·Mohit Saxena: The theme of his talk was "Starting your start-up from a

local player to a global giant". Educated from IIT Roorkee, he is the co-

founder and VP of InMobi Ltd., one of the giants in the mobile advertising

market. Initially he managed the technology operations at Virgin mobile.

He had also worked in AT&T. He emphasized on the notion of having an

idea and making it global. His talk basically comprised of his version of 6

commandments for building a successful global business. He very

beautifully ended his talk with "...success is never cheap; it inflicts pain and

requires patience and discipline; but at the end of story the situation is very

beautiful".

·Nehha Bhatnagar: Nehha Bhatnagar is a Bharatanatyam dancer and a

disciple of her Guruji, Padmashree Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan. She has a

degree in International Relations from the Knox College, USA. Her main

point of focus was equality between men and women. She presented her

thought through a mesmerising dance of "Ardhanareshwar": ardh-nari-

ishwar or half-women-lord or lord who is equally man as well as women.

Mathew Chandrakunnel: He is a Professor, Scientist, Theologist,

Journalist and much more- a complete dynamic personality with a

complete new field of interest of mixing science with religion. His talk was

on "The evolutionary nature of Humanity: From Quantum Holism to

Cosmic Holism".

·Harish Natrajan: The MD of Bausch and Lomb, he presented his talk on

the theme "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans".

According to him, it's human nature to love the feeling of control and make

elaborate plans for future but life is so full of uncertainty that one cannot

truly expect everything to happen according to one's plan.

·Jodie Underhill: She is the lady of action. Jodie is the co-founder of a

voluntary waste management organization "The Mountain Cleaners". A

simpleton among her fellow speakers, this lady is defined by her action and

the result of her firm determination to clean India. Her talk was on "It is our

land to clean: Make a difference by following your dreams" and she very

aptly gave the audience a live example of the success one can achieve by

sheer determination and hard work. She started her talk by uttering "India

is dirty..." and went on to elaborate how she works towards cleaning India.

Her earnest talk was so inspiring that she received a standing ovation.

·Anup Tapadia: Born in Pune, the guy was probably India's youngest

'Origamist' at the age of 4 and had designed more than 1000 models by the

age of 7. He bagged 2 masters degrees in Computer Science by the age of

21. Anup is an alumnus of University of California, San Diego. At the age of

14 he became the world's youngest professional to pass the Microsoft

Certifications (MCSD, MCSE, MCDBA). He is the founder of TouchMagix

Media Pvt. Ltd. His talk was on "Art and Innovation: Revolutionizing the

Science of touch". The central idea which he presented was how

technology can be fused with art. He gave numerous examples of how

technology can emotionally connect to a user. In his words "... just art is

passive and just technology is boring".

thisIssue

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1TEDx IIT Roorkee

CES 2013

PARAM Yuva-II

The Centre for Development of Advanced

Computing (C-DAC) unveiled its latest

computing innovation, the Param Yuva-II

supercomputer, at the C-DAC facility in Pune on

February 12th.

The capabilities of Param Yuva II surpass those

of its predecessors by a whole order of

magnitude (10 times faster). It can crunch data

up to 524 teraflops. A flop is a single arithmetic

operation performed on two floating point

numbers. For e.g. 2.3x4.5 being calculated in 1

second is 1 flops.

524 teraflops = 524 x 1000,000,000,000 = 524

trillion floating point operations per second

A huge number… but still far behind the world's

fastest, the U.S. Department of Energy's top

supercomputer- Titan, that works at 17.6

petaflops. In fact, the Param Yuva II ranks 62nd

amongst the world's supercomputers.

According to C-DAC, such processing power will

give a significant boost to the field of aircraft

designing, drug discovery and weather

forecasting owing to the NP hard nature of the

problems that arise in these areas. The

computational requirement for such problems

rises exponentially with just a slight increase in

the number of variables. Hence, the need for

massive number crunching.

The boost in processing power will be beneficial

to the entire bioinformatics industry to work and

formulate better vaccines and drugs to ward off

illness. The Param Yuva-II is also designed to be

energy efficient as it reduces the cost of energy

by a whopping 35 % as compared to the Param

Yuva.

The facility is a stepping stone for India's plans to

develop the fastest supercomputer by 2017, a

petaflop version of the Param Yuva II.

PARAM YUVA II: India's Fastest Supercomputer

TEDxSo on 9th February, 2013, our college graciously became the host of 6 of the

most riveting talks in its recent memory. The event was TEDx (x stands for

independently organized event) and no, as clearly pointed out by its curator Mr.

Nishant Chandra, it was not a 'nakli wala' TED talk.

For the uninitiated, TEDx is an independently organized TED (Technology,

Entertainment and Design) like event at the local level. The talks in the event are held on the

exact same lines as the main TED talks i.e. the speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to

present their ideas. As per the TED guidelines for the event, the event cannot host an audience of more than

100 people, a minimum of two official, pre-recorded TED Talks must be shown at events and all original stage

content must be recorded on video.

IIT Roorkee

Indian Ethnic Wear

RASHMI AKSHAY

KARISHMA

9761978275992796020001332-272006

77-2, Civil Limes,Roorkee

Pentagon MallSidcul,Haridwar

E-mail:akshayveer15@gmail.com

onCampus Magazine Partner

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The Param YUVA II clocks in at a just-slower-than-light speed

of 524 teraops. Comparatively, its

predecessor the Param YUVA clocked in at a modest 54

teraops at peak speed.

Geek Gazette launching the rst in its

series of comic strips, Daisy Bell : Anecdotes

from IITR

GeeK/><the

With the launch of Xperia Z, Sony has a new addition

to its premium segment. Xperia Z traverses a path

different from its predecessors, with a glossy design,

smoother finish and a larger and better screen. It's

effectively a forensic sheet for fingerprints and

smudges but has a sound form factor. At the same

time, Sony has been able to keep its profile relatively

thin. It's a mere 7.9mm thick, making it almost as

skinny as the iPhone 5.

The beautiful giant proudly presents a 5-inch 1080p

display powered by Sony's Mobile BRAVIA 2 engine,

which brings your content to life with its high contrast,

robust color reproduction, and sharp viewing angles. It

has a pixel density of 441ppi, far greater than the

iPhone 5's 326ppi. Once in hand, the beauty of the

phone does not fail to win your heart. Sony has made a

huge leap by incorporating an IP 57 certified water and

dust proof system.

The Xperia Z is not just a pretty body, it also has

blazing fast internals, sporting a 1.5GHz quad-core

Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 processor

coupled with 2GB of RAM. Graphics are powered by

an Adreno 320 GPU, so gaming and 1080p video

playback are no big deal. AnTuTu benchmarks the

phone at a respectable score of 16954 points, only

behind the Optimus G, Nexus 4, Note 2 and S3.

Flip the phone over to catch a look at the impressive

13-megapixel auto-focus camera that features an

Exmor RS sensor, LED flash, and 1080p video

recording. Additionally, i t supports 4G LTE

connectivity, a microSD card slot, 2330 mAh batteries,

and NFC. The phone also has a HDMI TV-out to easily

stream HD videos from your phone to your TV.

On paper, the Xperia Z seems to be a powerhouse

and one well-suited to be Sony's 2013 flagship phone.

The quad-core processor and generous RAM should

help it power through more than everyday tasks and

the high-resolution screen is certain to display crisp,

life-like images and videos. The real competition will

be the Samsung Galaxy S4, but its flashy new design

and clever pricing may prove a trump card for Sony.

The television industry has taken a big leap during the fall

of 2012. Our home entertainment experience is going

through a revolutionary change. 1080p is no longer the

gold standard. Televisions with Ultra High Definition

(UHD) i.e. 3840x2160 resolution are ready to take us to a

whole new world of television viewing experience. More

pixels mean higher detail, more clarity and sharpness to

the image quality. TV viewing will become more

immersive than ever before. Major brands like Sony,

Samsung, and LG etc. have announced their multiple

UHD products .It might be bugging you that without

content, what will be the benefit of UHD. But companies

like Sony and Nikon have announced their UHD

recording professional cameras that will become future

industry standard. Netflix has already demoed its

upcoming UHD streaming services.

These next generation TVs use OLED-Organic Light

Emitting Diode panels to offer viewers a cinema-like

experience. Unlike the current technologies like plasma,

LCD, or LED, the OLED can completely shut off the

emission on per pixel basis. Theoretically it provides

infinite contrast ratio. OLEDs have the thinnest form

factor as compared to any existing display technology.

TVs as thin as 4 mm could be expected in near future.

Moreover this display technology consumes less than

half the power as compared to the current available

technology and thus making it eco-friendly.

These televisions give a whole new definition to smart

TVs. They bring multi core processors to handle the

massive delivery of content to user. They are more

integrated with social networking than ever before. The

highlight of such televisions is the new multi-view

technology that enables more than one person to watch

different programs at the same time on the same

television set without compromising the screen real-

estate. A pair of vertical and horizontal polarizing shutter

glasses have made this possible. It has vast potential in

multiplayer gaming.

From the current trend the direction of the digital

entertainment industry is crystal clear. And this shift

proclaims the death of 3D technology. One will no longer

have to wear a clunky pair of polarizing glasses for an

immersive experience as new UHD technology ensures a

more realistic experience and is more future proof.

Major hurdles preventing it from shooting off are ultra-

high cost and limited availability of UHD content, but

OEMs are working hard for it to be available to the

masses, ushering a new era of television industry.

Valve's CEO Gabe Newell confirmed that the company

was working on a Steam Box in December last year.

Think of Valve's Steam Box as a handheld PC. Its early

prototypes might be squished into a small cuboid at the

moment, they might be more at home under your

television than your monitor, and - most shockingly - it

might not even be running Windows: but it is sure as hell

a computer. The Steam Box is designed to play games

over Steam; Valve's proprietary game downloads

service, boasting a huge library of

computer games.

Valve's first foray into the world of

hardware has been unveiled as a PC-type

box by high-end PC maker Xi3, a Steam

Box appropriately codenamed Piston

ready to go in a brushed chrome case.

It's a prototype system, which means we

shouldn't expect to see this particular model any time

soon, but the Piston project is intended to show off Steam

game play on large high-definition TVs, making use of

Steam's "Big Picture" mode, which was created

specifically for use with larger screens.

Newell and Valve have spent the last year decrying the

oncoming Windows 8 and its new Metro UI, while singing

the virtues of free, open-source operating systems. Such

is their approval that they've hired Linux developers to

port their own titles over for Linux-based OSs and have

confirmed that their own take on the Steam Box will use

the system in place of Windows. Not that you'll be forced

to use it, though: again, Newell's watchword is openness,

and he stated specifically that users can "install Windows

if they want." It could change PC gaming from a

Windows-centric model to something even more open

and disparate.

If your Steam Box can run games at

better resolutions, without restrictive

proprietary networks, and for a

c h e a p e r p r i c e t h a n a n e x t -

generation Xbox or PlayStation, then

the choice seems simple. By

divorcing it from the top of your desk

and simplifying the game delivery

mechanism through Steam, the Steam Box should also

go some way to removing the remaining stigmas from PC

gaming.

Don't expect the first Steam Boxes to arrive with the

fanfare of a new console launch. They're a new trend,

rather than a brand new machine, but they might turn

out to have more of an influence on gaming than

anything else over the next few years.

The only thing the awestruck crowd could reply, on being

asked by Paul Jacobs, the Qualcomm top-man, 'Are you

Born Mobile?' was an intensely ebullient 'Yes'. This

January, Qualcomm Enterprise bagged much awaited

attention in consumer electronics section by hosting

CES 2013 Keynote, which was previously the territory of

PC manufacturer like Microsoft. The firm, after producing

11 billion silicon chips, affecting almost every other

smartphone device on the planet, left no stones unturned

to let its presence be felt.

Living up to the challenge, Qualcomm's anticipation to

illustrate how its technologies affect at consumer level

through actors, proved out to be supercool. An OMG

jabbering popular girl, a gamer geek and a silicon

wannabe entrepreneur, believed to constitute

'Generation M' demoed that they are all born mobile. But

the biggest star for the audience was Steve Ballmer, the

Microsoft CEO, who ran out on the stage to show off

three Windows 8 products.

As Jacob mentioned in his talk, 84% of people worldwide

say they can't go a day without their mobile device. With

increase in consumers craving smartphone interface on

everything they have, the Android mobile operating

system is expanding beyond smartphones and tablets to

smart TVs, cameras and even Google's Project Glass

smart glasses. Qualcomm's chips have an even broader

reach, appearing in smart TVs, game consoles, home

automation devices and even cars. This arises from the

fact that everything in future will be connected to internet,

a concept called 'Internet of things', with cars, household

appliances and mobile devices communicating with

each other.

The chipmaker Qualcomm also took the opportunity to

unveil two new processors: Snapdragon 600 and 800.

Most people who will benefit from these faster, more

energy-efficient chips won't know their names. But for

the ones who will, this event was just as great as the

wand maker Ollivander unveiling magical wands with

Dragon Heartstring or Phoenix Feathers core. Well,

Geeks do have their own fantasies. And we find this

company geeky enough to seize its place in people's

heart.

The design is startlingly simple. A full

plastic body wraps around a 1.26-inch

screen - a black and-white "e-paper" panel

with a backlight built in, a vibrating motor, a

magnetometer, ambient light sensors and

a three-axis accelerometer. The face is

slightly curved outward and the buttons on

each side stick out just far enough to be

pressed with ease. It's waterproof and

scratch-resistant. It connects to an

Android or iOS device using Bluetooth 2.1

and also includes support for Bluetooth 4.0

(Bluetooth Low Energy). It quotes a battery

life of 5-7 days on a single charge. It has

apps pre-installed, including a cycling app

to measure speed, distance and pace

through GPS, and a golf rangefinder app

that supports more than 25,000 courses

along with the music controls and

changeable watch faces. More apps can

be downloaded from the phone, and a

Software Development Ki t is a lso

available.

This 'wearable tech' can be considered as

a notification bar that detaches from your

phone and sits on your wrist and alerts you

with a silent vibration. It can show

notifications for incoming calls, SMS

messages, calendar reminders, weather

alerts, emails, Gmail messages (multiple

accounts), Google Talk messages, Google

Voice messages, Twitter & Facebook

messages, and WhatsApp messages with

silent vibrating alarm and timer.

With a price tag of $150 it makes a great

companion for class, the movies, or any

situation where you would rather know

what the notification is before actually

pulling out your phone. With a few

limitations that it has support for only a few

apps at present with support being added

for Android apps , it's a simple, minimal yet

fashionable product that easily blends into

everyday life.

The 2013 International CES was held from January 8 to 11 at Las Vegas. Over 3,000 exhibitors showcased a wide range of innovative products this year. This year the categories include 3D, Accesories, Audio, Automotive Electronics, Embedded Technology, Lifestyle Electronics, Wireless & Wireless Devices to name a few. 2013 International CES however was not necessarily being noted for announcing the newest products, but getting a lot of press for the fundamental changes about to hit the digital world; such as motion detection sensors, the driverless cars and digital home safety and technology We at Geek Gazette present to you the highlights of this much acclaimed and awaited event with several big names revealing expected as well as products so unexpected that you would believe that the participating companies are switching their agship products. We cover amazing new gadgets by NVIDIA, Razer, Sony and Panasonic. Particularly special are the new offerings by Pebble, a smartwatch to act as a notication companion to your smartphone and the rst prototype for a Steam Box, very aptly named the Piston by high-end PC manufacturer Xi3.Last but not least, how could we fail to cover the unbelievable Born Mobile press conference by Qualcomm. Our established lexicon is not worthy of describing the event. Do watch the whole conference!

RAZER EDGE: QUALCOMM:

In our Autumn 2012 issue, we covered the prototype,

codename Project Fiona and now at CES 2013, Razer has

unveiled their almost finished product named the Razer

Edge, a true gaming tablet.

It packs an Intel 3rd gen ULV CPU and NVIDIA GT 640M

GP. For a tablet this is ridiculous amount of power (It's the

same GPU that Sony provides in its full blown laptops). The

Edge on its own is pretty chunky at 0.8 inch; but its soft

touch outer body allows easy handling. The Intel

processors provide good firepower for gaming and with

such a powerful GPU, a tablet cannot get any better.

Featuring a 1366x768, 10.1 inch IPS display, it boasts

sharp graphics and a large viewing angle. It sports the

Synaptics ClearPad, which provides accurate touch

response and more than 10 touch inputs simultaneously for

an error free gaming experience. With an onboard 40Wh

battery it provides over three hours of PC gaming on the go.

The Razer Edge is not just the raw power it houses as a

tablet, but also the dedicated collection of accessories that

complement it. Razer showcased a dock with dual Xbox

like controllers that also contains another 40Whr battery for

the tablet. The dock itself is very ergonomic and allows to

game on-the-go with two hands just like PSP but with built-

for-PC games. Among other accessories is a keyboard

dock with extended battery that also houses many other

connectivity ports.

The size of the tablet will make a few people reconsider,

and there is also the question of CPU throttling due to a

very compact design for such powerful internals. But, then

again the Razer Blade was revolutionary and engineers at

Razer are confident that they have created a next-gen

thermal design and have successfully delivered mighty

performance in a small form factor.

Tentative availability is scheduled for Q1 of this year with

different configurations available. We believe it will garner

a lot more interest upon its launch, and being avid gamers

ourselves we are dying to buy a few of these.

Born Mobile. That Really Happened.A r m i n g T h e G a m i n g R e v o l u t i o n

PROJECT SHIELD: Handheld Gaming Reinvented

XPERIA ZA Revolution In Your Hands

One of the hottest topics of CES 2013 was NVIDIA's

handheld gaming offering – Project Shield. The company

seemingly came out of left field with the device's

announcement during its Monday press conference.

Calling it 100% Android, the full-size controller plus 5 inch

multitouch screen houses the new Tegra 4 processor.

And mind you, Project Shield runs

Android Jelly Bean 4.2.

"Project Shield was created by NVIDIA

engineers who love to game and

imagined a new way to play" said Jen-

H s u n - H u a n g d u r i n g t h e p r e s s

conference. Surely, the company's

assertion was that Project Shield will do

to gaming what iPod and Kindle have

done for music and books. NVIDIA wants

to bring portable gaming to another level.

Its 20 plus hours of game time and 720p, 294 dpi retinal

screen make it a great handheld entertainment device.

Project Shield has access to the biggest launch line-up for

any handheld gaming system ever. You can't beat the

countless pc games, more than 18000 Steam games and

675000 plus Google Play games and apps. One of the

best parts of NVIDIA's Project Shield is the fact that its

launch games are familiar-it's everything that you can

already own on the PC, Steam, Google play, and

NVIDIA's own TegraZone Store. PC and Steam games

can be streamed to the device through Wi-Fi so long as

the PC running the games is packing an NVIDIA GeForce

GTX GPU.

Under Project Shield's game pad exterior lays a NVIDIA

Tegra 4 processor, which has a 72-core GeForce GPU.

It's also the first quad-core application of ARM's most

advanced CPU core – the Cortex A-15. All of this

translates into beautiful graphics

with maintained snappy movements

and lag free gameplay.

Essentially NVIDIA's doing what

Netflix and Onlive have done for

users-having all the major resources

handled in another location and

using Wi-Fi bandwidth to offload the

heavy duty processing. On disk

capacity, NVIDIA has confirmed that

there will be a microSD card slot for

expandable storage. Other ports include a microUSB port,

a headphone jack, and an HDMI port for easy video output

to a big screen. NVIDIA, working with Valve, ensured that

Project Shield would take advantage of Steam's Big

Picture mode.

The technology is awesome but the inability to stream all

the games and pricing may limit the appeal of NVIDIA's

portable PC. Unfortunately, PC and Steam games can

only be streamed via local Wi-Fi, as there needs to be a

PC running the games; this controller based handheld

device is just a receiver.

PEBBLE SMARTWATCH: It Even Tells The Time

The Pebble Smartwatch is not just a watch but a lot more– it's the latest attempt to turn your wrist into a launchpad for a wearable computing revolution. It's the rst watch built for the 21st century claiming its well-deserved position among one of the top 10 gadgets unveiled in CES 2013.

STEAM BOX: Valve's Take On Console Gaming

If your Steam Box can run games at better resolutions, without restrictive proprietary networks, and for a cheaper price than a next-generation Xbox or PlayStation, then the choice seems simple.

A New era of Digital entertainmentUHD TVs:

Page-2 Page-3the GeeK

God said unto John, “Come forth andgain eternal life.” John came fth andwon a toaster.

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