First Issue : July 2011

Windows 8 : FirstImpressionPhotoshop & LinuxTutorials

techwitmagazine.blogspot.com

Fedora 15 Review Top Android AppsGoogle declares waron Facebook

MonsoonPhotography TipsPC buying guide

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This Month in TechwitEditorialCreditsContributors' Intro

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ReviewsLenovo z460 ReviewWindows 8 : First ImpressionFedora 15 LovelockGoogle declares war onFacebook

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Hardware ZoneApplying Thermal Paste on CPUMarket Prices of this monthPC Buying GuideLenovo z460 Review

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Software ZoneWindows 8 : First ImpressionGoogle declares war onFacebook

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Mobile ZoneMust Have List of Android Apps 18

Linux ZoneFedora 15 ReviewIntroduction to Linux

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Graphics ZoneText Perspective Shadow Effects in PhotoshopFive Tips for Monsoon Photography 28

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Editor : Abhijoy SarkarGraphic Design: Siddharth Aditya SauravLayout and Formatting : Saurav ModakCover Design : Siddharth Aditya Saurav

Valuable Suggestions By: Gaurav Prabhu, David Kai Singson,Gaurav Butola, George Salon

Credits

Send us your articles, feedback, complaints etc to contact.techwit@gmail.com. Visit our site athttp://techwitmagazine.blogspot.com or Like us in Facebook. For advertising, please contactAbhijoy Sarkar at +919002430671

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EditorialEvery person has their own skills, knowledge,point of view and thoughts.Everyone wants to share them with the world. In the era of internet it is quite aneasy job. There are blogs, forums, personal websites to show what one is capableof. But then those things become individual effort and it is a golden rule thatcollective effort is always better than individual effort. With this thought wasborn an idea. An idea to have the blog owners and members from different tech­communities being expertise in different fields to share their knowledge. Tocome together and collectively share their unbiased views & knowledge. Thus“techwit” was born. ­ Abhijoy

"Shaping thoughts into reality"

Techwit always had a special place in our minds. From the day one, we wereover excited about it, and now are too. Its a whole new thing, something thatno one very few have dared trying before. With TechWit, we hope to removethe barriers of biasedness, physical space, money and time that all papermagazines have. This is a small step ahead as we believe that people need toshift now to something elseexcept paper for reading, specially in days whenthere are more burning issues like global warming, pollution and deforestation.So I believe, techwit has a two fold task ahead, though the first point is moreimportant

• To provide technology raw and real to you• To create a different culture of reading, the reading culture of future

­Saurav

The inception of 'Techwit' was already done in other part of the country & I wasoblivious to the project. It was destiny, that I happened to contact the techwit team& learnt later that they were going to approach me anyways for a role in their team.So I was in the team as a member who would be primarily contributing'Photography' & at times even Linux' articles. Being fond of writing & seeming awonderful prospect, I did not ponder much & quickly jumped into the techwit mix.

Our objectives are well defined & the members are quite eager to put in their best. With each individualworking at his best of abilities, I won't be surprised if we become a name in tech arena which everyonelooks upto. The journey is not definitely going to be an easy one & I don't care too. I will give my best forthe team & I'm confident others too will. Hard­work always pays­off & hopefully this venture will too.Get ready to experience tech as never experienced before. ­ Gaurav Prabhu

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Applying Thermal Paste on CPUost computers problems dealing with freezingor restarting are due to over­heating. Thoughtoday's chips run way cooler than those of

yesteryear but still we need to keep them underproper ventilation. Also if you overclock anycomponent it becomes vital to keep it running stable& ensure long life. This is possible only if you learnthe art of ventilation. It is not rocket science & youwould get better with experience at it. Let me showyou a simple method on how you can keep yourprocessor cool with a thermal paste. This is one of themost basic method to keep the temperature of acomputer under check.

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Requirements

• Thermal Paste (I recommend the Tuniq TX2 orTX3.)• Lint free cloth.• Surgical Spirit• Knowledge on removing/fitting the processor heat­sink.• Half an hour.The Actual Game

Disconnect all cables from your cabinet & open it in agood ventilated space having good lighting conditionfor you to work. Clean up with a brush/bulb blower toremove dust/dirt from the components. Remove theheat­sink fan assembly carefully. If you don't knowhow to do it, refer the processor manual. Also unlockthe processor from the socket with care.

Now use the bulb blower & brush combo toclean loose dirt off the processor and inbetween heat­sink fins. Once done apply asmall amount of medical spirit onto the top ofprocessor and clean it with the lint free cloth.Do the same to clean the bottom of heat­sinkwhich rests on the processor.

Once you're done cleaning, fit in the processorin its socket on the motherboard. Now applyjust a medium size drop of thermal paste at thevery center of the processor on top. Don't try tospread the solution over the complete area ofprocessor. Now quickly fit in the heat­sink in itsplace & close the cabinet. Reconnect all cablesand boot up. Your processor should now runcooler. To verify check under 'PC Health Status'in BIOS.CautionThe heat­sink maybe hot if you have beenworking on the computer. Wait for a while tocool before you can remove. Refer toprocessor manual/google on removing heat­sink. Its delicate and you may break it.Surgical Spirit should be applied on clothrather than directly over the processor. Makesure you don't let spirit get inside theprocessor through its top hole(if any).Tips• Change the thermal paste every six months.• Use a good brand thermal paste from Tuniqor Cooler Master. Avoid buying cheap roadsidepaste which come in small coin like box.

­ Gaurav Prabhu (ShutterTux)

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PC Buying GuideBasic PC Setup : 1

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 Rs.2600Motherboard: Gigabyte GA MA78LMT­S2 Rs.2450RAM: Corsair 2GB­DDR3­VS2GB1333D3G Rs.1000HardDisk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GBRs.1500Monitor: DELL IN1920 Rs.5200GPU: Onboard IGPChassis: iBall Entizer Rs.1200PSU: FSP Saga II 350W Rs.1500Optical Drive: Sony MultiWrite Rs.900Keyboard: Logitech MK200 Combo Rs.650Mouse: included in combo.

Total=17000*Accessories­Speakers: Logitech R5 Rs.400Headphone: Logitech ClearChat PremiumPC Headset Rs.650

Basic PC Setup : 2CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rs.3200Motherboard: ­Gigabyte GA­880GM­UD2H Rs.4100RAM: GSkill 2GB­DDR3­1333MHz Rs.1200HardDisk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12500GB Rs.1550Monitor: BenQ G920WL Rs.6000GPU: Sapphire HD5670 Rs.4200Chassis: CoolerMaster Elite 310 Rs.1500PSU: FSP Saga II 400W Rs.1700Optical Drive: Sony/LG MultiWrite Rs.900Keyboard: Logitech MK200 Combo Rs.650Mouse: (included in combo)

Total: Rs.25000*Other Options­RAM: Corsair 2GB­DDR3­1333MHzRs.1200Chassis #2: NZXT Gamma Rs.2000Accessories­Speakers: Altec Lansing VS2621Rs.1700UPS: APC 600VA Rs.1900

Entry­Level Gaming PC Set­Up for Rs. 35000CPU: Intel Core i3 2100 Rs.5500Motherboard: Gigabyte GA­H61M­D2­B3 Rs.3400RAM: GSkill RipJaws 4GB­DDR3­1600MHz Rs.2600HardDisk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB Rs.1550Monitor: DELL IN2020M Rs.6200GPU: Sapphire HD6790 Rs.8000Chassis: NZXT Gamma Rs.2000PSU: FSP Blue Storm Pro 500 Rs.3050Optical Drive: Sony/LG MultiWrite Rs.900Keyboard: Logitech MK200 Combo Rs.650Mouse: (included in combo)CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper TX3 Rs.1150

Total: Rs.35000*Other options­CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955BE Rs.5800Motherboard: Gigabyte GA­880GM­UD2HRs.4100Monitor: BenQ G2220HD Rs.7100Chassis­ CoolerMaster Elite 430 Rs.2400

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Mid­Level Gaming PC Set­Up for Rs. 50000CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K Rs.11000Motherboard: MSI H67MA­E35 Rs.4800RAM: GSkill RipJaws 4GB­DDR3­1600MHz Rs.2600HardDisk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB Rs.2700Monitor: BenQ G2220HD Rs.7100GPU: Sapphire HD6850 Rs.9500Chassis: CoolerMaster 690 Transparent Rs.4500PSU: Corsair VX450 Rs.3500Optical Drive: Sony/LG MultiWrite Rs.900CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster V6 GT CPU Cooler Rs.3700Total: Rs.50300*

Gaming PC Set­Up for 75000CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K Rs.11000Motherboard: Gigabyte GA­P67A­UD3R B3 Rs.9600RAM: 2x GSkill F3­12800CL8T 4GB Rs.3200 x2= Rs.6400HardDisk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB Rs.2700Monitor: DELL U2311H Rs.14000GPU: MSI R6950 Twin Frozer II/OC Edition Rs.15300Chassis: CoolerMaster Advance II Rs.5700PSU: Corsair TX650 Rs.6500Optical Drive: Sony/LG MultiWrite Rs.900CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster V6 GT CPU Cooler Rs.3700

Total: Rs.75800*Other options:­CPU: Intel Core i7 2600KRs.15850RAM: 2x Corsair Vengeance4GB­DDR3­1600MHz Rs.5000GPU: Zotac GTX560ti AMPRs.15500

­ David Kai Singson

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Lenovo Z460 ReviewI got my hands on this laptop, lets see whatsthere in it and how it scores.The set include user's manual, Windows7 driverfor Z460/Z560, Windows XP Professional driver.

Dimensions:• WxHxD: 340x34.4x231.8mm• Weight: 2.4 kg (approx)Specs:

• Processor: Intel Core i3­350, 2.27 GHz, 3 MBL3 cache• Chipset: Intel HM 55• RAM: 2 GB DDR3 1066MHz• Graphics: Intel HD• Network: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi­Fi b/g/N­draftand Bluetooth• HDD: 500 GB at 5400RPM• Optical Drive: DVD Writer• Screen: 14­inch (1366×768)

The Lenovo Z­series notebook is ranked lowerthan the Y­series entertainment notebooks. Thenew Lenovo IdeaPad Z460 laptop is aimed atcustomers interested in a stylish, trendy lookinglaptop. This laptop is meant especially forstudents and home­usage. The Y­series comeswith good features a gaming lappy has to offer.

The particular model i bought comes with DOS.The other Z460 comes with Windows 7HomeBasic (32­bit) pre­installed and MSWindows 7 Original OS disc and priced at35000.The Lenovo Z460 looks great. Its worthy enoughfor those stylish guys and girls out there to carryit anywhere they go. Its light too.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Z460 laptop has a very goodbuild quality. It has a brushed metal surface aroundthe keyboard area and has a comfortable palmrest.

The Lenovo Z460 is a feature­rich 14­incher. Builtaround the Intel HM55 chipset, its powered by anIntel Core i3­350 CPU with clockspeed of 2.27GHz,has 2 GB RAM which is sufficient enough for home­usage, Intel HD graphics, a 320 GB hard drive and a14­inch glossy screen supporting a maximum screen

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resolution of 1366x768 pixels. The 14­inchIdeaPad Z460’s has a glossy black screen,offering a better contrast ratio (though sadly ithas its own disadvantage), lid with piano finish.The laptop’s screen is good for both watchingmovies or reading text.There is a USB port, a USB/eSATA combo, anHDMI port, a VGA port, an Ethernet jack, a PCcard slot and a Kensington lock slot on the leftside of the laptop. On the right side, there is aUSB port, a DVD writer and audio jacks.

One of the coolest thing about the Z460 is itssound qualilty. While checking out the demo ofthe Z460 in the LENOVO showroom i noticedthe speaker sound was strangely good. At first ithought it was because of the HD­video (HDvideos has the best sound clarity AFAIK) theyplayed but i was wrong. After buying the lappy itested it by playing videos and musics indifferent formats and i realized how good it was.Its loud and clear, much better than manylaptops in the same price­range. The E­SATAmakes the lappy a bit futureproof. All­in­all, it’squite a feature packed machine.One of the salient feature about the LenovoIdeaPad Z460 laptop is its new keyboard andtouchpad. (If you are curious this style was firstdeveloped on the IdeaPad S10­3 netbook). Thekeyboard has chiclet­styled keys that are curvedat the bottom and very good for typing. Howeverthe Shift and Enter keys are smaller than normal.If you dont type much then you wont notice thisminimal difference.

The touchpad has a nice steel border and dipsslightly below the palmrest’s level and the touchbuttons slightly raised making it comfortableclicking them. The touchpad has a good tactilityand the overall touchpad response is very goodand also in terms of design and ergonomics.For those who are constantly on Skype, no needto worry. There's a 1.3­megapixel (MP) webcamplaced on the IdeaPad Z460's screen bezel forvideochats. Also, the microphone is placed belowthe left Control key, so its closer to your facewhile you speak and thus people at the other­endwill hear you loud and clear.

The IdeaPad Z460 also has touch­sensitivebuttons above the keyboard to mute speakers,cycle through video mode, adjust battery, and totoggle laptop sleep mode on or off.The lid and the screen frame are black (whichhappens to be one of my favourite colour for acomputer ), while the wrist rest has a brushedmetal (matte) nickel plated finishing. The solidbuild quality is excellent, and the laptop is quitelight in weight to carry around, a very good pickfor daily use.The battery life is also pretty good, compared toother laptops in the same range. I recharged thebattery fully and disconnected the power batteryto see how long it last. While doing this reviewviewing pics and videos and with music played inthe background i got around 2hrs 40 mins ofbattery life. This is good enough in my opinion. Ihope i dont forget to mention that there are fiveoptions you can choose for setting battery. It hasbeen pre­set so whichever mode you select thebrightness etc is/are all automatically set.

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The mode I used was the highest one. The'Super­saver' mode consumes the least batterylife.Performance wise, the Z460 is a great combo ofVFM+Performance. It is said the i3 350 2.27GHzis about 40% faster than the old­Core2Duo2.2GHz. Thats almost twice as fast! Yay! It playsHD videos seamlessly. Gaming perfomance ihavent tested it since theres no discrete GPU.

The IdeaPad Z460 not only looks good but offersvery good value for money and does pretty welltoo.Pros:• Excellent value for money• Trendy, cool­smart looking laptop• Metal finish around the keyboard, palmrest• Excellent keyboard, touchpad• HDMI + eSATA• One cool bagpackCons:• RAM could have been 3GB.Price : Rs. 27000Verdict: The Best (One of the best) laptop in itsprice­range. Plus, you get a LENOVO bagpackworth rs.2500 for free. If you want a laptoppriced for around 27000 i strongly recommendthis Lenovo Z460 laptop.

­ David Kai Singson

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Windows 8 : First ImpressionMicrosoft demonstrated the next generation ofWindows, internally code­named “Windows 8,” forthe first time.According to Julie Larson­Green( Corporate Vice

into the native capabilities of Windowsusingstandard JavaScript and HTML to delivernew kinds of experiences.These new Windows 8apps are full­screen and touch­optimized, and theyeasily integrate with the capabilities of the new

friendly with tile­based Start Menu.• The tiles are the mini version of the apps thatshow live data.• These apps use HTML5 and Javascript and aredynamic.• The users can also go back to their previousWindows 7 interface if they want.But these all till now look just interface changesthat is done to Windows 7. It looks like WindowsPhone7 interface has been transported to the bigscreen of the PCs.According to Microsoft ­“Although the new userinterface is designed and optimized for touch, itworks equally well with a mouse and keyboard. Ourapproach means no compromises — you get to usewhatever kind of device you prefer, withperipherals you choose, to run the apps you love.This is sure to inspire a new generation of hardwareand software development, improving theexperience for PC users around the world.”Windows 8 apps use the power of HTML5, tapping

Windows user interface.We saw also saw effortless movement betweenexisting Windows programs and new Windows 8apps. The full capabilities of Windows continue tobe available to you, including the WindowsExplorer and Desktop, as does compatibility withall Windows 7 logo PCs, software andperipherals.creativity jumpstarts a new generationof apps. Windows 8 apps can use a broad set of newlibraries and controls, designed for fluid interactionand seamless connectivity. Apps can add newcapabilities to Windows and to other apps,connecting with one another through the newinterface.But if there is just a Interfgace changes in Windows8, power users and gamers may not me muchinterested in investing in the new Windows, giventhat Windows Operating Systems are pricedlavishly. Also one wont find much valid point forupgrading to Windows 8, if one doesn't have touchscreen based PC, or doesn't plan to upgrade to justfor the interface. We are yet to see the full features

PresidentWindowsExperience)"Windows 8 is areimagining ofWindows, fromthe chip to theinterface. "From thedemostrationwhat weperceive is:• The interfaceof the Windows8 is more touch

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of Windows 8, but the firstimpression doesn't impressus much, unless one is reallyfond of the touch friendly, tilebased system.As announced earlier byMicrosft, Windows 8 will stepdown from the conventionalx86 Architecture and willalso support ARMArcitecture. This can open awhole lot of opportunities fortablet manufacturersand mobile computing devices to bring out devices based on this new Windows Operating system.These are very early days we need to wait and watch what Microsoft has to offer.

­ Abhijoy Sarkar

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declares war on

Year 2007Friend 1: Hey dude are you on Orkut?Friend 2: No dude Orkut is lame catch me on facebook !!And rest as we say is history, facebook defeated who ever came in its way (My Space, Friendster, Hi5,Orkut) and became the Most popular and fastest growing Social Networking platform. People startedspending hell lot of time on facebook commenting on other’ status update or writing their own, uploadingphotos and videos, playing games and using different apps. With it, facebook making news everyday(thanks to some people who got lost in virtual world of facebook and ignored their real life) andFacebook’s popularity, market value sky rocketed and Mark Zuckerburg became a celebrity.Everything was going fine when suddenly last week Google declared war on Facebook with its newproduct Google+.Google had previous tried to gain some share of the social network space with Buzz and Wave but had

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Oh! It looks so much like Facebook !!If you are expecting Google+ to be something radically new, then change your mind. As soon as you login, you are right at home with the Facebook like interface. Instead of news feed you have stream herewhere updates from your friends appear and you can share you thought, photos and videos on the stream.Then there is the usual photo sharing tab, profile tab and yes the next one is the innovative new thing“Circles tab” where you can add people to your respective circles, see people who have added you to theircircle, create new circle and invite others.With Google+ you can edit any of your post instantly unlike FB, Share them like re­tweet, and there +1instead of like button.You can chat using the Gtalk integration, and control which circles can see and chat with you online. Afterstarting a chat with a single person you can add more people to have a group chat, now thats easier andmore in control than creating groups and having a group chat in FB.Now you have Sparks instead of FB pages, which enables you to follow and share topics which sparksyour interests.These new privacy options almost blocks out spam that has recently plagued Facebook and was thereason for downfall of Orkut.Say good bye to Friend requests !!

failed badly, but this time they have gone all guns blazing...Google+ initially has opened to a small group of people on June 28, who will be participating in the fieldtest, people were added by invites, but due to high demand of invites Google closed down the invitefeature just after 2 days of launch.It seems like the entire Internet is buzzing about Google+ this week. The major snag, however, is thatmost people can't get in to use the social network.Luckily i was one of the few to get my hands on Google+ , and here is my ride experience on the brandnew Social network..

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Circles ! No friend lists there’s circles in Google+, it helps you organize everyone according to your real­life social connections­­say, 'family,' 'work friends,' ‘school friends” etc.So you add people to your circles and people add you to their circles, the Twitter way, no annoying friendrequests, which sometimes you had to forcefully accept.The feature is fast and easy, just drag and drop a person to the circle you want. Creat a new circle whenyou want, hover on the circles and you can see the friends included in that circle and (this is pretty cool),when you delete a circle it just rolls out of your screen.Share relevant content with the right people, and follow content posted by people you find interesting.Want to talk crap about a teacher? Want to share photos of you and your girlfriend? Don’t worry aboutyour family member or teachers who are on the network, just share them with your “friends” circle.Want to share some family matter(marriange photos, ceremony videos), just share them with your‘family’ circle. This is privacy redefined. Yes Facebook too had these type of features but you had you diveinto its settings to do so, But Google+ keeps it on the forefront.You wanna hangout with me ?Something which Google+ has done to enhance the Virtual social life by a big margin is the Hangoutfeature. Its like saying you want to hangout and friends who are just strolling around can join you.This has live video and voice chat feature along with text. People who wants to hangout with you are putin same room for video chatting. Maximum 10 people are allowed to hangout together.You can share and view photos together, watch videos and even movies on Youtube, now thatslike hanging out, going for a movie in real world. This isimpressive.“Just check your hair and make sure your mic works” and you areready to hangout with friends.The Google EcosystemFacebook: A Social NetworkGoogle: Its an ecosystem, its big and has a long list of products andservices with a huge user base. Google Search, Google maps, GoogleChrome, Google Chrome OS, Gmail, Google Books, Google Docs,You tube and the list goes on....(We don’t think we will be expecting,FBmail, FB maps, FB Browser etc. )

Now Google tried to connect all the service together and make a complete ecosystem with Google+. AsGoogle representatives said that Google+ is like an extension of Google and so the ‘plus’ .To achieve this there is the Google+ bar which you can see on top of any google page. They have integratedthe Google+ with every service they provide. So you can share things on any google product/serviceinstantly.The notification appear on the top right corner of the bar, and you can respond to the notifications instantwith the drop down feature, so you don’t have to navigate to Google+ page again and again. You are

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working on Google Docs, you receive a notification, you respond to it then and there and again continueto work. Fast and easy.Google will be bringing out their API soon, so Games and Apps will come to Google+ similar to Facebook.Year 2012Friend 1: Hey dude, are you on facebook?Friend 2: No dude facebook is lame, catch me on Google+ !!So will Google+ be facebook killer? Will the above scenario come true?Well its too early to tell, given that Google+ has not opened to the masses yet. But initial reactions havepositiveness in them. People who use most of the Google products will definitely find it good. Ultimatelyusers are the pawns in this war and which side will turn victorious depends on them.For now its just wait and watch time.....

­ Abhijoy Sarkar

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Must Have List of Android AppsIf you haven't heard of Android then that can mean only onething­ You are time traveller from the 18th century. Android isthe new thing. Not everyone can afford an Iphone so the next bigthing is an Android phone. (I am not hinting that iOS is better butgenerally some find it cooler) .The Android Market has more than200,000 applications with more than 3 billion downloads. Nowthere is always a list of MUST ­have apps. I am going to tell youguys my list of MUST have apps for Android (Might includepremium apps too)

Advanced Task KillerAdvanced Task Killer does its job in a simple and effective way. The app has areally simple user interface. There is also a widget which will kill all therunning apps once you press it. Under the simple user interface there aretweaks to mess around with to make the app work according to your needs.

App2SD FreeThis application allows you to move apps to SDcard (Android 2.2 and above only ­and the appshould support APP2SD). What’s great about

this application? The user friendly interface which shows apps which can bemoved to SD card, which are on SD card and the ones which can only beinstalled on the phone. The app informs you if a newly installed app can bemoved to SD card. This is a great way to move your apps and more organisedthan going to settings and through the whole list of installed apps.FriendCaster

FriendCaster by Hand­Mark is a Facebook application. I suggest you givethis one a try if you don't like Facebook Official App. Personally I findFacebook app to be really slow and unresponsive and so after trying outvarious alternatives I have settled withFriendCaster. FriendCaster has a very simpleUI similar to the official Facebook app. Theonly downer with this app is the fact that thereis no chat. There are popup notifications andthe app checks for new notificationsautomatically according to your choice. Alsophotos and profiles load faster compared to theFacebook for Android.

VignetteThere are users who always like to have something more than the default stuff. Vignette can replace yourdefault camera application. Vignette adds lots of effects, frames etc to your photos. One can also import a

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picture from the gallery and then add effects to it. I am not sure if this is user friendly or not as far as I amconcerned its UI is average. There are tons of stuff under the hood to mess around with (84 effects & 59frames). Do try this one out to add some really cool effects to your pictures. It’s worth every penny.SoundHound

Ever heard a song in a cafe and wondered what the name of the song is?Well SoundHound can help you with that. SoundHound listens to the songfor a few seconds and gives you information about it .I have tried bothSoundHound and its rival Shazam and it turns out that SoundHound is abit more faster and accurate in recognizing the songs . SoundHoundallows you to buy the song, bookmark a search; search for the video onYouTube, instantly shows you the lyrics and can also share the result ontwitter and Facebook. The premium version has a widget and is ad­free.One more feature worth mentioning about this app is that it even (rarely)recognizes and guesses the song if you hum or sing it.Winamp

I will admit Winamp has its faults but it made into the list because it’s Free.Winamp for android has some similarity with its desktop counterpart. It hasShout­Cast Radio and another option of finding some Free Music .A coolfeature about this app is the is the integrated now­playing dock, that ifretracted shows just the title of the song playing with play duration. Onceopened, the dock shows the full now playing screen, with all the usual details.Another feature I love about this is the ability to scrobble with Last.Fm this issomething which I couldn't find with Power AMP and PlayerPro. User cansync with the Winamp on the pc through Wi­Fi. Winamp can be made betterby making a few changes in the UI and more options to tweak. But as for nowthis is one of the best players available in the Android Market.AppBrain App Market AppBrain allows you to browse the market from your Android device and

use filters to find newer and better applications for your Android device.AppBrain suggests you apps which might be of interest to you basedon the apps already installed on your phone. One can also share the list ofapps installed on the phone in Facebook/twitter. If browsing theAppBrain website you can install apps directly by clicking on them on thewebsite if you download the add on application called “Fast WebInstaller”. Although this feature is now seen on the android market sitetoo where one can install apps on the phone remotely .But the mainreason why AppBrain is popular and efficient is because ofits organized manner where one can browse through apps sort by hot appstoday, hot apps this week, highest rated apps, price drops etc also filterapps by free apps, paid apps, price reduced apps, app2sd enabled apps,new apps.Go Launcher EX

Go Launcher EX is one of the best home replacement apps you can find in theandroid market. Go Launcher has almost all the neat features from other popularhome launcher apps. The app works without any lag even on low end phones andthere is also support for installing themes and a user can customize almost everyaspect from icons to grid sizes to fling speed(Its a long list) .Go launcher Ex also hassome cool transition effects . Install this launcher and try customizing it to your

Go Launcher EX

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needs and then your phone will be really unique. There is also a backup feature to backup your settings toSD card .And another neat feature is worth mentioning is that one can uninstall apps from the app drawerand then by clicking the [x] .So to conclude this is a must have mainly because its free, has a lot offeatures which other home replacement apps offer as premium and there is also a large number of themesavailable in the market.Twitter AppsTwitter is the new trend now. Many are leaving Facebook now a days but Twitter is more like a on the gothing and it’s more fun while you are on the move. There are tons of twitter applications for android eachhas its pros and cons .It’s really hard for me to suggest a twitter application as I personally think that itmight vary between each person .So I am going to recommend a few apps which I have tested and you canchoose the one you like.TweetDeck

TweetDeck can manage Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter (multiple accountsare supported) and Google Buzz. TweetDeck has a similar interface like thedesktop counterpart. This one of the best clients available in the marketwhich supports Facebook and Twitter with a friendly interface .The onlyissue I have with TweetDeck is that it’s really slow at start­up when there aremany tweets and might force close(rare though) but this is not exactly a bigissue according to me.

TwiccaTwicca is a simple twitter client which has everything in a neat and tidymanner. But if you want you can mess around with a vast list of settings. Ithas lots of plug­in s available in the market too. Try this one out for thesimplicity and the speed.TweetCaster ProTweetCaster is the one which I am currently usingon my phone. TweetCaster supports multipleaccounts, can post to Facebook and Zip It (One canhide tweets from a certain user) .TweetCaster mightnot have lots of new special features or somethingbut its really easy to use and even the widget isreally cool. So far the app has never crashed butthere are times when I get some errors whiletweeting.

Android market is filled with fun and lame games. And due to large number of games added to the marketsome really good ones are not given the credit they deserve .And I am not going to talk about Angry Birds.• Moron Test – Moron Test is a fun game where you just have to follow the on screen instructions quicklyand this one will give you a good laugh and its fun to play around with your friends.• Pumpkins vs. Monsters ­ It’s a puzzle/action game where In the game you have to manoeuvre pumpkinpatches in two groups of 3 or 4 to throw at oncoming hordes of monsters. There is a story mode andsurvival mode• Zenonia – Zenonia is one the most popular RPG game for the Android. It has more than 40 hours ofgame play with sub­quests and skill tree .I found the story lineto be fast and engrossing .A must have game indeed.

A few game suggestions

­ George Solon

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Fedora 15 ReviewFinally its 20 years of Linux! That’s sound goodbecause slowly and steadily this genre of computinghas matured, survived and beaten all the odds. Itsfeel great that we are bigger than Windows both interms of time, features and people. Wait? How canit be larger than windows in terms of people when ithas just 5% of desktop users? I said so because therumored 5% statistics (yes, rumored) is just notright. Every person who uses the Facebook,searches in Google,buys in Amazon orchecks his mail inGmail is usingLinux. Its Linuxthat gave birth tothe Internet, andfor the same fact,most servers inInternet (Iestimate >95%)run in Linux. Soevery person whouses the Internet,is indirectly usingLinux.Okay, with the above paragraph I have provedmyself a Linux fanatic, so I am capable enough toreview Fedora this month. One thing I also need totell is that I am a die hard Fedora fan (please ignorethat) but I will try my level best to not to be biasedtowards it.My ConfigsWell, these don’t matter much as Linux runs inalmost any hardware available today. But as I willdo some benchmarks on OS, so I am specifyingthen so that you have an idea as how they willperform in your systems. My configs are those thatare considered just okay in today's computingenvironment. This includes:• An AMD x2 (dual core) 3.11 GHz• 2 GB RAM DDR3• 512 MB inbuilt graphics• 500 GB hard disc• a fedora fanatic

Rest, are considered least as useful, so lets notfiddle our minds with them.Some More InfoFedora and Ubuntu are have been in top LinuxDistros list for quite sometime now. Ubuntu is themost widely used distro today. Fedora comes forthafter Debian and openSuse. Ubuntu is mostlypreferred by the Linux beginners, because its easy

to learn and the messages or warning that it givesare more informative (hence its called Linux forhuman beings). I got a computer 6 months ago andfrom the first, unlike others, chose Fedora as mydefault distro. Maybe its because of the bettername, maybe its because of the blue colour, but Ipersonally found Fedora to be more attractive.Ubuntu was too easy for me to learn, and Fedoraoffered me the excitement to sweep into anunknown territory and fiddle and learn Linux myway. Those reading this article and have still nottried Linux any day, I advise you start with Ubuntufirst, but after you are quite experienced, do giveFedora a try.My own system is dual booted (with windowsrunning in a virtual environment in Fedora). Thefirst partition of about 10 GB is dedicated to thefedora root partition. The next 170 GB is a plainext4 partition not owned by any distro. Following

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that I have a 320GB extended partition that hoststhe 310 GB Fedora home, two 2GB swap partitionsfor Ubuntu and Fedora and a 6GB Ubuntu root andhome partitions together. Those wondering what apartition is, they roughly resemble the differentdrives (like drive C, drive D etc) in Windows. Rootpartition resemble the system partition which ismostly the C drive in Windows. Home partitions areother drives where you store your data, but unlikeWindows, you can have only one home partition perLinux distro. Home and Root partitions can bemerged together (like my case in Ubuntu) and canreside in same drive. Swap partitions are the spacereserved in the hard disk that the operating systemuses when your RAM overflows. If you have a goodamount of RAM, these are less needed, however,many geeks say to keep it as large as your RAM.

Fedora 15 "Lovelock"Truly speaking, this was the distro that I waswaiting for. Firstly because of Gnome 3, andsecondly because the previous distro (Fedora 14)had become ugly and just workable for mebecause of my constant fiddling with theconfiguration files. I needed a change in look, sodid the developers of Fedora. So its obvious thatthe main difference from the previous version islooks.Lets burn a the .iso file in a pen drive and start

the live boot. First thing I liked here that the isowith just bare bones software (that includedFirefox web browser, a photo and documentviewer and few basic utilities like text editors,music players, scanning software and a few gamesbundled) weighs just 565 MB. That’s light weightgiven the fact that it has great looks and so manyusable applications.• Overall looks and feel : Fedora is pretty, Imust say. Its the best adaptation of Gnome 3 inthe Linux community till now. Its a whole newinterface, with no menus or desktop icons. Tostart with, you press the “Activities” in the toppanel, or press the super key. A preview of youcurrent windows come to your sight, along with adock that lets you quick launch your mostly used

or favorite apps. The top panel also contains spacefor your speaker volume, accessibility and networkservices. Interestingly, Fedora not only detected myphone model when plugged in, but also the serviceprovider and APN settings of my mobile gprsconnection. The only thing I needed to do was toswitch it on and lo! I was connected to internet inthe easiest way possible. I guess it does the same forEthernet connection, so its time to forget thesettings. The left side also shows the the currentworkspaces you have, which is always one greaterthan the number of you are using. Click on the youname in the top, and you can also easily set your

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chat status (available or busy) right away.Integrated empathy allows you to chat right fromyour desktop, with your friends in Facebook, Gtalkand Yahoo Messenger to name a few. If you are notsatisfied with this, just start typing something andyou are presented with all installed applications inyour system that match your search term. Option isalso there to search that in Google or look up thatin Wikipedia. Your recent document also come inthere.• Workability : Looks is not everything that youwant from your OS. When it comes to doing work,Fedora scored well. Its lets you do minimal usefrom mouse. Hit the super key and you can searchand launch any application you like. Press Alt+Taband its lets you switch between windows. Its madeto help you work faster. Sadly, there is no minimizeor maximize button which can be frustrating forsome people. Install the gnome­tweak­tool andyou can unlock them, along with more things likethemes and desktop icons. Also, there is noshutdown option in user's menu by default. Toshutdown, you have to press the alt key, an thesuspend button magically changes to Power Off. Asthe Gnome 3 desktop is based mainly on JavaScriptand CSS, a lot of extensions are available to add.Install gnome­shell­extensions­places­menu andyou can access most used places, such as homefolder, documents, removable drives, bookmarksetc directly from your panel. This is what everyonewants, a desktop (or a wife) that is good looking aswell as workable. I don’t know about you wife butFedora scores good in both the fields.• Softwares : Well, Fedora still doesn’t have agood graphical software installer. I wantedsomething like Ubuntu's Software Center in thisedition, but was disappointed. The graphicalinstaller fails to resolve dependencies by itself.Double click on an .mp3 file and you would beprompted to install a plug­in that fedoradevelopers don’t include due to patent issues andother things (thanks to Microsoft for that).However, you wont find a mp3 decoder in fedorarepositories, so don’t forget to include rpm­fusionin software sources. After installation, music playswell and also detects my stereo output, whichFedora 14 failed to do. Yum is good, in fact the bestway to install softwares and updates.

If you want something graphical, you can tryyumex which in fact shows the status of softwaredownloads and amount of time remaining beforesoftware download completes, that fedora's defaultinstaller lacks.Notable software included in CD iso was Firefox 4web browser, Evolution email client, Rhythmboxmusic player and Totem movie player. I thinkEvolution needs to be replaced by Thunderbirdnow, which works well in offline mode and IMAPsync. Amarok and VLC replaced rhythymbox as themusic players for me, while Chrome did for Firefox.However, this largely is dependent on personalchoice. The CD edition lacks an office suite chieflyto keep the size of iso low, so you need to downloadOpenOffice or LibreOffice. However OpenOfficecant be found in default fedora repositories.One thing that put me in a problem was an updateof NetworkManager, that handles all your internetconnection. After the update, my network crashedand I was left blackout from the internet for a day.I finally managed to get back by manuallydownloading the downgraded packages fromUbuntu and installing them in my system. Duringthis lapse of time, after the update and before thedowngrading, Gnome 3 used to freeze a lot. I wassurprised that fedora is releasing buggy updateslike this. Incident was reported by the communityand the package was removed.The rpm repositories are not as large as Debian,however, its enough to get your work done. The CDinstallation iso lacks things like office suites orgraphics editing software, but if you are good inyum and know the names of Linux packages, yourwhole work of installing a full set of software isdone in an hour or two.ConclusionIts nice working in fedora 15, you get the feel to doand enjoy your work. Now some statistics. Bootingtime, though not as fast as Ubuntu's 8 seconds, isacceptable, a mere 12 to 14 seconds. Disable a fewunwanted daemons and you will get better results.The GDM now allows you to switch between KDEand Gnome environments. Desktop loading is fairenough, in fact faster than fedora 14. Interestingly,Fedora automatically detected my accelerated

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graphics and ran Gnome 3 smoothly from first.No failsafe environment or driver installation to get itdone. Heavy things such as video conversion and file copying are handled well. The whole system shutsdown in mere 5 seconds. I was surprised the amount of RAM the whole OS needs in spite of such visuallyappealing. I run Windows XP in virtual environment giving 1.7 GB RAM to the guest OS, and fedora wasperforming well even with 384 MB of RAM given to it. The installation on hard disk took flat 15 minutes.However, the desktop hangs rarely, which is a bad thing, as it never did in previous edition. Hope that willbe fixed to in upcoming bug fixes. Do give it a try and let us know how you liked it.

­ Saurav Modak

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An Introduction to LinuxThe computing world is chiefly divided into twomajor camps. One is that every normal PC user hasheard about, the Windows camp & another is thehumble, old but powerful, the Linux camp. These arethe two major operating system that people usetoday. Now whats an operating system. Well insimple terms, its a software that interacts with othersoftware or your hardware to do your work. Its thething that gives life to your computer, without it,your PC will just be another sample of finemachinery.Linux is a great operatingsystem, with out­of­the­boxsupport for a wide variety ofhardware. Linux is usedfrom Data Centers todesktop home computers, Itis less vulnerable to the widespread Viruses andmalwares floating aroundthe web. But still there is alack of knowledge amongstthe average desktop userwho still thinks that Linux isnot a viable alternative tothe legacy operating systemsor they don't have enoughknowledge about Linux atall.In the real sense, Linux is referred to those operatingsystems that use the same “Linux” kernel. In fact,Linux is not an operating system by itself, its just thecore software in the operating system that interactswith the hardware and gets your work done.Some people claim Linux to be hard, only forcomputer geeks, and say a lot other misconceptionsthat are discussed below. But the true fact is Linux isnot hard, nor just for programmers either. Its just abit different. Just as when you play a new game, youneed some time to be comfortable with it, in thesame way, new users will need some time to beacquainted with Linux. And like most of us, if you arebitten by the Linux bug, then there will be no lookingback.

Linux is a powerful, versatile and Open­Sourceoperating system (kernel), It is capable ofhandling all your daily computing needs likeWorking with documents, listen music, browsethe web, play games and all those things that youmay expect from a modern operating system. Itsanother OS like Windows, but unlike Windows,Linux is Free, one can easily download a Linuxbased OS from Internet and legally install it on

What is Linux?

their system withoutpaying a single penny.By saying “Linux is free” Idon't just mean Linux isfree as in you don't have topay money but also it's freeas in freedom.“Free” as in freedom meansthat one can see the sourcecode of it and modify itaccording to theirconvenience. One can copy,redistribute and sell Linuxlegally because of its free

(as in freedom) nature.Linux is everywhere, in fact, you have not noticedit even if you have used it. All servers of majorwebsites such as Google, Facebook, Amazon,Wordpress etc run on Linux. The popular mobileand cloud operating systems such as Meego,Chrome and Android are Linux based. 91% ofworld's super computers are powered by Linux.The list of great features of Linux is countless,however, the features that stand out (apart frombeing free and open­source) are given in the nextsection.The history of Linux has humble beginning in1991 when a Finnish student, Linus Torvaldswanted to port the so popular Unix basedacademic operating system, Minix in Personal

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Computer, just for fun. In the beginning, installingLinux was a nightmare, as people had to write,compile and install most software and other part ofthe operating systems themselves. This gave it a tag“an operating system just for hackers” who couldonly do these tasks. As the users grew, and peoplestarted contributing code, programs and software,Linux became more user friendly and began to beavailable in all types of hardware. Organizations wereformed and effort was made to make Linux to beavailable to everyone, from hackers, computerprogrammers to normal desktop users. Thus, ajourney that started with just a few internet linkedpeople has now spread and ruling the whole world.Features of Linux?1. Drivers preinstalled: Imagine the pain ofinstalling the drivers to get your computer workingafter a fresh Windows installed. Linux automaticallycomes with most drivers installed (including soundand graphic support) and the ones that are notinstalled can be downloaded at an instant from theinternet. You don’t need to flip multiple CDs andDVDs to get it done.2. Complete: You can turn a Linux PC to a server, aworkstation or a fun and gaming computer just byinstalling a few softwares. No need to format thewhole machine to do all these tasks3. State of art and latest software: Most popularLinux operating systems are released every sixmonths. This ensures that you have the latest thingalready with you. In Windows, you have fulloperating system updates after long times, so youdon’t have the latest with you.4. No computer maintenance: In Windows, youneed to check your hard­drive for errors, may beeven format it, clear the old files, defragment it, scanit for viruses and so on and so forth. We waste afraction of precious time in our lives doing the tasksof computer maintenance. This things are automatedin Linux, or you may never need to do it. Nofragmentation, bad sectors, virus checks and whatnot. Even updates can be automated and requirelittle or no intervention from you.

5. Lots of choices: Say you don’t like the lookof this version of Windows. So whats next?Switch to the previous one or wait two yearshoping that it would be good. Say the version ofWindows you are using doesn’t have the featureyou need the most. Next? Here in Linux you havea lot of choices. Don’t like this one? Well there arethousands others to satisfy you. Different looks,different feel, different workability.6. Powerful, versatile and variety ofapplications: don’t like this browser? Dump it.There are more hundreds to choose from. Musicplayer not impressing you? Cool, change it. Youhave hundred of free applications to try out,entirely waiting for you.7. One stop applications store: This oneneeds a bit explanation. Say you need to install anew video editor in Windows. You follow thesesteps. Go to Google. Search for it. Hunt a fewsites. Waste an hour. Find one. If its free, welland good. If its not, there are a few more steps.Find your credit card. Have the tension ofwasting your money. Download it, install it (alongwith malware and viruses). Now if you are notsatisfied with it, go again to step one.In Linux, there is a single unified app store thatholds most the apps and softwares you need. Soinstead of hunting and searching the internet,you have everything in one place, and can installanything, with just three magic words or a fewclicks. And speaking of choice, you always havemore than one application to choose from.8. One click and feature rich whole systemupdates: In Windows, all the applications thatyou install need separate updates. In Linux, youcan update all your applications installed as wellas the whole system in a single click! Also updatesare way smarter. A sixty four megabytes updategets reduced to eight megabytes, how, we willcome later.9. Protection from viruses and otherthreats: You are completely safe. No one isgoing to see or steal your data. You don’t need to

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format you hard­drive and lose all your data in caseof a virus attack. Windows viruses infact areharmless in Linux, they don’t run in it. I should havementioned this point earlier, but everyone more orless knows this, so I mentioned it later.10. Stability: Linux systems are extremely stable.Your computer can be on twenty­four hours a day,three sixty five days a year and it would perform thesame. No hangs, crashes or freezes.11. Good Support: We have forums, mailing listsand IRC channels that are dedicated to Linuxoperating systems. Some distributions also offerprofessional support at a nominal price. If you have aproblem, you can post it in forums and chances areyou would get your solution even within an hour.Common MisconceptionsLinux is something that is still considered theOperating System of tech savvy people and systemadministrators. The biggest misconception that Ihave seen in most of the people is that one can onlyuse Linux if he knows how to work with thecommand line interface, which is as I said is a bigmisconception and one that needs to be rethought,most of the things in the modern Linux distributions(also called distro) which are done by command linecan be easily achieved using a graphical interface, Soeven if you don't know the Linux commands you can

still work on a modern Linux distribution withoutany problem.Linux is not just for running servers and systemadministrators. Today there are many Linuxdistribution which focus on the desktop user whoneeds to get his daily work done rather thanplaying around with server and command line.One thing that needs to be noticed is that Linux isa kernel but not an operating system in itself,kernel is a software that creates an interfacebetween the computer hardware and theapplications that are run on top of it. For the sakeof simplicity, when I refer to Linux I actuallymean the Linux based Operating System.ConclusionIn this article we have discussed what Linuxreally is, where has it started and where it isgoing. We also have learned with some coolfeatures of Linux that makes it stand out fromother operating systems, & also cleared some ofthe misconceptions that we had. Now we areready to start our journey in Linux. The nextarticles of this series will be focused on teachingLinux to you,& replace the current expensive,closed source and proprietary OS you have,whether you are a newbie or an advancedcomputer user. So lets go!

­ Saurav Modak & Gaurav Butola

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Text Perspective Shadow Effect in PhotoshopIn this 1st Photoshop text effects tutorial, we'll learn how to create a popular, classic effect by giving text aperspective shadow as if a light source behind the text was casting a shadow onto the ground in front ofit. I'll be using Photoshop CS5 throughout this tutorial, but any recent version will work.Here is what final result will look like:

Let's get started!Step 1 : Duplicate The Text LayerTo begin with, I've gone ahead and added some text in front of a background filled with a simple black­to­grey gradient. You can create this perspective shadow effect with any background colours or imageyou like:

Add text to the image. We added “TECHWIT”• If we look in the Layers panel, we see that my text is sitting on its own text layer above the Backgroundlayer.

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We need to make a copy of the text, so with the text layer selected inthe Layers panel (selected layers are highlighted in blue), go up tothe Layer menu in the Menu Bar at the top of the screen, chooseNew, and then choose Layer via Copy. Or, for a much faster way tochoose the same command, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J .

• Nothing happens in thedocument window, but a copy ofthe text layer appears above theoriginal in the Layers panel.

Step 2 : Rasterize the TextIn a moment, we're going to reshape the text so it looks more like aperspective shadow, but Photoshop won't let us do that while thetext is still text. We need to first convert the text into pixels, which isknown in Photoshop­speak as rasterizing it. To do that, go up to theLayer menu, choose Rasterize, and then choose Type .

Step 3: Flip And Move The TextWith the copy of the original text nowconverted to pixels, go up to the Edit menuand choose Free Transform, or press Ctrl+Tto access Free Transform with the keyboardshortcut .

• This places the Free Transform box and handles (littlesquares) around the text in the document window. Right­click anywhere inside the document window and choose FlipVertical from the contextual menu that appears

This flips the text upside down in the document window.

Next, click anywhere inside the Free Transformbounding box, hold down your Shift key, thendrag the text down below the original text.Holding the Shift key as you drag limits thedirection you can drag in, making it easier todrag straight down. I'm going to add somespace between the original and flipped versions

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of the text so it willappear as if myoriginal text ishovering in the airabove the shadow.Step 4 : StretchAnd ReshapeThe TextThen, with FreeTransform stillactive, once againright­clickanywhere inside thedocument windowand choosePerspective fromthe contextualmenu With Perspective selected, click on

either the bottom left or bottomright handle and drag it outwardhorizontally. As you drag one of thehandles, the other handle willextend out in the opposite direction,giving the text a 3D perspective.Press Enter when you're done tocomplete the transformations.

Step 5 : Fill The Text WithBlackPress the letter D on your keyboard toquickly reset Photoshop's Foreground andBackground colours if necessary, which willset your Foreground colour to black. Thenpress Shift+Alt+Backspace to fill the flippedand reshaped text with the Foregroundcolour (black).

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• Make a copy of the rasterized layer.Step 6: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter

Go up to the Filter menu, choose Blur, then choose Gaussian BlurWhen the Gaussian Blur dialog box appears, drag the Radiusslider along the bottom towards the right to add just a slightamount of blur to the shadow. Keep an eye on the image in thedocument window as you drag the slider to judge the results,since the amount of blurring you add will depend on the size andresolution of your image, but all we're going for here is a subtleeffect. I'm going to set my Radius value to 2 pixels for the firstrasterized layer and 6 pixel for copied one.

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• Like if you are not able to detectweather the blur is taking place ornot hide the other rasterizeslayer.• And on the same hand reducethe opacity of the layers. In thecase of here I made the opacity oflayers 60% and 80% respectively.Like 60 for techwit copy and 80for techwit copy2 , refer image.

Step 7 : Add A Layer MaskClick on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to adda layer mask to the layer.

Step 8: Drag Out A Black­To­White GradientOn The Layer MaskSelect Photoshop's Gradient Tool from the Tools panel or press G.With the Gradient Tool selected right­click anywhere inside thedocument window and choose the black­to­white gradient byclicking on its thumbnail (third from the left, top row).Press Enter when you're done to close out of the Gradient Picker.

We want this extra blurryversion of the shadow togradually fade into viewas it extends away from thetext, so click with theGradient Tool at the very topof the shadow to set the

starting point for the gradient, then hold down your Shift key anddrag straight down to the bottom of the shadow. Release your mousebutton when you reach the bottom to set the end point for the

gradient. Holding the Shift keyas you drag once again limitsthe direction you can drag in,making it easier to drag straightdown. Do this gradient withboth the rasterized layersrespectively. If on first you dragfrom top­bottom than go

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opposite way for the second rasterized layer.

And with that, we're done! Here is our final "perspective shadow" texteffect.

This is the basic tutorial to shadow effect, with knowing this you can easily create wonders withPhotoshop. eg.

Stay tuned for more!­ Siddharth Aditya Saurav

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Five Tips For Monsoon PhotographyMonsoons present a plethora ofopportunities for photographers.One can shoot nature landscapes,do street photography or evenframe amazing abstracts. Thenature during monsoon looksbeautiful due to awesome colors &sharpness as the dust settles down.To enjoy & take good photographsyou will need to keep certain thingsin mind. Here are some.

• Safety First:Safety here refers to that of both, yours & that of yours equipment. Make sure your camera bag is notworn out & is completely waterproof. Have some plastic zip lock bags & regular plastic bags handy tokeep your accessories, lenses and even your entire camera if the need arises. For your safety, ensure thatyou wear monsoon tailored footwear so you do not slip. Next, have the necessary rain gear(umbrella,windcheaters, hat etc) handy even when you feel it won’t rain today. Be safe & be prepared in first place.• Situational Awareness:Its very difficult as to not to get so engrossed in photographing. While you look through your viewfinderor LCD, keep another eye for a nearby passing vehicle which may splash you & your camera with mud orwater. Keep an eye on open drains which you may not notice due to water­logging. Again lookout forpeople running for shelter as you do not want them to bump into you. I recommend to always have yourcamera strap on when shooting in rain. It may sound silly but it happens when you are over enthusiastic.• Take a PhotographerAlong:I know, when you are withsomeone you cannotconcentrate solely onphotography. But at times,you’ll need some help tohold a reflector, shield youfrom rain or simply watchyour back. If possible, ask aphotographer friend ofyours to chug along so youboth can enjoy photography& help each other out. Nobody except a photographer can understand how the other photographer wantsthe reflector to be held or compose the shot in which you’re into the frame.

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• Shot Treatment:Rainy season conveys a slow & soft mood. This mood doesn’t gets highlighted much when pictures aretaken under color. For best results experiment with Black/White & Sepia mode. If you forget to shootunder B/W or Sepia you can always post process the pics to get the desired effect. Some of the mostbeautiful pics I have seen under rain are shot in B/W or Sepia mood. Off­course this doesn’t means allyour shots should be in B&W/Sepia, color can help you show the saturated colors of nature in alandscape or macro.• Shrug Mistakes & Move On:In some cases, you may not get the shot you wanted for some reasons. It is best to accept it & move on asyou won’t get a better shot getting anxious. Try again, come to that place again, again & again. You willdefinitely be rewarded. Try to enjoy the nature, the surroundings during monsoon & forget photographyfor sometime. This will help you absorb into the mood and that will surely reflect in your photographs.

­ Gaurav Prabhu (ShutterTux)

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Market Prices Of This MonthIntel Processors

Socket 1155

i7­2600K 8M Cache, 3.4 GHz 15900i7­2600 8M Cache, 3.4 GHz 14800i5 ­ 2500K 6M Cache, 3.3 GHz 10950i5 ­ 2500 6M Cache, 3.3 GHz 10275i5 ­ 2400 6M Cache, 3.1 GHz 9300i5 ­ 2300 6M Cache, 2.8 GHz 8950i3 ­ 2100 3M Cache, 3.1 GHz 5500

Name Specifications Price INRSocket 1366

i7­960 8MB Cache, 3.2 GHz 4.8 GT's 15300Name Specifications Price INR

Socket 1156i3 ­ 540 3.06 GHz, 4MB Cache 5200i7 ­ 870 2.93 GHz 8MB Cache 14950

Socket LGA 775Dual Core E5700 3.0 GHz 2MB Cache, LGA 3000Dual Core E5800 3.2 GHz 2MB Cache, LGA 3225Core2DuoE7500 2.93 GHz 3MB Cache, LGA 5700

Intel Motherboards Socket 1155

Intel DH67BL ­ 16x,8.Ch.S,L / Vga & HDMi, USB 3, IGP 5350Intel DH67VR ­ 16x,8.Ch.S,L / Vga & HDMi, USB 3, IGP 4800Intel DH61WW ­ 16x,S,L / Vga, IGP 3250MSI H67MA­E35 ­ 16x,8.Ch.S,L / Vga & HDMi, USB 3 IGP 4800Gigabyte H67M­D2­B3 ­ 16x, S,L, VGA IGP 5400ASUS P8H67­V ­ 16X, 8.Ch., L, USB 3, & 3 PCI SLOTS IGP 7200ASUS P8H67­M ­16x ,8.Ch.S,L, USB 3IGP 6500ASUS P8H67 PRO ­16x ,8.Ch.S,L, USB 3 IGP 11600MSI P67A­GD55 ­16x,8.C 9600Gigabyte P67A­UD3R­B3 ­16x 9800Gigabyte P67A­UD7­B3 ­ 16x (3), 8.Ch.S,L, USB 3, FW 17400ASUS P8P67­M ­16x ,8.Ch.S,L, USB 3 7900ASUS Sabertooth P67 ­ 16x ,8.Ch.S,L, USB 3 13400

Name Specifications Price INR

Socket 1156Intel DH55TC ­ 16x,S,L / Vga & HDMi IGP 4300Gigabyte GA­H55M­S2V 16x,S,L / Vga IGP 3600Asus P7H55 M LX, 16x, S, L,V, IGP 3650

Intel MotherboardsSocket 1366

Intel X58SOG, 2*16x, 8 Ch. S, L, F 11500Intel WX58BP, 2*16x, 8 Ch. S, L, F 9900ASUS SABERTOOTH X58, 2*16x, 8 Ch. S, L, F 11900

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Socket LGA 775

Intel G41 DG41WV 16x,V,S,L,DDR3 2550ASUS P5G41T­M­LX316x,V,6 Ch. S,L,DDR3 2400ASUS P5G41CM­LY 16x,V,6 Ch. S,L,DDR2/3 2475Gigabyte G41M­T S2P 16x, V, S, L, DDR3 2400

AMD Processors

Name Specifications Price INR

SempronSempron 145 2.8GHz, 1MB, AM3 1725

Athlon IIX2 ­ 250 3 GHz, 2MB, AM3 2750X2 ­ 255 3.1 GHz, 2MB, AM3 2900X2 ­ 260 3.2 GHz, 2MB, AM3 3300X4 ­ 645 3.1GHz, 2M, AM3 4900

Phenom IIX2 ­ 555 BE 3.2 GHz, 7MB, AM3 4250X4 ­ 840 3.2GHz, 2M, AM3 5000X4 ­ 955 BE 3.2GHz, 8M, AM3 5600X4 ­ 965 BE 3.4GHz, 8M, AM3 6700X6 ­ 1055T 2.8GHz, 9M, AM3 8100X6 ­ 1075T 3 GHz, 9M, AM3 8400X6 ­ 1090T 3.2 GHz, 9M, AM3 8850X6 ­ 1100T 3.3 GHz, 9M, AM3 9975

AMD MotherboardsASUSGF7025 M4N68T­M LE V2 16x,S,L, DDR3 2375AMD760G M4A78LT­M LE 16x,8 ch S, L,F, DDR3 2675AMD880G M4A88T M 16x,8 ch S, L,DDR3 4850AMD880G M4A88T M LE 16x,S, L,DDR3 4400AMD880G M4A88T M/USB3 16x,8 ch S, L,DDR3, USB 3 5700AMD880G M4A88TD V EVO 2*16x,8 ch S, L,DDR3, USB 3 7400AMD880G M4A88TD M EVO 16x,8 ch S, L,DDR3, USB 3 6200AMD890GX M4A89GTD­PROU3 16x,8 ch S, L,DDR3, USB 3 8550GIGABYTEnVidia M68MT­S2 16x,V,S,L, DDR3 2350AMD 880G MA880GM­UD2H 16x, 8 Ch. S, L, HDMi 4250AMD 880G MA880GM­USB3 16x, 8 Ch. S, L, HDMi, USB 3 5400AMD 890G 890GPA­UD3H 16x, 8 Ch. S, L, HDMi , USB 3 8950

Note : V= VGA, S=Sound, L= LAN,F=FIREWIRE, H =HDMI, ES = ESATA,

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AMD Fusion

GIGABYTE E350N Dual Core, HDMI, 8 Ch Audio, Sata 6 GB/s, USB 3.0 8300ASUS E35M1­M Dual Core, HDMI, 8 Ch Audio, Sata 6 GB/s, USB 3.0 6350MSI E350IA­E45 Dual Core, HDMI, 8 Ch Audio, Sata 6 GB/s, USB 3.0 8300

Name Specifications Price INR

RAMTranscend Kingston Corsair

DDR 1512 MB 11001 GB 1425DDR 21 GB 775 7752 GB 1250 1250DDR 3 ­13332 GB 925 875 10254 GB 1650 1700 1950

Hard Disk DrivesBRAND Capacity PriceSeagate 250 GB 1625Seagate 500 GB 1950Seagate 1 TB ( 6 GB/s) 2775Seagate 2.0 TB ( 6 GB/s) 4350

Solid State DrivesBRAND Capacity PriceKingston 30 GB 3600Intel 40 GB 5200Kingston 64 GB 6900Intel 80 GB 9900Kingston 128 GB 11900

UPSCapacity Numeric APC600 VA 1500 1875650 VA 29751000 VA 4550 62001100 VA 46501500 VA 9600* price in INR

USB DrivesSandisk 4G / 8G / 16G / 32G 325 / 580 / 1175 / 2500Transcend 4G / 8G / 16G / 32G 325 / 580 / 1200 / 2500Kingston 4G / 8G / 16G / 32G 325 / 580 / 1200 / 2500Corsair 8G / 16G / 32G 1075 / 1950 / 3800HP 4G / 8G / 16G / 32G 350 / 650 / 1350 / 3050

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External Drives2.5" Portable

BRAND Model Capacity Warranty Interface PriceW.D. Passport 250 GB 3 Yr USB 2250Seagate Expansion 250 GB 3 Yr USB 2075W.D. Passport 320 GB 3 Yr USB 3.0 + USB 2.0 2900Seagate Expansion 320 GB 3 Yr USB 2200Seagate Freeagent Go Flex 320 GB 3 Yr USB 2325W.D. Passport 500 GB 3 Yr USB 3.0 + USB 2.0 2900W.D. Passport Elite 500 GB 3 Yr USB 2900Seagate Expansion 500 GB 3 Yr USB 2700Seagate Freeagent Go Flex 500 GB 3 Yr USB 2850Seagate Freeagent Go Flex 500 GB 3 Yr USB 3.0 + USB 2.0 3150W.D. Element 1 TB 3 Yr USB 3.0 + USB 2.0 4900Seagate Expansion 1 TB 3 Yr USB 4475Seagate Freeagent Go Flex 1 TB 3 Yr USB 4625Seagate Freeagent Go Flex 1 TB 3 Yr USB 3.0 + USB 2.0 5400Seagate Freeagent Go Flex 1.5 TB 3 Yr USB 9100

3.5" DesktopW.D. Essential 1 TB 3 Yr USB 3.0 + USB 2.0 3950Seagate Expansion 1 TB 3 Yr USB 3250Seagate Expansion 2 TB 3 Yr USB 4750W.D. Studio 1 TB 3 Yr USB + F/W 800 5900Seagate Black Armour 1 TB 3 Yr Lan + USB Expand 8800Seagate FLEX Desktop 1 TB = USB 2.0 3 Yr USB 3450Seagate FLEX Desktop 1 TB = USB 2.0 3 Yr USB + F/W 800 4900Seagate FLEX Desktop 2 TB = USB 2.0 3 Yr USB 4950Seagate FLEX Desktop 3 TB = USB 2.0 3 Yr USB 9900

Graphics Card NVDIACapacity Model Specs XFX MSI ASUS Sparkle512MB 8400GS PCX­16X, D 1650 15001GB 8400GS PCX­16X, D 22001GB 9500GT PCX­16X, D 32001GB GT210 PCX­16X, D, DDR3 22501GB GT220 PCX­16X, D, DDR2 33501GB GTS450 PCX­16X,D,DDR5 6600 6600 62501GB GT520 PCX­16X,D,DDR3 3300 3250 29001GB GTX550 PCX­16X,D,DDR5 8785 91501GB GTX 560 PCX­16X,D,DDR5 13850 140001536MB GTX580 PCX­16X,D,DDR5 27050 28200

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ATICapacity Model Specs XFX MSI Asus Power Color1GB 4350 ATI PCX­16X,D 2150 24001GB 4650 ATI PCX­16X,D 28501GB 4670 ATI PCX­16X,D,DDR3 34001GB 5450 ATI PCX­16X,D,DDR3 2500 2400 2650 25002GB 5450 ATIPCX­16X,D,DDR3 35851GB 5570 ATIPCX­16X,D,DDR5 4725 3770 4950 40002GB 5570 ATIPCX­16X,D,DDR3 64001GB 6570 ATIPCX­16X,D,DDR3 4525 45001GB 6670 ATIPCX­16X,D,DDR3 50501GB 6770 ATIPCX­16X,D,DDR5 75751GB 6790 ATIPCX­16X,DDR5 8625 81751GB 6850 ATI PCX­16X,D,DDR5 11125 9900 10800 102001GB 6870 ATI PCX­16X,D,DDR5 13350 13000 13100 133001GB 6950 ATI PCX­16X,D,DDR5 14700 148752GB 6950 ATIPCX­16X,D,DDR5 17000 176002GB 6970 ATIPCX­16X,D,DDR5 23050 19450 21500

SpeakersModel Mode Details PriceAltec BXR1220 2.0 Channel 700Altec FX2020 2.0 Channel 3150Altec BXR1221 2.1 Channel 950Altec VS2621 2.1 Channel 1650Altec VS4621 2.1 Channel 3200Altec FX 3022 2.1 Channel 4700Altec MX6021E 2.1 Channel 7450Creative SBS A35 ­ 2.0 2.0 Channel 400Creative SBS 2.1 A120 2.1 Channel 950Creative SBS 2.1 A235 2.1 Channel 1025Creative SBS 2.1 A335 2.1 Channel 1300Creative Inspire 2.1 T3100 2.1 Channel 2000Creative Inspire 2.1 T3130 2.1 Channel 1825Creative Inspire 4.1 M4500 4.1 Channel 2050Creative SBS 5.1 A520 5.1 Channel 2400Creative Inspire 5.1 T6100 5.1 Channel 3550Creative Inspire 5.1 T6160 5.1 Channel 3275

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MonitorsBrand Model Details RateSamsung 18.5" 1930B 50000:1 5750Samsung 20" 2030 50000:1, DVI 6150Samsung 22" 2230 7900Samsung LED BX1931 18.5" 6500Samsung LED LS20A300 20" 6800Samsung LED LS22A300 22" 8900Samsung LED LS23A300 23" 11100LG ­ LCD 16" ­ 1643C Wide ­ 30000:1 3950LG ­ LED 16" ­ E1600 Wide ­ 30000:1 4150LG ­ LCD 18.5" ­ 1943C Wide ­ 30000:1 5600LG ­ LED 18.5" ­ E1941S Wide 5800LG ­ LCD 20" ­ 2053 Wide ­ 30000:1 ­ DVI 5950LG ­ LED 20" ­ E2040T Wide 6100LG ­ LED 22" ­ E2240T Wide 8600LG ­ LED 22" ­ E2260V Wide + HDMi + DVI 9250LG ­ LED 23" ­ E2360V Wide + HDMi + DVI 9875LG With TV 20" M2062A DVI / HDMI / TV / Spkr 10450LG With TV 21.5" M227WA DVI / HDMI / TV / Spkr 12450ACER 15.6" ­ X163wa Wide 3800ACER 15.6" ­ H163wa Wide 3875ACER 18.5" ­ G195HQ Wide 4875ACER 18.5" ­ V193HQL WIDE LED 5000ACER 18.5" ­ S191HL WIDE LED ­ SLIM 5300ACER 20" V203H Wide 5200ACER 20" HS201HL ­ LED Wide + DVI 50000:1 6100ACER 21.5" ­ LED S222HQ Wide 7300ACER 23" S231HL ­ LED Wide + DVI + HDMi 9550ACER 24" ­ LED S243 Wide + DVI + HDMi 12400DELL LCD 15.6" ­ E1609W Wide 4300DELL LCD 17" ­ IN 1720 Wide 4950DELL LCD 18.5" ­ IN 1920 Wide 4950DELL LED 20" ­ IN2020M Wide + Dvi 6200DELL LED 21.5" ­ ST2220M Wide + Dvi 8200DELL LED 24" ­ ST2420L Wide HDMi / DVI 12900

­ Abhijoy SarkarPrices provided by:

Delta Peripherals http://www.deltapage.com/

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Contributors' IntroSaurav ModakA 20 year old Linux freak who likes to make his day by playing (not games, but withconfiguration files). Loves good food and to sleep lazily all the time. He can't live offlineeven a single day. A mixture of several contrasting characters. Visit below sites to knowmore

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sauravmodakBlog: http://www.intoanotherdawn.tk

I'm Gaurav Prabhu, a passionate photographer & a Linux enthusiast fromMumbai. Quite literally, I drink, eat & sleep photography.You can even call me'ShutterTux'. When it comes to Photography, I'm my own's biggest competitor. Ilove gadgets & other tech stuff. Writing is my another interest which gives mepleasure. Last but not least, I love to spend time with my family & close friends.My dream is to become a 'Master of Light'.

Twitter : ShutterTuxFB : http://www.facebook.com/GauravPrabhuWebsite : http://shuttertux.wordpress.comFlickr : http://www.flickr.com/people/gauravprabhu/

Gaurav Prabhu

A tech enthusiast and initiator of techwit. Currently a 18 year old engineering student.Anything technical is always my cup of tea. Have fetish for gadgets, automobiles andbooks(except school books). Have gaming, photography, listening music, watching moviesand experimenting with gadgets as hobbies. I spend a lot of time searching web for info ondifferent topics. My passion for technology and doing something different while sharingknowledge gave birth to the idea of creating techwit.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/abhijoy.sarkarMail me: mail.abhijoy.sarkar@gmail.com

I'm Gaurav Butola, a tech lover and have a great interest in Linux, I can talk about it all the time.I can't be away from my laptop for too long. I don't like studying my college books but I likereading ebooks all the time. I love the web and think it's the best thing ever.

Gaurav Butola

Abhijoy Sarkar

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A typical 16 year old teenager who lacks seriousness towards studies. Maths is my mortalenemy and technology is my passion. Crazy and random are two words which descirbe meperfectly. Love to party and socialize. And I love to read (anything other than educationalstuff) and addicted to my phone. Find me on the web by the username Dark69Slayer

Twitter ­ Dark69SlayerFacebook­ http://facebook.com/Dark69Slayer

George Solon

Likes listening to music, reading novels, comics, boredom buster! and what not!Loves tech, computers. Gamer. Surfing the webs (spiderwebs!)! Like to makefriends with like­minded people only.s0nic Is My Name, Gaming Is My Arsenal!"Twitter: Super_s0nic

David Kai Singson

I am creative guy, love creating models for games, designing and integratinganimation, code custom firmware for smartphones. I like to create 2d/3d mobilegames. Hobbies are to play , enjoy life , chill out with friends, I am good topeople who are good to me and worse for who betray!!

Siddharth Aditya Saurav