[Preview + Feedback] Digit August 2007

[FatBeing]

August 2007 Magazine Contents


Digital Passion

Test Centre
Pimped Out Penguin
A problem of plenty is the case with Linux distros, we think. So why not enjoy it? Reviewed: off-beat distross for specific purposes, from networking to gaming

Insight
Riders On The Stream
The G80 and the R600—from NVIDIA and ATI—are hot names in the graphics card empire. So what’s the difference? Plenty! All demystified here!

Do It Yourself
Share Firefox Between Windows and Linux
Dual-booting, are we? Feels powerful, doesn’t it, an OS for a task... but some things can be a pain. Like Firefox profiles. Get over it.

30 Days With
The Serpent And The Arachnid!
A mouse and a keyboard, that’s what our reviewer spent 30 days with. And he actually bothered to write all about it. But they’re Razer, and they aren’t 200-rupee devices...

Droolmaal
It is indeed about how much good stuff costs, but we like the good, not the cost. We liked a certain set of cans from AKG, an Alienware machine that isn’t all about gaming, a Klipsch speaker set with an exquisite name...

Take A Crack At
Yes, yes, you’re the budding system admin spouting filth at worms contemptuously called “users.” So can you disable access to the Control Panel? And the printers as well? Win!

Digital Tools

Main Story
On The Lot
First find out what an open source movie is, and if that sounds cool, go about making one. We can’t go into too much detail, to be frank, but here are the basics

Agent001
Onboard’s Awful!
In this day and age and era and century, are you still stuck with an onboard graphics solution? Your trusty Agent eases you along the way to graphics card glory

Know More About
Linux Desktop Environments
Desktop Environments are the platforms that decide the rules of dragging and dropping, look and feel of the OS, etc. It goes beyond KDE and Gnome

3 Incredibly Useful Sites
New-age Wonders
Web 2.0 is usually light on the eyes, but some of these newfangled sites are very utilitarian. Build a WAP site, find a Web 2.0 application, use a cool new news aggregator... at these sites we’ve reviewed

Cover Story
A Cell, A Bell, And A Whistle
Presenting phones you know you want, and which will do your ego proud, and which are useful at the same time—and they don’t all cost an arm and a leg!

Digital Business

Smart Business
Lockdown
Laptop and PDA and Bluetooth and cell phone and Wi-Fi and lots and lots of data all over, in tangible and intangible state, begging to be locked down before they’re stolen and misused? Here’s a good dose of paranoia

Trend
Companies Going Green
You’ve seen it in processors and other hardware. Now we’re seeing it in technology companies, this drive towards eco-friendliness—they’re trying to save on paper and electricity. They’re concerned for the environment. They’re taking the baby steps.

Tech Careers
Master Of Penguins
It takes more than a geeky (or aspirational) interest in Linux to make a career of your knowledge of it. But you can. Constant learning is key, as are several other factors... We’ve clarified a lot of the things you need to know if you think you want a career in Linux. The upside? The downside? The good, the bad?

Smart Soho
The Devil Has Your Data
Put an old computer to good use: make a NAS (Network Attached Storage) server of it. This is essentially a cheaper alternative to a dedicated file server

Digital Leisure

Game On
CellFactor: Revolution disappoints. Colin McRae: DiRT does not. Tomb Raider Anniversary is our highlight... and Alex Ward, creative director at Criterion, spoke to us about Burnout: Paradise

Touched by Tech
Generosity 2.0
Do we upgrade too often? Yes... Do those old boxes need to be trashed? No! Do more with them than recycle the parts. Here’s what, and how

Tech Quiz
Of Lasers And Security
If you get them all correct, we won’t give you anything! But you can tell your friends you did... and quiz them while you’re at it

Tabloid Tech
Accessories Anonymous
Our monthly dose of all the celebrity stuff that does the rounds on the Net, and what Big People are doing with and about tech

*************************************
Fast Track To The Social Web
*************************************

DVD-DL Highlights

Gaming

Free

CellFactor: Revolutions
CellFactor is an FPS with an epic storyline, set in a warfare industrial atmosphere. It features 3 playable main characters, each with distinctive play styles. It was created to promote the Aegia PhysX card, though you don’t need one to play the first two levels of the game.

Hidden & Dangerous 2: Sabre Squadron
Reprise your role as commander of the elite Special Air Services (SAS) in World War II as you take on the Axis Powers in nine new missions set in France, Africa and Sicily. Fight through these campaigns alone or play co-operatively with friends. Sneak past enemy lines, infiltrate heavily guarded bases and outposts, and utilize superior tactics to eliminate the opposition.

What Makes you Tick
Young Nathan has been sent by his university to deliver an important message to a retired professor. We are not initially told how or why the university knows this information, but the professor’s life is apparently in danger, and Nathan must find him. He is sent to the professor’s last known residence somewhere in the countryside, and he soon learns that he is not the only one seeking the professor.

- In Cubation
- UFO: Alien Invasion

Demos

Ratatouille
Fast-paced game packed full of missions, mini-games, daring heists, frenzied pursuits, and wild chases!! Relive the movie’s most intense action scenes through the eyes of Remy.

- G.H.O.S.T. Hunters: The Haunting of Majesty Manor

Tools

Multimedia

Bryce 5.5
Create breathtaking realistic 3D landscapes and animations with DAZ 3D Bryce. The easy user interface simplifies the design process for a novice or the seasoned professional. Start out building or importing a landscape as impressive as the Grand Canyon. You’ll have to register your copy of Bryce at www.daz3d.com/bryce55 to gain access to your free Bryce serial number.

Softimage XSI Foundation Trial
Spend some quality time with the most advanced 3D animation and character creation software. Experience XSI’s Gigapolygon core, elegant artist-friendly interface, and non-destructive workflow for modeling, character set-up, animation and rendering. You will need an active internet connection for this to work.

trueSpace 7.5
trueSpace7.5 modeling capabilities are unmatched. You have at your fingertips literally hundreds of modeling tools for polygonal modeling, Subdivision surfaces, NURBS, metaballs, implicit surfaces, you name it, all accessible via intuitive direct manipulation interface. You need to register at http://cart1.caligari.com/ts5demo/fo...source=&v=TS75 for your trial serial key

- AnimatorDV Simple+ for home use
- aBasic Editor 10.4
- Sony Sound Forge 9
- Ulead Cool 3D Production Studio

System

Autopatcher XP May 2007 Core Release + June 2007 Update
This release is based on the all-new AutoPatcher 5.6 for Windows XP SP2 (x86)

Vembu StoreGrid Backup Software-Free Edn 2.2.1
‘Vembu StoreGrid’ is a very well designed backup and restore utility. Ideal for small networks, StoreGrid can facilitate intranet, client-server, and remote backups.
- Quick Heal Total Security 2007
- FreeNAS
- Microsoft XNA Framework
- Parted Magic 1.7
- FlashBack 1.21
- Hard Drive Inspector Standard Edition

Internet

Apple Safari for Windows 3.0.2 (522.13.1) Beta
Experience the web, Apple style, with Safari: the fastest, easiest-to-use web browser in the world. With its simple, elegant interface, Safari gets out of your way and lets you enjoy the web—up to 2 times faster than Internet Explorer.

Caligari iSpace
For web designers and developers who want to design the different look of their website, iSpace provides a web graphics design tool that enables the creation of stunning 3D web graphics. Working in concert with traditional web design tools iSpace delivers the full range of 3D capabilities in a familiar drag & drop environment. Unlike other 3D web design tools, iSpace works seamlessly with your main HTML editor such as Front Page, Dreamweaver or Adobe GoLive and uses a standard HTML format for input and output of the entire fully formatted page. iSpace is also an ideal companion tool for a trueSpace artist who wants to create an HTML page or 3D libraries for iSpace itself.

- Collanos Workplace
-IVBot 2.0
- oSync 0.8.1 Beta 2
- Qnext (Video Conferencing) 3.0
- Windows Live Mail Desktop 8.0.1226 Beta
- Caligari iSpace
- Mundu Radio
- Radmin Remote Control 3.01

Productivity

Personal

Celestia-1.4.1-ED for Windows
Celestia is a free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn’t confine you to the surface of the Earth. This is a customised version of Celestia, made for use with the educational addons provided in this DVD. Be sure to check them out!

- Celestia Educational Activities 1 & 2 – The Universe
- Celestia Educational Activity 3 – The Inner Solar System
- Celestia Educational Activity 4E – The Outer Solar System-Extended
- Pagico (Basic) 2.1.0626
- pdf-Office 6.0.2
- Platinum Word 2007 Gold Edition (Reader Contribution)
- XMIND 2007

Developers

C Code Library 1.7.6.21
C Code Library is a powerful multi-language source code Library with the following benefits: 1. Built-in library with 50,000++ lines of code 2. Quick and powerful search engine 3. Powerful printing capability 4. Password protection & strong 448 bits encryption (optional) 5. User notes & attachments handling 6. Favorites & rating support 7. Full integration with all major programming IDEs And much more!

- Microsoft Expression Blend 2 May Preview
- myApps
- VcSmith 2.2.2
- Advanced Installer for Java 5.0

Linux Distros

ArtistX
ArtistX is a live DVD which turns a computer into a full multimedia production studio. It is based on Debian GNU/Linux and contains nearly all the available free audio, 2D and 3D graphics, and video software for the GNU/Linux computing platform.

LG3D Live CD
LG3D is based on Sun’s Looking Glass Project. Imagine this stunning 3D environment on your desktop—in less than two minutes. Just burn the CD and get going!

LinspireLive!
Test drive Linspire Five-0 and the innovative CNR Service, your ticket to thousands of popular programs. There’s no need to install anything on your hard drive. LinspireLive! boots and runs directly from your CD drive, and it won’t affect your current system or settings.

NimbleX 2007v2
NimbleX is a small but versatile operating system which is able to boot from a small 8 cm CD, from flash memory like USB pens or Mp3 players and even from the network. Because it runs entirely from a CD, USB or network it doesn’t require installation or even much hardware. NimbleX is based on Slackware with the use of linux-live scripts and it has a lot of this distribution advantages.

Damn Small Linux
It’s the smallest fully functional Linux distribution you can get your hands on! Boot into it from a mini-CD, USB Flash drive or even from within Windows!

Entertainment

Videos

23rd Chaos Communication Congress: How to Design a Decent User Interface
Take a look at software from a user’s point of view and improve your applications. Prepare to be brainwashed! This talk wants you to switch from the developer’s perspective to that of an average user to design better UIs. Open the video in VLC Media Player or Media Player Classic—you can find them both on this month’s CD

23rd Chaos Communication Congress: Body hacking
What happens when we leave behind cosmetics and start to modify our bodies and minds to enhance who we are and what we can do? In this talk, journalist Quinn Norton explores how technology and flesh are coming together. (from the 23rd Chaos Communication Congress) Open the video in VLC Media Player or Media Player Classic—you can find them both on this month’s CD

Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth Demo
Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed 3-dimensional space. Watch this demo to see what it's capable of.

Movies

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
John Barrymore stars in this 1920 renowned silent adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic about a Victorian scientist who turns himself into a murderous abomination. This is one of several versions of the silent film production.

CD Highlights

Short Movie

The Phantom Inventory
The storyline: a bailiff visits an old man in a wheelchair who collects old mementos (“souvenirs that no one wants”, says the old man). He discovers a vast attic full of curious objects and sets out to take inventory of all the treasures that are there.

Gaming

Free

Apprentice
In Apprentice, you play the unlikely hero Mortimer “Pib” Pibsworth. This game is right up there with the best of them. Compared to Pleurgburgh on occasion this game has the perfect blend of humour, puzzles, gameplay and graphics.

The Yetisports Collection
Join the Yeti as he makes his way through eight games—Pingu Throw, Orca Slap, Seal Bounce, Albatross Overload, Flamingo Drive, Bigwave, Free-Ride and Jungle Swing.

- Fiat Panda Fun Racer
- Fiend
- Ragdoll Matrix Reloaded
- SimSheep 2
- Speedway
- Zelda Classic

Demos

The Apprentice: Los Angeles
Compete for a dream job with Donald Trump in this innovative twist on time management games! Test your skills in four iconic LA settings, each with its own gameplay style. It`s like having four games in one! You`ll prepare food, manage your assistants and control your inventory!

- Dirk Dashing: Secret Agent!
- Nanny Mania

Entertainment

Fun Software

Rekkaturvat: Truck Dismount
The aim of this game is to injure someone, as badly as you can, in a truck accident that you have control over. Control the speed of the truck, the position of the poor helpless victim, even place ramps to try and score as much damage as possible.

- Cartoonist 1.3
- Water Rocket Fun
- AV Voice Changer Software Gold Edition 6.0.10

Music

Creative Commons Music
Enjoy this collection of Creative Commons Licensed Music in the Digit Media Player

Digital Spaceland 4 by Project System 12
According to the band: “Number 4 in the series—dreaming in Space—Adventures at strange places—Fantasy”. Just that.

Tools

Multimedia

PhotoMosaique 1.6
PhotoMosaique facilitates very easy and fast creation of picture mosaics. The final image comprises about a thousand tiny images (thumbnails).

- RealPlayer 11 Beta
- iTunes 7.3
- JetPhoto Studio 3.8
- Reaper 1.873
- Teen Spirit 0.91c
- TV 2.0

System

Returnil Virtual System Personal Edition
Returnil Virtual System is a powerful technology that clones a copy of your System Partition in memory and can create a file based Virtual Partition where you can save documents, data, and files while using the System Protection feature.

- ClamWin Free Antivirus 0.90.3-3c
- Driver Magician Lite 3.26
- Keyboard Extensions 1.0 build 53
- Mz Cpu Accelerator 1.4
- PowerPro 4.7
- Returnil Virtual System Personal Edition 1.62 Build: 4107
- RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.0.5
- SmartGesture Lite 1.0.1
- ClickyMouse Advanced Scripting Edition 6.31

[Third Eye]

Magazine's contents look nice.

[a_k_s_h_a_y]

yeah that's what i am talking about....good magazine contents
like that which linux for me and graphic card thing and linux desktop environment
basically all there is more then enough content for students !

[jamesbond007]

Cover Story is good but wondering whats on Cover Page ????
Good Work guy not the best of your works till date but this ones looking good!!

[praka123]

It is good to see more Linux contents.kudos to the decision makers

[azaad_shri75]

good to see linux both on mag and media, seems the mag is improving.

[k_blues24]

Hi to all team Digit,
Nice contains but u still can do better
pls improve in next months
regards

[Garbage]

oooohhhhhooooooo

So, first time Digit seems balanced over Windows & Linux !!

nice contents....

waiting for issue !

[aneesh kalra]

Very nice contents hurray do it yourself is now a regular in the mag

[hsnayvid]

cant wait to get my hands on the new issue....

when r u dispatching my copy???

Originally Posted by jamesbond007

Cover Story is good but wondering whats on Cover Page ????
Good Work guy not the best of your works till date but this ones looking good!!

for cover visit thinkdigit.com

[Siddhartha_t69]

OK contents.. will buy this issue

[qams]

Not enough reason to buy!
No Motherboard testing with onboard DirectX10 Graphics i.e. Intel G31,G33,P35 etc. !
No Vista AutoPatcher !
No 17" new LCD testing e.g. LG 1752S , 4ms speed !
No Cheap DVD Writer testing i.e. 1300Rs(LG/Sony 18x) to 1600Rs(LiteON 20x).
a lot more.......................

Not enough reason to buy!

>No Motherboard testing with onboard DirectX10 Graphics i.e. Intel G31,G33,P35 etc. !
>No Vista AutoPatcher !
>No 17" new LCD testing e.g. LG 1752S , 4ms speed !
>No Cheap DVD Writer testing i.e. 1300Rs(LG/Sony 18x) to 1600Rs(LiteON 20x).
>a lot more.......................

So I will go for CPU(Computer Power User) this month.

I will boycott Digit for 2 months more, to recover from DON disaster.
and I will not buy any Anniversary issue and issue that will cost 200Rs.

[Rishabh_sharma1990]

GREAT Magzine contents.
Keep it Up

[rajivnedungadi]

Originally Posted by qams

So I will go for CPU(Computer Power User) this month.

What is CPU? where do you get that magazine from?

[ratedrsuperstar]

plz post some of it's forte's

[azaad_shri75]

Originally Posted by rajivnedungadi

What is CPU? where do you get that magazine from?

its canadian magazine.

[darkknight]

Awsome Contents Keep Up The Good Work. Thnx

[Gigacore]

nice content

[kumarmohit]

Nice time to give cell phone review, I needed it.

[1c3m4n]

Thanx for the Linux content guys.

[DeSmOnD dAvId]

Awesome content!

Too bad my subscription has ended and my dad will not renew it as my 1st year engineering course is about to start.

[Quiz_Master]

From the June Anniversary Issue... Digit is improved a lot.
Nice Content...

[BBThumbHealer]

Just Not Good Contents

[gary4gar]

Fast track to Social web
hope to find something new in it

the cover story is tempting

you provided maya but not a single thing about it in this issue, What the hell a begineer has to do

[praka123]

Originally Posted by BlackBerry7100g

Just Not Good Contents

How?I find balanced contents on this issue.esp the Linux articles helps awareness as goes-"what you use is NOT essentially the best available"

[contactpraven2001]

good work by digit this time i think this time they learn from there mistakes

[vaithy]

hello,
for buying costly magazines like digit, Linux users are at disadvantages at lot. Say a magazines with predominately cover windows articles, include only 5% articles related to Linux, then for Linux users the satisfaction is only 5% , on the other hands for Windows users they have the satisfaction of 95% of their liking, so they get the value of the money.So If the magazine give some distros then the satisfaction level increased, sadly, many magazines management ignore this fact..
LFY is there but it has crippled with quality of cd and DVD issues,and its Magazine contents are for advanced users and developers only. So Linux users like me left with no alternative,but not to subscribe any magazine just wait and verify whether any articles related with linux or any distros are given with magazine..

I believe this issue is very good and balanced but I am not committing yet!

thanking you,
with regards,
Vaithy

[ssk_the_gr8]

yaar only one hardware reviw of cell phones
i was expecting a comparo of at least 2 kind of hardwares like it has benn happeinin for the last few months

[mohanpatil_swing]

I got that on 1st of August from news stand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice one to see 5 linux distros. But all are Live. 1 of them is bootable, other 4 are provided in iso. Movie is boring.