penemu facebook

Facebook (Mark.E.Z)
Awalnya hanya sebuah keisengan. Berkat tangan dingin Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (kreaturnya), Facebook pun kemudian berkembang menjadi sebuah usaha yang patut diperhitungkan. Kini omzetnya mencapai ratusan juta dolar. Face book kini tengah menjadi tren dunia. Daya pikat website ini memang begitu dahsyat. Pamornya mulai bersinar, bahkan sejak pertama kali muncul 5 tahun lalu. Tak pelak, popularitasnya langsung mengalahkan situs serupa yang sudah lebih dulu ngepop layaknya Friendster dan Multiply.
Hingga akhir tahun 2007, para penggunanya sudah mencapai 60 juta org. Tak salah, bila ComScore Inc. pun layak memposisikan facebook sebagai salah satu situs terpopuler di dunia sepanjang 2007.
Tak hanya popularitas yang akan dinikmati Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, pemilik sekaligus Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Facebook. Dari sisi bisnis pun, Facebook patut dibanggakan. Bagaimana tidak, atas semua pencapaian itu, otomatis mengangkat situs ini menjadi media yang dinilai layak untuk beriklan. Lihat saja omzet yang dipetik pengelolanya sepanjang 2006, skalanya terbilang mencengangkan: US$ 100 juta. Kabarnya, dari pendapatan sebesar itu, sekitar Rp. 6,6 triliun masuk ke kantong pribadi sang pemilik. Sungguh, kekayaan yang luar biasa besar buat ukuran seorang Mark yang saat ini baru berusia 24 tahun.
Mark, bisa dibilang, tergolong eksekutif muda yang unik. Ia begitu mengidolakan Bill Gates. Bill bahkan banyak mempengaruhi perjalanan hidupnya. Salah satu yang tergolong ekstrim, karena kegilaannya terhadap komputer, Mark tak ragu memutuskan kuliahnya di Harvard University (langkah serupa pernah dilakukan sang idola). “Karena Bill Gates-lah yang menginspirasi saya untuk berhenti kuliah”, ujar pria yang sempat belajar selama dua tahun di universitas itu.
Facebook sendiri, sebenarnya judul dari sebuah buku yang memuat daftar nama seluruh mahasiswa dan dosen di Harvard. Bagi setiap warga perguruan ini, wajib hukumnya memiliki buku itu. Dari situlah mulanya yang mendorong Mark menggagas sebuah komunitas baru di dunia maya. Ide awalnya, kata Mark, ia hanya ingin membuat website yang keren dan disenangi teman-temannya.
Kala peluncuran perdananya, website ini hanya diperkenalkan di lingkup almamater. Karena memperoleh respons yang cukup bagus, kemudian dikembangkan agar bisa diakses oleh para siswa SMA di 30 sekolah yang ada di sekitar New York. Di luar dugaan, responsnya lebih dahsyat. Dan kepopulerannya terus menggema dari mulut ke mulut. Kini dalam sehari, Facebook rata-rata dikunjungi oleh lebih dari 1 juta orang.
Ada sejumlah daya tarik yang dimiliki Facebook, sehingga begitu digandrungi. Di antaranya, adanya aturan (tak tertulis) bagi mereka yang ingin masuk ke komunitas ini yang dinilai berbeda dengan website serupa lainnya. Yakni, mereka harus jujur memberikan data diri(email address). Nah, yang melanggar, account-nya akan diblokir.
Aplikasi yang ditawarkan Facebook memang sangat mengasyikkan. Salah satunya yang terpopuler adalah superPoke. Lewat aplikasi ini, menariknya, para netter bisa saling serang dengan menggunakan gambar-gambar animasi yang lucu. Website ini juga memungkinkan para anggotanya bisa membuat kuis interaktif, polling, atau simulasi pemilu. Situs ini juga memiliki kapasitas memori terbilang sangat besar, sehingga setiap pekannya bisa menampung sekitar 60 juta keping foto.
Mulanya tiada yang menduga, termasuk Mark sendiri, jika Facebook bisa berkembang menjadi sebuah usaha yang menjanjikan. Apa boleh buat, realitas yang berkembang bicara lain. Bahkan situs ini kini layak digolongkan sebagai wahana usaha yang patut diperhitungkan. Untuk menjalankan bisnisnya itu, Mark juga dibantu oleh tiga teman sebayanya. Seiring dengan perkembangan bisnisnya, kini Facebook telah menempati gedung sendiri di kawasan Palo Alto, California, yang mampu menampung sekitar 350 karyawan (sebagian besarnya para pemrogram profesional). Gedung ini, uniknya, tak lain asrama mahasisiwa tempat tinggal Mark ketika kuliah.
Di kalangan teman kulian dan dosen, sebenarnya Mark dikenal sebagai anak cerdas kebanyakan. Bila ada yang menonjol, adalah kegilaannya terhadap komputer. Ia juga dikenal sebagai anak bengal yang kerap mengganggu situs resmi yang dikelola Harvard. Suatu waktu (2003) ia pernah mengecoh kalangan civitas akademi ini dengan situs tandingan yang dibuatnya yang berisi polling tentang siapa cewek yang pantas jadi idola di Harvard. Ulah lainnya, ia pernah membuat database Harvard macet, karena dibanjiri kiriman foto koleksinya. Karena perbuatannya itu, ia diadili oleh para petinggi Harvard, dan nyaris dikelurkan dg tdk hormat.
Sejatinya, Mark tak hanya piawai mengotak-atik program komputer. Ia juga berbakat dalam berbisnis. Layaknya seorang CEO, ternyata Mark memiliki kemampuan meyakinkan para mitra bisnisnya. Ketika Facebook baru berjalan 7 bulan, antara lain, nyatanya ia mampu meyakinkan para petinggi PayPal, perusahaan yang bergerak di bidang jasa pengiriman uang, untuk memberinya pinjaman modal sebesar US$ 500 ribu. Tak diduga, hanya dalam waktu 3 bulan, pinjaman itu bisa dilunasi. Pendapatan Facebook hingga Desember 2004 pun sudah mencapai US$ 1 juta.
Setahun kemudian Mark bersama kawan-kawannya mulai menata usahanya lebih serius lagi. Tak sia-sia, ikhtiarnya itu membuahkan hasil, berupa pinjaman berbunga kecil dari Accel Partners sebesar US$ 12,8 juta. Kepercayaan para mitranya pun kian bertambah. Nyatanya, tak lama setelah itu, ada sebuah konsorsium (tiga perusahaan investasi) yang mau memberikan dukungan dana ke Facebook sebesar US$ 25 juta.
Ketenaran Facebook terus berlanjut. Hingga tahun lalu, tak kurang dari manajemen Yahoo pun tertarik membeli sebagian sahamnya. Hanya untuk 5% saham Facebook, mereka berani menawar US$ 1 milliar. Edannya, peluang itu ditolak mentah-mentah oleh Mark. Secara diplomatis ia menampik tawaran Yahoo dengan mengatakan bahwa saat itu uang baginya bukanlah segala-galanya. Akhirnya, idealisme Mark luluh juga. Nyatanya, ia tak menolak tawaran yang dilayangkan oleh Microsoft. Mark pun dengan ikhlas melepas 1,6% sahamnya-senilai US$ 240 juta – buat perusahaan yang dimiliki oleh idolanya itu.

Penemu Gitar, Les Paul Gibson Tutup Usia

Nama Les Paul, barangkali tak banyak orang yang tahu. Tapi bagi para gitaris sejati, nama Les Paul tak asing lagi dan menjadi jaminan mutu untuk instrumen gitar. Nama Les Paul kini hanya bisa dikenang. Les Paul telah meninggal dunia.

Sang perintis gitar Les Paul meninggal di usia ke-94. Paul tutup usia setelah menderita komplikasi radang paru-paru. Les Paul adalah sosok pencetus yang berhasil mengubah wajah musik modern melalui penemuannya dalam pengembangan alat musik gitar.

Seperti ditulis NME.com, berdasar pernyataan dari perusahaan gitar Gibson atau Gibson Guitar Corporation, Paul meninggal dunia Kamis (13/8) malam waktu setempat akibat terjadinya peningkatan komplikasi dari kasus radang paru-paru atau pneumonia. Dia meninggal di Rumah Sakit White Plains, New York, Amerika Serikat.

Paul sangat terpengaruh oleh proses rekaman multitrack, di mana sang musisi dan instrumen direkam terpisah lalu keduanya disatukan sehingga menjadi satu rekaman yang komplit.

Pemimpin perusahaan sekaligus pejabat eksekutif tertinggi atau CEO perusahaan gitar Gibson Henry Juszkiewicz memberikan penghormatan terakhir melalui sebuah pernyataan. "Dunia kini kehilangan seorang penemu paling berjasa, aku tidak bisa membayangkan hidup tanpa kehadiran Les Paul." kata Juszkiewicz. "Ia selalu menghampiri setiap orang dan tersenyum pada siapa pun. Daya tariknya di bidang musik sangat luar biasa dan ia memiliki teknik sendiri yang tiada duanya di dunia," kenang Juszkiewicz lagi.(VIN)

penemu benua amerika

Introduction
Numerous evidence suggests that Muslims from Spain and West Africa arrived in the Americas at least five centuries before Co1umbus. It is recorded, for example that in the mid-tenth century during the rule of the Umayed Caliph Abdul-Rahman III (929-961), Muslims of African origin sailed westward from the Spanish port of Delba (Palos) into the “Ocean of darkness an fog.” They returned after a long absence with much booty from a “strange and curious land.” It is evident that people of Muslim origin are known to have accompanied Columbus and subsequent Spanish explorers to the New World.
The last Muslim stronghold in Spain, Granada, fell to the Christians in 1492 CE, just before the Spanish inquisition was launched. To escape persecution, many non-Christians fled or embraced Catholicism. At least two documents imply the presence of Muslims in Spanish America before 1550 CE. Despite the fact that a decree issued in 1539 CE, by Charles V, King of Spain, forbade the grandsons of Muslims who had been burned at the stake to migrate to the West Indies. This decree was ratified in 1543 CE, and an order for the expulsion of all Muslims from overseas Spanish territories was subsequently published. Many references on the Muslim arrival in the Americas are available.
They are summarized in the following notes:
Historic Documents

1.  A Muslim historian and geographer Abul-Hassan Ali Ibn Al-Hussain Al-Masudi (871 – 957 CE) wrote in his book ‘Muruj Adh-dhahab wa Maadin al-Jawhar’ (The Meadows of Gold and Quarries of Jewels) that during the rule of the Muslim Caliph of Spain Abdullah Ibn Muhammad (888 – 912 CE), a Muslim navigator Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad of Cordoba, Spain sailed from Delba (Palos) in 889 CE, crossed the Atlantic, reached an unknown territory (Ard Majhoola) and returned with fabulou treasures. In Al-Masudi’s map of the world there is a large area in the ocean of darkness and fog (the Atlantic ocean) which he referred to as the unknown territory (the Americas).
2. A Muslim historian Abu Bakr Ibn Umar Al-Gutiyya narrated that
   during the reign of the Muslim Caliph of Spain, Hisham II (976 -1009 CE), another Muslim navigator Ibn Farrukh of Granada sailed from Kadesh (February 999 CE) into the Atlantic, landed in Gando (Great Canary Islands) visiting King Guanariga, and continued westward where he saw and named two islands, Capraria and Pluitana. He arrived back in Spain in May 999 CE.
3. Columbus sailed from Palos (Delba), Spain. He was bound for Gomera (Canary Islands) – Gomera is an Arabic word meaning ‘small firebrand’ – there he fell in love with Beatriz Bobadilla, daughter of the first captain General of the island (the family name Bobadilla is derived from the Arab Islamic name Abouabdilla). Nevertheless, the Bobadilla clan was not easy to ignore. Another Bobadilla (Francisco), later as the royal commissioner, put Columbus in chains and transferred him from Santo Domingo back to Spain (November 1500 CE). The Bobadilla family was related to Abbadid dynasty of Seville (1031 -1091 CE).
   On October 12, 1492 CE, Columbus landed on a little island in the Bahamas that was called Guanahani by the natives. Renamed San Salvador by Columbus, Guanahani is derived from Mandinka and modified Arabic words. Guana (Ikhwana) means ‘brothers’ and Hani is an Arabic name. Therefore the original name of the island was ‘Hani Brothers.’ [Click here for corrupted names of Arabic origin, such as those starting with Guad-, al-, Medina and others.]
   Ferdinand Columbus, the son of Christopher, wrote about the blacks seen by his father in Honduras: “The people who live farther east of Pointe Cavinas, as far as Cape Gracios a Dios, are almost black in color.” At the same time in this very same region, lived a tribe of Muslim natives known as Almamy. In Mandinka and Arabic languages Almamy was the designation of “Al-Imam” or “Al-Imamu,” the person who leads the Prayer, or in some cases, the chief of the community, and/or a member of the Imami Muslim community.
4. A renowned American historian and linguist Leo Weiner of Harvard University, in his book Africa and The Discovery of America (1920) wrote that Columbus was well aware of the Mandinka presence in the New World and that the West African Muslims had spread throughout the Caribbean, Central, South and North American territories, including Canada, where they were trading and intermarrying with the Iroquois and Algonquin Indians.

Geographic Explorations

1. The famous Muslim geographer and cartographer Al-Sharif Al-Idrisi (1099 – 1166 CE) wrote in his famous book ‘Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi-Ikhtiraq al-Afaq (Excursion of the longing in crossing horizons) that a group of seafarers (from North Africa) sailed into the sea of darkness and fog (the Atlantic ocean) from Lisbon (Portugal), in order to discover what was in it and what extent were its limits. They finally reached an island that had people and cultivation….on the fourth day, a translator spoke to them in the Arabic language.
2. The Muslim reference books mentioned a well-documented description of a journey across the sea of fog and darkness by Shaikh Zayn-eddine Ali ben Fadhel Al-Mazandarani. His journey started from Tarfay (south Morocco) during the reign of the King Abu-Yacoub Sidi Youssef (1286 – 1307 CE) sixth of the Marinid dynasty, to Green Island in the Caribbean sea in 1291 CE (690 AH). The details of his ocean journey are mentioned in Islamic references, and many Muslim scholars are aware of this recorded historical event.
3. The Muslim historian Chihab Addine Abul-Abbas Ahmad ben Fadhl Al-Umari (1300 – 1384 CE, 700 – 786 AH) described in detail the geographical explorations beyond the sea of fog and darkness of Male’s sultans in his famous book ‘Masaalik al-absaar fi Mamaalik al-amsaar (The Pathways of Sights in The Provinces of Kingdoms).
4. Sultan Mansa Kankan Musa (1312 – 1337 CE) was the world renowned Mandinka monarch of the West African Islamic empire of Mali. While traveling to Makkah on his famous Hajj in 1324 CE, he informed the scholars of the Mamluk Bahri Sultan court (an-Nasir-eddin Muhammad III, 1309 – 1340 CE) in Cairo that his brother, Sultan Abu Bakari I (1285 – 1312 CE) had undertaken two expeditions into the Atlantic ocean. When the sultan did not return to Timbuktu from the second voyage of 1311 CE, Mansa Musa became sultan of the empire.
5. Columbus and early Spanish and Portuguese explorers were able to voyage across the Atlantic (a distance of 24,000 Kilometers) thanks to Muslim geographical and navigational information, in particular maps made by Muslim traders, including Al-Masudi (871 – 957 CE) in his book ‘Akhbar Az-Zaman’ (History of The World) which is based on material gathered in Africa and Asia. As a matter of fact, Columbus had two captains of Muslim origin during his first transatlantic voyage: Martin Alonso Pinzon was the captain of the Pinta, and his brother Vicente Yanex Pinzon was the captain of the Nina. They were wealthy, expert ship outfitters who helped organize the Columbus expedition and repaired the flagship Santa Maria. They did this at their own expense for both commercial and political reasons. The Pinzon family was related to Abuzayan Muhammad III (1362 – 66 CE), the Moroccan sultan of the Marinid dynasty (1196 – 1465 CE).

Arabic (Islamic) Inscriptions

1.  Anthropologists have proven that the Mandinkas under Mansa Musa’s instructions explored many parts of North America via the Mississippi and other rivers systems. At Four Corners, Arizona, writings show that they even brought elephants from Africa to the area.
2. Columbus admitted in his papers that on Monday, October 21, 1492 CE while his ship was sailing near Gibara on the north-east coast of Cuba, he saw a mosque on the top of a beautiful mountain. The ruins of mosques and minarets with inscriptions of Qur’anic verses have been discovered in Cuba, Mexico, Texas and Nevada.
3. During his second voyage, Columbus was told by the Indians of
   Espanola (Haiti), that Black people had been to the island before his arrival. For proof they presented Columbus with the spears of these African Muslims. These weapons were tipped with a yellow metal that the Indians called Guanine, a word of West African derivation meaning ‘gold alloy.’ Oddly enough, it is related to the Arabic world ‘Ghinaa’ which means ‘Wealth.’ Columbus brought some Guanines back to Spain and had them tested. He learned that the metal was 18 parts gold (56.25 percent), six parts silver (18.75 percent and eight parts copper (25
   percent), the same ratio as the metal produced in African metal shops of Guinea.
4. In 1498 CE, on his third voyage to the New World, Columbus landed in Trinidad. Later, he sighted the South American continent, where some of his crew went ashore and found natives using colorful handkerchiefs of symmetrically woven cotton. Columbus noticed the these handkerchiefs resembled the head dresses and loincloths of Guinea in their colors, style and function. He referred to them as Almayzars. Almayzar is an Arabic word for ‘wrapper,’ ‘cover,’ ‘apron’ and or ‘skirting,’ which was the cloth the Moors (Spanish or North African Muslims) imported from West Africa (Guinea) into Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
   During this voyage, Columbus was surprised that the married women wore cotton panties (bragas) and he wondered where these natives learned their modesty. Hernando Cortez, Spanish conqueror, described the dress of the Indian women as long veils and the dress of Indian men as ‘breechcloth painted in the style of Moorish draperies.’ Ferdinand Columbus called the native cotton garments ‘breechclothes of the same design and cloth as the shawls worn by the Moorish women of Granada.’ Even the similarity of the children’s hammocks to those found in North Africa was uncanny.
5. Dr. Barry Fell (Harvard University) introduced in his book Saga America – 1980 solid scientific evidence supporting the arrival, centuries before Columbus, of Muslims from North and West Africa. Dr. Fell discovered the existence of Muslim schools at Valley of Fire, Allan Springs, Logomarsino, Keyhole Canyon, Washoe and Hickison Summit Pass (Nevada), Mesa Verde (Colorado), Mimbres Valley (New Mexico) and Tipper Canoe (Indiana) dating back to 700-800 CE. Engraved on rocks in the old western US, he found texts, diagrams and charts representing the last surviving fragments of what was once a system of schools – at both an elementary and higher levels. The language of instruction was North African Arabic written with old Kufic Arabic script. The subjects of instruction included writing, reading, arithmetic, religion, history, geography, mathematics, astronomy and sea navigation.
   The descendants of the Muslim visitors of North America are members of the present Iroquois, Algonquin, Anasazi, Hohokam and Olmec native people.
6. There are 565 names of places (villages, towns, cities, mountains,
   lakes, rivers, etc.) in USA (484) and Canada (81) which are derived from Islamic and Arabic roots. These places were originally named by the natives in pre-Columbian period. Some of these names carried holy meanings such as: Mecca (Indiana) – 720 inhabitants, Makkah Indian tribe (Washington), Medina (Idaho) – 2100, Medina (NY) – 8500, Medina and Hazen (North Dakota) – 1100 and 5000, respectively, Medina (Ohio) – 12,000, Medina (Tennessee) – 1100, Medina (Texas) – 26,000, Medina (Ontario) -1200, Mahomet (Illinois) – 3200, Mona (Utah) – 1100, Arva (Ontario) – 700, and many others. A careful study of the names of the native Indian tribes revealed that many names are derived from Arab and Islamic roots and origins, i.e. Anasazi, Apache, Arawak, Arikana, Chavin Cherokee, Cree, Hohokam, Hupa, Hopi, Makkah, Mahigan, Mohawk, Nazca, Zulu, Zuni, etc.