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PARANOID ANDROID | Mithun Mohandas | Managing Editor
The Human API
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plenty of action in the marketing domain. In fact, that’s one of the most common use-cases for AR technology. We’ve also seen startups that use this data to help companies identify the best location to open their stores. If Nike wants to know which place in India has the highest density of college going kids who also have enough spending power and like to buy the kind of products that Nike wants to sell, they can simply approach these tracking companies and shortlist the ideal locations. In a way, this is a good thing because people who have a ‘want’ are being served better. However, the underside of this aspect is the emergence of a walled garden in the real world. Companies which have deep pockets and can purchase phygital marketing data, get to sell their products whereas those who don’t have the money have to resort to the plain old way of marketing. Walled gardens are extremely common online and the emergence of the same in the real world needs to be addressed. Take for example, Google’s new rich cards for products. These rich cards will show all the information such as specifications, pricing, e-commerce stores which sell them and user reviews, all in one place. Most users have absolutely no reason to scroll away from the rich card and thus, websites which relied on Google traffic and affiliate marketing are going to perish slowly. The whole battle for net neutrality was just the beginning towards ensuring fairness. Similar battles will be fought and need to be fought to ensure a diverse market with plenty of options, or slowly every single market will develop into a monopoly or a duopoly over time, because that’s simply how capitalism works. Don’t mistake me for a commie, I am just aware of how damaging monopolies are for the consumer. Access to data about users needs to be regulated and agencies need to be proactive in enforcing privacy laws. Think of it like channeling your request for information about your user, through the human API.
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IN OUR INCREASINGLY CONNECTED WORLD, we’ve gotten into the habit of interacting with tens of digital devices daily. Those of us in the business of covering technology news tend to interact with many more. Practically every device that we touch has some AI component that’s focused on learning our habits and making it easier for their masters to better understand the user i.e., us. We humans have a knack for being unpredictable and AI helps do away with that facet of ours in more ways than one. Earlier this month, the New York Times came out with an article showcasing how anonymous data gathering APIs within smartphone apps were able to gather enough information about users making the anonymity aspect seem like a token buzz word. Some of the apps would collect data more than 14,000 times in a day and would include accurate GPS data with each collection. That’s just one app, the average smartphone user has 35 apps on their phone and us Indians install about 50. They may not frequently use all 50 apps, but those installed apps aren’t waiting for you. If you’ve fired up the app even once and follow through the initial setup process, then you’ve given the green signal for it to start collecting data. One app can collect an insane amount of data and 50 apps simply redefine the meaning of insane. Moreover, they talk to each other and with the same third-party aggregators. Apps that use the same tracking framework assign a unique identifier to the individual. The identifier doesn’t record your name, age or any other personally identifiable data but it might as well. Once the data gets to the aggregator service, it can build a complete profile of you without actually slapping your name onto the profile. For all intents and purposes, that information IS you. These marketing services already do a damn good job of selling stuff to YOU and selling YOU to others. The only untapped market is the real world and the marketing execs call it ‘phygital world’ (phygital = physical + digital) and a good amount of effort goes into ensuring that all the brick and mortar stores also get a piece of the digital action. After all, the consumers are phygital, so the sellers have to follow the consumers into this mixed-domain. Technologies such as AR have already seen
Off topic: First!
“Access to data about users needs to be regulated and agencies need to be proactive in enforcing privacy laws.”
Let me know your thoughts on this column at: @mithun_mohandas | mithun@digit.in
www.digit.in | January 2019 | Digit | 1
THE RSS FEED | Robert Sovereign-Smith | Executive Editor
Time for change
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the only reason many kids of the early 2000s would spend pocket money on a magazine. For many, the CDs/DVDs were the very first thing they got to in the package, often only coming back to read the mag several days later… Those days are gone though. Most laptops don’t even ship with optical drives anymore, as do quite a few assembled and branded PCs… I can’t tell you how often readers have written in to say how useless the DVD is to them. Then again, I also get letters saying the DVD provided software that changed someone’s life, and taught them how to build an app, and other similar stories. In order to do this, we’re running a survey this month, and I urge you to please fill it in. Even if you don’t care either way, say so. Since we’re running a survey anyway, I figured I’d even ask your opinion on everything else in the package, and see if we can improve every item that comes to you. I’m thinking we could just stop the DVD and make it an ‘eDVD’ – something online, accessible to buyers of Digit. I’m envisioning a PC/Laptop and a mobile version, so you don’t just get to experience our pick of Windows and Linux software, but also iOS and Android apps and games. Best of all, no data limits, so we don’t have to pick and choose and be stingy with space on the DVD. Forget 8 GB, we could collect and share 80 GB a month if we wanted to. Of course, the downside is you have to use your bandwidth to access that. The dvice book we included last month (with SKOAR on the other side) was my vision for a replacement, but that depends on how much you like the idea of a hands-on/DIY style book. Yes, we’re not thinking of ‘replacing’ the DVD with an eDVD. We want to give you the eDVD as well as something else as a bonus. Remember, if you hate the idea of losing the DVD, I especially want to hear from you in the survey. If the majority of you tell me to shut up, I will humbly forget all about this plan. So the ball is squarely in your court. Take the survey NOW please: https://dgit.in/ Survey2019
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NO, NO, THIS ISN’T ABOUT MITHUN’S COLUMN BEING SHIFTED TO PAGE 1. For those of you reading for long enough, you know that this is normal for the Managing Editor who looks after the mag on a daily basis. Besides, you’ve probably grown sick of seeing my face for over a decade :-) This column is about trying to get inside your minds and figure out how to serve you better. It’s also about letting you in on a few insider secrets. For example, did you know that for the last couple of years, I’ve been unhappy with one particular aspect of the Digit package – the DVD. It’s just old, and doesn’t feel right for us – the guys who love writing about cutting-edge tech. Speaking of old, I should know; I was there when we started making DVDs, and know first-hand the pain of putting together a dual-layer DVD on a 128 kilobit internet pipe! You think all my hair falling out was a coincidence? The Digit DVD holds special memories for me. From every single letter of appreciation I used to read and eagerly reply to, to spending 12 days non-stop in office with a programmer trying to get him to build a Flash interface that mimicked Windows… it is a part of Digit that I have (quite literally) dedicated blood, sweat and tears to. The tears came from trying to get ActionScript in Flash to work, and far greater men than me have suffered the same fate. The sweat came from sitting through power cuts on weekends in Navi Mumbai, inside a blisteringly hot office in April. The blood… well that was caused by a road accident I had while rushing to office to remake a DVD Master because the one I had sent had failed in production – an occurrence more common than you think. It was always worth it in the end though, because the positive feedback I got from you in the form of email or on the forum when I posted the content list would put a grin on my face. This is all reminiscing though, and personally, I feel it’s time to move on from the physical DVD once and for all. However, this is not something I can just decide to do, because it’s a family decision for us here at Digit, which means you have to be involved as well. It is, after all, one of the defining characteristics of Digit. The CDs and DVDs are quite often
2 | Digit | January 2019 | www.digit.in
“I feel it’s time to move on from the physical DVD once and for all. However, this is not something I can just decide to do, because it’s a family decision for us here at Digit, which means you have to be involved as well.”
Liked or hated this column? Let me know at: editor@digit.in | facebook.com/raaabo | @raaabo
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contents
COVER STORY PAGE 70 -82
Overclock Everything
That which should not be touched! We explore everything there is to know about overclocking, with tutorials on how to get more out of your machines. TECH - PAGE 14-51
JANUARY 2019
24 | Level Up: Instragram engagement
Boost engagement on your personal or business Instagram feed with these pro tips.
VOLUME 19 ISSUE 01
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26 | Workshop: Appie Pie
15 | Tech Watch
The best apps we’ve used this month, curated for you, along with an out of the box phone and security news.
16 | Intel Sunny Cove
Intel’s next generation CPU microarchitecture has new features that improve specific computing tasks, such as Artificial Intelligence and cryptography.
20 | Startup Corner
Do co-working spaces offer a better option than offices for Startups?
22 | Level Up: Rush CC
All the tips and tricks for using Adobe’s powerful new mobile video editing app, Rush CC.
4 | Digit | January 2019 | www.digit.in
Did you know that you can build your own app without knowing how to code at all? We use a tool called Appie Pie to show you how.
28| Cutting Edge
The way companies deal with user data can get much more secure, and give more control to the users, with a blockchain based implementation.
33 | Reviews
Nokia 7.1, Apple MacBook Air 2018, Sony Alpha A9, Dell Inspiron 7572, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2 and more!
44 | Devworx
Picking the best JavaScript engines for developing games.
50 | Teardown: Huawei Mate 20 Pro The innards of the new smartphone from Huawei look as good as the exterior!
AND MORE
CULTURE - PAGE 52-59
ALT - PAGE 83-96
ON THE DVD If you were to look straight at a black hole with your naked eyes, what would you see?
56 | Movies in 2019
2019 is going to be an absolute blast for geeky movies. Here is what you can look forward to.
84 | Geek-Key
Over the years, film formats have been evolving and the aspects ratios have changed. Here is how you can make sense of all of them.
TECH Android Emulators for PC Apowersoft Android Recorder BlueStacks 4 MEmu App Player Nox Player 6
86 | Future Feature
The Gift of the Magi re-interpreted in the distant future, or perhaps the distant past.
90 | Nuclear Bombardment
AND MORE
AND MORE
Web developer tools Aptana Studio 3 Atom Bluefish Brackets Eclipse Komodo Edit Light Table Netbeans RJ TextEd Visual Studio Code
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58 | Ban the Ban Hammer
There have been a spate of inexplicable bans on videogames in China and India
What would happen to your city if a nuclear bomb fell on it?
SKOAR! - PAGE 97-111
SCIENCE - PAGE 60-69
97 | Beating the Slump
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61 | Ignorance
There is increasing evidence that the dinosaurs went extinct not because of an asteroid impact, but volcanism in India.
Every gamer is prone to getting burned out after a few too many marathon sessions, here is how you can rekindle the passion!
64 | Health
100 | Just Cause 4
66 | Earth
102 | Darksiders 3
Virtual Reality can potentially help with chronic pain.
There are mysterious “fairy circles” in the Namib desert, and scientists have no clue what causes them to appear.
The insanity has grown, but is this really a step forward for the franchise?
Almost seven years after Darksiders 2 came out, there is another installment of the series, and this time you play as Fury.
68 | Space Age
110 | Mobile Madness
AND MORE
AND MORE
The astronomical instruments deployed by man have collected so much data, that scientists are taking help from the general public to process them.
CULT Retro style indie games Aviator Arcade II Beast Agenda 2030 Bridge Control Dragon Bros Gamma Bros I Want Out! Jolt: Fully Charged Pioneers Rocket Smash EX Rockrocket
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53 | 1000 words
From retro sidescrolling space shooters to really innovative tower defense titles, this month’s mobile game roundup has something for everyone.
Password Managers 1Password Bitwarden DashLane KeePass LastPass RoboForm SplashID
Essentials 1Clipboard 4K video downloader AdwCleaner Amazon Music Apache OpenOffice Audacity Avast Free Antivirus Calibre Clementine Discord FileZilla Firefox Free Download Manager
The Game Awards 2018 trailers Anthem Devil May Cry 5 Dragon Age The Dread Wolf Rises Far Cry New Dawn Mortal Kombat 11 Psychonauts 2 SCI Educational Software Cinta Notes GeoGebra GNU Octave GoldenDict LyX MakeHuman Mendeley Poedit Qippa Scilab SpeedCrunch Stellarium yEd Graph Editor Zim ALT King Kong vs Godzilla A 1962 tokusatsu Kaiju film produced by Toho, and the 3rd installment in the Godzilla series.
www.digit.in | January 2019 | Digit | 5
TO ADVERTISE
PRODUCTS REVIEWED THIS MONTH
EMAIL: sales@digit.in
JANUARY 2019 • VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 01
SALES DIRECTOR: Lalit Arun Mobile: +91-9582262959 NORTH: Mayank Sharma Mobile: +91-8800661912
EDITORIAL Executive Editor Robert Sovereign-Smith Managing Editor Mithun Mohandas Features Editor Aditya Madanapalle Associate Editor Arnab Mukherjee SKOAR! Overlord Manish Rajesh Intern Dhriti Datta
EAST: Jayanta Bhattacharyya Mobile: +91-93318 29284
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SOUTH: Jayanth Ramakrishna Mobile: +91-9964087233
BAZAAR ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2 Dell Inspiron 7572 Audeze Mobius Campfire Audio Atlas Sony Alpha A9 Samsung AX5500 Apple MacBook Air 2018 Nokia 7.1 64GB Huawei Mate 20 Pro
WEST: Suvarna Shringarpure Mobile: +91-93249 28247
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TEST CENTRE Reviews Editor Swapnil Mathur Reviewers Abhijit Dey, Subhrojit Mallick, Vignesh Giridharan
GAMES REVIEWED THIS MONTH
ADVERTISING INDEX
DIGIT.IN Editor Soham Raninga Managing Editor Adamya Sharma Assistant Editor Sameer Mitha Senior Sub-Editor Shrey Pacheco Writer Shubham Sharma
Brand.......................................... Page No. LIC...........................................Inside back cover
Just Cause 4 Darksiders 3 Monopoly Cheater’s Edition
MOBILE MONTHLY Black Paradox | Kingdom Rush Vengeance | Journey of Light | Candies ‘n Curses | Clear Vision 4 | Grand Chase | Glory Ages Samurais| Brawl Stars
Seagate.............................................Back cover
SBI...................................................................3
PayTM..................................................8,9,10,11
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DESIGN Sr. Art Director Anil VK Art Director Shokeen Saifi Visualiser Baiju NV Lead UI/UX Designer Shri Hari Tiwari
IOCL................................................................17
PRODUCTION AND LOGISTICS Manager Operations Rakesh Upadhyay Manager Logistics Mahendra Kumar Singh Executive Mohd. Nadeem Ansari
Quantum....................................................... 112
“We do not endorse or recommend any product or service advertised in the magazine. The advertisement’s in this magazine are for information purposes only. We do not, expressly or impliedly, warrant or assume any liability or responsibility for the quality, accuracy, completeness, legality, reliability, usefulness or claims of any product or service advertised in the magazine. Our readers are strongly advised to carry out their own independent assessment of the product or services advertised in the magazine.”
CIRCULATION SALES Head - Circulation Samir Mehta Regional Managers Jayanta Bhattacharyya, Norbert Joseph
READER SERVICES Team Leader Sudhir Patel +91-22-67899678 / help@digit.in 6 | Digit | January 2019 | www.digit.in
Published and printed by Kanak Ghosh for and on behalf of the owners, 9.9 Group Pvt. Ltd. (Formerly known as Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Private Limited) 121, Patparganj, Mayur Vihar Phase-1, Near Mandir Masjid, Delhi - 110091 and printed at International Print-O-Pac Limited, C/4-11, Hosiery Complex, Phase II Extension, Noida-201306 (U.P.) INDIA. Editor: Kanak Ghosh.
COVER DESIGN Anil VK
DISCLAIMER For every Digit contest, there will be only one winner, unless specified otherwise. In the event of a dispute, the Editor’s decision shall be final.
CONTACT US TELL US WHAT YOU FEEL ABOUT DIGIT If you have an opinion about anything published in Digit, or about technology in general, write to editor@digit.in or call at +91-22-678 99 700. To interact with the authors of specific articles, please write to the email address specified under the author’s name HELP! For copy-related issues, delivery status or any other complaints regarding our service, write to help@digit.in or call +91-22-678 99 678
JOIN THE GROUP THAT SUITS YOUR NEEDS
https://www.facebook.com/digitgeek Your favourite magazine on your favourite social network. When mainstream tech is not enough, come over to the geekier side.
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SOFTWARE ON THE DVDs To submit and suggest software or any other type of content, to be included in the Digit DVDs, write to dvd@digit.in or call +91-22-678 99 707
DIGIT FACEBOOK PAGES
Q&A If you’re having trouble with your PC or a gadget, our experts can help solve your problems. Just write in to sos@digit.in. Remember to include full system configurations in your email.
http://facebook.com/thinkdigit Join the conversation within a community of over 1.3 million tech enthusiasts. There is something for everyone.
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AGENT001 Confused about what product to buy? You can get technology buying advice from our team (and maybe even directly from our very own secret agent... if you’re lucky), by addressing your query to: agent001@digit.in
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PRODUCT TESTING Want your product reviewed by Digit? Contact our Test Center at testcenter@digit.in or call +91-22-678 99 708 NEWS & NEW PRODUCT LAUNCHES To announce new product launches and press releases, email us at pressrelease@digit.in
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ENDORSEMENTS / REPRINTS Interested in ordering article reprints or in using our logos? Get the requisite permissions by contacting us at reprint@digit.in BUSINESS ENQUIRIES Think we can help you grow your business, or maybe you can help us grow ours? Get in touch with us at business@digit.in CAREERS Want to work for Digit? Send us your resume to careers@digit.in
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http://www.facebook.com/skoar What is life without gaming? Catch up on all the latest in gaming news, reviews and shenanigans from our test labs
www.digit.in | January 2019 | Digit | 7
WHAT’S NEW
Facebook building a stablecoin for WhatsApp
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digital currencies. It will be interesting to see how Facebook would introduce a cryptocurrency in India without RBI changing its stance. Facebook’s foray into the financial services market was expected since they hired former PayPal president, David Marcus in 2014. WhatsApp has over 200 million users in India and Indians also send the most money home, crossing $69 billion in 2017. https://dgit.in/FbWaCoin
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DOES THIS SECTION EVEN NEED AN INTRODUCTION? FROM COMPUTERS TO MOBILES, AND HEADPHONES TO GPUs, IT’S ALL HERE...
acebook is developing its own cryptocurrency for its WhatsApp platform to enable users to transfer money with each other. India will be the first market for Facebook for this new technology. WhatsApp does allow transferring money in India via the UPI backbone and it’s too early to say how this new development will play into the existing system. The cryptocurrency being developed it a stablecoin, a digital currency that will be matched to USD to reduce volatility. The RBI has put a stop to cryptocurrencies in India with the reason being that the current legal framework cannot deal with
Apple suffers setback in Qualcomm lawsuit
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pple and Qualcomm have been engaged in multiple lawsuits across multiple countries over their Intellectual Properties. Apple argued that Qualcomm does not have the legal right to increase royalty fees for its technologies. To this effect, Apple sued Qualcomm in three countries, U.S.A., China and Germany. In the U.S., Apple sued Qualcomm for $1 billion while in China the amount was a modest $145 million.
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THIS MONTH IN TECH: All you need to know about Intel’s new CPU architecture, followed by an analysis of how co-working spaces affect startups. We show you how to build an app without writing a single line of code and also how to master Instagram engagement and Adobe Rush CC.
Discord Raises $150M, valuation crosses $2B
Gaming chat startup discord secured $150M in the latest round of funding. Discord had recently launched their own games store while offering a revenue split of 90/10 for developers which is a much more lucrative deal than the 70/30 ratio that Steam offers. https://dgit.in/Discord2B
China ends freeze on game approvals
After a nine-month long freeze in license approvals for video games in China, the government has announced that they’ve finished reviewing the first batch of games and that licenses will be assigned soon before moving onto the next batch of video games. https://dgit.in/GameThaw
14 | Digit | January 2019 | www.digit.in
Qualcomm won the lawsuit in China and Apple was ordered to stop selling iPhones in China as a result. Apple has contended that it need not comply with the judgement since the subject of the lawsuit pertains to an older
Apple sales fall in India
With Apple smartphones getting more expensive every year, sales for their iPhones have been dropping in India with Apple raking in less than 50% of their estimates. Apple has reportedly reduced production of their phones owing to the drop in sales. https://dgit.in/AppleDrop
version of iOS. In Germany, Apple was found to be infringing Qualcomm’s patents and was ordered to stop sales of their older iPhones there. The ruling only applies to a fraction of all the iPhones that are sold in Germany. In order to enforce the band on sales in Germany, the Munich court placed a condition that Qualcomm would have to post a bond or security deposit of about 668.4 million euros. https://dgit.in/iPhonePull
GraphQL sees massive adoption
GraphQL, an open-source language developed by Facebook and inspired by their own Facebook Query Language has seen a massive growth in adoption over the past two years, especially among Javascript developers. Adoption grew from 5% to 20% in two years. https://dgit.in/GraphQL
level
A COLLECTION OF PRO TIPS FOR EVERYTHING. Without being limited to a particular topic, these tips are from popular software, to coding, to browsers, search, storage rules, password rules, mobile device hacks, bios cracking, tweaks explained and everything tech under the sun.
your Creative Cloud or email. Then, import the image to your project. By default, it will appear on the active layer of the project timeline. Tap and drag the image above the timeline, to keep it on its own layer. Then, you have to zoom in a bit, and long press the edges, which allows you to drag to increase the duration of the watermark. Ideally, this should cover the entire duration of the video. By default, the image will be in the middle of the video. Now, double tap on the image to fine tune the parameters. You can change the horizontal and vertical position, as well as the scale. You might prefer to reduce the opacity as well. Note down all the settings that you changed if you want
CUT AT A PARTICULAR FRAME
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Premiere Rush CC is an video editing software with advanced capabilities, that is ideal for rapidly creating content geared towards social media.
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Edit Videos with Premiere Rush CC
the watermark to consistently appear in the same size and location on multiple videos. You can also cheat by creating a blank image of the correct aspect ratio, and setting the position, size and transparency in an image editor itself.
Aditya Madanapalle | aditya@digit.in
Narrating a voiceover in the timeline
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IF YOU ARE A JOURNALIST, content creator, marketer, business, influencer, or even just a regular user wanting to add some cool videos to your social media streams, Premiere Rush CC is right up there among the best video editing softwares for mobile devices around. The interface is pretty simple to use. For the raw video, you can import something that you have already shot, or you can edit your footage right through the app itself. Rush is currently available on iOS and Windows, but a version is headed to the Play Store as well.
NARRATE A VOICEOVER
You can record a voice over narration right from within the app itself. It is a good idea to do this once the clips are placed in the timeline and cut as required. The advantage of this approach is that you can narrate the voice over while the video is playing out. There are three audio streams available by default,
and you just have to tap on the record button on any one of them to start recording the voice over. Adobe automatically detects audio clips as background music or voice overs, but you can check or change these settings by double tapping the clips in the timeline.
22 | Digit | January 2019 | www.digit.in
ADD TITLES
ADD A WATERMARK
To add a watermark, you need to have a .png version of the logo that you intend to use. You can download the image through a hosting site,
Rush is one of the few, if not only mobile video editing software that lets you cut on the exact frame. This is great for working with videos from a multiple camera setup, and switching between them in the middle of the action. To do this, first import the videos and layer them one on top of the other. Once you tap on the video, tap on either side of the play button to advance the video one frame ahead or behind. The blue bar in the timeline will remain on the particular frame. You can then tap on the scissors icon to cut at the exact frame.
Adding a watermark to your video
Titles are a great way to grab the attention of your audiences, and Rush lets you add multiple titles onto a timeline. The titles are available from a filmstrip icon with a T on it. A submenu of preset titles appear, and you can choose a style. Playing it in the timeline will let you preview the motion graphics, if the chosen style has one. Double tap on the preview to edit a part of the title. You can also change the font, as well as the shape and
tech
Samsung A8s
iPhones banned in China
The Samsung A8s was launched sporting an Infinity-O display, three rear cameras and a rear fingerprint sensor. https://dgit.in/jan19-23
AGENT001
China has banned several models of the iPhone including the iPhone X over patent infringement against Qualcomm. https://dgit.in/jan19-24
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What is this 5G you speak of?
The 5G hype train is already off the rails but Agent001 is not going to be an early adopter, this time.
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Agent001 | agent001@digit.in
veryone’s been harping about 5G of late. We only saw presentations from technology companies up until early 2018 but as MWC 2018 came into view, we saw some of the very same companies demonstrate their enterprise offerings. As the year progressed, we saw the likes of Qualcomm, Intel, Motorola and Ericsson showcase their 5G products as well. It was only in July 2018 that the actual 5G standard was finalised by the folks over at 3GPP. All products featuring 5G till that time were based on the draft standards i.e. milestones in the standardisation process but not the actual standard. That didn’t stop people from lusting after the new G. Folks have already started looking to get 5G on their personal devices and homes. While this is not an unreasonable request, you really need to understand if 5G will really make a difference with such applications and use cases. With each revision to the cellular networking standard the manufacturers make small but notable changes and test out the entire setup to see how it fares. The final 5G standard is poised to bring in quite a few notable improvements. Depending on which
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band it is set to, a 5G device will be able to handle up to 20 Gbits/s, that’s like getting a super fast fibre line, except, it’s wireless. Then there’s the reduced power consumption and the reduced latencies as well. Aside from these two key parameters, 5G radios will also be able to talk to a lot more devices at the same time which makes it excellent for deployment in high-density areas. These put together make 5G the
30 | Digit | January 2019 | www.digit.in
messiah of high-bandwidth applications such as mass surveillance, autonomous vehicles, fleet management, IoT, smart cities, high-res and highquality multimedia transmission, etc. One can see why 5G would really turn things around. Of course, we’d like to have all of the aforementioned niceties, but before we delve into that, how about we explore whether we’re making good use of the existing technologies’ full potential.
I’m talking about us as a country and as a people. None of the existing telecom players in the country have a good 4G network. They all claim to have the best but that’s all on a relative scale and being better than crap isn’t exactly a great achievement to boast. If you’ve been to any of the Tier 1 cities then you know how bad the situation is. You’ll experience excellent connectivity at few hotspots peppered across the city but most of the city gets poor coverage. This was when the networks were primarily 3G, the move to 4G has only made things worse as the higher bandwidth is only afforded on higher frequency bands. The very same bands which have poor penetration. Now apply the same train of thought to when 5G becomes a reality. If you’re on the sub-6 GHz band, things will be slightly worse than it is right now and if you happen to be on the mmwave band, then I’d rather not get into how bad it’ll be. The only way to overcome this problem of poor penetration is by increasing the density of signal towers and that’s not going to be good for living beings. Don’t take my word for it, see what more than 180 scientists and doctors from 36 countries had to say about the matter when they appealed to the EU regarding rolling out 5G in the European Union. One of the
reviews
For better understanding of our ratings, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a quick guide to our overall score 10 to 30 to 50 to
51
to 70 to
71
Keep away!
Strictly OK.
Not recommended
Decent product.
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31
Extremely poor product.
to 90 to
to 100 91 to
Go for it, but there may be better products out there.
Very good product. Highly recommended.
Ground-breaking product.
Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never seen anything like it before. A definite must buy!
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The Digit Test Centre receives hundreds of products every month. Each of these products is put through a series of tests and is finally given a score. The final score is arrived at after considering a number of factors and evaluating them in terms of features, performance, value for money, build quality, and, in the case of software, ease of use.
THE LATEST PRODUCTS REVIEWED FOR YOU
INSIDE
38
39
Nokia 7.1 64GB
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Sony Alpha A9
35
Samsung AX5500
37
Dell Inspiron 7572
41
Campfire Audio Atlas PLUS
34 Apple MacBook Air 2018 36 Audeze Mobius 38 ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 40 Huawei Mate 20 Pro 128GB & MORE... www.digit.in | January 2019 | Digit | 33
tech
Low-latency doodling
WhatsApp cryptocurrency?
Google Chrome Canvas PWA brings low-latency doodling to Chromebooks, Android and even desktop. https://dgit.in/jan19-27
REVIEWS
Facebook is allegedly developing cryptocurrency that enables money transfer on WhatsApp between users. https://dgit.in/jan19-28
Apple MacBook Air 2018
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Lighter, faster, costlier
with close to 13,000 photos was no problem, but editing individual highresolution RAW files did see the machine stutter a little bit. For example, when switching from the library to the develop module, the image not only took a good 6 seconds to load, but the preview itself loaded in parts. Additionally, moving the adjustment sliders around wasn’t a smooth experience.
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Battery Life
The Apple MacBook Air comes with a 50.3Whr Lithium Polymer battery that Apple says should last you about 12-13 hours, depending on the use case. While we continually clocked a solid 8 hours, we also know that had we eliminated photo editing from our day, the machine would have easily clocked 10 hours of use. The topping up of this battery takes closer to two and a half hours with the provided charger, which is a 30Watt Power Delivery charger that charges the machine over USB-C. what this means is that while you’re charging the MacBook Air, you lose one of the two ports, which is a bummer for sure.
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Price 0 1,14,90
y the time 2017 started there is a generous slab of capacicoming to a close, tive glass lying on top of Apple’s people started to Taptic Engine. On either side lie wonder when Apple force sensors which transwould refresh the late to the feedback you FEATURES.....................68 MacBook Air line. Apple receive. The gesture-based PERFORMANCE...........72 finally announced the navigation is intuitive and BUILD............................79 much-wanted refresh registration does not fail VALUE FOR MONEY.....61 earlier this year and we’ve even a single time.
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tried to figure out if the new laptop lives up to the legacy of its predecessor.
Build and Design
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The chassis is now slightly slimmer, the body size is smaller, all thanks to the display coming with a slimmer bezel. Skipping the Toucbar, Apple has accommodated a bigger touchpad. Two Thunderbolt 3 ports can be found on the left side of the machine, with the headphone jack on the right. The MacBook Air is a whole 100 grams lighter. Apple has also incorporated TouchID into the MacBook Air as a square button that's also the power button.
Display
The new MacBook Air brings you a Retina IPS display with the resolution of 2560x1600 and a higher than sRGB colour gamut coverage. The MacBook Air has colour reproduction accurate enough to be used as a professional photo-editing display. The display also gets really bright. What Samsung’s OLED is to smartphones, Apple’s IPS LCD is to the laptop world and the MacBook Air comes equipped with one amazing panel.
Keyboard and Trackpad On the new MacBook Air, typing is a far more enjoyable experience, especially given how eerily quiet the keys can be. For those with gentle fingers, this is for sure a pleasant keyboard to type on. Moving onto the trackpad,
34 | Digit | January 2019 | www.digit.in
Performance Interestingly, when we measured the read/write disk-speed on the MacBook Air in comparison to our 2016 MacBook Pro, the Air's storage came out noticeably slower. Let’s now move to how the MacBook air performs in real life. The MacBook Air managed to last a solid 8 hours of use with the brightness set to half and Wi-Fi turned on. Running a Lightroom Catalog
Bottomline
The Apple MacBook Air 2018 refresh improves on what was already considered the best ultrabook, but at the same time, also brings in a significant price bump. If you’re not an Apple loyalist, you’re not going to be very impressed with the MacBook Air’s offerings, in comparison to what the Windows counterparts have to offer. It is no longer the best value for money device. It is still a great device for work which is guaranteed to last you a few years. It is perfect for watching movies as well, but if you're looking for a photo or video editing machine, this is definitely not it. –Swapnil Mathur
SPECIFICATIONS
PROCESSOR: 8th gen Intel Core i5 | STORAGE: 128GB/256GB PCIe-based SSD | MEMORY: 8GB (2133MHz,LPDDR3) | WEIGHT: 1.25 kg | GRAPHICS: Intel UHD Graphics 617
CONTACT
APPLE INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED | PHONE: 91 80 4045 5150 | EMAIL: Web Form | WEBSITE: apple.com/in
> code / creativity / community >
FOR THOSE GEEKS WHO LIKE TO GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY IN CODE
Game development with JavaScript
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along with the support that a company brings. Along with that, Phaser is quite fast and easy to get started with. It also comparitively bug free, say, in comparison to something like Defold. With that out of the way, let us get on with the next step.
SETTING UP YOUR WORLD…
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Arunava Roy Choudhury | feedback@digit.in
internet connectivity today has made it possible to develop previously unimaginable, web browser backed games. Multiplayer, browser -based games are not only a big thing today, but they have also become so common that you possibly shall not even be able to distinguish them from your usual PC/mobile games. In fact JS based games have the added advantage of being platform independent, thus allowing them to be run simultaneously across devices. Phaser is a platform that facilitates the creation of 2D game framework for making HTML5 games for desktop and mobile.
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Picking the best tools for game development
WHY PHASER
The first step in this process is to pick a framework. Rather than going though the entire process, we're going to tell you why we picked Phaser. For starters, Phaser is open source, but has a company behind it. What that means is, you get the benefits of an open source platform
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rom the ages of playing “Dave” on MS-DOS based machines to playing resource intensive games on bleeding edge hardware, computer games have come a long way. PC gaming has had intensive development over the years and have stayed in trend for a pretty long time now. Mobile games, though newer in comparison and very platform dependent, has seen its fair share of new work too. JavaScript games on the other hand had been fairly neglected until recently. Flash was often inconsistent, bulky, and prone to security violations, but the advent of HTML5 paired with high speed
Installing a web server Windows We recommend a WAMP or XAMPP server for a Windows platform. WAMP installs an icon into your system-tray from which you can stop and restart the services, as well as modify Apache settings such as creating a new folder alias for a project. Instead of an 'all in one' bundle you could also download just a web server on its own. Note: If you use WAMP Server you may find that IE11 causes it to freeze. OS X Being a Unix environment at heart there are more options available on OS
*CODING MATTERS
*New governance model for Python
*MariaDB adds Node.js connector
*Eliminating swear words from OpenJDK
After Guido van Rossum abdicated his role as Python's leader Python will in future be governed by a five-person Steering Council. https://dgit.in/PySCouncil
The developers of MariaDB have released a connector for Node.js for the database allowing developers to build Node.js applications on top of MariaDB’s RDB. https://dgit.in/NodeMaria
After concern was raised over "too many swear words" in the source code for OpenJDK, the issue was resolved after a courteous exchange of views. https://dgit.in/OpenSwear
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WHAT’S NEW
Gotham season 5 origins
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or the Joker who hasn’t been officially introduced yet. Looking at the trailer of season 5, it seems like we’re in for a roller-coaster ride throughout. https://dgit.in/GthmS5
Can Infinity War be topped?
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GEEK CULTURE IS OUR WAY OF LIFE, AND ENCOMPASSES MOVIES, GAMES, COMICS, AND TRENDS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE
efore the Dark Knight, Gotham was ruled by mob bosses and villains who mostly found enemies amongst themselves and the GCPD, especially James Gordon. After running successfully for four seasons, Gotham is entering its final season next month. Through the seasons we got to witness the origins of several iconic villains of Gotham and the humble beginnings of Batman. But now, we are finally going to see how Bruce Wayne takes the leap to become Gotham’s masked vigilante. Apart from Batman, we might also get to see the origin of the Clown Prince of Gotham
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any box office records were shattered with Infinity War. It was the culmination of the entire universe that the MCU built over the decade through 22 movies, all of them inter-connected to a bigger storyline. Doing justice to the endless roster of characters and superheroes was almost a Herculean task and the Russos stood up to it and delivered. But will the Russos be able to do it better in the next and final instalment? Well, they aren’t really trying to achieve that and instead want to tell a better
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THIS MONTH IN CULT: We’re kicking off this section by showing you what a black hole can look like, before BooMan’s rains on the ‘Story’ parade that’s taking over the internet. Also, if you’ve been looking for a guide to the best upcoming movies in 2019, look no further!
Doom Patrol posters revealed
After wrapping up Titans, DC Universe has now unveiled a teaser trailer and character posters of their upcoming series Doom Patrol. It’s a reimagining of several outcast superheroes from DC set after the events of Titans. https://dgit.in/DmPtrl
First teaser of Pokemon movie
A new Pokemon movie is on the way and it’s following the steps of the previous movies by sticking to nostalgia. This one brings back the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo. https://dgit.in/PkmnMwtw
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story with the characters. Considering this is going to be the final movie for many characters in the MCU, all their character arcs deserve a worthy completion. Although there are lesser characters to deal with in the next movie, thanks to “The Decimation”, it’s still going to be a
Time jump in Episode IX
During an interview with Empire Magazine, John Boyega confirmed that the next movie in the Star Wars sequel trilogy is going to see a time jump after what happened in The Last Jedi. https://dgit.in/SWIXjb
considerably complicated story. The title was something that Marvel had been holding back for a long time. However, they finally did the title reveal along with the first teaser trailer. They’ve carried on the grim mood from the events of the previous movie and they haven’t really given out much. Reports say that they aren’t going to show beyond the first 15 minutes of the movie. It’s also said that the movie could probably have a three-hour runtime. https://dgit.in/EndgameTop
Genie will be blue
In the teaser images of Aladdin that came out, Will Smith’s Genie wasn’t in his true blue form. However, Smith has reassured everyone that Genie will, in fact, be blue as his original depiction. https://dgit.in/WSBlue
culture
Popular Switch games
Snowball kills in Blackout
It has been reported that half of the Nintendo Switch owners have purchased Zelda, Mario and Mario Kart. https://dgit.in/jan19-57
FEATURE
PLayers are obsessed with getting kills using snowballs that have been introduced to Call of Duty. https://dgit.in/jan19-58
HELLBOY
One of the highly awaited reboots this year is Hellboy, based on the graphic novels by Mike Mignola. David Harbour from Stranger Things dons the role of the half-demon who is caught up between the supernatural and human world. His mission is to take on an ancient sorceress, known as the Blood Queen, whose ultimate goal is revenge. Release date: April 12
SHAZAM!
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GEEKY MOVIES WATCHLIST FOR 2019
14-year old Billy Batson receives the powers of multiple Gods and can transform into an adult superhero by just uttering the magic word, ‘Shazam’. While discovering his powers and capabilities, Billy has to take on the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. The movie is based in the DCEU, but seems to be headed in the fun direction that was set by the tone of Aquaman. Release date: Apr 5
2019 is going to be a crazy year for movies, majorly ruled by sequels and reboots. Get ready to splurge! The release dates are tentative.
Abhijit Dey | abhijit@digit.in
CAPTAIN MARVEL
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Towards the end of Infinity War, as everyone turned to dust, Nick Fury reached out to his pager and summoned Captain Marvel. The movie is set earlier in the MCU timeline, before Fury took charge of SHIELD. Earth is the battlefield for an intergalactic war. Two alien races are fighting to destroy each and the only hope is Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel. Release date: Mar 8
GLASS
M Night Shyamalan’s superhero trilogy is coming to full circle after connecting his two films – Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016). Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson are returning to play their roles from Unbreakable while James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy will be coming back from Split. The movie will follow the events of Split in this new comic book thriller. Release date: Jan 18
56 | Digit | January 2019 | www.digit.in
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
After a decade-long run of 22 inter-connected movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe story arc of the Avengers is coming to an end. Thanos did what he exactly said he would and wiped off half the population of the universe. Things look grim back on Earth. Will our heroes be able to avenge the lives of billions of people around the universe? Release date: April 26
POKÉMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU
In this “live-action” Pokémon movie, we explore Ryme City where Pokémon and humans exist together. A boy searching clues for his father’s disappearance comes across an unusual Pikachu who can speak to him only. This particular Pikachu wants to be a detective and both of them discover a sinister plot. Release date: May 10
WHAT’S NEW
Worm brain taught to park car
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LIGO detects biggest black hole collision
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THIS MONTH IN SCIENCE:
when unexpected disturbances were deliberately introduced. The most important advantage though, is that the researchers could easily understand what was going on in the system, and what the AI was doing at any point of time. https://dgit.in/wbcar
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SCIENCE IS THE PATH TO KNOWLEDGE, AND FINDING OUT ABOUT HOW OUR UNIVERSE WORKS. YOU CAN’T BE A GEEK AND NOT KNOW YOUR SCIENCE!
aenorhabditis elegans is one of the simplest microorganisms around. Within it’s tiny brains, are 300 cells which have about 7,000 neurons between them. The wiring diagram of its brain, or the connectome, is available as a virtual copy in its entirety. Researchers from TU Wien (Vienna) and MIT trained a simple neural network to park a car (actually a robotic rover). When compared to other AI systems that performed the same task like finding a parking space, avoiding running into obstacles, and navigating the car to the parking spot, the C. elegans-based system was superior in many aspects. It was also more resilient to external noise, and could perform better even
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he Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) is a facility dedicated to detect ripples in the spacetime continuum, known as gravitational waves. The LIGO facility has been used for two observation campaigns so far. The first one ran from 12 September 2015 to 19 January 2016. During this time, three black hole collisions were detected. The second observation run lasted from 30
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Right from exploring the Fairy Circles in Namibia, to tackling the question of whether VR can actually reduce pain, we have it all this month in science. We also explore how the dinosaurs actually met their end.
OSIRIS-REx discovers water on Bennu
The spacecraft on a sample return mission to the asteroid has identified signs of hydroxyls - atoms of oxygen and hydrogen that are bonded together - in water bearing clay minerals all over the asteroid. The hydrated minerals are actually a part of the asteroid, and have not been deposited there by an impactor. https://dgit.in/h2obennu
CRISPR babies
There are unsubstantiated claims that Chinese researchers have edited baby genes using CRISPR. The excercise has raised ethical concerns. There were problems with acquiring consent, they did not execute the editing well, and there is no way to say if it was a successful operation. https://dgit.in/crisprbabies
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November 2016 to 25 August 2017. During this run, the collision of two neutron stars was detected. Three additional black hole mergers were detected during the second run. Now, scientists combing through the
Smallest 3D transistor
Researchers from MIT have produced the smallest transistor yet, at half the price of commercial models. The new method modifies a semiconducting substrate on an atom by atom basis. The technology can be used to make smaller and more efficient electronics. https://dgit.in/microtr
data from the second run using better detection techniques, have announced the detection of four additional collision events, during the second run. One of these is the biggest known black hole merger, in a collision that occurred nine billion light years away. The gravitational waves from the event was detected on 29 July, 2017, and is officially designated as GW170729. https://dgit.in/bigligo
The Great Dying
252 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, was the most severe extinction event in Earth’s history, killing off 96% of marine and 70% of terrestrial life. New research indicates the extinction was caused by a period of global warming due to a series of massive volcanic eruptions in Sibera. https://dgit.in/grtdyng
Water ice-filled crater
sci
Luna Incognita
The Chang’e-4 mission has landed on the far side of the moon and has entered ‘Luna Incognita’. https://dgit.in/jan19-66
IGNORANCE
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ESA’s Mars Express Spacecraft shows images of impact crater supposedly with ‘water ice’ all year round. https://dgit.in/jan19-65
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HOW THE DINOSAURS REALLY DIED: MECHANISMS OF THE MASS EXTINCTION
The generally accepted theory is that a meteor strike at the Yucatan Peninsula was responsible, but there is an increasing amount of data to suggest that volcanism in ancient India was the real cause. Aditya Madanapallle | aditya@digit.in
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Imaging: Anil VK
SA cover story M PL E GUIDE RCLOCKING E V O IDE U P C OCKING GU K | 73 INDEXV:ERCLOCK OR NOT TO OVERGCL|OC78 PERIPHERALS OVERCL 71 TO O VERCLOCKIN S (ANDROID) ICS CARD O H P ONE A R G 7 7 LOCKING PH C R E V O O T 81 GUIDE
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hen your PC starts struggling to keep up with your applications and games, the first solution that crosses your mind would be to upgrade your components. However, this solution usually tends to be an expensive one since a significant boost in performance can only be obtained by upgrading one or both of your primary components including the CPU and graphics card. What do you do when you want a slight performance boost to ensure that you can continue using the same hardware for a few more months or even an entire year? Or maybe you want better performance from your existing hardware than what it offers? Your answer is overclocking. Quite a common practice in the enthusiast PC building community, overclocking can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. In the following stories, we will try to ensure that overclocking becomes your best friend and continues to be one.
better performance from your components. Manufacturers will always ship the components at a fixed stock clock speed. And when you overclock those components, you try to hit a higher clock speed while trying to maintain stability. In simpler terms, your components will run faster than what the manufacturer had intended them to. You need to check if overclocking your component will void your warranty or not. Overclocking can potentially damage your components. Although overclocking can be done with just the push of a button or with a slider in an application, it doesn’t guarantee that it’s going to function as expected. You could have your own reasons for overclocking your components.
If you’re looking for better overall system performance or if you’re trying to get a higher frame rate from your graphics card. There are several advantages to overclocking your hardware and we’ll be exploring them in the next section.
BENEFITS
The most obvious advantage of overclocking your components would be faster speeds. If you overclock your CPU, you will notice an increase in performance with better responsive and faster load speeds. Some of the areas where you will observe a substantial boost in performance is in rendering and editing videos. If you still feel that your system’s true potential is being held back, maybe you need to upgrade your hard drive to a faster storage solution, such as an SSD.
BASICS Before we move forward, you must know what overclocking your hardware actually does. Whether it’s your CPU, graphics card or RAM, they run at particular clock speeds. Overclocking them means boosting the clock speeds in order to churn out
An overclocked PC will give you an incredible performance boost www.digit.in | January 2019 | Digit | 71
WHAT’S NEW
A patient coughed up this blood clot cast
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and was not broken down into smaller pieces. The patient had been coughing up small blood clots over a period of a few days. While extremely rare, this kind of thing has been documented to have happened before. In 1926, a patient coughed up a cast of the trachea with both the bronchi attached, and in 2005, another patient had coughed up a smaller bronchial tree cast. https://dgit.in/clotcast
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THIS IS TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE AND SCIENCE WITH A DIFFERENCE, AND THAT DIFFERENCE IS USUALLY ENOUGH TO MAKE MOST NORMAL PEOPLE GO “WTF?”
36 year old heart patient was admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital for a failing heart. He coughed up this blood clot, in its entirety. Doctors unravelled the ball of clotted blood, and realised that it was a cast of the right bronchial tree of the patient’s lung. This is a blood clot that represents a network of tubes that ferries air to and from the lungs. The network of tubes was so well preserved in the blood clot, that the medical practitioners were able to recognise which part of the body it originated from just by looking at the structure of the tubes and their orientation. The doctors who treated the patient are not entirely sure how the blood clot survived in its entirety,
Bear repellent accident at Amazon Warehouse
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robot at an Amazon Fulfilment Center in New Jersey accidentally punctured a can of bear repellent. The repellent is made up of capsaicin extract, which is what makes capsicums spicy. The repellent was exposed to the human workers at the warehouse, which caused 50 of them to fall sick, and 24 had to be hospitalised. This is not even the first time there has been a bear repellent accident at an Amazon workplace. Earlier
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Start off with a quick guide to the most popular cinema filming formats, some being championed by leading filmmakers of today. Then dive straight into the history of amateur radio. Once you’re done with that, prepare yourself for a trip into imagination as we visualise what nuclear fallouts in the top Indian cities would be like, before re-imagining a classic short story with a futuristic twist.
Parrot befriends Alexa
A bad mouthed parrot has found a best friend in Alexa. The parrot, named Rocco, uses the smart speaker to play songs and order treats. The owner had to cancel orders for watermelons, strawberries, and ice cream. https://dgit.in/pollyalexa
The Future of Entertainment
Technology is going to give entertainment a revamp, with AI crafting hits, dead celebs entertaining us through holograms, interactive TV that puts you in the heart of the action, and massive 360 degree screens peppered with directional speakers all around. https://dgit.in/entfut
in 2018, in the same facility, an employee dropped a can and accidentally ruptured it, but there were no injuries. Back in 2015, a robot ran over a can of bear repellant at an Amazon facility
Hacker pretends to kidnap baby
A hacker gave two parents a scare when he pretended to be in their baby’s room and threatened to kidnap the baby. The hacker pulled the scare off by compromising the baby monitor, which was in the baby’s room. The parents called the police, and threw away the baby monitor. https://dgit.in/babyhack
in Texas. While all the affected workers recovered, the incident is a demonstration of exactly how hazardous working for Amazon can really get, considering the warehouses can be full of all kinds of toxic things. Beyond that, distribution center walls have collapsed, roofs have been torn off by tornados, and trucks have run over people. Amazon tops the list of companies for unsafe labour practices in the US. https://dgit.in/amznhzrd
Teslas can now fart Tesla’s latest update allows the electric vehicles to fart on demand, or when taking a turn. There are six farting sounds, each named after things related to Elon Musk – such as the Falcon Heavy, the Boring Fart and the Ludicrous Fart. There’s also a heating “Romance Mode” with mood music and a fireplace display. https://dgit.in/teslafarts
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DGT DESIRE
SHOWCASE
Puma RS-Computer Shoe
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utonomous technology has been taking over numerous areas, especially when it comes to navigation. On-demand delivery company Postmates has decided to incorporate autonomous navigation into its fleet with Serve, a small autonomous robot that can navigate sidewalks and roads to deliver food, packages and other smaller items in urban settings. You’re probably wondering if something like this is even feasible since you’ve been hearing the word ‘autonomous’ come and go for ages. Well, the Serve has been tested with a prototype fleet for thousands of packages. Apart from the adorable looks, the first version of serve packs some impressive numbers for its size. It comes with the capability to carry 50 pounds and travel upto 30 miles on one charge, using tech from partners like Velodyne Lidar and NVIDIA to navigate the surroundings. Along with the Velodyne Lidar sensors, from NVIDIA it uses the XAVIER processor. For interactivity, the Postmates Serve packs a touchscreen and a set of cameras. When it comes to an autonomous robot going around your city, you would want it to have the ability to communicate with you as well. For that, the Serve comes with dynamic lighting in the eyes and a light ring on top that can indicate things like a change in direction.
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ringing back retro technology in a reinvented form has been the flavour of the season. Joining the ranks of the NES Classic, PlayStation Classic and more, The RS-Computer shoe from Puma is being reissued by the manufacturer. If you’re unfamiliar with that name, the RS-Computer shoe was a smart shoe released in 1986 that came with technology in its heels. The heel on the RS (Running System) came embedded with sensors that could track the time, distance and calories expended and could communicate the results once connected to any Apple IIE, Commodore 64 using a 16-pin cord. The new iteration of the shoe, that comes more than 30 years after the original, retains a cable but uses it for charging the shoe via USB. As with most wearable fitness devices today, it comes with Bluetooth that lets it connect to Android and iOS devices and transfer data to a dedicated RS-Computer shoe app. To maintain the retro feel, the app uses 8-bit graphics in its interface. Each shoe comes with a 3-axis accelerometer to measure the steps and is capable of storing a month’s worth of data. A couple of LED indicators show you your performance and battery levels. Only 86 pairs of these shoes will ever be made, signifying its launch year.
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Postmates Serve
Monopoly Luxury Edition
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f you’ve already checked out SKOAR this month, you’d notice that there’s a full-fledged review of Monopoly: Cheater’s Edition. The game landed in our test labs this month and had us hooked for quite a while. So you can imagine how reasonable a resulting obsession with different editions of Monopoly is. Our searches brought us to one such edition that is meant for the uber-luxurious aficionados of the game, the Monopoly Luxury Edition. The actual 22” x 22” x 4” game board is a cabinet fashioned out of wood with burled veneer panels. Die-cast metal is used for the decorative ‘Monopoly’ plaque up front
92 | Digit | January 2019 | www.digit.in
as well as the handles to the drawers. The die rolling area at the centre is covered in faux leather whereas all the signage in the game, including the game path, are made with gold foil stamping. The drawers on two sides offer an elegant storage place for the notes, houses and hotels that the bank governs. Along with the houses and hotels, even the player tokens are made out of die-cast metal. There’s a leather title deed card holder included as well for storing the cards when they are not in play. According to the manufacturer, all the cards in the game have a premium finish. Priced at $250, this board will easily outlast its cardboard counterparts. However, will it survive your temper after you’ve discovered that your friend cheated on a deal carried out three rounds ago? There are some things money can’t buy.
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