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Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 31 – Round And Round In Circle

When I told other men1 that I drive an extra 34 km2 a day through the rush hour traffic and tolls to drop off and pick up Cynthia in town every working day, a common reaction would be: Why don’t you drop her at a train station near your home and she can make her way to work from there?  To be frank, it does not come across to me as an option at all.  So day in, day out, we have earned at least an hour – depending on traffic condition – of quality time, of us-time inside our car.  We crack jokes, talk about the music scene, talk about our investments, our nieces and nephew, sometimes talk about more intelligent topics like the stuffs we read from the Internet or the books, or something geek-ish like the gaming mechanism of World of Warcraft.  I could spend the entire journey talking about Formula One; and her on make-up.  Or she could spend the initial part of the journey trying to tell me the fairy tale of Princess and the Pea, of which upon hearing her version, I retold the story in a more cohesive manner during the remaining part of the journey.  I often think that between the two of us, I am the better storyteller.  And she is not buying into my suggestion that she needs to start blogging in order to improve her storytelling technique.

Picking up Cynthia in the evening at times involves I going round and round in circle.  Because it is quite impossible to find a temporary parking space in town, legally speaking.  And because I hate to illegally park my car and inconvenienced other people.  I am neutral towards this method of pick-up and I am always happy – unless I am really hungry – to see Cynthia appears from nowhere.  I often joke with her that she is – like in the game World of Warcraft – a rare spawn, or a mineral node that I would go round and round to wait for a respawn.  To those who can relate, I am unsure if playing that online game makes me a more patience person.  Or because I am a patience man, I have no qualm going round and round in circle mining and herbing.  I think it is a bit of both.

But surely, you may say, that is not a good way to spend my time, going round and round in circle.  If you stop and think about it, most of us do the same thing at work: going round and round in circle waiting for that tiny and most of the time, insignificant breakthrough.  In my organization and in any large organization I have worked with, heroism is bad.  To be perceived as indispensable is quite possible the fastest way to be dispensed.  How so?  Teamwork, it has always been valued more than heroism.  There are systems, processes, and culture in place to ensure just that.  When I was young, my dad often came home and said how he acted dump at work.  At that age, I could not comprehend why one would want to do that.  Now that I have more grey hairs, I think I do.  I do not act dump at work.  Rather, I prefer to stay low, put my head down, and do my work.  I have learned to stay within my role and to respect the roles of others.  Is lack of ambition necessarily bad?

Politics, on the other hand, is quite the opposite.  Recently, Cynthia and I had breakfast with our good old buddy who is running for the opposition party in Singapore.  Tipping point was one of the topics I have initiated.  Wouldn’t I be concerned as a Singaporean if the opposition takes over the government today, he asked?  Or should it be a more graduate approach for the politicians coming not from the ruling party today to first learn the rope?  He, I think, prefers a more gentle approach, a safer approach.  I am not into politics.  I do not know what works, what does not.  In my mind, leaders can also be created by the opportunity that calls for at the most unexpected hour.  Not every leader is to be groomed from young.  A safer approach, no doubt, but by no means the only way.  Towards the end of our breakfast session, I made a casual remark that perhaps all we need is someone charismatic to take the social network by storm.  True enough, weeks later, we have our youngest politician, a 24 years old running for opposition party contesting one of the strongholds of the ruling party.  In the morning when the news was out, her Facebook page has only 500 like’s.  In the span of merely a few days, her page has hit close to 20,000 like’s.  I agree with my buddy that Obama did not win the election by means of the social network.  But I argued that coupling the online channel with substance translates to rapid dissemination of ideals directly to the people on the ground, with little or no censorship.  I still have no idea which party to vote for this coming general election.  I do not watch local TV, or read the local papers.  My news feed comes mostly from the online channel3.  At present, I have received more messages from the opposition than from the ruling party.  And there is this highway issue that makes me start to question certain beliefs I have with our government.

Tonight, I am delighted to learn that Lauren Froderman has won season 7’s So You Think You Can Dance4.  I am so rooted for that 19 years old dancer who was the last woman standing against a season dominated by male dancers.  The same level of delight when I learned that Whitney Miller has won the MasterChef.  It is good to see talented people get to perform at their peak, with no holding back.  In some situations, heroism pays off.

Footnote 1: Women seem to have no problem understand the need to be picked up everyday. Footnote 2: Singapore is tiny so 34 km is relatively long. Footnote 3: The online version of our local newspaper only gives out truncated news bites with the message that the remaining can be found in the printed version. Footnote 4: Yes, we are very slow in broadcasting overseas TV programs.

Categories
Diary

Singapore National Youth Orchestra – A Musical Chemistry

We’ve missed the previous media invite on the LANXESS SYNO Classic event due to our Spanish commitment.  And they are kind enough to invite us for the main event that took place yesterday at Esplanade, an event coincided with the JP Morgen Corporate Run that caused half of a highway in town to be sealed off.  We were forewarned about the anticipated traffic condition so as the clock struck EOD (end of date) at work, Cynthia and I made haste to our Singapore’s very own theater by the bay.  I love the architectural design of Esplanade.  It cost – if I remember correctly – 650 million dollars to build.  I thought that was a lot of money.  Years later, the integrated resort next door cost billions to build.  That is Marina Bay Sands.

“A Musical Chemistry” is mainly performed by Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO).  The program involves a short piece by Richard Wagner, which to be frank, I have not heard of before last evening.  A piece by Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 25 – which I love to death.  I can easily hum the notes from beginning to end.  We have Lara St. John as the guest lead violinist.  Deep inside, I was hoping that someone from within SNYO would take the lead position.  That would truly speak for the quality of the orchestra.  But I can also understand that as a public event, having an international master such as Lara St. John would help to attract the crowd.  I am not too familiar with the violinist scene.  The only violinist I deeply respect is Hilary Hahn.  Lara St. John’s approach to Tchaikovsky’s concerto is unique, in a sense that she devours the music supplied by the orchestra and pours her personality into the music.  Her phasing and timing is significantly different from the traditional recordings that I am familiar with.  In a way, I did struggle a bit to see how this free spirit performance gelled with the structure provided by the orchestra.  One audience during intermission commented that she felt exhausted – in a good way I suppose – watching Lara St. John performed on stage.  In the contrary, I was totally absorbed into Lara’s own world and was yarning for more.  During the meet the artist session, I asked if it was her first visit to Singapore and she replied that this trip is her second.  Her first visit was to the Zoo.  And I said to her, you should come back to Singapore one day and perform for us.

Then there was the world premiere of a piece written by Darrell Ang, the musical director of SNYO.  It is called “Fanfare for a Frazzled Earth”.  Something to do with caring for environment.  It sounds modern (it has to be) and contemporary with lots of complex dialogs between the instruments.  I am a more classical kind of person and have always been struggling with understanding a modern piece of musc.  This piece sounds lively, almost like a celebration.  It is shorter than we have anticipated.  That left me wonder how beautiful it would have been if he could expand the piece into a full fledge symphony.  Last item of the program is Symphony in D minor by Cesar Franck.  A Dutch composer I have not heard of.  I may explore on his other works later.

Last evening was an emotional evening.  Because I was once played in Hong Kong Youth Orchestra.  I would say, the standard of SNYO is really high.  When I heard and saw the entire orchestra playing and moving in unison, that brought back fond memories.  During the intermission, Cynthia commented that such feeling must be exhilarating.  And I replied that in real life, the orchestra spends much time repeating short segments of the music, usually stripping down the individual or a subset of instruments.  To that extend, once an orchestra pastes all the parts together and plays, that feeling is exhilarating.  However, that short moment of spiritual joy only happens through months of practice, a few bars at a time.  That makes such moment more precious I suppose.

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Norwegian Wood – A Film Adaptation Of Haruki Murakami’s Novel

Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite writers.  I do not think it is possible to bring any of his books into a big screen.  Because much of the content is based on the characters’ observation and their state of emotion, or even the writer’s observation on the world he creates.  His story tends to get more and more surreal towards the end.  But if anyone would want to make a film out of his books, “Norwegian Wood” is a good candidate.  It is a rather straightforward love story.  I am a huge fan of Murakami and I was curious on how “Norwegian Wood” would look like as an adaption.

I can imagine how lost one may feel watching “Norwegian Wood”.  I have read the book and you may wish to read the review I have written.  I feel that the movie is by and large faithful to the literature, down to the dialog level.  As someone who is familiar with the written content, it seems to me that some of the key essences may have been lost in the adaptation.  A 133 minutes film may sound long to you.  When I told Cynthia and TK at the end of the show that the film felt too rush, they were shocked.  The foundation of the storyline lies in a subplot structure of a trio – be it as 2 boys and 1 girl or 2 girls and 1 boy.  These subplots are linked through a common theme – love and death.  That, I do not think the filmmakers have explicitly brought out.  Some of the subplots have so little air time that I think they may have been overlooked.  I do not blame the filmmakers though.  I even think that the way the subplots are segmented in terms of air time is proportionate to how the book is written (the first subplot has ended on page 31 of 386).  A clearly demarcation of the different segments of the film like a text on timeline and location would have helped the audience in digesting the story’s structure.

The leading actor and actress have done a phenomenal work in bringing the characters alive.  It is heart wrenching to see them cry in pain.  On one hand, this movie thrills me down my spine when some of the key scenes stay so faithfully to the book.  On the other hand, the omission of many of the side dialogs and observations has made part of the film looks like a silly chain of sex scenes.  This film summarizes the book essentially, but not perfectly.  If you have taken the effort to watch the movie – a very slow moving one by the way – you ought to read the book.  If you have not read the book, I strongly recommend you to pick up a copy and finish it in the weekend before watching “Norwegian Wood” on screen.  All in all, I am still thrilled that one of Murakami’s book has made it to the theater.  And I would challenge more filmmakers in the future to adapt his other books.

Related Entry: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami – A Structured Love Story So Dark, So Beautiful

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Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

The Lincoln Lawyer – Now, That Lawyer Has Style

I am usually not a big fan of crime movies that involves lawyers.  I don’t even watch CSI on TV.  Lately, or rather for the longest history in time, TK and Cynthia are pretty much in sync when it comes down to the choice of movie.  So when they picked “The Lincoln Lawyer”, I tugged along.

Matthew McConaughey plays a criminal defense attorney who drives a Lincoln with a number plate NTGUILTY.  Does he believe that his clients are innocent?  Does he merely go through the justice process and make sure that his clients get the best of it?  Or does he negotiate settlement for his presumed innocence clients thinking that most probably, that is what they deserve?  In the movie, Matthew is well networked with either side of the law and that seems to have made him one effective lawyer.  Even a cool one.  The story is pretty straightforward, a good one no doubt.  While I do not practice law – and I often wonder what if I do – this movie got me thinking about work in general.

At work, I facilitate a process.  Internal “clients” would come to me with work requests and we have to work together, package the ideas up, and present them to the management team as business cases.  If these cases are not being shot down, it is a green light to move ahead to the next stage.  Some cases go into KIV mode.  Others get thrown out of the window.  Not all the approved cases get everything they have asked for.  At times, we have to settle for less.  And hence, I do rounds and rounds of negotiations on behalf on my internal “clients”.  Having good networks from all sorts of sources aids the process, of course.  I have colleagues who more often than not form their opinions on these requests that affect their actions.  This is not wrong, I suppose, although in our job scope, we are not here to judge the cases.  We push these cases through a process that presents them in the best possible light.  I, for one, am trying very hard to be impartial to whether some of these ideas deserve a hearing or what they ask for.  Sure, looking back, there are cases whereby I wish I had not given away hope before they have a chance to go through the proper process.  But I am only human, still learning my way.  In that sense, I can relate to some aspects of “The Lincoln Lawyer”.

Categories
Diary

Bethany And I, At Botanic Gardens

I can now begin to understand why some single men like to borrow babies in order to chat up with girls.  When I walk alone, no one stops and looks at me.  But when I carried my niece Bethany, inside the Botanic Gardens one fine Saturday, all the women around me smiled at – collectively speaking – us.  Bethany is a chick magnet, I discover.  She must have ignited the maternal instinct to all whose around us.  And I have not received that much attention since the last time I have paraded myself by the swimming pool, in my condo, wearing my swimming gear, under broad daylight.  All those domestic helpers, they really should find some real works to do.

One fine day, my sister messaged me and asked if we should bring Bethany to the Botanic Gardens, now that Bethany can walk.  Jolly good idea.  It would have been fun had we been able to catch some morning sun.  But alas, it was a Saturday.  And Saturdays are full of morning rituals such as housecleaning, such as I waking up early and do my blogging, such as Cynthia trying very hard to get out of bed.

I finished my lunch first and hence I was tasked to take Bethany out for a walk, while my sister, Benny, and Cynthia continued to have a good chat over their fish and chips.  I had no idea how a baby would react if she is momentarily taken away from her parent.  I thought Bethany would scream, but she did not.  Nevertheless, I briefly took her out, feeling totally awkward, and returned to the restaurant only to be sent out by the gang of three.  OK.  Perhaps I should plan a longer walking route.  I carried Bethany, under a hot sun, from one end of the cafe to the first patch of green land that took less than 2 minutes of brisk walking.  I found a nice piece of relatively shaded flat land and I put Bethany onto the ground.  After a few minutes, I ran out of things to do.  So I lifted Bethany up and headed back to the cafe.  I suppose I have yet to discover how to spend time with a toddler.  After we regrouped, I continued carrying Bethany and the four of us were running around in the garden playing catch-me-if-you-can with Bethany.  Eventually, she felt asleep on my shoulder while I was soaked in sweat.  I couldn’t even open my eyes.  That reminds me.  Next time, I should wear a sport headband and carry a fresh towel.

Benny took the photo below inside the cafe, zoomed in through the glass window.  He love this photo and so do I.  Benny observed that one time I put her onto the ground, she came right back to me with open arms.  So we reckon Bethany and I are bonding, somehow.  Bethany and I were quite far away from the cafe.  When I waved at the trios, Bethany followed my cue too.  Later on, my sister asked, “Was she able to recognize us inside the cafe?”  I am not too sure.  Maybe I shall ask her once she can speak.

Categories
Everyday News

F1 Malaysia – An Afterthought

How powerful is KERS, the magic turbo button of a F1 car?  Powerful enough for a horde of cars to effortlessly overtake Webber – third on the grid – at the start of the race.  I felt for Webber, especially after watching the video clip filmed from his angle.  By the time the cars reached third gear, those who got the KERS working hit that button and off they went.  Webber was an easy target.  Without KERS, he was a sitting duck.  Fortunate for pole sitter Vettel, his KERS was working at that crucial start.  Secretly, I was hoping to see Vettel being taken over by the KERS cars and see if he is capable of overtaking some of the finest drivers of F1.  Similar to last race, he simply led all the way from beginning to finish.

Malaysia race track has a relatively long straight start.  Perhaps that flavors the KERS mechanism.  In fact, the long straight flavors the DRS (drag reduction system) as well.  I have lost track of the number of overtaking maneuvers there were.  The fight between Hamilton and Alonso was intense.  Both were handed a 20 seconds penalty after the race was over for different reasons (I have spotted that during the race and was wondering why there was no commentary on that).  The wheel-to-wheel fight between Kobayashi and Schumacher was entertaining.  At one point, I thought Button would have had a good fight with his teammate Hamilton but that did not happen.  At one point, I thought Hamilton was going to win the race.  But that did not happen either.  He could not make the Pirelli tyres – new to this season – last while Button managed to squeeze out two extra laps from those tyres when no one could.  Before the start of the season, one interviewer put his money on Button because of Button’s gifted talent in managing his tyres.  A second position is a good result for the McLaren team.  Given the fact that no one seems to have what it takes to catch Vettel, yet.

In the previous race, we have Red Bull, McLaren, and Renault taking the podium.  In this race, we also have Red Bull, McLaren, and Renault taking the podium.  Instead of Hamilton, we have Button.  Instead of Petrov, we have Heifield.  Where is Ferrari?  The world awaits.  Malaysia race is eventful because some cars had the KERS working, some did not (poor Webber).  Some cars had the DRS working, some did not (poor Alonso).  Tyre factor plays a major role too because when they are gone, they are really gone.  This is working as intend and has added a new layer of excitement to the race.

On the gossip front, would Hamilton eventually move to Red Bull Racing?  Nobody knows.  Would McLaren offer Hamilton a lifetime contract that worths billion?  Nobody knows.  Will Vettel continue to dominate the race?  China F1 could be a challenge to Red Bull if they are still unable to make KERS works.  Looking at the pace McLaren improves the car, the gap may come even closer.  Also, there is Renault that has reversed the exhaust system to blow downwards for extra down force.  Ferrari will try to catch up, for sure.  Looking at those super long straights in China, I would expect the next race to be as exciting, if not more.  How would KERS and DRS work under raining condition?  Perhaps that is what Red Bull needs to buy them more time and develop KERS.

Categories
Comedy Drama Movie Reviews

Morning Glory – She Really Loves Her Job!

Cynthia knows me well.  I think Rachel McAdams is the most beautiful actress on earth.  So when she suggested watching “Morning Glory”, she just needed to say: It has your favorite actress in it, the one you think most beautiful.  Cynthia also likes Rachel McAdams in this movie.  She thinks Rachel is perky.  I like Rachel’s cheerfulness and her being so natural in front of a camera.  I don’t feel like watching a movie.  I feel like watching a part of her life.

In “Morning Glory”, Rachel is an aspiring news producer who gets laid off, finds another job that requires her to save the show.  It is an early morning show and she wakes up at 1.30 am everyday to go to work.  For Cynthia and I who are finding it difficult to even get up at 7 am in the morning, that is an heroic act.  Looking at how happy Rachel goes to work, we can’t help but to wish that we could be that enthusiastic.  Perhaps happiness at work is made of this: fully immersed with what you do, view every obstacle as a new challenge, and reach out to make friends.  In this story, Rachel is a doer and not a talker – a quality I admire in real life.  The downside of Rachel’s enthusiasm to work is that she is a workaholic.  That I do not endorse.

“Morning Glory” is a funny and lively show.  While I have my doubt on how well this movie depicts the media industry, it is more about how people go about doing their jobs and living their lives.  That I can relate.

Categories
Diary

Touched By An Angel

Auntie Bernadette, we reckon, is around eighty years of age.  She is my Godmother Betty’s best friend and together, they have literally followed our Lord’s teaching: leave all that behind and trust that God provides.  You would have thought that in a country like Singapore, one must have a job and earn a living in order to survive.  Bernadette and Betty have no children, they devote their lives to serve the Lord, and in return, the Lord does provide.  It still amazes me every time I think about it.

This evening, after work, Cynthia and I have dropped by TTS Hospital.  We went through the emergency area and I saw nurses and staffs moving the still patients from wards to wards.  So much work going on in serving the community, in improving the quality of life.  Such contrast to my work environment, a banking environment specifically.  Today, I have also got some crisis at work.  People were running around frantically trying to get some presentation slides updated for an upcoming meeting.  Comparing the two, what I do for a living seems dull and meaningless.  If this world rewards people – monetarily speaking – based on the real contribution to our society, I would like to be an ambulance driver.  I love to drive fast and I love to save lives.  In my today’s job, I save people’s asses.  That does not seem to satisfy me fully.

Auntie Bernadette is hospitalized.  Hence we were at TTS Hospital.  Shortly after we found Bernadette, a priest has arrived.  We were surprised.  It was one of the Seven Catholic Sacraments: Anointing of the Sick.  In the past, it was used to be called Last Rites.  Today, it is part of the healing process.  It was the first time I see how this Sacrament is carried out.  Cynthia and I prayed along.  Throughout the session, I looked at Auntie Bernadette.  I was captivated by her eyes.  Such fire of faith and conviction, as she absorbed every word the priest said.  Those child-like expressions, such purity in heart.  Jesus once said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  I was moved deeply, looking at Auntie Bernadette.  I was ashamed too, for my faith and the fire within does not even measure up to a tiny faction of what she exhibits.

According to Auntie Bernadette, it is God at work that she is hospitalized.  So that she has the opportunity to talk to the nurses, ease them off their daily stress and pray with them.  Even when she is sick, she is still doing God’s will.  After the priest has left, Auntie Bernadette held our hands and prayed for us.  I can tell you honestly that whatever that was in our thoughts, Bernadette spoke them out in words.  It was as though she was reading our minds.  The prayer was so powerful that Cynthia was moved to tears.  It was as close to divinity as I have seen lately.  Today I am touched by an Angel.  I think it is still not too late to repent.  In the spirit of Lent, I shall leave you with two simple passages that are relevant to this Easter season.

Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return ~ Genesis 3:19

Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel ~ Mark 1:15

Categories
For the Geeks

So I Bought Two Sony Ericsson Xperia arc

You smart readers out there.  Looking at the photo above, which wireless phone do you think is mine and which one is Cynthia’s?  I’ll tell you in just a bit.

After I have seen the phone at one of the blogger events, I was sold.  After I have brought Cynthia to preview the phone at one of Sony Ericsson’s concept stores, she was sold.  On the day this phone was launched, we have visited the SingTel hello! store.  I did some bargaining over the phone prior to our visit and was happy with the the final deal.  We even receive four complimentary tickets to watch Jolin Tsai live in Singapore. I hardly know her music.  I reckon I will by May 7.

Xperia arc is slim and beautiful.  It feels light, yet has a generous 4.2 inches touchscreen that is pure black in color when on standby.  When Cynthia brought the new phone to work, it mesmerized her colleagues a great deal.  I will not repeat in detail what the phone does.  You can read it from my previous entry.  My initial observation remains.  On top of that, now that I have used the phone for a couple of days, here are my additional observations to share.

If you have not used Android platform before, you ought to give it a try.  It is the fastest growing platform today, supported by a good number of manufacturers.  Healthy competition is good.  I have observed the hardware and operating system improvement in the past year.  Android phones simply get better and better pushing the limits on camera specification, screen size, memory and processor power, and user friendliness.

Why Sony Ericsson?  I have been shopping for an Android phone for quite some time (by the way, it took me about 5 years to decide on which flat panel television to buy).  I value multimedia offering, form factor, and branding.  This phone seems to fit the bill.  Xperia arc is powered by the latest Android operating system for smartphones (version 2.3).  Sony Ericsson’s implementation includes the infinity button on the music player that does a quick YouTube video search on the artist you are listening to.  I use this often, especially this phone is powered by Sony’s BRAVIA technology, those vibrant videos are a joy to watch.  In this version, I find the standard email application useful to access my Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo! Mail.  It may not have the bells and whistles of, say, K9.  However when possible, I prefer to use out-of-the-box applications.  Xperia arc, like the previous Android models, also comes with their TrackID application.  TrackID listens to part of the song played in the surrounding and attempts to identify the song.  I also use that often and am pleasantly surprised that even as I have switched to a new Sony Ericsson phone, my historical search results follow me.

I am not an “app man”.  Unlike Cynthia, who is into surfing the Android Market regularly for new and exciting apps.  I use Whatsapp for messaging, Facebook app, TweetDeck, Advanced Task Killer, and Album Art Grabber.  Of course, some of you may remember that I am not a big fan of virtual keyboard.  I use Graffiti Pro to bypass this little handicap of mine.  I am from the Palm Pilot era.  Graffiti suits me perfectly.

On battery life, I am a heavy Internet and phone user.  Xperia arc can last about 9 hours, which meets my expectation.  Cynthia has a lighter usage pattern.  And hers can last for the entire day and more.  As a phone, like the previous Sony Ericsson models, the voice sounds crisp.  The dial pad can be pulled out with a touch of a “button” on the home screen.  Phone volumes can be adjusted even when the screen is locked.  The moment you pull out the headphone, the music player stops automatically.  Sony Ericsson must have done some improvement to their music player because now, the music sounds fuller, with more power.  Powerful enough for my car stereo.  Notification light is placed on the side and it works for incoming SMS, Internet chat message, and etc.  Swiping the screen from left to right unlock the screen.  Swiping from right to left toggles between normal and silence mode.  Folders on the home screen can be created to hold as many applications as you want.  There are progressive tool tips to show you the tricks to personalize the phone.  OK, I could go on and on.  Let’s not do that.  You can find out more yourself.  Now, back to the answer to the question at the beginning of the entry, the phone on the left with the animated falling sakura petals belongs to me while on the right, Cynthia’s.

Surprised?

Categories
For the Geeks

Norton 360 Now Onto Version 5

In the past one year, I still have friends who are amazed at the misconceptions they have on Norton products after finally giving the products a try.  So, I will do a quick summary here, even though these are old news for the existing Norton users.

Norton security line of products – 360, Internet Security, and Antivirus – battle online threats.  Installing the application from scratch only takes a couple of minutes.  The CPU and memory usage is low and it does not slow your computer down (OK, not that you can feel it).  In fact, they have real time monitoring graphs comparing Norton related tasks and other system tasks and be transparent about it.  Norton uses pulse live update technology.  This means updated security definitions from Norton global site are sent to your computer in real time, as and when they are available.  Full system scan is quietly performed in the background while you are away from your computer.  And it is done incrementally, over the days.  There are little unnecessary notifications from Norton application.  I receive a security summary report at the end of the month, alerts when I am trying to download an executable file that is still relatively new to the global community (Norton uses the community to derive insights), and reminders for PC tune up (because I am using 360).  That is about all the notifications I have got from running Norton.

I value security and online protection.  And I would only go for the best in the market.  Below is an excerpt that may mean more to those who want to read the official results.

In recent third-party testing, Norton 360 version 5.0 achieved a 100 percent protection score for online threat detection from Dennis Technology Labs, whose methodology has received a 100 percent compliance rating from the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO).

To be frank, I am not that technologically inclined.  I need something fuss free and yet gives me a peace of mind.  For those of you who are interested in what’s new, under the hood, Norton has now gathered about 175 million contributing Symantec users to study the software adoption patterns anonymously (I too have opted in) that in turn automatically identify and block new threats for the entire Norton user base.  Also, they have packed in SONAR 3, a behavioral protection monitors running applications for suspicious behavior to quickly identify new attacks, crimeware, and other threats designed to evade traditional detection.

Why get a Norton 360 when Norton Internet Security seems sufficient?  360 allows you to perform online backup (2GB or up to 25GB for premium edition), which I seldom use.  Mainly because what is important to me does not fit into a 2GB space.  And whatever I can fit into a 2GB space, there are other online options out there.  Personally, I enjoy using the PC Tuneup tool, which is unique to Norton 360.  It allows me to easily decide which application is allowed to be run during startup and I can now set priority to autostart applications so as to make my computer more responsive.  I also like the option to cleanup the registry, temporary files, and etc. at ease.  Norton 360 comes with a parental control management tool.  I don’t have kids at home.  But I can imagine the stress of having to manage how kids these days use the Internet.  360 can help on that.

People usually ask me how much it costs to install Norton products.  Here is the suggested retail price list for Singapore users.  All prices are for 1 year protection.  S$65 for 1 PC licence.  S$129 for 3 PC licence.  And if you need a larger online backup space of 25GB, the premium edition is S$149 for 3 PC license. It would be good if Norton offers us a more flexible licensing option. Such as a different pricing for 1 PC, 2 PC up to a household worth of PC. Also, having some loyalty programs or a deeper discount for multi-years subscriptions would be good.

There are a couple of things you may wish to know about purchase and installation.  So long as you have an active subscription, you can update the version whenever it is available.  You don’t need to buy a new version when it is out.  Simply make an update within the Norton application.  Some prefer to buy the box instead of renewing online (some claim it is cheaper that way).  By doing so, your number of days remaining for an active subscription will be reset to 366 days.  So, it is best to do it when your license expires.  If you are unable to install the application using the disk (one of my machines is not able to read the disk, for some strange reasons), you can go online chat with the Norton service consultant and have the application downloaded instead.

As always, drop me a comment here if you have more questions.  I hope this entry is useful.