4 Things that you need to know to open a business in Indonesia

Although the punishment for possession of marijuana, or drugs is very severe, there are a lot of loop holes in Indonesian government’s regulations of labour market. It is sad because it is text book model of - corrupted country‘s situation. However, due to the cost of the labour, and these following things below, it might add more benefit to your company.

1. There’s no labour union

You don’t have to worry about maternity leave, paying overtime, etc… There’s no law in paying overtime, maternity leave, bonus, etc. .. if an employee is disappointed , or gruntled, they usually find another job or just live with it.

2. You could discriminate who you’re hiring

It is legal to hire a staff based on their religion, race and skin colour, or just because you want to hire them.

3. You could give more tasks to your employees apart from their job descriptions

As a superordinate, you could even ask your employee NICELY off course... to pick up your dry cleaning. It is INPOLITE in Indonesia to reject your boss’s request, no matter how ridiculous they are.

4. You MUST have good connection with your local police head officer, head of tax collectors, and head of local village council, and any high rank government officials.

Although it is illegal to bribe, but when these “important people” might “understand” your situation, might decide to bend the rules, or look the other way.

By Suti Karjaya

McDonald’s Hamburgers: Almost Entirely Indestructible

McDonald’s Hamburgers: Almost Entirely Indestructible: "
Left: Day 1. Right: Day 137. Terrifying.

In the name of both art and science, New York photographer Sally Davies decided to buy a hamburger happy meal from McDonald's, set it out on a table, and take a picture of it every day until it disintegrated. That was 137 days ago and the end is nowhere near: The fries look as fresh as the day they came out of the fryer, and the burger — minus a little patty shrinkage — is virtually unchanged. Davies plans to keep going with the project until something happens, but she'd better be ready for a long haul: A twelve-year-old McD's burger surfaced a few years ago looking shockingly well-preserved. If you find yourself in possession of a fast-food hamburger and eating it (or trashing it) isn't an option, there's always the scientific method. Take a cue from University of Nottingham chemistry professor Martyn Poliakoff (who, we must note, has fantastic hair) and dunk the whole thing in a vat of hydrochloric acid, as demonstrated in the following video:

Why We're Scared of Happy Meals [Refinery 29]

Cheeseburger in Acid [Periodic Table of Videos]

Read more posts by Helen Rosner

Filed Under: fast food, hamburgers, mcdonald's, video feed, videos

"

Negara Terkaya Di Dunia Yang Luput Dari Perhatian Dunia

by Agung Mauliady on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 1:04pm

Banyak sebenarnya yang tidak tahu dimanakah negara terkaya di planet bumi ini, ada yang mengatakan Amerika, ada juga yang mengatakan negera-negara di timur tengah. tidak salah sebenarnya, contohnya amerika. negara super power itu memiliki tingkat kemajuan teknologi yang hanya bisa disaingi segelintir negara, contoh lain lagi adalah negara-negara di timur tengah.Rata-rata negara yang tertutup gurun pasir dan cuaca yang menyengat itu mengandung jutaan barrel minyak yang siap untuk diolah. tapi itu semua belum cukup untuk menyamai negara yang satu ini. bahkan Amerika, Negara-negara timur tengah serta Uni Eropa-pun tak mampu menyamainya.dan inilah negara terkaya di planet bumi yang luput dari perhatian warga bumi lainya. warga negara ini pastilah bangga jika mereka tahu. tapi sayangnya mereka tidak sadar "berdiri di atas berlian" langsung saja kita lihat profil negaranya.

Wooww... Apa yang terjadi? apakah penulis (saya) salah? tapi dengan tegas saya nyatakan bahwa negara itulah sebagai negara terkaya di dunia. tapi bukankah negara itu sedang dalam kondisi terpuruk? hutang dimana-mana, kemiskinan, korupsi yang meraja lela, kondisi moral bangsa yang kian menurun serta masalah-masalah lain yang sedang menyelimuti negara itu.baiklah mari kita urai semuanya satu persatu sehingga kita bisa melihat kekayaan negara ini sesungguhnya.

1. Negara ini punya pertambangan emas dan Tembaga terbesar dengan kualitas terbaik di dunia. namanya PT Freeport.

pertambangan ini telah mengasilkan 7,3 JUTA ton tembaga dan 724,7 JUTA ton emas. saya (penulis= suranegara) mencoba meng-Uangkan jumlah tersebut dengan harga per gram emas sekarang, saya anggap Rp. 300.000. dikali 724,7 JUTA ton emas/ 724.700.000.000.000 Gram dikali Rp 300.000. = Rp.217.410.000.000.000.000.000 Rupiah!!!!! ada yang bisa bantu saya cara baca nilai tersebut? itu hanya emas belum lagi tembaga serta bahan mineral lain-nya.lalu siapa yang mengelola pertambangan ini? bukan negara ini tapi AMERIKA! prosentasenya adalah 1% untuk negara pemilik tanah dan 99% untuk amerika sebagai negara yang memiliki teknologi untuk melakukan pertambangan disana. bahkan ketika emas dan tembaga disana mulai menipis ternyata dibawah lapisan emas dan tembaga tepatnya di kedalaman 400 meter ditemukan kandungan mineral yang harganya 100 kali lebih mahal dari pada emas, ya.. dialah URANIUM! bahan baku pembuatan bahan bakar nuklir itu ditemukan disana. belum jelas jumlah kandungan uranium yang ditemukan disana, tapi kabar terakhir yang beredar menurut para ahli kandungan uranium disana cukup untuk membuat pembangkit listrik Nuklir dengan tenaga yang dapat menerangi seluruh bumi hanya dengan kandungan uranium disana. Freeport banyak berjasa bagi segelintir pejabat negeri ini, para jenderal dan juga para politisi busuk, yang bisa menikmati hidup dengan bergelimang harta dengan memiskinkan bangsa ini. Mereka ini tidak lebih baik daripada seekor lintah!

2. Negara ini punya cadangan gas alam TERBESAR DI DUNIA! tepatnya di Blok Natuna.

Berapa kandungan gas di blok natuna? Blok Natuna D Alpha memiliki cadangan gas hingga 202 TRILIUN kaki kubik!! dan masih banyak Blok-Blok penghasil tambang dan minyak seperti Blok Cepu dll. DIKELOLA SIAPA? EXXON MOBIL! dibantu sama Pertamina.

3. Negara ini punya Hutan Tropis terbesar di dunia. hutan tropis ini memiliki luas 39.549.447 Hektar, dengan keanekaragaman hayati dan plasmanutfah terlengkap di dunia.

Letaknya di pulau sumatra, kalimantan dan sulawesi.sebenarnya jika negara ini menginginkan kiamat sangat mudah saja buatmereka. tebang saja semua pohon di hutan itu makan bumi pasti kiamat.karena bumi ini sangat tergantung sekali dengan hutan tropis ini untukmenjaga keseimbangan iklim karena hutan hujan amazon tak cukup kuatuntuk menyeimbangkan iklim bumi. dan sekarang mereka sedikit demi sedikitelah mengkancurkanya hanya untuk segelintir orang yang punya uanguntuk perkebunan dan lapangan Golf. sungguh sangat ironis sekali.

4. Negara ini punya Lautan terluas di dunia. dikelilingi dua samudra, yaitu Pasific dan Hindia hingga tidak heran memiliki jutaan spesies ikan yang tidak dimiliki negara lain.

Saking kaya-nya laut negara ini sampai-sampai negara lain pun ikut memanen ikan di lautan negara ini.

5. Negara ini punya jumlah penduduk terbesar ke 4 didunia.

Bengan jumlah penduduk segitu harusnya banyak orang-orang pintar yang telah dihasilkan negara ini, tapi pemerintah menelantarkan mereka-mereka. sebagai sifat manusia yang ingin bertahan hidup tentu saja mereka ingin di hargai. jalan lainya adalah keluar dari negara ini dan memilih membela negara lain yang bisa menganggap mereka dengan nilai yang pantas.

6. Negara ini memiliki tanah yang sangat subur. karena memiliki banyak gunung berapi yang aktif menjadikan tanah di negara ini sangat subur terlebih lagi negara ini dilintasi garis katulistiwa yang banyak terdapat sinar matahari dan hujan.

Jika dibandingkan dengan negara-negara timur tengah yang memiliki minyak yang sangat melimpah negara ini tentu saja jauh lebih kaya. coba kita semua bayangkan karena hasil mineral itu tak bisa diperbaharui dengan cepat. dan ketika seluruh minyak mereka telah habis maka mereka akan menjadi negara yang miskin karena mereka tidak memiliki tanah sesubur negara ini yang bisa ditanami apapun juga. bahkan tongkat kayu dan batu jadi tanaman.

7. Negara ini punya pemandangan yang sangat eksotis dan lagi-lagi tak ada negara yang bisa menyamainya. dari puncak gunung hingga ke dasar laut bisa kita temui di negara ini.

Negara ini sangat amat kaya sekali, tak ada bangsa atau negara lain sekaya INDONESIA! tapi apa yang terjadi?

dialah INDONESIA!

untuk EXXON MOBIL OIL, FREEPORT, SHELL, PETRONAS dan semua PEJABAT NEGARA yang menjual kekayaan Bangsa untuk keuntungan negara asing, diucapkan TERIMA KASIH.

Sebuah cerita mungkin akan bisa menggambarkan indonesia saat ini silahkan disimak.

Judulnya Ketika Tuhan Menciptakan IndonesiaSuatu hari Tuhan tersenyum puas melihat sebuah planet yang baru saja diciptakan- Nya. Malaikat pun bertanya, "Apa yang baru saja Engkau ciptakan, Tuhan?" "Lihatlah, Aku baru saja menciptakan sebuah planet biru yang bernama Bumi," kata Tuhan sambil menambahkan beberapa awan di atas daerah hutan hujan Amazon. Tuhan melanjutkan, "Ini akan menjadi planet yang luar biasa dari yang pernah Aku ciptakan. Di planet baru ini, segalanya akan terjadi secara seimbang".Lalu Tuhan menjelaskan kepada malaikat tentang Benua Eropa. Di Eropa sebelah utara, Tuhan menciptakan tanah yang penuh peluang dan menyenangkan seperti Inggris, Skotlandia dan Perancis. Tetapi di daerah itu, Tuhan juga menciptakan hawa dingin yang menusuk tulang.Di Eropa bagian selatan, Tuhan menciptakan masyarakat yang agak miskin, seperti Spanyol dan Portugal, tetapi banyak sinar matahari dan hangat serta pemandangan eksotis di Selat Gibraltar.Lalu malaikat menunjuk sebuah kepulauan sambil berseru, "Lalu daerah apakah itu Tuhan?" "O, itu," kata Tuhan, "itu Indonesia. Negara yang sangat kaya dan sangat cantik di planet bumi. Ada jutaan flora dan fauna yang telah Aku ciptakan di sana. Ada jutaan ikan segar di laut yang siap panen. Banyak sinar matahari dan hujan. Penduduknya Ku ciptakan ramah tamah,suka menolong dan berkebudayaan yang beraneka warna. Mereka pekerja keras, siap hidup sederhana dan bersahaja serta mencintai seni."Dengan terheran-heran, malaikat pun protes, "Lho, katanya tadi setiap negara akan diciptakan dengan keseimbangan. Kok Indonesia baik-baik semua. Lalu dimana letak keseimbangannya? "Tuhan pun menjawab dalam bahasa Inggris, "Wait, until you see the idiots I put in the government." (tunggu sampai Saya menaruh 'idiot2′ di pemerintahannya)

Dan untuk rasa terima kasih untuk Kemerdekaan Indonesia yang ke 65 tahun, kami pemuda-pemudi Indonesia memberikan penghargaan sebesar-besarnya kepada pejuang yang telah mengorbankan darah dan air mata mereka untuk bangsa yang tidak tahu terima kasih ini.

"Indonesia tanah air betadisana tempat lahir beta,dibuai dibesarkan bunda,Tempat berlindung di hari Tua...HIngga nanti menutup mata"

HIDUPLAH INDONESIA RAYA!!

The Progammer Hierarchy

from Hacker News

Saving dolphin in Taiji is cancelled due to an extreme violent nationalist group

Bulletin from the cause: "The Cove" - Save Japan Dolphins
Go to Cause

Posted By: Fonda Berosini
To: Members in "The Cove" - Save Japan Dolphins
UPDATE: Sept.1 Taiji events cancelled

For several important reasons, we have decided to cancel our plans in Taiji, Japan for Sept. 1st.

Most importantly, we received word that an extreme nationalist group known to be violent is set to confront us in Taiji. Our work in Japan has never been about physical confrontation. We believe we are making progress by bringing the truth to the people of Japan about the dolphin slaughter and about mercury-poisoned dolphin meat in markets. We will not play the game that the nationalist groups want us to play - we will not have it become “us versus them.”

"We" are now more than 1.6 million people from 153 countries, including Japan. The militant nationalist groups may gather as they like in Taiji; we will be elsewhere in Japan, talking to the media, explaining the problem, and making sure the public understands that we are not there to fight, but to work together.

I know some will be disappointed, but I really think we can do better elsewhere at this time. Please know that I’m not concerned about my own safety, however many supporters – some from this Cause – are planning to join us, and I won’t risk their well being.

We will not abandon the dolphins in trouble in Taiji and other fishing villages. In fact, moving the event will allow us to show the full scope of the problem. Several other communities along the coast of Japan have dolphin kills, although most have abandoned the drive fishery that was depicted in The Cove. And there is also the broader issue of captivity. We would like to discuss these issues in a neutral, conflict-fee environment.

Thanks for your understanding. To follow our next steps in Japan, I invite you to check my blog:

http://www.savejapandolphins.org/blog.html

Ric O'Barry
Campaign Director
Save Japan Dolphins
Earth Island Institute

TYWKIWDBI: How the Bible can be like a software license

TYWKIWDBI: How the Bible can be like a software license: "Via Cynical-C."

SEDIAKAN PAYUNG SEBELUM HUJAN --A Papuan’s view of Indonesia

Bangsa Indonesia yang masyarakatnya majemuk dan heterogen dalam berbagai sendi dan aspek kehidupan telah secara sadar meletakkan fondasi awal yang mantap, melekat erat dan bertekat membangun bangsa ini dalam kebhinekaan secara damai dan bertanggungjawab dan terus memelihara kebhinekaan itu sebagai suatu kekuatan nasional.

Biarkanlah Bunga-Bunga Itu Bermekaran Bersama Sama karena; jika sekuntum bunga yang mekar hanya dalam satu warna, dia akan merana kemudian layu dan sirnah ditelan sang waktu, tidak ada kesan istimewa yang menjadi buah bibir khalayak dan pergi tanpa kesan mendalam.

Apa sih istimewanya sekuntum bunga, yang tumbuh dan mekar di tengah kebhinekaan heterogenitas dan apa pula kekuatan perekat jika kian hari anak bangsa ini cenderung mengabaikan kekayaan kebhinekaan ini semata-mata dan sekedar untuk konsumsi politik yang kian usang dewasa ini.

Taman Bunga mengeluarkan aroma wawangian dari sumber berbeda namun menyatu dirayut dalam simphoni yang indah sebagai maha karya agung alam beraroma semerbak mewangi.

Cerita mengenai keindahan Bunga menjadi cerita klasik nan abadi, manakala divisualisasi dalam legenda Kisah Cinta yang semerbak mewangi, kemudian layu dan gugur pada siang harinya, dia mekar tanpa diminta, memberi kenikmatan secara suka rela, kemudian gugur dan pergi begitu saja tanpa pamit, dia datang dan pergi dibawah kuasa dan kehendak alam.

Kehidupan insan manusia tidak indentik dengan mekar, layu, dan gugurnya sekuntum bunga.

Keberadaan dan kehidupan manusia berkarya dalam kontrol manusia lain baik sebagai Pribadi juga sebagai anggota masyarakat. Perjalanan hidup manusia tidak melulu ditentukan oleh diri sendiri akan tetapi juga oleh model kehidupan lain di luar dirinya sehingga manusia diharapkan selalu solider terhadap sesama dan lingkungan dimana manusia berinteraksi sebagai mahkluk sosial .

Manusia dapat merajai kehidupan dunia ini, hanya karena adanya relasi hidup seimbang dengan manusia lain di sekitarnya. Jika tidak ada manusia lain disekitar dirinya, makluk apakah kita ini. Pengakuan dari manusia lain terhadap mahkluk diri kita menjadi issu sentral kemaanusiaan itu sendiri.

Dalam Budaya Tradisional suku Danni menyebut perbuatan baik yang dilakukan oleh orang lain diluar sukunya diterjemahkan dalam pernyataan tersebut dibawah ini;

“ Apuni Hagatarekhak Hagate “, yang jika diterjemahkan dalam Bahasa Indonesia secara bebas; ……. “ Dia melakukan sesuatu, sama seperti Manusia”, pernyataan seperti tersebut mengandung legitimasi bahwa “ hanya manusialah yang dapat berbuat baik atas manusia yang lain, akan tetapi jika manusia melakukan suatu perbuatan, tidak seperti layaknya dilakukan manusia, maka status “kemanusiaannya diragukan” bahkan dikucilkan dalam kelompok sosial hidup masyarakat.

Bagaimanakah nuansa kemanusiaan kita berbicara dalam diri kita sendiri, setelah menyaksikan kehidupan manusia lain dalam kungkungan keterbatasan dan kemiskinan absolut dalam relasi sosial dan bagaimanakah kita mamandang manusia lain dalam kacamata heterogenitas di era pembangunan nasional dewasa ini.

Dunia yang dulunya berpatok pada sekat otoritas kekuasaan absolut kini tidak bisa dipertahankan lagi seturut dan semakin gencarnya perkembangan ilmu dan teknologi yang secara langsung ataupun tidak langsung membuka semua ruang dan dinding otoritas wilayah kekuasaan negara tertentu. Tadinya kita dapat membela diri dengan alasan klasik otoritas dan harga diri bangsa, namun kini kita dipermalukan dunia yang semakin sempit karena perkembangan teknologi yang memiliki sifat transparans.

Bangsa Indonesia perlu instrospeksi dalam mensikapi dinamika dan perkembangan dunia sembari secara jujur dan objektif mengakui kelemahan dan kegagalan dalam mempertahankan kehidupan berbangsa dan bernegara yang kian rapuh dan digerogoti nasionalisme sempit, mengabaikan ke Bhinekaan sebagai konsensus nasional.

Filosofi kebhinekaan seolah menjadi semboyan tidak berpangkal dan bermakna, manakala mayoritas masyarakatnya masih mengangis rezeki, bekerja serabutan membanting tulang untuk sesuap nasi, sementara sekelompok kecil elit kekuasaan berfoya foya memamerkan keakuannya dan kesombongan menikmati fasilitas serba mewah.

Bukankah Kemerdekaan Bangsa Indonesia 17-8-1945 juga diproklamirkan bertolak dari rasa terhina yang terus-menerus diperbudak dalam segala sendi kehidupan sebagai suatu bangsa, kemudian bangkit dari kehinaan melawan si-jahat kolonial dengan semangat kebangsaan membara, secara suka-rela dan gotong-royong tanpa memandang status sosial, asal usul, bangsawan atau proletar, mengambil peran semampu yang dapat dipersembahkan demi suatu cita-cita.

Namun apa yang terjadi dan kita praktekkan diatas jutaan mata masyarakat kita dewasa ini perlu kita instrospeksi. Tujuan mendirikan bangsa yang besar Republik Indonesia, terus kita nodai. Tujuan Kemerdekaan Bangsa Indonesia untuk menuju masyarakat adil-makmur hanya menjadi pepesan kosong yang sulit digapai. Para pejabat yang sesungguhnya diangkat sebagai representasi masyarakat, sibuk mengurus diri dan kroninya saja, masyarakat negeri ini hanya bisa menonton dan menyaksikan drama klasik dibalik kaca tembus pandang yang kita tampilkan per-lima tahunan dengan janji-janji surga.

Masyarakat menyaksikan secara transparan, namun tidak kuasa melakukan protes. Jika terus menerus hidup dan menampilkan ketidak adilan, maka sesuatu yang jelek itu akan menjadi kebiasaan umum yang dipermaklumkan, sehingga tampilan yang tadinya senorok dan di maki khalayak, kini menjadi sesuatu yang biasa-biasa saja, atau bahkan menjadi mode primadona, karena takut dibilang ketinggalan jaman.

Peran yang kita mainkan dan tampilkan dalam kehidupan berbangsa dan bernegara hingga hari ini, tidak lebih baik dari peran rezim kolonial masa lalu, bedanya hanya pada rambut dan warna kulit yang dapat dilihat secara kaset mata, sedangkan hati dan mentalitasnya lebih bobrok bagai seekor harimau lapar yang siap menelan siapa saja yang lengah.

Rasa keadilan dan kemanusiaan bermain diatas kekuasaan semu, yang kita sembah dan tampilkan sehingga kenyataannya kekuasaan semu itu menjadi remuk redam dimata hati masyarakat pribumi yang nota bene adalah pemilik dan ahli waris negeri ini.

Jika mata hati kita tertutup oleh keangkuhan, terus menerus menumbuh kembangkan cinta diri, maka kepekaan sosial hanya menjadi ironi dan tenggelam dalam keakuan yang egosentris, semua simbol-simbol sosial terbang jauh ke atas langit yang kian rapuh dan tenggelan dalam kesendirian dalam kebisuan sebagai mahkluk yang dihempaskan melayang jauh diujung langit, maka bangsa ini perlu mengaku dosa lakukan introspeksi jika ingin republik ini kokoh berdiri tegak dalam kebhinekaan.

Kita tidak bisa lagi menggunakan kekuatan fisik untuk melumpuhkan musuh. Senjata dan amunisi tidak lagi menjadi senjata pamungkas. Senjata yang paling ampuh saat ini adalah jalur diplomasi, menggunakan otak untuk mengalahkan musuh, bukan lagi otot yang ditampilkan dalam negosiasi politik skala internasional di zaman ini.

Kita perlu belajar banyak, tentang runtuhnya negara-negara adikuasa dengan simbol-simbol negara yang tadinya disegani dunia. Jatuhnya Unisoviet adalah menjadi kisah nyata dan pengalaman pahit yang tidak pernah terlupakan masyarakat dunia. Setiap negara bagian menyatakan lepas dan memerdekaan dirinya dan akhirnya Negara adikuasa itu jatuh terkulai.

Pengalaman runtuhnya negara seperti unisoviet. Kita sebagai bangsa Indonesiapun pernah mengalaminya. Lepasnya Timor-Timur dari pangkuan ibu pertiwi adalah sebuah pengalaman pahit, lepasnya Timor-Timur dari Ibu Pertiwi membukakan peluang, bagi daerah-daerah lain di wilayah Republik ini bahwa sejarah pahit itu dapat terulang kembali, jika kita sibuk urus diri pribadi tanpa memperhatian dan ikut memberi kontribusi maksimal tetap tegaknya negara kesatuan ini sebagai suatu kekuatan nasional kita. Jangan heran ketika kejadian yang sama bisa saja terulang kembali jika kita tidak perbaiki kebobrokan mentalitas.

Judul penulisan artikel ini adalah “ sediakan payung sebelum hujan “ kita terlalu sibuk mengurusi sesuatu hal yang hanya bersifat urusan rumah tangga dan bersifat perorangan. Kita terus-menerus membuka aib kita kepada dunia dan mempertontonkan itu semua sebagai keberhasilan, sampai-sampai orang nomor satu di Republik inipun kita permalukan dimata dunia, kita tidak pernah mau membukaan pintu maaf bahkan terkesan arogan menelanjangi diri mereka dimata dunia. Kadang kita lupa, bahwa seseorang yang kita perlakukan secara arogan itu adalah simbol negara. Dilain pihak kita selalu mendengung-dengungkan bahwa Bangsa Indonesia adalah bangsa pemaaf hanya isapan jempol bekala.

Kita berfokus hanya pada penegakkan aspek hukum dan kriminal, tapi lupa pertimbangkan aspek sosial yang lebih menyentuh penyelesaian akar masalah. Kita juga lupa kedudukan presiden dan pembantu dibawahnya adalah simbol negara atas rekomendasi kolektif masyarakat sebagai pemegang Legitimasi tertinggi negara. Dalam kapasitas dan kapabilitas Presiden sebagai kepala Negara berhak memutuskan segala sesuatu demi kepentingan dan masa depan bangsa dan negara itupun kita permasalahkan. Apakah kita yakin, bahwa pemimpin negara periode berikutnya akan memenuhi semua mimpi dan harapan bangsa yang besar ini, perlu kita evluasi secara empiris.

By H.Lokobal

Cars hacked through wireless tire sensors

Cars hacked through wireless tire sensors: "

The tire pressure monitors built into modern cars have been shown to be insecure by researchers from Rutgers University and the University of South Carolina. The wireless sensors, compulsory in new automobiles in the US since 2008, can be used to track vehicles or feed bad data to the electronic control units (ECU), causing them to malfunction.

Earlier in the year, researchers from the University of Washington and University of California San Diego showed that the ECUs could be hacked, giving attackers the ability to be both annoying, by enabling wipers or honking the horn, and dangerous, by disabling the brakes or jamming the accelerator.

The new research shows that other systems in the vehicle are similarly insecure. The tire pressure monitors are notable because they're wireless, allowing attacks to be made from adjacent vehicles. The researchers used equipment costing $1,500, including radio sensors and special software, to eavesdrop on, and interfere with, two different tire pressure monitoring systems.

The pressure sensors contain unique IDs, so merely eavesdropping enabled the researchers to identify and track vehicles remotely. Beyond this, they could alter and forge the readings to cause warning lights on the dashboard to turn on, or even crash the ECU completely.

Unlike the work earlier this year, these attacks are more of a nuisance than any real danger; the tire sensors only send a message every 60-90 seconds, giving attackers little opportunity to compromise systems or cause any real damage. Nonetheless, both pieces of research demonstrate that these in-car computers have been designed with ineffective security measures.

The Rutgers and South Carolina research will be presented at the USENIX Security conference later this week.

Read the comments on this post

"

Maslow’s hierarchy of Robot needs:

Maslow’s hierarchy of Robot needs:: "

In addition to Maslow’s hierarchy of Internet needs the Robots now have one as well.

Original title and link for this post: Maslow’s hierarchy of Robot needs:

"

Logged In: Facebook In The Real World

Logged In: Facebook In The Real World: "

This is a cool little video showing how we’re living our lives more and more on social networks these days. It’s in German (I think), but should be easy enough to understand.

logged in from josh schaub on Vimeo.

Original title and link for this post: Logged In: Facebook In The Real World

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This is how digital self and world-self meet

Dealing with haters

Dealing with haters


Tim Ferriss discussed, at the The Next Web 2010 event in Amsterdam, how to deal with haters, how to benefit from them as well.

Here are some ideas that Mashable listed after they interviewed Tim.
1. It doesn’t matter how many people don’t get it. What matters is how many people do.

“It’s critical in social media, as in life, to have a clear objective and not to lose sight of that,” Ferriss says. He argues that if your objective is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people or to change the world in some small way (be it through a product or service), you only need to pick your first 1,000 fans — and carefully. “As long as you’re accomplishing your objectives, that 1,000 will lead to a cascading effect,” Ferriss explains. “The 10 million that don’t get it don’t matter.”
2. 10% of people will find a way to take anything personally. Expect it.

“People are least productive in reactive mode,” Ferriss states, before explaining that if you are expecting resistance and attackers, you can choose your response in advance, as opposed to reacting inappropriately. This, Ferriss says, will only multiply the problem. “Online I see people committing ’social media suicide’ all the time by one of two ways. Firstly by responding to all criticism, meaning you’re never going to find time to complete important milestones of your own, and by responding to things that don’t warrant a response.” This, says Ferriss, lends more credibility by driving traffic.
3. “Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.” (Colin Powell)

“If you treat everyone the same and respond to everyone by apologizing or agreeing, you’re not going to be recognizing the best performers, and you’re not going to be improving the worst performers,” Ferriss says. “That guarantees you’ll get more behavior you don’t want and less you do.” That doesn’t mean never respond, Ferriss goes on to say, but be “tactical and strategic” when you do.
4. “If you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative.” (Scott Boras)

“This principle goes hand-in-hand with number two,” Ferriss says. “I actually keep this quote in my wallet because it is a reminder that the best people in almost any field are almost always the people who get the most criticism.” The bigger your impact, explains Ferriss (whose book is a New York Times, WSJ and BusinessWeek bestseller), and the larger the ambition and scale of your project, the more negativity you’ll encounter. Ferriss jokes he has haters “in about 35 languages.”
5. “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” (Epictetus)

“Another way to phrase this is through a more recent quote from Elbert Hubbard,” Ferriss says. “‘To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” Ferriss, who holds a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive tango spins, says he has learned to enjoy criticism over the years. Ferriss, using Roman philosophy to expand on his point, says: “Cato, who Seneca believed to be the perfect stoic, practiced this by wearing darker robes than was customary and by wearing no tunic. He expected to be ridiculed and he was, he did this to train himself to only be ashamed of those things that are truly worth being ashamed of. To do anything remotely interesting you need to train yourself to be effective at dealing with, responding to, even enjoying criticism… In fact, I would take the quote a step further and encourage people to actively pursue being thought foolish and stupid.”
6. “Living well is the best revenge.” (George Herbert)

“The best way to counter-attack a hater is to make it blatantly obvious that their attack has had no impact on you,” Ferriss advises. “That, and [show] how much fun you’re having!” Ferriss goes on to say that the best revenge is letting haters continue to live with their own resentment and anger, which most of the time has nothing to do with you in particular. “If a vessel contains acid and you pour some on an object, it’s still the vessel that sustains the most damage,” Ferriss says. “Don’t get angry, don’t get even — focus on living well and that will eat at them more than anything you can do.”
7. Keep calm and carry on.

The slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” was originally produced by the British government during the Second World War as a propaganda message to comfort people in the face of Nazi invasion. Ferriss takes the message and applies it to today’s world. “Focus on impact, not approval. If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers,” Ferriss concludes. “Keep calm and carry on!”

That was enlightening. (via Mashable).

Smartphone security put on test

By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News -Source http://bit.ly/cjqOiF

How the stolen data was sent to an e-mail inbox set up to receive it

BBC News has shown how straightforward it is to create a malicious application for a smartphone.

Over a few weeks, the BBC put together a crude game for a smartphone that also spied on the owner of the handset.

The application was built using standard parts from the software toolkits that developers use to create programs for handsets.

This makes malicious applications hard to spot, say experts, because useful programs will use the same functions.

While the vast majority of malicious programs are designed to attack Windows PCs, there is evidence that some hi-tech criminals are starting to turn their attention to smartphones.
Continue reading the main story
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Booby-trapped applications for smartphones have been found online and in recent weeks Apple and Google have removed applications from their online stores over fears that they were malicious.

Chris Wysopal, co-founder and technology head at security firm Veracode, which helped the BBC with its project, said smartphones were now at the point the PC was in 1999.

At that time malicious programs were a nuisance. A decade on and they are big business, he said, with gangs of criminals churning out malware that tries to steal saleable information.
Continue reading the main story
How we did it
Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

Before starting this project, the last time I had anything serious to do with programming was in my teens.

At that time home computers in the form of the BBC Micro, Vic 20 and Sinclair ZX machines were in vogue. The proud owner of a Vic 20 I spent hours laboriously copying line after line of code out of magazines to get games running.

I approached this project more diligently. I bought text books, read online tutorials, pored over tips, tricks and sample code put on the web by developers to aid people like me.

My thought was to learn programming first, then get started on building a malicious application. Then I had an epiphany. Just as people don't have to be fluent in a foreign language to make themselves understood abroad, I didn't have to know everything before getting started.

It struck me too that the bad guys do not share my lofty aims. They are interested in results, the quicker the better. I realised it would be better to re-work existing code rather than start from scratch.

So I did. That decision sped up the creation of the spyware, as did the help of developer Tyler Shields from Veracode who gave advice about getting it working.

The end result was a program that does not look great but gets the job done. The process has educated me about modern programming and put me on my guard about what goes on my phone.

Mobiles, he said, offered a potentially more tempting target to those criminals.

"Mobile phones are really personal devices," said Mr Wysopal. "You might have one computer for a family but every family member has a personal device and it is with them all the time."

Simeon Coney, a spokesman for mobile security firm Adaptive Mobile, said criminals were focused on handsets for one simple reason: money.

"In the PC domain the only way a criminal can generally take money from a user is by having them click on a web link, go to a website, purchase a product and enter their credit card details," said Mr Coney.

"In a mobile network the device is intrinsically linked to a payment plan, to a user's credit," he said. Nothing happens on a mobile network, no call is made or text is sent, without money changing hands.

Criminals have tapped into that revenue stream by getting phone owners to dial or contact premium rate numbers. Now they are turning their attention to applications and the lucrative information they scoop up.

The App Genome project by mobile security firm Lookout was set up to map what applications produced for smartphones do. It tried to find out if they do everything they claim and if they do more than expected.

The project has looked at 300,000 smartphone applications and mapped the internal functions of one-third of them.

It found that about one-third of applications it has studied seek to get at a user's location and about 10% try to get at contact and address lists. The study also found that a significant proportion of applications included code copied and pasted from other programs.
Code creator

To get a better understanding of the barriers to creating malicious programs the BBC downloaded a widely used application development kit, learned the basics of programming in Java and gathered some snippets of code already released on the net.

It was possible in a few weeks to put together a crude game that also, out of sight, gathered contacts, copied text messages, logged the phone's location and sent it to a specially set up e-mail address.

The spyware took up about 250 lines of the 1500 making up the entire program. The code was downloaded to a single handset but was not put on an application store.

All of the information-stealing elements of the spyware program were legitimate functions turned to a nefarious use.

"That's kind of the scary thing," said Mr Wysopal from Veracode.

"The face of the application, be it a game or a simple application that is for fun, can have behaviour that is not visible at the surface."
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

It's way less effort to hack into someone else's application, as you do not have to write it yourself”

End Quote Ilya Laurs GetJar

"There's been cases of spyware being detected on the internet, downloaded even from application stores or from other websites. We've detected it out there," said Mr Wysopal. "On the personal side there are cases of jilted lovers cyber-stalking their ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend through their phone."

The big application stores offering programs to mobile owners do police the software they are offering.

Apple vets applications and rejects those that fail its commercial and coding tests. Google said that applications for Android must declare all the information they will gather when they are downloaded. Blackberry maker RIM and Google use a code-signing system so they can turn off applications that prove to be malicious.

However, it can be difficult to separate malicious programs from legitimate ones because the connectedness of a mobile means many applications need access to contact lists and location data.

For example, gamers might want to brag to their friends about achievements, post high scores to Facebook or play with a friend if they are close by. All of which would need legitimate access to those sensitive details.
Safety steps

Ilya Laurs, founder of independent application site GetJar, said it was "very hard" for application stores to separate programs using personal information legitimately from those with a malicious intent.

Many handset hackers would likely copy existing applications and add-in malicious code, said Mr Laurs.
Credit card and mobile phone, Think Stock Large phone bills can be a sign that something is amiss

"It's way less effort to hack into someone else's application, as you do not have to write it yourself," he said.

Many would do that, said Mr Laurs, to ensure they hit plenty of victims.

"What's most important for hackers is how do they get scale," he said. "If they write their own application, such as a game, they may only get 200 downloads."

By contrast, he said, stealing a popular application, packing it with booby-trapped code and offering it for free can reap rewards.

Some application makers have found that 97% of the people using their software are doing so via pirated versions.

Application stores are making efforts to police the programs they offer. So far the number of booby-trapped applications remains low. But many feel the threat is only likely to grow.

Users can take a few simple steps to stay safe.

"Ask which developer an application is coming from, not just the site or carrier because that's only half of the story," said Mr Laurs. "Ask who they are and do you trust them."

Phone owners should also back up data on their handsets to a PC or net-based service to guard against problems.

Nigel Stanley, a security analyst at Bloor Research, said there were telltale signs that revealed if people had been caught out.

"A very obvious tell-tale sign on the phone is all of a sudden your battery life is deteriorating," he said. "You wake up one morning and your battery has been drained then that might indicate that some of the data has been taken off your phone overnight."

Smartphone owners should also keep an eye on their bill.

"Look at your billing information every month and if there are strange numbers appearing on your phone bill that might indicate that there is some software on there that is dialling out to premium-rate lines, billing you for a service that you have not authorised," he said.

Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10912376