Taking the law into your own hands - cyber violence and threats

Is it because we believe that there is not enough police around to arrest a culbrit? Is it that we believe we can judge someone easily on the Internet because we can hide in the anonymity of the Internet? Is it because there is a sense of lawlessness that is haunting us?

How come that Internet users believe that they can simply threat someone who has done something wrong, according to their opinion?

A new case of cyber-hunting (word created by me) has occurred in Korea, where the number of Complaints filed with the government's Korea Internet Safety Commission more than doubled to 42,643 last year from 18,031 in 2003.

"a 30-year-old accountant named Kim Myong Jae became the No. 1 hate figure of South Korea's huge Internet community. People who belied that he had killed his girlfriend flooded his cell phone with threats and viscious messages, while a wide variety of meanspirited rumors were posted on blogs and Web portals, where they spread quickly.

"By the time I found out the source of this outrage, it was too late. My name, address, photographs, telephone numbers were all over the Internet," Kim said. "Tens of thousands of people were busy sharing my identity and discussing how to punish me. My name was the most-searched phrase at portals," Kim stated."

This is just one of the revealed cases in Korea but it surely contradicts the common statement that one is innocent until proven guilty.

(Asia Business Consulting)

Ooops - laptop battery recall by Dell

It is clear that Dell revolutionised the computer industry with their Direct Model, a long time back, which still causes problems to giants in the same industry - speak HP.

However, even revolutionaries are not exempt from mistakes when they stumple after becoming REAL big.

This is what happens right now, when US computer giant "Dell Inc said that it will recall 4.1 million notebook computer batteries that could overheat and catch fire." "The move came amid growing reports of Dell laptops catching fire in the US, Japan and Singapore" and is not the first one for the company.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Overcoming the generation gap - pensioner on YouTube

A 79 year old has become a celebrity on YouTube.com.

His video features the widower's "geriatric gripes and grumbles" with a blues soundtrack and his aim is to educate the younger generation - which is the most avid user of YouTube - about the challenges that an older person faces in today's world.

The posted videos have gathered cult status with his postings being at the top of the website's most-subscribed list. A sign that you just have to hit your niche to get famous or heard.

Advertisers, please head the call!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Microsoft starts to involve customers in developing products

A lot of companies talk about customer satisfaction, engaging the customer, and creating customer experiences. Most companies have something in their vision statements that involves customers and states that they value the customer.

Not many really live the experience, and may be it is also becoming more difficult to satisfy a customer. There are the shareholders that command a constant shareprice increase and customers who scream at the slightest mishap happening to them, and the employees who want to stay enaged and trained up.

Not easy.

Well, some companies manage the customer experience already, such as the producers of Lord of the rings, for example, that involved online user groups.

Microsoft is now on that train as well.

"The cost of recording and producing music and video has plummeted, giving amateur auteurs a chance at stardom. But at the same time, the expense involved in making video games has gone up: the development kits needed to create games for the consoles made by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo cost thousands of dollars, and those companies usually send the kits only to established producers. the company is expected to announce the fall release of a product called XNA Game Studio Express, a basic version of the company’s game authoring tools that will let aspiring designers write games on a PC and test them on an ordinary Xbox 360."

Benefit to Microsoft? Great ones - more loyalty, better games, understanding market trends, and beating the competition.

Worthwhile, isn't it?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Matrix is coming - your brain as computer

Fortune Magazine carries a fascinating story about increased computer power and the future development.

"Any kind of information is available anytime you want it," I wrote. "Simply speak a question, or even think it. You will always be connected wirelessly to the network, and an answer will return from a vast, collectively-produced data matrix. Google queries will seem quaint," says David Kirkpatrick, a senior editor.

I say that this is something I would really look forward to. Related changes are all around us - "already much of our software and data is moving to giant remote servers connected to the Internet. Our photos, music, software applications like Microsoft Word, and just about everything else we use a computer for will be accessible to us wherever we go.

The other huge, and related, move of the moment is toward ultimate mobility. Several trends are taking us there. The cellphone is becoming more like a PC while the PC is becoming more like a cellphone. In short, the next great era of computing - succeeding the PC one - will likely be about smaller, cheaper, more-powerful portable devices."

Let the super-computer come, I am ready. What will be the impact on your business?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Telekom Malaysia - how to reverse the slide in fixed line subscriptions?

Somehow, Telekom Malaysia or TM is mourning the loss of subscribers of its fixed line service to the mobile industry. The fixed line business is losing money since 2004 and the penetration share of fixed line availability in Malaysia is falling steadily from around 63% a couple of years back to now 58% or so. By the way, the company is not alone. Many companies, in other countries, suffer the same fate.

But at least, it is cannibalising itself, at least partially, since it also has a mobile arm. However, this mobile arm will also be threatened if the usage of free VoIP, such as Skype is becoming more widespread in Malaysia. In addition, TM's major competitor, Maxis, is aggressively promoting services at a lower cost, something, that is bound to hurt TM.

Lucky to the company, it also pushes the usage of broadband usage via its Streamyx service. Malaysia is still well underserved in broadband, even so penetration is increasing. What is missing to convince customers of its service, so, is customer orientation. So far, many customers complain about lackaistral attitude of the Telekom Group. One analyst is quoted as saying: "“Stories of Streamyx broken down and residential areas which do not have broadband are not unheard of .” Until those complaints are past, well, until then, TM better worries about its revenues.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Controlling blogs and web in Malaysia

A new chapter of Internet and blog control has been opened in Malaysia. Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin said that "We need to have a similar form of control over Internet media and blogs, as the medium is used to spread unfounded allegations that pose a threat to national security and racial unity.”

There was once a discussion about the openness of Malaysian Internet highway as a tool to promote the country to foreign investors. Is this now going to slither away? Hopefully not.

But he touches on an issue that is growing throughout the world. Bringing hate to the Internet - hate against those that are different. Different religion, different races, different opinions. This is what makes the Internet vulnerable because too many times, "people" just write and blog without actually reflecting on the impact of what they are writing.

Hence, it is not the Internet that causes this, but the lack of open-minded values and an understanding that differences increases variety and learning opportunities.

But clearly, it is not that the "mainstream media had gained credibility because of the laws making them responsible for what they published". Newspaper's credibility has been criticised before, even in Malaysia but also elsewhere. nevertheless, even because the Internet is wild and unruly, it has become so popular.

Newspapers have realised the importance of the web increasingly, where traditionally framed media starts to lose out. Some start to involve bloggers in their business to stay more relevant in a changing environment that clearly disadvantages them and forces changes upon them through a new way of communicating.

Just my two cents worth - what are your thoughts?

(By Asia Business Consulting)