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PARANOID ANDROID | Mithun Mohandas | Managing Editor

This again

humans tend to remember more of the happier memories. It’s not like everything was fine and dandy back when you were a kid but you’re more likely to fixate on the positives. In contrast to your older memories, your more recent memories which have a good mix of positive and negative, don’t appear to evoke the same warmth. So it’s only natural to chase after the better times. What’s interesting to observe is one’s reaction upon reliving “those good times”. Back when I’d suffered my very first bout of AoE II nostalgia, I had gone through the entire game from start to end but with the more recent ones I’ve stayed away from reliving the entire experience. It’s because I’ve gotten used to better things, better game mechanics, Quality of Life improvements which have become the norm and so on. There now exists the fear that I might lose out on the fond memories should I have a not so good wonderful walk down memory lane with what is arguably one of my favourites. If nostalgia is to be followed by feelings of regret, I’m not so certain this is something I want to experience over and over again.

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NOSTALGIA IS A FUNNY THING. It’s been discussed in depth multiple times over the last few centuries. From the time the word was coined back in the 17th century to describe a psychological condition affecting Swiss soldiers who were anxious and longed to go back home, to more contemporary discussions revolving around the resurgence of technology that was invented a few decades ago, the whole concept has yo-yoed from being a negative aspect to a positive aspect and so on, repeating the same pattern, over and over and over. Just the other day as I went about writing one of these articles in the magazine, I couldn’t help but hum the jingle associated with the Mongol race in Age of Empires II. Upon realising where I’d picked it up, my mind was Immediately flooded with all the wonderful memories of playing the game. AoE II is iconic and stands strong as an example of what RTS games should be like but after 20 years, there have been plenty of other titles that I could remember. And yet I went back to a time when things were simple. Manish, the SKOAR! Warlord who also happens to have a degree in psychology, believes that humans love the comforts of the known and that makes them wax nostalgic frequently. This whole fascination with retro culture sits along the same lines. However, there’s also the fact that

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“It’s not like everything was fine and dandy back when you were a kid but you’re more likely to fixate on the positives.”

Let me know your thoughts on this column at: @mithun_mohandas | mithun@digit.in

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www.digit.in | September 2019 | Digit | 1

THE RSS FEED | Robert Sovereign-Smith | Executive Editor

Anyone there?

regularly, but it’s a long, long way from how popular it was in its heyday. We still pay for its upkeep and server space and bandwidth only out of respect for the lakhs of Digit readers who once called it their online home. However, we still need to find a way to be able to talk to you more often, and thus, I’m stuck with the predicament of finding out how. The email addresses are back now, and being backed-up in real time as well, because we’ve learnt our lesson in that regard, but even then, only about 1% of our readers write feedback emails to us or start up conversations. Perhaps most of you are shy, or perhaps you just don’t have the time to sit down and type out a long email because of how busy your life is. Whatever the case, we need to find a way around that. I’m open to suggestions, because rather than try and force everyone to come to one single place to chat, we’re happy to come where you spend your time online, but we’re going to need to know where that is. We have a Facebook group meant for geeks, but it’s an inadvertently well-kept secret, and that needs to change. The group is called Digit Geeks on Facebook, and the direct link to it is: https://www.facebook.com/ groups/digitgeeks/. We invite all of you to come join that group if Facebook is something you use often. If Facebook is not your cup of tea, then we have started a telegram group as well, which currently only contains Team Digit members, but we’d love to be able to talk to you there as well, and more importantly, for you to also be able to talk to one another. Just download Telegram and use the invite link: t.me/ digitgeek to come join us. Telegram is good because it allows you to stay anonymous to an extent, and you don’t need to share your phone number. If neither of those two is your cup of tea, you can still write in to us at editor@digit.in, and tell us where you like to hang out, and if one of us is on that platform, we’ll connect with you there as well. In this day and age, none of us can afford to be disconnected from one another, especially not a group as closely bound together by the love of all things tech as the Digit family. See you around!

M PL

IT WAS THE 23RD OF AUGUST, a Friday evening like any other, with me sitting and sipping on some hot tea while I started looking for emails from readers to answer. Around the 20th of every month, I’m reminded that we need to fill in letters into our inbox section, and that’s when I end up dedicating a day to tracking those letters down and then replying to them, or forwarding them to other folk in Team Digit who might need to reply to the feedback. I’ve got so many Google accounts saved in my browser, that the account switcher has a long scroll bar. Scan for editor@digit. in, it’s logged out? That’s weird. Didn’t I just login to it a few days ago? Click sign in, and it tells me to contact my administrator. Long story short, someone accidentally deleted a lot of our G Suite email accounts by mistake, and a lot of emails from you readers went bye-bye for good. The lesson here is to make sure you drink a lot of caffeine when working late, and when you want to select multiple accounts, remember to just click on them one at a time instead of holding down [Shift] when selecting. Sitting here with no emails whatsoever, and faced with the prospect of our first ever issue to not carry any reader feedback at all, I started looking at our social feeds, and realised that even there it’s not really any in-depth feedback that’s being given. We are, for all practical purposes, very alienated from you, our beloved magazine reader, especially if you don’t take time to email us. Of course, we still get loads of buying questions on a daily basis, so that’s a pipeline of interaction that never dries up, but that is purely transactional, and need based. When it comes to discussions about new tech, new trends, talking to one another, learning from one another, there isn’t any place that you and members of Team Digit can meet. We need to remedy that. Our forums used to be that place, before social media killed them by making the world impatient and wanting immediate responses, or by dangling “likes” and “shares” as rewards. Plus, the move from desktop to mobile contributed greatly in killing off forums all across the globe, not just the Digit forum. Sure, it’s still there and pretty active because of the forum enthusiasts who post

“When it comes to discussions about new tech, new trends, talking to one another, learning from one another, there isn’t any place that you and members of Team Digit can meet. We need to remedy that.”

2 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

Liked or hated this column? Let me know at: editor@digit.in | facebook.com/raaabo | @raaabo

TO ADVERTISE SEPTEMBER 2019 • VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 09

PRODUCTS REVIEWED THIS MONTH

EMAIL: sales@digit.in SALES DIRECTOR: Rashmi Mamgain Kumar Mobile: +91-9900567780 NORTH: Mayank Sharma Mobile: +91-8800661912

EDITORIAL Executive Editor Robert Sovereign-Smith Managing Editor Mithun Mohandas Features Editor Aditya Madanapalle Writer Dhriti Datta SKOAR! Overlord Manish Rajesh

EAST: Jayanta Bhattacharyya Mobile: +91-93318 29284

SOUTH: Jayanth Ramakrishna Mobile: +91-9964087233

BAZAAR AMD Ryzen 9 3900X MSI GP75 Leopard 9SE Seagate IronWolf 14TB Dyson Pure Hot+Cool ZOTAC RTX 2070 Super AMP Extreme ASUS ROG Strix XG248Q TP-Link Deco E4 Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless Nubia Red Magic 3 Audio Technica ATH-S200BT

WEST: Suvarna Shringarpure Mobile: +91-93249 28247

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TEST CENTRE Reviews Editor Swapnil Mathur Reviewers Subhrojit Mallick, Vignesh Giridharan

GAMES REVIEWED THIS MONTH

ADVERTISING INDEX

DIGIT.IN Editor Soham Raninga Assistant Editor Andrew Lu Assistant Editor Sameer Mitha Senior Sub-Editor Shrey Pacheco Writer Shubham Sharma

Brand.......................................... Page No. Samsung.................................Inside front cover

Compuage...............................Inside back cover

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition

Gigabyte............................................Back cover Lenovo..............................................................3

TP-Link.............................................................5 Accenture.........................................................7

DESIGN Sr. Art Director Anil VK Art Director Shokeen Saifi Visualiser Baiju NV Lead UI/UX Designer Shri Hari Tiwari

LIC..................................................................11

PRODUCTION AND LOGISTICS Manager Operations Rakesh Upadhyay Manager Logistics Mahendra Kumar Singh Executive Mohd. Nadeem Ansari

Corsair............................................................13 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 4 | Digit | September 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

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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 SUBSCRIBE Want to get an edge over everyone else at school, college, or even work? Subscribe to India’s #1 Technology Magazine, and you will find our secret sauce is the best! Plus you will save money. Visit www.digit.in/subscribe or email us at help@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

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

SPONSORSHIP Want Digit to be a media partner for your tech event? Send your proposal in to sponsor@digit.in

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INTERACT WITH TEAM DIGIT

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6 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

digit.in/forum

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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

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contents

COVER STORY PAGE 51- 61

The retro issue

SEPTEMBER 2019

Get on the nostalgia train with tech, gadgets and trends that are making a comeback with lazarus tech, retro camera apps, and timeless techniques.

VOLUME 19 ISSUE 09

TECH - PAGE 12-49

16 | Level Up

Spruce up your Instagram with VSCO and TikTok your way to the top

20 | Reviews

The latest products reviewed for you, including AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, Seagate IronWolf and ASUS XG248Q

30 | Indic keypads for smartphones

The constraints of designing keypads for indic languages, and the innovative solutions implemented by developers for brahmic scripts

36 | Devworx

Getting started with Dart

44 | Teardown

A peek inside one of the very first gaming consoles, the Atari 2600

46 | Origins

Exploring seven decades of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines

48 | Careers

Chief Listening Officer is a new job for when social media managers just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cut it

AND MORE 8 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

CULTURE - PAGE 62-66

ALT - PAGE 80-95

ON THE DVD 62 | What’s New

81 | Backtalk: Nitin Mishra

63 | Boo-Man

84 | Geek Key

Boo-Man gets a rad new retro background, and curses the editor, two surprisingly unreleted events

64 | Anime in 2019

We celebrate 80 years of Batman by looking at his vehicles, gear and costumes and how they evolved over the years

94 | 1000 Words

TECH Distros Linux 0.01 Slackware Linux Mint Tessa

Retro Software SimH DOSBox ProgammaX DBFrontend DosPanel Pyxel Edit MS Paint MicroPro WordStar TOSEC

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A number of Anime shows have already wrapped up, all ready for you to binge on

A look into the security measures to protect the GST Network in India

AND MORE

Regular animals compared to their melanistic and albino variations

AND MORE

SKOAR! - PAGE 96-111

SCIENCE - PAGE 67-79

98 | Reevu: Baldur’s Gate II

68 | Earth

Strange things start happening to animals who evolve on isolated islands

70 | Cutting Edge

A look at the game that redefined a genre

106 | Gamer’s Remorse

Scientists want to make robots feel pain, for the benefit of humans

All the monsters in videogames that you really, really don’t want to kill, but are forced to, in order to win the game

74 | Ignorance

108 | Mobile Madness

How old is the Moon? We might have only just found out

76 | Space Age

Galaxies have weather events, including fountains, rains, winds and floods

78 | Health

Researchers can now control brain cells, using a smartphone

AND MORE

The hottest new mobile titles including Banana Kong Blast and Flappy Royale

100 | Reevu: Wolfenstein Youngblood

The spinoff we didn’t want, but got anyway

102 | Remembering Flash

Flash games, not the DC Superhero, who is fine

AND MORE

Jazz JackRabbit Disciples II: Dark Prophecy Buffy: Call of the Siren Lemmings Golden Axe Myth Tanarus Privateer (Remake)

Sony pulls Spidey out of the MCU, Obi Wan is back and we are going to get Matrix 4

Essentials Essentials 7Zip Adobe Acrobat Reader Avidemux Calibre Chrome CPU-Z Deluge Discord EasyBCD FFmpeg File Splitter and Joiner Firefox Foxit Reader Free Download Manager Free OCR Handbrake HDD Low Level Format Tool IrfanView K-Lite Codec Pack and more CULT Classic PC Games Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 Zuma Deluxe RiftSpace

DOS Games Prince of Persia Arkanoid Caesar Civilization Frontier: Elite 2 Lemmings NetHack Populous Railroad Tycoon The Need for Speed The Settlers SCI Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics S pecial and General Relativity S tellar Mass Black Holes S tellar Mass Black Holes 2 P ulsars S upermassive Black Holes ALT Radio Dimension X Music Retrofuturism Night Call Balance the Equation Chiptunes 1 and more

www.digit.in | September 2019 | Digit | 9

WHAT’S NEW

SMART Act to curtail addictive social media mechanisms

methods combined do have a pronounced effect on the user, it’s not necessary causing addition. Psychology experts classify addiction as behaviours that negatively impacts the user. This varies vastly from user-to-user and having a blanket ban on the individual methods might not be the right way of reducing addition. https://dgit.in/SMARTAct

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DOES THIS SECTION EVEN NEED AN INTRODUCTION? FROM COMPUTERS TO MOBILES, AND HEADPHONES TO GPUs, IT’S ALL HERE...

he Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act, introduced in the US Senate, could spell the end of addictive mechanisms used by websites to retain users. The act proposes measures to prevent social media platforms from utilising tactics such as infinite scrolling, music and video autoplay mechanisms, and gamification methods. It would also make it mandatory for social media platforms to make their users aware about the amount of time they’re spending on the platforms. While all the

BM, the maker of the Power Series processors, has announced that it is moving the OpenPower Foundation under The Linux Foundation. With this move, IBM is also open-sourcing few additional elements from the Power Series IP. The Power Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) is one of the key elements that are being open-sourced along with this move. In an interview with TechCrunch, Ken

THIS MONTH IN TECH: VSCO and TikTok pro tips, find out what’s inside the Atari 2600, get started with Dart, explore the origins of CNC machines, and find out what it takes to design keyboards for Indic languages

IBM open-sources Power Instruction Set Architecture

No more desert names for Android

In a bid to have more accessibility with the Android ecosystem, Google announced that it is moving away from desert themed names and shifting to a more simpler numerical system. Android Q will now be known as Android 10. https://dgit.in/Qisnow10

Intel announces 10th Gen mobile CPUs

Intel unveiled 10nm and 14nm based U and Y-series processors from the Ice Lake (10nm) and Comet Lake (14nm) families. The Ice Lake processors will sport newer IGP but feature lower core counts whereas Comet Lake processors go vice-versa. https://dgit.in/10thIntel

12 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

King, GM OpenPower at IBM said, “The first thing is that we are taking the ability to be

able to implement what we’re licensing, the ISA instruction set architecture, for others to be able to implement on top

Webkit announces new tracking prevention policy WebKit, the web engine that powers Apple’s Safari browser has announced a new tracking prevention policy inspired by Mozilla’s recent attempts in the same domain. It will prevent all covert and cross-site tracking. https://dgit.in/WebKitNT

of that instruction set royalty free with patent right.” IBM is also open-sourcing the softcore implementation of the Power ISA, reference designs for Open Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (OpenCAPI) and the Open Memory Interface (OMI). This move will allow developers to come up with their own instruction sets and add onto them without having to pay any royalties. https://dgit.in/PISAOS

Verizon to sell Tumblr to Automattic Inc.

Tumblr, the social network, which was acquired by Yahoo! In 2013 for $1.1 billion is being sold to Automattic Inc. for an undisclosed price that’s allegedly between $10-20 million. Automattic will get the network and retain about 200 employees. https://dgit.in/tubmlr10m

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.

straightening tool and more. Tweaking with the colour, contrast and exposure in VSCO is extremely simple, but oftentimes more effective than filters. It will help convey the mood of the picture better since phone photography can sometimes come out different than your artistic vision.

M PL

LAYER FILTERS

VSCO Spruce up your Instagram feed with these handy VSCO tips and tricks

Dhriti Datta | dhriti@digit.in

VSCO, a powerhouse of an editing app, comes in. VSCO provides numerous brilliantly crafted filters and a bunch of handy tools that can spring life into otherwise dull or ordinary captures. Let’s delve into a few VSCO tips and techniques to get you the Instagram-ready (or any other social media) pictures you desire.

PHONE PHOTOGRAPHY today has transcended to become an exceedingly viable option, and one with mass appeal, to click fascinating landscapes or portraits. What was once thought only achievable by using a DSLR, is now feasible on smartphones as well across a wide spectrum of budgets, especially with Pro Mode on smartphone cameras. If you’re trying to fabricate the perfect Instagram feed, you’re going to need a photo editing app that allows you features that Instagram’s in-app editor doesn’t provide. This is where

look while you looked at it through the phone’s viewfinder and clicked it. This will allow you to understand what exactly is lacking in the picture from communicating your intended creative vision. More often than not, the lacking element is almost always fixed by tweaking around with the colour and exposure of the picture. The composition is also extremely important and can be fixed if needed using the cropping tool, rotating tool,

Choosing a preset for your pictures in VSCO is the next logical step, and an extremely important one at that, especially if you are going for that Instagram aesthetic. While some people have a favourite ‘go-to’ filter for all their photographs, others enjoy experimenting around. Finding presets on VSCO is very simple, so we won’t get into that. However, did you know that you can actually layer two different presets on top of each other? VSCO doesn’t traditionally allow you to apply two or more filters to the same photograph. However, when

COLOUR, CONTRAST AND EXPOSURE ARE EVERYTHING

This is not a technical VSCO hack, by any means, but it may as well be one of the most important ones since it can elevate your picture more than any preset (filter) can. First, you must take a close look at your picture, specifically elements such as tone, saturation, sharpness and contrast. Compare this to how you actually intended the photograph to

16 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

Edited colour, exposure and contrast (left) and unedited (right)

reviews

For better understanding of our ratings, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a quick guide to our overall score 10 to 30 to 50 to

to 70 to

to 90 to

Keep away!

Strictly OK.

Not recommended

Decent product.

Extremely poor product.

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!

M PL

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

MSI GP75 Leopard 9SE Gaming Laptop

20 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

ZOTAC RTX 2070 Super AMP Extreme

29 Nubia Red Magic 3

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless

PLUS

23 ASUS ROG XG248Q 24 Dyson Pure Hot+Cool 24 Seagate IronWolf 14 TB 26 Audio Technica ATHS200BT 27 TP-Link Deco E4

Cheaper camera lenses

A Mexican physicist has solved a 2,000-year old problem that will lead to cheaper, sharper lenses. https://dgit.in/sep19-59

No more copy-strike?

YouTube will stop letting copyright holders seize revenue via manual claims on short music clips. https://dgit.in/sep19-60

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Zen 2 knocks it out of the park

Price 8 42,46

REVIEWS

50% which is a massive improvement. Compared to the older 2700X, the 3900X has made a significant improvement in single threaded performance. This would be a Zen+ to Zen2 comparison. When you bring the 1800X into the picture then the performance gap widens even more. In our Handbrake encoding tests, the Ryzen 9 3900X beats the 9900K across all tests. And the results remain the same with our 7-zip and WinRaR compression/decompression tests as well. Then comes gaming, a domain that Intel has had the lead for quite some time. In our gaming benchmarks, except for Strange Brigade and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the 9900K was leading in all games. We even saw the 9700K perform better than the 3900X in quite a few benchmarks. So gaming is where AMD still has some catching up to do. We managed to OC the processor to about 4.2 GHz at 1.35V which is a decent upgrade over stock but we couldn’t run all the relevant benchmarks given in the limited time we had with the processor. Having to retest after the BIOS updates took up a considerable amount of time.

M PL

he 3rd Gen Ryzen processors have brought about a slew of improvements across the SKU stack. The top SKU at launch, i.e. the Ryzen 9 3900X has 12 cores and a massive L3 cache, uses the same AM4 socket, is compatible with previous gen platforms. The cost, however, has equalled Intel SKUs as both currently sell for about Rs.42K. If we are to compare launch prices, then the Intel Core i9-9900K was selling for Rs.64K in India with barely any stocks available anywhere. With the Zen2 launch, there were a couple but it also bumped up the TDP of hiccups along the way. We of the PCH module. So all had to retest the procesnew X570 motherboards sors because of issues with with the exception of a the initial BIOS that came few have active cooling PERFORMANCE...........90 with the boards weren’t for the PCH. Speaking of VALUE FOR MONEY.....75 optimal. Let’s see how motherboards, if you are these new CPUs fare. running the Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9 processors, you will have to be careful about which Features motherboard you pick since not many The Ryzen 9 3900X makes use of have VRM circuitry that can handle a chiplet architecture with 2 CPU the extra power load that the top Ryzen chiplets and a third one for the I/O. 3rd Gen processors tend to consume. This design gives it 64 MB of L3 cache Overclocking is out of the question whereas all the other processors in with a lot of the motherboards. While the 3rd Gen family have 32 MB of L3 the complexities of picking the right cache. The upcoming 3950X will also motherboard would require another have 64 MB of cache. Compared to article altogether, it can be simply put the previous desktop top SKU (Ryzen forth that if you’re going to be running 7 2700X), the Ryzen 9 3900X has a 3700X or 3800X on stock, then your gained 50% more cores, however, the VRM should be able to provide 75A TDP remains the same. Most of this on Vcore without issue. For the 3900X savings are attributed to the improved and the upcoming 3950X, you should TSMC 7nm process which Zen2 uses. aim at 100A Vcore. If you’re OCing Even the clock speeds are higher, if these processors, just double the Vcore only by 100 MHz. The usual norm is amperage that would be required from to see a drop in clock speeds with the the motherboard. addition of more cores since the power requirements go through the roof and pushing higher clocks becomes diffiPerformance cult. With Zen2, we see improvements As usual, we begin our benchmarks on both accounts. with Cinebench R15 and the Ryzen 9 The other improvements involve 3900X comes short of the Intel Core the inclusion of Gen 4 PCIe. This i9-9900K by a small fraction in singleallows motherboard manufacturers threaded runs but the multi-threaded to have more peripherals connected runs is ahead of the 9900K by about

tech

Verdict The improvement in single-threaded, multi-threaded and gaming performance have all been noteworthy. The only issue here lies with picking the right motherboard. It should be noted that for folks opting for the lower-end processors, this won't be an issue. Overall, the Ryzen 9 3900X has titled the scales in AMD’s favour and we can’t wait to see how the 10th Gen Intel Comet Lake-S processors will perform. –Mithun Mohandas

SPECIFICATIONS

CONTACT

AMD | PHONE: NA | EMAIL: support.amd.com | WEBSITE: www. amd.com

www.digit.in | September 2019 | Digit | 21

tech

CDAC keyboard

Inscript layout

The .apk file for the CDAC keyboard can be downloaded directly from their website. https://dgit.in/sep19-39

FEATURE

Download the INSCRIPT keyboard layout and convert your QWERTY keyboard to an Indic keyboard https://dgit.in/sep19-40

M PL

DESIGNING INDIC KEYPADS FOR SMARTPHONES

There are many challenges with just indic text input

CONSIDERATIONS AND CONSTRAINTS

Vivekanand Pani, co founder and CTO of Reverie Language Technologies, explains the considerations for designing a keypad for Indic languages, “the English alphabet has only 26 letters, while Indian languages typically have a lot more. There are twelve to fourteen vowels, and there are at least 35 consonants, sorted into vargas of five each. There are as many matras as vowels. And then halant, nukta, those characters are there. That makes the alphabet set pretty large. It becomes difficult to accommodate so many characters within a small space. Because the alphabet set is large, it appears intimidating.” Juggling the available real estate can be quite a hassle, especially if the designers of the keyboards start off with the QWERTY layout. Pani

Aditya Madanapalle | aditya@digit.in

character sets - Malayalam for example, has more than sixty characters, all of which are quite difficult to fit onto the limited real estate on smartphone screens.

he scripts for most of the Indian languages originated from a script called brahmi. The edicts of Ashoka used this script in the 3rd century BC. It has evolved into the brahmic family of scripts, which is used to write many languages in the subcontinent, Southeast Asia and even Japan. The important feature about the brahmic family of scripts is that in it, there is a single unit representing a sequence of consonants and vowels. Two consonants may also be joined together to form conjuncts. By contrast, in the latin alphabet, the vowels are given their own separate letters, and are as important as the consonants. The local languages also tend to have large

30 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

explains, “in the English keypads, the letter layout is more or less the same as the QWERTY keyboard from typewriters. In mobile phones what has happened is that a lot of other keys have been moved into different layers, so that in the basic English layout, you see only letters and most commonlyused punctuations. That way, what happens is that you use a lot fewer keys, and therefore you are able to give more real estate to each key. On the top row, you have only ten letters. If a row has only ten letters, then each row potentially can have one tenth of the screen width space. Similarly, it has got only three rows. When it has three rows, you have the rest of your screen available to look at the application, or what you are typing. Your keyboard should not take a lot of area, and it is still having enough space for each key so that somebody is able to type without making many errors.” When you break down the process, writing in Indic languages is not as simple as stringing a number of alphabets together. Pani says, “when you are designing a keypad, one thing that

> code / creativity / community >

FOR THOSE GEEKS WHO LIKE TO GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY IN CODE

Getting started with Dart

Once you have Chocolatey installed, you can install the Dart SDK. Simply type the following in the CLI:

Choco install dart-sdk

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It would be ideal to also install stagehand which has templates that allow you to quickly create Dart apps. Install stagehand by typing the following in the command line:

Speed is of the essence here

Mithun Mohandas | mithun@digit.in

n up and coming language that has the potential to blow up in popularity even more is Dart, a programming language by Google. It’s Ahead Of Time (AOT) that compiles to native code which makes it extremely fast and practically everything written in it can be easily customised. It’s most popularly used in Flutter which a UI framework, also by Google. The good thing about Dart is that it can also be Just In Time (JIT), so you can rapidly iterate without having to spend ridiculous amounts of time sitting around waiting for the code to finish compiling. Flutter’s sub-second stateful hot reload feature is made possible by this aspect. The whole aspect of Dart being compiled into native code means that it’s much quicker to execute. This also means that whatever UI elements are created with flutter will be smoother during execution. It can perform object allocation and garbage collection without using locks. It doesn’t perform

preemptive scheduling or use shared memory. Apps built in Dart thus appear to execute faster. Then there’s the fact that because Dart methods and syntax is familiar to both, static and dynamic languages, it’s easier to pick up for everyone. And you don’t need to have a declarative language such as XML because the declarative and programmatic layout within Dart is easy to work with. By utilising fewer third-party tools, developers might find the workflow to be less cumbersome. Also, we should mention that Dart is open-source.

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INSTALLING DART

If you’ve used any package managers, then installing Dart is super easy. You can use Chocolatey to install the Dart SDK. Chocolatey is very similar to npm and installing it seems more of a bother than installing the Dart SDK. To install chocolatey, type the following in your command prompt window: @"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iex ((NewObject System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https:// chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET "PATH=%PATH%;% ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"

pub global activate stagehand

Stagehand has several goto templates that might come in handy. The following are often used: console-full - A command-line application sample. package-simple - A starting point for Dart libraries or applications. server-shelf - A web server built using the shelf package. web-angular - A web app with material design components. web-simple - A web app that uses only core Dart libraries. web-stagexl - A starting point for 2D animation and games.

Once you have Stagehand installed, you can move onto creating your app using one of the templates that are now available to you. mkdir cli cd cli stagehand console-full You should now have a file within your binary folder named main.dart. This is where you’d start off with the app. An additional file in the lib folder named cli.dart will also be generated. This is imported by your main.dart file and contains most of the functionalities of your app. Lastly, a metadata file

Imaging: Anil VK

SA cover story M PL E www.digit.in | September 2019 | Digit | 51

cover story

WITH THE RESURGENCE OF RETRO TECH AND ITS REINVIGORATED POPULARITY, WE ARE, IN A SENSE HEADING ‘BACK’ TO THE FUTURE DHRITI DATTA | dhriti@digit.in

Nintendo, for example, revived the classic NES and SNES in miniaturised versions that gained immense popularity, very quickly. They provided a large library of games while emulating the original retro consoles. Another retro console that got a reboot is the C64 (Commodore 64), which was immensely popular in the 8-Bit era, and was in a bitter rivalry with the Nintendo consoles. The C64 Mini is a recreation of the original Commodore, coming with a

iature version) in December 2018 which brought back 20 original games, 25 years after its initial release. The console also comes with two classic PS1 controllers.

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echnology has taken blazing strides over the past decade or so, however, nostalgia is a powerful force that inadvertently causes businesses and companies to reel their flashy, new tech in and return to simpler times. Retro-chic is an actual term which in the modern day equates to “the fashionableness of the nostalgic revival of a style”. In 2017, we saw the return of “Jurassic Tech”, which was dubbed aptly since this was the year retro really reclaimed its footing in the tech space, especially with the revival of the legendary Nokia 3310. In 2016, vinyl sales peaked at a 25-year high as consumers around the world, young and old, embraced the archaic formats of music again. Many such instances have proven that even though old tech is made obsolete by newer tech, they can be revived and carved out their own market, based on nostalgia alone!

RE-TECH? THE STUFF THAT’S ALREADY BACK

Let’s take a look at the retro tech products that have made a comeback in the past few years.

Gaming consoles

All of us fondly remember the first console we held in our hands. Hours of our childhood was spent glued to these devices, and they’re back! The rebooted versions are sure to give you a shot of nostalgia, and will do it with modern connectors, and fewer cables, all while keeping the original aesthetic that you loved.

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NES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) Classic Mini was released in September, 2017

joystick, just like the original did, which elicits waves of nostalgic goodness! Plus, you get access to 64 classic games with the C64 (that was expected, wasn’t it?). Another console to make a muchawaited comeback was the Sega Genesis Mini which grants gamers access to 40 old, legendary titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Toejam and Earl and more. Before the Mini, the Sega Genesis Flashback series was released in 2017 by AtGames, who are the same makers that created yet another retro console, the Atari Flashback series. Sony also decided to join the retro console train with the revival of the original PlayStation (a min-

Vinyl and turntables Music is swiftly returning to its old-tech roots with vinyl and turntables making an impressive comeback in the past few years. While this is confounding to some, the numbers speak for themselves, with vinyl record sales having risen a gargantuan 260 per cent from 2009 to 2015, according to a 2015 Nielsen report. Pulling an LP out of its sleeve, hearing the subtle needle scratch and enjoying the warm melody emitting from the record player is some sort of inexplicable magic which cannot be replicated by simply pressing play on a phone. Plus, improvements in the tech mean that the modern vinyl listening experience is far superior to the old days, with better hardware available. Modern-day turntables are very popular, with both vinyl LPs and turntables occupying a niche but prominent space in the music scene today. Many modern turntables come with a USB port, which allows you to digitise your music, and get that authentic turntable sound in digital format as well. The Technics SL-1200G made a comeback in 2016, with Panasonic hoping to cash in on the retro wave by rebooting its classic turntable.

Typewriters Manual typewriters were considered an overly complicated technology when they replaced the fountain pen back in the 1800s. Electric typewriters took their

WHAT’S NEW

Avenger no more

INSIDE

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GEEK CULTURE IS OUR WAY OF LIFE, AND ENCOMPASSES MOVIES, GAMES, COMICS, AND TRENDS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE

fter failing to come to terms over the future of Spider-Man movies, Sony Pictures and Walt Disney Studios have ended shared custody of Spider-Man. Marvel Studios Head, Kevin Feige, will be stepping down from the producer-role he enjoyed on all previous Spider-Man films. This effectively leaves the future of the beloved web-slinger in question. The feud between Sony, who owns all rights to the character, and Disney, who negotiated a deal with Sony to use the character in the MCU, was apparently financial in nature. Reportedly, Disney was vying for a 50/50 stake in profits, however, Sony was absolutely against this proposition. Until now, Sony was only giving up around 5 percent of first-dollar gross to Disney

from the Marvel movies that Spidey starred in. Fans are extremely disappointed with this news since Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man had rapidly become extremely popular amongst MCU fans. Fans have been threatening to completely boycott Sony upon hearing this saddening news. Feige-produced Spider-Man: Far From Home is still the most profitable film of all time. Perhaps, Spider-Man fans can convince Sony to cough up some more profit stake and hand it over to Disney to continue Spidey’s journey in the MCU. https://dgit.in/ByeSpidey

Matrix 4 is coming to the big screen

he cultural phenomenon, the Matrix, has spawned two sequels and this year marks its 20th anniversary. Now, a new instalment for the franchise is on the way, which will probably be called The Matrix 4. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss will reprise their roles as Neo and Trinity respectively, and Lana Wachowski will return to direct as well as write the fourth Matrix instalment. Let’s

THIS MONTH IN CULT: Boo-Man does what BooMan does best, Boo the very theme of this cover. After that, head on over to this month’s feature where we recommend our favourite anime so far in 2019. Lastly, find out what we’ve been up to in Digit Diary. Fair warning, it’s mostly Minecraft.

Home Alone is getting a reboot

Disney is planning to reboot Home Alone on its streaming service Disney Plus. It is unclear if the reboot would end up being feature-length films or series. The news stirred up mixed feelings on Twitter. https://dgit.in/HomeAloneReboot

Ewan McGregor to return as Obi Wan

Ewan McGregor, who played the character Obi Wan Kenobi in all of the three Star Wars prequels, is in talks of reprising his role in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series coming to the streaming platform, Disney Plus. https://dgit.in/ ObiWanKenobi

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see how the film explains Neo’s return after his supposed death at the end of The Matrix Revolutions. Aleksander Hemon and David Mitchell will join

GOT creators sign Netflix deal

Famous (or infamous?) GOT creators David Benioff and DB Weiss have signed a multi-year movie and TV deal with Netflix worth around $200 million. This effectively means the duo will no longer produce shows for HBO. https://dgit.in/Netflixdeal

Wachowski as writers for the film and it will go into production sometime in early 2020. The first few reports of a possible new Matrix movie began way back in 2017. However, in May 2019, reports surfaced that the relaunch had been cancelled, so it has been a bit of back and forth. We hope this instalment holds up to the first movie and doesn’t have the issues Revolutions had. https://dgit.in/Matrix4

Ninja hits 1 million subscribers on Mixer Within a mere five days of streaming on Mixer after jumping ship from Twitch, Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins has already crossed 1 million active subscribers on the Microsoft-owned platform. https://dgit.in/Ninja1mil

culture

Black Panther 2 in 2022

Kevin Faige, Marvel Studios co-president, confirmed that Black Panther 2 will return in May, 2022. https://dgit.in/sep19-21

FEATURE

The history of Yu-Gi-Oh!

The history of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise is tangled and sprawling. It has come a long way from its origins. https://dgit.in/sep19-22

MUST WATCH

Manish Rajesh | manish@digit.in

Mob Psycho 100 II

Mob Psycho 100 II was one of the most highly anticipated seasons of the year. Mob is what you would call overpowered, he’s an immensely powerful psychic, but most people around him don’t really know this. To make matters complicated, Mob works as an assistant to Reigen Arataka, a fake “psychic”. You can sort of see where this is going now. They get into some pretty funny and interesting situations. The animation might be a turn off to some, but don’t let that prevent you from enjoying a great show.

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The best new anime to watch in 2019 so far!

ANIME OF 2019 e’re at the halfway mark in terms of animewatching this year, and we’ve already seen quite a few decent new anime. Of course, let’s not forget shows that came back with a second or even third season as well. This list will not include anime that have been running for ages (looking at you, One Piece) but will instead focus on seasonal series. Fortunately, pretty much all the shows in the list wrapped up in the first half of the year, so you can watch them non-stop, without needing to wait a week for an update. Let’s get right into it!

Attack on Titan: S3

You don’t need us to tell you how popular Attack on Titan is. It’s one of those shows that you might’ve heard about even if you’d never watched anime before. It’s also possibly one of the shows that got you into watching anime in the first place. Attack on Titan’s third season aired in the first half of the year, and it’s looking like one of the best ones so far, you don’t want to miss this one. The premise of the show is a bit weird, humanity now lives inside huge walls. Why? Because there are huge mindless human-looking creatures outside that eat humans. That’s a good enough reason for big walls in our books. The show revolves around how humans deal with the Titan threat.

64 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

The Promised Neverland The Promised Neverland was a sleeper hit this year. Definitely a very feelsy and dark show, the anime revolves around the Grace Field House, which is an orphanage, and the dark happenings and dealings surrounding it. When two of the orphans, Emma and Norman, see something they’re not supposed to, they become determined to escape the orphanage and the fate that awaits the children who live in it. Definitely a show to watch if you’re someone who enjoys good plot.

WHAT’S NEW

Research shows that the so called “Nemo effect” is a myth

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THIS MONTH IN SCIENCE:

about wildlife. Diogo Verissimo, the lead researcher of the study says, “I was intrigued as to whether the connection between these blockbusters and demand for wildlife was as straight-forward as had been described in the media. My experience is that human behaviour is hard to influence at scale and it seemed unlikely that movies generated spikes in demand for the species they feature”. https://dgit.in/nemoeffect

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!

fter the respective releases of “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory”, reports said that the demand for clown fish and the blue tang fish had spiked around the world. One of the most high profile appeals to not buy the species was from the voice of Dory, Ellen DeGeneres. Researchers from the University of Oxford decided to check if there really was a change in the behaviour of pet buyers that could be linked to movies. By correlating sales of pets with Google trends, the researchers found out that there is no clear link. However, the movies do drive search interest This results in an increase in awareness

Robots learn jugaad

esearchers at Georgia Tech taught a robot to combine an assortment of objects into new tools. For example, the robot combined a coin and pliers to make screwdrivers. The robot analyses the shapes of the objects provided, and thinks about how they can best be combined together to perform a particular task. However, the robot still does not understand some concepts, such as weight, so it can try

This month we delve into artificial nervous systems, tackle the age-old question “How old is the moon?”, review a new form of “mind control” and explore Galactic weather.

How long does it take to make a friend?

A researcher investigating the amount of time it takes to forge friendship has specific numbers for us. It takes 50 hours of time spent together to make you a “casual friend”, 90 hours to become a “friend”, and over 200 hours to become “close friends”. https://dgit.in/frndhr

Viviparous lizard extinction

Research shows that lizard species that bear young evolved the ability to adapt to cold climates. Because of this, the lizard species were trapped in colder regions, in higher altitudes and latitudes. With global warming, these lizards may go extinct within the next 60 years. https://dgit.in/coliz

to make a hammer out of the block of foam instead of a block of metal. The researchers are now attempting to teach the robot the properties of materials as well, and incorporate that into the logic of building new

The canine cancer parasite

tools. The inspiration for the initiative comes from a famous example where MacGyvering actually helped save the lives on board the Apollo 13 mission. An oxygen tank blew out on the way to the Moon and the mission had to be immediately aborted. The crew had to fix the carbon dioxide removal system using a makeshift filter. The team at Georgia Tech hopes to prepare robots for such contingencies. https://dgit.in/robotjugaad

Pac-Man black hole

Researchers are studying a canine cancer parasite that spread from a single host 1900 years ago, to dogs around the world, including those living on islands. This indicates that the parasite hitched a ride on ships. The cells of the tumour belong to the original dog, and not the host dog. https://dgit.in/cancan

Researchers discovered a black hole is going to swallow a neutron star. While the collision of two black holes, and two neutron stars have been detected, it is the first time that a black hole swallowing a neutron star has been detected, completing the trifecta for gravitational wave observing instruments. https://dgit.in/nsbh

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SPACE AGE

Drinking salt water

Ghost particles

A new membrane made out of wood has been developed to filter salt from seatwater. https://dgit.in/sep19-17

Scientists have now measured the mass of Neutrinos also known as ghost particles. https://dgit.in/sep19-18

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Clouds plunging into the supermassive black hole at Abell 2597.

Credit: ESO

sci

GALACTIC WEATHER Supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are responsible for all kinds of stellar weather, including galactic wind, rain, deluges and fountains

Aditya Madanapalle | aditya@digit.in

here are streams of high energy particles emanating from the Sun, depending on how active it is. This is known as solar wind. A similar phenomenon occurs on a much larger scale. High energy particles stream out of galaxies at speeds ranging between 300 to 3,000 kilometers an hour. The material is ejected into a roughly spherical region around galaxies, known as the halo. The halo around the Milky Way was detected by the ROSAT X-ray telescope in the early 1990s, and such halos have been found around other spiral galaxies as well. At times, the material can even escape the

76 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

galaxy entirely, and escape into the intergalactic medium. These winds are generated by newly-formed stars, or stars dying in supernova events, both of which result in highly energetic and dense outpourings of particles. Active galactic nuclei, or supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, can also be a source of galactic wind. Galaxies with a large number of newlyforming stars are called starburst galaxies, and have visible clouds or jets of gas on two sides. One of the most well-known examples of such a galaxy is M82, with a visible cloud of winds extending to around 1000 light years on either side. The outpouring of material from another galaxy, NGC

4666 is so violent, that it is termed as superwind. The material jets extend for tens of thousands of light years, and are believed to be originating from a combination of vigorous star formation, supernovae and massive stars. The gas particles that make up the wind emit strong X-ray radiation, which is not visible to the naked eye. This radiation cools down the material, causing them to fall back towards the plane of the galaxy. Galactic wind circulate the raw material of the stars and planets, help redistribute metals across the planets, and also play a role in the regulation of star formation. About a billion light years away from the Earth, in the constellation of Aquarius is one of the largest known structures in the universe, designated as Abell 2597. This is a cluster of over fifty galaxies, surrounding a giant elliptical galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its core. Scientists observing Abell 2597, using two astronomical instruments, the Atacama Large Millimeter /submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on board the Very Large Telescope (VLT), found something incredibly surprising. The gases were being ejected by the galactic wind, but unable to escape the gravity of the galaxy, they were falling back in towards the supermassive black hole at the center. The influx of gas into the accretion disk around a

WHAT’S NEW

The saga of the null license plate

ALT this month:

from all across the state, and when he contacted the authorities, he found that there was no way to fix it. Either he could pay up the fines, or laboriously prove that he was not the person who violated the rules for every single citation. Irregularities started appearing in the records, with his vehicle make and model being entered in violations, even when the original citations had a different vehicle. The citations continue to pile on. https://dgit.in/nullplate

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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?”

security researcher (read hacker), Joseph Tartaro wanting to get a vanity license plate that had something to do with his profession, decided to go for a plate that said “null”. The researcher thought that the system would be fooled by the value, and prevent any tickets for traffic violations being sent his way. He ended up hacking himself in the process, causing more trouble than he anticipated. He ended up with over $12,000 of fines, which were because of violations from vehicles that he did not own, or in places he had never visited. Every time a policeman forgot to enter the details of the vehicle, the citation was routed to Tartaro. His mailbox started getting flooded with citations

How microbes influence your social life

unique mix of microbes live within every animal, and this is known as the microbiome. The guts of humans contain a particularly rich variety of microbes. Microbiomes exist within other primate species as well. For a long time, scientists believed that the specific composition of the microbiome was because of diet and environment. Researchers studying the behavior of primates found a surprising link between social behavior and the micro-

Learn more about the infrastructure and security in GST, the AI in LG products, and Netmeds in this month’s Backtalk. Then take a look at examples of Albinism and Melanism in animals in 1000 Words. Then, in Geek-key, celebrate 80 years of the caped crusader – Batman.

What Anthropocene? The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch where the activities of humans are a significant force in the shaping of the world around us. However, on geological time scales, our entire history is merely a blip, starting between 400 to 75 years ago. Other epochs have lasted 400 million years. The very idea feels like a joke. https://dgit.in/anthjk

Making baldness obsolete

So far, balding has been an almost insurmountable problem. There is good news for bald people around the world. A global shortfall in hair will no longer be a problem because of new techniques that combine innovative uses of stem cells with 3D printing. https://dgit.in/3dhair

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biome. The research suggests that there is a deep relation between microbes and social interactions, with each influencing the other. Every slap, pat on the back, scratch, kiss and sneeze is part of a story, one that

Fake Facebook accounts

Facebook does not seem to be growing, and has practically run out of new people to bring onto the platform. Yet advertisers are still being promised more reach, at times exceeding the populations in certain areas. Is Facebook just a massive fraud riding on the backs of fake accounts? https://dgit.in/ponzifb

drives our social interactions, and might be beneficial to humans in unexpected ways. We know that the microbiomes are surprisingly diverse, and they aid in digestion, boost immunity, produce vitamins, and prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. There may be other benefits of the microbiome that we do not yet know of. The finding provides some insight into why humans became social animals in the first place. https://dgit.in/mbsapiens

The tyranny of productivity

One of the most universally understood sentiments is that work sucks. This is why most people hate Mondays so much. What is the cause of this resentment, and can it be fixed? Modern capitalism puts productivity ahead of human experience, which may be counterproductive. https://dgit.in/tyrprod

alt

R.I.P. Alfred

Ripped Pattinson

A tragic twist masterminded by Bane caused the death of Batmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bulter, Alfred, in Batman #77. https://dgit.in/sep19-29

GEEK-KEY

Robert Pattinson, who was recently cast as the new Batman, appears to be beefing up for the role. https://dgit.in/sep19-30

CELEBRATING THE CAPED CRUSADER

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Batman, a character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, published by DC Comics. Without any real superpowers, Bruce Wayne depends on his training in martial arts and gadgets to fight crime in the city of Gotham, which seems to attract an unusual number of super villains. Over the course of 80 years, Batman has become one of the most iconic superheroes.

Aditya Madanapalle | aditya@digit.in

THE BATMAN ICONOGRAPHY THROUGH THE YEARS

MERCH 84 | Digit | September 2019 | www.digit.in

Action Figures

TShirt

https://dgit.in/bmmattel

https://dgit.in/bmshirt

There are a number of action figures, Hot Wheels cars and model vehicles from Mattel that you can get from Amazon.com.

Bewakoof has a cool line art T-shirt adorned with the Batman logo, which glows in the dark. Prices for the T-shirt start at `259.

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