazaarBazaar

Zotac GeForce GTX285 AMP! editionThe mammoth has arrived

BenQ’s E900HD is an allnew ultrawide LCD

screen that sports a 16:9aspect ratio and operates ata resolution of 1366x768.This kind of resolution isperfect for watching movies

and that’s what most LCDand Plasma TVs use.

This BenQ product defi-nitely grabs everyone’sattention. It has a mix of aglossy black and grey finishto it. It’s got the right design

for an everyday-usedesktop PC screen.All the buttons havethe right feel tothem. The standalso shares thesame glossy finishas the bezel, andkeeps the screenleveled and stable.

Like some otherbrands, the controlsare moved to theside, and using theinterface is extreme-ly simple — you can

get used to the interface inminutes.

Setting up the screen issimple, and the screen doeswell to display details. Theonly big difference whileusing the screen for desktopapplications is the reducedworkspace in terms ofheight. Other than that, thescreen does well — thecolours are good, but thepresets supplied with thescreen are too gaudy andover-emphasised.

The screen also featuresinbuilt speakers, but they arepretty weak — even after con-cessions for being inbuilt.The speakers are clear, butjust not powerful enough foreveryday use, and definitelynot so for movies or games.

Although 22-inch andabove screens would be con-sidered by many as ideal for

movie watching on thedesktop, this 19-inch stilldoes a fair job at it. AtRs 7,900, it’s a pretty gooddeal, especially for its sleekdesign — which you’dexpect to pay more for.

Specifications19-inch screen, Resolution:1366x768 pixels, Response time:5ms, Dimensions:18.03x14.17x7.03 inches

Contact: Benq IndiaPhone: 0124-4501400E-mail: [email protected] site: www.benq.co.inPrice: Rs. 7,900

BenQ E900HDBest suited for movie buffs

FeaturesPerformanceBuild qualityValue for MoneyOverall

RATINGS


RATINGS


Digital Tools l Bazaar


The MSI PR201 notebookfalls in the Professional

series of the MSI group. ThePR201 is black, like otherbusiness notebooks, but hasnice silver insides. This gives areally neat and simplistic feelto it, and you won’t even findstickers of any kind on it.

There is a Kensingtonsecurity slot, VGA port,USB, LAN port, and an opti-cal drive on the left side.The right side of the laptophas two USB ports, amodem port, an HDMI port,a PC card slot and a flashcard reader.

A few problems we hadwith this laptop was thatfirstly the touchpad has noside scrolls or multi-touchfunctions. Even thoughthis laptop may be goingfor a plain and neat look,things like that may be

beneficial at times. ThisMSI also lacks a FireWrieport. We ran a series ofbenchmarks to see the per-formance of this laptop.

PC Mark 05: CPU Score -5800, Memory Score- 4885, GraphicsScore - 2453, HDD -4461, Overall - 4795.3D Mark 05: CPUScore - 7951,Overall - 1383.MaxxonCineBench R10(CPU Score) -4694. FarCry(fps)(640x480,lowdetail)

- 51.41. The screen quality isjust about decent and if itwere a rating on 10 we

would give it a 6.5, whereasthe audio would score a 7.

There are two thingsthat stand out in this lap-top. One is the battery life:It lasted a whole 3 hours 27

mins on high performancewith full brightness. Thesecond being it’s weight:1.8 kg. The laptop is defi-nitely business orientedand has great processingpower. But then it alsolacks some features like abetter touchpad and a bet-ter optical drive also.

SpecificationsIntel Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz, Display: 12-inch WXGA(1280x800), SD, MMC, MS, MSPRO Card reader

Contact: MSIPhone: 011-41758808E-mail: [email protected] site: www.msi-in.comPrice: Rs. 62,000

MSI PR201The Plain Jane laptop

With brands loweringprices and a lot of

choice available,Samsung’s T220 movesaway from the norm ofplain thin bezel screens.

The T220 is identical toits 19-inch sibling – the

T190 which came to us afew months back. In termsof design, things aren’t anydifferent. The Bordeauxtreatment is still there.There bezel around thescreen is semi-transparentwith a hint of color thrown

in. The power button isusing a touch-sensitive but-ton. The menu controls areon the side.

The build quality of thescreen itself is great butthe stand isn’t so. Thestand only allows you tomove the screen back andforth quite a bit.

The display quality issomewhat similar to whatthe T190 has. Calibrating thescreen using Displaymatewas a little tricky with thebrightness and contrast set-tings not playing along well.The blacks aren’t very deepand the colors are prettydecent overall. Being a TNpanel, banding is present,but not visible as much in allcolours. Movies and gameslook fine but there is noth-ing extraordinary.

The T220 is destined forusers who want their desktopsetups to look good. The T220is on target in that aspect,but the performance of the

screen is not as good as we’dlike it to be. It’s still an aboveaverage performer. The priceis clearly more than most 22-inch screens. This is some-thing that you should onlyspend on if you really wantdesign and elegance.

Specifications22-inch screen, Resolution:1680x1050, Response time:2ms, Dimensions: 20.47 x 17.4x 8.46 inches

Contact: Samsung IndiaElectronics Pvt. Ltd.Phone: 011-41511234E-mail: [email protected] site: www.samsung.comPrice: Rs 15,000

Samsung T220Different, but at a cost


RATINGS


RATINGS

The HD 4870 initiallylaunched with only a

512MB GDDR5 version,which was just odd, becausesuch a high-power carddeserved to have more mem-ory. Months after the first4870s came, we see compa-nies coming out with 1-GBversions, one of them beingthe Palit with its Sonic edi-tion 4870 1 GB card.

Palit has not stuck withthe standard cooling edition,but has gone in for the samedual-fan cooling like some ofthe other Sonic series cards.The card has two 6-pin PCIepower connectors towardsthe back. Now, when youlook at the I/O side of thiscard, it gets a bit more inter-esting. Palit has moved onfrom that boring Dual LinkDVI setup seen on mostgraphic cards these days.

Instead, we see four differentports – DVI, VGA, HDMI anda new standard display port.There is a small overclockingswitch to go from Normal toTurbo mode. Under Normal,the core clocks at 750MHzand memory at 3800MHzQDR. When you hit theTurbo switch, the card auto-matically adjusts its core to775 MHz and Memory to4000 MHz QDR. It’s not avery large overclock, but it’sgood to have.

The card gave us a 3DMark 06 score of 15087. Webenchmarked Crysis in DX9at 1280x1024 and 1920x1200both at 4x AA and 4x AF andgot fps ratings of 46 and 30,respectively. UnrealTournament 3 gave us an fpsof 115 at 1280x1024 and 69at 1920x1200 both at 4x AAand 4x AF. With Doom 3 (4xAA) at 1600x 1200, we got200.5 fps. In Prey, we got125.5 fps at 1920x1200 and4x AA, 4x AF. We tested inturbo mode and it did notgive us great gains.

The only drawback wenoticed with this card is

that the it’s slightly louderthan most cards, especiallylouder in turbo modewhere the fans throttle upto the overclock. AtRs 18,500, the card is greatbuy for a high-end card.

SpecificationsMemory Support: 1024 MBDDR5, Memory Interface: 256bit, Sonic Memory / CoreClock: 3800 MHz (950 x 4) /750 MHz, Turbo Memory /Core Clock: 3800MHz (950 x 4)/ 775 MHz

Contact: Tirupati EnterprisesPhone: 09339207519E-mail: [email protected] site: www.tirupati.netPrice: Rs. 18,500

Palit HD 4870 Sonic 1GBFrom 512 MB to 1 GB

Portable hard drives aregetting smaller and

smaller and everybodywants storage. WesternDigital has added a 500 GBdrive to the My PassportElite series. This drive designis great as always and has asoft finish to it.

The WD My PassportElite is a 2.5-inch drive witha nice metallic finish to itwith the edge in a blackgloss finish. On one side, youfind the USB 2.0 connectorwith four white LEDs next toit. We noticed a flaw here,the lights are on the con-necting side of the drive,that means the user can’treally see the lights. Thelights should have been onthe other side so that userscan actually see them. Thereis also a sliding cover overthe USB port which is quiteinnovative and keeps theport safe and clean.

The My Passport Elite wasquiet, and in HDTach, itscored an average read speed

of 34.9 MBps, and an averagewrite speed of 29.1 MBps. InSiSoft Sandra, the driveIndex score was 31 MBps. Weran the drive through somefile transfer test where wedid a 1 GB sequential as wellas a 1 GB assorted file trans-fer test and got the followingtimes — 1 GB sequentialwrite time: 36.5 sec, 1 GBsequential read time: 16.4sec, 1 GB sequential internalcopy: 44.7 sec. For the 1 GBassorted files we got a writetime of 42.7 sec, a read timeof 16.1 sec, and 1 GB assortedinternal copy: 38.1 sec.

This portable drive alsocomes with software thatincludes Google Desktop,Picasa, Adobe Reader 8.1, WDDiagnostics Setup, BackupUtility, Drive Manager,MioNet and a Sync Tool. With

466 GB of actual storagespace, this drive is great forits design and build quality.It has a 5-year warranty, butunfortunately, the price tagof Rs. 12,150, it’s certainly notgood value for money.

SpecificationsDimensions: 15 x 126.15 x 79.5mm, 2.5 inch SATA 5400 RPM

Contact: Western DigitalPhone: 09321029204Email: [email protected] site: www.wdc.comPrice: Rs. 12,150

WD My Passport Elite 500GBSlim, portable and spacious


RATINGS


RATINGS

77




The XFX 750a SLimotherboard is a

fairly new chipsetwith integratedgraphics for the AMDlover. The board isfully loaded with allthe NVIDIA goodies like2 way SLI support,Hybrid SLI, GeForce Boost.

The design of the boardis well laid out with the typ-ical XFX black and greencolour scheme. It looksgood, don’t get us wrong,especially with the steelheat pipes XFX has used.There are two PCI X1 slotsbelow the fist PCIe slot. Theboard also comes with threePCI slots. There is also a nicebig PCI jumper between thetwo PCIe slots. An interest-ing button along with thePower switch and Restartbutton is a Bios Buttonwhich can be flashed by the

push of it.Some other features we

found is Justw00t, the over-clocking features in the XFXbios. You can also reset allyour overclocking settingsby flashing the settings onthe motherboard itself.

We tested the perform-ance of this motherboardand got some really goodresults. The GeForce 8200

works as a really goodintegrated graphics

solution and gave usfps results of 57.5

on Doom 3(640x480 Ultra

Details, NoAA, No AF)and also32.2 fps(1024x768

Ultra Details, NoAA, No AF). Company ofHeroes gave us fps resultsof 20.5 and 12 from the set-tings of 800x600 and1280x1024 respectively. 3DMark 05 gave a score of2433/8129 (3D Marks/CPUscore). The scores for PCMark 05 are as follows: CPU- 7635, Memory - 4544,Graphics - 2208, HDD -7042, Overall - 5762. TheChipset on this board is the750a MCP, but in perform-ance it matches up to even

the NVIDIA 8300 chipset.This motherboard is a

great motherboard for AMDenthusiast especially withpower saving due to HybridSLI. This is really a greatbuy for a motherboard withintegrated graphics.

SpecificationsSocket: AM2+/AM2, Chipset:750a SLI MCP, Memory Type:DDR2, Max SupportedMemory: 8GB, USB Ports: 4,Onboard Graphics: GeForce8200, VGA Port, DVI Port, 2Way SLI Bridge.

Contact: Rashi PeripheralsPhone: 022-67090909E-mail: [email protected] site: www.rptechindia.comPrice: Rs. 8,750

XFX 750a SLiSLI: Check, Onboard Graphics: Check, Great Buy: Check


RATINGS

The Internet abounds withweb sites and knowledge

about almost anything andeverything. But what if youwant to cast your voice andopinions on the Net too butdon’t know web designing orprogramming to do so. Wellthat’s where Online Web siteBuilders come into the pic-ture. One such web sitebuilder is Mr Site whichclaims to be easier than easywhen it comes to creating aweb site.

The Mr Site Website Kit isa box which contains aManual, a CD and an activa-tion code. The activationprocess is straight forwardand once you decide adomain name you’re onestep closer to creating yourweb site. On logging in yousee six options infront ofyou: Choose a Design, How

many Pages?, ChangeContent, Publish your Site,Extras and Log Off. On theupper right side you also seea Quick Jump Menu whichgives you quick and easyaccess to all the options andtheir respective sub-menus.Above that are the options:Buy, Stats, Help and Email.Next to these options there isa storage meter which showsyou the space you havealready utilized and will

keep you aware of when yourweb site will get filled up.

There is a wide variety ofdesigns you can choose fromand entering your text intothem is not hard. You canalso select Creative Modewhich gives you moreoptions to add YouTubevideos and even Flash anima-tions. One thing we did notlike is that the text of thetitle that you select for thepage, which is displayed onthe header, will be the sameas the text on the button forthat page. Extras includeoptions like Widgets,Personalising, and Adminoptions. You can personalisequite a bit with Mr Site likeuploading custom headers,logos and even buttons. Anice feature that comes withthis is a website image editorwhich is very easy to use andhas an equally simplisticinterface. Webmail and FTPsupport is also provided.

This website builder isvery user friendly with aneasy interface, but it is stilljust at a basic level. Eventhough this kit costs Rs.2,999, which is costly, theannual renewal is a mere£2.99 (approx. Rs. 225).

Specifications150 MB Website Storage space,valid for 1 year, AnytimeWebmail Access, User guideincluded.

Contact: Mr Site Takeaway WebsitePvt. Ltd.Phone: 09780531682Email: [email protected] site: www.mrsite.co.inPrice: Rs. 2,999

Mr Site Takeaway WebsiteAn easy way to create a website


RATINGS

Have you ever found your-self in the situation that

you really needed a photoprint at that very second intime and that there was noway but to go to a photo stu-dio. Well that problem willnow be solved thanks toCanon’s Selphy CP 760 com-pact photprinter.

It’s a simple design,white in colour with round-ed edges. There is a 2.5-inch

colour LCD display underwhich are present the con-trol buttons. The screen isslightly angled so as to makeviewing as comfortable aspossible. The front side ofthis printer has three memo-ry card slots, which takesSD, MMC, MS, MS Duo. Onthe left side, the PC connec-tion port and a USB port forPictBridge connection fromdigital cameras are present.

The Selphy has its ownfeatures like basic colour

corrections and evenred eye reductionwhich can be config-ured on the printerbefore printing. Thiscan be done even

when a digitalcamera is

plugged inand doesn’t

necessarily

have to be done with the PC.The time taken to print

a single 4x6 postcard imagetook us 78 sec. This wasquite amazing consideringthe image accuracy. We dou-ble checked this by printinganother image and thistime it took us 74 sec withthe same colour accuracy.There are no modes likecolour saving and economythat are present, but sincethis printer is meant onlyfor photo printing, it’s justgreat. Also it is great fun towatch the process of print-ing as it prints in layers,first a layer of yellow, thenred, then blue and finallywhite with an instant dry-ing feature. So for eachcolour layer the paper getssucked back in and out.

This printer is light, com-pact, easy to use, many ways

for many devices to print,great quality outcome. Onlyquestion here is why is itonly a 4 x 6 photo printer.Considering the price ofonly Rs. 5,495, it is a reallygreat buy and we definitelyrecommend this to you all.

SpecificationsMax Resolution: 300x300 dpi,2.5-inch colour LCD display,Dimensions (inches): 7.09 (W) x4.99 (D) x 2.88 (H),

Contact: Canon India PrivateLimitedPhone: 1800-180-33-66E-mail: [email protected] site: www.canon.co.inPrice: Rs. 5,495

Canon Selphy CP 7604x6 affordable prints now available at home


RATINGS

Divoom is one of thenewest brands to hit

the Indian market. We havewith us a speaker set calledthe Xforce 1. It’s a catchyname for sure but we haveto see if they really are anygood in performance.

The speakers are a 2.1format speakers that con-nect using RCA cables. Thewoofer looks really attrac-tive but the satellites withthe dust filter covers on

aren’t as attractive. Withthem removed however,they are a lot better andsound a tiny bit better too.A wired remote with a micand auxillary input accom-panies the speakers. Thebass and treble controls areon the woofer itself.

The woofer is sturdy andthe sallites by themself arebuilt pretty well. The wooferhas a very attractive frontwith a fine mesh on it

which gives it a very goodlook. The stand rotates sothey automatically becomewall mounts. This is some-thing you don’t see every-day. Because of this, thestands feel a little loose.

Once you tweak the tre-ble and bass a bit, thespeakers sound pretty good.The bass is almost excessivebut it’s not really powerfuljust loose and flabby. Thesatellites are much better.They are clear and bright innature but lack high detail.They are pretty loud butthey don’t really have apunchy sound to it. Thespeakers work great formusic and are still prettyaverage for movies andgames. People who likecrisp highs in their musicwill love these. The bassalso is pretty but good butthe mids are lacking.

The XFORCE-1 is pricedat Rs 1,900 which is cheap

for a set that sound prettydecent. This makes it goodvalue for money. Anyonewho wants a decent 2.1speaker set for the desktopand can’t spend more thanRs 2,000 shouldn’t look anyfurther.

SpecificationsPower 40 W, Frequency Range:20Hz to 20kHz,Dimensions: Satellites 100 x105 x 180 mm, Subwoofer: 230x 255 x 210 mm

Contact: H T ImpexPhone: 022-66102080E-mail: [email protected] site: www.divoom.comPrice: Rs 1,900

Divoom XFORCE-1No Kaboom!


RATINGS






NVIDIA’s 9 series graphiccards are nothing more

than a refurbished GeForce8 series card. The main dif-ference is that the 9800GTuses 65nm GPU unlike its8800GT counterpart. TheXFX version of this cardlooks really great. Firstly itdoes not take up two PCIslots as the others thatshare the same numericalpart of the name; 9800GTX,9800GX2, 9800GTX+. XFXhas used its own coolingsolution which is a pluspoint. Other than looks,this card has 112 SPs andcomes at stock clocks of 600MHz for the core and 512MB of GDDR3 memoryclocked at 1800 MHz.

There is no game bun-dled with this card, nor isthere any overclocking soft-ware. But XFX never providesoverclocking software any-ways. When it comes to per-

formance you cannot expectthis to be as good as a GTX280, but it did very well for amid-range card. We ran itthrough a series of bench-marks at different settingsfor various games are theresults are as such. In Crysisat 1280x1024 with 4xAA and4xAF we got 33 fps and at1920x1200 with 4xAA and4xAF we got 16 fps. InStalker: Shadow ofChernobyl, 125.53 fps wasseen at 1280x1024 with 4xAA and 4x AF whereas, 78fps was seen at 1920x1200with 4x AA and 4x AF. Withsettings of 1280x1024 and1920x1200 with 4x AA and8x AF for Unreal Tournament

3, we got the results of 146fps and 77 fps respectively.

On the other side, wealso tested games that werenot as demanding (graphicwise) but are all timefavourites too like Doom 3,Prey and Far Cry. In Doom 3with the settings of 4x AAat 1600x1200 we got 93.5fps. With prey at 1280x1024(4x AA, 4x AF) we got 112.2fps and at 1920x1200 (4xAA, 4x AF) it was 70.6 fps.FarCry results were alsovery good, 1280x1024 (4xAA, 8x AF) - 147.15 fps andat 1920x1200 (4x AA, 8x AF)- 102.33 fps.

The XFX 9800GT gave a3D Mark 06 score of 13351,

which is good for this card.The XFX 9800GT is good

card to use for games at alow resolution. It will giveyou good results up to a res-olution of 1280x1024 withhigh detail. If you are plan-ning to go above that with ashiny 22-inch LCD or some-thing then expect the per-formance to fall.

SpecificationsCore Clock - 600 MHz, MemoryClock – 1800 MHz, Memory –512MB GDDR3 StreamProcessors - 112, 512 MB GDDR3,Memory Interface - 256 bit

Contact: Hewlett PackardPhone: 124 - 2566 111Email: [email protected] site: www.hp.com/inPrice: Rs. 8,800

Intex’s IT-5400 FM are a 5.1speaker set that can be

used with both the PC andalso in your living roomwith your TV. The satellitesof this set are of the samelarge size. Build quality ofthe woofer is good but thesatellites have a thin meshbehind a cloth which isn’tvery strong. The design ofthe speakers themself lackstyle and seem kind-of bor-ing. The design of theremote also looks outdated.Batteries don’t fit well intothe remote.

The speakers come witha FM tuner which worksfairly alright and picked upreception instantaneouslywhen we first put it onwithout connecting it toour PC. The woofer has a

small display on it that dis-plays information of the vol-ume. Performing tasks likechanging volume requiresyou to keep pressing the vol-ume up and down buttonsconstantly. The buttons onthe woofer are also of poorquality.

The quality of the speak-ers is average. One of themajor complaints like withmost of the other Intexspeakerswe’ve received isthe colouring of the sound.The sound ismore empha-sised towards

the higher mids. The soundis pretty warm but it lacksdetail. There is crystal clearcrisp highs that come outfrom the speakers. The flap-py smooth harmonic bassisn’t present either but thethe beats are pretty distinct.

If there’s one strongpoint, it’s that the 5400FM’sdo not distort at high vol-umes in music and movies.The frequency sweep testdid cause a tiny bit of dis-tortion. In general, listeningto these speakers isn’t somuch fun. Watching moviesis fine but music isn’t asmuch fun with these speak-

ers.Connections to the

speaker are made through

RCA connectors so you need3.5mm jack to RCA connec-tors to connect to thesespeakers.

These speakers are clear-ly best used with a DVDplayer or an HTPC and con-nected to a TV. At Rs 3,950,they are a decent pair ofspeakers and one of thecheapest 5.1 speakers you’llcome across.

Contact: Intex TechnologiesPhone: 09811037376E-mail: [email protected] site: www.intextechnologies.comPrice: Rs 3,950

Intex IT-5400FMAverage performer at a cheap price


RATINGS


RATINGS

XFX 9800GTThe affordable performer

Epson has been one ofthe world’s leading

manufacturers of inkjetprinters, scanners, laserprinters and even dotmatrix printers. The EpsonStylus TX101 is an all-in-onePrinter-Scanner-Copierinkjet and is aimed forhome users.

The TX101 is a two flapprinter, which means, thepaper has to be loadedfrom the top and comesout from the front. Theback flap is almost at a90º angle which is finewhen you are loading awhole lot of paper but isnot very useful for loadingsingle sheets.

The buttons are locatedon the left of this printerwith buttons for On/Off,Stop and Copy functionali-ty. Sadly, even though thisall-in-one also comes with

a scanner, there is no but-ton for Scan. You need toscan through the PC usingthe Epson Scan softwarewhich comes with theinstallation CD.

We tested the printquality by printing threetest documents. We sawthat in economy mode ittakes about 10secs to printa document which is lightgray in colour and of a badquality with lines betweeneach word. The same wasseen while printing theimage & text file whichtook 40.7secs even in econ-omy mode with the coloursnot even being clearly visi-ble. In the standard mode,which is normal, the printquality did improve, butthe edges were still roughand the time taken for thetext documents was at anaverage of about 27secs.

The image quality was animprovement, but thatpage took 127.1secs withthe same jagged edgesaround text.

We also tested photoprinting by printing a fullpage colour test documenton some photo paper. Thequality was slightly dullwith some pixilation incomparison to the actualimage. The time taken toprint this at the best quali-ty was 9 mins and 28 secswhich is just too long forone print.

This Epson is a basic all-in-one printer that does not

have anything out of theordinary going for it.

Even though it ispriced at only Rs.3,699, we wouldnot recommendyou to buy this asquality wise it isnot ideal.

SpecificationsMaximum resolution:5760x1440 dpi , Optical reso-lution: 600 X 1200 DPI, 48 bitsinput, 24 bits output

Contact: Epson IndiaPhone: 080 30515000E-mail: [email protected] site: www.epson.co.inPrice: Rs. 3,699

Epson Stylus TX101Where it’s all about being affordable

The Cookie is a clean look-ing phone at first glance.

Its got a really unclutteredfront facia with just three,small and well beveled but-tons. The phone itself is fin-ished in matte black and hasa steel-grey ring runningright around the sides thatadds a classy look. The cam-era and phone screen lockbuttons are on one side andvery easy to use despite theirsmall size owing to greatfeedback, the volumeup/down buttons aren’t asgood. LG has added the abili-ty to finger swipe throughalbums and this is called“Free Touch”, an obvious rip-off from Apple’s Multi Touch;but it doesn’t work anywhereat all as well which is whythere’s a stylus provided. Itslight years away from the

flawless fluidity of Apple’stouch interface. Add to that avery slow processor whichbecomes amply evident asyou use the touch featurewhen browsing albums andsuch. We were a bit disap-pointed with the touch sensi-tivity. On a more positivenote touch accuracy is a bitbetter and acceptable for aphone in this bracket.

The screen itself is quitelarge and clear althoughwe’ve seen better screens in

the Xperia and the IPhone.The Cookie does make astrong point for itself by hav-ing a well laid out menu sys-tem with pretty good icons –not like some of the cartoon-ish icons we’ve seen from LGin the past. LG provides aneat bunch of games andquite frankly we had a bit offun playing these.

This is no camera phoneand we’ve seen much better3-megapixel units andthere’s no flash. MP3 play-back quality is strictly so-soand another pain is LGs con-tinued use of a proprietaryconnect for the same ratherthan a 3.5mm jack. Call qual-ity and signal receptionstrength on the Cookie isn’tall that great and nowhereclose to Nokia phones.

Priced at Rs 13,500 its amixed bundle. Although notmany phones can offer sucha large touchscreen for theprice there are other prob-

lems that prevent us fromrecommending you swallowthis Cookie (pardon the pun!).For one, it’s a mediocrephone, MP3 playback qualityand the camer could be bet-ter. There are other alterna-tives for this price range thatdo far more as a phone andas multimedia devices.

SpecificationsSpecifications: Screen – 3.0”,240 x 400 pixels, 3 MP camera,microSD expansion, 89 grams

Contact: LG Electronics IndiaPvt. LtdPhone: 91-120-2560900E-mail: [email protected] site: www.lgindia.comPrice: Rs. 13,500

LG KP500 CookieNo cookie for me

FeaturesPerformanceEase of UseValue for MoneyOverall

RATINGS


RATINGS

82


There have been manymobile phones and PMPs

that allow users to watchvideos and movies on them.But seriously, watching thevideos on that small ascreen is really painful. Sohere is a solution for thosecommuters who like tocatch up on their video andmovie watching needs witha bigger screen. The MitashiTFD-7608 is portable DVDplayer with a load of fea-tures to offer, it’s silver onthe outside and has a blackfinish on the inside.

This portable device hasa 3.5mm headphone jack,AV-in, AV-out, and the vol-ume control on the right.On the left you can plugyour TV wire into. Whenyou open the player, thefirst thing you notice is thatthe screen can be rotatedand turned all the wayaround and made to rest

like a tablet PC. The buttonson the device were not verygood and felt toyish.

The remote provided isalso not that great in quali-ty, but has additionaloptions like zoom, and atleast the buttons here havea better feel to them thanthose on teh player.Although one must wonderwhy a portable player needsa remote inth firstplace?Especiallysince youcan’t view itfrom morethan an armslength.

The player also hasMMC, SD and MS card inputsupport from the back aswell as a USB port so thatyou can plug in a flashdrive. When we tried to playsomething from a flashdrive, however, we foundthat it takes 5 clicks to starta movie. This player sup-ports a wide range of for-mats including DIVX

Another problem wespotted was while turningthe screen the TFT flickers

at the base. Welooked into itmore and sawthat any timethe screen isdisturbedthere is a

slight

intereference. Even so, thisplayer is great company onlong journeys and will pro-vide on-the-go entertain-ment whenever and wher-ever you are. Also you canuse this as a DVD player inyour car.

Specifications7-inch widescreen TFT ColorDisplay with In-built TV Tuner,DVD/CD/MP3/DIVX/JPEG, built-in SD/MMC/ MS Card Reader &DivX function

Contact: Mitashi EdutainmentPvt. Ltd.Phone: 022 -25006661E-mail: [email protected],[email protected] site: www.mitashi.comPrice: Rs. 7,490

Mitashi TFD-7608DVDs on the go...

With security being sucha big concern these

days, there have been manynew developers coming upwith antivirus software andthen evolving into completesecurity suites. Some of theolder well-known securitysuites have been overshad-owed by them.

The installation is simpleand you are first promptedto uninstall and disable anyprevious security suites orcomponents that you haveinstalled. The interface is tra-ditional as compared toNorton’s recent securitysuites. To keep the abundantfeatures from confusingusers, the suite lets you tog-gle between a Basic andAdvanced menu. Each of thefeatures in the suite have

very detailed customisationwindows that allow you totweak each component.

McAfee’s InternetSecurity 2009 comes withpretty much everythingrequired to safeguard yoursystem from everything fromvirus and worms to hackerattacks. Parental control isalso part of the suite.

Keywords and wildcardscan be used to block sites.The McAfee Data Backup fea-ture is one that lets you

archive data from your driveto either a optical disc, a dif-ferent location on your drive,or one on the network.

Spams in mails are alsotaken care of, as well asfiles sent through instantmessengers. There are addi-tional features like thePassword vault, whichallows you to securely storeyour passwords.

There are other interest-ing bits like the Shredder fea-ture that permanentlydeletes files or even an entirepartition or drive. The systemcleanup feature allows you todelete all unnecessary itemssuch as temporary files frominstallers, cache frombrowsers, undeleted registrykeys and so on. With all itsfeatures, it is a little bloatedand slow at times.

McAfee’s InternetSecurity 2009 is at par withthe security software we’ve

seen, though not as polishedor as simplistic.

The price of Rs. 2,699 isfine as you can use this toprotect upto three PCs. As asecurity solution, it’s notmiles ahead of other suites.

Requirements:Windows 2000 (SP4 and high-er), Windows XP, WindowsVista, 256 MB of RAM, 150 MBof free disk space.

Contact: McAfeePhone: 022-40291300Email: [email protected] site: www.mcafee.comPrice: Rs. 2,699 (Upto 3 PCs)

McAcfee Internet Security 2009As good as the many others


RATINGS


RATINGS



Digital Tools l Agent 001

Over the years games have becomemore demanding on our hard-ware as they offer greater immer-

sion. One aspect of gaming remainsunchanged — your interaction with thegame. Most of us use a cheap keyboardand mouse while gaming. While thismay do for playing the odd game, if youcare to call yourself a gamer, youwill def-initely feel the inadequacy of a commonkeyboard and mouse. Customisable but-tons, macro keys, high-sensitivity miceand joysticks — are what you should lookto as tools of the gaming trade.My hunt for new gaming gear began

with the demise of my two-year oldLogitech MX518. It had served methrough countless hours of Quake 3:Arena, Warcraft III and Battlefield 2142;not to mention a host of single-play-er titles, including Crysis. Theimpending release of Prince OfPersia also had me seriously think-ing about biting the bullet andbuying a game controller. So I need-ed a new mouse and a game controller.I already have a superb keyboard —

the Logitech G15 — which has beauti-fully backlit keys; a must for after-darkfraggers. The key spacing is a littlemore than what most keyboards offer,which is great for gaming. There arealso 12 macro keys; superb for hack-n-slash and RTS games. The G15 is pricedat Rs. 4,400 and while that may seem alot, it’s a beautiful keyboard for hard-core gamers. Razer’s Tarantula isanother good offering, although it hasless macro keys than the G15 and notall its keys are backlit. The Tarantularetails for Rs. 6,200 in India which isway too much for what it offers. Thereare a couple of options from the likesof iBall and Zebronics but these arehalf-hearted attempts at gaming key-boards and not worth the premium.When it comes to gaming mice

there are four major players — Logitech,Microsoft, Razer, and Steel Series.When looking at gaming mice, remem-ber that there are two types of sensors —infrared and laser. Laser sensors havehigher resolutions and offer greaterscrolling speed (not to be mistaken foraccuracy) than infraredmice. Logitech’sMX518, an infrared mouse, costs Rs.

1,400 — and is a real steal for its price.The Logitech G5 is a laser mouse with a2,000 dpi sensor and is priced at Rs.2,500. You can even configure theweight distribution of the mouse usingprovided weights. Logitech’s latestoffering; the G9 sports a 3200 dpi sen-sor and has a customisable grip thatcan be adjusted for width depending onthe size of your hand. It’s priced at Rs.4,400. Razer’s Lachesis is a competitorto the G9 and sports an identical sen-sor; it’s a fair bit costlier at Rs. 5,400. It’sthe same size as their Copperhead, andboth are aimed gamers with slightlysmaller hands, in my opinion. The

Copperhead is priced at Rs. 4,000.Personally I find both of these mice tobe very small for my hand and there-fore uncomfortable, although theirlower profiles (compared to Logitechmice) do help to alleviate stress on thewrist. The Razer Diamondback is thesame size and shape as the Copperhead,but sports a slightly lower resolution(1600 dpi) infrared sensor; it’s priced atRs. 3,000. Razer’s Deathadder is myfavourite mouse from the Razer series.It sports a 1600 dpi infrared sensor andfeels very close to the MX518 in hand;but it’s slightly lower, and its morerounded profile fits my hand perfectly.Steel Series’ Ikari, a 1600 dpi mouse, ispriced at Rs. 2,000 and exudes a greatfeel. The only drawback is that its clicksare a little too soft for my taste.Do not be fooled by resolutions — all

these mice track really well and a 3,200dpi sensor might not always be betterthan a 2,000 dpi sensor since the extraprecision means the mouse gets ultra-sensitive to even minute movements —not somethingmost gamers are comfort-

able with. Microsoft’s Sidewinder andSidewinder X5 are other gaming options:the former is costlier at Rs. 5,100, and thelatter sells for Rs. 2,500. In comparison toLogitech and Razer, these feel a littletacky, particularly the X5. The Habu is anolder option from Microsoft with aslightly improvedMX518 sensor under itshood. It’s priced at Rs. 2,500. For me, amouse can’t get better than the MX518 —superbly priced now, I bought mine forRs. 2,600 a couple of years back andthought it decent value; at its currentprice, well, it’s a steal.I was also looking for a controller for

hack-n-slash games to use with my PC.Microsoft’s Xbox 360 wired controller isavailable for as little Rs. 1,650 these days.At this price, it’s a steal as it comes withforce feedback. The wireless version ofthe controller costs Rs. 2,700 but youalso need a wireless receiver unit ifyou’re going to use it with your PC.Sony’s PS3 controller (called DualShock3) is also available; the wired version ofthe same costs Rs. 2,900 while the wire-less version is priced at Rs. 4,500. I didsee a Saitek wired controller priced atRs. 2,500; availability of this brand willbe an issue in most places although thehigher end Saitek products are verygood. I highly recommend the wiredXbox 360 controller — it’s cheap, it’swidespread and works well.For racing games, Logitech’s G25

and Momo are available. The Momo isexcellent value at Rs. 4500. It has twopedals, a 240-degree steering wheelturn and force feedback. The G25 is apremium offering and I must say itlooks lovely with a leather wrappedwheel and its F1-style paddles. Thesteering is ultra realistic with 2.5 turnsfrom end to end and the dual-motorfeedback ensures that you feel not onlybumps but also curves in the road andembankments — this is the real dealfor racing fans. The only downside isthe price — Rs. 17,750 — although it’sfairly priced in my opinion; for theexperience it offerss.I ended up picking the Xbox 360 con-

troller and the Logitech MX518. Nowfraggers will once again quake; while Iget down and dirty with the prince. �

[email protected]

Agent 001

Peripheral VisionAgent 001 goes shopping for gaming peripherals


Digital Tools l Agent 001

I wish to upgrade my PC. My PC configuration is1.5 GB of DDR2 667 MHz memory, ATi Radeon

X1550 Series graphics card, Intel E4600 CPU, AsusP5KC Motherboard and 400 watt SMPS. I want toupgrademymemory and GPU first. I will also upgrademy processor but a few months down the line. Mybudget for the graphics card is Rs. 5,000 and for thememory is Rs. 3,500. Which brand is good and whatsort of a performance increase can I expect with amemory upgrade? Should i changemyPSU formy con-figuration? My budget for the processor is Rs. 8,000.

Ihsan Ibrahim

Theweakest points in your configuration isyour CPU andGPU. You haven’tmentioned

what your usage pattern is, but I would recom-mend DDR2 800 MHz memory in a dual channelconfiguration if you’re on a really tight budget or1066 MHz memory if you can spend a thousandbucks more. Opt for two sticks of 2 GB each for atotal of 4 GB. For the graphics card I suggest youinvest in an NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT-basedgraphics card. EVGA’s 9600 GT is a good option.Expect to pay Rs. 6,000 for this – which is a steal inmy opinion. Intel’s E8400 (3.0 GHz), is a goodprocessor for a powerful, multipurpose PC. It’s aWolfdale based dual-core processor with 6 MB ofL2 cacheand is pricedat around theRs. 8,000mark.Expect a 10 percent increase in performance withyourmemoryupgrade andamuchhigher increasein performance with the recommended CPU andGPU. Change your PSU; Corsair’s VX 450 is a goodbuy at Rs. 3,500 and will power your PC.

I am planning to buy a newmachine with an AMDPhenom X4 9550, JetWay HA-06, Seagate 1 Ter-

abyte (32 MB Buffer) HDD, Sony 20 X SATA DVD writerand a 17-inch LCD monitor. I am a general home useralthough I play the oddgame. Please suggest a suitablepower supply and cabinet and also a good DVD writerapart from Sony.

Cyrus Chowbey

Whydon’t you gowith a Core 2Duo E8400instead? It is faster than the X4 9550 in all

the tasks you’ve mentioned. If you want a quadcore, Intel’s ownQ6600will also be a better option.Both of these cost the same as the X4 9550. For apower supply I recommend a VIP 500 watt PSUwhich will cost you around Rs. 3,000. Look at theCoolerMaster 690 for a cabinet; it’s a great lookerand cools excellently. If youwant a decent gamingexperience with older games look at a graphicscard – the GeForce 8600 GT is a good entry levelchipset; it should be priced at the Rs. 3,500 mark.LG DVD writers are good alternatives to Sony andI personally feel they’re more reliable.

I have decided to buy a camcorder that fits in abudget of 20k. Please let me know about the 3

models: Samsung’s VP_DX103i, Sony’s DCR-DVD610 and

Ask Agent 001

Canon’s DC310, their IS and recording medium. Woulda 35x optical zoom be sufficient for shooting in the hillstations? Which of the above models fits the best formy purpose?

Chayan

First of all letme say that I findHDD-basedcamcordersmuchbetter thandisc- or tape-

based ones. They are also compact in comparison.A 35x optical zoom is enough formost situations;and in any case camcorders with a higher zoomare rare and suitably price i.e. beyond your budget.Please use the camcorder you intend to buy toascertain the effectiveness of its optical zoom;which for me is the most important factor whenbuying a camcorder for outdoor purposes.

I have planned to purchase Sony Ericsson’s W595cellphone. It’s priced at Rs. 14,000. I want a

mobile with good music solution. Can you suggestany other worthy mobiles around Rs. 14k to 15k?

Merbin Shyju

It depends on what exactly you’re lookingfor. If you want a feature-rich Symbian

based cellphone then I would point you towardstheNokiaN73Music Edition. Else if youwanted anSE phone I’d suggest the K850i –which has a goodcamera and also great music quality. This shouldbe priced at around the Rs. 15,500 mark and issuperb for the price. The SE K800i/K810i phonesare also good for you – they offer excellent musicquality and a very good camera. These phones arecheaper and the K810i is actually priced aroundthe Rs. 9,000 mark; meaning you can pick up aniPod Nano 4 GB with the remaining cash and getyourself a good PMP as well.

I am planning to buy a PC. It will be used for lotsof business stuff, including the stock market

monitoring etc. You see I am very fond of gaming also.I would like a gaming rig combined with a businesspower machine. Could you suggest a good configura-tion within a budget of around Rs 70,000?

Rohan KumarHere’s my recommendation:Going for a quad core doesn’t make sense

unless you are willing to sacrifice on some othercomponent and get an Intel Q9550 (2.83 GHz)processor which will cost Rs. 17,500. �

Components My Suggestion PriceProcessor C2D E8500 (3.16 GHz) 9,500Motherboard MSI P 45 Platinum 10,000RAM 2 x 2 GB DDR2 1066 MHz (Kingston, Corsair) 5,000Graphics Card ZOTAC GeForce 9800GTX+ AMP! 12,000Hard Drive Seagate 1 TB 7200.11 6,800Monitor Dell SP 2208 WFP 15,000Cabinet CM 690 4,000Power Supply Corsair HX 520 6,000

68,300

PC Configuration

Want a tech product, butdon’t know how to go

about buying it? [email protected]

with your completecontact details, and he

might answer them here!Please note that

Agent001 only answerspurchase-related

questions in this space.

Ask Away!


There’s a lot youcan do to reduceyour operatingcosts in thesedays of econom-ic turmoil —from optimallyusing your airconditioners tousing your print-ers efficiently

DigitalDigital Leisure l Touched By Tech

How Technology Can Help Your OrganisationBusinessDigital

Second-hand PCs: A first-hand report 88

Ash

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that open to let out the heat. Have your meterchecked if you’re getting outlandish bills. It’s amatter of filling out and submitting a simpleform at your electricity company’s office.

Here are things you can do on the IT front:1. Switching to LCD monitors is a good idea.Some quick back-of-the-envelope calculationsshow that on an average you should recover theadditional investment of LCD over CRT in justthree years by way of accrued savings on elec-tricity. Not to mention the space saving, andhey — they look better. Incidentally, LCDs pro-duce less heat, so a marginal decrease in airconditioning costs cannot be ruled out.

2. Switch off the mains to your PCs before leav-ing. Know that your equipment draws powereven when they’re off. So when you see thesmall green light on any device, it’s drawing atleast a few watts. A recent UN-sponsored studyfound that up to 10 per cent of your electricity

Siddharth Parwatay

In today’s economic turmoil, everyone’s look-ing at ways to cut down on costs — smallbusinesses are no exception. In fact, small

businesses are probably hit the hardest as mostof them operate on limited rolling capital anddon’t have deep pockets to sustain themselvesin these times. And they say, desperate times callfor desperate measures. What can your businessdo to save costs? Here, we look at some cost-cut-ting measures that you can deploy.

Cut your electricity billsUtility costs can be a killer. For example, settingthe air conditioner to 26 degrees will help along way — the temperature remains pleasantenough to work while drastically reducing yourelectricity bill. During summers, reduce air-conditioning costs by scheduling your workaround the hottest hours of the day, if you workfrom a home-office. Use fans and ventilators

High in the meltdown

Business_Cost cutting_Feb-09:Business_Cost cutting_Feb-09.qxd 1/24/2009 3:44 AM Page 85


Digital Business l Feature

bills can be reduced simply by switching off thepower to computers and other electronics suchas cellphone chargers.

3. Tweak the computer’s power manage-ment for optimum savings. We’re often awayfrom our screens — coffee breaks, telephonecalls, and numerous other distractions alwayskeep popping up to pull you away from yourdesk. Screen savers that usually kick in at suchtimes won’t save your screens and won’t domuch for your power bills either. Keep the set-tings such that your monitor switches off afterfive minutes, or less, of being idle.

Cut your phone billsCutting down on phone costs can be a trickybusiness considering the multitude of offersand plans out there. The key is to analyse yourusage pattern.

1. Find out what type of calls your businessis required make — whether more calls will goout to cell phones or to land lines — whetherSTD or local?

2. Find out from where most of the call-ing happens — whether land lines ormobiles? Once you know, choose a plan andservice provider to meet your requirements.

3. An increasing number of people are sav-ing money by using Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) clients, such as Skype. Whilethe quality of service varies, it can be morecost-effective than landlines. Skype can beused to make international as well as domes-tic internet calls. While international calls arecharged a nominal amount, the domestic callsare free (Check the box ‘Setting up Skype’ fordetails on how to install and use Skype). Thereare software such as TeamSpeak which will allowyou to host a voice-chat server for multiple usersto log into. So conference calls within the samebuilding or even branch offices can be achieved.

4. If you have a number of employees workingand you’re not constantly around to supervise, it’sprobably a good idea to keep STD active on onlysome lines. Phone lock codes are also a good idea.

5. Use free SMS services such aswww.way2sms.com. After all, a penny saved is apenny earned.

Cut your internet costsInternet costs for your office canbe brought down through sometweaking.

1. Analyse your usage pattern. Isit more of just email and light brows-ing, or is a fair bit of downloadingrequired? If it is the former, we’d rec-ommend going in for speed andbandwidth as against high-data lim-its. Any 256kbps connection thesedays offers 500MB of data transfer.This is more than sufficient forbrowsing and email. The bandwidth,

too, is good enough to give you decent browsingspeeds when split into say three PCs over a net-work. Firewalls and filters are a must unless youwant your employees to be loitering around onOrkut and using up precious bandwidth anddata limits. If you’re on a limited data line, youneed to have a caching server / proxy, so that fre-quently visited web pages are stored on localdrives for quick retrieval. This means that theseweb pages are not downloaded each and everytime you visit them (Check the box ‘Cuttinginternet costs’ to learn how).

2. If your usage is more download-intensive,opt for the unlimited plans. Any good unlimit-ed plan these days should be not be more thanRs. 1,500 for a 256kbps line.

3. These days, for most businesses, howeversmall, having a web site is a must. Accordingly,many small businesses do host simple web sites,for which they end up paying a lot of money asdomain registration charges and web space.While in fact web space is available for cheap

and at times, at zero cost.You should not pay morethan Rs. 450 for domainregistration. If your website is hosted by one ofthose web space resellersthat sprouted at everycorner during the dot-com boom, then pleaselook elsewhere. Host yourwebsite on, freeweb-space.com or at least paid,

but cheaper Indian servers. Once your domain isregistered, all you need to do is redirect it towhere your web site is hosted. For example, buythe domain www.yourbusiness.com but host it athttp://yourbusiness.freewebspace. com.

4. The same goes for email. If your friendlyneighbourhood web space reseller is charging youfor an email interface, you need to stop rightaway. Zoho.com has solutions for small office users,whereby your emails are pulled to Zoho’s servers.You get the Zoho interface that is quite similar toGmail and migration is also pretty straight for-ward. The best part — it’s free for up to ten users!All you need to do is configure your domain and

e-mail information withZoho. Your email willremain [email protected], but you’ll now bechecking mails at some-thing like http:// busi-ness.mail.zoho.com/a/ your-business.com/#inbox.

Google also offers asimilar service, andthey’re trying to hide it.Go to www.google.com/a/,click the big blue “Seedetails and sign up” but-ton. Although it looks

Free Proxy: Setting up caching

FreeProxy: Setting up the proxy server



Digital Business l Feature

like you have to pay for this service, look for alink that says “Compare to Standard Edition”.when you click this, you will see a “Get Started”button under “Standard Edition”. From here onyou can just follow instructions, and get over 7GB email space for up to 50 users.

Other tipsThere are other things you can try, like printingon both sides of the paper. You save money andthe environment! Some printers automaticallyprint on both sides of the paper. If your printerdoes not, use the “print on both sides” mode,where you only have to manually reverse the stackafter one side is printed. Also, avoidprinting unless absolutely required.If you must print, then print indraft / economy mode by default.

So far we have told you whatyou can, and should do, to cut cor-ners. But while running leaner is amust, not every penny-pinchingmeasure is a good one — so here aresome strict No-Nos. Certain thingsare really based on common sense.For example, if your business relieson a web face then don’t compro-mise on that front. Follow these setof instructions and you should bewell on your way to frugality inthese trying times.

[email protected]

To share an internet connection between multiple computers, a proxy software isrequired. Several solutions such asFreeProxy and AnalogX are available online.Download and install FreeProxy from www.handcraftedsoftware.org. It is simple,easy to use and also functions as a caching server and web site filter / blocker.

To Share a Connection using FreeProxy follow these steps:Click on Define > Define Ports. Here you can define ports for Http,

socks, etc. (Usually 8080, 1080 etc). Click on Done.Now enter this in the browser’s settings on the PCs connected to the net-

work. Click on Start/Stop to activate proxy server. All PCs will now accessthe internet through this proxy server.

To Activate Caching:Click on Define > Define Cache. Tick the Activate the cache checkbox. Select the control and data path. Enter the size limit of cache dependingon usage. 300MB should be fine. Set the expiry to around 7 days. Click onDone.

To ban certain web sites:Click on the Ban List button in the top bar. Click on New and create a cate-gory, say Bad. Click on Manage Category Details and add the URLs thatyou wish to block. Click Save, and then Activate > Done. Double-click onPorts and then on Permissions > Add Resource. In Resource type,select Ban-List URL or IP Address. Under Permission, selectForbidden for all users. Click Done. You can also add filters. To dothis in resource type, select Full URL or Path Filter. Under path, youcan type *download* to block all URLs containing the word download.

To communicate between branches of youroffice, make sure you have Skype downloadedand installed on the PCs in your office. You canalso have conference calls between officesusing Skype. Upto 24 employees can join theseconference calls. Click on Call > StartConference Call. Add users from your con-tacts and click on start.

Skype Setup

To change the power management settings foryour PC, go to Start > Control Panel >Click Power Options. Set the Turn off moni-tor to After 5 minutes, and turn off hard disksto After 10 minutes, and standby to 15minutes. This will significantly save electricity.

Using Power Management

TeamSpeak is an application that allows you tohost a voice server on your PC. You can connectto this server and have a voice chat / conference.The application is actually meant for gaming pur-poses, but can be put to commercial use. It’s freeand works effectively on LAN. So in case you havean office, which is on different levels or floorsthis could be a useful utility. It’s like having a con-ference call on, all the time which is somethingnot even possible on a telephone-based inter-com, To setup, download TeamSpeak client aswell as TeamSpeak server from www.teams-peak.com. While installing the server, you will geta temporary username and password. Make anote of both admin and superadmin passwords.These passwords can be changed to your prefer-ence later. Once installed, the TeamSpeak serverwill minimise to the system tray. Right-click on itand click on Administration. The server ismanaged through a web interface, so a browserpage will open where you need to put in yourusername as superadmin and password. Oncewithin the interface, click on SuperAdmin manag-er in the left pane. Click on add client to createuser accounts for all your employees. Assign username and password for each employee. Once thisis done install the TeamSpeak client on all yourPCs. To connect to the server from another PCclick on Connection > Connect in theTeamSpeak Client application. Add details of theserver such as server IP address and nickname.Enter user name and password and click connect.The server’s IP can be found out by right-clickingon the server icon in the system tray and movingthe cursor over “Your IPs”.

TeamSpeak

Sharing the internet

Teamspeak setup


Digital Business l Smart SoHo

PCs


Today’s PCs maybe more power-ful than everbefore, butwhat aboutaffordability?Second-handPCs offer theperfect budgetsolution foryour smalloffice.

Siddharth Parwatay

Can anyone’s scrapped system, be some-one else’s dream machine? Well, this cer-tainly holds true in the second-hand PC

market. Just because your PC can’t run the lat-est game doesn’t mean it’s trash. It can possiblyperform mundane office tasks. Many don’tknow this, but there exists a large secondary PCmarket out there — with its own set of rules ofparticipation and provision. A stream of suchso-called obsolete PCs form the foundation ofthis market. Some consumers frequentlyupgrade their PCs and sell their old ones in thesecond-hand market — largely in the metros. Asignificant portion of these proliferate to ruralareas, where people may not have the means orinclination to invest in the latest configura-tions. Such second-hand machines also findtheir way to educational institutes, offices, andbusinesses, in tier II and III cities. A Gartnerreport states that “one in every 12 PCs in useworldwide is a secondary PC.” An estimated 10per cent is donated to NGOs and other non-profit organisations. Let’s try to understand thespecifics of the second-hand PC market byanswering some fundamental questions.

Why would you want a second-handcomputer?Well the simplest and quickest answer to thatquestion is price! People who buy a refur-

Second-hand

A First-hand Reportbished or a second-hand computer generallyfall into one of two categories. The first cate-gory of people need a computer for fairly stan-dard tasks such as internet browsing, wordprocessing, spreadsheet work, etc.Applications of this nature have not changedmuch over the years in terms of the demandsthat they make on a computer’s resources.Therefore, a second-hand computer whichmay be a few years old, would be quite capa-ble of running even modern versions of theseprograms and at a fraction of the price of abrand-new machine. Besides, when you’rerunning such mundane tasks, a brand newmachine can be an expensive overkill. The sec-ond category of users might require a

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machine to do some specific task — as part ofan office or a home network — for example anemail, a database, or a web server. Again,tasks which an older computer is quite capa-ble of handling.

Gordon Moore, the former CEO of Intelonce observed that “the power of semicon-ductor technology doubles every 18 months”,and so the average computer manufacturedtoday has specifications which dwarf thoseavailable just a few years ago. But theresource requirement of day-to-day softwarehas not evolved at the same pace. A computermade three years ago will run office, data-base, accounting and other mainstreamapplications, and browse the net, as effective-ly as the latest PC. This is quite a blessing forsmall businesses looking to purchase a fewadditional computers, especially in these direeconomic times.

“Well what about durability?” you mayask. Jitu Bhai who is the proprietor of JituBhai Joone Computer has some reassuringthings to say. As his company’s name sug-gests, he deals exclusively in second-hand

computers and has been in the business forover ten years. “Computers, although notbuilt to last forever, are certainly built to last.Especially the older ones which had betterbuild quality”, Jitu opines. “[They] almostnever break down... if one does fail, chancesare that your new PC can also do just that”,says Jitu Bhai. He also points out that it’s agood step you can take to do your bit for theenvironment. Remember that with very littlemeasure taken for proper disposal of e-waste,most of the redundant PCs in India will bedumped in non-environment-friendly ways.Reuse and reduce is the formula.

Where do these PCs come from?As we pointed out earlier, one source is thehome user, probably indulging in a two-yearupgrade cycle. But another important sourceof these PCs are large companies that haveregular update cycles. Companies operatingin verticals such as IT, telecom, banking and

1. Avoid Branded PCs. Opt for assembled -Branded PCs have customised motherboardswhich are hard to come by. Their slots can’taccommodate generic components, the SMPScan’t be sourced and numerous other problems.An assembled PC, on the other hand, is easilyupgradeable.

2. Avoid RD and SD RAM – Again, these compo-nents are very difficult to source. Even if youcan source the RAM, it'll be expensive due tonon availability.

3. Opt for Samsung and LG screens – These,according to dealers, are the most reliable andthey have a wide service network. Like mostthings Chinese, avoid Chinese monitors.

4. Operate the PC to check if its in workingorder - Look under the hood for componentsthat are within warranty. For example mosthard disk drives come with a 3 year warranty.Also check for bad sectors in the harddisk.

5. Check to see if the cooling fan is workingproperly - Any abnormal whirring noises couldmean it has gathered dust and needs cleaning.

6. Give the specs a thorough look to make surethey match with the ones advertised - Go toSettings > Control Panel > System >Device Manager to check the listed features.

7. Try to get original documentation - Receiptsalways come in handy.

8. Avoid Celerons - No explanation required!

Things to keep in mind whilebuying second-hand PCs

When most people sell off their computers, theydo a simple formatting of their hard drive. Thisis certainly not enough. They put themselves atrisk of being defrauded or of having their identi-ties stolen because many disks are not properlywiped of data. Second-hand computers are apotential treasure-trove of personal informa-tion, and can be exploited to devastating effect.Professor Martin Gill of the University ofLeicester and his team, in a study purchased sixsecond-hand computers from various sourcesand conducted a forensic data-analysis on eachone using off the shelf computer software. Theydiscovered half had not been securely wiped. Inone case, there had been no attempt to wipe thecontents! Make sure you use a data-shreddingsoftware on your most personal files before sell-ing your PC. A good data wiping software isErase v 5.3 which can be downloaded fromhttp://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/download.shtml

When you are the seller




finance, where the criticality of IT infrastruc-ture is very high, experience a high churn forPCs that are phased out more rapidly. It ishere that the technology obsolescence factoressentially acts as a driver for the second-hand PC market. Until recently, banking andfinance companies could easily afford to beslightly frivolous. Faisal of Star Infotech,which operates out of Lamington Road anddeals in second-hand PCs puts it well — “largecompanies will routinely go in for a yearlyrevamp in hardware and sell the old comput-ers to dealers for near scrap value.” However,he is quick to add that “most of my stockcomes from home users”. Faisal is now look-ing forward to expanding his sales reach bytargeting SMEs that require 15 to 20 comput-ers for routine work. Jitu Bhai also offerssome interesting insights. “A lot of piecescome from customs where auctions are regu-larly held to get rid of unclaimed or seizedgoods. Big businesses are a good source butwe get their used computers indirectly,through large PC suppliers who are requiredto buy back hundreds of PCs from theirclients as part of exchange schemes”, says JituBhai. Another source is imports. Some mayfrown and call it e-waste dumping, but largequantities of high-end used computers findtheir way to Nehru Place in Delhi and sec-ondary markets in Kolkata. These PCs are usu-ally leased by rental companies abroad, andafter a pre-defined deadline are consideredredundant. Of course, they are far fromredundant. Many of Jitu Bhai’s componentscome from PC manufactures who keep stand-by pieces of components to cover replacementguarantees. The buffers are quite high andmany pieces remain unused, and find them-selves in the secondary market.

A standard configuration:Intel Pentium 4, 2GHz , 256MB RAM, 40GB Harddrive CD-Writer, keyboard, and mouse 15-inchCRT monitorRs. 6,000

Web Resources: Classified web sites will help youfind individual products as well as second-handdealers in your city or town. Here are someexamples.http://www.adpost.com/in/computers/http://www.trademart.in/http://dir.indiamart.com/cgi/compcatsearch.mp?ss=second%20hand%20computerhttp://www.sscomptech.com/used-computer.htmhttp://www.secondhandmall.com/http://www.jitubhai.com/

A standard configuration

Why does it make sense for SoHo’s?According to Jitu Bhai, the propensity to buysecond-hand PCs for offices is less in theMetros. This is because the gap between newand second-hand has narrowed over the years.Yet the thumb rule remains that a second-hand machine can be bought at half the priceof a new one. As per current prices, a decentsecond-hand PC can be bought for Rs. 6,000 to8,000 as opposed to a new entry-level modelfor around Rs. 13,000. This translates toRs. 5,000 saving on just a single PC — if yourbusiness requires more than five PCs, you arelooking at a substantial saving.

People in the metros also have severalhang-ups regarding after-sales service. Anyonetrying to rubbish the entire second-hand busi-ness PCs should know that most of the playersoffer some form of warranty. The warrantyperiod may range from a week to a month andmost secondary sellers offer maintenance con-tracts through partner firms. Most don’t offeron-site warranty, but are happy to service thefaulty components if you’re willing to bringthe equipment to their office. Many others goby the axiom, “Walk out of the door and it’syour responsibility...” Avoid these guys.

Tier II and tier III cities are more open tothe concept of used PCs. Mr. Goyal, a cyber-cafe owner in Jaipur had started off with threePCs that he bought from Jitu Bhai. He has nowexpanded to fifteen and is perfectly satisfied.A woman in Mira Road, who does not wish tobe named, has several second-hand computersthat form the back-bone of her small medicaltranscription business.

Where do you start from?Your friendly neighbourhood assembler shouldbe able to get you a good deal or at least get youin touch with a second-hand seller. You will alsofind players like Jitu Bhai who have their ownweb site (www.jitubhai.com) that offer compo-nents, as well as fully set-up PCs. If you pick upin bulk, most suppliers will offer some form ofdiscount and either a preferential or anenhanced after-sales service. A simple Googlesearch will net you results on web sites likeIndiamart. Remember, some people will haveno qualms about calling a spade a spade — inthis case, a second-hand PC. But theeuphemisms are aplenty — pre-owned, used,refurbished are some examples. All these termscan be quite confusing and certainly inter-changeable. Although refurbished ideallyimplies that the computers have been thor-oughly serviced and faulty parts have beenreplaced by the dealer. Most dealers do this any-way, so even if the computer has been lying in adusty office basement, it’ll look like it’s in afairly decent condition. ■

[email protected]


Digital Leisure l Lead Feature

Siddharth Parwatay

Welcome to the immersive world of Alternate Reality Games (ARG) — a form of gaming that uses the real world as

a platform, while involving multiple media and game elements, a powerful storyline that may be affected by participants’ ideas or actions, all the while relying on the internet as the central binding medium. ARG is where the line between games and reality starts to blur, mainly as a result of its pri-mary mantra — TINAG (this is not a game). Reminds you of an obscure Michael Douglas movie called The Game? Precisely!

Lead Feature

Alternate Reality Gaming

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a part of an adventure like Indiana Jones or a story right out of a Ludlum thriller? We all have, right? And so we play hundreds of RPGs and MMOs to expe-rience a little bit of that thrill. But what if you could really be a part of something like that — really a part of it?

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also come up with newer puzzles and sub-plots to keep the players engaged. They have to continually keep up with the combined intellect of the player community and in fact, be one step ahead — so no more linear game play. Still, if all this doesn’t excite you and you ask “hey so what, why should I play?” well then maybe you shouldn’t. Or maybe you’ll try to give it a shot if we tell you that aRGs are popular amongst female gamers. Sound inter-esting now?

In any case, if you’re not the puzzle solving type, there is a way out for you too. Thousands of enthusi-asts lurk around on the periphery to just follow the plot, and put in an occasional forum post. The great deal of community interaction might just facilitate meeting some interesting people.

ARG as a marketing and promotion tool unlikely beneficiaries of aRGs are filmmakers, who find that promoting movies through this form of interactive entertainment really gets the buzz going. Steven Spielberg’s aI did it with The Beast, one of the first mass aIGs attracting over 2 million active users.

and it’s not just film and TV; even the music industry is taking to aRGs. Year Zero was an alter-nate reality game based on the Nine Inch Nails concept album of the same name. The game was launched just before the album was scheduled to release. In response to criticism regarding this form of promotion for the album, Trent Reznor, frontman of the band, stated “The term “marketing” sure is a frustrating one for me at the moment. What you are now starting to experience is “year zero”. It’s not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record — it is the art form... and we’re just getting started. Hope you enjoy the ride.”

So are these ads and gimmicks intrusive? Not really. Most usually don’t even mention the product that they’re promoting. It’s actually a brilliant form of viral marketing as it gets a bunch of people to spend a lot of time exploring a world related to the product. Take the case of ‘I Love Bees’, a huge promotion for Halo 2. Those that did play it knew that it was a promotion, but not once did it scream, “Please buy Halo 2!”. Instead of flooding the users with Halo 2 banner ads, they were immersed in the back-story of the Halo 2 universe. Players spent months before the game was released interacting with some really cool fictional characters. For example, the game presented players with 210 pairs of global posi-tioning system coordinates and time codes, with no indications to what the locations referred to. Players eventually figured out the coordinates referred to pay phones and the times to when the phones would ring; one player in Florida stayed by a phone while Hurricane Frances was minutes away in order to recite answers to prere-corded questions. Other phone calls were made by live persons known as “operators”; these calls allowed players to interact with the characters

of the games in spontaneous and occasionally humorous ways.

and all the interaction between players made finding friends to team up with on Xbox Live really very easy. So sure, there is marketing, but it was really cool marketing that gave players something to talk about, something to enjoy.

ARG in IndiaIs there really a scope for aRGs in India? Does the average Indian gamer want thinking games, or is he more into the shoot-em-up, high definition type of entertainment?

Not really. IIM Indore’s online puzzle game Kluless got 12 Million hits a month. It was a series of levels, which required the player not only to think but be resourceful by googling stuff and thinking laterally. although a precursor, it wasn’t an aRG in the true sense of the genre.

Perhaps India’s first real aRG was hosted as a part of Malhar, the all India college fest of St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai. Dubbed the “Richard Burns Project”, participants had just as much fun as the Puppet-masters who were pulling their strings! Players were immersed in a plot involving disappearance, espionage and semi-paranormal elements, thinly connected to actual events in Mumbai’s history like the 26/7 floods and the World War II era dockyard blast. all the while players were actively solving web-based, audio and visual puzzles to progress to the next stage. The final leg had them running all over south Mumbai in the wee hours of the morning in search of cryptic clues. But since it was part of the fest, it was not open to the general public. n

[email protected]

While being part of an aRG, say you encounter a bomb which is steadily counting down in the back seat of a car you’ve gone to investigate. as it nears zero you begin to wonder, if only for a brief second, whether it’ll actually blow up or a flag will pop up saying “boom” – that’s how real an aRG can feel to its participants. Some of the nascent aRGs had participants just stumbling upon a web site, claiming certain anomalous events have taken place or are going to take place, and from then on, clues would send them on an online adventure trail. But instead of presenting a chronologically unified coherent narrative, the story would be discovered in scattered pieces across the Internet and other media, allowing players to reassemble it, supply connective tissue, and determine what it meant. In effect, the players would themselves not know whether they’re part of a game, a hoax, a prank or just some wild goose chase.

The one thing that ties all aRGs together is that you interact with the fictional world using things that you interact with on a daily basis in the real world. also, you aren’t interacting as a char-acter, as you would in most computer and video games. you also don’t need any special equipment, as you would with most console games. Most aRGs take advantage of computers and the internet (web sites and emails) as well as phones and even the occasional live event - finding something hidden in your city, gathering around payphones, or even live parties with character interaction!

The bulk of the game-play happens online in the form of solving puzzles, conducting research, and interacting with in-game characters and com-munity members. But since it’s often a collabora-tive effort, there is no need for all players to do all tasks, which is good since some of the puzzles and clues are insanely difficult, making even seasoned players pull out their hair.

How did all of this begin? Well, if you really want to trace it back it prob-

ably has its roots in the early television show promotion campaigns which sent viewers on so called “Treasure Hunts”. Then there was the whole Beatles “Paul is dead” controversy where thou-sands of people believed that Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike and sound-alike. People went about trying to prove this by uncovering hints among the Beatles’ many recordings that alluded to this fact, such as state-ments heard when a song is played backwards, symbolic interpretations of obscure lyrics, and ambiguous imagery on album covers.

But the true seminal work in aRG was The Beast, so called because an early asset list for the project contained 666 files.

The Beast was set in the year 2142, fifty years after the events chronicled in AI. There were a few overlapping entry points to the game, or “rabbit holes”. First, some trailers and posters for AI had a credit for Jeanine Salla as Sentient Machine Therapist hidden among the credits for Spielberg and the actors. Second, one of the trailers had a telephone number concealed in the markings on the promotional text; if a player called this number and followed the given instructions he or she eventually received an email stating in part that “Jeanine is the key” and that “you’ve seen her name before.”

Each rabbit hole led to questions about Jeanine Salla, especially since one would not expect a film made in 2001 to require the services of a robo-therapist! Googling Jeanine brought up sev-eral web pages set in the fictional world of the game such as the homepage of Salla’s employer, Bangalore World university. Reading Salla’s bio page, the player encountered a link to the personal page of Salla’s granddaughter, Laia Salla, as well as Jeanine’s phone number. Following these clues leads the player to the homepage of Evan and Nancy Chan, family friends of the Sallas. Jeanine’s phone message revealed that Evan recently died in an alleged boating accident on his a.I.-enhanced boat, the Cloudmaker. But it is learned from sev-eral sources that Evan was a superb swimmer.

at this point the player joins the investigation into Evan’s death. Over the course of the three months that The Beast went on, it incorporated thirty diverse in-game web sites, from the anti-Robot Militia to the Coalition for Robot Freedom; from an architectural magazine to a sleep clinic, and from the coroner’s office to a hat store. as the game progressed, the players came across additional mysteries, such as who is killing aI-enhanced houses, the location of the sexbot with whom Evan had an affair, and malfunctions in the weather-control system. By the end of the twelve weeks, players had completely immersed them-selves in the in-game action.

Why should I care?unlike other games, this type of game reacts to the players moves. The Puppet-masters (creators) often are forced to change the story line mid-game and

Puppet-master - A Puppet-master is an individual involved in designing and/or running an ARG. Puppet-masters are simultaneously allies and adversaries to the player base, creating obstacles and providing resources for overcoming them in the course of tell-ing the game’s story. The Curtain - The curtain is generally a metaphor for the separation between the Puppet-masters and the players. Puppet-masters generally remain behind the curtain while a game is running. The real identity of Puppet-masters may or may not be known ahead of time.Rabbithole - Also known as a Trailhead. A Rabbithole marks the first web site, contact, or puzzle that starts off the ARG.Trailhead - A deliberate clue which enables a player to discover a way into the game.

Jargon

www.argn.comYou can find the currently running ARGs by visiting ARG Network, the best basic resource for ARG news and events. You’ll see a list of the most popular (and confirmed!) games at the top of the page with links to the forums where it’s being discussed as well as any other important resources (such as the game chat room).

www.unfiction.comThe forums at unfiction (uf) will update you on the latest independent games.

www.cloudmakers.orgCloudmakers now serves as a clearinghouse for online gaming. Members can find out about new games, find fellow players, and reminisce about and discuss The Beast.

Besides, we suggest you keep your eyes open; you might just chance upon something somewhere, you never know

Where do I start?



out war against the Covenant. So all you RTS loverswho really didn’t understand the hype behindHalo, should now set yourselves up to get hooked.Halo Wars’ web site is www.halowars.com.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction(Xbox 360, PC)Conviction, is the fifth among the popular SplinterCell series. This game is being developed by UbisoftMontreal. The story takes place two years after theevents of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent.Sam Fisher is forced out of hiding because of anunspecified danger to his friend and co-worker,Anna Grímsdóttir. Upon his return to ThirdEchelon, he discovers that the organisation hasfallen into disarray due to overbearing bureau-cracy and internal power struggles. Incensed bythe inability of Third Echelon to do what’s right,Sam strikes out on his own. In Conviction, Sam’sinvolvement with the terrorists in Double Agent hasmade him a wanted man, forcing him to go incog-nito. For those of you who haven’t played any ofthe previous Splinter Cell games, Sam is a part ofa special black ops team under the NSA, codenamed Third Echelon and Anna Grimsdóttir is thetechnical operations manager in the same depart-ment. The game offers a good mix of stealth game-play (think Metal Gear Solid series, and action). Thisparticular outing of Sam promises to be as excit-ing as the previousinstallments withits interesting infor-mation gatheringgameplay, stealth,and covertmissions. For moreinformation aboutthis game go tohttp://splitercell.us.ubi.com/conviction/.

Street Fighter IV(Xbox 360, PS3, PC)Street Fighter lovers rejoice! The game is back withadded features, characters and game styles. Gearup for new moves and combos including four newcharacters — Abel , Crimson Viper, Rufus and ElFuerte. Of course there are boss and hidden char-

acters that these arcadegames always hold —Gouken, Seth and Akuma.Even though the charactersare being rendered in 3D,the gameplay is not going tochange. Street Fighter IV isretaining the arcade style ofsix button combat. There are

two more attacks that have been added to thisgame — Focus Attack and Ultra Combo. The gameis already released on arcades, but will have moreto offer for the home version, which will bereleasing shortly. Street Fighter’s web site iswww.streetfighter.com

BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams(Xbox 360, PS3, PC)What can we say about BioShock? Those of you whohave played theg a m e ,absolutely loveit. If youhaven’t playedit, well, you aremissing out onan award-winning title. Now it’s time to play thesequel of the game coming out in 2009 titled,Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams. Here’s the problem though— not much has been revealed about the sequel. Somuch so, that there is speculation that the gamemay be a prequel instead of a sequel. A teaser forthe Sea of Drems is available on popular video sites



Kumar Jhuremalani

2008 saw some great titles being released, butthat’s old news now. It’s the New Year — let’smove on. Games give us something to look

forward to, when you get home from school,college, or even work. Enough talk. Let’s jump intoa list of the games that we are looking forward tothis year. These games are in no particular order,because we definitely want to play them all!

Lord of the Rings Conquest(PC, PS3, Xbox 260, Nintendo DS)The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is an upcoming videogame developed by Pandemic Studios andpublished by Electronic Arts. It is based on The Lordof the Rings trilogy, and borrows many gameplaymechanics from Pandemic’s Star Wars: Battlefrontgames. This game allows you to play both theforces of good and evil, but unlikeThe Lord of the Rings:The Battle for Middle-earth, the latteroption is basedaround Sauronstopping the OneRing from beingdestroyed andfighting back. Allsounds good on

Most

paper, especially as it offers a choice of a side topick in the epic war for the Rings, so let’s wait andhope for the best. Go to www.pandemicstudios.com/conquest/ to find out more about this game.

Halo Wars(Xbox 360)Halo is an all time favourite FPS game that has youplaying as the spartan warrior Master Chief, of theUNSC. You have to battle the Covenant forces andachieve victory. Halo Wars has not been created byBungie, but is instead more of an off-shoot of theHalo franchise, and is created by Ensemble Studios.The game offers a different perspective to theworld and wars of Halo. As an RTS game, you get tocontrol large armies and shrewdly direct them inrealistic warfare. Halo Wars is set during theUNSC’s first deadly encounters with the Covenant,allowing players to lead the crew of the UNSC’s“Spirit of Fire” — from initial skirmishes to an all

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increased AI. And of course, this game introducesan element of co-operative multiplayer—you caneither play locally over a split-screen, or remotelywith your friends. Head to www.residentevil.comwhere you can find out more about this game.

Prototype(Xbox 360, PS3, PC)Here’s a rather challenginggame for everybody. Prototypeis a sandbox-style action game,which basically means youdon’t have to follow a singlepatch to reach your objective.You have the freedom to choose the way you wantto play the game. Of course this freedom isn’twithout limit; you will have to follow the basicstory outline which goes like this: You play Alex, amutant shape-shifted with superhuman abilitiesof strength, speed, agility, durability and healing.You are also empowered with the abilities toconsuming fallen enemies... a bit creepy, that. Aswe mentioned earlier, Alex can shapesift and takeon the guise of those he has consumed... gettingcreepier... Alex, of course, has lost his memory andis set out to regain it. He would also need to findhis sister to get the answers he is looking for. Thegame throws two types of enemies at you: one is aset of humans that have been infected with a viruscausing them to mutate, and the other are thespecial squad of soldiers sent out to kill the afore-mentionedmutants. The most interesting aspect isthe shape-shifting ability, a new concept as a meanof destruction. We do hope that the gameplay isnot overly complicated due to this mechanic.Radical (the developers behind this titles) claimthat there are 750 different combinations that canbe used through this power, so we hope they don’tdisappoint us. Head to www.prototypegame.com tolearn more about the game.

inFAMOUS(PS3)You play a college dropout named Cole, who is abicycle messenger. One day Cole delivers a packagewhich for some strange reason, causes a massiveelectromagnetic explosion that kills everybody ina six-block radius, except Cole. Cole is not the sameafter the explosion and now has super powers (hecan control electricity) and is out for revenge, ormore likely, an answer. While the setup sounds abit overdone (remember the big green guy), thecore gameplay seems interesting. Oh and did wemention that prior to the life-changing explosionCole was athletic and knew parkour? Parkour, orfree-running is getting quitecommon in the gaming world,with more and more games beingcreated with parkour as the coreconcept. Another thing to watchout for is the sandbox style ofgameplay offered by inFAMOUS

where you can choose to be either friendly by help-ing out people in distrees, or just ignore them anddo your own thing. Through its great graphic andcool powers, we hope that this new-age super herogame will be a win. Visit http://www.suckerpunch.com/detail.php/games/infamous for more aboutthis game.

Halo 3: ODST(Xbox 360)Formerly known as Halo 3: Recon, ODST is an expan-sion of Halo 3, created by Bungie. The gameplay issimilar to the Halo trilogy but in this expansionyou do not play as Master Chief, but rather a loneUNSC soldier in the city of New Mombasa, Kenya.You play a soldier of the Orbital Drop ShockTroopers (ODST) whose main objective is to findout what happened to his missing squad members.

Since an ODST does not possess MasterChief’s superhuman abilities andarmor, he is more vulnerable toweapons fire, making for a morecautious and tactful gameplay. Butdon’t get the wrong idea—ODST is notfocused on stealth gameplay, however,some elements of stealth will be incor-porated. To learn more about Halo 3:ODST head over to this web sitewww.bungie.net.

StarCraft II(PC, Mac OS X)StarCraft II continues its epic saga where StarCraft:Brood War left off. StarCraft II will present a cast of

new heroes and familiar facesin an edgy sci-fi story filledwith adventure and intrigue.Protoss, Terran and Zerg, thethree races in the game willbe battling it out once again,only this time there will benew units, new abilities andnew maps. StarCraft hasalways been one of the fastestRTS games around and be

assured that this sequel will continue that aspect.This game caters to the veterans who love StarCraftand also to those who are new to the RTS genre.Blizzard will once again offer online play throughBattle.net their online service, which is expectedto offer new features to accomodate StarCraft II.Learn more about Starcraft II by visiting this website: www.starcraft2.com.

Star Wars: The Old Repuplic(PC)This game is likely to attract a varied bunch ofpeople: from gamers, to geeks, to Star Wars freaks.Firstly, the MMORPG world will want to get theirhands on this massively multiplayer title. Thenthere will be those who have played and enjoyedeither of the two Knights of the Old Republic games,


such as YouTube and Gametrailers. Well, whateverthe nature of the game, it is definitely anothergem to look out for.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin(Xbox 360, PS3, PC)The nightmare has returned, Alma Wade is back.The sequel to F.E.A.R. continues the supernaturalsuspense story of Alma, a powerful psychic whorages against those who wronged her. This triggersan escalating paranormal crisis in her person, thatthreatens to devour and replace the reality as weknow it, with her own. Her story istold in F.E.A.R. through various meanssuch as sequenced flashbacks, snip-pets of CCTV footage, and otherevidence found playing the game. InProject Origin, you will encounterAlma, we assume, in a similar waythey did in the first game — throughexploration of a city that was annihi-lated by the cataclysmic explosion ofthe previous game. This time you willnot be playing as the Point Man, butwill instead play a special forces oper-ator called Michael Becket, whosesquad is sent in to arrest GenevieveAristide, based on the evidence gathered againsther by the Point Man in F.E.A.R. All of this will beoccuring 30 minutes prior to the ending of F.E.A.R.The game’s teaser throws some great fightsequences and some chilling moments. We can’twait. Visit http://projectorigin.warnerbros.com tolearn more about this game. This just in: at the timeof writing this, Project Origin’s demo has been releasedon the PC and console platforms. So what are you wait-ing for, go grab it!

Diablo III(PC, Mac OS X)Diablo III is another sequel to a very popular RPGseries from Blizzard. The game offers a new story-line and of course, awesome graphics. Diablo IIItakes place in Sanctuary, the dark fantasy world ofthe Diablo series. For those of you who playedDiablo II, the world was saved by a handful ofunnamed heroes. The story goes like this: thewarriors that survived the onslaught of the armiesof the Burning Hells have gone mad from theirordeals, and it is up to a new generation of heroesto face the forces of evil threatening the world ofSanctuary. Players will also have the opportunityto explore familiar settings suchas Tristram. The three classeswhich have been revealed so farare the Barbarian, the Wizardand the Witch Doctor. TheBarbarian is the one class thathas been preserved from DiabloII. A scary fact about the Wizardhas been mentioned as on theDiablo III website: “Imagine, a

headstrong nineteen-year-old youth, able to warptime itself to her will!” Yeah, haven’t heard thatone before... Jokes apart, this sequel will give youthe chance to customize your character as pergender, something thatwas previously not possi-ble. Looking at the game trailers, this game looksto be another great hit from the Blizzard stables,and we are eagerly awaiting its release. You canlearn more about the game at www.diablo3.com.

God Of War 3(PS3)Not much is knownabout the third andthe final part of theGod of War trilogy,but it will defi-nitely be as excit-ing and as muchfun as the previoustwo. The specula-tions we have forthis game includenew and moreawesome weaponsthat kill and rend in even cooler ways. Can thereever be enough blood splatter? Surely not. Theprevious titles did a great job as action games, butwe want more. We would especially like to seemore of the Kratos character buildup — here’s aperson who can stand up to the very Gods, some-one without fear... we love that aspect of his char-acter and can’t wait to see how the developersimprove upon him. The story arc of the game so faris brilliant and going strong, we would definitelywant to know more. There has also been specula-tion that God of War III will offer online gameplay,definitely something to look forward to... The Godof War III website is http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/ Games/God_of_War_III/

Resident Evil 5(PS3, Xbox 360)

Another sequel to another great fran-chise; but this game is also a movieseries. Resident Evil 5 continues in thesame vein as its immediate successor.The game is similar to Resident Evil 4with the same ‘over the shoulder’camera view. Instead of controlling thecharacter of Leon, as done in the fourthgame, you get to control Chris Redfield.While RE:5 adds new weapons, it still

retains the classic handguns and shotguns.Lighting plays an important part in this outing,with dark and bright environments offering dras-tically different styles of gameplay. For example: asChris moves from a dark area to a brightly-lit area,the dilation of his pupils will cause you to seeextended black instead of a direct readjustment ofthe environment around you. More human likebehaviour has also been given to the enemies with




and finally anybody and every-body who ever liked Star Warswould, and must, defeinitelytry this game. Of course thisgame has also recieved a lot ofcriticism—there are those whodo not want their single-player-only favourite to be convertedinto an MMO, others say thatthis game will not do well withthe prevailing market condi-tion as the MMOmarket is currently dominated byWorld of Warcraft. Warranted, or unwarranted criti-cisms aside, this game will definitely be a delightas it can be considered a step up from the tradi-tional setup of Mages, Wizards, Nights, Elves andOrcs, which is so common that it has begun to getboring to some extent. www.swtor.com is where youneed to head if you’re interested to learn moreabout this game.

BattleForge(PC)Okay, this game is justamazing. It’s so good itactually can’t be classi-fied, but let’s try to do itanyway. This game canonly be played online, solet’s start off by sayingthat it’s an online game.But since many peoplecan play it simultae-nously, it’s an MMO. It has PvP and PvE elements toit which would then make it somewhat of anMMORPG. Here’s the catch though: you don’t sitand control a single character, but an army—whichmakes it an RTS, so it’s an online RTS, or anMMORTS, if you have been keeping tabs. You buildand control your own army and complete missionsin co-op, or fight against one another to improveyour own skills. Another innovation presentedthrough the game is that the way you build yourarmy is through a card-based system. You canchoose to build your army based on multipleelemental types. Building units and killing creepsand enemies will definitely need co-operation withyour fellow players and also macro-management ofyour own army making this a very interestinggame to play. Keep up with the news about thisgame at www.battleforge.com.

Fallen Earth(PC)The bar for MMORPGs havebeen raised in 2008 withthe release of games likeAge of Conan, which takesgameplay and graphics to anew level, and through therelease of expansions forgames such as Eve Online

andWorld of Warcraft. MMORPGs are a unique genreof games and call for dedicated gamers (somemight say obsessive to a fault) to play them. Hence,the new games that are coming out need to avoidthe treaded path and break out with somethingnew. Well, we have found a really great game thatpromises to offer just that. The game is called FallenEarth and the storyline actually seems half-plausi-ble: There is a virus that has spread and destroyedmost of the Earth’s population and has mutatedthrough different stages. The virus was createdsomewhere in South Asia and when it came intouch with Pakistan, they immediately thought thevirus had origins in India; Pakistan then attacksand through the attack starts the virus to spreadfurther. The virus, called the Shiva virus, thenmutates to different stages. Players can choose oneof many professions offered in this game, withclasses such as engineers, enforcers, travellers, andso on, each of which with their respective factions.This game offers a completely new story, a freshsetting, new professions, and hopefully, new gameplay. It is definitely one the MMORPG enthusiastsshould wait for. Learnmore about Fallen Earth on itsofficial web site: www.fallenearth.com.

Killzone 2(PS3)Killzone is a sci-fi FPS game which follows the story-line of Killzone: Liberation (for the PlayStationPortable) and is the third game in this franchisefollowing the original’s release on the PlayStation2 console. The story of Killzone 2 is quite straightforward: two years after the Vekta attack by the

Helghast, theI n t e r p l a n e t a r yStrategic Alliance(ISA) is taking thefight back to theenemy’s home worldof Helhgan. You playas Sev, a hardcorebattle-monger who issent to capture theHelghast Leader,Emperor Visari, andbring their war

machine to a halt. Killzone 2 aims to provide play-ers with a realistic gameplay, dubbed “HollywoodRealism” by the developers. There is also a newcover system called “lean and peek” which will bea great addition to this game. Visit www.kill-zone.com for more information about the game.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II(PC)The Dawn of War II sequel in the Warhammer 40,000universe is also an RTS which differs from its prede-cessors. The campaignmode allows for a pick-up andplay experience by allowing you to select your army,the mission and diving straight into the action. Itdoes away with the ‘distraction’ of base-building and

the boredom of micro-manag-ing resources. This game willthus offer a new style of RTSby moving away from thetraditional building aspect asit focuses more on the front-line combat. The campaigncan be accomplished in singleplayer as well as in co-opmode. Head over to www.dawnofwar2.com for moredetails about the game.

Tekken 6(Xbox360, PS3)Tekken 6 will be the firstgame based on theSystem 257 arcade boardto be launched on thePlayStation 3. It is thelatest in the Tekken seriesand will retain all theelements from Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: The DarkRessurection. This installment will also have anonline mode which will be great fun. You can nowchallenge your arch-nemesis to a game withouthim actually being in your house using yourconsole. New ‘item’ moves have also been imple-mented where characters use special items toattack the opponent. Also Namco has added a new‘Rage’ system where on using Rage, your attackincreases by huge amounts to the cost of yourhealth reducing. There are a total of 42 characterswhich essentially means all the characters fromTekken 5: The Dark Ressurection are present with anaddition of new characters. Out of the new char-acters, six have been confirmed: Zafina, Leo,Miguel Caballero Rojo, Bob, Azazel (the final Bossof the game) and NANCY-MI847J. For more infor-mation check out http://tekken.namco.com.

Ghostbusters(PS3, PS2, Xbox360, Nintendo Wii & DS, PC)When there’s something strange in the neigh-bourhood, who ya gonna call....Ghostbusters! Youheard the call right, Ghostbusters the game isgoing to be released sometime in 2009, and willbe a continuation of the movie franchise. Thegame picks up two years after the events inGhostbusters II. You play a new recruit who hasbeen hired to test some equipment created byEgon Spengler and Ray Stantz because the para-normal activity has increased in the city. Thisactivity is actually beingcaused due to the releaseof a Gozer exhibit. Thestoryline doesn’t seem asinteresting as it is verysimilar to that of theactual movie, but the funpart will definitely be inplaying through thestory. Also look forward

to is how the gameplay will actually work in thisgame. Gameplay involves a third-person perspec-tive on the HD consoles, similar to Gears of War.The Nintendo Wii version will offer a cell-shadedgraphical appeal and will be played in the third-person with the Wii Remote acting as theGhostbusters’ gun.

The Chronicles ofRiddick: Assaulton Dark Athena(Xbox360, PS3, PC)This science fictionFPS was originallyanticipated to be aremake of TheChronicles of Riddick:Escape from Butcher Bay,but it has grown to such an extent that it nowbeing considered a sequel. There isn’t much infor-mation on this game, but from what we have seenit looks spectacular. Vin Diesel did an amazing jobin the movie franchise and he has been portrayedbrilliantly in the game as well, even his voice hasbeen used. This game is expected to have greatgraphics and an advanced AI and also a multi-player mode. We hope that this sequel does deliverall that it has promised. More can be found out atwww.riddickgame.com.

Dragon Age: Origins(PC, PS3, Xbox360)Dragon Age is an RPG being developed byBioWare; forged using a new game engine called

Eclipse. The reason whythis game is sub-titled‘Origins’ is because thegame encorporates anorigins story for eachrace and some classes. Anorigin story will deter-mine the background ofthe main character priorto the main storyline.Which means, a Dwarf

Noble will begin the game as part of the royalfamily in one of the Dwarven cities, and a DwarfCommoner will begin on the streets of the city.This will give you many hours of gameplay andthese characters will reappear throughout thegame. The game is described as being a ‘darkheroic fantasy’ story which will be portrayed onan epic scale with mature themes. Players startthe game through one of the six Origin storiesand will be playing that character’s point of view.On choosing the Origin, the game determines theappropritae behaviour of the NPCs and theirconsequent reactions with the player. WithBioWare at helm, this game ought to have aninteresting story. More information can be foundat http://dragonage.bioware.com.

[email protected]



101DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009

Digital Leisure l Feature

know that Indian game companies have con-tributed to games like Microsoft’s Forza motor-sport, EA’s Battlefield Modern Combat, Atari’sAsterix and Obelix XXL2, Project Gotham Racing 4,Colin McRae Dirt, Guitar Hero and many more. Sowhere does India stand with all of this?

Some companies prefer to stick to a moretraditional approach of gaming, where in peo-ple play games for leisure. Such games arecalled casual games and one such companypresent in India is Zapak. If you visit their web-site (www.zapak.com) you will find a huge list ofgames to choose from and these are mostly allbrowser-based games with a multiplayeraspect to them. Zapak has also won awards fortheir games including the UN Award forExcellence in Creativity for their game Laadliand when asked about how long it took to cre-ate the game, they claim, “It took more than45 days to create Laadli and it cost us about Rs.1.5 Lakhs.” Talking about creating theirgames, “We have in-house developers and wealso outsource our projects.” Zapak has gameswhich is meant for the Indian audience butMr Saagar says that they have recently evenstarted Zapak World which is meant for theworld audience also. That’s a really good stepin India to create such a base. The platformsZapak uses to create their games are Flash,Macromedia and Unity.

Recently FX Labs released the gameGhajini, which is based on the movie withthe same title, with elements of the moviepresent in the game itself. We spoke with Mr.Sashi Reddi, Founder & CEO — FXLabsStudios, and asked him about the status ofGame Development in India and he said,“We, at FXLabs, believe that the gaming mar-ket in India while still in its infancy is ripefor growth. As a company, we are betting thatthe market for top notch games based on rec-ognizable Bollywood properties is the clearpath to success. We are confident that con-sumers will perceive a high level of value inthe products that we make, and it shouldserve to cement FXLabs in their minds as thepremiere developer of games for the Indianmarket. FXLabs is making a significantinvestment in this particular market oppor-tunity.” Talking about Ghajini, we asked himhow long it took them to make the game andalso about the workforce that was used, hereplied, “We take about 9-12 months to pro-duce a game like Ghajini from Concept,Design to Implementation. The Ghajini gamewas completely built out of our own studiosin Hyderabad. The main production team forGhajini game consisted of about 30 peoplewhich included programmers, artists andtesters.” On asking him about the gameGhajini and the technology involved he said,

“We have adopted the latest DirectX tech-nologies for Graphics in our games. ForGhajini we wrote a lot of good Shaders, butwe had to pull them out of the game to main-tain compliance with lower configurationgraphics cards that are prevalent in India.Our survey of Indian hardware market madeus aware that the masses don’t have advanced3D graphics cards and if we were to reach themass audience we had to lower our specifica-tion for Graphics card requirement to mostwidely available Intel Integrated GraphicsChipset(G965). We had to optimize ourEngine to run on low end graphics cards,while not compromising on game play.DirectX 10 and advanced graphics is availableto the Indian audience today with the currentgeneration AAA games, but the masses whodon’t have a 3D accelerated graphics cardwould have to wait for about a year to be ableto play the current generation games.”

We also spoke with Mr. Anthony Whitaker,the Technical Director of RZ2 Games, and askedhim how long and also about the costs involvedin creating a big budget game and he said, “Ittakes anywhere between two to five years tocreate a big budget title and can cost anythingupto even $13 million.” When asked aboutwhat games have been created specifically forthe Indian audience, he said, “We have mobilegames like Jalsa and Ashta Chamma which aregames based on the movies with the samename.” We also asked if RZ2 Games was doinganything in relation to DX10 and Anthonyreplied, “We are not looking at DX10 games forIndia as that requires Windows Vista and amore powerful machine. Also, it does not havea large enough spread or even market share.We use technologies upto DX 9 and also createflash games. We create games for PC, PS2,Nintendo DS and even the iPhone.” We alsoasked about other Indian companies approach-ing them for projects to which he replied,“Other companies like Zapak and FX Labs hasapproached us. Most of our development is in-house only though.” He also spoke about RZ2Games creating an MMOFPS, but couldn’treveal any information on that topic.

Dhruva Interactive is one of India’s oldestGame Developers. When we Mr. K Rakesh Rao,CEO, about how long and how much the GameDevelopment industry has improved, hereplied, “Yes 12 years is a long time indeed!While the it was really slow for the first 5 to 6years, things started picking up around 2003,with the emerging mobile games market, andthe developer community has grown at a fastclip in the last couple of years. The consumermarket is finally growing, thanks to the highdecibel marketing and promotion by portals,console owners such as Microsoft and Sony,

Upcoming titlesfrom the IndianDevelopers:DhruvaInteractive:Conga Bugs, acasual PC game.FXLabs Studios:Inferno - A gamebased onDante’s Inferno.RZ2 Games: Asecret MMOFPSis in develop-ment.


Digital Leisure l Feature

Kumar Jhuremalani

Gaming is a great form of recreation andis now even becoming a profession forsome. But has anybody wondered what

makes these games great and who is responsi-ble for that? The credit goes to the game devel-opers. A game developer is basically a softwaredeveloper who develops video games. There aremany platforms for games — these days, youhave PC games and console games. These arefurther sub-categorised. PC games include sin-gle-player games and online games, while con-sole games have a wider range from Sony’sPlaystation series including the PSP,Microsoft’s gaming console Xbox and Xbox 360and even Nintedo’s Wii and DS. First thing adeveloper needs is to narrow down on what he/ she needs to specialise in.

A game cannot be made over night — itneeds great thought, planning and executionbefore it can be made available to others. Withthis comes the need for an efficient workforceto back it all up. Typically, a game develop-ment team consists of programmers, gamedesigners, artists and the management. Indiahas an abundance when it comes to program-mers in the IT sector. Designers, artists, soundengineers, producers and testers are the onesthat are mostly outsourced by companieswhen needed. But before you even think aboutgetting into this field, you need to have thepassion and creativity for games and whatreally goes on behind the scene. When itcomes to programming, you need to be profi-cient with C/C++, have knowledge in 2D vectormath, 3D math, knowledge of Direct X andOpen GL. And yes, before all this, you need tohave a BE / BTech degree. You can’t expect toapproach a game developer by saying you havean idea for a game. If you want to be a gamedesigner who works on levels and artwork, youneed to know Adobe Photoshop, CorelDraw,3ds Max, Maya and other such 3D animationsoftware. Again remember, creativity mustcome from within. If you do not want to jointhe corporate world and want to stay inde-pendent, you really need to prove yourself andmust have extensive knowledge in the abovementioned. In fact, to even approach a game

developer, you need to have the proper paperwork including a game design document(GDD) which could be anywhere between 2 to200 pages a level. Just imagine the sizes ofGDDs for MMORPGs, the amount of workgoing into each dungeon and level.

The game development industry is estimat-ed to reach $65 billion by 2011 in the US. InIndia itself, NASSCOM says, it’s expected tovalue at $212 million. But the question here is,when will India reach that level and are thecompanies here moving at the same pace asthose in the US? Companies need to provide,not only to the Indian market, but possiblyeven a much wider user base, when it comes togame development. There are several compa-nies in India that have begun to tap this GoldMine. Outsourcing or off shoring has becomean integral aspect in the production of mostinternational game titles. Game developmentstudios across the world are looking to out-source visual art elements such as game char-acters, vehicles, racing tracks, sports arenasand various game environments for gamesthat are being developed. Many Game compa-nies in India cater to this need and are con-tributing to some amazing upcoming games.All of this may sound great though it doesn’tcome easy. Aspiring Game studios need tomatch high quality expectations to be able todeliver on such international projects. Did you

Gamedevelopersin India

When it comesto India, there isdefinitely ashortage, asmost opt for anMBA or are noteven aware ofgame develop-ments as acareer option


Digital Leisure l Feature Digital Leisure l Feature

and mobile companies for whom gaming isnow an important revenue stream. The devel-oper community is evolving and gaining matu-rity, many companies are still young, they havemuch to learn and it will take time to hit inter-national quality benchmarks. Dhruva waslucky to have international exposure rightfrom the beginning. We are working with six ofthe top ten publishers and have contributed tothe development of over 30 AAA blockbusterconsole & PC games.” About the technologythat Dhruva uses in games, he said, “We usual-ly use a DX version between DX7 and DX9 forour target spec, because the mass market con-sumer in India is primarily using fairly low-endsystems and a version of Windows between 98and XP.” We also asked about the games theycreate, whether it is for the Indian audience orthe Global audience and he said, “We keepboth markets in mind when developing games,but our primary source of revenue has comefrom the international markets.”

When it comes to education, there is defi-nitely a limitation in India with most stu-dents looking for an MBA or not even know-ing that the option for Game Programming orGame Designing exist after their degrees inengineering. We got in touch with DivijDurvey from Mumbai, who is now studying aGame Programming and Designing relatedcourse at Pace University in New York and hadthis to say, “I have always been a gamer andsince I was studying engineering I wanted topursue it further. When I spoke about myplans to my professors at college, they reallydidn’t have any advice for me, which lead meto look for a course abroad.” SAGE, the Schoolof Advanced Graphics and Engineering, is an

institute where they teach you games pro-gramming. SAGE is run by Mr. PriyadarshiChowdhary, who is the Founder and CEO. Weasked him about the courses offered at SAGEand he replied, “We teach only GamesProgramming and we also have an advancedcourse where we teach students how to createtheir own Game Engines. We normally teachstudents on the OGRE engine.” On their website, www.sageinfolabs.com, it is mentionedthat SAGE has also started a course that teach-es console game programming for the Xbox360. Mr. Priyadarshi says, “We have startedthe course for console game programming,but people prefer to enroll for PC game pro-gramming.” About getting a job in this linehe said, “There is a lot of scope and we alsohave a placement program.” Mr. AnthonyWithaker of RZ2 Games said, “We hold manyworkshops, sponsorship programs and eventsfor colleges like IIT. We have an internshipprogram going on where we currently havethree students with us also.” Mr. Sashi Reddiof FXLabs Studios said, “ One of our main aimis to nurture budding talent around thisindustry. We have been running FX –Learning Academy, where in we get fresherson board and give them immense trainingaround game programming and Art sidebefore starting their actual work with us.”

Here is some advice Mr. Sashi Reddi hasgiven to young adults who wish to pursue acareer in this field, “For students who want toget into gaming it is important to understandwhat is it that they aspire to do in this field. Ifthey are interested in programming games,they should learn programming languageslike C, C++ and be strong at Maths and Physics.For people who would like to animate charac-ters or make assets for games like vehicles,buildings, etc they should learn 3D editingsoftware like 3Dmax and Maya. Students whoare interested in designing a game should playa lot of games, understand the different gen-res of games, posses good analytical skills andbe very creative at coming up with ideas forgames that would keep people engaged. Bestway to start a career in game design is to startwriting reviews and walkthroughs for thegames you are currently playing.”

We definitely know that this industry isgoing to grow stronger but currently it ismoving at a slow pace as in comparison toother countries and from the looks of itIndia’s Game Developers are catering moretowards the casuals games meant for theIndian audience. We still have hope that theday will come when India will be the hub forall Game Development with host to all typesof gamers.�

[email protected] SAGE studios, where young minds of the country learn Game Programming.

Students whoare interested indesigning agame shouldplay a lot ofgames, under-stand the differ-ent genres ofgames, possesgood analyticalskills and bevery creative atcoming up withideas for gamesthat would keeppeople engaged.

arkour on aMissionP

you see men with guns, you run. Someof them are marked in red, so you canknock them out and use theirweapons. More often than not, you willnot carry the weapons as they slow youdown. When you slip, fall and die, thescreen shakes, goes black and white forjust a second, and then blanks out.Some primal trigger in your brainmakes you anticipate your death,seconds before it happens, and wewonder what kind of research thedevelopers did to come up with thisstuff. When you have to roll after along jump, you can see your bodyrolling, and for a second you are actu-ally disoriented and confused. Whenyou fall and get hurt, you actuallyfreeze for a second — just enough torecover, and just enough to make you

appreciate how real the game feels.The story makes you follow a trail

of contacts, betrayers, and bodies inch-ing onwards to answer questions youdidn’t know you had. So when some-one on screen starts running awayfrom you, using the same techniquesyou do, follow them with all yourheart. But when animated cut-scenesreveals scene-after-scene of needlesscomplications and conditions, youdon’t have the heart to take it all in,and find it a serious distraction fromthe game itself. Despite the very prettyvector animation, we could not resistthe urge to skip the cut-scenes andreturn to the meat of the game.

There are moments of very intenseaction in the game. Snipers, for exam-ple, have these shafts of red lightdirected towards you, and you have toneutralise them before they find you.You are looking through the scope attwo snipers, who in turn are lookingthrough their scope, at you. You haveto take them out before their lasersights seek you out. Another aspect arethe spatial puzzles in the game. Youwill be forced to think out of the box,look around and really think before

you can progress through a level. Thisaspect of the game reminds us ofPortal.

Successive levels of the game makeyou move in increasingly complicatedand innovative ways. The levels alsobecome tougher, with the jumpsgetting wider, or higher. Timing, andprecision are required here. You have

to be very careful about when and howyou use your moves. Sometimes it ispreferable to fall and get hurt, becauserolling might make you fall to death. Itmakes you feel as if the skills of yourcharacter are developing as you playthe game.

However, one disappointing aspectis that you never really find out all theways to neutralise the enemy. Thedemos shown during game load depict

complicated maneuvers, all of whichyou don’t end up trying out becausethere is just not enough opportunityfor it — or so you think. During thelater levels, however, the game getsboring. The focus shifts to neutralisingenemies, and an unrealistic number ofthem, at that. Repeated restarts to getthe jump, roll and wall run right willkeep you focused, but repeated restartsjust to get away from a gunman youare not allowed to neutralise makes foran irritating experience. At the rareinstance that you need to use the gun,you have to be dead accurate becausethe guns usually have very littleammo. But since gun-combat is rare,you find that you don’t have enoughpractice to get it right and you’ll oftenneed to repeat such sections. At this

point, the bugs also get to you — jumponto a ledge with your hands on eitherside of piping, and you cannot moveleft or right. You cannot even jump off,or climb up. You get stuck for no faultof your own. Sometimes, your feet getstuck inside the floor, disabling anykind of movement.

The graphics are great. The envi-ronment has a cyberpunk feel, withbright, vibrant and effervescentcolours used. The entire city feels likeit’s bathed in light, even the sewershave a halo. This is a very good lookinggame. The soundtrack is mostly ambi-ent loops, with the tone changing withthe mood and pace of a level. It lends asense of urgency when you have tomove fast, and encourages logic whenyou need to solve a spatial puzzle.

This is a great game, and some-thing that will go down in gaminghistory as something truly special — asPortal did before. However, the gameplay is far from mature, and we justhope to see more such titles around. Atleast, a lot of first person games cantake cues from the creativity that flowsthrough this game. �

[email protected]


Digital Leisure l Game On



Aditya Madanapalle

We have been tracking thisgame for a while now. Fromthe trailers and game play

videos we looked at before the gamewas released, it promised to be adifferent and innovative idea for afirst person adventure game. Thegame released on consoles before itdid for Windows, and we could notwait to get our hands on it. Those of uswho did try out the game on consoleswere enthralled.

When you start the game, the firstlevel is a tutorial that outlines thegamut of moves that your player canperform. Look down, and you see thetorso and limbs of your player, some-thing unique for the first personpoint-of-view games, which usuallycontain phantom bodies and legs.Unlike other games, the tutorial is avery necessary step in playing thegame. The first level takes your breathaway. You are made to jump overfences, slide beneath pipes, jumpacross large gaps, roll when you fall

and learn to take away weapons fromenemies you might encounter. Awhole range of acrobatic actions canbe performed through minimal keys.

To even begin talking about thevery impressive gameplay, you have totalk about the not-so-interesting story.You are what the game calls a“runner”. A runner is a messengerthat takes dangerous paths across thecity to deliver messages. This isbecause the world (or at least this city)is under a totalitarian regime, wherethe government has put all forms ofcommunication under strict surveil-lance. This serves to neutralise crimeand rebels. This is where the runnerscome in, with their alternate mediumof communication. The second intro-ductory level fleshes out the story forthe player and you see your charac-ter’s (Faith) sister (some police officer)getting framed for murder. She barelyhas time to talk to you, when thepolice burst in with guns a-blazing.Fight is not a choice here, you are arunner, and you can only run. So runyou do, through a complicated officefloor, into the vents, onto a terrace,sliding down a ramp, and so on —escaping bullets, instead of killing theattackers with your own. It’s a refresh-

ing take on the platforming genre.Your path forward is made knownthrough what is called “runnervision”, which turns objects of inter-est in the environment red, indicat-ing that you need to make your waytowards them. At the end of the firstlevel, you find yourself on a terrace.Just as a helicopter comes into view,its landing skids blazing red withrunner vision. The police are firing atyou, and you hardly have time tothink. And like some corneredanimal, you instinctly jump to holdon to the skids of the helicopter.Impressive stuff, this.

There are spectacular props inalmost every level of the game. Overthe next few levels, you will dodgebullets in sewers, jump between pipes,climb on crates and cranes, learn thatsome fences are electrified, navigatethrough vents, spend some time inelevators, and even take on a fewenemies by neutralising them withyour movements. The gamers havetaken the pains to make the experi-ence very immersive. Not only is yourentire body visible, there are a lot ofsmall touches. Your heartbeatincreases when the game picks upspeed. The movement of the camera istracked to the movement of your head.You can fail spectacularly, or slip andfall. You can feel your weight, and themomentum, just by looking at the waythe camera moves on screen. When

... and “neutralise” some enemies

...fall and die sometimes...

You get to dangle from a helicopter...

...steal some guns... ...slide down ramps...

Score : 6.5/10Developer: DICEPublisher: EAPlatforms supported: X-box 360,Microsoft Windows, Sony Play Station 3Web site: www.mirrorsedge.comPrice : Rs. 2,750

arkour on aMissionP




In terms of game modes, you have an ArcadeMode, a flimsy story mode that essentially entailsyou running through the entire roster one afteranother. This mode can be played against the CPUand a second human player can jump in at anytime. You can also invite friends over Xbox LIVEand PSN and compete with them. You also havetwo one-on-one modes; one for offline, and one foronline. Unfortunately, we were unable to test outthe game’s online capabilities so early before thegame’s release. If you’re new to the series or feel-ing a little rusty, the Training Mode will let youhone your skills and practice your combos againsteither a dummy or a skilled AI opponent.

There’s not that much to be done in StreetFighter IV, but then again, beat ‘em ups are allabout one-on-one battles with your friends andbutton mashing duels till your fingers bleed, andthere is plenty of potential for all of that here. Asyou play along, you will also unlock artwork andvideos which can be viewed via the Gallery in themain menu. Then of course, you have the cheesyone-liners, over-the-top voice acting, and musicthat will make you look forward to an NSyncreunion; but that’s the fun of it.

Bringing an old classic to a next-generationformat is a tricky situation for developers. They’reexpected to stay true to the series’ roots, and yetpush the boundaries and make use of the powerfulhardware at their disposal. Capcom have managedto tread this fine line tremendously well. The newarty visual style is breathtakingly realised in vividhigh definition, while the tight gameplay mechan-ics, the classic characters, and traditional 2Dcamera perspective will surely satisfy fans of theolder games. While there’s nothing truly revolu-


Sameer Desai

Many of the classic video game franchisesthat have kept gamers entertained overthe years make their next-generation

console debuts in 2009, and the first of these isCapcom’s stylish reincarnation of beat ‘em upfavourite Street Fighter. Street Fighter IV features arefreshing art style, a few new characters, andbrings back the gameplay mechanics that madeStreet Fighter II the pinnacle of this genre.

The most striking feature of Street Fighter IVis its stylised 3D art direction. Environmentsand characters are created in a uniquely arty,comic book style, which somehow comes acrossas both simplistic and intricately detailed.Coupled with a resplendent colour palate andpresented in high definition, Street Fighter IV is avisual treat that almost justifies the price ofadmission all by itself.

But the game has a lot more going for it thansimply its eye-candy graphics. Most importantly,Street Fighter IV is a thoroughly absorbing fightinggame, particularly when played against a humanoffline opponent. The classic characters — Ryu,Ken and co — return and the game also adds fournew fighters to the roster — Crimson Viper, Abel,El Fuerte, and Rufus.

Is Vega throwing fire at Gouki Pyro style? Yes.

Is that the Incredible Hulk? No.

Is that an oriental fellow having a cup of tea? Maybe.

The classic characters bring with them their oldarsenal of moves and combos and all the characterspossess their individual strengths and weakness.Learning them, mastering them and overcomingthem in your opponents is indeed a thrill and thisis the high point of the game. There are no twocharacters in Street Fighter IV that can be considereda mismatch; every fighter has within his/her arse-nal the moves and combos required to beat everyother fighter and the key again lies in learning thestrengths and weakness, and of course, in memo-rising the various combos. Unfortunately, blindbutton mashing is also quite effective in this game,but like every other fighting game, will only workagainst an AI opponents, while a skilled humanopponent will break you down effortlessly.

One interesting aspect of Street Fighter IV isthat it still employs the traditional 2D camera,while other recent beat ‘em ups such as SoulcaliburIV and Virtua Fighter 5 allow side-stepping wherebythe player can switch the camera to a differentangle. This is absent in Street Fighter IV. Whetherthat’s a good or bad thing is subjective, but youwill never miss being able to side-step in this game,and that is a testament to Capcom’s ability todeliver an immersive fighting experience even in a2D arena. If nothing else, it will certainly pleasethe old school purists.

tionary here, Street Fighter IV is a fitting debut forthis much loved franchise on the PS3 and Xbox360, and is sure to give the competition a run fortheir money. �

Score : 4/5Developer: Dimps/CapcomPublisher: CapcomPlatforms supported: Arcade, Playstation 3, X-Box 360Web site: www.streetfighter.com

108 DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009 www.thinkdigit.com 109www.thinkdigit.com DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009


(or stances) from the last couple of releases hasbeen completely eliminated from the game as thegame seems to be moving closer to the originalsystem of kick and punches (high and low)combined with special powers. The players in thegame are controlled using a combination of thedigital pad and the analog stick- for 2D and 3Dmovement respectively. Overall, the game plays alot faster and the controls are well optimized towork with game pads on both platforms. The mostsignificant additions to the combat systemhowever, are two new combat modes—namely,‘Klose Kombat’ and ‘Aerial Kombat’. Grabbing theopponent will zoom the camera close into theaction and triggers a mini-game where one playerhas to anticipate the other player’s next move.Similarly, certain attacks on your opponent willcause him to free fall to the lower level of thearena and you jump along to dish it out in mid-air.Additionally, pushing the characters to the edge ofcertain arenas will trigger the classic ‘test yourmight’ mini-game, as you push your opponent(breaking through walls) from one end of thecombat area to the other side.

One of the most enduring and iconic feature ofthe Mortal Kombat games are the finishing moves.These are however watered down mainly due tothe involvement of the DC characters (read WarnerBros.) and their technique of bloodless fighting.Each MK character (and the ‘bad guys’ of DCuniverse) has two fatalities each, while the ‘goodguys’ of the DC world have something similarcalled ‘Heroic Brutalities’. This is where the gamewill make most MK fans feel wanting, consideringthe fact that at one point, the developers werethinking of eliminating finishing moves all

together to main a ‘Teen’ age rating for the game.The guys at Midway have always maintained

that this release is not truly a MK release and thisfact becomes quite evident as you play the game.The absence of other finishing moves (apart fromfatalities) and holding back on the blood and gore,does make this game feel detached. Having saidthat, the studio has done a reasonably good job ofblending the DC world into the MK universe— asyou can imagine it could have been a lot worse.The new fighting engine is not perfect, but seemsto be heading in the right direction. One can hopethat they take the learning from this title and useit effectively in the next true MK release.


Sameer Desai

Unlike most other fighting games, MortalKombat (MK) has not shied away from re-inventing itself significantly, every few

years or so. They did this with Mortal Kombat 3 andthe introduction of combo system and later movedthe game to a 3-D arena with Mortal Kombat 4. Theyintroduced fighting styles with Mortal Kombat:Deadly Alliance and also released a couple of adven-ture titles based on the MK characters anduniverse. Now, although the latest iteration in theseries is technically not a pure Mortal Kombat title,

Ed Boon and company have once again changedthe fighting system of the franchise andthis time they seem to have nailed itbetter than their last few attempts.

The single-player ‘Story Mode’mode kicks off with a somewhatplausible explanation of themerger of the two universes.Here the player has a choiceto fight on the side of eitherthe Mortal Kombat or the DCuniverse. As you play

through the story mode, the game will pit youagainst characters from both worlds and your play-ing characters changes as the story progressesthrough various levels (fighting arenas) set in bothworlds. This predictably continues till your battleagainst the final boss of the game and true to MKstyle, he deals out more damage and takes less ofit, compared to other characters in the gameroster. For beating the game, player is rewardedwith two unlocked character—one each for beatingthe game on the MK and DC side.

In all, the game features a roster of 20 fighters(ten on each side) and the two un-lockable char-acters. Apart from the story mode, the game hasthe customary single player arcade mode whereyou fight your way up the ladder to encounter thefinal boss. The game also supports head-to-headtwo player fights, both online and offline. If youhave played MK games before, you’d expect plentyof extra, un-lockable ‘kontent’; however, this titlehas very little of that.

Coming back to the changes to the fightingstyle, the developers claim to have completelyreworked the fighting engine. The fighting styles

MVSajeev

Score : 6.5/10Developer: MidwayPublisher: MidwayDistributor: Milestone InteractivePlatforms supported: PS3, Xbox 360Price : INR 2499/- (X360), INR 2799/- (PS3)

Pros:Improved and promising fighting systemGood blend of two worldsDecent collection of characters in the fighter roster

Cons:Lack of extra content and limited single playerreplay valueWatered down finishing moves

Ninjas make me really angry

I’d hit it... wait, I just did... pity its not a NinjaNINJAS.... MMMUSST.... DIE


These protesters arepeople who picket outsidethe premises of anybuilding owned by theChurch of Scientology, overissues like theirunderhanded techniquesfor curtailing protesters,their belief ofhomosexuality as a disease,and providing financialaids to anti-gay legislations.The Church of

Scientology is by no meansharmless, and they havepowerful ways of stoppingprotesters, both legal andillegal. The Church ofScientology has gone aheadand enforce legalrestrictions on twohomosexual HIV+protesters, one of whom ishimself an ex-Scientologist.These protesters are notanonymous andanonymous, but Angry GayPope and Happy Smurf. And

no, the aliens were not ableto cure Happy Smurf of his“disease”.

GET PAID TO VACATION

Remembertofeedthefish

In what is dubbed thebest job in the world,Australian Tourism

authorities will pay onelucky person US $100,000(Rs. 6,354,954) for bloggingabout a fully paid sixmonth hiatus in Australia.You can look up the detailsand apply throughwww.islandreefjob.com.What are you expected todo? Hang out at the beach,get a massage or gosnorkeling in the greatbarrier reef.Understandably, the website received something like

two hundred thousand hitswithin a day of going up.The job itself has generateda lot of publicity for theemployers. Your officialpost will read out as “TheCaretaker of the Islands ofthe Great Barrier Reef”, ifyou get selected. Not onlywill you be accommodatedon one of the importantislands, you will be givenpermission to includefamily or a friend. You canapply for the job by sendingin a video presentation ofyourself. They have receiveda bunch of submissions. Thedeadline for entires is thetwenty second of February.What are you waiting for?We gave out the URL twoparagraphs ago. There isone small catch though,you have to have at leastone year prior experience,but we are unsure how theycan expect that for a joblike this.

CENSORSHIP SO BIG, IT CANBE SEEN FROM SPACE

Chinaalmostbanstheweb

China has a history ofa love-haterelationship with

technology. What is normalcomputer usage around theworld is invariably somekind of a crime in China,so every month has itsshare of odd andoutrageous happenings.This month’s China relatedroundup includes amassive crackdown onporn, a crackdown on


FirstEscape

Those innovative guysat Japan got togetherand decided that the

internet did not giveenough of an olfactorysensation to surfers. Theydecided to take Googlemaps, and add places to ittagged with unique smells.They are the Nio-Bu, theconnoisseurs of smell, andthey hang out atwww.nioibu.com.The entire web site is in

Japanese, so you will haveto use Google’s translationtool to make any sense ofit. Even in English though,sense will be a difficultthing to find. What youwill find though, is wherein the world you can smellfilthy roadside garbage,cats with bad breath, spiltwine on carpet, roastedcow-dung or dry spit and

chai. For some reason, thesite assumes that allgrandmother’s housessmell the same, but no onehas really taken thetrouble to refute theirclaims. Not all the smellsare bad though, you cancheck out a freshlyunboxed Mac, andstrangely enough, evenwhat our sun smells like,right here on Earth.You can add your own

odours to the list, and ifthat does not occupy yourtime, you can look at a listof photos of people“smelling the smell”. As ofnow, there is nomechanism by which thewebsite can actually letsurfers get a whiff of theirlong list of strange odours,but the Japanese act fastwhen an idea strikes them.

ANONYMOUS COLLECTIVEGETS REASON TO FLAME

Scientologistsagainst HIV+protesters

Scientology has becomesomething of an in-joke in the global

Internet community. Opendiscussion across imageboards, forums and blogsabout the dubiousactivities of thescientologists, saw theChurch of Scientologytargetting individuals in anumber of cases. Theinternet communityorganised themselves intothe Anonymous Collective(so that the Church ofScientology could not playhardball) and continuedcirculating jokes online.Also, real world protestors(with hidden identities)started displaying theircomplete lack of sympathyfor the Scientologists.The Church of

Scientology is notorious forhaving a many-tieredhierarchy, where you learnand evolve towards yourinner immortal soul. TheAliens have something todo with it too, but no onereally knows exactly what.By the end of it, you get tobe Superman, or TomCruise, or something likethat. On the way therethough, you get a fewevolution points forbanning protesters againsttheir activities and beliefs.

Clean your teethwith photonsThrow out those tubes of toothpaste. That is whatSmart Miracle’s laser toothbrush suggestsanyway. Fry the germs and clean your teeth witha laser beam - its just what all the cool people aredoing these days. And no, it won’t burn out youreyes in case you cannot aim the beam properly.

WHAT’S THAT SMELL?

Smellists rejoiceWhateverHappened To…Google Lively

Most of us have now cometo accept that noteverything Google

touches turns to gold. Yes, thereare definitely some things Googletried doing and well, didn’t quitework out. One such ambitiousproject was Lively a web-basedvirtual environment launched byGoogle sometime in July lastyear. The idea was to create a“chat experience” using avatarsin which one can communicate,move around and interact in avirtual world. Its almost as ifGoogle said “hey if Second Life isdoing it why cant we? Of coursethere were differences — unlikeSecond Life, the Lively userscould not buy and sell products.Since there was no user-generated content on Lively,items such as hairstyles, clothingand furniture were limited to acatalog of pre-designedselections. In Google Lively up to20 people could occupy a roomand chat with one another. Textappeared as cartoon-stylebubbles atop the avatars. Userscould design their own virtualenvironments by hangingYouTube videos and pics fromPicasa on the walls like pieces ofart. The rooms could be embededinto blogs and Facebook pages.

But in November Googleannounced on its blog that itplans to shut down Lively by theend of December. Calling it an“experiment”, the blog goes onto say “It has been a toughdecision, but we want to ensurethat we prioritise our resourcesand focus more on our coresearch, ads and apps business.We’d encourage all Lively usersto capture your hard work bytaking videos and screenshots ofyour rooms.”

Thieves in Japan, beware of the T-34If the world is ever taken over by machines,it is sure to start in Japan. Behold the latestlittle toy that has rolled out from Japanesefactories - a robot patroller that throws anet on any burgler that comes in its path.The bot is controlled by a phone.

� HotOrNot.com becomes an iPhone app � Steve Jobs is hale and hearty, despite everything you have heard � Obama government relaxes privacy rules just for YouTube � Don’t know what to blog about? Go to www.plinky.com � Encyclopedia Britannica gets partially wiki-ised,

The ubiquitous touchscreen is seen inalmost everything

from ATM machines, PCsto mobile devices toperhaps even vacuumcleaners! Wellrefrigerators at least. Notonly did it make life easy,it made everything fun.Think of the i-phone.

Would it be the samewithout its touchscreen?Who doesn’t like a bit oftouchy-feely action right?And we owe it all to DrSam Hurst. He developedthe first “touch sensor” in1971 while he was aninstructor at University ofKentucky. This was not thetransparent touch screenthat we know of today.This sensor called the“Elograph” was patentedby The University ofKentucky ResearchFoundation. Dr. Sam Hurstfounded his company‘Elographics’ (now EloTouchSystems) anddeveloped a transparenttouch screen in 1974 andfive wire resistivetechnology in 1977, whichis the most popular touchscreen technology. In 1977Elographics paired withSiemens Corporation todevelop a transparentversion of the tablet oncurved glass so that itcould fit over a CRT(cathode ray tube) screen.

People WhoChangedComputing


Escape

Dirty SoundingRelax its only dirty sounding.Dirty sounding names that is;and a whole bunch load ofthem! Visitwww.dirtysounding.com tofind a list of hilarious andahem dirty sounding namesarranged alphabetically; plusmilitarily and foreign namescategories thrown in for addedenjoyment. Now the websiteisn’t flashy at all, in fact itsnothing more than a giganticlist. There’s “Dougie Style”,“Harry S. Houle” “HarryBallsack” just to name a few.We have a sneaking suspicion

that most of them are justmade up. But just imagine thepossibilities - prank phonecalls, radio phone ins, andloads of other stuff, full BartSimpson ishtyle. Plus it cankeep you entertained forhours. Well maybe not hours,still an important resource tobookmark.

Potty thoughtsYeah we’ve all had them.They’re ridiculous, of no realuse but yet surprisingly worththinking about. “Why do theycall him Donkey Kong if he isnot a donkey?” or “How come

all of the planets arespherical?” Sometime’sthey’re downright twisted.Take for instance – Do youloose all of your hair inchemotherapy? There are ofcourse no answers but headover towww.crazythoughts.com forthese and many more.

cybersex, and the Chinesegovernment recognisingweb surfing as a “clinicalillness”. Read on.China has some of the

toughest internet laws inthe world. However, despiteall the fine print, theymanage to leave out oneactivity from the rulebooks.A housewife by the name ofLi, decided to have a littlefun and teased peopleonline by showing themvideo streams of herself inthe nude. She was draggedinto court because of heractivities, but was let freewhen the judge discoveredthat there was nothing inthe law they could actuallyprosecute her with. Baiduand Google, the two biggestsearch engines in China(surprisingly, in that order)had to apologise to thegovernment for showingtoo many links to porn siteson their online portals. Thegovernment hadspecifically asked them toremove all porn relatedcontent from their websites, but the searchengines failed to removethem. The governmentretaliated aggressively,threatening to punish and

shut down these web sites.What followed was a stringof public apologies. TheChinese government isgoing right ahead withplans to purify not just theinternet, but the mobilenetworks as well.While sending explicit

images and text overmobile networks is alreadyan offence, what theChinese government islooking to do now is toimplement a mechanism bywhich they can actuallycatch the offenders. Howexactly they will achievethis is not clear.A hospital in Beijing

probed 1,300 cases ofpeople too addicted to theInternet (those who needmedication if they do notgo online), and decided todefine too much websurfing as a clinicalpsychological disease.What is really scary

however, are the kind oftreatments those with thisdisease can expect toundergo. The Internetaddicted can expecttreatments like militarystyle discipline,counseling, hypnosis andelectric shocks.

INSECURE MEN REJOICE

21 CenturyChastityBelts

Gone are the dayswhen women’sunderwear had to

be secured with lock andkey to ensure theirchastity. Lucia Lorio, aBrazillian lingerie makerhas rolled out a line oflingerie with inbuiltdevices so that insecuremen can have their peaceof mind.It looks as ugly as you

think it does (no, we arenot showing you pictures),but is very functional onmultiple levels. First of all,a man can program it andkeep track of themovements of anyone whowears the chastity belt.Secondly (angry

feminists listen in), thewoman can turn the GPSdevice off whenever shewants. Thirdly, there is alot of demand for thedevice... by women...because they feel moresecure with it.

Wild Wild Web

OverclockingOverclocking is the process ofrunning a computer componentat a higher clock rate than it wasdesigned for or was specified bythe manufacturer.Clock Rate - Is the fundamentalrate in cycles per second -measured in hertz - at which acomputer performs its mostbasic operations.FSB/HTT- FSB stands for FrontSide Bus, and refers to the speedat which your processor can talkto your memory.In the AMD world, this is alsoreferred to as HTT, which standsfor Hyper-Transport Technology.Multiplier - It denotes the speedwith which the processor doesits internal calculations. Themultiplier is a way of describingthe internal speed in relation tothe FSB. So if the FSB is 200 andthe multiplier is 10x, then theprocessor runs at 200 x 10 =2000mhz or 2ghz.vCore - Is the voltage of theprocessor itself. As overclocksbecome unstable, you can usethis setting to increase theprocessor voltage and make thechip more stable.vDimm - Is the voltage of thememory. The memory can andoften will be overclocked as well,and vDimm can be used toincrease stability in ram.Monitoring / Stability Testing –Tools such as RivaTuner, CPU-Z,SpeedFan etc. allow you tomonitor things liketemperatures, voltages, fanspeeds, clock speeds, memorysettings, etc. Other software likePrime95 and SuperPi, stress-testthe processor. These softwaregive you the necessary feedback.Cooling - Overclocking leads tohigh temperatures which mustbe managed. ExtremeOverclockers rely on coolingsystems to bring down the coretemps. These systems includeinclude Liquid Nitrogen(LN2) andWater Cooling etc..

allows user edits � It’s official — Vista’s biggest competition...is XP � Studies show that multiple cores slow down computing


Escape

AMD Phenom II X4After being thrashed by Intelever since the introduction oftheir Core 2 Duo lineup in 2006,AMD was never able to get backon its feet. The infamous TLBbug gave the Phenomnightmares. Things started toimprove with the B3 revision ofPhenom. But the top end AMDprocessors still competed withIntel’s mid range processors.Now, finally, AMD has releasedthe Phenom II 45nm basedprocessors. Along with PhenomII, AMD has launched itscodename “Dragon” platforn, thesuccessor to the Spider platform,which basically is a combinationof an AMD chipset and processorand a ATi graphics card.Compatibility.Phenom II takes on Core i7valiantly and does well too. It isa great product and has plenty ofheadroom for overclocking.Dhruv Rajvanshihttp://think-tech.blogspot.com

Feature: 5 reasons to playDead Space1. The PlotThe very story of Dead space iswonderful. It is set in the futurewhere you battle re-animatedcorpses while trying to repair aspace mining ship!2. GraphicsThe graphics of Dead Spacemake use of the next generationconsoles and costly graphiccards.Each and every detail looksgood. The monsters lookawesome (in a gory and scarysense) but it's the shadowswhich make them really scary.3. Limb Dismembering Action!The gameplay involves lot ofcutting which really is fun onceyou start getting used topouncing necromorphs. You getto use your mining tools againstthese monsters. Cutting limbs isthe fastest way to immobilizethem. There are also somesequences when you get to do

the same in Zero Gravity! Sowhat’s the arm count?4. Chill through your spineThis one of the games thatactually scared me.Necromorphs are reallyterrifying in the starting levelsbut it goes to a whole new levelnear the end. The sound effectsof the game are top notch andplay an integral role infrightening you.5. A true to life experienceThere is no HUD in the game atall which gives it a moreauthentic feel. The health,ammo, objective indicators areintegrated well into the game.The camera is also very goodand you will hardly come acrossproblems with it. The physics ofthe game also adds to theexperience.So you're still reading this? Goget your copy of Dead Space.

Vaishak V.K.http://www.theregalgamer.com

Escape

KILLER I-PHONE APP

Runawaysnipers

Here is a little puzzle.You get your handson a sniper rifle,

with the requiredammunition. You are alsogiven an iPhone, and atarget to eradicate.Unfortunately, you have notraining in ballistics, andyou don’t know how theammo will behave over along range. How will youeradicate the target?You are right, it has

something to do with theiPhone.Runaway technologies,

has released an iPhone appthat gives you all theexperience you missed outin sniper training campsyou never went to. The appis called BulletFlight, andthis is how it works. You

feed in the distance to yourtarget, atmospheric factorslike wind speed, airpressure and altitude. Theapplication calculates thetrajectory of the bullet andgives you the results. Theapp comes with threecommon presets for Sniperrifles, which are just lettersand numbers you have to becrazy to recognise. OK, wewill throw them out here,the M110, the SR16 and theKAC PDW. If, however your

weapon of choice is adifferent rifle, you canmanually configure theapplication.Increase the cool factor

of your iPhone bypurchasing the app fromthe Apple iTunes app store –for $11 (Rs. 540). The appstore is notorious forremoving and re-allowingapplications at random, soif you want this one, getyour hands on it beforesomething develops.

� The Pope gives YouTube the thumbs up � Obama’s inaugration uploaded on Photosynth � Trolls crash into virtual wedding in AdventureQuest

Featured here aresnippets from some ofthe best bloggers whohave registered at theBlog Watch section onthinkdigit.com.

If you wish to befeatured too, head towww.thinkdigit.com/blogger.php andsign-up.

He-waste?It was a pretty usual work day. Michaeland Siddharth(the new recruit) were onone of their usual coffee breaks, whenAditya walked very purposefully to a largetrash can. To the utter amusement of thespectators, he started rummaging throughit furiously! It seems he was looking for aDVD! Michael, never one to pass up suchan opportunity, told Aditya that therewere certainly a few DVDs in the trashcan, causing Aditya to dig evendeeper, and giving Michael a

chance to shoot a picture of the wholething. We’re not showing you the picturehere, but you can probably imagine it.Issue closing was definitely not the

same this time, owning to the absence ofVijay Padaya. He has emmigrated to USAafter eight long years with Digit. Vijay isbest remembered for keeping things ontrack — usually by not letting us play Quake3 when there was work to be done. He will

be sorely missed when we work,and more so when we play.


Which of these earlymachines were

programmable?a) A printing pressb) A Chinese incense clockc) A textile loomd) A mill

Software crackers packagingaudio-visual intros along

with cracked software gave rise towhich tech sub-culture?a) Modsceneb) Artscenec) Demoscened) Cargo Cult programming

In which work of fiction doesthe word “nerd” originate

from?a) Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errorsb) Lewis Carroll’s Alice in

Wonderlandc) Jean Cocteau’s The White Paperd) Dr. Seuss’s If I ran the Zoo

What is the idea behindpancomputationalism?

a) The universe is a computerb) Open source, open standards,and freedom based computingc) All applications, games and userdata will one day be hostedremotelyd) The eco-system on the earth is asupercomputer

What are privacy-mindedindividuals use cryptography

on a day to day basis for their on-line activities known as?a) Cyberpunksb) Cypherpunksc) Cyberphunksd) Cypherphunks

Whichof theseoperatingsystemsisbasedonUnixcode?

a) Minixb) Linuxc) FreeBSDd) Mac OS

Which of these representsthe highest quality tag in a

pirated movie?a) TELESYNCb) R5c) CAMd) TVRip

Students and artists inDenmark offer Vores Øl to

the internet community, what isit?a) Free Hardwareb) An open source carc) Free Beerd) Open source space satellites

What is the sci-fi title Anima,released in 2007 based on?

a) World of Warcraftb) Second Lifec) SIMS onlined) Naruto

7

10

9

8

6

5

4

3

2

DOWN1. Killing a player or a bot with a gun in acombat FPS(4)

2. A beam of light that kills instantly (4)4. A line of text in chat to indicate the

game is imbalanced(4)5. Killing people with a single bullet in thehead in an FPS(8)

6. Very skilled player in a multiplayersimulation game(4)

7. A sudden drop in gamingperformance(5)

9. Delay between a client computer and aserver (4)

11. A bunch of preset commands thatperform a particular or set of actions(5)

12. Strategy of staying in one place/hidingand shooting(7)

14. An artificial opponant in a first personcombat shooter (3)

16. Ninjas in Pyjamas(3)

ACROSS3. An bug or undesirable graphic error in agame(8)

8. A contiguous environment for gameplay (3)10. Intros put in by crackers before a cracked

version of a game(4)13. A set of scenarios in a simulation or strategy

game(8)15. The point on a map where a bot or player

appears when the game starts or duringgameplay(10)

17. A software that allows you to run a gamingenvironment(6)

Crossword

Got aninterestingquestion?Send it in withthe answer [email protected] “TQ” in thesubject area

When in doubt, go with option c.

What is the name of thePenguin mascot for Linux?

a) Chuckb) Tuxc) Pingud) Linus

1

Answers

1.a2.c3.c4.d5.a

6.b7.d8.d9.c10.b

Crossword by Nitaa Jaggi

Last month’s WinnerKayomars Batliwalla

Send in your entries [email protected] on orby the 20th of this month.One lucky participantwill winHacking for DummiesBy Kevin BeaverPublished by

Win!

January’s Solution

That Intel wasshort for Intelligent

Electronics?

Did YouKnow?

www.thinkdigit.com DIGIT FEBRUARY 2009 119

You started the year on an excellent note.It was one of the best issues of Digit.The main story covering the evil face

of techonology was good. ‘Bomb alert’included in Digital Business was mindblowing. I really liked this issue and willpreserve it for a long time.GPS devices tested are really

awesome. The ‘Agent 001’ is my specialfavorite.I am a regular surfer, so I have used

all the browsers, and I think it’s abouttime you did a Fast Track to browsers.Also, in the DVD, please try to

provide videos of the latest gadgets youtest. The games tested in this issue arereally good. Please don’t provide demogames, as it drives me crazy and makesme buy them.

Mayur Gaikwad

Those are some very valid suggestions, and wepromise to look into it. You might be surprisedwith a few of your requests from the next issueitself. As for your gaming enthusiasm, your let-ter is sure to make some of our advertisersvery happy.

Team Digit

I am a Doctor in Anaesthesiologyworking in the UK for last 5 years.I came to India to visit my family

and had a long-ish stay this time. HenceI found a bit of time to catch up with myold favourites.My brother introduced me to Digit

back when it was called Chip. Everygood thing seems to loose its quality andlooses its charm with time, but I amquite pleased to see that Digit hasescaped this phenomenon. It is still asgood as ever! January issue wasabsolutely fantastic and full ofinformation to keep us safe.I was trying to buy the December

edition, but it was sold out. I am awarethat it can be ordered online, but it willtake about 5 to 7 days to reach me, and Iam leaving tomorrow, so I can’t buy it. Ido miss this magazine in the UK.Although there are more suchmagazines there, I love Digit for itssimplicity, easy language and its Indianorigins.It will be very very useful for readers

like me to have an online subscription,as then I could access the content fromanywhere in the world; plus I could savesome paper. The DVD content could be

Write to the EditorE-mail: [email protected]

Snail Mail: The Editor, Digit, KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30,Vashi, Navi Mumbai 400 703

Digit will publish the best letters on these pages. Letters may be edited for clarity.PPlleeaassee iinncclluuddee yyoouurr ccoommpplleettee aaddddrreessss iinn aallll ccoommmmuunniiccaattiioonn..

For subscription queries send an e-mail to [email protected]

downloaded from a member’s area aswell. Although some hardwarereviews might not be relevant foroverseas readers, all the rest of thearticles and information in themagazine are absolutely priceless forme as I am always short on time dueto my busy work schedule. Do you have any such plans in

pipeline? Please let me know.Anyway, I must congratulate you

for your good work. Hope you manageto keep it as good as ever.

Anurag Vats

We’re glad to hear from old readers, andeven happier when you still find us relevant,after all these years.

We do have plans for online contentsubscriptions, as well as international maga-zine subscriptions, in the pipeline. You willbe the first to know when we do launch suchservices.

Team Digit

I have been a regular Digit reader forquite a long time... and I must saythat you are the best in the business. What i really like are the product

reviews especially the graphics cardreviews, but there is something morethat you can cover: you should alsostate the minimum and maximumpower consumption of each graphicscard, so that we can choose the onesthat suit our needs best.

Apar Bhatnagar

That’s a very valid suggestion. Although wedo mention low-power consumption onhardware (like motherboards), especiallywhere it is substantial, and also mentionwhen a card uses way too much power, wewill take your idea and start doing this on amore regular basis.

Team Digit

T hDigit — A Vector Quantity!

My first encounter with Digittakes me three years back.Then I was only interested inthe games hidden inside the CD.As I grew, it was the freeware thatamused me. But now I haverealised that the greatestknowledge lies in the preciousarticles of the magazine. Whatmarvellous stuff you peopleprovide us with! The contents havealways been improving, and to alarge extent, after Mr. Henningjoined as the Editor-in-Chief. Ipersonally appreciate hiscontribution. The web site contenttogether with the DVDs — all areon the path of improvement.Last month’s Fast Track on C++

immensely enhanced myprogramming skills. The technicalhelp desk works perfectly inaccordance with its name, and hasgiven me full support wheneverneeded. They too deserve a bigapplause. But the greatest for me was the

January 2009 edition. Comparisonof the password strength withentropy in “Pass the word...” wasexcellent. I have always aspired tobecome a System Security Analystin the future. I am already a hotfavorite among my classmates forthe security aspects of their PCs.And now, at the crucial stage,when I am in Class XII, the coverstory provided me with the rightdirection.Thus Digit has given me

magnitude and momentum to myaspirations, as well as direction.That’s why I called it a vectorquantity. I really thank you inadvance for shaping my career andassure my best services to thecyber community towards security.Three cheers to Digit!

Manas Thakur,Balaghat

M.P.

This is a fresh analysis of our content.We always love to read e-mails fromour young readers, and are always gladto help. We wish you all the very best inyour chosen profession.

Team Digit


I am a regular reader of Digit and it isthe first time I am writing to you. Firstof all I congratulate you for being thebest tech magazine in India. You peopleare really doing a great job. Your Tips &Tricks, Q&A and Tech Talk are justsuperb. I think the movies which yougive on your DVDs are too outdated andare not worth watching, at least not forme. You should provide some new andpopular ones if possible. Frankly I buyyour magazine only for the DVDs anddon’t much care about the magazineexcept for a few sections. I appreciateyour packing which is better thanbefore. I have read many other techmagazines but let me tell you, you arefar ahead of them.Keep up the good work guys!!!

Varun Singh

We try to keep our content as fresh as possi-ble. If there is a new movie from the opensource or copyleft community, you are sure toget it from us first. However, most of thefilms that are released into the publicdomain, are old. That does not necessarilymean that they are boring our outdated. TheGreat Dictator we gave last time is an all timeclassic, and Death Rides a Horse (this month’sDVD) is a great western that can give contem-porary cinema a run for its money. However,your point is well taken.

Team Digit

I am an avid reader of Digit, and havebeen reading it for the past few years.The best part of the magazine is

the “Your Questions, Our Answers”section, which provides solutions tothe basic problems that most of us facein our day to day life, while handlingour system.

Also, I liked the various articles onpreventing ourselves from gettinghacked, specially, the one named SocialEngineering Techniques.Apart from that, This year, you

added a lot more stuff on your DVD also,and that was quite impressive!The softwares were fresh, and I

like trying new softwares. Being afresh Mechanical Engineer, I wasthrilled to find Auto CAD 2009 amongother CAD tools.I would appreciate if you could also

arrange other reputed, basic yetessential CAD tools for trial, such asPro/Engineer Wildfire, CATIA in yourforthcoming editions, and publishingFast Tracks on such tools, which couldhelp Mechanical Design Enthusiasts likeme, as well.Another thing I noticed, some tools

marked as freeware turn up to beshareware or trial versions, and have tobe uninstalled later.Please take a note of that.

Shivanjan Choudhury

Thank you for the leg up. We will look intoincluding more specialist and enterprise soft-ware in future releases of our DVD.

Team Digit

A belated happy new year to you! YourJanuary issue was, as usual, awesome. Iam really terrified by growing use ofhi-tech gadgets like mobile phones, GPSdevices as reflected by your cover story.The growing technology, which makesme happy at times also terrifies me atothers.You have also covered a similar

article in your December 2006 issuenamed ‘You’re being watched’.

Please try to understand that yourmag is already expensive, and youpeople are increasing the price evenmore! But what to do? I’ll have to buyit, even if you increase it to Rs 200, as Ilove it so much!

Kshitij Rawat

Thanks for the vote of confidence, andbelieve us, we really do not want to increaseprices unless absolutely necessary. We didmake sure to increase the number of contentpages, and also the extra DVD to ensure thatyou still get complete value for money.

Team Digit

I want you to please do me favour. I havebeen a reader of Digit for 3 months, andnow my father and sisters have startedreading it too. But ours is a family of beginners in

the world of computers. I am the onlyone who knows a little more than therest, and am often told that the manycomputer related terms used in Digit areGreek to them. Similarly, there are manypeople who do not even know the ABCsof computers.I would like to see a new column in

Digitmeant for beginners. If you do this, itwill be a boon to beginners everywhere.

‘Ravi Ranjan’

You have raised a very important point here,and we can see why such a step is necessary.All of us are aware about how confusing techterms can be to the non-initiated. You have agreat suggestion, and we will keep that in mindfor future issues.

Team Digit

I am reading Digit since 2005, andknow firsthand how Digit achieved itstop position. Every change you havedone in the Digit is superb, but I stillwant to suggest a few more. Yourprocedure for taking feedback, by usingthe feedback form was great, but makeit online as you all might know, no onereally posts anything anymore.Secondly, please create a seperatesection for mobile phones in yourmagazine, just 2 or 3 pages everymonth. In this way, Digit will alsocover the needs of a mobile magazine,since there are more mobile users thanPC users in India. I also must add that Digit is very

addictive magazine.

Shishir Priyadarshi

118

Inbox

January 2009 Issue

Letter of theMonth

Due to a clerical error, the contact detailsfor the XFX 9800GT on page 81, in thismonth’s issue, are wrong. However, theratings for the product are correct. Thecontact details were supposed to read:

Contact: Rashi PeripheralsPhone: 022-67090828E-mail: [email protected] site: www.rptech.comPrice: Rs. 10,000We apologise for the error.

CORRIGENDUM

WWITHITS MOUNTAINS of petty and idi-otic regulations, the European Union(EU) is hardly my favourite organisation.However, it sometimes get things right,and recently started new legal actionagainst Microsoft for anti-competitivepractices. The focus of attention, asbefore, is with Internet Explorer beingtied into the operating system.

This approach is the exact opposite ofthe original vision described by BillGates. Back in the days (18/19 years ago)when a few journalists like myself usedto get to meet him and discuss thesethings properly, Gates described his viewof thedesktopof the future as being com-ponent-oriented.

With this approach, instead of buy-ing one or more large applications, youbuy much smaller ones, and then addother “component” programs that pro-vide the extra features that you need.

Youmight have aword processor as abasic program that only formats text andprints it out — very robust, with excellentease of use, good font-handling, etc. Ifyou should alsowant a spell-checker, the-saurus, or some other add-on, you canbuy this separately, and it will integratefully with your basic word-processor.These extra add-ons need not come fromthe same software vendor.

Youmightwell have awordprocessorfrom Microsoft, a presentation applica-tion fromCorel, and a spell checker fromAdobe, that would work with the othertwo and any other programs that neededspell checks, such as your free-standing(not OS integrated) web browser. Theoperating system would provide theobject-oriented basis for this structure,itself consisting of components.

There would be many benefits — youwould no longer clutter your hard diskwith functionality you don’t need, gener-ally making much more efficient use ofsystem — i.e. your — resources; you couldtailor your system to precisely your ownneeds, with large organisations creatingtheir own modules for specialist require-ments. It would be highly scalable fromsmall portable systems to power-packed

workstations; this would stimulatehealthy competition and the smaller pro-grams could be expected to be relativelyfree of errors. We have instead been soldinefficient bloatware.

Personally, I blame the hardware ven-dors. They kowtow to the Microsoft linefar more than seems rational. Why?Because hardware keeps growing in size,far more quickly than genuine softwareneeds. By providing excessively bloatedsoftware, Microsoft helps drive hardwaresales, and other application developershave to follow suit because of the check-box approach to functionality (featuretables inmagazines don’t exactly help inthis).

One trick that Microsoft and othershave used to force us to keep upgradinghas been constant changes in file format.So, you are using last year’s version ofWord and you receive an email attach-ment from somebody using this year’sversion. You can’t open it, and the pres-sure is therefore on to upgrade, eventhough the new version offers no newfunctionality that you need. I am only avery infrequent user of Word, and I canhonestly say that only two featuresusefulto me have been added to the softwaresince Word for Windows v.1.0a. We haveall fallen for this hook, line and sinker.

I used the word force in the last para-graph because Microsoft has often beenaccused of bullying tactics, and both thenews item about the EU and our currentreview of netbooks highlighted this.

Scared of Linux — a much more flex-ible and scalable operating system — tak-ing over the netbook market, a fewmonths ago Microsoft made WindowsXP Home available together withWindows CE for low-end devices. So whyonly low-end? I once annoyed aMicrosoftperson when I was testingWindows CE afew years ago by saying that this was thelean operating system I wanted on mydesktop. But that could not be allowed,could it? It is not thatWindows CE couldnot easily be made to run on more pow-erful machines than a netbook, or thatWindows XP could not run on the more

powerful PCs currently shipping withVista. Microsoft insists through itslicence agreements with hardware ven-dors on strict limits tomemory size, harddisk size, and so forth. Have more than acertain amount of memory, and youcan’t ship, for example,Windows XP, buthave to force your customers to takeVista. To hell with customer choice. Butthe effect is not always in Microsoft’sfavour.

As Linux improves and remains flexi-ble and scalable, increasing numbers ofvendors are considering moving to it.Give an average customer a Linuxmachine with a Windows look-and-feel,andmost would hardly be able to tell thedifference. Microsoft’s bullying is begin-ning to look like the best marketing toolLinux could have. And Microsoft’sresponse? Instead of more bullying, whynot go back to Gates’ original compo-nent-oriented vision? Dream on...

The Last Word

Edward Henning, Editor-in-Chief

Bloatware Blues

“I am only a very infrequentuser of Word, and I can hon-estly say that only two fea-tures useful to me have beenadded to the software sinceWord for Windows v.1.0a.”

[email protected]

200902

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