Rabu, Oktober 27, 2004

Motorola MPx for Bussines Consumers

This just an info for everybody who need a new mobile phone. Motorola MPX have so many advance technology. It have desktop computer ability, real time connection. MPX also use Windows Mobile software, QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. For you that love take a picture, MPX have embaded with built in camera 1.2 megapixel.

The official explanation from Motorola are below:
Condensing the power of a desktop into the convenience of a mobile phone, the Motorola MPx provides business consumers with a new choice for live, real time, on-the-go connectivity in a never seen before form factor. This new mobile delivers an “always at hand” convenience via Windows Mobile ™ software, a QWERTY keyboard, continuous connectivity using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® technology, as well as an embedded 1.2 megapixel camera and large dual-hinge landscape and portrait color display. The Motorola MPx creates a successful merger between business and pleasure. Breaking through the convergence clutter, the Motorola MPx is the must-have solution to help driven professionals manage their mobile lives in real time whether at work, at home, on the road or at play.

Live Real time so you can wait in lines and at stoplights, but you won’t have to wait to be connected with the Motorola MPx. Live real time with speedy downloads thanks to GSM and GPRS technology that enables you to do what you want, wherever and whenever you want. The Motorola MPx portable desktop capabilities enhance your ability to stay informed while away from the office – now you can even view e-mail attachments without separate downloadable software. With the Motorola MPx, it’s easy to streamline communications. Feel free to experience life as it happens and conduct business on the move without hesitation. So go ahead and wait in line – the Motorola MPx will keep you connected at rocket speeds no matter where life takes you.


Power Never Looked This Good. With the power of your desktop in the palm of your hand, you'll never miss a beat in your business or social endeavors while on the road. The powerful Motorola MPx offers compatibility with all Microsoft Pocket PC applications, allowing you to stay focused on business as you meander through the streets of success.


An Over-Achiever in Convergence.Blending the best of all your wireless devices into a product smaller than most convergence products on the market, the Motorola MPx takes your mobile office to a whole new level. All of your contacts are easily at your fingertips thanks to the device's remote mail experience and the multi-function QWERTY keyboard lets you send emails in a snap. Add to that, continuous connectivity via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology - now you can maximize your availability and productivity. Mergers, acquisitions, partnerships – you're ready for it all.

The Motorola MPx is expected to be available in the Q4 of 2004. In Indonesia, MPx will soon coming before end of the year.

My Few Thoughts on Journalism and Journalist

During October 2004, I have been participating in SIDA Training “Electronic Research and Publishing” in University of Stockholm . And one of the lecture, Mark Comerford from University of Stockholm rise a question about what is journalism and who is a journalist. He said the phrase “ that's not journalism” is heard more and more.

What's is journalism? This seems a simple question for everyone that choose journalist as their profession. But for me, the definition of journalism is complicated. It seems like pornography. The specific definition varies from person to person, but in general, you know it when you see it.

When I was in college, my lecture said that journalism is the practice of collecting and publishing information regarding current events. It is often defined even broader - as the pursuit of the truth.
He also said when journalism is associated with the news, it is often referred to as the "first draft of history." Even though news stories are often written in a straight alias hurried style, they should be proofread before being published.

The main activity of journalism is the reporting of events by stating the journalistic parameters of 5W+1H: who, what, when, where, why and how and commenting on the significance of the event. Journalism exists in a number of media: newspapers, television, radio and magazines, with internet journalism being a newcomer.

Generally, a distinction is drawn between straight reporting (just the facts), editorials, (the official opinions of the paper), and op-ed columns ("opposite the editorial page" comment from non-staff authors).

However, this distinction is often difficult to make. Journalists may intentionally or unintentionally fall prey to propaganda or disinformation. Without even committing outright fraud, journalists may give a biased account of facts by being selective in their reporting, for instance focusing on anecdote or giving partial explanation of actions. This is especially effective in a authoritarian state, foreign reporting and war time, since few people can and do check such reports. Newspapers and periodicals will often contain "features" - see under heading feature style at article news style - written by journalists, many of whom specialise in the form.

As I mention above, now we are facing a new form of public journalism is called internet journalism. I will emphasis on blogging, in which a writer, often unaffiliated with a professional news organization, writes frequent dispatches on niche topics, posted online. Though new to readers accustomed to less chronologically organized dispatches, the style harkens back to the early days of print journalism.

The growing popularity of the internet as a news source, along with the shrinking popularity of virtually all traditional news sources puts some establishment press assault the reader with lurid claims of internet irresponsibility. One of the most frequently attacked genres of internet material is the internet "News" sites on the Web and the Usenet Groups. They say that the delivery of news stories in internet "without the traditional filter of the press" intervening between the consumer and the stories themselves. The objections also come not from stories, but from personal comments posted to Usenet groups in a "neighborhood gossip" like fashion.

Now, that objections are not wholly true. Because, the establisment press ( newspaper, magazine, television and radio) also published their internet version. And we can dismissed usenet groups as not part of journalism. So what about blogging? There are thousand hundred blogger who made a story constantly in their weblogs. Can they called themselves as journalist?

According to Paul Andrews in "Is Blogging Journalism?" written for the Fall 2003 edition of Harvard University's Nieman Reports, he defines journalism as "the imparting of verifiable facts to a general audience through a mass medium."

From that definition I draw the line that one of the key component of any definition of journalism is verifiable fact. So, whether it be in a newspaper or in a blog, the verifiable fact is crucial to the practice of journalism. I will say, it is not a journalism if a blogger, columnist or reporter assert something that not verified. We can verify something we got in the field by evidence or a second source. In that way, perhaps journalism is similar to the scientific method with its reliance on reproducible results.

Now, let's look some example how this standard can be applied. When a magazine reporter repurposes a press release without checking facts or talking to additional sources, that is not journalism. When a blogger interviews an author about their new book, that is journalism. When an opinion columnist manipulates facts in order to create a false impression, that is not. When a blogger searches the existing record of fact and discovers that a public figure's claim is untrue, that is journalism. When a reporter repeats a politician's assertions without verifying whether they are true, that is not.

As journalist, I also frequently disappointed by press coverage of current events. It happens all around the world including my country Indonesia. Too often, journalists unskeptically accept whatever "facts" are given to them by authorities without verifying that they are true. Many reporters in Indonesia write stories that include too many anonymous sources. It does not matter if sources are credible. But there are so many incidents that the sources are not credible and just tell the rumors. ( We have Tempo Magazine case and Laksamana Sukardi case on that matter. And I will write about it in different article)

So, I think we need to establish higher standards from those who practice journalism, whether they write for a newspaper or on a blog. Bloggers, as experienced critical readers, are in a perfect position to advocate for more comprehensive, nuanced coverage of events.

Definition of Journalist

I agree with the definition that a journalist is a person who practices journalism; that is, a journalist creates reports as a profession for broadcast or publication in mass media such as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, documentary film, and the Internet. "Journalists" also included related occupations, such as editors and visual journalists.

Many people consider the term journalist interchangeable with reporter, but this is imprecise, as it ignores many other types of journalists, including columnists, leader writers, photographers, editorial designers, sub editors (British) or copy editors (American) and so on. Many journalists write for print periodicals, but some also write books or publish on the Internet. Broadcast journalists appear on radio or television. Some journalists do a bit of everything.

Regardless of medium, the term journalist now carries a connotation or expectation of professionalism in reporting, with consideration for truth and ethics. This expectation is not always met, as journalists may publicly or privately take sides, or take some cash give from their source.

This case often happen in Indonesia. A survey by the Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) said that they got less than Rp 500,000 as a basic monthly salary. Today's basic salary for workers in Jakarta is set at around Rp 670,000.

According to a survey by a U.S.-based consultant in 2003, the salary of fresh university graduates in other professions ranges from Rp 2 million to Rp 3 million in Jakarta. That the absence of a standard salary for journalists here has given rise to "envelop journalists," who compromise their profession with a cash "gift" from their sources.

Surely, it is ironic, that many Indonesian journalists, who often risk their lives to tell the public about corruption or collusion in society are not adequately paid. Moreover, journalist also frequently seen as members of the fourth estate of democracy. They are the mouthpiece of the voiceless and powerless in exercising checks and balances on the government and other high state institutions and apparatus.

So, it is important for journalist to understand well what is the main function of this profession. This related to the training for journalist before they practice journalism.

Rabu, Oktober 06, 2004

The First Censoric Phone From Siemens

CX 70, Ponsel Sensor Pertama dari Siemens

Siemens mobile, grup komunikasi bergerak di Siemens, mempersembahkan handset seluler pertamanya yang dilengkapi dengan sensor sentuhan, tekanan dan getaran. Sensor-sensor ini, yang diintegrasikan ke cover CX70, memberi reaksi pada elusan menenangkan atau gerakan penuh amarah – dan mentransfer mood penggunanya ke avatar yang dapat dikirim via MMS. Sementara itu, generasi berikutnya dari sensor mini-chip ini sedang dalam pengembangan di laboratorium penelitian Siemens: Sensor gas yang dapat memberikan peringatan dini bila tingkat ozon telah mencapai ambang berbahaya, apabila kadar serbuk pollen dapat mengganggu penderita alergi atau apabila ada bahaya kebakaran yang mengancam.

Hanya berukuran satu millimeter persegi, sensor ini hampir tak terlihat secara kasat mata: Sensor gas field-effect transistor (FET) ini boleh jadi berukuran sangat kecil, tapi mereka dapat memberikan peringatan yang sangat akurat dan hampir tidak menggunakan listrik – suatu keunggulan yang memungkinkan sensor ini secara khusus diterapkan pada telepon selular. Chip berbasis teknologi nano ini dapat diandalkan untuk mendeteksi jumlah gas terkecil dengan mengukur keberadaan voltase listrik yang dihasilkan ketika suatu gas berkumpul pada bagian penerima di permukaan sensor – dan dengan segera akan memberikan peringatan.

Para peneliti di Siemens mobile menyatakan sensor-sensor ini dapat dipergunakan untuk berbagai aplikasi di masa depan. Diintegrasikan ke dalam sebuah handset ponsel, alat pencium kecil ini dapat mengubah telepon seluler menjadi telepon dengan berbagai kamampuan: Menjadi alat peramal cuaca, misalnya, yang dapat mengukur tekanan atmosfir dan memberitahukan kepada atlet apakah cuaca akan cerah dalam beberapa jam ke depan – atau turun hujan. Di hari-hari tertentu ketika tingkat ozon sangat tinggi, telepon seluler tersebut akan memberikan peringatan bahaya jika berlatih fisik secara berlebihan. Chip yang sangat kecil ini juga dapat memberikan peringatan akan adanya bahaya kebakaran yang mengancam atau mengidentifikasi adanya kebocoran gas alam yang memiliki potensi ledakan tinggi.

The First Time

Rabu pagi yang dingin di Stockholm. Dan aku harus mengisi blogspot pertamaku. Weks sulit juga ternyata. Aku bingung mau nulis apa neh.... so.. salam kenal saja deh....

O, ya kubuat blog ini untuk memenuhi tugas dari Mark Comerford dosen di JMK Universitas Stockholm. Kebetulan aku sedang ikut training di Stockholm University selama Oktober 2004 ini. Yup.. jadilah ini my first blog. Meski sudah lama seh pengen buat blog. Seingatku seh sejak 2 tahun lalu. Akhirnya kesampaian juga. Meski harus sampai di sini untuk buat blog-nya....

OK, i think it is enough for the first time.

peace.