The concerto of the week

Many things happened this two weeks.... just like a harmony in a violin concerto (which I haven't finished since 4 months ago)

Last week :

  - Fortissimo: Finished the final exams, beers....

  - Pianissimo: Well sleeping... ahhh... after many weeks of the hell....

                      having cam session with family all day long... watching Andra riding his baby walker.... cancel all appointments.. hiks..

This week:

  - Jazzy at the first day... not much thing to do in the office..., pitching with friends and clients.

 - Staccato at the second day.... huh... project deadline is two weeks left... 40hours anyway...

 - jazzy again tomorrow.... Iphone tech talk...

   hope till weekend, hahah... many appointments anyway...

Wondering to continue the third page of eight pages concerto :D

Transport Telematics

You must be familiar with "telematics" term..... either heard it from television or newspaper.

There is a telematics expert as well in Indonesia... 

but really, it's not just about determining whether an image is original or not, or analyzing video :)

Telematics is the integration of telecommunication and information system... have a look at wikipedia for more information.

So what is "Transport Telematics"? It's the implementation of telematics in transportation sector. The well known synonym for this term is "Intelligent Transport System" (ITS), or some people call it "Vehicle telematics".

The example of transport telematics are Electronic Road Pricing, Emergency and Breakdown System, Intelligent Speed Control System, etc...

We should proud, Singapore as part of Asia is the first country which implements ERP and it has been followed by many countries around the world.

My latest writing is about "Location Based Service" as the backbone of ITS. The characteristics of LBS as a Location-aware Application are aware of:

   - where the user is

   - when the user using the service

   - what is the user using the service for

Those three questions must be addressed by a good LBS application. And hence, it could be a great support for ITS since position and time are very important for transport telematics implementation.

Transportation is indeed a very important system that needs to be well managed to support the economic growth. It becomes the basis of industry society.

Indonesia as developed country could benefit from the implementation of transport telematics. Traffic congestion, speeding, safety are some issues that can be solved by ITS implementation and dependency to human resource such as police officer could be decreased. Well, of course the mentality of the driver needs to be managed as well :)

Abstract 

Transportation is an important aspect of economic growth. It becomes the basis of 

industrial society. Hence, good transportation management is needed. Intelligent 

Transport System (ITS) is a technology to address that issue. Transportation problem 

such as traffic congestion, speeding, emergency and breakdown service, traffic 

condition, and route and navigation can be solved by ITS. Location Based Service 

(LBS) as the basis of transport telematics, plays important role, specially it provides 

opportunity to private sector to be able to supports transportation regulator. 

Keyword: Intelligent Transport System, Transport Telematics, LBS 

*Image taken from: http://www.hel2.fi/liikenteenohjaus/eng/pt_telematics.asp

Mapping, the essential of Location Based Service

Today, I finished my another writing about Location Based Service... Well, it is not a deep discussion about LBS itself nor the mapping technology. My concern is about how essential is mapping to a LBS application and what will be the challenges and future developments that need to be addressed by software developer. I have done many mashups projects this year (recent one is property.adandsell.com.au) and GIS websites such as mymarket.com.au (demographic website based on the trend of gardening data in Australia -- Liquid Vision rebuild project). I found that map is an important visualization for the LBS or future of the Internet (It's proven by the increase of visitors for more than 150% in the property site and 30% of selling rates). Map provides better visualization especially for navigation services rather than lengthy text based information).

Abstract 

 Mapping is an essential component on a LBS application. Mapping provides better 

visualization of information to user rather than lengthy text based information. There 

are a lot of mapping Application Programming Interfaces (API) that can be used by 

LBS software developer to enhance their application. This ease-of-use API is a 

breakthrough in LBS development and is proven to generate thousands of location 

mashups that are very useful for user. There are a lot of challenges that needs to be 

addressed by software developer related to accuracy, clarity of information, user 

contributed content, dynamic content and other attributes such as richer road 

attributes and richer Point of Interest. 

Keyword: LBS, Mapping, Map API

My next project will also related to LBS system and the use of PDT (positioning determination technology) such as GPS, WIFI and cell based communication. Hmmmm..... I'm just afraid whether it could be finished in a semester or.... save some parts of it for the better future, hehehe.... 

Well... dunno.... I still enjoying the new programming language Haskell.... which is not related at all to my project. Hiks.... why I start to love this functional programming.... It's just so beauty... the syntax, concepts, and the difficulties of learning it....

My impression about Australian television

Hmmm... I'm still watching SBS station now :)

just want to comment that it's so different compared to what I found in Indonesia....

I just came home from work this arvo, then slept for a while.... 

Then... yeah.... watching TV...

it was about the philosophy of coffee.... how the coffee change the world... in Australia, it's just like a culture to go to cafe and just enjoying latte or cappuccino.... It's showing how starbucks penetrates the world with it's standardization of drinking coffee... hem it was mcdonalization... now perhaps starbucks-ization :)

Then, the followed by The inside mind of Hittler.... (which is I'm watching now).... insightful and worth it to be watched.

How full of knowledge for audience those..... Hem...wondering if we get those kind of series rather than soap operas (sinetron) as what can be found on most of channels in Indonesia...

cheers

First Sentence Syndrome

What a title....?

yeah, I don't know....

I used to write papers now... I need to supply 5000 words paper each two weeks..., I have written research proposals, reports, etc....

So, it's not my first time.... But, why the problem is always the same.... I confuse on how should I start my writing.... hiks....

Yeah,  theoretically, I know how to solve that problem (as what I always suggest to my student -- when I was I teacher )... but, it's so difficult for me to push the keyboard and start writing the first sentence. The effort of doing that  is perhaps half of all the efforts on finishing the paper itself... 

I have the idea, I have the outline... But, not in English, not in Indonesia.. the first sentence is something that makes me like a stupid person (I do)....

So, if it is fine... then I will call it "first sentence syndrome".... 

Yeah.. I need medication, please help......

cheers,

Image processing real world problem

What happened this morning in Sydney was the error of computer that misinterpreted the plat number of vehicles that passed the toll / tunnel.

Read more at here

In Sydney, we can use an electronic tag which implements RFID to pay the toll, or if you don't have it, a camera will take a picture of your car and then process the plat number. if the plat number can't be read, then operator will manually do that.

This is the same technology on speed camera or traffic light camera, etc....

Well, it's not complicated technology.... I believe many Indonesian researchers have done it...

So why don't we implement that in Indonesia... ?

Well, it's easy to do a tricky thing to avoid the camera... especially in Indonesia where there are a lot of similar vehicles, etc.... and actually we don't need that if we able to be honest and wise person.....

cheers,

Image processing real world problem

What happened this morning in Sydney was the error of computer that misinterpreted the plat number of vehicles that passed the toll / tunnel.

Read more at here

In Sydney, we can use an electronic tag which implements RFID to pay the toll, or if you don't have it, a camera will take a picture of your car and then process the plat number. if the plat number can't be read, then operator will manually do that.

This is the same technology on speed camera or traffic light camera, etc....

Well, it's not complicated technology.... I believe many Indonesian researchers have done it...

So why don't we implement that in Indonesia... ?

Well, it's easy to do a tricky thing to avoid the camera... especially in Indonesia where there are a lot of similar vehicles, etc.... and actually we don't need that if we able to be honest and wise person.....

cheers,

Interoperability of Positioning Determination Technology

Well, it's not well written yet....

but this is my latest paper about:

Abstract

Currently there is no single position determination technology that able to provide ubiquitous location based service due to the limitations of each system. Hence, interoperability of more than one platform of technologies is needed to support the service. Interoperability can be achieved by creating layers that provide a common abstraction for the application and the systems. The study case is computer network architecture, which already implements the layering method to get interoperability of all different network devices. This common abstraction is important, especially for LBS software developer to create an application that works on all position determination platforms and to get higher quality of information. By having the common abstraction, hybrid location technology is happened. 

I decided to start my final project as early as possible.... and lucky me.... I have gotten the supervisor... and she said that instead of doing project... I'll be a research assistant for her research (my project will be a part of her research) as well.... 

And lucky me again.... the research will be related on what really I like about.... and actually, it is what I haven't understand about..... and it's related to the position determination technology (which I learn this semester)

Thanks God..... (especially for "hidden treasure" (as what Ling said) for me)....

cheers

IPDN visited Seminari Mertoyudan

I'm proud to be an alumni of Seminari Mertoyudan....

Hopefully IPDN becomes more humanist :)

Cited from http://mertoyudan.org

Posted by Martinus Hadisiswoyo SJ

Hari Jumat, 15 Agustus 2008, Seminari Mertoyudan dikunjungi oleh Tim yang berjumlah 6 orang dari IPDN (Institut Pemerintahan Dalam Negeri), Jatinangor Sumedang. Drs. Srimoyo Tamtomo, SH,MM, Kepala Biro Umum dan Keuangan yang menjadi ketua Tim, menjelaskan alasan mereka berkunjung ke Seminari Mertoyudan. 
Suatu ketika, mereka menyampaikan gagasan kepada Menteri Dalam Negeri (Mardiyanto) yang juga mantan Gubernur Jateng untuk mengadakan studi banding ke Akademi Militer Magelang dan Akademi Kepolisian Semarang.Tanggapan Bpk. Mardiyanto : "Berkunjung saja ke instansi sipil.Datang ke Seminari Mertoyudan, belajarlah dari sana". Jadilah mereka mengadakan kunjungan pendidikan ke Seminari. Kecuali berkunjung ke Seminari Mertoyudan, mereka juga mengunjungi Pondok Pesantren Al Zaitun Indramayu dan Ponpes Gontor Jatim.
Kunjungan ini dilaksanakan terkait dengan rencana mereka untuk menyusun berbagai pedoman, baik akademik maupun non-akademik dalam rangka pembenahan pelaksanakan pendidikan bagi para Praja IPDN.
Mereka datang pada pukul 09.15, diterima oleh Rm. Rektor, Direktur, Minister, Pamong Umum, didampingi 2 guru. Setelah perkenalan singkat di kamar tamu DP, mereka keliling kampus. Dimulai dari kamar tamu DP, mereka melihat dapur, refter, valet, kamar tidur MP, kelas-kelas, Gedung Musik, menuju Lab. Komputer, lalu menuju ruang rapat di Medan Utama. Kepada mereka, Rm. Direktur memberi penjelasan singkat tentang SMA Seminari, lalu disambung dengan penjelasan dari Pamong Umum tentang pembinaan siswa di Asrama. 
Baik waktu keliling kampus maupun selama pertemuan, mereka nampak antusias menanyakan macam-macam hal tentang Seminari dan pembinaan yang diberikan kepada para siswa.Kepada mereka kami bekalkan buku pedoman pembinaan dan beberapa panduan untuk pembinaan siswa di Seminari. Mereka berada di Seminari hingga pupul 10.30, 15 menit melebihi rencana. Lewat kunjungan studi banding ini kiranya mereka mendapat banyak inspirasi untuk mengadakan pembenahan bagi Praja IPDN. Kepada mereka kami jelaskan, di Seminari kakak kelas/senior tidak diberi kewenangan memberi sanksi atau hukuman pada adik kelas (yunior). Mereka tentu berharap, ke depan di IPDN tidak lagi terjadi tindak kekerasan dari senior pada yunior, yang sampai membawa korban seperti masa yang lalu.

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I'm extremely worry

She's the super woman... a mother, lecturer, 

supervising house builder, and a great wife for her husband

Andra is in hospital now... he got fever.. but still giving his smile to his mother... what a wonderful boy.

I'm here, 8 hours away from them... it's just painful, do you know how I fell? Yes, I'm extremely worry.

I've got ticket to go back to Indonesia in a few days... but I still need to sit for several exams. My wife is the person who always give me spirit... yeah.. I'll do my best for you guys...

get well soon babe...

Satellite, what is it

Most of us, at least heard it... ever used google maps to find a location, a weather forecast from yahoo.. (or in your dashboard if you use mac).... Those are examples of satellites services. In simple, satellites is something that orbiting the world. It can be used for many purposes such as telecommunication, networking, photogrammetry, radar, forecast, etc.....

This morning I just read an article, well, it's from other blog, that discussed about ten most important satellites orbiting earth now.

Where is Palapa?

Image taken from : http://io9.com/391538/the-ten-most-important-satellites-orbiting-earth-now

More discussion : http://io9.com/391538/the-ten-most-important-satellites-orbiting-earth-now

Reading Howto

I've been in OZ for almost one year. I found that my English is far better than what I had before (except for speaking, my Javanese accent can't be eliminated when I speak in English :)... that's good). 

Now, reading is a pleasure for me... That's a positive thing that I got since I were here. It was so surprised for me when I came here and saw people read a book in the bus, in the park, everywhere, while I loved to play my latest nokia phone. 

Yeah... before, I loved to upgrade my phone to the latest one, and I saw that Indonesians tend to do the same. Not in here, only few of them have an expensive mobile phone so that they can play in a bus or campus or other places... They love to read rather than having a good and expensive mobile phone. Hmm... it's just my view... I don't know the reality, but it's good that we don't need to gain all the technology and happy with that. Sometime an expensive mobile phone is just a status that we can buy. But in here, who cares...

If you have salary, says 2million rupiahs.. and you buy 3million rupiahs mobile phone... hmm, it's just crazy.... (but that's what I did... I realize and regret now)

Back to reading....

Here, bookshop just like a heaven.. specially "basement bookshop". I pass it every time back from work. You can find the cheapest books in Sydney there... Usually, I just grab the one that below 5$ :)

You don't need to be an expert to read, just open your eyes, mind and imagination. Everything is worth to read. But sometimes, we easily get bored... 

Steve Kaufmann has some great tips and how to read and how to choose on what should you read....

1. Read about things that interest you.

2. Read material that is at your level, or just a little difficult for you.

3. Learn to read in depth, stay on the same subject for a while.

4. If you have trouble reading, listen first.

5. Let your imagination get involved.

6. Don’t worry about what you don’t understand

7. Recognize that the key is to read a lot.

Well, for me, the greatest tip is number 6, Don't worry about what you don't understand :)

Happy reading.....

 

If you find that those tips are interesting for you, check out the full article here http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/7-pleasurable-ways-to-improve-your-reading-ability/

Open Source Investment

Technology grows very fast. Living in that situation will lead your company to bankrupt since you need to invest more money buying latest software, anti virus, security software, expensive hosting, etc. So how can we face it?

Use open source!

Open Source also grows very fast recent days. You can get 3D desktop easily using latest Linux OS and run it faster that Vista on your old machine. You can have more secure website, Application, virus-free, etc using this kind of technology. As the result, you can multifold your revenue as not investing much money on software, etc.....

Who's able to do that? Is it easy to learn?

The reason it's difficult to learn is because you haven't tried it. Or, you've tried it but few years ago. Nowadays, open source is far better and more reliable solutions not only for budget-limited companies, but also others that wants better service and reliability.

IT fresh graduates sometimes do not ready for this kind of technology since they more learn proprietary technology in their study rather than open source. Universities are getting good facilities from proprietary company so their students would be "proprietary minded". This situation is slightly different compared to what I feel in here. Some of Australian universities (particularly UNSW) are using open source platform in almost of academic aspects but still provides proprietary technology as comparison or a learning-media for other kind of technology.

What about Indonesia? Where can I get fresh graduate that well equipped  with open source knowledge?

Computer Science of Soegijapranata Catholic University (IKOM UNIKA) is one of faculty that using open source technology in all aspect of learning process. (I think this is the only one computer science faculty that using "fully open source technology" in Indonesia. Well, at least till last year :) ). As they learn computer science based on open source technology, they'll be easily adapt any other technology since they can have the benefit of open source which is deeper understanding of what happens in that technology.

More discussion about open source technology http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7404387.stm

SMS santet... it's real, don't you believe it? :)

Voodoo via text message becomes a new phenomena in Indonesia. Some Victims die after read text message which coming from 0866... The text becoming red after a few while. Is it real? Well, I myself don't belief that :)....

But yeah, voodoo via email and sms is real... I've watched it with my own eyes...  fortunately, the voodoo is only a game which is now using a voodoo-like doll as a controller.

You can curse, poke, pinch, etc on the doll and an email or sms will be sent to the victims. But don't hurt your victim too much, otherwise, the doll will take your picture and send it to the victim. It has a built in camera on it.

Curious  about it? watch and read the full coverage here : http://gizmodo.com/390205/voodoobuddy-combines-ancient-curses-with-modern-technology

hehehe

Glad, it's just a game :)

Our First Anniversary

Yay... our first wedding anniversary..... Thanks God for giving us love and hope.... and also, brings Andra to our live. We are so grateful....

Even we are far away... but love and hope always bring us together.

It was May 5, 2007... when we were married

The very happy event in our life

Only one month before I came to Sydney.... 11 months never met... but our love and hope is the key to make everything happened

Now, we'll face the second year, third, fourth, fifth..... and so on... till death do us part.

"Yang dipersatukan Allah, tidak dapat diceraikan manusia"

Thanks for all of the support... relatives, friends, colleges, people arround us, etc...

Hopefully we can be the salt and light for the world

Aji, Andra, Linggar

Famous computer nerds series : Alan Turing

The father of computer science....

Short biography :

1912 (23 June): Birth, Paddington, London

1926-31:           Sherborne School

1931-34:           Undergraduate at King's College, Cambridge University

1932-35:           Quantum mechanics, probability, logic

1935:               Elected fellow of King's College, Cambridge

1936:               The Turing machine, computability, universal machine

1936-38:           Princeton University. Ph.D. Logic, algebra, number theory

1938-39:           Return to Cambridge. Introduced to German Enigma cipher machine

1939-40:           The Bombe, machine for Enigma decryption

1939-42:           Breaking of U-boat Enigma, saving battle of the Atlantic

1943-45:           Chief Anglo-American crypto consultant. Electronic work.

1945:               National Physical Laboratory, London

1946:               Computer and software design leading the world.

1947-48:          Programming, neural nets, and artificial intelligence

1948:               Manchester University

1949:               First serious mathematical use of a computer

1950:               The Turing Test for machine intelligence

1951:               Elected FRS. Non-linear theory of biological growth

1952:               Arrested as a homosexual, loss of security clearance

1953-54:          Unfinished work in biology and physics

1954 (7 June):  Death (suicide) by cyanide poisoning, Wilmslow, Cheshire

Even he's a homosexual (who cares?), but all his hard works has lead to modern technology which makes me possible to write this article :)

To commemorate all of his works, an Award called "Turing Award" has been annually given to whom who has big contribution to computing world. This award is more likely as a Nobel for computer people (well... we think it's equivalent).

Reading his biography, It seems that he had difficult personal life.... but it's highly recommended to read his biography... It is worth it, specially for people who likes to learn more about computer.

short biography : http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/

image taken from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

I welcome you.... winter

Winter has started...

it was the coolest April since 30 years in Sydney... huhuhu.... I started to use my heater yesterday.

My second winter... but not the last... I still need to face it next year, hmmm... I really miss Klaten with country (village) surrounded by rice fields... Tawangmangu which will always be a lovely place for my family... They are not as cold as here... lovely.

I miss Semarang, which is very warm in midday (it was 40 degrees last year)....  I miss Jogja... with every aspect of life there... art, friendship, gudeg, motorcycles...

And for sure, I miss my wife and our beloved son, hehe.... Don't worry honey, I'll be at your side in two months.... (but only for two weeks? oh noooo... make it three).... Pray for me... I'm still struggling on crazy subjects and assignments... But I'm enjoying those...

Life is not easy.. but life is an art to solve the problem..... Enjoy your life guys....

Be careful with using bypass proxie : Indonesian blocking many sites

As the title above,

Currently, you can't access many sites (youtube, multiply, rapidshare, etc) directly in Indonesia. The solution is easy, you can use bypass proxie websites to access those sites. Just google "bypass proxie website" then you'll get a whole bunch of sites providing the service.

But, just be careful!!! They can exploit your personal data..... so be wise with your password, username, personal details, etc....

When you request a page via those bypass proxies websites, your request will be saved in their server, not only "bypassing" your request and then provide your requested page.

In a request, often you need to supply username or password, for example to login to multiply. This type of request (even it's encrypted), will always valuable for some peoples.

For what they save your request?

firstly, it's a common for a website developer to save all the log and any information that you have. This is very important to do the analysis of the website (performance, traffic, marketing, etc).

Secondly, they have all of your details.. If Im a bad guy, then I'll try to mining all the personal data... then use it to get all your valuable things.

Bypass proxies is a kind of social engineering.

So, be wise..... !!! Don't use bypass proxies to supply your personal details... particularly for net-banking, email, etc....

So what should you do? If you want to access multiply for example? Make sure that you don't have the same password (at least) with your other login details.... Then, don't forget to change your password shortly after the government unblock those websites.

written in class.... after a friend told me that he had problem with his net-bank (even I don't know whether the problem is caused by the bypass proxies or not, but after this guy login to the net-bank via bypass proxie website, next day the bank closed the access (just like if you try to login with wrong login details three times).....)

Indonesia.go.id error???

Many Indonesian website have been hacked recently regarding to the new electronic information and transaction law. This week, youtube also has been blocked in Indonesia since it contains inappropriate content. Is it the right way? Uhm... what about education?

Hey... youtube is owned by Google... Google is the biggest search engine in the world... more than 70% of what people do when they want to look for something is open google.com. 

I just thinking how if then google then blocked or under ranked any website from Indonesia... waw.. this can be dangerous... as many websites mainly depend on the search engine to be known by others. Is it possible? Technically yes,  but I think and I hope they won't.

Just trying to see the rank of some websites with the common keyword (including combination of my name, hehe)... I found that keywords "Indonesia" brought no authoritative websites from government or tourism department, etc.... The first was a page from wikipedia, the second was FBI fact page and the third one is lonely planet page. Hem... where is www.indonesia.go.id?

This leads me to search keyword "Indonesia goverment" and here was it.... In the first page and the top of the list. Glad to see that. But wait.... When I click that link, oh... I got an error message, waw.... Is it the professional correct message? How many millions has been spent for building the website and I got this error (see screenshot)? For a cracker or other bad people, this error can lead to other valuable informations to let them enter the server.

IT team should spend more time to improve our beloved nation's website, including providing better error message and way to report if there's an error.

Improving the search engine performance also needed so keyword "Indonesia" will lead users come to the desired sites. It's not easy, but there is way to do that... and I believe, millions Rupiah must be capable doing this (it should).

I'm wondering why it's easier to find my blog using my name rather than find www.indonesia.go.id using keyword "Indonesia" (it's on the third page of google.com) .....

Come on.... Indonesia has a lot of IT experts.... If government provide media to elaborate them, surely... IT in Indonesia will grow faster and sure... cheaper.... they will be happy to be volunteers.... (Including me? Sure I will, hehe but I'm not an expert.....)