[Preview + Feedback] Digit November 2007

[FatBeing]

Magazine Contents

Digital Passion

Cover Story
Clickety-Clack: Googlewhack!
Here’s our Cover Story for this month—a serious look at what one Indian security analyst claims is a flaw in Google’s AdSense

Festive Special
Festive Shopping
Ho-ho-ho (in a desi accent)... ’tis the festive season, and weep as it might, your wallet’s out. Here’s exactly what to buy—for yourself or for all those expectant faces around you

Take A Crack
Create A Context Menu Item To Mail An IE Page
Yes, that’s right. And it’s not a trick question—there is a solution! Not all that useful a function, but a toughie to crack nevertheless

Insight
Under The Die
Skip this one if you design chips, but most of us don’t know how the well-known “silicon chip” becomes what it is: a real, working component of a computer! Well, here’s the story

Droolmaal
An eclectic collection of stuff this month to just ogle at and forget—our Droolmaal regular. Featuring a new UMPC, a “portable DJ-ing system,” a porsh gaming wheel (pun intended), and more—including a luscious cooling system

Digital Tools

Enhance
An Improved Office
MS Office is good as it is, and few will dispute that. But how about slapping a few small things onto it that will make it—and you—even more productive? No coding required!

Tips & Tricks
We go the Flash way this month: something to get you started with that just-got-to-love-it piece of software. Then, we demystify all those terms you come across in Media Player Classic—not to forget more tips on Windows Vista

Bazaar
Featured this month in our ever-popular products section: an odd phone, a weird MP3 player, the Sennheiser PXC 440 (circumaural), a ViewSonic projector—and more. You’ll want to whip out your wallet—guaranteed!

Test Centre
The Silicon Ecosystem
Motherboards and processors go together—compatibility, optimum performance, and so on. So here’s The Great Big Huge Annual Computer-Fundamentals Shootout! Besides, it’s the festive season, and what better time to get a new computer? (Happy in the knowledge that you’re making a sound decision?) Turn to the page!

Digital Business

Smart Business
Get Noticed, Get Clicked
Optimising your site for search engines—that is, SEO—need not be an investment. Just do it yourself! Be warned, though—there are no shortcuts

Smart SoHo
Learning To Share
Proxy servers are—or should be—used in all businesses. We’ve spoken about this before, but here’s a solution for smaller businesses. It uses a software called Proxy+

Trend
Bookworms Or Veterans?
Are IT recruiters getting the idea that on-paper qualifications don’t mean as much as they used to? Here’s what some recruiters—of candidates with some experience—think

Digital Leisure

Touched By Tech
At Sea No More
Tech needs to trickle down—and trickle down to those who need it most: the tillers of the soil and the harvesters of the sea. Learn how this is being done

Tabloid Tech
Music Lovers: Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
We’ve got some pretty overdone stuff this month—sorry! McCartney is back, now with guitar lessons, and there’s news about another leaked video (which is said to be “hot”).

Game On
Old & New
Half-Life 2: Episode 2, is, well, just the second episode—don’t expect too much. But Portal, Lost Planet and World in Conlfict are fresh as daisies—and they won’t disappoint

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Fast Track to Computing - Ages, Events, Evolution

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

DVD-DL Highlights

openSUSE 10.3 (DVD)
openSUSE provides everything today’s Linux user needs for home computing and computing-on-the-go. This product includes a Linux operating system plus dozens of essential integrated tools that showcase the latest that open source has to offer. Boot from this DVD to install openSUSE.

Entertainment
Movie of the month

Utopia
Utopia is also known as “Atoll K” and “Robinson Crusoe Land.” This is the last film Laurel and Hardy made together. It was filmed and produced in Europe in 1951.

Music

Sophomore Jinx by Rob Costlow—Solo Piano
The artist’s description: “Sophomore Jinx is my first professional recording effort. This album is about second chances, hopes, dreams, and following my passion.” Preview this album in the Digit Media Player

Peace in The Valley by Jennifer Avalon
A collection of songs that are both spiritual and thought-provoking. A journey through life, love, disappointment, triumph and rebirth.

Live at Wood Hall (originals) by Allison Crowe
Live at Wood Hall is a journey through the artist’s concert repertoire, recorded at the Conservatory of Music, (a converted church chapel), in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in March, 2005. Alongside more than an album’s worth of original songs of love and hope to social and political commentary, Allison covers her favourites—in a range from rock and pop through roots and blues, folk, jazz and more.

Samadhi by SaReGaMa
The artist’s description: “Samadhi is the highest state of mental concentration or absorption that a person can achieve while still bound to the body and which unites him with the highest reality”

Wild and Free by DEREK
Wild and Free is an instrumental compilation of various feelings. An invitation in the journey where the west and the east merge varied atmospheres with guitar for witness.

Gaming

Free

Dance Mela
Dance Mela is India’s first Multiplayer Online Dancing Game. Groove to the latest Bollywood hits. Enter the never-ending party. For Digit readers only: Register at http://dancemela.kreeda.com/partner/digit/ to get your free points!

Vega Strike
Vega Strike is an Open Source 3D Action-Space-Sim that lets you trade, fight, and explore in a vast universe.

Demos

Escape from Paradise City
The demo gives players a taste of the upcoming game which combines RTS and RPG elements against a backdrop of a crime-infested seaside city. In the two available demo missions, taken directly from the campaign, players will be challenged to take over neighborhoods infested with vicious gangs while earning new skills and hiring henchmen in your quest to take over the city.

Tools

Multimedia

SONY Vegas Pro 8.0 Build 144
Combines real-time SD, DV and HDV video editing with unrivaled audio tools to provide the ultimate all-in-one environment. Install the .net 3.0 Framework from this DVD before installing Sony Vegas

Claymation Studio Trial
Claymation Studio helps you to easily create stop motion videos.. Capture images using a digital camera, webcam or DV camcorder, create characters, apply small changes, and add background images and music to create your own claymation movies.

Comic Book Creator—Self Publishing Software 1.04
Add text bubbles to your digital screenshots, as well as classic comic book features like POWerful action-word graphics that emphasize the game play. Select from one of the 500 unique layout and design templates; drop in your captured digital images; and insert text bubbles, icons, captions, and clipart to bring to life whatever story you can imagine. Comic Book Creator will work with any JPEG, BMP or GIF digital image.

- CyberLink PowerDVD 7
- Recomposit 1.9
- Site Studio 6 Pro
- Toon Boom Studio 4

System
Nero 8 8.1.1.0 Ultra Edition
Using Nero 8 Ultra Edition you can now create and edit, convert and share, rip and burn, backup and protect your digital media, all from one easy-to-use interface!

Parallels Workstation 2.2.2204
Parallels Workstation is a powerful desktop virtualization solution that empowers IT professionals with the ability to develop, test and deploy in multiple operating systems on a single PC.

- .net Framework 3.0
- Norton AntiVirus Definitions 9/30/07
- Office 2003 Service Pack 3
- FileSee 6.30
- NOD32 AntiVirus 3.0.414
- Norton 360 1.0 Final
- NovaBACKUP 8.0

Internet
HP Smart Web Printing 2.0
“This enhancement to Microsoft Internet Explorer improves upon IE’s ability to print what you see on the Web page. HP Smart Web Printing allows users to: Select text and graphics easily from any web site and save a handy list of clipsSave paper by combining portions of numerous web pages Preview and modify clips before printing “

Joost for Windows 1.0 Beta
Joost is a new way of watching TV on the Internet. You get all the things you love about TV, including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping.

- BitTorrent Mp3 2.5.7.0 (Adware)
- Skype Recorder 1.2
- VoiceMask Pro 1.2

Productivity

Personal
Lotus Symphony
IBM Lotus Symphony offers something for everyone—a community-oriented site, a template gallery, and tips and support to help you succeed. Lotus Symphony supports Microsoft Windows and Office applications.

Peanut Butter PC 2.2
Peanut Butter PC is used by parents, grandparents, schools, and daycare centers. Peanut Butter PC lowers the barriers to learning by creating a straight-forward, kid-friendly interface for your PC. Adults and children can learn how to use Peanut Butter PC quickly and easily without any training.

- 3D Topicscape Student Edition Beta_1.0
- SoftMaker Office 2008 Beta
- AstroGrav 1.4.2
- IngoLingo 1.02

Developers

KompoZer 0.7.10
KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing.

- Microsoft Insider: Bonus Insider Tip SP1
- PyPE 2.8.7
- PostgreSQL Code Factory 7.5.0.1
- NAntBuilder 1.0
- RJ TextEd 4

CD Highlights

FREE for Digit Readers:
Ashampoo Burning Studio 2008
Ashampoo Burning Studio has changed the way CD/DVD/Blu-ray burning software works.

Ashampoo Office 2006
With Ashampoo Office 2006 you can get your work done faster, with higher quality and for a fraction of the cost of some other office suites.

Entertainment

Music

Thread Soul by Revolution Void
Revolution Void combines electronic music with live improvisation to create a style of music called electronic breakbeat jazz.

Movie

We Edit Life
The creator’s description: “Experimenters in visual perception are using computers to create weird and random patterns that never occur in real life to find out what and how people see when these patterns are shown to them. The art of computer graphics is only in its infancy yet it is already stimulating creative thought in far out areas where research is likely to get complex and unwieldy. If offers not only the means to quicken the pace of discovery but an ideal of communicating what we may discover”

Tools

Multimedia

ReValver Mk II
ReValver Mk II is a second generation guitar amp modeler. It models several “classic” amps with a lot of detail, and most of all, capturing the true nature of the vacuum tube sound. Over 15 programmable features of each tube stage can be set with a graphical interface. Every tube in all amps can be tweaked. As many as 17 tube types are included to choose from.

- AVS Audio Editor 3.6.1.30
- CoffeeCup Flash Firestarter 7.1
- D’Accord iChords 2
- Nendo
- Virtual DJ 5

System
Exposer for Windows
Exposer is the revolutionary way to visually represent all the open windows on your desktop and expose them to you.

- ATI Catalyst
- CDBurnerXP 4.0.015.277
- Double Driver 1.0
- Folding@home for Windows XP/Vista n GPU 5.91 Beta 6
- Mousotron
- NVIDIA ForceWare
- NVIDIA nTune
- TestDisk and PhotoRec 6.8 Beta
- Vispa 0.1.1
- Wubi 7.04.04
- CopyToDVD
- Desktop3D 1.5
- SlyControl
- SpeedCommander 12.00.5130 Beta 3
- WinForcer 3.2
- WinPatrol 2007

Internet
Orbit Downloader 2.1.5
Orbit Downloader, leader of download manager revolution, is devoted to new generation web application downloading to make downloads easier and faster. It is a free all-in-one downloader which can download streaming media, social music or video from anywhere include YouTube, MySpace, iMeem, Pandora, etc.

[ax3]

nice contents 4 both mag & cd\dvd .......

bt Fast Track should have much better .....

Many many thanks for openSUSE.
I LOVE YOU!!!

[Tech_Wiz]

**** Open SUSE doesnt has the latest nVidia driver built in so its absolute zero use for me.

Other contents look good though.

[azzu]

Not to cool content but ya its ok

[The_Devil_Himself]

very average content except open suse10.3.

[utsav]

^^open suse bahut tasty hai kya

good.i was waiting for a mobo shootout from a long time.

link of dancemela not working

[FatBeing]

Originally Posted by utsav

^^open suse bahut tasty hai kya

good.i was waiting for a mobo shootout from a long time.

link of dancemela not working

The Dance Mela Link should work by the 1st of November. Will keep checking

[Gigacore]

Hey fat being bro! nice contents.. thanks for the nero 8... but i wanna ask u something... i cant find Adobe Reader 8 provided in digit cd/dvd after it is released... i dont know why.. So atleast have u included it in november edition ?

[azzu]

sorry for Re-post but
Gotta say Every time Open source is backing up the DIGIT Content's

[harryneopotter]

nice contents ............ hope to get my copy soon ..............

[aditya.shevade]

Originally Posted by Tech_Wiz

**** Open SUSE doesnt has the latest nVidia driver built in so its absolute zero use for me.

Other contents look good though.

You can get the drivers from it's repository.

I think SUSE cannot include nVidia drivers in their media due to some restrictions.

[PavanPoghul]

sheesh,, Where is Call of Duty 4 Demo?

[iNFiNiTE]

Good Mag Contents..... Disc contents too seem OK.

[kumarmohit]

Ashampoo Office 2006
With Ashampoo Office 2006 you can get your work done faster, with higher quality and for a fraction of the cost of some other office suites.

If this is full version, Digit might be the first mag to give a full fledged commercial office suite to the readers.

All in all awsome contents on bothe discs

[quantum]

i was hopin for the new ubuntu well i ll get it from somewhere else none of my cards work well with suse

[gary4gar]

for me the contents are avg

[contactpraven2001]

well content are avg fast track look boring just open suse is only hope
but i love my ubuntu so don't care about it
hay digit buddies what are u doing give some articles on linux and i am expecting the ubuntu 7.10 but ok ......i download it ..........

[bibjee]

thanks for opensuse. hope i get xubuntu this december

[pritish_kul2]

poof no gd games..............ok contents

[rajivnedungadi]

Originally Posted by kumarmohit

If this is full version, Digit might be the first mag to give a full fledged commercial office suite to the readers.

All in all awsome contents on bothe discs

Nope, Lotus SmartSuite 97 was given long back in 1999 or 2000 by PC Quest and Computer Active gave Star Office 7 in October 2006. CA also gave Asampoo Office 2005 a few months ago

[kumarmohit]

Hmm my mistake. I started reading tech mags in 2002

[ratedrsuperstar]

read a third of the mag good contents and thnx for nero 8

[utsav]

^^^u got the mag 1 day before

[azzu]

Ya how d hell ??? :O :-O

[MetalheadGautham]

1. What's the use of a paid office suite when it has only a word processor and a spreadsheet creator? Open office is much better than that no name ashampoo office.

2. The burning studio on the other hand, shows some promise

3. thanks for SuSE 10.3, because if you had given Ubuntu 7.10, I would have killed myself, seeing I finished downloading ubuntu DVD EDITION 40 minutes back after a few sleepless nights(BSNL 500 scheme - 2am to 8am unlimited download @ 2mbps)


4. Will I have to wait till next month(or year) for The Visual Studio Express Edition 2005 CD with offitial artwork?(or atleast an ISO with a PNG image - I love artworks)

5. Talking about artworks, I would really appretiate it if you took my suggestion and gave the Disc artwork for the big software you provide, like paid stuff, distros, open office, visual studio, etc. Ones with lightscribe can burn the pics onto the disc, and the rest can take printouts and stick 'em up the old fashioned way.

6. so you listened to me and gave PyPE. Nice. but where is Anjuta IDE and Dev CPP?

7. hey FatBeing, are everyone at team digit lovers of soft stuff? I want to see some heavy music

8. nice articles

9. FastTrack is a bucket of Snake Oil... No Use

[casanova]

Nice contents for mag and discs. But why
1. Ashampoo (I would rather prefer a shampoo - Hair Care)
2. No good games. (Atleast you could have provided Ragnarok)

Really nice fast track title. It can busy me for a few hours at a stretch.

[abhinav_bipnesh]

thx for the open suse 10.3 one good gift for this diwali season hoping that next month gift would be fedora 8

thx looks overall a nice issue..........

[blackpearl]

When you give Linux distros please include necessary files from the repositories like codecs, Java etc. It's a pain to download them all. Do a yum/apt-get and then copy all the files from the repository folder, zip them and include them on the DVD. It's a request.

[max_demon]

ROCKING CONTENTS will buy the mag