Friday, February 25, 2011

High prices drive Malaysian shoppers abroad, online


A model presents a creation by Gucci at the Milan Fashion Week February 23, 2011.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — Malaysian shopping doyen Mira Abu Bakar, known for her popular blog on shopping, Redmummy (redmummy.com) is a self-professed shopaholic who spends thousands on branded handbags each year.

Most of that money, however, is spent in London and Paris rather than in KL handbag boutiques.

Despite government efforts to promote Malaysia as a shopping destination, massive price disparities are driving savvy shoppers like Redmummy overseas and to shopping websites in order to stretch their ringgit and get branded items for far less than what is available in Malaysia.

Redmummy, who makes a shopping trip to Europe every year, said Chanel bags that cost RM10,000 in Paris or London cost RM13,000-RM14,000 in Malaysia.

On a recent trip to London, she said she saved RM5,000 on the purchase of three handbags including a Miu Miu bag that cost RM3,000 (RM5,000 in KL) along with a Mulberry and Chloe bag.

KL is very expensive,” she told The Malaysian Insider.

“The government really needs to relook at our prices, especially compared with Singapore. Only rich people can afford to shop in KL.”

Shoppers queue in front of the Louis Vuitton outlet on Orchard Road, Singapore July 9, 2009.
While going overseas to shop may seem like a hassle, many Malaysians find that the savings can pay for the flight ticket and possibly even cover other expenses of a holiday.

Finance executive and shopping enthusiast Rizal Omar said he “doesn’t even bother” shopping locally anymore but waits until one of his overseas business trips or planned vacations to do his purchasing.

Rizal last year took an empty suitcase to London where he stocked up on 20kg worth of purchases including Thomas Pink shirts for £29 (RM141) and Timberland shoes for £20 (RM98).

Thomas Pink shirts cost up to RM800-RM900 in Malaysia.

“The savings subsidised my holiday,” said Rizal. “Besides, you can’t get good quality shirts for RM100 plus ringgit in Malaysia.”

On his visit to the famed Bicester outlet mall in UK, he was told by retailers there that they see many Malaysians shopping there — including even members of the Malaysian royalty.

He also bought a Gucci bag for a friend for €380 (RM1,571) on a trip to Europe two years ago. The same bag apparently cost RM3,500 in KL.

Rizal also complained about “sales” in Malaysia, saying he usually only sees price reductions of about 20-30 per cent whereas on his trips to Europe, Singapore or Hong Kong, price reductions of 50-70 per cent are common and he sometimes even sees 90 per cent discounts.

Those who are unable to travel abroad normally place orders with those they know who are going or even with strangers.

Engineer Edward Seah, who made a trip to California last month, brought back 10 Coach handbags and wristlets for friends, family members and colleagues who ordered them before he left.

He also bought towels from the Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren home range for just US$8 (RM24) each and shopped at Armani for clothes at 70 per cent off.

“I have never shopped so much in my life before,” he said, adding that he liked the no questions asked return policy in the US.

In the popular Low Yat online forum, there are Malaysians going overseas who advertise their shopping services whereby they will charge a 12.5 per cent commission for each purchase.

One such advertisement placed in July last year for a shopping trip to UK drew orders for about 100 items from 23 different forum members including for Ted Baker bags, Nike shoes and La Senza lingerie.

Those unable to travel abroad turned to online shopping.
Online shopping is also gaining popularity due to their wide range of products and incentives such as free shipping.

Student Hana Abu Bakar says that she finds it cheaper to shop online for brands like Banana Republic, and an increasing number of online shopping websites are offering free shipping for purchases above a certain amount.

She added that her friends bought BCBG dresses online for about RM600 while similar dresses cost up to RM2,000 in KL shops.

A check with the Thomas Pink website showed shirts for sale as low as £49.

Malaysia has made moves to make shopping more attractive in the country including abolishing import taxes in Budget 2011. The stronger ringgit should also, in theory, make goods more affordable.

Many shoppers, however, have complained that they have not noticed any reduction in prices.

The director of wholesale and retail at government think tank Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), Ravidran Devagunam, acknowledged that some retailers will maximise profits on luxury items not readily available in Malaysia but said that the government is “unable” to compel them to discount their prices after the abolishment of import duties as luxury goods and apparel are not controlled items.

“However, we believe that market forces and consumer education will eventually force a price reduction of these goods over time,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

He added that some international brands control the price of their products from their principle countries, thus setting arbitrary retail prices for other markets like Malaysia to follow.

“This creates a false ‘advantage’ for their home countries in that European prices of certain brands are artificially cheaper than the prices in the Far East,” said Devagunam.

Foreign brands create price disparities to gain home ground advantage, said Ravidran.
He noted that, for many years, Malaysia suffered a limited choice of some branded goods because the market was regarded as immature and retailers did not bring in the full range of stock, leading to an outflow of shoppers which in turn resulted in lower economies of scale and less desire to “market appropriately.”

The Pemandu director also pointed out that with the opening of the 80-brand Johor Premium Outlet facility in Johor in November this year, Malaysians would get to experience the same level levels of outlet shopping as their counterparts in US and Europe. But in reality, we can hope it in our dream.

Joyce Yap, CEO of the upscale Pavilion mall in KL and the former president of the association for shopping and high rise complexes, said that it was unfair to compare Malaysia to other countries due to prevailing circumstances.

She pointed out that Malaysia has sales taxes of 10 per cent and the fact that the volume of goods sold and cost of logistics also contribute to prices being lower in neighbouring Singapore while Hong Kong and Dubai have no sales tax. But even we deduct out the 10% sales tax, its still 20-30% more expensive?? So please stop giving BS excuse!!

Yap disagreed that sales discounts were better overseas but admitted that due to sheer volume in places like Hong Kong, the probability of finding suitable styles and sizes was higher. Mostly due to that she's CEO of Pavilion and she need customers.

The lack of a service culture in retail outlets in Malaysia is also affecting the industry.

Hana said that she liked shopping in Australia where “the customer is always right” and online where a “no questions asked” return policy is common.

Yap concurred that service in the country needs to be improved.

“Malaysia has great potential to be a top-of-mind shopping destination in 3-5 years,” she said but noted that the range of merchandise, service levels and marketing have to be improved.

Alexis De Laporte, managing director for South East Asia at luxury watch brand Jaeger-LeCoultre, said however that the price of watches, which are duty free in Malaysia, are competitive with those in Singapore and Europe. Only if we (average salary citizen like us) can afford it.

“We have absorbed some key price increase in the production such as gold price which has been rocketing in the last few months,” added De Laporte.


Source:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/high-prices-drive-malaysian-shoppers-abroad-online

Saturday, February 5, 2011

不再需要verycd — 电骡emule资源搜索心得


先看看电骡emule的搜索界面(以emule第 一人气mod xtreme为例),建议不要使用中国verycd制作的修改版(其对外宣称为“电驴官方”,实属欺骗),也就是任何带verycd字样的版本,因为其带 有搜索过滤和限制,侵犯用户隐私,并且删除了原版很多功能,也就是人们常说的“阉割驴”。尽量使用德国官方原版emule或正规mod比如:天使 骡,xtreme,忍者骡等!

搜索
这个就简单了,你想找什么就填什么,选择类型,选择方法即可!右边的是筛选使用的 方法: 服务器:仅限你联机的服务器; 全局(服务器):全部列表中的服务器; KAD网络:使用KAD网络搜索; FileDonkey:(通过WEB搜索FileDonkey搜索)


————————————————————————————————————

电骡emule资源搜索心得

电骡是一个极为优秀的资源共享软件,它让每个人自由地在网络上共享自己的资源。在ED2K网络上流传的资源数以亿计,可谓包罗万象、无所不有。虽然 电骡网络是个大金矿,可是我们所拥有的淘金工具缺寥寥无几,以至于无数共享的资源不为人知,实在可惜。在这里,我就来谈谈自己搜索电骡资源的一点心得,也 希望能抛砖引玉,从各位的回复中学到更多的技巧。

1.你淘过别人的共享文件夹么?
查看别人的共享(简体版叫“查看共享文件”,繁体版叫“检视档案”):


相信很多人都是从中国驴,TLF,VeryCD,ied2k,simplecd等这样的电骡资源发布论坛了解并下载资源的,的确这些论坛所发布的资 源可以说是精华。但是想想并不是所有人都是论坛可以发布资源的会员,并不是所有会员都愿意费力发帖子仅仅为了发布一本书,所以就有无数的资源默默地躺在共 享文件夹里,等着你去发现。

淘金的最好方法就是去查看别人的共享文件夹。举个例子,如果你发现有人在下载你共享的“中华书局”的pdf电子书,你去查看他的共享文件夹,你会发 现他十有八九是历史或国学爱好者,在他的共享文件夹里躺着一票的历史或国学类资源,其中会有一些你闻所未闻的东西让你感到无限惊喜。

在这里有个规律是:人以类聚,物以群分。下载专业性越强资源的人,他所拥有的资源专业性也越强。比如你是化工工程师,有人在下载你的“化学工程师简 明手册.pdf”,不用怀疑,他十有八九也是你的同行,你在他的共享文件夹里可能会发现一些你所没有的专业书籍诸如“[技术]-新编精细化工应用配方 1000例与生产工艺使用手册.pdf”等等。

根据这个规律衍生出一种方法,它特别适用于寻找本身杂乱无章又没有在论坛上有过系统整理发布的一类资源。最有代表性的例子就是AV了——这种数量庞 大而又无法在正规网站上发布信息的资源。你随意用一部AV电骡共享,然后再去查看下载者的共享文件夹,放心,他们的文件夹里一定躺着成百上千数以n G计的AV。这种方法我称为“顺藤摸瓜”,我曾凭借一本食谱书籍,找到n多的烹调书籍与视频。

对于我而言,一天淘上几个人的共享文件夹,说不定找到什么感兴趣的东西下载,蛮有一种淘金的感觉,也让我自得其乐。

2.注意!关键词搜索!
请看看下面几行字:
伟大的西方音乐家传记丛书 巴赫(英国omnibus经典版本).pdf
伟大的西方音乐家传记丛书 勃拉姆斯(英国omnibus经典版本).pdf

[ebook]户外结绳.chm
[ebook]冒险图鉴.chm

二十四史全译.01.史记—–全两册.pdf
二十四史全译.02.汉书—–全三册.pdf

风化史-欧洲风化史-风流世纪.pdf
风化史-欧洲风化史-文艺复兴时代.pdf

[机械]机械工程材料学.pdf
[股票]沃伦·巴菲特投资圣经.pdf

Scientific.American.June.2007
scientific.american.january.2007.pdf

[都铎王朝.第一季].[YYeTs][The.Tudors][S01E01][CN][HR-HDTVrip][720X404]
[水神世纪].[FOSKY][Aquarion][dvdrip][01]

Wiley – Introduction to Logistics Systems Planning and Control
Mcgraw-Hill.-.The.Toyota.Way.-.14.Management.Principles.From.The.World’S.Greatest.Manufacturer

Osprey – Essential Histories 006 – The Seven Years War
George R. R. Martin – Song of Ice and Fire Vol 4 – A Feast for Crows
George R.R. Martin – Song of Ice and Fire 1-3

1984 – Tom Clancy – The Hunt for Red October
1991 – Tom Clancy – The Sum of All Fears

电骡软件的搜索功能也是一项资源搜索利器,请不要忽视它!电骡上有很多是成套共享的资源,他们的文件名中大多都有一些共同字符。各位可以以一套书的 书名、出版社的名字、作者的名字等等字符为关键词搜索它们。在这里要指出的是,电骡支持英文的模糊搜索,而对于中文的支持不够。英文模糊搜索支持的很好, 记不住全称不要紧,记住几个关键词即可,一搜就能搜到;而中文就要求非常精确的名称,错了一个字就搜索不到了。而且英文资源的量很多,我曾经搜索了一下 Amazon书屋里06年的bestseller,竟然大半都能找到,如果是知名作家知名作品那就更加高枕无忧了,耐心下载即可。

从上面我所列出的名单,应该可以看出大约什么是搜索关键词了。所以,在淘别人的文件夹时要时刻留意可能存在的关键词。同时也提醒各位在共享新资源时不妨在文件名中归个类,方便其他人搜索下载。

以上就是我的电骡使用经验,各位不妨也交流一下自己的搜索心得,共同提高以使用好电骡这个软件。

补充:由于中国verycd公司修改出来的emule版本,带有独一无二的中国特色的搜索监视和过滤,为广大emule爱好者所鄙视,所以不推荐大家使用

很多骡友都不知道emule搜索中存在的一个搜索利器,*字符,也就是我们常说的通配符-“米字符”。通过灵活使用这个字符,你可以扩大在emule中的资源搜索面积。比如你直接输入一个*字符来搜索,意思就是查看服务器上索引的全部文件,是不是很有意思。

本文来自emule eastshare官方论坛:http://www.eastshare.tw/viewthread.php?tid=45826
標題: [教學]eMule 的萬用字元搜尋 「*」方便多國語系搜尋 (2007-11-08 修)

作者: badcat
可能已有朋友知道了!但小弟還是開一新文章以特別註明。
希望版主將此文章加入 eMule FAQ 中,以方便新手上路。
建議在搜尋之前先看這一篇,給自己分享的檔案取個好名字吧!(2007-10-16 增)

[教學]eMule & eDonkey [ED2K] 檔案命名規則 [檔名][取名] : (2004-11-30 草案)
P.S. 此文章 在 EastShare 論壇 好像又消失了?,請耐心等待 壞喵 的重貼!

一. * 萬用字元的搜尋應用
eMule 0.4x 版\「搜尋」標籤頁
搜尋名稱: *志村健*
前後都加 * (類似萬用字元 )
用「全球搜尋」
就可找到: 志村健之傻瓜殿下 -春之卷 -.rar
法1. 「志村健*」,就表示搜尋開頭為「志村健…」的檔名,而
法2. 「*志村健」,表示結尾有「…志村健」的檔名,以此類推。
法3. 「*志村健*」,就表示前後都有其它字元 (…志村健…),當然也包含前面「志村健*」、「*志村健」兩個狀況,應該是會最常用的關鍵字!(* 萬用字元代表任何字,當然也包括代表「沒有字元」的情況)
法4. 「** ** **」=「** AND ** AND **」會找到例如 Ex: 「林玲在鄉康.avi」等等檔名。對繁中、簡中、日文多國語系的搜尋更為強大方便,可善用之!(2007-10-14 增)
此功能用以取代早期 eMule 版本的用「志村健 AND 志村健」關鍵字來做「無分隔字元」時的搜尋。(Ex: []-.!() )

二. Kad 的搜尋缺點
缺點 1:可惜目前「伺服器」及「Kad」搜尋都尚不支援 “*” 星號搜尋!(希望官方能加入此功能,以方便繁中、簡中、日文、韓文等「無分隔字元」的語系搜尋)

缺點 2:也無法使用分隔字元做搜尋 Ex: []-.!() 和 (空白),建議可以用 雙引號做「包含」處理。 Ex: 可用 X-Men。(像 Google 處理雙引號的 關鍵字 一樣) (2007-10-14 二增修)

缺點 3:無法搜尋少於 3 個字元的檔案,像某網友想找「U2」就不行。(搜尋一個字元的英文字倒真的沒必要!)

至於中文因為使用 UTF 格式,一個中文字元在 Kad 算三個字元,「」的 UTF 表示式為「%E4%B8%81」剛好算三個字元。

所以 Kad 用「丁」一個字來搜尋是可以的,要找「丁丁」也可以。(還真的都找的到東西?!笑!) 
一個中文字 在 Kad 中是可以搜尋的,之前 壞喵 說:「Kad  不能用 3 個字元的『中文字』做 搜尋」是的!(2007-10-16 修,謝 TWed2k 的 poliu 的指正 )
請參考:
「Kad 切詞輔助」訊息 – by AndCycle – TWed2k
「Kad 切詞輔助」工作網頁 – by AndCycle (可將此網頁存檔,留以後備用。謝 AndCycle 兄提供,2007-10-14 三增)

缺點 4: 無法直接使用 eD2k 連結來搜尋,在「伺服器」及「全球搜尋」欄,你可以用 純 eD2k 連結來搜尋目前該連結的來源狀況。(Ex: 搜尋 eD2k:\\artworks.zip|3|C58CDA49F00748A3BC0FCFA511D516CB|/),這樣你就可以大致知道該 eD2k 連結值不值得下載。(來源太少,沒有完檔…)   (2007-11-08 增)

但在 Kad 搜尋欄中,會出現 無效的 Kad 關鍵字 (因為有分隔字元 ()[]{}…)。你並無法使用這項服務,實屬可惜。(希望新版 Kad 搜尋能加入此功能。)

P.S. eMule 到某一版之後,用「伺服器」及「全球搜尋」欄搜尋,「完成的來源數」變成 百分比 (18%),你無法直接判定「完整來源」夠不夠多,還得自己手動運算,實在不夠直覺!
建議還是回復到舊版中用「118」個「完成的來源數」,會比百分比來源來的直觀。(2007-11-08 增)

夢想範例 1:能用 Kad 搜尋這整個字串 – 「*X-Men* *G Version*」 (2007-10-14 增) (好吧!壞喵 承認我是在幻想!)
夢想範例 2:能用 Kad 搜尋這整個字串 – 「** **」 (雖然「各」只有「一個字元」關鍵字,但兩個加起來有「兩個字元」的關鍵字,方便使用者搜尋繁簡名字不同時的特定情況特別好用!Ex: 丁國琳、丁国琳。(2007-10-14 二增)
(好吧!我承認這也是幻想!)

夢想範例 3:希望能直接省略成 – 「*X-Men*G Version*」、「***」 能達到和上述一樣的效果,那就更帥了!(看的懂範例的意思吧?) (2007-10-14 三增)

注意:本文主要讲电骡自带的搜索功能,也适用于其他搜索引擎!不要一看见科学名词就晕菜,看在我写这么多的份上,认真看完吧!
Boolean(布尔运算)通过对两个以上的物体进行并集、差集、交集的运算,从而得到新的物体形态。
布尔运算有三种:
与:双目运算(要两个参与运算的变量),当两个变量都为真(true)时结果为真
或:双目运算,当两个变量有一个为真时结果为真
非:单目运算,当变量为真是结果为假,变量为假时结果为真
在电骡的搜索框中可以输入多个关键字。如果你输入了多个关键字,那么只会搜到文件名中包含所有关键字的文件,也就是满足所有条件的文件。要实现更复杂的搜索,必须用布尔运算。

注意:只要关键字中含有非拉丁字母(中文、日文、韩文、全角标点符号……),就一定要选中“使用Unicode搜索”。
布尔运算符有三种:
> NOT(非)
实际上叫“与非”。它后面指定的关键字会被排除,也就是说搜出来的文件均不含它后面指定的关键字。属于最高优先级的运算。
举例:关键字1 NOT 关键字2,表示“包含关键字1,但不包含关键字2”
> AND(与)
如果没有写运算符,而直接用空格分开多个关键字的话,默认是AND。用AND连起来的一串关键字,只会搜到文件名中包含所有关键字的文件,也就是满足所有条件的文件。属于中级运算。
举例:关键字1 AND 关键字2 (等于:关键字1 关键字2)
> OR(或)
OR表示只需符合多个关键字中的至少一个。属于最低优先级的运算。
举例:关键字1 OR 关键字2
注意:
> 在Kad网络搜索时,第一关键字至少要有3个字。第一关键字后面不能有AND以外的运算符。
> 在使用“Web搜索”以外的方法搜索时,布尔运算条件和文件类型条件可以随意组合。

> 注意运算符的优先级。根据数学原理,由高到低依次是NOT -> AND -> OR。如果你要改变运算优先级,需要在算式两边加上半角小括号(懂小学数学就懂这个)。

> 如果你要把运算符或小括号当成关键字来搜索,可以使用半角引号。引号里的运算符或小括号没有数学意义,而会被当成普通的关键字。

> 用ORNOT连起来的一串关键字没有AND严格。AND搜索需要满足所有条件,ORNOT搜索只需要满足一部分条件
> ORNOT运算对文件元数据也有效,比如mp3的ID3信息。

举   例:
> 搜索: 关键字1 关键字2 OR 关键字3 关键字4
数学意义:(关键字1 AND 关键字2) OR (关键字3 AND 关键字4)
实际意义:既包含关键字1,也包含关键字2; 或者既包含关键字3,也包含关键字4

> 搜索: 关键字1 关键字2 OR 关键字3 关键字4 NOT 关键字5
数学意义:(关键字1 AND 关键字2) OR [(关键字3 AND 关键字4) NAND 关键字5]
实际意义:既包含关键字1,也包含关键字2; 或者既包含关键字3,也包含关键字4,但是符合3+4这一条件的文件还不能包含关键字5

> 搜索: 关键字1 关键字2 NOT 关键字5 OR 关键字3 关键字4 NOT 关键字5
数学意义:[(关键字1 AND 关键字2) NAND 关键字5] OR [(关键字3 AND 关键字4) NAND 关键字5]
实际意义:既包含关键字1,也包含关键字2; 或者既包含关键字3,也包含关键字4; 而且关键字5既不能出现在1+2条件里,也不能出现在3+4条件里

> 搜索: (关键字1 关键字2 OR 关键字3 关键字4) NOT 关键字5
数学意义:[(关键字1 AND 关键字2) OR (关键字3 关键字4)] NAND 关键字5
实际意义:跟上面完全一样。不同的是,由于用了括号,看起来更加直观。这种写法把“NOT 关键字5”直接作用于整个算式

> 搜索: (关键字1 “OR” 关键字2) NOT 关键字3
数学意义:(关键字1 AND or AND 关键字2) NAND 关键字3
实际意义:因为用引号引住了OROR不再是运算符,而是普通的关键字。这样搜到的文件既包含关键字1,也包含关键字2,也包含单词”or”,但不含关键字3