As Tom Wolfe put it (in his chronicle of the ’60’s, The Electric Kool Aid Acid Tests) way back when, “You’re either on the bus, or off the bus.” I’m on the bus – to Baltimore, that is traveling with The Roadshow, as it has come to be known. The Roadshow, sponsored by The Trendlines Group, is an unprecedented (as in first-time-ever) gathering of over a dozen Israeli early stage hi-tech companies (many in the biotech area, but with others as well) who are in the U.S. for a week to meet with investors across the country.
Monday we were in Manhattan, so if this is Tuesday, it must be Baltimore (which the aforementioned bus is now on the way to). Then it’s on to Chicago on Wednesday, and L.A. on Thursday, before breaking up and returning home.
I was invited by Trendlines to check out the process, and see what really goes on in these investor meetings. Everyone in Israel (and the U.S., for that matter) knows that Israeli companies seeking startup money are frequent visitors to the U.S., trying to raise funds in their “first round” or “second round,” etc. For most of us, the process by which this money is raised – what goes into the selling of Israeli hi-tech ideas to American investors – is a deep mystery. What’s the motivation for the investors? Why does one company make it big, while another languishes (assuming it has a valid technology and would pass due diligence)? How do Israelis overcome the language barrier? How do they find investors, what do they promise them, and why do the investors believe them? There’s a whole subculture here of Israeli tech folk who go on the road seeking funding – a story that will unfold here and elsewhere (including in the Jpost) in the coming weeks.
Check this out: Today i leave with reps of 15 israeli startups for a week long “roadshow,” in which the companies will be presenting their stuff in 4 ?cities- New York, Baltimore, Chicago, and LA. They’ll be presenti their products, services and idea to angel investors, in the hope of comig home with a bundle of cash for their ventures. the whole thing is beirun (and paid for) by the Trendlines Group.
I’ll be blogging and tweeting the experience. Shold be a doozy,
It’s a bit of a delicate topic, but “evacuating” – going to the bathroom – is one of those things we all need to do. We don’t think about it too much – until we experience one of those minor “bumps” in our internal plumbing that hold things up. Only then do we realize what we’re missing!
Unfortunately, there are millions of people around the world whose waste system is completely shot – and are unable to go to the bathroom like the rest of us. When waste can’t leave the body through its regular channels, doctors open up a hole in the stomach and redirect the colon to channel its waste through the hole – into a bag that’s attached to a catheter.
It’s called a “stoma,” and I am not making it up. If you’ve never seen one, or have never known anyone who admit to having one, there’s a good reason for that: The loss of control and the problems that come with the stoma are enough to cause bouts of depression among those who have them, and many of the patients with stoma – who tend to be elderly – turn into shut-ins, embarrassed by the whole thing and fearful that something might go wrong with the stoma like leaks, smells, and other unpleasant features.
Even worse – patients with stoma have no control over what and when they, ah, evacuate. The body does what it wants, and when it produces waste, the patient does not have the option of “holding it in;” they just go, with the waste sloshing into the plastic bag attached to their body. Imagine being at a business meeting or at the movies, with your waste dropping itself into the bag – which now has to be emptied, and cleaned, for the next round. Who would want to live like that? But the irony is that, without the stoma, these people wouldn’t be living at all!
This is exactly the problem Israeli company Stimatix solves. It makes an artificial sphincter which allows patients with stoma to schedule their evacuations when they want, giving them back control over their vital bodily functions. When the patient is ready to “go,” they open up a liquid-proof cap that keeps the waste inside until they can get to an appropriate place to take care of business (like a bathroom). They can then fill up the bag and clean it out, without having to worry about social opprobrium. It’s not just about going to the bathroom – it’s about dignity.
I know I haven’t posted for awhile – been busy with another big project (PLEASE check out and like this Facebook page, if you can – http://on.fb.me/sentigo). But here’s some REALLY big news: The device that arguably started the modern tablet revolution – the Kindle – is largely the result of Israeli technology!
Not very well known until now, I heard about this from some friends of mine who work(ed) at SunIsrael, now owned by Oracle. After nearly 8 months of efforts, requests, permissions, etc., I got an opportunity to interview the team at Oracle Israel responsible for the implementation of Java that makes the Kindle go. It’s a very cool story, one that you willbe able to can read in whole at the Israel21c site.
Basically, Java had to be adjusted significantly to accommodate the Kindle’s needs, and it proves the versatility of Java as a platform, as far as Oracle/Sun are concerned. But for the rest of us, the big news is that the most revolutionary (non-Apple) device of the past few years – and, probably, the device that pushed Apple to speed up development of the iPad, which led to the tablet revolution now unfolding – is a made in Israel innovation! And, I am VERY proud to have been the one to break the story (thanks Eddie and Gordon!).
Kind of brings a tear to the eye – I will never look at the Kindle the same again!
To the list of Israeli hi-tech “firsts,” add this: Two Israelis are suing Facebook as the principals in a class-action lawsuit over the by now infamous Facebook/LOLapps privacy breach. This, as far as I can tell, is the first lawsuit over this issue (probably won’t be the last, though). Talk about being on the cutting edge of hi-tech!
The background of the lawsuit is by now well known. On Friday, after a Wall Street Journal investigation, FB admitted that ten of its top applications – including Farmville (what do people see in that?) and Texas Hold’em, had been transmitting user IDs to advertising and Internet-tracking companies, with the result being that if you these apps used FB pages which are supposed to be secure as referrer pages, enabling advertisers (in this case, data-gathering firm Rapleaf) to see them and get your FB ID number, and, no doubt, use them for nefarious commercial purposes.
According to the lawsuit, filed in a Jerusalem court on Tuesday, three days after the WSJ report appeared, the security breach “provides advertisers with information about users, and as a result advertisers net huge profits, without the knowledge of the user and against all the privacy policies of Facebook. It is clear to all users that Facebook is responsible for the damage caused by its negligence and error.”
There is so much wrong about that statement it’s almost impossible to know where to begin deconstructing it. What damage? Have you investigated the books of “the advertisers” and seen their “huge net profits?” Is it not clear that just using the internet in almost any capacity reveals information about you as a user – far more than you probably realize (for an object lesson in this, check out Spokeo – or, as many call it, “Spooky-o,” because it’s spooky how much *publicly available* information it can find about you on the internet!)? What about AdWords and the amazing profiles modern algorithms can build about you? Isn’t Google more deserving of a lawsuit than Facebook?
The worst part is that these guys have determined that they suffered NIS 300 (about $85) damage as a result of Facebook’s folly. And, since there are at least a million Facebook users in Israel, they decided to sue for NIS 300 million. Three hundred shekels? Where did that number come from exactly? Doesn’t sound like a sum that would impress high-flying and high-profit advertisers!
My take: Either these two are themselves or have been heavily influenced by recent law school graduates (alas, Israel is awash in them these days) looking for business. I feel bad for Facebook, because this actually has a chance of succeeding, at least to some extent, since the judges who are likely to hear the case are probably clueless when it comes to online privacy issues. You mean you reveal details about your internet surfing habits when you go online? Bummer! Why didn’t someone tell us?
How much you wanna bet these two people are still going to be using Farmville etc.?
How did Canadian authorities figure out that suspected terrorist Khurram Sher auditioned for Canadian Idol in 2008? Possibly an alert Youtube viewer picked up on the image (you don’t get many Idol auditioners in full Muslim dress; it was a pretty unforgettable image). But if that was the case, we would definitely have heard from the person who uncovered the video – recognizing a terrorist on a TV show via Youtube would be the perfect ticket to 15 minutes of fame these days.
So in the absence of any claim to fame, we can assume that the connection was made using internet face recognition technology – like that developed by Israel’s Face.com. Face.com’s application checks Facebook photos, comparing photos in different accounts to identify unknown people on user pages. The application analyzes photos with tags, associates the tag with the person in the photo, and then searches for the same image in untagged photos in other Facebook accounts. In other words, Face.com can compare photos and determine identities based on information in other photos that are already a know quantity.
I interviewed Gil Hirsch, CEO of Face.com., last year, and wrote
While Face.com’s technology sounds like it could be developed into a fantastic security application as well, Hirsch says that the company is concentrating on the consumer market for now. “Our next step is to expand our presence in Facebook, and over the next year we will be rolling out more services on other sites.”
Face.com has expanded since I did that interview – and is now available to developers for use with other platforms. Interestingly, in this story from August of this year, Hirsch is quoted as saying that
You can basically search for people in any photo. You could search for family members on Flickr, in newspapers, or in videos on YouTube.
So could technology developed by Israel’s Face.com have been used to find the “singing terrorist?” Could be!
The word is out – Israel, despite all the talk of it being the target of Turkish and Arab hackers, is far safer online than most of the “first world” (and it’s pretty safe offline too, with crime stats per capita far lower than that of the U.S. and other countries). Israel, the most open country in the Middle East, is also the safest country in the region for internet users; Israelis have a one in 211 chance of experiencing an internet attack, far better than the world average, in which computer users were attacked online one in every 73 times they used the internet.
Israel also compared favorably to the rest of the Middle East, where there is a 1 in 119 chance of getting attacked. Jordanians had a 1 in 98 chance of getting attacked Syrians a 1 in 198 chance, and in Turkey – the world leader in internet riskiness – there was a 1 in 10 chance of getting hacked when you went online!
Not only that – Israel beats nearly all of Europe and the U.S.: In Australia, you have a 1 in 75 chance of getting attacked, while in the UK the chances were 1 in 63(!). In the rest of Europe, the chances of attack were 1 in 72, while in North America, the chances of getting hacked while online were a pathetic 1 in 51 – with the US a sad 1 in 48 (ahead of the US, counting up to the dubious number 1 spot occupied by Turkey, are: Portugal, Vietnam, Laos, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia). Come on America – you can do better than Bangladesh and Russia!
The statistics were compiled by anti-virus specialists AVG, makers of AVG and AVG Free applications (FAR better, imho, than the “commercial” anti-virus apps like McAffee and Symantec). The information was compiled during July, so, the company says, the stats may change. Yeah, but not radically – which means that Israel will continue to be much safer online than any of its neighbors.
Considering that the internet is far more open in Israel (as is society in general), and considering that Israel is the prime target for the hackers who have made internet surfing hell in Turkey, it’s surprising that Israel is so safe. Chalk it up (again!) to Israel’s hi-tech prowess; as usual, Israel has to work twice as hard as everyone else to survive, and in the end manages to live better than any of its neighbors. It’s a phenomenon we see repeated over and over, in many different areas of society.
It’s too bad about Turkey; they burned their bridges with Israel, so we’re unlikely (hopefully) to be offering them any knowhow on building a safe internet. And without a safe internet, Turks are going to be locked out of the future hi-tech world. Well, they wanted to be part of (lead) the “great Muslim Ummah,” aping the lifestyles of hi-tech jewels like Syria and Egypt. And it certainly seems like their wish is coming true!
Israelis, as a whole, are very loyal to their country – but Ikea is by far now the most popular furniture store in Israel. Why have Israelis abandoned Herzl St. in Tel Aviv, the country’s furniture center, for Ikea? What does Ikea have that Israeli furniture stores don’t?
Variety – that’s what they have! Israelis want nice homes with knick-knacks and bric-a-bac, and they’re willing to pay. Until Ikea opened here a few years ago, Israelis would journey to the U.S. and Europe and bring back what they could – usually little items – to try and distinguish their homes from others. And when they were finally able to get the “big ticket” items that they couldn’t shlep on the plane, they descended on Ikea like hungry wolves.
You’d think other retailers would have realized by now that Israelis are ripe for the plucking, but so far no other major international chains have opened here – although Israeli furniture retailers have gotten the hint and have significantly updated their offerings.
Why am I going on about furniture? Because Ikea proves that choice and competition work; you get more for your money when companies have to compete for your business, and businesses that do not have to compete in this way feel they can inflate prices as much as they want. Take treadmills, for example; why are they triple and quadruple the price at Megasport than they are at Sears? Because. Whaddaya gonna do about it?
Well, Megasport’s day of reckoning – and the day of reckoning for many other retailers – may be coming soon, thanks to an Israeli-invented company called FiftyOne. FiftyOne runs a service that allows U.S. retailers to sell and ship goods around the world. I interviewed Mike DeSimone, the CEO of the company for Israel21C, and he told me all about it. They have several dozens stores – many of the ones you see in U.S. malls – as well as some big online retailers, like Overstock.com and Shoes.com. They will soon be adding retailers like the Gap, Macys, and Bloomingdales. And, they also have Sears.com, which by itself has tens of thousands of products!
You can connect to all of these retailers’ international sales services directly from FiftyOne’s merchant page. When you make a purchase, you’re essentially making it from FiftyOne, which keeps the books, determines the shipping (to Israel it’s usually five to fourteen business days) and the customs duties and VAT. It’s all determined before you place your order, so you know exactly how much you’re spending (not all stores ship to Israel, but enough do). Not all products are available at all sites; for example, we’ve been wanting a futon, which seem to be unavailable in Israel, but I couldn’t find one Sears was willing to ship here. On the other hand, I could have bought all the beanbag chairs I wanted.
The prices at Sears looked to be what they would in the U.S. (where most shipping is free) but the shipping pushes the price way up. Depending on the item, though, it might still be cheaper to order it online than to buy it here, even with the shipping and taxes. An exercise cycle, for example, came out to about $400 – NIS 1,500 or so – from Sears. I can’t imagine it costing less here.
Not all the prices were that great, however; Overstock.com seems to have more expensive prices for its Israeli customers, and a laptop I checked out there cost more than $200 higher than it did on Amazon. To order from Amazon, you can use the Mustop service – and when their shipping was added to the price of the laptop, the two figures weren’t that far apart.
But I’m willing to give FiftyOne some time – to get more stores and better (ie cheaper) shipping options, especially for bigger (and bigger ticker) items. Sooner or later, we’ll be able to import Kenmore washing machines and dryers directly into Israel!
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