Selasa, 30 Juli 2013

Fort Rotterdam - Makassar



The Best Preserved Dutch Fort in Asia 
(Barbara Crossette, New York Times Reporter)



benteng ujung pandang

History of Fort Rotterdam


According  to some literatures, this fort was build in  1545 by the King  of Gowa Kingdom , Imanrigau Daeng Bonto Karaeng Lakiung. Initially the name of this fort is Fort Ujung Pandang, while locals used to call it Fort Panyyua.  This fort used to be a landmark of Gowa Kingdom in its years of properity.

During Sultan Hassanuddin’s administration (1655-1669), the dutch attacked Gowa Kingdom in order to gain control of spice trade and as a milestone to conquer Banda and Maluku, the land of nutmeg. During this one-whole-year aggression,  Fort Ujung Pandang was heavily damaged, and the Sultan was forced to sign the Bongaya Treaty with which the Kingdom of  Gowa  gave its administration under the VOC (dutch east india company), therefore made Gowa  as a de-facto colonial territory of dutch. After rebuilt by dutch governor Cornelis Speelman, the fort was named Fort Rotterdam as a legacy to Speelman’s hometown. 


http://wisata.makassarkota.go.id
Original design of Fort Rotterdam was rectangular-as the majority of Portuguese buildings- with four bastions on each of its corner. The sea-turtle ground plan is in line with the philosophy of the Makassar people as sea explorers.
However, after Speelman’s renovation, Fort Rotterdam adopted dutch style, and the 5th bastion was added on its western side.







Selasa, 09 Juli 2013

Controlling Smartphone Data Roaming While Abroad (Part 2)

Avoid Heart Attack And Let Your Smartphone Roam Data Until a Certain Bytes

On Part 1 I've explained how to set your smartphone (Android, iphone) or Blackberry to totally disable internet connection/ data service.
Here in Part 2, I'll share about how to limit your data service by setting a quota.

 

And remember, do this before departing abroad

Option-2 : Setting a quota/limit for internet/ data roaming

You need to install an app such as 3G Watchdog or Data Counter Widget.
I use 3G Watchdog where I can  specify my own quota and starting date:
smartphone data roam

Controlling Smartphone Data Roaming While Abroad (Part 1)

Data Auto-sync That Causes Heart Attack

Yes you would love to take your smartphone everywhere you go, because of its 1001 functions beyond communication. But, beware if you plan to go abroad. The auto-sync of emails, chats, apps and other background data will cost you enormous amount enough to cause a heart attack. A year ago, on a trip to a neighboring country, my search of  a local restaurant made my phone bill jumped to USD 200 (normally only USD 25/month)...means cost of data roaming exceeded cost of the food I had at that restaurant :(

So, the next time I went abroad, I adjusted some settings on my smartphone. Here's what I did , and proved to be effective. As a note, I still can connect to the internet via wifi (most hotels have wifi , and several countries/cities, e.g Hongkong, provide wifi all over its corner ).

You have 2 options to do with your smartphone : totally disable data roaming, or setting a quota/ limit for data roaming.
This settings is according to Android OS, but actually it's almost the same for i-phone / blackberry, only each OS has its own terminology) :

Do This Before departing abroad :

Option-1 : Totally disable internet/ data roaming

Go to SETTINGS, choose WIRELESS AND NETWORK
smartphone data