MB362 Electronic & Mobile Commerce

Seminar 7: "Completing Platforms for Mobile Data Services"

2005-03-06T21:58:00.000+08:00

Notes from Lesson 7:
- Advantages and Disadvantages of mobile terminals
- Descriptions of pagers, cellphones, MP3 players, PDA, Tablet PCs, Laptops
- New technology (displays, processing device abilities, operating systems, data transmission)
- Virus for mobile terminals
- Push and pull services

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Predicts 2004: Mobile and Wireless
8 December 2003 Ken Dulaney

http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?id=418200

Wireless and mobile technologies are becoming commonplace. Applications will emerge to meet the needs of a more stable market, but will be slow to catch on. Integration and standards are the keys to fast adoption.

Predictions:

Devices Will Continue to Be Less Expensive and More Integrated
Wireless WAN Pricing and Interoperability Will Stabilize as the Technology Matures
Weak Standards Will Hamper Wireless Technology for Consumers
Corporate Mobile Applications Will Experience Slow Adoption, but Picture Messaging Will Spread Widely
Wireless LANs Will Become Integrated Into the Wired Network Infrastructure

Bottom Line: Mobile and wireless technologies are essential in any enterprise planning scenario, both to address internal efficiencies and to increase customer satisfaction and revenue. Operators should see continued growth in wireless applications, although most revenue will come from simple applications like MMS for photography and messaging. It will remain difficult to justify building new networks because consumer usage patterns are too uncertain. To fuel innovation, operators must provide stability in their networks, choices based on standards and application services while simultaneously lessening control over how the market evolves. In the end, innovation in applications will justify greater investment in infrastructure and encourage enterprises to rely on the technology.

Seminar 6: "Web Server Hardware and Software" & "Competing Platforms"

2005-02-28T00:23:00.000+08:00

Outline for Lesson 6:
-A good website for find definitions: http://www.webopedia.com
-Web server basics
-Client and server
-Dynamic content (dynamic vs static page)
-Message flows in a 2-tier and 3-tier client/server network
-Web server software
-Telnet and FTP utilities
-Indexing and searching utility programs (eg. webcrawler aka webspider)
-Data analysis Software
-Link-checking utilities
-Web server Hardware
-Platforms suitability (LMDS, MMDS, Unlicensed Wireless, Portable Broadband, Space Platforms, 3G)
-802.11=>WiFi; 802.16=>WiMax
-Moore's Law (data density doubles every 18 months)
-Promotion of wireless technologies

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Vodafone to install contactless swipe cards in Japanese mobile phones
Time is GMT + 8 hoursPosted: 24-Feb-2005 23:11 hrs

A model holds a Vodafone V603SH mobile phone handset. The Japanese subsidiary of British mobile giant Vodafone said it would adopt Sony technology to let telephones act as contactless cards which can pay bills or act as train tickets.

The Japanese subsidiary of British mobile giant Vodafone said it would adopt Sony technology to let telephones act as contactless cards which can pay bills or act as train tickets.

The selection of the Felica integrated-circuit card by Vodafone, Japan's third biggest mobile operator, will further make the Sony product the sector standard as it is already used by major airlines, stores and banks.

Vodafone KK said it aimed to introduce handsets embedded with the Felica chip in October and initially ship more than one million of them.

The Felica card can be read from 10 centimeters away, which Vodafone said would let it be used for services such as transport and payment.

A Vodafone statement said the combination of the mobile phone and card would make possible a new range of features not available on a plastic Felica card by itself, such as displays of bank account balances.

Felica Networks is a joint venture with Sony, the East Japan Railway Company and NTT DoCoMo -- Japan's biggest mobile service provider and a key competitor of Vodafone.

Felica is the main technology in the Suica card, which allows Japan Railway commuters to pay their fare and buy at outside shops and restaurants without any physical contact. More than 10 million Suica cards have been issued.

Dozens of other Japanese companies have also chosen Felica to provide automatic transactions. They include the nation's biggest carriers Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, convenience store chains AM/PM and Circle K, UFJ Bank and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and even McDonald's. — AFP

Seminar 5: "Business Strategies: From EDI to E-commerce"

2005-02-07T22:15:00.000+08:00

Surprise Surprise! We had a diagnostic test this seminar. So unprepared for it and I have cleared my notes from my MB362 folder the night before. Though it's an open-book test, I can hardly refer to anything for more information. Realised that importance of the textbook! After diagnostic test, I feel that I need to buck up in thi module. There're so many things I still don't know and I can just stare hard at the test questions.

What have we learnt during the lecture?
- Steps in a typical business purchasing process
- Direct vs. indirect Materials Purchasing
- Logistics activities
- Radio frequency identification devices (RFIDS)
- E-government
- EDI
- Information flows in the EDI purchasing process
- Direct connection EDI
- Indirect connection EDI through a VAN
- EDI on the Internet
- Open Architecture of the Internet
- Supply Chain Management
- Building & Maintaining Trust in the Supply Chain
- Characteristics of B2B Marketplaces

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Best Practices that Foster Improved Supplier Management
By Supplier Selection & Management Report
CRM Buyer
09/20/04 6:00 AM PT

http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/36744.html

"Companies want to do a better job of supplier connection, coordination and monitoring no matter where their suppliers are located," Enslow concludes in her supplier management benchmark research study, The Quiet Revolution in Supplier Management.

Seminar 4: "Flash Presentations"

2005-01-30T23:06:00.000+08:00

No lecture for the day. Watched a series of animated presentations of business proposals.

An article for the week:
Price of Free Internet Mail Might Be Too Costly
By Jack M. GermainE-Commerce Times 01/27/05 5:00 AM PT
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/39865.html

Seminar 3: "Selling on the Web & Marketing on the Web"

2005-01-23T23:34:00.000+08:00

Lesson three was a difficult one. We learn about
-Revenue models
-Building a Web Presence
-Network-based business performance vs SWOT
-Focus on benefits sought
-Definition of a market
-Market segmentation (Technotoys, Mobile Pros,Sophisticates, Socialites, Lifestylers)
-Types of Web Marketing
-Web Marketing Strategies

It's a Sunday and I spent my day with my group-mates doing Flash. All of us had zero knowledge on Flash and luckily we were willing to try and learn how to create a flash. Managed to do simple animations and insertion of sounds to our presentation through trial and error. Great sense of achievement felt though our flash presentation was not a fantastic one, it's made with a lot of effort and sweat. Cheers to "The Incredibles"!

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Exactly What Is Spam?
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Wilson Internet Rocklin,
CAJan 12, 2005, 14:31 PST

http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/email/spam-definition.htm

To sum up: Spam is generally defined as unsolicited e-mail. However, it is considered legal to rent permission-based lists for e-mail campaigns. The CAN-SPAM Act in the US makes it illegal to send deceptive e-mails and to continue to send e-mails to people who have unsubscribed or opted out (among other things). If you live in Europe and Australia, sending e-mail itself is illegal without permission from the recipient. Canada has no specific anti-spam legislation at present.

In our seminar we have learnt that spam is a type of e-mail marketing. E-mails are considered as spam when we don't wish to receive them in our e-mail inboxs and we never subcribe to them. To me, spam mails are very irritating and unreasonable. My Hotmail account only has a storage size of 2MB and with spam mails, I keep running out of storage space for my incoming mails. Being forced by this situation, I have to set filters to my web-based mailbox and sometimes, important e-mails ended up in my Junk Folder instead of Inbox. E-mail marketing is getting out of control! Spam mails please go away.

Seminar 2: "Internet & the WWW"

2005-01-16T22:24:00.000+08:00

In lesson 2, the class is introduced to the technology infrastructure and mark-up languages which is being used in Internet.
-Markup languages (HTML and its tags, layout)
-A few recommended websites to aid in design of webpages using the markup languages.(eg. www.webmonkey.com/)
-Web clients
-Public & Private Networks, VPN
-Intranet & Ethernet
-Discussion of products/services
-Coming up with a HTML file with a list of our project group members

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Hollywood Wants BitTorrent Dead
By Xeni Jardin, Wired News
10:15 AM Dec. 14, 2004 PT

http://wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,66034,00.html?tw=wn_story_page_prev2

Hollywood movie studios launched new legal action Tuesday against operators of sites that help connect people to movies on three major peer-to-peer file-sharing networks: BitTorrent, eDonkey and Direct Connect. BitTorrent is able to handle very large files such as digital copies of feature-length films efficiently and thus attracted Hollywood's attention. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPPA) which is the main lobbying arm of U.S. film studios filed civil lawsuits against more than 100 operators of BitTorrent "tracker" servers that point to locations where digital files of movies, music and other content can be found. The MPAA's legal actions are targeted at people who operate tracker servers, not individual downloaders of BitTorrent content.

This article is worth our attention. Nowadays piracy is everywhere and digital copies of music, movies, animes and other copyright products are downloaded with a click of mouse in the internet. Such acts are becoming a norm for people who have internet access because downloading digital copies simply means that they don't have to pay to cds or vcds in stored and also able to own a copy of a movie or music songs. Songwriters, musicians and movie studios are starting to protest against piracy and operators of peer-to-peer networks. Should we stop p2p networks or should we continue to download free music and movie for our benefit?

Seminar 1: "New Phones"

2005-01-10T16:32:00.000+08:00

In lesson one, we were asked to identify the features we would like to have in our "New Phones". With my partner, the following features are what we wanted in our "New Phones".
1. Biometric functions (for security, personalisation - making the user feel that it's HIS/HER own phone.)
2. Voice recognition functions (Make the phone work for you instead of pressing the keypads, simply use your voice to control your handphone.)
3. GPS (Knowing where you are and finding your way out, in times of crisis, it can be life-saving too to find victim's location!!)
4. Remote control (Especially designed for lazy people like me! A type of remote control which can control TV, switches... when it's digitally set to be controlled by your HP.)
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I've found an article related to handphones.

Motorola gears up for home networking
Published: January 7, 2005, 3:53 PM PST
By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com

http://news.com.com/Motorola+gears+up+for+home+networking/2100-1041_3-5517613.html?tag=nefd.hed

LAS VEGAS--Some people want the PC at the center of the home. Motorola is trying to make the cell phone that critical device. Networked-home concept is becoming a reality and use of handphone is one of the way to gain control of homes. It's now possible to let homeowners get a video feed of their car in the driveway through a surveillance system with the help of the handphone. Videoconferencing phone for homes is available currently.

This article makes me wonder how information technology is going to play a part in our everyday life in future. Being able to control your home using handphone is time-saving and making control more convenient and simpler.

Results of analysis

2005-01-03T22:32:00.000+08:00

Task: Analyze your information requirements- are there interesting patterns (sources, uses, failures, the match between cost and value, etc) that you can explore further?

For the 2 days when the information requirements are being noted down, these 2 days happened to be days when I spent time with my family and relatives.
Other than educational information which i would wish to know, information which I usually required are about daily life such as simple as breakfast, where is my medicine and the sources are from my family members (mother, father, sister).

I can classify the information I required into 2 categories: Educational and Daily life.
Educational information are info which enhance my knowledge or info which I need for my studies. Typical sources where I get these info from are from internet, newspaper, news on TV.
Daily life information are info which help me relax or info which help me during my daily life (breakfast, lunch, dinner, time, where objects are?). Typical sources where I get daily life info are from my family members.

There is no relationship between cost and value. Cost here is monetary cost while value is more of non-monetary cost and is more of benefits and satisfaction. For eg. if I wish to find out more information about Tsunami, the info is of medium value but at no or little monetary cost(Internet). How to value information depends on individuals, as in, different people have different view on how valued an information is to the person himself/herself in particular.

Weblog for 1st Jan 2005

2005-01-01T22:00:00.000+08:00

Time:Day	Information required/use	My location	Source	Cost	Value
3.30am	Location of Panadol (headache)	Kitchen	Drawers	$0.10	medium
9am	Time (Wake up)	Bed	Radio clock	$50	low
9.15am	What to wear?	Bedroom	Wardrobe	0	low
9.30am	What's breakfast?	Dining table	Dad	$2	low
10am	Entertainment news	Living room	Cable tv	$52/mth	low
10.30am	Location of car	Carpark	Mummy	0	low
11am	Location of toilet	Mt Vernon Columbarium	Sister	0	low
11.15am	Name of my 4-month-old nephew	Mt Vernon Columbarium	Cousin	0	low
11.30am	Who else is coming to pay respects to my late grandparents?	Mt Vernon Columbarium	Mummy	0	low
11.45am	Sequence to pay respect	Mt Vernon Columbarium	Mummy	0	low
12pm	Whose house to visit?	Mt Vernon Columbarium	Mummy	0	low
12.30pm	What's for lunch?	5th Aunt's flat	Mummy	0	low
12.45pm	Where's lunch?	5th Aunt's flat	Dad	0	medium
1.15pm	Information about financial freedom	Living room	Book	0	medium
3pm	Where to nap?	Sofa	Flat	0	low
4.30pm	Who disturbed my nap?	Sofa	Sister	0	low
4.45pm	Location of toilet	Living room	Dad	0	low
5pm	Where are my sister and mother?	Living room	Dad	0	low
5.15pm	Where are my slippers?	Living room	Dad	0	low
5.30pm	Where is my family heading next?	Living room	Mummy	0	low
6pm	HTML scripts to make table	Computer	Internet	$39/mth	low
6.15pm	Who's online?	Computer	MSN Messager(Internet)	$39/mth	low
6.30pm	TV programmes at night	Computer	Internet (SCV online programme guide)	$39/mth	low
6.45pm	Looking at other OOBE3G blogs	Computer	Internet	$39/mth	low
7.15pm	Creating a blog	Computer	Internet (Blogger)	$39/mth	low
7.30pm	Latest Chinese pop songs	Living room	Radio Clock	$50	low
8pm	About Tsudami	Living room	TV (Channel News Asia)	$42/mth	medium
9pm	Prime Time News	Living room	Cable TV	$42/mth	medium
10pm	Blogging	Computer	Internet	$39/mth	medium

Weblog for 31st Dec 2004

2005-01-01T19:15:00.000+08:00

Time:Day	Information required/use	My location	Source	Cost	Value
10am Saturday	Time (wake up)	Bed	Handphone alarm	$50	low
10.30am	What's for breakfast	Dining Table	Sister	$2	low
11am	News	Computer	Internet (Straits Times Interactive)	$39/mth	medium
11.30am	When is my friend coming to my house?	Living room	Handphone (sms)	$0.05	low
1.30pm	Running Real Player software (watch drama series)	Computer	Computer	0	low
3.15pm	Time to go to hair salon?	Living room	Mummy	0	low
3.30pm	What hairstyle to cut?	Hair salon	Hairstyle magazines	$12	low
5pm	Assignment guidelines of MB362	Computer	Internet (Edventure)	$39/mth	medium
5.30pm	E-mail	Computer	Internet	$39/mth	low
6pm	How to create a blog?	Computer	Internet	$39/mth	medium
7pm	News Update	Dining table	Newspaper	$0.80	medium
8pm	Who's online?	Computer	MSN messager (Internet)	$39/mth	low
9pm	Removal of spywares/adwares on my computer	Computer	Internet	$39/mth	low
10pm	Entertainment News	Living room	Cable TV	$42/mth	low
11pm	Which lecture notes have been posted online?	Computer	Internet (Edventure)	$39/mth	low
11.15pm	Print time-table (Sem2)	Computer	Printer	0	low
12am	Send New Year's SMS greetings	Bed	Handphone	$0.05/sms	medium