January Issue

MOBILE | AUTO | GADGETS | WATCHES & More...

Vol.8.Issue.8.January.2013

where tech meets lifestyle

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5’’ of

full hd

Butterfly

EXCLUSIVE!

gadgetize Your

Workstation

BIg launches in

2013

wildlife

Photography

4G technologY shooters royal loVe:LEICA sUCCEss DIAry

& the challenges HoW to's: •greet & eat in foreign countries •secure your twitter account •stolen phone lockdown •cool a super computer

REVIEWED :CANON EOS 5D MARK III | NIKON D600 | BENQ LED | ZYNC PHABLET | SAMSUNG WINDOWS 8 TAB | TRANSCEND STOREJET CLOUD & MORE...

ON THE WHEELS : SNAKE EYES 2013 SRT VIPER | 5 TUNED CHEVROLET CAMAROS | SIDESWIPE 2013 JAGUAR XFR & MORE...

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The world’s first full HD 1080p screen:

A 12.7cm super LCD screen achieves maximum definition, for the ultimate visual experience.

Featuring 440 pixels per inch, it reveals a level of detail and sharpness that far exceeds anything you have ever experienced.

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Quad Core power that’s miles ahead:

Driven by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ S4 Pro, optimised for the fastest mobile experience.

A front camera to rival most rear cameras: Widest angle f2.0 front lens coupled with ground-breaking low light performance.

Twin dedicated amplifiers take Beats Audio™ performance even further.

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[CONTENTS]

JAN 2013

GADGETISE YOUR WORKSTATION

The cover story this month gives you an insight on what gadgets would suit the needs of certain personalities. Even if you are an audiophile, a multi-media junkie, a gamer or just a geek who drools on gadgets – this article will give you a low down on which gadgets would best suit your needs, and how.

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BIG IN 2013

2012 has eventually come to and end without any sign of any apocalypse and we’re hoping there will be plenty to cheer about in 2013 as far as gadgets are concerned. We’ve picked out the biggest launches that will surely make their mark in the coming year, so if you can’t wait till the months roll on, read the article to find out what you can expect.you.50 and get enlightened!

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LEICA’s SUCCESS DIARY

Photography lovers will know the role of Leica, in terms of lenses and camera’s especially. But for the others, this article is a great in-depth look at the success of Leica over the past decades and how it has come to symbolize only the finest in photography.

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

We take you on a ride inside the jungles, and explore what techniques would be best suited for Wildlife Photography. Also discussed are the best micro four-third camera’s for this particular art of photography, which should certainly get the attention of most of you!

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88 CYBER SECURITY

With hackers going rampant against authoritarian rule, it is as good a time as any to also look at your own personal cyber security, plus giving you an understanding of what hacking is really about. If you’ve always wanted to know and didn’t know who to ask – this is what you should be reading!

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[CONTENTS]

JAN 2013

MOVIE CARS

Ever wondered looking at a movie, which cool car that was? Okay, it’s really tough to get a gist of ALL the cool cars in ALL the amazing movies we’ve seen. But we’ve covered one really cool one in this article, but we’ll keep the surprise for you to roll on the pages and find out which one it is.

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SSD’S FACE OFF

SSD FACE OFF

Solid State Drives (SSDs) have only now started to get a little cheaper, so it’s a good time to pit some of the best against each other and see how they fare. Here’s a look at Intel’s 335 v/s Kingston HyperX v/s Corsair Neutron.

S

olid State Drives (SSDs) have come up a long way and are starting to get a bit more affordable as well. But, the truth of the matter is, they’re still not as affordable as we’d like them to be – but let’s not forget the sheer performance we get from them. We’re also noticing that RAM and chip-makers are now making SSDs, which is quite an interesting phenomenon. Intel, Kingston and Corsair have all been involved in making various memory modules and/or chipsets for many years now – but looks like they now want to venture into making Solid State Drives too. So, we’ve got the Intel 335 series 240 GB SSD against the Kingston HyperX against the Corsair Neutron. Let’s put these against each other and see which SSD performs the best.

MEET THE PARTICIPANTS INTEL 335

KINGSTON HYPERX

CORSAIR NEUTRON

Intel launched the new series of SSDs, called the SSD 335, which will replace the 330 series.

The Sandforce SF-2281 controller from the previous 330 line survives in the new 335 series, but the size of the chips has been reduced from 25nm to 20nm flash memory.

Smaller transistors are cheaper to manufacture which potentially can lead to more affordable products. The SSD 335 has 16 flash chips of 16 GB each (which in turn consist of two 8 GB dies). The new 20nm chips originate from the Micron/Intel factory and are identical to the previous 25nm chips in terms of performance.

The chips adhere to the ONFI 2.3 standard.

Just like 25nm chips, these new ones are validated for 3000 write cycles per cell. Intel therefore claims they are just as reliable, and again Intel offers three years of warranty, based on an average of 20 GB writes per day.

Kingston is following Intel’s example and recently launched the HyperX 3K series. This series is based on the same technology as the HyperX SSDs, but clearly cheaper. The HyperX 3K SSDs are available in 90 GB, 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB editions. The new HyperX 3K SSDs have the same SandForce SF-2281 as Kington’s standard HyperX SSDs. The main difference can be found in the flash chips that are used.

The chips in the HyperX series are validated for 5000 program/erase cycles, while the HyperX 3K series is guaranteed up to 3000 cycles. The reasoning behind the name suddenly becomes apparent. The question then is whether this is a significant drawback. We analysed this issue extensively last year on our Dutch site and concluded that an SSD, with normal usage, with 3000-cycle flash memory will last 100 years. Even if your SSD is 95 percent full, our calculations indicated a lifespan of 22 years.

A year ago, if you wanted a fast SSD you had the choice between a SandForce- and a Marvell-based product. It’s never good having only two options, but fortunately the market evolved. At the end of last year Samsung launched the 830 series of SSDs, using its own controller that held its own against the established competition. OCZ rejuvenated controller manufacturer Indilinx by releasing SSDs based on the Everest and Everest 2 controller. Even if the latter proved to be a re-branded new Marvell controller with different firmware, the fact remains that the consumer is left with far more choices now. Not only that, the performance of SSDs has steadily been increasing as well. And now there’s a new kid on the block.

Corsair recently introduced the Neutron series of SSDs, based on the LM87800 controller from the little-known Link A Media Devices, or LAMD for short. This company has been making controllers for high-end PCI-Expressbased SSDs for servers, so the manufacturer does have the right lineage.

BENCHMARK TESTING Take any standard laptop and simply interchange the SSD’s and test how they perform when reading and writing the same amount of data.

That’s how you can accomplish a simple test and really see how these SSD’s compare with each other. Or, if you find that time consuming – then the easiest way would be to perform benchmark tests – but that would still require you to connect different SSD’s at different times and conduct the tests accordingly.

Anyhow, we tried testing these through both the methods – just to try and see which one comes up ahead of the other two. We used a Sandy Bridge-based system to test hard disks and SSDs. Our test system consisted of an Intel Core i5 2500K processor, an Intel DH67BL motherboard and 4GB DDR3-1333 memory. The SSDs were connected as secondary drives and all benchmarks were run in Windows 7.

INTEL 335

CORSAIR NEUTRON

KINGSTON HYPERX

This is the biggest brand of the 3, and we were expecting it to have the better results of the three. It did perform really well and the speeds we got while copying data into and off of it was really impressive. The average speeds were around 305 MB/s, which is really impressive, but we will wait to see how the other 2 get on. On one of the benchmark tests – we came out with a score of about 24K for write speed and 29.5k for read speeds. On the PC Vantage test, it managed a score of about 67K. In the testing to see how the SSD reads and writes data blocks of different sizes as quickly as possible to random places on the SSD (called the Atto Disk Benchmark), the Intel was equally impressive.

Corsair has been well known for its memory modules and even hard-core gamers have sworn to the performance of Corsair products.

It started off really well with the copy and paste test, when we were manually loading stuff onto it, but was even more impressive when loading applications and running them off of it. The read/write speeds were more impressive than of Intel’s, managing an average of about 330 MB/s. On one of the benchmark tests – we came out with a score of about 24.5K for write speed and 30k for read speeds.

On the PC Vantage test, it managed a score of about 74K. In the Atto Disk Benchmark test, however, the Neutron wasn’t as good and managed a much lower score than the Intel.

Kingston, like Corsair, has been well known for the memory modules they have been making over the years. The testing started off with the usual copy paste of large data in and out of the SSD, in which it fared as well as the other two. It did do really well on most graphic-intensive testing, beating out the competition with ease. But, it really did struggle in progressive benchmark testing for reading and writing, managing a score of about 293 Mb/s, which is lower than the competition- but not by much. On the PC Vantage test, it got an overall average score of about 62K, which is certainly quite lower than the other two.

Atto Disk Benchmark

CONCLUSION Whereas the overall performance and testing results are not that much different from each other, it did seem that the Intel had the slightest bit of edge over its competition. Price’s for all three are also about the same, and with heavy use as well, you will be able to use these three SSD’s without any issues for many years.

The Intel has an edge for those seeking sheer performance, but maybe the lower scores on copying and reading random data from various places on the disk means it might not be the best candidate for people who do a lot of multi-tasking. The Kingston HyperX, on the other hand, had a good showing for multi-media and graphics intensive exercise – which should mean its ideal for the audience who enjoy their movies and games. The Corsair Neutron seems ideal for a steady, good and enduring performance for multi-tasking and even for those who love loading a lot of apps on their computers. No matter what you choose in the end, however, you will surely get a product which is worth the money you buy – the only differences will be highlighted in the tasks you perform over a period of time, hence choose as per the afore mentioned recommendations.

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OVER-HYPED GADGETS OF 2012

The year 2012 will be remembered for many great gadget launches, but also a few which were overhyped and totally not worth your money. Here’s a look at some of the best (or worst?) of them.

A Comedy of Errors – in tech world

To be or not to be, that is the talk of the “social media town”! We are talking about Instagram and its recent controversies. If it was over with Twitter that made the big news, the next thing on was will-they-won’t-they sell the user photos?

Will they? Says what Instagram?

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Nokia: Will the Master Lead Once Again?

Once the-master-of-the-“mobile” universe” is having a tough time! Struggling and trying to win back its crown, Nokia does it all from trying to bring on innovations to shifting OS, will they rise again? Is Lumia strong enough to give back Nokia’s old status?

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In Association With

TA S T E T H E S U L A L I F E

2nd and 3rd February, 2013, Sula Vineyards, Nashik. Gates open at 12.30pm Featuring Deep Forest Live and Other Top Bands.

Sulafest Bazaar · Grape Stomping · Wine Tasting · Tarot Reader · Food Fiesta · Caricature Artist · Tattoo Artist & Lots More

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Tickets available at: www.bookmyshow.com Mumbai: Vinoteca| Blue Frog | Rhythm House | Amore (Carter Road – Bandra, R City Center – Ghatkopar, Infinity Mall – Malad) Pune: 11 East Street Cafe Nashik: Tasting Room, Sula Vineyards | Amore, College Road For more information visit www.sulafest.net or call +91 95949 66191 / 95949 66192 or email sulafest@sulawines.com Join us on facebook www.facebook.com/sulaindia Follow us on twitter @sulawines

FROM THE EDITORS DESK

S

o I Won the bet which I had posed openly in the last month [ Dec 12 Issue] and the world didn’t end and here we are back ready after a liquor soaked New Years Eve. Normally, it would just be another change in the year, if not for all the doomsday predictions floating around. The Mayans were blamed, the astrological charts were studied thoroughly, NASA had to calm nerves by posting on their website, but at the end of the day – 21st of Dec went by without any major disturbance. The only thing worth noting on that day was Psy’s Gangam Style video crossed the 1 billion views mark. Amazing isn’t it?

A Korean pop-star who hardly had any hits in his native country before this, became a sensation thanks to a funnily amusing video which people kept sharing and re-sharing via YouTube. Psy was no longer a Korean pop-singer whom a bunch of people knew in his country – he had become a worldwide sensation with the cheeky humour and the antics depicted in the video, even though we didn’t understand a word (except “Heyyyyy, sexy lady!”) in the entire song! The power of people with nothing more than internet access and a few clicks came to the fore, and how! It is exactly this power that some governments of the worlds have also recognised and are doing their best to curb. Google has come out with an open petition for the world to look, read, understand and sign. If you haven’t done so, then I encourage you to do so right away. It’s the same basic rights -Roti, Kapda, Makan and now Internet.

Coming to the core of this issue we have covered and uncovered Leica in our Success Diary and its journey to reach the iconic stature in the world of Photography . Don’t miss the big launches which are due in 2013 amidst our hard boiled reviews and explorations into all that which makes a man’s heart beat faster. No, we are talking Tech, Auto and women in the same order. Already the signs of 2013 is that the smartphone space is going to be completely stressed and Apple has already bent a few rules for the very first time by increasing the length of their iPhone and introducing a smaller iPad – simply calling it the iPad mini. But what should be the one differentiating factor and barriers to competion in the Smartphone buisness – It’s the Satellite phone marketed at the high end spectrum of the Smartphone ecosystem. Should Apple bite this? Turn to Pg 84.

And finally our cover story is about gadgetizing your work station – something that every geek, artist and working professional must have a look at. There are surely some ideas worth exploring and some which can perhaps inspire you.

So, till we meet again with a new set of resolutions [You can actually start from last years since there are bound to many incomplete, and its absolutely ok] and with new spirits not the ‘spirits’ whish you were immersed recently. Wishing you a Big 2013.

Stay Tuned, Stay Connected & Stay in Sync through our Android App available in the Play Store. Feel ‘FREE’ to Download !

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CONTRIBUTORS Tom Clark Tom Clark is the founder of the website Phonetvinternet.com which focuses on issues related to technology as well as offering customers a chance to find out which services in tech are the best for their area. He is a freelance writer, professional blogger and social media enthusiast - all rolled into one!

NK Goyal

Ram Bherwani

Ram Bherwani has shot some of the best and biggest movie stars from Bollywood, creating an impressive portfolio which is the envy of photographers all over India.

He also sets and creates his own Calendars for the year, which are a must-have for Bollywood lovers. He started his childhood with the lenses and by his vision was stuck in his lenses. He has spent about 12 years now as a Photgrapher and captured several renowned faces of Entertainment Industry

Pankhuri Awasthi

With a career spanning 36 years in IT/Telecom sector, Mr. N K Goyal is a distinguished figure in his line of work. A Post-Graduate of Science, Mr. Goyal has been the President (Operations) for Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd. (HFCL) for a period spanning 13 years. He also happens to be a Telecom Analysis, Consultant and Chairman (Emeritus) of TEMA (Telecom Equipment Manufacturers’ Association of India). He is also the current Chairman of CTIA (Core Telecom Industries Association) and President of the Indian Manufacturing Foundation. Throughout in various capacities has been responsible for effective liaison and strategic relations with various Central/State Government and their Organizations / PSUs, DOT,BSNL, MTNL,TEC,TRAI, TDSAT, QA, WPC, Chief Controller of Imports & Exports, Ministries of Finance/ Commerce/External Affairs/ Industries/ Home/ RBI/Banks etc.

Shannen Doherty Shannen D is a freelance journalist and technology blogger who writes about various topics within the industry for websites that cover mobile phones, tablets and PC’s. Check out the broadband deals comparison at Broadband Expert if you want to make use of her advice.

Pankhuri Awasthi a.k.a VJ Pankhuri is a video jockey and actor. She is the daughter of celebrated playback singer Sapna Awasthi (chaiyya chaiiya fame) and the granddaughter of noted theater scholar and ex chairperson of National School of Drama, Suresh Awasthi. Currently she is hosting a show based on fashion called Style Junkie, alongside VJ Andy. She is also one of the most eminent emcees with over 100 corporate and entertainment events to her credit. At the moment she is also hosting a music based show, Airtel Music My Song, My Story.

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LAUNCHES OF Convert your Non-touch to touch screens with PORTRONICS ‘Handmate’ The Portronics Handmate converts your windows 8 powered non touch device to a touch device. In short, it is possible to convert the Normal Screen of laptop to touch screen. You can now fully experience Windows 8 by this accessory for Laptop or Desktop.

Specifications: Technology Used: Ultrasonic and Infrared Resolution: 100 DPI Communication: USB 2.0 Full Speed USB Cable OS Supported: Windows 8 Weight: About 9gr. `4999 Colour: Black

JABRA LAUNCHES JABRA TOUR You can simply take calls, stream GPS instructions and listen to your driving tunes by Bluetooth® with the Jabra TOUR. Jabra TOUR features Siri compatibility, extra-large 3-watt speaker, HD Voice mic for enhanced noise cancellation and incredible lifelike sound for multimedia streaming and voice calls. The Jabra TOUR’s slim and sophisticated chassis in modern black and silver accents accommodates intuitive features and makes hands-free talk effortless. Just clip it onto the sun visor and have clear conversations on the road while hands stay on the steering wheel.

`6499

Key features of the Jabra TOUR™ in-car speakerphone: Powerful 3-watt speaker for excellent sound HD Voice Microphone – optimized for superior sound and speech quality Advanced Multiuse™ Technology – allows users to connect up to two devices simultaneously Up to 20 hours talk time and up to 45 days of standby time 2 Chargers – a Micro-USB cable for charging via a PC and a universal car charger that fits into the car lighter Bluetooth 3.0 Technology - including EDR, eSCO, A2DP and PBAP Weighs 135 grams

KINGMAX Launches a Tiny Titan of a COB USB3.0 Flash Drive KINGMAX launches a remarkably compact, ultra-fast COB USB3.0 Flash drive. The UI-06 features high read and write rates and is built to last thanks to the waterproofing and dustproofing capabilities of PIPTMtechnology. The hardware is protected by smudge-resistant sandblasted metallic casing and is available in blue or gray Specifications: Slim, metallic design Waterproof and dustproof Backward compatible with USB2.0 Capacity: 8GB/16GB/32GB Interface: USB 3.0 Sequential Speed: up to 85MB/s read, up to 22MB/s write 18 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

`4999

THE MONTH D-Link brings Surveillance into the Palm of Your Hand D-Link launches D-ViewCam Mobile App for iOS and Android-based devices. The app is free of cost and is an easy-to-use tool for managing a D-ViewCam Server installation or D-Link network video recorder and IP surveillance cameras from your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. D-ViewCam Mobile works with the Standard (DCS-210), Professional (DCS-220), and Enterprise (DCS-230) versions of D-ViewCam Server software, or with the D-Link DNR-322L and DNR-326 network video recorders.

Features: Real-time live monitoring Playback on demand Audio monitoring Screenshot sharing Pan/tilt/zoom control

Epson Launches SureColor T Series Technical / Computer Aided Design (CAD) Printers

Pricing and Availability: The price of T3070 is Rs.155,099 , T5070 is Rs.233,599 and T7070 – Rs.271,299

The Epson SureColor T series is the company’s first printer series that is especially designed for technical / Computer Aided Design (CAD) printing.

The printers in the series have identical features that have been optimized for technical printing needs, but come in a 24-inch, 36-inch or 44-inch wide format, allowing users to choose the ideal size for their requirements and budget. These new printers harness the power of Epson’s leading ‘Micro Piezo’ piezoelectric print head technology to give customers highly valued capabilities ranging from low cost, to high speed and high quality printing.

Each printer is able to generate an A1 printout in a mere 28 seconds Epson SureColor SC-T3070 is a 24-inch format, Epson SureColor SC-T5070 a 36inch format and Epson SureColor SC-T7070 a 44-inch format

Karbonn Mobiles launches the Karbonn Smart Tab 10 Karbonn Mobiles launches Karbonn Smart Tab 10. The Smary Tab 10 is loaded with features like a 24.6 cms (9.7”) Capacitive Touch Screen, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, 1.5 Ghz Dual Core Processor, 1GB DDR3 RAM, 3G and HD support, a 6000 mAh battery along with pre-embedded applications like Saavn Music & more; The Karbonn Smart Tab 10 is augmented by a Digital front facing camera and a 2.0 Megapixel rear camera. It also comes along with 3G Support through USB Dongle, HD Video support upto 1080p, Wi-Fi b/g/n, G-Sensor & 3D G-Sensor for advanced gaming, Expandable Memory upto 32 GB, Bluetooth, HDMI out and a host of Pre-embedded apps & games.

`10,490

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POSE

A Comedy of Errors!

I

t’s been few weeks since Instagram is in news…all for controversial reasons.

If it started with the Instagram-Twitter spat, Twitter feeds would not show Instagram photos…the next thing that popped up read Instagram claiming rights to sell your photos!

The popular photo-sharing website owned by Facebook declared that they owned the rights to their pictures. They added that they wouldn’t give any warning or payment before cashing in on the images posted on its site. It means pictures by children as young as 13 could be sold to advertisers.

It took as a rage as the netigens knew the new policy would operate from the middle of January under charges to terms and conditions announced by the website. Unless users delete their Instagram accounts by a deadline of 16th January, they could not opt out.

A suicide note, that was, as the “news” bugged the social media users!

But as they say…MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING! That was the core story.

All said and the damage done by Instagram leading many to close their accounts, the photo-sharing website declared within a few days clarifying their “real intentions”.

Pretty fast huh Instagram! You already did the self-damage.

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“Thank you, and we’re listening”, said the message in the Instagram website.

Wow, you heard us so soon, only that many didn’t stay to see you hearing them as well.

Those biding goodbye included the likes of National Geography.

Oh wow, Instagram, time now for you to concentrate on “writing” (terms and conditions), we would wait for modifications on “pictures”.

It’s only now that Instagram cofounder Kevin Systrom clarifies their intentions NOT to sell user photos. He added that Instagram would re-write the terms to clarify how pictures might be used.

Phew! Thanks but no thanks Instagram. We know now how to read between the lines when it comes to reading your announcements!

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AWESOME FOURSOME Apache-I TravelBass Guitar The Apache-I Bass has all the gadgets and gizmos you could want: a 2-channel bass amplifier & speakers, dozens of drum patterns to play along with, even a convenient E-String tuner - all built right into the guitar itself. The built-in amp offers two sound variations, Normal and Bright, with a gain control so you can generate a range of clean or fuzzy overdriven sounds. As well as the built-in amp, you can play through headphones or any external amp - and you can even connect your CD/MP3 player to the bass and jam along to your favourite tracks. This one’s for all your audiophiles who love jamming with their favourite instruments, but also for those who can afford such a gadget. Now when was the last time you paid around 16 G’s for a musical tool?

Parrot Zik Headphones Choosing headphones can be a difficult decision. There are many options to consider, and there is no right answer. A lot really comes down to personal preference. Do you want an in-ear, on-the-ear, or over-the-ear design? Do you want them wired for better sound quality or do you prefer Bluetooth for more convenience? The options available for women have grown exponentially in the last year or so. We had no problem rounding up these 14 headphones designed exclusively for women. Apple has released its new earpods, designed to fit and sound better than the old earbuds. But with so many choices, it’s difficult to decide what’s right for you. The headphones were designed by Philippe Starck and you can see his handiwork. The headband is made of soft, flexible leather-like material and connects to striking metal rails that hold the ear cups in place. The ear cups themselves are quite lovely. They’re black on the outside with a hint of silver metal on the underside where the controls are hidden. They also swivel, which is nice when you want to fold them flat and tuck them away in your bag. What’s unique about these particular headphones are the controls themselves. These are slightly on the expensive side, costing around 30K, but they certainly are a lot cheaper than those silly Dr Dre Headphoneswhich are just a whole lotta hype!

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OF THE MONTH Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS Digital Cinema Boston Acoustics’ SoundWare XS Digital Cinema is a 2.1 speaker system with a difference. It’s equipped with built-in Bluetooth streaming, which allows you to beam music wirelessly from smartphones, tablets and PCs – as well as decoding movie soundtracks and playing back tunes from other external sources. In the box is a pair of compact front speakers and an active subwoofer. And when we say compact we mean it – the SoundWare satellites measure a tiny 108 x 113mm, while the sub stands just 251mm tall, making it perfect for living rooms without an abundance of space. Not only are they small, but they’re also beautifully formed. The satellites sport a highly distinctive multi-sided shape, with ridges and angles aplenty. But what makes them irresistible is the gloss-black finish that adds a sleek lustre to the design. They’re also available in gloss white if that’s more your bag. Build quality is superb too, particularly at this price, reaching a level of luxury akin to recent systems from the best competition within the industry. It can be yours for around 35 grand. Tempted?

Kohler Moxie For a long time now various different companies have been trying to come up with solutions for listening to music while in the shower.

Well, now bathroom accessories designer Kohler have one of the best we’ve seen so far with the Moxie Speaker Showerhead. Its unique design features an embedded puck-shaped, waterproof speaker in the middle of a full-spray showerhead and offers bluetooth connectivity, meaning you can stream music from your nice and dry laptop or smartphone. The speaker unit within the showerhead can be removed for charging and then snaps effortlessly back into place thanks to strong magnets located in the head. You can pick this up now from select Kohler stockists for `10,800 (approx.)

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PLORE

’s spruce Pureview and why it’s a good tech story to share O

n November 30th, Damian Dinning the programme manager, imaging for the Finish mobile giant took a leap and stepped aside only to part ways from a nine year old relationship. Many of us are already aware of his brains being the extreme point of delight behind Nokia’s iconic mobile handset, Pureview where the camera boasts more that the phone actually does Damien moves to Land Rover and with all his techy beef up in his head, has left behind more than tech to explore and a story to share with one and all.

Kodak and Minolta, two biggest names in the imaging industry is what made Damian beef up his techy muscles before he joined Nokia. Nokia 808 PureView was announced last February hyped as a product that is not only a camera but also a phone owing top it 41 megapixer and it did made the smartphone industry look up in awe. But what makes this article a good story is the tale of its making which goes back to five years of sheer research and hard work boring fruits just in time.

Juha Alakarhu and Eero Salmelin were the first one to have mapped out the entire concept of the phone following which 400 engineers and technicians working day and night to give shape to the dream. The rest is all the way downhill from where Nokia with a new boss at the helm of the company affairs managed to shake hands with Microsoft for Windows operating system but failed miserably at the hands of Apple and Android devices.

On the other end of the line, the Pureview concept gave shape to new dreams where it made it possible to reduce the noise in sensor in an affective fashion. The same concept was given a thought and was proposed to be used in compact point-and-shoot cameras where it could be splattered with patents. Now, 80% of individuals; we don’t need a camera having a sensor that is more than five or six million light-capturing elements. The reason being detail possible with cameras having higher pixel counts cannot be reproduced on such imaging devices and is therefore wasted. The only exceptions are, of course, professional photographers, who may need to enlarge their images to poster size, do extensive cropping to meet art preferences, or shoot pictures under extremely poor lighting conditions.

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So why do you need 41 megapixel camera and that too in a phone?

The truth is having the luxury of 41 megapixels for input and only 3, 5 or 8 megapixels that is needed for output; the technology takes the full advantage of a technique known as “oversampling” where the signal at a rate is much higher to satisfy step-like edges to diagonal lines in images caused by a sensor’s square pixels. It is also a cheap way of improving an image’s resolution during the analogue-to-digital conversion process. Oversampling in this way also allows a camera to zoom into a subject without causing pixilation. In cheaply priced cameras with fixed lenses, digital zooming has always been blamed for a huge loss of image quality. As the focal length of the camera is digitally extended, the pixels in the picture become fewer and larger, making the image appear as though built out of blocks. Apart from their abysmal zooms and the microscopic size of their pixels, your correspondent’s chief grouse about the tiny sensors in compact cameras and mobile phones is that they offer focal lengths of typically 4mm or less. As a result, their depth of field stretches from up close all the way to the horizon. That may be fine for taking photographs of landscapes or buildings. But not being able to focus attention on the main subject makes the pictures lifeless and boring. Achieving a shallower depth of field requires a lens with a larger aperture or a longer focal length than those found on most phones and compact cameras. With its lossless zoom and good low-light performance, the Nokia’s 808 PureView phone takes pretty impressive portrait pictures, with facial features in sharp focus and the background nicely blurred.

Now that would be considered as a revelation when and if the if pointand-shoot cameras will start to do more.

Discovering Great Financial Apps for Mac

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he Apple brand of apps has been around for a long time. When most people think of apps they think about iPhones and iPods, but the Mac has apps as well.

Some of the best apps are those designed for finances. The following highlights several that have gained popularity in recent years.

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MoneyWell

2 bills in a timely manner. This can help lots of people avoid late charges.

data. The menu is easy as well. It is very easy to navigate from one section to another with this app. There’s a wizard feature that can help anyone that gets a little confused while using this application.

People that are interested in budgeting money may seek an app like MoneyWell. This is one 3 Money Plus the best apps for personal finance because there are lots of reports that are interactive.

Budget planners that are interested in visual Individuals that use this have the ability to fildata may be more inclined to play around with 5 Money ter reports according to their needs as things Money Plus. This is a program that has graphs change. The Interface has been tweaked and The thing that people instantly like about the for consumers that want to see charts that redesigned for easier consumer navigation.

Money app is the connection to a multitude of visually break down the expenses. This can be banks. People that use this app can download quite helpful in discussing issues with the fam2 Squirrel statements from their banks. The ability to ily. Sometimes a bunch of numbers on paper import files in different formats is helpful for will not mean a lot to family members when people that rely heavy on bank statements the budget is discussed. There are times when Individuals that are not that interested in for budgeting. Lots of people enjoy using the it just takes a visual presentation to really get lengthy instruction manuals for software Money app. the attention of others that are involved in the should consider the simplicity of Squirrel. This budgeting process. Money Plus gives planners is an app that allows people to start using it a chance to see an overview of all transactions right away because it is so easy to follow. It and a more detailed daily view of everything. may not have all the perks of a more complicated application, but it does have decent budget tracking features. It also does a great 4 Money Wiz job of helping people schedule any types of Another app from Apple that is getting a lot important transactions. It is good to get this of praise in the finance world is the Money app if there are transactions that must be Wiz app. Lots of people are interested in this made on a regular basis. With Squirrel you will app because it is clean cut. It gets users right have less to worry about. You can schedule Tom Clark into the areas that they need to start entering those transactions that will help you pay your

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CLUSIVE

FOUR TIMES AS VIVID

TOSHIBA’s RZ1 4K TV

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A Full HD TV will have a resolution of 1920 x 1080. That’s a total of 2073600 pixels. A 4K TV, will have an effective resolution which is 4 times as much. That’s a resolution of 3840 x 2160, giving a grand total of 8294400 pixels. Which is 4 times the value of a Full HD resolution. So, what’s up with the Maths you ask? Well, imagine those beautiful Full HD TV’s that we’ve been enjoying for the past few years, and pump them up 4 times. Can you visualize it? Well, if it’s hard- then you really ought to see one in real life. We did. The Toshiba RZ1. And we were left speechless.

First Impressions The RZ1 is an impressive TV, with brilliant technology backing it up. Because it’s really not as simple as increasing the resolution ‘x’ number of times. You have to make those pixels align and adjust the image being projected with the help of a great picture engine working behind it.

And that’s where the Regza engine from Toshiba comes into the picture (quite literally) and wows you with the astonishing picture quality and the depth of image being projected. 3D TV’s are passé, the 4K TV’s are here to dominate our living rooms. Or well, at least for those of us who can afford them! The slim bezel and extremely good use of metal and other materials gives the RZ1 a classy and sophisticated look which is unmatched in its class. At 55 inches, the size feels just right to enjoy any and every kind of content on this amazing TV. A few high-res images taken from DSLR’s look nothing short of stunning on the RZ1. The effect of the resolution coupled with the updated Regza engine gives you a glassless-3D type of video which is perhaps more impressive when you view it in real-life than any number of words used to describe it.

A Closer Look The powerful Regza Engine Cevo Duo 5 video engine in tandem with a specially designed set of lenticular lenses to deliver a selection of nine viewing zones for optimum glassless 3D performance. It achieves each of this nine zones via an inbuilt face tracking algorithm that optimizes the face of the viewer and therefore his eyes, to adapt them for best 3D performance possible. The 55RZ1 which utilizes edge let LED backlights also feature the company’s proprietary 4 x Super Resolution + video upscaler that upscales all standard and 2D HD resolutions images to 4K resolution. A contrast ratio of 9,000,000:1 further improves the experience for the viewers. Apart from this, the 4K Super Resolution+ function in the RZ1 provides a stunning 2D experience by converting and mixing 2D content to 4K levels, be it standard or high definition.

If you ever could not travel the world, then viewing it on this TV is the closest you will get to it. The images are so life-like, you feel that you’re actually there! The depth of field no longer remains a term used by photographers, as you can really view the depth of the video that you are viewing. So much better than 3D, without the need for glasses and without any strain on your eyes. The ‘Audyssey EQ’ technology lets you enjoy music with the most soothing performance that you can expect from a TV set, with its dual output of 10w rms. Naturally, it is certified

by Dolby Digital as well, giving you a complete cinematic experience that you could only dream of experiencing in your living room some years ago.

Connectivity Even without there not being Smart TV capabilities, the RZ1 is still pretty impressive with its 4 HDMI and 2 USB ports to let you enjoy more content from external drives and/or smartphones and/or any other devices that support these ports. Gamers will especially enjoy pairing their consoles via HDMI and enjoying the high resolution and accurate sound, which will give them an immersive experience like no other.

Final Words For an asking price of about Rs 12 lacs (approx), this is certainly for the classes, not the masses. The brilliant display with 4 times as many pixels as Full HD may sound too good to be true, but trust us – once you have seen this TV in action – you would not want to go back to that HD TV of yours. The colours are perfectly saturated, the brightness is spot-on and viewing angles- well, let’s not even compare this with a Full HD LED or Plasma TV. It’s just to much better in every way, that you’d want to owe one right away! Or rob a bank and get one! It’s really that gorgeous!

SPECS

55” LED-edgelit TV Glasses-free 2D-to-3D conversion 3,840 x 2,160 resolution 4HDMI, 2 USB ports Regza Engine Cevo Duo S Subwoofer

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THE TESTAMENT OF SHERLOCK HOLMES rthur Conan Doyle’s astute sleuth is the new subject of Frogwares latest offering. Although, the game play is a compelling one, the plot and the character development which could have been the plus point for this ever loved detective fails to shine.

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BASICS Holmes much similar to the book is described as a complex fellow, and capturing him in a game is definitely a mammoth task. In order to cover the full breadth of his abilities, from the violin through chemistry to bare-knuckle boxing, considerable creativity in both narrative and mechanical design was the peak call. Coupled with self-starvation, the tobacco, the cocaine—would place even greater strains on the rating system. At the minimum, though, what one hopes to see in a Holmes mystery game is an expression of his extreme attention to detail and careful deduction from observation.

THE GAME PLAY A “sixth sense” mechanic allows the player to scan every area for the clues Holmes would notice and other men would miss. The story accurately captures Holmes’ arrogant and sometimes devious nature. A “deduction board” gives the player a way to recreate Holmes’ reasoning, yet it’s here that the game’s problems start to show. The deduction board puzzles require the player to choose true statements from a short menu of options, but the correct answer often relies on facts not in evidence. At one point the player is forced to conclude that a victim had been given a filled opium pipe, when the facts only suggested that the opium itself had been externally supplied. Worse, the idea that the pipe was pre-loaded isn’t actually important, which means that this inaccurate phrasing serves only to obfuscate a clear answer

THERE’S JUSt TOO MUCH OF EVERYtHINg Paradoxically, the game also at times demands that the player get too much information. One puzzle related to Greek letters can be solved almost instantly with three pieces of information, but four are required.

The opium deduction is part of a long train of actions, including cutting an advertising flyer out of a dead man’s stomach, undertaken to figure out that the victim got his drugs from the only opium den that’s accessible, or even visible, in the whole game world. This doesn’t ruin the game, but it whiffs on the efficient, careful deduction that’s characteristic of Holmes.

You control Sherlock Holmes Illogical story flow 29 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

Internet Marketing: Fabulous tricks to grab more eyeballs.

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hen promoting a business is the concern, Internet marketing is the first choice for many people. Very few people care to read printed ads or sit in front of television sets to follow commercial ads? All are engrossed with the World Wide Web. So concentrating on Internet marketing is the best thing for you, if you want to get noticed.

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How can you make the most of Internet marketing? Read along and improve your skills.

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Work on the look of your website:

Make your website visually attractive. Improve the design and revamp the look.

Nobody will be interested in your website if the look in itself will be disappointing.

Remember, first impression is the last impression.

Check the website’s content:

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Publish quality content on your website. If your website doesn’t provide people with useful informations regarding your business, then it’s useless to expect traffic to your website. Enrich the quality of your website’s content and experience the difference.

Connect through blogging:

Yes, blogging is great when Internet marketing is in your mind. Create your own business related blog and try to interact with more and more people. Interaction will only spread the word in your favor.

Attempt social media marketing:

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Have you ever thought of marketing your business through Facebook or Twitter?

If no, then it’s time to start thinking about it. Social media holds a very powerful place in Internet marketing. After all, where else can you find and befriend so many people at a time?

Optimize your search engine status:

Try SEO or search engine optimization. Check your website’s ranking in Google and Yahoo. Is it satisfactory enough? If no, then work on it. A successful search engine optimization can make your website’s ranking better.

These are only 5 simple tips. They may appear uncomplicated, but their impact on Internet marketing is massive.

The World’s Favorite Messenger on Smartphones: XMS is a free, real-time mobile messaging app for smartphones. XMS allows for unlimited messaging through one’s internet connection.

Users can message any way they want with pictures, video, emoticons, location and more. eBuddy created the world’s first, independent, instant messaging service as e-Messenger in 2003. The company was rebranded in 2006 from e-Messenger to eBuddy. eBuddy is one of the leading independent mobile and web messaging solution providers in the world.

Recently eBuddy XMS for BlackBerry has been awarded the 2012 Top Apps Awards by Opera Mobile Store. Opera Mobile Store As of now XMS is ranked at number 9 in the Apple store for India region. XMS is currently available for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia s40, Nokia s60 and Windows Phone 7 devices. eBuddy’s Chat and XMS products amount to more than 30 million monthly active users, sending over 17 billion messages per month. eBuddy Chat and XMS are used by over 4.5 million Indians every month.

Key features: Web XMS - Web XMS allows you to send and receive all your XMS’s from the comfort of your keyboard and also supports picture sending and emoticons.

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Chat bubbles and stickers - Chat bubbles allow you to customize taken pictures or photos you had before, add funny comments, phrases and share it with your friends. The stickers feature allows users to not only add chat bubbles to their pictures, but also a variety of items in order to customize it. In addition users can also share these customized pictures on Facebook.

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eBuddy XMS PIN is your personal XMS number which you can share with your friends. Other users can add you to their Contact list using your PIN.

AMAZON AND THE E-BOOK SPACE

by Ronnie

The EBook reader space is fading out rather precipitously.The rapid growth—followed by the immediate collapse—of the ebook market is virtually unheard of, even in the notoriously short life cycle of products inhabiting the volatile consumer electronics space.

In 2011, dedicated ebook readers saw shipments of 23.2 million units which dropped a whopping 36% to 14.9 million units in 2012, as reported by iHS iSuppli. Furthermore, the numbers are forecasted to drop by 27% in 2013, to 10.9 million units.By 2016, this number would have dropped tp 7.1 million units less than 1/3rd of the 2011 volumes.

While these are just estimates, the trend is clear: dedicated ebook readers are going to die a quick death. After all, with tablets being able to do more than these one-trick ponies, it’s completely expected.

Yet, Amazon mopped up record number of EBook sales, in CyberMonday 2012.This is a counter-trend given the damning numbers reported by iHS iSuppli. Sure - the pricing starting from $69 for Kindle is a coup. But Amazon is able to deliver such numbers only basis the pricing subsidy enabled by the sales of Ebooks - Pure eco-system play. Thus what looks to me as happening in the next year or two is that Amazon will monopolize the EBook numbers which will be an extremely large bargain power for Amazon versus publishers. Amazon looks to be uniquely capable of becoming the “lord & master” of the book-publication industry - both in digitized and paper format.

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‘Facts’ People tend to Know is

True

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hat’s right. From geography to physiology, history to science, there are certain facts which people have believed them to e true for years but are actually false when looked under the radar. Its no complaining but collectively knowing fiction is better than the truth is a guilty pleasure that everyone wants to take a piece of relic from it. Here’s 5 such truth that are actually facts false.

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Mount Everest Is The Tallest Mountain in the World.

Mount Everest is one whopping big mountain, but is it the tallest in the world? Nope. A mountain is highest in regard to how far it soars above sea level. But technically it is tallest from base to summit. And Mauna Kea kills it at being the tallest.

Above sea level, Mauna Kea (in Hawaii) is only 13,799 feet (4,206 meters). But when you count the crazy enormous portion of it that’s underwater, it’s 33,465 feet tall (10,200 meters). Everest, that snobby little upstart, is only 29,029 feet (8,848 meters) above sea level, with none of it below sea level [source: Mitchinson and Lloyd].

But that’s not all. Mount Kilimanjaro hasn’t taken the stand yet. Kilimanjaro is 19,340 feet (5,895 meters) top to bottom. So it’s not as tall as Everest – but Everest is surrounded by the rest of its friends, the Himalayas, all of which are collectively growing by a quarter of an inch per year and pushing Everest’s summit higher. Mitchinson and Lloyd points out how Kilimanjaro, on the other hand, is solitary, rising out from the relative flatness of Tanzania all on its dramatically striking own.

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The Great Wall of China is visible even from the moon.

The Great Wall of China gets a double whammy on this myth. You can see other man-made objects from space (especially when the part of the Earth being viewed is awash in the artificially illuminated glow of nighttime). It’s also pretty hard to pick out the Great Wall of China from any space-based locale. In low-Earth orbit, it’s next to impossible to see it with the naked eye. Even with a fairly hefty camera lens, it’s still challenging to tell if you’re looking at the Great Wall or not. There are a couple of reasons this pseudo-fact is so far-flung. For one, its history dates back to well before the Space Age, so no one knew enough to nip it in the bud straight off. And for another, the Great Wall of China is, well, a giant wall.

Being hundreds of miles long, its understandable people would assume it sticks out like a sore thumb from space.

Yes, the Great Wall of China is very, very long. It’s also built from rocks collected from all over the local landscape – in other words, ones that are usually the same color as the wall itself. So unless China decides to give the wall a makeover and paint it hot pink, it’s going to remain fairly hard to spot from space.

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Different Parts of Your Tongue Detect Different Tastes.

We think different parts of the tongue are fine-tuned to detect different tastes. The tip of the tongue is where you get your cupcake on, the sides are where the salty taste really hits home, bitter’s in the back, and in between is the sour zone. This “fact” was the prevailing notion for a very long time. It has persisted in spite of millions of kids in health class insisting that the wooden spoon just tastes like wooden spoon, no matter how they lick it. More recently, however, we’ve found out that the whole zones theory was pretty much bologna. (That would be the umami talking. More about that in a sec.) It turns out people can sense different tastes all over their tongues. There are a few outliers, but for most people, them’s the facts.

Then there’s the fifth basic taste that doesn’t get a lot of PR, and that’s umami. Auguste Escoffier, the pimpest chef in 19th century France, concocted this fifth wheel in the palate party. Foodies swooned over it – it’s been described as savory and meaty – but scientists stuck to the sweet/ salty/bitter/sour taste tetrahedron. Even though umami was a familiar taste in Japan, the “fifth taste” idea didn’t get much traction there, either.

That is until Kikunae Ikeda, a whiz-bang Japanese chemist, decided to get to the bottom of what umami was all about. He figured out the taste came from glutamic acid, and he called it the Japanese version of yummy.

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Chameleons tend to change color to match their surroundings and evade danger.

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Deoxygenated Blood Is Blue.

This is wicked awesome for a number of reasons: their funny, little two-toed feet, their uber-mobile eye cups, their super curly tails and their other exciting physical embellishments. What’s probably best about them, though, is their polychromatic flare. But all those changing colors, unlike what many people believe, don’t have a thing to do with blending into their surroundings. It hinges on the particular species, of course, but they’re usually pretty well camouflaged to begin with. If they need to visually merge into the background, they can just stick with their normal coloration. Instead, chameleon color-changing is triggered by physical, physiological and emotional changes. If they’re feeling fussy, say angry or afraid or combative, they’ll change colors using their chromatophores. They’ll also change colors as a way of communicating in various manners (insert romantic music here) and to pick a fight with a competitor. Light and temperature play a big part, too, in how these little fancy pantses look..

Everybody has veins snaking up and down their bodies, and those veins are blue. So it stands to reason that whatever magical and mysterious substance courses through those veins (all right, fine, it’s just boring, old blood) is, as a matter of course, blue.

But no! Once your blood has stopped by the bank (your lungs) and picked up a withdrawal of cash monies (oxygen) it’s flush with greenbacks (bright red blood). Once it’s spent a night on the town (circulated through your body), it returns with a massive hangover (the blood has turned dark red) and it goes to curl up on the couch (take another pass through the heart).

Basically, the veins are blue thanks to a trick of the light, not the color of what’s inside them.

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PLORE

NOT

They’re Too Big To

FAIL T

hey are big. They have done it all, but they weren’t too big to escape the hands of failure. Google’s failed projects that were more than failed analogues to products we still use today has depicted a wide range of developmental experiment which made it possible to make use of the failed stuff in a better way for one and all. Here’s how.

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3 Radio & Print Ads

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Google Lively is one of the most interesting examples of “right idea, wrong implementation” precisely because nobody has ever heard of it (it lasted for six months in 2008) Schonfeld reports how “Second Life” and similar non-game virtual environments are currently languishing, the social-networking aspects of Lively come across, in retrospect, like a particularly loving exploration of what “online life” could mean. Users created avatars to interact in a three-dimensional environment that combined recognizable chat dynamics with “Minecraft”-style architecture and creation of spaces. While the experience itself was reportedly frustrating due to server glitches and lags, the idea was fairly solid. Chat rooms have been around since the beginning of the Internet, as a way to communicate with real-life friends as well as meeting and connecting with strangers, and vogues in their use tend to shift pretty often: ChatRoulette was trendy for a second, for example, while recent advances in webcam and video-chat have only begun moving real time video interaction into the realm of the video-phones we were always promised.

When you want actual information, you go to Web sites established to discuss your specific area of interest. You use social networking to ask the people you know and trust. Once again, we see an obsolete model -- a universal tip line, answering any question you might have -- to a version more closely mirroring our actual, real-world experience. But what was it?

Several companies – such as ChaCha and AskJeeves -- were built along the lines described above: Ask a question, about anything, and get an answer back. It’s a way of getting other people to Google things for you (which to my mind sounds insane). Where these concepts, and Google Answers, go wrong is in monetizing the concept. Asking somebody to Google something for you is bad netiquette, certainly -- but it’s also stupid business. To make things worse, Answers used an auction-house model, paying whichever freelancer could be bothered at the given price to provide the answer.

Google’s online advertising program has been a huge success, so it was natural to think that a similar approach might work offline. Google attempted to expand its brand into the print and radio advertising industries. With its astounding user-information and product-purchase metrics, Google could do for offline concerns what they did (and continue to do) for online advertisers: Bring potential customer information to the people that need it. Of course, Google’s private and personal consumer information is its bread and butter and probably will be for the foreseeable future. In a world where all the information ever created by humans is quickly becoming instantly available, advertising continues to be the dominant profit paradigm. While using Google metrics to target consumers in offline markets – which is exactly what happened -- may sound like a good deal for offline advertisers, those methods of communicating with consumers are dying.

The metrics Google uses to perfectly identify the right market for ad placements online just didn’t translate to the offline world.

The first thing Google Buzz did wrong was sneak up on users. In February of 2010, it was automatically added to Gmail, as an opt-outservice that sneakily appeared as a folder in the comfy old Inbox without warning. So what was inside that spooky new folder? It was Google Reader, in essence, which was a great experience during the time it was most-used -- before, that is, RSS as a Web standard gave way to personally-curated tablet readers (including Google Currents) and similar app-based ways of keeping track of our favorite sites. Which was a transition that was already underway when Buzz appeared, so Google’s initiative basically amounted to (or would, over the next year) just another folder with a continually rising “Unread” count, with all the subconscious stress that entails.

Perhaps the most famous Google failure, Wave also bears the distinction of being the biggest Google failure. A collection of unnecessary features bundled together in unnecessary -- and often bewildering – ways, Google Wave tried to be everything to everyone in terms of content sharing, in the same way that Google+ is attempting to take over the social realm. And while it’s not yet certain whether Google+ will flatline, the time to mourn Wave came and gone.

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PLORE

Understanding the advantages of

outsourcing

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ome time ago, organizations generally appointed offshore suppliers so as to outsource services associated with non-critical commercial processes like contact marketing and customer support. Outsourcing has also been employed for labor-intensive tasks since the labor expenses in some nations are quite economical. Nevertheless, an entirely new trend is emerging these days. With the growth of communication and information technologies, organizations are outsourcing important tasks like software development.

A fundamental feature that helps any business to run efficiently is known as software development. It helps you in operating your business effectively and enhances your productivity with minimum effort.

Remote software development is generally developed and used in the office itself. However, the rising expenses of keeping in-house professionals have turned out to be too expensive. This is the reason why businesses these days are outsourcing software development mostly to save cash.

Software development outsourcing – What are the benefits?

One of the big reasons why organizations are outsourcing software development is the rising expenses. You’ll be able to save a substantial amount of money since you need to make your payments for the services just on a per assignment basis. Outsourcing will help you in getting a devoted team of IT experts who don’t really work as your employees. As a result, you needn’t pay any salary, incentives, or paid holidays. The huge number of flourishing projects performed by experts also made outsourcing trendy. The constructive results of the completed assignments helped organizations in getting the task completed without putting in too much time or effort on the development part.

One more benefit of outsourcing is that, it bridges the gaps in your business. If your organization runs short of the basic work force to start IT projects, a devoted panel of remote software development providers can fill the gap in your company. This helps in improving the competence of your organization even without appointing new staff and connoisseurs.

Shannen Doherty

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INDIA TO GET LIMITED EDITION OF ANARCHY REIGNS e-xpress Interactive Software Pvt. Ltd., India’s leading game software distributor, recently announced the Limited Edition for “Anarchy Reigns”. SEGA is geared up to launch its latest title in the New Year. The game is scheduled for launch on 11th Jan 2013.

Anarchy Reigns - Limited Edition Includes: · Bayonetta: Platinum Games’ iconic gun-wielding witch as an extra playable character New Game Modes: · Mad Survival Mode - the enemies are replaced by more powerful versions of the playable characters · Dogfight – everyone is hanging from helicopters with the aim to knock each other off!

It will be available for Rs. 1499 in India through e-xpress Interactive Software Pvt. Ltd on PS3 & XBOX 360 platforms.

About Anarchy Reigns: Anarchy Reigns is beat ‘em up being developed by Platinum Games and published by Sega. The game is a multiplayer brawler set in a universe based on the one depicted in the Wii action game Mad World. The game is being produced

by Atsushi Inaba and directed by Masaki Yamanaka.

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THEY CAME, THEY GLOWED, THEY FIZZLED...

THE OVER-HYPED GADGETS OF 2012

2012 certainly gave us a whole range of gadgets to drool over, but there were certainly a lot of products that were over-hyped a bit too much and eventually fell flat on their face. We take a look at some of them and note why they were bound to fail anyway.

Google’s Nexus Q Oh, Google. The speakers were so enthusiastic about the Nexus Q back at Google I/O 2012. The Nexus Q was a spherical set-top media streamer that connected to Android devices and played content exclusively from Google Play. It was announced alongside the Nexus 7, a small tablet that does appear to be a certifiable hit. However, the Nexus Q launch could not have gone worse for Google.

The search giant gave out free units to attendees of Google I/O, but that didn’t earn the device any good will — it was widely panned for lacking in functionality. No Netflix, no Hulu, and no NAS access? The Nexus Q was proudly made in the USA, and the pricing showed it.

Google took pre-orders at $299, which was far higher than competing set-top boxes.

As the terrible reviews rolled in, Google reconsidered its strategy.

Google said it was re-tooling the Nexus Q after getting feedback from reviewers and developers. Those brave few who pre-ordered the Nexus Q got theirs for free. However, the device never showed up for sale again, and now even the placeholder has been pulled as the new round of Nexus devices have rolled out.

The Nexus Q was a bold move, but it you have to wonder why Google announced it. Why didn’t anyone stop and ask who the Nexus Q was supposed to be for?

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Sigma 200-500mm Camera Lens The Sigma 200-500mm Camera Lens has been humorously coined by reviewers as Bigma, and we don’t blame them. The Sigma is a really huge set of camera lens, as you can see from the picture above, which provides ample zoom for shooting objects that are far away. While that motive is questionable, its size has also made the Sigma the butt of reviewer’s jokes on Amazon, with many relating the gigantic photo gear to a missile or bazooka launcher.

The lens is available in Canon, Nikon, and Sigma mounts. Due to the size and weight of the lens, there are some unusual usage considerations. Both focus and zoom are by-wire, driven using an internal battery-powered motor. The lens has an LCD panel indicating the current zoom and focus distance. Tripod usage is mandatory, although unlike the similarly-sized Canon EF 1200mm lens, the Sigma 200-500 f/2.8 does not include a tripod. The lens also ships with a dedicated 2x teleconverter, which transforms it into a 400-1000mm f/5.6, maintaining autofocus operation.

No matter what platform you choose to launch such a humongous lens (Sigma chose CES!) – it would still not entice users to go for it. It rather looks like something the military will be more interested in, than avid and professional photographers.

Brando USB Retro Mobile MP3 Player An AM/FM radio, MP3 Player and audio speaker placed into a gadget shaped like a retro handphone which is kind of cute and novel, but overall it isn’t very pretty or portable. In times like this when everyone uses a smartphone that encompasses every function and usability, gadgets like these need to be much more novel than this.

The Zack Morris phone lookalike features a built-in USB port and microSD card slot which can read microSD (HC) memory cards and USB memory. The DAP sports built-in speakers, a built-in FM radio, and can play MP3 and WMA audio files. The brick-style MP3 player also connects to MP3 players, CD players, notebooks, PC, portable gaming systems, all iPods, MP4, MD, PDA, PSP, mobile phones, and other digital products. Essentially, the device works with anything that comes with 3.5mm stereo audio connector. It charges via a built-in lithium battery.

The Inventist Solowheel Possibly one of the hardest modes of transport invented, the Solowheel is basically an electric Segway-like unicycle. To ride it, you stand on its 2 footboards, straddle the wheel and lean towards the direction you want to go – all hands free! The wheel has a gyroscope that is said to make balancing easier by keeping the rider upright. Because it does take a bit of practice to master how to control the Solowheel properly, it has been also reviewed as a dangerous product.

Weighing 11 kgs, sporting folding leg platforms on each side and a carry handle on top, the 17 x 19 x 5-inch (43 x 48 x 13 cm) Solowheel from Inventist was sure to turn some heads as you trundled along at up to 12mph. The durable external housing hides a Li-ion battery that’s said to be good for two hours of use between charges and a 1000-Watt electric motor, and a self-balancing gyro system. Its battery is reported to take 45 minutes to charge but a regenerative system returns energy to the battery when the rider slows down or the unit goes downhill, which could help extend the range.

The electric unicycle’s creators say that it’s easy to use and quick to learn, the feet are quite close to the ground and the legs rest against each side of the housing which help with balance and steering. With both feet on the vehicle, you just lean forward to start going. When you want to slow down or stop, you lean back. You use the legs to steer, much as you would on the Magic Wheel. All sounds a bit too much to take in? Well, it really is.

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BEHRINGER iNuke Boom The iNuke Boom has certainly lived up to its name. It’s been dubbed the biggest, loudest and most over–the-top iPhone dock ever since it exploded into the market in December last year. The 10,000-watt speaker system measures four-feet tall and eight-feet wide. With all that power and size, this sound system is definitely not going to fit in any of our HDB flats.

The iNuke Boom Junior is a 1:23 scale replica of the 10,000-Watt version unveiled at CES and includes a similar 3-way active speaker design, built-in subwoofer, and wireless remote. It was launched as a MONSTER iPod dock, but really, would you like to have such a beast in your living room? We think not, because it just does not feel worth the space that it will eventually occupy. Especially in homes in India, where there is paucity of space in homes. Certainly no surprise it was over-hyped and fizzled once it was out.

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Google Goggles Now, we really don’t have anything against Google. But, this gadget was bound to be featured on this list. These Google Goggles or “Project Glass” were spotted on celebrities like Actress Sarah Jessica Parker and the runway models at the recent New York Fashion Festival. These glasses are still in its early phases of development by Google, with the intent of creating an augmented reality experience for smartphone users. The main question is, is it cool to wear technology? The main gripe about the prototypes is that they borderline looking like Cyclops from the X-men.

They might be fun to use for a while, but there are so many questions which are left unanswered pertaining to the usability. They may be the future but how will they implement them into so many different aspects of your social life? Will you have to pay monthly data charges like you have a second phone or will it use your phone’s data in order to achieve the AR possibilities? Also, software updates are another problem they will face. Will the software be located on a Google server or will it be local on the glasses?

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PECT

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Google Touch Chromebook With rumours flying around for many months, that Google was planning to come up with their Touch version of their Chromebook, we will now have to wait till the early months of the new year to get a glimpse of what this interesting gadget will be like. Sources from within the Chinese supply chain have leaked information that Google is preparing to launch a second own-brand Chromebook. This time around, it looks like it’s going to line up smaller MacBooks (in size, at least) rather than the oft-villified netbook — which has now been declared dead more times than we can count.

The new Google Chromebook is rumored to feature a 12.85-inch display, and it’s also not going to rely strictly on keyboard and mouse input for user interaction. No, this Chromebook is going to offer full-on multitouch support. You’ll be able to employ pinch-to-zoom and swipe gestures to navigate, and (perhaps more importantly) the single-finger pull-back-and-release needed to enjoy Angry Birds in the browser.

Apple iTV Steve Jobs wanted to disrupt the TV industry badly. Apple says the Apple TV is a hobby, but it turns out the company is thinking bigger.

Much, much bigger: it wants to sell you the entire TV set, not a little box beneath it. Apple Television, analysts say will be launched in time for Christmas 2013 and will be priced over $1500. Its screen is expected to be 42- 55 inches.

As with the Apple TV, any iTV is likely to run iOS, albeit in slightly disguised form. Compatibility with other iOS devices is a given: current Apple TVs already accept video streamed via AirPlay and access shared iTunes libraries. We’ll be amazed if the iTV doesn’t get apps.

Expect Apple iTV and Apple TV to work more like iOS does on the iPad; the newest iOS 6 Beta for the Apple TV enables app icons to be moved around the homescreen just like on the iPhone and iPad. That has led some observers to conclude that the rumoured App Store for Apple’s favourite ‘hobby project’ might be on the way sooner rather than later.

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PECT

Blackberry 10 The BlackBerry 10 phone, a make or break device for its manufacturer Research In Motion is slated for a launch on January 30. RIM has been sending out teasers of the latest phone. RIM is calling it the re-designed, re-engineered, re-invented BlackBerry experience. Time will tell what it really is.

Some preview videos have already been popping around on YouTube, but of course, the end product might be a bit different from what we’ve seen so far. It does appear, though, that the fluid graphics used in BB OS 7, have been retained and optimized for OS 10.

Research In Motion’s (RIMM) first BlackBerry 10 smartphone, formerly known as the L-Series and “London” will apparently be called the “BlackBerry Z10″ according to marketing materials obtained by UnwiredView. RIM’s QWERTY BlackBerry 10 device that’s slated for a release sometime between March and June will reportedly go by the name “BlackBerry X10.” As we inch closer to BlackBerry 10′s launch on January 30th in New York City, all eyes are on RIM to deliver a new smartphone and OS that finally catches up to iOS and Android. Most recently, RIM’s Dev Alpha B smartphone running BB10 was spotted crushing the iPhone 5 on iOS 6 and HTC (2498) Windows Phone 8X running Windows Phone 8 in a Web browser speed and rendering comparison test. All RIM needs to do now is deliver compelling hardware and apps to sway users who have long since abandoned BlackBerrys for iPhones and DROIDS.

Microsoft, Amazon Smartphones Both Microsoft and Amazon have signed deals with device maker Foxconn to manufacture smartphones. Going by the success of Amazon’s e-book readers, the smartphone is likely to pack a punch at an affordable cost. Microsoft will want to take on Google which has already started selling its co-branded Nexus devices.

According to sources, Foxconn -- the company which manufactures Amazon’s Kindle e-reader as well as devices for Apple and Microsoft -- is creating the new model of phone to a release date in the second or third quarter of 2013.

The report adds that the company expects to ship up to five million of the as yet unconfirmed devices over the course of the year, with a unit price of $100-$200.

The smartphone idea is also bolstered by reports earlier in 2012 which suggest that Amazon is amassing a wireless technology patent collection designed to help it navigate the murky legal waters which surround the smartphone business.

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Acer’s 6 Smartphones Acer is best known for their Notebooks, tablets and Ultrabooks – despite the fact that they already have a wide range of smartphones on the market.

Jim Wong, President of Acer, is said to have outlined that the company will bypass costly devices, focusing instead on delivering a range of entry-level to mid-range smartphones. These will be marketed specifically for markets like India, Indonesia, Malaysia and China. While no details, as yet, have been revealed about design specs and the operating system that the devices will be run on, some features are already said to have been nailed down.

The entry-level devices are expected to run on MediaTek chips while the mid-range Acer smartphones are set to feature dual-core CPUs from Qualcomm.

Fujitsu Lifebook 2013 The Fujitsu Lifebook 2013 is a concept device designed by Prashant Chandra as part of a competition which Fujitsu ran in 2011. The device will have a digital camera, smart-phone and a tablet which can be detached and used individually. A bit like the Asus Pad Phone. But this is just a concept phone and we don’t know if Fujitsu has any intention of making them.

This laptop contains a smart digital camera in back, which is removable, means you can remove it from laptop back if you need only camera to use. For typing this lifebook laptop use a smart small tablet, means as soon as the tablet is in the slot, the tablet itself becomes a full size touch-based QWERTY keyboard and for sketching or as a another screen for gameplay it transforms. Tablet interfaces with the laptop by a slot with a 16 pin connector. As soon as the tablet is docked into the slot, a sensor senses the operation and the tablet itself becomes a full size touch based QWERTY keyboard. Also as soon as the tablet is plugged in, it starts sharing its hardware and data to, either contribute towards improving the performance of the laptop or, in some cases, even to run few functions of the laptop completely on its own. In a similar way, the phone + music player is also completely integrated inside the laptop and through a connector, starts sharing hardware and data as soon as it is plugged in.

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Priyanka Bose On a scale of 1 to 10, how tech savvy are you?

On a good day, maybe 6, otherwise 3. I can do basic stuff and know things that simplify my life.

A gadget you can’t live without?

My Mac Book Pro at the moment and also my phone obviously.

A gadget you purchased and immediately regretted?

I am not a Gadget junky, so yeah I am not in that danger of regret at all The car you drive and the maximum speed you have driven at? Have you a thrill for speed?

I am changing my Honda Civic to a little higher car, maybe an SUV. In Mumbai you can forget about speed. I am a smart driver, speed doesn’t thrill me because it’s not something I can control. But I do appreciate race car drivers. I do understand the adrenalin involved in that sport.

Any technology you would like to invent?

Yes... an Android playmate for my dog. Oh wait! That already exists... I have to put my thinking cap on.

The most used Mobile Apps?

Instagram on my husband Paresh’s phone. I use it on his phone all the time.

The mobile app that keeps you busy: Facebook and Twitter Facebook or Twitter?

Both equal amounts of times.

Are you a, Windows, Android or Mac loyalist?

I am beginning to understand the Mac right now. It’s cool.

Anything you would like to ask Mark Zuckerberg?

Yeah need to exchange some tips buddy, when are you free?

If you were able to teleport to a place right now where would that be and why?

1950’s Hollywood. I love their style. Just so beautiful. Have a meal with Marilyn Monroe and maybe a drink with James Dean.

The next gadget/auto/technology you are going to invest in is the?

My SUV. I want a bigger TV perhaps and maybe switch to an iPhone. Like I said I am pretty basic.

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YOUR QUICK GUIDE TO 2013 G

eeks all over the world are getting geared up to lap up everything that gets unveiled at CES 2013. Las Vegas, is the destination of choice as always, and we at are going to be there too! Hope we see you mingling around with some of the biggest tech brands present with some of the biggest names in the tech industry.

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HOW TO GET THERE? Last year we spoke to John Kelley, who manages the International Marketing at CES, who was clear in stating that the CES website is really helpful to plan and organize your stay while you are visiting Las Vegas. No matter which part of the globe you are coming from, the travel is always well arranged and the CES website is so helpful – that you will never feel the need to look-up anywhere else, nor speak to anyone else.

WHAT’S COOKING FOR CES 2013?

CES 2013 looks set to focus on smartphones and tablets, but what else can we expect from the world’s biggest tech show in January?

Here, we round-up the news ahead of CES 2013 - and once it kicks off on 7 January, all the latest announcements from the show floor.

This year’s show will have a different feel, with Microsoft stepping away from it’s long-running keynote and Samsung and Qualcomm stepping in to fill the gap.

Samsung promises “something new” Samsung has kicked off the build-up to CES with a short - very short - teaser video promising “something new”.

Despite not showing or mentioning a single product, the Samsung video has kicked off speculation that the firm is set to reveal the Galaxy S 4 handset, but that rumour had been circling long before the video arrived.

Intel releasing mystery device at CES Mooly Eden, president of Intel Israel, revealed the chip giant is planning to release a hardware device at CES 2013 - but wouldn’t share any details beyond the fact that it was consumer focused.

According to the reports floating on the internet, the SDK that goes along with it is already in the hands of a limited number of developers.

CEA: we want Microsoft back Microsoft last year announced it wouldn’t be headlining CES with the leading keynote in 2013, with its long-running spot going to Qualcomm instead.

While Microsoft isn’t giving a speech or buying floor space for a stand, Gary Shapiro, CEO of the CEA, noted the company was still sponsoring the event. He added the CEA would “like to have them back”, but noted that floor space was fully sold out for this year.

He also added that Microsoft isn’t the first company to step away from CES, with RIM also not buying a stand this year. “Companies come and go, that’s a fact,” he said.

Ultra High-Def TVs

Definition TVs. Today’s HDTVs provide us with 2 million pixels for an image. Can you imagine 8 million pixels? The CEA has laid down the requirements that need to be met in order to be considered to be an ultra high-definition TV: a minimum screen resolution of 3480 by 2160 and an aspect ratio of 16 by 9.

Intel to Introduce New Mobile Processor Intel is expected to show up big on the CES 2013 because it’s one of the most recognizable names at the event and the only chip maker. They have made claims that 20 Windows Phone 8 devices are sporting their Z2760 processor, which are yet to be released into the market. ARM and their licensees are stirring something up and we would definitely like to see what they have in store for us at the Strip.

NVIDIA Tegra 4?

The Tegra 3 has done more than enough for itself all through this year. This doesn’t mean this is going to stop NVIDIA from developing and introducing the Tegra 4. News has been stirring up about this since April. Speeds of this processor will start off at 1.8GHz and this will be the average. However, by the middle of the year and near the end, expect to see CPUs hit 2GHz.

We all started saying goodbye to those CRTs in our living room. We started welcoming LCDs, LEDs, 3D screens etc into our lives and homes. Now, the flat screen is ready to take another step forward thanks to Ultra High

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A for Audiophiles IE 80 & IE 60 Sennheiser Earphones

Sennheiser is probably one of the most reliable headphone makers out there.

There’s plenty of love going around the brand for their high-end earphones like the IE 80, and low-end earphones like the CX300. But then they have mid-range models like the Sennheiser IE 60 that cost almost half the price of the IE80s but certainly don’t get as much attention.

Priced at about `11,990 here in India, the Sennheiser IE 60 earphones are basically aimed at folks who really want the best sound at a reasonable budget.

The good news is that they actually do sound pretty great. So do the Sennheiser IE 80, in-fact with their amazing clarity over the entire range of the audio spectrum, they just sound oh-so-much better! But they do cost a bomb of around `24,990.

What you have with the Sennheiser IE 60, is strong mid-range performance and decently strong bass. It sounds good at low volumes or loud make-yourears-bleed volumes as well and give you a pretty accurate, natural sound. You get plenty of ear tips in various sizes included in the retail package, along with a very solid protector case, a clip and ear hooks to boot. Whereas the IE 80 is twice as good in every sense, it costs twice as much too.

Kiko Music System

In the war of vinyl records versus CD, Linn was the deranged Japanese soldier who stayed in his bunker and refused to accept the battle was lost. But the company’s new Kiko system isn’t just digital – it’s also made to fit in nicely with your decor.

It’s in stark contrast to the severe lines of its ‘design-classic’ record decks, which were so stripped down you had to add your own power supply. You half-expect a mob of bearded men waving pitchforks to form outside Linn’s Glasgow headquarters.

But the Kiko is actually a sublime piece of Linn kit – even if it does come in six colours including ‘champagne’. It’s easily one of the best digital music ‘streamers’ ever; basically a very swish connector for your PC, so you can play your digital music via a posh amp and active speakers without squashing it all onto an iPod first. If you’ve never re-recorded your digital music to sound sharper, this system will prod you into doing it. Listen to a regular track – then listen to the same thing in a CD-quality format like Apple Lossless, and you’ll have that sinking feeling where you realise that yes, you have to re-record your entire music collection. It is finally available in India too (limited availability), but prices are on demand only.

Focal CMS 65 Speakers

The CMS65 has a bi-amplified front-ported design with a 6.5-inch woofer and Focal’s inverted dome tweeter. The woofer uses a Polyglass cone (that’s glass microballs on cellulose pulp to you and me) and an Aluminium/ Magnesium tweeter.

Both technologies are slightly different to Focal’s SM6 line, as is the cabinet material, which in this case is die cast aluminium rather than MDF. Power comes from 100W LF and 60W HF amplifiers both operating in AB mode, producing a maximum SPL of 112dB at 1m.

Sonically, the CMS65 is a great performer. Often, metal-domed tweeters can sound a little harsh and a tad abrasive, but we really didn’t feel this here. In fact, there’s nothing particularly ‘hyped’ about the sound at either frequency extreme. It’s also available on limited supply in India, and will burn a hole in your pocket with its asking price of `1,24,990.

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Anthem 225 Stereo Amplifier

Anthem is a Canadian company well known for its line of mid and highend audio components. The Anthem Integrated 225 is an analog stereo integrated amplifier with 225 watts per channel, seven analog inputs, including a pair of balanced-line analog inputs, moving magnet phono input, CD and four AUX inputs with one front panel stereo input for a portable music player. Its features are geared for stereo listening and recording or custom installation applications, such as a zone amp for multiroom audio applications.

A good recording brings out the best in a system and Ana Caram’s “Anos Dourados” and Sara K’s “Miles Away” from Chesky Records was no exception. Every minute instrumental and vocal detail sounds meticulous and precise. Its phono section will please vinyl enthusiasts and it has more than adequate power output for virtually any speakers with excellent dynamic headroom. You could spend less for an integrated amp, but not an amp with 225 watts per channel of clean, solid, dynamic power. Asking price in India? Only 96k.

Definitive Technology SM55

The folks at Definitive Technology say the three new StudioMonitor speakers (SM45, SM55, and SM65) “are the first new bookshelf-style speakers from Definitive in nearly 10 years.”

People in the know at Definitive Technology also say that every part has been redesigned and improved for better performance and appearance. The new models replace Def Tech’s StudioMonitor 350 and StudioMonitor 450, both of which had the signature Definitive Technology look: a rectangular box wrapped in black grille cloth and covered top and bottom with high-gloss-black, lacquer end caps.

Thankfully, the new StudioMonitor 55s (and smaller SM45s) aren’t just the same old boxes with a new-color grille cloth. In our opinion, the updated cabinet styling gives the StudioMonitors a softer, more “living-room-friendly” look. More important, however, are the several enhancements to the speakers’ insides, notably revisions to the bass drivers that result in speakers capable of ultra-revealing midrange detail and exceptional low- bass performance for their size and price. Together with the CS-8040HD and SuperCube 6000, the Definitive Technology StudioMonitor 55 and StudioMonitor 45 speakers make an excellent, lively, and affordable home-theater system that won’t take up much space but will capture a great deal of attention. With a warranty of 3 years and a cost of about `42,000 this can be yours for the keeping.

Diapson Adamantes III

While form factor and concept remain unchanged from the beginning for Diapson, driver complement and crossover didn’t. Today’s transducers for this Southern belle come from the North – Norway’s Seas for the 12cm poly membrane mid/woofer, Denmark’s ScanSpeak for the 19mm silk dome.

Either driver incorporates proprietary wrinkles and undergoes better than 1% pair matching. At 4.600Hz, the hand-over frequency is unusually elevated. The network is strictly purist with an LC filter on the tweeter – e quello è esso.

Behind this minimalist choice sits Diapason’s Direct Drive Technology or DDDT in proper marketing lingo. The mid/woofer is wide open and couples it voice coil directly to the amplifier via the lower biwire terminal and oxygen-free silver-plated copper hookup wire by van den Hul. It runs no filter of any kind.

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Civil aircrafts to fly autonomous much ahead of driverless cars N

ot far from today, a twin engine powered Jetstream will hit the skies from Warton Aerodrome in Lancashire, England and reach Scotland. What makes this flight an important one is its responsive nature towards air traffic controllers and seemingly a pilotless cockpit.

That’s right! The pilot will be controlling the plane movement all the way from the ground where he will be sitting in a small control room. Although, the concept of pilotless airplanes isn’t new owing to the army which uses drones that fly autonomous, Warton airplane will be the first one to fly the skies commercially and a means to a successful project to fly passengers in the future.

A Nervous disposition

How is it coming up?

Relax! Don’t is alarmed. This is just a test airplane and it won’t be carrying any passengers for the time being. The key thing is to determine whether the modern aircrafts will be capable enough to fly and take off on its own and abide by the air rules if the pilot is absent from the scene. However, for safety reasons the first ride will have a pilot in the cockpit to take things over if the experimental ride goes wrong.

ASTRAEA’s Jetstream shall use video cameras to allow the ground pilot to look around outside the cockpit. Image-recognition software will warn of other aircraft and the plane will be tested against different backdrops and varying weather conditions.

The entire programme costs £62m ($99m) programme and is backed by the British government, which also involved seven big European aerospace companies namely; AOS, BAE Systems, Cassidian, Cobham, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce and Thales.

What’s good, what’s not?

Pilotless aircraft could carry out many jobs at a lower cost than manned aircraft and helicopters—tasks such as traffic monitoring, border patrols, police surveillance and checking power lines. They could also operate in conditions that are dangerous for pilots, including monitoring forest fires or nuclear-power accidents. And they could fly extended missions for search and rescue, environmental monitoring or even provide temporary airborne Wi-Fi and mobile-phone services. Some analysts think the global civilian market for unmanned aircraft and services could be worth more than $50 billion by 2020.

However, the question is whether the most glorious of the aircraft and ultra-modern technology juxtaposed together –Will it be enough to sell tickets to passengers who might not want to get on in an airplane where there is nobody in the cockpit.

Again, a nervous disposition that might be the biggest obstacle to overcome in order to give shape to this reality.

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In other trials, different aircraft are being flown in the vicinity of the Jetstream, and some of them will be flown deliberately towards it on a potential collision course, to see if these “intruding” aircraft can be recognized by the automated systems and the appropriate avoiding action taken. These flights are taking place in an area cleared of other aircraft over the Irish Sea. “The results to date suggest you can do sense-and-avoid as well as a human,” says Mr. Dopping-Hepenstal.

Challenges The ASTRAEA researchers will still have to prove that their systems can work in the real world—even during emergency landings. In order to satisfy risk-averse aviation regulators, the researchers have joined hands with Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority to certify a virtual pilotless aircraft for use in civil airspace. The intention is not to certify an actual aircraft, but for both sides to learn what will be required to do so.

Insurance liabilities are bound to rise with pilotless planes coming into play alongside driver less cars. However, it’s still a test of time before we can witness what we can really achieve through technology is way beyond our craziest dreams and worthy aspirations.

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COMPACT AUDIO COMPANIONS

The JBL JEMBE Speakers `2,990

First Look

Odd mug-shaped speakers for your laptop?

Can be plugged into your iPod as well as any smartphone device with a 3.5mm jack? Hmm, sounds like a run-of-the-mill product, but we would love to see exactly what it can do. Does it really have the goodies to impress us, or will stop just short? Let’s boom it out!

Review

Even though the funny sounding ‘Jembe’ speakers are quite compact and fairly easy to set-up, you do get a little put off by all the wires that you have to work around with.

Nevertheless, the speakers themselves are made of good quality plastic materials and have a nice aesthetic look about them (JBL calls it a Weave design). The only problem during the entire set-up, is that these 2.0 speakers need to be connected to a power outlet! Else, they won’t work! We would’ve preferred a battery powered set-up to make them portable, but- oh well. Guess if we treat them as desktop speakers only, then we need to push them to see how well they handle bass and thump. So, once we had everything connected, we moved the cover on the top of the lead speaker to turn it on and increase

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the volume at the same time. Immediately, the speakers did well to handle songs with melody and a bit of bass as well. But the louder we made the volume, the harder it seemed for the speakers to keep up. Now, the output is only 6W per satellite, so we weren’t expecting miracles – but also not expecting jarring of the bas on almost all rock songs on high volume.

The speakers are supposed to have built-in amplifiers, but the sound on most MP3’s didn’t impress us greatly, especially when we pushed it on Rock, Hip-Hop and Trance. It did pretty well with Jazz, Soul and RnB music – and the amplifier shone through when we had a pair of headphones connected to the speakers (Okay, is this feature really needed?!).

EXHIBIT RATING

Specifications 2.0 Speaker System 6Watts per satellite 80 Hz – 20 KHz Frequency Response 80 db of Signal-to-noise ratio 250 mV of rated power 12 V DC, 1.5A

Verdict

We’ve seen plenty of 2.0 speakers these days and the Jembe does have Bluetooth variants of the same set that we tested.

Hopefully with fewer wires those will be a lot better to set-up and use, but the wired one’s are a bit cumbersome to set-up and finally enjoy on your computer or laptop and the audio quality isn’t pitch perfect, nor does it handle the frequency range very well at higher volumes. It’s just about okay and you are bound to find some better alternatives in this price range.

The Newer Most Amazing Cam

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III `2 lakhs (Body only, approx)

Specifications 22.3 MP CMOS Digic 5+ Sensor 61 focus points 3.2 inch Clear View II TFT LCD Screen Canon EF Lens mount HD Video recording

DISPLAYS

By default the EOS 5D Mark III provides a two second review display immediately after the shot is taken, this can be disabled or extended to 4 or 8 seconds or as long as you hold the shutter release button. During record review you can press the erase button to cancel / erase the current image. Record review and play share the same display modes, just press the INFO button to select between the four available modes.

First Look

It’s been 3 years since the camera that turned the photography industry around came out, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. So, the wait for the Mark III has been a bit too long, and for all the photography enthusiasts, excruciatingly painful. The burden on the Mark III was exceedingly high even before it officially came out, so has it somehow managed to live up to it?

We’ll see.

Review

The first thing that disappointed right at the worldwide launch of the Mark III was the 30% increase on price. And what did you get for that 30% extra – 1 more MP? A better burst rate? Dual card slots, for SD and CF? Hmm, the ergonomics have changed too – the Mark III is more curvaceous than the Mark II. It really fits nicely in your hand and the finger always slips right on the shutter. So, once you’re set with the lens and battery and the appropriate card, you can start shooting – and reviewing, the images on the lovely LCD screen. Right next to the screen is the new set dial that moves around like a clock’s hands and lets you select any option in any menu of the settings screen.

But, at the top on the left – the mode dial has

a ‘lock’ button which prevents users from accidently switching modes. Really?! We can’t see the logic of that, since the dial is on the top!

The depth of field button can now be adjusted with your right ring finger and the on/off button is next to the viewfinder and not in your face. Finally! It also has 61 focus points, which is much better than the Mark II, coupling with 2/10th extra accuracy in the viewfinder, which might not sound much, but really means so much more. In terms of focusing and changing the focus points, it’s more like the 7D- absolutely fantastic! Of course, the actual auto-focus technology comes out of the 1-D X family, but the actual images aren’t that much different from the Mark II. The camera also offers some improved video recording features, but the most noteworthy was the inclusion of a headphone jack. The ISO range is increased as well, and at just the rate ISO setting, you can expect some of the cleanest images you can ever capture on a camera.

EXHIBIT RATING

Verdict

The advancement in AF system is undoubtedly the best thing about the Mark III, the noise performance is really good too, along with great features like auto sharpening of images. Overall the Canon EOS 5D Mark III’s JPEG output across the ISO range offers good colours, tonality and dynamic range with a very smooth highlight roll-off. Both metering and auto white balance are consistently reliable. It’s not a game changer like the Mark II, but it really is quite a whole lot better and certainly the closest to perfection in such a neat, sturdy and ergonomic package for the enthusiasts and pros.

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the Lightest Most Amazing DSLR Meet The Nikon D600 `1,35,950 (Body Only) `1,63,950 (24-85mm VR lens kit)

Specifications 24.3 MP CMOS Sensor Expeed 3 Processor 39 focus points 3.2 inch TFT LCD Screen Nikon F Lens mount HD Video recording

First Look

It’s finally here, the lightest and full-frame FX-format DSLR from Nikon, the D600. The D800 was 990 gms and this is only 850 gms.

It’s certainly not cheap, but compared to the competition – it is one of the cheapest in the category of FX-format CMOS sensor DSLR cameras. Most pro’s and enthusiasts would love to get their hands on one, and we were quite lucky to review this camera the same month we also got to review the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. So, how good is the D600? Let’s shoot!

Review

The light weight of this DSLR is the first thing that you will undoubtedly feel, but that’s mostly due to the fact that the entire body is made of plastic, with some magnesium alloy bits here and there. Once you start shooting with it, you really enjoy the nice grip for the right hand and the way the camera has been designed with keeping a pro photographer in mind. It’s not that much different from the D800 in that sense, but does feel a bit better to use. Even the back panel which has all the different dials and buttons to adjust the levels of your shooting mode are very familiar looking, very Nikon like and very D800-like.

Okay, let’s talk performance and sheer image quality now, shall we? The Nikon D600 is a very nimble and responsive camera with a

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wealth of external controls that put just about any shooting control you’re ever likely to need a button-press away. You’ll undoubtedly need to spend some time at the outset, however, configuring the camera’s vast array of custom settings to your liking. Whether navigating through menu screens or using the command dials to change shooting parameters, you’re never far off from being ready to capture an image. An area where the D600 lags behind the D800 quite a bit, is the AF area- which is centred in the middle area of the viewfinder only, leaving large areas around the edges completely uncovered. The D600’s image quality is very impressive throughout its standard ISO sensitivity span of 100-6400. Critically, files from the D600 are hard to tell apart from images captured from the 36MP D800, when they are examined at 100%. At high ISO sensitivities the D600 does a good job of retaining fine detail while minimizing chroma and luminance noise.

Verdict

Nikon’s last big DSLR release was the D800. The big news with that camera was its pixel count of 36MP, which when it was released, comfortably eclipsed everything else around (and at the time of writing still does). The D600 doesn’t quite reach those dizzy heights, but at 24MP, it matches or exceeds the pixel count of every other fullframe system camera. It is also one of the most versatile, offering a 10.5MP DX crop mode, an in-body AF motor ( which ensures AF compatibility with non-AF-S Nikkor lenses) and compatibility witholder, manual focus lenses.

Display

The rear LCD of the D600 is identical to that found on the Nikon D800 and at 3.2 inches offers slightly more real estate than that of the D7000 but at the same resolution. The screen offers good visibility when shooting outdoors, though glare can be an issue in direct sunlight.

EXHIBIT RATING

COMPACT, BRIGHT & USEFUL The Potronics iLume Projector `39,990

First Impressions

Pico projectors are getting better and smaller by the season, and Portronics’ iLume Projector is looking to keep the flag high for Pico projectors. But even though the iLume is marketed more as a pocket projector, it’s not small enough to fit into any pocket! But it does weigh in around 650 gms making it rather light and portable too, if only it didn’t need a power cable to run. But has it everything it takes to be a loveable, functional and easily operable projector? Let’s get to it.

Review

Claiming a range of 0.5m to 5m, iLume also looks to project 1080p formats on a wall with an area of about 120 inches. But the truth lies somewhere in between, it’s when you sort out all your connectors and pick one input projection method from the many that have been provided – and then start viewing the projection on the wall. On VGA and AV, the projector did pretty well – the keystone autofocus works neatly and the display is bright, sharp and clear. On USB, we did struggle a bit initially to get the projector to read all the files we were projecting from our laptop, but once we got a good hold of it, it did the job pretty well – though some heavy excel files took a really long time to load. The entire interface to choose your input method and then play it back, is quite easy to understand and use

– though not the slickest. It also failed to playback some .mp4 file through a USB connector from an Android smartphone, something that we thought it might easily be able to do. The selection mode buttons on the top of the projector itself are handy if you are standing right on top of it, else you can make use of the handy remote control which certainly has most of the functions that you will use during a quick office or college presentation.

The projector is ideal for small offices, where you can quickly plug in the cables and set it up, plus some larger offices who don’t really want to spend and/or can do without network connectivity. At almost 40K of an asking price, it’s not the cheapest – but certainly a whole lot cheaper than regular pico projectors with similar features and networking options.

Specifications LED Lamp Pico Projector 1280x800 native resolution Manual/Auto Keystone 2000:1 Contrast Ratio 16:9/4:3 Aspect Ratios Audio out, microSD card, HDMI in, VGA, AV in, USB, DC

Rear Panel

This panel is where you’ll find all the ports, including one for power, HDMI, VGA, USB, Headphones and AV. On the left is the slot for a SD card reader.

Verdict

Besides a few hiccups here and there, the iLume is a worthy addition to any small or medium office which is looking for a smallish projector which doesn’t cost a bomb.

Once you get used to it, it is fairly easy to use and operate and the maintenance cost isn’t much either. If you can’t find any alternatives for this, then this product certainly is worth having a look.

EXHIBIT RATING

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Not Just A Monitor Maker BenQ’s 32” L7000 LED TV `25,000

First Look

BenQ has always been known to make some really good monitors for PC’s and we’ve always liked their LED HD monitors. So, naturally we have our hopes up when we heard that they are venturing into the TV space and have got LED TV’s rolled out. But, making a TV is a slightly different ball game than making monitors, precisely why BenQ may have taken their time to venture out in the TV business. With a slightly affordable price tag associated to it, can it manage to impress us as much as the BenQ monitors for PC’s? Let’s find out.

Review

The L7000 series of LED TV’s from BenQ has come out with a 37” model (for Rs. 32K) and the 32” model, which is the one we had for our review. Besides the size, the main features on these TV’s are pretty much the same, so we expect the performance to be the same too.

Setting up the TV isn’t all that different from any other LED TV, but one thing that caught our attention were the sheer number of ports on the rear panel of the TV. If you plan to have this TV wall-mounted, then we suggest having a swivel mount rather than a stationary one, as you might need to use some of these ports at some point in time. Thankfully, the USB and 2 HDMI ports are on the side, which makes plugging in and playing back the source fairly convenient. Once you have it set-up and ready to power on, you are greeted with a

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pleasant IPS display with a great 1366x768 resolution- which can playback HD videos without any issues. We tested the TV out with an external HDD connected via the USB port and played quite a few different type of files like .mp4, .mkv and .avi too. Thankfully, the TV played them all without much of a fuss and the clarity and picture quality was crisp and bright. The colour saturation is great and the overall viewing experience is great. The only complain we had was with the UI, which seemed a little sluggish at times. Also, the icons themselves seemed a bit cartoony and a little large at times, something that can be lived with, though. Nitpicking aside, this has been a quality product from BenQ, which just needs a little touch-up.

Build & Design

The materials used in making these TV are fairly good, though they don’t feel as premium as they do on higher-end LED TV’s from Korean or Japanese makes. Of course, they don’t cost as much either.

Connectivity

With 3 HDMI ports and 2 for USB, there is a good amount of thought given to external media connections. Plus, there is also room for VGA ports, PC-in port as well as Audio I/O jacks and Composite ports as well.

Specifications 32” IPS LED Screen 1366x768 resolution USB Ports x 2 HDMI Ports x3 178 degree viewing angle

Verdict

BenQ has brought to the table an excellent product with great features and good performance all rolled in a single TV with an IPS display. The BenQ Senseye Human Vision Technology takes on the great output from the BenQ monitors and delivers a great cinematic experience on a budget LED TV, which feels surprisingly good. For the asking price, there might hardly be better TV’s out there, but overall- it just needs to speed up its UI performance and look.

EXHIBIT RATING

Phablet For Gen Y

The Zync Cloud Z5 `9,490

Specifications 5” TFT Capacitive touchscreen Android OS 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) 1 GHz Processor, 512 MB RAM 5MP cam with LED flash 4 GB internal, microSD card up to 32GB

First Look

Budget phablets are coming into the market to try and capture a segment which has been largely under-marketed this year. But, whether or not these phablets find a mass appeal remains to be seen. So far, it’s been slow going – and the reasons may be plenty. But, does the large screen estate always prove to be a good thing, or makes your smartphone too bulky to carry around. With a dual-SIM offering from Zync, the Cloud Z5 is fairly light and has good enough specs to impress any buyer. But does it deliver the goods when it matters?

Review

With a brushed metal feel at the back of the Cloud Z5, you are bound to get a good grip on the large 5 inch body, but the slightly jagged texture might not be to everyone’s liking.

The phone feels rather big in your hand, but at 192gms (without battery) it’s not the heaviest, though not the lightest either. It is a budget phablet, after all – and most of the quality feels very much that way. Power it on and some good things about the Z5 await to be discovered – including a crisp screen, which is only let down by below par sunlight legibility.

Viewing angles are fairly good which result in a pretty enjoyable multimedia experience.

Video and browsing experience is especially

good on the large 5” screen, which gives you a whole lot more area to look and operate from, even the casual gamer will appreciate the form factor. The call quality was not that great though, especially when receiving calls in louder surroundings. Android’s ICS OS gives you plenty of customizations and there is no skin added on, but you can certainly choose a launcher of your liking from the many available freely on the Play Store. Google integration is top notch, as you’d expect, and the 8GB of internal storage ensures you can download a whole lot of apps and games to be enjoyed at your own time. The 512MB RAM might not seem enough, but with the 1GHz CPU – it still is fairly good, though not as quick as some of the better smartphones. The benchmark testing proved the same, with the Z5 scoring a bit more than the Spice phablet which costs around the same, with similar specs.

Verdict

Even though there are no major issues with the Zync Cloud Z5, you wonder why a dual-SIM phablet would appeal to a mass audience. Barring a few short-comings here n there, this is a fairly decent budget phablet, but does it really catch your fancy? If you want a larger screen state and are willing to compromise on build quality and sheer performance, then you can surely consider this product.

Connectivity

With a lower version of Bluetooth (2.0) not letting you enjoy A2DP connections, you have to make-do with GPRS, 3G, Wi-Fi, USB and GPS.

Camera

The 8MP snapper is about average, which performs well in well lit conditions, but is quite hazy and noisy in conditions when light is an issue. The front facing 0.3MP cam for video calling is decent enough, as well.

EXHIBIT RATING

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SEXY, SMALLER, SHARPER The Sony DSC RX 100 `34,900

Specifications 20.2MP 1” Exmor CMOS Sensor 3.6x Optical Zoom 3” LCD 1229K screen Captures 1080p videos at 60fps SD, SDHC, SDXC Storage Types

First Look

The compact DSLR cameras is finding many takers, especially with people who want the full functionality of a DSLR but are not really looking to tinker around with various lenses.

That may leave out enthusiastic photographers who love to experiment with various lenses, it still leaves a broad market open for enthusiasts who won’t compromise on image quality, want a sleek compact design and are looking for excellent features. So, Sony has the RX 100 with a large 20MP Exmor CMOS sensor with a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lens ready for battle. Does it manage to impress us, or fall flat? Read on.

ally good, auto-focusing works really well and the various modes have plenty of functionality in real-world scenarios. Surrounding the lens is an innovative control ring, much like the one first seen on the Canon PowerShot S-series cameras. Depending on which shooting mode is currently selected, this allows you to change key settings including aperture, shutter speed, the digital zoom and picture effects. The rear control ring also achieves the same things, but we found it more intuitive and quicker to use the large, smooth front ring. It’s not original, but is very effective.

Review

Side Panels

The slim design really defies the logic of holding a full-frame DSLR in your hand. But Sony isn’t the first to make such a compact DSLR camera, Nikon’s 1 J1, Canon S100, Panasonic LX5 and a few more were already there.

But the RX 100 is only 13.2 mm x 8.8 mm in dimensions and feels really light inyour hand.

The glossy feel of the design feels a little slippery, but the camera is so sleek, you’d be mistaken for holding a point and shoot. But, when you get down to it, the camera really starts to impress with its image quality. Not just on the high-res 3” LCD screen, but also when you transfer the images on to your laptop/computer – you notice the sharpness and the really low noise levels even at higher ISO’s. There is also the option to switch to manual focus and define your focus area, the shutter speed is re60 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

Verdict

Sony have obviously been “inspired” by the Canon S100 and its forebears, with the RX100 mimicking its main rival’s twin control rings and button layout. Where the RX100 gains significant ground, though, is with the inclusion of a much larger sensor, previously seen on Nikon’s 1 compact system camera series. We think it makes much more sense in a small camera like the RX100, though, with the ability to achieve DSLR-like effects and image quality a real surprise given the camera’s small size and light weight.

The right side of the RX100 has a tiny metal eyelet for the supplied wrist strap and also the USB port underneath a sturdy plastic cover, with another wrist strap eyelet on the left side.

Bottom Panel

The bottom of the Sony RX100 features a standard metal screw thread for attaching it to a tripod. A lockable plastic cover protects the lithium-ion battery, good for 330 shots or or 80 mins AVCHD video, and the removable memory card, with the RX100 supporting the SD / SDHC / SDXC format in addition to Sony’s own proprietary Pro Duo Memory Stick format.

EXHIBIT RATING

Contact Us T : +919833122253 E : support@mistore.in

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MapmyIndia Roadpilot INR 6,190.00

Vu LED TV 65 Inch INR 200,000.00 61 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

CLASSIC DESIGN, DIGITAL TWIST

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 `77,000 (approx)

Specifications 16.1 MP Live MOS Sensor 35 focus points 3 inch tiltable OLED Touch Panel SD / SDHC / SDXC (UHS-I Compatible) card support Full HD Video recording

First Look

Some classic designs really have been around for so long, that you appreciate the beauty of them in a much deeper way, as it starts to grow on you. Things around such timeless designs can keep changing, but their stillness really makes them stand out and leaves a big impression on you. So, will the classic OM series from Olympus be just as good in its digitised avatar? Will its timeliness produce the same quality of images that we’ve been expecting? Is this the new classic micro four thirds of the future? Ok, enough questions – let’s test and find out!

Review

The E-M5 looks vaguely similar to the old OM series film cameras, but in the digital world, things have changed. And for the better. The E-M5 has got 5 point axis image stabilizer.

It also has a digital viewfinder, that senses you want to use it rather than the LCD screen and quickly adjusts accordingly. Looks-wise, though, it does resemble the PEN series of Olympus quite a bit. But it’s got a separate slot just for the SD card, which is good, plus two dials for shutter speed and aperture. The buttons on the back feel a bit spongy, and the power switch is at the very bottom, almost Canon-like, annoyingly! The leather sealed body and metallic frame feels great to hold and use, and theweather-sealed lens is perfect to shoot even in our Indian monsoon. Or so, we hope. The auto-focus is quite good on the camera, quite quick and quite smart. Not 62 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

always, but most times. It’sgot 9 fps burst-rate, and the shutter noise is really not much. It’s sharp, accurate and silent. Almost like a ninja’s fart. Jokes apart, the camera does capture really nice images, but some of the modes are quite gimmicky. Like the ‘dynamic’ mode – which really makes everything look more dramatic in every possible way. There are as many as 35 point to select the focus from.

These points are arranged in a 7x5 array and you can select one box, a group of 9 boxes or the entire array. You can shoot movies with the ART filters on. There is a new addition to the video shooting menu called one-shot echo and multiple echo.

OLED SCREEN

The camera comes with a 3-inch 610k dot tilting OLED screen. The display is quite vivid, and you still see all the details while using this OLED in sunlit conditions, which is a definite plus. While the tilting OLED allows you to shoot over your head and at the ground level easily, we still love the articulating LCD offered by the Canon cameras, which allow you to point your camera at a 90 degree angle of view from the LCD screen, giving you one more angle to explore.

Verdict

If you are the kind of discerning photographer who wants his or her camera to look the part, the OM-D E-M5 wins hands down.

Although we had got the black bodied E-M5, there is one with a silver body, which looks like a compact version of the older generation Olympus OM series of cameras.

There is a huge price gap which Olympus may be thinking of filing with a future PEN ILC launch or a future DSLR, we don’t know.

But at Rs. 77,000, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 is in direct competition with some established DSLRs. Of course the USP of the form factor with a dedicated EVF is still there.

EXHIBIT RATING

Windows 8 Touch Experience

On the Samsung Slate 7 Series TBA

Specifications 11.6 inch HD LED Display Intel Core i5 1.66 GHz 64 GB SSD Intel HD Graphics 4GB DDR3 RAM 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 USB 2.0 port Windows 8 OS

First Look

Microsoft want us to be ‘touching’ their new OS to make it more interactive for the user, in a case of computing technology following the smartphones. It does look quite good from afar, but will users really be tempted to go for it? Does having a touch enabled device (which can be used as a portable tablet too) score over conventional netbooks? There’s much to think about, so let’s get to it.

Review

Firstly, the Windows 8 experience is really enjoyed more on a touch device than a nontouch one. With this in mind, we would’ve liked to tell you that the same was true for the Samsung Slate as well, but unfortunately – that is not true. You see, even with a dock (which doubles up with extra connectivity options for Ethernet, Audio and what-not!) on which you can connect a keyboard (or use a Bluetooth Microsoft keyboard like we did), the experience won’t be that great. The reason is not entirely Microsoft’s fault, but it is because of our reliance on the simple old mouse. Yes, we really did miss it when using the touch interface and keyboard combo, especially when we noted there is no alternative to the mouse-hover feature at all! We really missed that in places like FB and other areas too, but until MS figures out a clever alternative for it – we’re stuck with making do! The other thing is the virtual keyboard popping up even when a Bluetooth keyboard is connected. The OS overall doesn’t seem optimized enough to recognise this and we tried fiddling

around with advanced settings and gave up eventually. It’s not all bad though, MS had to take a bold step for the evolution of their OS – and it feels fresh, bright, zippy and fun to use. Some features like full screen apps and switching between apps and using them simultaneously with gestures is really cool. If only some of these niggles are ironed out, it would be a much more enjoyable experience than it turned out to be. The Samsung Slate on its part has a crisp bright display and runs processes as fast as you can push it, without much complaints, with a great multimedia experience to boot as well.

Design & Power

Connectivity

The Slate is equipped with an HDMI Port, Micro HDMI, USB 2.0, Headphone-out combo jack, Docking Connector, DC-in as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Adaptors. There is a 2MP front cam for video calling as well.

The Series 7 Slate weighs a little more, at 1.89 pounds, and it’s thicker: 0.5 inch. Its 11.6-inch screen has a higher 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution. The Series 7 Slate (XE700T1C-A01US) comes with an Intel Core i5-3317U processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD, as well as Gigagbit Ethernet with an adapter and Bluetooth 4.0, matching the standards of many ultrabooks.

Display

The 11.6-inch IPS display supports 1366-by768-pixel resolution. Viewing angles are expansive, and our panel of judges gave high marks to the colour and contrast in our display testing. The 16:9 aspect ratio on a screen of this size display does seem oddly wide, and (conversely) unusually tall and thin in portrait mode.

EXHIBIT RATING

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Streaming Wirelessly With Ease Transcend’s StoreJet Cloud 32GB `6,599

Specifications 32GB Wi-Fi drive USB 2.0 interface 99 x 54 x 16.5mm 90 gms net weight 2 Yrs warranty

First Look

Transcend has been making great products for our storage needs for the past many years and it is great to see them innovate and come up with a new kind of product that may appeal to the young and the restless. The problem seems to be that the design is really unappealing and the overall limitations of such a product might not go down well with the TA. Anyway, let’s not judge a book by its cover – we know that this device can be accessed wirelessly by an iOS or Android devices, as well as acting as a typical hard drive, which can be connected via USB to your computer. This means you can load it with your pictures as well as eBooks, documents, music, movies and access them on the move. Let’s test it to see how good or bad it really is.

Review

To add media, you connect the device via USB 2.0 to your computer, as you would any ordinary external hard drive. When you have finished adding your content, you need to disconnect it from your computer and switch it on. When the device is ready (around 15-20 seconds), the wireless light will turn from green to blue. The other light indicates how much charge the device has. On your device, either iOS or Android, you need to install the StoreJet Cloud app, available from the iTunes

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Store, Google Play and Amazon Appstore. The next step is to connect to the StoreJet Cloud.

As suggested in the quick start guide, we did a check for a firmware update and found that version 1.2 was available. The update was a simple and fairly quick job. Using the app you can also change the administrator password from the default one. When you are connected to the StoreJet Cloud you are no longer connected to the internet. Strange. To connect to the device you need to select it from Wi-Fi in your device settings, then start up the app.

The device can store any file but only those supported by your device can be played. Folders are easily accessible from the app, with the structure displayed the same as how they have been uploaded. Thumbnails appear, although they can be a little slow to load. You can swipe through photos and view them full screen.

Downloading pictures from the StoreJet to an iOS device was easy, they did take a little while to transfer. Images can be taken using the StoreJet app on device with a camera.

mins each. The time will also drastically vary depending on the quality of the video, i.e. HD or SD and how many devices are connected at the same time. You could also just keep the device plugged in to a wall socket or PC to charge and stream away for as long as your mobile or tablet can hold out.

Verdict

Transcend’s StoreJet Cloud is available in two capacities – 32GB and 64GB and priced at Rs.6,599 and Rs.9,599 respectively, both featuring a 2 year limited warranty. While that may seem like a good deal, you do have a couple of other alternatives available that will overshadow the StoreJet.

Battery

The built-in battery allows for non-stop streaming of SD video content for up to 4 hours. That’s not altogether impressive, but quite decent. You’re looking at at least 2 full length movies, not exceeding more than 94

EXHIBIT RATING

COMPACT WITHOUT A PUNCH The BenQ LR100 `8,990

Specifications 14MP Panasonic CMOS sensor 5X Optical Zoom 2.7”, 230k pixel LCD screen Full HD Video Recording SD / SDHC / SDXC card compatible

First Look

A shiny steely compact point-n-shoot camera from BenQ? The same company that makes really good monitors? Hmm, we have our suspicions on this LR100, optical products need a whole lot of refinement than monitors.

But, what do we know, we are only interested in knowing what the shiny steely thing can do.

Not HOW it does it. It’s got decent specs to match the decent price range, but will it also produce decent images in various lighting conditions? Let’s find out.

Review

A 14MP CMOS sensor from Panasonic is good news for this entry level camera from BenQ, who are trying to expand their range of d gi-cams. You get the sensor around a compact and well built body, with a rather average 2.7” LCD screen at the back. It’s shiny alright, but that doesn’t hide the fact that the materials used are just about average. The settings dial on the right of the LCD lets you choose flash, focus, continuous burst and the AE and AF lock (which also doubles up as a rotate image button when playing back the clicked images). Right above that dial are the Menu and Video recording buttons and right next to them is a jagged area for thumb grip. Overall, the camera feels just okay when you hold and start using it, but more importantly it does not manage to impress with image quality. Even in bright outdoor conditions, the shadows and mid-tones are a bit smudgy, not as sharp as we would’ve liked. The noise is within limits for a point-n-shoot, but in low light conditions it’s

certainly a different story. Even in adequate indoor light, without flash, there is quite a large amount of noise, which is really disappointing.

The zoom works ok, however, the images appear pixelated and we didn’t even try it in various lighting – we knew it wouldn’t be worth the effort! The only redemption of the image quality from the LR100 came in the form of macro photography (surprisingly!) – where the lens seems to do a fairly good job. Unless you change the lighting conditions again, where it fails again. The battery life isn’t amazing either, but we weren’t expecting much from a 700 mAh Li-Ion battery anyway.

Verdict

When you really think about the specs to price ratio on this camera, you realize the performance does not justify the price of Rs. 8,990/-. Even if the camera was a couple of grand lower, it would still be hard to recommend it. BenQ is taking steps in the right direction with its build quality on cams, but the optics and performance really leave a lot to be desired.

Right Panel

Behind the USB panel on the right hand side, there are 2 ports – neither of which are the standard micro USB. One is used to connect it to the PC whereas the other, well, we had no clue – nor did it look important!

Video Recording

It can record in Full HD resolution with stereo sound, but it’s not great – and autofocus really struggles to keep up with moving subjects.

EXHIBIT RATING

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The Stellar Tablet?

WishTel’s IRA Comet HD Tablet

`9,999

Specifications 10.1” TFT LED Capacitive touchscreen 1.2 Ghz Processor 1 GB RAM Android v4.0 (ICS) 8GB internal, 32GB expandable via card slot 2MP rear camera and VGA front cam

First Impressions

Budget tablets have been flowing in by the numbers, but it seems the Indian consumer can’t make up their mind about which one is the best. Or maybe it’s the paradox of choices, getting the better of them. Adding to the numbers is WishTel’s IRA Comet HD Tablet featuring a 1.2Ghz CPU and a 10.1 inch form factor. The build quality is quite nice and at first it looks like we have a fairly good product that might be easy to recommend to people on the look-out for a budget tab. But, at times, its harder to tell 2 products apart – especially in the case of affordable gadgets – so what sets the Comet HD Tablet apart? We shall see.

expansion of memory up to 32 GB. This expansion of memory can be achieved through micro SD card slot and there is support for USB stick also. All this means the tab runs pretty smoothly but when you start to push it, it wants to stop and wants you to close some apps/processes. Multimedia performance is pretty good, so is browsing – and with Google’s Play Store, you can install any number of apps that tickle your fancy. The problem is that when you install too many apps, it does start slowing down the tab – especially games with too many graphics. Overall, it’s about as good a tablet as any other budget tablet.

Review

Connectivity

WishTel IRA Comet HD Tablet has been provided with 10.1 inches screen size. Multi touch is enabled on this device which has got capacitive type of touch screen. Display resolution of this tablet has been mentioned as 800 x 1024 pixels. It is powered by 1.2 Ghz Cortex A8 processors. This tablet runs on the Ice Cream Sandwich version of operating system which is Android v4.0 version of operating system.

Everything runs smoothly enough, but not without its own set of issues. Perhaps it is the same config or the similar type of hardware/ software combo we’ve seen on one tablet too many, that the process of reviewing also feels like déjà vu. The Comet HD Tablet has got 1 GB RAM. Internal memory provided on this tablet is of 8 GB and there is provision for the

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This tablet has been provided with support for Wi-Fi internet connectivity. 3G connectivity can be used through dongles. Mini HDMI port is also provided on this tablet.

Battery

Even though the tablet has a huge 5,500 mAh battery on it, it somehow didn’t live up to our expectations and drained off within a day of heavy use.

EXHIBIT RATING

Misc

Over 1000 hours of educational video content, course materials for 12month and 24 months programme of IIT - JEE (Engineering), Medical AIPMT, study materials for CAT & GMAT entrance exams and school curriculum of CBSE, ICSE syllabus recognised by renowned institutions will be made available on the IRA Comet 3D tablet for students at a special subscription cost.

Verdict

No matter how differently you test most of the budget tablets in the market, you end up with pretty much the same result. There really isn’t much to distinguish between most of these and it’s the same even with Wishtel’s IRA Comet HD Tablet. How we wished there was some killer feature that made it stand out against the crowd, but there really isn’t any. It’s not easy to recommend but not easy to turn down either. It’s about in the middle. Just like most of its competition.

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THE MOST ANTICIPATED LAUNCH OF THE SEASON

THE HTC BUTTERFLY COMETH 68 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

A Storm Coming..

Even before the HTC Butterfly was officially unveiled, there was a lot of buzz in the tech world about an impending launch from HTC of a super smartphone. Some of the rumours turned out to be true, but the one that really blew us out of our minds, when the Japanese model was launched – was the pixel density.

A staggering 440ppi (pixels per inch), which is the highest amongst all smartphones in the market right now. To put in perspective, the pixel density of the iPhone 5 is 326ppi. Apple is not the only one with ‘gorgeous’, ‘amazing’ and ‘incredible’ displays on their smartphones.

HTC broke the 400 ppi mark and then some.

But, it also packed in enough power to keep the geeks happy. It seemed the super smartphone that the world had been craving for, was finally here. And we were drooling already.

And now we’re almost kicking and panting feverishly. Because it’s finally coming to India.

Mid-Jan. Oh yeah!

known the Snapdragon to be the ultimate processor out there right now and we’re sure it’s gonna make the Butterfly a firecracker!

HTC has chosen to endow the Butterfly with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and its Sense UI on top.

The handset features a 2020 mAh Li-polymer battery that should keep the handset running for quite some time. The primary camera is an 8 MP snapper with auto focus, LED flash as well as a BSI sensor for better low-light captures. The camera also features a full HD 1080p video recording mode as well as full HD for the secondary camera too! Now, that has to be a first – along with the fact that you can enjoy taking pictures while shooting full HD videos. All of this will be baked into a beautiful design that we’ve come to expect from HTC and will weigh in only at 140gms. There is 16GB of internal storage for all your multimedia and apps storage needs, plus a slot for microSD – to let you add up to 32GB of more space.

The Super Specs If the 1080p resolution on the 5-inch form factor has not set your pulses racing, then let us delve into what really makes this monster-ofa-phone tick. What kind of power it is capable of delivering and what kind of memory is packed into it. Let’s begin with the processor – and we’re super excited to see the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5 Ghz quad-core on the Butterfly. This is ably supported by an Adreno 320 GPU and a whooping 2GB of RAM. We’ve

Software Kit The Butterfly will come loaded with Jelly Bean 4.1, with the customized Sense UI 4+. HTC have already confirmed that the Butterfly can be upgraded to 4.2 right at launch, making this a rather attractive offering from the current lot of Android smartphones in the market. Google’s superb integration with their eco-system was already superb, but we are expecting the fluid interface on the Jelly Bean 4.2 to be even better, and things will keep running

buttery smooth thanks to the immense power and graphics handling capability of the HTC Butterfly. Butterfly users will also get access to 25GB of storage space from Dropbox, thereby effectively increasing the on-board storage of the phone itself. Plus, with Sense UI 4+, users will be in for a delightful user experience while on the Butterfly. Multimedia, browsing, gaming and even simple productivity tasks can be carried out more fluently and with faster speeds.

Connectivity The micro-SIM powered HTC Butterfly will support Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth v4.0, AGPS + GLONASS, micro-USB 2.0 port as well as 4G (LTE) where available. As with all recent HTC smartphones, even the Butterfly will come built-in with the Beats Audio chip drivers to enhance the sound quality.

PRICING & AVAILABILITY We can safely say that the HTC Butterfly will be cheaper than the iPhone 5, which would definitely be music to gadget lovers here in India. We are expecting the Butterfly to be around mid 40K or slightly lower and will start retailing from Jan 15. Don’t wait till it runs out of stock folks, if you like what you see, we’d recommend buying one right away!

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learn about

4g and beyond..

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INTRODUCTION

Every 12 years or so there’s a new generation (“G”) of mobile phone technology.

1G gave us the analogue phone bricks, 2G saw digital phones which shrunk to the size of a business card and 3G enabled phones to become smart and use data.

4G is the next step: it makes the phone a device which communicates the same way as your desktop and provides the same or even higher data rates.

At least that’s the official story. In reality once it was realised that with more than five billion mobile phones in the world all sorts of competitive pressures built up and things started to get messy.

Firstly there was the fight between competing standards: WiMax and LTE (Long Term Evolution). WiMax never really stood a chance because LTE had the same standards setting machinery which set up the previous Generations, and mobile operators just needed to upgrade rather than replace their networks. The game was over when Apple said it was going with LTE for the new iPad. Then there was a rush to get something - anything - up and running so as to gain market share. So whilst the “official” definition of 4G talks about one gigabit per second (Gbps) speeds, the marketing departments of mobile operators call 4G anything over 30Mbps or so.

These kinds of speeds are actually part of 3G, but this is not the first time that hype has triumphed over reality. But then it’s easier to announce you have 4G if you’ve moved the goal posts.

REALITY CHECK Small-cell LTE is nearly-impossible to manage without self-organising networks, which improves operational efficiency. But the march to this ideal state is long and with several hurdles on the way. All buzz about 4G data speeds being at least five times faster than 3G hasn’t really translated into mass LTE adoption levels in India. 4G subscriber growth has failed to happen accentuated by a near non-existent devices ecosystem.

LTE has mind-boggling opportunities but it faces substantial hurdles now, like absence of compatible 4G handsets, pricey data plans, expensive dongles and customer premise equipment -- both priced over $92 (Rs 4,999).

Paucity of 4G-centric applications, content and services coupled with limited coverage haven’t helped either. Another turn-off undermining 4G experience, claim the users, is the drastic speed rollback from a normal 40 Mbps to a paltry 128 kbps once a customer exhausts his monthly quota of free gigabytes.

10 TIMES FASTER? If 4G were legitimately 10 times faster than 3G,we’d never have to buy another phone to keep up with technological advances again.

Let’s say a site loads in 7 seconds on your iPhone over 3G. That means the site should load in less than a second over 4G every time, right?

Wrong.

In real-world use cases, the promise of 4G is almost never a reality. The network itself is absolutely capable of performing 10 times faster than 3G networks. That part is true.

But Web performance isn’t that simple. There

is a huge delta between pure science in a lab and the real world.

The cellular network, or your ISP’s local network, is a fraction of the infrastructure and services that it takes to get sites to load in your browser. In fact, the network that your device connects to is the last mile in the Web performance continuum.

It’s not the second-to-last mile. It’s dead last.

While we’re all excited about the arrival of 4G speeds, consumers need to realize that 4G can also deliver speeds up to 10 times slower than 3G, or dial-up, depending on real-world variables.

One major difference between 4G and 3G is that a 4G network is all IP-based, so it passes information between phone and carrier exactly the same way as a Web browser communicates with the Internet. 4G also boasts an increase in theoretical maximum throughput from 14.4 Mbps (mega bits per second) to 100 Mbps or more.

But theoretical maximums are like the theoretical miles-per-gallon on a new car. They’re nothing like what you experience day to day.

In the real world, a 4G network delivers maybe three to five Mbps, and 3G networks two to three Mbps. This is due to distance from the cell tower, interference from walls and objects, and people moving while using their device — real world things.

Carriers have been fine-tuning their 3G networks to account for these real-world variables for years. Because 4G is newer, it hasn’t had anywhere near this much tuning yet.

In addition, the “throughput” is not your connection to everything on the Internet, as might be assumed. It is actually your connection to the carrier. These are two different things.

Try a test: the average Web page is about 500 KB in size. If a 4G network is operating at 100 Mbps, the Web page should download to your phone in four-hundredths of a second. That’s about the time it takes to blink (500 KB is four megabits and in theory the network is operating at 100 megabits per second).

You don’t need a stopwatch to know that this is almost never the case.

THE WEB PERFORMANCE CONTINUUM Whenever you access a website, or download an app, the request gets routed through an array of computers and services all working together. Loading a Web page doesn’t just access the array once, there are literally 50 or more requests that go backwards and forwards. Any speed problems get amplified when you’re dealing with this quantity.

One of the biggest determinants of how fast this works is not the client, gateway or Web services, but the connections between them — how fast the pieces can talk to each other.

This is often known as latency — high latency means a slow connection. Latency is higher for wireless connections (WiFi or cellphones) and grows with distance. The further away you are physically from the website, the longer it takes to load.

Your upgrade to a 4G phone, or high-speed Internet only affects the connection between you and the gateway. If the bottleneck is somewhere else in the system (it often is), then the website will load at the speed of the slowest part of the network. It’s like driving to work. No matter how well paved your driveway is, a traffic jam will still slow you down.

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Use of CGI In Cinema he greatest leap that Cinema ever took is when it ventured into the use of CGI(computer generated imagery) in telling the story more effectively. Use of CGI has enabled outcome that otherwise would be quite unimaginable. The phrase ‘Impossible is nothing’ has truly come into its own thanks to the use of CGI.So much so that now almost most movies, if not all, resort to some kind of CGI.When tracking back to the most influential or most acclaimed movies of the last two decades, one would discover, that largely all of them are a work of CGI, in some cases more while in others marginal. Starting from Terminator 2 to more recently, Life of Pi, one can safely state that if not for effective use of CGI these movies wouldn’t quite see the light of the day. In that sense use of graphics has really broken bounds that human imagination earlier knew. Now, imagination is as limitless and fanciful as it gets! Its quite literally the principle of ‘what you can imagine, you can achieve’ that’s being exercised by most filmmakers now.

T

However, we all know that movie making is no cakewalk especially if it involves use of graphics. Also, using graphics requires expertise and additional capital, both being factors that one cultivates over a course of time and years of experience. To excel in any given field of work, it’s imperative and inevitable to go through one’s fair share of trial and error. It’s only through multiple trial and errors that you can truly realize your true expression and acquire the desired goal. Having said that, it was not earlier possible to try and err all you want, without incurring monetary investments and incurring damages thereof.

How would you like if you were told that now you could make a your own movie laden with

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computer graphics and star in it too that too without spending a single red cent!

The good news is that now with further advancement in technology you can do both of the aforementioned! Its become extremely convenient and possible for each individual to exercise his imagination and make movies starring himself just at the touch of a button on his phone quite literally. This phenomenon is possible thanks to the availability of a brilliant new free app, Action Movie FX, and a little help from your iPhone.

The app launched in Apple’s App Store just a day after Abrams big-screen actioner Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol hit theaters.

Abram’s Bad Robot produced and Brad Bird directed (and Mash able hit the red carpet premiere). Included effects are “inspired by” the film. It’s obviously designed to appeal to those who would want to make a movie without investing any real funds and without having to wait years that go into garnering experience or the required qualification. This app is simple to use and easily comprehensible. You needn’t be a tech-whiz to use this and yet your end product would have the same grandeur and quality.

Action Movie FX is an incredibly simple app that accomplishes an impressive feat: It puts you in the middle of the action. Here’s how it works: You open the app and select one of two free action effects: Missile Attack and Car Smash. You can purchase additional effects for 99 cents apiece. After you’ve selected the scene, you shoot a short video. The apps offers some guidance and how and where to shoot (shoot over flat surface if you want the missile to land properly). It also offers a handy

screen overlay that shows you approximately where the effect will occur in your clip.

It’s also helpful if you have someone else hold the camera. All they have to do is hit the big red record button, hold the camera steady and record. I’d suggest recording a minute or less since most of the effects are pretty brief. Once the video is recorded, Action Movie FX offers an effects slider that lets you adjust where in your recording to start the effect. Next, you process the film and preview. You can still go back and adjust the timing until the effect hits at just the right moment.

The final product is a hoot -- the effects overlay is near perfect. You can save locally to your own camera roll, email, or share via Facebook.

The app requires iOS 4.3 or later and works with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (4th generation), iPad2 Wi-Fi and iPad 2.

Your imagination is only as good as you exercise it to becoming. And what’s more, now you can apply your imagination all you like for free! Go ahead, be your own moviemaker and your own favorite star. Share your movies with friends, on social networking sites, upload them on YouTube. You never know what opportunities knock your door thereafter!

Words By...

Pankhuri Awasthi

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DE-MYSTIFYING THE MYTHS ON BIG DATA What is Big Data?

Is it a new trend?

Where does Big Data come from?

What do I need to analyse it?

Where is the Big Data trend going?

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B

efore we start defining the word BIG Data, let’s start understanding what we really mean by data. What really is Data? Well, just about anything that goes into any computing environment is data. All the bits and bytes of the songs, apps, videos, pictures and everything in middle constitutes data. It’s easily to understand this on a small scale – imagine your personal computer or your smartphone – and how annoyed you get when it runs out of space because you have already stored too much data on it. But can you understand this on a larger scale? A MUCH larger scale. Let us try and explain.

Who doesn’t love spending time on Facebook and Twitter these days. But every image and/or video you upload to these social networking websites is stored on their servers. These are not some imaginary bodies that may or may not exist in heaven, but very real piece of hardware that stores all this info. Not just about you, your friends and family, but EVERY member of the social networking group. And this is a HUGE group we are talking about. 1 billion big. Sharing images, videos, re-sharing, uploading new documents – so on and so forth. For 24 hours a day. 7 days a week.

12 months a year. Getting the picture now?

1. What exactly is big data?

“Big data” is an all-inclusive term used to describe vast amounts of information. In contrast to traditional structured data which is typically stored in a relational database, big data varies in terms of volume, velocity, and variety. Big data is characteristically generated in large volumes – on the order of terabytes or exabytes of data (starts with 1 and has 18 zeros after it, or 1 million terabytes) per individual data set. Big data is also generated with high velocity – it is collected at frequent intervals – which makes it difficult to analyze (though analyzing it rapidly makes it more valuable). Additionally, big data is usually not nicely packaged in a spreadsheet or even a multidimensional database and often includes unstructured, qualitative information as well.

2. Is it a new trend?

Not exactly. Though there is a lot of buzz around the topic, big data has been around a long time. Think back to when you first heard of scientific researchers using supercomputers to analyze massive amounts of data. The difference now is that big data is accessible to regular BI users and is applicable to the enterprise. The reason it is gaining traction is because there are more public use cases about companies getting real value from big data.

Though big data adoption is limited right now, IDC determined that the big data technology and services market was worth $3.2B USD in 2010 and is going to skyrocket to $16.9B by 2015.

3. Where does big data come from?

Big data is often boiled down to a few varieties including social data, machine data, and transactional data. Social media data is providing remarkable insights to companies

on consumer behavior and sentiment that can be integrated with CRM data for analysis, with 230 million tweets posted on Twitter per day, 2.7 billion Likes and comments added to Facebook every day, and 60 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute (this is what we mean by velocity of data). Machine data consists of information generated from industrial equipment, real-time data from sensors that track parts and monitor machinery (often also called the Internet of Things), and even web logs that track user behavior online.

At arcplan client CERN, the largest particle physics research center in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) generates 40 terabytes of data every second during experiments.

Regarding transactional data, large retailers and even B2B companies can generate multitudes of data on a regular basis considering that their transactions consist of one or many items, product IDs, prices, payment information, manufacturer and distributor data, and much more. Major retailers like Amazon. com, which posted $10B in sales in Q3 2011, and restaurants like US pizza chain Domino’s, which serves over 1 million customers per day, are generating petabytes of transactional big data. The thing to note is that big data can resemble traditional structured data or unstructured, high frequency information.

4. What tools do I need to analyze it?

Another reason big data is starting to go mainstream is the fact the tools to analyze it are becoming more accessible. For decades, tech partners Teradata, IBM, and Oracle have provided thousands of companies with terabyte scale data warehouses, but there is a new trend of big data being stored across multiple servers that can handle unstructured data and scale easily. This is due to the increasing use of open source technologies like Hadoop, a framework for distributing data processing across multiple nodes, which allows for fast

data loading and real-time analytic capabilities. In effect, Hadoop allows the analysis to occur where the data resides, but it does require specific skills and is not an easy technology to adopt. Analytic platforms like arcplan, which connects to Teradata and SAP HANA, SAP’s big data appliance, allow data analysis and visualization on big data sets. So in order to make use of big data, companies may need to implement new technologies, but some traditional BI solutions can make the move with you. Big data is simply a new data challenge that requires leveraging existing systems in a different way.

5. Where is the big data trend going?

Eventually the big data hype will wear off, but studies show that big data adoption will continue to grow. With a projected $16.9B market by 2015 (Wikibon goes even further to say $50B by 2017), it is clear that big data is here to stay. However, the big data talent pool is lagging behind and will need to catch up to the pace of the market. McKinsey & Company estimated in May 2011 that by 2018, the US alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions.

The emergence of big data analytics has permanently altered many businesses’ way of looking at data. Big data can take companies down a long road of staff, technology, and data storage augmentation, but the payoff – rapid insight into never-before-examined data – can be huge. As more use cases come to light over the coming years and technologies mature, big data will undoubtedly reach critical mass and will no longer be labeled a trend.

Soon it will simply be another mechanism in the BI ecosystem.

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SSD’S FACE OFF S

olid State Drives (SSDs) have come up a long way and are starting to get a bit more affordable as well. But, the truth of the matter is, they’re still not as affordable as we’d like them to be – but let’s not forget the sheer performance we get from them. We’re also noticing that RAM and chip-makers are now making SSDs, which is quite an interesting phenomenon. Intel, Kingston and Corsair have all been involved in making various memory modules and/or chipsets for many years now – but looks like they now want to venture into making Solid State Drives too. So, we’ve got the Intel 335 series 240 GB SSD against the Kingston HyperX against the Corsair Neutron. Let’s put these against each other and see which SSD performs the best.

MEET THE PARTICIPANTS INTEL 335

KINGSTON HYPERX

CORSAIR NEUTRON

Intel launched the new series of SSDs, called the SSD 335, which will replace the 330 series.

The Sandforce SF-2281 controller from the previous 330 line survives in the new 335 series, but the size of the chips has been reduced from 25nm to 20nm flash memory.

Smaller transistors are cheaper to manufacture which potentially can lead to more affordable products. The SSD 335 has 16 flash chips of 16 GB each (which in turn consist of two 8 GB dies). The new 20nm chips originate from the Micron/Intel factory and are identical to the previous 25nm chips in terms of performance.

The chips adhere to the ONFI 2.3 standard.

Just like 25nm chips, these new ones are validated for 3000 write cycles per cell. Intel therefore claims they are just as reliable, and again Intel offers three years of warranty, based on an average of 20 GB writes per day.

Kingston is following Intel’s example and recently launched the HyperX 3K series. This series is based on the same technology as the HyperX SSDs, but clearly cheaper. The HyperX 3K SSDs are available in 90 GB, 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB editions. The new HyperX 3K SSDs have the same SandForce SF-2281 as Kington’s standard HyperX SSDs. The main difference can be found in the flash chips that are used.

The chips in the HyperX series are validated for 5000 program/erase cycles, while the HyperX 3K series is guaranteed up to 3000 cycles. The reasoning behind the name suddenly becomes apparent. The question then is whether this is a significant drawback. We analysed this issue extensively last year on our Dutch site and concluded that an SSD, with normal usage, with 3000-cycle flash memory will last 100 years. Even if your SSD is 95 percent full, our calculations indicated a lifespan of 22 years.

A year ago, if you wanted a fast SSD you had the choice between a SandForce- and a Marvell-based product. It’s never good having only two options, but fortunately the market evolved. At the end of last year Samsung launched the 830 series of SSDs, using its own controller that held its own against the established competition. OCZ rejuvenated controller manufacturer Indilinx by releasing SSDs based on the Everest and Everest 2 controller. Even if the latter proved to be a re-branded new Marvell controller with different firmware, the fact remains that the consumer is left with far more choices now. Not only that, the performance of SSDs has steadily been increasing as well. And now there’s a new kid on the block.

Corsair recently introduced the Neutron series of SSDs, based on the LM87800 controller from the little-known Link A Media Devices, or LAMD for short. This company has been making controllers for high-end PCI-Expressbased SSDs for servers, so the manufacturer does have the right lineage.

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BENCHMARK TESTING Take any standard laptop and simply interchange the SSD’s and test how they perform when reading and writing the same amount of data.

That’s how you can accomplish a simple test and really see how these SSD’s compare with each other. Or, if you find that time consuming – then the easiest way would be to perform benchmark tests – but that would still require you to connect different SSD’s at different times and conduct the tests accordingly.

Anyhow, we tried testing these through both the methods – just to try and see which one comes up ahead of the other two. We used a Sandy Bridge-based system to test hard disks and SSDs. Our test system consisted of an Intel Core i5 2500K processor, an Intel DH67BL motherboard and 4GB DDR3-1333 memory. The SSDs were connected as secondary drives and all benchmarks were run in Windows 7.

INTEL 335

CORSAIR NEUTRON

KINGSTON HYPERX

This is the biggest brand of the 3, and we were expecting it to have the better results of the three. It did perform really well and the speeds we got while copying data into and off of it was really impressive. The average speeds were around 305 MB/s, which is really impressive, but we will wait to see how the other 2 get on. On one of the benchmark tests – we came out with a score of about 24K for write speed and 29.5k for read speeds. On the PC Vantage test, it managed a score of about 67K. In the testing to see how the SSD reads and writes data blocks of different sizes as quickly as possible to random places on the SSD (called the Atto Disk Benchmark), the Intel was equally impressive.

Corsair has been well known for its memory modules and even hard-core gamers have sworn to the performance of Corsair products.

It started off really well with the copy and paste test, when we were manually loading stuff onto it, but was even more impressive when loading applications and running them off of it. The read/write speeds were more impressive than of Intel’s, managing an average of about 330 MB/s. On one of the benchmark tests – we came out with a score of about 24.5K for write speed and 30k for read speeds.

On the PC Vantage test, it managed a score of about 74K. In the Atto Disk Benchmark test, however, the Neutron wasn’t as good and managed a much lower score than the Intel.

Kingston, like Corsair, has been well known for the memory modules they have been making over the years. The testing started off with the usual copy paste of large data in and out of the SSD, in which it fared as well as the other two. It did do really well on most graphic-intensive testing, beating out the competition with ease. But, it really did struggle in progressive benchmark testing for reading and writing, managing a score of about 293 Mb/s, which is lower than the competition- but not by much. On the PC Vantage test, it got an overall average score of about 62K, which is certainly quite lower than the other two.

Atto Disk Benchmark

CONCLUSION

Whereas the overall performance and testing results are not that much different from each other, it did seem that the Intel had the slightest bit of edge over its competition. Price’s for all three are also about the same, and with heavy use as well, you will be able to use these three SSD’s without any issues for many years.

The Intel has an edge for those seeking sheer performance, but maybe the lower scores on copying and reading random data from various places on the disk means it might not be the best candidate for people who do a lot of multi-tasking. The Kingston HyperX, on the other hand, had a good showing for multi-media and graphics intensive exercise – which should mean its ideal for the audience who enjoy their movies and games. The Corsair Neutron seems ideal for a steady, good and enduring performance for multi-tasking and even for those who love loading a lot of apps on their computers. No matter what you choose in the end, however, you will surely get a product which is worth the money you buy – the only differences will be highlighted in the tasks you perform over a period of time, hence choose as per the afore mentioned recommendations.

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Medal of Honor: Warfighter (Limited Edition) Cookie –cutter characters and unlinked narratives spoils great atmospheric levels and some heavy artillery filled missions

Medal of Honor: Warfighter's campaign depicts a heartfelt dedication

impressing upon you the heroism of the men in uniform the game depicts.

The sincere emotion attempt is commendable. However, it is as hollow as any other semi –average bog-standard military shooter that celebrates the killing of hundreds. The battlefield fantasy is also devoid of any drama and some half-baked characters add to the spoilers.

So why Battlefield 3 is still a better game ?

The shooting is occasionally put to good use, too, such as in a noisy showdown during a raging rainstorm, the palm trees waving and bending in response to the heaving winds. Other levels are just as visually impressive, like an on-rails boat shootout during which fires rage and floating debris threatens to ram you. Elsewhere, you use the blazing shine of your enemies' flashlights as beacons for your violence in various locales.

The Frostbite 2 engine that gave Battlefield 3 life is used well enough here, occasional visual glitches and distracting screen grime notwithstanding.

These visuals are much more effective on the PC than consoles, but on any platform, Medal of Honor: Warfighter isn't always just a sea of brown, though you can still expect plenty of dusty roads and crumbling hovels to fill your field of view.

Atmospheric levels elevates the game play to a different level If only the gameplay could consistently uphold the promise of the most atmospheric levels. To Warfighter's benefit, it's not as much of a turkey shoot as its 2010 predecessor, though enemies still pop up in the most predictable places, inviting you to gun them down. The excitement is also undercut by your AI teammates' unlimited supply of ammo; there's never any need to scrounge the ground for enemy weapons, which diminishes the sense that you are in imminent danger. But it's the moments you most expect to deliver the brightest sparks that are most devoid of them. The aforementioned boat chase requires no skill, neither from a driving nor from a shooting perspective. Ditto for the obligatory helicopter gunner segment, in which you mow down nameless grunts from above. Without challenge, there needs to be something else to keep excitement levels high--but there aren't enough foes to shoot or other sources of thrills to compensate.

Missing links Warfighter checks other paradigms off its list, too. There are the parts where you sneak up on enemies from behind and gruesomely stab them, and the parts where you snipe the baddies lurking in distant windows.

There are the parts where you call in airstrikes to annihilate entire buildings, and there's the bit where you shoot down a helicopter with a rocket launcher. There are seemingly endless door breaches, in which time slows to a crawl while you and your AI teammates charge into a room and litter the floor with corpses. Things explode real nice, but these sequences are all segmented sharply from the surrounding gameplay. The game signals "hey, here's the part with the sniper rifle," and you dutifully perform the necessary actions so you can continue.

There are several scripted set-piece sections that stand above the rest, however--and in fact, stand above the campaign in general. All of them involve vehicles. Some of these driving sections are ridiculous and entertaining, directing you to incite crashes, and then showcasing the destruction in slow motion, Burnout-style. The camera that so lovingly caresses the chaos flies in the face of Warfighter's meager attempts to identify the drivers as everyday heroes, but the tension of avoiding oncoming traffic and the joy of watching your four-wheeled victims flip with abandon are both guilty pleasures.

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What’s good

What’s not

•Fire team system gives the online multiplayer a sense of camaraderie •Entertaining and inspired vehicular sequences •Some atmospheric levels.

•Ho-hum campaign fails to combine the usual tropes into a greater whole •Disjointed narrative populated by cookie-cutter characters •Set pieces lack the necessary thrills.

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Digital navigation

–Finding your way inside

DIGITAL navigation surely ranks as one of life’s high-tech bargains. Thanks to free Global Positioning System (GPS) signals broadcast by American satellites, and free online maps from companies like Google, Nokia and Apple, all you need is a smartphone with an internet connection to pinpoint your location on the Earth’s surface and call up maps, directions and local information. Unless, that is, you are indoors. And even if you are outdoors in a built-up area, the lack of a clear view of the sky can prevent GPS working properly, because its satellite signals are easily blocked by roofs, nearby buildings or even trees. For positioning to work indoors, where people spend most of their time, new technologies are needed.

GPS satellites work by broadcasting ultra-accurate time and position data using on-board atomic clocks, allowing a receiver to calculate its location by comparing signals from four or more satellites. (This involves calculating the point of intersection between four spheres, each of which is centred on a satellite.) Some terrestrial positioning systems work in a similar way, but replace the orbiting metronomes used by GPS with fixed transmitter beacons installed at precisely known locations. By picking up and analysing the signals from these beacons, the receiver can determine its position. And because the beacons are much closer, their signals are strong enough to penetrate inside buildings.

What is Locata doing ?

Locata, an Australian company, recently unveiled a system of powerful transmitters whose signals can penetrate walls or cover large outdoor areas such as airfields. The beacons within the network are synchronised to within a billionth of a second, and can allow a receiver to determine

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its position to within less than a metre. One of its first customers is America’s Department of Defence, which is increasingly worried about the ease with which its feeble GPS signals might be jammed by enemies.

The US Air Force has installed Locata as a local backup to GPS at its White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Locata’s transmitters are expensive, however, and its receivers are currently too bulky to find their way into mobile phones.

Yet another proposal is to make use of the motion-sensitive accelerometers and gyroscopes found in virtually all modern smartphones. These are normally used to detect which way up users are holding a device or for gaming, but they can also track the distinctive motions of walking.

Software can then guess the distance and direction travelled. In practice, however, the accuracy is poor, and someone standing still for a minute will appear to move slowly out of the building due to “drift” in the sensor.

But research into this idea is continuing, because emergency-service and military users would like indoor-positioning systems that work even in buildings where power has been cut off.

Improving indoor positioning will mean navigating commercial obstacles as well as technological ones, as large technology firms try to maintain their grip on the potentiall lucrative consumer insights that the technology will provide. Apple prevents apps on its iPhones and iPads from accessing raw Wi-Fi data, forcing them to use its own location services instead.

The same is true of BlackBerry hand-helds and Windows phones.

GADGETISE YOUR WORKSTATION

THE SET-UP TOUR

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our workstation is where you accomplish all your work. You’re sitting at it for most part of the day and if you are in a creative field, then you need to know which gadgets need to be part of your workstationto help you optimize your work efforts. Here, we’ve covered the best gadgets that you should own so that your work is optimized and your effort is minimized, at the same time – everything looks awesome!

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FOR THE CREATIVE DESIGNER

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Wacom’s Intuos5 If you have been hooked to drawing sketches and moving to a computing environment has been uncomfortable for you, then this is the perfect trade-off gadget for you! The Intuos5 brings in enhanced features, compared to its predecessor, the Intuos4.

The brand claims that with the Intuos5, digital content creation is taken to the next level with its superior features, including multitouch gesture support for intuitive input, an Express View display to facilitate an efficient workflow and wireless capabilities, which offer convenience and comfort. With its ergonomic, ambidextrous design and bold new look, the slimprofile Intuos5 combines Wacom’s pen tablet experience with multitouch input in a single device.

PRICE: ` 17,200/82 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

Apple Thunderbolt LCD Monitor Doesn’t a creative mind always need a big wonderful screen to look at their creations? This is the perfect monitor for them.

Apple Thunderbolt Dipslay is an amazing device that comes with a sleek design. It is really great in looks and you can get the best level of connectivity options. It also offers a very good quality.

The audio output is also very good. This device will take you one step ahead technologically.

The image and colour quality are also very good. You can surely rely on this device for the best level of entertainment and function.

PRICE: ` 59,700/-

Microsoft Explorer Touch Mouse Creative minds also need an accurate mouse that follows every movement of their hand.

Microsoft Explorer Touch Mouse simplifies the way you navigate your PC. The mouse fashions a sleek and glazed finish. The touch strip supports a four way scrolling unlike others. The light indicator displays the status of the mouse. It eliminates the need to install special software. You can just plug the receiver and start navigating your PC. The mouse is wireless, thus offers maximum flexibility.

PRICE: `2,550/-

HP M1136 Laserjet Multi- function Printer Once the creative minds have thought about and executed about their designs, they would invariably want to print them out.

Or make copies of it too. With several functions like print,copy and scan, the Hewlett-Packard M1136 Laser Printer is suitable for such purposes. It hasa memory cache of 8MB and prints up to 18 pages per minute (PPM) to meet high outputdemand. It has a 150-sheet input tray to continuously feed paper and features a dual digitnumeric LED display for easy reference of its functions. Featuring USB 2.0 connectivity port, the multifunction printer can be easily added to a computer on the network.

PRICE: ` 10,199/-

Not just the best gaming rig, but the gamers usually need a whole lot of extras to keep them entertained. Here is our list of best gadgets for a gamers workstation.

FOR THE GAMER

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Alienware M14x Gaming Laptop

Sony Playstation Vita The Sony PlayStation Vita Wi-Fi Gaming Console is the complete entertainment solution thatprovides hours of fun even while travelling. Play your favourite games on this portable consolethat’s compact and fits the palm of your hands. This stylish gaming console provides Wi-Ficonnectivity and access to the Sony Entertainment Network. Listen to music or view images andvideos with this fun gadget. It also lets you click photos and play Augmented Reality games usingthe front and rear cameras.

PRICE: `19,990/-

Microsoft Xbox360 Kinect Sensor The Xbox 360 Sensor (Kinect) gives a new experience in gaming, by allowing you to use your voice and gestures to control the Xbox with no extra controller required.

As this Xbox features advanced gaming controls, parents can set password for certain programs to avoid children using them, for a safer play. You can jump, kick, spin and duck while playing, thus gaining new experience that this device has to offer. Those who are not comfortable with controllers can also easily play using this full body gaming device that senses your movements to play with you.

PRICE: `10,990/-

Logitech G9X Laser Mouse (Black) The sleek Logitech G9X Laser Mouse (Black) is sure to delight avid gamers with its precise designing and versatile functionality. The satin texture of the interchangeable grips offers unmatched control when playing high action combat games.

The two scroll modes allow easy movement and selection of different weapons while the polytetrafluoroethylene feet of the mouse easily glide on a variety of surfaces.

PRICE: ` 6,695/-

Dell’s Alienware series of gaming laptops have provided outstanding value for money, by ensuring they deliver on all aspects that gamers need – high quality video, audio and of course graphics performance.

Powered with some of the best hardware on any Dell laptop series, the Alienware line-up is created specifically for the gaming community and is able to keep up with any and every game that releases in the market. With a 14” form factor, it can easily fit on to the slimmest of workstations as well. With loads of new features like AlienAdrenaline, AlienFX, AlienFusion and AlienTouch- this is the perfect laptop for the gamer.

PRICE: ` 82,490/83 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

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FOR THE GEEK

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ADATA Nobility NH-03 Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook Mac mini MD388 Desktop Geeks who don’t have too much space for their gadgets should ideally get their hands on one of these. The e Apple Mac mini MD388 desktop by your side, computing is an absolute breeze.

Featuring Intel Quad Core i7, 2.3 GHz processor and OS X Mountain Lion, you can enjoy faster processing capability. Its whopping capacity of 1 TB hard disk makes storing huge video files, documents or movies an easy task. Its 4 GB DDR3 RAM provides you with faster operational ability.

PRICE: ` 52,90084 2012 84I EXHIBIT I EXHIBITI DECEMBER I JANUARY 2013

The Samsung Series 9 is one of the most amazing laptops that we have tested recently.

It has everything to be called an ultrabook, yet it has been branded as a notebook by Samsung. Nevertheless, the blazing performance, the ultra slim form factor and the exquisite build quality are truly awesome.

It costs a lot of money, but then again, this is the best option for a Windows ultrabook which actually competes with and beats the MacBook Air, overall. Add up your savings, or beg, borrow and steal to get this one!

PRICE: ` 1,02,990/-

Geeks always keep stacking up their data, they are always running out of space. If you are one just like this, then this is the perfect gadget for your data needs that has to be on your workstation. ADATA Nobility NH03 offers an economical cost per GB of Rs. 4.6 which is more than the WD My Book Essential 3TB drive which costs Rs. 3.9 per GB. But if you do not want that kind of capacity and are on a budget, this is the best powered drive you can get your hands on. At a mere Rs. 4300 you are getting a great performing drive which also looks better than most of the other drives on the market. Also its features such as encryption, one-button backup add value.

PRICE: ` 4300/-

ZOTAC GTX560 Ti AMP Edition If pure performance is what you are looking for in a mid range card, the ZOTAC GTX 560Ti AMP edition is right up your alley.

With an aftermarket cooler to keep the temperatures down, you will not get a better card at this price point. The Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is an added bonus.

What would make up a geek’s day more than this?

PRICE: ` 13,500/-

FOR THE MULTIMEDIA BUFF

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HP Omni 120-1115in 20" Desktop Enjoy superior computing with the HP Omni 120-1115in 20 inch Desktop PC that comes with touchscreen capabilities.

Complete your assignments with ease on the HP Omni 1201115in 20 inch Desktop Monitor that operates on the Genuine Windows 7 Home Basic operating system. The HP 20 inch Desktop PC has 2 GB DDR3 of memory that enables the system to run smoothly and quickly. With AMD Zacate E450 2 Core processor, the HP Omni 120-1115in Monitor provides efficient and effective computing.

PRICE: ` 27,499/-

Belkin ScreenCast AV 4 Wireless AV-to-HDTV Adapter The Belkin ScreenCast AV 4 Wireless AV-to-HDTV adapter lets you connect up to 4 HDMI devices like a DVR, a gaming console, a Blu-ray player and a cable box. You can store the AV equipment in a cabinet or even in another room and yet access it with this adapter’s 30 meter range. This Belkin wireless HDTV adapter offers a full-HD 1080p resolution, making the images crisper and clearer. Perfect for the multimedia buff who wants to enjoy some 3D movies with a 5.1 channel of surround sound.

PRICE: Rs. 18,999/-

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Sennheiser RS120 Wireless Headphones

Prolink 3M 1.4 HDMI Cable

These wireless headphones from Sennheiser offer great sound quality along with a strong bass response to make you enjoy your music without hassles. The wireless headphones offer a great frequency response of 22 Hz 19.5 kHz, have three selectable channels, and 106 dB Sensitivity.

Featured with a compact design constructed from lightweight material, these headphones are extremely comfortable to wear, posing perfect for enjoying your multimedia without being hassled with the wiring.

If you cannot help it and have to use cables, then the Prolink Chrome HDMI 1.4 3M Cable Is ideal for connecting to your tablet, smartphones, laptops and other HDMI enabled devices to your HDMI enabled television sets. The cable features 24K gold plated connectors and includes 3m cables that are lightweight and flexible for easy storage and travel. This cable transmits both audio and video and supports different video formats for versatile, trouble-free use. Simply plug in your gadget with your home theater system and enjoy movies, videos, songs with great ease.

PRICE: Rs. 6,490/-

PRICE: Rs. 1,999/85 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

We've also come up with the whackiest ideas in form of images for you to relish. As they say - a picture is worth a thousand words. We've got setups from Apple fans, music fans, fans of multiple displays, fans of multiple gadgets and what not! The cost associated in such set-ups might range from `50K to `5L. To connect more than one monitor, all you need to do is to have a simple multi-display USB-VGA adaptor, and you can also use HDMI cables to connect your gaming consoles to your HD TV sets. The possibilities in these images are virtually endless, but with a little bit of imagination and some research - you can certainly set-up an amazing workstation environment for yourself.

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PECT

Time for Apple to re-invent industry!

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ome pundits are predicting, and others are advocating, that Apple launch an iPhone that’s much cheaper than the current iPhone in order to keep up with Android phone sales.

This is crazy talk! Apple doesn’t need a cheaper iPhone. They need a more expensive one — much more expensive. Here’s why.

Android Gets Big Market Share with Small Profits Android phones are selling in vastly higher numbers than iPhones. So high, in fact, that Google Chairman Eric Schmidt says the market share numbers are comparable to Microsoft vs Apple in desktop operating systems in the past 20 years.

The difference Schmidt didn’t mention is that Microsoft always made money from Windows. The main reason Android is selling so well is that most Android phones are very cheap.

Sure, a tiny number of handset models like the Samsung Galaxy S3 are both very good and profitable. But the high-end, best-of-breed Android phones aren’t the ones driving massive market share numbers for the Android platform. These phones for the masses are not profitable Samsung Galaxy S3s, but instead no-name, no-margin Chinese-made pieces of junk, for the most part. They use Android in part because it’s free.

You’ll also note that, although there are hundreds of companies making Android phones, Apple makes far more money in mobile phone profits than all of them combined. To say that Apple should make a cheap phone in order to keep up with Android market share is madness. It’s like saying Ferrari should make a low-cost family car to keep up with Toyota!

Apple is a premium, aspirational brand. It successfully targets the most profitable sweet spot in the market. To slug it out in the muck with cheap Chinese phones for small margins would not only tarnish Apple’s image, it simply wouldn’t be worth the tech support, supply chain and manufacturing trouble.

Instead of a cheap, low-margin phone Apple should come out with an expensive, high-margin phone. A satellite phone!!!

Why a Satellite iPhone A satellite phone lets you make calls from anywhere — while hiking, traveling, sailing, or when your carrier just sucks and becomes unavailable. They’re great to have, but they can be expensive.

If you think satellite phones are ugly, boxy, heavy gadgets from the 90s with horrible, fat, swing-out antennas, then you may be unfamiliar with the TerreStar Genus phone. The Genus is a Windows Mobile smart phone, so nobody wants to buy it. It looks to me like a BlackBerry phone with extra heft in the back, presumably for the satellite antenna and electronics. The TerreStar Genus costs $800 unlocked on Amazon.com.

It works like a normal GSM phone, but you can switch to satellite mode for both voice and data. The phone enables users to switch into satellite mode, which supports voice, texting and data. The TerreStar Genus is not a great phone, and the satellite service isn’t great, either, nor is it global (it’s North America only).

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The point is that a relatively compact, satellite-capable smart phone is possible, and the rates for usage are more reasonable than you might expect. Apple isn’t in the business of cheap products that do the same things other phones do. Apple is in the business of re-inventing industries.

Apple needs to re-invent the satellite phone industry.

(Yes, I’m suggesting that Apple needs a space program.)

Just to give you a sense of scale and proportion, Apple could probably buy any one of the existing satellite phone providers for less than $3 billion. Better yet, Apple should develop its own high-speed, highcapacity global satellite network, which it could do for less than $5 billion, I would imagine. Note that running itsown satellite system would be expensive. But it would make Apple a wireless carrier, and a global one — for decades.

So the company would not only be able to get large profits from each handset, it would be able to earn hundreds or thousands of dollars from each user in carrier fees. I would guess off the top of my head that Apple could sell a satellite iPhone for, say, $1,500 unlocked, or $600 to $800 with a contract. The price should be whatever it costs Apple to make the phone, plus a fat margin of $500 or more.

While Android phones scramble to match the iPhone feature for feature, rendering it somewhat ordinary by comparison, a satellite iPhone would be almost impossible for competitors to beat. Plus, a super high-end iPhone would be an aspirational item that elevates the image of the entire iPhone brand.

And who would buy such a phone and pay such prices for handsets and service?

•Business travelers with expense accounts •People who live outside cell coverage areas •People who work or live on boats •World travelers •Government workers •Military people •NGO workers •Emergency workers •Contractors •Digital nomads •Journalists and bloggers •Posh rich people •People who enjoy outdoor recreation •Apple fans who want the very best of everything The reality is that Apple’s iPhone — once the industry’s new hotness — is quickly becoming old and busted as the rest of the industry copies, catches up or exceeds the iPhone in specs and features. The solution to this problem is not for Apple to come out with a cheap piece of crap.

The solution is for Apple to do what it does best: re-invent an industry, seize control of its ecosystem, think big and come out with the very best product in the world.

Apple needs an expensive satellite iPhone. And the high-margin, bigspending, jet-setting world needs one, too.

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WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY C

onsidered as one of the most challenging forms of photography, Wildlife Photography is the act of capturing wildlife in the camera lenses. As well as needing sound technical skills, such as being able to expose correctly, wildlife photographers generally need good field craft skills.

While wildlife photographs can be taken using basic equipment, successful photography of some types of wildlife requires specialist equipment, such as macro lenses for insects, long focal length lenses for birds and underwater cameras for marine life. However, since the advent of digital cameras, greater adventure travel and automated cameras, a great wildlife photograph can also be the result of being in the right place at the right time.

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TIPS FOR WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY Lighting:

Top lighting effect is not ideal for photographing wildlife or landscapes; low side lighting is better for showing detail in wildlife subjects and creates more interesting shadows in landscapes. So it’s important to make full use of the light at sunrise and again in the later afternoon.

Exposure:

Correct exposure is the key to successful photography and modern cameras, with their built-in metering systems, go a long way to reducing the possibility of incorrect exposure.

Depth of Field:

When the camera lens is focused to give a sharp image of a particular subject, other objects, closer or further away, do not appear equally as sharp. They can be made sharp by ‘stopping down’ using a smaller ‘f stop’. ‘Stopping down’ is important when photographing plants, insects and other small subjects as it reduces out of focus distractions. The opposite procedure can be used to help isolate your main centre of interest by making background or foreground distractions go out of focus.

Shutter Speed: Different shutter speeds produce varying effects with regard to subject blur and camera shake. Fast shutter speeds are desirable for stopping movement, such as flying birds and eliminating camera shake. It is worth remembering that is some situations movement of the subject during exposure can often result in a pleasing pictorial image.

Composition:

Composition is the tool by which we can express our artistic thoughts and so demands an active input. It is therefore in your own interest to be fully conversant with the factors relating to good composition. Changing your viewpoint can totally alter your image, we get used to seeing everything from a standing position, by kneeling or even lying down you are going to show an angle that we are not familiar with, which will often produce a more unusual result. A wide-angle lens used in this way can create some very interesting effects.

Blur The Background:

This is one of those wildlife photography tips that is particularly handy on a safari because often there is vegetation in the image that is distracting and blurring it gives more emphasis to the wildlife subject. The fancy name to describe the portion of the scene that appears sharp throughout the whole image is depth of field. But more important than knowing what it’s called is knowing how to control it. Three factors affect depth of field: the aperture, the focal length of the lens, and the camera to subject distance.

Focus on the Eyes:

A wildlife photograph where the subjects’ eyes are out of focus loses a lot of its appeal.

The reason is probably that we as humans are naturally drawn towards looking at eyes and if you can’t see them due to blurring, it’s a little jarring. Whatever the reason, always keep the eyes of your subject in focus and if you can capture the sun glinting in the pupil you get bonus points because that really livens up the picture.

Create Active Space:

Leave space for animals to move into when you frame your images. This may seem like one of the obvious wildlife photography tips but in the heat of the moment it’s easy to forget the basics.

Use a Beanbag or Window Mounted Tripod:

Hand holding your camera in safari wildlife photography is often a luxury because of the large lenses which magnify every vibration and the low light of dawn and dusk when the subjects are most active. So some kind of rest to lean your camera equipment on is a very good idea to keep your pictures pin sharp.Most of your photography on safari will be done from inside a vehicle so a tripod to stabilize your camera is impractical. A beanbag does the job very well and it’s very quick to set up.

Know Your Gear Before You Go:

Buying or renting a new camera and/or lens shortly before going on safari is not a good idea if you don’t have time to practice and get some experience with it.

A safari is not the best time to learn because wildlife is unpredictable and often they aren’t going to give you enough time to fiddle with the camera settings and setup before they disappear into the undergrowth.

Notes:

Either date and or number each film, using an indelible felt tip pen. Then, by keeping details notes of what you saw each day, you will then be able to accurately caption your photographs.

Code of Conduct:

It should always be remembered that the welfare of the subject is more important the photograph. Do not go too close, Do not use flash if it might disturb the subject, Do not make lots of noise. Do not discard any form of litter. Take only pictures leave only memories!

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Gears for Wildlife Photography: While it is obvious that a camera that allows a wide variety of interchangeable telephoto lenses is always “in” for wildlife photography, one should keep in mind that it’s always better to carry lesser weight while clicking animals. Superzoom cameras are always better than DSLR in terms of their size and weight, but then…you can never get rid of the noise and grains in the photographs.

So, we recommend a Micro Four Thirds camera! Here is what we are talking about…

The Micro Four Thirds system is a standard created by Olympus and Panasonic for mirrorless interchangeable lens digital cameras and camcorders design and development. It is a photographic system for film photography.

The name ‘Four Thirds’ derives from the size and format of the image sensor used in the camera bodies. The system was developed by Olympus in partnership with Panasonic. MFT shares the original image sensor size and specification with the Four Thirds system, designed for DSLRs. Unlike Four Thirds, the MFT system design specification does not provide space for a mirror box and a pentaprism, allowing smaller bodies to be designed, and a shorter flange focal distance and hence smaller lenses to be designed. Virtually any lens can be used on MFT camera bodies, as long as an adapter exists.

Why MFT for Wildlife Photography?

Due to its light weight and compact size, MFT cameras are welcomed for wildlife photography. Also, since MFT cameras don’t have a pentaprism, (lesser number of reflection from the subject to the lens) and hence a much low shutter lag, clicking animals is much easier and faster a job. Here are some more reasons: • • • • • • • • •

The shorter flange focal distance may also allow for smaller and lighter lenses.

The absence of a mirror eliminates the need for an additional precision assembly, along with its “mirror slap” noise and resultant camera vibration/movement.

Viewfinders can be used when filming videos.

In continuous mode (video takes or sequential shots) the smaller sensor can be cooled better to avoid the increase of image noise.

The autofocus performance is the same for stills and videos, so the speed is much faster than conventional DSLRs in video mode.

Some of the Best MFT Cameras Sony Alpha NEX-7:

Sony Alpha NEX-F3:

Features: Articulating Screen

Features: Articulating Screen

Type: Micro Four-Thirds/Mirrorless

`79,990

Type: Micro Four-Thirds/Mirrorless

`46,299

Outstanding stills; Excellent noise-handling characteristics; Attractive, compact design; Sharp, bright 3-inch LCD display; Ample lens options.

Quality 16-megapixel stills and AVCHD movies; APS-C sized sensor; Tilting 3-inch LCD screen.

Olympus O-MD E-M5:

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1:

Features: 3D-Capable

Features: Features HD Video Recording, Touchscreen

Type: Micro Four-Thirds/Mirrorless

Type: Micro Four-Thirds/Mirrorless

`69,990

Great battery life; Superior image quality, even in low light; You can really push ISO without sacrificing resolution; Durability; Very powerful auto-focus and image stabilization technology.

`44,000

High-quality 16-megapixel stills and Full HD AVCHD movies; Extensive photo tweaks; Solid build with quality 3-inch touchscreen LCD.

Nikon 1 V1: Features: HD Video Recording Type: Micro Four-Thirds/Mirrorless

`48,950

Beautiful LCD screen/EVF; Quality photos/movies with enough light; Fast focusing.

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CYBER WARFARE Security, Risks & the Players

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ur modern lifestyle relies on critical infrastructure and industrial plants that use complex networks of computers, PLC controllers, remote terminal units and other specialized equipment. However as these industrial networks have become more complex and interconnected, Cyber Security becomes more and more important to ensure their continued safe and reliable operation.

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DEFINE: CYBER SECURITY But, before we go any further in discussing the term Cyber Security, let’s first define it shall we. Here’s how Wikipedia has defined it –

Computer security is information security as applied to computers and networks.

The field covers all the processes and mechanisms by which computer-based equipment, information and services are protected from unintended or unauthorized access, change or destruction. This included not only protection from unauthorized activities or untrustworthy individuals, but also from unplanned events and natural disasters.

HACKING

It’s not a new phenomenon. But, due to recent attacks on various websites from hacker groups like Anonymous, the need for Cyber security has been discussed in more detail and in more tech circles than ever before. But, of course, hacking and taking websites down have been around for many years too.

Sometime in 2010, the BBC had done a great series on TV just to show the people how websites can be hacked into and what exactly the hackers intend to do. They explained initially in brief what DDoS (Distributed Denial Of Service) means and then actually showed how it works! Well, not entirely, but just enough for the viewers to get a fairly good idea about the whole thing. Of course, they also explained why ‘cyber criminals’ (or, punks who are nerds) want to be involved in such activities – extortion. They hold websites ransom for an amount of money, which for them, is the easiest way to make a buck. Websites hate being down for more than a few minutes, as it means potential losses in thousands, millions and even billions of dollars – depending on the scale of the attack and the services offered by the site itself. Gambling and high-traffic websites were discussed as high risk targets. And within a few minutes, with the help of only 26 machines – they were able to take down their target. It was quite that easy.

Things have, thankfully, changed for the better.

SECURE BY DESIGN

Secure by design, in software engineering, means that the software has been designed from the ground up to be secure. Malicious practices are taken for granted and care is taken to minimize impact when a security vulnerability is discovered or on invalid user input.

Generally, designs that work well do not rely on being secret. It is not mandatory, but proper security usually means that everyone is allowed

to know and understand the design because it is secure. This has the advantage that many people are looking at the code, and this improves the odds that any flaws will be found sooner (Linus’ law). Of course, attackers can also obtain the code, which makes it easier for them to find vulnerabilities as well.

Also, it is very important that everything works with the least amount of privileges possible (principle of least privilege). For example a Web server that runs as the administrative user (root or admin) can have the privilege to remove files and users that do not belong to itself. Thus, a flaw in that program could put the entire system at risk. On the other hand, a Web server that runs inside an isolated environment and only has the privileges for required network and filesystem functions, cannot compromise the system it runs on unless the security around it is in itself also flawed.

Cyber security standards

Cyber security standards are security standards which enable organizations to practice safe security techniques to minimize the number of successful cyber security attacks. These guides provide general outlines as well as specific techniques for implementing cyber security. For certain specific standards, cyber security certification by an accredited body can be obtained. There are many advantages to obtaining certification including the ability to get cyber security insurance.

STANDARD OF GOOD PRACTICE

In the 1990s, the Information Security Forum (ISF) published a comprehensive list of best practices for information security, published as the Standard of Good Practice (SoGP). The ISF continues to update the SoGP every two years; the latest version was published in 2011.

Originally the Standard of Good Practice was a private document available only to ISF members, but the ISF has since made the full document available to the general public at no cost.

Among other programs, the ISF offers its member organizations a comprehensive benchmarking program based on the SoGP. Furthermore, it is important for those in charge of security management to understand and adhere to NERC CIP compliance requirements.

Who is at risk?

Quite frankly – everyone! It’s always lucrative for hackers to gain hold of confidential information from large corporations, but that doesn’t mean that hacking personal computers is not lucrative for them.

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So, if organizations are spending thousands of dollars trying to improve their information security architecture, what can a person with minimal money to spend on this, do? Look at available tools, of course! Like Data loss prevention software.

Data loss/leak prevention solution is a system that is designed to detect potential data breach incidents in timely manner and prevent them by monitoring data while in-use (endpoint actions), in-motion (network traffic), and at-rest (data storage). In data leakage incidents, sensitive data is disclosed to unauthorized personnel either by malicious intent or inadvertent mistake. Such sensitive data can come in the form of private or company information, intellectual property (IP), financial or patient information, credit-card data, and other information depending on the business and the industry.

The terms “data loss” and “data leak” are closely related and are often used interchangeably, though they are somewhat different. Data loss incidents turn into data leak incidents in cases where media containing sensitive information is lost and subsequently acquired by unauthorized party. However, a data leak is possible without the data being lost in the originating side. Some other terms associated with Data Leakage Prevention are Information Leak Detection and Prevention (IDLP), Information Leak Prevention (ILP), Content Monitoring and Filtering (CMF), Information Protection and Control (IPC), and Extrusion Prevention System (EPS), as opposed to intrusion prevention system.

DLP Categories

The technological means employed for dealing with data leakage incidents can be divided into the following categories: standard security measures, advanced/intelligent security measures, access control and encryption, and designated DLP systems .

Standard security measures

Standard security measures, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDSs), and

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antivirus software, are commonly available mechanisms that guard computers against outsider as well as insider attacks. The use of firewall, for example, limits the access of outsiders to the internal network, and an intrusion detection system detects intrusion attempts by outsiders. Inside attacks can be diverted through antivirus scans that detect Trojan horses installed on PCs which send confidential information, and by the use of thin clients, which operate in a client-server architecture with no personal or sensitive data stored on a client’s computer.

Advanced security measures

Advanced security measures employ machine learning and temporal reasoning algorithms for detecting abnormal access to data (i.e., databases or information retrieval systems) or abnormal email exchange, honeypots for detecting authorized personnel with malignant intentions, and activity-based verification (e.g., recognition of keystrokes dynamics) for detecting abnormal access to data.

Designated DLP solutions

Designated DLP solutions detect and prevent unauthorized attempts to copy or send sensitive data, intentionally or unintentionally, without authorization, mainly by personnel who are authorized to access the sensitive information. In order to classify certain information as sensitive, these solutions use mechanisms, such as exact data matching, structured data fingerprinting, statistical methods, rule and regular expression matching, published lexicons, conceptual definitions, and keywords.

Then- there are always Firewalls.

A firewall can either be software-based or hardware-based and is used to help keep a network secure. Its primary objective is to control the incoming and outgoing network traffic by analyzing the data packets and determining whether it should be allowed through or not, based on a predetermined rule set. A network’s firewall builds a bridge between an internal network that is assumed to be secure

and trusted, and another network, usually an external (inter)network, such as the Internet, that is not assumed to be secure and trusted.

Many personal computer operating systems include software-based firewalls to protect against threats from the public Internet. Many routers that pass data between networks contain firewall components and, conversely, many firewalls can perform basic routing functions.

HACKITIVISM Anonymous (used as a mass noun) is a loosely associated hacktivist group. It (is estimated to have) originated in 2003 on the imageboard 4chan, representing the concept of many online and offline community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic, digitized global brain. It is also generally considered to be a blanket term for members of certain Internet subcultures, a way to refer to the actions of people in an environment where their actual identities are not known. It strongly opposes Internet censorship and surveillance, and has hacked various government websites. It has also targeted major security corporations. Its members can be distinguished in public by the wearing of stylised Guy Fawkes masks.

They have been hacking a whole lot of websites for many months, and they are an every growing group. Governments of the world have been so annoyed with their activities that they are now introducing new laws to curb the use of internet itself.

But, will that really put an end to all this cyber warfare? We shall wait and watch.

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The Royalty Of Photography Leica’s Success Story

P

hotography is both an art as well as a science. It’s the artist who sees things differently from the viewfinder of his camera, but it is the science behind the camera that lets the artist capture the image and showcase it to the world. Very few camera and lens maker companies, though, have been able to do it so well, and for so long – as Leica.

If you’re not an avid photographer and haven’t heard the name of this brand in India, then don’t despair. Chances are, there are millions of people just like you- who may have certainly heard of Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm and even Panasonic cameras, but never Leica. It certainly is a rather different brand from these, as it does not believe in making cameras and lenses for the masses, but only for the classes. Now, you might be wondering – what’s the point in making only high-end cameras? Or how different is Leica from the likes of Vertu – who make exclusive smartphones for the filthy rich? Well, you see, the answer is quite complicated to understand fully.

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Let’s get a few things straight, right from the beginning. Leica is a German camera-maker with a long history of camera and lens making and like most German companies they believe in perfection. But, it’s not just any kind of perfection- but more a poetic and artistic kind of perfection, which one can feel when they hold a Leica camera in their hands. But unlike most German companies- Leica was quite stubborn to change. To change to the digital format and adopt the trend that the entire photography industry was going through, Leica stuck itself out like a sore thumb. But, it eventually cave in, and introduced some digital cameras. It was still, however, not willing to fully integrate technology – it left the focusing to the artist, the photographer, himself. With something called a range-finder, they still wanted some mechanical bits left in their most modern cameras too, so that some of the tradition of their long lineage can be maintained. It certainly never meant that these cameras were in any way inferior to the all automatic and all powerful cameras of the modern era, in fact in some ways the Leica cameras will always be better. But, to really understand the reasons behind this, we must understand their history first.

HISTORY OF LEICA

Ernst Leitz I Senior [1843-1920]

Once photographing meant a large box camera on a tripod, shifting film plate after each shot - and working with a dark cloth over your head and the camera.

Ernst Leitz I becomes partner in the factory "Optical Institute" [founded 1849 by Carl Kellner to produce optical microscopes] with its twelve employees in 1865 together with the widow of the original founder and her husband, Friedrich Behltle (an apprentice of Kellner who married the widow after Kellner died in 1855 of Tuberculosis at age 29).

But then something happened...

The Leica was extremely compact and could be fitted with a very high quality lens that enabled photographers to work in ordinary outdoor settings with available light. It was always instantly ready to capture life and action effortlessly from any angle with the photographer often able to remain unnoticed. Without the usual heavy equipment, photographs of people no longer had to be confined to stiff conventionally artistic poses.

In 1869 he takes over the sole management and expands it under his name: Ernst Leitz Optical Industry. Twenty years later there is 120 employees and they have sold their microscope no 10.000.

"Barnack's camera" Oskar Barnack was the manager of the Development Dept. at Leitz and designer of the Ur-Leica which he made two (possibly three) samples of in the period 1908-1923 with the purpose to test film stock for movie films. Or perhaps because he couldn't carry the traditional large plate cameras and wanted a smaller camera for him self. As early as 1905, he had the idea of reducing the format of negatives and then enlarging the photographs after they had been exposed.

In any case, he learned that it could actually be turned into a new type of compact as the "rotated" film format of film was plenty sharp (the film format was 24x18mm for large cinema theater screens, and rotating the film inside the camera and doubling the area made the 24x36mm format). Another Leitz employee, Max Berek, was instrumental in developing a lens for this camera, as he developed the first 50mm f/3.5 lens as the optimum focal length for the 24 x 36mm format.

Ernst Leitz II decided to put it into commercial production in 1924. Ernst Leitz made this decision on his own as all of his advisers warned him against the large risk it would involve for such a rather small company to enter the camera market.

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Ernst Leitz II aka Ernst Leitz Junior [1871-1956] Ernst Leitz II takes over after his fathers dead in 1920 and when he decides to start production of the Leitz camera in 1924 there is 1.000 employees in the company. He was also the one helping hundreds of jews flee Germany during the World War, together with his daugher Elise Kuhn-Leitz.

timeline 1849

Optical Institute was established by Carl Kellner (1826-1855).

1863

Ernst Leitz I Senoir joined the Optical Institute.

1869

Ernst Leitz I Senior [1843-1920] takes over the company and rename it Ernst Leitz Optical Industry.

1907

E Leitz, Wetzlar began manufacturing of binoculars on top of being one of the leading producers of microscopes in the world.

1925

The debut of the Leica Model A (or Leica I) at the Leipzig Spring Fair. The first cameras had Berek’s 50mm Elmax lens in a non interchangeable mount. The Elmax name is purportedly named after Berek’s dog, Max. (Later, the 50mm Hektor lens was introduced and again is supposed to be named after another of his dogs).

1966

In April production starts in the Oberlahn plant. Also this year Leica introduces the 800mm Tele Elmarit-R lens at Photokina, the lens that was sold in the US with a complimentary Volkswagen beetle with it.

1969

Leica supplied a Trinovid 10 X 40 especially modified monocular for the NASA Apollo 11 which became the first optical device used on the moon.

1987

On the January 1st, 1987, Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH and Wild Heerbrugg AG merges to form the Wild Leitz group. The new company employs a total 9,000 people.

1990

The merger of Wild Leitz Holding AG with The Cambridge Instrument Company plc creates the new Leica Holding B.V. group. So now the Leica name also stands for the leading manufacturer of microscopes, surveying and photogrammetry systems, as well as opticalscientific instruments. Incorporation of the Zett-Geräte-Werk (former Zeiss-Ikon) into the Leica Camera Group and foundation of Leica Projektion GmbH.

1996

On April 1st, Leica takes over the camera division of Minox GmbH, manufacturer of subminiature and miniature cameras. On July 25th, 1996 the Leica Camera GmbH is transformed into a public company. Now the company is called Leica Camera AG.

2001

Leica Camera AG started co-operation with Panasonic (Matsushita), developing lens designs for Panasonic Lumix cameras, Panasonic cameras and Panasonic video recorders, as well as some of the Panasonic projectors (only those with the “Leica” are made by Leica). The coorporation also includes co-production of later Panasonic/Leica “twin cameras” such as the Leica Digilux, Leica D-Lux, Leica V-Lux. Some developed and produced by Panasonic, with a Leica edition designed by Leica, others developed by Leica and produced by Panasonic (the Digilux 2 is one such).

2006

Leica Camera AG announces a series of new digital cameras at Photokina in September 2006.

Amongst them, the long aviated Leica M8 digital camera.

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Leica M8 takes the role as preferred rangefinder camera for professionals The Leica M8 digital camera had a few problems in the beginning that required Leica Camera AG to issue free filters to their customers. After months of discussions and frustrations, one could read comments like these from professional photographers on the Leica User Forum (July 2007):

"I have to confess I haven't used my Canon 5D since getting an M8. But then again the same thing happened to my film SLRs when I bought my first M - an M2 - a number of years ago, so I haven't been surprised.�

"I still use my Canon 5D along with my Leica M8, but I use my Canon Mark II's and a large selection of lenses (from 8mm - 500mm). When you are a working photo-journlist, the Leica M8 becomes just another tool in the bag. Yes, I must say that the Leica M8 bag (a Domke F-6 Little Bit Samller Bag) now goes on every assignment (even If I do not get a chance to use it)"

2008 At Photokina 2008 Leica introduced the updated Leica M8 called Leica M8.2. Apart from the new darker black lacquer, leatherlike "vulcanite" finish and - more notable - the black Leica dot (on the silver edition of the camera the red dot has been maintained; and one can actually also get the black witht he 'original' red dot), the changes are mainly to be found in the details and inside: A new metal blade focal plane shutter that reduces the shutter sound to nearly a whisper, a new scratch-resistant sapphire crystal as cover glass for the screen on the back of the camera, a "S" snapshot mode (where the camera decides everything but aperture and focus) as well as a new compact charger.

New lenses introduced in September 2008

Most notable, the replacement for the 1969 edition 50mm Noctilux-M f/1.0 was announced; as the 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 was introduced as a new and most impressive low light lens for the 35mm camera range. But also two other impressive lenses were introduced in the 21mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 (pictured on the camera above) and the 24mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. Leica also introduced a new compact 24mm Elmar-M ASPH f/3.8 lens for the M cameras.

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2009 Leica plan to start delivery of the Leica S2 medium format digital SLR camera as well as the first four lenses from November 2010 (with another five to follow shortly).

Stopping production of new R lenses In February 2009 Leica announced that they would stop the production of the traditional R-lenses as well as the Leica R9 film camera.

Remaining stocks were sold with 25-50% discounts.

Leica stopped developing the R10 camera In July 2009 Leica Camera AG announced that they would not develop a Leica R10 fullframe digital SLR camera based on the Leica S2, with new auto focus R-lenses, as promised. They were of the opinion that the promised camera would turn out to be so expensive that there would be no market for it. Though they would at a later stage present “a digital solution” suitable for R-lenses.

Meanwhile, it ain’t over till it’s over! there is many great second-hand Leica R lenses, and these can actually be used on Canon dSLR cameras (such as the Canon 5D Mark II or Canon 1ds Mark III) using for example the Novoflex Leica R to Canon adapter. It’s still manual focus lenses, but with focus confirmation in the Canon camera. Another possibility is to have the Leica R lenses refitted with Nikon bayonets by the company Leitax (though that will make the lenses unusable on Leica R cameras).

Leica and viral marketing The Leica M9 introduction Introducing a collection of ground-breaking new products - and viral marketing at its best On September 9, 2009 at 9:09 AM Leica announced that they would present what Leica Camera AG CEO Rudi Spiller called “a collection of new groundbreaking products.”

As soon as the video below came out on August 31, 2009, speculations went like a wildfire, and within hours it was reported that the long awaited/rumored Leica M9 was actually shown in the video as a teaser. And if you watch the video at 0:54 you will notice an ISO button on the camera back that is not on the Leica M8 or Leica M8.2. Few seconds later in the video, at 0:58 you will notice that the top plate of the camera is missing the picture counter and that the round left side of the body has been lowered.

In matter of hours from then people from all walks of life had used their personal

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knowledge to try to ‘reverse-engineer’ the actual M9 from the two small glimpses in the video. Did it in have the same size or would we be presented for a new “German Tank” a la the slightly bigger Leica M5? Would it even be technically possible to maintain the size of a “classic Leica M” and still achieve a full frame sensor? One Leica user had used special software to figure out the sizes of the new M9 based on the size of the flash shoe (and had it almost right).

Leica M9 confirmed In 2008 Leica Camera AG had officially said (once again) that a full frame Leica M was impossible. In July 2009 the head of product development, Stefan Daniel (see below) had revealed that Leica Camera AG was in fact working on a solution, but that it would take considerable time.

As it turns out, Leica was not only able to present the Leica M9 with full frame sensor on September 9, 2009 at 9:09 in New York, the had also had a number of photographers beta-testing the Leica M9 since July 2009.

The presentation also revealed a new Leica S2 medium format camera and a Leica X1 with APS-sized CMOS sensor.

2010 The results for first half of 2010 showed a 139.6 % increase in sale of Leica cameras, and an overall 100% increase on all Leica Camera AG products from the Leica CRF 1600 laser rangefinder (used to measure distances) to Leica binoculars. The 140% increase in sale should be viewed with the general 10% increase in sale of cameras worldwide (130 million cameras in 2009 to 140 million in 2010) The main reasons for the increase given in the Half year financial report from Leica are the newly developed cameras Leica M9, Leica X1, Leica S2 and the V-Lux 20. Even the bulk of product development of the M9 and S2 was in 2009 and prior, Leica has almost doubled the amount spent on product development in first half of 2010.

Operating result (EBIT) improved from € –7.2 million first half of 2009 to € 13.9 million for first half of 2010.

The new Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 saw the light. An improved design without focus shifts and able to (that is my opinion from the ones I have tested) produce Leica M9 files as sharp and detailed as a Leica S2 file.

The balance, the feel and size of the new Leica Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 simply feels right on the Leica M9 body.

This special edition Leica M9 titanium is the first limited edition that features technical advancements as well beyond the usual special edition colors and leather: The frame lines are mechanical, but red LED illuminated. The hand-grip on the camera is also a completely new thing never seen before, and the titanium lens shade is also a completely new design.

Price of the package is 22,000 Euro including a story book.

Leitz-Park Leica Camera AG has been planning to add an additional factory to their existing since 2008, as can be seen below. The building was planned to finish in spring 2011 but the building project was paused when the “global finance crisis” set in.

The main facility is in the “old” factory in Solms (which has been expanded with a few extra wooden buildings and also feature a new reception area with a new Leica Solms flagship store). Customer Service is in a separate building in Solms, a few minutes away by car, and features a nice waiting area for customers coming by with their equipment for service and adjustment.

2011 Leica Camera AG, and Dr. Andres Kaufmann in particular, have made no secret that there till be more Leica Flagship Stores (on top of the 14 existing as of January 2011). In March 2011 Leica Camera AG opened Leica Store no 15 and no 16 (at 1010 Nanjing Road West) in Shanghai and Beijing (As the Chinese market has shown huge interest in the past years (and enough to empty out the Hong Kong stores and a few others) this seem like the right move), and on April 21 the 17th store opened in Leica Store Rome, Italy. The 18th store is the Leica Store Marseille, France.

The 19th Leica Store Kangnam and 20th store Leica Store Chungmoo-ro opened in Seoul on May 5, 2011. Also, the German Leica-chain Meister Camera opened their Leica Store München on May 19, 2011.

Also, in 2011-2012, authorized Leica dealers will be installing shop-in-shop concepts in their traditional stores in a design that aligns with the Leica Stores.

Leica and Magnum Part of the introduction of the Leica M9-P in June 2011 was also the announcement of a collaboartion with Magnum Photos (a picture agency founded in 1947 by photographers Robert Capa, David “Chim” Seymour, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and William Vandivert) Leica will draw on the extensive history of Magnum and their photographers use of Leica cameras and collaborate on new projects as the one below by Christopher Anderson.

2012 January 2012 the first RED EPIC users started playing around with the Leica adapters that will enable RED EPIC video cameras to take Leica R and Leica M lenses. As if it wasn’t hard enough to get Leica M lenses, this won’t make it easier. And the R lenses that seemed to have dropped a little in price are likely to go op again, especially on the more exotic ones that are suitable for video.

IN CONCLUSION There are plenty of camera and lensmakers in the market, but there is only one as special as Leica. We hope this success diary on them has enlightened you about the rich history and their inner workings and their line of cameras. Range finder and no autofocus? Leica is okay with it. And so are

Photokina Photokina 2012 is September 18-23 in Cologne, Germany but Leica had their release party on the evening of September 17 of the new Leica S (aka Leica S3), Leica M (aka Leica M10) and Leica ME (rebranded Leica M9 with lower price tag).

THE FUTURE After two years (2010-2011) with major expansion (in 2011 the sale raised 57% and the consolidated income grew to tenfold $ 45 million), year 2012 is estimated to end with a 10% increase in sale, simply because the production facilities could not output more. As an example, there is a two year waiting list on the Leica 90mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 lens.

So 2013 will be the year where Leica Camera AG will be expanding the production facilities, with the help from Blackstone Group LP who took an indirect 44% ownership in 2012.

A Leica mini-M seem to be under development and will - according to Stefan Daniel at a

speech back in September 2010- not be ready for Photokina 2012... So we are talking later than that. But what we do know is that they are aiming at a mirrorless camera (the Leica M has always been mirrorless, but we’re probably talking CMOS sensors that will enable live view and thus focus confirmation). This camera will also contain the R-solution which means that it will be able to take R lenses and offer focus confirmation for these. But it will mainly be a Leica M camera as the Leica R users are less than 1/10th the number of the Leica M users (which is why Leica Camera AG gave up spending 8 - 30 million Euro developing an R10 camera - the M9 research was 8 million, the Leica S2 was 30 million Euro). Also, Leica has two lens mounts, the M-bayonet and the S-bayonet. To add a new R or replacement for the R was simply not feasible.

A guess could be that the Leica M10 might in fact be a Leica MP10 as a classic development of the Leica M9 with more dynamic range, more megapixels, larger buffer and longer battery time - and not much more changed (except perhaps on the inside with GPS, improved ISO, synchronization of camera time with online services, etc). And then a Leica M10 electronic with electronic viewfinder integrated or as add-on (like on the Leica D-Lux 5), focus confirmation and other modern features: Those people keep asking for but which “real M fanatics” wouldn’t want on their Leica M cameras. One of the expensive features of the Leica M is the rangefinder mechanism.

A camera without it would be less expensive to produce and would contain some of the features, people occupied with new features, are asking for.

In the same interview Stefan Daniel also said that Leica would not give up the Leica M9 style with the rangefinder. And probably wise in saying and thinking so; because many like the classic feel and look of the Leica M as it is with analog rangefinder mechanism and all. And it’s a unique market position - nobody else in the entire world make such a camera.

The Leica M9 Titanium special edition play some role in this future of the M system, in the same manner as a project model play a role for the car industry. Some times they go into production, some times they don’t.

IN CONCLUSION 103 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

R

ide For Safety focuses on the importance and awareness of being covered in protection while riding any 2 wheeler. It is of utmost importance that all the bikers participating in the ride wear at least a helmet while riding their bikes. Additional safety gear is recommended to them that includes gloves, jackets, knee pads etc. The fun of a motorcycle and a good ride goes hand in hand with being equipped with the right gear.

The urge for carrying a torch is also created whenever you ride and educate other bikers on our journey.

The Cause Ambassador for RFS 2013, Deepa Malik, an Arjuna Awardee,is a dynamic lady with chest-below paralysis has voluntarily involved herself in this ride.

Deepa Malik, to the un introduced, is a Limca Record holder and has made invaluable contributions to national motor sport. With the Helmet Awareness Bike Rally, Deepa will come forth to highlight her cause for promotion of disabled motorcycle and car enthusiasts, also supplementing and highlighting automotive safety in the country.

RFS 2013 kicks off on 10th February 2013 at 10am from Bandra (exact venue TBA) and the safety ride will terminate @ Nariman point (NCPA) by 12 pm.

Wait! There’s more!! Now stand a chance to meet the Cast & Crew of Shootout at Wadala along with exciting prizes worth Rs. 10,000 –15,000! (If we have more than One winner then prize would be shared amongst all winners and it will be at the sole discretion of the organiser) This is your only chance to hang out with the true biker boys – John Abraham & Sonu Sood. All you need to do is simply share exciting ways of how best, safe riding can be promoted in our country. Your ideas should be innovative, exciting, meaningful & help RFS build a safer riding community.

Organised by Mr. Vijay D Jain, who is a prolific biker, an award winning national level motorcycle stunt champion and an active face in the motor sport scenario in India, RFS stands for motorcycle safety for all age groups and all type of 2 wheelers. A cause very close to his heart, Vijay has dedicated his life to educating and guiding bikers of all categories on how best to protect yourself as well as people around you while riding a motorcycle. RFS was formed in 2005 and since then has grown leaps and bounds in the automotive scene. With every passing year RFS grows with a stronger message, bigger fan following and an even better RFS event. Taken seriously by the RTO and leading MNC’s, RFS today gains immense support from organisations and people alike.

For More details visit www.rideforsafety.com Event organised by- Wheelieboy Adventures (India) Ltd.

RIDE FOR SAFETY HELMET AWARENESS RALLY

LIVES Flag Off : 10th Feb. 2013, 10 Am, B. K. C. Mumbai Multi - Media Partner

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PECT

Upcoming SUVs We continue with our list of SUV candidates which are waiting in line for launch in 2013. So will these three succeed in tempting us this year to part ways with our hard-earned cash? Only time will tell.

Porsche Macan Launch Date: Late 2013 Expected Price – ` 45-50 lakhs

The Macan is still in the testing phase and we have no official pics yet. But this is being hailed as Porsche’s entry into the segment dominated by the Range Rover Evoque in practically every continent where Land Rover has its presence. Built on the underpinnings of the Audi Q5, the Macan has been in development since 2010 and the first production car is expected to roll out in 2013. India being a key market for Porsche in Asia and since the brand needs an entry level model below its highly expensive Cayenne SUV, the Macan has all the chances of reaching our showrooms later this year. Named after the Indonesian word for “Tiger”, the Macan will be built in the same factory in Leipzig, Germany where the Panamera and Cayenne are manufactured. Though the details on the engine options are still in the wraps, the Macan is expected to feature V6 petrol and 4-cylinder diesel engines with power outputs ranging from 220bhp to 300bhp. Engines will be borrowed from the Cayenne and the Panamera for variants which will have higher outputs. Transmissions on offer will include a seven-speed manual or a seven-speed dual-clutch PDK unit.

2013 Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara Launch Date: Mid 2013 Expected Price – ` 22-25 lakhs

Volkswagen Taigun

Launch Date: Late 2013 Expected Price – ` 10 lakhs Volkswagen has established itself as one of the most respected and valued brands in the country in a short span of time. The Vento and the Polo has found loads of takers in their segments and the premium sedans – the Passat and the Jetta – have also had quite a winning run so far. The elegant design, build quality and brand value being the chief reasons for buyers shifting loyalties from other to VW, the company has also got superluxury contenders like the Touareg and the Phaeton to lure attention away from Bimmers and Mercs. But the last two cars being relatively low-sellers and the action in the Indian market shifting to SUVs and crossovers, VW is planning to launch an entry-level SUV in India. Named the Taigun, the compact SUV based on the platform of the Up! small car was showcased at the Sao Polo Motor Show in October 2012. This might instantly pop the question, “Won’t it then take long for it to come to us?” Well, chances are that since this is car which would make perfect sense in the Indian market if launched at the sub-Rs.10 lakh price range, VW might consider India in the initial launch list. It also looks the part with the influence of its big brothers – the Tiguan and Touareg – evident in its stance and lines. Though the engine specs released so far speak about a 1.0 litre turbo charged direct injection petrol unit, we do anticipate a diesel variant to make it to us. Upon launch, it will take on the Renault Duster, the Ford Ecosport and the Chevrolet Trax in the Indian arena.

Maruti hasn’t tasted success with the Grand Vitara even if they re-launched it with better looks and features once. The first Grand Vitara was too outdated alongside the Honda CR-V and the V6 variant gulped petrol like starved horse in the middle of the Sahara desert. The all-new model which came later didn’t help as the Vitara’s image had stuck as gas-guzzler and no matter how much robust and well-made the rest of the machine was, it didn’t meet the sales expectations set by Maruti Suzuki. It still continues to be sold in limited numbers though. With the 2013 model being planned for release in many markets around the globe, India too is waiting for the arrival of the freshened up SUV. Major changes include the new front end which now has a new grille and bumper. Other noticeable updates are the black headlamp lenses, black inserts for the fog lamps and new alloys wheels. The side profile remains the same and so does the interior. Powered by the same 2.4 litre naturally aspirated, four cylinder petrol engine that produces 165bhp of power and 225Nm of torque, Maruti Suzuki continues to play it safe instead of opting for the V6.

The four-wheel drive system with a shift-on-the-fly function will make it a capable mud-plugger, if you wouldn’t mind having a couple of scratches on the shiny paint job.

...Sanjoy Alexander

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TREME

SNAKE EYES

The Viper is back and we are glad that it hasn’t changed much.

For those who were glued to their couches in the mid 90’s, the NBC TV show named VIPER must be familiar. After Knight Rider and the Dukes of Hazzard, there hadn’t been as successful a show which revolved around cars till VIPER came along. Though it didn’t do the numbers of the aforementioned series, the show did run for four seasons which added up to 78 action-packed episodes. The star of the show was the Viper Defender – a futuristic car which is more or less like the Shelby Mustang GT500KR from the new (but discontinued) Knight Rider series when it comes to its features list. VIPER tried to bring back the fun of Knight Rider without having a talking car and to make up for that they decided to have a show car which will have the looks to kill. At that time, the Dodge Viper RT/10 was making waves for its bespoke styling and road presence. The show’s makers approached Chrysler who instantly saw the potential that the opportunity provided. Chrysler issued various

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left- over engineering mules and prototypes of the Viper and that’s how the series ended up having the name and the car which went on to become one of the most identifiable American sports cars of all time.

Now that the history lesson in American television is over, let’s get to the topic at hand – the 2013 SRT Viper. We are seeing the moniker on the road after a gap of three years. That day when Dodge announced pulling the plug on the sports car is still afresh in many a car enthusiast’s mind. Dodge had its valid reasons to justify their decision to end the car’s production. The styling had aged, the car hadn’t evolved or adapted to the new time and competition was charging in from everywhere.

The Viper had to go and it did. But how long can it be buried beneath layers of flaws when the name is so much of an icon? That’s why the R&D team worked tirelessly in complete secrecy for the past three years to come up

with a new car which is worthy enough to bear the name and capable enough to take the battle to everyone from McLaren to Lamborghini. Not just to fight, but to win. And the phoenix had a new title to pay respect to its new creator – SRT, which stands for Street and Racing Technology, the performance-tuning engineering group of Chrysler. So from now on the vicious snake will be known as the SRT Viper.

If you call a photo-shoot of all the Vipers produced so far, it’s easy to see that the new boy hasn’t let go of his lineage. It draws the best styling features of its predecessors and amended them all. So the hood is still a mile long, but it’s lean, sharp and pointy. If the previous generation Viper is Mike Tyson’s clenched fist, the new one is Bruce Lee’s pointed palm. Both are lethal when in contact with your face. But you know that it’s going to hurt a lot more when Bruce Lee is at the

other end. The profile remains the same and it won’t take you hours to identify this car as a Viper. The massive fender gills, the upright windshield, the clamshell hood – all of it is still there and it’s pleasing to see as to how they have made this new avatar of the snake more chiselled and trimmed. It isn’t bulky and it isn’t depending on sheer size and bulging wheel arches to intimidate. It’s insanely ripped like Edward Norton’s Hulk and we hear that it’s a look which is “in” right now.

If you ever wondered as to why the Viper in all its generations had a long hood, it’s because it had a mammoth engine to stow away. The 8.4 litre V10 powerhouse that the engine bay holds is quite a thunder-cracker. Producing enough power and torque to ram through a full-grown Kraken’s chest, the V10 has got the figures of 640bhp and 812Nm to shove fear down the throats of its rivals.

With a top speed of 351kph and its capability to blast past 92kph in around 3 seconds we do see a lot of sweaty palms which belong to the Italians. SRT has also made the Viper take up a weight- loss programme and shaved off lots pounds, thereby making it lighter and more agile. The wheels and chassis are light-weight and stiffer. With better brakes and the new amendments made to the chassis and suspension, the SRT Viper is sharper and better around corners. The handling and high-speed stability have also improved.

The interior has been revised with more leather and gadgetry which tries to make the driver feel like he is in a better place than inside a Gallardo. But truth to be told, it’s still a bit claustrophobic. So a Viper loyalist may still feel

at home. But we doubt how many of those who own a comfortable and spacious super car will prefer to be inside the Viper for long.

The SRT Viper will be available in two trims – the base and the GTS – the latter being more luxurious, gadget-laden and astronomically pricey. But think of it this way. A brand new McLaren MP4-12C will deplete your bank account by $250,000. The base model of the Viper costs around $100,000. The higher-spec GTS will set you back by $120,000. Even if you shower it with the tantalizing list of options that Chrysler offers, the sum of it won’t ever cost you as much as the fax machine from McLaren does. Yes, we do admit that the MP412C is better-engineered, less vulgar and more smart than Leonardo da Vinci. It might just be the right one to crack the code too. But the Viper is still a better bang for the buck. Driving around in one is the next best manliest thing to do than fighting a war with eight-pack abs and shiny white teeth, wearing leather underpants and a red cloak.

So the SRT Viper is just the same as the old car in many ways. Loud, brash, unforgiving, rude, vulgar– it’s still the bad boy. It’s still the beast that haunts the highways injecting fear into everything else that is even remotely close to its path. The engine doesn’t purr when it’s idle.

It doesn’t whine or scream when it’s breaking the 200kph mark. It growls and roars and that’s precisely why this car has got admirers who would despise any other super car which might be capable of similar performance.

The Viper is more than numbers or pedigree.

It’s a beast which is waiting to be tamed.

...Sanjoy Alexander

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TREME

5

TUNED CAMAROS WE WANT TO DRIVE

he Ford Mustang may be the King of the Hill since the first one rolled out in the early 60’s. It may be the one which started the revolution that gave power to the common man – the power which made the average joe challenge the rich playboy on a straight stretch of road. It was the first blue-blooded muscle car. And it sold millions of units thereby becoming both a commercial success and a symbol of everything American. But then General Motors wanted to join the party and they launched a car which they said was named after a creature which feeds on Mustangs – the Chevrolet Camaro. Truth to be told, it didn’t do as well as planned. But it stayed and didn’t vanish off the product range. The Camaro survived, endured and flourished. Thought it was always in the shadow cast by the Mustang’s glory, the Camaro managed to find its footing eventually and developed its own cult status and space which grew in the decades that followed. Then it fell again as the direction that GM took in taking the muscle car wasn’t a far-sighted as it should have been and just like any other legend, the Camaro too met with its end in 2002 when production seized.

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Then in 2009 the resurrection happened. Right from the moment the GM showed off the concept sketches and said “We are going to make this one and yes, it’s going to look exactly the same as it is in the sketches” we knew that the Camaro is going to feed on the Mustang finally. And it did. It was a time when every major car manufacturer which had a muscle car back in the golden era was exploring its roots in styling and soul. Ford had the fifth generation Mustang and Dodge had the third generation Challenger and both looked strikingly similar to the originals from the 1960’s. So the fifth generation Camaro had to happen and not surprisingly it borrowed heavily from the original car. But the lines and creases were adapted to the new era and it looked fresh and magnetic. Unlike the Mustang which was rather mundane in its entry-level form or the Challenger which was too bulky to manage, the fifth generation Camaro was perfect – chiselled, muscular, ripped and slick. With a carefully planned marketing strategy that saw the movie tying up with Michael Bay’s alien-robot war summer blockbuster franchise Transformers, the Camaro went on to become a global sensation even in places around the world where it isn’t even sold.

Available in LS, LT (3.6 litre V6 – 312bhp) and SS (6.2 litre V8 – 426bhp) trims with varying engine capacities and power outputs, the muscle car is also sold in an all-powerful variant called ZL1 – the mightiest and the fastest production Camaro ever with a 6.2 litre LSA supercharged V8 producing 580bhp. But there are always chaps out there for whom more is never enough. They need a bit more style, a bit more of individuality and bit more of power. It’s for these blokes that the tuning houses exist and they have done their share of work in improvising the spectacular car that the Camaro is. Being adaptable and remarkably easy to customize, the Camaro is favourite with customization firms which have come up with several packages for aesthetically and technically enhancing the machine. What we have here is a list of five Camaros which have been modified for reasons ranging from style to substance and both.

Once you are done with drooling over the pics, read on as to why we picked them.

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Paul Jr. Designs Custom Chevrolet Camaro

Made by the boys that make those stunning choppers in TLC’s Orange County Choppers, this Camaro was built with the help of automotive design firm Trans American Muscle. Based on the design of Paul Jr.’s new bike design we’ll only get to see 77 of these on the road. Modifications underneath the hood and chassis include a coilover suspension, custom shifter, Whipple Supercharger, and SLP exhaust with X-pipe. But we are more smitten by the way it looks wearing those 22 inch rims, flat black paint, prop wheels with nose cones, plating and riveting. The exposed rivets give it the stance and purpose of a modern-day knight’s steed. A pricey one that is, at $84,000.

Forgiato Camaro with DiFalco Grille

We couldn’t put it across to you in any other way. This is a Camaro which has its wheels and grille to take it the hall of fame. Custom wheel manufacturers Forgiato decided one day that it should make more than just wheels and thus they drew up the plan to give the Camaro owners something which is reminiscent of the golden era – retractable headlamps. Camaro purists would love this one as it was one of the distinguishing features of the first generation car. If you thought it’s just about the grille, then just look at their show car and you’ll find those magnificent wheels which demand your attention. The demo car has been given an all-out styling upgrade with a extensive exterior and interior redesign. It’s a bit showy and loud and you should seriously re-evaluate your decision to buy this if you are wanted by law enforcement agencies.

Hennessey HPE Range

We saved the best for the last. While the rest of the pack is more concerned about looks and how many jaws it can drop while it rumbles along the street and how many heads can it turn while parked in front of Best Buy, this one is more about how many drivers it can challenge with its brutal power and speed. Hennessey has been in the business of tuning cars for long and they are experts in their craft. The HPE range of tuned ZL1 Camaro is ample to prove the point. As the numbers on the moniker indicate the power outputs of the tuned ZL1 go all the way up to a staggering 1000bhp. Indeed you are looking at a predator of hyper cars here. Some day we’d like to see it in a drag race with a Veyron. Power to the people, gentlemen. On another note, we just wish Hennessey had spent a few minutes or so to make the HPE1000 look as mean as it really is under skin.

O.C.T Tuning Camaro Transformers Edition

Come on, you saw this coming. We are going on and on about Camaros here and how could we move on without including Bumblebee?

Chevrolet’s best marketing strategy in ages was to join forces with Paramount Pictures’ Transformers movie franchise. The whole bunch of Autobots was comprised of GM vehicles in their alternate forms and though the rest weren’t as fortunate, the Camaro emerged as an icon. Chevrolet even launched special editions of the car in Bumblebee colours and pasted with Autobot logos. But shouldn’t it be having the firepower to go with all that style? For many, the 6.2L 426hp V8 that belts out 426bhp of power wasn’t enough for the day’s work. It’s for them that the German Tuning house O.CT-Tuning kicked up a storm with a 630bhp version of the same car. No, it doesn’t have hidden cannons and machine guns. And it doesn’t transform into an alien robot.

Lingenfelter LTA Camaro Convertible

The Pontiac Trans Ams of the Seventies do deserve another chance.

There are plenty of us who couldn’t get enough of those snorting-nosed cars. Lingenfelter has the answers this time with the all-retro take on the muscle car of the yesteryear by bolting on a revised front fascia, new taillights, decklid and 20-inch honeycomb wheels on the fifth generation Camaro. But it isn’t just about a styling revision.

Available in three levels of tuning, Lingenfeleter’s flagship LTA Camaro Level 3 packs a 7.5-liter V8 that produces 655bhp of power. Additional gadgetry comes in the form of high-flow catalytic converters, headers

by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering and Kooks, LPE/CORSA catback exhaust and Brembo brakes for better stopping power. Statutory Warning: The interior finished in blue leather may not be of everyone’s taste.

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TREME

SIDESWIPE

The new Jaguar XFR-S is more than just the most powerful sedan ever built by the leaping cat.

When Jaguar decided to replace the S-Type with a new executive class sedan in 2007, they came up with the XF and there is no room for discussion when we say that the XF is a fantastic-looking car. It IS the best-looker in its class.

But, there is a small problem. It isn’t a problem as such, but when you compare the XF with its competitors, chiefly the BMW 5-Series which has an empowered M5 version as a halo, the Jag doesn’t have the driving panache or the excitement that the Bimmers have. The Jag is a better place to be in with the image, comforts, luxury and truckloads of style that it possesses and offers gladly. But somewhere you know that the M5 driver shooting past you is having more fun.

In 2009 Jaguar came up with the XFR which was mightier with 503 horses , redesigned front and rear bumpers, 20-inch alloys and a spoiler to make it look sporty. But even then it wasn’t as much fun as it should be. The M5 was still miles ahead in appeal and the X-factor was significantly high for the propeller ride. So what Jaguar just did is to make a more powerful and more furious version for the XFR – the XFR-S Sports Sedan. And all that it takes is one look at the specs sheet and a smitten stare at the new beast to realize that this one will certainly make the M5 guy jealous and nervous when he sees a Jag.

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The XFR-S is Jaguar’s new sports sedan which has been built with only one aim in mind – to bring the fun back to driving. And for Jaguars with sports car instincts, that can mean many things from massive power outputs to neck-breaking top speeds to acceleration figures which will beat the time you take to snap your fingers. But more than all that sports cars from the British manufacturer often tend to have an inclination to go sideways in a drift-friendly fashion more than even the best Japanese sports cars can manage. It actually comes across as pleasant surprise and many have found it hard to believe that though the car maker symbolizes everything that is quintessentially British, it doesn’t behave on the road like one, when you cut it loose to play.

It’s more like Mr. Darcy who was just all sombre a while ago, leaping into the neon-lit dance floor and showing Channing Tatum a step or two on how the head spin should be done. You never expect him to do it. But when he does, you don’t just sit up and watch. You’ll lose your heart to him. You’ll never forget it for the rest of your life and Mr. Darcy will from now on be someone that you’ll admire more. That’s exactly what Jag sports cars are about. They surprise you and the XFR-S is no different.

Jaguar has pulled out the massive 5.0 litre V8 from the XKR-S sports car and plonked it into the engine bay. Mind you, it is a 542bhph, 680Nm unit that we are talking about and it’s supercharged. So now how will it be your ticket to instant nirvana? This car can go from 0 to 92kph in 4.4 seconds and if you push the accelerator pedal all the way till it’s got nowhere else to go, the Jag will gladly take you to a top speed of 300kph. The XFR-S has an array of electronic systems working non-stop to keep the car ready to oblige whenever you need that extra oomph and the noise that the exhaust makes is probably the sound that is produced when a hellhound growls. If you’d like to have taste of how that sounds like, open up YouTube and search for “Introducing the Jaguar XFR-S | Jaguar USA” and indulge yourself in 110 seconds of pure XFR-S thrills.

But if you prefer to listen to something which is tamer and easy on the ears you can choose to sit back on the carbon-printed leather seats and play a nature sounds on the 825-watt, 18-speaker Meridian audio system.

For a car which offers so much, the XFR-S takes so little if you are asking about fuel efficiency. It returns a remarkable 10kpl which means you won’t be visiting the fuel station as much as your friend who owns an Italian sports car does. With stiffer spring rates and a new rear subframe and stiffer bushings, Jaguar has also tweaked the handling of the car without compromising its talent to drift. The car also gets to gain more poise from retuned active rear differential and reprogrammed stability control.

Visually, the XFR-S is a firecracker of a Jag. This is a phenomenally angry-looking car and we

love that it has that raw aggression of a Jaguar which has been poked with a spear and it is still unwilling to stand down. The enormous air dams up front are large enough to swallow pedestrians in one piece. The chrome grille has been dumped in favour of a black mesh grille and the side skirts which run along the bottom of the doors lend the XFR-S a lower and meaner stance. At the back, the spoiler takes on the role of a multi-tasking executive by delivering downforce as well as tons of style. Then there are the wheels which are six spoke light-weight alloys that are shod with Pirellis. The tyres are wider than the ones on the standard car.

At $99,000 it is almost in the same price range as an M5. But there are three reasons which will make you want this one more. One, it’s better-looking than the Bimmer. Two, there will only be 100 of these which will be available for sale. And three, well, three is the things that we’d love to do with it if we get a chance, which is illustrated by a trained professional driver in the images that you see here.

...Sanjoy Alexander

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FrankeNstein’s Monster TREME

Let a Hummer H1 spend the night with a Ford Mustang and the new gatekeeper of hell is born!

Jason Statham – we like this bloke. Probably the third most-recognizable baldie in Hollywood, he is one of the few actors in the industry who wouldn’t mind getting his hands dirty by being a part of the real action while filming.

Instead of confining himself to the comforts of a chair, Statham throws himself into the middle of absolute action-moviemaking mayhem.

With his expertise in martial arts and the athleticism which comes along with it, the Brit can for sure give the stunt doubles a lesson or two on how things are done. Statham has quite an impressive filmography which includes rivetingly dark thrillers to pulse-pounding summer blockbuster vehicles like the Expendables. But many of us still know him as the Transporter. Statham’s role as the tux-sporting, husky-voiced delivery man of “special” cargo has been his most remarkable success so far as a solo lead. It won’t be inappropriate if we add that it was the role of Frank Martin which made him one of the noted action stars of our times. The franchise gradually placed on him the tag of “the driver”. To cement that tag in place, Statham also got to star in the remake of The Italian Job which had him pulling stunts behind the wheel of a Mini Cooper. A welcome change from his indestructible Bimmers and Audis from the Transporter franchise, we must say.

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Fast forward to 2008, when Paula Wagener and Tom Cruise teamed up with Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson to remake the 1975 auto carnage movie Death Race 2000, they couldn’t find anyone better than Jason Statham for the lead role. The original starred David Carradine in the lead and depicted a savage Transcontinental Road Race which had taken the place of national entertainment in a dystopian future. The 2008 remake limited the event to the confined environment of a prison named Terminal Island, run by private corporations which held gladiatorial battles featuring armoured cars and prisoners as competing drivers. The driver who claims five wins will be a free man and that made it a pretty good reason to drive for. In comes our good guy “who was punished for a crime which he didn’t commit”. The brooding young man devastated by the murder of his wife and driven by revenge for those who took his loved one replaces a legendary mystery race driver named Frankenstein. Donning an iron mask and driving his predecessor’s specially built car – the Monster – eventually he realizes the whole scheme of things, teams up with unlikely allies and breaks out of prison in an exciting finale to clinch his freedom. By the way, he does all that while being seated inside a heavily armoured and weaponized Ford Mustang a.k.a the Monster.

And the bad guys, all of them, were put away for the good with Statham’s skills on and off the racetrack.

In an all-out battle mode for the large-scale demolition derby that the new Death Race was, the Ford Mustang GT which took on the role of Jason Statham’s ride needed weaponry and armour which would make it live up to its name – Frankenstein’s Monster. The movie car’s list of destruction-inducing features included hood-mount Gatlin guns which could reduce competition to shreds quite literally. If the threat came from the rear, it had a solid steel sheet which could withstand the heaviest of firepower. Then there was the standard Bond car oil-slick mechanism which would leave the racers behind looking for some additional grip. Of course, it had a smoke screen feature as well. If you found all these bonuses to be borrowed straight off the James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger, then you may also add the ejector seat on the front passenger side to the similarities list. However, this one came with a parachute attached as it was meant to spare the navigator (read sultry babes in skimpy outfits) from meeting with their end amidst the apparent crash and burn climax that awaited many a racer.

Impressed by all that? You should be. But all the jaw-dropping must be confined to your 2 hours of time with the DVD. Because once that’s over, we’ll shed some light on the real deal behind all the on-screen mayhem and magnificence of this battle-tank on four wheels. The weapons, armour an even those battle scars are completely fake. So you have Gatlin gun on the hood which doesn’t fire real bullets, plastic panels for the armour and numerous fake switches on the inside which do practically nothing than producing a “click” sound. But that shouldn’t let you lose your respect for the car and the people who worked behind it to create movie magic and gritty realism for this automotive carnage flick. Death Race director Paul W.S. Anderson was so much particular about keeping it real that the movie had a 40-member crew dedicated to working on the cars alone. The race depicted around 9 racers competing for their freedom and we are talking about a minimum of 5 stand-in cars for each racer that lined up on the grid. Every day the stunt team would wreck a dozen cars while filming the high-octane race sequences and every night the crew would be working to put the pieces back together so that the stunt guys can wreck them again the very next day.

Now you’ll begin to understand and appreciate the tremendous amount of work that goes into making an action movie.

The Frankenstein’s Monster was recreated on screen by 6 Mustangs and one of them was the all-powerful GT500 which we hear was the first car to meet with its fiery end while filming. But the crew took the engine out, polished it up and plonked it inside another shell. This engine made a cameo in the movie when Jason Statham and Ian McShane pop the hood to admire the powerplant. Just in case the thought that the rest of the Mustangs were puny crossed your mind, allow us to clear that thought right away. All the Stangs were sent off to Roush for engine modifications that would boost the power and performance so that the cars didn’t feel underpowered while chugging the weight of the fake weapons and armour. Roush by the way is so good with tuning Mustangs that even Shelby wakes up with a scream each time the former announces a new tuning kit. So the movie cars were in good hands and they came back with Ford Racing Performance Parts Supercharger and of course Roush’s own bunch of parts which

makes monsters out of ponies. The crew kept two hero cars around for close-up and interior shots and for promotional stills which are incidentally the only ones that survived the gruelling production schedule.

When it released in 2008, Death Race wasn’t a massive success despite being one of the most visceral, violent and epic car chase movies of all-time. But it had a strong run on DVD which made the production house green-light a direct-to-DVD sequel starring Luke Goss. So we got to see the Monster again, out there on the race track wreaking havoc. The success of the sequel has resulted in a third instalment which is being touted to be bigger in scale than the first two as the race has shifted location to the vast stretches of the Kalahari desert. Though it is unclear as to what car Frankenstein drives in the third part, the trailers do give a quick glimpse of a Dune buggy which seems to draw a lot of inspiration from the Mustang. We hope that in its new avatar the Frankenstein’s Monster is as monstrous and savage as it ever was.

...Sanjoy Alexander

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TREME

2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee T

he wait is over, sort of. After almost a decade since the last time we heard the buzz surrounding the Indian debut of the Jeep brand, now we have confirmation that the legendary American SUV is coming to our shores. Thanks to Fiat who is planning to expand their range of products, we’ll be seeing two of Jeep’s most popular vehicles on our roads in 2013 – the mountain goat Wrangler and luxurious Grand Cherokee.

We’ll preview the mid-size Grand Cherokee in this segment and pull up some numbers to see how it’ll fare against the rest of the competition.

The Grand Cherokee has been around for two decades now. Starting off as a premium offering to the more utilitarian Cherokee, it was the first Chrysler-badged Jeep product. During the course of its production, the Grand Cherokee proved itself as a capable four-wheel drive vehicle, holding up the Jeep brand’s reputation as a maker of real mud-pluggers and not flimsy soft-roaders. The current model features two petrol-powered V6 engines – a 3.6 litre and a 5.7 litre – with 290bhp of power on tap and a 240bhp 3.0 litre V6 diesel which is sold in non-US markets.

The Grand Cherokee’s latest iteration was so much loved that Chrysler’s performance division SRT (Street and Racing Technology) took it up and transformed it into the SRT8 – a 470bhp monster with an enormous 6.4 L Hemi V8 engine. And it does 0-92kph blast in 5.2 seconds and the speedo clocking 270kph when you floor the accelerator to the deepest, darkest corners of the footwell.

So what will we be getting to drive on our roads? Chances of us spotting an SRT8 are negligible. Considering the current inclination towards diesels, we are most likely to welcome a 3.0-liter V6 turbo-diesel engine version of the 2014 Grand Cherokee. Jeep is currently too busy testing the new SUV for the North American launch and with a 240bhp, 550Nm engine on board, it won’t be one to be dismissed off when pitched against its rivals on Indian soil.

The engine has been developed together with Fiat and built by Italian firm VM Motori. The SUV will have an ZF eight-speed automatic transmission to play around with and we’d like to add that the transmission is one which has been tweaked to deliver better fuel efficiency.

The 2014 Grand Cherokee will also sport a different front fascia which features LED-ac-

cented headlights and a more discreet grille.

We’ll have to wait till the curtains rise for the 2013 Detroit Auto Show on January 14 to have a real good look of the latest butch SUV that we’ll be seeing on our roads soon. Now is perhaps the best of times for Audi and BMW to brace themselves for the impact. The price is something which will be defining the victory proposition of the Grand Cherokee. Since Fiat is planning to bring in the car as Completely-Built-Units, chances are that the price will be high enough to make a dent in your pocket.

Just to put things in perspective, the high-end version of the diesel Grand Cherokee retails for around £45k in the UK. Fiat is planning to launch the Wrangler and the Grand Cherokee in 2013 and will be following them up with two local models.

The cars will be sold through a network of 32 dealers set in 25 cities. Now that their six-year distribution and marketing tie-up with Tata has underperformed, they might be taking the independent route again. We just hope that they get things right this time, with a broader line-up and a competent sales-service network. ...Sanjoy Alexander

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POSE

Nokia:

will the master lead once again?

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have been a Nokia old-timer since more than a decade. Being a loyal fan of the Finesse mobile manufacturer, I have been around since the early days of Nokia. The brand has come a really long way since their days of producing bulky handsets, which, I admit, could have been used as a weapon for self-defense! Still I would have killed for a 3310 back then…or for the Butterfly series.

would be recognized the world over: Nokia.

In the last 145 years, the Finnish company has evolved from manufacturing paper, rubber boots and power cables to become the largest mobile handset maker globally. But the company now faces trouble in India, its second-largest market after China, and losing ground here means losing important territory to price warriors.

Let’s cut out the nostalgia part. But sadly enough, Nokia, the poor old baby is losing out to the other contemporary players of the industry that it helped to create in the first place, over decades ago.

Nokia shifted into the mobile-smartphone manufacturing industry in 1987 with the one of the world’s first handheld phone, the NMT900 released in 1989. Due to it being a new technology then and a status symbol, it sold like hot cakes despite its high price. After that, Nokia’s success rocketed and in the next few years, it became the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer. Nokia kept the position for fourteen consecutive years, yes…that’s fourteen years you read it right, and only lost this position recently to Samsung in 2012.

So anyways, during the past few decades, Nokia was a leading force to be reckoned with. After the whole “butterfly” craze, they got with the times and started dropping some high-quality stuff. Remember when the first color-screen and polyphonic Nokia phones came out? Man, everybody went crazy right about then. Thanks to the good people of Nokia!

And that brings us back to the “now”. Check it, nowadays, millions of youths openly admit to “trusting” Nokia, but when you actually take the time to go through their bag, you are bound to find a Blackberry, high-end Samsung or, for even better…an iPhone.

I cannot really blame the youths today, neither the above mentioned brands. If someone has to be blamed, it’s Nokia itself. Nokia does have smartphones to rival the BB and iPhone, so what’s wrong? That’s their attitude which is wrong. They have been too focused on getting new customers that they forgot about their original friends. People like me!

The beginning and the rise …

Nokia was the world’s largest vendor of mobile-phones from 1998 to 2012. However, over the past five years it has suffered declining market share as a result of the growing use of smartphones from other vendors, principally the Apple iPhone and devices running on Google’s Android operating system. As a result, its share price has fallen from a high of $40 in 2007 to under $3 in 2012.

Its origins dates back to 1865 when Fredrick Idestam built a wood-pulp mill next to the Nokianvirta River, leading to a name that

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Nokia’s bestselling phones, Nokia 1100, Nokia 3310 ( jokingly known as the most powerful phone on Earth) and etc were also made during this time. Many other innovations were introduced and some others were made common by Nokia in its ‘Golden Age’ …a ‘duty’ which now Apple performs.

…and the fall However, success does not continue forever until you do not work hard to meet the current generation standards. The same happened with Nokia which has experienced declined sales over the past five years with the introduction of more superior OSes than it’s Symbian OS such as the Android OS and iOS. As a result, the share price of Nokia has also dropped from $40 in 2007 to a measly $3 in 2012.

Nokia’s hardware quality has always been far superior to all other smartphone and mobile manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung; it has been let down by the old Symbian OS. Before 2007, Symbian was quite advanced for its age but as time passed, it was not changed much and software is a major letdown for Nokia.

Not just its age old OS, there were several others sectors where Nokia lost its ground to its rivals. Traditionally, Nokia has scored high on innovation and somehow lacked it as

Nokia HeadQuarters

time passed (although there’s no reason why it can’t do it again, keeping fingers crossed).

In 2008, Nokia focused on a new strategy offering “devices + services” to consumers.

It provided free e-mail on most handsets, launched applications store Ovi (offers music, videos, games and personalization) & even introduced mobile money services to transfer money and bill payments.

However, Nokia failed to capture the market in some critical areas. Its biggest failure being the delay in launching a dual-SIM model.

These phones have been selling like hot cakes since mid-2009 when vendors like Zen mobile, Micromax and Karbonn introduced them in the middle of a tariff war. Samsung launched a dual-SIM handset in 2008 and has been doing well since then taking over Sony Ericson and Motorola. But, nonetheless, they were very late in doing so.

If the delayed launch of Nokia’s dual-SIM phone was one reason for its downfall, there were several other similar delays which ultimately took Nokia into a category called “backdated”. While contemporaries like Samsung and HTC concentrated on their UIs (TouchWiz and Sense respectively), Nokia was

stuck with their old one, which once made Nokia…Nokia!

Will Nokia rise again?

Better late than never! Nokia probably learnt a lesson or two. To start off, Nokia decided to change the OS for its mobiles and struck a deal with Microsoft in February 2011 to only produce smartphones with Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. The result was the successful Lumia series which sold “well above 1 million” and although very less than the sale numbers of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android OS based smartphones; it still shows that Nokia is not dead and could rise again to its former glory.

But is it? It’s too soon to bet that Nokia’s on the road to recovery after its new Lumia smartphones were sold out in many sto-res across Europe and America, as retailers say supplies have been short ever since their launch.

share in smartphones and lower-end handsets.

Positive online reviews and anecdotes of waiting lists for the 920, as well as Nokia’s sales deal with China Mobile announced earlier this month, have helped Nokia shares rise over 40 percent in the past month. But analysts say there’s no proof that Lumia phones are making significant inroads on market leaders Samsung and Apple or that Chief Executive Stephen Elop’s risky strategy of betting the company’s future on Windows software was paying off.

To conclude with…

In my opinion, Nokia has done a great job in dumping the out-dated Symbian OS and shifting to Windows Phone but Android would have been a much better choice and Android-powered Nokia phones would really have given the iPhone a difficult time. But now that Nokia has tied its future to Windows Phone, we will have to wait and see if the gamble pays off.

The Lumia 920 and 820, which use Microsoft’s latest Windows Phone 8 software, were launched in November with expectations of a “make or break” for Nokia, once the undisputed leader in mobile phones, now losing

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The most useful Android Phone Applications that every Doctor should use

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he wide use of the android mobile phones naturally led to the increase in the number of the mobile applications that are compatible to them. Today we can use android applications from all spheres of human life and existence, which can help us with knowledge, news and up-to-date information in our everyday work and needs. This is valid for the android applications that cover the field of medicine as well, which are many and various in number. There are android applications that are absolutely necessary for every doctor to have and use during one’s routine practice. The android applications are easy to get and use even by people who are absolutely unaware with the technical devices. But which are the most useful android applications?

The first android application that we will start with and which doctors love to use is the

Mobile MiM. This is a radiology that allows the doctor to check the x-ray results of the patients from the hospital with the ones that they have already keep in storage. This application helps the doctors and also their patients to keep a strict record of the x-ray results and return to them, if needed. There are two other very useful application that the medics can turn to and these are the Visible Body 3D Anatomy that could help the doctor explain certain situation or location to the patient that concerns the human anatomy and the other application – the so called Skeletal System Pro III, which allows the doctors to show the skeletal body to the patient and explain the possible skeletal problems.

Physicians are absolutely fond of another android application and this is the Medscape.

It helps them get the details for all diseases immediately. This application is connected with the newest medical innovations and important medical news that the doctors might skip and not be aware of otherwise. Thanks to this application, medics can put the right diagnose and prescribe the right drug, based on the most recent information in the sphere.

Another application that can also help doctors put the right diagnose is called Diagnosaurus DDx. Thanks to this useful guide, doctors will find it easy to find out what is the exact disease of their patients. We should also mention the application Epocrates that helps doctors reach disease monographs, drug references and different diagnostic tools for the illnesses.

Many doctors are now using the important android phone application called Merck Man-

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ual Suite. This is a much qualified application that comes with disease diagnosis descriptions, with guide of the symptoms. On the top of that, the Merck Manual Suite is connected with the drug guide and thus the doctors can easily see which will be the best drug for the certain situation. In this way the physicians will be able to efficiently take care of their patients and help them with their problems. Another application of a great usage is the Medical Calculator that measures the medical metrics of the patients.

A very good application is the iPharmacy Drug Guide & Pill ID, thanks to which doctors can estimate the ingredients and components that are to be found in each drug. In this way, doctors will be aware and will not prescribe drugs that have ingredients which can make damage to a certain patient according to one’s specific situation and health status. Last, but not least comes the ICE – this is an abbreviation of “In Case of Emergencies” android application, which is used exactly in such situations. It helps the patients and the doctors stay in touch with each other and allows for a faster, smoother and easier communication and reaction when the patient’s health condition is critical.

All those applications are designed to help doctors in their everyday work and make the healing process easier and smoother. These are just few of the android applications that the physicians can use to check raspberry ketone side effects and benefit from. They are all very easy to use and could be applied in various types of situations and different diseases. As doctors are usually overwhelmed by their work and have many patients to take care of, it is advisable that they see a broadband expert before they pick one of these android applications. They will get professional advice about the most useful applications and they will get information whether their provider offers them. Thus, the medics will be able to take an informative decision and use the applications that will help them most during their routine work.

HOW TO:

Cool super computers - Waters, hot tub, sauna, and heat exchangers H

eat is a major concern for computer engineering firms as they have always focused on decreasing size and heat concerns just as much as it has on increasing computing power. That’s true whether you’re talking about a laptop, massive mainframe or even your tablet, but real jumps in utility, green technology and size constraints are even more important on the supercomputing scale than with the things we use every day.

What made it?

Game changers

In July 2012, engineers at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (Leibniz-Rechenzentrum, or LRZ, in German) debuted their new SuperMUC supercomputer, which uses water-cooled servers to approach performance levels of up to three petaflops, or basically the work of more than 110,000 personal computers. While SuperMUC’s heat management system -- which sits on top of the mainframe, carrying water though microchannels on the hardware itself -- is called “hot water” cooling, it’s kind of a misnomer.

Appro Xtreme-Cool machines, which have replaced fans and air cooling with a cooling system based on warm water heat exchangers. The XtremeCool machines will complement the existing Xtreme-X air-cooled machines that Appro has been selling for a number of years, which are based on its GreenBlade blade servers.

The system was inspired by the way blood and water move through our bodies, and keeps the machine at about 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). The reason engineers stress the hot water aspect of this system -- which improves performance while shrinking the system by 10 times and using 40 percent less energy -- is to emphasize the difference from standard air-cooling and the way we usually think of fluid coolants [sources: Clancy, IBM Labs].

The Xtreme-Cool server nodes, blade enclosures, and racks all have modifications to the Xtreme-X machines to accommodate the water plumbing, which has to be done carefully because electronics and water don’t mix well.

IBM, which pioneered the technology used by the SuperMUC, says that it’ll only take five years for a size-reduction by another factor of 10, and five years after that for the next, and so on, towards a million-fold reduction of SuperMUC’s size -- small enough for use in a personal PC.

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HOW TO:

Lock down a phone securely and wipe it off when stolen

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f you’re the victim of a smartphone robbery, you have more to lose than the phone itself.

The thief may attempt to use or sell the personal data stored on the device to make fraudulent purchases or otherwise steal your identity and may empty your bank account.

Here’s how to play it safe:

1. Always unlock your Android phone by using the Pattern feature to swipe the three-bythree-dot grid in the order you set previously.

2. Passcode-protect a Windows phone (To enable the screen lock on a Windows phone, open the Settings options and choose “lock wallpaper.” Select one of the four presets for the screen time-out period: 30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes, or 5 minutes. Press the bar to the right of Password to turn it on, enter your numeric passcode twice, and press done.)

3. Lookout app locates your Android phone for free, charges for remote locks and data wipes The lack of a “find my phone” feature built into

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Android phones has led to a cottage industry of apps that promise to locate a lost or stolen device. Lookout is a great app which finds your phone for free but charges to remotely lock or wipe the device. It takes only about 15 seconds for the service to show the phone’s location on a Google map. Under the map is a history of your previous find requests. The map and location information are sent to the e-mail address you used to register for the service. You can disable e-mail alerts in the Settings window.

4. Lookout’s Missing Device feature shows the location of your Android phone on a Google map via your account at mylookout.com.

5. All you have to do is click Scream and you’re prompted to choose one of a half dozen sounds to play on the phone. Your selected sound effect then plays at the phone’s loudest volume for about one minute, and the screen flashes black and white. Click the Stop Screaming button to deactivate the alarm.

6. Lookout backs up only the phone’s contacts by default; to back up the device’s photos and

call information, click Settings and check each option under Backup. You can also delete your Lookout history by unchecking that option under Settings.

7. For a windows phone create a Windows Live account on the phone, and then open a browser on a PC and sign into the account at windowsphone.com. After you sign in, click Find My Phone on the drop-down menu in the upper-right corner. The phone’s location is shown on a zoomable map, along with basic location information and options for ringing, locking, and erasing the phone. Map the location of your Windows phone by signing into a Hotmail account at windowsphone.com and clicking the Find My Phone option.

8. The only two “find my phone” options on the Windows phone are to connect to the find, ring, lock, and erase features faster; and to save your location every few hours to improve mapping. Both settings are checked by default.

HOW TO:

Secure your Twitter account

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witter took some heat earlier this month for resetting more passwords than necessary after detecting a security breach in its microblogging network. The more followers you have, the more potential damage may result from a compromised Twitter account.

That’s why it’s big news when the Twitter feeds of media organizations such as Reuters and Fox News are breached by hackers who post false news stories.

Last February, Twitter began encrypting all connections to the service by making HTTPS the default. The Twitter blog post explaining the change indicates that you can disable HTTPS in your account settings, but this option appears to have been removed in the interim.

Here’s how you play it safe: 1. Identify the destination of a shortened URL by pasting the abbreviated address in the textbox at LongURL.org and clicking the Expand button. LongURL.org displays the page title, the number of redirects, meta keywords, meta description, and content type.

2. As usual, your password is your first line of defense against your Twitter account being hacked. When it comes to password advice, it all boils down to using whichever approach works for you. Just make sure the password is difficult to guess and unique for each site; long passwords that you change frequently are even safer.

3. Improve the security by tweaking your Twitter account settings By default; Twitter lets you reset your password simply by providing your @username. To require your e-mail address or telephone number to change your account password, click the gear icon in the top-right

corner of the Twitter home screen and choose Settings. Scroll to “Password reset,” check “Require personal information to reset my password,” click the “Save changes” button, enter your password, and press Enter to confirm the change.

4. Make sure Twitter asks for your e-mail address or phone number before allowing a password reset by checking this option in your account settings.

5. You can also uncheck the option to let other people search for you by e-mail address, add a location to your tweets (or delete all location information), and deactivate your account, which takes 30 days to complete.

6. Click “Email notifications” in the left pane of the account window to change the way you’re alerted when someone replies to or retweets one of your posts, or marks it as a favorite. By default, you’re notified whenever people you follow reply, retweet, or mark a tweet as a favorite, and whenever you’re followed by someone new or receive a direct message. You can choose to be notified whenever anyone acts on one of your tweets via that option on the drop-down menu, or not at all by unchecking the option.

7. To prevent Twitter from flooding you with updates whenever someone your second cousin knows blows their nose, uncheck the many notification options that are enabled by default.

BE SAFE!

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HOW TO:

dual-boot with

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indows 8 is so new and different, many users aren’t sure if they really want to abandon Windows 7 for it just yet. But you can have both at once. Learn how to keep your Windows 7 installation as it is, and have the option to boot into Windows 8 on the same machine, giving you the time and experience to make an informed choice between the two.

If you want to try Windows 8 for a while before activating…an option available with Windows 7…you can’t legally install Windows 8 unless you have a valid product key. Follow along and know how to download the software, put it on a DVD, and then install it on your machine without breaking anything, giving you the freedom to boot into either Windows 7 or Windows 8 at your whim. Before we get started, be sure your PC has the minimum system requirements for Windows 8 and that you have at least 20GB of free space on your hard drive 1. Download Windows Pro

The first thing you need to do is download Windows 8 Pro and place it on a DVD that we will use to install it. Of course, if you already have Windows 8 on a DVD or USB key, you can skip this part. If you don’t, click Buy Windows 8 and we’re off and running.

2. Compatibility Check

Before you buy Windows 8, you’ll download the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant application.

When you run that, it shows you this “Let’s see what’s compatible” screen. After it checks your machine for compatibility (it doesn’t check to see if your copy of Windows is genuine, though), it lets you know whether software you’re using will still work with Windows 8.

3. Here’s What We Found

When the upgrade assistant is done, you’ll get this “here’s what we found” screen. Take a look at the compatibility details (which don’t matter much since we’re not upgrading) if you wish, and then click Next.

4. Choose What to Keep

Here’s the “choose what to keep” screen, and because we’re not upgrading but creating a clean installation for our dual-boot, select “Nothing,” and click Next.

5. Buy It

Now it’s time to buy Windows 8 Pro. Click Order, follow the payment instructions, and when you’re done, you’ll get a Windows 8 Pro product key on the “thanks for your order” screen. Copy that product key and paste it into a safe place. You’ll need it later.

6. Create Media

Next is to download it. Then select Install by creating media, then click Next.

7. Choose ISO

Choose to either create a DVD or USB key. If you don’t have a DVD burner, you’ll need to click “USB Flash Drive.” Say…we go with a DVD, where you’ll choose ISO file (an exact image of the Windows 8 files that will go onto a DVD ).

Click Save.

8. Creating the ISO File

Save that ISO file to a place you can find easily, such as your Desktop. After a few minutes, Windows will assist you in burning that file to a DVD.

9. Create a Partition

Next, let’s create a separate area on your hard drive, called a partition, where Windows 8 can exist without bumping into Windows 7. You’ll be able to choose which one you’d like to use when you boot your PC. To do this, click the Start menu, right-click Computer, and select Manage. Click Storage, and then Disk Management, and after a few seconds you’ll see this screen. It shows you the drives available on your PC.

10. Shrink That Volume

Right-click the hard disk where you’d like to install Windows 8, then select Shrink Volume.

It will determine how much space you have.

11. Give It Some Space

Decide how much space you would like to dedicate to Windows 8. Remember, you must have at least 20GB.

12. Allocate

You’ll end up with a disk with a black bar on top, labeled “unallocated.” Click on that. Keep

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clicking Next until you see “Format Partition.”

Do that, using the defaults.

13. Name It Something Meaningful Give your new drive a recognizable name …”Windows8”. You are now ready to install Windows 8 Pro, without affecting your Windows 7 installation.

14. Press Any Key

With your DVD in the drive, reboot your computer. When it’s booting, you’ll see a notification like this, asking you to press any key to boot from CD or DVD.

15. Off and Running!

Choose your language, click “Install Now” and the installation is about to begin! You did write down that product key, didn’t you? Here’s where you’ll be asked to enter it. Do so, and then click Next.

16. Careful! Choose Custom

On this screen, be sure to click the second choice, “Custom.” This is the choice that lets you do a clean install of Windows 8, rather than an upgrade. Click Next.

17. Carefully Choose the New Partition You Created Here’s where that recognizable name of the hard drive comes in handy. Be sure you click on the partition you created, and then click Next. Now you can sit back and relax for a while as Windows 8 installs.

18. Dual Boot Success!

Once the installation is done, here’s the screen you’ll see after your computer boots. You can choose either Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you don’t select one of them in 30 seconds (and that time is adjustable), the default is Windows 8. Click “change defaults or choose other options” and you can designate your comfy old Windows 7 as the default.

HOW TO:

use a Tablet as a second monitor

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ual monitors are increasingly becoming the norm for today’s hyper-connected workstations.

Whether you’re trying to keep track of different browser tabs at work or you need more onthe-go workspace for your business trip, a tablet can act as a handy second monitor and a boon to productivity.

Mobility is one of the main reasons people choose tablets. But owners don’t have to use tablets in the traditional sense to get the most out of their devices… add a tablet to your overall desktop setup to streamline productivity. Here are some instructions to help get you started.

Download a Second Display App

2.

Download the iDisplay app to your tablet.

While it takes a bit more work than simply connecting a standard display, there’s no hacking required to use your tablet as a second monitor.

Several iOS and Android apps essentially fool your desktop into thinking that you’re connecting another external monitor to the system.

3.

Download the desktop client to your computer and run it.

4.

Set up permissions/allow firewall exceptions (if applicable).

5.

Open the app on your device and select your computer’s name.

6.

The screen should flash, and your tablet should be connected.

Air Display: Air Display lets you connect your iPad or Android device to your Mac or Windows computer, but also lets you connect your laptop as a wireless second monitor for your desktop.

7.

If the size of screen on your tablet seems small, you may need to pinch-and-zoom to correct it, or you may need to disconnect and reconnect.

iDisplay : This app, created by Shape.ag, quickly sets up your portable monitor.

Note that these directions may change slightly, depending on the app or operating system (rebooting may be required). Follow the prompts for your chosen app and desktop client, and consult the app’s website if you run into any issues.

Here’s a short list of the more popular apps available, which can help you configure your setup within minutes.

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REDFLY ScreenSlider: ScreenSlider is only for Android devices used with Windows computers. The website says that it will be available for other devices soon.

MaxiVista: Only for use with iPads and Windows operating systems.

Splashtop XDisplay: Splashtop is known more for its app, which gives you remote access to your desktop. But by downloading XDisplay and the Splashtop Streamer, you can set up your iPad as a second monitor.

These apps all have similar and straightforward setup instructions. To use iDisplay as an example, here’s what you should expect as far as configuration goes.

1.

Make sure your computer and tablet are both connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

Once setup is complete, you’ll have a new, touchscreen display that will help you complete any project in a shorter amount of time.

Use Tablet as a Standalone Monitor If you feel like your tablet was expensive enough and you don’t want to spend even more money on these apps, there’s always the no-hassle but often overlooked option of using your tablet next to your primary monitor.

Invest in a sturdy stand or transformable cover for your tablet and set it on your desk. While you’re sending emails, writing an article or drafting a spreadsheet on your computer, you can use your tablet to display TweetDeck or HootSuite, Netflix or CNN, Pinterest or Spotify, etc.

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hOW TO Back-up Your Instagram Pictures and De-Activate Your Account With Instagram’s decision to let advertisers use your pictures from January 16, a whole lot of people are getting insecure about using their most loved app from their Android and iOS phones. This change in Instagram's policy means that the photos you take of your kids, pets, family, or anything else, can be sold without even notifying you. If you decide to wait until after January 16 to close your Instagram account, your photos could still be used or sold.

Not really feeling the change? You're not alone. Many users are wondering what they can do with their Instagram account -- whether they can download all of their photos and preserve their privacy, or if they are stuck giving Facebook free advertising material.

On the bright side, you can download all of your Instagram photos, and it's not a difficult process. Instaport, a Web app, can grab all of your photos for download or relocation to another cloud service. You'll have to authorize Instaport to use your account, and then you can decide what to do with your photos. You may experience a bit of wait time

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when trying to use Instaport these days. It's even added a text banner on its page notifying users about heavy traffic.

Once you're done exporting your creative content, it's safe to delete your Instagram account. With the profile pages Instagram rolled out, it's easy to find the link for deletion. Just head to Instagram and click on the menu with your username in the top-right-hand corner (you may need to log in first), then select Edit Profile.

You'll see a link that says "I'd like to delete my account" in the bottomright-hand corner. Click this link, tell Instagram why you're leaving, and you're done.

Whether or not you still wish to stick to Instagram is completely your call, but if you feel that the wording of the policy change has already left you with a bitter taste in your mouth, then you ought to at least save your creative work before you abandon ship.

HOW TO:

EAT AND GREET IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES When in Rome, do as the Romans do! It’s always advisable that when you are visiting a different place or culture, you should try to follow their customs and practices. Likewise not only you get a confidence in dealing with the ways there, but also make the people there go at ease with you, and vice versa! It is polite, and possibly also advantageous, to abide by the customs of a society when one is a visitor.

To start off with, let’s learn the culinary habits and dining etiquettes of these few countries:

Brazil • Upon greeting, be sure to maintain eye contact, men shake hands firmly. Women will usually kiss each other starting with the left cheek and then the right. A woman who wishes to shake hands with a man will have to extend hers first, it’s a macho thing.

• If friendly, hugging and back-slapping are acceptable greetings for men who know each other.

• If invited to dinner at a Brazilian house, you should arrive at least 30 minutes late!

Get there up to an hour late for a party or larger gathering.

• Always error on the side of over-dressing rather than under-dressing. A little designer flair always helps when dining with Brazilians!

• If you forget to bring a gift to the event, you should send flowers (no white flowers) the next day as a common courtesy.

• Expect to be interrupted when speaking, it is not meant to offend!!!

China • Always arrive on time when dining in China, it is very rude to do otherwise.

• Dress very nicely, this gives your host respect.

• Shoes off before entering any home.

• Greet the oldest person first.

• Do not start eating before the host.

• It is good manners to serve those around you first, or if smoking, offer a cigarette to others first.

• If you are full, feel free to say so, your host will feel honored that he fed you well.

• You may hear belching and slurping, don’t be offended this is an indication they are enjoying the food.

• Women are not expected to drink alcoholic drinks.

• Do not re-season your food with soy sauce, salt, or other condiments. If these are on the table, wait to see how they get used by those around you and follow suit.

France • It is a really good idea to learn a little French before traveling there. In the more urban parts of France it is even considered an insult to address a French

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person in English or other non-French vocabulary.

If invited to dinner, (especially in Paris) it is a good idea to arrive 15 minutes late.

When deciding on an outfit, consider that France is the fashion capital of the world, so take care with what you wear.

Good quality accessories are appreciated.

Men are expected to don conservative dark suits, and women nice pant suits or dresses that offer gentle colors (keep your cleavage and thighs under wraps).

Remember the little black dress is a French icon!

The proper use of utensils is imperative, and an art to say the least.

You are only politely allowed to refuse two types of food in France; oysters and curry. To do so with any other food is a serious insult, unless allergies are of a concern (In which case you must inform your host/hostess in writing prior to the event, a hand written note is fine).

Dinner usually takes 2 to 3 hours, with several courses being served. If you want to make it to the end, we recommend eating only small amounts of each.

Wine will always remain on the table.

Should you be done drinking and do NOT want any more wine, leave your glass mostly full, or it is sure to be refilled again and again.

Greece • In Greece, almost all conversations are accompanied by gestures of approval, usually by the hand sign of “okay”. The indicator for “okay” in the western world (making a circle with your forefinger and thumb) is considered very vulgar to a Greek. Instead, the acceptable way to indicate “OK” to a Greek is to make a fist and point your thumb toward the sky.

Should you decide to use the western style gesture, you might just get slapped by a Greek woman, or popped in the nose by a Greek gentleman.

• When introduced to someone for the first time, shake hands and maintain good eye contact.

• Getting to a dinner 30 minutes late is considered good manners.

• Always offer to help set-up or clean-up.

Your offer won’t be accepted generally, but will be greatly appreciated.

• Remain standing, you may be shown to a

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chosen seat.

Table manners are continental (fork in left hand, knife in right hand while eating).

The oldest is generally served first.

Elbows off the table, hands above the table at all times (think French etiquette here).

Plan on having some vigorous conversation as dining is a time for socializing in Greece, and these fine debaters have much to say loud and clear!

Go ahead and sop-up that gravy and sauce with a piece of bread, in Greece, that’s what bread is for.

It’s okay to share food from each other’s plate. However, as a guest you should wait to be invited to share from someone else’s plate. But it’s okay to offer to share from your plate first.

The host will give the first toast, but the honored guest is expected to offer a second toast later in the meal. “To your health” will do just fine.

Spain • It is customary to shake hands upon meeting, men will often use a two handed shake placing the left hand on the right forearm of the other person.

Female friends will kiss each other on both cheeks, starting with the left.

• People are regularly referred to as Don or Dona and then their first name (as in; Don James or Dona Shirley) in formal company.

• If invited to a Spanish home for dinner, bring a gift for the hostess (chocolates are always best) and don’t forget to bring something for the children if applicable.

• Remain standing until offered a seat, as you may be assigned to a particular spot.

• All food is eaten with utensils; including fruit.

• It is acceptable for a woman to give a toast, but only after the host and honored guest.

• Never get up from the table until the host does.

• Dress neatly and conservatively, accessories are important to Spanish fashion.

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POSE

Use Social Networking to your advantage - Here’s how “We lived on farms, then we lived in cities, and now we’re going to live on the internet!” These words from the film “The Social Network” clearly make you believe that now our lives are viral, our businesses are viral, and everything is available at the click of a button. Social Networking has witnessed a boom much greater than any other industry in the last few years. What most of us understand by Social Networking is sending updates to our friends and the rest of the world via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, etc.

Creativity is the main factor when you are dealing with the Internet.

Short and Sweet texts, to the point messages and out of the box imagery is what works. Social Networking is all about creating something that has not been witnessed yet. Gangnam style went viral because it was funny and Kolveri Di went viral because it was catchy. What is common between the two? No one had ever seen anything like this ever before!

So how can one use Social Networking for their Advantage?

For Individuals

If you are individual, Social Networking can be one of the most effective tools in your armoury. One can not only look for recruiters over these websites but also build some mighty connections and send a message across to some well-known personalities. Yes, you can truly send a tweet to your favourite actor; he/she responds or not is another question.

For an individual, Social Networking can be quiet like a viral flu. You can truly spread anything to the world within no time! So if you are an artist, treat the web like your canvas and paint it with your talent. If it

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is truly worth taking notice of, the world will. Anything worthy travels across like wild fire over the web. Once it goes viral, there is nothing stopping it.

For Businesses

Presence over Social Networking platforms is necessary for every business house these days. It goes back to the same horde mentality people had years ago, “Out of Sight, are Out of Mind.” Social Networking enables businesses to stay connected with their audiences, constantly take feedback, and consider the same and more importantly promote products and offers. A business may not want to miss an opportunity to be listed where its competitors are placed.

If you are a restaurant, add pictures of your delicious delicacies. If you have an electronic store, list those festive schemes. Any form of business can use Social Networking to their advantage to not only gain visibility but also to sell. Advertising can get one the viewers and clicks they need but generating re-visits is in the hands of the business.

Social Networking has a negative side to it too. Any folly committed like a heated conversation or a controversial post can damage one’s reputation beyond repair. One has to be careful about this. The interesting thing about the web is that, “One shoots it, the world sees it,” use this to your advantage and you will be guiding social networking platforms for your benefit.

Common Android Smartphone issues and the fastest way to resolve them

POSE

Android maybe one of the highest selling technology when it comes to smartphone’s but is it bug free? The answer is NO. Devices that run on Android operating software are mightier than its Symbian counterparts and on par with it iOS pals. Any issue with a smartphone could be tackled, but one has to admit it can be very irritating at times. Let us not forget that one has paid a very high amount of money to acquire this technology.

So what are the Common issues with Android Smartphone’s and what is the fastest way to resolve them?

Phone Lagging and Crashing issues This is one of the most common concern on an Android phone. it either lags too much i.e. the phone works at a snail’s speed, multi-tasking between apps is tougher than decoding a Morse code or the phone simply switches off. Some of the reasons why this happens are either due to less storage space, excessive app cache, incompatibility with other apps, etc.

There are several different ways to resolve this one. Simply opt for a soft reset i.e. switch off the phone completely and then restart it.

This usually works, as it; reset’s all apps and decreases the load on the phone’s hardware. One can use App Cache Cleaner software to delete cache from time to time. If neither of this works, then one can try re-installing the phone software or updating it to the latest version to acquire fixes to minor bugs.

Low Internal Memory Many low-end Android phones do not possess an extensive internal memory also referred to as RAM. Thus, one experiences a “Low Memory” error while trying to install new apps or update old ones.

Poor Battery Life This is a major issue for those who do not find the time to charge the phone or are simply on the move at all times.

Imagine being in a boring 3-hour bus journey and the phone just conks off! It could be quiet a bummer isn’t it? Reduction in usage is not the solution to this, one would want to keep their usage the same and expect a better battery life.

Now simply save battery by doing the following things. Firstly, inculcate the habit of quitting apps completely when done using them, especially games. Secondly, avoid using too many widgets at once. It looks fancy to have a weather update, a world clock, and such widgets on the home screen, but it consumes some massive battery life. Thirdly, turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on only when required. Finally, when experiencing a low battery, just decrease the screen brightness.

The only way to deal with this is by transferring apps, which can be transferred on to the memory card. This works is some cases but not all. Other option is one must keep deleting apps that they do not use on a daily basis.

These are some of the common Android Smartphone issues and easy ways to deal with it. Next time you encounter any of these issues, just opt for these simple solutions, and use your smartphone effortlessly.

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Autohomes Onboard are some world class amenities that will take your breath away. Customized in various sizes and theme, some basic features include Washrooms, Mini Kitchen, Home Theatre systems, Air Conditioning, Bunk beds, TV and AV systems, Lighting and Fixtures among a host of other solutions. Nothing like taking your family for a leisure trip onboard one of these.

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VANITY VANS With the advent of Movies, Fashion shows and other public gatherings , came a strong demand for Vanity Vans. Usually used by models, celebrities and brides, these include all the features onboard like a personalized dressing room, air conditioning, privacy partitions, electronic recliners, TV and AV systems etc. Again, it can be designed and personalized according to the tastes and demand of the user. Call us to find out more.

MINI VANS While new mini vans like Toyota Innova and Tatar Winger were launching, we were working hard to pioneer a concept for a small family on the move.

Includes basic amenities of a stretch limousine like Privacy Partition, Motorized Recliners, TV & AV system, Designer Roofs and fully stocked bars. Now take your family out for a ride like never before.

PIMP MY RIDE Have an old car you love? Well, we firmly believe in “If you have it, flaunt it� kind of attitude. Flaunt it well by giving it a shiny new Paint Job, set of upsize Chrome Wheels, Music System which will blow your brains away and the ever so rich smell of Stanley Interior leather. Pimp your ride and let the world take a backseat, once and for all.

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132I EXHIBIT I EXHIBITI DECEMBER I JANUARY 2013 56 2012

More than a wasseypur girl,Meet the real huMa qureshi

133 JANUARY 2013 57 I EXHIBIT I DECEMBER 2012

Photographer Hair & Make Up Stylist Clothes Accessories Footwear

134 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

Ram Bherwani Mitesh Rajani Petal Gangurde Golmaal Manali Jagtap Metro Shoes

You went on from doing theatre to TVCs and now films, how has the transition been?

Be it theatre, TVCs or films, it is all about acting essentially. But there is a natural progression and it just happened very naturally for me. For me it was a Delhi girl who came to Mumbai, started working on TVCs and then met Anurag Kashyap. I shot an ad with him and then got offered a film.

It sounded very easy but really wasn’t. In all the 3 mediums I am an actor, and I just had to modify my style of acting.

Do you prefer acting in film or acting on stage?

That’s a tough one. Because I love acting and I think of myself as an actor. I’ll tell you the pros and cons of both. On stage you get instant appreciation or instant acknowledgement whether people are liking it or not liking it and it is more of an actors medium.

Film on the other hand is more technical. There are many people involved and even if I am doing something in a very close setup with a camera and you don’t know how it is sort of panning out. But unlike theatre, the number of people you reach out to via films is much more. So yeah, both have their pros and cons.

If given a chance to work in television, would you take it up?

I have two films coming up in 2013. One of them is a supernatural thriller called Ek Thi Dayan. It is co-produced by Balaji and Vishal Bharadwaj. I am opposite Emraan Hashmi in the film. And the second one is D Day by Nikhil Advani. It is also a thriller.

I can’t tell you much about my character in the film but there are a lot of interesting actors. There is Irfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and then there’s me.

YES, It’s my first cover with Exhibit and I am really very excited. Also it is their first cover of 2013.Since its a very premium tech & lifestyle magazine I am really looking forward to doing something that I have never tried before. I am loving it already along with the new looks I am going to try ,Can’t wait to grab my copy!

5 must qualities according to you an actor should have.

Firstly an actor should be well read. That is very important. Then an actor should have some trick or the other up his or her sleeve that should be different from the others. An actor should have a decent memory since we need to rehearse a lot of lines. A certain amount of discipline is very important, if one has to last in the long run. And also an actor should have a good smile.

Any particular actor you look forward to working with and Why?

Gangs of Wasseypur has been your rise to fame. How has your experience been post release?

One project you are super excited for.

I have grown up being a fan of Shah Rukh Khan. So I’d love to do a film opposite him. I have already done an ad with him and it has been simply unbelievable. So yes, I’d love to be cast opposite him.

And also Ryan Gosling. I am also a big fan of him.

I am always excited for all my project because I am playing such diverse and different characters.

Ek Thi Dayan releases in April which I am very excited about and D Day releases in the summer and both are completely different film. While one is a supernatural film the other is an action thriller.

And since they have completely different characters , I am very excited about the manner in which the audiences will react.

I love: My coffee maker I hate: Pens that don’t write

YES, It’s my first cover with Exhibit and I am really very excited. Also it is their first cover of 2013.Since its a very premium tech & lifestyle magazine I am really looking forward to doing something that I have never tried before. I am loving it already along with the new looks I am going to try ,Can’t wait to grab my copy!

Tell us more about your upcoming films and your characters in them.

I don’t know, I have not really thought about it. If there is something that really excites me, I can probably think about it. I really like the American television. Like the kind of shows and writing they have been coming up with is very path breaking and revolutionary.

If something like that is offered to me, why not, I would definitely take it up.

It was pretty crazy. Gangs of Wasseypur was a very difficult film because it took a long time in the making. Once we got done shooting it, it took almost a year for the edit and for it to release.

So I had a lot of time back then to do things, but once it released it has been over whelming and I have not really got any free time

It’s your first cover with Exhibit, what excites you the most.

since then. I did not expect the film to give me that kind of critical and commercial response it did give. So it is kudos to the director and the entire team.

You are shooting with the New HTC Butterfly. What are your views about this phone.

The HTC Butterfly looks really nice.

It’s sleek and stylish. It also has some great features for instance the display resolution of the HTC Butterfly is very high along with the other specs, What I Loved most about this is the design and its 5” Screen Size and yet it feels so light. So yes,I am quite excited to try it out.

The gadget that keeps you updated about the latest happening.

My iPad. I just can’t live without it.

In the current world of tablets, phablets, smartpones and more, name 3 of your current favorite gadgets.

For me what is most important is that the gadgets important to me should fit in to my lifestyle and should make life simpler for me.

So my 3 favorite gadgets are my iPad, my smartphone and my bluray system back home.

In an interconnected world thanks to social media, how do you help stay connected with your fans?

I really think that in today’s day and age it is extremely important to stay connected with your fans even if it is through social media. I am very active on Twitter and Facebook. I try and stay

Passion: Acting My sex appeal: My simle

connected and know what is happening around them.

The current smart phone you are using.

A Blackberry

To tweet or not to tweet?

To definitely Tweet!

If given a chance to spend a day with one person in the field of tech, who would it be and why? Also how do plan on spending the day.

One person with whom I would have definitely loved to spend a day with would be Steve Jobs. I also recently picked up his autobiography so that is something I am going to start reading soon. I would like to know what was it that he was thinking while ideating all that he has done. Also I would like to know more about his vision

Say you win a lottery and you can splurge on 1 technology related thing, what would it be?

Hmmm… Definitely a car. I would love to get one of those fancy convertibles with a very good navigation system so would not have to really do much thinking while on the go. It will definitely be a fancy sports car.

If you could invent a technology what would it be and why?

Oh! If I could do so, it will definitely be the ability to be invisible. I think it will be the coolest thing man can master after flying. Flying also has been one of those inventions, but yes being invisible would really take the cake.

The HTC Butterfly looks really nice. It’s sleek and stylish. It also has some great features for instance the display resolution of the HTC Butterfly is very high along with the other specs, What I Loved most about this is the design and its 5” Screen Size and yet it feels so light. So yes,I am quite excited to try it out.

Favorite Holiday destination: Any place which has a beach, water and lots of sun!

135 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

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Follow us on : @exhibitmagazine www.facebook.com/exhibitmag www.youtube.com/exhibitmagazine 137 I EXHIBIT I JANUARY 2013

Like each month, we posted on our FB fan page about a topic for which we collected opinions from our reader and fans. The best one’s are posted below, but if you wanna see your name featured in this space then make sure you follow us and participate.

Is there scope for battery lives to improve on our ‘smart’ devices?

Smartphones are getting more powerful, tablets are getting more beautiful.

But the woeful battery lives are still the same for the past many years. Do you think this will change in the coming year, or we’ll have to make do with what we get?

Asha Krishnan

Aaah! It is something like a packet of chips, the package looks big and nice and when we open it, we can probably count the number of chips on our fingers. Unfair! isn’t it? There is no doubt that the beauty and efficiency of the new age devices is commendable but what about the battery life? condemn-able, if that’s a word! About improvement in battery life, yes it is a desperate need, since with the growth of technology, our usage has also increased manifold and the human race is always in motion, even more than before. There are some solutions like portable battery chargers, wireless ones and also data cables to charge the phone in your car or on a laptop. But it is not always convenient to use these. What we need is an already strong battery. Like we know, symptomatic relief only helps relieve pain; to cure a disease, we need to remove the disease from the root. Betterment is said to be in process but I do not see much of a difference. A feeble one is felt but that will definitely not do. So I believe, there is a lot to be still done to give us relief from that dying battery, every time we pick up that phone to make an important call. Maybe, just maybe, it will reduce the number of heart attacks in the world!

Surmeet Mohta

Due to the increase rise in the smartphone use, There has been a rise in screen size. This is a major problem in terms of power drainage. Another major power drain relates to increasingly complex apps, which impose ever-steeper processing requirements. Most smartphones contain Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS radios inside, and in many instances these components operate simultaneously. The GPS radio, in particular, is a notorious battery killer: Due to this we are getting more demand of high graphics requirement and which in turn making the batter life shorter. The power amplifiers in today’s smartphones are woefully inefficient, wasting as much as 65 percent of their energy. What we require in near future is that some engineers at MIT or Stanford University using some form of electrode for lithium-ion or lithium-sulfur battery that could that could last four times as long as modern lithium-ion packs and ultimately cracking the smartphone battery life problem, Until then we just have to wait and watch.

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