Tips Investasi untuk Orang yang Tidak Memiliki Banyak Waktu

Source : http://www.portalreksadana.com/node/527

Masalah yang sering menghambat kita untuk berinvestasi adalah minimnya waktu yang kita miliki. Sehari-hari kita ditelan pekerjaan dan ketika sampai di rumah pada malam hari sudah terlalu lelah untuk memikirkan bagaimana merencanakan investasi. Masalah tersebut adalah hal yang umum dialami oleh kebanyakan orang. Jadi adakah solusinya? Setiap masalah pasti ada penyelesaiannya. Berdasarkan pengalaman saya banyak hal yang bisa kita siasati agar bisa tetap berinvestasi meskipun waktu luang kita sangat sedikit.

Guide: What to Do After Jailbreaking Your iPhone

source: http://www.iphonedownloadblog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1891

This is just a little list of things to do once you have jailbroken your i. Please note this is a very small list just to get your feet wet after you figure out what you want to do to your i there is endless possibilities.

Pertarungan Giant SAP-Oracle: Benturan antara Aji Pamungkas Inovasi versus Racun Pamungkas Akusisi

oleh: Ferizal Ramli

(*** Tulisan ini terinspirasi dari Legenda Kisah Silat Legendaris di Tanah Jawa yang dibukukan dalam „Babad Pusaka Nogososro dan Sabukinten“ karya SH Mintaradja yang dilustrasikan dalam coretan grafis oleh Kentardjo)

Konon khabarnya dahula kala tersebutlah beberapa perusahaan jawara di tanah Perdikan Industri Standard Software atau ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). ERP/Standard Software bahasa gampangnya adalah software yang diimplementasikan untuk kegiatan operasional perusahaan.

Oracle awarded $1.3 billion in SAP lawsuit | Business – InfoWorld

By James Niccolai

Created 2010-11-23 03:04PM

 

A jury has awarded Oracle $1.3 billion in damages in its corporate theft lawsuit against SAP, a blow to the German applications vendor, which had argued it should pay just $40 million for the software stolen by its TomorrowNow subsidiary.

Oracle said it was “the largest amount ever awarded for software piracy.” Members of its legal team embraced each other as the verdict was read in the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., according to a person in the courtroom. Closing arguments had been presented Monday afternoon, so the jury took less than a full day of deliberations to reach its decision.

[ Stay ahead of the key tech business news with InfoWorld's Today's Headlines: First Look newsletter [1]. | Read Bill Snyder’s Tech’s Bottom Line blog [2] for what the key business trends mean to you. ]

It was not the full amount Oracle had asked for, but still considerably more than SAP had said it should pay. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison testified two weeks ago that SAP should have to pay as much as $4 billion to cover the cost of the stolen software.

In the end, the amount awarded was closer to the sum suggested by Oracle’s damages expert, who put the figure at $1.7 billion. SAP’s damages expert had told the jury that SAP should have to pay $40 million in damages, to cover Oracle’s lost profits.

“We are, of course, disappointed by this verdict and will pursue all available options, including post-trial motions and appeal if necessary,” SAP said in a statement.

The verdict follows an 11-day trial that captivated Silicon Valley with the drama of the two biggest business-software-applications vendors battling in court. Top executives including Ellison, Oracle co-President Safra Catz and SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott appeared in the witness box.

The battle appears not to be entirely over, however, and SAP suggested its appeal could take a long time to play out. “This will unfortunately be a prolonged process and we continue to hope that the matter can be resolved appropriately without more years of litigation,” it said.

SAP never denied that TomorrowNow had downloaded software and support materials illegally [3] from an Oracle website, although it did initially deny knowing about it. The trial was to determine how much SAP should pay.

TomorrowNow provided low-cost support services to customers of JD Edwards and PeopleSoft, which Oracle had just acquired when SAP bought TomorrowNow in 2005. Oracle’s lawyers argued that SAP felt threatened by the acquisitions and bought TomorrowNow as a way to undercut Oracle’s maintenance revenue from those applications, and to try to lure customers to SAP’s own software.

The jury was given wide latitude in deciding how much damages to award. It apparently bought Oracle’s argument that SAP should have to cover the cost of a “hypothetical license” — or whatever it would have had to pay Oracle to license the stolen software at fair market value.

SAP had argued that it should have to pay only for the profits that Oracle lost from customers who switched to TomorrowNow’s services. According to SAP, that amounted to only tens of millions of dollars for a handful of customers.

SAP filed a few post-trial motions before the verdict was delivered. One of those asked the judge, in the event of a high jury award, to consider whether the damages are fair and appropriate. It wasn’t immediately clear Tuesday if Judge Phyllis Hamilton planned to consider those motions.

One observer said the verdict is more than a financial setback for SAP.

“The bigger damage will likely be in the competitive marketplace, where Oracle will be pushing its new generation of Fusion apps and application updates, and SAP has little to offer but a further tarnished reputation,” said analyst Rebecca Wettemann, a vice president with Nucleus Research.

SAP initially denied knowing about the illegal software downloading at TomorrowNow, which started before it bought the company. But shortly before the trial, it said it would not contest “contributory infringement” in the case. That means it acknowledged that its executives knew, or should have known, about the illegal downloads.

“SAP learned the hard way today that stealing is wrong and even big software companies — especially big software companies — will be punished for it,” Wettemann said.

 

Growing your Nest Egg

Good article for the beginner investor….like me

Rahasia Jadi Jenius Ala Stephen Hawking

Elin Yunita Kristanti | Jum’at, 22 Oktober 2010, 06:00 WIB

VIVAnews – Sekilas ia memang terlihat tak berdaya. Sudah 45 tahun hidup dijalaninya dalam kondisi lumpuh dan bergantung pada kursi roda. Untuk bicara sekalipun, pria 68 tahun itu harus menggunakan alat bantu.

Namun, siapa yang tak kenal Stephen Hawking. Ia astrofisikawan terkemuka dunia yang menelurkan teori-teori hebat, juga nekat mengeluarkan pernyataan kontroversial: tentang Tuhan dan alien.

Ketika memberikan kuliah umum di Royal Albert Hall, London, baru-baru ini, Hawking mengaku saat anak-anak, kemampuannya tidak luar biasa.

Bahkan, sebelum berusia 8 tahun, ia tak bisa membaca. Secara akademis, kemampuannya juga lambat.

“Kakak perempuanku Philippa justru bisa membaca sejak berusia empat tahun….tapi kemudian, yang jelas ia lebih cerdas dari saya,” kata Hawking, seperti dimuat situs News.com.au, Kamis 21 Oktober 2010 malam.

Jangankan jadi juara kelas, saat sekolah, ia tak pernah ada di peringkat separuh teratas di kelas.

“Pekerjaanku di kelas berantakan. Tulisan tanganku mirip cakar ayam, sampai-sampai membuat guruku frustasi,” tambah dia.

Tapi, saat itu teman-temannya di kelas memberinya julukan ‘Einstein’,mengambil nama ilmuwan besar, Albert Einstein.

“Mungkin mereka melihat pertanda baik dari diriku,” kata dia.

Meski akhirnya berhasil memperoleh gelar dari universitas ternama, Oxford University, Hawking mengaku saat itu ia tak bersungguh-sungguh. Jujur, tiap harinya Hawking hanya mengalokasikan waktu sejam untuk mengerjakan tugas-tugasnya.

Hidup adalah pilihan, “kamu bisa jadi brilian tanpa usaha atau menerima segala keterbatasanmu dan mendapatkan gelar setinggi-tingginya.”

“Aku tidak bangga dengan hasilnya. Aku hanya mendeskripsikan perilakuku saat itu: sikap bosan dan merasa tak ada yang berarti untuk diraih.”

Lalu, kapan Hawking menjadi jenius?

Titik balik hidup Hawking terjadi di usianya yang ke-21 tahun. Saat itu, ia diberi tahu, bahwa hidupnya mungkin tinggal beberapa tahun lagi.

Inilah yang memacunya menjadi produktif. “Saat diberi tahu akan mati muda. Ini akan membuatmu sadar bahwa hidup sangat berharga. Tiba-tiba sangat banyak yang ingin kau lakukan di saat-saat terakhir,” kata Hawking.

Justru saat tak berdaya, masa-masa menghadapi kemungkinan mati muda adalah periode emas bagi Hawking. Ia bangkit, berjuang, produktif sebagai ilmuwan, hingga membawanya ke penemuan dua teori besar, yakni Big Bang dan Black Hole.

Is It Better to Buy or Rent?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html

Published: March 2, 2010

Whether renting is better than buying depends on many factors, including how fast prices rise and how long you will stay in your home. Compare the costs of buying and renting equivalent homes.

10 steps to follow when buying a property

By Mr. Propwise (courtesy of PropertyGuru)

Buying a home is the biggest purchase most of us will make in our lives.

Yet many people rush to buy a property with less preparation than they would planning a holiday. This can have financially disastrous consequences, especially in light of the new measures announced by the government on August 30th, which have created a lot of uncertainty in the property market. 

Follow the steps laid out below when buying a property, and you will be much less likely to make an expensive mistake.

1. Decide whether you want to rent or buy

Buying a home is often an emotional decision. That’s fine – just make sure it’s a rational one too. Honestly ask yourself if you need to buy a home, and whether renting might be a viable option.

2. Calculate how much you can afford

First look at how much money you currently have, including cash and CPF. Note that based on the new measures, if you already have at least one loan outstanding, your minimum cash outlay will increase from 5 percent to 10 percent. Next, figure out how much you can borrow, taking all your outstanding debts into account. You can work with a banker, or use the affordability calculator available on LoanGuru (https://www.loanguru.com.sg/mortgage_affordability_calculator). Most banks will only lend up to a 35-50 per cent Debt Service Ratio (your total debt payments divided by your monthly income).

3. Figure out what sort of home you want

What are your current and future housing needs? For example, a newly married couple that buys a studio or one bedroom unit might find within a year or two that they need a two or three bedroom apartment once a baby is on the way. Would you prefer HDB or private property, if you can afford it? Which districts or areas do you prefer to live in? What are the amenities and public transportation options you want?

4. Build a list of options

You can choose to either use a buyer’s agent and/or go DIY. Look at both options offline (e.g. classified ads in the newspapers) and online (property websites) to get the largest pool to choose from. Based on what you’ve figured out from Steps 2 and 3 above, come up with a list of potential projects to consider.

5. Do market research and narrow down your choices

You can check the recent transacted prices of these projects from the PropertyGuru website. Compare prices there with surrounding projects. Compare the transacted prices with the asking prices. If you are buying for investment, look at the market rents and rental yields. Eliminate the projects that do not look attractive.

6. Go for property viewings

Based on this smaller list of projects, arrange viewings of at least a few different units in each project. It’s helpful to take photos and notes to help you remember what you saw. Visit each project at different times of the day and night to see if it is noisy or otherwise unpleasant. Narrow down your list to your top few units and do a second viewing if necessary.

7. Get indicative valuations and your mortgage pre-approved

Don’t miss this critical step! Before you make an offer, ensure that you have gotten an indicative valuation from a bank and an in-principle approval for a mortgage. You can approach the different banks yourself or use a mortgage broker to save time. Based on the new measures, if you already have an outstanding loan, your Loan To Valuation (LTV) limit has been lowered to 70 percent from 80 percent, so you’ll need to cough up more cash. Also, banks will only lend to you based on the LOWER of the valuation limit or purchase price, so if you are buying above the bank’s valuation, you will need to pay the difference in cash. If you are selling your existing home to purchase a new one and hope to borrow at 80 percent LTV, you now need to present proof to qualify (in the form of a signed purchase agreement for your current home and certification showing that stamp duty for your existing property has already been paid for by the buyer).

8. Make an offer and negotiate the purchase

Once you get the indicative valuations and at least one pre-approved mortgage from the bank, you can then make an offer knowing you can borrow what you need. There have been a number of unfortunate cases of buyers who have lost their deposits because they realised later that banks would not finance their purchase. When negotiating the purchase price, it helps to have a number of options on hand so you are not forced to overpay due to a lack of options.

9. Sign and exercise the Option To Purchase

If the seller accepts your bid, typically you have to put down a 1 percent deposit to get the Option To Purchase (OTP), and have 14 days to exercise it, by which time you will have to pay another 4 percent of the purchase price. Make sure you have the funds on hand to do so. Once you get the OTP, liaise with your conveyancing lawyer and mortgage banker to settle the procedures.

10. Complete the sale and collect the keys

Before the completion date, do an inspection of the home to confirm that all agreed on fixtures and items are still around. On the date itself, collect the keys and check that you have a complete set. Congratulations! You are the owner of a new home. Time to think about renovation and furnishing…

Mr. Propwise is the founder of the Singapore property blog www.propwise.sg; which aims to help people make better real estate buying, selling, renting and investing decisions.

Why Chose JD Edwards Enterprise One

Why Chose JD Edwards Enterprise One
(JDE vs. SAP)

1. JDE has core functionality in Financials, Distribution and Manufacturing. Payroll and HR do exist, although they really didn’t become stable until after Peoplesoft had purchased JDE (i.e., from 8.9 onwards) – and realistically most of the stability is in the 8.11 and 8.12 product in these areas. If you’re running any version prior to that, then I agree, it’s not a very stable product. Note, therefore, that the product HAS been revamped – many times – over the past five years.

2. JDE is an object-orientated architecture. Data and Logic are treated as indeterminate objects, and can be moved around “magically” in the enterprise architecture to improve scalability and performance. The standalone “demo” of JDE is not a cut-down version for example, it’s the entire product with everything mapped locally. SAP on the other hand is very much host-centric, requires a huge hardware investment – and cannot be solely run on a single workstation.

3. JDE is platform independent. No other ERP system can truly state this. Even in the midst of production, it is possible to add additional logic servers, database servers and “map” logic and data onto these servers – even custom logic – without the users being impacted. A migration from AS/400 to SQL server or Oracle, for example, can be done with the simplest of ease – taking no more than a couple of days of testing and migration to achieve. Try doing that on SAP. Not only that, but support of a new database or platform is easy for JDE – the proprietary middleware is adaptable and is separated from the business logic. Supporting Solaris, for example, took 4 weeks; same with UDB. If there is demand for Apple OS-X as a platform, it would take 4 weeks for the company to support the platform. It’s a future secure product.

4. The code is adaptable, AT RUNTIME. In effect, you have the ability to change process flows, workflow and adapt the business AT WILL. Changes to how a program should be used can be deployed with NO impact to production – additional business units; chart of accounts can all be modified live in a production environment if wished (obviously its important to test these changes first). Everything can be adapted to suit the business requirements first and foremost. SAP requires yet another “implementation” to do this.

5. Change the software to match the business. While SAP requires that the business changes to its “default” models – this is not necessary under JDE. In effect, this means that the software is totally adaptable to any company’s process flow – no matter how horrible it might be! Of course, it’s preferable to adapt certain models when a company implements – and JDE might not have been proficient in the past for providing such models – but EnterpriseOne can match ANY company’s requirements.

6. You get the SAME toolset as the software company – together with ALL the source code for all business logic. Obviously the code is proprietary, and I couldn’t post the source code to Sales Order Entry here, for example – but if you own JDE, you own the source. You can modify the code at will or create your own code with exactly the same toolset. SAP and other ERP solutions provide different tools for different tasks – but it’s not possible to change the default functionality easily. I could, if I wanted to, delete ALL my functional code and create my very own ERP functionality just using the toolset!

7. JDE code is 100% deployed to the web. Now, this is an interesting one. If you take a look at how the toolset works, you’ll see there is a “form design aid” for example. In here, you’ll develop your form and the logic behind the form – and when you deploy that form – it will instantly deploy both to a windows client and to a web server. The functionality is identical, just the interface is different. If JDE wanted to support a new type of GUI (for example, python) – then they change the “transmogrifier” and instantly add another GUI to their support. SAP has to come out with an entire release to support a different GUI.

8. Upgradeability. Because the business objects are written in a form that is version independent – upgrading to a new version is fast and relatively easy. In fact, the “tool” release (the code that customers DON’T get the source for – the middleware and presentation-generating logic) takes less than a day to adapt to. New databases, for example, can be supported in a very minor upgrade. Again, an entire release and a very lengthy “upgrade” are required with SAP and other products. In fact, customers can “pick and choose” what “flavor” of the product to which they want to upgrade; a very powerful option for the customer (but not great to try and support!).

Those are the points on top of my head. Its very VERY rare you EVER hear of a customer moving successfully from JDE to another ERP system. Once they get JDE, they stick to it. On the other hand, I’ve been involved (as you are currently) in many companies that have migrated FROM another ERP system (such as SAP) to JDE.

EnterpriseOne is technically the most advanced ERP system out there. Certainly the functionality might have had issues in certain areas – but over the past few years, this has been improved to the point where I see customers applying very few customizations to go live.

JDE is revamped EVERY DAY. There are improvements to functionality in the system – bug fixes, performance improvements – that are released, literally, EVERY day. Today, for example, more than 30 changes have been released for certain products. Whether a company needs to implement those changes is another matter.

Jon Steel – EnterpriseOneTechnical Specialist
ERP Sourcing LLC
Email erpSourcing LLC
(904) 382 5701

BI: Redenominasi Mata Uang Bukan Sanering

BI: Redenominasi Mata Uang Bukan Sanering

Heri Susanto, Nur Farida Ahniar | Selasa, 3 Agustus 2010, 13:24 WIB

VIVAnews – Gubernur Bank Indonesia Darmin Nasution menjelaskan bahwa redenominasi adalah penyederhanaan nilai mata uang rupiah, tetapi bukan sanering.

“Redenominasi ini terminologi yang tidak terlalu mudah buat lidah kita, tetapi pengertiannya bukan sanering atau pemotongan nilai uang,” ujar Darmin di Jakarta, Selasa, 3 Agustus 2010.

Jika diartikan secara sederhana, kata dia, redenominasi berarti penyederhanaan penyebutan satuan harga maupun nilai mata uang. Maksudnya, pecahan mata uang disederhanakan tanpa mengurangi nilai dari uang. Nilai mata uang tetap sama meski angka nolnya berkurang. Misalnya, Rp1000 menjadi Rp1, sedangkan Rp1 juta menjadi Rp1000.

Darmin memberikan contoh dengan mata uang lama, membeli barang dengan harga Rp300 ribu sama dengan Rp300 dengan mata uang baru. Jumlah barang yang diperoleh juga sama. Begitupun dengan gaji Rp5 juta dengan uang lama sama dengan Rp5000 dalam uang baru.

BI mengingatkan nilai pecahan mata uang Indonesia sebesar Rp100 ribu merupakan angka terbesar kedua di dunia. Pecahan mata uang Indonesia itu hanya kalah dari dong Vietnam yang memiliki pecahan 500 ribu. Namun, jika Zimbabwe dimasukkan, maka pecahan Indonesia berada di urutan ketiga terbesar di dunia.

BI menganggap uang pecahan yang cukup besar memang kurang efisien. Masalahnya, uang besar justru membuat proses pembayaran dan transaksi tunai menjadi lebih susah.

Jadi, BI menekankan redenominasi berbeda dengan sanering atau pemotongan uang. BI menekankan sanering selalu dilakukan oleh suatu negara dalam kondisi ekonomi tidak stabil. Itu bisa dalam situasi inflasi tinggi sehingga nilai mata uangnya dan daya beli merosot dengan cepat. Karenanya, perlu dilakukan pemotongan nilai uang atau senering.

“Nah ini sama sekali bertolak berlakang, redenominasi dilakukan dalam kondisi perekonomian sedang stabil, artinya perekonomian tumbuh dan inflasi terkendali,” kata dia.

Lantas, mengapa BI merasa perlu membicarakan soal redenominasi?

Dia menjawab, ini proses yang akan membutuhkan waktu sangat panjang. Menurut dia, pertumbuhan ekonomi sedang baik, inflasi juga terkendali, meski ada kenaikan harga cabe rawit. Bahkan, dalam beberapa tahun ke depan, inflasi mengarah pada 5% atau kurang.

“Karena itu, saatnya kita mulai mengajak masyarakat untuk mengerti apa yang akan dilaksanakan, lewat sosialisasi dan sebagainya,” kata dia.

Apalagi, untuk mewujudkannya membutuhkan waktu hingga 10 tahun dari sekarang. Sekarang ini, kami berada pada tahap finalisasi riset dan studi yang insyah Allah final akhir tahun ini. Sudah dua tahun kami lakukan studi soal ini.