Portal Data Indonesia

Being skeptical of me, i thought i would never see the day when the words like “open data”, “API” and “awesome site” being put in the same sentence as “Indonesian government”.

Publicly launched yesterday at Soehanna Hall, Portal Data Indonesia (PDI) is an integrated portal which hosted public data from various government institutions. Spearheaded by Presidential Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring & Oversight, PDI aims to promote government openness by providing public access to variety of government data.

In my Corporate Strategy gig, i used this kind of data a lot. For example : before deciding which areas to invest, analysis need to be done to check whether the area are feasible and potentially profitable. This will need data such as people demographics, spending level and mobile penetration. Some of this are available in BPS report but if i want to get raw data in XLS files, i need to go to BPS office, fill some forms and pay some fees. In short, its a hassle.

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How Steam did digital distribution correctly

In the land where 84% of installed software are unlicensed, paying for stuff using digital distribution platform is still a foreign concept. Just like having a meal without rice

As a true Indonesians born and bread, im a jack sparrow kind of a guy (read : pirates) when it comes to digital stuff. You name it,music, movies, software, games all of them. Price and availability usually accredited as the culprits of our piracy culture. Why would you pay 200k to watch Gypsy Danger beating up Kaiju when you can stroll to ambassador mall and get it for 7k rupiah. Even if i want to pay, most of the times the content isnt available to purchase in here (case in point : Netflix). And even if i want to pay and the content is available to purchase, what plus points do i get by buying the original ones ? pat in the back surely not enough.

That was before my encounter Steam platform. Nowadays i can proudly say in at least one category of digital goods (games), i got it in a legal an honest way. Valve, the company behind steam who also developed the cult following Counter Strike & Half Life series, did everything right in battling the piracy. Rather than going for offensive measures, Steam makes buying a legal content a seductive offering to even a born-and-bred piracy doers like me (and fellow third world country civilians i presume).

Steam has three advantage points which makes me preferring to spend money on original PC games rather than pirating. Continue reading “How Steam did digital distribution correctly” →

Art to change the world

Most of the times i dont understand art, but this is something amazing.

I was having my daily dose of after hour Colbert Report when i found out about JR, a french graffity artist. He made a gorgeous yet impactful massive graffiti and art installation of human face in city walls. Watch his 2011 TED presentation, mind blowing. Personally i think this is one of the best TED talks ive ever watch.

My favorite moment is the two face same profession project. By putting huge posters of two face of Israel & Palestinians side by side in both cities (which he told in the video, most of the people cannot distinguish who is who), JR make us contemplate heavily on the notion that : we are not so different after all.

Check out also his interview with Stephen Colbert. It is blocked for non US viewer hence install ProxMate extensions in your chrome first.

Let carriers use 700MHz for European wireless broadband from 2020, report recommends

The same issues here in Indonesia. 700Mhz spectrum have the highest signal distance which are very suitable for building coverage. More distance results in less BTS needed to cover one area which then makes it cheaper to invest in new technology such as LTE. Currently 700 Mhz in Indonesia also still being used for analog (UHF) television. Considering Depkominfo’s analog-to-digital migration initative still dont have clear execution timeline, 700Mhz spectrum for telco is still long way to go here at home

Gigaom

A high-level European Union report has recommended forcing broadcasters to stop using 700MHz spectrum by 2020, so the airwaves can be freed up for wireless broadband.

These particular airwaves are great for connectivity – with radio spectrum, the lower the number, the better it is at propagating transmissions over great distances and into buildings. That’s why, over in the U.S., T-Mobile shelled out $2.6 billion for some of Verizon’s 700MHz holdings at the start of this year.

Hoping for harmony

In Europe, 700MHz (really 694-790MHz) is still largely reserved for TV broadcasts and wireless microphones, as is most other UHF spectrum. However, the Monday report by Pascal Lamy, a former trade commissioner and WTO chief, said it should be reserved for wireless broadband by 2020 – give or take two years.

This would allow a more harmonized approach to 700MHz across what is supposed to be a single market. Currently…

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Tripvisto

Its kinda cool when you check your go-to-news site and you found familiar face.

Few days ago, Tripvisto, travel commerce sites, got seed funding from East Ventures and made it to DailySocial. One of the people responsible for Tripvisto is a good friend of mine Aditya Saputra. Back in college days, Didit (as he usually called) was a rare breed of people who aim to setup his own business. Mind you, this is back in 2006-2007-ish where startup trend in Indonesia was still in infancy. The time where venture capital was still a fancy word. Post graduation, Didit with two other friend started software development services called SmartTekno, developing information system in public sector office before moving to Jakarta and started TripVisto with Sumartok (which previously founded Flamingo & Presentonomics).

With this investment, TripVisto will be in the bunch with other promising startups in EastVentures portfolio such as Tokopedia and Techinasia. Good progression so far considering it was still less than a year ago when i first heard TripVisto from didit in one of our coffee talk. Looking forward to hear more good news from Tripvisto. Read the dailysocial release below and go check TripVisto.

Tripvisto Umumkan Perolehan Pendanaan dari East Ventures

Keeping Up With The Blogging

Its hard to keep blogging these days

Case in point : this very blog. The last long post i wrote was back in May for my anniversary. Busy is a cliche reason. Not that im occupied with anything to save the world with. Mostly because work stuff, my soon-to-be-announced future plans and the most time sucker of it all : Steam account. Ten bucks worth of Borderland 2 GOTY edition ive got from the sale is such a chore to finish with. A very enjoyable one mind you, recommend it to anyone who has soft spot for RPG & FPS.

On the other hand, i still love a tingly feel of accomplishment ive got from having my own space with my own thing in the interwebs. Hence i couldnt see my self shutting this blog down.

So from now on ill take middle ground. I will fill this homey space ive own since 2007 with content. Not so much my writing perhaps but more on share able content i read on the internet. Lets give a praise wordpress share button API for this capability.

Till we meet again kind strangers!

Kenapa kamu harus ikut HMSI

[tulisan ini dibuat sebagai bentuk support terhadap Himpunan Mahasiswa Sistem Informasi, rumah keduaku semasa kuliah. Banyak pelajaran dan kesempatan yang kudapat ketika aku menjadi bagian dari HMSI, this post is one of my social responsibility. Tentu saja aku sekarang bukan anggota ataupun pengurus karena diriku sudah menjadi alumni. Rest assured, aku tidak mendapatkan kompensasi apapun baik dari HMSI, Jurusan SI bahkan ITS sekalipun]

“Marilah mahasiswa sistem informasi menjunjung tinggi almamater ”

Ketika SMA dulu, aku bukan siswa yang aktif berorganisasi. Aku tidak ikut OSIS, PMR bahkan ekstrakurikuler karena pada saat itu selain malas aku juga tidak melihat keuntungannya buat ku (maklum masih ababil). Ketika minggu pertama masuk kuliah dan disodori form untuk mengikuti MANAGE aku sempat ragu untuk tanda tangan, but now i realized that was one of the best decision in my life. Ketika itu untuk menjadi anggota HMSI, mahasiswa baru harus lulus keseluruhan prosesi masa pengenalan generasi (MANAGE) yang terdiri dari pengkaderan massal, camp implementasi sistem (Camp IS) di Coban Rondo dan kegiatan pasca pengkaderan. It was a long and exhausting journey at that time, ada masa masa dimana aku sendiri bertanya kenapa aku harus buang waktu dan tenaga untuk ikut acara seperti ini.

“Meningkatkan kemampuan diri, menuju masa depan cerah”

Continue reading “Kenapa kamu harus ikut HMSI” →

Friday night young talent pizza party

First week of my new job is already passed and i still didnt get any busy work, mainly i just do some paperwork and doing minutes of meeting. I left office alil bit early today and because at that time i still dont have any plan , i suspect this friday nite gonna be boring for me. Luckily in the afternoon two of my colleague at Celcom and Axiata Young Talent program, Jun and Nabil come to hangout in my condo. We decided to have little pizza party inviting the rest of the YTP pack nearby which is my Indonesian mate Leo, Nadia and Sylvi. At a lifesaving moment, Heizran also come bringing some cokes, party on then.

It was a great nite, chill out and chit chat about anything from office gossips until Indonesia – Malaysia culture sharing haha. Overall ive been saved from curse of boring friday night, thanks to my malaysian friend who show up just in time. Maybe i should consider housewarming and have some barbeque.

Selamat menempuh hidup baru my friend

Its sunday morning folks, non hectic time that really compels me to snooze all day. But theres something, caught my attention. A green shiny four squared object imprinted with fancy writings, here you go.

makes me feels old to realize that my friend is gonna be married

Yap one of fellow PHOENIC05 will not gonna be single anymore on next week, and that one will be the first one from all 69 Information System ITS circa 2005 fellow. Dan yang membuka segel pertama kali itu adalah Desy Putri Purnama Sari, teman KP dan juga kolega satu kantor saya sekarang. Sebenarnya bukan berita baru sih, desy memang dari dulu punya ambisi untuk menikah ASAP hehehe. Seperti layaknya pekerja IT, Desy pun menyediakan website tersendiri untuk pernikahannya, check this link.

Semoga sukses ya des dalam menempuh hidup baru. Doa kita semua bersamamu, semoga menjadi keluarga sakinah mawaddah dan warohmah. Ok then lets cheer up and sing a song for the next-to-be couple folkas:).

PS: Dont ask when is my time, when it comes ill post it here 😀

My Mom’s Graduation

Its 8 o’clock in the morning folks, and ive already sitting at the Shangrila Hotel lobby trying to post something here. Penasaran kenapa pada jam yang menurut tubuh masih pagi buta ini saya sudah bangun ? itu karena hari ini adalah hari wisuda s2 ibu saya. FYI, ibu saya selama setahunan ini kuliah s2 lagi di salah satu kampus swasta di Surabaya. Dan hari ini saya menemani mama dan papa wisuda di Hotel Shangrila Surabaya.

congrats mom 😀

NB : dont ask about my graduation