Friday, February 8, 2008

Internet addresses are personal info

Internet addresses are personal info, EU says
Aoife White
Associate Press/Brussels

IP addresses, a string of numbers that identifies a computer, should generally be regarded as personal information, the head of the European Union's group of data privacy regulators said Monday.

Germany's data protection commissioner Peter Scharr leads the EU group preparing a report on how well the privacy policies of Internet search engines operated by Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others comply with EU privacy law.

He told a European Parliament hearing on online data protection that when someone was identified by an IP, or Internet protocol, address "then it has to be regarded as personal data."

His view differs from that of Google, which insists an IP address merely identifies the location of a computer, not who the individual user is - something strictly true but which does not recognize that many people regularly use the same computer terminal and IP address.

Scharr acknowledged that IP addresses for a computer may not always be personal or Iinked to an individual. For example, some computers in Internet cafes or offices are used by several people.

But these exceptions have not stopped the emergence of a host of "whois" Internet sites that apply the general rule that typing in an IP address will generate a name for the person or company linked to it.

Treating IP addresses as personal information would have implications for how search engines record data.

Google led the pack by being the first last year to cut the time they stored search information to 18 months. It also reduced the time limit on the cookies that collect information on how people use the Internet from a default of 30 years to an automatic expiry of two years.

But a privacy advocate at the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, said it was "absurd" for Google to claim that stripping out the last two figures from the stored IP address made the address impossible to identify by making it one of 256 possible configurations.

"It's one of the things that make computer people giggle," EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg told the AP. "The more the companies know about you, the more commercial value is obtained."

Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, however, said Google collects IP addresses to give customers a more accurate service because it knows what part of the world a search result comes from and what language they use - and that was not enough to identify an individual user.

"If someone taps in foot-ball' you get different results in London than in New York," he said.

He said the way Google stores IP addresses meant one of them forms part of a crowd, giving valuable information on general trends without infringing on an individual's privacy.

Google says it needs to store search queries and gather information on online activity to improve its search results and to provide advertisers with correct billing information that shows that genuine users are clicking on online ads.

Internet 'click fraud' can be tracked down by showing that the same IP address is jumping repeatedly to the same ad. Advertisers pay for each time a different person views the ad, so dozens of views by the same person can rack up costs without giving the company the publicity it wanted.

Microsoft does not record the IP address that identifies an individual computer when it logs search terms. But then its Internet strategy relies on users logging into the Passport network that is linked to its popular Hotmail and Messenger services.

The company's European Internet policy director Thomas Myrup Kristensen described the move as part of Microsoft's commitment to privacy.

"In terms of the impact on user privacy, complete and irreversible anonymity is the most important point here - more impactful than whether the data is retained for 13versus18 versus 24 months," he said.

But neither of the search engines received a pat on the back from Spain's data protection regulator Artemi Rallo Lombarte, who criticized them for not trying to make their privacy policies accessible to normal people.

Their privacy policies "could very well be considered virtual or fictional...because search engines do not sufficiently emphasize their own privacy policies on their home pages, nor are they accessible to users," he said, describing the policies as "complex and unintelligible to users."

Thursday, February 7, 2008

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Monday, February 4, 2008

Hotels, Galleries, Museums and Restaurants

Hotels:

1. Garuda Hotel Jl. Malioboro No. 60 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-541213

2. Hyatt Regency Hotel Jl. Palagan Tentara Pelajar Yogyakarta Tel 0274-7475031

3. Ibis Malioboro Hotel Jl. Malioboro No. 52 – 58 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-516974

4. Mercure Hotel Jl. Sudirman 9 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-7474751

5. Melia Purosani Hotel Jl. May Suryotomo 31 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-589521

6. Mutiara Hotel Jl. Malioboro 18 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-586909

7. Nusa Dua Indah Hotel Jl. Sosrowijayan Kulon Yogyakarta Tel 0274-541036

8. Novotel Yogyakarta Jl. Jend Sudirman 89 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-415974

9. Santika Hotel Jl. Jend Sudirman 19 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-563036

Galleries and Museums:

1. ASH GalleryJl. Imogiri 19A Yogyakarta Tel 0274-384404

2. Amri Gallery Jl. Gampingan 4 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-564525

3. Art Gallery Sapto Hudoyo Jl. Imogiri 19A Yogyakarta Tel 0274-541650

4. Dirix Art Gallery Jl. Laksda Adisucipto Km 8 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-563526

5. Imam Gallery Jl. Dagen 70 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-515037

6. Men Gallery Jl. Cendana 13 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-517996

7. Pasar Seni Gabusan Jl. Parangtritis Km 9 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-7490553

8. Tulus Warsito Gallery Jl. Jogokaryan 69B Yogyakarta Tel 0274-386204

9. Monumen P Diponegoro Jl HOS Cokroaminoto TR-lIl/430 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-622668

10. Museum Batik Jl Dr Sutomo Yogyakarta Tel 0274-562-338

11. Museum Benteng Yogyakarta Jl Jend A Yani 6 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-586934 – 510996

12. Museum Biologi UGM Jl Sultan Agung 22 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-7474544

13. Museum Dewantara Kirti Griya Jl Taman Siswa 25 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-459377

14. Museum Dharma Wiratama Jl. Jend Sudirman 75 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-561417

15. Museum Keraton Ngayogyakarta Kompleks Keraton Yogyakarta Tel 0274-373721

16. Museum Pergerakan Wanita Indonesia MandalaBhakti Wanitatama Jl Laksda Adisucipto 88
Yogyakarta Tel 0274-587818

17. Museum Sasmitaloka Pangsar Jenderal Soedirman Jl Bintaran Wetan 3 Yogyakarta
Tel 0274-376663

18. Museum Seni Dan Budaya Jawa Ullen Sentalu Jl Boyong 8 Pakem Yogyakarta
tel 0274-895161 JI Plemburan 10 Yogyakarta tel 0274-880157 - 880158

19. Museum Seni Lukis Affandi Jl Laksda Adisucipto 167 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-562593

20. Museum Seni Nyoman Gunarso Yogyakarta Jl Wulung 43 Tel 0274-564330

21. Museum Ulen Sentalu Jl Boyong 8 Pakem Yogyakarta Tel 0274-895161

Restaurants:

1. Ayam Goreng Mbok Sabar Jl. Jagalan 23 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-58667

2. Ayam Goreng Ny. Suharti Jl. Laksda Adisucipto 208 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-515522

3. Bamboo Resto & music Jl. Veteran 19 – 23 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-371118

4. Gadjah Wong Restoran Jl. Gejayan Soropadan 79D Yogyakarta Tel 0274-542815 - 568294 ·

5. Mbok Berek Rumah Makan Jl. Wates Km 5 Yogyakarta Tel 0274-415974


Books

Best Seller Books:

  • Harry Portter 7 (Bahasa Indonesia edition) - Rp 195.000 - HC (disc. 5%) - Rp 150.000,00 - SC - (disc. 5%)
  • Kagum Pada Orang Indonesia - Emha Ainun Nadjib - Cet. I, Jan. 2008- Rp 15.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Tidak. Jibril Tidak Pensiun - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Jul. 2007- Rp 50.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Folklore Madura - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Ags. 2005 - Rp 35.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Orang Maiyah - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Jul. 2007 - Rp 15.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Kerajaan Indonesia - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Ags. 2005 - Rp 55.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Istriku Seribu - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Des. 2006 - Rp 15.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Jalan Sunyi Emha - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Jun. 2006 - Rp 142.000,00 (disc. 20%) - limited edition
  • Kafir Liberal - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet.II, Jun. 2006 - Rp 15.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Orang Maiyah - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Jan. 2007 - Rp 15.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Puasa Itu Puasa - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Ags. 2005 - Rp 45.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Ziarah Pemilu, Ziarah Politik, Ziarah Kebangsaan - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Mar. 1999 - Rp 20.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition
  • Syair-Syair Asmaul Husna - Emha Ainun Nadjib- Cet. I, Mar. 1999 - Rp 40.000,00 (disc. 10%) - limited edition

Publisher :
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For Order :
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Yogyakarta area - minimal buying Rp 75.000,00 and for non Yogyakarta area minimal buying Rp 100.000,00 plus cost delivery depend on cost expedition. For order please email : sitichotijah@gmail.com, telp 0274-418536 sms : 02747889829 - 08158967729.

The Smart Guide to Stupid Investments

The Smart Guide to Stupid Investments
How to get a rise out of the stock market

By Stephen M. Polland and Mark Levine

The recent stock market swan dive has turned a lot of guys from shrewd to screwed. Call us square, but unless you are one sophisticated cat, we don't believe you should try stock picking. Yeah, mutual-fund holders got whacked, too, but God invented mutual funds for a reason: to spread out risk, hold up the bottom, and build wealth.

That said, we know some of you are going to buy individual stocks anyway. Guys drive too fast, love too hard, climb too high, and will-in spite of advice from financial professionals who love them-venture into the jungle of single stocks. Remember these rules and you may actually make some money when you ignore our advice.
SCRATCH THE ITCH, BUT DONT DRAW BLOOD
If a swoon in the price of your chosen stock would be a disaster, you're in too deep. A couple of grand should satisfy the craving. Under no circumstances should you gamble with more than half of what you would normally spend on a new car.
DANCE WITH WHO BRUNG YA
You'll have a better chance if you stick with businesses you know something about. But not your own company or industry. You're already heavily "invested" in that. Instead, look to products and services you use, to your own interests and hobbies. Of course, Frito Lay and the Green Bay Packers don't exactly add up to a blue-chip portfolio.
THERE'S NO GREEN IN GREENPEACE
Socially conscious companies and funds perform about 4 percent below the Standard & Poor's average. That’s because they have higher costs of doing business. If you want to protect Mother Earth, make charitable donations with a portion of the profits from your oil company stocks. And ditch the spotted-owl-skin shoes.
THROW OUT YOUR WATCH
Nobody knows when a market or stock has hit bottom, so trying to time your stock purchases is folly. Rather than betting your whole bankroll on one crazy, optimistic afternoon, buy a few shares at regular intervals. This is called dollar cost averaging, and it works. Let's say you want to invest $6,000 in a new online rent-a-pet venture, iguanas2u.com. Rather than trying to figure out when the stock has hit its lowest value, simply invest $500 every month. Sometimes you'll be buying when its price is high, and sometimes when it's low, but you'll usually end up doing better overall than the crystal-ball-reading schmoes who are absolutely sure the stock hit bottom at 1:18 p.m. on Wednesday.

Same wisdom applies to selling. If you're looking to turn over a stock, sell some of it as soon as you see a moderate up-ward trend. Don't be greedy. Remember the old stock market adage: Bears make money and bulls make money, but pigs get slaughtered.
TRAVELCAREFULLY
Invest only in foreign countries where they like capitalism and the government is reasonably stable. Here's a handy decision-making question: Would you let your daughter go to college in that country?

IGNORE THE HYPE, READ THE FINE PRINT
Once you find a stock that looks interesting-did we mention you shouldn't try to pick individual stocks?-order annual report or a prospectus, then
ignore most of it. Instead, just turn to the back and peruse those boring financial statements for a few key and easy-to-calculate numbers.
CONSIDER THE PE RATIO
The price-earnings ratio is probably the most famous number people look at when stock picking. It's a fraction, built of the stocks price divided by the annual earnings per share. If a single share costs $50 and earns $2 a year, the stock has a 25:1, PE ratio. Cross any stock with a PE ratio of more than 10:1 off your list of potential buys.
CHECK THE ASSETS
Check
the balance sheet in the back of the prospectus and look for the three numbers representing current inventory, cash on hand, and accounts receivable. Add them up. That's how much the company has available to pay its bills. Next, add the accounts-payable number to the figure for short-term debts due. That's the company's total bills. If the first number equals the second, the company has a liquidity ratio of 1:1, meaning just enough money on hand to pay the bills. This is okay, but not optimal. Just as you should have a cushion at the end of the month, so should a company. The more extra money on hand, the higher the liquidity ratio, and the safer the buy. A ratio of less than 1:1 is a warning sign. Steer clear of a company that has to borrow to meet its bills or expects help from friendly suppliers.
BELIEVE IN BOOK VALUE
If you came
across a 1965 T-bird in mint condition selling for only 10 grand, you'd grab it, right? Well, the same is true for investments. If a company's shares are selling for less than their book value, jump on them. There's no blue book for stocks, but it's easy to figure out their value on your own. Turn to the balance sheet. Find the total of hard assets. Then look to see the number of shares outstanding. Divide the by the number of shares assets and you've got the book value of each share.

Let's say you're thinking of investing in a stock that your brother-in-law touting: Guava Queen, a new fast-food chain selling up scale water wieners. The company's balance sheet shows total assets of $500,000, and there are 10,000 outstanding shares. That means each share has a book value of $50. If the stock is selling for $30a share and the company is earning money, buy it. Even your brother-in-law could be right once in his life.
WATCH FOR WORRY WORDS
Almost every financial statement has foot notes. Most are just technical clarifications. However, there are two serious caution-flag phrases to watch for in the fine print:

Pending litigation. If you see this, put the prospectus down and run, don't walk, to a driversified mutual fund. It could be nothing, but if it merited a mention, it worrisome enough that you should take your money elsewhere.

Subsequent events. This phrase refers to change that may have taken place after auditor okayed the final numbers. It's a sign that something bad may have happened since the statements were prepared. Pass on the stock. Psst...mutual funds.

Pollan and Levine are the authors of the Die Broke Complete Book of Money.

THE ECONOMY ON THE EDGE

THE ECONOMY ON THE EDGE

By Peter Coy

Will the U.S. succumb to debt crisis brought on by years of profligate lending-or keep growing? Here are some markers to mind in figuring out where we’re headed.

No, it's not just you-the U.S. economy really is bewildering. The government says gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of nearly 4% in the third quarter, the fastest pace in a year and a half. The stock market is still up by 4% for this year, despite a sharp 3% drop on Nov.7. On the other hand, growth in consumer borrowing slowed unexpectedly in September. Some economists argue that the U.S. is teetering on the brink of a recession, if it isn't in one already.

Oil has exploded to nearly $100 a barrel, gold is near an all-time high, and the cost of food is soaring. It seems like high prices are breaking out all over, right? Yet the core rate of inflation is less than 2% a year, according to one widely followed measure. Confusion reigns right on up to the Federal Reserve, whose interest rate setters are openly disagreeing about whether more cuts are needed.

Step back a little, though, and the situation becomes clearer. What we're observing, in all its bizarreness, is the ancient paradox of what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. The irresistible force in this case is the U.S. economy, which has managed to expand through all kinds of adversity for more than 15years, aside from one brief recession in 2001. The immovable object is a wall of debt that accumulated during several years of profligate lending and now can't be paid back. The risk has increased for a generalized credit crunch that puts both borrowers and lenders in dire straits.

So, either the U.S. economy will overcome the debt crisis and keep growing, or it won't. It’s that simple-and that important, with millions of indebted homeowners struggling to stay above water, the stock market seesawing uncertainly, and just a year to go before the next president is elected.

THE BIG PICTURE

You can't know for sure how all of this will turn out of course. But by focusing on the big picture rather than the minutiae, you can at least know the key questions to ask and the crucial indicators meriting your attention. These range from widely followed measures like the rate of home sales and the monthly survey of household jobholding to obscure ones like the risk premium on loans between banks.

What makes the economy even more unpredictable than usual is that the main threat to growth, a credit crunch, emanates from deep within the financial system. That's not given the something economists understand well, especially complexity of today's high-powered and globally interconnected financial markets.

The closest analogy is the credit crunch in the early 1990s, when bad commercial real estate loans damaged the banking system. Lending to businesses virtually stopped, and Citicorp nearly went bust. At the time, economists disagreed about how badly the bank problems would hurt the U.S. In fact, such worries played a role in the 1992 Presidential election, when Bill Clinton's campaign made famous the slogan: "It's the economy, stupid." But after government statisticians finished revising their data years later, the growth rate at the time of the 1992 vote actually turned out to be well above 4%.

So which will it be this time – strong growth or a plunge off the edge? The first place to look is the housing market, where the lending excesses were most extreme. Don't focus on falling home prices. Instead, watch for whether the pace of sales picks up in response price good to declines. It’s good news for the economy if more houses sold. Sales of new homes mean more work for carpenters and plumbers. Even sales of existing homes generate jobs for real estate agents, closing attorneys, furniture sales people, and others. It's bad news if prices and sales in potential fall in tandem because it could mean buyers are fearful of even bigger price declines. In fact, that's exactly what seems to be happening. The September sales pace for existing homes was down 19% from a year earlier, event though the median price was off 4%. Goldman, Sachs & Co. economists said on Nov. 7 that California, the epicenter of the subprime earthquake, "seems to be sliding into recession,” and Florida and Nevada probably are already in one.

A BOOST FROM A BROAD

Bad as it is, the outright depression in housing can't kill the economy as long as job growth is healthy. That's the second thing to watch, and so far, so good. The U.S. added a respectable 166,000 payroll jobs in October, according to the Labor Dept.'s preliminary estimate. The engine of growth is the service sector, including health care and social services. The weak dollar is helping export-related jobs. The tech sector is strong, too, buoyed by good economic growth. And on Nov. 7, the government reported a surprisingly strong 4.9% annualized growth in workers output per hour- meaning employers can afford to raise wages without causing inflation.

Watch out, though, for hidden weakness. While employers reported more jobs in October, a separate government survey of showed a 250,000 decline in the number of people who said they had jobs. Some economists argue the household survey is more accurate at economic turning points such as this. Pointing to that survey and other data, economic consultant Jack W. contends the U.S. has entered recession that will continuethrough at least the first half of 2008.”

Optimists say debt problems are simply too small of an iceberg sink a ship as mighty as the $ 14 trillion U.S. economy. Lincoln F. Anderson, investment officer and chief economist for LPL Financial Services in Boston, argues that even if default rates on subprime mortgages are sky-high, would amount to less than 1% of outstanding debt. But respond that if lenders were reckless in subprime, it stands to reason that they were at least some what careless in other kind of lending. “We had a period of over-easy financing that will show up across-the-board," says Avinash Persaud, chairman of London based adviser intelligence Capital. Add Persaud: “I dont think weve really seen the full scale of the problem.” To see if Persaud is right, keep an eye out for sharply rising default rates on prime mortgage loans, auto loans, credit card, and corporate debt.

With a generalized credit crunch threatening, it is suddenly essential to search for signs of it in such arcana as interest rate between risky and less risky securities. Trouble broke out in mid-August when investment banks began to report losses on mortgage-backed securities. The markets appeared to healing in September and most of October, but they've abruptly worsened since.

Market insiders are alarmed by evidence that banks don't trust each other. The London inter-bank offered rate (Libor) for dollars, which is for short-term loans between big, healthy banks, usually perks along at less than one-tenth of a percent above the risk-free interest rate. But the gap widened abruptly to seven-tenths a percent in mid-August and, after briefly narrowing, stands at around six-tenths, according to broker Tullett Prebon. Says Lena Komileva, Tullett Prebon's G7 market economist: "The crisis never went away. It just got concealed."

What's so scary about a credit crunch is that everyone-from banks to corporations to households-retrenches simultaneously, and of caution kills an excess growth. That hasn't happened yet, but there are hints we could be near a tipping point. The Federal Reserve reported on Nov. 5 that banks said they tightened lending standards in October, and equally unsettling, demand for loans from both business and consumers has decreased. Chief financial officers’ gloominess is the worst since surveying began during the 2001 recession, according to Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and CFO magazine. Pessimists outnumbered optimists by about 4 to 1 in September. And consumer the spending, the long-time engine growth, of U.S. economic might be flattening. The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence dropped sharply from nearly 112 in July to less than 96 in October.

The holiday selling season will provide crucial information on the economy has left shoppers feeling merry or harried. Several major retailers who are among the first to detect changes in the consumer mood, began their holiday discounting in early November this year, about three weeks ahead of normal, according to Stevan Buxbaum, executive vice-president of Buxbaum Group, an Agoura Hills (Calif.) investor and consultant. Wal-Mart kicked off its Black Friday pricing on Nov. 2 with Fisher-Price NASCAR Ride-On cars for $144.72 vs. $239.99 at KB Toys. That kind of pricing smacks of desperation to some analysts. “I expect a really tough Christmas," says William B. Greiner, chief investment officer of UMB Asset Management in Kansas City, Mo.

A NERVOUS NOVEMBER

So far, the subprime mess is more of a human tragedy than a stopper for the economy. Its being felt most by the lower middle class, which isn't the driving force in economic growth. The bottom 40% of the population by income accounts for just 21% of consumer expenditures. Julia L. Coronado, a senior U.S. economist at Barclays Capital, says that in terms of spending power, and taking into account stock market gains, "Consumers haven't lost any wealth at all. In fact, consumers are better off than they were a year ago.”

The stock market is the economy's best-known weather vane, but it's probably the hardest to interpret. So far this year, stock prices have trended higher, signaling that investors expect corporate profits to keep rising. Lately, though, Wall Street is getting edgy. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 362 points on Nov. and the same on Nov 7. Falling stock prices can darken the economic outlook by making investors feel poorer and less willing to spend.

With major firms such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch seemingly unable to assess the depths of their own troubles, the possibility of the economy slamming into a brick wall is palpable. The U.S. economy is one heck of an irresistible force, but the credit crunch is slowly sapping its strength. Clearly, the risk of recession is growing.

-With Nanette Byrnes in Chapel Hill, N.C., Dawn Kopechi in Washington, and Mara Der Hovanesian in NewYork.