January 2018

Come And Find Me (2016)

January 30, 2018 Movies

Come And Find Me

I basically like thrillers and this was yet another addition to my list in that genre, Come and Find Me is a thriller and a love story with several angles. When Claire disappears suddenly David relies on the law to make breakthroughs and find her but when they reach a dead-end he decides to pursue the case himself. What begins as a simple case of disappearance gets embroiled in a string of lies and deceit, involving mobsters and federal sleuths. Technically, the movie becomes compelling at various intervals as the story swings back and forth to capture intimate moments between the couple while introducing Claire’s persona before her disappearance and details on their fledgeling relationship. Halfway through the plot as David wades through the suspense, the plot gets even murkier and I am now doubting my knowledge of Claire which forces me to focus more closely on the events and the individuals as they reveal themselves.

The climax left me with more questions than providing the justifications straight away much like the situation I faced with The Open House. This probably comes from my expectations with run-of-the-mill thrillers and I believe the thriller/suspense genre has undergone some welcome changes. But Come and Find Me is still worth a watch.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ingvar Kamprad And The IKEA Effect

January 29, 2018 Happenings

IKEA Founder Ingvar KampradI was moved to learn about the passing away of IKEA’s founder Ingvar Kamprad yesterday, aged 91. He was born in 1926 in Småland in southern Sweden and raised on ‘Elmtaryd’, a farm near the small village of Agunnaryd, that’s how the company also got its name IK (Ingvar Kamprad) E (Elmtaryd) A (Agunnaryd). Ingvar displayed an entrepreneurial spirit at a tender age and founded IKEA in 1943 when he was only 17, initially selling pens, wallets, picture frames, table runners, watches, jewellery and nylon stockings at reduced prices and eventually moving to retailing furniture in 1948. I once wrote about the design of a table from their catalogue which supported wireless charging which I thought integrated seamlessly with the present generation’s ubiquitous goals.

Ingvar’s journey is exhilarating, to say the least. He started his company around a rural place where people worked hard and made the most of their meagre earnings & resources. This prompted him to live and experience a simple life and develop products that supported the needs of the common individuals while keeping the costs low and focussing on good quality with frugal innovation. He often used himself as an example and to be able to feel what his customers would desire and justify the design decisions, which to me, is the greatest illustration of design-thinking.

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Padmaavat And A String of Coincidences

January 28, 2018 Happenings

With Padmaavat Sanjay Leela Bhansali has once again courted controversy and his track record over the past few years points to a scary phenomenon. Beginning with Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ramleela in which the Rajput and Rabari communities raised strong objections on the portrayal of their culture, as well as some religious groups who opposed the title of the movie proclaiming that the movie had nothing in common with the Ramlila festival and it hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindus. Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone portrayed Ram and Leela as lovers belonging to opposing factions. Amidst the uproar to ban the film in some states, the title was subsequently changed to Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ramleela at the behest of the courts and released in 2013.

In 2015, Bhansali made Bajirao Mastani and the ‘Pinga’ song in which the historical character of Kashibai played by Priyanka Chopra danced skillfully with the famed courtesan Mastani (Deepika Padukone). To the descendants of the Queen Peshwa this amounted to an insult and distortion of historical facts on the grounds that Kashibai was afflicted with arthritis since childhood and may not have ambled well let alone perform those wearisome dance moves, and the dubious costume in the music video apart, the duo had formally met only once. Furthermore, an intimate sequence of Kashibai with Peshwa Bajirao (Ranveer Singh) was also deemed as “disgusting” for depicting a private moment between revered personalities on the screen.

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India’s Republic Day Extravaganza

January 26, 2018 Happenings

Always intrigued by India and its Republic Day Parade and more than ever before since Doordarshan began live streaming it on YouTube. This was the 69th Republic Day and it was a grand show. The timezone difference notwithstanding I watched the entire programme until the wee hours of the morning with a great sense of pride. The 10 premiers of the ASEAN nations were the chief guests for the celebrations which had its moments of grandeur, but as always, my interest was ignited by the military equipment which wasn’t limited to the Bhishma T-90 tanks, the Akash SAM battery, and the BRAHMOS cruise missiles, although I would have appreciated seeing the most talked about Agni-V ICBM with a range of >5000 km, and then the military regiments in their vibrant colours putting their best foot forward in tandem. But it was the skilful acrobatic display of the BSF women cadets on bikes which were the most extraordinary. Altogether, it was a magnificent demonstration of India’s military might and cultural diversity on this special day. Jai Hind!

Privacy by Design Framework - Image

Privacy by Design Principles – An Overview

January 25, 2018 Technology
regulations on how organizations process and store user data have become critical in protecting citizens’ rights to online privacy. in which, the foundational principles of privacy by design are a reference point for designing secure systems & business practices.

The importance of ‘privacy’ has immeasurable ramifications for users of today’s digital age. As tech innovation leads us into 2018, and as we wait in anticipation of self-driven cars, autonomous planes, or intelligent bots using AI and machine learning, the Internet has also awakened to the significance and the criticality of safeguarding personal data, in other words protecting users’ privacy online. For instance, in 2017 there were 1,202 breaches in the 11 months alone, according to a report from the Identity Theft Resource Center. That’s up by 10 percent from the 1,093 breaches recorded during the entirety of 2016. It’s becoming more important for UX consultants and Product Designers to be aware of the ‘Privacy by Design’ (PbD) principles as an essential part of their UCD strategy which is entirely the aim of this article.

These alarming figures of online privacy breaches should drive our collective conscience at influencing authorities to enforce stricter regulations in developing digital data protection standards and making the entire system and practice of data collection safer and transparent, at the same time educating citizens on the practices of safe collection and storage of personally identifiable information and endowing user privacy its due importance because the next data breach could just be an accident that’s waiting to happen. In that regards, measures have been adopted by the European Union (EU) which promulgated a law seeking to protect the collection and export of personally identifiable data thereby giving individuals complete control over data privacy. It’s called the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR which will be enforced by countries across the EU beginning 25 May 2018 although we need to look closely at the foundational principles of PbD.

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