With all the traffic on the Internet nowadays it's important to remember that it's not all smooth sailing when surfing the net. With new and sneaky ways being developed by hackers to get their hands on your money, it's important to be aware of how they can get at you.
Identity Theft
Sometimes it's not even your money they're after; at least not directly. Most people nowadays underestimate the value of your personal information and how it can be used against you. The best example of this is when Jeremy Clarkson was served up a big spoonful of humble pie by a would-be hacker.
Phishing
Most of time it's not as easy as that to obtain your details and these guys have to come up with inventive ways to get their on your info. This is done by "phising", whereby you'll receive fraudulent emails from, for example, what appears to be your bank requesting 3 numbers of your PIN code or something similar. Once you do, it'll fail to register and ask you to re-submit the numbers. This continues until the hacker has the full PIN code and therefore access to your account. It's not only bank web pages that can be duplicated so be wary. In this short video, we see how easy it is to create a fake PayPal phising site:
Viruses
Viruses can be stored in downloads and released upon opening the file so only download from reliable websites and make sure you have good anti-virus software installed. Viruses can do anything from creating a backdoor to your computer which bypasses password protection to deleting everything on your hard drive. Here's a video about how virues work:
That's all for now. Hope this helps you protect yourself a bit better
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A New Way of Doing Things
As I mentioned before, the Web is changing how people do business. Instead of booking holidays with a travel agency they're doing it online. Instead of sending each other emails with project attachments they're using Google Docs. Now the revolution has come to the retail sector.
The Retailer
As you may already know, the retailer acts as an intermediary lying between the manufacturer and the consumer. Recognisable brands such as Tescos, Supervalu and Easons have all made their name in the retailing industry. However, the industry is not without it's problems. High volumes of inventory mean that the company needs to have a large building to store it. But this building can't be just anywhere. It has to be in a location that's most convenient to the customer such as the main street of a city. Further costs include staff, management and product availability but is there another way?
eRetailing
Amazon.com were one of the first to utilize the Internet as a sales channel. Since they conduct all of their business online, with no physical stores, they are regarded as a 'pure play' company in eRetailing. They began life as a book store but have since moved into other areas now selling music CDs, DVDs and even beds. What has allowed them to expand so rapidly? Well for a start they don't have to pay huge amounts of salaries because the customer can find everything for themselves and even check out without help. Secondly, the only building they have to worry about is the one that contains their inventory which doesn't have to be right beside the customer. And finally, Amazon don't have to keep building stores close to customers since the customer can access the store from their own home! This gives them an advantage over a bricks-and-mortar company like Tesco, who have since launched their own website to get a slice of this market. Michael Clark, co-owner of Ciocclato, certainly thinks eReatailing is the future:
Impact
eRetailing had a massive impact on the travel & tourism sector in particular. Firstly, it eliminated any intermediary meaning the manufacturers, which were airlines, could offer customers booking without having to go through a travel agency. Secondly, the web increased the distribution of information meaning someone with no previous knowledge of a resort could quickly get an idea of what the place had to offer. Again this cut out the middle man with hotels crating their own websites. Thirdly, the increased competition meant that travel agencies had to improve their service and began offering customizable package holidays. And finally, as mentioned in the Web 2.0 blog entry, the transfer of information between users increased which meant you could go online to get other people impressions and opinions of potential holiday destinations.
You may be asking yourself how this helps you. Well the more companies that go online the better your job prospects and since they would have a global reach you wouldn't even have to wait for a position in your own country, let alone city. You also have access to free career advice and the largest place in the world to market yourself to potential suitors. So maybe globalisation isn't the bad after all.
The Retailer
As you may already know, the retailer acts as an intermediary lying between the manufacturer and the consumer. Recognisable brands such as Tescos, Supervalu and Easons have all made their name in the retailing industry. However, the industry is not without it's problems. High volumes of inventory mean that the company needs to have a large building to store it. But this building can't be just anywhere. It has to be in a location that's most convenient to the customer such as the main street of a city. Further costs include staff, management and product availability but is there another way?
eRetailing
Amazon.com were one of the first to utilize the Internet as a sales channel. Since they conduct all of their business online, with no physical stores, they are regarded as a 'pure play' company in eRetailing. They began life as a book store but have since moved into other areas now selling music CDs, DVDs and even beds. What has allowed them to expand so rapidly? Well for a start they don't have to pay huge amounts of salaries because the customer can find everything for themselves and even check out without help. Secondly, the only building they have to worry about is the one that contains their inventory which doesn't have to be right beside the customer. And finally, Amazon don't have to keep building stores close to customers since the customer can access the store from their own home! This gives them an advantage over a bricks-and-mortar company like Tesco, who have since launched their own website to get a slice of this market. Michael Clark, co-owner of Ciocclato, certainly thinks eReatailing is the future:
Impact
eRetailing had a massive impact on the travel & tourism sector in particular. Firstly, it eliminated any intermediary meaning the manufacturers, which were airlines, could offer customers booking without having to go through a travel agency. Secondly, the web increased the distribution of information meaning someone with no previous knowledge of a resort could quickly get an idea of what the place had to offer. Again this cut out the middle man with hotels crating their own websites. Thirdly, the increased competition meant that travel agencies had to improve their service and began offering customizable package holidays. And finally, as mentioned in the Web 2.0 blog entry, the transfer of information between users increased which meant you could go online to get other people impressions and opinions of potential holiday destinations.
You may be asking yourself how this helps you. Well the more companies that go online the better your job prospects and since they would have a global reach you wouldn't even have to wait for a position in your own country, let alone city. You also have access to free career advice and the largest place in the world to market yourself to potential suitors. So maybe globalisation isn't the bad after all.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
It's a Small World...
Thanks to the current economic recession, we're now all competing with our fellow countrymen for the same job. Of course, it's not just them but also other people who come here to find jobs. But now it looks like we're competing with our fellow man all over the world for the same jobs.
Is the World Flat?
Thanks in large part to Web 2.0, the world has been brought closer together via the web. But as people in traditionally poorer countries become better educated, outsourcing has increased in popularity. This means that the unemployment pool is much larger and those of us in Ireland may well be competing against a better qualified foreigner who is prepared to do the same job for less. The difference is that while we're using the Internet for entertainment, our potential rivals are using it to further their employment prospects. We're taking it for granted. Others are not.
How Did This Happen?
It's generally accepted that there have been three stages of globalisation. Th first came stage began with the discovery of America and ended around 1800. At this point we saw the rise of the multi-national companies and up until 2000, their global operations had helped to shrink the world. At the moment, globalisation 3.0 is yet to be defined as it depends on how we the users will decide on our means of interacting with those who live miles and miles away. Web 2.0 is an integral part of the latest stage in globalisation but it may only be the first step.
A Whole New World
Tom Friedman, a foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, has attempted to identify what he believes are the causes of the phenomenon. In his book, The World is Flat, Friedman outlines the "10 Flatteners"; events in time that he believes shaped globalisation as we know today. These include the fall of the Berlin Wall, the creation of the first web browser and most recently, the influx of digital, mobile and virtual gadgets. More important than those perhaps, is Friedman's concept of the "Triple Convergence". This outlines how the 10 Flatteners are complementing each other, how we're moving from a vertical hierarchy to a horizontal one and the emergence of new powers in the global market such as India and China.
Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid
When China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, ASIMCO Technologies – an American auto parts manufacturer in China put the following African proverb on the factory floor:
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.
Get your Nikes on guys, we've got to catch up...
Is the World Flat?
Thanks in large part to Web 2.0, the world has been brought closer together via the web. But as people in traditionally poorer countries become better educated, outsourcing has increased in popularity. This means that the unemployment pool is much larger and those of us in Ireland may well be competing against a better qualified foreigner who is prepared to do the same job for less. The difference is that while we're using the Internet for entertainment, our potential rivals are using it to further their employment prospects. We're taking it for granted. Others are not.
How Did This Happen?
It's generally accepted that there have been three stages of globalisation. Th first came stage began with the discovery of America and ended around 1800. At this point we saw the rise of the multi-national companies and up until 2000, their global operations had helped to shrink the world. At the moment, globalisation 3.0 is yet to be defined as it depends on how we the users will decide on our means of interacting with those who live miles and miles away. Web 2.0 is an integral part of the latest stage in globalisation but it may only be the first step.
A Whole New World
Tom Friedman, a foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, has attempted to identify what he believes are the causes of the phenomenon. In his book, The World is Flat, Friedman outlines the "10 Flatteners"; events in time that he believes shaped globalisation as we know today. These include the fall of the Berlin Wall, the creation of the first web browser and most recently, the influx of digital, mobile and virtual gadgets. More important than those perhaps, is Friedman's concept of the "Triple Convergence". This outlines how the 10 Flatteners are complementing each other, how we're moving from a vertical hierarchy to a horizontal one and the emergence of new powers in the global market such as India and China.
Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid
When China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, ASIMCO Technologies – an American auto parts manufacturer in China put the following African proverb on the factory floor:
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.
Get your Nikes on guys, we've got to catch up...
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