Sangat Pedas

Obama On Privacy: Muahahahahaha!!! #Lavabit #Silentcircle #RIP

August 9, 2013 by Remco | 0 comments

obama-privacy-jokeRemember the speech from Obama in 2007 in which he argued to stop spying on people who are not suspected of a crime? Probably you don’t, at least that’s what Obama and all other politicians generally assume when they make promises to get voters. Well, please REFRESH YOUR MEMORY.

An then a few years later Obama addressed questions about the US government disregarding all principles of privacy, how ironic. Basically the outcome was that the NSA is allowed without any warrant to access emails and all other digital information as it seems fit, as long as the targets are not living in the US. Nice! Companies like Google and Facebook providing any kind of info the NSA needs, straight from our email boxes.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for security and that for that sacrifices have to be made. However, we’ve made many sacrifices already, such as airport molestation security. Harassing new moms about their baby milk. Or what about this young girl bound to a wheelchair on her way to get medical treatment? Surely a serious bomb threat. Yep, the kids and the elderly fit the terrorist profile perfectl. Riiiight….. Just like those extremely dangerous women with prosthetic breasts.

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Telkomsel And XL Pop Ads And How To Opt-out

August 1, 2013 by Remco | 1 Comment

screenshot-pop-adIt’s a pretty new phenomenon in Indonesia. I have two paid sim cards from Telkomsel and XL. For both I pay a monthly subscription fee and obviously I pay for the usage. So far no problem. However, both Telkomsel and XL decided to monetize their paying customers just a tad bit more. When you now access the Internet using 3G changes are you will get to see a Pop ad which is basically a complete page take over. Something similar as in this screenshot.

Annoying to say the least. Also pretty much illegal in most of the rest of the world. And for good reasons I think. Why? Well, first of all, I pay for this service.

It’s not like I use a website like Tokobagus for free and Tokobagus in return shows me some ads to pay for the bills. No, I actually pay for this service and at the time when I subscribed their service did not include any pop ads. Next, I never did an opt-in for this service, which in my understanding is required by law. But even when not required by law, it would be the proper netiquette. Right? Also, as far as I know and can remember I never got any instructions on how to opt-out.

I will share the opt-out methods in the end of this post.

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Psychotropic Drugs: The Killing $26.5 Billion Scam [Documentary]

July 21, 2013 by Remco | 0 comments

psychotropic-drugsA good business idea is finding a solution for an (everyday) problem and monetize it. But what does an industry do when there’s actually a lack of problems but it still wants to rake in billions? Well, easy. You make up a problem and make up a solution. That’s what the drug industry for psychiatric disorders seems to be doing. Seems… I would say is doing.

Every heard of the disease Bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder is a condition in which a person has periods of depression and periods of being extremely happy or being cross or irritable.

Based on this definition, who doesn’t have a bipolar disorder? It’s called human emotions in my opinion and it’s part of life, no cure required in the form of chemicals.

If I would have been born 20 years later, I bet you I would have been diagnosed ADHD and would have been put on medication. But I’m not ill and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t ill, just a tad more active than the average person.

So the pharmaceutical industry is making drugs to cure diseases that actually don’t exist. Huh? Well, so far there’s absolutely no scientific proof that any mental disorder is actually a disease. Sure, experts on the payroll of the pharmaceutical industry talk about “imbalances in the brain” but bottom line, that’s speculation. The cures they fabricate are raking in billions but seem to do more harm than good. Just to be clear, I’m not saying all medicines for mental disorders are fake. But, you gotta wonder, where did all these “disorders” all of a sudden come from? And why is it that 50% of the people committing suicide in the US is using a drug for a mental disorder?

Watch the video below and share your thoughts.
 

On Digital Startup, Founders, Governance and Happy Dreams

July 20, 2013 by Hasan Yahya | 0 comments

happyRemco kindly invited me to post, and here I am. The subjected he suggested was Startups Founders, Angel Investors & Dilution. Which is a mouthful to pronounce and even more complicated to elaborate in details, but maybe I’ll add a few items to the post.

To take a different angle on the same issues, I think most startups in Indonesia simply fails on Governance level. In fact, in the majority of ‘failures’ that I’ve witnessed, I would say that this is very often the case. Firstly tho, let’s be clear that I specifically refer to Startups as Digital/Tech/Media related Startup.

First, a Digital Startup differs by definition to traditional business in a sense that it relies on digital technology to deliver and produce the return. The underlying value will be with the people who create and make stuff happen and the Intellectual Property it produced. The Startup is a for profit business entity that will create value with Digital Technology. Not to buy a Coal Mine or Plantation Concession or a Chocolate Factory. A Digital Startup must have a clear grasp of this before they venture any further.

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Investing In Indonesian Startups - Myths, Rules, Regulations And Solutions

July 20, 2013 by Remco | 4 Comments

bkpmI could probably compile 20 pages with just links to “horror stories” about foreign investments in Indonesia going awfully wrong and resulting in a total-loss of money. For instance the German entrepreneur who twice opened a restaurant in Bali and twice got squeezed out of his restaurant by landlords who all of a sudden decide to increase the rent with 500%. Or a little bit bigger, the case in which Churchill Mining lost their license on what’s probably the worlds 7th largest coal mine.

Also we’ve seen sudden changes in Indonesian laws introducing a cap of 40 percent on the single ownership of domestic banks. This followed a mining law put in place in March limiting foreign ownership in the industry to 49 percent from 80 percent previously. And in the digital world the government is also imposing new regulations which are less than motivating for foreign companies to enter Indonesia. And then there’s also still the everlasting corruption, which despite all the efforts and successes of the KPK (Corruption Eradication Commitee) doesn’t seem to be beaten at all. According to Daily Social, an Indonesian tech-blog, also startup entrepreneurs seem to suffer under the strict rules for foreign investments.

So, how bad is it anyway? Is Indonesia indeed a mine field for foreign investors?

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Startups, Founders, Angel Investors & Dilution

July 14, 2013 by Remco | 0 comments

boardroomI see it happen a lot lately in Jakarta. Startups with 4-5 founders, who are pretty much equal shareholders. Then a lot of those startups will look for very early Angel funding which, if they get it, brings another shareholder on board.

Now you’ve got a situation where there are 5-6 shareholders in a company that still has to land its first serious funding. Now this is in my opinion a situation far from desirable, for some obvious and some less obvious reasons.

In general, when a startup approaches an (angel) investor for a pitch and shares that the company has 4 or 5 shareholders with pretty much similar voting rights, my first question would be “Who wants to give up his or her shares?”. It’s just too early to have such an amount of shareholders. Startups succeed for a large part because they can make decisions instantly, react faster than competitors who are more corporate. Having 4 or 5 voting shareholders on board chances are your company won’t be that flexible and dynamic anymore. Also, any investor would prefer to just talk to 1 or 2 persons, which is clear and manageable.

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Ho Lee Fuk! KTVU Brings Another Epic TV FAIL [VIDEO]

July 14, 2013 by Remco | 0 comments

If the crash of the Asiana Flight 214 in San Francisco wasn’t such a tragedy, if people didn’t die and got severely burned  this could have been funny. Unfortunately people did die and people di get burned and scarred for life. Just an EPIC FAIL from the category Ho Lee Fuk! Apparently KTVU did check the names with the NTSB, who are investigating the crash. Allegedly an intern at NTSB confirmed that the names were all correct. But did no one at KTVU had the common sense of reading the names out loud to then come to the conclusion “Sum Ting Wong”?

 

Invasion Of The Mind Peelers

July 13, 2013 by Remco | 0 comments

mind-peelingThough it would be a great movie title, this is not the title of a badly produced low budget Hollywood movie. Mind peelers, they come in all forms and shapes. Usually they try to avoid showing their stiff corporate background with quasi nonchalant clothes and try to make you feel they’re one of you. But on average they do a really bad job at that.

Mind peelers are mostly attracted by emerging markets which they, by definition, don’t understand. It starts with an email in which a mind peeler will mostly use the strategy of elevating your achievements, experience and personal skills to divine levels. This followed by a list of they’re personal achievements and a statement on how serious they are about the Indonesian market.

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Ambient Digital Indonesia - Yet Another Light Bulb

July 13, 2013 by Remco | 0 comments

AmbientDigital_logoAfter 8 months of extreme extravagance, partying and many holidays it was time to get back to real life. Even though I could be sipping a Mojito in Bali right now I found that I just NEED to do something. Without a goal I tend to spiral out of control, probably out of sheer boredom.

In my defence, in the 8 months of indulgence, besides doing two investments, I just didn’t see any opportunity where I wanted to invest my money and energy in. Up until I met the guys from the Ambient Digital Group in Vietnam, who are a great bunch of guys. So straight after I saw there product I had the classical light-bulb-moment, thinking YEAH, THIS I GOTTA DO.

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