Review on "New Rules for Cyber Cafe Soon"

It's a damn hot and boring day; I should have been in Mid Valley, or Sunway Pyramid, or whatever malls with air conditioning. But here I am, in my hot and stuffy room, surfing Mr. Hen's blog on "Legal" in order to to do my last entry for this boring assignment. Oops! Gee... No offense Mr. Hen or Cik Farah (Our E-Commerce lecturers and tutors). Perhaps it's only because today is a boring day, for me. Believe me, this blogging assignment is absolutely interesting, fascinating, great for it allows us to venture into bloggers' world and learn a whole lot of things. Trust me.

New Rules for Cyber Cafe Soon
The above catchy line caught my attention the moment the Web page completely loaded. New RULES? What NEW rules? What kind of NEW RULES our holy beloved Malaysian's government imposes on Cyber Cafe? This news should be of upmost concern to "Kaki Cyber" (a nickname given to those avid Cyber Cafe's visitors).

So, let's get an idea of what the new guidelines are at http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/Legal

Well, frankly speaking, I'm not a frequent Cyber Cafe's visitor. Not even once a month. Abandon the comfort of surfing the net, doing assignment, or playing online games at home, and step into a place of hell to do all these is a big NO for me. No way! Why such exaggerated emotion, you may ask. My first experience of surfing net for urgent information in a Cyber Cafe was doomed. And I swore I'll never ever, never EVER, step into this code-red-area. Unless with valid reason.

Imagine, having everyone around you to shout and yell hysterically at the computer screens, feet stomping on the floor and hands thumping on the mouses, as if they are possessed by Satan! (To describe this scene better, download or rent or buy or rob from others "Exorcism"--a movie. Take a look and you'll understand exactly what i meant.) I couldn't stand seeing these. I felt like "deleting" them off, yet they look hilarious in some way...

Furthermore, you can hear people using all sort of colorful vulgarities (in English some more), flying here and there, everywhere. I can assure you, their English is never better! And the one @#$% thing that i could not tolerate is having "chimneys" puffing smoke every here and now, making the Cyber Cafe look as if it's Genting Highlands.

Thus, some new guidelines such as prohibit cigarattes and alcohol being sold (Better still, disallow smoking and drinking in the Cyber Cafe), prohibit unhealthy activities pornography, gambling from being provided, are the good ones. Applause.

However, some of the guidelines, I must say, is absolutely RIDICULOUS!

-Cyber Cafe have to CLOSE BY MIDNIGHT daily

Come on, I don't think the Cyber Cafe will adhere to this rule. Not in the past, never in present, impossible in the future. Unless, strict and CLEAN enforcement are taken. Note the word: CLEAN. Cyber Cafe will still operates into late midnight (although from the outside their doors are seen closed) even though there are some policemen patrolling just outside. The reason being, those policemen are being fed by the Cyber Cafe's owners! No joke. I got this source from friends who frequently visit Cyber Cafe.

In addition, what will happen to those Cyber Cafe that operates 24 hours, and position this as their competitive advantage?

-Those under 12 years old must be ACCOMPANIED BY PARENTS OR GUARDIAN and ONLY ALLOWED TO STAY UP TO 10.00PM.

*Shakes head* My question is, how the government and the legal enforcement team make sure this is exactly followed?

-Prohibited from providing GAMING ACTIVITIES, MUSIC.

Omigod! If gaming activities, downloading and music sharing activities and the like are not allowed to be carried out in Cyber Cafe, then I guess it's time to give a new definition to what is Cyber Cafe?

In one sense, Cyber Cafe has already turned into a source of social-ill. Merely providing new rules and guidelines are not sufficient to combat this problem at hand. Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin, you ought to revise these rules again. Preventing Cyber Cafe from deteriorating the issues of social-ill requires not only more sound rules, but also drastic actions!!

*By Shu*

Review on Motor Trader Malaysia

Hello and welcome to another entry of our blog, this time on "Review of a local e-Commerce site" with me, *Shu*!

Today, we are going to identify an local e-commerce website and review its features for example type of products, download speed, site design and layout, availability of search engine, shopping carts and cash-out features, color and fonts selections, navigations and other.

First and foremost, the particular website that we are going to review today is

Motor Trader Malaysia (MTM) is a very widely known magazine and online portal as well as forum for car enthusiasts, purchasers and sellers/resellers.


MTM has been in existence for the past 10 years, being started in 1998 and has since been one of the most sought car-related magazines. Alright, enough of the introduction, let's get on with the action! =D

Review of Site
1. Download Speed
Seeing as that MTM does not have downloadable content, we will rate this according to the speed the website and content loads. Regretfully, it may be due to the fact that MTM is often visited by many users, the loading speed for the site is unusually slow (We have waited for at least 1 minute for the page to load, hence the captured loading screen) compared to other e-Commerce websites, for example http://www.airasia.com.my

2. Site Layout and Design
The layout of the website is clear enough to disseminate useful information as well as simple enough to avoid clutter. However, the design of the website still has room for improvement as it is considered too simple and unattractive for current standards.


3. Search Engine
The Search Engine, also pictured above in the "Site Layout and Design" picture, is useful and easy to use, therefore we would like to say that it is a very good search engine that is specific and at the same time simple.

4. Navigation
Most of the navigation is done via a bar in the middle of the site (as pictured above). It is simple and colored accordingly, with the blue section representing general search for everything, the black areas representing specific areas to search (e.g. Prestige cars, motorcycles,etc) and the red areas representing other features such as dealer specific pages, reviews, news, etc.

5. Content
MTM often update new reviews, news, car information, articles oftenly and is a very good source for automotive knowledge. An example to the left is an article regarding a new corporate identity for Perodua, a national car manufacturer.

Conclusion
e-Commerce websites like MTM are a blessing for most of us because without these websites, we would need to purchase printed media which is often much slower than online media.
Therefore, we would like to conclude that although MTM's website is relatively slower compared to other local e-Commerce websites, it is marginally faster than the Government sites (*Well what does this mean, I wonder?*)

The content, ease of use and actual search results and information given has given it a rating of 3/5 from us. We think that the graphics could be improved and maybe the hosting of the website could be done on a better server but other than that, it was a good experience.

We all hope that everyone can visit the website and gain some knowledge from it, do take care now and have a great day! Till next time..

*Shu*, signing off!

Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction.

Internet auction fraud is increasing worldwide, as online shopping has grown significantly every year. 51,000 cases of internet fraud cases were reported in 2002. In 2006, that number increased to 97,000.




Don't give up on the biggest auction marketplace because of fears of fraud.

Here are some simple tips on keeping your risk at a minimum and prevent e-auction fraud:

• Become familiar with the auction website.
  Understand as much as possible about how Internet auctions work. Look into the websites protection policies. Find out what your obligations are as a buyer, and what the seller's obligations are before you bid. Never assume you are protected from auction fraud.

• Learn as much as possible about the seller.
  If you can’t find out anything about the seller, then you should avoid doing business with them. Never fall for promises of better deals by moving away from the original auction website. Besides, you can examine the feedback rating for the seller. If the seller has a history of negative feedbacks, don't bid with or buy from that particular seller.

• If the seller wants you to use an escrow service you’ve never heard of, look into it.
  Check out the website. Call up customer support to get more data on the business in question. Please don’t use it if you cannot confirm the legitimacy.

• Clarify any shipping and handling fees.
  To avoid unexpected costs, read the information in the listing about shipping and handling fees carefully. If not specified, you may want to clarify before bidding or buying.

• Avoid giving out your social security number, drivers license number, credit card number, or bank account information to the seller, as they have no need for this information.

• Always save 100% of the transaction information.
  You’ll be glad you did in the event your case makes it to court.

Sometimes auction fraud cases involve untrustworthy descriptions that are presented and worded in a way that that most people would miss important details.

That’s what happened in the video below of a case being handled by Judge Judy.

The case is about a woman collected payments of $467 for 2 cell phones and sent 2 pictures of the cell phones instead of the real products.

The scammer defended herself by happily claiming that ‘what you see is what you get’, referring to the quote “you will receive pictures of these 2 cell phones” that was posted in the description alongside the cell phone specs and other information aimed towards selling a real cell phone.

Thankfully Judge Judy tends not to fall for simple legalities and the case was over before it even started.

Kindly visit these web pages for additional advice on how to prevent e-auction fraud.

Selling online

More on electronic auctions

~By SieW YinG~

Corporate Blogging: A New Marketing Communication Tool For Companies.

Corporate-blogs offer organizations a platform where information, data, and opinion can be shared and traded among employees, customers, partners, and prospects in a way previously impossible: a two-way, open exchange. Basically, there are two types of corporate blog namely internal blog and external blog.

Internal blogs
Communication failures, interminable email trails, and the cc and bcc maze can bog down the best projects. A blog, accessible to specified individuals and restricted from external/public view, can become the hub of information, ideas and expertise for individual teams or the entire company.

Internal communication not necessary to be a chore, if it is based on individual contributions presented in a dynamic and collaborative format. A blog is also a searchable, structured and categorized record of the project during and after its completion.

With an internal blog capturing information flows and interactions, everyone who participates and reads it comes to meetings up-to-speed and ready to get down to business. And new people can review the internal blog’s content and jump straight in with a clear understanding of how the project and/or the company evolved.

In a speech to an audience of chief executives, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said that the regular updated blogs could be a good way for companies to tell customers, staff, partners and other parties what they are doing and what is expect from them. As Bill Gates has said “Blogs are good for business”, he further explained that blogs had advantages over other more to old ways of communicating such as email, websites and advertising.

Further reading: Why Bill Gates backs blogs for businesses.


External blogs
According to Wikipedia, An external blog is a publicly available blog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. Personnel and management within a company know more about their company and customers than anyone else.

A corporate blog can help them let the world know that, but existing customers are not the only audience out there. It may be very much in their interest to talk to their industry peers and the press, to establish thought leadership and expertise in its field. Corporate external blog is used as companies medium to disseminate those messages to announce new products and services, to explain and clarify policies, and even to react on public criticism.

Companies can have their product evangelists or influencers among the audience of an external corporate blog. They can use external blogs for feedback on exclusive previews, product testing, marketing plans, customer services audits and so forth of marketing functions. In fact external blogs can interact with a target market on a more personal level while building link credibility that can ultimately be tied back to the corporate site.

Benefits of corporate blog marketing
Having a corporate blog will help a company in many different ways including:

1. Establish credibility for the company as an expert and leader in that particular industry.

2. Develop strong customer relationships with clients when the company representative able to take part in discussions, receive feedback, therefore build trust.

3. Create a media outlet where media can be informed about news related to the company and it insight on news within that industry.

4. Offer an internal communication forum where project members can keep each other updated.

5. Knowledge Management - Create a wiki-style knowledgebase for employees to contribute and edit.

6. Enhance corporate image and attract prospective employees, potential business partners, and investors.

7. Offer a forum in which company can test ideas for new products/services, and receive feedback from the customers.

Undeniable corporate blogging is a new marketing communication tool for companies either internally or externally, no wonder the deployment of corporate blogging keep increasing each day, for more detail studies please refer to the article of Deployment of Corporate Weblogs Will Double in 2006.

For more detail information on other corporate blogs list kindly refer to Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki.

References:
http://steverubel.typepad.com/micropersuasion/2004/07/paul_holmes_pr_.html
http://www.globalprblogweek.com/2005/09/19/dutto-internal-blogs/
http://intrafocus.wordpress.com/2007/01/18/is-blogging-really-good-for-my-company-or-just-a-buzz-word/

By Jian Yi (^-^)`

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

Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia (LHDN) or Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRB) is one of the Government body where its main function is to act as an agent of the Government and to provide services in administering, assessing, collecting and enforcing payment of income tax, petroleum income tax, real property gains tax, estate duty, stamp duties and such other taxes.

When IRB started to go online, it maybe just as an information portal to the citizen. As the technology has advanced, the IRB has introduced e-FilingE-filing is a way of filing income tax return through online. Since 2006, there is about 186,343 taxpayers are using the service and has been increase to 874,814 taxpayers as of 2007 which show a tremendously good response from the citizen. IRB has encouraged the citizen to file their tax return through e-Filing because it is quick, easier and safe. In 2006 onwards, taxpayer can receive their refund within one month if they file their return through e-Filing. This is to encourage the taxpayers to use the system which has been improved and more user-friendly. In the conventional way, one may have to wait for a few months or even few years to receive their refund cheques as the process is time consuming. application to the taxpayers in 2003 for corporate taxpayers and in 2004 for individual taxpayers.

This year, IRB said they wanted to introduce a system where refunds could be banked into the taxpayer’s bank account under e-Refund if the taxpayers file through e-Filing. In the past, taxpayers always complaining about the delay in processing refunds, refund cheques in the mail getting lost and taxpayers’ contribution not updated. Furthermore, IRB said the process of preparing refund cheques and mailed to the taxpayer take five to six weeks to reach them. This hassle has slow down the efficiency of IRB and that is why they wanted to introduce the e-Refund.

Nevertheless, there are also taxpayers who prefer to file manually as they have gotten use to the conventional way. Other reasons include that the system is not user-friendly as the system tend to fail in the mid way of the filing. Since the e-Filing system just started few years ago and a lot of feedback is received from the user, the e-Filing service provider, Digicert had improved the system this year by simplified the system using Roaming Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), which is an online centralised digital signature to identify the identity of taxpayers. Thus, taxpayers need not to download digital certificate again and it now takes only four steps to activate their digital certificate. In addition, the board had also introduced an e-Filing system for tax agents so that they can file forms on behalf of their clients.

Although there are still some weaknesses, IRB never stop improving its system to ensure a smooth filing for taxpayers and more user-friendly. Therefore, it is very important for the citizen to give co-operation and feedback to them so that they can improve it better. We just need to give some time to IRB to work harder to enhance and simplify the system so that all taxpayers can subscribe to e-Filing.

*Oi Ming*