Digi 1016

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Courage of a different kind
pples iPhone 7 launch has

got the market buzzing even
more than usual, and a lot of it
is centred around one particular design
choice that will directly affect the audio
industry. Previously, with the iPod and
iTunes, the company was instrumental
in bringing about a revolutionary
change in the way consumers listen to
and acquire music. This time though, all
the hoopla is around its decision to kill
the good old headphone jack.
Apple said it took courage to do so,
and while that may be true, the move
isnt about leading the industry towards
a more technologically advanced or
a more consumer-friendly future, as
much as its about filling its own coffers.
Before I get to the how, let me first tell
you what the removal of the 3.5 mm jack
and going digital means exactly.
Files are stored on your phone or
PC in a digital format like MP3 (1s and
0s) and before leaving your device,
they need to be converted to an analog
electrical signal that can use the principles of electromagnetism to move the
speaker coil, which in turn is connected
to a diaphragm that vibrates the air and
creates sounds of varying frequencies.
It is also worth mentioning that its the
responsibility of the device to convert
that digital signal to the highest possible
quality analog signal (so far).
With the iPhone 7, the lightning
port will now output 1s and 0s, which
the speaker cannot interpret. Of course
theres still a DAC (digital-to-analog
converter) on the iPhone, or else the
earpiece and speakers wouldnt work;
there just isnt one for headphones.
Thus, all those headphones (even
expensive ones) youve invested in over
the years, will become redundant in
one fell swoop. Unless of course you
carry around the lightning to a 3.5mm
adapter, which Apple has so generously
decided to bundle with their phones
(for now). If you lose the adaptor, you
pay $9 to get a new one.
But is the the headphone jack a simple
casualty along the path of technological
progress like the floppy disk or serial
port? Not really. Those were dead
Siddharth Parwatay
Managing Editor
siddharth.parwatay@digit.in
Is the the headphone

jack a simple casualty
along the path of
technological progress
like the floppy disk
or serial port?
technologies, whereas no matter what,
for a human to hear a sound via existing
speaker tech, a DAC has to be involved at
some stage whether at the source device
end or in the headphones themselves.
In that case, what were Apples
reasons?
At 7.1mm, the iPhone isnt thinner
than a headphone jack, so its not about
slimness. Then theres the argument
about making the iPhone waterproof,
but LG and Samsung have managed
to do it while retaining the headphone
jack. The wireless argument is also silly,
because we could still have AirPods and
the headphone jack.
Now consider this: what if the DAC
that Apple is using on its little free
adapters isnt very good? After all, $9 for
anything Apple-made suggests super
cheap. A Beats headphone with a better
DAC might suddenly sound way better.
The AirPods and Beats wireless models
that use Apples proprietary W1 chip
might also sound great, while regular
Bluetooth sets might not. That translates
to more sales of Beats headphones and
more money from licensing Apple Certified accessories. Apple will probably
even sell (or licence) lightning-based

amps soon. So one more gadget to buy
and one more thing for Apple to get
licensing fees from.
There is also a thriving ecosystem
of devices made by independent
tinkerers using the standard 3.5 mm
jack to expand the functionality of the
iPhone. These devices might suddenly
be rendered useless, because its not
known how well theyll play with the
adapter. Things such as thermometers,
light meters, credit card readers and
many more (http://dgit.in/apldevices) will
now have to change their interface, and
cough up about $4 to Apple for every
device they sell to get their hands on the
coveted Made For iOS (MFi) license.
It seems obvious to me that the
decision to kill the headphone jack is
purely business driven. Its just another
case of putting shareholders before
buyers, because going proprietary on
yet another interface is hugely profitable
for Apple. As a thought experiment, try
considering why an open standard like
the USB-C port wasnt chosen if this
shift to digital was inevitable? However,
no company other than Apple couldve
achieved this, and for better or worse,
thats the direction the industry will soon
be heading in. Both manufacturers of
smartphones (on the Android side) as
well as makers of audio gear will probably soon make that jump now that the
big boy is all-in. Thankfully, I expect at
least USB-C headphones to be more universally usable across a wider range of
devices. Only time will tell whether the
audio space actually benefits from going
digital, or if its going to be all about
capturing markets and making money.
Let me know at:

facebook.com/staticsid | @staticsid |
editor@digit.in
www.digit.in | October 2016 | Digit | 1
Big Bytes
Why wait till Diwali?
Jayesh Shinde
Technical Editor
Test Centre
jayesh.shinde@digit.in
Individualised
buying and spurof-the-moment
purchase trends
are rising across
all consumer goods
verticals, including
tech. People
dont want to wait
anymore, they
want everything
instantly."
Let me know your thoughts on this

column at: facebook.com/jayesh.
shinde | @jshinde | jayesh@digit.in
ast month, an advertisement caught

my attention. It showed a couple deliberating on a new purchase for their
house. Girl asks guy if they should buy a
brand new table for the living room, to which
the guy instinctively responds by asking
how long away Diwali was and wouldnt it
be prudent to wait till then in order to get
the best deal. Angry, the girl gives him dirty
looks, obviously pissed off at the guys lack of
urgency and alleged cheapness.
But theres a deeper lesson here havent
we all put off our prized gadget purchases
until Diwali on more than a few occasions?
Our naive heart wants to cling onto eternal
hope that sellers will open the floodgates of
bottled up benevolence for a five-day festival
associated with wanton money spending?
That theyd all truly offer us a discount thats
worth the many month-long wait?
Pfft! Come on, give me a break.
There was a time not too long ago where
entire households used to postpone buying
anything until Diwali from new clothes
to school bags, washing machine, home
appliance to furniture in perennial hope
of saving a buck. When I was little, beyond
the auspiciousness of gold purchase, I used
to often question the absurdity of divine
providence that made people postpone their
mundane shopping to one heralded week
of the year. Later I realized how Diwali and
Shopping coalesced as part of an ingenious
industry-wide marketing ploy, forcing people
to buy without them realizing it. All this for
what? Saving a few bucks here and there?
Are we all really that money-conscious?
Doesnt relevance, timely need, convenience
and trust matter?
Maybe this tradition of holiday shopping
spree was a lot more resonant in the preonline era, where Diwali discounts actually
mattered. Like the American tradition of
Black Friday-inspired buying spree, where
people actually lined up outside brick and
mortar stores, hoping to get in early and have
the chance to score the sweetest deals. But
even Black Friday isnt the biggest consumer
retail spending day in America anymore,
with the rise of e-commerce and daily
discount culture. And for similar reasons,
Diwali shouldnt be the only time of the year
you decide to spend big on gadgets or tech
2 | Digit | October 2016 | www.digit.in
product purchases, because the bang that

Diwali shopping bonanza makes has been
diminishing with each passing year.
Its 2016 and e-commerce is an accepted
reality of our lives. Digital natives dont
suffer from the burden of tradition the same
way elders in their families do. Individualised buying and spur-of-the-moment purchase trends are rising across all consumer
goods verticals in our country, including
tech. People dont want to wait, they want
everything instantly Im guilty of similar
tendencies whenever I see something
enticing on an e-commerce portal or when I
place an order and keep checking its delivery
details every single day. Less and less people
are willing to wait for Diwali to come around
so they could save money on purchases.
But Diwali shopping continues to be a
force to be reckoned with, and even e-commerce portals bend over backwards to entice
customers. While most discounts do seem
attractive, make sure you dont lose your
head in the heat of the moment and make illinformed buying decisions. For unbelievable
Diwali discounts often come with unbelievable asterisk-marked conditions apply
disclaimers in barely legible font size. Dont
get swayed in, always be sceptical.
Having said that, online shopping keeps
getting bigger every year, which means every
month is pretty much Diwali from the customers perspective. Eager to woo customers
by offering them the latest and greatest tech
gadget and appliance, e-commerce portals
leave no stone left unturned to have exclusive product deals, pre-orders, flash sales,
end-of-season sales, clearance sale, app-only
discounts, lucrative giveaways, additional
discounts on preferred credit card purchases, week-long discounts on certain category of products, and much more, to keep
customers salivating for more. Always, all
the time. Everything our heart ever desired
ordered with a few clicks. Done. No time to
waste, right?
Therefore: Why wait till Diwali?
contents
OCTOBeR 2016
vOLUme 16 \ ISSUe 10
quick
nAvIGATOR
001 EntEr
016 DGt
Desire
Greed
Temptation
lifE
034 DiGital
Geek Life
Origins
tEch
051 Sci
Tomorrows Tech
Space Age
& tEStED
058 triED
Bazaar
Comparison Test
081 DEvworx
085 worlDviEw
Smart
089 StrEEt
Killer Rigs
Top 3
Agent 001
096 Q&A
toolbox
Tips and Tricks
Workshop
105 tEch@work
Work@Tech
Data
45 Detective
The long arm of the law just got a little longer
thanks to Big Data. But are you willing to let go of

your privacy to be safer?
SmartSoho
Industry Connect
137 ESc
Unwind
our future is Dataism
Its a new global religion. Were already practicing

it, knowingly or unknowingly.
48
TRIeD &
TeSTeD
59
ASUS zenfOne 3
60
RIpjAWS mx780
The latest flagship from Asus is

not a complete package
61
BRAInWAvz BLU-200
Competitive feature set from

G.SKILL
Incrementally better sounding

than its younger sibling
On The DVD
Gamescom 2016 Highlights
111 Skoar! (now inside Digit)
Some Indie games out there are giving AAA

titles a run for their money, and heres why!
Make this issue of Digit coMe alive

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Step 3
78 can you survive

a month on a
chromebook?
We tried it, and heres the
verdict
94 Shubh Geeky
Diwali
Forgot to buy gifts? Or just

dont know what to get? Weve
got you covered with some
geeky ideas.
Agony Gameplay
BioShock: Remastered
Dead Rising 4
Dishonored 2
Mafia III
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Prey
Resident Evil 7
Sniper Ghost
Star Citizen Alpha 3.0
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Autodesk SketchBook
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Battleline: Steel Warfare

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Updates
Best of Digit
We shoot several videos
across various products
and categories, and weve
decided to include five of
the best every month.
Best Horror Games
HP Spectre 13 Ultrabook
Review
Compare Xiaomi Redmi
Note 3 vs Redmi 3s Prime
Talk with Twitter
Hacking a Wi-Fi Router &
Securing Yourself From
Such a Hack
Free Image Editing Tools
Games
BlueStacks
CCleaner
Chromium
Comodo Dragon
Messenger for Desktop
NitroPDF
NVIDIA Graphics Drivers
OpenOffice
Origin
Telegram for Desktop
VirtualBox
WhatsApp for Windows
Exploring the universe
In this video series from

MIT Opencourseware,
youll be learning about
the physical effects in
the vicinity of a black
hole as a basis for
understanding general
relativity, astrophysics, and
elements of cosmology.
Introduction
The Universe Questions
You Were Afraid to Ask
Einsteins Field Equations
X-Ray Binaries and the
Search for Black Holes
The Universe and Three
Examples
Cosmic Structure
Formation
GAmeSCOm 2016
HIGHLIGHTS
BeST Of DIGIT
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Our new best performing

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A step in the right direction with

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Big data, little minds
t might seems strange for me to use

that headline in an issue that has
Become God on the cover... but you
will get over it. Heck, chances are, you will
forget it in ten minutes anyway well,
you might remember it for a little longer
now that Im harping on about it
So whats the deal? Am I actually going
against the cover story? Not really, because
God today symbolises power, and you dont
have to be smart to wield power certainly
not if the US presidential race is any indicator!
Humanity is getting weaker with each
generation, and dumber to boot. You dont
have to take my word for it, just look around
you and you will know its the truth. Theres
even genetic evidence to back this up, which
proves that we are in fact getting weaker,
and quite possibly dumber as well because
of mutations in our genes. Check out http://
bit.ly/1hIe0YY and http://bit.ly/2cUc1VL for
more information on the genetic and physical
differences between us and our ancestors.
Of course, unless youre close to my age,
chances are you will ignore this column as
just another old guy calling the younger
generation stupid its been happening for
generations, and will happen for many more,
because, you know, grumpy old guys! Still
here? You must be old at heart!
Our knowledge is a mile wide and an inch
deep, whereas it used to be an inch wide and
a mile deep. Of course there are advantages
to being able to pick a few thousand brains
for ideas, unlike the few dozen we used to be
able to before the internet came along. Being
exposed to much more data than before is
good, but only to a certain point, beyond which
its indistinguishable from white noise. As our
cover story will tell you, using technology to
tame, poke at and get meaningful answers out
of big data is the secret sauce for success. However, its can also be a recipe for disaster.
Knowing what you want from big data
is the key. This is best understood with an
example: Think of the way in which you do
research for something an office project,
student assignment, when buying something,
when looking for data to refute points made
by that idiot youre having an internet argument with, etc Right from your posture to
the way you use technology, the questions you
ask, the way your mind works, its all energetic because you are searching for an answer,
and are aware of the question. Now compare

that state to what youre doing when youre
channel surfing on YouTube, or scrolling
through your Facebook newsfeed. The latter
is like big data hitting you smack in the face,
and leaving you dazed and confused.
Whats worse, this disturbing trend is not
abhorred, but is actually welcomed. Were
like little toddlers now, running amuck on the
internet, laughing at silly cats and fart jokes
How else would you explain something like
tl;dr (too long; didnt read) now becoming a
perfectly accepted and widely loved response
to any text heavy article, or even serious
videos that are more than 5 minutes long?
And why? Because people have too little time
and too many duck-face selfies to like online?
People have always behaved sillier in
groups, and on the internet, its always a
new low because of the lack of real world
consequences. Conversations are often
ruined by trolls, our attention spans are too
short and making wise-ass comments is
the order of the day Twitter pretty much
survives on just that.
Meanwhile, places like forums are dying
while WhatsApp groups are thriving.
The Digit Forum is now crawling along at
the lowest activity its ever seen, while the
Forums WhatsApp group is a non-stop
chatfest and often people spend hours talking
about absolute rubbish. Why? Instant
gratification, no desire to take a little trouble,
and certainly no thought for the benefit of
others WhatsApp and most social networks
are closed systems, accessible only to those
inside, whereas something like a forum has
worldwide access, and thus some discussions
might actually benefit a larger audience.
shameless forum.digit.in plug!
I guess what really concerns me is that
mastering big data to become god is merely
keeping a finger on the pulse of the general
public, and then giving us exactly what we
want. However, if what we want is to spiral
downwards like kamikaze pilots, are you
OK using big data to play god over little
minds? Reminds me of the plot of the movie
Idiocracy...
Robert Sovereign-Smith
Executive Editor
robert@digit.in
Humanity is
getting weaker
with each
generation, and
dumber to boot.
Liked or hated this column?

Let me know at:
robert@digit.in | @raaabo
facebook.com/raaabo
October 2016 Volume 16 Issue 10

To AdverTise
Managing Director Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha

Printer and Publisher Kanak Ghosh
Publishing Director Vikas Gupta
Editorial
Executive Editor Robert Sovereign-Smith
Managing Editor Siddharth Parwatay
Multimedia Co-ordinator Abhijit Dey
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digit.in
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Writers Arnab Mukherjee, Manish Rajesh, Nikhil Punjabi

Test Centre
ProducTs reviewed This monTh
AdverTising index
Biostar Racing B150GT5

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Seagate ...................................Inside Front Cover
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All the latest lifestyle technology, gadgets to

drool over and gizmo porn like never before.
Desire, Greed and Temptation ahead...
) Hello there! I've been reading

your magazine for the past year and
the magazine is very awesome. The
'Become A Hacker' issue was very
cool. I've learnt many techniques from
it and I might try 'em out (not on you
guys!). The article on other popular
hackers was something that I admired.
Happy Birthday Joshi virus story was
funny! Anyway, this month's SKOAR!
was awesome! The article on Devil
May Cry was the best. I want to ask
you a question: Do you know about
Hatsune Miku? If yes, can you give a
FastTrack about the vocaloid? In the
end, thank you guys for inventing
such a cool magazine.
Shivam Shekhar Soy
Thanks for the feedback Shivam.

Were glad that you liked the September
issue. But a FastTrack about Hatsune
Miku? Are you serious? Looks like
someones got a little crush ;-)
Siddharth
) I am 13 and I have started reading
your Digit magazine recently and
IT IS AWESOME! Your YouTube
channel has improved a lot. Just some
suggestions1. Increase product reviews as they are
loved more by the audience.
2. Please provide better games in the
disc as they are a little boring.
3. Keep more tech articles. The ones
like Human 2.0 and Trolling can be
a little boring.
4. Please provide DIY articles and
interesting projects that are really
awesome! (I really liked the How
to repurpose old tech! In the 15th
anniversary issue).
Robert sir told me that you guys
have an office in Mumbai eh? I can give
you a visit anytime as I live in Pune!
You guys feel like a family to me!
P.S. Can you please answer what is
the salary of a Digitian? Thank you for
inspiring me and millions of fans and
taking them to the Tech World!
The Prefecttaps
Good suggestions! Yes we have an

office in Mumbai. Sure you can give us
Angular 2.0 released
Google has finally released the

Angular 2.0, incompatible with the
older version. http://dgit.in/Angulr2
Feedback for the September 2016 issue of Digit
a visit. Be sure to give us a shout before

coming. As for the salary question, the
answer is not enough.
Siddharth
) Greetings, Team Digit!
First of all I would tell you what
countless others have already said, but
is very true that you are doing an
amazing job. Digit is not only the best
tech magazine in India, but in the entire
world (at least from my point of view).
I discovered it in class 6th and have
always read it whichever issue I find,
wherever I find.
Having said that, I have gripes
about your website. I use the site to stay
connected with you, and visit it daily.
However, it seems to be extraordinarily
cluttered and disorganised (either that
or I am missing the system of organisation). Often it has happened that one
month old articles are at the top, while
the newest articles and news are somewhere down below, to be found after
much scrolling and carefully looking at
the date of publishing.
Something that has been worrying me lately is how the PC is being
neglected for the last 3-4 years or so.
We see cheap, 10-15K smartphones
boasting 2K displays, while even today
a 55K laptop runs at mere HD 720p.

"Budget" phones are getting shiny
new deca-core processors, 3 GB DDR4
RAM, while mid-range PCs run at 4
GB DDR3 and barely a quad-core. Why
should we have to spend a bombshell
for a good experience, while extremely
powerful smartphones are being made
available at a price barely a fraction
of a top-end gaming PC. Agreed, that
PCs are more powerful, but why are
no attempts being made to make PC
tech affordable and compact? Why
should a thin laptop be labelled as an
ultrabook? At this point, every laptop
should have been an "ultrabook".
Maybe I have lesser knowledge and
understanding about how R&D works,
but still it seems unfair. Even today the
PCs have crap webcams, crap in-built
microphones, and crappy speakers. It
is really sad to see the most productive
tech we have being neglected like this,
and it pains me greatly. I would love to
hear your views about this topic.
Hritvik Kaushik
Thanks for your mail, and continued
support to our magazine that we all
love, Kaushik.
Your feedback on the website's been
received, loud and clear, and let me tell
ST: Discovery delayed
Sonys 4K projector
Scheduled to be released in January, the

premiere has been pushed to May 2017.
http://dgit.in/STDscvryDlyd
you're not the only one who's been so

critical. We're getting it all fixed. Soon.
Very soon. So stay tuned on that front.
Regarding laptops, you echo my
thoughts. There's no reason why laptop
screens continue to be 720p, when
smartphones are packing in a lot more
heat these days. Ditto RAM, speakers
and other internal hardware.
But I'll tell you some of the balancing acts that a laptop has to keep
in mind while it's being designed for
production. Bigger screen size and
resolution directly impacts battery
life would you buy a higher resolution
Priced at $14,999 supports Hybrid LogGamma standard, broadcasts in UHD.

http://dgit.in/Sony4Kproj
laptop which is thicker to carry around

because of its screen? Laptop speakers
are bad across the board because of
physical restrictions -- but you'll see
thicker, heavier machines boasting off
decent audio thanks to highly sensitive
and precise audio chips and speakers.
It's all possible, but at what cost? I'm
not saying it's not doable, but the costs
of these components aren't coming
down and they won't anytime soon.
You know why? PC sales are reducing
worldwide, which means OEMs want
to stick to their established revenue
margins without promising extra which
Inbox
would drive costs upwards, making

their PCs even harder to sell.
Jayesh
) Hi guys,
I received the September issue about a
week ago and I haven't read the entire
magazine (pretty obvious).
There has been a sudden hype
among my friends about the Dark or
the Deep Web and hacking. Now this
issue will most certainly help me in
that subject. The God of War poster was
great. I just finished watching Stranger
Things and I loved it and you guys gave
LeTTer of The monTh

) Hey! I am a reader of the Digit magazine from quite few
years, but I never sent a letter to you. This is my first one
asking for some help.
1. Last month you reviewed the Canon EOS 1300D, so I
was looking to buy a DSLR in the price range of 25k this
Diwali . Is the 1300D the best or you prefer D3300 or
D3200 or something else?
2. I just wanted to know if Raspberry Pi can run Remix
OS or some Android OS. Because I was thinking of
making my own smartphone following a guide.
But I wanted an Android OS . So if there is any
Android OS on Raspberry Pi please inform me.
3. Last week some people suggested for FIFA 17
poster and two DVDs, I want both of them.
And I also suggest giving something related
to technology instead of the Digit dmystify
because I dont think more tech lovers are
interested in them and they dont read it .
4. It would be awesome if you add a DIY column
like that of tips and tricks .
5. I wanted to go in the field of ethical hacking after my
12th. I have taken CS for my 11th & 12th so basically
what should I do after my 12th, what degrees or what
courses to do for becoming a CEH.
You people are doing a great work and keep it up :)
Thank you and hope you look into my questions.
Akshansh
1. The D3300 is better than the 1300D given the higher

ISO range and greater focus points. You might miss
out on the built-in Wi-Fi but last we checked, both
companies were packaging Eye-Fi cards along with
their cameras that dont have built-in Wi-Fi. But if you
are interested in learning photography then pick either,
switch to manual and experiment as much as you can as
the concepts are the same. The finer nuances that dif-
ferentiate the two cameras affect those whove already

gotten a hang of photography. Since the D3300 is two
years old, you might be able to get one for a much
better price as well.
2. If you have a Raspberry Pi 3 then you can install
Android on it. Even the recently released Android 7.0
Nougat can be installed. Follow the instructions shown
in this video: http://dgit.in/AndRasp
3. Thanks for letting us know which poster youd like with
SKOAR!, user feedback matters quite a lot for when we
decide which game to feature on the SKOAR! poster
so keep writing in to let us know which game you
are looking forward to. As for the two DVDs, well
with better internet connectivity weve noticed
that fewer people want more DVDs but then
again, feedback helps us decide our direction.
4. We do have a DIY section every now and
then, especially the special issues often feature
the DIY section so thats something to look
forward to.
5. There are quite a lot of courses out there for Ethical
Hacking but few are considered to be valid enough to
be considered a qualification for a job. You should start
off by learning programming languages and familiarise
yourself with Linux. Then install Kali Linux and get used
all the penetration testing tools. Dont break any laws
while doing so. Because familiarising yourself with the
IT laws is another important aspect of becoming an
ethical hacker. Often, applying for such jobs will require
you to prove yourself at the interview so dont focus on
getting a certificate from any institute but get a good
hold of the concepts and the more your practise, the
better. As for websites to hunt information, please refer
to the documentation of the individual tools. So if you
want to learn about aircrack, check their website etc.
Mithun
Gmail & Inbox go

Inbox
Gmail and the Inbox apps to receive

responsive design to adapt to screen sizes.
http://dgit.in/RespGml
it a pretty good rating too. The iOS apps

listed were also good.
Some of the other things I want to
mention includes the fusion of SKOAR!
with the main mag which was a good
idea. Also, when are you going to start
a YouTube channel for SKOAR? So we
can watch you play games and give
their first impressions etc.
Aryaman
Great suggestions Aryaman. A
SKOAR stream is in the works. Were
just trying to figure out which platform
to use. Stay tuned.
Mithun
) Hello team Digit!
The cover story of August was really
good, though what really caught my
eye was the Quantum World dmystify.
I enjoyed every bit of it, but I felt that
the content you gathered on Quantum
Physics didn't even begin to scratch
the surface. Moving on to September,
Sid's column was really thoughtprovoking, and I am eagerly looking
forward to reading a sequel to this
editorial. 'Hacker' cover story
was interesting.
P.S. forgive the cheeky subject lines
of my emails. I hate using these kind of
tricks for catching attention, but four of
my sent e-mails have never been read
till now. With Regards to all Digitians
behind every issue.
Shivashankar.S.Menon
Young padawan, patience is a virtue.

The masters have read your emails.
Team Digit
) Hey guys , thanks for another interesting issue. I am Priyanshu studying
in class 9, a science, tech and anime
lover. Thanks to you guys, I am now
using Ubuntu 16 and I really liked it
a lot, you guys are like techno gods!
Your previous months dmystify about
quantum world was great. Actually I
was looking for something like that, but
I expected more from it and something
new but still it was better than the thick
books since my exams are starting
and it will be a boring week . I want to
become a theoretical physicist, so can I

write some article in Digit, dmystify or
online. Once again thanks and salute
for your magazine.
Priyanshu Pradhan
Its nice to see young people these
days have ambitions such as I want to
become a theoretical physicist. When
we were growing up science wasnt
cool. Truly heartening.
Team Digit
) Dear Team Digit!
I'm a 14 year old geek, who is writing
his very first letter to the MOST AWESOME MAG IN THE UNIVERSE!
Your September issue was
astounding, especially the cover story
and the torrents (you know why...).
Also, you guys really scared the hell
out of me, as I was really petrified on
not finding the separate mag, SKOAR!.
Though it was a great idea of including
the gaming mag in the main magazine.
Here are a few suggestions. Can
you please review the new Intel Space
Capsule? Please provide a poster of Battlefield 1 or Dishonored 2. And can you
increase the content in the Dymistify
booklet. Can you do a comparison
between the PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro, Xbox
One, Xbox One S?
Now time for some pros. Glad
you improved the quality of tapes.
Delighted to read the reviews on the
mid-ranged graphics card (its been a
long time you see). Reading about the
recent ESL India Premiership's Challenger Cup gave me a heart-warming
feel. That's it for now guys.
-Sarang Dev
Youre in luck Sarang since October

already has a Battlefield 1 poster. Do let
us know whether you liked it. Well right
away get on your suggestions and thank
you for the wonderful feefback.
Abhijit
) Hey! A big fan of you and Digit.
Period. I was coincidentally working

on an article this week. The idea had
been in my mind since so long and AI
consciousness still continues to fasci-
rest finger to open
Heres how you can get the rest finger on

Touch ID to unlock your Apple devices.
http://dgit.in/iOpen10
nate me. It was a real honour to have

it read by you. I cant believe you took
out time from your busy schedule and
actually read that piece of mine. The
best day ever for me indeed as I got an
interesting read from The Siddharth
(Sir). Whenever Digit arrives, I grab it
to check out your page and quirky yet
deep writing style. (It helps of course
that its the first one).You know it garners the readers interest to read more
about the theme of the month.
I was equally intrigued by what you
wrote about we all wait for certain
consciousness indicators or signs but
what if those networks indeed came
alive and talked behind our back? I
mean, just because its beyond our
human perception, does not mean that
level of AI communication isnt there.
It gives me literally goosebumps to
think about what all is about to come...
About the neural oscillations,the
more on the hunt,the merrier. Please do
let me know if you find anything even
minute about it. I happened to stumble
upon it while i was surfing through
the topic of AI one day, and have been
fascinated ever since. I am a B.Tech,
Comp. Sc. & Engg. student (Sem 5) and I
was writing this article for my colleges
Editorial Board, The Epicentre.
Sampada
Oh come now Sampada you are
much too kind. Of course Ill take out
time to go through something a reader
has taken so much efforts to write and
send to us!
Things do get busy here at Digit but
were never THAT busy.
Your article was certainly an interesting
read. Just one comment: it's one thing
is to beat the Turing Test i.e. mimic
consciousness. It is an entirely different ballgame to be truly self aware.
Either ways, we're indeed at the cusp of
amazing things to come. I'm intrigued
by these 35-75 hertz neural oscillations
you speak of. Will look it up. Its nice to
see the editorial board of your college is
so active.
Why dont you contribute some
original content to Digit as well?
Siddharth
section
subsection
greed
temptation
For those who just want more

than should be humanly
allowed, we have enough to
satisfy your hunger...
if youre wondering what to do

with yourself or how to spend
some time getting cultured,
this section is for you...
This monTh: Tesla s P100D,

hermes Apple Watch,
sealine F530, Gold sony
Walkman and a lot more...
This monTh: TV show:

narcos season 2, Book:
Elon musk and upcoming
stuff to watch out for
technology with style

desire
showcase
Acer Predator 21X

An Acer like none other
cer is no stranger when

it comes to making
gaming laptops. But we
can guarantee you that
notHinG theyve ever made
is anything quite like this one.
the Acer Predator 21X is a
behemoth, where you can
take the word behemoth
literally. this monster
houses two GtX 1080s
(tWo!), a 21-inch curved
display yes cUrVed and
a mechanical keyboard to
boot. this beast is massive,
and weighs a whopping 8kgs,
so youre not going to be
lugging it around. You need
two power supplies to juice
those two 1080s inside. the
mechanical keyboard uses
cherry MX switches, theres
rGB backlighting under
each key. the keyboard also
has macro keys to the left,
for your specialised gaming

needs. to add to that the
Predator 21X comes with
tobiis eye-tracking, which
tracks your eyes movements
and changes camera angles
accordingly, so you can
actually aim with your
eyes. Acer says theyll start
shipping next year but we
dont know when or for how
Codex Silenda
Zungle Panther
BioRing
GoPro Hero 5
The Codex
Silenda wooden
five page
book that has
puzzles on each page, albeit
theres only five pages. The
book reveals a story as you
solve puzzles and progress
through the pages.
The Zungle
Panther
sunglasses are
built-in with
bone-conduction speakers
which transmit sound waves
directly to the skull via
vibrations. Now thats music
that goes right to the head!
The BioRing
is a wellness
tracker that
automatically
measures calorie intake,
protein intake, fat intake and
consumption, stress levels,
activity intensity and other
useful parameters.
GoPro have
officially
announced
the Hero 5. It
comes in 2 variants, Hero 5
Black and Hero 5 Sessions.
Both can shoot in 4k at 30fps
and both are water resistant
up to 33 feet.
B&O
BeoSound 1
Band & olufsens
Beosound 1 looks like
a work of modern art,
and the best part is it
sounds as good as it looks.
According to B&o their
reason for the cylindrical
design is for 360 degrees
of sound. the Beosound is
equipped with the latest
Google cast, Bluetooth,
AirPlay, and dLnA
technologies. if youve
got other B&o products, it
can pair up with them. the
Beosound 1 has a battery
life of upto 16 hours, while
its larger counterpart, the
Beosound 2 runs off main.
much. its safe to assume

itll cost a small fortune.
speciFications
display resolution:
2560x1080 | display size:
21-inch Curved Screen |
cpu: Intel 7th gen Kaby
Lake processors | storage:
4TB SSD | gpu: Two GTX
1080s in SLI
desire
showcase
Lenovo Yoga Book

t
he Lenovo Yoga Book comes with a large touch surface

which doubles as a keyboard as well. it successfully
marries a touchscreen tablet with a second touch-sensitive
surface which can be used as a drawing or writing tablet, or
as a Halo Keyboard which lights up when you need to type
something. You can use your fingertips or a stylus and jot
down notes with ease. the accompanying surface which you
can write on supports 2048 pressure levels, which places the
S6 Drone
Yoga Book in the same level as professional Wacom devices.

Another neat feature was the ability to replace the stylus tip
with an actual ballpoint pen tip and place paper on top of the
writing surface and take notes. the Yoga Book automatically
records it in digital text. At the $500 (`34,000) price tag for the
android os variant and $550 (around `for the Windows variant
, its not outrageously expensive as well.
inglands s6 pocket drone is a sleek piece of tech with

a slim body which could fit in your pockets. its got a
13MP camera with 3-axis electronic image stabilization. its
about as big as your phone and weighs only 280g. it supports
panning, slow motion, time-lapse, auto-following, and flight
path setting among other things. thanks to infrared detectors
it can avoid obstacles from any direction, so you dont have to
worry about the drone while its in flight.
With a drone like this, you can actually record all your
outdoorsy activities effortlessly and share them online. in
fact, thats how the pros do it.
Audeze iSine 10
A
udeze are responsible for some of the best planar

magnetic headphones in the world. now theyve gone
and shrunk their technology to fit into an in-ear design. the
Audeze isine 10s are the first single-driver planar magnetic
in-ear headphones ever made. the isine 10s come with the
conventional 3.5 mm headphone cables and Apples Lightning
cable. its also got
a built-in dAc and
amplifier. dont let
its looks fool you,
while it may look like
something aliens
might wear, the
Audeze isine 10s
guarantee deep bass,
lush midrange and
crystal clear treble;
an overall high sound
quality. And at the
$400 (approx ` 27,000) price tag, its making its entry at a
very competitive price for audiophiles. Audeze were actually
worried they might be underpricing the isines. these could
arguably be one of the best in-ears ever made, and Audeze
definitely want to make that as clear as possible.
Philips 910F
very year at IFA we see a new contender in the

OLED TV market. First it was LG, then last year it
was Panasonic. This year, Dutch electronics company
Philips joined the fray with their 55-inch 910F 4k
Ultra HD resolution, HDR, quad-core powered
Android TV platform with a 6.1 Dolby speaker system.
Yes we realise thats a mouthful to say. The 901F
has a crisp display, with vibrant and well-saturated
colors. The black levels are what youd expect of an
OLED TV, everything looks great. But the stand out
feature in the 910F is the Philips Ambilight System
it comes with. The 901F splashes light behind it to
match the lighting/mood of whats happening on the
TV screen to add an extra layer of immersion into
your viewing experience.
desire
sHoWcAse
Astell & Kern

AK XB10
A
stell & Kerns XB10s provide you with a new way to enjoy
your audio wirelessly, like everything seems to be these
days. the XB10 is a wireless dAc and amp which lets you use
your headphones via bluetooth without sacrificing sound, so
youre getting high-end sound wirelessly.
the XB10s use Qualcomms Bluetooth codec to deliver 24bit Hd audio, so you should be getting that hi-fi audio quality.
it supports both 3.5mm and 2.5mm headphones, voice calls
thanks to a built-in microphone, and it works with both ios
and Android. Astell & Kern claim that the XB10s will last up
to five hours on a single charge which is decent in our opinion.
Furthermore, theyll come with a removable clip so that you
can clip it onto or attach it to your clothes or bag. You can preorder the XB10s on Astell & Kerns website for $189.
Lenovo Yoga 910

t
he Lenovo Yoga concept isnt a new one, its been around

for a good four years now. despite this the Yoga 910
stands out as a noteworthy 2-in-1 because it does something
most other 2-in-1s fail to do actually bring innovations
together and provide the user with a complete package. it
comes with the watchband hinge, a design unique to Lenovo
which provides support at whichever angle the hinge is at
while at the same time keeping it slim. its also nice to look
at, so youre getting a good looking piece of tech as well. its
only 15 millimeters thick, which is thin for a 2-in-1 device. the
Yoga 910 is not all show, youll find a beast of a machine on
the inside with an intel core i7-7500U, thin-bezel display, 4k
resolution, a Pcie solid state drive, 2 UsB-type cs and a UsB
3.0. its a powerhouse you can carry around with you.
Yuneec Breeze
T
heres normally a lot of drones at IFA, and it was true

this year as well. But theres always a drone or two that
stand out among the plethora of UAVs. Enter Yuneec Breeze,
a 4k drone for those moments when a selfie stick just isnt
enough. Everything looks better from a birds-eye view
anyway right? One of the main points that stood out about
the Yuneec Breeze was its price. At under $500, which is still
pretty pricey, its a great deal for the features youre getting
out of it. This drone comes with a range of automated flight
modes, such as follow me, selfie, and orbit to name a few.
Features like these are normally only found in drones far
more expensive than this one, so if youre a casual photographer looking for a capable camera drone, the Yuneec Breeze
is a great option for you.
desire
TAKE MY
MONEY!
Here is where we keep an eye on crowdfunded
projects that will make you go Shut up and
take my money!
FORMcard
Fidget Cube
indulge in your fidgeting desires
ere sure you mustve been told to stop fidgeting! at

least once in the past, and about how its unprofessional,
and its anti-intellectual behaviour, etc. But guess what? turns
out its quite the opposite. there have been several scientific
studies that show how and why
fidgeting is actually healthy behaviour.
the Fidget cube is a small cube, and
each of its six sides has something
on it you can fidget with. theres the
click side, for when you just want
to fidget with buttons. A Glide side,
with a mini analogue stick on it. A Flip
side, with a switch on it for you turn
on and off to your hearts desire. theres a side called Breathe,
designed like worry stones, to reduce stress when rubbed. A
roll side with rolling gears and ball. And lastly a spin side, with
a circular dial.
Fix the world around you
he ForMcard is a pocket sized card thats made of a

strong, meltable, bioplastic. All you need to do is drop it in
a cup of hot water to fix / modify the world around you. since a
ForMcard takes up about as much space as a regular visiting
card or credit/debit card, you can always have one handy on
yourself. After you drop a ForMcard into hot water, you can
shape it into whatever you need depending on the situation.
the ForMcard works instantly, so once its cooled down its
ready for use. it sticks to plastic when hot, making it great for
fixing broken plastic toys and tools, stuff youd normally just
throw away otherwise. the bioplastic used in ForMcards is
starch based and totally non-toxic, colours included, so you
neednt worry about your kids while theyre playing around with
them as well. ForMcards also come in a variety of colours
because we can be a picky lot. choices include colours such
as camo green for the people who like to hide in plain sight,
and fluo orange for the people who love being annoyingly loud.
Just kidding, be as loud as you want. theyre reusable, so dont
worry if you get the shape wrong or need it for something else
later. You can simply melt it down and shape it again!
coros LinX Helmet

T
he Coros LINX cycling helmet boasts being the worlds

first helmet with open-ear bone conduction. What
this means is you can safely listen to music or any other
audio without blocking out traffic sounds while wearing
this helmet. No more distractions because of loud audio or
earbuds falling out. Be completely aware of your surroundings and any hazards that might come your way while youre
out cycling. The Coros LINX is a high performance cycling
helmet which comes with its own smart remote and app.
With the integrated RideAware open-ear bone conduction
audio and microphone, you can connect the LINX helmet to a
smartphone for music, calls, and voice navigation. Definitely
something you would want to consider if youre the digital
outdoorsy kind and like to keep your music close to yourself.
desire
Picbot
t
he Picbot is a smartphone mount that helps you in your

endeavour to capture the best moments with features like
facial tracking, automated videos and pictures, timelapses, and
panoramas. camera hardware on smartphones has been steadily
improving, and with the Picbots help you can utilize the hardware
to the max. You can create steady timelapses and thanks to
features like auto tracking and
facial tracking you no longer need
to be static while recording videos.
theres no need for a camera
controller, the Picbot is controlled
by software when connected to
its app on a smartphone. Picbots
motor is fully automated and is
capable of rotating 360 degrees
in either direction to create the
perfect panoramas. if youre not
happy with the automated controls
and settings, the Picbot comes with a bluetooth controller for
when you might wanna take manual control. to add to that its
also got inbuilt features for editing and filtering, making it very
difficult to pass up if youre an avid smartphone photographer.
take my money
Sgnl
s
gnl is smart strap

that enables you to
answer your phone calls
through your fingertips.
You read that right,
your fingertips! All you
need to do is place your
fingertip to your ear and
use that as if it were
you phone. You speak
into the embedded mic
on the sgnl strap and
use your fingertip as
the speaker. simply replace your watch strap with the sgnl
strap and youre good to go. it doesnt matter if you use a
classic watch, or a smartwatch, as long as it uses a strap,
you can use sgnl. With sgnl you can eliminate the need for
earphones, so theres no fear of losing them, and you dont
even need to take your phone out of your pocket. Great isnt
it? Furthermore your finger will only transmit sound from
the audio source, so you dont even have to worry about
background noises.
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desire
take my money
ZEI
one flip to track them all
he Zei is an interesting time tracking device which makes

time tracking simple and fun. You can connect the Zei to
your smartphone, tablet, or computer through an app which
works on Macos, Windows, Linux, ios, and Android. timetracking is normally a boring job. Filling in timesheets seems a
bit redundant when it feels like a waste of time. this is where the
Zei comes in. With some help from the Zei, you can manage
your time efficiently and wisely throughout the day. the Zei is
a polygon device, so its got eight faces. each of the eight faces
on the Zei can be assigned to a particular task or project. now
these tasks could be anything, from emails, to coffee breaks, to
social media like Facebook or twitter, or an actual work project
or assignment, you decide which face is assigned to which task.
All you need to do is flip the Zei over to have the task youre
currently doing face upwards. When youre done with that task
or project, just flip the Zei to have whatever you plan to do
next face upwards. the Zei will automatically stop tracking
the previous task and start tracking the new task or assignment.
easy right? the polygon keeps track of exactly how much time
you spend on each of those tasks, after which you can analyze the
data in detail on the app. Additionally, you can use the mobile app
to adjust and edit tracks on the go, just incase you forgot to maybe
stop tracking or flip the Zei over. take charge of your time with
the Zei and ensure you never overrun your Facebook timings.
LVL
t
he LVL is a wearable hydration

monitor that tracks not only your
hydration, but your sleep, mood, heart
rate, and other activities as well to
give you a complete assessment
of your health at all times. Keeping
yourself hydrated is something a lot
of us tend to forget and we often
need someone to constantly remind
us to stay hydrated. the LVL gives
you real time hydration notifications
and even sweat rate notifications. it
then prompts you in real-time telling
you to how much fluid you need to
intake to stay hydrated the kind of
performance boost youd gain from
doing so. You get all of this is in
addition to the things youd normally
get from a fitness wearable, such as
a heart rate monitor, a step tracker,
smart coaching, etc. the LVL can also
read your mood, and comes with an
autosleep and smart alarm functions.
We all know that sleep is one of the

most important parts of the day. the
LVL can actually help you sleep better
by letting you know how much liquid
you need for a good nights sleep!

its available in three different strap
variations, ranging from silicone, to
Brown Leather and Black Leather.
desire
MOBILE
WATCH
Stylish, glamorous and interesting
smartphones are always on the horizon. We
take a closer look at whats hot in this space...
Sony Xperia XZ
s
onys newest flagship phone for the time being anyway

is the new sony Xperia XZ. sony may not be doing too
well in the mobile phone market but their latest smartphone
is actually looking to be pretty good. Apart from the
Qualcomm snapdragon 820 processor, its got quite a few
specs similar to its predecessor, the Xperia X, such as 3GB
of rAM, and iP68 waterproofing. the rear camera on the XZ
has two more sensors to support the main 23MP sensor
one for colour and one for depth. the front camera stays the
same at 13MP. the XZ design is also seeing a few changes,
it appears to be more squarish at the edges and has a new
display feature called Loop which makes the screen appear
as though its wrapping into the edges. if youre a sony
mobile fan (we know a few), then its a nice upgrade from
your current sony model.
iPhone 7
t
he iPhone is one of
those devices people
wait for the entire year
and its always on all the
most awaited lists. Apple
has brought quite a few
changes to the iPhone 7,
some of which have been
quite controversial. so
lets not waste any time
and get right to it. For
starters, the iPhone 7 will
come with a 12MP camera
that comes with optical
image stabilization and
a six element lens. the 7 Plus variant of the iPhone which
unlike some previous models, i.e. the 4 and 5, was announced
alongside the iPhone 7 has two 12MP cameras that will work
in tandem, with the second camera having a telephoto lens.
the front camera is now a 7MP Hd camera. Apple has gotten
rid of the 3.5mm jack entirely, and it will instead come with a
lightning connector and a 3.5mm jack adaptor. With improved
battery life and better processing power, the iPhone 7 starts at
$649 for 32GB, and the iPhone 7 Plus, starts at $769.
turing Monolith
chaconne
uring Industries are back and it looks like theyve

come up with a phone with even crazier specs
than their already insane Turing Cadenza. The Turing
Monolith Chaconne, as theyre calling it, has some
crazy specs on it you might even say some batshit
insane specs. TRI claim this a device that falls in
thephablet category. The Monolith Chaconne will
have three Snapdragon 830s, 18GB of RAM, a 6.4
inch 4k display and 768GB of internal storage along
with 2 microSD slots. It will have a hydrogen fueled
cell battery which gives it a boost of 20Wh to 120Wh.
The Monolith Chaconne will use the Swordfish OS,
have a 60MP rear-facing camera and a 20MP dual
front-facing camera. It debuts in 2018.
| October
| October
www.digit.in
www.digit.in
2016 |2016
Digit | 23
Digit | 23
GreeD
DROOL
MAAL
Get your drool on and behold some
of the fanciest, ostentatious and drop
dead gorgeous things money can buy.
Droolworthy?
Peugeot eU01s
Hermes Apple Watch Electric Bicycle
M
T
ost smartwatches we come across dont really excel in
the looks department. But Apple and Hermes have come
together to create a watch to compete with the best of them
when it comes to looks. The collection this year is expanding to
include more colours and designs.
The additions will include a new
design called the Double Buckle
Cuff, inspired from a Hermes sandal
design. Well, it doesnt matter what
its inspired by if it looks good right?
The Single Tour and Double Tour
styles are also making a return
with new colour options. The strap
styles come with the Apple Watch
Series 2, which features GPS, a brighter display, and a powerful
dual-core processor. These watches will be up for grabs in two
different case sizes: 38mm and 42mm; starting at $1149 for
the 38mm Single Tour and $1199 for the 42mm Single Tour.
he Peugeot eU01s is an electric bicycle which can go

at a whopping 45 km/h, which is much faster than
the traditional 25 km/h electric bicycles and scooters
out there. The eU01s falls under the moped category. So
youre definitely going to need insurance, registration and
a helmet. Safety first! 45 km/h is not a joke. The eU01s
comes with a BOSCH Performance Line electric motor
which, with a 400-500 Wh lithium-ion battery, can give
you 75 to 95 kilometres on a single complete charge. The
electric cycle also has 180 mm hydraulic disk brakes and
a maintenance free belt transmission. The eU01s also has
the option for an onboard computer, with a 4.3-inch screen.
Through this you can manage pedal assistance, and make
use of several other functions available on the computer
such as 3D navigation, coaching, and smartphone connectivity. The Peugeot eU01s will be launching later this year
in December. So if you were planning an advance new year
resolution to go cycling, heres the perfect ride for that.
Sealine F530
S
ealines newest flybridge yacht, the F530, is their largest

yet, and the luxury boat is powered by the Volvo Penta
IPS. Sealine have stayed true to their ethos of combining
style with practical design. The 53 foot vessel is both spacious and provides exceptional performance thanks to the
installation of Volvo Pentas IPS system. The F350 comes
with three cabins and a mechanism at the helm seat which
allows it to pivot backwards and be used as a chaise longue
(one of those fancy looking sofas that have a backrest only
at one end). The F530 is available with Volvo Pentas 8-liter
diesel engine and three propulsion system choices. Its also
equipped their Electronic Vessel Control (EVC) for boat function management and gives a top speed of 31 knots. So time
to pull that anchor up and go for a little voyage!
greed
Vertu Signature Touch

Alligator Collection
W
hen you think luxury handmade mobile phones, the first

name that comes to mind is Vertu. This time theyve
brought us the all new alligator collection, as a part of their
Signature touch smartphones. Vertus Signature touch series
are arguably of the highest quality on the planet and that
may be understating it, so for something to be a part of that
is pretty phenomenon and the
alligator collection seems to fit the
bill. The alligator collection has
been specially crafted by a French
tannery and comes in five variants:
Jet Alligator, Pure Navy Alligator,
Clous De Paris Alligator, Almond
Alligator and Cocoa Alligator.
each of these pieces come with a
130 carat sapphire crystal screen,
brushed and polished titanium
coated sides and a hardened
black ceramic pillow. each Vertu
device is carefully curated and
specially crafted so one may be
slightly different from the other.
Gold plated Sony

Walkman
T
DrOOLMAAL
he new NWM1Z Sony

Walkman was revealed at
IFA in Berlin this year and its in
a gold-plated casing. This $3200
device is an upscale on last
years model, with modifications
to the software for the optimum
listening experience and
minimum audio interference.
Its got slightly more bulging
buttons for easier pressing and
a headphone jack right on top
of it, much more convenient in
our opinion. The Walkman not
only looks like a million bucks,
its also resistant to oxidation
and has reduced contact resistance. The new series features
separate digital and analog circuitry and tech that can upscale
low bit-rate files to a near high resolution quality. There is
of course a standard version for $1200. Theres some very
minute differences between the two variants, something only
a true audiophile would be able to decipher.
GreeD
APP WATCH
ExAMinED
Some very cool products come to the
Digit Test Centre which dont really fit into
the standard product categories that we
review in the Bazaar section. We write
about them here mostly to make you turn
green with envy.
G-Shock GBA 400

W
hile not really a smartwatch , the GBA 400 holds true

to G-shocks traditional ruggedness while focussing on
one thing - music. Priced at around 9,500rs, this is not your
average connected watch. What sets this watch apart is its
music features, mainly its song detection feature. Once youve
set up the connection
via bluetooth, long
pressing the button on
the left enables the
search mode. In this
mode, the watch listens to music playing
around you and send it
to the G-shock+ app,
which works with the
SoundHound API to
search the title of the
song and display it on
the watch LCD screen.
Pretty cool, eh?
Apart from
this, during connected music playback, the watch
lets you control the volume, the equalizer and the track
being played. And thats about it, as you do not get any
form of alerts and notifications on your watch, neither
does the watch contain a basic activity tracker. According
to Casio, this explains the watchs 2 year battery life.
Compared to a normal smartwatch, some of which would
be available the price point of `10,000, the GBA 400 does
come with a curtailed feature set, but what it does, it does
really well. And for a certain set of people, the fact that it
does not look like your typical smartwatch, might be its most
unique feature! For the others, this one is essentially a one
trick pony which will soon wear out its shine once you realise
there are smartwatches slightly more expensive than this.
google Allo
Google Allo was announced at
Google I/O 2016 and the internet
just could not get enough of yet
another chat application from
Google (Talk, Hangouts, the list
goes on). But after all that the
app has finally come today with
some very interesting features.
And the best feature is the Google
Assistant on the app, that lets
you bring up search results,
translations, restaurant results,
movie schedules and anything you can get from Google
services right within that chat window. There is also an
option to enable end-to-end encryption for all chats.
Play Store: http://dgit.in/AlloPStr
App Store: http://dgit.in/AlloiOS
MakeupPlus
Nobody needs to be told that
image editing apps and features
have become the craze recently.
With filters and artistic alterations
everywhere, MakeupPlus takes
it one step higher by letting you
do realistic makeup on any of
your pictures. And when we say
realistic, we dont mean blob-ofcolour realistic. The app detects
your lips, eyes, eyebrows, cheeks
and other facial features and
produces a perfectly graded look for whatever cosmetic
changes you are trying out. It also contains overall
looks, some of them even based on popular characters
and movies. ever wondered what you would look like
with blue eyes, green hair and higher cheekbones?
Well, now you can find out!
Play Store: http://dgit.in/MkUpPlPS
App Store: http://dgit.in/MkUpiOS
Zaiuto
On-demand is the dream model
for consumers. After food, cabs,
rental furniture and more on
demand, the next big segment
going that way is car-repair with
the Zaiuto app. If and when your
car breaks down, you can fire up
the app and hit Get Help on the
main screen, below which you can
see the estimated arrival time of
the mechanic from the nearest
partner workshop. After selecting
your problem, payment method and a few more details,
a mechanic would soon be on his way to your location.
Compared to the entire hassle of having your vehicle
towed, or fetching a mechanic yourself, this ones
surely a friend in need!
Play Store: http://dgit.in/ZtoPS
GreeD
AUTO
Your one stop destination for a monthly
dose of all your automobile launches and
desires.
Bentley Flying Spur

W12 S
T
he new Bentley Flying Spur W12 S has the distinction

of being the fastest four-door Bentley yet, with a top
speed of 202 mph. The Flying Spur W12 S can go from 0-100
km/h in just 4.2 seconds, thanks to its 6.0-litre hand-built
engine which delivers 626 horsepower and 605 lb/ft of
torque. This along with a new suspension setting ensures
dynamic handling for every situation without compromising
the Bentley driving experience. The new edition of the spur

features several changes to its exteriors, making use of a
much darker style setting. The W12 S comes with a Beluga
gloss radiator grille and light surrounds, a rear diffuser,
and an optional carbon fibre veneer. Widely known for being
makers of the finest luxury sedans in the world, you can be
sure to expect luxury oozing out from every inch this car.
Its sporty exteriors are well matched by its hand-crafted
interiors and clients have the option to choose from a variety
of materials and stitching options. Bentley has not yet
released any pricing for the 2017 Flying Spur W12 S, but
deliveries are expected to start near the end of this year.
Tesla S P100D
T
eslas new Model S P100D
comes with an increase in
performance in addition to improved
battery capacity. The P100D offers
greater range than the existing
P90D and Tesla also claims that
the P100D can go from 0-60mph
in 2.5 seconds. According to Tesla,
that figure makes it the quickest
accelerating production car in the
world. For a car that weighs 2.1 tons
and can seat up to seven people,
thats very impressive. The new
battery which is now at 100kWh
puts the official NeDC range at 380
miles (611 km). The more realistic
America ePA gives it 315 miles (507
km), which puts it at about par with
most regular combustion vehicles,
which is again, very impressive and
a good 45 miles (72 km) greater

than the P90D. The Tesla P100D is
expected to cost around $134,500
but it isnt confirmed yet. Owners of
the P90D in America can upgrade to
the P100D for $10,000 (`670,000).

Prices for the SP100D have not been
confirmed in the UK either, but you
can expect it cost around 15,000
(`1,300,000 approx) to upgrade.
temptation
BOOk
critique
elon Musk
a story every geek would enjoy
In this section, we put stuff through the

grinder and closely examine what comes
out; everything except gadgets, because
theres more to life than just that
tV SHOw
Ms Pablito
narcos Season 2
he gripping
dramatisation of
Pablo Escobars
life and times
keeps up the heightened
pace through its second
season on Netflix. Pablos
downfall might have
appeared to peak towards

the end of Season 1 but this
is where its truly at. And
just when you thought that
the protagonist would rise
up again like a phoenix,
youre met with a turn only
the likes of George R. R.
Martin can spin. The season
does mellow down a little
towards the end which acts
as a build up for the climax.
If there ever was a situation
where history books could
be replaced with a series,
then this is it, after all, even
those who pen the history
books take liberties. But
its not over yet, there are
more cartels and the shows
called Narcos not Pablo.
Rating:
-Mithun Mohandas
Pokmon Generations
the pokmon Channel on
Youtube have launched
an animated web series
theyre calling pokmon
Generations and its got
2 episodes out already,
with a new episode every
week till Christmas.
Brings back the nostalgia
train, doesnt it?
lon Musk, the

driving force
behind revolutionary startups
like SpaceX and Tesla
Motors, is often cited as
the real-life inspiration
for Robert Downey Jrs
on-screen portrayal of
Tony Stark. Imagine! A
real life Iron Man! Surely,
knowing the life story of
such a personality should
be at the very top of your
bucket list? Thankfully, for
the most part, this book
does justice to that story.
Peppered with interesting
anecdotes and accounts
of pivotal incidents in
Elon Musks life, the book
Mafia III
its time to create a new
family, but ascending to
the top means getting
your hands dirty. mafia
is back and weve
been promised intense
gunfights, hand-to-hand
combat and whiteknuckle driving. Heres
hoping they deliver.
actually makes you wonder

whether you are reading
fact or fiction. But then
again, the life story of a
man who wants to colonise
mars or has lofty dreams
like making humans a
space-faring race, has to be
outrageous. It would be surprising if it wasnt. Youll
get a glimpse into Musk
the high flying CEO and
Musk the geek who, at the
end of a long hard day loves
to reward his engineering
staff with a heated round of
Quake III. Seriously, forget
Steve Jobs, this is the story
you should know.
Rating:
-Siddharth Parwatay
The Accountant
Ben affleck is back, this
time as Christian Wolff,
a man with an affinity
for mathematics who
makes his living as a
freelance accountant
for dangerous criminal
organisations. and
hes got a treasury
agent after him.
Advertorial
Advertorial
Digital life
38
Tracing the evolution of what has

been making your gadgets sick since
gadgets came into being.
Pokmon GO wearables
Pokemon GO will eventually come to
Apple Watch and maybe even Android
Wear. http://dgit.in/PGoWrble
Parenting 2.0
Modern day
parenting is
highly reliant on
technology, and the
options are only
increasing!
Arnab Mukherjee
arnab@digit.in
ho hasnt heard of the

phrase - Parents are
always right. From
the very moment we
are born until we are full grown adults,
wise enough to make our own decisions, it is our parents who take care of
our every need, plan and nurture our
growth, and solve our problems. And
that can never change.
What can change, and in fact, is
changing, is the way it is done. Technology has found its way into the art of
parenting. Innovators and developers
from all over the world are creating
software, hardware, and complete
platforms to help parents go about the
hallowed responsibility of shaping a
life. And modern parents are adopting
these changes for the betterment of their
children as well as making their own
tasks, as parents, much easier. After all,
like sleep trackers, that parents can use

striking the right balance between care,
for a number of purposes.
love, discipline, encouragement, education and fun isnt childs play!
The main areas where parenting is
the apps
infusing with technology are smartThe part of childhood that has changed
phone apps, devices, and a complete
the most due to the influence of techplatform in the form of childrens
nology is education. Information and
tablets. App developers are creating
even full fledged online courses are a
applications that are meant to help
mere Google search away, but how can a
children learn while having fun along
parent trust the source of that informawith other apps that are for parents
tion? A survey reveals that the internet is
to monitor the babys
the second most sought
growth, take care of
mechanism of redressal
pregnant mothers, and
for parents. But, as many
more. Device manufacparents would agree,
turers are picking up
unleashing the internet
this mantle by making
into a childs world,
changes to the more
expecting it to be a benign
common childhood possource of educational
sessions like the pram
information and nothing
and the cradle by turning
more, is not exactly a brilthem into smart devices.
liant idea. This is where
On the other hand, they
the idea of using an app
are also making devices,
as a learning platform
Mr. Jairaj Bhattacharya,
MD, ConveGenius
using IoT and otherwise,
makes sense, because the
illustration: PETERSON PJ
Origins
Mission for pre-order
Nixon Mission is the most rugged

smartwatch weve seen and its priced at $400.
http://dgit.in/nxnMsn
content on apps is chosen by the developers for a specific target audience, and
along with that a number of such apps
come with quite a few useful and innovative features. As Mr. Jairaj Bhattacharya,
MD, ConveGenius puts it, Parents are
choosing to provide digital devices to
children. This is because children are
exposed to gadgets like smartphones
for entertainment and games anyways.
If these gadgets could further learning
outcomes and improve them psychologically, it serves as a win-win for the parent
and the child. Also this serves as a great
approach to fill the gaps that working
parents face today due to lack of time
towards their study.
While there are quite a few apps that
directly help the education of a child,
there is not much parenting involved
in those other than installing the app
and probably choosing a subscription plan. Take Vedantu, for example.
The online tutoring platform is highly
effective in its one-on-one tutoring
method, but does not provide any option
for the parent to monitor the childs
progress without taking over the device
themselves. Of course, the content on
Vedantu starts from the 4th standard,
but that doesnt mean that it wouldnt
benefit from taking parents into the loop
in a better way.
On the other hand, services like Uolo
are trying to connect Parents, Students
and Teachers on a common platform.
Uolo is a Parent-School communication
platform that aims to bring important
information as well as small tidbits to
all parents, simultaneously. Essentially
a one-way messaging app, it allows the
teacher to create groups of students on
the app, and when a parent installs the
app and logs in with credentials from
the Uolo team, they can receive the messages sent by the teacher on the group.
This aims to involve parents better in the
schooling process. They have Android
and iOS apps, a desktop website, and
an SMS service. And its not even the
only offering trying to do this. US based
remind.com and Mumbai based Knit
App are also offering services that
aim to streamline the communication
between parents and students.
Epsons pro projector

The Pro Cinema LS10500 Projector
comes with 4K and HDR support.
http://dgit.in/EpsnProProj
Feature
Parent teacher sync app Uolo Notes is currently working on Reminders and File
Attachments
when BabyChakra launched in 2014, it

Appystore.in is another platform
had one goal in mind - to connect parthat focuses on providing good quality
ents to the services they need, without
video content for kids of various age
taking any risks on the trust front.
groups between the age of 1.5 to 8 years
Ranging from expecting parents to
old. Content on the platform is filtered
parents of toddlers, Babychakra allows
by age group and a parent can track the
parents to look for specific services like
progress of their child based on videos
nutritionists, party planners, art classes
viewed. A survey by Appystore, conand more. They can see reviews from
ducted with over 1000 parents across
other parents about any specific busiIndia, reveals that 58% of parents agreed
ness on the platform and can also follow
that digital learning helps children
MomStars on the platform, who are
learn new concepts. Only 5% of the
mothers who have signed up as experts
preschool population are enrolled into
on the platform.
a preschool. Hence, what is regarded as
A more comprehensive approach is
the most important developmental years
offered by the My Child App. Availfor a child gets no guidance in India.
able and used in 135 countries, this app
As such in the absence of strong offline
regularly asks you questions about your
infrastructure and availability of digital
child to track their growth between the
options is making newer generations
age of 1-24 months and offers you advice
look towards the internet and digital to
in case it detects something unusual.
satisfy the need for parenting support
It also connects you with doctors via
and information, says Mr. Manoj Barot,
an integration with Practo and lets you
Director Marketing, Appystore.in.
store all the prescriptions and reports in
But education comes at a much later
one place.
stage in a childs life. New and expecting
parents have a lot more
to deal with, and with
nuclear families soon
becoming the only type
of families out there,
they dont really have a
source of trusted experience based information.
And when it comes to
advice, almost every
other person recommends something
completely different. So As you can see, Flintobox is filled with interesting activities
Instagram Ads
Feature
Android on Chrome OS
Instagrams advertising base has

doubled, exceeding 500,000.
http://dgit.in/instagrmads
the toys
While apps and video based platforms
do make the learning process enjoyable
and interesting, continuous exposure
to a digital display might end up being
quite harmful to a childs vision. Also,
not all parents are sure about handing
over their own devices to their kids.
After all, would you be comfortable
giving your latest smartphone to a
2-year old? Keeping all these concerns
in mind, manufacturers and startups
are coming up with interesting products
that are meant to engage the kid physically as well as provide digital content.
Flintobox is a subscription based
Indian startup that ships engagement
kits to your doorstep. This is especially
useful for parents who are too busy
with work-life to sit and figure out the
activities that will benefit their children.
A typical Flintobox is theme based and
contains multiple indoor activity kits like
Mini Golf, along with educational content
based on the theme that helps children
learn more about the topic while having
fun. Magic Crate and Kompanions Kube
are two other startups with similar
offerings. Both Flintobox and Kube have
accompanying smartphone apps that are
also an integral part of their offering.
There are tablet manufacturers who
are making devices specifically with kids
in mind. Intels Eddy tablet is one such
device that is available online and comes
with a protective case that can take occasional bumps. It comes with more than
160 applications and 100 books selected
by educators. A more India oriented
device would be the Lenovo CG Slate.
While the tablet itself is manufactured by
Lenovo and runs on Android Kitkat, the
tablet is accompanied by a 32GB SD card.
Google plans to bring support for

Android apps to Chrome OS.
http://dgit.in/andChrmos
StEM CEll
PrESErvAtIOn
Stem cells are widely used in regenerative medicine to treat a number of
serious medical issues like damaged
tissues, organ transplants and even
cancer treatment. And one of the
primary source of stem cells is the
umbilical cord blood, which can be preserved in modern day cord blood banks.
One of the first companies to offer this
service in India is Lifecell, although
there are more options out there now
like Cordlife, Babycell and more.
The CG Slate also sends progress reports

to parents via SMS and email, and also
allows parents to monitor the progress
directly on the software in Parent Mode.
On top of that, you can have multiple profiles on the same tablet, thus eliminating
the need to buy different devices for your
children. And since it is a fully functional
android tablet, even you can use it.
For a section marked The Toys,
it would be silly if we didnt talk about
actual toys for kids, wouldnt it? Thankfully, some creative startups have covered
that special aspect of childhood as well!
Toys-On-Rent is an online toy library that
lets parents rent toys for their children
based on a number of plans available.
Any parent would agree that kids arent
exactly good at keeping their toys intact,
or playing with them for a long time. So
the availability of toy rental libraries is
solving both of those problems at once.
With the guarantee of the toys being
sanitized and properly checked before
delivery, renting plans from libraries like
toys-on-rent is a great option for parents.
the tools
Future models of Belli will have additional features like kick count!
When it comes
to technology
and parenting
influencing each
other, there is
more to it than
just apps, kids
tablets and content platforms.
Manufacturers
around the world who make things for

children and parents alike are adapting
technology into their products.
Womens health company Bloomlife
says that its goal is to improve the health
of mothers and babies by combining
connected devices with data analytics
to provide insights that reassure an
expecting mother and keep her informed
about the progress of her pregnancy.
Their first device is Belli, a smart wearable to be used during the third trimester
that tracks contractions and other details.
This data is represented usefully in a
mobile app where it helps the mother to
plan their big day. And a future update
to the device and the application plans to
bring in additional insights like stress,
sleep, kick counts, and activity levels
while also incorporating a simple QnA
feature that helps moms put their doubts
to rest. This device not only saves an
expecting mother quite a few possibly
hectic trips to the doctor, the analytics
provided by it are helpful to the doctor
being consulted as well!
Another category of devices that
comes strongly recommended from
parents is a video baby monitor setup.
This would essentially require a connected camera setup in the babys room
or around the house and an application
to monitor it remotely. The Motorola
MBP26 Video Baby Monitor is a good
option available in India. It comes with
a 2.4 LCD monitor and has a parentbaby camera setup (theyve definitely
named it right) that even supports
infrared monitoring for night.
Good Parenting
While one of technologys greatest
gifts is that it does our work for us, it
also brings about a lack of attention
and increased distractions in most
things we do, which could be especially harmful when parenting. All the
apps, tablets, and gadgets in the world
cant substitute a parents instinct. So,
for expecting and new parents alike,
it is essential to remember that all of
this technology is to make the huge
responsibility of bringing up a child a
bit easier to bear, not make it a lesser
responsibility altogether!
Yahoo View launched
WaveNet audio
Yahoo View, an application that provides

free video content from Hulu is now live.
http://dgit.in/YahooVw
Origins
Googles DeepMind is working on a new

speech generator that sounds more natural.
http://dgit.in/WvNtAud
The
InTerneT
unleashed
With the arrival of high speed internet and

communication network, malicious software no
longer relied on floppy disks or internal networks in
organisations. It found a new favorite medium - email. Two
of the most effective viruses to do this were the Melissa virus
1999 and the ILOVEYOU virus a year later. The Melissa virus
took advantage of Visual Basic for Applications, that was built
into Microsoft Word to create a word document which, when
opened, immediately sent itself to the first 50 people on the
openers contact list. The ILOVEYOU virus was more human
activated as it made no attempt to disguise its executable
nature in the form of a .vbs file. And since the person
received the message from someone on their contact
list, with this name they were highly likely to open
it. This virus has gone on to become one of
the first documented examples of
social engineering.
The
Theory and The
fIrsTs
John Von Neumann discussed the possibility

of a self replicating program back in the 1940s
and published a paper on the same in 1966. The paper
explored the idea of a mechanical organism being able
to replicate itself and damage machines, much like a living
organism. Creeper, often regarded as the first virus, was a test
program created by Bob Thomas of BBN. While it did not have
any malicious intent, it set the precedent for more such viruses
to come. In 1974, the Rabbit virus was developed and released.
It made multiple copies of itself on any machine it reached
and significantly slowed down system performance. The
first reported Trojan, ANIMAL, was created in 1975 by
John Walker. The first PC virus Brain began infecting 5.2 floppy disks in 1986. Although it had no
malicious intent, it was the first stealth
virus placed on the boot sector
of floppy disks.
Computer
viruses
Tracing the evolution of whats
been making your computer
sick for the past 30 years
Arnab Mukherjee
arnab@digit.in
Note 2 burns mid-air
A Samsung Note 2 phone caught fire

mid-air on a Singapore-to-Chennai flight.
http://dgit.in/Note2Fire
Apple & Tuplejump
Apple has now acquired an India/USbased machine learning team, Tuplejump.

http://dgit.in/AplTplJp
Origins
Worms
armageddon
A worm is a computer program

whose sole purpose is to replicate and
occupy system resources as well as network
bandwidth. In 2001, the Code Red worm made
headlines by exploiting a flaw in the Microsoft
Internet Information Server to spread globally in a
few hours. The worm was instructed to replicate
itself only for the first 20 days of the month,
block web pages on an infected server with the
message Hacked by Chinese and then, on
a certain date, launch a Distributed
Denial of Service attack on the
White House website.
recenT
ThreaTs
The kind of viruses that worked

earlier dont work nowadays. Weve gotten
better when it comes to securing our gadgets
with tools like antiviruses and firewalls. But malicious code has just shifted its focus towards exploiting
flaws in systems and is still causing damage. Take the
example of Heartbleed, a vulnerability in the widely used
open source cryptographic library Open SSL. It could be
used to obtain confidential information by just sending a
message of shorter length than declared. Even Androids
Stagefright is more of a bug more than a virus, but
it has to be triggered by a specific MMS message
(that requires no action from the end user) and
grants the attacker complete access to
the phone, which might include instantly crashing it as well.
fuTure of
vIruses
Malicious code which used to be

nothing more than cyber vandalism has
now evolved to full fledged cyber crime. And
in this connected age, it might be possible to lose
access to your devices and information due to the
same technology that has enabled their existence.
Malware targeting smartphones are emerging now,
and soon it will be shifting towards Point of Sale terminals and the Internet of Things. A good example
of current capabilities is the Moker remote access
trojan. Its hard to find and remove and bypasses almost all known security measures.
The only way forward right now is to
change faster than the threats
are evolving.
Cover story
INDEX:
DEtEctIvE Data ............................................41
Our futurE Is DataIsm ...........................45
DEcIsION, DEcIsION, DEcIsION..................53
Cover story
The long arm of The law jusT goT a liTTle longer Thanks To Big DaTa.
BuT are you willing To leT go of your privacy To Be safer?
imaging: Peterson PJ
By Mithun Mohandas
mithun@digit.in
magine walking down the street in the near

future, the IoT has reached its peak and its ever
pervasive nature entails that anything and
everything in and around you is connected, and
petabytes of data is being sent from trillions of
connected systems to intensely powerful analytical systems. You are decked with gadgets smartphone, smartband, and an AR visor are bare minimum.
As you continue walking, your AR (augmented
reality) visor has your morning schedule listed and its
navigation assistant directs you to take a turn to save a
few minutes. You turn into the corner and your visor
camera analyses every object and every person in front
of you, highlighting those whom you may be connected
to on social media. Your visor immediately turns a
shade of orange and outlines a man 150 meters ahead
of you. Your visor camera hasnt identified the person
but the mere fact that he has been pacing to and fro
rather hurriedly gets flagged. You notice that some of
the CCTV cameras on the street turn in his direction.
Seconds later, the orange alert turns red and so does
his outline. You become alert and come to a halt, the
visor navigation directions reroute to show you the
fastest way to safety. You notice that every other person
on the street just received the same alert on their visors
and theyve all started moving away from the suspicious person. A counter soon pops up on your visor,
the cops are on their way and theyll reach in barely
two minutes. The area youre in has a heightened police
density owing to the number of crime incidents here.
Youve double-backed to the earlier street corner, notice
that the cops are already there and theyre already
observing the person. A crime has not taken place so

they cant arrest anyone. Two officers from the other
end of the street slowly walk towards the suspect with
a smile on their face...
It might seem a little too futuristic, but similar
systems have already been designed and multiple pilot
programmes are being run in cities and towns across
the globe. Predictive Crime Analytics is very much in
the present thanks to Big Data.
PrEDIctIvE crImE aNalytIcs

While not quite the way Minority Report a Tom Cruise
movie about predictive crime pictured it, quite a few
software already deal with Predictive Crime Analytics
with even technology giants such as IBM and Hitachi
coming out with their systems. Needless to say, quite a
lot of questions have been raised regarding the efficacy
of such systems. PCA is doing exactly what analysts
and detectives have been doing for decades poring
over all the evidence to identify patterns and shortlist
suspects. The only difference is that our methods of
obtaining information have multiplied to the extent
that humans will soon not be able to handle the enormous amount of data that needs to be analysed.
ENtEr, machINE lEarNINg.

Traditionally, databases would be populated manually
by humans so there was a defined structure but this
would also mean that the very same structure ended
up being restrictions to the kind of data that could
be stored in the database and thus a portion of the
data would be discarded. As technology progressed,
Cover story
about 20% of the entire data and lastly,
you have the test set. Given all the
learning the system has done, you can
figure out how accurate the system is to
see if further training is required before
opening the flood gates.
What kIND Of Data?
Whoops! I just got flagged by the cops...
databases evolved to attain a state

where the human element could be
taken out of the situation. Now you can
store all kinds of data and not worry
about giving it structure. That comes
later. With IoT gaining momentum,
the sheer volume of data thatll be produced calls for even quicker analysis of
the data and with that comes Machine
Learning algorithms that can sift
through massive data sets to ascertain
patterns or anomalies.
Machine learning is being used
across a multitude of application
scenarios. If you have a smartphone,
then the very reason that Google Now,
Siri or Cortana can easily understand
voice commands with an Indian accent
is because of Machine Learning. Millions of us have tried out these services
and the more it gets to hear, the better
it picks up. If youre into writing blogs
then youve obviously come across
Predicting crime with Machine Learning
Googles Adwords which can show you

which keywords are the best for your
topic and then rank keywords based
on search volume. The more you feed
any machine learning system, the more
it learns and the faster it becomes. Its
only outlier cases that can throw off
such systems and that too for a short
while. So how does machine learning
work? Heres a quick primer:
Machine Learning requires you
to feed a set of learning algorithms
voluminous amount of data. This data
is broken down into three parts. First
comes the training set which allows
the ML algorithms to easily figure out
how to look for patterns, which parameters to prioritise (or give the highest
weights). This data set would constitute
roughly 60% of the entire data. Then
comes the validation set which helps
the ML algorithms fine tune the parameters of various patterns. This forms
Since we were talking about predicting

crime, you can easily assume that
criminal case files would be one of
the first things to be fed to the system.
Manual methods that have been used
by analysts involved looking at variables like names of schools which were
prone to have higher gang members
and then cross-referencing that data
with slang words on Twitter to see if
anything was afoot. A human would
assign weights to indicate importance
of certain terms. For example, in India
the word Ghoda literally translates
to Horse but the erstwhile gangsters
would use Ghoda to reference a
pistol. So when a PCA system comes
across such terms which seem a little
offbeat for normal conversation then it
gets flagged. And if this flagged incident
seems to be centered around a physical
location thats known for violence then
youre looking at a higher probability of
a crime being committed. The local law
enforcement authority of the area can
then be notified at which point a human
can investigate. The system depends on
validation so it will have to be notified
if its hunch was indeed on point. This
is how latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA)
functions in a PCA system.
And the data fed to such PCA systems would include:
Biometrics To recognise individuals.
Body language patterns To identify abnormal behavior
Travel history To see if Hot Zones
are developing based on density of
criminals
Media consumption To see if
flagged content is being viewed
Monetary asset levels Lower
levels of wealth would indicate a
higher propensity to commit crime
if the person has a criminal history
Exposure to criminals To see if
theyre in bad company
Feeds To track movement of
individuals
Cover story
You may never need to ask the system, instead the system might warn you...
License plate reader information

To track movement of individuals
Environmental data To track
changes in Radiation levels etc.
And as more and more agencies
adopt the same PCA system, the data
sharing between individual systems
would further enhance accuracy levels.
And to increase the amount of data, all
the above mentioned sources of data
would be encouraged to hoard and provide even more historical data. Which
brings us to the ever popular discussion on privacy. As we stand now, you
cant expect privacy for everything that
occurs in the public domain. So will
these systems obtain information from
your private devices? Soon enough,
yes. Or quite probably they already are.
While national intelligence agencies of
first world countries have been mining
and generating metadata from your
personal devices for a few years now,
these PCA systems so far dont seem to
do so. Current systems rely on publicly available data but it wont be long
before youre given a choice to voluntarily surrender your privacy to help
such systems improve accuracy.
arE machINEs bIgOts?

One of the biggest arguments against
law enforcement agencies is that the
officers of the law tend to be biased
towards a certain race or even community because historical data says
so. So would feeding a PCA system
the same data cause it to turn into a
racist and bigoted system like what
happened with Microsofts AI chatbot
Tay. Tay started off an experiment
in conversation understanding and
according to Microsoft, the more you
chat with Tay, the smarter it becomes
at making conversation. Its a pity
that Twitter went wild and started
chatting with Tay using misogynistic
and racist remarks. The AI soon
picked up on this and assumed it to be

part of a normal and casual conversation. And soon enough, it went from
an innocent chatbot to a full-blown
bigot that could out-nazi Hitler himself, all in under 24 hours.
So when you take historical data
which says that members of a certain
community have a greater propensity
to commit crime, will an AI immediately flag him or her down? Not quite
so. As the system learns more and
more, it will make predictions and
flag down individuals for officers to
intercept, and the moment it receives
feedback on whether the individual
was indeed a threat or not, the system
learns again. Soon enough, the initial
pattern which cause the system to flag
down the individual will be modified
and a new pattern will emerge. Thus,
evolving and becoming more accurate.
Over time, the system performs a balanced assessment of relative weights
which is to say that a person with no
criminal history acting in a suspicious
manner will not be flagged down.
Such as a school teacher keeping the
car motor running while parked in
front of a bank will not be flagged as a
getaway vehicle.
It should be noted that these
systems dont pass judgement but
merely calculate the propensity of an
individual to commit a crime based
on their recent behavior in public.
And current gen PCA systems like
Hitachis Visualization Predictive
Crime Analytics simply flag down
such areas which results in increased
police patrolling. Such directed
patrols have proven to reduce crime
statistics in hot spots according to
studies conducted in the USA.
Tel:Tel:
022-40633222|
022-40633222|
TollToll
Free:
Free:
1800-220966
1800-220966
| Visit
| Visit
us:us:
www.gigabyte.in
www.gigabyte.in
| |
GIGABYTE
GIGABYTE
Technology
Technology
(India)
(India)
Pvt.
Pvt.
Ltd.
Ltd.www.facebook.com/GIGABYTEindia
www.facebook.com/GIGABYTEindia
Cover story
actIvE Pca systEms

As mentioned earlier, quite a few systems are already in place and have been
aiding law enforcement agencies. Here
are some of them.
Hitachi Visualization Predictive

Crime analytics
Hitachis offering uses data from the 911
dispatch system, license plate readers
along the roads, gunshot sensors and
other public safety systems to produce
a heat map which indicates hot spots
in the city with a higher probability
of crime occurring. It aims to provide
policing agencies with real-time insight
so that these agencies can be better
prepared for an incident before it even
occurs prevention is better than cure
when it comes to crime, after all. Its
a hybrid cloud-based system that can
be implemented on any of the popular
cloud service providers.
HunchLab
Made by a startup in Philadelphia
by the name of Azavea, HunchLab is
a platform that helps police balance
resource allocation based of existing
circumstances, such as the weather,
crimes committed in the past few days,
GPS data, etc., to generate a visualization of hotspots around a city. And by
implementing tried-and-tested crime
mitigation tactics, HunchLab can tell
you where to deploy police officers and
what situations they should expect.
Accordingly, the police will be better
equipped to handle the situations, and
theres less of a surprise element.
HunchLab real time Risk Scoring
iBm SPSS Crime Prediction

and Prevention
IBM isnt new to the world of AI, and
rightly so, their system seems to be
a lot more advanced. This platform
monitors violent criminals to generate
heat maps to point out which areas
they frequent, and then it compares
local incidents of crime with regional
and national gang activities in order to
extrapolate trends. These trends help
the system identify criminals based
on similarities related to previous
crimes. Also, since it looks at previous
crimes, it can identify and shortlist
criminals whose modus operandi
match up with observed activity. Add
to this, the fact that it also looks at circumstantial data such as the weather,
social events, holidays, etc. to see
which circumstances make for higher

probability of criminal activity.
Domain awareness System (DaS)

Conceptualised after the 9/11 terrorism
attacks. DAS is a surveillance system
built by the city of New York and
Microsoft to monitor the city. It obtains
real-time video from over six thousand
street cameras in New York and even
data from radiation sensors built into
patrolling boats, cars, trucks and even
the gun belts that each police officer
carries. The sensors are so sensitive
that they are also triggered by someone
who has just had radiation therapy
for diseases such as cancer. The sheer
amount of metadata it generates and
monitors, allows the system to track
down individuals with simple keywords such as wearing a red shirt.
thE futurE
Hitachis system in action
Given how these systems are slowly

evolving to identify trigger events
which might flare up into an act of
crime, one can always envision such
platforms morphing into an even more
perverse form. These systems are
already monitoring schools so imagining a situation where children are
identified early on as troublemakers
would allow society to help them and
mitigate crime. An even more perverse
technology would result in genetic
markers being observed to design
babies wholl never walk down the path
of crime if we allow it, that is.
Cover story
Its a new global relIgIon,

and were already practIcIng It!
By Jayesh shinde
jayesh@digit.in
umanitys tryst with

religion has been an
interesting one. We
worship and pray to an
unseen God through
whats written down
in scriptures by ordinary humans
made of flesh and blood just like
you and me. Theres nothing special
about a religious priest or any other
human authority claiming to represent
God or brandish His divine Power of
Attorney which no one can verify.
Yet, across the globe, a large portion
of humanity chooses to believe in the
power of religion. Trusting in blind
faith over cold hard facts, following
ones heart rather than the mind, all
quintessential traits that make us
fallible (or is it gullible?) humans.
To borrow a term from Game of
Thrones, all of us seem so busy worshipping and appeasing the Old Gods
the deities we inherited as a consequence of our birth and years of psychological conditioning that weve
scarcely left any thought for the New
Gods (The Seven). If God is supposed
to be omnipresent and all-knowing, it
can be argued that Data is its most tangible manifestation in this Digital Age
of ours circa 21st century. For Data is
both everything and nothing, it is seen
and unseen, creator and destructor of
the world. If the Vishnu Purana were
to be rewritten now by a tech-savvy,
digital monk (instead of a hermit sage

meditating in the woods many moons
ago), pretty certain the tenth reincarnation of Lord Vishnu scheduled to
appear in the future would have been
Data and not Kalki. Just like Kalki
promises to rid humanity of all evil
and usher in a new age of bliss and
universal bliss, so does Data hold the
potential to help us conquer our innermost demons, unlock the hitherto
unseen human potential and guide our
civilization to greater heights.
Data is truly magical. To use an
analogy from the Star Wars Universe,
if we are all Jedis then data is the midichlorian in all of us directly influencing
our ability to control and master the
mystical Force. Data is omnipresent,
and without Data there can be no way
to master the Force. With it we are powerful and invincible; without it we are
vulnerable and certain to diminish.
How is Dataism
all-powerful?
An algorithmic order-driven world is
on the horizon and its approaching
fast. Through the wonders of machine
learning and breakthroughs in artificial
intelligence, in the future data is going
to dictate our lives unlike any other
divine doctrine or man-made religion
weve ever known. No longer will we
study horoscopes, astrological signs,
consult holy books and holy men, if
dataism has its way and it will. We

will live our lives under a different
code, one thatll be less forgiving, emotionless, devoid of personal prejudice
or bias. A far more analytical life,
where decision-making is based completely based on cold hard data alone.
Welcome to post-humanism. If
youre wondering what that is, its
nothing but a more dispassionate, more
analytical, more logic-driven approach
to justify our existence in this world. In
post-humanism the malaise of subjectiveness plaguing humanism is severely
reduced and the role of the nonhuman
agents, especially that of computers and
advanced data management / inference
systems, is emphasized. Welcome to
Dataism. Our new religion. The coolaid
from humanitys imminent future.
Think of it as a ground-breaking
new way of measuring, seeing, deciding
and instructing. A way to live based on
highly evolved techniques of analyzing
all kinds of data. From browsing histories to shopping patterns, from tracking
GPS for location-based services to
studying your genomic information to
predicting your physiological future
and lifespan. And a lot, lot more. Essentially, dataism will usher in a highly
customised sense of reality served to
you by sensing and gathering unimaginable levels of personal, private and
public information to influence your
worldview. Powerful software netwww.digit.in | October 2016 | Digit | 45
Cover story
Just imagine how much data is
works driven by machine-to-machine
created and shared by us. Every day
communication (thanks to the rise
we consume steadily increasing data
of Internet of Things) is increasingly
bits through emails, online articles,
going to collect complex, sophisticated
phone conversations, video calls, etc.,
data points about us, our surroundprocess all of it and send back newly
ings, our world, and more to a level we
created data through emails, articles
cant even imagine and certainly cant
and phone conversations. Just in the
comprehend on our own.
form of Whatsapp forwards on a daily
All of this insurmountable data
basis not just text messages but
when fed into machine-learning
heavier images and even heavier video
software and artificial intelligence are
files. All consumed and shared within
going to help us gain acute insights into
seconds with either an individual conpretty much every facet of our inditact or hundreds in a closed group. If
vidual and collective lives. This sentithe message is particularly interesting
ment is at the heart of Dataism, that it
it will be shared even more; if its epic
will provide us with a brand new point
then it has all the potential of going
of view, a more logical and analytical
viral and leaving a seismic impact on
philosophical argument about how
the data replication scale. Some of these
decisions will be (or perhaps should
activities seem devoid of conscious
be) made in the future. According to
its early proponents which are
Silicon Valley executives and
tech oracles Dataism argues
the universe to be nothing but
flow of data from one form to
another (much like the law of
conservation of energy) and that
organisms are nothing but biochemical algorithms manifested
in flesh and blood. Much like
the holy grail of physics which
tries to bind all of the known
and unknown universe into one,
all-encompassing theory the
All hail Data!
Theory of Everything humanitys role in this constant flow of data is
thought, relegated to mere twitches of
to make sense of the universe through
conditioned muscle memory. We are all
a homogenous, all-pervasive dataessentially being reduced to drones on
processing system. And we are well on
autopilot, going through the motions of
our way to realising this dataist world
our ever-increasing digital indulgence.
very soon.
Like billions of tiny transistors in a
giant computer chip that mechanically
responds to external binary stimulus
without any thought.
When we interact on Facebook
Our voracious appetite for creating and
everyday, post status updates, respond
consuming data is at an all-time high.
to friends updates, share interesting
Every second, every minute, humanity
jokes, memes or videos for others to
uses, creates, saves and shares mind
see or you do something similar on
boggling amounts of data more than it
Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or any
has ever done so since the beginning of
other social networking platform of
time. Technologys all consuming effect is
your choice are you simply obsesalready evident, just pay attention to your
sively compulsively doing these things
daily routine and youll realize just how
because you miss interacting with
much of an all-consuming this digital
friends, or are you interacting online
force is. Our digital lives are all about
because thats the cool thing to do? Or
recording or capturing lifes moments,
is it simply that youre bored and going
uploading it online and sharing it with
through the motions, for a lack of somefriends and on the Internet at large.
Data works in
mysterious ways
thing better to do? We dont introspect

every time we do these things, do we?
Have you ever wondered if the
mundane things you indulge in
online, maybe, have a greater purpose?
Whether this digital addiction that
were all afflicted with fits into a greater
scheme of things? We all already know
the answers to these relentless questions. We dont really know where we
all fit into this digital data web at an
individual level and how our data connects with others and how this relentless flow of data contributes towards
new innovations and disruptions that
come about on their own; something
that no one actually plans, fully controls or understands. And frankly, to be
completely honest to you, dear readers,
nor do we have the time to find out or
ponder over such trivial day-today activities that we take for
granted because were all busy
being a part of the data-driven
digital journey.
No one needs to understand
anything, right? As long as you
have a ton of email to respond
to, scores of messages to laugh at
and forward on Whatsapp, seek
approval from online friends on
Facebook, stick to your smartphone like a dog on a leash, its
all going to be fine. Youd have
done your job to keep the data
flowing. Thats what Dataists (followers
of Dataism) believe. Just as capitalist
economists believe in the incredibly
hard to describe invisible forces of
free-market that forms the bedrock of
the global economic system, so Dataists
believe in the forces of dataflow and its
increasing ability to shape our fortunes
and become the source of all meaning
in this world. In this data-driven world
which is slowly coalescing into an
all-encompassing, worldwide system
of data points to analyze, given the
right amount of biometric data and
computing power, dataists believe that
data-driven systems could understand
humans far better than we are capable
of understanding ourselves. A scary
thought. Is it really?
Dataism anD our future

Of course, Dataism cant thrive and
be convincing enough without a few
Cover story
miracles nearly every religion on the
face of this planet has a few to their
credit that hold believers in sway. The
wonders and miracles of Dataism is
going to be a lot more individualised
and personal, therefore more convincing to believers of its cause. Lets
explain this further.
All this while we believed that
feelings were spiritual in nature and
humanity had to thank religion to help
us tune into what our heart desired. But
feelings arent necessarily the opposite
of rational thought, as theyre nothing
but highly evolved rational thought
that comes naturally or without
expending a lot of effort. For example,
when a deer, buffalo or human is
confronted by a deadly wild predator,
the feeling of fear as a response is
generated by capturing visual data and
biochemical algorithms processing it
to calculate the probability of survival.
In the same way, feeling of sexual
attraction between two people arises
when biochemical algorithms in our
brain, based on visual data, calculate
the probability of a high chance of successful copulation. In short, feelings
arent spiritual, just highly evolved
biochemical algorithms over millions
of years of evolution. We certainly dont
have religion to thank for it.
This is where things become really
tricky with Dataism. Because if feelings
arent spiritual in nature, then so is
the concept of free will. Everything
mystical or spiritual about our brains
(yes, brain, no hearts dont make decisions based on feeling) ability to make
decisions is based on purely age old
biochemical algorithms perfected over
millions of years of accumulating and
interpreting data (thanks to evolu-
tion). And up until now, our desires

and choices were only known to us,
whether we were religious or not.
Religious authority dictated how we
should live our lives but lacked the
tools and data to get an insight into our
personal biochemistry to accurately
ascertain the intangible thoughts and
feelings germinating inside of us. From
the outside you could be a Hindu to
everyone else, but no Hindu authority
could tap into your brain to see if you
always had pious thoughts or led your
life in accordance with scripture.
But where religion failed, Dataism
will prevail.
Thanks to advances in medical
science and the explosion of data-computing power, our thoughts and decisions may not wholly belong to us in
the future. Medical frontiers are being
broken every year and were closer to
understanding how the brain functions, how thoughts are formed, what
influences them and the biochemical
process that conducts this subliminal
physiological orchestra inside our
body. Pair that with massively complex data systems the future of IoT
where multiple systems seamlessly
exchange data with one another
tracking your every move online and
vitals like heart rate, perspiration rate,
pupil dilation, and more.
At the confluence of these two
breakthroughs in human medicine and
unprecedented compute-power, we will
be constantly tracked and analyzed,
generating big data on a truly epic
scale. Algorithmically-driven digital
systems, thanks to advancements in
machine learning and artificial intelligence, will at this point more know
about you than you know yourself.
recommended
reading:
While researching for this article,
the author came across two
seminal books on the topic that
makes you think. If you liked this
article and want to know about how
all-consuming data is shaping our
impending future then give Steve
Lohrs Data-ism a read (http://dgit.
in/Dataism). Also dont miss Yuval
Noah Hararis Homo Deus: A Brief
History of Tomorrow (http://dgit.
in/HomoDeus). Truly insightful and
thought-provoking.
Theyll know our feelings much better

than we could ever hope to know. That
process has already begun. If you read
a few books on Kindle, Amazon knows
exactly what genres excite you and
where you stop reading books, to push
you towards what youre most likely
to buy. The constant unravelling of
the human genome has led doctors to
understand terminal disease causing
genes if its present in someone,
preventive measures to prolong life can
kick in much much earlier than before.
Googles tracking you all the time
through your emails and search history, so is Facebook through its global
social network, and every other global
Internet-based business.
We create and share data willingly,
and yet in a not so distant future the
very thing that makes us human will
be consumed by data itself. Data is the
key that will rid us of our human condition. Maybe it wont be so bad after all,
if it means our species progresses to
embrace its cosmic destiny.
Tel:Tel:
022-40633222|
022-40633222|
TollToll
Free:
Free:
1800-220966
1800-220966
| Visit
| Visit
us:us:
www.gigabyte.in
www.gigabyte.in
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Technology
(India)
(India)
Pvt.
Pvt.
Ltd.
Ltd.www.facebook.com/GIGABYTEindia
www.facebook.com/GIGABYTEindia
Cover story
What if you never have to take another leap of

faith? Data about anything anD everything is at your
Disposal anD heres hoW you can use it!
By Mithun Mohandas
mithun@digit.in
ven if you dont suffer

from Decidophobia the
fear of making decisions
(yeah, thats a thing)
making decisions isnt
always easy. Especially
if the circumstances are quite new
and you have absolutely no experience to fall back on. Worry not, you
have Big Data to your rescue which
is being seen as a panacea for even
something as tough as a catch-22.
Ever since we were cavemen, we
rely on the most experienced amongst
us to make the toughest decisions.
And sometimes, it isnt up to just
one person which then requires a
group of experienced managers to
be consulted. It takes the cumulative
experience and intuition of multiple
individuals to take a high-stakes decision. The more individuals you have,
the better the decision. Except such
individuals dont come cheap, but
data does. And evidence supporting
the increased use of data in decision making is growing by the day.
Since the human element is largely
removed from such decisions, the
business implications from a decision based on data also ends up being
more profitable.
The problem with this approach

is that the amount of data generated
is too voluminous and unstructured.
And creating data models by training a
Machine Learning algorithm takes too
much time for such decision making
processes to be used in untested waters.
But the mere fact that companies such
as IBM are investing billions of dollars
into their systems should tell you a
thing or two about how important a
role Big Data is going to play. And close
on the heels of these big organisations,
even the little guys are lining up to harness the power of Big Data.
How tHE big guys do it

Building consumer intelligence
Businesses thrive on customers and
customers like to be pampered. While
you local mom and pop stores can
easily remember the names of their
customers along with whats been happening in their lives, the big corporations dont have it that easy. Given the
sheer number of customers, its next
to impossible to remember a hundred
thousand names and cater to them
accordingly. So what do these big firms
do? They implement CRM systems
that mine customer data to generate
profiles for individual customers
which is then passed onto the assigned

representative. This data allows the
representative to develop a rapport
akin to something thats formed over
years of conversation in just a matter
of minutes.
And its not just about developing
familiarity but this profile also allows
your the representative to devise the
right strategy to sell you the right
product and maximise profit. This also
ensures that the smaller customers
arent alienated and consecutively dont
move to another service provider. And
by sifting through tonnes of metadata
generated from social media, companies can figure out what members of a
particular community are fond of. This
allows the hospitality industry to cater
their services to a particular demographic better than they would have
otherwise done.
Improving efficiency
Another aspect of businesses is
operational efficiency. As companies
grow, so does the complexity of its
operations and operational processes need to evolve to handle this
increasing complexity. And while
traditional methods of improving efficiency might go a long way, changing
Cover story
hospital expenses for a particular
circumstances call for even faster
patient as the entire treatment becomes
evolution of these methods.
personalised, but also quicker.
More and more companies are
Another company, 23andMe, prorigging operational equipment with
vides at-home DNA testing kit which
sensors to generate a vast amount of
a customer can use. This kit generdata. This data is then analysed using
ates a patient profile and uses data
Machine Learning to figure out which
obtained from hundreds of such tests
areas and processes could use some
to tell customers if they are at risk for
improvement. This particular method
certain diseases.
has proven to be tremendously successful in improving supply chain
management. Take for example the
Whos leading the way?
de-icing fluid incident that occurred at
Aside from the fact that software
an airport in the US during the peak of
companies who initiated the big data
winter which resulted in over 55 flights
wave there are some industries which
being cancelled as they couldnt be deare heavily investing in big data. The
iced and prepare for take-off. The comenergy industry, financial services
pany managing the supply of deicing
industry and the healthcare industry
fluid goofed up big time and
they learnt their lesson. Each
de-icing truck was fitted with
sensors to monitor de-icing
fluid levels. This data was then
combined with weather data
and flight schedules to accurately predict when the airport
would run low on de-icing fluid
and accordingly the company
could schedule a resupply.
Even insurance companies
have resorted to using big
data analytics to generate user
Improve customer relations
profiles which then allows them
to speed up processing of claims by
are the largest adopters of big data anareducing incidences where fraud might
lytics roughly 66% of management
be imminent.
executives from these industries would
label their decisions as data-driven.
Improving Healthcare
The healthcare industry has easy
access to a lot of historical data. Big
Data analytics are being used to sift
through patient medical history to not
only gain insight into diseases but to
also generate a more specialised treatment for the patients, especially those
suffering from chronic illnesses.
Singapore has already implemented
a system which takes into account a
patients current condition, lifestyle
choices, environment, cultural specifics and other data points to help in
speeding up diagnosis. The next step
in such a system would be to obtain
genetic data and cross reference that
with diseases to extrapolate patterns
and thus predict when and how a
patient might get afflicted with a certain
disease. This will also help reduce
wHats stopping tHEm?

Big Data analytics is a new field and
that means there exist very few domain
experts who can implement data analytics systems with relative ease. And
hiring such talent isnt easy given the
increasing demand for the same.
It hasnt gone unnoticed that managerial employees view data analytics as
a threat since it is the next path of evolution in making decisions. Something
which managers do and thus is viewed
as a threat to their livelihood.
And lastly, theres the phenomenon of organisational silos. Big Data
depends upon voluminous amounts
of data from every department of
an organisation being analysed and
often, there is a close-minded mentality within organisations wherein
employees are more cooperative with

members of their own department and
a lot less while interacting with those
from other departments. This mindset
trickles down in the form of different
styles and formats being implemented
for data in different departments. So
when you pool all the data together, you
are left with unstructured data rather
than coherent data which requires
more effort to be effectively analysed
using machine learning.
trying your Hand at

big data analytics
Now that youre convinced about the
merits of Big Data analytics, you are
probably eager to try your hand at
doing some yourself, right? While
we did mention that lack of talent
was one of the hampering factors
towards the greater adoption of
Big Data analytics, we should
have mentioned that big corporates have highly unstructured
data and making sense of that
requires experience. So lets scale
things down a bit and apply a
little bit of Big Data analytics to
more simpler data sets. Lets take
a survey or perhaps observations
pertaining to a scientific study.
Were going to be analysing a
sample data set involving an experiment performed in 1979 by M. M. King
studying the effect of different diets
on rats. Over time the rats developed
cancerous tumours so we need to figure
out which diet affected the rats the
most or the least, i.e. in statistics, this is
known as Survival analysis. Speaking
of statistics, the following explanation will be a little heavy in statistics
terminology so you might as well be
prepared to do your research. We will
be using IBM SPSS to perform a set of
operations on a data set. The data set
can be obtained here http://dgit.in/RatTumor. Thankfully, there is a statistical
method known as Kaplan-Meier to
estimate this very data.
Lets take a look at the data first. We
have four columns, the first column is
for identification, the second column
is diet type, third column indicates the
time period for which the rats were
cancer-free and the last column indicates if the data was censored. Censoring
Cover story
You are first presented with the
is a term used in statistics to indicate if
Case Processing Summary which tells
a value is partially known. There are
us that the rats that were on the low
sub-classifications on censoring but we
fat diet survived the longest and had
wont be getting into that level of detail.
the lowest cases of cancer developing.
All that we need to know is that if the
Fifteen rats did not develop tumours
value in the censored column is 0 then
on FatLevel 1 diet, seven rats did not
it was uncensored data while a value of
develop tumours on FatLevel 2 diet
1 indicates censored data. The experiand all rats on FatLevel 3 diet ended
ment had 90 rats which were, in three
up with tumours. As you scroll down,
batches of 30, fed three different diets
with varying levels of fats. Fat
level 1 indicates that the diet was
low fat, level 2 indicates saturated
fat diet and fat level 3 indicates an
unsaturated fat diet.
Fire up SPSS and open the
provided data set. If you wish to
understand how Kaplan-Meier
estimator is applied to data sets
then this video http://dgit.in/
KaplanMeier should help you out.
Once you have the data loaded
IBM SPSS with a data set loaded
up, click on Analyze > Survival > Kaplan-Meier and a
dialog box should pop up asking
for the parameters. Here, select
TumorFreeTime as input for
the Time. Choose FatLevel
as input for the Factor and then
select the Censored variable
as input for the Status. You
will need to define the event for
Status so click on Define
Applying Kaplan-Meier method
Event. You now have three
ways to define the Censored
value. As pointed out earlier, is
the Censor value is 0 then the
data is complete and the event
has taken place. So we will be
selecting Single value as
the manner in which we define
the event and input 0 as the
value. Click on Continue.
Now you need to compare the
factor which is, in this case, the
FatLevel variable. You are pre- Your data has been analysed.
sented three different test statistics to compare the factor, we will
be selecting Log rank, Breslow
and Tarone-Ware. Click on Continue. Now click on Options to
select which statistics and graph
plots should be generated. Select
Survival tables, Mean and
Median survival, Survival
plot and Hazard plots and
then click Continue. Click OK to
Oooh! Graphs
generate your report.
you will come across the Survival Table

which indicates at which point in time
that the subjects developed tumour.
The Means and Medians table shows
the average time before rats on a certain
diet would develop tumour.
And if tables arent your thing then
weve the same data in the form of easy
to understand graphs. Each coloured
line here is a cohort, or data pertaining
to a group of test subjects. The
blue line shows rats on FatLevel
1 diet, green shows FatLevel 2
and the yellow line shows the
unfortunate souls on FatLevel 3
diet. Based on the test data, you
can conclude that unsaturated
fat isnt good for rats.
You should know that
weve used structured data for
the above example and youre
unlikely to get such structured
data in real life situations,
hence, the need for experienced
data scientists to design data
models for Big Data analysis.
somEtHing a littlE
lEss complicatEd
If running your own experiments with SPSS or any other
Big Data analytics tool isnt
something you signed up for
then youd be surprised to know
that youve probably been using
or have reaped the benefits
of services that use Big Data
analytics for a few years now.
If youve written any online
article then youd surely have
performed a little Search Engine
Optimisation and looked for
keywords for your article. Well,
you used Google to sift through
millions of web pages to find
keywords most appropriate for
your article and thats Big Data
analytics in action.
Have you seen those little factoids that pop onto the TV screen
while enjoying your favourite
sports match? How do you think
those statistics are generated?
Someone has to manually feed
a key moment into the analytics
system and the system will
return those little facts. Now go
on, and get cracking!
Space age
Sci-tech
54
SpaceXs reusable rocket Falcon has

had its share of disasters, one quite
recent. Should we be worried?
GOW 4 free
In NVIDIAs latest offer, a GTX 1070

or 1080 could get you Gears of War 4
for free. http://dgit.in/GOW4Free
Machine learning: Artificial

Neural Networks
Will rObOtS
ever cry?
Bots are cruel and heartless, following cold
hard logic. But can they ever be programmed to
understand emotion, feelings and other sentimental
stuff? Lets find out...
Ronak Gupta
readersletters@digit.in
n 1837 Charles Babbage came

up with the Analytical Engine,
essentially the first machine design
that laid claim to include all the
elements of a modern computer. Back
then Babbages machine was designed to
compute, crunch numbers and perform
calculations. Today the landscape of
modern computing has undergone a
paradigm shift. Sure, we have computers that are fast and mean machines
designed purely for number crunching,
but now they can do so much more.
Traditionally the dividing line

between a human and a computer has
always been the ability of the former to
process information to adapt and learn.
But artificial intelligence, built on the
bedrock of Turings and Von Neumanns
work, can now simulate human behaviour in not only absorbing, storing and
even making sense of information. This
ability to learn has allowed machines to
be adept at image recognition, speech
and text recognition and even games like
Chess and Go. But a question that has
been plaguing scientists and futurists
alike for sometime is: Can machines
understand emotion?
Before we move on to what understanding emotion is and will mean,

lets talk a bit about the techniques
intelligent machines currently use. To
provide computers with intelligence,
researchers look at a structure that has
time and again proven itself to be a pinnacle of complexity and learning ability
the human brain. Nestled within our
brains are a multitude of neurons, each
of which interact and communicate in
an intricate fashion to give us memory
and processing abilities. But memory
and processing components lie within
every CPU box as well. What makes a
human brain radically different from
the world on a motherboard chip is
that the neurons in the human brain
network in a fashion that allows them
not only to respond to stimuli, but also
to continually learn from the input
information. So, scientists replicated the
working of a human brain on an algorithmic level and that led to the birth of
an Artificial Neural Network (ANN).
What an ANN essentially does is study
a large set of input-output combinations
to train itself, much like a child learns to
identify an apple by seeing it a number
of times. Once the network is trained,
each input is processed and a new input
is mapped to an output. Over time,
because of feedback, and much like ourselves, the network corrects errors and
gets better at dealing with inputs that
werent part of the original training set.
This process can be broken down with
a simple example. Any image is made
of numbers, bytes representing values
of color intensity for example. Now, an
image of a red ball will have a certain
input matrix of numbers. The fact that it
is a ball can be represented with another
unique marker matrix. The job of an
ANN is to breakdown an image into
raw data - an input function and after
processing that information through
its vast sieve of hidden layers, construct
a corresponding output function. The
output function will tell the ANN if the
input corresponds to a ball or a cat. The
same fundamental method is adopted
by all deep learning machines. A chess
interpreting emotions
Tomorrows Tech
MITs latest project can interpret

emotions accurately using wireless
radio signals. http://dgit.in/WvsEmtn
move can be evaluated by comparing the

value of eventual outcomes, and thus
the machine can indeed learn to play
and even master chess. Of course, this
task is not as easy as it is being made out
to be in this description, but theres an
interesting takeaway from all of this.
Machines today can teach themselves, given what they have to learn
is in a language they understand.
The language being data in terms of
numbers, further broken into bytes and
bits of ones and zeros. It is here where
we can pose the question: Can human
emotion be represented by a matrix of
numbers? Can we truly encapsulate the
intricacy and subjectivity associated
with something as elemental as emotion
in a number? Also, do we really need to?
A schematic of the node representing

neurons in a simple neural network
architecture
Whats a machines EQ?

Emotional Intelligence, usually shortened as EQ is broadly classified as the
ability to recognise your own and other
peoples emotions, to guide our thinking
and level of interaction. For machines to
have emotional intelligence they must
be able to read and differentiate between
emotions and respond correctly. A
technique called natural language
processing allows machines to interpret
text and understand its meaning. Image
processing tools have gone hand in hand
in development of massive computing
and gives machines the ability to see,
But what about the subtext? What
about an underlying emotion that leads
comcasts wireless
Comcast could launch own wireless

service in 2017, using Verizon and Wifi
hotspots. http://dgit.in/ComCWiFi
to a certain input? Unfortunately, machines are no

good at that. Atleast not
yet. For a machine to be
classified as an emotionally
intelligent one it must be
able to not only interpret
or read an input but also
get an estimate of what the
input signifies and what
makes it different from
other inputs. Humans are
adept at sensing emotion.
When we get a reply No! from a person, our
brain registers it as a word
from the English language
that means something, but
we also understand the dif- Psychologist Robert Plutchiks wheel of emotion, an
effort to simplify the concept of emotion
ference between a no said
in exasperation and one
that is a curt refusal. Our response is
patients using the very same formula of
according to to the emotion we recognon-verbal behaviour tracking. The relnise. Unlike language which has been
evance of using facial recognition goes
shown to follow certain structures, or
beyond the specific applications menimages which are essentially matrices,
tioned here. If systems can recognise
emotions are not simple constructs
emotions by facial tracking it would lead
and are thus not easily tenable to the
to novel methods for medical diagnosmathematical treatment that scientists
tics. Educational technology, especially
so much like to mete out.
for young kids who are more emotive,
So, therefore, is the quest to develop
can be bolstered with animations being
emotionally intelligent machines a
designed for real time changes keeping
hopeless one? Maybe not.
in sync with the childs emotions.
Emotions can also be tracked from
voice data. Human speech has a plethora
Can todays machines
of markers for emotion: pitch, volume
grasp emotion?
and tone being some of them. While a
The advances made in computer vision,
very basic level of voice based emoclubbed with decades of research in
tion tracking has existed in the form of
artificial intelligence has made the
tele-support systems, recent advances in
dream to achieve emotional intelligent
machine learning has made it possible to
machines, dubbed affective computing,
develop more sophisticated and robust
a possible one. Image recognition
systems. The possibilities that open up
softwares today are powerful and smart
with voice based emotional tracking
enough to recognize traditional markers
are numerous to say the least. Voice
of emotion like smiles, sulks and frowns.
based assistants in our phones can be
These facial features, often general in
transformed from a useful to indispennature are then tracked and mapped
sable tool. Imagine a scenario where Siri
onto a certain set of emotions. This sort
is not only able to tell you the nearest
of non verbal expression tracking has
hospital but also sense the urgency in
indeed been successfully used to study
your tone and take necessary action.
how receptive students are to MOOCs
With the kind of rapid development
and garner feedback to improve online
seen in mobile computing hardware it
course content.
is not too farfetched to envision a future
Psychiatric studies have successin which a humble phone comes with a
fully managed to track depression in
cM for Zte Axon 7
Axon 7 could get official CyanogenMod

ROM that ZTE and CM Team is developing.
http://dgit.in/CMAxon7
voice assistant that can sense emotion,

converse, make decisions and on the
back of a powerful ANN, actually learn
from its conversations. Companies like
Google are at the forefront of this new
and exciting subset of AI.
Moving beyond voice and expression based systems even simple texts
can sometimes give away emotions.
For a company that centres its business
around a search engine this means a big
deal. Figuring out the actual context and
intent of a search query has attracted
much attention of late, especially since
Google announced a transition to Hummingbird, triggering a buzz around
what is now called as semantic search.
All the above technologies, impressive as they may seem, dont draw up
an intimidating figure as of now, only
invoking an image of a drab computer in
a dingy room going about its business.
How far are we from humanoids that are
an aggregation of the systems described
above, possessing the ability to sense,
Pepper bot in a retail environment
understand and even replicate emotion?

As far back in 2010, European scientists
made a humanoid called Nao that could
learn from human interaction, sense
mood and even develop a personality
of its own. Last year Softbank unveiled
Pepper, claiming it to be the worlds first
emotionally intelligent robot. With the
inclusion of big players, it is not long
before we see improved variants that
employ techniques that are much more
vulnerable tesla S
Tesla Model S yet to be completely secure

against the remote vulnerable attacks.
http://dgit.in/TesSHack
superior than the ones currently in use.

The rise of machine that can recognise
and respond to emotions however can
have some troubling consequences too.
How close are we before we create a sentient AI that goes all Terminator on us?
The difficulty in
programming emotional
machines
Luckily (or not, depending on which
side of the debate you are on) current
technology is far from replicating or
recognizing human emotion in its
true glory. Ultimately almost every
machine learning system relies on
finding patterns within the vast amount
of data input that it perceives. Current
machines are good at sensing pixel data
or parsing text or sound information to
find patterns within them. A machine
can see a group of smiling pictures and
correlate it to a happy group of people,
but what happens when this correlation fails because one or more persons
were faking emotion? Current models
of emotion detection largely depends
on sensing physiological markers for
emotion, like a frown might correspond
to dissatisfaction and an open mouth,
disbelief. But human emotion is far too
complex to lend itself to this treatment.
A machine can detect a quickened pulse
or heart beat and subsequently match it
to a state of fear. But what if the heightened state is excitement or love?
A recent study asserts that when
computers learn human languages, they
also pick up the large range of biases
that come with it. Emotion as a concept
doesnt generalise easily due to which
modelling emotion is a headache for
scientists. Then there is the problem of
replicating human emotion. It would
seem that human emotion expression
is simply coordinated muscle movement. But even that muscle movement
is a difficult act to pull off in a machine.
Whats more, machines also need to
circumvent the uncanny valley, a sense
of discomfort that settles in humans
when they see human like behaviour in
an obvious non human.
Last but not the least if we truly need
affective computing to trickle down to
Tomorrows Tech
our daily lives it would mean an overhaul in terms of hardware optimization.

Machine learning algorithms are power
and memory intensive and implementing deep learning tools requires
massive computing power. Our chips
need to consume less power, store more
in less space and work faster. .
A human like robot (Repliee) usually

triggers high neuron activity due to a
phenomena called the uncanny valley
AIs have always occupied the fancy

of writers and scientists alike. In some
form or another, AIs, even emotional
AIs have appeared in pop culture for
quite sometime. It comes as no wonder
that a robot that we could talk to, like
we would converse with our human
friends, sounds like a natural extension
of normal robots and in general seems
like a good idea. But making a machine
so close to a human that it even feels
like one, can have repercussions that
are chilling to even think about. If a
machine can anticipate our actions
it might even influence it. And, if we
grant an inanimate object the power to
animate, we are giving birth to a whole
new species, an intelligent one at that.
An emotionally intelligent AI might
very well be great for us. But if literature and film mirror our future, we may
be better off without one riddled with
emotionally intelligent machines.
kodaks 4k Vr cam
Space Age
Kodaks 4KVR360 VR-ready action

camera, unvelied at the Photokina 2016.
http://dgit.in/Kdk4KVR
B&Ws P7 launched
Brace yourselves! Bowers & Wilkins P7

wireless headphones are here, priced at $400.
http://dgit.in/BnWsP7
When disaster
strikes a Falcon
Should we be worrying
about Falcon 9s SpaceXs
reusable rocket latest
disaster? Heres everything
you needed to know about
the fallen Falcon
The supposed static fire

explosion that brought
the Falcon 9 down
recently during testing
Kshitij Bedekar
What happened?
On Thursday, September 1st 2016, as
SpaceX prepared for their 29th launch
of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust version
1.2 of the Falcon rockets manufactured
by Elon Musks company the rocket
exploded. The launch pad known as
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space
Launce Complex 40 (SLC-40) also
sustained damage, the extent of which
is unknown. The company reported that
there were no injuries as a standard
testing procedure was underway when

the incident occurred and all personnel
were clear of the launch pad.
The immediate impact of this
failure will be significant, but as
this article will illustrate will not be
anything more than another critical
failure to be learnt from, fixed, and
duly overcome in the highly eventful
life of Elon Musk.
The investigation: What caused

the explosion?
The explosion occurred during the
preparation for a static fire test a
standard testing procedure preceding

rocket launches where the engines are
fired at full thrust for a few seconds
while the rocket remains attached to the
launch pad. Musk and SpaceX confirmed that the euphemistically-termed
anomaly occurred before the engines
were on. In particular, it took place during a routine filling operation, i.e. when
the rocket was being fueled up for the
test. As of time of writing of this article,
the root cause of the explosion remains
unknown, with SpaceX mentioning that
the origin of the explosion was the upper
liquid-oxygen fuel tank.
Lightning earPods bug
Apple has supposedly solved a recent

volume control bug on Lightning EarPods.
http://dgit.in/iEarpdsBug
One week on, investigations had

still not yielded a conclusive result, and
Musk expressed his frustration over the
failure as he tweeted that it was turning
out to be the most difficult and complex
failure we have ever had in 14 years.
Musk has also belabored the minute
point that the explosion was more accurately a very fast fire it just appears
instantaneous to the human eye. In an
attempt to crowdsource some help for
the investigations, he took to Twitter
16th July 1969. Perhaps the most iconic

and definitive image from the advent of the
Space age, this view from the apollo 11
spacecraft shows earth rising above the
moons horizon.
to ask for recordings of the event to be

emailed to SpaceX to aid investigations.
One of the replies points out that a YouTube video indicates something hitting
the rocket, in response to which Musk
said that they had not ruled that out.
Currently, the investigation is being
carried out by a team consisting of about
20 people from SpaceX, the Federal
Aviation Administration, NASA, the US
Air Force, and the aerospace industry.
The agreement between SpaceX and
the FAA means that the latter is only
acting in an advisory role. Investigations started almost immediately after
the incident, as the SpaceX team drew
on their formidable arsenal of almost
3,000 sensors and cameras, reviewing a
duration of several milliseconds prior to
the explosion.
The repercussions: Who else will

be affected, and why?
Marco Caceres, Director of Space Studies at Teal Group, a business analytics
Olympus at Photokina
Olympus has finally launched its OM-D

E-M1 Mark II at the Photokina 2016.
http://dgit.in/OlympCams
company specializing in defense and

aerospace markets, said in an interview
with Bloomberg that he does not expect
this failure to significantly impact future
contracts for SpaceX. He speculated
that the circumstances of the failure
may point to the problem not entirely
being with the launch vehicle itself
since the failure occurred while on the
launch pad without the engines on.
Tory Bruno, CEO of United Launch
Alliance, SpaceXs major industry rival,
believes that the explosion will ground
SpaceX for 9-12 months. Talking to
Reuters, he added that the time taken
in rebuilding the launch pad, which also
sustained damage in the explosion, is
usually not the bottleneck in such cases.
The exploding rocket also destroyed
with it some precious cargo. The Falcon
9s payload was a $200 million Israeli
satellite that was commissioned in part
by Facebook to provide internet access
to areas of Africa and Europe. The
satellite was built by Israeli Aerospace
Industries (IAI) for Israeli telecom
company Spacecom, who are set to receive insurance compensation from both
SpaceX as well as IAI. SpaceX are offering either a $50 million compensation
or a free launch in the future, while IAI
will pay over $200 million after including
the interest with the cost of the satellite. Spacecom was set to be bought by
Chinese conglomerate Beijing Xinwei for
$285 million, but the deal was initially
contingent on the Amos-6 being successfully deployed. However, Spacecom
CEO David Pollock has indicated to
SpaceNews that the deal may still be on,
albeit with renegotiations over price.
The story so far, and why

Elon Musk is just the man to turn
things around.
In 2002, Musk, at the age of 31, was
already a multi-millionaire. Instead of
retiring to an idyllic life in the Bahamas, he has spent the intervening 14
years establishing the groundwork for
humans becoming a multi-planetary
species, starting with the aim of colonizing Mars. Why? Because hes Elon Musk.
But such bold and seemingly ridiculous
targets come with extremely high risk,
Space Age
as the company found out once again on

September 1st.
Elon Musk knows has known failure
and near-failure on a grand and terrifying scale. Its almost a necessary
prerequisite for being a self-made,
billion-dollar-net-worth individual. Space
travel is inherently a high-risk industry.
The astronomical (no pun intended) odds
against success of setting up a company
that manufactures and launches rockets,
and then lands them upright on a drone
ship at sea, meant that Musk had to fund
SpaceX with his private money. Investors
are far too risk-averse to fund an unproven startup with the stated goal of making
space travel affordable. And Musk found
his considerable finances stretched right
down to the wire before SpaceX could
even glimpse success. SpaceX only began
with enough funding for four launches.
Not surprisingly, a success for SpaceX
would be considered not completing
production of a unit, but also successfully
launching said unit into space.
Their first three launches failed.
The rockets exploded before they
could reach orbit. Their finances were a
mess, not only because Musk had also
launched Tesla Motors and SolarCity
within the previous 4 years again using
personal funds but also by the fact
that the global financial crisis of 2007
crippled the automobile industry.
However, in September 2008,
SpaceXs last effort at launching a
rocket into orbit succeeded, and NASA
stepped in and handed SpaceX a cool
$1.2 billion contract to make deliveries
to the International Space Station using
their rockets. SpaceX was saved at the
eleventh hour, and it marked the beginning of a turnaround for Musks other
companies as well.
Its instructive to keep in mind that
in having such a bold mission statement
and in making tangible progress towards
it, Elon Musk is in pursuit of a goal so
audacious that two of the worlds superpowers had a clash of egos about it.
We are referring, of course, to the space
race that ensued after the Cold War
between the USA and the USSR. The
rivalry between countries to put the first
human in space and then on the moon
No Pro for Witcher 3

Space Age
A number of games would be receiving updates

to take advantage of the PS4 Pro, Witcher 3 will
not make it to the list. http://dgit.in/Wtchr3Pro
was so fierce that NASAs budget went

to an all-time high in 1966. It was nearly
4.5% of the USAs total budget that year,
and it has never been higher than 1.01%
in the past 20 years. The very concept of
space exploration reduced entire governments to a couple of kids fighting over
whose toy is shinier.
You know that scene in the first
Avengers movie where Tony Stark is
asked when he became an expert in
thermonuclear astrophysics, to which
his response is, Last night.? Well, Elon
Musk kind of pulled it off in real life.
Technically, he was just a Physics and
Economics double major and a Stanford
Learning from history, and why

this incident is NOT a catastrophe.
The space race between the USA and
the USSR brought with it its cost in human lives.
In January 1967, the Apollo 1
caught fire during a launch pad test. The
three astronauts aboard all perished.
These deaths temporarily brought
NASA to its senses, and they decided
to invest more time and make critical
design changes to ensure safety. Later
that year, the Russian mission Soyuz 1
ended with a parachute failure, and the
cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died upon
impact with the ground.
The Falcon 9 rocket that delivered the geostationary satellite JcSaT-16 into orbit landed
on a drone ship at sea. Rocket science isnt just getting one from the earth to space,
which is already an extremely difficult engineering challenge. SpaceX is now also doing
it all in reverse.
PhD dropout (after two days) when he

decided to create SpaceX. But what his
degrees failed to mention is that he was
a machine, and he loved to learn. He
spent one year consuming textbooks on
the fundamentals of aeronautical engineering, rocket propulsion, and space
launch systems. Jim Cantrell, SpaceXs
first VP of business development, says
that Musk nearly memorized the books
he lent him, quoting passages from
them verbatim. Additionally, Musk built
a network of the leading experts in the
industry so that the process was in the
best possible hands.
Even in recent history, examples

such as the infamous Columbia shuttle
disaster of 2003 serve as a constant,
grim reminder of the dangers of manned
space flight.
However, to dismiss SpaceX as
a failure entirely on the basis of this
incident would be extremely nave. The
risk of failure is very real and very high
with every single launch. To play up this
incident as catastrophic for the company
in the long run is to ignore what has
been a remarkably impressive streak of
successful launches. 27 out of SpaceXs
29 attempted launches have resulted
iPhone 7s bugs
iPhone 7s new bug causes the to

display No Service on turning off the
Airplane Mode. http://dgit.in/iPh7Bugs
in at least a partial success, which is a

marginally better success rate than all
other US rocket launches combined.
Considering the fact that SpaceXs rockets can pull off the immensely complex
task of landing back on the ground or
at sea perfectly vertical, allowing them
to be reused, the cost of each launch is
already being slashed down dramatically by them.
Granted, Facebook and Spacecom,
the two major interested parties in the
Amos-6 satellite, will bear the brunt of
the loss of equipment in the immediate
future. But, as Mark Zuckerberg has
said, Facebook has also been committed
to developing technologies like Aquila,
which are also aimed at expanding
internet accessibility in Africa and other
parts of the world. Also, as mentioned
above, the routine nature of the risks
involved in rocket launches means that
insurance for the satellite was already
in place. Of course, the intellectual and
physical effort that went into making
the satellite may be irrecoverable in the
short term, but when you consider the
fact that Elon Musks to-do list includes
make humans a multi-planetary species by colonizing Mars with a million
people by the next century, you begin
to realize that this is not a game that is
being played for the short term. Musks
tendency to be a nano-manager and
his advocacy of complete vertical integration may have brought him immense
success, but it is all done with a vision
that is zoomed out a long, long way and
is looking at time scales and humanity
from an epic perspective.
This is not a catastrophic, institutional
failure that will cripple the company.
Far from it. A self-confessed nauseatingly pro-American nationalist, Elon
Musk would see it as a betrayal of the
American values if he saw this incident as
anything other than an engineering problem to be solved another hurdle to be
overcome in the grand scheme of things.
There has never been and I write
this without any trace of irony a more
exciting time to be alive in the history
of humanity. The sky is no longer the
limit there is, in fact, no such thing
any more.
iNside
Page 60
G.SKILL RIPJAWS
MX780 Gaming Mouse
Bazaar
Page 61
Brainwavz
BLU-200
The laTesT producTs

reviewed For you
The Digit Test Centre receives hundreds of products

every month. Each of these products is put through
a series of tests and is finally given a score. The
final score is arrived at after considering a number
of factors and evaluating them in terms of features,
performance, value for money, build quality, and, in
the case of software, even ease of use.
Page 62
Freedom 251
Page 63
MSI GE62VR 6RF
Apache Pro
For better understanding of our ratings, heres a

quick guide to our overall score
10
to
30
extremely poor product.

Keep away!
31
to
50
strictly oK.
51
to
70
decent product.
71
to
90
very good product.
91
to 100
Page 64
RDP ThinBook
Not recommended
Go for it, but there may be better products out there.
Highly recommended.
Ground-breaking product.
Weve never seen anything like it before.
A definite must buy!
&More...
Page 64
ECS Z170LIGHTSABER
comparison Tests
66
Mid-tower cabinets and a Smartphone

comparison between some of the
most popular phones this month.
Feature
78
Can you survive one month with the

Chromebook as your primary device?
We give it a go.
Bazaar
ASUS Zenfone 3
Not a complete package
hen you jack up a

rather than vibrant and overphones price, you
saturated images. There is some
have much more to
noise in photos, but not enough
live up to. ASUS chose
to hamper social sharing needs.
a tough road this time, possibly
Sharpness and contrast are appreto change user perception and be
ciable, but not stunning.
recognised as a premium brand.
Under low light, the Zenfone
However, the Zenfone 3 doesnt
3s optimisation mode produces
quite hit the right notes, the way
bright photos, even in extremely
the Zenfone 2 did. To be clear, it
low light. Theyre soft, and lacks
does have redeeming values, but
details, but its still much better
its not the no brainer its predethan the OnePlus 3 and others in
cessor was.
this range. However, without this
The Snapdragon 625 is an octamode, you get the same as any
core SoC built on the 14nm process.
other phone.
This makes it quite efficient in
The camera actually makes
terms of battery life and heat, but
the cheaper (3GB RAM) variant
at the expense of raw power. The
of the Zenfone 3 a better buy than
eight Cortex A53 cores together
the Xiaomi Mi 5 and the Vivo V3
are weaker than a Snapdragon 652
Max, since its camera is vastly
or even the 650. Of course, ASUS
better and makes up for the perbloated and heavy ZenUI affects
formance gap.
the performance too.
Last but not the least, the
The Zenfone 3s performance
Zenfone 3s design is reminiscent
is 80% lower than the OnePlus 3
of last years Galaxy S6. It doesnt
Price99
27,9
on graphics, and about 60% on
feel as premium though, and wed
single core CPU speed. Its quite close in
easily pick a OnePlus 3 over this one.
terms of multi-core performance, though.
From a build point of view, the Zenfone
As a result, there are visible lags in games like
3s machined speaker holes lack the premium
Injustice and Asphalt, and load times are also
finish, and you can see slight (very slight) gaps
high. It works for basic users, but power users
where the plastic antenna bands pass its metal
and mobile gamers wont enjoy the phone.
frame. This is also not a phone youd want to
The good news is that it takes some doing to
drop. With Gorilla Glass 3 on both sides, theres
get this phone up to 40 degrees Celsius, and its
too much to break.
also good battery-wise. The Zenfone 3 runs for
Further, if you care about ergonomics, you
over 11 hours on the Geekbench 3 battery test,
will find this tough to deal with. Thick front
with a score of two 7043. On a regular day, youll
bezels and a 5.5 inch display make it wide. This
easily get the full 24 hours with this phone. We
makes it tough to get a good grip, especially
got an average screen on time of 4 hours, which
because of the slippery glass back. The thin finis quite good, especially at 60-70% brightness.
gerprint sensor on the back is also tough to reach.
Speaking of brightness, prepare for a someTo sum up, the OnePlus 3 is a better choice
what dim display. The Zenfone 3 can go up to
at `27,999, however, you may still consider the
618 Lux, nearly 200 Lux lower than a OnePlus
cheaper variant of the Zenfone 3. This isnt the
3. Also, the contrast ratio isnt very high and the
best phone ASUS has made since the Zenfone 5,
display lacks deep blacks. Overall, the Zenfone
but it does have some good elements.
3s display isnt something special, but just
It has a good camera, but thats pretty much
about does the job.
the only thing making it worth consideration.
The best feature of this phone, though, is
Its not a phone for the power users and needs a
its camera. It 16MP rear camera takes natural
more refined design to really stand a chance.
photos, with emphasis on true to life colours,
Prasid Banerjee
70
Features .......................72
Performance................71
Design ...........................72
Value ............................ 64
Specifications
Display Size: 5.5-inch;

Resolution:1080x1920;
SoC: Snapdragon
625; Processor: 2GHz
octa-core; RAM: 4GB;
Internal Storage: 64GB;
Expandable upto: 128GB;
Rear Camera: 16MP;
Front Camera: 8MP;
Battery: 3000mAh; Wi-Fi
standards: 802.11 a/ b/
g/ n/ ac
Contact
Phone: 18002090365
Email: http://dgit.
in/2cX7hP4
Website: https://www.
asus.com/in/support/
iphone 7 scratch test
Mclarens new owner?
Apple suggests to to slap on a case on yout

Jet Black iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Heres why.
http://dgit.in/iPhne7STst
Bazaar
Reports suggest that McLaren, the supercar and race

company may be bought over by a California technology
group. Guess who? http://dgit.in/McLrnOwnr
Biostar RACING G.SKILL

B150GT5
RIPJAWS MX780
For the budget conscious PC builder
Gaming Mouse
Offers a competitive feature set
Price00
10,2
his isnt the first

Biostar RACING
board weve seen,
the Z170 RACING
GT7 was the first and the
Biostar RACING B150 GT5
picks up most of the features
seen on the GT7. Theres
the fact that this being a
B150 board, its behind the
Z170 in terms of features
and CPU support, however,
Biostar has made a few prooverclocking modifications
like including an LN2 mode
70
Features ...................................65
Build ..........................................75
Specifications
Chipset: Intel B150; Memory

support: 4x2133(OC)MHz upto
64GB; LAN: Intel I217v Gigabit
Ethernet; Audio: ALC892 7.1;
SATA: 6x SATA III; Expansion: 2x
PCIe X16(x16+x4); Dimensions
(LxWxD): 305 mm x 220 mm;
Warranty: 3 years.
Contact
Abacus Peripherals Pvt. Ltd.

Phone: 022-40914600
Email: marketing@
abacusperipherals.com
Website: abacusperipherals.com
and multiple BIOS chips.

However, the board doesnt
have a lot of power phases (7
phases) compared to most
overclocking Z170 boards
out there. So stability will be
an issue and theres also the
fact that enabling overclocking of Skylake CPUs
on B150 disables certain
CPU features like power
saving C-states and HyperThreading. While we dont
have as enough Skylake
SKUs to test this out, this is
a known issue so dont get
a CPU with HT. You can do
without C-states but losing
HT is a big loss. Also, while
there are two PCIe slots, this
board does not support SLI
or CrossFireX as the second
slot has 4x lanes only.
The boards colour
scheme is decent and the
touch panel for power/reset/
mode buttons are good.
Given that most of the folks
dont make use of the higher
end features, a B150 board
makes for a good choice
since its sufficient for the
average PC builder. And the
RAVING B150GT5 certainly
packs in more of those features than a regular board.
Mithun Mohandas
enturing into the

gaming peripheral
space, G.SKILL
has just the one
mouse and its a pretty
decent one. Featuring
an Avago Sensor
Price9
indicate which DPI
illuminated by laser,
5,42
profile is active.
you can scale the
The mouse is
mouse from 100 DPI
ambidextrous with
to 8200. And the microswappable side skirts
switches are rated for 20
but the two side buttons
million actuations which is
near your pinky finger are
roughly twice of what other
rendered cumbersome to
popular brands offer. The
actuate. The palm rest is
scroll wheel is completely
screw adjustable so you can
open from the bottom which
play around with it to get
is great since it allows
a comfortable grip. Since
for easy cleaning and the
we are looking at customisrubber grip is smooth
ability, you also get 2x 4.5g
rolling. The positioning
weights which sit between
of the DPI switch is right
the mouse and the side skirt.
where we like it and you can
We did notice that the PTFE
program the RGB LEDs to
pads on the feet have a tendency to collect lint which
if not cleaned regularly will
eventually slip in between
the pads adhesive side and
cause it to peel off as was the
Features ....................................72
case with the initial batch
Build ...........................................80
of Logitech G502. The main
Performance............................76
body of the mouse isnt
Value for money......................75
easily serviceable which is a
downer but the palm rest is
Specifications
Sensor: Avago; Sensor type:
accessible.
Laser Sensor; Microswitch:
Performance wise, you
Omron; Durability: 20
can hardly make out the
mil; On-board profiles: 5;
difference between the
Programmable keys: 8; Cable:
MX780 and the G502 and
1.8m; Weight: 111g; Warranty: 2 yr
the Speedlink KUDOS RS
Contact
all of which were used at
G.SKILL International
around 800 DPI. Overall,
Enterprise Co. Ltd.,
the features of the mouse are
Phone: NA
quite competitive.
Email: sales@gskill.com
Website: www.gskill.com
Mithun Mohandas
76
chrome version 54 update
The latest chrome version on Android lets you

play videos even after switching ads. Hallelujah!
http://dgit.in/ChrmAnd54
iphone 7 & watch series 2 ads

Apple iPhone ads have always been a part of the
hype and here are the newest one Apple will be
broadcasting. http://dgit.in/iPhAds
Bazaar
MEE audio M9B

Too bass heavy for comfort
74
Performance...............70
Features .......................78
Value .............................75
Build ..............................72
Specifications
Driver size: 9mm;

Frequency response: 20
Hz to 20 kHz; Bluetooth
version: 4.0; Operating
range: 30ft (10m);
Profiles supported:
A2DP, HSP, HFP, AVRCP;
Rated battery life: 4
hours
Contact
MEE Audio
Website: http://www.
meeaudio.com/
Availability: amazon.in
hile we wait for true wireless

headphones to go mainstream,
there will be a number of launches
in the interim that have at least
eliminated the more painful cable the one
that goes from your phone to your headphones. One such entrant is the MEE audio
M9B a fairly standard bluetooth in-ear
headphone. Its got quite a few accessories bundled with it like four sets
of ear tips and a pair of behind
Price9
3,45
the ear cable guides. In terms
of looks theres nothing to write
home about. You have your standard
rounded housing, a rather bulky control pod and a cable shortening clip.
The housing is small and light which
means that the weight of the battery
has been transferred to the control pod a good
idea. The tips provided offer a good seal but you
need to find one that fits you well. The bi-flange
one for example just didnt cut it for me.

On the performance front, the sound
quality isnt bad per se. On the contrary its
quite decent except for the exaggerated
bass. The boost on the bass end of
the spectrum just makes everything
sound hollow. The bass is overpowering
and pretty boomy, to the point that the
reverb gets overbearing enough to make
it sound like distortion. Thankfully the
clarity isnt sacrificed. Ill put the performance a little above the lower end iFrogz
FreeRein Reflect wed got some time ago.
The sound signature isnt anything like
the iFrogz those were bumped in the
other end of the spectrum. Its just that the
deviation from neutral puts the performance
score at the same level. If you are in the market
for a wireless bluetooth in-ear and want added
bass then consider the MEE audio M9B.
Siddharth Parwatay
Brainwavz BLU-200
Incrementally better sounding than its younger sibling
he BLU-200 looks a lot like its younger

connection was lost. The BLU-200 holds on to
sibling, the BLU-100. The housing,
the Bluetooth connection much better.
for example, is even larger this time
The sound signature this time around is
around on the BLU-200. And while
decidedly bassier. The bass is tighter and more
wearing them they protrude so far out, you cant
hard hitting as well. Most tracks I listened to
help but think of the Frankenstein monster with
sounded more spacious on the BLU-200. It does
those bolts sticking out of his neck. The other
better with multi layered tracks too. This
difference is that on the BLU-200 Brainwavz
is because the performance in the upper
has included a cable tie which
ranges isnt sacrificed. You still have
lets you easily reduce the
a certain amount of sharpness
size of the flat cable that
you need to ascertain detail.
connects the two ear pieces.
Vocals and upper mids sound a
Its a nice little addition and
little recessed but only slightly.
solves one of the minor niggles
The BLU-200 is exactly `700 more
I had with the BLU-100.
expensive than the older BLU-100.
In terms of performance the
I would say that this premium is
BLU-200 improves on two very
worth it for the better performance.
important parameters: one is the conMy only complaint still remains the
Price9
nectivity and the other is driver tuning.
battery life. Although slightly improved,
3,49
The BLU-100 used to suffer from interit still remains rated at four hours.
mittent skipping and stutters when the
Siddharth Parwatay
82
Performance...............82
Features .......................82
Value ............................ 80
Build ..............................75
Specifications
Drivers: Dynamic, 9.2mm;

Impedance: 16 ohms;
Sensitivity: 96dB at 1mW;
Frequency: 20 ~ 20KHz;
Bluetooth: 4.0 with
aptX; Battery: 60mAh;
Warranty: 2 Years
Contact
Brainwavz
Website: http://www.
brainwavzaudio.in
Distributor: Swordstreet
Technology Systems
Availability: Amazon and
Flipkart
hTc Bolt images leaked
Microsoft blocking linux
HTC Bolt, the smartphone HTC has been

working on has its image renders leaked
online. http://dgit.in/HTCBltImg
Bazaar
MIcrosoft may be preventing laptops from installing

any other OS other than the default Windows 10 OS
that ships with the laptop. http://dgit.in/LinuxInstl
G.SKILL Ripjaws Freedom 251

A fallacy full of fallacies
KM780 RGB
The most featured-packed gaming
keyboard weve ever seen
Price70
14,7
he KM780
RGB has a
long checklist
of features to its
name. The pipe that surrounds your keyboard is
only an aesthetic feature but
it also houses the keycap
box, mouse cable holder and
the wrist rest. The wrist rest
is big so you can rest your
palms comfortably.
The passthrough USB
port is a great addition to
mechanical keyboards at
this price range, in fact it
80
Features ....................................85
Build Quality ............................80
Value ..........................................75
Specifications
Keyboard size: Standard,

Numpad included; Keyboard
backlighting: RGB LED; Switch
type: Mechanical keyboard
(Cherry MX Brown); Key-rollover:
6-key and N-key rollover; Ports:
USB Passthrough, Audio ports
Contact
G.SKILL International
Enterprise Co. Ltd.,
Phone: NA
Email: sales@gskill.com
Website: www.gskill.com
is expected to have
one. Youll also find
audio ports to its side
and a rollover switch to shift
between six key and N-key
rollover. On the top right
corner of the keyboard, the
LED volume indicator and
volume can be controlled
using the partly knurled
volume dial. Almost everyone is doing extra keycaps
but here the WASD keys
have an unpleasant height
and slope. On the far left
of the keyboard, youll find
the extra section of macro
buttons and mode selection keys. One of each mode
selection key is capable of
storing profiles, so they can
show off different colour
and lightening effects, and
macro functions.
The software is pretty
easy to use. Its simpler
than the Corsair Utility
Engine but not as granular,
as it should be. The lighting
scheme is not applicable
across the entire board as
the multimedia keys are
left out. All the features on
this keyboard makes it the
most feature rich gaming
keyboard ever to grace our
test labs.
Abhijit Dey
he Freedom 251
looks, feels and
performs like
a five-year-old
phone, but thats expected.
At `251, one tends to
overlook any flaw a
phone may have.
What couldnt
Price1
be overlooked
25
is how poor this
phone is.
The phone looks
and feels good for its price,
but open the back, and
you find a battery falling
out. Why does it fall out?
Because it doesnt fit the
slot on the phone. This
leads us to believe that the
battery isnt meant for this
phone any way. Given the
recent battery issues with
Samsungs Note 7, would
you really trust this device,
even for `251? We surely
wouldnt. No way.
46
Features ....................................48
Performance............................56
Design ........................................34
Value ..........................................50
Specifications
Display: 4.0in;
Resolution:480x800; SoC:
MediaTek MT6580; Processor:
1.3GHz quad-core; RAM:
1GB; Internal Storage: 8GB;
Expandable upto: 32GB; Rear
Camera: 3.2MP; Front Camera:
0.3MP; Battery: 1450mAh
Contact
Phone: 0008001004446
Email: info@ringingbells.co.in
Website: www.ringingbells.co.in
Benchmarking the device

gets you results that are
representative of a device in
the `5k phone price band.
It has a 1.3-GHz MediaTek
MT6580 SoC. However,
the storage is only 4GB, as
opposed to the promised
8GB. It has a 2MP rear
camera, against the promised 3.2MP.
A maximum brightness
reading of 396 Lux is beyond
question at 251 bucks, but
be aware that you wont get
the promised qHD display
either. This one has a resolution of 480x800 pixels,
which is WVGA resolution.
Our basic bone of contention with the Freedom
251 is that even at `251,
its not what the company
promised. We dont find the
device trustworthy, even for
a first time buyer. The basic
and first time smartphone
user deserves better, and
should spend on a sub5K
phone instead of this.
Prasid Banerjee
More Netflix originals
Netflix plans to increase Netflix Originals in

its streaming catalog to as much as 50% in
upcoming years. http://dgit.in/NetfxOg
77
Performance.............. 80
Features .......................75
Value .............................75
Build ..............................75
Specifications
Drivers: Dynamic, 10.7

mm; Rated Impedance:
32 ; Frequency
Range: 20 Hz ~ 20 kHz;
Sensitivity: 110 dB at 1
mW; Rated Input Power:
10 mW; Cable: 1.3 m
Y-Cord, Silver Plated;
Plug: 3.5 mm, Gold
Plated; Warranty: 2 Years
Contact
Website: www.
brainwavzaudio.in
Distributor: Swordstreet
Technology Systems
Availability: Amazon and
FlipKart
ridiculous iMessage stickers

iMessage received sticker support with iOS 10 and
here are the most ridiculous packs available.
http://dgit.in/RdiStMsg
Bazaar
Brainwavz M1
Sad looking, but nice sounding IEMs
tighter. Genres like house or EDM will

n terms of looks, the M1s are quite
leave you slightly disappointed with
unassuming. In fact they border
Price9
the flat low end. Yep, a little more bass
on cheap-looking. The only thing
2,99
wouldve been appreciated. For a long
that indicates to the contrary is
time the SoundMAGIC E10S was
the quality of the cable. The cable and
my go-to recommendation for
the flexible joint seem very
the `3k price point. It recently
sturdy, which is good.
got knocked out of that spot by
The housing is fairly
the MEEaudio M6 Pro with its
compact, made of plastic
superior aural performance and feaand is extremely lightweight.
tures such as detachable earpieces, replaceable
Listening for hours on end wont be an issue at
cables etc. Can the Brainwavz M1 displace the
all. As is standard with most Brainwavz prodM6 Pro? Not quite. To be sure, the Brainwavz
ucts, you get six sets of silicone eartips in small,
M1 do sound really good. Theyre just as good or
medium and large sizes plus the complimentary
slightly better than the SoundMAGIC E10S but
Comply foam pair (which I never use). There is
not better than the MEEaudio M6 PRO. Howalso the standard hardcase.
ever, the M6 Pro isnt easy to acquire (especially
The sound output delivered by the M1 is not
at the 3k price point). So if youre in the market
bad at all. The soundstage is quite wide, and the
for a better-than-budget pair of in-ears, the
signature is close to neutral. I found the mids
Brainwavz might just win your heart.
well represented with vocals sounding upfront
and natural. I wouldve liked the bass to be
Siddharth Parwatay
MSI GE62VR 6RF Apache Pro

Our new best performing gaming laptop
verything we loved about the MSI GE62

6QD is back. The laptop continues
to have the previously seen brushed
aluminium finish on the top with the
backlit MSI logo and the exact same chassis
as its predecessor. Weighing about two and a
half kilograms, this gaming beast is one of the
lightest gaming rigs weve used.
TheMSI GE62 VR test unit was
equipped with an Full HD display but
MSI does offer you an option to upgrade
to a 4K display. The membrane based SteelSeries
keyboard is pretty solid
Price 00
9
and offers about 2mm
1,39,
travel with a tactile feedback. MSI also bundles in
the SteelSeries Engine 3.
The trackpad
included is identical to
the one we saw on the MSI GE62
6QD with the same brushed aluminum finish.

The Core i7 6700 HQ combined with a SSD
storage and the GTX 1060 offer superior performance. PCMark 8 Creative Accelerated scored
5162 and 3DMark Fire Strike returned a score of
9643. The improvements that the Pascal architecture brings in with the 1060 is pretty evident
with the scores that are improved majorly over
the GTX 980M.
If you are looking
for a light, lean laptop
and dont mind carrying around that
adapter, look no further.
MSI GE62 VR 6RF
Apache Pro not only is
light to carry around, but
also light on your pocket
as it offers the best bang for
your buck.
Nikhil Punjabi
88
Performance...............92
Features .......................86
Design .......................... 80
Value ............................ 94
Specifications
Display: 15.6-inch
IPS-level (1920x1080);
CPU: 6th Gen. Intel Core
i7-6700 HQ Processor;
Graphics: NVIDIA
GeForce GTX 1060;
Storage: 128GB M.2 NVMe
PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD;
RAM: 16GB; Connectivity:
Killer Gigabit Ethernet
Contact
MSI India
Phone: NA
Email: NA
Website: in.msi.com
dell Xps 13 refreshed
iphone 7 water test
Smartphones are not the only gadgets available

in rose gold colour option. Heres the refreshed
lineup of Dell XPS 13. http://dgit.in/RGXps13
Bazaar
RDP ThinBook
Laptop priced under `10k. Seriously!
iPhone 7 is the first iPhone to have water

resistance and heres how it fights deep
waters. http://dgit.in/iPhWater
ECS Z170LIGHTSABER
A step in the right direction
Price9
9,99
aunched as
Indias cheapest
14-inch laptop by a
Hyderabad-based
company, the humble RDP
Thin Book packs a 14.1inch display that sports a
resolution of 1366 x 768. The
display is adequately bright
along with a fairly average
colour reproduction but
reading text on this screen
isnt very pleasing given the
blurring around the text.
Our review unit came with
a plastic screen protection
film hanging from the bezel
which seems to be an production oversight we hope
64
Performance............................55
Features ....................................55
Value ........................................ 90
Design ........................................55
Specifications
Display: 14.1-inch, OS: Windows

10, Processor: Intel Atom x5Z8300 , Storage: 32GB eMMC,
RAM: 2GB, Battery: 10,000 mAh,
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0,
802.11 Wi-Fi b/g/n
Contact
RDP Workstations Pvt. Ltd.

Phone: 080 - 3256 6664
Email: sales@rdp.in
Website: www.rdp.in
this defect was just

with our review unit.
Weighing 1.4kg, the
plastic body construction is
sturdy and would not flex or
feel weak at any point. The
screen bends backwards to
almost 180-degrees.
PCMark 8 returned
scores of 1364 in home test,
1433 in the creative test and
1185 in work test which are
acceptable and cannot be
complained for. However, all
3DMark tests could not run
but the ones that did scored
- Ice Storm (15,202) and Ice
Storm Extreme (9,139).
There are dual downward-facing stereo speakers
which arent so great either
as theyre lacking clarity.
The ThinBook, owing to
its 10,000 mAh Li-Polymer
Battery, claims a battery life
of 8 hours. PCMark 8 put it
at 5.5 hours with maximum
brightness and no Wi-Fi.
However, we managed to
run the machine for over 7
hours with mixed usage at
25% brightness.
With a handful of shortcomings, the RDP ThinBook
is a fairly decent deal. So
if you are looking for an
economical laptop with a
Windows 10 license then
consider the ThinBook.
Nikhil Punjabi
while back
wed received
the ECS Z170
Claymore which
was positioned to be a
premium gaming focussed
Z170 motherboard and
the ECS Z170 LIGHTSABER is another entrant
in the same lineup with
quite a few interesting
changes. For a start,
theyve switched the
Price00
LAN chipset from
10,T0ax)
Realteks DRAGON
keyboard. While this
(+
to Killers E2400
is something that can
which has undergone
be done via software
quite the improvement
as well since most bundled
itself over the past year.
software has this option, a
The Lightsaber has more
little hand holding isnt bad.
SATA and USB ports as
Another 2 USB ports have
well. Speaking of USB, ECS
been marked as optimal for
has 2 USB ports clocked at
high power USB devices like
1000 Hz for those who like
VR headsets. The USB 3.1
to use gaming mice and
ports continue to be Type A
which we believe is optimal.
While it may only mention
AMD CrossFireX compatibility, the two PCIe slots run
at x8 so you can have an SLI
configuration on this board
Features ....................................76
as well. And lastly, for those
Build ...........................................75
who like to spice things up,
the LIGHTSABER does
Specifications
have multi-coloured LED so
Chipset: Intel Z170; Memory
you can play around with
support: 4x3200(OC)MHz upto
the colours to suit your
64GB; LAN: Killer E2400 Gigabit
Ethernet; Audio: ALC1150 7.1;
entire rig.
SATA: 8x SATA III; Expansion: 3x
The ECS LIGHTSABER
PCIe X16(x8+x8+x4); Dimensions
packs in pretty much the
(LxWxD): 305 mm x 244 mm;
same set of features that
Warranty: 3 years
youd find with most other
Contact
premium motherboard
Elitegroup Computer Systems
manufacturers and offers it
Co. Ltd.
at a much more affordable
Phone: +91-9820357713
price point making it quite
Email: bhattrajshekhar@ecs.
the attractive buy.
com.tw
Website: www.ecs.com.tw
Mithun Mohandas
76
Column
(H)eavy (P)rice
Mithun Mohandas
Senior Reviewer
mithun@digit.in
How exactly do
you intend to
build the trust of
your consumers
if you regularly
indulge in shady
behaviour?
Let me know your thoughts on this

column at: @mithun_mohandas
owards the middle of last month

13th of September to be precise
everyone who was using third-party
cartridges with their HP printer had a nasty
surprise. An error claiming that one or more
cartridges had been damaged and would
require replacement popped up. So if you
replaced those cartridges with another thirdparty cartridge, youd still get that problem
and your HP printer would refuse to print at
all. It took a while and when Dutch retailer
123inkt investigated, they found out that the
printer firmware itself was programmed to
reject third-party cartridges. As an enormous number of complaints started pouring
in, questions were raised. HP was asked by
numerous sources to comment on the issue
and they feigned ignorance. They released
an official statement six days later claiming
that they did indeed program the kill code in
order to protect innovation and intellectual
property, but also to improve the safety of
products for customers.
Yeah, right
A quick glance at their Q1 FY16 results
indicates that HP is losing revenue in the
printing segment. Total number of hardware
units sold was down by 20% which included
commercial units that had dropped by 15%
and consumer units that had dropped by
23%. Those are huge reductions. And where
does HP make money from the printing
segment? From sales of supplies which
include printer cartridges. Supplies account
for 67% of their revenue, i.e 2/3rd of HPs
revenue from the printer division is just from
selling cartridges. So when a company this
big decides to pull one over the customers
eyes then youve basically traded years of
customer trust for a minor bump in revenue.
Not smart, not smart at all.
Despite printer manufacturers claiming
that billions of dollars have been spent
towards developing printer ink, the original
ink sure does look ridiculously indistinguishable from third-party replacements.
And this isnt the first time HP has decided
to sabotage equipment that customers have
paid for. They are known for frequently
slipping in backdoors into their enterprise
systems as well. A cursory Google search
points to news articles covering backdoors
in 2010, 2011 and 2013 on the first page of
Google. How exactly do you intend to build

the trust of your consumers if you regularly
indulge in shady behaviour?
And it isnt just HP, a lot of hardware
manufacturers do the same. Take Xiaomi for
example, if youre running the stock MIUI
then youll likely find an app called AnalyticsCore.apk which constantly runs in the
background and reappears even if deleted.
Its job? To check with Xiaomis servers
every 24 hours for a file named Analytics.
apk which if a new version is found will
be downloaded and installed without user
consent. Its not uncommon for companies
to deliberately manufacture their devices so
that they fail after a certain period. Its called
planned obsolescence, something weve
covered in good detail back in 2014.
Its a worrying trend thats spread across
the technology sphere, be it hardware or
software. Companies are moving towards
either resorting to planned obsolescence
or subscription models to ensure a steady
revenue stream. Proprietary software such
as Windows and Adobes Creative Suite
rely on subscription revenue models. Video
games have DLCs, hardware like printers
have increased dependence on expensive
inks and toners with built-in kill switches.
This reminds me of a study performed by
Economics Professor Philip Babcock of the
University of California. The study found
that when grades were inflated i.e. students
expected to get a good grade then they were
50% less likely to put in real effort.
The technology industry is undergoing
a similar change with such fixed streams of
revenue, the need to innovate for companies
isnt as pronounced. Instead, be prepared to
see companies breaking down innovations
and providing them in updates on a piecemeal basis. Soon enough the pace of R&D in
the technology segment will slow down and
this is the heavy price us consumers have to
pay, and pay we will!
Pocket-sized printer
Hp sprocket -pocket photo printer that

instantly prints from a smartphone.
http://dgit.in/Hpsprocket
Mid-Tower Cabinets
Self-driving Uber
Ubers self-driving fleet arent in India

yet, but heres how it feels to ride in
one. http://dgit.in/Ubrsdc
Abhijit Dey
abhijit@digit.in
hile building
your own PC,
its a really
smart move to
spend some time researching
on the components you buy
based on your preferences.
Speaking of cabinets, a lot of
factors should be considered
before you make a purchase
and several of these factors
are often overlooked. Cabinets have slowly evolved to

give the user more flexibility
to accommodate and upgrade.
Earlier we used to find all the
sections inside the cabinet
riveted with poor cable management, whereas nowadays
the level of modularity has
gone so far, that you can completely open them apart to its
barebones. Whether youre
planning to build a basic
gaming rig, or are you plan-
ning to go completely crazy

with liquid cooling systems,
its essential that you spend
your money right. Although
Agent 001 keeps getting most
of the requests for budget
gaming cabinets, we set out
to find the best offering in the
high-end mid-tower category.
Hence, there was no bar on
the price and we procured
one mid-tower cabinet from
each manufacturer including
Antec, Cooler Master, Corsair,
NZXT and Thermaltake. We

witness these cabinets battling against each other for
mid-tower glory.
Note: To understand the
testing criteria, we advise
you to jump to the How We
Tested box before continuing
for more clarity.
Antec GX900
The cheapest one in the
comparison test, the GX900
features a military-themed
imaging: peterson pj
HigH-end mid Tower cabineTs bring

THeir besT To THe baTTlefield in THis monTHs
comparison TesT
Jabra Halo Smart
priced at `3499, the jabra Halo

smart stereo headphones provide
battery life up to 17 hours.
Drone Racing League
professional Drone racing League is really a

thing now and can be now seen broadcasted
on a tV via espn. http://dgit.in/drrcngTV
Mid-Tower Cabinets
hoW We tested
Testing rig: To ensure consistency
throughout the comparison, all the cabinets were installed with the same internal
components. A couple of months back,
we upgraded our test rig to make it more
tasking for our review units. To be compatible with a wider option of components,
we use the AsRock X79 Extreme9 motherboard. For the CPU, we used the beefy
Intel i7-4960X (default clock speed of
3.6GHz) that pushes out a lot of heat from
its six cores and to prevent it from frying up,
performance test: In terms of cabinets, our performance tests were based

completely on its cooling performance
in the default setting. The default setting is the state in which the cabinet was
shipped with stock fans included. Before
running any benchmarking software, we
let the system stay idle for 30 minutes.
To measure the cooling performance,
we use a set of benchmarking software
to stress different components. Prime95
puts an immense amount of load on the
degree of modularity available and also

the ease of cable management. Modularity
covers several aspects such as removable
or detachable components, tool-less design
and upgradable parts. For cable management, there is an aspect of subjective
scoring pertaining to how easy it was to
route and arrange the cables to achieve a
neater look and better airflow.
build quality: The build quality of the
cabinets are based on the materials used
in the various parts. Its kept entirely objec-
we installed the Noctua NH-L9x65 cooler.

The older generation of AMD GPUs generated a lot of heat, and hence we went
with the Sapphire HD 7790. We could
have gone for any compatible kit of RAM
sticks, and we picked up two sticks of the
Corsair Dominator DDR3 RAM modules
(16GB) without any overclocking, running
at 1866MHz. The PSU is an important
component in your rig, and we use two different ones depending on the compatibility
of the cabinet. To keep it fair, we use both
a modular and non-modular PSU to check
the ease of cable management possible.
The Corsair RM1000x is the modular one
while the Corsair HX620 is the non-modular
one. For storage, we used the WD Red (2TB)
hard disk drive and the SanDisk Extreme II
(240GB) solid-state drive to cover the most
common types of storage devices. The basic
testing was carried out on the stock fans
included in the cabinet so as to maintain the
standard of testing them as it is shipped.
Once assembled, we installed Windows
10 with the latest updates and security
patches on the SSD along with the latest
Radeon graphics drivers for the GPU. The
relevant benchmarking software were also
installed, again with their latest patches
and updates in place.
CPU while generating a lot of heat, and the

same is achieved by FurMark on the GPU.
We note down the temperatures by running
Prime95 for 15 minutes in the default setting whereas for FurMark, we run the 1080p
preset benchmark with burn-in switched
off. For storage devices, we put them under
stress with more of a real-world test by
moving the Steam backup files for GTA V
back and forth between the HDD and SSD.
The temperatures are noted down using
Speccy. Apart from these benchmarks, we
test the assembled system with casual
browsing, image editing, word processing
and also play a few games. If anomalies
are observed, the benchmarks are run once
again. One aspect we couldnt test was the
sound levels generated inside since we
dont have the necessary equipment. Hence,
the entire comparison is to be treated as
exclusive of noise performance.
features evaluation: Its impossible
for every cabinet to have the same set of
features. In our comparison test, we came
across unique features, in every cabinet,
that have been considered. Weve made
sure that these unique features dont make
the comparison unfair by assigning them a
low weightage in the final score. Under the
features evaluation, weve considered the
tive, by scoring the cabinets solely based

on the types of materials used for different
segments, thickness and efficacy of the
same, and further distributing them with
a fair weightage. For example, the use
of steel is given a higher weightage than
plastic parts.
final verdict: Here, well try to define the
awards that we present according to the
scores obtained. It includes three awards,
where the Best Performer goes to the one
with the highest score achieved in terms of
cooling performance only.
The Best Buy award goes to the cabinet
with the highest performance/rupee ratio.
Do note, here the performance includes
cooling performance, along with the scores
for features and build quality evaluation.
If a product happens to lack high-end features or build quality but has a lower MRP,
the value for money score is automatically
compensated to keep it fair.
Editors Pick goes to the cabinet that
misses out on both the above mentioned
awards but is still worthy of being mentioned because of a few extra or unique
features. This award is completely subjective since its highly dependent on the
reviewers experience based on the time
spent tinkering with all the cabinets.
design. The camo-green

plate and yellow accents on
the front panel show off the
true military colours while
the naked top panel depicts
the crude sense of regular
military gear. With more
drive bays than you need, you
just get support for a 240mm

radiator on the top panel. You
dont get any level of modularity compared to the others,
and this is quite the case in
the mid-range budget segment of cabinets, so we arent
complaining. Due to its small
size, we were able to comfortably route the cables from a

non-modular PSU and it was
far easier with a modular
PSU. It also features a fan
controller switch if youre
habituated to lower or pump
up your fan speeds.
Even if you dont spend

time in cable management,
and find it tiring, the protruded side panels easily
accommodates the excessive
cables. Another advantage
of the protruding side panels
is that you will be able to
office Lens
Microsofts office Lens lets you capture,

edit and share or add to a document.
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Mid-Tower Cabinets
octobeR 2016
Antec GX900
install in a 170mm long CPU

heatsink. This is really good
because its a small cabinet,
and youll also be able to
install a GPU of a maximum
length of 310mm. If you
want to have a mean looking
machine at home to reflect
your toughness through the
military theme, you could go
with the GX900. In terms
of performance, only if you
populate all the fan slots
or add a radiator on the top,
will you be able to achieve
better cooling inside. With
its stock fan setting, the
cooling performance is below
average comparatively.
also be able to show off your

internal components as well.
The front panel allows the
expansion of another 120mm
fan along with the already
installed two 120mm fans.
One disappointing feature
about the cabinet is radiator
support since its restricted
to only the front panel with a
maximum length of 240mm.
The top panel supports two
coRSAiR cARbiDe
SPec ALPHA
The design of the Spec Alpha
is highly reminiscent of the
turrets from the video game
Portal, and with the front and
top panel angled design, this is
the best looking cabinet in the
comparison test. If youre only
concerned about showing
off your cool case, this is the
cabinet for you, and because
of the window panel, youll
Corsair Carbide Spec Alpha
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120mm fans but there isnt

enough room to accommodate
a radiator. If youre ready to
give up on the drive bay, then
only will you be able to install
the radiator at the front. Two
SSD brackets can be found
behind the motherboard
plate, so you dont need to
worry about storage but you
wont be able to install any 3.5inch HDDs.
The three-speed fan controller on the front panel is a
convenient feature if youre
keen on saving power and
toning down on the noise
levels, when you arent
doing any system heavy
task. Replacing the stock fans
with aftermarket coolers and
radiators will require you
to remove the drive cage.
The same has to be done
if you intend on installing
a second GPU (310mm in
length). Although there are a
generous number of tie-slits
and paths for cable management, we faced trouble while
routing the CPU power cable
through its corresponding
cutout. The meshes on the top
and front panel dont have
any dust filters and youll

find one only at the bottom.
The bottom line in this comparison is that performance
wise, the Spec Alpha is
strictly average. Nothing is
impressive including all the
aspects of cooling, modularity and cable management, except the design.
cooLeR MASteR
MASteRcASe
MAkeR 5
Among the cabinets in this
comparison test, the Maker
5 has the best build quality
weve observed in every single
part of the chassis, with no visible flex at all. Being the topend model in the MasterCase
lineup, it was expected for
the company to go for a glass
window panel since they do
have a tempered glass window
panel selling separately. But
they preferred an acrylic one
like almost everyone which
is susceptible to scratches.
Routing your cables is not
just easy but its fun to tinker
around with the numerous
tie slits and slots provided
on the motherboard plate,
just to stuff the thick cables.
Along with cable tie slits, the
company has also installed
Velcro straps, making it super
convenient and good-looking
rather than tying them down
using crooked cable ties. The
PSU shroud houses the PSU,
and a removable module of
two drive bays, with enough
room to store long cables. We
would recommend the front
I/O panel cables to be bundled together using the 3M
tape cable clamps (included).
All the drive bays inside are
removable and we opted for
one of the two SSD slip-andclick trays right on top of the
PSU shroud and one of the
HDD trays in the bottom-
Access Drive easily
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octobeR 2016
Cooler Master
MasterCase Maker 5
mounted bay. This configuration enables you to insert a

280mm radiator on the front.
The front and top panel both
snap right on to the cabinet
using magnets.
Inside the case, a full
ATX size motherboard will
take the entire space of the
motherboard plate and leave
hardly any space above the
PSU shroud. This makes it
difficult to install another
SSD in the tray on the right
since the USB 2.0 header
comes in the way. The
padded front panel manages
to keep the cabinet silent
and the same can be said
for the top panel. It comes
with a single-colour LED
strip but in the age where
even mousepads have RGB
lighting, they should have
built and shipped an RGB
strip. The MasterCase lineup
has a lot of additional accessories for the cabinet that can
be bought later according to
your preferences including
a tempered glass window
panel, GPU holder, extra
drive bay modules, etc.
nZXt H440
Not everyone is paranoid
about the noise generated
by their components in their
rigs. But if you are, you might
have already heard about
the H440. The panels of the
cabinet are lined with a layer
of silencing foam, in order to
suppress the noise generated
from the fans and radiator
pumps. The foaming efficiently covers the inner sides
of the top and front panel,
along with the side panels.
The cabinet includes some
quirky colour options, and
even a special edition manufactured in collaboration
with Razer. The front and top
panel have a really interesting
design, and although the paint
job might not be suitable for
some, the new and upgraded
edition of the H440 includes
a matte finish. A super convenient PWM fan controller
hub is found behind the motherboard plate, capable of powering up to eight fans. This is
useful if you plan on adding
more fans inside, eventually
running out of fan headers on
note 7 recall
Below 15% of samsung note 7 sold

have been returned, according to
reports. http://dgit.in/note7rcl
the motherboard. But theres

a downside to the hub since
the foaming near the hub
wears out, and it doesnt look
pleasant. Like the Spec Alpha,
you wont be able to add in a
5.25-inch ODD drive inside
the case, and youll have to
depend on an external DVD
drive. Speaking of storage
support, the H440 can accommodate a crazy number of
3.5-inch HDDs (a maximum
of 11) and two more SSDs
right above the PSU shroud,
the maximum any of the
other cabinets can support.
The drive bays can be easily
removed but their locking
mechanisms arent the best
weve seen. It would have been
great if the entire drive cage
could have been removed. In
this configuration, one could
have used both the SSD slots
and the HDD slot inside the
PSU shroud.
The gap between the
motherboard plate and the
side panel isnt enough to
hold the thick cables. This
also results in the protruding
cables leaving marks on the
foam layer, making it look
Mid-Tower Cabinets
uglier. But a neat level of

cable management can be
achieved with this case by
stuffing all the extra dangling
cables in the shroud. Tighter
loops can be created with the
cables, and thanks to the generous number of tie slits and
cutouts, you will be able to
achieve good cabling easily.
tHeRMALtAke
coRe V51
The biggest cabinet in the
comparison test, Thermaltake ensures that you dont
have to fret about cooling
expandability in the future
with the Core V51. Right from
supporting fan sizes of up to
200mm on the front and top
panel, the cabinet also supports huge 420mm radiators
on the top and front panel.
Evidently, the top and front
panel have immense support
for all sizes of fans and radiators, making it highly flexible to go for several cooling
solutions, even setting up
reservoirs for liquid cooling
systems. All the drive cages
can be removed which makes
it possible to take advan-
NZXT H440
Peace brings chaos
iPhone 7 jailbroken
According to reports, Yahoo could

confirm a massive data breach of its
service. http://dgit.in/YahooHck
Mid-Tower Cabinets
octobeR 2016
octobeR 2016
octobeR 2016
brand
planning to jailbreak your new iphone

7? Heres the full guide on how to do it.
http://dgit.in/iph7Jb
Antec
cooler Master corsair
nZXt
thermaltake
Model
GX900
MasterCase
Maker 5
Carbide
Spec Alpha
H440
Core V51
Price (MRP)
`4,620
`18,500
`6,499
`10,116
`9,650
Warranty
specifications
Dimensions
Motherboard sizes supported
no. of storage drive bays
no. of front UsB ports
Clearance
no. of fan support on front panel
no. of fan support on top panel
no. of fan support on rear panel

no. of fan support on
bottom panel
Front radiator support
top radiator support
rear radiator support
Height
435mm
548mm
518mm
480mm
540mm
Width
210mm
235mm
220mm
220mm
236mm
Depth
450mm
528.6mm
474mm
513mm
560mm
Mini-ItX
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Micro-AtX
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
AtX
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
5.25-inch (max.)
3.5-inch (max.)
11
2.5-inch (extra)
UsB 2.0
UsB 3.0
UsB 3.0 (type C)
CpU
170mm
190mm
156mm
180mm
185mm
GpU (with
HDD cage)
310mm
296mm
380mm
294mm
310mm
GpU (without
HDD cage)
n/A
412mm
n/A
428mm
480mm
120mm
140mm
200mm
120mm
140mm
200mm
120mm
140mm
120mm
120mm
no
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
140mm
no
Yes
no
Yes
Yes
240mm
no
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
280mm
no
Yes
no
Yes
Yes
360mm
no
no
no
Yes
Yes
420mm
no
no
no
no
Yes
120mm
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
140mm
no
Yes
no
Yes
Yes
240mm
Yes
Yes
no
Yes
Yes
280mm
no
Yes
no
Yes
Yes
360mm
no
no
no
Yes
Yes
420mm
no
no
no
no
Yes
120mm
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
140mm
no
Yes
no
Yes
no
120mm
Yes
no
Yes
no
Yes
240mm
no
no
no
no
Yes
Fan Control Hub
no
Yes
no
Yes
no
Fan speed Controller
Yes
Yes
Yes
no
no
LeD Light Controller
no
Yes
no
no
no
Bottom radiator support
Ubers extra cut
Uber will be paying $384,000 in total

as settlement amount to its 47,000
users. http://dgit.in/UberTip
tage of the cabinets depth of

accommodating those beefy
graphics cards measuring up
to 480mm. The drive bays are
suited more towards HDDs
by attaching clips to hold
them on which you can install
SSDs as well. There arent any
dedicated SSD caddies inside
but theyve taken a smart
approach of giving you the
option to vertically mount
the bays behind the motherboard plate. This approach
is better if youre planning to
install SSDs, only on the top
slot, and also want to get rid
of the drive bay at the front.
But the installation of SSDs
could have been better since
its difficult with the clips.
Removing the drive bays also
gives more options to install
up to either two 120mm fans
or a 240mm radiator at the
bottom, rarely seen in cabinets. So, when it comes to
cooling, Thermaltake has you
covered completely.
Apart from all the good
things about the cabinet, the
case lacks proper cable man-
octobeR 2016
Thermaltake Core V51
agement. It does include the

regular and expected cutouts
on the motherboard plate for
main power, CPU power,
GPU power and SATA interfaces, but the space provided
behind isnt enough. To have
a neat-looking cable arrangement, you will have to spend
enough time rerouting the
cables. Of course, the job
becomes easier if you have
sleeved cables in your PSU,
but its tedious with rounded
cables and a pain with nonmodular PSUs. Although,
cable management took
some time (mostly included
us trying to adjust the cables
to close the side panel), the
assembly process was the
quickest in this cabinet.
VeRDict
The temperature levels inside
a cabinet are dependent on a
lot of factors, and the Thermaltake Core V51 has won
the Best Performer award
in this test. The score differences werent phenomenally
high since there are a couple
Human brain map
Loved our Human Brain Dmystify?

Heres the most comprehensive map
of the brain. http://dgit.in/Hbrnmap
Mid-Tower Cabinets
of factors why
the Core V51 won
marginally. In our
storage stress test,
we observed SSDs
installed over the
PSU shroud to run
really hot. This
wasnt the case for
the ones installed
in the drive bays
placed near the
front panel right
behind the front
intake fans. This is
where the cabinet
had an advantage
while the open
meshed front panel
also gave unhin- Load temperatures (in oC)
dered air intake.
the cabinet, youll realise
The Antec GX900 sweeps
that each and every part of it
away the Best Buy award
reflects top quality. Being the
easily considering its cheap
most generous with compartprice while covering the barements, tie slits, grooves and
bones features from radiator
accessories for cable managesupport to supporting a
ment, we had fun assembling
graphics card with a maxour testing rig inside the cabimum length of 310mm. Yes,
inet. It has the highest level of
it doesnt include the level of
modularity, no doubt about
modularity observed on the
it. The only shortcoming
other cabinets, nor does it
here is the price, but since
include the expansive supits directed towards enthuport for cooling solutions,
siasts strictly, the price and
but this absence is compenthe features offered are justisated by its low price. Hence,
fied, apart from a few things
on a budget, this comes out as
we have already mentioned
the best pick. Now, one could
in our full review. As a regargue there are better options
ular user who only wants to
from other manufacturers in
assemble a basic gaming rig,
the same price segment, but
you wouldnt actually need
it should also be considered
such a feature rich cabinet
that the recommendation
unless youre an enthusiast.
is restricted to the products
The idea behind this minicovered in this mini-comparcomparison test was to deterison test.
mine the best cabinet in the
Coming to the Editors
mid-tower category among
Pick, it definitely has to be the
the top-end model each, from
Cooler Master MasterCase
cabinet manufacturers. The
Maker 5. If you individually
sample space here was small
look at the scores obtained
but we do plan on conducting
under features and build
more comparisons covering
quality, the Maker 5 has the
several cabinets and also
highest scores in both. And
various categories.
once you start tinkering with
Skip the sevens

Smartphone test
Remix OS player
Lenovo jabs at the iPhone 7 and the Note 7

and wants you to go for the Moto Z.
http://dgit.in/Skip7
Has launched its Android emulator

for Windows, optimised for gaming.
http://dgit.in/RmxOsPlyr
Battle of the
market Breakers
Brands like Xiaomi, LeEco, ASUS and OnePlus thrive on
disrupting the market. However, its becoming increasingly
difficult to choose between their devices. Heres some help.
By Prasid Banerjee
prasid@digit.in
good smartphone is that

which can suit its users
needs to the fullest. Buyers
often want a good camera
and theyre willing to compromise performance for the same,
while some want a good looking phone
over anything else. While most often,
the best performer is one that fits all
these criteria, things can be different.
Thats just the case with four of the
most popular smartphones today: the
ASUS Zenfone 3, OnePlus 3, Xiaomi

Mi 5 and the LeEco Le Max 2.
Brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus,
ASUS and LeEco thrive on disrupting
the market to sell their smartphones.
They have been challenging established brands by following such strategies and have established themselves.
They have made disruption the norm
and made the competition amongst
themselves very difficult.
As a result, a buyer choosing from
phones between these brands finds
it very difficult to choose the right
device. Take the above mentioned
phones for example. If youre trying to

choose amongst these devices, youll
have a tough time deciding which one
to go for. In this comparison, we aim
to determine what the best phone is
for those who want a good camera,
or perhaps the best battery, and of
course, performance.
Unlike our regular comparisons,
where we pick the best performer and
best buy, today we try to determine
what a particular kind of buyer should
buy. The festive season of deals being
right upon us, this ones you to make
the best choice for your next phone.
Kangaroo Notebook
Siri calls you an Uber
Wish you could buy two laptops for the price

of one? Your prayers have been answered!
http://dgit.in/InfKgrw
With the iOS 10 update, Apple Maps

and Siri can now call you an Uber.
http://dgit.in/UbriOS10
Smartphone test
PERFORMANCE
OnePlus 3
he OnePlus 3 is the
unparalleled best performer in the 20-30k segment. OnePlus combination
of closely tuned software and
powerful hardware makes it
a winner here.
The Snapdragon 820
is Qualcomms best of the
year, and it makes up for all
of the 810s faults. You get
a score of over 140,000 on
AnTuTu, which is second
only to the iPhone right now.
It scores over 2000 on
3D Marks Slingshot test,
which is also amongst the
highest in the market. It
supports the newest APIs
and drives the highest
frame rates amongst
phones today.
4GB out of its 6GB RAM
is reserved for multitasking,
while the other 2GB comes
into play when needed. Currently, this is used for the
processing software used in
the camera.
Overall, the OnePlus 3 is
a dream in terms of performance, for all kinds of users.
Performance
Processor.......... Snapdragon 820
AnTuTu 6.0 .........................141574
Geekbench 3 Single Core ...2361
Geekbench 3 Multi Core ......5532
GFXBench Car Chase..........1036
3D Mark Slingshot............... 2431
Gaming performance............5/5
LeEco Le Max 2
Xiaomo Mi 5
Performance
Performance
eEcos Le Max 2 holds

the same hardware as
the OnePlus 3. It has 6GB of
RAM and the Snapdragon
820 SoC. However, its performance isnt the same,
partially because of the
heavier eUI.
While the Le Max 2 generates comparable scores on
Geekbenchs single-core and
multi-core tests, its weak on
graphics. It can load apps
fast enough, but it doesnt
generate frame rates as high
as the OnePlus 3.
Of course, the focus lies
on video playback, thanks
to LeEcos ecosystem-based
business model, but in a
competitive market, it loses
points for performance.
The Max 2 reaches temperatures of over 40 degrees
after 10 minutes of 4K video
shooting and we recorded
37 degrees after 5 minutes
of heavy gaming. This isnt
particularly abnormal, but
it affects the performance of
the phone and can be detrimental in the long run.

AnTuTu 6.0 ........................ 119979
Geekbench 3 Single Core .. 2369
Geekbench 3 Multi Core ...... 5516
GFXBench Car Chase........ 580.9
3D Mark Slingshot...............1807
ASUS Zenfone 3
hile the Xiaomi

Mi 5 does have the
Snapdragon 820 SoC, its
clocked at 1.8 GHz instead
of 2.15 like in the OnePlus 3
and Le Max 2. This results
in slightly lower singlecore performance, but that
shouldnt hinder practical
usability matters.
However, while Xiaomis MiUI is one of the
better user interfaces out
there, it is still heavier than
Oxygen OS. The Mi 5 is
slightly weak in graphics
tests, although you wont
detect this very easily on
regular usage. The difference is apparent only when
the OnePlus 3 is used sideby-side with the Mi 5.
3GB of RAM is a lot, but
more always helps. Running
a single heavy game will
shut off most other apps.
Where the Mi 5 truly
excels is heat management.
The only way to truly heat
it up is to record 4K video.
But its limited to 7 minutes
at most.
he Zenfone 3 is the
weakest amongst these
four phones. While the
Snapdragon 625 is quite
power efficient, it pales in
comparison to the Snapdragon 820. Qualcomms
quad core Kryo CPU in the
Snapdragon 820 is 80%
more powerful than the
octa-core Cortex A53 CPU
on the Zenfone 3. Of course
ASUS bloated and heavy
ZenUI doesnt really help
its cause in this matter.
Rather, ZenUI could use
some optimization if ASUS
intends to score on the
optimization front.
The Zenfone 3 is slower
than the other three in all
aspects. There is visible
lag in graphic intensive
activities and apps take
quite a while longer to
load comparatively. The
Zenfone 3s best aspect is
in heat and battery management, but well get to
that later. For now, its
obvious that the Zenfone
3 loses on performance.
Performance

AnTuTu 6.0 .........................114215
Geekbench 3 Single Core ...1895
Geekbench 3 Multi Core ..... 4650
GFXBench Car Chase.........845.6
3D Mark Slingshot...............2102
Gaming performance.........4.5/5

AnTuTu 6.0 ......................... 62437
Geekbench 3 Single Core .....929
Geekbench 3 Multi Core .......5217
GFXBench Car Chase.........202.1
3D Mark Slingshot.................467
Win 10 update alert
Real world testing is deciding the pace of

Windows 10 anniversary update rollout.
http://dgit.in/Win10Rollout
Smartphone test
Xbox One prototype
Microsoft accidentally sent a man in Miami,

an Xbox One prototype instead of a laptop.
http://dgit.in/MsXbxPT
CAMERA
OnePlus 3
he OnePlus 3 may slightly

edge past the competition
here as well. The OnePlus 3
has an f/2.0 lens, and the
16MP Sony IMX298 sensor.
Its not close to flagships like
the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge,
but still punches above its
weight. Under bright lights,
it captures a lot of details and
focuses fast, and accurately.
However, it is slightly weak
in low light. The OnePlus 3
reduces noise in images, and
photos are quite sharp as
well. The ISO levels are kept
generally low and colours are
a pleasantly warm.
It can create satisfactory
images, but you would do
well to keep your expectations in check. The software
is smart enough to click with
fast shutter speeds, so as to
avoid blur, and the ISO levels
are driven higher. This,
though, creates some noise,
but that can be dealt with.
Overall, the OnePlus 3s
camera is extremely good,
given its price, and would
satisfy any buyer.
Camera
Rear Camera .......................16MP
Front Camera ....................... 8MP
Normal light ........................4.5/5
Low light ..............................3.5/5
Shutter response .................... 4/5
Video recording .....................4/5
Front, overall quality ..........3.5/5
LeEco Le Max 2
Xiaomi Mi 5
Camera
Camera
n terms of specs, the Le

Max 2 is the outright
winner. It has a 21MP sensor,
compared to the 16MP sensors on the others. The phone
provides pretty good images
under bright and well lit conditions . It is particularly good
with dynamic range, and colours are fine, but not really
vibrant or true to life.
The Le Max 2s camera
produces quite a bit of noise
under low light as well, but
that can still be dealt with.
Its major weakness is in
focusing speeds. The camera
takes quite a while to focus,
which is a major issue when
trying to take candid shots.
Focussing is especially a
problem when shooting
videos. If youre moving
about, the phone sometimes
completely refuses to focus.
The Le Max 2s camera is
better than the Xiaomi Mi 5,
but it doesnt hold a candle to
the OnePlus 3 and the ASUS
Zenfone 3. Its an improvement from the original Le
Max, but still not the best.
Rear Camera .......................21MP

Front Camera ....................... 8MP
Normal light ........................3.5/5
Low light ..............................3.5/3
Shutter response ................. 3.5/5
Video recording .....................3/5
Front, overall quality ..........3.5/5
he camera is the Mi 5s
weakest element. It has
the same Sony IMX298
sensor as the OnePlus 3, but
Xiaomis algorithm is not as
good. In bright sunlight and
studio lights, the Mi 5 can
take some brilliant photos.
Its very good with the
white balance and colours.
However, photos arent the
sharpest that you can find.
This deteriorates quite
a bit under low light. The
Xiaomi Mi 5 loses most
details in harsh conditions
and the processing time is
also driven up. Its a pretty
disappointing camera, by
Xiaomi standards. Especially because in the past
Xiaomi has not disappointed with the camera on
its other devices, even on
the budget options. Considering that the camera
was in fact hyped before
the launch with camera
samples being extensively
shared, one would expect
all aspects of the camera to
be taken care of, but alas!
Rear Camera .......................16MP

Front Camera ....................... 4MP
Normal light ...........................4/5
Low light .................................3/5
Shutter response .................4.5/5
Video recording .....................5/5
Front, overall quality .............4/5
ASUS Zenfone 3
nlike the Mi 5, the

camera is the Zenfone
3s strongest suit. It also
has the 16MP Sony IMX298
sensor, and loses out to the
OnePlus 3 ever so slightly.
Under bright and well lit
conditions, the Zenfone 3
can produce good colours,
albeit, not as pleasant as
the OnePlus 3. The differences are slight and visible only when compared
side-by-side. However, the
OnePlus 3 does produce
sharper photos, and is
slightly faster too.
The Zenfone 3 is also
equal to the OnePlus 3
under low light, but with
its optimisation mode off.
Turning this mode on,
though, produces really
bright photos, well beyond
expectations. To be clear,
photos become softer,
but in extreme low light,
the Zenfone 3 just takes a
much brighter photo than
the OnePlus 3, all thanks
to the optimization mode
that the camera packs.
Camera
Rear Camera .......................16MP
Front Camera ....................... 8MP
Normal light ........................4.5/5
Low light ..............................4.5/5
Shutter response .................... 4/5
Video recording .....................3/5
Front, overall quality .............4/5
Truly Universal Platform
PHAB 2 Pro delayed
Native desktop Windows applications

can be found and purchased through the
Windows Store. http://dgit.in/WinStre32
You will have to wait longer to purchase

Lenovo PHAB 2 Pro.
http://dgit.in/Phb2PDlyd
Smartphone test
BATTERy
OnePlus 3
ts 3000 mAh battery

gives the OnePlus 3 about
a days worth of battery life.
On the Geekbench 3 battery
test, the phone earns a score
of 3850, which is pretty
much average. Its not the
ideal battery life you want
from a phone, but enough
to make the OnePlus 3 a
good all rounder. Power
users will need to charge
the phone once every night.
LeEco Le Max 2
Xiaomi Mi 5
ASUS Zenfone 3
he Le Max 2 is the only

one with a QHD display, and its bigger than the
others. This takes a toll on its
3100 mAh battery. Its Geekbench 3 rating is surprisingly
more than the OnePlus 3, but
we didnt see the 4788 rating
translate in real world usage.
On regular usage, we got a
best of 12-16 hours out of this
phone, which is pretty much
what the OnePlus 3 provides.
ts admirable that Xiaomi

has been able to put a
3000 mAh battery on such
a compact device, but the Mi
5 is still weakest in terms of
battery life. Youll still need to
charge the Mi 5 at least twice
a day, with about 10-12 hours
of battery life on a full charge.
This is again surprising, since
the Mi 5 has the smallest
display of the lot, and only
1080p resolution.
LeEco Le Max 2
Xiaomi Mi 5
ASUS Zenfone 3
he Zenfone 3 outlasts
all others in the battery department. It scores
a Geekbench 3 rating of
7043, which is considerably higher than all the
others. On regular usage,
we were able to get a day
and a halfs worth of usage
out of the device. It has a 5.5
inch 1080p display, but the
brightness is lower, which
perhaps helps as well.
DISPLAy
OnePlus 3
n terms of brightness, the

OnePlus 3 is the brightest
amongst these four devices.
Our Lux meter test showed
800 Lux at maximum
brightness, which is dangerously close to iPhone
territory. Thats saying
something for a phone that
costs less than half of what
Apples flagship does.
OnePlus Optic AMOLED
panel is not only bright,
though. It also does well
with the colours, unlike
many other AMOLED
panels. Thankfully, OnePlus has tuned the display
well enough to avoid major
colour cast issues, and the
OnePlus 3 depicts colours
that are vibrant, but not
massively plagued by a
single tint.
he Le Max 2 has the

highest resolution, but
QHD doesnt automatically
mean the display is good.
The Le Max 2s display
is dim, and considerably
dimmer than the OnePlus
3 or the Xiaomi Mi 5. It does
well in terms of sharpness
and colours, but sunlight
visibility is a major issue,
because of its dimness.
So you may face issues
using this one out in broad
daylight. Whereas on the
other hand, using it indoors
might still leave a lot to be
desired compared to the
other phones in this category like the Oneplus 3 and
the Mi5.
So if you are all for resolution, then the Le Max 2 is
great, but not the brightest.
he Xiaomi Mi 5 produced a maximum

brightness of 686 Lux,
which, though lower than
the OnePlus 3, is brighter
than the ASUS Zenfone
3 and the LeEco Le Max
2. If you like vibrant and
punchy colours, the Mi 5
will suit your needs, even
in sunlight.
However, it does have
a bluish tint on its default
mode. You can correct this
by turning on the Reading
Mode, and reducing the
intensity. Thisll create a
warmer profile.
Overall, the display is
quite good. The change
from the usual 12-14 backlight LEDs to 16 brings the
additional brightness here
that is a welcome feature.
he Zenfone 3 has a pixel

density of 401 ppi, but
lacks the deep blacks that
make a pleasant display.
Its also not very bright,
with a maximum reading
of 618 Lux on our Lux
meter test. The Zenfone
3s display is sufficient at
best, with nothing extraordinary, or really commendable about it.
So even with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 on the
Super IPS+ panel, this is
not really the best display.
In fact, its far from that.
You may not get the best
sunlight reading experience out of it either. In
fact, we dont even know
what else to write about it,
so you know that its really
nothing unique.
Project Zero Security

Smartphone test
Skipping the Smartwatch
Successfully hacking into a Nexus 6P

and 5X could get you $200,000.
http://dgit.in/hack6P5X
LG, Huawei and Lenovo have no plans to

release or refresh their smartwatches lineup.
http://dgit.in/NoSmrtW
ASUS Zenfone 3
OnePlus 3
LeEco Le Max 2
Xiaomi Mi 5
27999
27999
29999
24999
Performance (on 100)
68.5
96.7
83.1
89.1
Specs (on 100)
88.3
85.4
86.7
72.9
Design and Usability (on 100)
71.8
93.0
78.1
89.5
Final Score
72.9
88.7
80.2
80.6
Price
SPECIFICATIONS
Display
5.5 inch
5.5 inch
5.7 inch
5.2 inch
Snapdragon 625
Snapdragon 820
Snapdragon 820
Snapdragon 820
64
64
64
32
3000
3000
3100
3000
Rear Camera
16
16
21
16
Front Camera
62437
141574
119979
114215
Geekbench 3 Single Core
929
2361
2369
1895
Geekbench 3 Multi Core
5217
5532
5516
4650
GFXBench Car Chase
202.1
1036
580.9
845.6
3D Mark Slingshot
467
2431
1807
2102
Camera (Normal light)
4.5
4.5
3.5
Camera (low light)
4.5
3.5
3.5
Camera (shutter response)
3.5
4.5
Camera (Video recording)
Camera (front, overall quality)
3.5
3.5
Gaming performance
4.5
Browsing performance
4.5
4.5
4.5
7043
3850
4788
5531
Processor
RAM
Storage
Battery rating (mAh)
SCORING
Performance
AnTuTu 6.0
Call Performance
Battery life (Geekbench)
Features
Display PPI
401
401
515
423
Display type
IPS
AMOLED
IPS
IPS
Expandable Memory (Y/N)
Yes
No
No
No
4G (Y/N)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Android v6.0
Android v6.0
Android v6.0
Android v6.0
Fingerprint sensor
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Thinness (mm)
7.7
7.3
7.3
Weight (in gms)
156
158
185
129
OS
AirPods dont fall out
Logitech K780 at $79.99
Do Apples AirPods leave you concerned if

they could be lost easily? Heres what Tim
Cook has to say. http://dgit.in/AirPdTC
Logitechs K780 Wireless Keyboard

supports typing on Windows, Mac, Android
or iOS devices. http://dgit.in/LgtK780
Smartphone test
tHe wINNeRs
Best Performer:
OnePlus 3
If youve read all of the
above, youll have guessed
that the OnePlus 3 is the
out-and-out best performer amongst these
phones. OnePlus has done
a splendid job of marrying
software with hardware,
producing a phone that
doesnt just look and feel
premium, but can rival the
most expensive flagships
with its performance. Its
fast, produces no lags, and
can deal with the most
resource intensive tasks
without breaking a sweat.
Best Camera:
OnePlus 3
As we mentioned earlier,
the OnePlus 3 just barely
tions. While this is an

impractical situation, its
still worth giving the latter
a few points for this.
Best Display:
OnePlus 3
OnePlus 3
edges past the Zenfone
3 in this department. Its
16MP camera is really good
at this price, and better
details and sharpness earn
it the best camera award.
However, if youre buying
in the sub-25k range, the
Zenfone 3 is easily the best
phone for those who cant
do without a good camera.
In fact, the Zenfone
3 beats the OnePlus 3 in
extreme low light condi-
This is important for

those who watch a lot of
videos and movies on their
phones. The OnePlus 3s
display produces deeper
blacks than the others, and
is quite accurate with the
colours as well. Its also a
very premium display, and
feels good to touch as well.
The Xiaomi Mi 5 is a
close second, but its default
bluish tint is somewhat disconcerting, and low brightness keeps it from being the
best. Its still the best in the
sub-25k segment, though.
ASUS Zenfone 3
Best Battery:
ASUS Zenfone 3
None of the others can compete with the Zenfone 3 in
the battery department. The
phones 3000 mAh battery
lasts longer than a full day
and its a good pick for those
who cant compromise on battery life. While the OnePlus 3
would also suit many users,
the Zenfone 3 is considerably
better than that device.
How we tested
his parts easy, and you probably know it too. However, for
the uninitiated, heres how
the process goes. We run benchmarks on the devices, to get an
objective idea of how the processor
within each of them perform. This
is followed by real world tests,
designed in the Digit test labs to test
the performance of each device.
We record the videos in the highest
possible resolutions, taxing the
processor enough. We then use
heat guns to test the heat on the
body. Internal heat is tested using
benchmarks, and precisely mapped
gaming and video recording, too.
For the camera, we take the
same shots with all the devices,
comparing them on a calibrated
display, side-by-side. We take
photos in myriad light conditions,
ranging from bright sunlight to
extremely low, even unrealistic

conditions. We also take into
consideration the cameras features, for any added effects that
they may add, or improvement
in the overall image quality that
may be possible by using them.
For the display, we use the
HTC LX-101A Lux meter to test
maximum brightness. This is done
in a controlled environment, with
no ambient light, so as to get the
most accurate readings possible. Of
course, auto brightness and other
display features are turned off for
this, so as to establish a common
ground for all phones. The colours are judged using pre-chosen
photos, and other calibrating tools.
Next up, we have tested the
battery life on each of these phones
using the Geekbench 3 battery
test. It is worth noting that this test
is no longer available on Google

Play, and we will be retiring it after
this comparison. The battery life
is also tested using looping video,
real world usage, and predecided
video recording and gaming times.
Once we have an objective
view of what a phones capabilities are, we try to put the same to
practice in the real world. All
discrepancies here are noted, and
it figures into the final score.
It is also worth mentioning that
build and design of smartphones
are also taken into consideration.
However, were leaving that part
out in this comparison, since a
lot depends on personal choice
amongst these four devices. You
can always refer to the review
published earlier, or on digit.in
for more on that aspect of these
devices if that is what you seek.
Pizzas on FB Msngr
What could be the best way to order youself

a pizza? How about Facebook Messenger.
http://dgit.in/DPzFBM
Feature
Apple News updated
Apple News allows publishers to sell

subscriptions through app, with other changes.
http://dgit.in/iNewsUpdtd
personally, I am absolutely all over the

touchpad gestures, which seem to have
taken a cue from Macbooks.
The Chrome OS makes the
Chromebook a truly open
and shut device. None of
my logins took more than
10 seconds to bring up the login screen
from a complete shutdown. As a default
setting it brings up all the windows that
were open when the Chromebook was
shut down. Personally, I prefer it that
way. But if you need to disable it, go to
Settings -> Advanced settings -> On
Startup and select the Open a New Tab
page option. You can even set it to open
specific pages on startup.
DAY
CAn You survive

A month on just A
Chrome
book?
Googles Chrome OS has
been around for more
than five years now. Is it
ready to be your primary
operating system?
Arnab Mukherjee
arnab@digit.in
he way we use our operating systems has changed

drastically over the years.
From Office tools to entertainment, everything within an
operating system, be it Windows,
iOS or Linux, has evolved to become
more mature than ever in the past.
And one of the constant features of
the connected computing world the
web browser has perhaps shown
some of the largest leaps in terms of
capabilities. There couldnt be a better
example of this than Googles Chrome
OS, an entire operating system based
on Googles Chrome web browser.
The Chrome OS came into being
after Google realised that their people
were using their browser for most of
their computing needs. Be it Googles
cloud based office tools (Docs, Sheets,
Slides) or web apps from third par-
ties (Skype, Pixlr and more), on the

surface Googles Chrome OS can offer
you everything that you might need
from a typical computing platform.
But can it really? I spent a month with
the Chromebook as my only device
to find the answer. Heres my log:
An exercise in trust
Devices can be added as

plug and play. It detected
my standard mouse
without a hitch. It also
played HD video off a pendrive without
any lag on the VLC app. Also, the app
launcher is a welcome Android
inspired feature and the Downloads
folder is the root drive, which makes
sense on a browser based OS.
DAY
I havent really shut it down

over the weekend, but then
I barely used it for 4 hours.
The Chromebook uses
almost no power if you simply close the
lid in the logged in state, as it turns off
the Wifi adapter, which it turns on
again once you log in.
DAY
Setting up the Chromebook

First day for the ChromeDAY
was as easy as setting up a
book at office. First
new Android phone
problem faced con(Hurrah for Google
necting to network drives.
accounts and their
synchronisation!). As an
update from previous
versions of the Chrome
OS, it now has a desktop
(with customisable
wallpapers, no less!).
Basic tasks like connecting to the Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth, etc., are pretty
intuitive with browser
like Windows. And
The Network File Share for Chrome OS app
DAY
Resident Evil movie
Dubbed as Resident Evil: Vendetta, the

series new CG movie is releasing in 2017.
http://dgit.in/REMovie
But Google has a solution in the form

of Network File Share for Chrome OS.
It is an app that lets you map network
drives in the form of shared folders. It
supports the share path in the
Windows format (\\server\share) or an
smb URL e.g smb://server/share, along
with the option of logging in with a
username and password if the
directory is password protected.
Chromecast is detected
very easily. The system tray
on the bottom right corner
adds a section showing
Cast devices available, which lets you
cast your screen. Within the Chrome
browser in Chrome OS, you also get a
button next to the address bar that lets
you cast a specific tab or the entire
application. If only I could play games
that I could cast!
Watch OS 3 update
WatchOS 3 update is an update that can

make your Apple watch better than ever.
http://dgit.in/WtchOS3
Feature
ThE hARdWARE FOR ThiS ExPERiMENT

The XOLO Chromebook comes with some really interesting specifications. It packs
the Google specified Rockchip RK3288 Quad-Core Cortex-A17, which can clock up
to 1.8GHz, a ARM Mali-T764 GPU along with 2GB of DDR3L RAM. The display is
a comfortable 11.6 inch with a 720p resolution support. In terms of connectivity,
theres Bluetooth 4.0, Dual USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and SD card support. Theres a 720p
webcam and 16GB internal storage, out of which 9.6GB is available on boot.
DAY
10
The roadblocks set in

The only way I can play
games on this one are the
apps that already available
on the Chrome Web Store.
That includes some of the popular ones
like Cut the Rope, King of Thieves and
Angry Birds, which have been created
as web apps as well. No Steam so No
CS:GO for a month! Also, browser
based emulators work fine, so retro
games, here I come!
DAY
11
Annoying popup notification keeps repeating

because Chrome OS cannot
connect to the network
drives when I am offline. Even hitting
Abort doesnt help.
DAY
13
The memory limitations of

Chrome have started to set
in. Although the number of
blank tabs that can be
opened seems to be more than a 100
before some of the tabs are closed by the
system, thats not the case when the tabs
have content. Depending on how long
the Chromebook has been on for (in my
case - 2 days), this one starts killing tabs
anywhere between 10-20 heavy sites.
Even though this might appear to be a
DAY
15
The Octane Score for the XOLO Chromebook that I used
ThE ESSENTiAl APPS

Apart from the original set of apps present on board, here are a few apps that you
must install to make your life easier on a Chromebook
Gmail Offline - This does exactly what the mail says. It downloads, when connected, and displays all your recent emails along with attachments. You can also
respond to particular emails or perform other actions, which will be synced once
you are connected again.
Network File Share for Chrome OS - This is the only app that will let you connect
to shared folders over the network. You may not need it, but it is a basic functionality essential to many.
Pixlr Editor - A web based photo editor that is good for most of your needs. Although
not as capable as Photoshop, it does have most of the common editing tools.
WeVideo - A web based video editor that provides the most basic video editing
capabilities that you might need - like overlaying text, some transition effects,
working with two base videos simultaneously and more
All-in-One Messenger - A messenger app on which you can sign in into multiple chat
accounts like Whatsapp, Facebook, Hangouts, Slack and more. The UI is very good.
VLC - The good old VLC on Chrome, available on Chrome Web Store.
grave issue, this should not be a

problem on beefier Chromebooks.
Hitting the memory snags
repeatedly as the system
has begun to lag. After a
fresh reboot, using the
crosh console to run a memory
diagnostics (command: meminfo)
reveals that out of the 2GB memory on
board, around 1.6GB is available for the
system. With no other application
DAY
16
running other than the crosh extension

itself, the system has around 1GB
memory free. That is not enough for the
Chrome OS apparently once it has been
running for a few days without a
shutdown. Although most operating
systems do struggle with the same
issue, Chrome has a bad reputation
when it comes to memory and it is all
the more imperative that it is optimized, considering the lightweight
characteristic being advertised heavily.
Twitter support accs

Feature
Twitter will now help you to determine

if contacting a brand via tweets will be
of help. http://dgit.in/TwtrSprtAcc
TRiCKS FOR yOuR ChROMEBOOK

Anyone can use Google Chrome, and consequently, the Chrome OS. But to make the
most out of it, here are some useful tips and tricks Use App launcher as Calculator and Converter - Type your calculation or conversion into the search engine. The first response is usually the answer.
Ok Google - Use the Ok Google feature familiar from Android to similarly launch
apps with your voice
The magic of three fingers - a three finger tap on a link will open it in the background, and the same tap on a tabs header will close it.
Get Favicon bookmarks - Right click on existing bookmark bar item and select edit,
delete name text and save
Search Gmail through omnibar - Right click on omnibar, select Edit Search Engines,
and in the fields at the bottom of the window, enter Name as Gmail, any keyword (e.g
gms) and URL as https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/#search/%s and hit Done.
Typing that keyword followed by hitting tab in the omnibar will let you search on Gmail
(The same method can let you search any other website as well with the correct URL)
Hard reset - The Chromebook power button is a simple on/off switch, so how do you
reset a frozen Chromebook? Use the shortcut <reload button>+<power button>
The most useful keyboard shortcut lists ever - Ctrl+Alt+/ on a Chromebook.
SwiftKey goes neural
SwiftKey users now get the Neural Alpha

machine learning for better text prediction.
http://dgit.in/SKNeurlAlp
ANdROid APPS ON
ChROMEBOOK
Google has brought the Play
Store to the dev and beta channels of Chrome OS version 53
(which is great), but only for some
Chromebooks (which sucks).
Switch to the developer channel by
navigating to Settings > About and
clicking on More info under Check
for and apply updates button. Youre
almost there.
Scroll down to the Channel
section and hit Change channel.
Select Developer and agree to the
other prompts. Then update your
Chromebook to get Play Store. Only
supported for these models, though
http://dgit.in/chrmespdroid
Connecting my phone to
the Chromebook once again
demonstrated Googles sync
between its apps. Once the
OS detected the phone, it immediately
offered to backup the media on the
phone onto Google drive. Although this
is not something that you cannot do on
your own, who doesnt like a little easy
prompting once in awhile?
DAY
27
There is even a torrent

client available, although it
is not free. Lets hope the
developers change that
soon enough!
DAY
30
Hit Search+esc to launch the task manager on Chrome OS
Ending the process for Files

unmounts the shared
network drives added via
Network File Share app.
This is harder than I thought it would be.
DAY
17
Redemption
Contrary to what I thought
earlier, most of Googles
apps do work offline, but
only if Offline editing is
explicitly enabled from account
settings. This instantly makes the
Chromebook insanely useful, considering the fact that these apps are
actually lightweight and snappy. And
more apps are headed its way everyday.
DAY
20
The unique set of keys

available on top of the
laptop keyboard (which are
a part of the Chromebook
specification) are extremely useful. The
Chrome OS supports a lot of keyboard
shortcuts around those keys. Even
without the shortcuts, the reload and
windows open keys are a blessing
while browsing online. Coupled with
the trackpad gestures (three finger tab
scrolling, two finger right click, and
more) and all the keyboard shortcuts
out of the box, I think this makes the
Chrome OS design one of the most user
friendly laptop OS designs out there,
unless youre a stickler for Macs.
DAY
23
Conclusion
Honestly, I wasnt expecting the
Chromebook to be much more than
a use while youre travelling device.
In spite of the drawbacks, what I got
out of the Chromebook was a pleasant
surprise, both in terms of usage and
the novelty of the idea. If anything,
the Chrome OS is a strong indicator
of the direction computing is headed cloud-based applications, lightweight
open-and-shut devices with perfect
synchronisation. Just take a look at
the Nextbit Robin if you doubt that
statement. It may not be there yet, but
it certainly does give an impression of
being headed that way.
> code / creativity / community >

Python 3.6.0 Beta 1
is now available
http://dgit.in/PythonUpdt
Profiling Django views

for SQL queries
>>Optimizing Django code by profiling the views for SQL
queries> by Shubham Jain and Vivek Prakash
e at HackerEarth regularly conduct 24-hours

internal hackathons usually once a month
to boost ourselves to get familiar with new
technologies and to come up with great ideas
and hacks to increase our productivity. A hackathon project
can be anything from creating a new product to creating some
tools which helps our own development. In the hackathon in
Dec 2015, we came up with the idea to create a profiler which
could tell which code inside Django views causes SQL queries
so that we can optimize them easily.
Initial thoughts
There are already many good Django packages to profile
views for SQL queries. One of them is django-toolbar which
we already use. Django-toolbar is great but it shows all raw
SQL queries which are happening inside a view and you have
to analyze each query, see the whole trace back and figure out
which line of code inside the view is triggering the query. This
way, you can only figure out the line number of the code in a file,
not the exact function or expression or attribute access which is
causing the query. What we wanted was that a profiler should
tell about the exact expressions which trigger the SQL queries.
There were some solutions which came up in our mind to get it

done like using trace backs or by manipulating AST of the Python
function. Pythons AST module can parse and modify code during
runtime and we were fascinated about using it in the future.
What is AST?
AST stands for Abstract Syntax Tree. Python converts all
Python code to AST as one of the compiling step when creating its bytecode. Same functionality it provides dynamically
through AST module. We can convert any Python code to AST
at runtime using this library which we can compile to bytecode
and execute the bytecode too.
Here is an example. Lets have the code of a function which
returns the square of a number
code = def f(x):
s=x* x
return s
We can convert this code to AST using ast.parse method

import ast
module_ast = ast.parse(code)
func_ast = module_ast.body[0]
*Coding Matters
*Android Studio 2.2
>>Latest version of Googles Android

development studio released with
improved C++ support and more.
http://dgit.in/AS2dot2
*Oracle beats Amazon
>>New Oracle Database-as-aService is 20 years ahead of Amazon

Web Services.
http://dgit.in/OrclvsAmzn
*Vim8.0, Emacs 25.1 out

>>First major Vim release in 10
years and Emacs 25.1 with dynamic
library support released.
http://dgit.in/VmEmcs
The ast.parse method returns an ast_module object which

contains the AST of our function. We can print the whole tree
by ast.dump method.
print ast.dump(func_ast) //prints
>>> FunctionDef(name=f, args=arguments(ar
gs=[Name(id=x, ctx=Param())], vararg=None,
kwarg=None, defaults=[]), body=[Assign(targets=[Na
me(id=s, ctx=Store())], value=BinOp(left=Name(id=x,
ctx=Load()), op=Mult(), right=Name(id=x, ctx=Load()))),
Return(value=Name(id=s, ctx=Load()))], decorator_list=[])
The pretty version of above output would be
FunctionDef(
name=f,
args=arguments(
args=[
Name(id=x, ctx=Param())
],
vararg=None,
kwarg=None,
defaults=[]
),
body=[
Assign(
targets=[
Name(id=s, ctx=Store())
],
value=BinOp(
left=Name(id=x, ctx=Load()),
op=Mult(),
right=Name(id=x, ctx=Load())
)
),
Return(
value=Name(id=s, ctx=Load())
)
],
decorator_list=[]
)
The graphical representation of above tree would be
So here is the code to compile our AST and then execute it.
code_object = compile(module_ast,
filename=my_code, mode=exec)
exec(code_object) # Execute the code. It creates the function f in globals context
f = eval(f) # Getting the function f from globals context
print f(4) # Calling the function. Prints 16
Why did we choose to use AST?
We chose to use AST manipulation to implement the profiler
and the trick here is to patch every function call, attribute
access and other constructs. Here is what we thought:
Suppose there is a function f which internally callsget_
user triggering a SQL query
@profile
def f(request):
...
user = get_user(request)
and decorating the function f with profile decorator will

manipulate its AST code. It will find all locations of function
calls inside function body and will encapsulate it in our special
function call_handler. So the function fs definition will become
def f(request):
...
user = call_handler(get_user, request)
...
call_handler will call the passed function with given arguments. Before calling it will start tracking for the SQL queries.
And after the function has been called it will collect the sql_queries and will store it with the function so that we can see later if
during call any SQL query was made. Moreover, to attain the
functionality of collecting queries we will have to patch the
Django code which makes SQL queries (we will talk about it
later). Its definition would be something like
def call_handler(func, *args, **kwargs):
sql_counter.start_tracking()
result = func(*args, **kwargs)
sql_queries = sql_counter.collect_queries()
store_queries(func, sql_queries)
return result
And then well be able to see what calls inside function made
SQL queries. This will be a really useful feature for optimizing
code.
Implementation
How to manipulate AST?
The Python docs of AST doesnt give much information on
its usage. Then we found Green Tree Snakes. Also we found
an example to convert Python code to JavaScript in a Stack
Overflow answer using AST transformation. We found them
pretty helpful. There were following improvements in initial
ideas while implementing:
There are many cases other than function

calling where python code gets executed
e.g. on attribute access, automatic coercion to bool in if/else ifstatements and
automatic coercion to iter infor statement. So Id to cover them up too.
The call_handler was making whole
function body unhygienic because any
other usage of name call_handler will
clash with it. So we thought to make a
namespace with a very unique name that
nobody will define in any other place.
Here, we came up with word goofy and
replaced decorator profile with goofy.
profile() and replaced call_handler with
goofy.call_handler. And the only thing
that well have to import is goofy.
In goofy.call_handler we need to pass
other information like lineno, colno too
along with the calling function.
Here is the code which transforms the

AST
import ast
class Transformer(ast.NodeTransformer):
def __init__(self, lineno):
*pointers
>>Interesting Django and
other developer videos
*Django for
Beginners
>>A comprehensive Django

tutorial for beginners or those
looking to brush it up.
http://dgit.in/DjngFrBgnrs
*Why use Django
>>Should you choose Ruby

on Rails vs Django? Node.js vs
Django? PHP vs Python?.
http://dgit.in/DjngoVS
lineno is the actual position of function

code in source file
self._lineno = lineno
self._dec_lineno = 1
def visit_FunctionDef(self, func):
Remove decorators so that the decorators
doesnt get applied more.
in func.decorator_list:
if (isinstance(dec, ast.
Call) and isinstance(dec.func,
ast.Attribute) and
isinstance(dec.func.value,
ast.Name) and dec.
func.value.id == goofy and
dec.func.attr == profile):
self._dec_lineno = dec.lineno
func.decorator_list = []
func_ast = self.generic_visit(func)
return func_ast
def visit_Call(self, call):
Change the function calling syntax
func(*args, **kwargs) will be transformed
goofy.call_handler(func, line_no, col_no,
*args, **kwargs)
*Google Cast SDK,

Version 3, for Android
>>New cast SDK reduces the
amount of code needed to Castenable your Android app.
http://dgit.in/CastSDK3
call_ast = self.generic_
visit(call)
call_ast.args.
insert(0, call_ast.func)
call_ast.func =
ast.Attribute(
value=ast.Name(id=goofy,
ctx=ast.Load()),
attr=call_handler, ctx=ast.Load())
call_lineno = self._lineno self._dec_lineno + call_ast.lineno
call_colno = call_ast.col_offset + 1
call_ast.args.insert(1, ast.
Num(call_lineno))
call_ast.args.insert(2, ast.
Num(call_colno))
return call_ast
There are many variants of statements and expressions in python, details
of which you can find in AST docss
Abstract grammar section. So any type of
node that has to be changed while transforming the AST, a corresponding method
of visit_<NodeClass> in Transformer class
has to be written. (like visit_FunctionDef
and visit_Call methods in above code). In
actual code, Id to implement visit_Assign,
visit_Attribute, visit_If, visit_BoolOp and
visit_For etc. too.
And heres the code for goofyclass.
def goofy_profiler(f):
frame, filename, line_number,
_, lines, _ = inspect.stack()[1]
if lines[0].startswith(def):
line_number -= 1
source = inspect.getsource(f)
decorator_lineno = source.count(\n,
0, source.index(@goofy.profile)+1) + 1
tree = ast.parse(source)
transformer = Transformer(line_number)
transformed_tree = transformer.visit(tree)
ast.fix_missing_
locations(transformed_tree)
ast.increment_lineno(transformed_tree,
line_number - decorator_lineno)
*CodeJam Finals
2016
>>The CodeJam 2016 Finals,

where Gennady Korotkevich
defended his title against 25 top
programmers.
http://dgit.in/CdJm16
module_globals = inspect.
getmodule(f).__dict__
exec(compile(transformed_tree,
filename=filename, mode=exec),
module_globals)
func = eval(f.__name__, module_globals)
func = deco(func)
return func
def deco(func):
@wraps(func)
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
SQLCounter.clear_data()
SQLCounter.current_func(func)
start_time = datetime.now()
timedelta = datetime.now() - start_time
print Function: {}.{}.format(
func.__module__, func.func_name)
print Total processing time: {} ms.format(
timedelta.total_seconds()*1000)
SQLCounter.show_data()
return result
return wrapper
from goofy import goofy

@goofy.profile()
def get_bot_submission_response(request, game):
When the view gets called it prints following output to console.

Function: problems.views.get_bot_submission_response
Total processing time: 201.499 ms
Total SQL queries: 8, Total time: 9.856 ms
Location
Hit Queries Time
Avg
(ms) Time (ms)
-------------------------------------------- ----- --------- ----------- ---------------------line no 100 : .user
1
1
0.97
0.97
line no 100 : .player1
1
1
1.38
1.38
line no 112 : .problem
1
1
1.52
1.52
line no 119 : player_2_name(..) 1
2
2.193
1.0965
line no 138 : get_game_data(..) 1
2
2.244
1.122
line no 163 : render_to_string(..) 1
1
1.549
1.549
class goofy(object):
@staticmethod
def profile():
return goofy_profiler
@staticmethod
def call_handler(func, lineno, colno, *args, **kwargs):
sargs = ( {}(..).format(func.__name__), lineno, colno)
SQLCounter.before(*sargs)
SQLCounter.after(*sargs)
return result
All the .<attribute> tells the location of attribute access which

triggered SQL queries. .user, .player1, .problem are attribute
access and player_2_name(..), get_game_data(..), render_to_
string(..) are function calls. Weve used the tabulate package
to pretty print the table.
Also wed like to patch the execute_sql method of SQLCompiler to collect sql queries, the code for which you can find here
http://dgit.in/exctSQL
And then theres the code of SQLCounter which collects
SQL queries and also the information of what SQL queries get
executed at different position inside a function. Refer to http://
dgit.in/SQLCounter for the code.
Whats next
Not only SQL but any type of queries can be profiled in this
model. We also added the feature to profile memcached queries in goofy profiler. Lots of more improvements can be done
upon it and were working on that. Be careful about the syntax
for the code in this article, and also keep a backup before
altering your existing code.
Well soon clean the goofy profilers code and open-source it
on github. And that means pretty soon youll be able to profile
SQL queries from your Django code. This tracking will help you
find out segments of the code that need optimization. Stay tuned!
Usage
There is a view get_bot_submission_response in our codebase
and we applied goofy.profile() decorator on it to profile it.
This article was contributed by HackerEarth and written by

Shubham Jain, Developer, HackerEarth and Vivek Prakash,
CTO & Co-founder, HackerEarth.
*Nodes of Interest
*Developing Websites
>>Microsoft Virtual Academys

course for web development using
Python and Django.
http://dgit.in/MVADjngo
*Django Basics
>> Explore Django Framework and

look into Djangos admin, ORM,
migrations, and template system.
http://dgit.in/DjngoTrHs
*Self-Driving Car
>>Udacitys nanodegree for SelfDriving car engineer made with

Mercedes Benz, Nvidia and more.
http://dgit.in/SDUdacity
Our pick Of the best tech articles frOm arOund the glObe
(Must reads)
[recode corner]
Time To reThink abouT your broadband rouTer
Not a tech laggard

apple, on the iphone 7 launch
says that the company may
be stronger than ever with its
expansion in several fields
such as wearables and apps,
even though the recent reports
suggest the opposite.
http://dgit.in/StrngApple
evolutioN of fPS
gameS
Walk down the nostalgia
lane with us where we take
you through years tracking
the evolution of fps games
starting from maze War
released in 1974 up to the
latest Overwatch.
http://dgit.in/EvlFPS
driviNg, a thiNg of
the PaSt
automobile manufacturers
claim that the evolving technologies are quite capable of
taking driverless cars further
than just providing assistance
to the driver and take full
control of the car, ending the
current form of transportation.
In a race towards the smart home era, something very

important that weve forgotten clearly stands to stare at our
face, well kept in the corner of your house. The broadband
router, the gateway to our smart home needs to be re-invented.
http://dgit.in/ReinvRouter
http://dgit.in/DrvlsCrs
SightSouNd verSuS
aPPle
the intellectual property can
be hard to protect as well as
defend. here is sightsounds
story of a war that they fought
against apple inc that started
back in 1988. Quite an interesting one.
http://dgit.in/SsoundFght
The next Big thing

Smartphones have been the
biggest thing that the tech
evolution has seen. 2-in-1s were
designed to push laptop users
to shift to convertibles but the
giants could not really succeed
in popularising them with the
masses. Heres their plan B.
State of Music Streaming

Music streaming boom has set some
trends with on-demand music and
ad-supported models continuing to
dominate. Even after being forced to
choose the alternative, the masses
choose to disagree, and that does
say something about the music
streaming market.
Inexhaustible cloud power

Being connected to the cloud has
become mainstream and several
apps and services are empowering
us with cloud computing for day-today activities. All of this is possible
due to enterprise cloud computing
market, that seems to be struggling
to keep providing services.
http://dgit.in/ConvertbleShft
http://dgit.in/MusicStrmng
http://dgit.in/EntrCCmptng
(worldview)
ShorTs
gifS rule the web

from organising
and celebrating the
burn all gifs day
in 1999 to instant
messengers and social media
websites adding extensive
gif support, these animated
images have come a long way
since their inception. this is
their evolution story and the
reason why will they never die.
http://dgit.in/LltGIF
JourNey to catch
em all
heres a 34-year
old unemployed
tech entrepreneur describing
his journey from
being able to name barely two
pokemons to being able to
catch all the 142 pokemons
available in his area, well
almost!
http://dgit.in/PkGoMstr
uSiNg the viNtage oS X

With most of
us waiting
for refreshed
updates daily
on our smartphones and macs, there are a
few vintage fanatics who dont
see the benefit of the shiny
new upgrade, be it in terms of
hardware or software. Yes, they
do exist.
http://dgit.in/VintgOSX
the virtual world of

facebook
facebook has
befriended 1.71
billion of the
population and
eyes the rest of
the humanity to follow soon.
not only this, mark Zuckerberg
also eyes for all of them to start
connecting to his new world,
newer realities.
http://dgit.in/FaceBkVR
apple iOs 10: the good, the

bad and the ugly
Lets find out what iOS 10 has to offer and what we most like and
dislike about Apples nouveau operating system.
pple has finally rolled out the

official version of their biggest iOS release ever - iOS
10. After a rough beginning,
where the new OS was found bricking a
small number of devices, Apple upgraded
the software further and released iOS
10.0.1, which is probably what you got
when you installed the new OS.
Yes, a lot has changed in iOS 10, some
of which is pretty good, some bad, and
some thats outright ugly! Lets find out
what iOS 10 has to offer and what we
most like and dislike about Apples nouveau operating system.
Lock screen
The Good: iOS 10 has a new, more interactive lock screen which incorporates
new gestures. Users will be able to swipe
right in order to access their lock-screen
widgets. Users can also reply to their notifications straight from the lock screen,
without having to unlock the phone and
access a particular app. So, if you get a
WhatsApp message, you can 3D touch it
to reply without actually opening the app.
The Bad: If you dont own an iPhone
6s, 6s Plus or Apples latest flagship
iPhone 7, then forget about replying to
those WhatsApp messages from the lock
screen. Yes, you need 3D Touch to be able
to interact with notifications on your lock
By Adamya Sharma
hate the feature. It felt so slick when the

iPhone unlocked with a simple, gentle
touch of the home button. The added
press of the home button may be a plus
for Android users looking to move to
iOS, but its hard to believe ardent Apple
users will like it very much.
Notifications & Widgets
New iOS 10 lock screen and reply from lock

screen feature
screen. Dont worry, the new swipe-right

gesture will work on your iPhone 5s,
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. But, if you
want to take complete advantage of iOS 10,
its time to upgrade (youll know why in
due course). In addition, iOS 10 adds the
Raise to Wake feature through which the
phone screen simply wakes up when the
user lifts the device, the same though is not
available on devices below the iPhone 6s.
The Ugly: One of the first, most
annoying thing you will notice about iOS
10 is Press Home to open default setting. Yes, you can change the setting from
the Accessibility settings, but keeping
this a default shows Apple may want
you to get used to doing this in future
iPhones. Most of us loyal Apple users
The Good: iOS 10 brings with it a redesigned way of displaying notifications.

Although the gesture of swiping down
from the top remains the same, notifications are no longer clubbed by apps is
great. You dont have to dismiss notifications from each app category anymore
and a single tap on the top right corner
can clear all recent notifications.
iOS 10 Widgets menus, revamped notifications

drop-down
(worldview)
courageouS aPPle?
apple argues
that the future of
audio is wireless,
agreed, but that
does not mean that we kill the
ports immediately? thanks to
apple, the latest iphone users
will have to buy the new $159
accessory, but hey, why did apple
kill the ubiquitous jack is the
question you should be asking.
http://dgit.in/iJckRIP
where iS eSPortS
headiNg?
3 dayS of PwNage at
def coN
uberS Self-driviNg
carS are here
the world of
multiplayer
online battle
arena gaming
continues to soar in popularity
and profitability with every
passing year. however, the statistics show a whole different
story altogether, the story of
the struggle to keep pace.
http://dgit.in/EsprtsStrgl
Wondered how
would a hackers
conference or
a meet be like?
hold back as we take you
down to las Vegas where the
canadian hacking group with
the name platinum net has
been organising their convention for 24 years now.
http://dgit.in/DefConvn
analysts may say

that self-driving cars
are at least a decade
away but companies beg to
differ. ubers first self-driving
fleet has already hit the roads
that consist of modified Volvo
Xc90 but will be under supervision by humans in the drivers
seat for the time being.
http://dgit.in/SlfDrUber
As we told you before, swiping right

will bring up a much improved widget
interface where users can place things
like favourite Contacts, Reminders, Siri
suggestions, Maps, News and more.
This allows for easy access to the most
used functions on the device and users
can also add or remove widgets as per
their preferences.
The Bad: Notifications on iOS 10 look
bigger and bolder, and are very reminiscent of Android notifications. I personally dont like the rectangles in the
notifications center, although some may
prefer the new black text on the white
background, which makes it easier to
read notifications. The previous OS had
white text on a black backdrop, sans
the annoying rectangles. In iOS 10, you
place - the widget interface. Did Cupertino run out of options? .
siri
The Good: Everything with Siri seems to
be good in iOS 10. The iOS voice assistant
now gets third-party app integration and
can type out a WhatsApp message for
you or look up restaurants on Zomato,
in addition to posting Facebook statuses
and Tweets. It can even call you an Uber,
but the feature is not available in India
just yet. This only goes to show the potential of Siri, something even Google Now
cannot do till now. The Google Assistant on the soon to be launched Allo
Messaging app does get some of these
functions. Seems like Apple has finally
stopped doing a catch-up job.
Siri on iOS 10
Messages
3D touch to view folder notifications on iOS 10
can even club a set of similar apps in a

single folder, which will then give you a
cumulative read on the number of notifications in that folder, but the feature
requires 3D touch to view these notifications at a glance.
The Ugly: Swiping right from the lock
screen, from the notifications screen and
from the home screen, all take you to one
The Good: iOS 10 seems to have put life

back into the boring old SMS app. You can
now do a bunch of cool stuff straight from
Messages, including - search and share
popular GIFs, images and videos; Send
Digital Touch Messages like heartbeats,
doodles and more; Send short video clips
with disappearing doodles; Send invisible
ink message which have to be rubbed to
be read; Share Apple Music tracks.
The Bad: You may just get overwhelmed with all that you can do on
Messages on iOS 10; Sending songs, sharing

GIFs & images, sketching
Messages now, and this isnt a good

thing for your iPhones battery. iOS 10 is
definitely feature packed, but at the same
time it is also a battery guzzler and prolonged use of the Messages app tends to
drain the battery quite rapidly.
apple Music
The Ugly: What did they do to the
sophisticated and cool Apple Music? The
music streaming app has never looked
this bad. The icons are ugly, the font size
is better for those with a weak eyesight,
the whole design reminds me of an old
iPod. For this reason alone, I am willing
to switch back to iOS 9.
The Good: With iOS 10 you can now
get lyrics on Apple Music which is great
addition for Karaoke fans. However, not
all songs come with lyrics, as you can
see in the screenshot above. The For
You section adds Connected Posts
from various artists and a My Favourite
Mix list which updates as per your listening preferences.
So, those were all things good, bad
and ugly in the new iOS 10 update. Of
course, theres much more to Apples
new software update, and we will definitely keep you informed on the same.
Meanwhile, try it out.
(worldview)
Stated clearly
Known for its explanation of scientific concepts, Stated Clearly
does what the name
says, states the expla-
nations in great detail,

keeping them interesting and the viewers
engaged. The videos are
simple to understand
complex concepts with
examples but without
being oversimplified
and can be followed
easily by anyone not
familiar with science.
(PrOduct LauNches)
SoNy PlayStatioN 4 Pro
hP PavilioN wave
the new sony playstation 4

pro comes with double the
gpu power compared to the
previous playstation and uses
amds polaris architecture
and comes with 1tb storage
and lets you play games in
full 4k hdr.
price: $399 (`27,000 approx)
the hp pavilion Wave is

powered by a 6th generation
core i7 quad-core desktop
processors from intel, along
with up to 2 tb hdd, an
optional 128 gb ssd and up
to 8gb of ddr4 ram along
with b&O audio.
price: `61,990
p i c ture pu z z l e
aSuS ZeNfoNe 3 deluXe
powered by a snapdragon
821 soc the Zenfone 3
deluxe comes with 256gb
of built-in storage under a
5.7-inch fhd super amOled
display along with 6gb of
ram. the battery capacity is
3000mwa.
price: $800 (`53,000 approx)
ABSoluTE
TimepaSS
http://dgit.in/ScStatedClrly
Top 3
To get all these links in one

easy to read page, make
sure you blip this page from
your smartphone.
Picks
make sure your bosses dont catch you goofing off

watching one of these videos playing on your screen
MIt Interactive dynamic

Video
spaceXs Falcon 9 rocket

explosion
iPhone 7 Plus disassembly
Duration: 05.50
Duration: 05:39
this mit video shows manipulation of objects via interactive

dynamic Video.
http://dgit.in/IntDVid
during fueling up for a test

before amos-6 satellite launch
the falcon 9 exploded.
http://dgit.in/SpcXF9
apple doesnt like to reveal all

the information regarding their
phones. but we have to disassemble it to know it all!
http://dgit.in/i7Plsopened
Duration: 04:56
agent 001
92
Street smart
Feature
This Diwali, instead of buying a new

TV, give HD projectors a shot. You'll
be surprised!
94
Diwali is here and weve got a list

of geeky gifts prepared to save you
hours of planning.
Spend Smart
The sleekness of Ultrabooks comes at a price, and the same goes for
the heart of your PC, i.e your motherboard. Strike the right balance
between price and quality with these recommendations.
UlTrabookS
Brand
Model
OS
Memory Storage
Lenovo
ThinkPad X1 Carbon Intel Core i7 6500U 14" QHD
Processor
Screen
Windows 10 Pro
8GB
512GB SSD Intel HD
1.1 Kg
1,72,515
Apple
MacBook Pro
Intel Core i7
MacOS
16GB
512GB SSD AMD Radeon R9 M370X
2 Kg
1,64,641
HP
Elitebook 1040
Intel Core i7 6600U 14" FHD
Windows 10 Pro
8GB
256GB SSD Intel HD Graphics 520
1.43 Kg
1,48,000
HP
Spectre 13
Intel Core i7
13" FHD
Windows 10 Pro
8GB
512GB SSD Intel HD Graphics 520
1.1 Kg
1,46,990
Microsoft Surface Pro 4
Intel Core i7
12.3" FHD
Windows 10 Pro
8GB
256GB SSD Intel HD
0.785 Kg 1,44,990
Lenovo
Yoga 900
Intel Core i7 6500U 13.3" QHD Touch Windows 10
8GB
512GB SSD Intel HD
1.3 Kg
Apple
MacBook
Intel Core M
Mac OS Yosemite 8GB
256GB SSD Intel HD
0.92 Kg
99,000
ASUS
ZenBook UX305UA
Intel Core i7 6500U 13.3" FHD
Windows 10
8GB
512GB HDD Intel HD 520
1.3 Kg
96,449
Lenovo
ThinkPad X240
Intel Core i5 4200U 12.5"
Windows 10
4GB
1TB HDD
Intel HD
1.36 Kg
90,197
Dell
Inspiron 7548
Intel Core i7
15.6" FHD Touch Windows 10
16GB
1TB HDD
AMD Radeon R7 M270
2.06 Kg
89,990
HP
Envy 13-D115TU
Intel Core i7-6500U 13.3" FHD
Windows 10
8GB
256GB
Intel HD 520 Graphics
1.39 Kg
89,290
HP
Envy 14-J106TX
Intel Core i7 6700HQ 14" FHD
Windows 10
12GB
1TB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M 1.94 Kg
88,700
Lenovo
Yoga 3 14
Intel Core i7-5500U 14" FHD Touch
Windows 8.1
8GB
256GB SSD NVIDIA N16S-GT
1.6 Kg
86,850
HP
Envy x360
Intel Core i7-6500U 15.6" FHD Touch Windows 10
8GB
1TB HDD
2.1 Kg
84,990
HP
Pavilion 14 AL010TX Intel Core i7-6500U 14" FHD
Windows 10
12GB
128GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
+ 1TB HDD
1.78 Kg
81,000
HP
Pavilion 15 AB522TX Intel Core i5 6200U 15.6"
Windows 10
8GB
1TB HDD
15"
12" Retina
Graphics
Weight Price (`)
NVIDIA GeForce 930M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 940M 2.3 Kg
1,23,690
55,900
MoTherboardS
Brand
Model
RAM
Intel/AMD
Chipset
Form Factor
PCIe x16 Slot
M.2 Slot
Sata Slots
MSI
X99A GODLIKE GAMING
128GB
Intel
X99
E-ATX
10
Price (`)
44,550
ASUS
ROG MAXIMUS VIII EXTREME
64GB
Intel
Z170
E-ATX
38,351
MSI
X99S GAMING 9 AC
128GB
Intel
X99
E-ATX
10
34,999
GIGABYTE
GA-Z97X-GAMING G1
32GB
Intel
Z97
ATX
NA
10
28,500
GIGABYTE
GA-Z97X-GAMING G1
32GB
Intel
Z97
ATX
NA
10
28,500
MSI
Z170A XPOWER GAMING
64GB
Intel
Z170
ATX
27,400
GIGABYTE
GA-Z97X-GAMING G1
32GB
Intel
Z97
ATX
NA
10
24,334
MSI
X99A GAMING 7
128GB
Intel
X99
ATX
10
23,310
ASUS
ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO
64GB
Intel
Z170
ATX
21,394
ASRock
X99 TAICHI
64GB
Intel
X99
ATX
10
20,499
GIGABYTE
GA-Z170X-Gaming 7
64GB
Intel
Z170
ATX
19,750
ASUS
SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0
32GB
AMD
990FX
ATX
NA
19,572
ASRock
FATAL1TY GAMING Z170
32GB
Intel
Z170
Mini ITX
17,499
GIGABYTE
GA-990FXA-UD5 R5
32GB
AMD
990FX
ATX
NA
16,380
Recommended Buys
From smartphones to gaming laptops, heres what we recommend for your next purchase!
top 3
premium smartphones
top 3
Laptops under 20K
Brand
HP
Lenovo
Acer
Model
15-BA025AU
Ideapad 100
One S1002-15XR
Price (in `)
19,990
19,990
18,990
Brand
Apple
Apple
Samsung
Model
X100T B-EE
DSC-RX1
PowerShot G3 X
Price (in `)
1,95,749
1,79,990
59,995
Brand
Xiaomi
LeEco
Xiaomi
top 3
dsLr Cameras for
BeGinners
Brand
Nikon
Canon
Nikon
Model
D3300
1300D
D5300
Price (in `)
21,290
22,995
30,990
Model
Strafe RGB
Ripjaws KM780 RGB
K70 RGB
Price (in `)
11,513
14,770
13,533
Brand
Samsung
Apple
Moto
Model
Siberia V2
Kave
Kraken Pro 7.1
Price (in `)
5,999
8,500
8,049
Price (in `)
9,999
8,998
8,999
Model
Gear S2
Watch
360 2
Price (in `)
20,260
26,990
22,499
top 3
sports iems
Brand
Jaybird
Jabra
Audio-Technica
Model
X2
Sports Pulse
ATH-CKS990iS
Price (in `)
15,999
13,999
6,799
top 3
GaminG Laptops
top 3
GaminG headphones
Brand
Steelseries
Roccat
Razer
Model
Redmi Note 3
Le 1s Eco
Redmi 3s Prime
top 3
smartwatChes
top 3
GaminG KeyBoards
Brand
Corsair
G-Skill
Corsair
Price (in `)
92,000
80,000
55,900
top 3
smartphones
under 10K
top 3
hiGh-end point and
shoot Cameras
Brand
Fujifilm
Sony CyberShot
Canon
Model
iPhone 7 Plus (256GB)
iPhone 7 (256GB)
Galaxy S7 Edge (32GB)
Brand
MSI
ASUS
Acer
Model
GE62VR 6RF
ROG G752VY
Predator 15
Price (in `)
1,39,900
1,79,990
1,79,000
killer rigs
Everything youll ever need to build your own PC. Whatever your budget.
Basic rig = 29,809
Entry-level gaming = 54,927
Mid-range gaming = 84,174
Basic RiG
Processor
Motherboard
RAM
HDD
Graphics Card
PSU
Speakers
Optical Drive
Mouse
Keyboard
Sound Card
Sub-total
Monitor
Cabinet
Total
Intel Core i3 - 6100

ASRock H170M Pro4
G-Skill Value F4-2133C15S-4GNT
Toshiba 1 TB DT01ACA100
Intel HD Graphics 530
Corsair VS450
None
None
Logitech MK120 Wireless (Bundle)
Logitech MK120 Wireless (Bundle)
None
(Excluding Monitor and Cabinet)
Micromax MM156HUN1
OEM Cabinet
HDD
Graphics Card
PSU
Speakers
Optical Drive
Mouse
Keyboard
Sound Card
Sub-total
Monitor
Cabinet
Total
Intel Core i5 - 6402P

ASRock H170M Pro4
Corsair Value F4-2133C15D-8GNT
WD Blue WD10EZRZ 1 TB + Kingston SSD
UV400 120 GB
GIGABYTE GTX 1060 G1 GAMING 6GD
Seasonic M12II 520W
Sony SRS-D9 2.1
LG GH24NSD1 SATA DVD Writer
Logitech G100s (Bundle)
None
BenQ RL2240HE
Corsair Carbide SPEC 01
8,512
8,499
1,618
3,255
0
2,365
0
0
750
0
0
24,999
3,810
1,000
`29,809
Motherboard
RAM
HDD
Monitor
Graphics Card
Cabinet
PSU
Speakers
Optical Drive
Mouse
Keyboard
Sound Card
Total
Intel Core i7-6700K + Antec Kuhler

H2O 650
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 5
Corsair Vengeance (2x 8 GB) CMK8GX4M1A2400C14R
WD WD30EZRX 3TB + Samsung 850 Pro
256GB SSD
Acer XB270HU 27-inch 144Hz 4K G-Sync
ZOTAC GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme Edition
Corsair Obsidian 750D
Corsair RM1000i 1000W
Logitech Z906 5.1
LG Blu-ray WH14NS40 RW
Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Steelseries APEX 350
ASUS XONAR Essence STX
Digit test rig= 4,83,912
Processor
Motherboard
RAM
HDD
Graphics Card
PSU
Speakers
Optical Drive
Mouse
Keyboard
Sound Card
Sub-total
Monitor
Cabinet
Total
AMD FX8320
ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-4GBNS
WD Blue WD10EZRZ 1 TB
Sapphire Rx 460 4GB
Seasonic M12II 520W
Philips MMS4040F - 2.1 Channel
Logitech MK200 (Bundle)
Logitech MK200 (Bundle)
None
BenQ RL2240HE
Antec VSK 4000
11,219
4,200
1,857
3,599
12,000
5,500
2,803
1,050
730
0
0
42,958
9,870
2,099
`54,927
HiGH-End GaminG RiG

13,146
8,499
2,915
Processor
Motherboard
RAM
6,629
HDD
26,499
5,500
4,990
1,050
1,739
0
0
70,967
9,870
3,337
`84,174
ULtRa HiGH-End GaminG

CPU + Cooler
Ultra high-end gaming = 2,63,421
EntRy-LEvEL GaminG
mid-RanGE GaminG
Processor
Motherboard
RAM
High-end gaming rig = 1,12,213
Graphics Card
PSU
Speakers
Optical Drive
Mouse
Keyboard
Sound Card
Sub-total
Monitor
Cabinet
Total
Intel Core i5 6600

MSI Z170A PC Mate
G.Skill Aegis F4-2133C15D-16GIS
Western Digital WD20EZRZ 2 TB + Kingston UV400 SSD 240 GB
ZOTAC GTX1070 AMP! Edition
Seasonic M12II-750 EVO
Sony SRS-D9 2.1
None
(Excluding Monitor)
BenQ GL2460HM
NZXT Guardian 921RB
16,570
11,934
5,320
9,891
37,400
8,820
4,990
1,050
1,739
0
0
97,714
9,299
5,200
`1,12,213
PRimaRy diGit tEst RiG

30,793
16,699
5,778
17,365
61,300
62,199
10,848
14,450
17,150
6,060
3,999
7,300
9,480
`2,63,421
Processor
Motherboard
RAM
HDD
SSD
PCIe SSD
Graphics Card
Cabinet+ Cooler
PSU
Monitor
Optical Drive
Mouse
Keyboard
Total
Intel Core i7 - 6950X (Extreme Edition)

Gigabyte X-99 SLI
Apacer Panther 2666 MHz 32 GB
(4x 8 GB)
Western Digital WD40EFRX
SanDisk Extreme II 480GB (2x 240GB)
Intel 750 NVMe + Kingston HyperX
Predator 480 GB
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080
EXTREME Gaming
NZXT H440 + Noctua NH-D15
Corsair RM1000X
LG 29UC97C
NA
Mionix Castor
Corsair STRAFE RGB
131,100
21,500
15,840
12,600
34,000
1,19,199
63,250+Tax
17,311
12,899
40,000+Tax
NA
4,700
11,513
`4,83,912
GoPro launches drone

Agent 001
GoPro's new drone Karma is priced at

$799 and comes with fold-up wings and is
ultra portable http://dgit.in/GoPKarma
Biker gangs in GTA
GTA Online will now allow you to

create a Motorcycle Club with 8 biker
friends. http://dgit.in/GTABikerGng
Projectors for home

Should they be part of your home
entertainment setup or not?
Agent 001
agent001@digit.in
f youre contemplating about

investing in a brand new HDTV
(or even a 4K UHD TV) this
Diwali shopping season, as the
centrepiece of your home entertainment needs, dont make a decision
before you read my take on projectors
circa 2016.
I know whats going through your
minds -- projectors over TVs? Well,
youre partly right. A home entertainment projector is worth investing in if
you have a big house with large rooms
and a dedicated movie room (if not a
mini theatre). Having said that, you
should consider an HD projector if
you need the convenience of a large
screen display that your LCD TV just
cant provide.
A projectors great for projecting a
large viewable area either on an overhanging screen or directly onto the
smooth wall surface something that
TVs cant match making projectors
a worthwhile medium for supersizing
your evening movies or gaming sessions. Unlike a TV, the projectors also
portable and convenient enough to be
hooked into any room of the house.
A projector will always seem
expensive for someone whos looking
to buy a sub-50-inch HDTV. But the
minute you start looking for HDTVs
that measure over 50-inch in sizes, its
price range starts to overlap that of a
reasonably good home projector that
can offer a wider screen in comparison. And if youre dont really need a
smart, intelligent TV (that lets you surf
the Web, play games, supports gesture
and voice control, and everything that
burns a crater-sized hole through your
wallet) a projector is something that
starts to make
a lot of sense.
Some recent
advancements in the projector segment have increasingly
increased the acceptability of projectors. Unlike a few years ago where
projectors offered lamp life of 20003000 hours, most projectors launched
in the past year are offering a minimum lamp life of 5000 hours. That
roughly translates to over five years of
lamp life if you run the projector for
between 2-3 hours every day. The cost
of projectors is also reducing where
good HD projectors were selling over
`1-1.5 lakhs just over three years ago,
thats come down under a lakh per
unit now. Lastly, the rise of ultra-short
throw projectors that can project 60+
inch wide viewable area from just a
few centimetres away from the screen
is making projectors more lucrative
for space-conscious, city slickers that
dont have lots of real estate. Connectivity options on projectors has
improved you can play content off of
a pen drive, hard drive, smartphone,
wireless device, etc. too.
When you go to market to purchase
a projector for your home, dont settle
for the cheapest one. Watching a fastpaced movie off a projector thats not
meant for it is a painful experience
made doubly painful if you paid good
money for it. So beware of buying a
lemon. Also portable projectors are
ok if you travel a lot, but a strict no-no
if youre
considering
them as your primary
TV replacement-cumentertainment option for home.
They simply dont perform as well
as Id want them to. Under the sub-1
lakh price point, you can get very good
HD home entertainment projectors
from BenQ, Epson, and Dell. 4K UHD
projectors have started launching but
these are flagship units from the likes
of Sony and BenQ, for example, which
are upwards of 2.5 lacs -- too expensive
for now. Wait for prices to drop in a
year or two.
As per my observations, 3LCD
projectors are slightly better than conventional DLP ones, in terms of overall
picture quality. Since 3LCD is patented
by Epson, their home entertainment
projectors are definitely top notch
and worth checking out (but they
arent cheap). At your local Reliance
Digital, Croma or Ezone, try playing
with projectors from BenQ, Epson,
Dell and ViewSonic. Theyre pretty
good. Stay away from 3D projectors,
as they arent great after the novelty
wears off. Yes, youd need a dedicated
5.1 surround sound speaker system to
pair to that projector of yours, as none
of them support onboard speakers
capable of producing even passable
quality of audio. But yeah, other than
these disclaimers, I think its time to
start thinking of buying a projector
this Diwali, if the prices right.
Clicking 6K stills!
Amazed by 4K? Check out Lumixs

GH5 that can shoot stills upto 6K at
18MP! http://dgit.in/LmxGH5
Mid-range gaming rig

Hi guys,
I am going to assemble a mid-range
gaming PC for about 90k. I have
checked out the mid-range rig given
in the magazine and I wanted to clear
somethings up:
1. Is the budget enough for gaming,
because my parents are willing to
spend only this amount not even a
rupee more. At first I was going for
a PS4 but then I thought about the
glories of the MASTER RACE PC.
2. I have always been a console gamer
and this will be my first gaming PC.
So for how much time will a machine
costing 90k last? I mean for how
much time will I be able to play
the latest AAA titles until my PC
becomes obsolete?
3. I have changed some of the specs,
please tell me are they compatible
with each other or not:
Intel-i5 6500 LGA-1151 3.2Ghz
as the processor instead of the
i5-6402P.
Gigabyte G1 Sniper B7.
GPU remains the same.
LG 24MP88HM for the monitor.
16 GB of RAM.
4. Please suggest me a PSU for this
configuration.
5. I will activate this project in mid
2017. Are there some kind of special
sales or some particular time of the
year when the price of the GPUs or
any other accessories will drop? If
yes, then at what time?
Aryaman Upadhyay.
Hey Aryaman,
Were glad youve chosen the path of
the glorious PC Master Race. Lets
tackle your queries one by one.
1. Your budget is enough to assemble
a powerful gaming rig suitable for
1080p gaming.
2. The components mentioned in the
mid-range gaming rig should let
you enjoy AAA titles for around
four to five years. Through the
years, you can disable certain
graphics options that dont really
affect the gameplay.
3. The Intel i5-6500 is clearly a better
Doodle 4 Google
Googles 8th edition of Doodle 4 Google contest

invites students between class 1 to 10 to
compete with their artwork for its homepage.
option than the i5-6402P. You can

go for the Gigabyte G1 Sniper B7 for
your motherboard. If your budget
allows, then you can replace the RX
480 GPU with the ZOTAC GTX1060
Mini which will cost you around the
same. For the monitor, we arent sure
whether you want a gaming monitor
or not. If an IPS panel isnt necessary,
then you can check out the BenQ
RL2455HM (TN Panel). Pick up the
16GB RAM kits for the same model
mentioned in the rig.
4. You can go for the same PSU recommended in killer rigs.
5. We are nearing towards Diwali, and
youll have ample opportunities
for sales and offers on e-commerce
websites.
Non-gaming laptop
Hey Agent 001, I want to buy a laptop of
around 50k and 40k and Im not interested in gaming. As a medical student,
do you have any new and great laptop
suggestions? I will definitely buy it. A
humble request to you from my side.
Dhvanil Kenya
Hi Dhvanil,
If you arent into gaming, then you have
two options Asus UX305CA and the
HP 15-ay011tx. Both the laptops offer
great performance and a good battery
life around the price of 50k. On specs,
the HP is better but you can go for the
Asus laptop if youre looking for better
battery performance and portability.
Agent 001
HyperX Cloud II, another impressive

gaming headset.
A core upgrade
Dear Agent001,
My desktops current configuration is:
Intel i5-650 (1st Gen most probably)
Intel DH55TC motherboard
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA Zotac 750 Ti GPU
I play only FIFA 15 and planning to
buy FIFA 17. My desktop sometimes
doesnt start and shows the wrong
time (last shutdown time). I have tried
changing the CMOS battery twice but
problem persists. I have to wipe RAM
sticks to get it started again. One of the
local technicians said that the motherboard needs to be changed but its
almost a five year old 1156-socket type
motherboard is hard to get in a small
town where I live. I can get it online
(saw a Zebronics 1156-type at Rs. 4,500
in Amazon) but the technician said it
would be better if I invest in a new
motherboard-processor combo. I can
spare around 20,000/- for that but I
dont want to do it unless its necessary.
Please suggest what should I buy.
Tiyas Bhaumik.
Gaming headphones
Im extremely confused with which
headphones to buy for gaming but they
should look good and be under 6k. After
hours of searching I came across two
Kotion Each G2000 and SADES A60 7.1
Surround Sound.
Kush Khorana
Hey Kush,
We havent tested the headphones
youve mentioned so we cant comment
on them. But according to our tests,
weve found the Steelseries Siberia V2
to be the best in your budget. Also, if
you pay a little bit more, you can get the
AMD FX
Hey Tiyas,
Sadly, your rig is nearing its end of life,
and it would be smarter to upgrade.
Under 20k, you should be able to
get a decent motherboard-processor
combo. Either get the Gigabyte GA970-Gaming AMD G1 and AMD FX
6-Core Black Edition FX-6300 combo,
or the Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2 and
Intel i5-6402P combo. For DDR4
memory, we would suggest the Corsair
Value Select CMV8GX4M1A2133C15
that you can get for under 3k.
Mi Band 2 in India
Feature
The Mi Band 2 has finally made its

way to India and is priced at Rs 1,999.
http://dgit.in/MiB2Ind
Samsung SSDs
At SSD Summit, Samsung announced its

new SSD drives the 960 Pro and 960 Evo.
http://dgit.in/Sam960SSD
Abhijit Dey
abhijit@digit.in
upposedly the festival of lights,

Diwali has slowly transitioned
into the festival of the best
product deals. This story is dedicated to the true geeks out there. These
are geeks who have an inappropriate
obsession with gadgets and love tinkering
around with them. We have created list of
cool geeky gift ideas that you can always

come back to pondering what to gift.
Dont expect these gifts to be as
essential as a laptop or a smartphone.
These gifts are more like accessories that
your geeky friend will gladly accept and
use along with their existing gadgetry.
Chromecast
Wouldnt you love to control streaming
all the media at home from the comfort
of your smartphone alone? Most of you

must have heard about the Chromecast
and given the possibilities with this
device, it easily finds itself in anyones
wishlist. All you need to do is connect the device to your TV through
an HDMI port and follow the instructions from the Chromecast app. With
numerous apps that support casting,
you will be able to enjoy your favourite
videos, TV shows, music and even
IMagIng: BAIju NV
A collection of high-tech gifts for your

friendly-neighbourhood geek
XiaoYis M1 camera
Xiaomis XiaoYi has unveiled a mirrorless

camera with a mechanical shutter.
http://dgit.in/XYiCam
g.co/naturalhistory
Googles Arts & Culture initiative lets you

experience natural history institutions
from across the world.
games on your TV from your smartphone or desktop/laptop.
note, the Verus cases are available for

only flagship phones.
Everyday Backpack
anker Powercore
Geeks usually carry around a lot

of gadgets and accessories along
wherever they go. Already featured
in our Take My Money section last
month and also crowned with being
the most innovative product in the
section, Everyday Backpack is a geeks
dream bag. Ranging in three types,
the Backpack version seemed more
favourable in this case, with dedicated
pouches and sleeves for all your items.
A beautifully designed bag from Peak
Design, every component right from
the straps to the outer material have
been carefully chosen. Successfully
crowdfunded project, the entire range
is estimated to arrive by March 2017,
and you can pre-order right from their
Indiegogo page.
Lately, weve been seeing the size of

high capacity power banks go down
where more is obviously better. Ankers
Powercore series has several capacities
where the 10,000 mAh one seems to be
the most apt. Also, if youre picking one
up, make sure you get the Quick charge
3.0 supported version. Again, another
device beneficial to a specific range of
smartphones but can be used normally
on any device.
Walli
We live in wonderful times where
even a wallet can acquire the title of
being a smart wallet. Out of the lot,
Walli is one of the popular ones which
went through a successful Indiegogo
funding round. Made of genuine
leather, the smart thing about the
wallet is its app. It will send a notification if you forget to take your wallet
and it also can be used to locate your
phone by making it ring. It will also
remind you if you take out a particular card and forget it put it back,
all through the app. These features are
packed in a beautiful looking wallet
that you would definitely want to own.
Verus Damda
Your smartphone might sport an
innovative design that just works, but
add on a useful cover and it works
better. The Verus Damda case will
offer two features. The most important
would be protection for your precious
phone and not just any protection, but
the Military-Grade-Drop-Protection.
The other handy feature is a genius
compartment at the back to store your
cards if your friend is among the ones
who doesnt like carrying wallets. Do
Kindle Paperwhite
Just like the Chromecast, the Kindle
cant be ignored from a list of gift ideas.
The new 6-inch version has a 300 ppi
display with a built-in front light that
wont directly fall on your eyes. This is
quite essential if you read a lot which
can easily strain your eyes otherwise.
With several tweaks on the software
side as well, you will be able to store
more than a thousand books. If you
wish, you could also get the textured
leather cover for the Kindle to use when
travelling. Along with the Kindle, we
would also recommend throwing in a
few ebooks.
Stratos
Some of us tend to sign up for many
credit cards, debit cards, gift cards etc.,
resulting in a bulky wallet. Our idea is
already to have a minimal wallet with
the least possible number of cards,
maybe even no wallet at all. But we
will still need the card. Enter Stratos.
Not a novel concept, the Stratos card
lets you sync all your existing payment cards through their smartphone
app onto the Bluetooth enabled card.
Apparently, it also embeds bank level
encryption and youll also be able to
lock down your card using the app, in
case you lose it.
Philips Hue
RGB lighting is everywhere, so why
not brighten your living room with
some? The Philips Hue is a smart
lighting solution for your home that
Feature
can be controlled using your smartphone. Through the app, youll have
the freedom to choose the colour and
ambiance you need, while also having
the option to sync the lights with music,
games and movies. Someone was able
to sync these lights with CS: GO and
make the lights react to the C4 being
planted and boy, cant we wait to try
that out.
UE Boom 2
A gift idea compilation cant be complete without an audio device recommendation. The UE Boom 2 is a wonderful update to the previous version,
now being completely waterproof and
more durable. It also supports gesture
control, so a simple tap with pause the
song and a double tap will skip the
song. The updated drivers apparently
delivers about 25% louder output compared to the previous one. If you want
a Bluetooth speaker for your next pool
party, look no further.
Logitech K780
The experience of typing out words
on a keyboard cant be replaced with
a touchscreen. And if your friend
is among the people who do a lot
of typing on their touch-enabled
devices, give them a breather with the
Logitech K780. Connecting through
Bluetooth, you can type out your next
expert opinion on the current social
issue through either your desktop,
tablet or smartphone. It comes with
a stand to hold your smartphone or
even your humongous iPad Pro. Up
to three devices can be programmed
to be stored as profiles and with just
the push of a button, youll be able to
switch between those devices. .
So there you have it. These are
some of the gift ideas that we would
recommend for the geek overlords out
there. As a bonus idea, we would also
recommend gifting them subscriptions
to services such as Netflix or even gift
cards on Amazon and Steam. Do let us
know about your choice of high-tech
gifts if you have something more to add
and if we like them, we will update our
list. Until next time, stay geeky.
Tips & Tricks
Toolbox
98
Go productive with our productivity tips

for Gmail, and then know all about saving
money while shopping online.
Workshop
102
Want to create cutting edge videos,

photos and web pages? Adobe has
got your back with Spark.
Mysterious virus, overheating

laptop and a dead iPod; we
tackle them all
Even though you might love your gadgets a lot, there are times when nothing you do
works. Is it really the end? Not if we have anything to do about that!
Driver confusion
Hello! I have a small query regarding
driver updates on my laptop. I have a
HP AB 522TX running the latest version
of Windows (anniversary update). The
thing is, when I click on update driver for
my graphics card in the Nvidia GeForce
Experience application it says I have
the latest update but when I check the
same on the slimdrivers application it
says that there is an update available,
same goes for display, network and
processor updates, I mean shouldn't
the latest update of Windows pack all of
that. Please advise. Also is slimdrivers
good enough for updating my driver's
or do you recommend something else?
Thank you.
Pranav Kumar
Hey Pranav, a better way to ensure
that you have the latest updates and
drivers installed is by downloading
them from the official websites or
aggregators. Although third-party
software makes it easier to download
every update with one click, manually
downloading and installing them leaves
no room for error. If it sounds tasking to
visit every website for your drivers,
another way would be to download
them from software aggregators such as
Softpedia, Filehorse, Filehippo, etc.
Keyboard vs Virus
Im having problems with my laptop
since the last month. Whenever I want
to select a folder, more than one folder
gets selected. So, I can't double click,
otherwise several windows open up
at a time. It works in a way as if I am
pressing the CTRL key. Once I did a full
PC scan with Windows Defender then it
got solved for around five minutes. But

it was then all the same. I don't use any
anti-virus either. Could it be a problem?
Now I have to right-click each time I
want to open something. It applies only
with the folders and desktop icons. And
not the same within any application
options where I can select any option.
My laptop configuration is as follows:
Lenovo B40 80 (JVLU65UC)
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Intel Platinum 3825U
4GB DDR3
HDD 500GB
Joydeep Rabha, Assam
Hey Joydeep,
Although a virus can be programmed
to mess with your system in the way
youve described, it seems more like
theres an issue with your keyboard,
especially the Ctrl or Shift key. You
need to find out if these two keys are
stuck to the base, making it difficult
to select the files. If the keys are fine,
then it could be a glitch in the OS, but
we werent able to come across any
such issue on forums for Windows 10.
Try to reset your system
to factory settings and
then verify whether the
problem persists. Not
having an antivirus can
make your system highly
vulnerable to attacks and
we would suggest you to
download and install an
antivirus tool. Youll be fine
with free solutions such as
Avast, Avira, Comodo etc.
checking out the magazine of August

2016. I came across a tip on remote
controlling VLC from a browser on page
68. And I tried but Im not able to figure
it out, exactly how it works. So, could
anybody help me out?
Raveena
Hey Raveena, we missed out a few
steps to remotely control VLC from
any browser. In the Preferences tab in
VLC, select the All radio button at the
bottom left and then go to Main
Interface. Enable Web and then go
back to the left column and Main
Interface > Lua. Here add your
desirable password to both Lua HTTP
and Lua Telnet. Save and restart VLC.
Now, open browser and enter http://
localhost:8080, where localhost can be
replaced with the IP address of the PC
you want to control. You'll be asked to
enter a username and password, where
you need to enter only the password
you had saved, and not the username.
You'll get the interface and now you
can control the media playing on VLC
player through the web interface.
VLC on browser
Hello, this is Raveena. I was Set the password for Lua HTTP and Lua Telnet
Twitter firing
Twitter layed off 20 engineers, could be

shutting its Bangalore engineering division.
http://dgit.in/TwtrBInd
A dead iPod Shuffle

Hi, I have been using an iPod Shuffle for
a while, it had worked perfectly till now.
Im facing a problem in turning it on,
its not responding on anything. Its not
charging or showing any light notification. I faced the same problem a month
ago, but iPod recovered and started
working (I dont know how). My PC is
also not detecting it (I already tried
updating iTunes, but its not helping).
Please help me from this.
Jayant
Hey Jayant, the iPod Shuffle is quite
an old device and we believe that it has
reached its end of life. Someone from
our team also faced the same issue
where his Shuffle wouldnt charge, get
detected or even play any songs. Either
the USB port has been damaged or the
entire device has gone dead. If you
really want to use the device, you could
take it to your nearest Apple store for
service and repair, if they are still
selling that particular unit.
Overheating mess
Q&A
is a sign of CPU or GPU heat-up.

Usually, CPUs have a threshold in
temperature levels, after which it shuts
off. Cleaning the fans and reapplying
the thermal paste is the correct
approach but if it has worsened the
problem then probably you might have
done a mistake somewhere in between.
The problem could also be in the GPU
chip. Another possibility could be few
areas in the motherboard PCB witnessing short circuits which automatically cuts off the main power. If the
problem isnt solved by cleaning your
laptop, then you will need to take it to a
servicing centre to have your motherboard circuitry checked.
The SD switch
Hi guys, I need your help! I have a 16
GB Samsung Evo SD card and it has
been troubling me for a while. I have
about 2 GB space unoccupied but data
cannot be copied on it and neither can
I delete its previous data. I tried to
format the card but my PC gives me
an error that it cannot format the card.
I even tried to delete the data manually but then the data does delete and
if I replug the card the data restores
itself (amazing right, not at all!) Is there
something else that I should try or the
SD card is done, kindly help? Thanking
you in advance.
Aryaman
I bought this Lenovo laptop back in 2011

from Bahrain. It used to work very well.
But from the last one and a half month,
Im having trouble with my laptop.
When I turn on my laptop, it works properly but when I try to play games like
FIFA or GTA, there is a
sudden cutoff of power
in laptop. I cleaned my
Hi Aryaman, the
laptop's fan and applied
problems that youve
thermal paste on heat
mentioned seem more
sink, hoping to resolve
likely that the time has
the problem. But now,
come to buy a new SD card
its not even working for
unless you have a war15-20 minutes while
ranty. But there are a few
doing normal activities
things you need to verify
The write lock is
on my laptop. My laptop
before getting disheartoften overlooked
becomes extremely
ened. Few SD cards have a
hot in 5-10 minutes and becomes dead.
write mechanism which can be locked
Also, some USB ports and the fingerand unlocked through a switch on the
print scanner is not working. What
card. If you see a switch, turn to the
should I do? Kindly, help me to figure
other direction and check whether
out this problem ASAP.
youre able to delete the files manually.
The other options point to towards the
Abhishek
fact that the card has completed the
maximum write cycles possible, and
Hey Abhishek, the laptop switching
has gone into a read-only state.
off automatically while running games
Tips & Tricks
Saving
money while
Shopping
online
E-commerce websites have
dynamic pricing, so its always
safe to assume that the price
you see now can drop in the
future. Not just on e-commerce websites, even mobile
app stores have discounts
frequently. Wouldnt it be
convenient if there was a way
you could be notified about
these deals and price drops
as soon as they go live? And
how useful would it be to
track the price of a product in
the past to determine whether
this is the best price and the
best time? With the following
tips, well tell you how to keep
an eye out for these deals and
how to save money by making
the right choice while shopping online. Whereas for the
gamers out there, the final few
tips are dedicated to help you
find, buy (free ones as well)
and play more games.
the product youre looking for,

all you need to do is enter the
URL of the product and your
email address, and whenever
theres a price drop, youll be
sent an email notification.
Searching for
coupons and
vouchers
Saving money while shopping online ....................50

Gmail productivity tips....................................................52
Tips & Tricks has its own page numbers, and does not follow the rest
of the magazines page numbers. This is done to ensure that you can
cut out and save T&T in a separate folder for later reference.
track of the products you

want. But it requires you to
manually look them up frequently. If youre short on time
in buying a certain product, a
more effective way would be
setting price drop alerts on
every e-commerce website.

Websites such as Cheapass.in,
Price & Alert and Pricetrak,
monitor price drops on e-commerce websites including
Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal,
PayTM, etc. To set an alert for
Creating
wishlists
We all have a wishlist of products that we want to buy, and
the popular e-commerce websites help us in having them
stored in one single place on
their website. Not one single
place across them, because
we want to take advantage of
the best price offered by any of
these websites, so we create a
wishlist on each one of them.
Assuming that youre already
signed in, you can create multiple wishlists on Amazon
from Your Lists > Create a
Wish List. The process is
similar for eBay, Flipkart and
Snapdeal. Use the following
tips while keeping a regular
check on your wishlist.
Using price
aggregators
Track the price of a product you want
Buyhatke helps you find coupons while you sit back and relax
Digit | October 2016
Shopping online is all about

getting the lowest price from
a trusted marketplace. Comparing the prices manually
can be a tedious job leading
to multiple open tabs on your
browser. Take advantage of
aggregators that list down
the prices of products from
almost all the online marketplaces, even the obscure ones
if youre brave enough. You
can check out websites like
MySmartPrice, PriceBaba,
PriceDekho, Smartprix, etc.,
that not only create price
comparison lists but youll
be able to even score rewards
and discounts if you choose to
buy using their affiliate codes.
Monitoring
price history
Setting price
drop alerts
Creating wishlists is quite
an effective method to keep
Right from electronic products to burgers, there are

several coupon aggregators offering discounts and
free stuff. The popular ones
include Coupondunia, Couponraja and GrabOn, where
the first two also have mobile
apps. You can search for the
corresponding coupons on
their websites based on the
e-commerce site you plan
on buying. Another effective
way is to use a browser extension called Buyhatke. When
youre making the final payment online, the extension
will search and apply the
best coupon it comes across,
making it a really handy tool.
Price comparison across e-commerce sites is very useful
Vol 16 | 50
Dynamic pricing on e-commerce websites makes it unrewww.digit.in
Tips & Tricks

liable to determine whether
the prices mentioned will stay
the same for the next few days,
or even hours. Hence, determining the price history of a
product becomes essential if
you intend on saving money.
Buyhatkes extension does
the job for you by embedding a price graph right in
the browser for Flipkart
and a tab on the right side
of the browser for Amazon.
Depending on the lowest price
ever recorded in the past, you
can decide if this is the right
time to buy.
IFTTT to the rescue once again!
at http://dgit.in/AppSalesAnd
whereas for iOS, you can try
out CheapCharts.
present but you can select

USA. If you wish to track a
particular category, you can
select that, as well otherwise
let it stay for All. Once you
create the trigger, you need to
select that and add a channel
where you want the notifications to arrive. Here, you can
either select Android, Email
Digest, IF notifications or iOS
reminders. We would recommend Email Digest so that
you dont need to have IFTTT
installed on your phone.
The Digit
Forums
Monitor the price graph to determine best purchase time
Track price
drops on apps
There might be several paid
apps out there on mobile
that you want to try out but
are too expensive for the
time being. There are many
Always keep an eye out
for cashback options
on e-commerce sites
through credit/debit card
payments. There are
also few apps that offer
reward points and discounts such as CrownIt,
LafaLafa and GoPaisa.
ways to automate notifications of price drop alerts for

apps, the easiest would be to
download apps that monitor
price drops and send you
notifications. For Android,
you can check out AppSales
www.digit.in
Create
recipes on
IFTTT
If you dont want to install
an extra app on your phone
and only want notifications
coming your way for price
drops, IFTTT is an excellent tool to create recipes for
automated notifications. To
create a recipe, visit ifttt.com
> My Recipe > Create a Recipe.
Youll be presented with a text
saying if this then that. Click
on this and choose your
trigger channel as AppZap
be entering it into the search
box. After that, youll have
to select trigger events such
as Top App on sale in the
Apple App Store or Top App
gone free in Google Play,
that will throw the notification to you. Then you need
to select the country, where
unfortunately India isnt
While we are talking about

coming across the best deals
online, how can we miss
an opportunity to pull off a
shameless plug? Our forums
are a great place where members not only post about deals
online, they even buy and
sell off their products. To be
a part of this and much more,
just head over straight to the
Market > Bazaar thread here:
http://dgit.in/TDFBazaar and
share your requirements.
If youre active on
Twitter, you should
definitely follow @
DealsForGeeks. They
keep a close watch on
the best deals across
several e-commerce
websites for products in
every category. In fact,
we would suggest you to
switch on the notifications in their profiles
so that you get every
update whenever they
tweet out a deal.
ShoppInG For
vIDeo GaMeS:
Finding free
games and
giveaways:
As the title describes, you can
keep a close watch on games
going free temporarily and
also participating in giveaways. As a form of goodwill,
few publishers make their
games free for a limited
amount of time and to be
updated on this, the community at /r/FreeGameFindings
is the best place. And no, you
wont find Free to Play games
listed over here since they will
always be free. The subreddit
/r/RandomActsOfGaming is
another cheerful community where gamers giveaway
games for free while asking
you to do tasks as simple as
posting a random number
between 100-500. The games
given away are mostly the
ones they already own and
had to buy through a bundle.
When has Reddit ever disappointed anyone?
Vol 16 | 51
October 2016 | Digit
Tips & Tricks
Buying game
bundles
If youre interested in trying
out new games across genres,
buying game bundles is
your best choice. These bundles usually follow certain
themes based on their genre,
publisher, category, platform etc. For example, you
might spot an indie bundle
or a 2K bundle. Rarely, you
might also come across your
favourite game(s), sometimes even triple A games
in a bundle, at an impressive price. Websites such
as Humble Bundle, Bundle
Stars, Daily Indie Game, etc.,
conduct weekly and monthly
bundles. To browse and stay
updated on every website
offering game bundles, your
best bet would the subreddit
/r/Gamebundles.
IsThereAnyDeal.com is your aggregator site for game deals
are a few websites to check out

such as GameXS, GameLoot
and Overcart. Once youre
done playing, you can sell
off the game as well, so that
others in a similar situation
as yours can acquire the game.
Find the best

game deals
Similar to the above mentioned aggregators, IsThere-
gmail
productivity
tipS
At this age, it would be difficult to believe someone on
the Internet who doesnt have
an email address registered
on Gmail. Having used the
service over the years, weve
observed many who havent
really explored the full
potential of all the features
and options available. Apart
from the common tricks such
as creating filters and labelling emails, here are several of
those important tips that will
turn you into a power user.
Use Gmail
while offline
Trust us, Humble Bundles can really surprise you!
Buy preowned games

Not all of us enjoy good bandwidths at home, hence when
it comes to buying games, we
are dependent on physical
copies. But physical copies are
expensive, especially big titles.
Unless youre super excited
about a game to such an extent
that youve pre-ordered it, a
better way would be to wait
out for sales. The best way
would be to buy pre-owned
games either from retail stores
that offer such convenience or
online marketplaces. There
Digit | October 2016
AnyDeal.com is the answer

for video game deals. The discounts and sales listed will be
applicable in India if the publishers and distributors have
kept these sales international,
which is always the case. Its a
comprehensive and granular
website that helps you filter
out the platform and genre,
making it easier to discover
more games. Here, youll be
able to find deals on games,
bundles, giveaways and
vouchers. This website is
indeed the Swiss Army Knife
to discover gaming deals.
The Internet conking off

doesnt mean that you should
be slacking back on replying
to your emails. From the big
guys themselves, the Gmail
Offline app saves all your
emails in your browser and
you can continue sending out
replies to all of them. Once
the Internet is back up, your
emails will be sent. Download
it here: http://dgit.in/GMOffline
appending
the + sign
Filtering out your email from
bogus promotional content is
always a goal for people who
keep their inbox organised.
Before you head off to creating
filters, an initial step while
signing up for services would
be adding a + sign after your
email address with any com-
Vol 16 | 52
bination of letters or numbers. So, instead of entering

agent001@gmail.com, we
can add agent001+laptop@
gmail.com while signing up
for queries related to laptops.
Now, this will enable us to
directly filter out responses
to this address by creating
a filter of agent001+laptop.
This efficiently helps you in
building a wall around you
against services who might
have acquired your address.
Youll be able to determine
the service that shared your
information using the specific
combination you entered.
Quite close to the above tip
is the use of periods within
your email address. You must
have probably figured out by
now that periods dont matter
wherever you place them in
your email address. But it
does help you do a preemptive filtering just like above,
where you enter the periods
accordingly and create the
corresponding filter.
Using canned
responses
When theres an unwanted
call, we are quick enough to
send preset messages such as
Im busy, talk to you later.
The same can be done in
Gmail as well. This feature
needs to be enabled from
Settings > Labs > Canned
Responses. After enabling,
youll find an extra menu
named Canned Responses
appear in the More options
www.digit.in
Tips & Tricks

tab on the bottom right of a
Compose or Reply window.
Here you can create responses
and save them for later use.
Backing up
Gmail
messages offline
Are you tired of hearing
someone in your company
lying about deleting their
emails without backing them
up? Well, its time that they
were introduced to Gmvault.
Not only does it download
all your emails to your hard
drive, but you can set regular
Unsend an
email
Ever sent out an email in a
fit of rage? Or pushed the
send button too soon before
noticing a career breaking
typo? Gmail offers an
unsend option that is disabled by default. If you wish
to enable it, head over to Settings > Undo Send and enable
it. This allows Gmail to hold
your email for a short while,
the duration of which also
can be selected in the option,
before it actually sends it out
to the recipient.
Use canned responses just like preset texts on your phone
backups and even specific

search term related email
backups at your end. A console-based application, one
helpful and interesting feature also included is being
able to restore all your emails
with all the original attributes
to a different Gmail account.
There are several manual
steps and configurations
required that can be found
here: http://dgit.in/Gmvault.
Mark as read
button
The unread mail counter can
make some people paranoid
and in order to make it easier
for them to get rid of it, the
Mark as read button is the
solution. Available under
Google Labs, users will have
to go to Settings > Labs > Mark
as Read Button. After you save
and return back to your inbox,
selecting the checkboxes of
emails invokes the Mark as
read button on the top bar.
This drastically decreases the
time required to go through
the unimportant emails that
need to be read just to get rid
of the counter. If you dont use
it already, go do it now!
www.digit.in
avoid typos
and correct
your grammar:
Track all the logins for your account
Its not really a pleasant site to

watch an embarrassing typo
ruining your long and well
worded reply. Grammarlys
extension (http://dgit.in/GrmmrlyChrm) ensures you dont
have to go through such a
moment by taking over any
text area in the browser. Youll
also get recommendations for
grammar errors.
Check for
suspicious
activity
Its always safer to log into
your Gmail account from
trusted machines and networks. If youre slightly
paranoid about suspicious
activity occurring in your
account, Gmail has its own
tool to monitor such intrusions. By scrolling down
while in your inbox, head
over to Last account activity
> Details. On a different
window, all the instances
will be listed including the
access type (browser, mobile),
IP address, country and time.
Out of all the instances, if you
Add another email address right within Gmail
happen to notice any weird

connections, the next step
would be to hit the Sign out
all other web sessions button
and immediately change
your password.
add other
email accounts
Did you know that you could
add other email accounts
right inside Gmail? The only
restriction is POP3 and SMTP
email accounts and they can
be added from Settings >
Vol 16 | 53
Accounts > Check mail from

other accounts. In order to
get started, first you need to
acquire the POP3 details for
your domains email address.
Now, in order to send mail
from Gmail, youll need to
add your SMTP details. These
details will be verified with
your mailing server by an
email sent to your domain
email address and from here
on, youll be able to access
your domain email address
right inside Gmail.
October 2016 | Digit
Sony launches A99 II
Sony launches A99 II sports flagship

SLR camera at the Photokina trade show.
http://dgit.in/SnyA99-2
Workshop
Grab evaluated at $3B
In Grab's Series F round of funding, it has

raised US$750 million in fresh captial.
http://dgit.in/Grab3B
Adobes
creative Spark
You dont need to be a professional to create cutting edge videos,
photos or web pages. Heres how...
Varad Chaudhari
dobe has launched a free

web-based tool, dubbed as
Adobe Spark that allows
non-professionals to create
professional looking visually intensive
graphics within minutes. Derived from
the companys popular iOS apps Adobe
Post, Adobe Voice, and Adobe Slate,
Adobe Spark is a single app aimed at
providing graphics creation tools on
the web - making it platform friendly.
Spark offers three features under
the app: Spark Post, Spark Page, and
Spark Video. The Spark Post provides
a neat way to create social media
graphics for birthdays, events, contests,
and advertisements. Spark Page lets
you deploy simple web stories with
multimedia content embedded. Along
with the ability to display every type
of layout such as simple blog post,
photo journals, portfolios, catalogs, etc.
Spark Video allows you to create simple
videos for different use-cases by taking
examples covering all type of elements
such as text, images, icons, and themes.
Being a web app, you can find it at
https://spark.adobe.com. The landing
page bestows you with a broad overview of everything it has to proffer.
To start your creativity hit the Start
now for free button located at the
top-right corner of the page. Adobe
provides standard login options - login
with Facebook, login with Google, sign
up manually, and additionally a way
to login using Adobe ID (if you have

Creative Cloud subscription). Login
with the option suited to you to continue, and respond on the subsequent
prompts accordingly.
With this done,
youll be greeted with
the three features - Post,
Page, and Video.
professional. A side strip with a lot of

themes will be presented to you. Select
a theme of your choice.
Palette - Palette offers different
colour sets to apply over your theme. It
Create an Adobe
Spark Post
You can create memes,
inspirational quotes,
announcements, and
everything that you
Click the + button below the feature to start the app.
want using Post. Hit
the + button under
the Post to initiate your
creativity. Enter the
title of your post under
What do you want to
say?. Also, select the
size for the post from
the banner located at
the bottom of the page.
Hit Continue when
The minimal UI is self-explanatory
youre done.
automatically suggests different colour
A post displaying your title will be
palettes based upon your background
created with a default theme initially.
image and the colour of the text.
The top navigation bar offers you
Background - Background lets you
various options including: Resize,
replace the background with image or
Theme, Palette, Background, and Text.
colour. After choosing background,
Heres what each of those do.
youll have two tabs to choose: Photo,
Resize - Go to the Resize menu if you
and Color.
want to change the poster size you had
1. Photo - Under Photo, click on
initially selected.
Replace photo button to add a
Theme - Choose from gamut of difcustom background image. Here,
ferent themes to make your post look
Pokmon on Console
Pokmon games will come on
Nintendo's upcoming NX console
http://dgit.in/PokeCnsl
1TB SD Card
Sandisk has unveiled a prototype of

its new SD Card that comes with a
capacity of 1TB! http://dgit.in/SD1TB
Workshop
in time, you can find your project

to choose pre-defined text styles.
under My Projects.
Select the text you want to change
the style of > slide the slider > Save.
5. Shapes - It allows you to add cool
Create an Adobe Spark
geometric shapes, banners, decoPage
rative ribbons, and social media
With Adobe Page you can create web
icons behind the text. Select the text
stories for photo journals, event recaps,
you want to add shape to, click on
portfolios, catalogs, etc. Once you select
Shape > select a shape > Resize the
the page option, youll be redirected to
text accordingly > Save.
the page canvas. Start by adding title
6. Colors - The text colour can be
and a subtitle to your photo journal. To
changed according to the backmake it look better add a background
ground using Colors. Select the text
photo by clicking on the photo button
you want to change the colour of,
located right below the title of your
click on Color > select a colour >
journal. After the landing page is creSave.
ated, scroll down to add more pages
7. Fonts - Select
to your story. Youll be presented with
the text you want to
options to add photo, text, button,
change the font, click
video, photo grid, or a slideshow.
on Font > choose a
1. Adding Photo - Selecting Photo
font > Save. The font
will land you to the usual photo
collection is impresselection panel, where you can
sive as there are lot of
either upload photo from your PC
cool fonts to choose for
or from the web. After the photo
every occasion.
is uploaded, youll have different
8. Spacing - With
options to select the photo appearspacing you can
ance, such as - Inline, fill screen,
Select the text and use the handles to scale or rotate
the text
change the line spacing
window, full width, replace, and
between the texts.
delete. Additionally, theres a small
To change it, repeatedly click the
text box for the captopm below the
colours to choose from. Once you
Spacing button.
newly added photo saying Add
select a colour, youll be warned
9. Align - As the name says, it aligns
caption.
with a pop-up saying Applying
the text to left align, right align,
2. Adding Text - To add more pages,
colour will remove your photo. Hit
or center.
click on the small + located below
Apply to continue.
10. Opacity - To make your text look
your page. To add text, select
Text - The text option has lot of custransparent you can change the
the Text option. A cursor will
tomisations to choose. The panel at the
opacity. Select the text you want
appear where you can write your
right will display various tools to alter
to change the opacity of, click on
text. Format it using the toolbar
the text. These tools include,
Opacity > slide the slider to change
appearing right about the text.
1. Edit - Select the edit tool if you
the opacity.
3. Adding Button - As a part of the
want to change the content of the
Once you think you are done with
next page, you can also add a button,
text displayed. Hit Edit > type new
the poster, click on the Share button
that will act as a hyperlink that will
text > Save.
located at the center of the top nav bar.
redirect the viewer to a new page.
2. Add text - Additional texts can
A new window will
be added using this tool. Click on
emerge where you can
Add text > enter your text > Save.
download the image as
The second text will appear on the
.jpg or create a direct
canvas. You can resize or scale it by
link to share with
selecting it and scaling it using the
friends on the social
handles around it.
network. All your
3. Delete - To delete a text, select the
creations are autotext by click on it > click the Delete
matically saved on the
button > Delete. Unfortunately, there
Adobe Cloud, so if you
is no undo option.
want to change the
4. Style suggestions - A circular slider
As the photo uploads, choose the photo alignment from
the options offered.
poster at a later point
at the middle of the panel allows you
you can either upload a photo
from your PC, directly search it
only from the embedded search, or
choose from Lightroom, Dropbox,
or Google Photos. Once the photo
is uploaded, it will be applied to
your canvas. Under the Photos tab,
you have more options to scale and
rotate the photo. Unfortunately,
there is no reset button to revert
your modifications. Furthermore,
you can also add Photo Filters to the
background image, although with
limited options.
2. Color - Under Color, a colour palette will be presented with copious
For a secure internet

Workshop
CloudFlare has updated its encryption

features including automatic HTTPS
rewrites. http://dgit.in/SecCFlr
To add a button, select the Button

option, and a new popup for customising the button will appear.
You may add the title of the button
and the URL along with setting the
alignment of the button.
see how your story looks. To share

on the social network, click on the
Share button. Projects created with
Adobe Page cannot be downloaded,
you may only share them with friends
with a link.
Create an Adobe
Spark Video
Your Tinder Anthem
Tinder now allows link to your Spotify account

to share details such as most-played songs.
http://dgit.in/SptfyTndr
element which can be an Icon, Photo,

or Text. To start the video a photo
will always be a good option. Click on
Photo and upload/search for a photo
online. You can decide the duration of
particular slide by clicking on small
button 2s located at the bottom
right of the canvas. If you are done
modifying the first slide, click on the
second slides thumbnail in the bottom
panel. On the next slide, select a layout
according to your requirement first
and add a text. This will be the title of
your video. Similarly, repeat the process for each slide. To add more slides,
click on the + button located on the
bottom panel. You may add as many
slides as you want.
Finally, to add music click on the
Music button located at the top right
of the page. Youll see list of available
tracks to choose from. Hover over the
track and click on the play button to
preview the track. Choose a track by
selecting it. You can upload a music
file from your PC by clicking on Add
my music. Alternatively, you can also
narrate audio through microphone by
clicking on the red microphone button.
Once this is done, your video is com-
One of the coolest feature of Adobe Spark is

the Spark Video. Adobe
has taken the simplicity
and the elegancy of the
videos to a whole new
level. On the landing
page select Spark Video
Add as many as photos to the grid, it will look like this.
and youll be navigated to
the video making playground. To start
4. Adding Video - Just like photos
with, provide a title to your video when
you can also add videos, however, a
the page asks for Every story starts
video cannot be directly uploaded
somewhere. You can always change
from the PC. The video needs to be
the title later, however, we recommend
uploaded to YouTube/Vimeo. Click
you do it before moving further.
the Video option to add video >
In the next step you choose a tempaste the YouTube link of the video
plate for your video out of the seven
that you want to add in the text box
pre-designed templates available. If
provided >Save.
the template doesnt fit, you can always
5. Adding Photo Grid - The Photo
create a personalised template entirely
Grid option lets you create a grid of
from the scratch.
your photos and add it as a single
After youve
page. To do it, select Photo Grid
selected your temand youll be navigated to a new
plate, youll see the
window to make your grid. Folworkspace to start
lowing the traditional approach, add
creating your video.
a photo by uploading it from your
On the right is the
computer or searching it online.
tools panel to select
You may upload multiple photos
themes, music and
by repeating the steps. After all the
layout. Theres an
photos are added, click on the Save
additional panel at
button located at the top right corner
the bottom showing
of the page.
The video creation workspace is analogous to PowerPoint.
you , in the form of
6. Adding Glideshow - Finally, you can
plete. To preview your video, click on
an array of slides, the video will be
add a glideshow which will add a
the Preview button located at the top.
having. You can navigate between the
new page of slideshow to show more
To share your video click on the
slides from here and add/modify eleof your photos or creations. Click on
Share button located above. Enter
ments on it.
Glideshow button > upload/search
title, subtitle and the category and
To start with select a theme from
photos > Click Save. Once the backcreate a link to share with friends.
the available ones (from the right side
ground of glideshow is created, you
Additionally, you can also click on the
panel). Click on the Layout button
can now add quotes or text, photo,
Download button to download the
located at the top corner and choose
button or a video over it. Click on the
video in MP4 format.
a layout for your current slide. The
+ button that appears as you scroll
Adobe Spark can definitely be your
layouts range from One Thing, Two
the slideshow and add an element.
primary tool for poster making, photo
Things to Thing + Full Photo.
Thats it! Once you are done adding
editing, and presentations because of
After the layout is selected, click on
pages, click on the Preview button
its elegance and ease of use.
the + button on the canvas to add an
located at the center of the nav bar to
Smart SoHo
tech@work
108
There are several business and team

collaboration tools out there, and we
try the popular ones out just for you.
Industry Connect
110
This time we chat up with industry

experts from a hardware company, and
a marketplace for ticket bookings.
Career In
data SCIenCe
data, tHe relIgIon tHat IS alSo SCIenCe, HaS ItS own
Set of CommandmentS If you want to Convert.
Arnab Mukherjee
arnab@digit.in
emember the Gold Rush

of the 19th century? Well,
maybe you dont, most
probably because it was
more than a couple of centuries ago.
During that period, people travelled
vast distances and even migrated
completely to try their hand at prospecting for gold. Their only motivation
was to strike a fortune and get a much
better life going for themselves. Well,
I wouldnt be too wrong to say that in
the current day and age, data is that
gold for almost all major corporations.
You wont actually find corporate
employees going around the street
hunting for data (they actually do and
its called surveys). Theres no denying
that major companies have completely
changed the way they work since they
have harnessed the power of data and
analytics. Major decisions are being
taken by companies as diverse as a software giant and a fast food retail chain
by applying the same data techniques.
With all this and more, it is evident that
data science is a great career choice to
make right now. But with automation
looming large over the industry, is it
really a safe option?
Look Ma, Im a Scientist!

While data science and data scientists might be a buzzword, there is a
common dearth of awareness about

what the role actually entails. Or if it
is even an actual role at all. A broad
definition of data science encompasses
any kind of insights drawn from a
large enough set of data. But that isnt
helpful for someone who wants to be a
data scientist. Without the knowledge
of the role, they would essentially be
flying hazy at best, blind at worst.
Mr. Arun Krishnan, Founder and
CEO, nFactorial Analytical Sciences,
says, A data scientist is a combination
of a computer scientist and a statistician. She has skills in Math, Statistics, Programming, Databases, Data
Visualisation and Domain Knowledge,
in addition to having good communication skills to tell a story with the data. A
data analyst is probably someone with
logical and statistical skills without the
others mentioned above.
While the role of a data scientist does
not bring much more information to
light by itself, there are quite a few job
roles that are related to the title. All of
them might be called Data Scientists,
but the roles can be quite different when
compared. The following are not actual
roles and only meant for getting an idea
of possible tasks:
Data Analytics: While Data science
is well established as a separate field
now, there are multiple companies
that equate it with being a data
analyst. Typical responsibilities in
this role might involve pulling data
out of MySQL databases, becoming

a master at Excel pivot tables, and
producing basic data visualizations
(for example, line and bar charts).
This role is good to get a hang of
things without much risk, and even
experiment once in a while.
Data Wrangler: Medium to small
companies that are making the
switch to a better data infrastructure, due to increased traffic and
consequently increased data, have
the demand for a role like this. This
role usually involves setting up the
infrastructure along with providing
analysis and is suitable for someone
with a software engineering
background. This ones for the risk
takers who want an opportunity to
shine in this field.
Data Jedi: Data drives these companies and data is their product.
Usually, in such an organisation,
the degree of machine learning
and statistics involved is high. As a
result, this type of a role is ideal for
someone with a strong academic
background in those fields with a
passionate desire to continue down
the same road.
Data Consultant: Companies with a
reasonable stake in data, but not data
companies themselves, are usually on
the lookout for this role. When joining
a company like this as a data scientist, you will probably be a part of an
established team of data scientists.
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In case you were wondering how much

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While your data science capabilities

are important, it is equally important
here that you should be able to deal
with production code, analyse numbers, visualise information etc.
The interesting thing is, all of these
companies will post their job requirements as Data Scientist, even though
they require different skill sets and
experience levels. Depending on the
company you are applying for, you
might want to give more importance to
certain skills compared to others.
Skills needed
With the different requirements under
the broad definition of data scientist,
its admittedly confusing whether one
should focus on one particular skill,
or another. But broadly, there are eight
different areas where you need to focus:
Tools - Be it a data centric company or a consulting company,
you will definitely be expected to
know the popular software tools
for data science, namely statistical
programming languages like R and
SAS, along with a database query
language like SQL.
Statistics - This is where you go
back to your basic stats class.
Depending on the role, you may
need up to an advanced level of
knowledge of statistics for your job.
It will definitely be a recurring topic
in your interview, so it is better to be
prepared. This is especially important for a role in a non-data company that is data driven, where you
will be expected to present results,
helping in decision making.
Multi-variable calculus and linear
algebra - If youre wondering why
a data scientist would need to learn
this, even though there are tools out
there, programmed in R or other
languages, that can take care of this,
then youre not alone. The advantage
here is that you might face questions
based on these in your interview,
since these form the basis for a lot
of techniques used in data science.
Also, if the company decides to
build their own implementation in
house, this will be needed.
Data Visualisation - Often, people

who will be using the results of
your work will not have a technical
in-depth knowledge of data science.
Hence, it is really important to have
visualisation skills which will help
you communicate your data in
an understandable form with the
decision makers. Especially useful
if youre in a company that is new to
the data science field.
Software Engineering - For smaller
companies that are implementing
data analysis and are hiring a data
scientist for the first time, you
can expect to be responsible for
developing data driven products
down the line and immediately take
charge of other developments. A
background in software engineering
will be highly useful here.
Machine Learning - In companies
dealing with a large and complex
data set, or where the product
itself is data driven, a knowledge of
mr. arun KrISHnan

Founder and Ceo, nFaCtorial
analytiCal SCienCeS
Automation is
a tool like any
other. Data scientists
would still be required
to bring everything
together into a
coherent whole and in
enabling interpretation
and insights from the
same data.
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machine learning is a big plus. But

it isnt exactly a deal breaker. Rather
than the knowledge of programming an implementation, the knowledge of when to use which technique
is more important here.
If you are an experienced professional, having worked on related fields
earlier, it may or may not work in your
favour. As Mr. Arun puts it, Anyone
who has worked with data, in analysing, parsing and interpreting, can
hope to get started. However, to become
a data scientist, it does need additional
IT skills or at least an overall awareness
and knowledge of technologies which
might be difficult to catch up on for
very experienced people.
Scope
Its good to know that everybody is
going the data way and there is a genuinely high demand for professionals
in that area. But before you jump into
the bandwagon and start preparing
yourself, you need to know what
kind of company you want to work
for, based on the information given
earlier. Why is this important? With
this one decision, you might entirely
change the kind of work you do.
E-commerce is a segment where
data scientists and data experts are in
high demand. The work there involves
logistics optimisation, customer preference analysis, monitoring campaigns,
showcasing sales performance to
vendors and more. Another segment
where data plays a big role are live apps
apps that connect service providers to
consumers live like a cab aggregation
service, or a food ordering service. Such
services usually have algorithms that
are meant to optimise the service availability versus profitability in providing
the service, which in turn is created on
the basis of data!
Even the more traditional field of
advertising has been leveraging data
since the popularity of mobile advertising has grown immensely. Dont take
our word for it. Mr. Sunil Nandihalli,
Head of Data Sciences at AppLift, a
mobile ad tech company, explains,
Data can be used in many ways to
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create a comprehensive advertising

plan for a particular campaign. It
enables more targeted advertising,
which ensures that users are able to
view ads that are most relevant to
them. For advertisers, there is greater
visibility on their return on investment,
thus helping fuel future decisions
with respect to marketing spend. It
is famously said that we have moved
from an era of mad men (referring to
the famous American drama series)
to math men, and rightly so. The new
digital marketing landscape is being
driven by a growth of programmatic
advertising, where data is the foundation of performance-driven marketing.
Tools and their courses

While personal talents are essential to make it into the data science
industry, a strong academic know-how
is important as well. According to a
study by Burtch Works (http://dgit.in/
BWDataAnalyst), almost 88% of data
scientists at least have a Masters Degree
and 46% even have a Ph.D. That being
said, companies are desperately on
the lookout for candidates with real
world experience that can complement and even surpass the academical
proficiency needed for the roles.
Just like most fields now, if you dont
have the capacity or the time to accomplish a graduate or postgraduate certification in data sciences, you can go the
self guided way with MOOCs. As Mr.
Sunil puts it, Python and R should definitely be part of the toolkit. An important point to note is that depending
solely on tools cannot help in developing
the vital technical skills required in a
data scientist. Understanding the underpinnings (mainly mathematics) of the
techniques used is very important.
While developing the understanding
is up to you, the following link talks
about the essential technical and nontechnical skills that you will need and
some of the best online sources to learn:
http://dgit.in/DataScienceTools.
Going Big
When things are at the scale of the
web, normal data analysis will prob-
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mr. SunIl nandIHallI

Head oF data SCienCe at
appliFt.
There are a lot

of opportunities
to leverage data to
improve business
efficiencies and we
have just scratched
the surface of the huge
realm of possibilities
out there.
ably not work and it has to be taken
up a notch with more powerful tools.
In fact, most data scientists work
with distributed loads that cannot
be run on single machines. And
the keyword for that is Hadoop.
Hadoop is an open-source framework widely used for storage and
large scale processing of data sets on
clusters of commodity hardware. Two
of its essential features are MapReduce
and Spark. While MapReduce is the
programming paradigm that allows
for massive scalability across servers
in a Hadoop cluster, Apache Spark is
more like Hadoops Swiss Army knife.
It is a fast running data analysis system
that provides real-time data processing
functions to Hadoop. While there are
online resources available to learn this
platform, true proficiency in this can
only come through experience. Thankfully, this is open-source and there are
a lot of community resources available
to get you started. (Spark: http://dgit.in/
DataScienceSprkHadp)
Work@tech
Kaggle is an online community

dedicated to data science. It hosts
competitions and leaderboards for data
science problem solving regularly. You
can even run your code on the cloud
and get community feedback on it. Mr.
Sunil says, Kaggle is an interesting
website where one can solve problems
(and learn whatever necessary along
the way) to become proficient data
scientists. Other than that, it is always
productive to have your own pet project as well. Go to https://www.quandl.
com/ for data.
Certifications
Some of the most useful certifications in Data Science are:
Certified Analytics Professional at
https://www.certifiedanalytics.org/
CCP: Data Scientist at http://dgit.in/

CCPDSCloudera
EMC: Data Science Associate at

http://dgit.in/DataScientistEMC
SAS Certified Predictive Modeler at

http://dgit.in/SASGlblCrtfct
In Conclusion
Being a data scientist might sound like
a very cool job (which it definitely is),
after all, the information given earlier.
But right now, the conclusion is to be
drawn by you, not us one of the many
conclusions to come. Data Science is
as much art as it is science, Mr. Arun
rightly states. With decisions being
automated everyday, a specialisation
within Data Science is very essential for long term job security. Being
curious and creative in the scientific
context are as much of a necessity
here as the technical skills mentioned
earlier, to stay relevant in your role.
Also, remember that your conclusions will affect how major decisions are
taken and will need to be understood
by people with little to no technical
knowledge. You need to be effective at
working with a team and have great
communication skills. Who knows,
being a storyteller might be much more
useful than all that mathematical and
programming knowledge. After all,
youre the one wholl be writing your
own success story here!
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StreAmLining
teAm
coLLAborAtion
We tried out a bunch of team collaboration
tools so that you dont have to...
Abhishek Balaji
feedback@digit.in
ommunication apps are a

dime by the dozen. Once a
niche market occupied by
the big tech companies of
the 90s like Microsoft and Yahoo, its
impossible to catalogue all of them.
Rummaging through the near similar
features of all of them, it is a struggle
to find those small features which distinguish one from another. Every messaging app promises the same better
communication, faster connection, file
sharing and easy collaboration. So,
which one is the best one for your team?
Why online collaboration?

Starting off, why would you need a
collaboration app? Whats wrong
with traditional methods?
Traditional methods of collaboration are very fragmented. Each person
in your team might be used to a
different app for messaging, a file
collaboration service and email. Collaboration apps create an ecosystem for
work which integrates all of these. They
are able to integrate with other services
and apps as well. Apps like Slack,
Asana, Trello and many others do everything, but specialise in one thing.
Slack
Slack, for instance, is a concept derived
from IRCs or Internet Relay Chat
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a typical organisation with average

usage, slack would work out to around
$5 a month per employee, which is
much better economically than paying
for multiple services or dropping a
lot of cash in developing a custom
solution. A service like slack also takes
the pain of manually maintaining
and upgrading the service. It lets you
concentrate on the working alone and
eliminate the pain of setting it up.
After a rather uninteresting launch
in 2013, Slack has added a ton of features to its kitty like video conferencing,
the long awaited integration with Trello
and the ability to make calls to other
team members. It has also added a lot of
billing options, including ones for nonprofits, enterprises and custom solutions for very large companies. While
most other collaboration software aim
to stand out by offering distinguishing
features, slack is going in the opposite
direction by aiming to integrate all
services which used to be the most

popular services for instant messaging
on the internet in the past. IRCs were
often complicated to set up, administer
and manage and it became difficult to
block out spam once the bots took over.
Other messaging platforms
faced similar problems
too. When people began
to realise that traditional
messaging services werent
going to cut it they reverted
to email. Email has its
own set of problems. Most
organisations had to invest
quite a bit in email servers
to get good experiences
or had to put up with bad
interface design and reliSlack has a lot of features integrated inside
ability. A person belonging
services into one platform. It is worth
to multiple teams or organisations
noting that slack has one of the best cusoften found it difficult and cumbertomer support teams on social media.
some to keep switching between work
and personal emails. That is when
Slack was envisioned. Slack is meant
Podio
for all team sizes, from a small five
Podio on the other hand is a completely
member struggling startup to a very
enterprise-based platform. It is targeted
large organisation valued in billions.
at enterprises working on a lot of
It is very easy to scale and works with
projects. It has a lot of features focused
existing services. The pricing strucon users wholl be creating and sharing
ture of slack is also very convenient. It
updates with the rest of their team.
provides organisations with flexibility
Podio works for organisations which
in billing and managing workforce in
use a lot of project management tools
the team by billing per user and how
like calendars, tasks and work assignthey use it. Slack also detects when
ments. Podio doesnt do messaging very
some employees are inactive and stops
well, so if youre expecting to chat with
billing the organisation for those. For
your office mates well, youll be disap-
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pointed. Instead of integrations, they

have a mini app within the platform
which does different things. So when
youre just setting up a workspace on
Podio, youll have a blank canvas. You
then add the functionality you want
for your organisations by installing the
necessary apps. There are some really
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better. Hip Chat does not bring anything new to the table, and promises
to eliminate email completely for your
organisation. Hip Chat did not do well
initially, but after a good interface overhaul, it looks promising, but still struggles to differentiate itself from Slack.
Flock
Smart SoHo
jects and notifies you if the state of any

task or project changes. Asana is very
complex to set up, with a lot of scope
for customisation, but is a real workhorse once you get it up and running.
Verdict
We have detailed all the major players
in the online cloud-based collaboration
platforms, most of which are free to use
and require you to pay for additional
features. There is no perfect solution
to online productivity that exists right
now and youll usually end up using a
combination of products to suit your
needs. The most common combination would be to use Slack + Trello/
Asana and their suite of mobile apps
to keep you annoyed with notifications
on the go. Evernote is another popular
tool which isnt exactly targeted as
a collaboration app, but it is used in
more ways than you can imagine. With
Apple pitching the new iWork suite
of applications with live collaboration, it can be considered along with
Google Docs as a collaboration tool, but
Flock is Indias answer to

killer productivity. Honing
the Make In India badge,
Flock is a natively developed
solution to killer office productivity. Flock claims to be
much faster and more efficient
than Slack. With optimised
search and well-placed hamburger menus. Apps seem to
work better in Flock and their
APIs integrate much deeper
Podio is more of an enterprise-based platform
into the platform than Slack.
It has integrations which can help
good apps made by Podio themselves
you have video and audio calls from
which provide basic productivity
within the app itself and even share
and project management tools. The
your screen. It has the usual features
developer community is pretty active
of tasks, to-dos, reminders, document
and Podio are ready to provide custom
collaboration and polling. Flock
solutions for your business. Podio
is relatively a new player in the
works more or less like Facebook, but
game and even has dedicated
for work. You can create and comsections on its website, trying
ment on status updates, share updates
hard to explain why it is difregarding projects or people and of
ferent from Slack. Well have
course manage advanced projects.
to see how well they market
Podio integrates with Google Calendar
amongst the already saturated
and lets you sync all your events to
market in collaboration apps.
your devices. This works well for
managers and people who assign tasks.
Hip Chat is a great alternative to email
You can set membership levels of
Asana
users and have complete control over
their chat and integrations are often
Asana on the other hand is a task
the teams. Podio also offers discounted
very poor or dont work very well.
management platform. It is mainly
rates for Students and Non Profits, and
The biggest problem with these
targeted at managerial people who
is a non expensive option to custom
productivity apps is not that there are
love assigning tasks to juniors, while
made collaboration software.
several of them which do the exact
integrating with most collaboration
same thing, but that users are very
platforms. This too works to eliminate
reluctant to adopt new software and
email. Asana has APIs which integrate
Hip Chat
platforms. So the biggest hurdle youre
with Evernote, Drive, Jira, Dropbox etc.
Hip Chat as the name says, is a cloudgoing to be facing is getting the users
Teams create their own workspaces,
based collaboration software that has
to adapt to these new tools. Apart from
workspaces have projects and prochat as its main focus. A team has
that if your organisation is not using
jects have tasks. These tasks are then
multiple rooms each of which can be set
any such tools, youll need to train the
assigned to members in your team and
for a specific purpose. A large team can
employees to use the new tools. Last
each person can see the tasks assigned
have several rooms such as marketing,
thing youd want is for only a few memand mark it as complete or perform
development, IT support, web design
bers of the team using the new tools.
actions based on the task. Asana is
etc. It is very similar to Slack, and has
Your productivity will get destroyed if
good if youre a part of a lot of teams. It
the ability to send files, links, and add
it is not implemented properly.
helps you switch easily between prointegrations to make your experience
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Halo Smart launched
Priced at `3499, the Jabra Halo Smart

stereo headphones provides battery
life of up to 17 hours.
Dealing with design

We learn the secrets of design from one of the biggest
ticketing services in India
Mithun Mohandas
mithun@digit.in
Going in for a complete redesign in a

short period or a staggered approach
where you keep making minor modifications till you reach a complete redesign in roughly a years time. Which
school of thought do you follow or do
you have a separate belief?
Anish: I go with the first one, also with
the incremental one only when the
need is vital; here at BMS we do a lot
of incremental vital changes. These
incremental changes are fine for performance and to add more value to the
consumer and for us to make features
that meet our goals.
As for my personal stance, I would
stick with an overhaul because just like
a painting, the design is only perceived
the right way once its ready. When
you are in that mindset, especially if
you are a designer, you have all your
tools and all their prior knowledge in
and around them. In that context, an
overhaul is better. I repeat this with
my designers at BMS day in or day out.
If they are designing anything, they
would do a great job at it but if you
revisit the design later, you may want
to make changes. And this an incremental approach may take up a lot of
time in the long run. But those are sort
of one offs unless they are measurable.
Hence, here in BMS we keep a clear
segregation that if theres going to be
an incremental change then it should
be measurable if its not then overhaul
it and analyse what was right and what
was wrong.
So if you do an overhaul wouldnt
you end up alienating your current user
base or at least a significant portion
which might go to the competition just
because they still retain familiarity.
Anish Tripathi, AVP Product Design at

Bookmyshow.com
Anish: Actually when we redesign a

website we have the same question.
Should we change or just overhaul? If
you look at BMS we redesigned it, completely overhauled it, by that I mean we
rewrote the code, redesigned the way
people interacted with it but we identified the one thing that we didnt change,
keeping the booking flow linear.
We worked on overhauling without
any major behavioural change. I agree
with some of the designers you have
spoken to, I dont think any designer
in their right mind would like to stop
that behavioural change, especially at
our scale in BMS. I think that would be
very dangerous. It was very tricky but
we achieved it and transactions have
gone up after the redesign.
Could you share some information
on your user feedback system?
Anish: I learnt one thing in my previous organisation, whenever we had to
sign up customers or whenever we had
an invite-only program, you get a lot
of people coming to you only because
they want to know whats behind
the walled garden. We have a similar
feedback system, which Ive termed as

the Secret Society just because people
want to be a part of it. We have sessions
where we interact with customers to
gain insight and genuine feedback and
in return we provide gift vouchers. We
have workshops as well where you get
to see some of the new things that we
are working on, some of the new interfaces that we want to validate.
There are certain features which
are live right now which the users have
asked for and our designers have come
up with an exploration which might
have been rejected. Showing them different explorations, getting them actual
prototypes that they can interact with,
doing a proper movie booking flow and
buying a proper ticket are all performed to gain valuable user feedback.
How do you figure out that perfect
balance between speed and visual
fidelity without compromising the
whole user experience?
Anish: Most of our device based decisions are taken based on feedback. Certain devices arent high-performance
but should we ignore them? No! Should
we have a different experience for
them? Yes! We are currently working
on a lite version which is basically
based upon your data connection and
based upon your region.
We experiment as to how they
would look like on 2G connections
or on a 3G connection in a particular
region. Im even going to Gujarat where
our goal is to plant ourselves there and
do consumer behaviour research and
we are very excited for the same. Maybe
by the end-of-the-year we will do a
proper India tour where we go to every
city to complete our research. We are
working on delivering solutions based
upon the devices where engagement is
considerably high.
decision time
Should you buy the new PS4 Pro?
Cover Design: Anil VK
contents | october 2016
116 battlefield 1 open beta
118 Deus ex: Mankind Divided
122 the Indie era
130
MoAr
should you buy the new Ps4 Pro?
113 | Mobile monthly

120 | Piercing Blow
127 | Mobile gaming epochs

132 | Phranchise: Fallout
Bring SKOAR!
To life by following
these simple steps:
PICKS
Whether its speed runs,
graphics tearing or any
other momentous grabs
from our favourite games,
these are videos for your
viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
Stranger things as a game?
Now thats what we call skill
Assassins Creed: Ezio Collection
Duration: 7 mins 19 secs
Duration: 32 secs
Duration: 1 min 41 secs
Why not! Were big fans of the

show here and these are very
legitimate reasons for why it
would totally work.
These are the kind of skills we

can only dream of having. Just
kidding were totally better
than this guy.
Everybodys favourite assassin

is coming to the Xbox One and
PS4 with enhanced graphics.
We cant wait!
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http://dgit.in/GrdnInsAce
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112 | SKOAR! | October 2016 | follow us on:
facebook.com/SKOAR
Phe a chur
You have to try these games out on your smartphone!

By Anusha Trillian Sinha
feedback@skoar.com
Astra
Hyperburner
his months wondefully weird

Play Store game is Astra,
which can be described as a
gladiators adventures in space.
The mission in Astra is to guide a
small Roman man on his adventures across solar systems as he
launches himself into orbit head-
H
7
Lunar
Mission
first (Helmet first, rather). The

objective? One would like to imagine that this new age Hercules is
out to repent for mistakes of the
past. One touch control means you
only need to tap for jumps and hold
to escape gravity and float to
another planet. The modes are normal and hard, and each of the 15
levels has three goals to complete.
The design is inspired by art
found on Greco-Roman pottery,
which makes it especially striking.
The enemies are humanoid space
wolves, moths and boars, which
can be killed by jumping on them, a
la Mario. Visuals are dark and subdued which, with the Roman war
like outer space soundtrack, lends
the game an atmospheric feel.
There are no ads whatsoever in the
game and it is absolutely free.
unar Mission is about one of

the greatest endeavours of the
human race: the mission to
the moon. This game challenges
you to land a moon lander without
any damage to its parts. The game
has a bare pixelated look and you
can feel the darkness of space closing in on you. It takes a long time
getting used to the controls and to
judge the amount and direction of
thrust you need to apply for the
moon lander to get back to the
ground undamaged. Each ship has
four modules and the number of
stars you get in each module
depends on how many modules
remain unharmed.
There are three levels of difficulty, - fast and auto stabilised scout,
the slow and heavy cargo ship and
the limited fuel original lander, each
with 24 levels. The soundtrack is
minimalist, just like the game and
you only hear the concerned mission control when your ship is
almost destroyed. The game tends
to get quite monotonous due to the
lack of variety. Though, if you love a
challenge, this one perfect for you.
follow us on:
yperburner is a space-based
endless runner that you have
been waiting for. The game
requires you to manoeuvre a
spaceship in various levels strewn
across the galaxy, like a debris-filled
space field, an industrial mega cluster and more. The code, art and
music have all been created by just
one person, the hugely talented
Patrick Cook and superb UI with
its slick design and space age
graphics is by Eva Godeny. There
are five levels of increasing difficulty
on each of the six stages, with personal high scores to be set on each.
This game can be played in both
the landscape and portrait orienta-
8.5
tions, which is rare for mobile
games. Sensitive controls rely on
just the touch of your finger as you
steer. Few ships are only unlocked
by scoring a stipulated number. To
get to the top, you need sheer skill
and lightning-fast reflexes. The
frantic pace is a welcome change in
endless runners. The game has no
in-app purchases, and retails for Rs
200 on the Play Store.
twitter.com/skoar | October 2016 | SKOAR! | 113
Phe a c hur
Perchang
ver been fascinated by one of

those elaborate setups at a science centre where shiny metal
balls are guided along a track made of
twists and loops using physics and a
little ingenuity? If you loved staring at
those and trying to work out how they
functioned, you will love Perchang. The
game is about guiding a number of
marbles from a spout which ejects
them to a hole where they are collected. This sounds simple enough until
you factor in the variety of tricky
obstacles the game throws at you. In
each level, there are two buttons, red
7.8
and blue. The red one controls everything red in the level while the blue one
controls everything blue. The coloured
bits in each level range from simple
levers to fan or wheels and even teleporters. Sometimes there are more
than two counters to fill and youll have
to work out a way to achieve the target
without losing too many marbles.
The game is beautifully designed in
shades of grey where the movable
parts stand out. The cheery
soundtrack makes the game that
much more enjoyable. The game is
free but there is one in-app purchase
of Rs.85 to remove the ads which pop
up. There are 12 stages with 5 levels.
Poly and the marble maze
oly and the marble maze is about a ball on an epic

quest to jump over some blocks, collect diamonds
and capture the flag. Think of it as an adventurous
golf ball which decided to fight the Man and complete
the holes all by itself.
The game has been designed taking
inspiration from the Monument Valley
school of design where the surrounding landscape stretches on forever
with simple colours. However, whereas
in Monument Valley the focus was on
understanding the different perspectives in each level, Poly and the marble
Light House
ight House takes its name rather

literally and has you transmitting
light to a lighthouse so it can light
up the way for lost seafarers so they
dont crash headlong into the rocks.
The levels start easy and new elements keep getting added to the
8.6
maze is more about control and accuracy. You drag anywhere on the screen and tap to jump. There are three sections with twenty levels each.
Unlike other games like this which have platforms which
hang in midair, there is no way to stop the ball from going
over the edge. In the first few levels, before you have a
firm grasp of the controls, the ball will just slide off
the platform and into the abyss below.
The soundtrack isnt worth speaking
of, which is okay because the silence
allows you to focus on controlling the
ball to reach the goal. It is more of a
challenge than the average mobile
game but worth playing precisely
because of that.
gameplay as you progress. The objective of the game is to align these elements (which are mirrors, primarily)
so there is a clear path for the energy
to get to the lighthouse. Each lighthouse has a required amount of energy that it needs to complete the level.
The puzzle requires an intuitive
sense of physics and direction and
most importantly an acute sense of
timing. The levels dont remain static
for too long and soon you will find
obstacles which just keep moving
moodily up and down. If at any time
the path of the energy is obstructed, it
is lost forever and you have no option
save to try again. Certain parts might
irk you a bit if you love physics, like
where you move mirrors while the light
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Depending on how fast you are, you

will be given a gold, silver or a bronze
medal. The game is a must for puzzle
fans as this is especially well made.
However, the experience of playing
the game might be marred by the fact
that it lags a bit, even on higher-end
devices. However, after a few trials,
you should be able to get this game to
run smoothly.
is moving to direct it along the way.

This means that you are moving faster
than light which is magical or absurd
depending on how you look at it. The
game has 9 packs with 6 levels each
and the ninth pack is still under development. The game makes the use of
slick isometric design which is quite
pleasing to the eyes. There is no
soundtrack except the sound the energy makes as it drips into the lighthouse. There is no tutorial as such and
the initial levels take care of explaining
the basics to the player. Newer twists
are explained when you come across
them. Light House is completely free
and devoid of any in-app purchases
and is a must-try if you like welldesigned puzzles.
Phe a chur
Traffic Lanes 2
Nautical Life
raffic Lanes 2 is perhaps the

prettiest traffic simulator
ever made for the mobile
device. The aim of the game is
fairly simple, to guide cars on an
intersection safely on to their
desired road. However, the execution is so detailed that you will feel
you actually have a miniature traffic situation in the palm of your
hand. The top-down view and tiny
cars on intricate roads provide a
lot of realism to the looks of the
game. The menu design is crisp
and complements the game very
well. The soundtrack is faintly
jazzy and binds all the different
elements to create a wholesome
gaming experience.
8.6
Another reason for the realism is

that the developers have used data
from actual geological surveys and
aerial surveys from a variety of
sources as the basis for creating
the levels. You can zoom up very
close into each map and observe
your tiny cars and people proceed
peacefully on their way (or in case
they dont, watch them crash and
burn). There are 5 stages set in
areas like the suburban, the town,
rush hour and New Zealand, each
with 12 levels which can be played
in the reach goal, arcade or the
unlimited mode.
There are also no restrictions on
completing a level before you proceed to the next and thus you can
even tackle the hardest ones at the
very beginning, depending on how
well you play. Traffic Lanes 2 is
completely free and even if traffic/
airport simulators arent something
you have tried out in the past, you
might just enjoy this game a lot.
8.2
There you go
here you go is a minimalist

game about escape. Most
other escape-the-room
games have an eerie feel where the
setting ranges from an abandoned
mental asylum or a deserted office.
However, this one has a cheery feel.
Although still desolate, the isometric design in bright colours does
make this noteworthy amongst a
flood of Room like escape games.
The puzzles are fairly easy and
include simple activities like flicking
on a light switch as well as more
challenging ones where you are
supposed to crack a code.
Instead of being inside the room,
youre given a point of view outside
it. This means the room is just a little puzzle box in the middle of the
screen. You can also rotate each
room to have a glance at the other
walls and often you will find clues
there. Each level comes with a new
twist and there are even easter
eggs strewn across the game. In
one level, over watering a plant
leads to it growing through the roof
(a la Jack and the Beanstalk) and
into the next room. These refer to
older games and who knows, they
might even make you nostalgic for
the games you played in your
youth. Each room is also connected
directly to the next one via a door
and you can even follow the trail of
doors right to the very first one
from any point in the game.
One problem with this game is
how short it is. However, it is sufficiently fun even in that short duration. You can take heart in the fact
that the developer intends on making more levels depending on how
positive the response to the game
is. There you go is one escape
game that deserves a try even if
escape games arent usually your
favourite kind.
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f you ever fancied yourself as

someone who is at home on the
high seas and the smell of the
ocean ignites your heart with a
sense of adventure, well, get out
there on your ship and conquer the
world. If, however, you do not want
to put that much effort into becoming a sailor (that you are sitting
here reading game reviews is a
slight indicator) get Nautical Life on
your phone. Try out a life as a sea
captain before you commit fully.
Nautical Life is about creating
your dream yacht which you fund
by fishing. There is a huge range of
furniture and you can stock the
many floors of your yacht with
aquariums, beds, refrigerators and
even a jacuzzi. If you envied Leonardo DiCaprios yacht in the Wolf of
Wall Street, heres your chance to
have a virtual one right now. There
are 28 species of fish spread
around locations all over the world.
Fishing is a mini-game where you
click at the opportune moment
when the difference between two
flashing numbers is the maximum,
which, in turn, becomes your
strength against the fish and once
you overpower it, it is yours to
mount on the wall of your yacht.
The game inbuilt day and night

cycle lets you watch the scenery
and types of fish change according
to the time of day. The design of the
game is cutesy and the blocky ship
traverses the gridded map of the
world. The game values perseverance over skill. Play Nautical Life for
a strictly casual RPG experience,
out there on the seas.
We tried our hands at the multiplayer open beta of

Battlefield 1, and this is what we think...
By Mithun Barbarian_Monkey Mohandas
feedback@skoar.in
lot of us PC fanatics arent

really fans of the current
FPS titles where your skill
set is padded with a
bunch of software assists
to make the playing field level for
them console cowboys. And with
modern day shooters like Battlefield
and Call of Duty being synonymous
with the phrase aim assist, my
hatred for these games has been
going strong for ages. However, Battlefield 1 looks like it might change
that opinion. And then again, when I
read what Call of Duty is doing with
Infinite Warfare, it seems like that
opinion might stand *sigh* the test
of time.
Battlefield 1 Back to the stone age?

Battlefield 1 cranks the time machine
back to World War 1, the first time the
entire planet got dragged into war
because one dude got shot by some
other dudes. This incidentally was
also the first ever instance of that
escalated quickly.
The open beta has one map, two
game modes, four character classes
and two factions The Ottoman
Empire and the British Forces as of
now. Conquest was undoubtedly the
more popular game mode with it
being a 64 players per side match-up
which involves the two opposing factions battling it out for control of 7
checkpoints (A-G) till the clock ran

dry or hit 300 capture points.
The other game mode, Rush,
involved the two factions fighting
over the very same checkpoints but
in a more staggered manner. You
couldnt progress to the next before
taking care of the current one. Why
on earth were people interested in
sand and fast balls of lead is beyond
my understanding but hey, we live in
a world where people pay for hair
museums and bubblegum walls.
I dont think well need anything
more than Conquest to keep the
game afloat for at least a few
months so even if DICE does roll out
the game with just the two game
modes, then its still forgivable. But
if they make the other game modes
into DLCs...
Battlefield 1 Maps
Everyones got a pretty good taste of
the Sinai Desert map in the Open
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p r ee v u
Beta and if thats just a teaser of

how well the other maps are
designed then game should be off to
a good start. Dover the entire week
of game play we never came across
a scenario that had either faction
pinned at spawn.
There are optimal spots for snipers all over the map so if at all you
ever come across a tall structure
you can rest assured that theres
one crafty bugger camping atop the
water tank or on sniper ridge. This
can be a menace, especially if the
snipers are really good but then
again, since these elements are all
destructible, you can very well blow
these structures to smithereens
with a tank.
The full game will also feature
other maps such as The St. Quentin
Scar, Amiens, Monte Grappa and
Empires Edge.
Battlefield 1 Vehicles, tanks,

airplanes land ships!
Tanks are OP! Huge lumbering, unappealing boxes of metal that appear
like moving houses with humongous
cannons on all sides. Coming face to
face with one of these isnt a pleasant
experience as its pretty much a one
way ticket back to spawn.
Going co-op on these tanks could
make things even more dangerous
for the enemy. Then again, you can
hide behind cover and repair your
tank so there are ways to survive perennially on the battlefield in a tank.
Tanks are immensely overpowered.
As an Assault class or support class
you are better equipped to take out
vehicles but almost every class has
access to anti-tank weapons. And
with a few strategically placed antitank mines you can take out most
vehicles with ease. However, we did
notice a lot of people opting for the
Assault class just to take out tanks
which might end up being a balance
issue in the game upon launch.
Battlefield 1 Weapons
Moving away from modern firearms
with 50 different mods that ensure
pin point accuracy is a much welcome change. Having to worry about
shells losing velocity and dropping

along an arc adds a lot of realism.
Speaking of weapons, most of them
arent 1-hit unless you happen to get
a headshot. And weapons are based
on the character class you pick
unless of course, you happen to
chance upon a weapon cache which
could contain a flamethrower or a
much accurate bolt action rifle.
The Assault class gets an anti tank
hand cannon but you need to go
prone in order to shoot it and you
dont need us to tell you what happens if you get personal with a tank.
Pistols and the semi-automatics are
great as well but it would have been a
little better if weapons jammed just
as often as they did back during
World War I.
Oh and while were on the subject
of close quarter combat. Melee
weapons are a little barbaric. Clubs,
maces and bayonets - each comes
with its own characteristic animation.
But should you spot your enemy with
his back at you then you should definitely charge which makes you hurtle
towards them like the hulk till you
skewer him like a kebab. Much fun!
But each charge is a calculated risk
which can act as a kill move, an
escape mechanism or get you killed.
The fun begins when you get the
Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr which is an
anti-tank rifle but you dont have
to go prone. While it may be slow to
load, youre pretty much ensured
a kill.
feature. Theyre called the Elite classes. Based on which weapon you pick
up, youll turn into either a Flamethrower, a Tank-killer or a Sentry.
Elite Classes come with armour
upgrades and the Sentry looks kickass with full body plate armour while
rocking a machine gun. The Flamethrower looks more like a chef with
failed cooking experiments. And the
Tank Killer is like every other infantry
class but hes carrying the 1918
T-Gewehr.
Battlefield 1 character
classes
Battlefield 1 open Beta

iMpressions
Most of the combat will be played out

among the four primary character
classes - Assault, Medic, Support and
Scout(sniper). Aside from the primary classes you also get to be a Pilot or
a Tanker or a Cavalry horseman. You
only end up as these classes if you
spawn onto vehicles. If you pick one
of the main infantry classes and then
jump into a tank, youll still retain
your initial pick. However, for the
duration you maintain control, youre
temporarily a different class.
Additionally, like the pickup classes in Battlefield 4, we have a similar
Despite of all the shortcomings and

balance issues, Battlefield 1 is a lot
of fun and just the one map made us
go back to the game over and over
again. The apparent lack of naval
vessels might irk some but well
reserve our judgement till the final
game comes out. Wed say that just
the change in setting from a modern
day battlefront to a World War 1 Battlefield makes for most of the
games appeal. And if one map can
be this fun then we simply cant wait
for the final game.
Is it pre-order worthy? Nope.
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Battlefield 1 Bugs, Balance

issues
While the primary classes might
have been further broken down, not
a lot of people were spotted playing
the Support and Medic classes. In
fact, during the entire week of the
open beta, I was only resurrected
once by a squad mate and that too
because I was shouting my head off
into the mic. Towards the end of the
Open Beta, we saw most people
picking either the Assault or the
Scout class. So class imbalance is a
prominent issue.
Sandstorms can completely turn
the game around as Snipers are pretty much rendered useless owing to
reduced visibility and you dont spot
tanks until its too late. Unless, of
course, you have a not so great
graphics card. In which case, your
visibility isnt that bad and you are at
an advantage.
SportS great level deSign and diverSe gameplay

By Sameer Psycho Mantis Mitha
feedback@skoar.in
have a confession to make. I
havent played any of the previous Deus Ex games. Before you
become all judgmental Id like to
inform you that thats a good
thing. Im not a fanboy so this analysis will be free of prejudice and from
someone getting a taste of the franchise for the very first time.
Story
plot twists and turns which seem

pretty good. It also makes it clear
that the protagonist travels to a variety of locations. These things are
dialed down in Mankind Divided and
its a bummer especially since the
recap is proof that Human Revolution
had a kickass story. The locations
you do visit however are lush and
dont warrant complaints.
The story of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided kicks off after the events of the
previous game, Human Revolution. If
like me, you havent played Human
Revolution, then worry not. The game
opens with a recap of everything that
happens in Human Revolution. If you
pay attention to the recap, it will be
clear to you that the story has a lot of
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So how is the story you ask? Well,

its filled with the usual twists and
turns and just like Mass Effect or the
Witcher, your decisions affect the
final outcome. There are points
where you have branching paths,
which means that if you want to
experience all the angles of the story,
you will have to play the game a
bunch of times.
Without spoiling anything, the
events of the last game have left a
bitter taste with regards to the augmented population. Adam Jensen
the protagonist is working with
Interpol along with a hacker organization to uncover the activities of the
Illuminati. Overall the story is fun but
the only downside is that the outcome of your choices is narrated to
R EE V U
are bland and stiff and the lip sync is

totally off. Adam Jensen is stiff during most of his conversations with
NPCs, NPCs have emotionless
expressions and are at times downright comical taking you out of the
seriousness of the situation.
Having said that the overall game
is gorgeous. The environments are
well designed, action animation is
fluid and overall the game is pretty. I
did see the frame drop every now
and then but this wasnt very evident during the high octane action
sequences. It mostly happened
when I was navigating from one part
of the environment to another.
you via a TV news broadcast at the

end of the game. The story was definitely one of the highlights for me
but fans of the franchise might be a
bit disappointed.
Gameplay
Moving on to gameplay, this is a first

person shooter game with third person cover based mechanics thrown
into the mix. Dont expect this to be a
running and gunning game. Sure, you
can do that, but not to the same
extent you would in games like Call of
Duty or Battlefield. The game puts
more emphasis on stealth while keeping the running and gunning approach
as the secondary alternative.
Jensen has abilities thanks to his
augmentations which can be
upgraded and unlocked as the game
progresses. My only qualm with this
is that you can only unlock a few
augmentations in your first playthrough. I did a lot of the side quests
alongside the main mission and still
managed to unlock only about
35-40 percent of Adams abilities.
There is a new game plus mode, but
it would have been great if the casual player could unlock more in the
first playthrough.
Speaking of these augmentations,
they can broadly be categorized into
stealth, running, gunning and hacking. If you are a stealthy player you
will choose to unlock abilities like
invisibility. For the runner and gunner,
there are abilities which make you
temporarily invulnerable (Crysis
style) and for the hacker, the ability
to hack into higher security terminals
with ease. And this is barely the tip of
the variety in augmentations. Its a
treat to discover these abilities yourself and I assure you that executing
some of them is very satisfying.
Where the game truly excels is
with its level design. There are so
many ways to tackle a mission, its
brilliant. Be it with something as simple as choosing certain dialogues or
choosing a particular path, the number of options are overwhelming at
times. There are times when there
are 6-7 options to deal with a situation. Should I go guns blazing? Or
PROS
Diverse gameplay
Augmented abilities are great to
experiment with
Multiple endings
Good visuals
Good sound
Sound
CONS
Character animation could have been
better
The way the ending is presented
could have been different for
different outcomes
Developer: Eidos Montreal, Nixxes
Software BV
Publisher: Square Enix
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One,
Microsoft Windows
Tested on: PlayStation 4
Price: PC: `999
PS4 and Xbox One: `3,499
Should you buy it?
sneak past? Or tell the cops about

the situation so they can deal with it
and I can just walk through? Should I
bribe the officer blocking my path?
Should I get fake papers made and
succumb to the in-game corruption?
Its mind boggling how much thought
has gone into planning and executing
each mission from different angles.
The gameplay and level design are
the greatest strengths of this game.
GraphicS
Getting the worst out of the way, the

character models arent great. They
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Sound design is another place

where the game excels but with
some hiccups. For example, the
high octane music kicked in when
the action began and didnt die out
like it was supposed to until the
next cut scene began. I reloaded the
game to see if this happens again
and this time when the action
ended so did the dramatic music.
This happened a few times during
my gameplay experience.
The voice acting in the game is
good and believable, but like I said
earlier, its the character animations
that make it less so.
My friends that enjoy running and

gunning games like Call of Duty and
Gears of War werent excited about
the game, but my friends that enjoy
stealth games like MGS5: TPP were
immediately drawn to it. So if you are
someone who likes sneaking around
like Solid Snake then you should definitely check out Deus Ex. The game is
worth multiple plays. But if youre a
runner and gunner, you might want to
stay away. The game is plagued with a
few issues here and there, but none
that hamper the overall experience.
NOTE: The game does have micro transactions but I didnt encounter them. I
played a review copy of the game and
because of internet issues I couldnt download the updates of the game during the
review process.
REEVU
A not so Good tActicAl shooter thAt looks GreAt on pAper, but is cursed
by pAy2win!
By Manish Trigger Happy Rajesh
feedback@skoar.in
iercing Blow, or Project
Blackout, or Point Blank
whatever you want to call
it is a 3D lobby based
shooter published by Zepetto, following along the lines of games like
Counter Strike. And were talking old
school Counter Strike here, not Global Offensive. You have the two opposing teams or factions, the CT-Force
short for Counter Terrorists were
assuming and the Free Rebels. This
isnt exactly a new game, its been

around for a while. They just slapped
on a different name and put it on
Steam. While its now being called
Piercing Blow, the North American
and European version used to be
called Project Blackout , however, its
still called Point Blank in Asia.
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What is it?
Piercing Blow is a tactical shooter,
and one of the many developed in
Korea, such as Blackshot or Combat

Arms. The way the game works is
simple enough, winning games earns
you points, and these points can be
used to purchase weapons and
equipment within the games store.
Additionally, its got a quest system
within the game, wherein youre
asked to fulfil certain objectives or
tasks within the game. Completing
these gives you extra points and
rewards you for playing regularly.
Piercing Blow is a game

that had a lot going for it but
the cons that came along
with it were to big a deterrent for us to continue playing the game. When you
start playing, you of course
have the option of going through the
tutorials but honestly, you dont really have to go through the tutorial, if
youve played any MMOFPSs in the
past 15 years.
starting up
Theres four starting characters to
choose from, with additional unlockable characters. Some of the character avatars are obviously not meant
to be in a shooter game and are
catered towards teenage boys but
thats ok, its not something only this
game does. Character choices are
purely cosmetic, so you can pick
whichever one you fancy most. Every
character can use all the weapons
and there arent any character
restricted weapons or any other such
limitations. Your characters can be
customized as well, so you can equip
additional stuff that boosts your
stats and such. Unfortunately, most
of the good stuff involves you spending real money to get it.
Now the game is lobby based,
theres no matchmaking so youre just
going to have to join a lobby which is
currently playing the game mode
youre looking for and hope that your
opponents are not aim botters, hackers, or decked out with the best gear
money can buy. To add to that, since
theres no matchmaking, its very likely that you will encounter players who
are much higher leveled and experienced than you are. Normally this is
still fine, but because of the way the
game works, wherein you unlock better weapons and gear as you level up,
its not a level playing field at all. Sure
you can manage if youre incredibly
skilled, but if youre evenly matched in
the skill department, you can be sure
that the guy who paid real money for
his gear will come out on top.
The way gear functions is also different here. Other than the permanent weapons which are always
MOAR
Developer: Zepetto Co.
Publisher: Zepetto U.S.A. inc.
Platforms: PC
Tested on: Intel Core i7 2600k,
GTX 680, 16GB RAM, 56GB SSD,
1TB HDD
Price: Free To Play
accessible to you (and are also the
weakest), weapons you purchase
from the shop have a number of uses
or quantity. So after youve used that
particular weapon that many times,
you can no longer use it; you have to
buy it again. The weapons you can
buy with real money are far more
superior to any of the weapons you
can buy with the points acquired
ingame. This applies to other gear as
well, such as helmets and outfits.
Such pay2win, very disappoint.
gameplay
There are five modes to choose from,
four of which are staple in most
MMOFPSs, and one of which is rather interesting. Weve got Deathmatch,
Team Deathmatch, Bomb Plant,
Search and Destroy, and Escape. The
first four game modes are standard
in games like this one, but the fifth
game mode, Escape is different. In
this game mode one team is transformed into dinosaurs and has to
hunt down the members of the
opposing team, who are all human.
The human team has to avoid or
escape from these dinosaurs. However, despite how fun that mode
sounds, it didnt look like anyone
wanted to play the Escape game
mode considering how there were little to no rooms in the lobby for that
particular game mode.
Combat is fast-paced and what
youd expect of an FPS game of this
kind. Nothing new in terms of
mechanics or playstyle. Theres nothing wrong with that though, why fix
what isnt broken, right?
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Again, the amount of

money youre willing to pay
in this game and your luck
when picking a lobby can
greatly affect how much fun
you ultimately derive from
this game, since there is no
matchmaking, so be prepared for
some one-sided match-ups.
If you do actually get into a friendly
lobby, which can be pretty rare on
this game, it can be pretty fun. So if
youre going to start playing this
exclusively with a group of friends, it
might not be such a bad idea. Its got
a ranking system, similar to most
other games in this genre ranging
from the lowly recruit to the Command General.
Now one of the positives this
game has going for it are the maps.
Theres 47, which is a lot for a game
of this kind. So you can have some
variety in your game, break away
from the monotony of the same old
map every single time. However,
many maps are locked to certain
game modes so you probably wont
be seeing some of the maps if youre
not fond of a particular mode.
graphics
As we mentioned earlier, it looks similar to Counter Strike, the pre-2000
variant, so thats 90s graphics for
you. We advise you avoid this game if
youre in it only for the graphics.
However, if youre ok with the oldschool Counter Strike look and feel,
then by all means, feel free to try
Piercing Blow out, its free.
Overall
Piercing Blow has many maps, a classic/retro feel (that some might go
for), character customisations, and
many game modes. It all sounds
great on paper but the fact that its
so pay2win driven really ruins whatever enjoyment could have been
derived from it, and this is without
mentioning the bugs and crashes
that a lot of people have complained
about when picking it up. Also hackers, gawd so many hackers. Spare
yourself the anger and frustration
and stick to good ol CSGO!
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K U VA H S T ORY
Behold!
For independently
developed by small teams,
games from no-name studios are
finally not just outnumbering
big studios and AAA titles
theyre outclassing
them, too
PHOTO IMAGING: ANIL VK

feedback@skoar.com
he term indie has been

popping up all over the
place these days. Its
become quite huge for
that matter. Theres people calling it the
Indie Revolution and the Indie Movement and whatnot. But first, lets ask
ourselves the most basic question.
What exactly is an indie?
Well, in theory indie stands for independent, so studios or companies who
are not owned by a publisher would
technically fall under this category. But
in that case, companies like Valve and
Gearbox would fall under this category
too. They arent owned by any publishers and they pretty much do what they
want. But we dont consider them
indie, nah theyre way too big. A company like Telltale for example, might have
started off indie but theyve increased
in size tenfold since their success and
they have 150+ member studios who
work on licensed games. Doesnt look
very indie to us at the moment. Then of
course theres games like Journey. Definitely looks and feels indie, heck we
totally thought it was an indie game till
we started writing this article. Turns out
Journey was part of publishing deals
with major players so no, not very indie
either to begin with, eh?.
So then finally what do we consider
indie? Well were looking at small studios where theres only like one or two
people. A skeleton crew if you will, who
do not care for the whims of publishers
or licenses and all that. Theyre not tied
down by anything so to speak. The
games these guys make, is what to us,
define an indie game.
Why are Indies so successful? Is

there a lesson for AAA titles here?
Now it wouldnt be right to just straight

up say that indies are more successful
than your standard AAA title. A title by a
AAA developer and publisher is expected to make well over $5 million. There
are many factors that come into play
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here. Its incredibly rare to find an indie

game with the same production quality
as a AAA game. Which makes sense,
considering a AAA company has much
deeper pockets, larger teams, infrastructure, all that. Furthermore, there
are many indie games being dished out
every other day. A much larger number
when compared to the number of
games released by AAA companies. Its
much more difficult to find the good
indie games among the thousands of
releases than it is to spot a good AAA
among the few that release every year.
But despite all this we find ourselves
gravitating towards indie games. Why is
this so? Its quite simple really. Its not
that were boycotting AAA companies
and standing up for the little man (sure
thats nice too) but its because indie
games are giving us what we want.
Over the past few years all we seemed
to be getting from AAA companies was
rehashed and recycled goods. The
name of the game is money, demand
K U VA H S T ORY
and speed trumps quality and everything is chopped up and scaled down to
meet deadlines. Sure they have a budget and big teams, but when the focus is
on money rather than the end product,
well, we all know how that turns out!
Indie games to the rescue! Thanks to
crowdfunding and sites like Kickstarter,
indie game developers actually have a
platform to acquire funds. If you had a
concept or idea that you thought was
awesome, and felt like you could pull it
off with some financial support, all you
needed to do was pitch your idea to
these crowdfunding sites. If the crowds
felt your idea was worth backing, the
money would roll in. This addressed
one of the key problems when it came
to indie games. Having a great idea and
concept is all nice, but without the
budget to be able to realise it, either you
scrapped the thing entirely, or you were
left with a sub-par game that was
nowhere near what you initially had in
mind. Of course this is not the case all
the time, there are indie games out
there that have become massively successful and have done so with minimal
resources. Sure the game isnt big in
the graphics department and it doesnt
look hyper realistic, but if youre someone who plays games just for the visuals, hate to break it to ya but ya aint a
trueblue gamer.
The best part about indie game
development is that they work very
closely with their target audience. The
ones who are funding their game are
the ones who will play it, and game devs
go out of their way to involve them.
Indie game devs dont hide their development process, its kept open and
anyone is free to observe and even participate in some cases. Some indie devs
actually stream the development process live on sites like Twitch. Backers
can actively participate and suggest
ideas to the team as theyre working on
building the game.
Since indie game devs arent held
down by restrictions they have the freedom to go about the development process as they wish. This is something
that many AAA company developers
crave. AAA companies are bound to
their publishers, have limited distribution options and have to adhere to the
whims and fancies

of their higher
ups. Recent
trends show
many AAA
company devs
are actually
leaving to form
their own indie
studios. In fact,
many of the
most anticipated
indie releases coming up are being headed by veteran AAA developers whove gone indie.
These guys arent in it for the
money, they want to make a great
game, one that everyone can enjoy, and
they want to do it their own way, without being held back by restrictions or
any type of limitations.
So lets not waste any more time and
take a look at some of the best Indie
has had to offer, which could easily give
AAA titles a run for their money.
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The Binding of Isaac
So Isaacs mother starts hearing the

voice of God and hes demanding a
sacrifice. You know, to prove her faith
and all that. The ideal candidate happens to be Isaac. Wait weve read this
story somewhere before.. Never mind.
Anyway, Isaac doesnt want to be sacrificed (duh), so he runs into the basement and hides there. But you know
that feeling you had as a kid, like there
were monsters or something in the
basement?(most of us dont have
basements though, awkward) Turns
out its all true. Its infested with monsters, lost brothers and sisters(who
probably hid in the basement as well
because; crazy mother), and his fears.
Yes his fears. Theyre quite scary, youd
get it if youve played it.
The Binding of Isaac is an RPG
shooter. Its got lots of rogue-like elements as well. Youve got weird pickups that give you abilities to help you
fight off the droves on monsters coming at you in the dungeon and there are
over 300 levels! Who has a basement
thats that huge?!
If we could think of one game this
resembles off the top of our heads it
would be Legend of Zelda from the

good old NES days.
dont Starve
Dont starve comes from the same

folks who brought us Shank and Mark
of the Ninja, which were amazing 2D
platformers in their own rights, so when
we say theyve outdone themselves
with Dont Starve, were giving them
mad cred here.
Dont Starve falls under the actionadventure survival genre. All you need
to do is survive. Thats it. Youre
dropped into a randomly generated
world and youre not given much to
start with, not even instructions for
that matter, so youre a tad lost at first.
Be prepared to die, A LOT. But once
you get the hang of it, its quite addicting. The world is full to the brim with
danger, everything here is out to kill
you. You can gather items and theres
an intricate crafting system to help
you survive longer. You can build structures and such to help you in your
endeavour as well, so if youve played
games like say Minecraft, youll feel
right at home.
Spelunky
This daring spelunker(-er-er-er) will

stop at nothing to get to the treasure,
no matter what obstacles come in his
way. Spelunky is a platformer platformer games are aplenty in the indie
category, so that makes it all the more
worthwhile when a really good platformer shows up among the plethora.
K U VA H S T ORY
piece everything together and unravel

the story behind your missing family.
And you wont be satisfied until you do,
and when you do actually come to the
conclusion yourself, its a feeling thats
beyond describing. Youll know what we
mean if you play it yourself.
hotline Miami
Spelunky moves around like-a Mario

but he wields-a whip like-a the guy in
Castlevania. What makes Spelunky
stand out is the fact that no two playthroughs are the same. That means you
have a rogue-like platformer with unlimited replayability. Every level is unpredictable and theres a lot of treasure to
be found, but if youre not prepared to
take on that giant spider or move out of
the way of that large boulder coming at
you maybe this game isnt for you.
Gone home
Gone Home is a game that gives us

something many AAA titles are missing
today. A captivating story. Its been
awhile since we a saw a game that left
its mark on us long after we finished
playing it. Imagine coming home after a
long trip, an exhausting journey, all you
need now is to see the faces of your
loved ones and relax. But after you
come home you find that theres no
one there to greet you, the house is
empty. Youre left to explore your empty
house and look for clues to find your
missing family. Youre hunting for clues,
items, anything at all, anything that will
lead you to your missing family.
Youre reading every note you
find, and using keys all over
the huge house. Youre
looking through everything, leaving nothing
unturned, even the
pizza boxes are not
safe. Its not just
some other point
and click mystery
game, youre
gripped by the story
from beginning to
end, and you want to
keep going, you want to
Hotline Miami is a top-down, beat-emup, shoot-em-in-the-face, create-abloody-mess-while-you-do-so game

with an overabundance of neon.
Theres a lot of neon! But it just adds to
the retro vibe that just increases the
appeal of the game. Its one of those
games youre better off playing yourself
than having us explain to you how
bloody good it is. Youve got a guy in an
animal-mask wreaking havoc with
whatever means at his disposal, and
hes got quite a few means at his disposal. To add to that weve got a sweet
80s soundtrack to enhance the mayhem and a crazy story to go with it.
Youll immediately notice how its
reminiscent of the original GTA. Hotline
Miami takes the top-down formula and
pretty much perfects it. Indulge in
some crazy clutch close-quarters combat is as you murder your way through
buildings full of bad guys, annihilating
all of them with a variety of melee and
ranged weapons. Dont worry about
dying, youll be doing a lot of that, it
just takes one button to get right
back to the action. Just wait till
you cant stop getting back into
this game!
limbo
Limbo is simple. Its minimalistic. It

uses only the simplest of controls. And
its a prime example of how you can
make a masterpiece with limited
resources. One look at this game is
enough to compel you to try it out. It
has a dark and mysterious vibe set in a
gloomy monochromatic forest. You
awaken in a forest and all you have to
do, all you want to do, is look for your
sister and escape the woods.
The developers of this game aptly
call it a trial and death game, because
youll be dying a lot. Very gruesomely.
But hey thats how you learn. Also
theres a giant spider that relentlessly
follows you. Its quite terrifying. You
should most definitely try this game out
when you have a chance.
Bastion
As soon as you start Bastion, its

already being narrated. Even though it
has gameplay like most other hack n
slash indie games out there, something
about Bastion screams unique.
Maybe its the beautiful art and aesthetic, the games a visual treat. Or
maybe its the amazing soundtrack,
which in our books could possibly be
K U VA H S T ORY
one of the greatest of all time. Or perhaps its the amazing voice acting, well
actually, its all the narrator. He
breathes life into this game, he gives
the game a voice, and the game lives
and dies by his words.
The atmosphere, the narration, the
world, everything in Bastion is an unforgettable experience. You play as The
Kid, who wields two different kinds of
weapons, one melee, one ranged. Its all
fluid and smooth but its not the gameplay that will keep you playing.
Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy has you playing as a

raw piece of meat. 10/10 for creativity.
But will playing as a piece of meat be
fun? Hell yes!
Super Meat Boy is a ridiculously
tough, rage inducing, controller-smashing, super frustrating, fast paced 2D
platformer thats unforgiving and we
absolutely love it for that.
Its a game thats inspired by classics
like Mega Man and Ghosts n Goblins
and was designed to bring back the
nostalgic feel of playing those oldschool Nintendo games. Just in case
we havent mentioned, this game is
insanely tough. Its almost like beating a
boss on Dark Souls (almost because
Super Meat Boy is tougher).
Braid
Braid is what wed like to call a platformer masterpiece. Its so good

we could say that it sets the
standard for every puzzle
platformer that will follow.
It features a beautiful
hand-painted art style
and draws inspiration from age old

classics like Prince of Persia and Mario
where your goal is to save the you
guessed it princess.
In Braid, you take on the role of Tim,
who makes use of a time manipulation
mechanic which boggles the mind and
has you using brain muscles that you
didnt know you had. The story is
enthralling, something that is quite rare
in a sidescroller platformer game. As
you progress through the game and
find hidden passageways, you learn
more about Tim and the story. This is
one game that keeps you guessing and
where you want to progress and find
out more. But youre never quite given a
straight answer. Its open to interpretation and whatever conclusion you
decide to come to when you finish this
game, it still feels very satisfying when
you manage to get your hands on every
last puzzle piece.
Minecraft
Shoe-string budget? Check. Tiny development team? Check. Over 5 million

copies sold? Check. Over 70 million in
sales? Check. 2.5 billion dollar buyout?
No problem. Need we say more?
Minecraft is a game that blew up in
2011, which first came out for PC and
later for the Xbox. You would actually
need to have been living under some
rock in some cave to never have heard

about this game. Its THAT famous.
Minecrafts heart and soul is its
crafting system. So simple but yet so
complex. You start with nothing. No
items, no weapons, and absolutely no
clue as to what youre doing. You can
run around, punch stuff and enjoy the
pixelated landscapes, thats about it.
But then you learn how the game
works, as you learn to gather materials,
learn to craft, learn to make tools and
improve them, and learn about the horrors of the night, learn ab-- were
already addicted, damnit!
Whats in store for the future

of Indies?
The games we just mentioned are few

of the many amazing indie games out
there that definitely deserve our attention. These are games that are remoulding and reshaping the very genres they
belong to. Theyve given us some of the
most innovative and unique experiences weve had on any gaming platform.
As the digital market grows exponentially, so does the market for independently developed games. We would
have mentioned several more if we
didnt have any space restrictions. The
Indie Movement is only just beginning,
were yet to see the peak of the Indie Era
and were sure there will be many more
indie gems to come. Thanks to things
like crowdfunding, more people are
actually able to pitch their ideas to the
masses and get things moving. Furthermore, two of the most popular engines
used in games Unreal Engine and
Unity are free for use for developers.
Game engines are normally quite
pricey, so this was also great news for
indie devs. People are showing great
interest in indie projects. These guys
actually listen to what the gamers want
and so were more than happy to help
these guys create a great game for
us. Real talk though, at the end of
the day, we dont really care
where a good game comes
from, but when an indie title
draws much more attention
than all the Call of Dutys, Battlefields, and FIFAs, maybe
the AAA guys have been doing
something wrong all this while?
Phe a chur
obile gaming has come

a long way. The mobile
gaming landscape has
changed beyond all
recognition over the past few years.
The original iPhone was our first real
introduction to touchscreen gaming.
True, touchscreen devices (and games
for the same) have existed long before
Steve Jobs went on stage in 2007. But
mobile gaming before the iPhone
tended not to be platform appropriate.
In the 9 years that have followed,
smartphone adoption has gone
through the roof and a lot of people
have hardware in their pockets that
could keep pace with the fastest PCs
circa 2005. With that in mind, lets
have a look at mobile games that have
pushed the envelope over the years.
Candy Crush saga

Casual puzzlers have been around for
a long time. Whether its those horrific
games they offer on in-flight consoles or the Bejeweled clones you
mightve had on your feature phone
ages ago. How Candy Crush came to
be download by approximately 20 percent of humanity? We dont know. Why
did Activision spend 6 billion dollars to
buy out its developer, King? Another
difficult question.
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By Arjun
skoar.in
feedback@
A combination of the games social

integration via Facebook and a deviously clever free-to-play model led to
Candy Crush Saga becoming the highest-grossing mobile game ever. A freeto-play puzzler raking in more in sales
revenue per year than The Witcher 3,
Fallout 4, and Black Ops III put together? What has the world come to?
Modern CoMbat
Console quality is a term thats being
thrown about way too often for comfollow us on:
Phe a c hur
fort in the mobile space. Yes, mobile

hardware is playing catchup, at least
with last-gen consoles in terms of raw
graphics horsepower. The Adreno 430
in Qualcomms Snapdragon 810 SoC
beats out the PS3 and Xbox 360 if you
look at raw FLOPS. But there are a lot
of other factors at play: pricing, API
overheads, and the question of what
people actually want from a mobile
gaming experience. Gamelofts never
been shy about affixing console-quality to most of their titles. Is Modern
Combat: Blackout a good mobile
game? Absolutely. Modern Combat:
Blackout is about as close as you can
get right now to a AAA shooter experience on mobile.
PokMon go
Pokmon GO is less a game and more
a fascinating sociocultural phenomenon. What else could possibly make
millennials around the world get up off
their rear ends and actually walk
around meeting people?
Augmented Reality (AR), the key
concept behind Pokmon GO isnt
exactly original. Niantic, the games
developer, outed a very similar AR
game, Ingress, years ago. Ingress was,
and remains, a niche title, but considering that it builds on Ingresss database, one could almost call Pokmon
GO a franchise reskin for Niantics
older effort.
Nevertheless, Pokmon GOs tremendous success the game rakes
up nearly one third of all game-generated income in the US can have significant repercussions on future gaming paradigms. Like it or not, as of right
now Pokmon GO is the future, or at
least a large part of it.
ings, trying to piece a case together,

clip by clip. Its a remarkable recycling
of a long-dead mechanicits FMV
gaming finally done right.
Valiant hearts:
the great War
things, as wed mentioned earlier,

mobile GPUs have a raw throughput
matching last-gen consoles, but
theyre incredibly constrained on the
CPU side world building, physics
simulation, AI. Older gen console ports
however are far more plausible.
Take GTA: San Andreas for example. Setting the last-gen visuals aside,
you get the full-fat console experience. San Andreas was a tremendous
achievement when it launched in
2004, featuring not one, but three cities to explore and wide swathes of
countryside in between. And its all
the more incredible that you can
carry that entire world around with
you, with improved textures and visual effects to boot.
her story
Console quality mobile games have

the limitations of mobile hardware to
contend with on the graphics side of
There was a very brief point of time in

the mid-80 when FMV games were a
craze. This was right after the advent
of the Laserdisc and the huge (for the
time) amount of storage space the
medium offered, but before PCs and
consoles became powerful enough to
do convincing 3D visuals. FMV games
were basically interactive movies in
which you got to pick what happened
next. Which is about as fun as it
sounds. Most people are understandably relieved that that particular trend
faded into obscurity. But Her Story
does the unthinkable: It somehow
manages to create an evocative experience specifically because its an
interactive FMV game.
Her Story works because its primary mechanic searching for clues
about a murder mystery among a
series of disjointed interview clips
works just as one would expect it to in
real life its remarkably easy to see
yourself as a detective hunting for
meaning in Hannah Smiths record-
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san andreas Mobile
At some point of time, even Ubisoft

realized that its template-based
approach to AAA games was sucking
the soul out of its major franchises.
While they milked their mainline franchises for all they were worth (and
then some), Ubi set up autonomous,
smaller scale teams, with the resources and manpower of indie studios to
take risk on smaller-scale projects.
And while Assassins Creed: Syndicate puts up a respectably good show
(you cant call it awful because its
not; its just not great), its Ubis
smaller-scale titles that really take
things in new directions.
Rather than looking at WWI in
terms of the hypothetical, dull FPSs it
would inspire, Valiant Hearts looks at
the human aspect of the war. In the
end, its people down there in those
trenches. Young men with family,
loved ones. Fears and hopes. It
explores the humanity of suffering
during WWI through an achingly nave
cartoon art-style. Valiant Hearts
explores WWI as a story of innocence

lost and is a striking validation of what
Ubisoft can accomplish in its games.
Though Valiant Hearts is a multi-plat
release, the mobile version is a better
fit for the game than either the PC or
console iterations. Theres just something remarkably intimate about interacting with the games hand-drawn
scenes through touch compared to
using a controller.
MonuMent Valley
In an old interview with Ustwo, the
developers of Monument Valley said
Phe a chur
they wanted to make every scene in

the game striking enough that itd be
something you print out and hang on
your wall. Monument Valley may be a
deceptively simple isometric puzzler,
but it asks important questions about
videogames as art. Arthouse indie
titles like Dear Esther and The Witness
approach this question from more
oblique angles, but Monument Valley
tackles it head-on, with absolutely
stunning art design.
ment and limited camera angles does

lessen the wow-factor somewhat. But
more than just being a looker, Infinity
Blade delivered an experience that
was tailored specifically towards a
mobile audience. The swipe-based
combat system, taking a cue from
Fruit Ninja, is intuitive yet hard to master. The one-on-one fights have an epic
setpiece grandeur, but dont last more
than a few minutes, breaking play into
bite-sized chunks. Infinity Blade is a
remarkable example of a mobile title
pushing the boundaries in terms of
visuals, while still having an appreciation for the platform its played on.
Canabalt
The broad strokes of primary colour

and the flat shading make it an exceptional standout on high resolution displaysit really does feel like something you could print out and stick on
your wall, level after level.
infinity blade
Straight-up ports of older-generation
titles do work, but come with all the
limitations of cramming a 10-15 yearold big-screen experience onto your
phone virtual controls end up covering half the screen and youll probably
run out of battery before hitting the
first save point. That being said, what
about console quality games built
from the ground up for mobile? Epic
turned a lot of heads when it brought
the Unreal 3 engine over to iOS back in
2010. Epic Citadel was a remarkable
showcase of what your iPhone 3GS
was capable of. Then Chair went ahead
and created Infinity Blade, an actual
mobile title running on Unreal 3.
In terms of visuals, Infinity Blade
does live up to the console quality
promise, though the lack of free move-
Before Temple Run, there was Canabalt. The endless runner is a genre that
could only have done well on mobile.
Simple mechanics, one-touch controls, and (endless) replayability make
endless runners the go-to when you
need to kill time. Canabalts minimalist
aesthetic and black and white presentation exude a sense of mystery. Who
is that guy? Why does he jump out a
window and run over rooftops? Canabalt may not enjoy the popularity it
deserves, but it introduced the world
to the endless runner genre. And with
an HD remaster out, its definitely
worth checking out.
teMPle run
Canabalt is like the hipster of endless
runners: It was an endless runner
before endlessly running became
mainstream. Temple Run, on the other
hand, is about as mainstream as it
gets. Its also a fantastic example of
free-to-play done right. F2P titles are
maligned all too often for being
shameless cashgrabs, and unfortunately, that is the case most of the
time. Free-to-play wouldnt be a thing
unless publishers made money off it,
but theres still something about paying for game-breaking items, or even
to refill the energy meter that leaves
a bad taste in the mouth.
Temple Run is meant to be enjoyed
over short intervals. Its easy to pick up
but relatively difficult to master, and
while there are clear progression
paths, it doesnt lock any of the fun
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parts out behind a payment or experience wall. The running, and sliding,
and getting skewered are all there for
free, though you could buy some extra
goodies, if you wanted. And that attitude provide people with a gameplay experience theyll enjoy and give
them the option to pay if they want to
is likely what drove Temple Runs
phenomenal success.
Cardboard Vr
gaMes
VRs all set to be an actual thing this
year. The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
have finally started shipping. Over here
in India, Absentias Tesseract HMD is
set to make waves as a more affordable alternative thatll run all your PC
games right out of the box. But looking
at the sales figures, high-end, dedicated VR systems make up but a
small fraction less than 15 percent
of VR hardware sold over the past
year. Smartphone VR is where the
moneys at. There are already a plethora of games and VR experiences up
on the Play Store, designed for Google
Cardboard. We recently tried Zombiestan VR and it was every bit as rubbish as the name suggests a handful of maps, each about the size of a
dorm room, with randomly spawning
zombies. But it, and many other Cardboard VR titles are suggestive of better
things to come. The developers of
Alien Apartment VR make it clear that
the demo is a proof-of-concept and
that a full-fledged Cardboard VR game
is on its way. Were still a ways off from
experience real quality content in the
Google Cardboard ecosystem, but the
growing number of Cardboard VR
apps strongly suggests that good
things are to come.
PS4 Pro & Slim:
old wine
in new bottle?
Sony has finally announced the PS4 Pro and the long-rumoured PS4 Slim.
What makes them so special? More importantly, why should you care?
By Sameer PsychoMantis Mitha
feedback@skoar.in
Lets get the obvious

stuff out of the way.
Sony is replacing the
originally-launched
PS4 with PS4 Slim.
You wont find the Slim tag on any
PlayStation box or promotional
material. The new PS4 will go on sale
in most regions from September
15, and will be priced at $299
(`20,000 approx. directly converted). The console has a matte finish
with physical buttons for power and
eject. It still has two USB ports on
the front, but they arent as close
together as they were on the original

PS4. The placement of the hard
drive has changed too, and it is now
easier to replace the hard drive when
compared to the process on the
original PS4.
Coming to the PS4 Pro, the console
will be available from November 10 in
USA, and will be priced at $399
(`26,000 directly converted). The
console will come with a 1TB HDD,
and will let you play games in 4K HDR.
Speaking of HDR, all currently existing PS4 consoles will be able to play
HDR videos, via an update.
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I have been asked a lot of questions about the console since it was
announced, so I am going to do my
best to answer them and explain this
mid-console-cycle refresh to the best
of my ability.
Two PS4 Slims = PS4 Pro?
Well, no. Sony says that the PS4 Pro

can output four times the resolution
with twice the power, and we will comment on this when we get our hands
on the console. When it comes to the
design of the PS4 Pro, it does look like
two PS4 Slims stacked vertically.
Phe a chur
What about the hardware

specifications of the PS4 Pro?
This is what we know about the

specifications of the PS4 Pro:
Main processor: Custom-chip single
Processor
CPU: x86-64 AMD Jaguar, 8 cores
GPU: 4.20 TFLOPS, AMD Radeon based
graphics engine
Memory: GDDR5 8GB
Storage size: 1TB
External dimensions: Approx.
29555327 mm (width height
length) (excludes largest projection)
Mass: Approx. 3.3 kg
BD/DVD Drive: BD 6 CAV, DVD 8 CAV
Input/Output: Super-Speed USB (USB
3.1 Gen.1) port 3, AUX port 1
Networking: Ethernet (10BASE-T,
100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)1, IEEE
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 (LE)
Power: AC 100V, 50/60Hz
Power consumption: Max. 310W
Operating temp: 5C 35C
AV Output: HDMI out port (supports
4K/HDR) DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) port
PS: 4.2 Teraflops is less than what
Microsoft claims Project Scorpio can do
(6 Teraflops)
Will all games be in 4K HDR?
Its a developer decision. All games will

not necessarily be in 4K HDR. All the
upcoming games will run on both the
PS4 and the PS4 Pro, and all games
will be forward compatible is what
Sony has said. This means that all PS4
games will work on the Pro, even if the
game doesnt support 4K or HDR.
Does it make sense for me to buy

the Pro, even if I own a 1080p
gaming monitor/1080p TV?
Technically, yes. It makes sense to buy

the Pro if you want better graphical
fidelity. Sony explained this with the
following example: On Shadow of Mordor running with SSAA (Super Sampling Anti Aliasing), the image is rendered in a resolution higher than
1080p, and represented to the gamer
in 1080p. This is just one example, and
we will of course give you more information about the gaming fidelity once
we get our hands on the console.
To quote the PlayStation Blog,

However, even if you own an HDTV
that does not support either 4K or
HDR, PS4 Pro still provides a number
of benefits. All games will run in 1080p
resolution, and some will even run in a
higher or more stable framerate. If
youre a gamer that wants to be at the
forefront of innovation, PS4 Pro is for
you. This simply means that games
will run better on the PS4 Pro, when
compared to the original PS4. A piece
of advice: If you can afford it, go for the
newer hardware.
What about PlayStation VR?
Well, the PS VR will work with both the

PS4 and PS4 Pro. Just to give you an
example of the difference that gamers
will face, Sony spoke of an upcoming
PlayStation VR game, Farpoint. The
game will get better graphics and will
perform better, thanks to the power
of the PS4 Pro. With VR games, the
fidelity and overall VR performance
will also be better on the Pro, thanks
to the hardware.
Can I watch 4K Blu Ray

on the PS4 Pro?
No. The system doesnt support it.

But you can watch 4K HDR content
from Netflix and YouTube. Its a little
disappointing that the Pro doesnt
support 4K Blu Ray, especially when
you consider Sonys console history.
The PS1 played audio CDs, the PS2
had a built-in DVD player, the PS3 was
one of the least expensive Blu Ray
players, and the PS4 can play 1080p
Blu Ray movies. So, exactly why Sony
chose to break away from this tradition is bewildering. The only logical
explanation is to keep the cost of the
console low.
Still confused?
Okay, this should help
Xbox One = Xbox Exclusive games +

a healthy library of third party
games
Xbox One S = Above + 4K Blu Ray
playback + 4K HDR Streaming +
HDR gaming
PS4 = PlayStation Exclusive games
+ a healthy library of third party
games + HDR video (coming via
follow us on:
software update) + PlayStation VR

(sold separately)
PS4 Pro = Above + 4K HDR gaming and 4K HDR video playback via
streaming only (no 4K HDR Blu
Ray support)
Xbox One S vs. Project Scorpio

vs. PS4 vs. PS4 Pro
Still with us? Damn, you really are contemplating purchasing one of these
machines! So heres the deal; if you
are looking to pick up a console today,
look for a good deal. The PS4 and Xbox
One are still priced upwards of
`30,000 in India, which is just unfair. If
you can get your hands on one from
abroad, then go for it, both are great
consoles. Your purchase decision
should primarily be based on the
games you enjoy. If you like Halo and
Forza, then go for the Xbox One. Just
remember, the power brick will need
an adapter to work in India (the voltage is different).
If you can get your hands on the
Xbox One S, you will get HDR gaming,
which isnt there on the PS4, along
with the ability to watch 4K Blu Rays,
another feature missing from the PS4.
If you like games like Uncharted and
God of War, then go for a PS4. Whether
you get the Slim variant or the original
version doesnt matter, since apart from
the aesthetics, nothing has changed as
far as performance is concerned.
Microsoft teased the Xbox Project
Scorpio at E3 2016, with more details
to come in 2017. Sony has tried to cash
in with the first movers advantage,
and the Pro will be available in November 2016. If you are as impatient as me
and want the latest and greatest of the
gaming world, then go get the Pro. Itll
be a good device to own, especially if
you dont own a PS4 and are considering upgrading. The smart move, however, would be to wait for a library of
games to launch that take advantage
of the Pros capabilities before buying
it. If you wait till Microsoft announces
the Scorpio, chances are that you may
get the PS4 Pro for a much cheaper,
internationally. However, a true PS Pro
vs. Scorpio comparison can be made
only when Microsoft gives us some
concrete information.
We love Fallout, but hoW much do We actually knoW about this

legendary Franchise that revolutionized the rPg genre and changed the
very Face oF gaming Forever?
feedback@skoar.in
War.
War never changes. Arguably one of

the most iconic video game quotes of
all time. Were sure we neednt tell you
where its from, most of you would have
already guessed (its in the title) where its from. If youre a gamer at all, no
matter what genre or what console, were 100 percent sure that youve played
or at least heard of Fallout.
So how did it all begin?

Those of you whove played any of the Fallout games know the setting. Theyre
all set in a post-apocalyptic setting where the world as we know it has ended.
But how did it all begin? Well for that we need to go back, all the way back to
1984. Meet Brian Fargo, founder of Interplay Productions. Hes the guy whos
responsible for bringing us Wasteland. This is a time when table-top RPGs
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P hr a nchi s e
were the in thing and fantasy was the

main theme. Going for a post-apocalyptic setting was something new,
something that had never been done
before. But Brian didnt care, he had a
vision, he wanted to end the world as
we knew it(so to speak) and create an
RPG that broke the rules. And so with
the help of Alan Pavlish, and two well
known pen-and-paper RPG creators,
Michael A. Stackpole and Ken St.
Andre, he set out to create Wasteland.
Come 1988 Wasteland finally made
its arrival and boy did it arrive. A game
where players felt like they actually had
an effect on the world they were gaming in. There were multiple solutions to
everything. You could recruit NPCs onto
your team and they could refuse orders
if they didnt like them, and even ditch
you if they felt your leadership failed to
inspire them. They got rid of the RPG
class system that was the standard and
instead incorporated skills which you
could level up. Wasteland was and still
is to some considered one of the best
games of the genre, a standard bearer if
you will. Its still often included in several best games of all time lists, and with
good reason.
Now why are we talking about
Wasteland when this article is about
Fallout? Well its because Fallout is kind
of the sequel to Wasteland. Yes yes, we
know, Why isnt it called Wasteland 2
then? Let us explain. So after the kind
of success Wasteland got, everyone
wanted a sequel, understandably. And
Brian Fargo was all for a sequel, but he
decided that Interplay didnt need any
major publishers and should just publish their own stuff. Starting with of
course, the Wasteland sequel. However, there was teensy problem, the
Wasteland IP belonged to EA and they
had plans of their own for the franchise. But we dont really care about
that sequel. Its called Fountain of
Dreams btw, if you want to check it
out. Never heard of it? Hehe. Interplay
and Fargo had meanwhile started
working on a sequel of their own which
involved time travel and Albert Einstein
as a playable character(what?). It definitely was not set in a wasteland,
wouldnt make sense for Einstein to be
roaming around in a wasteland. How-
ever, the era of the Apple II the

intended platform for release of the
game was coming to an end. And the
project was permanently shelved.
What? Oh noes! Where is

Fallout then?!
Dont worry its coming. In 1994 Wasteland was enjoying a revival thanks to an
Anthology CD celebrating 10 years of
Interplay. News slipped out that Interplay was going back to the post-apocalyptic setting and it was initially being
called Vault-13: a GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System) PostNuclear RPG. It wasnt exactly on Interplays priority list though. V13 was
passed off to Feargus Urquhart, who
ran an RPG focused subdivision in
Interplay. He, along with the three project leads Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Chris Taylor went back to the
Wasteland-ish post-apocalyptic setting.
They wanted the flexibility of a penand-paper RPG in their own character
creation, where character stats and
skills had a significant impact on how
you played the game. You could learn
skills, perks, and choose what path to
take sneak your way past or brute
force your way through, you decided.
They also made use of a karma and
reputation system to track good and
bad behaviour which would affect in
game relationships and opportunities.
Along with this of course was the 1950s
setting were accustomed to now. This
was also where were first introduced to
Vault Boy, the iconic mascot of the Fallout franchise. It was decided that Vault
13 didnt really click as the title, so they
follow us on:
debated between two possible choices,

one of which was Armageddon, however Interplay happened to have another project under that name so naturally
the second choice won, and voil, Fallout was born.
But the game wasnt ready for
release yet, there were still plenty of
squabbles and problems. Eventually,
thanks to those very squabbles,
GURPS was replaced by S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
(Strength, Perception, Endurance,
Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and
Luck) at the very last minute. The stat
system that weve grown accustomed
to now, the system on which pretty
much every other factor in the game
hinged on, was reprogrammed in just
two weeks. And finally, on September
30th 1997, Fallout was released for PC.
There was no team of Rangers this
time, just a Vault Dweller, a simple man
living in a nuclear shelter. Hes forced
to leave the shelter in search of a water
recycling chip replacement for his
vault: Vault 13. And for that he must
venture out into the unfamiliar and
P hr a nc hi s e
harsh aftermath of
nuclear warfare. Yes
drinking water is
important and the
Vault absolutely needs
it to survive but clean
drinking water can
wait. Afterall, theres
so much to do! People
to meet, side quests
to pick up, areas to
explore, easter eggs to
find etc. You could
recruit the more helpful NPCs, also including but not restricted
to Dogmeat, your bestest pal ever. Your
PIPBoy 2000 took care of all the mapping, quest tracking and ability management. The game was isometric of
course, looked great, turn-based combat also worked great. Gawd the game
was just great overall.
As the player, you had a total of 150
days to find a replacement chip. Add
another 350 to that for dealing with
the Children of the Cathedral cultists.
Oh, and also an army of super mutants
who are armed to the teeth. No pressure. The best part about the game
was that players could decide how
they were going to deal with the situation. You could charm your way
through and avoid fighting entirely, or
maybe you could borrow some firepower from the Brotherhood of Steel,
or you know, you could just sell-out the
Vault to the super mutants for some
lols and a nice payday.
hating president and

his Enclave. Which is
pretty much the remnants of the US government. Richardson
the President of the
Enclave has kidnapped the people of
your settlement for
use as his test subjects. So you need to
make your way to the
Enclaves offshore oil
rig base to beat the
boss and rescue them.
Once again, PLENTY of
side quests to do, most of them weird
to boot. The map was huge, so much so
that you actually needed an automated
car to get around.
Black Isle managed to make their
seemingly impossible deadline, but
maybe they shouldve held off for a
while. The game was rife with bugs.
Lots and lots of bugs. Multiple patches
were released but you cant patch up a
buggy reputation. Sales also didnt
quite match up to Fallout 1. Critics
scored it well, considering it was most
of the same, and the same was
already good. However, some did criticise the lack of any innovation. But the
fans didnt care. They loved the game
nonetheless.
DiD yOu knOW?
The icOnic pOWer SuiT

On FallOuT 3S FrOnT
cOver alSO happenS
TO be The gameS FirST
piece OF cOncepT arT.
Needless to say Fallout was an instant

hit. The spiritual successor to Wasteland had earned its place in the best of
all time lists and even the harshest of
critics were showering it with praises.
Fallout didnt do as well as expected, we mean for how great a game it
was and how well it was received, one
would expect more from it in a financial sense. Where it didnt quite match
up. However, it had developed a fan following now. A rabid fan following who
demanded a sequel, who wanted more
of the Fallout universe. So more they
would get, they were already set up for
a sequel anyway, with most of the

code already in place. The newly
dubbed Black Isle Studios got right to
it, and Urquhart decided that it would
be twice as big as the last. He was given
just fifteen months from the release of
the original to finish up with the sequel.
Fallout 2 made some fixes to the AI
and their obstructive behaviour. There
were 14 quirky, and very rememberable possible companions this time
around. Also including Dogmeat, whos
well over eighty years old now. Wow,
thats one healthy dog (maybe a
ghoul?). A few graphical updates here
and there but otherwise, at its core the
engine remained the same. But there
was still a lot left to do and not enough
time to do it. There was simply too
much on everyones plate. What
ensued was a lot of resignations and
the result was that pretty much none
of the original crew were left working
on the sequel. Development was split
between two teams who had no idea
what the other was doing and the
game was put together just two weeks
before it was scheduled for disk duplication. But it somehow clicked, sort of.
Fallout 2 had you playing as the
Chosen One, a direct descendant of
the OG Vault Dweller. Youre forced to
leave the settlement the Vault Dweller
founded because of harsh drought
conditions. The only way to ensure the
settlement lives is to search for a
G.E.C.K.(Garden of Eden Creation Kit).
After a tutorial where you get your PIPBoy and your jumpsuit, youre off on
your own epic adventure. This time
around you have to deal with a mutant
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Well dayum, we definitely

need a sequel now
Some not-so-fallout Fallout

The next Fallout title to grace us wasnt
exactly a Fallout title. Well it was, but
just in name. It looks like Interplay
wasnt really too keen on the Fallout
franchise, and Micro Forte, an Australian developer caught the IP. What they
gave us was Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. As the name suggests, it
was a tactics game. Nothing less nothing more. No huge world to explore, no
side quests to do, no conversations. If
anything the game dumped quite few
RPG elements in favor of more combat
oriented options. Sure it was a nice tactics game, but it wasnt a Fallout game.
Not a real Fallout game anyway.
The Journey to Fallout 3

Come 2000, Black Isles just a small
crew now, working on a new 3D engine
from scratch for Interplays next big
P hr a nchi s e
franchise installment, Baldurs Gate III.

But then it was abruptly cancelled in
2003, wut? The team was shocked,
why would you cancel Baldurs Gate
III?! But they immediately shifted all
of their attention to another project, a
backup project if you will, called Van
Buren. This was of course, the codename for Fallout 3. And Black Isle was
more than happy to be working on
wasteland again.
Van Burens story seemed solid.
Prisoner making his escape under
attack, hounded by an unknown
assailant, you roam around Utah and
Colorado looking for answers while
choosing to make or break a fading
Brotherhood of Steel. Tough choices
were aplenty as was the norm, and
they were bringing in quick travel as
well, although youd have to work for
it. Everything seemed right, and it
looked like we would be getting a stellar game. But thanks to the financial
status of Interplay because of poor
returns in recent years (they were
$59 million in debt) and poor management by Titus, it came as no surprise that Fallout 3 was shelved, with
most of the work on it already done.
Urquhart resigned, took the project
leads with him, and went on to found
Obsidian Entertainment.
The guys at Titus believed PC gaming was dying (pfft yea, right) and the
future was in consoles. So they were
like why waste resources on slowpaced pc games? So they dissolved
Black Isle, laid off whatever little of the
employees remained and dished out
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel in 2004.

It released only for the Xbox and PS2.
Titus Interactive collapsed soon after
Brotherhood of Steel landed. No surprise there. While they called it an
Action-RPG there was nothing RPG
about it. Linear gameplay, some platforming here and there, shooting and
hacking, and a little bit of puzzle solving. Thats it. Makes Fallout Tactics
look more appealing.
Now Interplay was in a tight spot. At
this point nobody even knew if they
existed. Then suddenly out of the blue,
in November 2006 they decide we
wanna make a Fallout MMO. Well okay
then, but where are you going to get
the money for that? The estimated
start-up price for a Fallout MMO was a
staggering $75 million. And they were
still $11 million in debt. This is where
Bethesda Softworks stepped in and
paid off a little over half of their debt.
Bethesda were the established kings
of the RPG genre at the time with The
Elder Scrolls: Morrowind release of
2002. And it turns out a lot of the folks
at Bethesda were big Fallout fans. In
follow us on:
2007 Bethesda outright bought the

Fallout IP for another $5.75 million.
Interplay were given 2 more years to
finish the Fallout MMO they were
working on.
And were finally at Fallout 3

When Bethesda started working on
Fallout, they didnt touch Van Buren. In
fact, when a playable demo made it
onto the Internet they didnt even
mind. What they wanted was to resurrect the Fallout they knew and loved.
Bethesda wouldnt repeat past mis-
P hr a nc hi s e
takes *cough*Brotherhood of
Steel*cough*.
Even though it was fully 3D-rendered, had real-time combat, wasnt
isometric, and was kind of an FPS, Fallout was back baby! It was designed on
Oblivions game engine, hence the
familiarity between the two titles.
S.P.E.C.I.A.L. was back, the karma system was back, perks and skills were
back, whacky side quests were back,
everything we loved had been included.
V.A.T.S.(Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting
System) was brought in for specific targeting and some bullet time epicness.
We were now in Washington DC,
thirty-six years after Fallout 2. New
Vault Dweller, new Vault 101. Hes looking for his father who has suddenly
disappeared. The
Brotherhood of Steel
and the Enclave are
ready to duke it out
and thats the least of
your troubles. The
Lone Wanderer could
visit the other outposts, meet new people, kill them (you
dont HAVE to, you
can), help them, do
whatever he or she
wanted. There was of
course quick travel,
but why would you do
that when theres so much to explore
and do. After 10 years, Fallout finally
had a worthy sequel. Fallout 3 went on
to outsell all previous Fallout titles and
is still played today with an active
modding community.
Meanwhile Interplay wasnt doing
too hot with the MMO, and Bethesda
took them to court for being unable to
meet the license agreement. But
Bethesda werent able to win and
development continued. Interplay
went on to announce a teaser site at
E3 2010 where potential players could
sign up for the beta but it never progressed beyond that. Bethesda settled
with Interplay out of court and
regained the Fallout MMO license.
New Vegas. Obsidian was of course,

made up mostly of former Black Isle
employees and so a lot of the folks
who worked on Fallout 2 were here.
Ideas from Fallout 2 and Van Buren
were incorporated into New Vegas
which would be a hybrid between the
old and new fallout. However, the
rushed release came with lots of
bugs. It wasnt ready yet, thanks to
which it got poor reviews. But after
various patches, mods, and expansions, New Vegas could easily be on
par, if not better than any of the previous Fallout titles.
New Vegas had you playing as The
Courier, a messenger who was shot in
the head and left for dead, with no
memories but only revenge on your
system. The ability to build your own

settlements, grow crops, build generators and defences. You know, actually tame the wasteland instead of the
just wandering about. Also, the Sole
Survivor would be fully voiced and
the Xbox One version of the game
would get mod support. What could
go wrong?
Turns out too much hype is never a
good thing. Not saying that Fallout 4
was a bad game but it didnt live up to
the hype it created. The focus seemed
to have moved from story to gameplay. It was more like an FPS than
ever. Your decisions didnt feel as
impactful and the plot even though
you were given choices to make
seemed linear. The end result was the
same no matter which
approach you decided
to take or which faction you decided to
support. Considering
that its as recent as a
year old well hold off
on spoilers about the
plot. Were considerate that way.
At its core though it
was still a Fallout game.
Despite its flaws its
still very much enjoyable. Theres still those
crazy weird sidequests, quirky and memorable NPCs
and companions, some ridiculous
weapons, and hours upon hours of fun
to be had. The crafting system is quite
complex and theres many possibilities
to weapon and armour modifications.
And speaking of modifications, you
cant forget about the modding community. You can count on them to fix
anything the game developers may
have overlooked. For all you know,
maybe they do it intentionally so that
the modders fix it for them.
DiD yOu knOW?

The FaT man iS baSeD
On a real WeapOn
calleD The m-28/29
Which can Fire m388
mini nukeS.
mind. It was a much more intricate
storyline, lots of politics and conflict,
but Fallout to the core. Theres of
course no shortage of weirdness,
wouldnt be a Fallout game without it.
For example, theres a sniper perched
on a dinosaur who you can recruit.
There was lots more content added to
the game as well, thanks to expansions
and mods.
Took an awful lot of titles to

be able to make a shack
Fallout 3 was quickly followed by

Obsidian Entertainments Fallout:
Fallout 4 was swimming in hype. So

many promises and from a company
that has delivered and then some in
the past. After the success of Skyrim
in 2011, Bethesda could do no wrong,
at least in the eyes of the fans. And
Fallout 4 was going to be as amazing
as they said it would be. There was
going to be a fully fleshed crafting
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enter new vegas
conclusion
Almost every title in this franchise has
won a game of the year award. Its one
of the few franchises out there that
still does RPG right. Need we say
more? If youre an RPG nut the Fallout
experience is one you shouldnt miss
at any cost.
Unwind
Esc
140
The modern day internet friendly

generation has some really interesting
(and wierd) gods to worship.
Community
142
Making great videos doesnt really

need fancy and expensive gear. just
the right tricks up your sleeve.
What the what
01
Uber logo re-design: Before this

particular redesign, Uber had a
perfectly serviceable logo. While it
wasnt aesthetically gorgeous, it was
fulfilling the chief requirement a logo
has to be recognizable all over the
world. Lets be honest, it is quite
literally a 90 degree counter clockwise
inversion of their previous logo.
Predictably, social media went mad.
TO MOCK
IS DIVINE
Here are epic fail reactions to technology brands
attempts to woo everyone gone horribly wrong
Meghana Gupta
n the 21st century, creativity is

all but a misnomer. Nothing is
original, you see. So, there are
certain similarities between global
brands and their Indian counterparts.
Take, for example, Whatsapp a free
messaging app that is available for
Android and iOS phones globally.
An ambitious entrepreneur might

come up with, say, Hike. Which, as you
mightve guessed, is also a free messaging app. Another example would
be how Ebay spawned OLX, Quikr, or
a spate of other online sales portals.
Nowadays, brands spend hundreds
of millions of dollars trying to come
up with an iconic logo change, or new
innovative technology. Sometimes
though, they shouldve just copied.
A spatula is hardly a logo for a

taxicab company, right? Or perhaps
they took inspiration from Star Wars?
Probably not.
Of course, a press release came out
almost immediately, explaining how
this new logo is essential to the realignment in the brand priorities. Something
about bits and atoms inspiring such
a logo. That might very well be so, but
when your new logo resembles a badly
done henna tattoo, there might be
something wrong.
This was broadly hailed as an
absurd decision. But then again, it isnt
close to as absurd as compared to some
of the others in this list.
02
Google Glass: This piece of

revolutionary technology first
came up in 2012, and was available to
the public in April 2014. If you were
lucky though, you couldve been one of
the lucky few who beta tested it for a
knockoff price of a mere $1500. Its
groundbreaking features include being
able to take photos, shoot videos, and
err. Google stuff. Thats about it. If you
were paying $1500 for a pair of glasses,
the least you could expect is a Cyclops
style laser beam obliterating your
enemies. Or just fulfill the primary
purpose of a pair of glasses.
To people saying that Google Glass
is just a phone taped to your face that
Google Trips launched

Feature
To help you plan your vacation and

other trips, Google has launched
Google Trips. http://dgit.in/GglTrps
isnt true. If anything, its worse than a

phone taped to your face.
Jokes apart, it really will be an
ingenious way to achieve different
facial contortions with relative ease.
It was like a shot of nostalgia in the arm

for generations of Pokmon fans. While
it did become a butt of a lot of jokes,
this application mightve just made the
world a slightly better place.
04
03
Pokmon Go: A.K.A how

Nintendo tried to solve the
obesity problem (This is possibly the
only member of this vaunted list that is
a brilliant product in its own right).
Sometimes, the jokes write themselves.
Other times, theyre fuelled by the
collective nerd-power of the entire
universe. Nigh on a few days after its
limited release, a pirated version of this
game could be found on the phone of
any 16 year old with access to Internet.
Pokmon Go forces the player to do
something the current generation of
teens arent very familiar with walk.
The game took the world by storm,
notching over 100 million downloads
in under a month. Niantic the company responsible for this game changer
originally released a beta version with
a reduced server capability. So, obviously, users kept getting disconnected.
The fact remains that Pokmon
united people of different generations
in a common task catch em all.
Apple Pencil: All you have to do

if you want to go viral on a social
networking website is mock Apple.
Theyve established themselves as both
the frontrunners in the smartphone
and laptop market, as well as the
we-make-zany-products-so-make-funof-us market. The number of absurd
products they release every few years
has grown to such a number, that this
list could legitimately just have Apple
products on it.
For every Macbook Pro, they have
something like the Apple Mouse. Who
doesnt remember the inverted mouse
charging jokes?
Even the Apple Mouse however,
doesnt hold a candle to a certain Pencil.
The Apple Pencil is a traditional stylus
that only works with the iPad Pro. Can
Nikon KeyMission
Nikon launches KeyMission series,

wearable cams, GoPro clones 360 cams.
http://dgit.in/NknKeyMsn
05
Apple iPad Pro: Over the years,

Apple has gained itself quite a fan
following. Sometimes it seems that they
can take liberties other brands cant
because of such brand loyalty.
One such liberty they seem to
have taken is called Apple iPad Pro.
When it was announced in 2015,
Apple were just exiting their own
unofficial less is more strategy, and
seemed to have decided that everything needed to be bigger.
The Microsoft Surface Pro tablet

had an attachable keyboard before the
iPad Pro, which has led to a back-andforth exchange of jibes. If the trend
continues, expect Apple to reinvent
storage as well.
Facebook Reactions: Since
Facebook became popular; there
has been a fairly common complaint
about the lack of a dislike button.
Taking heed of this, Facebook released
an all new list of reactions in 2016.
They were a group of emojis that could
be used to react to any status update.
But you know what was missing? A
DISLIKE BUTTON. Sigh.
There were users who had a sense of
Stockholm Syndrome because the like
button had been their only means of
expression up until now.
Others let out a sigh of relief. Why?
No need to tax themselves by using,
you know, words. Not that words
themselves make a lot of sense on
social networks!
While these Reactions are widely
being used nowadays, we are still
doubtful if people actually take the time
to choose the appropriate one, or just
hit the like button anyway! Much ado
about nothing, indeed.
06
we use it with the newest iPhone?, you

ask. No, no, and a third time, no.
The iPad Pro itself uses the high
sample rate only when it senses the
stylus being used, and iPhones arent
equipped with such technology.
So, whats the point?
The founder of Apple, Mr. Steve
Jobs, has already answered this.
In 2007, when the original iPhone
was released, he said, Who needs a
stylus?. Turns out, the Apple iPad Pro
does. Dont believe it? Perhaps a back
to basics approach was what inspired
the Apple Pencil. Which brings us to
Apple Pencils partner in crime, the allnew iPad Pro.
Ad-free Facebook
Adblock Plus, Open Source community

must fight harder for ad free Facebook.
http://dgit.in/FBAdFree
07
Pokmon Go Plus
The much-awaited Pokmon Go Plus is

finally here to hook you back to the game!
http://dgit.in/PokeGPlus
Airbnb: They redesigned their

logo in 2014. There was no need,
considering their net worth at that time
was upward of $ 10 billion, and they
were reaching new heights everyday.
Before we get into the nitty gritty of
their logo, lets see what they had to say
about their new logo.
It was basically a combination of
these four images, focused on the idea
of belonging (This is screen grab from
their video)
Hitler loving sex-bot. Heres a rough

graph of its transformation.
While obviously a joke, this raises
serious questions for the future of
AI. In Microsofts defense, they didnt
program Tay to be such a monster.
They just made her record, report,
and understand what was tweeted to
her, and tweet back in a way that was
appropriate. It wasnt their fault that
the Internet is full of racist, bigoted,
sexist pigs. Though this doesnt mean it
cant be joked about.
Microsoft took down the bot
in short time, but the damage was
already done. As the world accelerates its search for more human AI, be
prepared to be a witness to many such
bot related mishaps.
Look at it from whatever angle you

want, and youll come to the conclusion that it rather looks like a part of
the male genitalia. And once you see it,
you cant un-see it. Something that the
jokers of the Internet found out almost
immediately.
Someone tell the people at Airbnb
that there is a difference between good
intentions and good design, and that
one doesnt necessarily lead to the
other. Though something tells me that
theyve already realized this.
09
Snapdeal: Apparently Snapdeal

executives travelled from tip to
toe of India to truly understand the
relevance of the brand. They then spent
a whopping Rs. 200 crore to come up
with a new logo. Well thats understandable considering how well
rebranding works if it is done well.
And, when it comes down to it, their
new logo isnt all that bad.
Theres just one tiny problem - there
might be a slight case of plagiarism.
08
TayTweets: Perhaps not as well

known as the rest of the faux
pas in this list, Microsofts pet
machine learning project. TayTweets
was basically a bot Twitter account
that was designed for human
engagement. It was released with a lot
of expectation, and you know how
that goes, right?
Within 24 hours of its inception,
the Twitter account had turned into a
There is an adage that T.S.Elliot has

said to have come up with originally
- that good artists copy, great artists
steal. It is left to your discretion to
choose whether the people behind the
new Snapdeal logo are good artists, or
great artists.
10
Apple iPhone 7: To end this list,

we go back to the original butt of
all jokes. Yes, of course it is Apple. What
list would be complete without the
brand new Apple iPhone 7. This is a
story that has been told every time there
Feature
is an Apple release, so it can literally be

told through just tweets and memes.
Oh, and by the way, the iPhone 7
has 2 cameras on the front now. Why?
God knows.
Use your brains

Well, so thats that. There are, of
course, hundreds of others highly
amusing brand redesigns, faux pas,
and just simple design mistakes.
There are, however, the ones we
found the most amusing. To actually feature all the hilarious brand
mistakes here would make this an
endless list. While they are funny,
none of us would want that, right?
There seems to be a trend in modern
brands nowadays to go for the hottest, newest thing, but really, it
would probably a whole lot easier to
avoid all this by just running it past
a group of next gen teenagers. They
are, after all, the people in charge of
making the Internet a funny place.
Seriously though, why would
you want such super-brands to stop
making some mistakes? After all, last
time we checked, theyre still run by
humans. And you never know, amidst
these hilarious screw ups might lie the
next big idea that changes the world as
we know it.
Shutdown alert!
Unwind
According to reports, Microsoft may

shutdown London offices of Skype.
http://dgit.in/SkypeSD
Universal Clipboard
MacOSs latest feature lets you
transfer links, photos and more.
http://dgit.in/UniCllpbd
Gods Of Our Time

Seek you salvation? Or seek you inner peace? Or maybe you fall under the world
domination category like the rest of us?
Flying Spaghetti Monster
Cthulhu
Morgan Freeman
His Holy Noodliness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the ultimate truth
in the universe. It lies in the center
of the religion known as Flying Spaghetti Monsterism or Pastafarianism.
To them it is Creator and Overseer,
watching over us and the world and
changing it as it sees fit.
The Great One is an ancient aquatic

creature who rose from his lowly
origins as a Japanese porn star
to become a God. Thanks to H. P.
Lovecraft and some clever publicity,
Cthulhu gained a reputation for
omnipotence. All hail Cthulhu!
Morgan Freeman is a well known

escape artist, politician, voice actor,
and God. Morgan Freeman was born
old. He doesnt need to procreate,
a baby simply appears when he
smiles. Bruce Almighty was nonfiction for him.
The Force
The Latter-Day Dude
Sheogorath
The Force can make stuff float

and make people do stuff for you.
Supreme Lord George Lucas was the
first to discover The Force and he
mentions it in his 7-part documentary
Star Wars. Mark Hamill can use it,
but Harrison Ford cannot.
An ancient philosophy that practices

as little as possible, preaches not
preaching, and uhwhat were we
talking about again? Anyway, you
want peace on earth and goodwill,
man? Well get you started on the
path of Dudeism, bro.
No list of deities is complete without

the Daedric Prince of Madness, and
everybody knows who he is. He says
so himself. I am a part of you, little
mortal. I am a shadow of your subconscious, a blemish on your fragile
little psyche. You know me. You just
dont know it.
iPhones for the dog
You wish someone would gift you an

iPhone 7? This guy gifted his dog 8!
http://dgit.in/iPh7Dog
Fashionable instacam
Michael Kors and Fujifilm have
unveiled their Fujifilm Instax Mini 70.
http://dgit.in/MKFInstax
Unwind
How we unwind
Because Momos
Large Screens Everywhere
Such Immunity, Much Sick
Were all foodies here at the test lab

and were more than happy to add
new fooderies to our list of places
to snack at. All of us here share an
unhealthy love for momos. A bit too
much maybe? Naaw. We found a new
place who now have dedicated fans in
us. Momos are love, momos are life.
Manish and Jayesh decided it was

time for an upgrade. While Jayesh
went for the 30-inch monitor, Manish
went for the 55-inch one. We dont
think he thought it through though,
he now has to sit a good 6 feet away
to actually look at the whole screen
without breaking his neck.
Someone or the other keeps falling

sick over here. The weather being the
way it is, we had a bout of viral fever
doing the rounds and one by one we
fell victim to sickness. But were a
sturdy bunch (not really, considering
how often we fall sick) so itll take
more than that to keep us down!
diary
wouldnt get to eat any non-veg food but it turns out he still
As we already mentioned in the how we unwind section
did. No respect for tradition these days we tell you!
above, everyone was taking turns falling sick. Colds, sore
Arnab decided to leave the comfort of buses and started
throats and viral fevers were running the show this month.
taking the Mumbai local to save time. This was literally his
Siddharth, however, was unfortunate enough to contract
first experience with the Mumbai locals and the poor chap
chikungunya. Kids, this is why you take precaution against
was terrified, holding onto his belongmosquitoes. The little buggers can
ings with a vice-like grip. We swear
constrain you to your beds for weeks.
we see him silently say a little prayer
The world could do without mosquiThe Digit SKOAR! board
just before he leaves everyday.
toes entirely we say.
Following the hype that is Jio,
We had Ganpati celebrations this
Difficulty level
: Hitting the big 3-oh
Rats Incarcerated : 0 (we spared them
Nikhil got himself a Jio SIM and all of
month as well, and you all know what
this time)
us were curious to know if one could
that means. Mumbai shuts down to
Skills learned
: De-icing A/Cs
actually get speeds as high as theyre
celebrate and its close to impossible
Quote of the month : Please dont send
claiming. One speed test later we
to get anywhere by road. Add to that
me flowers!
were definitely seeing big numbers
the loudspeakers and the noise and
Siddharth
and Nikhil says hes satisfied with the
most of us barely got any sleep. In
speed. But we have to take his word
Abhijits case it was so loud at his
for it because we dont really see it on
place, he actually camped in office to
his face.
catch up on some sleep.
Not much Counter-Strike happened this month, twas
Anyway, thanks to all that and heavy rains, closing this
mostly just Siddharth and Jayesh playing. The two of them
month was delayed. Again. We normally delay closing by
are constantly oscillating between Gold Nova and Gold
default but this time we have a legitimate excuse. And since
Nova 2. Manish on the other hand seems to be having a
were veterans at delaying things were also experts of the
blast playing League on the new 55-inch screen.
last minute cram session. So were sure wed be scramSiddharth turned 30 this month. He wasnt too happy
bling about as usual even if we hadnt fallen sick.
about it. We kept telling him that age is just a number but he
Mithun was once again absent for most of closing an
still seemed pretty down about it. Nah were kidding, we toentire week to be specific. This time the occasion was Onam
tally made fun of him and called him old. Feel free to write
and so off he went to his hometown somewhere in Kerala.
in and call him old wish him well on turning 30.
Were all sadistic and were secretly enjoying the fact that he
Google buys API.AI

Digit Squad
Google acquiress team behind API.AI- a

tool that to build conversational bots like Siri.
http://dgit.in/GglAPIAI
Fujifilms GFX 50S
Fujifilm unveiled GFX 50S mirrorless

digital camera and GFX camera system.
http://dgit.in/FFGFX50S
Every month we recognise the best article written

by our community members and publish it here.
Keep up the good work, Digitians!
Creating quality videos on

a budget
What is it that sets apart an amateur and a professional movie? Definitely not
the camera. Read ahead to know how you can create quality videos like the
pros without breaking the bank.
Videos are a visual form of conveying stories
and they wont appeal the audience if something isnt right with them. Fault could be
with the story, narration or maybe the quality.
Unless you are any movie director from Bollywood, chances are that this article will benefit
you in improving the third aspect, quality, of
Praneet Sah
your low budget movie or say, a video that will
end up on YouTube.
Instead of spending a lot of money and then time to learn
expensive gadgets, why not try and learn to get the best out
of equipment you already own. Right now, Im assuming that
your camera can shoot at 1080p (with quality that youre satisfied with) and a microphone (or a super quiet environment).
For the software part well use Adobes Premiere Pro and After
Effects. And finally we require a computer with lots of RAM
(unless being patient is fine with you). Lets dive in and take
your video up-a-notch.
Color Grading
Video is just amalgam of colors and changing colors can
result in a totally different feel because people relate
colors with feelings. But color grading would never be
the same between two films, so you really need to experiment on your own and choose the best for your shot.
Before you color grade, it is suggested that your set your

cameras color profile to flat (most DSLRs have this option)
or choose the least vibrant color profile since were aiming for
a flat/monotonous look. Also, color grade the movie when it
is entirely edited because you wont like to waste time color
grading a footage that you wont use. In Premiere Pro CC, you
can use effects like RGB Curves, Color Balance and ThreeWay Color Corrector to color grade your movies. From the
Effects panel from the lower left corner, drop them on the
clips. Then go to the Effects Controls and edit the colors
yourself. If those settings are hard for you then you might go
ahead with Red Giants Magic Bullets Colorista III plugin
which is user friendly but comes with a $200 price tag.
Camera Stabilization
Nobody likes to watch a movie
thats shaky unless the shot
demands it. The best you can do
for a moving shot is to either buy
a glidecam (which probably cost
more than your camera) or you
can try your best to keep your
hands steady and later stabilize
the footage. Adobe Premiere
Pro provides an effect called
Warp Stabilizer that works
very well for our purpose
Background Music
Before and after - Colorista III
Cheapest Glidecam for a

DSLR @ $249
Choosing the best music for

your movie is really important, but at the same time you
wouldnt want to infringe any copyrights and therefore
the music you choose must be either free to use or made by
you (check out Augusts issue that has a beginners guide
to making your own music). You can use YouTubes own
library of music that is free and legal to use. You can also
head over to www.soundcloud.com. Before you use an artists music, message them and ask for permissions.
New Tweeting rules
Twitters new series of rule revisions

that were announced in May have gone
live now! http://dgit.in/TwtrRules
CommuNITy CreATIoNS
About the creator:
Ishan Gupta is a thirteen year old developer
from Kanpur, UP, who is really passionate
about Android development and coding.
When he isnt in his geekiest form, he also
enjoys sports and music. Devoted to whatever he does, Ishan doesnt believe in quitIshan Gupta
ting until he achieves his goal. He receives
complete freedom and support from his family and teachers,
and also looks up to the stories of successful people. With an
immense interest in computers right from the sixth standard,
he found an interest in coding through his seniors in school and
never looked back. Ishan wants to study in the best institute
and become a successful software engineer while earning
respect and fame. In the future, he also intends in starting his
own company to develop software and games.
About his creation:

Ishan got into Android game development after reading several
blogs. With some tinkering in the Unity game engine and further
learning about the software through forums and video tutorials,
he managed to learn unityscript and came up with the concept
for a game. He ended up developing Colorman, an endless runner
game and published it on the Google Play Store. He dedicated his
inspiration to successful people in the field of game development. You can download it from here: http://dgit.in/Colorman
Google Books Discover
Google updates Books app with Discover

section that makes suggestions on what to
read next. http://dgit.in/GglBksUP
Digit Squad
Lighting
Every setting can have different lighting; However, in general, use a diffuser (this basically softens the light). Alternatively, you can use a white chart paper as a softener. So
the light directly hits the chart paper and then towards the
object. If you dont even have a chart paper, then use the wall
next to you. Just never let the light directly hit the object
which will end up by producing a harsh light on object
and you wont like it, unless you actually want that look.
After lighting the object appropriately, you would also
need to take care of the environment which would be out
of focus but is still relevant. In the environment, remove
the objects that are distracting and prefer a clean environment because you want the audience to look at the object
and not the background. Consider checking out examples
of bad and good lighting to get a better grasp of this.
With all these tips, youve got a good head start in filmmaking. Look at the works of great directors and evaluate
how they transition audio or maybe how they lighten the
scenes. Id also recommend you to start watching Casey
Neistats vlogs (on YouTube) which has great content and the
way he tells story is just perfect! Above all, have a clear story
and narration, the equipment would never limit you from
creating a masterpiece.
Adding objects that follow elements

present in the video.
You can actually do a lot with this one imagine adding
various 3D models in your video, or even a full fledged
creature!. But for now, lets consider you want to add text
that stays relative to some object in the video. To achieve
the same, open up Adobe After Effects and import the
footage, crop the active work space to the area which will
have the text. Then go to Animation> Track Camera. Leave
it for few minute and it will analyse your footage and at
the end, it will generate numerous tracking points on the
video. Just for a check, play the video and you will see that
those points stick to their specific locations and when you
mouse-over any of the points, a circular disk would appear.
Go through a few point and choose any one of the point
whose circular disk looks to be in correct orientation with
ground or wall. In other words, imagine how a disk would
appear from the viewpoint of camera to that point, and then
choose that point which has a disk with real-life-alike orientation. Click on that point and choose Create text and camera
which will provide you with a text that will follow that point.
And there you go! Just edit the text and it will stick to that
point. However make sure that the footage is pretty clean that is, it should have fewer moving objects and should not
contain any jitter. These effects discussed above can be seen in
action in a 20-second-long video clip at http://dgit.in/TextVFX
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The Static Page

Courage of a different kind

pples iPhone 7 launch has

Is the the headphone

even sell (or licence) lightning-based

Let me know at:

www.digit.in | October 2016 | Digit | 1

Why wait till Diwali?

Let me know your thoughts on this

ast month, an advertisement caught

2 | Digit | October 2016 | www.digit.in

product purchases, because the bang that

thanks to Big Data. But are you willing to let go of

our future is Dataism

Its a new global religion. Were already practicing

4 | Digit | October 2016 | www.digit.in

The latest flagship from Asus is

Competitive feature set from

Incrementally better sounding

111 Skoar! (now inside Digit)

Some Indie games out there are giving AAA

Make this issue of Digit coMe alive

78 can you survive

Forgot to buy gifts? Or just

Battleline: Steel Warfare

Free Image Editing Tools

Exploring the universe

In this video series from

Our new best performing

A step in the right direction with

www.digit.in | October 2016 | Digit | 5

The RSS Feed

Big data, little minds

t might seems strange for me to use

6 | Digit | October 2016 | www.digit.in

and are aware of the question. Now compare

Liked or hated this column?

October 2016 Volume 16 Issue 10

Managing Director Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha

Technical Editor Jayesh Shinde

Ringing Bells Freedom 251

Writers Arnab Mukherjee, Manish Rajesh, Nikhil Punjabi

ProducTs reviewed This monTh

Biostar Racing B150GT5

Brand ............................................. Page No.

G.SKILL Ripjaws KM780 RGB

Comparison Test: Smartphones under 30k

Lead UI/UX Designer Shri Hari Tiwari

Peterson PJ & Manoj Kumar VP

Comparison Test: Mid-tower PC cabinets

Cooler Master MasterCase Maker 5

Sr. Photographer Jiten Gandhi

Corsair Carbide Spec Alpha

Writers Abhishek Balaji, Anusha Sinha, Arjun

Thermaltake Core V51

Gutpa, Varad Choudhari

Taiwan Excellency .............................................. 30

India AV ................................................................ 143

Manager Logistics Vijay Menon

Executive Mohd. Nadeem Ansari

8 | Digit | October 2016 | www.digit.in

Published and printed by Kanak Ghosh for and

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