Bersama keluarga, teman, sahabat, kolega.

Menjelang datangnya hari yang fitri,

Meski jemari tak dapat berjabat dan raga tak dapat bersua,

Dengan hati yang bersih, kita jalin indahnya silaturahmi.

Membuka keikhlasan di hari kemenangan,

‘tuk memulai lembaran baru dengan fitrah dan kesucian hati.

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1431 H

Mohon Maaf Lahir dan Batin

* Untuk melihat video ucapan dari Maverick, silakan klik tulisan ‘replay’ pada gambar di atas

What? A quiz? If I want to join Maverick, I just have to take a quiz?

Yes! If you dare to join us and be a part of our super fun team, you can start by taking this quiz. Go ahead and try for yourself, see if you’re Maverick enough!

Kemarin, Maverick mengobrol lagi dengan Yudhis, dari Yayasan Tunas Cendekia. Yudhis mengabarkan bahwa saat ini dana tersebut sudah digunakan sebagian untuk menyelesaikan pembangunan sekolahnya, dan rencananya akan selesai sebelum lebaran. Selain itu sebagian juga sudah dibelikan seperangkat komputer dan perlengkapan kelas lain.

“Supaya para siswa juga bisa belajar lebih banyak menggunakan IT, dan supaya tetap sesuai juga dengan tujuan kampanyenya – yaitu memanfaatkan media sosial untuk berbuat positif dan berbagi dengan sesama,” ungkap Yudhis. Penyerahan donasi ini juga bisa dibaca di situs Yayasan Tunas Cendekia di sini.

Kita doakan saja supaya kegiatan ini berjalan lancar, dan proses pembangunannya selesai tepat waktu.

Terus berkarya! SomeDay Indonesia is here already!

happy faces of the Mavericks

When was the last time you pushed yourself to try something new and your employer not only encouraged you but subsidized the cost up to one month of your salary!? Ask anyone at Maverick because they enjoy this every year!

At Maverick we constantly challenge our staff not only to provide quality work for clients, but also to develop themselves, broaden their horizons, try new things and generally getting out of their comfort zones. We think that life is much, much more than just work — which you of course have to be good at — but that each individual should explore the full potential of their lives.

That’s why we introduced the concept of a Personal Development Fund (PDF) from the first year Maverick was established. The fund, equivalent to a month’s salary, is available to anyone who’s been confirmed and who has been working with us for a year. You can use the fund, that gets renewed each year, for any course or program that helps you develop as a human being and makes your life richer. The best part is that it has to be non-work related.

Over the past few years Mavericks have used this fund in exciting ways. Shilla, for instance, used the fund to learn how to scuba dive in one year. The next year she used the fund to indulge in another passion of hers – cooking. She went to Hong Kong to enroll in a Dim Sum making course. Indri used her PDF to pursue the art of belly dancing and Adwie used his PDF to sharpen his skills in photography. Hanny is planning to use hers for a course in painting. And Maverick picks up the tab for all of these activities.

This year the PDF got better. We decided to allow our consultants to use it to travel. The only condition is that it must be to a destination that they haven’t been to before, so that they are exposed to new places, idea and people. We think it would be cool if our consultants are able to watch sunset from a different timezone, enjoying exotic food and friendly chat with local people, while not having to worry about the bills.

Paid-for holidays and an opportunity to enroll in any course to indulge your passions? What’s the catch?

Very little, really. You merely have to be very good at your work, push the boundaries of what’s possible and have a zest for life and learning new things.

The business of getting rich is tricky. Finance is infamously difficult to understand, which is why a lot of people don’t bother getting in touch with it in the first place. Meanwhile, to get rich you need to know how money works and how to make your money work for you. Getting rich takes a lot of planning, a little bit of gambling (in the positive sense of the word), and a healthy dose of luck. Everybody can get there if only we want to bother. This is what Mavericks learnt from a session of Rich Game with financial planner Aidil Akbar last Monday.

Rich Game is an original board game created by Aidil to teach people about finances. It is similar to Monopoly, except that instead of buying land or going to jail, we buy gold, trade stocks and lose our job. The objective is to get rich by amassing as much assets as we possibly can, before we die or the game ends. We will go through a variety of real-life financial experiences such as receiving salary and bonus, as well as paying for our children’s dental care, insuring our house, even getting fined by the police! This way, we will have fun while learning financial know-how.

Rich Game by Aidil Akbar - turns out that getting rich takes more than just saving your money in a piggybank

Players are divided into teams of 2, role-playing as husband and wife. Before the game begins, each team randomly picks a career card which has a salary and monthly household expenses. The more salary we have, the more expenses we have to shell out because according to the economic principle, the higher the supply, the higher demand there is. So if we earn more, then naturally we’ll be spending more as well. In addition to this, there are also income tax and zakat in fixed percentage relative to our salary that we need to pay every month.

Then there are also ‘Expense’ and ‘Investment Opportunity’ boxes. A team that lands on ‘Expense’ must pay for whatever is written on the card that the banker pulls out, like car repair or gym membership. This illustrates that in life, there are sudden expenses outside of our plan that we must be prepared for. Meanwhile if a team lands on an ‘Investment Opportunity’ box, there is a financial situation complete with a particular opportunity for investment that all teams can choose whether they want to take or not. For example: interest rates are up, and gold is on sale – buy, sell, or hold? We can also open a deposit account and purchase insurance for health, household, and car. With realistic examples like these, understanding how financial instruments work suddenly doesn’t feel like a chore.

If I go this way, can I get my salary twice?

Mavericks participated in the game with a number of Jakarta bloggers. None of us wanted to lose of course, so it was highly competitive yet full of friendly banter. One by one all the good men (and women) fell down, succumbing to the temptation of worldly pleasures and not saving enough. In the end only 2 Mavericks left standing – me, who died young with my ‘husband’, but because we were smart with our money when we lived, we were the richest in our group. And Cipluk, who emerged as the overall champion with the most assets. She won a package consisting of financial education books written by Aidil Akbar himself and one set of Rich Game. Meanwhile, the rest of us also received a book on syaria finances to remind us of the importance of managing our money.

Thank you to Aidil Akbar and our blogger friends – Ollie, Titiw, Sabai @_dita @mrbambang and many others, we Mavericks are now on our way toward wealth and the good life!

Mavericks & Aidil Akbar - we'll be rolling in riches, watch this space!

Dengan dukungan dan bertambahnya jumlah sponsor maupun blogger (dan penggiat dunia online), nampaknya Pesta Blogger akan terus menarik lebih banyak perhatian, dan kami di Maverick sudah sibuk bekerja sama dengan Panitia PB tahun ini untuk menyukseskannya

Dengan semakin dikenalnya PB, tentu saja, banyak juga orang yang mulai bertanya-tanya, apa peranan sebuah konsultan komunikasi dalam ajang ini.

Beberapa bloggers bertanya, misalnya:

1. Mengapa Maverick terlibat dalam ajang non-profit seperti Pesta Blogger?
2. Benarkah Maverick sudah mendaftarkan nama Pesta Blogger? Jika ya, mengapa?
3. Mengapa semua Pesta Blogger diadakan di Jakarta?

Pertanyaan-pertanyaan di atas sangat relevan, dan kami sangat senang menjawabnya, sehingga akan ada pengertian yang lebih mendalam mengenai bagaimana PB dirancang, dan bagaimana setiap tahunnya PB bisa menjadi semakin solid.

1. Mengapa Maverick terlibat dalam ajang non-profit seperti Pesta Blogger?

Di Maverick, kami percaya bahwa agar sebuah bisnis dapat sukses, kita juga harus memberikan kontribusi kepada masyarakat; yang memegang peranan penting juga dalam bisnis yang kami jalankan. Di tahun 2007 lalu, kami sadar bahwa blogger (dan penggiat dunia online) akan menjadi bagian penting dari masyarakat Indonesia, dan kami memutuskan menggunakan aset yang kami miliki sebagai perusahaan: entitas legal, kemampuan menangani fluktuasi cash flow, koneksi dengan dunia korporasi, untuk membantu mewujudkan Pesta Blogger.

Dari awal, kami sudah ingin menggunakan praktik profesional perusahaan swasta yang efisien untuk kepentingan publik. PB adalah pro-bono dari Maverick, yang tentunya, not-for-profit. Maverick mengorganisasi PB dan membantu mengimplementasikan keputusan besar yang diambil Panitia PB (yang merupakan para blogger sendiri) setiap tahunnya, mengenai penyelenggaraan PB itu sendiri.

Pertengahan tahun 2007, kami di Maverick mendapatkan ide untuk membuat ajang kopdar bagi para blogger. Mungkin untuk sekitar 50 blogger saja. Akhirnya, kami menghubungi kawan-kawan blogger, di antaranya adalah Enda dan NdoroKakung. Dari situlah tercetus keinginan untuk membuat acara kumpul-kumpul blogger.

Maverick, dengan akses ke dunia korporasi, kemudian mulai menyuarakan keinginan membuat acara kumpul-kumpul blogger ini agar bisa menampung lebih banyak blogger. Dari situ didapatlah dukungan sponsor pertama, dari Microsoft, dan XL, juga Nokia. Dari rapat Panitia tercetuslah nama Pesta Blogger, karena ajang ini adalah untuk merayakan adanya “Suara Baru di Indonesia”, suara para blogger. Maka dengan dukungan sponsor ini, PB 2007 bisa menampung 500 orang.

Dari situlah PB bermula hingga membesar menjadi 1,500 peserta tahun lalu. Dan jika ditanya mengapa Maverick yang mengorganisasi PB, memang karena Maverick adalah perusahaan dengan legalitas hukum. Untuk urusan sponsor misalnya, dan surat perjanjian, tentunya mereka hendak mengikat perjanjian dengan perusahaan berbadan hukum. Maka Maverick membantu menjadi pihak yang mengikat perjanjian dengan para sponsor. Termasuk juga menanggung biaya produksi dan persiapan acara sebelum sponsor melunasinya; karena biasanya sponsor memiliki waktu pembayaran tersendiri, termasuk ada juga yang membayar setelah event selesai.

Maverick juga menggunakan cash flow perusahaan untuk menanggung terlebih dahulu biaya produksi dan persiapan acara, sehingga persiapan PB sudah bisa berjalan meski uang dari pihak sponsor belum masuk. Dan ini termasuk juga menanggung sponsor yang bahkan setelah 2 tahun masih belum membayar 25 juta rupiah dari angka sponsorship yang dijanjikan sebelumnya.

Kami juga menggunakan hubungan baik yang dimiliki dengan beberapa perusahaan di Indonesia untuk berpartisipasi dalam ajang PB sebagai sponsor, dan menjadi pihak yang secara terus-menerus berkoordinasi dengan pihak sponsor untuk pembuatan booth, poster, backdrop, logo, juga menjembatani PB dan sponsor dengan rekan-rekan media/jurnalis. Sebagai konsultan komunikasi, Maverick juga memiliki hubungan baik dengan media dan jurnalis yang biasa ditemui sehari-hari dalam berbagai acara.

Pada penyelenggaraan PB pun, seisi kantor Maverick akan turut-serta membantu menjadi Panitia, mulai dari siaga di meja registrasi, menjadi runner untuk mempertemukan media dengan orang-orang yang hendak diwawancarai, mengambilkan air minum, memunguti sampah, apa saja yang bisa dikerjakan bersama-sama. Ini karena seluruh Panitia PB bekerja secara suka rela dan sudah punya tugas masing-masing, sehingga tak dapat mengurusi ‘perintilan’ semacam ini.

Kami tidak mengambil keuntungan finansial dari acara PB. Semua keuntungan yang didapat dari PB dialokasikan sebagai start-up budget PB di tahun berikutnya, dengan laporan keuangan yang juga dipublikasikan secara terbuka dan transparan di blog PB. Jika ada keuntungan yang didapat Maverick dari Pesta Blogger, adalah network: bahwa kami jadi mengenal lebih banyak blogger di Indonesia, mengenal komunitas blogger di berbagai daerah dan dinamikanya.

Sebagai perusahaan lokal, PB adalah ajang pro-bono yang dibantu penyelenggaraannya oleh Maverick sebagai kontribusi kami untuk Indonesia pada umumnya, dan para penggiat dunia online pada khususnya.

2. Benarkah Maverick sudah mendaftarkan trade mark Pesta Blogger? Jika ya, mengapa?

Pada tahun 2009, Maverick mendaftarkan nama Pesta Blogger karena ajang ini sudah mulai menjadi ajang dan ‘brand’ yang dikenal luas dan memiliki reputasi tertentu; baik di kalangan blogger, penggiat dunia online, maupun sponsor. Jika tidak didaftarkan, tidak ada yang bisa menghentikan orang-orang yang dengan alasan komersial maupun non-komersial mengambil keuntungan atau menyalahgunakan nama PB yang sudah dibangun oleh para blogger Panitia PB selama tiga tahun ini. PB sendiri adalah kerja keras tim Panitia PB 2007, 2008, 2009, bersama para Chairman-nya. Setelah ‘mengamankan’ brand PB, tentunya para blogger Panitia PB dapat memutuskan dan diinformasikan sekiranya ada yang hendak menggunakan nama PB–agar tidak terjadi penyalahgunaan yang tidak kita inginkan. Pada dasarnya, Maverick membantu sebagai fasilitator, dan keputusan lainnya memang diserahkan sepenuhnya kepada Panitia PB.

3. Mengapa semua Pesta Blogger diadakan di Jakarta?

Sebenarnya PB tidak harus diadakan di Jakarta. Dan pilihan agar PB dirotasi keluar Jakarta selalu ada, jika memungkinkan dari berbagai segi. Pada dasarnya, ada beberapa pertimbangan mengapa dalam beberapa tahun terakhir PB kerap diadakan di Jakarta, salah satunya berhubungan dengan dana.

Beberapa pertimbangan antara lain:

1. Memang tidak bisa dipungkiri, sebagian besar peserta PB (sekitar 2/3-nya) datang dari area Jakarta, Bandung, Bogor, Depok, Bekasi, Tangerang, dan sekitarnya. Tetapi untuk kawan-kawan dari daerah lain, ini juga menjadi pertimbangan kami: masalah akses ke venue. Mengingat Jakarta adalah ibukota negara, ada begitu banyak cara untuk datang ke Jakarta baik dengan kereta/pesawat, misalnya, dibandingkan dari daerah-daerah lain—dengan jadwal yang cukup banyak juga. Namun jika katakanlah PB diadakan di daerah lain, apakah juga aksesibilitas ini tetap terjaga? Kemudian, bagaimana mekanisme penentuan kota apa yang akan dipilih untuk penyelenggaraan PB? Ini salah satu yang juga menjadi perhatian kami.
2. Selain itu, kami juga berupaya ingin menyediakan bantuan akomodasi bagi kawan-kawan yang datang dari luar Jakarta. Dengan keterbatasan dana, mungkin akomodasi yang disediakan juga akan terbatas, mungkin hanya untuk puluhan orang saja, dan tidak mewah, tapi mudah-mudahan cukup membantu kawan-kawan yang sudah jauh-jauh datang. Jikalau PB diadakan di luar Jakarta, kami masih belum sanggup tentunya menanggung akomodasi kawan-kawan yang berasal dari Jabodetabek, yang jumlahnya nyaris 2/3 peserta PB secara keseluruhan. Jika yang disediakan hanya puluhan, tentunya akan jauh lebih banyak juga persentase yang tidak dapat menerima bantuan akomodasi tersebut.
3. Selain pertimbangan itu, ada juga pertimbangan lainnya: dari segi pembicara maupun juri lomba yang diundang ke PB, kebanyakan memang berdomisili di Jabodetabek/Bandung. Biasanya untuk sesi-sesi PB, ada sekitar 15-20 pembicara yang diundang atas permintaan para blogger. Jika PB diadakan di luar Jakarta, selayaknya kita perlu mengalokasikan dana untuk transportasi dan akomodasi mereka. Plus juga dana transportasi dan akomodasi panitia PB. Karena dana PB terbatas, kami pikir akan lebih baik dananya disalurkan kembali untuk para blogger sendiri apakah itu untuk memberikan hadiah bagi lomba-lomba, paket makanan yang lebih komplit, merchandise yang lebih bagus, dan sebagainya.
4. Kebanyakan panitia dan sponsor berdomisili di Jakarta; dan penyelenggaraan PB di Jakarta ini memudahkan panitia dan sponsor (serta EO dari pihak sponsor) untuk berkoordinasi, juga dengan mudah dapat melakukan survey mulai dari seminggu sebelum hari H ke venue acara.
5. Masih dari sisi sponsor, salah satu yang ‘dilirik’ sponsor dari PB adalah publisitas dan liputan media yang luas. Ketika PB diadakan di Jakarta, media dapat dengan mudah datang sendiri ke lokasi PB sebentar dan meliput, lalu pergi lagi meliput acara lainnya. Memang tidak bisa dipungkiri media-media besar, termasuk majalah dan televisi, sebagian besar berkantor di Jakarta. Jika PB diadakan di daerah lain, tentunya ada pertimbangan biaya, jarak dan waktu dari media yang bersangkutan untuk mengirimkan wartawannya meliput PB.

Selama ini memang alasan-alasan praktis ini yang masih menyebabkan PB diadakan di Jakarta. Kami sendiri sebenarnya ingin mengadakan PB di daerah lain, selama kelima pertimbangan di atas bisa teratasi—tentunya, dengan dana yang mencukupi juga. Salah satu pendekatan yang memungkinkan adalah bantuan dari kawan-kawan untuk mendapatkan dukungan dari pemerintah daerah/provinsi sehingga mereka dapat membantu menyediakan dana dan prasarana yang dibutuhkan untuk menggelar PB di daerah tersebut. Kami memang belum mampu mewujudkan PB di luar Jakarta sampai saat ini, karenanya bantuan berupa saran yang solid dari kawan-kawan mengenai bagaimana kami bisa mewujudkannya akan kami terima dengan senang hati.

Tahun lalu pun dari Panitia PB sudah mengusahakan bekerja sama menggelar mini PB di 10 kota di Indonesia. Tahun ini semoga bisa disempurnakan lagi penyelenggaraannya, melihat bagaimana komunitas di berbagai daerah juga sangat antusias dan profesional dalam mengorganisasinya. Jadi, juga sangat memungkinkan bagi kawan-kawan di daerah lain jika hendak menggelar PB di daerah masing-masing.

Demikian, semoga menjelaskan! Dan jangan segan-segan meninggalkan komentar, kritik atau saran mengenai PB di pestablogger.com Sampai ketemu di PB2010!  Salam!

Nevertheless, as Andy Warhol mentioned “15 minutes of fame”, clearly Sinta and Jojo got 5 minutes 14 seconds to gain fame. And curiosity.

Suddenly things going hilarious. A Yahoo! Answer user asking a question:

Apart from the debate by music connoisseurs, ‘Keong Racun’ song itself already went around in Indonesia for quite some time and being unheard, until now. Thanks to Sinta and Jojo, public’s attention once again directed to ‘Keong Racun’ even Charly Van Houten (yes, it’s a real name,) the vocalist of ST12 (one of Indonesia music groups) decided to rearrange ‘Keong Racun’ song by having two other ladies (not Sinta and Jojo) to sing the song as their debut.

And by writing this, I think it’s better for me to limit my hours in watching TV infotainment programs in the morning.

Sinta and Jojo actually weren’t the first in doing this lipsync-to-the-music thing. Youtube already recognized Moymoy Palaboy from Philippine. This hilarious duet gained stardom from their hilarious videos and media, of course, sniffed the phenomenon.

Looking at the effect caused by Sinta and Jojo,  it’s a wonder to see how the Internet taking a great leap in Indonesia. Things are getting faster (and weirder) now and it’s always interesting to see what Indonesia onliners will bring to us in the next future, be it positive, negative or just plain strange and random.

So what do you think? What might Indonesia onliners bring to us in the future?

One unpleasant example occurred to Motrin, a pharmacy company in USA, during the launch of their ad campaign via online (website and youtube) and in magazines. Stated later on, their campaign was actually intended to demonstrate genuine sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their babies. Thus, Motrin created this ad.

As seen in the video, the company used statements that are considered offensive for many mothers, thus it sparked controversy instantly. Statements such as “Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion” and “it totally makes me look like an official mom” were not exactly favorable to mothers, which happened to be the products’ main target market. Later, the ad received negative responses by mothers through social media; such as blogs, twitter, facebook, and youtube.

Seeing moms’ outraged response, Motrin acted promptly to ease up their anger. They wrote apology letter to bloggers, which created sympathy among mothers who protested the campaign. They also retracted the ad from their website and distribution in magazines. They didn’t do a press conference either, which from PR perspective can be a good thing as doing it might just spread the crisis wider.

Again, learning from Motrin’s case, companies need to be very careful in developing messages or strategies that will be used for their products or companies. Otherwise, things could get a little ugly; especially with the rise of social media that allows news and conversations, both positive and negative, to spread very fast. What we can also learn from this crisis is that, from time to time, we could involve our PR people when we are developing marketing strategies for our brands. They could help by providing very useful insights when dealing with sensitive issues.

They do. I personally think, they work for fun! And why the heck did I say that?

Well, as one of Young Caring Professional Award (YCPA) 2010 winners, last Monday, I got a chance to visit Google office in Singapore! Located at the 38th floor of 8 Shenton Way, Google office Singapore is the miniature of those awesome Google office videos/images you’ve ever seen!

They do have those colorful walls, a wall full of colorful pictures of Googleys smiling and having fun, jars full of candies, chocolates and sweets, soft drink and coffee corner, as well as a huuuge canteen with egg station and different kind of food for lunch, game boards, comfy sofas, bed-like sofas with curtains… you name it!

As I was walking down the aisle to the meeting room with a bunch of other YCPA winners, I bumped into a guy who was smearing jam over his bread and asked, “Hey, where are you from, what’s the ocassion?” Turned out, this guy was Henky Prihatna, Global Content Community Manager at Google Singapore–and, an Indonesian! So we talked a bit about, of course, the upcoming Pesta Blogger

Next, I met Sarah Robb, Head of Human Resources of Google Southeast Asia, who talked to us about Google’s culture and core values. If you’d like to work in Google, apart from the skills set required, it’s also important that you’re humble, willing to communicate openly, passionate about how you can change the world, eager to roll up your sleeves and get things done, plus it’s compulsory that you have other activities outside work!

“We’d like to know if Googleys are also successful in their life outside work,” said Sarah.

Sarah also told us some of Google’s core values, but the ones that are most interesting to me are “have fun” (and they surely know how to do it!) and “you can be serious without a suit” It reflects Googley approach on work as well. They just love the company, the c0-workers, and the work they’re performing. Thus work doesn’t feel like work. It’s not a burden. It’s fun. It’s hard to tell whether Googleys are working or having fun–they’re working while having fun, and having fun while working!

“We’re having healthy disrespect of the impossible,” said Sarah. Googleys are not afraid to try new things, experiment, and launch new products or services. The sooner the better. “It’s better to start and fail than never started anything!”

In Google, every week they have a brainstorming session to throw ideas on recent or upcoming Google products, also to dig deeper on how Google products can be useful for their advertisers.

Next, Vinoaj Vijeyakumaar from Google Analytics JAPAC Lead, Media & Platforms Solutions at Google shared some stories about Google’s products; and some great stuff developers have built around the world using Google And yes, yes, yes, this is my favorite session! As Vinny (that’s his nickname) talked, I got lots of ideas and inspirations to be applied to some of my clients’ campaign. The possibility is endless; and ideas kept popping up in my head! That was the best feeling!

Pearl Yao, Media Sales Consultant Online Sales & Operations of Google Singapore also shared about how advertisers can make use of Google analytics and other Google products to increase the impact of their advertising effort. One of the example she told us was about Michelle Phan, a girl who loved to provide make-up tutorials on YouTube and now being the official spokesperson of Lancome cosmetics.

Then I got a chance to meet Erika Oktora as well, she was another Indonesian (29 years old, born in Pontianak) who’s working in Google Singapore (there are 4 Indonesian in Google Singapore now). Erika’s background was accounting, but now she’s the AdWords Accounts Strategist for Google and her task includes helping clients/advertisers to design their campaign and get the most out of Google.

Erika told us that she applied for a job at Google via website, and then had to undergo 8 layers of interviews! And these were one-on-one interviews–a long way to go, but she made it!

Fira Basuki, the chief editor of Cosmpolitan magazine who were there with me asked Erika, what was the interview question she remembered the most.

“They asked how many dimples are there in a golf ball,” said Erika

All of us let out a ‘phew’. And Fira asked Erika, “Wow, so what was your answer to that?”

Erika smiled, “Well, I said… just Google it!”

It was a short visit to Google Singapore, but I just loved it! It was so inspiring to see a lively office space, with friendly people who are having fun with what they do, and to see how Googleys at Google really live up to their values.

___

When I got got back to Maverick’s office on Tuesday, I was struck by this warm feeling as I saw people jumping and yelling “Aaaaa, you’re baaaack! How’s Google?” while joking around and munching in our ‘living room’ that was full of chocolates and sweets.

Then I got to New Media Division’s room and grinned at Kapkap’s comic wall–capturing all the funny and silly things we’ve done.

Then my boss came by and I teased him on how he became slimmer after his bypass surgery (Me: Okay, be honest, are you having a bypass or tummy tuck? | Ong: Well, I thought, hey Doc, after my chest, can you do my stomach as well?).

Faintly, I could hear Surya singing pop-songs in the morning, excited gasp and laughter from here and there as Sharon and Adis watched the talked-about YouTube video Keong Racun…

I got back to my desk and smiled. I might not work in Google — but hey, I love the company I’m working at, I love my colleagues, I love my job…

… and I couldn’t ask for more! It’s just as cool–if not better!

The US government stated that iPhone jailbreaking is legal if it is for educational and non-profit purposes, according to Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that’s being reviewed every three year by the Library of Congress.

What this means for the users is that they can jailbreak iPhone to install an application that has not been approved by Apple, but is a legal (not pirated) application.

The six exemptions for DMCA this year are:

1. Defeating a lawfully obtained DVD’s encryption for the sole purpose of short, fair use in an educational setting or for criticism

2. Computer programs that allow you to run lawfully obtained software on your phone that you otherwise would not be able to run aka Jailbreaking to use Google Voice on your iPhone

3. Computer programs that allow you to use your phone on a different network aka Jailbreaking to use your iPhone on T-Mobile

4. Circumventing video game encryption (DRM) for the purposes of legitimate security testing or investigation

5. Cracking computer programs protected by dongles when the dongles become obsolete or are no longer being manufactured

6. Having an ebook be read aloud (ie for the blind) even if that book has controls built into it to prevent that sort of thing.

Up until now, jailbreaking iPhone has been a practice that is done widely under the table, including in Indonesia. Although this rule doesn’t affect us, the Indonesian users, much, but the height of this event is rather hard to miss. It may also change the way we see iPhone and its application that, until now, seems exclusive. This rule may also affect the sales of iPhone and its applications, which definitely is something that Apple will not like.

So, what do you think about this new exemption? And how will it affect Apple?