[Preview + Feedback] Digit July 2007

[FatBeing]

July 2007 Magazine Contents

Digital Passion

Lead Feature
Chic Tech
Pretty much every male thinks women love pink gadgets, and that’s a myth. We’re busting that one, and a lot more—after having spoken to several women

Tomorrow
The Body Beautified
Da Vinci may have gotten the proportions of the body right, but he probably never thought we’d get advanced enough to actually replace parts as though they were disposables

Do It Yourself
Create Your Own Linux Distro
Whether you’re already a Linux afficionado or not, we believe you should read this one. You can’t create a Windows-like OS... how about a Linux distro? Your own OS? To use, to show off? It’s not that difficult. Really.

30 Days With
Here’s about a month with the Asus P535. It’s a Windows Mobile device, and our reviewer thought it was pretty cool. Except that it doesn’t have a full keypad. He says “convergence” and “convenience” say it all

Droolmaal
Maal to drool after... featuring a gold-plated cell phone. An absolutely fabulous touchscreen LCD to draw on. The world’s “smallest and lightest camcorder.” And more—turn to the page, but don’t wet it

Take A Crack At
You have pre-defined sound events in XP, such as “Critical Alarm” and so on. Think you can create custom sound events, like an audio clip playing when Photoshop starts up?

Digital Tools

Lead Feature
Hacking The Kid
Kids love computers, as you know all too well, and we also don’t need to tell you they love the games best. How about going beyond the obvious pastime? How about getting them to learn something, open up their mind while they’re at the Desktop?

Bazaar
Some of the best of the latest in the world of tech products. Featuring a fabulous keyboard, a great set of headphones, a fast graphics card, an amplified 2.1 Bose system, and then some

Agent001
Pixel-perfect
Agent 001 is dead sure many of you still aren’t aware what’s in the digicam market today. Myths busted, features-to-look-for included, models mentioned—in short, sound, sane buying advice

Net Gain
Do It Yourself (And Don’ts, Too)
Our Web site review this month includes a DIY site, one that teaches you Web design to supplement our Fast Track, and best of all, a place to go to after which you won’t need to fill in Web forms any more!

Old Way, Tech Way
Commuting Vs. Telecommuting
Are we already in the age where physical commuting is unnecessary? What was the work-at-home experience like for one Digit writer? Read on to
find out

Cover Story
Computing Comfort
It’s forever raining new laptops, it seems. The omnipresent motif of dropping prices applies. Want a laptop? Need one? Either way, here’s our annual shootout

Digital Business

Lead Feature
No-nonsense Notebook
Let’s put you in a dilemma if you aren’t already. Should it be Mac, Vista, or Linux for your business? An informed verdict.

Smart Business
Smart Training
Introducing fun ways of training your employees. These may be expensive now, but the idea is catching on quick. Be at the cutting edge...

Trend
Web 2.0 And Businesses
Should you, as an employer, encourage your subordinates to blog, to use social networking sites? It really is a trend that’s catching on

Tech Careers
Be The Game
Don’t bother about it if you don’t particularly like games, but if you do, we’re putting it into your head that you can create them

Test Centre
One Thing Too Many
Here’s our annual inkjet MFD shootout. They have not been overshadowed by their laser counterparts. What models for your office—and why?

Digital Leisure

Game On
Reviews. Test Drive Unlimited gets a 7 from our reviewer. Then there’s Supreme Commander, where you are, well, a commander of many forces. But most importantly, God of War II!

Lead Feature
Virtual Weapons In Real Life
Computer games haven’t been ignored by the US DoD and other agencies. Looks like they have indeed been inspired by weapons from games—think about the Rail Gun and such. We could be wrong about the inspiration part, but there are strong similarities

************************************************** *******

Fast Track To Apple

************************************************** *******

DVD-DL Highlights

Fedora 7
No more Core, no more Extras—just good old Fedora. Fedora 7 is the latest in the line of Red Hat’s popular free Linux distribution. Boot from this DVD to begin installing it.


Gaming

Free
Excalibur: Morgana’s Revenge
EMR 3.0 is a unique scenario based upon the Aleph One (Marathon) engine. It is a first-person action adventure game, featuring an epic and in-depth story line. As a Federation Marine resting after your last mission, you start aboard the exploration class Starship Kronos where you learn that your real mission has yet to begin.

Urban Terror v4.0
Urban Terror is a realism based total conversion mod for Quake III Arena which no longer requires this game to be installed. It only uses its engine, which is open sourced through the GPL and may be distributed freely. Urban Terror plays in about the same setting as Counter Strike, but is less focused on realism and plays much faster, which among other things, is caused by the ability to strafe jump.

World of Padman
The World of Padman made the change from a mod for Quake 3 Arena up to a very own game. It is available for free and features 7 game types, 12 maps, 6 player characters, own music, and a lot of fun

- CodeRED—Battle for Earth
- CodeRED—Martian Chronicles
- ioUrbanTerror (Use this to install Urban Terror if you don’t have Quake 3 Arena)

Tools

Multimedia
Adobe CS3 Design Premium
A Digit exclusive! This trial of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium comes with: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended, Adobe illustrator CS3, Adobe InDesign CS3, Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional and Adobe Dreamweaver CS3

Maya 8.5 Personal Learning Edition
Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE) is a special version of Autodesk Maya software, which provides free access to Maya for non-commercial use. It gives 3D graphics and animation students, industry professionals, and those interested in breaking into the world of computer graphics an opportunity to explore most aspects of the award-winning Autodesk Maya Complete software in a non-commercial capacity. NOTE: You need to register at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...112&id=9432085 for your PLE Serial Key

Sound Borb 1.0
Sound Borb application was designed to be an audio ambience generating system. The generative nature of Sound Borb’s audio engine means that once you hit play, the ambience you’re listening to will never end.

Reallusion CrazyTalk Media Studio Edition 4.6
CrazyTalk combines powerful facial animation technology with easy utilities designed to bring your photos to life through three specialized versions to create virtual hosts or animated actors.

- Licence Protector Multimedia Edition 1.3.0.250
- MeD’s Movie Manager 2.5.3.3
- Ideal MP3 Music Sorter 5.25
- Plopp 1.2

System
- The latest drivers for your ATI or NVIDIA graphics card
- Moffsoft FreeCalc
- Slawdog AquiBind 1.0
- Total Commander Ultima Prime 2.7

Internet
- Instant Media 1.2.3
- Silverlight 1.0 Beta
- SleekOffice 1.1
- WebCam Thingy 2.8

Entertainment

Movies
Nobody Needs to Know
Nobody Needs to Know is a story of Fame and the towns and industries and the people who create and support it. It’s the story of two actresses on divergent paths who unwittingly illustrate the power of Fame and its ability to pursue those who run from it and run from those who pursue it.

Music
Ocean Dreams by DJ Fab
Listen to a preview of this Instrumental album in the Digit Media Player

Scramble by Stygmate
The Pop / Rock band Stygmate started in 1992 under the original name Scramble

Sparks by David Alexander McDonald
Born in the English Midlands, McDonald became an avid lover of classical music after seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey.

A Part of Me by Realaze
Relaze started his work on an Amiga, and eventually graduated to Fruity Loops to create his music

Productivity

Personal
Banshee Screamer Alarm 2.55
Banshee Screamer is an alarm clock designed with one purpose in mind: To wake you up.

Active Desktop Calendar 7
This fully customizable calendar with notes, tasks, alarms and contacts provides seamless integration and interactivity with the desktop background. You can organize your data in layers and share them with other people on a local network. The program integrates with Outlook to show its appointments and tasks on the desktop.

- I-Doser 4.5
- IDrive-E
- iFinger Engine
- Active Desktop Calendar 7
- Magic Desktop
- Notezilla Portable 7.0 Build 78
- Oxford Dictionary of English (Second Edition)

Developers
Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 Beta SDK
The Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 Beta Software Development Kit contains documentation, samples and tools for developing Silverlight applications.

- ActivePython 2.5
- Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar
- Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 Beta Software Development Kit (SDK)
- ElegantJ PDF Library 1.1
- SiteSpinner 2.7c
- VBto Converter 2.3

CD Highlights

Gaming

Free
Blob Wars: Blob and Conquer (Linux)
With the apparent defeat of Galdov and the reclaiming of the Fire, Time, Space, and Reality Crystals, the Blobs’ battle was only just beginning. Bob had rescued many Blobs and fought many battles, but now he had an ever bigger task ahead of him. The Blobs’ homeworld is still littered with the alien forces and Bob once again makes it his task to lead the counter attack. But even without Galdov the aliens are still extremely well organised...

D.R.O.D.—Deadly Rooms Of Death, Architects Edition
A brilliant puzzle game that mixes in some portions of RPG as well. Basically, the story is thus: you’re a big ugly dude who’s been trapped in a big cave thing and has to kill all the bugs to get out.

Porrasturvat: Stair Dismount
Score as much damage as you can by sending some poor sucker down the stairs. By controlling the initial conditions of the fall, you can create some pretty nasty-looking accidents.

- Cassetto
- Dr. Goo
- Roswell Racer
- Toblo
- Within a Deep Forest

Demos
Professor Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery
While on a well-deserved vacation, Professor Fizzwizzle’s investigation of a strange volcano has landed him in a Molten Mystery! Now it’s up to you to master exciting new gadgets, outwit the Bat-Bots, and vanquish a truly cunning villain!

Turret Wars v1.20 Demo
Turret Wars is a fast paced 3D arcade game, where you battle against enemy gun turrets, finding and destroying them before they find and destroy you!

Tools

Multimedia
3D Canvas 7.0.1.2
3D Canvas is a real-time, 3D modelling and animation tool that incorporates the drag-and-drop approach. Complex models can be constructed from simple 3D primitives or created using 3D Canvas’ object-building tools.

SynthMaker 1.0.6
Create your own instruments and effects to use in your music or to share with others. Learn about and experiment with sound synthesis and digital signal processing techniques.

- Celtx 0.9.9.1
- Autostitch
- ChrisTV Lite 5.01
- Flames 2.7.2
- Fx New Sound Free
- Photowipe
- RGS-AvancePaint 1.2.9
- Mixcraft Recording Studio
- Oriens JPEG Professional 1.3

System
AutoMate 6.1.1
This is a software tool for Windows that enables you to easily build custom automated tasks. In most cases, these tasks can be created without writing a single line of code! Users construct automated tasks with the help of a Wizard and an intuitive drag-and-drop Task Builder. AutoMate breaks down common user actions into basic steps. You build tasks step by step in logical progressions. The result emulates an actual user performing the given task or procedure.

- Autostart and Process Viewer
- AVG Anti-Rootkit Free
- FileTaxi
- Font Frenzy 1.5.139
- MaxKeys 1.00
- PowerArchiver 2007
- PowerShell XP
- QT TabBar
- Sandboxie
- Tooler
- Volumouse
- Windows Sidebar Styler 2.0.5

Internet
Mozilla Firefox 3 (Gran Paradiso) alpha 5
Firefox 3 (Gran Paradiso) alpha 5 is a developer preview release of the next-generation Firefox browser. It is only being made available for testing purposes.

- Bildsoft FastnPlay Lite + Pro! 2007
- Pidgin (formerly Gaim) 2.0.1
- PowerArchiver Outlook Plugin 2.0 Beta 3
- Sockso 0.1
- SpaceTime Beta
- uBrowser
- Mask Surf Standard
- OutNote 1.0.9
- PingPlotter 2.6
- TubeTools 1.0.1.2

Productivity

Personal
Polyglot 3000
Here’s a small program that can recognise the language of any text, phrase, or word you provide it. It can handle over 400 languages.

- ISS Smart Flow 1.3.1
- LetMe Type
- Polyglot 3000
- Pro Typist
- ToDoList
- episTree 2 build 2610
- Classroom Spy Professional
- FolderShare 2.5.1
- PC Tattletale 7.9.49

Developers
Advanced Linux Programming
“If you are a developer for the GNU/Linux system, this book will help you to: Develop GNU/Linux software that works the way users expect it to. Write more sophisticated programs with features such as multiprocessing, multi-threading, inter-process communication, and interaction with hardware devices. Improve your programs by making them run faster, more reliably, and more securely.” All the sample source code for this book is on this CD.

Video Game Design Pro 2006
Video Game Design Pro 2006 offers many tools, resources, and documentation to help users communicate their game concepts to others.

- Free Monitor for Google
- Microsoft Fiddler 1.2
- VLC media player source code
- FeedWrite
- Easy SQL Scripter 1.0

Entertainment

Music
Captain Obvious Live at Bar 227 - Full Album
Enjoy the sounds of this German Instrumental Rock band at Bar 227 in Hamburg

Fun Software
Packet Garden
This is an open source, multi-platform, experimental art project that monitors your Internet traffic and uses the data from that to generate virtual 3D worlds that you can explore at will.

- AnimatedAlien ScreenMate
- AnnoyMail 2001 3.0
- Babble Rock 1.0
- BlueScreen Screen Saver 3.2
- Fake Progress Bar 1.1
- FlowerThinger 1.1
- Vista Upgrade Prank 1.00

There you go, then.

[Charan]

WOW great content .. Thanks for Adobe CS3 Design Premium .

[rakeshishere]

Fast Track To Apple

Yikes..

[Third Eye]

Thanks for the Fedora Linux

[~Phenom~]

Thanx for everything. I really liked the contents after a long long time. Everything looks good.

[blackpearl]

Know what? This issue looks far better than the anniversary issue.

Originally Posted by FatBeing

Create Your Own Linux Distro
Whether you’re already a Linux afficionado or not, we believe you should read this one. You can’t create a Windows-like OS... how about a Linux distro? Your own OS? To use, to show off? It’s not that difficult. Really.

This should be interesting. Also the FastTrack, LOL. With all the Mac vs Windows war going on, it couldn't have come at a better time!!

[~Phenom~]

^^agree.

[azaad_shri75]

THANKS A LOT FOR FEDORA7 AND ADVANCE LINUX PROGRAMMING.

[rajivnedungadi]

Good Contents!

Thanks for Fedora 7

[azaad_shri75]

however I smell magzine is going to have less pages..........

[praka123]

Originally Posted by rakeshishere

Yikes..

Me too and yes ofcorz thanks for fedora and not for providing Linux softwares in source format.

[thechamp]

gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

[aryayush]

Cool! A Fast Track to Apple!!

This must be interesting. Hope they are not as biased against Apple as they generally are.

[blackpearl]

Originally Posted by praka123

thanks for fedora and not for providing Linux softwares in source format.

Digit has no other option but to give Linux softwares in source formats because there are hundreds of distros out there and each have their own package manager. An rpm package for Fedora will not work for Suse or Red Hat. A dpkg package for Debian will not work for Ubuntu. Even differnt versions of the same distro have different packages for installation. Now which one will Digit give? So the safest option is to give the source code. If you have the correct libraries, you can compile and use it in any distro.

Needless to say, it seldom works, nor does RPMs do (the dependency hell). So giving linux softwares is useless, except linux distros.

[nithinks]

thanks for maya...

[Garbage]

Very gr8 contents after long time !!!

Surely better issue than Anniversary issue !!!!!

cheers.............

[prasad_den]

Originally Posted by shirish_nagar

Very gr8 contents after long time !!!

Surely better issue than Anniversary issue !!!!!

cheers.............

Exactly...!! Looks better than the June issue..!

[Gigacore]

nice compilation. but is this all for 125 Rs ?

[Tapomay]

Really good cotents. But I am still waiting for the June issue.

[rajivnedungadi]

Already registered for Maya

[Tapomay]

By the way, is there really any need to include the CD? I think a DL DVD every month is enough. So why just making the disc cluster bigger?

[ratedrsuperstar]

May be they're thinking abt the ppl who still own the old warhorses CD-Roms

anyway gr8 edition and the DL is the main reason that they can pack in so much stuff for everyone.Hope they don't intend to hike the price

[soham]

Great DVD contents. Really appreciated. But magazine could have been better. Also guys please start reviewing hardwares within VISTA as most other magazines have already started doing so.

[eggman]

did Digit really included I-DOSER 4.5 or is it a typo

[praka123]

Originally Posted by blackpearl

Digit has no other option but to give Linux softwares in source formats because there are hundreds of distros out there and each have their own package manager. An rpm package for Fedora will not work for Suse or Red Hat. A dpkg package for Debian will not work for Ubuntu. Even differnt versions of the same distro have different packages for installation. Now which one will Digit give? So the safest option is to give the source code. If you have the correct libraries, you can compile and use it in any distro.

Needless to say, it seldom works, nor does RPMs do (the dependency hell). So giving linux softwares is useless, except linux distros.

exactly this is my point.with source packages given,n00bs tries thinking it can be easy install like in installshield/.exe's.that's what i quoted.let digit provides distro DVDs/CDs.but its a waste providing source.and i pointed that earlier itself in the thread.

use synaptic package manager(in menu>System>admin>).it contains all those softwares!digit simply provides source packages for Linux,that is not worth with Ubuntu and other distros which got apt and dpkg and better package management.
Anjuta is a good ide for c/cpp.eclipse is for java etc.again those source packages distributed by digit is a waste without a good package manager which resolves dependecies.that i'd say is a waste that digit carries these source packages.rather they shud provide linux distros in more and BIG softwares for eg;for Ubuntu-Aptoncd etc.
Dont try those source given from digit.its just illogical for eg;how it'll be if u get those .dll files,diffrnt config things etc wholesale to ur hand instead of installshield setup or simply "setup.exe"-the same thing in linux/unix are those gzipped(.gz) or bzipped(.bz2) source files;for eg:ur xmms source!.
So the thing is there are very good package managers which can fetch you and install software without searching internet like in windows.for eg: Debian or Ubuntu have apt and dpkg doing a wonderful job.for redhat/fedora .rpm is there,yum is there etc.
So never try those outdated source and if possible any source packages,get ur package manager works for you!
for eg:in GNOME menu after Applications and Places,there is another menu called System which contains administration menu>in which there is synaptic manager.give ur local user password when prompted.
Do read below article very informative for Windows Users too:
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/show...72&postcount=4

[ChaiTan3]

Thanks for Maya PLE, Adobe CS3 and Fedora 7(wanted to chk out a linux distro other than ubuntu)

[anantkhaitan]

Well this time your Magazine/Media content are really worth praising.. you are gonna rock this time..
Far better than your anniversary issue

[BBThumbHealer]

this issue's is better than june anniversary special ......thnx for Fedora , FS to Apple n Adobe Suite !

[rajivnedungadi]

Does the stands copy have the DVD box?

[Gigacore]

yes the newstand copy will have DVD case