Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Top 5 posts for July 2007

This are the top 5 posts I have selected for the month of July 2007. In case you have missed out any one of these, you can read it here.

1. iZZi - Malaysia Mobile Wireless Broadband Services
2. Sarawak handicraft to go for e-commerce
3. Am I addicted to Blogging?
4. JennyHow.com - Malaysian Fulltime eBay Seller
5. Worldwide Broadband Prices and Speed

Happy reading.


Sarawak handicraft to go for e-commerce

Sarawak government is urging the local handicraft industry players to venture into the online business. E-commerce will be able to market their handicraft products on a global market and at the same time helps to make Sarawak’s handicraft industry more competitive.

As a start, industry players are encouraged to utilize the one-stop e-handicraft mall set up by Sarawak Craft Council. The website, www.right.sarawak.gov.my/Rightmart, will be place for the handicraft industry players to showcase their products and designs online.


Currently, the website offer a small collection of best branded products such as indigenous beads, pua kumbu and songket textiles, rattan baskets and woodcarving objects.


Personal opinion:
This is indeed a very good move especially for small and traditional home-based handicraft makers. The setting up of the e-handicraft mall will help them to expand their market and sales. However, the URL seems to be a bit long. I would rather go for a shorter URL such as www.e-handicraft.com.my, www.sarawak-handicraft.com, or anything that is shorter and easy to remember.


Next project – e-wau bulan, e-wayang kulit, www.pangkor.com – a one stop online center for Pulau Pangkor’s local products such as dried prawn meat and other sea-based products.

My E-commerce Review (1)

Listed are some reviews done by my friends and readers on My E-Commerce blog. Some of the comments and reviews are very useful in helping me to improve my blog design, layout and content.

In return of their kind gestures, I also wrote reviews for their blogs too. Thanks.

1. Simons's Money Notes - My E-commerce (Review)
2. iCalvyn.com - Reviewback (Season 3)
3. BlogChung - E-Commerce Blog in Malaysia

Simon and Calvyn exchanged the review with me through the ReviewBack.

I always welcome my readers and friends to write reviews on My E-commerce. Your contribution will be greatly appreciated! You are also free to link to any articles I've written as part of the review.

How to do My E-Commerce review? Click here for more information.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Piracy in Malaysia: Fighting through Education and Enforcement!

How to reduce the 60% of the software piracy in Malaysia to the world average of 35%? The Malaysian government has recognised a two-way approach - Enforcement (Ops Tulen) and Education (Sikap Tulen).

* Tulen means Original in Malay Language. Ops Tulen is the coding for Operation against the pirated software while Sikap Tulen is the campaign to instill the correct attitude in adopting the orginal software.

Enforcement (Ops Tulen):
Continuous raiding companies that use illegal software as well the illegal vendors selling the pirated software. A total of RM12.63 million worth of pirated hardware and software has been seized since 2002. A lot of the IT malls in Malaysia has been raided for the past few months.

Education (Sikap Tulen):
To educate the relevant groups on the importance of respecting Intellectual Property and stay away from pirated software. Those targeted groups are professionals, companies, public and IT malls.

Source: The Star InTech, 25th July 2007

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

40 gigabits per second of Internet connection

Don't envy this.

75 years old Sigbritt Lothberg is accessing the Internet at her home with the 40 gigabits-per-seconds fiber optic Internet connection, believed to be the fastest residential uplink in the world.

Location: Karlstad, Sweden.

How fast is it? A full-length movie like Transformers, Die Hard 4, and etc., can be downloaded just in 2 seconds. That's really superfast!

Designers: Hafsteinn Johnsson, Karlstad city network unit chief and Peter Lothberg, Sigbritt's son, also a networking expert.

Technology: New modulation techniques that allow sending of data between 2 routers placed up to 1240 miles apart with transponders in between.

Application: Sigbritt is using it to read the online newspaper rather than downloading movie as she is a new learner on Internet.

Source: CNN Tech News, 20 July 2007 - Old lady surfing Web at 40 gigabits-per-second

Monday, July 23, 2007

Why I signed up for PPP?

What is PPP? It is payperpost. What is so special about payperpost then?

This question has been constantly appearing in my mind some time ago since the moment I noticed this image “This post sponsored by PayPerPost” when I browsed and read some of the entries on my friend’s blogs. One day, a strong sense of curiosity had triggered me to find out what is this payperpost. I explored the payperpost website and it opened up a new learning process for me. Not only that, it actually opened up a new opportunity to earn some extra revenues.

I discovered that it is a place where, by using my blog, I can put up some writings and reviews on some of the services, products, websites posted in the PayPerPost advertisers and getting paid in return. There are a variety of topics to choose from and each topic offers different price. Sound interesting to me. So I decided to sign up and now I’m a PPP member. I can also proudly display the tag “This post sponsored by PayPerPost” now.

What I like the most about the PPP is the availability of vast amount of opportunities for blogger or postie. Besides, I can also make new friends from the PPP community, learning some new tips and tricks from them too.

With the money earned from payperpost, I believe it would be handy to use it to purchase some books from Amazon.com plus other online purchases too.






To share or not to share?

To share or not to share? These are the questions which the four WIMAX license holders in Malaysia need to ponder and come out with an decision in 2 months time.

The players are:
1. Asiaspace Dotcom Sdn Bhd
2. Redtone-CNX Broadband Sdn Bhd
3. Bizsurf (M) Sdn Bhd
4. Packet One Networks Sdn Bhd

What to share?
Cost and Infrastructure of setting up the transmission towers.

Green lights has been given by Malaysian government for these companies to share the transmission towers rather than building four different towers within the same area. Even the government would be able to support with some funding on this aspect.

Source: TheStar InTech, 23 July 2007

Personal opinion:
If the operational can be reduced by these sharing, WIMAX service providers can focus more on the quality of the services and also providing the services at a lower price. It is basically a win-win situation for Government, service providers and consumers. I will go for QUALITY rather than the quantity.


This blog is rated as General.

G stand for General Audiences or by Malaysian standard is U (Umum). No bad words were found thoughout the blog. Other available ratings are PG (Parental Guidance Suggestion), PG-13 and R.

How about your blog? Check yours here.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Blogsvertise.com

Introducing Blogsvertise - a place where you can help the advertisers to create a buzz for their products and services through your write-ups and reviews at your own blog. At the same time you can earn some pocket money too.

The business model offered by Blogsvertise is similar to the other paid posts services such as Pay-per-Post, Sponsored Reviews, ReviewMe and Bloggerwave, where bloggers need to write and review in return for some payments. For these kind of business model, the most important thing is the availability of critical mass or vast amount of opportunities provided by the advertisers for bloggers to post their review on their products or services. It is hope that Blogsvertise will be able to provide such opportunities for the bloggers.

Upon visiting the website, clear steps, rules and FAQ were provided to help the potential bloggers and advertisers to understand the ways how Blogsvertise operate. The layout is simple and easy for the surfers to navigate.

How does this simple plan of Blogsvertise works? You just need to follow these 3 simple steps:
Step 1: Get registered and you will be assigned with tasks.
Step 2. Write a review or sharing of your personal opinions and experiences related to the topics, products or services. Of course, don't forget to put up at least 3 links of the website in your post.
Step 3. You will get paid in your PayPal after the post is approved.

As simple as that! Of course, you need to patient as the payout period is quite long - 30 days after your post has been approved.

Wal-Mart to implement product review systems

Wal-Mart is planning to introduce products and merchandise rating and review systems. Shoppers can give rating and review the product that they had bought through the Walmart.com.

The 3 weeks testing on the new systems generated twice in number more than of the expected reviews.

Wal-Mart also launched a new program "Site-to-Store" recently where shoppers can order the products online through the Wal-Mart website and have the orders being delivered to the nearest Wal-Mart store for free.

The rating systems implementation is similar to ebay and Amazon's strategies to increase customers loyalty and stickiness of the website. Beside, the systems enable Wal-Mart to interact with its customer and understand their needs.

Source: The NewYork Times Technology - Walmart.com to let customer review merchandise


China: 500 million mobile users in 20 years

Mobile users in China started in 1987 with around 700 user has grown to 500 million marks within 20 years. What a remarkable development for a country that do not have fixed landlines 20 years ago.

This really provides great market opportunity for mobile phone vendors as well as the mobile communication service providers in this huge market.





Friday, July 20, 2007

50% of Malaysian household to have broadband by 2010

Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said by 2010, 50% of Malaysian household will be able to enjoy broadband Internet access as compared to the current 12% of the 5.5 million households in Malaysia.

He also commented that eventhough our country has the well-developed broadband access, it does not reflected in the International ranking as our country is occupying the lower spot in the ranking.

Personal opinion:
I believe the main issue doesn't lies with the infrastructures but more on the services provided by the service providers. There are some positive comments on the latest iZZi wireless broadband technology on this post - iZZi: Malaysian Mobile Wireless Broadband Services.

The standard of the current Malaysian broadband services is a popular topic for discussion nowadays. The recent poll conducted at this blog indicated a negative-inclined rating by the audience where 76% polled Bad and Very Bad for the broadband services. Although this may not be a reliable instrument to justify the argument above, nevertheless it did show the level of user's satisfaction on the services rendered. It is hope that more improvement can be seen in the very near future to gain back the users confidence.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Worldwide Broadband Prices and Speed

Below are some facts revealed by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on global broadband prices and speed.

Fact 1: Countries that switched to the fiber optic networks had the best speed at the lowest prices.

Currently there are 4 countries are offering 100Mbps net connection namely Japan, Sweden, Korea and Finland. Japan's broadband per megabit per second is priced at USD$ 0.22 (RM0.77), the lowest among all the countries surveyed. The most expensive broadband per megabit per second can be found in Turkey with USD$ 81.13 (RM283.95)

Comparatively, US's and UK's broadband per megabit per second are priced at USD$ 3.18 (RM11.13) and USD$ 3.62 (RM12.67) respectively.

In Malaysia, TMNet is going to provide the 100Mbps net connection soon. However, the price has not be determined.

Fact 2: There is a decrease of 19% in broadband prices but at the same time an increase in speed by 29% during the period of the survey, which is a very positive indications.

Fact 3: Sweden has the least expensive monthly subscription for broadband with USD$ 10.79 on the 256kbps followed by Denmark and Switzerland. Mexico is the highest with USD$52.36 (RM183.26) for a 1 Mbps net connection per month.

Currently the Streamyx is charging around RM77.00 (USD$ 22.00) for 1 megabit broadband connection per month.

For more reading, click here - BBC News: Global broadband prices revealed

Personal Note:
It is good to see that the prices is going down and the speed is increasing. However, the consistency and reliability of the services should also be looking into as the services rendered must be in par with the prices paid. Looking forward for a better services coupled with speedier connection for a worthy price.

iCalvyn.com - The gateway to IT Officer Knowledge (Review)

Want to get a free domain by writting a review of a blog?

That’s the trick used by Calvyn, an IT officer, who is giving out free domain for whoever review his blog. Calvyn, himself also active in writing review for others blog. Such efforts can be seen at his blog in the ReviewBack series.


The blog layout is neat and tidy with lots of images supporting his posts. His blog topics ranged from Tech-related and mobile services to his personal life as an IT officer.


He also shares his personal experience on being a novice in the online money making trend but given the efforts and pace that he is putting on currently, I guess it is a matter of time that he will strike it big in the online community. Keep it up!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Karen - 1st online mini concert in Malaysia

Karen Kong, an uprising and young Malaysian singer, launched her 1st online mini concert - Unbreakable Spirit, the 1st Malaysian singer to perform such feat in Malaysia. I just watched it a while ago and find this idea of online mini concert very refreshing.

The online concert will be conducted for a duration of 12 days from 17th July 2007. Each show will run for 10 minutes and the will be 6 episodes which will be updated every 2 days.

Episode 1 was aired on the 17th July 2007. It includes 3 songs namely Unbreakable, Ku Tak Upaya and Mulakan.

Where to find it? Go to: http://www.friendster.com/karenkong (look for the media box at the bottom of the page)

My E-commerce Review

How To Do My E-Commerce Review
To do a review of this blog and get a linkback, all you have to do write your review in between 50 to 100 words, link to this blog's home page (http://ecommerze.blogspot.com) using any of the following anchor text:

  • e-commerce
  • internet business
  • online business
  • e-business

For example, you can write something similar to this:

My E-Commerce is a blog that share with you on the latest development and updates on e-commerce and internet business related issues and applications.

You are also free to link to any articles I've written as part of the review.


Simon's Money Notes (Review)

Want to make money with Simon? Check this out - Simon’s Money Notes is an interesting blog which worth of exploration and reading. While most of the blogs focus on the online money making techniques, it is enjoyable to find lots of informative posts that Simon has posted on both online and offline money making on Simon’s Money Notes.

The blog is well-designed and neat with a nice and smooth looking background colour which makes the reading of the posts a comfortable thing to do. I just love it!


I particularly like 2 of his posts. One of them is the summary reports on his June/July 2007 Update where the monthly report card highlights the monthly income, his blog’s achievements and his goal for the following months. This is a good sharing as it will motivate us to have goals when come to blogging and particularly in making money online.


The second post is on traffic generators. I have tried two of the traffic generators recommended by Simon recently, and I am starting to see a gradual increase in traffic coming to my blog. This really demonstrates what he really means by make money with Simon.


Tuesday, July 17, 2007

RFID - Video clips on the RFID application

Two interesting video clips which are related to the application of RFID in the retailing and inventory tracking. These video clips were used by a group of my students for their presentation on the RFID application.



RFID checkout at the supermarket.




Inventory tracking at the warehouse and production.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Google get sued in China over name

What happen when you pronounce Google in Chinese? You will get GUGE, right?

GUGE is Beijing Guge Science and Technology Ltd.

Now this Chinese firm is suing Google for harming its business because it is too similar to its own name. This actually has led to situation where numerous phone calls to get into contact with Google were made to Beijing Guge Science and Technology Ltd as Google is not being listed in the local telephone directory.

Source: BBC News - Chinese firm sues Google over name

Other similar stories:
YouTube.com vs Utube.com
Similar situation was also encountered by Utube.com (Universal Tube and Rollform Equipment) which caused the little known website server experienced dramatic increase in the page request up to 2 million hits per month as the popularity of YouTube.com is increasing. This caused the company server to crash a few times and a more reliable server were required.

China: Gmail vs Gmail.cn
Google is currently engaging in a domain name battle with another China firm for Gmail.cn.

Another SMS scam

After the recent SMS scam attack on Digi subscribers, now is the turn for Maxis subscribers to experience the similar SMS scam.

Subscribers will be informed through SMSes that they had won some cash worth a few thousands from Maxis. In order to withdraw the money, they were required to call a foreign 15 digits phone number to provide then with the bank account number.

A Maxis spokeperson beside denying their involvement, also reminded the subscribers to ignore SMSes with foreign or weird codes.

Source: TheStar, 14th July 2007.

Personal Opinion:
Seems like the SMS scams is getting bolder and innovative. A lot of new tricks are being implemented to trick the subcribers to disclose some crucial financial and personal information. How could the government and telcos help to stop this scam from spreading on? May be they can consider the actions taken by SC in closing down the illegal fund investment websites - blocking all the weird or foreign codes? The government also should control the licenses for mobile services operators which are related to SMS.


Friday, July 13, 2007

JennyHow.com - Malaysian Fulltime eBay seller

Interested to be an eBay seller but you do not know how to start and where to start? Why not learn from Jenny How’s experience as a fulltime eBay seller in Malaysia.

She started her eBay seller experience 3 years ago by selling the Elba Steam Iron as her first item (see the picture below). She shared her excitement on the auction processes which includes bidding and delivery processes plus some lessons she learnt from her first eBay transaction as a seller.



She is now an eBay Powerseller and has sold more than 3,000 items online through eBay. She also received up to 2,600 feedbacks from her customers. (which is really quite a lot!)


Her blog provides some nice and hands-on sharings on her experiences as an eBay seller and I find it to be very useful especially for new beginners. You will be able to find some examples of the interesting auctions such as a package of Pampers being sold at USD 929.69 with a starting bid of USD 0.99.


Besides, the auctions and eBay tips provide new beginners with useful tips, recommendations and updates which is worth of reading.


Some of the interesting articles posted are:
1. How to get started in eBay?
2. Why I choose selling in eBay?
3. How NOT to be successful in ebay?
4. eBay tips: Where to find things to sell on eBay.


Making money through eBay

Thanks to JennyHow, a fulltime eBay seller, I managed to find an interesting video clip on how someone in Thailand is using eBay to make a good business, expanding from 30-40 items initially to 7,000-8,000 items now.

Take note: The video is in Thai with English subtitle.




Thursday, July 12, 2007

Maxis going strong on 3G with 350,000 subscribers

Maxis' 3G services is reaching out to 350,000 subscribers with it's new coverage on Sarawak. Among the new coverage areas are Kuching city center, Petra Jaya, Pending, Tabuan and Sungai Maong. Miri and Bintulu will also be covered later this year.

These new areas of coverage will add on to the existing coverage areas such as Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru, Alor Setar, Langkawi, Genting and Kota Kinabalu.

A faster growth rate for maxis 3G services was predicted due to:
  • easy access
  • richness of services offerred
  • affortable 3G phones
Common usage of 3G services includes:
  • Internet Surfing
  • Video calls
  • TV Programming
  • Remote surveilliance
Source: TheStar Business, 12th July 2007

Related posts:
1. Celcom to expand its 3 coverage
2. Digi vs Celcom for territory


Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Bloggerwave.com - Earn while you write blog post

Blogging has become emerged from just being a past time activities to money earning tool. If you interested to blog and at the same time earn some pocket money, you may want to consider joining Bloggerwave - a new opportunity awaiting bloggers.

Advertisers are looking for valuable feedbacks and guess who else can provide these valuable feedbacks? It is you, who are familiar with the products, services, surfing their websites and companies. By blogging your personal feedbacks and experiences, you'll get paid by the advertisers. Isn’t it a fun thing to do? I would say: “Why not give it a try?”

Register with Bloggerwave, assess the opportunities, submitting the post, get it evaluated and approved, in the end your PayPal account will be credited. As simple as that!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

iZZi - Malaysia Mobile Wireless Boardband Services

iZZi - the latest mobile wireless broadband services launched in Malaysia by iZZinet Sdn Bhd. The service offers 1 Mbps access speed for a monthly fee starting from RM88 to RM118.

There are 3 packages offerred namely iZZIone which use the PCMCIA card (RM88), iZZiyou which connect through the USD Terminal (RM98) and iZZipro specially for desktop terminal which cost RM118).

The iZZi mobile wireless braodband services is based on the iBurst technology.


What is iBurst?
It is a wireless broadband Internet system which uses adaptive-array antenna technology as well as SDMA, multi-carrier wideband and other technologies to achieve high speed, high capacity and excellent portability. It makes broadband Internet access easy at any time or place, including real-time video streaming, large-volume data downloads and web browsing.

How is it different from Hotspot?
Range - signals from hotspots are limited to 50 metres whereas signals from iZZi can be picked-up several km from the base station.

iZZi also provides extra advantages on the mobility and you can stil surfing Internet while you are travelling in the car.


Coverage area
Currently it is only available at limited area around Klang Valley. Refer to the map below. Could you find your spot?


Personal opinion:
I would welcome new services such as iZZi if they can provide better services as promised as well as competitiveness to the existing service providers. However, I would also wait to see how its performance. Looking at the coverage area, I still have to wait as its seems have not cover my areas yet.


Monday, July 09, 2007

Digi vs Celcom for territory

This is a cute and funny video clips on Digi vs Celcom for coverage territory where the blue man vs the yellow man. Thanks to IpohChai.

Digital music sales increase 50%

For the 1st half of this year, the sales of the digital music increase almost 50% to USD$ 417.3 million as compared to the same period of last year.

However, the sales of the pysical album has decreased 15%.

The shifting trend for digital music has been going on for the past few years in accordance to the individual preferences on selected music hits or singles instead of the music album as a whole. Besides, various e-tailers are providing online music sales like Amazon.com selling the DRM-free songs which may encourage users to go for digital music. The introduction of the new devices like iPod also contributed to this trend.

Source: TheNewYorkTimes Business - Digital Purchases Rise as Album Sales Fall


Thursday, July 05, 2007

The CCTV state - Selangor plans to install 200 CCTV

The Selangor state government is planning to install 200 CCTV around Klang Valley starting from early next year.

Reasons:
To monitor criminal activities, illegal dumpling and haphazard parking.

Locations:
Crime-prone area.

Costs:
Leasing of CCTVs and equipments will cost RM3 million a year.

Source: TheStarInTech, 5th July 2007.

The interesting question is - Is it necessary to do so?
I watched a documentary on the Discovery channel some time ago which highlighted London being a city filled with CCTVs and cameras. May be Selangor, self-proclaimed as the most developed state in Malaysia, would like to emulate London. Basically there are pros and cons and in this case, hopefully the pros will outweight the cons.


Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Top 5 Posts for June

Starting from June 2007, at the end of each month (or beginning of the following month), I will select and list out the top 5 posts of the month.

The top 5 posts for June 2007 are:
1. Buying durians with credit card
2. OpenTable.com - online restaurant reservations
3. JohnChow dot com - Blogging Mogul
4. My 1st adsense cheque
5. Tapping the Internet for supplementary resources in teaching

Happy Reading.

Am I addicted to blogging?

I have been blogging for almost 2 years already since May 2005. Mainly on e-commerce topics which I used for my lectures and teaching before setting up another blog for my personal sharing.

The blogging also exposed me to a lot of new ideas and technologies related knowledge, in turn epanding my life horizon, testing new formats and ways to improve the blog and blogging experiences. Sometimes I wonder if I'm addicted to blogging.

Thanks to one of the entry at slyvisions' website, I am able to test my blogging addiction now and below is the result of my addiction. If you want to try, just click on the image and check whether you are really an addict or not. Don't worry, it is just the blogging addiction.


64%

Online video sharing - YouTube leads

YouTube.com is a familiar name among the online video sharing because its market share is 50% greater than the other 64 similar websites. For the 1st 4 months this year, it has grow 70% in the US market alone.

Beside YouTube.com, what are the others online video sharing sites that you are using?