SEPTEMBER 2011 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 10 Rs 150

Reviewed:09 11AMD Llano platform, HTC Flyer, Dell XCD35, Canon EOS 600D, LG Optimus Black P970, Samsung Galaxy Pro, Iomega Screenplay DX, XFX Radeon HD 6670, McAfee Family Protection

www.chip.in

Hackintosh | 7 Lightweight Laptops & 14 iPod Speaker Docks | Use Your Old Laptop's Screen

c all Ma InstLiving with the LionRs 150Your guide to switching from Windows to OS X.

ion on OS X LLean and Mean

steps y 15 eas r PC in you

Play it LoudBudget to premium and everything in between: 14 of the top iPod docks compared.

From Vaio to Macbook Pro, we test and compare 7 of the best slim, ultra-light laptops.

EDITORIAL

Patent warsoogle, Microsoft, Apple, RIM, HP, EMC, Sony the list of companies that have recently spent a billion dollars or more on patents is growing. Across the world, dozens of little wars are being waged. All our favorite companies are dashing wildly and slinging mud at each other in public, while their lawyers laugh all the way to the bank. Patents have become a kind of weaponin a world where hardware is becoming increasingly commoditized and software is becoming decreasingly unique, a strong portfolio of patents affords companies some hope. Not hope that they might be able to develop something astounding and unique that people will rush to buy even if they never knew they needed such a thingbut hope that even if they are able to develop something somewhat noteworthy, theyll be able to prevent others from copying it.

G

Every desirable smartphone today has a touchscreen. Every tablet looks roughly the same and does roughly the same things. If youre an Android licensee without your own operating system, chances are your devices will do pretty much exactly the same things as your competitors devices, just as well. They might even be manufactured side by side in the same factory in China. The stream of innovationreal innovationis down to a trickle, and it doesnt take that long for a reasonably determined company to copy someone elses products. Thats when lawsuits start flying around. Frivolous lawsuits, over the use of a particular material finish, or a type of way that a product might be designed for people to hold it, or even the shape of a plug on an accessory and the color of the box it comes in! Lawsuits designed to keep everyone busy arguing over petty details, solely to prevent a disputed product from being sold. Ones in which evidence is apparently faked, or defendants arent given the chance to present evidence. Pointless ones which will be thrown out of court eventually, but could still cause enough pain to prevent a small company from even thinking of stepping on one of the global giants toes. In an environment like this, patent trolls spring up and thrive. Its possible for someone with absolutely no innovation worth patenting to obtain the exclusive rights to something so vaguely g p y defined that it winds up encompassing pretty much everything out there. There are plenty of d companies who specialize in lying low, picking fat targets, and then striking at the worst possible ducts time. With a simple court order, they can have millions of products yanked off d store shelves, tie up millions of dollars' worth of inventory, and aggravate loyal ettle customers who just want to buy something. Theyll happily settle for an exorbitant amount of money, though. Thats also when real innovation dies. The big companies are spending tual more on legal fees strategic acquisitions then they are on actual research emselves and developmenttheyre more worried about protecting themselves than s reaching their customers. And small startups find their hands tied. Unable to rket develop products even slightly similar to anything on the market for fear of en being sued out of existence, theyll just give up or sell out. Even good e companies might be bought out and shut down, because the new owners want o their patent portfolio, not their actual products. The ones who really lose out then, are we, the consumers.

Jamshed Avari editor@chip.in

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INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

Contents88 Cover story

SEPTEMBER 2011

The Mac Hack

NEWSWIRE16 In the News... 20 The Buzz ListA look at what's making news in the world of technology.

tESt cENtER36 Product Spotlight 38 Hardware Tested 58 Lean and Mean 64 Play It LoudAMD's latest offering fuses CPU and GPU on a single chip. Is it as good as we've hoped?

FEatuREd88 The Mac HackWe show you how to install and run OS X Lion on your ordinary PC.

The people, products and innovations that have got the tech world talking.

The latest PC hardware, mobile phones, digital cameras and more, tested and rated.

100 7 Quick Solutions for Software Breakdowns 104 Web Watch

26 Intel Classmate: Innovation in Education

Analysis and repair tools help alleviate the frustration of problematic software.

Intel's range of Classmate PCs is aiming to change the way education is imparted.

From Vaio to Macbook, we test and compare seven of the best slim and ultra-light laptops.

We scour the Internet and bring you some interesting websites that you may want to visit.

28 Keeping Internet Pirates at Bay 32 Do Not Disturb: A Distant Dream?

Budget to premium, and everything in between; 14 of the top iPod docks compared.

Film and music piracy is growing rapidly, and Indian law is ill-equipped to tackle the menace.

72 Software Spotlight 74 Software Tested

Does McAfee Family Protection offer enough to ensure a secure family browsing experience?

Mobile users are flooded with promotional calls and spam text messages. Can it be stopped?

Everything from image tools and video editors to system tuning apps and antivirus software.

brought to you by eBay on page 111

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intelligent computing chip

ContentsSEPTEMBER 201136 TesT CenTer HarDwarE The latest hardware reviewed

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72 TesT CenTer SOFTwarE SPOTLIgHT McAfee Family Protection

hands on107 Dr CHIPOur in-house expert helps you out with your computing woes.

unwind124 The Darkness II Interview 126 Call of Juarez: The Cartel 128 Child of Eden 129 From DustWe catch up with the developer of the eagerly anticipated, brutal supernatural FPS.

regulars04 Editorial, 10 Colophon, 12 Letters, 16 In the News..., 20 The Buzz List, 22 New Products Launched, 82 Long Term Test, 86 PC Configs, 104 Web Watch, 107 Dr CHIP, 118 Tips & Tricks, 132 Market Watch, 143 Contests, 146 Personal Tech

112 Old Laptop: Second Monitor

Turn your old unused laptop's screen to create an extended display for your desktop PC.

From Western to urban, the series makes a less than impressive transition to modern times.

116 Chromium on Your NotebookYou don't need Google's Chromebooks to get the Chromium OS experience.

Tetsuya Misuguchi's stylish Kinect-enabled shooter delivers!

117 Splash Your HTC Desire 118 Tips N Tricks

Bored with your HTC Desires stock splash screen? Why not replace it with your own?

It's the return on the God games genre, but the execution is less than perfect.

Some useful tweaks and hidden application features you may not know about.

130 Fruit Ninja Kinect

The popular smartphone game goes from touchscreen to touch-free with Kinect.

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intelligent computing chip

COLOPHON

FOUNDER & EDITOR, NETWORK18 Raghav Bahl PRESIDENT & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, TV18 Senthil Chengalvarayan MANAGING EDITOR Hatim Kantawalla hatim.kantawalla@network18online.com DEPUTY EDITOR Jamshed Avari jamshed.avari@chip.in DEPUTY EDITOR - TECHNICAL Anand Tuliani anand.tuliani@chip.in COPY DESK Sameer Desai ASSISTANT HEAD - TEST CENTER Francis DSa MULTIMEDIA COORDINATOR Sachin Haldankar TEST CENTER COORDINATOR Gautami Chalke SENIOR FEATURES WRITER Priyanka Tilve SPECIAL PROJECTS WRITERS Kamakshi Venugopal, Kushal Mamoowala SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Nirmal Biswas ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Jagdish Limbachiya SENIOR DESIGNER - CHIP INSIDER Hemali Limbachiya DESIGNER Harshad Gujare ILLUSTRATORS Sachin Pandit, Chaitanya Surpur TECH2.0 TEAM Shayne Rana, Rossi Fernandes, Roydon Cerejo, Avinash Bali, Padmini Harchandrai, Aaron Almeida, Karan Shah, Anuradha Shett y, Rajesh Dsouza HEAD - INTERNET Tushar Burman CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Mexy Xavier PHOTOGRAPHERS Neha Mithbawkar, Joshua Navalkar IMAGE PROCESSING Sanjay Shelar, Ravi Salian, Ravikumar Potdar

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NEWSSTAND AND SUBSCRIPTIONSHEAD (COPY SALES) Sunil Nair DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER Manoj Palsay West: Mumbai: Soorendra Desai, Sanjay Bhujle, Yeshwant Gotpagar, Dinesh Devadiga; Pune: Sachin Kamble, Nitin Agre; Ahmedabad: Pranav Dave; Nagpur: Abhijeet Roy. North: Delhi: Ashish Chakravorty, Kamal Bisht, Sanjay Sharma, Kamakhya Pandey; Lucknow: Amit Singh. East: Kolkatt a: Debraj Sur. South: Chennai: Kripanand S, Balaji G; Bangalore: Devaraju Gowda; Hydrabad: G.S. Mahesh, Ratnaprasad Choppara; Cochin: A.K.Shihabuddin.

CORPORATE (SUBSCRIPTIONS)ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER Rajiv Mani ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER Sanjay Elisha SENIOR MANAGER (SUBSCRIPTIONS) Sheetal Kotawdekar COORDINATORS Sarita Quadros, Chaitali Parkar, Kamlesh Mathkar, Vaibhav Ghavale, Meena Katt a LOGISTICS TEAM Percy Palkhiwala, Anant Shirke

PRINTINGEXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Ananth R. Iyer ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER - PPC Shekhar Khot PRODUCTION TEAM Surekha Karmarkar, Dnyaneshwar Goythale, Vikas Bobhate

SERVICESCIRCULATION SERVICES: If Intelligent Computing CHIP is not available at your news stand, or for other news stand queries, write to manoj.palsay@infomedia18.in SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: For subscription queries, write to customercare@infomedia18.in or call +91 22 30034631-34 or toll free 1800 200 1021 PERMISSIONS: For permissions to copy or reuse material from Intelligent Computing CHIP, write to editor@chip.in

CHIP INTERNATIONAL: Editorial Consultant International - Thomas Pyczak, Poccistrabe 11, 80336 Munchen CHIP is also published in the following countries: China, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine Copyright 2004 INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP is an internationally protected trademark owned by CHIP Communications GmbH Views and opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Infomedia18 Ltd., its publisher and/or editors. We at Infomedia18 do our best to verify the information published but do not take any responsibility for the absolute accuracy of the information. Infomedia18 does not accept the responsibility for any investment or other decision taken by readers on the basis of information provided herein. Infomedia18 Ltd. does not take responsibility for returning unsolicited material sent without due postal stamps for return postage. No part of this magazine can be reproduced without the prior writt en permission of the publisher. Infomedia18 Ltd. reserves the right to use the information published herein in any manner whatsoever. Published by Lakshmi Narasimhan and printed by Mohan Gajria on behalf of Infomedia18 Ltd. Editor: Lakshmi Narasimhan Printed at Infomedia18 Ltd., Plot No. 3, Sector No. 7, Off Sion-Panvel Road, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 706 & published at Infomedia18 Ltd., A Wing, Ruby House, J.K. Sawant Marg, Dadar (W), Mumbai 28. For all international subscription enquiries, contact the Subscription Department, Intelligent Computing CHIP All editorial queries must be directed to the Editor, Intelligent Computing CHIP, Infomedia18 Ltd, Special Interest Publications Division, A Wing, Ruby House, JK Sawant Marg, Dadar West, Mumbai 28 Tel: (91 22) 30034631-35; Fax: (91 22) 30034499, Email: editor@chip.in

Infomedia18 Ltd. is the publishing arm of Network18.

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INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

LETTERS

INBOXNext month's Star Letter wins accessories set (worth Rs 5,000)

STAR LETT'sEinR th w nerThis mon cool gets a set accessories

Why so serious?Dear CH CHIP, Recently many of us must have seen tickers on all TV channels stating that any contentcontent-related grievances can be reported to the Broadcast Content Complaint Council (BCCC). If any sexual, vulgar or objectionable content is telecast on chan any channel, even cartoon channels, you can report it to the BCCC and that content will be censored. This move by the government is due to a certain group filing complaints with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. But more than solving the issue, it will take the real fun out of shows, e especially foreign ones. Im not entirely against the rule, but my concern is how a governing agenc agency can be easily influenced by a small group of so called concerned citizens. Im sure that this group consists of people who actually spend time looking objectionab for objectionable content on various channels. This is clear moral policing. My worst fear acti is that the same action might be implemented on the Internet, which will resemble what doing China has been doing. Forget about porn, people there cant even Google search. Even if

Sachin Pandit

similar search engine are operational, they are heavily controlled and monitored. engines Such actions are on legitimate if there is a real threat to national security, not necessarily only social security. Social life and beliefs are individual concerns. By the time you read this, I hope sto the London riots will have stopped. Reports are emerging that social networking sites such are violenc responsible for the spread of violence. Debates are going on whether such sites should be banned or not! Its up to individuals to watch out for themselves, and if they find any objectionable content or material they can simply shut down their own PCs and TVs, not the entire system. Regards, NIKHIL R Dear Nikhil, We share the same views, but unfortunately there are far too many people around who make others business their own and think its necessary to impose their personal morals and standards on the entire country. Moral activists and supposedly concerned citizens have been trying to censor TV and the Web for many years, and theyve already succeeded to the point where our broadcast media are so boring and sanitized that people have just tuned out. Weve heard of several people pirating their favorite TV shows just because of the ridiculous way that scenes are regularly cut, dialogue silenced, and subtitles replaced. TVs have had parental locks built in for years, so we wonder why offended citizens cant be happy with using that function. Luckily, its getting easier to source content from unconventional sources, and online distribution will help people get what theyre looking for without the government or individual busybodies deciding what is or isnt suitable for us. TEAM CHIP

Facebook todayDear Sir,

is focusing on Anna Hazares movement and people are supporting it in Delhi from all over India. Facebook has become a strong medium through which people can join the movement of Anna Hazare. We always say that Facebook is emerging as an addiction, but this time it is emerging as the voice of

the common people who cant go outside to protest against corruption. Facebook gives them a platform to raise their voices against corruption and the Governments Lokpal bill. People also say that Facebook is not good for our generation, but now it has emerged as a platform for the nation.

CONTACT INFO

I have been an avid reader of CHIP since 2009. I want to attract the attention of people who suggest Facebook is an addiction. I am writing to you on the 18th of August 2011, when Mr Anna Hazare is in jail for protesting against the governments Lokpal bill. The media

Please send your letters to: editor@chip.in with "LETTERS" in the subject line

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INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

LETTERS

SMS USSince we like knowing whats on your mind and what you think about our magazine, we bring you another way to get in touch. Do you have something to say about a test or review? Liked a feature story? Was the workshop useful? SMS us your feedback! For general comments, create the following message: ICCO Example: ICCO The cover story was very useful To rate a story, product review, etc look out for the story tag at the base of each article and type: ICCO Example: ICCO PWS 5 The Story tag is mentioned at the base of every story in the magazine and the Rating is on a scale of 1 to 5. Finally, send your messages to 51818. Cheers! Please keep comments to 160 characters per message! Include your email address to help us reply or check out the SMS Feedback thread at www.chip.in/forums

In these changing times every Facebook account holder can talk about Anna Hazares campaign against corruption. This way, we all feel its power and we can say Facebook is a means of virtual revolution. AJAY KARNATAK DEHRADUN, UTTRAKHAND

AUGUST 2011 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 9 Rs 150

WIN A PS3 + MOVE!3G: WHY EVERYONES ANGRY WILL TABLETS REALLY KILL THE PC? COMMON TECH MYTHS DEBUNKED FUN DIGITAL CAMERA TRICKS HACK YOUR ANDROID BOOT SCREEN

CHIP, is there any eligibility qualification or is it pure talent and knowledge? I am currently in the final year of engineering college and would like to be a part of CHIP. Please let me know how can I get in. In the current issue i.e August, you have listed the ASRock Fatal1ty pro Gen3 motherboard with price TBA. but while reviewing the Z68

Pricing problemsDear CHIP, I have been a reader since before my engineering days, over six years now, and this is my first letter as before this there was not much to complain about. However of late I have noticed that the prices mentioned in hardware reviews are higher than online prices as a rule (I usually purchase from these sites and almost all of them include VAT) and even street prices. With a few exceptions, I believe, just the MRP is quoted. To add to that, prices of the same product are not consistent throughout the magazine if the product appears in multiple places (an example would be the graphics cards comparison in the July issue). What this does is reduce the effectiveness of assigning value, and renders the best value awards less credible. Another thing regarding software on the DVD is that many people including me do not like when beta versions are included. Beta is after all beta, and we would rather wait than have a beta version; not for chrome, not for Ubuntu. But lets not take away from the fact that otherwise CHIP is a great magazine to read and it was CHIP that made the techie in me blossom. I can proudly say that my coworkers ask for my help when our IT staff cannot resolve an issue. All this has been possible because of CHIP. Keep up the good work and keep inspiring youngsters. RAGHWENDRA SINGH Dear Raghwendra, Thanks for your feedback and appreciation. We do try to be as consistent as possible with prices, but there are market forces and geographic variations beyond our

Should You Bother?BlackBerry Playbook HTC Sensation Nokia E6 Apple iMac Canon PowerShot SX230 IS Asus Matrix GTX 580 Platinum Asus O!Play Gallery Mac OS X Lion

motherboards, the price has been given as Rs 14,800. Please let me know if that is the correct price. The rest, as always, quenches my thirst for new technology. With Regards, - KRISHNA A Dear Krishna, Thanks for writing to us and pointing out the discrepancy in pricing. The price in the comparison test is correct. As for working with CHIP, there's no specific academic qualification, but yes, you do need a lot of talent, current knowledge, and work ethic. Email us your resume and we'll get back to you if there's a suitable spot vacant. TEAM CHIP

INCREDIBLE VALUE FOR RS 4,995! 11 digital cameras from 5 top brands THE BEST Z68 MOTHERBOARD 12 options for 2nd gen Intel Core CPUs

control. In fact we try to make sure that all prices reported in articles and reviews are the MRPs, to be fair in comparisons. On the other hand, prices in the Market Watch section are street/operating prices sourced from our network of dealers, which give consumers a realistic idea of what to expect in the market. With the advent of online retail, weve seen shops trying to offer a single price across the country, which of course will be higher than the retail average in some places and lower in others. That said, we do apologize again for the issue with the graphics card comparison, which was a regrettable typo. As for the DVD, we find in fact that most people are eager to try beta software, especially now that the tag is largely pointless. Beta browsers, for instance, are remarkably stable. Firefox 4 went through 12 betas in a very public process that took nearly a year, whereas just by changing their naming system, Mozilla has managed to release versions 4, 5 and 6 within months of each other. Still, we include only public betas and will ensure that they are correctly identified as such. TEAM CHIP

UID for the countryDear Editor, I have been reading your magazine since I was in class XII thanks to my brother Apoorv, who inspired me to do so. Now that I'm pursuing engineering, I find it extremely useful for my career. I loved your article Adhaar, in which you described the project undertaken by the Government of India which aims to provide everyone with a unique identifier based on biometric profiles. I liked it because on the basis of this UID, no person can cheat the Government with malicious intent. Each and every person has a different biometric profile. You were right that ID proof such as ration cards are superficial and don't take into account fundamental aspects that set each Individual apart. It's important so that malicious people do not hide their identity in order to disrupt the peace of our country. - APEKSHA AGGARWAL, UTTAR PRADESH

Part of the teamHi CHIP, I have been reading CHIP for the past five years and I must say it is getting better and better with every issue. You people are doing a wonderful job. I have always thought of asking how to work for

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INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

NEWS SNIPPETS

NEWSWIRE

DANGER FORECASTAttackers are focusing on large companies and even governments. Still, your home PC could be infected and used to carry out these attacks.

IN THE NEWS...COMPILED BY JAMSHED AVARI

SOCIETY

After London riots, teens arrested for BBM abuse; San Francisco blacks out services to prevent violence

EXPENSIVE DATA THEFTUSA 143 Germany 124 France 83 Australia 80 UK 68Lost data costs companies a lot of money. In the US and Germany, the value of lost data has been particularly high.Source: Sophos

Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger are being blamed for enabling rioting youths in London to coordinate and plan their attacks during the recent outbreaks of civil violence in the city. The reaction comes on the back of media reports that the BlackBerry Messenger system is cheaper, more accessible and more private than Twitter, Facebook and other commonly used social networks. Recent research suggests that BlackBerrys have become increasingly popular with young people in many parts of the world because of the free BBM service. However, the impression that BBM messages are totally private might have led rioters to trust the service too much. Research In Motion has released statements

saying it will cooperate fully with British law enforcement agencies, but has not claried whether or not this involves handing over the contents of private messages. Many public Twitter and Facebook updates during the incidents referenced people calling others to specic locations at specic times using BBM, while others were confused by the sudden outbreak of broadcasted messages referencing violence and looting. Shortly after the outbreaks in London, public transport ofcials in San Francisco planned to block cellular and Wi-Fi coverage around subway stops in anticipation of a similar protest. Services were eventually not blocked, but the precedent for interrupting services might have been set.

THE SPEED OF AN ATTACK100 GBit/s 80 GBit/s 60 GBit/s 40 GBit/s 20 GBit/s 0 GBit/s 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

BUSINESS

Google + Motorola to drive Android developmentGoogle's multi-billion dollar acquisition of Motorola Mobility could have long-lasting ramications for the mobile phone industry. First of all, Google gains a competitive advantage by controlling Motorola's signicant patents and intellectual property. Google recently lost out on other high-prole patent acquisition bids. However, Google itself entering the branded handset market would put it into competition with its Android licencees, making it possible that the company might even spin off Motorola's hardware manufacturing facilities and turn it into a design and development house. Motorola's future handsets are almost certain to use the pure Android shell that Google favors, rather than the custom Motoblur social skin.

An average of 100 Gb of traffic per second is now needed to carry out a DDoS attack, the most common way to cripple a website. Source: Arbor Networks

FIGURE OF THE MONTH

South Koreans have had their social network profile information stolen. The country's population is 49mSource: Sophos

35m09/2011

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INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

SMS us!

Story code: NSN to 51818

NEWS SNIPPETSHARDWARE DEVELOPMENT

NEWSWIRE

Ultrabooks price targets unrealistic, say Taiwanese manufacturersReports from Taiwan indicate that notebook manufacturers are having a hard time meeting Intel's $1,000 (approx Rs 45,380) recommended selling price for ultrabooks. The cost of construction and parts will squeeze prot margins, but any price above $1,000 will not help the products compete with Apple's MacBook Air. Ultrabooks are part of Intel's push towards thinner, lighter and always-on notebooks that can last a full day on a single battery charge and be as handy as a tablet. As per Intel's reference designs, devices that t the "ultrabook" tag could have metal or carbon ber bodies, be less than 0.8 inches thick, use an SSD instead of conventional storage, and potentially include a touchscreen. Still, Intel is understood to be unwilling to supply its chips to the manufacturers at lower rates. The company hopes that the "ultrabook" segment will account for 40 percent of notebook shipments in 2012. In order to promote the idea of ultrabooks, Intel is now set to invest $300 million in the hardware and software manufacturing industries. Asus and HP are widely expected to launch the rst models by October 2011, with Dell, Acer, Lenovo and others following shortly thereafter.

Adobe releases HTML5 authoring tool, Flash still in the runningAdobe is previewing a new Web development program called Edge, designed to help in the creation of Flash-like multimedia, including Web video, using HTML5 and other standardized tools. The company has till now ferociously defended its proprietary Flash platform, but is facing increasing competition from browser-native standards including HTML5. Edge will allow users to manipulate graphics and video on their websites using a simple interface resembling mainstream video editors. Flash is still unmatched for interactive applications such as games and video streams with overlays, however, Edge does give Adobe a stronger standing for the future. Web developers are increasingly moving away from Flash, which is often seen as resource-hungry and insecure. Most famously, Apple has never included Flash support for its mobile browsers and has dropped it from Safari on OS X as well.

BUSINESS

WEB

SOFTWARE

SECURITY

Google, Microsoft FB "six degrees" in Tweet war experimentGoogle and Microsoft have found themselves at the center of a rush to purchase patent holders, in light of the number of IP infringement lawsuits being led around the world today. In the wake of a massive bidding war for Nortel's 6,000 patents, lawyers from the two companies have been engaging in a public Twitter spat. Google rst accused Microsoft of buying patents only to use them in anticompetitive lawsuits, and the software giant hit back by publishing mail records of an invitation to enter into a joint bid, which Google declined. Microsoft, Apple, RIM, EMC, Ericsson and Sony jointly won the Nortel patents with a bid of US$ 4.5 billion. Yahoo Research wants to test whether the "six degrees of separation" theory, posited in the 1960s, still holds true. Yahoo wants to use Facebook's 750 million connected users to see how close all of us really are to randomly selected strangers anywhere on Earth. Those who sign up will have to authorize a Facebook app and choose a friend who would most plausibly know the random target. If message passes between friends and reaches its target, the number of hops will be calculated.

Windows 8 prerelease soon

LulzSec leader Topiary arrestedScotland Yard announced in late July that it had arrested a key member of the LulzSec hacker group, who had till then been known only by his screen name, "Topiary". The 19-year-

Microsoft plans to release a preview of Windows 8 in the "coming months". A new ofcal blog titled Building Windows 8 (go.chip.in/bw8) will prepare users for the changes in what Microsoft itself calls a complete reimagining of the OS. The strategy mirrors that of the Ofce 2007 release, which was remarkably smooth considering its massive interface overhaul. Microsoft is also being careful not to repeat its Vista-era missteps Windows is used by over a billion people worldwide.

old had become famous as the mouthpiece of LulzSec, publicly boasting about each of its achievements. Several other teenagers were also questioned or arrested. Initial reports of the arrest were followed by rumors that LulzSec had planted fake evidence that led police to arrest an innocent teenager, while the real Topiary was still evading the law. However the LulzSec Twitter account fell silent after Topiary's arrest, and his own account was wiped out the same day.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

09/2011

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NEWS SNIPPETS

NEWSWIRE

SECURITY

HARDWARE

SECURITY

NEW SECURITY RISKS DETECTED AND PATCHED

HP kills WebOS, looking to sell off Malware steals PC business entirely cellphone photosHP is on the verge of abandoning its entire consumer business and becoming an enterprise IT solutions company, the likes of Oracle and IBM. Barely a month after the launch of the WebOS-based TouchPad, CEO Leo Apotheker has announced that the company will be discontinuing all WebOS products as well as development of future products. HP paid $1.2 billion to acquire Palm last year, and will now have to consider whether it will sell or license its considerable assets and patents to a competitor, or simply let them languish. TouchPads have been discounted to as little as $99 to dispose of existing inventory. Apotheker has also announced plans to take HP out of the consumer space entirely. The company will consider spinning off or selling its Personal Systems Group, having already bought Autonomy Inc, an enterprise software outt, for $10 billion. Exiting the consumer space could be a reaction to the declining role of PCs and HP's failure to capture the tablet and consumer devices. F-Secure's Threat Response team has found a strain of malware originating from China that can steal photos from Symbian phones. The company warns that such malware could be used to obtain photos that are then used for blackmail or harassment. The trojan, codenamed Spinilog.A, is capable of "listening" in each time the phone camera is used, and saving a compressed copy of each captured image. Additionally, the trojan also captures calendar, contact, call and message details.

UNICODEUnicode character U+202E, also known as right-to-left override, is being used to obfuscate file extensions to mask malware spread through email attachments. SOLUTION: Carefully examine file attachments, especially files inside ZIP or other archives. Pay attention to the file type, not just its icon and extension.

PHPA number of bugs are promised to be fixed in the latest version 5.3.8, including bugs introduced in the previous security update, 5.3.7 which could cause errors in encryption operations. SOLUTION: An update, 5.3.8, is expected within days.

SECURITY

SECURITY

Disgruntled IT worker brings down 88 company serversAn American IT worker, Jason Cornish, has been convicted of hacking into his former employer's ofce and erasing the contents of 88 virtual servers, hosted on 15 different machines. The company affected, pharmaceutical major Shionogi, lost access to its own corporate email, BlackBerry servers, order tracking system and nancial management software, according to security researchers at Sophos. The company's American operations were paralyzed for several days, costing the company an estimated $800,000. Cornish was identied after investigators discovered the intrusion had originated from the free Wi-Fi at a McDonalds' restaurant. Cornish had paid for an order using his own credit card just ve minutes before the attack began. Cornish had been employed at Shionogi till mid 2010, and continued as a consultant, utilizing his knowledge of the company's systems. However that arrangement was terminated in 2010, but the company neglected to revoke his remote access credentials.

Fake videos of Winehouse death

MOZILLA FIREFOXThe extremely rapid update to version 6 brings a number of security improvements and user-visible URL shading, to highlight the actual domain a person is visiting. SOLUTION: Allow Firefox to update itself automatically, and a 9.8 MB patch will be downloaded and applied. The standalone install is a 28 MB file.

As was to be expected, fake links to supposedly shocking video clips of Amy Winehouse emerged shortly after her death. The subject lines of phishing emails and social media posts appealed to peoples' worst instincts. Those clicking on "Amy Winehouse overdose video leaked!!" or "Amy Winehouse getting high on crack just hours before she died" were obviously taken to phishing sites or referral surveys, which earn their owners. Also typical, rogue Facebook apps sent spam to people on victims' friends lists.

BLACKBERRY ENTERPRISE SERVERA vulnerability with how the server processes TIFF and PNG image files could allow remote hackers to execute arbitary code on a BlackBerry phone. SOLUTON: Only BES server is affected, not the phones themselves. RIM has released updates to address the vulnerabilities.

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Google TV to run G+ profiles Android apps deleted at will?Brand-new social network Google Plus is having its fair share of teething troubles. Despite a overall positive reaction, users have found that proles are being deleted at random, if the automated system suspects they aren't Google TV has mostly been a disappointment since its launch, with weak hardware support and no content from major broadcasters. Still, the platform isn't dead, and Google has announced an Android development kit that should let Android apps run on Google TV devices. As of now, developers can start creating apps suitable for TV screens and remote control input. A release date for the actual rmware is still unknown. genuine individuals. Under its terms of use, Google Plus may only be used by individuals and only under their legal names. No nicknames, creative spellings or corporate/branded accounts are allowed. The company is now rolling out a Twitter-like "Veried account" tag for celebrity and other popular accounts, with branded "pages" launching soon. Still, there have been reports of genuine accounts being deleted without cause or notice.

iPad 3 rumored for 2012 launchThe iPad 3 is rumored to be delayed until early 2012, rather than the late 2011 launch predicted for most of this year. The main reason for the delay is that Apple has decided to move to high-resolution 2048x1536 screens, quadruple the current resolution, bringing the iPad in line with the "Retina Display" screens introduced with the iPhone 4. The upgrade would strain the CPU and battery, indicating upgrades will be made in those areas as well. The move would give Apple a strong lead in the tablet space. The iPhone's screen has already been matched by rival Android models. High-res OS graphics have previously been detected in iOS 5 betas.

Bloatware on Download.com

Download.com has begun wrapping le installers in its own advertisement-laden packages. The site has had a positive reputation for over a decade, but the optional browser toolbars and advertising popups are ticked by default, even on free, opensource titles. CNet, which now owns Download.com, claims that the practice is in users' interests. Software vendors' involvement in the practice is still unknown.

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NEWSWIREBUZZ LIST

MOBILE

WEB

CyanogenMod author joins SamsungSteve Kondik, founder and author of the much-loved CyanogenMod for Android, has been snapped up by Samsung Mobile and will be working on the company's Android offerings. The news comes right after Google's bid to take over Motorola, which will undoubtedly spur competition in the Android handset space. CyanogenMod is a stripped down and more versatile of the most current Android OS, popular for stripping away unnecessary bloat such as third-party skins (as made popular by Motorola, Samsung, HTC and Sony Ericsson) as well as making updates available much faster than phone makers themselves do. Interestingly, Google's influence over Motorola is expected to result in its future phones shipping with a "pure" Android interface, rather than its custom Motoblur overlay.

More features, integration on the way for Google+Google+ might have debuted to mixed responses, but the company has learnt its lesson from previous botched launches and has been precisely stage managing the rollout of each new feature. Google Games is now available to users around the world, giving the company enough time and space to emphasize its advantages over Facebook: less notification spam to those who don't care about gaming. Google has also now activated pubilc posts, which display friend activities related to pages in search results, but has managed to avoid the usual public outcry in the name of privacy which usually follows such changes to Google's algorithms. Search results from known blogs and news sources have also started displaying links to the authors' Google+ profiles, to promote worthy content.

TABLETS

Grid: a fresh new phone/tablet OSFusion Garage, makers of the ill-fated

LISTCOMPILED BY JAMSHED AVARI

BUZZThe simple lowdown on what everyone's talking about this month

FUTURE TECH

Intel hires science fiction authors

JooJoo tablet (ne CrunchPad), have renamed themselves to TabCo and sprung a set of surprises: a tablet and a smartphone, both running the company's own brand-new GridOS. Based on the Android kernel, GridOS is largely compatible with existing Android apps, but its real strengths lie in its native apps and innovative interface. The home screen is one giant grid, which users can pan across. Apps can be grouped in adjacent cells for quick access. Context awareness is built into every aspect of the OS: relevant IMDB and Wikipedia links show up in search results, addresses and appointments can be tagged with real-time updates, and any highlighted text can be turned into a search query. The Grid 10 tablet has a 1366x768 screen, dual core Nvidia Tegra2 processor, webcam for video calling, and 3G radio.

Considering the number of things we take for granted today that have originated in science fiction, it should come as no surprise that realworld inventors are searching for new ideas in books and movies. Intel has begun commissioning authors to write science fiction stories, with the goal of beginning to describe a plausible vision for computing in the year 2020. The stories, all based on current research projects, describe a life in which computers learn more about our individual tastes and provide context-relevant information, medical sensors allow for new kinds of life-saving procedures, all vehicular traffic is automated and centrally controlled, robotic "virtual assistants" start looking a lot like real people, and we come dangerously close to becoming too reliant on machines, spending all our time philosophizing about the human condition. Read the stories online: go.chip.in/intfic.

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NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHED

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NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHEDCOMPILED BY JAMSHED AVARI

GENIUS

connects computers to the Extender quickly and securely. Real-time link-rate LED locates the best placement spot to provide optimal wireless coverage. Genius has announced the most attractive LED notebook mouse, NX- Elite. It uses the next generation of auto transforming technology to keep shinning in the dark. Featuring an advanced 1200dpi optical sensor, the NX Elite has incredibly smooth tracking performance for cursor Step-by-step, graphical Installation Guide makes installation easy. No need to insert a CD or plug in Ethernet cables! Netgear green features include a Power on/off button and 80 percent recycled packaging.

the JetFlash T3S, in India. The ultraslim JetFlash T3S USB Flash Drive is feathery light, credit cardthin, and rugged enough to resist dust, stress, vibration, and even full water submersion. With its rigid metallic case and special COB packaging technology, the shiny silver ash drive is completely resistant to dust, shock and water. In addition to easy Plug and Play installation, the JetFlashT3S offers a free download of Transcend Elite data management tools. Available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities, Transcend Jetash T3S is compatible with Hi-Speed

Portable Mouse

PRICE: Rs 3,835 WEBSITE: www.netgear.com

SONY

movement to browse documents or Internet pages more efficiently. Plus its super mini size of 74mm is easy to store with the retractable cable. The lightweight design is ideal for any mini notebook and it provides more features than a notebook touch pad. It comes with a 3-year warranty.

Versatile Blu-ray playerSony India has launched the Blu-ray player BDP-S380 that uses advanced 3D Blu-ray technology to deliver superior audio-visual experience. The BDP-S380 Blu-ray Disc player, a highly compatible device, is equipped to work with a wide variety of video formats including BD, DVD, CD, AVCHD, Xvid

USB 2.0 ports and offers a maximum write speed and a read speed, of up to 5 MB/s and 18 MB/s respectively.

PRICE: Rs 616 WEBSITE: www.geniusnet.com

PRICE: 4 GB: Rs 590; 8 GB: Rs 910; 16 GB: Rs 1,560 WEBSITE: in.transcend-info.com

MSI

NETGEAR

HD, JPEG and MP3. The BDP-S380 is equipped with Precision Cinema Upscale via HDMI feature that upscale DVD formats to near HD quality picture to enhance the visual quality of any video manifold. Another interesting

Wireless Range ExtenderThe Netgear Universal WiFi Range Extender allows you to keep your current wireless equipment and improve coverage to eliminate "dead zones", giving you the freedom to roam anywhere in the house and access the Internet without worrying about coverage. It is compatible with wireless b/g/n routers, gateways and Internet service providers devices. Four Ethernet ports enable you to connect to gaming consoles, Internet TVs, and Blu-ray players. Push N Connect using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)

Attractive Android tabletsMSI India has launched their Enjoy series tablets in India today. The Enjoy series would be available in two variants: Enjoy 10 (10 inch) and Enjoy 7 (7 inch). The new Enjoy series provides breakthrough brilliant new design and exceptionally fast performance with its 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor and 512 MB of RAM. This will translate into

feature is that if you are an iPhone, iPad or compatible Android phone user, then by downloading the free Media Remote app, you access all functions via this new remote control.

PRICE: Rs 8,990 WEBSITE: www.sony.co.in

TRANSCEND

Stylish Flash DriveTranscend Information Inc has announced the launch of its tiny yet tough USB Flash drive,

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NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHEDThe products and services listed here have not been reviewed by IC-CHIP. These are not endorsements or recommendations. All prices, specifications and claims are as stated by the respective manufacturers and publicists.

NEWSWIRE

faster web browsing, movie experience, video calls, gaming etc. ARM Cortex A8 is a low power, high performance processor. Powerful hardware accelerators provide optimized hardware performance for high-end applications. Additionally, with front and rear cameras, people can also make live video calls. Users can access the Android market place to instantly access hundreds of thousands of apps. The tablet showcases the Gingerbread user experience, including an interactive, customizable home screen, notications, and tabbed browsing.

ENVISION

Earphones come equipped with three individually balanced speakers per ear, letting you enjoy the most detailed and sonically rich experience when listening to any style of music. Each sound frequency (low to high) is directed separately to its dedicated speaker. The stylish, compact metallic crush-proof case helps your earphones stay protected in your purse or pocket. . For mobile phone users, Ultimate Ears also introduced the TripleFi 10vi Noise-Isolating Earphones with Voice Capability, compatible with iPhone, Blackberry, and other phones.

Eye-Catching LED MonitorGigazone, a subsidiary of Gigabyte group, has launched their entire range of TFT monitor brands in India. Now their high-quality international brands Envision and Topview are available in India too. Envision has launched a new LED monitor P971wL, and P951w+ LCD monitor, with an outstanding, elegant design. P971wL has a 16:9 widescreen so you can watch your favorite movies without truncating images; the 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio offers super-sharp images and brighter whites, capturing all the details as nature intended and it is ecofriendly. For gamers and movie lovers, with built-in DVI port P951w+ provides speedier connectivity to videos and movies allowing you to play Xbox and PlayStation in uid quality. 5ms response time brings the cinematic experience into your living room.

PRICE: Enjoy 10: Rs 14,999; Enjoy 7: Rs 13,999. WEBSITE: in.msi.com

ASUS

Ultra slim netbookAsus has introduced the worlds thinnest and lightest netbook, Asus X101. This super thin netbook runs on Intels MeeGo operating system for easy web usage and multimedia playback and is powered by the Intel Atom N455 CPU. Weighing less than 1 kg, this 17.6 mm thin netbook is apt for mobile computing. With a 10.1-inch LED-backlit monitor, it provides comfortable viewing. This Bluetooth 3.0 enabled netbook comes with a seamless chiclet keyboard. One of the most notable features is its Super Hybrid Engine (SHE), which is Asuss unique technology to optimize system performance and battery life. As far as connectivity is concerned it has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth. The Asus X101 is preloaded with Cloud Storage (Dropbox) for free to access and edit and also to easily sync les via cloud seamlessly.

PRICE: TripleFi 10: Rs 15,995; TripleFi 10vi: Rs 17,995 WEBSITE: www.logitech.com

WILEY

Mechanical VibrationsMechanical Vibrations is designed as a textbook for undergraduate students of mechanical, electrical, aeronautical, automobile and civil engineering at major universities. The text is also useful to postgraduate engineering students of mechanical vibrations. The book strengthens the necessary concepts of the topic for those willing to specialize in the fields of control engineering and system dynamics. It also helps a smooth understanding of the subject like rotor dynamics, for which the knowledge of vibration is a fundamental prerequisite. This book will also help practicing engineers, working in the field of vibration monitoring and control, to grasp their necessary theoretical back-ups.

PRICE: TBA WEBSITE: www.envisiondisplay.com

ULTIMATE EARS

Noiseisolating earphonesUltimate Ears, a Logitech business unit, has announced its new noise-isolating earphones in India. These earphones are designed to deliver the ultimate in sound quality to music lovers, allowing them to listen to every detail in their favorite music without any disturbance from the external noise. The Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10 Noise-Isolating

PRICE: Rs 12,499 WEBSITE: in.asus.com

PRICE: 399 WEBSITE: www.wiley.com jamshed.avari@chip.in

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NEWSWIREFEATURE

Intel Classmate PC: Innovation in EducationIntel, with its range of Classmate PCs and educational content, is aiming to change the way education is imparted. BY PRIYANKA TILVE

I

ntel, a trusted and world renowned name in the arena of information technology, is set to revolutionize

available solutions are either designed for an older audience or handed down from adults. The Classmate PC is a purposebuilt education netbook targeted towards primary school students. Keeping in mind its young target audience, the products have been vigorously tested. They have been designed to withstand accidental drops from desk height, are water resistant, have rubberized surfaces and handles for durability and better portability. These power-efficient netbooks built using Intel Atom technology are available in clamshell and convertible formats. The convertible version features a studentfriendly design, swivel screen, built-in rotatable camera, and features that allow intuitive, comfortable reading, writing, and drawing. These Classmate PCs have already been deployed in countries like Argentina, Malaysia, Venezuela, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Palestine, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, and Uruguay, just to name a few, and they have seen a phenomenal response the world over, with millions of units sold to date. Educators are addressing the need to prepare todays students for a world that is knowledge and information driven. But todays schools are often resource-challenged. Teachers need tools to be more exible and more efficient. Governments want to make sure the

competition, and thats why 1:1 e-learning is considered ideal, says Singh. He states further, The Intel Learning Series ecosystem consists of vendors who offer many different types of content that support both curriculum and supplemental learning. All the existing software that is in the market will work seamlessly or with minimal change on the Classmate PC since they are fully functional computers that run standard operating systems, and so are able to run education-specic and mainstream software. They have enough storage for students to create multimedia presentations and save their work. In addition to the education programs students use, Intel-powered Classmate PCs include special applications to make classroom management and IT management easier and to help teachers fully utilize the PCs in their lessons. The deployment of Classmate PC is India has been limited so far. One of the early instances of adoption of Classmate PC was in 2009, when it was successfully used by the Centre for Wildlife Studies. The sturdy Classmate PC came in handy while conducting intensive eld studies to understand the population dynamics of critically endangered tiger species in Nagarahole National Park in Karnataka. Talking about the plans for India, Singh says, In India, we have limited deployments to the government and private school segments so far. In the private segment, we are working with established education solution providers like Educomp. We have also been working with various governments in showcasing the advantages of 1:1 e-learning. priyanka.tilve@chip.in

the way education is imparted to young children through its Intel Learning Series. Though children adapt to technology with ease, there are not enough efforts being made towards incorporating technology as a tool to impart education. Realizing this, Intel launched Classmate PCs that are affordable, rugged and fun netbooks designed for interactive, collaborative learning. Speaking about the initiative, Ajit Singh, director of the Education Market Platforms group for APAC at Intel, says, Intel has been instrumental in driving the adoption of 1:1 e-learning. Its not enough to just put computers in schools. The Intel-powered convertible Classmate PC has been developed from the ground up to meet the specic needs of classroom learning for the 21st century. Typically, the primary school segment has been underserved by technology. Most of the

A Classmate PC running software to teach math concepts using familiar objects such as coins.

next-generation workforce is prepared for global

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Keeping Internet Pirates at BayBY PRIYANKA TILVE

Sachin Pandit

Piracy has become so commonplace these days that the extent of it doesnt even shock us anymore. So much so that we almost seem to have forgotten that it is, in fact, illegal.

played on the DVD player with a scroll that read Downloaded from songs.pk. Im sure most of you are familiar with this site, as it happens to be the most popular site to illegally download the latest Bollywood chartbusters. There are a dozen other sites from where you can easily download the latest songs, copyrights notwithstanding. If you say that you have never downloaded music from these sites, but get them from your friends instead, that doesnt make you any less guilty of piracy. Downloading cracked versions of software and the latest movies and music has become a childs play.

L

ast week, I walked into a reputed electronics showroom and was surprised to see a song being

A survey conducted by the Motion Picture Distributors Association in 2010 revealed that India ranked fourth in the world when it came to illegal movie downloads. Piracy of movies and music, in particular, has far reaching effects that most of us cant imagine or arent willing to bother with. First off, movie piracy is the copyright infringement and theft of intellectual property. Secondly, piracy directly affects the entertainment industry, which has to suffer tremendous losses; not to mention jobs cuts. One school of thought even argues that piracy funds terrorism. Lamenting the rampant Internet piracy, Siddhartha Roy, COO of the consumer business and allied services at Hungama Digital Media, says, Piracy

is a global deterrent; more than 90% of new releases in entertainment end up available through pirated CDs and on Internet sites or P2P platforms. Music and movie piracy has become rampant across the Internet. Domestically, the piracy nexus has managed to create a strong foothold terrestrially as well, especially in tier I, II and III towns in India. The entertainment industry as a whole is facing a challenge to bring together an ecosystem to control piracy, which again will support legitimate revenue ow towards a genuine entertainment distribution market. Reliance Big Pictures recently took the pre-emptive measure of obtaining a John Doe order form the Delhi High Court to curb the piracy of its lm

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of such initiatives. One of them is making content available for downloaded legally at reasonable prices. In 2010, Hungama.com launched the largest on-demand digital entertainment storefront that offers audio, video and images for download. While the response was a bit slow in the beginning, it has picked up considerably. Talking about this unique initiative, Roy says, One needs to bring in a new value system to counter piracy. Consumers will buy the content as long as it gives quality and convenience at a reasonable price. The response on Hungama.com has been very encouraging. With millions of downloads month onHungama.com, launched in 2010, is one of the largest on-demand Digital Entertainment storefronts that offers audio, video and images for download.

month, consumers are eager and willing to use the service. On the other hand, we also work with over 350 content partners and these partners have been eager to support a service such as ours. We have also now taken the offering onto various connected devices - mobile phones, PCs, tablets and televisions. Here too the response has been encouraging. Hungama.com has also entered into a strategic alliance with Intel, called Intel Insider, wherein they offer HD quality movies for both streaming and download. Apart from this, a few artists and lmmakers have taken proactive steps to sell their music and lms online. One of the Bollywood lms to sell music online was F.A.L.T.U, produced by Vashu Bhagnani. Leading English TV channel Star World recently launched a unique initiative called Torrentz, which will showcase some of the latest Western shows every weekend. Elaborating on this initiative, Saurabh Yagnik, general manager and Senior VP of English channels at Star India, said, With the accelerated growth of the Internet and the digital medium, the consumer is inevitably spoilt for choice. It is, therefore, imperative for us as broadcasters to satiate our viewers needs in order to discourage Internet piracy. Star World Torrentz was conceptualized through the process of constant engagement with our viewers and insights about their preferences. He further added, With this initiative, we sincerely urge our viewers to abstain from indulging in piracy and have a world class and trouble-free viewing experience of the best of Hollywood absolutely fresh on Star World. priyanka.tilve@chip.in

Singham. A John Doe order is granted against anonymous prospective offenders. This meant that action would be taken against anyone found selling, sharing, or downloading Singham either terrestrially or over the Internet. After this order was issued, many Internet service providers blocked access to le sharing sites altogether, which created quite a furor in cyber space. People argued that the sites were not meant just to spread piracy and so blocking them wouldnt curb it altogether. Additionally, those involved in actual piracy could easily breach the barriers and access the sites by various means.

He states further, However, one of the biggest drawbacks of the IT Rules 2011 is that no distinct penal provisions are provided in case someone does not comply with the provisions thereof. I believe that India needs to come up with a distinct legal regime against online piracy. We have not seen a single case where any prosecution has been launched in the event of non-compliance with the terms of the IT Rules 2011. On the other hand, efforts are being made to create rights for the artists themselves. Roy says, The Indian government, as well as the industry, is working on several ways to withstand this intellectual property theft. The lack of proper patent laws allows the perpetrators of these crimes to get away at no cost. The Copyright Amendment Bill 2010 seeks to amend The Copyright Amendment Act 1957 by creating rights for music composers, lyricists and singers. Once passed, the Bill would bring in a paradigm shift in the Indian music industry, where, thus far, the rights are owned by the music companies.

Laws Against PiracyPavan Duggal, an advocate at the Supreme Court, believes that blocking of sites is at most a temporary solution, likening it to putting a band-aid on a leaking roof. Advocating the requirement of stronger laws, he says, When you talk about online piracy, there are no direct laws that cover it in India. In fact, if you look at the Information Technology Act of 2000, it is silent on online piracy. However, the government has come up with new rules known as the Information Technology Rules 2011 that have become effective from April 2011. Under these rules, if anybody nds that his intellectual property is made available by a service provider, then he can write to the service provider and have it removed. In such a case, any intermediary is duty bound to act within 36 hours and further to work with the user of such content so as to remove such offending content from its platform.

The Way ForwardPiracy, especially Internet piracy, is a very complex issue. Most people who have access to content downloaded from the Internet nd nothing wrong in it, as they argue that they were not the ones who downloaded it, but were instead given the content by someone else. It will take a lot of work to change this mindset. At the same time, the industry has to come together and think of innovative ways to address the problem of piracy. In the last couple of years, we have seen a couple

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Do Not Disturb: A Distant Dream?Mobile users are plagued with promotional calls and SMSs. While some of it may be our own doing, were largely at the receiving end of unsolicited promotional activities. BY PRIYANKA TILVE

Chaitanya Surpur

Y

ou have won a lottery of 100 million dollars, SMS your bank account details to Mr. Donald

million at the end of May 2011 from 861.48 million at the end of April 2011, thereby registering a growth rate of 1.53%. Looking at its reach, its not surprising therefore that it presents a very attractive medium for marketers to reach prospective consumers. Another point of consideration is that while a person may or may not check his or her email, its harder for them to ignore a call or even an SMS. How these telemarketers get our numbers is anybodys guess.

opting for DND meant that the consumer would not receive any form of UCC, but it was found that people did not readily opt for DND, as they wished to receive some promotional information. Further amendments were made to make it more robust and consumers can now opt for services they wish to receive communication from. These are broadly classied as Health, Education, Tourism & Leisure, Banking/ Insurance/Financial Products, Consumer Goods & Automobiles, Real Estate and Communication/Broadcasting/ Entertainment/IT. You can now opt for a full or partial DND based on your choices. Your selection will not affect receipt of service SMS like your bank transaction details, credit/debit notications, etc.

at the earliest. Worried about hair loss? SMS to nd a solution. Change your destiny. SMS to nd out more. These are just some of the ridiculous spam text messages that many of you may have received, apart from annoying phone calls asking if you want a credit card or an interest-free personal loan. But why are we subjected to these SMSs and calls, termed as unsolicited commercial communication (UCC)? The answer lies in the numbers. According to a recent Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report, the number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 874.68

What is DND?After a rise in the number of complaints from consumers, the TRAI went about setting up a National Do Not Call (NDNC) registry in 2007. Back then

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To register for DND you can call on the toll free number 1909 form the number you wish to register and then follow the IVR to compete the registration process. You can also register through SMS by texting START 0 to 1909 in case of full DND and Start 1 to 1909 in case of partial DND. Here 1 stands for Health. If you wish to receive SMS about travel and leisure then text Start 3 and so on. You can also choose more than one services by stating their numbers separated by a comma. DND will be effective in seven days from the date of registering. At any given point of time, you can easily deregister yourself from the DND by same means.

LIST OF CODES FOR SERVICE PROVIDERSAircel Cellular Ltd Bharti Airtel Ltd Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd BPL / Loop Telecom Pvt. Ltd Idea Cellular Ltd Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd Reliance Communications Ltd Reliance Telecom Ltd Spice Communications Ltd Tata Teleservices Ltd Vodafone Group of Companies D A B L I M R E P T V

second alphabet identies the service area. This helps for easy identication of the telemarketer.

What can be done?Telemarketers get their data from a number of sources. You may give out your number yourself in malls, promotional activities, contests, etc. If you use certain sites that allow you to send free SMS then thats also how you can be spammed. And it wont be just you, but it would also include all the people you sent out the SMS to. So be careful when using such sites. Apart from this, there are several mobile apps that allow you to block/lter SMS. These include Handcent, Kaspersky Mobile Security, and McAfee Mobile Security, to name a few. If you opt for DND and even then receive UCC, you can report the same to your telecom service provider, but this must be done within three days of receiving the UCC. Your telecom provider is then obligated to investigate the same and, if found to be correct, then the telemarketer will be penalized for the same. But many consumers dont actually report the matter and continue to suffer in silence. The BJP, through its Telecom Consumer Cell, has given a whole different spin to the entire issue. What they proposed to the TRAI is that instead of a DND, there should be a do-call registry. A person opting for the do-call registry should receive Rs 5 for every UCC SMS and Rs 10 for every UCC voice call. Sanjay Bhalla, the national convener of the BJP Telecom Consumer Cell, explains, By law, the cell phone is the private property of the telecom consumer. Therefore, it is the consumers right to be paid for the usage of the private resource by the access provider/telemarketer. Its a trouble-free process wherein the telemarketers will deposit the compensation amount in the account of the operator, which will then be automatically credited to the consumers account for UCC. This will mean that, to a great extent, the consumers actual usage charges will be taken care of. Thus, the deal is benecial for both, the telecom consumers and service providers. TRAI has appreciated the move, but hasnt acted on it so far. priyanka.tilve@chip.in

The menace continuesDespite of having registered for DND, its quite possible that you may continue to receive SMS, if not calls. and there can be many reasons for this. One of them could be that the telemarketers are not scrubbing their data regularly. As per TRAI rules, every telemarketer needs to register itself and then apply for telecom resources from one or more access providers. Before sending any SMS or UCC, it is mandatory for the telemarketer to scrub the telephone number of the subscriber with the database received from the DND registry. Apart from this, Rajan S Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India, says, The telemarketer needs to ensure that no telemarketing call or SMS, other than those opted for by the subscriber, is sent to him. Also, as per the agreement with the access providers, in case telemarketers send UCC to subscribers who have opted for DND, then the access provider can deduct a xed amount from the security deposited with them. This amount ranges from Rs 25,000 for rst offence to Rs 2,50,000 for the sixth offence. Also, the telemarketers can send SMS or make calls only between 9 am and 9 pm. To further simplify the process of identication of the telemarketer, the TRAI proposed providing telemarketers with separate numbers. Rajan says, Initially, the TRAI had allocated 70XXXXXXXX series to the telemarketer. However, in order to ensure better utilization of the 70XXXXXXXX, TRAI allocated separate series i.e.

LIST OF CODES FOR SERVICE AREAAndhra Pradesh Delhi Gujarat Haryana Karnataka Kerala Kolkata Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Mumbai Chennai A D G H X L K Y Z M T

140XXXXXXXX for the mobile originated telemarketing calls. The major objective of the TRAI to have separate series was to give choice to the consumer i.e. any call that comes from a number beginning with 140XXXXXX will be a commercial call and the customer has the choice of receiving or not receiving the call. Therefore, even a customer who chooses not to register at all will have a choice. Likewise, a unique SMS header has been mandated for easy identication of commercial SMSs. This matter is now with the DoT and it is yet to allocate a unique number for xed lines. At present, you can identify telemarketers with the help of the alphanumeric identier of all commercial SMSs that are not sent from a normal ten digit number. For instance if you received a SMS from LM Ahore, then here L stands for BPL or Loop Telecom and M will mean Mumbai. So the rst alphabet identies the operator while the

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

VERDICT

XXXXXAPU

AMD A8-3850VERDICT: A stellar rst step on the road to complete APU integration FOR: Superb onboard graphics core enables a powerful yet compact system AGAINST: High price, last-generation CPU core

WXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

eve already been introduced to the E series, AMDsLAPTOP Fusion lineup, entry-level which has made quite a mark in the

a second discrete Radeon GPU, so were expected to gauge performance by comparing these directly with existing Radeon model numbers. Once were beyond that, we come to the APUs actual features. A-series chips meant for laptops will have lower power envelopes and therefore lower clock speeds, but were looking at only the desktop lineup just now. Two versions will be available at launch, the 2.9 GHz A8-3850, and the 2.6 GHz A6-3650. Both have four cores, a 100W TDP, but the A8 has a faster IGP. Each CPU core has 1 MB of L2 cache, but a common L3 cache is totally absent. isnt exactly revolutionary, its promoting the graphics component, hence the numerous references to vision. The A-series APUs come with the strongest ever specs for an integrated graphics core: up to 400 shader cores, full DirectX 11 support, 8x MSAA, tessellation, and the UVD3 video encoding acceleration logic. While these specs are close to those of a decent entry-level graphics card today, the embedded graphics core runs considerably slower, and has to share the systems RAM, which is much slower and takes longer to access. Current Llano APUs will support two simultaneous display outputs, which should be useful to a number of people. Blocks of logic for the memory and I/O controllers complete the architectural picture. Llanos main strengthsaccording to AMDwill be HD video with features passed down from discrete cards, GPU-accelerated parallel computing, and, for its mobile variants, all-day battery life. The last point is important for AMD, as it hasnt had a competitive enough mobile platform in a very long time. In terms of power saving, Llano improves upon Phenom and Turion CPUs by gating power to individual CPU cores

budget laptop and desktop space. Those chips, formerly codenamed Zacate and Ontario, take integrated graphics to a whole new level, with impressively low power consumption to boot.

XXXX

FOR: XXX AGAINST: XXXX in the form of the A series for mainstream desktopsand notebooks, formerly codenamed Llano. These APUs (Accelerated Processing XXXXXX theyre Units) as called, also feature powerful integrated graphics XXXx AMD has elected to match current-gen Radeon graphics silicon with older Phenom-era CPU cores.

The second wave of the Fusion attack is now here,

Perhaps capabilities, but instead of a brand new architecture, - dushyant.khilnani@chip.in because AMD knows its CPU architecture

X

Tweaks and improvements do give the A series some performance advantages over Phenom II chips, but the combination has a few interesting consequences. First of all, theres utter confusion in naming the products. Not only do the products not have a brand name, but there are different model numbers for the different combinations of APU and discrete GPU. For instance, you might set out to buy an A8-3850, and might even know that its built-in graphics core is tagged

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs XXXwww.XXXX.XXXX

Radeon HD 6550D (and it will additionally have stickers describing it as Quad Core with Radeon Graphics and A8 Vision, but you might also come across branded desktops labeled Radeon HD 6xxxD2 with the sticker Quad Core with Dual Radeon Graphics. This means the new integrated chip has been paired with

XXXXX: XXXXXX;CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

XXX XXX XXX

RATINGSBUILD QUALITY ERGONOMICS FEATURES PERFORMANCE OVERALL RATING VALUE FOR MONEY

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SMS us!

Story code: HCI to 51818

TEST CENTERHARDWARE

VERDICTas well as the IGP and UVD blocks, shutting them down completely when not required. AMD promises over 10 hours of battery life for a mainstream laptopenough to watch two Blu-ray discswhile the laptop stays cool enough to sit on your lap. The platform Back to the desktop, the new A6 and A8 APUs will require an all-new socket, primarily in order to support video output paths from the APU to the motherboards rear panel. While the Socket FM1 package is brand new, upgraders will appreciate the fact that older coolers will still t and work perfectly well. Compared to AMDs previous generation of chipsets though, the new A75 offering differs only in its support for USB 3.0 and 6 Gbps SATA. A cheaper A55 chipset drops the newer IO standards, and we dont expect standalone A55 motherboards will be very popular. One of the platforms biggest selling points will be the ability to pair the integrated graphics core with a LAPTOP discrete Radeon card. A8 and A6 APUs will work with midrange 6-series Radeon cards, which means that users will be able to add a graphics card later and combine its power with the IGP, rather than choosing between the two, a weakness that current Intel Performance mode, again with no AA. Scale back the resolution a little and youll be able to play with better image quality settings. The highest resolution we ever tried even with Sandy Bridges integrated graphics was 1024x768. That said, if a compact system isnt super high on your priority list and if you can juggle your budget around a little, you might actually be better served by buying an Intel CPU and a discrete graphics card. When we tested our A8-3850 with a Radeon 6870 on top, we got much higher frame rates with the effects and visual quality settings pushed up quite far. This makes a compelling case for a small formfactor PC, especially one powering a home media center. On the other hand, without the benet of its XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Radeon core, Llanos performance didnt justify its price in comparison even to the Phenom II X4 945, just a few hundred rupees more. If youre going to use a graphics card anyway, skip the budget APU and either buy an Intel CPU or wait for Bulldozer.Extra pins are required for the integrated graphics core, so Llano chips have nothing in common with their Phenom predecessors.

XXXXX

XXXXFOR: XXXsuffer. platforms AGAINST: XXXX

The numbers

X

GamingXXXXXX quality settings without a graphics at decent card? We had to put these claims to the test. Our XXXx sample A8-3850 chip arrived with a matching - dushyant.khilnani@chip.in Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H motherboard, and we outtted the pair with 4 GB of Corsair XMS3 running at a speed of 1066 MHz, representing the platforms target market. The CPU-intensive PCMark Vantage gave us a score of 9466 overall, and 10568 in the gaming subsection, which puts its capabilities somewhere near current-generation Intel Core i3s, but nowhere near even the last generations Core i5s, and surprisingly just a little better than the Phenom II X4. Things turn around when we get to gaming, though. The Llano chip handily beats Intels integrated offerings, giving us very playable framerates: 35.68 fps in Left 4 Dead, at 1920x1080, low detail, and no AA, and 30.84 fps in Crysis Warhead at 1920x1080 in

ConclusionThe Llano approach is more of a combination of existing parts than a fresh ground-up design. By comparison, Intels latest Sandy Bridge generation does a lot more to combine the strengths of its various integrated components and help them communicate with each other. The rst APUs off the starting block are a mixed bagthey present an intriguing new option in the CPU vs GPU SPECIFICATIONS power war, but the end result of the experiment Rsa is XXX together. Next years model, codenamed Trinity,CONTACT

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs 6,900www.amd.com

www.XXXX.XXXX

CPU clock speed: 2.9GHz; Cores: 4; TDP: 100W; Total L2 Cache: 4MB; Radeon cores: 400 (600 MHz); Memory support: DDR3, 1866 MHzCONTACT PHONE EMAIL

combination of parts that dont work spectacularly will use brand-new Bulldozer CPU cores and will PHONE

XXXXX: XXXXXX;XXX XXX XXX

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) 0124-4696000 NA

EMAIL hopefully have more raw processing muscle. Despite

RATINGSFEATURES PERFORMANCE OVERALL RATING VALUE FOR MONEY

the long wait and all their promise, these rstRATINGS BUILD QUALITY generation Llano APUs are just a little too late to launch, and too weak to get excited about. FEATURESERGONOMICS

-PERFORMANCE Anand Tuliani - OVERALL RATING Jamshed AvariVALUE FOR MONEY

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TABLET

HTC FLYERFOR: Great build, slick interface. AGAINST: Expensive, average media performance, poor camera.

T

he HTC Flyer unibody aluminium frame coupled

to the rescue for SD les, but HD was still problematic. The HTC music player is redesigned for the larger screen, and supports SRS sound enhancement along with some equalizer presets. With a decent pair of earphones, music sounds really good, with punchy bass and clear mids and highs. HTC has only launched the 3G version in India, and it has full HSDPA and HSUPA 3G support, along with EDGE/GPRS and Wi-Fi N. While standard Google apps are preloaded, the HTC Hub lets you download additional apps. The default browser does a good job of rendering Web pages, which look really good on this screen. There is a way to send and receive messages via the Flyer, but phone calls are a no-go. The 5 megapixel shooter is devoid of a ash, so indoor shots are not very good, but thanks to auto-focus, so some level of detail is preserved. Even in day light, however, the picture quality is just about average. The Flyer supports 720p recording at 30 fps, but this only looks good on paper. Recorded video is horribly jerky and certainly not 30 fps. With Web and media usage, we managed to get a full days worth of battery life, which is decent, but we expected a lot better. The HTC Flyer is priced at an absurdly high Rs 39,890. Spend a little more money and you can get the equivalent versions of the Motorola Xoom or the iPad 2, which are much more powerful tablets with larger screens. It may have a speedy processor but sadly that power is not harnessed properly. -Roydon Cerejo

with the right choice of

plastics makes it one of the best looking tablets in the market. The build is excellent, with all buttons, ports and removable parts lined up perfectly. The 7-inch, 1024 x 600-pixel resolution capacitive screen doesnt use Gorilla Glass or any oleophobic coating, so nger prints can be a nightmare. It is powered by Qualcomms Snapgragon MSM8255T (ARM v7) single core processor running at 1.5GHz. This, coupled with HTCs Sense UI 2.1, makes for a very good user experience. The interface is slick, with lots of fancy animations all over the place. The new shortcut bar, similar to the Icon Dock in iOS, gives you quick access to most used apps irrespective of which home screen youre on. The notication bar is now divided into three sections - ten most recently used apps, notications like alerts and new messages, and Quick Settings. The default keyboard is very comfortable to use, with good spacing between the keys even in portrait mode. The Flyer employsThe Flyer employs a AAAA battery-powered digital pen.

a AAAA battery-powered digital pen, and you can use it virtually anywhere other than the lock screen. This tablet comes with 32 GB built-in memory, but the actual storage available is only about 19 GB. Video formats like 3GP, MP4, WMV, AVI and XVID are supported out of the box, but surprisingly, the default player wasnt able to play SD les smoothly. Moboplayer comes

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs 43,500www.htc.com/in

Dimensions (WxHxD): 195.4 x 122 x 13.2 mm; Weight: 421 g; OS: Android v2.3.3 Gingerbread; Processor: 1.5 GHz; Memory: 1 GB RAM, 32 GB internal; Display: 7-inch LCD, 600 x 1024; Camera: 5 MP; Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G, WLAN b/g, Bluetooth, micro USB; Battery: 1470 mAh.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

HTC India 011-66567000 HTC-Sales@brightpoint.com

VERDICT

RATINGSBUILD QUALITY ERGONOMICS FEATURES PERFORMANCE OVERALL RATING VALUE FOR MONEY

HTCS TABLET DEBUT IS MARRED BY AN OBSCENE PRICE TAG.INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

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DIGITAL SLR CAMERA

CANON EOS 600DFOR: Great image quality, small size and sturdy build, up to ISO 6400, intuitive UI. AGAINST: Average video recording.

T

he Canon EOS 600D has an 18 megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor - the same found on the

modes, and there is no resistance while scrolling through it. The connectivity options include a mini HDMI port and a mini USB port. In testing, there was no noticeable noise at ISO 100, but some was visible starting from ISO 400 though it was negligible. From ISO 1600, colors start to get paler, with some amount of noise seen. At ISO 6400, the noise levels were high and we recommend it only for extremely low light conditions. With aperture set to F3.5, the contrast and depth of eld is the most. Images show a shallow depth of eld even when the object being used isnt very wide. With aperture at F22, the image is sharp across the target, but colors, for some reason, appear paler. There is a visible color change when the ash is red. White balance seems to shift drastically and the image appears bluish. Focusing seemed sharper with the ash enabled, most likely because of a smaller aperture size. Outdoor images shot really well, with a lot of detail. Colors looked natural, with no fringing. The EOS 600D can record full HD videos at 30 fps, and 720p clips at a smooth 60 fps. Video recorded at 1080p had some focusing issues, and upon playback, appeared grainy, which was disappointing. At Rs 49,460, the Canon EOS 600D is a really great camera with good design, a sturdy build, exhaustive features, and impressive performance. - Aaron AlmeidaThe ip-out display, along with live view, makes shooting from odd angles easy.

EOS 550D. It sports a 3-inch ip-out TFT colour LCD display, which can be rotated for low or high angle shots. The camera features a DIGIC 4 processor, which handles noise reduction and supports large 14-bit RAW images. ISO sensitivities have been bumped up from the 3200 on the 550D to 6400, which should make clicking photos in low-lit areas easy. The camera features a 9-point focus zone, which makes auto focusing quick and also gives the user more focus points to choose from. The EOS 600D features a Canon EF lens mount, which makes it compatible with EF and EF-S lenses. Bundled along is an 18 - 55 mm EF-S lens with image stabilization functionality. The interface is easy to navigate. All settings are available on the screen, such as ISO sensitivity, aperture settings, white balance etc. The interface is really smooth, but while maneuvering through the ISO sensitivities, having to press the right button to navigate to the next line was a little inconvenient. This is one of the smaller-sized DSLRs. The body is made of a matte black nish and a textured rubberized surface at the front and a small area at the rear for better grip. The controls are located to the left of the screen and can be easily adjusted with the right hand. The rubber padding around the viewnder acts as a cushion while viewing through it. The dial at the top is loaded with the different camera

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs 67,990www.canon.co.in

Weight: 570 g; Resolution: 18 megapixels; LCD display: 3 in, 1040k dots; ISO range: 100 - 6400; Shutter speed: 30 - 1/4000 sec; Video: 1080p @30fps.CONTACT PHONE

VERDICT

EMAIL

Canon India 0124 -4160000 info@canon.co.in

A GREAT ALL-ROUND DSLR FOR THE SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHER.

RATINGSBUILD QUALITY ERGONOMICS FEATURES PERFORMANCE OVERALL RATING VALUE FOR MONEY

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

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TEST CENTERHARDWARE

SMARTPHONE

DELL XCD35FOR: Crisp, hi-res display, decent build quality. AGAINST: Weak processor, stock UI, sluggish performance.

T

he XCD35 doesnt make a great rst impression; it looks plasticky and a bit cheap, but the build is

some useful apps, such as Documents to Go, RemoSync, which helps you connect to Microsoft Exchange Server using ActiveSync protocols, and Dells U-Connect for Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo Messenger. The camera interface is surprisingly slick and packs in lots of options. A little vertical strip of icons gives you quick access to focus mode, GeoTagging, white balance and zoom. Indoor picture quality is average due to the lack of a ash, while outdoor pics are somewhat better and the auto-focus helps in capturing a decent amount of detail. The video recorder records up to VG