NIKON'S NEW D90 HAS WOWED THE WORLD AS THE FIRST DIGITAL SLR

Nikon's new D90 has wowed the world as the first digital SLR that can record high definition videos.
Long hailed as the king of the mid-segment dSLR market, the D80 now has a successor worthy of its name,
the unimaginatively named and mathematically predictable Nikon D90. Making up for most of the current
hot features that D80 lacked, the D90 packs in new twist that promises to bowl the camera world over
with its significance and utility.
The feature on the D90 that got it the most attention isn't related to still photography at all. The
D90 is the first digital SLR on the planet with the ability to record movies, and it can do it in high
definition, no less.

None of that VGA (640 x 480 pixels) output that has been the standard for compact cameras for years now.
Nikon's gone straight for 720p HD (1280 x 729 pixels), record in AVI format t 24 frames per second, and
you can record all the way till you hit the 2GB file size limit.

When you compare them to the output from compact cameras, capturing a lot of detail and performing
brilliantly in low light conditions - that's down to the sensor really. And the real clincher - because
it's a dSLR, the awesome effects that the interchangeable lens system allow you to produce is now
available for video as well - snap on your favorite lens, and the D90 can work wonders in the right
hands.Quick Specs:
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• Effective pixels: 12.3 million
• Image sensor: Nikon DX format (23.6 x 15.8 mm) CMOS sensor.
• Image size: 4,288 x 2,848 [L], 3,216 x 2136 [M], 2,144 x 1,424 [S], D-movie: 1280 x 720fps, 640 x 424/27fps, 320 x 216/24fps
• Sensitivity: 200 to 3200 (ISO equivalent) in steps of 1/3 EV, plus HI-0.3, HI-0.7 and HI-I (ISO 6400)
• Storage media: SD memory card, SDHC compatible LCD monitor: 3.0", 920,000-dot low-temperature poly silicon TFT LCD
• Exposure Metering System: 1) 3D-Color Matrix Metering II (type G and D lenses); Color Matrix Metering II (other CPU lenses) performed by 420-segmentRGB sensor, 2) Center-weighted: Weight of 75% given to 6, 8 or 10mm circle in center of frame, 3) Spot: Meters 3.5mm circle (approx. 2% of frame) centered on active focus area
• Exposure Metering Range: (at normal temperature [68°F/20°C], ISO 100 equivalent, f/1.4 lens) 1) 0 to 20 EV (3D-Color Matrix or Center-weighted metering), 2) 2 to 20 EV (Spot metering)
• Exposure Control: 1) Digital Vari-Program (Auto, Auto [Flash Off], Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Close Up, Night Portrait), 2) Programmed Auto [P], 3) Shutter-Priority Auto [S], 4) Aperture Priority Auto [A], 5) Manual [M]
• Auto Exposure Bracketing: 2 to 3 exposures in increments of 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1 or 2 steps to (+-) 1.0 EV
• Interface: USB 2.0 (High-speed): Mass Storage and MTP/PTP selectable, GP-1 (GPS Unit)
• Power Requirements: Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL3e, AC Adapter EH-5a (optional)
• Battery Life (on a fully charged battery): Approx 1,000 shots
• Dimension (W x H x D): Approx 132 x 103 x 77 mm
• Weight (without battery, memory card or body cap): Approx. 620g
• Price: INR.69,950 (body only, kit lens extra) plus taxes
• URL: http://nikon.co.in/productitem.php?pid=1281-86d7b52026
  

It's clear that the D90 is a milestone in digital camera innovation. The image quality is excellent,
the viewfinder and the LCD screen best in class. The D90 has taken over that mantle, and video or no
video, the core still photography features are fantastic and make the D90 a great platform for any
amateur photographer, possibly even the best in its price segment.

SATYAM LIE, BIGGEST CORPORATE FRAUD IN INDIA

Corporate chieftain B. Ramalinga raju stunned investors, clients and regulators with the revelation that he had padded profits and cooked up bank balance at Satyam Computer Services for years -a and then promptly resigned from his position as chairman. In his own words: "It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get of without being eaten".

What did Ramalinga Raju do?

• Cooked the books of the company; inflated revenues and profits for several years.
• Inflated cash and bank balances by Rs. 5040 crore.
• Claimed interest of Rs. 376 crore on a non-existent investment.
• Raised Rs.1230 crore(mostly by pledging his shares to lenders) and understanding the liability of the company to that extent.
• Overstated how much clients owed Satyam by Rs.490 crore.
• The fraudulent entries add up to 7136 crore.

Why did he confess?

• He had created fake accounts and assests. The gap between the fake accounts and the real one was expanding too quickly.
• As his stake fell in the company, he realised the company was going to beome a takeover target.This would create problems: when a buyer went through his books he would find the fake assests.

How did he get away for so long?

• Auditors Pricewaterhouse Coopers did not scrutinise the accounts vigorously.
• Independent directors on the board didn't grill the management.
• Institutional shareholders didn't complain as long as the market was booming and the returns were good.
• Claims to haave kept his own executives in the dark.

How did the scam unravel?

• Fictitious ccounting meant that there was a big holes in the balancesheet.
• The company had fake assests on its books; Rju wanted to replace this with real assests. he got the board to clear the buyout of wo entities - Raju-owned Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties - for $1.6 billion.
• Satyam shareholders revolted, thinking that raju was looking to bail out debt-laden Maytas entities. Nobody sensed it was the other way round.
• Four directors quit suitors circled the company.
• Raju realised that he couldn't keep up the sham if potential buyers scrutinised his books.

If there is any truth in those revealed figures, Satyam would have reported a quarterly loss of Rs. 74 crore - probably the first by an Infotech major in India.

TECHNOLOGIES TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2009 - part 2

Processors

A lot is happening in the field of processors as always, since this is undoubtedly the single most important field as far as computing is concerned. We shall tell you separately about what you can expect from Intel and AMD.
Intel processors

Intel Processors

Intel launched their latest Core i7 processors near the end of 2008. Formerly codenamed Nehalem, these are aimed at high-performance servers, and you can expect desktops and laptop versions coming out in the second half of 2009. Heralded as the biggest architectural advance Intel has made since the Pentium 4 in 2000, the architecture is scalable from two to eight cores. It makes use of HyperThreading technology, which makes its appearance for the first time after we saw it on desktop processors with the NetBurst architecture a few years ago. It is currently only in some Pentium and Xeon processors, allowing two threads per core.Along with energy efficiency, you also get better performance per clock speed and also a Turbo mode for an improved sleep facility. Cores not in use can be completely shut down, and they consume absolutely no power in this mode unlike its predecessors. To provide additional performance for applications not supporting multithreading, Core i7 boosts the clock speeds of the remaining cores while keeping the chip within its design power consumption limits.
According to the Intel's "tick tock" model, since the Nehalem is a "tock", 2009 will be a "tick", meaning that a new fabrication process will be used. We had seen at the Fall IDF 2007 that they had showcased the Tukwila wafer based on 32 nm fabrication process and it is this process which will be introduced for desktop processors this year.

AMD processors

Unlike Intel, AMD has still kept its plans for 2009 under wraps and have only stated that a transition to 45nm technology is on the cards making them one generation behind Intel. It is known that AMD will bring out six-core processors to join its triple-core and quad-core Phenom parts. Unlike Intel, they still refuse to go along rating and promoting processors according to clock speeds. We can only hope that they have something up their sleeve; otherwise it will be yet another eventless year for them.

Graphics

3D graphics cards have been rendering three dimensional graphics on the monitor, giving you a depth of perception. But 2009 will see a true out-of-the-screen 3D graphics in which you can experience games in three dimensions like you did while watching 3D movies.

There are many display technologies that can achieve this, but the one we are talking about is the Stereo 3D technology being promoted by Nvidia that will use special polarizing glasses to achieve the 3D effect.
Nvidia had launched PhysX in 2008 but there wasn't much happening about it last year. This year though, you will see many games embracing this version of physics algorithms done on certain GPUs of Nvidia. The first games to use PhysX as an integral part of game play will probably be launched during the second half of 2009. They will provide a greater level of reality in areas such as explosions, smoke and fog. The characters will have complex, jointed geometries for movements that will be more lifelike.
Intel is also expected to do something about its new GPU codenamed Larrabee in either the later part of 2009 or in the first part of 2010. Not much is known about how well it will perform in comparison with the already established ones from Nvidia and ATI. All that is known at this point in time is that the Larrabee has multiple cores and we will know the rest only after Intel is a bit more forthcoming about it.

TECHNOLOGIES TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2009 - part 1

Goodbye 2008 and welcome 2009! The past year has seen a slew of products being launched and new technology replacing the old. The New Year too promises us better technology for faster and more efficient functioning. We think this is the right time to get you started with what upcoming technologies you can expect this year. We shall cover a few areas which we think will be important and will make a difference in most people's lives. So buckle up as we take you for a quick tour.

Windows 7 :

Windows Vista has been a failure and that is no secret. But Microsoft has been working on its successor since the past few years. Slated to be released in 2009, the new operating system known as Windows 7, will try to succeed where its predecessor failed, or at least that is what the plan is. If we go by the beta versions, and if that is any indication of what the final thing would be like, then we see light at the end of the tunnel.

While it looks a lot like Vista, at least cosmetically, Windows 7 has certain things that will delight you. It will support native reading and writing Blu-ray discs. A new platform for interacting with removable devices - Device Stage will be featured. It will have support for Virtual Hard Drive images and have improved backup and restore mechanisms. Seamless audio transfers to Bluetooth 2.1 audio devices will be there. Since Microsoft no longer talks about DirectX 10.1, this will come with DirectX 11 and have improved tessellation, shading, and multithreaded rendering support. Speeds and accuracy of pen input devices will be much better.

There will be inbuilt support for many GPS positioning sensors, so you may probably roam around with your ultraportable lappy with GPS and get to know where you are heading to using Google Earth. Remote computing is another area where there will be improvement, thanks to DirectAccess tool, which will let you access your Windows 7 desktop from anywhere in the world. Those who have used Vista will probably agree that the UAC has proved to be a nightmare at times. Windows 7 will have UAC with simpler, clearer and fewer messages. In addition to a few additional accessibility tools, the bootup and shutdown times will be much faster.

Monitors :

There are going to be a lot of changes in the display technology and if you are about to buy an LCD monitor, we suggest you hang on a bit. We are already seeing LCD monitors moving from 16:10 aspect ratio to 16:9, which is the proper wide-screen ratio accepted by motion pictures. There are only a few such monitors available today, but 2009 will see them completely occupy the market and the new aspect ratio will result in monitors with weird sizes such as 15.6, 18.5, or 21.6 inches. As their prices drop, bigger LCDs with better viewing angles, higher resolution, faster response times (as low as 2 ms) and high contrast ratios due to technical enhancements will become the norm.

As an example of how new technology can improve displays, Viewsonic had demonstrated a 22-inch monitor at NVISION 08 earlier in 2008 and this featured a 120 Hz desktop with a 3 ms response time that makes motion artifacts and ghosting, a thing of the past.

LCDs and TVs with inbuilt digital media players will also start coming into the market this year. You will therefore not need to boot up your computer to watch your favorite movie or listen to your favorite track. All you need to do is simply copy it to your USB drive, plug it in the monitor's USB port and watch it on the monitor, which will play it.

The 22-inch AOC 2230Fm is one such monitor.

Multi-touch has been seen to appeal a lot to people and though there are no concrete plans to introduce any of these in the form of PC monitors, things may change suddenly, because Windows 7 has support for multi-touch and it is going to launch this year. There are other technologies such as OLED, LED and 3D display, but we do not expect to see them come into the market, or at least the Indian market, this year.