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

Electronic learning (E-learning) is a term for all types of technology-enhanced learning (TEL), where technology is used to support the learning process. E-learning is an excellent option in education, particularly when there are hindrances to traditional learning situations.

Lately in most Universities, e-learning is used to define a specific mode to attend a course or programs of study where the students rarely attend face-to-face for on-campus access to educational facilities, because they study online.

Pros:

• On-demand availability enables students to complete training conveniently at off-hours or from home.
• Self-pacing for slow or quick learners reduces stress and increases satisfaction.
• Interactivity engages users, pushing them rather than pulling them through training.
• Confidence that refresher or quick reference materials are available reduces burden of responsibility of mastery.

Cons:

• Technology issues of the learners are most commonly technophobia and unavailability of required technologies.
• Portability of training has become strength of e-learning with the proliferation of network linking points, notebook computers, PDAs, and mobile phones, but still does not rival that of printed workbooks or reference material.
• Reduced social and cultural interaction can be a drawback. The impersonality, suppression of communication mechanisms such as body language, and elimination of peer-to-peer learning that are part of this potential disadvantage are lessening with advances in communications technologies.

References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_learning
2.http://www.answerbag.co.uk/articles/Advantages--Disadvantages-of-eLearning/3f3013fa-e6c3-4052-38ae-1c9b67bfdf20

Review a local, transactional e-commerce site

Aishop.com my is one of the local e-commerce site that sell clothes, accessories, household products, and etc. This website provides a lot of photos about their products. For an example, this website have some models wearing the clothes that will sell on their website.

Aishop.com.my provide member registration, shopping cart, customer service, search engine, payment method, and the delivery policy. Besides that, this website also provide order tracking to their customers which enable the customers to trace their delivery.

I was attracted with this website because I had noticed that aishop.com.my had provided the services which help their customer to calculate their shipping fees, and showed the steps how to buy online through their website. Other than that, aishop.com.my do accept online credit payment, online banking, and the manual fund transfer. The speed for clicking around the product in this website is quite smooth and the page load quickly.

After the sale of the products, some cash voucher may be given to some of the customers. The Cash Voucher allows instant deduction on the customer's order amount and in each order only 1 voucher is allowed for deduction. If the customer have more than 1 voucher, the customers should split the order or use it in their next purchases.

In conclusion, aishop.com.my is one of the local e-commerce site which provides many services to the customers and had made their customers more enjoy in shopping through their website. By proving the shopping cart in their website, it enables their customers to continue shopping after the customers add their products to the cart.

Reference:

1. http://aishop.com.my/

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

The implementation of e-government started since the initiation of Multimedia super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysian government. Most of the e-government project implementations are currently in progress. There are 7 pilot projects under the E-Government Flagship Application of the MSC:

1. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
The aim of GOE is to introduce a fully integrated, distributed and scalable office environment that leverages use of multimedia information technology. This will enable efficient communication, allowing collaboration across all workers, and ensuring right information reaching the right people in a timely manner.

2. Electronic Procurement (eP) Project
The aim is to re-engineer, automate, and transform current procurement system. The project will cover central contract, tender, and direct purchase. Besides, the use of eP will increase transparency, saves time and money while encourage suppliers to go electronic and join the K-economy.

3. Electronic Services Directory (eServices)
This project is a pilot project that allows citizens of Malaysia to engage in transactions with government and utilities payments such as telephone and electronic bill, police summons, Road and Transport Department (RTD) services, etc. The eServices is accessed via multi channel service delivery such as the Internet and kiosk machines.

4. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
It will provide single interface for government employees to perform human resource functions effectively and efficiently. It will also help to standardize all human resource processes for federal, state, statutory body, and local authority services.

5. Project Monitoring System (PMS)
It will create a mechanism to monitor project implementation throughout various government agencies and statutory bodies. It also provides a platform to exchange ideas and to demonstrate best practices in information management and communication services.

6. Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
The main objective is to improve the mobilization of human resources and optimize workforce utilization through systematic matching of job seekers to job vacancies. As such, this would enable the Ministry of Human Resources to be a one-stop centre for labor market information that will be accessible to the public.

7. E-Syariah
It is to improve the quality of service in Syariah courts. This will eventually enhance the Islamic Affairs Department’s effectiveness through better monitoring and coordination of its agencies and improving the management of its 102 Syariah courts.

Citizen’s Adoption Strategies:

1. Awareness
Government can launch various programs or do some advertisements to increase people’s knowledge about the e-government projects. By doing so, it can also let people know that there is an online services that enable them to know more about e-government.

2. Service quality
Online service quality can be measured in terms of contents provided, the speed of the response to the citizens concern with problem solving approach, and the availability of names. High quality of service will lead to high levels of customer satisfaction and thus can increase the use of e-government services.

3. Webpage design
The personalization of websites, customization of products or services offering, and self-care are the three key features that could be used not only to build relationship with the visitors, but also enhance their experiences. These features give visitors a sense of control and participation and could potentially enhance their adoption.

References:
1. http://www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/articles/Article1%20-%20Full.pdf

2. http://en.wordpress.com/tag/citizen-adoption-strategies/

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies

A blog is a next-generation website and it is the home base of social media strategy.

Corporate blogging is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow. It is an effective blog enables the organization to have a two-way conversation with customers and employees.

Corporate blogging is unbelievably lost-cost and its effects can be extremely effective. It is very useful for low-volume blogs and blogging is one of the best technologies to promote the business through internet, then it leads to a lot of orders by a lot of visitors and good page ranking for the parent site.

The corporate blogging benefits the organization as the followings:

1. Build rapport with customers.
2. Free feedback and suggestions from key constituents.
3. Increased website traffic from higher search engine rankings.
4. Position your business as a thought leader.
5. Lead generation.
6. Documenting history.
7. Selling products.
8. Combined effort.
9. Build the brand.


It really helps promoting the products or services of the company however blogging requires a lot of effort and keep it up to date. Corporate blogging is a useful tool to promote the business and it is definitely worth it!

References:
1. http://www.debbieweil.com/book/

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog

3. http://www.it-sideways.com/2008/08/asia-pacific-corporate-blogging.html

4. http://www.ximnet.com.my/thelab/comments_articles/comments.asp?id=15

5. http://poweron.mobile88.com/

Credit Card Debts: Causes & Prevention

Credit cards,when used properly, are convenient and a budgeting tool. If abused, though, credit cards can be the start of a years-long nightmare and unbelievable stress. Most households that have credit cards have and use an average of eight cards.

Speaking of credit debt reasons, there are various factors that may have a dramatic impact on the financial situation. The following is the causes of credit card debts:

1. Poor money management
There are too many people who cannot possibly find an equilibrium between their expenses and income. A sudden reduction of income cause people fall into credit debts. Meanwhile, they keep on spending as much as they got used to regardless of the reduced income.

2. The lack of financial planning
There is a lot of people lack of financial planning skills. When they are buying something, they do not plan properly whether they are afford to buy it. Sometimes, they are spending money on an unnecessary stuff. If they are lack of money, they will use credit cards for purchasing. At the end of the month, they cannot pay for the bill for what they purchased.

3. Gambling
Gambling becomes part of entertainments in people’s life nowadays. People are addicting on gambling and makes it becomes more difficult when they want to stop it. Thus, it will lead to financial problem when people tend to use credit cards for gambling purposes.

We all know that if we want to gain a better health, we have to eat right, exercise regularly, and get a good night’s sleep. When talk about financial, it is not much different with it. By taking a few steps of prevention, it will free you to a live of opportunity rather than of difficulty.

1. Manage your finances
It is to determine your monthly income and expenses. Besides, you can make a saving so that you would not spend the money on unnecessary things. Write down what are necessary items for your daily life and avoid buying some luxury items that are unnecessary.

2. Use it like cash and not a credit card
In one sense, you need to use your credit card like cash by paying balance in full each month. Do not think that having a credit card will enable you to spend the money unlimited. You have to remember that you are using the ‘future money’ and you need to repay it in the future.

3. Keep the low credit limit
A low credit limit will help you to prevent for spending much. Try not to increase your credit limit if the bank asks you to do so. By doing so, you can avoid for spending out of the area that you can afford.

References:

1. http://www.credit-land.com/articles/articles_page_68600_1881780_120.php

2. http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Credit-Card-Abuse-Causes-So-Much-Debt&id=1018899

3. http://www.cardratings.com/howtoavoidcreditcarddebt.html

Electronic Currency

Electronic currency, also known as electronic money, refers to money or scrip which is exchange only electronically. Typically, this involves the use of computer networks, the Internet, and digital stored valued systems. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposits are the examples of electronic currency. Also, it is a collective term for financial cryptography and technologies enabling it.

Electronic currency allows its holder to buy the goods and services that the vastness of the internet offers. 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).

Electronic currency trading can let you to do business and earn only few dollars of investment. In fact, some of the experts will suggest the beginners to start with only a few dollars so that they can first learn the ropes of electronic currency. Besides that, electronic currency trading has a low transaction cost. Unlike other businesses that will eat up your profit with a huge amount of fees, it allows you to do business with minimal fees and give you more profit and money. There are few websites examples that can let people to do e-currency trading such as MG E-currency and JT GOLD.com.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cash

2. http://www.romow.com/business-blog/benefits-of-e-currency-trading/

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

Nowadays, there are many types of payment methods that available in the market. Prepaid cash card is one of the most convenient tools to make a payment. The concept of prepaid cash card is which customer need put money in the card’s account advance. Customer only can use prepaid cash card to make a purchase depend of amount of money inside the card.

Advantages using prepaid cash card:
Financial Limits
The financial limits on the card are established and controlled by the cardholder. This can help limit any temptation to overspend or no debts.

Convenience
You won’t need to carry a lot of cash with you every time you go out.

Fraud Protection
pre-paid cash cards generally offer consumers the same fraud protections as credit cards if the cardholder reports the fraud quickly.

The example of prepaid cash card:
Malaysia
Touch n go
Touch ‘n Go card is one of the example pre-paid cash card in Malaysia. Touch ‘n go is an electronic purse that can be used at all highways in Malaysia, major public transports in Klang Valley, selected parking sites and theme park.

User can continue using the card as long as it is pre-loaded with electronic cash. User can reload the card at toll plazas, train stations, Automated Teller Machines, Cash Deposit Machines, Petrol kiosks and at authorized third party outlets.

The advantages using Touch ‘n Go is enhances the speed of paying for low value but high frequency transactions. Besides that, users no longer need to prepare for small change or wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction.

Smart TAG
SmartTag a vehicle on-board unit that works in combination with Touch 'n Go card that allow a consumers to pay toll by drive-through without stopping their cars.

Singapore
Ez-link card

Ez-link card can be use in many ways. Such as 7-11, government service, private bus service, shopping and etc. The benefit by using the card is that it ensures secure, fast and reliable transmission of data.

Hong Kong

Octopus card
Octopus card is an electronic payment system that widely used in Hong Kong. Octopus is used for purchases on public transport, convenience stores, fast food shops, supermarket, and even for office used and residential premises access control. Octopus card has been awarded as Chairman's Award of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance's 2006 Global IT Excellence Award.


References:
1. http://www.touchngo.com.my/

2. http://www.ezlink.com.sg/

3. http://www.octopuscards.com/consumer/en/index.jsp

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

Mobile payment, a new and rapidly-adopting payment method instead of paying with cash, check or credit cards, a consumer can use a mobile phone to pay for wide range of services and digital or hard goods. One of the four primary models for mobile payments, Contactless NFC (Near Field Communication) is mostly used for purchases in stores or transportation services.

The world's first contactless mobile payment service has been launched in Malaysia, according to Malaysian mobile operator Maxis Communications Bhd, in collaboration with Nokia, Visa, Maybank and Touch ‘n Go, has launched Maxis FastTap, an integrated mobile payment service that utilises Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

The system of payment is whereby the consumer uses a special mobile phone attached with a smartcard waves his/her phone near a reader module. Most transactions do not require verifications however some are required verifications using PIN codes before transaction is completed. The payment could be deducted from pre-paid account or charged to mobile or bank account directly.

The Contactless enabled payments easier and less costly to handle than cash including other traditional payment methods such as end users benefit from the convenience of being able to pay for parking from the comfort of their car with their mobile phone.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment

2.http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/040909-contactless-mobile-payment-system-launches.html?hpg1=bn

Phishing : Examples and its prevention methods

What is phishing?

Phishing is a technique used to gain personal information for purposes of identity theft, using fraudulent e-mail messages that appear to come from legitimate businesses. The authentic-looking messages are designed to fool recipients into divulging personal data such as account numbers, passwords, and credit card numbers.

A popular method of phishing which use to gain personal information is to collect information through fake websites that look identical to the real websites and an email may be sent to customers to trick them into providing their information on the fake websites. In order to prevent phishing, users should always go to the website directly by typing in the URL to access the site rather than using the links in the e-mails.

Example of phishing:

Other ways to prevent phishing:

1. Guard against spam
Be cautious of e-mails that come from unrecognized senders, e-mails that ask you to confirm personal information through Internet, or e-mails that try to upset you into acting quickly by threatening you with frightening information.

2. Do not click on links
Download files or open attachments in emails from unknown senders. It is best to open attachments only when you are expecting them and know what they contain, even if you know the sender.

3. Never email personal or financial information
Even if you are close with the recipient.It is because you never know who may gain access to your email account, or to the person’s account to whom you are emailing.

4. Be aware of pop-ups and never enter personal information in a pop-up screen

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

2. http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/phishing/identify.mspx

The Application of 3rd Party Certification Programme in Malaysia

The most famous third party certification in Malaysia is MSC Trustgate.com Sdn. Bhd. It is a licensed Certification Authority (CA) in Malaysia since 1999. It offers complete security solutions and leading trust services that are needed by individual, enterprises, government and e-commerce service providers using digital certificates, digital signatures, encryption, and decryption.

The products and services of Trustgate are SSL Certificate, Managed PKI, Personal ID, MyTRUST, MyKad ID, SSL VPN, Managed Security Services, VeriSign Certificate Training, and Application Development.

Managed Public Key Infrastructure (MPKI) service is a fully integrated enterprise platform designed to secure intranet, extranet, and Internet applications by combining maximum flexibility, performance, and scalability with high availability and security. It allows enterprise to quickly and cost-effectively establish a robust PKI and CA system with complete control over security policies, PKI hierarchies, authentication models, and certificate lifecycle management.

Organizations can set up their own multiple digital certification programme quickly, easily and economically, through the flexible managed service. With managed PKI, people can issue 250 or more digital certificates to customers, suppliers, partners, or employees. It helps to protect on-line transactions, digitally sign them and control the access to intranets and extranets.

With the increased phishing and spoofing attacks on the Internet, people want to make sure that they are dealing with trusted parties when they conduct business by using Internet. Trustgate offers SSL Certificates for server security. There are two types of server certificates which are Secure Server ID and Global Server ID.

Secure Server ID enables visitors to verify their site’s authenticity and to communicate with it securely via state-of-the-art SSL encryption, which protects confidential information from interception and hacking.

Global Server Certificate ensures the Web site visitors will receive powerful 128-bit SSL encryption to secure communications and transactions between the site and its visitors.

References:
1. http://www.msctrustgate.com

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

Nowadays using computers to store our personal data is very common to all of us and almost everyone will rely on their computers to save their personal data and using online financial services to do their transactions such as paying bills or transferring money. However, by just using computers to save our personal and financial data is not safe enough and it may probably be able to be hacked by others to get our information.

Ways to safeguard our personal and financial data:

1.Install a firewall

Firewalls program will help you to prevent from hackers and viruses access to your personal information without your permission. It acts as a guard, blocking the hackers from access to your personal data. Most new computers come with firewalls integrated into their operating systems. If you have an older computer or using dial-up, you may need to buy a firewall separately and install it yourself.

2.Avoid accessing financial information in public

To prevent from logging on to check your bank balance when working from a coffee shop that offers wireless access. Although the systems are convenient but we do not know how powerful their firewalls are.

3.Password protect

Avoid using passwords that are easy for someone to guess, such as the name of your favorite pet or your date of birth and never write this information down and never carry it in your wallet or briefcase.

You have to set a strong password to protect your personal and financial information and should avoid using part of your name, birthday, or other weak password that can easily be guessed.

4. Use our own computer

Avoid using public computers to access our personal accounts. This is because public computers may contain software that captures passwords and pins.

References:

1. http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1491881

2. http://www.msisac.org/awareness/news/2007-03.cfm

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

Nowadays, computers are everywhere. They are a primary means of communication for billions of people. Many people believe that computer literacy is vital to success. Computer literacy involves having a knowledge and understanding of computer and their users. Through computers, society has instant access to information from around the globe.

We can get news, weather reports, airline schedules and many others information through computer. Company used the internet to do their business transaction. Since the Internet is a public system in which every transaction can be tracked, logged, monitored and stored in many locations, it is important for businesses to understand possible security threats to their business.


Type of threats:

1. Virus
Computer viruses is a piece of software code that inserts itself into a host which including the operating systems to spread over and harm the users computer. Virus can spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the target computer. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.


2. Worm
Worm is a self-replicating computer program. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other nodes and it may do so without any user intervention. Unlike viruses, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. Worms can destroy data and programs as well as disrupt or even halt the operation of computer network.

3. Trojan horse
Trojan horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get control and do its chosen form of damage, such as ruining the file allocation table on your hard disk.Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive.

4. Computer hacking
Computer hacking always involves some degree of infringement on the privacy of others or damage to computer-based property such as files, web pages or software. The impact of computer hacking varies from simply being simply invasive and annoying to illegal. In either case, they may steal your money and open bank accounts in your name, Make purchases, sell your information to other parties who will use it for illicit or illegal purposes and etc.


The way to prevent the threats is install and update antivirus software. You have to update your antivirus software constantly so that your computer is protected from the latest threats available in the internet. Furthermore, you are advised to install the latest version of anti-virus software whenever it is available such as Kaspersky Antivirus, AVG Antivirus software and so on. Besides that, turning on your firewall application also is one of the ways to prevent threats.

References:

1. http://www.webroot.com/En_US/csc/computer-security-threats-hackers.html

2. http://www.secureworks.com/research/articles/firewall-security/

An example of an E-Commerce failure and its causes

Web businesses reached the peak of the late 1990s. However, many dot.coms are failed in the year 2000. Even some of the strongest and most attractive e-tailers – etoys.com, Pets.com, Furniture.com, Boo.com - filed for bankruptcy.

Boo.com is one of the greatest defunct Web sites and Dotcom disaster listed by CNET on June 2008, which was founded by three Swedish entrepreneurs, Ernst Malmsten, Kajsa Leander and Patrik Hedelin as an online fashion store. Boo.com flopped after having to liquidate and was placed into receivership in 18 May 2000.

The vision for Boo.com is become the worlds first online global sports retail site. The target market by Boo.com is from 18 to 24 year olds and characterized “young, well-off and fashion conscious.”

Why did Boo.com fail?

The main reason failure of Boo.com is the website which is poorly design. The site was heavily relied on JavaScript and Flash technology, but as that time it was very slow to load at a time when dial-up Internet usage was a norm. Hence, majority of users need to wait couple of minutes for the page to load successfully. Besides that, the complicated design required to be displayed in a fixed size window, which limited space available to display product information to customers.

Poor management of Boo.com is also one of the reason cause the failure. Boo.com had only managed to generate £200,000 in turnover from 300,000 customers. Boo’s sales did not match expectations, due to high number of products returned by customers (a service that was providing free, but Boo.com charged for their logistics supplier).

Next, there is overstaff problem exist in the company, that is employed 400 people when it was only estimated it needed 30 people. The company needed countless millions in additional funding is the worst thing that the Boo.com did. Boo.com simply tried to do too much, too soon.

References:

1. http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39029552,49296926-3,00.htm

2. http://www.davechaffey.com/E-commerce-Internet-marketing-case-studies/Boo.com-case-study

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C36Z3i_USryY

4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2005/may/16/media.business

An example of an E-Commerce success and its causes

Amazon.com is one of the examples of e-commerce success and also one of the best-known names in the internet. Amazon was founded in 1994. In the beginning, Jeff Bezos, the founder, only plan to begin online bookstore. But it now sells just about everything else as well, from music, video, electronics, tools, apparel, kid product, etc.

Amazon.com customer base has grown explosively to more than 49million active customers in more than 220 countries. Sales have increased from $15 million a year in 1996 to more than $6.9 billion today. It means that there is 57 percent average year-over-year growth rate.

Why did Amazon.com success?

1.Product line
- In order to target more customers, Amazon.com has diversified their product line. Besides that, in 2001, Amazon.com lets customer sell used books, CDs, DVDs, etc.

2.Customer service
- To deliver a special experience to every customer, customer can have orders delivery groceries to their house through AmazonFresh.

- Customer can write email, call a toll-free number or use a click-to-call service to contact customer service.

3. Special features of Amazon.com Website
- Amazon.com was first to use “collaborative filtering” technology, which sifts through each customer’s past purchases and the purchasing patterns of customer with similar profiles to come up with personalized site content.

- At Amazon.com, it is convenient for customers to purchase their favorable products. You can log on to Amazon.com, find anything that you want, and order with just a simple mouse click which helps to save a lot of times.

- Customers can browse for product research purchase alternative, share opinions and reviews with other visitors, and chat online with authors and experts.

References:

1. http://www.amazon.com

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com

The History & Evolution of E-commerce

Definition of E-commerce:

E-commerce is the process of the execution of commercial transactions electronically with the help of the leading technologies like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) which gave an opportunity for users to exchange business information and do electronic transactions.

The History & Evolution of E-commerce:

It was founded in the late 1970s and started to become popular during 1994. It took four years to develop the security protocols and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) which allowed rapid access and connection to the Internet. E-commerce changed the process of purchasing of available goods and services over the Internet using secure connections and electronic payment services.

EDI was developed to improve the limitation of EFT. It enlarged the pool of participating company which is called Interorganizational System (IOS). An IOS allows the flow of information to be automated between organizations to reach a desired supply-chain management system, enables the development of competitive organizations.

During the year 1984, EDI was standardized through ASC X12, guaranteed that companies would be able to complete transactions with one another reliably. CompuServe offered online retail products to its customers which gave people the first chance to buy things off their computer in 1992. Netscape provided users a simple browser to surf the net and a safe online transaction technology called Secure Sockets Layer in 1994. In 1995, Amazon.com and eBay.com, two of the biggest names in e-commerce are launched. During 1998, DSL provides fast, always-on Internet service to subscribers. This prompts people to spend more time, and money, online. Retail spending over the Internet reaches $20 billion, according to Business.com in 1999. While in 2000, The U.S government extended the moratorium on Internet taxes until 2005.

According to Rich Riley, “an important milestone in the evolution of e-commerce is the development of affordable, easy-to-use e-commerce solutions enabled a lot of entrepreneurs to transform their unique ideas into organizations successful business.” E-commerce is a history of a new, virtual world which is evolving according to the customers’ advantage. The evolution of this will never end.

Web 2.0:

It refers to a second generation of web development and web design that facilitates communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and applications such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, and blogs.

It allows users more than just to retrieve information. It can build on the interactive facilities of Web 1.0 to provide “network as platform” computing, allowing users to run software-applications entirely through a browser. Users can own the data on a Web 2.0 site and exercise control over that data.

References:

1. http://www.flysyk02.netfirms.com/Ecommerce/History.htm

2. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/40249.html

3. www.klein.com/dvk/publications/ecommerce.ppt

Google is changing everything....

Google is known primarily for its search engine and its related targeted-advertising tools in which Google had delivered its advertisers far more revenue per click in search results than its competitors such as Yahoo! Google is earning revenue from advertising that related to its Internet search, e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing services. The Google search engine had attracted large number of loyal Internet users who liked its simple design and useful results. Google indexes billions of Web pages so that users can search for their information they desire conveniently through the use of keywords and operators.

Since Google is well known nowadays for its search engine, it is true to said that Google is changing everything and its helps us a lot in searching information and this is parallel with the Google’s mission that is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. For an example, Google is trying to reinvent the spreadsheet as a Web-based application that makes it simple for users to input and share data. Google spreadsheet is a free Web-based application that can be shared with up to 10 users simultaneously which can overcome a key limitation to Microsoft’s Excel.

Why Google choose spreadsheet? It is because most individual users do not create data bases and the Google spreadsheet can import or export data from Excel’s.xls format or the open Comma Separated Value (.csv) format which aimed at small work teams in social situations or small businesses, but not big enterprises. Data in the spreadsheets are saved automatically with each user action over the web onto Google computer servers.

Google site map had given many benefits to us or others and make our lives easier in navigating and finding the related information in a quick and effective fashion. Through Google site map we can easily determine the location that we want by typing the location names at the search engine and clicking on it. It is free for us to gather information and search information that we want at Google and it is much more convenient for us rather than we need to go to the store just for buying the map or others books for just to find the information we want.

Google can be said that it is changing everything and makes our live easier and Google had helps us a lot in searching information with its technologies in organizing the world’s information universally accessible and useful.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps

About me- Jason Foo Jia Xin

“Hajime Mashite, Namae wa jesun desu, Dozo yoroshiku onegai shimasu”, A simple introduce of myself from the Japanese language. It means “Hi, first time meeting you, I’m Jason and I’m please to meet you”. I prefer friends of mine call me Jason rather than my full name (Foo Jia Xin) because Jia Xin either in Mandarin or English it sounds very girly.

I born in Johor, a city named Johor Bahru, the border line of Malaysia. It’s very close to Singapore and I travel there a lot during my free time. I love sports, clubbing, and meet new friends. The favorite sport I love is swimming because of the water and the sunshine and so as the moonlight. I enjoy teaching friends to learn how to swim because it’s a passion to me to make everyone can swim and for safety purpose. I love clubbing with friends when there is an opportunity because I have curfews at home. My parents are very strict and I’m okay with that because they taught me to be polite and show kindness to whomever who needs my help.

I love to socialize, without friends I would bore to death. I like to meet new friends and making friends from all around the world. I could go online for the whole day just chatting with friends in Msn. To me, Internet is a multi-function tool to let me gain access all around the world in just one click. I could make new friends, I can get information, and I can burn my free time.

About me-Nicki Tan Yee Wei

Hello Everyone~ My name is Tan Yee Wei. I prefer to be called as Nicki . My friends always make fun of my Chinese name because indirectly translate “Yee Wei” means “I Think”. I’m 21 years old. I’m currently preceding my bachelor degree in UTAR while I’m part-time tuition teacher.I was stay in Cheras since 14years old.

I love reading books, writing and listen to music . Since I love music a lot, I’ve attended hundreds of concerts. Besides that, i also learn guitar to improve my knowledge of music. My favorite singers are Eason chan and Yoga lim. I like their voice so much. I'm strong in the inner as well as the outer. I would consider myself as an adventure person. I’m in love with thrilling adventure and love rock climbing. My friends always say me good with remember names, e-mails and birthdays. I never forget them because friends are important to me.

I’m a Facebook and Friendster Freak. I can surf on Facebook and Friendster all day long just chatting and playing games.To listen different rhythm from different type music, Youtube is one of the website i visited the most.Besides that, to gain more knowledge, wikipedia and google is my first choice. Internet is a very convenient tools for me to get information and meeting new friends.

About me- Loy Phay Zhen

My name is Loy Phay Zhen. Actually, I really don’t know how to introduce myself because there is such a long time I didn’t write a passage like this. So, I decided to introduce myself in the more simple way.

I born in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, which is the place that I grew up. It’s not the place like KL, but I like this place so much. Simple life is the most attractive thing at here. So, I decided to travel to campus everyday by commuter. Although it is quite tired for me to travel everyday, I’m happy and rather to stay at my home because my home is the most comfortable place for me.

Watching drama, singing, and listening to music are the activities that I like the most. Besides, surfing the Internet is one thing that I will do everyday. I like to chat with my friends through messenger. It is the easiest way to communicate and keep in touch with my friends since we are studying and staying in different places. Sometimes, I’m surfing Internet because of my assignments, such as looking or searching for the information from the Internet and get some ideas from that.

The top 5 websites that I like to visit are Facebook, UTAR intranet, Google, Yahoo, and PPS. Facebook allows me to play some online games when I want to relax myself. I use Yahoo and Google to search and get information when I need some ideas to complete my assignment. PPS is where I can watch the newest drama and last but not least is the UTAR intranet, I get the news and notice of UTAR from that.

About me- Chong Li Ying

My name is Chong Li Ying. I came from Ipoh and studying in UTAR now. Shopping is one of my hobbies. I like to shop because shopping can make oneself to become happier. I love new things so I’ll buy many things when shopping, such as shoes, clothes, cosmetics and others.

Besides shopping, I like to surf the Internet when I’m free. There are a lot of things to do when surfing the Internet, such as playing some online games, chit chatting with my friends through messenger, doing my assignments, get the new information or notice from UTAR intranet, and watching the newest dramas from the Internet. Another hobby of mine is sleeping. Sleeping is another hobby of mine, too. Without enough sleep, my mood will become badly and will feel lazy for the whole day.

The websites that I would visit when online are Facebook, UTAR intranet, Google, and Yahoo. When log on to the Facebook, this is the place that I’ll play some online games here. I love to play games because playing games can stimulate my thought. Google and Yahoo are the best websites for me to gain some information when I need it for my assignments. I can get the information via these websites so that I can provide more ideas when doing assignments. UTAR intranet provides me a lot of notices or anything happens in UTAR. So, I’ll like to log on to this website so that I can get the newest information or notice from UTAR.