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Umum

Forecast by Facebook

Forecast, a community for crowdsourced predictions. A platform by Facebook.

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Thank You, Flickr! Hello Google Photos!

When Flickr was acquired by Smugmug, I was happy. Rather than comparing between the two services, they finally under one team, even Flickr and Smugmug are still two separated services. I believe that Smugmug will work hard and listen to Flickr community to bring Flickr back with better features.

But, I decided to leave Flickr for Google Photos. Thank you, Flickr!

Flickr and I

Before Instagram era, or mobile-first photo sharing becomes so popular, Flickr was on the top service if it’s referring to photos/photography. Especially when there was Yahoo behind it.

I created my personal Flickr account back in 2004 — it’s 15 years ago — and I started uploading and sharing photos. When I was having close discussion with Public Communication Center of Ministry of Health and they asked me what kind of platform to choose to share photos, I recommended Flickr. The best part is they’re still using it until now!

Thomas Arie presenting flickr #ytownhall
Me sharing about Flickr during Yahoo Community Townhall event in May 2011 in Jakarta. I even still have the presentation slides with me. Thank you, Della and Gage!

Dear Flickr,

Probably, it’s just me. But, I wish you offer better experiences in — in my opinion — some of the key features.

First, help me to organise my thousand of photos. For me, it’s not that easy to put multiple photos into multiple albums. I am not sure about how you handle exactly-the-same photos, or…. duplicate photos. As far as I remember, it will be treated as different photos.

I wish you can also help me to organise my uploaded photos… automagically. There are lots of faces in my photos. Help me to organise them by faces so that I can easily and quickly find photos of my wife, my sister, and also my friends.

I know that sometimes it’s not about you. But, I feel that it’s slow to send my photos to you. I know, it’s also because you can also secure my photos in their original sizes.

I will stop talking now. I don’t hate you at all. I need something that works for me better now.

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General

Marketplace by Facebook

Marketplace by Facebook: buying and selling with each other

To help people make more of these connections, today we’re introducing Marketplace, a convenient destination to discover, buy and sell items with people in your community. Marketplace makes it easy to find new things you’ll love, and find a new home for the things you’re ready to part with. We’ll continue to build new options and features to make this the best experience for people.

In this initial release, Marketplace will be available in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand on the Facebook app for iPhone and Android. And, it will be only available for users over 18 years old.

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Switch to Letsencrypt

Since my Comodo PositiveSSL Certificate for this blog is about to expired, I decided to switch to Let’s Encrypt. The implementation was easy. I was refering to DigitalOcean‘s community tutorial: How To Secure Nginx with Let’s Encrypt on Ubuntu 16.04.

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Readmill: Another reading experience

One of the reasons I bought an iPad this year was that about books. I have to admit that my reading habit has changed in the last few months. I read more books and magazines on my iPad. But, it does not mean that I don’t read real books. It’s easy to mentioned two last books I bought: Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs and Listomania.
But, I bought more digital books. I subscribed to National Geographics Magazine for iPad, and purchased some other books directly from iBook Store. I have some editions from A Book Apart and Smashing Magazines, too. My reading experience has been shifted.
Readmill
Recently, I moved some of my books to Readmill. iBooks and Readmill share the similar reading experience. But, after using it for few days, I think I’m falling in love with Readmill. I like the idea that it’s not only about reading. I like its social features, and I love the way the site is designed.

Readmill is a curious community of readers, highlighting and sharing the books they love.
We believe reading should be an open and easily shareable experience. We built Readmill to help fix the somewhat broken world of ebooks, and create the best reading experience imaginable. (source)

In short, it happens like this:

  • Buy some books, and you usually you will get them in some formats like PDF or ePub.
  • You can easily open them using iBook app (on your iOS devices). If you’re using Readmill, you upload them to your Readmill’s Library.
  • Start reading.

While you’re reading, you can take notes, highlights. Readmill has a nice approach about the reading behaviours. Readers can interact each others by sharing highlights. Try to visit a book profile called “Designing for Emotion” by Aaron Walter.

But, what about the reading experience itself? On my iPad, I have a pleasant reading experience. Readmill app offers a simple and key features readers really need: adding highlights, bookmarks, etc. And, not to forget its social features, they’re just great.

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Mozilla Indonesia Mascot celebrates Indonesian Heroes Day

Today (November 10), Indonesia celebrates its National Heroes Day (Hari Pahlawan). Hari Pahlawan commemorates the 1945 Battle of Surabaya.
KUMI - edisi Hari Pahlawan Indonesia
KUMI — Mozilla Indonesia mascot — celebrates by wearing Bung Tomo’s famous outfit. Bung Tomo is revolutionary leader in the 1945 battle. To remind you a bit about Kumi, it was firstly introduced on September 27, 2010 in Jakarta, Indonesia during Mozilla Indonesia Community Meetup. I think KUMI looks cute here.
According to Mozilla Indonesia’s blog, KUMI is also available in various traditional costumes like Bali, Sunda, Yogyakarta, Madura, Minahasa, Makassar, Kupang, Ambon, Papua and more. Here are some other KUMI’s outfits.
Batik
Papertoy KUMI "Garuda di dadaku"
Go to kumi.web.id for more photos or visit Mozilla Indonesia’s Flickr photostream.

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Flickr: Photo Sharing or Photo Storage Service?

If you read this blog, or meet me in person, you probably know me as Flickr fan. Yes, among services owned by Yahoo!, Flickr is one of my favorite. I have friends who love to use Flickr and also bring some people to Flickr. So far, they’re enjoying it. Well, at least I heard some positive feedbacks from them. Some friends also bought/renewed their Flickr Pro account and they asked me to buy them Flickr gifts.
But, it’s 2011 now. Many photography-related services flourish. To refresh your memories, let’s take a look at 500px, Instagram, or picplz for example. And, I’m sure more to come to the game.
Butterfly
I asked myself recently: How do I use Flickr? Is it as photo sharing, or simply as a photo storage service? You can find out a bit about how I use Flickr by watching a short presentation during Yahoo! Community Town Hall few months ago. With many other options to share photos these days (again, mind the word “share”) here, I feel that Flickr is more photo storage for me. I do actively share and upload photos to Flickr. But, it’s not only about having photos uploaded there. It’s also about social web interaction.

The magic feature: Share to Flickr

Look at some applications/services that put photos as its primary contents. Many of them has “Share to Flickr” feature. Photos are shared to Flickr directly. Easily. But, where the discussion takes place? Is it on Flickr? May be not.

The way people enjoy photos

06052011315A simple question: how do you enjoy Flickr photos? There are some ways: visiting the website from the desktop, from Flickr mobile version, or using mobile applications. Even I have Flickr for iPhone, I rarely enjoying the photostream. I feel that it’s not something I’m enjoying. Try to fire up your Flickr for iPhone apps, and experience yourself. If you have your photos delivered to many services e.g. Instagram, Twitpic, and Flickr, I am sure Flickr is not the first site you (or your friends) will visit. Except you make your photos exclusively uploaded to Flickr and share the links to social networks.
It does not seem that simple though. For example: If I share a photo from Flickr to Twitter, Twitter will display the image right away. Some Twitter applications are smart enough to display the shared links as photo thumbnails and photos with bigger dimension. Will they visit Flickr — and exploring my photostream? Probably. But, I think most of them won’t.
I might sound selfish here by expecting other people to explore my photos. But, you know what I’m talking about here, right?

Shoot, share, and interact

People take photos using many devices, from simple to advanced tools. Using mobile phone or expensive DSLR cameras with fancy lenses. And, to upload the photos, there are some ways too: send directly from mobile devices, by email, or using another social network services and put Flickr as the last destination. Some people still love doing the traditional way: transfer the photo from memory card to laptop/computer, and upload them manually. I still do this sometime.
Again, what happen when the photos are stored to Flickr? Is it easy to interact with the photos? Of course, it’s easy. But, is it super easy? People might to go to Flickr for some reasons: they want to browse their photos or their friends’, or because some photos are made exclusively available at Flickr. Look at White House for example, or NASA. Or, because special event photos are displayed there at Flickr. People will go there. I will go there. But, for personal collection, or just simply “because I don’t want to loose these” photos, Flickr might be a great place to store them. When I need it, I will go there.
This is challenging. It might be a big challenge for Flickr and many other services out there. Innovations and strategies are designed to answer this kind of need. Some services come with an idea and unique approaches. So does Flickr, I think.
I might be wrong here, but from a personal perspective — as a Flickr user — I feel like using Flickr as photo storage service now. Something Flickr does not expect.

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Umum

Surat Pengunduran Diri Steve Jobs

Pertama kali baca surat pengunduran diri Steve Jobs sebagai CEO Apple dua hari lalu, saya sangat kagum. Dan, setelah dibaca lagi, memang bagus. Ini menurut saya saja.

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Tapi, memang bagus ah!

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Twitter is now available in Bahasa Indonesia

Finally, Twitter users are now able to have Twitter’s interface in Bahasa Indonesia! Indonesia is available as the 11th languages options. I think this is  a good move since Twitter is getting more popular in Indonesia. According to the statistics last year, Indonesia was the top contributing countries after the United States and Japan. And, both languages (Dutch and Bahasa Indonesia) are the first languages translated by the community through Twitter Translation Center.

For a complete list, Twitter is now available in: Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, English, Korean, French, Dutch, Russian, German, Japanese. You can choose the language settings from Account menu tab.

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Umum

Ke Yahoo! Community Town Hall

Akhir bulan April yang lalu, saya dihubungi oleh salah satu perwakilan dari Yahoo! Indonesia untuk berpartisipasi dalam acara Yahoo! Community Town Hall di Jakarta. Bisa dikatakan saya tidak tahu banyak sebelumnya tentang Yahoo! Community Town Hall tersebut. Salah satu bentuk partisipasi yang diharapkan adalah berbagi informasi atau pengalaman seputar salah satu produk layanan Yahoo!, yaitu Flickr. Setelah mendapatkan beberapa penjelasan tentang acara tersebut, akhirnya saya mengiyakan tawaran tersebut. Dan, karena saya berada di Jogjakarta — saat itu saya baru sekitar satu bulan berada kembali di Jogjakarta — jadilah agak sedikit perlu usaha untuk datang ke Jakarta. Kebetulan pelaksaan acara tersebut agak berbarengan dengan undangan keperluan lain untuk ke Jakarta.

Perjalanan dari Jogja saya tempuh dari Bandara Adisutjipto, dan diawali dengan keterlambatan jadwal penerbangan. Baru sekitar pukul 13.00 saya sampai ke tujuan di Jakarta. Dua hari sebelum pelaksanaan acara tersebut, saya sempat berdiskusi dan mendapatkan arahan singkat tentang  acara tersebut di kantor Yahoo! Indonesia. Oh ya, acaranya sendiri diadakan di @atamerica, di Pacific Place, Jakarta — tempat yang sudah beberapa kali saya kunjungi. Jadi tidak terlalu asing juga.

Di hari H — Jumat, 6 Mei 2011 — ternyata yang datang cukup banyak Entahlah, mungkin sekitar 200 orang(?) atau malah 300(?). Dalam acara tersebut hadir juga teman-teman yang telah saya kenal sebelumnya, baik dari komunitas Koprol atau pengguna Flickr. Ada juga dari teman-teman di Kopdar Jakarta. Teman-teman lain yang memang saya kenal melalui acara atau kegiatan selama setahun saya di Jakarta juga hadir. Acaranya sendiri diisi dengan beberapa presentasi dari komunitas pengguna Yahoo! Koprol, beberapa pembicara seperti Wimar Witoelar, Christian Sugiono, dan beberapa yang lain juga. Saya sendiri berbagi melalui presentasi singkat tentang Yahoo! Flickr.

Thomas Arie presenting flickr #ytownhall

Terus terang saja, sempat grogi. Tapi coba untuk santai saja. Setelah naik ke panggung, dan keluar kalimat pertama, entah kenapa semua berjalan cukup tenang. Slide demi slide presentasi saya tampilan, dan… selesai! Untuk slide presentasi, jika ingin melihat silakan lihat dibawah ini.

Kebetulan lagi saat itu partner videoblogging saya, Teguh D.H. juga hadir. Jadilah sekalian merekam video acara tersebut. Dan, salah satunya adalah video ketika saya berada diatas panggung.

Setelah acara selesai, dilanjutkan dengan networking dan berkenalan atau sekadar ngobrol-ngobrol dengan yang hadir disana. Dalam obrolan terlontar beberapa pertanyaan baik seputar Yahoo! Flickr atau yang lain. Beberapa bahkan menanyakan apakah saat ini saya kerja di Yahoo!. Walah… Tidak, presentasi yang saya sampaikan adalah hanya seputar bagaimana saya sebagai salah satu pengguna Yahoo! Flickr saja.

Hari Minggu siang, saya berangkat ke bandara Soekarno-Hatta untuk pulang ke Jogja lagi. Oh ya, bagi saya acara Yahoo! Community Town Hall sendiri sangat menyenangkan. Koleksi foto bisa dilihat di Flickr stream Orangescale atau juga ke Flickr Group Pool. Kalau videonya, silakan lihat ke Dadio.TV. Ada 5 episode video disana.

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I was going to Yahoo! Community Town Hall

… and I was on the stage sharing a little bit about Yahoo! Flickr.
Last week, I got an opportunity to join Yahoo! Community Town Hall event at @atamerica, Pacific Place, Jakarta. I had visited the venue for few times, but this time, I went there from Jogjakarta — I live in Jogjakarta (again) now, anyway.
A week before the event, I got an invite to be one of the speakers. The topic? Yahoo! Flickr. I was a little bit clueless about what I was going to present in my presentation slides. I was told that I only had around 10 minutes.
Thomas Arie presenting flickr #ytownhall
Okey, and this is my presentation slides. Two additional slides were added before I uploaded it to Slideshare.

If you want to watch how the presentation went, you can see the video by Dadio.TV :)

I hope you enjoy the presentation. Anyway, for the event photos, go to event group pool at Flickr. I also uploaded photos if you’re interested.

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December Photos

This December, I had chances to attend some events in Jakarta. From community event to football game. Here they are:
AFF Suzuki Cup 2010
I went to AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 first matched at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. On that day, Indonesia met Malaysia team and scored 5 goals!
AFF Suzuki Cup 2010
Yahoo! Communities Meetup
Probably, this is the biggest Yahoo! event I’ve been attending until today. On that day, lots of Koprol, Flickr and Yahoo! Answers users gathered at Blitz Megaplex Pacific Place, Jakarta. I think there were around 200 people there. Here’s a photo (for more photos, go to event photoset):
Y!: Jakarta Communities Meetup
MarkPlus Conference 2011 New Wave Party

Also at Pacific Place. I went there on the evening representing and went home late at night. I know, from the the photoset, I think I need to learn more about the word “party” here.
New Wave Party
TEDx Jakarta 6th event: Somethink Different
It was my second TEDx event, and didn’t enjoy all inspiring presentations since I needed to go to another venue on that evening. I left the venue after the break. :(
19122010275

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I'm going to Yahoo! Communities Meetup


I will be going to first(?) Yahoo! Communities Meetup event this Wednesday, at Blitz Megaplex Pacific Place, Jakarta. So, what is it all about? From its event page at Upcoming:

It’s a gathering of community members from Yahoo!’s community-based services, particularly Yahoo! Answers, Flickr and Koprol.
This is your chance to meet your fellow community members and the people who help manage those services on Yahoo!. Expect an exciting evening of meeting new and familiar people and discovering new stuff about Flickr, Answers and Koprol.

Since I’m a Flickr and Koprol user, I don’t have any reason not to join this event. Yahoo! is expecting 200 people in this event. When I write this post, there are 150 people on the list. So, if you don’t have any schedules on that day, mark you calendar and signup to the event. It’s free anyway.
To be more specific, it seems that this event is closely related to Flickr’s annoucement. Okey, see you!

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Flickr says Hello to Google Account!


Oke, this is what you need to know right now: You don’t need to have/use Yahoo! ID to join Flickr. That’s right. Today, Flickr allows new signup using Google Account.

With dozens of different login usernames and passwords out there on the Interwebs, who needs to add yet another one to the list? To help solve this, Flickr is rolling out a new feature to make it easier than ever for new users to join our community. We’re introducing OpenID on Flickr, a service that makes it faster and easier to sign-up for new accounts by letting you use one identity across multiple websites. So starting today, you’ll be able to use a Google account to sign-up for a new Flickr account. [source]

I just tried it, and it works. Also, Flickr simplifies the login process. Previously, if you’re on a single photo page, and you want to give comment, clicking the “Sign-in” link will bring to to another page. Now, you can sign-in without leaving the page. Yahoo! works really hard these days. :D
Anyway, I’m on Flickr too of course. :D