Color blocked dress!! in the most ravishing color maroon n black!!

Color blocked dress!! in the most ravishing color maroon n black!!

WEAR YOUR WILD SIDE with this Animal print dress!!!Check out the great discounts on mycolorcocktail.com. use code 'SALE' to avail 15% additional off.

WEAR YOUR WILD SIDE with this Animal print dress!!!Check out the great discounts on mycolorcocktail.com. use code 'SALE' to avail 15% additional off.

Growth of Islamic Finance in Singapore

Singapore is eyeing to play a bigger role in the rising Islamic finance industry, with its central bank looking into tax and other regulatory policies to expedite the issuance of sukuk and other Islamic market instruments in the citystate.

“The growth potential for Islamic finance in Singapore has yet to be fully realised and Singapore can play a role in giving growth of cross-border Islamic financing an even greater push,” said Mr Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry and Deputy Chairman of Monetary Authority of Singapore at the opening of 4th World Islamic Banking Conference.

The Islamic finance industry has seen strong growth over the past year. The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) estimated that assets of the global Islamic financial services industry grew by 20.4 per cent year-on-year to reach an estimated US$1.6 trillion at end of 2012.

Industry estimates show that the assets of the global Islamic financial services industry grew by some 20 per cent on-year to US$1.6 trillion as at the end of last year and industry players said prospects ahead are bright.

Sukuk or Islamic bond issuances totalled US$137 billion in 2012, up from US$92b in 2011. Yet there is still a gap to fill in the Islamic capital market. According to Mr Ng Nam Sin, Assistant Managing Director (Development) at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the increased volume of issuance is still insufficient to meet the huge demand for Islamic assets for investments and Islamic financial institutions to manage their liabilities. Moreover, there is also a need to broaden the range of Islamic capital market products. Singapore already has the right infrastructure and good regulations already in place. Experts say Singapore’s strong regulatory environment and the depth and diversity of its capital markets will enable it to capture a bigger slice of the Islamic financing market.

More than US$11 billion worth of Islamic bonds (Sukuk) was issued in January 2013 alone, according to the 3rd Edition Sukuk report by the International Islamic Financial Market.

The momentum is set to continue, leading to more financial centres eyeing a slice of the Islamic financial pie, say experts.

A big opportunity lies in the rising connectivity between the Middle East and Asia, as well as robust growth in both regions.

Growth of Islamic Finance in Singapore

Precious metal and the economy!!!

Gold has always had an impact on the world’s economy and in context of the Indian economy, it is one of the most important deriving force of economy. In the recent times Indian economy is facing a high fiasco in terms of maintaining its balance of payments. Reportedly around 95% of the requirement of gold is imported , in the month of May this year alone 162 tonnes of gold was reported to have been imported. Due to heavy import demands of gold and effect on balance of payments, rupee has lostheavily against the dollar and is now pegged around 58 to 59 to a dollar.

When it comes to demand, India holds only 9% of gold as its reserve yet demand is higher than China by 37%. The scenario of tumbling economy has relations with the selling off gold by the Cyprus which is seemed to be bailout soon. Accordingly, the highest reserve of gold in forex is possessed by USA with 77%, then Germany with 74%. European countries have been supporting the economy with their upper hand in the Gold reserves and International bodies for economic and banking reforms are providing all possible aides so that the economy does not have to face a crisis.

Gold has traditionally been considered an ideal form of security against financial emergencies. The stock market see-saws frequently causing enormous losses to investors, investing in real estate is full of risks and hassels and returns on deposits don’t beat the prevailing inflation rate. Investment in gold, however, is not only risk-free but also hassle-free. It can be bought right off the bazaar. Middle and upper classes, therefore, load their daughters with gold while marrying them off. The demand for gold for this purpose is born out of age-old tradition and has, of late, been effectively stoked by the daily TV soaps where women of the house are shown all the time loaded with gold ornaments from head to foot.

Gold, therefore, is something which is precious and continues to be chased by the rich or poor and by the corrupt. Its demand is highly unlikely to wane at any time soon unless restrictions are placed directly or indirectly for its acquisition. The Indian government had recently tried to curb its demand by increasing the import tax on it from 4 to 6%.

Gold has historically outperformed in the second half of the year. Bloomberg recently reported that even in gold’s bear market between 1980 and 2001 gold gains averaged 1.3% in the second half of the year. While 1.3% doesn’t compare to gold’s double digit percentage increases of the past decade, gold needs all the help it can get as it heads for its first annual loss in 13 years.

Precious metal and the economy!!!

PHP code for facebook Login on your website

Follow these steps

Step 1
Include the attached file (facebook.php) in your PHP page

Step 2
In your PHP page create a session with facebook

// Create our Application instance (replace this with your appId and secret).
$facebook = new Facebook(array(
  'appId'  => 'your app id',
  'secret' => 'your secret key',
  'cookie' => true,
));
$session = $facebook->getSession();

$me = null;
//var_dump($session);
// Session based API call.
if ($session) {
  try {
    $uid = $facebook->getUser();
    $me = $facebook->api('/me');
  } catch (FacebookApiException $e) {
    error_log($e);
  }
}

Step 3
Now $me will have a full array in case you are already logged in on fb or it would be null. So, just check $me and accordingly display the login / logout link
 

// login or logout url will be needed depending on current user state.
if ($me) {
  print_r($me); //print the user info 
  echo $logoutUrl = $facebook->getLogoutUrl();
} else {
  echo $loginUrl = $facebook->getLoginUrl();
}

Google SEO Methodology - A Step by Step Guide

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website on organic ("natural" or un-paid) search engine result pages (SERPs), by incorporating search engine friendly elements into a website. A successful search engine optimization campaign will have, as part of the improvements, carefully select, relevant, keywords which the on-page optimization will be designed to make prominent for search engine algorithms. Search engine optimization is broken down into two basic areas: on-page, and off-page optimization. On-page optimization refers to website elements which comprise a web page, such as HTML code, textual content, and images. Off-page optimization refers, predominantly, to backlinks (links pointing to the site which is being optimized, from other relevant websites).

Phase 1 – Optimize your Landing Page (On-Page SEO)

1. Use keyword phrase in the Title tag. Phrase should end within first 70 characters.
2. Use keyword phrase in Meta Description. Phrase should end within first 156 characters.
3. Use keyword phrase in <h1> tag if there is one.
4. The keyword phrase should be used in the page's text-based body content at least twice. On pages more than 500 words in length, make sure that keyword density is at least 1.5% (but no more than 6 or 7%). Keyword usage should be evenly distributed throughout the page.

Phase 2 – Internal Off-Page SEO

1. Identify additional pages on your site that can also be optimized for targeted keyword phrase.
2. Once the support page(s) has been identified, maximize the link relevance passed on to the landing page by: a) using the keyword phrase in page Title and Meta Description, b) using the keyword phrase in non-hyperlinked body content, and c) hyperlinking one instance of the keyword phrase to the intended landing page.
3. Maximize the number of optimal internal links to your landing page. Vary the anchor text going to your landing page by using slight variations of the keyword phrase (e.g. singular/plural, synonyms, long-tail variations, etc.)
4. This phase can be extended by creating more pages support the landing page. But unless you have significantly fewer pages than your competition, then you would probably be better served to move on to Phase 3.

Phase 3 – External Off-Page SEO (Link Building)

After you have optimized as many of your pages as possible and linked them to your landing page, you should then move on to external link building. There is no simple step-by-step process for this phase. You will have to determine how to make your content more linkable so that you can develop links naturally. You should also research your competition to find the most relevant links to your landing page. Keep the following guidelines in mind as you try to build external links for Google search engine optimization:

• Always seek quality instead of quantity. Focus on finding pages that are relevant for your targeted keyword.
• The optimal link from a 3rd party site is the same as an optimal link from one of your own pages. The targeted keyword phrase will ideally be in the Title and Meta Description, body content and the linking anchor text.
• Avoid site-wide (i.e. global, run-of-site) links in all circumstances. This is an especially important guideline if the site is not keyword-relevant. Your landing page will more than likely get filtered for the targeted keyword unless you have high quality links to legitimize the relevancy.
• Brainstorm link bait or link magnet ideas so that inbound links will hopefully develop naturally.
• Unfortunately, the most relevant links are only attainable by providing an incentive to the site owners. Advertising relationships, partnerships and bartering possibilities should be explored to obtain the most valuable links.
• Do not pay for a link from a non-relevant site unless it has significant traffic potential.

Islamic venture capital: Increasing relevance in promoting entrepreneurship and Islamic finance

This article was originally published in Islamic Finance News Volume:10 Issue:13 dated 26/06/2013

“Despite its origins in the Islamic concept of Mudarabah, Islamic venture capital has yet to take off as a meaningful

sector. Yet it can play a vital role in connecting and developing global markets and encouraging economic growth.

MOHAMMAD ASIF discusses whether the Islamic venture capital might fi nally be ready for lift -off .”

Some of the most infl uential companies in the world today include Google, Yahoo, eBay and Microsoft . A common feature of these companies is that they have been backed by venture capital (VC) firms.

VC is commonly invested in the early or start-up stage of the lifecycle of a company, and is sustained through the company’s growth until a determined exit; mostly in special situations in which there is opportunity for explosive growth. While a fund structure diversifi es risk, these funds are inherently risky.

Historically, VC started from the Islamic concept of Mudarabah, a form of partnership used even before Islam by Arab traders. In the 10th century, the concept of Mudarabah was taken up by the Italians and spread through Europe. About three decades ago, a kind of quantum leap happened and the concept of the modern Islamic bank (Mudarabah in the form of the bank managing the funds from the depositors) emerged.

VC is a risk sharing scheme between investors who provide capital and the entrepreneurs who bring about innovation and undertake activities in the real economy. These two concepts (risk sharing and favoring activities in the real economy) are distinctive features of Islamic finance. Despite this convergence, Islamic finance has yet to fully adopt the VC industry as one of its integral segments.

VC constitutes an important intermediary in the financial system as it provides fi nancing and advisory services to companies that might otherwise encounter diffi culty in attracting capital, as they are typically high risk, young and do not possess sufficient assets

that would be eligible as collateral. The nature of VC as an investment asset class is unique as it has an option-like character in that it has limited downside (the investor cannot lose more than the amount invested) and substantial upside gains. There is always a disconnect between risk and reward for investors. Although the VC industry is flourishing, the failure rate is also high, nearly half of

the companies have negative return. The risks are in the form of:

• Liquidity risk, which is a consequence of the lower liquidity of VC investing;

• Information asymmetry risk, which stems from the fact that VC firms are not subject to the same disclosure requirements as compared to public stocks; and

• Uncertainties surrounding the profitability of the venture capital backed companies.

Despite the failure of the VC industry to neatly outperform publicly traded equities, investments in the former do offer some risk and return features unavailable in the latt er. This implies that VC provides the investors with an avenue for portfolio diversify cation. Within the VC industry and over time, the return is not homogeneous.

The factors that positively affect the performance of a VC firm can be classified as macro and micro – factors that pertain to the environment and factors that are related to the relationships between the firm and the portfolio invested companies. The American VC industry has outperformed the European industry. Micro factors like the degree of involvement and the size of the investment were the determinants.

Many industrialized countries are in the stage of stagnation while some new stars are on the rise and economic center of gravity is shifting. The evolving VC activity in various markets around the world has generated an industry that in many respects is perceived as global, although some global patterns and trends are emerging, the overall development in venture capital markets cannot really be depicted as global. Venture capital activity entails opportunities to restructure regional markets and respond to growing transnational

demands. The pace of globalization of the VC industry is very impressive, which manifests through an increasing internationalization of fundraising for global investment.

Islamic venture capital (IVC) can be defined as a VC industry that conforms to the requirements of Shariah in the area of transactions. The question is: what is required by an IVC firm to distinguish itself and flourish in both a Shariah and market-driven manner?

The sector of Islamic venture capital has been largely ignored until recently because of the lack of an ‘entrepreneur class’ which is essential for the development of a healthy venture capital environment: young, bright people with great business ideas and a  determination to make a success of their business. As the world becomes more of a global marketplace, and as the education and skills level of young people in the region increases, venture investing along Shariah compliant lines may become more common.

When it comes to IVC, we can’t say the greater MENA region has been bereft of venture capital, as countries such as Egypt, Lebanon and even Turkey have long had an entrepreneur class of their own and the VC industry is consequently more developed in these

countries. In much of the GCC there have been impediments to foreigners owning their own businesses outright and this naturally led to an absence of such businesses in the marketplace. As countries like the UAE have introduced ‘free zones’ where foreign nationals

and corporate can own 100% of their own business, the market for venture capital has opened up. Naturally the business idea that will attract Islamic venture capital has to operate within the constraints of Shariah and must not dabble in Haram areas.

The two sides of VC coin are young entrepreneur and venture investors with risk appetite. It is not only about money, it is also about education and expertise which was previously lacking. The combined effect of this has been that the Islamic venture capital industry

was virtually non-existent. The arrival of financial centers such as the Dubai International Financial Center, Malaysia International Islamic Financial Center, Qatar Financial Center, and Bahrain Financial Harbor has opened up the possibility that expert venture capital talent from more mature financial markets could be transplanted into rapidly emerging Islamic finance markets and bring with it the intellectual wherewithal to do lucrative Islamic venture capital deals.

Islamic finance is now at the threshold of a new dimension in which the industry has an increased capability to strengthen international fi nancial interlinks between nations. IVC has the potential to contribute towards the efficient mobilization and allocation

of funds across regions. Prospects for the Islamic fi nance industry are bright owing to strong demand for financial services from a large segment of the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims and the need to effectively channel rising international savings, including those of high-networth individuals.

Islamic venture capital funds face little or no hindrance from regulatory bodies in terms of Shariah compliance because the only difference from conventional VC is in the selection of firms. Hence the scope of IVC in terms of territory is beyond the Islamic banking sector where regulatory hindrances are high. Also Islamic banking and Islamic venture capital can benefit each other. IVC can promote entrepreneurship and hence the funded firms may be obliged and motivated to use services of only Islamic banks. On the other hand, Islamic banks can become source of funds for Islamic venture capital funds.

IVC firm partnership may take either the Musharakah structure with a ‘selldown’ model where the general partners will eventually buy out the shares of the limited partners at a price valued upon the exit proceeds (i.e. market value) or the Mudarabah structure whereby the partnership is terminated upon the exit. The choice of Musharakah or Mudarabah partnerships depends on whether the general partners will also invest their own funds or not. The integration of this high risk, high return segment into the Islamic finance industry will be of nature to offer a diversify cation and an investment avenue to investors with high risk appetite.

 

Mohammad Asif is the Director of  JaZaa Financial Advisory.

He can be contacted at mohammadasif@jazaafinancials.com

Islamic venture capital: Increasing relevance in promoting entrepreneurship and Islamic finance

How To Give Your Photos a Vintage Polaroid Effect

Follow this step by step guide to giving your photos a cool vintage Polaroid style effect in Photoshop. We’ll adjust the colours of the image with adjustment layers then use Photoshop brushes to distress the photograph for an aged appearance.

The vintage effect we’ll be creating transforms your photos with faded colour casts, aged marks and a distressed Polaroid style border to frame the shot. Subtle additions of noise and various overlays all help to achieve that old-time look.

Open up your chosen image in Photoshop. Here I’ve picked out a nice Summer shot of a group of friends on the beach from ThinkStock. Make small Levels adjustments to increase the contrast slightly.

Add a Curves adjustment layer and change the drop down menu to select the Red channel. Begin manipulating the curves line into a slight inverted S-bend to begin adjusting the colours.

Change the drop down to the Green channel and make similar adjustments to the tones controlled by this channel.

Adjust the Blue channel so the colours are clipped at the bottom and top areas of the graph. The result should be a retro looking mix of yellow and red.

Select the Gradient Tool and set up an orange to yellow radial gradient. Drag this gradient across the canvas and set this layer to Soft Light at 50%.

Paint in a couple of red brush marks around the edge of the photo and change the blending mode to Screen at 40% to create some subtle light leaks.

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer at the top of the layer stack and finely tune the saturation level to tone down the impact of the colours.

Fill a new layer with white, then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise with the settings of 35%, Uniform, Monochromatic. Set this layer to Soft Light at 50%.

Paint a white highlight near the centre of the image using a large soft brush. Set this layer to Soft Light at around 90%.

Use a couple of brush stroke Photoshop brushes to paint in a distressed border around the edge of the picture to create an old Polaroid style frame.

When using Photoshop brushes, alter the angle by adjusting the target shaped icon in order to paint the border in each direction around the edge of the canvas.

A handwritten note on the photo stating the year helps tap into the vintage theme. Here I’m using the cool Faraco Hand font.

A subtle Drop Shadow effect adds a soft highlight on the bottom edge of the text to give the impression that the writing has been pressed into the photograph by the nib of the pen.

Finish off the vintage photo effect with some distressed marks and signs of age using these awesome Subtle Grunge brushes.

Instagram Your Images Using Photoshop

Instagram reinvented the photo sharing on our social media structure. It's a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your pictures to friends and family. And what I like the most about Instagram, are the various schemes that offers you to filter your pictures with your own little touch.

My all-time favorite Instagram filter is the "Nashville" and today, I will show you a quick tutorial about how to achieve that same effect on your images. It's a very simple effect and very easy to accomplish in Photoshop.

Step 1

Open your image in Photoshop and double-click on the background layer to make into a layer and named it Nashville.

Step 2

Create a new layer and fill it with the color (Red: 247 , Green: 217 , Blue: 173) and leave the opacity to 100% and your blending options to "Multiply".

Step 3

Click back on the "Nashville" layer and click Image > Adjustments > Curves. First go into the green channel and put the output to 37 and then go to the blue channel and put the output to 133.

Step 4

After click Image > Adjustments > Levels, change the gamma (the middle) to 1.36 and the input to 236.

Step 5

Now let's play the contrast by going to Image > Adjustments > Brightness / Contrast. Put the brightness to 6 and contrast to 51. Don't forget to uncheck "Use Legacy" if it is checked.

Step 6

Give another curves to the image by again going to Image > Adjustments > Curves. But this time go to the green channel and put the input to 13 and in the blue channel, put the input to 88.

Step 7

To give more depth let's change again the contrast by going to Image > Adjustments > Brightness / Contrast. Simply enter the brightness to -6 and contrast to 33.

Step 8

Give another one last curves touch by going to Image > Adjustments > Curves. Go to the red channel and put the output to 4 and in the blue channel, put the output to 14. Lastly merge all the layers to visible.

Final Words

That's it! This is how we create the "Nashville" filter from Instagram in Photoshop. At this point, the rest is up to your creativity to experiment different concepts to finish this image.

You can also use the same technique for your own images and also create an action in Photoshop. By creating an action, you'll just have to play the action instead of redoing all the steps!

Fake HDR effects in Photoshop Elements

Some photographers employ the processing powers of packages like Photoshop CS5 or Photomatix to bracketing exposures to combine into a single composite high dyanmic range image that reveals fine detail in the shadows, midtones and highlights. HDR photography editing techniques add rich (and sometimes false) colours that enhance the artistic look of a shot, 
and many even like the way the HDR process can add artefacts such as halos around object edges.

If you’re an Elements user then you’ll lack access to more sophisticated commands like Photoshop CS5’s Merge to HDR Pro, but you can still endow your compositions with typical HDR properties from within Elements.

The trick to getting the HDR look is to shoot a series of bracketed exposures. Here, we’ll show you how to process multiple raw format files to reveal specific tonal details and then use the standard Elements Photomerge command to combine them into a single image packed with detail.

We’ll then show you how to add typical HDR artefacts using the Unsharp Mask command. This will also claw back missing midtones, so that delicate details such as the engravings on our shot can be read more easily.

Step by step how to fake HDR effects in Elements

01 Reveal the wood texture
Open your bracketed exposures in the Camera Raw editor. Click on the hdr_before_02 thumbnail and drag Exposure to -0.45. Boost the Blacks to 21. Increase Contrast to +91 and Clarity to +83 to make the wood grain stand out.

02 Enhance tonal detail
Click on your first image and increase Exposure to +2.45 to reveal midtone and highlight detail. Increase Contrast to +37 and push Clarity up to +41. On your third image, set Exposure to -2.55 to reveal more shadow detail. Click Select All, then Open Images.

03 Use Photomerge
Go to File>New>Photomerge Exposure to merge the shots. Click Open All, then tick Smart Blending. Drag the Highlight Details slider to 73 to darken the brightest areas. Drag Shadows to 70 to lighten the shadows. Increase Saturation to 17 and click Done.

04 Try Unsharp Mask
Photomerge blends the shots together and displays the composite image as a new layer. 
Go to Enhance>Unsharp Mask. Set Amount to 87% to reveal the engraved text. Set Radius to 40 to spread the contrast change and create a hint of a halo. Click OK.

05 Tweak the Levels
Choose Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels. Set the grey slider to 1.29 to lighten the midtones. Grab the Brush tool. Set Opacity to 100% and the foreground colour to black. Click on the white mask. Spray over the engraving to stop it being lightened.

06 Burn the wood
Choose Layer>Flatten Image. Grab the Burn tool and set Range to Shadows. Set Exposure to 20%. Spray over the grain and knots in the wood to darken them and reveal their texture. Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and up Cyans Saturation to +14.

Photoshop Effects: how to mimic studio lighting for stylish portraits

Shooting in an actual studio isn’t a possibility for many of us. Thankfully, you can harness the power of different Photoshop effects to recreate the look of studio lighting to make your portraits more striking. Below we show you how it’s done in our latest Photoshop tutorial.

By shooting your subject in a studio, you can control lighting with great precision and produce shots with a variety of dramatically different looks.

Key lights can add striking high-contrast shadows that bring out the details in the subject’s face, or these dramatic shadows can be made less extreme using a reflector or a fill light.

By adding coloured gels to the lights you can change the shot’s mood, and complement the lighting with a variety of textured backdrops.

However, studio photo shoots don’t come cheap, and if you return from the shoot and decide that the lighting wasn’t perfect after all, you may find the most convenient (and least expensive) solution is to explore what Photoshop effects you can use to recreate this look.

Thanks to Photoshop’s extensive tools and commands, you don’t need access to studio set-ups to create or fix a studio-style portrait. Our start image has been lit from the side using an external off-camera flash.

In this Photoshop tutorial we’ll show you how to use Photoshop’s Lighting filter to mimic the effect of adding a reflector to the other side of our subject’s face to create more balanced lighting. You’ll discover how to use Adjustment Layers to add a wash of mood-changing colour to the model, similar to using a gel in the studio.

You’ll also learn how to use Layer Masks to turn a texture layer into a grungy backdrop. Plus you’ll recreate lens effects such as vignettes to darken the edges of the image, creating a mysterious-looking and stylish portrait.