Surat dari Hati Seorang Ibu untuk Aktivis Kampus

Orang bilang anakku seorang aktivis, Kata mereka namanya tersohor dikampusnya sana .

Orang bilang anakku seorang aktivis, Dengan segudang kesibukan yang disebutnya amanah umat . Orang bilang anakku seorang aktivis, Tapi bolehkah aku sampaikan padamu nak ? “Ibu bilang engkau hanya seorang putra kecil ibu yang lugu.”

Anakku, sejak mereka bilang engkau seorang aktivis ibu kembali mematut diri menjadi ibu seorang aktivis .Dengan segala kesibukkanmu,ibu berusaha mengerti betapa engkau ingin agar waktumu terisi dengan segala yang bermanfaat.Ibu sungguh mengerti itu nak, tapi apakah menghabiskan waktu dengan ibumu ini adalah sesuatu yang sia-sia nak ? Sungguh setengah dari umur ibu telah ibu habiskan untuk membesarkan dan menghabiskan waktu bersamamu nak,tanpa pernah ibu berfikir bahwa itu adalah waktu yang sia-sia

Anakku,kita memang berada disatu atap nak,di atap yang sama saat dulu engkau bermanja dengan ibumu ini. masih teringat oleh ibumu ini kenangan kenangan manis ketika engkau masih ada didekapanku, dipelukanku.

Tapi kini dimanakah rumahmu nak?ibu tak lagi melihat jiwamu di rumah ini .Sepanjang hari ibu tunggu kehadiranmu dirumah,dengan penuh doa agar Allah senantiasa menjagamu .Larut malam engkau kembali dengan wajah kusut.Mungkin tawamu telah habis hari ini,tapi ibu berharap engkau sudi mengukir senyum untuk ibu yang begitu merindukanmu . Ah,lagi-lagi ibu terpaksa harus mengerti,bahwa engkau begitu lelah dengan segala aktivitasmu hingga tak mampu lagi tersenyum untuk ibu. Atau jangankan untuk tersenyum,sekedar untuk mengalihkan pandangan pada ibumu saja engkau engkau,katamu engkau sedang sibuk mengejar deadline.

Padahal,andai kau tahu nak,ibu ingin sekali mendengar segala kegiatanmu hari ini,memastikan engkau baik-baik saja,memberi sedikit nasehat yang ibu yakin engkau pasti lebih tahu.Ibu memang bukan aktivis sekaliber engkau nak,tapi bukankah aku ini ibumu ? yang 9 bulan waktumu engkau habiskan didalam rahimku..

Anakku, ibu mendengar engkau sedang begitu sibuk nak. Nampaknya engkau begitu mengkhawatirkan nasib organisasimu,engkau mengatur segala strategi untuk mengkader anggotamu . Engkau nampak amat peduli dengan semua itu,ibu bangga padamu .Namun,sebagian hati ibu mulai bertanya nak,kapan terakhir engkau menanyakan kabar ibumu ini nak ? Apakah engkau mengkhawatirkan ibu seperti engkau mengkhawatirkan keberhasilan acaramu ? kapan terakhir engkau menanyakan keadaan adik-adikmu nak ? Apakah adik-adikmu ini tidak lebih penting dari anggota organisasimu nak ?

Anakku,ibu sungguh sedih mendengar ucapanmu.Saat engkau merasa sangat tidak produktif ketika harus menghabiskan waktu dengan keluargamu . Memang nak,menghabiskan waktu dengan keluargamu tak akan menyelesaikan tumpukan tugas yang harus kau buat,tak juga menyelesaikan berbagai amanah yang harus kau lakukan .Tapi bukankah keluargamu ini adalah tugasmu juga nak?bukankah keluargamu ini adalah amanahmu yang juga harus kau jaga nak?

Anakku,ibu mencoba membuka buku agendamu .Buku agenda sang aktivis.Jadwalmu begitu padat nak,ada rapat disana sini,ada jadwal mengkaji,ada jadwal bertemu dengan tokoh-tokoh penting.Ibu membuka lembar demi lembarnya,disana ada sekumpulan agendamu,ada sekumpulan mimpi dan harapanmu.Ibu membuka lagi lembar demi lembarnya,masih saja ibu berharap bahwa nama ibu ada disana.

Ternyata memang tak ada nak,tak ada agenda untuk bersama ibumu yang renta ini.Tak ada cita-cita untuk ibumu ini . Padahal nak,andai engkau tahu sejak kau ada dirahim ibu tak ada cita dan agenda yang lebih penting untuk ibu selain cita dan agenda untukmu,putra kecilku.

Kalau boleh ibu meminjam bahasa mereka,mereka bilang engkau seorang organisatoris yang profesional. Boleh ibu bertanya nak,dimana profesionalitasmu untuk ibu ?dimana profesionalitasmu untuk keluarga ? Dimana engkau letakkan keluargamu dalam skala prioritas yang kau buat ?

Ah,waktumu terlalu mahal nak.Sampai-sampai ibu tak lagi mampu untuk membeli waktumu agar engkau bisa bersama ibu..

Setiap pertemuan pasti akan menemukan akhirnya. Pun pertemuan dengan orang tercinta,ibu,ayah,kaka dan adik . Akhirnya tak mundur sedetik tak maju sedetik .Dan hingga saat itu datang,jangan sampai yang tersisa hanyalah penyesalan.Tentang rasa cinta untuk mereka yang juga masih malu tuk diucapkan .Tentang rindu kebersamaan yang terlambat teruntai.  

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Maafkan aku ibu yang selama ini telah membuat hatimu yang lembut itu terluka, aku mohon maafkan aku IBU

Jennifer Katharine Gates Wanita Muda, Cantik, Dewasa, dan Kaya

Berbicara mengenai Wanita cantik dan kaya pasti pikiran kita tertuju ke Paris Hilton, ya Wanita yang cantik dan kaya raya.

Tapi perlu diketahui ternyata ada pendatang baru nih yang cantik bahkan sangat cantik dan kaya, usianya pun saat ini juga masih terbilang muda yaitu 17 tahun (1996). Dia adalah putri orang terkaya didunia Founder Microsoft corporate.

Banyak orang yang sudah paham kalau Bill Gates itu adalah pendiri Microsoft dan merupakan salah satu orang terkaya di dunia. Tapi sepertinya belum banyak yang tahu kalau putri atau anak perempuan Bill Gates yang kini sudah beranjak remaja memiliki wajah yang sangat cantik dengan tubuh ramping yang mendekati sempurna untuk penampilan seorang perempuan.

Bill Gates menikah dengan perempuan cantik bernama Melinda. Pasangan suami istri ini juga diketahui banyak melakukan kegiatan amal, khususnya setelah Bill Gates 'beristirahat' dari Microsoft.

Nah, banyak yang bertanya apakah Bill Gates memiliki anak yang cantik? Tidak banyak yang tahu tentang anak Bill dengan Melinda, sebab mereka memang menjauhkan anaknya dari sorotan media dan mengajarkan anaknya untuk hidup sederhana gantinya hidup hedonis seperti Paris Hilton (pewaris jaringan Hotel Hilton).

Putri cantik Bill Gates ini bernama Jennifer Katharine Gates yang lahir pada tahun 1996. Umur anak perempuan Bill Gates ini baru 16 tahun, tetapi penampilannya terlihat cerdas dan jauh lebih matang dari umurnya.

Sepertinya patut dicontoh gaya penampilannya yang sederhana namun elegan dan stylish. Disebut-sebut, Jennifer Katharine Gates bakal mampu menggeser popularitas Paris Hilton.

Namun sayangnya Bill dan Melinda tidak ingin putri cantiknya ini menjadi sorotan media. Gosipnya, saat ini Jennifer berpacaran dengan lelaki keturunan Iran bernama Amir Alipour. 

Banyak orang yang sudah paham kalau Bill Gates itu adalah pendiri Microsoft dan merupakan salah satu orang terkaya di dunia. Tapi sepertinya belum banyak yang tahu kalau putri atau anak perempuan Bill Gates yang kini sudah beranjak remaja memiliki wajah yang sangat cantik dengan tubuh ramping yang mendekati sempurna untuk penampilan seorang perempuan. Bill Gates menikah dengan perempuan cantik bernama Melinda. Pasangan suami istri ini juga diketahui banyak melakukan kegiatan amal, khususnya setelah Bill Gates 'beristirahat' dari Microsoft. Nah, banyak yang bertanya apakah Bill Gates memiliki anak yang cantik? Tidak banyak yang tahu tentang anak Bill dengan Melinda, sebab mereka memang menjauhkan anaknya dari sorotan media dan mengajarkan anaknya untuk hidup sederhana gantinya hidup hedonis seperti Paris Hilton (pewaris jaringan Hotel Hilton). Putri cantik Bill Gates ini bernama Jennifer Katharine Gates yang lahir pada tahun 1996. Seperti yang dilansir memobee (15/9/2012) Umur anak perempuan Bill Gates ini baru 16 tahun, tetapi penampilannya terlihat cerdas dan jauh lebih matang dari umurnya. Sepertinya patut dicontoh gaya penampilannya yang sederhana namun elegan dan stylish. Disebut-sebut, Jennifer Katharine Gates bakal mampu menggeser popularitas Paris Hilton. Namun sayangnya Bill dan Melinda tidak ingin putri cantiknya ini menjadi sorotan media. Gosipnya, saat ini Jennifer berpacaran dengan lelaki keturunan Iran bernama Amir Alipour.

Read more at: http://www.slidegossip.com/2012/09/ini-dia-putri-cantik-bill-gates-yang.html
Artikel ini diambil dari www.slidegossip.com sebagai sumbernya

Banyak orang yang sudah paham kalau Bill Gates itu adalah pendiri Microsoft dan merupakan salah satu orang terkaya di dunia. Tapi sepertinya belum banyak yang tahu kalau putri atau anak perempuan Bill Gates yang kini sudah beranjak remaja memiliki wajah yang sangat cantik dengan tubuh ramping yang mendekati sempurna untuk penampilan seorang perempuan. Bill Gates menikah dengan perempuan cantik bernama Melinda. Pasangan suami istri ini juga diketahui banyak melakukan kegiatan amal, khususnya setelah Bill Gates 'beristirahat' dari Microsoft. Nah, banyak yang bertanya apakah Bill Gates memiliki anak yang cantik? Tidak banyak yang tahu tentang anak Bill dengan Melinda, sebab mereka memang menjauhkan anaknya dari sorotan media dan mengajarkan anaknya untuk hidup sederhana gantinya hidup hedonis seperti Paris Hilton (pewaris jaringan Hotel Hilton). Putri cantik Bill Gates ini bernama Jennifer Katharine Gates yang lahir pada tahun 1996. Seperti yang dilansir memobee (15/9/2012) Umur anak perempuan Bill Gates ini baru 16 tahun, tetapi penampilannya terlihat cerdas dan jauh lebih matang dari umurnya. Sepertinya patut dicontoh gaya penampilannya yang sederhana namun elegan dan stylish. Disebut-sebut, Jennifer Katharine Gates bakal mampu menggeser popularitas Paris Hilton. Namun sayangnya Bill dan Melinda tidak ingin putri cantiknya ini menjadi sorotan media. Gosipnya, saat ini Jennifer berpacaran dengan lelaki keturunan Iran bernama Amir Alipour.

Read more at: http://www.slidegossip.com/2012/09/ini-dia-putri-cantik-bill-gates-yang.html
Artikel ini diambil dari www.slidegossip.com sebagai sumbernya

How a supervolcano can threaten Earth

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming -- It's hard not to stand in complete awe of everything the Earth has to offer when you're in the middle of Yellowstone National Park.

Its most famous geyser, Old Faithful, shoots up into the sky as crowds tilt their heads just to see how high it really can go. The saturated blues and greens of geothermal pools appear to be otherworldly.

Towering mountains wrap themselves around the park, providing shelter for wild animals to roam. But below the beauty of Yellowstone, is a volcano powerful enough devastate most of the United States and change the entire world.

"Yellowstone and other volcanoes around the world are called supervolcanoes and the reason is they're like a super sized drink. It means it's just big," says Hank Hessler, a geologist at Yellowstone in the U.S. state of Wyoming.

Supervolcano describes a geological phenomenon never witnessed by man. Supervolcanoes are off the charts big when comparing them to a normal volcanic eruption.

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in the northwest corner of the United States erupted. It killed 57 people and expelled one cubic kilometer of ash.

The first Yellowstone supervolcanic eruption 2.1 million years ago was at least 25,000 times larger than the Mount St. Helens eruption. Two other Yellowstone super eruptions 1.3 million and 640,000 years ago, though smaller than the first one, would still dwarf any normal volcanic eruption.

You can monitor Yellowstone activity

Few would expect the tranquil national park would actually be sitting on the mouth of a sleeping giant.

The physical characteristic of a supervolcano isn't a typical cone-shaped mountainous peak.

Instead, supervolcanoes have what are called calderas. These are vast sunken areas that are formed after previous super eruptions as the ground was blown out and fell back to rest.

Geophysicist Bob Smith first called Yellowstone a "living breathing caldera" in 1979. He now heads the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory at the University of Utah.

"Yellowstone has been very important. It's my laboratory," says Smith.

He sees Yellowstone as more than a supervolcano, in fact he doesn't even like that term. "I prefer to use the term hotspot because it reflects a zone of concentrated and active volcanism."

Hawaii and Iceland are other examples of hot spots, but Yellowstone is the only hot spot located underneath land rather than sea which has made it easier for Smith to study.

His team has setup a series of different sensors around the park so that they can keep a close eye on its vital signs. They measure ground movement and record the frequent earthquakes that occur in the area.

The sensors have also helped Smith's team figure out what they were dealing with. As little as eight kilometers below the surface is a shallow reservoir of solid rock and magma. And below the reservoir is an enormous 57,000-cubic-kilometer plume of very hot rock, the fuel behind every bubbling pool and geyser in Yellowstone.

With all of this heat just sitting, waiting beneath Yellowstone, what exactly would it look like if it were all to blow? Smith and other scientists all have scenarios and every one is bleak.

In Smith's book, "Windows into the Earth," he says, "Devastation would be complete and incomprehensible." Before the super eruption, large earthquakes would likely swarm the surrounding areas until the huge blast that would erase Yellowstone completely off the map.

After the initial eruption, clouds of gas and rock would burn everything in its path with temperatures reaching to hundreds of degrees Celsius. Ashfall would cover the western United States and also enter the jet stream with the potential to cripple air transportation and threaten the world's food supply.

There are some estimates that 87,000 people would die immediately.

You can imagine that with this kind of catastrophe on the line, the question Smith gets asked the most is, "When is going to blow next?"

The three Yellowstone super eruptions have occurred about 800,000 years apart, so people have started to speculate that another one is due.

Also, in 2004 Smith noticed that the ground had started to rise then lowered again in 2010. It was like the supervolcano was breathing.

However, Smith says there is absolutely no need to panic. "We create scenarios. We know roughly what to expect of the patterns of time and space of the earthquakes ground information. Again, acquired from other experiences around the world. We use that to interpret our own data in terms of what the potential threat or risk might be," says Smith.

For him, the more immediate threat is earthquakes and smaller eruptions since the probability of one of those instances occurring is much higher.

Whether that may be comforting or not, millions of visitors will still make their way each year to the geological wonderland that is Yellowstone National Park.

Neil Armstrong First man on moon Has Passed Away

Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 astronaut who became the first man to set foot on the Moon has died at the age of 82.

In a statement quoted by the Washington Post, the family said Armstrong had previously suffered kompilkasi disease after cardiovascular surgery. Even so, the family was not told where and when Armstrong died.

Family Armstong considers this as a former astronaut husband, father, grandfather, brother, and a loving friend.

Armstrong is known through the words "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind 'was known as a humble American hero who humbly submit themselves just do the job as successfully landed on the Moon.

When Armstrong set foot on the Moon July 20, 1969, he proclaimed the hopes that President John F. Kennedy, eight years earlier, the U.S. made ​​the first country to send a man to the Moon.

Family Armstrong said, "While we mourn the departure of a very good, we also celebrate the incredible life and hope he becomes a role model for young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams a reality, willing to explore and push the boundaries of their , and selflessly serve a purpose greater than themselves. "

"For those who ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request: Honour exemplary service and achievements and humility., And when you are outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling at you, remember Neil Armstrong and gave him a wink. "

Samsung Lose and must pay Apple $1 billion

A federal jury in California on Friday recommended that Apple be awarded more than $1 billion in damages after finding Samsung was guilty of "willful" violations of a number of Apple's patents in the creation of its own mobile products.

The jury did not recommend awarding Samsung any money in its counterclaims that Apple had violated some of its patents. The judge and lawyers from both Apple and Samsung continued to discuss the jury forms late Friday afternoon.

The award "is just large enough to make it the largest surviving patent verdict in history."

In aftermarket trading, Apple stock jumped more than $12 a share, to more than $675 a share.

Samsung said the verdict should be viewed "as a loss for the American consumer."

"It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies.

Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer."

Apple praised the court for "sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn't right."

An issue still to be decided is whether to grant injunctions that could prevent Samsung from selling products that infringe on Apple's patents. Apple had asked for $2.7 billion in damages, claiming that Samsung "ripped off" its iPad and iPhone designs. Samsung countersued Apple for infringing on five of its patents and asked for $519 million.

Judge Koh and Samsung spotted a problem with the damages amount for a Galaxy Tab model. The lawsuit is the largest yet in the ongoing worldwide patent brawl between the two companies, which itself is just one battle in Apple's war against Google's Android mobile operating system. On August 24, a South Korean court found that both parties had infringed on each other's patents, banning the sale of the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, two iPad models and Samsung's Galaxy S2.

The Korean court ordered Apple to pay Samsung $35,000 and Samsung to pay Apple $22,000.

Apple VS Samsung In US and South Korean

Samsung plans to challenge a U.S. court ruling that recommends more than $1 billion in damages to Apple over a patent dispute.

A federal jury recommended Friday that Apple be awarded the damages after finding Samsung guilty of "willful" violations of a number of Apple's patents in the creation of its own mobile products.

The jury did not recommend awarding Samsung any money in its counterclaims that Apple had violated some of its patents.

The award "is just large enough to make it the largest surviving patent verdict in history."

Apple must pay Samsung 40 million won ($35,300); Samsung is to pay Apple 25 million won ($22,000).

The court banned sales in South Korea of Apple's iPhone 4 and iPad 2, Samsung's Galaxy SII and Galaxy Nexus smartphones and Galaxy Tab and Galaxy 10.1 tablet computers.

Both Samsung and Apple may appeal the lower court decision.

Lucunya Adegan Sinetron Indonesia

lagi asyik ngaskus, eh gak sengaja nemuin artikel yang cukup bikin ketawa, kalo ga ketawa seenggaknya nyengir aja, hehe

artikel tersebut mengenai adegan-adegan yang biasanya atau sering terjadi didunia perfilman indonesia khususnya SINETRON :D

Ini dia beberapa adegan yang saya ambil dari kaskus tersebut :

Adegan 1 : Sinis, bengis, sarat dialog-dialog pemeran antagonis. Ngomong sendiri dalam hati dengan mata melotot-lotot, muka dizoom in dan zoom out.

Untuk adegan seperti ini yang sangat pantas memeraninnya, masih dipegang oleh tante Leli Sagita

Adegan 2 : Penuh tipu muslihat, serta ide-ide brilian dalam hal penyiksaan.

sepertinya untuk adegan ini semua pemerannya mempunyai kemampuan untuk memerankan ini, seperti sinetron bawang putih dan bawang merah :D

Adegan 3 : Kesenjangan sosial dalam kehidupan di sinetron. Yang kaya, kaya banget "biasanya penjahat". Yang susah, susah banget "biasanya orang baik".

Yang terbaik sampai saat ini untuk memerankan sebagai wanita paling terzholimi samapai saat ini adalah Naysila Mirdad.

Adegan 4 : Bertarung dengan makhluk jadi-jadian, seperti Naga atau buaya yang berbentuk persegi,untuk hal ini, dunia per sinetronan indosiar lah pemenangnya :D

 

Adegan 5 : Kejar-kejaran di padang rumput atau taman bunga yang langitnya pun pake pewarna buatan, sambil nyanyi ala film Bollywood, lengkap dengan teks lagunya. "Sepertinya bagian Scene ini ter inspirasi dari film india" dan per sinetronan Indosiar dan TPI lah ahlinya :D

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Demikianlah adegan-adegan yang sering muncul di per filman indonesia sampai saat ini, semoga saja ada perubahan yang lebih baik untuk perfilman indonesia, yang sehingga pantas untuk ditonton oleh semua kalangan, dan tentunya memberikan nilai-nilai budaya dan edukasi. :)

Five texts you should never send

We're texting more than ever, and, like society, the texts themselves are getting worse and worse.

That's a conclusion cobbled together from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which found that the median number of texts adults send and receive in a day doubled from 2009 to 2010, and much anecdotal observation from the authors.

Read on to learn just how terrible silent cell phone users are these days, and the five texts that should never traverse that satellite-banked arc from your hands to the eyes of another.

1. "I think we should see other people."

It isn't just skittish teenagers pulling this rude move. Last year, a survey from Lab 42 found that 33% of adults (adults!) had broken up with someone via text, e-mail or Facebook. Forty percent said they "would ever" do it, indicating that 7% of the surveyed humans are soulless jerks who haven't but would hurtfully sever ties with a lover if only someone would respond to their advances.

Yes, breaking up is hard. Knowing you're going to hurt someone you cared about with your words indeed makes your stomach do some Cirque de Soleil-esque acrobatics. But shooting over a one-way missive to deliver the news for you? It's supremely cruel, because it leaves the other person cocking his or her head with Fred Willard-esque histrionics and asking, "Hey, wha' happened?" That complete lack of closure (not to mention the dearth of soothing, I-care-about-you-as-a-human-being signals you send with your voice and motions) add up to WAY more ruminating than is necessary.

Netiquette: Be careful when diagnosing your ailments online

The break-up text is only this much more noble than ghosting on someone you're dating, letting the silences grow longer and longer until you can tell yourself it was a mutual separation and then scuttle into the night like a cowardly cockroach. If you went on enough dates to call this person your boyfriend or girlfriend, he or she deserves at least a call.

2. "Will you marry me?"

A text proposal. It actually happened, people. And if that isn't innards-wrenchingly horrific enough, after it happened, Miss Manners went on to condone it. Can we please consider marriage proposals one of the few remaining bastions of old-fashioned romance, free from the lackadaisical pall that technology has cast over everything?

Unless you've rigged some clever feat that ties in the nerdy way you met, your phone should be put away, your knee should be on the pavement, and your hands should be clutching a ring, not picking a ringtone.

3. "We're thinking about going to Shortstop later but Aiden is still napping & Mona was talking abt having ppl over for a cookout. IDK if I want to be out in the heat tho since I'm still hungo from Bosco's pirate party thing last night. Are you and Weeds still... [1 of 2]"

4. "...wandering around the park or did you want to do something later? Hit me up if you see this before 10. Gonna go pass out for a while. [2 of 2]"

Texting was supposed to save us time by letting us bypass the phone call and just instantly telegraph the important stuff. But we've grown so reliant upon it that we obliviously miss, Mr. Bean-like, the conversations that could happen expeditiously over the phone.

Netiquette: An open letter to texting-crazed teens

So often, we put our thumbs to work typing out long and convoluted messages that warrant a detailed, meticulous volley of responses, when wagging our tongues would have cleared things up in 30 seconds flat. More than half of texters have "long, personal text message exchanges," according to a 2010 survey. They are all wasting time.

Our rule of (red, raw, overused) thumb: If your text is longer than two sentences and it demands a response other than a simple yes or no, just hit Call. You'll save everyone a little time and a lot of confusion.

5. [a photo of your junk]

According to a Pew Research Center study that is (according to the Times) due out later this year, 6% of American adults -- that's one in 17 upstanding citizens -- has sent a nude or nearly nude (but not "never-nude") photo on a cell phone. And 15% have received such a text. (Apparently these self-portraitists are prolific.)

Leave something to the imagination, folks.

Super PAC App - knows when political ads stretch the truth

What if every political ad came with a "truthiness" disclaimer?

That's essentially the goal of the Super PAC App, a new project from former students at MIT's Media Lab.

Their free iPhone app, which will be available on Wednesday, listens to political advertisements on television and matches the ad's audio waves against a database -- much like the Shazam app identifies music. It then tells the app's user who paid for the ad and how much they're spending on the campaign before pointing them to nonpartisan sources -- PolitiFact, FactCheck.org and others -- to try to verify the ad's claims.

The app is free of advertising and is funded in full by a grant from the Knight Foundation, according to Dan Siegel, one of the app's co-creators.

The fact-checking process is especially important this year, said Siegel, because Super PACs for the first time can spend unlimited funds on presidential campaign ads. In recent weeks TV airwaves in battleground states have been full of ads making negative claims about both President Obama and his rival Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee.

"The campaigns are spending a lot of money and all of that money is going into television ads," he said. "And therefore there's a need for users to be able to play through the noise a little bit."

Siegel spoke with CNN recently about how the app works and how he hopes it will change the way voters interact with television ads. The following transcript is edited for length and clarity:

CNN: Tell me about the idea for this app. Where did the idea come from?

Siegel: I was at the business school at MIT and decided to take a class at the Media Lab. I came into it with this interest in politics and a fascination with how much money is going to be spent in this election. When you look into the numbers, it's very clear that the overwhelming percentage of the money raised goes into television ads. So it's like, well, what are those ads trying to tell us?

And Jenn (Jennifer Hollett), my co-founder, came into the class from the (Harvard) Kennedy School, and has a background in broadcast journalism. And so really from day one it was kind of a perfect fit.

Jenn threw out the idea: "What about an app that can -- and I have no idea if this is possible -- but what about an app that can actually tell you what you're watching on TV as you're watching it?" I said, "Yes! What you're talking about is audio fingerprinting technology. That is a great idea. Let's go with that."

For a while, we called it a class project. And we were working on it as a class project. And there was a moment where we were about to get on the phone with a major media outlet who just had actually heard about this class project ... and they wanted to talk to us about partnering. Before that call, Jenn and I looked at each other and said, "Hey, why don't we stop calling this a class project and call it an app. That is real. That we're building. And, like, see what happens."

CNN: So you mentioned "audio fingerprinting." What does that mean exactly?

Siegel: The short answer is that we're collecting a database of all the presidential political ads. So we have that. That database grows, obviously, by the day, as the new ads are released.

The users submits to us, though the app, an audio sample of sound (from the campaign ad). And we can match that audio sample, with our partner TuneSat, against the database that we have.

With enough audio -- it's typically about 10 seconds required to make a match -- we can say, "Gotcha." We know which ad you're listening to right now.

And then the app fires up and the user can explore the information.

CNN: What information pops up on your screen?

Siegel: We think it's still important to know basic facts. So the first screen is information including: Who is this organization? What are they called? Is it Restore Our Future? Is it Obama for America? Is Crossroads GPS? Is it Priorities USA Action? Then what are they? Are they the official campaign? Are they a super PAC? Is it something else? And then it's how much money have they raised? How much money have they spent in this campaign season?

And then it's an opportunity for the user to actually rate the ad -- and rate them with fun buttons (like) "love," "fair," "fishy," "fail." Once they do that, they can see how others have rated the ad. And then from there there's an opportunity to go into another screen, which is the actual claims of the ad. So a user can click through and we're disaggregating an ad into distinct claims. For each of those claims, here are objective, nonpartisan, third-party sources that are talking about that claim.

So you can quickly get a sense of, "Is this claim based in any kind of fact or is it all noise?" And hopefully that's an opportunity for the user not to have to do a lot of homework to figure out, "Am I watching an ad that's kind of true? Not true at all? Or actually, yeah, that is telling me some really valuable information."

CNN: So it's fact checking it, in a way.

Siegel: It is fact checking it, but we as Super PAC App are not doing the fact checking. We are, you know, standing on the shoulders of some great organizations, including FactCheck.org and PolitiFact. But also, you know, major media outlets who are doing their own reporting.

CNN: I imagine this has got to be an incredible amount of data. How do you keep up with that while, as you mentioned, more and more ads keep coming in all the time?

Siegel: We have a Web crawler and we are pointing it at the right places to find these ads. Reliably, you can find many of these ads on YouTube. But that's probably not going to get us all the way there. You can imagine some organizations that don't create YouTube channels or never post (the ads) online. And you can also imagine an organization that posts it online 24 hours after it's actually run. And we want to have to not wait for that window.

We have informal partnerships with journalists. ... We're plugged in with those journalists and they're feeding us ads on a one-off basis. And then, separately, on our own, we're signed up for all the newsletters and press sheets that alert us to when new ads are put out there.

CNN: Does the app track information about its users?

Siegel: It tracks how "a user" has rated the ads. But we have absolutely no identifying information. We do know, in aggregate, how many people have rated an ad as "love" or "fishy," but we have no way of tracing that back to a user. A given user will be able to fire up his or her prior tags, so if you go on the app before and tagged five different ads, you can find those ads in a filter for "my tags." But that's all data that's stored on your phone. You're not sending that data back to us.

CNN: What have you found so far? Are most of the ads factual?

Siegel: I wouldn't necessarily even want to comment on that. That's painting with such a broad brush. What I can say is that we're really excited about what we're doing. We're not trying to say super PACs are good or bad, necessarily, but they're definitely here, and they're definitely spending lots of money. The campaigns are spending a lot of money and all of that money is going into television ads. And therefore there's a need for users to be able to play through the noise a little bit.

Some of these ads are complete distortions of the truth and you can quickly discover that if you have some trusted news source telling you so. And some of the ads are completely accurate and are telling you really valuable information that can help make you a more informed voter. And you need to know that, too.

It allows us to reach people who are like, "Yeah, this is kinda weird that my television is screaming all these ads at me, 24-7. I don't get it, but, by the same token, I've got a life. I'm going to go make dinner now and I'm going to go play catch with my kids. And that's that." Fine, great, don't get off your couch. Just hold up your phone to the TV and we can give you some very basic information that will help make you a little bit more informed.

CNN: It seems like this election cycle is unique in terms of the amount of money being spent on campaign ads, and the presence of super PACs. Can you talk about why you think this app is especially important now?

Siegel: Because of the "Citizens United" decision, that Supreme Court decision, super PACs can exist. And what it means is that anyone who's willing and able to write a check can have a voice in this election. And by anyone, that is a union, that is an individual, that is a company. And they can do so to an unlimited degree.

The amount of voice you can have is only limited by the amount of airtime you are able to buy. And that's unprecedented. That means that sometime in mid-August or late August, there's going to be, particularly in swing states, no more (nonpolitical) commercials. And I suspect that's going to feel very weird to the average person.

We're hoping people will say, at the very least, "Well, I want to understand why there are so many commercials on?" We think the Super PAC App is a way to very quickly, very easily -- and actually in a fun way -- get to that message.

CNN: What do you think the next presidential election will look like in terms of the use of technology to help get people information?

Siegel: Yeah, someone asked that question of me recently and my response, which was kind of flippant at the time but I think is honest, is that "I can't even imagine." Right? Like the advancement of technology in the next four years -- it's so exciting to think what might be possible. What I said to that person at the time is "Who knows, in 2016, we might all be flying in cars."

And I honestly do feel that way. What is applied in terms of mobile technology in the next four years? I hope it's something like the Super PAC App on 10 rounds of steroids. I don't know what it is, but I'm really excited to see it and I'm really excited to use it. And, potentially, even be the one developing it.

Malaysia flush with Middle East cash

When Facebook went public in May it became the biggest stock launch of the year, but the two next biggest initial public offerings had something in common - they were both Malaysian companies.

In June, Felda Global Ventures Holdings raised $3.1 billion in shares, and a month later IHH Healthcare raised $2.1billion. Both are Malaysian and for both, key investors came from the Middle East.

“Middle East investment is highly important,” Fung Siu, Asia editor for the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNN’s Ayesha Durgahee.

Siu added: “There are synergies to be had between the two countries - not least because they are Muslim-dominated countries, they have that in common. Sharia law is common to both countries and they try to leverage that in the Islamic finance sector - particularly Malaysia which is at the vanguard of Islamic finance.

“So the Middle East could actually use and tap Malaysia as its financial center and hub, and source of finance as well.

“Foreign direct investment is crucial to Malaysia's transformation into a high-income economy by 2020."

Malaysia's economy is growing rapidly, with the country's GDP rising by 5.4% over the past three months.

A report by HSBC in January predicted that Malaysia will be the world's 21st-largest economy by 2050, with income per capita jumping from $5,224 to $29, 249.

“It’s still an export-led economy, buoyed by palm oil, the oil and gas sector, the manufacturing sector is also very strong ,” said Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, CEO of Malaysia Airlines. “You can only export to a certain extent. What the government is trying to do is to encourage more the consumer economy.”

Boosting visitor numbers could be part of the formula. Tourism currently accounts for 8% of the country's GDP. A change in foreign-ownership rules could increase it to 13%, which could generate a total of $54 billion in revenue by 2020.

“We have nine airlines flying from the Middle Eastern region,” said Chong Yoke Har, director of Tourism Malaysia. “Malaysia is very strategically located in the middle of Southeast Asia, and therefore foreigner investors look at this as a very attractive area to invest in.”

And they've already started to bite. Qatar Holding, owner of Harrods department store, announced in July that its first Harrods hotel will be built and launched in Kuala Lumpur.

A launchpad for hotels and a potential springboard for investment, Malaysia's multicultural roots are helping to change the economic landscape of the country, whilst moving the Middle East closer to Asia.