A Better World without Piracy?

Why are movies the main topic in the anti-piracy world? It's as if piracy never touch anything else other than movies, whereas the piracy world would take on everything with a price tag. I guess this is because the most influential inhabitants -in terms of money-in the anti-piracy world were movie producers.

In any case, the anti-piracy act was based on good cause. They don't want the Internet to be polluted by any kind of illegal materials. Isn't it good to have everything legal? Legal movies, legal mp3s, legal games, legal software, legal e-books, you name it. However, cleaning up was not exactly the issue here.

It was more likely about profit. Money talks, everything else walks. The reason for the big wave of anti-piracy was a huge amount of money rolled-out to take on as many piracy in hopes of recovering lost profit taken by the pirates. Anti-piracy costs a lot and I don't think any inhabitants of the anti-piracy world would take the risk of loosing more money if they didn't expect higher return rate.

Plenty of actions were taken on the anti-piracy side. Torrent sites were taken down, alliances were formed with ISPs (Internet Service Providers) to ban users from accessing illegal materials, and individuals distributing illegal materials were put behind bars. Does if have any effect on the piracy world? Maybe. It's just that the effects were insignificant. New torrent sites might easily go live. How many ISPs are willing to join the alliance? How many individuals are they willing to take on trial? The work of anti-piracy is exhausting. Moreover, I seriously think it's futile.

I'm not shutting my door to anti-piracy. As I mention above, it would be better to consume legal stuff. It's just that staying legal is expensive. Some people might not be able to keep it up. When this happens, these people might turn into something cheaper but legal or straight to illegal. Actually, the risk to go for something illegal was higher because I believe there exist a common mindset that cheaper means less functional.

Nevertheless, the battle continues. Will anti-pirates outsmart piracy? I don't really know. One thing for sure, no matter how much effort the anti-piracy world has put to date, the world of piracy has been able to remain intact.

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* Image grabbed from http://www.homepagedaily.com/

The End of Piracy

Mininova has long had a policy to remove torrents pointing to illegal materials based on requests. The Pirate Bay -the new one- has officially announced their first step for their legal content distribution campaign by implementing a fee-based content distribution system. Google also removes any links pointing to illegal materials on their search result based on requests.

All that was just a fraction of anti-piracy actions to suppress the illegal distribution of copyrighted material. However, are these actions justifies the statement that piracy will finally meet its end? For some people, this might be a rhetorical question. We can easily find discussions -or should I say an endless debate- regarding this matter on the Internet. Some people said YES, some people said NO. Currently, I'm on the side saying NO.

When sites like The Pirate Bay or Mininova starts making limitations such as the ones I mention above, I believe most of their loyal users would go out and find another similar-yet-not-so-annoying websites. At the very least, all these users might end up using Google Search instead. Why don't you go and try a Google-based Torrent Search Engine for a test-ride.

If you ask me, this game of Tom and Jerry will lasts forever. Copyright owners (Tom) will chase down every single THING -I'm open for possibilities- that's illegally distributing their materials. Next thing you know, another Jerry popped-out of nowhere. Just like the original Tom and Jerry, the chase will never stop.

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* Image grabbed from http://www.homepagedaily.com/

Bee Movie

First of all, the title is Bee Movie. Why is it have to be [something] Movie, anyway? First time I heard the title Bee Movie, my mind went ahead and think it was gonna be something like Scary Movie, Disaster Movie, or the like. I don't really like those types of movies.

Fortunately, unlike Scary Movie or Disaster Movie, this one is quite worth the watch. It was produced in 2007, so I assume most people would know that this is an animated movie telling the story of a teenage bee wanting to escape the 27-million-year-old traditional bee life.

This movie is somewhat funny. It was supposed to be funny but the puns (or as they call it "bee jokes") were too long. I guess the bees in bee movies are amazingly poetic -not always in a good way.

That being said, we can always enjoy this movie with our family; especially with our children. We can have our children learn how bees have a significant effect in the balance of nature. The best thing about it is that our children can have a good laugh during their lesson; that is if they understand English or able to read subtitles fast enough.

There's only one thing that doesn't make sense in this movie. If a TALKING BEE would actually sue major food production companies for taking away the honey from bees, reality would definitely expose more on the TALKING instead of the suing.

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* Image grabbed from http://markkaske.blogspot.com/

Parenting - Year 2

As of yesterday, Raito and Aidan was officially alive for 365 days in a row. That means today is the first day towards the second year of my hardships parenting life. Today should be the day where I learn past parenting mistakes so that I will be able to prevent them from happening in the future. However, this post was not meant to share such things. In this post, I feel like sharing the growth progress of Raito and Aidan.

Around a month ago, I wrote similar stuff about Raito and Aidan. In this post, I'll just share some updates and maybe more details on how those twins grew up. It might be interesting if we look at the fact that they are twins.

I've mentioned earlier in this blog that Raito and Aidan are Fraternal Twins. They are far from identical. Even strangers could tell them apart in no time. Have a look at their pictures below. Raito is the one on the left. Both pictures were taken around a month after they were born.

If, for instance, both of them got separated before they understand that they're brothers and then they were reunited more than a decade in the future, I'm sure they won't notice that they are twins. As they grow older, it is to be expected that they become less and less look like each other.

Back to their growth progress, both of them actually differs from one another. I'll start with the basic, that is weight and height. Aidan is a little taller, bigger, and heavier than Raito. Last time they were checked, Aidan left Raito by 0.9 kg. Why such a big gap? They did share the same food and milk. They even had the exact same eating schedule. The reason for such a big gap remains a mystery. All that really matters is that both of them are healthy.

Being smaller does not necessarily grows slower. Raito was the first to be able to make sounds. At that time, it felt like Raito was able to respond when someone talks to him. If I remember correctly, Raito was able to smile back at other people. Aidan, on the other hand, remained silent all the while giving a gloomy expression. Fortunately, as of today, both of them are considerably responsive.

Although Aidan is a little late in terms of speaking, he is able to went ahead of Raito in terms of movement. Aidan was first to be able to roll, crawl, or walk although Raito was not that far behind. As of today, Aidan is able to walk without any help while Raito still needs someone to hold him while he walk.

However, even though Aidan is more capable in moving his body, I noticed that Raito was much better in holding objects in his hand. Raito had quite a good grip when he's holding something. That same something would be easier to slip away in Aidan's hand. One of the funny thing regarding this matter is that Aidan had difficulties in controlling his throw. When Aidan is trying to throw something, that something might end up thrown backward or sometimes upward and then went back down to hit Aidan's head. It was hilarious.

That's all I can share for now. I might share more about this in the future. One thing is for sure, twins does not necessarily grow in similar speed or phase. Though this might be true for identical twins, all twins basically have their own life apart from their twin brothers or sisters. They might have some kind of special bond between each other, but that does not mean they MUST be considered as one.

This post was not meant to compare Raito and Aidan. This post was actually written to prove the point that twins shouldn't always be considered as the same human beings between one and another. This might not be easy for identical twins, but I stand by my opinion that twins should be treated as single individuals without always being attached to their twin brothers or sisters.

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Online Pictures of Raito and Aidan:
My Baby Twins
Double Team
Raito Aidan - Semester I
Raito Aidan - Semester II
Random Raito Aidan

Specra, BingTweets, Goofram

Searching through multiple search engine only in a single-click is nothing new. I've seen plenty of websites offering such service. Those websites, as far as I know, does not provide a search engine by itself. They basically relied on other search engines such as Google Search, Yahoo Search, MSN Search, or Live Search.

In my opinion, the idea was quite old that it might explain why there isn't so many of them popping out these days. I never really like using multiple search engines at once. I have to admit that I never got a full grasp of what these services are good for. Hence I always use a single dedicated search engine to handle my search keywords -yes, it's Google.

That being said, I have below some snapshots of websites offering multiple search. While I'm still not interested in using these services, others might find them very useful.

Dogpile [ www.dogpile.com ]

MetaCrawler [ www.metacrawler.com ]

Specra [ www.specra.com ]

BingTweets [ www.bingtweets.com ]

Goofram [ www.goofram.com ]

Killerinfo [ www.killerinfo.com ]

Putting six snapshots should be plenty of KBytes to download so I won't go any further. I'm sure there're more multiple search engine services like the ones I grab above. If you're really that curious then you know where to search.

Kegagalan Pendidikan Umum

Pola pendidikan yang lumrah diterapkan pada generasi muda saat ini adalah pola pendidikan umum yang mencakup SD (Sekolah Dasar), SLTP (Sekolah Lanjutan Tingkat Pertama), dan SLTA (Sekolah Lanjutan Tingkat Atas). Pendidikan umum ini diarahkan untuk menyiapkan generasi muda yang tidak buta huruf dan terdidik.

Dengan adanya pola pendidikan umum seperti ini, kita bisa mengharapkan adanya arahan dan pedoman yang jelas dalam konteks pengembangan pendidikan. Setiap pelajar yang diikutkan dalam pola pendidikan umum tersebut dapat mengikuti arahan yang diberikan oleh para pengajar yang bertanggung jawab. Dengan adanya pola pendidikan umum ini, kita dapat memiliki tolok ukur perkembangan pendidikan generasi muda.

Selain itu pola pendidikan umum ini juga memiliki peran yang signifikan dalam membantu para orang tua dalam mendidik anak-anak mereka. Apalagi untuk para orang tua yang kesulitan meluangkan waktu untuk anak-anaknya, misalnya karena bekerja, tentu sangat terbantu dengan adanya pola pendidikan umum ini.

Saya yakin masih ada manfaat lain dari pola pendidikan umum yang berjalan saat ini. Akan tetapi yang ingin saya ungkapkan lewat tulisan ini adalah sisi negatifnya. Saya melihat masih banyak "kesalahan" yang dapat diperbaiki atau ditingkatkan pada pola pendidikan umum dalam usahanya mencetak generasi muda terdidik.

Kesalahan pertama pada pola pendidikan umum yang saya perhatikan sampai saat ini adalah kurang memicu inisiatif dan inovasi dari para pelajar. Pendidikan umum kerap menaruh perhatiannya pada teori dan hapalan. Para pelajar dituntut untuk mengetahui sesuatu (menghapal teori) tanpa dipicu untuk mengembangkan pengetahuan mereka. Minat dan rasa ingin tahu para pelajar kurang mendapatkan rangsangan. Yang lebih mengenaskan lagi adalah saat minat dan rasa ingin tahu itu timbul, para pengajar tidak dapat mengarahkannya dengan baik.

Kesalahan kedua pada pola pendidikan adalah kurang melibatkan orang tua. Pendidikan umum sering hanya berputar di sekitar pengajar dan pelajar. Padahal interaksi antara pengajar dan pelajar seringkali dibatasi oleh ruang kelas atau paling jauh gerbang sekolah. Bagaimana tindak lanjut pendidikan saat para pelajar sudah kembali ke rumah masing-masing? Kurang atau bahkan tidak ada tindak lanjut sama sekali. Pola pendidikan umum secara tidak langsung mengajarkan orang tua untuk mengandalkan orang lain (yaitu para pengajar) dalam mendidik anak-anak mereka. Hal ini sering berujung pada sikap orang tua yang sering lepas tangan dan hanya ingin melihat hasil.

Kesalahan ketiga pada pola pendidikan umum adalah kurang menjelaskan tujuan belajar. Setahu saya tujuan pembelajaran dicantumkan dalam kurikulum masing-masing mata pelajaran. Sayangnya tujuan pembelajaran ini belum tentu diterapkan oleh para pengajar. Kalaupun memang diterapkan, para pengajar tidak pernah beranjak lebih jauh dari tujuan pembelajaran menjadi tujuan belajar. Misalnya mata pelajaran Biologi menuntut seorang pelajar memahami tentang A, B, dan C. Hal ini mungkin lumrah untuk diterapkan oleh para pengajar. Akan tetapi para pengajar kerap tidak berlanjut dengan menjelaskan apa tujuan dari memahami A, B, dan C itu.

Kesalahan keempat pada pola pendidikan umum adalah kurang memperhatikan variasi kecerdasan yang dimiliki para pelajar. Teori kecerdasan ganda bukanlah hal yang baru. Sayangnya pola pendidikan umum kurang memberikan perhatian pada hal ini. Akhirnya metode pengajaran yang diterapkan masih mengandalkan metode konvensional. Definisi kecerdasan seorang pelajar pun lebih diutamakan pada kecerdasan logika dan kemampuan berhitung anak.

Empat kesalahan yang saya ungkapkan di atas mungkin tidak dapat memberikan gambaran komprehensif mengenai kekurangan yang ada pada pola pendidikan umum. Walaupun begitu, saya berharap empat kesalahan di atas dapat menyadarkan kita mengenai dampak negatif yang mungkin timbul dari pola pendidikan umum dalam masyarakat kita.

Ada banyak generasi muda yang menjadi pintar lewat pola pendidikan umum. Sayangnya potensi mereka sering tidak tersalurkan karena mereka tidak terbiasa mengembangkan minat dan rasa ingin tahu mereka. Mereka dapat diibaratkan seperti orang yang tahu berbagai rumus matematika namun tidak dapat mengembangkannya untuk menemukan persamaan-persamaan lain.

Bagi generasi muda yang tidak terlihat pintar lewat pola pendidikan umum, semakin kecil kemungkinan penyaluran potensi yang mereka miliki. Rendahnya penghargaan terhadap kecerdasan lain selain kecerdasan logika atau matematika jelas memberikan pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap penyaluran potensi ini.

Minimnya keterlibatan orang tua menambah pelik pengembangan potensi seorang anak. Orang tua pun terpengaruh dengan cara pandang terhadap kecerdasan anak secara umum sehingga anak yang memiliki kecerdasan logika atau matematika yang rendah langsung dicap bodoh. Keterlibatan orang tua dalam menggali potensi anak menjadi krusial dalam hal ini. Sayangnya pola pendidikan umum kerap tidak memungkinkan keterlibatan yang signifikan dari orang tua masing-masing pelajar.

Itu hanya sebagian kecil dari dampak negatif yang mungkin timbul lewat penerapan pola pendidikan umum. Walaupun pendidikan umum membawa banyak manfaat, saya yakin hasilnya akan jauh lebih optimal seandainya diberikan perhatian yang memadai terhadap hal-hal yang saya ungkapkan di atas.

Referensi:

• Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. Multiple Intelligences. http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm; diakses tanggal 14 Juli 2009.
• Goodrell Traditional Plus Middle School. http://www.dmps.k12.ia.us/schools/2Goodrell/MI.htm; diakses tanggal 14 Juli 2009.

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* Gambar diambil dari http://www.free-clipart-pictures.net/ dan http://www.hscripts.com/

Versi PDF: http://www.4shared.com/file/117981741/73741438/KegagalanPendidikanUmum.html

Sekolah Itu Membosankan

Hari ini adalah hari pertama tahun ajaran baru untuk banyak sekolah. Saya mengetahui hal ini karena kedua keponakan saya sedang "menangis sedih" karena harus masuk sekolah lagi. Mereka memilih libur lebih lama lagi ketimbang harus menghabiskan waktu belajar di sekolah mereka.

Sepertinya mereka menganggap sekolah itu membosankan. Bagian yang menyenangkan dari sekolah adalah waktu olahraga, waktu istirahat, dan waktu pulang. Bagian yang tidak menyenangkan adalah saat belajar di dalam kelas, menghapal, mengerjakan tugas, dan mengerjakan PR (pekerjaan rumah).

Mereka tidak punya motivasi untuk masuk sekolah. Mereka terpaksa masuk sekolah karena berbagai alasan. Mungkin karena takut dimarahi orang tua, mungkin karena takut nilai mereka jelek, mungkin karena takut dicap bodoh, atau berbagai alasan lainnya.

Keterpaksaan bukan sumber motivasi yang baik. Keengganan mereka untuk sekolah berujung pada keengganan mereka untuk belajar. Persepsi mereka bahwa sekolah itu membosankan pada akhirnya juga membuat mereka berpikir bahwa belajar itu membosankan.

Kalau saya berkaca dari pengalaman saya sendiri, 3 (tiga) jenjang sekolah -dasar, menengah, atas- tidak pernah meninggalkan kesan yang signifikan. Motivasi terbaik saya untuk belajar adalah untuk mendapatkan nilai yang bagus. Sayangnya motivasi mendapatkan nilai yang bagus kerap tidak disertai alasan yang signifikan. Alasan yang paling umum adalah agar nilai rapor tidak ada yang berwarna merah.

Belajar di sekolah tidak memiliki tujuan besar. Saya sekolah karena pada dasarnya semua orang seumur saya pun sekolah. Saya tidak melihat sesuatu yang signifikan yang saya bisa capai dengan bersekolah. Hal ini terus berlangsung mulai dari tingkat sd (Sekolah Dasar), SMP (Sekolah Menengah Pertama) sampai SMA (Sekolah Menengah Atas).

Ada kalanya saya menyayangkan semua itu karena saya merasakan juga dampaknya saat duduk di bangku kuliah. Alasan saya kuliah sepertinya lebih cenderung karena kekhawatiran tidak akan mendapatkan pekerjaan yang layak dengan ijazah SMA.

Pola belajar di bangku kuliah pun lebih sering karena saya mengejar nilai. Ibarat kata usaha yang saya keluarkan untuk belajar pada dasarnya untuk menjaga agar saya tidak perlu mengulang sebuah mata kuliah. Tujuan akhirnya adalah mengejar IPK (Indeks Prestasi Kumulatif) yang memuaskan tanpa perlu mengulang satu mata kuliah pun.

Pengalaman saya yang paling berharga di bangku kuliah justru saat saya melakukan kerja praktek. Pada kerja praktek itu saya diminta membuatkan sebuah aplikasi komputer sederhana. Di sini saya baru menyadari betapa pentingnya keahlian saya dan betapa minimnya ilmu yang saya miliki. Padahal pada saat itu saya sudah kuliah lebih dari 2 (dua) tahun.

Saya sering menyayangkan betapa banyaknya waktu yang terbuang untuk belajar tanpa tujuan/arahan yang jelas. 72 bulan di SD, 36 bulan di SMP, 36 bulan di SMA, dan 54 bulan di bangku kuliah. Seandainya saya memanfaatkan 198 bulan itu untuk belajar secara terarah, mungkin wawasan dan kemampuan yang saat ini saya miliki akan jauh lebih terasah. Sangat disayangkan bila waktu yang seharusnya kita manfaatkan untuk mengasah kemampuan justru kita gunakan untuk belajar dari awal.

Walaupun begitu, faktanya tidak semua orang mengalami apa yang saya alami. Tidak sedikit teman sekolah atau teman kuliah yang mencapai hasil belajar yang jauh lebih baik dari yang saya harapkan. Tidak sedikit teman sekolah atau teman kuliah yang dapat memaksimalkan hasil belajar mereka. Tidak sedikit teman sekolah atau teman kuliah yang mendapat manfaat maksimal dari tempat-tempat pendidikan.

Yang jelas semua yang saya paparkan di atas adalah hasil pengalaman pribadi. Walaupun tidak semua orang mengalami hal yang sama, bukan tidak mungkin tidak sedikit orang yang MEMANG mengalami hal yang sama. Bisa jadi tidak sedikit orang yang menyesali hal yang sama setelah mereka lulus kuliah dan bekerja seperti saya.

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* Gambar diambil dari http://www.freeschoolclipart.com/

Twitter-like Chat Interface

If you don't know Twitter, then you should go and have a look at www.twitter.com. Twitter is a free service that lets user send their at-most-140-characters status updates to the Internet. Currently it has grown to more than just status updates. Twitter now has their share in forming current trends -or so they say.

At the time I'm writing this post, I just started using Twitter. At first I simply used it to broadcast my status. Then I grab myself a Twitter widget and put it in my blog so I can have a dynamic status updates in my blog. Lame, huh? :)

It was not long before I met kriwil and rinaldirei at Twitter. I knew them when I was in college. I never expected to meet them at Twitter though. A couple of days later, I found out that kriwil and rinaldirei was actually very talkative. It seems both of them often got involved in a conversation through Twitter. I don't remember when but those two drew my attention and before I knew it I'm already joining their conversation.

I enjoyed exchanging updates with kriwil and rinaldirei. Twitter has a limit of 140 characters for a single message -that's less than the common limit for an SMS- so that it's normal that we would frequently send new messages. There are times when we got so intense that it feels like I'm chatting with them.

So this morning kriwil mentioned something related to Twitter and chat. He said it would be great to have a chat interface like Twitter where we won't need new windows or window tabs for multiple conversations. The idea was interesting but what's the different with a typical conference? It was morning and it seems my brain was working kinda slow. :)

What kriwil wanted to say, from my point of view, was something like message-pooling. Every message that was sent to us in a chat session would show up in one window. The same window would obviously shows the message that we sent to others in the same session.

Confusing, huh? An example then.

Let's say A is having a chat with B. At the same time A is also chatting with C. In a typical instant messaging client, A would definitely have two chat windows or at least two chat window tabs.

With kriwil idea, A won't need two windows or windows tabs. A would only need one windows where he can see messages between him and B along with messages between him and C. This is what I call Twitter-like Chat Interface because this is how Twitter treats messages for each user.

What's the difference between this method and a typical conference? This method only allows B and C to see their own messages and messages they receive from A. B can't see messages sent between A and C. The same thing goes for C where he can't see messages sent between A dan B. In a typical conference, messages were sent to every single participant. So in a conference, A, B, and C could see the same messages.

At this point you might ask what would be the benefit of having such a Twitter-like interface?

kriwil mentioned mobile Internet users. In mobile phones, screen size are limited. Opening more than two windows or window tabs was like opening two different application. I agree to this argument because I've experienced this myself. It was annoying to chat with more than one people at the same time through my mobile.

That's why I think kriwil's idea was good -I don't wanna exaggerate and call it brilliant. I would love it if my mobile messenger client would only need one single interface to show all my chat sessions.

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Note: I'm sure it's easier to explain with pictures, but my resources are limited.

Money Game (Premanisme) Berkedok Bisnis Internet

Bisnis "Sederhana" yang menjamur di berbagai penjuru Internet sepertinya hanya sebuah kedok untuk metode penggandaan uang yang sebelumnya sempat ramai dijalankan dalam sistem MLM (Multi Level Marketing). Bisnis Sederhana ini terlihat seperti menjual sebuah produk, tetapi pada kenyataannya metode usaha yang dijalankan pelaku bisnis tersebut tidak jauh berbeda dengan metode penggandaan uang konvensional.

Saya coba memaparkannya melalui sebuah contoh. Pada gambar di atas saya berikan contoh hirarki sederhana. Gambar di atas akan membantu saya memaparkan contoh yang akan saya berikan, karena salah satu pilar metode penggandaan uang itu ada pada hirarki yang ada dalam sistemnya.

Misalkan hidup seorang A yang mengaku sebagai pelaku bisnis Internet. Melalui websitenya jualjualkeladi.com, A menjual sebuah e-book (buku dalam bentuk digital) yang disebutkan berisi rahasia bisnis sederhana di Internet yang menghasilkan puluhan juta per bulan.

Tak selang berapa lama -karena bisnis Internet ini memang sedang digemari- B membeli e-book yang ditawarkan A dengan harga Rp. 100.000. B segera membaca isi e-book tersebut dan berakhir pada kesimpulan bahwa e-book itu pada dasarnya mengajarkan dia cara-cara untuk menjual kembali e-book yang dibelinya dari A. Syaratnya adalah B menggunakan sistem yang sudah disiapkan oleh A. Istilah yang umum saat ini adalah B menjadi reseller (penjual kembali) dari A. Di lain kesempatan C juga membeli e-book A dan mencapai kesimpulan yang sama dengan B.

Di sini B dan C sudah menjadi reseller A. Kita asumsikan 10% dari setiap penjualan yang dilakukan oleh B dan C akan diberikan kepada A. Jadi selain mendapat penghasilan dari pembeli langsung, A juga mendapatkan penghasilan dari hasil penjualan B dan C.

D dan E membeli dari B. B mendapat 10% bagian dari setiap penjualan yang dilakukan oleh D dan E. Sementara F dan G membeli dari C. Untuk setiap penjualan yang dilakukan oleh F dan G, C mendapatkan bagian 10%. Sama seperti A, B dan C juga mendapat bagian penjualan yang dilakukan oleh reseller mereka.

Sayangnya pembagian hasil penjualan tidak berhenti di situ saja. Kenyataannya A juga mendapatkan 7% dari hasil penjualan yang dilakukan D, E, F, dan G. Jadi untuk A dapat dikatakan bahwa dia akan mendapatkan 100% hasil penjualan sendiri, 10% hasil penjualan B dan C (reseller tingkat 1), serta 7% dari penjualan D, E, F, dan G (reseller tingkat 2). B dan C hanya perlu menunggu D, E, F, atau G mendapatkan pembeli langsung agar mereka juga bisa ikut mendapatkan bagian 7% dari reseller tingkat 2 seperti A.

Sampai sini saya berharap contoh di atas sudah cukup jelas. Pada dasarnya contoh di atas adalah bentuk sangat sederhana dari metode penggandaan uang yang umum digunakan. Jumlah tingkatan dalam hirarki, pembagian hasil, dan berbagai ketentuan lain tentu jauh lebih kompleks ketimbang contoh di atas.

Yang ingin saya tunjukan di sini sebenarnya hanya metode penggandaan uang saja. Kita kembali ke contoh di atas. Pada dasarnya B dan C itu membayar bukan untuk membeli sebuah produk. B dan C itu membayar untuk masuk ke dalam sistem yang sudah disiapkan oleh A. Orang-orang yang membeli ke B dan C juga pada dasarnya membayar untuk masuk ke dalam sistem tersebut.

Berapa keuntungan yang didapatkan?

Uang yang diterima oleh penjual akhirnya ibarat uang pendaftaran dari pembeli. Keuntungan yang sebenarnya bukan dari penjualan langsung tapi justru dari penjualan yang dilakukan oleh reseller-reseller yang dimiliki seorang penjual. Dengan jumlah reseller yang memadai, seorang penjual mungkin tidak perlu pusing lagi berjualan dan hanya mengandalkan pembagian hasil penjualan dari reseller-reseller miliknya.

Siapa yang paling diuntungkan dengan sistem tersebut?

Untuk menentukan siapa yang paling diuntungkan pada dasarnya tergantung metode pembagian hasil yang dilakukan. Satu hal yang pasti pihak yang paling dirugikan adalah pihak yang berada di bagian paling bawah hirarki seperti D, E, F, dan G pada contoh di atas. Mereka sudah mengeluarkan uang untuk masuk ke dalam sistem namun mereka harus pontang-panting mencari pembeli. Pekerjaan mereka akan menjadi lebih mudah hanya bila ada pembeli yang mau menjadi reseller mereka. Semakin tinggi posisi seseorang dalam hirarki, semakin sedikit penjualan yang perlu mereka lakukan dan semakin banyak keuntungan yang diraup.

Premanisme?

Melihat metode pengumpulan uang yang digunakan di atas, saya cenderung mengibaratkan sistem ini dengan premanisme. Saya melihat penyerahan uang dari pembeli kepada penjual di sini ibarat setoran preman. Dalam hal ini, penjual yang menjadi premannya. Selanjutnya sebagian dari setoran ini akan disetorkan kepada bos atau preman yang lebih berkuasa. Selanjutnya setoran akan dilanjutkan kepada oknum-oknum pihak berwajib yang tidak bertanggung jawab. Oknum-oknum tersebut pun akan menyetor kepada bos atau oknum lain yang lebih berkuasa.

Bukankah ini bisnis?

Saya tidak akan mendebat orang-orang yang menganggap sistem seperti ini sebagai bisnis, tapi saya sendiri tidak pernah menganggap ini sebagai sebuah bentuk usaha. Saya berpegang pada pendapat bahwa ini adalah permainan uang dan tetap mengibaratkan ini sebagai premanisme dengan setoran-setorannya. Saya juga tidak melihat adanya pertukaran barang yang jelas antara penjual dan pembeli dalam transaksi yang terjadi. Secara keseluruhan saya tidak menganggap ini bisnis.

Apakah cara ini salah?

Keputusan mengenai salah atau tidak salah cara mencari uang seperti ini ada pada orang-orang yang melakukannya. Tulisan ini tidak bermaksud untuk menghakimi siapa pun. Saya hanya memaparkan pandangan saya mengenai salah satu bisnis sederhana di Internet yang sedang menjamur saat ini.

Walaupun begitu, saya tetap tidak setuju dengan cara mencari uang seperti ini. Cara ini tidak memiliki nilai tambah yang signifikan dalam perkembangan dunia usaha. Saya tidak melihat adanya inovasi produk-produk yang bermanfaat. Saya pun tidak melihat adanya perkembangan lapangan kerja yang nyata.

Tulisan terkait:
Benarkah Joko Susilo bukan penipu?
Bagaimana Cara Menghindari Penipuan Bisnis Internet?

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Versi PDF tulisan ini: http://www.4shared.com/file/116454404/b093b703/MoneyGamePremanismeBerkedokBisnisInternet.html

Bye Pirate Bay?

A shocking news -I'm exaggerating- came from the official blog of The Pirate Bay. One of the most visited sites on the Internet changed owner. Although the blog said "it might", the fact has been confirmed through numerous external sites. GGF (Global Gaming Factory X) was the one responsible behind the acquisition.

I read about it from Devils Workshop: GGF hopes to make Pirate Bay “Legal” for Free Music and Movies. The title implies that GGF had planned to make Pirate Bay legal. How? I don't really know.

My best bet was that GGF will have something like Mininova's Content Distribution service where people could distribute legal -as in No Copyright Infringement- files. Another alternative would be something like BitTorrent's DNA which enables users to stream videos (or any other content) using peer-to-peer protocol.

Back to the Pirate Bay. What will it offers in the future? What will happen to its modus operandi? Will it stay a Pirate in the hands GGF? Let's just wait and see. The fact is there are many similar sites to the Pirate Bay. If you can't rely on the Pirate Bay anymore then you can easily move on to another reliable torrent sites.

There's a good chance that GGF might add some valuable improvements to the Pirate Bay. Looking at their thoughts on the site then we might be able to see a more legal file sharing. I think t would be great to be able to share files without having to argue that its not stealing. Let's just wait and see what the future holds for the Pirate Bay.

AAA Indie: Another Open Source Paradigm?

Out of curiosity, I took my time to read about AAA Indie. AAA Indie is actually a game development paradigm initiated by Interstellar Marines developer, Zero Point Software. Although it sounds like a new development paradigm, I can't help comparing it with typical open source development paradigm.

Here's a quick and obviously dirty (also subjective) comparison between the two paradigm.

Based on what Zero Point Software team define on their website, AAA Indie is:

1. AAA Indie is AAA games done independently from publishers.
2. AAA Indie is the gamer and the developer, no one else.
3. AAA Indie is development with open doors, so gamers can track games in development.
4. AAA Indie lets the gamers 'vote' for the games they want to play - simply by expressing their interest.
5. AAA Indie is open for anyone with a dream a the will to deliver on that dream.

Why I think that it is basically not too different from typical opensource paradigm?

1. Opensource is anything but dependent.
2. Opensource is the user and the developer.
3. Opensource is open (otherwise it would be called Closedsource), so users should be able to keep up with the development progress.
4. Opensource lets users express their interest.
5. Opensource is -quoting from above- open for anyone with a dream a the will to deliver on that dream.

Both are similar, right?

Furthermore, AAA Indie was somewhat relying on user contributions, i.e. donations. With more users supporting the development, they will eventually form a community. All of these are also traits in typical opensource development. The only difference was that AAA Indie did not explicitly open an opportunity to let other developers join the development team.

Nevertheless, opensource or not, this new trend might be a good thing in the game development. Hopefully new AAA games would be available to many gamers without the need of game publishers meddling in and boost the pricing during the process.

Supposedly a Gmail Ninja Master

Official Gmail Blog: So, you want to be a Gmail ninja?

Silent please. I'm currently practicing a jutsu. :p

I finally had the time to take a quick peek at the Gmail Ninja tips. Since I'm curious as to what I would miss from the tips, I decided to take a good look at every single tips they had to offer. How far have I go? Here's a checklist of what I've achieved in the Gmail Ninja ways.

1. Kagebunshin no jutsu.
Like hell ... :p

OK. I'll be serious now. :)

WHITE BELT
1. Use stars to indicate a note is special.
Piece of cake!
2. Reply by chat.
Never bother to use this.
3. Organize your email with labels.
This is basic email management.
4. Clean up your inbox using "Move to" -- it works just like folders.
This is basically removing the "Inbox" label from a message. I don't need it.
5. Search your mail instead of sorting.
It's Google -of course I searched.
6. Archive messages to tidy up your inbox without deleting anything.
I prefer to let them all piled up in my inbox. :)
7. Import your email and contacts from your old address.
Unfortunately I'm still using my old Yahoo!Mail address.
8. Spice up your inbox with a theme.
The default theme should be enough.
9. Join forces to rid the world of spam.
Sure.

GREEN BELT
1. Talk face-to-face with video chat.
Not with a slow Internet connection like mine. :p
2. Use Tasks as a handy to-do list.
Ah ... Tasks IS a life savior.
3. Use filters to control the flow of incoming mail.
4. Highlight important emails using filters and colored labels.
Weren't these two supposed to be basic?
5. Send email from your phone.
My phone does not support Gmail. I wonder why.
6. Preview attachments without downloading them.
Another life savior.
7. Avoid email gaffes with Undo Send.
Let's just leave it to fate. :)
8. Tell your friends what you're up to with a status message.
Or in my case, a way to promote my blog.
9. Never forget an attachment again.
I've turned this feature on and never since then have I forgot any attachment. How fortunate. :)
10. Tell everyone when you'll be back with vacation responder.
I never need this.
11. Nothing says "I'm excited" like a bouncing happy face emoticon.
I guess I'll have a look at these new emoticons.

BLACK BELT
1. Get through your mail faster with keyboard shortcuts.
Only when using mouse is not faster.
2. Use search operators to find the exact message you're looking for.
I'm having a hard time memorizing the operators.
3. Filter your email with personalized email addresses.
This is new for me.
4. See which messages were sent right to you.
Totally forgot about this.
5. Make Gmail go where the internet doesn't.
Never thought about using an Offline Gmail before.
6. Quickly add multiple attachments to an email.
Ctrl+click to select. Done that. Forgot that.
7. Add "(EOM)" to the subject of one-liner messages.
I see.
8. Set up canned responses instead of typing the same reply over and over again.
But then it won't be personal. :p
9. Click less and watch more using YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and Yelp previews.
Yelp?
10. Use quick links to get anywhere in Gmail with one click.
I've used this in conjunction to the "is:unread" search operators to create an "All Unread" link. I even made a small tutorial about it in Bahasa Indonesia. Yes, I'm promoting. :)
11. Send and archive in one step.
Never felt like archiving any conversation.

GMAIL MASTER
1. Bring Google Calendar and Docs to Gmail.
I want to, but I don't need it.
2. Forget to sign out of a public computer? Sign out remotely.
I know about it, but fortunately I never forgot to sign out. This is mostly because I've always clear cookies, authenticated session, and other personal data whenever I close my browser ... I mean my Firefox.
3. Personalize your RSS feeds in web clips.
Yes, I've used this. Now I don't have any web clips showing in my inbox. Hurray!
4. Access your mail via https.
There's an option to turn it off. I'm surprised.
5. Search for superstars by name.
Don't wanna use it.
6. Use Gmail on your own domain.
Although I've used this before, but I'm sure this feature is mainly targeted to groups or organizations.

That's all there is to the Gmail Ninja ways. That is if no new tips are added. So to sum it up, being a Gmail Master would be easy as long as we need it. Never force your way in the Gmail Ninja ways if you don't think it's worth the effort.

However, I think some tips should be up there. Things like Right-side chat or Right-side labels. I think this is quite important for those people who have a long list of contacts or labels -I'm one of them. Then there's the Inbox preview. This is quite helpful for people with slow Internet connection -again I'm one of them.