Posts Tagged ‘2013’

Happy Mother’s Day 2013

Sunday, May 12th, 2013

To all mothers out there … Happy Mother’s Day!

Flowers for all mothers on Mother's Day. These beautiful flowers adorn a florists shop in Kumamoto Japan. Taken with Nikon D800.

Flowers for all mothers on Mother’s Day. These beautiful flowers adorn a florist’s shop in Kumamoto, Japan. Taken with Nikon D800.

And to all mothers-to-be or newly-minted mothers, here’s a book to find out what not to expect when you are expecting.

Muddlehood (S$25.90). Available online, at Popular, Books Actually, Thomson Medical.

Muddlehood (S$25.90). Available online, at Popular, Books Actually, Thomson Medical.

“Muddlehood” is a collection of essays by parents on life in the first year of parenting.

It was written by my wife and a few of her friends to share the trials and tribulations of motherhood, or how they “muddled” through it all.

The authors noted that when they were going through their first pregnancies and looking for advice and things to pay attention to, it was difficult to come by a book that was truly honest about the difficulties and psychological rigours the expecting mother was to encounter.

So having gone through it, they decided to pen down their own experiences as honestly as possible – to share what “expecting mothers never expected”.

“On hindsight, we felt that the accounts were so brutally honest that the book might actually discourage women who had not conceived yet to put off having children,” mused Koh Keat Kian, co-author and co-editor of Muddlehood.

However, despite the rigours of motherhood, the consensus among all the authors was that – at the end of the day – motherhood is the most rewarding thing a woman could experience, and it was worth every bit of angst or trouble they had to go through to have the baby.

This is an excellent book for the expecting mom to find what they never tell you to expect.

It’ll make a handy book to buy yourself if you’re contemplating having a baby, and an excellent present to give an expecting or newly-minted mum.

"Translucent" flowers at a greenhouse in Beppu, Japan. Taken with a Nikon D800.

“Translucent” flowers at a greenhouse in Beppu, Japan. Taken with a Nikon D800.

Have a restful but reflective Labour Day

Wednesday, May 1st, 2013

“International Workers’ Day (also known as May Day) is a celebration of the international labour movement. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries and celebrated unofficially in many other countries.” – Wikipedia.

What is the origin of the Labour Day?

What is the origin of the Labour Day?

In Singapore, today is celebrated as Labour Day and it is a public holiday.

As we take a break from the workplace, let’s take a moment to reflect on the sacrifice to those that had come before us to fight for the rights that we now enjoy as basic entitlements.

According to Wikipedia, International Workers’ Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago.

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IT Trends: Security in a time of convergence

Thursday, January 10th, 2013

Going into 2013, it’s a good time to look ahead at what enterprises should look out for in terms of working securely this year.

Let’s hear from Sugiarto Koh – Regional Director, ASEAN & North Asia, Sourcefire.

Sugiarto Koh, Regional Director, ASEAN & North Asia, Sourcefire

Sugiarto Koh, Regional Director, ASEAN & North Asia, Sourcefire

Sugiarto Koh opines that advanced malware and targeted attacks pose the greatest challenge for today’s security infrastructure and methods of protection.

Customers are struggling to find solutions that provide effective protection against the latest threats without over-burdening their budgets or sacrificing operational efficiency.

Below are Koh’s take on three major Enterprise IT trends and their implications.

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IT Trends: Dell shares its technology outlook for 2013

Monday, January 7th, 2013

What are Dell’s foci for 2013. Transforming, Connecting, Informing and Protecting – says Ng Tian Beng, Managing Director, Dell South Asia & Korea.

Ng Tian Beng, Managing Director, Dell South Asia & Korea

Ng Tian Beng, Managing Director, Dell South Asia & Korea

Based on feedback from his customers, Tian Beng highlights two common issues that keep  them awake at night.

  1. Firstly, businesses are spending too much of their IT budget on powering their datacenter and not powering their business.
  2. Secondly, customers want solutions that are help them innovate rather than merely keep the lights on.

Ng anticipates that, in 2013, the technology priorities of Dell’s customers along 4 key themes – Transform, Connect, Inform and Protect.

Below are the details of the four themes.

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New Year’s greetings for 2013

Tuesday, January 1st, 2013

Justin wishes one and all a Happy New Year for 2013!

Don't ask me where Justin got that pose from. He just slid into it when I asked him to say cheese.

Don’t ask me where Justin got that pose from. He just slid into it when I asked him to say cheese.

As we stride into 2013, let’s hope everybody gets a fruitful year ahead. Best wishes!

IT Trends: Four 2012 trends and four 2013 predictions

Monday, December 31st, 2012

Today is the last day of 2012. As we look forward to 2013 tomorrow, Charles Clarke – Technical Director of APAC for Veeam – looks back on four IT trends in 2012, and shares his predictions for 2013.

Charles Clarke is the Technical Director, APAC, Veeam

Charles Clarke is the Technical Director, APAC, Veeam

First let’s take a look back at the year gone by.

  1. Downtime tolerance has diminished
  2. IT spend is held in the hands of a powerful few
  3. Cloud has been a big hit with SMEs
  4. Businesses have become even more data dependent

Next it’s time to gaze at the crystal ball for the next year starting tomorrow.

  1. Cloud will continue to grow
  2. IT spend will go “pay-as-you-go”
  3. IT skills will move to a “cloud model”
  4. Virtualisation will become more entwined with the business

The juicy details are elaborated below.

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