Example of a Sharia-compliant Visa Credit card. This credit card exemplifies the global nature of modern finance. HSBC, originally founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai, created its Amanah division in 1998 to appeal to the growing financial hubs in the Middle East and Asia. Islamic law forbids exchanging money for profit and this card is Shari’a compliant, meaning that interest cannot be received on savings, or charged on borrowings. Shari’a compliant banks also cannot invest money in socially or morally damaging businesses and are mindful that Muslims must use their wealth to help the less fortunate.
It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.
Nelson Mandela (via maarnayeri)
Digital Passivity
I wish I could separate the two big trends of the year in computing — the cool gadgets and the revelations of digital spying — but I cannot.
Back at the dawn of personal computing, the idealistic notion that drove most of us was that computers were tools for leveraging human intelligence to ever-greater achievement and fulfillment. This was the idea that burned in the hearts of pioneers like Alan Kay, who a half-century ago was already drawing illustrations of how children would someday use tablets.
But tablets do something unforeseen: They enforce a new power structure. Unlike a personal computer, a tablet runs only programs and applications approved by a central commercial authority. You control the data you enter into a PC, while data entered into a tablet is often managed by someone else.
Rare color photo of Orson Welles during the production of the famous opening long take from Touch of Evil, one of the greatest long takes in cinematic history. [thanks to Larry Wright]
Earlier this week, we launched a brand new redesign of the Glif. It represents over a year in development, and I’m really proud of how it turned out.
When we designed the original Glif, we wanted it to be as dead simple and easy to manufacture as possible, so one of the design decisions we made was to have it only fit a naked iPhone 4. This allowed for the Glif to be a single piece of molded plastic with no moving parts. This was crucial, as it was our first time to ever manufacture something, and any added complexity would have surely tripped as up.
As we’ve grown and learned new things over the past 3 years, we wanted to tackle the idea of making an adjustable Glif, without losing the simplicity and ease of use of the »
Safe travels wherever the holidays take you! Try to take fewer suitcases than are in Rob Baron’s cast bronze artwork, Lost and Found: An Excavation Project, at the Hempstead station on the LIRR. Happy Holidays!
Check out these cool mobiles @timothyliles made. #525designpopupshop
This is some quality ninja film making.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Speech of Barack Obama’s ‘New industrial revolution’. Throughout the 39-second recording, a synchronised laser beam scans the reliefs of the vocal print, marking accurately the exact location of every sound and nuance. The sculpture was then printed on a desktop 3D printer.
I love a good piece of meta art.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
American Cinematographer: Blood for Oil
American Cinematographer: Blood for Oil
Read this entire article if you like making movies, everything in it is worth your time.
Surviving in a Feudal Security World
Surviving in a Feudal Security World
Mr. Schneier does a beautiful job explaining the landscape we now live in.
Android cameras could get much better with new API featuring RAW image support
Android cameras could get much better with new API featuring RAW image support
Uncovered code suggests that Google has been at work on a new camera API that might bring RAW image support to Android phones, among other new features.
support for shooting RAW images