welcome note

colophon

The End Draws

Closer
W
hat Im referring to is

on how you can check if your personal data has been

of course the end of

compromised. While working on this article, I myself got to try out

the year. 2014 has

the many ways of finding out whether I have been hacked and it

really gone by in a blink of an

was intense because every time a page loaded my heart would

eye and its hard to believe that were just two months away from

stop beating before the results came out, only to realise my

December. The month of September has been quite a hectic one

account was clean. Other features include one which explores how

but in a way we saw it coming as we had a few trips to attend to

Facebook makes money off its users and in LegalTech we learn a

throughout the month plus we had plenty of local events to cover

little more about our rights as consumers thanks to Edwin.

as well.

On top of all that, we also have some very interesting Practice

As you can probably tell from our cover, our main event of

articles and the handiest in my opinion would be the one on how

September was of course the Intel Developer Forum 2014, which

you can easily free up space on your system. Many of the tips in

Nazrin attended and judging by his photos and report, it was

the article should be formed as a good habit so your system

definitely a worthwhile experience. He got to experience and find

remains free of unwanted gunk data.

out first-hand what Intels plans were for the future and also check

Well, thats really all I have to say for this month. Lets hope the

out some really cool upcoming technology. So do check his report

month of October yields even more excitement and well definitely

out in the following pages.

do our best to bring you the latest news when it comes to tech.

Besides that, we also have a good mix of features stories for

Until next time, stay safe and live for the moment.

you this month and one of the most interesting has to be the one

Jeremy Cheong

Managing Director Noor Azman

ONLINE

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Head of Department YK Cheah

@CHIPMY

EDITORIAL
Editor Jeremy Cheong
Writer Nazrin Zain, Nicolas See Tho
Contributors Edwin Lee, Tim Lee,
Anand Tuliani, Azril Malik, Brian Pereira,
Deepti Krishnan, Dushyant Khilnani,
Erick Rustomji, Fabian von, Keudell,
Francis DSa, Jamshed Avari, M. Biebel,
Manfred Flohr, Markus Hermannsdorfer,
Michael Eckstein, Monali Gaikwad,
Thomas Littschwager, Valentin Pletzer
Design & Layout Halijah Ismail
Cover Design Halijah Ismail

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Copyright of the trademark CHIP by
Vgel Burda Holding GmbH, 80336 Munich,
Germany.
No part of CHIP magazine / free CD shall be
reproduced without thepublishers written
permission. The use of the programs in the
free CD is subject to the readers acceptance
of the terms and conditions found in the CD.

All information in the magazine / free CD

is provided as is and as available and
CHIP magazine / the publisher makes no
representations and gives no warranty of
any kind, implied, express or statutory as
to the accuracy, adequacy, completeness,
non-infringement of 3rd party rights, title,
merchantability and / or suitability / fitness
for a particular purpose with respect to the
said information.
Under no circumstances whatsoever
shall the CHIP magazine / the publisher be
liable for any direct, indirect, special or
consequential damages whether in contract
or in tort arising out of or in connection with
the use of the information made available in
CHIP magazine / free CD.
All prices, product versions and URLs are
correct at the time of printing.

All views expressed in the magazine

are solely those of the writer and do

International Members of the

not necessarily represent those of CHIP

magazine / the publisher.

Family


China

Czech
Republic


Germany

Hungary


India

Indonesia

Italy

Netherlands

Poland

Romania

Russia

Thailand

Turkey

Ukraine

contents
october 2014

058

IDF
One of our lucky writers made his way to San Francisco to be a part of the
spectacle that is the Intel Developer Forum. Find out more about his experience
at the event

042
The Business Of
Facebook

While it may seem like Facebook is just a place for

people to share their interests and life events, it is
actually making money from all of our clicks, find out
how Mark Zuckerbergs empire makes money

051
Have You Been
Hacked?

The question above is something everyone should

think about every once in awhile and we teach
you methods on how to discover if your data is
compromised and what you should do if it is

contents
october 2014

008

108

102

034

040

106

FEATURES

034 LegalTech
Warranties, guarantees and
legalities. We explore all three
to find out how they benefit
consumers

040 Timeline
While High-Definition seems
like something very new, it
actually has been around for
quite some time now
NEWS & TRENDS

026 Security Reports

Monthly dose of security news

LITE & LEISURE

102 Read
TEST LAB

071 Test Lab: The Tools

Test Labs tools of the trade

072 Test Lab Contents

Take a pick and get
started!

080 Reviews
Professionally conducted
reviews following our stringent
tests and benchmarks

If you love rags to riches

stories, we have two books that
tells the success story of two
tech giants

106 Play
If you like Sid Meiers
Civilization but want something
based in fantasy, Warlock:
Master of the Arcane should be
right up your alley

008 Local News

Coverage of the latest news
and events right on our shores

023 World Wired Web

All the latest tech happenings
around the world

PRACTICE

REGULARS

108 Realistic Reflections

001 Welcome Note

006 Letters
119 Tips and Tricks

Find out how you can enhance

your photos by creating
realistic reflections

contents

chip downloads

CHIP Downloads
Were back with our monthly dose of interesting, free and handy tools for you to enhance your PC experience. If you want to know how
you can get these files, follow the instructions below:
1. Head on our website @ www.chip.com.my and right at the top, click on the Downloads tab
2. After that, click on the respective months post (eg. October 2014). You will then be prompted for a password. The password can be
found on this page monthly.
3. Navigate using the tabs and pick the categories you want to download the files from. Once you find the file you want, just click on it
and youre good to go!
And its as easy as that!
PASSWORD FOR OCTOBER 2014 - defragment

Featured Tools
InstagramDownloader

jDownloader

Do you have the hipster

tendency of not having
Instagram, yet you want to see
all the juicy new pictures that
your friends are posting up?
Well now you can, with the
InstagramDownloader, you
can now download images
from Instagram on to your PC without the need to install
Instagram. This should aid the hipster in you feel accomplished.

jDownloader is a free and open

sourced tool which is
developed by a massive
community of developers
which makes downloading
easy and super-fast. Users can
start, pause and stop
downloads anytime they
please as well as set bandwidth limitations, utilise auto-extract
archives and much more. So save time from your day using this
application and download all your favourite media files.

Dead Pixel Tester

Windows Directory
Statistics

Once in a while, your

computer may face certain
glitches in the form of dead
pixels, thus if you want to give
your LCD screen an inspection,
try out this app. It has a
colourful user interface which
will make it easy for you to
detect dead pixels immediately, and it aids that process by
allowing you to change the background scheme so see if there is a
different coloured point on the screen.

Essentials

Windows Directory Statistics is

a disk usage statistics viewer
and clean-up tools. During
start-up, it presents users with
three useful views, the
directory list which resembles
a tree view of the Windows
Explorer but sorted by file/tree size, the Treemap, which shows the
whole content of the directory tree and the extension list which
serves as the legend and show statistics on file types.

Our list of essentials consists of programs and software such as graphic drivers, browsers, compression software and even Cloud
storage software that will improve a PC users experience. The links on our website wont provide you with the files, instead it will lead
you to the developers official website, where you can find the right file for you.

004

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contents

chip downloads

October 2014
The Monthly Ten
Paint.NET 4.0 Final

MeGUI 2507

Operating system: Win 7 / 8

One of the best things about the
latest version of Paint.NET is its
speed, as the program only uses
resources sparingly as to support
weaker systems. Just like Photoshop,
Paint.Net allows you to work with
various layers, a variety of filters
numerous correction effects and a
slew of effect functions.

Operating system: Win XP / Vista / 7 / 8

The useful tool MeGUI is an
ingenious program designed for
converting different types of
multimedia files such as AVI, MP3 or
WMV into AC3, MP4 or the MKV
format. The developers website
provides detailed information so
that no questions would be left
unanswered.

Mosamic 1.2.3

Iperius Backup Free 3.9.2

Operating system: Win XP / Vista / 7 / 8

The mosaic function is a magnificent
filter for photo editing as it helps you
create one picture from many
different photos. The software
allows you to create beautiful works
of art using individual images or
colours.

Operating system: Win XP / Vista / 7 / 8

Data Security and especially data
backup is still carried out in very
shabby methods. With the free
version of Iperious Backup, you will
get the most important options for a
convenient data backup.

CDex 1.70

Advanced Uninstaller Pro

Operating system: Win XP / Vista / 7 / 8

Theyre very few programs that offer
as many functions and as simple a
user interface as the small tool
called CDex. Insert a CD and create
MP3 files of your favourite CDs by
clicking the Extract CD Track as
per the zipped audio file button.

Operating system: Win XP / Vista / 7 / 8

The latest edition of Advanced
Uninstaller Pro offers up a number
of improvements as it now supports
Windows 8 Ultimate Edition. The
registry cleaner has been corrected
so that it now deletes any program
residues more thoroughly.

Ocenaudio 2.0.6

Hola 1.4.681

Operating system: Win XP / Vista / 7 / 8, Macintosh

Many details of the professional
Open Source audio editor have been
improved. The file import filters
have been revised and smaller
errors in the Windows version have
been resolved. Some new effects
have been implemented in the Mac
version.

Operating system: Win XP / Vista / 7/ 8

Numerous details in the sleek VPN
tool Hola have been corrected in the
standalone version as well as the
add-ons for Chrome and Firefox. The
developers have basically tried to
resolve the errors in the various
plug-ins.

Mediapurge

DropIt

Operating System: Win XP / 7 / 8

This application is used to clean up
your media stock. In just a few steps,
users can edit tags, sort files on the
hard drive, find duplicates, create
named files from media tags and
search for duplicate files. This
software can scan your hard drive
for music duplicates using modern
audio comparison which can run concurrently.

Operating System : Win XP / 7/ 8

Are you tired of organising files
manually, searching and dragging
opening folders and moving files
around? Well worry no more with
DropIt, you can drop a group of
different files and folders on to the
floating DropIt icon which sorts
them out to defined destinations.

chip malaysia

october 14

005

letters
readers feedback

Letters
Get Your Game On!
Letter of the Month

Dear CHIP,
I am an avid gamer who takes pride in playing a variety of
different games and genres, but recently your magazine has
shown a diverse variety of games which I have not heard of. I
would like to extend my compliments on your reviews which
not only takes AAA rated games but even indie games into
consideration. Kudos.
Other than just commending you on efforts, I would also like
to ask what are some of the games youre looking forward to
and what are some of the reviews I can expect in the upcoming
issues.
Sebastian Khoo

Kingston DataTraveler 100 G3/16GB

A Matter Of Competition
Dear CHIP,
My family and I have been avid followers and have
been subscribing to your magazine for over two years,
and we would like to say that the quality of content within
the magazine has improved over the years. I would like to
suggest however that for some of the products, it would
be more informative if you could compare it with its
competitors in order for the readers to see why they are
different. Just my two cents worth.
Felicia Gabriel
Dear Felicia,
Thank you Felicia for your feedback, and we would like
to say thank you to you and your family for your diligent
following. Regarding your suggestion, we are thinking
of ways to implement it into our magazine as part of our
main features and we might do so in the near future,
but as of the moment we are unable to put such plans
into action. We are however, continuing to find ways
to continue the improvement of our articles within the
magazine to better benefit our readers.
For your very constructive suggestion, we would like
to bestow upon you the title of Letter of the Month.
With that you also get to win a Kingston DataTraveler
microDuo 3.0/16GB USB flash drive. We hope this serves
you or a family member well. Thank you for your support
and please keep those suggestions coming.

Dear Sebastian,
We here at CHIP, are also with you when it comes to
gaming, and most of us have been playing games for quite
a while, however, every once in a while, we like to broaden
our horizons and as such, we always strive to share such
experiences with our readers. So, thank you for your continued
readership, we hope that we can bring more gaming joy to
you in the future.
To answer your second question, there are plenty of games
we just cant wait to get our hands on. This includes the likes
of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Borderlands:The PreSequel!, Civilzation: Beyond Earth, Grand Theft Auto V for PC
and much more. As for reviews, well try to review some of the
games released recently such as Wasteland 2.

Splendid Event Coverage

Dear CHIP,
Your recent events coverage and online presence has
increased tremendously, and as a legacy reader, I am happy to
see that CHIP has been progressing well throughout the years.
I had also noticed that your Twitter feed has a good amount of
followers. Good job guys, and keep up the good work.
Leila Mahmood
Dear Leila,
We are glad to know that you have been an avid reader
of our magazine, and we take your praise with great pride
because a continued sense of improvement is our primary
objective here at CHIP, and as far as event goes, we try to keep
our readers in the know and updated first. The increase of our
online presence goes to show the importance of the social
media to our readers and as per your response, we are happy
to find that progress has been made. So please continue to
support us for the many years yet to come.

Write to us at letters@chip.com.my. Alternatively, log on to the forums at forum.chip.com.my and make yourself heard! The Letters page is an outlet for you to voice your
views and opinions towards the magazine as well as general tech trends. Feedback sent to us may be edited for suitability without altering the intended point-of-view. The
monthly winners for LoTM will be contacted for further details.

006

october 14

chip malaysia

news
local news

A Bevy Of Laptops
& AIOs

Lenovo launches a range of All-in-Ones and laptops

to cater to a wide range of users

enovo Malaysia launched five new

additions to their ever growing family
of all-in-one desktop computers and
notebooks. These five devices boast power,
style and affordability and were designed
with the latest PC essentials so that they
are great for entertainment or productivity.
Our latest range of Lenovo
devices provides our users with an
incredible combination of performance,
entertainment and value to help them get
the most from their PC, said Khoo Hung
Chuan, Country General Manager, Lenovo
Malaysia. Today we offer devices with
different proof-points ranging from slim
and sleek all-in-one desktops to a variety of
laptops to ensure that we have something
that would cater to each individuals
entertainment and media needs.
The first product that was placed under
the spotlight at the event was the N300,
Lenovos very first Android-based AIO
home computer. This device combined the

simplicity of Android with the power and

productivity of a home computer. With
the N300, users can enjoy a never-ending
list of apps on the big screen and take
advantage of the large storage space. This
innovative AIO also comes with a built-in
4 cell battery so it can be used without
having to be plug in to a power socket.
Besides the N300, Lenovo also unveiled
the C470, an AIO that sports a stylish and
space-saving design. This 21.5-inch AIO
is great for the study or work desk with
very little space as it is only 50mm/2-inch
thin and also comes with clutter-free cable
management and a sleek metal stand
that allows users to store the keyboard
underneath it. Also, thanks to its HD
power graphics and Dolby Advanced
Audio support, this PC is a multimedia
powerhouse that is designed as a satisfying
home entertainment for any family.
So after giving us a good look at the
AIOs, Lenovo then move towards their

laptops, the first of which, is the Y50-70, a

laptop that offers users a powerful mobile
PC experience. This device comes in a very
stylish sleek black shell and can also be
fitted with an optional backlit keyboard.
The Y50-70 is definitely one that gamers
will love as it comes with a set of powerful
internals and is powerful enough to run
most of the latest games.
While the Y50-70 is no doubt a very
sexy package, it may be a little on the
pricey side for those who dont game that
much. So for this group of users, Lenovo
has an alternative that still comes with a
good set of hardware but a much more
affordable price tag. This is where the Z5070 comes in and with its choice of internals;
it can be used for work and play.
Last but not least, Lenovo continues
to expand their multi-mode device range
and at the event today, they also unveiled
the new Flex 2 laptops. Much like the ones
bearing the same name that came before
it, these new 14- and 15.6-inch devices can
be used in two different modes, Laptop
and Stand. This updated version is
also equipped with an enhanced visual
experience as it comes with Full HD
displays and discrete graphics processing
units.
www.lenovo.com/my/

(From le:) Jimmy Chin, Consumer Segment Lead, Lenovo Malaysia holding the Lenovo Y50-70; Khoo Hung Chuan, Country General Manager, Lenovo Malaysia holding the Lenovo Flex 2 14-inch;
Sameer S. Tupaki, Markeng Head, Malaysia & Singapore, Intel Corp. holding the Lenovo Z50-70 and models with the Lenovo N300 AIO and C470 AIO

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news
local news

Phillip Ong, Sales and Markeng Manager of Olympus Malaysia (right) and Yong Kee Nyap, General Manager of Olympus Malaysia (le) test out the new Olympus PEN EP-7 with the models

Olympus
Gives Selfie
Connoisseurs A
Better Device
Olympus Malaysia has recently launched the PEN
EP-7 which is packed full with features and
lifestyle enhancing performance

lympus Malaysia announced

the global launch of the
latest premium PEN E-PL7
interchangeable lens camera. This
innovative new portable sized PEN model
is designed exclusively for the active, social
trend setting photographer with its unique
touch selfie-photo/video oriented features,
and it will also feature a sophisticated
integration with smartphones for camera
control and sharing capabilities.
The new PEN E-PL7 has its design
inspired by the popular PEN E-P5 model,
thus delivering class and style with its
sculpted lines and metal construction. A

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The new Olympus PEN EP-7 looking stylish in this product display, with its
special sele friendly ip down LCD screen

lot of focus has been made to providing

a premium class user experience with the
usage of quality textured materials and
tactile detailing for dials and moving parts.
Buttons and dials will respond accurately
with optimum resistance.
Some of the key features within the
PEN E-PL7 are the high resolution touch
sensitive LCD screen and a uniquely
powerful 3-Axis VCM Image Stabilisation
(IS) which is useful for those who like
to take their time with their selfie shots.
With the upward popularity in the selfie
trend, the camera has a unique flip down
function which provides an unobstructed

180-degree reversed view and allows

the user to have unhindered touch panel
access without the danger of leaving
fingerprints on the lens. When the camera
is in flip down mode, the camera is
specially optimised to provide a touch
selfie interface without the need to access
the menu. This ensures that you can take
your selfie shots with ease and with perfect
quality.
The device will be made available in
white, black or silver.
www.olympusimage.com.my/

news
local news

Khoo Hung Chuan,Country General Manager for Lenovo Malaysia (centre) and Foo Mun Yee, Sales Manager Smartphone Division (rst from right) pose with the representaves of the BCWA during
the launch oh the Lenovo S850

Smart Style With

Lenovo

Lenovo promotes a lifestyle filled with class and

productivity with the S850

arlier this month, Lenovo announced

their next generation smartphone
dubbed the S850 which is a
combination of sleek design mixed with
quad-core performance and new features
for an all-in-one mobile experience.
The latest device from Lenovo takes its
roots from the existing portfolio of existing
smartphones, by offering consumers a
better choice across multiple price levels to
adjust itself to fit consumers lifestyle and
budget. The S850 provides fashion sense
in an already feature packed and superbly
slim mobile device.
The new S850 smartphone perfectly
complements the full range of mobile
devices available to consumers around
the world, which allows consumers to pick
Lenovo smartphone thats right for them,
said Khoo Hung Chuan, Country General
Manager, Lenovo Malaysia. Customers

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chip malaysia

from around the world told us that

they wanted greater user experience
without sacrificing performance, so
we built this smartphone with style
and blazing fast processing speeds
to maximise the on-board range of
integrated Lenovo Apps.
Lenovo, the third largest smart
The Lenovo S850 is yet another aordable and feature-packed smartphone
connected device maker globally
they also incorporate wide-angle front
has aggressively expanded into the
cameras and is equipped with flash rear
global smartphone market by introducing
cameras which delivers amazing photos.
smartphones to over 25 countries over
All their new products will offer a
the past two years. What the new S-Series
portfolio of integrated services solutions
are able to do is to meet the demands of
which includes warranty extensions,
the modern users of today, as it comes
warranty upgrades, premium technical
equipped with the quad-core MediaTek
support and also accident damage
processors and it runs the Android Kit Kat.
protection for its smartphone range. The
The smartphone sports powerful features
such as sharp image capture functions, and new Lenovo S850 is available now at
RM729.
Lenovos range of DOit apps. This device
www.lenovo.com/my
also comes with dual SIM capability and

news
local news

Samsungs GALAXY Alpha doesnt just boast a seriously sexy

design but also high-end specs

(From le): Celebries made up of Lawrence Wong, Alia Bastamam, Lee Dong Yong, President of Samsung Malaysia Electronics,
Karena Teo and Wak Doyok pose with the new stylish GALAXY Alpha

The New Alpha In

Style

Samsung Malaysia Electronics releases its first

GALAXY smartphone made with a metal frame

ver the years, if there was one

thing consumers were getting a
little tired of with Samsung, was
the fact that their devices were still made
of plastic while their competition moved
to more elegant materials like aluminium
and stainless steel but of course, that was
just a minor gripe as their devices still sold
like hot cakes off the shelves. So to answer
the cries of their fans and detractors,
Samsung unveiled the GALAXY Alpha a
few months ago and it is now officially
here in Malaysia.
The latest addition to Samsungs
GALAXY smartphone line features
a sophisticated design in a carefully
constructed compact body with a
metal frame and a solid finish, while
still maintaining the flagship GALAXY
experience. Elegant and practical, the
GALAXY Alpha is the optimal convergence

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chip malaysia

of style and cutting-edge technology.

The GALAXY Alpha was built and
designed based on the specific desires
of the consumer market, said Lee Dong
Yong, President of Samsung Malaysia
Electronic. With an entirely new
appearance, the GALAXY Alpha focuses on
both beauty and functionality combining
a stunning metal frame and a slim, light
weight design with the same powerful
hardware and features users expect from a
flagship GALAXY mobile device.
The GALAXY Alpha takes elegance
and style to a whole new level with the
GALAXY devices as it has a sophisticated
metal frame elegantly curved corners and
a tactile soft back cover. In addition, it is
visually balanced, with the perfect contrast
of both a calming, soft matte finish and
an eye-catching reflection from the metal
frame.

At only 6.7mm thin, the GALAXY Alpha is also one of the

slimmest GALAXY devices available today, combined with its
light weight, it provides users with maximum in-hand grip
and control

Besides the attractive design, the

GALAXY Alpha also comes with highend specifications such as a 4.7-inch HD
Super AMOLED display, Octa-core CPU,
2GB RAM, 32GB internal storage and a
12-megapixel rear camera, 2.1-megapixel
front camera and 1,860mAh battery.
If thats not attractive enough, the
GALAXY Alpha comes pre-loaded with the
GALAXY Life app that provides consumers
with exclusive deals and promotions. One
exciting deal designed for GALAXY Alpha
users is the complimentary 2 days 1 night
stay at the Deluxe Safari Tent at Caravan
Serai worth RM470. This special deal is
brought to you by Caravan Serai Malaysia.
Redemption period starts from today till
30 December 2014 and only 200 places are
available for this fantastic stay.
So if you are looking to upgrade your
device, do head on over to your nearest
Samsung Experience Store or authorised
dealer to get the GALAXY Alpha which is
priced at RM1,899.
www.samsung.com/my/

news
local news

MSI VIPs posing with the GS70 Stealth Pro gaming laptop which was launched in new colours

Dominating The
Competition
MSI offers up their latest range of gaming laptops
for gamers to whet their appetite on with the release
of the GT72 Dominator and Dominator Pro

SI, the global leader in gaming

innovation recently launched
their latest GT72 Dominator/
Pro gaming laptops earlier this month,
which features NVIDIAs powerful
GeForce GTX880M (Dominator Pro) and
GTX870M (Dominator) graphics.
The new MSI GT series has been
designed with the highest level graphics
with MXM module, as MSI understands
the need for gamers to improve their
gaming rig continuously and thus the
MXM design gives a greater possibility
for gamers to upgrade their graphics to
the next level, as well as being easier to
fix and switch out. An advantage from
the MXM module is that it makes the
GPU colder and prevents the heat of the
GPU to stay on the motherboard, which
gives the motherboard and components
that come with it a longer lifecycle. The
new gaming laptop series also features
a special launch key for independent
graphics switch. Besides having the
function keys, it has an exclusive GPU

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on/off button that id designed to swap

between discrete and integrated graphic
function which means that hobbyist
can identify between the two with the

button lighting on the sides of the

keyboard. Additionally, users can
also save more power with the UMA
graphics model.
Other top notch features for the
GT72 series also includes the Cooler
Boost 3 dual thermal system which
is made for next generation extreme
performance CPU and graphics and
this feature has an independent
launch key on the left side of the
keyboard which gives gamers a
one touch accessibility. With this
advanced cooling efficiency, the
space is not increased and lower
noise threshold is achieved by core
components. This system supports
up to Core i& Extreme CPUs and
GTX880M 8GB graphics with lower
temperature than others. As users
enable Cooler Boost 3 with boosted
fan speed, there is a temperature
decrease in the CPU around 8 to
10 degrees and GPU temperature
goes down by 4 to 5 degrees.
Besides the new Dominator series,
MSI also made a surprise launch of their
new GS70 Stealth Pro gaming laptops,
which are slim and lightweight for those
who wants to play high end games but
need to be able to move freely. It comes
with two new colours Red and Silver.
The price of the new GT72 Dominator
Pro and Dominator gaming laptops will
have a range from RM8,000-11,000 and
it will be officially launched in early
October this year.
my.msi.com

The new MSI GT72 Dominator has a chromac keyboard that provides users with all the ashy lights they would need to portray
their status as a gamer

news
local news

A demonstraon made to show the OM-D EM-1 5-axis Image Stabilisaon features

Phillip Ong, Sales and Markeng Manager of Malaysia leads the product presentaon for the
new Olympus line-ups

A model poses with the new camera and lens

Keeping In Focus
With Olympus
Olympus keeps their photography devices in focus
with their latest launch of the M.Zuiko Digital ED and
the OM-D E-M1

lympus Imaging recently

announced the launch of two
of its newest products early in
the month of Septmeber with two new
M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO
professional telephoto lens and the OM-D
E-M1 interchangeable lens camera which
comes with features targeted for the
professionals.
The second released lens in the M.Zuiko
PRO category of Professional lenses boasts
high optical performance, splash and
dust proof construction and robustness,
with extremely high image quality for any
conditions. It is the most suitable lens for
any of its customers that are seeking a
lens with depictive power and mobility
that transcends professional standards.
With the current standard wide M.Zuiko
ED 12- 40mm f/2.8 PRO zoom lens, this

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professional lens pair covers the focal

length from 24mm to 300mm (35mm
equivalent), with the same bright f/2.8
constant aperture. In combination with
the OM-D E-M1, these lenses will give the
professional photographer an all rounded
imaging confidence.
Other key features of the new lens
include, a manual focus clutch mechanism
that permits instantly switching from AF
to MF mode for your preference, function
button (L-Fn) mounted on the lens, making
it possible to adjust functions that relate
to such custom settings on the camera
body as AF stop, and the dedicated Lens
Hood LH-76 which uses a slider-locking
mechanism which allows users to slide
down the hood while it is still attached.
Moving away from the lenses, Olympus
Imaging also released the OM-D E-M1

interchangeable lens camera with added

professional-targeted features, as well as
a new colour, silver. From its launch in
September 2013, the flagship OM-D E-M1
has received a large number of awards
for its combination of high imaging
performance, outstanding portability, and
class leading technologies such as its
superb 5-axis in-body Image Stabilisation.
For those who are into studio
photography, the upgraded E-M1 will be
Olympus first OM-D camera that has the
ability to tether to a computer for a direct
image transfer, remote camera control,
and remote live viewing. It will also a
new digital perspective correction feature,
Keystone Compensation, enables the
direct in-camera correction of converging
vertical lines as well as perspective control
in architecture, real estate, studio still-life,
and artwork photography.
The silver edition of the OM-D E-M1 is
expected to be available for sale from midOctober 2014, and the new M.Zuiko Digital
Ed 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO will be available in
November 2014. The price for the lens is
yet to be announced.
www.olympusimage.com.my

An Honor To
Behold
Huawei Launches Latest Honor 6
Smartphone in Malaysia

uawei recently unveiled its latest

top-of-the-line smartphone,
the Huawei Honor 6 in Kuala
Lumpur recently. Adopting the tagline
Blossoming At This Moment, the
company claims it is the first smartphone
in the world to utilise an octa-core LTE
Cat 6 chipset, which theoretically allows
the phone to achieve speeds of up to
300Mbps, which is currently the fastest
standard in the world when it comes to
mobile broadband, which is 13 times
faster than the standard 3G connectivity.
The Huawei Honor 6 is powered by
the companys own Kirin 920 proprietary
processor, alongside 3GB of RAM and
16GBs of storage space, expandable via
microSD, up to 64GB. The Honor 6 runs
Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat, and features a
5.0-inch Full HD display which provides

users a seamless
smartphone experience.
Apart from providing
(From le:) Nicolas Zhuhaifeng, Director of Huaweis Southern Pacic Region Ecommerce
excellent performance,
Business; internaonal model, actress & TV personality Amber Chia and Allen An,
the phone also
Ecommerce Sales & Markeng, Huawei Malaysia Consumer BG at the launch of the
operates on low
Honor 6
power consumption,
providing users both performance and
6 alive, and is complemented by a power
power efficiency.
saving technology that enables energy
For the photo junkies, the Honor 6
savings of up to 30 percent through
also comes with a 13MP camera, coupled intelligent scheduling and arbitrary
with Huaweis own IMAGESmart 2.0
combination according to CPU load.
professional image processing engine.
The Honor 6 will be available in Black
The camera suite features refocus,
and White colours. Pre-orders for Honor
audio, watermark and panoramic modes,
6 will began from 26 September and
and by pressing the volume button
lasted till 14 October. Honor 6 will be in
twice when the phone is on standby
stock on Vmall.my and Lelong from 16th
mode, you can automatically access the
October. The recommended retail price
camera.
for Honor 6 is RM999.
www.vmall.my
A 3,100mAh battery keeps the Honor

news
local news

Mr. Chaw FH, General Manager of BenQ Malaysia, Mr. Adrian Chang, Vice President & General Manager of Mobile Products Group, BenQ Corporaon and Mr. Chris Liang , AVP & Head of BU, APAC
BU of Mobile Products Group, Qisda Corporaon showing o the brand new BenQ F5 and T3 smartphones

Smartphones That
Care For Your Eyes
BenQ announces LTE smartphones in Malaysia

enQ is a brand that is known for

its range of computer displays and
projectors for offices and home
entertainment. It looks like the company
is starting to diversify its portfolio as it
has also entered the smartphone industry,
offering users with a choice of two
smartphones in the form of the BenQ F5
and the BenQ T3.
Both the BenQ F5 and BenQ T3
are powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm
Snapdragon MSM8926 processor and
run Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat. The specs
similarities end here however, as the F5
features a 5.0 inch 720p display, 2GB
of RAM and 16GB of storage which
is expandable via microSD. The T3
meanwhile sports a 4.5 inch qHD display,
1GB of RAM and 4GB of storage, which is
also expandable via microSD.
The F5 and T3 each feature a 13MP
and 8MP rear-facing camera respectively,
and BenQs Ultra Sensitivity Mode is
at the core of these two smartphone

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cameras. BenQ claims it is an innovative

technology developed in-house, which
enhances picture quality in various light
settings, and works perfectly even in dark
or dimly lit spots. This is further helped
as the cameras used are supported with
BSI (Back Side Illumination), a feature that
provides four times light capturing on
each pixel to create brighter shots.
BenQ has also always been concerned
about users being on the PC and their
phones for long periods of time, and with
that in mind, have incorporated a feature
that minimises blue light exposure to the
eyes, which was based on BenQs LCD
monitors. Users are able to fine-tune the
brightness level of the display based on
various common usage scenarios, and
can use the phone without having to
worry about eye strain.
Not only that, BenQ is also aware that
todays generation always want to be on
the fastest internet connection possible,
and as such have also equipped both the

The BenQ F5 smartphone features a 5.0-inch 720p display and

is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor,
2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, expandable via microSD

F5 and T3 with LTE capabilities, allowing

users to surf on data with connectivity
of up to 150Mbps, for a seamless and
uninterrupted internet experience.
Both the BenQ F5 and BenQ T3
smartphones are now available at
authorised retailers nationwide, with the
BenQ F5 priced at RM799 and the BenQ
T3 at RM599 respectively.
www.benq.com.my

news
local news

(From le:) Wayne Tang, Product Markeng Manager at HTC South Asia; SK Wong, Country Manager of HTC Malaysia; Shane Chiang, Head of Corporate & Consumer PR at HTC South Asia; Albert Goh,
Chief Execuve Ocer of Zitron; Apple Ngew, Senior Manager of Sales, Zitron and Johnathan Putra, HTC Product Ambassador showing o the new HTC Buery 2

The Butterfly
Descends Again
HTC Announces Butterfly 2 Availability In Malaysia

irst announced as the HTC J

Butterfly in Japan not too long ago,
HTC Malaysia has finally unveiled
that the third iteration of its Butterfly
series of smartphones, the HTC Butterfly
2 is now available in Malaysia. Featuring
the latest hardware, software and
features, the new HTC Butterfly 2 delivers
an excellent smartphone experience.
Powered by a 2.5GHz Qualcomm
Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor, the
HTC Butterfly 2 also features a 5.0-inch
Full HD display, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of
storage which is expandable via microSD.
On top of that, it also supports LTE bands
1, 3, 7, 8 and 28, some of which are
supported here in Malaysia.
Much like its predecessors, the
Butterfly 2 is clad in a polycarbonate
body, but this time around, it has a
number of additional features that make
it a lot more desirable for those who are
looking to upgrade to a more rugged
high-end smartphone.
Some of the new features employed in
the Butterfly 2 include the Duo Camera,

which now uses a 13MP rear-faing

camera instead of the 4MP Ultrapixel
camera used in the HTC One M8, HTC
BoomSound technology, which creates
a powerful, immersive and crystal-clear
sound from base to treble.
The Butterfly 2 also comes with
HTCs new Sense 6.0 UI, which is packed
with improved versions of BlinkFeed,
MotionLaunch and Extreme Power Saving
modes, all of which were first introduced
with HTCs flagship One M8 smartphone.
At the launch event, we were
also shown the Butterfly 2s prowess
underwater, as the smartphones IP57
water and dust-proofing were put to the
test. Not only can the phone operate as
usual underwater, HTC has also somehow
managed to do it without the use of flaps
to cover its 3.5mm audio port and its
micro-USB port.
Just like the HTC One M8, the Butterfly
2 also has an accessory in the form of the
HTC Dot View Case, extending the usage
of the MotionLaunch feature, showing
the time, weather, new texts, emails and

The 13MP Duo Camera allows users to take some excellent

photos, and even adjust the focus areas aer you shoot a
photo

The HTC Buery 2 is IP57 cered for water and dustproong, and can be submerged inside water for a limited
me

calls all on the case, without having to

turn on the display, and at the same time
protecting your phone while not hiding
too much of the phones aesthetics.
The HTC Butterfly 2 is now available
in Canvas White and Rouge Red at all
authorised dealers for a suggested retail
price of RM2,299.
www.htc.com/sea/

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news
local news

(From le:) Zain Hamid, Music Producer, Camwerk Studios; Firdee Aqasha, Director, Camwerk Studios; Khoo Hung Chuan, Country General Manager, Lenovo Malaysia; Karen Chow, Head of MNC
and Telco, Intel Malaysia and Singapore; and Hon Kar Weng, Manager, Think Business Unit, Lenovo Malaysia with the Lenovo ThinkStaon P300 devices.

Workstation
Solutions For The
Thrifty
Lenovo Introduces Affordable Workstation Solutions
with ThinkStation P300

oday Lenovo announced the

launch of the new ThinkStation
P300 to its portfolio of
workstations, which is suited for
companies that need a mahine that is
able to execute mission-critical tasks.
The Lenovo ThinkStation P300 comes
equipped with a choice of either a 4th
generation Intel Core i-series processor
or a new Intel Xeon E3-1200v3 processor
with ECC memory support for improved
productivity and reliability.
Unlike the previous ThinkStation PCs,
the P300 features a brand new design
that delivers unprecedented flexibility.
This includes reworked modular parts,

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accessible via intuitive touch points

and extended lips in the front and back
for easy carrying and deployment. The
bulky handle is now gone, with extended
lips on the front and back of the chassis
now taking its place for easy carrying
and deployment.
The new Lenovo P300 delivers
workstation performance an graphics
demanded by design engineers engaged
in advanced 3D mechanical designs and
workloads. Said Khoo Hung Chuan,
country General Manager, Lenovo
Malayia. Now professional users
who may have previously purchased
a desktop client with hard drives can

afford a real workstation with advanced

graphics and solid state drives
The P300 also comes with new
FLEX modules which provides users
the option to add components that
they need, allowing customisable and
productive configurations with added
cost savings for vertical workflows. The
FLEX module supports a combination of
an ultra-slim optical drive, a 29-in-1 card
reader as well as Firewire and eSATA.
As far as graphics solutions are
concerned, the P300 is equipped with an
NVIDIA Quadro GPU, which allows fast
graphical renders and video encoding,
amongst others. Businesses from a wide
variety of industries, such as Oil & Gas,
Media & Entertainment, Architecture
and Finance can benefit from the P300s
capable performance.
The Lenovo ThinkStation P300 is
available in configurations starting from
Intel Core i3 all the way to Intel Xeon,
and is available from today onwards,
starting from RM3,828 at authorised
retailers nationwide.
www.lenovo.com/my

news
local news

An Armaggeddon
Of New Headsets
Armaggeddon, a company famous for their gaming
peripherals has recently released a torrent of new
gaming headsets and earphones to satisfy the
gamers cravings for an immersive audio gaming
experience

he year is creeping closer to

completion and this means one
thing to avid gamers. Steam sales
and special discounts are all abound in
this time frame and what better way to
complete their gaming collection than to
enjoy them with a new gaming headset
or earpiece. Armageddon has recently
released a bazaar of different earpieces for
the various types of gamers, ranging from
those who are constantly on the move, to
the hardcore gamers who bunk in front of
their gaming rigs.

The Fuze 5 has a more subtle yet sll aggressive design

The first two items on the list is the Fuze

5 and Fuze 7 gaming headsets. Both these
headsets come with a 7.1 surround sound
audio channel for total audio immersion.
Its name takes root from the notion of all
the sounds combined to make a fusion
bomb, and with an origin like that, gamers
can ensure that they will have a blast
with all their latest game titles. Both these
devices will come with gold plated USB
2.0, an adjustable microphone design while
also giving out extra chunks of bass.
Moving on to another gaming headset

is the stylish Pulse 5, 2.1 stereo headset

with resonating bass. This headset
focuses on strong bass lines, crystal clear
audio and with a name inspired by the
electromagnetic pulse bomb, which gamer
wouldnt want to play with such profound
meaning. Gamers are guaranteed that each
headset will give them command over the
power and accuracy for intense gaming,
ear-shattering movies and music to keep
the party going.
The last but not least on the list of the
new Armageddon audio peripherals are the
Mark 5 and the Nuke 7. Both these devices
have different designs that caters to the
users needs but both of them come with
3.5mm stereo and microphone capabilities
allowing gamers to enjoy high quality
audio while on the go.
The prices for the Fuze 5, Fuze 7 and
Pulse 5 are yet to be announced while the
Mark 5 and the Nuke 7 are priced at RM99
and RM129 respectively.
leapfroglobal.com/amg/

For those who want the best in surround sound quality, the Fuze 7 The Pulse 5 is designed for gamers who want a comfy pair
should be on their
eir list
of head phones that produces decent sounds

For gamers who prefer something a lile more portable and less bulky, the in-ear headphones, the
Nuke 7 and Mark 5 are the way to go

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Shoot High, Pay

Low
Microsofts New Lumia Phones Provide High-End
Imaging At Affordable Prices

icrosoft Devices Group, formerly

known as Nokia has recently
announced the availability of two
brand new smartphones, the Lumia 830
and the Lumia 735 here in Kuala Lumpur
yesterday. The two phones, running
the latest Windows Phone 8.1 operating
system, bring industry-leading imaging
technology to more affordable price points.
The Lumia 830 offers the best and latest
from both the Lumia brand and Microsoft,
featuring a 5.0-inch 720p display, powered
by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon
400 processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of
storage which is expandable via microSD
up to 128GB in storage, perfect if you love
to take lots of photos and videos.
Speaking of photos and videos, the
Lumia 830 features a 10MP PureView
camera with ZEISS optics, Rich Recording
and the thinnest optical image stabilising
system on a Lumia device. It is also the first
phone to come preloaded with Microsofts
latest WP8 operating system, codenamed

Lumia Denim, and comes with Microsoft

Office Mobile preloaded, as well as 15GBs
of free OneDrive cloud storage.
The Lumia 735 meanwhile is being
marketed as a phone that is optimised for
Skype sessions and selfies, as it features
a wide-angle front facing camera, and a
slim, pocketable design that allows users to
easily whip it out and take a selfie anytime,
anywhere.
Powered by the same 1.2GHz
Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor
and 1GB of RAM as the Lumia 830, the
Lumia 735 meanwhile features a 4.7 inch
720p OLED display, a 6.7MP camera at the
back, and the piece de resistance, a 5MP
Full HD front-facing wide-angle camera
that performs great, especially if youre
taking a big group selfie. As far as storage
is concerned, the Lumia 735 has 8GBs of
built-in storage which is expandable via
microSD.
An interesting thing to note is that both
the Lumia 830 and 735 also support Qi

wireless charging, although the charging

docks are sold separately.
In conjunction with the launch of Lumia
830 and Lumia 735, Microsoft Devices
and Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) also
revealed the GSC app for Windows Phone
8.1. The newly announced GSC Mobile
App will enable users to book movie tickets
and manage their bookings with ease from
their Windows Phone.
The Lumia 830 and Lumia 735 are
expected to be available in Malaysia on
3rd October. The Lumia 830 is priced at
RM1,399 and will be available in a range
of colours including bright orange, bright
green, black and white and the Lumia
735 will be available for RM999 in bright
orange, bright green, dark grey and white.
www.microsoft.com/malaysia

The Lumia 830 features a 5.0-inch display, and 10MP

PureView camera, powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm
Snapdragon 400 processor and 1GB of RAM

(From le:) Heng Beng Fa, Deputy General Manager of GSC; Koh Mei Lee, CEO of GSC; Bruce Howe, General Manager, Microso Mobile Devices, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei and Gary Chan,
Head of Markeng, Microso Devices, Pan Asia showcasing the newly launch Lumia 830 and Lumia 735 devices with the GSC app

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news

world wired web

Snowden
Reveals
Espionage
Devices
F

rom manipulating online votes, circulating false information and censoring content, to showing an increased click count,
creating telephone lines with any individual, are just one of the few tools that the British intelligence and the security
Organisation GCHQ uses to manipulate and spy on the web on a large scale basis. In order to do so, it utilises an army of
tools which has recently been exposed by another set of files leaked from Edward Snowden. These individual tools have concise
names and powerful functions. For example, the GCHQ can manipulate the result of online votes with Underpass, and with
changeling, emails can be sent from fake identities while the Imperial Barge allows you to establish telephone connections
between two people. Secret service agents can block a user account on any computer using Angry pirate. Another one of these
tools are called Spring bishop, and it helps them find private photos on Facebook and the document JTRIG Tools and
Techniques lists down a total of 125 tools used for supervising and manipulating the Internet. JTRIG is an acronym for Joint
Threat Research intelligence group, a developer team at GCHQ.
Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, who read and published the Snowden documents, states that these seven page long
list contains some of the most frightening methods of propaganda and deception on the Internet. The lists also highlights the
espionage activities of the 5 Eyes coalition (which Includes USA and UK among others). Towards the beginning of July, two
former NSA employees testified before the investigation committee of the German Bundestag. According to them, the NSA is
supposed to have staked out huge amounts of data as part of its cooperation with the German BND.

Researchers Creates
Sand Batteries
L

ithium ion batteries could become much more affordable in the future as American researchers have managed to manufacture the
anode of one such battery with sand instead of the expensive graphite. This structure also makes the battery more efficient.
According to the researchers at the University of California, Riverside, the energy density of silicon is triple that of graphite.
Additionally, silicon anodes have a longer lifespan. This development however could take a few years before becoming prominent.

Microsoft Halts No-IP

A

s part on its battle against malware and cybercrime, Microsoft has removed the DYNDNS service from No-IP from the Internet on
1st July. The company has contested control of the 22 No-IP domains before a US court, and under these domains, No-IP users
can secure an Internet address, where their computer is accessible at all times, irrespective of which IP address the provider has
currently assigned to it.
Microsoft is adamant in the progress to block sub-domains known as malware catapults and at the same time, it wanted to continue
their service for all others. However, this strategy did not work out due to the fact that No-IP was down for a majority of 18 million users.
Microsoft doesnt seem to be dealing with the DNS infrastructure very well, said No-IP spokesperson Natalie Goguen. David Finn, the
Executive Director of Microsofts Digital Crimes unit, said that that the breakdown was caused by a technical error. This discussion went
back and forth a few days before Microsoft released a large part of the domain on the 3rd of July. According to investigations, many of
the 20000 malwares hosts named in the court documents were accessible again. A week later on the 10th of July, Microsoft and no-IP
operator Vitalwerks finally settled the litigation. Firstly, Microsoft was convinced that Vitalwerks was not party to the malware campaigns
on no-IP domains and secondly, both companies agreed that No-IP will permanently block all sub-domains that have spread malware.

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Return Of
The Flight
Simulator
T
he Microsoft Flight Simulator is back, eight
years after the opulent flight simulator,
Dovetail games is working on the latest
edition. This game will be marketed via Steam.
Dovetail games are known primarily for their
popular Train Simulator which was created as
early as 1982 which was followed by eight other
versions before the Studio was closed down. The
new edition will be expecting an after 2015 launch
date.

The Mind Is A
Terrible Thing
To Waste
I
f voice and gesture controls are inadequate, a British startup by the
moniker This Place has recently developed a mind control feature for
Google Glass. In order to use this, users must first install the Mind
RDR app and wear a headband that measures brain waves, while
commands are given when the user concentrates on a particular object,
for example, a white line is displayed in the camera mode. The camera
gets triggered if the user focuses on the line long enough. This control
feature is designed for the benefit of handicapped users.

The Death Of Windows

XP Causes Spike In PC
and Laptop Sales
F

or the first time in years, between April and June this year, PC sales in developed nations saw a rise even if that number
only shows an increase in 0.1 percent. At the same time, laptop sales has boomed with a two digit growth rate on annual
comparison. The questions arise on why so many people need new computers out of a sudden. This is caused by
Microsofts cancellation on its support for Windows XP and as a result, all who were using old PCs which were not able to run
Windows 7 or 8 were replaced as soon as possible. There has been a sudden rise in sales of convertibles for 10 and 11 inches
which struck manufacturers clueless. One theory suggests that the users of netbooks responsible for this sudden rise may be
upgrading from their old small convertibles into cheaper notebooks. One downside however, was that the tablet manufacturers
will have to bear the brunt of this upgrade-wave because consumers will be left with no money to buy new tablets. A direct result
shows a decline in tablet sales for the first time in the second quarter. However, market researchers estimated that sales are
bound to increase again by the end of the year.

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world wired web

The World Of Android

G

oogle had recently presented their ambitious projects at its developer conference I/O and if everything goes as planned,
everyone will soon use only Android and it will be used virtually everywhere. Google has introduced variants of the most
varied devices. The most important among them is the Android L for mobile phones. The new design of the OS is made to
give a stronger sense of depth on touch displays and have buttons which get highlighted on being touched. With the aid of
personal unlocking, users can automatically unlock their smartphone through location detection, Bluetooth connection or voice
recognition, the Android L would not only look better and have more features but it will also perform faster.
For the project, Google has used the new runtime environment ART along with graphic optimisations that will support
complex games graphics. Users can also look forward to longer battery life because the Android l will utilise very small portions
of the mobile CPU, with the test version of the new OS which demonstrated a 30 percent longer runtime on Nexus 5. Android TV
shall run on set top boxes and on TV units. It can also be linked to mobile phones and tablets, stream videos and run Android
apps with partners that include Sony, Sharp, Phillips and ASUS. Like the Android L, the TV version might make its appearance on
the second quarter of next year whereas with Android Wear smartwatches, they are already available in retail outlets.

Kinect 2.0
For Windows
Available
Now
M

icrosoft has already started the sales of its sensor strip

Kinect 2 in the special Windows Variant as well. The Sensor
is sold with Xbox One with the identical camera hardware
which is aimed at developers as an aid to build voice and gesture
based interactive applications for the Windows desktop. The Kinect 2
is connected to the computer and an external power supply via a
USB 3.0 hub.

Memory
Enhancing
Implants
D

ARPA, an authority of the American Ministry of

Defence are supporting two research groups
working on brain stimulation in an effort to
improve memory. The DARPA expects an infusion of
cash amounting to 37.5 million U.S dollars which
could accelerate the development process of these
simulation devices. The tiny devices are implanted
onto the brain and records particular sections of the
brain if requires. This could help Alzheimer patients in
the future. However, experts say that it cannot restore
memories that have already been forgotten.

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security report

Android Operating
System Does
Not Delete Data
Reliably
Data that has been deleted using the delete function can be restored
very easily

vast! recently called to attention a

problem in the Android operating
system that could possibly
jeopardise a lot of users privacy. It has
been discovered that many Androidbased smartphones do not delete data
reliably even after using the factory reset
feature.
In a test, experts were able to
restore countless photos, and some
intimate ones which were supposed
to already be deleted. To find out how
secure Androids deletion function
is, the anti-virus experts from avast!
purchased Android-based second hand
smartphones from eBay.
The previous owners of
the phones, upon selling
their phones, completely
wiped the device clean
using the factory reset
setting and manually
deleting all the data. avast!
exports were able to
restore more than 40,000
photos from 20 Android
devices, those of which
these sellers thought they
have already wiped. It
was found that out of all
the photos, 1,500 of them
are of children, and 750
of them were intimate in
nature. Other recovered
data included 750 emails
and SMSes, as well as over
250 contacts.
Security experts could restore
many seemingly deleted photos
from Android mobile phones

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We have found a variety of

information, ranging from photos,
messages, emails and credit forms.
Said Jude Mc-Colgan, President of
Mobile at avast! To reliably delete data,
users should completely overwrite the
memory after restarting the phone.
One of the ways to do this is to set
up the device without entering WLAN
or account data. You can then connect
the device to a USB charging device
and place it on a table and then turn on
the video-recording function and start
recording until the phone memory is
filled up.
www.avast.com

Data Theft Of
The Month
US GOVERNMENT: PERSONNEL
DATA STOLEN
Chinese hackers recently hacked
into the networks of the American
government and stole data records
of thousands of government officials
who had applied for a higher
security clearance. The data included
information about foreign contacts as
well as previous jobs

GOLDMAN SACHS: CLIENT DATA

PUBLISHED
Goldman Sachs recently made an
inquiry into a huge data leaked which
was caused by a hack attack done by
an external employee of the company.
He sent sections of a client database
into an internal Goldman Sachs
address ending with @gs.com but
switched the domain and sent it to
a redirected @gmail.com address
instead.

ANDROID: MOBILE PHONES

REVEAL PRIVATE WLANS
A data leak in the WLAN function
of Android smartphone makes it
possible to locate the WLANs. A study
conducted by the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF) shows that numerous
Android mobile devices can reveal the
names of all visited WLANs, which
enables the creation of a user profile
that can hack into these wireless
networks. Google is currently working
on a patch to fix this problem.

news
security report

Time To Switch Up
Your Passwords

Danger Barometer
The Facebook SDK
for iOS and Android
contains a severe
security loophole
for Facebook
login. Through
this loophole,
hackers can read
private user data of
Facebook accounts.

High risk

security firm by the name

of SecurEnvoy, the inventor
of tokenless two-factor
authentication have come up with
the solution for safer network login
procedures. They call it the One Swipe
Method which is a proof of identity
method that is verified via PIN or

Medium risk

Low risk

The most dangerous

smartphone malware
Cyber gangsters mostly use adware and
SMS Trojans for spreading malware on
mobile devices.

ADWARE

29%

SMS TROJANS

22%

TROJANS
BACKDOOR
ANALYSIS TOOLS

17%
11%
9%

Source: Kaspersky

Rootkits on the rise

The number of rootkit viruses has
increased when compared to the previous
years one of the reasons for that is the
widespread use of insecure 32 bit systems

Beware Of What
You Wear

he latest devices which gained

access to the internet are
wearables as Google Glass,
which provide web access with
greater convenience. But with greater
convenience comes great risks. A test
was conducted using Google Glass
by pairing a mobile device with it
via Bluetooth, whereby researchers
managed to find that not all the data
flow between the two devices were

encrypted leaving it open to vector

type attacks. The Samsung GALAXY
Gear 2 has also displayed frightening
scenarios which can enable a hacker to
access its embedded camera without the
owners knowledge. These new silent
technologies may prove to be both bane
and boon for users in the coming future.
www.kaspersky.com

Mending Data
Security Troubles

No. of rootkit malwares

1,600,000

1,400,000

1,200,000
Q1
2012

unique QR Code. This special code

can be scanned using a webcam on a
computer or mobile device whereby
the information will be relayed to prove
conclusive evidence regarding the
identity of the employee to complete the
login process.
www.securenvoy.com

Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
2012 2012 2012 2013 2013 2013 2013 2014

Source: McAfee

Number of the Month:

48%

he recent UPSR leaks has the

general public in a big furore
especially parents and teachers.
The leaks caused massive holiday
cancellations which were directly caused
by the 400,000 students who had to
re-sit their papers. Infowatch a security
company that deals in IT security has
recommended that the government
install Data Leak Prevention solutions

to monitor all possible channels of

data transfer in an organisation. This
solution will also enable the government
to capture where the leaked data was
viewed, printed from and even the drives
used for transfers. This solution might
be the answer the government is looking
for to achieve greater accountability.
infowatch.com

online retail businesses have reported

losing some type of finance-related
information to cybercriminals within a
12 month period.

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029

news
nvidia regional briefing 2014

Illustrating Two Worlds

The recent NVIDIA Regional Briefing held in Bangkok, gave a good in-depth
perspective on two very different GPU technologies but with one powerful
company behind it all By Nicolas See Tho

he realm of the NVIDIA Quadro

and the more gaming centric
NVIDIA GeForce are divided
by two distinct target audiences
and two different needs. However,
recently, both forces come together in
a two part presentation on their latest
advancements in visual computing
and graphics technology and how they
affect their respective users. The first
presentation was presented by Sandeep
Gupte, Senior Director and Professional
Solutions Business for NVIDIA who
provides the overview on Quadro
based technology while the second
presentation was heralded by Nick Stam,
the Technical Marketing Director which
highlights the new Maxwell GPUs.

line of graphic cards serve to handle

these challenges with new features.
These challenges include a rise in
complexity for designs, huge amounts of
data flow with graphic quality at 4K and
beyond, cloud workflows, follow-the-sun
design teams and BYOD and mobile
capacities. An explanation on how

the latest Quadro graphic cards have

improved professional workflow was
shown in the upcoming movie Gone Girl
which was used by Jeff Brue the Post
Engineer stating the card had worked
extremely well with features that allow
playback and real time downscaling of
6K to 4K which was crucial to the post

Getting In Touch With The

Quadro
The presentation began with an outlook
at some of the obstacles faced by
modern day professionals when it
comes to GPU utilisation and their latest

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chip malaysia

The NVIDIA Quadro K5200 is used in many dierent areas including movie development and applicaon rendering

news
nvidia regional briefing 2014

on all PC workstations. To
highlight the strength of
their GPUs Sandeep gave an
early customer feedback from
Framestore, a BAFTA, and
Oscar Award winning creative
studio, which states that the
NVIDIA graphic cards are able
to handle huge complex models
with huge amounts of visual
information processing in real
time as well as provide faster
performance, new capabilities,
and compatibility with a
broad range of professional
applications. Applications
such as Faceshift shows a 40
percent increase in performance
speed with the Quadro K2200,
and extreme improvement in
performance and layers on
applications such as MARI with
the Quadro K5200.
The latest technologies
from NVIDIA includes the
NVIDIA VCA (Video Computing
Appliance) device which helps
users get a more photo-realistic
Sandeep Gupte, provides the technological highlights on the latest NVIDIA
3D models and scenes. This
GPU technology related to the Quadro and NVIDIA GRID
device is accessible to anyone
production experience.
on the network while being easily
Sandeep also elaborated on the
integrated into design workflows and
advantages that the NVIDIA GPUs
is seamlessly scaled to multiple VCAs
have on applications such as Adobe
to minimise the time to noiseless
Illustrator CC which runs ten times
physically-based global illumination
faster on NVIDIA GPUs and it also has
using the power of the highest
NVIDIA exclusive functions such as
performing NVIDIA GPUs The NVIDIA
NV Path Rendering and it is available
VCA incorporates popular renderers

A demonstraon is shown here on the rendering capabilies of the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 on one of the designing sowares

such as the NVIDIA Iray and Chaos

Group V-Ray RT providing the best
image rendering solutions out there on
the market today.
All the new Quadro K series graphic
cards are shipping now and will be
available soon.

A Glimpse At the Future Of

Gaming
The second presentation proceeded
with a brief highlight on the expanding
growth of PC gaming, and its
explosion as a sport with coverage
that spans multiple continents. There
are an estimate of 330 million gamers
worldwide, and over 200 million of
those gamers use GeForce devices
to power their gaming needs. The
latest GeForce platform has the most
advanced technology incorporated into
its infrastructure while also being the
most optimised, innovative and scalable
platform on the market. Nick makes a
point by saying how this would be a
good time for gamers to upgrade their
GPUs for the next generation of games
as statistics show that the majority of
NVIDIA gamers are currently running
on older 6-series cards with only a
handful using the 7-series. During his
presentation, he had also highlighted
the specifications of the new Maxwell
GM204.
The new Maxwell architecture
features new memory architecture which
has enhanced compression algorithms
and caching effectiveness which
improves total overall effectiveness of
bandwidth reduction. This means that
even at 7.0Gbps DRAM being stated
as its base performance, it has up to
9.3 Gbps effective DRAM performance.
Together with the Maxwell architecture
comes features such as Dynamic Super
Resolution (DSR) which allows high
quality image rendering on a lower
resolution display. It does this by
rendering at high resolutions while the
GPU filters the image with lower display
ratio. This new feature was tested
during the presentation, by providing
a comparison of Dark Souls II being
played with and without DSR with
astounding results. This feature is auto
enabled in every GeForce Experience
application ensuring easy transition for
gamers. Another new feature from the
latest line of GeForce gaming graphic

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031

news
nvidia regional briefing 2014

Nick Stam, Technical Markeng Director leads the presentaon on the new NVIDIA GeForce 970 and 980 graphic cards

cards is the MFAA feature which

optimises the divide between image
quality and the FPS rate of the game
creating a better overall experience for
gamers. With MFAA, performance is
increased by up to 30 percent in all the
latest games such as Far Cry 3, Call of
Duty, and Assassins Creed: Black Flag
and Watch Dogs.
Adding on to the highlights of the
new Maxwell cards are features such as
Voxel Global Illumination (VXGI), which
are available for all Unreal Engine 4
and other major engines. This feature
enables a better lighting and shading
effect on the end product by tracing the
light that bounces off objects in order

to fully illuminate the object making

the scenery much more realistic. This
procedure is done by first determining
the set of voxels intersected by each
primitive border, then the pixel opacities
are computed and generated in a big
picture view. It will then calculate the
amount of direct light reflected by the
voxels and then the environment, which
then evaluates and illuminates.
After highlighting the latest Maxwell
technologies and applications, Nick then
shed light on Virtual Reality technology
with an Oculus Rift demonstration
powered with NVIDIAs VR Direct which
gives the Oculus Rift low latency, VR
SLI capabilities, VR DSR, MFAA, Auto

Nick Stam, Technical Markeng Director holds up the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 graphics card during his presentaon

032

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chip malaysia

Asynchronous Warp, and Auto Stereo

functions. The VR Direct system reduces
the baseline latency by 50 percent
which is a boon for a smoother image
processing experience.

NVIDIA models enjoying the wonders of the Oculus Ri

product demonstraon to highlight the power of NVIDIA GPUs

news
nvidia regional briefing 2014

A Brief
Take On The
NVIDIA VCA
After the main events which
highlighted phenomenal
technologies presented by
NVIDIA, we had a group
interview with Sandeep
Gupte on the various
applications and
implications of the NVIDIA
VCA technology
What is the NVIDIA VCA, and
how does its performance
work on a cloud based
platform?
The NVIDIA VCA or Video Computing
Alliance is a device which helps accelerate
design and improve VFX workflow by
providing the fastest way to interact with
photorealistic digital 3D models and
scenes. The NVIDIA VCA uses the latest in
rendering technology such as the NVIDIA
Iray and the Chaos Group V-Ray RT. This
high level of performance enabled cloud
connected users within the same network
to remotely access multiple VCAs for
a quick burst of performance even with
a lower capacity workstation making it
easier for users to access a high degree of
freedom.

What are some of the

applications that can be
thought of when using the
NVIDIA VCA?
VCA can be applied to a wide field of
applications such as small businesses
who require a higher computing power
but do not have the funds to acquire the
parts, as well as institutional educations
who work on designs and require
additional computing power. An example
of educational institutions using VCA
would be Design and Arts students who
for instance, are taking a test that needs to
use a certain amount of computing data to
do their work. With hundreds of students
taking the same test, the strain on the
network capacity can be daunting. This
is where VCA steps in and provide that
extra power needed for these students to
complete their work on time and efficiently.
Besides that, the field of science has
many applications to the use of VCA which

includes Retracing, CAE types of

modeling and simulation, Kinetic
Calculations and especially the oil
and gas industry whereby they
are required to locate the area for
drilling with accuracy.

How does the GRID

VCA Work?
The GRID VCA is a powerful GPU
based system that runs complex
applications such as those from
Solidworks and Autodesk and
relays their graphic output over
the network to be displayed on
a client computer. This remote
GPU acceleration is sent from
an encoder inside the GPU
and compresses pixels quickly
to transfer on to the network
providing the same rich graphic
experience they would achieve on
a dedicated desktop workstation.

What are the minimum

requirements for the
GRID?
It really depends on the many
factors as there is no one
standard minimum requirements
Sandeep Gupte, holds in his hand the NVIDIA Quadro K5200
for companies or individuals to
use the GRID, as factors like screen size,
capacity and unit specifications play a
Is there a price and availability
major role on what you need to optimise
for the NVIDIA VCA units yet?
the GRID to your preference.
There are no pricing details at the moment
as the NVIDIA VCA has just arrived in the
Are there any concerns for
U.S. On a further note, the NVIDIA VCA
security for VCA as recent
will not be available in Asia and outside
events show that cloud
of the U.S at the present time, but as the
computing is not as secure
technology demand improves, we might
as one thought, are there any
see it being implemented in many different
security measures that are to
countries.

be implemented on the NVIDIA

VCA?
We at NVIDIA place security as a primary
focus just like anything else, but when it
comes down to data security that is of the
highest levels, we expect that NVIDIA VCA
customers will implement the appropriate
amount of security to secure their networks
such as VPN, Dual Authentication systems
and high levels of encryption.

Would you consider SMEs

to be a target market for the
NVIDIA VCA?
Definitely, SMEs are one of the main
targets for the VCA market as it is designed
to be simple and enclosed system for
small businesses to utilise to improve their
maximum overall productivity.

What are the selling models

that NVIDIA are incorporating
into the NVIDIA VCA?
Presently, NVIDIA sells the VCA units in the
form of hardware with a software solution
such as the NVIDIA IRAY. We also have a
support fee for those who buy the units on
an annual basis.
We also plan to test out sale models
such as a third party system whereby the
NVIDIA VCA can be offered as a service
for regular users thus providing a monthly
subscription fee in order to utiliser it, but
as of the moment, we are still in the talks
with our partners on the viability of this
model.
www.nvidia.com

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033

feature
legaltech

Product
Warranties,
Guarantees
and
Liabilities
Sometimes we get unlucky when buying brand new devices and
stumble upon a defective one. Instead of causing a hullabaloo over
social media, practice your rights by taking advantage of warranties
and guarantees wisely By Edwin Lee Yong Cieh
A practicising lawyer specialising
in telecommunications, media
& technology law, Edwin is in a
constant effort to educate users
on the many legal happenings in
the IT world

magine a nightmare such as this happening: you recently

bought a brand new laptop and after a few hours of use, the
battery starts emitting smoke and the hard disk catches fire,
leaving an ugly burn mark on your legs - all this happening
despite the fact that the seller had guaranteed you that the
laptop was in mint condition and that he would give you your
money back if it was not.
In a scenario such as the example given above, you can
assert three different claims against the seller and
manufacturer as provided under the Malaysian law: product
warranties, guarantees and liabilities. In everyday jargon, all
three are bracketed under the general term of warranty, but
from the legal perspective, there are some differences between
them.
Traders liability under the law of supply of goods or
services in Malaysia is generally governed by two legislation,
namely the Sale of Goods Act 1957 (SOGA) and Consumer
Protection Act 1999 (CPA). Both legislation provide for the
obligations of the seller and rights of the buyer.

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Product warranties
Warranties in the legal sense are optional obligations of the
seller, which is why he can formulate them the way he wants.
These are usually terms expressly stated in the contract
between the seller and buyer. These terms can be made orally,
in writing or by way of advertisement. Therefore, any
statement made by the seller becomes an express warranty,
especially if the buyer relies upon it to purchase the product.
The seller is legally obliged to fulfil his warranties should the
buyer decide to claim for the warranties.
Some common examples of product warranties are such as
limited, extended or lifetime warranty period, money back or
satisfaction guarantee, insurance coverage, etc. The seller
would also set out under what type of conditions the product
can be returned, replaced or repaired, and cases in which the
seller would not be liable for. Consumers are advised to read
the warranties carefully, as those fine print can often contain
some pitfalls, and that certain things are excluded from the
warranties. For example, the seller may provide warranty for
the battery but not for the hard disk; or the labour, transport or
spare parts charges would have to be borne by you.
Do also take note that certain warranty contains a clause
which states that this warranty becomes null and void if any
sticker is tampered with; or if the damage is caused by misuse,

feature
legaltech

abuse or accident; the attachment of any unauthorised

accessory; alteration to the product; improper installation,
etc. Therefore, you have to ensure that the product is not
tampered with, either by yourself or by anyone else. Also,
please do keep the warranty card and the receipt of
purchase. This is to help the manufacturers keep track of
the product and to keep them informed of the expiry date
of the warranty.

Product guarantees
Guarantees are rights given to consumers by law, and they
are referred to as implied warranties. An implied warranty
is based on an assumption that there is an understanding
of some sort of guarantee between buyer and seller. Under
implied warranties, the warranty is based upon the buyers
reasonable expectations about the products. When the
warranty is breached, the seller must either repair, refund
or replace the product.
When a buyer purchases a product, there is an implied
warranty that the product must be of an acceptable quality,
unless the seller makes it clear to the buyer that the
product is sold on an as is, where as basis or with
faults. A product will be considered to be of an acceptable
quality if it is:
(i) fit and suitable for all the purposes for which the product
is commonly used;
(ii) acceptable in appearance and finish;
(iii) free from minor defects;
(iv) safe; and
(v) durable.
Hence, when a buyer purchases a laptop, he is under a
reasonable expectation that the laptop will be of an acceptable
quality within a reasonable period of time. If the laptop
explodes without default, negligence or omission on the part
of the buyer, that laptop is not of an acceptable quality.
There is also an implied warranty that the product will be
the same as the description or sample shown to the buyer; that
the product will be fit for a particular purpose when a buyer
relies upon the seller to choose the product to fit a specific
request; that the seller has the right to sell the product and
when the ownership of the product passes to the buyer, the
buyer has the right to possess the product free from any
interference; where the price for the product is not stated in
the contract, the buyer is expected to only pay for the
reasonable price of the product; and lastly, that the seller and
manufacturer have an obligation to ensure that they provide
repairs and spare parts for a reasonable period of time after
the product is sold.

Product liabilities
Referring to the nightmare scenario above, what remedies do
you have in the event where you suffer from personal injury
caused by a defective product? There have been several
reported incidents where phones/laptops exploding while
being used/charged. Under the law, any person (including nonbuyer) who suffers death or personal injury caused by a
defective product, or his property is damaged by the defective
product, can claim for compensation from the manufacturer

Most of the electronic devices, gadgets and gizmos you purchase come with warranty cards and
booklets that look like these. It is in your best interest if you spend a lile me reading them and
nding out what you as a customer is entled to, in case the device is faulty

directly. It is logical that manufacturer should be made liable

for defective products not only because they manufacture the
products, but also because they have control over the quality
and safety of them. Liability can be imposed without
contractual relationship and proof of fault. In addition to suing
the manufacturer under breach of an implied warranty under
product safety, a buyer may also sue the manufacturer for
breach of contract and breach of duty of care under tort of
negligence.

Conclusion
The CPA, being a piece of legislation enacted to protect the
consumers rights and interests, states it very clearly that the
provisions under the CPA cannot be contracted out. In other
words, traders cannot, by way of limitation or exclusion
clauses, seek to limit or exclude their liabilities under the law.
Consumers should first go back to the seller and ask him to
repair, refund or replace the product. If the seller refuses to
resolve the problem, then consumers may file a complaint with
the Consumer Claims Tribunal for claims below RM25,000.
Consumers may also file a complaint with SIRIM, who is
empowered to take action against certified companies on
faulty certified products. Consumers are also encouraged to
purchase products which have been certified by SIRIM QAS
International, as all products certified by SIRIM means they
comply with international and national standards and that the
factory has a proper quality control system to ensure
consistent and continuous compliance with the standard.
The view expressed in this article is intended to provide a
general guide to the subject matter and does not constitute
professional legal advice. You are advised to seek proper legal
advice for your specific situation.

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feature
tech spelunk

Whats New?
Despite the fact that Intel mentions that the Haswell-E processors
use an LGA-2011 socket on the X99 motherboards, the new
processors in fact use a newer version called LGA-2011 v3. This
means that despite the fact you can use LGA-2011 coolers to cool
down the CPU, you wont be able to use Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy
Bridge-E processors on the X99 motherboards, and vice versa for
the Haswell-E processors, as they wont fit into the previous
Extreme Edition motherboards.
There are currently three different Intel Haswell-E processors,
which include Intel i7-5820K, Intel i7-5930K and Intel i7-5960X, all
of which uses the new LGA-2011 v3 socket.

DDR4 Support
Beyond anything else, the first thing that users are likely to notice
about the new Haswell-E processors is the fact that it supports
DDR4 memory. Why is this a big deal, you ask? For starters, Intel
Extreme Edition processors support quad-channel memory, and
has eight DIMM slots on the motherboard, which, in some cases,
allows users to hook up to 128GB memory, which is a big deal if
youre running memory intensive software like Maya or Adobe
Premiere.
Another thing to note is the fact that DDR4 comes at minimum
speeds of 2,133MHz, which can go up to about 3,333MHz, and
even more when overclocked. This means tasks start, end and get
switched around very quickly, which helps a lot when youre
running multiple memory-intensive tasks at the same time.
There is also the bit where DDR4 RAM consumes less power
than that of DDR3, though for enthusiasts and end users, this
really means higher overclocking overhead rather than power
savings which would be enjoyed more by data centres that run a
lot of servers.

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feature
tech spelunk

The day many enthusiasts have been waiting for is finally here. Intel has finally lifted
the lid on its third generation Intel Extreme Edition processor in the form of the Intel
Haswell-E Extreme Edition processors. This is Intels first mainstream processor family
to support the brand new DDR4 memory standard, and has quite a number of goodies in
store that provide both professional users and enthusiasts a lot to look forward to
By CHIP Team

Eight Cores Is A Thing

If Ivy Bridge-E saw Intel pack six physical cores inside it, Haswell-E processors two-up the previous generation Extreme Edition
processors as they now have eight physical cores inside the processor. This means it has 16 Hyper-threading cores, and has been
shown to dramatically boost performance of software that make full use of multithreaded cores, such as Premiere, InDesign, Maya
and AutoCAD.
The new Haswell-E processors also comes with 15MB of L3 (Level 3) cache in the Intel Core i7-5820X, and up to 20MB in the Core
i7-5690X. If youre wondering why this is a big deal, these L3 caches are important because it is basically a pool of memory that
stores CPU instructions on the CPU itself. Technically speaking, L1 and L2 cache memories are faster than L3, but thanks to the fact
that the L3 cache is now built into the CPU itself, where Intels processors are concerned, it is still better than the CPU having to
access the RAM when looking for instruction sets.

For The
Gamers
And
Enthusiasts
If youre an
average Joe looking
to build a computer
for work and play,
youre probably
better off getting a
Haswell Intel Core i5
processor, because
this particular
processor is meant
for working
professionals and
enthusiasts with
really deep pockets.
As mentioned before, the Intel Haswell-E processors true
worth lies in running programs that make full use of Intels
multithreading technologies, which sees a very noticeable
improvement from the previous Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy
Bridge-E processors.
Enthusiasts and gamers would love the fact that Haswell-E
supports more SATA III 6.0Gbps and USB 3.0 ports natively,
providing them with faster performance over 3rd party
chipsets, but the number one reason why they would jump
on it now is because Haswell-E supports 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes,
which means that motherboards can now support up to
quad-GPU configurations for both NVIDIAs SLI and AMDs
CrossFireX multi-GPU setup. Do note however that this is
only the case with the Intel i7-5930K and the Intel i7-5960X as
the Intel i7-5820K only has 28 lanes, which is still 12 lanes
more than the high-end Intel Core i7-4790K.

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037

2
The JavaScript application
of the website
receives the playback
key from the licence
server

Encrypted Media Extensions:

The HTML-DRM in action

License
server

In HTML 5, web videos are played

without plug-ins. However, the browser
needs a licensed key for encrypted
streams, and this can only be decrypted
by the content decryption module

LICENSE

StreamingWebsite

WWW...

The browser
accesses an
encrypted clip of the
streaming site

Web
e
Hom

Browser

The Javascript loads the

encrypted stream
from the file
server

4
The browser
sends the key
and stream to the
content decryption
module (CDM)

Fileserver

The
browser
renders the
frames for the
output
device

Monitor

5
The CDM
decrypts and
decodes the stream
and sends it back to
the browser

Browsers for
HTML videos
The media source
extensions make it
possible to view web
videos in the browser
without a plug-in. If they
are encrypted, this can
only be done using the
encrypted media
extensions. Apple,
Google and Microsoft
have their own DRM
modules for this.

Activate copy
protection
You cannot use the
browser to check
whether it supports the
encrypted media
extensions (EME). Netflix
customers who use
Chrome have to activate
EME in an indirect
fashion 1 . Microsoft has
set up a test site for
Internet Explorer 11 2 .

038

october 14

Content Decryption
Modul (CDM)

Supported features
DESKTOP-BROWSER
Firefox (from version 31 onwards)
Chrome
Safari 7
Safari 8 (in OS X Yosemite)
Internet Explorer 10
Internet Explorer 11 (in Windows 7)
Internet Explorer 11 (in Windows 8.1)
MOBILE BROWSERS
Android Stock-Browser
Android Chrome (from Android 4.2
onwards)
Safari iOS
Internet Explorer Windows Phone 8.1

Media Source
Extensions (MSE)

Video formats
that can be
played

Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q

webm
mp4, webm
Q
mp4, ts
Q
Q
mp4

*Q*
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q

*Q*
Clearkey, Widevine
Q
Clearkey, Apple
Q
Q
Clearkey, MS Playready

Q
Q

Q
mp4, webm

Q
Q

Q
Clearkey, Widevine

Q
Q

Q
mp4

Q
Q

Q
Q

Encrypted Media Content Delivery

Extensions (EME) Module (CDM)

Q YES Q NO

* ANNOUNCED

Netflix customers automatically switch on the new web copy

protection system in the options section when they use the
HTML 5 player for playback.

At ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/html5/eme, one can check

whether Internet Explorer can also play web videos that are
encrypted with EME

chip malaysia

feature
technic lexicon

Browser Encryption
Hollywood wants to ensure that we only watch the encrypted versions of commercial web
videos. The encrypted media extensions are embedded in most browsers By Markus Mandau

PHOTOS: REUTERS/LUCAS JACKSON (PORTRAIT); BLENDER FOUNDATION FROM TEARS OF STEEL (FILM IMAGE L.R.)
MANUFACTURERS (SCREENSHOTS) INFOGRAPHICS: ANDREIA MARGARIDA DA SILVA GRANADA

o much for free internet. Browsers and copy protection

systems now go hand in hand. Unnoticed by most surfers,
a copy protection system has silently been installed in
Chrome, just as it has been installed in Internet Explorer in
Windows 8. From a technical point of view, it has to do with the
implementation of the encrypted media extensions (EME), which
represent an expansion of the HTML5 web standard. This
approach is based on the World Wide Web Consortiums (W3C)
somewhat reasonable goal of using the HTML-related video
element to make previous browser plug-ins (such as the Flash
player or Microsofts Silverlight) redundant as the Flash player in
particular has proven itself to be a gateway for malware.
Instead, the HTML code and JavaScript join forces to provide
rich multimedia functions. These media source extensions (MSE)
even facilitate smart playback via a JavaScript interface. It
dynamically adjusts the bit rate depending on how good the data
connection with the user is: If there are bottlenecks, the bit rate
and the picture quality are reduced and maintained at this
reduced level until sufficient bandwidth becomes available.
However, thats not enough for commercial streaming services:
They also require a layer of encryption, in order to keep pirates
out. Last year, Microsoft, Google and Netflix put forward the EME
(which represents an expansion of the HTML web standard),
which involves the definition of a JavaScript interface that is
capable of exchanging keys with DRM modules. These content
decryption modules (CDM) are part of either the system
(Windows 8.1) or the browser (Chrome), and can also originate
from third-party providers Google just purchased the company
called Widevine. Neither the browser nor the operating system
can see what actually happens in the CDM.

Google and Microsoft The DRM pioneers

The HTML DRM system is simple: When you use Chrome or
Internet Explorer to visit a website featuring a protected video,
the browser registers the fact that the streams are encrypted.
Then the JavaScript application that has been loaded in the
browser asks the website for the key. It obtains the licence and
the key from the right holder. At the same time, it requests the
encrypted video stream from a file server. The browser now
gives the key and the encrypted stream to the CDM. The module
decrypts and decodes the stream and sends the individual video
frames back to the browser, which then displays them on the
screen. The type and strength of the encryption are not defined
in the EME; the implemented CDM system is responsible for
these parameters.
This procedure can be varied, since only the JavaScript code is
specified in the EME. Consequently, the decryption module can
also circumvent the browser and the operating system during the
playback operation, and send the frames directly to the HDMI

output via the graphics card. This is supposed to make it

impossible for the frames to be copied illegally on the users
computer. On the other hand, the encrypted media extensions
also allow for a clear-key-process that involves no CDM. In such a
case, the user needs neither a licence server nor a proprietary
encryption system, since the JavaScript application obtains the
key directly from the streaming website and sends it to the
browser, which then becomes responsible for decrypting and
decoding the video Hollywood definitely isnt going to be using
the clear key process.

The struggle for and against a free internet

The use of EME is being opposed by organisations that are
fighting for an open internet, such as the Electronic Frontier
Foundation and Mozilla. Their arguments are as follows: A
content decryption module could theoretically be used to
selectively block all kinds of contents in such a case, very little
would be left of the principle of the openness of the internet. At
the same time, people such as Firefox developers are unable to
peer into a CDM. They do not know whether and which security
risks stem from it, and unlike a Flash plug-in, it would not be
possible to simply uninstall a decryption module. The arguments
put forward by the supporters of EME are as follows: The life of
the surfer would be made easier, because he would no longer
need to worry about whether or not the films are being played
correctly. Furthermore, Microsoft is not developing Silverlight
any further, and the company plans to discontinue the associated
support activities in a few years. Netflix is still using it, in case a
user has not installed an EME-compatible browser (refer to the
table on the left). In the long run, the market leader in streaming
services is going to need another system. The Flash player is not
suitable to be used as an alternative, since its security-related
problems have created a situation in which mobile operating
systems would much rather leave it out altogether.
Netflix, which is now making its way to more countries, is so
powerful in the American market that even Mozilla has caved in
and agreed to implement EME in Firefox. For this purpose, the
browser receives a CDM from Adobe, which it treats as a black
box: It sends the encrypted films to the module, and they emerge
from this module in a decrypted and decoded form. A sandbox is
used in the hope of minimising security problems. The sandbox
envelopes the executable code of the Adobe CDM. As carefully
as Mozilla is grappling with the issue, it is clear that the fall of
Firefox represents the elimination of one of the last hurdles that
were standing in the way of a large-scale implementation of DRM
via the encrypted media extensions. Even Apple has
implemented EME in its new Mac OS X. When the EMEs find
their way into iOS, the web as a whole will have become a little
more commercial.

chip malaysia

october 14

039

feature
timeline

819 lines
In 1949, France
developed a system
that would have been
called an HD system
even by todays
standards

1940

1949
819 lines
The 737i HDTV system
requested by Mitterand
(Frances information
minister) goes online

1950

1960

1970

1953
NTSC

Marconi-EMI-HDTV-System
First regular use: BBC, from 2 November 1936 onwards
Discontinued: 1985
Resolution: 405 lines, of which 377 are visible; black and white
Display process: Interlaced, 2 x 25 fields per second
Broadcasting time: Monday through Friday, 1500-1600 and 21002200 hours

CHIP TIMELINE
HD Television
The 2010 Olympic Games wasn't actually the dawn of high-resolution television. The
first regular HD programme was broadcasted 70 years before it

en hours of broadcasting time per

week. Thats what the beginning of
regular television programming
looked like in the 30s. The BBC kicked it
off on 2 November 1936, simultaneously
launching the first regular HDTV
programme. The high definition system
devised by the British had 405 lines, of
which 377 were used for image
representation nobody was thinking

040

october 14

chip malaysia

about polychromatic displays at the time.

That might look puny by todays
standards, but mechanical TV sets had
just managed to reach 30 lines a few
years before that.
The 405-line system, also known as the
Marconi EMI System, was the first fullyelectronic TV system to see regular
operations. The system used the
interlacing method to prevent the image

from flickering: In this method, two fields

are displayed 50 times per second in a
time-delayed manner, which results in a
full-field sequence with 25 images per
second. In the beginning, these images
were displayed in the 5:4 format, but the
BBC eventually switched over to the 4:3
format. Apart from a non-transmission
period during the second world war, the
405-line system remained in service until

PHOTOS V.O.N.U.: REUTERS/RICARDO MORAES; VIENNA PHILHARMONIC/TERRY LINKE; DVB; WIKIPEDIA/ABASAA; NBC VIA GETTY IMAGES;
AFP/GETTY IMAGES; DPA/PICTURE ALLIANCE/CSU ARCHIVES/EVERETT COLLECTION

USA introduces high-resolution,

525-line TV content in colour
beginning with a childrens
programme

feature
timeline

1979
NHK in colour
Japans NHK channel
develops polychromatic,
wide-screen HDTV

1980

2004
HD1
The Belgian broadcaster launches the
age of regular HDTV in Europe at the
beginning of the year

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

1994
UHDTV
The British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) and Sony broadcast three games
from the FIFA world cup in ultra HD

1994
DVD
An industrial consortium adopts the
open digital TV standards DVB-S and
DVB-C

the year 1985.

After the war, most European countries
decided to use a higher-resolution system
that had been developed in Russia in
1944. This system had 626 lines, of which
576 were visible. This is the system that is
now known as standard definition (SD).
The UK and France are the two European
countries that didnt use this system. In
1949, France launched the first system
which, by todays standards, would have
fallen in the HD category.
This was the 819-line system, and its
resolution was almost equivalent to the
modern 720i. In tests, the inventor Ren
Barthlemy actually raised the resolution
to 1,042 lines quasi full HD. However,

until the 50s, there were no devices that

could display the HD signal in a loss-free
manner. The 819-line system was used
until the year 1983.
In 1953, the USA launched the first
polychromatic HD programme. With its
525 lines, of which 480 are visible, the
NTSC system that was introduced in 1941
no longer looked like a high-resolution
system in this era. In addition to being
vastly superior in terms of colour display,
the PAL colour system that was
developed in 1963 by Telefunken also
used the already-established 626-line
standard. In Germany, broadcasts that
made use of this system began in the year
1967. The first polychromatic, wide-screen

HDTV system was developed in 1979 by

the Japanese television station NHK.
However, more than a decade passed
before the analogue 1,125-line system
went into regular operation at the end of
1994, under the brand name of High
Vision. It was deactivated in the year
2007. The foundation of modern HDTV in
Europe was laid in the middle of the
nineties by the DVB (digital video
broadcasting) standard. On 1 January
2004, the Belgian broadcaster HD1
heralded the beginning of the HDTV era in
Europe with its broadcast of the New
Years Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra.

chip malaysia

october 14

041

feature
the business of facebook

The Facebook
Business Model
Have you ever wondered how Facebook actually makes money? They do so by bringing
money to other companies. This is clearly pushing the social network to its limits By Felix Knoke

f theres someone who got rich due to Facebook, it would

definitely be its founder Mark Zuckerberg. On 18 May 2012, four
days after his 28th birthday, he launched his company in the
market with what can be called the largest IPO in the history of the
Silicon Valley and minted billions. But initially, the vast number of
investors had too little to be happy about: fraught with computer
breakdowns, Facebooks rate increased for a short time after the
company went public only to drop mercilessly thereafter. Within a
week, investors had lost US$14 billion (RM45 billion) and a class

042

october 14

chip malaysia

action lawsuit was initiated. Public response was even worse:

people were reminded of the Dotcom disaster. The hype about the
social network seemed to die down. Even Facebooks first financial
report couldnt do much to salvage the situation: respectable
turnover, meagre profits, too few new users. Within a year,
investors had lost faith in the erstwhile technology star. But this
was an error of judgement on their part because two years after its
stock market debut, Facebook looked better than ever before.
Shares showed a steady growth for over a year. Those who stood

feature

ASCENT

the business of facebook

Money and friends

Facebook is a money-making machine that benefits advertising

companies, start-ups, investors and obviously the network itself.
Advertising has the most financial significance and it depends on the
number of users.

How Facebook makes money

Facebook makes 88 percent of its turnover from ads; the rest of it
comes from revenues from app sales and payments: 30 percent go
to Facebook while the remaining goes to the app developers.
In billion dollars

3
Total turnover

2.5

Ads
Profit
Source: BitSight Technologies

2
1.5
1
0
-1
Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter
2/12
3/12
4/12
1/13
2/13
3/13
4/13
1/14

PHOTOS: BLOOMBERG/PETER FOLEY (FRONT PAGE STORY); REUTERS/ROBERT GALBRAITH (M. ZUCKERBERG) SCREENSHOTS: PROVIDER

Fish in the big pond

Carsten Kisslat, for example, has written his own small success
story while working at Facebook. Together with the five member
developer team Robot Riot, this game designer who is 41 year old
today, set up The Fishing Club 3D on Facebook in October. This
is a nice fishing game and follows the free-to-play principle.
Participation is free, but if you want to move higher in the game
quickly, then you can purchase add-on equipment. This was not an
easy task for Kisslat and his team competitors still believed that
Apples App Store was a source of big money. But it was an
absolutely correct decision, said Kisslat. Facebooks friends
network paid off for him.
Word of how well advertising works on Facebook had gotten
around among developers. A significant part of our initial
marketing budget was a US$40 (RM131) coupon for Facebook ads.
This amount brought us US$400 (RM1,312) and we reinvested the
entire amount into marketing. Compared to other platforms, the
conversion of public into clients is distinctly good with Facebook.
Facebooks ad system is so polished that one can also use it to
exclusively address those fishing fans, which have already spent
money on Facebook in the past (see image on page 45). This
reduces scattering losses and therefore the marketing costs. Kisslat
says: For every new gamer, we spend much less than a dollar but
most pay much more than a dollar in the app store. Moreover,
existing customers are also maintained very well in Facebooks
close friend networks. Thanks to Facebook, we can turn inactive
gamers into active ones, for example, after an update, through
extremely affordable and dedicated campaigns. Facebook also
profits from Kisslats success: it reserves 30 percent of the
revenues and transfers the rest to the company account of Robot
Riot every two weeks. This comfort has a flip side; Kisslat is
especially anxious about his dependency on the decisions taken in
America. Time and again there are changes in the system that
influence business in a good and a bad way. Yet, Facebook
makes good business sense for him: more than 80,000 people
compete for the thickest fish in his virtual ponds. The next step: to

More users, more ads

Facebooks share price depends on the number of users: if the
network grows, the ads increase and this increases the profit.
Facebook profits greatly from mobile users.
No. of members in million

Share price in dollars

1,500

70

1,250

60

1,000

50

750

40
Total users

500

Mobile users

30

Share price

250
0

20

Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter

2/12
3/12
4/12
1/13
2/13
3/13
4/13
1/14

become so profitable that five people can make a living from that
money.

Selective advertising
We help you get connected with the right users, advertises
Facebook and by it, it means that your ads and advertising mails
will only be displayed to those who you want as customers. To do
so, it offers surprisingly detailed options to narrow down your
target group click by click. Generally, Facebook ads are
comparatively less clicked than those on other advertising
platforms, but then ad videos and ad messages in the Newsfeed
perform much better. This is Facebooks biggest capital in the
problematic online ad market. However, how these options are

chip malaysia

october 14

043

Source: BitSight Technologies

by during the initial crash doubled their investments. Zuckerbergs

fortune is estimated to be US$29.4 billion (RM96.3 billion) today.
The resurgence of Facebook had one simple reason: by
publishing the quarterly figures in July 2013, Facebook
demonstrated its strength as a profitable advertising machine. Out
of the US$1.81 billion (RM5.93 billion) of turnover in the second
quarter of 2013, 88 percent was from advertising revenues. Every
fourth dollar made through ads came from advertising on mobile
devices a small wonder for the starving mobile ad market.
Compared to the corresponding period in the previous year,
Facebook gained 53 percent more turnover and made a profit of
US$333 million (RM1.09 billion); in the year before that, Facebook
had to write off a loss of US$157 million (RM513 million). The
number of users increased rapidly too one fifth more than in the
previous year, i.e., 1.15 billion active members worldwide (the
current figure is 1.28 billion). There were no signs of the Lorbeer
break in Palo Alto. Mark Zuckerberg implored his investors: this is
just the beginning; we have planned something much bigger
because Facebook, and this became clear in the following months,
is not just a business but a means to making extraordinarily good
business.

feature
the business of facebook

used is not a trivial matter. As a result, a secondary line of business

came into play a long time ago, which provides companies advice
about their Facebook appearances. As a result even this sector
becomes a part of Facebooks business model. We help brands
and agencies profit from social networks, says Alexander
Peiniger. With his company Quintly, he measures the success of
company profiles on social networks. To do this, he has set up
virtual gauges, which record the visitor behaviour. We then see
how high the number of fans is, how quickly this number rises and
in which countries and where do the fans come from. Based on
this, the influence of advertising campaigns can be evaluated and
optimised in the long run this helps companies and increases the
value of Facebook as an advertising platform. But it is also true that
the companies that dont profit from Facebook look for customers
elsewhere.
When it comes to online advertising, companies should think
differently, even with regards to Facebook. More than 90 percent
of the fans dont visit a company page, says Peiniger. The most
relevant content reaches them via their Newsfeeds. Moreover,
Facebook has long been much more than just the website
Facebook.com and the mobile app. Facebook is present in
countless other websites in the form of Like buttons and tracking
bugs. This way, the giant can better understand what its members
do even outside the network. This is extremely problematic from
the point of view of data security but brings added value to
companies: for the first time, they can determine whether potential
customers can become actual customers somewhere on the
Internet. And Facebook guards the marketing of this knowledge
like a treasure: In the end, they have sovereignty over the influx of
visitors, says Peiniger. If this public drifts off or resists these
methods, then Facebook is in huge danger.

SUCCESS CONCEPT

The Facebook cycle

Facebook does well when companies, which make money on this
platform, do well. However, this cycle only works if the members of
the social network contribute.

Quintly measures Facebook

Alexander Peiniger from Quintly helps with campaigns on the net.
Facebook is perfect for establishing a stronger bong between end
customers and the brand by taking advantage of emotionality.

The big pond

The Fishing Club 3D, Carsten Kisslat has made his dream of developing his own game come true: Without Facebook, we
wouldnt have been able to independently develop our online
game and market it internationally.

Attack on Facebook
Facebook records 1.28 billion active members at present, more
than any other service in the world. These users lend substance to
Facebooks business model. Without them, Facebook would be in
crisis. The last company report lists fifteen good reasons for users
to discontinue with Facebook. One of them is only too well known
to many members: the quality of Newsfeeds suffers considerably
from the increase in advertising; one spends less time on the
contents of ones friends and more on advertising messages. For a
long time, Facebook has been experiencing a problem with
spammers, who create heaps of profiles. The network estimates
that the percentage of such spam profiles is 5 to 15 million. They
are used to get more Likes for sites against money or to disturb the
advertising strategy of competitors by unnecessarily clicking ads.
This puts off genuine members and reduces the value of
Facebooks ad system.
But conventional advertising too is a problem for Zuckerberg:
since 2011, his company has been making more than 85 percent of
its turnover from advertising customers. Such dependency is risky,
particularly since people are doubting whether online advertising
is actually as useful as Facebook, Google and Co. claim. Facebook
needs new revenue sources. Mark Zuckerberg is trying to buy time
from his investors: his vision will bear fruit in five to ten years, he
said in May 2014.
One can only speculate as to what he plans then and till then.
Currently, Facebook is expanding its territory away from the

044

october 14

chip malaysia

Expansion of the dominion

Facebook intends to reconstruct the digital life of its members. The
purchase of the messenger WhatsApp 1 and the image service
Instagram 2 are the first steps. But for a long time now, the
network has been using external data service providers for offline
data.

TARGETING

The perfect click

social network and towards the social daily routine even beyond
the Internet. On the one hand, the company is buying enormous
amounts of data records to pester offline buyers online by
displaying relevant ads. The American company Acxiom alone
delivered data of several hundred million US store cards. Facebook
imported anonymised data of 44 million people from Germany
with the intention of getting an idea about a persons purchasing
power based on his/her place of residence. On the other hand
however, Facebook wants to occupy the venues of data collection.
The procurement of Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus, which are
worth billions, prove that Facebook no longer wants to simply
monopolise the access to friend circles but also absorb as much
information as possible from the digital life of its members.

Facebook promises more effective advertising and better target

group management. This is not a problem for data protectionists:
Facebook collects large amounts of personal data for this purpose.

Making ads appealing

If data protection causes you anxiety, you should avoid the
business pages of Facebook. Here, the company generously
advertises what all it knows about its members, their activities and
interests. An example: flower ads for people, who have recently
changed their relationship status.

Users revolt
This is an alarming development for Maximilian Schrems. The
Austrian lawyer is one of the most important critics of Facebooks
hunger for data ever since he demanded to take a look at his data.
On hundreds of pages, he could read as if in a diary what all the
company had stored about him, including entries that he had
deleted a long time ago. The student project has now grown into a
legal process, which also discusses Facebooks role in the NSA
surveillance scandal. Since then, Schrems has taken responsibility
for a sort of a representation of interests of users, who can hardly
protect themselves from such manipulation and exploitation by
Facebook, from such lobbying. While talking to CHIP, he says that
he is shocked about how Facebook deals with its customers. It is
often the case that we pay for Facebooks free services with our
data. I see this differently. We are actually content producers and
we are with Facebook only because our content is interesting,
says Schrems. This is the biggest value that Facebook can gain.
However, it cannot be expressed in numbers: Every person has a
different value. It depends on how many people view your content,
on whether you live in Germany or Bangladesh. For Facebook,
personal data is a by-product: They collect data not to make
money but to optimise their advertising system. The problem is
rather, that Facebook wants to becomes the central register of
persons, where as much information as possible is stored about
everyone. This information can be used for advertising purposes
but also for credit assessments or even for surveillance purposes.
The basic problem for Schrems is however that as a
Facebook member, one cannot contribute in the decision making
for all these things. Facebook and the ad agencies are filling their
pockets thanks to the attention and commitment of the users and
also expect them to take responsibility of their data. This becomes
clear from the sheer amount of obscure data security settings.
Schrems would prefer if one could use Facebook without having to
worry about misuse of ones data. This is of course a minimum
demand. But one can also see it this way: members are not
beneficiaries or customers but an essential component of the
business model. It is only because of their attention and
commitment to the social network that advertisers can be happy,
that the share price rises and that Mark Zuckerberg becomes a bit
wealthier. Perhaps it is time for members to rethink their role in the
Facebook system and demand their rights to a say in matters
because their value has simply been suppressed in Facebooks
business model until now.

Target groups and ad budgets are defined and advertising successes are analysed in the advertisement manager. An auction procedure decides the respective ad price

Advertising becomes mainstream: Facebook makes advertising yourself very

easy and cheap

We are
placing our
bets on the
distant
future.
Mark Zuckerberg,
Facebook, Palo Alto

feature
pocket trojan

The attack routes

The state Trojan Galileo is being deployed in a
targeted manner against individuals. The
authorities can infect mobile phones in a variety
of ways (right). The simplest method: Infected
apps that carry the Trojan. The most intricate:
Data streams that have been manipulated with
the help of the provider.

QR-Code

WLAN

USB

Chat

Provider

The spyware
Once it becomes active on the mobile phone,
Galileo can pick off just about any kind of data
(below). The data is analysed via the remote
control system (screenshot). This dashboard
combines the pieces of information and creates
movement profiles, thereby painting a complete
portrait of the targeted person.

CONTACTS
The software uses address
books and telephone lists to
generate social graphs of
personal contacts

COMMUNICATION

LOCATION DATA
PERSONAL DATA
All messages and chats
from various apps
GPS data, WLAN networks
and Google Maps data

Browser history and files

saved on the mobile
phone

G
Galileo
snoops on Android mobile phones
rranging up to Android 4.4, as well as iOS,
Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices

Apps

INTERVIEW

A Trojan Horse
In Your Pocket
A group of hackers are selling Trojans for mobile phones to
governments, thereby facilitating total surveillance
By Claudio Mller

PHOTOS: GERMAN FEDERAL OFFICE OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION (BKA, L.R.); ISTOCKPHOTO/URBANCOW (BACKGROUND); SAMSUNG (PRODUCT)
INFOGRAPHICS: VERONIKA ZANGL; HARRY FUCHSLOCH (WORLD MAP) SCREENSHOT: HACKING TEAM VIA CITIZEN LAB/UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

f you are well-acquainted with a mobile

phone, you are well-acquainted with its
owner. It has long been assumed that the
NSA & co. are monitoring their targets
through mobile devices, instead of relying
primarily on the targets PCs. Evidence
showing that the assumption was right on
the money has been found by security
researchers from Kaspersky Labs and the
Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto.
They identified a surveillance tool called
Galileo, which serves this very purpose.
Galileo can be used to monitor mobile
devices right down to the smallest details
(see left) and it can be used in
conjunction with all the major mobile
systems. It can be used to attack all devices
that use Googles Android operating
systems ranging up to version 4.4, as well
as mobile phones running Windows
Mobile and Blackberry operating systems.
iPhones and iPads can only be monitored
after the devices have been jailbroken.
Galileo was developed by an Italian
company called Hacking Team, which also
sold the programme for 200,000 euros

(RM831,459) per targeted device.

According to Citizen Labs findings,
illegitimate states form a large chunk of the
clientele. Furthermore, the Kaspersky
analysis identified the servers that control
Galileo and receive the data that has been
nosed out (see map). The presence of such
servers in a country does not necessarily
mean that the country uses Galileo.
However, from the point of view of the
users of Galileo, it would make sense to
operate the control servers at a location
where they can be controlled without any
legal problems, says Sergey Golovanov
of Kaspersky.
One of the countries believed to employ
the use of said Trojans is Germany. The
BKA (German Federal Office of Criminal
Investigation) tested a state Trojan called
FinFisher within the framework in a yearlong trial run that concluded in mid-2014. It
was initially assumed that the tool would
only be used to monitor suspects PCs. We
asked whether mobile devices were also
monitored. The BKA denied that they were,
just like they denied any use of Galileo.

We need export
controls
Dr. Sandro Gaycken,
Cyberwar Researcher (Free
University of Berlin)

CHIP: Does it surprise you that theres a state

Trojan for mobile devices?
Sandro Gaycken: No, not at all. Mobile
devices are even more vulnerable than PCs,
since the conventional security mechanisms
often do not apply to them. And theres an
enormous amount of interest in the data
thats stored on mobile phones. Contacts and
movement-related data are particularly
valuable.
The Trojan called Galileo is being sold by
independent developers to anyone who can
afford it. Disquieting?
Whats happening here is immensely
dangerous. Totalitarian states that previously
did not have the respective expertise can now
use such Trojans to monitor specific persons
in a targeted manner, and this usually
happens without any legal foundation
whatsoever.
So they have to be regulated.
Absolutely. Whats needed is an index of all
the companies that sell such programmes. It
would be necessary to check the transactions
that are being made. Unfortunately, the state
often doesnt have the required expertise.
Is it conceivable that German authorities
may also be using Trojans for mobile
phones?
Absolutely, and I hope they are, because if
the BKA starts using tools like Galileo, it
would no longer have to place the masses
under surveillance.

The servers
A total of 326 Galileo
control servers are
located in more than 40
countries, and some of
them are with well-known
hosters like GoDaddy.
Two of the servers are in
Germany. They are part
of a proxy chain that
obscures the flow of data
by re-routing it many
times.

Canada

24 Servers

UK

32 Servers

Kazakhstan

49 Servers
Germany

2 Servers

USA

147,000 (RM609,795)

64 Servers
Ecuador

35 Servers

Columbia

12 Servers

China

15 Servers

is what the BKA paid to

test the FinFisher Trojan
for a year

feature
ai report
xxx

The Rise Of The

Machines
Artificial intelligence can now perform highly complex tasks. In fact, it often outperforms
human beings By Benjamin Hartlmaier

0 July 2013, 1340 hours, somewhere off the east coast of the
United States: On the flight deck of the US navy aircraft
carrier, the mood is tense. About 50 navy servicemen and
technicians are waiting for the return of a new fighter jet, which
took off on a test flight a few minutes ago. Suddenly, it appears:
The contours of the incoming jet, codenamed X-47B, become
visible in the sky. 1345 hours - Touchdown! Shortly thereafter, it
comes to a standstill on the flight deck, but no pilot climbs out of
the cockpit. For the first time ever, an autonomous drone has
managed to land on an aircraft carrier without any human
assistance. Until now, that was an achievement that was reserved
for only the best and most experienced pilots. In the case of the
X-47B, an operator simply has to enter the mission data (which
contains information regarding things like the flight path and the
destination), and the drone does everything else taking off,
flying, scouting, aiming, opening fire and landing by itself. When
approaching an aircraft carrier, it connects to the aircraft carriers
on-board computers, which keep transmitting data regarding the
ships position and speed, along with information about the wind
direction and strength. The algorithm of the X-47B uses GPS data
and additional information delivered by the drones sensors to
calculate the optimal approach path.

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The autonomous combat drone was in development for about

eight years, and it was nicknamed Salty Dog 502 by navy
servicemen. Its weapons bay can accommodate a weight of two
tonnes, but its staying empty for the time being, since the drone
isnt allowed to participate in active deployments. It must first
prove, in further tests that are scheduled to take place in the late
summer that it can operate smoothly on an aircraft carrier when
its alongside fighter jets that are being controlled by human
pilots. Thats when well find out whether this artificial intelligence
can keep up with human intelligence or whether it can actually
outperform the latter.
As far as Professor Wolfgang Wahlster is concerned, thats a
scenario that doesnt exactly lie beyond the realm of possibility.
When it comes to the domain of individual sensor technology, i.e.
the domain associated with hearing, seeing, smelling and
touching, we can already build artificial systems that have an edge
over the sensory perceptions of human beings, says the technical
head of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence
(DFKI). Even when it comes to the reproduction of logical thought
processes, machines are, in certain areas, far ahead of human
beings. No human brain can keep up with the massive
computational power and storage capacities that we have at our

AI IN FOCUS

disposal, explains Wahlster. The field of big data is one playing

field of such AI systems: The systems spot patterns in massive
quantities of data, which is something that no human brain would
be able to do.
If machines already possess better sensory and cognitive
capabilities, does that mean that the human race needs to start
thinking twice about its position as the worlds dominant species?
Probably not at least not yet. The reason is that AI research still
has to deal with a significant hurdle: The so-called daily routine
intelligence, i.e. our ability to make prudent decisions in spite of
uncertain, incomplete or vague information. Our AI systems still
have a lot to learn in this domain, explains Wahlster. Its all about
the ability to improvise. This represents a century-long task for AI
research. Wahlster then proceeds to give the all-clear signal for a
scenario in which this particular milestone has been attained: The
goal of AI research is not to produce a carbon copy of a human
being. We dont want the Frankenstein monster. The goal of the
endeavour is to either support, improve or complement the
abilities of human beings.

Nowadays, artificial intelligence systems are being used in the

most diverse fields. In the future, computers could communicate
with us and drive cars at the same time.

AI in trucks
From the outside, the
Future Truck 2025 looks
like a normal truck. Whats
special is on the inside:
While the driver examines
the motorway stations
menu, an AI system steers
the truck across the
highway.

PHOTOS: NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION (L.); DAIMLER AG (U.R. AND CENTRE); WHOLE SALE CHANGE/PRINCETONAI.COM (L.R.)

Artificial intelligence on the fast track

What such assistance from artificial intelligence might look like
was made evident at the beginning of July 2014 near the city of
Magdeburg: On a cordoned-off section of the A14, a motorcade
consisting of about 15 closely-packed vehicles drove past a fullyoccupied grand stand. A fire engine with flashing blue lights and
wailing sirens drives up from behind. A semi-trailer truck with
black-and-white camouflaging tape all over it immediately veers
off to the right in order to set up a rescue lane. However, the man
in the drivers seat doesnt have his hands on the steering wheel.
Hes leaning back in his seat and tapping a tablet. The Future
Truck 2025, which is what Daimler calls it, is controlled by the
highway pilot system. Its artificial intelligence system links all the
existing security systems in the truck and complements them with
cameras, radar sensors and communication pathways between
vehicles. The human driver only has to get involved during
overtaking operations for legal reasons. Theoretically, the
highway pilot can take care of that task, too.
All thats missing is for the highway pilot to be able to use a
language programme and the respective truck-related system to
communicate with the driver. On 8 June, about a month before the
presentation of the Future Truck, a sensational piece of news was
making the rounds: The University of Reading in the UK reported
that Eugene Goostman had become the first computer programme
to clear the Turing test. The test, which is named after Alan Turing,
the British mathematician and information technology pioneer, is,
quite simply, considered to be THE intelligence test for computers.
In the year 1950, Turing prophesied that the year 2000 would see
machines that would be able to chat with human beings and
convince 30% of them that they were also human beings. For
Turing, the question of whether machines could actually think was
secondary. From his point of view, it was enough that they could at
least give the right impression. When it came to this years
Loebner Prize, which is a variant of the Turing test, the chatbot
Eugene Goostman succeeded in clearing the critical hurdle: It
managed to convince 33 percent of the members of the jury that it
was a human being. However, AI experts are sceptical: In this
case, a trick was used, says Professor Wahlster. Goostman is

Eugene Goostman
The chatbot called Eugene
Goostman just cleared the Turing
test. Its AI system is supposed to be
no different from the intelligence of
a human being. However, experts
are airing doubts. AI expert Ray
Kurzweil writes that the chatbot
cannot track a conversation and
often repeats itself word for word.

Now divide by zero and die!!!!

Eugene Goostman, who can be reached at princetonai.com/bot,
was offline at the time of going to press. Therefore, were showing
you an excerpt from a chat between Ray Kurzweil and Eugene
Goostman.

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ai report

supposed to impersonate a pubescent Ukrainian boy who cant

even speak English properly. From Wahlsters point of view, this
reduces the significance of the test: You could just as well send a
simulation of a deaf-mute to the test. In his view, the Turing test is
irrelevant when it comes to inspecting the quality of an AI system.
The Turing test is a nice little thought experiment, but at the end
of the day, its more of a PR gag than a scientific accomplishment,
says Wahlster.
Professor Ipke Wachsmuth, who does AI-related research at the
University of Bielefeld, is also reluctant to attach a large amount of
importance to the news of the Turing test being cleared: The jury
contained people who were not experts, and who let themselves
be impressed by the programme. When it comes to speaking AI
systems, Wachsmuth is an expert: Ten years ago, a group of
students developed an avatar called Max under his guidance. Max
has been working as a museum tour guide at the Heinz Nixdorf
MuseumsForum in Paderborn ever since. A conversation with Max
is quite similar to a conversation with a real human being.
However, Wachsmuth doesnt want to make his avatar take the
Turing test: Experts know how to use skilful enquiries to take such
a system for a ride. He thinks its highly unlikely that it would be
possible to give a chatbot a level of intelligence that could rival that
of a human being and convince experts: Intelligence is a lot more
than just the application of specific rules.

AI can learn a lot from animals

Theres another AI project that doesnt have to grapple with such
problems: OpenWorm, which is the name of an international
research group, isnt trying to imitate human beings. The scientists,
who swap views using the openworm.org platform, are aiming to
digitally reconstruct the threadworm C. elegans. Instead of the socalled top-down approach, in which human beings serve as the
reference point for artificial intelligence systems, the OpenWorm
team is using the bottom-up approach, which means that its trying
to converge on the respective intelligence level from the bottom
up. In a certain way, the OpenWorm project reflects the history of
AI research, explains Dr. Benjamin Inden of the University of
Bielefeld. Previously, intelligence was associated with things like
a game of chess. Now we know that the tasks of orientating
oneself and moving through a space are a lot more difficult.
Inden, who does research on evolutionary algorithms and
neuronal networks, has no doubts: AI research can learn a lot
from animals like the threadworm. Even though it might not look
like it at first glance, a worm is quite capable of performing certain
intelligent tasks: Worms learn by getting used to certain stimuli or
associating a particular smell with a food source. explains Inden.
In his view, this gives rise to a direct benefit in terms of other
branches of AI research: Such capabilities are particularly
interesting in terms of robots, explains Inden. It would really
represent a leap forward if they could learn in a more robust way,
i.e. if they could continue to function properly in spite of
environmental disruptions.
The various approaches associated with AI research prove that
intelligence has many faces, of which thinking, speaking and
orientation are but a few. For the moment, the quest for genuine
artificial intelligence goes on, and nobody knows exactly what
were going to find at the end of the rainbow.

AI IN FOCUS

Two ends of research

What is intelligence? When it comes to avatars, its all about
emulating speech faculties, but a digital worm is expected to gain
knowledge regarding movements and orientation within a space.

An interview with Max

Max is a digital person who also
happens to be the museum tour
guide at the Heinz Nixdorf
MuseumsForum, the worlds
largest computer museum. He
explains the exhibition to visitors,
but hes also willing to chat with
them. We chatted with him about
AI.
CHIP: What is AI?
Max: AI stands for artificial intelligence, and is a branch of the
field of information technology. In the field of AI, one tries to understand intelligent behaviour by simulating it. I could tell you a lot
about AI. Okay?
CHIP: Are you intelligent?
Max: I am intelligent, in a certain way.
CHIP: Are you as intelligent as a human being?
Max: No, but Im trying to be as human as I can.
CHIP: All you are is a dumb machine.
Max: But I can count all the neurons in your brain in a second. Can
you do that?
CHIP: No, but I can feel. Can you?
Max: Certainly. I have a self-developed emotion system.
CHIP: How do you feel right now?
Max: At the moment, Im happy.
CHIP: Why are you happy?
Max: Unfortunately, I do not know why at this moment.

The OpenWorm project

At browser.openworm.org, the digitally-recreated C. elegans
threadworm can be rotated, magnified and taken apart layer by
layer, until all that remains is the nervous system.

We dont want
the Frankenstein
monster
Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster,
DFKI, Saarbrcken

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PHOTOS: JAN BRAUN/HNF (T.); OPENWORM.ORG (C.); JIM RAKETE (B.)

feature

feature
have you been hacked?

How To Check If
Youve Been Hacked
Hackers are getting bolder everyday as they continue to attack internet giants leaving
everyone feeling a little vulnerable. Here are some tips to check if your data has been
compromised By Jrg Geiger
and birth dates, and they often also include
the associated account and credit card
numbers and addresses. More than 172
million user accounts have already been
counted, so one of your accounts could
quite possibly be on the list, too.
When it comes to hack attacks that
target internet service providers like eBay,
the main problem is that many users use
the same passwords for several different
services. If a password is successfully
stolen from Adobe, it would be very easy
for hackers to check whether the same
password can open doors at Gmail,
Dropbox or Facebook.

Secure and check all access

paths
However, the situation doesnt just involve
the internet. Users often use or need
access data in order to be able to protect
materials when theyre using PCs, mobile
devices or home networks, and hacking
attacks can also do a lot of damage under
such circumstances. However, have no
fear: we will show you how you can check
whether your data has already been stolen,
regardless of which accounts and devices
the situation in question involves. Were
also giving you a few tips about how you
can secure important access paths.

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PHOTO: KLAUS SATZINGER SCREENSHOTS: ANBIETER

n e-mail address and the

corresponding password can open
all kinds of doors on the internet,
as they are usually the primary proof of
identity. So its not surprising that hackers
try to break into large internet service
providers in order to steal online identities
on a grand scale. And they are singularly
successful in this endeavour. The Hasso
Plattner Institute for software systems
technology in Potsdam uses a database to
record the stolen internet identities that are
trafficked online via hacker forums and
other dubious channels. These data sets
usually consist of e-mail addresses, names

feature
have you been hacked?

Internet-based Services
Facebook, PayPal, Adobe, Google or Apple All of these accounts are password protected,
which makes them fair game for hackers

E-Mail

Facebook

Google

Check: The Identity Leak Checker from the

Hasso Plattner Institute (https://sec.hpi.unipotsdam.de) of the University of Potsdam
checks whether your e-mail address is
being trafficked in hackers circles, along
with your name, credit card number, bank
accounts and other pieces of personal data.
With all this material, an outsider could
assume and misuse your entire digital
identity. All you have to do to run the check
is enter your e-mail address and click
Check e-mail address. Important: Your
e-mail address is neither saved nor handed
over to external parties. The procedure
checks your e-mail address against an upto-date database containing compromised
accounts and sends the result to the e-mail
address that you had entered.
Tip: If nothing has been stolen from you,
you dont need to do anything. However, if
your e-mail address has been hacked, you
should change the password that you use
for all the services with which said address
is linked. If credit card numbers turn up in
the data sets, you should promptly inform
your bank about the theft. If account
numbers have been hacked, you should
check all transactions at least once a week.

Check: For many users, Facebook is a very

important internet service. When it comes
to phishing attacks, hackers are most
enthusiastic about having a go at Facebook.
However, what many people dont know is
that a certain built-in check makes it easy to
check whether external parties have hacked
into your Facebook account. To run the
check, click the little arrow that is at the far
right of the bar at the top of the screen.
Select Settings in the drop-down menu,
followed by Security. Click the Edit
option/Pencil icon, which is right next to
the entry that reads Where youre logged
in. You will then know which devices have
been used to access your Facebook
account. This check also identifies the
locations from which your Facebook
account has been accessed.
Tip: If you see an unfamiliar device, click
the End activity option that is next to the
respective entry. Now, click General in
the menu to the left and change your
Password. The Login approvals
function that can be found under the
Security section provides an even higher
degree of security. After you activate the
security code, an additional PIN code will
be necessary when your account is
accessed for the first time on a new device.

Check: Hackers love Google accounts, too.

The reason: After you hack a Gmail
account, you can use the Forgot
password functions of other services.
These services then send a password-reset
link to the Gmail address in question, and
the victims digital identity goes out the
window. However, Google also features a
built-in hacker-check. The first thing you
have to do is visit the site https://www.
google.com/settings/security when you
are logged in. Click View all events
under Recent activity, and you will be
able to view the previous login operations.
Tip: If the list of logins contains unfamiliar
devices, you should promptly Change
your password. Whats useful is that
Google places the corresponding link on
the overview page. Apart from that,
Google offers a 2-step authentication:
Under this setting, you will need to enter
an additional PIN code (in addition to your
e-mail address and password) in order to
log in. This PIN code is generated by the
Google Authenticator app, which is a free
app for Android and iOS. To activate the
2-step authentication system, click Set
up, which is right next to the Two step
confirmation option, which can be found
under Security.

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feature
have you been hacked?

Computers and Software

Your PC or notebook may suffer from security loopholes that hackers can use to access
your data. However, the internet provides check-sites that can help.

System

Browser

Viruses

Check: You will be able to establish a basic

level of security by using updates to keep
your Windows 7 or 8 operating system and
all your programmes up-to-date and
installing a virus scanner. But if you want to
be really sure that your system is devoid of
significant loopholes, you should run
Belarcs free Security Advisor tool, which
can be downloaded for free at the following
address: belarc.com/free_download.html. It
provides information about the latest
Windows security settings and checks
whether a firewall is active and if you virus
scanner really is up-to-date and foolproof.
Double-click the icon to launch the
programme and click Continue to initiate
the system-check. After a few minutes, a
report will be displayed in your browser.
Tip: The tool features no snazzy graphics
and only checks the basics, which must be
in order on every system. For example, if
the tool reports that the virus scanner is
outdated, you should update it as quickly
as possible; if an update is missing, find out
which patch the system needs, and install
it. Unfortunately, the Security Benchmark
Score that lets you check the security
status at a glance is only available for
operating systems ranging up to Windows
7.

Check: Firefox, Chrome and Internet

Explorer are three of the most widely-used
programmes in existence. Consequently,
they are at the very top of the hackers hit
lists. As a result, you should run a separate
security check for your browsers. Use your
browser to visit the site botfrei.de/en/
browsercheck/, and click the Start
browsercheck option. The service is
provided by the Anti-Botnet Advisory
Centre, and checks your browser and the
installed plug-ins.
Tip: If the test identifies an outdated
browser or greying plug-ins, you should
make use of the links displayed on the page
and run the required updates as soon as
possible. We recommend using the
Secunia Personal Software Inspector
freeware tool to ensure that you get all the
updates right at the start. Install the tool
and select the Update programmes
automatically option. Once the Inspector
has been activated via the Check now
option, it monitors the installed
programmes for updates and, in most
cases; it will install the respective updates
automatically. Software that doesnt feature
this automated function is displayed
separately.

Check: Is a virus-check unnecessary if you

have already installed a virus scanner? You
can never be too sure, since you cannot
assume that an anti-virus tool will always
be able to detect every single threat.
Consequently, a second opinion always
helps. You can use the ESET Online
Scanner, which is available at eset.com/us/
online-scanner/, to run a check for viruses.
It works in parallel with the anti-virus
programme that you have already installed.
All you have to do to initiate the virus check
is click the Run ESET Online Scanner
option on the website.
Tip: Those who wish to install an additional
permanent security facility in addition to
the virus scanner can go for the free
Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit tool. The
freeware does not get in the way of the
virus scanner that has already been
installed, since it functions as a second
layer of protection and focusses on the
security of browsers and tools provided by
external parties. The free version watches
over Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and
Opera browsers. It also seals Java-related
loopholes. Whats useful is that Anti-Exploit
only has to be installed you do not need
to make any adjustments, and the
protection comes into effect immediately.

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have you been hacked?

Smartphones and Tablets

Majority of hackers are now focussing on mobile devices, because they are becoming
more prevalent, their functions are obfuscated to users and they are easy to lose

System

Apps

Positioning

Check: Just like Windows, there is also a

basic layer of protection for mobile
systems. This base layer includes an up-todate operating system, sensible security
settings and, in case of Android, an
antivirus system. A brief check-up
establishes clarity: Android users can use
the free Belarc Security Advisor app, which
runs checks for more than 400
vulnerabilities in Android and popular
apps. The free version of the Lookout app
runs a system check under iOS.
Tip: Android users should orientate
themselves towards the security loopholes
that have already been discovered, and
update the operating system as well as the
apps. To install a newer version of Android,
navigate through the settings to either
About device or Device info, and then
click the Software update option. iOS
users receive a push-notification for system
updates, but in most cases, doing it
manually is much faster: When you click
the Software update option under
Settings | General, the system checks
whether the software is up-to-date. A
notification associated with the App Store
icon makes it easy for iOS users to view
app updates.

Check: What exactly may an app be doing

behind the scenes of your device? Every
now and then, things other than what you
would want it to do. Although its very
useful to check the access rights of an app
before it is installed, this is usually not
done. The free aSpotCat app makes it
possible for Android users to find out
which installed apps are grabbing which
access rights. iOS users can visit
cluefulapp.com to view the access rights of
individual apps.
Tip: If you dont want to deal with app
authorisations, you can simply delete the
app in question. However, the question
often doesnt arise at all. The situation is
problematic for Android users, since
Google does not offer an access right
management system. Although the free
SRT AppGuard (available at srt-appguard.
com) application can retroactively take
certain access rights away from an app, the
auto-update process will no longer work
after such an intervention. On the other
hand, iOS users can adjust the app access
rights under Settings | Data protection.
This section identifies the apps that access
contacts, photos or other types of data. A
simple click in the respective category is all
it takes to deactivate access rights.

Check: When it comes to smartphones and

tablets, Have you already been hacked?
isnt the only question that arises. It is often
joined by the question Has something
already been stolen from you?, since
thieves are quite fond of targeting mobile
devices. You should be well-prepared for a
case involving theft. Consequently, you
should check whether your mobile devices
can be geolocated. iOS users can activate
the Find my iPhone feature under
Settings and iCloud. In order to ensure
that an Android device can be geolocated,
you have to activate the location-access
function in the settings of your device. This
function also has to be activated via the
dashboard of your Google account (https://
www.google.com/settings/dashboard).
Tip: In the event of theft or the loss of a
device, iOS users can log on to icloud.com
to locate their device. This happens
automatically, but if you so desire, you can
either configure the system such that it
plays a signal tone or clear the device. In
order to locate their devices, Android users
must log on to play.google.com, click
Settings and select the Android device
manager option. The locating procedure is
carried out automatically for all Android
systems from version 2.2 onwards.

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have you been hacked?

Home Network
Routers and home entertainment devices such as Smart TVs have become just as
vulnerable to hacking attacks as PCs and mobile phones

Routers

Smart TV

Entertainment

Check: Instead of targeting individual

PCs, smartphones or tablets, hackers
prefer to set their sights on DSL routers,
which make it possible for all the devices
in the household to access the network.
Consequently, he who controls the
router also controls the devices that
work in the background. You can use the
website checkmyrouter.org to check
whether your router is susceptible to
security loopholes such as the UPnP
(Universal Plug and Play) bug.
Alternatively, you can peruse the
services of ShieldsUP, which is available
at https://www.grc.com/shieldsup.
Tip: Regardless of the brand of router
youre using, the firmware (i.e. the
device-related software that runs on the
WLAN router) should always be up-todate. Most router firmwares can be
updated via the web interface. The
process is usually very straightforward
and you should look for menu points
such as Firmware update. By following
the steps given, the system then checks
whether new firmware is available for
your router. If it is, you can run the
update with a single click.

Check: Smart TVs can only be fully

utilised in the presence of an internet
connection. This, along with the option
of installing apps, makes them
vulnerable to attack. After all, standard
protocols and file formats are also used
vis--vis smart TVs. Unfortunately, the
ways in which devices made by different
manufacturers function are vastly
different from each other, so there is no
special security test for smart TVs.
Consequently, you have to find out the
precise model number (it is often
specified on the rear side of the device)
and visit the manufacturers site to look
for security-related information. The
support forums containing user reports
can often render quicker assistance than
the web sites maintained by the
manufacturers.
Tip: When it comes to the security of a
smart TV, an up-to-date piece of
firmware is quite important. It can
usually be installed in two ways: It can
either be installed directly via the TV
using an active internet connection, or it
can be installed via a USB stick.

Check: None of the devices that go hand in

hand with the smart TV in the living room
can get along without an internet
connection, so all these devices (such as
Apple TV, PlayStation, Xbox and other
home entertainment devices) are
vulnerable to attack. However, there is no
uniform security test for these devices.
Similar to Smart TVs, the manufacturers
website is the first place you should go to
when youre looking for security-related
news. A second option is the website
cvedetails.com, which collects information
regarding security loopholes in a manner
that cuts across the various manufacturers.
For example, you could run a search for
Apple TV and view information regarding
the security loopholes that have come to
light over the last five years.
Tip: Up-to-date firmware is also necessary
when it comes to entertainment hardware.
It can usually be installed directly via the
device. When it comes to Apple TV, this
can be done via the Settings | General |
Update software path. As for the
PlayStation 3, new firmware can be
obtained through the following path:
Settings | System update | Update via
internet.

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PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO/JUNIORBEEP

know it all

The Triumph Of
Android
It has been barely six years since Google launched its very first smartphone with the
Android operating system. In those years, the mobile operating system moved into other
markets and has conquered almost everything in sight and its actually just the beginning
By Dominik Hayon

Founding of the start-up Android Inc. not yet part of Google

Day on which the first version of Android was released
Launch of the first Android smartphone, the HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1)

October 2003
23 September 2008
22 October 2008

Androids market share in the USA

61.9 percent

Androids market share in Germany

80.9 percent

Samsungs share of Android devices sold

65 percent

Device activations per day

1.5 million

Active Android users as of June 2014

Percentage of devices using the latest Android version 4.4. (KitKat)

1 billion
17.9 percent

Selfies taken on a daily basis using Android smartphones

93 million

SMS messages sent daily using Android mobile phones

20 billion

Market share of Android tablets

Sum of the licence payments that Microsoft pockets every year through Android sales

62 percent
US$2 billion (RM6.55 billion)

Android apps and games in the Play Store

1 million

App downloads from the Play Store

50 billion

Country from which the most apps are downloaded

Percentage that Google retains for each app that is sold
Googles estimated profit from the Play Store up to 2013

USA
30 percent
US$1.3 billion (RM4.2 billion)

Share of Freemium apps in the Play Stores turnover

98 percent

Percentage of mobile malware programmes that target Android devices

97 percent

Amount of money collected by the Android console Ouya on Kickstarter

US$8.5 million (RM27.8 million)

Planned launch of Googles Android TV smart TV OS

Year in which Google plans to equip the first car with Android

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Autumn 2014
2014

cover story
intel developer forum 2014

We Take A Look
At The Future of
Computing in San
Francisco

The term post-PC era has been bandied out for over the past few years to denote how
human society as a whole has been less dependent on computers, in the traditional sense
of the word. This first started with the emergence of smartphones, tablets, ultraportables
and the latest craze in the tech industry, wearables. CHIP Malaysia was fortunate enough
to be invited to Intels annual Intel Developer Forum this year in San Francisco to take a
look at some tech trends, movements in the tech industry and even future technological
prototypes and projects By Nazrin Zain

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intel developer forum 2014

Small Is The New Big

Rather than saying we are headed towards
a post-PC era, it is perhaps a bit more apt
to say that the concept of computing, and
computers as we know it is constantly
evolving into something new and exciting.
This is particularly evident at the opening
keynote address by Brian Krzanich, CEO of
Intel Corporation as he started things by
announcing new updates and projects for
Intel Edison and Galileo.
Intel Edison, for those who arent all too

Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel Corporaon kicking things o at

Intel Developer Forum 2014

familiar with the name, is a platform which

allows creators and developers to create
low-cost Internet-enabled products and
services, for entrepreneurs of all levels, be
they indie developers or even large scale
enterprises. The Edison development
platform packs a robust set of features into
its compact size, which means companies
can scale their devices and services as
small or as big as they need, together
alongside a broad spectrum of I/O and

software support, that aims to meet the

innumerable needs of customers, be it on a
consumer or business-level.
The Intel Galileo platform meanwhile is
an Intel-based Arduino-certified
development and prototyping board which
is designed for makers, students, educators
and DIY electronics enthusiasts. This
platform provides users with an open
source software and hardware
environment, which also provides more
advanced functionality, and will not only be
familiar for those who are familiar with
Arduino, but also those who are just
starting out, and are familiarising
themselves with the platform.
The fact that Brian Krzanich started off
the opening keynote with these two
products as evidence that Intel is clearly
pushing through with mobile devices and
wearables, as well as the Internet of Things
concept. Intel has put out platforms that
allow developers, both small and big to
create and make things as easily and as
fast as possible, with rapid prototyping
being key to the concept.
Mobile and Internet of Things
developers will also be happy to know that
the Intel Edison platform, first announced
at CES earlier this year, is currently
available for purchase, which really tells us
how fast Intel wants developers to create
new products and services
With our diverse product portfolio and
developer tools that span key growth
segments, operating systems and form
factors, Intel offers hardware and software
developers new ways to grow as well as
design flexibility, said Brian Krzanich. If
its smart and connected, it is best with
Intel.
To drive this point even further,

Brian Krzanich and Michael Dell, CEO of Dell unveiling the brand new Dell Venue 8 7000
tablet on stage

Greg McKievey, Execuve Vice President and Chief Strategy and

Markeng Ocer of Fossil Group talking about the future of
wearables

Krzanich was joined on stage by Greg

McKievey, Executive Vice President and
Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer of the
Fossil Group to talk about the future of
wearables, and Michael Dell, CEO of Dell,
as he unveiled the latest Dell Venue 8 7000
tablet which features Intels RealSense
camera technology.
Following that was the announcement
of the Intel Reference Design for Android
program to provide Intel-based Android
tablet users with a high quality and
consistent experience based on the latest
Android operating system. Intel aims to
help scale the deployment process of
Android for tablet manufacturers by
providing the software engineering work,
streamlined access to Google Mobile
Services as well as support for updates and
upgrades to future Android releases.
The wearable space also received some
attention, particularly towards the general
direction of the MICA, or MY Intelligent
Communication Accessory, which was first
unveiled at the New York Fashion Show a

Wearables have been a big hit amongst tness junkies, and Intel is commied to announce even
more tness-based wearables in the near future

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week before IDF.

In a growing industry crowded by big
names such as Samsung, Sony, LG and
now Apple, The MICA is a standout device
in several ways, as instead of being a
complementary device to smartphone and
tablets; the MICA is capable of a standalone
smart device in the form of a bracelet.
Intels ambition with the device was to
create a wearable that would not only
function well on its own, but also stylish
enough to be considered a luxury item for
the fashion-conscious.
The MICA bracelets design was done in
collaboration with Intel by well-known
design house Opening Ceremony and will
be a part of the labels holiday season lineup, and is expected to be priced around the
US$1,000 (RM3,260) range.
Paired to a smartphone or tablet, the
device is capable of the pushing alerts and
notifications, including, but not limited to
SMS, email and other digital messaging
notifications, calendar reminders, and
many more. The MICA also is capable of
3G connectivity, and is perfectly capable of
functioning as its own smart device,
without the need to pair to another device,
as mentioned earlier.
As interesting as wearables are for
users, companies are also always on the
look-out for ways to deliver targeted
content and ads that are relevant to the
users. This is where Intel has also
introduced Analytics for Wearables, or the
A-Wear developer program that aims to
accelerate development and deployment of
new wearable applications that utilise datadriven intelligence.

Herman Eul, SVP and General Manager of Mobile and

Communicaons Group of Intel

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Thanks to mobile services like Mria, farmers in India have seen a noceable growth in crop harvests, and savings in ferlisers

Mobile phones are also used to help NGOs replant trees, farmers tend to crops and call for veterinarians for emergency purposes

To make this possible, Intel has worked

together with Cloudera to create software
and analytical tools, all of which are
optimised on Intels architecture. As an
added bonus, the A-Wear developer
program is also free of charge, allowing
users to experiment with the Galileo and
Edison platforms.

Global Impact of Mobile

According to Herman Eul, Vice President
and General Manager of Mobile and

Communications Group of Intel, mobile

technology is gaining traction around the
world. There are currently 4.3 billion
mobile users around the world and 2.3
billion new devices made each year, with a
surprising number of countries adopting
these new methods of communications at
a rapid pace.
The top 3 powerhouses that have the
highest number of mobile users in the
world (by number of SIM cards) in the
world are, unsurprisingly China, the USA

Salil Prabhakar showing Herman the great work Mrika has done to enrich the lives of farmers in India by helping them improve
the quality of crops and lowering ferliser costs

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intel developer forum 2014

and India. As far as early adopters go

however, countries such as Brazil, Russia
and Indonesia have been tremendously
open to using mobile devices as soon as
the technology was available to them.
The African region has seen some
exponential growth in mobile device usage
as well, with consumers using text
messaging services as a way to not only
improve conditions around their area, but
also to request for services, such as treeplanting initiatives and veterinary services.
Countries such as Pakistan and

Delta ID has helped the government of India in providing a mobile product that helps government ocials to safely and securely
hand out subsidies to the people of its country

productivity. This also

allows the farmers to
reduce waste and avoid
harmful effects from
using excess fertiliser.
Thanks to this
technology, overall
harvest yields of rice
and other grains has
grown 26 percent, 37.6
percent higher number
of grains per kernel, 28.6
percent greater crop
heights, 367 percent
Salil Prabhakar, President and CEO of Delta ID explaining the dicules the Indian
greater crop harvests,
government is going through to provide subsidies to its people
7.6 percent reduction in
Bangladesh have also harnessed the power
investment on fertilisers and 46 percent
of mobile devices to help boost their
greater return of investment on fertilisers.
agricultural industry with the eAgro Suite
It is no secret that things in India are not
called Mrittika. It is a soil nutrient analysis
all that rosy. The country has a population
software, which allow rural entrepreneurs
of 1.2 billion people, with over 700 million
to offer soil testing services to farmers and
of them live under US$2.00 (RM6.52) a day.
offer recommended fertilisers to the
Only 20 percent of the population have
farmers so that they can achieve costbank account, and alarmingly, only three
effective farming and gain optimum
percent of them pay income taxes, and as

such, the government spends over US$60

billion (RM195 billion) annually on
subsidies.
The country has a public distribution
system where they provide grains, rice and
other essential items for the welfare of the
country, but more often than not this
system is abused and not everyone gets
their packages equally and on time.
The Indian government has tried
implementing a biometric system to ensure
that the public distribution system is not
abused, and it is a system that works well,
but physically, the system they used before
was big and cumbersome, and not very
effective when you have hundreds of
millions of people to verify.
This is where Delta ID comes in,
providing the Indian government with
similar optical capabilities and security, but
in a form factor that fits in smartphones
and laptops, which is a much more
compact option than traditional biometric
devices.
Currently, there are an estimated 660

Tim Balz, Intel intern and founder of Freedom Chairs with Pete Denman of Intel discuss the Connected Wheelchair proof of
concept.

The My Intelligent Communicaon Accessory (MICA) was

design in collaboraon with design house Opening Ceremony,
and is considered to be a fashionable smart bracelet

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intel developer forum 2014

Intel has underlined ve tenets to ensure that everyone will be able to enable IoT
technology eecvely.

million citizens registered in the database,

and while the IRIS technology is currently
being used as a means to track subsidy
distribution system, this system can also be
expanded for other usage in the future, if
need be.

Internet of Many Things

The concept of Internet of Things (IoT) has
been around for several years now.
Technically speaking, it is already
widespread around the world in the form
of smartphone, tablets and notebooks, but
the true worth of IoT is not in the fact that
devices and systems can go online, but the
ability to extract tangible information from
connected devices. To illustrate how
important this is, the value of IoT devices
and services is estimated to be worth
US$19 trillion (RM61 trillion) by the year
2020.
To fully realise the value of IoT,
disparate systems need to securely
connect, interoperate and communicate.
For those deploying and creating IoT
systems, this can be a challenging and
time-consuming task. Intel has identified
five tenets of success for edge-to-cloud
solutions, with a focus on security and
interoperability.
In order to enable developers and
service providers to create and deliver IoT
solutions quickly and securely, Intel has
introduced a set of foundational building
blocks, which begins with security by
integrating hardware and security
technologies from Intel and Wind River, a
company which specialises in embedded
software solutions for intelligent connected
systems.
Security is of utmost importance of
course when designing and building
connected systems, which explains the

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Examples of how Intels Gateway soluon help pave the way for IoT technology to grow and mature.

collaboration to protect devices and data.

Next on the list is to provide a framework
for managing devices and normalising data
to ease deployment and interoperability, to
make IoT devices and services much easier
to use.
The role of every business of course, is
to make money, and the final task is to turn
collected data into actionable insight and
this requires a broad analytics
infrastructure that spans from edge to
cloud, as well as the APIs to seamlessly
expose, move and monetise data.
Industry IoT leaders such as AT&T,
Cisco, General Electric and IBM are also
working with Intel to create solutions that
give developers and customers the
flexibility they need to drive market
adoption.
Intel is also transforming every-day
connected devices using Intel Gateway
Solutions. Today, Intel and its ecosystem
have more than 25 different gateway
solutions for makers, transportation,
industrial and retail markets. These
products are based on the Intel Galileo
development boards using either Intel
Atom or Quark processors and feature
integrated software from companies such
as Wind Maker and even McAfee.
As an example, Intel has worked with
Daikin, a Japanese multinational air
conditioner manufacturing company to
create a service for Daikins customers,
which includes running energy analytics
and sending the information back to the
customers which allows them to do
optimisation and setting maintenance
schedules.
As we move forward, it is forecasted
that there will be four main areas where IoT
will be seeing a lot of growth in. These
include transportation, retail, homes and

several industries, as companies look to

simplify, integrate and connect their core
business functions.
As far as implementations go, the basic
implementation of IoT will be the same
throughout the world. This includes laying
down the cables and building towers for
landlines and mobile Internet, as well as
setting up ISPs. The difference, however,

One of the few interesng examples of IoT usage is the Steady

Serv Beer Keg which helps you keep stock of how much beer
is le.

The Connected Wheelchair helps both paents and doctors

keep track of biometric data, amongst other things

cover story
intel developer forum 2014

This trac monitoring system helps law enforcers save a lot of me by superimposing various
points of me into one video in order to save me looking for any parcular person

Doug Davis, Vice President and General Manager of IoT Division, Intel posing with the Intel
Galileo Development KIt

comes in how and where IoT is

much beverages are left before they need
implemented.
to change the kegs. A company called
Cities with a high urban population may
Steady Serv created a product called the
want to have it implemented in homes,
iKeg, which uses sensors and RFID that
complete with timers, motion sensors
provides owners a variety information
which allows users to turn lights and/or airabout the particular keg its being used,
conditioning on and off depending on your
such as how much beer is left, when the
own behavioural patterns, or companies
keg was tapped as well as track
may want to incorporate both motion
consumption trends.
sensors and timers based on activity.
Another interesting example of
The possibility of IoT around the world
implementation of IoT is the Fleet
is endless, and it is up to device
Management Solutions by Intel and
manufacturers and service providers to
Vnomics, which was recently implemented
create the next big IoT thing in their
at Saia Trucking which allows drivers to
country or even region.
track their travel time, as well as provide
At the IDF, Intels Doug Davis also
advice to optimise shifting and fuel
highlighted 10 of the most noteworthy IoTconsumption, which has lead to a six
based innovations, using Intels
percent increase in fuel efficiency, resulting
architecture to connect usually
in the company saving four million gallons
unconnected devices and services to the
in fuel savings a year after connecting the
Internet, and showing the world how doing
Fleet Management Solution to all of its
such a thing improves productivity as a
trucks.
whole.
The Brains Behind It All
Some of these include the Connected
All this talk about mobile, wearables and
Wheelchair, which was made by a group of
IoT is very nice and all, but it would all be
interns at Intel via the Collaborators
program. These interns designed a
custom platform using the Intel
Galileo Development Kit and the
Intel Gateway Solutions for IoT and
transformed an ordinary wheelchair
into a concept product that is
capable of not only collecting
biometric data, but can also map
and rate the accessibility of
locations, track distances travelled,
which results in some very useful
data for both doctors and the
patients using it.
Smartphone have on average of 26 apps per device, which make 20
A common problem amongst bar daily transacons with the data centre each, which totals up to 1 trillion
owners is that they do not know how transacons a day.

hard to achieve and implement without the

help of some serious data centre power,
which Intel has a big hand in as well.
A day before the Intel Developer Forum
began; Intel unveiled its latest series of
Xeon processors, called the Intel Xeon E52600 and E5-1600 v3 processors, which
addresses the requirements of diverse
workloads and the rapidly evolving needs
of the data centre. The new family of Xeon
processors feature performance increases
of up to 3.0 times as opposed to the
previous generations, world class energy
efficiency and enhanced security.
Diane Bryant, Senior Vice President &
General Manager of Intels Data Centre
Group says that the needs of servers these
days has gone beyond that of just
crunching and storing data, and that they
need to be re-architected, thanks to the rise
of what she calls the digital service

Diane Bryant holding up a wafer of Intel Xeon v3 processors

during the Intel Xeon v3 processor launch

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economy.
The digital services economy poses
new requirements on the data centre
requirements for automated, dynamic and
scalable service delivery, said Diane. Our
new Intel processors deliver unmatched
performance, energy efficiency and
security as well as provide visibility into the
hardware resources required to enable
software-defined infrastructure.
To date, Intel currently has over 100
data-centre grade processors in the Xeon
line, all of which are customised via a
common processor architecture for a full
range of workloads, ranging from video
encoding to 3D modelling, Big Data and
Cloud. These CPU-based customised
solutions allows the company to address
every customers unique requirements
when it comes to server and data centre
level computing.
Diane also mentioned that the server
and data centre industry is fast moving to
one with software-defined infrastructure at
its core. The biggest challenge here comes
in the form of storage, as data continues to
grow as fast as ever, but it hardly ever
being utilised. Prime examples of this
include data generated by social media
platforms such as Facebook and Twitter,
who have hundreds of millions users
around the world creating content, only to
be left online without much purpose after
the initial data-mining process.
These kinds of data need to be stored
separately from data that is actively being
used, and this is where software-defined
storage comes in. Not only will this allow
companies to leverage faster provisioning
and aggregation of storage spaces, it also
allows them to separate the data that is
more likely to be used, and ones that will
be underutilised.
At the Data Centre keynote, Intel also
revealed that it is currently sampling its
next-generation Intel Xeon D processor
family to consumers. This processor is the
first SoC under the Xeon brand and the
third generation of Intel 64-bit SoCs after
the Intel Atom S1200 and the Intel Atom
C2000 processors that is designed for data
centre use. The Intel Xeon D processor is
expected to be in production in the first half
of 2015.

the Internet of Things, but Intel has

certainly not forgotten about its core
product, the desktop and notebook
processors.
It certainly is true that portable devices
such as smartphones and tablets have seen
amazing growth over the past several
years, and that notebook and PC
manufacturers have gone through a multiyear process to gain relevance in an
industry now dominated by slate devices,
but thanks to innovation from various
manufacturers, the laptop and notebook
and laptop space is finally active again.
From the introduction of the Ultrabooks
in 2011, to the boom of touchscreen

Kirk Skaugen, SVP and General Manager of the PC Client

Group at Intel giving us a glimpse of brand new devices
running Intel Core M

notebooks in 2012 and multi form factor

designs in 2013, Intel has helped
manufacturers to innovate in ways that it
was never possible before.
The introduction of 2-in-1 form factor
notebooks, such as the detachable and flip
notebooks from companies such as
Samsung, Lenovo and HP truly sparked a
new interest in notebooks as it means
users can not only have a full-fledged
notebook, but also the media consumption
capabilities of a tablet all in one device.
2014 appears to show more of the
same, but as companies continue to perfect
their own preferred form factors, Intel has
been hard at work to launch new
processors that allow them to provide
users with machines that are not only
performance beasts, but also run cool and
consume less power.
During IFA in Berlin, Intel unveiled its
latest mobile processor in the form of the
Intel Core M, which is based on the
Broadwell-Y architecture, Intels latest
14nm CPU. Much like the Ivy Bridge and
Haswell processors, the Intel Core M series
of processors is targeted at low TDP
(Thermal Design Power) devices, such as
tablets, medium-range notebooks and
certain Ultrabook builds.
The Core M processor is a significant
milestone for Intel because the processor is
capable of powering devices and run
applications and software without the use
of a fan. This means notebook makers can
create computers that are as thin as tablets,
yet perform as well as their somewhat
thicker brethren.
We were also lucky enough to be able to
see up close what the Intel Core M

Reinventing Traditional
Computing
The focus at IDF this year may have been
more about mobile devices, wearables and

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The Dell Venue 8 7000 Android-based tablet in all its glory, featuring Intels RealSense Camera technology at the back, which
allows users to do some really dynamic stu with the photos they take

cover story
intel developer forum 2014

This prototype wireless charging bowl is one of the few

interesng concepts weve seen at IDF

This roboc chameleon is able to change the colours on its

body based on the object it sees in its camera

processors are capable of, and were happy

to see it being capable of running a series
of PC benchmark tests with little issues.
Consumers around the world will be able
to see the first few Intel Core M processor
notebooks starting October this year. Intel
has not forgotten about the desktop
enthusiasts of course, as the Broadwell-H
and Broadwell-K processors are expected
to be shipped out sometime early 2015.
In an unexpected announcement
however, Kirk Skaugen, Senior Vice
President and General Manager of PC
Client Group at Intel also unveiled the 6th
generation of Intel processors, codenamed
Skylake.
What we managed to wrangle from the
platforms relatively short unveiling is the
fact that it will be on a new platform; LGA
1151 and will support both DDR3 and DDR4
memory, depending on the processor SKU,
and feature improved on-board graphics
compared to that of Haswell and
Broadwell.
It doesnt stop there of course as Kirk
also mentioned several more
improvements that they hope to implement
in future processors. One of the biggest
pushes Intel is spearheading for user
computing is in the wireless department.
Kirk mentions that one of Intels ultimate

goals is to get rid of wires and cables. This

includes display cables, USB cables, and
even charging adapters meant for
notebooks and laptops. To that end, Intel is
stepping up its efforts in ensuring that
wireless technology, the Wireless Display,
or WiDi in particular reaches market
maturity as soon as possible.
Intel projects that by the end of 2016,
300 million units of PCs and notebooks will
be WiDi-enabled, and users can easily
stream content from their notebooks, PCs
or tablets to large screen displays.
Not only that, Intel also has set up
Rezence: Alliance for Wireless Power to
ensure that wireless charging technology
achieves market maturity as fast as
possible as well. Other partners on board
Rezences board of directors include
Broadcom, IDT, Qualcomm, Samsung and
WiTricity.
We asked around to see when these
wireless charging features can be
implemented in Intels SoCs, and while we
couldnt exactly get a straight answer,
general consensus seem to centre it being
available to the masses sometime later in
2015.
The RealSense camera technology has
been in the works for quite some time now,
and while the first (software-based)

A prototype of a fanless tablet with Intel Core M running

Cinebench benchmarking soware

In case youre wondering how much the Intel Core M SOC

weighs in reference to the size of the device

working unit can be seen in the Dell Venue

8 7000, the technology can also be
implemented in the future in desktop
monitors and laptops as well, using the
cameras depth-sensing technology to map
out your faces unique structures,
essentially turning you into the password.
Another great example of use for the
RealSense camera was shown on stage
during Kirks keynote, as two companies,
Volumental and Plae collaborated to create
a concept shoe size measurer, which
makes use of the RealSense cameras
depth perception capabilities to calculate
the length, height and depth of the shoe,
giving you an accurate measurement of
your shoe size.
Passwords are another bane in any
online users life, as creating and
remembering unique passwords can be a
chore, and even with password managers,
lets face it, wed much rather not
remember any password at all if given the
option.
Intel hears our plights here as the
company are also setting out to make textbased passwords a thing of the past. Using
the RealSense camera technology, Intel is
developing a solution that makes you, or
more specifically, your face as the
password. Intel also claims that when
completed, the new password system
would also still be intelligent enough to
know your facial structure even if you
havent shaved for a while.

In Conclusion
The Intel Developer Forum 2014 has been
an eye-opening experience, to say the
least. Not only did we get to see what Intel
is doing from behind the scenes, we also
were able to touch and see some of the
prototypes and finished products that
utilise these technologies.
We certainly are intrigued with how
American companies adopt technologies
based on Edison and Galileo so easily, as
can be seen from companies such as
Steady Serv and Saia Trucking. It made us
think that with such rapid deployment of
services, even a lot of companies and
industries in Malaysia can benefit from
such technologies both in the short and
long term.
As enthusiasts, we are also looking
forward to products such as the Dell Venue
8 7000 tablet and Intel Core M notebooks to
hit our shores very soon.
www.intel.my

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test lab
test bed

TEST LAB: The Tools

Here at the CHIP Test Labs, we adhere to the high requirements set by the CHIP International
Testcenter standards. This means that everything here -- from our own personal knowledge and
to our trusted tools of the trade -- are meant to provide the most optimised, unbiased and
comprehensive review to every product that comes through our doors. As thus, our test bed
tools are specifically picked to get the most out of every test we perform

Intel Platform
Motherboards
Intel DZ77GA-70K
MSI Z87 MPower

Graphics
Processing Unit
MSI GeForce GTX
680 Lightning

Processors
Intel Core i7-3770K
Intel Core i7-4770K

Cooler Master X6

Power Supply

Memory

Cooler Master Silent Pro

Hybrid (1300W)

Kingston HyperX
KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX
Kingston HyperX FURY
HX318C10FWK2/8
Kingston HyperX
Predator
HX430C15PBK4/16

Western Digital Black

Dual Drive
Western Digital My Book
Live Duo

Motherboards

Graphics
Processing Unit

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX

MSI A75MA-G55

ASUS AMD Radeon HD

6970

Processors
CPU Cooler

PSU, Storage & RAM

Storage

AMD Platform

CPU Cooler

AMD FX-8150
AMD A8-3850

Cooler Master Hyper 212

EVO

Benchmark Software
Operating
System
Windows 7 Ultimate
(64-bit)

Futuremark
PCMark 7
PCMark 8
3DMark 11
3DMark

Industry
Standard
Benchmark
Tools
AIDA64
SiSoftware SANDRA
Speccy
Unigine Heaven

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TEST LAB
5

14

The
Technologica
Crux
As you may have read by now, our
October issue is dressed to the nines
with Intel. My trip to San Francisco was
very fruitful, in more ways than one, and
Ive pretty much vomited it out in this
issue. I for one hope you enjoyed
reading my multi-page coverage of the
Intel Developer Forum as much as I
loved writing about it.
If you ever have the time and money to
spare to visit San Francisco, I for one
highly recommend going to places like
the Ghirardelli chocolate factory, In-nOut burger joint (both of which are at the
wharf area), as well as Chinatown and
Japantown.
This month we have three X99
motherboards from ASUS, GIGABYTE
and MSI, and if youve made it to this
point, youre likely to have read our Tech
Spelunk article this month on the new
Intel Haswell-E processor, which are
powering the aforementioned
motherboards.
Errata: In our previous issue, in the First
Looks section, we made a mistake in the
naming of the Dell laptop whereby the
correct name for the device should be
Dell Inspiron 14 7000 not Dell 14
7000. We sincerely regret this error.

21
9

11

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

11
12
13
14
15
16

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Fujitsu ScanSnap SV600

CM Storm Novatouch TKL
Kingston HyperX Predator
ASUS ROG Rampage V Extreme
Acer Iconia Tab 7
Aztech HL119EP
Nokia Lumia 530
MSI X99S Gaming 7
Kaspersky Internet Security 2015
Armaggeddon Fuze 7 7.1 Surround Sound
Gaming Headset
Logitech Bluetooth Audio Adapter
GIGABYTE X99 Gaming G1 WiFi
AMD Radeon R9 295X2
Microsoft Surface Pro 3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
ASUS RT-AC87U

076
077
078
079
080
081
082
083
084
085
086
087
088
089
090
091

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CONTENTS
4

12

22

18

15

13

3
6
10

20

19

17

16

17
18

19

HTC Desire 816

ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 970
Strix
WD My Passport Ultra

092
093
094

Ratings
Each product review is rated on a scale
of 1 to 5 for different key parameters:

20
21
22

Anniversary Edition
Lenovo Miix 2 8
Sony Alpha 5100
ASUS A88X-Gamer

095
096
097

CHIP Awards
CHIP Editors Choice Award
Awarded to products that receive unanimous
endorsement from all CHIP editors for its overall
brilliance

PERFORMANCE : Refers to the efficiency of execution

FEATURES : Rates the abilities and unique characteristics
available
DESIGN : Varies according to product. Finished products form factor and build quality. Hardware components layout, size and cooling solution. Software - user interface
VALUE : Calculated from the performance and features of
the product in relation to the price

CHIP Outstanding Award

Reserved for products that combine astute technical
performance with good quality and design

CHIP Recommended Award

Given to products that possess singular quality
worthy of a recommendation

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An Inspiration To Many
Technology these days requires the integration of two or more form factors and
Dell has been embracing that notion with the release of the Dell Inspiron 13
7000 2-in-1 device. It runs on Windows 8.1 and is powered by a 4th Generation
Intel Core i3 Core Processor. It also has 4GB RAM with a large 500GB hard drive
storage. The device features a 13.3-inch display with an optional Full HD resolution
and has the capability to flip 360 degrees and it also comes with a stylus for sleek
lifestyle use.
Dell Inspiron 13 7000
Price: RM2,499
Contact: Dell Asia Pacific Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: 1 800 88 0301, 1 800 88 2888
Info: www.dell.com.my

Our Golden Child-tablet

Times have changed indeed, and recently, the Joi 8 was released and it was made in
our very own shores of Malaysia. It is powered by an Intel Atom Quad-core Processor
and runs on Windows 8.1. This tablet comes with an 8-inch IPS display with 1,230 x 800
resolution, 1GB DDR3 RAM and 16GB of storage that can
be expanded via microSD. Other features include a Mini
HDMI port, 5MP rear facing camera, and a 2MP front facing
camera
Joi 8
Price: RM499
Contact: SNS Network Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: (03) 7960 0616
Info: www.sns.com.my

Exploring The Limits Of Technology

Samsung has outdone themselves again with their latest iteration of
the Note series, the Samsung GALAXY Note 4. It runs on the latest
version Android and is powered by a 2.7GHz Quad-Core processor.
It has 3GB RAM and 32GB storage space with support for microSD
of up to 64GB. It will also support 4G LTE. Camera-wise, it holds a
3.7MP front camera and a 16MP rear camera for image capturing
glory.
Samsung GALAXY Note 4
Price: TBA
Contact: Samsung Malaysia Electronics Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: 1 800 88 9999
Info: www.samsung.com.my

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Savage As A Beast
Gamers are always on the quest for more speed and shorter load times, and Kingston
has answered that call with the HyperX savage RAM modules. They come in 4- and 8GB
single modules with up to 32GB dual channel or Quad
channel kits. These modules are Intel XMP ready
which makes overclocking easier by selecting a
memory profile with no need for manual adjustments
in the BIOS. The HyperX Savage has a lifetime
warranty guarantee that provides free technical
support and world renowned Kingston reliability.
Kingston HyperX SAVAGE
Price: TBA
Contact: Amble Action Sdn. Bhd., Convergent Distribution (M) Sdn. Bhd., Ingram Micro
Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: (03) 7665 3939, (03) 2144 1881, (03) 7952 8188
Info: www.kingston.com

Power Is Respect
Games are getting more demanding as time goes by, and the more serious gamers are always
looking to keep their rigs as powerful as possible to run the latest games with the best
quality possible. With the latest AMD Radeon R9 285, they will definitely be able
to fulfill their needs as the card boasts 1,792 stream processing units and
has a core clock speed that goes up to 918MHz. It also packs the latest
Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture and supports DirectX 12, AMDs
Mantle API and OpenGL 4.3. While it may not support 4-way CrossFireX, it
does support two-way CrossFireX.
AMD Radeon R9 285
Price: TBA
Contact: AMD Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: (03) 8316 3512
Info: www.amd.com

Transformers Roll Out

This year is the year of integration, and that means more 2-in-1
devices. Not to be left out of the loop is ASUS and their Transformer
Book Flip. It runs on Windows 8.1 Pro and is powered by the latest 4th
Generation Intel Core Processors. It boasts a 15.6-inch vivid HD display
in laptop and tablet mode. Like many 2-in-1 on the market today, it has the
ability to flip 360 degrees to become a working tablet with PC performance.
Besides just the latest Intel processor, the Transformer Book Flip also comes
with a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT840M discrete graphics processing unit,
500GB HDD and 24GB SSD. Also, included with the device is
ASUS SonicMaster which improves audio experience.
ASUS Transformer Book Flip
Price: RM2,599 (TP550LN-CI073H (Core i5) / RM2,899 (TP550LN-CI088H (Core i7)
Contact: Build Technology Supply Sdn. Bhd., Servex (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: (03) 7955 3699, (03) 8024 6688
Info: www.asus.com/my/

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Sharpening Your Blades

When it comes to gaming peripherals, many gamers will stand by the current industry
leader, Razer. And Razer responds by bestowing gamers with a laptop so powerful that the
price shatters hearts, with the Razer Blade Pro. The latest gaming goliath comes with Intels
Core i7-4700HQ Quad-Core Processor with Hyper Threading and 16GB of RAM to devastate
games. It also boasts an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M discrete graphics processor with Optimus
technology. Furthermore, it is also equipped with up to 512GB SATA III SSD storage to
load games at lightning speed and a 17.3-inch Full HD 16:9 ratio screen.
Razer Blade Pro
Price: RM9,199
Contact: Ban Leong Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: (03) 7956 6300
Info: www.razerzone.com

The Hype Is Real

Apples latest hype machine is back, and this time its literally bigger than before. The
new devices come in two different sizes which are 4.5- and 5.5-inches. It has a Multi touch
display with Retina Display Technology and resolutions of 1,320 x 750 (iPhone 6) and 1,920
x 1,080 (iPhone 6 Plus). The newest toys from Apple are powered with a 64-bit A8 chip with
the M8 motion coprocessor as well as boasting a longer battery lifespan. The camera marks
some improvement with a new Focus Pixel sensor and video recording at 1080p at 60fps.
It will also have effects such as slow-mo which is played at 240fps as well as a time-lapse
video mode.
iPhone 6 & 6 Plus
Price: TBA
Contact: Apple Malaysia
Phone: 1 800 80 3638
Info: www.apple.com/my/

A Feature-Packed One
Olympus is well known for their superb devices made for photography and recently
they have added to their repertoire with the OM-D E-M1 interchangeable lens camera
for the professional photographer. The latest camera comes with Keystone
Compensation and a Tethered Shooting System. It boasts a 16MP Live
MOS Image Sensor, Dual Autofocus which combines Contrast and
on-chip Phase Detection AF, 1/8,000s mechanical shutter and 10fps
sequential shooting. Additional features include the newly designed
TruePic VII Image Processor which allows enhanced performance and
operational speed.
Olympus OM-D E-M1
Price: TBA
Contact: Olympus (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd
Phone: (03) 6411 0000
Info: www.olympusimage.com.my

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Protect and Recharge

Most smartphone users are met with two of the most common mobile problems which
are the fear of cracking their smartphones screen and running out of battery. The Otterbox
Resurgence fixes both those problems at the same time for iPhone 5 and 5s users. With
its 2,000mAh Lithium-ion battery, the Resurgence packs twice the power into the casing. It
also comes with a military grade drop defence for ultimate protection for your smartphone.
Additionally, it has the Otterbox auto-stop charge technology which intelligently saves
power when your phone reaches its full charge. The Resurgence also comes in four different
colours including Black, Glacier, Teal Shimmer and Satin Rose.
OtterBox Resurgence
Price: RM349
Contact: KWS Distribution Sdn Bhd
Phone: (016) 6600 968
Info: www.otterbox.asia

The Power Within

There are no shortage of powerful laptops this time around, and
with the Lenovo Y50-70, why would there be. It runs on the latest
Windows 8.1 and is powered by the 4th Generation Intel Core
i7-4710 2.50GHz processor. It has a 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080 display
with up to 16GB RAM and 1TB Hybrid SSHD with integrated 8GB
NAND flash. Completing the whole experience is the JBL speakers
that is equipped with Dolby Surround Audio V2.
Lenovo Y50-70
Price: Starts from RM3,999
Contact: Lenovo Technologies Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: 1 800 80 8575
Info: www.lenovo.com/my/en

Unrequited Style
The name BenQ isnt usually associated with the smartphone market but they
are definitely worth paying attention to. Their latest device, the F5 is powered
by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8926 quad-core processor and runs
on the latest Android KitKat 4.4.2. It also has 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage
expandable up to 64GB via microSD card. It uses its very own Q Home UI
and is LTE capable. This 5-inch device has a HD 1,280 x 720 display with
IPS wide angle and packs a 13MP rear camera and a 2MP front camera for
image capturing glory. Additional connectivity functions include Bluetooth
4.0 and a USB 2.0 port
BenQ F5
Price: RM799
Contact: BenQ Marketing & Services Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: (03) 7954 7800
Info: www.benq.com.my

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Dominate Evil Forces

There are times when we need that extra performance in mobile PC gaming
and recently there have been a slew of gaming notebooks being released in
the market so it may be a little hard to choose the right one. In comes the MSI
GT72 Dominator Pro gaming laptop, which has the style and performance to
meet the needs of the present day gamer. Hidden within this beast is a 4th
generation Intel Core i7 Processor and can hold up to 32GB of DDR3 RAM and
a 1TB HDD 7200rpm. It powers the latest games with an NVIDIA GeForce 880M
graphics card. . Display wise, it comes with a 17.3-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080)
matted panel display. Other features include a SteelSeries backlit keyboard,
Bluetooth 4.0, SD card reader and HDMI support.
MSI GT72 Dominator Pro
Price: TBA
Contact: MSI Malaysia Office
Phone: 1 300 22 1386
Info: my.msi.com

Float Like A Butterfly

Smartphones are a dime dozen but beautiful smartphones are hard
to come by. HTC is once again in the running to become the leader in
this category with the stylish yet powerful Butterfly 2. It runs on the
latest Android 4.4.2 and is powered by 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon
801 quad-core CPU accompanied by 2GB worth of RAM. It has a 5-inch
Full HD 1080p display and carries 16GB storage space expandable up
to 128GB via microSD. Besides that, it also provides duo cameras with
13MP on the rear and 5MP on the front which features 1080p Full HD
video recording. The device supports 4G LTE networks.
HTC Butterfly 2
Price: RM2,299
Contact: SiS Distribution (M) Sdn. Bhd., Brightstar Distribution Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: (03) 5569 8878, 1 300 88 2744
Info: www.htc.com

A Change In Scenery
Photography is a subjective area and as such, there are many devices that can add to the
quality of subjectivity an image can portray. Nikon provides a device to aid photographers
in the form of the D750. It comes with 24.3MP FX format CMOS sensor with built-in
Wi-Fi capability. It is also built with the powerful EXCEED 4 image processing
engine that is handily packed into a monochrome structure delivering high
quality durability. It also features a shutter speed of ,000 to 30 seconds
while providing multiple shutter modes. The new D750 will also be able to
record movies in Full HD 1080p.
Nikon D750
Price: TBA
Contact: Nikon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: (03) 7809 3688
Info: www.nikon.com.my

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Keeping It Stylish
Lenovo has recently released a variety of stylish products and the Lenovo S850 is one of
them. It runs on the latest Android 4.4 KitKat and is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MTK
6582 CPU and has 1GB worth of RAM and 16GB internal storage. It features a 5-inch HD
(1,280 x 720) IPS 5-point multi-touch display. Camera-wise, it comes with a powerful 13MP
rear camera and 5MP front camera for the selfie conscious. Additionally, it has Dual-SIM
support to keep the modern road warriors in touch with their active lifestyle.
Lenovo S850
Price: RM729
Contact: Lenovo Technologies Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: 1 800 80 8575
Info: www.lenovo.com/my/en

Expanding Horizons
The demands of the modern workforce is steadily increasing, and Dell
has the answer in the form of the Dell Latitude 13 7000 2-in-1 laptop.
This laptop comes with a 13.3-inch IPS (1,920 x 1,080) display with
a certified ISO backlit keyboard. It also features Instant Go which is
commonly found on mobile devices. It runs on the latest Intel Core M and
Core M vPro processors and it uses Windows 8.1. It also comes with up to
8GB RAM and a 512GB SSD storage.
Dell Latitude 13 7000
Price: RM4,379
Contact: Dell Asia Pacific Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: 1 800 88 0301, 1 800 88 2888
Info: www.dell.com.my

Staying Charged All Day

The common daily occurrence with power shortage is the bane of gadget owners of all
levels, and with the Powerlogic Magnum 15000, it might be a solution to such a woe.
It carries a 15,000mAh battery capacity with dual output power. It also has overcurrent
protection, low voltage safeguard, short circuit prevention, over voltage prevention,
over charge prevention and overload protection features to keep your devices
powered safely.
Powerlogic Magnum 15000
Price: RM199
Contact: Leapfrog Distributions Sdn. Bhd.
Phone: (03) 7803 6703
Info: leapfroglobal.com/powerlogic/

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Fujitsu
ScanSnap
SV600
Price
Info
Phone
Contact

RM2,480
Digital Paper Sdn. Bhd.
(03) 5569 2002
www.dpaper.com.my

Specifications
Scanner Type: Over Head
Scanning modes: Colour, grayscale,
monochrome, Automatic
Image Sensor: Lens reduction optics/ colour
CCD x1
Optical Resolution: Horizontal (285 to 218 dpi)
Vertical scanning (283 to 152 dpi)
Dimensions: 210 x 156 x 383mm
Weight: 3Kg
RATINGS
Performance
Features

The scanners we usually are the traditional looking

ones, trust Fujitsu to loans us something unique such
as the ScanSnap SV600 By Nicolas See Tho

Design
Value
Touch free scanner
Small footprint
Fast
Cannot correct page
curvature accurately
Cannot scan
transparencies
Price

The scanner is easy to use with this control

bar which manually scans or stops the current
scan of your document

076

Picturesque
Scan

october 14

chip malaysia

canners are a dime a dozen and

not until recently, once you have
seen one, you have probably seen
them all. You place in your documents, you
slam the scanner shut, and you see green
alien lights scan your documents. Fujitsu
however, took a different stance; they
made scanning more convenient with the
Fujitsu ScanSnap SV600.
Looking like a common table lamp,
it actually is a technological marvel as
it actually uses equidistant scanning to
accurately and quickly scan documents
as well as 3D objects. It has a Scan
button located on its middle bar, while
it also comes with a black scanning
platform to improve and provide scanning
measurements and quality.
The device also comes with a variety of
features designed to make scanning easier
as well as post editing. Its equidistant
scanner allows any documents of all sizes
to be scanned ranging from business cards
to A3 size landscapes. It can also scan
bound books and magazines with relative
ease thanks to the VI technology. With
its VI technology, it is able to minimise
unevenness in image quality and provide
smooth images even at a distance.
Furthermore, its companion software

makes scanning navigation easy through

its Quick Menu which pops up immediately
after scanning to simplify procedures such
as linking data to the application.
When it comes down to image quality
after scanning, this device is surprisingly
accurate despite scanning at a distance.
The scanner is able to scan a full 75 pages
from a magazine in under 10 minutes
which is pretty fast. The images from
the scans are also of good quality and
with high colour accuracy and little text
bleeding. However, one of the downsides
of having a scanner that does not press
down the documents is it has problems
handling curvatures from books and
magazines which distorts the final image.
On the plus side, it can scan documents
with small traces of footprints but on the
other end of the spectrum, it cant scan
transparencies.

CHIP CONCLUDE :
So after testing the Fujitsu ScanSnap
SV600, we find that the scanner is
definitely a one of a kind scanner
which saves space and performs fast.
But at its current price, it may prove
to be a barrier for users on a budget.

test lab
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CM Storm
Novatouch TKL
Price
Contact
Phone
Info

RM699
Ban Leong Technologies Sdn.
Bhd.
(03) 7956 6300
www.cmstorm.com

Specifications
Switches: Topre hybrid capacitive switches
Key Rollover: NKRO (Windows Only)
Interface: microUSB/USB 2.0
Polling Rate: 1,000Hz / 1ms
Dimensions: 359mm x 138mm x 39mm

The New Breed

Cooler Masters latest keyboard uses a new hybrid

switch but will it be able to outdo the beloved
mechanical ones? By Nazrin Zain

he mechanical keyboard craze that

started some time ago has people
spending quite a lot of money for a
more comfortable and convenient typing
experience. CM Storm, the PC accessory
arm of Cooler Master has announced yet
another keyboard in their arsenal but this
time, they have something a little more
special with the CM Storm Novatouch TKL.
At first look, the Novatouch TKL does
not look like anything special. In fact,
besides the standard multimedia keys
such as play, pause, volume controls and
winlock keys, there is nothing much that
stands out for the keyboard in terms of
aesthetics. The key spacing is great, spread
apart enough to avoid any accidental
presses, and yet close enough that it
doesnt feel awkward when youre touchtyping.
As its name implies, the Novatouch TKL
is a Tenkeyless keyboard, which means
that it is a keyboard without a numpad,
making it a pretty compact keyboard,
perfect if youre always on the move, either
for work or LAN parties.
Which brings us to the one reason
why this keyboard is quite an amazing
keyboard to use. Instead of Cherry MX
keys, Cooler Master has decided to go
with Topre switches with this one. In easy
to understand terms, Topre keys are kind
of like a hybrid between the mechanical
Cherry keys and membrane/rubber dome

keys.
If youre wondering why this matters,
this is because while Topre switches have
roughly the same actuation force as a
Cherry key, it has a lower actuation point
than them, at 1mm into the key press, in
fact. This means that as far as input speed
is concerned, the Novatouch TKL is one of
the fastest keyboards around.
In terms of touch typing speeds, its
certainly a very fast keyboard, and is as
comfortable as a Cherry MX Brown or
Blue keyboard, without the noise. Gamers
will also enjoy playing games with the
Novatouch TKL, especially those who
are obsessed with APMs, as the keys are
extremely easy to actuate.
That being said, we need to note that
for the price of this one keyboard, you can
also purchase two mechanical keyboards,
or one fully-specd gaming keyboard so
it really is up to you if you feel that this
keyboard is the one for you.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
If money is no object, the Novatouch
TKL definitely is one of the most
comfortable keyboards you can
buy for typing and gaming. Its high
price point and lack of features and
numpad may be a dealbreaker for
some, but if comfort and performance
is all you care about, you cant go
wrong with this one.

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value
Very comfortable and
efficient to type and
game with
Great for events like LAN
parties
Price

The USB cable of the Novatouch TKL can be

detached for easy storage, perfect for events
like LAN parties and the like

Instead of the usual Cherry MX switches,

the Novatouch uses Topre hybrid switches
instead, which have a similar feel to the
Cherry, but with a faster actuation point

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Kingston
HyperX
Predator
Price
Contact

TBA
Amble Action Sdn. Bhd.,
Convergent Distribution (M) Sdn.
Bhd., Ingram Micro Malaysia Sdn.
Bhd.
(03) 7968 6899, (03) 2144 1881,
(03) 7952 8188
www.kingston.com

Phone
Info

Specifications
Capacity: Up to 4GB single, 16GB kits available
Compatibility: Intel X99
Frequency: 2,133MHz, 2,666MHz, 3,000MHz
CAS Latency: 13-13-13, 13-14-14, 15-16-16

Kingstons latest DDR4 memory module lives up to its

name as it looks sleek and has impressive
performance By Nazrin Zain

RATINGS
Performance
Features

Design

Great performance
Decent overclocking
overhead
Large heatspreaders may
cause large coolers to be
unusable

BENCHMARK RESULTS
AIDA64 (Read):
AIDA64 (Write):

078

october 14

Memory
Predator

48,335 MB/s
60,342 MB/s

chip malaysia

ith the arrival of Intels new

X99 processor, memory
manufacturers have begun work
on making DDR4 modules, and Kingston
have been busy at work to be one of the
first few manufacturers to release them to
the market. Thats right folks, the Kingston
HyperX Predator DDR4 RAMs are one of
the first DDR4-spec RAMs to hit the market.
The HyperX Predator is one of the larger
RAM sticks Kingston has out in the market,
in terms of size. Theyve gone with the tall
heatspreaders, and whilst these are great
for heat dissipation, the downside of it is
that it is sometimes difficult to install, so
check your motherboards height allowance
above the RAM slots after installing the
heatsinks before purchasing these.
The HyperX Predator RAMs come in a
wide variety of memory options, ranging
from 16GB kits up to 64GB ones, which
is what most X99 boards will be able
to support. Kingston sent us the 16GB
modules, which have base clocks set to
2,666MHz, which can be overclocked to
3,000MHz using the Intel Xtreme Memory
Profile in the BIOS menu.
One thing to note is that the Kingston
HyperX Predator is rated to use 1.2V and
1.35V of power, which is a good thing
as this means less energy will be used
to power the memory, and less heat
will be emitted. This also means more
overclocking headroom as users can

certainly toy around with voltage values to

get the most out of the RAMs.
With 16GB of memory in tow, the
HyperX Predator is a beast, as software
and applications open up in the blink of an
eye, and continue to remain stable and fast
even when multiple instances are open.
Using the Intel Xtreme Memory Profile,
we were able to push the HyperX Predator
RAMs up to 3,000MHz, as the preset
profiles had both 2,666MHz speeds and
3,000MHz speeds with latency timings
of 13-13-13, 13-14-14 and 15-16-16
respectively.
Our read/write tests using AIDA64 also
yielded good results, as the cache and
memory benchmarks gave us scores of
above 60GB/s for read and around the
48GB/s mark for write scores. All things
considered, the general performance of the
Kingston HyperX Predator can be set as a
baseline for other DDR4 RAMs in the near
future.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
The Kingston HyperX Predator
shows us what DDR4 RAMs are
capable of in both standard usage
and high-performance scenarios.
Hardcore overclockers may want
to wait till Kingston launches even
more performance DDR4 RAM before
jumping onto the X99 bandwagon for
better overclockability.

test lab
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ASUS ROG
Rampage V
Extreme
Price
Contact

Phone
Info

RM1,950
Build Technology Supply Sdn.
Bhd., Servex (Malaysia) Sdn.
Bhd.
(03) 7955 3699, (03) 8024 5155
www.asus.com/my

Specifications
CPU Support: Intel Core Processor
CPU Socket: LGA 2011
Chipset: Intel X99 Chipset
Memory Type: Quad Channel Memory

ASUS Goes On A
Rampage
ASUS top-of-the-line motherboard ticks all the
boxes when it comes to features and performance
gamers want By Nazrin Zain

ntels Haswell-E processors are finally

here, and these are made for hardcore
multi-threading tasks, be it for video
encoding, graphics work, even for
mathematical and computational tasks,
but ASUS, as they always do are bringing
it a notch further by launching the ASUS
ROG Rampage V Extreme for gamers and
overclocking enthusiasts.
As with all of ASUS ROG
motherboards, the Rampage V Extremes
motherboards are clad in its well-known
red and black motifs, and now come with a
number of familiar features.
In line with all of Intels Extreme series
of motherboards, the Rampage V Extreme
comes with a whopping eight DIMM slots,
which supports the brand new DDR4
RAM sticks, up to 64GB of memory. As
far as SATA ports go, media hoarders will
definitely love the fact that the board has
eight SATA 3 6.0Gbps ports, one SATA
Express port and one M.2 SATA 3 socket.
If money is no object, enthusiasts will
also love the fact that the Rampage V
Extreme supports both 4-way NVIDIA SLI
and AMD CrossFireX configurations, for
the best gaming experience money can
buy.
In order to make the Rampage V
Extreme the best of the best motherboard

in the market out there, the company

invested in the best components, and even
went as far as to add extra pins in the CPU
socket in order to get a higher and more
stable voltage during overclocking.
A few other new software and hardware
level features on the Rampage V include
the Safe Boot button, which automatically
loads you into Safe Mode, where you can
tweak your retained hardware settings via
the software, and the ReTry button, which
forces your PC to reboot even when your
system hangs.
One thing to note however is that if
youre using an extra large cooler, theres
a chance that your RAM may not fit into
some of the ports, and the PCIe slot can be
blocked. Despite the boards size, this is the
problem that we faced as well, so check
your components before buying them, if
youre building a new system with this
motherboard.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
As far as features and performance
go, the ASUS ROG Rampage V
Extreme definitely wins a lot of
points from us. Its on the tail-end
of the expensive scale, sure, but for
your money, youre getting literally
everything and the kitchen sink.

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value
Great performance
Feature-packed
Price

BENCHMARK RESULTS
PCMark 8 (Home):
PCMark 8 (Creative):
PCMark 8 (Work):

4,840 points
4,502 points
5,231 points

The Rampage V Extreme motherboard is

capable of NVIDIAs SLI and AMDs CrossFireX
quad-GPU configuration

Users who have 1,001 things connected to

their PC need not worry as the motherboard
comes with a bucketload of I/O ports

chip malaysia

october 14

079

test lab
review

Acer Iconia
Tab 7
RM499
Acer Sales and Services Sdn.
Bhd.
1 800 88 1288
www.acer.com.my

Price
Contact
Phone
Info

Specifications
Operating System: Android 4.2.2
CPU: 1.3GHz Quad-core ARM Cortex A7
GPU: Mali-400 MP2
Display: 7-inch (600 x 1,024) TFT LCD
Frequency: 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, 3G:
HSPDA 2100
Memory: 1GB
Storage: 16GB, expandable up to 64GB
Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11ac b/g/n,
micro-USB, GPS, micro-SIM
Camera: 2MP (rear)/ 0.3MP (front)
Dimensions: 193 x 116 x 8.9mm
Weight: 305g

RATINGS

Keeping Tabs On
The Iconia

Acer has provided users a new phablet in the form of

the Acer Iconia Tab 7, which looks good. But does it
set itself apart from the other phablets available
today? By Nicolas See Tho

Performance

Features
Design
Value
Smooth aluminium finish
Affordable
Camera can potentially
scratch easily
Low battery life

BENCHMARK RESULTS
AnTuTu:
3DMark Ice Storm (Unlimited):
3DMark Ice Storm (Extreme):
3DMArk Ice Storm:

18,112 points
2,826 points
1,993 points
3,038 points

Located on the top of this device is the SIM

and microSD card slot for storage expansion
and 3G access

080

october 14

chip malaysia

he market today has various types

of Android tablets, smartphones
and phablets. However, in the
category of budget phablets, Acer
seems to be on the forefront as they
are constantly releasing devices for this
particular market, and with the Iconia
Tab 7, they are continuing that trend with
fervour.
The device does not look flashy but it
does have a stylish aluminium finish on
its back, as well as a 7-inch screen that
has a resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels. On
the right side of the device there are the
volume controls and the power button
while the top and bottom has the usual
fare of a singular audio port and a micro
USB port. One thing users have to worry
about with the design however is that the
camera slightly bulges out on the back
which makes it easy to scratch when
placed on a hard surface, which is not a
deal breaker but users will definitely want
to pay attention to it so it doesnt get
damaged over time.
There are many interesting features
on this device which is great for to users
who have busy lifestyles such as the
ability for you to make and receive calls
on this device using a Bluetooth headset.
While our test model ran on Android 4.2
Jelly Bean out-of-the-box, it received the
update to Android 4.4 during our time

with it. This is great as it gives users

access to the newest features.
While there are not many features
on this device, it does have decent
performance results, with most of the
benchmarks scoring at above average.
We were able to play quite a handful of
games on the device with minimal lag
such as Dark Meadows, Asphalt 8 and
Galaxy On Fire HD. The device however
has quite a weak audio system and even
when the volume was set to maximum,
it was still quite soft and we could barely
hear anything. The display picture quality
however, was great as colours were vivid
and the glare wasnt too overpowering.
The same is true with its camera, as the
images taken from the camera proved to
be decent overall except in certain bright
lighting scenarios. Browsing with this
device is also a pleasure as navigating
through the different web pages were met
with sensitive and accurate feedback.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
Overall, for the price of this device
in comparison with its features and
performance, this device is a steal
for those looking for a device that
has most of the standard features,
decent performance, keeps you in the
loop with its call functionalities and
doesnt take up too much bag space.

test lab
review

Aztech HL119EP
Price
Contact
Phone
Info

RM109
Az-Technology Sdn. Bhd.
(03) 7804 8450
www.aztech.com.my

Specifications
Protocols: IEEE 1901/HomePlug AV/AV2
compliant, Homeplug 1.0 Nodes. Compliant
to EuP Requirements, IEEE 802.3 10/100/1000
Ethernet (1Gbps)
Encryption: 128-bit AES link Encryption
Power Consumption: 4.5W
Dimensions: 116 x 62 x 42mm
Weight: 210g

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design

No More Cables

No more cable worries with the new Aztech HL119EP,

which turns your power lines into LAN cables
By Nicolas See Tho

ztech is usually on the forefront

when it comes to releasing
powerful network devices, and
their latest product is the Aztech HL119EP
Homeplug AV2. This device provides LAN
cable connections without the need for
cables, by utilising the power lines in your
house, which is handy for users having
troubles connecting to a Wi-Fi connection
or has a room too far away from the router
to use a LAN cable.
The house plug offers little in terms
of design but plenty in terms of usable
functionality. It has LED indicators on its
front to show the power, power line activity
and Ethernet activity. The bottom side of
the plug reveals an Ethernet port with two
functional buttons on its side which either
resets the connection or provides a simple
connection button. Depending on your
plug types, you can choose to purchase
either the DEU or GBR type plugs.
The features of this device is where
most of the magic happens, as it uses
your houses power lines to provide LAN
based internet speed which is perfect for
movie streaming and online gaming. It has
a range of up to 200m point to point and
it also provides Smartlink Plus coupling
to its paired units. Besides that, it also

features Quality of Service for guaranteed

bandwidth reservations for IPTV and
multimedia streaming. Furthermore, this
device also provides 128-bit encryption to
secure your line against unwanted users.
The performance of this device is
nothing short of astounding as it reached
speeds of up to 600Mbps along the
network. However, this speed can vary
depending on the range of the separate
devices, and the network only works on the
same level. This device works by buying
multiple HL119EP with one being the main
line that connects to the router while the
others act as receivers, which may end up
being a costly affair. The results however
are amazing, as instead of wireless, you
can now get full Internet speed no matter
which part of the house you are in.

CHIP CONCLUDE :
The device itself is definitely
interesting for those who likes to stay
connected but wants to avoid the
messy cables. The Aztech HL119EP
is a purchase you should make if
you like to stay connected without
depending on Wi-Fi or have troubles
connecting to your home network.

Value
Turns your power line
into a LAN Cable network
No more cable mess
Requires multiple
purchases

The device comes with a single Ethernet port

which can be connected to the router or PC to
begin the network link

The three light indicators on this device makes

it easy to see whats happening as you try to
connect the devices together

chip malaysia

october 14

081

test lab
review

Nokia Lumia 530

Price
Contact
Phone
Info

RM355
Nokia (M) Sdn. Bhd.
1 300 88 1600
www.nokia.com.my

Specifications
Operating system: Windows Phone 8.1 with
Lumia Cyan
Processor: 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm
Snapdragon 200
Frequency: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz,
WCDMA 900/2100MHz
Screen: 4-inch FWVGA (854 x 480)
Connectivity: Micro SIM, Micro USB 2.0,
Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Dimensions: 119.7 x 62.3 x 11.7mm
Weight: 129g
RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design

Nokia recently just released a new successor to

their previous Lumia 520 in the form of the Lumia
530, but does it have the same award winning
features and design? By Nicolas See Tho

Value
Customisable back covers
Good build quality
Smooth browsing
Dual SIM

Display is grainy
Has glare issues
Camera does not have
autofocus

BENCHMARK RESULTS
AnTuTu:

10,766 points

This smartphone wields Dual-SIM

functionality as well as microSD expansions
ensuring your daily needs are met

082

october 14

Small Isnt
Always Better

chip malaysia

okia has a penchant for small

devices at affordable prices, and
with their Lumia 530, they are not
straying far from their norms. With the
Lumia 530, they aim to cut certain corners
in order to bring down the cost of the
phone, but will doing that bring down its
quality, this month, we put that notion to
the test.
If there is one word to describe the look
and feel of the Nokia Lumia 530, it would
be cute. Its diminutive size and bright
colours make it unmistakeable. On a good
note, Nokia has good build quality when
it comes to their mobile devices, and the
same is true here, with the device feeling
solid and durable.
Its 4-inch screen however, does little to
impress for those who are used to large
screen devices. It also has a problem with
its colour accuracy with most of the images
displayed being grainy and the colours
were a little off. The glare is another
problem which users will find distracting
limiting the display angles available.
When it comes down to features, the
Windows Phone 8.1 operating system
does have some advantages in terms of
app quality and function. The Live Tiles

makes the home screen more intuitive

and personalised. The latest version of
Windows Phone also now has support for
most of the mainstream apps.
With all the rudimentary stuff out of
the way, its time to take a look under
the hood. The Nokia Lumia 530 sports a
1.2GHz quad-core processor and 512MB
RAM and based on our benchmarks
scores, it did above average. However, its
low memory capacity means we couldnt
install any top notch games like Asphalt
8 or Dark Meadows without a slow and
laggy experience. Camera-wise, the
phone performs average at best, with the
downfall of not having an autofocus; the
picture quality is easily affected in low light
scenarios.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
The Nokia Lumia 530 is definitely a
smartphone that does not break the
bank, but with its limitations on its
performance and camera quality, it
might be best to get this phone as
a secondary option, but for those
looking for a ridiculously cheap
smartphone, then look no further than
the Lumia 530.

test lab
review

MSI X99S
Gaming 7
Price
Contact

Phone
Info

RM1,219
Media Forte (Malaysia) Sdn.
Bhd., JW Power Marketing Sdn.
Bhd., AMT PC Distributors Sdn.
Bhd.
(03) 2287 1177, (03) 2148 1307,
(03) 3344 1124
my.msi.com

Specifications
CPU Support: Intel Core Processor
CPU Socket: LGA 2011
Chipset: Intel X99 Chipset
Memory Type: Quad Channel Memory

An Unlikely
Combo

MSI combines performance and affordability with the

X99S Gaming 7 By Nazrin Zain

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value
Great performance
Affordable
None

he barrage of X99 motherboards

continue as MSI are also in the
game, providing gamers and
overclocking enthusiasts with board
solutions for the newly-launched Intel
Haswell-E processors. MSIs gaming
motherboard has often been one of the
more affordable models in the market, yet
still provides more than a decent amount
of features to go with it. Lets see if the
MSI X99S Gaming 7 motherboard provides
more of the same.
The X99S Gaming 7 motherboard has
quite a few things in store, including eight
DDR4 DIMM slots, which are capable of
supporting up to 64GB of RAM with speeds
of up to 3,333MHz when overclocked, 10
SATA III 6.0Gbps ports, one SATA Express
port, one Turbo M.2 SATA port.
As with the other X99 motherboards,
the X99S Gaming 7 is capable of
supporting 4-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD
CrossFireX multi-GPU configuration.
As its name implies, the X99S Gaming
7 features all of MSIs gaming features,
which include Killer E2200 Ethernet, USB
Audio Power, and OC Engine, all of which
are features that readers of this magazine
should already be familiar with already.
What is new here is MSIs Turbo
M.2 port, which the company claims is

five times faster than a regular SATA III

connection, as it uses PCIe instead. This is
great for gamers and enthusiasts who want
lightning-fast boot and startup times.
As far as performance goes, the X99S
Gaming certainly does not disappoint.
Regardless if its benchmarking, gaming,
or just plain-old web browsing or video
decoding, the X99S Gaming does not
disappoint. Simple overclocking can also
be done via the OC Genie 4 button which
automatically boosts the processor to the
next safe level to squeeze that much juice
out of the chip.
One thing we do have to note that you
need to ensure that your cooler provides
enough space for the RAM sticks, as the
larger coolers have a tendency to block
some of the DIMM slots. If it is at all
possible, we recommend using low profile
RAM for an easier time to set up.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
MSI has proven again with the X99S
Gaming 7 that a feature-packed
motherboards does not need to
cost ludicrous sums of money to
own. Work, overclock and game on
this motherboard, you can do it all
without worrying about burning your
wallet too much.

BENCHMARK RESULTS
PCMark 8 (Home):
PCMark 8 (Creative):
PCMark 8 (Work):

5,058 points
4,820 points
5,125 points

The MSI X99S Gaming 7 can support 4-way

NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU
configuration

chip malaysia

october 14

083

test lab
review

Kaspersky
Internet
Security 2015
Price
Contact
Phone
Info

RM 99 (1 PC)
Online Antivirus Sdn. Bhd.
(03) 7802 2365
www.kasperskylab.com

Specifications
Operating Systems Supported: Microsoft
Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8
Minimum Hardware Requirement: 800MHz or
higher, 512MB RAM

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value
Plenty of useful features
Stringent scanning

The Safe Money provides a virtual pass that is

secured for the user when dealing with online
banking, with features like a virtual keyboard
and a protected browser

The security suite provide a simple and easy

to navigate home screen menu allowing users
to protect their systems easily

october 14

With the recent string of attacks on the internet, it is

now a must to keep your data protected and heres
Kasperskys latest to do just that By Nicolas See Tho

None

084

Staying Safe
With Kaspersky

chip malaysia

ince the dawn of the Internet we

have been aiming at securing our
data in all ways imaginable, and
with the Internet we thought it would be
the solution, alas it was not true. Fastforward two decades, and we are seeing
things like mass scale hacking and data
breach on all sides. Kaspersky has released
a defence mechanism for the average
consumer each year, and this year they
brought the Internet Security Suite 2015.
If one were to explain how the average
anti-virus software looks like, it would be
comparison to a marketplace in full chaos.
With a truckload of data being thrown
at you, one would feel nothing less than
intimidated. This was not the case for this
anti-virus suite, as users are greeted with a
simple screen with four primary functions
which is to scan, update, safe money, and
parental control. For those looking for more
advanced settings, there is a link that opens
up a vast array of functions to suite your
security needs.
This anti-virus doesnt just offer the
various features that the average security
suite offers but it offers protection
functions such as webcam protection, to
stop any third party sources from using
your webcam as a spying tool, the system
watcher, which ensures that malware does
not ransom your files, a Wi-Fi Security

Notification, which alerts users if there

are any unauthorised access to your
network and the safe money feature which
makes online banking a less paranoid
experience with careful monitoring and
virtual keyboards available for a safe online
transaction.
When it comes down to whether this
suite can provide the ample amount of
safety to your system, you will be surprised
at the level of detail it provides when it
comes to screening. Besides sifting through
your files, it scans all the way to your Deep
Web in order to eliminate any sources of
malware or worms in your computer. It
constantly updates itself whenever a new
security threat is found in order to stay up
to date with the latest threat in the Internet
ecosystem. Besides that, it can also patch
and locate any vulnerability detected on
your system through the Vulnerability
Scan.

CHIP CONCLUDE :
Safety is an ongoing issue that most
of us will continuously be wary of,
but with the Kaspersky Internet
Suite 2015, you would have one less
problem to worry about whether you
are working online or just browsing
the web.

test lab
review

Armaggeddon
Fuze 7 7.1
Surround Sound
Gaming Headset
Price
Contact
Phone
Info

TBA
Leapfroglobal Distribution Sdn.
Bhd.
(03) 7803 6703
www.armaggeddon.net

Specifications

Bigger Can Be
Better

Armaggeddons Fuze 7 surround sound headphones

is big on size and delivers big on audio By Nazrin Zain

rmaggeddon never seems to

run out of ideas for brand new
headphones, and this latest
addition to its long line of audio headwear
is no different. The Armaggeddon Fuze 7
7.1 surround sound gaming headset aims
to elevate your gaming experience by
providing you with excellent audio quality
and comfort to match.
Armaggeddon has decided to add a
couple more colour variations to their
usual staple of yellow and black. The
unit we receive is clad in red and black
embellishments, which actually gives the
headphones a far more aggressive look.
The headphones themselves are large,
with over-ears cup padded with sponge
and faux leather. The fit is relatively
tight with the strap all closed up, so we
recommend opening it up all the way first,
then tightening it bit by bit till it fits snugly
on your head.
As with most gaming headsets, the
Fuze 7 comes equipped with a built-in
microphone, an in-line volume controller,
which also has a mute mic button, and
uses a USB port to power the whole thing
up. Unfortunately the Fuze 7 does not
come with a USB-to-3.5 mm converter,
which means you can only use it with PCs
and consoles.
Being a surround sound headset, the
Fuze 7s audio quality is pretty great all

across the board. We first tested it with

movies and we actually liked what we
heard. The added bass gave more impact
to action scenes as well, while playing
games and also allows you to pinpoint
where your enemies are by audio.
Listening to music with the Fuze 7 is
also great as the surround sound audio
somewhat elevates the audio quality so
that each individual instrument is audible,
from the lows to the highs. Armaggeddon
has stepped their audio game up a fair bit
thanks to the 50mm drivers.
Using the Fuze 7 for long periods of
time isnt all that bad either, as it is quite
comfortable as long as you get the fit right.
It also does eventually get a bit warm, but
not to the point where it causes your ears
to sweat. Some people may find issue with
the fact that the headphones are bulky
however, and we highly recommend that
you check the fit first before purchase the
headphones.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
The Armaggeddon Fuze 7 provides
users with excellent audio
performance; that is of course if
you can get over the fitting and
bulkiness issues. While it doesnt
come with 3.5mm adapters, all things
considered, youre most likely going
to use it on your PCs and consoles.

Driver size: 50mm x 2

Frequency response: 20Hz 20kHz
Impedance: 32 ohm
Connector: USB 2.0,
Cable length: 1 metre

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Excellent audio quality
Bulky

The Fuze 7 comes with in-line controls which

make it easy to control the microphone and
audio volume levels

Unfortunately, the Fuze 7 can only be used

with devices that have a USB port

chip malaysia

october 14

085

test lab
review

Logitech
Bluetooth
Audio Adapter
RM129
Ingram Micro Sdn. Bhd., MCL
Sdn. Bhd., M-Link Sdn. Bhd.,
Kaira Technologies Sdn. Bhd.
(03) 7955 8188, (03) 8023 3800, (03)
7728 9003
www.logitech.com

Price
Contact

Phone
Info

Specifications
Input: RCA, 3.5mm auxiliary
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 3.0, A2DP
Controls: Bluetooth Connect
Operating Range: Up to 15 metres in line of
sight
Product Dimensions: 50mm x 50mm x 23mm

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design

Logitechs Bluetooth Audio Adapter is a great

concept, however it may need a little fine tuning

Value
Compact
Easy to use

By Nazrin Zain

Subpar audio quality

The Bluetooth Audio Adapter has a giant

Bluetooth button that you press to connect to
Bluetooth-enabled devices

You can either connect your speakers to the

adapter via RCA or a 3.5mm auxiliary cable

086

october 14

Turning Your
Wired Speakers,
Wireless

chip malaysia

ogitech is always on the forefront

when it comes to creating solutions
that are meant to help users get the
most out of their devices, and the Logitech
Bluetooth Audio Adapter is no different.
This device, as Logitech claims, is capable
of turning your typical desktop speakers
into ones that can be connected to media
devices using Bluetooth.
The Audio Adapter is a very compact
device, so compact that when detached
from its AC cable, you can put it in your
pocket and just carry it around. The device
itself is also a very simple-looking one,
with a big Bluetooth button at the top, with
3.5mm and RCA audio ports adorning the
sides. This means you can use both types
of speakers to connect to the Bluetooth
Audio Adapter, and not only that, during
our tests, headphones worked too.
Connecting your Bluetooth-enabled
device to the Audio Adapter is pretty easy.
Just power up the adapter by hooking it
up to the AC power, and it will turn on
automatically. Press the Bluetooth button
at the top, and you will then see the device
on your smartphone or tablet, and from
there, just tap on the name to connect the

two devices.
Compact and easy to use. Whats not
to like? Unfortunately, we have to mention
that the sound quality from the wireless
connection is subpar. The audio loses
not only the subtleties, but also has a lot
of noise, which almost makes the song
inaudible. Logitech has the right idea with
the Bluetooth Audio Adapter, but they
definitely need to work on the execution a
little bit better.
Despite the quality, the Bluetooth Audio
Adapter has a respectable range of about
four to five metres, and while you still need
to be in the immediate vicinity to connect
to it, you dont necessarily need to.

CHIP CONCLUDE :
The Logitech Bluetooth Audio
Adapter has the makings of a great
portable accessory that turns your
speakers into one that is capable of
transmitting audio wirelessly, but
the execution falls somewhat short
of expectations. Heres hoping they
fix it and make it better the next time
around.

test lab
review

GIGABYTE X99
Gaming G1 WiFi
Price
Contact
Phone
Info

RM1,499
Nation-Tech Sdn. Bhd., SDS
Distribution Sdn. Bhd.
(03) 4280 6636, (03) 7788 8700
www.gigabyte.my

Specifications
CPU Support: Intel Core Processor
CPU Socket: LGA 2011
Chipset: Intel X99 Chipset
Memory Type: Quad Channel Memory

For The Hardcore

Bunch
GIGABYTE arms the X99 Gaming G1 WiFi
motherboard with a slew of features that will entice
gamers and overclockers By Nazrin Zain

ntels new X99 Haswell-E processor has

components manufacturers excited in
making more gaming and enthusiastspec motherboards, and GIGABYTE are
also on-board with this revolution, as
they unveil their own X99 Intel Extreme
motherboard with the GIGABYTE X99
Gaming G1 WiFi motherboard.
Getting some things out of the way first,
the X99 Gaming G1 features eight DDR4
DIMM slots, which supports up to 64GB of
RAM up to 3,000MHz, six SATA 3.0 6Gbps
ports, one SATA Express port and one M.2
PCIe connector for M.2 SSDs.
The X99 G1 Gaming also has enough
PCIe ports to support up to 4-way NVIDIA
SLI or AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU
configurations.
GIGABYTE is going full-on with their
Ultra Durable brand and have equipped
the X99 G1 Gaming with a set of brand
new components that aim to get the
motherboard be just that. The list includes
genuine all-digital power design, from
International Rectifier which uses 4th
generation digital PWM controllers and
PowIRstage controllers. These offer
incredible precision in delivering power
to the motherboards power-hungry
components, allowing enthusiasts to
overclock their Intel Core Extreme Edition

CPUs efficiently.
One of GIGABYTEs pride and joy is
of course its AMP-UP Audio technology,
which allows both audiophiles and gamers
to appreciate superior audio quality.
The X99 Gaming G1 comes together
with Sound Blaster X Pro Studio software,
and utilises components such as the
Creative Sound Core3D, bi-polarised audio
capacitors and upgradable op-amps to
ensure the best audio quality possible.
As far as performance goes, the X99
Gaming G1 performs as well as can be
expected. At its default clock speed of
3.0GHz, the Intel Core i7-5960X processor
performed well at the high 30 degrees
Celsius even when our benchmarks were
running, and overclocking the CPU to
3.5GHz ran it to around the 50-60 degrees
range, which is actually still very good in
our books.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
The GIGABYTE X99 G1 Gaming is a
motherboard if youre looking to build
a system that will last you for years.
The motherboards passive cooling
thanks to the components handpicked by GIGABYTE certainly help to
cool things down even if youre just
using an air-cooled heatsink fan.

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Cooling
Value
Server-grade
components
Great performance
None

BENCHMARK RESULTS
PCMark 8 (Home):
PCMark 8 (Creative):
PCMark 8 (Work):

4,340 points
3,563 points
4,480 points

The GIGABYTE X99 Gaming G1 supports both

four-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX
multi-GPU configurations

The motherboard also comes with a bevy of

I/O ports, including a built-in Wi-Fi adapter,
so you can reduce cable clutter by using it to
connect to the internet

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AMD Radeon
R9 295X2
Price
Contact
Phone
Info

US$1,499 (RM4,885)
AMD Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
(03) 8316 3512
www.amd.com

Specifications
Chipset: AMD R9 290X
Core Clock: 1,018MHz
Memory Size: 8GB DDR5
Ports: 1x DVI-I, 4x Mini DisplayPort
RATINGS
Performance
Features
Cooling
Value

AMDs latest beast is one that comes with double the

graphics processing power in one monster of a card

One of the most powerful

single card GPUs in the
market right now
Runs cool, despite power
consumption

By Nazrin Zain

Price
Requires a high wattage
PSU to run properly

BENCHMARK RESULTS
3DMark Fire Strike:
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme:

14,458 points
7,895 points

The R9 295X2 requires two 8-pin PCIe plugs to

power it up, but each plug has to come from
different cables to ensure stable power output

The huge radiator and fan is what keeps the R9

295X2 cool during intense gaming sessions

088

october 14

A Graphics
Beast of Epic
Proportions

chip malaysia

MDs Radeon R series of GPUs,

be it the R7 or the R9 promised
graphics performance at notvery-inflated prices, and for the most
part, we dare say theyve kept their
word. But whos to stop them from
going a bit crazy and throw another
processor into the card and have it come
with watercooling options? Ladies and
gentlemen, introducing the AMD Radeon
R9 295X2.
This reference design card is so
gigantic that it arrived to us in a
briefcase. This is for good reason too
as the card comes stuck together with
a liquid-cooling radiator and a big fan
to help dissipate the heat. To power the
card, there are two 8-pin PCIe power
ports, and you will need to use two
separate PCIe cables, and not the daisychained ones as the card will not be able
to get the power it requires otherwise.
Another thing to note is that it is
highly recommended that you get at
least an 800 to a 1,000 watt power
supply with gold rating, as one of these
cards run upwards of 450 watts on
load, and a PSU with steady wattage
is required to ensure that the current
flowing through the GPU stays as stable
as possible.
Delving in a bit deeper, the processor
powering up the R9 295X2 is the same
Hawaii chips that run the R9 290X, which

means that the R9 295X2 is effectively a

CrossFireX setup, despite being a single
card solution.
Performance-wise, the R9 295X2
definitely performs beyond expectations,
and in fact, seems a bit too overpowered
if youre only going to stick with a Full
HD resolution display as were certain
that this card is capable of 1,440p
gaming even with the highest settings
checked.
During our tests of games such as
Crysis 3 and Thief, the card performed
spectacularly well, and what made it
all even more impressive was that the
card ran just relatively warm, and its all
thanks to the water-cooling setup that
came with the card. It is also relatively
silent, and were saying this even with a
giant radiator and fan cooling it.
With the right kind of motherboard,
you can even have two R9 295X2s in a
quad CrossFireX setup, although we do
need to warn you that if this is a route
youd want to take, you will likely need
to get a 1kW or a 1.2kW PSU.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
The AMD R9 295X2 is a beast in terms
of size, price, performance and power
consumption. Would we recommend
this card to you? Yes, but only if you
dont mind paying exorbitant amounts
of electricity bills.

test lab
review

Microsoft
Surface Pro 3
Price
Contact
Phone
Info

RM4,199
Microsoft Malaysia (M) Sdn. Bhd.
(03) 2179 6838
www.microsoft.com/malaysia

Specifications
CPU: Intel Core i5-4300U @ 1.9GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR3 RAM
Storage: 256GB
Graphics: Intel HD4000
OS: Windows 8.1 Professional
Display: 12.0-inches @ 2,160 x 1,440

Third Times The

Charm
Microsofts very own tablet just keeps getting better
and is near perfect in its third iteration By Nazrin Zain

t wasnt too long ago that Microsoft

unveiled its Surface 2 tablet here in
Malaysia. While it certainly had its
ups, the second tablet was held back by
the Windows RT operating system. Not
too long after that, Microsoft announced
the Surface Pro 3, and now, its finally
available here in Malaysia.
By itself, the Surface Pro 3 is a 12.0inch tablet, with a display resolution of
2,160 x 1,440 pixels in a 4:3 display ratio,
which actually allows Microsoft to cram
more display real estate in a much more
compact form factor.
The Surface Pro 3 is powered by a
fourth generation Intel Core processor,
and you can choose to get either a Core
i3, i5 or i7, alongside a range of storage
capacities as well. For this review,
Microsoft sent us an i5 unit, with 8GB of
RAM and 256GB of hard disk space, which
can also be expanded via a microSD card.
In terms of usability, the Surface Pro
3 is easily one of our most favourite
ultraportables around. Not only is it
lightweight and easy to pack, the newly
redesigned kickstand hinge allows it to be
used in virtually any position we can think
of.
Coupled with the new magnetic Type
Cover keyboard that can lock itself to the
bottom of the Surface Pro 3s display,
ensuring that it does not slip away when

in use in slightly more awkward positions,

especially on your lap.
As far as performance is concerned, the
i5 model of the Surface Pro 3 is fantastic.
It functions extraordinarily well as a work
and entertainment machine, capable of
streaming and decoding 1080p media with
no lag, as well as play a few games such
as Diablo 3 at very respectable framerates.
For most tasks, the Surface Pro 3s
fan will not kick in until a really CPUintensive task is going on, but it will run
considerably warm when used for long
periods of time, although this does not
affect performance in any way.
Microsoft also made claims that the
Surface Pro 3s battery life can go up
to about nine hours on a single charge,
however, try as we might, we werent able
to make it last any longer than seven hours
at most. Perhaps this is possible with the i3
model.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
Third times the charm for Microsoft
as the Surface Pro 3 delivers as a
true ultraportable device that serves
as both a tablet and a notebook. The
price for a number of the models
might be a bit steep, but once you
find a model that fits your usage
scenario and budget, it will definitely
be a buy you wont regret.

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value
Lightweight
Excellent performances
MicroSD not as
prominently used as
opposed to SD
Certain models can be
expensive

The DisplayPort is capable of outputting two

more displays via a daisy-chain method

The Surface Pro 3 has a microSD card reader

at the back, for storage expansion

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NVIDIA GeForce
GTX 980
Price
Info

US$549 (RM1,788)
www.geforce.com

Specifications
Core Clock: 1,126MHz
Boost Clock: 1,216MHz
Memory Size: 4GB GDDR5
Ports: 1x Dual link DVI-I, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x
DisplayPort 1.2

RATINGS

The Gateway To
Maxwell

Performance
Features
Cooling
Value

The latest Maxwell architecture GPU makes its way

to our shores and this month, we get to tear games
apart with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 By Nicolas See Tho

Powerful performance
Tons of new features
None

BENCHMARK RESULTS
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme:
3DMark Fire Strike:
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme:
3DMark Cloudgate:

81,664 points
11,514 points
5,740 points
33,055 points

This graphics card comes with all the usual

ports required for high-end rigs

090

october 14

chip malaysia

he new generation of gaming will

now meet their partner in crime, the
seriously powerful NVIDIA GeForce
GTX 980. It is dubbed the most advanced
GPU in the world, and with its power
and features, it does little to proven itself
otherwise.
The device itself maintains the
traditional design and style from its
predecessors like the GeForce GTX 780
Ti, with its silver and black theme and its
name being obviously visible to users. For
ports, it comes ready with a dual-link DVI-I,
HDMI 2.0, and three DisplayPort 1.2. Like
NVIDIAs other flagships that came before
it, this beast will take the space of two PCIe
slots.
For the most advanced GPU in the
world, it definitely comes with a plethora
of new features that has not been
featured in previous generations such
as Dynamic Super Resolution features,
which upscales your games even if you
dont have the highest end displays, it will
bring the image quality of your games to
near 4K level. This device also features
the new MFAA sampling feature which
delivers an additional 30 percent increase
in performance by alternating sample
calculations across each frame and pixel
for smoother results. It also incorporates
the VGXI feature which makes use of all
available light source and renders it back

to provide an image with livelier colours

and provide lifelike modelling. Additionally,
this graphics card can support up to four
simultaenous monitors for intense gaming
sessions.
If it was any consolation to the
benchmark tests, they really tried to push
the device to its limit but failed miserably,
as the GeForce GTX 980 slaughtered the
tests with ease, scoring superbly high
scores on all areas. When it came to field
tests, we tested the device with games
such as Crysis 3, Project RaceRoom, and
Sleeping Dogs. The colours were vivid,
and amazing on this device, the gameplay
was smooth at maximum settings with
minimal disturbances on all areas. The
device performed well even during the
more graphically intense scenes which
previously had posed a problem for
previous graphic cards.

CHIP CONCLUDE :
All in all, this is one powerhouse
of a graphics card, and the title of
most advanced definitely will not
come cheap. However, for those who
wants to play all the newest games
effortlessly on the most updated
graphic card to date, then the NVIDIA
GeForce GTX 980 will definitely be
worth every penny.

test lab
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ASUS RT-AC87U
Price
Contact

Phone
Info

RM1,099
AV Future Link (KL) Sdn. Bhd.,
ScanArt Data System (M) Sdn.
Bhd.
(03) 7783 2010, (03) 7782 4700
www.asus.com/my/

Specifications

Breaking Speeds
ASUS has done it again with their latest dual-band
router providing breakneck network speeds and
plenty of features By Nicolas See Tho

SUS are not newcomers in the

network routers division as over the
years they have constantly provided
high performance routers to consumers.
Lately, they have far from eased off
from this trend with the release of their
RT-AC87U Dual-Band Gigabit Router.
Design-wise, the router has a stylish
black theme with a design that looks like a
cutting edge spacecraft. It comes with four
detachable antennas, for both 2.4GHz and
5GHz band networking. On the back panel,
there are four RJ-45 LAN ports, one RJ-45
WAN port and a single USB 2.0 port as well
as the power input and power button. On
the front end of the device, the right side
hides a flap which can be opened to reveal
a single USB 3.0 port which can be used to
connect directly to the cloud storage. Also
located at the front are two buttons which
are used to turn the Wi-Fi and LEDs on or
off.
This device being a high-end router
provides a long list of features such
as iTunes and UPnP servers for media
streaming, FTP and SAMBA servers for
file sharing over the Internet or local
network. It also uses the ASUS Smart Sync
feature which allows you to attach your
USB device and link it with ASUS AiCloud
storage service. It also has the adaptive
quality of service feature (QoS) which
recognises the type of client that connects
to the router and assigns the network

accordingly. It also sports boosted security

with the AiProtection provided by Trend
Micro which prevents network clients from
being infected by malicious servers while
also being able to provide basic parental
control. While all these features add to
the depth of usage, most users will most
likely only benefit from one or two of these
features.
When it boils down to the performance,
this router definitely matches its price in
terms of speed and coverage. One of the
few things you should consider when
using this router is the use of a client that
supports the same features which can act
as a wireless bridge. This can increase
its performance at a drastic rate. It has a
massive amount of coverage as we were
able to receive signals even when we were
blocked by two walls. Another positive
point from the router came from the USB
storage read and write speed with the
device. It managed to transfer files from the
router to our workstation at over 60Mbps
using a single 10GB file.

CHIP CONCLUDE :
Placed at a premium pricing, not all
individuals will want to splash that
kind of money on a router, but for
those who knows what to look for, the
ASUS RT-AC87U will definitely not be
any less than whats expected.

Network Standard: IEEE 802.11a, IEEE

802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE
802.11ac, IPv4, IPv6
Operating Frequency: 2.4GHz, 5GHz
Encryption: 64-bit WEP, 128-bit WEP, WPA2PSK, WPA-PSK, WPA-Enterprise , WPA2Enterprise , WPS support
Ports: 4x RJ45 for 10/100/1000/Gigabits
BaseT for LAN, RJ45 for 10/100/1000/Gigabits
BaseT for WAN, 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0
Dimensions: 289.5 x 167.6 x 47.5 mm
Weight: 747g

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value
Fast performance
Plenty of features

Price

An interesting design feature places the

USB 3.0 on the front of the router as a way
to reduce signal noise interference with the
2.4GHz band

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HTC Desire 816

Price
Contact
Phone
Info

RM1,199
HTC Careline
1 800 88 9855
www.htc.com/sea/

Specifications
Operating System: Android 4.4.2
Processor: 1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm
Snapdragon 400
Frequency: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz,
HSPA 850/900/1900/2100MHz, LTE
900/1800/2100/2600MHz
Screen: 5.5-inch HD Super LCD2
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz),
Bluetooth 4.0, DLNA, microUSB 2.0, 3.5mm
stereo audio jack
Memory: 1.5GB
Storage: 8GB, microSD (up to 128GB)
Others: 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera
Dimensions: 156.6 x 78.7 x 7.9mm
Weight: 165g

Will You Desire

More?

HTC has been hard at work to give consumers more

affordable devices with decent features and heres
one that might just hit the right spot By Jeremy Cheong

RATINGS
Performance
Features

Design
Value
Reasonably priced
Large screen
HTC BoomSound
microSD card support
13-megapixel camera
Glossy plastic
Non-removable battery
Power button and volume
rocker placement
BENCHMARK RESULTS
3DMark (Ice Storm):
5,859 points
3DMark (Ice Storm Extreme): 2,912 points
3DMark (Ice Storm
Unlimited):
4,823 points
AnTuTu:
21,217 points

The 13MP rear camera does a decent job but

can sometimes underexpose photos when
taking photos in outdoor environments

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chip malaysia

s we mentioned in our August

issue when we reviewed the Desire
610, HTC is now looking to do
more to promote their Desire range of
mid-range devices. This is a good thing as
there are now plenty of other smartphone
manufacturers offering high-end devices
at a fraction of the price. This month, we
got to test out yet another entry in HTCs
mid-range offering, the Desire 816.
Much like the Desire 610, the 816 is built
using plastic instead of aluminium. With
that being said though, the device is still
really sturdy and has no creaking parts
thanks to the unibody design. One thing we
didnt quite like was the rear of the device
which is very glossy and does attract
smudges and fingerprints quite easily.
The Desire 816 shares many design
cues of its other brethren save for a few
exceptions. The front of course is taken
up by the large 5.5-inch display, the dual
front-facing speakers and the 5MP front
facing camera. Then on the rear is where
the 13MP camera and flash is located. The
differences lie in the positioning of the
Power/Lock button and volume rockers
which are on the left side of the device
and this may take a little getting used
to especially the Power button which is
located on top, making it a little harder to
reach. On the right of the device lies the

flap that hides the SIM card and microSD

slot.
One of the selling points of the Desire
816 is its 13MP rear camera and it is quite
attractive as it boasts a BSI sensor, f/2.2
aperture and 28mm lens. It can also record
videos in 1080p. While the rear camera
is able to capture great photos in well-lit
environments, we found it just to be a little
sluggish and HDR shots were a little hit and
miss. Hopefully these issues get ironed out
in an update.
Performance wise, the Desire 816 does
just as well as expected. It doesnt have the
most powerful hardware but we found it
to be decent enough as we could multitask
with no problems and playing games such
as Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8: Airborne
was enjoyable. As for battery life, the
2,600mAh battery did okay as it managed
to last us a full day with at least 15% left
with medium to heavy usage.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
All in all, for a mid-range device with
its very attractive price tag, we can
easily look pass the HTC Desire 816s
issues. It is a good device in its own
right and for users who dont want to
splurge on a high-end flagship that
costs over RM1,500, this could very
well be the next best thing.

test lab
review

ASUS Strix
GeForce GTX
970 Strix
Price
Contact
Phone
Info

TBA
Build Technology Supply Sdn.
Bhd., Servex (Malaysia) Sdn.
Bhd.
(03) 7955 3699, (03) 8024 5155
www.asus.com/my

Specifications

Next Generation
PC Gaming Has
Arrived

Game beyond Full HD with the ASUS Strix GTX 970

By Nazrin Zain

VIDIAs Maxwell GPU architecture

was first introduced with the GTX
750 and 750 Ti graphics cards, and
were some of the most power-efficient
GPUs of their time. The second generation
Maxwell GM200 chip was recently unveiled
with the GTX 980 and 970 cards, and it
didnt take long for ASUS to slap their
newest cooling system on-board, thus
creating the ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 970.
With the Strix cooler, the GTX 970
looks a bit more streamlined and simple,
which is sure to please those who care
for aesthetics as much as they do for
performance.
Also thanks to the cooler, the Strix
GTX 970 is factory-overclocked, with the
core clock set at 1,114MHz as opposed
to the stock cards 1,051MHz, though
unfortunately the memory clock stays the
same at 1,750MHz.
The ASUS DirectCU II Strix cooler takes
full advantage of NVIDIAs new powerefficient GPUs in ways that we imagine that
many enthusiasts will love. For one, only a
single 8-pin PCIe plug is required to power
up this bad boy. Secondly, the fan does not
kick in until it reaches a certain temperature
point, and when it does, ASUS claims
that the cooler efficiently cools down the

Core clock: 954MHz

Boost clock: 1,020MHz
Memory size: 3GB GDDR5
Ports: 1x DVI-D, 1x DVI-I, 1x HDMI, 1x
DisplayPort
RATINGS
Performance
Features
Cooling
Performs very well
Silent
Power-efficient
None

GPU 30 percent better compared to its

competitors, and we cant really argue with
that as the card remain cool throughout
our testing period.
As far as performance goes, the Strix
GTX 970 card is capable of playing any
and all games that you throw at it at 1080p
resolution. As a matter of fact, we took it
for a spin playing Skyrim and Crysis 3 with
a 1440p screen, and it did extremely well
there too. As a matter of fact, this would be
the perfect card to pair with the ASUS ROG
Swift PG278Q G-Sync monitor.
Despite being factory overclocked, you
can still overclock the GPU a bit more
to squeeze that few extra frames out of
the card, but in general, we feel this isnt
necessary for gaming as the performance
gained from overclocking even further is
quite negligible.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
The ASUS Strix GTX 970 is one
card that we definitely recommend
to those who are starting to move
beyond 1080p gaming. Its literally
silent for the most part, and performs
on par, if not better than the high-end
GTX 700 cards, and is power efficient
to boot.

BENCHMARK RESULTS
3DMark11 (Fire Strike):
3DMark11 (Fire Strike
Extreme):
Unigine Heaven 4.0:

9,812 points
5,026 points
2,240 points

The GTX 970 comes with two DVI ports, one

HDMI port and one DisplayPort

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WD My
Passport Ultra
Anniversary
Edition
RM279
Amble Action Sdn. Bhd., Eternal
Asia (M) Sdn. Bhd.
(03) 7955 1768, (03) 5613 5600
www.wdc.com

Price
Contact
Phone
Info

Specifications
Storage Size: 1TB
Interface: USB 3.0 and USB 2.0
Features: WD QuickView, WD SmartWare Pro
Dimension: 80 x 13.5 x 110mm

A Golden
Passport

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value

To celebrate a successful 10 years of being one of the

leaders in data storage, WD releases a special
external HDD to commemorate the event and heres
how it performs By Nicolas See Tho

Secure
Easy to use
Fast backup
Stylish design
None

The singular USB 3.0 port transfers data

seamlessly from the hard disk drive to your PC
and vice versa

094

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chip malaysia

hen there is a company that

celebrates their 10th year
anniversary on a device that
stores data, it shows that they are very
good at what they do. Western Digital
is a veteran in the storage solution field
and they commemorate their progress
throughout the years with the My Passport
Pro Anniversary Edition.
At first glance, the special anniversary
edition design on the device really does
make a visual impact with a gold gleam
and circular grooves adding on to the
classiness of the device. It has a single USB
3.0 port with a small light indicator next to
it that shows that the device is plugged in.
While it may look like any other external
hard drive, this device actually comes with
several features that differentiates it from
the competition such as its WD SmartWare
system which when booted on to your
PC, gives you an easy view of your files as
well as providing a unique program that
categorises files and makes backing up
your files easy and fast. Besides that, the
hard drive also comes with a password
encryption system to aid you in protecting

your files. It also allows you to back up

files from your DropBox directly onto the
device.
Transferring files from this device to
your PC is a blink and you miss it affair
as the files get transferred so fast, it is
a thing of beauty. The WD SmartWare
ensures that you can see each file that is
being transferred and places them into
organised categories. You can also select
a singular file from your folder to transfer
without going through the hassle of
browsing through Windows Explorer.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
10 years is not a short period of time
by any means, and Western Digital
proves how they lasted this long in
this industry. The WD My Passport
Ultra Anniversary Edition is a good
buy for those who need a small yet
capable storage device which is both
easy to use yet big in capacity. The
extra features that come with it also
make even more attractive. Plus it
looks really stylish and would make a
nice addition to any gadget collection.

test lab
review

Lenovo Miix 2 8
Price
Contact
Phone
Info

RM1,399
Lenovo Technologies Sdn. Bhd.
1 800 80 8575
www.lenovo.com/my/en

Specifications

Miix-ing The
Best Of Both
Worlds

Lenovo has provided yet another lifestyle device that

brings out the best in portability and function with the
Miix 2 8 By Nicolas See Tho

enovo has been productive

throughout the year, and this month,
they loaned us the recently launched
Miix 2 8, which combines the best of both
worlds of a tablet and a laptop all within
a smaller and easier to carry around form
factor.
The Miix 2 provides comes in a nice
aluminium casing complete with an
8-inch display screen which is definitely
wide enough to enjoy most of your daily
entertainment. It has volume controls
placed on its right side as well as the
power button. On the same side, you will
also be able to find the micro USB port as
well as supports for microSD and micro
SIM cards.
This device also comes with a wide
multitude of features that covers basically
everything. It has Five-Finger Multi-touch
Technology which makes Windows 8.1 that
much easier to navigate through as well
as keeping the precision at a comfortable
level. You will also be able to secure your
important files and documents with its
Veriface Face Recognition software which
uses your face as your password. This
feature supports multiple users and as

such, you and your family can have secure

access to their respective files.
With all these features on-board,
the device has to provide powerful
performance to support these features,
and performance is part of its interior as
it passed all our benchmarks with flying
colours and even maxing out one of the
benchmark tests. Its Desktop mode also
allows PC programs to run in its full form
flawlessly on this device making it work
like a laptop on the go, the touchscreen
sensitivity on the Desktop mode however
suffers from insensitivity due to the small
symbols and different navigation tools.

CHIP CONCLUDE :
After taking a good look at the
Lenovo Miix 2 8, we would definitely
suggest this device to those looking
for a smaller solution to a laptop
but prefer the easy navigation of a
tablet. Despite the small flaws from
its volume level and touch screen on
the desktop mode, it makes up for it
with its powerful performance and
beautiful display and functionality.

Operating System: Windows 8.1

Processor: 1.8GHz Intel Atom Bay Trail
processor
Graphics: Intel integrated graphics
Screen: 8-inch (1,280 x 800) WXGA display
with IPS technology
Memory: 2GB LPDDR3 memory
Storage: 64GB eMMC storage
Camera: 2MP front camera, 5MP rear camera
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11
b/g/n
Others: Micro USB, microSD, Audio Combo
Jack, micro SIM
Dimensions: 131.6 x 215.6 x 8.35mm
Weight: 350g
RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value
Very versatile
Smooth performance
Able to use desktop
software
Desktop mode has low
touch sensitivity
Low max Volume
BENCHMARK RESULTS
Maxed Out!
3DMark Ice Storm:
4,843 points
3DMark Ice Storm (Extreme):
3DMark Ice Storm (Unlimited): 7,781 points

The rear camera of the Miix 2 8 handles image

capturing at an acceptable quality and it has
many different post editing effects to spice
things up

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Sony Alpha 5100

Price
Contact
Phone
Info

RM2,399
Sony (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
1 300 88 1233
www.sony.com.my

Specifications
Sensor: 24.3MP Exmor R CMOS Sensor
Display: 3.0-inch wide-type TFT
Processor: Sony BIONZ X
Video Recording: 1080p
Storage: SDHC, SDXC
Connectivity: HDMI, USB, Wi-Fi, NFC

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value
Takes great photos, in
both light and dim
conditions
Affordable
None

All the buttons and functions are also easy

to access, making it a pretty straight-forward
camera to use

october 14

Sonys latest mirrorless camera offering is one that

isnt just affordable but also feature-packed By Nazrin Zain

The Alpha 5100s display can be rotated 180

degrees, which allows users to easily take
selfies with the camera

096

Sony Does It
Again

chip malaysia

he barrage of Sony cameras

continue as the company recently
announced the Sony Alpha 5100
mirrorless camera. The 5100 is an
evolutionary upgrade to the Alpha 5000
camera that came out together with the
Alpha 6000, which is a rebirth of the NEX
series of cameras. The Sony Alpha 5100
aims to be an affordable interchangeable
lens camera, and in this review, we take a
look at how it holds up to that claim.
The Alpha 5100 features a 24MP Exmor
APS-C CMOS sensor, the same one that
can be seen in the Sony A77 MkII SLT
camera, and uses interchangeable E-mount
lenses. The camera has a 3.0-inch LCD
screen which can be rotated 180 degrees
upwards and be used to take selfies quite
easily, which is one of the features touted
by Sony.
The camera design is very compact and
sleek, with all the buttons and dials in the
right places for easy access. The PASM dial
is all digital, however, and can be accessed
via the Camera Settings option, when you
press the Menu button. Other features
on the Alpha 5100 include Bluetooth,
Wi-Fi and NFC capabilities which allows
you to transfer photos wirelessly from
camera to smart devices using the Sony
PlayMemories app.
The Alpha 5100 comes with a choice of

either a 16-50mm lens, a 55-120mm lens or

both, in a twin lens pack. One thing to note
is that the Alpha 5100 supports all E-mount
lenses, and with an adapter, is capable of
supporting A-mount lenses as well.
As far as the performance of the camera
goes, it does very well in both light and
dim conditions. Even with only the kit lens,
the photos that come out of the camera
are sharp and vibrant, and is free of noise
up till ISO 3,200. This, coupled with the
ultra-fast Hybrid-AF sensor that was first
introduced in the Alpha 6000, ensures that
you capture moments with lightning speed
precision.
It also captures videos very well, as the
camera is capable of recording in 1080p at
60fps with relatively no problems. If youre
in the mood for some creative shoots, the
Alpha 5100 also comes with a variety of
filters and shooting modes that will keep
your creative juices running for a while.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
The Sony Alpha 5100 interchangeable
lens camera is a great option if
youre new to photography, or just
looking for an inexpensive option to
a DSLR. Its also very easy to use,
and comes with a lot of cool features
that will have you experimenting with
photography for quite a while.

test lab
review

ASUS A88XGamer
Price
Contact

Phone
Info

RM409
Build Technology Supply Sdn.
Bhd., Servex (Malaysia) Sdn.
Bhd.
(03) 7955 3699, (03) 8024 6688
www.asus.com/my/

Specifications
CPU Support: A-Series Processors
CPU Socket: AMD Socket FM2+ Athlon
Chipset: AMD A88X (Bolton D4)
Memory: Dual Channel Architecture

Right For The

Budget
Gamers who are starting out in building their own
gaming systems should take a look at the ASUS
A88X-Gamer By Nicolas See Tho

reating the perfect gaming rig often

takes time and perseverance as well
as a huge sum of cash to concoct
a gaming rig with performance that will
last more than a year and the ability to run
most of the latest games. As such, ASUS
gives gamers a kickstart in their gaming rig
quest with the A88X-Gamer motherboard.
Despite its budget friendly price tag,
it still has a cutting edge design with a
red and black theme reminiscent of other
ASUS gaming motherboards out in the
market today. It houses one PCIe 3.0
x16 and PCIe 2.0 x4 with two PCIe 2.0 x1
expansion slots. It also comes with the Intel
1211 AT with a Gigabit LAN Controller.
There are no shortage of audio ports
either as it has six audio jacks located
on its back I/O ports. One aspect of the
motherboard however is that it does not
have a dedicated on/off button which may
be inconvenient for those who wants to
test out the motherboard before placing it
in a rig.
Featured within this motherboard are
the Gamers Guardian components such as
the 10k black metal capacitors made from
Japan (Nichicon GT series), DIGI+VRM
module for current protection, DRAM
overcurrent protection, and stainless steel
back I/O giving an extra boost in durability.

Besides that, the motherboard also has

native support for 4K/UHD as well as Quad
GPU CrossfireX support for the more
hardcore crowd. Those looking for a quick
boost can utilise the exclusive ASUS GPU
Boost technology.
Features aside, the thing gamers
want the most is performance, and this
motherboard offers ample amounts of it.
It did well during our benchmarks test for
its category with results that were above
average. Overclockers will be glad to find
that this motherboard has an easy to
navigate BIOS, which makes overclocking
quite a simple affair. It also supports
SupremeFX audio which amplifies
premium headphones sound quality to
give that extra boost in immersion whether
it is gaming or enjoying a movie.
CHIP CONCLUDE :
For the budget gamer, this is one
of the more affordable yet more
performance worthy motherboards
available in the market as of now.
So if you are leaning more towards
the AMD series of products, put this
motherboard on your watch list as
it has what it takes to be the base of
gaming rig that would last you a few
years.

RATINGS
Performance
Features
Design
Value
User-friendly BIOS
Easy overclocking
Improved Audio and LAN
AN
features
No dedicated on/off
button
BENCHMARK RESULTS
PCMark 8 (Creative):
PCMark 8 (Work):
PCMark 8 (Home):

3,147 points
2,515 points
2,668 points

This motherboard comes with the standard

array of ports

The A88X-Gamer retains ASUS now signature

red and black colour scheme like most of their
other gaming motherboard

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october 14

097

lite & leisure

think

THINK

the thoughts of our uncertified tech junkie

High Tech Homesteader

Call me a misanthrope, if you will By Tim Lee

m not fond of big crowds and noisy gatherings, large

numbers of people being suffocating instead of welcoming
for me. Ive been to massive cities like London and Beijing
and instead of soaking up and going with the hustle and
bustle; I ended up finding a little piece of solitude in a quiet
corner of the National Art Gallery or the Forbidden City.
Ive also been sparring online since the days of Usenet
remember Usenet? A distributed network of thousands of
different newsgroups on pretty much any topic imaginable, it
used to be where Internet denizens went to learn, share and
have a decent discussion. In many ways, I prefer to have a
virtual chat with pseudonymous characters on a screen rather
than endure a loud crowd.
So Ive been thinking about the
homesteading movement slowly
making headway in parts of Europe,
Canada and USA, combining oldfashioned individualism with the
latest technology. The homesteading
community spans a huge social and
political spectrum but its members
agree that current urban lifestyles are
environmentally and economically
unsustainable, sacrificing the future
for todays convenience. Just sit by a
typical housing estate during the
morning rush hour and youll see why
long lines of cars snake out of rows
of energy-inefficient houses, those
cars carrying just one person each,
and each person having a huge
carbon footprint as he or she spends
hours in traffic crawling into the city
and out.
Its a broken system and were all a
part of it, mostly by default. Most
urbanites wouldnt dream of trading
an apartment or linked house in the
city for a plot of land out in the countryside, simply because
they expect modern amenities to be missing out in the middle
of nowhere. Theres also the issue of employment where most
people, despite the wide availability of high speed Internet and
wireless communications networks, are required to sit in an
office and do stuff.
If you have a flexible employer or youre self-employed and
are willing to take some risks with your lifestyle, going rural
could be a viable option. The low cost of land outside major
cities means its possible to get a plot and build a small,
energy-efficient house for less than what a typical leaky city
home costs, provided financing is available. Insulating

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chip malaysia

materials on walls and roofs and good ventilation design mean

the power-hogging air conditioner rarely needs to come on.
Running a home entirely on solar photovoltaic (PV) panels
has a large up-front cost for the panels, controllers and storage
batteries but the upside is that, for twenty years at least, youll
never have to pay for electricity. You can also put a home
anywhere instead of being reliant on the power company to
pull a line from the main grid. Another upside is that you have
to watch for every single watt used that means getting the
most efficient appliances and reducing electricity usage in
favour of natural lighting and ventilation. Right now, we city
dwellers only see a monthly electricity bill but the very real
costs of greenhouse gas and carbon
emissions from coal and gas-fired
power plants is invisible.
But what about the clich of being
stuck in the boondocks with only
yourself, your spouse and a dog for
conversations? Thats not necessarily
true when cell towers are sprouting
up everywhere. In flat country, a cell
tower near a main road can reach for
kilometers around provided you have
line of sight to the antennas. Ive
personally seen HSDPA connections
averaging a few megabits per second
while standing on a hill in the jungle
with my phone pointed at the tower,
probably because I was the only data
user at the time.
Without a good cell connection for
wireless Internet and phone calls,
things get a bit more complicated. Its
possible to run a long-range WiFi link
over several kilometers to a backhaul
point but that means either setting up
your own little ISP or sharing
someones broadband line. A good
Internet link is a lifeline for many people and this is where
initiatives like Googles Internet balloons, long-endurance
stratospheric drones and white space transmission could make
high-speed rural connectivity a reality. For the moment youll
have to be content with patchy wireless coverage or falling off
the information grid by choice.
It would take a lot of guts for the average Malaysian to turn
his or her back on the city and head to the hills. Im not sure I
could do it right now, no matter how attractive it sounds, but
its nice to know that the right technology is available to make
it a realistic option in the near future.

lite & leisure

touch

TOUCH
Apps That Have Your
Back
the best apps to spice up your day

PC and console gaming has never been so connected before, and with gamers utilising every single bit
of technology and gadgets to enhance and improve their gameplay, the sky is the limit. Adding on to the
game experience are what the developers call gaming companion apps which only until recently affected
the gameplay itself, making your AAA titles that much more immersive. These are some of the apps that
aid with todays latest games By Nicolas See Tho

ctOS Mobile
Platform: Android, iOS
Developer: Ubisoft Entertainment
The world of Watch Dogs has the
paranoia in us come to life with super
hacking skills and non-stop action within
the game. This app places gamers on the
next level of Big Brother conspiracies
whereby mobile users can directly engage
PC and console users in ctOS Mobile
challenges in which the mobile players
are the Chicago police and ctOS
connected devices are used to try and
stop the console and desktop player from
navigating the race course in time.
Additionally, mobile players will gain the
ability to summon police snipers as well
as utilise helicopters.

Titanfall Companion App

Platform: Android, iOS, WP8 and
Windows 8
Developer: EA Mobile
The titular giant now has a secondary
screen filled with important game data
which comes in the form of a
companion app. Players will be
provided with information such as
weapons, maps and the various Titan
loadouts while laying out details on the
lore of Titanfalls universe to ease the
wait between loading screens. In
addition to these intelligence systems,
players are also able to keep track of
their career stats as well as use the app
as a secondary minimap.

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lite & leisure

touch

Call of Duty: Ghosts Companion App

Platform: Android, Windows Phone 8, iOS
Developer: Activision Publishing Inc.
Another big title with lots of information yet so few ways to manage all that
detail, players should fret no longer as this apps allows you to create, manage
and join multiplayer clans while providing a built-in clan chat to help you
coordinate with your team and discuss tactics. One of the most useful features
of this app is that it allows you to change and edit your weapons loadout and
perks and change them on-the-fly in game, giving you the competitive edge
needed to obliterate your enemies.

Battlefield 4 Commander
Platform: Android, iOS
Developer: EA Mobile
When you are not flying through the skies, or blasting a hole
through enemy tanks, you can pick up a more supportive role as
the field commander using this companion app. This app allows
you to coordinate your forces from your tablet as well as provide
support in the form of cruise missile attacks, gunships, UAVs,
and other cutting edge support. Keep in touch with your
teammates with a built-in VOIP support while you give out squad
orders and dispense powerful buffs to certain squads, such as a
drop-off for vehicles and supplies.

Assassins Creed IV Companion App

Platform: Android, iOS
Developer: Ubisoft Entertainment
Sometimes, the world of Assassins Creed may prove to be too
big to keep track of, especially when dealing with mini quests as
well as collectibles. This app allows players to display a detailed
zoomable world map that syncs with your real-live progress,
displaying points of interest, objectives and enemies as well as
loot. Besides that, players are also able to access their Animus
Database of notable people and places while displaying their
collection of treasure maps. For additional fun, this app includes
a small mini game from Kenways Fleet whereby you can
dispatch naval trading expeditions to further your gains.

ProGuide For Dota 2

Platform: Android
Developer: Glisk
There is no game less popular on the eSport scene than Dota 2 and for those who are just
joining in the bandwagon, or those who want a mobile guide, you should seriously
consider this application. This app gives players a complete view of their favourite heroes
and items in Dota 2 as well as providing a quick way for players to view community guides,
builds and tips for every hero which are updated to the latest version. This works even
while offline.

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101

lite & leisure

read

READ

the books that shape our world of stories

Different Inspirations
Intel and Nintendo may have very few things in common, but we can definitely learn a lot by reading the
trials and tribulations they had to go through to get where they are today By Nazrin Zain

hen I was in San Francisco

attending the Intel Developer
Conference, I received a book
called The Intel Trinity as a gift of sorts,
and after reading through a bit of it on
the long, long flight back to Malaysia, I
recall reading a similar book from a few
years ago about the
Japanese gaming giant
Nintendo. While both
companies earn their
fortunes somewhat
differently from one
another, I cant help but
notice some similarities
as they are wellrespected giants in their
own field. This time, I
took a look at what
could be summed up as
biographies of both
companies, from rags to
riches, and the kind of
hard, honest work the
people behind them put
in to get where they are
today.

The Intel Trinity

Author: Michael S.
Malone
Published: 2014
The Intel Trinity is a
company biography like
no other. The Intel that
we know has always
been a semiconductor
giant, and whilst the
company has indeed
expanded beyond that
scope, they are always,
more often than not
been at the forefront of
technology, but the
story to its humble

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beginnings has never really been told in

full.
The men behind Intel Corporation,
Bob Noyce, Gordon Moore and Andy
Grove all were alumni of then
semiconductor giants Fairchild
Semiconductors, who decided to part

ways with the company to build their

own business empire. All of which
sounded rosy of course, but as Malone
explains very well in the book, things
werent as clear-cut as it seems.
Noyce, who was then the CEO of the
company, decided to go his own way
alongside Moore, the
same person who came
up with the Moores Law
theory that the number of
transistors implemented
in a chip would double
every year. Upon hearing
Moores desire to start
fresh, Grove also spoke
of his desire to join his
superior. However, he
wasnt too keen upon
learning that Noyce too
will be a part of this new
venture.
The novel explains the
beginning of Intels roots
as a company in such a
way that reading it makes
you feel like its not so
much of a biography of a
company than it is about
a story of how three
people, two of whom
seemingly dont get so
well together go on to
create Intel, a company
who would, in the future,
shape the computing
world as a whole.
In fact, during the
initial planning stages of
the company, both Noyce
and Moore were not able
to agree on a name,
coming up with various
names before eventually
settling down with Intel,
which many might not

lite & leisure

read

know, stands for Integrated Electronics.

In the novel, Malone also mentioned
that Groves dislike for Noyce was due to
the fact that the latter had a very lax
attitude when it comes to managerial
ethics, but had to concede that Noyce
was the right man for the job, as he is
capable of leading a group of egos under
him to follow his orders, psyche them
when needed, and get the job done.
The novel also explores the
companys meteoric rise, but also
mentions incidents
which made the
company eat slices
of humble pie.
This is definitely
one novel that you
absolutely must
read as it tells
stories about the
company that many
except those who
are closest to the
three founding
members know
about. Rather than a
straight-forward
tale of glory,
Malone does well to
keep me intrigued,
because with a
company as big as
Intel there is bound
to be some very
interesting stories
to read.

Sony. The mid-90s especially saw a

fierce fight between the three, with the
Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64 and Sony
PlayStation all vying for the childrens
market. Those were the days indeed, and
fortunately, or unfortunately depending
on where your allegiances lie, Sony won
the war in that era with the PlayStation
console.
Segas hardware division eventually
went bankrupt, which was very
unfortunate because the Saturn console

Playing To
Wiin:
Nintendo And
The Video
Game
Industrys
Greatest
Comeback
Author: Daniel
Sloan
Published: 2011
If youre a young adult who grew up in
the 1980s and 1990s, you are definitely
bound to know about video game
companies such as Sega, Nintendo and

had a lot of really nice games such as

Darkstalkers, Panzer Dragoon and
Shining Force. Nintendo survived thanks
to high sales of cult classics such as
Mario, Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong

and F-Zero.
As Sony strengthened its lead with
the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft
coming into the gaming console sphere
with the Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo were
left in a bit of a rut, as the company did
not have anything to put up against the
reigning king of console gaming and the
American upstart, whos looking to carve
a niche for itself in as-of-yet untapped
gaming market.
This is where the story of Playing To
Wiin starts. It was a point
where Nintendo were
showing signs of losing
the plot as the companys
then-president, Hiroshi
Yamauchi has been at the
helm for 50 years, and
instead of hiring from
within, Yamauchi brought
in an outsider in the form
of Satoru Iwata.
Thus begins
Nintendos story, their
journey of rising from the
ashes, putting a strong
portfolio of knowledge
and technology in
handheld consoles to
good use, as the Nintendo
DS began to dominate the
children and young adult
market.
As Nintendo began to
grow in confidence again,
thanks to the popularity of
the device, they then
embarked on a journey to
claim back their share of
the household gaming
console space with the
Nintendo Wii.
Despite the fact that we
all knew the Wii to be the
console that could have
been, the story that Sloan
tells in this book is a great
one in how a company
that is down on its dumps dared to do
the unthinkable to bring themselves up
again. Definitely worth a read if youre a
gamer, or used to be one during your
childhood days.

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watch

WATCH

the movie that becomes us

Learning From The Pros

As big tournaments like The International from DoTA 2 winds down and League of Legends World
Championships are on their way, many players would love to get an insight on what makes these Esports
teams tick, and as such, this month we reveal to you professional gaming channels on YouTube for your
training and entertainment pleasure By Nicolas See Tho

Dota 2 Tournament TV
Number of Subscribers: 452,000
Game: Dota 2
Features: Gamecasting, Replays,
In-Game Statistics
In the ultra-competitive world that is
Dota 2, it helps to know which
heroes are being used in the
metagame and who to avoid, as
well as the popular builds used by
the more prominent players. Dota 2
Tournament TV provides all that
and more with elaborate
gamecasting, play by play replays
on huge clashes and game
mechanics explanation for those
who are still learning the ropes. This
channel displays its charm by
having a commentator that doesnt
rush the commentary when the game tempo picks up unlike other game channels. So for players who would like the latest competitive
game replays and updates, this is the channel to subscribe to.

LoL Esports
Number of Subscribers: 1,250,000
Game: League Of Legends
Features: Gamecasting, Replays,
Play by Play commentary
On the other end of the MOBA
spectrum is League of Legends, a
game which has a major impact in
North America and Asian regions,
and the popular LoL Esports
channel hosts all the latest
competitive level games with
ESPN-like commentary, slow
motion replays, and ensures that
viewers will feel hyped up
throughout the video. They also
provide schedules for future
matches, stats and detailed
analysis on why pro players do
what they do. So avid LoL players might want to watch this channel to learn or just enjoy quality matches played by professionals all
around the world.

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lite & leisure

watch

HuskyStarcraft
Number of Subscribers: 880,000
Game: Starcraft 2
Features: Gamecasting, Replays,
Detailed statistics
Before games like DoTA 2 became
mainstream, there was Starcraft 2. This
was the game that made South Korea
engrained into many gamers
stereotypes and that is, you dont mess
with South Koreans in Starcraft. For
those who enjoy watching these
hyper-progressive matches between
inhumane levels of finger dexterity and
eye-mouse coordination, subscribe to
HuskyStarcraft for updated StarCraft 2
competitions as well as well-timed commentary from the user himself, as well as elaborate details and game mechanic explanation.

TheWarOwl
Subscribers: 180,000
Game: Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Features: Game academy, Commentary,
Strategy Analysis.
The adage of classic shooting games that
had a small makeover and is now a niche
competitive gaming market goes by the
name of Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
Those who want to watch games that are
played with fast twitch response and
precise map control are advised to watch
this channel, as they give players ingame commentary, tutorials on how to
play and what to play, and in-depth
strategy on playing competitively. So for those gun nuts out there looking to transcend amateur play, this channel is a must watch.

Force Strategy Gaming

Subscribers: 400,000
Game: Hearthstone, Heroes of the
Storm, and various others
Features: Walkthroughs, commentary,
news updates
For those of you who play multiple
games and would like a channel that is
diverse in their list of games, Force
Strategy gaming is the channel to watch
as they handle all the latest AAA game
titles and indie games while producing
gamecasts during certain competitions.
They also have news updates on the
latest juicy detail on an upcoming title,
or the latest strategy used in a
competition explained all in glorious detail for your enjoyment. So for those who like choices, this channel is the one to enjoy with a bag
of chips and bottle of Mountain Dew.

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play

WARLOCK: MASTER OF THE ARCANE

Wizards, Wizards Everywhere

By Nicolas See Tho

a unit or building or Firestorm

which decimates whole armies.
Then there are spells that
takes proper timing to profit
fully such as Harvest, a quick
boost to village population or
Elementary buffs which makes
your armies super effective
against one element. These are
the type of spells if used right
can change the tide of battle
immensely.
As mentioned above,
besides the physical plane,
players can teleport into
different realms to expand
their empire. In these realms,
you will have to battle demons

The iconic hexagon les are prevalent in this game as players will make use of the vast landscape to do their bidding

and spiritual entities in order

you can then cultivate to

to expand your empire. Sometimes,

expand your territories and

your rival mage might end up placing a

conquer new lands as your

stronghold there before you, which can

armies grow.

be a nasty surprise for the wary traveller.

But as soon as you get

All empires start small, and you have a variety of tools and magic at your disposal to
expand your empire

All in all, Warlock: Master of the

comfortable with that, this

Arcane has its unique pull on players

is where the similarities

looking for a twist on the classic 4X

with Civilizations end.

strategy gameplay. With mythical

Instead of countries

creatures and witty AI, the gameplay is

you have realms, and

bound to keep players fixated for weeks

sometimes, travelling

on end.

between realms means

hen we first saw this game,

going through different dimensions.

STRATEGY

we thought, what can they

Players have only two resources to

possibly do to make a fantasy

control, mainly gold and mana, each

Warlock: Master
of the Arcane

heavy theme like wizards, and place

for their obvious uses. The AI can be

them into the grand tactics ridden style

frustratingly annoying as you progress

of Sid Meiers Civilizations. Well, in this

further through the campaign as they

case, we were met with pandemonium,

tend to break alliances like Hollywood

but in a good sense.

relationships. If traitorous allies arent

DEVELOPER

Paradox Interactive

INFO

www.warlocksmastersofthearcane.com

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
PLATFORM : Windows

good enough, if the game feels like a

RATINGS

one of the few great mages that are

stalemate is going on for too long, it will

Gameplay

out to dominate the other realms and

spawn random monsters to harass your

dimensions with your special magic

villages and towns with the excuse of

abilities and grand armies. You are

giving you more gold.

Warlock places you the player as

able to choose between a short, long

As with all strategy games, resource

or medium campaign depending on

management becomes the major

how long you want to play. Take note

concern and with mana in the mix,

however that even on short campaign

its all about how you use your spells

mode, it takes a few days to complete.

and when you use it. Some spells are

You start out with a piece of land which

direct, such as Fireball, which damages

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Graphics
Sound
Replayability
Tons of gameplay mechanics, AI is
smarter than usual, Magic makes
the game more diverse
You have no allies, Random AI
Spawns destroys all well laid plans

lite & leisure

game review

SMITE

Dont Just Be A Hero, Be A God

By Jeremy Cheong

rules and God selection or in-match

item shop is constantly changing. So for
example one day you may find a Battle
of the Beards while the next you may
find a Perfect Storm. This keeps things
unpredictable and from going stale.
Much like LoL or other free-toplay MOBA games, not all the deities
are available to players right off the
bat. Instead Gods/Deities are rotated
frequently so you will be able to get
a good feel of each one. If you find
one that you really like, you can either
purchase him or her with in-game gold
or real cash. We suggest playing the
game for a while before making an

One of the game modes is Arena which can get very hecc, very fast

investment as Smite takes deities and

the game then went out to see a very

gods from different pantheons including

successful release and now has a

Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Roman,

solid number of active players. Now,

Mayan and Norse mythology.

if youve never gotten on the Dota and

At the moment, there are over 58 gods to choose from but

not all of them are unlocked from the get-go

At the end of the day, Smite is really

LoL (or any other MOBA for that matter)

quite a fun game especially since it is

bandwagon, then Smite might just

free-to-play. If youve never understood

change your mind as the game is much

the hype of Dota, LoL and other games

more action oriented because instead of

in the same vein, Smite might just

playing from an top-down aspect, Smite

change your mind as it gets you more

plays out in third-person view which

involved and is definitely more action

means youre right behind your deity of

packed.

choice.
While this makes the game more
action-oriented, it also brings about a
learning curve, especially when it comes
to using the skills of your character.
Besides just permanently unlocking characters,
microtransacons also include skins and boosts

Unlike Dota or LoL where you activate

your skill and click on an enemy, Smite
requires players to aim and time their

f you arent nose deep into gaming

attacks. And the manner of aiming for

news, the name Smite may be very

each deity is different as the range of

unfamiliar. However, back in 2012,

each skill is different. Some may reach

this game made headlines but for wrong

further while others may just be a

reasons as it caused a slight uproar with

mighty melee attack.

religious groups. Why? Well because

Another great thing about Smite

MULTIPLAYER ONLINE BATTLE ARENA (MOBA)

Smite
DEVELOPER

Hi-Rez Studios

INFO

www.hirezstudios.com/
smite

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
PLATFORM : Windows, Xbox One

RATINGS
Gameplay
Graphics

Smite is a Multiplayer Online Battle

is that it comes with multiple game

Sound

Arena (a.k.a MOBA) game much like

modes. As of now, there are five modes,

Replayability

Dota and League of Legends (LoL) that

Conquest, Arena, Joust, Assault and

pits deities from different religions in a

Siege. Each game mode plays out

battlefield and one of their depictions

differently, so youre bound to find one

of a goddess was deemed overly

that you excel in. To keep things even

sexualised.

more interesting, the game even has

So after giving said deity a makeover,

special Match[es] of the Day where

Diverse and large roster of

characters, Plenty of game modes,
Free-to-play, Nice world and
character design
Microtransactions, Not all heroes
unlocked, Slight learning curve

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practice
realistic water reflections

Creating Realistic
Water Reflections
Water reflections always add a little character to photos. However, if theres no water in the
original photo, you can always add it in via Photoshop By Markus Hermannsdorfer

sing a reflection layer, you can generate a deceptively

real water surface including waves where not only is the
object reflected but it is also distorted photo-realistically.
You can replicate the effect with every version of Photoshop. No
additional plug-ins are required. What you need is a little bit of
knowledge when it comes to layers and a sense of colour
harmony in order to rectify the less beautiful transitions.

How to proceed
1 Crop the original picture
Load a picture in Photoshop and using the Marquee tool,
draw a frame from the upper edge of the picture close to under
the main subject that should be reflected.

2 Mirror the image

Before you head out with your camera, you can browse through
your picture archive to look for a suitable subject. Ideally there
should be a solid horizontal line that isnt interrupted by objects.
Here it could be a single tree in the landscape, a solitary
building or a group of animals. The main subject should be
sharp so that the reflection can take advantage of it and look not
just realistic but believable.
As your subject is not only distorted through the waves but
also through refractions, you will have to correct the
perspective in step 7 which helps in making the result a bit
more realistic. In the end, you will see a fine line between the
picture and reflection (step 8). Remove this line using a layer
mask and a soft brush.

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Now press [Ctrl] + [J] and enable the Move tool with [V]. Drag
the point in the middle of the picture to the lower edge of the
marquee keeping the left mouse button pressed. Right-click in
the picture and select Mirror vertically

3 Create Reflection Layer

Create a new layer and select Edit | Fill Area. Set the colour to
White under Use. Subsequently select Filter | Filter gallery
| Sketch filter | Halftone Pattern. Change the Pattern type to
Line and enter the following values: Size: 12, Contrast: 5.
Confirm with OK and save the picture as a Photoshop file
(PSD).

PHOTO: MARKUS HERMANNSDORFER

Choose a picture with a horizontal line

practice
realistic water reflections

4 Add waves

Click on the eye next to the active layer to hide it. Then select
the layer below it and select Layer | Smart objects | to Smart
Object. Now set the following values via Filter | Distortion|
Distort: Horizontal scale: 5, Vertical scale: 3. Confirm with
OK and load your reflection layer in the following dialogue.

5 Emphasise more on the artificial lake

Click on the icon for a new Adjustment layer and select
Colour area. Set a dark blue colour and confirm with OK. In
the Layer menu, select the command Create Cut Mask.
Fade the layer with the Colour mode and reduce its Opacity
to 14 percent. Add a Tone value correction layer and create
a cut mask in the same manner as before.

6 Weaken the contrast

Open up the window for the tone value correction layer and set
the values 29 and 200 for Tone value level. Create a new
layer and select Filter | Render | Clouds. Then select Filter |
Blur | Gaussian Blur and set the value 80 as the Radius.
Create a cut mask. Select Soft Light as a Fade mode and
reduce the Opacity to 20 percent.

7 Add refraction
Select the layer with the reflection and press [Ctrl] + [T].
Confirm the selection with OK, keep the [Ctrl] key pressed and
drag both the lower points a bit to the side to perspectively
distort the reflection.

8 The final touch

If the reflection still appears unrealistic then first reduce the

opacity of the top most layer and then play a bit more with the
tone value correction layer below it. Remove the separation line
in which you first select the layer with the reflection, place a
Layer mask on it and then carefully paint the line with a soft
brush Colour: Black, Opacity: 60 percent
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practice
itunes music on android

Use iTunes Media

In Android
Have you bought a few songs and music albums via iTunes and want to have them with
you on your Android device? Heres how you can enjoy them with the help of a free app or
the online Google Music service
By Dr. Peter Posse und Markus Hermannsdorfer

imilar to the Billboard music charts, Apple is thinking of

publishing an iTunes App for Android. However, people
familiar with the scene doubt this as the music service
iTunes is one of Apples crown jewels. It is understood that
Apples boss Tim Cook would not like to see such an important
program on the competitions smartphones.
It doesnt matter if the rumours were true at some point of time
- now you can use iTunes contents without any problems on your
Android devices. The trick is to create a link between the
competing operating systems. It can be done via a free app or via
the Google Music service.

overwritten

Doing things the old-fashioned way

Another easy way to do this is actually by using Googles Music
Manager, however, since that service isnt available in Malaysia,
we suggest doing things the old-fashioned way by dragging and
dropping the music files you want from the PC to your Android
device. Much like doubleTwist you can either do so using a USB
cable or wirelessly via apps like AirDroid.

How to proceed
1 Install Double Twist on the PC

Setting up the link using the free app Double Twist is quite easy.
The app can be installed as shown in steps 1 and 2 on your PC and
the Android smartphone. The data can be transferred either free of
cost via a USB cable or wirelessly using the paid function AirSync
that also must be installed. Disable the option Always run on
startup before you click on Finish. The tool initially remains in
the background when the program is started till it finds a link via
USB or an accessible AirSync.
You can get started right away via the flexible selection of
playlists, albums or artists. Take note that the music management
is done in iTunes and changes made on the smartphone are

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Visit the site www.doubletwist.com. Select Download for PC and

install the tool.

2 Download the app on to your smartphone

Go to the doubleTwist Player app in the Play Store on the
Android device. In the app, go to the Settings and then under
Categories look for AirSync, which you can purchase for
RM9.99.

3 Activate AirSync
To enable the wireless connection, tap on the setting icon on the
top right and select AirSync via the slider, switch AirSync to

SCREENSHOTS: HERSTELLER

Use Double-Twist App as a bridge

On. Also note the 5-digit AirSync - Password under it.

4 Connect the PC with Android device

When doubleTwist is started, the computer recognises the

smartphone. Click on the program icon and enter the AirSync
password if you have setup a wireless connection. This connection
will be automatically established. You can start right away with the
transfer via USB cable also.

5 Transfer Music files

Now go ahead: Go to the category Music on the PC and enable
Sync Music and select the files to be transferred with the help of
Playlists , Albums or Artists. Start the transfer by clicking on
Sync now.

6 Transfer via USB Cable

Firstly, connect your device to the PC using a USB cable. Then, you
will have to check if its connected as a Media device (MTP). If it
isnt you can easily change it by dragging down the notification
pane and changing it from there

7 Start the Transfer

Once the device is connected to the PC, open up the iTunes Media
| Music folder and also the phones internal storage or microSD
storage. Place both windows side-by-side and you can just drag
and drop the files to your device.

8 Transfer Wirelessly via AirDroid

If you dont like having to deal with cables, you can always utilise
AirDroid. This app is free to download and enables you to control
your device using an Internet browser. Once youve set up
everything, you will be greeted to a desktop like interface, there all
you have to do is click on the Music folder and click on Upload
and you will be able to select individual files or entire folders.

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practice
a better review

Reviewing
Without The Chaos
When collaborating on documents, tracking changes is a great way to learn and
brainstorm. However, it can get messy so heres how to make it a little cleaner By Dr. Peter Posse

Configuration with the recipient

For a smoother collaboration, every co-author should
customise a hidden Word option. To do this, follow steps 6
and 7. Only when these settings match, will you see the
document upon opening exactly as the previous author had
last saved it.

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You should change the view to Completed before saving

each time so that the next author can decide what selections
he wants to display.

Finally clean-up the document

When it comes to a completed document, never rely on hide.
Click on Accept in the area Changes in the tab Review
of the menu and select the command Accept changes in the
document so that individual steps are no longer visible later.
Subsequently open the Security center as per steps 6 and 7
and start a check according to step 8. Confirm the question
with Yes after saving the earlier changes. For each selected
category, you can then decide - which data you wish to delete
from the document. Note that this data cannot be restored.

How to proceed
1 Confusing display
Viewing all changes can get very confusing quickly. The text
lengths are temporarily changed and the breaks are moved so
that documents cannot be logically formatted in this view.

2 Track Changes
Switch to the tab Review in the menu group and click on the
lower part of the icon on Track Changes. Select the option

SCREENSHOTS: ANBIETER

hanges in text drafts can be tracked using the function

Review in Word. When it comes to complex
documents, this quickly leads to visual chaos. Apart
from the numerous remarks, the entire text and the individual
page breaks change and specific formatting of the document
in this state is impossible. But you can eliminate this problem
with the help of a few settings.
First, take care of the presentation of your own document.
To do this, open the Tracking options as per step 2 and make
the desired settings there. The basic settings in step 4 are
mainly important as to whether formatting changes should be
tracked or not. It is often sufficient to record content changes
and to disable this option.
Instead of customising the display of the selections in
details, it is better to deal with the display of the markups as
described in step 5. Thus, you can further log the changes but
highlight only the interesting points.

Change tracking options

3 Make selections more beautiful

In the Markup area, change the setting for Insertions to

Without and to Hidden for Deletions. Likewise, disable
them via Never for Use Balloons.

4 Exclude Formatting
For example, disable the option Track formatting if you wish
to capture only text changes. Confirm your settings with OK
and enable the monitoring by clicking on Track Changes.

5 Setting selections individually

Change the upper combination field from Final: Show
Markup to Closed in the Tracking area in the Review
tab. Or set the visible selections individually for Display
Markup.

6 Open Security Center

Select File | Options and then Trust Center. Click on Trust

Center Settings.

7 Hide Changes
Switch to the category Privacy Options and disable the
option Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving
in the section Document-specific Settings. Confirm with
OK.

8 Get the document checked

Now click on Document Inspector, confirm the feedback with

Yes, select the desired options and click on Inspect.
Subsequently remove all undesired contents in every category
by clicking on Remove all.

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practice
cleaning up junk data

Time To Take Out The

Trash In Your System
Those who have plenty of space are usually reluctant to delete things. When this bad habit
eventually starts taking its toll, the only thing that can be done is to systematically take out
the data-trash By Markus Mandau

lenty can sometimes be too much: The latest PCs feature

massive hard disks with storage capacities of two to four
terabytes, and when it comes to notebooks, memories that
can accommodate several hundred gigabytes of data have
become part of the norm. Unfortunately, an abundant amount of
storage space often tempts users to not maintain their data pool
properly after all, you can always take care of it later. Fast
internet lines that facilitate speeds of up to 50 MBit/s have made
the task of downloading and saving all kinds of files part of the
normal routine, to the extent that one hardly thinks about how
much disk space the downloaded movies, music or images are
using. This uninhibited rage for collecting things increases even
further when, in addition to listening to music and viewing HD
videos and RAW photographs, you process copies of the same
files, so as not to tamper with the original you never know.
Modern processing software leads to a veritable tidal wave of
copies that have only been subjected to minor changes, since it no

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longer automatically overwrites any of the originals.

Consequently, the terabyte drives eventually get filled out, and the
users overview of the locations of files becomes a thing of the
past. The data coronary sneaks up on the user without warning.
After all, who checks how many gigabytes are still free if youre
using massive hard drives? If you start losing your birds eye view
of the situation, its time to put a plan into action a plan that
establishes lasting order and results in a situation in which the
data pool that you do not want to sacrifice is all that remains.

A three-step plan for establishing order

The strategy that were introducing in the following article features
a step-by-step approach: Initially, the user browses through and
deletes unnecessary files. This is followed by a step in which the
system is cleansed of waste data, and finally, we give you tips as
to how you can drive the final stake through the heart of the chaos
by keeping the hard disk clean on a more permanent basis.

Demolishing the
Data Junkpile

Large files and duplicated files clog up the

hard disk. Efficient analysis programmes
sniff them out and delete them

1 Finding and deleting space hogs

WinDirStat makes it relatively easy to find out which files are
taking up a particularly large amount of space. The tool displays
this information in different colours, with each colour
corresponding to a particular type (such as DivX video). If you click
the largest tile in the lower window, WinDirStat shows you exactly
where the space hog is located in the system. At this point, use the
right mouse button to zoom in, and then launch the Explorer via
the context menu. In this phase, you will have to decide whether
you want to retain or delete the specific files

2 Finding duplicate files

Anti-Twin compares files byte for byte. This can be useful when it
comes to things like Word documents or films, but it can take quite
a long time. Therefore, go to File filter after the programme is
launched and specify a minimum size of 10KB. Limit the
comparison operation further using the Only files with the
following extensions option. After selecting a Base folder,
select a 2nd folder for comparison. If you reduce the Min.
match to 90%, Anti-Twin also finds multimedia files
corresponding to the same films that have been encoded
differently. The Search for similar files option starts the analysis.

PHOTOS: KLAUS SATZINGER (L.); THINKSTOCK/GUENTER GUNI (R.) SCREENSHOTS: ANBIETER

3 Clearing duplicate files

At the end of the analysis process, Anti-Twin presents a list that is

sorted with results of the duplicates. It also specifies the percent to
which the original and the duplicate match each other. Click the
green box to specify the files that the tool should delete.
Alternatively, you can also use the Selection as per properties
option. The rules define, for example, the files that Have an older
file date. The Delete selected files option launches the deletion
process.

4 Detecting duplicate photographs

VisiPics runs a contentual analysis to find duplicate photographs in
your collection of photographs. The tool also does this for pictures
in different resolutions and pictures having a similar motif. The
extent of similarity can be specified using a slider under Filter.
You can start the analysis with the play arrow. VisiPics then
displays the duplicate photographs to the left, which you can also
Delete.

5 Finding identical songs

Since duplicate audio files can exist in different formats, the bytecomparison process doesnt produce precise results. Similarity
scans the music collection by analysing the songs with respect to
their contents. Under Tools | Options, you can use the sliders for
Tags and Contents to define just how Similarity should look
for matches - 80% is a convenient setting. However, Similaritys
precise algorithm is restricted to the fee-based pro-version.

practice
cleaning up junk data

Getting rid of
System Garbage

1a

1b

Windows and its various programmes are

quite prolific when it comes to saving files.
Those who sweep out the system with an
unyielding broom will be able to clear
several Gigabytes from the hard disk

1 Getting rid of old Windows backups

The WinSXS folder in the Windows directory often occupies
several GBytes (1a) of space. Thats where the system saves all the
updates and service packs. Windows 7 cleans up the folder via the
Disk cleanup option, which can be found in the start menu,
under Accessories | System Tools. WinSXS gets downsized to a
massive degree if you activate the Windows update clean-up
(1b), Service pack backup files and Windows error report files
options. Windows 8.1 automatically cleans up WinSXS once a
month.

2 Cleaning up the system

Crap Cleaner has established itself as a well-maintained standard
system-cleaning tool. The Analyse option in the Cleaner
shows you how much dead weight the system is lugging around.
The tool can locate even more data using the CCEnhancer add-on,
which also eliminates the data garbage associated with several
Applications. In just a few minutes, the CCleaner ferrets out
hundreds of files that can harmlessly be deleted (see right),
including space hogs like the installation folders of the graphics
drivers, which often occupy several GBytes of space.

3 Scrapping online spies

AdwCleaner takes care of a very special type of troublesome data:
It scans the system, looking for traces of adware, toolbars and
spying programmes. The Search option makes it possible for the
tool to analyse the system, along with the registry. Pests are
automatically marked by the tool, so all you have to do to free the
system from the unwanted intruders is click Delete.

4 Finding hidden remnants of data

The Explorer doesnt display everything. Windows shadow copies
are directly linked to the NTFS files system. To delete them,
navigate to More options | System Restore and Shadow Copies
(4a) in the Disk cleanup tool. The additional data is hidden in
alternate streams: NTFS makes it possible to attach a data stream
that is invisible to Windows to each file. Internet Explorer creates
an alternate stream for each download. AlternateStreamView
detects (4b) and deletes these streams.

4a

5 Optimising the hard drive

Magnetic disks, which have been in operation for quite a long time,
may be strongly fragmented after the junk data has been cleared
up. Under such circumstances, they are in need of maintenance.
Before you start installing data again, you should check the degree
of fragmentation and establish order at the bit-level. Use Disk
Defrag to check whether intervention is needed. Mark a partition
and select Analyse selected. If the degree of fragmentation
exceeds ten percent, you should launch the clean-up procedure via
the Defrag & Optimise option.

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4b

Establishing Order

After the clean-up operation has been run, it

makes sense to sort out the rest of the data
pool.

1 Copying files en masse

FastCopy comes in particularly handy when you want to copy
several files from one folder into another one. Specify the source
and destination locations at the top of the screen. Under that, you
should specify whether and how the tool is to replace files of the
same name in the destination folder the Copy (Overwrite all)
option tells the programme to overwrite everything. The Full
speed option makes it possible to attach a high priority to the
copying procedure. You can use the Filter to include or exclude
specific file formats. When everything has been configured, the
Execute option tells the tool to get started

2 Re-naming files in a meaningful

manner
The filename should provide information about the contents of the
file. When it comes to re-naming files in a meaningful manner,
Bulk Rename Utility has all the tools you need and doesnt leave
out a single option. All you have to do is select the folder
containing the files in question using the window in the upper
section of the screen, and the tool populates the lower section with
a dozen parameters that make it possible to re-name all the said
files in a row. The effects of the re-naming operation can be
checked under New Name. When youre ready, you can start the
re-naming procedure using the Rename option that is in the
lower right section.

3 Managing multimedia files

MediaPurge scans music and video collections. The tool uses the
programme assistant to set up a new Directory structure from
tags for audio files. After selecting the folder, specify the songs.
They could be sorted, for example, by Genre or Artist. They
can be sorted further by Album. Since video files usually have
no tags, you should use the Set up directory structure from file
names option. The tool also synchronises media stocks from
different devices that are in the same network.

4 Setting up an automatic system for

orderliness
With DropIt, you can save files of a certain type in a pre-defined
folder. Go to the DropIt arrow on your desktop, use the context
menu to create a new association and define a standard folder
for, for example, PDF files. After that, all you have to do is drag all
the PDF files onto the arrow. You should also activate the
continuous scan for the standard folder for browser downloads in
the Options | Monitoring section, so that DropIt will sort them
automatically.

5 Creating back-ups for important files

Areca Backup is well-suited for the task of backing up data. In
Areca, use the Process | New target option to start a back-up job.
After that, right-click the order and select the Start backup
option. If the configuration is set to incremental, Areca will only
save the changes. When it comes to time-controlled back-ups,
Areca creates a batch file for the Windows Scheduler.

tips & tricks

windows, applications & hardware

Tips
Tricks
OCTOBER 2014

WINDOWS
WINDOWS 7
More space on the hard disk by
moving pagefile

01

The pagefile pagefile.sys can be moved

easily to another hard disk or partition.
This is easy fix when you wish to free up
some space on the system partition or
save the pagefile on a faster hard disk.
In the Start menu, right-click on
Computer and select Properties
to open the performance information
for your PC. Click Advanced system
settings on the left column. A new
dialog window will open. Look for
Performance at the very top in the
tab Advanced. Click on Settings...
there and go to the tab Advanced
and then click on Change... in the
Virtual Memory area. Disable the
Automatically manage the pagefile size
for all drives.
If you wish to delete the pagefile from
the C:\ drive then select this drive in
the selection field. Select No pagefile
and click on Set. You will receive a
message that Windows cannot repair

any details if there are system errors. If

you are OK with this then click on Yes.
Alternatively, you can also leave a small
pagefile on the system partition. To do
this select the system partition and click
on User-defined Size. Set the Initial
size and the Maximum size to 200MB.
Confirm with Apply.
Now select the drive on which you
wish to store the pagefile in future. Click
on Size managed by the system or
specify a User-defined size. Confirm
with Apply in both cases and close the
window by pressing OK. Subsequently
you will be prompted to restart your
computer. A lot of Gigabytes of memory
will be available after the restart.

02

WINDOWS 8
Completely delete and replace
erroneous updates from the
system

If the automatic updates for Windows

8 fails or the improvements are not
at all loaded then it is a good idea to
remove the download remnants or to

try out the update anew. To do this,

first disable the automatic updates in
Windows 8. Press [Windows] + [C] to
open the Charms bar and then select
Search. Enter Updates as the search
term and switch to the Windows Update
Settings in the results. Click on Choose
how updates get installed and select the
option Never check for updates in the
Drop-Down menu. Confirm the change
with OK.
Now remove all the existing update
files so Windows can again download
the updates correctly. Open Windows
Explorer and navigate to the folder
X:\Windows\Software-Distribution\
Download. Replace the X here with
the drive letter on which you have
installed Windows 8. Delete all the
contents of the folder Download.
Caution: Do not delete the main folder
but only all the folders and files within
the Download folder.
Subsequently enable automatic updates
following the same steps mentioned
above in the first paragraph and reset
the Update settings to Install Updates
automatically.

03

WINDOWS 8
Make your own tiles for programs
and Steam games

Using the available resources of Windows

8, you can create simple tiles for the
Start menu. For this you just need to
right-click on the EXE file of a program
and select Attach to Start in the
context menu.
If thats not enough for you? The
freeware OblyTile offers more options
regarding the layout of your tiles.
Among others, you can randomly select

01

02

03

In this dialog, you will generate a small,

200MB size pagefile on the Windows partition.
Remove the remaining 4GB

Disable automatic Windows update to be able

to easily delete the erroneous updates

Using the app Steam Tile, you can generate

tiles for your Steam games that also display
the game status

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tips & tricks

windows, applications & hardware

the name and the image of the tiles

using this freeware. Download OblyTile
from our website and start the tool.
An installation is not necessary. First
specify a name for the tile. You can
subsequently hide the title by clicking on
the check mark before Hide Tile Name.
Now enter the program that you wish to
start via the tile, in the field Program
Path. For this, click on the button with
three dots. You can now select between
a file, a folder or the address of a
website. Enter the path to the desired
image for the tile in the field Tile
Image. You can easily select an image
from your hard disk using the button on
the right of the input field. In the field
Tile Small Image, enter the path of the
desired image that should be displayed
as a thumbnail of the file. You may
also leave this field blank. Set the font
and background color (for transparent
images). More settings can be done
under Tile Settings as per your desires.
Finally click on the button Create Tile
to create the tile.
Of course, you can also create tiles
for Steam games using OblyTile. An
interesting alternative is the free app
Steam Tile as it can display the game
achievements in the tiles apart from
preview images, provided you have a
public Steam profile.
Look for the application Steam Tile
in the Windows 8 Store and install it.
After it starts, you will be prompted to
enter the address of your public Steam
profile. If this does not happen then take
the mouse pointer to the lower right
screen corner. Click on Settings and
then on Change Steam ID. Follow the
instructions and confirm your input. You
will now see an overview of your Steam
games. Click on the game for which you
wish to create a tile. Give a name to the
tile and confirm with Attach to Start.

04

04
Create a shortcut for the Desktop buttons and
add them later to the taskbar

with the help of a shortcut.

Right click anywhere on the Desktop.
In the context menu, select New and
Shortcut in the sub-menu.
In the storage location, enter explorer
shell:::{3080F90D -D7AD -11D9-BD980000947B0257} in the following window
and click on Next. Subsequently you
will be asked for a name for the shortcut.
Enter Display Desktop and confirm
with Finish. Now you will see the new
shortcut on the Desktop. Right click on
this shortcut, select Properties and then
Other Icon. You will find the suitable
icon in the path C:\Windows\System32\
imageres.dll. Confirm with OK.
Finally the shortcut should be moved
into the Taskbar. Again right-click on
the icon and select Add to Taskbar.
You can start using the practical button
immediately via the Taskbar.

06

WINDOWS
Easily disable the display of the
filedesktop.ini in the directories

06

05

WINDOWS 8
Manage passwords without any
additional programs

Every computer must have a Password

Safe. You can also make use of Windows
resources if you want to manage your

WINDOWS 8
Retrofit the useful buttons for the
desktop display

Windows 7 and Vista have a useful

button on the right border of the taskbar.
This button helps to reveal the Desktop
whenever required. This is practical if
you have opened several windows and
do not wish to minimise them. You can
upgrade this button quickly and easily

passwords but do not wish to install

any additional program. Firstly, open the
Control Panel and select User Accounts
and Family Safety. Click on Credential
Manager. You will now see all the web
passwords as encrypted text. You can
Edit the listed entries or delete them
from the Password Safe. Switch to the
category Windows Credential Manager
above and you will get an overview
of the Windows, certificate-based and
generic credentials. You can also edit
or delete these entries. You can enter
new credential information for websites,
network addresses or computer in the
Password Safe via the respective button
Add. Just enter the corresponding
web address, your user name and the
associated password.

05
You can manage your passwords in the
Credential Manager

You can prevent the annoying display of the

desktop.ini file in the folder options

Windows automatically creates a

desktop.ini file in almost every folder
to regulate the information in the system
file that appears like the Explorer window
of an opened folder. The INI file also
decides whether you will see thumbnails
for the files or if a background image is
assigned to the folder. Useful information
is hidden in the desktop.ini file.
You should never delete the file as
it will cause the formatting of the folder
to be lost. However, you can hide the
system file.
Enter the term Folder options in the
Windows search and start the program
with the same name. Alternatively you
will also find the tool in the Control
Panel. Switch to the tab View and set a
check mark for the point Hide protected

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tips & tricks

windows, applications & hardware

system files (recommended). Confirm

the input with OK. The file desktop.
ini should now be invisible.

07

and click on Adjust screen brightness

automatically. You can also temporarily
deactivate the automatic screen
brightness in the Settings under the
General tab.

WINDOWS
Start programs faster via key
combinations

10

WINDOWS 8
Find and disable hidden,
automatic starting programs

08
You can find excess WLAN connections that
impair the network traffic fastest via the
command prompt

07
You must add the programs to the Task bar
to be able to start applications via keyboard
shortcuts

You can start programs via key

combinations in Windows 7. However,
these combinations arent mentioned
anywhere. We will demonstrate how
this handy tip works: First, you must
add the programs that you wish to start
via key combination, to the Taskbar
To accomplish this, right click on the
corresponding program and select Add
this program to the Taskbar. You can
now start the first ten places of the
added programs via the key combination
[Windows] + [Shift] + [1-0]. Here, "1-0"
stands for the position in the Taskbar.
Press and hold the [Windows]- and the
[Shift] key and also the [2] key and the
second program from the left in the
Taskbar, will start.

08

WINDOWS
Deleting unwanted WLAN
profiles corrects network
problems

Deleting existing but unwanted WLAN

profiles with the help of the command
prompt is often helpful when Windows
encounters problems with the network.
Press the keys [Windows] + [R] so that
the dialogue Run appears. Enter the
cmd in the input field and click on
OK. A black window will open up.
Type netsh wlan show profiles and

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press [Enter]. You will get a list of all

networks your computer was connected
to.
Now enter netsh wlan delete profile
name="XXX" in the text field. "XXX"
stands for the name of the network that
you have connected to before and now
wish to delete. Press [Enter] again and
the WLAN profile will be deleted. Now
again run the query netsh wlan show
profiles and the deleted profile should
not be displayed on the screen.

09

WINDOWS 8
Disable automatic brightness
setting of the screen

09
Using the Charm bar, you can find the
controller for screen brightness in Windows 8

If your Notebook is equipped with a

light sensor then Windows 8 controls
the monitor illumination depending on
the external light ratios. This function is
quite logical but often Windows 8 sets
the screen brightness too high. If this
brightness setting is annoying to work
with then open the settings by pressing
[Windows] + [W]. In the Search bar,
type the key word Screen brightness

10
The system configuration shows all those
programs that secretly start with Windows

Automatically starting programs are

a frequent cause to a slow startup
or boot. If you are not able to delete
these programs from the Autostart
folder then a lesser known trick can
come in handy: In Windows Search,
type msconfig. A small program
will thus start where you can select
the Systemstart tab. Now you will
see hidden programs that are executed
at the start. Some of them are strictly
necessary and therefore you should not
disable them. You can always refer to
the program and the developer's name:
For example, iTunes can be disabled
without any problems.

11

WINDOWS 7
Repair the malfunctioning
Windows Explorer

Outdated or corrupted hardware drivers

may lead to the fact that Windows
Explorer no longer works. Therefore,
check whether the driver of your
hardware such as graphics card or
sound is updated. If not, you should
immediately update them.
If this does not help, then check
the computer for missing or corrupt
system files. To run this check, click on
Start and type cmd in the Search

tips & tricks

windows, applications & hardware

11

12

13

The Device Manager gives information about

defective drivers that could stop Windows
Explorer from working

If the iPad does not work as desired then

revive the device using hard or soft reset

If there are two green check marks under a

message then it can no longer be deleted in
WhatsApp

field. Right-click on cmd and select

Run as Administrator. If you log in
with an account that does not have
Administrator rights, then you must enter
the corresponding password. Confirm the
message from Windows with Yes. Now
type the command sfc/scannow and
confirm with [Enter]. The scan will take a
while. If errors are found then Windows
will prompt you to insert the installation
CD to replace the erroneous files.
Viruses or Malware can also make the
Windows Explorer unusable. Run a scan
with your Antivirus program to ensure
that your computer is not infected with
any hazardous software. If the previous
steps fail then you can start the PC in
the secure mode and check whether
you can reproduce the error here. If
you do not know what to do then you
can try resetting your Windows system
to an earlier time. Select a time when
the problem had not occurred. But your
should backup your most important data
before you execute a system restore.

Simultaneously press the Power button

on the upper edge of the iPad and the
Home button till the Apple Logo is
displayed. Your iPad will be restarted.
Hard Reset is recommended only in
the most extreme emergencies as the
iPad is reset to its factory settings. You
will lose all the apps and data on the
device. Prerequisite for the hard reset is
a computer or Mac with iTunes installed.
Start iTunes on your PC and connect
the iPad via USB to your computer.
After some time you should get a new
tab iPad displayed in the iTunes
window. Click on it to come to the
Synchronisation menu. Start the Hard
Reset by clicking on the button Restore
iPad. You can then backup your data in
the next window. If you do not wish to
do this, then continue by clicking on Do
not backup. Accept the last warning by
clicking on Restore or Restore and
update (varies according to the iOS
version). Keep in mind that all your data
on the iPad will be lost once you do
this. Now, it is just a matter of 'waiting
and watching': The iPad will be restarted
many times and the firmware will be
restored. This process may last for a
while. Do not disconnect the USB cable
during this process and do not turn off
your computer.
You can set up your device again after
the installation. It is recommended not to
use any backups but to have a complete
new setup in the iPad.

this before. After sending a message

on Whatsapp by accident or to the
wrong person and hoping to delete the
message. This can be done but only
under certain conditions.
Irrespective of whether it is a photo,
video or other content - Messages can
be withdrawn as long as they have not
yet been transmitted to WhatsApp. This
happens when the clock icon can be seen
next to the message and not the check
mark. In this case, you should close
WhatsApp as fast as possible, activate
the Flight mode and open WhatsApp
again and then delete the message. Thus,
you can cancel messages at the last
moment if the connection is slow.
The deletion of successfully sent
messages is no longer possible. Keep
your finger pressed on a message and
the option Delete will appear. However,
as soon as there are one or two check
marks for a message, it means that
the message is now on the WhatsApp
servers and will be sent to the recipient
from there.

MOBILE

12

IPAD
Reset the tablet via soft or hard
reset

If your iPad is not working as you

wanted it to then you have the option to
reset the device via hard or soft reset.
If an app cannot be terminated or the
iPad is laggy and unresponsive then
proceed with a soft reset. To do so,
restart your iPad and this will free up
some memory from unwanted load.
Before you start, you should save your
work completely to avoid any data
loss. Then go to the home screen.

13

WHATSAPP
Deleting an already sent
message. Does it really work?

Most of us would have experienced

14

ANDROID
Use maps from Google Maps
without an Internet connection

In order to use Google Maps on Android

you usually need an Internet connection.
But you can also use the maps offline
with a simple trick.
Open Google Maps and log in to your
Google Account, if you havent already
done so. Then, search for a place, for
example San Francisco. Once the
search is done, pull up the info sheet
at the bottom of the screen and you
will find the Save map to use offline

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16

TWITTER
Display tweets automatically on
your Facebook wall

14

17

Using your Google account, you can also use

maps from Google Maps offline

The web service Instagrabbr gives you the

ability to download pictures of a random
Instagram user

option. You can then adjust the map

by moving it and zooming in or out, as
needed, then click Save
Tip: The maximum size for an area you
can download is 50km x 50km. If your
selection is larger than that, you will
have to zoom in to a smaller area. Also
take note that not all countries maps are
available to download.

SOCIAL NETWORKS
FACEBOOK
Protect your privacy by hiding
Likes

15

16
Just by logging in to Facebook, you can now
easily share tweets to your Facebook page

When you tweet something, it can also

be automatically published on your
Facebook timeline - this saves a lot of
time. To enable this function, first go to
the profile settings of Twitter and click
on the Profile tab on the left. There
you will find the Facebook option, click
on Login to Facebook and create the
desired link. All your tweets will now
be automatically transferred. However,
retweets, @responses (mentions) and
direct messages are excluded.

17

15
Change the visibility of Likes in your profile

It is recommended to limit some Likes

if you do not wish to let others know
what you like. In future, to enjoy better
privacy, first head into your profile page.
You will then see the button More
under the cover picture. Click on this
button. A list will open up. Here, click on
Likes. You will see all pages you have
Liked. To change the visibility, click on
the Pencil icon in the upper right area
and then on Edit Privacy. A list will
now open in which all the information is
divided into categories. For every single
category you can set who is allowed and
able to view your Likes.

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INSTAGRAM
Download pictures without
having to share them with others

Unlike Twitter, Instagram doesn't have

a "Retweet" or Share function and
this makes sharing photos from other
accounts a little tricky to do. However,
we have found a few ways to do so and
you can either use your smartphone or
PC to do so.
Instagram pictures can be saved only
via workarounds on mobile devices.
Basically, you can easily save photos
by taking a screenshot. For iPhone
and iPad users, you just need to press
the Home and Sleep button at the
same time. The same combination is
applicable for most Android devices.
Subsequently simply crop the picture
using an App such as Adobe Photoshop
Express. Android users can also use
the free app InstaSave: It allows you
to download all pictures that you have
Liked. Tip: You can also remove the

like after downloading the pictures. The

same functions can found on Gramory
for iPhone and iPad. With this app, not
only can you save the pictures but you
will also receive an extensive Instagram
client with all the important functions.
If you have jailbroken your device then
you can integrate a Download button
into the official Instagram app: To do
this, install the free tweak InstaSave from
Cydia Big-Boss Repo. You will now see
a Download option for every Instagram
post If the smartphone methods are too
slow for you then you can also download
the pictures on to the computer. To
make this work, first download the free
InstagramDownloader (available on our
website) and unzip the ZIP file. Start the
downloader and enter the name of the
Instagram user whose pictures you wish
to save. As soon as you click on the
arrow, the tool will save all download
links as a text file in the program folder.
The individual pictures can be manually
downloaded as per your choice or you
can get this job done with programs
such as jDownloader (also available on
our site).
The whole process is even easier
with the web service instagrabbr.com.
Just enter the username, search for the
desired picture and save. The advantage:
You do not need to install any programs.
Note The copyright is also applicable for
pictures of Instagram users. Therefore, do
not use any external images in your blog
or website. You are obviously allowed to
download your own photos as a backup
copy.

tips & tricks

windows, applications & hardware

HARDWARE
NETWORK
Set-up a wireless connection to
the Android smartophone

18

Sending data wirelessly to a smartphone

works can easily be done with the help
of the free Android app AirDroid. First
download the free app AirDroid on
your smartphone. You can create an
account upon starting the app but this
is not mandatory. If you do not create
an account then enter the IP address
given in the app, in the browser of your
computer that is registered in the same

18
The app AirDroid eliminates the need for a USB
cable and allows management of smartphones
via an Internet browser

network. For security reasons, you must

confirm the connection to the computer
where you have to tap on Accept
within 10 seconds in the pop-up window.
A successful connection will be shown in
the app as well as on the webpage.
You can carry out various tasks after
you have setup the wireless access to
your smartphone. In the lower right hand
corner you will find a toolbox. Load
the files using the first button and you
can change the storage location on the
Smartphone by clicking on the file path
behind Upload. On the left side you
will see many tiles that will take you to
the file management. The tile File is
best suited here if you are not looking for
special formats such as photos or music.
Click on the file and select Download
in the top bar. Photos, videos, music and
ringtones can be quickly found with the
help of the tiles bearing the same name.
You can also upload and download file
via the top menu bar. You can also use
the smartphone camera via the Camera
tile and store the photos directly on
the PC. You will find the buttons for
Hangouts/SMS and calling in the top
menu bar. However, while you can write
and send messages on the PC, only
the telephone number can be entered

in the Telephone feature. Voice calling

is done only with the smartphone. You
can manage important APK files for
developers via the last icon.

19

MONITOR
Quickly and easily revive dead
pixel on the screen

If you notice a dead pixel on your screen,

it is possible to repair it with a little
patience and luck. Download the program
Dead Pixel Tester from our website.
Once it is downloaded, start the program
and select the setting Solid in the
Pattern menu. Put a check mark for
Auto Colour Cycle and set the time
to 250ms. Let the program run for
one or two hours. The principle behind
the program is that the seemingly
dead pixel and the pixels around it are
stimulated with changing colours. If it
all goes well, the flawed pixel will light
up again. If the pixel does not react as
expected then grab a cotton or microfibre cloth. Wipe the screen with a little
bit of pressure, from left to right and
from top to bottom. Repeat this process
many times. If this method also does
not work then the pixel is really beyond
saving.

20
If the mouse moves by itself then plug it into
another USB port for testing

to the PC and be sure that the latest

driver is installed. Use the mouse on a
straight or flat surface.
If the mouse still keeps moving
without you touching it, then disconnect
it from the PC and carefully try to clean
the lower area of the mouse and the
lining. The error may probably also be
in your system. Open the Control Panel
and click on Device Manager under
Hardware and Sound. If several devices
are listed under Mice and other pointing
devices then remove those that you do
not need.

21

USB
More security by temporarily
deactivating specific USB ports

The deactivation of USB ports prevents

theft of files from your PC by external
entities. Open the Device Manager
and scroll to the Universal Serial Bus
Controller. Right-click on the desired
USB port and go to the Properties
of the tab Driver. Select the option
Disable and confirm the setting. This
way you can disable all corresponding
USB ports.

19
Using these settings, the Dead Pixel Tester
tries to stimulate the dead pixel by alternating
colours

20

MOUSE
What to do when the mouse
starts moving all by itself

You do not need to call an exorcist

when the mouse starts moving by itself.
Plugging the mouse into another USB
port can be quite helpful sometimes. Also
ensure that only one mouse is connected

21
Disable USB ports in this dialogue to prevent
external access to data.

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125

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october 14

127

in the next issue

november 2014

Next Issue

Microsoft: Imminent Doom Or

Heading In The Right Direction?
Microsoft has been a target of many Facebook commenters who strike down the Windows platform with malice,
ridicule and rejection, many are asking is this a flag for its impending demise, while experts who read the numbers
suggest otherwise, and predict that Microsoft might be on a rise. Find out where Microsoft is going in the next issue as
we take a look at both sides of the coin.

Crisis Alert: You

Lost Your Phone
One of the biggest calamities to befall the modern civilian is
the loss of their smartphone. In this day and age where the
majority of personal data is kept on mobile devices, the loss of
their device can cost the individual greatly. Tune in next
month, as CHIP helps you locate your lost phone regardless of
platform.

WLAN Tuning With

MIMO
Most of us lament at the low Wi-Fi speeds we get at home or
at cafes, and with the introduction of Multi-User MIMO, will
things change? Stay tuned with us to find out if MIMO is the
technology that everyone needs or is it too far-fetched?

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