Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Being too clever or 'kiasu'?

Hundred of applicants of well-known universities like Harvard University, Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been rejected because they attempted to access their admission files before the date when the universities were to tell them if they were admitted. (Actually 10 hours earlier). Read the story.

Admissions sites of at least six schools were accessed by applicants for about 10 hours in early March after a hacker posted instructions in a BusinessWeek Online forum.

It's the case of where the 'kiasu' being the loser this round.

MasterCard nets 1,400 phishing sites last year

The Star today reported MasterCard International said it has successfully shut down nearly 1,400 global phishing websites – 300 operating from Asia Pacific – last year through its Operation Stop IT (Identity Theft) campaign.

The credit card giant said its success was due to the effective monitoring of phishing activities discovered on the Internet and swift counteraction by Internet service providers (ISPs) and law enforcement agencies.


Saturday, May 28, 2005

Students collaborate through the Internet

Just imagine students from eight universities in four countries collaborate to creater a new computer game. Don't believe? Read this : College students collaborate on Internet video game

Any proposal from the readers?

Portability in the new PC era

An article entitled Portability on the move in the new PC era, on the emergence of mobile devices and how the existing giants such as Dell, Hewlett Packard, Nokia and Sony strategise to capture this emerging market.

Do you own a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)? If yes, please share with us on why you are using the PDA.

FBI shut down website offering pirated Star Wars (2)


Elite Torrents Website as I surfed on 27th May 2005

Posted by Hello

Friday, May 27, 2005

Top 25 Technology Innovations

The Internet, ranked No. 1, changed the world. (CNN Special Report)

Like the Internet, other items on the top 25 list have changed the way people go about their lives and are so commonplace that they are almost taken for granted.


TOP INNOVATIONS
1. The Internet

2. Cell phone
3. Personal computers
4. Fiber optics
5. E-mail
6. Commercialized GPS (Global Positioning System)
7. Portable computers
8. Memory storage discs (CD)
9. Consumer level digital camera
10. Radio frequency ID tags
11. MEMS (Microelectromechanical system)
12. DNA fingerprinting
13. Air bags
14. ATM
15. Advanced batteries
16. Hybrid car
17. OLEDs (Organic light-emitting diodes)
18. Display panels (Plasma Screen TV)
19. HDTV
20. Space shuttle
21. Nanotechnology
22. Flash memory
23. Voice mail
24. Modern hearing aids
25. Short Range, High Frequency Radio (WIFI)

How many of these are related to our subject? That's why we are studying e-commerce now.....!

FBI shut down website offering pirated Star Wars

A file sharing network known as Elite Torrents (try to click on it and see what is the message that will appear) has been permanently shut down for posting an illegal copy of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith before the movie officially opened in theatres last Thursday.

Those associated with the site were under criminal investigation.

Banks go mobile in big way

The StarBiz (pg 13) reported that banks are now putting a stronger emphasis on mobile sales teams to boost their retail businesses. Majority of the bankers believe that the move will makes the banks more accessible to its customer and at the same time ensure the customer satisfaction as these professionals are able to meet with customers at their places of work, shopping malls or residence.

It was also reported that currently Citibank strong force of 400 plus mobile sales executive are equipped with eCMS PDA (electronic contact management systems personal digital assistance). [Applications of mobile commerce and with the newly introduced 3G services, I believe all information can be transmitted instantly to the database]
.

Beside this, have you ever encounter any application of PDA at work? Please share with us...

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Phishing......How to pronounce this?

Hey, I found this new word in the newspaper and I wonder what does it mean. (Star In.Tech, 24th May 2005, page 3 - Phishers targeting local Internet banking users)

Personally, I did received such e-mail just a few days ago and after reading it, I sent it to my e-mail's trash can.

DEFINITION: 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. These authentic-looking messages are designed to fool recipients into divulging personal data such as account numbers and passwords, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers.

For more information on phishing, click the following links: ComputerWorld and Webopedia

We can discuss more on this topic in the forthcoming Lecture 4.

Software piracy level down by 2%

While browsing today's Star In.Tech (page 3), it was noted that the software piracy rate in Malaysia has declined by only 2% from 63% to 61% last year.

According to the same report, the Asia Pacific region has three of the world's top five pirating countries namely Vietnam (92%), China (90%) and Indonesia (87%). "Worldwide, one out of every three copies of software in use has been obtained illegally."

Within the same issue on page 26 features the plights of the original DVDs in China where it is having a tough fight with the pirated version. It was estimated that last year, Chinese consumers brough about one billion home video discs where 95% of them were pirated.

Question: How to fight pirated copies of software where there is abundant of demand and supply which fulfill the basic requirment of economic theory?

Tonight's heavy rain (which causes the pasar malam traders to close their businesses earlier) is one of the solution. No pirated CDs or VCDs for at least a day.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

3G services launched by Celcom

Celcom launched the 3G services, the 1st in Malaysia, on Tuesday (17 May 2005) to join the ranks of 33 countries where 77 operators are offering such services.

What is 3G?
3G is a short term for Third generation wireless service. It can bring wireless transmission speeds up to 2Mbps, which allow for high-quality wireless audio and video. The 3G technology also promise that it will "keep people connected at all times and in all places."

The 3G Plus Points listed by the Star (18 May 2005, P2)
  • watch a movie or clips of movie trailers on your cellphone
  • download and listen to music while on the move
  • get instant news coverage
  • wide variety of games
  • video call and surf the Internet
More information on 3G can be obtained from http://www.fcc.gov/3G/

P/S: How can we put this services into practice? May be we can attend our lectures by using our 3G mobilephone in the very near future.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Welcome to our 1st Blog!

Hello everyone,

Welcome to our 1st Blog for UBAI 3013 E-Commerce, the first in UTAR FAM, I guess.

This is the avenue for us to post the latest updates and news related to this subject. As we goes on, we will also post some of the works from your individual assignment as to share your ideas and opinions on the topic that you worked on. And lots more to come.........

I hope that all of you will have a great semester with us, the UBAI3013 teaching team members.

Let's enjoy the learning process together!