Should CFOs Network Online?

Social networking on the Internet is all the rage these days, if the mushrooming of CFO-focused groups in sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is any indication. A simple search will turn up such professional groups as “Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Network,” “China CFO,” and “Super CFO” on LinkedIn and “Indian CEO, CFO, CA, CS, ICWA, CFA, Finance, Corporate & Legal Professional” on Facebook.

It’s the digital equivalent of the face-to-face networking that business folks have always done, whether in industry conferences, Rotary clubs, cocktail parties, golfing trips or other social occasions. Tech-savvy executives see e-social networking as an additional tool for this time-honoured rite, and also invaluable as a free marketing vehicle for the business and for maintaining business contacts.

Read complete article at Social Media: Should CFOs Network Online?

Social Networking at Work Costs Employers Big Bucks

So there you are at work with the computer right in front of you. The browser is already up because you were doing some research for your boss. What would be the harm in quickly checking in with Facebook or maybe Twitter? Then why not check your email. It will only take a few seconds more. Oh, but there's that quick reply you have to dash off to your friend. O.K., so what's the harm in spending just a few seconds more tending to personal matters. Before you close down your browser, you remember that you thought of a really funny status update you wanted to post. Back to Facebook. You'll be done in a jiffy. By the time you close down your browser, you've spent more than fifteen minutes not working — make that 20.

Your social networking activity could be costing your employer a lot of money. Morse plc, a U.K. company, released the results of a survey that indicated U.K. businesses are losing £1.38 billion each year because of their employees' use of social networking sites at work. I wonder how much would be added to that figure if you also included other online activities, such as checking email and shopping. Half of the 1,460 office workers who were surveyed admitted to spending "40 minutes on these sites each week, equating to just under a full working week being wasted each year by employees using social networking sites at work." They don't think they are as bad as their colleagues who, they reported (in a classic case of pot meet kettle), spend almost an hour a day on these sites.

By Dawn's Career Planning Blog
Read on: Surfing the Net on Your Boss's Time

Better Net security ranking for Malaysia

马来西亚网路安全排名有进步

Symantec最新的網際網路安全威脅報告 (Internet Security Threat Report Volume XIV) 指出，2008年的網路惡意程式碼 (Malicious Code) 活動繼續以前所未有的速度增加，直接威脅電腦使用者的機密資訊。而马来西亚在东南亚国家排名降至第九，2007为排名第6。

報告指出去年網路瀏覽行為 (Web Surfing) 繼續成為使用者感染惡意程式的主因。攻擊者利用愈來愈多特製的惡意程式碼工具套件，肆意開展和散播各類威脅。另外，Symantec在研究期間偵測到的威脅中，有九成皆以盜竊機密資訊為目的；而具有「按鍵側錄」(Keystroke-logging) 功能的威脅，在所有針對機密資料的威脅中佔76%，較2007年的72% 有所上升。這種功能常用於竊取網路銀行帳戶資料等機密資訊。

另一方面，報告發現了網路釣魚 (Phishing) 活動與日俱增。Symantec去年共偵測到55,389個釣魚網站，較2007年的33,428個激增了66%。去年的網釣活動中，有76% 均以金融服務為誘餌，比例高於2007年的52%。

此外，報告發現垃圾郵件有增無減。整體而言，Symantec發現去年網路的垃圾郵件由2007年的1,196億條，激增至3,496億條，增幅高達192%。

Source: Better Net security ranking for M'sia

Shopping with a click

按滑鼠来购物

之前介绍过网上采购时装用品，好处当然是不必乘车跑几间购物中心，省钱和时间，而且大多衣物都低于RM50。缺点只是不合身或不如在网路看到的款式，但可以送人或再出售。(看看这网站Page from the diary)

对这些Blogshop主人则认为是一个真正开店的踏脚石，因为低成本RM1000就可开Blogshop，而且可以建立客户网络，为开店铺路。

Soh Yien Yee - .Stop.Shop.Splurge.
[http://stopshopsplurge.blogspot.com]

Samantha Lee - A Model Studio
[http://amodelstudio.blogspot.com]

Jessica Ling - The Aura
[http://theauragems.blogspot.com]

Source: Shopping with a click of the mouse, Blogshop owners say it’s a stepping stone to real business

Related: Virtual shopping for fashion hunting

Facebook beat out Myspace

Facebook beat out MySpace to become the most popular social networking site in January, according to Compete.com.

In Compete's Top 25 Social Networks Re-Rank, which ranks sites by number of total visits, Facebook was listed as having over a billion visits for the month. By comparison, MySpace had a mere 810 million visits, according to Compete. The positions represented a reversal of fortunes from a year ago, when MySpace was the most popular site and Facebook was number two.

As for the number of visitors on the two social networking sites, Compete claims that MySpace had 58.5 million uniques versus 68.5 million for Facebook. But users seem to be getting a lot more out of Facebook these days, based on two other metrics provided by Compete. Over the last 12 months Facebook has steadily grown in the number of visits per unique visitor and time spent on the site. MySpace has tailed off, especially in the latter metric. Compete's data charted a significant drop for MySpace last summer, when the average time spent the site fell from 20 to about 11 minutes.

Source: Facebook Takes Over Top Spot, Twitter Climbs
Related：Facebook beat MySpace

For sale - Balance of life

出售剩余人生

如果对生活无望，剩余人生也能拿来买卖。北京一名25岁正妹陈潇，在中国淘宝网开设「出售剩余人生」，只要网友出得起价码，就可以安排她的时间。陈潇靠这个另类服务赢得不少顾客，最高一天赚了2千元人民币。

「安排陈潇的生活是你们的权利，为你们服务是我的义务…」这是「陈潇的剩余人生店」的网络简介。陈潇的时间价格为1小时20元人民币，1天100元人民币，违法的生意不做。

曾经做过服装生意的陈潇，去年底因为心情不好在网上发文表示：「对生活感到绝望，想换一种生活方案，就由网友来安排我的生活吧。」之後，她开始认真按网友请求做事，最後正式开店。

这跟台湾所谓的跑腿商机有点类似，陈潇帮人送过咖啡、买火车票、陪同吊点滴、给乞丐送饭以及代替网友品尝小吃等业务。每次顾客只需支付钟点费与交通费。

陈潇表示：「难免会遇到骚扰情形，不过真诚的人也很多。」当前已有数百人购买陈潇的剩余人生。虽然有人认为陈潇只是想炒作赚钱，但也有网友认为，她让这个虚幻的网络变得真实而温暖。

【论坛原创】我把自己的下半生交给网络(开始吧)

Notebook PC Shipments Exceed Desktops

第三季度笔记本出货量首超台式机

市场调查公司iSuppli发表报告称, 第三季度全球笔记本电脑的出货量首次超过了台式机. 该季度笔记本电脑出货量增长近40%至3860万台, 而台式机下降1.3%至3850万台.

iSuppli的分析师马修·威尔金斯Matthew Wilkins认为, 由于笔记本电脑市场的快速增长已经持续了一段时间, 因此这个结果并不是非常令人惊喜; 不过这却标志一个笔记本时代的到来, 笔记本已不再是商业市场或高收入消费者的专有工具, 而是成为每个人的工具.

iSuppli称, 尽管全球经济不断恶化,但第三季度PC出货量依然增长了15%至7900 万台, 该机构原先的预期为增长12%. 前5位的电脑生产商排名未改变, 惠普依然占据第一,出货量为1490万台, 市场份额接近19%; 戴尔、宏碁、联想和东芝分列第二至第五位. 宏碁在该季度表现最好, 市场份额环比增长45%、同比上升79%. 苹果的市场份额环比下降了0.5个百分点至3.2%, 排在第七位.

iSuppli也因此提高2008全年的增长预期, 从原先的12.5%提高到13%. 不过该机构预计明年的增长率只有4.3%.

原文：Notebook PC Shipments Exceed Desktops for First Time in Q3

Ready for SSDs?

准备接受SSDs了吗？

SSD固态硬盘的英文名称为：Solid State Drive，可以应用于台式机、笔记本、移动设备、游戏机等，加速启动，提高性能，同时降低功耗。

SSD固态硬盘的优点

1. 速度快。根据相关媒体测试：在同样配置的笔记本电脑下，运行大型图像处理软件时能明显感觉到SSD固态硬盘无论在保存还是在打开文件时都更快。当按下笔记本电脑的电源开关时，搭载SSD固态硬盘的笔记本从开机到出现桌面一共只用了18秒，而搭载传统硬盘的笔记本总共用时31秒，差距还是相当大的。

2. 耐用防震。因为全部采用了闪存芯片，所以SSD固态硬盘内部不存在任何机械部件，这样即使在高速移动甚至伴随翻转倾斜的情况下也不会影响到正常使用，而且在笔记本电脑发生意外掉落或与硬物碰撞时能够将数据丢失的可能性降到最小。

3. 无噪音。SSD固态硬盘工作时非常安静，没有任何噪音产生。得益于无机械部件及闪存芯片较小的发热量小、散热快等特点，SSD固态硬盘因为没有机械马达和风扇，工作噪音值为0分贝。

4. 重量轻。SSD固态硬盘比常规1.8英寸硬盘重量轻20-30克，可千万别小看这些重量，在笔记本电脑、卫星定位仪等随身移动产品上，更小的重量有利于便携。此外，重量的减轻也使得笔记本搭载多块SSD固态硬盘成为可能。

目前阻碍SSD固态硬盘普及的最主要因素就是产品售价。其次，缺乏终端设备的支持也是SSD固态硬盘所面临的另一大问题。

Malaysian Entrepreneurship Platform -eBay

MALAYSIANS are using eBay as a platform for entrepreneurship and cross border trading according to a survey by eBay Southeast Asia.

The study revealed that 41% of eBay Malaysia members considered themselves serious sellers — either actively sourcing for products to sell on eBay or using eBay as the primary source of income.

Malaysians are also very active buyers, spending close to one third of their time online browsing for goods and services on the auction website. Also, 42% visit eBay once to three times a week.

Clothing, shoes and ­accessories were the most frequently purchased items on eBay Malaysia (38%), followed by books (36%) and computers and networking services (34%).

The visitors surveyed on the local website were generally affluent and well-educated with 64% having completed tertiary education and 75% earning at least RM20,000 per year.

On average, Malaysian shoppers spent approximately RM411 on eBay, out of the total RM542 spent online.

Credit cards were the most common payment method while PayPal came in second.

Other interesting findings on eBay Malaysia — 75% are adults in the age group of 25 to 49, more than 60% are male, 84% use broadband, and the majority spend an average of 29 hours per week online (of which seven hours are spent purchasing products or services on the Internet).

Source: The Star, by ZAM KARIM

Security about data encryption programs

Data on a computer is only worth encrypting if that data is actually secure. Unfortunately, some data encryption programs have significant security gaps, according to a study by the Hamburg-based magazine Computerbild. The magazine tested eight encryption programs, including some freeware releases, in co-operation with experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology.

Four programs received "inadequate" marks due to significant security problems. Those include Free CompuSec, Disc Enryptor, DriveCrypt and Desktop Home. Some of those programs store the password for accessing encrypted data in plain text, which would give thieves easy access.

The winner was Steganos Safe 2008. TrueCrypt won the prize for "most affordable software".

Source: The Earth Times

Internet penetration in Malaysia

While traditional media continue to dominate the Malaysian media scene, the Internet is becoming a more integral part of the media mix.

According to the latest Nielsen Media Index survey, Internet penetration in the country has doubled over the last five years, now reaching two in 10 Malaysians.

Media Reach

(Base: people aged 15+ in Pen. M’sia)	July'06-June '07		July'07-June '08		% Var
Media	('000)	Reach %	('000)	Reach %
TV (yesterday)	13,047	93	13,416	94	+1
Radio (past week)*	12,611	90	13,208	92	+2
PosAd (past month)	9,270	66	9,143	64	-2
Newspapers (yesterday)	7,695	55	7,667	54	-1
Magazines (past month)	3,821	27	3,803	27	-
PowerScreen( past month)	3,389	24	3,170	22	-2
Internet (past week)	2,554	18	2,937	21	+3
Cinema (past 2 weeks)	592	4	617	4	-
Vision Four Guide (past 3 months)	618	4	393	3	-1

Source: Nielsen Media Index and *Nielsen Radio Audience Measurement (Sw2’07 & Sw2’08)

1st Malaysia Chinese Blog Award

《第一届马来西亚中文部落格大赛》成绩终于出炉！

充满争议的赛事是于2008年1月接受报名，于4月30日截止，只是收到200+人报名，几乎难产；还好于日前选出！

《第一届马来西亚中文部落格大赛》由由南洋商报及马华梳邦区会主办，得奖名单如下：

最佳创新部落格：
钟进贺 - Rawangboy
入围： 谢沛璁 - 阿包摄影空间 , 李金声 - 視●思覺失調

最佳经济评论部落格
-
入围：陈鹏天 - 股票投资理财秘密 , 吴继宗 - "股领风骚"

最佳社会关怀部落格
徐唯 - 背包里的心情故事
入围：马志强 - 士心弓虽的家 , 王德祥 - 天堂鸟

最佳生活品味部落格
陈思琳 - 摄魂馆
入围：张如意 - 如意轩 , 阿丰 - 美食心厨房

最佳少年部落格
江宏 - 王子※记忆游走
入围：林振虹 - luvsulMMer , 楚珊 - 黑公主

另外，《2008第二屆大馬中文部落格祭》也于9月30日正式截止報名。

此赛事总共吸引了1111個報名參賽，計有460個报名因不符參賽資格而被淘汰，最終共有651個报名成功進入初審階段！详情

Virtual shopping for fashion hunting

年轻的部落客因为天天浏览e-shop找寻她们的喜爱的衣服饰物而开辟潮流猎寻网站和写评论，甚至拥有自己的e-shop,比比皆是！以下摘来3位，不妨到她们的部落看看，可能有意想不到的收获！

Sources: The Star

Boo Sha-Lyn - Diary of an E-Shopaholic
[http://diaryofane-shopaholic.blogspot.com]



Charlotte Khor - Little Accompaniments
[http://littleaccompaniments.blogspot.com]




Soh Yien Yee - A Shopaholic’s Den
[http://ashopaholicsden.blogspot.com]

Recycle your phone

Can one phone save the world?

If every 3 billion phone users recycle just one phone, we van save over 240,000 tonnes of raw materials. The result is equivalent to stopping CO2 emissions from 4 million cars. Every phone contains significant amounts of copper, aluminium, gold, plastic and other non-metals that can be salvaged and reused.

By recycling just one phone, you can shield the environment from a lot of harmful substances. With our Nokia Kiosks, saving the earth has never been easier.

You can find Nokia Kiosks at these locations:

- Nokia Concept Store, The Gardens

- Nokia Store, The Curve and KLCC

- KTS Cellular, Giant Hypermarket Bandar Kinrara

More : Recycle a phone, adopt a tree

Google News comes to town

Search giant Google has just introduced yet another new product — this time it’s the localisation of its news aggregation site, Google News.

Officially live on Sept 18, the localised site, which is accessible from http://news.google.com.my, gives the user a page of constantly updated local news of the day.

“Our mission is to organise the world’s news info and make it accessible to everyone,” says Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, product manager for Google News.

Rahul said that the intent of the Google News site is not to take content away from publishers but to help people find what they’re looking for as fast as possible.

Hopefully, this will also channel traffic as quickly as possible to the publisher’s website, he says.

The main advantage of Google News Malaysia is to give readers a choice of a wide range of articles and views on the same story.

The technology that runs Google News is much like the one used for its search engine, i.e. webpages are ranked based on their popularity and certain predefined patterns of traffic on the Internet.

Currently, Google News Malaysia culls news snippets from more than 4,500 English-language sources such as The Star and The Borneo Post.

Like the US version, Google News Malaysia is split into several categories, ranging from technology to sports, all of which offer news from local sources.

Sony -Asia's favourite brand

Japanese electronic giant Sony is Asia's favorite brand, according to a survey of Asian shoppers released on Sunday that was dominated by consumer technology firms.

Sony replaced Finnish phone maker Nokia as the region's top brand, ahead of another Japanese electronics firm Canon and U.S. sportswear firm Nike, according to the survey by Media magazine and market researchers TNS.

The appeal of technology across the region was highlighted by the presence in the top 20 of U.S. firms Hewlett-Packard and Apple, South Korean giants Samsung and LG, as well as Japan's Panasonic, the survey found.

U.S. Internet firm Google was seen as the top media and telecommunications company, while Coca-Cola was the most popular beverage, the survey found.

Asia Pacific’s top 20 brands

RANK	BRAND	RANK	BRAND
1	Sony	11	Nokia
2	Canon	12	Colgate
3	Nike	13	Nestle
4	Google	14	Starbucks
5	Hewlett-Packard	15	Panasonic
6	Coca Cola	16	Honda
7	Adidas	17	Apple
8	Samsung	18	LG
9	7-Eleven	19	Nescafe
10	Yahoo	20	Toys-R-Us

A total of 3,600 consumers in 10 different markets including Australia and China were interviewed for the survey.

Asia, including increasingly China, has become a key market for many of the world's leading firms in the past 10 years, with many targeting the region's gadget-mad consumers.

Complete Story: ‘ASIA PACIFIC’S TOP 1000 BRANDS’ 2008 FINDINGS

New Media: GigaOm.com

GigaOm.com which deliver technology news, analysis and opinions on topics ranging from broadband and online games to Web 2.0 was founded by Om Malik in 2006. Before launching his own publishing venture, Om was a senior writer for Business 2.0 magazine covering telecom and broadband stories. Currently they serve a monthly global audience of 1.75 million consumers and professionals interested in the latest news in the world of high-tech.

According to a special write up by Sin Chew Daily, GigaOm.com having a daily hits of 50,000 which generate monthly advertisement income of USD50,000. Compare with The Wall Street Journal which having 2 mil of subscriptions and out of 80,000 is log in daily for news, GigaOm.com is a great example for success New Media provider as it is open and free.

Beside GigaOm.com, here are some highlights by Zhan Hongzhi [詹宏志]:

- with the exist of Blog, everyone is a media; when information is floated, review and guide become effective; who can eliminate quantities will create values

- with the exist of search engine like Google, everyone will refer to Wikipedia, great encyclopedia was ignored as you have to pay for it; editor new role is to ensure this information are correct, accurate and relevant.

- has a vision in you, no one will come and tell you what happens next

Tracking Printers to Fight Crime

Q. Is it true that laser printers put an invisible code that contains the printer’s serial number on every document printed?

A. Some, but not all, laser printers do leave a series of nearly imperceptible yellow dots on the printed page. These dots usually contain the encoded serial number of the printer and may also include the time and date that the document was printed.

The so-called yellow tracking dots have been found on more than 100 colour laser printer models from major manufacturers. The dots are used by Secret Service to track counterfeiters. As anyone with a colour laser printer of good quality should know, the ability to print fake money has become much easier but no less illegal.

The Secret Service has said it decodes only the information contained in the dots to investigate counterfeiting cases. Once it has the serial number of the printer, the agency can work with printer companies to find out where the printer was sold.

The existence of these dots has long had privacy advocates worried. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights group, has been closely following the yellow dots issue because there are no legal provisions to stop government agencies from using the technology to track documents in cases unrelated to counterfeiting.

Source: J.D. Biersdorfer, New York Times
Extend reading: Is Your Printer Spying On You?
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF):
List of Printers Which Do or Do Not Display Tracking Dots

Website traffic driving strategy

YOU have invested your time and energy to build your organisation a great new website, but you are not getting quite the results you were hoping for.

Few customers are visiting or interacting with you and rarely do you get prospects to contact you through the site. So what can you do to improve the odds that you are reaching your anticipated audience?

1 PAPERWORK

This is the easiest and most economical method of advertising your site. Make sure you place your domain name on every form that is generated by your organisation. Some of the forms to consider: quote, invoice, orders, bill of lading, purchase order, checks, statements, labels, letterhead, envelopes, fax forms and e-mail signature.

2 VOICE MAIL ANNOUNCEMENT

Announce your domain name and an attention-grabbing message on your corporate and individual voice mails. A great way to attract users to your site is to offer an incentive that is available only on the web. Some examples: “For additional and current specials, check out our website…” or “Check out our website for the article regarding the seven deadly mistakes people make when planning a party.”

3 E-MAIL SIGNATURE

Include your demographic information such as name, address, telephone and fax numbers, your web address and promotional information.

4 VERBAL

Make sure you and your staff are constantly promoting your website and its content and value to your customers.

5 NEWSLETTER

Develop an electronic newsletter to advise your customers and prospects of your products and services and all of the incentives available on the web.

Provide an easy link within the newsletter to direct the user to the appropriate web page. My recommendation is to strive for a monthly frequency distribution.

6 LINKS

Trade links (URL) with other business associates, customers and vendors will drive traffic your way. When providing a resource link on your site to take the user elsewhere, make sure to open that link in a separate session. Once the visitor is on your site, keep them on your site voluntarily and do not force them to leave your site by clicking on an outside resource.

7 MEDIA

Always include your website domain name when advertising or writing about your company in newspapers, magazines, trade publications, radio, TV, web and banners.

8 SEARCH ENGINES

Optimisation and Pay-perclickSEO and PPC is a huge growing segment of the economy and is the reason why companies such as Google, Yahoo, Overture and others have grown as much as they have.

The basic concept is to properly optimise your site using certain key words and phrases to increase the odds that people can easily find you when they surf and search the web. This area requires professional assistance.

Implementing the proper plan to drive traffic to your site is a complicated task that requires strategic and tactical planning. However, you may find that some areas I illustrated above are pretty easy to embrace and are economical as well. Don’t lose the opportunities that are out there. Finish building it so they will come.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Your online data is safe?

I used to spend a lot of time nagging people to back up their PC hard drives. Now I'm spending a growing amount of time telling them to back up their online information. It's great that users can now tap into so many services that exist in "the cloud" - which was a graphical representation of the old phone system, but is now used to stand for the internet. But the fact that your data is online doesn't mean it's safe.

Microsoft's Hotmail has been the great teacher. I can't imagine that any other web-based service has reduced so many people to tears. If you've never had the pleasure, Hotmail's most important feature has been that your email only survives as long as you log on every 30 days. Miss the deadline due to, say, a delayed flight, illness or simple forgetfulness, and Microsoft deletes your mailbox. If you had anything important in there, too bad. It's gone.

If you're still playing Russian roulette with Hotmail, then at least upgrade to the new Live version. This doesn't delete your email unless you fail to log on for 90 days. Better still, you can download a version of Windows Live Mail to your desktop. This will collect your email from Hotmail and other services, and save it on your PC's hard drive. So if Microsoft deletes the online copies, you haven't lost them forever. There are many other ways to lose your web-based data. A nice example was the chap who had all his email, his photos and a website with Yahoo, and some of these services were paid for. Sadly, he wrote something on Yahoo Answers that apparently violated the provider's terms of service, so they deleted his account.

A friend who took my advice and switched from Hotmail to Gmail also lost all his email, because he hadn't downloaded it with, say, Thunderbird. In this case, it's not clear if he just forgot his password or was hacked. Either way, his mailbox wouldn't let him in, and Google made him wait five agonising days before he could say he'd forgotten his password and answer the security question. Which he couldn't answer, as it happens. Oh, how we laughed.

And if you assume most of these software-as-a-service providers have foolproof backups, think again. If a service has 200 million users, spread over thousands of servers in various locations, it could have many terabytes of data and gigabytes of mail arriving in a continuous stream.

Taking daily backups is a non-trivial task. Sure, they could have operators stacking thousands of tapes in underground bunkers, but how much would it cost to find the bit of tape you need? If you are not paying anything for a service, it's best to assume that there are no backups, and that no one is going to provide any real personal help.

In fact, those are wise assumptions even if you are paying top whack. If you are wrong, you may get a nice surprise, but don't bank on it. Even cloud-based services that are reliably set up, well run and have great backups are not invulnerable. Companies go bust all the time. Your data ends up on the back of a lorry, destined for some other underfunded web 2.0 startup. You won't even get chance to bid it a fond farewell.

I think personal computing is wonderful, but hard drives fail and laptops get lost or stolen, so it makes sense to back up your data. I think cloud computing is wonderful too, but operators make mistakes, passwords get lost, servers get hacked, companies fail and so on, so it makes sense to back up your data.

As Schofield's Second Law of Computing asserts, data doesn't really exist unless you have two copies of it. Preferably more. And the only person who can be held responsible for that is you.

Source: Jack Schofield, Guardian Newspaper