DavidKhoirul.net

Script to see who delete you on Facebook

2012-01-31T03:07:00.000+07:00

To be frankly, I never care about how many friends I have on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. On Facebook, for example, I only add real friends, people who I know in real life -- and no wonder, most of my Facebook friendship comes from people who found me from search engines and emails, from my blogs and sites.

For some of you, however, Facebook friends can mean a lot, and you might want to add more people if only Facebook allowed you to befriend over 5000.

Losing friends on Facebook, in this level, would feel like losing friends in real life.

But have you ever wondered how to see who have removed you on Facebook? If you're one of those people who are curious about who unfriend you on Facebook, now there's a trick, some scripts to be exact, to view people deleting you, deactivating their account, and requesting friendship. The script works on Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer.

Go to Mashable's page here to get the script.

SOPA threatens the internet

2012-01-19T08:25:00.003+07:00

Some of you might just hear the acronym SOPA, which stands for Stop Online Piracy Act. SOPA is a new bill introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar Smith.

While the bill seems a good idea to stop piracy in the internet, it actually threatens freedom of speech and could screw up the entire Web. Internet users, me included, protest against the bill. Just imagine, big websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube and Twitter will shut down because they are accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. You can no more tweet a link of articles, nor upload videos of your neighbors doing freestyle.

SOPA, writes Mashable, is currently stuck in the House Judiciary Committee, while the Senate is scheduled to vote on PIPA (Protect IP Act) January 24.

Mashable also writes that around 1,500 people showed up outside the offices of Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand for the rally Wednesday. Both Senators support SOPA and PIPA.

A protestor named Kate said, "I think an anti-piracy law is a great idea, I just don’t think this is it. It’s so broad and so vague that it’s going to restrict everyone’s freedom to use the Internet. Not knowing how the Internet works is no longer an excuse."

Bangladesh Market

2012-01-10T12:59:00.001+07:00

Two days ago, I received an email from my MXit friend Naeem in South Africa, in response to my post Dengok Pasar Cilik, a traditional mini market in the village of Kandangsemangkon, Paciran. It is interesting to note that in his home town of Chatsworth, Naeem says, there is a small market called Bangladesh Market, the one which is very similar to Dengok Pasar Cilik:

Hi David,

This is Naeem from South Africa. I read your very interesting article regarding the Dengok Mini Market, and we have a similar market here where I reside; it is called the Bangladesh Market, which is based in my home town of Chatsworth.

It was the Chatsworth Coordinating Council which was instrumental in the development of the Bangladesh Market. One of its concerns was the senior citizens of the community. But it was really the senior citizens of the Chatsworth community who played the most significant role in the establishment of the market.

The market today is mostly used by the poor and pensioners in order to give them the opportunity to generate some income to sustain their livelihood. Like the Dengok Mini Market, the Bangladesh Market is host to a variety of stalls, from foods, clothing, household appliances, and the list goes on.

So thank you, Mr. Khoirul, for teaching me a little about your country. It was rather interesting to see the community work together to earn an honest living just like the people of our Bangladesh Market.

Dengok Pasar Cilik

2012-01-06T19:59:00.001+07:00

Dengok Pasar Cilik, or Dengok Mini Market, is a small traditional market located in the village of Dengok, Kandang Semangkon, Paciran, in East Java. Built in 1995, the market opens daily from 6 to 9 a.m., and is crowded by villagers from surrounding places such as Blimbing, Brondong, and Paciran.

The name Dengok Pasar Cilik was created by local youth who hanged out in that place every night, and later the head of the village, together with the villagers, agree with the name. Since then, the market which resides a small alley becomes well-known; almost any kind of things, from clothing to fish, can be found in the DPC.

Pictures were taken by Ahmad Jhony.

"The Ten, Make That Nine Habits, of Very Organized People. Make That Ten" by Steve Martin

2011-10-29T05:50:00.000+07:00

The book "The Ten, Make That Nine Habits, of Very Organized People. Make That Ten" by Steve Martin, a comedian and actor, is probably the first book written based on Twitter posts, storing a collection of his tweets since December 2010.

On a tweet, Martin announced his book, "Due to absolutely no demand, soon I'm publishing a book of my tweets. Many of your replies included! All my profits to charity," as reported by Reuters.

Having 1.7 million followers, Martin previously wrote the book "The Object of Beauty" which was published in 2010 and made the New York Times bestseller list. Martin's book gives me an idea of doing the same thing, but on Facebook: Why don't I make all my posts in the social network a book?

Facebook is to be fined $138,000 for retaining user data

2011-10-22T10:08:00.000+07:00

Last month, Facebook removed my 75 photos in Mobilephotography album, the ones that I uploaded via Mobile Media Uploader, a Facebook app that lets me upload photos, create albums, and update status. This problem did not only occur to my account. All users who had uploaded photos via the app would lost their photos, even their albums.

Four days ago, thank God, all my photos were back. And up to now I have no idea whether this problem comes from Facebook or Mobile Media Uploader, but during my photos being lost, I put new images to Facebook, on the Mobile Upload album, by uploading them via URL. Other than Mobile Upload album, Facebook does not allow mobile users to upload photos, unless they do it on a desktop browser, via Facebook full site.

A similar but slightly different case happened to a Facebook user in Ireland, a 24-year-old student -- making the company face $138,000 fine for holding his deleted data.

The case began when a 24- year-old Austrian law student, Max Schrems, asked Facebook for a copy of all his personal data in June. Facebook complied, sending him a CD containing 1,200 pages of data, including his likes, “friend” and “defriend” history, and chat logs.

The problem? Schrems had deleted some of the data returned to him from his profile, yet Facebook retained his information.

Pemburu Rembulan

2011-10-21T08:35:00.003+07:00

Pemburu Rembulan, or The Moon Catcher, tells a story of two best friends, two ideas, and two challenges in the exotic island of Bawean, a quiet place, about 15 km north of Surabaya in the Java sea. Arul, a teacher, is determined to give better education for Bawean kids. And Amar, who is a climber and has been Arul's best friend since they were at college, turns to be a businessman.

In the island where endemic species Bawean deer (rusa Bawean) can only be found, Arul and Amar spend most of his time teaching 13 students at Taman Pendidikan Al-Qur'an (TPA) or Quranic School. They meet old-minded teachers who reject every kind of modern approaches to education. Amar and Arul work hard to convince people and give understandings about how this new approach will transform the way they learn, the way they teach, for a better learning environment.

And although Amar and Arul are always afraid of ghosts, they believe in one thing: Great heroes are those who keep fighting even though they don't have great power.

The author, Arul Chandrana, moved from Bawean to the Java island in 2005 to pursue a higher education. From 2005 to 2009, he studied English Education at the University of Ronggolawe in Tuban, East Java, while working and living with his brothers in Jompong, a small village in Lamongan.

Arul's writing style is quite new to Indonesian readers. Fond of reading American literatures of great authors such as Charles Dickens and Hemingway, Arul says he gets a lot of influences of the style. In most of his writings, Arul plays with rhythm and pace, rhyme and word choice, sentence structure and punctuation. He exploits the complexity of language, something that most Indonesian writers do not do. Arul does not fear long sentences; the usage of dashes and semicolons; and, of course, humor.

Bawean, an island with winding shores and small bays, is an isolated place where Arul spent his childhood and learnt writings at the age of 12 by reading and rewriting series Wiro Sableng by Bastian Tito. The first book that he claims has influenced his style is Ziarah by Iwan Simatupang, a book he stole from his school library when he was in Senior High School.

Divided into two regions, Sangkapura and Tambak, Bawean is a home for Arul Chandrana despite the fact that he was born in the Java island.

Pemburu Rembulan is truly an inspiring novel, a good read for you who seek a different style in telling stories -- it's worth reading.

Google Plus receives 3.4 billion photo uploads

2011-10-20T07:58:00.000+07:00

In the last 100 days, Google Plus, the social networking service of Google Inc., has received 3.4 billion photos, as revealed by Google's SVP of social Vic Gundotra on Wednesday. I am amazed at this number, though I myself am not an active user of Google+.

At the Web 2.0 conference, Vic responded a question by the audience as to whether there are any statistics that prove the usage of Google+, before he described how many photo uploads Google received.

And although it is lower than the number of photos uploaded on Facebook -- which is up to 6 billion photos per month -- I believe Google Plus will soon be a big rival for Mark Zuckerberg's social network. Google Plus now has 40 million users in just four months. In the next few months, it is predicted the number will double.

Google Adsense for Mobile Content is now available in Indonesia

2011-10-17T17:10:00.000+07:00

I stumbled upon a Google Adsense ad for Mobile Content on Indonesian news portal DetikCOM via Opera Mini this afternoon, and wondered how it could display the ads. Google Adsense for Mobile, as most people understand, is not available in Indonesia.

Curious and confused, I google-searched for Adsense Mobile Content. I came across Adsense official blog post explaining that more than 14 countries, including Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia, have now supported the Mobile Content. If a publisher develops mobile apps, he can also use Admob -- which has now been integrated with Google Adsense -- to show ads in the applications.

With this new update, the Mobile Content now supports bahasa Indonesia, which makes it easy for publishers and Indonesian bloggers like me to display the ads on non-English wapsites. I think I have to make my own bahasa Indonesia mobile blog now.

Google Chrome reaches 200 million users

2011-10-15T05:01:00.000+07:00

When it comes to internet desktop browser, I always recommend Mozilla Firefox. But other than Firefox -- and just in case you'd like something new -- you may also want to try Opera, Safari browser, Internet Explorer, or the three-year-old Google Chrome, which has now reached 200 million users as announced Tuesday by Google CEO Larry Page.

In May, according to eWeek, the users of Google Chrome was rising up to 160 users. And while Firefox is still used by many, Google Chrome has surpassed its popularity with about 15% market share.

Mashable wrote:

Chrome’s growth had been noted elsewhere. The browser has about 15% market share and in some markets, like the UK, it has surpassed Firefox’s share to become the second most popular browser after IE. Among Mashable readers, meanwhile, Chrome is the most popular.

If you're asking what browser I use to browse the internet, download files and applications, or write this blog post, then the answer would be none of the above; I'm using a powerful mobile browser on my Nokia N70 called Opera Mini.

Why did Steve Jobs like to wear turtlenecks?

2011-10-12T06:25:00.000+07:00

My friend Arul Chandrana, a novelist and blogger, once posted a Facebook status saying that every big person has his own personal uniform, including apple co-founder Steve Jobs who, during his lifetime, more often than not, appeared in black turtlenecks. In fact, his turtlenecks, glasses and jeans had made him recognizable. But in the context of company uniform, wouldn't he have to wear them if his employees had accepted the nylon jacket he purposed?

Writer Walter Isaacson, who wrote a biography of Steve Jobs, revealed in his book why Steve liked to wear turtlenecks:

On a trip to Japan in the early 1980s, Jobs asked Sony's chairman Akio Morita why everyone in the company's factories wore uniforms. He told Jobs that after the war, no one had any clothes, and companies like Sony had to give their workers something to wear each day. Over the years, the uniforms developed their own signatures styles, especially at companies such as Sony, and it became a way of bonding workers to the company. "I decided that I wanted that type of bonding for Apple," Jobs recalled.

Sony, with its appreciation for style, had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to create its uniform. It was a jacket made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that could unzip to make it a vest. So Jobs called Issey Miyake and asked him to design a vest for Apple, Jobs recalled, "I came back with some samples and told everyone it would great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I get booed off the stage. Everybody hated the idea."

In the process, however, he became friends with Miyake and would visit him regularly. He also came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style. "So I asked Issey to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them." Jobs noticed my surprise when he told this story, so he showed them stacked up in the closet. "That's what I wear," he said. "I have enough to last for the rest of my life."

Husband punches wife for not 'Liking' his Facebook status update

2011-10-10T11:23:00.006+07:00

What will you do if you post a status update to Facebook and your wife doesn't comment nor "Like" it. Punch her? Kill her? In Texas, USA, a 36-year-old man named Benito Apolinar was charged guilty of battery after he punched his wife on Tuesday for not 'Liking' his status on Facebook about the anniversary of his mom's death. His wife, who has accompanied him for 15 years, was punched in the cheek, and her hair was pulled.

Being at the top of his anger, Benito shouted to her, "That's amazing everyone 'Likes' my status but you, you are my wife. You should be the first one to 'Like' my status."

Benito was reportedly under the influence of alcohol when he confronted his wife.

I think it's true that social networking sites like Facebook, apart from its many advantages, have changed the way people interact and communicate with others. Just because of his wife not Liking his status update, this guy can punch the one he should actually love. Here in Indonesia, I also hear a lot of news on TV, radio, newspaper, and online media about teenage girls being kidnapped by her Face-boyfriend, a boyfriend that a girl meets on Facebook but never sees in real life.

via MSN News

Thank God, it rained

2011-10-10T05:15:00.000+07:00

At 1 a.m. today while sleeping in front of my telly, I was awakened by the noise of water in the roof. I guess it must be raining. The air around turned cold, and I couldn't stand moving to my bedroom or I'll be frozen. Yes, the rain, for the first time since about four or five months ago, has poured here in the village of Blimbing in East Java.

Whispering to myself, I thanked God. Yesterday afternoon with the help of my friend Jhony, I repaired my broken water pump, pulling it up from my traditional well. Water, though still available in Blimbing, becomes a massive crisis in many places in Indonesia. If you watch your TV in the morning, you can hear the news about hundreds of people in rural areas relying water on a single well, or sometimes from dirty mud. Dry season in Indonesia has triggered this crisis.

In Indramayu, West Java, people collect dirty watter from a gutter. They filter it before using it for bathing, washing and cooking. In Tegal, People had to consume muddy water.

According to the head of Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), dry season would possibly end next month, and the rain last night, thank God, might be just the beginning and the sign of a new season, rainy season.

How the last true hacker Richard Stallman eulogizes Steve Jobs

2011-10-08T12:22:00.000+07:00

The death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has brought a lot of sadness among colleagues, friends, and many people in the world. Steve plays an important role in the birth of modern technology. In 1976, he founded Apple. And now as the technology is growing, Apple has produced several innovative products, including iPad and iPhone.

Although I myself heard his name -- especially after I became a techno lover -- just in a couple of years, I felt that I had lost an important person, an amazing human being.

However, unlike many techno geeks who express their condolence for Steve, free software leader Richard M. Stallman made controversial remarks on his political blog, saying that he is "not glad he's dead but I'm glad he's gone."

Stallman, who's famous for his unusual way of surfing the net without web browsers, is an anti-social, radical person. He also has controversial beliefs, especially when it comes to software.

To be frankly, I'm bothered by Stallman's remarks; he has gone too far with his comments on Jobs' death.

Here are the full comments of Stallman posted on his personal blog:

Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died.
As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the corrupt former Mayor Daley, “I’m not glad he’s dead, but I’m glad he’s gone.” Nobody deserves to have to die – not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of Jobs’ malign influence on people’s computing.
Unfortunately, that influence continues despite his absence. We can only hope his successors, as they attempt to carry on his legacy, will be less effective.

Post your your voice here if you think Stallman's comments went too far.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died

2011-10-06T08:41:00.001+07:00

Apple chairman Steve Jobs, who in August stepped down from his position as CEO, died on Wednesday at the age of 56.

In the front page of apple.com, a picture of Steve was displayed, and in the second page, a tribute to the industry leader:

Steve Jobs
1955-2011
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who’ve been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve lost a dear friend and inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@ apple.com.

Apple, the company Steve co-founded in 1976, post a statement:

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.
Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

Read or even download Google Books for free

2011-10-05T19:11:00.000+07:00

Anyone who's crazy about reading should be familiar with Google Books, a service that searches the full text of books online. To read your favorite books offline, however, you must purchase the access for download. Google Books, previously known as Google Book Search and Google Print, was first introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004 and announced in December 2004.

Regardless the unavailability for free offline versions, you can now download and read Google Books using these tricks posted on hacking blog Break the Security.

Step 1:
Download/install Greasemonkey addon (Customize the way a web page displays or behaves, by using small bits of JavaScript.) in Firefox.
Install this userscript: google book download.
Download/install Flashgot.
FlashGot is the free add-on for Firefox and Thunderbird, meant to handle single and massive ("all" and "selection") downloads with several external Download Managers.
Download/install Flashget
(Download Manager)
Step 2:
View your favorite book.
For Example: http:// books.google.com/books? id=Tmy8LAaVka8C&printsec=frontcover
In the left panel, click Download this book.
Select all pages, right-click, choose FlashGot Selection. Press OK to start downloading.
Note: Download only one page at a time, or your IP will be banned. After the downloading is finished, in FlashGet left panel, choose Downloaded folder. Select all pages of the book, right-click, choose Rename -> Comment As FilenameRead
book

You can now lock your Google Plus posts before publishing

2011-10-05T17:14:00.001+07:00

If privacy is your main priority in the social network era, then Google+ gives you what you need. While the site previously added a feature that lets you lock down posts from sharing after you publish them, now with a new feature, you can do it even before you publish them, making it easy to decide whether a post is worth sharing or just read-only.

How to run Opera Mini on Windows

2011-10-03T08:33:00.001+07:00

Opera Mini has become one of the most favorite mobile internet browsers in Indonesia. It is available in almost all types of mobile phones, with various operational systems, including Android, Java and Symbian.

Now using some additional softwares, Opera Mini can also be run on your Windows-based computer.

With this emulator application, you should be able to browse the internet on your PC using Opera Mini browser, much simpler and faster.

Download Opera Mobile Emulator now

Ali Imran to be moved to Jakarta

2011-10-02T19:08:00.001+07:00

2002 Bali bomber Ali Imran, who is currently jailed in the island, will soon be moved to Jakarta prison, reported The Jakarta Globe.

Inul Daratista, Dewi Persik and Julia Perez are on the list of Indonesian singers to be banned

2011-09-30T19:11:00.000+07:00

More than four Indonesian dangdut singers, including Inul Daratista and Dewi Persik, are threatened to be banned by the Indonesian Ulema Council or MUI for their hot dances on stage.

Video sharing site YouTube is down

2011-09-30T08:27:00.001+07:00

At 4 a.m. today, video-sharing website YouTube.com is down, the first service interruption in months and probably the worst in 2011. You might find some problems such as broken links and unworking videos as you click on them. Since the middle of May, the Google-owned site has actually improved its site activities up to 100%, according to Pingdom.

However, a few hours ago, the YouTube staff just tweeted on his Twitter account that the engineers have fixed the problems and so the website should be back to normal.

PicYou, another instagram-like photo editor

2011-09-27T19:16:00.001+07:00

If you're using Nokia s60v2 like my N70, you won't be able to install Molome, a social networking site and app which works with photo editing and sharing, and features various retro effects. Being in the beta phase, Molome is only available in certain platforms, including S60v3, S60v5 and Android.

But there's no need to worry about. Although the Molome website does not allow users to upload or edit photos, people can now sign up for a new account on other instagram-like photo editing site PicYou.

The San Fransisco-based photo sharing site connects you to Facebook and Twitter, and lets you enhance your photos so they look more unique and gorgeous. On PicYou, you can meet new people, share about photography tips, and make new friends.

Download instagram to your Nokia s60v3 and s60v5

2011-09-26T02:50:00.001+07:00

Everyone knows instagram, a free photo-sharing application developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger; an application that is only available for iPhone or mobile devices with Apple iOS. Instagram's photo filters are amazing. The vignette filter, for example, is my favorite. But have you ever wondered how you can have an application similar to instagram installed on your Nokia?

Now with Molome, you can edit your photos the same way as you do it on instagram. Launched for Symbian operational system in June 2011, Molome only works in S60v3 and S60v5. Hope it will also be available on S60v2.

Molome users can edit, upload and share their works with other users. Molome also connects to Facebook and Twitter. Yesterday morning, my friend Nenik Ervina, who's currently learning photography, signed up for Molome after I recommended her to download the application to her Nokia X6. Ervina found it very powerful and interesting. Molome gives you 20 photo filters that you can apply to your images so they look more artistic and beautiful.

If you're curious about how this amazing photo-editing-and-sharing application is, then go to Molome's official web site at molo.me to download the sis file of the app. There are still very few Indonesian members, I guess.

Have fun with your photos!

Google's new algorithm influences Page Rank

2011-09-24T12:52:00.001+07:00

Google's new algorithm, now with a better system, has influenced how a web site or blog is ranked on the search engines. It seems that the algorithm is no longer prioritizing on the number of links coming to your site, but on how good and original your content is.

Profilic blogger Fatih Syuhud of fatihsyuhud.com, who previously got PR 4, for example, has his blog ranked 0 (zero) although he keeps updating regularly. The reason in clear, I guess. Syuhud quoted many paragraphs from other sites, something which may end up being considered as copying -- despite the fact that Syuhud gives credit to the sites.

Another surprising fact is my Narasel, a bahasa Indonesia blog which is hosted at kilu.de and currently being inactive. Narasel gets PR 2, and so m.dvd.lc. M.dvd.lc is absolutely not a blog and I rarely post updates there; only members of the site will write something in forums or in the shout box.

How do you think Google algorithms influence page rank? Post your comments.

6.6 quake hit northern Sumatera

2011-09-06T07:04:00.001+07:00

A quake of 6.6 magnitude hit northern Sumatera, Indonesia, at 12:55 a.m. today, in the distance of 100 km Southwest of Medan. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), as quoted by DetikCOM, says the quake will not cause tsunami.

Bug: Facebook page administrator may remove the owner

2011-09-06T04:48:00.000+07:00

So here's another bug in Facebook pages. A video uploaded by Naked Security shows how a new administrator of a Facebook page can remove the original administrator, the page owner.

There are two scenarios here. One is that you have a trusted friend or colleague who you ask to help you administer a Facebook page. Even if they have the best intentions, their Facebook account may get compromised (perhaps their passwords are phished or cracked) giving a stranger the chance to hijack the Facebook page you created.
The other possibility is that you gave a stranger admin access to your Facebook page.

Watch the video

Street musician in Blimbing killed by hard-liner group

2011-09-04T15:18:00.001+07:00

More than five people of an Islamic hard-liner group in the village of Blimbing killed a street musician after Tarawih prayer on August 27, exactly three days before Eid. Wartono, the group leader, along with other five members, beat the unidentified busker in Brondong, claiming that the musician had disturbed the ta'lim, a discussion he held in a mushalla or prayer house next to Tempat Pelelangan Ikan (TPI).

According to this group, Islam forbids music. So they felt uncomfortable when they performed tarawih prayer and the sound of the guitar outside continued. The busker was hit in the head, chest and stomach using wooden planks and stones.

A parking attendent -- identified as "S" -- who tried to calm down also got punched in the face. After the jama'ah left the busker, S helped bring him to the hospital before the doctor confirmed his death.

On Sunday night, August 28, S came to Wartono's house in Sremeng, a dusun (or sub-village) in Blimbing. S asked for his responsibility for the death of the young musician but Wartono ran away through the back door of his house, holding a kitchen knife. The parking attendant thought it was a thief and shouted "Maling!"

Hearing the shout, neighboring people came out and ran after Wartono, beating him to almost death. Wartono was brought to a hospital in Lamongan and -- lucky him -- he was alive.

Blimbing, a village with a population of more than 5000, is a home for many Islamic groups, including hard-liner Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) which spread among young villagers. Its extreme teachings of Islam often lead them to violence and intolerance.

-- David Khoirul

Soon, Facebook will have a translate button in the comment section

2011-09-04T08:01:00.002+07:00

Facebook, the giant social network, is preparing to add a translate button in the comment section, especially for comments on pages. A good move, indeed.

In tests that we and others are now seeing on some parts of the site (only on Pages, at this point), comments in languages other than your account’s current one now include “Translate” button next to them. If you click on the button, the comment is automatically translated to your account language. The Translate button is then replaced by “Original,” which if clicked will untranslate the comment.
Facebook has already successfully crowdsourced the translation of its site to dozens of languages, connecting millions of people to each other around the world in new and unexpected ways. For an interesting example, take a look at the aggressive international cooperation that happens between users trying to mutually advance in a social game like FarmVille.

[via Inside Network]

Admob moves to Adsense

2011-09-03T08:58:00.001+07:00

As I checked my email this morning, I got a message from Admob, a mobile ad service acquired by Google on November 29, 2009. In the email, Admob says it will move to Google Adsense and will no longer support mobile WAP:

Dear AdMob Mobile Web Publisher:

Following the acquisition of AdMob by Google, we have continued to operate parallel products for mobile web publishers on both the AdSense and AdMob platforms. To ensure we offer a single best solution for mobile web publishers, we will be focusing our efforts on the AdSense platform going forward. On September 30, 2011, we are beginning this transition to the AdSense platform and will discontinue support for WAP mobile web on the AdMob network.

All publishers who are currently using AdMob's WAP mobile web solution are asked to register for an AdSense account and begin using the Google AdSense for mobile content. This change enables Google to offer our mobile web publishers an industry leading content monetization solution with access to advertisers interested in reaching your mobile audience.

We encourage you to use Google AdSense to monetize your mobile webpages going forward. Google AdSense for mobile provides you many of the same features with more flexible reporting tools. Implementing Google AdSense now will allow you to continue monetizing your mobile content after September 30 without disruption.

Mini Mosque

2011-08-29T18:41:00.001+07:00

Using five yellow cardboards and plastic, Ahmad Jhony made this small mosque for the takbir keliling, an activity where Islamic students or santri march and say takbir. Ahmad Jhony, a perfectionist, spent a week to create a miniature of a traditional Indonesian mosque. Students of TPA, elementary school and junior high school will join the takbir keliling tonight in Blimbing in East Java. Happy Eid!

Ahmadiyah to stop its activities on Lebaran day

2011-08-27T12:36:00.002+07:00

Blimbing, my home village, is free from misleading groups like Ahmadiyah, though hard-liners such as Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Hizbut Thahrir grow like healthy grass. In South Sulawesi, however, where Ahmadiyah communities exist, goverment officials forbid the group to do any religious activities on Lebaran day.

South Sulawesi governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo said according to his subordinate’s report, the condition in the province was conducive, but he said he was concerned that Ahmadiyah members would still conduct activities over the holiday, which could promote violence.

We don't want a repeat of conflicts, we will guard the Ahmadiyah mosque,” Syahrul said Friday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com

Syahrul refused to comment on whether Ahmadis could conduct worship activity in their mosques. “I cannot answer that. But their religious activities are certainly forbidden.

via The Jakarta Post

Front Pembela Islam is angry with SCTV for planning to air controversial "?" film

2011-08-26T19:25:00.003+07:00

On takbir night, as you can see it on your TV commercial breaks, Indonesian TV channel SCTV will air controversial film "?" which -- according to certain groups -- may disvalue Islam. Front Pembela Islam or the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), an extremist group based in Jakarta, is raged with anger and says that they will besiege the SCTV studio on Saturday.

Habib Salim Alatas, the Jakarta Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader, claimed approximately 1,500 of its members were going to gather outside the SCTV premises and demand it cancel all plans to air the film.
“We do not understand why SCTV is willing to air "?", while the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) has clearly said the movie damages Islamic values and morale,” he said.
The film "?" , by Hanung Bramantyo , is a study of the role and state of Islam in modern Indonesian society.
However, Hanung's bold portrayal of the religion has caused many critics and hard-line followers of the faith to call it blasphemous.
MUI issued a religious edict in April forbidding Muslims from watching the movie, saying “?” implied it was alright to abandon Islam since it showed the alternative paths to God.

This keyboard is smaller than your phone

2011-08-23T22:00:00.002+07:00

Invented by a company from south China's Guangdong Province, the mini wireless keyboard was promoted in Hong Kong, at an exhibition. Nenik Ervina could probably see it. The mini keyboard has the functions of a touch pad, a mouse, a laser pen and a remote controller.

Small bird

2011-08-23T15:35:00.001+07:00

I don't know how I call this bird and, in fact, I don't have much knowledge about birds, but this small bird with long beak and tail suddenly flew into my house and alighted on the door window, trying to go towards the glass board. I caught it with my sister Diana. Since I don't have a cage, I put the bird in a rice basket. Anyone knows the name of the bird?

Click on the image to enlarge:

Image galleries available now for Twitter users

2011-08-23T07:30:00.003+07:00

Finally Twitter has its user galleries. Any photo posted on Twitter through its new photo- uploading tool, or using a third-party photo-sharing service such as TwitPic, Instagram or yFrog, will soon be featured in an image gallery on your Twitter profile.

Beginning Monday, Twitter is rolling out user galleries, a feature which displays the 100 most recent pictures the user has uploaded by way of Twitter from supported photo- sharing services - dating back to January 1, 2010.

Galleries will live on a user's profile and highlight a few recent images. A visitor can click the view" all" button to see even more images in either a grid view showing image thumbnails or a detail view highlighting the most recent image and the text of the tweet that was shared along with it.

This improvement will surely change how Twitter profiles looks. With equal billing to images shared via third-party app makers, galleries will serve to remind users that Twitter is not just a place just for 140 characters but it's also for images.

At launch, galleries will be image-only. Carolyn Penner, Twitter Communications Manager, said that on Monday users can start seeing the update.

In its Help Center, Twitter offers some tips on how to use its new "galleries" feature.

Twitter users should understand that manually retweeting a tweet with a link to a photo in it will add the image to their gallery. User must delete the entire tweet to remove a photo from the gallery.

Twitter says:

Delete the Tweet that contains the image; it should be removed from your timeline and your user gallery. Note: If your image is being hosted on a third party service such as yFrog or TwitPic and you delete the Tweet the image will be removed from your user gallery but will still be available on those services so you'll need to delete the image from there if you'd like to remove it from the internet entirely.

via Mashable, Huffington Post

Identity-verification badge on Google Plus

2011-08-21T17:28:00.002+07:00

People mock Google for trying to mimic Twitter. On Saturday, its social network service, Google Plus, rolled out a new verification badge program. Celebrities, public figures and those who have big influences to a large number of people in their circles can verify their identities with a small banner and a check mark located next to their names.

"“We’'re working on expanding this to more folks," said Wen-Ai Yu, a Google+ team member. ”As to how exactly these verifications work, Ai Yu didn't give any further description.

Along with Google's‘ insistence that user accounts be opened under a real name, the program aims to assure people that “the user you’re adding to a circle is really the person you mean to add.”

via CNET

Blocked SIM card back to life

2011-08-20T18:10:00.004+07:00

Where does your blocked SIM card go? To a recycle bin? If you are wondering where, I have an interesting story that reveals how my lost blocked SIM card -- which has been inactive since December 2010 -- goes back to life.

Every after two months, Indonesian cellular SIM cards, such as im3 and XL, will have to be renewed if you don't want to end up being blocked. In 2007 I bought 0856554001XX of Indosat's im3, a SIM card produced by the Jakarta-based cellular company. And since I rarely topped it up, it was temporarily inactive and would be blocked in 30 days. In December last year, the card was lost and, I guess, also blocked.

But two days ago my sister Diana told me she just made a missed-call to that old IM3 card, saying she could hear the call-waiting tone, so I asked her to check whether she dialed the correct number. Diana even wrote a text message to the number, and received a reply.

Wondering how it could happen, I met my friend Jhony Ahmad after finishing my tarawih prayer in Nurul Huda mosque last night, and asked him to call the number while we had coffe in the terrace of his house in the village of Gowah, Blimbing. From the five-minute call using Jhony's Nokia, I learned that the man behind that old number of mine is a guy from Sidoarjo in East Java named Herwin.

I asked Herwin how he got the number. I didn't know who this guy is, but he said to me he bought the card in a Sidoarjo cellular store in pair with his girlfriend's number whose digits are similar.

"Sometimes, I also receive calls or SMSs' from people asking about David," Herwin said.

So do you think my blocked number is recycled?

SBY refuses to respond Nazaruddin's letter

2011-08-20T11:40:00.002+07:00

In my previous post, I enclosed the English translation of Nazaruddin's letter. Yesterday, however, The Jakarta Post wrote President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would not respond his letter.

Affairs related to Nazaruddin's case are for law enforcement officers because he is now under investigation by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"If Nazaruddin was worried about his family," Sudi said, "he should have instead turned to the KPK and his legal team."

In a high-profile bribery case linked to a SEA Games construction project, Nazaruddin was named a suspect in Palembang, South Sumatra. Neneng Sriwahyuni, Nazaruddin's wife who was also named a graft suspect by the KPK, is reportedly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with her three children.

Nazaruddin was deported to Indonesia on Saturday after being arrested by authorities in Colombia last week.

via The Jakarta Post

The first brain chip by IBM to sense events

2011-08-19T18:28:00.001+07:00

I used to believe it would come true. And now, as you could read in many publications, it really exists -- the chip for the brain.

Similar to the way biological synapses work, the system is capable of "rewiring" its connections as it encounters new information.

By replicating that feature, researchers believe, the technology could start to learn. To understand human behaviour as well as environmental monitoring, we may eventually use cognitive computers.

IBM's project leader, Dharmendra Modha, explained that by "reverse engineering the brain" they were trying to recreate aspects of the mind such as perception, emotion, cognition and sensation.

There are two prototype "neurosynaptic computing chips" in the system. The two systems, described as the electronic equivalent of neurons, have 256 computational cores. While one chip contains 65,536 learning synapses, the other has 262,144 programmable synapses.

Synaptic connections between brain cells physically connect humans and animals, depending on our experience of the world. Essentially the forming and strengthening of connections is the process of learning.

The basis of computers, formed by such chips, are to monitor real-time traffic-light cameras, notice an anomaly and, in time to save lives, dispatch an ambulance.

With the advanced technology, it can perform potential applications, including lining the ocean with sensors for everything from temperature, humidity and wave height to acoustics and turbidity.

All that data will be constantly monitored by the computers to detect patterns such as rogue waves that could interrupt shipping or a tsunami that could wipe out coastal areas.

With sight, smell, temperature and other sensors, a glove could identify fruits and veggies that are contaminated.

Unlike today's computers, the chips do this by integrating memory and processing, which separate the functions. It's a difference between a farmers market where you buy and eat locally grown food and growing food in one part of the world then eating it in another.

"This is not just a 5 percent leap if this works," said Modha. We have already overcome huge conceptual roadblocks. This is a leap of orders of magnitude forward.

via VentureBeat, BBC, MSNBC

SBY gives medals to civil servants in Jakarta

2011-08-19T14:41:00.001+07:00

For their years of public service, 740 civil servants working for the Jakarta administration received Satya Lancana Karya Satya medals from Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, writes The Jakarta Post.

On Wednesday, on the sidelines of a ceremony to commemorate Indonesia’s 66th Independence Day at the National Monument Park in Central Jakarta, Governor Fauzi Bowo made the announcement.

As many as 276 Jakarta civil servants received medals for their 10 years of service, 196 for 30 years of service and 268 for 20 years of service, Fauzi said.

"These people receive the medals because they have served the nation and state for many of years. The medals, we hope, will make them role models for other Jakarta administration officers to perform their duties and serve the public,"” said Fauzi.

Refuse to remove burqa in Australia? Go to jail

2011-08-19T12:47:00.002+07:00

If you are a motorist who lives in Australia and refuses to take off your face-covering veils such as the burqa when asked to do so by police, you can be sent to jail for up to a year. This regulation was launched Friday by Australian authorities.

Police will be able to ask drivers to remove masks, helmets, the face-covering niqab veil and the all-body garment the burqa, under the changes to laws in New South Wales state.

In the most serious cases, the refusal could result in up to a year in jail and a fine of Aus$5,500, and would usually incur a fine of Aus$220 ($228).

"For as long as it takes to identify them, people“ will only be required to remove a face covering,"” said Barry O’Farrell, New South Wales state Premier.

However, you can request to go to a police station if you want to be identified privately for religious and cultural reasons.

” Introduced to the parliament next week, the changes will also give officials the power to request the removal of face coverings in courts while visitors to prison could also be asked to remove any coverings that obscure their identity. A fine of up to $550 will be given for those who refuse.

O’Farrell said in a statement, "I“ have every respect for different religions and beliefs but when it comes to enforcing the law, the police should be given adequate powers to make a clear identification."

This law follows the recent case of a Muslim woman who, because of a burqa, was acquitted when a magistrate ruled she could not be positively identified.

For falsely accusing a police officer of forcibly trying to remove her burqa, Sydney woman Carnita Matthews was sentenced to six months in jail, in the high-profile case, in November 2010.

However after a magistrate said he could not be 100 percent sure it was Matthews who later walked into a police station to make the complaint, her sentence was later quashed because officers were not able to see her face.

During the investigation of serious offences, police already have the power to ask women to remove face veils, but not on more routine matters.

In parts of Europe, where France has banned them in public, the wearing of full-face niqab veils by some Muslim women has become a contentious issue.

After the New South Wales state ombudsman have been in place for a year, they will review the new laws.

via AFP

Nazaruddin's letter to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

2011-08-19T09:20:00.002+07:00

Muhammad Nazaruddin, the graft suspect and former Democratic Party treasurer, asked for his wife and three children to be protected, by writing a letter to the party’s chief patron, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

On Thursday, according to Nazaruddin’'s lawyer Afrian Bondjol, the letter was delivered to the Presidential Palace.

"When we visited Nazaruddin at Kelapa Dua in Depok, West Java, yesterday, he“ dictated the letter to us. Then we printed it and he signed it earlier today,”" said Afrian. Available to some national newspapers, the letter reads as follows:

Jakarta, August 18, 2011
To:
The President of the Republic of Indonesia
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
In Jakarta
I beg you to immediately send me to jail without the need for a judicial process. I am willing to be put in prison for years as long as you promise to give material and mental peace to my family, particularly my wife and children.
I have to explain that my wife is indeed a domestic woman who knows nothing about the affairs of the party. I also promise that I will not disclose anything that could damage the image of the Democratic Party or the KPK, for the sake of the nation.
Here is my letter in which I kindly ask for the help and attention of Mr. President.
Kind regards,
Muhammad Nazaruddin

via The Jakarta Post

Google Maps adds weather conditions features

2011-08-19T01:47:00.002+07:00

In my N70, I have Google Maps application installed. Like my other Java-based applications, my Google Maps is featured a handler menu which lets me configure the server address, host, and proxy. The handler menu helps me view the map for free, without worrying about the cost of data exchange.

But that free internet trick won't attract you until you know this: Google has updated Google Maps with a weather layer that provides users with five day forecasts and current weather conditions for locales all around the globe.

From the upper right corner of Google, you can enable this feature and you will see weather temperatures and conditions, as denoted by cloud and rain icons, when zoomed out. If you want to get a more detailed report for a specific area, you can zoom in or click on a weather icon. The U.S. Naval Research Lab is powering the feature that shows cloud coverage on the map, while Google Maps’ weather reports are sourced from weather.com.

That should help you better plan trips or check in on the weather conditions where your friends and family are located. The addition of weather to its Maps product is seen by Google as a handy tool. One week after a partnership between The Weather Channel and Twitter, this timing of the release comes. Hopefully it will also available in its mobile application.

via Mashable

The word "retweet" is now added to Oxford Dictionary

2011-08-19T00:08:00.003+07:00

It reminds me of my first English-English dictionary, Oxford Pocket Dictionary, which I got as a prize for winning an English debate at the University of Ronggolawe, Tuban, in December 2005. In that Oxford edition, you will not find the word retweet. Now the Concise Oxford English Dictionary has added 400 words to its dictionary, including woot, cyberbullying, sexting and retweet.

Published as the 12th edition, the dictionary realizes that modern technology and social media have greatly impacted the English language. My favorite addition is retweet, the act of resharing a message on Twitter, even though sexting and woot are also added.

On its centennial birthday, the Concise Oxford English Dictionary — now has more than 240,000 words. Jeggings, mankini (a term popularized by Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat movie) and domestic goddess are among the other additions to the Oxford English Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary Online added LOL, OMG, and <3 to its list of official English words earlier this year.

via Mashable

Muhammadiyah says Eid will be on August 30

2011-08-18T20:21:00.002+07:00

Eid, also known as Idul Fitri in Indonesia, will fall on August 30, according to the country's second larget Muslim organization Muhammadiyah.

On July 5, 2011, at the office of East Java chapter, Tarjih Assembly of Muhammadiyah regional leaders held a consultative meeting, resulting in the day of Eid.

Muhammadiyah based its calculation on a hisab or astronomical calculations performed by the Tarjih Assembly in Wisata Bahari Lamongan, previously known as Tanjung Kodok, in the village of Paciran, regency of Lamongan, East Java.

After the calculation and a long discussion, they announced that Ramadhan would end in 29 days. It means that, on Aug. 30, Muslims will celebrate Eid.

East Java chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the larger Muslim organization, however, said Indonesian Muslims might celebrate Idul Fitri on different days.

Sholeh Hayat, an NU East Java official, said there was a possibility hilal -- or the new moon -- for the month of Syawal would be seen only after Aug. 30, which means August 31 is the first day of Idul Fitri.

Nearer to the end of Ramadhan, according to Sholeh, the NU would perform its rukyatul hilal (hilal sighting) to decide the last day of Ramadhan.

Extremist Muslim wants the death of US talk show host David Letterman

2011-08-18T18:12:00.002+07:00

Blimbing used to be a peaceful Islamic village. In 2001, however, when extremist groups entered the village, everything started to change: violance, radicalism, and intolerance. I saw many people in Blimbing disappointed when they heard about the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who was killed by US army back in June. For these people, Osama is not just a leader; he is also an example of how Muslims should actually act upon kafir, or disbelievers.

AFP recently reports that a jihadist has called on Muslims to murder David Letterman, saying the United States talk show host deserved to have his tongue cut out after he joked about Osama.

SITE Monitoring Service said the death threat was posted on Tuesday on a Web site used by militants, after the jihadist became enraged seeing Letterman make a joke about militant Ilyas Kashmiri who is believed to have been killed in an airstrike in Pakistan in early June.
According to a translation by SITE released Wednesday, the writer to the web forum asked Muslims in America: “Is there not amongst you a Sayyid Nosair al- Masri to cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever?”

How old is the moon?

2011-08-18T13:13:00.001+07:00

Some scientists think that the old moon might not be as antique as we thought. It is possible, according to them, that it isn't a day over 4.4 billion years old although, with a new study's conclusions, other astronomers disagree. Since they have suspected all these years, they think the moon is up to its typical age-defying tricks and is really pushing 4.6 billion.

MSNBC reports:

The scientists discovered these moon rocks apparently crystallized about 4.36 billion years ago, well after the moon is thought to have formed. This means the moon might be either significantly younger than researchers suspected, or the prevailing notion of a quickly cooling global ocean of magma might be wrong.

Yudhoyono's song was performed during Independence Day celebrations

2011-08-18T12:48:00.002+07:00

Untuk Bumiku ( For my Earth), a song written by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesian president, was sung during Independence Day celebrations, on Wednesday.

The incident emulated last year’'s official celebrations, Tribunnews.com reported.

"Unite, Friends, for our earth,” the lyrics say.

During the celebrations, a book on First Lady Ani Yudhoyono was also reportedly circulated.

via The Jakarta Post

Facebook and Google Plus' war

2011-08-18T04:52:00.003+07:00

The birth of Google Plus, Google's social network, triggers a new war with Facebook.

On Tuesday, Google spokesperson Randall Safara posted a video on Google+, showing how Facebook was preventing Google + invites from spreading. According to Safara's video, the post on Facebook with an invite did not appear in his friends'’ News Feeds — while other posts worked fine.

Google Senior Vice President of Social Vic Gundotra then reposted the video . "“We are getting reports of Google+ invite links not showing up on Facebook news feeds anymore,"” he said. "“I wonder how widespread this problem is."”

But replicating the results of the video haven’t been easy. Most Google+ users say they can share Google+ invites on their Facebook pages just fine. Our own testing shows that Google+ invites are not being blocked by Facebook.

via Mashable

How TV slowly kills you

2011-08-17T13:01:00.003+07:00

After smoking and drinking, researchers have now found a surprising fact about your health: Watching TV can reduce your lifespan. While the reasons are always questionable, this finding helps you learn that too long staring at the stupid box is sometimes bad -- I spend hours daily watching TV, though. :)

A study by researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia has concluded that, for every hour of television watched after age 25, the average human lifespan drops by 22 minutes. A person who watch six hours of TV per day will, on average, live five years less than people who spent less time on the couch and in front of the television screen. Those are some scary numbers.
The study tracked data from 11,000 Australian participants over the age of 25. It was published earlier this month in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
This study doesn’t prove that TV is quietly killing us. It’s more likely that lack of exercise and bad eating habits are shortening the lifespans of TV couch potatoes. A person who spends six hours a day staying active is almost certainly going to live longer than a person who likes to lean back in a recliner watching countless episodes of Judge Judy or Law and Order: SVU.

via Mashable

Independence Day Ceremony

2011-08-17T11:16:00.003+07:00

Today, August 17, 2011, marks Indonesia's 66th Independence Day. On this Indonesia's most special day, Muslims are doing Ramadhan fasting and, what a coincidence, according to lunar calendar, today is 17th of Ramdhan. As usual, on the Independence Day, people hold flag-raising ceremony. The following pictures, captured from my TV, show the national flag-raising team known as Paskibraka, and hey, don't you think the girl carrying the flag looks pretty?

Anonymity will be prohibited on Facebook

2011-08-16T17:18:00.001+07:00

Since the first time I used the internet, I've never hidden myself behind an anonymous name. And this time, Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, wants to stop online anonymity. It's a good move, I guess. Soon on Facebook, people will be forced to use their real names on their Profiles. Randi Zuckerberg, the marketing director of Facebook, believes users would be more responsible for anything they do in the Internet if real names were compulsory.

During a presentation hosted on Tuesday by Marie Claire magazine, Randi Zuckerberg was speaking on cyberbullying and social media. "The use of real names online," she said, "could help curb bullying and harassment on the web. I think anonymity on the Internet has to go away... People behave a lot better when they have their real names down. ... I think people hide behind anonymity and they feel like they can say whatever they want behind closed doors."

"There's so much more we can do... We're actively tying to work with partners like Common Sense Media and our safety advisory committee," she added.

Expectedly, there is significant opposition to the Facebook and Google combined campaign to abolish anonymity. Privacy and free speech advocates insist that mandating the use of real-life identities on the Internet would have a chilling effect on opposition both to oppression and to the exposure of victims of crime to additional targeting by those determined to threaten them.

Don't touch your mouse

2011-08-16T16:17:00.005+07:00

Ahnan Alex of ProBahasa.com wrote a good piece of article on how you can work with your document faster and more efficiently, and why deadlines are important. Translators, bloggers, journalists and anyone who's involved in jobs dealing with text and document can borrow the tips here in his article. And here's a secret: You don't have to return them. You can pass them on to another writer without losing them.

Getting things done fast is a must when you are a translator, and deadlines always matter. You have to do the deadlines exactly like what your clients have stipulated. Unless you work effectively to meet the deadlines, your clients will refuse to get in touch with you, no matter how good your quality is.
A few days ago, a friend of mine who is also a fellow translator failed to meet the deadline. As the problem gets worse, I asked the outsourcer why this happened and when this fellow translator had to deliver the results. The outsourcer told me he had missed three days since the deadline was stipulated. As a language professional, I feel embarrassed!
We cannot always go with this problem. That is why, in order to cope with the situation, we need to apply some corresponding strategies. The key is, do it right away and do anything that helps you save your translation time.
Remember, every second counts. Take every possible thing that can save your time -- for example, maximizing your PC features. Merely using a mouse is a mistake because it will slow you down, and it should be lessened. Have a look at some keyboard shortcuts below. After you learn how the key combinations work, practice them on your translation sheet and you'll be amazed at how much time you can save. None is wasted.

Windows program key combinations:

CTRL+C - Copy
CTRL+X - Cut
CTRL+V - Paste
CTRL+Z - Undo
CTRL+B - Bold
CTRL+U - Underline
CTRL+I - Italic

The shortcuts trick above, however, is only one of the small and trivial things you can do to maximize your time. Remember proverb "One does not fall to the ground due to the big stone; it is due to the small one."

A professional translator since 2004, Ahnan Alex lives in Pasuruan with his two-year-old son, Daniel, and wife. Ahnan, who previously taught English at YPPI Primary School in Surabaya, has helped localize TranslatorCafe.com from English to Bahasa Indonesia.

A British was arrested after posting his plans for water gun fight on Facebook

2011-08-16T05:12:00.002+07:00

Social media has played very important roles in our life. Remember the ouster of Mubarak from Egypt? Recently in England, an unknown man from Colchester was arrested for planning water gun fights on Facebook and Blackberry messengers, following the havoc wreaked by London riots.

For people in England, gun fights are nothing new. What makes it different is that this guy chose the wrong time and tool to launch his attack.

... the man in question chose a poor time and tool to plan his aqua attack. The UK is on high alert after the riots that broke out following the police shooting of Mark Duggan, a resident of the Tottenham area of north London.

And the case is now being investigated.

The UK Government has been investigating what role tech and social media played in organizing the riots. On Friday, the UK government announced it would be holding talks with Facebook and RIM . Previously, Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament that the government is examining whether it is possible to prevent suspected criminals from sending messages via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

via Mashable

How to add textarea and live stream updates to your Facebook status

2011-08-14T13:52:00.004+07:00

After italic, bold and button, Facebook now allows you to tweak its URL with certain geeky codes, something that hackers would call XFBML injection -- as shown by fellow blogger The Hacker News. I saw this tweak everywhere on my friends' statuses. Using this injection trick, you can embed a text area and live stream updates. While the text area works almost the same way as doing the HTML codes, the live stream injection is more like putting a Facebook page into an iframe.

Text Area

To see how the text area injection looks, click here. Your Facebook status will look something like that after you inject the following codes:

http://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_feed.php?&api_key=181572925226451&attachment={'name':' <center><fb:editor-text label="Judul" name="title" value=" Isi teks"/></br><center></center><fb:editor-textarea label="Sub-judul" name="comment" value="Keren"/><fb:editor-buttonset><center><button+type="button">Tombol</button></center>'}

Live Stream

Live stream shows status updates of Facebook users. Click here to see the demo, then use the following codes and enter in your address bar:

Now you can make your Facebook friends confused.

Google Plus posts will appear in search engine

2011-08-13T16:36:00.002+07:00

Jarar Siahaan, my fellow blogger and an independent journalist who writes a lot on his Google Plus account, seems not to do a useless thing. Since the last few days, Google has added posts coming from social media -- including Google Plus -- to its Social Search Results. It means Jarar's writings will be stored in the search engines. And it means more readers.

Google emphasizes that this only applies to public posts on Google+, and that it’ll only work for you if you’re a Google+ user that’s signed in to your Google account. Look for this new addition in the “coming days,” Google says.

via [Search Engine Land]

Browse faster and free using Bolt 2.52 Handler

2011-08-08T11:40:00.001+07:00

What is the mobile browser that has the best interface, with a PC-like style? The answer would be Bolt Browser. Produced by Bitstream Inc., the browser allows you to watch streaming flash or HTML5 videos from sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and MTV.

In 2009, when I used Bolt for the first time, I was impressed by the interface it offered: desktop-style layout with split-screen mode that features a rectangular magnifier, floating over a zoomed out mini-map of the entire web page on the top 2/3 of the screen. Like Opera Mini and UC Browser, Bolt compresses the internet data as much as 24 times, making it fast to surf the web.

New Bolt 2.52, modified by Indonesian Yk Handler, a Java programmer, helps you browse the internet for free. Armed with Handler 202 feature, Bolt 2.52 lets you configure operator tricks, including latest functionality "Real Host" for certain operators in several countries like Nigeria.

Download Bolt 2.52 Full Handler 202 now.

Indonesian student in Singapore receives Public Spiritedness Award

2011-08-07T15:31:00.002+07:00

Indonesia, here's your hero: a student of a Singaporean university. While not many people in Indonesia are honored for their works, in Singapore 30-year-old Michael Theofanis, an Indonesian, has received Minister's Public Spirited Award for his selfless act. Theofanis helped capture two bad guys who robbed a taxi driver.

Indonesia's The Jakarta Globe has the story:

Armed with a wooden plank, Indonesian student Michael Theofanis was so intent on chasing down two thieves who had robbed a taxi driver at knife point that he did not notice policemen closing in around them.
That is, until one of the men in blue tackled him from behind, thinking Theofanis was a robber because of his wooden weapon.
'All of a sudden, my face was in the dirt and I couldn't really breathe because he had me in a lock,' said the first-year student at the Management Development Institute of Singapore.
'I kept telling the cop I wasn't the bad guy, but he thought I was lying.'
The misunderstanding was cleared up when the cab driver, who had called the police, explained that the thieves were the ones getting away.

In fact, Theofanis was a bit nervous when he ran after the robbers, as they were using a knife.

'I was actually quite afraid even as I gave chase, because they had a knife and I knew my parents had sent me here to study, not to be a hero,' said the 30-year-old, who came to Singapore as a student six years ago and is now pursuing a degree in accounting and finance.

Blogging's Friday edition

2011-08-06T14:20:00.001+07:00

Blogging, the first bulletin covering local issues and technology, was out yesterday in a Friday prayer or shalat Jum'at in masjid Nurul Huda, Blimbing. The Friday edition appeared in color. At 11 p.m. on Thursday, my friend Jhony Ahmad, who is the co-founder of Blogging, printed the bulletin in our office, and it took two hours before he made for at least 30 copies. Unlike the other publications in Blimbing, Blogging was printed in a half size of folio, making it a mini bulletin.

Since we made only 30 copies, not all the jama'ah of Friday prayer have the bulletins with them. Some kids, especially those who came early to the mosque, took many copies -- each kid gets two, which means, if 15 kids ran to the papers, the bulletin was gone. But thank God, I could still see some adults reading them.

The bulletin's target audience is actually young people and internet enthusiasts in the sub-villages like Gowah, Grenjeng, Gaden, Semangu and Kebon. I want to see more Blimbing students start blogging.

In Blimbing, a fishing village located in the subdistrict of Paciran in East Java, you can find many organizations and institutions and schools, but it's hard to get even one online community here. Blogging comes with the idea of establishing an online community. We publish our bulletin, hold some activites, and spread the word in the internet.

Girls waiting to break the fast

2011-08-04T17:27:00.005+07:00

Two young girls of Blimbing village, in East Java, are playing in front of Nurul Huda mosque as they wait to break the fast today. While the other kids in the mosque are asking for bongko, fruits, cublek and rice, these girls doesn't seem tempted by the foods and drinks the ta'mir shares. Photo was taken with camera phone N70, at 5 p.m. in Gowah, the sub-village.

Fasting mouse

2011-08-04T15:55:00.001+07:00

Who are obliged to fast during Ramadhan? Do animals like cats, birds and mouse have to fast in the holy month? If you see this photo, you'll probably think of how I could take it; mice are always moving, you know that. And so I'm now suspecting that this mouse, sitting still with no signs of fear, was fasting when I took it in a nearby street in Blimbing village on my way home today.

Beach boys

2011-08-03T14:58:00.003+07:00

In one bright afternoon, two kids were looking for fish using a bamboo stick next to their wooden house in the Brondong beach, East Java, just two days before the holy month of Ramadhan. I was having tea at a coffee stall when I took this picture. Occasionally my friend Jhony and I visit this stall along the sea shore just to have a cup of coffee or tea, or to eat some fried noodles; and kids oftentimes play with water, just like what can see in this photo. The photo was taken with camera phone N70.

Breaking the fast

2011-08-01T20:24:00.002+07:00

Today, on the first day of Ramdhan, a number of kids stood in queue, waiting to get the iftar or "makanan berbuka" in front of Nurul Huda mosque in the village of Blimbing, Paciran, East Java. This view can be seen only in the fasting month of Ramadhan. Every after the afternoon prayer or shalat Ashar, generous people would bring foods or drinks to the mosque, and ta'mir, a person who's in charge of the mosque, would share the foods with kids and people who want to break the fast and stay in the mosque until dusk.

New publication in Blimbing

2011-08-01T09:29:00.004+07:00

Yesterday, on the first day of Ramadan, my friend Jhony Ahmad and I published our first edition of Blogging, a bulletin that covers technology, journalism, social and local issues in Blimbing and its surroundings. Blimbing is a big village. With more than 5000 population, this Islamic fishing village is located in the subdistrict of Paciran, Lamongan, in East Java, and is a home for the internet.

Blogging is published under "The Community of Blimbing Blogger." We decided to found the community because we realize that Blimbing has not had any online groups or organizations. Publishing the Bulletin, apart from the blogging community, is also a good move to provide more views and info on the current issues in Blimbing.

Although there have been already several publications like Suara Masjid of Pemuda Muhammadiyah and Al-Ikhlash of Al-Ikhlash boarding school, the two bulletins don't seem to offer issues concerning Blimbing and its vicinities, so by starting Blogging, I hope to help people grasp more knowledge of how the village is going, and most importantly, bloggers and writers can participate to write for the bulletin.

Blogging is published during the fasting month of Ramadhan, and if it receives good responses, it will continue as a bigger publication.

I made the blog for Blogging yesterday at blogging.info.cm. If you have comments or suggestions, just feel free to speak you words in the comment section or contact us via contact page.

Cat and fake focus

2011-07-23T18:28:00.001+07:00

I'm changing my phone now. My previous phone Sony Ericsson K810i, which I loved for its auto focus camera, had problems with signal reception, making me unable to receive phone calls from my friend Vina, unable to send text messages and browse the internet.

So with only $40, I found a second-hand Nokia N70, a phone with Symbian S60v2 Operational System. I took this beautiful cat today, as I went home from a friend's house. Looks pretty good, huh? If you're wondering how I created that depth of field effect while I use this N70 camera, you'd probably hear Image Designer, an image processor for Symbian phones, so you'll now understand that blury background is actually fake.

URL Removal service on Google Webmasters is now disabled

2011-07-20T16:25:00.001+07:00

After the bug on Webmaster Tools that allowed people to remove any URL of any site, Google now disables the service, and starts reindexing all removed sites in its search engine. Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Land's News Editor, shares the story in a blog post.

Both James and I sent this information to Google as soon as we heard of it. After several hours,Google has told us, “we’re still investigating this report, and to be cautious we disabled all URL removals earlier this morning.” So now, if you even own a site, you won’t be able to remove the site or pages from the site using Google’s URL removal tool .

Facebook blocks ads from Google+

2011-07-18T06:13:00.000+07:00

Soon after app developer Michael Johnson Lee made an ad campaign which says, "If you're lucky enough to have a Google+ account, add Michael Lee Johnson,Internet Geek, App Developer, Technological Virtuoso," Facebook stopped the adverts from appearing, saying it violates its terms of use.

What Johnson got from Facebook was the following message:

Your account has been disabled. All of your adverts have been stopped and should not be run again on the site under any circumstances. Generally, we disable an account if too many of its adverts violate our Terms of Use or Advertising guidelines. Unfortunately we cannot provide you with the specific violations thathave been deemed abusive. Pleasereview our Terms of Use and Advertising guidelines if you have any further questions.

And to be detail, Johnson said to CNET he had found some Clause in the Facebook Terms of Use and Advertising:

Perhaps it was Clause 11 in the " Special Provisions Applicable to Advertisers " section: "You will not issue any press release or make public statements about your relationship with Facebook without written permission." Johnson had shamefully declared on Google+ that he was placing the ad.

Or perhaps Facebook, its nose feeling tweaked, merely decided toreach for 6a of the same Advertising Guidelines: "We may refuse ads at any time for any reason, including our determinationthat they promote competing products or services or negatively affect our business or relationship with our users."

How to access Google Plus from Opera Mini

2011-07-14T19:12:00.003+07:00

With millions of users in just a couple of weeks, Google Plus is now a big threat for Facebook. The service, however, is not mobile-friendly. If you're an Opera Mini user, you'll find yourself rejected when you access Google+ from your browser, so I came up with an idea of tricking it via User Agent.

The trick is pretty simple. With this User Agent trick, your Opera Mini should be able to open Google+ in either mobile or desktop view. Just download Opera Mini Handler and change the User Agent into:

Another way, and it has nothing to do with the User Agent, is by going to the following URL from any Opera Mini, even from the official application:

tinyurl.com/gplusoperaяю

Google Plus is mobile

2011-07-14T07:38:00.006+07:00

I've finally joined Google Plus, thanks to blogger-cum-journalist Jarar Siahaan for sending an invitation. Despite its beta stage, Google Plus has gained millions of users since the first release back on June 28, and it's certainly a big threat for Facebook

One interesting feature on Google Plus, as I posted in the previous post, is Circle. Using circle, you can sort out your friends with whom you want to share and you don't want to share.

Although it's still not available on some browsers like Opera Mini and UC Browser, Google Plus launches its mobile apps for Android phones. I uploaded the bahasa Indonesia video of how Google Plus mobile works.

Google Plus untuk ponsel

Google+ for mobile makes sharing the right things with the right people a lot simpler. Huddleяю lets you send super- fast messages to the people you care about most. With your permission, Instant Uploadяю automatically puts the photos and videos you take into a private album in the cloud, so you can share them anytime, from anywhere. And no matter where you are, the stream lets you stay in the loop about what your friends are sharing and where they'’re checking in.

Learn how Circle works on Google Plus

2011-07-13T12:38:00.002+07:00

Google Plus, a new social network owned by Google Inc, is officially launched, though it's still in an invite-only testing phase. I myself have not registered on the service. But I've just uploaded a video of Google+ in bahasa Indonesia, featuring its one of interesting features, circles. Circles help you select friends you want to share with.

Proyek Google Plus: Circle

How to get free internet access from your operator [video]

2011-07-11T05:24:00.002+07:00

Since many operators now provide free services and sites like Facebook Zero and Twitter, you can actually make use of them to get internet access on your phone, by tricking those free URLs and exploiting handler applications such as Opera Mini and Bolt, two most widely used mobile browsers. I just uploaded a video tutorial on how to do the trick. It works in almost all phones that already have Java, including my Nokia N70 and Ervina's X6.

How to trick your operator

If you have problems watching the video, you can download the 3gp file to your phone.

For faster browsing, download Opera Mini 6.1

2011-07-04T08:08:00.001+07:00

Opera Mini 6.1, the newest version of mobile browser by Opera Software, is now available for download, and works on the majority of mobile platforms such as Java, Symbian and Android. New features have been added.

With AutoComplete and Google Voice search support, users will get more suggestions from Google and Yandex, two giant search engines. This version also has better CSS. To improve your browsing experience, the latest version brings a turbo feature and better text selection.

Sir Handler, a Java programmer who has modified many of Opera Mini browsers, just uploaded Opera Mini 6.1 along with a handler menu that lets you trick your cellular operator. I just downloaded it this morning. It works pretty fast and looks much better, comparing to Opera Mini 6 or 5.

Click here to download Opera Mini 6.1 handler

Video chat arrives on Facebook

2011-07-02T16:18:00.001+07:00

Facebook users will soon be able to enjoy video chat while they're online. Powered by Skype, Facebook video chat will be launched next week, it's already confirmed -- though how it looks is still unclear.

My Facebook friends, like Nenik Ervina and Arul Chandrana, will absolutely try this new feature.

A screenshot of this Skype-powered video chat, however, appeared on mashable.com. It's a mockup, of course. Check it out.

How obedient is too obedient?

2011-06-24T16:49:00.001+07:00

Gina Puspita, a French-educated mother of three, is one of those Indonesians who urge all Muslim wives to be obedient. Acquiring 300 members, her "Obedient Wives Club" has spread in some parts of Indonesia. While I don't always agree with this, Gina believes that the key of successful marriage is good sex.

Associated Press, via The Jakarta Globe, has the report:

“Wives must obey the husbands in all aspect of life, such as serving food and drinks, giving calm and support for the husband, as well asin sex relations,” saidPusipita, who shares her spouse with three otherwomen.
A Muslim group which espouses good sex as a foundation for healthy marriages and a strong society, the Obedient Wives Club isgaining converts in the world’s mostpopulous Muslim country after setting up in Jordan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
Founded by Global Ikhwan, a Malaysian firm involved in businesses ranging from laundromats to pharmacies, the club was initially intended to help the company’s female staff to be good wives as well as productive employees.

Mig33 4.62 helps you trick you operator using handler menu

2011-06-10T05:33:00.002+07:00

It brings me to my college years back in 2006 when almost all of my classmates at Ronggolawe University started to get addicted to mobile social networking service mig33. Everyone installed at least one application in his/her phone. Every night before sleeping and morning after Subuh, my friend Ahmad Habibi would open his contact list to say hello or just to see how many people were online.

Established in 2005, mig33 gains huge popularity in Indonesia with more than 27 million registered users of 42 million total users in 200 countries. What keeps users, or Migers, addicted to the service is the race to increase the level. The more time you spend on mig33, the higher level you get.

I had my first mig33 in December 2006. Ahmad Muamar, a good friend of mine at Unirow, helped me install mig33 v3, an earlier version that runs only in Java operational system.

Now the latest version, mig33 4.62, has been launched. It connects to Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, MSN, and Facebook.

The good news is that someone out there has modified mig33 4.62 to enable users to enjoy free internet by tricking the GPRS of the operator. With some dirty tricks, you can exploit free services such as 0.facebook.com to inject a server, host or query address in the handler menu.

Download mig33 4.62 Handler

Facebook and Twitter users can now comment on WordPress.com blogs

2011-06-08T13:00:00.001+07:00

Readers and visitors of WordPress.com blogs can now post comments using their Facebook account and Twitter, a good news for my fellow blogger Arul Chandrana who's been blogging on the service since 2008. Although I also blog on WordPress.com every now and then, my main blog is actually here on Google Blogger. I like the Javascript support and HTML template editing on Blogger, two features that you will not find on WordPress unless you use the self-hosted version, or move to premium.

Facebook and Twitter login support, I believe, will open up a lot more commenting opportunities for WordPress.com blogs -- this is a big move for the hosted blogging platform.

Scott Barkun of WordPress.com, in an announcement on a blog entry, points out that users can stay logged in to multiple services at the same time. Comments from Twitter and Facebook are not pumped back into those social services, though.

Download Opera Mini 4.21 Mod Handler B5 to your Java phone

2011-06-06T17:01:00.001+07:00

Again, mobile browser Opera Mini has been modified to enable users to maximize features that normal J2me applications won't have. It is fast and elegant. With a handler menu, Opera Mini 4.21 Mod helps you trick your cellular operators so you can access the internet free of charge.

In this modified version, a supertext menu and turbo 3.0. have been added. No idea what they are? Download now and find out.

Download Opera Mini 4.21 Mod Handler B5

Download Facebook Browser 1.0 Symbian

2011-06-06T10:27:00.001+07:00

Symbian users, here's a cool application to browse social network giant Facebook right from you phone: Facebook Browser 1.0.sis. Working on phones with Qt Qt 4.71 and above, and Mobility 1.01, Facebook Browser allows you to update status, post comments and send inbox messages from the application -- the screenshot above

Download Facebook Browser 1.0 now

Google Adsense now on Opera Mini

2011-06-06T02:37:00.001+07:00

Google Adsense, an ad serving program run by Google inc, starts showing on Opera Mini and other mobile browsers. Since the first time it was launched on June 18, 2003, the Javascript-based service never showed on mobile browsers, including on my favorite Opera Mini and UCWeb.

That the service now extends its appearance on mobile browsers is a good move, in fact. Mobile surfers and readers are increasing, even larger in number, comparing to those who browse the internet from desktop browsers like Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

Hopefully Google will keep working to improve its ads service so it can be more mobile-friendly.

Handler menu is available in UC Browser 8.0

2011-05-28T07:52:00.003+07:00

UC Browser, a mobile internet browser application developed by Chinese software company UC Mobile, launched its 8.0 Alpha version for Java phones last week. A lot of features have improved: better bookmarking, history, and interface.

But the good news is, this Guangzhou-based application is now availabe in handler modification, which means it allows you to customize the queries, host and server to trick your cellular operator.

Download UC Browser 8.0 Alpha Handler now

How to upload photos to Facebook via URL

2011-05-26T05:50:00.002+07:00

Ever wonder how you can add photos to your Facebook profile via URL? No need to upload files. No need to send emails. If that's what you've been looking for, you are in the right place, because here in this post, I'll show you how to do it.

First of all, before you start everything with this URL upload stuff, you must grab your secret Facebook email. It is an email to which you can send photos. To see your Facebook secret email, go to you profile page via Facebook mobile m.facebook.com, or simply click here.

Your email should look like this: blablabla+profile@m.facebook.com. The blablabla thing is your secret code, which is supposed to be unique.

Now go to this uploading page from either mobile or desktop browser. With your secret email entered to the box, paste an image URL you copy from Flickr, Photobucket, or from your own site, to the picture URL box. In the teks gambar box, write the description of the image. Now, when everything is done, hit the unggah button, and, whoaa, your new photo has been uploaded and set as a profile picture.

You can also upload photos to an album by removing the +profile query in the email address, so it goes like this: blablabla@m.facebook.com. Easy, isn't it?

Manal al-Sherif, a Saudi woman arrested for driving

2011-05-24T10:14:00.001+07:00

A 32-year-old Arabian woman was arrested after she posted an online video showing her driving, on a campaign protesting a ban against female drivers. Unlike here in Indonesia, in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive.

Manal al-Sherif, the woman behind the campaign Women2Drive, as reported by Al-Jazeera, launched a protest against Saudi ban on female drivers by posting a video of herself driving through the city of Khobar last week. Religious police then arrested her on Saturday.

With 12,000 members on the campaign's original Facebook page, al-Sherif urges women in Saudi, including foreign ones, to go driving on June 17. Arab Studies Institute ezine Jadaliyya has some more information regarding campaign plans, which include:

Encouraging women with international driver?s licenses (or those from other countries) to drive their cars on June 17.
Taking photographs and video to be posted on Facebook in support of the cause.
Adhering to the dress code (hijab) while driving.
Obeying traffic laws and not challenging authorities if stopped for questioning.

Watch her YouTube video:

Or download the 3gp file here.

UCBrowser 8.0 Private Beta for Symbian users

2011-05-23T07:51:00.002+07:00

Symbian users, here's a quick update from UCWeb, a China-based mobile internet browser application. After releasing the previous version 7.7, UCbrowser now launches its newest 8.0 private beta for phone users with S60v3 and v5 operational system.

The features include a more powerful download manager, better image viewing, and avatar for registered users. The bookmark has also been optimized. For larger number of bookmarks, you can create folders or directory to store them. In this version, the history will look quite different from the previous ones, making you organize it in clearer and more comfortable intervals.

Download UCBrowser 8.0 Private Beta

New community wapsite is launched

2011-05-21T17:57:00.002+07:00

Let me introduce you to my community site, m.dvd.lc. Run under the JohnCMS site engine, m.dvd.lc is actually my second forum-based site after the DCMS self-hosted page I created last year.

So far, I've got nine members, most of them my friends. Being a new forum site, m.dvd.lc is still lack of many things: display, menu, services, etc. But I'll do my best to give you a space for discussing things like free internet tricks, writing tips and photography; or if you want some easy chats, you can leave a 100-character message in the chat box.

I also provide readers with download menus grabbed from 4shared, Qur'an online, and Vuclip. In another download page, I share some Java applications, computer softwares, Symbian and J2ME games, 3gp films, and Android applications, which are open for either registered or non-registered users.

Since my target visitors are Indonesians, the site language is Bahasa Indonesia -- other languages will follow, though.

So are you gonna be my tenth member? Go to m.dvd.lc now and register.

How to boost your phone signal using empty cans

2011-05-21T05:03:00.001+07:00

Besides blogging from phone, which ends up myself being called a mobile blogger, I should add one more label: a blogger who browses the internet from an empty can.

Since 4 p.m. yesterday, I've been using an empty paint can as a signal booster in my house because my phone, Sony Ericsson K810i, has very bad internet connection. I would call it cantenna, or a can antenna. Mike Haney, an American guy who gives the video tutorial on the cantenna, shows you how to make a very cheap signal booster for your low-signal phone so that it adds two or three more bars.

I myself have felt the dramatic change. Before I plugged this cantenna device on my phone, the GPRS always disconnected, displaying no web pages on my Opera Mini 4 Handler. But after I mounted the can and put the wire in my phone, I could browse, write blog posts, and download files from the internet.

It takes less than five minutes to create this can antenna. Download the video tutorial on how to make a cell phone antenna using empty cans here.

Patent for photo-tagging finally belongs to Facebook

2011-05-19T09:55:00.001+07:00

What site started the photo-tagging features? While the answer to this question was unclear, now everyone must agree that Facebook is the site introducing this feature for the first time, making it one of the biggest photo sites.

And Facebook, the social network giant, has finally won a patent for it, as posted by Inside Facebook.

Nearly five years after the company originally filed for the invention, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office gave Facebook a patent protecting the ability to select a region in a piece of media (like a photo or video) and associate people or other entities with it. Mark Zuckerberg, longtime designer- turned-product architect Aaron Sittig and former Facebook engineer Scott Marlette were credited as inventors.

Although friends-tagging is not a new thing on other social networking site like Twitter, the idea of tagging photos is pretty new. Facebook came up with the photo-tagging while other photo sites would give painting and high resolution features.

Angry Birds reaches 200 million downloads

2011-05-19T07:28:00.003+07:00

I keep wondering why people love Finland-based game Angry Birds so much. Last month, when I installed it for the first time, I found nothing special on the game which was released by Apple in December 2009. Author and my friend Arul Chandrana, however, likes to play it.

In the game, you use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playfield. As you advance through the game, new birds appear, some with particular abilities that can be activated by the player. I don't find this interesting, in my opinion.

I admit that, despite my dislikeness, the popularity of the game is huge. Techcrunch writes Angry Birds have topped 200 million downloads, almost the same number as Indonesian population -- can you imagine all Indonesians play Angry Birds?

Angry Birds downloads have topped 200 million. To put that in perspective, another app store darling Foursquare recently reached 10 million downloads.

Angry Birds is available in many platforms, including mobile phone with operational systems like Java and Symbians. If you're curious about the game, download now the Java version of Angry Birds v1.1 here.

Will Nokia kill Ovi?

2011-05-17T10:22:00.001+07:00

Nokia announced on Monday it would kill off the Ovi brand. My friend Nenik Ervina, a Nokia user who's active on Ovi, is one of those who are disappointed; Ervina always downloads Symbian games from Ovi to her touch-screen Nokia X6.

Beginning in July and August, the Finnish-based firm will rebrand its Ovi products under Moniker, the Nokia service.

Nokia Conversation blog writes:

The transition from Ovi to Nokia will begin in July this year, with the intention of it being completed across all countries and all services by the end of 2012. It ’ s likely that anybody buying a new Nokia smartphone or mobile phone later this year will start to see the new branding on services included within. However anybody already owning a Nokia phone will see this new rebranding through future software updates.

In fact, there's no need to worry about. The transition is only in a matter of the products naming. The users, services and content remain the same.

Osama's daughter says she watches his killing

2011-05-06T10:41:00.000+07:00

Although the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden cannot be proved since his body was buried at sea, Osama's 12-year-old daughter, as written by CNN, watched the killing of her father in the U.S. raid on Monday in Pakistan's Abottabad.

One of bin Laden's daughters has told Pakistani interrogators that she saw her father shot, a senior Pakistani intelligence source said Wednesday. The daughter, believed to be 12 or 13 years old, was among those left behind at the compound after Monday's U.S. raid, the source said.

Osama bin Laden was born in Saudi Arabia but is rejected as a citizen. Under the instruction of U.S. president Barrack Obama, bin Laden's corpse was buried at sea because no countries want to accept his body. The news of Osama's death was first leaked on social networking site Twitter.

Google's activity increased after Osama's death

2011-05-04T13:11:00.004+07:00

As soon as the news of Osama's death broke on Twitter, search engines' activities increased up to 1 million percent for the keyword Bin Laden alone, in just one hour period. It's not a surprise for me. For a very long time, Bin Laden had been the world's most wanted terrorist before he was killed by U.S. forces during a raid on the Abbottabad, Pakistan compound on Sunday evening, or Monday morning here in Indonesia.

According to Mashable:

Google is the latest to release data of its increased activity around news Osama bin Laden’s death. Yahoo revealed Monday that searches for “Osama Bin Laden” spiked 98,550% Sunday evening when compared to Saturday. Akamai also noted a 24% increase in global web traffic, registering 4. 1 million page views to top news sites at 11:30 p.m. ET Sunday.

In the meantime, Obama/Osama gaffes sparked the media, including television and online news portals. This error also hits Yahoo! homepage. And not just Yahoo, even I myself made the mistake when texting my friend Ahmad Jhony about Osama's death.

Osama, not Obama, is dead

2011-05-03T07:19:00.002+07:00

Yesterday, as I informed my friend Ahmad Jhony about the death of Osama via SMS, I didn't realize I actually typed Obama bin Laden instead of Osama bin Laden, making it a funny joke for Jhony and me. And unfortunately, this also happened to many publications reporting Osama's death.

Geraldo Rivera of Fox News said Obama is dead -- and instantly realized his mistake.

Peter Sagal, while hosting a segment on Osama/Obama similarity in NPR, apologized after he made the mistake on his tweet.

And the BBC, one of the world's most respected media, according to the Daily Mail, declared Obama dead when the news of Osama's death was breaking.

On Twitter, MSNBC chief Washington correspondent Norah O’Donnell accidentally tweeted Obama dead.

CNN wrote there had been "No indication Obama tried to surrender."

Mark Knoller, CBS News White House correspondent, mentioned Obama instead of Osama, not just once, but twice on Twitter.

Indonesia's Metro TV anchor Tascha Liudmila, in a breaking news segment yesterday, said Obama's body was recovered.

Image courtesy of Flickr

Osama's death is first leaked on Twitter

2011-05-02T12:38:00.003+07:00

Before it broke on television, I first heard about the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on social networks Twitter and Facebook. Keith Urbahn, the chief of staff for the former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is said to be the first person who sent a tweet of the announcement of bin Laden's death. TV and media then followed.

That speculation was not aired out on television immediately, but it did erupt on Twitter and other social networking Web sites. Wishful thinking about bin Laden’s death ricocheted across the Web — and then, at 10:25 p.m., while Mr. Obama was writing his speech, one particular tweet seemed to confirm it. Keith Urbahn, the chief of staff for the former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, wrote at that time, “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn."
”Mr. Urbahn quickly added, “Don’t know if it ’ s true, but let ’ s pray it is.” He was credited by many on the Web with breaking the news, though he did not have first-hand confirmation.

[via The New York Times]

Osama bin Laden is dead

2011-05-02T11:12:00.002+07:00

Does this mean the war is over? Ten years after the 11/9 bomb attack in World Trade Center and Pentagon, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is reported to be dead. His body, according to officials late on Sunday, was recovered by U.S. authorities.

It is a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, had repeatedly vowed to bring to justice the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, but never did before leaving office in early 2009.
U.S. officials said that after searching in vain for the al Qaeda leader since he disappeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, the Saudi-born extremist is dead and his body recovered.

New Zealand Herald wrote bin Laden was killed in a ground operation in Pakistan.

Officials have long believed bin Laden, the most wanted man in the world, was hiding a mountainous region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak ahead of the president.
A White House official declined to divulge the subject matter of the statement, but the decision to address the nation at such short notice and on a Sunday evening was highly unusual.

Meanwhile, the Australian media Brisbane Times reports, quoting CNN, that Osama was killed last week in a mansion with other family members outside Islamabaad. His death has been confirmed with some DNA tests, and U.S. is now in possession of his body.

Although his death has been confirmed, I can still see Bin Laden here in my village, Blimbing. Mat Kluruk, a man who looks really like bin Laden and who suffers from mental illness, is once to be thought as the terrorist. Mat has very similar facial features as those of bin Laden -- his pictures, unfortunately, can't be uploaded here, but I'll add them as soon as I get the photos.

Osama bin Laden was born on March 10, 1957 and was a member of the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family. He is the founder of the jihadist organization al-Qaeda, most widely recognized for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets.

Congratulations, William!

2011-04-30T17:53:00.001+07:00

So the prince is now married. Despite its simplicity, yesterday's ceremony of prince William and Kate Middleton brings back memory of the wedding day of the late Princess Diana and Charles in 1981 -- the kisses, dresses, and smiles.

Just like the wedding ceremony here in some keratons in Indonesia, the Friday morning event was welcome by not only Londoners but people around the world, especially those from commonwealth countries.

Prince William, second in the line of succession to Queen Elizabeth II, was granted the titles of the Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, and Baron Carrickfergus by the Queen. Upon her marriage, Middleton therefore became Her Royal Highness Princess William Arthur Philip Louis, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, Baroness, but is not styled as Princess Catherine.

In UK alone, there were more than 200,000 mentions of the wedding on Facebook during the ceremony, making it sixth biggest online event in history. At its peak the event was mentioned on Twitter 67 times a second, and almost 10,600 allusions to Middleton's dress were recorded among UK users during the ceremony, with 4,583 comments on Sir Elton John singing along.

Prince William first met Catherine Middleton in 2001, while both were studying at St Andrews University. On November 16, 2010, their engagement was announced.

As an Indonesian, I'd like to say in Bahasa: Selamat menempuh hidup baru, William.

Flood in Blimbing traditional market

2011-04-26T05:05:00.002+07:00

Floodwaters inundated a traditional market in the village of Blimbing, subdistrict of Paciran, in Lamongan, East Java, at 5 p.m yesterday. Pasar Kliwon, located in adjacent to Brondong village, was surged by one-meter-high floodwaters for nearly an hour after the rain poured from 4 to 5.p.m. Using a Nokia phone, my friend Ahmad Jhony came to the location and took some shots.

Photos by Ahmad Jhony

How to subscribe Facebook notifications via Opera Mini

2011-04-25T06:08:00.003+07:00

Now you don't have to login to your Facebook account to see who is commenting your status. With this RSS feed feature, your Facebook notifications can be tracked from your internet browsers, even from mobile applications like Opera Mini.

I subscribed my own notifictions feed this morning, and found it practical, for I check RSS links more often than my Facebook profile. To subscribe to your Facebook notifications, go to Facebook full site and click notifications. Now a new notifications page appears. On that page, right in the Subscribe section, click via RSS. Done!

Now your notifications feed can be accessed from your Opera Mini 4.3 by pressing * 0, or if you're using Opera Mini 6 and 5, you press # 5.

Have a great Monday, everyone!

Spider-hunting wasp

2011-04-24T15:25:00.004+07:00

So here's my second wasp shot, the first being yellow jacket on a chili plant in the front yard. Taken using camera phone Sony Ericsson K810i, these spider-hunting wasp pictures are part of mobile photo-blogging that I've done on this blog, for nearly a month now.

Grasshopper

2011-04-23T15:49:00.004+07:00

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you should understand that I've lately posted some photos, especially of macro objects, taken from Sony Ericsson K810i. And here's one more blog post containing photos. Let's have a look at this grasshopper on my sister Diana's flower, in the front yard of our house in Blimbing, East Java. In fact, this is my first grasshopper shot.

Over 10,000 fans are ready for Bieber tonight

2011-04-23T14:09:00.001+07:00

After the rumors, saying Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber canceled his Indonesian concert, had spread, tonight a lot of scream should be heard in Sentul International Convention Center, where Bieber would perform for the first time in this Republic of Facebook. The 17-year-old Bieber has a large number of fans known as Beliebers in Indonesia.

The venue at the Sentul International Convention Center has a capacity of more than 10,000 and the show has already sold out.
Dino Hamid, CEO of promoters Berlian Entertainment, said that those without tickets should not to come to the venue.
“We fear there will be lots of fake tickets sold,” Dino told Detik.com news portal. Bieber ’ s boyish charms have won him fans even in remote areas of Indonesia.

Open letter regarding international access to West Papua

2011-04-21T14:32:00.002+07:00

Andreas Harsono, a veteran journalist and human rights activist, recently posted an open letter on his blog to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhono, complaining about the lack of International access to West Papua. The letter was written on behalf of West Papuan analysts, academics and journalists.

Dear President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
We the undersigned -- concerned academics and West Papuan analysts assembled at this conference, Comprehending West Papua, at the University of Sydney-- are deeply disturbed at the lack of access for international human rights organisations, academics, diplomats and journalists to West Papua. We believe this restriction on information is counterproductive for all involved.
Since Indonesia took over West Papua finally in 1969, the Indonesian government has always asked foreign visitors, including foreign media representatives, to apply for a surat jalan or travel permit. Last year, only two news organisations were given the permit. Over the last two years, the Indonesian government also ordered the very limited number of humanitarian organisations in West Papua, including the International Commission of the Red Cross, Cordaid and Peace Brigades International, to end their work in Jayapura and elsewhere.

Read the full text of the letter on Andreas' blog.