200208_Digit.pdf

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editorial
One Step Forward,
Two Steps Back
H
ow many of us own the latest 3G cell phone, 64 MB handheld or a
DVD-Writer? Not too many, but we sure wish that we did.
These cool toys have tremendous drool value that’s built up by all the mar-
keting hype created around them. And companies need to sustain this hype in
order to boast that they’ve got the biggest, fastest, or most powerful technolo -
gy product in the world. Plus they get to build a feel good factor with their
shareholders, stock analysts and the general consumer who ends up associat-
ing any product or technology from that company as the best available.
Why are we letting a bunch of marketers dictate what we need?
We need to realise that the increased utility offered by most of these tech -
nological innovations is purely incremental—there’s no ‘this-will-change-my-
life’ experience associated with them. Actually, the benefits of most ‘cool’ tech -
nologies are negated when you realise that instead of speeding up efficiency, or
allowing us to accomplish the same amount of work in less time, we are often
faced with expectations that more must be done in the same time.
Also the gee-whiz appeal with owning the largest hard disk, the fastest CPU
and the most powerful video card is short-lived—there’s always a better, faster,
and more affordable technology around the corner. In the end what’s impor-
tant is whether your new printer is capable of printing more than 500 print-
outs with a single ink cartridge and not whether it prints at 1200 or 2400 dpi
since you won’t notice a perceptible difference in the first place. It doesn’t mat-
ter whether your killer 2 GHz notebook is three times faster than your desktop
PC, if it won’t let you watch an entire DVD movie during those boring flights
without requiring a battery recharge in the middle.
We mistakenly concentrate only on unnecessary ‘tangible’ aspects of tech -
nology—how fast or powerful it is—whereas we need to look at whether new
technological innovations fulfil their basic promise of greater convenience,
simplicity and efficiency.
What we really need are products and technologies that will simplify and
enrich our lives, allowing us to do things we actually care about—more free
time for family, personal goals and recreation.
And the only way this will happen is if we look beyond the hype and start
demanding the so-called innovators to drive innovations that really matter to
their customers—that’s you and me.
Vinit Aggarwal
Assistant Editor
“
The increased utility
offered by most
technological
innovations is purely
incremental—there’s
no ‘this-will-change-
my-life’ experience
associated with
them
”
vinit_aggarwal@jasubhai.com
index
s
s
magazine
FEATURES
Store More!
..........................31
Running out of space? No sweat.
Upcoming technologies in data
storage will multiply your storage
capacities a hundred-fold
Make a Scene
for Yourself .........................96
You don’t need professional tools to
make your own movies, just a mul -
timedia PC and some creativity
Hardware Freaks
................40
A portrait of an emerging breed of
youngsters hotwired on hardware
and technology
For the Love of Mic..........100
A basic guide on how you can turn
your PC into a music recording
studio
TEST DRIVE
The Real Picture on
Scanners
...............................48
Choose the right scanner for your
needs from our exhaustive test of 23
flatbeds
Hot Shots............................104
Share your photos with your family
and friends using online photo
album services
v
v
Making music and movies on your desktop
was never so simple!
When the Chips
are Down
..............................64
Place your bets on 15 of the most
advanced graphics chipsets avail-
able in the market today
Recovering
Deleted Files......................107
Deleted an important file unknow-
ingly? No problem! We’ve got the
tools that will help recover your file
Digital A/V Fundas............113
Enhance your music and movie-
making skills with these Tips and
Tricks on audio and video editing
Read Between
the Lines
...............................76
Get closer to that dream of a paper-
less office (or home). The latest
OCR software digitise all your paper
into searchable, editable digital
information
ARCADE
Get into the Game!...........127
New games are blurring the line
between the virtual and the real
world
INSIGHT
v
v
Internet on the Go..............92
GPRS will revolutionise the way you
access the Internet via mobile devices
The latest wave of games
will immerse you in
ultra-believable fantasies
v
v
Our comprehensive test of 23
scanners. Which one is right
for you?
Clash of the Titans:
graphics chipsets
fight it out
AUGUST 2002
4
index
s
s
magazine
107
31
Recovery tools that
can help you retrieve
deleted files
A look at next
generation storage
technologies
96, 100
Dazzle the world with
your audio and video
creations
48
Choose the
right scanner
for your
needs
104
Dump those conve-
tional photo albums
and say hello to these
online services
64
Graphics
chipsets
mega
shootout
40
127
Advancements in gaming blur
away the difference between
the real and the surreal
Do you have any-
thing in common
with these uber-
geeks who crave
only the latest
hardware?
Reviewed
this month
NEWS FEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
DROOLMAAL . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
START UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
BAZAAR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
UNDERCOVER . . . . . . . . . . . .90
Q & A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
TACTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
OFF THE SHELF . . . . . . . . . . .131
DIGIT DIARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
BACKBYTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
HARDWARE
Bazaar . . . . . . . . . . . 82
s
ADCOM DG-300
TOY-CAM
s
Blue Eye USB 2.0
portable hard drive
s
Frontech Gold JIL-7050
Smart Office keyboard
s
IBM Deskstar 120GXP
hard disk
s
Intel Pentium 4
2.53 GHz
s
MONARCH FX Creator
s
Philips Fisio 820
cell phone
s
Sony CRX85U CD-
RW/DVD-ROM combi
drive
s
SUMOKU Alpha-1
desktop speaker
Scanners . . . . . . . . . 48
s
Agfa SnapScan 310P
s
BenQ SW2 3300U
s
BenQ SW2 4300U
s
BenQ SW2 5000E
s
Canon CanoScan
D646U
CanoScan
N640P
s
Microtek ScanMaker
3630
s
Microtek ScanMaker
3730
s
Microtek ScanMaker
3800
s
Mustek BearPaw
1200CU
s
Umax AstraSlim 600
s
Agfa SnapScan 1212P
s
BenQ ScanPrisa 640BT
s
Microtek ScanMaker
V6UPL
s
Microtek ScanMaker
X6EL
s
Mustek 1200ED
s
Umax Astra 4400
s
Umax Astra 5400
s
Epson Perfection 1650
Photo
s
HP ScanJet 5400C
s
HP ScanJet 5470C
s
Microtek ScanMaker
X12USL
s
Umax Astra 4000U
s
Canon
Graphics Chips . . . . 64
s
ATI Rage 128 Pro
s
ATI Radeon VE
s
ATI Radeon 7500
s
ATI Radeon 8500
s
GeForce2 MX200
s
GeForce2 MX400
s
GeForce2 Ti VX
s
GeForce3 Ti 500
s
GeForce4 MX420
s
GeForce4 Ti 4200
s
GeForce4 Ti 4600
s
Intel 815
s
Intel 845GL
s
TNT2 M64
s
Trident T64
SOFTWARE
To subscribe to Digit, fill out
the subscription form available online at
www.thinkdigit.com/subscribe
OCR Suites. . . . . . . . 76
s
ABBYY FineReader
6.0 CE
s
CuneiForm 2000
Professional
s
Readiris Pro 7
s
ScanSoft OmniPage
Pro 11
s
XMLCities PageGenie
Pro 4.0 SP2
6
AUGUST 2002

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