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PARANOID ANDROID | Mithun Mohandas | Managing Editor
In the Loop
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It isn’t just buying guides, however, we’ve also put in a story to help you hunt down the best deals. This way, you’re not only solving your gadget cravings but also saving money while doing so. Personally speaking, I really wanted to build a custom liquid cooling loop in my home PC, and I’ve been figuring out layouts and reading about galvanic corrosion between fittings and water blocks of different brands. I’d say, it’s been two or three months since I started finalising my loop configuration and this news about the economic slowdown has been a Grade-A buzzkill for me. You see the whole loop costs quite a bit and I’ve been saving up for some time for it. Having to put my plans on ice for a year or two is… you get the drift, right? What’s worse is that I’ve already procured some of the components from Aliexpress, so now if I stop, I’ll have a bunch of stuff which cannot be used anywhere else. The plan was to have two radiators with a GPU and CPU block so that I could make the most of the custom loop. Now I have to choose between holding back on all remaining purchases or I could go ahead and cool just the CPU for now and add the GPU block later. It’s the single most expensive piece of the entire puzzle anyway. For me, there isn’t the option of not finishing this build because that’s the only way I can get the PC functional. What lies ahead is the way I go around doing that.
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WE’VE BEEN HEARING ABOUT A RECESSION being around the corner for a few months now. Some analysts say it could hit us within the next year while others are going ahead with more conservative estimates. Either way, it seems that we might be in for a tough time in the coming year or two. Governments around the world, including ours, have started enacting new policies to keep the economy in check for this very reason. You’ve probably heard all of the above from various news channels so why are we, a consumer tech magazine, harping about the same? It’s the theme of the cover story, so why not? It’s times like these that call for a prudent approach to spending your money. You’d want to save up as much as you can and spend wisely. We’re going to be focusing on bettering ourselves this festive season rather than spending frivolously. Obviously, if you have a need to fulfil then, by all means, you should buy whatever is necessary, but if you have some money saved then spending that on learning a new skill or just improving your well-being should be a priority. Which is why our focus is more on spending smart by enlightening yourselves about how you can make the right choice, and we’re helping you do that by including buying guides focused on the most popular gadgets that will be bought this Diwali. We arrived at these categories by running a little survey on our Instagram account.
“It’s times like these that call for a prudent approach to spending your money.”
Let me know your thoughts on this column at: @mithun_mohandas | mithun@digit.in
In order to encourage charity this festive season,
9.9 Media has an offer for you. If you donate to a charity (preferably one that uses tech in some way), we will match your donations. This offer is open to the first 50 readers who write to us with details of a donation made (up to Rs 2,000), then we will match the donation to the same charity, effectively doubling your generosity. This offer is open for all donations made in the month of October 2019. Send details of your donation to editor@digit.in. The charity you donate to has to be registered with the Government of India and listed on the NGO Darpan portal (ngodarpan.gov.in).
DONATE THIS DIWALI, AND WE WILL TOO
www.digit.in | October 2019 | Digit | 1
THE RSS FEED | Robert Sovereign-Smith | Executive Editor
Betteries
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of music, but not because it’s superior quality… it’s just considered vintage and nostalgic. What’s being worked on in labs across the globe? Pretty much mostly improvements to current Lithium-ion batteries. One major improvement that is being researched is changing the liquid substrate that the ions pass through to a solid. These solid state batteries will be a huge improvement in terms of safety, but not performance, not yet. Theoretically, however, if you have a solid substrate, the volume that the battery occupies goes down considerably, which means, either you get smaller and lighter batteries, or you get batteries with more range/running time in the same volume. Now, all they have to do is get them working in real-world conditions, and not just in ideal lab conditions. Tesla researchers released a research paper recently that suggests they are able to achieve 8,000 charging cycles on single crystal, NMC532/ AG cells, which is essentially over 20 years of a once daily charge cycle. Although it’s in ideal lab conditions at low temperatures (20°C), even if it is half as efficient, it’s still a huge improvement over current battery tech. The NMC532/AG stands for Li-Ni(0.5)-Mn(0.3)-Co(0.2)-O2/Artificial Graphite (Nickel, Manganese, Cobalt, in amounts of 0.5%, 0.3% and 0.2% respectively). Then there’s a possible shift away from lithium being researched. To be honest, this has been a research area for decades now, without any luck so far, but researchers are always hopeful, and are looking to replace lithium with something cheap and readily available. Part of the problem with lithium is sourcing it from across the globe, trade restrictions, and embargos, and the like. Now, if lithium could be replaced with something really cheap and easily available, such as sodium or silicon, then we could end up with really cheap batteries. We could even live with batteries not being as efficient as lithium batteries, because the significantly lower costs would allow us to stack more batteries in to make up for the reduced power, and still save loads of money. Another element being looked at more recently is calcium, which is also very abundant in nature, and cheap to produce. I have my fingers crossed, hoping that we will see a much needed significant improvement in battery technology in under 5 years. History shows that all predictions about battery tech end up being wrong, and so five years from now you will probably find no changes whatsoever… Keep an eye out for future articles in Digit about ‘betteries’.
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OVER THE PAST 18 YEARS, we’ve seen technology evolve rapidly, and consistently, so much so that I think if you were Rip Van Winkle-d over the past 20 years, you’d wake up in awe, or in sheer terror because of the advancements we’ve made. I dare say, it might arguably be the 20-year period in which we’ve made the most technological advancements, and the tech divide between generations is more massive than any time before. There is however, one hugely important area where a Rip Van Winkle from the year 2000 would wake up and say, “Ah that’s familiar!”. If the headline didn’t tip you off already, that area is battery technology, or more specifically better batteries – betteries . We at Digit have been complaining about batteries for ages, and in fact, older readers will know we’ve used this same headline in an article way back in June 2006 as well. Back then we were talking about fuel cells as a possible future battery technology. I need not tell you how that prediction turned out... While batteries have certainly got smaller, the real change is that devices have become less power hungry. It’s an uneasy compromise, because if it were possible, we’d all love to be able to have desktop-like ray-tracing graphics in games on mobiles, but that level of processing would kill our batteries in seconds! With all the concern over climate change, green power is important, and solar power is the cheapest and greenest power we have available. Since the sun will shine long after the earth is dead, solar power has no expiration date. The problem is, at night, when we come home from work and watch Netflix, run our LED lights and our air conditioning, the sun has already set, and we need batteries to store the energy it produced in the day time. Tesla, and all the others playing catch up with it, are also struggling to improve battery tech drastically. With electric cars, it’s a little more complex than just holding and releasing charge on a daily basis – the batteries have to charge really quickly, discharge slowly, and last decades for the cars to be viable to the masses. Batteries invade our lives far more now than ever before, and yet, they’re essentially the same design that was thought up in 1991 – before our Rip Van Winkle went to sleep! The only thing I use from the 90s still is a stereo system with a cassette player, a CD player, and even a vinyl record player, and I use it to play my old collection
2 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
“Batteries invade our lives far more than before now, and yet, they’re essentially the same design that was thought up in 1991”
Liked or hated this column? Let me know at: editor@digit.in | facebook.com/raaabo | @raaabo | t.me/ digitgeek | discord.gg/ mYD8XVt
TO ADVERTISE
PRODUCTS REVIEWED THIS MONTH
EMAIL: sales@digit.in
OCTOBER 2019 • VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 10
SALES DIRECTOR: Rashmi Mamgain Kumar Mobile: +91-9900567780 NORTH: Mayank Sharma Mobile: +91-8800661912
EDITORIAL Executive Editor Robert Sovereign-Smith Managing Editor Mithun Mohandas Features Editor Aditya Madanapalle Writer Dhriti Datta SKOAR! Overlord Manish Rajesh
EAST: Jayanta Bhattacharyya Mobile: +91-93318 29284
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WEST: Suvarna Shringarpure Mobile: +91-93249 28247
BAZAAR ASUS AC2900 Wi-Fi router ASUS STRIX Scope Cooler Master MM710 Sony A9G HDR TV Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ HP Chromebook X360 Skullcandy Jib+ Sony WH-XB900N wireless headphones Sony HT-X8500 Sound bar Lenovo Legion Y540
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TEST CENTRE Reviews Editor Swapnil Mathur Reviewers Subhrojit Mallick, Vignesh Giridharan
GAMES REVIEWED THIS MONTH
ADVERTISING INDEX
DIGIT.IN Editor Soham Raninga Assistant Editor Andrew Lu Assistant Editor Sameer Mitha Senior Sub-Editor Shrey Pacheco Writer Shubham Sharma
Brand.......................................... Page No. Samsung.................................Inside front cover
Compuage...............................Inside back cover
Borderlands 3 PES 2020
MOBILE MONTHLY Pokemon Masters | Gravity Rider Zero Total Party Kill | Gears POP | Elune Mario Kart Tour | Walk Master Knight Quest | Causality
Gigabyte............................................Back cover TP Link.............................................................3 Lenovo..............................................................5 ASUS..........................................................7, 33
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DESIGN Sr. Art Director Anil VK Art Director Shokeen Saifi Visualiser Baiju NV Lead UI/UX Designer Shri Hari Tiwari
LIC..................................................................11 Corsair............................................................13
PRODUCTION AND LOGISTICS Manager Operations Rakesh Upadhyay Manager Logistics Mahendra Kumar Singh Executive Mohd. Nadeem Ansari
Zotac..............................................................99
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CIRCULATION SALES Head - Circulation Samir Mehta Regional Managers Jayanta Bhattacharyya, Norbert Joseph
READER SERVICES Team Leader Sudhir Patel +91-22-67899678 / help@digit.in 4 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
Published and printed by Kanak Ghosh for and on behalf of the owners, 9.9 Group Pvt. Ltd. (Formerly known as Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Private Limited) 121, Patparganj, Mayur Vihar Phase-1, Near Mandir Masjid, Delhi - 110091 and printed at International Print-O-Pac Limited, C/4-11, Hosiery Complex, Phase II Extension, Noida-201306 (U.P.) INDIA. Editor: Kanak Ghosh.
COVER DESIGN Anil VK
DISCLAIMER For every Digit contest, there will be only one winner, unless specified otherwise. In the event of a dispute, the Editor’s decision shall be final.
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http://www.facebook.com/skoar What is life without gaming? Catch up on all the latest in gaming news, reviews and shenanigans from our test labs
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contents
COVER STORY PAGE 50- 60
OCTOBER 2019
Check out the best options available in the popular product categories, and solid alternatives that are much cheaper. Happy shopping this festival season!
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VOLUME 19 ISSUE 10
Shop Smarter
TECH - PAGE 14-49
18 | Reviews
All the latest products reviewed for you, including the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ and the ASUS Strix Scope
28 | The future of autonomous cars While the advent of self driving cars might seem exciting, their advantages are not so clear
8 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
34 | Level Up
Become a pro at Smule before it catches on, and unleash the troll inside you with technological pranks to trouble your friends
38 | Devworx
Make your life simpler by using a BAAS
42 | Teardown
A peek inside the iPhone 11 Pro Max
44 | Origins
The advent of cryptocurrencies, and the problems with traditional money that they are solving
48 | Careers
A photogrammetrist has the job of generating 3D visualisations based on 2D projections of maps
AND MORE
CULTURE - PAGE 61-66
ALT - PAGE 82-95
ON THE DVD We won’t even tell you what Boo Man has a go at as you might just throw this magazine away. So flip over, and don’t flip out
63 | Crazy fan theories
At times fans can go overboard and come up with the strangest theories that somehow make sense
We sit down with Rajeeb Hazra to gain insight into Intel’s DC strategy
86 | Geek Key
A look at some of the strangest vehicles to race in F1 circuits over the years
94 | Hustle porn
TECH Manjaro Linux Electronics Software Fritzing RFSim99 SVCfilter SIMPLIS Elements Yenka LTspice Saturn PCB Design Toolkit SimulIDE QUCS Microsoft Robotics Dev Studio 4 LogView Studio chipKit core QSapec BSch3V KiCAD EDA DesignSpark PCB ADS OpenSCE SmartSim
Is following the advice of those “motivational videos” really good for you?
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66 | Digit Diary
85 | Backtalk:Lake after lake
Find out what Team Digit has been up to, and the best threads on TDF
AND MORE
AND MORE
SKOAR! - PAGE 97-112
SCIENCE - PAGE 67-80
99 | Zero2Hero
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68 | Mystical twin towns
Some places around the world have more than the usual number of twins
70 | Earth
Using some really strange methods to predict the weather and other phenomena
74 | Cutting Edge
How particle physicists are using social networking algorithms for exploring science beyond the standard model
76 | Space Age
The top Indian players in the pro circuit
100 | PES 2020
Does the game have something new to offer, or is it more of the same?
102 | Borderlands 3
What the sequel to Borderlands 2 has to offer, after a gap of seven years
104 | The Next Generation
A look at what the next generation of plug and play consoles have to offer
What went wrong with the Vikram lander
78 | Ignorance
It is kind of embarrassing that scientists don’t know why animals and humans sleep
AND MORE
108 | Gears 5 optimisation
A detailed look at the methods used to make one of the most optimised games on PC and consoles
AND MORE
Vivaldi VLC Winamp and more
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62 | Boo Man
Essentials 7Zip Avidemux Calibre CPU-Z Deluge EasyBCD FFmpeg Firefox Foxit Reader Free OCR Handbrake IrfanView LibreOffice Notepad++ Opera PeaZip qbittorrent Q-Dir Skype TeamViewer VirtualBox
CULT Music Kassoulet Elements Allan Mayne False Control Makesound - Good Morning Games Cosmoteer Worm Wars OpenTTD Angband FreeOrion Max Massacre Gottet openBVE Logyx Pack Arasan Mushroom Heroes
SCI Frontiers in Astrophysics D o Black Holes Spin? H ubble’s Law and the Big Bang ALT Radio Isaac Asimov’s I Robot Demos Winterrise 1989 Enjoy the Recycle fr-093 fr-minus inner system I’m so sorry :( and more
www.digit.in | October 2019 | Digit | 9
WHAT’S NEW
Amazon reveals 14 new Alexa devices
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unveiled Echo Buds True Wireless Earphones and Echo Frames which are simple frames with directional microphones. On the security front, Amazon unveiled the Ring Stick-Up Cam and Ring Indoor Cam. Lastly, Amazon also introduced a Mesh Wi-Fi solution by the name of Eero. One of the more interesting announcements made was around improving Alexa’s voice and making it sound less robotic and more natural. https://dgit.in/Amazon2019
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DOES THIS SECTION EVEN NEED AN INTRODUCTION? FROM COMPUTERS TO MOBILES, AND HEADPHONES TO GPUs, IT’S ALL HERE...
mazon’s Devices Event was more elaborate this year with 14 new devices announced, with some new product categories. First among the refreshes include the 3rd Gen Echo Dot which now has a clock, a new Echo with the built-in hub feature removed and retailing at a lower price. The built-in hub is now being included with the Echo Studio, which is a little expensive. Among the ones with screens, there is the Echo Show 8 which is a minor upgrade. Among the new devices are the Echo Flex, a wall plug with a speaker, microphone and USB port, the Echo Loop, an Alexa enabled ring that you can use to talk to your Echo devices. To go with the flex, Amazon also
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pple went beyond hardware with this year’s launch event. They announced the new iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max with the improved A13 processor that supposedly improves performance by 20% and the 11 Pro Max packs a triple camera setup. Then comes the 10.2-inch 7th Generation iPad which still has the older A10 Fusion processor. The Watch got refreshed with the new Series 5 with an always-on display that can drop to 1 Hz to
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THIS MONTH IN TECH: We cover the advancements in the autonomous car research and technology, and delve into the origins of cryptocurrency. We also have a comprehensive guide on how to pick a BaaS for your app.
Apple announces new iPhones, Watch, iPad and Arcade
Tesla no longer among “Safest Cars”
Swedish insurance firm, Folksam, dropped Tesla from their annual list of the “Safest Cars” because there simply weren’t enough crashes over the entire year for enough data to be collected. https://dgit.in/ GottaCrashMore
Facebook “standards” don’t apply to politicians Facebook went on the record in a blog post stating that politicians are exempt from the platform’s hate speech and fact checking standards. Also, the “Newsworthiness” of a post will be determined by weighing the public interest value. https:// dgit.in/FbPoliStandard
14 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
save battery life and incorporates hearing, heart and movement, and menstrual-cycle tracking. The announcement that garnered most of the eyeballs was the Apple Arcade subscription service
Wi-Fi 6 certification program begins
The Wi-Fi Alliance is finally done with the Wi-Fi 6 standard and has formally opened up the certification program, which essentially means that hardware vendors can now get their SKUs certified for compliance. https://dgit.in/WiFi6Cert
which is $4.99.month service that the whole family can share. Arcade will see multiple top-tier games launched every month. Apple TV Plus was the other subscription service and it’s being given to all folks buying any of the new devices for free for one year. Apple showcased nine new titles that would be made available at launch in November. Incidentally, this was the first launch event to be streamed live on YouTube. https://dgit.in/Apple2019
Automatic Listening Exploitation Act
The new act introduced in the US Senate would fine companies $40,000 for every recording made without seeking the user’s permission and would give the user the right to demand the deletion of said recordings. https://dgit.in/StopListening
reviews
For better understanding of our ratings, here’s a quick guide to our overall score 10 to 30 to 50 to
51
to 70 to
71
to 90 to
Keep away!
Strictly OK.
Not recommended
Decent product.
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31
Extremely poor product.
to 100 91 to
Go for it, but there may be better products out there.
Very good product. Highly recommended.
Ground-breaking product.
We’ve never seen anything like it before. A definite must buy!
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The Digit Test Centre receives hundreds of products every month. Each of these products is put through a series of tests and is finally given a score. The final score is arrived at after considering a number of factors and evaluating them in terms of features, performance, value for money, build quality, and, in the case of software, ease of use.
THE LATEST PRODUCTS REVIEWED FOR YOU
INSIDE
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20
27
ASUS ROG Strix Scope
22
Cooler Master MM710
18 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
Sony A9G 55inch 4K TV
25
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus
24
HP Chromebook X360 14-da0003-tu
PLUS
21 Skullcandy Jib+ 22 Sony HT-X8500 Soundbar 23 Sony WH-XB900N 26 Lenovo Legion Y540
Facebook to hide likes?
Micron reports sales decline
Starting with Australia, Facebook is starting to hide like counts on posts. Authors will still see the counts. https://dgit.in/oct19-67
Micron stocks dropped by 6% after reporting a $7 Billion drop in yearly revenue. https://dgit.in/oct19-68
ASUS ROG Rapture GTAC2900 Gaming Router More features than you can count
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aming routers are in a league of their own. Plenty of hardware vendors claim to have gaming routers but they’re barely earning the right to call themselves gaming routers and then, there’s the ASUS GT-AC2900 which packs in more gaming related features than one will ever use in their lives.
REVIEWS
mesh network with other compatible routers. It even has Alexa integration. You can use an Alexa-enabled device to make the router perform actions. All you need is an Alexa/Echo device with the ‘ASUS Router’ skill installed. Lastly, it’s got GeForce Now certification which is a good thing to have but NVIDIA’s yet to launch it in India.
Performance
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tech
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We decided to test out the QoS by running a lot of high-bandwidth TCP+UDP connections (read – we downloaded a lot of stuff and had videos streaming simultaneously) and then observed ping values within World of Tanks to their ASIA server. The values were consistent regardless of the background traffic aside from the occasional anomaly. Then we checked to see if WTFast was indeed helpful. It didn’t help with World of Tanks but it improved our ping in Overwatch. This varies from ISP to ISP and we noticed the same as we switched between the three leased lines that we have. Lastly, we ran our usual set of bandwidth tests and scored 498 Mbps downlink on the 2.4 GHz band and around 313 Mbps on the uplink. On the 5 GHz band, both uplink and downlink was around 930 Mbps. The former isn’t at the top of the charts but the latter is more consistent with other routers’s 5 GHz bands.
Design
The ASUS ROG RAPTURE GTAC2900 is a dual-band AC router with 750 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band (40 Hz, 1024QAM) and 2167 Mbps on the 5 GHz band (80 Hz, 1024QAM). It’s based on the Broadcom BCM4906 and has a 256 MiB Macronix NAND chip and 512 MB of RMA courtesy of a Micron MTFEATURES.................... 88 41K256M16TW. For the PERFORMANCE...........81 WLAN1, it makes use of VALUE............................75 the Broadcom BCM4366E DESIGN..........................86 and follows that up
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Features
The GT-AC2900 claims to have triple-level game acceleration – a dedicated LAN port with priority, software QoS for video games and a specialised VPN for games (WTFast). The WTFast access is free for life for one device, so that’s a good perk. The UI has a really good visualisation for ping values to popular game servers, so if you’re figuring out which server to join then you might want to check the Game Radar section. You can also manually add games whose packets need to be prioritised by the router. Aside from the dedicated gaming features, the GT-AC2900 also comes with simple bandwidth and traffic monitoring tools. Yes, you can check what everyone else is browsing using this router. Then there’s Wi-Fi Site survey to list all SSIDs in the vicinity, AiMesh to form your own
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with the BCM4365E for the WLAN2 chip. This particular configuration is not the first to be seen among ASUS routers. Their RT-AC86U, which is also a gaming router, came out with this configuration about two years ago and the GT-AC2900 is an upgrade over the same. In fact, the FCC filings are also the same. The key change is with the firmware and the new software integrations that we’ll get to later on. ASUS has taken the opportunity to incorporate a little RGB love into the unit as well. It even comes with a dedicated button on the side to switch the RGB colour patterns. The unit comes with a stand that can either be mounted on the bottom or the rear. In the latter configuration, you can mount it on a wall. On the rear, we see all the ports (4x LAN, 1x WAN, 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0). One of the LAN
ports is dedicated for QoS, so whichever client is connected to that one gets first priority.
Verdict The ASUS ROG RAPTURE GTAC2900 is easily the most feature laden router we’ve come across. It has easily earned the right to call itself a gaming router. The only thing holding it back is that fact that it’s dual band but the 1024QAM makes up for it. Overall, this is a router that prosumers would love to own. –Mithun Mohandas
SPECIFICATIONS
SOC: Broadcom BCM4906 | WLAN1: BCM4366E | WLAN2: BCM4365E | LAN: 4x Gigabit Ethernet | WAN: 1x Gigabit Ethernet | ANTENNAE: 1x Internal, 3x External | WPS: Yes | PROTOCOLS: 802.11ac (2900 Mbps).
CONTACT
ASUS TECHNOLOGY PVT. LTD. | PHONE: +18002090365 | EMAIL: reachus@asus.com | WEBSITE: www.asus.com/in/
www.digit.in | October 2019 | Digit | 19
tech
Uber app overhaul
OnePlus TVs
Uber is merging its ride-hailing and food delivery apps and adding a host of new safety features. https://dgit.in/oct19-43
AGENT001
The OnePlus TV Q1 is the smartphone maker’s first TV, featuring Android TV and running OxygenOS. https://dgit.in/oct19-44
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Ping, ping, ping! Agent001 is spoilt for choice between gaming VPN software or GPNs
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Agent001 | agent001@digit.in
amers haven’t had it this good in ages. They now have multiple platforms offerings video games at competitive price points. Exclusivity is still a pain point but it seems the industry is moving ahead regardless. Even hardware manufacturers aside from the ones that make CPUs and GPUs have been baking in gaming related features for quite some time. What was once only limited to the high-end gear is now widely available in the mid-range segment and even in the entry-level segment. When it comes to improving one’s gaming experience, everything matters. Your CPU, RAM and GPU
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and there’s nothing wrong with it. Not unless, you’re all about online multiplayer gaming. That’s when the ancillary things become just as important as the rest of your hardware. We’re of course, talking about having a good networking infrastructure. There’s a good portion of networking that’s well within your control and there is a lot that you can do little about. With regards to the former, you can have a software QoS solution, a good NIC, proper wired cables or clear line of sight in the case of Wi-Fi, and lastly, a good internet service provider. Having a QoS simply allows you to prioritise all network traffic associated with your gaming to ensure as little packet loss as possible. Then there’s the dedicated NIC which frees up the CPU so that it doesn’t have to bother with networking packets. Once that’s taken care of, your Ethernet cable should be next on your priority. We don’t mean that you should get some expensive cables but that your cable should be of proper spec and that the connectors are nice and shiny. The last thing requires a decent amount of effort. If your ISP doesn’t have proper routing to whichever data centres host the game servers, then you will have high ping. This can often be resolved by raising a support ticket and having them figure out better routing. Smaller ISPs might not have the abil-
Netgear XR500
contribute the most, followed by the peripherals that you use and then comes the ancillary things such as the networking and software that you have installed. This is how most gamers tend to prioritise their expenses
32 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
ity to do this but all Tier 1 and Tier 2 ISPs do. Whether they entertain your request is an entirely different matter altogether. Let’s say you’ve tried everything but you’re still experiencing horrible ping. Your only recourse is to figure out a proper VPN that has the best
ASUS ROG RT-AC2900 possible routing from your home to the nearest node to the game server. There’s still that last mile connectivity between the VPN’s exit node and the game server that’s still outside of your control. That’s where these specialised VPNs come into play. Some call themselves GPN (Gamers Private Networks). What they do is ensure that the last mile connectivity is also taken care of. They’ll speak to the publishers of video games in question and figure out where the game servers are located and set up
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A COLLECTION OF PRO TIPS FOR EVERYTHING. Without being limited to a particular topic, these tips are from popular software, to coding, to browsers, search, storage rules, password rules, mobile device hacks, bios cracking, tweaks explained and everything tech under the sun.
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selves singing a track of their choice, with the option of having a video of themselves with the recording as well. There’s even a bunch of studio-like filters to fine-tune your voice. Some of these filters can even turn amateur voices into stellar performers (though you need to have the basic ability to keep pitch and rhythm obviously). The Indian talent on Smule is ever-inflating, and with Smule raising $20 million recently from Times Bridge, a wing of the Times Group, the company has assured that it is working tirelessly towards expanding their footprint in our country even more. This interactive singing app has users belting out 20 million songs daily and even gives you the chance to sing duets with established singers such as Ed Sheeran, Charlie Puth, Jessie J and many more, so the appeal is certainly comprehensible. We’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks that will guide you along your path to becoming a Smule sensation.
Smule Have you been bitten by the Smule bug yet?
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Dhriti Datta | dhriti@digit.in
users. India has a rich culture and the music that emerges from our sometimes, inconspicuous land is often rich and meaningful when it comes to lyrics, composition, and instruments (not looking at you, Mika Singh!). Smule, in addition to a slew of well-known as well as a considerable number of
THE HURRICANE that the social media phenomenon Tik Tok is, especially in India, may have eclipsed the commendable success of yet another social media platform, Smule. Smule is a singing platform that was initially dubbed Sing! Karaoke. The app was released on iOS in 2012 with its subsequent release on Android in 2013. Let’s throw a few stats at you. Smule presently has over 40 million global users, and a massive 8 million of them reside in India, amounting to about 20 per cent of the total number of
lesser-known English tracks, also features a wide range of Bollywood or Hindi tracks on the app for people to test their vocal skills on. The aforementioned number of users in India utilise this underrated app for an average of 57 minutes a day. This daily engagement time is nearly three times that of the users of Smule in the US, according to Smule. The pocket recording studio essentially allows aspiring singers, or even casual singers, to record them-
Smule hands users the power to share their music and collaborate with like-minded individuals.
34 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
CHOOSE YOUR HEADSET AND MICROPHONE CAREFULLY
First and foremost, use headphones no matter what. If you sing straight into your smartphone’s microphone, be it an iOS or Android device, an echo is usually created which can be quite unendurable for people who are listening to you. You don’t want that, do you? When picking headphones you can consider
> code / creativity / community >
FOR THOSE GEEKS WHO LIKE TO GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY IN CODE
Picking a BaaS for your app
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Why spend time and money building a backend when all these Backend-as-a-Service exist to make your life simpler?
comfortable using the services that are found with most BaaS. You no longer have to spend ridiculous man-hours and resources in training talent when talent already exists. Getting a developer to build your custom backend can cost anywhere from INR 10-15 lakhs for a small operation to over INR 1 Crore for applications with ample amount of traction. Then there’s the cost of running a BaaS, which works out to be much cheaper than building everything from scratch. Think of it in this manner, if you wanted to go at this from the ground up, then you’d buy an instance from a Cloud Service Provider such as AWS or Azure or Google Cloud. Then you’ll have to figure out what platform you
Mithun Mohandas | mithun@digit.in
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uilding apps has become tremendously simple these days. To begin with, your SDK comes laden with a tonne of pre-built modules which you can simply drag and drop to create a functional prototype of your app within a matter of hours. However, that’s just the application on your mobile which counts as the front end. Building a proper app with active services requires a backend as well and those don’t come cheap. You can certainly build a backend just as easily but when you think of the level of reliability and uptime that’s required to ensure that your users get the best possible experience, then you’d want to rely on professionals. Here’s the deal breaker, good professionals don’t come cheap either. By the time you’re done building your backend, have all the communication subroutines in place and proceed to build the frontend, you’ll probably be lacking in the “funds” department.
which provides a cloud backend that’s easy to get started with and to manage. This way, you can be rid of all worries about the backend of your app and focus just on the frontend. Since most backends for applications run on some of the most popular services out there, it’s very easy for folks to switch from one service to another and port all
WHY WOULD YOU USE A BACKEND-AS-A-SERVICE?
While most popular apps have a custom backend solution that is best optimised for that app, they don’t all start that way. Most folks tend to go with a backend-as-a-service or mobilebackend-as-a-service (Baas or mBaaS)
38 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
Differences between IaaS, PaaS and BaaS
their information without breaking a sweat. Obviously, there are quite a few caveats to this approach but we’re hoping that you’re getting the message. Aside from the convenience factor from a developer perspective there’s also the business side of things that you should consider. When you have a standardised backend environment, you can easily get developers who are
want to build your backend on and then handle all the modules that will help you deploy and scale as per your needs. Each step that we’ve mentioned thus far requires human resources to actively manage them. On top of all that, you’d want to install your database, your authentication service, social integration, notifications, analytics and all the software that are associated
Imaging: Anil VK
SA cover story M PL E INDEX: 51 SMARTPHONES | 53 LAPTOPS | 54 HEADPHONES 55 FITNESS BANDS / SMART WATCHES | 56 GAMING | 58 TVs 59 GET THE BEST DEALS
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DOES YOUR CART HAVE A SPANKING NEW SMARTPHONE IN IT? READ THIS BEFORE CHECKING OUT. and M models and the budget J models. There’s also their ultra-premium mammoth of a smartphone, the Galaxy Fold. Even Apple, for that matter, are following this trend with their flagship lineup alongside the more affordable XR and iPhone 11 today and iPhone SE in the yesteryears. How do you choose between their wide selection of models? If you’re going for manufacturers such as ASUS with their ROG phones, the choice is simple, since firstly, they are targetted at one kind of smartphone user – the gamer, and the second and most obvious – they have only one model to offer! To pick between the price points you must first fully comprehend the terminology. Premium phones are high-end, exorbitantly-priced models that are catered to the power user or a smartphone fanatic, with an array of cutting-edge features, the best processor, cameras, display, and basically everything. Contrary to popular opinion, flagship phones are not the same as premium ones. They’re the company’s leading product that has the latest hardware and few, or in some cases, all of the aforementioned features in premium phones. They’re also quite pricey, but can sometimes be more reasonable than premium phones. For example, the Samsung Fold is the premium smartphone and the Samsung Galaxy S10 or S10 Plus are the flagships. However, the line can be pretty blurred these days since phones such as the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro, which have considerable differences, are both termed ‘flagships’. Next, we have mid-range smartphones that usually cost anywhere between `15,000 to `45,000. These are usually far cheaper, but the
sacrifices that illustrate the drop in pricepoint are usually on the hardware front. Cheaper builds, lower-resolution displays, fewer rear cameras and so on. However, smartphones of 2019 such as the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro, Redmi K20 Pro, Pocofone F1, ASUS Zenfone 6 and more are constantly disrupting the belief that mid-range smartphones come with considerable sacrifices. In fact, possibly barring a few features like wireless charging, reverse charging, cooling technology, and a few others, mid-range smartphones have it all. The latest SoC, great RAM and storage, crisp OLED displays, pop-up selfie cameras, multiple cameras and many, many more. Lastly, we come to the budget smartphones that usually cost under `15,000. They often feature underpowered SoCs, LCD displays, no IP rating, micro-USB charging and a couple of other low-end features. These phones are the best for individuals who are not power users and use their smartphones for basic things such as making calls, sending
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orgeous, gleaming bezelfree displays, an array of rear camera sensors, popup or slide-out cameras and foldable screens. These are some of the major trends that have infiltrated the smartphone industry in 2019 in full swing, even though some of these saw their inception a couple of years ago. One can argue that there’s a smartphone that fits the bill for just about anyone now, while some idealists are still of the opinion that the sheer number of radical innovations, especially on the design front, in the smartphone industry is plunging.
Dhriti Datta | dhriti@digit.in
Foldable phones revitalised the dreary ‘slab’ smartphone design
Nevertheless, choosing a smartphone that best caters to your needs of the present and your needs for the foreseeable future (apart from some lucky folks who switch smartphones every year) is a herculean task. Should you go for the latest and greatest or invest your toiled-for money in an older model that will still serve you well. We attempt to ease your woes when it comes to smartphone shopping this Diwali. Most smartphone manufacturers produce a plethora of smartphones under different price points. Case in point, Samsung, from their premium flagship S and Note models to their more affordable mid-range Galaxy A
The Redmi K20 Pro is the best value for money smartphone in 2019 www.digit.in | October 2019 | Digit | 51
WHAT’S NEW
HBO continues to surpass Netflix at the Emmy’s 2019
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Emmy’s while Amazon walked away with a respectable 15 wins. HBO’s trump card, for the past couple of years now, Game of Thrones emerged victorious from the Emmy’s with awards for “Outstanding Drama Series” and “Supporting Actor in a Drama Series”. Chernobyl, another HBO show received the “Outstanding Limited Series” award. https://dgit.in/HBOatEmmys
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GEEK CULTURE IS OUR WAY OF LIFE, AND ENCOMPASSES MOVIES, GAMES, COMICS, AND TRENDS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE
t the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards on September 23, HBO continued to maintain its supremacy over competitor Netflix with a staggering 34 wins, which is the highest number of awards won amongst all the participating cable networks. This really should come as no surprise since HBO has the powerhouse fantasy drama, Game of Thrones, in its corner. GoT alone secured 32 nominations, with HBO boasting a record total of 137 nominations at the beginning of the star-studded night. Netflix did manage to exert its prowess by securing an impressive 27 wins at this year’s
Arkham Origins studio teases something special...
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n the eve of Batman Day, on September 21, the creators of Batman: Arkham Origins, WB Games Montreal released a teaser video, which seemingly implies the release of a new Batman game. This is the first time the studio has tweeted since the year 2015! The teaser video features three glitchy frames which are probably deliberate and ardent fans of the caped crusader have
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THIS MONTH IN CULT: A detailed look into some of the craziest pop culture fan theories surfacing the internet, subreddits and other such locations and Booman boos Chandrayaan 2 (not really...)
Disney+ now available for pre-order in the US
Disney’s highly-anticipated streaming service, Disney+ is available for pre-order in the US. The company is offering its customers the option to sign up for a monthly subscription pass priced at $6.99 per month or $69.99 for an annual subscription. https://dgit.in/disneypluspreorder
Breaking Bad sequel gets a new trailer
The movie-length Breaking Bad sequel, El Camino, which will make its way on to Netflix got a brand new trailer. The focus is on Jesse Pinkman as he flees from “his captors, the law and his past”. https://dgit.in/ElCamino
joined forces to try and decode what they are referencing. As per speculation, one symbol seems to point out to Court of Owls, an organised crime group in the DC Universe
Batman makes his way to… Fortnite
The Tilted Towers in Fortnite will transform into Gotham for the next two weeks as the Batman-Fortnite crossover becomes official. A “Caped Crusader Pack” filled with cosmetics and weapons is also available until October 6. https://dgit.in/BatmanFortnite
and the other seems to have something to do with Ra’s al Ghul. Coincidently (or not?), one year ago, a WB Montreal developer tweeted a shirt logo that very much resembles one of the glitchy flashes, with an owl embedded on it. This tease seems too deliberate and fans are hoping to see a brand new Batman game after the moderate success of WB’s Arkham Origins. https://dgit.in/WBtease
Spider-Ham gets his own animated short
Spider-Ham, from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, is back in an animated short film. Titled “Caught in a Ham”, Peter Porker just wants to enjoy a hot-dog but is stuck fighting the evil Doctor Crawdaddy. https://dgit.in/Spider-Ham
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Self-destructing Fortnite mechs
Facebook announced Horizon, a virtual world where users hang out, play games and build their environment. https://dgit.in/oct19-28
culture FEATURE
in the tale, Ignotus, Cadmus and Antioch. Ignotus is the “old friend” of death who has the invisibility cloak – the same invisibility cloak that passed down from father to son, and that Harry finally used. Cadmus and Snape both lose a lover who dies young. Voldy and Antioch are obsessed with increasing their power. Here is the kicker though – according to the theory, Albus Dumbledore is Death. Dumbledore is the reason why Snape and Voldy died, and finally met Harry as an old friend after Harry was killed by Voldy.
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Possibly caving to the #removethemech pressure from fans, its mechs now drop and selfdestruct in-game. https://dgit.in/oct19-27
Facebook’s VR social platform
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THE LINEAGE THEORY
POP CULTURE
FAN THEORIES Snape is a trans woman and Varys is a merman
Aditya Madanapalle | aditya@digit.in
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ne of the favourite fan activities is coming up with complex theories that fit the facts. Many of the theories in this list have been confirmed as canon by future releases in the franchises, or approved by the creators themselves.
when it originally came out. However, it turned out to be the most accurate guess of the endgame, and correctly predicted that Bran would eventually end up ruling over Westeros. There were not too many dots to connect either, a Google search for Bran King straight up shows a character from Welsh mythology who is virtually identical to Bran. He is disabled and known as the Blessed Crow. Bran the Fisher King theory was originally posted on Westeros. org in 2015.
BRAN THE FISHER KING
This is one of many ASOIAF fan theories and got lost in the noise
DUMBLEDORE IS DEATH
This is a really cool theory that even JK Rowling said is the one she likes the most. Essentially, according to the theory, Harry, Snape and Voldy are parallels to the three brothers
According to this confirmed theory, William J. Blazkowicz, Commander Keen and Doomguy are all different generations in the same family. This is a theory that connects three classic 90s video game series, Commander Keen, Wolfenstein and Doom.
HAN SOLO IS A FORCE USER
Han Solo is eerily lucky in many situations. He can convince Huttese lords, gets lucky at cards, misses
bullets in close range, has impossibly fast reflexes while piloting the Millenium Falcon, and can fire on target while hanging upside down. If he was just wearing a robe, we would have ascribed all of this to his force powers, but just because the series never explicitly mentions this, does not mean that Han Solo is not a force user.
JAR JAR IS A FORCE USER While Jar Jar might appear to be a bumbling idiot, according to this theory, he too is a latent force user. He clumsily stumbles his way through all kinds of situations against armed enemies, and still manages to survive www.digit.in | October 2019 | Digit | 63
WHAT’S NEW
Double helix structure may have emerged with ease
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acquired the spiral shape on their own, in water, without the use of an enzyme, at room temperatures. Scientists believe that these polymers referred to as “assemblies” acquired the spiral shape, evolved into RNA and then DNA. A major difference between the assemblies and RNA today is that proto nucleobases in the assemblies had non covalent bonds while the nucleobases in RNA form covalent bonds. https://dgit.in/ezrna
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SCIENCE IS THE PATH TO KNOWLEDGE, AND FINDING OUT ABOUT HOW OUR UNIVERSE WORKS. YOU CAN’T BE A GEEK AND NOT KNOW YOUR SCIENCE!
ne of the mysteries of the origin of life, is how the double helix structure of DNA and RNA first appeared. According to a study, this enigma is not hard to explain and that RNA’s chemical ancestors may have casually started coiling up into spiral strands, billions of years ago. In the lab, it is a very difficult task to make RNA or DNA chains without using enzymes, which act as a tool for assembling and replicating strands. The researchers instead used proto-nucleobases, molecules that could be the ancestors of the nucleobases in use within RNA and DNA today. They found that the polymers resembling RNA
Water discovered on habitable super-earth
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or the first time, astronomers have detected the presence of water in an exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone around its host star. K2-18b is a super Earth, 124 light years away towards the constellation of Leo. Using data from the Kepler and Hubble space telescopes, a series of transits were observed, where the planet passed in front of the host star in relation to the Earth. The light from these transits was analysed by open source algo-
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We explore some mystical twin towns around the world, delve into possible explanations for why we sleep, and discuss what exactly went wrong with the Chandrayaan 2 mission.
The blackest black The blackest material known, made from carbon nanotubes is about ten times darker than any other known superblack materials, and yes that includes Vantablack. The material absorbed 99.995 of all incident light, and any bumps or features on the material are invisible no matter what angle they are seen from. https://dgit.in/blkstblk
Mummy health checkup
University of Manchester received two Egyptian mummies for a health checkup of sorts. The mummies were photographed, x-rayed and CT-scanned. The imaging techniques allowed researchers to identify the sexes of the two mummies, as well as estimate their social status. https://dgit.in/mmychkup
rithms, to find the telltale signs of chemicals. Apart from water vapour, the findings also indicated the presence of hydrogen and helium. However, there are some problems concerning the habitability of the planet. The red
Pearl-inspired armour
Researchers imitated the outer coating on pearls, known as nacre on plastics, and discovered that it is 14 times stronger than steel, and ideal for absorbing the impacts of projectiles. Researchers are now looking for ways to make body armour from the material. https://dgit.in/prlarmr
dwarf star that it orbits around may be too active to support life. The planet also has gravity several times that of Earth, and may actually be closer to Neptune. The planet is enveloped in a thick, heavy atmosphere, which may not be conducive to life. K2-18b is about ten times as massive as the Earth. However, the planet remains a promising candidate for observations and potentially finding biosignatures. https://dgit.in/sewater
Largest optical lens
One of the primary components of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is the lens assembly. There are three lenses, two of which are 1.2m and 1.57m in diameter. The 1.57m lens supposedly has the largest optical lens ever fabricated. The assembly took over five years to realise. https://dgit.in/olens www.digit.in | October 2019 | Digit | 67
sci SPACE AGE
Dr Artificial Intelligence?
Water on super-Earth
Studies indicate that AI is on par with human medical experts when it comes to interpreting medical images. https://dgit.in/oct19-51
Water vapour has been detected on superEarth, K2-18 b’s atmosphere, which has Earthlike temperatures. https://dgit.in/oct19-52
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chance of Vikram ending up in an area of communications shadow, because of the local terrain. Ahead of the launch, K Sivan described the tricky operation, “these fifteen minutes are going to be the most terrifying for all the people who belong to ISRO, probably for the scientists and the people in India also. This is going to be the most difficult task ever undertaken by ISRO in a mission”. During the entire fifteen minutes, the thrusters had to be perpendicular to the surface of the Moon. The ISRO scientists also had to compare the images from the lander to previous images to make sure that the exact landing site did not have an inclination of more than 12 degrees. If the inclination was more,
CHANDRAYAAN 2 What went wrong Aditya Madanapalle | aditya@digit.in
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ommunication link was lost with the Vikram lander in the last few nail biting minutes of the controlled descent. ISRO had successfully executed most of the soft landing near the south pole of the Moon with the Vikram lander, as part of the Chandrayaan 2 mission, but the spacecraft appeared to veer off course just towards the end. A period of confusion followed, where ISRO personnel indicated that they were not receiving any communications from the spacecraft. Officially, ISRO Chairperson K Sivan said, “Vikram lander descent was as planned, and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometers. Subsequently, the communications from the lander to ground station was lost. The data is being analysed.” There are also some
indications from the trajectory that there may have been an attitude correction manoeuvre. The landing was the trickiest part of the mission, and the most technically-sophisticated operation undertaken by ISRO in its history. One of the primary objectives of the mission was to demonstrate the capability of being able to execute a soft landing.
76 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
FIFTEEN TERRIFYING MINUTES The site of the landing was a high plane between the Simpelius N and Manzinus C craters, at a latitude of 70.9° South and a longitude of 22.7° East. An alternative landing site was 67.7 ° South 18.4° West, and perhaps things could have played out differently if this site were chosen. Vikram had a touchdown velocity of 2 meters per second. Considering the velocity, there was a chance that the lander could have crashed into the Moon, topple over or be unable to communicate, if things didn’t go exactly as planned. The landing site also had to be carefully chosen to eliminate any
then Vikram would have toppled after the landing. The lander went through thorough drop testing at a specially designed test facility in Chitradurga, that simulated the terrain of the Moon. This was the first time that ISRO had undertaken the in-house development of a lander and a rover, including all the complicated systems necessary to execute a soft landing. These included the four independent thrusters between the legs for steering and stabilisation, as well as a fifth thruster below the lander for additional stabilisation. The lander was also loaded with sensors placed all around its body to aid with the navigation and soft landing. These included a position detection camera, a horizontal velocity detection camera, a hazard detection and avoidance camera, two k-band altimeters and a laser altimeter. The descent operations started from an altitude of 30 kilometers. The entire landing sequence was autonomous, without any command and control from the ground stations. The algorithms that were necessary to
WHAT’S NEW
Commuting principle that shaped cities
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allowing cities to grow larger. But now, we are facing some challenges. The only real option to packing in more people, is vertical growth, but that comes at a heavy environmental cost. Because of overcrowding, the existing infrastructure is being increasingly taxed. The channels of transport are getting crowded, slowing down the commute for everyone. Another option is to split the work from the location, known as telecommuting. https://dgit.in/cityftr
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THIS IS TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE AND SCIENCE WITH A DIFFERENCE, AND THAT DIFFERENCE IS USUALLY ENOUGH TO MAKE MOST NORMAL PEOPLE GO “WTF?”
he growth of cities follows a principle that has remained more or less constant throughout history. The average length for a daily commute is about half an hour. While there are cities with longer average daily commute times, this principle has guided how large a city grows all the way from ancient Rome to sprawling modern metropolises such as Atlanta. The cut off point for the growth is roughly the time it takes to reach the heart of the settlement. Beyond the point of about half an hour, the value of the land starts falling sharply. Cities have grown exponentially keeping step with the advancements in transportation technologies. Walking, street cars, underground railways, and expressways have evolved over time,
Citizens should be allowed to kick robots
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ssaults on security robots in the US have called into focus the ethics of how humans treat robots. The robot in question, is an autonomous security robot called K5, that patrols the streets, records videos and identifies number plates. The very presence of the robot makes people nervous. According to the argument, people should be allowed to assault or otherwise damage robots, because a blanket ban has never really proven effective.
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We take a look at some of the strangest F1 cars we’ve seen over the course of time and look into Hustle porn and other kinds of porn (don’t get turned off by the word ‘porn’, you should know about this).
According to the author, similar questions wouldn’t be asked if vandals destroyed security cameras. Why are humans expected to have more empathy towards moving pieces of autonomous machinery? The security robot
represents a real threat to humans, because it is manufactured by a private company, which can collect people’s data and store it. The whole idea of the robot is to make people police themselves. The call to action, is to damage these robots because they are unfeeling pieces of machinery, cannot feel pain, and cannot really understand the emotions or needs of the people that they are watching over. https://dgit.in/ratm
Trails of wind
The global wind patterns affects our archeology, and this is most apparent in the orientations of airport runways across the world. These invisible forces that shape human civilisation on a large scale can only be seen through visualisations. https://dgit.in/windtrails
Mail a package from Space
Delivering a package from the ISS is surprisingly easy, all you need to do is lob it and eventually it will reach Earth. Astronauts on space walks have done this by mistake with wrenches and cameras. The difficult bit is to make sure that the item does not get burned up in the atmosphere. https://dgit.in/spacemail
82 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
Unix at 50
Unix variants power both iOS and Android devices around the world. The operating system just turned 50 years old, and although it has taken over the world, it started its life as a failure. In fact, the project was abandoned at one point, after the developers claimed they had achieved everything they wanted to with it. https://dgit.in/unix50
Free will exists
A spike in neurological activity before taking an action indicates that human brains work even before they’re aware of their actions. The finding was used as an argument against the existence of free will, but a new study suggests that we may have been reading the data all along, and might have made a classic mistake. https://dgit.in/freewill
GEEK-KEY
Samuel L. Jackson as Alexa
GM car owners will be able to download Alexa on to their cars with Samuel L. Jackson’s voice. https://dgit.in/oct19-19
ECCENTRIC
F1 CARS
In addition to the Monopoly movie which is in works, another board game named Clue is also getting its own movie. https://dgit.in/oct19-20
1971 BRABHAM BT34
Placing large watercooled radiators for the engines often proved problematic. Brabham engineers came up with another offending design, with twin radiators mounted on the nose, in front of the wheels. The offending vehicle was nicknamed the “lobster claw” for the unconventional design choice. Only one car was built, and it ultimately failed to prove itself.
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In the quest for perfect aerodynamics, traction and downforce, engineers have come up with some strange F1 car designs. While only a few of them have proven themselves, regulations have mostly caught up to prevent these designs. Often, the decisions were hazardous to drivers and other races, when they were not outright cheating or finding a way around the regulations.
Another board-game movie
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Aditya Madanapalle | aditya@digit.in
1968 BRABHAM BT26
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In the late 60s, the “skyscraper” wings of F1 cars were reaching increasing heights in order to provide more downforce. Brabham went for high wings on both the rear end and the nose, giving it a bi-plane-like appearance, and leading to a very unstable design, especially considering the turbulence of passing cars. The high wings were then banned because of safety concerns.
1971 MARCH 711
Another offending front wing design, the March 711 was known as the “flying tea tray” or the “spitfire”. The wing was attached in an awkward way to the nose of the vehicle, and could be removed if required. At times the team even stripped the car of radiators. Surprisingly, the car and the team proved themselves, but the design was abandoned soon.
86 | Digit | October 2019 | www.digit.in
1972 EIFELLAND 21
The chassis was designed by the eccentric Italian designer, Luigi Colani and based on the March 721 purchased by the team. There is a lot going on here, but the most offending feature easily is the rear view mirror mounted on a column right in front of the nose of the driver. Apparently the effort was to make everyone else look outdated, but the car did not prove itself.
1974 TROJAN T103
The large and prominent airbox was tacked on above the engine, as if it was was an afterthought. The front wing was taken off at times, and the rest of the car wasn’t exactly a looker either. Only one of the two cars built was actually used in races, and it finished tenth in Belgium and Austria, and fourteenth in Spain. The vehicle retired or did not qualify in the other races.
31st OCTOBER 2019
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SUB OCT 19
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