200312_Digit.pdf

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editorial
A Year in Innovation
A
s this year draws to a close, information technology finally seems to
have found its feet and emerges from the turmoil of the year before,
stronger and more mature. Looking back at the best technologies of the
year, it is very satisfying to see an upsurge in accessible innovation, defined by
sub-Rs 20,000 PCs that can actually do everything reasonably well. The domi-
nation of tech-toys has given way to technology that focuses on solving prob-
lems and enabling new avenues for work and pleasure.
Who says technology is stagnating? If anything, technology leaders have taken
to innovation as a means of catalysing growth. 64-bit hardware is finally here,
with two relative dwarfs, Apple and AMD, beating the big guys to the desktop.
You won’t see the impact of this paradigm shift anytime soon, but it lays the
required groundwork for the next year, when we should see richer applications
enabled by these processors. With the new push towards wireless and mobili-
ty, jacking-in to the network anywhere is a breeze. As the Sony Ericsson P800
and the Handspring Treo 600 converge from opposite corners towards the
ultimate connected handheld, it has never been easier to stay connected to the
pulse of information and humankind.
The spirit of computing, embodied by versatile, smart appliances, grows
beyond the beige box. In their new physical avatars, computers finally present
a challenge to the idiot box. While digital music has led the entertainment
charge for the last few years, visual media are all set to invade your desktop.
Digital cameras may have been beyond the reach of most pockets, but this is
the year many Indian brands are planning low-cost 3-megapixel cameras.
Recorded video is another story though. We have been playing hide-n-seek
with DVD for 3 years but have yet to see the acceptance of this significantly
superior medium. Now that DVD writers are approaching affordability, that
might change.
The year ahead may turn out to be the year that the PC firmly establishes itself
as the centre of digital everything. For now, we acknowledge the impending
transition with the first free movie distributed with a magazine, as a VCD.
Sumod Hajela
Assistant Editor
“
In their new
physical avatars,
computers finally
present a
challenge to the
idiot box.
”
sumod_hajela@jasubhai.com
index
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magazine
DECEMBER
2003
PULSE
Microsoft’s Game Plan
.........26
We spoke to Microsoft about the strate-
gies it has in store for India’s gaming
market
INSIGHT
Be The First To Know
..........144
...of bugs and worms and ways to tack-
le them before they wreak havoc on
your PC!
Adobe Advertorial
FEATURES
Convergence on the Verge..30
Find out how technology is set to
weave itself into our daily lives
Excel Entertainment
...........149
Apart from letting you play around
with numbers, Excel lets you have fun
with games too. Here’s how.
More on Adobe
Creative Suites on
page 41
Coffee, Snacks and E-mail
...38
Here’s a look at how cybercafes are far-
ing, and the way they woo people into
their parlours!
Making music with Linux
..152
No, we ain’t joking! You’ll be surprised
at the way Linux gets you in the
groove.
TEST DRIVE
Peerless Performance
..........48
That’s what the Zero One Awards are
all about. Here are those who first
passed the post.
Registry Unplugged.............163
Get into the Windows registry and do
away with nasty warnings,
unwanted text in title
bars, and more...
Informed Decisions
...............89
Here’s all that you need when the
hardware shopping bug bites you
▲
▲
64
Know about the trouble brewing
afar before it gets to your PC!
▲
▲
89
Arm yourself with all the information you
need to make a happy hardware purchase!
▲
▲
that proved their mettle and
48
31 productsthe coveted Zero One Awards walked
away with
▲
▲
38
Cybercafes are increasingly catering to surfers’ whims, to
get them to stay longer!
DECEMBER 2003
6
Ice Age: The block-
buster animated
movie on VCD
94
All the details you need
when you go shopping
107
The awards that
are a mark of
excellence!
Reviewed
this month
NEWS FEED . . . . .14
LETTERS . . . . . . . .24
DROOLMAAL . . . .34
BAZAAR . . . . . . . .84
Q & A . . . . . . . . . .159
OFF THE SHELF . .181
DIGIT DIARY . . . . .183
QUBIT . . . . . . . . . .184
Zero One awards . . . . . . . . . . 48
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Apple iPod MP3 player
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BenQ v991 CRT monitor
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Canon Ixus 400 digital camera
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Canon S530D Photo
inkjet printer
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Creative Megaworks THX 5.1
550 speakers
HARDWARE
Bazaar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
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Altec Lansing 641 4.1 speakers
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Creative Inspire T7700 7.1 speak-
ers
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EasyDisk 128 MB USB drive
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Emerge UPS 600
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Gigabyte GA-7NNXP mother-
board
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MSI 865PE Neo2 motherboard
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SONY SDM-N80 18.1-inch LCD
monitor
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EasyDisk 128 MB USB drive
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Gainward GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
(256 MB) graphics card
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Gigabyte GA-7NNXP mother-
board (AMD)
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HP 4570c scanner
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Maxtor MaxLine Plus II 7Y250P0
hard drive
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Microsoft SideWinder Precision 2
joystick
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Microsoft Wireless Optical
Desktop Elite
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MSI 865PE Neo2 motherboard
(Intel)
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Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor
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Samsung ML-1710 laser printer
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Sony CRX 300A combination
drive
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Sony Ericsson P800 mobile
phone
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SONY SDM-N80 18.1-inch LCD
REGULARS
monitor
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Xerox WorkCentre Pro 412 multi-
functional device
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Zenith Premium PC
SOFTWARE
Zero One awards . . . . . . . . . . 71
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ABBYY FineReader Professional
6.0
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Audition
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Adobe Photoshop Album
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McAfee VirusScan 7
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Nero 6 Ultra Edition
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Norton Ghost 2003
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R-Studio FAT
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Spybot
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SuSE Linux Office Desktop
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Xandros 1.0
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ZoneLabs ZoneAlarm
Pro v3.7.159
To subscribe to Digit,
fill out the subscription
form available online at
www.thinkdigit.com/subscribe
7
DECEMBER 2003
index
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digit interactive
ON THE
6
CDs
You’re in for a treat this month! We have six CDs filled with amazing software, an entire
technology encyclopedia, topped off with a Hollywood blockbuster movie, Ice Age… Enjoy!
ICE AGE
For the first time ever, a movie with a
magazine! We bring you the Video CD
of an Oscar-nominated movie. Set
about 20,000 years ago, Ice Age tells
the tale of Sid the sloth, Manny the
mammoth, Diego the tiger and Scrat
the squirrel. They come across a dying
mother who hands them her toddler
with the hope that someday, the child
would be united with a migrating tribe.
Watch the four brave adverse environ-
mental and physiological conditions to
meet their goal,
in this beautiful
20th Century
Fox production.
CD 1
CD 2
CD 3
SMART@OFFICE
Work smart, not hard. Make pro-
ductive use of your PC at work
and be the envy of your col-
leagues. Manage e-mails better,
instantly convert printed text to
typed text, manage your contacts
and inventory, and do lots more.
QUICK@UTILITITES
Want to keep your PC running in
optimum condition? This CD helps
you do just that. Dive into this CD
for virus scanners, firewalls, FTP
clients, file managers, general tweak-
ers, registry tuners and more!
FAST@INTERNET
If you prefer riding the Internet
rather than letting it ride you, this
CD is for you! It has loads of soft-
ware that let you resume broken
downloads, surf faster, share your
Internet connection, weed out spy-
ware, and search the Internet better.
TECHNOLOGY
ENCYCLOPEDIA
Immerse yourself
in this compre-
hensive com-
pilation of
technolo-
gy terms.
Learn the
meaning
of terms
such as
Phreaking,
Smartcard,
Active Direc-
tory, WINS and
Gopher in plain
English. As a bonus to Digit
Readers, we’ve included a hand-picked
collection of Tips & Tricks on a dozen
different categories. Use them to max-
imise the productivity of your comput-
er, and mould it to suit your needs!
CD 4
FUN@HOME
Add a dash of fun to your PC with this CD, which offers you a hand-
picked collection of screensavers, window theme managers, calen-
dars, icon managers, screen-capturing software, desktop enhance-
ment applications and much more.
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DECEMBER 2003

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