CHIP New logo

January 2008 Volume 5 Issue 2 Rs 125

Do Everything

Online From managing your finances to

planning your holidays, everything
is quicker and easier when you do
Colour codesitforonline.
logo
C M Y K

0 26 0cellphones
0 100 for
business or pleasure
0 0 0 45
The Radeon HD 3850
0 and 100 dissected
95 3870 0

Intel’s new 45nm

Penryn QX9650
Increase your laptop’s
battery life
Cruise India’s roads
eB
on
Ph
with a GPS navigator
Make your own
ill

cellphone theme

Autodesk 3Ds Max 2008 Office 2007 Service Pack 1

Dreamlinux 2.2 Multimedia GL Edition Norton Systemworks
Bitdefender Internet Security 2008 Colin McRae: Dirt Demo

Also available in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, UAE

 Editorial

High on convenience
I
begin by wishing readers, advertisers, colleagues, management, and business peers
a very Happy New Year. We at CHIP look forward to your continued support and
patronage in 2008.
The World Wide Web has passed through many stages of evolution. At first, web
pages were the equivalent of brochures. Websites then provided only information, and
links to other pages having more information. The only form of user interaction was an
email address with a ‘Mailto’ link somewhere on the page. Forms came later. In the
next stage, businesses looked at the web as a medium for offering services. Online
transactions and credit card payments began when payment gateways sprung up. But
people are still apprehensive about using their credit cards online.
City folk (especially those who spend long hours commuting), can’t spare an hour to
stand in queues to pay utility bills. Do you remember the last time you walked into a bank
or visited a travel agent? Do you ever visit the library to mine for information during school
or college projects?
When Thanks to the web, you can now do all this stuff online.
Yet, I do know some people who continue to stand in queues to pay electricity bills,
someone because a “stamped receipt gives them peace of mind, and proof that they’ve paid their
brings rail bills.” And there are some who are paranoid about using online services; they feel some
grubby hacker or smart kiddie out there is out to drain their bank accounts.
tickets to There’s a particular website in India that changed people’s attitude towards
my doorstep e-commerce. It’s the website of the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation

the very next (IRCTC). The website www.irctc.co.in became the largest e-commerce site in India (in
terms of number of transactions), within a few months of its launch. It’s not hard to see
day, that’s why. When someone brings rail tickets to my doorstep the very next day, that’s really
really high on high on convenience! And it’s the same with bank accounts, bills, air tickets, and hotel
reservations. Booking online is quick, and also gives us the chance to evaluate options
convenience from home, in the presence of family members.
This month’s cover story is about the most useful online services in India. Our
objectives are to show the convenience, ease-of-use, and speed these services present,
and to build confidence in using them.
BOOKLET: We are adding more value to the magazine in the form of a booklet titled ‘CHIP
Plus,’ which will accompany every issue of CHIP. This booklet will have content that’s
more application-oriented. For instance, the first CHIP Plus has some useful workshops
on Microsoft Word.
COVER PRICE: As we introduce this addition, we also have to deal with stiff inflation rates,
the increased cost of newsprint, and other allied costs. Though we grappled with such
issues for over a year now, we did not increase the price of CHIP. However, from January
2008 the cover price of CHIP is being revised to Rs 125.00. We will however strive to
offer more value for every rupee that you invest in CHIP.

| Brian Pereira
editor@chip-india.com

P.S. The CHIP Customer Care cell is standing by to address your queries and grievances. Do get in touch
with Sarita Quadros at customercare@infomediaindia.com. Call 91-22-40302 805. And you can subscribe to
CHIP online at eshop.infomediaindia.com.

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip |7
Contents Cover story
NEWSWIRE
20 In the News...
Get enlightened with computing
news from all over the world.
Hardware, software, technology on
the horizon, and a lot more to keep
you ahead of the rest!
Cover Story
28 Do Everything Online
Whether it is paying utility bills
or making railway reservations or
applying for passports and visas
or booking movie tickets, online
services are big time-savers and
very useful too. This is a one-stop
guide which will direct you to all
the right locations on the Internet
to do just about everything! So,
use it to the best of your advantage
in 2008!
HARDWARE
36 Top Gear
This month, we bring you top-
of-the-line hardware reviews of
the latest and most anticipated
products. We have laptops,
cameras, Bluetooth headsets and a
whole lot more!
8 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
JANUARY 2008
54 Smart by Nature
This month we tested 26 business
and multimedia phones across
all segments. Many of these are
all-in-one devices, offering both
Wi-Fi connectivty and multimedia
player. Some have other surprising
features like built-in 5 megapixel
camera too!
68 The Red Team strikes back
The new range of graphics cards
from ATI is our Product of the
Month. The Radeon HD 3850 and
Radeon HD 3870 are the guilty
party, but which one dictates?
76 Leaner, Meaner, Greener
Intel’s first 45 nm quad-core
‘Penryn’ CPU has made its way
into the CHIP Test Center. We
put the Core 2 Extreme QX9650
through a number of gruelling
tests. Is it the fastest processor
we’ve ever tested?
78 Infographic
We take you aboard the Airbus 380
and into its Flight Deck. All the
analog dials have been replaced
Go online for
regular updates at
www.chip-india.com
Hardware
by LCD multi-function displays.
A joystick replaces the traditional
‘Yoke’ and there’s even a slide-out
keyboard with a trackpad. Truly,
computers fly this plane!
APPLICATIONS
82 Software Center
We bring you reviews of the most
wanted system utilities that will
help you all through the new year!
Maya 2008 is our software of
the month. Find out what are the
additions in this new version.
88 Save Battery Power
Here are some tips to solve
the biggest problem about
laptops—preserving battery life
to ensure that it lasts longer! Use
our recommendations to make the
most of your laptop battery life.
92 Free Spree
Freebie software ranging from
an anti-spyware for Windows to
screen capture with e-mail support.
But that’s not it, we have a lot
more and it’s all absolutely free.
Come and grab it!
Contents Applications
95 Navigator, make my trip!
When you’re travelling along an
unfamiliar route, it helps to have a
device that gives voice-based turn-
by-turn directions. That’s what the
Navigator, an in-car GPS navigation
device can do.
98 Go the Opensource Way
The winning entry of our Readers’
Article contest discusses the need
to utilize open source software to
the maximum. Find out how even
the government can benefit from
this in a whole lot of ways.
HANDS ON
104 Cellphone Themes
We show you how to create your
own customized cellphone themes
online and download them to your
cell phone. Use this workshop to
completely jazz up your phone.
108 Sync your PCs
You have a desktop and a laptop
and you need to share data
between both of these regularly.
CHIP brings you a workshop for
synching two computers. Learn
10 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
JANUARY 2008
Hands on
Go online for
regular updates at
www.chip-india.com
Unwind
how to make your own cross cable HARDWARE REVIEWED
and set up the network between
Dell Latitude D531
your computers.
HCL Beanstalk Classic Z944
XFX GeForce 8800 GT Alpha
113 Personalized CDs
Learn how to make your own CD
Dog Edition
covers and labels and personalize Samsung NV20
all your audio, video, and pictorial X-Gear MP3 Player
memories. Then you can stack HCL Leaptop Z29
them all up together and have a Canon Pixma MX700
nice personalized collection! This is Sennheiser m145 USB
quite a basic workshop so even the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini
newbies won’t have a problem. IO Gear Digital Scribe
IO Gear Bluetooth Audio Transport
UNWIND BenQ S700 Wireless Mouse
123 Gears of War Umax Apus
Get in the shoes of Marcus
Fenix and prepare to acquire the
resonator. You got to wipe out the
locust reign. Can you pull it off
REGULARS
once again, this time on a PC? 07 Editorial
12 DVD Contents
124 Mass Effect 14 Colophon
We take a good look at BioWare’s 16 Letters
brilliant sci-fi based RPG. The 72 PC Configs
machines are coming to repeat 80 Technology Landscape
the purge cycle and Commander 100 Dr. CHIP
Shepherd is in their way. This is the
115 Tips & Tricks
opportunity heroes wait for so are
126 Townsquare
132 Last Word
you ready for Mass Effect?
 January 2008

DVD Contents
RED HOT XXAd-Aware Personal
XXAutodesk 3Ds Max 2008
XXLime wire 4.14 software of the month
XXAzureus 3.4

TOYS XXBitcomet 0.96

XXNetscape Navigator 9
GAME DEMOS
XXEudora 8b
XXColin McRae : Dirt
XXGoogletalk
XXAge of Empires 3 : Warchiefs
XXCall of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare
XXSam and Max 201 : Icestation Santa Security
XXAntivir PE Classic Antivirus
XXStranglehold
XXAVG Antivirus Free Edition
XXAVG Anti-Spyware 7
Full Game
XXBitdefender Internet Security 2008
XXAlien Arena
XXBitdefender Antivirus 2008
XXAll Antivirus Updates
Game Trailers
XXPCTools AV Free Edition
XXGTA 4
XXCrysisGameplay Video
XXBattlefieldBad Company System
XXNorton Systemworks
XXNight of dreams
XXO & O Defrag Professional 10
XXGlobal Spell Checker
Game Add ons
XXPerformance Test 6
XXCall of Duty MW Patch
XXPower Desk Pro 5

Linux XXProcess Explorer

XXRegistry mechanic 7
XXDreamlinux 2.2 Multimedia GL Edition
XXRevo Uninstaller
XXPuppyLinux
XXReturNil

TOOLS XXFLV Converter

XXStartup Faster
Multimedia
XXSystem Safety Monitor 2.1
XXCapture and Send
XXTuneup Utilities 2007
XXIrfanview
XXUr Uninstaller 2008
XXMP3 Gain
XXVersion Tracker Pro
XXWindows Essentials Media Codec Pack
XXWindows XP Service Pack 2
XXPhoto to DVD
XXWinzip 11.1
XXWindows Vista Codecs
XXWinRar 3.71
XXWinAmp 5.5 Full
XXDriverMax
XXX-iPod Video Converter
XXGamegain
XXI-video Converter
XXDirectory Opus
XXMac OS X Transformation Pack
XXOffice 2007 Service Pack 1
XXNero 8 Ultra Edition
XXCCleaner 2.03
XXWindows Media Player 11
XXMMM
XX7 3D Screensavers

Internet Must Haves

XXnVidiaForceware 163.75 WinXP
XXFirefox2.0.0.11
XXnVidiaForceware 163.75 Win Vista 32
XXFlashget 1.96
XXATI Catalyst 7.10 WinXP
XXOpera Browser 9.24
XXATI Catalyst 7.10 WinVista 32
XXSpybot S&D
XXAdobe Acrobat Reader 8.11
XXMozilla Thunderbird
XXInternet Explorer 7
XX Microsoft Direct X 9
XXµtorrent
XXWindows Live Installer You can send your requests for
XXYahoo Messenger software for the next month’s DVD to
feedback@chip-india.com
 Quick
Quote General Manager - Publishing
Krishna Tewari
JANUARY 2008 | VOLUME 5 | ISSUE 02

Advertising Sales
www.chip-india.com

CHIP continues to
be an authentic
source for technical
information. Product
reviews, expert
opinions and in-depth
technology trends are
things readers such as
myself cherish.
– Jayesh Kotak
VP - Product Development,
D-Link India Ltd.
ADVERTISER’S INDEX
Aditya Infotech Ltd. 25
American Power Conversion (India) Ltd. FIC
Base Media BIC
Best IT World (India) Pvt. Ltd. 11
Buffalo Inc. 39
Clever Bit 127
Dell India Pvt. Ltd. 9
Drs Logistics (P) Ltd. 131
Epson India Pvt. Ltd 19
Hannover Fairs India Pvt. Ltd 6
Hcl Infosystem Ltd. 47
Hewlett Packard BC
Huntkey (Hongkong) Development Co. L 127
Indserve Infotech Pvt. Ltd. 127
Intel Technology Pvt. Ltd. 45
Maxim 53
Micro Star International Co. Ltd. 5
Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. 17,27
Minds(India) Pvt. Ltd. Gatefold
Mtnl 41
Niit 49
Quantum Link Communications Pvt. Ltd. 23
Ricoh India Ltd. 13
Sandisk 43
Shree Sagarmatha 130
Shroff Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd. 128,129
Soft-Aid Computers Pvt. Ltd. 21
Travel & Leisure 75
Viewsonic International Corporation 15
Mumbai
BUSINESS HEAD & DGM Circulation Rishi Sutrave
Vijay Adhikari rishi.sutrave@infomediaindia.com
EDITOR Hafeez Shaikh
Brian Pereira hafeez.shaikh@infomediaindia.com
editor@chip-india.com BRANCHES
Assistant Editor - Technical
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Phone: (080) 25597282, 83, 84
Copy Editors
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Copyright 2004 INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP Vogel Burda Communication GmbH
 LETTERS
Letters
Wireless riddle
Dear CHIP,
With excitement, I read the story ‘The Wire-free
Lifestyle’ in CHIP, November 2007. I am no geek
but definitely will not break any rules when it
comes to wireless-enabling my home. Every
aspect mentioned in the article was superb.
Whenever I ask my local hardware dealer
to get me a wireless router he seems to
be conditioned by either lack of knowledge
or something else. He claims that there is
something called a MAC address which is
specifically ‘locked’ into my PC at home. If that
is so, then I will not be able to take the ISP cable
and plug it into the wireless router. The essence
of this means that I will have to use my PC as
a wireless node, and plug my ISP broadband
connection into the PC’s Ethernet card. Am I
correct? Please guide me.
I own an Apple iPod touch and an HP iPAQ.
My son has a laptop. I plan to hook up my music
system and a wireless surveillance camera to
the network. If I keep the camera on 24/7, will
I need to keep the computer switched on too?
And that means the wireless network also has
to be on all the time. I fear my neighbor will also
be able to log on to my Wi-Fi network. Please
advise me how to secure a wireless network to
keep out intruders.
– Sukhwant Singh
Sachin Pandit
16 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Dear Sukhwant Singh,
Though it surprises me that your dealer lacks
knowledge of Wi-Fi routers (the product he
sells), it is not necessary for him to know the
intricate technical details.
Now let me address your concern about
security. With cable Internet, it is possible
to physically tap lines, but that does not
mean someone can use the Internet at your
expense. The server at the ISP end allows
only your computer to use the Internet, not
even your second computer. It recognizes
your computer by its unique MAC address
(physical address) on the Ethernet card (a
unique 12-digit hexadecimal number that
looks like this: 00:20:40:70:F4:84).
Similarly, the Wi-Fi router has a MAC
address which is obviously not the same
as your network card. However the ISP has
registered the MAC address of your PC’s
Ethernet card.
Here’s the solution. Routers have a
feature using which they can clone your PC
network card’s MAC address. So it can fool
the ISP server into believing that the PC is
online. Once the cloning is done, connect
the ISP’s cable to the WAN port on the
router. Now all your wireless devices can
communicate with the wireless router. So in
a way your dealer was right.
Now, regarding your camera. If you need
to keep it on 24/7, and view the content
from your computer (at home or remotely),
the network and PC will also need to be
operational. But you can set your router with
security settings and MAC filters to keep out
your neighbors from your network. So don’t
worry about intruders on your network.
– Francis D’sa, Sr. Reviewer
Memory upgrade
Dear CHIP,
I am currently pursuing mechanical engineering
and have been reading CHIP for the past two
years. By reading magazines like CHIP, I have
gained considerable technology knowledge
without attending any computer classes.
I like to read about and discuss new gadgets
that are about to be launched in the market. The
 LETTERS
Letters
SMS replies to our stories
SMS
us! From: Airtel, Kerala
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007
SMS: hi chip, this s sreejith k. anvry spl mag
Since we like knowing what’s on was amazing, expcly 4 pack of dvd, it ws vry
your mind and what you think about useful & mag ws super with the chip team
our magazine, we now bring you
photo albm.
another way to get in touch with us.
Have something to say about a test
review? Liked a feature story? Was From: Airtel, Rajasthan
the workshop useful? SMS us your Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007
feedback!
Here’s how: SMS: nov mag was awesome. ur comparison
on hard drives was wonderful. pls provide info
For comments on a story, create portable music players. keep the good work.
the following message:
ICCO <Your comments here>
Example: ICCO The cover story was From: Idea, Delhi
very useful Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007
SMS: would like to suggest you to add another
Send us your comments in
category in pc configs...the best pc with the
160 characters per message.
most expensive components
To rate a story, product review, etc
look out for the story tag at the base From: BSNL, West Bengal/Sikkim
of each article and use it as follows:
Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007
ICCP <Story tag> <Rating>
Example: ICCP PWS 5 SMS: hi chip! this is pinaky. i would request u 2
plz do an article on sun solaris on intel base.give
The “Story tag” is mentioned at us info on india’s inovation on it&system and
the base of every story in the
magazine and the “Rating” is on ‘war on os’.
a scale of 1 to 5.
From: Airtel, North East
Finally, send your messages to
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007
57007 SMS: the mcp73 chipset was good. finally a
Cheers! good onboard solution 4 intel cpus.
From: VODAFONE, Andhra Pradesh
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007
SMS: hi chip. cover story of nov was great.
the software was great. could u please review
wipro 7710 notebook in ur next issue.
570 07 ry
ver s to
w as a fu
n co From: Airtel, Maharashtra/Goa
T ha t
IC C O
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007
SMS: the wifi lifestyle story is grt but why nt u
give some programming info. network security
like dos attack. coding in linux.
With hundreds of SMSes sent to us, this new
feedback system has evoked tremendous
response. Going ahead, we’re using what you’re
saying to incorporate changes into our content.
Keep them coming!
18 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Infographics and Top Gear articles from your
hardware section are highly appreciated. The
software on the CHIP DVD is great!
Last year I bought a Compaq Presario 3000
notebook. It has 512 MB of memory, an 80
GB hard disk, 1.73 GHz Celeron processor
and a DVD writer. Now I want to increase the
memory. Can you please advise me how to go
about it?
I also want to pursue a career in the field of
computers. Can you offer some suggestions?
– P.N. Sakhaskar, via mail
Dear P.N. Sakhaskar,
Thank you for your interest in CHIP and
for appreciating the Infographics and Top
Gear sections.
While a tech savvy person can upgrade
notebook memory at home, we would
advise you to get the manufacturer to do
this for you. Memory modules have to be
carefully matched, more so in the case
of notebooks. Call HP using the toll free
number on its website and we are sure they
will guide you with the upgrade.
With regard to careers, there are many
avenues and it really depends on your
interests. Do you want to pursue a career in
software development, Web development,
or computer hardware? Evaluate the
scope for each, industry trends, and more
importantly, your affinity for the field. Talk to
people who have successful IT careers.
– TEAM CHIP
Video tutorial
Dear CHIP,
Thanks for the coverage on hard disks and
motherboards. The articles helped me update
my knowledge. I liked your recent coverage on
Wi-Fi too.
The workshop titled ‘Assembling a PC’ in
CHIP, December 2007, was also nice. However,
it would have been easier to understand if it was
in the form of a video tutorial.
– Dhanraj.Pawar, Belgaum
Please send your letters to:
editor@chip-india.com or
feedback@chip-india.com
 WEB
The most popular
In the News...
web searches Trends
The annual Google Zeitgeist is a Indian Laptop market grows by 85
NEWSWIRE

roundup of all the most popular

terms that people type into a Google
search box in a year, compared
to the previous year. It’s a great
indicator of emerging trends,
public opinion and popular culture.
Now, for the first time, Google has
released an India-specific version.
Here’s what Indians searched for
most in 2007. Social networking,
Bollywood celebs and movies were
at the top of our minds:
Fastest rising search queries
1. orkut
2. YouTube
percent in 3Q 2007
O
ver 5 lakh laptops were shipped in Southern India Eastern
(30.2%) India (9.9%)
the third quarter of the year 2007,
representing an 84.8 percent increase over
the figure for the same period last year,
according to a study released by IDC India
in December. Out of these, 43 percent were
shipped to the SOHO segment, with the
enterprise and education segments following.
The northern states, comprising of Delhi,
Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu
and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and
Uttar Pradesh together accounted for 31.8 Western Northern
percent of laptop shipments, representing a India (28.1%) India (31.8%)

3. Gmail 104 percent year-on-year growth. and ease of use and the narrowing of the
4. Map Desktop PC shipments in the same price-performance gap that once existed
5. Google period grew by 10.1 percent. “Portability, between portables and desktops, consumers
Top Bollywood celebrities rather than Mobility has emerged as the are almost overwhelmingly inclined to buy
1. Aishwariya Rai ‘Number 1’ driver for the sustained growth notebook PCs.” In terms of brands shipped,
2. Salman Khan in notebook PC shipments in India” said HP maintained its lead in both desktops and
3. Hrithik Roshan IDC India Country Manager Kapil Dev Singh. laptops, with market shares of 15.2 percent
4. Katrina Kaif “Given the choice of portability, flexibility and 37.8 percent respectively.
5. Shahrukh Khan
Top movies
1. Spiderman Console Gaming
2. Sivaji
3. Dhoom 2 Both Sony and Microsoft announce
4. Om Shanti Om
5. Chak De India
support for DivX video in their consoles
Top places of interest
1. Kerala
2. Singapore
I n a surprising move, both Sony and
Microsoft announced that their gaming
consoles, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
playback, although it doesn’t explicitly support
the formats. These files can be played by
streaming them over a network, burning them
3. Goa respectively, would support the playback of to an optical drive, or plugging in a removable
4. Australia compressed DivX video. DivX has long been USB storage device. The PS3, on the other
5. London a format favored by enthusiasts and movie hand, seems to be on its way to full DivX
Top political leaders pirates because certification, and will
1. Mahatma Gandhi of its high quality, play back all DivX
2. Abdul Kalam small file sizes and versions and formats.
3. Sonia Gandhi lack of digital copy Both Sony and
4. Indira Gandhi protection hassles. Microsoft now seem
5. Rabindranath Tagore However, it has been slow to catch on with to have realized that consumers demand
Top sports stars most corporates and media distributors, who seamless, trouble-free media experiences.
1. Sania Mirza fear that the legitimization of the format will Both want to make inroads into customers’
2. Maria Sharapova encourage piracy and stifle sales of movies livingrooms, which will be difficult to achieve
3. Sachin Tendulkar from legitimate online stores. if they force users to convert their video files
4. John Cena Microsoft’s fall update for the Xbox into esoteric formats and deal with copy-
5. David Beckham 360 firmware enables both Divx and Xvid protection error messages.

20 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008


Online Security
Ask.com offers anonymous web
searching
M ost casual internet users
wouldn’t think twice
before typing something into
a web search box, but little do
they realize that their searching
habits are being tracked and
analyzed. In response to
privacy concerns, Ask.com
has introduced a feature called
AskEraser that promises to
put an end to search behavior
tracking.
AskEraser can be enabled by clicking a
simple link on the upper-right corner of the
Ask.com homepage. Enabling it will wipe
out your history from the Ask.com servers
as well as cookies on users’ computers.
A single new cookie will be set on their
computer, instructing Ask.com not to harvest
information. AskEraser will remain in force as
long as the user continues to use the same
browser on the same computer, and doesn’t
delete that cookie.
However, users who choose to keep
their searches private will also lose out on
the personalization options on offer, such as
saved web links and homepage skins.
It is unclear whether users’ privacy is
completely guaranteed. Additional tracking
cookies used by advertisers cannot be
checked using AskEraser. However, it’s a
great first step.
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip
NEWS SNIPPETS NEWSWIRE
WEB
Email lottery
scammer arrested
A man who allegedly conned
people around the world
out of more than $10 million
has been arrested after a
two-year Interpol investigation.
Ali Mohamed Kdoud, 39, was
arrested at Larnaca Airport in
Cyprus as he was trying to flee.
Kdoud is charged with having
defrauded internet users through
common scamming techniques.
One such method is to send
out emails telling people they
have won a lottery. The victims
are persuaded into disclosing
personal information and bank
account details for the “prize
money” to be deposited, often
paying token amounts as lottery
fees. The details are then used to
empty their bank accounts.
|
| 21
 NEWSWIRE News Snippets
SOFTWARE
Updates for your
software
Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Release Candidate 1
The much-anticipated SP1 for Vista
is now freely available even though
it is not yet final. Major feature
changes include modifications to
the Windows Genuine Advantage
program that will prevent computers
which fail license validation checks
from locking up, and Hotpatching,
which should allow updates to be
installed without requiring reboots.
Be warned, there are a few known
flaws, and pre-release software
isn’t supported by Microsoft!
Download it at your own risk.
http://www.microsoft.com/
downloads/
Office 2007 Service Pack 1
This 218 MB download includes
all incremental updates to
Office System 2007 that have
been released so far, plus new
security, stability and performance
improvements. Over 400 bugs are
said to have been fixed with this
update.
http://www.microsoft.com/
downloads/ (or find it on the
CHIP DVD)
Firefox 3.0 Beta 2
This new beta version is more
stable than previous pre-release
versions. The Places feature
organizes bookmarks and
the browser history in a new,
searchable interface. Other new
features include an improved
download manager, tweaks to the
address bar and password handling,
in addition to numerous bug fixes.
Get it for Windows XP/Vista,
Mac OS and Linux. This beta also
supports a number of new add-ons
that will build on its features.
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
all-beta.html
22 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Legal issues
Opera files EU complaint against
Microsoft
O pera Software ASA, makers of the lesser-
known Opera web browser, have filed an
antitrust complaint against Microsoft accusing
communities”.
However, Internet Explorer has been
bundled with Windows since the release of
them of refusing to follow web standards, and Windows 95 over 12 years ago. Although the
abusing their dominant position in operating Opera browser has remained an underdog,
systems by bundling Internet Explorer with the recent success of Firefox might weaken
Windows. its case. An official response from Microsoft
“We are filing this complaint on behalf states that users are free to use any browser,
of all consumers who are tired of having a and PC manufacturers also can preinstall any
monopolist make choices for them,” said software, set it as default, and place icons for
Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner. The complaint it on the desktop.
comes after the European Commission
confirmed a ruling in September that
Microsoft had illegally bundled Windows
Media Player with Windows, resulting in the
introduction of special versions of Windows
XP with it removed, for the European market.
The complaint asks the commission to
consider the same treatment for Internet
Explorer, as well as require Microsoft to
adhere to “fundamental and open Web
Sachin Pandit
standards accepted by the web-authoring
Web
Google sets its sights on Wikipedia
with “Knol”
G oogle’s search engine is arguably the first
place most people think of when they
need to find information online. Now, Google
has announced it plans to compete with
Wikipedia in the online encyclopedia game.
Knol, a take on the word knowledge, is set
to differentiate itself from Wikipedia (or any
Wiki) mainly by emphasizing the credentials
of each page’s authors. Individual pages,
also to be known as knols will be written
by people who should have authoritative
knowledge in the field they are writing Google will even allow authors to decide
about, though anyone is free to contribute. whether or not their knols will include
A community element around Knol will allow advertisements, though they will apparently
for multiple knols on the same topic, along receive a “substantial revenue share” if they
with comments, questions and peer editing do. Google has also promised to make Knol
(as approved by the author). Google, in its pages available to all search engines, but it is
announcement, promised to remain neutral unclear how they will rank alongside regular
and not edit any material generated by Knol search results on Google pages. Knol is
users. currently limited to only a handful of invitees.
 NEWS SNIPPETS NEWSWIRE

Web
95 percent of all corporate
email is spam
E mail and web security vendor Barracuda Networks has
released its annual spam report, in which it claims that
between 90 and 95 percent of all email sent in the year 2007 was
unsolicited. The company analyzed over a billion email messages
sent to its 50,000 clients every day in preparing the report.
The majority of these
messages used obfuscation
techniques such as masking
the senders’ real addresses
with known and trusted email
addresses, or registering
new domain names to defeat
blacklists of spam sources. The
Sachin Pandit usage of attachments such as
PDF files to carry an advertising
payload also increased, in the same way that image-based spam
rose to prominence last year.
A related study of 261 business professionals found that 57
percent of respondents viewed spam as the worst form of junk
advertising, more so than postal junk mail and telemarketing.
While 50 percent received five or fewer spam emails each day, 13
percent reported receiving over 50 such messages each day.

Hardware
Intel shows off miniscule
flash drive
Intel announced its new Z-P140 PATA solid-state drive for mobile
devices in mid December. The device, to be available in 2 GB
and 4 GB capacities, is smaller than a fingernail. Measuring just
1.8 mm in thickness and 0.6 grams in weight, it is far smaller and
lighter than current 1.8-inch solid-state drives. Designed for use in
handheld devices, it will offer read and write speeds of 40 MB/s
and 30 MB/s (megabytes per second) respectively and consume
less than 300 milliwatts of power at full load and 1.1 milliwatts in
sleep mode.
The Z-P140’s controller can address up to 16 GB of flash
memory, enabling mobile devices in the near future to be
equipped with full operating systems and applications, with
enough room for storing photos, music and videos.
Intel already makes the Z-U130, a USB-based solid-state drive
that is suited for ultramobile, embedded and low-cost PCs. A
serial ATA (SATA) version could be announced in the near future
as well. The Z-P140 is expected to be available as an optional part
of Intel’s upcoming Menlow platform for ultraportable devices.
The 2 GB version should be available in the first quarter of 2008,
with the 4 GB version following soon after.

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 23
 NEWSWIRE News Snippets
WEB
Indian Cricket
League matches
broadcast online
C ricket fans had a unique treat
last month, with the ICL’s
recently concluded T20 tournament
broadcast live on its website,
http://www.indiancricketleague.in.
Visitors streamed footage of each
match from multiple angles.
The online video player is powered
by ORMUX, a rich media content
delivery framework developed by
Pune-based Spadeworx Software
Services.
“The richness, agility and
personalized viewing experience
that we are able to offer are
breathtaking. The experience is
spreading virally, and viewership
is increasing exponentially each
match” said ICL Manager, Strategy
and Research, Vijay Bharadwaj.
OPEN STANDARDS
Norway enforces
open document
formats
I n a move designed to make public
information more accessible, the
Government of Norway has specified
that all documents published for
download on all its websites must
use open standards. This would
allow even those who choose not
to pay for expensive software such
as Microsoft Word to read public
policy documents that are published
from time to time.Norway’s Ministry
of Government Administration
and Reform has approved of three
formats: HTML, as the primary
format for all information; PDF, for
documents which are meant to
remain unchanged, and ODF (Open
Document Format) for documents
that will require editing after
download, such as forms that need
to be filled in by users.
24 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Legal Issues
Apple rumor site Think Secret shuts
down due to legal pressure
A fter years of protracted legal battles, a
website dedicated to news and rumors
about upcoming Apple products has been
shut down. In a settlement with Think Secret
owner Nicholas Ciarelli, the website will
cease operations, but will not disclose
the names of its sources. Further
details of the settlement
will remain confidential.
A four-line statement on
the website is the only
information available about
the deal, calling it “a positive
solution for both sides”.
Ciarelli, currently studying
at Harvard University, was sued by Apple
in early 2005 for publishing articles about
unreleased products that were allegedly
trade secrets. Ciarelli filed a counter motion
claiming immunity under the first amendment
of the United States constitution which
Online Security
Hackers will target the Olympics, US
presidential elections in 2008
H igh-profile events will be the biggest
targets for malicious hackers in the year
2008, says online security news provider
Network World. In particular, the 2008
Olympics to be held in China will be used to
propagate malware and carry our fraud and
identity theft.
Websites and online networks will
be potential sources of infection in the
case of such attacks. Possible malicious
activity around the 2008 US Presidential
elections include supporters of candidates
misrepresenting themselves to carry
out smear campaigns against their other
candidates, and carrying out denial-of-
service attacks on their websites. Attackers
could even duplicate some candidates’
entire websites in order to divert campaign
donations that come in via online payments,
either stealing them or diverting them to
opponents’ campaigns.
protects free speech. The legal battle that
ensued was centered on whether or not
independent bloggers are entitled to be
treated the same way as journalists working
for established media outlets.
Apple is well known for refusing to
comment on unreleased products,
regularly sending cease-and-desist
notices to anyone who publishes
information that is claimed to be leaked
from inside sources. Think Secret has
been a thorn in its side for many years,
and has often published accurate news
of unreleased products. Apple has spent
many years trying to use legal pressure to
discover Think Secret’s sources.
The settlement now raises questions as to
how long independent bloggers can survive if
corporations such as Apple uses all the legal
and financial resources at their disposal in
sustained campaigns against them.
The firm also stated that a rising number of
compromised websites would quietly attack
unsuspecting visitors. “Parasitics”, or worms
that target specific files on users’ machines
and then embed themselves there to spread
their payloads.
Botnets, or gigantic global networks
comprising of billions of infected
machines, will also be in the news. They
will used techniques such as encrypted
communications and decentralized peer-to-
peer structures to make them that much
harder to shut down.
Overall, online threats will originate mostly
from organized of criminal hackers, industrial
espionage agents and politically hostile groups
rather than individual teenagers experimenting
with code. Network World advised individuals
and corporate security professionals to
concentrate on plugging data leaks and
complying with existing security standards.
 NEWS SNIPPETS NEWSWIRE

Online Security
F-Secure releases its year-
end online security roundup
T he amount of malware detected in the year 2007 equals the
amount detected in the last 20 years combined, according to
F-Secure. There were close to a quarter of a million detections
in total at the beginning of 2007, whereas the figure stands at
close to half a million now. Malware authors have been producing
variants in bulk. Genuine innovation appeared to be on the
decline, being replaced instead with volume and mass-produced
kit malware. But while new techniques weren’t developed,
existing techniques were refined and adapted for much greater
effectiveness. Some of the major security threats that hit the
internet 2007 were:
The Storm Botnet
On Friday, January 19th 2007, e-mail messages with subject
lines based on actual events, such as “230 dead as storm batters
Europe” began to circulate. Using sensationalized versions of real
headlines proved to be a clever bit of social engineering. During
the second half of 2007, they continuously updated their social
engineering tactics. One of their tricks was the promise of seeing
“yourself” in a supposed YouTube video in a message pointing to
a fake site.
The gang also altered Storm’s infection vector as detections
increased and e-mail attachments were blocked. Instead of
attaching the malware to the e-mail messages as before,
they spammed users with links to malicious Web pages. The
computers responsible for sending Storm spam and for hosting
its web pages are themselves part of the botnet. Storm is a
collective with no central point to shut down.
Trojans stealing passwords through online games
Online games continued to grow in popularity throughout the year
2007. More importantly, revenues continued to increase. Many
players of such games are willing to spend real money on virtual
commodities that exist in the games. The value of these goods is
real even if they are not physically real. The stolen commodities
get auctioned off and the thieves are difficult to identify because
the crime is completely online.
Fake video codecs and DNS changers
One of the most successful pests of 2007 has been Zlob. It’s a
spyware that often claims to be a video codec needed to view
copy-protected media. Once installed, Zlob typically shows fake
error messages designed to convince the computer user into
buying artificial antispyware products. Other pests from the Zlob
gang such as DNSChanger silently reconfigure the computer’s
DNS server settings. DNS servers are responsible for converting
text URLs into numeric IP addresses. Once the DNS settings
are changed to their servers, the Zlob gang is in control of the
browser. It generates money by redirecting web searches. Should
the victim search for “air fare”, Zlob’s sponsored link will be put at
the top of the results. However, stealing data is not the goal, and
many users may not even realize how they are being used.

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 25
 COLUMN PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY
Designed to please
W
hat good is technology if it doesn’t
serve your needs? A device by itself
is not “technology”. Everyone around
you might be raving about a gadget, proclaiming
it to be the most revolutionary, ingenious,
time-saving, life-altering invention ever, but if it’s
just a scary-looking plastic box to you, then it’s
probably failed at its primary objective.
A device can fail for many reasons, but by
far the easiest way to alienate potential users
Jamshed Avari
Assistant Editor - Technical, is to be completely unapproachable by design.
CHIP Keeping in mind that a huge number of people
are scared of anything with buttons and lights,
some of the most basic devices can fall into
By far the this trap. I know people who are still nervous
easiest way of ordinary remote controls, holding them at
to alienate arm’s length, jabbing buttons with the greatest
trepidation, as if they are in the process of
potential defusing a bomb. So it comes as no surprise,
users is to be that they’re thrown for a loop by shiny surfaces
covered with buttons and screens that display
completely multiple lines of text with flashing icons. When
unapproachable those people find themselves in need of a new
cellphone, for instance, their most common
by design. refrain is “I want something that’s absolutely
simple! No features, no functions, just
something that makes calls!”
More features means more complicated, and
more difficult to use. No one wants to spend
their time grappling with the gadget instead of
using it. The fewer capabilities a device has, the
more likely it is to be simple and approachable,
in most people’s minds.
A thriving market now exists for devices
such as cellphones, digital cameras, personal
health gadgets, and even cars, with ultra-basic
feature sets. Not because these are cheap, but
because they are designed from the ground
up for a set of users who won’t just ignore
bells and whistles if they are present, but will
actively seek out alternative products that just
do not have them. A few years ago it would
have been common for such people to ask for
only the cheapest device available, believing it
to be bereft of any expensive features, and thus
being easy to use. This often meant forgoing
even non-scary features such as a color screen
or slim design, since the cheap ones only came
in monochrome. The Nokia 1100, a phone that
26 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
did pretty much nothing other than make calls
and send text messages, was a huge success
with almost every demographic even though
its launch price was at par with that of entry-
level camera phones. It had been designed
specifically for older people, eschewing features
for a non-slip grip. It didn’t need to do anything
fancy; people liked it because it didn’t.
On the other hand, there are people
who are willing to live with any number of
inconveniences because a design just works
for them. Some gadgets make them feel an
instant bond, making them willing to overlook
any deficiencies they might have. The original
Mororola RAZR was an awful device in terms
of the features it offered. It didn’t even have
decent battery life, which is one of the core
areas a phone should cover! It was priced five or
six times higher than anything else in its class.
But it looked nothing like any other phone, and
was just so beautifully crafted that it became
an instant lifestyle product. People felt great
whipping it out of their pockets. Powerful,
emotive advertising also helped them get over
any gadget fear. But at the end of the day it
was the design that made it a winner. People
who would ordinarily have demanded high-res
cameras, video playback, and expandable
storage space bought a device that had none of
these things, and still made them feel happy.
Approachability can be the biggest
impediment or aid to a product’s success in
the market, and it’s something that has to be
designed into it right from the beginning. It’s
alright for manufacturers to decide that they
are targeting only a group of advanced users,
and so not compromise on some features
if it means dumbing down the device in the
process. But they’re losing out if they can’t
make certain things approachable for the larger
audience out there. If manufactures can ramp
up the feature sets while retaining the ease of
use and approachability, then they’ll be able
to convert a whole new breed of users into
enthusiasts: people who enjoy using technology
because it enriches their lives and gives them
conveniences that they would not have been
open to adopting before. 
– jamshed.avari@chip-india.com
cover story

Pramod Jadhav Sachin Pandit

28 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008 SMS us! Story code: CDO to 57007

Do Everything
Online I
Make your life easier and cut out the
stress of day-to-day chores with online
services and conveniences.
BY jamshed avari, Brian Pereira And Team Chip
Cover Story
t’s been a while since we’ve heard any
buzz around the term “e-commerce”. What
was once supposed to be a life-changing
paradigm has slowly shrunk into the background,
overshadowed by the spectacular burst of the
dot-com bubble at the turn of the century.
E-commerce was the blanket term that was
supposed to put all our doubts and fears to rest,
and let us be liberated of all the annoyances that
come with physical financial transactions.
Today, while the buzz around that word
has died out, we are left with a very sturdy
online economy. Practical, usable, and highly
successful sites are popping up all over the
place, and many others have been operating
quietly for years. Airline ticketing, gift shopping,
status tracking, and problem solving. These
are websites that offer real solutions to real
problems; sites that everyone should know
exist. They don’t cater only to tech-savvy
teenagers either. Everyone from every walk of
life will save time, energy and aggravation by
getting things done online.
Imagine never standing in a line again.
Imagine never having to haggle with a
salesperson who you’re sure is cheating you.
Imagine never settling for something you’re
unhappy with because you’re in a hurry.
The internet allows you to pick, choose, and
compare to your heart’s desire.
CHIP picked a handful of websites that
really do free you from the pitfalls of real-world
financial transactions. Sure, you could do
any one of these things offline, but these are
services and conveniences that truly do make
life simpler and give you more control over your
life. So grab your credit card and get ready to
manage your money, book a vacation, and just
chill out while your PC does all the hard work.
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 29
Cover Story

W
Online banking is all the rage
hile many people are , especially
amongst young urban professi
apprehensive about onals. The
term “online banking” includes
using their credit a number of
things, from just checking your
cards online for fear of some balance before
a big shopping trip to applying
kind of fraud, millions of others for a credit
card, transferring funds between
are discovering the joys of online accounts,
and getting into detailed money
financial services. No more management
tasks.
waiting in lines, making long trips
Online banking is great for
to offices, filling out paperwork, a number
of reasons. Branches are ofte
taking appointments and dealing n located
inconveniently, and people migh
with agents and intermediaries. t like to keep
track of their accounts in diffe
Just make sure you take care rent cities
without making long trips. 24-h
of simple things such as your our branches
are also not that common, so
passwords and PIN numbers, and the internet half a day off from work, filling out
allows us to make emergency forms, and
online banking will make your life transactions dealing with surly tellers!
even in the middle of the night. And
incredibly easy. who wants Banks and financial institutions
to spend their entire morning wait are also
ing in lines or making more and more serv
running from desk to desk? The ices available
empowering online, such as applying for loan
nature of the internet becomes appa s, managing
rent when stock portfolios, paying bills, and
you realize you can manage your even refilling
money and cellphone accounts.
accounts without taking

department is a useful
The website of the Indian Income Tax
the latest circulars and
resource for the tax laws, rules, and
nt. It also offers various
notifications issued by the departme
salaried individuals for
forms required by companies and
filing returns and paying taxes.
nal for all individuals.
Filing returns online (e-filing) is optio
panie s and for Partnership
But it is mandatory for all Com
from assessment year
Firms requiring Section 44AB audit
2007-200 8 onwards.
and Partnership
“Making e-filing mandatory for companies
situated in the smaller
Firms is a good step; but Companies
ns online; broadband is
towns have a difficult time filing retur
power-cuts,” says Ajay
not available and there are day-long
who is famil iar with the ins and
Wadke, a CA from Mumbai s, for instance,” says
the inser tion of some Expense head
outs of the website.
in the online forms. Wadke.
There are many errors and omissions secure, which will
Form prescribed for There is scope to make the site more
For example in ITR5, the Income Tax t using it.
n for Salar y and interest also put people’s minds at ease abou
Partnership Firms, there is no colum le who file retur ns online is growing
L. The number of peop
paid to partners, in the Section Part A-P& 10.8 4 lakh people filed
& Loss acco unt and Balance fast. As of October 31st, 2007 around
“In the case of Profi t ssme nt year 06-07).
returns online (up by 273% from asse
flexibility, by allowing
sheet, they should give users more

30 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 Cover Story

From credit cards to

mobile phones, life’s The In co me
Ta x de partmen
elected two th t has
little conveniences do ird -par ty compa
processing onlin nie s for
seem to inconvenience e applications
cards: UTITSL (U fo r PA N
you once a month TI Technology Se
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when the bills arrive! (N ational Secu
Depositor y Ltd) rit ies
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them, and fill on e of
them leads to all kinds of trouble, such as getting in the form. Th
the acknowled en note
services cut off and running up huge fines. gement numbe
to track the st r. Use it
Rather than writing checks, filling pay slips and atus of your ap
But the process pli cation.
running around town to find a payment counter does not end th
must print the er e. You
or drop box, you can set up an online payment application, at ta
photo and pres ch your
service. Sites such as www.billjunction.com ent it in person
need to prove yo at th e of fices of UTIT
offer to pay your bills as they arrive if you keep ur address and SL or NSDL. Yo
ide nt ity u will
a certain amount of cash on hand. Even bank card is delivered with relevant do
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e, you can also
as a change of ap ply for changes in PA
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forms that mus grievances. But
and OK payments with a single click, or have t be download this is all done
ed, printed, at through
the amounts debited as soon as a bill arrives. person --- at one tested, and su
of the aforemen bm itt ed in
to file your appli tioned collection
Many essential utilities including your phone, cation manually centers. “Since
, the online syste yo u have
gas and electricity bills can be paid online. is not such a big m is more for fa
convenience fo cil ita tio n; it
r consumers,” sa
ys Ajay Wadke.

et,
s using the intern
to invest in stock
If you’re planning ing for
PA N card. Apply
l ne ed a de ma t account and a ce it’s
you’l paperwork, but on
a lot of real-world
these still requires
dy to go.
done you’ll be rea es or financial
ac co un ts wi th banks, brokerag
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ss to
offer you custom
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ich you’ll be mana
a website from wh up the scrip co de s used
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we bs ite sh ou ld have an area wh
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stock to help you options, an d ev en mutual
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in stocks, commod tru cti on s for
le to define ins
fun ds . Yo u sh ould even be ab ch an ge s to
ole lot of time when the price
sto ck s me an s you spend a wh bu yin g or se llin g a particular stock
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g to define.
g brokers, tracking er limits that you
and energy callin ern et do es wi thin upper and low to use the internet
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e the ma rke ts fluctuate. The int d ye s, yo u’d be well advised an cia l
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make investing ea ntee resea ney is working for
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inly doesn’t guara
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or ha uld be investin g om and ww w. inv
sfu l tha n yo u wo m on ey co nt ro l.c
you’ll be more su
cces ke as ww w. nning to make
the power to ma from if you’re pla
ion ed wa y! W ha t you will gain is p are ex ce lle nt places to learn
old -fash gri
quickly, and a firm
s and act on them investments onlin
e.
your own decision .
t comes an d go es
on each rupee tha
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 31
Cover Story

T
Here’s on he world is
e chore th
easier by at has real undoubtedly getting
the adven ly been m
t of the inte ade
makes se rnet. It re smaller, connected by
nse to bo al ly
since you ok airline all kinds of new technology.
can take as tickets on
line,
comparing much time Far-flung places are more
airlines, pri as you like
have to b ces and dat accessible than ever, thanks
ug a trave es. You do
l agent or n’t
check a do sales clerk to the internet and the
zen possib to
hops. Alm le combinat possibilities it opens up to us.
ost all dom ions of tran
estic airlin si t
booking o es offer ti Making travel arrangements
n their ow ck e t
third -p ar ty n sites as has never been so quick, easy,
well as th
p ort als, m rough
easier to h aking it cheap, and transparent. All
unt for the that much
convenien best bargai is so sim you need for domestic as well
t timings. ns and mo ple, you
st some almost fe
thing out. el you’ve as international travel is at your
You can lit left
erally book
or less on tickets in fi O verall, w fingertips. All you have to do is
most of th ve minute e found th
ese websi s as w ird -par ty
them have tes. Some w w.cleart sites such decide where you want to go.
star ted usi o f rip.c om,
ng new w w w w.m a ke w w w.e ze
that d ynam eb standar my tr ip .c o ego.c om,
ic ally upd ds com m and
down sear ate pages, to be easie w w w.ya tr
ch results narrowing r to use an a.
or letting than most d more feat
prices on yo u co o f th e airlines’ si u re -r ic h
the fly. Cre mpare co tes. The ab
snap, and dit card p mpare mu ili
all you hav ro ce ss ing is a lt ip le airlines’ off ty to
airport wit e to do is and many erings is b
show up at of them al rilliant,
h a printe th e hotel boo so offer co
d e -ticket. kings or lo mbo deals
T he proce yalt y sche on
ss kind. mes of so
me

g
ats standing in lon
ing tra in tic ke ts online certainly be
Book d, it quickly became
w.irctc.co.in launche
queues. So when ww ia. The site accepts
ommerce site in Ind
the number one e-c to your doorstep wi
thin
kets are delivered
credit cards, and tic
24 hours. red), E-tickets (that
ets (that are delive
One can book I-tick
ts through Tatkal.
on tickets, and ticke
you print out), seas : Plan my travel an
d
rvices for booking
There are two se d for online book ing ;
Bo ok . Th e for me r is the usual metho a
Quick and fares, then ma
ke
trains, schedules,
you first search for the res erv ati on,
yo u ha ve all the details required for , and
booking. If the Quick Book ms of site navigation
ur cre dit ca rd de tails, then choose de s. Th ere ’s lot to be desired in ter ation
and also yo co u just want inform
fill ing up the res ervation slip online. as e ac ce ss is really slow. So if yo
option. It’s like ve to go da tab ng like Rediff Trains
als o be ca nc ell ed , though you will ha ins it ma ke s se nse to use somethi
Tickets can you can on tra m). You specify
ce nte rs for ref un ds. Besides trains, rch (w ww .in dia n-railways.rediff.co
to the reservation FareSea d class. The
gh this site. n, journey date, an
o bo ok ho tel s, ca bs, and tours throu as e the po int of origin, destinatio ati on from the
als a central datab l that pulls inform
the site references e is just a search too
In its present form, ht. And datab as e Re dif f sit
still made thr gh
ou IRC TC
ery bit of inf orm ation that’s soug Ra ilw ay da tab ase; transactions are
for ev ing the point of ori
gin
slow. When specify
access is painfully sta nd ard sta tio n itself.
na tio n on e ne ed s to first identify
and desti

32 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 Cover Story

be
servations can
Online hotel re wa ys :
the following
done in either of t, an
t or consultan
through an agen vel
ckage deals), a tra
Most people hire agents and do not visit the travel website (pa elf.
hotel’s website its
Indian Passport website. Ironically, it is the portal, or on the n
you have to liaiso
agents who visit this site for information, In most cases
llects
party which co
application forms, and appointment dates--- through a third t one
te l. Bu the
bookings on beha
lf of the ho s for specifying
and then pass them on to clients for a fee! Of
t ap pr oa ch , the instruction ph on e
more direc options are
course, they’ll also get you a good spot in line! might prefer a its elf . pa yment. Other t.
e hotel webs ite qu es
by booking at th ail reservation re
It is now mandatory for all applicants to rat es. booking and em travel
be tte r ro om ad e th ro ug h
register on this site and get an application This also offers ati ng Pa ckage deals m
of hotels oper w w w.yatra.
number and appointment date at the regional The Ginger chain e bo ok ing websites such as
lin
cities makes on akemytrip.com
can
passport office. One can download the in many Indian fore com or w w w.m
an d dir ec t. Be nt of m on ey.
hotel booking sim
ple fair amou
application form, fill it, print it, and then submit re se rv ati on also save you a tic or
n mak e a an entire do m es
the attested form with photos at the regional your trip, you ca te th e You can book ht
ce you co m ple go , rig
request online. On age in one
passport office on the appointment date. es s, on lin e international pack om .
tion proc ts to the hotel ro
There’s plenty of information on this site: how one-time registra from the air ticke
ple an d fas t. It is enabled course is how litt
le
to fill forms, the fee structure, how to apply, a booking is sim
en gin e. The best part of en
re reservation ev
by the Swift-n -su takes. You can
checklist, FAQ, Tatkaal scheme details etc. ch eck-out time all of this ph one
ec k-i n an d ur m ob ile
The site also addresses other cases like Specify your ch sta y, m ak e bookings via yo
l urself
r of nights you’l case you find yo
re-issue of passport, additional pages, stolen date, the numbe ro om at some sites, in
s an d th e
the number of
room ange cit y.
passports etc. You can also track the status of stranded in a str
en cli ck ‘C on tinue’ and follow
your application online. type. Th

t.
centers is convenien
through application
Applying for visas uired inform ati on an d
y provide all the req
For a small fee the plication centers, on
e
advent of vis a ap
guidance. Before the High Commiss ion ,
ply at the country’s
had to personally ap
vel to another cit y.
possibly involving tra ulates have appoint
ed
kfu lly, hig h co mmissions and cons
Th an liver visas. Th e es
rtie s to co lle ct applications and de
third pa applications and
ve tra ine d co un se lors who examine
centers ha visas and the interv
iews
actual processing of
offer Of course, the a ap pli ca tion ed documentation.
ne at the hig h commission; vis ull y off ers a ch ecklist of the requir a
(if needed) are do he lpf l information like vis
po we red to gra nt or decline visas. thi s site yo u’l l also find other usefu ns .
centers are not em rs in 10 On security regulatio
cy is VF S Glo ba l, which has cente oto sp ec ific ati on s, holiday list, and k
One such agen , can fees, ph vise you to chec
erview, if required ally revised, we ad
ati on s ac ros s Ind ia and Nepal. An int e yo u Sin ce vis a fees are periodic
loc cation centre. Befor t before your visit.
heduled at the appli with the center jus submit your
be conveniently sc vis it its we bs ite . cker too. After you
o an ap pli ca tio n center, be sure to Th ere ’s a Visa Application Tra e.
step int s-c anad a.co.in), for n track it online or
on your phon
website (w ww.vf application, you ca
The VFS Canada on req uir ed for we ites for the UK
bs and US .
ers all the ne cessary informati VF S Glo ba l Services also has vely.
example, off plications are -usa.co.in res cti
pe
d als o the va rio us forms. Visa ap ww w. vfs -uk -in .com and ww w.vfs
applications, an e site Try
documentation. Th
use of insufficient
often declined beca

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 33
 Cover Story

A
re life’s little tasks getting
We don’t exactly know what took this
you down? Are you so
facility (booking movie tickets online) so long
caught up in taking care
to come into existence in India. It’s fairly
of all your errands that you don’t
common in many countries, and considering
have time to let your hair down at
the size of our film industry and the number
all? Once again, it’s the internet
of rabid movie fans, this service should have
to the rescue! You’ll save time
been available sooner. However, it’s now
by booking movie tickets online,
here and there are a few players already
and you’ll never risk running out
in the online market. Sites such as www.
of credit on your mobile phone if
kyazoonga.com and www.bookmyshow. but it works well! On the homepage is a
you’re up to speed with these neat
com are two such places where you can scroll bar with thumbnails of all the movies
pointers.
book movie tickets across cinemas in the running in the country. Even tickets for the
country. Besides these, most of the cinema recent India-Pakistan cricket series were
franchises have their own online booking available here! This website reqires you to
centers on their websites, for example, create an account with a password. You can
Fame and Fun cinemas. begin by clicking on the movie (synopsis
So now all you have to do is make a plan available) you are planning to watch and
and you won’t need to struggle in those select your city. You will now get results
slithery lines at multiplexes. Hit one of these of all the cinemas and the time at which
services; choose the cinema, the time of the movie is playing. Select the show and
the show, and in some you can even look specify the class of seats and number of
at the seating arrangement with the current tickets and voila! Note: Tickets need to
status. be collected from the cinema at least 30
You can pay the bill amount by credit minutes before the start of any movie.
card and you will Another such website, w w w.
receive a code or a bookmyshow.com does everything that
printout which you Kyazoonga does but has a lot more options.
By far one of th
e coolest will have to reproduce It features tickets for concerts, sports
online shoppin
g sites is at the cinema hall and events, detailed movie listings and seating
w w w.de ll. co m
. Dell is you are in! arrangements so you don’t have to settle
the only brand
that not Kyazoonga.com is for bad seats. So, go ahead and book your
only of fers its
products really not that famous show!
for sale online,
but also
all ow s cu st om er s to
cu stom -c onfig ur
e th em
before buying. W
e wish there wa
configure machin s a site where yo
es from multiple u could t,
brands side- by-si or BlueDar
then compare pr
ices and unique de and di st an ce via FedEx
it.
features, but th parcels long n code prin
ted on
best we’ve got an is is the larly send identificatio
d it’s a pretty go
od option. If you regu ic e ha s an th at code
that your in
vo punch in
If you know you’r
e going to buy a you’ll know w eb si te s allow you to
’
(or even access notebook or a de
sktop r companies
ories, monitors Most courie is on its jour
ney. airpor t
, se rvers or projecto e pa rc el ghway or
the website wi
ll help you confi rs), to trac k w he re th
ag e fa ci lities to hi sp arent
gure most of its stor and tran
components to yo ping and ly recorded
ur liking and budg int er nal From ship eckp oi nt is du of the
et. After that, jus lds, each ch name
your credit card
and address detai t ente r baggage ho m pa ni es record the e.
me co tim
ls, and confirm.
addition, so t date and
able to track yo
ur new compute You’ll be
to you. In liv er y, an d the exac rs in
r’s progress via signed for
the de ice counte
by entering a pr
oduct code that email or
person who rm at io n about serv ed
ovide info isplac
inform you when th ey’ll send you. De
tes also pr help with m
the machine is be ll will The websi p se rv ic es , insurance, ta xe s. Now,
the factory, and ing built, when it rcel pick-u l duties and
how long it will tak leaves yo ur ci ty, pa te rn at io na
e to reach your ho es about in t” excuses!
use. and guidelin ost in transi
packages, th os e ol d “l
way to use
you have no

34 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 Cover Story

You can save a trip to the local store to recharge your prepaid
mobile phone connection. Just head over to your bank’s
website and log in with your internet banking password (you
might have to request your bank to activate the service and
provide you the details).
For example, www.icicibank.com provides this service
for all major prepaid mobile service providers.
The process is pretty simple
 Go to to the bank’s website and log in with your login
information.
 Click the link for the Prepaid Mobile Recharge option.
 Choose your service provider.
 Choose your network circle (generally your state or city).
 Enter your mobile number
 Choose the account you want to transfer money from
 Choose the recharge amount. Some service providers have
restrictions regarding the values you can enter here, you can
easily find these out from the bank’s website. Some providers
 Enter your internet transaction password. It is different
restrict you from using recharge values that have special
from your login password, and designed to improve security
offers, so you might be required to use a value different than
 Complete the security procedures, and you’re done.
the one you intended to recharge for.
Now all you have to do is wait for the confirmation message,
and you’re ready to go.

Many people wonde

r whether online sho
worth it, since you can pping is really
’t touch and feel the
spending money on pro ducts before
them. People are als
card transactions, and o wary of credit
whether they’ll be abl
refund if the product e to claim a
is damaged in shippi
all this, online shoppi ng. But despite
ng has really taken off
including ww w.rediff. in Ind ia. Shops
com, ww w.indiatim
fabmall.in, and ww w.f es. co m, ww w.
uturebazaar.com are
frequently and do ple all vis ited quite
nty of business. And,
ww w.ebay.in, one of of course, there’s
the best places to sho
and compare prices. p for bargains
It’s a matter of find
ing what you’re com
Books, DV Ds and com for table with.
modit y items are hot
clothes, perishables and sellers, while
expensive electronics
still best bought fro are probably
m a brick- and -mort
inspecting the goods. ar store after
Online shopping opens making the world a sm
up a world of convenien aller place?
any thing under the sun ce: almost And you aren’t restric
can be selected with ted to Indian websites
delivered to your doorst a few clicks and of . Hundreds
ep. Since Indian sur fer international online sho
s ps selling everything
happy to use credit car aren’t always to fur from T-shirts
ds, many websites eve niture will also deliver
n offer cash- There’ to India, via internation
on -delivery ser vice. ll be extra shipping and al courier.
You can have gif ts handling charges of
sent to your friends in per son alized and but it’s often cost-effe course,
any par t of the countr ctive enough.
y. How’s that for
So there you have it,
the per fect way to sav
e time!

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 35
HARDWARE
Jagdish Limbachiya
Top Gear
H
ere are some of the most amazing
products to satisfy your appetite
for hardware. There are products
ranging from an entire PC to rock solid
laptops and some heart-throbbing gadgets,
such as a wireless music streaming
device, an optical mouse and much more
to drool over. The HCL HTPC will leave a
lingering aura in your living room with its
multiple roles; a television set, FM radio,
music player, gaming PC and more. All-in-
all, it’s an ideal entertainment PC.
Speaking of entertainment, the XFX
8800 GT Alpha Dog was the first factory-
Ratingswell,
overclocked GeForce 8800 GT to come Explained
but not much beyond that.
Ratings Explained
The products in the individual and
comparison tests share exactly the same test
procedures.
Each product in Top Gear is rated on
a scale of 5 for different key parameters:
Performance, Build Quality, Features,
Ergonomics, and Warranty. These vary
according to the characteristics of the
hardware. For instance, ergonomics (ease of
36 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
to our Test Center. It showed an evident
jump in the performance when compared
to its stock counterpart, but only in Crysis.
Check out the review, a secret about this
card awaits your attention.
Yet another performer is the Dell
Latitude D531, which is an ideal business
machine. Along with excellent build
quality, if offers more than five hours of
battery life (operating time). The HCL
Prism Leaptop Z29 laptop also exhibits
commendable performance while running
office applications. It should handle light
multimedia and productivity applications as
use) is not important in a graphics card and
therefore, it will not be evaluated for this.
A product’s Overall Rating is calculated
by assigning weightages to each evaluation
parameter—the more important a parameter,
the higher is the weightage allotted to it. In
addition, there is a Value for Money rating,
which is calculated from the performance and
the features of the product in relation to the
We also tested portable gadgets which
are intended to be used with laptops,
such as the Digital Scribe GPEN 100C
which includes an IR pen and its receiver.
When you draw/write using the pen with
its receiver alongside, you can see the
digitized result on the screen in real time.
That’s not all; there are loads of other
exciting products belonging to different
categories including multifunction
devices, digital cameras, USB flash drives,
headsets, storage devices and more. Let’s
take a look at each one in detail. We’re
sure you’ll find something to satiate your
tech appetite!
price. High performance and lots of features
at a low price translates into a better Value
for Money rating. This rating is calculated
using current prices of the products.
Note: The prices mentioned here do not
include taxes. Hence, they will vary according
to the taxes applicable in the city or state
where you buy the product from.
SMS us! Story code: HWS to 57007

Laptop
Dell Latitude D531
One for the road
It’s quite uncommon to find laptops that
are built like battle tanks. This month it
was a pleasant surprise to get our hands
on the robust Dell Latitude D531 which
means serious business.
Features: Encased in a reinforced
magnesium-alloy chassis, the Latitude
D531 is aimed at mobile business users.
This mainstream laptop is built around
AMD’s mobile platform featuring the AMD
Turion 64 X2 TL-60 dual-core processor
and the ATI M690T chipset. Combined
with 1 GB DDR2-667 memory and a 120
GB hard drive, the Dell Latitude D531
promises to deliver uncompromising
performance.
If you’re a power user, you can opt for
hybrid and encrypted hard drive options
and additional memory for a few thousand
rupees more. The D531 is available in two
display sizes—14.1-inch and 15.4-inch.
The unit which we received from Dell
was configured with a slick 15.4-inch
widescreen display at a native resolution
of 1440x900. Other features include Wi-Fi
802.11 a/g, a DVD-writer, four USB ports,
Gigabit Ethernet and a PCMCIA slot.
The optional components you can select
while customizing your configuration are
TESTED HARDWARE
Specifications
Dimensions (WxHxD): 360.7x35.3x262.6 mm;
Weight: 2.71 Kg; Processor: AMD Turion 64 X2
TL-60, 2 GHz; Chipset: ATI M690T; Memory: 1 GB
DDR2-667; Hard disk: 120 GB SATA, 7200 rpm;
Graphics: ATI Radeon X1270; Display: 15.4-inch
wide, 1440x900; Optical drive: DVD writer;
Others: 4 USB ports, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g, Gigabit
Ethernet; Operating system: Windows Vista.
Price Rs 61,603
Contact Dell India Pvt Ltd
Phone 1800-425-4026
Website www.dell.co.in
Warranty 3 years
RATINGS
Build quality
Ergonomics
4.0
OVERALL
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for Money
RATING
Microsoft Office 2007, a docking station, laptop, this one scores a perfect ten for its
spare 6- or 9-cell batteries, a Bluetooth aesthetic appeal.
adapter, security software, a range of Performance: With 1 GB of memory,
mice, external storage devices, and the performance of the laptop is more
Kensington locks. than sufficient for office applications and
The laptop comes covered with media playback. However, for demanding
three years onsite support for hardware applications such as imaging, audio/video
maintenance. Optionally, you can also opt encoding and heavy multitasking, you
for three, four, or five years of technical need to spend a little extra and go in for at
support over the telephone at an additional least 2 GB of memory.
cost. Although the Latitude D531’s 15-inch
Build quality: Like all laptops belonging to display’s resolution of 1280x800 is decent
the Latitude series, the D531 has a robust enough, spending Rs 3,382 for a high-
body for added durability. The screen is resolution display (1440x900) is worth it
held firmly within a sturdy frame and the only if you’re into imaging or if you are a
housing is made of metal. For a business multimedia buff.
The laptop’s default 6-cell Li-ion battery
Scores
rated at 5400 mAh offers an excellent
Synthetic Scores
four hours of battery life. Priced at Rs 725
SiSoft Sandra XII
more than the selling price, a 9-cell battery
Hard drive index 49 MB/s
would be a boon for frequent travelers. In
Sequential read and write 56 MB/s
short, if you’re planning to buy this laptop,
PCMark 05 3020 ensure the configuration meets your
Real-World Scores applications’ requirements.
Video encoding: 99 MB VOB file 3 min 20 Verdict: Buy this laptop if you’re looking
to Xvid @ 75% quality sec
for a robust business machine for
Audio conversion: 50 MB 2 min 55
MP3@160 kbps to 70 kbps WMA sec crunching numbers while on the move.
File compression: 200 MB files to 2 min 6 For: Robust build, excellent display, good
Rar using best compression sec value for money.
Battery life (reader test) 4 hr 10 min Against: None.
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 37
 HARDWARE TESTED
Personal computer
HCL Beanstalk Classic Z944
Specifications
Dimensions (WxHxD): 100x327x431 mm; Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6320, 1.86 GHz; Chipset: Intel 946
GZ; Memory: 2 GB DDR2-667; Hard disk: 500 GB
SATA; Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS, 256
MB; Optical drive: DVD writer; Monitor: 22-inch
TFT; OS: MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.
Price Rs 49,990
Contact HCL Infosystems Ltd
Phone 9818989875
E-mail sachin.tyagi@hcl.in
Website www.hclstore.in
Warranty 1 year
RATINGS
Build quality
Ergonomics
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for Money OVERALL
This one’s made for your
living room
There’s nothing to beat a home theater PC
when it comes to all-round entertainment.
With the capabilities of a television set,
FM radio, music player, picture viewer,
gaming machine and much more, these
PCs serve as a home entertainment hub.
Boasting sleek designs and resembling
video players rather than typical desktop
PCs, HTPCs have now started creeping
into living rooms in India. Bundled with
a slick 22-inch TFT monitor, the HCL
Beanstalk Classic Z944 is a fine example
of one such PC. Let’s find out what it
packs within.
Features: HCL has been very particular
in choosing the components that make
up the Beanstalk Classic Z944. The PC is
powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo E6320
processor clocked at 1.86 GHz and 2 GB
of DDR2-667 memory. Even though the
motherboard is based on the Intel 946
GZ chipset with an onboard graphics
processor, HCL has included a passively-
cooled GeForce 8400 GS graphics card.
The reason for adding this graphics card is
to process high-definition video rather than
accelerate graphics for games, although
you can also play most recent titles at
38 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
4.5
RATING
1024x768. The installed hard drive is a the PC when ejected. A slot-loading optical
speedy 500 GB Western Digital Caviar SE drive would suit its design better.
16 for storing all your media, and capturing Verdict: So far, this is the most capable
live TV and FM broadcasts without any home theater PC we have come across
hitches. The TV tuner card, Altec Lansing with respect to features, performance, and
VS4121 2.1 stereo speakers, DVD writer, moreover, the value for money.
multi-format memory card reader, media For: Good choice of internal components
center remote control and wired optical results in good performance, good
mouse and multimedia keyboard round off software bundle.
the feature set. Against: A slot-loading DVD writer would
The entertainment platform is powered look more aesthetically appealing; the TFT
by Windows Media Center which is a monitor doesn’t have a DVI input.
part of Windows Vista Home Premium
Scores
(64-bit) which comes preinstalled. The
Synthetic Scores
software package includes something for
SiSoft Sandra
everyone at home—HCL 1000+ recipes,
Microsoft Works 8.5 and free registration Processor Arithmetic
for iPerform (www.classteacher.com) Hard drive index 70 MB/s
which is a web based e-learning solution Sequential read and write 80 MB/s
for students. PCMark 05 4251
Performance: Going by the components 3DMark 05 2303
that have been used to build this PC, 463 /
3DMark 06 (SM 2.0 / 3.0)
the overall performance was just as we 366
expected. Although the performance was Real-World Scores
stellar, there were a few points of concern. Video encoding: 99 MB VOB file to 2 min 53
The hinge of the TFT monitor is quite Xvid @ 75% quality sec
unsteady due to the weight of the screen. Audio conversion: 50 MB 2 min 22
Even a slight touch sets the display rocking MP3@160 kbps to 70 kbps WMA sec
back and forth for a few seconds. Also, the File compression: 200 MB files to Rar 1 min 46
tray-loading optical drive ruins the looks of using best compression sec
 HARDWARE TESTED

Graphics Card

XFX GeForce 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition

Specifications
Graphics processor: Nvidia GeForce 8800
GT; DirectX Support: 10; System bus support:
PCIe 20 x16; Core speed: 670 MHz; Memory
speed: 975 MHz; Memory type: GDDR 3; Video
memory: 512 MB; Memory bus width: 256-
bit; Stream processors: 112; Video outputs:
Dual-link DVI, S-video, and component.

Price Rs 16,500
Contact Rashi Peripherals Pvt Ltd
Phone 022-67090909
E-mail sales@rptechindia.com
Website www.rptechindia.com
Warranty 3 years

RATINGS
Performance

4.5
Features
Overall Rating
Value for Money
OVERALL
RATING

Not Dawg enough! bears the name of the card along with the
Now that the GeForce 8800 GT is picture on the packaging. Let’s head to the
launched, it’s time for graphics cards scores to find out the gain in performance
manufacturers to roll up their sleeves and over the stock 8800 GT.
churn out hacked and tweaked versions of Performance: While 3DMark 06
the 8800 GT. It’s been a month and such showed an improvement of 7 percent
cards have already started appearing on in performance, the difference in frame
shelves all over the market. rates was hardly a few frames. With game
The first factory-overclocked GeForce settings set to high, Call of Juarez ran only
8800 GT that made it to our Test Center 2 fps faster.
was the XFX GeForce 8800 GT Alpha We found a good jump in performance
Dog Edition, with a surprise bonus–a full only in Crysis running at 1280x1024 with
version of the game Company of Heroes medium settings. For such a mediocre
is bundled! Let’s find out and see how improvement, It would seem that this
attractive this deal is. card is not such a good deal. If it had not
Features: Its suffix does sound whacky included Company of Heroes, we would
enough to lure gamers! The Alpha Dog have balked at paying anything more than
Edition is nothing but the stock GeForce
8800 GT with overclocked core and
Synthetic Scores
8800 GT Stock
memory—XFX has stepped up the core
3DMark 06
and memory speeds by 70 MHz and 75
SM 3.0 5103
MHz respectively. That’s 11.67 percent
Call of Juarez
increase in core speed.
1280x1024 @High No AA 28.2
Before getting the card in our hands,
1600x1200 @High No AA 24.1
we expected it to have a better cooling
1600x1200 @High 2xAA 21.8
system with a bigger heat sink and fan.
Crysis
However, despite overclocked core and
memory, the design of the card is exactly 1280x1024 @Med No AA 66.72
the same as the regular 8800 GT. The only 1600x1200 @Med No AA 53.44
difference is the sticker on the heat sink 1600x1200 @High No AA 26.59
a few hundred rupees for the performance
boost over a regular 8800 GT.
Here’s a little secret—if you’re familiar
with overclocking graphics cards, you can
homebrew this version of 8800 GT by
tweaking the core and memory speeds of
the regular 8800 GT. In that case, though,
you bear the risks of overclocking and
damaging your components.
Verdict: A good attempt by XFX—however
it would have been better with higher core
speed and improved cooling system.
For: Completely beats the mammoth
GeForce 8800 GTX, 768 MB.
Against: Heats up enough to warm a cup
of water. Make sure your case is fitted
with sufficient number of cooling fans.
XFX 8800 GT Alpha Dog 8800 GTX
5461 4923
30.5 28.6
26.3 25
23.8 22
75.8 52.67
58.72 42.47
29.02 24.6

40 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 HARDWARE TESTED

Digital Camera

Samsung NV 20
Specifications
Dimensions (WxHxD): 96.5 x 60 x 18.6 mm;
Weight: 151.7g; CCD: 1/1.72-inch; Resolution:
12 MP; Focal Length: 34 – 102 mm (35 mm film
equivalent); LCD: 2.5-inch color TFT; Internal
Memory : 18 MB; External Memory : SDHC, upto
8GB; Scene Modes: 15; Shooting Modes: 6
Price Rs 17,990
Contact Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd
Phone 011-41511234
E-mail jitender.c@samsung.com
Website www.samsung.com/in
Warranty 2 years

RATINGS
Build quality
Ergonomics

3.0
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for Money OVERALL
RATING

The Mean Clicker
The slick looking NV series from Samsung
is now into its 2nd generation. Let’s check
out their top of the line model—the NV 20
compact camera.
Build quality: The NV 20 is a well built
camera with a brushed aluminum exterior
that comes in black and silver finishes.
The 18 mm deep body houses all the
electronics, with a retracted telescopic
lens. A dial on the right corner allows
choosing different shooting modes. To
the left of this is the shutter button and
a slightly smaller power button that is
recessed into the body. The recessed
power button restricts accidental button
presses when the camera is in a trouser or
a bag pocket.
The rear panel of the camera has the
zoom stick on the top right corner. This
also has the huge 2.5-inch LCD screen
with a row of unlabeled buttons along the
right and bottom edge of the screen. The
bottom right of the screen has an image
preview button that can be used to view
images and videos currently stored.
The unlabeled touch sensitive ‘Smart
touch’ buttons gives it an eerie sci-fi
look. When you turn the camera on, the
UI elements align themselves to these
buttons display labels for the UI icons
when the corresponding button is touched.
This makes for some interesting control
mechanisms and Samsung has elaborately
used these everywhere.
Features: The camera features a huge array
of image enhancement options with image
effects, and in-camera editing cropping
and resizing. The usual scene, video,
auto, manual and program modes are
also present. The scene mode has ample
number of preset modes.
Of the various scene modes, there
is one business card mode that gets its
own PC software to process its images.
The business card reader application
is supposed to read information from
business cards that have been clicked on
the camera. However the picture quality
of the images in this mode is so low that
nothing is recognized by the software for
the most part.
Performance: Sadly the aesthetic appeal
of the camera does not trickle down to
the quality of pictures that it clicks. The
pictures have a lot of problems; most
caused due to a lower quality sensor. The
camera claims an output resolution of 12.1
megapixels which by any standards is too
ambitious for a compact camera with a
1/1.72 inch sensor. The mega-pixel rating
here is merely a number to lure customers
into buying a camera that looks good but
does not let its pictures look as good. We
are not saying that the pictures are not
big enough but all that extra image data
does not translate to pictures that have the
amount of detail given by 12 MP cameras.
The pictures have all sorts of errors
cropping up in different ways. In a lot of
pictures the reds are enhanced. In frames
that have a lot of colors, the saturation
levels peak really easily. We tried taking
a few pictures of a normal outdoor scene
in broad daylight at ISO 80. The shadows
came out grainy and the leaves of most
trees merged into one another, giving us a
picture that looked alright on a 1024x768
screen but as soon as we zoomed in and
saw the picture at the actual pixel size, all
the details were lost.
Verdict: The NV220 camera looks good
and has an interesting control mechanism;
image quality on the other hand is only
good enough for group photos in swanky
social dos.
For: Looks good.
Against: The interface is not very suitable
for fast operation. The camera is also more
expensive than others in its class.

42 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 HARDWARE TESTED
MP3 Player
X-Gear Xhilerate
Specifications
Dimensions (WxHxD): 93.3 x 44 x 7.2 mm;
Weight: 50 g; Storage: 2 GB; Formats Supported:
MP3, WMA, WAV, JPG, BMP, TXT
Price Rs 5,999
Contact Aditya Infotech Ltd
Phone 011-26223810
E-mail yogesh_dutta@adityagroup.com
Website www.adityagroup.com
Warranty 1 year
RATINGS
Build quality
Ergonomics
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for Money
Just another player?
The X-gear Xhilerate is a candybar shaped
media player with a profile that is just 7.2
mm thick. How thick is the performance?
Features: The player has features other
than music playback and one of these
is the photo viewer. The options of this
feature are pretty basic and it only lets you
choose automatic or manual slideshows
for a chosen folder. The compatible image
formats are JPG and BMP. There is a file
viewer mode that allows you to list all files
present on the player and this menu also
allows you to delete them.
There is a recorder mode on the player
that can record .WAV files upto 190
minutes of recording time. The device
claims to be able to playback movies—the
manual says that we need to download a
tool from the website www.x-gear.in to
convert video files to be playable. However
at the time of writing this, the website was
still under construction and we could not
find any other sources to get the required
software. Even the distributor’s website
does not go beyond a mere mention of the
product and its features.
Xhilerate also claims to support ebooks,
however, the only format that we were
actually able to view on the player were
44 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
2.0
OVERALL
RATING
simple ASCII TXT files. This does not
actually qualify as a proper ebook reader,
however, we did not find any mention of
supported file types on the distributor
website or even the manual, so we cannot
confirm that TXT is the only supported
format on this player.
We seriously feel that the feature list
has gone amiss. The player bundles a car
charger but the headphone connector
that you will probably use to connect the
player to the car audio system is not of
the standard 3.5-mm type. What you
get instead is a 2.5-mm connector that
will need a converter to connect to most
devices. So effectively the only way
to connect the player to a car stereo is
through the FM transmitter.
Build quality: Control mechanism is simple
with just seven buttons on the front panel
under the 2-inch screen. The buttons
cluster has next track, previous track,
volume up, down, ok, and back buttons.
The last button is for choosing the FM
transmission frequency.
The player supports FM reception, and
transmission which is decent enough.
There is a small hold button on the top of
the player that locks all controls. Since the
buttons are really hard to press even when
intentionally done, we don’t think many
users will find valuable use for this switch.
The player features a Spartan interface
with orbs denoting the different operating
modes of the player. Options can be
browsed by pressing the next and previous
track buttons and can be selected by
pressing the OK button. A back button
allows the user to go back to the previous
screen or go up folder levels.
Files can be transferred to the player
by connecting it through the mini USB
connector on the top. The player is installed
as a standard mass storage device and is
class compliant on Windows XP, Mac OS
X and Linux. There are specific folders for
music, videos, ebooks, and photos, and
files have to be copied to their respective
folders to access them in the player.
Verdict: The X-Gear Xhilerate media player
does considerably well as an MP3 player
but it fails in all other features that it claims
to support. The headphone connector size
is a big problem and this will inhibit a lot of
users from using better headphones with
this player which is a major downside.
For: Can delete files directly from the
player, FM transmitter.
Against: Non-standard headphone
connector, buttons are really hard.
 HARDWARE TESTED
Laptop
HCL Prism Leaptop Z29
Specifications
Dimensions (WxHxD): 299 x 37.7 x 219mm;
Weight: 1.91 Kg; CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T5250,
1.50 GHz; Chipset: Intel GM965; Memory: 2 GB
DDR2-667; Hard disk: 160 GB; Optical Drive:
DVD-writer; Screen size: 12.1-inch wide,
1280x800; Connectivity: 56 Kbps modem, gigabit
Ethernet, Wi-Fi a,b,g, FireWire port, Bluetooth.
Price Rs 49,990
Contact HCL Infosystems Ltd
Phone 9818989875
E-mail sachin.tyagi@hcl.in
Website www.hclleaptops.in
Warranty 1 year
RATINGS
Build quality
Performance
Ergonomics
Features
Overall Rating
Value for Money
The bland performer
The Z29 certainly lives up to the phrase
‘looks can be deceptive’. Although targeted
towards a business market, this newbie
from HCL is actually quite a performer.
Features: The core components are the
strongest part of the laptop. Built around
the Intel GM965 chipset, the HCL Leaptop
Z29 features a 1.50 GHz Intel Core 2
Duo T5250 processor and 2 GB of DDR2
667 memory, which is enough to handle
Windows Vista with ease. The 160 GB
of hard drive space suffices for ample
amounts of office and multimedia content.
Mainstream and office applications work
well with the integrated Intel GMA x3100
graphics. With a 12-inch screen at a
native resolution of 1280x800, you can
also watch movies but you might have to
avoid demanding games. The Z29’s other
features are standard such as the three
USB ports, multi-format card reader, audio
jacks, PCMCIA card slot, and VGA port. For
connectivity, there’s built-in Ethernet and a
56K modem. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will allow
you to connect to networks and devices
without wires.
Apart from the driver CD and users’
manual; the bundled goodies include a
Windows Vista Business CD, Microsoft
46 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
3.5
OVERALL
RATING
Works 8.5 and a few other applications. a little slippery due to the unnecessarily
Build quality: The Z29 has strong hinges glossy interior.
that make its screen pretty stable. It The design of the laptop’s lid isn’t too
weighs slightly more than what an ultra- impressive either—it looks like some sort
portable should weigh, but traveling with of a flooring tile. This design could lead
it should be hassle-free. A key point is that to dust particles settling in the grooves.
HCL has smartly placed the audio jacks Opening the screen with one hand is not
and the card reader in front which will possible because HCL has put two latches
make things more convenient. However, on either side, instead of one in the middle.
the cover for the card reader could have All in all, the aesthetics don’t gel well with
been a little more attractive. As far as the the elite ultra-portable image.
palm rest is concerned, one might find it Performance: This is the area where
the Z29 totally redeems itself. With a
Scores configuration which is more than good for
Synthetic Scores mainstream applications, this ultra-portable
SiSoft Sandra XI laptop performs to impress.
Drive index 37 MB/s If you look at the scores, you’ll notice
PCMark 05 (overall) 4251 that its performance for day-to-day
computing is sufficient. However, the
Battery Life (reader test) 1 Hrs 55 mins
battery life is only just average—it’s good
3DMark 06 (SM 2.0 / 3.0) 463 / 366
for not more than two hours of work or for
Real-World Scores
watching a single movie.
Video encoding: 99 MB VOB
3 min 31 sec VerdicT: If you’re not concerned about
file to Xvid @ 75% quality
Audio conversion: 50 MB looks and believe in good performance in
3 min 05 sec
MP3@160 kbps to 70 kbps WMA mainstream applications, then the Z29 is a
File compression: 200 MB files considerably good option!
2 min 06 sec
to Rar using best compression
For: Performance is good, hinges are
Multitasking test
sturdy.
Audio conversion 3 min 45 sec
Against: Below average aesthetics,
File compression 2 min 25 sec mediocre battery life.
 HARDWARE TESTED

Multifunction device

Canon Pixma MX700

Specifications
Dimensions (WxHxD): 480 x 463 x 239 mm;
Weight: 10.4 Kg; Print Resolution: 4800 x 1200 dpi;
Scanning depth: 2400 x 4800 dpi @ 24 bit; Card
reader: CF, MMC, SD and MS; Auto Document
Feeder; Fax: 33.6 Kbps; Interface: USB 2.0, 10/100
Ethernet. Paper tray - front/rear/ADF: 30 sheets

Price Rs 16,995
Contact Canon India Pvt Ltd
Phone 1800-345-33-66
E-mail info@canon.co.in
Website www.canon.co.in
Warranty 2 years
RATINGS
Build quality
Ergonomics
Performance

4.5
Features
Overall Rating
Value for Money
OVERALL
RATING

True all-in-one
The Canon PIXMA MX700 is a solid SOHO
multi-function device for regular text and
high quality photo prints. This printer
promises excellent photo quality printing
and is a boon for those looking out for a
device that can be used in offices where
photo printing is required on a regular
basis. Let’s dive into some of the other
features offered by this MFD.
Features: The unit has a well built dual-
tone silver and black body with evenly
spaced buttons on the front panel. It also
includes a 1.8-inch color display to view
photos when functioning in PictBridge or
card reader mode. Navigating through the
printer’s settings from the front panel was
easy even though it was a little cluttered
with text. This device is equipped with
front and rear paper feed trays that can
each hold 30 sheets. The flatbed scanner
features an automatic document feeder,
and can scan at 24-bit color depth at
resolutions of up to 2400x4800 dpi. The
printer has a separate print head and four
ink reservoirs. It contains 1600 nozzles
(320 for black and 256 for each color) and
is capable of delivering prints of up to 4800
dpi using the 2pl (picolitre) technology.
Each ink tank illuminates to show that it is
inserted properly in the head unit.
The test photos were great with vibrant
and true-to-life colors when printed on
glossy photo paper. You can take prints
directly from a digital camera using the
PictBridge port or the built-in card reader.
Just plug in your camera or memory
card and manually choose the printer
settings to take the required prints. The
manual options include red-eye reduction,
photo optimization, noise reduction, face
brightening, image optimization and color
effects. The special photo print section
includes layout prints, sticker print, print all,
and an index print to view all your photos
on one page.
Performance: The device did not give
the claimed ‘impressive fast prints’ in
the test. The results were quite below
average (when tested using our own test
document which emulates an average
office document) with black prints at 10
ppm using the ‘Fast’ setting. Check out the
results in the table below which highlight
the print and copy speeds. When tested
on regular text and printed on ‘High’ mode,
the ink seemed to take slightly longer to
dry, resulting in smudges in some areas.
On the other hand, prints taken on 4 x
6 inch photo paper resulted in excellent
photo quality.
The only downside is that the printer
has a duplex printing option but lacks an
automatic duplexer which means that the
user would have to manually reverse the
paper and put it back into the rear paper
tray for double sided copies.
Verdict: This MFD is an excellent choice
for those who frequently need to print
photos. Though it is a bit bulky, it surely
saves space considering it is a 4-in-one.
For: Great quality photo prints, good build
quality, fast copy modes.
Against: No auto duplex printing, average
print speeds for normal text.

MFD Tests
Document Fast (pages/min) Std (pages/min) High (pages/min) Copy (seconds) A4 photo (sec) 4x6 photo (sec)
Black 10 8 2 15 n/a n/a
Color 5 3 1 31 164 70

48 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 HARDWARE TESTED
HeadSET Hear These out
Sennheiser m145 USB Sennheiser, the audiophile brand that also
makes professional studio equipment is
now making its foray into popular consumer
products. Their new communications
division is also focusing on good quality
headsets and headphones for use with
Voice over IP solutions such as Skype, and
4.5
OVERALL
online/network gaming. Here we will take
RATING
a look at the m145 USB headset that has
Specifications been launched recently.
Type: Behind-the-ear; Interface: USB, 3.5 mm EP; Features: The microphone on the headset
Frequency response: 40 Hz - 20 KHz; Impedence:
32 Ohms; SPL: 109 dB; Cable length: 3 m. features noise cancellation. The headphones
do not offer any isolation from background
Price Rs 3,495
noise and are thus not suitable for use
Contact Sennheiser
in noisy environments. This, however,
E-mail info@sennheiserindia.com
ensures that the user is not cut off from the
Website www.sennheiserindia.com
environment and can continue conversation
RATINGS with others in a typical office environment.
Build quality The headset connects to computers
Ergonomics via the USB port as it features an inline
Performance
soundcard. The soundcard can be
Features
disconnected from the headphones which
Overall Rating
Value for Money
can then be used with normal computer
earphone and mic sockets, or any other
sound source that has a headphone out.
External storage Mini safe
Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini is a well-
designed external storage device. It takes
the cake because it is not just a data dump;
it is also a backup and disaster recovery
drive. Easily pocketable, this 170 gram
device can be a lifesaver and keep you
entertained on the move as well. You can fit
4.0
OVERALL
RATING up to 22 full-length DivX movies or around
32,000 MP3 songs on it.
Specifications This good looking device from Maxtor
Capacity: 160 GB; Dimensions (WxHxD): 81x15x125
mm; Weight: 170 g; Interface: USB 2.0; Cache size: has a rugged shock-resistant body. It comes
8 MB. with a bunch of built-in disaster recovery
Price Rs 6,000
and data backup utilities.
Contact Supertron Electronics The moment you plug the drive into your
Phone 033-22131221 computer, its contents pop up, showing you
E-mail frontdesk@supertronindia.com the software that comes with it. Install the
Website www.supertronindia.com utilities, configure the options you require
Warranty 5 years and be worry-free as your data is now in
safe hands.
RATINGS
Build quality
The bundled software ‘Maxtor
Performance SafetyDrill’ backs up your computer’s
Features contents to the external drive, which you
Overall Rating can restore using the bundled Linux-based
Value for Money bootable CD, in case of a system failure or
virus attack. You can also synchronize the
50 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
The USB soundcard is class-compliant and
does not require any drivers on Windows XP
and Mac OS X.
Build quality: The m145 USB is a behind-
the-ear headset which is the usual design
type for communication applications. The
headset has wires coming out from only one
side providing relief from the tangle of wires
that is usual in today’s digital lifestyle. This
wire is extremely long at about seven feet
and can easily be connected even behind big
computer desks. It has an inline remote with
volume control for the headphones and an
on-off switch for the microphone.
Verdict: The headphones themselves are
of very good quality but their frequency
response is more suited to speech
applications. The bass is dipped to reduce
booming sounds and even the extreme
highs are reduced to a significant extent.
These headphones can only be used to
listen to vocal-heavy music as that is all
they will properly deliver.
For: Very good as a headset for VoIP, plug
and play use with the included soundcard.
Against: Expensive.
backups at any time by touching the only
button on the drive. Maxtor DrivePass,
a bundled application, enables you to
password-protect the drive and also encrypt
your data by just dragging the necessary
files in and out of its window.
All actions can be carried out with
just one main application—the Maxtor
Manager—and with just one touch of the
button on the device.
We tested this drive with a single 1
GB file and a 1 GB set of assorted files
to check data transfer speeds. The drive
performed well, with single file read/write
speeds of 26.31/21.73 MB/s and multiple
file read/write speeds of 17.24/18.18 MB/s
respectively.
Verdict: The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini is
well built, with useful features that make
it a great data management tool for your
computer. It is also ideal as a backup tool
and hence it makes a good buying choice.
For: Good build quality, good transfer
speeds, easy to set up and begin using,
useful bundled applications.
Against: None.
 TESTED HARDWARE

Digital writing
The Digital Scribe will surely catch your
attention if you like taking notes using
a pen and a paper. Using the bundled
software, the Scribe lets you convert
diagrams and text scribbled on paper into
digital information in real time. That’s not
all, there’s much more, so let’s see what
this light and elegant pocket sized gadget
such as Microsoft Word. The mouse mode Input device
allows you to use the digital pen as a Digital Scribe GPEN 100C
mouse to switch between applications that
use the Digital Scribe such as Microsoft’s
OneNote. So you don’t need a tablet PC
to use One Note—simply plug the Digital
Scribe into your desktop computer and
enjoy the experience of digital writing.
IO Gear’s Digital Scribe package 4.0
OVERALL
RATING

has to offer! includes the software ‘My Script Notes

Features: While connected via USB to a
desktop or laptop computer, the Digital
Scribe’s base unit can be mounted onto a
notepad at different angles. The orientation
of the device is important because it
works using infrared technology which
requires a line of sight between the pen
and the base unit. Once mounted, the
button on the base unit lets you choose
between two modes—the note mode and
the mouse mode.
Application: With the note mode, you can
personalize your messages and e-mail
them across to your friends and family.
You can also convert hand written matter
into text for use with other applications
2.1 Lite’ which incorporates OCR (Optical
Character Recognition)—this carries out
the handwriting-to-text conversions. Apart
from taking notes, you can use the Digital
Scribe to draw diagrams, shapes and so
on. The software features an ink editor
which comes in quite handy while making
any required corrections.
Verdict: If you’ve got extra bucks to invest
in something that makes taking digital
notes convenient, then go for this. This
gadget targets a niche audience and hence
might not attract the masses much.
For: Compact size, light weight, multi-
utility (with relevant applications).
Against: Exorbitantly priced.
Specifications
Base unit dimensions (WxHxD): 91.44x15.24x31.24
mm; OS compatibility: Microsoft Windows 2000,
XP and Vista; Interface: USB 1.1 and 2.0.
Price Rs 8,425
Contact J S Equipments
Phone 022-23810713
E-mail jse@vsnl.com
Website www.jseindia.com
Warranty 1 year
RATINGS
Ergonomics
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for Money

Distanced sounds The device is recognized as a normal Bluetooth aUDIO rECEIVER

This IO Gear Headset is a Bluetooth
receiver without an earpiece so you can
use your headphones for a personalized
audio experience of music or conversation.
Build quality: The package includes
IO Gear branded earbuds that sound
decent. Also included is a charger with an
Indian plug adapter to charge the device.
Additionally, it can also be charged with a
headset on phones without A2DP support, IO Gear Bluetooth Audio
and as a stereo headset on devices that Transport GBMH221
can broadcast stereo audio over Bluetooth.
Additionally, the device can control music
playback with the joystick if the connected
phone or MP3 player supports AVRCP
(the profile for remotely controling media
through Bluetooth devices).
Although the device claims to be
2.0
OVERALL
RATING

USB cable connected to any computer. able to connect to computers as a

The device has simple operational
controls that require no more than the five-
way joystick which is placed at the lower
section of the device.
Ergonomics: Connectivity with the
device is as simple as pairing it with
any Bluetooth-capable phone, media
player or computer. A connection can be
established by pressing and holding the
joystick for seven seconds. The device
then powers on in discovery mode and can
be paired with the default ‘0000’ passkey.
This passkey cannot be changed, but
security is not of much concern since the
device is not discoverable when paired.
Bluetooth audio gateway, our attempts
at connecting it with multiple laptops and
Bluetooth dongles were unsuccessful for
mysteriously unknown reasons.
Verdict: The Bluetooth Audio Headset is
a useful device for users with phones that
support A2DP and the control protocols
supported by this device. Users who only
want a headset for conversations and
don’t need stereo sound should look at
other packaged headsets which are built
for that purpose.
For: Ability to use custom headphones,
allows remote control of media players.
Against: Expensive.
Specifications
Size (WxHxD) 29.972 x 18.034 x 55.118; Weight
7.464834 g; Range Up to 66 ft.; Profiles Supported
A2DP; AVRCP; Headset; Hand-free Profiles
Price Rs 7,500
Contact J S Equipments
Phone 022-2381 0713
E-mail jse@vsnl.com
Website www.jseindia.com
Warranty 1 year
RATINGS
Build quality
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for Money

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 51
 HARDWARE TESTED
Optical mouse Rodent optics
BENQ S700 Wireless The Benq S700 mouse is compact and light
Optical Card Mouse in weight. It wouldn’t take much space in
your laptop bag or even in your pocket. This
mouse connects with a bundled wireless
receiver—it uses Benq’s proprietary
wireless RF technology.
Features: The resolution of the mouse
is 1000 dpi which translates directly into
3.0
OVERALL
better precision as compared to standard
RATING
optical mice. It has two standard buttons
Specifications and a scroll wheel that doubles as a middle
Dimensions (WxHxD): 55 x 13 x 90 mm; Interface:
button and also acts as an indicator for
USB; Range: 1 meter; Resolution: 1000 DPI
low-battery status.
Price Rs 1,250 The dimensions of the S700 are that
Contact Top Notch Infotronix Pvt Ltd
of a standard business card (except for
Phone 044-26616201
its thickness). The wireless receiver
E-mail enquiry@zebronics.info
uses a USB connector to interface with
Website www.benq.co.in
Warranty 1 year
your computer. In order to establish a
connection between the mouse and the
RATINGS system, you need to hit the ‘connect’
Build quality button on the receiver followed by
Performance pressing the button on the bottom of the
Features
mouse. The wireless range however isn’t
Overall Rating
too impressive; it can work at a distance of
Value for Money
approximately one meter.
USB Flash Drive Basic utility
UMAX Apus Zoom 2GB Amidst a plethora of USB flash drives
available today, the classy UMAX Apus
Zoom stands out with its business-like
looks. Although UMAX has instilled
standard features in it, the compact design
will lure you at first glance.
Features: The UMAX Apus Zoom is
3.0
OVERALL
RATING available in 521 GB, 1 GB, 2 GB and 4 GB
capacities. We tested the 2 GB version
Specifications of this model. It offers features similar to
Dimensions (WxHxD): 17 x 60 x 10 mm; Weight: 20
g; Capacity: 2 GB; Interface: USB 2.0 Hi-speed those offered by other standard USB flash
drives—don’t expect anything new. It’s
Price Rs 1,138
pretty light in weight and is quite compact
Contact neoteric infomatique pvt ltd
in size. Unlike many drives, this one has a
Phone 022-39828600 
E-mail sales@neoteric.co.in
plastic loop that helps using the drive as a
Website www.neoteric.co.in keychain or to hang it around your neck to
Warranty 3 years prevent loss or misplacement.
The black matt body and the two
RATINGS
metallic strips on both sides make the
Build quality Synthetic (Everest 2007)
drive look attractive. The drive is quite
Performance Linear: Read / Write
simple to use, simply plug it in and you’re
Features Random: Read / Write
Overall Rating
set. The Apus doesn’t come with a
Value for Money preloaded program.
Performance: The overall performance of
the drive is comparable to other standard
52 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Build quality: The aesthetics are
relatively attractive and classy and the on/
off mechanism too might attract users.
For instance, the top shiny surface folds
upwards from the center (switching the
mouse on) to take the shape of the palm
cavity when holding the mouse.
A cool feature of this mouse is the
cavity on its underside which holds the
RF receiver preventing it from getting
misplaced. It even comes with an elegant
carry pouch.
Although the ergonomics of the Benq
S700 suffice for daily use, gamers won’t
be too attracted. As far as the thickness
of this model is concerned, it isn’t even
close to a card mouse. All-in-all, the Benq
S700 serves the purpose. It’s light and
convenient to carry.
Verdict: The performance of the mouse is
pretty good. However, if you’re looking for
a wireless mouse with a good range, there
are better options available in the market.
For: Compact size, light in weight.
Against: Nowhere close to the thickness of
a name card.
drives available in the market. However,
the write speeds are way below average.
It took almost 19 minutes to copy 1 GB of
assorted files to the drive.
If you’re looking to transfer work related
content such as documents files, it should
not take much time because text and
Microsoft Word documents are relatively
smaller in size.
Verdict: The 2 GB Zoom is ideal for storing
and transferring documents, pictures, and
small utilities. However, if you’re looking
simply at higher capacities, there are faster
flash drives available in the market which
will suffice in terms of speed as well as
storage space.
For: Smart design , sturdy built.
Against: Slow write speeds.
Scores
MB/s
9.42 / 2.26
10.4 / 2.02
Real-world MB/s
Single file: Read / Write 10 / 2.08
Multiple files: Read / Write 8.54 / 0.90
 HARDWARE MoBILE PHONE COMPARISON
MOBILE

Smart by Nature
CHIP reviewed 26 cell phones categorized by
business and multimedia. Through the cellular storm
in the market, we help you see clearly to buy the
phone best suited to your needs. BY Chip Test Center

54 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008 Pramod Jadhav SMS us! Story code: HMC to 57007

A
t their inception, cell phones
were purely communication
devices—they could be used for
nothing other than calling and messaging.
The true cell phone mania started with
multimedia capabilities being integrated
into phones. The craze continued, with cell
phones sporting FM radio, color displays,
polyphonic ringtones and cameras. With
the passage of time, the pace of growth in
these gizmos with respect to functionality
has been rapid. This was the point when
convergence started in cell phones.
Speaking about convergence, consider
a standalone portable media player. These
tiny devices are the result of a music and a
video player being combined into a single
device. A similar trend is seen in case of
cell phones. Around a few years ago, it
was hard to imagine a cell phone having
a high-resolution camera, video playback
capability, and office suite. Today with the
inclusion of digital cameras, media players,
FM radio and Wi-Fi, cell phones have
transformed into mighty all-in-one devices.
Whether you want to click photographs,
listen to music, watch movies, create
and edit office documents or surf the net
wirelessly, you can do everything with a
single pocketable device.
Cell phones can be grouped under
three broad categories—budget,
multimedia and business phones. Around a
year ago, basic phones could only be used
for calling, messaging and surfing the net
via GPRS. Today, phones priced under Rs
5,500 are Bluetooth-enabled and integrate
features such as memory expansion, FM
radio, 1.3 MP cameras, media players and
high quality loud speakers. In short, basic
phones are now gradually transforming
into budget multimedia phones.
MOBILE PHONE COMPARISON HARDWARE
Apart from using them for
communication, high-end multimedia
phones are highly capable entertainment
devices as well. Media player, digital
camera, games, FM radio, Bluetooth,
Wi-Fi connectivity and stereo speakers,
et al! Being a small device, you may
underestimate the quality of media
playback, captured images and videos and
ease of use but the fact is that multimedia
phones have become so powerful that
they excel in all functions, thereby inching
towards standalone portable devices.
Digital cameras in phones now come
equipped with flash and lens that can
automatically focus on subjects for crisper
images. The features and interface of
the built-in media player is as good as
those of portable media players—playlist
management, equalizer, and dedicated
buttons make controlling the player easy.
In addition to this, music can be streamed
wirelessly via Bluetooth to a headset or
another Bluetooth-enabled device.
Business phones are primarily intended
for office applications such as word
processors, spreadsheets, organizers, etc.
Due to the nature of these applications,
most of these phones feature an operating
system and a user interface similar to
desktop PCs. Though business phones
are meant for serious work, multimedia
applications in these phones have been
considerably enhanced. Some business
phones now come equipped with high-
resolution cameras. Some of these phones
feature Wi-Fi to surf the web wirelessly.
In this cell phones roundup, we
compared 26 cell phones right from the
most powerful to the sexiest, spanning all
budgets. So, will you be able to choose
just one?
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 55
 HARDWARE MoBILE PHONE COMPARISON
TEST PROCESS
We classified the phones into two
categories—business phones and
multimedia phones. The criteria for the
multimedia phones was to have at least
a 2-megapixel camera and a dedicated
music player. The entire test process
was based on five parameters—features,
build quality, ergonomics, performance,
warranty and support. Let’s take a look at
each of these sections to know how we
arrived at the scores.
Features
The more the features, the higher the
productivity! This section carried the
highest weightage. We took note of
specifications such as the type and
speed of the phone’s processor, amount
of built-in memory, and the operating
system. Phones preloaded with an office
suite were given some extra points. We
also noted the type of memory cards
supported by the phones and their
maximum capacity. The display of the
phones was evaluated on the basis of the
size of the screen, resolution and color
depth. We took note of the number of
cellular bands the phone supports—the
higher the number, the better the points.
Next up, we looked at features such
as connectivity (EDGE, 3G, WLAN,
Bluetooth, and IR) and the services
supported (email, IM and web surfing).
Points were awarded based on the number
of standards and connectivity options
supported by each phone. To assess the
camera, we noted specifications such as
resolution, flash, autofocus, ISO, white
balance, shooting modes, self-timer and
exposure settings.
Phones with features such as FM
radio and a secondary camera were rated
higher. Finally, we looked at the battery
life—talk-time and standby—and package
contents. Phones which came bundled
with goodies such as a carry case and
memory card got a little further in scores.
The same goes for phones that were
aesthetically more appealing than others.
The Value for Money and Performance
prizes are awarded based on the
features, ergonomics and performance.
56 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
40% Features 10% Build quality 30%
Ergonomics
5% Warranty & Support 15% Performance
Weightages used for evaluating the mobile
phones.
Build quality
To survive everyday wear and tear, a
phone needs to be sturdy and have a
robust build quality. We evaluated aspects
such as the quality of shell construction,
sturdiness of movable parts such as
hinges, and the button response. The
sturdier the phone, the higher the score.
Ergonomics
Phones—especially business phones—
must be convenient to use. The presence
of a QWERTY keyboard in business
phones was rewarded extra points. Button
size, spacing and tactility also play an
important role when it comes to operation.
If a device offers handy features such as
shortcut keys, a jog dial or a directional
button, it was given extra points. The ease
of menu navigation was also taken into
consideration. Finally, it makes sense to
have support for hot-swappable memory
with an externally accessible card slot.
Devices which supported this feature
A cover over the camera’s lens is a necessary
feature.
scored higher than the ones which had a
slot inside the battery compartment. For
multimedia phones, we further looked at
support for media playlist management.
Performance
We gauged performance of the phones
on the basis of voice clarity through
the earpiece. To judge the performance
of the cameras, we assessed the
quality of a captured image based on
color reproduction and sharpness after
transferring them to a PC. To judge
quality of audio in multimedia phones, we
assigned scores based on the speakers’
playback and sound quality. Finally, we
rated the phones on navigation speed.
Warranty and Support
It’s important that a phone comes with
good warranty and support, especially if
you have emptied your wallet to buy the
top notch model. Keeping this in mind, we
logged the warranty period, the number
of service centers present in India and the
number of cities in which they are based.
These criteria affected the overall scores.
Value for money
We concluded the comparison test with
the Value for Money Index. This is a
price-performance ratio. Looking at this
ratio, you will know how good the phone
is in terms of features, ergonomics and
performance, in contrast to its price.
The highest value for money doesn’t
necessarily mean the best performance,
but it lets you quickly discern how good
the product is in terms of price. In each
category, we gave our awards to the best
performer and the best value phones.
Connectivity could be through a standard mini
USB port or a proprietary connector.

The Nokia N73 won the Best Performance
award purely due to its features and image
capture quality. The images were truly
excellent compared to other phones in the
multimedia category.
The phone is a quad band device, and
supports to 3G and EDGE as well. The
device also features a secondary camera
which can be an additional advantage
when travelling to countries that use video
calling services. The phone has built-in
memory of 42 MB and comes bundled
with a 2 GB miniSD card. In addition to
this, the phone also got a lot of points for
features such as the in-built FM radio, high
camera resolution and good quality of the
shell, buttons, etc.
The built-in auto-focus camera sports
a 3.15 mega-pixel CCD for exceptionally
crisp photos, and also features user-
definable controls for ISO, white balance,
and exposure value control. The N73 has
great looks and has an exceptionally large
screen which gave it additional brownie
points over all the other mobile phones in
the multimedia category.
Motorola’s SLVR L9 is a straightforward
candybar phone with a regular feature set
and a 2 megapixel camera. The phone
has a mini USB interface which can be
connected to the computer directly using
any USB cable, unlike other phones which
use their own propriety connectors. So if
you lose your cable, don’t fret, you can buy
one from any computer store.
The phone comes bundled with a 128
MB microSD card which can be upgraded
to 2 GB while having 20 MB of free user
memory onboard. The phone has a good
build quality and feels pretty comfortable
when held in the palm.
This phone won the Best Value award
purely due to the number of features it
has, added with the performance and
ergonomics in contrast to its low price.
The video player is quite good, with a full
screen option. The volume level of the
external speaker is pretty loud too, though
the phone has average voice and speaker
quality as compared to other phones.
There is a separate key to launch the FM
radio which is a required feature. There
are applications loaded on the phone such
MOBILE PHONE COMPARISON HARDWARE
The phone features a joystick for
navigation through the menus but this
Multimedia
can be quite painful at times as it is a Nokia N73
bit hard. The phone’s menu can also get
quite sluggish if the memory has reached
maximum capacity, making usage very
irritating. But when it comes to doing the
job of clicking pictures or playing music,
the phone was a true performer.
We all expected the Sony Ericsson
K880i to win this award due to its
CyberShot branding, but it disappointed Specifications
us. Its picture quality just could not defeat Dimensions (WxHxD): 49 x 110 x 19 mm; Weight:
116 g; Display: 60.9 mm, 240x320 pixels; Built-in /
the Nokia N73 at indoor shots. Bundled memory: 42 MB / 2 GB; Camera: 3.15 MP;
Talk time: 6 hours.
You can buy this mobile phone if
you are looking for good features and Price Rs 18,267
Contact Nokia India
performance, but if you are looking for
Phone 0124-4199000
basic use with almost similar features E-mail geetanjali.sharma@nokia.com
but a cheaper price, check out Motorola’s Warranty 1 year
SLVR L9. It is quite good looking, it has a
RATINGS
2 megapixel camera but it fails at some of Build quality
the camera features. Ergonomics
For: Good looks, features, performance Performance
and build quality. Features
Overall Rating
Against: The interface can get sluggish if
Value for Money
the memory is overloaded.
as Yahoo’s web services with Yahoo mail,
bookmarks, finance and messenger.
Multimedia
The L9 lost terribly when compared Motorola SLVR L9
to other phones, in image capture quality
and navigation speed. Inserting the SIM
module in the phone was a little painful as
the socket latch would just not slide into
place smoothly.
The phone is quite sluggish when it
comes to navigating through the menu
system. The display, even though it had
256K colors seemed like an ordinary 65K Specifications
Dimensions (WxHxD): 49 x 113 x 11.5 mm; Weight:
color screen. 96 g; Display: 48.2 mm, 176x220 pixels; Bundled
The buttons have good tactility, but memory: 128 MB; Camera: 2 MP; Talk time: 4 hours.
you cannot type your SMSes fast enough Price Rs 8,399
because of its flat button surface. The Contact Motorola India Pvt ltd
phone has a glossy black finish which can Phone 1800-11-1211
E-mail arati@motorola.com
easily be scratched during regular use.
Warranty 2 years
You’ll want to purchase this phone only if
your priority is to make calls and listen to RATINGS
Build quality
FM radio. It’s not the best choice if you
Ergonomics
want to spend your time taking pictures Performance
from and surfing the Internet on it. Features
For: Basic features, low cost, good Overall Rating
aesthetics. Value for Money
Against: Sluggish menu interface, low
camera features and quality.
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 57
 HARDWARE MoBILE PHONE COMPARISON
The much-awaited Q9 arrived with a blast
Business and performed very well in our roundup.
Motorola Q9h This smartphone provides a superb mix of
features and power that will lure any user
into its parlor.
The Motorola Q9 is a quad band phone
which also features GPRS Class 12 and
EDGE. There is also support for 3G, with
HSDPA, thus increasing its usability on
foreign networks.
The exterior of the phone is well
Specifications designed even with the wide format that
Dimensions (WxHxD): 67 x 85 x 11.8 mm; Weight: features a full QWERTY keyboard. All the
134 g; Display: 60.9 mm, 320x240 pixels; OS:
Windows Mobile 6 Std; Built-in / Bundled memory: buttons on the device are accessible with
20 MB / 256 MB / 1 GB; Talk time: 4 hours.
one hand. The additional up, down, select
Price Rs 20,720 and back keys that are placed on the right
Contact Motorola India Pvt ltd
edge of the phone increase the ease of
Phone 1800-11-1211
E-mail arati@motorola.com one-handed operation.
Warranty 2 years The buttons on the phone are well
spaced and give decent tactile feedback
RATINGS
Build quality thus increasing the viability of the keyboard.
Ergonomics Additionally there are shortcut keys for the
Performance music player, calendar, message inbox,
Features phone book, camera, and web browser.
Overall Rating
For options that are not covered by these
Value for Money
shortcut buttons, users can always use the
The quadband E62 is the Finnish phone
Business giant’s answer to the Treos and Qs of
Nokia E62 the world. The phone sports a 235 MHz
processor running Symbian OS 9.1. Closely
related to the E61i, it’s one of the most
affordable Wi-Fi enabled phones available
today.
The E62 has a full QWERTY keyboard
with decently spaced keys which have
little key travel. This could be problematic
for some users and does not provide good
Specifications tactile feedback. Navigation is carried out
Dimensions (WxHxD): 69.7 x 117 x 14 mm; Weight:
144 g; Display: 71.1 mm, 320x240 pixels; OS:
using a five-way joystick, which might
Symbian OS 9.1; Built-in / Bundled memory: 80 MB seem hard for the first couple of weeks,
/ NA; Talk time: 6 hours.
but quickly loosens after a brief period of
Price Rs 11,259
use. Additionally, the phone has volume
Contact Nokia India
Phone 0124-4199000
keys on the left edge in a row of buttons
E-mail geetanjali.sharma@nokia.com that also includes the shortcut to the voice
Warranty 2 years recorder.
The familiar interface of the Symbian
RATINGS
Build quality based phone feels great on the luxuriant
Ergonomics 2.8-inch screen, but can become quite
Performance sluggish after a few days of use. This
Features
performance degrades further if a lot of
Overall Rating
data is loaded on the phone or the external
Value for Money
memory card.
However there are other advantages
58 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
numeric keys inside any menu to quickly
select options.
The Q9 runs Windows Mobile 6
Standard and includes Yahoo!Go, Windows
Live, Live Messenger, Opera, and
Documents To Go in addition to the usual
Windows Mobile applications. The Q9 can
open and edit documents from the desktop
version of Office through ActiveSync.
Additional applications include the very
usable camera that takes pictures from
the 2 megapixel lens on the rear, and has
support for burst mode. It also comes with
a mobile version of McAfee VirusScan.
The phone offers upto 6 and a half hours
of talktime and 480 hours of standby time,
which can be furthered with the included
battery pack. It has a standard mini USB
connector that can be used with any device
with a USB port. However, since the phone
itself has a micro USB connector, you will
have to use the included converter.
For: Good keyboard, fast response, one
handed operation, included battery pack.
Against: Can’t be used as a USB mass
storage device.
of using Symbian OS. For example items
in the launch menu can be rearranged
for better access. Plus, the new version
of the OS improves on the IMAP and IM
compatibility of the phone. Additionally
the device also supports push email, for
further connectivity.
The phone is has a standard mini
USB connector for data transfer and PC
syncing, and works as a class-compliant
USB mass storage device with computers.
The MiniSD card on the phone is hot-
swappable, but the unit has to be opened
to remove it.
However there is one feature that
makes a lot of sense by not being present
on the phone. The E62 does not feature a
camera, and is big boon for business users
in environments that prohibit cameras. If
you don’t want to spend time on security
checks, it’s hard to find phones with up-to-
date features but no camera these days.
For: No camera, symbian based so has
greater app support, big screen
Against: The keyboard is not the best in
the business, performance degrades after
few days of use.

BUYING GUIDE
Some people want the best of features,
ergonomics and looks, but they fail to find
their favorite even after skimming through
dozens of phones. And, there are some,
who want the sexiest-looking phone,
unconcerned about functions and usability.
No matter what your taste is, this guide
will aid you in choosing your dream phone.
Multimedia phones
Most buyers fall into this category because
of the entertainment quotient. Before
buying the phone that your friend or
neighbor owns, first decide which features
will be most useful to you. If you’re a
music lover, look out for features such as
music management, superior playback
quality and memory expansion. In addition
to this they also come bundled with an
adapter with a 3.5 mm output jack and a
pair of stereo earphones. The advantage
of having a 3.5 mm audio jack is that you
can use any headphones with the phone.
One of the most important features in a
multimedia phone is memory expansion.
If you run out of space on your phone, you
can add a memory card and increase the
storage space. Thus you can carry more
songs, videos and images on your phone.
If you’re a shutterbug, look out for
features such as the resolution of the
camera, auto-focus and flash. These are
prerequisites for good image capture
quality. In addition to this, check whether
the image capture utility offers white
balance, ISO settings, shooting modes,
red eye reduction and so on. At present,
the phones which excel in imaging
are Sony Ericsson’s K790i and K810i,
which feature Sony’s Cyber-shot image
processing engine. If you’re a fan of Nokia,
The backlit icons on the Sony Ericsson K810i’s
keypad allow access to the camera functions.
MOBILE PHONE COMPARISON
there’s nothing to beat the N73 which
sports a 3.2 megapixel camera. For those
who want the best of both worlds, run
your fingers through the performance
scores and pick the phone that scores well
on both audio quality and image capturing.
Business phones
These phones are targeted at business
users who want a phone as versatile as
a PC. The key features of these mobile
devices are office applications that allow
the user to create and edit documents,
spreadsheets and presentations. Other
applications include a web browser,
e-mail and instant messaging clients,
media players, and so on. Since these
applications require a lot of text input, look
out for phones with integrated QWERTY
keypads in addition to a stylus. With
large screens and QWERTY keypads,
business phones are a bit bulky to carry. If
you’re looking for a phone which is light,
you can take your pick after skimming
through the weight and features of all the
phones. If speed is your priority, select
the one with the fastest processor and
check how much the phone has scored
in the navigation speed test under the
performance parameter. The fastest
phones we tested were the Asus P750,
Asus P525 and O2 Xda Flame which
feature 520 MHz processors and a run
Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC.
Some business phones include some
of the key features of multimedia phones
such as cameras with auto-focus and flash
and FM radio. However, if you plan to buy
such a phone, keep in mind that you won’t
be allowed to carry it in places where
security measures are stringent.
A playlist and media management option will
make life easier with large music collections.
HARDWARE
Personal Take
Anand Tuliani,
anand.tuliani@chip-india.com
What matters the most to me in a cell
phone are functions and ergonomics.
Since I’m more of a shutterbug than a
music lover, I prefer a phone which can
capture crisp images along with pristine
color reproduction. The one which
impressed me the most was the Sony
Ericsson K810i. On sliding the shutter
off the lens, the phone transforms into a
3.2 megapixel digital camera. Equipped
with a Xenon flash and Sony’s Cyber-shot
engine, this one captures great shots. It
also features a music player and comes
bundled with a pair of stereo earphones.
To top it off, the K810i looks sleek with a
glossy body and metallic rounded keys. If I
had to pick a business phone, I would pick
the Asus P750—a true beauty with brains!
Francis D’sa
francis.dsa@chip-india.com
There are a number of mobile phones in
the market in different categories from
basic to multimedia and business phones.
There are a whole lot of brands, all of
which have the potential to confuse you in
your buying decision.
The purpose of a mobile phone to me
is simply communication. Apart from just
talking, I would rarely use a camera and
music player unless I am on the move on a
holiday or a picnic.
Features in mobile phones are my
major concern. If I had to choose from a
business or multimedia phone, I would
definitely opt for the Sony Ericsson K810i
as it has a Cyber-shot camera and a media
player in one single package.
If the price was not a barrier, I would
go in for the Motorola Q9H. If I had this
cell phone, I would freak out on most of
its features and throw away my mantra of
”simple communication”.
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 59
 HARDWARE MoBILE PHONE COMPARISON

SpecScan
1 2 3
Category MULTIMEDIA
Name Nokia N73 Samsung G600 Sony Ericsson W880i
Contact Nokia India Samsung Telecommunications India Sony Ericsson India Pvt Ltd
Phone 0124-4199000 1800-11-0011 1800-11-1800
E-mail geetanjali.sharma@nokia.com support.india@samsung.com questions.in@support.sonyerricson.com
Price* Rs 18,267 Rs 18,999 Rs 17,845
OVERALL RATINGS
Features (40%) 55 47 42
Build quailty (10%) 60 100 85
Ergonomics (30%) 73 63 67
Performance (15%) 80 72 72
Warranty (5%) 82 42 39

0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100

Overall Score (out of 100) 66 60 58

Value for money
Features
Dimensions (w x h x d) mm | Weight 49 x 110 x 19 | 116 g 47.8 x 101 x 14.9 | 104 g 46.5 x 103 x 9.5 | 71 g
Processor: Name | Speed NA NA NA
Operating system NA NA NA
Office suite 4 4 6
Memory: Built-in | Expandable (type) | Bundled 42 MB | miniSD | 2 GB 55 MB | microSD | None 16 MB | MS Micro (M2) | 1 GB
PC interface connector Proprietary Proprietary Proprietary
Display: Size (mm) | Resolution | Colors 60.9 | 240x320 | 256 K 55.8 | 240x320 | 16 M 45.7 | 240x320 | 256 K
Input type: Stylus | Keypad | Keyboard 6|4|6 6|4|6 6|4|6
GSM Network: 850 | 900 | 1800 | 1900 4|4|4|4 4|4|4|4 6|4|4|4
Connectivity: EDGE | 3G | WLAN | Bluetooth | IR 4|4|6|4|4 4|6|6|4|6 6|4|6|4|6
Messaging & WWW: E-mail | IM | HTML 4|4|4 4|6|4 4|4|4
Camera:
Resolution (MP) | Flash | Auto-focus 3.15 | 4 | 4 5|4|4 2|6|6
ISO | White balance | EV 4|4|4 4|4|4 6|4|4
Media editor: Image | Video 4|6 4|4 4|4
Secondary camera | FM Radio 4|4 6|4 4|6
Battery life: Talk time | Standby (hours) 6 | 350 3.5 | 300 6.5 | 425
Package contents:
Carry case | Add. battery | Travel charger 6|6|6 6|6|6 6|6|6
Aesthetic appeal Downright sexy! Downright sexy! Downright sexy!
Build Quality
Quality: Shell | Buttons | Flaps (out of 5) 5|5|0 5|5|5 5|5|0
Usage of metal in construction 6 4 4
Camera lens cover 4 4 6
Ergonomics
QWERTY Keyboard 6 6 6
Button: Size | Spacing | Tactility (out of 5) 5|5|5 5|5|5 3|4|5
Shortcut keys:
Music | Camera | Voice rec | SMS | Web | Email 4|4|6|6|4|6 6|4|6|6|6|6 4|4|6|6|4|6
Navigation: Joystick | Jog dial | 5-way keys 4|6|4 6|6|4 6|6|4
Ease of navigation (out of 5) 5 5 5
Hot-pluggable memory 4 4 4
Performance
Quality: Voice | Speaker (out of 5) 4|4 3.5 | 4 4|3
Image capture quality (out of 5) 4.5 3.5 3
Navigation speed (out of 5) 3.5 3.5 4
Warranty
Number of service centres 638 250 270
Number of cities having service centres 638 250 166
Warranty period (years) 1 1 1
* Prices are indicative and are subject to change, taxes extra

60 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

4 5 6 7
Motorola RAZR2 V8 Sony Ericsson K810i Motorola ROKR E6 Nokia 6300
Motorola India Pvt ltd Sony Ericsson India Pvt Ltd Motorola India Pvt ltd Nokia India
1800-11-1211 1800-11-1800 1800-11-1211 0124-4199000
arati@motorola.com questions.in@support.sonyerricson.com arati@motorola.com geetanjali.sharma@nokia.com
Rs 17,919 Rs 15,534 Rs 11,795 Rs 9,889

43 45 43 35
100 58 85 85
63 69 62 66
67 75 63 67
40 39 40 82
0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100

58 58 56 57

53 x 103 x 11.9 | 117 g 48 x 106 x 17 | 103 g 51.5 x 111 x 14.5 | 121 g 43.6 x 106.4 x 11.7 | 91 g
NA NA NA NA
NA NA NA NA
6 6 4 6
2 GB | No | None 64 MB | MS Micro (M2) | 128 MB 8 MB | SD | None 7.8 MB | microSD | 128 MB
Proprietary Proprietary Mini-USB Proprietary
55.8 | 240x320 | 256 K 50.8 | 240x320 | 256 K 60.9 | 240x320 | 256 K 50.8 | 240x320 | 16 M
6|4|6 6|4|6 4|4|6 6|4|6
4|4|4|4 6|4|4|4 6|4|4|4 6|4|4|4
4|6|6|4|6 6|4|6|4|4 4|6|6|4|6 4|6|6|4|6
4|4|4 4|4|4 4|4|4 4|4|4

2|6|6 3.15 | 4 | 4 2|6|6 2|6|6

6|6|6 6|4|4 6|4|4 6|4|6
4|6 4|4 4|6 6|6
6|6 4|4 6|4 6|4
7.83 | 330 10 | 400 7 | 235 3.5 | 348

4|6|6 6|6|6 6|6|6 6|6|6

Downright sexy! Good looking Downright sexy! Good looking

5|5|5 5|5|0 5|5|0 5|5|0

4 6 4 4
6 4 6 6

6 6 6 6
5|5|5 4|4|5 5|5|5 5|5|5

4|4|6|6|6|6 4|4|6|6|4|6 4|4|6|6|6|6 6|6|6|6|4|6

6|6|4 6|6|4 6|6|4 6|6|4
5 5 4 5
6 4 4 4

4|3 4|3 3.5 | 4 3.5 | 5

2.5 3.5 3 2
3.5 4 2.5 3.5

NA 270 NA 638
NA 166 NA 638
1 1 1 1

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 61
 HARDWARE MoBILE PHONE COMPARISON

SpecScan
8 9 10
Category MULTIMEDIA
Name LG KE770 Shine Sony Ericsson W610i LG KE970 Shine
Contact LG Electronics India Pvt Ltd Sony Ericsson India Pvt Ltd LG Electronics India Pvt Ltd
Phone 0120-2560900 1800-11-1800 0120-2560900
E-mail viveksingh@lgindia.com questions.in@support.sonyerricson.com viveksingh@lgindia.com
Price* Rs 24,990 Rs 11,130 Rs 24,990
OVERALL RATINGS
Features (40%) 36 44 38
Build quailty (10%) 85 60 92
Ergonomics (30%) 61 60 60
Performance (15%) 67 61 48
Warranty (5%) 59 39 59

0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100

Overall Score (out of 100) 54 53 52

Value for money
Features
Dimensions (w x h x d) mm | Weight 46 x 105 x 9.9 | 79 g 46 x 102 x 14 | 95 g 50.6 x 99.8 x 13.8 | 119 g
Processor: Name | Speed NA NA NA
Operating system NA NA NA
Office suite 6 6 6
Memory: Built-in | Expandable (type) | Bundled 70 MB | microSD | None 64 MB | MS Micro (M2) | 512 MB 50 MB | microSD | None
PC interface connector Proprietary Proprietary Proprietary
Display: Size (mm) | Resolution | Colors 44.9 | 176x220 | 256 K 49.7 | 176x220 | 256 K 55.8 | 240x320 | 256 K
Input type: Stylus | Keypad | Keyboard 6|4|6 6|4|6 6|4|6
GSM Network: 850 | 900 | 1800 | 1900 6|4|4|4 4|4|4|4 6|4|4|4
Connectivity: EDGE | 3G | WLAN | Bluetooth | IR 4|6|6|4|6 4|6|6|4|4 4|6|6|4|6
Messaging & WWW: E-mail | IM | HTML 4|6|6 4|4|4 4|6|6
Camera:
Resolution (MP) | Flash | Auto-focus 2|4|6 2|4|4 2|4|4
ISO | White balance | EV 6|4|4 6|4|4 6|4|4
Media editor: Image | Video 6|6 4|4 6|6
Secondary camera | FM Radio 6|6 6|4 6|6
Battery life: Talk time | Standby (hours) 2.83 | 200 7 | 350 3 | 280
Package contents:
Carry case | Add. battery | Travel charger 6|6|6 6|6|6 6|6|6
Aesthetic appeal Downright sexy! Average looking Downright sexy!
Build Quality
Quality: Shell | Buttons | Flaps (out of 5) 5|5|0 5|5|0 5|3|5
Usage of metal in construction 4 6 4
Camera lens cover 6 6 6
Ergonomics
QWERTY Keyboard 6 6 6
Button: Size | Spacing | Tactility (out of 5) 5|5|5 3|4|3 5|4|3
Shortcut keys:
Music | Camera | Voice rec | SMS | Web | Email 4|4|6|6|6|6 4|4|6|6|6|6 4|4|6|6|6|6
Navigation: Joystick | Jog dial | 5-way keys 6|6|4 6|6|4 6|4|4
Ease of navigation (out of 5) 4 5 4
Hot-pluggable memory 6 4 6
Performance
Quality: Voice | Speaker (out of 5) 4|2 3|3 3|1
Image capture quality (out of 5) 2 2.5 3
Navigation speed (out of 5) 4.5 3.5 2
Warranty
Number of service centres 250 270 250
Number of cities having service centres 250 166 250
Warranty period (years) 2 1 2
* Prices are indicative and are subject to change, taxes extra

62 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

11 12 13 14 15
BUSINESS
Motorola SLVR L9 BenQ-Siemens EF71 O2 XDA Flame Motorola Q9 h Motorola Q8
Motorola India Pvt ltd BenQ India Pvt Ltd O2 Support Motorola India Pvt ltd Motorola India Pvt ltd
1800-11-1211 1800-22-0808 022-4033399 1800-11-1211 1800-11-1211
arati@motorola.com sales.enquiryin@benq.com NA arati@motorola.com arati@motorola.com
Rs 8,399 Rs 12,955 Rs 39,990 Rs 20,720 Rs 17,359

38 31 63 58 53
85 100 100 60 60
61 56 68 87 77
47 52 81 73 71
40 21 22 40 40

0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100

51 48 69 68 63

49 x 113 x 11.5 | 96 g 47 x 90 x 18.5 | 100 g 74 x 126 x 17.5 | 190 g 67 x 11.8 x 85 | 134 g 64 x 116 x 11.5 | 115 g
NA NA Intel XScale PXA270 | 520 MHz TI OMAP 2420 | 325 MHz Intel XScale PXA270 | 312 MHz
NA NA Windows Mobile 5.0 PocketPC Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard
6 6 4 4 4
20 MB | microSD | 128 MB 24 MB | microSD | 1 GB 2 GB | microSD | None 256 MB | microSD | 1 GB 40 MB | miniSDIO | 128 MB
Mini-USB Proprietary Mini-USB Mini-USB Mini-USB
48.2 | 176x220 | 256 K 55.8 | 176x220 | 256 K 91.4 | 480x640 | 65 K 60.9 | 320x240 | 65 K 60.9 | 320x240 | 65 K
6|4|6 6|4|6 4|6|6 6|4|4 6|4|4
4|4|4|4 6|4|4|4 6|4|4|4 4|4|4|4 4|4|4|4
4|6|6|4|6 6|6|6|4|6 6|4|4|4|4 4|4|6|4|6 4|6|6|4|4
4|4|6 6|6|4 4|4|4 4|4|4 4|6|4

2|6|6 2|6|6 2|4|4 2|4|4 1.3 | 4 | 6

6|4|6 6|4|4 6|4|6 6|4|4 6|4|4
6|6 6|6 6|6 6|6 6|6
6|4 6|6 4|4 6|6 6|6
4 | 350 3 | 225 6 | 200 6.5 | 480 5 | 240

6|6|6 6|6|6 6|6|6 4|6|4 4|4|4

Good looking Average looking Downright sexy! Downright sexy! Downright sexy!

5|5|0 5|5|5 5|5|5 5|5|0 5|5|0

4 4 4 6 6
6 6 6 6 6

6 6 4 4 4
5|3|5 5|5|4 5|5|5 5|5|5 5|5|5

4|4|6|6|6|6 4|6|6|6|6|6 6|4|4|6|6|6 4|4|6|4|4|4 6|4|6|4|6|4

6|6|4 6|6|4 6|6|4 6|6|4 6|6|4
3 5 5 5 5
4 6 4 4 4

3.5 | 3 2|3 5|5 4.5 | 3 4|5

1.5 2.5 3 2.5 1
1.5 3 3.5 4 4.5

NA 40 50 NA NA
NA 40 50 NA NA
1 1 1 1 1

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 63
 HARDWARE MoBILE PHONE COMPARISON

SpecScan
16 17 18
Category BUSINESS
Name Asus M530w Asus P750 Asus P525
Contact Asus Technology Pvt Ltd Asus Technology Pvt Ltd Asus Technology Pvt Ltd
Phone 022-67668800 022-67668800 022-67668800
E-mail media_india@asus.com media_india@asus.com media_india@asus.com
Price* Rs 18,490 Rs 32,000 Rs 19,800
OVERALL RATINGS
Features (40%) 57 54 50
Build quailty (10%) 60 60 85
Ergonomics (30%) 71 63 57
Performance (15%) 64 82 76
Warranty (5%) 17 17 17

0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100

Overall Score (out of 100) 60 60 58

Value for money
Features
Dimensions (w x h x d) mm | Weight 65 x 117 x 13.8 | 130 g 58 x 113 x 17.4 | 130 g 59 x 116.8 x 19 | 160 g
Processor: Name | Speed Marvell PXA270 | 416 MHz Marvell PXA 270M | 520 MHz Intel Xscale PXA270 | 416 MHz
Operating system Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional Windows Mobile 5.0 PocketPC
Office suite 4 4 4
Memory: Built-in | Expandable (type) | Bundled 256 MB | miniSD | None 155 MB | microSD | None 128 MB | miniSD | None
PC interface connector Mini-USB Mini-USB Mini-USB
Display: Size (mm) | Resolution | Colors 60.9 | 320x240 | 65 K 66 | 240x320 | 65 K 71.1 | 240x320 | 65 K
Input type: Stylus | Keypad | Keyboard 4|4|4 4|4|6 4|4|6
GSM Network: 850 | 900 | 1800 | 1900 6|4|4|4 6|4|4|4 4|4|4|4
Connectivity: EDGE | 3G | WLAN | Bluetooth | IR 4|4|4|4|6 4|4|4|4|6 6|6|4|4|4
Messaging & WWW: E-mail | IM | HTML 4|6|4 4|6|4 4|4|6
Camera:
Resolution (MP) | Flash | Auto-focus 2|4|6 3.15 | 6 | 4 2|4|4
ISO | White balance | EV 6|4|6 6|4|4 6|4|6
Media editor: Image | Video 4|6 4|6 4|6
Secondary camera | FM Radio 4|6 4|6 6|6
Battery life: Talk time | Standby (hours) 5 | 250 6 | 240 5 | 150
Package contents:
Carry case | Add. battery | Travel charger 4|6|6 4|6|6 4|6|6
Aesthetic appeal Good looking Good looking Average looking
Build Quality
Quality: Shell | Buttons | Flaps (out of 5) 5|5|0 5|5|0 5|5|0
Usage of metal in construction 6 6 4
Camera lens cover 6 6 6
Ergonomics
QWERTY Keyboard 4 6 6
Button: Size | Spacing | Tactility (out of 5) 4|4|5 4|4|5 5|5|4
Shortcut keys:
Music | Camera | Voice rec | SMS | Web | Email 6|4|4|6|6|6 6|4|4|6|6|6 6|4|6|6|6|6
Navigation: Joystick | Jog dial | 5-way keys 6|4|4 4|4|6 4|6|6
Ease of navigation (out of 5) 5 5 5
Hot-pluggable memory 4 4 4
Performance
Quality: Voice | Speaker (out of 5) 4|2 4.5 | 4 5|4
Image capture quality (out of 5) 2.5 2.5 2
Navigation speed (out of 5) 3.5 5 4
Warranty
Number of service centres 5 5 5
Number of cities having service centres 5 5 5
Warranty period (years) 1 1 1
* Prices are indicative and are subject to change, taxes extra

64 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

19 20 21 22 23
Nokia E62 Asus P535 Nokia E51 BlackBerry Pearl 8120 Nokia E65
Nokia India Asus Technology Pvt Ltd Nokia India Vodafone Nokia India
0124-4199000 022-67668800 0124-4199000 9920055666 0124-4199000
geetanjali.sharma@nokia.com media_india@asus.com geetanjali.sharma@nokia.com bbsupport@vodafone.com geetanjali.sharma@nokia.com
Rs 11,259 Rs 27,900 Rs 14,669 Rs 24,990 Rs 16,780

42 50 52 56 44
85 60 77 52 75
75 62 55 48 64
51 76 68 78 62
82 17 82 59 82

0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100

59 57 59 57 59

69.7 x 117 x 14 | 144 g 59 x 109 x 19 | 145 g 46 x 114.8 x 12 | 100 g 55 x 107 x 14 | 91 g 49 x 105 x 15.5 | 115 g
ARM 9 | 235 MHz Intel XScale PXA270 | 520 MHz ARM 11 | 369 MHz Intel XScale PXA901 | 312 MHz ARM 9 | 220 MHz
Symbian OS 9.1, Series 60 UI Windows Mobile 5.0 PocketPC Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 UI Proprietary Symbian OS 9.1, Series 60 UI
4 4 4 6 4
80 MB | microSD | 0 163 MB | miniSD | 1 GB 130 | microSD | 0 64 MB | microSD | 2 GB 50 MB | microSD | None
Mini-USB Mini-USB Mini-USB Mini-USB Proprietary
71.1 | 320x240 | 16 M 71.1 | 240x320 | 65 K 50.8 | 240x320 | 16 M 55 | 240x260 | 65 K 50.8 | 240x320 | 16 M
6|4|4 4|6|6 6|4|6 6|4|4 6|4|6
4|4|4|4 6|4|4|4 4|4|4|4 4|4|4|4 4|4|4|4
4|6|6|4|4 6|6|4|4|6 4|4|4|4|4 4|6|4|4|6 4|4|4|4|4
4|4|4 4|4|6 4|4|4 4|4|4 4|4|4

0|6|6 2|4|4 2|6|6 2|4|6 2|6|6

6|6|6 6|4|4 6|4|6 6|4|4 6|4|6
6|6 4|6 6|6 6|6 6|6
6|6 6|6 6|4 6|6 6|6
6 | 330 5 | 200 4.33 | 310 4 | 360 6 | 265

6|6|6 4|6|6 4|6|6 4|6|6 6|6|6

Downright sexy! Average looking Good looking Downright sexy! Downright sexy!

5|5|0 5|5|0 5|3|0 5|3|0 5|5|5

4 6 4 6 6
6 6 6 6 6

4 6 6 HALF 6
5|5|5 5|5|5 3|3|4 3|4|4 5|5|5

6|6|6|4|6|4 6|4|4|6|6|6 6|4|6|6|6|4 6|4|6|6|6|6 6|6|4|6|4|6

4|6|4 6|6|4 6|6|4 6|4|6 6|6|4
4 5 4 4 4
4 4 4 6 4

4|4 5|4 4|3 4|5 4|3

0 2 1.5 3 1.5
2.5 4 4.5 4 3.5

638 5 638 250 638

638 5 638 250 638
1 1 1 2 1

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 65
 HARDWARE MoBILE PHONE COMPARISON

SpecScan
24 25 26
Category BUSINESS
Name Palm Treo 750 BlackBerry Curve 8300 BlackBerry Pearl 8100
Contact Brightstar Telecom India Ltd Vodafone Vodafone
Phone 011-41725228 9920055666 9920055666
E-mail myil.nathar@palm.com bbsupport@vodafone.com bbsupport@vodafone.com
Price* Rs 22,990 Rs 24,990 Rs 21,990
OVERALL RATINGS
Features (40%) 42 45 47
Build quailty (10%) 60 52 52
Ergonomics (30%) 64 53 48
Performance (15%) 70 70 70
Warranty (5%) 18 59 59

0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100

Overall Score (out of 100) 54 53 52

Value for money
Features
Dimensions (w x h x d) mm | Weight 58 x 111 x 22 | 154 g 60 x 107 x 15.5 | 111 g 50 x 107 x 14.5 | 89.5 g
Processor: Name | Speed Samsung | 300 MHz Intel XScale PXA270 | 312 MHz Intel Xscale PXA270 | 312 MHz
Operating system Windows Mobile 5.0 PocketPC Proprietary Proprietary
Office suite 4 6 6
Memory: Built-in | Expandable (type) | Bundled 60 MB | miniSD | None 64 MB | microSD | None 64 MB | microSD | 512 MB
PC interface connector Proprietary Mini-USB Mini-USB
Display: Size (mm) | Resolution | Colors 45.7 | 240x240 | 65 K 63 | 320x240 | 65 K 63.5 | 260x240 | 65 K
Input type: Stylus | Keypad | Keyboard 4|4|4 6|4|4 6|4|4
GSM Network: 850 | 900 | 1800 | 1900 4|4|4|4 4|4|4|4 4|4|4|4
Connectivity: EDGE | 3G | WLAN | Bluetooth | IR 4|4|6|4|4 4|6|6|4|6 4|6|6|4|6
Messaging & WWW: E-mail | IM | HTML 4|6|4 4|4|4 4|4|4
Camera:
Resolution (MP) | Flash | Auto-focus 1.3 | 6 | 6 2|4|6 1.3 | 4 | 6
ISO | White balance | EV 6|6|6 6|4|4 6|4|4
Media editor: Image | Video 4|6 6|6 6|6
Secondary camera | FM Radio 6|6 6|6 6|6
Battery life: Talk time | Standby (hours) 4.3 | 300 4 | 408 3.5 | 360
Package contents:
Carry case | Add. battery | Travel charger 6|6|6 4|6|6 4|6|6
Aesthetic appeal Good looking Downright sexy! Downright sexy!
Build Quality
Quality: Shell | Buttons | Flaps (out of 5) 5|5|0 5|3|0 5|3|0
Usage of metal in construction 6 6 6
Camera lens cover 6 6 6
Ergonomics
QWERTY Keyboard 4 4 HALF
Button: Size | Spacing | Tactility (out of 5) 4|4|5 3|4|5 3|4|4
Shortcut keys:
Music | Camera | Voice rec | SMS | Web | Email 4|6|6|6|6|6 6|4|6|6|6|6 6|4|6|6|6|6
Navigation: Joystick | Jog dial | 5-way keys 6|6|4 6|4|6 6|4|6
Ease of navigation (out of 5) 5 4 4
Hot-pluggable memory 4 6 6
Performance
Quality: Voice | Speaker (out of 5) 4|4 4|4 4|3
Image capture quality (out of 5) 2.5 2 2.5
Navigation speed (out of 5) 3.5 4 4
Warranty
Number of service centres 10 250 250
Number of cities having service centres 10 250 250
Warranty period (years) 1 2 2
* Prices are indicative and are subject to change, taxes extra

66 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 HARDWARE PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Pramod Jadhav

The Red Team strikes back

After a long list of unremarkable products, ATI has released a compelling pair of
mid-range graphics cards. BY Anand Tuliani

T
he war between graphics chipsets
Specifications
has scaled to a new level with the
Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 GeCube Radeon HD 3870
launch of mid-range graphics cards
that offer stellar performance and an array Price Rs 13,000 Rs 16,500
of new features at a sweet price point. Contact Aditya Infotech Ltd Tirupati Enterprises
The first such card was the GeForce 8800 Phone 011-26223810 9339207519
GT which cannibalized Nvidia’s own range Email sales@adityagroup.com mail@tirupati.net
of mid-range and high-end graphics cards Website www.sapphiretech.com www.gecube.com
in the GeForce 8800 series. Priced only Transistor count 666 m 666 m
half as much as the GeForce 8800 GTX,
Manufacturing process 55 nm 55 nm
there isn’t any reason why one should not
Stream processors 320 320
buy it. A similar trend can now be seen in
ROPs 16 16
the case of AMD with the launch of the
Radeon HD 3800 series of graphics cards Core speed 668 MHz 775 MHz
based on the RV670 core which defeats Memory speed 828 MHz 1125 MHz
AMD’s own high-end Radeon HD 2900 Memory bus 256-bits 256-bits
series of GPUs. Memory type GDDR 3 GDDR 4
As of now, with the launch of a fresh System bus support PCI Express 2.0 x16 PCI Express 2.0 x16
series of GPUs by Nvidia and AMD, the DirectX support 10.1 10.1
battle is playing out between the all-new,
Shader Model support 4.1 4.1
more powerful mainstream graphics
Form factor Single slot Dual slot
processors. Let’s find out who wins the
UVD Yes Yes
battle. But before that, here’s what lies
ATI PowerPlay Yes Yes
within the new RV670.

68 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008 SMS us! Story code: HRD to 57007

R600 and RV670: What’s different?
The RV670 is a derivative of the former
top-end R600 core (which powers the
Radeon HD 2xxx series). The major
difference between the two is that
the new core is made using a 55 nm
fabrication process. Apart from this, the
number of transistors has been dropped
from 700 million to 666 million and even
the memory bandwidth has been halved to
256 bit. To compensate for the cut downs,
the core and memory speeds have been
stepped up for increased performance.
However, with a swarm of 320 stream
processors there has been no change in
the graphics processing power.
What’s new?
It’s all in the number: As you can see in
the specifications table, the Radeon HD
3800 is available in two variants—HD
3850 and HD 3870. Do you notice some
change in the names of the GPU? AMD
has gotten rid of the suffixes such as
XT, XTX, GT and PRO. From now on, the
performance of the GPU will be indicated
only by the numbers. The first digit is the
product generation, the second digit is the
family and the last two digits indicate the
level of performance within the family.
DirectX 10.1: DirectX 10.1 is an update
to DirectX 10 which provides numerous
enhancements with respect to shading,
texturing and anti-aliasing. This in turn
will allow game developers to further
enhance the eye-candy and add more
HD 3850 v/s HD 3870 – FEAR
The HD 3870 could outperform its younger sibling by around 15
percent. With core and memory overclocked, the frame rates
jumped by 10 fps which translates into a gain of 12 percent.
150 HD 3850
HD 3850 OC
119
120
103 105
90 87
90
80
75
FEAR
69
60 53
30
0 0
1280 x 1024 1600 x 1200 1600 x 1200
Max 2x AA Max 2x AA Max 4x AA
PRODUCT OF THE MONTH HARDWARE
realism to graphics. The RV670 packs in all Test Rig
the necessary update bits making the HD Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650, 3.0 GHz
3800 the first DirectX 10.1-compliant GPU. Memory: Kingston HyperX DDR3-1333
ATI PowerPlay: Introduced in ATI Motherboard: Asus Maximus Extreme (Intel X38)
Mobility Radeon GPUs, ATI PowerPlay Hard disk: Western Digital Raptor 740 GD
technology has now also been built into
ATI Radeon 3800 series which is a first
for desktop GPUs. This dynamic power
management technology enables the
GPU to automatically adjust between low,
medium and high states depending on
the application. This will cut down power
consumption, heat, and noise when the
application is not GPU dependent.
UVD: Universal Video Decoder built into the
RV670 enables the GPU to decode and
post-process high-definition video, thereby
freeing up the processor to perform its
core functions.
CrossFire X: Previously CrossFire allowed The final settings for the overclocked HD 3850.
only two graphics cards from the same
family to be paired in multi-GPU mode.
With the introduction of CrossFire X in
the Radeon HD 3800 series, it’s now
possible to chain up to four graphics
cards in the same system for supreme 3D
performance. For this purpose AMD has
provided two CrossFire connectors on the
graphics cards. However, for a quad-
GPU setup, you will need a compatible
motherboard with four PCIe slots, and
three CrossFire bridges.
PCIe 2.0: Like the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT,
the HD 3800 series supports PCIe 2.0 x16
for better PCIe throughput in demanding
The HD 3870 at its overclocked settings too.
graphics applications.
Crysis was tortuous for both, the HD 3850 and the 3870. With
overclocked settings, HD 3850 improved by around 55 percent
making the game playable at 1600x1200 with medium settings.
HD 3870 50 48.3 HD 3850 HD 3870
44.9
HD 3870 OC HD 3850 OC HD 3870 OC
39.1
40
35.6
29.5
30
25.8
24.9
Crysis
68 21.7 21.5
60 61
20
15.3 15.6
11.4
10
1280 x 1024 1600 x 1200 1600 x 1200
Med No AA Med No AA High No AA
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 69
 HARDWARE PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
HD 3870 v/s GeForce 8800 GT
The closest competitor to the HD 3870 is Nvidia’s newly released
GeForce 8800 GT. Call of Juarez wasn’t easy for either of the
cards—the frame rate was lower than 30 fps at 1280x1024 and
completely unplayable at 1600x1200 using high settings.
Call of Juarez
2x HD 3850 v/s GeForce 8800 GTX – FEAR
Two HD 3850s couldn’t defeat an 8800 GTX in two tests, but won
out in the most stressful test. Compared to a single HD 3850,
CrossFire didn’t scale very much—there was an overall increase of
55 percent in performance with an increase of around 40 fps.
FEAR
HD 3870 v/s 1950 XTX – Crysis
The X1950 XTX is a DX 9 graphics card, so we tested the HD 3870 in
DX9 too for an apples-to-apples comparison. Except at 1280x1024,
the X1950 XTX couldn’t handle Crysis. The HD 3870 could churn out
pretty high frame rates at 1600x1200 with details set to medium.
Crysis
70 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
In this test, the GeForce 8800 GT completely trashed the HD 3870.
The best the HD 3870 could do was 29.49 fps at 1280x1024, but
the GeForce 8800 GT performed twice as well. The 8800 GT could
comfortably handle 1600x1200 at medium quality.
Crysis
This time the HD 3850 CrossFire outperformed 8800 GTX by a big
margin in the first two tests, but the difference was marginal at
1600x1200. Two HD 3850s in CrossFire are a great deal for under Rs
20,000, but you need a compatible motherboard.
Call of Juarez
Verdict
Although the Radeon HD 3870 is priced around 12 percent lower
than Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 GT, the proposition doesn’t seem
quite attractive as it lags far behind 8800 GT in performance. One
would rather spend around two thousand rupees more and grab
an 8800 GT which offers around 25 percent better performance.
As far as the HD 3850 goes, at present it’s the best in the lower
mid-range category. However, they have a solution in hand which
we should see very soon. Yes, we are talking about the 256 MB
variant of the 8800 GT which will be priced around 14 percent
lower than the present 512 MB version.
All in all, the Radeon HD 3800 is a terrific improvement over
AMD’s previous generation of GPUs. Although it cannot beat
Nvidia’s 8800 GT, it definitely offers a good bang for the buck
for those who don’t want to shell out much for a mid-range
graphics card. 
– anand.tuliani@chip-india.com
 HARDWARE PC CONFIGS

PC Configs
GAMING ( Entry Level )
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E4500, 2.2 GHz 3,850
Motherboard XFX nForce 650i Ultra 5,100
Rs
3 5, 2 5 0
RAM 2x 1 GB Kingston DDR2-667 MHz 2,000
Hard disk Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 - 250 GB SATA 2,900
Graphics card XFX GeForce 8600GT - 256 MB 5,750
Optical drive LiteOn Super AllWrite LightScribe - 20x DVD Writer 1,850
Network card Onboard 10/100/1000 GbE –
Monitor ViewSonic VA1703WB 8,350
Keyboard Logitech Multimedia Combo 850
Mouse Included in Combo –
Speakers Altec Lansing ATP3 - 2.1 stereo 2,850
Sound card Onboard high-definition audio –
PC Case iBall Gamer with 400 Watts power supply 1,750
Power supply unit Included with the PC Case –

Total 35,250

GAMING ( MID-RANGE )
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6550, 2.33 GHz 7,000

Motherboard Asus P5N-E SLI 8,000

Rs
RAM

Hard disk
2x 1 GB Kingston DDR2 667 MHz

Western Digital Caviar SE 16 - 320 GB SATA

2,000

3,750
57,100
Graphics card Galaxy GeForce 8800GT - 512 MB 15,000

Optical drive LiteOn Super AllWrite LightScribe - 20x DVD Writer 1,850

Network card Onboard 10/100/1000 GbE –

Monitor ViewSonic VA1912wb 9,250

Keyboard Logitech Multimedia Combo 850

Mouse Included in Combo –

Speakers Creative Inspire T6060 - 5.1 surround 4,200

Sound card Onboard high-definition audio –

PC Case Antec SLK3000B 3,250

Power supply unit Cooler Master Extreme Power 380w 1,950

Total 57,100

* Prices are indicative and are subject to change, taxes extra

72 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008 SMS us! Story code: HPC to 57007
 PC CONFIGS HARDWARE

GAMING ( HIGH-END )
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6850, 3.00 GHz 11,300

Rs
Motherboard XFX Nvidia 680i LT SLI 9,900

1, 26,799
RAM 2 GB Kit - Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 10,700

Hard disk 2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 - 250 GB in RAID 0 6,400

Graphics card 2x Galaxy GeForce 8800GT - 512 MB (SLI) 30,000

Optical drive LiteOn Super AllWrite LightScribe - 20x DVD Writer 1,850

Network card Onboard 10/100/1000 GbE –

Monitor ViewSonic VX2245wm - 22-inch TFT 17,000

Keyboard Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard 4,600

Mouse Logitech MX518 2,500

Speakers Creative Gigaworks G500 - 5.1 surround 22,999

Sound card Onboard high-definition audio –

PC Case Cooler Master Centurion 534 Plus 3,850

Power supply unit Cooler Master I-Green Power 500W 5,700

Total 1,26,799

WORKSTATION
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2.4 GHz 11,500

Motherboard Asus P5N32-E SLI 13,500 Rs

1,59,099
RAM 2 GB Kit - Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 10,700

Hard disk 2x Western Digital Caviar SE16,500 GB in RAID 0 12,500

Graphics card Leadtek Quadro FX 540 - 128 MB 9,250

Optical drive LiteOn Super AllWrite LightScribe - 20x DVD Writer 1,850

Network card Onboard 10/100/1000 GbE –

Monitor Dell 2407WFP- HC - 24-inch TFT 35,000

Keyboard Logitech Multimedia Keyboard 450

Mouse Logitech MX518 2,500

Speakers Creative Gigaworks G500 - 5.1 surround 22,999

Sound card Creative X-Fi Elite Pro 25,500

PC Case Antec Titan 550 6,350

Power supply unit Corsair HX620W 7,000

Input Device Wacom Graphire 4 Tablet 6x8 (optional) 9,000

Total 1,59,099

* Prices are indicative and are subject to change, taxes extra

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 73
 HARDWARE PC CONFIGS

HOME BASIC
Processor Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2160, 1.8 GHz 3,300

Motherboard Asus P5B-MX 3,200

Rs .
RAM

Hard disk
2x 1 GB Kingston DDR2 667 MHz

Western Digital Caviar SE - 160 GB SATA

2,000

2,300
27,000
Graphics card Onboard graphics –

Optical drive LiteOn Super AllWrite LightScribe - 20x DVD Writer 1,850

Network card Onboard 10/100/1000 GbE –

Monitor ViewSonic VA1912wb 9,250

Keyboard & Mouse Logitech Multimedia Combo 850

Speakers Altec Lansing ATP3 - 2.1 stereo 2,850

Sound card Onboard high-definition audio XXX

PC Case iBall i648 with 400 watts power supply 1,400

Power supply unit Included with the PC Case –

Total 27,000

HOME TheateR PC
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E4500, 2.2 GHz 3,850

Motherboard Asus P5B-MX 3,200

RAM 2x 1 GB Kingston DDR2-800 MHz 2,200

Rs .
8 0, 9 3 4
Hard disk Western Digital Caviar SE 16 - 320 GB SATA 3,750

Graphics card XFX GeForce 8600GT - 256 MB 5,750

Optical drive LiteOn Super AllWrite LightScribe - 20x DVD Writer 1,850

Network card Onboard 10/100/1000 GbE –

Monitor ViewSonic VX2245wm - 22-inch TFT 17,000

Keyboard & Mouse Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 1,500

Speakers Creative Gigaworks G500 22,999

Sound card Onboard high-definition audio –

PC Case Antec Fusion 16,885

Power supply unit Antec HE 430 (Included with the PC Case) –

TV tuner card Compro VideoMate TV PVR/FM 1,950

Total 80,934
* Prices are indicative and are subject to change, taxes extra

74 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 HARDWARE FEATURE
Leaner, Meaner, Greener
Take a dive into the world’s fastest quad-core desktop processor! BY Anand Tuliani
P rocessor technology has leapfrogged
into the new year with the launch of
Intel’s 45 nanometer Penryn family of
CPUs. This is the first complete overhaul
of the Core 2 series since its launch–
stuffing new features and optimizations
into an already impressive package.
What’s Penryn?
Penryn is the name for Intel’s entire
family of Core 2 processors that are
manufactured using 45 nm process
technology. In addition to this, the dual-
core and quad-core variants of desktop
processors are codenamed
Yorkfield and Wolfdale
respectively. The 45 nm
quad-core Xeon processor is
codenamed Harpertown.
Let’s take a look at some of the
significant improvements over Conroe
(Core 2 Duo) for enhancing the overall
performance and increasing energy
efficiency.
The Die: While the 65 nm Conroe die
measures 143 mm2 packing 291 million
transistors, Penryn packs in 410 million electrode is replaced with a metal gate
transistors in a 107 mm2 die—that’s 40 electrode to enable sufficient current to be
percent more transistors in a 25 percent driven through the transistor. Intel claims
small package, thanks to the 45 nm that this new Hi-k silicon technology will
manufacturing process. The benefit of improve transistor switching speed by
reduction in the size of the die is that more than 20 percent, and reduce gate
Intel will be able to cut more chips from a leakage by over 10 times. This translates
single silicon wafer, reducing the cost to into higher clock speeds and dramatic
manufacture an individual chip. increase in energy efficiency.
Hi-k Silicon Technology: The main Larger cache: Due to the increase in
function of a transistor in a processor the number of transistors, the dual-core
is to switch between on and off Penryn die feature 50 percent larger L2
states. When the transistor is cache than Conroe (6 MB vs 4 MB). In
on, the current flows from the addition to this, the L2 cache is 24-way
source to the drain, and when set associative as compared to 16-way
it is off the flow stops. The set associative in Conroe. A higher set
major hurdle in shrinking the
transistor size is minimizing
current leakage which occurs
due to current flowing in
the off state. Managing
current leakage is crucial
for speedy operation at
lower temperatures, and is The circle on the lower left corner of the Penryn
an important factor in chip differentiates it from older 65 nm processors.
design. Moving on to 45 nm
process, Intel has solved the chip
power problem by replacing the
transistor’s silicon dioxide
gate dielectric with a new
high-k (capacitance)
material called
Hafnium. Also, the
polysilicon gate
The QX9650 easily overclocked to 4 GHz. Note the
12 MB L2 cache and support for SSE4.1.
 FEATURE HARDWARE

Test Rig The Penryn Family

Motherboard: Asus Maximus Extreme Family Core Model Cores Clock speed FSB L2 Cache
Memory: 2x1 GB Kingston HyperX QX9770 4 3.20 GHz 1600 MHz 6 MBx2
Core 2 Extreme
DDR3-1333 QX9650 4 3.00 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MBx2
Hard disk: WD Raptor 740 GD, 10000 rpm Yorkfield Q9550 4 2.83 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MBx2
Graphics card: Galaxy GeForce 8800 GT Core 2 Quad Q9450 4 2.66 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MBx2
Q9300 4 2.50 GHz 1333 MHz 3 MBx2
associativity translates into lower cache E8500 2 3.16 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
latencies and decrease in the number E8400 2 3.00 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
Core 2 Duo
of times the processor accesses the Wolfdale
E8000 Series E8300 2 2.83 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
memory, thereby improving performance.
E8200 2 2.66 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
SSE4 instructions: With the addition of
47 new SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple desktop processors took off with the models by a dot on the lower left corner
Data) instructions Penryn features the quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650. of the integrated heat spreader. Also the
SSE4 instruction set. This will boost the Clocked at 3.00 GHZ, it replaces its older capacitors on the base of the processors
performance of multimedia applications 65 nm counterpart the Core 2 Extreme are laid out in a different way. No other
such as media encoding, photo imaging, QX6850. Let’s find out what lies within. physical differences!
gaming, and high performance software. With the integrated heat spreader
New Divider: Penryn also features a new extracted, the Yorkfield looks no Performance
divider called Radix 16 which doubles the different than the older 65 nm quad-core Looking at the clock-for-clock
divider speeds (both integer and floating counterpart. Remember Kentsfield which performance, the QX9650 is around
point) for computations. The Radix 16 packed two dual-core Conroe dies in 7 percent better than its predecessor.
divider computes 4 quotient bits per a single package? Similarly Yorkfield is And it does it with great ease at lower
iteration as compared to 2 quotient bits nothing but two dual-core Wolfdale dies temperatures and voltage. The area
per iteration in Conroe, thereby reducing packaged together in a single CPU. This is where we saw significant improvements
divide latency. translates into 820 million transistors and a was multimedia, making it beneficial
cache size of 12 MB (2 x 6 MB). for demanding applications such as 3D
Enter the Yorkfield From the outside, the QX9650 can be modeling, image processing and video
The launch of 45 nm Penryn-based easily differentiated from the older 65 nm editing. Although the gaming performance
is 12 percent better with QX9650 due to
Performance Scores the elimination of GPU usage in the test,
QX6850, 3 GHz the overall difference at high resolution
14000 160 QX9650, 3 GHz
12865
153 and settings maxed out is negligible. The
QX9650 OC, 4 GHz
12000 140 132 most impressive was the overclocking
Points - Higher the better

FPS - Higher the better

120 117 CRYSIS

10000 9477 9653 part—touching 4.00 GHz (FSB 334x12)
100 was no problem with air cooling. The
8000
5732 80 overall increase in performance by
6000
4585
4381 60 overclocking was around 20 percent.
4000
40
26 26 26
2000 20 Conclusion
0 0 It goes without saying that the improved
3DMark - CPU PCMark - CPU 1024x768 Low 1600x1200 High
performance combined with reduced
100
VIDEO ENCODING power consumption and heat dissipation
100
will make Penryn a runaway success. At
Time (sec) - Lower the better

Time (sec) - Lower the better

81
80 74
80 79 present, due to its pricing, the quad-core
75 75
60 71
60
54 61
Penryn will only favor those who really
47 60 55
41 38
54 need the power. Masses will rejoice
40 38
42 only when when Intel launches its more
SSE4 not supported

28 40
20
affordable mid-range quad-core and dual-
20 core variants somewhere around the first
0 quarter of 2008. Until then, stay happy
WinRAR POVRay CineBench R10 0
3.71 3.7 Beta MPEG4 (x264) DIVX 6.7 SSE4 DIVX 6.7 SSE2 with Core 2 Duo—it still rocks! 
 200 MB multiple files using best compression 3913 frames 8293 frames 8293 frames
– anand.tuliani@chip-india.com

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 77
 HARDWARE INFOGRAPHICS

The Airbus A380 flight deck

1Primary flight display
The PFD replaces a number
of individual indicators: the
airspeed indicator, altimeter, Auxiliary power unit control
vertical speed indicator, and
turn and bank indicator. It shows Magnetic compass
multiple streams of information,
including digital instrumentation. Autopilot controls
The information displayed is
of priority and importance to Instrument backups
pilots. They can make important
decisions and course changes
based on this information.

2Navigation display
It registers course changes
graphically when the pilot
programs new waypoints. A Vertical Situation Display
vertical situation display shows
a side profile of the flight path 1 2
relative to the terrain, providing 7
a more intuitive reading of the
ground.

3Multifunction display
MFDs have just been
introduced with the A380. They
Engine control

Navigation and flight data

provide an interface to the flight input
management system. The newly
introduced MFD is an interactive Radio controls
system that allows pilots to
enter navigation data and radio Collision avoidance system
frequencies and communicate
with flight controllers. They
include QWERTY keyboards and
Speed brake
trackballs, interfacing with a
graphical ‘point-and-click’ display
Parking brake
navigation system. On previous
aircraft the multifunction display
comprised of three multifunction
Trim settings
control and display units.

78 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 INFOGRAPHICS HARDWARE

The world’s largest civil aircraft may also be the easiest to fly, thanks to
innovative technology and design. Considerable ergonomic research was
undertaken; top priority was given to easy access to information and controls.
The cockpit was designed to ensure that there is a direct dialogue between the
pilot and the system. This is ensured by an interface comprising multifunction
LCD screens, joysticks, keyboards, and track pads. BY BRIAN PERIERA

4Engine warning system

Alerts pilots about engine and
fuel system problems.
Hydraulic system control

Fuel systems control 5Head-up display

Also known as HUD, this
technology is common in modern
Electrical systems control fighter aircrafts. It comprises a
retractable screen that overlays
Cabin pressure / the main windshield. When
Climate control activated, critical data about
the status of flight systems is
projected on the windshield.
The pilot can then see both,
4 5 the view ahead and also critical
data, without the need to look
down and check the screens and
instruments. The HUD also has
an optional infrared viewer that
enables the pilots to see through
2 1 darkness and fog, during take-off
and landing.

6Side-stick
Landing gear
hand
controllers
6
3 These controllers have replaced
the traditional U-shaped control
column/stick, which was used
since the era of the early civil
aircraft. Since they are on the
side panel, the pilot now has
direct view of the instrumentation
in front of him. This design
Nose wheel steering
also allows for the placement
of a keyboard. The side-stick
Rudder pedals and brakes
controllers are also seen in
previous Airbus planes like A320,
Flaps control
A330, and A340.

7Onboard
Cockpit door lock controls information
system
It displays maps and flight
manuals. While taxing, it shows
runway diagrams.

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 79
 HARDWARE Technology Landscape
Get Your Game On
Find out which graphics card will suit your needs in the best way! BY Anand Tuliani
Entry level
Suggested Graphics Chipsets
Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT, GeForce 8600 GT,
AMD HD 2600 XT
Budget
Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,000
N o matter which brand you prefer,
the performance of a graphics card
is entirely dependent on the GPU and
memory. When shopping for a graphics
card, first note what level of performance
you are looking for—are you a casual
gamer or a hard core gamer? Are you
more of a movie buff or a gamer, or
both? Well, cards in the entry level
segment are ideally suited to casual
gaming and video playback.
With a variety of entry level DirectX
10 graphics cards available in the market
priced under Rs 7,000, it absolutely
makes sense to buy one of these. At
present Nvidia offers three such options
(GeForce 8400 GS, 8500 GT and 8600
GT), while AMD has the Radeon HD
2400 XT, HD 2400 PRO and HD 2600
XT. Since AMD’s entry-level Radeon
HD GPUs aren’t on par with the Nvidia
GeForce series, stick to Nvidia if you
want decent entry-level performance.
With an 8400 GS you can expect
playable frame rates upto 1024x768
along with high-definition video
processing capability. The most powerful
cards in this segment are the ones based
on the GeForce 8600 GT which can
perform with ease at 1600x1200.
80 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Mid-range
Suggested Graphics Chipsets
Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS, GeForce 8800 GT,
AMD HD 3850
Budget
Rs 7,000 to Rs 15,000
G raphics cards belonging to this
segment offer stellar performance
without being too taxing on the wallet.
Some of these cards are so powerful
that their performance is comparable to
their high-end counterparts. One such
graphics chipset is the Nvidia GeForce
8800 GT which performs almost as well
as the mammoth 8800 GTX. A rung
below is the GeForce 8600 GTS which
will save you a few thousand rupees.
However, if you can stretch your budget,
the 8800 GT is a steal. If you’re looking
out for a solution by AMD, you can pick a
card based on Radeon HD 2600 PRO or
HD 3850. Priced under Rs 10,000, these
cards too offer good performance for
the price, but the GeForce 8800 GT, 512
MB is a winner in this category. If you’re
familiar with overclocking graphics cards,
you can overclock the 8800 GT to push
its performance at par with the 8800
GTX, 768 MB.
Note: All the graphics cards belonging
to the Nvidia GeForce 8 series and ATI
Radeon HD series feature an in-built
video processing engine which can
offload HD video decoding from the
processor. So you enjoy HD playback
even on an entry-level PC.
High-end
Suggested Graphics Chipsets
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX, GeForce 8800
Ultra, AMD HD 2900 XT
Budget
Rs 15,000 and above
C onsider a graphics card from
this category only if you are a
hardcore gamer who thrives on eye
candy. Pumping playable frame rates
at 1600x1200 is a cakewalk for these
cards. Hence, in order to utilize the full
potential of these cards you need at least
a 22-inch TFT monitor or a high-definition
display. Additionally you will also need a
meaty power supply unit (at least 500 W)
and a well cooled PC case. Both Nvidia
and AMD have limited DirectX 10-based
offerings in this section. The meanest
graphics chipset in this category is the
Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra followed by
GeForce 8800 GTX. If you’re a fan of
AMD, you can pick a card based on the
AMD Radeon HD 2900 XT. However, the
GeForce 8800 Ultra rules the roost when
it comes to extreme performance. Be
warned that these cards cost a fortune.
If you own a high-end graphics card,
simply setting the game resolution to the
highest won’t juice out its full potential.
Crank the anti-aliasing setting to 8x or
16x and watch the difference—it will
significantly reduce the jagged edges
around curves thereby making images
and objects appear more lifelike. 
–anand.tuliani@chip-india.com
SMS us! Story code: HTL to 57007
APPLICATIONS
Jagdish Limbachiya
Software Center
M
ore freeware reviews for you this
month and you’ll also find the freeware
on the CHIP DVD. The theme this
month is system utilities. We’ve also reviewed
the much-awaited Maya 2008 and you can
expect it on the CHIP DVD very soon.
The most useful freeware this month has got
to be CCleaner, and we’ve given it a full 5 rating.
It’s simple to use, yet immensely powerful. It
gets rid of unwanted file debris, registry entries,
traces of recently opened files and websites
that you visited.
The two runners up are Launchy and
DriverMax, because of their usefulness. As its
name suggests, Launchy can quickly launch
programs and bookmarks. DriverMax backs up
all the drivers on the system and puts them
all in one folder. Imagine how useful this can
Ratings Explained
The parameters used for evaluating software are
assigned a graphical rating out of a scale of 5.
These measures include performance, features
and ease of use. The overall rating shown in the
reviews is based on all these factors.
In addition, there is a value for money rating
for each application. This rating is obtained
82 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
be especially for those who have to reinstall
Windows for whatever reason.
We were also impressed with Process
Explorer, which shows you all the processes,
DLLs, applications, and handles running in
sytem memory.
Other handy utilities reviewed are Directory
Opus, Revo Uninstaller, Returnil, MMM, and
System Safety Monitor.
The Software of the Month is Autodesk
Maya 2008. The word Maya means 'illusion'
in Sanskrit. This application has set a standard
in 3D graphics and with it you can create really
stunning visuals. Our multimedia expert Abhinay
Khoparzi tells you what's new. He also chatted
with Maya experts to bring you their views.
Freeware reviews by Nikhil Rastogi
– feedback@chip-india.com
by compiling the features and the utility of the
application against its price. In case of freeware
and shareware tools available for downloading
from the Internet, we replace the price with the
download size (and therefore, the time taken to
download the application) for arriving at the value
for money rating.
SMS us! Story code: ASC to 57007

Spic n Span  CCleaner v2.03 is an
extremely simple tool that cleans out
every nook and cranny that Windows has,
be it the browser cache, temporary files
that installations leave behind, old prefetch
data that Windows forgets to clean or the
Windows registry.
It isn’t limited to only bundled Windows
applications but also takes care of many
popular programs that leave behind
a whole lot of junk such as log files,
temporary files, and the lists of most
recently used files in applications, etc.
CCleaner allows one to define files/folders
to exclude from being cleaned up, and also
choose to exclude cookies that you want
System Requirements: Win 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista, 500 MHz, 256 MB, 1 MB disk space
DRIVER MANAGEMENT
DriverMax 3
Price Free
Contact Innovative Solutions
Website http://www.innovative-sol.com
RATINGS
Ease of use convenient location. In case you need
Features to reinstall your driver(s), you can do so
Performance from the backup straight away without
Overall Rating needing any driver CDs. This utility allows
Find it on
Peek-A-Boo  You can peek under
the hood of Windows and know what’s
running with Windows Task Manager
but Processor Explorer shows you much
more! This recently updated application
has a knack for helping you identify every
little process/application/dll/handle that is
running under Windows.
Process Explorer is an application made
for advanced users. Unlike Windows
Task Manager, Process Explorer’s
display consists of two panes. The right
pane shows a list of the currently active
processes and the left pane displays the
description of the file, CPU resources
System Requirements: W
 indows All, 500 MHz, 256 MB, 4 MB disk space
to keep for favorite sites.This wonderful
free tool even proactively informs you
that some of your settings may change
if you select the advanced options
that it offers. Under ‘Tools’, you’ll find
Uninstall and Startup features that remove
the troublesome entries that refuse
to disappear from your Add/Remove
Programs list.
This utility even offers secure deletion
for security-conscious users, wherein it
removes files using multiple passes and
not just one single pass.
For: Intuitive interface, very easy to use,
single-click cleanup, fast, informative.
Against: None.
Long Drive  There is one thing more
annoying than having to re-install Windows
from scratch after a virus attack or
hardware failure: finding drivers that came
along with the hardware!
DriverMax backs up all the drivers
on your system and stores them in one
you to choose to back up all or only a few
selected drivers and optionally compress
them into a zip file to save space.
The interface is extremely slick and
the backup process is quick. The free
System Requirements: Windows XP/Vista, 500 MHz, 256 MB, 8 MB disk space
and memory used, etc. Hovering over a
process name such as explorer.exe pops
up the path where the executable file is
located. This is excellent for identifying
where spyware apps may be hidden.
Double-clicking a process name brings
up extremely detailed information including
security information such as the names of
user accounts, performance information,
the strings and environment of the
application, the threads utilized etc.
For: Very detailed view of system
processes, no installation required.
Against: Can get overwhelming for
newbies, features not clearly explained.
TESTED APPLICATIONS
FILE DELETION
CCleaner v2.03
Price Free
Contact Piriform Ltd.
Website http://www.ccleaner.com/
RATINGS
Ease of use
Features
Performance
Overall Rating
Find it on
application requires your e-mail address
to start, or you can simply use the trial
version till you get a key. Once the app is
open, you can update both the necessary
drivers present (which aren’t working as of
now) and the software itself.
The program can also identify unknown
hardware devices and usher you in the
right direction. Restoring backed up drivers
is as easy and pain-free as it can be. This
application will easily appeal to everyone;
newbies as well as advanced users.
For: Slick interface, zip compression.
Against: Automatic driver download not
supported yet, listing of detected drivers in
text view only.
TASK MANAGEMENT
Process Explorer 11.04
Price Free
Contact Mark Russinovich and Bryce
Cogswell
Website www.systeminternals.com
RATINGS
Ease of use
Features
Performance
Overall Rating
Find it on
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 83
APPLICATIONS TESTED

FILE EXPLORER Explore  Directory Opus is a
powerful, feature-rich Explorer alternative.
Directory Opus 9.1 The program is packed with amazing
Price Approx Rs. 2,961 (AUD $85.00)
Contact GPSoftware
little features such as the file copy-paste
Website http://www.gpsoft.com.au/ feature that allows pausing or skipping
individual files when copying and the
RATINGS detailed readout of average and peak
Ease of use
speeds during the operation. Screenshots
Features
captured with the [Print Scrn] key can be
Performance
pasted directly in a folder as .BMP files.
Overall Rating
Value for Money
Version 9 of Directory Opus now
supports Windows Vista with much better
UAC support than before, now preventing
Find it on unnecessary UAC warning windows. The
interface isn’t as clean as we would have
preferred; it still looks pretty much like
an FTP program, but thankfully there are
many customization options.
While the basic features of Directory
Opus can be learnt relatively quickly, it is
quite another story to master the complete
feature set. To give you an idea of how
extensive the program is, the makers of
this software are offering a 60 day trial
period. Pick this up if you are adventurous
enough to try this exploring solution—it’s
made by geeks for geeks!
For: The Rolls Royce of explorer
alternatives, powerful and feature-rich.
Against: Not easy for newbies, expensive.

System Requirements: Windows All, 500 MHz, 256 MB, 12 MB disk space

Virtual broom  Revo Uninstaller program’s icon or desktop shortcut.

provides an alternative to the Windows
Add/Remove Programs dialog box, with
additional web searching, registry key
detection and other related commands.
The program includes a convenient
startup manager to inspect and disable
programs, a track cleaner to remove
history, cookies etc from the web browser
and other application MRU lists, a secure
deletion tool, and an option to find and
remove files, folders and registry keys that
were left behind during uninstallation.
The program offers a unique ‘Hunter
Mode’ which allows uninstalling a program
simply by dragging the target over the
System Requirements: W
 indows 2000 or later, 64 MB RAM, 300 MHz, 5 MB Disk space
PROGRAM UNINSTALLER
The interface is nice and simple, though
some of the tools can easily be missed
Revo Uninstaller 1.40
Price Free
due to quirks in the interface. It isn’t as
Contact VS Revo Group
feature rich as CCleaner, but does its job
Website http://www.revouninstaller.com/
well. It also includes a lot of shortcuts to
standard Windows tools that are needed RATINGS
for additional diagnostics, such as the Ease of use
Features
services.msc, network information, and
Performance
disk defragmenter utilites. It has no single-
Overall Rating
click option to perform multiple tasks.
For: Clear explanations, nice search option
in the uninstaller interface.
Against: No one-click solution, sliding Find it on
animations can cause one to miss out on
some of its tools.

VIRTUALIZATION SOFTWARE ‘C’ Safe  Returnil, as the name
Returnil suggests, doesn’t let anything affect the
main drive where Windows is installed,
Price Free
namely C:\. It achieves this through
Contact Returnil
Website http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/ virtualization technology, creating an
abstract layer over the main drive. This
RATINGS means that any changes made will
Ease of use automatically be saved for only the current
Features
virtual session, and will be automatically
Performance
erased upon reboot.
Overall Rating
This technique can easily thwart viruses
and malicious spyware programs as any
changes made to the system are simply
Find it on
reset when you restart the system. This is
also perfect if you want to test software.
However, you need to be extra cautious
as to where you save data. If you save
personal files on the C drive after the
protection is activated, say goodbye to it
the next time you reboot. The software
is great as an added layer of protection,
but is easy to forget about (in spite of a
bar that runs constantly at the top of your
screen) in daily use. The program uses
hardly 25 MB for the virtualization process
which is incredible, and is simple enough
for even inexperienced users.
For: Resets any changes made to the
system, so no spyware, viruses etc.
Against: Needs to restart for protection.

System Requirements: Windows 2000 or later, 256 MB RAM, 300 MHz, 4.6 MB Disk space

84 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 TESTED APPLICATIONS

Caution Ware  System Safety
Monitor (SSM) is a ’Host Based Intrusion
Prevention System’ software. This kind
of software protects a system against
malware and hacker attacks. SSM puts
a lot of onus on user decision and this is
where the trouble begins. SSM basically
asks you about every little program that is
trying to launch either by you or automated
by the system. Normally this wouldn’t be a
problem, but considering that every .EXE
file has several dependencies such as
DLLs and other supporting files, SSM asks
you about every one of these files. So that
means every new program launched has
minimum 3 clicks more to it. This gets hOST-BASED IPS
tiring after a while which makes the user
System Safety Monitor
instantly stop caring about program alerts
and blindly clicking to start a program. 2.0.8.583
Price Free
SSM of course is not at fault here, but
Contact System Safety Limited
it does nothing to ease the pain either. It
Website http://www.syssafety.com/
takes no onus to give default application
rules. SSM also does not help the user RATINGS
in anyway by advising which application Ease of use
should or should not be allowed which Features
Performance
adds to the the user’s woes.
Overall Rating
For: Keeps your system extremely secure,
easy to use.
Against: Extremely annoying due to Find it on
constant pop-ups.

System Requirements: Win 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista, 500 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 10 MB disk space

Right hand  Probably inspired by to right-click a file and then immediately

MENU CUSTOMIZER
C&C Music Factory’s song—“Things
MMM that make you go Hmm”, MMM lets you
Price Free
choose which programs appear in your
Contact HACE
Windows right-click menu. With a growing
Website http://hace.us-inc.com/
mmm.shtml list of applications that one uses, almost
every application adds on to the context
RATINGS menu. This results in a long list that
Ease of use
pops-up which takes longer to load which
Features
has a lot of stuff you don’t even need.
Performance
Overall Rating
The freeware application lets you
configure any right-click menu no matter
which file you right-click on. This is great
as many files have specific tasks added
there for a particular file type. How it
does this is confusing at first. You need
Find it on
System Requirements: Win 2000/XP 500 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 2 MB disk space
launch MMM. This will show you a list
of commands that can be run, which
you can drag under ‘Hidden items’ or
‘Rarely Used’. The latter option will give
an additional option by the same name in
right-click menu.
The program runs in the memory but
barely takes any resources. It needs just
about 508 kb. The paid counterpart allows
more functionality and also shows a
coloured bar in the right-click menu.
For: Customize your right-click context
menu, easy to use.
Against: Displays a coloured bar in the
context menu.

Launcher  There are very few
applications that are elegant to look at
as well as proficient to work with, at
the same time.Launchy is one of them.
Launchy as the name suggests basically
launches just about anything.
It is like using Windows Vista’s start
menu with a Mac-like interface of its own.
The application is great for launching not
only programs but bookmarks too. As soon
as you start to type, programs/bookmarks
start to show up in the list instantly.
As an added bonus, you can even
use Launchy as a calculator. Launchy is
extremely feature-rich. It lets you change
System Requirements: Win XP, 500 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 5 MB disk space
your hot keys, set directories that you can APPLICATION LAUNCHER
launch stuff from and you can even use
Launchy 1.2.5
it for music and video. If an application Price Free
doesn’t show up, simply hit the ‘Rebuild Contact Josh Karlin
Index’ button. Website http://www.launchy.net/
Being Open source, you can apply a
RATINGS
skin on it by downloading additional ones
Ease of use
at www.launchyskins.com and also install
Features
plugins that add additional functionality. Performance
With Launchy installed on your system, Overall Rating
you can definitely say good bye to the
tedious start menu.
For: Ease of use, launches anything
quickly, compatible for plugins, and skins.
Against: No way to remove IE favorites.
Find it on

|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 85
SOFTWARE OF THE MONTH
3D Software
Maya 2008
System Requirements
Windows XP/Vista, Mac OS X, Linux
Price Rs. 3,53,000 Unlimited
Rs. 1,03,500 Complete
Contact Aditya Infotech
Website www.autodesk.com
RATINGS
Ease of use
Features
Performance
Overall Rating
Value for money
Back with a bang
Maya 2008 is Autodesk’s third release of
the popular program after it acquired Alias
in 2006. Let’s take a look at what’s new
and what’s important.
User Interface (UI): From the UI point of
view, everything still looks almost the
same. However, Autodesk has thrown
in some useful features that will surely
ease using the software. The ViewCube
is one such addition which comes in place
of the older cube that used to show the
orientation of the viewport (in previous
versions). This cube can now be used
to select different orthographic views
simply by clicking on it. Also clicking the
corners of the cube moves the viewport
to show perspective views from all sides.
The ‘Home’ button on the top left moves
the selected objects to the center of the
viewport. Thus, newer users can get up
to speed in viewport navigation without
going through the [Spacebar] quick menu.
Another addition to the viewport panel
menu is a new shading mode called X-ray
Active Components that allows users to
see selected vertices, edges and faces
even after they move behind a shaded
face. This also lets users avoid clicking on
inactive components and editing them.
This is a great addition but one that should
have been included a long time ago.
86 | Intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
In the HyperGraph viewport, objects
can quickly be put into a single node by
dragging them with the middle mouse
button and dropping them as children of a
parent node. This organizes the viewport
and lets you make bigger and more
complex shading networks.
Hotkeys still remain the same,
however, the order in which they were
listed in the Keybinds editor has changed
to Alphabetical, to make it easier to find
menu items. However, the old view is still
there and items can still be browsed by
their menu hierarchy.
The friendly channel box has also
received a number of updates, for
example, values can now be duplicated
across arrays of objects with a lot of
transparency. A feature similar to freeze
transforms also makes its appearance
The ViewCube is a good addition to the UI that
lets users choose between orthographic views.
here—current values can be made the
zero values for all attributes of an object.
Node, and object history can be deleted
from the right inside of the channel menu.
If you want to edit the material attributes
of an object, you can simply click on
the channel menu button and select the
Material Attributes menu item.
Modeling: Maya 2008 also throws in a
couple of tools for modeling artists. The
Edge Slide tool is a superb addition to the
modeling menu. It allows artists to slide
edges on the mesh without changing the
profile. This was an exercise which took
a lot of talent to achieve decent results. It
is also of help to users who import their
models from other software as it allows
customization of contours of the mesh for
better deformation when animated.
Also present in version 2008 is the
new ‘Smooth Preview’ feature that allows
modelers to quickly preview a smoothened
mesh without explicitly adding the Smooth
Deformer. This is pretty useful for organic
modelers who have to keep checking their
meshes for their final output. Smoothing
levels can be changed with the number
keys [1]-[3] and the [Page up] and [Page
down] keys can be used to access higher
subdivision levels.
The ‘Reduce’ feature from the Modify
menu has always been useful for artists

The new channel menu has loads of options to copy, paste, freeze, and
duplicate values across multiple objects.
who are into game development. Maya
2008 gives this feature an overhaul which
now makes it much faster and it now
also includes the option to make non-
triangulated meshes which have been a
bane in game animation.
The Artisan Brushes in the Sculpt tool
are now more interactive and familiar
shortcuts such as [Ctrl]+drag, [Alt]+drag,
and [Shift]+drag now work to push, pull
and smoothen meshes. This is a feature
which should have been there since the
time sculpting was introduced in Maya
but has only now been addressed! We are
hoping to see many more additions to this
feature in the near future as Autodesk has
also acquired Skymatter—the developers
of Mudbox.
Rigging: This version of Maya gives rigging
artists a feature that they will praise for
years to come. Earlier, whenever a rig
had to be changed, artists had to detach
the mesh from the bones and go through
the entire ordeal of painting weights and
resetting their lattices from scratch. Maya
2008 now allows adding of additional
joints on the fly—without detaching the
mesh from the bone. Similar solutions
have been used by studios for a while but
they were available to only bigger studios
who could afford to hire coders to develop
the feature in-house.
Dynamics: Maya 2008 has received many
performance enhancements and is now
even better at handling multiple cores
and processors. All this directly translates
into better performance in dynamics—an
The new nCloth has common forces like Gravity and Wind, built into the
property box.
essential component of physics simulation.
This has also received a number of
additions in this version.
The much praised nCloth is now more
stable than in previous versions and
also performs a lot faster. Additionally, it
includes many of the default forces that
had to be applied from the dynamics
mode. nCloth also supports barriers for
forces such as wind and is now much
more controllable.
Internals: Of the more internal changes in
this version, one is support for Windows
Vista. All developers of professional
software have been approaching this
change with extreme caution. Vista
compatibility is a touchy subject and
something most developers still avoid
talking about. Our advice is to wait a little
longer and test the waters before jumping
onto the Vista bandwagon as it has no
advantages over XP yet.
Maya introduced Python scripting with
version 8.5, and Maya 2008 only takes this
further by providing something called the
The improved Reduce Mesh feature has an option
to disable triangulation, and is much faster.
TESTED APPLICATIONS
OpenMaya API which allows developers
to deploy quick script-based plugins and
features which were otherwise absent
in the software. Similar functionality was
available with MEL scripting but the level
of control Python gives to programmers
is commendable. Considering the vast
user base that is already fluent with
Python, it does add value to the product.
However Python is still an interpreted
language and will never be able to provide
the performance benefits of plugins and
components made in C++.
Version 2008 also gives us DirectX-
enabled hardware shaders that can be very
useful for game developers. This will allow
developers to write and preview the look
of their games inside Maya. Additionally,
when DirectX 10 compatibility is finaly
available and combined with Autodesk’s
Human IK Character Physics System will
give game designers an immense amount
of control over their game development.
Verdict: Maya 2008 is a necessary update
to the platform and most of the new
additions simply feel like they were always
present. A lot of things have been done to
help new users and increase productivity
by a huge level. The software is definitely
more powerful and still commands
absolute respect from the whole industry.
For: Natural progression to better UI
elements; More powerful, faster and
easier to use.
Against: Sculpting tools are still basic;
Animation needs more work to compare
with offerings by other developers. 
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JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 87
APPLICATIONS FEATURE

Save Battery Power

Most notebook computer batteries offer about two to three
hours of operating time. Here are ways to make your battery
last longer! By Fabian von Keudell, Klaus Baasch and Dushyant Khilnani

N
otebooks have become mainstream
in the corporate world and are fast
becoming a mass-market commodity.
For someone who is constantly on the move,
the notebook’s operating time (battery life)
would be a primary concern.
There are moments when one forgets to
charge the battery and it dies out just when
one is in the middle of some important work,
while travelling or outdoors. This can also lead
to embarrassment. For instance, you could
be making a Power Point presentation in the
corporate board room, and the notebook may
suddenly switch off because of insufficient
battery power. We at CHIP will offer some
power saving tips and spare you those
embarrassing moments.
Once you implement these power-saving
measures, you can worry less about short
battery life. And these power-saving tips will
also help you save electricity, when using the
AC adapter.

Backlight (Save 15-20%)

A fluorescent lamp lights up the screen and
provides background lighting. This lamp is one
of the most power-consuming components
of a laptop. However, if you decrease the
brightness or luminance of a screen, the
lamp consumes less power. This saves
around 15-20 percent of battery power.
The settings for controlling brightness are
similar in almost all notebooks. For instance,
one can use the combination of the ‘function’
key with another defined key that controls the
brightness of the screen.
However, cranking down the brightness
too much has a downside. If you’re using the
notebook in broad daylight or under direct
sunlight it will be difficult to discern text and
images on a darker screen. So take the ambient
Pravin Shinde
light into consideration while adjusting the
screen brightness.

88 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008 SMS us! Story code: ASB to 57007

Power options, where you can choose from the
two options, Standby and Hibernate.
Hard drive (Save 5%)
The hard drive too consumes a lot of
power. Each time you (or a program)
access the hard drive, it has to spin up
and spin down. So reducing the cycles
for data access from the drive can
really help. Apart from that, uninstall all
unnecessary programs and applications
from the hard drive; defrag the drive
periodically (at least once a month). Use
the Windows Defrag feature or O&O
defrag software for this purpose.
Let us now examine some of the
energy settings. The drive consumes
about one Watt, even in the hibernate
mode. So instead of hibernate mode, we
recommend that you use standby mode. If
your computer supports ACPI (Advanced
Configuration and Power Interface) you
will see both options in the Windows
By selecting the relevant tab on top, you can
adjust the settings for other components as well.
FEATURE APPLICATIONS
Shutdown menu (Turn off computer). With
this menu displayed, you need to press the
[SHIFT] key.
The Notebook Hardware Control
(NHC) is a good program for controlling
various power saving settings. For
instance, one can set the amount of
time for which the hard drive will stay
in the standby mode. We recommend a
minimum time of 10 minutes for shutting
down the hard drive, when it is idle. A
smaller time interval switches the hard
drive on and off at short intervals, leading
to increased power consumption by this
particular component.
Power plans (presets) in Windows Vista can be
A Solid State Disk (SSD) is also a very
chosen from, according to application area.
good option for notebooks. These memory
based 'disks' consume much lesser power, To save battery power, keep the wireless
mode switched off by default and turn
it on only when you are near a wireless
access point.
Tip: A wired network connection (CAT-5
cable) is much faster than, and consumes
less power than a wireless (Wi-Fi)
connection. So use a cable connection
(and the office LAN) when available.
Processor (Save 30%)
The processor too is a power guzzling
component. In this case, there are various
On Off Switch for Wi-Fi & Bluetooth
options to reduce power consumption.
because of the absence of moving parts, Let’s examine some, in brief.
such as heads and platters. Using an SSD One usually adjusts power
can significantly extend the battery life in management settings using the Windows
notebooks. SSDs are not yet common in Power Options utility (Control Panel).
India and we’ll have to wait until they are There are two ways to access Power
readily available. Options. Right-click the battery icon in the
WLAN (Save 10%)
Ideally, one yearns for wireless
connectivity (hotspots), especially while
traveling. However, wireless hotspots
are scarce in our country. So it does
not make sense to keep the notebook’s
wireless mode switched on at all times.
Switch it on only when you are in a
wireless zone. The same applies for
its Bluetooth connection (if present).
When there is no Wi-Fi network or if
the signal is weak, the notebook’s wireless
system keeps scanning for a signal. While
doing so, it consumes power. This reduces
battery life, considerably. Cell phones are Power options in Windows XP , that allow
choosing from different power schemes (presets)
a classic example of this phenomenon.
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 89
APPLICATIONS FEATURE
If the power plans don’t suffice, advanced users
can customize their power settings accordingly.
Windows System Tray (next to the System
Clock). Alternatively, you can double-click
the Power Options icon in the Control
Panel to access it.
We recommend the 'Balanced Mode'
within Power Options (Windows Vista).
It’s an optimum setting that saves power
with compromising on performance. In
this mode, the operating system uses the
processor only when running applications
require it. For instance, if you’re just
surfing the Internet or working on a
Microsoft Word document, the processor
automatically underclocks itself to
conserve battery power.
Special power-saving modes (defined
by the processor manufacturer) are
available in most models. Intel calls this
mode ‘SpeedStep’ while AMD calls it
‘PowerNow’.
Apart from PowerPlay, there are a number of
minute settings to optimize performance.
90 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Similar to ATI’s PowerPlay, Nvidia’s PowerMizer
allows you to maximize/minimize power settings.
There’s another method to save battery
power. Decrease the voltage of the
processor and supply less power than it
requires. This is called ‘undervolting’ and
it’s done through the Notebook Hardware
Control (NHC) tool. In this method,
you’ll have to resort to trial and error,
because the ability, and the amount of
voltage reduction, varies across different
processors.
Caution: Remember that you’re trying to
save power, hence the undervolting. Make
sure you don’t accidentally set the voltage
of the processor above its maximum limit.
Tip: At times, when the processor does
not receive enough power, the system
becomes unstable and hangs. If you
experience these symptoms, increase
the voltage supplied to the processor.
Prior to changing voltage settings, save
Brightness settings can be adjusted from within
the ‘Balanced’ powerplan.
Although, laptops with ATI graphics have the
PowePlay option, it can be done from NHC too.
all the data you’re currently working
on to avoid any loss to what you were
working on. Once all goes well and
the system is stable, you’d be able to
save up to 30 percent battery power.
Graphics (Save 10%)
Notebooks that are designed for
gaming and graphics-intensive
applications, feature discrete graphics
processors (GPUs) manufactured by
Nvidia and ATI (now part of AMD).
These high performance GPUs
consume a significant amount of power,
especially for 3D games or high-end
graphics. The GPU continues to draw the
same amount of power for mainstream
and 2D applications. For instance, when
you use Winrar to compress data, the GPU
isn’t doing much, but yet it continues to
consume power.
ATI’s PowerPlay feature helps reduce
the power intake of the GPU. Nvidia’s
PowerMizer does the same. All you need
to do is disable the 3D GPU option; this
should be done only when you’re not using
applications that need 3D rendering such
as games.
Note: You need not worry about
excess power consumption by the
graphics processor if the notebook
has integrated graphics; it does
not consume as much power.
Tip: Use tools like Notebook Hardware
Control to underclock the graphics card.
Examine the ‘Graphic’ tab within the
tool to analyse power consumption.

Bluetooth (Save 2%)
This technology is primarily available
in mobile phones. But it is now
available in various peripherals like
mice, headphones etc. Bluetooth is
quite convenient for transferring small
amounts of data over a short range,
wirelessly. The technology is intelligent
enough to reduce power consumption
when not in use. Like the Wi-Fi mode
in notebooks (discussed earlier in this
article), there is a Bluetooth mode that
constantly scans for Bluetooth devices.
This can drain the battery, so switch off
the Bluetooth mode when not in use.
Fan (Save 4%)
At times, notebooks fail to control fans
in an appropriate manner and this causes
unnecessary usage of battery power.
There are special software tools that
help in controlling the fan speeds. These
tools are designed for specific notebook
models; you can specify the model within
the tool. Most tools constantly check the
current temperature within the notebook.
Such tools preserve power at a marginal
scale. Apart from saving power, these
tools also help in reducing fan noise.
Get the most out of your notebook
battery and increase its runtime
Although Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries
are quite powerful, one must take certain
precautions when using them. Take a
look at the following tips, which help you
maintain the efficiency of the battery,
even after hundreds of charge cycles.
Life span: There are three primary
aspects that determine the life span of
Lithium ion batteries. The first one is
the number of charge cycles that the
battery goes through. Most batteries
potentially have an average of 500
charge cycles. This depends on the
charging pattern (more on that soon.)
Battery 'aging' is a vital factor that
determines its lifespan. The individual cells
within a battery’s structure grow old and
have a life expectancy of about two to
three years, irrespective of whether you
use them or not.
The way in which batteries are stored
also matters a lot. For instance, ambient
temperature and humidity can affect
battery performance. If this is neglected
the performance and life of the batteries
may fall below the 50 percent mark.
The following method will ensure
maximum and consistent performance of
the battery for a longer period of time.
Charge responsibly: Every time you
connect your notebook to the AC wall
socket and turn the switch on, the
notebook begins a new charging cycle.
This is irrespective of the current status
of the battery, for instance there might
be 20-30 percent charge remaining, but
it still goes through a new charge cycle.
Taking other aspects such as aging and
storage into consideration, reducing
the number of charge cycles directly
increases the lifespan of a battery.
Tip: Try to charge the notebook battery
only after the battery is relatively
exhausted—below ten percent is ideal.
Tools for notebooks
Notebook Hardware Control 2.0: It
optimizes the hardware settings to
conserve valuable battery power.
CPU-Z 1.41: It shows all the relevant
information of the system hardware.
SpeedFan 4.33: It measures the temperature
in Dell and Toshiba notebooks, and
adjusts the speed of the fan accordingly.
FEATURE APPLICATIONS
Quick Tips
 If you’re trying to save battery power,
refrain from gaming and other multimedia
applications. This includes listening to
music and watching movies. Further,
switching off the speakers would also help
preserve some juice.
 Disconnect external devices such as
PC cards, FireWire and USB devices, and
optical drives.
 Avoid using an external (USB) mouse
and stick to the touch pad.
 Instead of executing files from optical
media, copy the files to the hard drive and
then execute them.
 While working on the laptop, use the
‘standby’ mode when you’re away for a
short while. Use the ‘hibernate’ mode
when gone for a longer period.
 Avoid multitasking, if you want to check
e-mails and work on a Word document and
listen to music. Do all the tasks, one at a
time. Not to mention, do save your work,
when running on battery.
 Try not to use the Autosave function
which is present in some of the
applications such as Word.
 There are fancy products available in
the market such as USB fans, lights and so
on. These products use the USB port as
the power source. Avoid using them when
not necessary.
Links
Information on Lenovo IBM ThinkPads
http://www.pc.ibm.com/europe/
thinkpad/?europe&cc=europe
Everything about Samsung laptops
www.p35-forum.de/board/index.
php?page=Index
Notebook hardware control
www.pbus-167.com
Fan Control
www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ACPI_fan_
control_script
Tuning tools for laptops
http://crystalmark.info/?lang=en
Comprehensive inofrmation on laptops
http://www.notebookforums.com/
Different types of laptop batteries
http://www.laptoptravel.com/Article.
aspx?ID=214
– dushyant.khilnani@chip-india.com
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APPLICATIONS FEATURE

Pramod Jadhav

The Free Spree

Everyone likes freeware because it’s easily available and quite useful too.
CHIP unveils some hidden features inside the most exciting freeware available.
By Dushyant Khilnani

M
ost of us find free application tools
appealing. It is exciting to discover
new features hidden deep within that
application. In this article we have selected
some of the best applications and attempted to
reveal their hidden features. For easy reference,
we’ve placed the applications under three
different categories: Windows environment,
Internet, and Multimedia. In the pages that
follow, we will cover many tips that demonstrate
the potential and power of these applications.
Internet even when one has disabled automatic
downloads for updates.
There is a utility called xp-AntiSpy that
takes care of such Windows slip-ups. One
need not be an expert to use this application.
It’s worth mentioning that this application is
merely a few kilobytes in size. It includes a
list of around 50 Windows functions that one

Windows
Spy for Windows: xp-AntiSpy
3.96.6
www.xp-antispy.org
Windows has decent security though it is at a
basic level. With the release of Windows Vista,
security has improved significantly, especially
in the networking area. Although the operating
system offers various security features,
there are some aspects that are overlooked. The list shows all the options across different categories
For instance, updates keep arriving from the and application areas.

92 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008 SMS us! Story code: AFS to 57007
 FEATURE APPLICATIONS

can enable or disable. The settings are

categorized according to application
areas such as media player, error reports,
network, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft
Messenger. When you select an option
from the list in the main window, a brief
explaination of the function appears.
However, if you aren’t sure which settings
to change, take a look at the ‘Suggested’
section in the ‘Profile’ drop-down menu.
Tip: xp-AntiSpy also offers to tune your
The blue drop down menu lets you choose from The right pane shows the result of the analysis.
computer. It helps you increase the the number of CPU cores you want to use. These are the unnecessary files to be removed.
number of parallel network connections.
This can be done through the ‘Connection efficiently. This is the case with single typed in the ‘Run’ dialogue box, empty
limit’ option which is under the ‘Special’ core processors, but people using dual the Recycle Bin and delete other useless
button on the menu bar. Windows has a core processors have the option to use content. The ‘Applications’ tab lets you
limitation of 10 simultaneous connections, the second core for other applications. delete offline content generated by
but with this application, there is no limit. Select the option to use only one core applications installed on the PC.
You will need to increase the number of (CPU thread), and the second core is free The second option, ‘Registry’, removes
parallel network connections when using to take care of other processing tasks. This unwanted registry keys planted by
file-sharing protocols such as BitTorrent; option is available in the dialogue box that previously installed programs. There are
with this application one often exceeds the appears just before file compression. also options for keeping the registry clean.
limit of 10 parallel connections. This option is labeled ‘Issues’ in previous
You can check the current status by Efficient cleaner: CCleaner versions of CCleaner.
opening the Event Viewer. Simply open v2.03.532 The ‘Tools’ option resembles the
the ‘Run’ dialogue box from the Start www.ccleaner.com ‘Add/Remove Programs’ utility in the
Menu and type ‘eventvwr.msc’, and then CCleaner is a comprehensive maintenance Windows Control Panel, which is used for
press the [ENTER] key. program that removes file debris, offline uninstalling programs.
content and unwanted data files from the
Ace archiving: 7-Zip 4.56 Beta system. It also clears traces of recently The Internet
www.7-zip.org opened documents and websites. Spy killer: Spybot 1.5.1
In the world of file compression and In the first menu labeled ‘Cleaner’ www.safer-networking.org
archiving, the RAR format seems to be the there are two tabs: ‘Windows’ and Viruses, spyware and other malware
most widely used. 7-Zip is a good option ‘Applications’. The former will let you are extremely harmful to a computer.
for uncompressing RAR files. WinRAR is delete temporary Internet files, cookies, Spybot is an effective tool for protecting
better known, but it’s not free. 7-zip is a history and other offline browser content. your computer from such threats. It rids
free application that has both a command These options are similar for the other the system of malicious spyware. Like
line interface (CLI) and a graphical user sub-categories labeled ‘Windows Explorer’ anti-virus software, Spybot also relies on
interface (GUI). It supports a wide range and ‘System.’ They helpfully clear the lists the latest spyware definitions. These are
of file compression formats apart from the of recent documents, erase commands referenced when it scans the entire system
common ones such as ZIP, RAR, and ARJ.
7-Zip also features an integrity check and
encoding options for archives.
Tip: 7-Zip 5.56 has an integrated
benchmark that can test CPU usage
while compressing and decompressing
files. Simply click on ‘Tools’ and select
‘Benchmark’. It begins the benchmark with
compression, followed by decompression.
CPU usage jumps during compression
and decompression (to as much as 100
percent). Hence, the processor would
The ‘Recovery’ button on the main window lets You can open the ‘Advanced Mode window’ via
be unable to perform any other task you revert from any error caused during a scan. an option from the ‘mode’ menu.

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APPLICATIONS FEATURE
PortableApps
In the Start Menu, the bar at the bottom shows
the available space on the external drive.
Portable applications do not need to be
installed on a computer and need not
integrate with its file registry. These
application can be copied on, and run off,
portable storage devices/media such as
portable hard disks, CDs, DVDs, memory
cards and USB flash drives. Simply copy
the application to the device and run
its executable file. There are various
standalone software types in the portable
category for different application areas.
But having a variety of them in a single
suite is so convenient. The PortableApps
suite is a fine example.
It’s a suite that features a number
of free software belonging to different
categories and it can be downloaded
for free from the Internet. The best part
for new spyware that periodically appears
on the web. If updated regularly, Spybot
can find and remove all spyware on the PC.
Some components of Spybot load on
startup.To prevent this from happening,
use the ‘System Startup’ option under
the ‘Tools’ menu. The Tea-Timer module
which can be optionally enabled provides
real-time protection against attacks and
unwanted changes in the registry.
Tip: In order to effectively use all the
functions in the application, do activate the
‘Advanced Mode’ which is found under the
‘Mode’ option in the main menu to show
more options.
These options collectively act as a
tuning toolkit which includes a number of
utilities for the protection and maintenance
of your computer.
94 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
is that, once you’ve downloaded it, and
installed it on the portable device or
storage media, you can carry the entire
collection of software with you. The range
of software includes Mozilla’s Firefox,
Thunderbird and Sunbird; the Clamwin free
antivirus. It even has a word processor
(Writer) along with various other
applications from OpenOffice.org. If that’s
not enough, you can visit the home page to
download and add more applications from
www.portableapps.com/apps.
It takes a while for it to install,
depending on which type of flash memory
you’re using. We used a Kingston 2 GB
Micro SD card and it took around 20
minutes to install. The suite is quite
simple to use because it has a Start menu
with two panes. The left one shows the
applications while the right one shows the
folders created on the flash drive, and the
options in the suite. Speaking of options,
the ‘Options’ button allows the user to
install new applications and uninstall
unwanted ones.
You can even add existing standalone
portable software to the suite. If you’re
flash drive letter is ‘E’, simply create a
new folder inside the E:\PortableApps
and name it, ‘My Apps’, for instance. Then
use the ‘Options’ button. Make sure you
enter the path of the EXE file correctly. The
Multimedia
Auto Gordian Knot
www.autogk.me.uk/
Auto GK is a simple yet powerful tool used
for converting video files. It supports many
formats and has a rich feature set.
Thanks to an easy-to-use interface,
a user will be at ease while converting
video files, even if he doesn’t have much
knowledge about video conversion
techniques and codecs.
When installing the program, there
are some free codecs and tools that get
installed with it such as virtual Dub Mod,
VobSub,Xvid, AviSynth and more.
These codecs make conversions of a
vast range of video formats, absolutely
hassle-free. Once the whole package of
Auto Gordian Knot is installed, one can
In case, newly installed applications do not
show on the menu, click on ‘Refresh All Icons’.
shortcut will be added to the start menu.
www.portableapps.com/suite
Tip: These applications run in real time,
directly from the external storage device.
Hence the speed, at which the program
installs and operates, largely depends on
the speed of the device. If your flash drive
has slow read/write speeds, the program
automatically becomes sluggish. Hence, it is
advised that you use a relatively faster; the
Kingston Data traveler is a good option.
If you have a slow flash drive, then it
is better to use an external hard drive.
Reason being that, it would most probably
be faster in comparison. However, external
hard drives take up much more space and
are seldom pocketable which defeats the
purpose in this case.
easily convert DVDs to formats such as
AVI, Divx and Xvid.
Capture and send 1.5
http://www.download3000.com/
download_35231.html
This application helps in capturing
screenshots and e-mailing them instantly.
In the main window, you can use the
shortcut key combinations [CTRL]+[F11] or
[CTRL]+[F12] to capture the active window,
or the entire screen respectively. Once the
screen is captured, it shows in the main
window, and your resident e-mail client
opens up a ‘New Message’ window with
the captured file attached. From here on,
you only need to punch in the recipient’s
e-mail address and you’re done. 
– dushyant.khilnani@chip-india.com

Navigator, make my trip!
It’s nice to be informed while traveling. Here’s a service that offers interactive
maps, GPS technology, driving directions, and points of interest. BY Brian Pereira
T
raveling to a destination for the
first time can take unusually long,
especially if one is unfamiliar with
the route. In such instances, it’s natural to
stop along the way and consult people for
directions. There may even be times when
you want to find the nearest ATM, clinic,
or restaurant en route. Now wouldn’t it
be great to have some kind of map that
provided all this information in real-time as
you proceeded to your destination?
New Delhi-based CE Info Systems
(CIS) has been thinking on similar lines
for the past 13 years. It started mapping
the country in 1994, when digital maps
were unheard of. Mapping every road,
street, and highway in the country is an
enormous task. CIS has already managed
to do this to a great extent, with the help
of just 200 surveyors. The company claims
to have mapped 25 cities in great detail,
down to the street level. Their maps offer
a decent overview of 165 cities, though
not in absolute detail. Map data has been
SMS us! Story code: ANT to 57007
Pramod Jadhav
collected for 5 lakh villages and over 5,000
towns—all connected by national, state,
and district highways. This map data is
available in the form of certain services for
both consumers and enterprises.
CE Info Systems director Rohan
Verma says, “The needs of both are
quite different. Consumers need maps
mainly for navigation purposes. They want
to access maps on various platforms:
Internet, mobile phones, a dedicated GPS
device, or a map book.”
CE Info Systems offers its GIS map
dataset to over 500 enterprise customers
in India. According to Verma, Coca Cola
has been a long time user. Enterprises
use its map data for distribution info, retail
outlet locations, service centers etc.
Consumers are familiar with services
such as Google Maps and Yahoo Maps;
both offer satellite imagery, maps, and
directions. So how are the map services
from CIS any different? Verma says
the company has two differentiators.
FEATURE APPLICATIONS
Firstly, it offers map data on three
platforms: the internet (a website called
MapmyIndia.com), mobile phones,
and in-car GPS navigation. Secondly, its
map data is detailed and centric to India.
Consumer services are offered under the
‘MapmyIndia’ brand. We tried out the GPS
device called ‘Navigator’ and also visited
MapmyIndia.com.
Map website
The website MapmyIndia.com offers
interactive maps, driving directions, local
search and other useful services. These
services are all free.
The site first displays the whole map
of India. Use the zoom box in the bottom-
right corner of the screen (see image on
next page). Click on the zoom box and
drag the map to display the area that you
want to focus on. Then use the zoom
slider in the top-left corner of the screen
to zoom in or out of the selected area. You
can also drag within the main map area to
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JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 95
APPLICATIONS FEATURE
pan in any direction. Alternatively, use the
four direction buttons to pan the view.
Search engine: The effectiveness of the
search facility depends on how specific
you are while typing an address. But the
search engine is designed to comprehend
a user address written in various ways,
and match it to the corresponding one in
its database.
“In India there’s no structure or
standardization for addresses. The search
engine is intelligent enough to offer
options; it’s an algorithmic search,” says
Verma.
If you specify sufficient address details
in the search box, that area is soon
displayed, though in a broader context.
You’ll need to zoom in to find a specific
location. A list of similar matches (address
locations) will appear in a panel on the left;
click on the required address to refine the
search string.
We tested out the search engine to
check this and here’s how it responded.
When we typed ‘Pali Naka’ in the search
box, the results included ‘Pali in Rajasthan’
and ‘Nala Pani in Mussoorie’. We had to
be more specific than that! So we retyped
‘Pali Naka, Bandra (W)’. The map of Bandra
(a suburb in Mumbai) appeared. We had
to go through the results in the left pane
to find our intended address. Only when
we clicked on it, did Pali junction appear.
The required map would have appeared
sooner had we typed ‘Pali Market Road,
Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra’, as
suggested. On zooming in we could see
the names of main roads, however names
of Bandra’s quiet bylanes were not shown.
Directions: Under the ‘Directions’ tab, we
found a ‘From’ and ‘To’ box. We typed our
Use the zoom slider and zoom box to zoom into a
particular city, town, or village on the national map.
96 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
For the exact map location to appear, you will
have to be very specific when typing the address.
office address as the point of origin, and
the address of a hotel in the suburbs. In
response, the site offered a list of results
for both origin and destination. We had to
search through both lists for the specific
addresses and then click on these to select
them; in doing so we refined our search
criteria.
Once we got the specific addresses in
the ‘From’ and ‘To’ boxes, we clicked on
the ‘Go’ button. The site returned step-by-
step road directions. Bus routes and train
stations were excluded; distances, road
names, and highways were listed.
The SMS feature is useful, but it can
be further improved. If you click on the
little ‘SMS’ button and specify your phone
number, directions will be instantly sent to
your mobile phone. However, you receive
a series of SMS message (the directions
are broken up).
Alternatively (and a better option), print
out the directions and carry these with
you. You can also save the link to this page
of results, or e-mail it to yourself. There is
also an option for embedding the map on
your blog or website (in case you want to
share it with your friends). For instance,
you may want to give your friends a map
and directions to your house.
Local zone: Under the ‘Local’ tab you
can find Points of Interest (POIs). We will
explain this later in the article.
Other services: Want to give your friends
directions to your home or office? Just find
it on the map and set it as an eLocation.
Then just tell them to check your eLocation
on MapmyIndia.com. They will get
personalized directions to your eLocation.
Under the ‘Business’ tab, you can search for
listings within the Yellow or White Pages.
Points of Interest such as airports, hospitals, and
ATMS are shown as small icons on the map.
Maps on mobile phones
Moving map data and navigation is
available on GPS-enabled handsets. For
instance, AirTel is offering maps as a
value added service on the Blackberry
8800. The map dataset is provided by
MapmyIndia. A software called Wayfinder
Navigator needs to be installed on the
phone. Besides Blackberry, this service
works on other platforms such as Symbian
S60, UIQ, J2ME, and Windows Mobile.
Other GPS enabled handsets supported
are Nokia N95, HTC P3300, and certain
smart phone models from ASUS and
iMate. A list of compatible phones (and the
respective software) is available on
www.mapmyindia.com/navigator.
A subscription to the GPS service is
priced at approximately Rs 400 per month.
GPRS charges are applicable separately.
“We realize that the GPS handset
market is limited. So we will soon
introduce a similar service for mass market
handsets that are not GPS-enabled. That
application will work on any J2ME handset
with GPRS,” says Verma.
In-car navigation
The Navigator device is easily the pièce
de résistance among all three platforms.
In fact it’s the best way to realize the
full potential of a map dataset and GPS
technology. In fact the market for personal
navigation devices is growing rapidly
in the US and Europe. The navigator
includes coverage of 55,000 towns and
villages. It shows important landmarks in
150 cities. For 18 cities it shows all the
streets, localities, and landmarks across 52
categories or Points of Interest.
The GPS receiver communicates with
 FEATURE APPLICATIONS

four satellites (out of 24) and gets a fix

on your location. It shows your current
position on the moving map. When you
select your destination, the device gives
voice based turn-by-turn directions in real
time that sound like this: “go 100 meters
then turn left, then proceed to the next
junction and take a right turn.”
There are two models available: AMAX
06GP5A and Delphi NAV200. We tested
the portable AMAX which has a screen
size of 3.5-inches. It is a color touch First set a Route to a particular destination. Also Set a route to a particular point of interest that is
set the Home and Office Addresses. in the vicinity.
screen device with a retractable stylus.
The device uses an SD Card, and comes
with windshield and dashboard mounts.
The kit includes a charger and USB cable.
Navigator is powered by a built-in Lithium-
ion battery. A PDF manual and quick start
guide is included. The AMAX also doubles
as a portable entertainment device; you
can view photos and movies on it, or listen
to MP3 songs.
COST: The AMAX device costs Rs 22,000.
Map data is updated every six months at
The Navigator can remember your points of Points of Interest like ATMs, hospitals, and
a cost of Rs 1,000 per update. Users can interest, trips, trials, and addresses. restaurants appear as icons on the moving map.
either download the update or procure it
on CD. It can then be transferred to the instance previous trips are automatically use it to find your way back home or where
device via its SD memory card. saved. If you made a trip to a certain hotel you started from. This option is available
Navigation: When you start the device and and want to visit the same hotel later, under the ‘Favorites’ menu.
select the ‘Navigation’ option you will see you can recall that trip from the device’s Trip book: Sometimes your trip might
the map with your current location as an memory. In addition, the device has have multiple destinations. You may want
arrow head. Maps can be displayed in either default ‘Home’ and ‘Office’ addresses. So to stop at many locations along the way
2D or 3D view or both (tiled view). the navigator will guide you home or to to the final destination. The Trip book is
You must first select a destination for your office from your current location! meant for journeys that have more than
routing from the ‘Go to’ menu. There are The Auto re-routing feature helps when one destination. Routes and trails can be
multiple ways of selecting a destination. you take a wrong turn or detour to avoid edited, modified and deleted.
Either type the address or select the road certain roads. It recalculates the route and To exit the navigator, you need to
from a list (after you select the city, town guides you back on course. There is an cancel a route. Only then will the exit
or village). In the List mode, select from address book for saving locations as well. option appear.
a list of streets that are near your present Points of interest: POIs are landmarks
location. Also tap the screen to quickly on the map such as petrol pumps, ATMs Conclusion
select destinations on the map. and banks, embassies & consulates, post The navigator is a useful device especially
There is yet another way to select offices, police stations, places of worship for those who spend a lot of time on the
a destination. Tap the ‘Address or and entertainment etc. In all there are 52 road traveling across cities and states.
Intersection’ option from the ‘Go to’ menu. categories. You can also set your own POIs. Some may find the price of the device and
Then select the state or union territory For instance you can set a POI for your the recurring costs for updates a bit steep.
where the destination is located. Then favorite store and get an audible alert when But the utility it offers is almost priceless.
specify the city, town, and street. you are within 1 Km or 500 meters of it. The device also doubles as a media player.
After you specify a destination, the POIs appear in real time on the moving map Live traffic conditions is not yet included in
system calculates the best route. A voice as you proceed towards them. the device.
instruction then advises you to proceed to Trail book: There is an option to set a Though the interface is very intuitive, it
the destination. And as you move, you get breadcrumb trail (remember the fairy tale does take some time for one to master the
voice-based turn-by-turn directions. The Hansel and Gretel?) When going to a new navigation features. So use it often! 
system has some useful features too. For and relatively unknown place, set a trail and – brian.pereira@chip-india.com

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APPLICATIONS FEATURE
Going for Open Source
Even if you don’t use Linux, you’ve tried open source software at
some point of time. It’s useful and mostly free. But why are the
masses yet to embrace this platform? BY VISHAK VENKATESWARAN
O
pen source software (OSS) has been in
existence for a long time but its popularity
hasn’t picked up greatly over the years.
In a world dominated by a few big names
in software, the choices left to the masses,
when it comes to picking an operating system,
or even hardware, are limited. I am not against
monopoly if the outcome is beneficial to the
end user. Yet choice is always welcome when
you are shelling out hard earned money.
Vishak
Currently, Windows dominance in the
Venkateswaran
world of operating systems is so large, that
some people believe Microsoft Windows is
the only available operating system on the
planet. As for Mac loyalists, they have Panthers
and Leopards. The bottom line is, people are
not aware of the utility and efficiency of OSS
and the myriad viable services you get with
these. The best part is all of this comes free!
Let’s take Windows Vista as an example.
The retail price for its Ultimate Edition is in
excess of Rs 8,000. Sure you could get the
Vista Home Basic version at a much lower
price, but you’d have to compromise on
functionality. Also, considering Microsoft’s
rather usual strategy, it is very likely it will
stop support for these versions when it
consolidates the Ultimate Edition market.
Earlier too, Microsoft stated they would
cease support for Windows XP from
January, 2008 (which was later pushed to
June 2008 due to Vista’s disappointing sales).
The question to ask here is whether such
products are really worth it. Do you think the
cost of the product justifies its functionality?
Pravin Shinde
If your answer is yes, then OSS is not
your cup of tea, at least in terms of operating
systems. Linux has been in existence for
a long time and it created a really big buzz
initially because it looked like a really good
alternative to Windows, and it was freely
distributed to the public. However, after trying
their hands on it, many felt like they were not
at home with Linux. Some quickly reverted
to Windows and these people began to form
an impression that open source products
just do not have the functionality or the user-
friendliness that Windows and other such
operating systems offer. This was the case
ten years ago but now things have changed.
In the last couple of years there have been
some really good OSS releases which have
surpassed their closed source counterparts,
both in functionality and user base. Products
such as Mozilla Firefox, VLC Player, OpenOffice.
org, to name a few, have given their competitors
a sprint for their money. Firefox has logged
millions of downloads. It has even surmounted
the age old Internet Explorer. OpenOffice.org
is a great alternative to the widely used MS
Office; many people are willing to shift loyalties
after comparing their respective price tags. VLC
Player is also a very popular media player and is
said to be the next best alternative to Mplayer
(which is also an open source application).
OSS for the government
The Government of India could benefit the most
by beginning to use open source software. It is
the responsibility of the government to devise
ideas for raising tax for the welfare of the poor
people and to impart free education. One of
the most convenient ways to undertake this is
e-learning. It is a fast option to impart education
to poor people. Besides, it saves the government
the trouble of recruiting good teachers, and
also saves the undesirable wastage of writing
sheets. To use e-learning in such a setup, a
system has to be configured in different regional
languages. In India, where there are many
different languages in different regions, how
SMS us! Story code: AGO to 57007
 FEATURE APPLICATIONS

Other useful opensource products

Audacity: Audio recording/manipulation
toolkit
Virtual Dub: Movie ripper and converter
blender: 3D animation and modeling
Gaim: All in one messenger
Nvu: Web authoring software
Mozilla Thunderbird: e-mail manager
Filezilla: Ftp manager
Azureus: Torrent client
7-zip: Zip manager
openlaszlo: Platform for development of
Internet applications
truecrypt: Encryption application

can this mammoth task be undertaken?

This is where our friendly tux comes in.
Most of the recent Linux distros come
with multi-language support—even some
individual dialects are supported. Linux is
really simple to configure which makes the
whole desktop environment easy to use.
The same strategy can be followed in
schools and colleges. Instead of spending
lots of money to acquire Windows licenses
A Linux desktop can be appealing, customizable, and graphically rich. Here, Ubuntu looks like Mac OS X!
or MS Office packages, OSS products fact remains that open source software
can be loaded and used. If the public is is here to stay. So if your friend walks up
made aware of all the different advantages to you and tells you about how awesome
of OSS, more people would be willing to his Vista desktop looks, show him your
give it a shot. Android could be the next computer running Ubuntu with Beryl! 
best thing when it comes to mobile phone – feedback@chip-india.com
interfaces. OSS has created a niche in the The views expressed in this article
market and it is up to us to embrace it. The are entirely those of the writer.

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JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 99

Hands on
Sachin Pandit
Got a computer problem?
Write to Dr. Chip at
drchip@chip-india.com
100 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Dr CHIP
[Q] Hi Dr. CHIP, I am Vishal from New Delhi. I
have a serious problem with my CD and DVD
drives. I was previously running Windows XP
SP2 and all was fine, but I recently installed
windows Vista Ultimate Edition. For some
time, the CD and DVD drives were working
well, but my PC crashed once and when I
restarted it, the CD and DVD drive icons had
disappeared from ‘My Computer’.
I checked the device manager and
it showed the message, ‘Windows cannot
start this hardware device because its
configuration information (in the registry)
is incomplete or damaged. (CODE 19)’.
The location of the CD drive is ‘Location 1
(channel 1, target 1, LUN 0) and the location
of the DVD drive is ‘Location 0 (channel 1,
target 0, LUN 0)’. I do not have any antivirus
software installed. Could the reason be
malware? Should I reinstall Windows? But I
do not want to format my C: drive. Can you
please help me?
– Vishal Basra
You have installed the operating systems
in the wrong sequence. Linux should be installed
last. I assume that Windows is working properly
now. To get Linux running on your machine, boot
from the Linux CD and enter the Rescue mode.
Reload GRUB and you should have Linux running
on your system properly. You may seek the help
of a Linux user group or a friend who is familiar
with Linux.
[Q] Dear Dr. CHIP, you guys are doing a great
job. Keep it up. My computer got infected
by some virus and many of my system
files became infected. I installed ‘AVG free
edition’ antivirus [from the CHIP DVD] and
found the viruses and the infected files.
All the infected files were dumped into the
‘Virus Vault’. Then I tried to clean those
infected files, but the antivirus program
couldn’t do it. Later, my younger brother
deleted those files and restarted the
computer.
When the computer started, I tried to
log into my user account. But the desktop
wallpaper’s color looked as if it was
scribbled on. Then I went to Control Panel
to check the display properties. I set it to
‘High Color’ and restarted the computer.
However, the desktop wallpaper still looked
as if it was scribbled on. I started the
computer in ‘Safe Mode’ and tried ‘Help and
Support’ to solve my problem but I failed.
My computer had made some ‘restore
points’. But I couldn’t restore it because the
virus had corrupted them.
I used ‘PC Inspector File Recovery’ to
restore the files but that also did not help
solve the problem. Now the option left for
me is to reinstall Windows. But to make
the situation worse, the CD drive stopped
working when an error occurred. I used
‘scandisk’ to fix the error. The error was
fixed, but the CD drive is still not working.
Is there any way to restore my PC back
to the point where it was working fine? I
even tried ‘System Restore’ but that did
not help me. I am using Windows Me. Is
SMS us! Story code: HDC to 57007

there any other alternate file recovery
program that can help fix my PC?
Please also tell me how to make my
CD drive work. I am planning to install
Fedora Core 6 from the CHIP DVD
[December 2006].
Also, I would like learn
programming. Can you tell me about
the websites that teach programming
for free? Do SUSE Linux and Damn
Small Linux have the same features?
Are they both the same?
– Nebu Philip
Hello Phillip, You seem to have
tried many things to get rid of the virus.
Now that the system files are corrupted,
you will have to replace all the corrupted
and deleted files. But your CD drive is not
working and you cannot copy any files
from your CD-ROM. In this case, follow
these steps.
 Make sure your computer is free
from viruses. Update and scan with
the antivirus program. If you cannot
run Windows, request a friend to help
you. Remove the hard drive from your
computer and connect it as a slave to the
friend’s computer. Update the antivirus
software on his computer before you do
so. Then scan your hard drive for viruses
and repair it.
 If you are able to clean the viruses
from your machine then delete all restore
points and temporary folders from your
computer. These may include viruses that
were backed up along with your data.
 Ask a friend to let you use his
computer for 10 minutes. Plug in a thumb
drive into the USB port of his computer,
insert your Windows Me CD into his
drive, and copy all the contents of the
Windows Me CD to the thumb drive.
 Now unplug the thumb drive and plug
it to your computer. Copy the contents to
your computer.
 Either choose to repair your computer
using ‘SFC’ from ‘Start | Run’ or reinstall
Windows over the current installation
so that Windows can replace the
damaged system files of your computer
(recommended).
 Finally, get your CD-ROM drive
repaired or buy a new DVD writer. A new
one costs around Rs 1500 and getting a
new one will be better than repairing the
older one.
Linux is a broad term used for all
operating system distributions based
on the GNU/Linux kernel which is a
derivative of Unix. SUSE, Mandrake, Red
Hat, and Damn Small Linux are different
distributions of Linux.
Finally, there are not many websites
that teach programming for free. You
can try one of these websites (www.
w3schools.com or www.codeguru.com)
or search the Internet for e-books and free
downloads.
[Q] Hi Dr. CHIP. I have created an
account name under the name ‘n’ but
now I want to delete that account.
However, I am not able to delete it. I
have gone to ‘User Accounts’ in the
Control Panel but there I have not
found any option to delete an account.
Please send me the procedure required
to delete that account.
– Amit Kumar Panjiyar
Delete a user from Windows using User accounts
in the control panel.
You will have to log in through an
account that has administrator rights
and permissions in order to delete the
account. Once logged in, choose the
account you want to delete, then choose
the option to delete the account and then
decide whether you want to save the files
created in that account or not.
[Q] Hi, Dr. CHIP. I’m having a serious
problem with my Nero installation.
I’m using a Pentium IV, 1.5 GB of RAM,
and Windows Vista Ultimate Edition.
My 80 GB hard disk is divided into four
partitions of 20 GB each. I installed
Dr CHIP Hands On
Use the Add / Remove Programs option from
the control panel to uninstall any unnecessary
programs. Don’t delete the folders directly.
Vista in one drive, which took about
12 GB of that drive. So, I thought of
installing other programs in another
drive so as to keep my Windows drive
free. But unfortunately I installed Nero
in the Windows drive. So I thought
about changing the drive in which I
installed Nero. I didn’t uninstall it,
but deleted the files in the C: drive
(in the Program Files folder). I again
tried installing it but there was no
installation option. There were only
options to modify, remove, and repair.
When I tried these options, I got an
error message. I do not have any CD
burning software right now. Can I
know if there are any other CD/DVD
burning programs or can I fix this
problem? There is no corruption in
the installation file. I am sure about
it because I installed it on another
drive—the Windows drive. I’m unable
to install it again. Nero is still there
on the All Programs list. When I try to
uninstall Nero from there, it doesn’t
work and shows the same messages.
– Vamsi Dasari
You have made a mistake while
removing the application. You did not
uninstall it, but deleted the folder, which
means that many other components are
still left behind and Windows has no way
of knowing the program is meant to be
removed. You have four options now. The
first option is use other CD/DVD burning
software such as Roxio, Deep Burner, or
Fox DVD Creator. The second option is to
reinstall your whole operating system. The
third option is to use a Registry cleaner
along with Windows install clean-up
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 101
 Hands on Dr CHIP
software to remove the remnants of the
old software. The fourth and best option
is to install the same application on a
friend’s computer which has the same
operating system. Then copy the files you
deleted from his computer to the same
location on your computer. Make sure you
install the software in the C: drive (where
you had installed Nero on your computer)
on his computer. Later, you may uninstall
the software from both computers.
Let me know what you did and which
method worked best for you.
[Q] Hello Dr. CHIP, I am big fan of CHIP.
I have a problem with my PC. When I
turned it on there was no booting (no
beep sound, but the fan is moving).
Later, I examined the motherboard and
processor (P3) on a working rig, but
they did not work. The motherboard
and processor are totally damaged, I
think. Is this so? Please tell me what I
should do. It’s urgent. Thank you.
– Amiya Patra
Hi Amiya. If you say that you have
tested the processor and the motherboard
on a working rig, and there is still no
response from the system, then it is
for sure that the motherboard and/or
processor have been damaged. Make
sure that the processor and motherboard
are compatible or supported by the
test components you are using. If not,
then your computer will not respond. If
everything is compatible, then check the
power supply for faults. The power supply
might be the root cause for the damage to
your motherboard and processor. Check it
thoroughly.
[Q] Dear Sir, I am a CHIP reader (and
hardware engineer) from Bellary,
Karnataka. I would like to share
my problem with you and get the
solution. I have a Reliance LG CDMA
5340 handset which can be used as
dial-up modem (through USB cable
with its own software) to connect to
the Internet. I was using this handset
with my office computer (P4, 845
motherboard, 80 GB, 256 MB RAM,
Windows XP Professional). It was
working fine and connecting to the
102 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Internet without any difficulty. After
I bought a new PC (Pentium E2140,
D945 MB, 160 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM,
DVD writer, Windows XP Professional,
BIOS version/date-Intel corp. Nl94510
j.86a.0010.2007.0523.1650, 5/23/2007,
SMBIOS version-2.4), I am trying to
use the same handset to connect
to the Internet. But the problem is,
though the modem is found installed
in my PC, when it comes to connecting
to the Internet, the status message
‘connecting to the device’ shows on
the dial-up window, but no such status
is found on the screen of the mobile
handset. After 5-7 seconds, the system
(processing, keyboard & mouse) stops
working and hangs. Then I have no
choice but to press the ‘Reset’ button
to restart. I have tried reinstalling the
OS, cleaning the unwanted registry
entries using Windows registry
repair software, and scanning the
system with Quick Heal Total Security
antivirus. I am sure and have hope
that you will get back to me with a
solution. Thanking you.
– K. Anand
Use the right data cable (preferably supplied by
the phone manufacturer only).
You should try reinstalling your
operating system and try again. First,
try without using any drivers of the
motherboard (just install the Windows
operating system without any drivers for
motherboard, VGA, or sound). Just install
the handset drivers and check.
If all goes fine, then load the rest of the
drivers one by one and check between
installations. If the system freezes, you
know where the fault lies. Change or
update the drivers that caused the conflict.
If it still doesn’t work, then try using a
different USB port. If this also doesn’t
work, then there could be a problem with
your motherboard. You can try using a PCI
to USB card and disable the USB ports on
the motherboard.
You can also try using the handset on
another computer to make sure that it
is not faulty. Make sure that you have a
virus-free operating system. We would
appreciate it if you could reply with the
details of the procedure that worked in
your case.
[Q] Hi Dr. CHIP, can you tell me if it is
safe to insert an AGP card into a PCIe
slot? Also when I am right clicking on
any of my drives I see some different
type of script/language instead of
options. What could this be?
– Indrajit
An AGP card cannot be connected to the PCIe
slot and vice versa as the edge connectors are
different from each other.
Hello Indrajit. First of all, an AGP
card will not fit into a PCIe slot. Secondly,
an AGP card is not designed for a PCIe
slot. You will have to buy a PCIe card to
use in a PCIe slot. The slot configuration
and technology of AGP differs from that
of PCIe. About your second question,
you might have a virus or have corrupted
system files. Please make sure you
have a good antivirus program installed
and updated to the latest release. Scan
your computer and clean out all viruses.
Also, install an antispyware program
and do the same. Finally, make sure all
the system files are not corrupted. To
do this, click on ‘Start | Run’, and type
‘sfc /scannow’. Make sure you have your
Windows XP CD available when you do
this. The system file checker will then
check each and every system file of your
computer’s operating system and repair/
replace them as needed. In case you
have not managed to solve this problem
with the above solution, do write in again

and send me a screenshot of the problem
if possible.
[Q] I recently bought a Seagate 160 GB
SATA HDD. I also have an old Seagate
40 GB PATA HDD. My problem is that I
can’t install an OS on the 160 GB HDD.
My motherboard doesn’t detect it. The
motherboard is from MSI. Please help
me out and give me a solution.
– Guneshwor Okram
You need to give me details of the
motherboard. This problem is a BIOS-
related one. You will have to update the
BIOS from the MSI website. Make sure
you know how to update the BIOS by
flashing it. If you don’t know how to do
it, then seek the help of an experienced
computer engineer or else take your
motherboard to an MSI service center
near you. Flashing the BIOS is quite
risky. If you flash it with the wrong BIOS
version or if there is a power failure while
flashing the BIOS, you could render the
motherboard useless. Be careful if you
are doing this on your own. If you want to
do it on your own, follow this procedure:
Download the latest BIOS from the
motherboard manufacturer’s website.
Double check if you have the right BIOS
update file. Format a fresh new floppy
disk and make it bootable. Make sure the
floppy is in good condition and does not
have any bad sectors.
Copy the BIOS update file and the
BIOS flash program from the website or
the motherboard CD. Next, boot from the
floppy drive, run the BIOS flash program,
choose the BIOS file to be updated and
execute the program. Do not touch any
buttons at the time of the update. Once
your BIOS is updated, you can continue
with your new hard drive installation.
[Q] Hi, I am facing a couple of problems
with my PC. My configuration is:
Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz, 256 MB RAM,
and Windows XP SP2. While surfing
the net, I get the error ‘Generic
host process for win32 services has
encountered a problem and needs to
close’. A few seconds after I close
the pop-up, I’m unable to open any
website as the connection becomes
unresponsive. I am then unable to
disconnect even after switching off the
router. I have to resort to restarting
the machine. Please help me solve this
problem. Also, I am unable to use the
USB and headphone ports on the front
of the CPU. Please let me know how to
enable them. The ports at the back of
my CPU work fine.
– Abhijeet
It appears to be a worm attack on
your computer. Please ensure that you are
using antivirus and antispyware programs.
Scan and clean the system thoroughly.
Also run the programs ‘Hijackthis’ and
‘Stinger’ on your computer. After all that
is done, run the system file checker to
repair corrupted and changed system
files on the operating system. To do this,
click on ‘Start’ then on ‘Run’, and type
‘sfc /scannow’. The program will run and
scan all system files and replace them
when necessary. Do keep your Windows
XP CD ready as the program will need it
to replace the required files. Reboot the
computer and check if all is working fine.
Let me know if you need more help on
this issue.
[Q] Hi. I am from Bangalore and an
ardent reader of your magazine. This
is my first mail to you. I would be
grateful if you could answer my two
questions as below. A. The cabinet
fans (not processor fan) in my PC make
a lot of noise every time I switch it
on. If I tap the cabinet lightly for some
time, then the sound stops, kind of like
resonance! How do I reduce the sound?
Also, please recommend a good brand
of silent fans (affordable ones). B. I
am planning to buy a new system for
myself and sell my current PC. So can
you advise the price at which I can sell
the following PC and also websites/
shops in Bangalore where I can sell?
My system configuration:
 Processor = AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual
core processor 3600+ 2GHz
 Motherboard = Asus M2NPV-VM
(Nvidia GeForce 6150).
 RAM = Transcend DDR2 512 MB x2.
Dr CHIP Hands On
 HDD = Seagate Barracuda 160 GB
SATA.
 Optical Drive = Liteon Superdrive
Multiwriter DVD RW.
 Monitor = LG Flatron 17’ TFT-LCD.
 Speakers = Creative Inspire 5.1
 UPS = APC 20min backUPS with
surge protection.
 Logitech keyboard and optical
mouse
 Floppy drive = Sony FDD
 Cabinet = Zebronics mesh front
cabinet (120’ blue led fan in front, 2x80’
fans on side)+ 400 W SMPS.
Kindly help me in this regard.
– Ashwin S
Keep the fans inside the computer chassis clean
and oiled from time to time to avoid over heating.
I am unaware of computer prices
in Bangalore. You will have to ask a local
engineer or computer dealer. Try the
CHIP-India forum. You may get some
response from readers who are from the
same area who are interested in buying a
good second hand computer or can help
you with prices. The cabinet fans are now
getting old or have lost their lubrication,
which is now making the fans vibrate, and
hence the cabinet makes a noise. Tapping
it would stop the noise for some time,
but I would not recommend doing that as
it could cause damage to the hard drive
inside the chassis. It would be better if
you change the fans as new ones are
available for as little as Rs 100. Another
recommendation is to use a fan controller
such as the Wind Rider from Cooler
Master (see the hardware reviews section
of the October 2007 issue of CHIP) along
with the required fans, so one can control
the speeds of the fans. 
Send in your queries to Francis D’Sa at
drchip@chip-india.com
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JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 103
 Hands on WORKSHOP

Cellphone Themes
Here is an easy way to create your own customized cell phone
themes online and then download them to your cell phone.
By Gareth Mankoo

W
ithout all the customization and
beautification that has gone into cell
phones, they would have been rather
nerdy gizmos used only by technology geeks.
Most of them support themes that can be set
and changed according to the user’s moods,
tastes, and fantasies. To cater to the demands
of cell phone users, we have come up with a
list of websites that provide cell phone themes.
Based on images of a canoe in Venice or a
racing game, these themes have just about
everything one could dream of having on
their phone. The transfer and trade of themes
between friends is a popular trend among
youngsters. It is not surprising anymore to see
squeaky little school kids bragging about the
latest themes on their N-Series phones (Yes!
Some of them do own such cool stuff that a
nine to five job can’t get us). You can easily
tell who is cool from who is not, by simply
checking the gizmos that he/she owns. So it is
ultimately necessary to get yourself something
that can set you apart from the rest and win
you those envious looks from colleagues
and friends. Making themes based on your
subject of choice also has an added advantage.
Imagine the surprise when you transfer a
theme to your girl and she installs it only to
find out that it has the snapshots of some the
most memorable moments you two had spent
together. Wow!
Everyone loves customization. The latest
trends add fuel to this movement by permitting
customizations of everything from cars to
homes. So how about plunging into the world
of customized cell phone themes? There are
many themes available online, but we are
talking about individual customization here. Do
it yourself! You do not have to purchase any
complicated theme-making software or spend
the better part of your day downloading these
from the Internet. Here are some helpful tips
Pramod Jadhav
on the new terminology and also some basic

104 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008 SMS us! Story code: HCT to 57007

know-how that’s required for building
the best theme possible at Ownskin—a
website which offers customization for
mobile themes.
Background Images
The tool we use in this workshop is
available online. All you have to do is
get a couple of images that you would
like your theme to be based on. Select
anything from your current heartthrob’s
face to your favorite super car. There are
a few limitations to everything in life.
Ownskin needs your images to have
a dimension of 240 x 320 pixels for a
perfect fit. You can resize images using
Photoshop, Paint, IrfanView or any other
image editing application. If you still can’t
manage it, then you can use the cropping
feature provided by Ownskin. By moving
a translucent mask over your image, you
can select a certain portion of it to set as
your theme background.
You can also resize your selection box
by keeping the [Shift] key pressed and
dragging the corners using your mouse.
The site will adjust the image accordingly.
Make sure that you do not choose a very
large portion of the image as it may result
in an error. Now that you’ve got your
images, it’s time to move in for the kill.
Active and Passive Backgrounds
The website asks you to customize your
idle and active backgrounds, but you don’t
have a clue what they are. If you haven’t
come across the terms ‘Idle’ and ‘Active’
backgrounds, then don’t worry. The idle
background is the basic background that
appears on the main page of your cell
phone. This is sometimes referred to as
‘background image’ or ‘wallpaper’. This
image defines your theme. It can be
as dashing and attractive as you would
like it to be. An active background is
normally seen whenever you view menus
and sub-menus. However, you have to
make sure that these images aren’t too
colorful because viewing the menu text
and icons should not become difficult.
Selecting these images carefully is
important because the visibility of the
icons on the menus depends entirely
on them. However, we can always use
filters to help us distinguish text from
backgrounds. Ownskin allows you to
create other backgrounds for incoming
call pop-ups, calendars and go-to menus.
It is important to remember that these
backgrounds should be as plain as
possible so that the text that appears on
it is visible and readable.
Adding Filters
A filter is a transparent layer that is placed
over the Idle and Active backgrounds.
The reason we need to add a filter over
our background is that there may be
occasions when the text below the icons
as well as at the top and bottom of the
selected backgrounds are not visible. This
mostly happens in case of multi-color
backgrounds. Picking the right color for
our filters is an important step as well.
Picking the right colors
It is important to pick the right colors
for both your text as well as the filters.
In the case of filters, you have to select
the colors by their R (red), G (green), and
B (blue) values. Select the percentage
of the filter’s translucency from the last
drop-down box. This is useful if you
need to increase the contrast of icons or
icon text against the active background.
This is only found in the case of the
filter color selection. All the shades are
based on three basic colors: red, green,
and blue. These colors are named using
hexadecimal RGB codes. The minimum
value for each of the three colors is 00
WORKSHOP Hands on
and the maximum is FF. If all three colors
are assigned 00, you will get black. If all
three are assigned FF, you will get white.
Sharing your themes
You can make your theme either ‘Private’
or ‘Public’. Making a theme ‘Private’ will
make it impossible for others to see it,
whereas making a theme ‘Public’ will
make it freely available on the Ownskin
website. Once your themes are public,
they can be downloaded and viewed
by anyone looking for a theme with a
similar name and subject. They can also
comment on your theme on your profile’s
guestbook. You will gather loads of profile
hits and downloads from other members
and visitors of the site if your themes are
attractive enough.
Downloading other themes
You can also download themes which
were created on the Ownskin website.
Simply search for the theme you are
looking for and select the appropriate
phone model. The steps to download
these themes are the same as those
required to download your own themes.
You can also use WAP to download
themes directly to your phone. If you have
a GPRS enabled phone, then visit http://
www32.ownskin.com/wap and enter
the code for the theme you want. For
instance, 68799512 is the code for the
CHIP theme that was made during this
workshop. Now, turn to the next page for
the workshop.
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JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 105
 Hands on WORKSHOP

Workshop Steps
1 2

Sign up at www.ownskin.com by filling in your details and You can later customize your profile and make it attractive and
clicking on ‘Sign Up’. You will get a user ID, password, and also impress your friends. It is optional for you to enter all the personal
your own profile page that will contain all the themes that you details in your profile. So enter only those that you can brag
create from then on. about! Click on ‘Update Homepage’ when done.

3 4

Click on ‘Ownskin’ on the top left of the screen. To start creating The next step will require you to upload the Idle Background
your theme, click on ‘Create’. The site provides a list of supported image. Ensure your image’s size is less than 1 MB. If its
phone models for which you can create your themes. Now you resolution exceeds 320 x 240 pixels, then crop it in the next step.
can select any one. Similarly, upload your Active Background and crop it.

5 6

You can complete the customization of the theme by clicking on Click ‘Advanced Settings’ to add a filter to your active and
‘Create My Skin Now’. You theme will now have only the Active passive backgrounds. There is also a list of clock styles. You can
and Idle backgrounds. To carry on with further customizations, select pre-made signal battery indicator styles from it. Also, you
click on ‘Advanced Settings’. can upload your own signal/battery images.

106 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 WORKSHOP Hands on

Workshop Steps contd...

7 8

You can customize the ‘Application Icons’ in your menus and In the third step, you save your theme. Pick an appropriate name
add backgrounds for various pop ups and other screens. Finally, for it as it will be helpful when others search your theme. Enter
you can pick a color for all the text in your theme using the RGB tags that refer to your theme as these too are important search
dropdowns. Click on ‘Create My Skin Now’. criteria. Set your theme as Public or Private and click ‘Save Skin’.

9 10

To download your theme, click on the ‘Home’ tab and then After the verification test, you can download your themes. The
on ‘My Skins’. Click on the image of your theme to open the first option is to click on ‘Save skin file’ and directly download the
download page. Select the phone model from the dropdown list theme to your PC. 
and click on ‘Download to my Mobile’. – gareth.mankoo@infomediaindia.com

Final Screenshots

1 2 The Active Background with a filter.

The Idle
Background
without a
filter.

3 The Gallery looks pretty cool too!

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JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 107
 Hands on WORKSHOP

Sync your PCs

Very often you need to synchronize your data between your
office/home desktop with your travel laptop. CHIP shows you
how to make a two-PC peer-to-peer network to transfer and
synchronize your data. By Francis D’Sa

W
ith the dip in laptop prices and their
improving feature sets, a lot of people
have become proud owners of mobile
computers. And this population is only on the
rise. You must be often traveling between cities
with your laptop. Your desktop at home or office
is used to download intense amounts of music
or videos, which usually keep you occupied
during those long trips. You could also have a
pile of presentations and work documents on
your computer at home or at the office that you
would like to copy onto your laptop to make a
presentation. A thumb drive is a low-capacity
option which makes it inconvenient for
transferring huge data files. With a thumb drive,
you might have to copy several batches of files
if you have large amounts of data to be copied.
Besides, the transfer speeds can be really slow.
An external USB hard drive is a better choice,
but is another expensive bulky unit to carry
around. So what is the best way to transfer data
from your desktop to your laptop?
One option is to connect your computers
over a LAN, or local area network. But if you
have only one PC at home, it may not be
feasible to invest in network infrastructure.
Peer-to-peer networking using a single, cross-
crimped network cable is a better and cheaper
alternative as nearly all computers today have a
built-in network adapter.
We have put together a basic workshop to
show you how to build a cross-cabled peer-to-
peer network to help you transfer or synchronize
your data between two computers without the
need for a network switch. In this workshop,
we will teach you how to make a cross-crimped
CAT5 cable on your own. The requirements
will cost anywhere between Rs 40-60 (for a 5
meter cable). You can also buy a readymade
cross-crimped cable from the local computer
market for around Rs 150 or so. The rest of the
workshop then shows you how to set up the
Pramod Jadhav
two computers which need to be networked.

108 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008 SMS us! Story code: HSP to 57007
 Making the cross cable
What you require for this workshop: 1 2
A minimum of two plastic RJ-45
connectors, a 5 meter CAT5 cable (the
length will depend on what you require),
and an RJ-45 crimping tool.
Step 1: Measure the required distance
between the laptop and the desktop and
cut off the required length of the CAT5
cable. Now take one end of the cable
and peel off approximately 2.5 cm of
the insulating sleeve using the stripper
portion of the crimping tool.
Step 2: Separate the four colored wire
pairs from each other. 3 4
Note: Some cables have white wires
coded with lines or dots to mark the pair
while some cables don’t. Remember
that each wire pair will be twisted around
each other to denote the pair.
Step 3: Cut off any two pairs that you
won’t be using to make the cable. (Only
four wires or two pairs are needed for
connectivity). We chose to keep the blue
and the orange pair and chopped off the
remaining two pairs.
Step 4: Now straighten all the wires in a
neat line and align them in the following 5 6
manner—White Orange - Orange -
White Blue - Blue. (You can choose any
color pair to come first but remember that
each pair should consist of the twisted
pair only and nothing from the other color
pair should be used).
Step 5: The next step is to cut off the
edges of the wire using the cutter of
the crimping tool in a manner that all the
wires are now of the exact same length.
Note: Do not cut the wires too much
because if the length of the wires is too lock facing away from you and the golden connector by pushing it with a little force.
short, they may not be properly crimped leads facing upwards. Now note the Wire colors should be matched in the
inside the RJ45 connector. The length of pin numbers (see picture) because the manner shown in the illustration.
the wires coming out of the sleeve should next steps would completely depend on Step 9: After you have aligned and pushed
not be longer or shorter than 1.5 cm. straining your eye to correctly insert the all the wires deep inside the connector,
Step 6: Now separate the last wire (Blue) right wire into the right groove. Also note it is time to take a final check. Turn the
from the others keeping a gap of around that each pin or lead has a groove to let connector on both sides and look closely
½ cm. This is because the first three only one wire reach the lead. to confirm if each wire has reached the
wires would connect to pin numbers 1, Step 8: Now carefully insert the wires into extreme top of the connector and the
2, & 3 and the last wire would connect to the connector. Carefully match the colors sleeve of the CAT 5 cable has crossed the
pin number 6 of the RJ 45 connector. with the pins and confirm they are in the lock zone (See image). If the wires are not
Step 7: Take a good look at the RJ 45 right order and groove. Double check the reaching the end and/or if the sleeve does
connector. Hold it in the same direction connection for each respective wire and not cross the lock zone, there are chances
as shown in the image with the plastic pin. Insert the wires all the way inside the of bad connections and/or the wires may
 7 3 4 5 6
2 7
1 8
9 10
11
Networking
Step 1: Let us configure the settings of
the desktop PC first. Start Windows
(we assume that most people use
Windows XP. Other operating systems
like Linux, Mac OS or older/newer
versions of Windows may follow more
or less the same settings). Click on
‘Start | Control panel’. Double click on
‘Network Connections’. You should find
your network card (if not installed, make
sure you do that first by installing the
necessary drivers) displayed as ‘Local
8 get damaged respectively. Ensure proper
Connector A Connector B
RJ45 Pin# Pin# RJ45
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
12
Area Connection’ with a little red cross
indicating no connection. Right click on
the icon and select ‘Properties’. In the
next window, double click on ‘Internet
Protocol (TCP/IP)’ under the section ‘This
connection uses the following items:’
This opens the ‘Internet Protocol (TCP/
IP) Properties’ page. Select or enable the
option ‘Use the following IP address:’
and in the following window enter the ‘IP
address’ as ‘192.168.0.1’ and the ‘Subnet
mask’ as ‘255.255.255.0’. Do not enter
any other settings anywhere else. Save all
fitting to avoid problems. If you find that
the wires are too short or long, start
the entire procedure again. Do not take
any risks because once the connector
is crimped to the wire, you cannot undo
it. In such a case, the connector will be
wasted and the wire will get shorter.
Step 10: Finally after ensuring that all
wires are in place inside the connector,
it’s time for crimping. Insert the
connector, by holding the wire in the
crimping tool. While doing this, apply a
little force on the cable to push the sleeve
and the wires as far as it can go into the
connector and immediately press the tool
handles to crimp the connector.
Press the tool firmly to ensure a good
crimped connector and to avoid loose
connections. You should also hear a click
when you are crimping which indicates
that the sleeve has been locked in position
inside the connector.
Step 11: To crimp the other end with a
connector, follow the procedure from
step 1 to step 10 but the only difference
will be the order of the cable color. Here
follow the order of the colors as follows
—White Blue - Blue - White Orange -
Orange. The rest of the procedure is the
same. Your cable should now be ready
for use.
Step 12: Insert each end of the cable into
the network port of the laptop and the
desktop PC respectively. This completes
the physical cabling. Follow the
procedures on the next page to continue
with the software settings.
settings and exit.
Step 2: Now we need to change the
Computer Name and Workgroup of the
computer. This step is optional as the
networking can be used without these
names also.
The IP address itself can be used to
access the computers on the network. But
to make things simpler, we can follow this
step too. Right click on ‘My Computer’
and click ‘Properties’. In the ‘System
Properties’ window, select the ‘Computer
Name’ tab. Click on the ‘Change’ button.
 Hands on WORKSHOP

A window pops up—‘Computer Name

Changes’. Here specify a unique name in
the ‘Computer Name’ field. For example:
‘Desktop’. In the field ‘Workgroup’ under
‘Member of’ enter a unique workgroup
name, for example: ‘Workgroup’ or
‘Home’. Save all settings and restart the
computer.
Step 3: Repeat ‘Step 1’ and ‘Step 2’ on
the laptop or the second computer to
be connected. The only changes here
will be a different ‘Computer Name’
and ‘IP Address’ Use a name such as
‘Laptop’ and use another IP address, for
example: ‘192.168.0.2’. This will complete
the networking part. Keep the same
workgroup name as the other computer.
Step 4: Let us now setup sharing. For this,
let us assume you have a folder named
‘Music’ on drive D of your desktop PC
which contains all your songs. You want
to share this folder to copy your music to
the other computer. Double click on ‘My
Computer | Local Disk (D:)’. Right click
on the ‘Music’ folder and select ‘Sharing
and Security’. A Properties window will
come up. Here, click on the link ‘If you
understand the security risks…click here’.
This will pop up a window called ‘Enable
File Sharing’ where you need to select
‘Just enable file sharing’ and click ‘OK’. your desktop. Select ‘View workgroup computers at the same time using this
In the properties window, again, select computers’ on the left panel. Under method. If you need to do something
the check box ‘Share this folder on the ‘Network tasks’ you will find your two like that, you will need to make straight-
network’ and enter a unique name in the computers listed. Double click on the through network cables and use an
‘Share name’ field, for example: ‘Music’. required PC and then on the shared folder Ethernet switch.
Select the option ‘Allow network users to available in it. Start copying your files to There are other third party applications,
change my files’ only if you wish to allow and fro. which you may find interesting, to
the other computer to write back into this  Click ‘Start’, then on ‘Run’. Enter automatically synchronize your data
folder, or just leave the option unchecked. the other computer’s name with two between two or more computers at
Click on ‘Apply’, then ‘OK’ to save the backslashes (\\), for example: ‘\\desktop’ specific intervals. These applications
settings. Carry out the same procedure and hit enter. The other shared drives can help synchronize data like e-mails,
for all the other folders that require to be on your computer will be shown in an documents, songs, etc. Some applications
shared with the other computer. Do the explorer window. also compress your data and enable
same procedure on the other computer  Click ‘Start’, and then ‘Run’. Enter password protection to ensure complete
too to enable sharing of folders. the other computer’s IP address with safety of your data. For example: ‘Second
Note: Each shared folder will display a two backslashes (\\), for example: Copy’ can be used to synchronize your
different icon (a hand symbol will appear ‘\\192.168.0.1’, and the other shared e-mails, documents and much more, at
under each shared folder icon indicating drives on your computer will be shown in specific intervals which are assigned by
that the folder is shared on the network). an explorer window. you. Such applications also have facilities
Step 5: Your peer-to-peer network is now This completes the workshop to like compression, archiving, incremental
ready for use! To transfer data from one connect and synchronize data between backup etc. You can download a 30 day
computer to the other, just follow any one two computers using a simple cross- trial copy of such an application from
of the following methods: crimped cable. www.centered.com 
 Double click on ‘Network Places’ on Note: You cannot connect more than two – francis.dsa@chip-india.com

112 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008

 Hands on WORKSHOP WORKSHOP Hands on

Personalized CDs
CHIP steps you through a workshop which will help
you design and lay out CD covers and faces. Now
you can personalize special videos and music with
your own CD designs! By Shaxeb S.

T
his truly is the ‘DIY’ age. This scenario especially applies to
artists. Today, more and more musicians find solace in their
little home or rather ‘room’ studios. Amateurs and even kids
with access to cameras have begun making videos and uploading
them to sites such as YouTube. It’s one thing to see videos or
hear music online, but it’s entirely different to hold a professionally
packaged CD or DVD in your hands. No matter how far the digital
revolution takes us, some things will never change. So, we thought
of putting together a workshop on designing CD covers and labels
to make your home creations look as good as your favorite singers’
CDs! This can also help you organize your CDs.
This workshop uses Adobe Photoshop (most versions include the
tools we’ll need) but you can follow the steps using any software
of your choice. We didn’t use Nero’s cover designer because the
file format it uses is not very well known. So let’s go ahead and put
Pramod Jadhav
together your first CD cover design!

Making a CD cover

1 2 3

Step 1: In this workshop, our objective is
to make a cover for a thin CD case which
has only one transparent side. In case, you
want to do the same for different types
of CDs, you can pick up the essence of
this workshop and use the methods in all
shapes and sizes of CD jackets.
The size of a standard CD case is
12x12 cm. Open Photoshop and make a
new project by clicking ‘File I New’ and
punch in 12 in ‘Width’ and ‘Height’ (use
cms in the drop down menu). You should
ideally use a resolution of 300 dpi for good
quality. In the ‘Color Mode’, select ‘RGB’.
Step 2: Navigate to the design that you
want on your cover with ‘File I Open’.
Browse to the design file, select it and
click ‘Open’.
Now you need to resize your design
so that it fits inside the square CD cover
template which is your background layer.
Press [Ctrl] + [T] and you will see a border
around your design. Press [Shift] and
pull it to match the background and your
design edge to edge. If you do not press
[Shift], the aspect ratio won’t change in
proportion. When the design fits perfectly
on the background, press [Enter].
Step 3: Now that your design fits to the
required size, you can use the Text tool
to write the CD’s title unless you have
already done that in your design file. You
can make as many Text layers as you like
for the different areas on the cover. After
you are done, go to ‘Layer I Flatten Image’.
This step will combine all the layers and
give you one single resultant layer which
is your CD cover. Go to ‘File I Save As’
and save your cover in the TIFF format.
Select ‘None’ when the TIFF compression
window pops up and save the file in your
preferred folder.

SMS us! Story code: HPC to 57007 |

JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 113
 Making a CD Face
1 2 3

Step 1: To print CD labels, you will require
a standard template which you can
download from www.surething.com.
Besides this link, you can also find a
whole lot of free templates with a simple
search on the Internet.
If you are printing CD labels on a printer
at home, you will need A4 sized sticker
paper which is specially designed for CD
labels. You can also use the following link:
http://www.acmecd.com/templates.
html for different types of templates.
Step 2: Once you have downloaded the
template, which can either be in the .PSD
(Photoshop format), .EPS, .JPG, .TIFF,
you can open it in Photoshop with ‘File
I Open’. Browse to the folder where the
file is saved, select it and click ‘Open’. In
our template, there are two CD faces on
a page. This can save a lot of paper and
money in case you want to make many
copies on regular paper in addition to
the paper sticker you’ll use for CD faces
prints on this template.
Step 3: The following steps are similar
to the ones we followed while making
the CD cover. Navigate to the design
you want on the CD face by clicking
‘File I Open’, select the file and click
‘Open’. Even if your design is a square
or a rectangle, we can either fit it in the
template to see the complete design
or cut out some elements to make it
fit in an aesthetic manner. The type of
composition can vary, and is completely
your call.

4 5 6

Step 4: Once you have composed your CD
face, you can switch off the ‘eye’ symbol
in the template layers (the empty CD
layers which were in the template) in the
Layer panel. Duplicate your composed
design on the first CD face in this
template: Right-click on the design layer,
click ‘Duplicate Layer’.
When the duplicate layer appears,
use the ‘Move’ tool to drag it over the
second CD face in the template. Now, you
have your complete design with two CD
faces which is required to print on the CD
sticker template.
Step 5: Go to ‘Layer I Flatten Image’.
Your CD face is now complete and
ready to print but care has to be taken
so that while printing there is no
cutting or bleeding. Bleeding can cause
parts of your CD face to be cut off in
printing. Also, the CD sticker needs to
be managed well and it is best to buy
branded CD sticker sheets which are
easily available in the market.
Using good stickers can assure you good
quality and minimize bleeding problems
besides you will not have to sit and cut
out circular shapes!
Step 6: You need to be cautious while
sticking the CD face because there are
chances that you may not align it properly
and it will look imbalanced. The sticker
sheet has instructions which you should
follow to avoid such problems. You
should also take care to avoid creating
air pockets which occur in some areas
between the CD and the sticker because
of imbalanced sticking.
Now, you just have to slide the printed
covers in, and your CDs as well as their
packaging will be ready. 
– shazeb.shaikh@infomediaindia.com

Umesh Dahiwalkar
Tip of the month 
Windows XP
Windows automatically starts up some services
in the background. Most of these services are
unused by common PC users. This tends to slow
down the booting time and it can also be heavy on
important resources like CPU and RAM. Here are
some listed services which you can safely disable
(if not used) which can speed up the performance
of your computer to a certain extent. Try them at
your own risk. We would suggest that you check
the description of each service on the Internet
before you disable them and also try disabling
them one at a time:
Alerter, Application Management, Background
Intelligent Transfer Service, Clipbook, Error
Reporting Service, Fast User Switching, IMAPI
CD-Burning COM Service, Indexing Service, IP
SEC, Messenger, Net Logon, Network DDE, NT
LM Security Support Provider, Performance Logs
and Alerts, Portable Media Serial Number, QOS
RSVP, Remote Desktop Help Session Manager,
Remote Registry, Routing & Remote Access,
Secondary Login, Smart Card, Smart Card Helper,
SSDP Discovery Service, TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper,
Telnet, Uninterruptible Power Supply Service,
Universal Plug and Play Device Host, Upload
Manager, Volume Shadow Copy Service, Web
Client, Wireless Zero Configuration, WMI
Performance Adapter.
SMS us! Story code: HTT to 57007
Tips & TrIcks Hands on
Tips
Tricks JANUARY 2008
Share your tips. Write to: tnt@chip-india.com
WINDOWS 116
1. Windows XP Exclusive button for ‘Hibernate’
2. Windows XP Reactivating Windows Update after repairing the system
3. Windows Vista Manipulating the performance index and using more functions
4. Windows 2000, XP, Vista Deleting contents but not the folder structure
5. Windows 2000, XP Reconstructing missing system entries in the ‘Send to’ menu
APPLICATIONS 117
6. iPod Reading text files and website contents on the iPod
7. Photoshop 7, CS, CS2 Creating a romantic sunset in your picture
8. Firefox 2.x Opening registry keys from the browser in a jiffy
9. IE 6, 7 (64 bit) Displaying PDF documents without ‘window flood’
10. Internet Explorer Using old versions parallel to the latest browser
11. Internet Explorer 7 Always opening websites in tabs instead of new windows
12. Internet Explorer, Firefox Quickly finding the domain holders of surfed websites
13. Windows Live Writer Automatically save drafts of articles
14. Photoshop CS, CS2, CS3 Giving black and white photos an analog touch
15. Internet Explorer 7 To add a website link to the ‘Links’ toolbar
16. Winamp 5.x Remove Numbers from Playlist
17. Winamp 5.x Allowing multiple instances
18. Thunderbird The best shortcut keys for the Thunderbird E-Mail Client
HARDWARE 121
19. Notebooks Increasing the brightness of the display beyond its maximum limit
20. iPOD Copying songs from an iPod
21. Registry Cleaning the registry
22. TFT monitor Testing your TFT monitor
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JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 115
 Hands on Tips & TrIcks
Windows
Windows XP
1
Exclusive button for ‘Hibernate’
You can access the ‘Standby’ or
‘Hibernate’ function by pressing [Shift]
in the shutdown menu. Windows
offers several variants for shutting
down. A hotfix can integrate a button
for ‘Hibernate’ in the shutdown menu
and this can be very useful. However,
Microsoft provides this function
enhancement only through a telephonic
enquiry for valid support clients.
1 Try this tip to enable the Hibernate option directly
instead of pressing the Shift key all the time.
There is a way to get the
‘Hibernate’ button in the shutdown
menu besides making the support call to
Microsoft. The second source is http://
thehotfixshare.net. You can download
the hotfix for the ‘Hibernate’ button from
here after you have registered yourself.
Once registered, click on the ‘Downloads’
link, then scroll down on the website,
and go to ‘English Windows XP Hotfix
Downloads’. Open ‘Search’ at the top
right, look for ‘893056’ and download the
ENU EXE file. Close all active programs
on your system, install the hotfix and
restart the computer.
You also need to activate the following
function through the system registry.
Open the ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\
System’ key in the registry editor using
‘Regedit’. Create the ‘Shutdown’ sub-key
with ‘Edit | New | Key’. Now create the
‘ShowHibernateButton’ entry here with
‘Edit | New | DWORD value’ and open it
with a double click.
Finally, set the value from the default
‘0’ to ‘1’ and confirm with ‘OK’. After you
have done this, close the registry editor.
116 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Windows will now display the button for
‘Hibernate’ by default in the shutdown
dialog along with the existing ones.
Windows XP
2 Reactivating Windows Update after
repairing the system
Windows refuses to boot any more.
Luckily, the repair function of the
setup CD was able to repair the
system. However, Windows Update
has strangely stopped functioning
automatically or manually.
2 Registering a DLL file in Windows can help to
avoid activation problems in Windows XP SP2.
A DLL file of the Windows Update
function has created the problem. It needs
to be re-registered in the system after
repairs. However, this is only possible
when the service for automatic updates
is deactivated. The best way to undertake
this is to take the necessary steps in a
command prompt.
Open ‘Start | Run’, enter ‘cmd’ and
confirm by pressing enter. You can end the
irritating service by giving the following
command in the command line: ‘net stop
wuauserv’. The next command registers
‘wups2.dll’ – ‘Regsvr32 %windir%\
system32\wups2.dll’. Quit the following
message with ‘OK’ and reactivate the
service for automatic updates with ‘net
start wuauserv’. Updates can now be
recalled as usual.
All Windows system files are replaced
by their CD versions when the repairing
process is executed with a CD—this also
includes files that are responsible for
the update. This is the reason why the
Windows update does not function after
any sort of system repairs. Moreover, with
a system repair, the registry is restored.
However, the latest version of Windows
updates also uses the ‘wups2.dll’ library
which is not available on the CD.
Though ‘wups2.dll’ remains on your
system during the repairing process, the
corresponding entries in the registry are
missing and need to be restored.
Windows Vista
3
Manipulating the performance index
and using more functions
Vista examines the hardware of your
system and determines a performance
value from what it observes. Some
of the software use this as base and
refuse installation or limit the range of
functions—you find this very annoying.
Vista doesn’t support Aero effect if
the performance index is less than 3. Even
other programs respond with restrictions.
If you simulate a higher value for your
system, you can activate the functions
which have been deactivated —the
execution speed would possibly suffice.
Note: Obviously the actual performance
of your system does not change. Prepare
for the change by letting Vista examine
Quick Tips
System: Open ‘Start | Run | msconfig |
Boot.ini’ and activate the ‘/noguiboot’
option to switch off the XP logo which
appears while booting.
Explorer: When you set the view as
‘View | Thumbnails’, you can rotate
pictures of many formats with a single
command in the context menu.
System: You can disable error reporting
by navigating as following: ‘Start |
Control panel | System | Advanced | Error
reporting’.
Vista Desktop: You can start or stop the
Aeroglass effect in Vista directly from
the command line with ‘net start uxsms’
or ‘net stop uxsms’. You can also create
a batch file if you wish too.
System: You can open another parallel
instance of the registry editor with
‘Start | Run’, followed by the ‘regedit –m’
command.
Explorer: You can hide or view the
filename in the thumbnail view when
you keep the [Shift] key pressed when
clicking on ‘View | Thumbnails’.

3 Fool the system into a high value performance
index to help install other software.
your system. To do this, double click on
‘Performance information and tools’ and
‘Update my score’ in the control panel.
Wait till the check is complete. You have
to temporarily switch off the user account
control to save the modifications to
the corresponding file. To do this, start
‘regedit’. Navigate to ‘HKEY_LOCAL_
MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\System’ key.
Change the DWORD value ‘EnableLUA’
to ‘0’ and confirm with ‘OK’. Restart
Windows after closing the registry.
Manipulating the score: Type ‘Wordpad’
in the search field of the start menu
and start the text editor. Select ‘File |
Open’ and navigate to the ‘C:\Windows\
Performance\WinSAT\DataStore’ folder.
Select ‘All Documents’ in the combination
field for data types. Here you will find a
separate XML file for every evaluation
that has been conducted so far. Open the
most recent one. The numerical values of
the last test are written in lines 14 to 21.
Change the numbers to a higher value—to
5.9 at the most and save the file. You
should then reset the changed registry
value to ‘1’, activate the user account
control and restart the PC.
You will see the manipulated results
when you next go to ‘Performance
information and tools’. Do not conduct
another performance test—this will erase
the changes you have made.
Background: The performance index
classifies your hardware components and
recognizes values between 1.0 and 5.9 at
present. Microsoft will widen this range
due to more efficient hardware in future.
The performance index will probably
render the efforts of penning down system
requirements when purchasing new
software. The performance index comes
in handy while buying a new computer or
when upgrading individual components
since you can very easily determine the
weakest component.
Windows 2000, XP, Vista
4 Deleting contents but not the folder
structure
Usually the system can only completely
delete complicated folder structures.
But you want to preserve the structure
and delete only the data files in it.
However, opening and clearing out
every single folder can be quite a
painful and time taking task.
4 Be very careful after using this tip. You can
accidentally delete important files.
A complicated command line can
actually do the job for you. Preferably, you
should define a context command so that
you find the process easy. To do this, open
the registry by going to ‘Start | Run’ and
type ‘regedit’. In the registry, navigate to
the ‘HKEY_ CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\
shell’ key.
Right click on ‘shell’ and create the
‘Empty Folder Contents’ sub key with
‘New | Key’. Then create the ‘command’
sub key in the same way. Open ‘Default’
by right-clicking on it in the right hand
window of ‘command’ and fill it with the
following: ‘cmd /c “cd /d %1 && del /s /f
/q *.*’. The new command ‘Empty folder
contents’ will be displayed in the context
menu for folders immediately after you
close the registry.
Now whenever you need to empty
the contents of the particular folder,
just right click on the folder and choose
‘Empty Folder Contents’ from the
context menu and leave the rest to
Windows.
Tips & TrIcks Hands on
Windows 2000, XP
5 Reconstructing missing system
entries in the ‘Send to’ menu
You can customize the ‘Send to’ context
menu. You have accidentally deleted
the ‘E-Mail Recipient’ system entry
during configuration. What should you
do now?
5 Reassign the ‘Send to’ items which may have
been deleted earlier by you.
Pre-defined system entries start
special functions. They cannot be
regenerated by creating entries of the
same name in the ‘Send to’ folder. So
you can define the ‘Desktop’ folder as
destination, but a send command over
the context menu only copies the file. The
original entry in the ‘Send To’ menu, on
the other hand, establishes a link.
There are special files for the system
entries where the only important thing
is the correct extension of the filename.
Enter ‘%userprofile%’ in the Explorer
address bar, press enter, and go to the
‘Send To’ sub folder (the folder is a hidden
folder). Create an empty file with ‘File
| New | Text Document’. Change the
name of the file and the extension to the
necessary one from the table. The file
extension is the only decisive factor for the
function. You can also orient yourself to
the system standards in the table above.
Confirm the name change with ‘Yes’. Once
these files are created, your ‘Send To’
context menu is ready.
Applications
iPod
6 Reading text files and website
contents on the iPod
The information on a website which
you are reading on your PC, is really
interesting. However, you need to go to
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 117
 Hands on Tips & TrIcks
6 A plain text file displayed on the iPod screen.
the suburban station right away. Can
the text not be displayed on your iPod?
This way you can continue reading
while in transit.
Using this functionality is absolutely
possible on the iPod. All models other
than the iPod shuffle and iPod touch can
display notes. All that you are required
to do is activate the ‘Hard Disk’ mode of
your device. Then, you can copy simple
plain text files into the folder ‘Notes’ that
already exists.
It is even possible to create subfolders
for systematic file storage without any
problem. In the iPod, you’ll be able to
navigate to it just like any other menu.
Quick Tips
Firefox: You can open a link in a new tab,
when you use the middle mouse click
to directly click the link in the Firefox
browser window. and confirm by pressing [Enter]. Wait for
Word: To remove prominent empty
space, select the text and format it one
after the other as ‘center-aligned’ and
then ‘left -aligned’.
Outlook: For not archiving an e-mail,
open it and click ‘File | Properties
| Do not archive this item’’.
Excel / Word: The fastest way to zoom
in or out in a table or a worksheet is to
keep [Ctrl] button pressed, and scroll the
mouse wheel.
Open Office: To protect your work, open
‘Tools | Options | Load / Save | General’
and enable ‘Always create backup copy’.
Internet Explorer: With [Ctrl] + [+]
you can increase the display size of a
website, and also reduce it with [Ctrl] +
[-]. By using the combination, [Ctrl] + [0],
you can set it to 100 percent.
118 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
The problem here is that the iPod can
only display text files of 4 KB or less.
Any text in the file beyond this point is
simply not displayed, and there isn’t even
a notification or a warning regarding this.
So, it is a good idea to divide your text
into smaller files. The small freeware tool
‘txt2ipod’ which can be downloaded from
http://makani.pytalhost.de/ helps you
do this. You can run this program directly
without any installation, but the .NET-
Framework 2 is required.
First, customize the window size to
your iPod model: in the program, select
‘Tools | Window size | Customize to the
iPod nano’, for example. Then open a text
file on your computer with ‘File | Open’ or
call data from the Internet. In the search
7 Modify your picture to your needs using
Photoshop and a few tricks in the application.
field, in the upper right-hand corner,
select the Wikipedia search or call up a
website. Enter the search term or address
a moment until the contents are loaded.
Now, with ‘File | Save for iPod’, create the
linked individual files.
You will have to navigate to the desired
folder in the displayed dialog and click
‘OK’. The tool creates a sub-folder and
saves the continuously numbered and
linked files there. If the iPod is connected,
you can directly save them to the ‘Notes’
folder on the device and call them up from
this location.
Photoshop 7, CS, CS2
7
Creating a romantic sunset in your
picture
The sun is almost touching the horizon
and dips the clouds in orange. A perfect
front page photo for the next holiday
slideshow. However, the intensive
coloring does not reflect in the pictures
you have clicked.
In analog photography, one had
a color filter in the pocket for such
situations. However, you no longer
need one of those today. With image
manipulation, you can imitate the required
effect perfectly with integrated tools.
For soft intensification of the sunset, go
to ‘Image | Adjustments | Photo Filter’ and
select ‘Warmfilter (85)’ and determine the
intensity with the ‘Thickness’ slider.
Most of the times, only the sky and not
the foreground should have a different
hue. You can get a soft fade-over with
the gradient tool with an adjustment
mask. Go to ‘Layer | New Adjustment
8 Using this feature can help advanced users to
work faster with the registry.
Layer | Photo Filter’. Select ‘Warmfilter
(85)’ and determine the intensity with
the ‘Thickness’ slider, which adds a layer
above your sunset picture. You can vary
the shade, by clicking the colored button in
the dialog and opening the ‘Color selector’.
Now add a vector mask by going to
‘Layer | Vector Mask | Reveal all’. Press
[D] to set the default background and
foreground colors. Use the [G] key to
activate the gradient tool and select a
linear course in the dialog. Paint a vertical
line from the sky to the horizon to get the
desired result in your image.
Firefox 2.x
8
Opening registry keys from the
browser in a jiffy
The Internet has an abundance of tips
—some however require you to edit
the Registry. It is a strenuous job to do
editing job with the Windows Registry
Editor. For instance, it is not possible

9 Open PDF files directly in the Internet Explorer
window instead of another PDF reader window.
to copy a key name from a website and
directly access the key by pasting it in
‘regedit’.
This is exactly what the free
enhancement ‘Open in RegEdit’ helps
you do. You can find it at ‘https://addons.
mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4478’.
Download and open the file with Firefox or
go to the website and click ‘Install’. After
the installation is over, restart Firefox. In
future, you can right-click the selected
registry text in the browser to call-up the
new context command ‘Open In Regedit’
with a right click. The Registry Editor
opens automatically and displays the
respective key.
To ensure this works well, you need to
keep in mind a few things: always select
only the key. If, for instance, the key is given
as part of a REG file in square brackets,
remove these brackets. Apart from the
complete spelling, the tool also understands
abbreviations such as ‘HKLM’ instead of
‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’. If the selected
text is not a valid key, you can correct the
data in a displayed dialog. If the relevant
key doesn’t exist, you will reach the last
sub-key. Even if the tool has interpreted the
text incompletely or incorrectly, you have
still opened the Registry.
IE 6, 7 (64 bit)
9 Displaying PDF documents without
‘window flood’
While surfing, the Internet Explorer
always opens a new window as soon
as you click a linked PDF file. This is
irritating since earlier the browser
displayed the document in the same
window.
If you are using 64-Bit-Windows,
by default you automatically surf with
the 64-Bit-version of the browser.
The ActiveX-control element ‘pdf.ocx’
installed by Acrobat for opening lined PDF
documents is, however, only present in
a 32-Bit-version—the browser cannot do
anything about this. It passes on called-up
PDF files to the 32-Bit-version installed in
its system, which opens a new window.
To avoid a window flood, go for a 32-Bit-
version, which, by default, is installed by
the Windows setup. To open this version,
you have two options: you either go
through the start menu and open ‘Start
| Programs | Internet Explorer (32-Bit)’,
or click ‘Start | Run’, enter the following
command in the ‘Open’ field ‘C:\Programs
(x86)\Internet Explorer\Iexplore.exe’ and
confirm with ‘OK’. Here, ‘C’ stands for
your system drive. If you want to work
with this version more often, the best
thing is to create a link on your desktop.
For this, right-click an empty space on the
desktop and select ‘New | Link’. In the
following dialog, enter the command as
you did in case of ‘Run’.
Internet Explorer
10
Using old versions parallel to the
latest browser
While one browser displays the
homepage correctly, the other messes it
up completely. You feel like tearing out
your hair especially when this happens
while web designing. Thus, having
several test browsers in the system
becomes mandatory. And different
versions of the Internet Explorer refuse
to co-exist. What is the solution?
10 Web designers need to use different browsers
to check the compatibility of their website.
Tips & TrIcks Hands on
There are two solutions. The first:
set up a virtual test environment, for
instance, with the free program Virtual PC.
In fact Microsoft provides a completely
configured Virtual PC on which Internet
Explorer 6 runs. The disadvantage is that
the run time of the virtual machine is
limited; apart from this, the program runs
smoothly only on potent PCs.
The freeware ‘Multiple IE’ is suitable for
weaker systems. It facilitates several
versions of Internet Explorer to co-exist
together and installs them. First, update
your PC i.e. with Internet Explorer 7 for XP
and version 6 for Windows 2000.
Download the ‘Multiple IE Installer’ from
‘http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE’ and
install it. After starting the program, in
the ‘Select Components’ dialog, select
‘Custom Installation’ and decide which old
IE versions you want to install. The older
browsers can be called-up individually
through the start menu after the setup.
However, don’t make any settings in
the programs as far as possible, since a
modified main page can also affect your
main browser. On the other hand, the
old versions also accept all settings and
add-ons as long as they are compatible
with them.
Internet Explorer 7
11 Always opening websites in tabs
instead of new windows
When you click on some links, a new
browser window opens automatically.
But the latest Internet Explorer also
supports tab browsing.
One can adjust the settings in such
a way that Internet Explorer automatically
11 Using this tip you can set the browser to open
a popup in a new tab other than a new window.
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JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 119
 Hands on Tips & TrIcks
displays all links in a new tab instead of a
new window. For this, click on ‘Tools’ and
open ‘Internet options’. In the ‘General’
tab, open ‘Settings’ under ‘Tabs’. The
‘Tabbed Browsing Settings’ dialog opens.
Here, you have to activate the ‘Always
open pop-ups in new tab’ option under
‘When a pop-up is encountered’. Now
confirm twice with ‘OK’ and your problem
is solved.
Internet Explorer, Firefox
12
Quickly finding the domain holders of
surfed websites
Who is the domain holder of the
website you just visited? This
information helps you ensure that you
are not giving away confidential data on
a phishing website by mistake.
Each Internet domain is registered
along with the address of the holder
with the appropriate authority. The free
program ‘CallingID’ can always call up
this information. You can download
the tool from ‘http://callingid.com/
Download.aspx’. On the website, select
the ‘CallingID Toolbar’ for ‘Product’ and
your operating system under ‘Operating
System’. Specifying an e-mail address
here is optional. Download the suitable
version with a click on ‘Download
Now’. Finally, close all open browser
windows and install the program with a
double click. ‘CallingID’ integrates itself
automatically as an additional toolbar in
Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Colored symbols and information fields
show whether the visited website has
been rated as safe. You can also see the
address of the holder and the location of
12 Check the domain of every website you surf
with Calling ID.
120 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
the server.
In this way, you can quickly see, for
instance, whether the displayed ‘eBay’ site
actually belongs to eBay or whether a link
has led your browser to a phishing site.
If you are not satisfied with the partially
incomplete display in the menu bar, click
on ‘CallingID’ in the toolbar and select
‘View | Show Long Toolbar’. You can even
report individual websites as risky or safe
under ‘Report’.
Windows Live Writer
13 Automatically save drafts of articles
When you are writing long articles on
blogs, it is irritating when your work
disappears due to an unexpected error
or a system crash.
13 Set Windows Live Writer to save your
documents every few minutes.
Just like the function in Word,
Windows Live Writer can also automatically
save articles in intervals when you are
writing them. Even in the worst of cases,
you will only have to repeat the last couple
of changes. However, this useful function
is generally deactivated by default. To
activate it, start ‘Live Writer’ and open
‘Tools | Options’. Select the ‘Preferences’
category. Activate the ‘Automatically save
drafts every’ option in ‘Edit’ and then
change the interval period to the desired
value under ‘Minutes’. Confirm the setting
with Apply’ and ‘OK’.
Photoshop CS, CS2, CS3
14
Giving black and white photos an
analog touch
It is very easy to convert colored
photos to black and white ones with
the channel mixer or the Gradient Map
in Adobe’s image editing program.
However, they somehow look too
14 Use photoshop intelligently to produce some
of the best photographs to look original.
digital. You can lend your photos an
analog feel by adding a Noise Filter.
You can use Photoshop to convert
and touch up colored photos to grayscale.
Use the following steps.
Step 1: Convert the image to Grayscale.
Step 2: Go to ‘Filter | Noise | Add noise’
and vary the intensity of the effect in the
dialog using the bar. Granulation thus
created reminds you of the visible silver
grain of analog films.
Step 3: There is another way to add noise
to the picture: go to ‘Filter | Texture |
Grain’. Set the ‘Grain Type’ to ‘Regular’. In
the dialog box that opens up, experiment
with the ‘Intensity’ and ‘Contrast’ bars till
you come across the desired setting that
makes it look similar to analog.
Note: In case you have converted
the black and white picture through
‘Adjustments | Gradient Map’, the grains
are very colorful—this is quite unwanted.
The reason: the file is not originally a
grayscale image and still contains all the
color information and the filter converts
this into noise. You shold try and avoid
this scenario by using the specified steps.
Internet Explorer 7
15
To add a website link to the ‘Links’
toolbar
You have a Links toolbar showing on
your browser. You need to add a link to
the toolbar. Here’s how do you do it.
You can do this in two ways.
 Visit a webpage you wish to add, then
left-click on the webpage’s icon directly
to the left of the address bar and keep the
mouse button held down. Drag the icon

15 Use the Links toolbar and fill it with useful
shortcuts that you may use in your daily work.
to the links bar and release the mouse
button. Choose to create a shortcut.
 You can also drag links that you may
have on the Desktop, inside a webpage,
or in your Favorites menu directly to the
Links toolbar.
Winamp 5.x
16 Remove Numbers from Playlist
Clean up your Winamp 5.x playlist by
removing song numbers.
16 Enable an option in Winamp to remove the
irritating number field that shows in the playlist.
Normally, Winamp 5.x displays
numbers next to each file in the playlist,
letting you conveniently see how many
MP3s or other multimedia files you have
available for playback.
However, for aesthetic reasons, you
may wish to disable showing these
numbers and only display the song or
multimedia file names.
 Right-click on the Winamp 5 title bar.
 Choose ‘Options’, then ‘Preferences’.
 When the ‘Preferences’ dialog box
appears, click ‘General Preferences’.
 Click ‘Playlist’.
 In the right pane, uncheck ‘Show
playlist item number in Playlist Editor’.
 Click ‘Close’ to close the dialog box.
Winamp 5.x
17 Allowing multiple instances
Allow Winamp 5.x to show video files
and play MP3s simultaneously with
multiple instances.
There may be times when you want
to play a video instead of using Winamp
5’s visualizations while playing back MP3
files. Unfortunately, Winamp is normally
configured to only allow one running
instance of the player. This means that you
normally must use Windows Media Player
to play the video, then Winamp to play the
audio, or vice-versa.
17 Enable Winamp to open multiple times and
play different types of media at the same time.
However, you can easily configure
Winamp 5 to allow multiple instances,
allowing you to play a video and audio file
simultaneously.
 Right-click on the Winamp’ s title bar.
 Choose ‘Options’, then ‘Preferences’.
 When the ‘Preferences’ dialog box
appears, click ‘General Preferences’.
 In the right pane, check ‘Allow multiple
instances’.
 Click ‘Close’ to close the dialog box.
Thunderbird
18
The shortcut keys for the Thunderbird
E-Mail Client
While working with your e-mails, you
have been toggling between the mouse
and keyboard frequently so far. You
want to know the functions that can be
taken care of in a jiffy. The shortcuts
should also be on the keyboard so that
you can leave aside your mouse.
Like most other programs, even
Thunderbird recognizes keyboard
combinations with which you can take care
Tips & TrIcks Hands on
of tasks often faster than you could with a
mouse. This is especially interesting when
you are composing new e-mails, since you
can work without using the mouse.
You want usual short-cut keys for printing,
copying, pasting, cutting, undo, and redo
work. However, in addition to this there
are other shortcut keys that help save time
when managing the inbox.
Instead of working one’s way through
menus with the mouse, a single press of
the [N] or the [P] key, for instance, helps
you go forward or backward to the next
unread mail. Likewise, you can call-up the
new mails for the active account with the
[F5] key.
When composing e-mails, you can
finish off the usual formatting through the
keyboard and execute tasks. This can even
assist you in sending mails much faster.
However, you need to continue using
the mouse for file attachments. We have
summarized the most useful shortcut keys
for Thunderbird in the table.
Hardware
Notebooks
19
Increasing the brightness of the
display beyond its maximum limit
In the evenings when the lights are dim,
any notebook display will shine brightly.
If your work, however, compels you to
sit in the balcony or in the garden, you
can hardly read from the monitor in
broad daylight.
Even when the brightness is already
set high, you can get a couple of percent
more with the help of the graphics drivers.
Whether it is Nvidia, ATI or Intel graphics,
every chip is controlled by the driver. You
19 Use a gamma correction software to additionally
brighten the LCD display of your laptop.
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 121
 Hands on Tips & TrIcks
will find the control for contrast, color,
brightness as well as gamma. It certainly
makes no sense setting the brightness
to 100 percent because then the monitor
will display only a white bright surface.
However, depending on the display, you
can get up to ten to thirty percent more
brightness here. You can then balance out
the possible resulting color fading by a
gamma reduction.
You may use the Adobe Gamma
correction software to do the necessary
changes, but what if you do not have
Adobe installed? Download the ‘Advanced
Gamma Corrector- AGC’ tool from ‘http://
www.pcdownloadworld.com/system-
utilities/desktop-utilities/Advanced-
Gamma-Corrector-AGC.htm’ and
install it. Run the application and choose
‘Brightness’ from the function and enable
the option ‘Same RGB’. Now slide the
Red, Blue or the Green slider above to get
the necessary brightness for your monitor
and click on OK. You may also choose to
increase individual color levels according
to your needs or preferences. Now, you
shouldn’t have problems while working
outdoors.
iPod
20
Copying songs from an iPod
Want to copy songs off your iPod?
You can try to identify the files using
Windows Explorer, but they are
scattered across various folders and
their names are masked, possibly to
avoid pirates.
You can use the small program
SharePod to do this job for you. After
installing this tool, you will be able to
20 Sharepod enables you to copy songs directly
from the IPOD without the need for iTunes.
122 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
Quick Tips
Word: The quickest way to hide the
table grid is to place the cursor in the
table and press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [U].
Browser: Quickly jump to the next slash
or dot with [Ctrl] + [right/left arrow] to
change a URL in the address bar.
Word: Insert the symbol for copyright
with [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [C], and for trademark
with [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [T].
Outlook: You can directly open the
Outlook address book with [Ctrl] + [Shift]
+ [B]. Double-click on a contact to get
detailed information for it.
exchange any music file between the iPod
and your PC.
You can do this by selecting the songs
from a list just like in iTunes, and then
clicking the ‘Copy to PC’ or ‘Copy to iPod’.
Additional features: An integrated media
player and an editor for ID3 tags.
Note: The tool functions only with the
Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 installed.
The .NET framework is also free of cost
and available at www.microsoft.com.
TIP: In case the program does not identify
your iPod, start iTunes so that the device
is initialized properly. SharePod can then
access the ‘iPod_Control\iTunesDB’ file
required for identification and thus read the
music files stored in the device.
Registry
21
Cleaning the registry
Often while uninstalling programs,
some entries referring to them are left
behind in the registry. This not only
makes Windows sluggish, but it also
allows for spying on your system.
21 Removal of unwanted entries from the registry
can help speed up the system.
22 Test your LCD monitor for color representation
and dead pixels.
‘Wise Registry Cleaner 2’ searches
and deletes all of these undesired items.
Select the ones which are in green as
they are safe to delete. Delete the entries
which are marked orange with caution (it
may not be totally safe to fix it), but not
before taking a back-up of the registry.
This prevents any data loss if any. You may
download the free tool from ‘http://www.
wisecleaner.com’.
TFT monitor
22
Testing your TFT monitor
Individual pixel elements are displayed
in the TFT monitor with the help of three
transistors, which glow at a time in one
of the three primary colors which are
red, green or blue. Here is a way you can
test your TFT monitor to keep a check
on dead pixels.
The program ‘Dead Pixel Tester’
(‘http://www.dataproductservices.com/
dpt’), tests whether the transistors are
working properly through color rotation
(‘Color Cycle’). You can identify defects
using colors which are represented
wrongly or not represented at all.
This program tests the monitor with
different color and geometry patterns to
help you find out how your monitor can
take the display. It also has a dead pixel
exorciser which flickers a section of the
monitor at a high speed to try revive a
dead pixel on the TFT screen.
This tool can only inspect the monitor
and attempt to correct pixels that get
stuck over time. If the monitor arrived with
dead pixels, this cannot be repaired with
software, so don’t expect that.
In the worst case, replacing the monitor
will be the only solution. 
Francis D’Sa – tnt@chip-india.com

Microsoft changes gears and ports its successful title from the
Xbox 360 platform to PC. By Amogh Ranadive
O
n the day of its release itself,
Gears of War for the Xbox 360
broke records by overtaking
Halo 2 as the most popular title on Xbox
Live. After winning quite a big list of
awards from top gaming websites and
magazines, Microsoft finally ported the
game to the PC platform. So does the
PC version of this award-winning title
live up to its expectations?
Plot
GoW is set on the human-inhabited
planet of Sera, where humans battle
over a low viscous liquid—‘Imulsion’.
These wars ended with the ‘Emergence
Day’, when creatures from the feared
‘Locust’ horde sprung up from the
ground. The Coalition of Ordered
Governments (COG) eventually fell, and
was forced to retreat to a safe haven
known as Jacinto Plateau.
Fourteen years after this incident,
you fill the shoes of Marcus Fenix, a
no-holds-barred soldier of the elite
Delta Force, imprisoned for treason.
Your friend and fellow soldier Dominic
Santiago has freed you because
the planet needs a rough and tough
warrior! Your mission is to retrieve the
resonator—a device which can map the
entire Locust tunnel system and then
deploy the ‘Lightmass Bomb’ which will
destroy the Locust dwellings.
Gameplay and Graphics
Getting cover is a major part of the
gameplay. The maps are designed to
give you loads of places to hide.
RATINGS 7/10
For: Excellent graphics, good storyline, nice gameplay.
Against: Disappointing camera angles, average voice-acting.
Price: 1,895 Publisher: Microsoft Developer: People Can Fly Distributor: Redington
Website: www.gamesforwindows.com Requirements: OS: Microsoft Windows XP or Vista, Processor: 2.4 GHz, RAM: 1 GB, Graphics Card: GeForce 6600, Hard Disk Space: 12 GB
SMS us! Story code: UGW to 57007
REVIEW UNWIND
UNWIND
The advanced controls allow you to or “nice”. The controls can be a little
either show your head a bit to aim, or confusing at first, though once you get
fire blind to avoid damage. The player the hang of it, it’s quite simple. Due to
can also use short bursts of speed, the monotone color filter, special items
rolls and over-the-wall jumps to escape such as ammo packs, weapons and
enemy fire. This is probably the best solider tags can be hard to find on the
part of Gears of War. The camera angle ground. GoW also had a frustratingly
complements this gameplay feature. In long install time, over 25 minutes! It also
normal mode the camera is ‘over the ate 14 GB on my hard disk.
shoulder’. While aiming (using the right
mouse button), the lens zooms in and a Verdict
crosshair is displayed. Gears of War definitely lives up to its
A special feature of GoW is the expectations and delivers a little bit
Active Reload system which is much more than the console version, with five
like perfect shifting in the drag races of extra levels. It also manages to look as
Need for Speed. If you tap the reload good, if not better than on the console.
button perfectly, you will speed up the Add to that the superb gameplay and
reload process. Tap it slowly and you this title is a winner. 
just might jam your gun, rendering you – feedback@chip-india.com
weaponless and vulnerable. GoW uses
the Crimson Omen instead of a regular
health bar. When the Omen is filled up
in single player mode, the player dies,
but in multiplayer mode, a teammate
can try to revive him. Thankfully, GoW
looks as good on the PC as it did on the
Xbox 360. Textures are sharper than
ever and shade well. Although you will
need a high-end rig to play this game
smoothly, it is worth the upgrade.
Criticisms
Gears of War disappointed us in more
ways than one. Don’t get us wrong, the
gameplay elements are superb and the
game looks brilliant, but minor peeves
are irritating. The voice acting could
have been better, as all Fenix seems to
say throughout the game is “sweet”
Phone: 18004253718(Toll-Free) E-mail: vivekul@microsoft.com
Pramod Jadhav |
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 123
 UNWIND Review
The surreal ‘Mass effect’
is out to woo the masses!
Guaranteed addiction.
By Abhinay Khoparzi
W
e’ve been clamoring for good
storylines in mainstream
games for a long time,
and now we’ve got the most heavily
story-laden title that we can find in the
current crop of games. Sure, Halflife 2
Episode 2 and Bioshock satiated that
craving for a little while, and were even
able to give us some superb gameplay.
However we almost finished everything
that was thrown into them in the first
session of play. We needed more… And
so we turned to BioWare, the masters
of storytelling, and picked up their
latest sci-fi RPG.
Stories in games can’t be more
elaborate than those in RPGs, and
a large amount of character history
and development is one of the basic
requirements. Mass Effect’s playtime
can be anything between 15 and 40
hours, depending on whether or not
you complete your side missions. And,
as with most other RPGs, you can
play the game a number of times with
different character classes, of which
there are six in total.
The game starts out by allowing
you to set the physical characteristics
of your character, choosing its gender,
class type, and facial structure. The
different classes available to you
include the usual combat-ready soldier;
the Adept, biotic specialists almost like
magicians from other similarly themed
124 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
games; and the engineers, who are the
tech specialists in the game, performing
technical attacks such as sabotaging
enemy weapons and hacking into
enemy AI. Additionally, there are other
mixed classes that combine elements of
these classes. Infiltrators have combat
and technical abilities, Sentinels have
technical and biotic abilities with very
basic combat skills, and Vanguards
have biotic abilities and can also wield
heavier weapons. The core classes are
naturally the best in their respective
worlds, while the combination classes
have select abilities across classes.
The game’s story starts out with our
character acting as the XO (Executive
Officer) on a Human Systems Alliance
ship called SSV Normandy that is
headed by Captain Anderson. Your
mission is to go with your two squad
mates and investigate an attack by AI
beings (called the Geth) on a human
colony called Eden Prime. The attack
was targeted on a beacon made by
an ancient space-faring civilization
called the Protheans. These Protheans
mysteriously disappeared from the
entire galaxy aeons ago; however their
technology is still operational and has
been helpful in the advancement of all
currently powerful races. The current
political situation of the galaxy is pretty
grim, with repeated attacks by the Geth
who believe that an advanced AI-based
Pramod Jadhav
race called the Reapers will bring
about a wave of destruction that has
been happening at the peak of every
civilization. Your mission from here on
is to investigate as much as you can
about the Geth and Reapers, and ensure
that they are unsuccessful in repeating
this purge cycle.
Our first impression with Mass Effect
was sort of dry and unenthusiastic, but
when got around to spending some
serious time with the game, it just
sucked us into its engaging storyline.
There are plenty of twists and turns,
and enough action and emotion to keep
everyone but the most trigger-happy
players hooked for hours. The long,
dialog-laden sequences might put a
few people off at first, but they prove to
be a good foundation for the elaborate
story. At first, people watching you
play the game will be confused about
whether it really is a game, but only
after a while will they understand
what’s going on.
Interaction with other characters
happens through dozens of cut scenes,
and our character’s responses can be
chosen from a dialog wheel that offers
a maximum of six options, all based on
the sort of approach you want to take in
the game. The conversation responses
you choose also affect a moral score
that runs through the game, giving you
Paragon (legendary heroic) or Renegade
SMS us! Story code: UME to 57007

(ruthless, bottom-line oriented) points to
your character. These qualities determine
the path of progression of the story. This
game will be compared a lot with BioWare’s
earlier franchise Star Wars: Knights of The
Old Republic, and we should clarify that even
though Paragon and Renegade sound a lot
like the Light and Dark sides of the Jedi, they
are not essentially the same. Mass Effect
respects the grey areas of a character, and
we really appreciate that.
Combat is quite satisfying and is much
more complex than the usual third-person
fare. The number of enemies that the game
throws at you can get overwhelming, and
it’s only with a fair amount of tactics and
the help of your squadmates that you
will be able to finish all of them off. Your
squadmates exhibit elaborate personalities
during their conversations, but while in
combat they follow the standard tactics of
their classes. The AI is decent enough for
most situations; however you can give your
own commands such as “scout ahead”, “take
cover”, “regroup”, or “attack targets”. Also
you should specifically choose what weapons
your squadmates should use as this will
greatly influence the outcome of your battles.
Weapon selection is pretty detailed and
depends on the character class that you
RATINGS 8.5/10
For: Superb storyline, good character devlepment, good soundtrack.
Against: Mako Rover has really unrealistic handling, AI could use some work.
Price: Rs 1,895 Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Phone: 18004253718(Toll-Free) E-mail: vivekul@microsoft.com
REVIEW UNWIND
decide to play with. All classes can use
all weapons, but these are not actually
playable till the character gets training for
that specific weapon. Soldiers get access
to training for all weapon types, while the
combination classes with combat abilities
get access only to pistols and shotguns.
What training basically does is increase
the accuracy of a weapon to an extent that
you can actually aim with it. Otherwise, it is
useful only for blind fire and overheats after
two or three shots.
Mass Effect also features a vehicle called
the Mako 135 that allows you to explore
the surfaces of other planets and provides
protection from hazardous environments on
some of the harsher worlds. The Mako has
a turret gun that fires bullets and a cannon
that can fire explosive projectiles to shoot
down larger hostiles. Like all guns available
in the game, the turret on the Mako heats up
with continuous use which has to cool down
before it can be fired again.
If you like good stories and can slog
through cut scenes for the first couple of
hours, we are very sure Mass Effect will be
an engaging experience for you. They are
a few problems in the game but in the end
BioWare’s efforts are commendable. 
– abhinay.khoparzi@chip-india.com
Developer: BioWare Distributor: Redington
Website: xbox.com/in Requirements: Xbox 360 Console
|
JANUARY 2008 intelligent computing CHip | 125
 TOWNSQUARE
Home Reviews Forums Know How Buying Guide Search FAQ Subscribe Feedback Profile Logout [ Maheshwar ]
This month on chip-india.com
new topic post reply CHIP-INDIA Forum Index >> Site Admin Talk
Author Message
Maheswar Singh Posted: Sat December 22, 2007 10:33 am
Site Admin
Hello everyone,
I hope each one of you is up and
rocking. I can’t believe that it has been
a month since our anniversary issue. It
seems like it was just yesterday!
I feel really proud to say, on behalf of everyone
at Team CHIP, that our fourth anniversary issue
has been an astounding success with our
Joined: 15 Oct 2007 readers. We received a lot of encouraging and
Posts: 0
congratulatory feedback on the website and
through SMS and e-mail. Even all of us at Team
CHIP couldn’t wait to lay our greedy hands on the
issue and the DVDs! Thanks to everybody in the
forums. It would not have been easy to compile
the DVD without your feedback and suggestions.
For those who don’t know, I am really
glad to announce that the CHIP India
website has migrated to two totally new
servers which are better configured
and faster than the previous one!
Our Mumbai moderator “Saggygenuis”, with
the help of some other respected Chippers, has
posted a very useful thread on the Hardware
section called ‘PC Buyers Guide’ which covers
every category from budget home configs to
high-end gaming rigs on both Intel and AMD
platforms. It will be very useful to prospective
PC buyers. It is definitely worth a look.
CHIP whizkid Vishal Gupta posted an
interesting tip about making a shortcut for turning
Aero on and off in Windows Vista to save power
and system resources when needed. There is
another useful tip to add an ‘Insert’ option to the
CD/DVD drive context menu so that there is no
need to push the drive tray after loading optical
media. This can be very useful for those users
who have cabinets with enclosed optical drives.
Expert Chipper ‘The Trojan’ has started an
awesome thread covering everything you need
to know about installing and uninstalling Linux,
complete with tips and walkthroughs covering
almost all Linux distros out there. Many Linux
gurus on our forums are chipping in and the
thread has now spread over almost thirty pages.
profile e-mail pm
126 | intelligent computing CHip | JANUARY 2008
quote edit del ip
Everybody interested in Linux should definitely
take a peek at this guide. You can find this
thread in the Software Section on our forums.
Townsquare Guru ‘Rajesh Pandey’, lovingly
nicknamed ‘Pandu’, has created an exciting
thread called ‘Post your Desktops here’ where
members design and modify their desktops with
cool gadgets, wallpapers, themes, etc and post
screenshots. There are already some really cool
desktops screenies posted over five pages. Go
ahead! Make your own designs and share them.
And of course, the forums are abuzz with
discussions regarding the latest Nvidia 8800 GT
and ATI 38xx-series graphics cards, Intel’s Penryn
CPUs and also the X38 performance chipset from
Intel. There have been lots of queries about these
on the forums. It so happens that we have got
all these new babies in the CHIP Test Center!
PhpBB 3 ‘Olympus’, the latest version of
the forum software we are currently using,
has been officially launched and we will be
gradually shifting to this version. It has tons of
new features and some great eye-candy which
will help in making our forums much better,
more user-friendly, and more attractive!
The other major software update release
this season is the official Service Pack 1
for Microsoft Office 2007. You will find
the update on this month’s CHIP DVD.
And once again, a very big thank you
to our moderators for making our forums
a better, cleaner and a more techie place.
We will soon be hosting mod and member
meetings not only in Mumbai, but also in
other major cities. And we will be inviting
a lucky few to come down to Mumbai and
visit the CHIP Test Center and spend some
quality time here with the whole team.
I hope every one of you had a merry
Christmas, and I wish you all a very happy new
year in 2008. May you all find 8800 GTs in your
Christmas stockings! Till next time, signing out.
~Maheswar ‘Zephyr’ M. 
– maheswar.singh@chip-india.com
 LAST WORD
Trusting instincts
A
few days ago, a colleague and I were
at a conference where we met a CHIP
reader who was in Mumbai for the first
time. He was staying at the hotel where the
conference was being held, and was using a
hired desktop computer. We exchanged cards
and he also gave us his valuable feedback about
our magazine.
A few days later, on my way home from
work, I received a call from him. With a shaking
voice, he said that his computer’s monitor
wasn’t coming on, so he wasn’t able to copy
important data to his USB pen drive. He was
flying home the next day and needed the data
urgently. He panicked because there was no
way to find a spare monitor on a Saturday
night. I asked if the computer was booting. He
answered in the affirmative; he could even hear
the Windows welcome sound.
I promised I’d help him out. I reached the
hotel and confirmed that his CRT monitor was
dead. Now, the most obvious choice was to
remove the hard drive and plug it into another
system to retrieve the data. But the PC had
been hired, so this wasn’t possible.
Using Windows without a monitor seemed
like madness but it reminded me of my school
days when I used to do everything with DOS
commands, barely even looking at the monitor.
That was it! I told our troubled friend, “It’s
possible, let’s copy the files”.
I switched the computer on and waited
for the Windows welcome sound. Once
I heard it, I waited some time for all the
programs that load on startup. In the
meanwhile, I questioned him about the
names of the files and their
exact location. Fortunately,
he had been saving
his work in only one
folder on the desktop,
named ‘Statistics’.
Another thing
we needed to
know was the
drive letter of the
pen drive; he told
me that it was ‘J’.
Fortunately, he was
Sachin Pandit
132 | intelligent computing CHip | January 2008
BY Dushyant Khilnani
using a USB flash drive which had a light that
flickers when data is being transferred. He also
said there was about 250 MB of data, so there
was ample time to confirm that the data was
being written.
After all the probing was over, I pushed the
‘Windows’ and the ‘R’ keys on the keyboard
consecutively. Here, I typed ‘cmd’ and hit the
‘Enter’ key. Now, I assumed I was at the DOS
prompt. When you first enter the DOS window,
you land up in the ‘C:\Documents and Settings\
Current user’ folder by default.
Now, instead of copying the files by typing
a path, I first went into the needed folder by
typing ‘cd desktop\statistics’, simply to increase
the chances of copying the correct files.
I typed the command ‘copy *.* j:\’ to copy
all files from the ‘Statistics’ folder to the pen
drive and pushed [Enter]. The only thing I could
think of was whether I’d see the light on the
flash drive flicker or not, but nothing happened.
I guessed I hadn’t typed correctly, so I tried
again, and the light started flickering! The next
thing I heard was our friend saying “Thank
goodness!”
However, something just didn’t seem right;
the light had flickered for only 9-10 seconds,
when copying 250 MB should have taken way
longer. So I decided to try another command
which would copy folders and subfolders—if
any—along with their contents. I first deleted
all the data from the flash drive by typing ‘del
j:\*.*’, [Enter], [Y] to confirm, and then [Enter]
again. Now, assuming that I was still in the
‘statistics’ folder, I typed the command ‘xcopy
*.* /s J:\’ and pressed ‘Enter’.
And bingo! The pen drive flickered for quite a
long time, meaning it was pretty slow at writing
data. However, that was the first time I had ever
felt glad about a data transfer taking a long time!
The following day, I received a blank e-mail
with an attached text document from the
troubled reader. The file said “Hi, thanks for the
help, I got all my files. I’m writing this email in a
text file that is on my USB flash drive. I’ll copy
this file from the flash drive to the desktop with
my monitor turned off. Then I will turn it on and
send you the copied text file. Thanks again!” 
– dushyant.khilnani@chip-india.com