Digit July 2013

The RSS Feed

Something new, something borrowed is researchers at good colleges such as MIT, smaller companies that get bought over, and some really creative individuals that do most of the real inventing anyway. What successful companies do best is identify a trend before it becomes one, buy into ideas before they’re big, modify good ideas into great ones, not be stuckup enough to change, and most importantly, allow themselves to be inspired by others.

Even Sachin Tendulkar learnt the techniques of playing the perfect straight drive by watching others do it, footballing god Messi was inspired by someone, and Michael Jackson took a little inspiration from street dancers to invent his Moonwalk. So why should we hold Jonathan Ive and his team to any higher standards?

Identifying what works best – regardless of who first used it – takes great maturity, and adopting something that’s not totally “new” into a flagship product line of one of the world’s biggest companies takes courage.

The only constant in the technology world is change, and even Steve Jobs knew that, as far back as 1994, where he once said in an interview, “All the work I have done in my life will be obsolete by the time I’m 50.”

Personally, I welcome the fact that Apple is looking to be more user-friendly and intuitive, regardless of whether it gets called a copycat.

The lines blurring between UIs is a good thing, and will make switches to different platforms easier for people; it will level the playing field, and allow you to choose what’s best, instead of sticking to a platform for the sake of loyalty.

I think I’m going to like the new iOS 7, more than any versions before it, but I’m not going to put blinders on and think only Apple contributed to making it the way it is. We have Android, Windows and WebOS developers to thank for the new Apple OS as well, and admitting that isn’t Apple-bashing.

Personally, I’d just like Apple videos to be less preachy and sound less like evangelism – www.apple.com/ios/ios7/design/ – but maybe that’s just me. Or is it?

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pple recently unveiled iOS 7, which a lot of people were waiting for with baited breath. After all, design maestro Jonathan Ive was going to be behind this one, and he has the notoriety of being willing to break tradition and build from scratch.

It’s been no secret that I’m pretty critical of Apple, and that I hate the way they sometimes market ordinary features as if they’ve just made wine from rocks. Actually, everyone kind of does that, it’s the way the game’s played I suppose, but perhaps it’s the devoted iPeople I’ve come across who have really irked me. Just because Steve said it, doesn’t make it the Gospel!

I’m not particularly religious, nor am I a “fan” of anything – except Manchester United to some extent, though I’m pretty critical of them as well. Surprisingly, I’ve had more rational debates with devoutly religious people of all religions than I’ve ever been able to have with some Apple “fans”. Fitting, I suppose, since the very word is a shortened form of “fanatics”.

Getting back to iOS, there already seem to be arguments starting online as to whether Apple’s “copied”, or “been inspired by”, Windows, Android, BlackBerry 10, and even Palm’s WebOS. This was expected, because radical changes bring comparisons to all that have gone before. Creativity itself is so subjective and usually inspired, that for all practical purposes, nit-pickers will always find “influences”.

A lot of new songs you hear, if scrutinised, sound like they’ve been inspired by some other.

Perhaps the composer’s never heard the other song before, and since there are only 12 distinct notes in western music, there’s bound to be note progressions (melodies) that sound similar.

However, can Apple’s team claim the same ignorance? You can bet your life that every one of these companies watches every OS release by every other company like a hawk.

With a trillion dollars at stake, they’d better be! Just as everyone watches what Apple is doing, so does Apple watch everyone else.

So what if iOS7 looks like it borrowed a few ideas from Palm / Android / Windows 8?

It’s not the end of the world, unless you’re a fanboy and you take that as an insult to your very being. Apple’s never really “invented” anything ground-breaking that we use today... but neither have the other big companies. It

Robert Sovereign-Smith Executive Editor editor@thinkdigit.com

“Apple’s never really “invented” anything ground-breaking that we use today... but neither have the other big companies.”

Liked or hated this column?

Write in to editor@thinkdigit.com and let me know your thoughts.

Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com 1

Contents July 2013

volume 13 \ issue 07

quick

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navigator 001 Enter COnnECTIONS 024 Web Watch Mobile Watch App Watch Security Watch

Improve your brain with apps

058 SCI-TECH Tomorrow’s Tech 069 Toolbox Q&A

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Workshop Tips and Tricks

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Life 038 Digital Droolmaal

AND 088 TRIED TESTED

Flagship smartphones Bazaar

Smart 112 Street Agent 001 Price Watch Killer Rigs

Invincible, Incredible, 44 Invisible, Inevitable Technology We celebrate five aspects of technology

at work 117 Tech Industry Connect

120 Esc Unwind

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Community Digit 101

Tried & Tested

2 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

88

GPS Devices

We compare 13 GPS devices so that you won’t get lost and reach your destination on time.

101 ASUS Taichi

103 Panasonic P51

104 NVIDIA GTX 770

One Display is passé, it’s time for two

Decent mid-range phone, does it stand out against the others?

Deserving wingman to the GTX 780

Get smarter

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Digital life

Who doesn’t like to be smarter, right? With the power of these apps, it’s time to give your brain a much-needed upgrade. Thank us later.

Smart Motion Preview

Nokia Asha 501

On The DV­­­D’s

Facebook for iOS update

Bing recently introduced Smart Motion Preview to actually preview a video before hitting a “play” button.

Another tackle to Google, eh? http://dgit.in/15Mp6Yv

This month Nokia unveiled its latest Asha 501, with a global price tag of $99. http://dgit.in/12rE2a3

Official Faceook app comes to version 6.1.1 for iOS, featuring new photo viewer option, and updated News Feed. http://dgit.in/11DLt12

Drool maal

Robotalk

WWDC XIII Apple WWDC 2013 coverage

Want to own a personalized robot toy? Look no further than Robotalk, a cute little desktop gizmo that offers more than just eye candy. This table-top robot runs on Ubunty and a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom chip with 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, and offers features like a USB slot, LAN and Wi-Fi support. It also bundles in a 2MP camera, 60-LED array and proximity sensors. Robotalk can sync with Google Calendar to remind you of appointment, read the news through RSS, and is always ready to kick you out of cubicle boredom with a witty, unsuspecting sense of humour.

Obviously, it is insanely expensive.

Combimouse How would you work if your keyboard and mouse were designed differently from their traditional look and feel? And what if they made you work better than ever? The genius of Ari Zagnoev, the engineer who invented and patented Combimouse as far back in 1999, has been perfecting the design and concept.

The Combimouse basically splits the regular keyboard into two halves and the right-half of the keyboard has a mouse trail towards the end for you to grip. It’s still a work-in-progress, the Combimouse, but Zagnoev and his team are getting closer to launching a commercial product very soon.

Distro FreeBSD 8.4

Sonos Playbar Part of a home theatre’s appeal and success is based on its audio performance, making speakers (surround speakers at that!) an essential building block of the experience. But the Sonos Playbar isn’t just a dull and boring speaker set, it’s a smart one at that. One of the most touted feature of the this slick soundbar is its ability to wirelessly stream and play music from the cloud.

Inside the case are six mid woofers and three tweeters, and the Playbar claims to play both clear low-level frequencies and distortion-free deep sounding bass at high volumes. And it’s ridiculously easy to use.

Digital gizmos that add on the convenience Cube 3D Printer

This one’s for all you fitness and adventure freaks. Imagine getting rid of your smartphone (just for once) and velcro-straps, but still have the ability to track your fitness (other things) while on a jog or an exploration trek? A Swiss army knife of watches, the Suunto Ambit2 not only has GPS tracking to keep an eye on your running speed, distance and vertical, it also offers a full range of navigation functions (chronograph, barometer, compass, etc.).

Apart from all this the wristwatch can also keep tabs on your vitals, while you’re in the middle of swimming stroke or pedalling through a desert. The watch supports its very own app store with over 5,000 distinct apps. Go grab it now!

38 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com 39

038 Droolmaal

Gadgets and gizmos that will enrich your lives. Provided you’re rich of course.

061 World View 065 devworx

Sponsored app Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security Essentials Audacity AMD Drivers 32 and 64-bit Avast free edition Blender CCleaner Daemon Tools Lite Dropbox FeedReader FileZilla Free Mind Mozilla Firefox Google Drive

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Our pick of the best articles from around the world.

SKOAR! First interactive digital edition of SKOAR! Exclusive Digit goes to Computex 2013.

Digit interviews Fatal1ty. Get a lowdown on all things Fatal1ty - his gear, career, early life and even some Quake 3 tips!

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Suunto Ambit2

3D printers are still at a nascent stage right now, and most of them require a complex assembly process before you can fire them up. Not the Cube 3D printer, from 3D Systems and Cubify, which is a bit different from others out there. The Cube is literally its namesake in dimensions (5.5 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches) and comes with an EZ load print cartridge for “printing” miniature objects. After you purchase it, you get up to 50 free 3D print files for the initial burst of 3D mania. You can design and sell your 3D model online and purchase prototype designs from others through Cubify. Let the 3D hysteria begin!

Learn Sculptris for OS X and Windows, Sculptris video tutorials

GIMP Hamachi NVIDIA GeForce drivers 32 and 64-bit

WWDC 2013, An interview with Nikhil Soman, founder, Playblazer.

Features

Game demos Call of Juarez 1 Call of Juarez: Bound in blood

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012 Computex

E3 2013 Catch up on everything related to E3. Take advantage of our complete coverage of all the major events and games of the show.

Digit goes to Computex 2013 and brings you news about the hottest product launches.

144 Positronic Brain

Can we ever really hope to have real Artificial Intelligence among us?

2GB of Essential Software

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DVD

16 video Tutorials

107 Intel Core-i7 4770k

108 Steelseries flux

The fastest quad-core desktop processor on the planet is here

If bass is your thing

Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com 3

July 2013 • Volume 13 • Issue 07 Products reviewed this month

To Advertise

Editorial Executive Editor Robert Sovereign-Smith Features Editor Siddharth Parwatay Multimedia Co-ordinator Anirudh Regidi Test Centre Manager, Test Centre Jayesh Shinde Senior Reviewer Nimish Sawant Reviewers Vishal Mathur, Sameer Mitha, Swapnil Mathur, Nikhil Pradhan, Anirudh Regidi Interns Siddhant Sharma, Varad Choudhari, Umang Moda Product Co-ordinator Shweta Mali Assistant Vikas Patil

Bazaar

National Manager: Lalit Arun, Mobile: +91-95822 62959

AMD A10-6800K

South: Ram Sarangi, Mobile: +91-98864 06961 Jijo George, Mobile: +91-7676881480

ASUS Taichi

West: Sajeed Momin, Mobile: +91-98192 44603 Suvarna Shringarpure, Mobile: +91-93249 28247

Corsair Vengeance K70

ASRock Z87 Extreme 4

Byond Phablet P1 Corsair H80i

North: Debleena Majumdar, Mobile: +91-98101 19492

ECS Z87H3 A2X Extreme F&D A511 Genius Wireless combo

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Managing Director Dr Pramath Raj Sinha Printer and Publisher Kanak Ghosh Publishing Director Asheesh Gupta

Email: sales@thinkdigit.com

East: Jayanta Bhattacharyya, Mobile: +91-93318 29284

HP Pavilion m4-1003tx Intel Core i7-4770K

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770

advertising index Brand

Panasonic P51

Page No

Seagate Central 4TB

Airforce................................................................................23

Signature Acoustics C12

Amkette.................................................................................9

Sony Alpha A58

Thinkdigit.com Online Editor Soham Raninga News Editor Abhinav Lal Sr. Sub Editor Kul Bhushan

APC........................................................................................11

Sony DSC-WX300

ASRock.........................................................................25, 45

Spice Stellar Pinnacle Pro

Avtari games......................................................................15

Steelseries Flux

Canon....................................................................................21

Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security

College Ambassador......................................................75

Umax Boombastic USP 3200

Gigabyte.............................................................................. 29

Videocon d2h HD DVR

Globaltel............................................................................111

Western Digital WD5000LPVT

HP Insert.......................................................... Innovation

Wickedleak Wammy Desire II

India AV............................................................................ 119

ZOTAC GTX 780

Intel ............................................................................. 80-87

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Design Sr. Creative Director: Jayan K Narayanan Sr. Art Director: Anil VK Associate Art Directors: Atul Deshmukh & Anil T Sr. Visualisers: Manav Sachdev & Shokeen Saifi Visualiser: NV Baiju Sr. Designers: Raj Kishore Verma, Shigil Narayanan & Haridas Balan Designers: Charu Dwivedi, Peterson PJ, & Pradeep G Nair Consulting Designer: Vijay Padaya Marcom Designer: Rahul Babu Studio Chief Photographer: Subhojit Paul Sr. Photographer: Jiten Gandhi

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devworx & Custom Publishing Asst. Editor Nash David

Contributors Writers Abhishek Choudhary, Avinash Kothuri, Ekta T, Jait Dixit, Paanini Navilekar Copy editing Infancia Cardozo Production and Logistics Sr GM - Operations Shivshankar Hiremath Manager Operations Rakesh Upadhyay Asst Production Manager Vilas Mhatre Production Assistant Brahmanand Nikalje Manager Logistics Vijay Menon Asst Mgr Production & Logistics M P Singh Executives Mohd. Nadeem Ansari, Nilesh Shiravadekar

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Brand Product Mgr Arun Yadav Asst Product Mgrs Sourabha Shakya Mgr - Online Shauvik Kumar Co-ordinator / Scheduling Kishan Singh

Circulation Sales National Co-ordinator Samir Mehta Regional Mgrs Jayanta Bhattacharyya, Norbert Joseph Manager Circulation Dharmendra Singh Executive Vijay Mhatre Reader Services Lead Associate Itishree Mishra Executives Pinky, Sudhir, Shabana, Shilpi +91-22-67899678 / help@thinkdigit.com

Cover Design: Anil T

4 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

IOCL.....................................................................................51

High-end smartphones

Kaspersky..........................................................................BC

Apple iPhone 5

Kingston ......................................................................... IBC

BlackBerry Q10

LG................................................................................... 56, 57

BlackBerry Z10

Logitech............................................................................IFC

HTC Butterfly

Micromax.............................................................................13

HTC One

Panasonic.............................................................................. 7

LG Nexus 4

Quantum........................................................................... 128

LG Optimus G

QuickHeal......................................................................... 127

Nokia Lumia 920

Techcom..............................................................................47

Samsung Galaxy S4

Top Notch............................................................................27

Sony Xperia Z

TP-LINK............................................................................. 49 TWTC....................................................................................19 Vu Tech................................................................................17 Xerox....................................................................................... 5

GPS devices Garmin nuvi 2568LM Garmin nuvi 40LM MapMyIndia CarPad 5 MapMyIndia Lx340

Published, Printed and Owned by Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd. Published and printed on their behalf by Kanak Ghosh. Published at Bunglow No. 725 Sector - 1, Shirvane, Nerul, Navi Mumbai. 400706.

Printed at Print House (India) Pvt. Ltd. R-847, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Rable, Navi Mumbai 400701.

Editor: Anuradha Das Mathur 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.

MapMyIndia VX140s Premium MapMyIndia Zx250 Primo GPS PG411G Primo GPS PG711G Satguide 4.3 Navi with Entertainment Tom Tom VIA 100 Tom Tom VIA 120 Tom Tom VIA 125

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@thinkdigit.com 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 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@thinkdigit.com or call +91-22-678 99 707

Join the group that suits your need! http://www.facebook.com/ thinkdigit Your favourite magazine on your favourite social network. Interact with thousands of Digit readers and have some geeky fun!

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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@thinkdigit.com. Remember to include full system configurations in your email.

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Agent001 Our very own secret agent will give you the lowdown on what to buy, from where and for how much. Send in all your buying advice or questions to the coolest agent ever. Write to agent001@thinkdigit.com Help!

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SMS: <DIGIT SUB> to 92200 92200 or visit www.thinkdigit.com/subscribe

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Product testing Want your product reviewed by Digit? Contact our Test Center at testcenter@thinkdigit.com or call +91-22-678 99 708

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News and new product launches To announce new product launches and press releases, email us at pressrelease@thinkdigit.com

Endorsements / reprints Interested in ordering article reprints or in using our logos? Get the requisite permissions by contacting us at reprint@thinkdigit.com 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@thinkdigit.com

Careers Want to work for Digit? Send us your resume at careers@thinkdigit.com

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Sponsorship Want Digit to sponsor your tech event? Send your proposal to sponsor@thinkdigit.com

Interact with Team Digit thinkdigit.com/twitter

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thinkdigit.com/forum

http://www.facebook.com/ techkranti Let’s wake ourselves up and gather the tools of tech to change the future of our great nation. Join The Revolution! http://www.facebook.com/ IThinkGadgets Community of People who love mobiles, laptops, cameras & other gadgets http://www.facebook.com/ consumermate Expert buying advice and some awesome offers http://www.facebook.com/ devworx.in Community of software programmers who enjoy writing code and want to grow their career in software development

Buzz

12

) Why on earth was the ‘Spend Smart’ sec-

tion for laptops and ultrabooks scrapped off? It has always been a handy guide for most of the readers who need to buy components and want to save themselves from surfing through the internet all day.

I noticed that although you guys start off great sections, you do not continue them. Lack of space or content − whatever be the reason − it's a bit frustrating at times when you expect regular features and don’t get it, right? I know being a critic is not the way to go, but it is these suggestions from us readers that will help to make our favorite magazine even better.

Shubham

Yahoo is going on a sort of spring cleaning activity, but instead of removing entire services, it’s going to deactivate accounts from 15th July, which are inactive since one year.

Feedback for the June 2013 issue of Digit

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The Spend Smart section covers different categories each month, so you will see laptops and ultrabooks next month.

Due to space constraints it is not possible to include all categories every month.

Regarding the sub-sections, well sometimes we have to allot more pages to certain stories - cover story, comparison tests and so on. But we ensure that you get a variety and we do not completely drop any section.

Nimish

Deactivate inactive accounts

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Enter

Come with us as we give you a tour of drool-worthy products at this year’s Computex

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3. Fast Track to DIYs Part 2, circuit components (explaining things such as diodes, transistors, etc), tech career, Adobe After Effects, Illustrator, Fireworks etc.

That's all. I can't show you all the appreciation you deserve in a single mail, because I doubt Gmail servers would be able to withstand such a long email.

Sanjay Wadhwa

) This is my first letter to you. First of all

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I would like to congratulate you on your 12th anniversary.

Talking about the June issue (again read in a train), Fast Track to Embedded Systems was fabulous! Encyclopedia Technica and Intel tutorials were also good. Somehow the cover story wasn’t good enough for an anniversary issue. You should have included Fast Track PDFs and some free goodies such as those seeds you’d included in a previous issue. And yeah, you forgot to include ‘Digit 101’ this month.

Finally, some suggestions: 1. I appreciate your care for the environment. You use recyclable plastic in your packaging. However the vendors don't accept it for recycling. Please think of an alternative such as fabric bags or cardboard boxes like provided in anti-virus packages.

2. Please try do dedicate a section of your DVD to TED Talks every time or provide a DVD full of TED Talks once every few months.

8 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

Thank you for your mail, Sanjay. We will look at your suggestions, and consider them. The packaging won't be possible because of the vast differences in weather conditions across our great nation. We'll need to stick with recyclable plastic.

Robert ) I really had no idea where to send the

email for the ‘Enter’ section so I just sent it to the first link given in your mindblowing magazine. I’ve been reading Digit since 2006 in my school library. I got the chance to buy one in 2009 and when I did, my life changed. Every single friend of mine now consults me for any tech help.

You guys totally rock and special appreciation to Mr. Robert Sovereign-Smith; your articles are touching, inspiring and most importantly relatable. Honestly your magazine is maha-awesome.

I just wish you’d increase the space for Digit Diary because that's the most epic (after the editorial) thing in your magazine and reading about your team is ultra-fun.

Achal D. Zoan

Thanks for your mail. We'll try and make Digit Diary bigger :) Robert ) This is my first letter to you in my one

year experience of reading Digit. It’s more than a navigator; it’s a really awesome magazine which can transform even a character with a dull personality into a technology geek. I’m really impressed by your contribution in the field of technology. You’re doing an amazing job and I hope you’ll continue this excellent service.

Well, I have some suggestions for you: 1. Your website thinkdigit.com is good, but due to excessive advertisements seems like a website dedicated to ads.

Please improve this.

2. The PC rig you provide is very good, but I suggest recommending AMD FX 8 series instead of Intel core processors because they’re far cheaper and equally good in performance. An 8-core processor for `12,000 is really worth the price.

3. Lastly, please accelerate your responses to emails. I send you an

Computex 2013 bundle

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Digit’s

Facebook’s rumoured Reader service would curate news in a Flipboard-like format and will be tailor-made for mobile users.

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Buzz

Flipboard clone?

Too lazy to type out the URLs in the boxes below? Don’t worry, just point your smartphones to this QR code

Computex

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Adventure Jayesh Shinde, Nimish Sawant

readersletters@thinkdigit.com

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very year in the month of June, the city of Taipei becomes the focal point for the world of technology as it unveils Computex, Asia’s (and one of the world’s) largest technology convention. Not wanting to be left behind in the race to cover the latest chapter of Computex, Digit went and covered the event to give you (our readers) a firsthand report of what innovative products are going to launch in the market very soon. Unlike other global tech conventions, the computer components get more prominence here.

12 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

ASUS

The Taiwanese manufacturer harped a new tune at this year’s Computex. In search of incredible was their new mantra and ASUS left no stone unturned in delivering a whole host of products, possibly the largest set of new products revealed by an OEM at Computex this year. The press conference hosted by ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih was quite an entertaining one, punctuated by several products announcedments covering tablets, smartphones, laptops, routers, mice, and others. It was a mix of revealing brand new product lines for the very first time to the world and refreshing aging champions of the past. “We seek to perfect the balance between

We were at this year’s Computex in Taiwan and came away impressed with the technology on display.

engineering and humanity, where every intricate detail echoes our needs for both emotion and function,” said Jonney Shih. “This is the ASUS way of Design Thinking, where every idea starts with people and we turn our imagination into myriad revolutionary innovations,” he added. Let’s see what ASUS has been cooking up all this while.

ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity

Be Free Block Party We came across an interesting accessory which has also won the Computex d&i 2013 award given to innovative products.

The Be Free Block Party is a collection of plastic rectangular blocks which can be arranged in various configurations to hold your tablet or your smartphone in vertical or horizontal orientation – at an angle that you like.

It has soft rubber tips around the edges which come in contact with the smartphone or tablet part so as to protect the device from scratches. Its retail price is USD 50 but there were no details on India availability.

Video: dgit.in/dgt_cmptx_bfbp

App Watch

Mobile Watch

Connections

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Beyond hardware, it appears the operating systems are making all the difference. Check out the latest developments in this space

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There are no smarts for smartphones without apps that turn a phone into a Swiss knife of the digital age

Jet Streams We take a look at the biggest happenings on the web since we last met, from new services being launched, to product refreshes and updates.

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New Gmail Inbox

Twitter FollowMe - Kobe Bryant

Google has revamped Gmail for desktop and mobile, redesigning the inbox to sort items into groups. The new inbox groups are meant to help users better manage their disparate incoming mail, putting them “back in control using simple, easy organization.”

The changes to Gmail’s Inbox have mostly rolled out at the time of writing, though users on the desktop will be able to manually choose the

tions (and offers), Updates (and bills and receipts), and Forums.

Users will be able to disable and enable these tabs from the Configure inbox option. They will also be able to set all starred messages to appear in the primary inbox, and ensure certain senders appear in certain tabs.

The tabbed Gmail inbox also appears in the Android and iOS apps. Your settings on the desktop version get reflected on

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Global e-commerce giant Amazon has brught its online shopping portal to India – Amazon.in. To start with, the service offered books, movies and TV shows for sale, and at the time of writing this started with gadgets as well.

On Amazon.in, Indians will be allowed to act as third-party sellers on the marketplace. The third-party seller will be able to list their products for sale on the website.

“This marketplace will provide Indian customers with a shopping destination to purchase products from thirdparty sellers. India represents Amazon’s tenth marketplace launch. With the introduction of the Amazon.in marketplace and launch of two new programmes — ‘Sell on Amazon’ and ‘Fulfilment by Amazon’

time. After the offer expires, orders above Rs. 500 will be home delivered.

In the past, we have seen the launch of Junglee.com, which was Amazon’s debut in the Indian market. Amazon also has its Kindle store along with Kindle digital publications in India. The Amazon Android appstore too is live in India.

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Amazon Marketplace India

New Gmail inbox now features tabs

— sellers across India now have access to unlimited and free ‘virtual shelf space’ and a scalable, pay-as-you-go fulfilment and customer service offerings,” the company said in a statement.

As an initial offer, customers will get free home delivery and cash on delivery for a limited

24 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

new design (selecting ‘Configure inbox’ in Settings), soon. The new version will be just another inbox type, like Classic or Priority Inbox, and users will be able to switch whenever they want.

The new Gmail inbox for desktop will feature tabs, five in total – Primary, Social, Promo-

the mobile version. Be sure to check out our Tips and Tricks section for some brilliant usability tweaks.

Twitter’s FollowMe Service Twitter has introduced a new feature called #FollowMe that allows users to create short

highlight reels, including their finest tweets, pics and Vine clips. Twitter has teamed up with Vizify to launch #FollowMe reels, which are said to be based on HTML5.

“We’ve teamed up with Vizify to bring you #FollowMe, a new way for everyone on Twitter to make instant highlight videos of their best photos, Vine videos, Tweets, topics and followers. You’ll find out if you’re a nightowl or an early bird, discover your most engaged followers, and feature your most popular Tweets. All set to music,” Twitter announces in a post.

Twitter has already posted some examples of #FollowMe clips, featuring NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Steven Curry, as well as star of the TV show Glee, Amber Riley. To get started with Twitter’s #FollowMe, you need to log in to Vizify, which will ask you to authorize Vizify to access your Twitter account. Once Vizify has made your video, you can change the music or choose different elements (photos, Vine videos, Tweets).

Get smarter

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Nokia Asha 501

This month Nokia unveiled its latest Asha 501, with a global price tag of $99. http://dgit.in/12rE2a3

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Digital life

Who doesn’t like to be smarter, right? With the power of these apps, it’s time to give your brain a much-needed upgrade. Thank us later.

Combimouse

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How would you work if your keyboard and mouse were designed differently from their traditional look and feel? And what if they made you work better than ever? The genius of Ari Zagnoev, the engineer who invented and patented Combimouse as far back in 1999, has been perfecting the design and concept.

The Combimouse basically splits the regular keyboard into two halves and the right-half of the keyboard has a mouse trail towards the end for you to grip. It’s still a work-in-progress, the Combimouse, but Zagnoev and his team are getting closer to launching a commercial product very soon.

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Digital gizmos that add on the convenience

38 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

Cube 3D Printer 3D printers are still at a nascent stage right now, and most of them require a complex assembly process before you can fire them up. Not the Cube 3D printer, from 3D Systems and Cubify, which is a bit different from others out there. The Cube is literally its namesake in dimensions (5.5 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches) and comes with an EZ load print cartridge for “printing” miniature objects. After you purchase it, you get up to 50 free 3D print files for the initial burst of 3D mania. You can design and sell your 3D model online and purchase prototype designs from others through Cubify. Let the 3D hysteria begin!

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Cover story

INEVITABLE TECHNOLOGY

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We celebrate 5 aspects of technology that most of us don’t give much thought to, but which we should be really grateful to have

Anirudh Regidi and Robert Sovereign-Smith

readersletters@thinkdigit.com

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e look around us and see that most of us seem to have our noses securely embedded in our phones/tablets all the time. All that anyone seems to want to talk about is Nexus/Android this, Windows Phone that

44 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

and iOS the other… Technology is, and always will be, more than the personal gadgets you spend your lives with. Your phone or tablet is merely the last line in a rather long chain of invisible devices and technologies, working tirelessly to deliver the experience we take for granted today.

At Digit all of us have worked towards one simple goal: bettering India through technology. We look at our readers as the true influencers of this nation, and

that’s why we’ve always tried to spark an interest in you, get you to start a conversation or a train of thought, give you a gentle push in the right direction, ask you to think out of the box… you get the drift.

With this month’s cover story, we’re asking you to take a break from the gadget hype and consumerist obsession, and realise the importance of the invisible. There are unsung heroes of the technology world and it’s those very

imaging: anil t

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INVISIBLE INVINCIBLE INCREDIBLE

Divshot

This is a visual interface builder for creating quality HTML5 based applications using a drag-and-drop interface. http://divshot.com

Sci-Tech

Exposed!

A security bug in Facebook’s system may have exposed email address and phone numbers of 6 million users.

Making computers

readersletters@thinkdigit.com

What is Natural Language Processing?

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Paanini Navilekar

talk developments in the fields of machine learning using artificial neural networks have used statistical models that ‘train’ the software to understand the subtleties of language. Such systems can interpret natural languages more accurately, owing to their probabilistic approach, where they are trained using a set of known rules or words, and use this data to interpret new, raw data.

This form of NLP that uses machine learning models has proven far more successful than earlier approaches which modelled themselves after computer languages rather than human languages.

The problem in this approach was that programming languages have fewer rules which are enforced more strictly than natural languages, which follow complex and ever changing rules of grammar.

Language-specific semantics is another hurdle, as the literal meaning of words may not always be accurate.

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Natural language, or the language spoken by humans the world over, is a fascinating construct. Not only does each language have its own set of rules concerning grammar and semantics, but over time these languages spawn dialects that modify these rules in subtle ways. Computers, on the other hand are programmed using a set of instructions that are collectively called a programming language. These languages have their own ‘grammar’ (called syntax) and their own ‘vocabulary’ (called keywords) and bear little or no resemblance with natural language. While these programming languages operate on a very strict set of rules governed by logic, spoken language is often far more flexible, and any attempt to quantify these rules would fall under the domain of ‘fuzzy logic’.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is an attempt to use the concepts of linguistics and machine learning to allow computers to understand and communicate using natural languages.

The earliest attempts at getting computers to understand human languages were in the 1950s, where machines were programmed to translate texts between different languages using a hard-coded set of rules. However, such attempts failed quickly owing to the imprecise and ever-changing nature of language. Recent

58 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

Machine learning models the problem from a human perspective. Humans tend to learn a new language faster using examples as opposed to strict rules, and NLP algorithms try to use this very fact to improve the accuracy of their systems.

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Natural Language Processing lies at the intersection of linguistics and computer science, and promises to change the way we interact with computers. Forever.

Fans of The Office (US) will be familiar with Steve Carell’s famous retort “That’s what she said”, which spawned a whole new genre of jokes. Inspired by this, two students at the University of Washington developed a system of identifying sentences which can be be turned into a TWSS joke. Hit the link below to read the paper that they published, titled “That’s What She Said: Double Entendre Identification”. http://www.aclweb.org/

anthology-new/P/P11/P11-2016.pdf

Algorithms used in Natural Language Processing: The Markov Model and Parts of Speech Most algorithms that classify text use complex learning algorithms that involve statistical models to extract meaning from text. An older, less accurate but considerably simpler technique used is the Markov model, which is used in classifiers such as Parts Of Speech (POS) tagging or sentiment analysis. POS is a system which tries to assign a tag to each word in a sentence, identify it as an adjective, verb, noun, article, singular, plural etc. Sentiment analysis is a technique that looks for certain words or ‘identifiers’ that determine the overall ‘mood’ or sentiment of the sentence. Such analysis is useful analyzing social media to gauge group sentiment.

One company putting sentiment analysis to good use on social media data is Paraktweet, which has launched two products. The first is called Bookvibe which gives book recommendations based on positive tweets about a tome, and the second is TrendFinder which helps entertainment companies gauge the audience’s response to a movie by following the conversations around a movie or TV series.

Parsing systems have also been developed

Our pick of the best tech articles from around the globe

(Must reads)

[Lifehacker Corner]

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10 tips to fix slow internet connection

The psychology behind music aiding us during physical workouts has never been completely understood. Until now, it seems.

Here’s an explanation that tries to understand the connection between music and our ability to feel pain.

http://dgit.in/11H8rin

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Productivity myths debunked

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Why do we need music while working out?

Longer work hours means more output? A cluttered desk points at a cluttered mind? Multitasking means better productivity? All these popular productivity myths and more debunked. With the help of what else but science?

http://dgit.in/12XtBOn

Nobody, and we mean nobody, likes to suffer at the hands of a slow internet connection. It’s not funny, and in today’s constantly connected world something that you wouldn’t wish upon your worst enemy. So, here’s how you fix the problem. Through multiple ways. http://dgit.in/11ybm06

Give your iPhone the iOS 7 look

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Impressed by Jony Ive’s presentation of iOS 7 at Apple’s WWDC last month?

Can’t wait to give your iPhone the iOS 7 upgrade?

Well, here’s how you can give your jailbroken iPhone the look and feel of running the upcoming iOS 7 upgrade – without actually installing it.

http://dgit.in/12jsX7j

Online privacy: Should we care?

We interact with so many online services on a daily basis, but do we ever care to wonder about our privacy on them? Here’s an interesting take on the touchy topic, about stuff that should matter and stuff that shouldn’t.

Give wings to an old game controller Always wanted to do complicated combos but found the buttons on your controller too cumbersome to press? Here’s a DIY that changes all that. Just get yourself some Arduino and you’re set. Killer combos... Die!!!

Balancing your health and work at office Long, uninterrupted hours in front of the computer and living a sedentary lifestyle can be disastrous for your health. If too much work’s eating up your physical activity time, here’s how you can do a bit of exercise right at your front desk.

http://dgit.in/1a4PgXF

http://dgit.in/12Xrkmg

http://dgit.in/11Xcuqt

Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com 61

> code / creativity / community > Interview with

Nikhil Soman, Founder, Playblazer

For the complete interview visit: devworx.in

Apple releases iOS 7 at WWDC

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that the general UI elements are presented in. Some other noticeable features include a “Control Center” which could resemble the notification bar in Android, where you can toggle quick settings. There is an enhanced notification center, which shows you everything related to weather, calendar and app notifications. Multitasking is something else that has been given a huge uplift and has been made much smarter and better. Among others are features like a new radio service, AirDrop sharing.

The App Store has also seen a few updates including features which shows nearby apps and automatic updation of all apps.

Since the guidelines for developers have already been released, it is understood that app developers are expected to start working on re-designing their apps for integration with the newest features.

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his year at WWDC, Apple announced the release of the latest iteration of iOS. The newest release – iOS 7 – has been designed with a whole new interface in mind and has been seen as the biggest change since it was first released. This not only means that there are a lot of changes and features for the consumer,

it also means that there are a lot of goodies for the developers too. Of course, following this announcement, the iOS developers will have to redesign their application while keeping the newest changes in mind.

The most appealing aspect of iOS 7 is definitely touted to be the flat and simplistic design

Java EE 7 at a glance

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*footer

BlackBerry 10.2 SDK released

>>BlackBerry’s beta update for its new platform brings some much awaited features. Some of these include the ability to run Android 4.2.2 apps and updates to the Adobe AIR 3.5 runtime environment, which now has Stage3D available for acceleration of OpenGL graphics.

http://dvwx.in/17hJW34

Read the entire article at http://dvwx.in/1686D5P and share your comments.

Developer takeaways from WWDC 2013 >>At WWDC 2013, Apple highlighted the rapid growth of its iOS platform. It claimed to have paid $10 billion to developers and to have crossed the 50 billion download mark.

http://dvwx.in/11W4IAs

>>Around 3.5 years have passed since the last major version jump of the Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE).

It was intended to be more powerful in Java EE 7 via cloud support. These plans proved too ambitious at quite a late stage. As a result, the version that was completed in mid-April contains very few fundamentally new aspects and just represents a consistent effort to round off existing features. Read:

http://dvwx.in/19MFyJx

*Amazon app engagement reports

>>After announcing its app store in more than 200 countries all over the world, Amazon is now set to release app engagement reports to track app usage data for mobile app developers. Read:

http://dvwx.in/1ajhJVo

*Opera’s Chromium browser >>Opera’s new browser, known as Opera Next 15 is a beta version and is expected to incorporate the upcoming Blink rendering engine from Google in the near future. Read:

http://dvwx.in/19jbljn

*Bing Voice faster

>>Microsoft has released a software update to its Bing Voice Search for Windows Phone devices which can now enhance voice search making it faster and more accurate. Read:

http://dvwx.in/17hFeSU

For latest news, updates and features, join us on Facebook at

facebook.com/ devworx.in

devworx> | July 2013 | www.devworx.in 65

Workshop

Toolbox

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Learn 3D clay-modelling using Scluptris, an easy-to-use modelling software

Google's Dart SDK arrives

Google released the first beta SDK for its JavaScript alternative engine Dart. It includes an update for improving performance and productivity on the platform. http://www.dartlang.org/

System heating up, reviving damaged socket pins, WP8 issues and more...

Blue screen while gaming

copy those movies and files then it showed me a message that said, "You need to format your disk." I don't want to format my memory card at any cost, so please kindly help me to resolve this issue.

Shashank Shekhar Did you copy or move those files? Does the card still read on your computer without asking for formatting? The file allocation table might be corrupt, or you may not have "Safely removed" the card.

If it doesn't read on the computer as well, some corruption has occurred and you'll need to format the drive. You can try using a data recovery software, such as Recuva, to recover the files if they are very important, but this will take a considerable amount of time.

drive which has my precious software and data.

Lunthang Tonsing

Are you hearing any knocking/ scratching sound from your HDD while your system is running? If yes, the HDD is facing some mechanical issue, and the best thing to do is back up all your data.

If your hard drive is running fine, then you should run through the following steps. Go to Start>Run>gpedit.msc Under Local Group Policy Editor navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System >Troubleshooting and Diagnostics > Disk Diagnostic Double Click on "Disk diagnostic: configure execution level", set it to "disabled".

"Not configured" is enabled by default.

Then restart your system.

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My notebook configuration are as follows: • Model name: Compaq Presario CQ43 • Processor: Intel Pentium CPU B950 @2.10GHz • System Memory: 2GB • Graphics: Intel HD Graphics • OS: Windows 7 Ultimate Whenever I play games such as Hitman Blood Money, Duke Nukem Forever, Alice Madness Returns, etc., my notebook shuts down automatically and when I re-open my system, it returns to last stage of the game when it was closed. This problem did not happen earlier. Please provide a quick solution so that I can play normally.

Samrat Nandan

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We scour sos@thinkdigit.com for troubleshooting issues bothering you

Are you getting a blue screen while you are in the middle of the game? If yes, then the system's HD graphics are falling short while playing the game. You will have to lower the settings on your games to see if you are getting a stable system performance.

System heating up

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I own this old Compaq Presario C702TU and it's heating up to temperatures as high as 80 degrees C. It stays at that temp for a long time, I tried to increase the fan speed using utilities such as Speedfan but it won't detect the laptop's fan.

Stephin John Thomas

Get the laptop looked at by a service centre as 80 degrees is terrible. Stop using it immediately, it's already a miracle that your motherboard hasn't been fried. It seems to us that your laptop fan has just stopped functioning totally.

Card not being recognised I had a memory card on which I copied some movies and files from my computer. But when I connected my memory card to my laptop to 76 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

Windows detected a hard disk problem I got a strange error message that popped up while I was browsing the net (given below). Before I do anything about it, I want to be sure that it is legit and not someone's attempt to get me to install a virus or something like that. And if it is legit, I want to know what I should do about it.

I am running Windows Vista 64-bit, and the hard drive in question is an internal Toshiba 500GB drive.

Please help me in resolving this tricky issue as I don't intend to format my hard

Socket pins damaged I am a regular Digit reader. I have a problem related to my Motherboard socket The problem is that my socket pins are broken and I want to fix these broken pins My computer specifications are 1. Processor: Intel Pentium E5500 2. Motherboard: Gigabyte G41mt-es2l 3. RAM: 4GB DDR3 4. HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 5. Graphics Card: MSI N430GT Please tell me how I should go about it.

Siddharth Gupta Are the pins broken or just bent? If they're broken, you will have to get a new board or you risk damaging the CPU and in extreme cases, fire as well.

If they're bent you need to have a steady

Smartphones Test

Tried & Tested

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Ever smartphone brand’s flagship device goes through the grinder to tell you which one’s better than the rest

Bazaar

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All the latest and greatest products reviewed with a verdict to help you make the right buying decision

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You Have Reached Your Destination!

Having a GPS device has its own benefits, while exploring the road less travelled. We test some of the best ones here this month.

Vishal Mathur

vishal.mathur@thinkdigit.com

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ince we last tested GPS navigators over a year ago, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge, and we’re happy to report that these navigation devices have improved quite a lot in many aspects – the quality of the package and the device itself, navigation quality, feature set and ease of use. The depth and quality of coverage has improved immensely as well, with POIs being added all the time, making these devices all the more worthwhile.

For those of us who don’t have a GPS device installed in our vehicles, the common prac-

88 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

tice of rolling down the window and asking someone in the adjacent vehicle for directions is quite normal. However, doing it one time too many can be irritating – plus, imagine stopping and starting your car at every street crossing or signal – and lengthen your time on the road unnecessarily.

Firewalled: The safety aspect Then there’s also the safety issue to consider. A GPS and navigation device can come in handy if you’re lost in an unknown part of town late at night, trying to find your way back – not the best time to reveal to a stranger that you’re lost, is it? This is where, a simple GPS device in

the car will be a no-nonsense guide that corrects your course back to the road leading to your ultimate destination.

It’s a guide, not a command Ideally, these devices are meant for use as a guide, and they shouldn’t interrupt you while driving, which is the most important thing. And their guidance isn’t something etched in stone, and neither will you get rapped on your knuckles for not following the direction spelt out by the navigation device to the last letter. Yes, the quality of mapping has improved considerably over the last 12 months, something that we have experienced since our previous GPS

comparison test in the summer of 2012. But, there is always the chance of a mapping error, or a change in the topography that the map may not yet reflect. As a rule, only listen to the navigators’ directions while driving, and only look at the device’s digital display when your vehicle is stationary by the curb or at a traffic signal.

With that being said, let’s deep dive into our analysis of this year’s GPS and personal navigation devices.

First Touch: Comparing the build quality Let us start off with the most inexpensive navigator in this comparison, the SatGuide 4.3

New typing experience

Ritzy Smartphones:

Dropbox users can now share the Dropbox links right from their desktop.

Check it out http://dgit.in/177mntQ

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THE ONE WORTH YOUR MONEY

Dropbox update

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Smartphones Test

Google Keyboard is a Nexus-like keyboard with amazing features available in Play Store for any Android 4.0 and higher phone or tablet. http://dgit.in/13HebdC

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The year 2013 is just half done with, but a lot of rather chic smartphones have been launched. We attempt to sift through all the options, to reach what we believe, is the best phone money can buy.

Vishal Mathur

vishal.mathur@thinkdigit.com

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he first six months of the year 2013 have been nothing short of a revelation. The kind of variety that usually gets launched across 12 months in a calendar year, has been cramped within just 6 months in ’13.

And with half of the year still remaining, we cannot be more excited for what smartphone marvels are still under wraps.

Here we compare the top smartphones from various brands.

Build & Design

One thing about this bunch of devices is very clear – the popularity of touchscreen phones is pretty much sky high at the moment, with only the BlackBerry Q10 being the phone with 94 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

the good old physical QWERTY keypad. Let us go through each device one by one.

Google Nexus 4

by LG: All that glitters…

The Nexus 4 by LG made its way to India rather belatedly.

The device does elicit passionate oohs and aahs from fans, but for the rest, it looks pretty much like any other smartphone.

However, the real goodness of this unibody design can be understood only when you use the phone in detail. Its front has an unassuming design, with the screen and touch-sensitive keys sitting below it, pretty much the trademark of Android phones.

However, flip the LG Nexus 4 over, and the glass back awaits you. The holographic design

on this glass glimmers under light. Two things that need to be specified – 1) The iPhone 4 and the 4S had the glass back for years and 2) This gets scratched very quickly. However, if you get beyond the idea of “No, I will not put a case on my Nexus because of its back panel”, and actually get a bumper case for it, the device will have a better chance of staying intact longer, as is the case with most smartphones. Very good form factor for single hand use, and despite looking rather bland at first, has a finesse about it that most Android phones sadly lack.

LG Optimus G: Why, LG? Why? As far as the specifications and the innards are concerned, the Optimus G is almost exactly

like the Nexus 4. But designwise, it is very different. Its industrial design with less curves and a little less polish in terms of smoothness is disappointing. While the Nexus has the cascading effect where the display glass ends and meets the body, the Optimus G has a very rough. While it has glass on the back, the Optimus G neither has the finesse of a Nexus nor does the imprint really glitter that well when light falls on it. The camera sits slightly higher than the rest of the panel, and the phone when placed on a table, sits on it. This is a design flaw that is pretty silly, and a lot of manufacturers tend to overlook this when designing phones. When LG can make the Nexus 4 what it is in terms of the brilliance of

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The latest products reviewed For you

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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, even ease of use.

Page 103 Sony Alpha A58

Page 104 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770

For better understanding of our ratings, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a quick guide to our overall score 10

to

30

Extremely poor product.

31

to

50

Strictly OK.

51

to

70

Decent product.

71

to

90

Very good product.

Keep away!

Not recommended

to 100

Page 107 Intel Core i7 4770K Page 110 Corsair H80i

Go for it, but there may be better products out there.

Highly recommended.

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Page 106 AMD A10-6800K

Ground-breaking product.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never seen anything like it before.

A definite must buy!

PLUS 102 | HP Pavilion M4-1003tx 103 | Panasonic P51 104 | Sony DSC WX300 105 | ECS Z87-A2X Extreme 106 | NVIDIA GTX 780 107 | Corsair Vengeance K70 108 | Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 108 | Genius Wireless combo 109 | Seagate Central 4TB 109 | Steelseries Flux 110 | UMAX Bombastic USP 3200

& M ORE . . .

100 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

Pico II - Portable charger

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3

Provide additional battery support to your smartphone anywhere with this portable and handy wireless charger.

Samsung announces its new Galaxy Tab 3 with 8 and 10.1-inch format. The device will be launching globally this June.

Bazaar

Videocon d2h HD DVR

Frustrating UI and hardware ruins the user experience

Specifications

Storage Capacity: 500Gb; Connectivity: RCA, Coaxial/ Optical SPDIF; Ethernet; USB 2.0; HDMI

Contact

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Bharat Business Channel Limited Phone: 073558 73558 Email: customercare@ d2h.com

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Features......................... 80 Performance................. 50 Build................................ 60 Value............................... 40

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on Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV. All channels he HD DVR provided by Videocon has on the Videocon d2h have fairly subdued colours pretty much the same specifications when compared to the Tata Sky HD+ and we had as the Tata Sky HD+ and the Airtel Digto bump up saturation by 20 to get comparable ital TV HD Recorder. Both use a 500GB colours. The user interface has serious drive internally, the only difference problems, its sluggish, being that one uses a 3.5” unintuitive layout and disk and the other a 2.5” confusing remote keys one. There is no noticethat can sometimes able performance differduplicate tasks. For ence though. e example - going back from a There isn’t a notification LED c i Pr 0 particular spot in the menu, to, let’s say, 6,49 on the Videocon HD DVR to indicate the main menu. Sometimes the X button when a recording starts or is in progress, works, and sometimes the return key works. which is a huge omission. From our experiAt times, the box just hangs and refuses to change ence with Tata Sky HD+ and Airtel Digital TV HD channels and the only way around it is to unplug Recorder, the red notification LED on the front lets the device. Crude. you know when a recording may be in progress.

Videocon d2h attracts you with the sheer The picture quality on almost all SD and HD variety of channels on offer, but UI issues are a channels is very good. On the same display with huge turn off. the exact same picture adjustments, the SD channels on d2h look considerably crisper than those Vishal Mathur

Asus Taichi

One display is passé! It’s time for two

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resolution does make the text too small in desktop he ASUS Taichi is clearly an ultrabook mode, but setting it to 125% makes it readable at that is meant to stand out in Toshiba’s least. A by-product of this resolution is very crisp lineup. It’s almost nothing like the traditext. Asus has mastered the art of packing in exceltional ultrabooks we’ve become used to. lent keyboards in small spaces, as they showed The brushed aluminium unibidy finish gives it a us with the VivoBook. The keys on the Taichi are premium look and feel that is matched only by the well-spaced with adequate travel allowing for Samsung Series 9 ultrabooks. The keyboard quick typing. deck and the underside are very well put Performance from the Core i7 processor together. However, the same doesn’t follow Price 99 9 , is excellent, and though 4GB of RAM through completely to the lid, 9 1,3 is seems a bit low for a which has a bit too much glass machine costing this much, because of the two displays. The it doesn’t create a bottlehinge is quite taut, but you cannot neck. The battery will last risk applying too much pressure 4.5 hours with ease, with the anywhere on the lid. brightness set at 60%.

The dual display thing is quite You do pay a lot of neat. Once you have the Asus money for the Taichi, but Utilities set up, you can set the this machine blends flair display mode to one with function with aplomb. or both the 11.6-inch screens. The Full HD Vishal Mathur

81 Features......................... 90 Performance................. 85 Build................................ 90 Value............................... 60

Specifications

Processor: Intel Core i73517U @ 1.9GHz; RAM: 4GB; Display: 11.6-inches x 2; 1920 x 1080 pixels; Graphics: Intel HD 4000; Storage: 256GB SSD; Connectivity: 2 USB 3.0, mini HDMI, memory card reader; OS: Windows 8 Pro

Contact

Asus India Phone: N.A. Email: http://support. asus.com/ContactUs. aspx?SLanguage=en

Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com 101

Price Watch

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Killer Rigs

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On a budget? Want to build a compact HTPC? Here’s our list of perfect components to asemble your own PC

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Street smart

We scout the market for smartphones under 15k, phablets and tablets for all your portable requirements

Welcome to the world of high-fidelity portable audio

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Agent 001 helps you pick the right in-ear headphones for your needs

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n-ear monitors, more commonly known as in–ear headphones or canalphones, are a budding Audiophile’s gateway to the world of high–fidelity audio. The reason is that unlike speakers or proper circumaural headphones, IEMs give you access to high quality audio at a fraction of the cost. To get the same kind of quality on a set of speakers or headphones you’d have to spend a bomb. In-ears are also infinitely more portable and make for perfect companions on those long boring daily commutes – because of their inherent design, they passively block out a lot of ambient noise. The only trouble with in-ears, if at all, is that they take getting used to, and finding a perfect fit is a bit difficult. Thankfully most manufacturers include a set of tips in different sizes to fit most ears. This brings us to the most important question: how do you choose the right one for you?

The in-ear market is quite diverse, with options starting from the humble Creative EP-630 (which is surprisingly still going strong on sites like Flipkart at a price of `799) to the precision high–end pieces like the Sennheiser IE80 (`24,990) or UltimateEars UE 900 (`34,995). And these are just the high-end retail options.

Once you go into the custom moulded space, the sky’s the limit. Even the brands in the space are far too many to keep track of. So for the sake of simplicity let’s

break it down into a couple of sound signature preferences.

For the bass lovers

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In-ears usually are skewed towards bass performance. The bass also greatly depends on how snug the fit is. One of the most bass heavy in–ears to grace the Digit Test Center was the JBL J22i. It’s a basshead’s delight and for the asking price of `2,990 they’re not bad at all. If you don’t want outlandish bass performance and are looking for something heavy but at the same time, taut, the Klipsch Image S4i is a worthy though slightly expensive option at a price of `5499. If your purse strings are a little tight this month the Tekfusion - Twinwoofers (`1,399) are a good option. Made by an Indian company, they were far better than we expected.

112 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

Neutral For a long time the Meelectronics M6 was a reference set at the Digit test center. It still remains a decent flat sound-signature piece for a humble sub–2k price. Trouble is, they’re a little difficult to procure.

Another all round good performer is the Cowon EM1. At a price of `750 (for the non-microphone version) these are easily one of the best performing in-ears for the price. In fact they could easily be the next EP-630. The microphone version costs

a little more (Rs. 1,099) but is worth the price for the tangle free cable and build quality. If money is not an issue look no further than the MartinLogan Mikros 70.

It is handsdown the most neutral and precise IEM we’ve heard in a long time. But be prepared to shell out `9,900 (where to buy: http://dgit.in/16oy0rH).

General tips While buying in-ears read as many reviews as you can but stay away from the general hype that populates forums.

Take the case of the old EP 630. Sure for the price they were good, but the hype from a few years ago made them out to be god’s greatest gift to human ears! That’s the thing with internet hype; every now and then people get caught up with a trend. The XBA 3 was one such piece that didn’t live up to the hype. Also remember that manufacturers usually give away review units to self-proclaimed audiophile forum reviewers, who are overcome with gratitude with the chance to keep the review units for “long term testing”.

These days there is a lot of talk about the Signature Acoustics C-12 Elements wooden IEMs. Digit got a review unit and again, the hype proved disproportionate. Last protip: buying earphones is easiest from online sources such as eBay, Flipkart, etc.

Creative Cloud Out

Facebook for BB10 update

Tech@Work

After unveiling the successor to its Creative Suite last month, Adobe’s Creative Cloud is now available for download

Facebook for BlackBerry 10 update brings design tweaks along with some of the new photo upload settings. Get it from: http://dgit.in/ZHbf13

Facebook India’s mobile-first strategy to capture next billion Abhinav Lal

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We speak with Kevin D’Souza, Country Growth Manager, Facebook India, about the social networking giant’s evident focus on making the service truly mobile, and connected

Messenger and Facebook app in iOS both featuring the same functionality)? Will there ever be a single app for all functions?

abhinav.lal@thinkdigit.com

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Kevin D’Souza, Country Growth Manager, Facebook India

What is the future of mobile social networking, and social networking overall, according to you?

Recently, we have realised that out of every 5 minutes, mobile users spend 1 minute on Facebook.

We are a mobile-first company and innovate constantly to improve the mobile experience across all devices. The idea behind every offering whether it is ‘Facebook for every phone app’, Facebook Messenger or Facebook Home, is to connect people in a most convenient manner possible and create an ecosystem for users to provide an improved Facebook experience.

Home is the first example of a new and different Facebook experience built leveraging the openness of Android platform.

Similarly, “Facebook for Every Phone” app was built to deliver Smartphone-like Facebook experience on feature phones.

In India, the app is available in Hindi and seven other local Indian languages.

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ith its many recent forays into the mobile space, starting with the Facebook for Every Phone app, and followed by Facebook Messenger, Facebook Home, HTC First, the numerous data access partnerships with various carriers, and the newest integration with the Asha OS, the social networking giant has been taking some major steps in provide its services across devices, regions and platforms, ensuring a large part of its massive userbase is connected on-the-go.

We decided to speak with Facebook about its plans in the mobile space.

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With increasing mobile internet penetration, mobile social networking will be an integral part of society. At Facebook, we help people connect across platforms with features including chat, messaging, email, SMS and Groups. We want our users to have access to information and be able to reach anyone they want.

A report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB states that number of mobile internet users is expected to grow further to 130.6 million (by March 2014) and 164.8 million

by March 2015 which itself explains the increasing database of people accessing internet through mobile devices.

We are also witnessing people signing up to Facebook accounts with their phone numbers and not really through email addresses, though we have both the options. These are people who probably don’t even have an email address.

What opportunities does mobile create for Facebook?

The proliferation of mobile devices is expanding the market of people who can use Facebook and simultaneously driving deeper engagement with our product.

Today over 751 million people use Facebook on a mobile device each month, and 70% of them return to Facebook every day compared to 40% of desktop users. To bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world, we’re working across the entire mobile industry- with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers.

We’re very excited about the opportunity to bring millions of additional people online via Facebook through these joint efforts.

Is having multiple apps for a single platform a strategy for Facebook (e.g., Facebook

Can mobile become a major revenue generator for Facebook?

Mobile is a major source of revenue. Last year, around this time, we had no revenue from mobile and at the end of 2012, 23% of Facebook’s Q4 revenue was generated by mobile ads. Also, since launching mobile app install ads in October, they’re already being used by 20% of the top 100 iOS apps to accelerate growth.

How do you see Facebook’s mobile strategy evolving in the future?

Today we see ourselves as a true mobile company. Going forward, our mobile experiences will be the best way to use Facebook, we will help mobile developers grow their apps and make them social, and we will develop mobile ad products that allow marketers to reach our unique audience in compelling ways.

For the complete interview, visit http:// dgit.in/161VmmV. Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com 117

The Positronic Brain

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Is Isaac Asimov’s vision of the future ever going to turn real? We examine the facts

Community

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Check out what our thriving community is upto on facebook and on our forum

Tales of plagues and pestilence

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Feeling guilty about the rat we so mercilessly executed (read the diary), we’ve decide to assuage our (and your) collective consciences by compiling a list of some of the worst plagues in the history of modern man (which isn’t much actually)

Bieber Fever

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Obviousitis

We really thought people were more intelligent. That was of course, till one of our interns recognized this one from a picture of its eyes. Ugh. Anyway, it’s high time we did something about it and one of those things is to recognize this as a real affliction and deal with it as such. We need to snuff this Fever out at its very root.

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Quite obviously, this refers to the trend of stating the obious. You know, like the above statement. Stating the obvious is getting so obvious in recent times that it has, obviously, started getting on to our nerves quite a bit. This is, obviously, a trend that needs to be stopped. Isn’t it patently obvious that something is wrong with this world?

Schruteism

Who can forget such gems as “Women are like wolves. If you want a wolf, you have to trap it. Snare it. Then to keep it happy, you have to tame it. Feed it, care for it. Lovingly. The way an animal deserves. And my animal deserves a lot of loving.” This is one of those afflictions that deserves to spread. In fact, this should be a religion.

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Bio-Hazard

Trailer Trash

An overexuberant fog horn/bugle and some dramatic drumming hardly make for a great movie, but almost all filmmakers seem to be thinking that it’ll make for a great trailer. In fact, those very same filmmakers are probably spending more time on the trailer than on their movies anyway. But hey, maybe our short attention spans deserve it!

120 Digit | July 2013 | www.thinkdigit.com

We’re ageing fast, really fast. The average life-span is falling and 20-somethings are now looking like 40-somethings (not us, we don’t really work) because of the stress of living. Regardless, just because you look like a 40-something doesn’t mean you can write a frickin’ biography on your life! You’re not already dead.

There’s so much more you can do with it.

Blogophobia This phenomenon has been spreading like wildfire for many years and it absolutely must come to a stop. Anyone and everyone is a blogger and a wannabe celebrity but the fact remains, rambling to yourself about how you spent your day is not going to help either you or anyone else. Read more about our thoughts and dreams on our blog at www.thinkdigit.com