Employees hate their bosses and hack into the systems

Its a tough life, being an employee. Employers check their mails, and invade their privacy sphere, so is it a wonder that employees are mad at their bosses?

It is often said that employees join great companies but leave bad managers. Well, today, they just don't leave anymore. What do they do? Well, for one, they sabotage their bosses' computers, "favourite attacks included deleting data, or sticking pr0n on the boss’s computer."

Life could be so easy. Just become a best employer and have a workforce that thrives for you. Simple, right? Alternatively, State governments push the agenda for employees anyway, at least in some countries.

What do you think? Is there a deterioration in the relation between employers and employees, or improvements?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Hong Kong Bloggers

I had something about bloggers in Hong Kong recently. Hong Kong is somewhat special. The population shows a strong feeling of independence that has become stronger and stronger as the Chinese influence from Beijing has grown. Pictures of last year's impressive demonstrations are still fresh in mind.

May be it was just me, but it appears that bloggers in Hong Kong have been pretty silent in commenting about the protests and their feelings about the increasing influence of China. However, it appears to be changing, and the hope for Hong Kong becomes more vocal in the blogger sphere.

I wrote about Hong Kong bloggers and their hope recently, and now, there is another article in the newspapers today.

"There are more than 50 Hong Kong-based blogs that run the gamut from personal to political, that are adding voice to a growing grassroots democracy movement that may be virtual in presence but very real in the belief it represents: that Hong Kong people should work together to form a civil society." And they are busy: "Bloggers who analyze Hong Kong's political system keep track of thousands of articles printed in local and international media, as well as writings on hundreds of blogs, to assess and interpret the direction of Hong Kong, both politically and socially."

So may be there is the independent voice of Hong Kong that so many look for.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Too much email? Why responding to it, anyway?

Say the words information overload to anyone, and you will get a nodding. Everybody knows what you are talking about.

Too many e-mails in your in-box. Yeah, mutual understanding, again. Talk like this and you sure win a great friend.

May be it is this ovewhelming feeling, but already, the usage of email is seen as a tool, only for older people.

However, executives - may those older people - still prefer e-mail to other communication tools.

Users of e-mail start to react strongly. How? By simply responding later. With the motto that those that respond straight away must be new to the usage of e-mail, although there are not that many novices left, at least in the US, where 70% of Internet users use e-mail regularly.

Anyway, "nearly two-thirds of experienced computer users delay returning personal e-mails from one to three days, when they once would have immediately responded. Sometimes, it's even up to a week, and all, in perhaps an ultimately vain attempt, to reclaim their personal lives. Meanwhile, e-mail novices usually reflect the mentality of their forebears by constantly firing back replies."

So please, next time you receive a mail, don't respond immediately, if you want to be seen as being in the loop. Take your time. And may be one day, if this continues, snail mail becomes competitive again.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Microsoft's bloggers - let 1000 spokespeople bloom

It sometimes takes time till Microsoft gets it, but when they are moving, they are moving - and then they can be quite amazing. Bill has been interviewed by BusinessWeek and was also asked about the many, many bloggers that they have on their payroll.

Here is what he says about blogging in Microsoft:

"overwhelmingly, blogging has been good. It does raise lots of issues. You used to have these spokespeople, and you could call them together in a room and say, "Make sure you don't give out the earnings before we're supposed to" and, "Don't tell everybody's salaries," or whatever it is that you wanted them to understand.

Well, now you have thousands of spokespeople, where speaking off the cuff is part of the whole charm of the thing. So you'll get into issues. But even just the blogging for internal use, where our people are seeing each other's blogs, has allowed groups to work together on a better basis."

Way to go, Bill!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

eBay and China - the next biggie is going to enter the country

A one, a two and now three. In a short time span, Google, Microsoft and now, eBay decided that the strong growth in China justifies the risk.

eBay CEO Meg Whitman is quoted as saying that "If we are good and we execute, ultimately China could be eBay's largest local market in a five to 10 year period."

Yahoo is also mentioned in the article - will they be next?

More reasons for the entry? Struggling in their own markets - eBay, and Microsoft are no longer the growth machines they had been earlier. Google and Yahoo will face the same challenges (sorry, but this will happen), sooner or later.

So the battle cry is to better get moving fast.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Microsoft seals new China deal

First, we had Google that was finally allowed by the Chinese government to enter China and open their own office.

Next, Microsoft is following - it signed a contract to form a joint venture with Shanghai Alliance Investment and make its first acquisition in China to start an MSN Internet and mobile phone software business there. "Microsoft has long seen China as a key growth market but also a headache because of widespread software piracy and copyright problems. Microsoft opened a research laboratory in Beijing in 1998."

Why are all of them eagerly looking to China? Naturally, it is the growth potential. Internet penetration in China is still low and subscription rates continue to grow rapidly, making the Internet part of the common lifestyle.

Another reason might be that China's steps to make the Internet a "safer place" has been recognised and well, the giants honour their commitment.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Gamers think better

Its not all lost for the gamers out there, even so this one article won't make all the negative critics, such as addiction to "something" go away.

Just like there is the discussion that TV is making you smarter, critics just won't go away.

Now the coin is thrown again. A new study found that video gaming helps you get smarter. In fact, Chip Luman, human resources vice president at Charles Schwab's (stockbroker in the US) call-center headquarters in Phoenix says that "the people who play games are into technology, can handle more information, can synthesize more complex data, solve operational design problems, lead change and bring organizations through change."

Well, let's see how the discussion continues. As research continues, more scientific facts will come in and sooner or later, a valid position could be found.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Ring tones require etiquette

Mobile phones change culture and the way we communicate. For sure. But there are bad side effects as sad as it is. What am I talking about? Well, simply manners. How is it that some are still having the mobile phones on in the movies, or theaters, schools, business meeting or - imagine that - during an interview. How often do you see a young couple going out and then talk to their own friends while sitting opposite each other.

While a ringing phone can be fun in some situation it is simply annoying in others. Like: when you enjoy the movie and suddenly, sombody's mobile phone rings.

The mobile phone ringtone business is booming and many in the industry hope that it is the cashcow they are waiting for. I am not sure if all the groups and singers want to be compressed to a short jingle, but well, so be it. Anway, it is clear that those ringtones can be fun to some but awful to others. "Ring tones tend to reveal personal details about an individual's tastes" and I agree.

Another comment: "Chelsea Vivier, a 20-year-old from Toronto, knows having her phone bellow Youngbloodz's Damn! during a job interview wouldn't bode well with most future employers." So she is smart - she simply turns it off.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Bloggers - how free are you in Cybercypace?

Bloggers and free speech. Employees that blogged fired from the job. Now we have a university that tries to get the identity of a blogger who blogs about their university. They bring some examples of how the blogger behaved, well, in not such a nice way. "One picture of the President is gleaned from the university’s Web site, and was spruced up with a bottle of gin and two bare-breasted women."

Another time, "administrators said they are less concerned by the criticism of themselves than by the anonymous attacks on individuals, especially students. One posting that really bothered them, according to administrators, was a tally of how many times a student mentioned on the blog had been seen crying in public, presumably due to its content. Another post included a faculty member’s match.com profile and pictures (one in shirt and tie, one shirtless) highlighting the fact that the professor said he was not interested in dating black or Asian people."

Now what is the role of bloggers? I think it is okay to blog and to expose, when someone or something is done wrong in either company, university, political environment or whatever. If you know about it, blog about it - although the consequences can be hard (see the recent Singapore affair).

A different animal altogether might be if you are going to hurt someone without checking the facts first. I think that this is a basic rule. But then, well, facts are subjective and based on perception as well. May be a simple rule should be: Would you feel hurt if someone writes the same stuff about you, or posts pictures about you in "strange postures?" If it hurts you, then don't post it.

Anyway, for the bloggers in the university, it gets a bit hotter. "When ordered by the court, Google Inc. turned over IP addresses from which comments to the blog were posted. (...) So far there is no indication if Time Warner Cable will turn over information for those addresses.
One thing is certain: Every step of the process will be blogged about."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The Greatest Internet Crime Trial in China

China and its "internet police" cracks down heavily on pornographic websites. This is a known fact as it didn' happen the first time.

Now, there is a trial ongoing that is proclaimed the biggest Internet trial ever. The accused ran a pornographic website, first for free, and then, at a later stage, via subscription.

The number of subscribers and readers (readers or viewers??) is quite staggering:

"As a whole, the web site has more than 300,000 registered users who logged more than 400 million hits. As of 5 pm on November 15, 2004, the computer records show that the pornographic section had 75,772 registered users. It had 42,705 pornographic pictures which had been viewed a total of 32,734,600 times; there were 4,784 pornographic articles, which had been viewed a total of 24,340,060 times; there were 4,094 pornographic movies, which had been viewed 1,900,525 times. The brothel directory section had 47,452 registered users, with 207 web pages which had been viewed 252,731 times."

Do you agree that this is staggering? No wonder that pornography is still the hottest business on the web. Okay - sexual education is still as murky in China as it is in other parts of Asia, and well, that might be the reason why Chinese still see pornography as "something special" and that the exposure to pornography is still not as "normal as in the West"

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Greetings via SMS

It is not a new idea, but may be it is gaining ground - after Christmas cards are going away for SMS greetings, the Teacher's Day is bound to follow. The Malaysian New Straits Times runs an article offering the alternative to send an SMS to teachers for the upcoming teachers day on May 16.

It is not clear, however, who is expected to send the SMS. Pubils or parents? No problem with the parents, besides, may be, there motivation and the lack of handphone numbers of the respective teacher. Imagine, what can happen now: Are parents picking up the phone to call the school's administration office and inquire about the mobile number for their children's teacher?

Or is it that the pubils are expected to send the SMS? Why, when many schools don't even allow pubils to bring mobile phones to the school.

May be the Indian man who send 182,689 SMS in one month was hired to shoot off all those SMS?

Well, let's just say that this was an article that was included into the newspaper to fill some space, with no serious intention behind.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Indian man sends 182,689 SMS messages in one month

We have people who participate in breaking the record in typing an SMS in the fastest way possible. This is nothing compared to this story, which is a bit on the crazy site of life. An Indian man went on record with the Guinness Book for having sent 182,689 SMS messages in a single month.

To break it down - this is 6,100 messages a day, 253 an hour, 4.2 a minute, or a new one every 14 seconds or so.

Will this cause a blip in the overall number of SMS send daily?

Anyway, is this a month worth living, or a month worst living? And I wonder to whom he send the mails? If he sent it to friends, will they still be friends with him after receiving ... how many SMS each?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

LG Electronics to focus on customer service

A company exists to serve customers. This statement was made by Peter Drucker, a long time ago. The challenge is what goes into serving a customer. Every company might see it differently, and every customer expects different service. The problem is that many companies still get it wrong, even after 20 years of a so-called "customer satisfaction movement."

Now let's hope that LG is getting it right as well. "LG Electronics said Wednesday the opening of a service center in Hong Kong meant there are now service centers in all the 40 countries where it does business. The company says it also plans to integrate its call centers in Europe and China. It will set up special service center for the third-generation mobile phones in North America, Europe, and Asia during the second half of the year and invite local technicians to Korea for training."

So far, this doesn't sound too right for me. Call centers and customer service is sometimes like to sides of the same coin. They don't understand each other, which frequently is the fault of the call center, their set up, and how they reward their employees. Examples of bad services exist all across the web. It would be a pity, if LG would fall into the same trap - a trap frequently seen as solution for fast growing companies like LG.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Halftime of fame - 6 months

Back in November 2004, I wrote about Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay and her statement that Korea is a testbed for broadband. It is way ahead of the US, however, even such fame doesn't last long.

That was the past.

6 months down the road, the country is being advised by a Canada-based economist that South Korea must put more of a focus on what it can do better than other rivals: the IT sector. She added that "The economist warned that Seoul should be on alert as China is picking up speed to catch up with the world’s 10th largest economy."

6 months - is this all you have as a headstart when you are great in something? Better use those precious months to get new products and innovations into the pipeline.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Mobile TV - will it come?

Everybody is pushing it. The mobile phone providers, the mobile operators, the governments (may be) - sooner or later, the option is there. Users can watch TV on their mobile phone. Is this really what users want? Or is it wishful thinking on side of the supply side?

Forbes writes that Nokia makes its Nokia Mobile TV Solution publicly available. I am at lost, because so far, I don't see the need - may be there is one and I just don't see it. What's your opinion?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Mobile Market Growth to Slow Down

Again?

"Every now and then, on a regular basis, companies in the high-tech research industry - speak IDC or similar, come up with findings stating that the global mobile industry is nearing saturation.

"Worldwide market growth of mobile phones is expected to continue in 2005, but at a slower pace. In 2004, worldwide mobile phone shipments saw their strongest year-to-year increase in history, rising 34% from 2003 to 2004 with 692 million units shipped in a massive expansion driven by the demand for color displays and camera phones throughout the world."

Sure - sooner or later, every market is saturated. But so what? It is the task of any company to "please the customer" (insert by ABC). This makes it exciting, and ever growing. This ranges from equipping babies with phones, enticing users to change their mobile phones more often, and so on.

Sure - growth will slow, to repeat, but stay innovative and you stay in the game!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Monitoring expenses

It is easy to spend money on the web. It might be easier to spend it once your mobile phone becomes 3G or Internet enabled. Basically, there is a difference between clicking a button and taking out your wallet and the cashier register and seeing the notes disappear. Even signing a credit card slip is more tedious.

A new learning in required in order to manage the process in a manageable way. This is probably ther eason why in Australia, a kit has been devised to help high school students avoid large mobile phone and internet bills. "The kits which will be distributed in schools include guides for teachers, classroom activities and research tasks."

Might be a good thing.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Baby talk and upcoming gadgets

How do you feel as a mother of a newborn? Isn't it nice to hold the baby in your arm, and listen to its baby talk? There are whole movies made around the issue of what a baby is trying to say and what not.

Well, help is on its way. Apparently, Japanese researchers are closing in on developing a gadget that would assist in translating baby babbling.

Kazuyuki Shinohara, a neurobiology professor at the state-run Nagasaki University who leads the research team says that they aim to read the baby's feelings.

Hm - think about the issue I wrote about last week. Soon we will have babies using mobile phones. So may be they can just call their parents at work, and via this gadget, can then convey their feeling. Mama, where is my milk!!

I still think that the real thing is part of the fun parents have with their babies.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Blogger wanted - a job offer in JobStreet

I found this at Jeff Ooi's blog and I am amazed. Enche Marketing appears to be one of the frontrunners in the Malaysian corporate environment, considering the search ad for a blogger. In fact, this must be a first!

Enche, a company that appears to be in education, is looking for someone "to blog about current affairs and sensational issues, whether in relation to politics, social issues, economic affairs etc. You must have at least 6 months experience blogging. You must have IT or technology interest, know-how and experience with fantastic research capabilities and ability to source for issues to blog about."

The challenge and fun for any company that is blogging is that they are opening themselves up to the outside world. Their brand is no longer theirs. The blogger needs to know everything that is to know about the company. If someone comments about the company in his or her blog, he or she needs to be able to respond back quickly. There might not always be time to check with the corporate PR department. In fact, if the blogger would start to write like a PR department would write, well, they might want to reconsider the exercise. Full empowerment is needed.

Let the applications flood in. Let the blogging begin!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

One number for all needs

Imagine a world, where you have one contact number for each individual. One 10-digit number that would give the one trying to contact you the option to do so via your work phone, home phone, mobile, fax, e-mail or voice over internet (VoIP).

Would you like this?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Robin Hood Gang jailed

Actually, they - four Britons - belonged to an international ring called DrinkorDie.com and they ended up in jail. Reason: "they stole expensive software from rich companies and gave it away for free over the internet."

The gang, coming from professional backgrounds such as corporate executives, university administrators and IT managers "allowed internet surfers to download new software for free, often before it came on the market, including the Windows 95 operating system two weeks before it was released."

What do you think?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Another Asian meltdown in the making?

Asia produces products that contribute to the massive oversupply of global products. This could finally lead to the next Asian meltdown, similar to the one experienced in 1997. This is the message of this article, and it follows in its intonation some that I commented on earlier in several entries.

Only this one here focusses on the currently increasing pressure on China to devalue their currency, frequently blamed for many of the hickups in the global economy.

Interestingly, some economists are saying that China shouldn't devalue: "If China appreciates the currency like other people are urging, China will eventually have a financial crisis just like in South-East Asia [in 1997]" - said by China-watching economist Andy Xie of Morgan Stanley.

He continues: "Look at what happened in South-East Asia 10 years ago or in Latin America before that. Currency value depends on competitiveness and also financial health. In emerging economies, one cannot maintain financial health, so periodically you have a financial problem. You have an over-expansion of money supply and you eventually have currency depreciation. China is no different."

Jim Walker, the chief economist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Hong Kong says that China is going to hit the wall, mainly China due to a labour shortage; "not the much-publicised reluctance of inland Chinese recently to serve as factory fodder in the sweatshops of Guangdong, the industrial province bordering Hong Kong, but supply gaps in skilled workers and managers."

That is what was already reported earlier as well, so nothing new here. Clear is that the rest of Asia will be hit as well, should China melt down - something that is not made quite clear in the article.

Nevertheless, the big question is: Will it happen? Is it just doomsday talk? And, even more important: How do you prepare for it, should it happen?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

iPods, copyright and the Australian government

You can say what you want - at least they are thinking. "The rise of the iPod and digital video technology has forced the federal government to rethink copyright laws.

Under current laws it is illegal to copy a CD onto a digital music recorder such as an iPod or to videotape a television program. (...) Attorney-General Philip Ruddock yesterday released an issues paper to spark a debate on what changes should be made.

Mr Ruddock said the review would examine whether an exception or specific exceptions to copyright based on fair use should be adopted to make copyright law more flexible in the digital age."

Let me ask you to think back, way back - when you heard great music and wanted to share it with friends, your boy- or girlfriend. How did you do it? A long time back, we took cassettes, simply taped the songs and gave those to friends. We recorded music from the radio, from records, or CDs. There was no debate about music and copyright, and everybody knew that the music industry is thriving. What's the difference now? Australians, just like anybody else around the globe, just wants to share the music they listen to, may be with a wider audience, but then, it doesn't hurt the music industry and even spurs growth of individual records. So yes, change the laws, and take that ride ahead again.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Addicted to technology

Who isn't addicted to something, anything? Be it the Internet, work, mobile phones - basically, whatever comes to mind can cause addiction. What about beautiful women, or handsome guys? What about racing and racing cars - and, oh no - smoking and alcohol?

What I want to indicate is that it is easy to blame something for habits - and then, in turn, invent whole new industries to prevent addiction and wean people of it. Sure, some addictions are deadly, like smoking or alcohol, no doubt about that, but often, it is just a company interested in making money that claims that certain activities are bad for you.

Anyway, a "Chinese company has launched a new service to break the internet addiction of youngsters. At present, there are four major methods for breaking net addiction: the conversation method, desensitisation therapy, medication and hypnotherapy."

Sure, it might work. But developing coping strategies, basically teaching a reasonable usage, providing alternatives - how about that?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Google to open office in China?

To find this news was a bit of a digging process - but I received it via the Searchblog, who, on the other hand, received it from Paid Content.

Google, with all the challenges they are facing in China, has finally been granted permission to open an office in China. It's a Google World, after all, isn't it? Great services, great expansion.

Interfax writes that "Chinese authorities have green-lighted Google's plans to open the company's first office in Mainland China, which will allow the world's largest search engine to further localize its operations, but will also significantly intensify competition in China's online search market." Which is never a bad thing!

Keep on googling!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The relation between Internet savvy and car ownership

Is there a relation between car ownership and Internet savvy? I am not sure, and well, may be Indians are different. "A global online survey on car ownership and purchase intentions, conducted recently by ACNielsen, reveals that 60% Internet-savvy Indians owned a car, the highest among other Asian nations." - Actually, I would say that you can create statistical relationships between anything if you just want to - the question is only, if it makes sense, and is bullet-proofed.

But so much for the Indians. Other data in the article are also interesting, even so they relate to the car industry (not again!)

"Globally, price was the most frequently cited driver of choice, and therefore was a universal consideration for new car purchases. Other considerations like fuel consumption, performance and safety were a distant second and third, and varied across the three regions.

Malaysians (88%), Indonesians (82%) and Thais (81%) were the most price-conscious. Indians and Chinese seemed equally conscious of price (75%, 65%) as well as performance (65%, 67%). In the rest of Asia Pacific, Chinese (37%) were relatively less concerned while Koreans and Singaporeans were relatively more concerned (don't ask me with what - it hasn't been stated in the article, but probably means price).

Brand image/ prestige was an important dimension for only 23% of Indians."

There is nothing astonishing amongst those results. I would say that clearly, cars are expensive in those markets and that price would naturally one of the driving forces in the market, considering that the purchase is probably financed via credit and the overall price exceeds annual salaries by a large, large margin.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Mahindra & Mahindra gains toe-hold in SE Asia

Every now and then, I am writing about the car industry - an industry that surely shakes up markets across the globe with companies such as GM losing market share and trying to make up for it by building plants in China, or Nissan, a company that was written off for a long time, but is coming in strongly more and more often. By writing about such different industry, it also shows that Asia Business Consulting is engaged in more than just the tech industry.

Mahindra & Mahindra, or, in short M&M, is a leading Indian car producer, and just like many other companies across the globe (speak: China), looks for expansion to other markets. Different from other companies, and may be a sign of changes, M&M doesn't look at the US for this expansion purposes, and don't forget, that the US is the world's largest car market. Additionally, it also doesn't look to China to expand - reason here might be the accelerating saturation that players in that market already face.

On the contrary, M&M comes to Malaysia - and not Thailand, that normally tends to attract a lot of attention from car manufacturers.

Why Malaysia?
Mahindra Managing Director Anand Mahindra said that "this is an extremely important initiative for us ... it is the gateway to ASEAN." Ahhh - its ASEAN, the trade bloc that might have been forgotten by other car producers. Forgotten may be a harsh word, but if you have limited resources in a company and have to chose between two options, many players go the secure way - the way all others go. Only those that are daring, so to speak, go into a different direction. Malaysia's car industry is growing rapidly again - overall vehicle sales jumped to a record 487,605 units in Malaysia last year, according to industry data.

So yeah, it might make sense to go into the market. I could talk more about the advantages that M&M has, going forward, in their targeted market segment, but this blog entry is already way too long. I hope that at least some of the readers managed to get to the end of it.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Electronic Arts to reveal mobile games

It has often been mentioned that the dearth of games and other "exciting" games for the mobile market is one of the reasons, if not the major reason, for the dire outlook of the 3G offerings in the telecommunications industry.

May be this is about to change.

"Electronic Arts has revealed the first eight of the twenty mobile game titles the company plans to launch in 2005 - 2006."

In the launch included are longtime favourites such as Madden NFL 2006, The Sims 2 Mobile, Need for Speed Underground 2, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2006 and EA SPORTS FIFA Football 2006. While Poppit!, Turbo 21 and Tri Peaks Solitaire.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

State in Australia rides ahead - bans snooping on employees

The discussion about employers that snoop on employees e-mail correspondence comes up again and again and this time, North South Wales or NSW in Australia has introduced something sensibly - it outlaws "unauthorised spying of employees using technologies including video cameras, email and tracking devices with the introduction of the Workplace Surveillance Bill 2005 to state parliament today."

"While some employers argue that this is necessary to protect their legitimate interests, employees expect that their private correspondence, like their private telephone calls or private conversations, should never be the subject of secret monitoring," NSW Attorney General Bob Debus said in a statement."

Good - finally a state that understands the right of privacy for employees. Employees are frequently asked to work beyond the usual requirements anyway, and there are strong indicators that trusting your employees secures higher revenue growth anyway. So why mistrust them in the first place?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Phishing - getting better or worse?

Its been a while since I wrote about the growing threat of phishing. I thought there is no sense in constantly describing, how people get tricked into providing personal details and then lose everything or at least a lot (with some even their life).

Research has now shown that nearly half of internet users have received these 'phishing' e-mails - indicating a massive "campaign" by phishers. The growth has declined to the low digit value of 2% - which is great and let us hope, that the "market is saturated" and people have learnt. AOL research shows that just one per cent of those surveyed lost money - only half received compensation.

Clear is still, that phishers improved their techniques to get to those data. phishers are now employing newer technologies to attack susceptible PCs.

"Apparently phishers are now using phishing sites to secretly download criminal malware, "crimeware", onto consumer PCs to capture login and password credentials and other personal information."

So guys - take care of what you are doing online!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Cyber sabotaging South Korea

True or false, I cannot say.

But "Chinese hackers have been blamed for a wave of attacks on South Korean government computer systems, the latest in a series of internet security breaches involving China. The US, Taiwan and the Dalai Lama are among other victims of suspected Chinese cyber sabotage over recent years."

This is pretty heavy since actually, S-Korea is seen as a powerhouse in the e-business. Those attacks, especially the successful ones, are definitly damaging to that reputation.

If you remember, a couple of months ago, there were those cyberattacks on Malaysian webpages, followed by attacks on Indonesian websites.

And way, way back in October last year, I wrote that South Korea was worried about potential cyber-attacks already. Is it happening now?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Samsung and Microsoft together for Xbox

Do you think that this is significant? It could be. Samsung, the growing powerhouse of Korea, just announced that they reached an agreement with Microsoft to tie-up in the development of the next generation for the X-Box.

It is not quite clear if the X-Box strategy of Microsoft is working but by betting on Samsung's technology, they sure bet on a classy horse.

And through this move, both players might move to the forefront of future developments:

"Peter Weedfald, senior vice president, consumer electronics & North America corporate marketing, Samsung Electronics, said, "Gaming has become a primary force for innovation in the entertainment and technology industries. Samsung has selected Microsoft Xbox as the best next-generation game console and a key driver in the global HDTV revolution."

Samsung is still emerging in the electronics field and this gives them the power of recognition from one of the world's most powerful companies while Microsoft is an emerging player, trying to gain ground in the console market - and Samsung might just be the right partner. My opinion - what is yours?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China: If you can't beat them, join them

China's authorities are aware that the protests against Japan are organised to a great deal via SMS.

It is tough controlling those conversations, but well, in an attempt to appeal to the "masses" the police asked potential protesters for more patriotism.

"Tens of millions of Chinese clicked open a text message on their mobile phones on Saturday and guessed that it must be a notice from their main provider, China Mobile. Or perhaps from a friend, but with the number hidden. They received a surprise. The message was from the police."

The message said:

"Express patriotism rationally. Don’t take part in illegal protests. Don’t make trouble. Help by not creating trouble, love the nation by not breaking the law."

Is this now a sign of China's total control or a sign that the leaders reach out to create some calmness.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

How bad is blogging for kids and teenagers?

MSNBC runs an article that outlines the danger of blogging for kids and teenagers.

A "horror story" is included of a mother who discovered her daughter's blog, discovering provocative pictures: ""And their pictures are very provocative. There's shots with their butt in the air, with their thongs sticking out of it. They squeeze their elbows together to make their boobs look bigger."

In addition, concerns are raised that kids reveal too much information:

First name: 70%
Age: 67%
Contact info: 61%
Location: 59%
E-mail address: 44%
IM Name: 44%
Birth date: 39%
Link to homepage: 30%
Full name: 20%

All this follows weeks of other, similar reports. Last week, I wrote that kids are exposed to pornography on the web, while they apparently also lose some IQ while texting and emailing, although watching TV makes up for that.

My message is clear. It is technology that allows teenagers to stay connected with friends, express themselves and learn about stuff they need to know anyway. Parents have the "duty" to educate kids and teenagers about the bad stuff in the world.

Be that online or offline.

(By Asia Business Consulting)