As you will have seen by now, the Share On interface looks a lot different today than when you first started using it. We have been working away to improve and streamline things and we think that it is looking a lot better and will offer you, the user, a better experience.

Things you will notice most are the additions of Blogs to the top system menu, this will take you through in to the blogging system without the need to go via a the clunky Applications -> Blogs -> Launch , now you simply access blogs via the single link. You can still access Blogs via Applications if you wish. We have also made the Blog Editor a bit prettier and the blog feeds are better formatted and we have introduced filters to allow you to find blogs by date of publication, by Organisation or Group and by Language. Other things that you may not notice but have been improved are the ways in which blog feeds integrate with websites, we now use your OSN rather than Organisation or Group ID.

Next are the new feeds design, we think they look more interesting and are easier to read, the filters for All - Your Organisation and Quite Interesting are now working as intended, we shall be adding Groups to this shortly. The next update will probably include further improvements to the ways in which feeds and posts work, indeed we hope to allow you to post links, images and create events in the not too distant future.

We are continually working away in the background improving, updating and adding new features to Share On. the next major addition to Share On core applications will be the Documents Manager. This will allow you to upload and share files between your organisation, group and the world if you wish. We hope to have this live in the very near future.

We hope you enjoy the new look!

The Share On development Team

Data breaches occur at a high rate at companies in Asia, with notable financial loss.

"40% of businesses say they have experienced significant economic loss as a result of compromised data systems, with financial services firms the worst hit. Also, only 35% of Asian companies believe that they have not had a data breach for 2013. Also, despite lapses in data security, corporate executives are not blaming their own IT departments, with 85% of companies in Asia believing their own IT security systems are trustworthy."

"Also, while 47% of business leaders agree that collaborating with the industry by increasing the disclosure of breaches when they happen can minimise damage, this type collaboration is still rare, with companies unwilling to disclose the occurrence of customer information breaches with the media or competitors."

More info here.

Cross-border sales in Western Europe will more than double by 2018, accounting for 20% of the region’s total ecommerce sales.

"In 2014 nondomestic business-to-consumer ecommerce sales in Europe are to amount to USD 74.67 billion, totaling 14% of all ecommerce sales."

"Comparing the European domestic and the cross-border B2C ecommerce sales, the statistics indicate not only a year-on-year increase in the amount of money spent, but also a clear difference between the sales value associated with domestic ecommerce, as compared to that for cross-border ecommerce at a European level. For instance, out of USD 402 billion predicted for 2014 in terms of ecommerce sales, only USD 56 billion are the result of cross-border sales."

"This status is bound to change in 4-years-time, when it is estimated that, aside the fact that the value for B2C ecommerce sales will grow to about USD 578 billion, the value of cross-border sales will also more than double, reaching USD 116 billion."

"A majority of digital buyers ages 15 to 79 in all EU-5 countries had made a cross-border retail purchase in 2013, excluding services such as downloads, tickets, hotels and travel."

"Out of these European countries, the highest concentration of cross-border buyers can be found in Italy and Spain, where the economic context has kept local retailers from investing in technology, design improvements and product ranges for their own online stores."

More info here.

Australian ecommerce has surpassed any other G20 market due to affordable, good quality internet, sophisticated regulations, widespread smartphone adoption and advanced electronic payment systems.

"As far as the top countries are concerned, a boost in sales is generally registered via the eBay platform and that payments are notably initiated via PayPal. The same report estimates that around 3 billion people will be connected to internet by the end of 2014, a notable rise from 300 million in 1999. Moreover, there is a 5 billion increase predicted for 2020."

"However, the report notes that factors such as restrictive data regulations, outdated shipping rules which offer preeminence to large companies at the expense of small businesses, poor internet access in developing countries are prohibiting ecommerce from reaching its full potential."

More info here.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has advised European lawmakers and the union’s national financial regulators that they should recommend banks and other payment institutions to stay out of dealings with Bitcoin and other virtual currencies.

"EBA has already notified consumers upon no legal guarantees regarding Bitcoin and, recently, stated that digital currencies bear contingent risks which require proper legislation."

"EBA has listed no less than 70 risks associated with the use of digital currencies. They range from “User is unable to access VCs after losing passwords/key to their e-wallet” and “Market participants suffer losses through information inequality regarding other actors” to “Criminals are able to launder proceeds of crime because they can deposit/transfer VCs anonymously.”"

"Bitcoin will become a global payment platform only when governments and regulators will find the synergy between the traditional banking sector and the digital currencies."

More info here.