Islamic banks 'better in crisis'

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on Islamic banks to take a leadership role in the global economy, amid the financial crisis.

He was speaking at the opening of the World Islamic Economic Forum in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

The forum has brought together political and business leaders from 38 countries to discuss the global economic slowdown.

They will also discuss ways to achieve energy and food security.

Mr Yudhoyono said it was time for Islamic banks to do some missionary work in the West.

Islamic financial institutions, he said, had not been hit as hard as their western counterparts because they did not invest in toxic assets.

Banks run in accordance with Muslims laws on interest payments and the sharing of credit risks are seen by many as fairer than traditional banks, less focused on profit and kinder to the communities they work in.

Demand for Islamic financial products has been growing in the Muslim world for years but Mr Yudhoyono said that many in the West were now ready to learn from them.

Islamic law prohibits the payment and collection of interest, which is seen as a form of gambling.

Transactions must be backed by real assets, and because risk is shared between the bank and the depositor, there is added incentive for the institutions to ensure deals are sound.

Via BBC

Google Launches Toolbar 6 Beta for IE

Google has launched Toolbar 6 launch for Internet Explorer and has introduced the Quick Search Box (QSB) feature that provides search functionality outside of the browser.
QSB will provide search and website suggestions and relevant bookmarks – as users type – and allow them to launch applications directly from the search box. With use, QSB will customize itself to usage patterns, so over time users will have to type fewer characters to get to favorite sites and applications.
Google is also bringing elements from their search results page directly into the toolbar. They’re experimenting with displaying high-quality website suggestions and sponsored links as users type their query. Clicking on these will take users directly to the website.
They’ve also brought the new tab page to Internet Explorer users. Users can access their most viewed sites, recently closed tabs and bookmarked pages from this new tab page.
This update is launching in 40 languages. Check it

 out here.

LEGO USB Drives

Ahh the USB (Universal Serial BUS) drive, a boon to mankind for its simple, storage option for data transportation and transference. Without the technical jargon it’s just a pen drive to copy stuff off of one computer to another. Piracy you say? I think not!
In this day and age, the USB portable flash-drive has not remained just a transfer-and-tote device and gone are the streamlined designs of the once simplistic device. Of course for most of the branded drives, the form factor hasn’t deviated too much. But companies have begun to make these devices more personal and in some cases rather ridiculous. Here are some of my favorites.
For the Love of TV
Star Wars

A company called mimobot has designed limited edition pen drives, (and those are words I never thought I’d hear in the same sentence till joined this industry) to pay tribute to what could possibly be called the greatest Trilogy of all time – Star Wars. That’s not true any more though, considering the prologued trilogy that came out a lot later than the originals.

However this company has designed USB pen drives after some of the famous characters in the films for those true fans. They’re about 2.5-inches tall and 1-inch wide and support USB 2.0. The drives are available in 1, 2, 4, and 8GB capacities. The range consists of characters like Luke Skywalker in his flight suite, C3-PO, R2-D2, Boba Fett, Han Solo and others. The list would be quite incomplete without Vader, so of course he’s there as well, although a lot less menacing than usual. The Data Transfer Force is strong with these.

Disney

The toons have fascinated us since we were kids and some of us just didn’t bother to grow up, but rather just upgrade our likes. For the old school and new Disney cartoon lovers, Buffalo a name that’s become quite synonymous with memory, has a line of USB drives with some of Disney’s more memorable characters. The RUF2-DFNR series of USB drives from Buffalo caught my eye while I was researching this feature. They were equipped with just 512MB of internal memory, which was pretty decent for January 2007, but I have to admit the designs were really detailed and sharp.

VIA

What Bill Gates did next

It’s now been half a year since Bill Gates stepped down from his full time involvement in Microsoft. So what’s he doing?

Gates has decided to write an annual letter from his foundation to let us know – and he still sees technology as a centrepoint of what he does – though with the caveat that "technology is only useful if it helps people improve their lives, not as an end in itself." He also reflects on his years at the corporation.

"I want to share in a frank way what our goals are and where progress is being made and where it is not," he writes. "I will try to be…candid."

Gates openly admits that his previous work may cause him and the Foundation some problems down the line. "I am sure I will make mistakes in over-applying some elements from my previous experience and will need to adjust."

"For instance, the countries where Mi­crosoft does business are far more stable and have a lot more infrastructure than most of the places where the foundation does its work, so I’ll need to better appreciate how difficult it will be to execute our strategies."

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The Wheelman Game Interview

Most games based on movies tend to well suck. The only one I could think of that didn’t was Starbreeze Studios’ Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from butcher Bay starring tough guy, Vin Diesel. While Starbreeze Studios are busy working on Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, a remake cum sequel to the game, Vin Diesel struck a deal with Midway to work on a video game adaptation of his upcoming movie, The Wheelman.

Now it’s too early to judge the game since we haven’t even played it yet, but we were given a small taste of things to come when we sat down and spoke to Simon Woodroffe, Creative Director at Midway Games Studio Newcastle.

How was working with Vin Diesel? How involved was he in the project?

Vin has been a great inspirational figure to work with. He was on board with the idea and design principles of the game from the get go and has had a hand in shaping many unique elements of it. Where I think his real strength is, as a Hollywood star – he really GETS games and the differences between them and movies as forms of entertainment. He’s keen to bring movie production standards into games but not at the expense of the interactivity that makes games unique.