Minggu, 27 Desember 2009

Ex-Liverpool striker Sinama-Pongolle heads for sporting

. Minggu, 27 Desember 2009
0 komentar

Former Liverpool striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle has agreed to move from struggling Spanish side Atletico Madrid to Sporting Lisbon, the Portuguese team announced on Saturday.

"An agreement in principle has been reached with Atletico Madrid and Florent Sinama-Pongolle in view to a transfer on January 1," said a Sporting statement.

According to the Diario de Noticias newspaper, French international Sinama-Pongolle will cost Sporting, who are fifth in the table and 12 points behind leaders Sporting Braga and Benfica, around six million euros.

Sinama-Pongolle, 25, started his career at Le Havre before spending three years at Liverpool between 2003 and 2006.

After two years at Recreativo in Spain, he moved to Atletico Madrid in 2008 but struggled to hold down a first team place in the face of competition from Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

Govt yet to agree on nuke power plant development

.
0 komentar

The government has not yet decided to commence the construction of a nuclear power plant (PLTN), and the project was still in a discourse, a minister said.

Research and Technology Minister Suharna Surapranata made the statement after inaugurating the prototype of a hybrid power plant (PLTH) in East Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday.

"Until today, the government has not yet given its approval to the construction of a nuclear power plant because it is still considering other sources of energy," the minister said.

However, he said, the government was still considering the possibility of developing a nuclear power plant while studying other potential energy sources.

Whether or not Indonesia now needed a nuclear power plant is still being considered, the minister said. "I agree if the government has not yet given a green light to start the the construction of a nuclear plant," he said.

He said that the the government was still giving a priority to the use of coal and geothermal energy as a source of energy in generating electricity.

Besides, the government is also still socializing the use of nuclear energy owing to the fact that Indonesia should have been able to operate commercially a nuclear power plant by 2016.

The target for Indonesia to operate a nuclear power plant in 2016 is contained in Law No. 17/2007 on the National Long Term Development Plan. One of its paragraphs stipulates that in 2016 Indonesia should have been able to operate a nuclear power plant, he said.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

Kamis, 17 Desember 2009

Unraveling the mystery of manuscripts

. Kamis, 17 Desember 2009
0 komentar

Dozens of old manuscripts were threatened with extinction. Abandoned, dog-eared or severely damaged. Many of their owners could not even read them as they were written in Arabic, without any punctuation marks. The contents remained a mystery to the public.

Thanks to Habib A. Syakur, people can now understand what is written in these precious manuscripts, which recount the teachings of Islam from the 17th to the 19th century.

The 44-year-old resident of Bantul, Yogyakarta, patiently worked on the papers, read them carefully, translated, rewrote and printed them out for the public.

“These fiqh, Islamic laws, are very important for the people, especially academics,” Syakur said.

The old manuscripts belonged to individuals, who kept them in their own homes, considering the historical religious documents their heirlooms.

“Not just anyone was allowed to look at the papers, let alone read them, because their owners believed they held mystic powers,” he said.

Some documents were damaged as the owners could not look after them properly. Others were in good condition but their owners could not read the papers. Those who could read them did not think of informing the public about their content or preserve them.

“If nothing was done about these old manuscripts, invaluable heritage would have disappeared. I took on the responsibility to rewrite and translate them,” Syakur said.

“Since I was a kid, I have been used to reading Arabic books, which ignited my passion for old manuscripts.”

But he realized his interest alone would not enable him to translate the papers.

In order to really delve into the old manuscripts, after completing his Arabic language studies in Egypt, Syakur continued studying languages at a graduate level at the Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University in Yogyakarta.

With his mastery of Arabic and his love for old manuscripts, in 2007, Syakur started hunting these old religious documents individually kept and owned.

He went to regions as far as Probolinggo and Ponorogo in East Java, and the centers of Islamic development in Central Java like Demak and Temanggung.

Even though Syakur knew who kept old manuscripts, he had difficulties accessing the papers, given people’s possessiveness and reluctance to let the documents out of their sight.

To obtain the manuscripts, including the one about Prophet Khidir he found in Temanggung, Central Java, Syakur approached people closely acquainted with the owners, and managed to collect about 30 manuscripts from their owners for free.

“They only wanted to make sure that I did not lie about my intention to copy the contents,” he said.

Then, after two years of hunting for old manuscripts, Syakur started translating them.

Among them was Inayatul Muftaqir, an old book about Prophet Khidir. Many people have longed to read it because there is little information available about this charismatic yet mysterious prophet.

Another manuscript touches upon Sufism and karomah received by the saints, titled Bughyatul Adzkiya.

Syakur spends his spare time translating the manuscripts while lecturing at the Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University.

“I tend to work on translations for four to five hours a day on average,” said Syakur, who had four children with his wife Khuni Khumairoh.

“I mostly do the translating after praying at dawn until I leave for work, and at night before going to bed.”

When translating, not only does he read and rewrite the papers, but he also compares them with available reference books.

“I often use other works to find the golden thread and clarify some of the mystifying writings contained in the manuscripts,” he said.

The pleasure Syakur derives from doing these translations simply cannot be measured.

He cited as an example the story of Prophet Khidir. It was widely known this prophet was related to Prophet Moses, while the old manuscripts said he was also related to Alexander the Great.

He had to plough through countless reference books to interpret just one missing word from the damaged document.

“When there are parts of text missing, the interpretation should come with notes, because we need to be intellectually responsible [about our interpretation of the texts],” he said.

Some manuscripts do not seem to have authors, as they form part of the body of knowledge from Islamic teachers recorded by their faithful students.

“Sometimes the students would forget to write on the cover, and went straight to the content.”

Syakur knows many old manuscripts remain with their owners, and that it would be impossible for him to collect them all. So, he has called upon all individuals to hand them over to a foundation to prevent them from vanishing forever.

Translations of old manuscripts can also be used to learn about how science developed.

“By studying the manuscripts, we could study the science and technology that developed at that time,” Syakur said.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

Teaching college aims to raise education standards

.
0 komentar

Seventeen-year-old Sufyan Suri could not hide his enthusiasm when he spoke of his dream to become a teacher.

The high school graduate from Kotabaru, South Kalimantan, leaned forward and used hand gestures to emphasize Indonesia's need for more skilled teachers and to redefine its teacher-student relationship.

"There is a gap between teachers and students that restricts them from effectively communicating with each other," he told The Jakarta Post at the Sampoerna School of Education college in Jakarta on Wednesday. "We need to change this.

"Students should feel comfortable approaching their teachers."

Sufyan and 88 other students, all from underprivileged families, were granted scholarships yesterday from Indonesia's first private teachers college.

Forty-three students received full scholarships worth more than Rp 223 million (US$23,000) each. The remaining 46 were granted scholarships that covered their tuition fees for four years, worth Rp 168 million each.

The students were selected out of 1,200 applicants to major in mathematics or English at the undergraduate institution. Seventy-one students were from Java, 14 from Sumatra, two from Bali and two from Kalimantan.

Paulina Pannen, the school's dean, said she wanted to ensure students were provided with the skills to become highly qualified teachers, exceeding international standards.

The school has teamed up with Iowa University in the US, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Massey University in New Zealand to develop its curriculum.

"We encourage our students to research and develop innovative teaching methodologies," she said.

The school has been structured to qualify students as senior high school teachers. To aid their learning, the school requires students to complete an internship, teaching in high schools for one semester in their final year.

"Our students will teach in one of the 17 state senior high schools and five Madrasah *Muslim schools* that the Sampoerna Foundation supports," she said.

The foundation, established by tobacco giant PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna, has been providing schools with assistance to improve teacher quality through its United Schools Program.

Muchlas, from the Directorate of Higher Education at the National Education Ministry, said he hoped the school would enhance education in each of Indonesia's regions.

"I would like to see the school's graduates return to their respective regions to improve education across the country," he added.

Paulina said she strongly encouraged her students to apply their knowledge in their hometowns. She said that was where teachers were needed because schools in cities had "relatively adequate facilities" and many skilled teachers.

"Sampoerna graduates will be great assets to their regions because they are being trained to become highly skilled teachers," she added.

Sufyan said he looked forward to teaching in his hometown.

"We must give back to our communities and help them to prosper," he said.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

Teachers urged to boost students participation

.
0 komentar

The Indonesian Teachers Association (PGRI) has told its members to do away with conventional teaching methods and develop new teaching paradigms allowing for more active student participation.

PGRI's representative for international affairs, Unifah Rosyidi, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of an international seminar in Jakarta on Monday that it was high time Indonesia's teachers answered to the new demands and challenges of developments in education.

"Education in the old days placed teachers in the center, but today, the learners, or students, are the center. Today, education is not just a matter of transfering knowledge, rather it is more about facilitating the students to get better, and to actualize themselves," she said.

Monday's seminar on developing a child-friendly school invited hundreds of teachers and lecturers from schools and universities from all over the country. Teachers from countries such as China, Egypt and Zambia also attended the event to share their experiences.

Unifah said efforts to disseminate information on students' rights and conducive learning environments had been made over the years through seminars and training workshops.

"Changing teachers' teaching paradigm is a long process. We need to continuously sensitize our teachers to how education The Indonesian Teachers Association (PGRI) has told its members to do away with conventional teaching methods and develop new teaching paradigms allowing for more active student participation.

PGRI's representative for international affairs, Unifah Rosyidi, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of an international seminar in Jakarta on Monday that it was high time Indonesia's teachers answered to the new demands and challenges of developments in education.

"Education in the old days placed teachers in the center, but today, the learners, or students, are the center. Today, education is not just a matter of transfering knowledge, rather it is more about facilitating the students to get better, and to actualize themselves," she said.

Monday's seminar on developing a child-friendly school invited hundreds of teachers and lecturers from schools and universities from all over the country. Teachers from countries such as China, Egypt and Zambia also attended the event to share their experiences.

Unifah said efforts to disseminate information on students' rights and conducive learning environments had been made over the years through seminars and training workshops.

"Changing teachers' teaching paradigm is a long process. We need to continuously sensitize our teachers to how education has developed and how it brings new demands and challenges," she added.

Lund University of Sweden and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency have been training teachers from various countries in developing child-friendly schools.

Bodil Rasmusson from the university said during the seminar that such schools were the ones encouraging students' participation.

An example of students' participation, he said, was the establishment of child rights clubs where children had the opportunities to express themselves in many different ways - through poems, drawings, or festivals that involve the whole school and community.

"There are also examples of children being involved in the creation of new school rules. We have also seen many examples of improved relationships between students and teachers in the classroom," he said.

Unifah said to improve students' participation in the classroom, teachers needed to establish a teaching method that was meaningful, fun, creative and inspiring for the students.

"Also, they need to design the curriculum so that it could be flexible enough to allow creativity in the teaching process," she told the Post.

Rasmusson said developing a child-friendly school also required a provision of children's rights.

"We also have examples *of the provisions of child's rights* in opportunities provided to pregnant teenagers to return to school after delivery," he said.

Unifah highlighted that it was important to establish inclusive education in the country. "It is the right of every child to get quality education without being discriminated *against*," she said.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

Who's fixing the security hole?

.
0 komentar

Every day, if you're listening hard enough, you'll hear about security holes in the software you use - on your computer, on your phone, in your car. We've gotten used to it, so we don't pay much attention. That's because we assume that something has been done about, or is being done about it. But is that right?

The other day a friend of mine received a message on Facebook. The message said that an interest group he had joined on the social networking site had been hijacked. The message explained that there was a security hole.

If all the administrators of a Facebook group had quit, then anyone - whether they were a member of a group or not - could step in and take over.

They could then do whatever they liked: change the name of the group, send messages to all group members, pretty much run riot. Which is what had happened here.

Actually, this guy had taken over nearly 300 groups, changed their names to Control Your Info, and sent all their members a warning message. The warning made clear that he could have done something far worse, but he didn't. All they wanted to do, they said, was highlight how easy it was.

Facebook was less than impressed. They told me that no confidential information had been at risk and said this kind of hijacking thing was rare. Which may be true, but that probably was small comfort to the members of nearly 300 groups.

Now this all may seem bit obscure. And it is. But there's a bigger issue involved.

The person or persons involved in this attack claimed they were doing a public service to raise awareness of how vulnerable our information is on social networks. They also say that if they'd just written a blog post about it, nobody would have listened.

What they didn't make clear is whether they'd tried to tell Facebook about it first. There's an etiquette among computer nerds that if a security hole like this is found they let the person responsible for the product or service fix it before they go public.

The problem is that often these nerds find their noble efforts are not recognized by the company involved. At best they get a grunt of acknowledgement; at worst they're ignored.

An example: one of my friends recently pointed out that a premier vendor of data protection services and software had left a gaping big hole in its online store.

He was right. Set up an account and make as if you're going to buy stuff, change a character in the resulting web address, and you can see all the details of other recent customers: their name, address, type of credit card, even, in some cases, a partial credit card number.

Enough to call the customer up, impersonate someone from the company, and ask for the missing data.

Not very reassuring. But even less reassuring was the company's response: it took them nearly a month to fix the hole. Only then did my friend publicly reveal the flaw.

Obviously something is broken here. I don't condone the actions of the Facebook hackers. Their actions have not so much raised awareness about the need to be careful with information so much as freaked people out about something they could do very little to fix.

The problem here is not us users, it's them. The companies selling us stuff. There are bound to be holes. They not only need to fix them, but fix them quickly. And provide an incentive for folk who find them to report them without making a big noise about it.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

A connected home: More than just cables

.
0 komentar

ASmall as it is, there are seven telephone sets in my house, including a cordless one that seems to disappear into a vortex all the time.

Radio Shack intercom is also installed, connecting our bedroom and my study. All of them work. The few places that do not have a telephone set are the kitchen and the bathrooms.

My low-cost AKAI stereo amplifier is also connected to two pairs of large speakers. One pair is inside my study, which has become the command center. Another pair lives in the living room. There is a LinkSys router with wireless access point just outside my study. My daughter’s PC is connected via a long UTP cable to the router, which in turn is connected to CBN DirectNet Wireless modem.

There are three TV sets in the house, although only one is connected to a First Media decoder. You know, the cable TV provider wants us to pay extra for each additional decoder, and I have refused to spend more for a decoder that I would hardly use. Now, is my house connected?

Hardly, as a connected home has to do more with content rather than cables. Do I have the ability to remotely pick up the content stored in the hard disk of my media center at home with my mobile device? Maybe. But, can I push the content I am creating to the computer in my study in a safe manner? That would be harder to do. What about if you are abroad and want to send the video you made with your smart phone into the TV in your living room? You will most likely need to wait until you are back and have the opportunity to burn the video onto a blank DVD and then play it on the DVD player hooked to that TV.

A connected home, which combines telecommunication and consumer electronics, hinges on a broadband pipe. A few years ago, we talked about Triple Play, which consisted of two bandwidth-demanding services in the home — Internet access and TV — and the telephone. When wireless was added, we had quadruple play.

The aim is to make life more enjoyable (for those who can afford it, of course). The backbone is a home network, and it can be both wired and wireless, and it may also include control systems to manage IP appliances such as the air conditioners and the water heater.

How serious is the concept of the connected home experience today? Well, here is a new abbreviation that you will encounter more frequently: Digital Living Network Alliance, or DLNA. It is based on the so-called Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), which is the standard that home appliances and devices will likely to follow in the future in order to give us the connected home experience. So, the objective of the DLNA can be summed up as full compatibility among consumer equipments. It will enable us to pull or push content remotely to our devices, too.

DLNA claims that currently 240 companies have joined it, including makers of consumer electronics, computers and mobile device. “DLNA also includes many component and software developers”, they write on their homepage.

What the organization does is give certification, of course. So, if you buy a high-end home appliance today, keep an eye out for the DLNA logo. Incidentally, in the near future I will be reviewing a gargantuan LED TV from Samsung, which is already DLNA certified.

In making the connected home a reality, a piece of software is needed. Ericsson, the Swedish telecom giant that we usually recognize for their infrastructure technology, has developed what it calls a “Connected Home Gateway”. Ericsson Multimedia Business launched it during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last February.

The Connected Home Gateway provides security for the connectivity between home and telecommunication networks. According to an Ericsson press release, it also provides a single point of entry for IPTV and communication services. It is also DLNA compliant. In fact, another Ericsson press release I received last month announced that their Connected Home Gateway software had received the 2009 TelcoTV Vision Awards.

In simple language, the DLNA is another industry buzzword that you will see more and more. You need to ensure the compliance of the products you are buying — if you’re thinking about building a connected home.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

Indonesia eyes first gold in six years from the boxing ring

.
0 komentar

After the dejection of two years ago, when Indonesian boxers failed to even make the finals, the team came closer to realizing its ambitious target of two gold medals in Laos after Monday’s matches.

Ahmad Amri in the men’s 81-kg and Indri Sambaimana in the women’s 51-kg advanced to the finals after beating their respective opponents.

Both overcame Laotian opposition, with Amri, who is making his SEA Games debut, defeating Sisuphanh and Indri outfighting Somphone Keosila.

“The chance for Ahmad is very good, as his posture is taller than the Malaysian boxer,” team manager Syamsul Anwar said about Amri’s opponent in the final on Tuesday.

Amri’s opponent Muhd. Fairus claimed his final spot with 9-1 demolition of Cambodian Ephou Thang.

Indri will face a tough test from Philippines’ Albania Annie, who narrowly won over Sopida Satumrum of Thailand 6-4.

In the other bouts, Indonesian boxers failed to overcome their opponents.

Women’s bantamweight Welmi Pariama lost her chance after losing 2-10 to Vietnamese Duan Thi Lien. While lightweight Selly Wanimbo was stopped by Laotian Milvady Hongfa 8-15.

Indonesia has another two shots at medals with Matius Mandingan facing Malaysian Muhammad Ali Abdul Karim in the men’s bantamweight and Urias Arenaldo Moniaga taking on Cambodian Phal Sophat in the men’s featherweight in their semifinal matches on Tuesday.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

‘So Good Christmas Cup ‘ for SEA Games 2011

.
0 komentar

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Chess Federation will hold the So Good Christmas Cup blitz chess tournament called starting Saturday in Jakarta.

The two-day event will be played under the Swiss system of 13 rounds, with the organizers looking to make it a screening field for the SEA Games that Indonesia will host in 2011.

“We want to make it a regular event with the hope that we can have a strong pool of players to be selected for 2011,” Indonesian top chess grandmaster Utut Adianto said in his capacity as the representative of sponsor Japfa Comfeed.

The tournament, which offers Rp 30 million in cash prizes, will take place at the Pyramid Building, Bung Karno Sports Complex, Jakarta.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

PC market: The big firms fight it out.

.
0 komentar

Indonesia’s burgeoning personal computer (PC) market — divided between desktops and notebooks including the increasingly popular netbooks — will continue to see hefty growth next year, setting off even fiercer competition among top players.

This year sales of PCs are predicted to hit US$2 billion, from a recorded $1.8 billion in 2008, and are expected to grow again by between 20 and 25 percent next year, according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC), a market research company.

Against this backdrop, PT Acer Indonesia is upbeat about retaining market leader status despite a blip in the third quarter resulting in Hewlett Packard taking over the top spot, although Acer remained the undisputed leader overall in the January-September period.

Acer Indonesia president director, Jason Lim, said in an interview earlier this week that he was confident that sales in notebooks, including increasingly popular netbooks, would play a vital role in improving its performance.

Sales of notebooks represent about 60 percent of the total PC market in the country.

“Acer still has the biggest market share in Indonesia if you count the first two quarters of the year,” Jason said of the third quarter decline.

As of September, the company held 19.5 percent of the national market share from January to September this year, followed by HP with 16.8 percent. The third biggest market player was Toshiba with 6.4 percent.

In the third quarter alone, HP snatched 20.7 percent of the PC market against Acer’s 19.7 percent.
Jason said Acer was counting on sales in notebooks to improve to retain its position as the country’s biggest PC vendor in 2010. According to IDC, national notebook sales have the potential to increase by 35 percent to about 2.5 million units next year.

During the third quarter of 2009, Acer took 27.6 percent of the notebook market share in Indonesia, down from 28.2 percent in the previous quarter. Trailing closely behind Acer was HP with 26.5 percent of the notebook market share in quarter three, up from 18.5 percent in quarter two.

Jason said that even sales in desktop computers still could make a significant contribution to the company’s performance in 2010.

National desktop sales continued to slide as a proportion of all PC sales over the past few years.

The desktop sales up to September this year only accounted for 40 percent of national PC sales. It previously dominated with 60 percent in 2007, before slipping to 55 percent last year. But the number of units sold continues to increase, IDC said.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»

Group Sees Higher CPO Price as Global Economy Picks Up

.
0 komentar

CPO producers expect crude palm oil prices to continue to rise in the first quarter of next year, to help offset the decline this year triggered by previously falling demand and an earlier weakened rupiah, a grouping says.

Steaven Halim, a secretary of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers (GAPKI), said Wednesday CPO producers were optimistic that CPO prices would go up early next year pushed by increased demand as part of the positive impacts of the recovering global economy.

“As long as there is no new crisis, we are expecting that CPO prices will hover at least at US$800 per ton in the first quarter of 2010.”

The remarks follow earlier predictions by Oil World, an independent forecasting service for oilseeds, oils and meal, whose analyst Thomas Mielke said prices would be supported by rising demand as production of vegetable oils from other plants such as soybean would decline due to unfriendly weather in several parts of the United States.

“I have also suggested my fellow CPO producers to spend more nowadays, mainly in the production sector on machinery or factory equipment,” Steaven said.

Big production spending plans should be undertaken in present conditions because the rupiah is now in a strong position.

“We can save a lot if we build factories today, because most of the tools or factory components are imported,” Steaven said.

GAPKI’s members include about 370 CPO producer firms with about 2.4 million hectares of oil palm are targeting to produce at least 25 million tons of CPO next year, up by 25 percent from this year’s production target of 20 million tons.

Members of GAPKI, which Steaven said represented about 30 percent of the national CPO industry, produced 19.2 million tons of CPO last year.

Steaven acknowledged that the bright hope of high CPO prices next year would be the chance for CPO business to gain more income to cover the losses caused by the drop in sales and in the rupiah rate to the dollar earlier this year.

During the first months of this year, the CPO price stood at only about $500 to $550 per ton.

The weakened rupiah earlier in the year also caused companies to receive less income during those hard days, Steaven said.

“In the middle of this year, the price started to recover to about $650 per ton,” he said.

The effects of the recovering global economy on the CPO price has significantly influenced CPO prices in quarter three 2009, he said.

“As of November, the CPO price stood at $770 per ton,” Steaven said.

According to data published by GAPKI, Indonesia exports CPO to over 100 countries, including 15 countries in western Europe including the Netherlands and Germany.

In 2008, a total of 7.3 hectares of oil palm plantations in Indonesia produced about 19.2 million tons of CPO, of which 14.3 million tons were exported. CPO producers are now exploring to improve sales penetration in eastern European countries like Slovakia.

Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»
 
yanportal.blogspot.com