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t around this time every year, the first tech magazine (in the world, probably) to the festival season rolls around. give away Hollywood blockbusters on DVD, the Starting in October and running a first to offer a CD magazine, and the first to start little into the new year, these few including a free book (Fast Track). months see an increase in activity Every month, from here on, in the form by vendors and manufacturers. of Digit TV we’re going to give you as much Everywhere you go you’re bombarded with video content as we can, and try and share the discounts,A special offers, and other catchy and knowledge and expertise that we are privileged innovative alliterations that all basically say the to receive. Like Digit 3.0, Digit TV will also same thing — buy me. evolve based on your feedback, so make sure to The consumer electronic and personal send us some. technology segment specifically, sees entire This month, Digit TV is dedicated to buying product ranges being refreshed, older stock guides, across multiple categories, to help you get being sold off at rock bottom prices and out of the confusing maze and make informed buzzwords flying about like nobody’s business. decisions because you actually understand the For the everyday buyer, this amounts to being underlying technology, instead of just parroting Robert Sovereign-Smith, Editor stuck in a maze of choices, with no clear what people tell you. Plus, since it’s a video DVD, indication of what’s good, what’s value for you don’t need a PC to view it — just pop it into money, and what isn’t. any DVD player. You and I alike, spend the few precious We also have a web exclusive, in the form of a holidays we get with our families at the local PMP test online at thinkdigit.com, so we haven’t electronic mall, gawking at all the goodies, forgotten our online patrons either. listening to all the sales pitches that every mall With three more DVDs (Work, Play and employee is only too eager to subject you to, Learn), all of you should have enough multimedia getting more confused by the minute about which content for every aspect of your life that
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 1 October 2009 • Volume 9 • Issue 10
Managing Director Sales and Marketing To advertise Dr Pramath Raj Sinha VP Naveen Chand Singh Printer and Publisher Product Manager Navneet Miglani South East Kanak Ghosh Business Manager Chandan Sisodia Vinodh Kaliappan Jayanta Bhattacharyya Assistant Brand Manager Arpita Ganguli Publishing Director Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Asheesh Gupta Marketing Communication Thomas Varghese Mobile: +91-97407 14817 Phone: +91-93318 29284 Co-ordinator, Scheduling, Phone: +91-80-2554 6370/73 +91-33-2231 7344/46 Editorial MIS and Ad-sales Aatish Mohite Editor Fax: +91-80-4151 8330 North Robert Sovereign-Smith West Pranav Saran Production and Logistics Editor-at-large and Online Architect Sr. GM - Operations Shivshankar Hiremath Sachin Nandkishore Email: [email protected] Ahmed Shaikh Production Executive Vilas Mhatre Email: [email protected] Phone: +91-93126 85289, Head - Copy Desk Logistics M P Singh, Mohd. Ansari, Mobile: +91-99203 48755 +91-11-4160 8655/56/57/58 Nash David Shashi Shekhar Singh Writers Phone: +91-22-2437 2214/19 International Aditya Madanapalle, Circulation and Subscription — Sales Fax: +91-22-2448 2059/1123 Navin Chand Singh Siddharth Parwatay GM - Circulation Milind Prabhughate Email: [email protected] Test Centre Co-ordinator Vijay Mhatre Mobile: +91-99013 00772 Manager - Test Development and Customer Service Prerana Panchal, Sourcing Michael Browne Vrushali Londhe, Pushpa Mahar, Shabana Advertisers' index Manager - Testing and Processes Shariff Rossi Fernandes Client Page No Kingston 17 Reviewer Kumar Jhuremalani Abacus 13 KYE-Genius 3 Trainee Reviewer Rohan Naravane Customer Service: Airtel Back Cover Leo Securities 129 +91-22-4078 9612/13/14 Design AOC 39 LIC 109 Creative Head Kabir Malkani Asus 19, 47 Lipap 133 Art Director Rohit A Chandwaskar Head Office: Editorial, Marketing Bank Of India 11 Map my India 37 Lead Designer Vijay Padaya and Customer Service BSNL 9 Mitashi 55 Senior Designer MV Sajeev Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd CareerNet 93 RX Infotech 137 Illustrators Shrikrishna Patkar, C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Chip Tech IT 43 Sagarmatha 153 Chaitanya Surpur Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), D-link Inside Front Cover Sandisk 31 Sr. Photographer Jiten Gandhi Navi Mumbai 400 703 Dell 5, 83, 89 Spice Jet Inside Back Cover Multimedia Phone: +91-22-4078 9666 Ebay 72, 73 Sun Microsystems 21 Project Head Robert Sovereign-Smith Fax: +91-22-4078 9540, +91-22-4078 9640 KG Hosting 159 Topgun 75 Content Head Aditya Madanapalle Kingmax 27 Transcend 25
Cover Design Jayan Narayanan Cover Photography Manas Parekh
Tell us what you feel about Digit Products reviewed this month Each month, Digit walks through the technology maze to Bazaar...... 48 ASUS K40IJ ASUS Rampage II Extreme bring you the most relevant, and the most researched Cooler Master Elite 334 ATi ASUS K50IJ ASUS Rampage II Gene Radeon Edition Cabinet ASUS U6 Bamboo ASUS Striker II NSE stories. If you have an opinion about anything published Sony Walkman NWZ-W202 ASUS UX30 Biostar G41D-M7 in Digit, or about technology in general, please write to 2GB Dell Adamo Biostar TA785GE 128M [email protected] A-DATA Nobility NH92 250GB Dell Studio XPS 1340 Biostar TA790GX A3+ External Hard Drive Dell Studio XPS 1640 Biostar TPOWER I45 Product testing Acer F900 Smart-phone Gateway ID 5801 Biostar Tpower X58 Want your product reviewed by Digit? Seagate Barracuda LP Gateway NV48 DFI UT X58 Lanparty Contact our Test Center at ST32000542AS 2TB HCL Z39 ECS A785GM-M [email protected] Western Digital Scorpio Blue HP EliteBook 2530P ECS A790GXM-A 500GB HP ProBook 4410S ECS G41T-M2 Software on DVD APC Back-UPS RS 550 Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 Gigabyte EP43T-UD3L To submit and suggest software for CoolerMaster NotePal Color Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 Gigabyte EP45-UD3R inclusion in Digit DVDs, write to Infinite MSI GX620X Gigabyte EX58-Extreme dvd@thinkdigit.com Epson Stylus TX550W MSI X400 Gigabyte EX58-UD3R ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U Sony Vaio VGN-SR46GD GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 Help! Linksys WRT320N Sony Vaio VGN-Z48GD Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H For subscription or copy-related issues, Samsung Jet Digital Camera test.....80 Gigabyte MA785GPMT-UD2H send an e-mail to [email protected] Samsung Marine Canon Digital IXUS 100 IS Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P Acer Aspire Revo R3600 Canon Digital IXUS 110 IS Gigabyte MA790GP-UD4H Endorsements / reprints Philips GoGear Mix 2 GB Canon Digital IXUS 95 IS Intel DX48BT2 Interested in ordering article reprints, Apacer AU380 MP3 player Canon PowerShot A1100 IS Intel DX58SO or using our logos? Contact SatGuide P360 Canon PowerShot A480 Jetway HA07 Ultra [email protected] VU 40-inch Intelligent TV Canon PowerShot SX120 IS Jetway I43GM1-HG LTV-40i Canon PowerShot SX200 IS Jetway PN78VM2-LF Business enquiries Gigabyte GK-KM7500 Fujifilm Finepix A170 MSI 790GX-G65 For any business-related enquiries, contact iPod Shuffle Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR MSI G43M2 [email protected] Sony A330 DSLR camera Fujifilm FinePix J27 MSI K9N2 Diamond Laptop test...... 62 Fujifilm Finepix S1500 MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum News and new product launches Acer Aspire 3810T Nikon Coolpix L20 MSI KA780G To announce new product launches, and press releases, Acer Aspire 4736 Nikon Coolpix P90 MSI P43 Neo3 email us at [email protected] Acer Aspire 5536 Nikon Coolpix S220 MSI P45 Diamond Acer Aspire 5738G Samsung ES55 MSI P45 Neo2 Disclaimer: For every Digit contest, there will be only one winner, unless Acer Aspire 5738Z Motherboard test...... 90 MSI X48C Platinum specified otherwise. In the event of a dispute, the Editor’s decision shall be final. Acer Aspire 5810T ASUS M4A78-HTPC/RC MSI X58 PRO Printed and Published by Kanak Ghosh, for Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd. C/o KPT House, Plot Alienware M17x ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO MSI X58M 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Navi Mumbai 400 703 Apple Macbook Air ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO XFX 790i Ultra Editor: Sujay Nair, C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Apple Macbook Pro 13” Asus M4A79T Deluxe XFX X58i Navi Mumbai 400 703 Apple Macbook Pro 15” ASUS Maximus II Gene Zotac GeForce 8200 Printed at Printed at Silverpoint Press Pvt. Ltd, Plot No. A, 403, MIDC, TTC Industrial Area, Apple Macbook Pro 17” ASUS P5Q Premium Zotac 790i Ultra SLI Mahape, Navi Mumbai 400709 ASUS F82Q ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi @n Zotac nForce 780i SLI ASUS G50 ASUS P6T Deluxe ZOTAC X58
2 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com Contents Enter 8 Inbox Readers’ Letters 12 Industry Connect Bala Parthasarathy, MD (APAC) – Snapfish 14 Buzz HP’s DreamScreen, Microsoft’s open source initiative and more
Connections 24 Web Watch From anonymous browsing to Monopoly, insights into your world online Digital Life 32 Drool maal 36 Tech Treats Groovy gifting ideas for Diwali Welcome to Gizmoland Find your wayy throughthro gh allal thetht e productproduct Sci Tech releases, offers andand discodiscountsdis ouunntsts ththisis DiwaDDiwaliiwalli 40 How stuff Works Flash drives and their working principle explained 44 How stuff Works Get to know how LCD panels and the newer LED TVs work Toolbox Workshops 106 Anonymous Browsing 108 Backup your drive using Paragon Drive Backup 110 Make your own font using your handwriting
4 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com Contents Tried and Tested 113 Tips and Tricks 120 products tested •Microsoft Offi ce 2007 48 Bazaar •Ultra Explorer Acer F900 A-DATA Nobility NH92 •YouTube 250 GB •Google Cheat sheet 16 page Epson Stylus TX550 •Windows 7 Special And many more... and more... 130 Q & A Your questions, our answers Street smart 138 Agent 001 The best gaming and HTPC casing and power supply options 62 Laptops 142 Price watch Dell Alienware Mx17 The latest prices for your reference ASUS Bamboo U6V MacBook Pro Esc And many more... 146 Pimp my gadget Personalise your precious gadgets Game Reviews: 80 Digital Cameras 150 Batman: Arkham Asylum A total of 16 digital cameras were 152 TRINE tested in the Digit labs this month 154 G.I. Joe: The RIse of Cobra 156 Unwind 158 Community
Young Indian Innovators 90 Motherboards Enter More than 50 motherboads benchmarked from all 18 The smallest categories of innovations pile up today to create tomorrow’s world.
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Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 5 DVD Contents Digit Video Tutorials Gaming Astronomy 160 3Dstudio Max Video Games • Counter Strike • Anarchy Online • DVDFlick A Sci-Fi MMORPG • Foobar2000 • Ashes 2009 • Pictomio • Darkest of Days • Quake3 Arena • Mini Ninjas • Windows Movie Maker • F1 Racing 3.2 • Omega and the End of the Tips & Tricks Game Trailers Universe • Last.fm Scrobbler • Assassin’s Creed II • Dark Matter • Subtitle Workshop4 • DiRT 2 • Dark Energy, the Accelerating • ManicTime • Kingdom Under Fire II Universe and the Big Rip • Productivity Meter • Mini Ninjas • TimeSnapper Professional • Spore Hero Introduction to Computer Science Educational Tools Casual Games • Binary Numbers, Programming • Stellarium 0.10.2 • Orbital Snake Languages, Working in Linux, As an intelligent robotic “snake- and Programming in C ship”, pick your way through • Secure File Transfer, Variable abandoned space stations, Types, and Arithmetic Operators feasting on scraps of debris • Standard Input Functions, Boolean Expressions, and Loops • Candy World Adventure The Fate of Lillians Tome I 1.01 Game Theory • Creatrix • Introduction to Game Theory • Advanced Pathway Painter Entertainment • Draw Fire 1.0 • Putting Yourselves into Other • Asynx Planetarium 2.5 Music • Duck Dodgers 1.0 People’s Shoes • BoneLab 1.0.2.46 • Universica • Fire And Ice 1.0 • Iterative Deletion and the • DeadLine 2.36 • CIA • Germy Roundup 1.0 Median-Voter Theorem • Flash Card Factory 1.0 • Last Spring • HangARoo 2.052 • FreeMind 0.8.1 • Looking for a Way Out • Mario Remix 1.0 Aircraft Systems • Geometry 2.8.2 • Namouche • Mystery Island II Engineering • GraphCalc 4.0.1 • Occidente • Orbital Snake 2.0 • The Origins of the Space Shuttle • Guitar Chords 2.2 • Galaxy • Ultimate Sonic 1.0 • Space Shuttle History • MaxType Lite Typing Tutor • 100 per cent Rush • Yetisports Gore 1.0 • Orbiter Sub-System Design • MB Brain Teasers 1.10 • Mind Asylum • Zelda Forever 1 • Power Tab Editor 1.7 • Nights and Days • Rapid Typing Tutor 2.9.6 • 7 Improvisations Screensavers • Science Data Reference System • Quiet Life Vol 3 • Free Fire Screensaver • Scratch • Binary Mind • The Matrix Screen Saver 1.11 • The MagicBook 7.0 • Amazing Bubbles 3D Screen- • Virtual Morse Key 2.5.39 HD Trailers saver 1.2 • Voca 4.3 • Art & Copy • Licking Dog Screen Cleaner • WordWeb 5.52 • Inception Screen Saver 2.0 • World Wind 1.4.0 • Legion • Don’t Touch My Computer Epi- • WorldWide Telescope 2.2 • The Blind Side sode 2 1.22 • Zero Spelling 5.0 • The Fourth Kind • Sim Aquarium FreeTank 2.6 Operating Systems • The Wolfman • Matrix Trilogy 3D Code Screen- Qimo saver 3.4 Videos Qimo is a desktop operating TED Videos • Distant Suns - Grand Tour 3D system designed for kids. Based • Adjustable liquid eyeglasses • Lego Star Wars Screensaver on Ubuntu, Qimo comes pre- • Happy design Experience the Star Wars uni- • Digital Talking Parrot installed with educational games • Nature’s designs verse in lego animation • The Amazing Spider-Man 3D for children aged 3 to 60 • Digging up dinosaurs Screensaver • Engineering and evolution • The Space Travel Screensaver 1.0 • Militant atheism • Super Mario World Screensaver 1 • “Mathemagic” • Super Mario Kart Screensaver 1 • How technology evolves • Flight over sea 3D • The world’s deepest caves • Aquarium • Wiring a web for global good • Dolphins and Whales • Wireless electricity • Batman Begins 3D • Faux nostalgia • 6 Days • Electric Sheep 2.6.6 • Gumbasia • Rain Cast 2.0 • Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs • gPhotoShow 1.6.3 • Piece • Moonlight City 1 • Tanzanian love story • Living Marine Aquarium • The Crossing Guard • Dream Aquarium 3D • The Forest • Pac-Man • Perfect Runaway 1
6 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com DVD Contents Tools Productivity • Atlantis Word Processor Multimedia Enterprise • Text Suite Pro with M ArcSoft Total Media 3.5 Go-00 3.1-10 Player 1.1 3.5.5530 A media hub that combines TV, Go-OO is an • PolyEdit Lite 5.4 video recording, photo editing, OpenOffi ce. • Jarte 3.3 and media conversion in one org fork that • CrossLoop 2.51 easy-to-use program. You can features • Effective Meetings 1.7.5.4 watch and record TV shows, edit faster load • EZ-Format for Excel 7.2 photos or video, listen to music, and response times, and several rip CDs to MP3 and much more. features not included in the Developer It’s everything you need packed standard version of oOo • Bat To Exe Converter 1.5 in one versatile and easy-to-use • Corel WordPerfect Offi ce X4 • WinPenPack Flash Web application • Express Accounts 2.08 • Open Xava • Orange HRM • 3D Developer Studio • Microsoft Offi ce Accounting • Web CEO Free Edition Express 2009 • Silverfrost FTN95 5.30 • BillQuick Lite 2009 • B*Gallery 3.2.1 • PortableApps Suite • PersonalWebKit 3.3 • inFlow Inventory Software • ActivePerl (Windows) 5.1 Free Edition 1.2.3 • JAlbum 8.4.1 • OpenOffi ce.org Portable • PHPTriad 2.2 • Microsoft OneNote 2003 • MoreMotion Web Express • Adempiere ERP • AceHTML Freeware build • ZWCAD 2009i • SmartDraw 2009 52 • Bloodshed Dev-Pascal • Jamstix 2.5.2 • OroTimesheet 6.12 • KompoZer 0.7.10Nvu 1 • PDF Studio 6.0 • OrgPlus Professional 8.0 • PageBreeze HTML Editor • Delcam Exchange 6.0 • EasyBilling 2.6.1 • Ghost Installer Free DIGIT TV • OSG Composer CAD 1.2.1 • SurveyGold 8.0 • CSE HTML Validator Lite 10 Visual Buying • DV Mixer Pro 1.5 • 4ASoft Agenda 9.01 • Web Dwarf 2.5 • Photo Pos Pro 1.72 • Label Flow 4.3 • MyGeneration 1.3.0.3 Guides • Real-Draw Pro 5.2.3 • Nitro PDF Professional • Hex Edit Free 3.0F • Mobile Phones • Flash Effect Site Builder Platinum • OneStep Accounting Standard • JCreator LE 4.50.010 • HDTVs 12.06 Edition 4.0 • Source Edit 4.0 revision 3 • Cameras • Pazera Video Converters Suite • ProShow Producer • SiteGenWiz 1.5 • PhotoShine 3.2 • PDF-XChange Viewer • XMLBuddy 2.0.72 • PMPs • Avant Media Player 3.4 • Proteus Lite 6.7 • Notepad++ 5.4.5 • External Storage • JetAudio Basic 7.5.4 • PDFCreator 0.9.6 • HTML-Kit Build 292 • Laptops • Ultimate Business Plan • PHP Designer 2007 • Netbooks Internet • Business Functions 1.52 • Install Creator 2 build 28 • Camcorders • LuckyWire 1.0.0.2 • Project Engine Personal • WordPress 2.8.4 • TomTom Home 2.7.0.1785 • Ultra Hal Text-to-Speech • Graphic Cards • CoffeeCup Photo Gallery Reader 1.0.5 Mac • Motherboards & CPUs • Hermes P2P 3.0 • 3S Accounting 3.2 Artlantis Studio • P2P Rocket 1.4 • ReadPlease 2003 1.1 Artlantis Studio is the fastest • SmartFTP Client 3.0.1043 • Microsoft Project 2000 Update stand-alone 3D rendering • DAP 9.6 SR-1 9.0 application developed • TVTrigger 1.1 • RationalPlan Project Viewer especially for architects and • Memeo Send 1.0 3.15.1 designers • Advanced OPC Data Logger • Netpas Distance 2.5 build • NeoOffi ce 3.0 Patch 7 • Meteor Share 2.3 • Fleet Maintenance Pro Deluxe • Google SketchUp • FrostWire 4.18.1 11.0.0.21 • MacJournal 5.1.4 • TubeMaster++ 1.2 • Volutive Free Invoicing & • Blender 2.49b • Hulu Downloader 2.3.8.21 Inventory 1.3 • Cenon 3.9 • TurboFTP 6.00.735 • Health and Safety Manager Lite • Hoecker-Plot 0.8.1 • Web Site Maestro 7.6 Edition • Art of Illusion 2.7.2 • Email File Transfer Protocol • Speak 1.8.84 • Paintbrush 2.0.1 Server 1.0.1.3 • CyberCafePro Client • Geo3D 2.5.8 • BookmarkAssistPro 1.2.2 • Buyertools Reminder • VDownloader 1.0 • Smartworks - Project Operating Systems Planner Reader 1 • React OS System • FreeOCR 1 • Ultimate Boot CD • OPTIsend Print 2.6.1 • OmniFormat 7.9 • Back Track • CrashPlan 7.27.20009 • Auction Sentry Standard • Hulbee Desktop Standard • PPPCD 1.51 • SilverFast Ai Epson 4870 • Abdio PDF Reader 5.4 • eWriterPro 2.0 • Label Designer Plus Deluxe • SilverFast Ai - Minolta 9.5.0.1 • eDocPrinter PDF Pro 6.48 • 101 Clips 9.02 • Moo0 RightClicker 1.31 • Digital Dictation 7.5 • Photocopier Expert 6.59 • DoneEx XCell Compiler
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 7 Catching more fi sh Microsoft going open source? Bala Parthasarathy, MD - To fi nd out more, read Buzz for technology Enter Inbox 12 Europe and APAC, Snapfi sh 14 news doing the rounds