Digit 20091201 Scan06 Online Campaigns

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If we offer some product and service, we want to get the word out. Mostly we want that only those who might be genuinely interested should get to know. We are also interested in controlling the rate of interest generation to match the rate of production. If more people get interested than we can handle, the demand with suffer. Similarly if not enough people get interested, the supply would suffer.

The advantage of online campaigns is that these are more targetable and more measurable than advertising campaigns in traditional mediums. Because they are more fine tunable, they are usually more cost effective too. While most online campaigns used to focus on placements in various high traffic websites (clicks or impressions) and in search engines (organic or inorganic), there is a growing realization that one way communication might not be cutting it anymore.

First with blogs and then with presence in social networking sites, businesses are appreciating the value of direct interaction with their customers.

Digit 20091201 Scan05 Zero1 Awards Laptops LCD

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Awards are a double edged sword. They can guide us to the right products but only if our requirements are more or less like those of the target consumers. The problem is we don't know for what sort of a consumer did a product win the award. To complicate matters further, the selection process may not have been altogether very scientific.

Best would be to first survey the options, then create a short list, then see if some of the options have been endorsed by those in the know. Also keep a tab on after sales service because even though electronics have become so reliable, a bit of mishandling or some spike in voltage can cause a lot of trouble. In general, we should stick with established brands for better third party support and resale value.

In notebooks, HP-Compaq, Dell, Lenovo, Sony and Apple are the premium brands with Acer, Toshiba, HCL, Zenith handling the volume end. Asus, Benq, Samsung and LG are the newcomers.

Among LCD monitors, a new trend is the Monitor-TV combo. Benq MK2432 (24", Rs 17,000) and LG M237WA (23", Rs 16,000) are notable combos with FullHD resolution. The Samsung P2370HD is not available in India yet.

Digit 20091201 Scan04 Online TV and Movies

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Cable had all but killed the movie rentals business. The spread of DTH however may revive it because DTH platforms cannot be used to show pirated movies and their pay per view channels do not exactly carry the latest flicks. But then the latest movies aren't released on DVDs either.

Another factor that is helping movie rentals is the proliferation of the Internet. Depending on bandwidth, a website can offer just catalogs or catalogs plus downloads or even catalogs plus downloads plus streaming. With websites however, the problem is how to ensure legality. Sites such as BigFlix, MovieMart and SeventyMM are completely legal. Others may not be so. Another aspect is brick and mortar presence. For instance, in high demand areas, it becomes feasible to set up franchisees as with the BigFlix chain of stores, which makes the transactions a bit less cumbersome.

Digit 20091201 Scan03 Blu-ray in India

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The red laser used to read DVDs has a wavelength of 650nm. The costlier blue laser used to read Blu-ray discs has a wavelength of 405nm but thanks to better tracking, the track pitch on a Blu-ray disc is only 320nm compared to 740nm on a DVD. For this reason, a Blu-ray disc can hold about 5 times more data (25GB) than a DVD. A dual layer Blu-ray disc can hold 50GB of data (over 9 hours of HD video). The format has support for even more layers so for instance, Pioneer's 16 layer Blu-ray disc holds upto 400GB of data.

There are basically three ways to do Blu-ray. A dedicated player, a Sony PS3 console, or a computer with Blu-ray drive. If we reach price parity with the West in an year's time then the dedicated player (Sony BDP S350) we pay 20,000 Rupees for today might be available for more like 10,000 Rupees next year. The Sony PS3 console would retain most of its value because it is first and foremost a game console (and a mighty fine one at that). Similarly a PC or laptop would also retain its value because it is a primarily a computer. That said, a Blu-ray writer (Sony BWU-300S) actually costs more than a dedicated player. A Blu-Ray reader (Sony BC-5100S or Asus BC-1205PT) however, is priced around Rs 12,000. Here again, price parity with the West would cause these drives to cost half as much as they do now.

Digit 20091201 Scan02 Mobile Entertainment

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With the explosion in mobile subscriptions, we are seeing a commensurate increase in revenues of value added service providers. In my opinion, the value in value added services depends on how closed the system really is. If I am free to select my voice or data plan (as with an unlocked phone) and if my phone is smart enough to run browsers and visit various websites, most mobile VAS companies would find it difficult to earn anything out of me. It is because most phones have limited capabilities do we have to pay through our nose for so many "value added services" that are otherwise so plentiful and free on the Net. Which is not to say that all value added services are based on exploiting such limitations, some are both genuine and worthwhile.

Digit 20091201 Scan01 DVD Contents

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Digit December 2009 was a Collector's Edition with 3 Dual Layer DVDs. There were tons of customization options and software for mobile phones. What is ironic perhaps is that the Mindware DVD carried a warning: replacing the shell might throw up false positives. Magazine DVDs are so well checked for malware that most people don't even bother to scan them. Sadly on this particular DVD, one of the Foobar skins (Old n Style, I think) was indeed infected.

Marie Claire 20091201 Scan06 Aamby Valley City

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I love the expanse of that wooden deck and the intricate placement of those huts. Aamby Valley City is spread over ten thousand acres in the Sahayadri mountain range. It is a planned self-contained city with 5 star amenities and ambiance. It is situated about 120 km from Mumbai and is a great weekend getaway.

Marie Claire 20091201 Scan05 LG Vacuum Cleaner

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An allergic reaction is an overactive or misdirected immune response to a foreign substance. Dust mites are the bane of urban existence causing all sorts of allergies. We shed about 1.5 grams of skin flakes everyday, enough to feed almost a million mites. They thrive in mattresses, quilts and pillows due to the moisture generated by human breathing and perspiration. Sunning and beating the bedding would help but it is neither very effective nor very convenient. LG's Sani Punch vacuum cleaner punches the surface 50 times a second to suck out even the minutest of allergens and dust particles.

Marie Claire 20091201 Scan04 Asin Thottumkal

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Asin has nearly flawless facial features. The eyes, nose and especially the mouth have come out lovely. My only gripe (apart from the slight over-exposure) is with the hairline being too monotonous. Some sort of parting would have helped. Another way to break the monotony could have been some kind of subtle streaking or even just some hair pin or head band.

Marie Claire 20091201 Scan03 Kareena Kapoor

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I love snaps where the subject is looking away. Specifically, I love candid snaps of people in deep thought with a serious expression oblivious of what is happening around them. Here Kareena is somewhat is that sort of a state. Though the hair is a bit unmanaged and the legs are a bit awkward, the dress is nice with fabric contrast in the top (satin). The broad V neck also lends character.

Marie Claire 20091201 Scan02 Lata and Asha

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Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosale have sung upwards of 50,000 songs between themselves of which only 75 are duets with each other with the last being for Aaina 1993. Enough fodder for the sibling rivalry theorists. On our planet, first leverage is decided then competition is decided. In their time, the leverage was very high with only a handful of singers around. Naturally all sorts of politics would have played out. What is remarkable is that as the elder sister, when Lata was no longer allowed to keep Asha with her at school so she could babysit her, she too stopped attending school.

Marie Claire 20091201 Scan01 Asin Thottumkal

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Even though the hair is slightly unmanaged and the hairline is so monotonous, I rate this image at a 100 simply because the genius lies elsewhere; in the colours and especially in the pose including how the hair crowns the face. And in the expression on the face. The background colour and texture, the dress colour and sequins, the lipstick colour, all are nearly flawless and surprisingly complementary.

Chip 20091201 Scan05 Personalize your phone

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It is quite remarkable, the extent to which we can personalize our phones nowadays. And also the number of users doing it and the extent of personalization keeps on increasing every day all thanks to these wonderful sites which allow users to network and share their experiences. Visit these sites to get the most out of your mobile phones: zedge.net, mobile9.com, getjar.com, mobango.com, crazy4mobilez.com, emobilez.com, iphone-tool.com, fsmobilez.com, axefeather.com and flycell.com

Chip 20091201 Scan04 Top Threats 2009

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According to a recent report, cyber crime has assumed gigantic proportions. There is an urgent need to monitor and secure our PCs and networks. We need to upgrade our browsers to the latest, more secure versions: IE 8, FF3.5, Opera 10, Safari 4. We need to fortify other aspects of our PC too. There are a number of free tools available on the Net such as Advanced System Care (system optimization), Zone Alarm (firewall), Avast! (anti-virus), Spybot (anti-spyware), Virtual Box (sandbox), No Script (Firefox extension) that can secure our interaction with the Internet.

Also because cyber criminals use Blackhat SEO to fool search engines, we need to frequent sites like mywot.com and siteadvisor.com or better still, install their respective plugins in our browsers for real time and continuous checking. Another way to avoid such sites is to use social bookmarking sites such as delicious.com (general) or Sphinn.com (specialized) and many others.

Chip 20091201 Scan03 Budget P55 Boards

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Among the new set of processors from Intel, the Core i7, Core i5 and Core i3, the desktop processors Core i7 960, 950, 940 and 920 on a X58 LGA1366 board are meant for high end workstations. The Core i7 870 and 860 along with the Core i5 750 on a P55 LGA1156 board are meant for mainstream PCs. While the Core i5 670, 660 and 650 along with the Core i3 540 and 530 on an H55 LGA1156 board are meant for Home Theatre PCs because the on-chip Clarkdale GPU is optimized for HD playback.

The best deal however is the Core i5 750 on a P55 LGA1156 board because the absence of Hyper Threading does not cause as serious a reduction in performance as one would suspect. This scan presents a number of P55 boards to pair with the Core i5 750.

Chip 20091201 Scan02 Desktop and Mobile CPUs

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My most favourite gadget of all time is the desktop PC simply because it is so open. Sadly the architecture of the desktop PC being open is one thing, making use of its openness is quite another. 95% people do have the time to actually fuss over the various components that should go into building their PC and yet only about 5% are seen to do so. Maybe because the system is set up that way.

So in such a system when I see a table like this, I understandably go berserk. It is crazy. Actually it is beyond crazy. First select the top 100 processors from the jungle out there. Then measure their performance from every angle then calculate a weighted index, and finally work out the price performance ratio. Fussing over becomes super easy.

For Desktop PCs, the top CPUs are AMD Athlon II X2 250, Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300, AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE, AMD Phenom II X4 620 and Intel Core i5-750. For Laptops, the top CPUs are Intel Core 2 Duo P8700, Intel Core i7-720 QM and Intel Pentium Dual Core T3400.

Chip 20091201 Scan01 Electronic Waste

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We all need to do our bit for the environment. One way we can help is to cut down on our electronic waste. But to a certain extent, it is the electronics companies who are more responsible. They are the ones who never bothered to make their products less proprietory, more repairable, more reusable, more future-proof and so on.

Showtime 20091201 Scan06 Celina Jaitley

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I rate this image to be among Celina Jaitley's better ones. It is a bit risque but not out of line altogether. In fact it has been able to depict a curious mix of innocence and sensuality. I absolutely love the hair, the colours and the expression. Definitely a keeper for Celina's fans.

Showtime 20091201 Scan05 Aman Verma

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I like the effort Aman Verma has put into his makeover especially with those US military dog tags, mutton chop beard and heavy bracelet. I would have liked the jeans to be torn all over. Similarly the vest should have had more texture and maybe even some grease too. Actually, this sort of a look demands more ripped biceps and preferably a clean shaven chest.

Showtime 20091201 Scan04 Kashmera Shah

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Except for that tad bit of over-exposure and that kind of unnatural right hand, this image is nearly perfect. Almost poster quality. I especially like the pose, dress, toning and expression. The mood gets conveyed quite effortlessly.

Showtime 20091201 Scan03 Pragati Mehra

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Uttaran is so serious a serial that these snaps would be nothing short of shocking for many many viewers. If one is ambitious and serious internally, it does sneak up on the outside. Let Nandish Sandhu or Pratima Kazmi or even Ayub Khan dance all they want, they'll still remain fairly incapable of actually letting their hair down.

Pragati Mehra, on the other hand, is the one to watch. She is the real party animal not just because it is HER birthday bash but because only she knows how to take her mind into that PARTY ZONE. Or maybe she is just plain drunk.

Showtime 20091201 Scan02 Ntasha Bhardwaj

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She is a bit different and in fact better looking than the typical run of mill television hopeful. I also like the dress. Those pockets could hold the newly launched iPad not just an iPhone. I would have liked some sort of a cut in the hem. Maybe a wide light coloured leather belt would have helped too.

Showtime 20091201 Scan01 Nandish Sandhu

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Uttaran has always been a prime time soap because the topic of social inequality has universal appeal. However what kicked its ratings up a few notches was when the prospective groom proposed to the maid instead. Nandish Sandhu was fortunate enough to play that prospective groom. Overnight he became hugely popular and is now in a position to get movie offers. But he's likely to stick around because except for the money, television is far better and more stable than the big bad world of movies.

PC Quest 20091201 Scan03 Hot Jobs 2010

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Even though the recovery from the economic downturn is still debatable, the outlook seems positive with more and more enterprises interested in deploying IT for streamlining their processes. Professionals who understand industry dynamics and who can see the big picture would find more takers.

J2EE and .NET are evergreen because they use an intermediate layer (JVM and CLR respectively) that keeps getting optimized for new hardware without the software having to be rewritten. Umesh Wason has rightly pointed out the need for greater technical experience, GUI development skills and for development of hand-held device apps.

PC Quest 20091201 Scan02 Web 3.0

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Till now, human beings had to tell machines what to do, which the machines then did faithfully and rapidly. But this model is getting stretched to the limit by the Internet, which is generating too much data for humans to track on their own. Web 3.0 is the name given to the so-called Semantic Web where machines are able to make sense of data because it is enclosed in special tags. This is the reason Web 3.0 is centered around APIs and web services.

It is not a magical wand that would solve all our problems. Rather it is the beginning of a more intense machine processing of information than has been carried out till now. The overall aim is to bring the information overload we are all suffering from down to something our brains can handle.

PC Quest 20091201 Scan01 Real Time Collaboration

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In any business setup and especially across Enterprises, collaboration is most critical in enhancing productivity. Earlier, with phone calls, then email, then mobile phones and laptops, collaboration had seen quantum jumps but with the Internet have come not just cost savings but also convergence. It is now possible not just to talk and send messages and files but do it all in real time and within a single framework.

Good Housekeeping 20091201 Scan02 Raima Sen

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Overall, it is a nice snap that has pastel colours contrasting with Boroline's trademark green. What I didn't understand is how could an ad claiming to help us get rid of dryness leave Raima Sen with such dry hair. It doesn't have even the natural lustre that hair belonging to someone so particular about her diet (she insists on only olive oil cooked food) might have. Also is it just me, I find her right index finger a bit jarring in the generally soft setting.

Good Housekeeping 20091201 Scan01 Tanishq

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I like the dress, necklace and pose. But notice how the legs of the chair or stool she is sitting on are visible. But worst of all, the nape of the neck is markedly muscular. How did that happen even I cannot guess.

Computer Active 20091201 Scan02 xpresslive.in

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2009 was the year of cloud computing - the idea that location of the hosting does not matter, only its scalability does. Cloud computing can be regarded as some sort of a precursor to the idea of a web based OS such as Google Chrome, where we go back to the heavy server, thin client model of yesteryear despite the fact that Personal Computers i.e heavy clients have gotten so cheap.

The reasoning is that PCs require highly complex operating systems and applications which cannot be easily updated and especially maintained. And this despite the fact that remote maintenance capabilities have existed in Windows for almost 20 years, first as third party add-ons and later as built-in components.

It is almost as if low cost Remote Maintenance was discouraged in the name of security so as to make money off onsite maintenance and later take us to the Cloud model where the security is ten times worse. We should instead stick to Personal Computers and let Remote Maintenance services like xpresslive.in mature into an ideal mix of maintenance and security. Note the low subscription amount. It is less than even the license fee of the bundled Advanced System Care Pro.

Computer Active 20091201 Scan01 CD Contents

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I have mixed feelings towards Computer Active. For 100 Rupees, other magazines provide as much as 8.5 Gb of software, while it provides only about 0.65 Gb and sometimes even less than that. People buy it for its easy to follow language. Some buy it because it bundles a CD instead of a DVD and they still haven't upgraded their drive even though a new DVD writer costs only Rs 1200.

To a certain extent, the 100 Rupee price is justified because it costs the same to produce a stamped CD as it does to produce a stamped DVD. The price also depends on the volume, which is naturally behind the likes of Chip and Digit. But lately, especially in the November 2009 and January 2010 issues, the virus scan has thrown up a number of infected files. And the sloppiness shows in the above scan too. The December 2009 issue was a special Anniversary Issue with not one but two software CDs. Notice how both the first and second CD content pages carry NOVEMBER in the heading.

Star Week 20091127 Scan11 Abhishek Bachchan

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I have somehow never been able to understand the chemistry between Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan. Is it overall positive or negative. And what effect has the marriage had on it. Do I smell competition brewing. Amitabh does Bigg Boss, then Aishwarya does new Lux Ad then Abhishek does Bingo. Then maybe Hollywood would get into the picture and mess it all up further.

Star Week 20091127 Scan10 Lara Dutta

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Her image should have occupied more of the page. Excellent composition, pose, dress and expression. The right hand looks a bit muscular but only a wee bit. I also like the unintended side effect of Naughty Akshay versus Sensible Lara contrast.

Star Week 20091127 Scan09 Mugdha Godse

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Mugdha Godse has a lovely body but one needs to be careful about photographing her face. Here it has come out lovely. For a candid shot, this photo is truly great. Though, in true paparazzi style with their "spotted" genre of snaps, it is laden with shadows. Why does no one try to bounce the flash or at least diffuse it. Or best of all, use Light Scoop. A genuine Light Scoop costs about 2000 rupees, an imitation might cost a fifth. Just the chase must be costing more than that.

Star Week 20091127 Scan08 Celina Jaitley

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Celina worked really hard for her role in "Accident on Hill Road" and it seems to have paid off handsomely. In the above snap, the toning is good but the two things I didn't like are the eyes and the dress. The eyes appear as if they were made out of glass. And the rather plain dress (paired with a rather flashy clutch) is making the hips look flat maybe because the bow is too high up the waist.

Star Week 20091127 Scan07 Aamna Shariff

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Except for that buckle, I like Aamna's informal look especially the head band. But what really impressed me was her watch. Instead of picking up any cheap oversized watch to service the current trend, she chose a gents Rolex, with a black dial to boot. You can rest assured that it is NOT a replica. She is too classy for that.

Star Week 20091127 Scan06 Sussane Roshan

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Both Hritik and his wife Sussane look equally Anglo-Indian, equally tall and equally gaunt. They really might have been made for each other.

Star Week 20091127 Scan05 Manaa Shetty

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It is just about the worst forced background blurring we are likely to see in magazines of such stature. Is Manaa Shetty so camera shy that magazines are forced to grab whatever they can lay their hands on then Photoshop it to bits.

Still I like the composition because it is able to depict Suneil Shetty's possessiveness for his wife. Let's hope against hope that he is not equally possessive about that graying beard.

Star Week 20091127 Scan04 Twinkle Khanna

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When In Rome (Do As The Romans Do) is not always the right way. Often, it actually makes more sense to be contrarian. For instance, the more "foreign" the setting the more Indian our look needs to be. Because Twinkle Khanna is with the Canadian Prime Minister's wife, she gets top marks for being ethnic to a T. Now if only she would start working on her look, something that has not changed for many many years.

Star Week 20091127 Scan03 Jacqueline Fernandez

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I am all for casual chic not only because of the "The Emperor has no clothes!" syndrome (where we follow fashion for its own sake) but also because fashion trends are more about generating cash than creating style. Here however, her tee is a bit too plain though the chappals are very nice.

Star Week 20091127 Scan02 Shah Rukh Khan

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I liked the informality (especially the hair and tee) and genuineness of Shah Rukh Khan's happiness. Toning is good too. This is a natural wholesome snap fans could keep in their purse or table.

Star Week 20091127 Scan01 Katrina Kaif

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Black and Gold have always worked well together. And here the dress is top notch too. Katrina Kaif is looking quite svelte and confident.

Savvy 20091201 Scan07 Gauhar Khan

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Gauhar Khan sports a Blackberry 9000 so she is tech savvy for sure. Here she is looking very fresh, simple, natural and sexy.

Savvy 20091201 Scan06 Genelia Dsouza

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I love the dress and her mouth but what puzzles me are those pink strands of hair on the left shoulder. Genelia is not foolish enough to streak her hair that way. So could these be some sort of a ribbon or something. Honestly, I am stumped. Another thing I liked was her simplicity. Wash face, oil hair, have eggs for breakfast, eat frequently and jog for sometime. That should do it.

Savvy 20091201 Scan05 Dia Mirza

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I like the uniformity of colour across the four dresses and the way the desaturated foreground contrasts with the background. As for Dia herself, I like her best in the fourth (rightmost) dress where the face is so divine and the lightplay is helped by that black left sleeve (or whatever that is).

Savvy 20091201 Scan04 Mugdha Godse

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I don't like this image overall. Specifically, I do not like the nails or that heart shaped grill in the dress. Not that the rest of the dress makes any more sense. But the howler is those discarded car rims which are rusted to boot.

Savvy 20091201 Scan03 Mugdha Godse

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This image is quite decent, but what I really like about it is the way the hands have come out. In this shoot, she has long nails and there is no nail polish. In a sense, this image spares us that sight. Or rather spares me that sight.

Savvy 20091201 Scan02 Platinum Guild Ad

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I like the model's look especially the way the eyes, nose and mouth line up with the neck. But I don't like the shoulders and especially the hair. Actually the hair should've covered the shoulders. But then the object of attention - the pendant, may have lost some focus.

Savvy 20091201 Scan01 Mugdha Godse

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Whoever is responsible for this cover, I want to kiss his or her feet. Or maybe not feet.

Without any reservations, I rate this image at 100. It is Mugdha's best photo ever. Everything is literally perfect. In my opinion the genius lies in the background colour which suits Mugdha's complexion and dress. But the real killer is the design of the dress. The way its asymmetry hugs her body to create visual harmony makes one want to hug the dress designer whoever he or she is.

Filmfare 20091209 Scan13 Shahid Kapoor

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The tough look goes with the tough body that Shahid sports nowadays but haven't the clothes been overdone. They are more dirty and ragged than they need to be.

Filmfare 20091209 Scan12 Soha Ali Khan

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Soha is looking very nice in this snap. Although Tum Mile was set around the unprecedented rainfall (39 inches) and consequent flooding of Mumbai on July 26th, 2005, it mostly concentrated on the relationship between Soha Ali Khan and Emraan Hashmi. Maybe that is the reason it couldn't do so well at the box office.