E-Buddies

Review: Online beauty product fraud

2009-07-10T01:11:00.006+08:00

Another online shopping fraud…

This case happened just one month ago in which at least 66 people were found cheated when making an online purchase of skincare products from a website named “BigPussyCat”. The victims were enticed by the cheaper price offered through the advertisement and made an online transfer amounting to RM 73,445.10 for the products.

It is no doubt that Internet brings many advantages and provides a convenient way for us to trade online. However, there is an increasing trend of internet fraud which has grown faster than Internet itself! Nowadays, online shoppers have become the targets in the e-commerce world. There are many online fraud exist such as Internet banking fraud, phishing and scams other than online shopping fraud.

There are some ways to prevent from being a victim of internet fraud. Online shoppers should visit the real website of those well-known companies such as Amazon.com and Wal-Mart as they are more reliable. Usually, a secure website will have ‘https’ in front of the web address rather than ‘http’. This indicates that the company has been independently checked to make sure they are who they say they are. It is important to know that if you purchased goods through unsecure websites, your personal information might be at risk.

In addition, people should shop for reliable brand names. Do not judge a company on how professional their website looks. Besides that, many websites appear to offer fantastic prices on the hot product. However, it is not much of a deal if they take our money and run just like what had happened in this case.

If you think you have been one of the victims, please report the case with the local police or lode a complaint to SKMM Consumer Complaint Bureau. Besides that, Consumer Fraud Reporting provides a list of where to report different types of scam or fraud in some countries.

References:
Online beauty product fraud. http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/Legal
Consumer Fraud Reporting: Reporting a Scam(2009). Retrieved July 7, 2009 from http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/reporting.php
How to avoid online fraud. Retrieved July 7, 2009 from http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/TechnologyInYourHome/InternetTechnologies/DG_10038621

A discussion on E-learning offered in Malaysian universities: Pros and Cons from the student perspective

2009-07-08T01:28:00.012+08:00

E-learning is another learning method which also called as virtual class. Lecturers or tutors and students are not interacting face-to-face. Lecturers are using technology which means via Internet, to educate or instruct their students. Some of the universities in Malaysia had begun to implement e-learning in their campuses such as Universiti Technologi Malaysia (UTM), Open University Malaysia (OUM) and so on.

Advantages of e-learning:
· Flexibility
It is more flexible for students who are learning thru e-learning. They may learn in place that is comfortable for them at any time they prefer. Some of the students are working as part-time worker. So, they are able to adjust their studying and working timetable.

· Freedom to express opinion
Students may have equal opportunities to express their ideas or opinion and to ask any questions by posting them in forums or chat rooms and also thru e-mailing. It is helpful especially for those students who are shy to rise up question when face-to-face interact to the lecturer or tutor.

· Improving student’s English and computer skills
Everything in e-learning is all in English. Thus, they will slowly improve their English in terms of grammar and vocabulary while learning and discussing through e-learning. On the other hand, their computer skills will also improve when they keep on using computer as their learning tools.

· Motivation to learn
New learning method—e-learning is attracting students’ attention. It act as a motivation to encourage students to learn and discuss with lecturers or tutors.

Disadvantages of e-learning:
· Lack of computer skills
Students who are just the beginner of computer users may be facing difficulties when learning through internet. This will obstruct their learning progress.

· Lack of face-to-face interaction
Lecturers or tutors will have no face-to-face interaction. Lecturers may not know students behavior and feelings while students may have less understanding about the course.

E-learning may bring many benefits to students in learning progress. However, there are some limitations which have to be solved to get better outcome from e-learning.

References:
Call-EJ Online (2006). Retrieved on 2009, July 7, from
http://www.tell.is.ritsumei.ac.jp/callejonline/journal/7-2/Ming-Bidmeshki.html

Asian of Distance Study (2006). Retrieved on 2009, July 7, from

http://www.asianjde.org/2006v4.1.Wong.pdf

A review on Lelong.com.my

2009-07-08T00:44:00.016+08:00

History

First of all, let us look at the history of Lelong.com.my in brief. Interbase Resources Sdn. Bhd is the founder of Lelong.com.my. It was established in 1998 and has come a long way to be acknowledged as one of the the largest e-commerce company in Malaysia with business in B2C, C2C and Online Community Building. Behind the successful achievements of Lelong.com.my is a team of elite with diversified skills that compliment each other in a way or two.

About Lelong.com.my

Let's get into the main thing, what is Lelong.com.my ? Basically, it provides services such as selling and buying(auction), and opening new e-shop that are similar to international transactional site such as eBay.com. The main idea of the site is to provide members with a local flavour and ability to trade locally in a secured manner.

Registration and e-shop

Lelong.com.my users can register an account for free and start selling their products. In return, Lelong.com.my charges a small amount of money from users depending on the transaction process. Well, users can also open an instant online store with 5 easy steps. However, the features of the store varies according to the subscription fees. Click HERE for screen shot of random shops.

Forum and Safetrade

Lelong forum is a good place for users to discuss just about anything products, news, information, to casual topic itself. The communities are friendly and users get along in an instant. The moderators are helpful and effective in the sense of handling all kinds of issue within the forum. On the other hand, the site has a safetrade feature which benefits both buyer and seller. Basically the feature ensure that the buyer pay the exact amount and seller ship the exact goods.

In the end, Lelong.com.my is styled and functioning corresponding to the desire of Malaysian. However, the site is still lack behind in the sense of services and creativity. Hence, the team need to urge themselves to provide a higher standard services and strives for creativity.

References:

How Safetrade Works. Retrieved 2009, July 8, from http://www.lelong.com.my/safetrade/html/overview.asp

www.lelong.com.my. (2007, December). Retrieved 2009, July 8, from http://www.shvoong.com/internet-and-technologies/1733850-www-lelong-com/

Corporate blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies

2009-07-08T00:11:00.011+08:00

Blogs are published on the web to reflect the interests, thoughts and opinions of the person, publishing the blog. Blogs are characterized by frequent updates and may links to other blogs and web sites. A corporate blog is a blog published by an organization to reach the organization's goals and provide the connection with their audiences on a more personal level, build trust, collect valuable feedback and foster strengthened business relationships. Blogging investment is giving opportunity to companies earn tangible returns such as increase sales, partnerships, business opportunities, press coverage and lead generation.

Corporate blog is categorized into internal and external. An internal blog is normally accessed through the corporation's Intranet. It can improve the communication among different layer of managements and allows employees to communicate with each other in order to share their thoughts, problems facing in daily job and experiences. Other than that, internal blogs can improve internal communications through delivering timely information, facilitating employee collaboration and enabling knowledge transfer. External blogs usually fall into three broad categories: sales, customer relationship management (CRM) and branding. An external blog is targeted at people outside the organization. It is commonly used to facilitate the communication with clients, customers and partners of the business. Customers can leave their comments on the blogs to express and share their thoughts and opinions. Moreover, companies can conduct their public relations activities by posting press releases and updates about new company products and services on the blog. Since then, companies can advertise their new products through blogging as well.

Creating corporate blog in an enterprise will generate many benefits. Firstly, management can communicate directly with customers, suppliers, investors and employees to disseminate and explain strategy. Corporate blog gives the writer an opportunity to answer critics in a controlled forum. Besides that, corporate blog allows employees sharing their ideas freely and honestly which brings the blogging companies new connections and generates trust which can increase business opportunities. It is ideal for internal association being a workspace where project members keep each other updated without writing reports or searching the Outlook inbox which can save the time. People are likely to give great feedback if they know someone specific is listening. Through these feedbacks, the blogging company can identify its problems and solve it in return to generate big benefits such as improve customer relationship and generate more profits.

References:

Corporate Blog - A Short Definition. (2004, June). Retrieved 2009, July 7, from http://www.corporateblogging.info/2004/06/corporate-blog-short-definition.asp
Types of corporate blogs. Retrieved 2009, July 7, from http://shadowbox.com/what-do-i-need-to-get-started/
Corporate blogging advantages. Retrieved 2009, July 7, from http://www.enterpriseblogs.info/corporate-blogging/advantages

Credit card debts: causes and prevention

2009-07-05T22:12:00.023+08:00

A credit card is a card that you can use it to purchase goods or services by borrowing on credit. Nowadays, credit cards are almost a necessity which has caused many people facing credit card debt. Many people prefer have more than one credit card with a balance.

In a rapid technology growth environment, many people prefer to make online purchase over the internet which can save time and allowed buyers to purchase goods from overseas conveniently. Most of these transactions are need to pay by credit cards. Besides that, some university or college allowed paying tuition fees through credit cards. This have increase the number of people using credit cards especially college students.

Every time credit card users use a credit card, they are borrowing money from the credit card issuer. Therefore, each time use the credit card, they are increasing their credit card debt. Credit card user will receive a statement showing the total credit card debt with which given the option of paying the balance in full or making a partial or minimum payment each month. Many users especially those did not have the ability to pay off the balance in full will make the minimum payment only. When making only the minimum payment due, there will be interest charged on the balance owed. Other than that, the new monthly interest charges are calculated on the prior months balance causes user to end up paying interest on the previous month’s balance as well. Therefore, the credit card balance will keep on increase. The credit card debt cycle continues to increase even faster becomes a large amount that can seem impossible to pay off especially if spending habits are not controlled.

Prevention is better than cure. The credit card debts can be prevent in some ways. The key to solving the credit card debt problem is to stop the cycle. People should spend within their means, and if they are using their credit cards to purchase, they should have the means to settle the full payment at the end of the month. For those people such as students who do not have the financial ability to settle the credit card payment every month is not encourage to apply for credit cards. Users especially those holding more than one credit card should cut up the credit cards so that they will not tempted to use them. Besides that, people can apply and use debit cards instead of credit cards which can allow users spend within the constraint.

References:

Understanding Causes of Credit Card Debt Problems. (2008). Retrieved July 2, 2009, from http://www.nurido.at/news/understanding-causes-of-credit-card-debt-problems-123653.html
Credit card debt? Get professional counselling here. (2009). Retrieved July 2, 2009, from http://www.mmail.com.my/content/5992-credit-card-debt-get-professional-counselling-here
Credit Card Debt Prevention. Retrieved July 2, 2009, from http://www.mozdex.com/prevent-credit-card-debt/
Kenny, J. (2006, June 22). Credit Card Debt – Prevention Is Better Than Cure. Retrieved July 2, 2009, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Credit-Card-Debt---Prevention-Is-Better-Than-Cure&id=226244

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

2009-07-04T13:30:00.014+08:00

Nowadays, prepaid cards are using widely around the world. It is just like a credit cards, purchase products and services without any cash on hand. However, the difference between prepaid card and credit card is the prepaid card users can only spend when the prepaid cards are reloaded its balance.

Application of prepaid cash card
· Online purchase
Prepaid card users can purchase any products and make payment through online.

· Withdraw money
It is just like an ATM card, with an authorize PIN number; card users can withdraw money within the amount deposit into the account.

· Toll payment
Using Touch‘n Go card is an expressway of making toll payment at all highways and use for public transports’ fares like bus, LRT and so on in Malaysia.

· Prepaid mobile phone
It also can be used to top up mobile phone’s credits. Funds can also be transfer to the prepaid phone via text message.

· Virtual traveler’s check
Some prepaid card like MasterCard travel card is acceptable in worldwide. Card users can ask their family to deposit money and use it when needed in the trip.

Consumers always choose prepaid cash card when making transaction because it bring lots of benefits to them. They can go for shopping without carrying loads of cash but only shopping with a card which is safer. Besides that, consumers can control their spending which only can spend the amount deposit in the card. Thus, prepaid cash card is making consumers’ life easier!

References:
Prepaid Card MasterCards. (2009) Retrieved on 4 July, 2009
http://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/aboutourcards/prepaid/index.html

Offshore Bank Accounts PrePaid Debit Cards (2009, June) Retrieved on 4 July, 2009
http://www.ofiz.com/2009/06/m-payment-a-threat-to-anti-money-laundering/

Guide to prepaid cards. (2009) Retrieved on 4 July, 2009

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/prepaid-cards/guide/

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

2009-07-03T13:04:00.012+08:00

Mobile payment system is a new alternative payment system that provides convenient way for consumers to make payment using mobile phone. Mobile payment can be used for a wide range of digital and physical products and services such as purchasing music and ringtones, paying transportation fare, parking meters, or buying tickets.

Potentials:

The mobile payment is developing fast and is well adopted in Malaysia. The payment system is very convenient as users do not need to carry along their payment cards or even cash by just using their mobile phone. It also eliminates the time queuing up for bill payments. The market for mobile payment is very large because there are many mobile phone users in Malaysia. The system covers all mobile operators in Malaysia and is available to prepaid and postpaid service billings. Therefore, the mobile phone users’ confidence on mobile payment will greatly increase.

Consumers’ adoption strategies:

1.Educate public about mobile payments, how to use and introduce its functions (e.g. bill payment, mobile purchase)

The most common usage for mobile payment system in Malaysia is to pay electric bills and phone bills. Mobile users usually download wallpapers, ringtones and mobile games using premium SMS transactional payment.

2.Enchance security and confidence to mobile users

Mobile Money allows merchants to take online order without the need for online shoppers to disclose their credit card information.

3.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

Currently Mobile Money has teamed up with Hong Leong Bank Bhd and Bumiputra-Commerce Bank to allow consumers to make payments via their bank accounts linked to their mobile phones. It is targeting 1 million Malaysian mobile phone subscribers with the belief that sending cash via SMS will eventually become part of the daily life of the Malaysian community.

4.Maintain customer’s loyalty

Company can reward customers by giving gift at certain level of purchasing or giving extra credit when they used mobile payment. It indirectly ecourages the use of mobile payment.

References:
Mobile payment. (June 2009). Retrieved 2 July, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Payment

Electronic currency

2009-07-02T20:47:00.010+08:00

The more civilized that mankind became, the more sophisticated became the evolution. As things change constantly, so does the currency. Hence, electronic currency is created to satisfy mankind's varied wants. Electronic currency has many terms from e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash to digital currency. All of those terms refer to money or scrip which is stored electronically. You cannot take this money into your hands, count with your fingers or sense its. However, it is real.

Electronic currency are used as international payment unit because it meets the requirements. It is a means of payment, it is the measure of value and it can be circulated. However, rules and regulation regarding to emission of electronic currency have not been establish in some countries. Hence, trusts have always been an issue.

Now, many new products are being designed to challenge the use of currency in millions of transactions. It is undeniable that electronic currency provides uncountable advantages. However, electronic currency activities carry risks that must not be overlook. It is important that these risks are recognized and managed in a prudent manner.

References:

What is Electronic Money ? . (2008, 22 July) . Retrieved on 2009, July 22, from http://www.e-money.com/articles/4_stat.html
Has The Time For Eletronic Currency Come . Retrieved on 2009, July 22, from http://projects.tigweb.org/ecurrency/about/
Electronic Money . (17 June 2009) . Retrieved on 2009, July 22, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_money

A review on a post on Internet Security from My E-Commerce blog: favourite passwords used online

2009-06-28T21:57:00.001+08:00

According to a research done by Information Week on an analysis of 28,000 passwords from a popular website, 16% of users using name such as their own name, spouse’s name or children’s name, 14% use like “1234” or “123456”, 4% uses “password” or “password1”. Some other common passwords include “qwert” (English keyboard letters below the numeric keys), popular tv show stars such as hannah or pokemon, and iloveu. Most of the users are using these kinds of passwords because they are familiar with all these words and it is easy to remember. However, a simple password may harm decline the security. Passwords are the keys use to access personal information that have stored on computer and in online accounts. If criminals or hackers steal this information, they can use your name to open new credit card accounts, steal your money in bank account, apply for a mortgage, or pose as you in online transactions for making money purposes. Therefore, create and use strong passwords are very important for everyone.

First of all, make the passwords lengthy. Each character that adds to the password increases the protection that it provides many times over. The passwords should be 8 or more characters in length. The ideal and stronger length of the passwords is 14 or more characters. In order to remain the secure, users can combine letters, numbers, and symbols in the passwords. The greater variety of characters in the password increases the hardness to guess. Nowadays, many systems support the use of space bar in passwords, so user can create a pass phrase made of many words. A pass phrase is longer and harder to guess as well as easier to remember than a simple password. Besides that, users are suggested to change passwords regularly to increase the security of information.

According to www.microsoft.com, there are six steps to develop a strong password

Think of a sentence that you can remember.

Check if the computer or online system supports the use of the space bar in passwords, so you can create a phrase made of many words (a "pass phrase").

If the computer or online system does not support pass phrases, convert it to a password such as take the first letter of each word of the sentence that you have created to create a new password.

Add complexity by mixing uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers such as substituting the word "three" for the number 3.
Finally, substitute some special characters. You can use symbols that look like letters, combine words (remove spaces) and other ways to make the password more complex.

Test your new password with Password Checker Password Checker is a non-recording feature on this website that helps determine your password's strength as you type.

To avoid weak, easy-to-guess passwords, users should avoid sequences or repeated characters "12345678," "222222," "abcdefg," or adjacent letters on your keyboard such as “qwert” that do not help make secure passwords. Besides that, do not using only look-alike substitutions of numbers or symbols such as 1 as I and @ as a which is easy guessed by criminals. Users have to avoid their login name contains any part of their name, birthday, social security number, or any similar information. Moreover, users should not use dictionary words in any language to create their passwords. Criminals use sophisticated tools that can rapidly guess passwords that are based on words in multiple dictionaries, including words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and substitutions. Users are advice to use more than one password everywhere and avoid using online storage to store the passwords.

References:

Strong Passwords and Password Security . (2006, March). Retrieved June 23, 2009, from http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx
Use strong passwords. (2009). Retrieved June 23, 2009, from http://www.getsafeonline.org/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1127

Phishing: Examples & its prevention methods

2009-06-28T20:59:00.022+08:00

What is phishing?

Phishing is pronounced like 'fishing' but please not be confused with fishing. Phishing is a type of social engineering attack in an attempt to trick individuals to reveal their sensitive information. It scams users by sending an e-mail or instant messaging with an established legitimate enterprise that has been misrepresented.

The common scenario is that the e-mail will direct the users to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, and bank account numbers that the legitimate organization already has. Customers of banks and online payment services are usually the common targets.

There are many methods of phishing. The common form is to make a link in an e-mail that appears to belong to the spoofed organization such as the use of subdomains. For example, the URL, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine, appears to take user to an article entitled “Genuine”, in fact it will take the user to the article entitled “Deception” when clicked on it.

Another form of phishing is the use of subjects lines worded to arouse anxiety. For example, the subject “to restore access to your bank account …” in an e-mail will usually get instant attention and most people will fall into the trick by clicking to read what happened. Another example of phishing is requiring users to update their information or change their passwords.

Methods to avoid being phished:

Do not trust e-mails that requesting personal information especially financial information. The phishers will include upsetting statements that will trigger fear or happiness so that users can react immediately. Therefore, do not click on the link attached in the email or give any account information on the web as no bank or internet commerce will ask for account information.
A link that has a name you recognize doesn't mean it links to the real orgaization. Roll your mouse over the link and seeif it matches what appears in the email. Do not click on the link if there is a discrepency. Also, websites begin with "https" are safe to enter personal information ("s" stands for secure).

Be sure not to call any number or use any link in the suspected email as this may put you in the hands of the phisher. It is generally safer to write the specific address field or call the banks specific number as found on their official pages.
Phishing emails are usually sent in large batches using generic names like "First Generic Bank Customer". If you do not see your name, be suspicious.

User should have a healthy control over the bank account by regularly check the credit and debit cards to ensure all transactions are legitimate. Contact your bank and all card issuers if found any suspicious.

Keep antivirus up to date and use anti-spyware software.

References:

- Avoid Phishing scams, hoax. Retrieved 28 June 2009, from http://www.anti-phishing.info/avoid-phishing.html
- Phishing. Retrieved 28 June 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing
- Phishing. Retrieved 28 June 2009, from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/p/phishing.html

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

2009-06-28T20:02:00.002+08:00

Online Security has become an enormous anxiety to people surfing the Internet and also people conducting business on the World Wide Web. The reason is fairly obvious with online viruses, scams, online identity theft and data misuse happening everyday. Hence, online security covers many aspects of our current online world.

We have to accept the fact that no technology is perfect. We might expect a privacy system to effectively to block the people from our private data as we ask it to, but sometimes there will be lapse. For example, recently Facebook’s privacy system failed to protect users’ items, like photos, which was meant only for closest friends.

By putting information in many places increases the chance that someone else will get hold of it.Many people are putting information about personal events on social network and blog sites. This increases the exposure to other party dramatically. Furthermore, backing up data by paying service provider isn’t safe after all. Carbonite, a large backup vendor, was reported to have lost data for a significant number of users. In the end, they claimed that it is due to defective equipment bought from one of its technology providers.

On top of that, there are some risks involved in keeping personnel information on email provider. If the sender or the recipient of email is not using secure connection when processing mail, anyone on their network can pry on the connection. Since most of the email provider has auto-login features, anyone who has access to the particular personal computer can access the mailbox in some cases.

When it comes to confidential data, reasonable care must be taken in order to safeguard our precious data from being exposed and avoid unwanted problems from happening.

References:

Facebook Bug Reveals Private Photos, Wall Posts. (2009, 20 March). Retrieved June 22, 2009, from http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/20/facebook-bug-reveals-private-photos-wall-posts/
Carbonite Loses Cloud Based Data, Sues Storage Vendor. (2009, 22 March). Retrieved June 22, 2009, from http://au.sys-con.com/node/887245

How to safeguard personal and financial data

2009-06-27T19:21:00.001+08:00

Nowadays, people mostly keep their personal data or information in their computers because it is easy to manage. However, there are some users who abuse the convenient and try to steal others personal information especially those financial data in the computers. Hence, users should have some knowledge about how to protect their personal information and financial data.

Below are some tips to safeguard personal and financial data:
· Use passwords and encrypt sensitive files
Create passwords to prevent unauthorized user to access your personal data in the computer. You should create password which is not easy to be guess. Besides that, you may encrypt files to avoid other users to read your data although they can physically access it. But, if you forget your passwords and passphrases which is use to protect your data, your data will be miss.

· Use and maintain anti-virus software and firewall
Install an anti-virus and a firewall to prevent viruses such as Trojan horses which may steal or modify your data in the computer. Always update your anti-virus to ensure your computer has proper protection.

· Often scan your computer for spyware
Always scan your computer for spyware as it may be hidden in some software programs. Hackers will use spyware to access your data.

· Do not access financial information in public
It is better to use your own computer to access financial information. Avoid accessing financial information in the public because we do not know how well their firewalls are.

· Do not open mystery attachments
Viruses can be sent through any attachments in mails. Thus, do not open any mystery attachments or click on a link that connects you by an unknown party.

· Review your monthly statements
You may discover any possible fraudulent charges when u always assesses your monthly statements. Some charges or services which are no longer necessary or redundant may also misstated in your financial statement.

References:
Safeguard Your Financial Life. Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/general/2006/09/23/safeguard-your-financial-life.aspx

US-CERT Cyber Security Tip ST06-008: Safeguarding Your Data. Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-008.html

An example of an e-commerce failure and its causes

2009-06-21T23:26:00.002+08:00

Boo.com was launched in the Autumn of 1999 selling branded fashion apparel over the internet. The founders of Boo.com are three Swedish entrepreneurs who are Ernst Malmsten, Kajsa Leander, and Pattrik Hedelin. The company famously went bust following the dotcom boom in the late 1990s. Boo.com’s failure was caused by did not plan the business carefully that may impact its overall success. Boo.com did not considered the 4 P’s which are Price, Product, Place and Promotion as well as the environmental factors which include social, technological, economic, political and geography when did the business plan.

In year 1998, the internet capability of low developed countries is worse than nowadays. Boo.com had established many online shops in many countries without considering the problem of internet capability in the low developed countries. During that time, many people are using dial up internet. Since Boo.com relied heavily on JavaScript and flash technology to display pseudo-3D views of wares as well as Miss Boo, a sales-assistant-style avatar. Since then, around 20% of home users who used dial-up internet cannot access Boo.com at a fast rate. Besides that, the webpage design and usability of Boo.com is poor and it is difficult for visitor to get where to go and link. Boo.com had a policy that limit the amount of transaction they made to three per twenty minute. It was discouraging the customers to shop and purchase at Boo.com again causes the Boo.com losing a lot of sales and income. The company also decided to pay postage on return items from customers that may cause its expenses increase and reduce the income as well. Moreover, it had spent $135 million of Venture capitalists' money in just 18 months. It did not manage its capital effectively causes the business failed.

Even though Boo.com was failed, but it is a good opportunity to many online companies learn from Boo.com mistakes and able to avoid it in the future. For example, Boo.com was re-launching as a one stop travel site “Ultimate Online Destination for Travel”.

References:

Boo.com. (2009, June). Retrieved June 15, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com
Dot.com failures. (2009, February). Retrieved June 15, 2009, from http://www.witiger.com/ecommerce/dotcomfailures.htm

An example of an E-commerce success and its causes

2009-06-21T22:10:00.001+08:00

Dell Computer Corporation is a company that manufactures and sells personal computer and other computer-related products. Today, Dell not even promoting its products through online, it has its own retails shop selling its products to expand its business. In Wal-Mart, Dell has become their "Electronic Supplier of the Year" for 2008 and was awarded the Bravo Award of Excellence by the Best Buy.

What makes Dell Computer Corporation success in e-commerce? Customers can buy Dell’s products in lower price if compare with other computer’s company. This is because of Dell is selling products directly to the customer through online which had eliminated the cost incurred in selling products in retails shop. Furthermore, Dell gives its customers to rebate some money if they purchase through online which encourage more customers to purchase computer from its company. Recently, Dell has provided Dell Preferred Account which enable customer to make monthly payment without any interest charges.

Besides saving the money for the customer, Dell has saved the customers’ time when purchasing a product from them. Customers can get any products by just using a finger clicking in Dell’s website. Dell allows customers to acquire their products through online purchasing within. From the payment period to the delivery period, it only consumes between five to eight days. Nowadays, people are emphasizing on the speed. Which company can provide them the convenient and reduce the purchasing time, the more customers will prefer to purchase product from the company. That’s why Dell’s company becomes so success in e-commerce.

On the other hand, Dell realizes that the importance of meeting customers’ needs and wants to be success in business. It has produce computer and laptop for home, small business and medium business, public sector and also large enterprise. Besides that, customers can add on any accessories, software or maybe upgrade its computer. Every once a time, it will make new products to meet different types of customers’ needs and wants. For example, Dell is now introducing its new products—a laptop Alienware M17x which specifically designs for those users who are interested in gaming and entertainment. Dell will also inform its past customers about new products and the latest updates to the web store.

From the above factors, it shows the successful of Dell in e-commerce. It is no doubt that Dell becomes so famous branded name yet I am also the one who is using Dell’s computer and I’m very satisfied with the product and its service.

Reference:

Dell Malaysia: Desktop Computers, Laptops, Servers, Monitors, Printers & PC Accessories (2009). Retrieved on June 10, 2009. from http://www.dell.com.my/

Review on Real-World Case: GOOGLE is changing everything

2009-06-21T22:02:00.002+08:00

It is no doubt that Google is the most well known search engine tool. Google provides a lot of activities and brings convenience to Internet users. As one of the users, Google allows me to search for and access to more information especially in doing my assignments. Developed in 1990s, Google now has grown more quickly than other e-commerce companies and is able to generate profit of $1.4 billion by 2005.

Google also adds in spreadsheet application other than search engine tool. Google Spreadsheet is a free Web-based application that allows users to organize their own information and make it more easily accessible to others via the Web. Many people start using Google Spreadsheet as it is free of charge and it has become a major competitor of Microsoft' Excel. This application offers users 200 functions and common spreadsheet formulas for doing basic calculations as well as can be shared with up to 10 users simultaneously.

Google also launches the next generation enterprise search platform that provides productivity solutions for businesses. Enterprise search is user friendly and can be integrated with other applications to enhance performance.

For instance, Kaiser Permanente (kaiserpermanente.org) is a nonprofit health care institution that has applied enterprise search to give medical staff instant, secure access to diagnostic information, educational material and other clinical resources. Google Search Appliance and spelling checking capability are particularly useful and essential to the Kaiser’s success.

There are many other Google products. For example, users can use Google Maps to search for places that they wish to go. It provides high resolution satellite images for most of the countries and towns including Malaysia.

Google Calendar is another useful tool where it helps users to organize their schedule and weather forecast. Users can record down their daily activities and share it to the publics and friends.

The Google products can be used anytime anywhere as long as there is an Internet access and it has become parts of our lives in this 21st century. Therefore, lets Google now!

Reference:

Turban, E., King, D., McKay, J., Marshall, P., Lee, J., & Viehland, D. (2008). Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective 2008 (International Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Education International.

History and Evolution of E-commerce

2009-06-19T17:54:00.005+08:00

History of e-commerce can be track back to the very existence of computers, cables, modem, Internet and transactions. E-commerce would not be functional without any of them. Then, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) was developed. In the first place, EDI was intended for the use to exchange business information or documents and execute commercial transactions electronically. However, EDI was not standardize causing poor interaction between companies. When ASC X12 was introduced in 1979, EDI became stable and reliable in transferring large amounts of transactions.
The development of security protocol such as DSL was also an important key element in the e-commerce. It allows rapid access and persistent connection to the Internet. Hence, enhancing the ability of the Internet. In 1992, Mosaic was introduced as the first widely distributed web-browser. It was quickly adapted into a downloadable browser called Netscape. Netscape included an important security protocol called Secure Socket Layer ( SSL) to ensure that personal information could be encrypted as they passed over the Internet.
Since then, people began to define the term e-commerce as the process of purchasing of available goods and services over the Internet using secure connections and electronic payment services. Two major companies which is Amazon and Ebay certainly brought e-commerce to a higher level in the mid-1990s.

Amazon is one of the most famous e-commerce companies founded by Jeff Bezos in 1995. Within its first 30 days of business, Amazon sold books to online shoppers all over the United States. Users could easily and safely purchase books and provided with the option to review the book. Now, Amazon not only offers purchase of books but has expanded into providing music, electronics, toys, home and garden equipment, clothing, jewelry, video games and digital downloads.

eBay was developed when Pierre Omidyar curiously put up a broken laser pen for auction on his website called AuctionWeb. The broken laser pen was actually sold for $14.83, bought by a collector of broken laser pen. eBay enables customer to customer transactions through the Internet.

Today, users can actually find anything they want through the Internet without stepping out of their home. E-commerce has evolved from simply online billboards to a fully functional, personalized shopping experience over the past decades.

Here's a video about E-commerce Evolution. Hope you enjoy.

References:

History of Ecommerce. Retrieved June 13, 2009, from http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html

How E-commerce Started. Retrieved June 13, 2009, from http://communication.howstuffworks.com/history-e-commerce1.htm

History. Retrieved June 13, 2009, from http://www.flysyk02.netfirms.com/Ecommerce/History.htm

About Yuk Peng

2009-06-12T11:23:00.001+08:00

Hi, I am Yuk Peng, a very simple girl that come from Melaka. I am studying at UTAR Sungai Long campus as an undergraduate Year 3 Sem 1 accounting student. I like to listen to songs, shopping, watch movie, and etc. I like to travel too. I went to Pulau Tioman with my friends and Bukit Cahaya and Batu Maloi Cave with society members last year.

I usually spend my time to search for information that is required for the assignments and tutorials when access to Internet. Besides that, I will play some online games or watch some dramas during my leisure time.

The top 5 websites that I visited the most are:
1. www.hotmail.com
I check out my mail box every day. Sometimes, I make appointment with lecturer and tutor through this account. I also utilize Window Live Messenger as a way for discussion and keeping contact with friends.
2. www.google.com
This website is very essential for me because it provides a lot of useful information in my studies. Besides that, it is useful to help direct me to other websites.
3. www.sinchew.com.my
I get to know about and follow up with the latest news that is happening around the world.
4. www.youtube.com
I usually search for music videos and songs through this website. I will look for drama or funny movies through YouTube once a while.
5. www.utar.edu.my
I always check any announcement and activity that organized by UTAR or societies. Moreover, UTAR WBLE provides me notes and announcements through out the semester.

about Pei Ling

2009-06-11T23:32:00.003+08:00

My name is Pei Ling. I come from a small town called Mersing which is located in Johor. I am an undergraduate student from UTAR under Bachelor of Commerce Accounting (Hons). My hobbies are singing, listen songs, drawing, shopping and surfing internet. I am quiet when facing strangers but I will be very talkative when started getting familiar with anyone. I like to tell jokes to make people surround me laughing and feeling happy.

During leisure time, I would like to surf the internet, watch some movies through internet or playing some online games for entertainment. I enjoy playing games to relax myself and make more new friends through online.

Top 5 websites I visited the most

1. www.facebook.com

Facebook is a friend search engine for me. I like to visit facebook website in order to find those primary school or secondary school friends who are seldom or no longer contacted. I can know well about their recent conditions through their latest update information on this website and chit chatting with them when they have online at the same time.

2. www.friendster.com

This website actually is quite similar with facebook. I like to visit friendster to meet some primary or secondary school friends and make some new friends through this website as well. I like to check my friend’s blog in friendster to know their recent happening matters and watch their latest upload photos.

3. www.hotmail.com

I have a habit which is checking my e-mails every day. E-mails allowed me to keep contact with my friends more conveniently and transfer some information related to studies among my classmates. Moreover, I like to forward some funny or meaningful videos and e-mails to share the joyful with my friends.

4. www.google.com.my

Google is a good search engine especially when I want to search information for my course assignments. It helps me a lot in searching useful information for my studies.

5. www.utar.edu.my

This UTAR website is one of the top 5 websites i visited the most. This trimester which is Year 3 Sem 1 required us to do thesis in group. Therefore, I like to visit this website to search some relevant and useful journals for my thesis through SAGE, EBSCOhost and ProQuest.

about chuiting

2009-06-11T21:56:00.001+08:00

I’m Chui Ting from Kuala Terengganu and currently taking accounting course in UTAR. I like sports very much and the sport that I prefer is playing badminton. Besides that, I enjoy watching movies and listening to the music as it can help me to release stress.

During my leisure time, I will always surf the net. The website that I visited the most is www.facebook.com. It allows me to keep in touch with all my friends and I can get the latest update from them although they are studying at oversea.
Moreover, www.hotmail.com is another website that I often visit. Hotmail allows me to receive updated information forwarded from my friends. Sometimes, those information maybe very useful in our daily life.
www.google.com is one of the website that I always visit. Google is a good search engine which is very helpful especially when I am doing my assignment. I can get any information from google search.
On the other hand, I always get into www.baidu.com to check whether there is any latest song. I can download whatever song that I prefer from baidu.
Besides, I frequently visit www.youtube.com . Many music videos and funny videos can be found out from youtube. In youtube, I enjoy watching those marvelous sports performances performed by those players.

Other than surfing the net, playing online games is my favourite activity when my laptop is connect to the internet. Besides that, I’m always chatting with friends in MSN which is very convenient as I can chat with my friends at anytime wherever they are.

about Min Jiang

2009-06-10T14:52:00.002+08:00

My name is Tan Min Jiang. I am from a small city called Kluang, located in Johor. I enjoy playing basketball, especially with my friends. I love to work out and sweat a lot.
Sometimes when I get tired and stressed out, I would just lie down and listen to music. It calms my mind. I like beatbox as well.
Surfing the internet never gets tired. I enjoy discovering new sites that I have never been before. I enjoy all the things that internet can provide from education to entertainment.
I enjoy playing games. The excitement is unspeakable.

Top 5 sites I visit the most:
1. www.facebook.com
Basically the reason is to get in touch with friends around the world. Check out how are they doing and what are they doing recently. Facebook also provide many other activities to be done together with my friends.
2. www.hotmail.com
Essential site which might be everyone's top visited site. I choose Hotmail instead of other e-mail services because I find the features provided are more user-friendly. Moreover, I am a Windows Live Messenger user, which requires Hotmail account.
3. www.forum.lowyat.net
It is a Lowyat Plaza forum whereby you can easily find discussion topics related to technology gadgets. I always get help from the website when I need help on software or hardware issues.
4. www.youtube.com
I like to check out music videos, funny videos and sports videos through Youtube. It can be fun and relaxing.
5. www.google.com.my
Essential search engine. Helps me a lot with my studies and research. On the other hand, I enjoy checking out other useful and cool websites.