MDs Note

A New Era
For Digit

THIS NEW YEAR marks the beginning of a New

Era at Digit. Digit has new parents! In December
2007, 9.9 Mediaworx (www.9dot9.in) acquired
Jasubhai Digital Media, the founding publishers
of Digit.
Today, Digit stands tall in the clutter of
consumer
technology
magazines.
It
is
unsurpassed in its popularityand we thank you,
our readers and advertisers, for your unwavering
support in making this happen. It is an inspiring
story of entrepreneurship and independence
spanning more than a decade.
Digit started as the first home-grown magazine
in its genre. Despite the onslaught of several metoo offerings and global brands, Digit has held its
own due to constant innovations brought about
by a set of outstanding editors and managers,
unstintingly supported by Jasubhai Digital Media.
Today, Digit is more than a magazine about
information technology aloneit encompasses
the gamut of digital personal technologies that
you and I use at home and work.
We at 9.9 Media value and respect the
leadership of this powerful brand and the
following it has created. We are committed to
building on this legacy by bringing about
continuous innovation in our offeringsto
readers as well as advertisersas we power Digits
growth into this new era. Given the potential that
exists, moving forward, we intend to offer you
increased content and insights. Over the next few
months, look for editorial and design
enhancements in the magazine. Expect a more
contemporary online presence at www
.thinkdigit.com. Continue to enjoy lots of valueaddition and stay ahead with Digit.
As we shift gears, this is also a good time to get
more demanding of us! While we enjoy the kudos
we receive, what would help is constructive
feedback on where we are falling short. Tell us what
you expect beyond what we have on offer. Give us
fresh, new ideas. Join us in taking Digit to the next
level. I am confident that 9.9 Medias association
with Digit will ultimately help in strengthening

Given the potential that exists,

moving forward, we intend to offer
you increased content and insights
your bonds with this wonderful magazine.
As Indias newest diversified media group, we
are committed to a level of qualityin whatever
we dosuch that we always deliver above and
beyond the expected and the ordinary. We believe
magazines and content-providers have a
tremendous responsibility to their readers in
delivering
content
that
is
not
only
uncompromising in its quality, but also clearly
shows respect for the privilege of having the
readers undivided attention. I hope you will keep
us honest in our commitment to you!
Thank you once again for your continued
enthusiasm for Digit. I look forward to staying in
touch and building on our partnership. A very
Happy New Year to all of you!

Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha

Founder and Managing Director
9.9 Mediaworx

Editorial

Young Tongue
And Old Gold

AS I MEET and discuss with the various departments

under the Digit banner, I get a feeling that the age
bracket of readers has, over the years, shifted. While
a few years ago the average age of the Digit reader
would not have crossed 22, today it is much higher.
Just to substantiate: we are running a daily contest
for Digit subscriptions on our Web site, and guess
what: over 40 per cent of the contenders are over the
age of 40. I get about three letters on an average, per
day, from readers over 35 years of age. So is it true
that some cool, funky technologies are only for the
young and restless? Data says otherwise
They say the youth is fleeting; well, maybe in the
gaming world. This definitely is not the case in the
IT industry. Remember the tech stalwarts: Bill Gates,
who started Microsoft at the age of 19, and Steve Jobs,
who started Apple at 21? What is happening to the
youth of today? Looks like they are fleeing!
The revelations that I have received remind me
of the famous Charms cigarette case study. The cigarette was launched in a denim pack, to target
youth in the 18-to-25 age bracket. But when a survey
was undertaken, it was found out that the pack was
being lapped up by smokers in the 35-plus age category. The reasonsmokers in the 35-plus age category wanted to relive their youth, so they found
the pack attractivemuch more than did the
intended target audience. (Im not condoning this
mental association, but facts are facts.)
Now coming back to Digit: do we spot a similar
trend in the readership profile of the magazine?
The 40-somethings are individuals who grew up on
the cusp of the IT wave. Since that is a generation
which has dramatically seen how IT can impact
their personal and professional lives, maybe it
wants to ensure that it stays on the cutting edge of
technology. Naturally, people from this generation
are readers of Digit.
The youth, on the other hand, has not seen how
life used to be in all fields before the dawn of the IT
revolution. And how life used to be before Digit.
Maybe Im reading too much into the phenomenon, but it just goes to show that a digital divide

Sujay Nair Editorial Director

The youth has not seen how life

used to be before the dawn of the
IT revolution
does not exist between the earlier generation and
the current one. In the years gone by, you would
have expected a strong case of IT phobia in the older
generation. Remember the strikes that used to
happen in certain sections of the industry to protest
computerisation? When Big Blue was shown the
door on a political whim? In this day and age, IT has
become the holy grail, as the desktop has become
ubiquitous in every organisation.
IT has now become an inclusive technology. That
is to say, it does not exclude anyone from reaping
the benefits of technology utilisation.
The jury is still out on this one. I would love to
hear from your side on this issueand I am sure that
Ill get to listen to a fair share of veteran voices!

[email protected]

Tell Us What You Feel About Digit

YO U R T EC H N O LO GY N AV I G ATO R

Each month, Digit walks through the technology

maze to bring you the most relevant, most
researched stories. If you have an opinion about
anything published in Digit, or about technology
in general, please write in to
[email protected]

Advertisers Index
Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
Apacer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
APC
Canon

January 2008 Volume 8 Issue 1

Managing Director
Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha
Editorial
Editorial Director Sujay Nair
Assistant Editor Robert Sovereign-Smith
Sr. Writer Nimish Chandiramani
Writers Samir Makwana, Asfaq Tapia,
Bhaskar Sarma
Sr. Copy Editor Ram Mohan Rao
Test Centre
Assistant Manager Sanket Naik
Reviewer Jayesh Limaye, Michael Browne,
Rossi Fernandes
Product Reviews Co-ordinator Yogendra Bagle
Design
Creative Head Kabir Malkani
Art Director Rohit A Chandwaskar
Chief Designer Shivasankaran C Pillai
Senior Designers Vijay Padaya, Sivalal S
Designers Chaitanya Surpur, Shrikrishna Patkar,
Nilanjan Ghosh
Photographers Jiten Gandhi, Sandeep Patil

Product Testing

Sales & Marketing

Vice President
Bibhor Srivastava
Assistant Brand Manager
Arpita Ganguli
Marketing
Marketing Communication Thomas Varghese
Senior Executive-Sales Support Ramesh Kumar
Production and Logistics
GM - Operations Shivshankar Hiremath
Production Manager Mangesh Salvi
Logistics M P Singh, Vilas Mhatre, Mohd. Ansari,
Shashi Shekhar Singh
Circulation & Subscription Sales
GM Circulation Milind Prabhughate
Co-ordinator Rahul Mankar
Subscriptions Mahesh Malusare
Customer Service Prerna Panchal, Sneha Sen
Head Office: Editorial, Marketing
and Customer Service
Jasubhai Digital Media
C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30
Near Sanpada Railway Station, Vashi,
Navi Mumbai 400703
Phone: 40789666
Fax: 022-40789540, 022-40789640
Cover Design Rohit Chandwaskar
With special thanks to Vishwanathan Anand

Printed and published by Jasubhai Digital Media

Pvt Ltd, a member of the 9.9 Media group
C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30
Near Sanpada Railway Station, Vashi
Navi Mumbai 400703
Editor: Sujay Nair
C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Near Sanpada
Railway Station, Vashi Navi Mumbai 400703
Printed at Magna Graphics (I) Ltd,
101 C & D Government Industrial Estate Kandivli,
Mumbai 400 067

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover

Cincom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Want your product reviewed by Digit?

Contact our Test Centre at [email protected]

Cisco

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Cricket Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Crizal

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Software On DVD/CD

Crosair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

To submit and suggest software for

inclusion in the Digit DVD or CD, contact
us at [email protected]

Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Enjay

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Epson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Help!
For subscription or copy-related issues,
send an e-mail to [email protected]
You may also contact the following
executives for local queries:
Bangalore: Devaraju N (09341809286)
Chennai: L R Laxmanan (09380229283)
Delhi: Samir Mehta (09313195354)
Hyderabad: Norbert Joseph (09396229281)
Kolkata: Jayanta Bhattacharyya (033-22317344)
Mumbai & Pune: Mahesh Malusare (022-40789614)

Endorsements/Reprints
Multimedia
Content Head Nimish Chandiramani
Content Co-ordinator Asfaq Tapia

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Interested in ordering article reprints,

or using our logos?
Contact [email protected]

Foxcon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Fujitsu

. . . . . . . . . . Gatefold on Cover

Leadtek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Life Style Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Monster . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover
Nanopoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Palit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Ricoh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19, 81
Soft-Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Topgun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Viewsonic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Western Digital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Disclaimer: For every Digit contest, there will be only

one winner, unless specified otherwise. In the event of
a dispute, the Editors decision shall be final.

XFX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Products Reviewed This Month

HARDWARE
USB Flash Drives . . . . . . . 66
Buffalo Turbo USB 4GB
Buffalo Turbo USB 8GB
Buffalo Turbo USB 2GB
Corsair Voyager 1 GB
Corsair . . . . . . . Voyager 16 GB
Corsair . . . . . . . Voyager 2 GB
Corsair . . . . . . . . Voyager 4GB
Imation Nano 4GB
Kingston 4GB DataTraveler 100
Kingston DataTraveler
Kingston DataTraveler Mini
Kingston DataTraveler Mini Fun
Kingston DataTraveler Reader 2GB
Kingston DataTraveler Secure
Moser Baer 1 GB

Moser Baer 2 GB
SanDisk Cruzer Titanium U3 2GB
SanDisk Cruzer U3 2 GB
SanDisk Cruzer U3 8 GB
SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition
Tech-Com 4GB
Toshiba 1 GB
Toshiba TransMemory 2GB
Toshiba TransMemory 4GB
Transcend JetFlash 168
Transcend JetFlash V10 2 GB
Transcend JetFlash V30 1 GB
Transcend JetFlash V30 2 GB
Transcend JetFlash V30 4 GB
Transcend JetFlash V30 8 GB
Transcend Jetflash V60 4 GB
Transcend JetFlash V60 8GB

Transcend JF V10 4 GB
Umax Apus Zoom

South
Sanjay Bhan
E-mail: sanjay_bhan@
jasubhai.com
Mobile: +91 9341829285,
Phone: (080) 25546370-73
Fax: 41518330
Phone: (044) 28235186/88
Fax: 28230731
Phone: (040) 27894167/ 55221051
Fax: 27720205

Phone: (022) 40373636/

40373626/24494572/24467130/1
Fax: 24482059/24481123

Phone: +91 9312658374,

(011) 41608655/56/57/58

West
Suvarna Shringarpure
E-mail: [email protected]
Mobile: +91 9324928247

North
Manish Sharma
E-mail: manish_sharma@
jasubhai.com

Bazaar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Hardware
Aigo U Watch MP3 UW-F020 512 MB
ASUS Maximus Formula
Brother DCP-135C
CoolerMaster Real Power M1000
Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB
Nokia E51
Samsung ML-1630
Software
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Events Pro
Deluxe 11
System Mechanic 7.5.3

To Advertise

East
Jayanta Bhattacharyya
E-mail: jayanta_
bhattacharyya@ jasubhai.com
Phone: +91 9331829284
(033) 22317344/46

International Representative
Taiwan
Mr.Marc Sonam, Image Media
2F-2, No. 35, Sec. 2,
Fushing South Road, Taipei 106,
Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tel: (886) -2-87734199
Fax: (886) -2-87734200
[email protected]

Enter

30 Days with

DIGITAL PASSION

Apple iPod Nano Video

Main Story

Wars Of The Future

16
Microsofts
S. Somasegar
talks to us about
the new Visual
Studio 2008

With Apple unveiling its sleek third generation

iPod Nano, our reviewer has that look in his
eyes. The bosses relented, and it was, on the
whole, a pleasant 30 days

27

Battles will be fought less and less with guns

and more on the ether.
With the world getting
more and more
connected and networks
still vulnerable, we give
you a very possible
scenario...

30

99

Digital Business
Smart Soho

LivinG
If you are prone to tearing your hair out in
frustration and longing for the good old ledger
book days when your hard drive dies, with all
that data, this might be just what you were
looking for

102

Want to bring
down your
competitors site?
Rent a botnet!

LivinG Patterns
Love programming, and know
your DNA from RNA?
Bioinformatics could just be the
career you were looking for, and
to help you decide better we
look at what you need to do to
get in, and what will you get,
once you are in

32

16

Tech Careers

Droolmaal
Gadgets that flaunt your status, they are the neighbours
envy and all that. Among others we have monster speakers
that rumble at 15 kgs, a gold plated remote for the filthy
rich and earphones so tiny that..oh well, decide

22
Whats this
Android
everyones
buzzing about?

24

Take A Crack

How soon will

you see Intels
new Moorestown
in your mobile
phone?

Expand The
Wallpaper List

Face Off

106

34

Online Services vs Offline

Suites
Fancy trusting your documents to the Cloud, or
prefer to take the tried and tested desktop
route? We put this question across, and got
interesting replies

See that list of wallpapers to choose from?

Dont you wish that was bigger? Well, figure
it out!

Contents Magazine
DIGITAL TOOLS

January 2008
Escape

Digital Leisure

Cover Story

A Game Of Chess
Mobile Computing
You are the mobile warrior, armed with your
laptop and your business phone. Here is a list of
awesome software which will help increase your
productivity, keep in touch with contacts and make
you feel like you have never stepped out of office.

Agent 001

Not Quite
Prime Time

Know More About

Filesystems
Digital data is all 0s and 1s, and these 0s
and 1s make up, well, everythingmusic,
documents, images and videos. Seems
like madness, but there is a method to it

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Eager Learners
115

The XO laptop is finally being put

through its paces in schools in rural
India. We visit one such school in a
village named Khairat, and came
away impressed. No toy, this one

Martin Coopers
Star Trek fantasy
led him to making the first cell
phone call

Game On

Crysis

36
Test Centre

10

Touched By Tech

96

Agent 001 hunts high

and low for a TV tuner
card, but finds that
they were just a little
bit lacking. You might
want to know why...

82

107

Its not a fightnot with blood, anyway. Our test

winners thus far have had it good, but theres
always a challenger ahead. Will the champions
stick around, or will the be checkmated? Who will
take away the coveted Zero1 Awards?

Tabloid Tech

66

128

Hillary: Over The Hill

Of course shes going overboardtrying to ban in-game sex,
(allegedly) putting up anti-Obama hate Web sites and
heaven knows what else...

112

Crysis is the perfect

game this holiday
season, where you trek through
tropical jungles of Philippines to save
a group of scientists attacked by we
wont spoil the fun by saying any more

114
Join the project
that spams you
to see if you
reply. The
reward? More
Spam!

Big Byte
Flash drives are the easiest and
most hassle free tools to help
carry data. Check out our
exhaustive tests and choose
which of the 34 fits your bill

REGULARS

61

Main Story

Opinion Poll......................................17
The Digital World .............................18
Beat That ........................................20

Stat Attack ......................................22

Q&A ................................................92
Whatever Happened To ..................114

Bluff Your Way Through..................116

Blogwatch ......................................117
Tech Quiz ........................................118

JANUARY 2008 DIGIT

11

NEW_Contents_Interactive_January_CD&DVD_ 07.qxp:NEW_Contents_Interactive_January_CD&DVD_ 07.qxd

Gaming

5/14/2008

4:00 PM

Page 12

INTERACTIVE

5000
Points
FREE!

Americas Army
Special Forces

DUAL LAYER

A Digit Exclusive! Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 is an

all-in-one application for organising, editing, sharing and
presenting photo collections. It also features additional
creativity tools and audio and video management capabilities

8,700 MB Of Quality Content!

Productivity
PERSONAL

Buddi for Windows 2.9.17.0

FREE

Dance Mela
Dance Mela is Indias first Multiplayer Online Dancing
Game. Groove to the latest Bollywood hits. Enter the neverending party.
For Digit readers only: Register at http://dancemela
.kreeda.com/partner/digit/ to get your free points!
Buddi is a personal finance and
budgeting program aimed at those
who have little or no financial
background

Alien Arena 2007 v6.10

Bear Go Home

Entertainment
DEMOS

Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties

MOVIES

Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, the second expansion

pack for the massively popular Age of Empires III, features the
Japanese civilisation, a new random map (Honshu), and the
chance to play King of the Hilla new game type.

Done The Impossible

Tools

VisualCron 4.7.7

MULTIMEDIA

SYSTEM

Paint.NET 3.10

Norton Ghost 12.0

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data,

World Wind lets you experience Earth
terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you
were really there

Movie
of the
Month

GAMING
FREE

Crayon Physics
Crayon Physics
showcases a
gameplay
element right
out of the
recent arcade
favorite Chalk.
Draw squares to guide the red ball
towards the stars to complete each
stage, with challenges usually requiring
the placement of bridges, weights or
elevation objects around the landscape

Bombermania

The story of the rise and fall and rebirth

of the cult TV show Firefly, as told from
the perspective of the fans who helped
save it.
MUSIC

Aeonblue by Subatomicglue

You will have to

eliminate all
rebelled robots.
To do this use a
unique bombero-mobil equipped
with highly destructive bombs. Blow all
robots up and free your city
Brixout XP
Deadly Stars
Stunt Playground v2

Trend Micro Internet

Security 2008

TOOLS

Trend Micro Internet Security 2008

VisualCron, or cron for Windows, is
a free task scheduler for Windows.
VisualCron has an easy-to-use
interface with a lot of features and
functionality

MULTIMEDIA

RocketDock 1.3.5

RocketDock is a smoothly animated,

alpha-blended application launcher
that is similar to ObjectDock.
RocketDock renders quickly like
MobyDock, has the visual sharpness
of Yz Dock, and the stability that
neither seem to possess.
FileBox eXtender 2.0
FreeMind 0.9.0 Beta 15
iTALC
Rainlendar 2.2
Samurize 1.64.3
Weather Watcher 5.6.24a
Yahoo! Widget Engine 4.5
BusinessCards MX 3.6
CD-DVD Lock 2.7
Peanut Butter PC 2.2.1.0
Sandboxie 3.20.01
SendPhotos Gold v. 3
ZipRecover 3.10 Build 0729
DEVELOPERS

SWiSHmax 2.0 Build

2007.11.02

Paint.NET is image and photo

manipulation software designed to be
used on computers that run Windows. It
supports layers, unlimited undo, special
effects, and a wide variety of useful and
powerful tools

LEGO Digital Designer for

Windows 2.3

Norton Ghost protects presentations,

photos, music, videos, historical
documents, or any other kinds of data you
keep on your computer by making a
backup of your computers entire hard
disk. Or, limit your backup to include only
those files that mean the most to you

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 1.0

Websmartz Banner
Designer Pro 3.0

makes it easy to protect your home

network, personal identity, and online
activity. It guards against present viruses,
spyware, and identity theft as well as the
web threats of tomorrow. Confidently email, shop, bank, or share photos online,
knowing your privacy and files are well
protected
Direct Connect for Windows 1.0
Flock 1.0.1
Gizmo Project for Windows 4.0.0.324
GMailGarner 0.95b
Hamachi 1.0.2.4
Network Magic Basic 4.2.7234.0
WebSite-Watcher 4.35

WebSmartz Professional banner

designer 3.0 allows you to use
professionally designed website flash
templates, add text and image entry
effects to build flash banners in no time.
Banner maker allows you to design
banner of specific size by choosing from
a set of 11 size options

Advanced WindowsCare Personal

DoublesFinder
Process Manager 2 Lite
Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities
Vispa 0.1.2
Vista Inspirat 2
Wise Registry Cleaner 2.9.6

LINUX APPS

APTonCD

Aimersoft iPod Copy Manager 2.1.19

Audiograbber 1.83
DVDFab HD Decrypter 4.0.1.4
Hugin 0.7 beta 4
ImgBurn 2.3.2.0
KMPlayer 2.9.3.1421 Beta
MediaCoder 0.6.0.3905
Movienizer
PhotoOnWeb 0.7.0.2
Mobile Ringtone Converter 2.3.64

NCAA March Madness 08

Classic Teams Trailer (HD)
ESPNs Erin Andrews introduces the
Classic Teams feature

NASA World Wind 1.4.0

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

altitude into any place on Earth.

Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and

The artists description Some of my

poems that inspired songs over the past
several years.
TRAILERS

INTERNET

12

Wake Up by Dan Masquelier

Virtual PC allows you to maintain the

compatibility of legacy and custom
applications during migration to new
operating systems and increases the
efficiency of support, development, and
training staffs

World Wind lets you zoom from satellite

SWiSH Max is packed with features

that make producing stunning
interactive Flash animations a
simple and painless experience

The artists description: aeonblue fills

the dark chasm of dream and light with a
harder techno edge while keeping the
subatomicglue youve come to know. the
aeonblue is a new beginning.

APTonCD is a tool with a graphical

interface which allows you to create one
or more CDs or DVDs (you choose the type
of media) with all of the packages youve
downloaded via APT-GET or APTITUDE,
creating a removable repository that you
can use on other computers. APTonCD will
also allow you to automatically create
media with all of your .deb packages
located in one specific repository

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.

Ashampoo Photo Commander 5

(Overmatch)
Americas Army (also known as AA or
Army Game Project) is a tactical
multiplayer first-person shooter owned
by the United States Government and
released as a global public relations
initiative to help with U.S.
Army recruitment.

Free
For Digit
Readers!

MULTIMEDIA

LEGO Digital
Designer lets
you build
anything in your
imagination
using virtual
bricks, right on
your computer
BlueScreen Screen Saver 3.2
CamStudio 2.5 Beta 1
DivX for Windows
2000/XP/2003/Vista 6.8.0.11
EvilLyrics 0.1.9 Final
iDeaS 1.0.2.0
Paint.NET v3.10
Recuva 1.09.194
The Gimp 2.4.2
Tux Paint for Windows 0.9.18
Xion Audio Player 1.0 Build 85
XnView for Windows 1.92
ACDSee 10.0.238
Axialis IconWorkshop

PortableApps 1.0.1 Patch

Remove Hotfix Backup Files
Shup 0.20
SSL-Explorer for Windows 1.0.0
Startup Delayer 2.3 Build 129
TeraCopy 2.0
DTweak 3.6
Trojan Remover 6.6.5

Free Download Manager 2.5

Irfan View 4.10
Irfan View 4.10 Plugins
Java(TM) 2 Runtime
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 3.5.7
Microsoft XNA Framework
Redistributable 1.0 Refresh
Opera 9.4
Silverlight
Spybot Search and Destroy 1.51
Spybot Search and Detection updates
VLC Player 0.8.6c
WinRAR 3.71

PORTABLE APPS

GIMP Portable
2.2.17
GIMP Portable is the
popular the GIMP for
Windows image editor
packaged as a
portable app, so you
can take your images
with you and do your editing on the go.

VirtualDub
Portable
VirtualDub Portable
is a desktop video
processing and capture application.
7-Zip Portable 4.42 R2
FileZilla Portable 2.2.32
Mozilla Thunderbird Portable Edition
2.0.0.9
Notepad++ Portable
Opera USB 9.24
Pidgin Portable 2.1.1
PuTTY Portable 0.60
Sumatra PDF Portable
VLC Media Player Portable 0.8.6c
INTERNET

GigaSmilies v1.1b
GigaSmilies is
very simple to
use. Created by
Digit readers
Santosh. S and
Charan. K, you just have to click on the
smiley you want to add in the forum.
The Smiley URL along with the [IMG]
Code will be copied to clipboard
automatically. Then you can simply
paste it in the forum to insert the
smiley!

AI RoboForm
6.9.85
AI RoboForm is a oneclick web form filler and
password manager with
some serious Artificial
Intelligence inside
Broadband Download Accelerator 1.01
DreamMail 4.4.1.0
Dynu Basic 3.24
FeedFusion 0.92
FileZilla v3
GMail Quick Login Green 2.0
Halite 0.2.9
Juice 2.2.2-a1
Youtube Video Downloader 2.3
IP Sniffer 1.95.02

SYSTEM

Revo Uninstaller 1.4

Revo Uninstaller
might be pulling
into the lead with
the release of
version 1.4. This is
the first version
that comes in portable or installable
versions. In other words, you can
download a ZIP file containing Revo
ESSENTIALS
Uninstaller, throw it on a flash card and
.net Framework 2.0
take it from PC to PC, making Revo a
killer app for optimizing every PC in your Torrent 1.7.5
Avast Home Edition 4.7
home or office.
Avast Update
ATI Tool 0.27 Beta 3
Comodo Firewall Pro 3
Attribute Changer 5.30
Digit Software Archive 2006 Beta
CCleaner 2.03.532
DirectX Redistributable 9.0c August
Ctfmon Remover 2.2
2007
HostsMan 3.1.51 Beta 3
Foxit Reader

PRODUCTIVITY
DEVELOPERS

EventLog Analyzer
Free Edition 4.0
ManageEngine
EventLog
Analyzer is a
Web-based,
agent-less
syslog and event
log management solution that
collects, archives, and reports on
event logs from distributed Windows
host and, syslogs from UNIX hosts,
Routers and Switches. It helps
organizations meet host-based
security event management (SEM)
objectives and adhere to demands of
regulatory compliance requirements
likes HIPAA, SOX, and GLBA

Volta from Microsoft Live

Labs Technology Preview

The Volta technology preview is a

developer toolset which enables you
to build multi-tier web applications by
applying familiar techniques and
patterns. You architect and build your
application as a .NET client
application, assigning the portions of
the application that run on the server
and the target client platform late in
the development process. The
compiler manages creating crossbrowser JavaScript for web
applications, web services for any
server side code, and all of the
communication, serialization and
other boilerplate code to tie the tiers
together. Youll need the the Visual
Studio 2008 Beta from the December
DVD to use this
VSO Image Resizer
XAMPP 1.6.4
Contentteller Pro 1.0 Preview Release

PERSONAL

Back2zip
Baraha 7.0 Build 6
DAEMON Tools 4.10
HTML Optimizer
Jabref for Windows 2.3.1
JustZIPit
My Pictures 3D Album ver. 0.96
Outclass v1.2.4.1
PinNotes 1.2
Polyglot 3000 2.8
PopFile 0.22.5
wikidPad 1.9 Beta 13

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

13

Online
By Demand
You get to choose what goes
on Digit Interactive. This
month, you chose:

Age of Empires 3: Asian

Dynasties
Size: 612 MB

Scratch

Digit Reader Poll

Size: 34 MB

This Months Question

Vote at www.thinkdigit.com

What are your views on electronic publications?

No more snail-mail! No need to visit
post offices! All you have to do is log
on to www.thinkdigit.com/subscribe
and use your Credit Card to make
sure you never miss another issue of
your favourite magazine!

You just cant beat the feel of paper

I only read small articles online; its still print for me
Id rather read the electronic version than not read at all
Dump paper! Save the trees! Make Digit an e-mag!
Last Months Question

What do you think of government-imposed security measures in

cyber cafs, such as key loggers, ID checks, and security cameras?

Web Special
Cheapest Trumpet

Theyre
important
for
homeland
security

The Internet can be an inexpensive

way to advertise your business.
Find out how!
(Log on to www.thinkdigit.com)

24.14%

They
intrude
on our
privacy

Total: 6,116

Subscribe

ID checks
and
cameras
Corrupt
are good,
key loggers government
officials
are not
misuse
39.79% may
our data

25.23%

10.84%

taste technology at

www.thinkdigit.com

FEATURED REVIEW FROM DIGIT FORUM (www.thinkdigit.com/forum)

This month we feature a member review from the forum here.

My Review of Creative EP-630

11-10-2007, 10:23
PM

ratedrsuperstar
The Sexy Beast
Join Date: Feb
2006
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 378

I got Creatives in-hear noice-cancellation earphones

from the IT Mall,Lamington Rd.,Mumbai for Rs 975.
1.Build Quality - its strictly OK.it contains no button
to change songs,thats a bit dissapointing.the cable
length is just fine coz im kinda used to my 5300s
cable which runs almost a normal person long.theve
provided two extra sets of earbuds which is kinda
cool.one pair has larger buds.

vocalists breathing and guitar riffs are quite clear.

The whispers(central not stereo) in some songs are
not that clear. W710i and 5300 sound very mono compared to EP-630.though depth and stereo division is
good in 5300 too.W700i is only loud(less than ep-630)
and the quality is largely due to its in-ear type.no
match for EP-630 though.

4.Comfort - not comapring 5300 here.comfortable to

the ears but u do get the suction feeling when you open
2.Bass - The bass in all the songs was very
your mouth wide-enough.you sense putting on these
good,twice or even more better than SE.5300s has
when you talk which is not sensed otherwise.the buds
virtually no bass at all.the bass is low for the drums in look cheap but do a gr8 job.also there very lite.
the background.bass guitars sound good.Bass produced is both types deep and near.whereas W700i only 5.Noice Cancellation/isolation - not comapring
has bass thumping closer to the earphone.
5300 here which doesnt have any sort of
isolation.Xcellent noice cancellation even at the 3rd
3.Sound Quality - Impressive stereo division
level of volume....
although the central voice could have been a tad better.almost equal to both 5300 and W700i.
For more visit:
Depth in sound is very good;also xcellent reproduction http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.p
of every beat and instrument used in the song.the
hp?t=76210

14

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Security Watch
Direct To Net

SpeedWire

Paramount Pictures is experimenting with a radically new

distribution model by releasing a full-length movie
exclusively over the Internet, skipping movie halls. For a
week starting 19 December, Jackass 2.5 was available for free
viewing on the Web (www.jackassmovie.com).

FireWire has gotten a makeover. The data transfer interface

will see transfer rates ramped up from 800 Mbps to 3.2 Gbps.
FireWire is the commercial name for IEEE 1394, and the new
standard will be called S3200. This is faster than the eSATA
standard, used for connecting hard drives, and also USB 2.0.

Enter
CRIMINOMICS

Crime Pays, And How!

S. Somasegar
Corporate Vice President
Developer Division Microsoft

S. Somasegar, Corporate Vice

President, Developer Division
at Microsoft, was in Hyderabad
at the Microsoft India
Development Centre early
December; we caught up with
him for some geek speak about
the new Visual Studio (2008),
among other things
How have programming
enthusiasts reacted to the
Visual Studio Express
Editions? What does the new
Visual Studio hold for them?
The Visual Studio 2005 Express
Editions were huge successes for
uswe saw over 17 million downloads for them, and we expect a
similar response for Visual Studio
2008. We realised that not everyone had access to a high-speed
Internet connectionespecially in
developing countriesso weve
even decreased the download
size of each Express Edition to
about 30-40 MB.
How newbie-friendly is VS
2008?
Weve designed the software
with one thing in mind: people
with a basic understanding of
programming should be able to
start developing their software
fifteen minutes after they start
Visual Studio for the first time.
What do the Express Editions
offer teams of enthusiasts in
terms of collaboration?
Right now, nothingthe
collaboration features are
present in Visual Studio Team
System right now, but that
doesnt mean we wont see
these features trickling down to
the Express Editions in future
releases. Distributed
development is growing today,
and its going to be a core
scenario to think about when
we develop future editions.
Teams should be able to share
application spaces no matter
where they are. The Express
Editions do have better
collaboration features than the
previous versions, but still not
as much as wed like.

few weeks ago, the

FBI launched
operation Bot
Roast II, and busted a
ring of cyber-criminals,
who were then charged
with running a botnet
(a network of
compromised computers
under the control of a
central server) that
spanned a million
computers worldwideand
caused losses worth $20
million (Rs 80 crore). So
how exactly do phishers,
rootkit makers, and
botmasters manage to
make their money? The
system is complicated
and ingenious, and like
any efficient criminal
enterprise, it operates
behind multiple, difficultto-penetrate layers.
For sale in this
underground
cybereconomy are
products that automate the
creation of Trojans. Even
support services are
provided for a period of
time, usually one year. Most
of these Trojan-spewing
rings work out of Germany
and Eastern European
countries, but their services
are available globally.
Botnets can be rented out
for spamming or launching
DoS attacks. In 2007s worst
security attack is believed to
have affected millions of
computerswhich came to
be called the Storm botnet.
Botnets, as mentioned,
depend on a central
command-and-control server.
Locating it and shutting it
down is extremely difficult

Illustrations Harsho Mohan Chattoraj

because of evasive
measureslike DNS
maskingthat the
botmasters adopt.
Another hotbed of
piracy, China is home to a
virtual industry that rakes
in millions of dollars for its
players. A study by
researchers at Peking
University in Beijing and the
University of Mannheim in
Germany has shed some
insights into how this
economy works. Malicious
code has high value, with
the market price for
packages of Trojan
generator and evasion
services ranging from tens
to thousands of Chinese
Yuan Renmimbi (RMB). (1
RMB is about Rs 5.) Selling
user data to third parties
means big money as well.
The modus operandi is to

attract visitors to sites by

offering freebies like
music and videos. The
users IPs are logged
and sold to cybercrooks. Upon the next
visit, the visitors are
redirected to malicious
sites that install malware
on the victims machines.
10,000 IPs are sold for 40 to
60 RMB.
Gamers make up one of
the most frequently-targeted
groups. Password theft and
loss of in-game credits is
rampant: in fact, a batch of
Seagates hard disks sold
in Taiwan was reported to
have come installed with
Trojans that stole
MMORPG passwords and
other account information.
The kind of criminals
were talking about use
bulletin boards to
communicate with each
other and advertise services.
The good guys in this
fight are the security and
anti-virus firms, who have
been slowly buckling under
the onslaught of the attacks.
For now, online crime seems
to pay, and lot.
SOCIALLY OPEN

Facebook
Opens Up
he social networking
world has been seeing
some not-insignificant
upheavals of late. A little
while ago, it was Googles
attempt to break down the
walled gardens of social

British drivers to be jailed for using mobiles while driving Online version of OpenOffice.org available Google Talk introduces in-chat translation

16

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Patch IE, Update

Flash Player
The Problem
Vulnerabilites have been
reported in Adobe Flash Player
as well as in Internet Explorer (6
and 7). The former is Highly
Critical according to security
firm Secunia, and the latter is
worseExtremely Critical.
The IE vulnerabilities are
four in number, and one of
them is reportedly being
actively exploited. Successful
exploitation can mean your
computer being used to execute
arbitrary code (read: it can be
taken over).
The Flash Player vulnerabili
-ties are in versions prior to
9.0.115.0, and there happen to
be as many as 10 of them.
There are also multiple things
that an attacker can now do as
a result of the vulnerabilities,
but being safe is only a matter
of updating the software.
The Solution
If you have Flash Player 9.0.48.0
and earlier, you need to update
to version 9.0.115.0; get it from
www.stage.adobe.com/go/getfl
ash. As regards the IE
vulnerability, if you have XP SP2
with IE6, visit
http://tinyurl.com/2r63sb. For
XP SP2 with IE7, visit
http://tinyurl.com/2qdbqv

networking sites by
launching OpenSocial, a set
of APIs for creating
applications compatible
across various such sites.
And now, Facebook has
jumped into the fray by
allowing competitors to use
its source code and create
interoperable applications.
For once, Google has been
caught off guard.
Senior executives at
Facebook have announced
that the architecture for its
development platform would
be licensed to its
competitors. This would
mean that applications
developed for Facebook could
run on sites like Bebo, Hi5, or
Orkut. So theoretically, it
would be possible to tattoo
your Bebo friends or to send
a hatching egg to
Friendster buddies, which is
now only possible within
Facebook. Bebo, a social
network popular in the UK,
has already redesigned its
platform so that it can host
features found only on
Facebook. Last we checked,
they had iLikeone of the
most-used Facebook
applicationson their front
page, no less.
For Google with its
OpenSocial, Facebooks
move will be hard to
counter. Facebook has

cornered a large slice of the

social networking pie, and
has thousands of thirdparty developers around the
world playing around with
their API to make great,
good, and downright silly
applications (like throwing
a cow at friends). These
apps have large user bases,
and developer support for
them is strong. With an
entirely new format and
platform, this loyalty will
be hard for Google to break,
which it has to if it is to
have any hope of catching
the social networking bus.
OpenSocial is, for now,
just a concept with lots of
potential (those millions of
Gmail accounts and Orkut
users)nothing concrete. It
makes sense for other social
networking sites to
piggyback on Facebook and
use its development
platform. There is the
danger that those sites
could look start looking like
clones of Facebook and lose
their identity, but thats a
chance they seem to be
willing to take.
In related news, other
siteslike LinkedIn and
Friendsterhave opened up
their sites for developers.
Both LinkedIn and
Friendster are partners in
Googles OpenSocial

Exercise And The

Wii
The worlds getting in
on the get-off-yerarse gaming wave
what could be better
than losing weight while
gaming? Theres even Wii Fit to
keep you, well, fit! Sure, you
look like a total chump while
youre at it, but people have
done worse to get in shape.

It Doesnt Help!
According to a
study by the British
Medical Journal,
gaming on the Wii
doesnt expend
enough energy to count as
real exercise, so stop
fooling yourself, and instead
of getting off yer arse and
gaming, get off yer arse and
go for a jog!

initiative, though there is

speculation that they would
also enable their platform
to allow interoperability
with Facebook.
For users the world over,
all this would mean the
breaking down of the walls
around the individual sites,
enabling them to seamlessly
connect with friends and
contacts across networks.
But naturally, this means a
trade-off between
convenience and identity...

Do you use your cellphone to access the Web using GPRS/EDGE/WAP?

Opinion Poll

(You, too, can participate in this pollat www.thinkdigit.com)

A Yes, I surf the Web on mobile daily

B Yes I use it only once-twice a week

C I dont, because I feel it is not secure (Bad experiences, if any)

D No; speeds are very slow. (Name the service provider)

Option B. I use it only twice a week, and

that too for checking e-mails and offline
PMs. The pathetic speeds are
waste of time and on top of
that we have to pay huge bills
every month. Its my last resort
on the Internet but its useful
when Im on vacation.
Gaurish Sharma
Jaipur

Option D. I did use GPRS when I had nokia

N-Gage QD for the N-Gage Arena service to
talk to other N-Gage users and
download games. After I sold
the N-Gage, I got GPRS deactivatedthere was no point paying so much for slow speeds.
Niranjan Naik
Pune

Ill definitely go with option D. I dont

use the Mobile phone for surfing simply
because the speeds are
extremely slow and expensive too with my service
providerVodafone.
Sukhdeep Singh Kohli
Jalandhar

Ill go for option D. I dont surf the Web

on my mobile since I heard that speeds
arent too good. I dont mind
trying to surf on my mobile
phone, though.
Prakash Jose Kokkatt
Muvattupuzha, Kerala

I have a Symbian phone and using GPRS is

such a breeze that I can get info of anything on the goanywhere,
anytime. In addition, I use it as
modem with my PC too.
Rajesh Kumar Jaiswal
Jaipur

My choice is option D. I never even think

of connecting my Mobile phone for surfing as the speed is as slow as
a snail. In place of that, Id
love using my Laptop for surfing by connecting through
AirTel Broadband.
Amit Anand
Jharkhand

(You, too, can participate in this pollat www.thinkdigit.com)

Firefox 3 beta 2 released with completely revamped download manager Physiotherapists have been prescribing the Wii to patients
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

17

Enter
The Digital World

A Round-up Of Technology News From Across The Globe

NORWAY
By 2014, all government
documents must
compulsorily be published in
three open formatsHTML,
PDF, and ODF

GERMANY
After a challenge by
Vodafone, higher courts have
forced T-Mobile to sell the
iPhone without locking the
device to its network

UNITED STATES
Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google are to
pay fines totalling $31.5 million (Rs
125 crore) for having promoted
illegal online gambling in 1997

GO GREENLITERALLY!

Bamboo
Goodness
pple, which today
sells sleek
aluminium iMacs,
started out with the Apple
1 in a wooden box.
Manufacturers soon shifted
to synthetic materials for
casings, which were
cheaper but turned out to
be harmful to the
environment. E-waste is a
growing problem the world
over, and is exacerbated by
the rapid changes in
hardware, which
necessitates frequent
upgrades.
ASUStek Computer,
which markets its products
like notebooks and
motherboards under the
ASUS brand, has unveiled a
laptop which, it hopes, will
change the trend. The ASUS
Eco Book, in the prototype
stage, is encased in bamboo.
Laminated strips cover all
the surfaces of the prototype
except for the keys,
trackpad, and monitor.

CHINA
Yahoo! China has
been accused of
promoting piracy, as
search results lead to
sites that are
repositories of
illegally-copied music

SAUDI ARABIA
YouTube is the rage
among the countrys
youth, with videos of
drinking binges and crazy
car chases being uploaded

For countries in
South-East Asia, this
environmentallyfriendly laptop is a
boon. Bamboo grows
abundantly in this
part of the world,
and its rate of
growth is way faster
than that of a tree.
With municipal
landfills in
developing countries
chock-full of plastics
and hazardous
chemicals like the
lead and arsenic used in
computers, the demand for
such green computers is
likely to be huge. But these
laptops are still not ready
for prime time. The heat
released from processors
and monitors is a big
concern, as are problems
related to rough handling.
These laptops are also not
entirely green: the glues
and laminates used for
fortifying the bamboo
might contain toxins.
Green computing has
been a growing corporate
trend. Manufacturers have
been trying to make each
and every component more
eco-friendlywhether its

IRAN
Authorities shut down 24 Internet
cafes as part of a crackdown on
immoral behaviour. They were
particularly annoyed by computer
games and obscene photos

chemicals used in
fabricating cases, or the
materials used in chips. Dell,
Lenovo, Apple, and HP are
all concentrating on cutting
power wastage, recycling
components, and improving
efficiency. A laptop made
from bamboo fits neatly into
the scheme of things.
HACK ATTACK

Apple? And
Security?

he iPhone is
undeniably hot. Its so
hot that people have

stood for days in long

queues to buy it, and its
manufacturers have had to
prevent people from buying
more than five handsets.
Now, though, the rock-star
popularity of the iPhone
might work to Apples
disadvantage in terms of
increased security attacks.
Apples operating
systems have always had a
reputation for solid
security. While Apple and
its legions of fans tout these
as features, more neutral
observers ascribe the
seemingly hacker-proof
features to a miniscule
market share (single digits).
Hackers and cyber-crooks
simply do not get enough
returns on their efforts.
With the release of the
iPhone, Apple has come
from niche to mainstream.
And its not only Apples
competitors that have
noticed the surging sales:
since the iPhone runs a fullblown Mac OS X 10.5, the
iPhone is wide open to
malicious attacks. With
millions of iPhones in the
market, volumes have
become enough to justify
serious attacks that would

Apple rumour site ThinkSecret.com closes after settlement with Apple Iran builds supercomputer on Opterons; maybe for nuclear programme

18

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Enter

Digit Caption

Oh no! I cant find my pet

ant!
Last Months Winner!
Nobody!
Sorry, you couldnt match up to
our crack team of caption-ers

E-mail your caption with the

subject Beat That, and your
postal address, to
[email protected]
and win
JavaScript, DOM
Scriptinh and AJAX
Projects
by Frank W. Zammetti

Photograph Jyotbeet Singh

yield significant returns in

terms of user data stored on
the phones. Already,
hackers have breached the
security features of the
iPhone (theyve unlocked it
from the AT&T network),
and have installed thirdparty applications. Though
these hacks have been
rendered ineffective by
firmware upgrades,
determined attacks on the
basic platform would pose
actual, serious threats that
would need more than a
simple upgrade. Attacks
could involve the spread of
mobile worms, which could
render individual handsets
useless, or the creation of a
vast mobile botnet for
sending out spam mails and
SMSes. This scenario is now
a distinct possibility
because of the ubiquity of
the iPhone.
2008 could very well see
the release of security
products targeted at Macs.
Bad news for fanboys, but
reassuring for corporates
and businesses who are still
leery of trusting valuable
data to systems that do not
have security features.

ething funnier,
to. Come up with som th of this month.
ry a caption for a pho
20
car
the
l
by
wil
it
ed
Dig
ept
nth
acc
mo
Each
e! Entries
m at their own gam
and beat the Digit tea

Published by

WIKI-KILLER?

that driven by ad revenues,

there might be a
proliferation of knols on
commercially-viable topics
like microprocessor
architecture or fashion
design, and less about the
Peace of Westphalia and
Sumerian civilisation.
The most basic argument
is, however, that since
editing rights are locked,
knols might contain biased
viewpoints, or that they
might contain outdated
information. But there are
certain arguments in favour
of this new model. For one,
since authors will no longer
be anonymous, they might
keep their knols objective
and updated. Unlike
Wikipedia, where each page
can be modified by all and
sundry and it is often
difficult to separate the
wheat from the chaff, Knol
could result in pieces of
authoritative work.
But then again, knols
can be searched by search
engines, and there are fears
that Google might tweak
its algorithms so knols
feature at the top of search
results. However,

A Knol of
Wisdom
f late, Google has been
diversifying from its
core search business,
getting into areas like
telecom and security. Now
its knowledge management
and distribution la
Wikipedia that the Big G has
set its eyes on.
Google has announced
the launch of a new project
called Knol, which aims to
be a repository of the
worlds information. The
blueprint for Knol is to allow
experts to write definitive
articles in their field of
expertise. On the face of it,
this sounds like Wikipedia.
But there are some
differenceseach topic or
page on the Knol, called a
knol (a unit of knowledge)
will be effectively owned by
the author, who will not
remain anonymous. There
might be multiple knols on
the same subject, and they
may only be edited by the

author or with the authors

permission. This model
borrows from Squidoo, a
content management site
that lets authors own their
pages. Google will not act
the editor in any way, and
there will be nothing like an
official knol for each topic. It
aims only to provide the
tools and the server space.
Knol, currently in private
beta, is open to users by
invitation only.
Google will also host ads
on each knol. The upside is
that authors will get a
significant share of the
revenues (the actual
percentage is being worked
out). Industry watchers are,
however, divided on the
feasibility of another
knowledge repository, and
are also suspicious of
Googles aims. Its a known
fact that for many searches,
the relevant Wikipedia entry
comes at the top of the
results page. When users
click on that link, they go to
a site where Google cannot
put in any ads This means
a potential loss of millions
of dollars in ad revenue.
Again, there is the danger

Windows 7, the successor of Vista, to support touch features Microsoft offers free copies of Vista and Office 2007 in exchange for user data.

20

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Enter

60%

Canada

Percentage of adults with Internet

access who use social networking sites

10%

Source: Ofcom

Japan

Germany

20%

France

30%

Italy

UK

USA

50%
40%

IBM has 73,000

employees in
India, a 40%
increase from
2006.

0%

Mobile subscriptions in 2007

touch 3.3 billionabout 50%
of the worlds population
Cell phone users in China are
the biggest users of text
messaging services, with an
average of 967 messages per
person per year.
competition is, in general,
good, and this proliferation
of free content will only
benefit the end user!
DATA RAYS

Playing With
Photons
ith each
generation,
processors are
getting smaller and more
powerful, which you know
all too well; the current
emphasis is on multiple
cores, higher bus speeds,
and larger caches. However,
some basic principles of

UK gamers spent
1.52 bn on
games (Rs
12,300 crore ) in
2007. 78 million
game titles were
sold; games
accounted for
79% of all
software

processor design have

remained unchanged over
the years. One of these is
the mode of data transfer
wires have always been used
for transferring data within
a single core and also
between cores.
There are problems,
however. At the basic level,
transfer of data means the
flow of electrons, and this
produces heatwhich is a
huge problem when it
comes to modern
processors. Electrons also
cant travel faster than a
certain velocity. The second
factor has little bearing on
quad-core systems, but
when the number of cores
becomes something like 12

(Intel and AMD already

have plans for octa-core
processors in two to three
years), this architecture
will be inadequate.
Companies like IBM and
Intel have been pouring
millions of dollars into
research on new processor
fabrication designs and
allied technologies; one
result of these efforts is
IBMs advances in
transferring data at the
core level using light.
IBMs researchers have
improved upon the MachZehnder electro-optic
modulator, which is, at 200
micrometers long, more
than 100 times smaller
than similar devices. This
modulator converts electric
signals into light pulses. A
laser beam is kept focused
on the modulator, and
when the electric signal
carrying data falls on the
modulator, it gets
converted into light. This
light beam falls on the
other cores modulator,
where an inverse process
converts light to electronic
signals. Since light travels
faster than electrons in a
wire, this means that data
flow would be faster,
resulting in the possibility
of higher clock speeds.
Since there is no heat
production when light
flows, this increased
performance wont come
with higher heat emissions,
which is the bane of todays
processors. Since cores are
separated by 200 to 400
micrometers, this optical
modulator seems possible
in theory.
In practice, researchers
say there is a lot of work to
be done before chips using

this technology reach store

shelves. Size is a big factor
to consider; it is very
difficult to manufacture
optical components at such
micro-scales. Besides, the
processor architecture
needs to be changed if this
is to be implemented.
DEEP WATERS

Standard
Trouble
icrosoft has several
times been accused
of unfair business
practices, and has been
rapped both by US and
European free trade
regulators for throttling
competition. All these years,
the company has been able
to shrug off the accusations
owing to the strong
performance of its products.
However, with the lowerthan-expected performance
of Vista and Google
breathing down its neck, it
looks like theyve been on a
sticky wicket and are open
to mending their ways...
Pursuant to this new
strategy, Microsoft
recently announced it
would sign a deal with the
makers of open source
server software Samba,
which will enable Samba
software (which allows
Linux users to share file
and print services on
Windows machines) to run
smoothly on Windows.
This deal was the result of
a 2004 EU ruling, backed
by another one in
September, which held the
software manufacturer
guilty of not sharing

Android
Speculation has been rife in tech circles about an
upcoming Gphone, from Google. They went an
entirely different way though, releasing a software
stack for mobile phones, called Android.
Android is a combination of operating system, user
interface, and Java-based applications like e-mail
client, SMS, browser, maps, contacts, database
management, etc. Built on the Linux kernel 2.6,
Android development is open source and platformindependent. Essentially, this means that software that

is developed will run on a wide variety of handsets.

The Open Handset Alliance, a conglomeration of 34
companieshandset manufacturers (Motorola, LG),
carriers (T-Mobile, Sprint), hardware companies (Intel,
NVIDIA, Qualcomm), and software companies (eBay,
Google)is supporting the development of Android.
Google has released the Android SDK for
developers, and has earmarked $10 million as prize
money for innovative applications. Phones working on
Android are expected to be shipped by the end of 2008.

Intel releases a fingertip-sized solid-state device that stores up to 16 GB World of Warcraft gaming laptop introduced by Dell and Blizzard

22

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Enter

Intel Moorestown
Whats that?
The latest design architecture
from Intel, Moorestown will be
used in the Ultra Mobile PCs
(UMPCs) and Mobile Internet
Devices (MID) of the future.
Why are we talking about it?
The platform is touted as being
a system on a chip; it will
include a powerful 45nm
processor core and the graphics
and memory controllers on a
single die. It consists of two
parts: a flexible die design that
can include dual-core
processors if needed, and an I/O
chip that provides connectivity
to an inbuilt graphics
accelerator. It can also support
a DDR3 memory controller, PCIExpress, USB, SATA, and WiMAX.
Where is this headed?
The future of MIDs and UMPCs
depends heavily on platforms
that can handle computationheavy tasks while being energyefficient, since the trend is that
of tasks traditionally carried out
on a computer shifting to
mobile devices.
Who would be interested?
Everyone from HTC (high-end
phone designers and
manufacturers) to Palm to
Nokia. Those into operating
systemslike Microsoft and
Canonical (the developers of
Ubuntu)are also looking at this
with great interesttheyd want
a slice of the pie, of course.
How will this affect us??
This is speculation, but it does
seem that everything you
currently do on your computer
will be possible on the mobile,
from browsing HTML Web sites
and watching HD movies to
using GPS. Moreover, the
devices will run at least 20
times longer than the current
generation of mobile phones,
according to Intel.
When can we start playing
with these devices?
Not anytime soon. The launch
date for the platform is
expected to be around the
middle of 2010.

details of protocols which

would enable servers made
by rivals to interoperate
seamlessly with Windows.
An appeals court ordered
the company to remedy
the situation by sharing
the relevant data. This
Microsoft delayed, and as a
result, the market share of
other companies shrunk to
nearly zero, while sales of
Microsoft servers (SQL
Server, Exchange Server)
surged. Samba was the
only open source
alternative in the market
and it survived.
Now with much-needed
documentation, which it
acquired for 1 0,000
(Rs 5.7 lakh), Samba will be
able to work on Windows
without any glitches. The
documentation will be kept
confidential, though the
source code for the
applications that use these
protocols would be
released under the GPL.
In fact, Microsofts
seems to be abandoning its
strategy of running
roughshod over the
competition, and seems
just seemsto be becoming
more reasonable. The new
IE8 has passed the Acid 2
test, which determines
whether browsers adhere
to the official W3C (World
Wide Web Consortium)
standards. This is good
news for millions of Web
developers, who have been
forced to make different
versions of the same Web
site for IE and non-IE
browsers. Besides, previous
iterations of Internet
Explorer had plenty of
security holes, and one way
of sweeping away the
detritus would be by
following accepted
standards. This
announcement was
probably related to Opera
filing a complaint against
Microsoft accusing it of
using non-standard
protocols that force Web
sites to follow suit, thus
putting other browsers at a
disadvantage.
Microsoft is sometimes
called the Evil Empire: it is

he number of games
in the market that
feature violence and
gore, primarily to stand
out in the crowd and
attract fans, has been
steadily increasing. Some
are so disturbing that
censors have fought to
prevent their release: a
case in point is Manhunt 2s
troubles with British
regulators. Efforts are on,
though, to harness the

players towards developing

a social conscience. The lab
will interact with game
designers, educators, and
other stakeholders to
design games like ~Ayiti:
The Cost of Life~, where
players need to manage the
day-to-day life of a family of
five in Haiti. In a typical
scenario, players might be
expected to decide on
whether to throw a bash or
buy healthy food. Such
games might also take
elements from city
simulation games like the
~SimCity~ series and teach
players how to do things
like reducing global
warming and curbing
wasteful food habits.
Backed by a $4,50,000
(Rs 1.8 crore) grant from
the MacArthur foundation,

potent visualisation and

interactivity of computer
games in other, more
socially beneficial ways.
Games that simulate
terrorist attacks and
hostage crises have been
long used by law
enforcement agencies to
train personnel. Theres a
problem with these games,
thoughthey are so niche,
they dont appeal to
mainstream gamers. To
remedy the situation, a
prestigious New York-based
Parsons The New School of
Design has recently
launched PETLab,
comprising its faculty and
students, to study how
playing games might push

PETLab is in collaboration
with Games for Change, a
non-profit that supports
serious game designers,
and think.MTV.com, MTVs
socially-oriented Web site.
It is also negotiating with
Microsoft to determine
whether the Xboxs game
development tool could be
used to create games in
these genres.
The news that games
can heal has been much in
the news the past two years,
and no-one now doubts that
games can be used for more
than entertainment. These
new initiatives, though,
dont sound entirely
convincing, but we wont be
downright pessimistic.

finally getting mellower?

The jury is still pondering
about this one...
MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Games For
The Good

Toshiba launches batteries that last 10 years with five minutes of charging The NYSE replaces UNIX on its servers with Linux

24

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Digital Tools l Jumpstart

Digital

Passion
30

30 Days with...

32 Droolmaal 34 Take A Crack

Fuelling The Pursuit Of Technology Knowledge

Lead Feature

Wars
Of The

e
r
u
t
u
F

A World War IV soldier talks about his battlefield heroics

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought,
but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein
remember that quote well; Im one of the reasons the great Einstein was
proved wrong. But then, even Einstein couldnt have imagined how fast
technology would invade our lives.
The quote was very popular during the Cold War, and even aided government-funded propaganda. Those were the days when most of us lived in
fear, with images of mushroom clouds in our nightmares. The rich and paranoid built underground bunkers and stocked them with a years supply of
food. The rest of us would dart furtive glimpses at the sky at even the hint
of a siren. When the Cold War finally ended, World War III began
The third instalment is actually the only real World War. The soldiers
are called terrorists, and the battlefield is your backyard. It continues
today; though governments have fought back and tried to minimise such
events, you probably still read about the odd incident halfway across the
globe, if not right in your city. To be honest, I cannot complain much
about it, because WWIII is what forced countries to go high-tech, get connected and start depending on technologyits what lets me afford my
luxurious life.

Who Am I?

Chaitanya Surpur

I cant tell you my name for obvious reasons, but I can tell you that
World War IV has begun, and Im just one of thousands of soldiers
fighting it. Ive never held a real gun in my life, though Ive fragged my
fair share of enemies in my favourite FPS game. Im certainly no James
Bond either, and I have a fast-developing pot-bellythe kind beer-drinking couch potatoes proudly sport. I have a regular day job, which
involves nothing more than sitting in front of a PC while I administer a
small companys servers, so obviously, I bore easily. What I do have,
however, is something my government is willing to pay a premium for,
and its the reason I have my moolah locked safely away in a Swiss bank
vault. I drive a Maruti, but I can afford better. I live in an apartmenta
true bachelors padbut no women ever visit. I guess they dont like the
smell of rotting pizza, or my dcorif you can consider eight LCDs, four
PCs and spaghetti tangles of wires dcor.
JANUARY 2008 DIGIT

27

Digital Passion l Lead Feature

Digital Passion l Lead Feature

Im a geek of the highest order, and

yes, I will inherit the Earth. I trudge
through my work day, itching to get
home and start the real fun. At night, I
sit awake at my PCs, probing computers
g
across the world looking for backdoors.
, Beijin
1, 2013
teen
Currently, I have a little over two million
he Thir
Januar y
itself t his morns
ll
a
drones in my botnet, but still I cant seem
c
t hat
sites t
g roup
ded for
nment
to make it to the Top 50 Hackers list. Im
hacker oke into Gover f lights groun back
d
r
ot
hoping that will change soon.
Ghosts b e big cities ha s are still n sing a
h
u
m
t
a
e
I have a meeting today, so I rush home,
f
t
c
s
o
,
y
e
s
ix
ir
ing. S
rs; rail ts went hayw rst hit was
u
o
kick off my shoes and log on. I find my way
h
over six d traf f ic ligh nders. The wo Sed, t hen
to my IRC chat room and I see my contact
o
e
an
online dred fender b h was f irst DD llars were
is already there. Hes been waiting impao
ic
n
d
h
u
f
h
w
o
,
s
w
k
n
nd
fe
nal Ban
tiently playing the trivia game on the
lo b e a
, millio
he Natio to. As a result a c r o s s t h e g of credit
t
rooms bot. I know this because a milin
sands
r it ie s
k
hacked
to c h a n about t hou st cyber-attac
lisecond after I log in, he messages me and
d
e
t
a
io
r
t
t
o
n
a
don
w
e
m
e
m
r
info
is t h
tells me. Its straight to business; he informs
overn
detailed s stolen. This essed, and a G age at a
me that the Chinese have been attacking gova
m
n
cards w has ever wit estimated da man casuernment sites with DDoS attacks and are genld
e
u
t he wor rson puts t h Luckily, no h mayhem
e
e
erally being a pain. Hes willing to pay me to
S.
spokesp r $1 billion U rted due to t h
o
e
return the favour. Its not really big money,
little ov ve yet been rep .
w
a
but hey, its still some fun The icing on the
alties h tinues even no
cake is that I know Im not going to be caught.
n
t hat co
A license to killpeoples inboxes, PCs and Net
pipes, that is.
site admin to get it back to normalunapI give him my PayPal account details and just pealing. A few days later, another friend, who
as Im about to leave, he says, Hang on. I just got specialises in Trojans and backdoors for Linux
new authorisation. I can smell the money, so I server machines, happily announces that he has
wait patiently. In 95 seconds hes back, telling me found his way through the first hack into the
his company has authorised him to pay a sig- Web server, and can now connect to the Chinese
nificantly higher amount for information or a railway system. A little more probing by our
backdoor into the Chinese government servers. team reveals that its quite possible to get into
For a considerably lower bounty, I can hack their some major airports too.
Web sites and redirect them to, well, pretty much
News spreads fast in our little online world,
anywhere I want. Nice, I mutter to myself, Ive especially when theres money involved. My spebeen eyeing the iPod Pico for some time now.
cialty has always been the networking. No, not
the WiMAX/LAN type; Im talking (anti?) social
Just Business
networkingI just bring like-minded people
Now big government hacks may pay a lot, but I together and unite them in a cause. I will help test
cant stop my bread-and-butter business. I pop open the backdoors, but after a few days, because we
a console window, create a batch file and send it cant risk waking the sleepy admins whose sysover the botnet. Over two million PCs worldwide tems were penetrating.
are connecting to popular sites in China, slowing
I report to my company contact and give him
them down and preventing legitimate access. Im all the details we have14 popular sites can be
earning $50 per hour per site, and I can easily keep defaced, including Chinas most popular directory
these sites down for six hours before they ban most listing site and four government sites. Apart from
of my botnets IPs. Of course, Im not going to stop that we can gain access to some A-grade city
there. In another IRC room, the list of connected gridsair, rail and road services can be tampered
users reads like an FBIs Most Wanted list. I with. Excellent, he types, give me a day to report
announce that I have a paying job, and in under 10 this. Hes back in less than 12 hours with his
minutes Ive recruited 14 soldiers like myself. With orders. Full-frontal assault, take no prisoners!
a collective botnet strength of over 20 million, I
can keep the attack on for daysthough Im The Attack
D-day approaches. Its close to the Chinese New
sharing the spoils, I still get the lions share.
The smell of money wafts into the air as I Year, which means loads of tourists and a strain
remember the other offer. I know just where to on the infrastructureperfect! By now my little
find the right people for the job. Unfortunately, army has grown to 13 people from four countries.
these guys are way better than me, and expect a We sit around nervously in our IRC chatroom and
lot more money. Still, 10 per cent of a lot is way joke about what to call ourselves. Thirteen
better than 100 per cent of a little. It will take a few Ghosts, someone suggests. It stickswe like the
days to co-ordinate the whole thing, but we have idea of being able to get in and out like ghosts.
The attack begins the next day. While the
the luxury of time.
geniuses start by gaining root access to the Web
servers, I run a script to start a DDoS attack. Im
Playing Sniper
To begin with, one of my friends reports that attacking some other government sites on the
the Chinese government site is easily hackable: it same IP masks as the compromised server. Im just
seems to have little or no security. It will be easy a smoke-screen, toying with useless servers to keep
to deface the site, but it will be just as easy for the any alert admins busy. These admins should be

s
w
e
N
g
n
B re a k i
A

There
are signs
that intelligence
agencies around
the world
are constantly
probing other
governments
networks looking
for strengths and
weaknesses and
developing new
ways to gather
intelligence
Peter Sommers
London School of
Economics
28

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

able to thwart my attack in a little under two

hours if theyre efficient; six, even if theyre not
ample time for us to plant our little e-bombs.
My measly 100 Mbps connection is hardly
strained while DDoS-ing the four government
sites, my friends have already gained access to the
railway servers. In under 45 minutes, they have
access to four major airports, and no-ones the
wiser. Were wont crash any planes we probably
could, though.

The Motherlode
My IRC chat client goes berserk. I get 40 messages
in under three seconds, causing my speakers to
spit out the bing alert multiple times in a quite
confused
manner.
Hallelujah,
Eureka,
wheeeeeeeeee, screams a friend. What? I ask.
Jackpot, baby, jackpot. Weve hit the mother
lode! he types back in all capsquite intentionally. Not only do the Thirteen Ghosts have access to
the Rail Services and Airports, hes also managed
to penetrate the traffic system, while his sister
who, incidentally, is amongst the top 50 hackers
in the worldthinks she can get into the payment
gateway of the countrys largest government bank
in about two hours. Oh well, if bank admins are
dumb enough to use keyboard combinations for
their passwords (azsxdc, 1p2o3i, etc.) they deserve
to be robbed. She gained access with a simple
brute-force password cracker, putting to full use
the power of her Intel 80-core rig.

State Sponsorship
We have no doubt that the countrys hackers
will attempt to hit back at us or our countries.
Were waiting. All of us have had substantial
jumps in our personal Net worth; vive la PayPal!

Real Headlines
Chinese tried to hack
Australian Government
PCs too
The Chinese allegedly tried to hack
into highly classified government
computer networks in Australia
and New Zealand as part of a
broader international operation
to glean military secrets from
Western nations.
Yahoo! News,
September 12, 2007

Hacked: Email inboxes of

Indian missions in US and
China; NDA, DRDO officials too
Taking a dig at cyber security
preparedness levels, a hacker, who
claims to be based in Sweden,
posted online this evening the
passwords of 100 email accounts of
embassies and government offices
across the world, including 13
Indian accounts, containing
classified information and
correspondence... Indian

Ambassadors to China, US, Sweden,

Germany, Italy, Oman, Finland
besides officials of the National
Defence Academy (NDA) and
Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO).
The Indian Express,
August 31, 2007

World on the brink of global

cyber warfare?
The latest annual security report
from McAfee has singled out China
as a particularly virulent source of
international cyber espionage, with
a number of Western nations said to
have experienced significant
episodes in the past year. However,
there is evidence to suggest that a
far more sinister online threat could
be around the corner from nations
other than Chinastate sponsored
cyber attacks on vital
infrastructure.
IT Wire,
December 2, 2007

A few days later, my contact returns. His superiors are thrilled.

Besides our payments, hes also offering to send me an iPod Pico
for a job well done. No thanks, I type out, Id rather you not know
where to send it. A few lols later, he leaves. Oh well, playtimes over.
Its back to work...
[email protected]

Digital Passion l 30 days with...

Apple iPod nano Vid

eo
Michael Browne
Were such busy people
at Digitso busy, we
forget to stop munching
PMP compact enough
, and neglect our hea
to pocket while joggin
lth. I needed a worko
g, plus good sound qu
ut buddy, and fasta
Day 1
ality Heres an accou
nt of my first month
with the iPod nano 3G
Unpacked it Satin
.
Besides, I like my
black alu

minium front, chrome

steel rear reminiscen
d
t of the first generatio
n nanos. Its
much shor ter than pr
evious nanos, and sli
ghtly
slimmer and lighter.
Build quality is exem
plary
typical Appleand th
e contoured body is
stylish. The
nano 3G suppor ts vid
eo playback on its 2-i
nch display,
with a resolution of
320 x 240.
Day 2
The click-wheel feels
solid; iTunes is still th
e same
music needs to be dr
agged from its inter
face to the
nano if youre being
selective, or you can
sync the nano.
Something new: the
nano 3G shows up as
a removable
drive even without iTu
nes (although iTunes
is needed
for all multimedia fil
es). After ejecting the
nano, it still
charges through USB.
iTunes still wont detec
t FL AC
filessad.
Day 4
Apples default earbud
s leave much to be de
sired if
youre discerning ab
out quality. Swapping
these with
my EP630 proves a ser
ious step-up. I used ou
r Bose
Intra-Ear earbuds an
d was even more impr
essed. The
nano offers punchy ba
ss that is low yet tight
. Mids are
superbly detailed an
d highs are well-repres
ented
perfectly neutral-sou
nding.
Day 7
Paired this with my ho
me setupa tube am
p coupled
with my Sennheiser HD
650 cansand played
a few
favourite tracks (320
kbps). All the depth, cla
rity and
detail was there; audio
philes who want porta
ble source,
consider this. I also tri
ed the nano with the
HD650s and
no ampthere was an
immediate loss in deta
il, though
surprisingly, the result
wasnt too bad, consid
ering the
output impedance of
the nano is 40 ohms,
while the
HD650 is rated at 300!
Day 11
Copied a few photos
and a video. The screen
, while good
enough for photos (cr
isp and bright), isnt
all that great
for movies. For one, th
e viewing angles aren
t good.

30

videos on a bigger scr

een. Skip the
nano 3G if youre loo
king at a video player
.

Day 14
Attempted a firmwar
e flashthe applicatio
n is now
part of the iTunes set
up. Its quirky: the do
wnload
crossed 100 per cent,
but never completed.
Reinstalling
iTunes with my Net co
nnection active sets th
e problem
right. You can revert
to the previous firmw
are at the
click of a button.
Day 17
The nano allows me to
download podcasts fro
m the
iTunes Store. Tried a
few free audio and vid
eo podcasts.
Even TV serials are av
ailable for purchase fro
m iTunes,
and this is where havin
g a video player becom
es a major
plus. You can also do
wnload books from the
ir library
this is where the true
power of iTunes is rea
lised: rich and
varied multimedia con
tent.

Day 23
Decided that video pla
yback was not badjus
t not much
of an experience on su
ch a tiny screen. Albu
m Art while
playing MP3s is more
fun, courtesy the large
r screen
pity it couldnt get lar
ger.
Day 23
If you want to cart yo
ur entire collection wi
th
you, dont buy this
4 / 8 GB is all you get.
If
you want a good movie
player, look
elsewhere. If you want
something fancy,
get the iPod Touch. If
you want something
really compact with
amazing music
quality, the nano 3G
at Rs 6,500
(4 GB) or Rs 8,500 (8
GB) is the only way
to go.
michael_browne@
thinkdigit.com

Digital Passion l Droolmaal

LG HT762TT
ome Theatre systems are generally all about
quality, power and detail, but LG thinks design
can't be ignored. Presenting the all new
HT762TT - it's got 5 speakers and a subwoofer that
total up to 700W of power that should be enough to
blow the windows off the walls. While it may all be
about aggressive power and chaos, its design is
elegant and soothing and blends in well with your
designer room. To take it beyond being just another
fancy speaker set, they have put in VSM (Virtual
Sound Matrix) which delivers a sensation of surround
sound like you would get from 10 satellite speakers
instead of 5. Plug in your USB devices to the system
and you can playback MP3s, WMAs, DivX videos or
even photos from your outings.

Droolmaal

Digital Passion l Droolmaal

VRX Mach4

T
he VRX Mach4 brings the sensation of real world driving to
your home, but without all the danger! The Mach4 is a QuadXbox360 chained together to power the three gigantic 37-inch
Sharp 1080p screens. A Microsoft Force Feedback Steering
wheel is used to steer. If you're wondering what happened to
the fourth Xbox360, it's used to power the smaller 7-inch
screen that is your rear-view mirror. There's a Sparco racing
seat and a 1900-Watt vibration system to ensure you feel
every bit of unevenness on the track. To make the whole
experience of racing as authentic as possible, there are 2 fans
that will give you the sensation of wind in your hair when
you've broken your car's windshield. Come to think of it, the
only thing missing is a fly dispenser mounted behind the fans.
The price? 12,500 (Rs 10,50,000) - much more sensible to
buy a real car, isn't it?

The good stuff

Stuff to lust after

Stuff for the well-moneyed

Ultrasone Edition9
f there's anything more desirable than a set
of ultra-high quality headphones, we don't
really want to know. The Ultrasone limited
headphones that cost $1,500 (Rs 63,000) are touted
as the world's best, and many audiophiles would
agree! The 'phones use 40mm Titanium plated Mylar
drivers, and they can play frequencies from 8 to
35000 Hz - well beyond the human ear's capacity.
Ultrasone's S-Logic technology gives a great sound
stage performance to the Edition 9. To keep your
head pampered, exotic Ethiopian sheep leather has
been used on the earpads and headband.

Axiotron ModBook
he iPhone isn't the only Apple gadget to get cloned by companies from our side of the world. There have been talks of
ASUS apparently working alongside Apple on a "Mac-tablet" for some time now, but a company called Axiotron has
already beaten them to it. Yes, there is, in fact, an Apple tablet that isn't made by Apple. The Modbook, as it's called,
is based on the Macbook. A quick search on Google reveals 2 models of the Modbook - both between the price of
$2,279 (Rs 94,000) and $2,479 (Rs 1,02,000). This isn't some handicapped version of the Macbook, it's the whole shebang - a
Core 2 Duo processor, a 80 / 160 GB hard drive, a 13.3-inch touchscreen (obviously), a stylus powered by WACOM's Penabled
technology, WiFi, and even a in-built GPS! All this runs on the OS X Tiger operating system. It's not like they were running out
of space to stuff in more things either. They even give you the option to put in 4 GB of memory and up to 570 GB of disk

32

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Olive OPUS N5
he VRX Mach4 brings the sensation of real world
driving to your home, but without all the danger! The
Mach4 is a Quad-Xbox360 chained together to power
the three gigantic 37-inch Sharp 1080p screens. A Microsoft
Force Feedback Steering wheel is used to steer. If you're
wondering what happened to the fourth Xbox360, it's used to
power the smaller 7-inch screen that is your rear-view mirror.
There's a Sparco racing seat and a 1900-Watt vibration
system to ensure you feel every bit of unevenness on the
track. To make the whole experience of racing as authentic as
possible, there are 2 fans that will give you the sensation of
wind in your hair when you've broken your car's windshield.
Come to think of it, the only thing missing is a fly dispenser
mounted behind the fans. The price? 12,500 (Rs 10,50,000) much more sensible to buy a real car, isn't it?

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

33

THIS MONTHS CHALLENGE

How would you rearrange

the elements of Desktop
settings to show more of
the list of available
wallpapers?
Send in your solution with
the subject Take a Crack,
and your postal address, to
[email protected]

LAST MONTHS CHALLENGE

Rearrange the
elements of your
Desktop Settings
Create A Context Menu Item To E-Mail An IE Page
Solution To Last Months Challenge

Win!

1. Start the Registry Editor: Start > Run >

type regedit > [Enter]. Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft
\Internet Explorer. If you do not see a key
called MenuExt, create one with that name.

<SCRIPT language=javascript defer>

// Declare variables
var oExtArgs =
external.menuArguments;
var sTitle =
oExtArgs.document.title;
var sUrl =
oExtArgs.location.href;

2. Under MenuExt, create

another key and call it Email Page. This is the text
for the custom context
menu item.

Take a Crack
and win
Dreamweaver CS3
by Joseph Lowery
Published by

LAST MONTHS WINNER

Gaurav Prasad
Chennai

Rules and Regulations

Readers are requested to
send in their answers by the
th
15 of the month of
publication.
Employees of Jasubhai
Digital Media and their
relatives are not permitted to
participate in this contest.
Readers are encouraged to
send their replies by e-mail.
Jasubhai Digital Media will not
entertain any unsolicited
communication.
Jasubhai Digital Media is
not responsible for any
damage to your system that
may be caused while you are
trying to solve the problem.

34

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

3. You also need to specify

under what conditions this
menu item is to be shown.
For example, you may want
to show it when you click
on anchor elements, or for
the main document and not
for text boxes, and so on.
This is specified by a value
called Contexts. Add a
DWORD value under Email Page and call it
The result: e-mail pages from within IE itself!
Contexts. Set the value for
this to 1, meaning that it is shown for the
// Create IE object
default context menu. You can also use the
var oIE = new
values below to change the conditions for
ActiveXObject('InternetExplorer.Appl
the menu:
Context
Default
Images
Controls
Tables
Text selection
Anchor

Value
0x1
0x2
0x4
0x8
0x10
0x20

4. Now specify the action to be performed on

clicking this menu item. This is done by
specifying the location of a script, which can
be JavaScript or VBScript. Set the default
value of your context menu key to the
location of a HTML file; for example,

ication');
if(sTitle == '')(sTitle = 'No
Title');
// Escape title and URL
sTitle = escape(sTitle);
sUrl = escape(sUrl);
// Build mailto string
var sMail = 'mailto:' +
'?subject=' + sTitle + '&body=' +
sTitle + ': ' + sUrl;

C:\Email.html

// Load mailto string IE

oIE.Navigate(sMail);
</SCRIPT>

5. Type the following code in Notepad and

save the file as C:\Email.html:

You should now see the extra menu item in

IE, and be able to e-mail the page using your
favourite mail client.

ZERO1 Awards 2007

A Game of Chess
he technology market is perhaps the
goriest of them all. With companies
fighting tooth and nail to catch your
eye and releasing products on a
monthly basis, one things for sure
lifes never boring. Most of us dont
even realise the amount of research
and development and planning that
goes into releasing a new model of even a humble flash drive, let alone the mammoth task of
developing and launching a new processor architecture, graphics card, motherboard, monitor,
hard drive, etc.
Someone here at Digit likened it to a battle of
chess grandmasterstheres the opening move
(announcing the release dates of the product);
the countering of every attack (keeping an eye
on what your competition is doing); carefully
planning your future moves even before your
opponent makes his (market research, etc.); and
finally, as soon as you can, move in for the kill...
and checkmate!
Products are released with a full frontal
attack, moving like a castle; intelligently sidestepping diagonally like a bishop; castling to
protect their kings when threatened; all in the
attempt to stymie the opponent and win the battle. All of this only lasts for few months, and then
the battle is reset as easily as a chessboard can

be, and a new generation of products battle it

out all over again.
Wed like to think of our annual Zero1 Awards
as the culmination of the years tournaments,
and the felicitation of the winners as the crowning of a grandmasterchampion of the world!
Like in chess, you shouldnt make the mistake of
thinking of the products weve tested in terms of
winners and losers. Whether the reigning champions prevail, or lose out to newer releases, you
can bet your life that companies will take the
necessary measures to come back and win whatever they may have lost this year.
For example, our processor segment sees
Intel outplay AMD, winning the game in very few
moves indeed. Their Core architecture will
remain their cash cow for some time on, and the
Penryn only promises more of the same. AMD,
meanwhile, countered with their true-quad
cores, and are defending pretty well. The graphics card segment saw a similar story with NVIDIA
and ATI (AMD again), with NVIDIA winning this
round of the tournament.
In this, the first of our two part Zero1 coverage, weve divided products into 16 categories,
read on to find out which products were the
grandmasters of 2007. Keep a look out next
month as well, where well cover the felicitation
ceremony and announce a few more awards.

Jiten Gandhi

In the pages that follow, you will find products that can be considered the
cream of the crop, battling it out for supremacy, and more importantly,
the coveted Digit Zero1 Award

36

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

37

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

CELL PHONES

higher-end multimedia phones available that

have fallen into the price void its created.

The Contenders
ight now, as much as 18 per cent of the
population owns at least one phone.
The emphasis is on multimedia phones
rather than budget phones; the first generation of cell phone adopters wants that extra.
With leading manufacturers like
Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola,
and Samsung introducing a lot of
models in the multimedia
device category, the time to be
stuck with just a phone seems to
have come to an end.
Powerful cameras, lots of Flash
storage, great PMP abilities, and inbuilt
Wi-Fi and GPS make for some truly
amazing convergence. Allied technologies have improved as well, like the displaysnothing short of astounding.

MULTIMEDIA PHONES BETWEEN

RS 14,001 AND RS 20,000
The Reigning Champions
Nokia 6300; Samsung
SGH-E840
Both our champions have seen
major price drops
since we tested
them.
The Nokia
6300 makes
a very sensible buy
for
the
price (Rs
8 , 4 0 0 ,
s t r e e t
price).
The SGHE840 (Rs
9,600) has
a beautiful
screen, and Samsung SGH-E840
Nokia 6300
is one gorgeous phonea beautiful slider mechanism,
the slickest weve seen. If you happen to have a
copy of our August 2007 issue, youll see the
price difference between then and now...

The Contenders
Sony Ericsson K790i; Nokia N73
A lot has changed since August 2007
when we conducted our shootout and
adjudicated in joint favour of the
Nokia 6300 and Samsung SGH-E840.
For one, the Gold winner in our Up to
Rs 20,000 multimedia category has
seen a serious price drop. The excellent K790i has fallen to Rs 12,800
from Rs 16,222. An excellent
screen, amazing music quality, and a brilliant 3.2 MP
camera make the K790i

38

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

an absolutely superb buy. The Nokia N73 is

another worthy candidate, priced at Rs 12,750:
it has a superb screen (240 x 320, 2.4 inches),
great camera on par with the K790i, and all
the flexibility that Symbian S60 provides. The
N73ME won Gold as well; although we didnt
test the non-music edition, the features
remain the same apart from the dedicated
music button.

The Award
Sony Ericsson
K790i; Nokia N73
We find our two new
contenders battling so
hard for the crown
that in the end, weve
decided to award a
joint Zero1 award
to Sony
Ericssons
K790i and
Nokias N73.
Both offer
tremendous
value for money
now after serious price

Nokia N73

Sony Erricson K790i

cutsa very good entry point to the world of

multimedia phones, and something you wont
tire of very soon.

MULTIMEDIA
PHONES ABOVE
RS 20,000
The Reigning
Champion
Nokia N73 Music
Edition
The Nokia N73 Music
Edition was one fabulous
20,000-rupee-plus phone
till it became cheaper! Its
even better value for
money now, but there are

Nokia N95; Nokia N95 8 GB; Sony

Ericsson K850i
After a serious price
drop, the N95 (street
price Rs 24,550) is
still around and
going strong. The
only issue we had
with this device was
poor battery life.
The N95 8GB remedies this with a new
1200 mAh battery, a
bigger screen (2.8inch vs. 2.6-inch). In
fact, the only reason
the N95 lost out was
due to its astronomical pricing at the Sony Ericsson K850i
time of our comparison test (Rs 40,249). Its even got GPS and WiFitotal connectivity. The new Sony Ericsson
K850i is another beautya very feature-rich
phone with a great camera.

The Award
Nokia N95
Nokias N95 emerges the Zero1 winner. It was
overshadowed by its cheaper-by-half sibling
the N73MEsimply because
of the price and the latters stellar battery life.
With great signal quality,
a 3.5mm jack, and GPS
and Wi-Fi, the N95 is a
fully-loaded pocket computer,
which is exactly
the way Nokia
advertises it. If
youve got Rs
25,000 to blow
on a multimedia
phone, itd be a
shame if you
spent your
money
anywhere else.

BUSINESS PHONES
The Reigning Champion
Nokia E50; Nokia E90 Communicator;
Sony Ericsson P990i
Nokias E50, E90 Communicator, and the Sony
Ericsson P990i were our Gold winnersthree
very deserving candidates in three very different price brackets. The Nokia E50 is compact,
Symbian based (read feature-rich), and offers
an affordable entry point to the Business
series. The SE P990i offers a touchscreen,
QWERTY and number keypad, Wi-Fi, and a
good 2.0 megapixel camera, apart from docu-

Sony Ericsson P990i

Nokia E50

ment creation and editing software. Very

feature-rich, the only minus being that
its heavy. And when we think of
the businessperson, we think
Communicator.

The Contender
Nokia E51
Nokias E51 upsets the happy
position of the E50. Its got
everythinga 16 million colour
display, good battery life, a
strong metal body, sleek lines,
Wi-Fi, and best of all, a great
keypad. We havent really
seen anything more from
other vendors, and certainly
nothing threatening in the
way of a high-end PDA.

The Award
Nokias E90 Communicatorour Zero1 winner for this, the Business Phones category
retains its hold on the lofty high-end PDA
market. With an
excellent QWERTY
and regular keypad
and a host of features, it is still the
most-sought-after
businesspersons companion in the
high-end PDA
category. At Rs
34,500,
the
E90 is one
desirable
phone!
Nokias
E51 becomes
the new entrylevel business
phone
of
choice. All the
features of its predecessor and a bagful more
a better screen, keypad, and much better build.
Highly recommend for the price (Rs 12,000
approximate street price).
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

39

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

GRAPHICS CARDS

DIGITAL CAMERAS
igital Cameras have helped the layman take
up photography; theyve made the learning
curve a lot less steep. Their price and availability have made them very popular, and its
only getting better. Decent entry-level cameras
can be had for as little Rs 7,000 to 8,000.
The dropping prices of memory
cards has also helped.
Most of the technology has
stayed more or less the same as compared to the previous generation; features like larger number of focus
points in a scene and image stabilisation have become standard.
Ultrazoom or pseudo-SLR cameras refer to those that resembled D-SLRs
in shape while being much smaller and
cheaper. The zoom levels and the megapixel
ratings have been the most prominent
changes here. A few models launched by a few
brands (Sony and Canon, for example) now
fill the gap between point-and-shoot and
Ultrazoom models.

POINT-AND-SHOOT
CAMERAS
The Reigning Champion
Canon PowerShot A570 IS
The winner from our last digital camera testback
in October 2007was the Canon PowerShot A570
ISa brilliant camera with a whole load of features
and a highly competitive MRP of Rs 17, 500. The market price now is much lower, and the camera seems
to be available in the grey market at the Rs 9,000 to
10,000 mark. It has a 7.1 MP sensor with 4x optical
zoom. One highlight was lovely, natural colours,
not unlike most of the Canons in the category.

The Contender

his was clearly the year of the graphics

card. 2007 saw the penetration of DX10
graphics cards into just about every segment, and the partial phasing out of DX9
cards. Though DX10 games are lagging behind
the hardware, with poor optimisation and
such, the desire to be future-proof is the driving force behind whats happening. We also
saw the increased importance of HTPCs and
gaming PCs last year; such PCs depend heavily on the graphics card, and this is another
reason to have seen a large crop of DX10 cards
coming into the market.

youre able to get the A650 IS for under

Rs 12,000, its a must-buy!

ULTRAZOOM CAMERAS

HIGH-END GRAPHICS CARDS

The Reigning Champion

The Reigning Champion

Galaxy 8800 Ultra

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7

The Galaxy 8800 Ultra, based on the NVIDIA

GeForce 8800 Ultracurrently the fastest GPU
in the worldwas easily the fastest-performing
graphics card in our tests. With 768 MB of
GDDR3 memory, this card just chomps up any
game! Even at 8x Antialiasing and Anisotropic
Filtering, the Galaxy didnt break the proverbial sweat. It comes with a stock NVIDIA
heatsink that appears to do the job well. It
makes for an ideal companion for a powerful
gaming rig. And it goes without saying that
this card will easily power any HTPC (an
overkill if there ever was one!), although its
audience is the hardcore gamer who will
spend the Rs 30,000 it commands.

We tested the Canon S3 IS in 2006, and we got to

try the Sony DSC-H7 in our most recent comparison test. The latter is the Reigning Champion.

The Contenders
Canon PowerShot S5 IS; Sony DSC-H9;
Olympus SP-550UZ
The Canon S5 IS is known for its realistic colours
and overall good quality. The Olympus SP-550UZ
has the largest optical zoom of the lot18xbut
is a 7MP camera as compared to the rest, which
are at around 8MP. The Sony DSC-H9 is very similar to the DSC-H7, with the exact same megapixel rating and optical zoom, but it has a larger,
3-inch screen.
The sensor and the image resolution you get
are very similar to those of point-and-shoot cameras. Until last year, 12x of optical zoom was the
norm for all manufacturers in this range. This
year, however, Sony upped it a notch to 15x with
the DSC-H7 and H9.

Canon PowerShot A650 IS

The Award

Canon has kept updating their cameras; the

result of this is the A650 ISan updated A640
which lacked image stabilisation. The A650 IS is
a 12.1 megapixel camera (really a lot!) and gets
into D-SLR territory in terms of resolution. In
addition, the A710 IS has been replaced by the
new A720 IS. The upgrades here arent as substantial as with the A650 IS.

Canon PowerShot S5 IS

The Contender

have the dough (Rs 60,000 odd) then SLI two

of these and tell us how Crysis looks!

MID-RANGE GRAPHICS CARDS

The Reigning Champion
ASUS EN8600GT
The mid-range category is the bread and butter for vendors, characterised by high sales
and good profit margins. This is also where
the most buying happens. The ASUS
EN8600GT outperformed all the other
8600GT cards in our tests, and even demolished the 8600GTS cards. This overclocked
marvel (540 stock vs. 625 EN8600GT) stayed
cool throughout the tests. It is a good buy for
the mid-range segment for a decent gaming
machine, and a superb powerhouse for any
HTPC, or someone who wants a combination
of both.

The Contenders
ATI Radeon HD3850
ATIs RV670, better known as the Radeon
HD3850, enters the fray: a severely cut-down
(as far as memory bandwidth goes) version of
the older and much hotter HD2900 pro. Built
around a new 55nm process, the HD3850 still
features the 320 shader units and even more
processing power due to higher clocks. The
best part is that at Rs 12,000 or thereabouts,
the HD3850 makes one fantastic option for a
decent mid-range card.

XFX 8800GTS Alpha Dog Edition

The Award

Another brute of a card, the new 65nm

process enables NVIDIA to bump up clock
speeds on the same formidable 128 shader
units, so much so that the 8800GTS comes
close to the 8800GTX, its elder brother.

ASUS EN8600GT
While were yet to see the new mid-range
series from NVIDIA and ATI, the whole point

The Award
Galaxy 8800 Ultra
The Galaxy 8800 Ultra is the biggest, the
fastest, and the costliest card out there. If you

The Award
Canon PowerShot A650 IS
The 12.1MP sensor apart, the optical
zoom has been bumped all the way up
to 6X from 4Xyet another great
upgrade. This one as good as the A720
and the A710 in terms of zoom, but
has a considerably higher megapixel
rating. The $400 price means
around Rs 16,000. The market
price will be lower than that,
and the grey market
price even lower. If

40

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

The Zero1 in this category goes to the Canon

PowerShot S5 IS, a brilliant camera for its price
in the grey market, its around Rs 15,000. Its
indeed a bit costlier than a typical point-andshoot, but you get something like a point-andshoot with features youd find on D-SLRs. Its a
great first-step camera for anyone who would
like to start using a D-SLR but needs something
affordable to train with.

of a mid-range buy is the price point of

Rs 8,000, beyond which we dont see anyone
other than the discerning gamer spending.
For its mix of price, performance, and low
power consumption, the ASUS EN8600GT still
hasnt got a worthy competitor to displace it
of its lofty perch as our Zero1 award winner.

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

41

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

HARD DRIVES
n the past year, nothing significant has
happened in this category in terms of the
technology; the trend of prices dropping
did continue, though. Then, IDE drives went
out, to be completely replaced by the faster
SATA interface. Perpendicular
recording, introduced last year,
is becoming mainstream320
GB drives built upon this
technology are priced really
well. We expect things to stay
the way they are for at least a
couple of years, before Flash-based
hard drives start the process of phasing out magnetic storage media-but
that remains to be seen. Also, some
drives that cater to AV specialists have
been unveiled along with so-called
green hard drives that claim to consume lower power-we shall see a lot of
this next year.
Things were similar with external
drives. The interface has remained
the sameUSB, and FireWire,
while capacities have
increased. In this case as
well, drives based on perpendicular recording are
increasingly being used, especially in the backup category. Micro
hard drive based external drives were
nowhere to be seen, and this indicates the
waning interest in that category, which was
last featured in 2006. In the coming year, we
expect to see drives featuring the new eSATA
interface sporting 3 Gbps speeds and thus,
great performance. Networking is in vogue,
we therefore expect that more and more of
the drives will feature an interface such as
RJ-45 or even Wi-Fi, because such drives dont
need a PC to be able to serve as a file server.

The Contender
Maxtor OneTouch III Turbo Edition
This 1 TB drive is built very well, and has a
backup button that works in conjunction with
the excellent EMC Retrospect software (bun-

PORTABLE EXTERNAL HARD

DRIVES
The Reigning Champion
Western Digital Passport Portable
(Black)
This drive is just a little bigger than a passport, and it is quite light at 231 grams. The
body is of a strong black polymer with a
piano black finish on the top and a rubberised finish at the bottom that provides the
grip needed to prevent sliding off a surface.
The 8 MB buffer is sufficient for sustained
data transfers over USB 2.0.

The Contender
Iomega Portable Hard Drive
This 80 GB Iomega drive is very sleek, and was
the lightest drive in this category. The casing
has an extra power socket for when the drive is
unable to draw enough from the USB connec-

Champion only in terms of capacity; the performance is very similar, but it loses out on the
price front: it costs Rs 7,500, placing it a little off
the sweet spot.

The Award
Western Digital Caviar SE16
WD3200AAKS
The Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS
excelled in all our tests, synthetic and realworld. It posted an excellent 66.8 MBps
and 64.5 MBps in the read and write tests
in HDTach, with a low CPU usage of just 2
per cent and a low random access time of
12.7 ms. It scored 154 MBps in
H2Benchagain a good score. It
was the top scorer in PCMark 05.
The drive also scores well in real-

dled). The drive supports the speedy FireWire

800 interface in addition to USB 2.0. This was
the fastest performer in this category, but is
priced at Rs 36,200which goes against it if
youre looking for a winner.

The Award
Western Digital My Book Essential
Our Zero1 award winner in this category, the
Western Digital My Book Essential top-scored
in almost every test we threw at it. The average read speed is 34.2 MBps, while write speed
is 23.9 MBps. It took just 40 seconds to write a
1 GB file to the drive, while reading it from

tor. Though it is just a 4200 rpm drive, we

found the performance commendablealmost
as good as that of the reigning champion. It
comes with EMC Retrospect to take care of
your backup needs. The pricing is very sensible.

The Award
Western Digital Passport Portable
(Black)
This drive has a read speed of 33 MBps, while
the write speed is 23 MB/s. Writing a 1 GB
file to the drive takes just 42 seconds, while
reading it back is even faster at 36 seconds;
This makes it a top scorer in this category,

INTERNAL SATA
The Reigning Champion
Western Digital Caviar SE16
WD3200AAKS
This 7200 rpm drive hits the sweet spot
for internal hard drives, with a generous capacity of 320 GB and excellent
performance, along with a superb
paise per MB of just 1.47. Sporting
the SATA II interface, it has a large
16 MB buffergreat especially
when youre transferring large
files of loading large game
levels.

The Contender
Western Digital
Caviar SE16
WD5000AAKS
This drive differs
from the Reigning

42

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

world file transfersless than a minute to copy

a 4 GB file to and from the drive, while transferring it between partitions on the drive took
just over 2.5 minutes. Priced at a really affordable Rs 4,500, this drive gets the Zero1 award
in this category.

BACKUP EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES

The Reigning Champion
Western Digital My Book Essential
The Western Digital My Book Essential looks
like a reference book, and sports a rugged
build. This 500 GB drive has 16 MB of buffer.
The design allows you to stack drives one on
top of the other to increase capacity. It weighs
1.32 kg, meaning its easy to carry around.

the drive took an amazingly low 35 seconds.

Copying 1 GB of assorted data to and fro takes
just 1.5 minutes, which means its one of the
fastest drives. It comes with a USB 2.0 data
cable as well as a power adapter. The bundled
WD Diagnostics utility helps you troubleshoot
any problems you might encounter. The price
is just Rs 8,300.

but in addition, its performance is comparable even to that of some of the faster backup
external drives. WD provides a USB 2.0 cable.
The bundled WD Sync software is good for
all kinds of backup, meaning you wont have
to spend extra on a third-party application.
The price is good, tooRs 6,500.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

43

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

INKJET MFDS
nkjet MFDs are very popular today, especially because of ever-falling prices. Nothing of
significance happened in this field in 2007,
but certain technological advancements such
as faster printing technology using a head that
does not need to move are in the
pipeline, and are expected to go
mainstream this year.

HOME INKJET MFDS

The Reigning Champion
Canon PIXMA MP160
An entry-level inkjet MFD based on 4-cartridge thermal inkjet printing technology.
Having four separate cartridges is advantageous because if one of the cartridges gets
drained, you can replace just that, as
opposed to having to replace a combined
colour cartridge. This MFD has a 7-segment
LCD display that shows the selected number of copies to be printed.

The Contender
HP Photosmart C3188
All-in-One
An inkjet photo MFD based
on 2-cartridge thermal inkjet
printing technology, this one has
an input tray capacity of 100 sheets
good for most SoHo purposes. The scanners
optical resolution is 1200 x 2400 dpithe best
in the category. Being a proper photo MFD, it
has buttons to Reprint photos as well as proof
sheets. Interestingly, it features memory card
slots but not PictBridge. Photo print quality
was excellent, second only to that of the
Reigning Champion. This MFD was neck-andneck with the championeven the price is the
samebut it lost out a little on performance.

The Award
Canon PIXMA MP160
The Canon PIXMA MP160 prints really fast
it printed the normal-quality text document in 9.3 seconds flat. It was also the
fastest at printing our combi-document at
Normal quality. It printed exceptionally
well even at the highest speeds. The edges
of the text were crisp, and the ink did
not blot the paper even at high quality.
The copy quality was the best in the

category, and this MFD scored the highest even

in our scanner test. Though priced a little on
the higher side, at Rs 5,999, its exceptionally
good performance fetches the Canon PIXMA
MP160 the Zero1 award in this category.

OFFICE INKJET MFDS

The Reigning Champion
HP Photosmart C4188 All-in-One
Good looks, good prints, and great build qualitygood enough to bear the rigours of office
use. Based on thermal inkjet printing technology, it uses two cartridges. This photo printer has
memory slots for SD, MS, MS Pro, SM, MMC, and
xD, and it also supports PictBridge. There is also
a Reprint function and a special side tray to
store 4 x 6 photo papers. The C4188 has the
Photo Fix function, which lets you apply effects
to images read from memory cards so you can
improve print quality.

The Contenders

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

aser MFDs are good for any business, but

especially for a growing one. They are best
used when the workload involves high-volume, high-speed printing, and one that needs
to be very cost-effective. They are more expensive than inkjets, but the extra cash is quickly
recovered as you print more and more, owing
to the low printing cost.

BUDGET (UP TO RS 16,000)

The Reigning Champion
Brother DCP-7010
This is a compact MFD with a footprint of just
43.2 x 39.5 cm2 (which is quite small). The
DCP-7010 is a mono laser printer, scanner, and
copier. It has a hardware print resolution of
2400 x 600 dpi, which is quite high for an
entry-level product. Scanner resolution is 600
x 2400 at 24-bit resolution, and it supports a
maximum paper size of A4. Along with the
USB interface, there is also the older parallel
interface for working with legacy devices.

Canon PIXMA MP460

Now this MFD exhibited the best performance
in every department. It was clearly the fastest
in printing, and without a doubt had the best
photo print quality despite the fast speeds. It
produced clear prints in true-to-original
colours. It was fast at the text and combi-documents as well. The copy quality was so good,
it was hard for us to distinguish between the
original and its copy! A swivel colour LCD lets
you not only view the photo from a memory
card or camera connected to the PictBridge
port, but also crop and resize it. However, this
MFD costs almost 2000 rupees more than the
Reigning Champion.

The Award
HP Photosmart C4188 All-in-One
The HP Photosmart C4188 All-in-One (Rs 7,999)
featured high-resolution scanning at 1200 x
2400 dpi, which means it picks up even text in

fine print from hardcopies. It was the fastest in

black text printing at Normal quality. It was
also a clear winner in the photo prints, reproducing natural colours. This is a clear winner of
a Zero1 award.

46

LASER MFDS
Rs 2,150, meaning the cost per print is 86
paise. Wed still recommend this MFD because
of portability, speed, and overall performance.

SOHO (RS 16,001RS 30,000)

The Reigning Champion
Brother MFC-7420
With a rather small footprint of just 43.2 x
39.5 cm2, its easy to set up this device just
about anywhere. It has fax functionality and
an ADF tray that holds 35 sheets. It is built fairly well, except the flaps dont seem sturdy. The
input tray has a capacity of 250, sufficient for
most SoHos, while the output tray holds 100
sheetsagain, not bad. The fax has a memory
of 500 pages, so youll probably never miss a
fax. This unit features the USB as well as the
parallel port interfaces, and although it does
not come with an Ethernet port, you have the
option of separately purchasing an Ethernet
Print Server.

The Contenders

The Contender

Canon imageCLASS MF4122

HP LaserJet M1005 MFP

The MF4122 has a small footprint and is built

very well. It has an input tray capacity of 250
sheetspretty good. There is also a multipurpose tray that holds one sheet. It is amazing
that even though it doesnt cost too much, it
features duplex printing. A Toner Gauge button lets you monitor the amount of toner
remaining. Warm-up time was just 7.4 seconds, the fastest weve ever recorded for a laser
MFD. Print quality was good, and so was copying speed and quality. It comes with OmniPage
SE OCR and Presto! PageManager.

This entry-level machine from HP rivals the

DCP-7010 in all respects, and surpasses it in
some. The performance is traditional HP: good
speeds and excellent print quality. The scanner works reliably and has support for resolutions for all purposes. At Rs 12,999, it is priced
at a premium, but given the availability of consumables and other value-added services, its
well worth the money.

The Award
Brother DCP-7010
The Brother DCP-7010 wins our Zero1 award.
Print quality was average for text in Draft
mode, but improved a lot in Best mode. The
scanner reproduced colours fairly well; in fact,
its good enough for photographs. The bundled MFL-Pro suitea control centre to take
care of jobs such as scanning, faxing, and
moreis good, and also bundled is PaperPort
9.0SE (OCR software). The DCP-7010 is decently
priced (Rs 11,150); the toner cartridge costs

The Award
Brother MFC-7420

The software bundled with the Brother MFC7420our Zero1 award winnercomprises the
MFL-Pro suite with PaperPort 9.0SE OCR, and also
a utility to set up the unit over a network. The
MFC-7420 has a toner duty cycle of 3,500, making
for an economical cost per page of 61 paise.
Rs 18,000 for this model is justified because of
the fax, ADF, and sheet-fed scanner.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

47

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

LAPTOPS

HP DV6226tx
Our winner, the HP DV6226tx, was a winning
combination of on-paper specs, features,
ergonomics, style, and functionality. A Core 2
Duo processor (T5200) and 1 GB of memory, a
GeForce 7400GO graphics solution, and
inbuilt speakers by Altec Lansing meant
the DV6226tx was an attractive bundle.
At Rs 56,990, it wasnt pricey either
Gold belonged here.

Dell Inspiron 1520

Dells Inspiron 1520 rears its head to strike at
the v3225AU. Its got a faster processor and
more memory, and is infinitely more configurable. The only minus is that its not ready off
the shelf like Compaq is. Of course, its costlier
too, but thats due to the faster components.
Another minus for the Dell would be its bland
exteriorstheres nothing bland about the

ike most other categories, notebooks

experienced serious price drops last year.
A few months after our notebook test, we
were surprised to see the specifications of
notebooks from major players like Dell and HP
being uppedinstead of dropping prices, we
were seeing better CPUs, more memory, and
bigger drives on identically-priced models. We
also saw the intorduction of the latest series
of DX10 graphics chipsets into the latest models. For Windows Vista, 2 GB of RAM is considered mandatory, and its good to see vendors
giving us more memory, considering that was
our number one gripe with most of the 1 GB
laptops anyways.

PERFORMANCE LAPTOPS
The Reigning Champion

The Contenders

ful, too, with a Core 2 Duo T7400 and a

GeForce 7400GO with 2 GB of RAM. The fact
that you can switch between an Intel X3000
and the NVIDIA graphics solution for battery
life or power usage is another plus.

HP DV6226tx

have a better, faster product that needs a better dealer network to become a truly great
and hassle-free deal. Were awarding a joint
winner hereno runners up; Dells XPS 1530
and HPs DV6226tx share our Zero 1 award.

The Contender
Sony Vaio VGN-SZ58GN/C; Dell XPS 1300
Compaq Presario v3225AU.

The Award
Compaq Presario v3225AU
We feel a terrific package for the value audience
should have strong roots in, well, value. The
Compaq v3225AU brings strong value to the
entry-level segment. It sports the high-gloss finish and the kind of design that HP has

The Contender
Dell XPS 1530
Dells XPS 1530 is a superb laptop.
Available for as low as Rs 55,000 (and up
to Rs 85,000 if configured with all the
bells and whistles), the XPS 1530 is stylish,
fast, and suitably elegant. The best part is,
Dell allows customisation of the processor,
memory, graphics solution, and hard drive,
among other variables. Our XPS 1530 came
configured with a Core 2 Duo T7300, 2
GB of RAM, and an 8600GT graphics
solution, along with a 160 GB 7200
rpm hard drive and a 9-cell battery that was good for 3 hours. All
this for Rs 68,000a real contender
for the prize!

The Award
Dell XPS 1530; HP DV6226tx
The XPS 1530 oozes style, finish, and build
quality, and blazing performance at an excellent price point to boot. The only issue we can
see with Dell is the availability and presence
in our markets. HP has a solid presence in
India, with service outlets everywhere, and
you can pick an HP notebook off a shelf,
while with Dell, you need to order
online, and there are delivery times
among other inconveniences involved.
HP hasnt
really
Unfortunately
upgraded the specs of the DV6xxx
series so its one for the Dell.
So were at an impasse... we

48

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Dell XPS 1530

The Award
Sony Vaio VGN-SZ58GN/C

Two excellent productsone brilliant product

from a brand that needs more market presence in India, and the other a good product
that could use a few upgrades under the hood
from a tried and tested brand and a majot
player in the Indian market.

VALUE LAPTOPS UP TO RS 45,000

The Reigning Champion
Compaq Presario v3225AU
The value market for laptops mostly consists
of students and executives who either cant
really afford to spend more, or simply wont
because they dont really need all that performance. This doesnt make the entry-level
category any less exciting, since manufacturers have less of a budget to play around with
and this ensures they try really hard to match
value with performance. This is by far the
most fiercely-competed market segment.
The Compaq Presario v3225AU exemplifies
value with a nice balance of performance
and looks.

The Sony SZ483N/C has been replaced by a

more powerful model, priced identically. That
one features a lightning fast T7700 Core 2 Duo
processor and a GeForce 8400GS, and is called
the Vaio VGN-SZ58GN/C.
Dells new XPS 1330 is a serious contender
to the throne for the most compact yet powerful package. It sports a T7500 and 2 GB of RAM,
a GeForce 8400GS graphics card, and a 160 GB,
7200 rpm drive. Serious horsepower for something with a 13.3 inch screen, and enough
juice for even moderate gaming! Of course, the
portability is further enhanced with the option
of a crisp, WLED display that is even slimmer.
Although the XPS 1330 is a good looking
piece of hardware, the Vaio SZ483N/C is
absolutely gorgeousand you have to see it in
the skin to believe that a laptop could look so
absolutely up-market.

The Sony Vaio VGN-SZ58GN/C is more than a

match for the XPS 1330. Also, the build and
look that Sonys Vaio branding sports is
brought to their entire line-up. The Zero1 for this
years Value Laptop segment belongs to the
Compaq v3225AU.

ULTRA-PORTABLE LAPTOPS
The Reigning Champion
Sony Vaio SZ483N/C
Ultra-compacts are rare beastsand even more
rarely sought-after because of the high price
associated with fitting high-performance components into a cramped space. Sonys
SZ483N/C was an excellent performer, built
from a carbon fibre like material, which made
the laptop extremely light, and a white LED
display that made viewing anything a pleasure, not to mention slimming down what was
already a very compact laptop. It was power-

something that Dells XPS series can only

dream of. Were awarding our Zero1 to the
Sony Vaio VGN-SZ58GN/C.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

49

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

LCD MONITORS

LASER PRINTERS
aser printers have evolved over the past
few years; they are more compact and
manageable, and less expensive. The ability to produce fast, smudge-free prints has
always been their selling point over inkjets. In
2007, we saw laser printers have achieve a level
of efficiency that lets them output paper at a
speed very close to the claimed speeds.
Once confined only to offices, thanks to
the ever-dropping prices, the laser printer has
come a long way towards finally gaining
acceptance from SoHos and even at homes.
The advantages that they have over inkjets
are apparentthey are fast, they produce
clean and sharp prints, they require little
maintenance and are generally more rugged.
Also, their cost per page is remarkably
lower than inkjets. With even some
colour laser printers appearing in compact sizes, there is really not much to hold
you back from getting one of these rather
than an inkjet and this is what we predict
is the shape of things to come.

HP LaserJet 1020

22-INCH MONITORS
The Reigning Champion

19-INCH MONITORS
The Reigning Champion

The Contenders

PERSONAL LASER
PRINTERS
The Reigning Champion

CDs have evolved from an emerging

upstart to a mature technology. Were
seeing panel costs falling, courtesy
cheaper and better TN panels entering the
market. The costlier PVA and S-IPS panels are
also becoming cheaper, albeit at a snails
pace. Weve seen 17-inch monitors being
phased out in lieu of 19-inch panels at the
same prices. 22-inch monitors are threatening the status quo.

AOC 197S

extraordinaire, the incredibly low price of just

Rs 4,500 makes it the cheapest on this planet!

The AOC 197S bagged our Best Buy Gold award

for its sterling value with decent performance. Although based on a TN panel the 197S
impressed with decent colour rendition in
DisplayMate, and good overall contrast.
Although its not the equal of an S-IPS panel
or an MVA panel as far as both these parameters go it also costs a fraction for what these
panels cost.

The Award

The Contender

HP LaserJet 1020

HP W1907; Dell E198WFP

The HP LaserJet 1020 takes just 9 seconds to

print a normal text document. Text print quality was marginally better than that of most
other printers. It was the best printer in the

The HP W1907 was another brilliant monitor

very good colour and contrast for a TN panel.
The Dell E198WFP is yet another beautya good
looking widescreen, and one of the best colour
renditions weve seen for a mere TN panel. In
fact, this monitor is very suited for image editing professionals and multimedia aficionados
alike. Aesthetically the E198WFP has a beautiful stand, and a very narrow bezelideal for a
dual monitor setup.

The vertical profile design of this

printer means it occupies less
desk space. It weighs just 5 kg
light. It has a 234 MHz processor
and just 2 MB RAM, though that did
not seem to slow it down much. The
retractable input paper trays fold back
into the body and can hold up to 150
sheets, sufficient for any SoHo. There
is also a manual feeding tray for
the occasional quick printout.
The printer cartridge is easily
accessible by popping open
the printer's top panel. The
control panel is very easy to
use. The printer supports USB 2.0, and
the cable is provided. Print speed is around
14 ppm, just 1 less than the claimed 15.

None currently!
Weve included a 22-inch category for our
readers just because 22-inchers now seem to
be de facto for mid-range consumers. In fact,
based on the popularity of this category,
weve decided to include it as a new category
in our tests.

ViewSonic VX2235WM; ViewSonic

VX2255WM; Dell E228WFP; BenQ
FP222W; Acer AL2216W; Samsung
226BW
Many and varied: ViewSonics VX2235wm and
VX2255wm, Dells E228WFP, BenQs FP222W,
Acers AL2216W, Samsungs 226BW. All these
are TN panel-based LCDs.

The Award
Dell E228WFP
It was a closely-fought battle. Dells
E228WFP is an excellent panel with great
colour and contrast once its properly calibrated. The only issue we see is availability.
BenQs FP222W is another excellent multimedia performer with nearly as good colour
rendition as the E228WFP, the only minus is
its a little bulky. The VX2235WM is good, but
we didnt like its performance in some of
the colour tests, and the bezel is too large.

The Award
Dell E198WFP
Dells E198WFP really cleans up herecolour
brilliance is not really associated with TN panels, but this one proves an exception in more
ways than one. Definitely Zero1 material
which is why were awarding it. HPs W1907 is
also an excellent monitor but it just isnt the
price league of the Dellbesides being a great
performer its a great steal at the price as well.

The Contender
Xerox 3117
The Xerox 3117 is an entry-level desktop
laser printer coming at a great price. Like
the HP 1020, it too is very compact and
has a vertical profile design. The
build quality of this creamy-white
printer is simply superb. It achieves
a printing speed of 15 ppm, just 2
short of the claimed 17. The print
quality was good in the text as
well as graphics and there was
no smudging anywhere.
Though it is no printer

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DIGIT JANUARY 2008

photo document printing test, reproducing

greater details in the dark areas, something
the competition couldnt manage. Finer details
and highlights were reproduced perfectly, too.
Good printing speeds, impressive print
quality, and decent pricing go into taking this
printer ahead of the rest; in addition, the
unmatched warranty, easy availability of consumables, as well as good service and affordable toner prices fetch this printer the Zero1
award in this category.

We had a good time thrashing these monitors for all we were worthDells E228WFP is
available for as low as Rs 16,000, and its a
brilliant buygreat colours and great contrast at a great price. It edges out the two
ViewSonics and the BenQ FP222W for the
Zero1 Award.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

51

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

MOTHERBOARDS
he last couple of years have seen the release
of a multitude of chipsets from Intel,
NVIDIA, AMD, and SiS. Each of these have
their advantages, so theres a myriad of options
to choose from when it comes to motherboards.

NVIDIA 680I/650I CHIPSET BOARDS

The Reigning Champion
ASUS Striker Extreme
The NVIDIA 680i has been around for quite some
time, and was a path-breaking chipset at its
launch. Thanks to the future-proofing by NVIDIA,
its still got the power to take on some of the
newer chipsets. The ASUS Striker Extreme, which
belongs to the Republic of Gamers franchise, is
based on the 680i, and has a lot of copper heatpipes and heatsinks to take care of the cooling
needs of the Northbridge and Southbridge. There
is support for multiple graphics cards in SLI configuration, and along with support for 8-channel
HD Audio, this board is good for gamers.

The Contender
ASUS P5N32-E SLI
This board has one of the best-looking cooling
solutions, and the layout is excellent. There are
heat-pipes and heatsinks for the Northbridge as
well as the Southbridge; this makes it run
cooler than other boards in its category.
Its actually very similar to the ASUS
Striker Extreme in terms of most
features and performance, with
certain exceptions, notably the
absence of solid-state capacitors,
which are important for a boards
longevity, and a few fancy things like
LED buttons right on the board for
power On/Off, reset, and CMOS reset.

The Award
ASUS Striker Extreme

INTEL P965 CHIPSET BOARDS

The Reigning Champion
ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition
The P965 chipset is pretty old, but its a wellknown secret that the chipset unofficially supports the 1333 MHz FSB through BIOS updates,
and thus has support for the new Penryn
which breathes new life into this seemingly
fading chipset. The ASUS P5B Premium Vista
Edition is based on the P965; it is a very featurerich and fast board, though it costs quite a bit
(Rs 14,750). It supports up to seven SATA hard
drives and an additional one via the E-SATA
port. There is also support for legacy PCI cards
(three slots). It has all-solid-state capacitors,
which add to its stability and increase its life.

The Contenders
MSI P965 Platinum
A board thats been around for quite some time,
the P965 Platinum supports up to six SATA
devices and one E-SATA. The BIOS supports overclocking with fine adjustments, making it a good
choice for enthusiasts. Being a dated board, it
was natural for it to be a bit behind in terms of
features as compared to the Reigning Champion,
but it is priced well, and performance is superior.

on the Intel G33 chipset, has a very good layout,

is very well-built, and looks attractive. It employs
Realteks latest ALC889A codec-based HD-compliant sound solution.

The Contender
Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H
The GA-G33M-S2H, though also from Gigabyte, is
clearly built for a different target audience.
Priced at an unbeatable Rs 5,950, this board has
an HDMI port that lets you hook up a compliant
display or TV. With the ALC889A-based HD audio
solution, this board screams that it is one of the
best solutions for an HTPC.

The Award
Gigabyte GA-G33-DS3R
The Gigabyte GA-G33-DS3R is an enthusiasts
solution with greater overclockability, solidstate capacitors, and an ATX form factor. In
addition to six internal SATA devices, it supports two E-SATA devices too. It supports an
FSB of 1333 MHz, thus extending support to
the latest Intel processors. If you decide
that the integrated graphics is inadequate,
you can opt for any PCI-Express graphics card,
thanks to the x16 port. (PCI slots also figure.)
This motherboard is priced at Rs 9,500 and is
worth every penny, which makes it our Zero1
award winner.

The
Award
ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition
The ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition is eminently overclockable. Performance across the
range of our tests was one of the best in its category. The bundle is handsome: an IR remote
receiver (to control several functions, including the ability to hibernate, power down, and
even play music), an array microphone, and a
tiny LCD screen that allows you to view popups such as RSS feeds (it will even sync with
Web sites when your PC is on). You have a clear
Zero1 winner in this ageing but not toothless
category.

The ASUS Striker Extreme posted excellent scores

in every benchmark, and top-scored in almost
every gaming benchmark. It has a good bundle of games (including GRAW), and accessories such as cooling fans and USB brackets are also provided. Priced somewhat
high (Rs 21,400), this is the Zero1
award winner in this category.

AMD INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS

The Reigning Champion
Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H

Zebronics ZEB-N61M2

Integrated graphics platforms are of high importance in India because of cost considerations.
The Gigabyte GA-G33-DS3R motherboard, based

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DIGIT JANUARY 2008

The Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H delivers solid performance, ahead of much of its competition,
especially in benchmarks such as
PCMark 2005. The integrated
Radeon x1250 delivers decent performance
in
gaming, and has
support for HD video
playback, which is wellcomplemented by the 8channel HD audio onboard.
Add to this the DVI-to-HDMI
connector bundled along, and you have a board
that makes an excellent choice for an HTPC.

INTEL P35 CHIPSET

The Reigning Champion
ASUS P5K Premium
The P35 is a relatively new chipset from Intel,
and supports the newest breed of processor
architecturethe 45 nm Penryn. The Asus P5K
Premium has an excellent layout and exceptionally good build quality. The use of highquality components, such as solid-state capacitors, adds to the boards stability and longevity. Good support for overclocking is another
feature, and this makes it an enthusiasts
delight. It supports up to 8 GB of DDR2 memory at 1066 MHz, more than enough to take care
of your needs for years.

ASUS P5K3 Deluxe WiFi-AP; Gigabyte GAP35-DS3R

The Contender

Gigabyte GA-G33-DS3R

Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H

The Contender

Integrated graphics platforms are of high

importance in The AMD platform is still strong,
delivering good performance at good value. The
Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H has a nice layout,
which makes installation of add-on cards very
easy. There are three PCI slots. It supports the
latest AMD processors with the AM2 socket, and
an FSB of 1600/2000 MHz. Up to four SATA
devices are supported, and theres even an ESATA bracket.

INTEL INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS

The Reigning Champion

The Award

The onboard graphics on this board can handle low to medium gaming, and the 8-channel
audio solution is decent, too. This is one of the
oldest boards in the category, so it loses out
on new features, but it more than made up
with good performance and an unmatched
price of Rs 2,150.

Both the Asus P5K3 Deluxe WiFi-AP and the

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R are well-laid-out, highend motherboards with good build quality.
Both support the latest Intel processors and also
DDR3 memory at 1333 MHz, meaning theyre
quite future-proof. While the Gigabyte board
supports up to eight SATA devices and one ESATA, the ASUS has Wi-Fi onboard, along with
support for CrossFire. As far as performance
goes, these were almost neck-and-neck, and a little behind the Reigning Champion. At the final
tally, these stood too close to each other, and it
was only fair to award both of them second
place in this category.

The Award
ASUS P5K Premium
The ASUS P5K Premiumthe Zero1
winnerdelivered knockout
in
performances
whatever tests were
thrown its way; it was
the top scorer in its category. With CrossFire, HD
audio, dual Gigabit, and even
Wi-Fi onboard, this board is a
gamers delight. Though it is a bit
expensive at Rs 15,870, it is well
worth the price considering the performance
and the features you get.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

53

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYERS

n 2006, it was MP3 players that we tested
under this genre. 2007 saw things change.
There was video playability prominently featured on almost every device, barring a few odd
ones. In addition, there were features such as calendar, syncing with the PC e-mail client, etc.
added to the spec-sheet. The devices were therefore referred to as Personal Media Players (PMPs).

UP TO RS 5,000
The Reigning Champion
SanDisk Sansa c240
The Lil Monsta, as its called, looks unassuming, is sleek like a USB stick, and has top-class
build quality. There is 1 GB of internal memory,
though this can be augmented by means of a
MicroSD card. The Li-Ion battery lasted us 13.5
hours, which is pretty good considering the fact
that it has an LCD screen rather than the powerefficient OLED.

The Contender
Transcend T.sonic 840
This is a brand-new MP3 player, the replacement
for the T.sonic 630 models that followed the 610.
The major upgrade has been that the 1.8-inch
screen does a resolution of 176 x 220. This means
you can now use this device to read books as well.
You can find the 4 GB version of this player for
just under Rs 5,000.

The Award
Transcend T.sonic 840
The Transcend T.sonic 840 is brilliant value for its price, and displaces the Sansa c240 as the Zero1
winner. A fresh new design, the
large number of features, and loads
of memory make it a very good buy
for almost anyone. Theres even a 2 GB
version for Rs 600 to 700 lesser.

tomisable equaliser, and expansionyou name

it! It looks good, too, with the best-built, scratchproof titanium alloy back. There is support for
custom playlists and equalisers, and it can read
media stored inside folders.

The Contenders
Apple iPod nano 8 GB (third generation)

Apple iPod nano 8 GB (third generation)

Improvements and upgrades have made the
nano better than
ever. The iPod nano 8
GB (third generation)
wins the Zero1 award
in this, the mid-range
PMP category. When
the older nano (2
GB)
was
around, it was
priced around
Rs 8,150. This
one
makes
much
more
sense. Users
already using a Nano
might not find this worth the buy, but for those
looking for something under Rs 10,000theres
nothing as good as this. Its a lot about the
styling and good pricing.

ABOVE RS 10,000
The Reigning Champion
Cowon D2
A great looker, this PMP has a rather large
touchscreena brilliant 16 million colour display. Although it is made of plastic, the build
quality is very good. The touchscreen is the
only interface, and therefore there arent
many buttonsa stylus is provided to aid in
navigating the slick icon-based interface; not
that its requiredyou can even use your fingertips. It supports a wide range of audio formats, but there is native support for only two
video formatsAVI and MPEG. This issue, however, is taken care of by the bundled converter
software. If the 4 GB capacity falls short, there
is the option to add in an SD card.

RS 5,001 TO RS 10,000
The Reigning Champion
SanDisk Sansa e250
This one has it all: FM radio, voice recording, video playback, photo viewing, cus-

54

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

The Award
Apple iPod Touch
The iPod Touch comes in two flavours8
GB and 16 GB. Its possible to find the 8 GB
model for around Rs 14,000 in Indian
marketsan absolute killer price. Audio,

The new iPod nano 8 GB has improved on the

shortcomings of the older nano. This one has
a 2-inch screen for video. Its wide, but its still
tiny, and more importantly, its light.
Dropping memory prices means that now, an
8 GB MP3 player is around Rs 8,500. The Sansa
needs to put out something special if it is to
keep its top spot!

The Award

PROCESSORS
lot has changed from the Pentium and
Athlon series of yore. Intels Core 2 Duo
(C2D) is a breed apart and the reigning
champions of the number crunching game.
AMD has lost the race for now, and with their
Phenoms failing to deliver, theres nothing to
stop Intels juggernaut. Its only in the value segment that we see AMD fitting nicely; some AMD
processors offer the best bang for the buck.

THE BEST DESKTOP PROCESSOR

The Reigning Champion
Intel QX6850
The QX6850 is Intels flagship processor
which wed tested in our annual comparison
and it performs admirably. Though its a
quasi-quad-core, its performance in multithreaded application is breathtaking. With 8
MB of L2 cache and 1333 MHz FSB, the QX6850
running at 3 GHz just zips through most
applications. Retailing at Rs 45,000, the
QX6850 is very expensive, but with there
being absolutely no competition, you should
expect to cough up that sort of money!

The Contender
Intel QX9650 (Penryn)
Within a month of our processor shootout, Intel
unleashed quite something elsethe QX9650,
the first 45-nanometre silicon piece. Running at
3 GHz, with a 1333 MHz FSB, it has a 6 MB cache
per diea huge 12 MB in all. Built on a 45nm
process, the QX9650 is much more power-efficient as compared to its older sibling. The addition of 47 new instructions under SSE4 gives a
big boost to multimedia applications. Overall, we
saw a nice 7 to 10 per cent boost in performance
across our tests. Retailing at Rs 50,000, the QX9650 is definitely a step in the right direction.

The Award

The Contender

Intel QX9650

Apple iPod Touch

If money is no bar, Intels Core 2 Extreme

QX9650 is definitely the processor to go for, and
given the performance advantage, we have no
hesitation in awarding it our coveted Zero1
award for the best Desktop processor.

Theres no better contender for the Cowon D2

than the latest and most talked-of gadget from
Applethe iPod Touch. Its similar to the iPhone,
except, of course, theres no phone. The Touch

video, photos, Web

browsing,
you
name itthe Touch
has it. Think about
ityou can even
use it to watch
YouTube
videos!
Itd be unfair to
not award it the
Zero1 in this category; people love
it, and we do, too.

tag indicates a touchscreen, and unlike the ones

you find on some phones, this one uses multiple touches to allow you to flip through albums,
scroll, and resize. This is clearly a threat to the
dominance of the Cowon D2.

A PROCESSOR FOR EVERYONE

The Reigning champion
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
The Intel Q6600 is in its own class; no processor
can hold a candle to its excellent performance /
price ratio; it is sweetly priced at Rs 11,500. The
newer AMD Phenom processors have had a hard
time trying to beat the Q6600...

The Contenders
AMD Phenom 9600 and 9700
Based on pricing and clock speed, the Phenom
9600 and 9700 are the real contenders to the
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. However, availability
and compatibility with existing hardware will
be an issue for the new
Phenoms. Further, the
Q6600 offers better performance than both the
new AMD processors.

The Award
Intel Q6600
For now, its a one-sided
game; the Q6600 is the
clear winner. It rules
supreme and is the
processor to buy to build
a gaming or multimedia
PC. It gets our Zero1
award for its performance
as well as pricing.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

55

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

PROJECTORS
atching a movie, giving a presentation, or simply huge-screen gaming
everything is possible on a projector
today, which is now within the reach of the
general consumer. We did see changes in this
category as compared to last year. 2006 was
dominated by SVGA projectors (capable of 800
x 600), whereas this time round, the picture
was different, with XGA projectors (capable of
1024 x 768) being the dominant breed. Weve
also seen the entry of native HD (720p) projectors for the home theatre audience. Falling
prices add to the attraction of a projector, and
a large LCD or Plasma screen just cannot capture the same cinematic experience.

XGA PROJECTORS
The Reigning Champion
Acer PD726W
The Acer PD726W was perhaps the best-looking of the projectors we tested last year. A
sober black-and-silver colour tone and rugged
build quality make it really appealing.
Connectivity options are endless, with
Component, S-Video, RCA, D-Sub, DVI, and
even HDMI thrown inand theres network
connectivity via RJ45 and Wi-Fi. It is also possible to interface with the device through RS232 and USB (both USB A and B type connects
are provided in the package). The menu interface is easy. It allows you to specify an IP
address to which a message can be automatically sent in case something
goes wrong.

also offers integrated high speed wireless LAN

IEEE 802.11b/g via an optional wireless card. It
has presentation, broadcast, data conferencing and training mode, that gives the user, the
flexibility for just about any wireless application. Remote diagnostics features enable the
monitoring of the status and adjustment of
different functions of the projectors remotely
over a network, making it perfect for any corporation. The NP1000 features Eco-mode technology, that increases the lamp-life by at least
50 per cent. To add to this, the cooling fan continues to run for some time even after the
power is disconnected and the in-built sensors
protect the lamp and projector from overheating. There are also some security features such
as logo lock, password protection cabinet control lock which let you prevent anyone from
changing the its settings. Its price of Rs
1,20,000 does put it into the high-end bracket
as far as affordability goes.

The Award
Acer PD726W
The Acer PD726W has a very good brightness
rating spec3700 lumens. Coupled with a high
contrast ratio (2500:1), the PD726W is very
much a multimedia aficionados dream. When
we did the 256-shade intensity screen calibration, we encountered smooth transitions
between the shades. It performed very well in
the presentation tests; text reproduction was

The Contender
NEC NP1000
NECs NP1000 showed signs of
excellence, with an ANSI brightness of 3400 lumens and an actual static contrast ratio of 800:1. The

NP 1000 is very good for home and

professional use alike. It has got five
bayonet lenses inside that can vary
from 30 to 500 inches, offering an
amazing viewing experience when
placed at a distance of 2.5 to 68.5
feet from the screen. It offers both
vertical and horizontal lens shift,
allowing nearly limitless projector placement. This projector

56

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

SPEAKER SETS
C sound has matured over the past decade
to such an extent that it gives hi-fi sets a
run for their money. This has become possible due to advancements in PC sound cards,
and more so because the PC speakers of today
are much better than those of a few years ago.
2.1 sets are considered entry-level, though
the more expensive 2.1 sets are audiophileclass. 5.1 sets are better for multi-channel scenarios such as games and DVD movies.

2.1 SPEAKER SETS

The Reigning Champion
Altec Lansing ATP3
These sleek black speakers will look good on
any desktop. They are also built tough. There
are controls for Bass, Treble, and Volume. The
large, 6.5-inch woofer produces rich bass, and
each of the satellites has two 1.1-inch tweeters
and a 3-inch driver. The woofer is 18 W RMS,
while the satellites are 12 W (combined)more
than what might be expected of a 2.1 set. The
power adapter is built into the speakers.

games or movies, these speakers will not disappoint. Even with a relatively high price tag of Rs
3,400, these speakers are too good not to be
awarded the Zero1 in the 2.1 category!

5.1 SPEAKER SETS

The Reigning Champion
Artis S6600R / FM
The Artis S6600R/FM set is unique: it has not
only FM radio, but also AMan inexpensive,
very useful add-on. Though they sport a
chrome finish, the speakers arent gaudy.
There is a discrete amplifier box with all the
controls. The full-featured wireless remote
lets you control everything including the
radio and individual channel volumes. In
addition to the 5.1-channel input, there is also
a stereo auxiliary input to let you connect
stereo audio sources.

The Contenders
Artis X10 Mini

As with the ATP3, build quality is rugged. There

are two 5.25-inch drivers in isobaric configuration to provide double the amount of bass. The
satellites have 40 mm and 18 mm drivers to
handle a higher range of frequencies. It comes
with metal stands that add to the aesthetic
appeal. Theres a wired as well as a wireless
remote control. Overall performance was good,
and the bass stood out. This set is priced a little
on the higher sideRs 7,500.

Built very well, the Artis X10 Mini (Rs 12,000)

comes with nice, sturdy steel stands for rear
speakers to elevate them to the ear-level of the
listener. The satellites have veils with grilles
behind, giving the drivers some extra protection. The subwoofer is made of wood; wood
grains are visible on the exterior, giving it a
classy look. The provided cables are colourcoded, and are of exceptionally good quality.
The strong bass never drowned out the treble,
and we could hear every bit of detail even with
the bass at full throttle. Cranking up the volume and bass levels did not seem to do any
damage to the sound quality.

The Award

The Award

Altec Lansing ATP3

Artis S6600R / FM

The Altec Lansing ATP3 is strong in all areas of

the audio spectrum, meaning both Western
and Indian music will sound good. Whether its

As far as audio quality is concerned, the Artis

S6600R / FM is strong throughout the spectrumtreble in particular. In our gaming and
DVD movie tests, it reproduced directional
sound with great accuracy and clarity. The Artis
S6600R / FM is an all-in-one package at a very
good price of Rs 8,500; it wins the Zero1 award
in the 5.1 category.

The Contender
Altec Lansing FX4021

sharp. While halos did appear around

extremely light colours, they would disappear
by tuning the brightness and contrast. This is
a great movie projector with sharp image rendition and great contrast, and a great projector for big-screen gaming and movies alike.
Without a shadow of doubt, this is the only
projector that can win Zero1absolutely no
hesitation whatsoever!
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

57

ZERO1 Awards 2007

ZERO1 Awards 2007

TV-TUNERS
he launch of Vista this year saw the
2007 saw Windows Media Centerwhich
depends on compliant TV-Tuners to turn
your PC into an entertainment centrereach
everyone, rather than just people who bought
Media Center PCs. We tested TV-Tuners in
three categories: Internal PCI, External USB,
and External Set-top, the first being the most
popular as far as Desktop PCs are concerned.
We also saw the first digital TV-Tuners making an appearance, though we didnt test
them; the availability of digital terrestrial
broadcasts is very limited. We will probably
see more of these next year; digital broadcast
is expected to grow.

the competition in terms of performance and

its advanced features. It is the most rugged
of the lot; it comes with a stand to keep
it upright.

remote control that can control the Media

Player in Windows. In our tests, its performance was as good as that of the PVR2000.

The Contender
Tech-Com SSD-TV-722
This TV-Tuner has most of the features you
would expect, and is reasonably priced at Rs
1,750. Useful features include Picture-inPicture, which can be controlled via the

The Award
Leadtek WinFast PVR2000
The Zero1 award winner in this category, the
Leadtek WinFast PVR2000 managed to detect-

only three tuners to have a Composite port,

which lets you hook up a camcorder so you
can transfer analogue video recordings and
get them converted into digital video. It
comes bundled with all the necessary cables.
In this category, it detected the highest number of cable TV channels, and didnt even
require fine-tuning. The video quality was as
good as that of the WinFast PalmTop TV.

INTERNAL PCI TV-TUNER CARDS

The Reigning Champion
Leadtek WinFast PVR2000
This was one of a kind amongst the internal
PCI TV-Tuners. It was the only one to feature an
MPEG-2 decoder chip (which offloads the CPU
from the task of encoding video while capturing). This TV-Tuner is Windows MCE and Vista
MC ready. It sports the Conexant CX23882-39
chip, which is known to deliver superior picture quality owing to the 10-bit ADC. It supports the PAL and NTSC TV standards with
stereo audio. The full-function remote gives
you complete control over the TV card, thanks
to the superb WinFast PVR software.

The Award
Leadtek WinFast PalmTop TV
Only the lack of certain features cost the
Compro VideoMate Action Pro the Zero1
award. As for the Leadtek WinFast PalmTop TV,
which is our winner, the included PVR software

The Contender
Leadtek Winfast TV2000
XP Global

The Award

This model is just a few steps

behind the PVR2000 in terms of
features, and is therefore priced
lower (Rs 2,500). Features
include FM radio,
Picture-in-Picture,
and
a

The Zero1 in this category must go to the

AVerMedia AVerTV Box7; it was well ahead of
the competition, detecting 88 channels out of
90. None of its competitors came close to it as
far as image quality goes, even though some

AVerMedia AVerTV Box7

ed weak TV channels during our tests. The

driver installation is simple, and the PVR interface is very easy to understand and use.
Picture quality was top-notch. It comes with a
good software bundle, which makes it even
more worthwhile to spend that Rs 5,500 on
this card.

EXTERNAL USB TV-TUNERS

The Reigning Champion
Leadtek WinFast PalmTop TV
Now heres an external USB TV-Tuner that
looks good enough to adorn your desktop.
This was the only external TV-Tuner to feature an MPEG-2 encoder. It has out-of-thebox support for Windows MCE and is Vista
MC ready.

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

has all the capabilities you might

expect. The remote can be used to
control everything. The tuner comes
with a rich bundle of software, which includes
WinFast PVR, CyberLink PowerDVD, Orb,
Uleads Cool 3D, DVD MovieFactory 3SE, and
VideoStudio 9 SE DVD. And finally, the image
quality was the best weve seen thus far with an
external USB TV-Tuner.

EXTERNAL SET TOP TV-TUNERS

The Reigning Champion

The Contenders

AVerMedia AVerTV Box7

Compro VideoMate Action Pro

AVerMedia has been the dominant player for

the past many years as far as external set-top
TV-Tuners are concerned, and it has remained
that way. The AVerTV Box7 is way ahead of

This one is, without a doubt, the most

rugged of external TV-Tuners, with a
strong metallic casing. It was one of the

58

remote. The Tech-Com SSD-TV-722 comes with

an MMI (MultiMedia Interface) cable for video
and audio inputs from external sources such
as DVD players. It supports a healthy viewing
resolution of 1280 x 1024. It detected 84 out of
90 channelsnot badand image quality was
quite decent too.

featured similar resolutions.

It supports a resolution of up
to 1280 x 1024. It has all
types of connectors, enabling you
to connect any AV sourceeven
your set-top box. Its priced a wee bit on the
higher side, but this is as close to TV as you
can get on a monitor!
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

59

ZERO1 Awards 2007

WI-FI COMPONENTS
e all crave freedom: from wired telephones, wired keyboards, and even
wired networks. The Wi-Fi wave
reached Indian shores in a big way last year;
we reviewed Wi-Fi routers (which enable wireless networking at home) and also Wi-Fi ADSL
routers (which let you share your Internet
connection wirelessly).

sit near your PC if you have one of these. Priced

at Rs 4,400, the WL-530G offers excellent value
for money. Grab the WL-530Git is the fastest WiFi router out there, and our Zero1 winner.

ROUTERS
The Reigning Champion

This one is the AP equivalent of the WRT54G

router. It is wall-mountable, and a kit to implement that is provided. It sports two antennas,
so we expected it to have stronger signal
strength, and this was indeed the case. An additional feature is bridging capabilities. The
firmware interface is identical to that of the
WRT54G, apart from the lack of routing functions. Security features such as NAT and SP1 are
present, along with almost every other
advanced feature such as encryption, wireless
isolation, etc.

ASUS WL-530G
This device is small enough to be stuffed inside
a trouser pocket. Its not small on features
thoughDHCP, NAT, VPN-pass through, and all
the security features are there. Though not the
best we have seen so far, you can make your
way around ASUS software after fiddling
around for just a little while. Due to its tiny
footprint, wed recommend it to the hotspot
browser on the move.

The Contenders
Senao ECB 3220

LinkSys WRT54G

The wall-mountable Senao ECB 3220 functions

as a wireless bridge and also as an Access Point.
In keeping with its primary function (bridge), it
showed very good signal strength. It was a
steady performer and didnt lose reception in
any of the testsnot even while moving
between Zones; something unique, because all
the other devices in the test, with the exception
of the ASUS Wl-600G, lost reception while the
laptop was being moved between zones, thus
reaffirming that the ECB 3220 has a very strong
signal. Being an AP, it carries a rather expensive
price tag of Rs 8,280, but because of its powerful
signal, office users will find it useful as a bridge
between two wireless networks.

The Award
ASUS WL-530G
With unmatched speeds
in our tests, the ASUS WL530G is suitable for setting
up a home or SoHo wireless office where its
data throughput capabilities will be put to
good use. It exhibited superior performance
in the video streaming test as wellthus
you wont have to

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

LinkSys WAP54G

The Contender
This router sports twin antennas. It has four
ports with bridging, and supports 802.11 b/g. In
terms of security, there is support for NAT and
SP1 along with IP blocking and Wireless
Isolation and encryption. It outpaced
much of the competition in the Zone
1 tests. Though its signal quality is slightly inferior, where
this one scores is in
pricing: just Rs 3,634.

60

ACCESS POINTS
The Reigning Champion

The Award
LinkSys WAP54G
The LinkSys WAP54G demolished the competition in our data transfer tests. The performance, coupled with the attractive
price tag of $80 (Rs 3,200) makes it a great
buy. The remote Web interface is easy
to use, and security
features are well-integrated in this Access
Pointmaking it a
deserving winner of
our Zero1 award.

Digital Tools l Jumpstart

Digital

Tools
Quite
66 Flash Drive Test 83 Tips & Tricks 96 Not
Prime Time

Technology For Personal And SoHo Productivity

Lead Feature

Grab These Apps!

Presenting: the
most useful
mobile software
we can think of!

Asfaq Tapia
f you travel a lot, your mobile and laptop
are quite likely your most important possessions. In this article, we present software
you cant do without when on the road.
Actually, even if you arent on the road, this
stuff is still cool to have!

VITO AudioNotes
One of the coolest pieces of software out there for
your phone, VITO AudioNotes allows you to record
audio (in WAV or MP3 format) from your phones
microphone. What this means is that you dont
have to scramble for pen and paper whenever
someone dictates something to you. Whats more,
it can record incoming and outgoing calls automaticallyperfect for those sting operations!

At its highest recording quality of 96 Kbps, a

10-second WAV file takes up approximately 1 MB
of space, while an MP3 of similar length takes
up 135 KBvery nifty. While recording notes, you
can also adjust the sensitivity of the mic with
the Mic. Auto Gain option. The automatic call
record function does just thaton a Windows
Mobile device, selecting this option will record
all calls even when the program is not running
in the background.
Once recorded, the calls and notes can be
saved on either the phone memory or the
memory card. Another interesting function of
the software is that it allows you to append
new recordings to previously-recorded notes or
calls; for example, if you have a recording of an
outgoing call, you can append your own summary of the call to the end of it and save it all
as one recording.
Platform: Symbian S60, Windows Mobile
Buy from: http://tinyurl.com/2ghob7
Price: $19.95 (Rs 800)

OfficeSuite 4

Shrikrishna Patkar

OfficeSuite works on any Symbian Series 60

phone and allows you to make and edit Word,
Excel, or PowerPoint documents right on the
phone. Though you wont be able to make Pivot
Tables or define custom style sheets, it should get
the job done for a file that has to be sent urgently.
When you make a new document, it will allow
you to save it on the phone or on external
memory. OfficeSuite gives you
nearly all the
formatting
tools you get
with MS Office,
including the
red underlines
for misspelled
words. When
you make a
workbook, you
can hide, freeze,
or insert rows
and columns,
and you can use The Excel app in OfficeSuite 4
functions too.
looks pretty much like MS Excel
JANUARY 2008 DIGIT

61

Digital Tools l Lead Feature

When using the PowerPoint application, you
can switch from slide view to slideshow view or
outline view. Most of the animation functions
and shapes are also available.
The software wont save or read Office 2007
format files, nor will it auto-save your files every
few minutes, but it does the job better than any
other Office clone for mobile phones.
Platform: Symbian S60
Buy from: http://tinyurl.com/2broyc
Price: $49.99 (Rs 2,000)

Virtual Network Computing

Lets face itin spite of having all the cool tools to
help you when youre on the road, theres
nothing better than accessing your computer at
the end of the day. Ultr@VNC is a virtual network
computing (VNC) program that allows you to do
just that from absolutely anywhere.
The Ultr@VNC software consists of two parts
VNC Server and VNC Viewer. You need to install
VNC Server on the host computer (at home, for
example), and use VNC Viewer to browse the contents of the host machine over the Internet.
The greatest advantage of using Ultr@VNC is
that it has an option called JavaViewer, which
allows you to access a remote host even without
having the VNC Viewer installed. All you have to
do is use a Web browser with Java installed and
connect to http://[ip_address]: 5800, where
ip_address is your home PCs IP address. You can
get Ultr@VNC free off our November 2007 CD.

Mozilla Thunderbird
Thunderbird is an open source e-mail client that
rivals Outlook in terms of features and performance. It supports the POP3, IMAP, and LDAP protocols. With the release of the Beta 1 of
Thunderbird 2.0, it has become increasingly clear
that most of the functions available in Outlook
will be available in Thunderbird too.
When released, the client will eventually support tabs to open multiple e-mails from your
inbox at once. Just like Gmail, Thunderbird can
also sort e-mails in a threaded view. You can configure multiple e-mail accounts to retrieve mail
from. It supports the creation of multiple folders,
among other things. Another new feature is the
ability to tag e-mails with keywords so they can be
searched for easily.
Platform: Windows (All) / Mac / Linux
Get From: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

AI RoboForm
This interestingly-named software is a password
manager and automatic form filler with some
serious artificial intelligence. Why is it in this list,
you ask? Simple: you dont want to be carrying
slips of paper with passwords written all over
them while travelling; AI RoboForm is a much
better alternative.
After installing the program, youll be asked
to enter your details on an exhaustive Web form,
which is stored on the computer. There on, its
all smooth sailing. When you need to fill out a
form on the Webwhen registering on a Web
site, for examplejust click Fill Forms and all
the fields will be automatically filled with the
necessary information.
The real beauty of the software is that it is
encrypts all your passwords with 3-DES technology, so there is no way
your passwords will be
compromised. The software works even on AJAXbased
pop-up
login
windows (like those on
Facebook). It can also generate random, secure passwords for use on Web sites,
which it automatically
saves for later use. There is
also an option to print all
the passwords stored with
AI RoboForm, but that
defeats the purpose of
The options menu in AI RoboForm
using the software! You
can also password-protect
your identity in AI RoboForm to prevent others
from logging into your account on Web sites.
Find AI RoboForm on this months CD.
Platform: Windows (All)
Get from: www.roboform.com

The Thunderbird e-mail program with mails sorted in folders

62

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Free SMTP Server

Picture this: youre on the move, and you need to
send an important e-mail to a client. Your office
mail server is down, or taking excessively long to
send e-mails. Havent many of us been through
this situation? Fret not; you can now use software
for exactly this situation.
Free SMTP Server creates an SMTP server right
on your PC. It can be used with any mail client
all you need to do is change the outgoing SMTP
server to localhost in the mail client.
When its launched, the program will automatically detect the DNS server and port number
through which to send e-mail. If you want the
mail to go through a specific DNS server address
or port, you can configure that, too. Be aware that
that some ISPs close the SMTP port 25, forcing you
to use only their SMTP server, so make sure the
port is unblocked before using the program. The
only drawback of the software is that if any other
service is already using the specified SMTP port,
it gives you an error instead of adding the request
to the queue.
Free SMTP Server has no frills, but thats what
makes it so fast and efficient.
Platform: Windows (All)
Get From: http://tinyurl.com/yrzl37

Digital Tools l Lead Feature

can get sluggish; and finally, MojoPac runs only
on Windows XP host machines.
In spite of its few drawbacks, MojoPac is a
wonderful tool for professionals on the move who
dont carry a laptop.
Platform: Windows XP only
Get From: www.mojopac.com
Price: Free (Freedom Edition), $ 49.99 (Rs 2000)
(Deluxe Edition)

Blacklist

Changing the DNS server settings in Free SMTP Server

MojoPac
The biggest problem while using a computer
thats not yours is that you dont know if its
infected, or if your activities are being logged. Of
course, there are ways to find out, but youd
rather be doing something more important with
your time.
Enter stage left, MojoPac. The idea behind
the software is simple: it installs itself on any
portable media device, from MP3 players to USB
sticks, and creates a virtual environment for you
to install and run applications. While most virtualisation software require you to purchase a
separate licence for Windows to install on your
portable media, MojoPac uses essential files
from the machine that it is connected tothe
host machineto run a protected environment.
When in this virtualised mode, MojoPac
places a toolbar at the top of the Desktop, which
allows you to switch back to the host when
required. The computing tasks you carry out in
the virtualised mode stay there, and no traces of
those are replicated on the host machine. All the
software we installed in the virtualised mode

MojoPac in action

ran perfectly. There are reports, however, of Webcams not working properly with the software.
There are a few things we dont really like,
though. In the virtualised mode, you dont have
access to the drives on the host machine, and
any file transfer you want to do between your
MojoPac USB stick to the host machine has to be
done outside of MojoPac. The software works
fine with USB 2.0 devices, but on older devices it

64

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

MojoPac is a
wonderful tool
for professionals
on the move
who dont carry
a laptop

Have you ever been nagged by pesky telemarketers who wont take No for an answer? Or how
about those times when you want some peace
and quiet and your phone just wont stop ringing?
Epocware Handys Blacklist could be your saviour.
True to its name, the application blocks
callers from calling you. When you run Blacklist
for the first time, a dialog box appears, which
allows you to block callers. From here, you can
choose if you want to block numbers from recent
calls, private numbers, unknown numbers, and
your contact list; if you want to enter the number
manually, you have that option too. The Settings
menu allows you to automatically add rejected
numbers to the blacklist and keep a log of all
blocked numbers for up to 60 days.
Unlike other monitoring software, Blacklist
starts automatically with your phone. The only
downside of the application that we found was
that it did not display an alert every time it
blocked a number, so youd never know until you
checked the logs.
Platform: Symbian S60
Buy from: http://tinyurl.com/33kd33
Price: $19.95 (Rs 785)

Handy Zip
E-mail attachments are normally sent as zipped
files, and unfortunately, there are very few
phones that natively support zipped files. Every
mobile
professional
who checks e-mail on
the phone dreads these,
but if you have Handy
Zip, youll be fine.
This little application allows you to
access
and
create
zipped archives on the
phone. When you start
the application, it
searches for any zipped
Now easily access and even archives on the phone
create Zip archives on your and displays them. Just
mobilewith Handy Zip!
click on the relevant
archive to go into it.
When you want to create an archive, go to
Select > New Archive. Then, browse to the
file or folder you want to archive and select it.
The application allows you to choose between
five levels of compressionfrom None to Maximum. You can also choose to archive sub-folders
and sort archives by name or size in ascending or
descending order.
Platform: Symbian S60
Buy from: http://tinyurl.com/38ptue
Price: $12.95 (Rs 510)
[email protected]

Digital Tools l Flash Drive Test

IG
YTE

Nothing is permanent
but change.
Heraclitus
Michael Browne

Flash is bigger, faster, and

cheaper than ever before.
Ride the wave at its cusp
youve got 34 of them to
choose from

hile nobody will dispute the

accuracy of the above statement its equally true that
storage hasnt followed this
trend in recent years. Sure
weve had bigger, faster hard drives, and even
greater capacities on optical media, as parallel recording gave way to perpendicular
recording and CDs gave way to DVDs and
dual-layer DVDs.
Flash memory has always been considered
a dark horse. It promised to be a great ride
for pioneers of the technology, but the risks
were equally big. Every technology needs a
catalyst to speed up its development into a
mature product. Flash has two things working in its favour nowthe need for a dependable portable medium to carry data, and the
fact that magnetic recording (HDDs) have
come close to their limits both as far as speed
and capacity go.
Today, examples of Flash storage can be
seen from the solid-state hard drives that
have begun to appear in laptops to the humble subjects in this test. Greater size and
speed in addition to the ever diminishing
price makes flash drives perhaps one of the
best buys this year. We were shocked when
the prices of 4 GB flash memory plummeted
to around Rs 1,500just a year ago the prices
were more than double that. Higher capacities (16 GB and above) are still pricey enough
to intimidate all but the most persistent
buyer, but thats sure to change, just wait and
watch. Perhaps more surprising was the

increments in speed of read / write operationssadly, we dont get to take coffee

breaks between tests any more.
We scoured the market and chose 34 drives
from amongst the masseseach contender
was chosen on the basis of it offering something uniquewhether in terms of value, or
performance, or appeal.

JANUARY 2008

SKINNY BYTES1 GB
Features
Out of the five drives we tested in this
section, we really liked the rugged build
of the Corsair Voyager 1 GB. Built with a
high-quality rubber / silicone compound,
the Voyager easily resists damage when
dropped. Despite the soft body, it doesnt
feel flimsy to hold or use. Transcends
JetFlash 168 was another beauty. One
side of the surface has a silver metallic
sticker with beautiful embossing. The
quality of the plastic used is good. Other
than the Moser Baer 1 GBwhich had a
swivel type design and a quality metal
outer sheaththe other two drives were
pretty ordinary.
Corsair had some sort of a security application installed on each of their Voyager
series drivesbut this didnt prove to be really
securea format removed the application
entirely! Not good for someone who wants to
protect data.

Performance
The Moser Baer 1 GB proved to be speedy overall. Although the Transcend JetFlash 168
shocked us in the 100 MB assorted file test
with 4.11 MBpsan unheard of speed for a random write operationso much so that we ran
the benchmark again to be sure. In fact these
two fought it out fiercely, but Moser Baers
offering won the race in the end.

MoserBaer 1 GB
Small n fast!

How We Tested
We used Windows XP Professional with SP2. All testing was
done on a secondary partition to avoid hard drive
bottlenecks. We turned off functions like System Restore,
and also kept a permanent swap file on a separate 1.5 GB
primary partition.

Test Machine Specification

Processor
Motherboard
RAM
HDD
Graphics Card

Pentium 4 520 (3.2 GHz)

Gigabyte P965 DQ6
Kingston DDR2 800 MHz 512x2
Hitachi T7K 250GB SATA 2
NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS

Features:
Points were awarded for security features (encryption,
password locking etc), we even tested the security feature
(if present) to ascertain its strength
Software features include any firmware on the drive and

Shrikrishna Patkar

the bundle. We awarded extra points for backup and

recovery and sync suites bundled
An LED is a must to know when a read/write operation is
being performed
Accessories being the life breath of any personal device
were awarded points for simply being part of the bundle.
We looked for extras like belt chains and hooks, lanyard
rings, and neck straps
Other features included something noteworthy in a
particular product that made it unique
Performance:
HD Tach tests and reports on five parameters. Weve
listed all five but only taken three (the read/write scores)
into contention for our calculations.
SiSoft Sandra 2007 tests the read / write performance of
a flash drive. We gave more bias to the write scores.
Our file transfer tests consisted of two partsone was a
100 MB file transfer test, the other was a maximum size
transfer test. We ran both sequential (one large file) and
random (lots of different files of varying size) tests.

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

67

Digital Tools l Flash Drive Test

The Transcend JetFlash V30 turned out to
be the proverbial tortoise, as did the Corsair
Voyager 1GB, while the Toshiba 1 GB neatly
separated these two from the hares.

Conclusion
A 1 GB drive is only recommended when you
absolutely cannot afford to spend any more.
We say this because two and four GB drives are
fasterlarger density flash modules tend to
have better data transfer ratesand offer more
value for money. If you are specifically shopping for a 1 GB drive our Digit Best Buy Gold
winnerthe Moser Baer 1 GBis your best bet.

SLIGHTLY OVERWEIGHT2 GB
Features
JANUARY 2008

Corsair Voyager 2 GB
The most rugged data
lugger

One glance at Umaxs Apus Zoom had us humming Roxettes Shes got the looka jet black
drive with two silver-chrome strips on each
side, its pretty, but didnt feel sturdy enough.
The SanDisk Cruzer Titanium was another
attractionsolid metal body (as the name suggests) and a dark gun-grey colour. The regular
Cruzer drive is identical looking except that
the material used is high quality plastic rather
than metal. Corsairs rugged Voyager series
made another appearance with in 2 GB avatar.
Buffalos Turbo USB 2.0 is a cool looking transparent drivethough theres nothing in terms
of moving parts to make any sense of the transparency. Its a pity that Buffalo didnt add an
activity LED.
We also had a bulky Kingston DataTraveler
Reader which cunningly incorporates a memory card reader into the regular pen drive.
This is a good option if you need both a USB
drive and a memory card reader. Its not built
very well though. Transcends JetFlash V10, on
the other hand, is built solidly, but is uninspiring to look at.
Buffalos 2GB offering uses a technology
called Turbo USB, which requires a small download from their Web site. This software once
installed on the PC claims to help speed up

The Blue WhaleCorsair Voyager 16 GB

he only really large drive we were able to get our hands on was a Corsair
Voyager featuring a massive 16 GB. Although their catalogue shows that the
32 GB variant is a market reality, availability is a different story. This drive
features the same ruggedness that the Voyager series are famous for, and shares
even the same colour. In fact, if not for the tiny 16 GB imprint on the translucent
rubber that covers the activity LED, you wouldnt be able to tell it apart from
their other versionsit looks just like the 2 GB version shown above.
It was a pity to see such a large drive thrashed in our random write tests,
though. Although this particular test brings most drives to their knees, we were
hoping for a different result here. Alas, with assorted write speeds of 1 and 2.35
MBps the Voyager 16 GB isnt as fast as its target audience would want it to be.
If you want a 16 GB drive, youre probably a movie buff or an enthusiast, looking
to transport dual-layer ISOs or rather large games on this drive, which might
end up being a painful wait.
Overall, this drive is a benchmark for the size wed like to see become de
facto next year. But theres not much going for the Voyager besides its size
and of course its priceRs 6,990. Imagine lugging your MP3s to office and
back. Got a bigger music collection than that? Wait for the 32 GB version, and
pray that its much faster.

68

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Digital Tools l Flash Drive Test

transfers and seems to be some sort of buffering software. Another software called Buffalo
Secure Lock Ware which is a security package
can be downloaded and installed. We couldnt
see the reason why such software couldnt be
bundled on a disk, or in the drive itself. They
are still bundled software if you think about
it, and all Buffalos drives feature them.

Performance
Corsairs Voyager 2 GB did a complete turnaround of our initial impressions with the 1
GB modelit was fast, so much so that it nearly overtook the speed demon that was the
Transcend JetFlash V10. Both the SanDisk
drives just tagged behind the leaders and
strangely did very well with large write operations involving multiple small filesbetter
than the two overall leaders. Funnily the scenario changes when we look at the small 100
MB file transfer tests, where the Cruzers lag
behind, although by a small margin.
The Moser Baer 2 GB was a ubiquitous performerfast, but amid faster drives, unlike its
smaller sibling. The attractive Kingston
DataTraveler 2 GB was abysmally slow.

Conclusion
Whether youre looking at speed or something
tough enough to withstand a few drops from
your pocket look no further than our Digit Best
Buy Gold winnerCorsairs Voyager 2 GB. It
even comes with an attractive transparent USB
extension cable so you wont have to get dusty
fiddling around the rear of your cabinet if you
dont have front USB ports. Best of all, it costs
a measly Rs 900!
The SanDisk U3-based brothers, the Cruzer
Titanium and the Cruzer, also make very good
buys for someone wanting a fast drive. These
make sense, because if youre planning on transferring close to 2 GB of data regularly, its pointless to choose something slow. Transcends
JetFlash V10 2 GB (Rs 800) was also fast, similar
to the V10 1 GB in the previous group.
Transcend clearly uses much faster Flash
chips in their V10 series as compared to their
V30 serieswhich seem the slowest of the
Transcend drives. In fact the Transcend
JetFlash V30 is such a slowcoach that only one
drive in this category was slowerthis dubious
honour belonging to the Umax Apus Zoom 2
GBunless you plan quick naps between large
write operations youll stay well away.
Toshibas U3 offering was also well below the
standard of what is considered fastand if you
want a U3 based drive we cant recommend
this after the brilliant SanDisk Cruzers.

One drive stands out in this categorythe

Sandisk Extreme Ducati Edition. The D word
causes the motorcycling enthusiasts amongst
us to get weak-kneed and dry mouthed with
anticipation. This drive features a solid metal
upper body (painted Ducati-red) with a quality
plastic bottom. The USB interface safely tucks
away and the LED indicator is made to look like
the tail-light of a super bike. The drive also features SanDisks famous Extreme Flash memory,
which obviously made us want to test it first.
Also in this category were Kingstons Data
Traveler Mini and Data Traveler Mini Fun are
really tiny drives. The Traveler Mini has a very
neat retracting system which completely tucks
away the USB interface beneath its tiny exterior. The Mini Fun is designed to look funkyand
is a bright red. Note that besides their diminutive size these are full fledged USB drives
Kingston hasnt cut corners on functionality.
Toshibas TransMemory 4 GB has one of the
curviest formsstraight body curved inwards
at either end. A very attractive dark grey plastic body does justice to a beautiful footprint.
Tech-Coms 4 GB offering came with
DiskPro on the firmware. This software
appears as a discrete floppy drive. Double
clicking this drive will bring up a screen that
will query for a password to protect access to
the drive. You can also set a hint question.
Whats best about this is that the drive cannot
be formatted without providing the password
(a contrast to the poor security suite on the

Corsair Voyager drives). Tech-Com also provided good accessoriesa long USB extension
cable and a neat lanyard.

Performance

JANUARY 2008

Ducatis are known for their performance,

arent they? True to its heritage, the SanDisk
Extreme Ducati Edition blows everything in
this comparison to smithereensit was
puzzingly slow in the 100 MB assorted write,
though still faster than the other drives and
that was itno more complaints! With a random write speed of 13.34 MBps for 4 GB of
assorted files and an equally amazing 18.06
MBps for sequential write, this drive is two
and sometimes three times faster than most
other drives.
The only other two contenders barely close
enough to choke on the exhaust fumes of the
SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition, were the
JetFlash V10 4 GB from Transcend and the
Corsair Voyager 4 GB. The stragglers consisted
of the Imation Nano 4 GB, the Tech-Com 4 GB,
Toshiba TransMemory 4 GB, and the Kingston
Data Traveler 100.

Conclusion
If our hearts ruled our heads wed award the
SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition with gold and
forget about this category. However its not the
wisest choice and not everyone will want to
spend three times more for double the speed.
That established, Digits Best Buy Gold goes to

Transcend JetFlash V10 4 GB

When performance and price
collide

CERTIFIED FAT4 GB
Features
The 4 GB segment is where all the fun starts,
mainly because just six months ago these
drives were double the price they are today.
There is also a lot more data you can carry
aroundphotos, movies, and music. The math
is simple toodouble the price of a 2 GB gives
you double the storage space.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

69

Digital Tools l Flash Drive Test

Digital Tools l Flash Drive Test

JANUARY 2008

Scoreboard
BRAND
MODEL

Toshiba
1 GB

Moser Baer
1 GB

Corsair
Voyager 1 GB

JANUARY 2008

1 GB
Buffalo
Turbo USB 2GB

Transcend
JetFlash 168

Transcend
JetFlash V30 1 GB

2 GB

Corsair
Voyager 2 GB

Kingston
DataTraveler

Kingston
DataTraveler Reader
2GB

Moser Baer
2 GB

SanDisk
Cruzer Titanium U3 2GB

Price (Exclusive Of Taxes)

Comments

550

480

470

700

970

900

2850

2500

735

1590

+ Rugged
Slow performer

+ Fast, looks good

None in particular

+ Attractive Looker
Mediocre performer

+ Attractive
Very Slow

+ Attractive, reasonably fast

None in particular

+ Looks good
Turbo mode not effective

+ Rugged and Fast

None in particular

+ Well built
Very slow

+ Feature Rich
Slow

+ Fast performer
Flimsy design

+ Extremely Well Built

Heavy

Grand Totals (Out Of 100)

Features
Performance
Features
Storage Capacity (Claimed)
Storage Capacity (Actual)
Security
Software Features
Visual Indicators (LED, etc.)
Other Accessories Provided
Other Features
Build Quality (Scale Of 10)
Quality Of Materials Used
Sturdiness Of The Overall Package
Cap Locking Mechanism
Performance
HD-Tach 3 (8 MB Write Tests)
Random Access Time
Average Read Speed
Average Write Speed
Read Burst Speed
CPU Utilisation (%)
SiSoft Sandra 2007 (64MB File Test)
Read
Write
File Transfer Test
Write100 MB (Sequential)
Read100 MB (Sequential)
Write100 MB (Assorted)
Read100 MB (Assorted)
Write1 GB (Sequential)
Read1 GB (Sequential)
Write1 GB (Assorted Files)
Read1 GB (Assorted Files)

40.00
20.86
19.14

42.75
13.09
29.66

37.66
13.44
24.22

29.21
15.26
13.95

41.28
14.77
26.51

37.30
13.09
24.21

51.77
20.86
30.91

27.72
12.25
15.47

33.16
13.65
19.51

41.65
13.09
28.56

50.56
24.71
25.85

1 GB
967 MB
NA
6
Y
USB Extension cable

1 GB
960 MB
N
0
N
NA
NA

1 GB
960 MB
N
0
N
NA
NA

1 GB
969 MB
N
0
Y
lanyard cable
NA

1 GB
998 MB
N
5
N
lanyard cable
NA

2 GB
1.88 GB
N
0
N
NA
NA

2 GB
1.88 GB
N
6
Y
USB Extension cable

2 GB
1.86 GB
NA
0
N
NA
NA

2 GB
1.95 GB
NA
0
N
NA
Card Reader

2 GB
1.88 GB
N
0
N
NA
NA

2 GB
1.9 GB
Y
8
Y
NA
NA

7.5
7.75
7

6.5
6.5
7

6.5
6.5
7.5

5.5
5.5
7

6
6.5
6

6.5
6.5
7

7.5
7.75
7

6
6.25
6.5

6
6.5
6.5

6.5
6.5
7

8
7.5
6.5

0.9 ms
16.7 MBps
7.35 MBps
17 MBps
0

0.5 ms
28.5
4.6
23.6
0.04

0.4 ms
18.7
7.5
18.8
0.05

0.6 ms
18.2
6.8
19.2
0.03

8.7 ms
12.4
8.6
14.4
0

0.6 ms
21.2
6.1
22.3
0.06

0.9 ms
29.6
11.2
31
0

1 ms
12.8
6.5
13.7
0

0.7 ms
12.6
7.6
12.9
0.04

0.5 ms
30.4
4.5
25
0.03

0.4 ms
20.6
8.4
21
0.09

16.38 MBps
4.36 MBps

18.53
4.63

17.47
7.46

18.23
4.53

14.19
6.47

21.36
4.61

29.49
6.55

11.12
5.73

13.84
6.84

18.56
4.36

19.12
7.33

4.19 MBps
16.19 MBps
0.78 MBps
13.71 MBps
4.15 MBps
14.93 MBps
2.71 MBps
11.84 MBps

7.57
26.74
1.08
13.19
6.23
33.68
6.21
28.04

7.88
20.41
0.93
14.95
7.85
13.24
4.07
16.18

5.75
10.83
0.29
8.89
1.44
5.00
1.25
3.73

8.23
13.62
4.11
14.58
8.40
12.73
5.25
13.74

4.28
47.17
0.74
13.23
4.24
19.61
3.30
17.50

7.76
31.15
1.11
12.99
7.51
27.68
4.03
21.49

4.29
10.09
0.30
7.45
5.90
13.78
2.08
9.29

6.46
12.79
0.61
11.68
6.18
12.43
4.19
11.58

4.02
19.19
0.62
10.66
7.05
37.48
6.34
30.36

7.26
19.61
1.50
8.75
7.60
18.57
6.30
16.61

Flash Forward

eve seen flash emerging from a niche product to something that is properly
mainstream. But as of now this applies to thumb drives only. On the bigger
scene flash memory has pervaded more than just your pocket. It has seen usage
as a storage medium, particularly in notebooks, where power consumption is a
necessary evil. The fact that flash has no moving parts and consumes a fraction of
the power of its magnetic siblings, is an attractive enough reason for vendors to
use it, despite the fact that anything more than 16 GB of flash is very expensive.
As the drive for convergence leads to better PDAs, multimedia phones,
PMPs and their ilk, with more features and customisability, the demand for
storage as a medium will increase by leaps and bounds. Flash has been waiting
in the wings for a while nowa nascent period that saw a growth of no more
than 10 per cent.
Were still going to prefer 500 GB hard drives for awhile, and itll take
some time for extremely high density flash modules to enter the consumer
space. However, when it comes to portable storage, the invasion of flash has
already begun

70

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

550

Trancends JetFlash V10 4 GB. An excellent

productits fast, reasonably rugged and a
steal at just Rs 1,600. The only other worthy
alternative is the Corsair Voyager 4 GB (Rs
1,550). Its the third-fastest drive in the comparison and has a decent bundle (similar to
the other Voyager drives).
Once again, Toshibas much acclaimed
TransMemory drives failed to impress. We were
surprised at the lacklustre performance of the
Buffalo 4 GB drive and even with Turbo USB
enabled we didnt notice a big improvement.
In fact this was the case in the 2GB category as
well, sure a difference of 2-3 percent with
Turbo USB enabled may seem significant, but
its not a big deal and not really noticeable in
realitymore over its a far cry from the
claimed 16 percent performance hike.

OBESE INDULGENCES8 GB
Features
With the ability to store 8 gigabytes of data,
you can actually extract entire DVDs to such
drives. Kingstons DataTraveler Secure was a
hulk of a driveheavy, and claimed to be
waterproof (up to four feet under-water);
something we didnt test. Buffalos Turbo USB
was identical to the other Buffalo drives, and
thats a good thing. The 8 GB Cruzer from
SanDisk was built identically to the other
Cruzer drivesexemplary. The other attractive looking drive was the Transcend JetFlash
V30 which used a shiny black, translucent
body to convey all the appeal it needed to. Its
rather compact too, and was the smallest of
the 8 GB drives.

JANUARY 2008

Transcend V60 8 GB
One stop data shop!

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

71

Digital Tools l Flash Drive Test

Digital Tools l Flash Drive Test

2 GB

BRAND
MODEL

SanDisk
Cruzer U3 2 GB

Toshiba
TransMemory 2GB

4 GB

JANUARY 2008

Transcend
JetFlash V30 2 GB

Transcend
JetFlash V10 2 GB

Buffalo
Turbo USB 4GB

Umax
Apus Zoom

Corsair
Voyager 4GB

Imation
Nano 4GB

Kingston
4GB DataTraveler 100

Kingston
DataTraveler Mini

Kingston
DataTraveler Mini Fun

Price (Exclusive Of taxes)

Comments

1690

860

900

800

1138

2,000

1,550

1,800

2,272

2,850

2,850

+ Well built
None in particular

+ Attractive looks
Very Slow

+ Compact, good looks

Slow

+ Fast, well built

Bland looks

+ Great Looks
Very Slow

+ Attractive looks
Turbo USB over hyped

+ Rugged, fast
None in particular

+ Cute looking
Slow

+ Good build quality

Slow performer

+ Very Compact
USB Mechanism tacky

+ Cute looking, compact

Mediocre build quality

Grand Totals (Out Of 100)

Features
Performance
Features
Storage Capacity (Claimed)
Storage Capacity (Actual)
Security
Software Features
Visual Indicators (LED, etc.)
Other Accessories Provided
Other Features
Build Quality (So 10)
Quality Of Materials used
Sturdiness Of The Overall Package
Cap Locking Mechanism
Performance
HD-Tach 3 (8 MB Write Tests)
Random Access Time
Average Read Speed
Average Write Speed
Read Burst Speed
CPU Utilisation (%)
SiSoft Sandra 2007 (64MB File Test)
Read
Write
File Transfer Test
Write100 MB (Sequential)
Read100 MB (Sequential)
Write100 MB (Assorted)
Read100 MB (Assorted)
Write1 GB (Sequential)
Read1 GB (Sequential)
Write1 GB (Assorted Files)
Read1 GB (Assorted Files)

49.94
23.73
26.21

42.10
24.08
18.02

31.81
15.26
16.55

49.39
17.01
32.38

25.96
13.51
12.45

36.90
13.09
23.81

47.96
20.86
27.10

27.93
11.20
16.73

33.56
15.72
17.84

36.29
12.74
23.55

35.82
12.39
23.43

2 GB
1.9 GB
Y
8
Y
NA
NA

2 GB
1.85 GB
Y
8
Y
NA
NA

2 GB
1.9 GB
N
0
Y
lanyard cable
NA

2 GB
998 MB
N
5
Y
lanyard cable
NA

2 GB
1.9 GB
N
0
N
Lanyard ring
NA

4 GB
3.74 GB
NA
0
N
NA
NA

4 GB
3.78 GB
NA
6
Y
USB Extension cable

4 GB
3.82 GB
NA
0
N
NA
NA

4 GB
3.84 GB
NA
0
Y
NA
NA

4 GB
3.84 GB
NA
0
N
NA
NA

4 GB
3.84 GB
NA
0
N
NA
NA

7
7
6.5

6.5
7
7.5

5.5
5.5
7

5
5.5
7

7
6.75
6

6.5
6.5
7

7.5
7.75
7

5
5
7

6.25
6.5
7

6.5
6.5
6.5

6
6.5
6.5

0.5 ms
20.5
8.3
21.4
0.06

4.3 ms
13.2
4.3
13.9
0

0.6 ms
18.8
7.1
20.2
0.02

1.1 ms
27.6
10.2
29.5
0.06

0.8 ms
19.65
4.23
21.43
0.05

0.6 ms
20.8
5.4
21.3
0.07

0.7 ms
22.2
11
22.8
0

11.8 ms
11.3
4.8
11.8
0.04

1.8 ms
13.9
5.5
14
0.04

0 ms
20.6
6.7
21.4
0.1

1 ms
20.6
6.6
21.4
0.1

19.24
7.72

12.32
3.42

18.56
4.39

29.35
7.72

17.24
4.26

20.75
4.36

21.85
7.64

9.8
5.4

13.1
4.3

19.5
6.17

19.3
6.36

7.74
20.28
1.53
8.90
7.75
18.21
6.37
16.59

4.79
14.31
0.79
18.05
3.80
12.27
3.24
11.08

5.76
10.96
0.31
9.79
2.97
10.12
2.37
7.13

9.16
30.86
1.57
12.11
7.80
27.34
5.27
23.52

1.81
2.16
0.46
1.28
4.37
8.30
2.40
3.15

4.32
49.02
0.75
12.63
4.20
19.71
3.25
17.18

7.56
24.69
1.00
12.69
7.41
20.75
4.36
18.40

5.37
11.21
0.87
11.06
4.98
10.96
3.52
10.30

3.92
15.92
0.96
13.07
3.96
12.75
2.94
12.32

5.79
26.11
0.59
12.92
5.88
19.53
3.88
16.34

5.73
20.33
0.66
13.05
5.88
19.86
3.85
17.35

Value for money Index

Price Index

180
160

164

140
120
118

100

100100
82

80

79

77
78

76
59

66

62
58

56
44 42

41

53

44

42

37

20

23

24

24

25

25

27

29

66
46

42

33

Performance
Kingston DataTraveler
Secure

SanDisk Cruzer
U3 8 GB

Corsair Voyager
16 GB

Buffalo Turbo
USB 8GB

Transcend JetFlash
V30 8 GB

Transcend JetFlash
V60 8GB

Buffalo Turbo
USB 4GB

Imation Nano
4GB

Transcend Jetflash
V60 4 GB

Toshiba
TransMemory 4GB

Transcend JetFlash
V30 4 GB

Transcend JF V10
4 GB

Corsair Voyager
4GB

Tech-Com
4GB

Kingston
DataTraveler

Transcend
JetFlash V10 2 GB

20

Kingston DataTraveler
Reader 2GB

Moser Baer
2 GB

25

85

17

SanDisk Cruzer
U3 2 GB

Transcend
JetFlash 168

14

SanDisk Cruzer
Titanium U3 2GB

Transcend
JetFlash V30 1 GB

13

Umax Apus
Zoom

Corsair
Voyager 1 GB

13

Buffalo Turbo
USB 2GB

Moser
Baer 1 GB

13

Transcend
JetFlash V30 2 GB

11

Corsair Voyager
2 GB

10

Toshiba
TransMemory 2GB

Toshiba
1 GB

23
7

12

80

56

57

57

SanDisk Extreme
Ducati Edition

46

40

63

59
52

50

Kingston DataTraveler
Mini Fun

65

63

60

76

72

67

66

Kingston
DataTraveler Mini

78
68

Kingston 4GB
DataTraveler 100

80
60

102

The Data Traveler Secure has full 256-bit

AES (Rijndael) encryption. This makes the
Secure the perfect choice for someone whos
really serious about data protection. Not only
can you limit access to the data on the drive
but any data placed in the secure folder automatically gets encrypted.
SanDisks Cruzer also allows password
encryption, which is standard with the U3
interfaceand wed like U3 if it wasnt for the
annoying pop-ups, in fact all U3 based drives
are reasonably securesomething of a plus
but the interface leaves a lot to be desired.
With absolutely nothing to choose from
between the speeds of the Buffalo and Kingston
drives we knew we had our two performance
winners nailed down. The Kingston drive does

better at assorted writesworth remembering

if you intend to copy lots to files to the drive. If
your need patterns dictate a lot of reading
from the USB drive then the Buffalo would be
better. The Transcend JetFlash V60 is the nearest competitor to these two speed demons, but
still loses by a small margin. Transcends own
JetFlash V30 brings up the rear.

Conclusion
If you are a security nut, and more concerned
about whos viewing your personal stuff then
go with the Kingston DataTraveler Secureno
more worries except the price: Rs 11,111. If
thats a little too much to cough up, you
should look at the U3-based SanDisk Cruzer
for Rs 7,990, you get decent speed, and great
build quality. Youll also get security as all
the Cruzer drives come with the U3 interDIGIT JANUARY 2008

73

Digital Tools l Flash Drive Test

JANUARY 2008

4 GB

JANUARY 2008

8 GB

BRAND
MODEL

SanDisk
Extreme Ducati Edition

Price (Exclusive Of Taxes)

Comments

6,790

1,350

1,680

1,600

1,600

1,700

5,220

11,111

7,990

3,100

4,500

6,950

+ Fast, gorgeous looker

Costly extravagence

+ Decent security features

Slow

+ Secure U3 interface
Very Slow

+ Speedy performer
Lack-lustre design

+ Attractive Looker
Mediocre performer

+ Well built
Slow performer

+ Looks Good, Fast

Costly

+ Great Security features

Very Expensive

+ Solidly built
None in particular

+ Great value for money

None in particular

+ Looks cool
Slow

+ Rugged, lots of space

Slightly slow

Grand Totals (Out Of 100)

Features
Performance
Features
Storage Capacity (Claimed)
Storage Capacity (Actual)
Security
Software Features
Visual Indicators (LED, etc.)
Other Accessories Provided
Other Features
Build Quality (Scale Of 10)
Quality Of Materials Used
Sturdiness Of The Overall Package
Cap Locking Mechanism
Performance
HD-Tach 3 (8 MB Write Tests)
Random Access Time
Average Read Speed
Average Write Speed
Read Burst Speed
CPU Utilisation (%)
SiSoft Sandra 2007 (64MB File Test)
Read
Write
File Transfer Test
Write100 MB (Sequential)
Read100 MB (Sequential)
Write100 MB (Assorted)
Read100 MB (Assorted)
Write1 GB (Sequential)
Read1 GB (Sequential)
Write1 GB (Assorted Files)
Read1 GB (Assorted Files)

63.28
19.43
43.85

37.19
20.62
16.58

39.11
24.08
15.03

49.12
17.01
32.11

39.91
15.26
24.65

35.41
14.49
20.92

45.42
13.09
32.33

53.47
21.25
32.23

50.60
23.73
26.87

42.08
14.49
27.59

35.71
15.26
20.45

48.05
20.86
27.19

4 GB
3.8 GB
NA
0
Y
Neckstring
NA

4 GB
3.83 GB
USB Disk Pro (Software)
5
N

4 GB
3.72 GB
Y
8
Y
USB extension cable, lanyard NA
NA
NA

4 GB
3.81 GB
N
5
Y
lanyard cable
NA

4 GB
3.8 GB
N
0
Y
lanyard cable
NA

4 GB
3.8 GB
N
5
N
lanyard cable
NA

8 GB
7.49 GB
NA
0
N
NA
NA

8 GB
7.6 GB
Y (256 bit AES Enctyption)
6
N
NA
NA

48 GB
7.63
Y
8
Y
NA
NA

8 GB
7.65 GB
N
5
N
lanyard cable
NA

8 GB
7.61 GB
N
0
Y
lanyard cable
NA

16 GB
15.1 GB
NA
6
Y
USB Extension cable

8.5
8.25
7.75

6
6
7.25

6.5
7
7.5

5
5.5
7

5.5
5.5
7

6
6
6

6.5
6.5
7

8
7.5
6.75

7
7
6.5

6
6
6

5.5
5.5
7

7.5
7.75
7

0.6 ms
26.1
17.8
26.9
0.06

2.7 ms
11
5.1
11.2
0.03

4.5 ms
13.7
4.5
13.9
0

1.1 ms
29
10
29.2
0.07

0.6 ms
18.7
6.8
19.4
0.04

0.7 ms
13
8
13.3
0.05

1.5 ms
30.7
12
32.8
0.1

0.5 ms
24.9
10.8
26.2
0.06

0.7 ms
27
8.2
30.9
0

0.6 ms
21.9
9.6
22.8
0.02

0.7 ms
14.5
8.4
15.9
25

2.8 ms
33.6
12.35
35
0

24.82
16.48

12.3
4

12.01
3.27

29.49
7.64

16.81
5.63

14.19
6.55

27.83
10.53

23.42
9.4

24.64
7.25

21.1
8.83

13.24
7.35

33.86
6.55

18.25
27.93
1.93
13.62
18.06
23.93
13.34
20.21

5.13
10.66
0.93
10.91
5.25
10.37
3.49
10.00

3.82
11.83
0.64
7.88
3.23
12.77
2.75
11.27

8.42
28.99
1.50
11.45
8.15
28.32
5.32
23.16

5.65
37.31
1.45
11.92
4.55
24.73
3.87
16.62

6.50
13.44
1.48
11.90
6.40
12.70
4.24
11.99

7.95
33.00
1.01
9.80
7.74
29.12
4.72
23.60

7.51
25.51
2.68
10.56
9.47
23.32
6.85
20.17

6.92
17.54
1.69
8.26
7.32
17.59
5.09
17.27

8.13
23.98
1.09
9.89
10.05
21.78
4.20
19.29

6.67
15.22
1.35
9.51
5.98
14.74
2.69
13.49

8.10
37.74
1.00
9.61
3.93
15.57
2.35
12.69

Tech-Com
4GB

Toshiba
TransMemory 4GB

Transcend
JF V10 4 GB

Transcend
JetFlash V30 4 GB

Transcend
Jetflash V60 4 GB

Buffalo
Turbo USB 8GB

Contact Sheet
Brand

Company

Transcend Mediaman Infotech Pvt Ltd

Supertron Electronics Ltd
Kingston Technology India
Kingston
Rashi Peripherals Pvt Ltd
SanDisk
Neoteric Infomatique Pvt Ltd
Umax
Tech-com SHREE Sagarmatha Distributors Pvt Ltd
Abacus Peripherals Pvt Ltd
Toshiba
Tirupati Enterprises
Corsair
Buffalo Technology
Buffalo
Moser Baer Moser Baer India Ltd
Imation India Pvt Ltd
Imation

Kingston
DataTraveler Secure

Flash Drive
Web site

SanDisk
Cruzer U3 8 GB

E-mail

022-23828100
022-23881397 / 1924
NA
www.supertronindia.com
022-67090909
www.kingston.com/india
022-39828600
www.rptechindia.com
011-26428541 / 42
www.neoteric.co.in
022-40914600
www.techcomindia.com
9339207519
www.abacusperipherals.com
011-41538059
www.tirupati.net
011-40594500
www.buffalotech.com
www.moserbaer.comwww.imation.co.in 41519880 / 81
www.mediamangroup.com

Transcend
JetFlash V60 8GB

Transcend
JetFlash V30 8 GB

Corsair
Voyager 16 GB

face, which has security features in-built.

If youre really looking for something
cheap try the Transcend JetFlash V60 8 GB (Rs
3,100). Buffalos Turbo USB is another decent
offering for Rs 5,220, and is a good mix of
performance and price. However much we
like performance, a mix of value is important. As far as the delicate balance goes,
nothing sets a better example than the
Transcend JetFlash V60 8GB which shames its
V30 brethren by a good margin. Our Best Buy
Gold goes to the Transcend JetFlash V60
good for carrying around volumes of data,
and you wont really feel the pinch.
[email protected]

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

75

Bazaar

We test the latest hardware

and software products
available in the market

Nokia E51

still and video shooting, and

FM radio.
Signal reception is good,
as is voice clarity. Internet
browsing speeds are faster
than with the E50 or E61,
thanks to the revised Web
browser. The camera is above
average, but loses performance in low-light conditions.
The speakerphone is clear,
with little or no echo on the
recipients side. We got
around three days of battery
life with nominal usage and
a terrific seven days of
standby time.
The Nokia E51 retails at
Rs 14,699; it is, we think, a
must-buy.

A Classic Reborn
f you are an executive in
the market for a suitable
cell phone, Nokias E
series offers the best bang
for the buck. The Nokia E51
is the latest from the venerable E series, and an apt successor to the hugely popular
E50 model, which it will
eventually replace. The E51
brings in new features at a
price thats hard to beat.
The keypad is completely revised, with dedicated keys for Contacts,
Calendar,
E-mail and Home. The soft
menu keys, however, are too
small for comfort. The rest
of the keypad is a delight
good tactile feedback, and
key spacing is immaculate.
The rubberised keys for
volume up / down, push-totalk and power are hard to
operate, though.
The E51 feels peppyit
uses the same processor as

on the flagship N95. With

130 MB of memory on board,
you can do a lot of multitasking without the phone
getting sluggish, and the
memory can be expanded to
4 GB via the microSD slot (a
512 MB card comes bundled).
The E51 runs on Symbian OS
Series 60, and crams in lot of
features besides the standard set. Most of these will
go down well with executivesfor example, the
Advance call manager lets
you manage incoming and
outgoing calls efficiently. In
addition, WorldMate, an
application for frequent
fliers, comes bundled.
RATINGS
Features
Performance
Build Quality
Value for Money
Overall

The E51 is a 3G, quadband phone with HSDPA,

Wi-Fi (802.11g), Bluetooth,
Micro USB and an infrared
port. Theres a switch to turn
Bluetooth on and off on the
main keypad. Multimedia
features include a good MP3
player, a 2MP camera with

Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB

A Pebbleful Of Music!
ith Apple launching a
whole new range of
iPods recently, including
the iPod Touch, can
Creative afford to be far
behind? Not one to be
caught shuffling around
(pun intended), Creative
has launched the Zen
Stone Plus series.

76

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

With a player so tiny,

wed expected the Zen
Stone to felt flimsy, but
surprisingly it didnt.
Theres a small circular
blue OLED screennothing
specialand a Play button
surrounded by a circular
button that houses four
controlstrack shuffle and
volume up / down. Theres
a tiny button on the top of
the player that has
controls for the Menu and
play / pause functions.
Available in 2 GB only,
the Zen Stone features FM
radio and supports up to 32
presets, inbuilt audio
recording, and a stopwatch
functionnot bad for such a
small device. Unlike iPods,
there are no drivers
required to connect it to
your PCjust drag and drop,
which is a huge relief.

Music quality is a
mixed bag with the Stone.
Firstly, if youre even
remotely interested in
good sound, throw away
the bundled earplugs. Once
we replaced them with our
Creative EP630
headphones, everything
was so much clearer. Then
we tried the Bose Intra
Earour reference for
PMPsand things seemed
even better. Punchy, tight
bass, superb vocal tones,
and a decent extended
high-end makes the Zen
Stone very suitable for

Specifications
Weight: 100 gm; Dimensions:
114 x 46 x 12 mm; Quad-band;
2MP camera; Video recording;
xHTML browser; Push-to-talk;
micro USB, infrared.
Contact: Nokia India Pvt Ltd
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.nokia.co.in
Price: Rs 14,699

rock, pop, jazz and reggae.

If you listen to lot of
classical music, youll need
much better headphones to
bring out the recessed
highs. Bottom-line: the Zen
Stone is only limited by its
default earplugsand most
PMPs are.
Dont let this stop you
buying itif you want
something tiny, sturdy, and
easy to use, the Zen Stone
will suit you. If you want
good sound, invest in a pair
of decent in-ear earplugs.
Specifications
Capacity: 2 GB; Battery life:
9.5 hrs; Display: 64 x 64 blue
OLED; Weight: 21 gm;
Audio support: MP3, WMA,
Audible, WAV

RATINGS
Feature
Performance
Build Quality
Value for Money
Overall

Contact: IDLDPL
Phone: 011-46096400
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://in.creative.com
Price: Rs 4,399

CoolerMaster Real Power M1000

Never Run Out Of Juice
oolerMaster is a big
name in the Desktop
chassis and PSU
market, and theres
nothing small about the
Real Power M1000, either.
CoolerMaster goes modular
with this model, which
cuts down on cable clutter.
A 135 mm fan dominates
the underside of the unit
and cools well.
With the dedicated
circuitry that active PFC
features, this PSU is rated
at 99 per centyou can be
assured of maximum
efficiency of power
distribution, a good thing
for those high-end PCs with
costly components.
We fired up a Core 2
Quad QX6850 on an ASUS
P5N32-E SLI and

overclocked it to 3.6 GHz,

powered the 2 GB of 1066
MHz memory at 2.2 V,
two 8800GTX in SLI, two
WD Raptors in RAID 0
plus a third 500 GB hard
drive, and an X-Fi Elite Pro
along with a couple of
DVD-Writers.
The M1000 handled
everything with no fussit
remained cool to the
touch, supplying 3.31 V to
the 3.3 V rail, 4.97 V to the
5 V line and 11.987 V to the
12 V lineperfectly
RATINGS
Features
Performance
Build Quality
Value for Money
Overall

acceptable and well within

the boundaries of whats
considered really good.
If youre looking for
power for the kind of PC
that gets geeks drooling,
you should know that such
power supplies dont come
cheap! But if the safety of
your components matters
and you can shell out Rs
15,600, then you cant get
anything better.

Specifications
Power (continuous): 1000
watts; Efficiency: >85%; Input
voltage 90-264V (auto); Peak
power to each rail: 3.3V: 40
amps, 5V: 40 amps, combined
12V rails: 110 amps
Contact: CoolerMaster Co. Ltd.
Phone: +91-9833870302
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.coolermaster.com
Price: Rs 15,600

ASUS Maximus Formula

CrossFire Compadre
his one comes as an
overclockers delight.
The ASUS Maximus
Formula is based on Intels
new X38 chipset, sporting an
ICH9R Southbridge. This is a
limited edition, and features
hand-picked components for
extreme overclockability.
There is support for
Penryn and 1600 MHz FSB,
and dual x16 slots that
officially support CrossFire.
Incidentally, the PCI-E slots
support the new PCI-E 2.0
standard toomore futureproofing for you. ASUS drops
in their fusion block system
as wellbasically a heat-pipe
solution that integrates a
water block on the
Northbridge chipset for
proper cooling. The entire
board has a very intricate
heat-pipe system that
remained cool no matter
how hard we thrashed it.
Some nifty little
additions will appeal to
overclockers: the CMOS,

Power and Reset buttons,

and colour-coded LEDs on
the PCB that will display the
status (whether overvolted or
not) of components
including CPU, memory,
Northbridge, and FSB.
Theres also an inbuilt sensor
that will warn you if GPU
temperatures exceed a set
thresholda boon for users
with the latest thermal
monsters from NVIDIA and
ATI. ASUS has also
incorporated a 2-phase
memory voltage termination
for better voltage regulation
even while overclockingthis
should filter noise and RF
interference for better
performance under stress.
The BIOS is full of
RATINGS
Features
Performance
Bundle
Value for Money
Overall

overclocking options and

tweaksnewbies and
enthusiasts alike will feel
at home.
The Maximus Formula SE
also has a more-thansufficient number of SATA,
and USB ports.
With a PC Mark 2005
score of 10,572, the Maximus
Formula isnt bottlenecking
the QX6850 (3.0 GHz) in any
way. With a graphics score of
18,299 in 3D Mark 2005
(using an 8800GTX), this
board is definitely free of the
early hiccups that plague
most platforms. We did get
our E6550 (2.33 GHz) to run
along happily at 3.15 GHz
(the FSB being overclocked
from a default 333 MHz to

450 MHz)a very good result.

Rs 16,800 may seem high,
but its plenty of board for
that much. ASUS includes a
rich bundle too. Highly
recommended for those
looking at a high-end, stable
platform in general, or
CrossFire in particular.
Specifications
Intel X38 chipset; ICH9R
Southbridge; DDR2 1200 MHz
and 1600 MHz FSB support;
6 x rear USB ports; 6 x SATA
2.0 ports
Contact: Asustek Computer Inc
Phone: 022-67668800
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://in.asus.com
Price: Rs 16,800
JANUARY 2008 DIGIT

77

Digital Tools l Bazaar

Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Events Pro Deluxe 11

Your Own Personal Video Studio
ood camcorders and
digital cameras at
reasonable prices are
common these days, and
that means that budding
film and art students are on
the lookout for good video
compiling and editing
software to go with them.
Pinnacle comes into the
picture here with Pinnacle
Studio Ultimate Events Pro
Deluxe 11.
The package is huge, and
comes with a PCI FireWire
expansion card for your PC.
Theres also a chroma cloth
to make keying and mask
creation a lot easier. The
installation is fairly simple
first install Studio Plus and
then the upgrade to
Ultimate.
The Ultimate version
gives you three main
pluginsproDAD Vitascene,
BIAS SoundSoap and
StageTools MovingPicture. It
also gives you the ability to
work with 5.1 audio streams.
The bundle features a
huge collection of transition
effects for scenes, and there
are also loads of sounds

provided in appropriate
categories. Each of the
componentssound, video,
and textare placed in
different timelines, so
handling all of them is very

simple. Theres support for

online video hosts like
Yahoo! Video and Studio
Online.
The package comes with
a fat, highly-detailed user
manual, which even has tips
on how to get your hard
drive prepared for the large
amounts of data required
RATINGS
Features
Performance
Ease of Use
Value for Money
Overall

during video editing by

tweaking and optimising
transfer rates.
At first, Pinnacle Studio
Pro Deluxe 11 seems like a
very sophisticated package,
but its abundance of
features is presented in a
very friendly interfaceyou
dont have to be a trained
professional to use them. At
Rs 17,900 for the internal
PCI package, the decision to
buy it is a little difficult, but
if youre a student getting
into the film industry or
running a small business,
its a must-have.

Specifications
Included in Ultimate: BIAS
SoundSoap, proDAD VitaScene,
StageTools MovingPicture;
Supports Dolby 5.1 encoding
and HD video; Package
contents: Green Screen,
microphone, PCI FireWire
interface card, manual

except for the standard

drivers and a manual. It
comes with a toner
cartridge thats good for
1,000 pages, but a
replacement cartridge (for
2000 sheets) is the standard
one used with this printer.
Backed with a one-year
warranty, the Samsung ML1630 is priced at Rs 11,490
too high a price for topnotch aesthetics with subpar performance.

Specifications
Resolution: 1200 x 600 dpi
(hardware); Input tray: 100
sheets; Output tray: 30 sheets;
Buffer: 8 MB; Dimensions: 33
(W) x 37.6 (D) x 12.2 (H) cm;
Weight: 6.3 kg

Contact: Pinnacle Systems

Phone: 9811904809
E-mail: adey.extern@
pinnaclesys.com
Web site: www.pinnaclesys.com
Price: Rs 17,900 (Internal PCI),
Rs 19,900 (External PCI)

Samsung ML-1630
Beauty Is Skin-deep
ake one look at the
Samsung ML-1630, and
youll be forced to think: is
this really a printer?
Samsung has paid great
attention to the aesthetics of
this mono laser printer by
giving it a glossy, piano-black
finish and no sharp edges.
Just 12.2 cm tall, its smaller
than many inkjets out there.
The control panel is
rather simplethere are two
touch-sensitive buttons for
Power and Cancel. The
visual indicators become
visible during operation in
the form of a blue LED
display that displays the
total number of pages
printed. The input tray is
hidden, and can be opened
using a mechanical button.
It holds 100 sheets, but the
output tray holds just 30.

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DIGIT JANUARY 2008

The printer has issues

handling paperalmost
every time we printed, the
first page emerged crumpled.
For a multi-page document,
it took 17 seconds for the
first page and around 4 for
every page thereafter. In our
standard test print, it could
print at 6.5 pages per
minute. Print quality is
decentsharp edges, proper
gray tones and small point
sizes were all printed well.
The printer features
only the USB interface.
Nothing comes bundled
RATINGS
Features
Performance
Ease of Use
Value for Money
Overall

Contact: Samsung India Electronics

Pvt Ltd
Phone: +91-11-41511234
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.samsung.com/in
Price: Rs 11,490

Digital Tools l Bazaar

Digital Tools l Bazaar

Aigo U Watch MP3 UW-F020 512 MB

An MP3 Watch For Geeks
his watch, which looks
like an elegant (but not
gaudy) analogue watch, has
an MP3 player built in. The
finish is scratch-resistant
galvanised steel-grey and
black plastic. We were
pleasantly surprised to find
that it isnt cheap trash (its

made in China!)its rather

ruggedly built.
The rubber strap looks
stiff and uncomfortable, but
once you wear it, it is not
that bad. The watch looks
rather large. The strap
makes it look like an alien
contraption, thanks to the
embedded USB connector
which is to be pulled off to
connect it to the PC. The
dial is eerie, with hands and
hour marks that emit a
calm green glow in the
dark. Indicator LEDs below
the hour marks glow when
the MP3 player is turned on,
and make the watch look
even more surreal.
The device gets instantly
recognised as a removable
drive, so you can also use it
RATINGS
Features
Performance
Ease of Use
Value for Money
Overall

to carry your data. Transfer

speeds are slowit takes 110
seconds to transfer 100 MB,
so it takes around 9
minutes to fill it up. Getting
used to the controls is a
little frustrating at the
start, but you can quickly
get the hang of it. The
absence of any sort of
display is sorely missed, but
things are made a little
uncomplicated by the LEDs.
MP3 playback is above
par, and the bundled
earphones do an excellent
job of complementing the
player. There are four very
effective preset equaliser
settings. The fade-in and
fade-out effects are there by
default, though these often
clip a couple of seconds of
the start of the first song
being played. The earphones
are rather large, and may be
uncomfortable for some
and thanks to the 2.5 mm
jack, you cant connect your
favourite headphones,
either. It also has a voice
recorder with an inbuilt
microphone, which made
us feel like Johnny Sokko
commanding the Giant

Robotit adds plenty of

nerd value.
MP3 playback lasts a
little over 5 hours, which is
fairand the watch and
player have separate
batteries, so you can tell
time even after the music
stops. 512 MB is just OK for
an MP3 player, but may
seem less if you have a
voracious appetite for
audio; there is also a 1 GB
version available. Bundled
along is a longer cable to
connect it to the USB port
and software that lets you
upgrade its firmware. It
costs Rs 4,125a bit high,
since there is no video or
even FM Radio.
Specifications
Capacity: 512 MB; Audio: MP3
(32 Kbps - 320 Kbps), WMA (5
Kbps - 256 Kbps); Voice
recording: ADPCM; Interface:
USB Full Speed 12 Mbps

Contact: Bridge One Technologies

Phone: +91-40-23550794
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.aigo.com
Price: Rs 4,125

System Mechanic 7.5.3

Solid Maintenance For Your PC
ne of the first things
youll notice about
System Mechanic is the
facelift. The new interface
has a nice red theme with
bits of Vista-like treatment.
Cosmetic details aside,
System Mechanic 7 is now
in charge of more than just
Registry cleaning. It now
does everything from
checking your system
for security holes to
maintaining disk drives
as well.
ActiveCare is a feature
that allows you to select
which components System
Mechanic should
automatically handle. With
that set up, you wont need
to do anything manually
cleaning up the Registry,
for example.
Newcomers wont have
to worry with any of the
advanced features. System

80

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Mechanic scans your entire

system and then lets you
decide to fix all the issues it
finds. You can also
manually run each cleaning
task individually. If you do
make some massive changes
to the Registry during the
cleanup, the History feature
has you coveredit lets you
jump back to previous
settings by undoing
changes to the Registry.
Theres a process
manager that displays all
running applicationsyou
can choose to shut down
applications like you would
in the Windows Task
RATINGS
Features
Performance
Ease of Use
Value for Money
Overall

Manager; only here, you

can also stop them from
running again. This is
useful when youve found
what could possibly be a
worm or virus on
your drive.
The program is fairly
light: it only takes up 30
MB of RAM.
System Mechanic 7.5 has
come a long way, and there
have been a lot of new
features added. The price

tag of $49.95 (Rs 2,000) is

still a little too steep,
though, considering there
are free Registry cleaners
like CCleaner available for
download.
Specifications
Microsoft Vista / XP / 2000
compatible; Use on up to
three PCs
Web site: www.iolo.com
Price: $49.95 (Rs 2,000)

Brother DCP-135C
Appealing Overall

he DCP-135C is the
newest addition to the
inkjet digital copier stable of
Brother Inc. It is built
ruggedly enough to
withstand the rigours of
office work. Its just 15 cm
tall, and the power
connector is located to the
left, making it easy to place
against a wall. This is a fourcartridge inkjet solution
more economical, and the
cartridge bay is placed at the
front right for easy access.
There is no power button,
so you have to use the softpower switch. The interface
is USB 2.0; the USB cable has
to be channelled through a
narrow canal into the
interior of the devicewhich
helps prevent accidental
disconnections. The buttons
are well-placed, but there can
be some confusionthe OK
button does not apply a
setting unlike most other
MFDs (!), so one needs to read
the manual. The one-line
LCD relays information
about status and settings.
The input tray holds 100
sheets while the output tray
holds 50.
Print quality is decent
there were no smudges, but
the borders were not always
crisp. Fine print was legible
even at the smallest point

size. Colours in the photo

print were a little washed
out, but not too muchno
smudging here either.
Normal text printing is slow:
27 seconds for a page, while
combination documents
print relatively faster at 33
seconds for a page. Printing
an A4-size photo takes just
under 270 seconds (4.5
minutes)quite average. The
scanner recognised colours
accurately, and picked up
minute details. It scans really
fasta 300-dpi A4 colour
photo took just 49 seconds.
Bundled with the MFD is
the ScanSoft PaperPorta
good document
management and OCR
software. ControlCentre 3 is
a control panel that puts all
the functions of this MFD at
your disposal in a single
place. This is an enticing buy
at Rs 5,400.
Specifications
Printer: Resolution: 1200 x
6000 dpi (effective); Input tray:
100 sheets, Output tray: 50
sheets; Buffer: 16 MB; Printing
technology: 4-cartridge inkjet;
Scanner: Flatbed type;
Resolution: 600 x 2400 dpi
(optical); Media size: A4; Bit
depth (output): 24; Dimensions:
39.8 (W) x 36 (D) x 15 (H) cm;
Weight: 7.1 kg

RATINGS
Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for Money
Overall

Contact: Brother International

(India) Pvt Ltd
Phone: 1800-222-422
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.brother.in
Price: Rs 5,400

1/2 Page Ad

Digital Tools l Know More About

You know FAT is a filesystem, that NTFS is a better filesystem, etc. But what is a filesystem?
How do they work?
Samir Makwana
umping a cupboard-full of documents, audio cassettes,
video tapes and even photo albums on a hard drive or
DVD might sound easy, but is actually a complex
process. Operating systems use logical data structures for storing, organising and keeping track of files on a partition or on
an optical disc, called a filesystem.
The basic function of a filesystem is to make efficient use of
disk space for data storage, ease basic file operations (read, write, copy and delete) and catalogue
files for faster retrieval.
A disk partition is like a compartment in a
train, while the filesystem is the seating arrangement fixed within the compartments. Before
using any partition on a disk, a logical filesystem
needs to be initialised on it. Lets have a look at
how a typical filesystem works.

How Filesystems Work

The space in a hard drive is divided into units
called sectors, usually of 512 bytes. The filesystem groups the sectors together after creating
a sector index; the group is called a cluster or an
allocation unit. Its difficult for the filesystem
to deal with data on a sector-by-sector basis, so
when the filesystem needs to access a sector

Some disk-based filesystems also have journalling and versioning. In a Journalling filesystem like XFS on the Silicon
Graphics platform, changes in files are logged first in a specially-allocated area called a Journal before theyre actually
written on the main filesystem. Versioning filesystems like
OpenVMS allow for the existence of several versions of the
same file, and take periodic backups.
Popular disk-based filesystems include:
Windows: New Technology File System (NTFS), File Allocation
Table (FAT, FAT16, FAT32), and many more; Linux:
ext, ext2, ext2fs, NSS, ReiserFS and several others
based on Linux and Unix variants
Mac OS X: Hierarchical filesystem (HFS+), HFS,
Macintosh filesystem (MFS), Xsan
Disk-based filesystems can be further classified into:
Solid-state media filesystems: These are
designed for storing files on devices that rely on
Flash memory as their storage. Such filesystems
require special handling, because data blocks
wear out if information is repetitively written
and rewritten on the drive. Besides, the blocks
have to be erased explicitly before any data is
written on them. The Journaling Flash filesystem
(JFFS) and Yet Another Flash filesystem (YAFFS),
are popular solid-state filesystems.
Record-oriented filesystems: The basic purpose
of such filesystems is to store files in the form
of records to be compatible with older operating systems that are used exclusively on mainframes and
minicomputers.
Shared-disk filesystem: These are also known as SAN (Storage Area Network) filesystems or Cluster filesystem. As the
name suggests, they are used on huge blocks of storage which
are directly accessible to computers via a network connection.

Network Filesystems
How files are distributed in a FAT filesystem

for a read-write operation, it will first define the cluster

number of that sector. Then from that cluster, it will use the
sector index to access that particular sector.
Each logical volume (hard drive) has a tablecalled the
File Allocation Table (FAT)that carries all the information
about the sectors and the files stored on those sectors.

Types Of Filesystems
Disk-based filesystems
These would be found on hard disks, CD-ROMs and DVDs.
Files are stored in a sequence of bytes on fixed-sized blocks
called sectors; these filesystems feature random-access file
reads and writes, and also file fragmentation across the disk.

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DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Network filesystems (or distributed filesystems) support the

sharing of files, printers and other computing resources over
a network. The performance of such filesystems is measured
by the time it requires to satisfy the service requests by different computers connected on the network.
Such filesystems are found on file-servers and provide
access to files by acting as clients for remote access protocols
like NFS (Network filesystem) or SMB (Server Message). NFS
and SMB are popular examples of network filesystems.
Several network filesystems prevail today: 9P, Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), NetWare Core Protocol (NCP), Coda, Distributed File System (DFS) and Google File System (GFS), to
name a few.
Filesystems are critical for storage media to run properly
with the operating system. Regular maintenance and protection from malware is not only advisable, its necessary.
[email protected]

Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks

bar for data being burnt and click
Select media size. Choose the type
of the media youll be using. The
changes will be seen immediately in the
main program as well as in the dropbox.

CDBurnerXP houses a basic cover printing

feature!
SECRETS THAT KEEP YOU AHEAD IN THE RACE

TIPS

30 MINUTES EXPERT

Burning Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Google Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Comodo Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

XP Secrets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Norton Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

BURNING SOFTWARE
CDBurnerXP
e burn CDs and DVDs all the
time, and Neros all-too-wellknown suite isnt the only
option. CDBurnerXp is a free alternative

Printing CD Covers
CDBurnerXP might be a fraction of
the size of Nero, but its still got basic
features like printing CD covers. Once
you have all your data in place for
burning, go to File > Print cover
and select the type of cover. Enter the
name of your disc, and if you want to,
choose an image for the cover. Select
Preview to see how itll turn out. If
youre happy with it, press Print.

File Filter

The dropbox makes it easier to compile data

for a burn

of the screen. The dropbox shows the

size of the compilation and the current
path where the folders are being
dumped. Right-click on it and click
Select Folder To Drop Into. This
way you can choose which folder the
files get dumped. To get back to the
default interface, click the Close
button on the dropbox.

The file filter feature allows you to

filter out file types that you dont want
to burn. For example, if you want to
burn all the PDFs in a folder and none
of the Excel or Word documents, you
will find the feature useful. Click on
Edit > File Filter. Enter the file
formats that you want to filter with a
semicolon to separate them. For
example, *.pdf;*.doc;*.xls will
only display the PDF, DOC, and XLS
formats.

Set Media Size Manually

Harsho Mohan Chattoraj

to Nero, if you dont want to cough up

for Neros features.

Using The Dropbox

The dropbox feature allows you to
browse through your Windows folders
and dump the items you want to burn.
This way, you dont need to browse
using the CDBurnerXP interface. To use
the feature, click the Show Dropbox
button on the toolbar or go to View >
Show Dropbox. Drag and drop files
onto the box that appears at the top left

Optical disc burning software

generally detects the media inserted in
the drive and determines the amount of
data that can go on it, but you wont get
accurate information if youre piling up
for a future burn with no disc in the
drive. To tell the software the type and
capacity of the media, right-click on the

Let CDBurnerXP automatically label discs for you

Disc Labelling Data Options

Most of the time, all the CDs and
DVDs you burn end up with the same
old senseless labelDISC or DISC1.
CDBurnerXP can change this. Go to

File > Options > Data Options

tab. Under Default Disc Label,
enter DVD $day $month $year. There
are other variables like $time, $user
and $date that you can use as well.
Set the type of media so you know in advance
how much space there is

Click OK and then restart the program

for the changes to take effect.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

83

Digital Toos l Tips & Tricks

Remember to restart CDBurnerXP if you want

to burn an audio CD. Its a bit annoying, but
there you go

Burning Audio CDs

If youre burning data CDs all the
time and you want to burn an Audio
CD, youll notice no option to create a
new Audio CDthe only way is to close
CDBurnerXP and restart it; only this
time, make sure you choose the Create
Audio CD button. Now you can drag
and drop audio files like you would
data files.
If you want to burn an audio CD
without spaces between tracks, use the
dropdown menu for Burn disc with
DAO when in Audio CD burning mode.

Creating A Bootable Disc

Creating bootable discs may be
needed while trying to create LiveCDs or
booting into them for OS installations.
Go to Disc > Boot options and
mark the checkbox against Make Disc
Bootable. Click the button to select the
image and choose the type of emulation
from the dropdown menu. You can also

Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks

Discs can be replicated in the same
manner. If you dont want to burn them
right away, you can have the image
created from the disc dumped on the
hard drive. Go to File > Copy ISO
disc. Select the source drive and instead
of the destination drive being the optical
disc drive, select the hard drive. Now a
new field will appear. Here you can
choose the path and a name for the ISO
to be dumped.

NERO 8
ero isnt just about the Burning
ROM softwareits also about all
the extras that come with it. You
can find the installer for the trial
version of Nero 8 on the November DVD.

Move The Cache Folder

Nero uses a location on the hard
drive when it needs to cache files before
burning them. If youre running short
on space in your main partition, you
would want to change it to one with
more free space. Go to File >
Options > Cache and click on
Browse to choose a new location.

Nero has support for sounds but

they are disabled by default. Go to File
> Options > Sounds tab to set
sounds for events. The sounds that come
with Nero are in the default locations,
but you can select the ones you want by
clicking the Browse button.

Nero BurnRights is an application

that comes with Nero; it allows you to
define which users on your system can
burn CDs and DVDs. Go to Start >

All Programs > Nero 8 > Nero

Toolkit > Nero BurnRights. Select

the type of users that you want to give

permission to and click OK.

Do Not Eject The Drive

create an image from a floppy drive by

clicking on Create Floppy Drive.

Working With Disc Images

CDBurnerXP has features that allow
you to create or burn disc images. If you
have images that were created on Nero,
for example, you can convert them to ISO
by going to File > Convert ISO
Image. Select the source filewhich can
be either a BIN or an NRG fileand then
select a location to create the image in.
Click the Convert to ISO button.

84

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Easter Egg!
Nero Burning ROM still has the Easter Egg
which you can find in most of its earlier versions. Go to Help > About to see the
credits. Double-click in this window and
youll see the credits text flowing with different kind of effects. If you hold down [Ctrl]
and [Shift] together and then double-click,
the effects and scrolling will speed up.

Sounds For Events

Nero BurnRights

Embedding a boot image onto a disc is simple

to do

made available on the Internet which

take a fraction of the space of the entire
suite. If you have the nasty habit of
blindly clicking Next during the Nero
8 installation, youll most probably have
skipped the screen where you choose
the Custom installation mode. Uninstall
your current copy of Nero if you have it
installed. Start the installation till you
reach the window where you can choose
between Typical and Custom
installation. Select the Custom
install option and click Next. Youll
soon see a window with the list of all
the Nero components selected. Click on
each one of them and select This
Feature Will Not Be Available.
Do the same for everything other than
Nero Burning ROM and continue with

Every CD burnt is immediately

ejected from the drive by default in
Nero. To keep the CD or DVD in the
drive once its done, go to File >
Options > Expert Features. Check
the box against Do not eject the

disc after the burn is

complete and click OK.

the installation. At the end, youll have

completed your own clean compact Nero
Burning ROM installation the way it
used to be.

Searching For Specific

Formats
Trying to search for a few selected
filetypes you need to burn can be a
nightmare in an unassorted folder. To
look for a particular file using
wildcards, right-click on the folder in
the left pane of the browser window.
Click on Select pattern. Enter
wildcards with semicolons as seperators
and click OK. For example, entering
*Digit*;*.PDF as the pattern will
select all files with Digit in their
names and PDFs as well.

select the files you want to encode.

Using the drop-down menu for Output
file format, select which format you
want to encode to and click on the
Settings button to set parameters for
the encoder. Finally, click on the
Browse button to select where you
want to store the encoded files once
encoded. Click Go to start encoding!

Better Compatibility
One of the issues with media and
the way they are burned is that is that
theyre not always compatible on all
DVD players. There are a few things that
can be done to solve this: one of them is
to set the high-compatibility mode on
for your drive. Click on the Choose
Recorder button to the right of the
drop-down menu for selecting the drive.
Select your drive and click on Options.
Check the box against DVD High
Compatibility Mode. This will make
sure that at least a gigabyte of data is
written on the media even if you dont
have that much data.
Another thing you can do is to use
the Book Type settingsthis is basically
is to tell the drive that you have
inserted a DVD-ROM (for example) not a
DVD-RW or any other kind of DVD. This
way, there are better chances of the
drive reading your media. Use the dropdown menu for Book Type settings in
the drive properties window and select
DVD-ROM, as it generally gives better
compatibility.

NERO SHOWTIME
Dynamic Noise Control
If youre playing CDs or DVDs, you
would know that your drives run
continuously like your hard drives do.
The noise from spinning up and down
of the drives can be distracting. Neros
developers have implemented a feature
called dynamic noise control that helps
reduce this sound. You can find this
option by right clicking on the Nero

ShowTime interface and clicking on

Options. Click on DNC. Turn it on if
its off.

Dynamic Range Control

Dynamic Range Control is not just
another fancy name for a feature in
Nero ShowTime. It is basically
normalisation of the volume of the
audio streamso if youre listening to
music files of different volume levels,
you wont have to jump to the PC every
time a loud file plays. Right-click on the
ShowTime interface, select Options
and go to Audio > DRC.

Watching movies with surround sound on

headphones is worth trying

(Pseudo) Surround Sound On

Headphones!
Nero ShowTime is great for watching
high-definition videos, and with these,
youre bound to get multi-channel audio
as well. Now not all of us have fancy
surround sound speaker setups. Nero
can simulate surround sound and give
satisfactory results on stereo speakers
and headphones as well! Right-click on
the ShowTime interface and select
Options. Under Audio, uncheck the
box for Use Windows Settings. From
the dropdown, select the type of setup
you haveif you select 2 speakers, use
Nero Virtual Speaker from the
Output mode. If you have headphones,
check Nero Headphone.

Encode Audio Files

Customise Fonts

Nero Burning ROM comes with an

in-built audio encoder: go to Extras >
Encode Files, click on Add and

Retro Nero
We all miss the Nero
Burning ROM from the past
years when it was a compact
little CD / DVD burning
software and not a complete
suite with modules we never
use. Its reached a point where
there are tiny, hacked, illegal
releases of Nero Burning ROM

A basic audio encoder is built into Nero Burning ROM

Dynamic Noise Control can help lower drive noise with

certain drives

Nero uses an On-screen

Display (OSD) to display
information of the video or
movie being played. By default,
a set of fonts and colours are
assigned to it, but you can
select a better set of fonts and
colours if you wish. Go to
Options and click on OSD
Settings under General.
Make sure Enable is checked,
and then click on Set Font to
change the font type for the
OSD. In the previous menu,
you will also find the option
for setting a colour and a

position where you want the OSD to

show up.
Similar fonts are used to display
subtitles for movies. There, too, you can
set which fonts should be used to
display them. In the Options window,
click on External Subtitles; check
the box against Enable External
Subtitles and click the Set Font
button to set a different font style.

Video Quality
High-definition playback isnt very
easy for all hardware unless theres
hardware decoding support from your
graphics card or if you have a fairly new
dual-core processor. Nero has an
automatic quality setting that downsizes
the quality of the video if your system
doesnt perform too well. You can find
this option under Video Quality
under Options > Video. The setting
should be set to Auto-adjust. If you
know your system performs fine, then
you would want the best qualitypush
the slider to Maximum Quality and vice
versa if your system isnt performing as
well as youd like.

Neros Image Mounting tool

Nero comes with software called
ImageDrive which youll find under
Nero Toolkit in the Start Menu. It allows
you to mount .NRG and .ISO images as a
virtual drives so you can load some of
your backed-up discs without having to
put them in the drive. When you first
run it, it installs the drivers which
create a virtual drive. Once thats done,
click on the Enable drive checkbox
for the first drive. If you want a second
drive, you can check that box as well. A
new tab called First Drive will
appear. Click on it and point to the
image you want to mount. Now when
you go to My Computer or Explorer, you
will find a new drive in the list. Clicking
on it will reveal all the files and folders
from the image.

Nero DiscSpeed
DVDs have had a comparatively
notorious reputation when it comes to
reliability, so its very important to use
good media and check the data on it.
Nero DiscSpeed, under Nero Toolkit,
allows you to check for disc quality.
Select the Disc Quality tab and insert
a burnt disc into the drive. Make sure
you have the DVD drive selected from the
drop-down menu at the top and click
Start. The software gauges the quality
of the burnt disc. A final score will be
shown in the Quality score field on the
right. On Internet forums, youll find a
lot of such media scan posts. Run this
test on different kinds of media youve
burnt so you know which media works
best with your drive.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

85

Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks

Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks

GOOGLE SERVICES

Even More XP Secrets

Here are some things you thought you couldnt do in XP

and click the Star icon at the bottom of

the screen. When youre done, go to
File > New Album and give it a name
and description. Now click on Starred
Photos, select all the images and drag
them into your newly-created album.

Getting More Organised

Asfaq Tapia
e wont waste much time with this
introduction, so here it isanother
round of tips and tricks that will improve
performance, stability and sort little
annoyances in XP, among other things.
Statutory warning: Playing with your Registry
can be injurious to your PCs health.

System Volume Information

If you use System Restore, you must have

Right click on the MenuOrder folder,

choose Permissions; go to Advanced
in the new window that pops up, and
uncheck the entry Inherit from

parent the permission entries

that apply to child objects.
Include these with entries
explicitly defined here. A
security dialog box will open up; choose

Copy. This will take you back to the

Advanced Security Settings for
MenuOrder dialog. Click OK here. In the
Permissions dialog, uncheck Full
Control in your account and security
groups. Dont change the Read
permission. Reboot the computer and all
your menus will be alphabetically sorted.

Here is the error youll see when trying to

access the System Volume Information

noticed the System Volume Information

folders in the root of each of your drives.
This folder stores the files used by System
Restore. Their sizes can sometime balloon
to gigabytes, because System Restore
doesnt delete your older restore points
when creating a new one. Moreover, every
time you try to access the folder, you get
the Access Denied error. Oh, and you cant
delete the folder, either. So what do you
do when you want to view its contents?
In an Explorer Window, go to Tools
> Folder Options > View. Here,
choose Show Hidden Files and
Folders. Uncheck Hide Protected
Operating System Files and Use
Simple File Sharing.
You should now be able to access the
System Volume Information folder; if not,
youll have to add yourself to the list of
users allowed to access the folder. Rightclick on System Volume Information and
go to Properties > Security. Click
Add under Groups or User names
and enter your username in the dialog
that appears. Click OK, and in the bottom
half of the Security tab, grant yourself
all the permissions.

Sort Menus Alphabetically

Start the Registry editor: Start > Run
> regedit > [Enter]. Navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Micr
osoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex
plorer\MenuOrder

86

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Change the Bandwidth Limit to 0

and click OK.

Getting Rid Of The Unread Email

Messages Message...
...on the Welcome Screen, that is. Heres
how to do it:
Start the Registry Editor: Start >
Run > regedit > [Enter]
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr
entVersion
Right-click on the CurrentVersion
key and select New > Key. Name this
UnreadMail.
Right-click on the blank area on the
right side, and select New > DWORD
Value. Call it MessageExpiryDays
and give it a value of 0.
You may need to log off or restart for
the changes to take effect.

Modifying the Internet Key On

Internet Keyboards
You can change what programs you want
to launch with the Internet key:
Open the Registry Editor and navigate
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
The start menu gets sorted automatically, too

Increasing Internet Bandwidth

Windows XP reserves 20 per cent of your
Internet bandwidth for Quality of Service.
This is unnecessary, and can be disabled:
Open the Group Policy Editor: Start

> Run > gpedit.msc > [Enter]

In the left-hand column in the
window, navigate to Computer

Configuration > Administrative

Templates
> Network
> QoS
Packet
Scheduler.
In the
right
column,
double-click

Right-click in the right column and

create a new String called

ShellExecute
Set the value as the application path,
for example, C:\Program
Files\Opera\Opera.exe. If you want
to disable the key, delete the value from
ShellExecute and leave it blank.

Open Explorer With A Single Pane

When you use [Windows] + [E] to open a
Windows Explorer window, it opens in
the two-pane layout. To have it open
with a single pane by default, do
the following.
In the Registry Editor, navigate to

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\
explore\ddeexec
Double-click on (Default) and
change the string to

[ViewFolder(%l, %I, %S)]

Limit
reservable
bandwidth
and select
Enabled.

Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersio
n\Explorer\AppKey\7

(including the brackets)

To revert to the double-pane window,
set (Default) to

[ExploreFolder(%l, %I, %S)]

Increase your bandwidth by
20 per cent

[email protected]

oogles all but taken over our

online lives nowcan you imagine
doing anything without it?

PICASA
Download Albums From Picasa
Web Albums
Photos that you see on Picasa Web
Albums can be downloaded directly to
the Picasa program without having to
manually save each photo from within
your browser. When on an album page,
look for a link on the left side that says
Download Album; confirm the
download, and once its complete, you
can view all the downloaded albums by
clicking on the Downloaded Album
link on the left.

Upload Your Albums

One of the biggest and the most
important feature of Picasa is its
integration with Googles online photo
hosting servicePicasa Web. Click on the
Sign in to Web Albums link on the
top right of the Picasa window to log in
to the serviceuse your Google user ID
and password. Once signed in, select the
images you want to upload and click the
Web Album button at the bottom. Give a
title to the album and other description
if needed. Select the resolution you want
so that the images can be resized, and
choose whether you want to make the
album public or private. Click OK and
the images will be uploaded.

Creating Albums With Starred

Photos
Just like in Gmail and Google Reader,
you can star important photos. Browse
to the folders or albums where you have
all your photos. Select the ones you want

When you install Picasa and run it

for the first time, it asks you whether you
want to scan your entire hard drive or
just scan your My Documents folder. All
the photos on the hard drive appear as
folders and albums on the left and
theres no real way of identifying which
folders they belong to on your hard drive.
Sometimes, unnecessary images like ones
from your browser cache folders also
make their way into the list. The first
thing to do is to manually enter the paths
that you want to scan. You can do this by
going to Tools > Folder Manager.
Choose the folders you dont want, select
the Remove from Picasa radio button
and click OK. Add any folders that Picasa
may have left out in the same manner.
Another way you can see from where
Picasa has listed all the photos is to go to
View > Folder View > Tree View.

Backing Up Photos
Every now and again, your hard
drive is bound to get clogged with
photos that youve taken and it is a good
idea to keep backing them up from time
to time. Picasa gives you the option to
burn your photos on to optical discs. Go
to Tools > Backup Pictures, select
New Set and give a name to it. Also
mention what formats you want to save
and if youd like to save the backup into
a different folder or a network drive by
clicking on Disk-to-disk backup.
Click Create to finish. Now check the
checkboxes for the folders and albums
you want to backup and select Backup.
In the location that you backed up the
photos, youll find PicasaRestore.exe,
which you can run to restore the images
to the original path.
Picasa also has a Gift CD featurego
to Folder > Create a Gift CD.

Click on Add More to add more folders

to the gift CD. Select the resolution for
the photos using the Photo Size dropdown menu and give the CD a name.
Finally, click Burn Disc to burn the CD.

Adding Captions
To add a caption to a photo, doubleclick on it and you will find a small text
area at the bottom of the photo. Enter
your caption here and hit [Enter]. To
delete the caption, click the Delete
this caption icon on the right. To
view the captions while in the main
photo index view, go to View >
Thumbnail Caption > Caption.

Host Your Own Web Albums

If you dont want to use Googles
online Web space to store your photos,
you can upload them to your own
personal Web sites FTP server. Rightclick on the album you want to upload
and select Export as HTML Page.
Enter a name for the album title and the
resolution that you want to export the
images to. Click Next, choose a template
from the list and click Finish. The
finished page will be displayed in your
default Web browser. You can upload
that folder to your site and create a link
to it from your main page.
Theres a feature that Google claims
as experimental but it allows you to
upload the photos to the FTP server
directly through Picasa. Go to Tools >
Experimental > Publish via FTP.
Again, select a resolution, a save location
and a template. Now youll be prompted
to select an account. Click on Account
Manager to create a new account. Click
Add an Account and enter your FTP
server informationaddress, user and
passwordand click OK. Now you can
select your new FTP server and click OK.

GMAIL
Google never stops plugging new features
into Gmail. We take a look through some
of the more useful ones added recently.

Colour Labels And

Organising

Labels and filters are a good way

to sort e-mail. To create a label, go
to Settings > Labels, give it
a name and click on Create.
Now your label will appear in a
box to the left side of the window.
Click on the blank box to the
right of the label and select a
colour to assign it to the label.
You can set labels to your
mails manually by clicking the
checkbox for the mail and
clicking the dropdown menu for
more actions and selecting the
label of your choice. You can set
Backup photo albums to a drive or even on a CD to gift
more than one label to the mail.
it to someone
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

87

Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks

Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks

To set up filters, go to Settings >
Filters and click on Create a New
Filter. Enter information for the

To The Rescue
Use Norton Ghost to keep your data safe from untoward incidents
Samir Makwana
orton Ghost may cost a bit, but its a
brilliant solution to take backups
and images of your data. You can find the
trial version on this months DVD.

To define a backup, open the

Tasks tab in Ghost and choose Run

or Manage Backups. To back up
everything on your computer, select
Back Up My Computer. The Back
Up My Documents option will allow
back up your My
Documents folder, in
addition to file types
like music, movies and
so on. To change the
drives you want to back
up (or files in the latter
case), click on the drive
letter (or folder name)
in the dialog.
The recovery points
you create can be copied
to CD DVD under Tools

> Copy Recovery

Point.

A good backup strategy is always important

The Basics
When you run the program for the
first time, youll be asked to select a
backup destination. Choose any healthy
drive or partition except for C:, or

Specify critical files and folders for backing up

better yet, an external hard disk. After

setting the backup destination, define
the sourcechoose Run or Manage
Backups under the Tasks menu or
the main screen. Ghost lets you back
up selected files and folders, or entire
drives. Drive backups are called
Recovery Points, and are saved with the
.v2i, .iv2i or .pqi extensions. The new
version of Ghost lets you create drive
images as well as file and folder
backups (the older versions were only
drive imaging utilities), so its a
complete backup solution.

88

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Browsing A Recovery Point

Once youve made a recovery point of a
partition or on your hard drive, you can
browse through the files as they were
at the time of the backup, and even
restore individual files instead of
restoring the entire recovery point. Go
to Tools > Recovery Point
Browser and open the Recovery
Point you want to browse through.
To restore an old version of a file,
right-click on it and choose
Recover.
You can also browse the
recovery point in Windows
Explorer by mounting it as a
separate drive. In the Recovery
Point Browser, select the
Recovery Point and click Mount.
Alternatively, you can use
Windows Explorer to browse to
the Recovery Point, right-click on
it and choose Mount. Youll be

Timely backups can bring about peace of mind!

asked to give it a drive letter, and youll

be able to browse through it like you
would any other partition on your PC.
Any changes you make to the mounted
image will go away once you un-mount
the recovery point.

Unattended Backups And Restores

You can schedule incremental backups
under the Status menu by editing the
calendar. Right-click on the calendar
and choose Define New Backup. To
backup computers on the network, go
to Computers > Add and add the IP
address of the computer you want to
back up. Once its connected, you can
create recovery points, schedule, and
even restore backups on the computers
in the list.

Helpful Tools
Backups can be taxing on your system;
you can set a
default
performance
level for
backups in

Tasks >
Options >
Performance.
You can
also set
security
options while
setting up a
backup under
Backups stay secured by
the
setting password-protected

Advanced

encryption

tab. Youll get

different encryption options to passwordprotect (the character limit depends on
the encryption level) the backup files.

Pay!
When you pay and obtain the full
version of Ghost, you get the
ability to convert recovery
points to VMware virtual disks,
and the ability to copy one
hard disk to another. Existing
recovery points can be
converted to the VMWare
virtual disk format for use as a
virtual OS. Go to Tools >
Convert to Virtual Disk.
To make a copy of your hard
drive, go to Tools > Copy My
Hard Drive.
[email protected]

necessary criteria along with wildcards.

For example, if you want all your mails
from Orkut to be labelled, enter orkut
in the subject field. Go to the next step.
Check the box against Apply a Label
and select a label from the list. Set any
other options that you want and click
Create Filter.

Connecting To AIM Through

GMail
You can now login to your AIM or ICQ
user ID using Gmail. When youve logged
into Gmail, click on Options in the Chat
and click Sign into AIM. Enter your
username and password and click on
Sign in. You will be logged in, and all
your AIM contacts will be displayed along
with your Google Talk buddies with an
AIM logo on the side.

IMAP For Free!

Gmail has had POP3 for a while
now and now theyre taking it one step
furtheryou can now get IMAP too! IMAP
synchronises mail between the Gmail
server and your local machine or
devices. So now, you can have the same
mails on your Gmail account on the
Internet, your desktop computer, your
phone and so on, as long as the mail
client supports IMAP. Anything that you
do to your mail from any device will be
updated on the server. So if you move a
file from one folder to the other using
your phone, that change will be
reflected on Gmail and your mail client
at home.
First, enable IMAP for our account
once youre logged into your Gmail
account, go to Settings >
Forwarding and POP / IMAP.
Under the header IMAP Access, click
Enable IMAP and click Save
Changes. Next, set up IMAP for the mail
client. Well use Outlook Express since
its available on every Windows
machine. You can use similar steps for
any other IMAP-supporting mail client
that you may use. Create a new IMAP
account by going to Tools >
Accounts and select Add > Mail.
Enter a display name and your Gmail
address. Keep clicking Next till you
reach the Window where you need to
enter the server addresses. Select the
server type as IMAP from the drop-down.
Enter the address for incoming mail
server as imap.gmail.com and
outgoing as smtp.gmail.com. Click
Next. Enter your account name as
[email protected]. Enter
your password and proceed to finish the
setup. Click on Properties for the
account you just created. Go to the
Advanced tab and enter the Outgoing

SMTP port number as 465 and incoming

as 993. Also check the boxes against

This server requires a secure

connection (SSL) for both the
incoming and outgoing ports. Before
clicking OK, go to the Servers tab and
check the box against My server
requires authentication for the
Outgoing Mail server. Click OK and click
the Send / Receive button. All the folders
on your Gmail server will be downloaded
and you can start using your IMAP
enabled GMail account.

ORKUT
Well be honest herewere not the
biggest Orkut fans, but you cant
ignore it. With a Firefox add-on called
Greasemonkey, you can enhance your
Orkut-ing experience quite a bit.

Scripts for Firefox

Other than the general JavaScript
tricks that work on any browser, there
are some that work on Greasemonkey.
Greasemonkey is an add-on for Firefox
that allows you to run scripts that can
modify the characteristics of a page.

The lack of visible formatting tools can be

fixed by using a Greasemonkey script

Add A Formatting Bar

When its time to scrap your buddy
back and you want to keep things a little
colourful, youre busy looking for the
formatting tools like in any other forum.
Orkuts formatting tools can be accessed
by clicking the scrap tips link next to
the text entry box. Theres also a
Greasemonkey script that will make the
formatting tools show up right on top of
the text box. Download it from
http://userscripts.org/scripts/source/12841
.user.js.

Adding a Talk gadget in Orkut

Weve shown you how to use
Google Talk in your browser before, but
now you can go crazy chatting with
your buddies through Orkut itself.
Download this script:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/
source/12532.user.js. Go back to your
Orkut home page and youll see a
Google Talk addon above your friends
list. Click Show GTalk to show the
application.

Keyboard Shortcuts For Orkut

Greasemonkey can be used to add and modify

features in a page

You can get information on

Greasemonkey from www.greasespot.
net. Download Greasemonkey from
there. Once youve installed the add-on,
restart Firefox.

Widescreen Orkut-ing
Widescreen LCDs are great for
gaming and for watching movies. It
turns out Orkut on widescreen is
pretty useful as well.
Theres a Greasemonkey script
which stretches Orkut pages so you see
a lot more and have far less vertical
scrolling to do.
When you have Greasemonkey
setup right, visit
http://userscripts.org/scripts/
source/12286.user.js. A window should
pop up to confirm the adding of the
script. Click Install. Orkut pages
will now be stretched to the width of
the window.

With the power of Greasemonkey

and its scripts, you can now use shortcuts
to quickly jump from your scrapbook to
your home page, for example. Download
the script from http://userscripts.org/
scripts/source/12784.user.js and then use
the shortcuts given below.
Home: [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [H]
Scrapbook: [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [S]
Friends list: [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [F]
Communities: [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [C]

Hiding Your Content

Googles stepped up their effort to
make Orkut a little more private by

Privacy has been implemented in Orkut

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

89

Digital Tools l Tips & Tricks

allowing you to hide parts of your
content. As usual, you can find these
permissions under Settings >
Privacy. There have been some new
options added here. Items like photos,
videos, feeds and testimonials can now
be made viewable only to your friends.
Theres also an option to disable
your Orkut profile from appearing in
Googles search results! Click on the
hide information radio button and click
save changes when done.

Firewall icon in the system tray and uncheck Display Balloon Messages.
Click Apply.
However, if you dont want Comodo
Firewall to monitor everything, click on
Defense+ and then on the Advanced
tab on the left. Click on Defense+
Settings. Select Monitor Settings
and then uncheck the activities you
dont want monitored. Click Apply.

COMODO FIREWALL
PRO 3.0

Similar to looking for connections made

by programs to and from the Internet,
Defense+ allows you to look for
programs and processes currently active.
Like in the Task Manager, you can
terminate programs or quarantine them
and move them to a safe folder. This is
useful to isolate suspicious programs
which might be worms or viruseson
the computer.
Click on Defense+ from the top
bar. Select View Active Process
List. Here you can right-click on any
process and click Terminate (or
Terminate And Quarantine to
terminate and move the program into
quarantine).

he Pro in Comodo Firewall Pro

might imply an expensive
commercial firewall, but its
available free on their site
http://personalfirewall.comodo.com and
our CD every month. Its no half-complete
software eitherits loaded with features
and plenty of options to play around with.
While installing the firewall, be sure
to choose Advanced Firewall with
Defense+, which gives you more alerts
and a few more advanced features.

View Current Connections

Ever wonder which process is
hogging all your bandwidth? Comodo
Firewall has a feature that allows you

Quarantining Processes And

Programs

Blocking Networks And

Machines
To block IP addresses or entire
networks, go to Firewall > My
Blocked Network Zones. Select
Add > A New Blocked Address
Here, you can choose to block IP
addresses or range of IPs or even MAC
address. Add the required information
and then click Apply.

Policies For Software

Policies arent limited to the
network in Comodo Firewallyou can
create policies for all kinds of software
running on your OS as well. You can
Setting policies and then applying them to
programs

to view all the connections going from

your PC to the network or Internet and
vice versa. Click on the Firewall icon on
the top of the window and select View
Active Connections.
Here you can see all details such as
local and destination ports and IP
addresses. You can even force-close a
connection by right clicking on it and
choosing Terminate Connection.

Disable Popup Alerts

With the Defense+ feature enabled,
the pop-ups youll receive will be more
than your patience can handle. Youll get
an alert for everything from connection
alerts to programs accessing other
programs. Right-click on the Comodo

90

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Youll find several types of predefined policies

also create your own custom policies for

programs. Go to Defense+ >
Advanced tab. Select Predefined
Security Policies to view existing
policies and to add new ones. You can
change the existing policies by clicking
on any one, then clicking Edit and
choosing Access Rights or
Protection Settings.
To create a new policy, click on Add,
and set permissions and access rights in

the same manner. To set this policy to

an application, click on Computer
Security Policy. Select the
application you want to set the policy
for and click on Edit.
Check the Use a Predefined
Policy radio button and then select
your custom policy from the drop-down
menu next to it.

Parental Control
Now that you have your firewall
set up and restrictions in place, you
wouldnt want other users to alter the
settings all the time. This is done by
enabling the parental control. Go to
Miscellane-ous > Settings. Click
the Parental Control tab and check
the box to enable password protection
for the settings youve made. Click
Change Password to set a password.

Submitting Suspicious Files

Every once in a while, you come
across a worm or virus that your antivirus program cant clean or even
detect. At such times, use the file
submission feature to send the file
across to Comodos developers. Comodo
Firewall allows you to upload the files
to them so they can analyse and create a
possible fix for it. Under Miscellaneous, select Submit Suspicious
Files. Click on Add to add files. Add a
description and mail ID if required.

Importing And Exporting

Settings
Once youre
done
setting up
and
tweaking
Comodo
the way you
need it, you
want to be
able to store
and load
the settings
for future
use. You
can create
profiles and
switch to
any of them
whenever
you want.
Go to
Never lose your settings: you

Miscellan- can save them!

eous and
then on Manage My Configurations. Click on Export to export your

settings. Give a name and save the file.

To import a saved configuration, go to
Import > Import and select the file
you saved. Now you can switch between
profiles by clicking on Select and
check from one of the profile.

Mode Mess

(increase the size), right-click on the partition

and select Extend Volume; the Extend
Volume Wizard will start. Here, you can specify the amount that you want to increase the
partition by. Click Next, then on Finish to
start the process.

Bhuvnesh Agrawal

The data transfer mode of the DVD-Writer is probably

set to PIO, which is a lower-speed mode than the DMA
mode it should run at. To check this, open the Device
Manager by running devmgmt.msc, expand IDE/ATAPI
controllers, double-click Primary IDE Channel, and click
on Advanced Settings. Set the Transfer Mode to DMA if
available, click OK, and restart the computer. If that doesnt help, you might need to delete that channel and restart
the computer to re-detect the hardware. You might also
need to repeat this with the Secondary IDE Channel if
your drive is not listed. If nothing happens after restarting, you should uninstall the IDE channel from the device
manager and restart the computer so it can re-detect
everything on that channel. Your drive will now work in
DMA mode and its transfer speed will improve.
If it doesnt, try changing the IDE cable. You might
need to replace the drive if none of the above helps.

Its Just The Drivers

Your Questions, Our Answers

All your computing niggles and nags
are dealt with here!

Poof!
My computer suddenly shuts down after a
few minutes of activity. My service engineer
checked everything including the heatsink and
fans, but found nothing wrong. He replaced a few
capacitors on the motherboard, but the problem
persists.
J Ramesh

Since youve already gotten everything

checked, our guess is that your power
supply is at faulteither it is not able to deliver
enough power to your PC, or there is some
other problem with it. Get it examined and
possibly replaced. You could go through our
December issue for an idea about what kind of
PSU you need.

Playing With Partitions

I am aware that there is a partition resizing utility in Vista, and I want to try it out, but Im a
little afraid because of the risks involved. Please tell
me what I need to know.

92

Im having a problem with the game Gangland.

Ive played the demo earlier, but now the full
version I bought gives this error:
===== Console::Initialize() =====
Compiled Sep 27 2005 10:58:36
(release build)
Renderer rejected: RendererD3D.DLL
Renderer found: RendererOGL v. 1.3
(release build)
RendererOGL::GLInitialize(): Using
Microsoft Corporation GDI Generic
RendererOGL::GLInitialize(): OpenGL
version 1.1.0
RendererOGL::GLInitialize(): Card
doesnt
support
GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc
Error creating renderer instance
What should I do? Im using an ASUS V9400
Magic graphics card.

Make
sure the
IDE
Channel is
set to
DMA if
available

Machine Language
Whenever I restart my Windows XP
computer, I get this error message: Stop
0xC000021A.

Vijesh Vijayan

Bhavesh Shah

Your graphics card is based on the NVIDIA

GeForce4 MX 4000 chipset. The error
message indicates that your OpenGL renderer
does not support S3TC (S3 Texture
Compression). The error message also indicates that the game is trying to use the graphics renderer from Microsoft and not from
NVIDIA, so your OpenGL file could be corrupt,
or there could be a problem with your graphics drivers. Since your graphics card supports
S3TC, we suggest you install the latest reference
drivers
for
your
card
from
www.nvidia.com . Your problem should be
solved now.

This happens if the Wbemprox.dll library is

prematurely unloaded. You need to download
and
install
the
hotfix
from
http://go.microsof t.com/?linkid=6294451
(http://tinyurl.com/34jrgl).
Restart
your
computer and you should find its OK.

Unpacking The Service!

I recently installed SP1 on Windows XP and
then used System Restore to revert Windows
to the previous state. I am now not able to create
a network connection.
Ram Kapadia

Back From The Future

I upgraded from XP to Vista and I want to get
back to XP. How can I do it without losing any of
my program settings?

Ankit Pathak

Manu Shastry

The Disk Management Utility in Vista is an

upgrade over that in XP; it can resize disk
volumes (partitions). Before getting into it, do
back up all your data, because although it can
resize partitions keeping the data intact, there is
always the risk of data loss in the case of a sudden
interruption (such as a power failure).
Open the Control Panel and type Partition
in the search box. Click on Administrative
Tools: Create and format hard disk partitions.
To shrink a volume, right-click on the partition to be shrunk (in Disk Management) and
select Shrink Volume. You will be able to see
the current size, space available to shrink, a
dialog box to enter the amount to shrink by,
and the volume size after shrinking. Enter
the amount to shrink (in MB) and click
Shrink. Similarly, to extend a volume

Currently, it is not possible to downgrade

from Vista to XP and retain all program
settings. You would have to do a clean format
of the partition and install XP. Wed advise our
readers to dual-boot between Vista and XP
(instead of upgrading) if they just want to get
a taste of the new OS. Assuming Vista is
installed on a partition different from where
XP is installed, do the following to uninstall it.
Boot into XP. Insert your Vista DVD into the
drive or load the image in DVD emulation software. Run X:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52
ALL /force where X is your Vista DVD drive
letter. Restart the computer and you will find
that the old XP boot menu has returned.
Format the partition where youd installed
Vista, and remove Boot.BAK and Bootsect.BAK.
Thats it!

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

tion
Quefsthe
o nth
Mo

My Sony DRU-820A DVD-Writer takes almost an hour to

copy a DVD. What could be the problem?

Get Help Now!

E-mail us your computing
problems along with your
contact details and
complete system
configuration to
sos@j asubh ai.com ,
and we might answer
them here! Since we get
many more mails per day
than we can handle, it
may take some time for
your query to be
answered. Rest assured,
we are listening!

If you reinstall SP1, the problem will be

solved, but if for some reason you dont
want to install SP1, there is a workaround.
Open the Registry Editor and go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentCon
trolSet\Services\RasMan. Select File >
Export, type EXPKEY in the File Name box,
and click Save. Double-click on the
ObjectName String Value in the RasMan key,
type LocalSystem in the Value Data box, and
click OK. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ra
sMan\PPP\EAP\25 and delete the key. (Click
Yes to confirm.) Do the same with
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentCon
trolSet\Services\RasMan\PPP\EAP\26.
Restart your computer. You should now be
able to create a network connection.

Beep No More!
I want to turn off system beeps, but I dont
want this to affect any other audio settings on
my computer.
S Gopal

Errors like these occur when installer files are corrupt

To disable system beeps, open the

Registry
Editor
and
go
to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control
Panel\
Sound. Modify or create the String Value
Beeps in the right pane and set its value to 0.
Restart for the setting to take effect.

So Its A Coaster...
Whenever I try to install ASHAMPOO WIN
OPTIMIZER 2007 from the Digit CD, it shows
the following error message: An I/O error
occurred while installing a file. When I abort it,
a message says corrupt installation file. How
do I install it?
Sunney

Like the error message says, this happens

when the installer file is corrupt or
damaged, and that often happens often when
the media itself is damaged.
Please e-mail [email protected] for a
replacement.

Slo-Mo
I have an Athlon XP 3000+, an ASUS V82-m
motherboard, and 512 MB of RAM. My problem
is that Quake 3 runs very slowly.
Shakti Dash

Check whether the latest ForceWare drivers

are installed; they are available at
www.nvidia.com.
Also, try playing the game at lower resolutions and turn down the effects.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

93

Recover Data From

A Crashed Hard Drive
Heres a crash course on recovering data from a crashed hard drive !

Launch PC inspector File Recovery

directly to Step 6; if you choose lost

drive, go directly to Step 8. If it is
deleted data that you wish to recover,
click on the icon at the top left.

ST
EP

Select The Drive

The program will scan
your hard drive for some
time for available partitions, after which it will display them.
You will most likely be able to select
the drive from the Logical Drives tab. It
may sometimes be listed twice; select
the entry containing the drives letter.

94

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

ST
EP

Sniffing Out Deleted Files

The selected drive will now
be scanned; this may take a
few minutes. A Deleted
folder will be displayed (with the
Recycle Bin icon). You need to go
through this folder to locate the files
you wish to recover. You might find
that the original filename has not been
preserved. You can opt to search for the
file in the following way: choose
Object > Find, enter the file type,
and click on the green tick to search.

ST
EP

Recovering The File

A list of matching files will
appear after the search
process ends. If the file
youre searching for does not appear,
you can use the Size and Date Modified
columns to help identify it (assuming
you know these details). Click on the
top of these columns to arrange them
accordingly, to make it easier to locate
the file. Select the possible candidates
by keeping on clicking on them while
keeping [Ctrl] pressed. Keeping
[Ctrl] pressed, right-click on them
and choose Save to. Choose a location.

Retrieve The Lost Data

You will see that PC
Inspector File Recovery
has found hundreds of
lost filesmany will be fragments.
It will take quite a bit of your time to
go through them all, but it is worthwhile because you have a chance of
getting back precious files. Repeat
steps 3 to 5 to find your file and
check its integrity.

Find Your Lost Data

Sometimes data is lost due
to a quick format or due
to system or program

Dead On Install!

I recently got myself a Tata Indicom Walky

phone with a cable to connect it to the PC. I
configured everything as told, but cannot connect to
the Internet. When I try to view the modem diagnostics, I get an error.

I tried to install the

Adobe GoLive! Tryout
and Adobe Illustrator Tryout
from one of your DVDs. They
got installed, but when I try
to run them, I get a message
saying the products have
expired, even though Ive
never installed them before.

Rajnish Mathur

Your PC is not able to communicate with

the modem in your phone. Check in the
Phone and Modem Options in the Control
Panel to see if youve installed a generic 33.6
Kbps model rather than a 56 Kbps modem.
Access the modem properties and enter the
initialisation settings as AT+CRM=1. This is
assuming youve created the dial-up connection and are dialling the number #777. The
username and password are to be entered as
internet. In the phone, using the menu, you
can access the modem settings; select the
modem speed as 115 Kbps. You should now be
able to connect.

any drive from the affected hard

drive in the Logical Drives list. Youll
have to manually search for it. Click
on the Physical drive tab from the
Select Drive dialog, and select your
hard driveusually named fixed disk
#1. Click on Find logical drives.
Search Within Clusters
You can choose to scan
the entire drive for lost
drives, or if you have
some idea about where
the partition was physically located
on the disk, you can move the sliders
to concentrate the search on that
particular area. Now click on the tick
button and wait for the search to
complete, after which you can select
the logical drive to recover your files
and folders (as explained in the
previous steps).

[email protected]

Enable File and Printer sharing

Some software can

work in the demo
version mode only for a
limited period of time (like
three months) from the
date of release. Usually,
after this period, a newer
trial or demo version of the
software is released. Get it
from www.adobe.com.

WiredBut Not Quite

I have an Intel 915GAV chipset motherboard.

When I start playing The Sims 2, I get the
error message ialmrnt5 display driver has
stopped working normally, and I have to reboot
the computer.

I own a cyber-caf with five computers

running XP connected to an 8-port switch
and one server. I am not able to access any of the
five computers from any one of them. I can still
ping them one from the another. What could the
problem be?
Abhishek Gupta

This error is due to a bug in the Intel

graphics driver. Install the latest drivers
from downloadcenter.intel.com. If you still get
the error, right-click on the The Sims 2 icon,
select Properties, and add the switch -w to
the end of the target field so it looks someFiles\EA
thing like C:\Program
GAMES\The Sims 2\TSBin\Sims2.exe -w.
(The actual path may vary depending on where
the games been installed)

Direct Connect
Scanning for lost data

Sabyasachi Sadhu

Game OverFor Now

Eklavya Ashar

Find The Lost Drive

If your partition table has
been damaged, you may
no longer be able to view

Check And Rename

After they are restored,
you should try to open the
files to see if they are
indeed the files you were looking for.
After confirming this, you can
rename them to what they were and
copy them to the original location
later. If the files are not the ones you
were searching for, return to PC
Inspector File Recovery and try to
search for them again.

ST
EP

To verify the drives content, click the

Preview button. Click on the tick
button to continue to the next step.

ST
EP

ST
EP

Launch The Program

Launch PC Inspector File
Recovery, choose English as
your language, and click
on the green tick button. Choose what
kind of data you wish to recover by
clicking on one of the three buttons to
the left. If you choose Lost Data, go

Select the drive form which to recover data

ST
EP

ST
EP

act of life: when hard drives

crash, they usually do so without
warning. What results is a
headache and, more importantly,
heartache. But the data is usually not
wiped clean from the crashed hard
drive; rather, the file allocation
tablewhich contains filenames and
points to data on the driveis what
usually gets damaged. It is therefore
technically possible to recover data in
such situations; you only need to
know the tools of the trade. The tool
were talking about is PC Inspector
File Recoverya freeware that can be
downloaded from www.pcinspector.de/
file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm.
If youve lost data on a partition
on a drive other than C, just install
the program in Windows. If your
entire hard drive has crashed and
youre unable to boot, install the
program on another computer and
attach your hard drive as a secondary
drive on that computer.

crash. In such cases, you should

choose the Lost Data button (the
middle button on the left) in the
main screen of PC Inspector File
Recovery. In this case, data is
retrieved in a way similar to deleted
files. Select the drive from the
Logical Drives list and click on the
tick button when the Select Cluster
Range dialog appears. The process of
identification of files to be retrieved
begins; this will take some time.

ST
EP

Jayesh Limaye

It Wont Work...

I have a cable internet connection that

requires me to dial using PPPoE. I recently
installed a 4-port router and configured it to dial
directly to my ISP. The problem is that it is not
able to connect despite my having correctly
configured the router to use PPPoE and entering
the correct username and password.

This often happens when File and Printer

Sharing is disabled or if the Guest
account is disabled. Open Network
Connections, right-click on the network
connection being used, and click Properties.
Make sure the box next to File and Printer
Sharing for Microsoft Networks is checked.
Click OK.
You might be prompted to reboot the
computerdo so. Open User Accounts in
Control Panel and click Guests. In the next
window, click on Turn On the Guest Account.
This should solve the problem.

Cyber-Empty-Space
I can connect to the Internet but I cant open
any Web sites on my Windows 98 SE PC.
Sunil Bihari

M Krishnamurthy

It looks like your ISP has locked your

account to the MAC address of your
network card, so you can only dial through that
card. First, find the MAC address of your
network card by typing ipconfig /all in a
command prompt window. Copy that MAC
address. Launch the administration page of
your router and search for the option to set the
WAN MAC address (sometimes referred to as
WAN MAC Address Cloning). Enter the MAC
address of your network card here and save the
settings. This will set the MAC address of your
router to the same as that of your network card,
and it will seem to your ISPs server that the
number is being dialled through your network
card. You will then be able to connect to the
Internet via the router.

Ping any siteping www.yahoo.com in a

command promptand if you get a reply,
your browser is corrupt, and reinstalling it is
the solution.
If you do not get a reply, run winipcfg.
Click on the More Info button and verify that a
DNS is specified. If the DNS is blank or 0.0.0.0,
the computer is not being assigned a DNS
address.
Close winipcfg. Disconnect from the
Internet. Double-click on Network in the
Control Panel, highlight TCP/IP > Dial-Up
Adapter, and click Properties. Click on the
DNS Configuration tab and verify that
Disable DNS is selected.
If this was already selected, then contact
your ISP to verify if any DNS settings need to
be set up.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

95

Digital Tools l Agent 001

Agent 001

Not Quite Prime Time

Now isnt the best time to go around looking for TV-Tunersthus spake Agent 001
ve a good friend who recently moved to
Mumbai. Being an IT guy, hed brought along
his PC and set it up here. He isnt a gamer like
me, so he gets his kicks elsewhere. Im not
talking booze and discosnothing so dramatic
hes a TV buff, and would spend his weekends
back home glued to Star World.
One of his first purchases in Mumbai, therefore, was a TV no surprises there. Problem is,
he isnt at home most of the time, so he decided
to opt for a TV-Tuner card or box to record his
favourite serials, the ones he just couldnt miss.
But after investing in a mammoth 500 GB hard
drive (and the TV of course), he could only spend
3,000 bucks for a TV-Tuner. Naturally, we ended
up at Lamington Road rather early in the day...
Unfortunately, Id miscalculated, and very
few shops were open upon our arrival. Well, even
Agents trip up! A couple of Cokes later, we found
shutters starting to open. The first shopkeeper
greeted us with a toothy smile. Ahh, the joy of
being first customers
The smile done, he went on to show us a Pinnacle PCTV 50e (Rs 4,250). Its a rather blandlooking external TV-Tuner that can record
directly to DivX. We were also shown a Dazzle
internal TV-Tuner for Rs 1,400; however, the box
didnt have any specific model number; there
was just Dazzle PCI TV Tuner.
Dealer #2 showed us a couple of Leadtek TVTuners. One was an ultra-compact WinFast
PalmTop TV, a cute, orange-coloured tuner box.
The PalmTop TV has a host of powerful features
including seamless playback for multiple video
and audio files. It was priced at Rs 4,000. Next,
we saw a Leadtek DTV 2000H. This PCI model is
digital, and sports a host of features. The retail
cost of the bundled software is more than that
of the card itself! You can also directly burn programmes to DVDs. It costs Rs 4,600, but the DTV
2000H supports HD output as well.
Variety being the spice of life, it
was on to dealer #3. Before entering
the shop, my friend informed me
that he would prefer an internal
card, citing desk space as the reason.
We came across a Leadtek
WinFast TV Dongle. It was
ultra-compact, a little larger
than a pen drive. The voluminous feature set will go
down real easy, especially
when you consider its
diminutive size. In fact, this
miniature TV-Tuner doesnt
give up any features to its much larger
brethren. The remote control unit, while
feature-rich, does look bland with its array
of similar buttonslike some sort of control

96

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Shrikrishna Patkar

panel. It costs 4,200 rupees, and the TV Dongle

will be very suitable for laptop users due to its
size. The guy told me he could arrange for a
Hauppauge Win TV-PVR-150 for Rs 5,100. This
card has all the features youd need in order to
set up a Media Center PC.
Incidentally, the Win TV-PVR-150 is digital.
I was impressed by this guys contacts, because
I remember wanting to buy a Hauppauge TVTuner myself a few months agoand having
given up either because people couldnt get it,
or were pricing it exorbitantly. We also saw a
Compro VideoMate Gold Plus M500, costing
Rs 2,200. This is an older model from Compro,
proved by the bundle, which although rich,
contains software versions older than whats
currently available. The evergreen Compro
VideoMate Gold was also on display: Rs 4,500.
This is a full-size PCI card. Once again, its a
previous-generation product. It seems the
latest Compro cards havent reached Lamington Road yet.
Decision time for my friend. I had filled him
in earlier on the CAS (Conditional Access
System) issue doing the rounds. CAS will mean
encrypted channels, which a regular satellite
dish cannot receive. It will ultimately prevent
exploitation of consumers by TV operators who
have been hiking prices for no rhyme or reason.
CAS will mean investing in a set-top box and
subscribing to individual channels, or a
package of channels. For those who arent
aware, once conditional access comes into force,
TV-Tuners without digital connectivity wont
function properly, because set-top boxes
use a digital cable. Your TV-Tuner
will therefore only receive any
analogue channels if
theyre still being
transmitted. Needless to say, your TV-Tuner remote
will also cease to function. Youll
control channels with the remote
of the set-top box instead.
Considering that digital TVTuners are costlier than their analogue counterparts, and that my
friend wasnt willing to upsize his
budget, we decided to wait a bit before
investing in a TV-Tuner. Sure, the digital ones wont really be affected by the
CAS decision, but my friend wasnt
willing to splurge. All considered, we
decided to sit this one out a bit till
things become clearer.
Want more of Agent 001? Turn over to read his
answers to your buying questions

Ask Agent 001

Digital Tools l Agent 001

Luxury!

Since you seem to be going in for a brand new

system, Id suggest you scrap both these and invest
in a Core 2 Duo instead. The E6300 (1.86 GHz)
would easily outperform both the processors you
mentioned while costing just a couple of thousand bucks more. A good motherboard to pair a
Core 2 Duo with is the MSI 965P Platinum.

I want to buy an LCD TV for my room. The viewing

distance will be 8-10 feet. Could you suggest which
brand and size of LCD to buy? My budget is between Rs
75,000 and Rs 1,00,000 for a 32-inch (or above) TV. Id
also like to know the significance of features like
Dynamic Contrast Ratio and Full HD.
Amit Jain

PSU Pointers

Dynamic Contrast Ratio (DCR) refers to the

ratio of luminosity of the brightest and
darkest colors that a display can produce over
time. Static Contrast Ratio (SCR) measures the
luminosity values simultaneously, i.e., without
the time factor. Values for DCR will be typically
higher than those for SCR because DCR simply
cancels the effect of the room, causing equal
amounts of light to reflect from the display to the
room and forth. Therefore DCR values are
inflated, and an LCD with an SCR of 3000:1 will
outperform an LCD with a DCR of 3000:1.
Full HD simply means HD viewing at its
highest possible resolution, i.e., 1080p. This
equates to a progressive scanned display consisting of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The next-best thing
would be 1080i, i.e., 1920 x 1080 pixels interlaced.
Samsung has some real beauties in their LCD
TV range. The Bordeaux series, for one, proves that
beauty isnt always skin-deep. I liked the body
shape of the series; build quality is also right up
there. Choose between two coloursthe
LA32R71W (white) and the LA32R71B (black). Both
cost around Rs 70,000 (Mumbai street price).

I use a 300-watt SMPS and am planning to

upgrade to a 400-watt model, because Im planning on attaching another hard drive and CD drive
soon. Will a higher power supply overload my motherboard? Which brand should I look at?
Tushar Mathur

Using a higher-rated power supply will not

damage your motherboard in any way. The
processor, motherboard, graphics card, memory,
and other peripherals only draw as much power
as they need. People use higher-rated power supplies simply because power supplies perform optimally when they are under a maximum load of 60
per cent, so a 500-watt power supply will perform
optimally if the load is not more than 300 watts.
This is also because most manufacturers state
inflated output figures. Some 400-watt power supplies may actually be capable of only 300 watts.
VIP is a good brand, known for their reliable
power supplies. Id suggest a 400-watt VIP PSU.

Wanted: A Box And A Screen

I have decided on the following configuration (primarily for gaming):
NVIDIA nForce 680i motherboard, Intel Core 2 duo
E6600, Samsung SP2504C 250GB SATA 2 HDD, 2 x 512
MB DDR2 @ 667 MHz, XFX-PV-T73G-UDL7 (NVIDIA
7600GT), iBall Power Key Designer, Lite-On DVD-Writer
Please comment. I need help choosing a cabinet,
power supply, and a 19-inch LCD monitor. My budget
for the cabinet and PSU is Rs 4,000, and for the monitor, Rs 14,000.

Money Matters
I want to upgrade from my W550i SE to a new
handset. I have zeroed in on the K790i SE for its
3.2MP camera and the loads of other features. Any
other suggestions for the same price and features?
Vikas Maurya

You seem to primarily want a good camera

phone. The Nokia N73 also has a 3.2MP
camera, and even outperforms the K790i when it
comes to camera quality. Needless to say, the N73
is feature-rich, with greater application support,
mainly due to its Symbian platform. Another
advantage is a better screen (320 x 240). Music
playback quality is around the same. The only
deterrent for you as far as I can see is the fact that
the N73 will cost at least three thousand rupees
more, going by todays street prices. If youre
willing to upsize your budget, go with the N73,
else stick with the K790i.

C2D All The Way!

Ask Away!

I am assembling a PC for animation work with

some gaming on the side. I am confused between
two processors: the Pentium 630 and the Pentium D
820. Which would perform better? Could you also suggest a suitable motherboard?
Ganesh Badgujar

Between the two processors youve mentioned, a Pentium D 820 would perform
better on multithreaded applications or while
multitasking, simply because its a dual-core.

98

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Vamsi N

Want a tech product, but

dont know how to go
about buying it? E-mail
[email protected]
with your complete
contact details, and he
might answer them here!
Please note that
Agent001 only answers
purchase-related
questions in this space.

Some pretty good choices there. Since its

going to be a gaming rig, Id suggest a
high-end graphics card. Id recommend a
7900GTO or an X1900XT. If you can spend Rs
27,000 on graphics alone, the BIG 8800GTS is available, which is a future-proof option. If budget
becomes a problem, Id suggest an E6300 in lieu
of the E6600game performance wont be
affected much. If you dont plan to SLI, you can
consider a motherboard based on Intels P965
chipset. I recommend the MSI P965 Platinum.
Games benefit from more memory. I suggest 2
GB of RAMtwo sticks of 1 GB each; make sure to
use them in dual-channel mode.
For the kind of power your system will need, I
dont think you should cost-cut on the PSU. Invest
in a VIP 500-watt supply at the least. You could also
consider Cooler Masters 600-watt Extreme Power
series. The Zebronics Peace is a good cabinet; its
flashy, functional, and wont cost a bomb.
19-inch widescreens are the in-thing today. Go
with a Samsung 940BW. Its the best monitor for
its price, period.

Digital Business l Tech Careers

Digital

Business
How Technology Can Help Your Organisation

102

Multiple
Redundancies

106

Online Services Vs.

Software Suites

Tech Careers

LivinG

PATTERNS

An offshoot of the Biotechnology industry, Bioinformatics is gathering pace like never before. It is
still a niche industry, though

Asfaq Tapia
s the field of Biotechnology began
to grow after 2001, it became
increasingly clear that computers
would play a big role in the future of commercial biology. Over the years, computers
have played their part in decoding the
human genome, drug and vaccine design,
determining the bio-molecular structure
of cells, and studying cell metabolism,
among other things. This gradually
evolved into a specialised industry called
Bioinformatics.
Bioinformatics can, in simple terms,
be defined as an interdisciplinary area
involving biological, computer, and information sciences to manage, process, and
understand large amounts of data, for
instance from the sequencing of the
human genome, or from large databases
containing information gathered from
plants and animals for use in discovering
and developing new drugs. Mutation simulations and modelling of bio-molecules
and biological systems is also done using
the data. (Unfamiliar terms are explained
in the box Indicative Terms, which might
give you a flavour for what one deals with
in this discipline.)
According to the Confederation of
Indian Industries (CII), the Bioinformatics
industry is still in its nascent stages, and is
set to grow to $25 billion (Rs 1,00,000 crore)
by 2011. Among other significant developments in the sector, the government of Karnataka along with ICICI invested, in 2001,
Rs 5 crore to develop the Institute of Bioin-

Shrikrishna Patkar

formatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB)

in Bangalore, to offer diploma courses and
short-term training in bioinformatics and
biotechnology.
The Bioinformatics industry today is
heavily dependant on researchers who are
able to work with custom software that
involves data mining (sifting through
large volumes of data to look for patterns
and trends), downstream processing
(referring to the separation or purification
of biological products), and model
analysis. Researchers comfortable with
using Virtual Reality tools are also much
sought-after in drug design and unicellular organism design.
This could be the industry for you if
you are excited by the prospect of coming
up with new cures for diseases,
unlocking the secrets of life, and so on...
and as you can expect, work here is
highly research-oriented.

A Preview Of The Industry

Youll generally find bioinformatics
applied in three broad cases: pharmaceutical companies that have a bioinformatics division; IT companies that have a
bioinformatics winga small team
working on specialised in-house projects
for better data retrieval techniques; and
companies that offer bioinformatics solutions to pharmaceutical companies.
These range from research institutions,
pharmaceutical companies, and chemical industries to the agriculture and
allied industries. These companies
recruit the bulk of the bioinformatics
professionals today.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

99

Digital Business l Tech Careers

It must be noted, though, that bioinformatics is still very niche in India, with only a
handful of companies carrying out research that
requires the use of bioinformatics. It is primarily large companies doing outsourced work
from multi-national pharmaceutical companies
that recruit. Also remember that bioinformatics
is an application-oriented subject and demands
a clear understanding of biological and allied
concepts, and that students therefore need to
build a research-oriented mindset.

Digital Business l Tech Careers

Money Matters

Indicative Terms

Educational Pre-requisites
Position
Junior Research Fellow B.E., B.Tech., or B.Sc.

Remuneration (PA)
0.5 to 1 lakh

Senior Research Fellow M.E., M.Tech., or M.Sc.

2 to 3 lakh

Quality and Data

Analyst

M.E., M.Tech., or M.Sc.

2 to 3 lakh

Head Researcher

Ph.D. in your field of superspecialisation

4 to 7 lakh

Project Head

Ph.D. in your field of super7 to 9 lakh

specialisation, in-depth knowledge of
BioPerl and GMOD/Chado based
applications

Syllabi
Until recently, due to the specialised needs of the
bioinformatics industry, there was no fixed
course one could opt for. Companies employed
graduates who had completed an M.Tech. and had
a little background in biology, or those who had
a B.Sc. background with a flair for programming.
The bioinformatics courses available today are a
mash-up of the B.Tech. and B.Sc. syllabi, covering
concepts in programming and in biology. These
days, to get into the industry, you need to have a
B.Tech. or similar qualification. This is a stepping
stone into the industry, to get further; you need a
Masters degree with a super-specialisation in the
research area youve opted for.
Due to media hype and a rush of students
wanting to take up bioinformatics courses, there
are many fly-by-night colleges, not affiliated to
any reputed university, that offer courses in
bioinformatics. Most equipment for biotech /
bioinformatics courses is expensive; it is therefore important to check for lab facilities. It is also
important to check the background of the faculty members of the college you are applying in
before registering for a course. If you can, speak

to alumni of the college regarding the lab facilities and such.

MBA degrees specialising in bioinformatics is
a new phenomenon. Since these courses have only
recently started, it is important to remember that
their marketability has not been proven.

Head-starts
The computational software that most bioinformatics companies use runs on UNIX-like operating systems like Red Hat Linux and Fedora; it is
therefore good to have hands-on experience with
these while pursuing your graduation.
You can take up summer apprenticeship
courses during the holidays or between semesters. These courses help you gain an understanding of how a bioinformatics project works,
and can be an add-on to your rsum. They normally last for between three and six months.
You could apply for a summer apprenticeship at
certain institutions.

Getting An Education
Undergraduate Courses
Amity Institute of BiotechnologyB.Tech.
Vellore Institute Of TechnologyB.Tech.
Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityB.Tech.
Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology- .Tech.
Postgraduate Courses
Pune UniversityM.Sc. in Bioinformatics
Jamia Millia Islamia UniversityM.Sc. in Bioinformatics
Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityM.Sc. in
Bioinformatics
Madras UniversityM.Sc. in Bioinformatics
University of HyderabadM.Tech. in Bioinformatics
University of MadrasM.Sc. in Bioinformatics
Advanced Diploma Courses
Pune UniversityAdvanced Diploma in Bioinformatics
Madurai Kamaraj UniversityAdvanced Post-graduate
Diploma
University of HyderabadPost-graduate Advanced
Diploma in Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics Institute of IndiaPost-graduate
Diploma in Bioinformatics
Ph.D. Research Courses
IMTECHProtein Science and Engineering
CCMBBioinformatics
NIIBioinformatics
IGIBGenome Informatics
CDFDComputational Biology
IICBStructural Biology and Bioinformatics
IICTResearch Projects

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DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Human genome: The genetic map of

the human bodys DNA, including
chromosomes and genes.
Mutation: A permanent structural
alteration in DNA; in most cases, this
refers to DNA changes done by
researchers to improve an organisms
chance of surviving.
Modelling: Refers to the theoretical
methods and computational
processing used to mimic the
behaviour of biological molecules.
Proteomics: Roughly speaking, the
study of proteins.
Mass Spectrometry: A technique used

URL
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The Remuneration
Working in this industry requires patience and
analytical skills. The ability to analyse statistical data from graphs and statistical tables is
an added bonus.
According to Dr S K Mahajan, Gharda Professor of Biotechnology, Institute of Science,
Mumbai, The field of bioinformatics is
demanding as well as low-paying. In spite of the
number of students graduating from these
courses every year, only a select few are offered
lucrative
placements.
According
to
Raghothama Chaerkady, Research Fellow at
McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine,
Johns Hopkins University, a competent bioinformatician assisting in research can make up to
Rs 12,000 to 16,000 as a Junior Research Fellow.
With a Masters degree, working on Proteomics,
based
sequencing,
mass
spectrometry
microRNA, and such, it could be Rs 40,000 per
month, and at the Ph.D. level, around Rs 40,000
to 80,000 per month.
When a company first recruits you, you start
as a Junior Research Fellow. Here you would be
in charge of assisting Senior Research Fellows in
conducting tests on preset parameters of the
project. This work is, for the most part, very basic
and repetitive in nature. After three years of
experience, you would be eligible for the posi-

Though we dont
actively look for
students from
bioinformatics
courses,
candidates who
have a B.Tech. or
M.Sc. in any
branch of the life
sciences are
preferred
Dr M Vidyasagar
Executive vice
president (Advanced
Technology)
Tata Consultancy
Services

to determine the composition and

abundance of the atoms in a
molecular substance.
Sequencing: A technique for
identifying nucleotide sequences in a
DNA fragment.
MicroRNA: A short piece of singlestranded RNA that controls the
expression of genes.
Docking: Computational exploration
of the possible binding modes of DNA
Biostatistics: The application of
statistics to a wide range of topics in
biology, medicine and to agriculture
in particular.

tion of Senior Research Fellow. In this role, you

would be in charge of suggesting the tests and
research paths to follow in order to reach the
goals of the project. For example: a project
related to the design and analysis of DNA
microarrays, with the goal being to extend an
existing Java application that models, say,
the behaviour of synthetic DNA under certain
circumstances.
Most biotechnology companies in India
today work on techniques involving docking,
modelling, sequence analysis, and advanced biostatistics. You can also branch out to being a
Quality and Data Analyst, in charge of overseeing the data generated by the various tests
and validating their authenticity.
After another three to four years of experience, you could qualify to be a Head Researcher
in charge of providing inputs to the project in
your field of specialisation. After two years, you
could aim to become Project Head. This role
would require you to have in-depth knowledge
in your field of specialisation, and thorough
experience on the software tools used in the
bioinformatics industry; you would be expected
to leadand define a roadmap fora project that
falls within the scope of sequence assembly, database design and maintenance, sequence analysis,
and Proteomics.
The table overleaf lists the educational background required for each position in the
industry, with an estimate of the remuneration
one could expect.

Parting Notes
The bioinformatics industry will continue to
evolve into a highly specialised sector that will
service biotechnology companies. Solutions
developed will help researchers sort and retrieve
data more effectively. For the industry to grow in
India, global pharmaceutical companies need to
conduct their research and development activities here, rather than just doing field trials,
which is mostly the case today.
The science is constantly evolving; students
need to constantly update themselves on the
latest trends, as well as the software and techniques used.
[email protected]
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

101

Digital Business l Smart SoHo

Digital Business l Smart SoHo

Image Or File?
Like hardware, data backup software comes with
varying levels of features and complexity. Backup
software basically performs two types of backups:
image and file. Image backup is when you restore
data along with all the settings of the system. The
software creates bit-for-bit copies of the source
disksomething like the System Restore feature in
Windows. This is ideal when youre not planning
on upgrading your hardware, or when you need to
get back up and running minutes after a disk
failure. However, image-based backups typically
take a lot of time, which might mean that the user
can perform less frequent backups.
File backup, on the other hand, is the conventional copy-and-paste (rather, copy and burn to
storage media). The software copies the selected
files on demand, or on a predetermined schedule.
This is fast, and is suitable even when you install
new hardware. The problem with file backup is
that if and when the OS crashes, you will have to
start installing everythingWindows, device
drivers, and your software, before you can use the
data. Then again, there is the chance that you
might just forget to back up an important new document because it wasnt in the usual source folder
for the backup software.
A third type of backup solution is offsite, onlinebased backup. For a price, storage companies allow
you to automatically back up data to their servers.
This works well if you have a broadband connection.
Online backup is file-based; it takes less time, and
less space is utilised because only the data is copied
(without any settings).

Chaitanya Surpur

Multiple
Redundancies
Data today,
gone tomorrow.
Thats why you
always need
plan B

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DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Software
When it comes to software, customers have a number
of choices based on budget and requirements. Data
backup and recovery software comes in both paid
and free versions. Well look at both categories.

Norton Ghost 12

Bhaskar Sarma

The Basics

ost of our personal and business

data exists as bits and bytes stored
on optical media and hard disks in
computers. We live in a digital
world. The robustness of computers,
though, is still often thrown into questionthink
virus attacks, system failures, and hardware malfunction. Its therefore important not to keep all
your data in just one place: back up.
Traditionally, the process of backing up
valuable data has been glossed over, probably
because of the absence of affordable storage
and the lack of easy-to-use software. However,
this doesnt apply today, when you have storage
available at dirt-cheap prices as well as great
softwaresome of which are free. Such software has a plethora of features that enable you
to set up a backup system once, and then forget
about it; and they are suitable both for individuals and businesses.

If youre convinced about the necessity of data

backups, you need to sit back and understand
your requirements. The frequency of generation
of data will determine your choice of software,
as there are some upper limits to how frequently
you can back up. Likewise with issues of
retrieving older copies: some software allow you
to store multiple versions of the same files, while
others overwrite older versions and keep only
the latest version in storage.
Data backup methods have evolved over the
years. Until about a few years ago, most SoHos
used the older and cheaper way of data backup
optical media (CD / DVD). But though CDs and/or
DVDs are still useful for one-time backups, they
can be a pain in the neck when regular backups
are needed. More user-friendly storage would be
external USB hard drives. Many drives feature
the one-touch backup option; they come with
software that automatically backs up data at the
press of a button.

This is Symantecs data recovery software; it falls

in the image backup segment. It costs $69.99
(Rs 2,800); find a free evaluation copy on this
months DVD. Norton Ghost works on Windows
and does a comprehensive backup of your hard
drive. You can also back up individual files and
folders. Restoration is as easy as clicking a button.
However, it is a resource hog. Ghost analyses your
hard drive when you start it, so startup times
depend on the amount of data on your hard disk(s).
Some options
with Norton Ghost
are the scheduling
of backups and use
of password protection on the backed
up files. It creates
periodic
restore
points, like System
Restore does in
Windows. Norton
Ghost does not
need to be running
for a scheduled
backup to start: it
will start all by
itself. It even allows Security options in Ghost

Digital Business l Smart SoHo

Digital Business l Smart SoHo

image backup, Ghost will let you do an individual
backup of files and folders. It will do incremental
backups when space is a concern. The backup files
can be searched either through Ghosts inbuilt feature, or synced with Google Desktop Search.
Norton Ghost is a costly choice, but it does it
job pretty well. The documentation is pretty
detailed, and technical support can be obtained
via e-mail. For more details on how to use
Norton Ghost like a Pro, check out this months
30 Minute Expert in our Tips & Tricks section.

Vembu StoreGrid Backup Software

Schedules can be set for backup, at your convenience

You can choose to back up only select file types

you to back up more than once in a day, which

is ideal for a busy day at office. Backups, especially image-based backups, are a performance
hog when they run, and Norton Ghost has a
Progress and Performance feature which allows
you to slow down the backup if you are in the
middle of something. You can even back up systems that are dual-booted.
The backup sets can be burnt onto CD / DVD
or transferred onto a USB drive. Security for your
backups is rock solidthe files are protected by
256-bit AES encryption, one of the best methods.
Apart from scheduled backups, backups can also
be triggered by user-set events like the installation of a new application, or when the size of the
backup source folders increases beyond a certain
limit. Multiple computers running Ghost can be
controlled remotely from a single machine.
(Each computer needs to have an unique license
key, so this proposition would be very costly if
your network is large.)
Restore times depend on the amount of data
that is imaged. However, the process is easyit is
basic point-and-click. If you have no time to do an

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DIGIT JANUARY 2008

For those businesses that run more than one computer, this is a godsend. Each computer on the network usually has some free space. Vembu
StoreGrid allows you to back up data across an
intranet utilising this free space. Find the software on our August 2007 DVD. The free edition
runs on Windows, though the paid versions run
across all platforms.
Unlike Norton Ghost, StoreGrid runs very
well on systems with average system specifications. The free version does not have all the features of the paid one, but it does the job of
backing up your files. Some nice features are
the ability to do incremental backups by
defaultStoreGrid will back up changes each
time they appear in the file, but it wont save
multiple copies of the same file. Rather, the
changes will appear in a single file, which
results in space and time savings.
If youve spent hours tweaking your Registry
for optimum performance, those changes can
be saved, too. User data is encrypted up to 448
bits using the Blowfish algorithm, and is password-protected. StoreGrid supports hardware
like Network Attached Storage (NAS) and
external hard drives. The Pro version has the feature to back up files via secure FTP (File Transfer
Protocol). It also stores Outlook, Outlook
Express, and browser settings and will back up
data to Microsoft SQL and Exchange Server.
The interface is intuitive, and setting up the
software is easy. There are three modes of configuring the software. The first is client / server

mode, in which the computer can be used to

store backups of other systems and also back up
its own data to others. The other two options
are client and server: systems configured for the
client mode cannot have backups of other systems stored on their hard drives, while systems
configured for server mode cannot have their
data backed up elsewhere.
Control is through a browser-based interface, and you need to type http://localhost:6060
into your browsers address bar to start the
console. Backups can be scheduled on a calendar, or set up so that every time a file is
updated, it is backed up. For users who use
both a laptop and a Desktop, StoreGrid can be
configured such that data on specific folders
on laptops will be automatically backed up on
connecting to the network.

Back2Zip
For those on a budget, Back2Zip is a simple and
effective data backup software. It is freeware; find
it on this months CD.
This is a no-nonsense, no-frills software. It
sports an extremely simple interface with a
minimum of options, but does all that youd
expect it to do. It can either do a simple copy, or
compress the files into zipped folders; the level
of compression can be set to low or high. (The
higher the compression, the slower the backup.)
Back2Zip backs up whole files and folders; it is
not image backup. The duration between successive backups can be set from 20 minutes to
6 hours; the 20-minute option is ideal when you
are working on important documents.

offers 2 GB of storage space for free, with

unlimited space for personal use at $49.50 (Rs
2,000) per year, and 50 GB to 500 GB for businesses at yearly rates starting from $99.50 (Rs
4, 000). These services typically require the
installation of a client on the local machine;
this is used to control settings and options.
They offer the full range of features, right from
scheduled backups to encryptionjust like
those offered by Desktop software.

At The End Of It
For a SoHo user, the best solution would be to
use backup software and back up data to
another hard disk, preferably an external drive.
It is not advisable to use another internal disk
to back up the data, as both data and backup
could be lost at the same time.
External hard disks are pretty affordable
these daysa 160 GB drive, for example, costs
between Rs 4,500 and 6,000 (internal hard drives
of the same capacity cost about Rs 3,000). Since
you can carry all the data with you, you have
yourself a great solution.
Online backup can be expensive or affordable depending on your budget, needs, and connectivity. Its definitely worth considering.
[email protected]

Multiple backups of the same file can be archived by Back2Zip.

This software leaves a very small footprint.

The compression method used is the industrystandard ZIP and ZIP-64.
The browser-based console in Vembu

Over The Wires

Configuring Vembu for a network is as simple as adding

IP addresses.

Online backup is typically a costly option for

individuals and small businesses because of
recurring costs, but you can get some good bargains if you hunt for them. Some companies
like IDrive (www.idrive.com), Mozy (http://mozy.
com/), and Carbonite (www.carbonite.com) offer
packages tailored to the needs of individuals
and small businesses. The offerings are comparable in terms of cost. IDrive, for example,
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

105

Online Services Vs. Software Suites

How open are you to using an online office suite for your daily work?

Overall, our IT team is now more

productive

Our offline suite has helped us

directly improve productivity

Neev Technologies provides software services specialising in

Web-related solutions. They are involved in the development of
rich Internet applications using AJAX, Flash, Java/J2EE, Ruby
on Rails, .NET, and others.

GlobalLogic, Inc. offers full product development lifecycle services

to start-ups as well as emerging and established tech companies.

n general, we believe the world is moving

more towards online services. Prices of storage
and bandwidth are both following Moores
law and are falling rapidly. It has finally become
feasible to be always connected, have all your
documents online, and free yourself from being
dependant entirely on a machine. We have been in
this mode for around four to five months.

People can collaborate

easily, do simultaneous
edits on shared docs,
and are not dependant
on one machine.
Saurabh Chandra
CEO and co-founder,
Neev Information Technologies

Several reasons make online services enticing.

Theres no need to buy hardwarehardware brings
with it so many costsair conditioning, space, IT
operations, electricity, racks, and if you add up
everything, its significant. For our company, the cost
benefits were secondary, though; the most important
benefit was time saved, which is the most expensive
resource for a young, growing company.
It was easy, since people are used to online
applications these days. We still havent been
successful in optimally exploiting the potential of
complex documents, presentations, and spreadsheets,
but simpler spreadsheets or documents are so much
better online since you can collaborate easily. We
havent done a quantitative analysis, but qualitatively,
there has been a substantial improvement.
Overall, our IT team is now more productive,
since common shares or mail servers need not be
managed. The number of servers in the company has
been kept to a minimum. The major limitations are in
the creation of documents like proposals,
specifications, and costing sheets. Online suites have
some way to go in those areas.
Online office suites would be apt for new
organisations where inertia is low and the (younger)
staff is more eager to use such apps, since they use so
many other online services anyway.

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DIGIT JANUARY 2008

t GlobalLogic, weve been using Microsoft

Office for the last five years, and our experience
with it has been very good so far. Although it is
termed productivity software, it has become an
important tool for our day-to-day business operations.
Every company has different IT policies, but they
use the popular Office software suite to remain in sync
with others. The common Office suite acts as a tool for
easy communication with most of our clients while
working on their projects. The suite has helped us

The main limitation of

the Office software suite
is its incompatibility with
different office suites.
Sanjiv Kumar
Senior Manager IT
GlobalLogic, Inc.

directly improve productivity, which has indirectly

increased our profitability.
Besides that, it is also helpful in database
management,
documentation
and
inventory
management, which form an essential part of our
development processes.
The main limitation of the Office software suite is
its incompatibility with different office suites.
By using the Office package, various functions like
communication through e-mail and Word documents,
setting up meetings, presentations, preparing complex
spreadsheets and so on, have become very systematic
and organised. These software packages have fuelled the
routine activities like the preparation and maintenance
of project status reports.
The main limitation of the Office software suite is
its incompatibility with office suites like OpenOffice,
StarOffice, and Lotus SmartSuite, which are used by
various companies. To fix this issue, we have to use the
same office suite that our clients use.
We would highly recommend the use of offline
office Suites to anyone, as they substantially improve
productivity. It helps with day-to-day activities, and also
helps stay on a common platform with clients.
As told to Samir Makwana
([email protected])

Digital Leisure l Touched By Tech

Digital

Leisure
112 Dressed to Kill 115

Martin
Cooper

128 Tabloid Tech

Technology Beyond Work

Touched by Tech

Eager Learners?
Digit went to Khairat village near Mumbai, the pilot site of the OLPC project in India
Asfaq Tapia
ouve heard almost too much about it in
the newsnow heres a little first-hand
report: the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)
association is a non-profit organisation that was
formed by faculty members of the MIT Media Lab
in Delaware in the United States to oversee the
construction of an affordable laptop for children;
the laptop was christened the XO. The organisation is supported by industry bigwigs like AMD,
Google, eBay, Red Hat, and Intel, among

others. Each of these companies have donated

approximately 7 crore to the initiative.
The OLPC project revolves around five core
principles, including the fostering of the idea of
ownership in children between the ages of six and
12, by providing them with their own laptops.
These would have hardware and software
designed for them, in keeping with their age. The
project aims at promoting the constructivist way
of education by donating laptops to needy
schools, for free, all over the world, whenever
possible, and allow them to connect and share
ideas using free and open source tools.
In India, the OLPC project is supported by
Reliance ADAG, which takes care of the logistics
and provides the resources necessary for implementing the project in villages and small towns.
That apart, the OLPC project works closely with
the Digital Bridge Foundationcreated by the
Dhirubhai Ambani Trustto work with interested organisations, NGOs, and volunteers in
India to identify and sponsor needy schools.
The first school to be sponsored in India is
Khairat School, 40 km from Navi Mumbai, close
to the Mumbai-Pune expressway. We wanted to
take a look at what things were like at the school
now that the laptops were there, and we wanted
some views and first-hand information from the
people behind the project. We were half-suspecting that the laptops would just be gathering
cobwebs; however, what we saw was quite
different. So how exactly is this project
making an impact in the lives of the children in Khairat village?

The Visit

Chaitanya Surpur

The Khairat School comprises classes (standards) I to IV, all in one room. The XO laptops
were donated to the school in October last
year; the children had had some time to
explore their laptops by the time we met
them. The instructional material is
prepared by the only class teacher of the
school, Mr Surve, but Manusheel Gupta,
Technical Consultant, One Laptop Per
Child Inc., says they have been approached
by a number of organisations interested in
sharing the curriculum theyve developed.
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

107

Digital Leisure l Touched By Tech

Its interesting that the students are given a
free hand to explore and discover their XO.
When we were at the school, we saw many
students taking photos and video clips of us!
We saw quite a few animated clips that Mr
Surve had preparedon various topics such as
the earths orbit and the water cycle system
which were distributed to those in the class on
their XOs. The laptops act as individual nodes
and create a wireless network, also known as a
mesh, when two or more XOs are in a 1 km radius.
This can be used to chat and transfer files without the need for an Internet connection. We
found Surve using the chat application innovatively by asking the class a question that required
a written reply. The students would reply via the
chat tool. The kids are taught how to write
Marathi words in eToys, an application similar
to MS Paint, and they complete their homework
on Write, an MS Word-like application. According to Surve, the students are now eager to come
to school because they get to learn something
new about their laptop every day, either from
him or from their classmates. Parents, who were
earlier not interested in sending their kids to
school, have changed their attitude because they
know that their kids are getter a good level of
education, thanks to the XO.
There are, however, hurdles to overcome.
Foremost amongst these is the availability of
electricity, which, of course, is needed for charging the laptops. There are plans to get solar
panels for recharging the batteries. There also
happens to be a contraption to aid in recharging

The Cow Power charging device, stowed away for later use

the laptops, which has been developed using

local materials and runs on cow power! A cow
moves in a circle, driving a system of belts and
pulleys connected to a dynamo to generate
power to charge all the laptops. The dynamo is
the one used in Fiat cars, very commonly seen as
taxis in Mumbai. It takes one to two hours to
charge all the 20 laptops in the village simultaneously. This is possible due to the extremely low
power consumption of the laptop and the robust
power supply built into it. The contraption is the
brainchild of Arjun Sarwal, an OLPC volunteer.
The XO has a robust frame, but we noticed a
few laptops without antennas, and two non-functioning ones. The OLPC volunteers who accompanied us said they would be replaced. We also saw

108

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Digital Leisure l Touched By Tech

There are plans
to get solar panels for recharging
the batteries. For
now, the laptops
are recharged
using a contraption that turns
cow power to
electricity

that the keyboards were in English; this might,

we thought, initially hinder students from working on the XO; plans are under way to create a
keyboard with keys in the Devanagri script, but
its not clear when it will be introduced.
The laptops the students have been given are
early prototypes of the XOs available today, and
are not likely to be replaced, though.

Q&A
We were looking to get some questions answered
by the OLPC India team. For example, we wanted
to know what the roadmap for the programme
was, how they were planning on taking the
programme to other parts of the country, and so
on. The questions below were answered by
Manusheel Gupta (MG), Technical Consultant,
One Laptop Per Child Inc; Sumit Chowdhury (SC),
CIO, Reliance Communications; Carla Gomez
Monroy (CGM), OLPC India team member; and
Amit Gogna (AG), OLPC India team member.

What is being taught in Khairat School using

the OLPC laptops? Is there any courseware
available for it?
AG: Were working on a booklet for teachers
with a basic introduction to activities on the XO.
Its too early to talk about courseware. The XO
gives teachers the liberty to create projects and
use various activities that suit their needs as
they go about with their daily curriculum.
How long do the laptops have to be cranked
before they are fully charged?
MG: We have several research groups looking at
different human-power solutions, including a
hand crank, a foot treadle, a yo-yo, and a pulley
system. Our goal is a minimum of a 1:10 ratio of
crankingone minute of cranking should give
you 10 minutes of use. The XOs can also be
charged using a solar device, which is a good
solution for India.
AG: The laptops currently shipped to us do
not come with the crank mechanism. They get
charged using an AC adaptor. In addition, one
student at the school uses solar panels to
charge his XO.
SC: We do not have laptops that have to be
cranked. Getting more solar-powered battery
chargers seems to be a more effective alternative.
The XO is aimed at students of what standard
(or class, or grade)?
CGM: It is targeted at primary school children. In
most countries, children start primary school at
the age of five. However, in some schools, there
are children who could not start school at that
young an age, which means that in some cases we
have children as old as 15 or 16 in primary school.
How do you plan to introduce the OLPC
concept in classrooms across India, where the
average head-count per class is 60?
SG: We will look to adopt entire schools or
communities with the help of the Digital Bridge
Foundationcomprising corporate partners,
non-profit organisations, ministers at State level,
and most importantly, interested volunteers
and try to provide laptops to all the students.

AG: At present, we intend to start with rural

schools. We are in talks with various state
governments, NGOs, and corporate bodies to
assist us. We are building an ecosystem for the
collection of funds, and are working with educationists and interested volunteers to create
educational content and plan for its deployment
into the system.
CGM: The issue is not only the size of the
class, but also how the laptops are used to foster
the childrens learning.

Dont you think that donating only to governments is impeding the progress of the project?
MG: Our goal is to reach the rural children of
developing countries. Dealing with governments
makes this process efficient. However, this is not
the only strategy that we are adopting. We have
various running programmeslike Give 1 Get
1 and Give Many, where the purchase made
by an individual or organisation benefits rural
parts of the world. You can find more information at http://tinyurl.com/yo4s3h.
CGM: The idea was to have governments
sponsoring for their people.
In most countries, governments run the entire educational system, especially for
public schools. It is easier to
work with one well-established and influential entity
in a country than to create
ecosystems in each country
to make it happen. Thats
why the first approach was
through the governments.

The XO laptops
are aimed at children in specific
age ranges, and
contain activities
tailored for
them. It would be
unwise to compare it to the
ASUS Eee

The landing cost of the XO

in India is about Rs 8,500.
Taking that into consideration, dont you think the
ASUS Eee PC is a more
viable proposition? Though The students just cant get enough of the XO
it does not support the ability to create mesh networks on the fly, it
supports an interface that teachers are familiar
with (MS Windows)...
SC: We believe in following the constructionist
approach to teaching. The XO laptops are aimed
at children in specific age ranges, and contain
activities tailored for them. It would be unwise
to compare the two.
AG: Comparing XOs to other laptops defeats
the whole purpose. Remember, we are targeting
young minds and want to create a system that
triggers their thinking and creative abilities and
not one that turns them into experts at Word,
Excel, or PowerPoint. Some key features that
stand out are that the laptops are very sturdy,
consume low power, and foster collaborative
learning through the mesh network.
What happens if a student says a laptop is lost?
Do you provide for a replacement?~
MG: That depends on the definition of lost. If a
laptop is stolen, the security mechanism enabled
on the laptop will disable it within hours.
AG: The kids are given some basic instructions about handling the laptops, thus minimis-

ing the chances of it getting lost. Having said

that, some laptops are needed as spares for
compensating for rough handling by the kids.

Earlier in the year, there were reports of

students in some countries being caught viewing pornography on their XOs. What has been
done since to combat that problem?
SC: The porn menace can be easily solved in
India. Most rural villages do not have access to
the Internet. When we do provide them with
Internet access, we can have filters installed to
block pornographic and malicious Web sites.
In one of his mailing list posts, Gogna said: OUR
OLPC MESH NETWORK is going to set its NODES
all across the NATION. Does this mean that
Reliance ADAG will provide the backbone
network connectivity for the OLPC project in
India? If yes, by when will this be completed?
MG: Were glad to have seen the best support
from Reliance ADAG in the first OLPC pilot project conducted in Khairat School. We dont know
the answer, and will take some time depending
upon various parameters.
Wed be happy if Reliance
ADAG provides us with the
networking services.
AG: That statement
was much more of an analogy than fact. What I
meant by OLPC Mesh
Network was the formation of the ecosystem for
the project to spread
across various parts of the
country, acting as nodes.
CGM: The analogy
comes from how the actual
Mesh Network of the XO
laptops works. The XO
laptops can connect to
each other (without being
connected to the Internet)
and thus collaborate on all the different software
applications (activities). The XOs can also be
nodes that replicate the Internet signal among
them, in case only one of them has access to the
Internet. They can do it even when turned off.
What are the goals (and roadmap) of the OLPC
project in India?~
MG: The OLPC project in India and all around
the world aims to revolutionise the way we teach
children. We hope to reach the remotest parts of
India by means of the Digital Bridge Foundation, comprising corporate partners, non-profit
organisations, Ministers at the state level, and
most importantly, interested volunteers.
AG: We also intend to reach most villages
and towns across the country.
The OLPC project seems to have started off on
the right foot in India. There are loose ends,
however; foremost amongst these is the problem
of creating awareness about the project. The OLPC
team is indeed working with state governments to
provide support to schools in Gujarat and Kolkata.
Well be keeping our eyes open.
[email protected]
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

109

Digital Leisure l Game On

ugust 7, 2020. An asteroid
crashes on Lingshan Island in
the Phillipean Sea. August 14,
2020. A distress call from a
group of archaeologists who
were investigating the crash
zone is intercepted. It seems the area is
swarming with Korean troops. An artifact of
unknown origin has been uncovered from the
crash site, and the scientists have been
detained to analyse its properties. A few days
later, you and your elite team are sent to rescue the scientists, and find out what the heck is
going on.
Things get plenty nasty after you see a
teammate whos been torn to shreds by some
Unknown Entity.
Essentially a sandbox game, Crysis
brilliance lies in its simplicity. Huge levels,
missions and complete freedomdo as you
will! Your Nanosuit is your best friend, and will
give you an array of powersfrom boosting
your armour during fire-fights, to cloaking you
for stealth kills and recon and increasing your
speed or strength. The suit runs off an energy
pack, so you wont be able to use these powers
indefinitelyrun too fast in stealth mode and
your power meter will drop like pins in a
bowling alley. Weapons and weapon mods like
scopes, laser sights, and damage modifiers
are aplenty.
Enemy AI is ferocious, even on easy settings. Theyll flank you, grenade you and take
pot shots at you from behind cover. Theyll also
(quite irritatingly) call for reinforcements.

Rating: 8/10
Developer: Crytek Studios
Publisher: EA
Price: Rs 1,000
GAMING PC
XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra,
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600,
4 GB DDR2 RAM

Although your suit makes things easier, youll

be surprised how quickly your health and
armour nosedives if a couple of Koreans catch
you in their sights.
The level of detail that Crysis achieves is
nothing short of incredible. Lush jungle environments come to life, dappled sunlight
through trees and the corona effects of dust
and fog will dazzle you. Battles are spectacular,
with smoke and flame spewing from weapons,
debris and concussions from explosionsall
extraordinarily life-like. The environments
completely destructible too: imagine machine
gunning a palm tree to have to fall on a couple
of opponents and crush them! Very immersive,
and very, very realistic, I say.
The only minus pointCrysis eats most
CPUs and GPUs for breakfast. In fact, if you
want to experience Crysis the way its meant to
be played (no pun) then you better have a
GeForce 8 series or a Radeon 2xxx series card
preferably two! Itll be worth the upgrade.
The long and engrossing storyline has
three distinct parts (no, were not going to
spoil it for you). The multiplayer component
isnt much with its paltry selection of maps,
but the single player experience is frantic fun.
Genre defining? Yes! Genre re defining? No.
Crysis takes the best components of Far Cry
and adds a few of its ownwhich isnt a bad
thing, although theres nothing in the way of
path-breaking differences.
I have two bits of advice: upgrade, and play
this game...
[email protected]

W3bster Says w00t!

Audiophiles Are Pirates

From the online gamers lingo, the word w00tan

expression of joywas crowned as Word of the Year 2007 by
Merriam-Webster Inc. The entry in the dictionary will reflect
thus, and is the first time l33t language has made it into the
world of propah English.

According to the Recording Industry Ass. Of America (RIAA),

ripping personal CDs to the MP3 format on your PC is copyright
infringementeven the possession of such copies could be
unauthorised and illegal. This means audiophiles backing up the
digital copies of their CDs are pirates. Play safe, now!

Exploring Charted Territory

researchers figure how that
will affect the flow of spam.
The project, if one may
call it that, will only include
a few paid volunteers.
Heres the first bit of
hilarity: applicants would
have to send an e-mail to
the company that oversees
McAfees PR work. Seeing as
the job (namely, to reply to
spam messages) is easy to
perform, there will
doubtless be thousands of
volunteers (people tend to
like money). The poor slobs
will now receive more
McAfee PR mails than other
spam, we can bet.
In case you havent
figured it already, the second
point here is that everyone
knows whats going to
happen. When you respond
to a spam mail, youre going
to get more spamfor those
not in the know, this is
because the spammer gets to
know that yours is a valid,
active e-mail address. So

whats with the bit about

analysing how the flow of
spam would be affected? If
you can guess, if we can
guess, McAfee can guess,
toomore spam, period.
The deal, evidently, is
this: get paid to get more
spamfrom your spammers
as well as from us. Quite
normal for a regular Web
company to be offering
something like thisbut not
quite normal for a company
that should be spending its
time making spam filters.
PRIVACY WOES

No more
PokeyPokey!

hether it is to spy
on a cheating
husband or to
probe into a murder, social
networking sites have
become a major source of

My Desktop
Lakhya Jyoti Nath, Sonitpur, Assam
How he did it:
Its confusingis he running Windows? Is he
running Linux? Both? What Lakhyas done here is a
variation of an old trickcustomised his Windows
XP desktop to his liking and taken a screenshot on
it. He then fired up SLAX from our December 2006
CD and applied the XP desktop as a wallpaper! So
simple, yet so befuddling.

Participate in this contest

and win next month

.net Interview
Questions
by Nagaraju B
Published by

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Participate and
win next month:

Send us your desktop with a description of how you

made it to [email protected] with the subject
My Desktop, and tell us your postal address, too.

Whatever
Happened To

by Denise Gosnell
Published by

The Semantic Web

WIN!

he Semantic Web is an
idea that promises to
make Net-connected
computers understand human
language. When we search for
information on the Net or files
on a computer, we enter a
specific set of keywords; with
the Semantic Web, if you enter
a search query saying that you
want to book flight tickets for
Mumbai to Bangalore at the
lowest possible fares for the
last flight on Sunday, the
computer will automatically
sift through all the data and
present to you the best
resultessentially, better data
retrieval and more accurate
results.
According to Tim BernersLeethe inventor of the Web
and his colleagues at the
World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C), the Semantic Web will
make use of detailed
metadata present in
documents to identify and tag
each and every file on a
network. This tag will then
work with other technologies
to further categorise the
document and its contents.
The idea seems brilliant,
but there are problems
galore. It is practically
impossible for the entire Web
to be made semantic,
because the documents on
the network today do not
contain detailed metadata,
and modifying them in the
future is an insanely
formidable task. But when
you consider that Berners-Lee
has been actively working on
this for the past decade, you
start to wonder whats been
happening to it!

Canadian man gets $85,000 phone bill for using phone as a modem A new feature in Ask.com will allows users to erase porn searches

114

Chennai

Beginning
Access 2007 VBA

PAY TO GET SPAMMED

Last months winner:

Benoy Somanathan

First

Escape
ouve won a lottery
Get a free iPhone
Resize your manhood
The bigger the better You
can easily recognise these as
the subject lines of the
delete-worthy mails in your
Inbox. However, intriguing
subject lines do entice a
select few idiots into
opening the mailsin case
you didnt know.
Creating good spam
filters to tackle such mails
has been the agenda of many
security companies, working
with Web-based mail service
providers. McAfee recently
decided to think outside the
box; the company said they
would be hiring volunteers
from the UK and the US for a
thirty-day spam analysis. The
research has been dubbed
Super Spam Me. The
distasteful thing the
volunteers would have to do
is to reply to the spam
messages; this act will
supposedly help the

Please open the door to your Windows

Send in your entry and you could win an exciting

gift by sharing an amusing picture with a tech
angle to it. The picture should have been shot by
you, and should not have been published
anywhere earlier.
E-mail your picture with DigiPick in the
subject line, mentioning your postal address, on
or before the 20th of this month to
[email protected]. One prize-winning
picture will be published each month.

investigation leads. In the

recent past, even news
dailies have started looking
in on online social
communities for people
involved in various crimes.
Mark Zuckerberg,
Facebook founder, had a
heart attack (14 December
2007) when he learnt that
his personal documents and
information were floating
online for free download.
(Actually, were just
speculatingabout the
heart attack and the date,
that is.) His application to
Harvard Universitywhich
carried his social security
number, the New York
address of his parents
house, and also his
girlfriends full name, was
available to anyone with an
Internet connection.
What happened was that
a freelance reporter, in an
independent magazine
called 01238 (yes, thats what
its called) wrote a story
poking a conversation
about the suit filed by
ConnectU.com on Facebook
for stealing their idea. (Yes,
we know its complex, and
well leave out further
details because (a) You might
not understand them, (b)

Theyre not interesting, and

(c) We dont understand
them ourselves.) At the end
of the article were
documents like Zuckerbergs
correspondence with
Harvard, Facebooks cashflow statement for 2005, etc.
Find out more at

EGO-SURFING

http://tinyurl.com/2w9w9p

oogles search
function has all but
crippled humans.
From recipes to research,
people have stopped
thinking; they Google stuff.
(It might well be eventually
proved that the average
human neuron has shrunk
in length by 40 per cent,
that its shape has changed
to vaguely resemble a G,
etc.) Very helpfully, all those
billions of searches dont
vanish into the digital void:
Googles Zeitgeist comes out
with statistics about the
most searched-for terms. At
the end of each year, we get
a clear picture of what the
year was like in terms of
search (and therefore
popular culture). The 2007
year-end Zeitgeist says the
most popular search terms
were iPhone, Transformers,
Heroes, Facebook, and Anna
Nicole Smith. (Most of
which are guessable.)

(dont blame us if the

articles been removed).The
original documents that
carry Zuckerbergs details
have, naturally, already been
removed. As it stands now,
The Magazine Whose Name
Contains No Words might
face serious legal action...
But do you care? (We
dont). The point is, when the
owner of a social networking
site cannot prevent his
privacy (and a lot of it) being
violated online, how can
users be comfortable with
putting up personal
information on social
networking sites?
Possible morals of the
story: (a) Never trust anyone
on the Internet. (b) Magazines with no letters in their
names can sometimes be
really stupid. (c) Reaffirm
your belief in Scott McNealys
wisdom (Youve got zero
privacy anyway...)

Where Do I
Stand,
Virtually?

People Who
Changed
Computing
The Communicator
You dont gawk at people
around you when they
use their mobiles, but it
was a novel experience
for New Yorkers when
they saw Martin Cooper
talking on a phone while
walking along the street
on 3 April 1973. At the
time, he was head of R&D
at Motorola; he made the
first cell phone call to
Joel Engel, his
counterpart at competitor
Bell Labs, on that

Martin Cooper

definitive April day. The

mobile that Cooper used
was a clumsy affair,
though, a big as a brick
and weighing almost a
kilogram.
Portable phones were
not new; there were
already car phones, using
which one could place a
call from inside a car. But
the concept of a portable
phone was novel. An avid
Star Trek fan, Cooper says
he dreamed up the idea
when he saw a character
talking on a wireless
communicator. And we
call TV the Idiot Box
Cooper is also known
for Coopers Law, which
states that the number of
conversations that can be
carried out in a particular
slice of the radio
spectrum doubles every
30 months. An electrical
engineer by training, he
began his career with the
US Navy and later joined
Motorola in 1954. Cooper
won the 2003 Wharton
Infosys Business
Transformation Award for
his contributions to
telecommunications.

Iranians make supercomputer from banned AMD parts; is XP capable US School bans mobiles after pupil films principal fighting with a student
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

115

Escape

E sc ape

Wild Wild Web

So Call Us Warped
Audio Remixing
A remixed song is, simply
speaking, an alternative,
augmented version of a song:
multiple other tracks, music
samples, loops, and sound
effects are added to the
original. Since remixes are so
popular these days, you might
just seem silly if you dont
know how its done. Here are
some terms to help you not
seem silly.
Console: Also known as a
mixing deck, it is the control
panel for making the changes
to the audio track.
Synthesizer: An instrument
that can be used for
generating new sounds from
raw audio material such as
waveformsand also for
generating original sounds.
Filter: A circuit that carries
hundreds of knobs, used for
eliminating certain
frequencies and letting other
frequencies pass through.
Scratching: The technique of
moving a vinyl record to and
fro by hand on the mixer with
the phono cartridge for
creating different rhythmic
sound patterns.
EQ (Equalisation): The
process of altering, cutting,
or boosting the levels of
individual frequency bands
within an audio signal using a
number of filters. This control
can be simple or highly
complex, depending on
software or hardware.
Fader (Slider): This acts as a
control device used for the
precise manipulation of audio
levelssomething like an
advanced volume control.
BPM: The unit that defines
the pace of musicbeats per
minute.
Usage: Last night, I got a
chance to remix some songs
at a local discotheque on the
DJs console hooked up to
their synthesiser. Whenever I
increased the BPMor used
the fader to change the track,
the audience would roar like
crazy! I need to improve my
scratching technique and
learn EQ by working on filter
adjustments.

heres this sad site at

www.avazo.com. From the
TWelcome
Page: Welcome to
the online web magazine,
modern digital media
newspaper, blog
www.avazo.com. This is a great
portal for articles publications
and discussions, demonstration
all kind of images legal,
acceptable and pleasant for the
whole family. You could publish
any information about you in
the modern world, how you live
and what you like! We accept
and will publish your personal
opinion and you could see what
other people think about it.
What youll find here...
Everything I want to include, as
But its rather more
interesting to go over it
country-by-country, just so
we can poke fun at people by
means of crude comments.
We didnt know the
Internet had extended to
Afghanistan yet, but very
apparently, it has. Interesting
top search terms include
map at #1 (they need to
know!), afghanistan (talk
about ego surfing!),
pakistan (talk about heroworship), vida guerra (oho,
theyre a**-men!), and BBC
(ego-surfing again; they
know theyre constantly
reported about).
In India, PAN card and
income tax department
wer getting really popular in
November. (Oh well, just
money matters.) But there
were two more moneyrelated terms on the list:
tata mutual fund and
financial express. Probably
signs of a healthy economy.
Priyanka Chopra was
at #2, and Times of India
was at #7, for the UK in
November. We arent too
Bollywood-savvy, and
neither do we read the
newspapers too much, so
we have no idea why... but
were guessing there are
more Indians in the UK
than ever before (but that
could have been deduced by
means of basic logic

an editor and owner of this

Internet digital magazine.
Were calling it sad
because its so genuine, so
innocent, so depressingly
naive. And its so sad, its funny.
Call us warped.
The editor and owner of
that Internet digital
magazine is Russian. This,
therefore, seems to be a site
for Russians in America to
feel sort of American and
democratic, to feel free and
brave. A sample from the
Last Additions (sic):
Buying a home, although is
a good investment and it can
put a tremendous strain on
your finances. Actually the
monetary cost of buying a

house or a piece of property

is so large that most people
would not be able to pay for
it straight from their pockets.
This is where a mortgage
comes into play. Russians in
America, unite! You have
nothing to lose but your
debt! Learn from fellow
Russians about buying
property in America, owning
your own money, even that
capitalist banks will give you
a loan!
Dont miss Google: Good
or Evil? in the Articles section.
You need to have a
genuinely heartless sense of
humour to be able to laugh at
the site. Dont forward the
jokepeople will like you less.

anyway, since those that go

there dont come back).

crime, and then some. That

copy of Guitar Hero III he so
painstakingly bought? He
sold it on EBay. As a reason
for selling, he mentioned
his sons indiscretions and
told buyers, If you can
convince me that he still
deserves the gift, then I will
end the auction. Not
enough people thought so,
apparently, because the
auction closed when an
Australian buyer put up $
9100.01 (Rs 3.64 lakh) for
the game (we told you it was
the Ultimate Gift).
The fatherwhose
nickname on EBay is k_lid
still loves his son though,
and plans on getting him
another game for his Wii
something like Barbie
Island Princess, he
contemplates. Punish kid,
make a pile, punish kid
again. You cant make up
happier Christmas stories.

FAIR DEAL

Lets Get Bad

This
Christmas
ts amazing what fathers
will go through for their
prized offspring. Its also
amazing how said offspring
can go into blithering-idiotmode with alarming
regularity. A combination
of the two can lead to one
ticked-off parent, as one
wayward 15-year old in
Canada was soon to learn.
The fathera
schoolteacherhad gone
through extraordinary
lengths to get his son a copy
of Guitar Hero III for the Wii
which is apparently the
Ultimate Christmas Gift, if
the ridiculous demand is
anything to go by.
Alas, heartbreak was
soon to ensue. As he
returned early from work
one day, this father caught
his son smoking marijuana
with his delinquent
friends. He kept his cool in
the moment (well, not
really), secretly plotting a
punishment that befit the

FROM DINGO TO LIMBU

What Is In A
Name,
Really?

ou probably havent
heard of these
recently-up Web sites:
Squidoo, Kayak, Pownce,

In a bottle-cap promo, Pepsi will offer 1 billion DRM-free songs on Amazon Blu-ray site hacked; redirects to the official HD-DVD site

116

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Scandoo, Foonance, Kelkoo.

Actually, you wouldnt
recollect the names even if
youd stumbled upon them.
In this, the Web 2.0 era,
a new site is launched
every fortnight (theyre all
in beta, but no matter; they
exist). Why do these sites
come up with the most outof-the-world names, which
sometimes sound goofy,
and are sometimes
unpronounceable? What a
group of directors used to
do behind closed doors
earlier is now done...
untrained monkeys armed
with typewriters. (No, that
was speculation; we do a
lot of that in this space).
Actually, the thanks go to
online services like Dot-omator.com: no more
wasting time. Just couple of
clicks and voila... a new
domain and Web 2.0
site name!
In the past, sites had
names that actually meant
something, and those
names were associated with
a brand name and with
services offered. (For
example, god.com is a
spiritual site.) Some big
names might seem like
exceptions, though, for
example, Yahoo!. But then,

Of Change And Small Change

B
idding farewell to Deepak Ajwani as
Editorin fact, as a member of this
organisationwas a mixed affair. It was sad
for most of us; one or two women wept the
way some women do when the time comes
to say good-bye. The chaiwala, however, was
glad, because Deepak never had never given
him a tipwe know because he told us.
The outgoing (rather, the out-went) editor
had won our minds and hearts by virtue of
his genuineness, his big heart, his lack of
attitude and ego issues, and his
unwillingness to wield the stick of discipline
(the above, not in any orderreally!). But in
particular reference to the last point, we
should mention that Nimish and Robert got
to play Quake, Ram got to sleep, Samir got to
use his PSP, Bhaskar got to do
his Wikipedia edits, Asfaq

after some soul-searching,

illumination dawns: Yahoo!
Is an expression of joy,
ostensibly upon receiving
an e-mail. (At the time the
name was conceived, people
just loved to receive mail.)
Google refers to one googol
Web pages; Googol means 1
followed by 100 zeroes.
Then there are the selfexplanatory names: Amazon
(which obviously refers to
the vastness of the site, just
like the Amazon basin);

Digg (referring, doubtless,

to the digging up of
information); eBay (who can
possibly not know that
electronic commerce began
in the Bay area?); etc.
But Yokld, doodlekit,
Bykaee, Yamli, Sphinn,
Yuku ? The only way out
we can see is to impose the
following Three
Commandments upon new
domain registrars:
The name of your
domain shall roll freely

Jonathan Bradford and Ian Leader

http://tinyurl.com/2ogfxk
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/online_accoun
ting_google_apps.php

Serious issues this

month. Whats the
connection between
social networking and
large portals? Then,
the OLPC project still
runs strong in
blogging circles... and
then, whats gotten
into the head of the
Chinese government?

got to chat, Vijay got to surf for exotic

pictures, etc. etc.during official, paid, office
hours. Still, we should reinforce the idea that
this thing about Deepaks not having been
strict about discipline was not the biggest
reason for our loving him.
Raaabo now manages the things Deepak
did, and well soon begin to treat him in this
space the way weve been treating Deepak.
For example, fun shall often be poked at
him, and gentle ridicule shall sometimes be
directed his way.
We collectively gifted Deepak a good
phone, because its better to give than to
receive (and when you know you wont receive if
you ask, its even better to quietly give).
We do know that the chaiwala has no
complaints with Raaabo, thoughhe
tips enough for all of us!

...So whats next for Google Apps? What might be the

next killer app? We think it will be an accounting system
and in this article we will outline why. There are strong
benefits to an online accounting service in Google
Appsboth to users and to the targeted advertisingdriven business of Google...every site. What does this
have to do with the portals?
...Google could bring significant expertise to online
accounting, thanks to their ability to deliver simple,
effective online applications with high-performance and
reliable infrastructure.
Steve Rubel
http://tinyurl.com/24n7va
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007/12/wikipediaand-w.html
Google announced last night they are starting a project
called knol that will allow anyone to create wiki-like
pages on topics. In particular, Google is encouraging
people who know a particular subject to write an
authoritative article about it. The search engine will
not vet any of the content, however, they will prioritize

off the tongue and shall

not generate in the
listener the question
Beg pardon?
At least five minutes of
thought, with valid brain
activity being measured
and certified by an EMG,
shall have gone into the
creation of the name.
When in public, you shall
pin to your breast pocket
a badge bearing your
name following the name
of your site.

the most credible entries and rank them first in search

results. It remains unclear how Google is measuring
credibilitya scary thought.
...My initial take on this is that knols are going to
kill Wikipediabut it will take time. This theory,
however, hinges on whether people actually start
creating knols, but I believe they will. Here are several
reasons why Wikipedia and Wikia are dead ...
Mark Rizzn Hopkins
http://tinyurl.com/2gdjsv
http://mashable.com/2007/12/13/citizen-journalismdangerous-and-irresponsible/
Why are Thomas, Hazinkski, and a growing number of
mainstream journalists suddenly saying that those of us
who are in the New Media shouldnt be trusted? Has
there been some major faux pas that weve committed
and didnt know? Did the bloggerati collectively all break
one of the unwritten ethical standards recently?
No, the impetus for the criticism lately from all
sides isnt something we did, its something CNN did.
Those that remember the controversy I caused a few
weeks ago even intimating that New Media could be
getting a black eye from the Republican YouTube-CNN
debates are likely groaning right now, because what I
predicted is starting to come to pass...

Windows Explorer identified as virus by Kaspersky, quarantined Facebook accuses British MP of impersonating self, disables account
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

117

Escape

ouve won a lottery

Get a free iPhone
Resize your manhood
The bigger the better You
can easily recognise these as
the subject lines of the
delete-worthy mails in your
Inbox. However, intriguing
subject lines do entice a
select few idiots into
opening the mailsin case
you didnt know.
Creating good spam
filters to tackle such mails
has been the agenda of many
security companies, working
with Web-based mail service
providers. McAfee recently
decided to think outside the
box; the company said they
would be hiring volunteers
from the UK and the US for a
thirty-day spam analysis. The
research has been dubbed
Super Spam Me. The
distasteful thing the
volunteers would have to do
is to reply to the spam
messages; this act will
supposedly help the
researchers figure how that
will affect the flow of spam.
The project, if one may
call it that, will only include
a few paid volunteers.
Heres the first bit of
hilarity: applicants would
have to send an e-mail to
the company that oversees

Of Change And Small Change

B

idding farewell to Deepak Ajwani as

Editorin fact, as a member of this
organisationwas a mixed affair. It was sad
for most of us; one or two women wept the
way some women do when the time comes
to say good-bye. The chaiwala, however, was
glad, because Deepak never had never given
him a tipwe know because he told us.
The ourgoing (rather, the out-went) editor
had won our minds and hearts by virtue of
his genuineness, his big heart, his lack of
attitude and ego issues, and his
unwillingness to wield the stick of discipline
(the above, not in any orderreally!). But in
particular reference to the last point, we
should mention that Nimish and Robert got
to play Quake, Ram got to sleep, Samir got to
use his PSP, Bhaskar got to do
his Wikipedia edits, Asfaq
McAfees PR work. Seeing as
the job (namely, to reply to
spam messages) is easy to
perform, there will
doubtless be thousands of
volunteers (people tend to
like money). The poor slobs
will now receive more
McAfee PR mails than other
spam, we can bet.
In case you havent
figured it already, the second
point here is that everyone
knows whats going to
happen. When you respond

to a spam mail, youre going

to get more spamfor those
not in the know, this is
because the spammer gets to
know that yours is a valid,
active e-mail address. So
whats with the bit about
analysing how the flow of
spam would be affected? If
you can guess, if we can
guess, McAfee can guess,
toomore spam, period.
The deal, evidently, is
this: get paid to get more
spamfrom your spammers

Jonathan Bradford and Ian Leader

http://tinyurl.com/2ogfxk
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/online_accoun
ting_google_apps.php

Serious issues this

month. Whats the
connection between
social networking and
large portals? Then,
the OLPC project still
runs strong in
blogging circles... and
then, whats gotten
into the head of the
Chinese government?

Xxx Xxx

130

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

got to chat, Vijay got to surf for exotic

pictures, etc. etc.during official, paid, office
hours. Still, we should reinforce the idea that
this thing about Deepaks not having been
strict about discipline was not the biggest
reason for our loving him.
Robert now manages the things Deepak
did, and well soon begin to treat him in this
space the way weve been treating Deepak.
For example, fun shall often be poked at
him, and gentle ridicule shall sometimes be
directed his way.
We collectively gifted Deepak a good
phone, because its better to give than to
receive (and when you know you wont receive if
you ask, its even better to quietly give).
Now, a source says Robert hasnt yet given
the chaiwala a tip either. Surprising: his
name doesnt end in -ni...

...So whats next for Google Apps? What might be the

next killer app? We think it will be an accounting system
and in this article we will outline why. There are strong
benefits to an online accounting service in Google
Appsboth to users and to the targeted advertisingdriven business of Google...every site. What does this
have to do with the portals?
...Google could bring significant expertise to online
accounting, thanks to their ability to deliver simple,
effective online applications with high-performance and
reliable infrastructure.
Steve Rubel
http://tinyurl.com/24n7va
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007/12/wikipediaand-w.html
Google announced last night they are starting a project
called knol that will allow anyone to create wiki-like
pages on topics. In particular, Google is encouraging
people who know a particular subject to write an
authoritative article about it. The search engine will
not vet any of the content, however, they will prioritize

as well as from us. Quite

normal for a regular Web
company to be offering
something like thisbut not
quite normal for a company
that should be spending its
time making spam filters.
PRIVACY WOES

No more
pokeypokey!

the most credible entries and rank them first in search

results. It remains unclear how Google is measuring
credibilitya scary thought.
...My initial take on this is that knols are going to
kill Wikipediabut it will take time. This theory,
however, hinges on whether people actually start
creating knols, but I believe they will. Here are several
reasons why Wikipedia and Wikia are dead ...
Mark Rizzn Hopkins
http://tinyurl.com/2gdjsv
http://mashable.com/2007/12/13/citizen-journalismdangerous-and-irresponsible/
Why are Thomas, Hazinkski, and a growing number of
mainstream journalists suddenly saying that those of us
who are in the New Media shouldnt be trusted? Has
there been some major faux pas that weve committed
and didnt know? Did the bloggerati collectively all break
one of the unwritten ethical standards recently?
No, the impetus for the criticism lately from all
sides isnt something we did, its something CNN did.
Those that remember the controversy I caused a few
weeks ago even intimating that New Media could be
getting a black eye from the Republican YouTube-CNN
debates are likely groaning right now, because what I
predicted is starting to come to pass...

What Would Gates Do?

2 Which of these ridiculous-

Got an
interesting
question?
Send it in with
the answer to
[email protected]
Mark TQ in the
subject area.

sounding theories was floated

on the Internet in December?
(a) Most Xbox 360 units are
assembled by lepers
(b) The Wii emits a cockroachattracting hum
(c) The PS3 emits a lizard-repelling
hum
(d) For each PSP sold, one Chinese
kid gets richer by $1.50

3 What turned 60 on 17

December of last year?

(a) The typewriter
(b) The transistor
(c) The vacuum tube
(d) GDDR3 RAM

of a filename on a Mac?
(a) The hash (#)
(b) The backslash (\)
(c) The caret (^)
(d) The colon (:)

5 What organisation devised

the printed circuit board?

(a) The US National Bureau of
Standards
(b) Texas Instruments
(c) NVIDIA
(d) Xerox

6 Which of the following is a

computer language?
(a) Stonehenge (b) Taj
(c) Eiffel (d) The Sydney
Opera House

7 Which of the following is true

about the Netscape browser

before 2000?
(a) It would crash when
www.ww.w was typed into the
address bar
(b) It had no Reload button
(c) The page would reload upon
resizing of the window
(d) It would crash when there were
more than 32 images on a page

ACROSS
7. Graphics (6)
8. A machine that captures data for the computer
(6)
10. C in CPU (7)
11. Business Process Outsourcing (abbr.) (3)
12. Short for Infosys (4)
13. Spreadsheet programme from Microsoft (5)
17. Personal Web sites in the form of online
journals (5)
18. Network configuration in which all computers
are connected by direct cables to a main hub (4)
22. Makers of the Macintosh line of computers (5)
23. A in AOL (7)
24. In GUI-small windows containing messages
and a button to click to dismiss the windows (6)
25. One unit (6)

Crossword by Nitta Jaggi

118

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Gates was hit in the face with

a pie. What did he do?
(a) Sued the pie-thrower
(b) Swore at the pie-thrower: You
Steve!
(c) Quietly wiped his face
(d) Said it wasnt very tasty

9 In UNIX systems, the OS

views every entity (including

a disk!) as...
(a) A directory (b) A file
(c) A logical address (d) A virtual
location

You

im Berners-Lee, who Did ow?

n
invented the WWW (if K
we must remind you), once
said: It staggers me that people
have actually put up with
HTML. It was never supposed to
be something that you would
see, but something produced by
an editor program.

Answers

Due to an error on our mail

server, we lost all your entries
for Novembers crossword.
Our sincerest apologies

Crossword

DOWN
1. -----breaker- device that interrupts an
electrical path (7)
2. Zoom tool function-to increase in size (7)
3. SI unit of inductance symbolized H (5)
4. Type of printer from Hewlett Packard (4,3)
5. Graphical software solutions for network
publishing (5)
6. Server----have codes in the 500 range (5)
9. Trademark for a tough transparent acrylic plastic that
can be substituted for glass (9)
14. Computer that can request information from a server
(6)
15. Contiguos set of alphanumeric characters that do not

8 Belgium, February 1998, Bill

6. C
7. C
8. D
9. B

are doing this for votes:

(a) Wooing younger voters via SMS
(b) Wooing
older voters
using greeting
cards
(c) Using ad
slots on free
Net radio stations
(d) Podcasting gay-and-lesbianfriendly speeches

4 What character cant be part

Send in your entries to

[email protected] on or
by 20th of this month.
One lucky participant will
win Amazon.com
Mashups
By Francis Shanahan
Published by

Novembers Solution

contain numbers for calculations in programming (7)

16. Advanced Research Projects Agency Network(abbr)
(4,3)
19. Radio Detection and Ranging (abbr) (5)
20. -----case or capital letters (5)
21. -----player- software application that
controls audio and video of a computer (5)

1. A
2. B
3. B
4. D
5. A

1 US Presidential Candidates

Win!

Digit will publish the best letters on these pages. Letters may be edited for clarity.
Please include your complete address in all communication.

Write to the Editor

E-mail: [email protected]
Snail Mail: The Editor, Digit, KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30,
Vashi, Navi Mumbai 400 703

For subscription queries

send an e-mail to [email protected]

Inbox
Digits November issue rocked, and
my friend bought himself a PC as per
your advice, and is very happy. Only
one complaint, I havent received my
copy of the December issue yet, and its
the fifteenth already. In fact, I always
get special issues late. Please look into
this matter.

S. Prasanna
Karaikal

December 2007

Ads Are Good

I started to read Digit 2 years ago. I
appreciate the efforts which Digit puts in
while providing an outstanding
magazine to us. I have no complaint
regarding the Ads in Digit because it is
necessary for you and as well as readers
since these Ads provide information
about new products and technologies in
the market, and keep the price of our
Digit down. You should consider adding
some more reading materials (Articles,
Tutorials) in the Disc. It may be a good
idea if you add a Letter Section in the
Disc as well, so that more and more
Letters from the readers can be included.

Deepak Bhalla
Aligarg (UP)
At last, someone who understands the value
of advertising. Yes its true. Its the
advertising that keeps the cost of all print
media down. We like your suggestions as
well, and are planning on enhancing Digits
multimedia content over the next few
months. All we can say is keep reading, you
should be pleasantly surprised shortly.
Team Digit

Someone Stole Our Tagline

Im a subscriber, (and a loyal one at
that!). Incidentally, you should know that
a new shop opened in my town, and I am
shocked to see that they are using your
slogan. The shop is called Saravanaas
Computer Sales & Service, and its slogan
is Your Technology Navigator. You may want
to look into this.
I have been a reader for the past
five years, but this is my first letter to
you. I want to buy SKOAR! As well, but
its not available in my town. Please
tell me how I can get my monthly dose
of SKOAR! as well.

126

DIGIT JANUARY 2008

Imitation is the finest form of flattery, and were

flattered that the small business in your town is
inspired by us, and uses our slogan. Although
were usually quite strict about such copyright
issues, I have a feeling that our legal department
will let this one slide. Were glad your friend
benefitted from our reviews, and you should
urge him to get his own subscription!
The December issue was delayed because
of some complications with our DVD replicator,
and thus was late going out to both stands and
subscribers. Were trying to make sure such
issues never crop up again. Still, we understand
your point completely, and will put all our
efforts to ensure that all our readers start
getting their magazines soonerespecially our
content-packed special issues.
Team Digit

Wonderfu(e)l
I am a regular reader of your esteemed
magazine. This edition is wonderfu(e)l
(Dec 2007), because of several reasons:
The biggest being the e-archives. I have
asked our college librarian to put them
on the library LAN under the head ejournal, so that all students can access
any pages, anytime. Unfortunately, in
the Fast Track PDFs, you have forgotten
to include the Fast Track To Google
(Dec 2006). I have searched every nook
and cranny of all the DVDs and can tell
you that it wasnt even accidentally
moved to another folderits just not
there. Wishing you all at Digit a very
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
in 2008.

V K Adarsh

No Competition
I am a regular reader of Digit for the
past one year. I must say that yours is
the best magazine because I had also
subscribed to two other magazines, but
quickly discontinued because Digit
satisfies all my needs. I would like to
publish your articles on my blog. I
assure you that Ill give the necessary
credits. Hope youll help students like
me to help my blog visitors learn
something useful. Also, if you want I
will put a link to your subscription
page in my blog. Please give me the
requisite permission to do so.

Ajay Shivaa
Tamil Nadu
All of our articles are already published online
at www.thinkdigit.com. Our policy for requests
such as yours is to allow linkage to the articles,
and although you can post excerpts from those
articles, you cannot copy-paste the entire
article. We realise that your intentions are
noblethe fact that you asked for permission is
testimony of that. However, our legal
department makes the laws on such things.
As a personal note to our readers: if you
want to increase traffic to your Web site, try
adding unique content, instead of relying on
content that others generate. Try writing articles
of your own, and reserve the usage of content
from Digit, or other sources, as excerpts or
expert opinions. If you do so, and start getting a
lot of hits, make sure you send us your CV.
Team Digit

Bah Humbug
I wasnt impressed by your December 07
issue. Personally, I feel that dividing the
magazine into 5 parts was not a great idea.
The lack of a Fast Track, which I consider to
be one of the best parts of your magazine,
was even more disappointing. On the
other hand, the magazine contents and
the CD/DVD contents were fine. Please try
and give full system requirements for your
game reviews.
OVERALL A GREAT MAGAZINE!

Ahmad Nadeem
Whoops! Youre absolutely right. As soon as
we got this mail we searched every nook
and cranny of our DVDs as well as our
backup servers and just cannot find it. Were
guessing someone yawned a little too hard at
4 am while making DVDs and accidentally
pressed [Delete]. Yes, we mean you, Nimish!
Were going to have to dig into our archives
and recreate the whole PDF from scratch.
Well provide it in our February 2008 DVD.
Team Digit

Wow! We love it when you guys are candid

with us. To be quite honest, we received a
dozen or so mails criticising us for the 5
magazine idea. However, weve also received
a lot of positive feedbacksee the letters that
followand we know we cant please
everyone. If its any consolation, this was a
one off idea, and Digit is safely back to its
original form. Were glad you liked the 5
DVDs, and the content inside the 5

magazines, even if they were painful to

handle for you.
Team Digit

Seeing Double
First of all I would like to wish Team Digit
and all Digit readers a Happy New Year and
Merry Christmas. This is the first time Im
writing to you, and Ive been a reader for
the last 4 months. Digit is exactly what I
was looking for, and I save my pocket
money every month to buy it because its
now an important part of my life.
The December Mega Issue is superb,
and I have read it again and again. I
would like to compliment you on this
five pack issue, especially the editorial
team. The Tips and Tricks in this
issue are wonderful. The How Tos
even more so.
I liked the Connect issue the best,
as it is related to the Web and I am
currently learning Web programming.
I have a complaint as well, I got two
Connect DVDs and no Computing DVD.
Please send it to me because I need
Ubuntu! Its your articles that have
inspired me to stop pirating software
and use Open Source alternatives.
I also loved the PDFs of all past Digit
and Fast Track issues. I request you to
publish a Fast Track to Web programming,
or programming in general.

Mohammad Khalid
Chandigarh
Were so tempted to tell you that we sent you
two Connect DVDs on purpose, because we
knew youd love that section the most. Dont
worry, thats not our official stand, and weve
already sent you a Computing DVD. Were also
glad that youve gone the Open Source way
instead of pirating software like most others do.
Every such mail makes us proud to know that
were doing everything we can to rid India of
the pirate nation tag that its earned. Its a
slow process, but were glad that people like
you have decided to lead by example.
Team Digit

On A Personal Note
I know the editor status is a
respectable one, so forgive me for
considering you my editor brother. I
was born and brought up, and studied
in Bangalore, and am currently
studyingsecond year, BE, Electronics
and communications. I came across
Digit in our college library and from
then on, Im a regular reader. Ive been
planning to write to you, but
something always came up.

Since the story telling is

probably boring you, Ill get right to
the point.
Since childhood, technology has
fascinated me. I want to be a
computer geek, and achieve
something in this field. But I dont
know what to do. Some people tell
me to learn programming, others
tell me to get certifications (Cisco,
MCSE, MCP, RHCE, etc.), and some
even tell me to join NIIT, IIHT and do
animation. Im totally confused!
All I know is that I want to be
able to achieve something great in
technology, and lead from the front.
I desperately need your help to sort
out my confusion about this vast
field of IT.

Vivek
Bengaluru
Our deepest sympathies, Vivek. We know
how vast the technology industry is, and it
really can be quite confusing. However, we
must point out that your confusion is
largely your own doing. Youre going
around asking too many people for their
opinions, and thats never a good thing,
especially when it involves something as
vital as your career. Were not going to add
to your confusion by suggesting a career
option for you without knowing you. We
will, however, tell you that you should read
through our Tech Careers section on a
regular basis, try and identify a field of
technology that really interests you, and
then read more about it online. You might
even want to consult a career counsellor
to see if you fit into the field that interests
you. What you need to remember is that
the field you choose needs to be very
intriguing and interesting to you, you
should have an aptitude for the kind of
work that is involved, and most
importantly, look for good growth options.
We have no doubts that once you do this,
you will succeed, and probably be featured
in a Digit article. We love your spirit
though, so make sure you never lose the
passion for technology that you possess.
Team Digit
ERRATADecember 2007 Personal Tech

Page 32, ASUS P525 review:

For sales inquiries contact, IDLDPL Pvt Ltd,
011-46096400, [email protected]
Page 35, YES YMP45 review:
The price is wrongly printed as Rs 70,000
its really Rs 6,499; Contact: IDLDPL Pvt Ltd,
011-46096400, [email protected]

DIGIT 2007 GTX:

EXTREME FATAL1TY
EDITION

Letter

Now thats a DIGIT! Packed

of the
to the brim with loads of
Month
Tech stuff any geek would
want. I really loved your idea
to split Digit into 5 sections
with relevant individual content. I
appreciate all the work you guys put in
this month. The 2020 Love Story was very
good. I really liked the Agent 001 section,
huge reviews and articles covering every
detail possible. Mission accomplished 001!
The Gaming section was the best. I
really loved the previews of upcoming
games, and Im happy to learn that the
PS3 will finally brush off all that dust,
with a huge collection of superb
upcoming titles.
The five DVDs was the best ever-huge
collection of all that one would ever
need. The articles on how mobiles work,
stop motion animation, how to build an
HTPC, the weirdest gadgets,
overclocking (obviously) & the input
devices shootout were excellent.
Now for the complaints:
I really missed the Fast Track
The price of a humble YES YMP45 was
priced at a hazardous 70,000 instead of
7,000.
A shootout of the latest DVD-writers
etc., would have really helped.
Those without DVD drives would have
suffered.
There was no poll!
Way too many ads, eating up valuable
space that could have been filled with
even more information. (I really liked
the Intel ad on the DVD though)
Please continue your fight against
piracy, you guys are really contributing a
lot to bringing it down. Agent 001 has
really completed his mission! I also wish
to congratulate the artists who have done
a great job throughout the magazine. The
covers especially looked glorious. Overall,
this was the best Christmas and New Year
gift for any Digit reader.

Praveen Prakash
Kochi, Kerala
Whoa! All we can say is thanks for
appreciating the work we put into the
December issue. It wasnt easy, especially
with the shifting of office bang in the middle
of the preparations for the issue. The
graphics designers and artists have pinned
your letter on their walls, and thank you
from the bottom of their hearts for noticing
the hard work they put into every issue.
Team Digit
DIGIT JANUARY 2008

127

Getting The Rap

People And Events That Grabbed The HeadlinesFor Better Or For Worse

Hillary: Over
The Hill
P
oliticians are pretty much
the same the world over.
They take minor issues,
blow them out of proportion,
conjure up doomsday scenarios,
then promise voters that
deliverance lies in electing him
or her to office. They also have a
peculiar knack for missing the
forest for the trees (read:
focusing on trivial issues while
serious ones go unattended).
By these standards, Hillary
Rodham Clinton is now a fullblown politician. While America
is in the midst of a bloody war in
Iraq, Clinton had gotten all hot
under the collar over virtual sex.
This indignation was apparently
prompted by an Easter Egg in
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,
where a scene shows characters

128

DIGIT NOVEMBER 2007

having sex. To access that part of

the game, players had to
download and install a patch,
which was far more complex
than simply Googling for more
realistic porn. This issue
occupied quite some time of the
august lawmakers, and also led
to the introduction of a failed
Senate bill. In her latest
campaign declaration, Clinton
announced that if elected
President, she would take
stringent steps to monitor
virtual sex peddled by the
gaming industry. Which would
mean
countless
press
conferences, debatesthe works.
Now if that isnt a nanny state,
then what is?
Clinton is in the news for
another wrong reason: Two
anonymous, recentlylaunched Web sites
featured attacks on
her main competitor
Barack
Obama.
Serious allegations
were raised, and there
was quite a bit of
speculation as to who
was behind these
sites. Then someone
did some snooping
aroundand found
that the official Web
site of Hillary Clinton
and these Web sites
were hosted on the
same domain. Sniping
at political rivals is
part of the game, but
getting caught due to
a minor oversight is
pretty embarrassing.
Surely with all those
campaign
dollars,
they
could
have
afforded a different IP
address...

f you have been reading our

past few issues, youd have
noticed a sprinkling of
stories about music companies
suing individuals for illegaly
copying music. The premise of
these cases was that file sharing
is harmful to the interests of
artists who have toiled so hard
for success. By not buying
music, fans are cheating the
musicians of their livelihood,
and the record companies are
being the good guys, fighting
dirty legal battles while the
musicians can keep the creative
juices flowing, bless them.
All well and good, but has
anybody bothered to ask the
artists themselves what they
think? We were wondering
when some hack would try to

get it straight from the horses

mouth, but rapper 50 Cent has
himself stepped forward to set
the record straight. For those
not in the loop, Curtis James
Jackson III, who goes by the
undeniably silly name of 50
Cent, is one of the most successful rappers today. The guy is
also a canny businessman and
markets his own music. According to him, all the hullabaloo
over file sharing is misplaced,
and artists are not really feeling
the pinch when their music is
illegally copied. He displays a
rare degree of pragmatism
when he says that musicians
have to keep up with the times,
especially musicians like himself, whose fans were younger
and more likely to adopt newer
technologies. 50 Cent sees current DRM business models outdated, and feels that music companies are not doing enough to
exploit marketing opportunities in merchandising and the
crowded concerts.
In other words, his message
to the music label suits was: get
off your lazy behinds and think
smart. We may not like his
music, but we sure appreciate
the message.

Phones Celebs Use

eep down in our hearts,
we always want to be
like
our
favourite
celebrity. No, dont deny it:
those sunglasses, clothes, and
carshow we want to look like
them! Alas, for us ordinary
fans, the hoi polloi, these
things dont come cheap. Their
shoes cost more than our
monthly paycheck, and we
wouldnt be able to afford
their cars even if we worked
our arses off for life. So whats
a ordinary guy / gal to do? Use
the cell phones the celebrities
use, of course.
The above solution might
be a tad difficult if you are a
fan of a celebrity who has a
particular attraction for goldplated,
diamond-encrusted
mobiles. However, last we
checked, most of the usual
suspects
use
common
Motorolas and Nokias and
such. Maria Sharapova has
often been spotted with a pink
Motorazr. In Hollywood, phone
companies give away free
phones as publicity; business
phones from Blackberry are
the most popular among

celebs. Among its long list of

users are Tom Cruise, Angelina
Jolie, Brad Pitt, Katie Holmes,
Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan,
and Cristina Augilera. The
Blackberry also seems to be a
favourite assault weapon:
Naomi Campbell has been
prosecuted
after
beating
housekeepers and assistants
with it. The iPhone, however, is
not a hot favourite, which is
surprising because of its nowcertified hotness. This is partly
due to Apples not cosying up
to the Page 3 type. Another
reason would be its poorer email capabilities compared to
business phones.
Closer home, our desi
celebrities might be endorsing
handsets left, right, and
centre, but we can bet theyre
not all using the phones they
profess to love. Now while we
wont go about naming
brands, we suggest you do a
little harder staring when next
you see a photo of your
favourite celebrity on the
phone. Then e-mail us so we
can share the data with the
rest of our readers.