Most consumers are willing to share personal data, including family information and social network profiles, in return for an improved experience from their service provider.

So finds a major international survey, conducted by research company Coleman Parkes on behalf of Amdocs in April. According to the survey, 57% of consumers are willing to share personal information, such as their location, top five Facebook friends’ names and information about family members, in return for financial rewards or better service, while 54% would even allow this data to be passed on to a third party, under the right conditions.

The survey, of 3,900 consumers in 12 countries, including Australia, was conducted before the massive publicity regarding data disclosure and electronic surveillance in the wake of Ed Snowden’s PRISM revelations. Alastair Hanlon, Head of Market Insight and Strategy at Amdocs, said he did not believe the results would be very different if the survey had been conducted today.

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“People want to share data because they know it means better service,” he said. “What they don’t like is that information being shared without their knowledge. Hanlon mentioned recent surveys in that showed that most US believed the Government had the right to monitor Internet and telephone communications.

Hanlon made his comments to iTWire at Amdoc’s annual InTouch conference, currently being held in Singapore. Amdocs is using the event to release a number of products and strategies (see following stories).

The report also identifies key strategies for service providers to adopt in order to gain permission to use their consumers’ data, which can then be used to uncover customer insights as well as develop new revenue streams. “The results of this survey indicate that fears about unwillingness on the part of consumers to share personal data have been overblown in the industry,” said Ian Parkes of Coleman Parkes.

“Many consumers are willing to share information, provided they receive value in return. With the additional ability to share this information with third parties, customer data has the potential to become a new form of industry currency,” said Hanlon.

Key findings:

• Consumers can be motivated to share: consumers said they would share additional personal information in return for better pricing plans (65%), improved network speed (61%), priority customer service (54%) and shared plans across devices (50%).
• Show me the money: consumers were also open to a range of financial incentives to share personal information. Cash rewards (44%) were most highly valued, alongside loyalty program rewards (38%) and coupons or exclusive deals (39%). One-third (36%) said they would be happy to divulge information for free.
• Service providers can capitalise on consumer trust: with over half of all consumers (56%) considering their service providers trustworthy, service providers are well-placed to introduce new business models, such as selling data to third parties.

“Service providers have a wealth of structured and unstructured consumer data and an established relationship with their customers,” said Hanlon. “Using Amdocs’ advanced technologies and services, service providers can stay ahead and exploit the new revenue potential of big data and the customer insights it generates.”

The report compared the results of Australian respondents with those from respondents in other countries. A key finding is that there is a high level of privacy awareness in Australia. “The Australian regulator is currently contemplating the introduction of tighter privacy protections, including the need for mandatory data breach notification.

The reports also says that OTT (over the top) services are prevalent in Australia, and customers feel comfortable using their services. But Australian customers have a more complex relationship with their service providers. “Customer complaints are on a downward trend, but bill shock over smartphone apps and web browsing continues to rise, according to the latest statistics from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.”

Disclaimer - Graeme Philipson attended the InTouch event as a guest of Amdocs

The dictionary today released a list of words that are being officially added into the English language, including some tech-oriented colloquialisms.

Words like 'live-blogging,' 'crowdsourcing', 'mouseover' and 'streaming' have been added to the 2013 edition, although, controversially, the dictionary is breaking its own rule that a word must be "current for ten years" before it can be included into the dictionary.

While someone may have legitimately been live-blogging in 2003, no-one was tweeting, as Twitter didn't launch until 2006.

{loadposition dswan}In 2011 the dictionary controversially removed 'cassette tape' from its list.

Other words added to the dictionary include 'flash mob' and 'geekery,' along with 'handy-dandy,' 'heart-stopping' and 'mani-pedi.'

Surely the art of flash mobbing died years ago, but not according to Oxford.

Over 1,200 new words have been added to the dictionary this year for a total of more than 823,000 entries.

A full list of new words added in June 2013 can be found on a post on the dictionary's website.

Porsche has unveiled a pedal-powered go-kart designed for kids weighing up to 50 kilograms, featuring a tubular steel frame, low-profile inflatable tires, a sport seat, composite rims and a rear braking system.

And the price tag? Just US$900.

{loadposition dswan}The vehicle takes advantage of Porsche Intelligent Performance, the technology that keeps the automaker’s hybrid and electric sports cars light and efficient.

It would make the perfect gift for the kid who's got everything already, and comes with a handbreak to help prevent living room car crashes.

The go-kart should also ironically help exercise and shedding kilos, given that whoever's driving will be doing all the pedal work themselves.

Check the car out for yourself at Porsche's product page here.

The study, conducted by Samsung of around 3000 Britons, also found that around one in five users take photos with the intention of posting them on sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Meanwhile a paltry 13% of 18 to 24 year olds have ever owned a photo album, and 'selfies' account for 30% of the pictures shot by those aged 18 to 24 and, according to the study, men take more pictures of themselves than women.

{loadposition dswan}This journalist is definitely not a part of the problem.

Worse still, hundreds of millions of photographs taken each year are never downloaded, with 34% of people admitting that they do not have the time or know-how.

Hopefully Aussies are more tech-savvy than our British counterparts, however this is yet to be studied.

The Samsung study also revealed that one in ten happy-snappers said that they shared their photographs within 60 seconds of taking them, using internet-enabled devices to post pictures straight to their social network pages.

Samsung's Simon Stanford, said that 91% of adults regularly use social networks, including picture services Instagram and Flickr.

The survey also found that women in the UK are three times more likely to take a picture of their pet than of their friends.

Samsung estimated that 1.9 billion photos are taken in Britain each year, with around 328 million of them shared on the internet.

There was a 65% increase in reports of online shopping scams.

ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard has launched the ACCC’s Targeting Scams report, which reveals that over $93 million was reported lost by Australians last year. The launch of the report marks the beginning of National Consumer Fraud Week 2013 with this year’s campaign, ‘Outsmart the scammers!’, which focuses on helping Australians shop safely online.

Scammers also continued to use the phone as their preferred method of delivery, with combined voice and text message scams constituting over half (56%) of all reports to the ACCC. Scams delivered online also increased to represent just over 35% of all scam approaches.

“However, reports of financial losses to the ACCC are just the tip of the iceberg as victims of scams are often too embarrassed to report their experience,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said. “Scammers continue to find sophisticated methods to deliver scams, taking advantage of new technologies and communication methods to try and slip under your radar.”

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 “Nowadays it can take just the click of a button to fall victim to a scam, so it is more important than ever that we practice safe techniques when communicating with others—whether online, on the phone, at one’s business or even at home.”

The report is at www.scamwatch.gov.au/outsmartthescammers.

Major types of scam include:

• The Advanced Fee Fraud,. Victims are asked to pay to access a share in a sum of money they are owed ($30 million).
• Dating and Romance scams. Victims are duped into sending money to a scammer they have an online relationship ($23 million).
• Online auction and shopping scams. Increasingly sophisticated scams which can use fake logos, emails or fake websites ($4 million)
• Lottery and sweepstake scams. Victims are asked to pay a fee to access lottery winnings ($2.6 million).
• Computer hacking scams. Victims receive a phone call about a computer virus and are convinced to provide access to their computer ($1.3 million).

Australians are one of the world’s biggest users of online banking, just as we were the first country to embrace ATMs. EFT (electronic funds transfer) is also very big in Australia, and the BPAY consortium, owned by the Big Four banks, is widely used to pay bills.

But now PayPal is becoming increasingly available as a payment option. It is no longer just used for eBay transactions (it is owned by eBay), but is striking up deals all around the world that are making it a rival to traditional banks. In the European Union it is a bank, registered in Luxembourg.

Now PayPal has announced a deal in Australia with utility company Australian Power & Gas and Telstra to allow bill payments via PayPal online and on mobile. “Nearly half of all Australians having incurred a late fee as a result of forgetting to pay a bill,” said Andrew Rechtman, Director of Strategy for PayPal Australia. “We’re seeing an increased demand by consumers for real-time, digital payments, with mobile serving as a critical channel for utility providers.

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“At PayPal, we’re proud to be working with utility providers such as Australian Power & Gas and Telstra to enable faster, more secure and seamless payment infrastructure, bringing bill payments in line with the technology Australian customers have come to expect.”

David Goadby, General Manager, Retail, at Australian Power & Gas said the partnership marked the company’s continued investment in innovation, providing their customers with more payment options to help them better manage their energy bills.

“By partnering with PayPal, Australian Power & Gas is able to deliver more convenient payment options for our customers no matter where they are. As a growing number of consumers turn to digital payments to manage their bills, we are committed to providing greater choice and flexibility for our customers.”

The partnership with Australian Power & Gas follows the recent announcement of PayPal payments launching with Telstra, allowing PayPal’s 5 million active Australian customers who are also Telstra customers to pay their Telstra bills online and via the Telstra 24x7 mobile applications using their PayPal digital wallet.

PayPal has indicated that it will sign similar deals in Australia with other suppliers. With the parallel growth in mobile payments, the world is changing very quickly.

The Iconia W3 is definitely the biggest news to come from the Taiwanese tech giant, but the company also launched a new 6-inch phablet as well as a refresh of its Aspire S3 and S7 laptops, now all featuring touchscreens and Haswell processors.

Acer CEO JT Wang said his company was making sure users were at the center of everything it did. “Users are becoming smarter and demand a significant improvement in the user experience,” he said. “If you don't do that, they won't buy.”

The 8-inch Iconia W3 was the most exciting announcement of a day, weighing in at literally half a kilogram and sizing up at 11.4mm thick. The Windows 8 device can handle about eight hours of battery life, and 720p video playback on its 1,280 x 800 display. Acer also promised a full version of Office free with the tablet, along with an optional full-size keyboard accessory .

{loadposition dswan}Other neat specs include Intel’s 1.8GHz Atom Z2760 dual-core processor (Clover Trail), 2GB of memory, and either 32- or 64GB of storage. The iPad rival also comes equipped with a microSD slot for expansion as well as micro-HDMI and USB.

The Iconia W3-810 will be available in the second quarter of 2013 starting at US$379.

Acer also announced the Liquid S1, with a 5.7-inch display (1280x720), MediaTek MT6589 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of memory and 8GB of storage.

The S1 is an Android Jelly Bean device, also running Acer's proprietary 'Float Use Interface', which aims to help with mult-tasking. The OS variant also includes Float camera, maps, calculator and notes apps (a digital stylus is optional). The device supports dual SIM cards and will be available in Asia and Europe starting in the third quarter.

For info on Acer's new laptop range, now powered by Haswell, continue on to page two.

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In a raft of changes for Acer, its flagship S7 laptop now sports 8GB of RAM as standard, an upgrade from the last model's 4GB. The processor is a shiny new fourth generation Intel Haswell CPU, and the battery has been boosted from 4,680mAh to 6,280mAh — a 34% increase.

The device has only a minimal increase in thickness (from 0.47 to 0.51 inches) and essentially zero increase in weight. Pricing is the same as last year's model.

The S3 meanwhile is a completely new beast from its predecessor, combining the S7's touchscreen design with a discrete graphics card — Nvidia’s new GeForce GT735M. It also boasts a 1TB HDD instead of the same SSD available in the S7, offering eight times the storage as its previous incarnation in a package that’s just 0.7 inches thick. No pricing details as of yet.

{loadposition dswan}Finally the company also showed off the newest version of its Z3 all-in-one desktop device, which features flashy Harman Kardon speakers (a first for Acer desktops), two USB 3.0 ports, and an adjustable webcam. Also notable are the computer's  23-inch 10-point capactive touchscreen, and an all-back rectangular design. The new Z3 will be available worldwide later this month.

Online retail sales continued to grow at a “vastly stronger” rate than the traditional bricks and mortar retail sector, says this quarters NAB Online Retails Sales Index.

“After a weak March, April saw a rebound in online sales growth – back up to 23% year-on-year,” said Alan Oster, Group Chief Economist at NAB. This is in line with the typical levels we’ve seen since late 2011. The strongest rates of growth this quarter were recorded in Fashion, Daily Deals and Media.

The report shows pending patterns remain quite different between the online and traditional retail sectors, and also differ by age group. The strongest per capita spending is from people aged between 35 and 44), and residents in the ACT, Northern Territory and Western Australia.

“It was encouraging to see a gradual uplift in sentiment among retailers in the April quarter. In the online environment, this translated into much stronger sales – growing at 23% in the 12 months to April 2013 compared to 12% year-on-year in March, “ said Tiernan White, NAB Retail Sector Head.

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“The share of online spend to traditional spend continues to grow quarter by quarter. At $13.5 billion for the year to April, it’s now at around 6% of the size of traditional retail compared to 5.2% for the same time last year. While we’re seeing businesses take a multi-channel approach by developing an online presence alongside a traditional storefront, growth rates among businesses remains mixed.

“Online sales have grown by over $2 billion in the past year, evidence that retailers are becoming more sophisticated in how they engage with their customers.”

The search giant revealed the changes to its inboxes in a blog post today, including customizable tabs. The categorized tabs will also be available -- with a swipe -- on mobile for Android and Apple iOS apps.

"We get a lot of different types of email: messages from friends, social notifications, deals and offers, confirmations and receipts, and more," Product Manager Itamar Gilad wrote. 

"All of these emails can compete for our attention and make it harder to focus on the things we need to get done. Sometimes it feels like our inboxes are controlling us, rather than the other way around.

{loadposition dswan}"But it doesn’t have to be that way. Today, Gmail is getting a brand new inbox on desktop and mobile that puts you back in control using simple, easy organization."

Google made it clear to Gmail users in the post that the newest version is not mandatory, and will instead just be as another additional inbox option. Completely optional.

Google will roll the new Gmail to users gradually, with the mobile versions expected to become available within the next few weeks.

The revamped design comes three years after Google's previous attempt at fixing clutter, when it launched the controversial Priority inbox system.

Apps such as Sparrow and Mailbox have also attempted to 'fix' Gmail.

Gmail is the world's most popular email service, with some 288 million users as of October 2012.

Check out the video below to see the changs in more detail.

In just two years, the percentage of Australians over 14 that own or use a tablet has more than quadrupled, from 7.2% in February 2011 to 33.5% in February 2013. That means over 5 million additional tablet users.

People in households with children under 16 are more likely to own tablets than young singles, young couples without kids, or older people with no children in the home. Overall, 43.0% of people with kids at home have a tablet, compared to 28.7% of people living child-free. 42.1% of people with just one kid at home have a tablet, while those with three or more are the most likely – 45.2% of them.

The findings come from new analysis by Roy Morgan Research. Mobile, Internet and Technology Industry Director Andrew Braun says: “As tablet ownership and usage continues to rise, our research shows a link between the number of children in the household and tablet ownership.

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“Our latest Young Australian Survey YAS showed that almost two out of three Australian children under 13 consider the iPad to be ‘really cool’ now, which could be driving the purchase behaviour of their parents.

“It’s important for technology retailers, media companies and digital content providers to understand how households choose, buy and share devices – which members prompt the initial purchase and who makes the final decision, who are the household’s early adopters, and who are its primary and secondary users."