Blog Posts
Some interesting keywords from Google Search Console (and Bing, too!)
Building a sustainable app ecosystem for the Indonesian Police Force (POLRI).
We all have to admit that the Indonesian government is infamous for having poor quality apps and websites. Or at least, if we're discussing about this 5 years ago. User experience (UX) designers will be mad when reporting taxes on our electronic tax filing website, https://efiling.pajak.go.id. https://twitter.com/arieare/status/436649611927638016?s=21&t=cIY0FKj5It0l4zKLdxFODA https://twitter.com/reinhart1010/status/1434219937657024515?s=21&t=cIY0FKj5It0l4zKLdxFODA And of course, we're all familiar with 3-star, or even 1-star, Indonesian government apps for no longer being maintained anymore. Ratings for M-Paspor by Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham), Republic of Indonesia Also many citizens of Semarang City (not the Regency) who are still unaware of these 46 apps released by their government? And finally, many of these government apps ended up being Android-exclusive because the developers behind them can't even afford a fresh new Mac and a $99/year Apple Developer Account. On Tuesday, July 5th, 2022, the public screamed for witnessing a launch of another government app. "Come on, we've had enough poor quality apps at Wkwkland. And here's another one to end up in the same 3-star landfill?" There is a gap here. Our government's digital products are still considered by them as the cherry-on-top that makes their chaotic service look beautiful. Has the government taken seriously the role of the digital world in governance? This is not just about the central government, but also every department and local (province, regency, city) government. After all, they really like to release their own applications. Prabu Yudianto, "Logika Pemerintah 4.0: Bikin Aplikasi Banyak, tapi Nggak Terawat" (https://mojok.co/terminal/logika-pemerintah-4-0-bikin-aplikasi-banyak-tapi-nggak-terawat/) So what if I told you that this next government app is not just an app, or even a "superapp" by their own terms? What if I told you that this app is partly a gabutation. Yes, yet an official, high-quality gabutation of Reinhart. Also brought to you by the team behind Bersatu Lawan COVID-19 (BLC-19). Before we continue further, there are two important things that we will need to discuss. First is why many of these apps still suck, and how we overcome these issues in the best, possible way. And while the BLC-19 app itself has been brought down to the same landfill in favor of PeduliLindungi, ministries of the central government are still using our internal, integrated dashboard not just to monitor new cases, but also tracking down future possibilities of the COVID-19 case spikes. This blog post is very long. And indeed, it is now the longest blog post I've ever written in my life. That's why we decided to split this into 6 sections. Check out this site later because, well, I'm still not finished writing it yet. Page 1: Introduction. Page 2: Why do they suck? Page 3: The POLRI's current case of digital service fragmentation. And the point when everyone just wants to be [REDACTED]. Page 4: When the governments want to be [REDACTED], and how we tried to think beyond than just building a superapp. Page 5: My contributions and some trivias. Page 6: Conclusion and what's next. Of course, many of our great ideas are still covered in NDAs, so I also need to filter out these from our blog posts (unless if they are released).
Seriously, why (#_ )?
There are still lots of people laughing at us for “(#_ )”. Yes, the company. Even though we justified our reasons for the name (in which we actually snug the Kiloword-Pictogram Equivalence Theorem), there's also one other reason behind our interests about the name. We really wanted to build a brand that's as close to humans and computers. However, we ended up having to choose to: Tend to become humans Tend to become computers Defeating the stereotypical hacker. Stereotypical hackers tend to wear Guy Fawkes' Masks, which is somewhat synonymous with Anonymous. However, there's another stereotype of hacker who wears instead a mask with crossed eyes and zipped mouth, like this: And even featured in DedSec on Ubisoft's Watch Dogs 2: Before ending up with (#_ ), we wanted to build something that looks original and relatable, while preserving the core elements of the hacker culture. The cash and the hash. Modern UNIX folks really know what the cash ($) and the hash (#) really are. They are traditionally used to determine whether the user who's tinkering with the Terminal is root, aka. the most powerful user in the UNIX-verse. This is true in the original sh, ash, dash, ksh, and even bash. That said, zsh and my favorite fish sports a different default prompt (ie. without the infamous cash symbol). So, what else can we do from root? Making connections with people as if they are (#_^), as we mentioned before. So we could be fun as (#_ ), we could be scary as (#_ ). Despite everything, the #, root, is in us. (#_ )
Some notes about personal beliefs, Christianity, Big Tech, and GAFAM.
Yes, I have been on both pro and anti-GAFAM communities before, yet I'm still respecting people from each sides. However, as I celebrate my 10th anniversary of my journey into numerous worldwide tech communities, those ups and downs have led me into one big conclusion: You cannot be selective on whom would you want to act, and don't act, as the salt and light of the world. Yep, that verses from Matthew 5. And in this time, read again verses 14-16. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”Matthew 5:16 NIVhttps://bible.com/bible/111/mat.5.16.NIVGod wants ourselves to share good deeds to all. There are no verses that implicitly states that you should “shine your light to everyone except Facebook” or “shine your light to everyone except those who practice surveillance capitalism”. No. And you know what? When you decide to judge those greedy governments and companies which you have declared them not respecting to your privacy, how about those people, those who still believe in God and favors Him through their works, but worked or partnered with these companies? Would you judge them as big sinners as well because you have judged the company before them? Look back at the case of Jacob in the kingdom of Egypt, or Daniel and his friends in Babylonia. Both kingdoms were considered big sinners, primarily because of their disbelief in God as well as their disgraceful practices. However, God strategically placed and used His people in the kingdoms of big sinners to make change, to make difference so the people can glorify Him to let Him save, not curse, those kingdoms. This is how we should act in the world of privacy greediness—both in the sides of the privacy-greedy companies as well as privacy-greedy individuals. And speaking of decentralization of control of data, technology, and the Internet, I’ve stated before that decentralization won’t eventually replace centralization, because centralization is indeed a vital key for decentralization to work. I know that’s ironic, but unfortunately, it’s the truth. This world and the universe is primarily modeled after centralization. Sunrises and sunsets won't come without the Earth centralizing itself to its sun while centralizing its rotation on its axis. And if you believe and fear of God, you are alredy centralizing yourself to Him. And lastly, from that simple “salt and light” illustrations, God really favors us who exhibit our saltiness and shine our light to anyone without any exceptions, including the digital worlds. As long as we’ve done our part, please kindly leave the right to Him to avenge those who are greedy.
Pemulihan gambar diri.
The true Power in PowerPoint.
Site and infrastructure updates, January 2023 edition.
So, is this how they really advertise NFTs on Twitter?
The F, A, R, and how do we get there.
