Readwrotes Blog

Tifatul Sembiring Information and Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring said in Jakarta on Thursday that his ministry would block all local and foreign porn sites and the target for the completion of the blockage will before Ramadhan fasting month (next month). “Insya Allah [God willing] we will finish the job before Ramadhan so as not to affect [Muslims] from executing their religious obligation,” Tifatul told reporters before attending a plenary Cabinet meeting at the Presidential office in Jakarta. The minister further said that one of the mandates of the pornography law said that the state was obliged to protect its people from any negative impacts of pornography. The former president of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) also reminded of the prison sentences that range from 6 to 12 years for those found guilty of distributing pornographic material. “Be careful, because there are legal implementations. Also be mindful in the distribution of pornographic se...

Amelia Winnie ,  Contributor ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 03/07/2010 1:01 PM  |  Features Have you ever not known what to wear in the morning? Do you have a dream to wear a well-known international fashion designer? But hey, you can have them all! Here we go. Looklet.com makes it possible. Looklet is a site that has existed since 2009 and was developed along with the rise of cyber technology. It is a digital styling studio where you are allowed to mix and create a look from every garment. Pick real clothes from the virtual wardrobe, put them on a model you choose, select the background you want and save it to show other Looklet users. It inspires you without  making you lose your own touch of personal savor in creating fashionable looks. Looklet requires you to sign up before you can save a new look on your page. The registration process is not complicated - fill in the username you want, email, password and your country. ...

Rizka Agustina ,  Contributor ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 04/04/2010 10:42 AM  |  Sci-Tech As the BlackBerry smartphone strengthens its grip in Indonesia, domikado.com has entered the fray to offer a downloadable and potentially helpful application for all BlackBerry users. This free, locally-developed application offers a bunch of helpful information, ranging from eateries to current foreign exchange. Its website lists domikado as an old Indonesian children’s game, where a group of children gather in a circle, their hands on top of each other’s, and clap as they sing the lyrics to a song. The use of the name Domikado serves as a reminder of childhood times when life was easier and perhaps more fun. “With Domikado, life is definitely made easier, so you can enjoy the more fun things in life,” the site says. Domicado.com is accessible by all people, BlackBerry users or not, and provides categorized headlines compiled from vari...

Kristen Gelineau , The Associated Press , Sydney, Australia | Thu, 07/16/2009 8:15 AM | Sci-Tech A fairy penguin takes a look around at the boardwalk on Manly Beach in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday. AP/Rob Griffith The first battered bodies were found on a small Australian beach, the white sand around them stained crimson with their blood. A few days later, the killer struck again - this time on the nearby cliffs overlooking Sydney Harbor. The cluster of victims were covered in bite marks, their tiny tummies slashed open. Through blood-spatter evidence and DNA testing, a profile of the killer began to emerge: Stealthy. Fast. Furry. What is killing the little penguins in Sydney's beachside suburb of Manly? A fox? A dog? Both? The investigation so far has yielded some clues. Officials can almost certainly rule out humans; the bite marks and blood patterns point to foxes, which often hold prey in their mouths and prance around shaking it, ...

By VOA News 20 July 2009 Spacewalker Dave Wolf works outside the International Space Station during the second spacewalk of the STS-127 mission, 20 Jul 2009 Astronauts at the International Space Station have completed the second spacewalk of five, during the shuttle Endeavour's 11-day mission at the station. Astronauts Dave Wolf and Tom Marshburn undertook a 6-hour, 53-minute spacewalk Monday to conduct maintenance work at the station. The walk coincided with the 40th anniversary of man's landing on the moon. Wolf and astronaut Tim Kopra completed the first spacewalk of the mission during a 5.5-hour operation Saturday. They installed an external platform on the massive Japanese lab at the space station. The lab is known as Kibo, or "hope." The platform will allow scientists to conduct experiments in the vacuum of space. With the shuttle crew's visit, there are 13 astronauts aboard the space stati...

By Paula Wolfson White House 20 July 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama is reaffirming his commitment to space exploration as America marks the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. Barack Obama was only seven years old when Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. But he still has memories of those days. He recalls standing on his grandfather's shoulders in his native state of Hawaii, waiting for the Apollo 11 space capsule to be plucked from the Pacific Ocean and brought to shore. "And I remember waving flags and my grandfather telling me that the Apollo mission was an example of how Americans can do anything they put their minds to," said President Obama. President Barack Obama (right) greets Apollo 11 astronauts (from left) Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong in the White House on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lu...

By VOA News 19 July 2009 Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette, STS-127 mission specialist, operates controls on the aft flight deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour during flight day two activities The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station used a pair of robotic arms Sunday to install equipment ahead of Monday's spacewalk. Crew members Dave Wolf and Tom Marshburn configured their space suits and tools, and reviewed procedures for further construction work. But crew members found their efforts were hampered when one of the space station's two toilets malfunctioned. As a result, crew members of the space shuttle Endeavour are restricted to using the shuttle's sole commode. Officials with the U.S. space agency, NASA, said the problem is not a big one, but could become serious if the toilet remains out of commission for more than a few days. Astronauts completed the first spacewalk ...

By VOA News 19 July 2009 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon surface Legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who landed on the moon 40 years ago Monday, says the United States should set its sights on a mission to Mars. Aldrin appeared on the television news program Fox News Sunday, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 's lunar landing. Aldrin said Mars appears to be a more suitable and habitable environment for human beings. He said he would like NASA to come up with a plan that does not abandon trips to the moon, but instead focuses on a mission to Earth's neighbor, the planet Mars. Former US astronaut Buzz Aldrin, holding picture of himself during the opening of an exhibition to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing in Hong Kong Space Museum (File) Astronauts have not returned to the Earth's moon since 1972. Aldrin described the lunar surface as "magnificent desolation," ...

By Mike O'Sullivan Los Angeles 16 July 2009 In this July 20, 1969 file photo, Astronaut Edwin E. 'Buzz' Aldrin Jr. poses for photograph beside US flag deployed on moon during Apollo 11 mission The Apollo 11 lunar landing on July 20, 1969, was the culmination of the longtime human dream of reaching the moon. The Apollo missions ended one phase of the U.S. space program, and started another. Apollo 11 expanded the reach of human beings, and offered a vision of the earth from a new perspective. Mission commander Neil Armstrong radioed the first words from the moon to Mission Control in Houston. "Tranquility Base, here. The Eagle has landed," he said. When Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted the American flag on the lunar surface, it was also a proud moment for the United States, which had lagged behind the Soviet Union in the early days of the space race. In 1957, the Soviet Union launche...

By Brian Wagner Miami 16 July 2009 Liftoff of space shuttle 'Endeavour' from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida Astronauts aboard Endeavour began inspecting the shuttle's heat shield for possible damage after Wednesday's launch. Officials spotted some debris falling off during liftoff. Astronauts began their first full day in space by inspecting the heat shield to ensure the shuttle is safe to return to Earth in two weeks. The seven-member crew controlled a robotic arm equipped with cameras and lasers to scan the surface of the heat shield. In Houston, NASA commentator Kylie Clem said officials in Houston monitored the seven-hour procedure. "This data is going to be downlinked to the ground and pored over by imagery analysts looking for any signs that the heat shield incurred any damage during the launch," he said. The survey has become routine for shuttle ...

By Al Pessin The Pentagon 16 July 2009 Defense Secretary Robert Gates (File) At a question-and-answer session with American soldiers, Secretary Gates was asked whether he is concerned about the U.S. ability to defend South Korea from a North Korean invasion. The United States has 28,000 troops in South Korea. But the secretary said South Korea's own army has grown in size and capability in recent years, and would handle most of the fighting, with help from American air and naval forces. He also said he is not particularly concerned about North Korea's conventional military power, which is often reported to be substantial. "Frankly, this is an army that's starving. The average North Korea, at this point, is seven inches shorter than his South Korean counterpart. This is a country where the famine of the mid-1990s has affected the physical and even intellectual development of those that are now...

By Art Chimes Washington, D.C. 16 July 2009 Forty years to the day after Apollo 11 astronauts blasted off on the way to their historic first moon landing, NASA [Thursday] previewed restored video of the first moon walk. The enhanced images are a dramatic improvement over the pictures seen by hundreds of millions around the world when they were broadcast live from the moon. On his way to being the first man to set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong opened a door on the lunar landing craft that had a small television camera attached. The camera swung out, giving a worldwide audience its first look at - well, it was actually hard to tell at first. "The camera worked, but what we saw at that point was rather disturbing, because it was not what we had simulated, and we knew we had a problem," said Stan Lebar, who helped develop that camera, a three-kilogram marvel of its day. But the signal it transmitted...

By Brian Wagner Miami 15 July 2009 Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 15 July 2009 Space shuttle Endeavour has launched on a mission to finish construction of a new science lab at the International Space Station. The seven astronauts aboard Endeavour began their journey Wednesday evening to deliver the third and final segment of the Japanese Kibo science laboratory. NASA commentator Mike Curie counted down to the liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We have main engine start, and four, three, two, one. Booster ignition and liftoff of Endeavour , completing Kibo and fulfilling Japan's hope for an out-of-this-world space laboratory," he said. The Endeavour was supposed to launch last month, but a hydrogen leak forced officials to postpone while technicians fixed the problem. A series of thunderstorms caused further delays this w...

Jeremy Wagstaff | Mon, 06/08/2009 11:10 AM | Sci-Tech We're living in an age where change is happening so fast we're almost permanently dizzy. Maybe previous generations felt like this too, but I suspect we're getting it worse. Particularly, for some reason, this year. The big economic crisis is big. But what we're not noticing is how it's accelerating other kinds of changes. If someone wanted to pinpoint the moment at which the West and the East started to shift in the way they looked at each other it would probably be sometime around . now. I have no idea how all that kind of thing is going to pan out, but another huge change that we're not really ready for is the demise of newspapers. We thought this would take another 10 years. Enough time for those of us employed in the profession to write a few obituaries, sigh a lot, appear on TV and nod sadly in the direction of the younger generation. Not so. It's...

By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer - Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:47AM EDT BEIJING - Global business groups have made an unusual direct appeal to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to scrap an order for PC makers to supply controversial Internet filtering software , citing security and privacy concerns. Just days before the deadline to comply with China's order, the letter from 22 chambers of commerce and trade groups representing the world's major technology suppliers adds to pressure on Beijing to halt the plan following an official protest by Washington. The order requires manufacturers to pre-install or supply "Green Dam Youth Escort" software with PCs made for sale in China beginning Wednesday. "The Green Dam mandate raises significant questions of security, privacy, system reliability, the free flow of information and user choice," said the letter dated Friday, a copy of...