Gerakan Bawah Tanah - Mr. GBT

This is taken from http://budi.insan.co.id/articles/the-search I've just finished reading "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture," by John Batelle. It's abook about search (engine) with focus on Google. The totle of the boook itself has a google-type font. I like books that tell the history of computing or technology, and I consider that this book is one of them. It doesn't hurt that I am a fan of Google. So, I dig into the book right away as soon as I got it. Read more at: http://budi.insan.co.id/articles/the-search

Last week, we had a discussion. The topic was starting an IC (Integrated Circuit) Design company. This topic was not new for us. We have been discussing this for quite a while. I remembered that in 1998 I wanted to start this kind of company, right after I got back from Canada. But, at that time nobody was interested. So, I switched to other field, security and never look back. The topic came up because of pak Trio Adiono. He came back from Japan with his experience in designing chip. He was also able to get synopsys toolset for his design group at our university. (I maintained synopsys when I was a grad student. It's a damn good tool. Of course, you still need other tools to do other things). Now, we were toying the idea of starting up again. The thing is, we know that we are good. No, I am not saying this just to brag. We are really good. It's a shame if we just use our talents at university only. There are chips to design that are useful for humankind (and business of cours...

Great Sunday morning, jogging. Behind me is the view of South Bandung. It's beautiful, isn't it? My house is about 300 meters down the road from where I stand. Now you can see why I love Bandung so much. Not even Google can make me move. I think... (See " Why I should work for Google ." Picture taken 15 January 2006 by my wife.)

I have been thinking about writing this for quite a while, but didn't have to time (guts) to put it down. Until now. So, here it is. " Why I should work for Google " http://budi.insan.co.id/articles/google Let me know what you think. I hope people @ Google don't read it. ha ha ha. -- budi

I have just finished writing an article (comparison of free blog services - you can get it here [in Bahasa Indonesia]). For a simple article, it took me quite a while to finish it. Granted, I am learning CSS at the same time. Now, here I am trying to finish reading books (" The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture ," " blink ," and " Computer Forensics and Cyber Crime "). I need a place where I can concentrate. That means a place without computer and Internet. Combination of computer and Internet is so distracting. Mailing lists and blogs are distractions. So here I am at Starbucks (Ciwalk - Bandung) with books, pen & paper, a notebook. A conventional paper-based notebook, that is. No computer. I know that there is a WiFi access here, but I just don't want to be disturbed by it. And you know what, I am writing this on a piece of paper. D@mn. Can't get away from it. The temptation of writin...

I just wrote an article comparing various free blog services. It also answers why I have too many blogs. Unfortunately, the article is in Bahasa Indonesia. You can get it here: http://budi.insan.co.id/articles/blog/index.html Enjoy ...

Ronny gave me a link to newsvine.com, so I took the bait. Now, I am on newsvine as budi.newsvine.com . (I've got to inform Priyadi to add this to Planet GBT .) It's still at beta stage and I am still learning what it can do. Basically, you can read/write news or just " seed " news (point to an article or news). It is a social news agregator (isn't it?). We'll see how it goes. Access to it seems to be very slow. Last night I even got "HTTP/1.1 error." (update: now, I tried to open a couple pages and they are still not coming - while I am typing this entry.) Care to join? Or would you wait until they fix the performance?

Earlier, I posted a blurb that I want to do a stand up comedy. Ronny was kind enough to point out that there is this " Eddie Izzard " guy (or gay for that matter, ha ha ha - sorry if this is a bad joke) that I should check out. Sure enough, he is hilarious! Funny as hell! I listened to " Dressed to kill " (with my headphone on) and was laughing by myself. I hope nobody was looking at me. Otherwise they'll think I am crazy. I want to get more of his stuff. Maybe some good soul is kind enough to send me some of his stuff? ha ha ha. Fat chance!

Which OS are You?

http://rahard.wordpress.com/2005/12/30/kebingungan-seorang-dosen/ Beberapa waktu yang lalu saya bertanya kepada beberapa kawan; “nilai-nilai apakah yang ingin kita ajarkan ke mahasiswa?” Sampai sekarang saya belum mendapatkan jawaban yang mengena. Kata orang, fungsi perguruan tinggi tidak sekedar untuk mengajarkan mahasiswa mengenai hal-hal yang spesifik kepada bidang ilmunya akan tetapi juga untuk mendidik mahasiswa. Sebetulnya nilai apa yang ingin kita wariskan kepada para mahasiswa (murid) ini? Saya ambilkan beberapa contoh: Bahwa bertanya itu bukan aib, dan bahkan cenderung baik. Atau, bertanya itu merupakan cerminan kelemahan! Ayo belajar lebih baik! (Saya mengutarakan hal ini karena saya temui bahwa mahasiswa saya takut bertanya. Ketika saya kejar lebih jauh, ternyata mereka tidak diajarkan untuk bertanya ketika masih SMA oleh guru dan oleh teman-temannya. Akibatnya mereka menjadi malu dan tertekan kalau bertanya.) Bahwa kegagalan (mendapat nilai buruk, tidak naik kelas, tidak lu...

What the hell is a " meme map "? Internet search gave links to Web 2.0 articles. Well, I tried to search and find the meaning of "meme map" exactly because I was reading Tim O'Reilly's article on Web 2.0 . It's kind of recursive, isn't it? Would somebody enlighten me?

Diambil dari: http://rahard.wordpress.com/2005/12/27/globalisasi-30/ Thomas Friedman dalam bukunya “The World is Flat” mengatakan bahwa kita sudah memasuki globalisasi 3.0. Nah, apakah itu globalisasi 3.0 dan adakah versi-versi sebelumnya? Globalisasi 1.0 dimulai ketika jaman penjajahan (kolonialisme) dahulu. Pada jaman itu beruntunglah seseorang yang menjadi warga negara besar (negara penjajah? seperti Inggris, Belanda, Spanyol, dan seterusnya). Rugilah individu yang menjadi warga negara yang dijajah seperti Indonesia. Kemakmuran seseorang ditentukan oleh kewarganegaraannya. Itulah sebabnya orang berbondong-bondong ingin menjadi warga negara dari negara besar tersebut. Globalisasi 2.0 terjadi karena adanya industri dan bisnis. Peta kesuksesan berubah dengan munculnya perusahaan besar (multinational companies). Tidak penting lagi warga negara seseorang. Anda boleh menjadi warga negara Nigeria, Indonesia, India, Inggris, atau Amerika, yang penting adalah Anda menjadi bagian dari perus...

I have just updated my wish on 43things: http://www.43things.com/person/budi The new entry says that I want to do a stand-up comedy. No, I am not crazy. I want to do it. Just a few minutes ago I watched Richard Quest on CNN's Quest. He tried to do a stand-up (comedy) at Caroline's (?), which is supposed to be the place for it. But before doing that, he went to a school (for a week). Anyway, it looks fun. I want to do it. Job opening: comedy writer(s)

Diambil dari: http://rahard.wordpress.com/2005/12/25/akademisi-vs-industriawan/ Ada yang aneh dari hasil pengamatan saya (amatiran tentunya) terhadap pandangan akademisi dan industriawan tentang pengembangan sesuatu yang berbau teknologi tinggi (high tech; biotech, nanotech, dan *tech lainnya). Akademisi, yang biasanya diwakili oleh dosen, cenderung untuk berpikiran negatif. Ada ketakutan-ketakutan. Mereka sering berpendapat bahwa seharusnya kita meneliti (mengembangkan ilmu) yang low tech saja. Padahal, di kelas mereka mengajarkan ilmu yang bisa digunakan di high-tech. Apakah ini disebabkan rasa bersalah mereka karena telah dididik dengan ilmu yang “tidak bisa” (dalam kacamata mereka) diimplementasikan di Indonesia, sehingga mereka merasa harus berpihak ke sisi lain? Di sisi lain, industriawan umumnya berpikiran lebih positif. Saya melihat betapa seorang Iskandar Alisyahbana yang dengan terampil memotori perkembangan teknologi satelit di jaman dahulu (70-an?) dan kemudian melirik ke ...

Me and my 1st glasses. Taken Friday morning (just woke up - eyes are not adjusted yet - ha ha ha), front porch of our house. 

I was interviewed in Intisari magazine (December 2005 issue) on the security of Internet Banking. (See cover page on the left. "Transaksi aman Bank Internet, halaman 142 .) In the interview I said that the security of Internet Banking is already good enough. What do you think? 

Diambil dari blognya BHTV: bhtv.blogspot.com Percaya atau tidak, Bandung merupakan “talent magnet.” Tanpa iklan ataupun promosi besar-besaran, lulusan sekolah menengah atas di Indonesia berbondong-bondong menuju Bandung untuk sekolah. Kebanyakan dari mereka adalah juara kelas. Inilah “harta karun” dari Bandung. Mulai dari “The World is Flat“-nya Thomas Friedman, sampai ke “The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition of Talent“-nya Richard Florida, dan masih banyak buku serta tulisan semuanya membahas mengenai pentingnya talenta-talenta ini. Sumber daya alam, seperti minyak, bukan hal yang utama lagi. SDM yang utama. Mengapa hal ini sulit kita pahami? Sayangnya, hal ini kurang dimengerti oleh banyak orang sehingga talenta-talenta ini meninggalkan Bandung setelah mereka lulus. Alasannya sederhana, tidak ada bisnis dan lapangan kerja di Bandung. Itulah sebabnya BHTV melobby perusahaan besar (multinational companies) agar membuat perusahaan, research center, dan support di...

Last Wednesday, I gave a keynote speech at Cisco Security Summit 2005, in Jakarta, Indonesia. My speech was about " Compliance to ISO 17799 (or BS 7799, or ISO 27001). " Don't worry about the numbers. They don't mean much I am not sure whether it was good, so-so, or bad. I was on the stage with bright lights so I could not see the audience. I think there were more than 400 people in the room. The only measure I use as a feedback was when they laugh. That's a good sign. After the speech I was taken by some journalists for interview. So I ran out. The night before the presentation was tough for me. Tuesday, I had to go to a court in Surabaya (that's around 1000 km from Jakarta) as a security expert (witness?) in a cellular case. I took the last plane from Surabaya to Jakarta. I arrived at the hotel (Shangri La) around 10:00 PM (or so). I didn't have dinner and everything was already closed. So, no dinner for me. Fine. I am not that hungry anyway. I ate lots ...

Dari blog saya yang di rahard.wordpress.com Saya mendapat forward-an SMS yang intinya adalah sebagai berikut (tidak saya kutipkan persis): saya memantau para blogger di milis. mereka adalah komunitas yang cenderung tanpa tata etika. merekalah menjadi aturannya. di masa yang akan datang mungkin akan ada masalah lain. Welah. Saya tidak tahu milis mana yang dimaksud oleh SMS tersebut. Dugaan saya adalah milis id-gmail, yang saya sendiri tidak ikutan karena terlalu urakan . (Hoi para gajah! Gak boleh marah. Milis Anda memang urakan .) Mungkin urakan inilah yang disebut tanpa tata etika? Saya kok menduga bahwa yang bersangkutan memang tidak memahami maksud dan tujuan dari milis id-gmail tersebut, yaitu memang untuk urakan! ha ha ha :)) Saya yakin lebih banyak blogger Indonesia yang seperti saya, yang lebih senang duduk sendiri berkontemplasi kemudian menuliskan hasil pemikiran, renungan, atau lamunannya. Sangat tidak adil menuduh para blogger Indonesia sebagai sebuah komunitas yang tanpa ta...

It's official. I am wearing glasses now. I've been denying that I am old. (I am 43 now.) It is becoming more difficult for me to read small text (fonts). So, last week I went to check my eyes. Sure enough, I have to wear glasess (+1.25). Last night, I picked up my first glasses. Now, I am adjusting my life with glasses. (Picture will follow.)