The danger of overspending

Report from The STAR dated 28 June 2014 :-

The danger of overspending


WHY are we sinking in a sea of debt? Is it because we spend too much at the pub, buy clothes we don’t need, or purchase a new car when we can make do with the old?

More likely than not, working adults tend to blame the demands of their social lives for getting into debt.

When you prepare to go out with your friends and family, it may be good to have a sort of “mental cap” how much you would like to spend for the day. This will help you to plan where you go and what you would like to do after that makan (meal).

The issue is that, there may be that fear of appearing tight or stingy in front of your friends and acquaintances. It is this perception that fuel overspending.

When you dine out with a group and the bill is split, some may have to pay more and others less because of the price differential in what they ordered. Or they may have ordered two rounds of beer while you only had one. In order to appear generous, you may overlook the matter and split the bill evenly.

Lack of self-control is another reason for “social debt”. This happens at meals and when out shopping with your buddies who may egg you on to buy “that lovely dress which is made just for you”.

And you get carried away and overspend. At the end of the day, you are the one who is going to pay your bills, not your friends.

But it is not just pubs, a fancy restaurant and that new dress that is getting you into debt. We get into debts when we take a holiday we can ill-afford.

Because we have worked so hard for half the year, we think we deserve a holiday but the fact is, we may not be able to afford to go abroad. Holidaying locally instead of taking a trip to the United States will still give you the rest you crave for.

Some of us may need to learn to say “no” to drinks, meals and holidays that break our budget.

Rule 1: Take action, do not depend on your parents to help you. You are a working adult. Control your spending. Instead of spending more, cut your debt burden. Saying “no” can be empowering, especially when you see your bank balance grow.

Rule 2: Keep a little notebook and total up your spending at the end of the day, week and month. That may prevent you from spending beyond your means. Spend on things/services that you need, not what you want. Spend on things that are of value, not a frivoulous purchase. Don’t try to please that pretty sales girl. It’s your money that you are spending.

Rule 3: Be honest about how much money you actually have. This is absolutely crucial. Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses or show off, or to make yourself look good. At the end of the day, you are the one who is going to suffer. Why bother trying to impress people who don’t care a jot for you?

Rule 4: Don’t be swayed by peer pressure. Real friends consider your welfare. Ask yourself: If you are broke, will these same friends help you out? How much you have in your bank account is within your control and yours only. Seriously, if you are honest with a friend about why you can’t afford to spend money on something and you still find yourself being put under pressure, it may be time to have heart-to-heart talk with them, or even rethink the friendship. Real friends will not pressure you to do something you really can’t afford.
The Chinese believe that within each of us, there is this desire to spend and keep up with the Joneses. It is something that is innate within each of us, that it is part and parcel of being human, this urge to impress. This desire to show off is present in a larger degree in some people because of pride, and less in others. We judge others by the car they drive, the clothes they wear and the house they live in. Do not be ashamed of what you have and you will not be pressured to flaunt what you do not have.
As we become wealthier, we buy a better car or a bigger house. The trouble is, all of us tend to think comparatively. As you become even more wealthy, you want a better car, and house, but you are not happier or more contented than before because you still may not have the nicest car among your friends.
There are positive outcomes of comparing and competing. You can compete to become healthier, score better grades, be more educated, or be more skillful in what you do. But when it comes to consumer goods and services, keeping up with the Joneses is not going to get you anywhere but in more debt. So forget about fast cars, that fancy holiday or meal. This thing about living beyond one’s means is dangerous. It will not improve your self-esteem, but is self-defeating.
 

As inflation rises, more Malaysians risk money on online deals

As inflation rises, more Malaysians risk money on online deals


Unlike buying from physical stores, online shopping is more risky due to various scams and bogus e-commerce merchants.

In Terengganu last year, six people were duped by bogus e-merchants on the promise of getting cheap second-hand cars – a trend which consumer watchdogs fear will become more frequent as awareness on safe surfing does not keep up with the increasing number of people who go online to hunt for bargains.

According to the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC), complaints related to e-commerce and online businesses are the fastest growing type of complaints it receives among 20 sectors, which range from household appliances to tourism and food services.

As cash-strapped consumers hunt online for the best deals – which include houses as well as cars – NCCC officials worry that they will fuel the growth of more unscrupulous traders. 



NCCC also feels that lax enforcement by Putrajaya is allowing the legitimate e-merchants to get away with bad behaviour such as false advertising of products and late deliveries.

The most worrying part, said the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) secretary-general Datuk Paul Selvaraj, was that unlike regular traders who opened a physical shop or a company, crooked online traders were near impossible to catch. 

“With technology moving this fast, it is almost impossible for us to keep up,” Selvaraj said, on the ability of consumer groups to help consumers deal with e-commerce cheats.

“The burden (when dealing with e-commerce) is shifted more to consumers to make the right choice and protect themselves,” he told The Malaysian Insider on the sidelines of the launch of NCCC’s complaints annual report in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

Bogus e-commerce merchants are different from the typical Casanova scam or the prize-winning trap that Malaysians keep reading about in the media, where people are duped into giving up money with the promise of getting more.

In these cases, shady merchants actually put up advertisements of things for sale, usually at dirt-cheap prices.

NCCC legal executive Santhosh Kannan believes the popularity of e-commerce has shot up in the past two to three years in tandem with bargain websites such as Groupon, MyDeal and LivingSocial.

According to NCCC’s 2013 report, complaints on online merchants have jumped to 3,712 from 874 in 2012.

Also, e-commerce complaints outnumbered the complaints received about physical retailers, which stood at 2,051 last year. 

“This shows that consumers prefer to purchase online despite knowing that they are vulnerable to scams and various problems related to online purchases,” the report said.

The NCCC is a non-profit group that helps consumers and traders handle disputes over goods and services.

NCCC legal executive Santhosh Kannan said although the body only started collecting complaints about e-commerce two years ago, grouses already outnumbered those on non-online retailers. 

“With normal shops you can actually see what you are buying, but it’s different online,” Santhosh said adding that consumers were still prepared to risk their money because online goods are cheap.

Most of the complaints the NCCC received were on late delivery of goods ordered (47.2%), followed by product disputes (20%). 

“Product disputes involve issues such as goods being different than what was advertised, lacking in features and product defects,” the report said.

About 15.6% of complaints were on scams where people lost money, 13.6% on bad customer service and 3.6% on over-pricing and fee disputes.

Although late delivery may on the surface appear a minor nuisance, it can be considered a breach of contract between trader and customer, said Santhosh. 

“Customers order and would need to use a certain product by a certain date.

A retailer who is ordering from a wholesaler, for instance, would lose money if he is late in getting his goods to market.

” Despite the steady rise in e-commerce, he said, the Malaysian authorities have not been doing enough to ensure that businesses follow best practices and go after cheats. 

“Now we even have people selling on Facebook which is very dangerous because they can just close down the site at any time and disappear with people’s money,” said Santhosh.

Selvaraj believes that because this form of commerce is becoming increasingly popular due to convenience and low prices, the government has no choice but to start taking them seriously.

As the cost of living goes up, consumers would be forced to look for ways to save money on everything, including shopping online where prices are lower. 

“Merchants must be made to register their businesses with the Companies Commission of Malaysia and the government must take sterner action against those who refuse to register,” said Selvaraj.

There are a slew of measures under the Consumer Protection Act 1999 that the government can take to act against unscrupulous online merchants but the rub is in the enforcement, he said.

The authorities and the online business community should also develop a certification system to help guide consumers to trustworthy sites.

"There should also be more awareness campaigns on how to shop online safely and what to do when there is a dispute," said Selvaraj.

But at the end of the day, unlike regular shops, where there is a physical business that can be raided, the anonymity provided by the Internet makes it hard to catch bogus merchants. 

“Right now, the best is for consumers to protect themselves,” he said.
– June 27, 2014.
 

China's wealthy ranks fourth globally

Report from China Daily dated 21 June 23014 :-

China's wealthy ranks fourth globally

China and Japan, the only two Asian countries that made into the top five, contribute the most to Asia's growing wealth pool, which took experts by surprise due to the economic slowdown in both countries.

 

The nation stands fourth in the global ranking of US dollar millionaires following the United States, Japan and Germany, which together account for 60 per cent of global millionaires, said France-based Capgemini and the Royal Bank of Canada.

The annual wealth report is the latest of many surveys, highlighting the growth of the wealthy in the Asia-Pacific region, despite concerns over slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.

The number of people with at least $1 million (S$1.2 million) in liquid assets in China reached about 750,000, compared to 4 million in the US, Japan's 2.3 million and Germany's 1.1 million, according to the survey.

China and Japan, the only two Asian countries that made into the top five, contribute the most to Asia's growing wealth pool, which took experts by surprise due to the economic slowdown in both countries.

"If you look at Japan's economic situation after the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, it finds itself facing huge costs in terms of cleaning up and rebuilding," said Lu Jinyong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

"But probably because of that, it is now considering a green future, providing huge business opportunities in the field of new energy and other industries benefiting from the government's stimulus, which its entrepreneurs can capitalise on."

The report said that the Asia-Pacific region will replace North America to become the world's largest wealth management market thanks to the booming housing market in Asia, Japan's stock market, and rapid growth in China.

Rise in number of ultra-rich individuals in Singapore

Report from The Straits Times (Singapore) dated 22 June 2014 :-

Rise in number of ultra-rich individuals in Singapore

SINGAPORE - The ranks of Singapore's ultra- wealthy shot up last year - along with their combined wealth - on the back of strong economic growth and increased savings.

The number of high net worth individuals - those with investable assets of at least US$1 million (S$1.25 million), excluding homes - rose from 100,500 in 2012 to 105,100, according to a report released yesterday.

This increase works out to about 4.5 per cent, while the combined wealth held by this group jumped 7 per cent, from US$489 billion to US$522.5 billion.

If not for Singapore's lacklustre stock and real estate markets last year, those numbers would have been higher, said the report from consultants Capgemini and Royal Bank of Canada.

But the Republic's above average growth in gross domestic product has helped add millionaires at a steady clip.

"Singapore's business owners and entrepreneurs have become more wealthy because of their own ability to create wealth through their own business, which has benefited from Singapore's strong economic growth," said Capgemini Apac's vice-president and senior account executive Claire Sauvanaud.

 "So, in spite of the stock and real estate markets going down, many Singaporeans have become wealthier."

Hong Kong's wealthy population grew as well, up 9.4 per cent to 124,000, with their combined wealth surging nearly 12 per cent to US$626.9 billion, driven by rising stock and real estate markets.

A study from the Boston Consulting Group earlier this month showed that 100 of every 1,000 households in Singapore had investable assets of US$1 million or more last year - one of the highest rates in the world.

According to the latest report, the number of wealthy individuals around the world rose 15 per cent from 2012 to 13.7 million last year, while their combined wealth grew to US$52.62 trillion, marking five years of growth since the 2008 financial crisis.

While the United States had the most millionaires - 4.33 million - the Asia-Pacific was a close second at 4.32 million. It is pipped to overtake the US this year, led by Japan and China.

Already, Asia's rate of growth in the number of wealthy individuals and their combined wealth outpaced America's last year.

Asia's combined wealth was up 18 per cent to US$14.2 trillion, while America's grew 17 per cent to US$14.88 trillion.

The report noted a clear shift by Asia's rich towards trying to expand their wealth rather than merely preserving it.

In Asia, they reduced their focus on wealth preservation from 38.9 per cent to 31.1 per cent, and raised their preference for seeking growth from 31.5 per cent to 40.7 per cent.

Many of the wealthy in Singapore tend to invest at or close to home, observed Mr Renato de Guzman, chief executive of Bank of Singapore.

"This bias in favour of Singapore and Asia could have caused them to miss out on strong returns generated by developed markets in the US and Europe in the past few years."

Google, Microsoft to add smartphone 'kill' switches"

Google, Microsoft to add smartphone 'kill' switches"


A Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone is displayed during the 2014 Computex exhibition at the TWTC Nangang exhibition hall in Taipei on June 3, 2014. Google and Microsoft plan to join Apple in introducing theft-deterring "kill switches" in their smartphone operating systems, as part of an agreement with mayors and police agencies

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Google and Microsoft plan to join Apple in introducing theft-deterring "kill switches" in their smartphone operating systems, as part of an agreement with mayors and police agencies.

The announcement came in a report by the "Secure Our Smartphones Initiative" led by the New York state attorney general with officials from San Francisco and London.

The coalition of more than 100 elected leaders and law enforcement officials from major cities said the agreement means the three main smartphone platforms would soon add the feature as part of an effort to curb an epidemic of thefts.

The report said Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone would add the feature - enabling a user to deactivate a stolen handset - after Apple included this last year.
----- AFP    20 June 2014
 

Five money saving habits that can backfire

June 17, 2014

Here are 5 common money saving habits sins that can backfire if you’re not careful.

 

By Brendon Lee

No doubt that it pays to save. But for some, in their efforts to maximise their savings, resort to penny-pinching habits that end up costing them more in the long run.

Here are 5 common money saving habits sins that can backfire if you’re not careful.

Bulk or discount buying


Malaysians love warehouse sales and you see many lining up for hours to score bargains on items they don’t need or may never get round to using before the expiry date.

Stocking up on household essentials may make sense if its non-perishable items that everyone uses like toilet paper or washing up detergent.

But even toiletries and cosmetics have a two year use-by date. Make bulk-buying work for you by going with a friend and share the discounted items so you only buy what you need yet are able to take advantage of the cost saving.
 Going crazy at dealsites


Group buying sites have grown to epic proportions in recent years with many sites touting hundreds of deals a day.

No doubt, buying deals can save you a lot of money but always remember, as with anything you open your wallet for; ask yourself if you really need or want the experience to ensure you’re not just buying it because it is cheap.

Also note that most merchants will only honour coupons from new customers so hoarding discount coupons won’t always help you save.

Finally, before you hit the buy button: Read all the deal terms and do a little research on the merchant.

Some merchants do offer lower if not the same price as group buying sites if you buy straight from their website.

This is because they don’t have to pay the coupon site any share of the profits. Make sure that deal really is a deal.
 
Forsaking quality for a cheaper price
There are some things in life you shouldn’t skimp on.

Sometimes it’s better to invest in something of a higher quality that will last longer versus cheap products which harm you or which you need to replace often.

This applies to health care, food and maintenance of your house and car.
 
Sign-up offers and upgrades
Merchants are always throwing discounts and free gifts to get us to sign up for their services.

Sales people are trained to push customers to upgrade their purchases.

You may think that you are saving by paying RM1 extra for a larger latte but in reality you’ve just spent more than you intended to.

Some sign-up offers may look attractive in the beginning but may start to eat away at your wallet after the promotion periods ends.

Always ask yourself if you really need a product or upgrade before taking it.

Being stingy on parking and tolls


Some people will go to great lengths to avoid paying toll.

If there’s an alternative route of the same distance then fair enough but if it ends up taking more travel time then the money saved from toll fares are just going into your petrol bills.

Similarly, going around in circles for free parking may be costing you more money than going into a parking lot or parking a little further and walking to your destination.

Indiscriminate parking can also cause wear and tear on your car that could end up causing you more than the parking fee. Or worse, your vehicle could be clamped, summoned or stolen!

Penny-pinching is not necessarily a bad thing.

It’s good to practise good saving habits and reduce our spending.

But a healthy budget also comes from knowing when you are actually saving money as opposed to being true to proverb of ‘penny wise and pound foolish’.

This was brought you by Brendon Lee from RinggitPlus.com. RinggitPlus compares credit cards, personal loans and home loans to help Malaysians get more for their money.

Ikea dismantles fan site founded by Malaysian in trademark row

Ikea dismantles fan site founded by Malaysian in trademark row



 Ikea Malaysia accused Ikeahackers.net of trademark violation and wanted it to cease operations

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — For eight years, Ikeahackers.net has been helping fans of the Swedish furniture giant enjoy their purchases in ways not often — and perhaps never — intended

From the unlikely — turning beds into coffee tables — to the inspired — rigging work lamps into bedside lights, the site showed what was possible when a little ingenuity was added to the furniture seller’s range of products.

But that is now coming to an end after Ikea demanded that the website’s founder, Malaysian Jules Yap, cease operations for alleged trademark violation, claiming that she was profiting off the brand’s name through the advertisements served up at Ikeahackers.net.

At first, Ikea’s agents had demanded Yap surrender the website and domain entirely to them, although they have now relented and allowed her to retain the address sans “commercial interests”, which means she is not allowed to generate any advertising income on the site.

Although saying that running a website the size of Ikeahackers costs “quite a bit”, the Kuala Lumpur-based Yap said she agreed to strip away all advertising for two reasons.

  “I agreed to that demand. Because the name IKEAhackers is very dear to me and I am soooo reluctant to give it up. I love this site’s community and what we have accomplished in the last 8 years,” Yap wrote in a blog post announcing the decision.               

“Secondly, I don’t have deep enough pockets to fight a mammoth company in court.” 

On her blog, Yap said she was just “a crazy fan” who never intended to exploit Ikea’s brand, but conceded that she had been naive to have registered the website as such in 2006. 

“Needless to say, I am crushed. I don’t have an issue with them protecting their trademark but I think they could have handled it better,” she added.

Ikea’s decision to go after the what is possibly it’s most popular fan site has since created a storm online and is drawing brickbats from a multitude of websites.



Popular technology website Gizmodo labelled the Swedish firm’s move “a giant mistake”, saying that it would sap the goodwill of fans who gathered around their common love for the firm’s products at Ikeahackers.net. “Instead of encouraging a blogger who has spent years creating what amounts to free publicity for Ikea — and helping people find more reasons to buy products they may otherwise have overlooked — the company is bullying her over a tiny amount of advertising revenue,” the website wrote.

Online publication BoingBoing.net was less charitable in expressing its disagreement with Ikea’s move as well as the eventual outcome. “Ikea’s C&D is, as a matter of law, steaming bullshit. There’s no trademark violation here — the use of Ikea’s name is purely factual,” Cory Doctorow, a popular author and one of the site’s editors, wrote. “There is no chance of confusion or dilution from Ikeahackers’ use of the mark. This is pure bullying, an attempt at censorship. I’m shocked to see that Jules has a lawyer who advised her to take such a terrible deal.” 

Following her agreement with Ikea, Yap is now shifting to a new web address — still undecided — where she promises fans of Ikeahackers “can still find all the useful hacks when you need to”. 

For its part, Ikea said the move was prompted by its “responsibility” to its customers and the trust that they have for the brand, saying that the use of its trademark in Ikeahackers may lead people to think they are connecting with the Swedish firm directly. 

“When other companies use the Ikea name for economic gain, it creates confusion and rights are lost,” an Ikea representative was quoted as saying by British news service BBC.

Ikea was founded in 1943 by Swedish magnate Ingvar Kamprad, one of the richest men in the world.

 

Wealth-X reveals 8 common myths about the super rich

Wealth-X reveals 8 common myths about the super rich



Wealth X

Thursday, Jun 12, 2014

 

SINGAPORE - Contrary to popular belief, ultra wealthy individuals do not necessarily all inherit their wealth, attend Ivy League universities, own superyachts or private jets, or emerge unscathed from the impact of economic cycles.

These are some of the common myths debunked by Wealth-X, the world's leading ultra high net worth (UHNW) intelligence and prospecting firm, in a special report released June 11, 2014.

The report shows that only 19 per cent of the global UHNW population fully inherited their wealth.

However, 65 per cent made their wealth themselves and a further 16 per cent inherited and grew their fortune through their own entrepreneurial endeavours.

It also shows that UHNW individuals - defined as those with assets of at least US$30 million - who inherited their wealth have a lower average net worth (US$130 million) than their entrepreneurial peers who made their fortunes (US$142 million).

The report also reveals that only a small fraction of the global UHNW population possess a high enough net worth to afford a 30-metre superyacht, which has an average price tag of US$10 million (before maintenance, fuel and other expenses).

Due to the high cost of owning and maintaining a private jet or superyacht, many UHNW individuals charter these luxury crafts or travel on commercial airlines - albeit in first or business class.

Below are eight common myths about the ultra wealthy:

1. The world's wealthiest inherited all their money
2. The majority of super wealthy are investment bankers
3. "Technopreneurs are all hoodie-wearing college dropouts in their 20s"
4. "I have to go to an Ivy League University to be an UHNW individual"
5. The wealthy are immune to economic cycles
6. Chinese UHNW population is growing faster than everyone else
7. The wealthy don't give back
8. UHNW individuals all fly by private jet and own a superyacht
Globally, there were 199,235 individuals in 2013, with a combined wealth of US$27.7 trillion, according to the Wealth-X and UBS World Ultra Wealth Report.

Download the full report at http://www.wealthx.com/articles/2014/8-myths-about-the-super-rich/

A million pupils in England speak another first language

A million pupils in England speak another first language

LONDON: More than one million pupils in state-funded schools in England – one in six – do not speak English as their first language, official figures out Thursday showed.

The number has swelled by a third in the last five years to 1.11 million children, or 16.6 per cent, according to the Department for Education statistics for January 2014.

In London primary schools, where pupils are aged five to 11, the figure is 48.1 per cent.

It rises to 75.8 per cent in the Tower Hamlets borough and 75.3 per cent in neighbouring Newham borough in east London, both areas with high levels of immigration.

Outside London, English is not the first language of at least two in five primary school pupils in Birmingham (43.1 per cent), Bradford (43.4 per cent), Leicester (48.8 per cent), Luton (51.5 per cent) and Slough (58.3 per cent).

A Department for Education spokesman stressed that by the time pupils sit their GCSE exams at 16, “pupils with English as an additional language are performing almost as well as pupils whose first language is English.”

In the 2012/2013 academic year, 60.9 per cent of pupils whose first language is English obtained the higher grades in GCSE, compared to 58.3 per cent of those whose first language was not.

The statistics also showed that 29.5 per cent of pupils at English primary schools and 25.3 per cent in secondary schools – for pupils aged 11 to at least 16 - were not classified as being “white British.”

In London, 71 per cent of primary pupils were not “white British“, rising to 81 per cent in the 14 inner city boroughs.

The figure was 89 percent in Tower Hamlets, with 63 percent being of Bangladeshi origin.
----- AFP

Facebook expands users' ad targeting profiles with website data

Facebook expands users' ad targeting profiles with website data



Reuters

Thursday, Jun 12, 2014

 

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook Inc is expanding the internal user profiles that underpin its targeted advertising system, for the first time including personal information based on activities that did not occur within the boundaries of its social network.

While Facebook has long maintained internal profiles of users based on the comments they make and the posts that they "like" within its social network, the company will now flesh out those profiles with information based on some of the external websites and mobile apps its members use, a move that could further inflame concerns about how it treats personal privacy.

The enhanced profiles will allow marketers to deliver more relevant ads, Facebook said in a blog post announcing the change on Thursday.

If a Facebook user researches a new television on an external website or inside of a mobile app, their profile might now indicate an interest in televisions and in electronics, making it easier for advertisers pitching electronic devices to reach that user on Facebook.

Facebook already has access to much of this information through tools that it uses to measure the performance of its ads as well as through "plug-ins" that integrate Facebook features on third-party websites, but the company has not until now incorporated the data into its users' ad targeting profiles.

To quell potential privacy concerns, Facebook will for the first time give users the ability to review and edit their internal advertising profiles.

By clicking on a button alongside Facebook ads, a user can see all the "interests" on their record, remove unwanted categories and add any desired categories.

Facebook said it will also provide a link to an industry website that will allow users to not have their activities on websites tracked, as well as a link to the appropriate controls within their smartphones to eliminate mobile app tracking.

The new ad capabilities come as Facebook strives to ramp up its advertising revenue amid competition from Google Inc while addressing persistent concerns about personal privacy on the world's No.1 social network.

In April, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced new features that lets users limit how much personal information they share with third-party mobile apps.
Facebook, Google and other online companies have faced increasing scrutiny and enforcement from privacy regulators as consumers entrust ever-increasing amounts of information about their personal lives to Web services.

In 2012, Facebook settled privacy charges with the US Federal Trade Commission that it had deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they intended.

Under the settlement, Facebook is required to get user consent for certain changes to its privacy settings and is subject to 20 years of independent audits.

Alibaba takes on Amazon and eBay with US e-commerce website

Alibaba takes on Amazon and eBay with US e-commerce website



Reuters

Thursday, Jun 12, 2014

 

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd unveiled its first direct-to-consumer online shop in the United States on Wednesday, looking to take on Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc on their home turf.

The website, 11main.com, which is currently in beta, will feature a wide range of products, including "one-of-a-kind items, not available at mass merchants and other large e-commerce sites," Alibaba said.

The website displayed an "opening soon" message early on Wednesday. "Our shop owners are currently unpacking and getting settled," the site said.

The invitation-only marketplace, which Alibaba said would be "inspired by the local Main Street shopping experience," will offer products in a variety of categories such as fashion and style, home and outdoor, and jewelry and watches.

The announcement comes as Alibaba prepares for a US initial public offering that is expected to raise more than US$15 billion (S$18.75 billion) - the most since Facebook's IPO in 2012.

The company, founded by Jack Ma, controls 80 per cent of all online retail in China, handling about US$250 billion in 2013 - more than Amazon and eBay Inc combined.

Reuters reported in February that Alibaba was set to launch a US e-commerce website.

 

WordPress Tutorials

Top 10 Places to Find Free Stock Images For Your WordPress Site

by Sarah Gooding August 7^th, 2013 23 Responses

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The images you include on your website are probably more powerful than the content you write. People are very impatient when it comes to reading these days, but the right images will make visitors more likely to read your content and make a genuine connection.

 

Finding great images for your site is easy if you know where to look. We’ve put together a roundup of the best places to find free, high quality stock images for use on your WordPress site.

 

Given that WordPress powers roughly 19% of the web, many of these image services have accompanying WordPress plugins to make it easy for publishers to find and post images. We’ll make note of those wherever available.

Photo Pin

Photo Pin is a site that offers “free photos for bloggers & creatives.” It allows you to search millions of Creative Commons photos from Flickr. The search allows you to specify the license type and hover over thumbnails for image previews. One of the most convenient aspects is that each photo includes the proper attribution link on the download page so that all you have to do is paste it into your post.

Pixabay

Pixabay is a curated repository for finding and sharing public domain images. The site is available in 20 languages so that people around the world can sign up to upload their images. All of the images on Pixabay can be used freely in digital and printed format, for personal and commercial use. Attribution to the original author is not required.

 

Pixabay Images is a WordPress plugin that you can install to add images with one click. The plugin works seamlessly with the WordPress media library:

• Search Pixabay’s public domain pictures via “Add Media” button inside the editor.
• Filter search results by image type (clipart, photo) and/or orientation (landscape, portrait).
• Preview images in paginated search results.
• Direct image uploads to WordPress’ media library.
• Use of standard media dialogues for editing and inserting images.

Once you install and activate the free plugin, you’ll have access to 80,000+ quality public domain images and will be able to search, edit, and insert images inside the WordPress content editor.

Compflight

Compfight makes use of the flickr™ API to pull in images. Search capabilities have several unique ways for tailoring your searches, including searching by tags only vs. all the text, licenses, the option to show or hide originals and turn on/off the safe content filter.

The Compfight WordPress plugin was created by the developers at Compfight. Installing this plugin makes it easy to search Creative Commons images and insert them into your content with the proper attribution. It’s important to note, however, that this plugin does not download the image. Instead the images stay hosted on Flickr.

Google Image Search

Google Image Search allows you to use advanced options to narrow your results, including:

Featured Plugin - WordPress Q&A Site Plugin

It's now incredibly easy to start your own Q&A site using nothing more than WordPress - The Q&A plugin simply and brilliantly transforms any site, or page, into a perfect support or Q&A environment.

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• Size
• Color
• Image Type
• Geographical Region
• Site or domain
• Face search
• File type
• License

Although the advanced Google image search doesn’t seem to have a lot of frills, it gives you the full power of the search engine narrowed specifically for images.

morgueFile

MorgueFile has been around since 1996 and is a well-known source for free high resolution stock photos. You can use the images however you like with the exception of claiming ownership. The images you find will not be smaller than 800 x 600 pixels so you’re guaranteed to find a decent size that isn’t too terribly small.

everystockphoto

Everystockphoto is a search engine for free photos and includes images from many different sources and licenses. The site currently contains 19,438,685 free photos and allows you to search by resolution, license, shape and size. You can search the following sites on Everystockphoto from one integrated search bar:

• Flickr
• freerangestock
• imageafter
• morgueFile
• NASA
• Photl

• photoXpress
• RGBStock
• stock.xchng
• Wikimedia Commons
• Wikipedia

stockvault

Stockvault boasts 40,000 free images. Most of the search is category driven. Mousing over images pops up a larger preview. The licensing is a little bit more restricted than some of the other sites as Stockvault focuses on medium and high resolution photographs that designers and students can share and use for their personal and non-commercial design work.

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository for public domain and freely-licensed educational media content, including images, sound and video clips. It currently contains 17,913,670 files and 111,703 media collections with some very unique historical images.

Wikimedia Commons has some very useful category searches to help you find the right images. For example, you can search by Public domain or People, Images or Photographs, with even more specific subcategory breakdowns on each page.

Fotor

Fotor currently contains 228,452,941 free stock photos and hosts over 190 million free Creative Commons images from many online sources. Adding an image to your blog is easy. You simply grab the embed code for your selected image and the code will contain all necessary CC attribution.

The official WordPress plugin is called Free Stock Photos Foter. It makes it easy to search, manage and add free photos to your site within the dashboard. The Fotor plugin features:

• Image resizing: flexibility and preview feature
• Image download: you can use plugin or simply download image from foter.com website
• Attribution info: all attribution information is automatically added to the photo, so you don’t need to add it manually
• Search photos: you can search photos by tags or keywords
• Speed: very fast and easy to use

Flickr

Flickr has a great creative commons search feature as well as multiple plugins that bring images directly into your WordPress site. The Creative Commons photostream includes all the images that Flickr users have elected to have included. You can narrow your search by license type.

Flickr – Pick a Picture is one plugin that lets you search Flickr Creative Commons in your dashboard and select images to use anywhere within your WordPress site. It also includes the ability to embed html in image captions and generates the required attribution to the original Flickr author.

Flickr Photo Post is another very similar WordPress plugin for adding Flickr images. It includes an Ajax-powered search box for keywords. You can preview thumbnails, select an image and then easily include it in your content. Inserted images include the required copyright note and a nofollow image link to the author’s Flickr page.

Chances are that you aren’t always going to find exactly the image you want by only using one source. Make sure to bookmark all of your favorites so that you can quickly jump around to multiple image sites when you’re on the hunt.

Similar articles

• The Best Places To Find Images For Your WordPress Posts Without Spending A Fortune
• The Ultimate Guide to Finding and Using Free Images On Your WordPress Site
• When is a Free WordPress Theme Really Free? Some Thoughts and Some Places to Find Them

 

 

Singaporean travellers most online-savvy when booking holiday accommodation

Singaporean travellers most online-savvy when booking holiday accommodation

 

AsiaOne (Singapore)

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2014

 

SINGAPORE - Asia consumers are the most online-savvy when booking travel accommodation, according to a study commissioned by AsiaRooms.com and Lenovo.
75 per cent of respondents indicated that when it comes to booking travel accommodation for leisure and business trips, reservations were done online (10 per cent higher than the global average) and Singapore ranks the highest at 84 per cent.

The study also aims to gain greater insights to the travel booking habits of consumers globally which includes the usage patterns of mobile devices.

Amongst the markets surveyed, Asia takes the limelight and leads the global ratings in travel bookings online, mobile searches, and mobile purchases.

The use of mobile devices for travel accommodation booking is a rising trend in Asia, according to a joint press release by AsiaRooms.com and Lenovo.

When surveyed, 59 per cent of respondents in Asia indicated that searching for travel accommodation online via mobile ranks as their top usage.

Asia came in 13 per cent higher than the global average, with Thailand ranking the highest at 65 per cent amongst the countries in Asia.

The second most popular activity was to compare prices of travel accommodation online, with 50 per cent of the respondents from Asia stating they do so (10 per cent higher than the global average).

33 per cent of consumers in Asia have said that they book travel accommodation via their mobile devices (8 per cent higher than the global average).

The study also revealed that 58 per cent of consumers in Asia are using their mobile devices to make online purchases.

63 per cent of consumers in Asia have also said that they are likely to use mobile devices in the future for making travel accommodation booking (10 per cent higher than global average).

The top reasons quoted for respondents not wanting to use the mobile device more often is that content is hard to see on the mobile device (40 per cent) and that the Internet connection on mobile devices is slow or unstable (35 per cent).

The survey findings are based on the responses of over 12,000 online participants in over 25 major international markets, covering the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and Oceania. 

 

Fixed deposit variants explained

June 3, 2014

For building a solid savings and cash buffers – the interest rates on an fixed deposit can’t be beat. But are they all made the same?

By Chester John

Fixed deposits are an alternative to the regular savings accounts that offer additional interest in exchange for less withdrawal flexibility. For building a solid savings and cash buffers – the interest rates on an FD can’t be beat. But are they all made the same?
 
The standard fixed deposit


Here’s how a standard fixed deposit looks like:

6-month Fixed Deposit A	Interest Rate at 3.65% p.a.
Deposit Amount (RM)	6-month Interest (RM)
5000	90.43
20000	361.73
50000	904.32

 
With the fixed deposit featured in the example above, all you have to do is deposit money into the account for 6-months and upon maturity, you will get your initial deposit (principal) back along with interest of 3.65% p.a.
 
Fixed deposit variations
Ever see banks advertise absurdly high interest rates on their fixed deposit promotions?
Most of the time, there’s usually some sort of catch, and without even going into the mechanics of the promotion, a strong tell- tale sign shows itself when they use the phrase earn up to X% p.a..

There are generally two main types of methods banks use in order to inflate the interest rate of their product during a promotion: by stepping up the interest rates and bundling the FD with a current or savings account (CASA). These are more commonly known as Step-Up and CASA Bundling respectively. Some FD promotions may even include both Step-Up and CASA bundling.

There is a third method where the fixed deposit is linked to some sort of investment program but we will not be covering that in this article.
 
Step-up fixed deposit
Think of a step-up FD as a staircase.

The tenure of fixed deposit placement is split into different sections, with different interest rates assigned to them, each getting progressively higher. In this case, the advertised rate usually only affects the final month (or section) of the tenure. As such, the effective interest rate will always be lower than the advertised rate. For example, Bank A’s Campaign boasts an interest of up to 6.88% p.a. for a 6-month Fixed Deposit market but a closer look shows this:

	Month 1-2	Month 3-4	Month 5	Month 6	Total
Interest Rate (p.a.)	3.00%	3.15%	3.24%	6.88%	3.73%
Interest Earned on RM10,000 (RM)	49.39	52.08	26.88	56.31	184.66

 
As you can see from the table above, the 6.88% p.a. offered only affects the 6th and final month of the tenure. Calculating the effective rate gives you 3.73% p.a. for the 6-month period.
 
Fixed deposit with CASA bundling
This kind of fixed deposit requires you to put some money into a CASA account as well. This is on top of whatever you choose to put into your FD. The amount you have to put into your CASA account is usually a predetermined fixed amount or a percentage of your FD amount.

It may be possible to be swayed by an attractive FD rate, but don’t forget that you are actually depositing your money into a CASA as well which usually generates a very poor interest rate. In general, the more you have to put into your CASA, the lower your effective rate will be (since the CASA rate will offset the FD rate more significantly).

	6-month Promo FD	6-month CASA	Total
Initial Deposit (RM)	10000	5000	15000
Interest Rate p.a.	4.28%	0.5%	3.01%
Interest Generated (RM)	211.76	2.50	214.25

 
For example, Bank B advertises an interest rate of 4.28% p.a. for their 6-month FD.

However, the requirement is that you have to deposit 50% of your FD amount into a CASA as well. This means that if you want to deposit RM10,000 into the FD, you would also have to depositRM5,000 into a CASA bringing the total amount deposited to RM15,000. The effective rate calculated comes up to 3.01% p.a., 1.27% lower than advertised.

These are some of the ways your fixed deposit can be structured. Always read your terms in full to know exactly where you’re storing your cash!

This was brought you by Chester John from RinggitPlus.com. RinggitPlus compares credit cards, personal loans and home loans to help Malaysians get more for their money.