YOUR STATION - E

Corporate blogging

2009-07-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

Corporate blogging is a new market communication tool for companies. It helps the organization to reach their goal. The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads. There are two kind of corporate blog which is internal and external blog.

An internal blog is a weblog which enable employee to view. Generally it accessed through the corporation's Intranet while an external blog is a publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services, to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. It also allows a window to the company culture and is often treated more informally than traditional press releases, though a corporate blog often tries to accomplish similar goals as press releases do.

From a business perspective there are several potential reason to blog. The kind you can expert from blogs is mainly about stronger relations with important target groups.

Become the Expert
Position yourself and your company as the thought leader of your business.

Customer Relationships
In a forum where your main objective not is to sell, you'll have a more personal relationship between you and your customers. Blogs are a fast way to join the customers' discussions, provide tips and insights or receive feedback.

Media Relations
It's every PR-consultants dream to create a channel where media regularly check what you have to say, instead of media just being passive - sometimes indifferent - recipients of press releases.

Internal Collaboration
Use blogs as a workspace where project members keep each other updated without wasting time writing reports or searching the Outlook inbox.

Knowledge Management
Blogs works in two ways. First of all, they're an easy way for the readers to find information and resources they want or need. That's obvious and could be used internally in many organizations. Second, blogs are a kind of "university light" for the blogger. Blogging is on-the-job learning.

Recruitment
If you establish your company as a thought leader, people in your business will pay attention. They'll read and discuss what you have to say. Chances are good they will see you as an attractive employer.

Test ideas or products
A blog is informal. It's part of a conversation where people (often) can comment, and the blog can provide you with a measure of value. Publish an idea and see if it generates interest. Does anyone link to you? What do they say?

Rank high in search engines
Well, this has nothing to do with relations. But Google and other search engines rewards sites that are updated often, that link to other sites and most importantly, that has many inbound links. Start a blog at your regular site and your ranking will boost.

However, there is also disadvantage of using blogging. Sometime customers are not trust the corporate blogging. If company fail to do so, they gain no more advantages. The statistic below show that how much the customer trust to the information sources. The corporate blogging is the lowest which is 16 %.

sorces from Read Write Web

There is some sucessful example of corporate blogging like Coca-Cola, Dell, Intel, Nokia and so fourth. They have implement their blog sucessful and build up a strong relationship with customers.

Related Links:
(1) Report of corporate blog not trust.

(2) Top 15 corporate blog (may 2008)

E-Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen's adoption strategies

2009-07-07T05:57:00.000-07:00

e-Government :

In year 1997, the Malaysian Government launched the Electronic Government initiative, generally known as e-Government, to reinvent itself to lead the country into the Information Age. As far as Malaysia is concerned, the implementation of e- government was initiated with the introduction of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in year 1996.The implementation of e-Government in Malaysia heralds the beginning of a journey of reinventing the government by transforming the way it operates, modernising and enhancing its service delivery.

One of the e-government applications is called e-government flagship. Under e-government flagship, there is a series of applications such as :

Generic Office Environment (GOE)

Electronic Procurement (eP) project

Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)

Project Monitoring System (PMS)

Electronic Services Directory (e-Services)

Electronic Labor Exchange

Internal Revenue Department (IRD)

E-Syariah

Mycard is also one of the products that have been provided by the government to enhance the services to the customers. It provides several applications for example national ID, driving license, passport information, health information, Touch N Go and MBPS cash.

Another type of e-government applications is agency-led projects. Some of the examples of agency-led projects are E-Tanah, E-courts, E-perolehan and others.

Problems encountered by consumer :

Lack of awareness - Malaysian users are not aware the applications offered.

Language barrier - Most of the government websites are using Bahasa Malaysia.

Online behaviour - Some of the consumers are seldom make the transaction online. They probably pay the bill to the office of the relevant company.

Citizen's adoption strategies :

Customer satisfaction
e-Government adoption requires that citizens show higher levels of satisfactoin with the online service provided by the government. A higher level of customer satisfaction will increase the rate of e-Goverment adoption.

Website design
Personalization of websites, customization of product offerings, and self-care are the three key features that could be used not only to build relationship with the visitors, but also to enhance their experience.

Customer satisfaction
A high level of customer satisfaction will enhance the adoption of e-government. Thus, features in those websites play an important role in order to satisfy customers wants.

Related links :

http://www.hasil.org.my/
http://home.eperolehan.gov.my/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1&lang=bm
http://www.myeg.com.my/
http://www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/articles/Article1%20-%20Full.pdf

E-learning offered in Malaysia universities

2009-07-07T03:38:00.001-07:00

Web based learning has been implemented widely in colleges and universities nowadays, such as UKM , University of Malaya , University Malaysia Sarawak, UNITAR and Multimedia University Malaysia. E-Learning is a learning process that is facilitated and enhanced by using digital tools such as CD-ROMs, video conferencing, websites, e-mail and many more, where the content and instruction is delivered electronically.

According to a recent survey by Internetworldstats.com, Malaysia is currently ranked
among the top 20 highest number of Internet users in the World. This shows that ELearning
through the use of Internet will become increasingly more common in Malaysia
in the future. In terms of Malaysia’s E-Readiness in Southeast Asia, Malaysia just falls
behind Singapore and is currently at the embedding stage where :

1) there a general acceptance of ICT by citizens, business and government
2) Incorporation of e-business requirements into policies, legislations and regulations
3) Efforts taken to enhance international standing.

Currently, more universities are needed to cater the growing student population in Malaysia. Malaysia’s goal is to have 40% of the school leavers to enter higher education by 2020. However, it is a very high investment to build and maintain universities. As a result, one solution to this is through the creation of virtual universities or implementing
e-learning in universities and colleges. Currently, there are two virtual universities that are established in Malaysia. They are UNITAR (University Tun Abdul Razak) and Open University of Malaysia. Both of these universities currently provide courses online mainly for and working adults.

Other universities that are using e-learning as a support technologies include Universit Malaysia Sarawak and Multimedia University Malaysia. University Malaysia Sarawak came up with a plan of “setting up a virtual campus, which incorporates internal and
external elements e.g. subject, registration, appointment with lecturer and bulletin boards”. Multimedia university on the other hand, have developed their multimedia learning system. “Multimedia Learning System (MMLS) is a web-based intelligent courseware delivery engine that utilizes multimedia to enhance the teaching and learning process. MMLS was developed with the underlying concept of a virtual teacher within a virtual classroom environment. The MMLS signifies the creation of an intelligent, interactive self-paced instructor-led, web-based teaching and learning tool.” Multimedia University Malaysia currently offers distance learning courses through e-learning.

E-learning has shown its great advantages through its accessibility to all students irrespective of their residence. E-classes help students to communicate with their tutors, get clarifications regarding their subjects and study and access teaching materials through e-libraries. Universities and colleges which provide online degrees involve more and more electronic facilities to give their online students fast and qualified assistance. Students’ interactions have become much easier than face-to-face communication!

Another advantage of e-learning is its time flexibility. One can get online resources, communicate with his tutor or class mates, send his query and write term paper at any time he can get access to the Internet.

E-learning or networked learning has been becoming more and more popular among students living in developing and undeveloped countries. They can afford getting higher education degrees at respectable universities and colleges by saving extra expenses for traveling, accommodation, food and high fees for tutors. E-learning can offer such students much easier and affordable way to get a good education and a prestige higher degree.

However, there are still a few disadvantages in e-learning which are enough obvious to be omitted in this article. Lack of face-to-face communication with teachers contributes lack of understanding between a student and a teacher. While a teacher cannot easily feel a student’s demands, interests and motivations, a student can simply be lazy being non-motivated enough and having free time schedule for his e-learning. This may result a low scope of the student’s knowledge and the teacher’s accusation in lack of proficiency. Next, online classes, conferences and discussions are limited in time and totally exclude emotional interactivity. Though some universities and colleges which provide online courses and give online degrees evolve voice communication through networking technologies there is still lack of gestures, vivid dialogue and feeling of your interlocutor’s presence.

E-learning as it looks today leaves so many questions and demands regarding its improvement as it gets benefits. However, its fast growing shows a great future for online degrees. One of the most influential things which stimulate e-learning development is globalization through the Internet. The globalized world of computer technologies accepts people of different cultures irrespective of their origin, boundaries, genders, races, ages and sexes. E-learning has become an integral part of this e-world and welcomes everybody who has willingness to learn and get higher education.

Review a local, transactional e-commerce site

2009-07-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

Online shopping is very popular and easy nowadays. Especially in Malaysia, people are becoming lazier. In order to satisfy the lazy Malaysian, online shopping has become the future trend of business. So, what products are you looking for while you are shopping online? Clothes? Watches? Shoes? Hey, don't be so selfish! With CatsnDogs.my, you can now have an alternative ways to buy stuff for your pets!

CatsnDogs.my is a Malaysian based online pet store dedicated to all pet owners especially cat and dog lovers. Here you can sit back and relax browsing or shopping online for your pets while spend quality time with them. No more hustle and bustle queuing up at shopping malls or the local pet store. CatsnDogs.my is a retail pet store that offers range of quality products for pet owners. Currently, products available online includes pet bed, grooming tools, cat toys, cat tree and scratcher, dog toys, treats and products are being upgrading from time to time.

The site design and layout are well organized and attractive. The products sold are separated into different categories such as pet beds, pet carrier, pet feeders, pet toys and others. This enables the shopper to find the products needed easily. Moreover, the "shop by price" feature also allows the shopper to search products according to the price level. The site also provides shopping carts feature to assist shoppers on picking up selected products. Besides that, there is also a search engine available in the site so that the shoppers can search for the products they are looking for instantly.

"Shop By Price" feature

For the font colour and selection, although the font size is quite small, the words are still clearly visible. By using black font colour for main text, the product name and promotion price are using red fontcolour to attract shopper attention. The download speed is moderately quick and the navigation is simple and clear. There are four types of payment method: PayPal, Maybank2u, Visa and MasterCard. It is also a PayPal verified seller site that means high creditability and security of transaction with the site. There are also provided a space for the buyers to comment and post their reviews. From there, the shoppers can find out the details and information related to products sold.

"Review" feature

In overall, CatsnDogs.my is a great e-commerce site as it has fulfilled several criterias for a typical "good" e-commerce site such as quick loading speed, user friendly navigation and site design, various types of products and so on. To survive in such a competitive business, CatsnDogs.my has made it clear to be unique from other e-commerce site where online pet store is yet to be popular in Malaysia.
Reference sites:

Have a nice day!

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

2009-07-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

Mobile payment is new and rapidly-adopting alternative payment method. Instead of paying by cheques or credit cards, a consumer can use a mobile phone to pay for wide range of services and goods. The payment can be made either to directly purchase or to authorize payment for goods and services. Such devices are playing an increasing end evolving role in the wider development of electronic payment systems around Asia Pacific, which includes Malaysia.

Malaysia's mobile payment market has developed more quickly, but less organically than other country such as Thai market. Emerging services have received government support, but uptake in the market has been limited. Existing services are focused predominantly on bill payment and m-banking, growing slowly into m-wallet services, remittance and top-up/transfer offerings.

One of the most popular mobile payment systems is the Mobile Money (MM Wallet). Mobile Money is a PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution designed to address the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheques and credit cards. It unlocks the power of the mobile phone to make payments, allowing registered users to pay for goods and services at anytime, anywhere using only a mobile phone coupled with a 6-digit security PIN (Personal Identification Number) via SMS (Short Messaging Service). This gives the freedom to shoppers to buy products online and pay the merchant using his/her mobile phone without being physically present at the store.

After many years of trials and errors in developing the finest mobile payment system, Maxis Communications Bhd, in collaboration with Nokia, Visa, Maybank and Touch 'n Go, has announced the launch of Maxis FastTap - calling it an integrated mobile payment service that utilises Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. With the service, customers can use their Nokia 6216 Classic phones to purchase goods and services at more than 1,800 Visa payWave merchant locations as well as pay for toll, transit, parking and theme park charges at over 3,000 Touch 'n Go points nationwide.

There are two elements to NFC technology — a tag, which is inside the phone and can store data and transmit it wirelessly, and a reader, which can access the information stored on the tag. The appeal of contactless mobile payments for consumers is especially apparent in high-speed transaction environments like car parks, toll gates, bus and train terminals, cafés and fast-food outlets, newsagents, supermarkets and petrol stations. This technology will thus increasing the popularity of using mobile payment in Malaysia.

The San Francisco coffee outlet at KLCC is already equipped with the Visa payWave that allows for mobile payments via NFC

The potential for this market is quite big, because it is very convenient to use mobile payment. The mobile payment providers have a large market share to be grab on. This mobile payment is still new and developing in Malaysia. It has potential to continue to grow as consumer’s confidence on mobile payment increased. Mobile payment providers have most potential for growing.
To put it simple:

Market still at developing stage
Many mobile phone users
Low competition

Strategies:

Educate consumers about mobile payments, how to use and introduce its functions (e.g. bill payment, mobile purchase)
Enhance security and confidence to mobile users
Collaborate with more banks and companies to widen the ability to pay via mobile at the same time it helps to increased customer’s satisfaction and confidence
Maintain customer’s loyalty

Here some useful reference websites:

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

2009-07-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

A prepaid cash card benefits consumers in their everyday life. This is mainly due to it allows consumers to purchase something even when they don’t have the cash to pay for it. The balance in the card will be subtracted each time the consumer uses it. You can always reload the card when the balance runs low by transferring money from your regular checking or savings account.

An example of prepaid cash card in our country, Malaysia...
Touch 'n Go card is an electronic purse that can be used at all highways in Malaysia, selected parking sites and theme park. The credit card size smartcard made of plastic with microchip technology embedded in it. User can continue using the card as long as it still having balance. Moreover, user can reload the card at toll plazas, train stations, Automated Teller Machines, Cash Deposit Machines, Petrol kiosks and at authorised third party outlets (e.g. 7-11 outlet).

Other than that, Touch 'n Go has extended its uses in e-tailing which is the selling of retail goods on the Internet. There are some outlets having privileges for customer who pay by using Touch 'n Go. It is a portable card and very convenient for users because users no longer need to prepare for small change or wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction. The picture below shows the lane designed for Touch 'n Go user at every Plaza Tol in Malaysia.

Now, I'm going to introduce an example of pre-paid cash card of Hong Kong, which is Octopus Card .Hong Kong is estimated to have the highest percentage of trips made by public transit in the industrialized world (around 90%). Not only is their system easy to use, but it’s multifaceted: trains, boats, buses, subway, cable cars, and trolleys.

Hong Kongers use the card called the Octopus, which stores prepaid credit and dishes it out through a radio signal when swiped by a plate mounted to the cash box on buses or trolleys, or turnstiles in the subway stations. It works so well, you don’t even have to take the card out of your wallet or bag. Better yet, the card is good for more than just transit. It works at convenience stores, certain restaurants, and even vending machines.

Lastly, i would like to introduce a prepaid cash card used in Singapore, which is EZ Link card. The card is commonly used in Singapore as a smartcard for paying transportation fees in the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT) and public bus services. The card also serves as a supplementary identification and concession card for students in nationally recognised educational institutes and etc. The system has since been expanded, with EZ-Link cards being used for payments in Singapore branches of Mc Donald's. Some schools in Singapore have also started to adopt the EZ-Link card as a way to mark the attendance of students and to pay for food served within the school campus.

As many advantages stated above, are you ready to apply a PREPAID CASH CARD now ??

For more information, kindly log on to :

1. http://www.touchngo.com.my/MediaCentre_FF.html (Touch 'n Go card)

2. http://www.hong-kong-travel.org/Octopus.asp (Octopus Card)

3. http://www.ezlink.com.sg/index.jsp (EZ Link card)

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention.

2009-07-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

It is often the case that your mailbox is filled with a number of credit card debt settlement notices, or you may be plagued by collection calls, and if such is the case with you then you must be having debts that you are finding difficult to pay off, and the problem has been going on for some time

Credit card is a system of payment named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. In the case of credit cards, the issuer lends money to the consumer (or the user) to be paid later to the merchant. It allows the consumer to 'revolve' their balance, at the cost of having interest charged. However, it can lead to a big amount of debts or bankruptcy for the users or consumers.

There are several causes made the debt of cardholder become bigger and bigger.First of all ,the users might just keep on swapping the credit card unlimited because they don't have to pay the money on the spot. They didn't see where the money flows so they won't feel anything as long as they still have cash in their wallet. Some of them may hold 3 or 4 credit cards at the same time too. When there is due date, those users only pay the interest and the minimum amount of principal; they never fully pay for the amount. Finally, the poor money management and their self-attitudes will lead them to the pool of liabilities.

Besides that, the users might have to pay a big amount for medical expenses, deposits for buying cars or houses,thus they have to pay by using credit cards an owe money to the bank. Sometimes, the credit card debts may be caused by the internet threats such as phishing, malicious software, hacking and more. Due to the personal information, credit card number and the password have been stolen; the owners are liable for the bills which have been misused under their account

Prevention are as follow:

1. Photocopy the credit card offer, including the interest rate and terms. Create a letter to your credit card company/companies stating that you are thinking of switching to their competition because they are offering a far more reasonable interest rate. Credit card companies do not want to lose your business. Nine times out of ten they will match or even offer a lower rate than the competition has offered.

2. If you can afford it, pay double the minimum payment. The minimum payment usually pays just enough to cover the interest and a little more that pays down the balance. Paying extra will pay your balance more quickly.

3. Pay off smaller balances first. It is common for a person to try to focus on their cards with larger balances first. Pay off the smaller ones. It will take less time and you will feel a sense of satisfaction when you have actually completed your goal. This will boost your confidence and make it easier to tackle the higher balances.

4. Cut up your cards so that you are not tempted to use them. Save one card for emergencies.

5. If you have equity in your home, look into paying off credit card debt with a refinance or fixed-rate home equity loan. Do not use a home equity line of credit, the rates will rise as the prime rises and suddenly you may find it impossible to keep up with your bills.

Electronic Currency

2009-07-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

" The money screamed across wires, its provenance fading in a maze of electronic transfers, which shifted it, hid it, broke it up into manageable wads which would be withdrawn and redeposited elsewhere, oblitering the trail."
Nest of Vipers, a banking thriller by Linda Davies.

Electronic Currency ia also know as e-money, electronic cash, electronic money, digital currency, digital cash and digital money that can be use to pay goods or services. This involves the use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value system. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit are example of electronic currency. EFT refer to the computer-based system used to perform financial transaction electronically while direct deposit is a banking term used to refer to certain systems used to transfer money. It is also a collective term for financial cyptography and technologies enabling it.An e-currency system may be fully backed by gold (like e-gold and c-gold), non-gold backed, or both gold and non-gold baked (like e-Bullion and Liberty Reserve).

In the use of off-line electronic money, the merchant does not need to interact with the bank before accepting a coin from the user. Instead he can collect multiple coins spent by users and deposit them later with the bank. In principle this could be done off-line, which the merchant could go to the bank with his storage media to exchange e-cash for cash. Nevertheless the merchant is guaranteed that the user's e-coin will either be accepted by the bank, or the bank will be able to identify and punish the cheating user.

How does electonic currency works??
There are a number of electronic cash protocols. To a degree, all digital cash schemes operate in the following manner: A user installs a "cyber wallet" onto computer. Money can be put in the wallet by deciding how much is needed and then sending an encrypted message to the bank asking for this amount to be deducted from the user's account. The bank reads the message with private key decryption and verifies if it has been digitally signed in order to identify the user. The bank then generates "serial numbers", encrypts the message, signs it with its digital signature and returns it. The user is now entitled to use the message (coin or token) to spend it at merchant sites. Merchants receive e-cash during a transaction and see that it has been authorized by a bank. They then contact the bank to make sure the coins have not been spent somewhere else, and the amount is credited to the merchant's account.

The threat of online security: How safe is our data?

2009-07-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

In this 21st century, it seem that everythings relies on computer and internet like communication (email, cellphones), entertainment (digital, cable, mp3), transportation (car engine system, airplane navigation), medicine (equipment, medicine records), and so fourth. How much ur daily life relies on computer? how much of your personal information is stored either on your own computer or on somewhere else's system?

When we connected to the internet, we are exposing ourselves to many potential risk. Among these risks are viruses' infections on your computer system, theft and hacking. When your computer exposed to these risk, all of the information stored in the devices is at the risk as well. Therefore, protecting your computer is important when you are connected to internet.

Unfourtunely, there's no 100% guarantee that even with the best precautions some of these things won't happen to you, but there are ways to minimize those risks.

The best way to minimize the risk is to install anti-virus software on your computer, as well as a firewall, but installing these software is no enoght to cope with the threat that our computer is facing nowaday, you have to keep update your software in order to prevent your computer to expose to those risks.

For more antivirus software detail, please click the icon below:

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

2009-06-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

TPC (Third Part Certification) is very important for creating initial trust through implementation because the consumer has a tendency to trust brand names. The TPC programme requires the posting of a website privacy statement to inform a visitor about what personal information a web site may collect from them and how it will be used and disclosed among other features.

The most famous application of 3rd party certification program in Malaysia is provided by the MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd. MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd was incorporated in 1999 and is a licensed Certification Authority (CA) under the operation of the MSC. Certification Authority is the body given the license to operate as a trusted third party in the issuance of digital certificates.

The core business of Trustgate is to provide digital certification services which include digital certificates, cryptographic products, and software development. Objective of Trustgate is to secure the open network communications for both locally and across the ASEAN region. Besides, the vision of Trustgate is to enable organizations to conduct their business securely over the Internet, as much as what they have been enjoying in the physical world.

There are few products and services provided by Trustgate which include SSL Certificate, Managed PKI, Personal ID, MyTRUST, MyKAD ID, SSL VPN, Managed Security Services, VeriSign Certified Training and Application Development.

VeriSign Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates is the public encrypted key that Webmaster sends to CA which is a standard part of most web server and web browser packages when works in conjunction with the SSL technology. VeriSign will review the credentials and check through all the background of organization to ensure that the claim of organization before issuing any server certificate. The browser will verify its business purpose through ID automatically when browser connects to a legitimate site with VeriSign SSL Certificates. After that, information received by Web visitor is identical to encryption between browser and server and no modification is taken place.

VeriSign is one of trust brand on internet to further enhance operation of e-commerce because it gives confidence to customer in communication and online business transactions. In turn, the company will receive accurate information that the customer could not refute later. Additional protection against the misuse and expired certificates is provided. Thus, there was nearly one million times that people have clicked on

Please do not hesitate to visit the links below if you want to know more about the services provided by Trustgate:

=> MSC Trustgate.com Sdn

=> Verisign.com

How to safeguard our personal financial data

2009-06-25T23:02:00.001-07:00

Today, security was synonymous with secrecy. The shared secret between two parties conducting business was a worldwide approach. But secret passwords require a great deal of trust between parties sharing the secret. Can we always trust the administrator or other users of the Internet network service provider that we access?
Most computer break-ins today are due to compromise by system users or hackers who use legitimate accounts to gain access to general security. Determining the identity of a person is becoming critical in our vastly connected information society. As a large number of biometrics-based identification systems are being deployed for many civilian and forensic applications, biometrics and its application have evoked considerable interest.

There are number of ways to protect our personal and financial data:

Usernames and passwords are used to ensure security. Longer passwords provide greater security than shorter ones. Once you select a password, change it frequently. Do not disclose it to anyone. You should also be careful about where you save your password on your computer. Some dialog boxes, such as those for remote access and other telephone connections, present an option to save or remember your password. Do not select that option

Biometric device is also an access control to safeguard our personal and financial data. Biometric devices grant access to programs, computers, or rooms using computer analysis of some biometric identifier. Examples of biometric devices and systems include fingerprint scanners, hand geometry systems, face recognition systems, voice verification systems, signature verification systems and iris recognition systems. Biometric devices are gaining popularity as a security precaution because they are a virtually foolproof method of identification and authentication.

Firewalls and intrusion detection software. Users can use firewalls to protect their computers and data from unauthorized intrusions. Personal firewall utilities constantly monitor all transmissions to and from the computer and inform the users of any attempted intrusion.

Encryption .To protects information on the Internet and networks, individuals may use a variety of encryption techniques to keep data secure and private. Encryption is a process of converting readable data into unreadable characters to prevent unauthorized access.

4. Get Free encryption here --->http://www.safehouseencryption.com/

Phishing: Examples and its prevention methods

2009-06-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

~~Fishing~~ Phishing is a scam in which the attacker sends an email purporting to be from a valid financial provider. The email often uses fear tactics in an effort to entice the intended victim into visiting a fraudulent website. Phishing (fake) emails are made to look like they are from legitimate companies but are actually from identity thieves.

These emails warn you of account problems or other urgent issues in order to trick the victim into clicking through to a spoof website. The victim is instructed to login to their account and enter sensitive financial information such as their bank PIN number, their bank account number and so on. This information is then surreptitiously sent to the attacker who then uses it to engage in credit card and bank fraud.

Many of these phishing email appear to be quite legitimate. Don't be a victim. Look over the following examples of phishing scams to familiarize yourself with the clever techniques used.

SunTrust phishing email

The following example is of a phishing scam targeting SunTrust bank customers. The email warns that failing to comply with the instructions may result in account suspension. Note the use of the SunTrust logo. This is a common tactic with "phishers"who often use valid logos they have simply copied from the real banking site in an attempt to lead credence to their phishing email.

eBay phishing email

As with the SunTrust example, this eBay phishing email includes the eBay logo in an attempt to gain credibility. The email warns that a billing error may have been made on the account and urges the eBay member to login and verify the charges.

The following includes some of the methods of prevention:

Don't trust email headers, which can be forged easily.
Avoid filling out forms in email messages. You can't know with certainty where the data will be sent and the information can make several stops on the way to the recipient.
Verify the legitimacy of a web address with the company directly before submitting your personal information.
Check to see if there is an 's' after the http in the address and a lock at the bottom of the screen that indicates the link is secure and encrypts data.

If you believe you have been the victim of fraud, contact your financial institution immediately via phone or in person.

Lastly, if you think you are expert enough on this topic, kindly take this little quiz to challenge yourself. Good luck! :)

Resources from around the Web

Phishing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Explains some common phishing methods and dangers.
Anti-Phishing Working Group
Provide a resource for information on the problem and solutions for phishing and email fraud.
OnGuard Online - Phishing
Offers advice on how to spot, avoid and report phishing attacks.
Recognize phishing scams and fraudulent e-mails
Learn more about how this scam works and what a phishing e-mail message may look like.

The success of eBay and its causes

2009-06-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

The one area in which online retail commerce seems to have been a success is eBay. eBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping web sites in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. In addition to its original U.S. Web site, eBay has established localized web sites in thirty other countries. eBay Inc also owns Paypal, Skype, StubHub, and other businesses.

In November 1996, eBay entered into its first third-party licensing deal, with a company called Electronic Travel Auction to use SmartMarket Technology to sell plane tickets and other travel products. The company officially changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997. Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name echobay.com (the domain has recently been put up for sale) but found it has already been taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com.

The Causes of success :

eBay allows people to often times connect with some very fond and special early childhood memories. It could be anything from collecting baseball cards to toy soldiers to Barbie dolls to doll houses, and so forth. It allows people to make that connection and relive a lot of those very vivid and very fond memories that they have from an earlier period of time.
According to the interview with the spokesperson of eBay, Kevin Pursglove, he thinks that people really enjoy the experience of the shopping bazaar. He also thinks that the buyers are enjoying the hunt and the competition of the bidding process. Everybody likes to get a bargain and they would like to negotiate a little bit over the price. Their auction format allows users to do so.

Moreover, eBay have many strategic partnerships, chief among them is America Online. eBay have created a series of co-branded sites through the AOL properties, and they have a number of arrangements with smaller sites that go back several years as an exchange to encourage people to come into the eBay site.

The history and evolution of e-commerce

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Tim Bernes-Lee,
write the first web browser, world wide web(WWW),using a NeXT computer.

E-commerce has become an integrate part in our live. There have been several key steps in history of e-commerce. The first step came from development of the Electronic Data Interchange ( EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) which enable businesses to send comercial documents like purchases order or invoices electronically. The growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking in the 1980s were also forms of electronic commerce. Another form of e-commerce was the airline reservation system typified by AirAsia and Mas Airlines in Malaysia. Online shopping which invented by Michael Aldrich in 1979 and during the 1980s it was use extensively particularly by auto manufactures such as Ford, Peugeot-Talbot, General Motors and Nissan. From the 1990s onwards, electronic commerce would additionally include enterprise resources planning system (ERP), data mining and data warehousing.

The e-commerce as started in 1991 while it available for commercial use when most of the user begin searching and participating in the World Wide Web (WWW). In the year 1999, the internet emphasis of e-commerce from B2C to B2B, however it was changed in 2001 from B2B to B2E. The rise of the e-business, e-learning, e-marketing, e-goverment are also one part of the electronic evolution. The most famous companies which applied e-commerce are Amazon.com.Inc and Ebay. Consumer can buy and sell products via internet. Meanwhile, there was also a lot of companies attempt to make their business as e-commerce but end up with failure, for example, Webvan.com, eToys, Xpeditor and others.

Electronic Data Interchange(EDI), how to work?

An example e-commerce failure and it causes

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An example of the e-commerce failure was DrKoop.com. Drkoop.com was a leading global healthcare network providing measurable value to the whenever and wherever they need. Mission of Drkoop.com was to empower consumers with the information and resources they need to become active participants in managing their own health.

Because of unimpressive and non-persuaded marketing capacity, DrKoop.com not able to face the challenges in market via Internet and became bankrupt. Later, DrKoop.com was takeover by a Florida company in a very low price (Drkoop.com was once valued at over $1 billion, the takeover price was around $186,600, the value was dropped 81.4 %!).

I think one of the problems is the goal of DrKoop.com stills unrealized. As we know, E-commerce has perceived by the management as important to achieve the goals of the company. Besides that, DrKoop.com have cash flow problem, the company sank into a cash crisis for the trademark, website and others. The business of DrKoop.com is related to health, the consumers need more approval and confidence. However, DrKoop.com fails to build the trust and brand value associated with his name to the consumer via internet. On the other hand, the company also pending lawsuits, this may affect their reputation.DrKoop.com business plan rested on advertising, and there weren’t enough healthcare advertisers to support it and the many other healthcare dot-coms trolling for ad buyers.

In conclusion, the DrKoop.com needs to implementation of effective business strategies and a strategic management process for the betterment of the company desirable for achieving long lasting success of an e-commerce company.

Revenue model for Google, Amazon.com and eBay

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Finding a revenue model for a company that works is very important. If there is not a sustainable revenue model, there is not a sustainable service. Most of the services we see today operate on the “free” model, where users don’t pay to use the service. The temptation is high to embark on such a route.For non "free" model like eBay and "free" model like Google and Amazon.com, a question may be aroused – How do people derived their revenue through these websites?

Firstly, let’s identify the revenue model of these three companies.

Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue mainly from advertising related to its Internet search, web-based e-mail, and online mapping as well as selling advertising-free versions of the same technologies. For the 2006 fiscal year, the company reported US$10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only US$112 million in licensing and other revenues. This indicates how significant the propotion of advertising revenue on Google's total revenue.

Among the advertising products of Google, AdWords is the flagship advertising product and main source of revenue ($21 billion in 2008). AdWords offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner ads. Another advertising product is AdSense. It allows website owners to enroll in the program to enable text, image, and more recently, video advertisements on their websites. These advertisements are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis.

Moreover, Google uses its Internet search technology to serve advertisements based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted advertisement system may enroll through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the advertisements are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the advertisements is often relevant to the website.
Amazon.com, Inc. is an American-based multinational electronic commerce company. It is America's largest online retailer, with nearly three times the internet sales revenue of runner up Staples, Inc. Amazon.com has incorporated a number of products and services into its shopping model, either through development or acquisition.

According to the Internet audience measurement website Compete.com, Amazon.com attracts approximately 50 million U.S. consumers to its website on a monthly basis. For the revenue model of Amazon.com, that meant selling new items, or allowing thousands of users to sell them used.

Amazon.com is pioneer affiliate partnership marketing. An Amazon.com partner website can display Amazon books directly on their website, and sends customers to the Amazon’s website when the visitor is ready to buy it. In turn, Amazon.com pays a commission for the sale to the site owner.
eBay is an online shopping and auction website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. For eBay, it meant bringing together auctioneers and auction buyers. Once you got everything started, this approach was extremely profitable. It was fast. It was managed by phone calls, emails, and database applications.

eBay popularized the auction format listin. Like most auction companies, eBay does not actually sell goods that it owns itself. It merely facilitates the process of listing and displaying goods, bidding on items, and paying for them. It acts as a marketplace for individuals and businesses that use the site to auction off goods and services. Therefore, the revenue model of eBay is deemed to be based on commissions received through transaction fees.

The difference in the revenue models, broadly: Advertising for Google, commissions for eBay and sales minus costs for Amazon.com means different competencies, capabilities, supply chains, distribution, business relationships, alliances and so specializing and focus will definitely help in ensuring efficiency in operations.

In comparison, Amazon.com and eBay both worked as virtual marketplaces. They outsourced as much inventory as possible (in eBay's case, that was all the inventory, but Amazon.com also kept as little stock on hand as it could). Then, through a variety of methods, each brought together buyers and sellers, taking a cut of every transaction. For Google, by 2002, it was the search engine, and its ad sales were picking up. By looking at the revenue generated and the growth rate of the company, Google deemed to have the most profitable and sustainable revenue model among the three companies.

Here are some links for further information of this topic:

Introducing Edward Ka...

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Welcome to our blog where is a place to show you some reviews of interesting articles and latest development on e-commerce. Although this is an given assignment, all of our group members are so exciting about creating this blog.

I am Ka Yen Chee. You can call me Edward ~~The Scissorhands~~. Same as Sebastian, I am a Sabahan too. With the glamorous name of "The Land Below The Wind", Sabah is one of the most famous tourist attrations in Malaysia. However, people in West Malaysia seem to know so little about my lovely homeland. Hope that there is a chance to introduce more information about Sabah to our readers in the coming future.

During idle time, I can either involve in outdoor activities such as playing basketball, jogging, watching football match, ~~dating~~ and shopping or indoor activities such as reading novel, ~~studying~~, surfing internet and playing computer games.

Here are my top 5 websites that I visited the most:

Facebook - Yes, like everyone, I love facebook until I bookmark it as my internet browser's homepage. No doubt that facebook has become the best time-killer website. for me. It connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them.
The Star Online - The Star Online is, now as always, my first choice when I want to surf for news on Internet. You can always have the first hand breaking news on this website. The content is also available on many platforms - from the online edition (which includes RSS) to the e-paper and mobile portal for PDAs and handphones.
ESPN Soccernet - This is the place where I gather my football news and information. This website simply the best website for football news, livescores, and results. For football fans, this is an encyclopedia of football world!
YouTube - YouTube is also another time-killer website. From YouTube, I can always watch the latest movie trailers, some funny video clips, music videos, and hightlights of football match. I will share the video clips by using facebook or twitter when I found some interesting video clips.
Kennysia.com - One of the most famous blogs in Malaysia. I became a big fan of Kennysia.com since many years ago when I was still studying in secondary school. I was impressed by his sense of humour as well as his creative thinking. The blog is a easy-reading blog as he always use simple and general English. From his blog, you can find that he uses unique and creative way to express his thought on various topics.

No matter how busy or tired I am, I used to turn on the computer at least once before I go to bed even if I have nothing to surf on Internet. Usually, I will chat with my friends and family by using MSN or idle about with the above websites. But now, I have a new motivation and passion to turn on my computer which is writting this blog!

Before I end this post, I hope that our readers can learn somethings from this blog. So, let's look forward to more interesting posts coming up on next weeks. And do support our newborn blog! Cheers!

Emerald^^

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Hi everbody, my name is Chong Fei Hsui and my nickname is Emerald. I am 21 years old. I am studying in University Tunku Abdul Rahman now, majoring in Accounting. The reason why i choose accounting is because i like to do practical like mathematics, account, and so fourth. But when I first day come to UTAR, I realize that there are many theory subjects i need to study and learn like Business Law, Company Law, E-commerce, Human resources and others. I come from Kuala Lumpur, a modern city in Malaysia. I like to read novels and magazines. I also enjoy shopping. sometime I will play some games and listen to my favourite songs to release tension. Many boys keep asking me why I so like to play online game. Actually I don’t know how to answer it and I just know that I really enjoy the online game. XD

Internet is the computer based global information system. It composes of many interconnected networks. I like it because it can give me lots of information and easy contact with other people also.

These are the top 5 websites that I visited the most:

1) http://www.facebook.com/- I am an active user here. This website enables me to keep in touch with all my friends, especially those that I don't get to meet that often. I also can know other people which come from overseas. I like to explore and play with the various type of applications here like restaurant city and sorority life.

2) http://my.msn.com/ - This website enables me to chat with my friends. I just need to download the Window Life Messenger (MSN) only.

3) http://my.google.com/ - As we know Google is the best search engine so I rely extensively on this website for all kinds of online research and services. In this website, I can search any information that I need to know and use, which help many in my assignment.

4) http://www.hotmail.com/ - This website enable me to check my mail. Sometime I found out some interesting and amazing forward email, I will check it out and send to all my friends.

5) http://www.utar.edu.my/- UTAR intranet has provided me another alternative to download past year question, lecture note and get information of any updated announcement. As a UTAR student, it is a necessity for us to go to this website.

BlackBoy---Andric

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Hi! My name is Lee Bing Han. I live in Kuala Lumpur which is the most wonderful place in the Malaysia. I have a wide range of hobbies such as playing computer games, surfing Internet, watch Movie, reading novel and sleeping XD. On the other hand, drinking a cup of tea and chatting with my friend on Friday is the most enjoyable moment in my life. I am a big fans of Manchester United FC, Manchester United Football Club is an English football club, based at in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, and is one of the most popular football clubs in the world.

Most likely I would access to Google, Facebook, Cari Forum, livescore and Msn. Google is a powerful search engine that I usually use it for my research purpose. Even though the google homepage looks simple but it changes according to the season and festivals. Cari Forum it is a forum contain many kind of information. It also provides a trading center. eg: you can sell your second hand clothes, shoes, handphone, computer and etc. Furthermore, I like to check football result by using livescore, therefore I can know the first hand result. While for facebook and MSN, they are the way for me to meet friends and chat online. It saves me a lot time and telephone bills.

My favorite internet activities are reading novel through internet , chatting with friend using MSN, watching music videos on youtube , upload my photo on facebook , searching for information that I need using the Google search engine.

All about me ===> Sebastian Ong

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I come from a place where people always ask:" Seb, do you live on a tree?" Without a doubt, I will answer YES! I live on a tree with LIFT. Could you guess where am I from?

Yea, I’m from Sabah! My dream is to be a successful investor and make a good living with financial market. I’m currently an undergraduate student of University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), BAC tutorial group 2.

I love to play futsal (indoor 5 on 5 soccer) , surfs internet and explore new things. I’ll probably arrange a futsal friendly match with my futsal buddies during my leisure time. It indirectly pull our relationship close among our teammate and enhance our stamina and tricks. But I don’t know many of futsal mate here, so if you are interested to have a friendly match with me, you are very welcome to do so!

Internet connectivity is a most convenient and easy way to bring us closer together on a worldwide scale. We can easily gather any information that we need through the internet. My favourite website is definitely www.facebook.com. This website is for us to meet more friends that are not only within Malaysia but also from other countries. Thus, I am able to know more about the culture of other countries by having international friends with different nations. At the same time, this website also allows me to share my photos with my friends and receive or write comments to them.

I’ll visit www.google.com and www.yahoo.com to search for more information and articles. This is because these two websites are among the largest search engines in the world. It helps me to search for the information that I wanted within a short period of time.

I like to view the specific kind of video through www.youtube.com such as other countries’ TV programmes that we are not able to watch in Malaysia and some funny video that posted by the users.

Through www.airasia.com and www.malaysiaairlines.com, I can search for the price of air ticket , make a booking of the air-ticket, and search for the promotion holiday packages that are available. For most of the time, I’ll purchase my air ticket to go back to my hometown through either of these 2 websites.

Other than that, www.utar.edu.my is also 1 of my favourite website. The main reason I visit this website is because I need to download the notes for my study subject and extra material which is related to the study subject such as the pass year exam paper. It is incredibly convenient.

Hope I’ll maintain this blog in the future…