After the “egg on face” aftermath of the media’s reporting on the LifePatch affair, you’d think the media would be a little more demure in its descriptions of paradigm-changing Israeli hi-tech and medical innovations. (I admit I was taken in by the LifePatch story too, but the company’s website is still up and nobody has been arrested or charged with any fraud crimes. So it may have been a case of premature excitement, instead of outright fraud. Time will tell).

Anyway, this past week saw the reporting of a new, major Israeli invention. According to a report on Israel Radio (Reshet Bet, the news feature station), a Rehovot company called BiondVax developed a “universal vaccine” for all forms of flu – Bird (Avian), H1N1 (swine), Hong Kong, Bolivian, and any creature, city, or country in between. You take the vaccine once, and you’re forever protected against any all flus that may strike, locally or pandemically.

The report, on Sunday morning, came after President Obama’s declaration of a state of swine flu emergency in the U.S., so it’s possible the reporter who submitted the story got a little over-excited – and that, coupled with his misunderstanding of what the vaccine actually does, led to what was clearly an overstatement (it’s nice to see, though, such a high level of Israeli pride from the likes of a Reshet Bet reporter, on a station where the reporters often try to outdo each other with their denigration of thos country).

BiondVax’s shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange jumped Sunday morning, but perhaps with memories of LifePatch still fresh in the minds of the company’s directors, a BiondVax spokesperson got on the radio to play down the story. The original report said, for example, that the BiondVax vaccine had been determined to be safe for pregnant women for swine flu inoculations (Pregnant women are more susceptible to swine flu as a group, but securing vaccines for them has been more difficult because of fears of the effects on them of MF59 Adjuvant, included in many doses. So, a vaccine that could be administered to pregnant women without MF59 Adjuvant, as the Israel Radio report said the BiondVax vaccine could, would have been big news in itself). But the BiondVax spokesperson said that the company hadn’t tested pregnant women at all, and played down the possibility that it could function as a swine flu vaccine.

But if LifePatch was guilty of overstating its innovation, it appears that BiondVax’s minimizing the report seems over-conservative, which you look at the research the company has done. It really is developing a virus super-vaccine that would be administered only once every three to five years, that would cover all the flu viruses floating around. Flu viruses, it turns out, have common characteristics called “conserved epitopes,” which can be treated using a single method (which BiondVax has discovered and patented). More tests are to be conducted over the coming year, but already the company says that its vaccine has proven safe for younger patients (18-44). Much of the testing was done in conjunction with the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, surely an institution whose research can be trusted.

While the web site does not mention swine flu (or H1N1, the new official name for the flu – and they laughed at Yaakov Litzman when he asked that the term ’swine’ not be used!), it does say that the vaccine is/will be effective against “most human influenza virus strains, as well as the Avian flu” – avian being “bird.” It further states that it can handle the “antigenic drifts and shifts” of historical stains of flu – “such as occurred in 1918, 1957, 1968, 1976, 1977 and 1997 (Spanish, Asian, Hong Kong, Swine, Russian and Avian Flu, respectively).” The verdict is still out on LifePatch (although I doubt they would be able to get a fair hearing again, after their disappointing first-round performance) – but BiondVax’s innovation looks like the real thing!

If you’re ever feeling down and worthless, take comfort: Somebody out there loves you. Or at least your money. I’m worth $695!

I recently interviewed Enrique Salem, CEO of Symantec, which makes Norton anti-Virus Suite (now updated to its newest edition, Norton Internet Security). I was in a big hurry when I wrote the story that appeared in the Jpost, so there was one really important link I forgot to put in – the Symantec Online Risk Assessor, which will tell you just how highly valued you are – to hackers who trade in identity theft!

We’re all aware of the risks in online shopping and banking, but I think most of us wouldn’t worry too much about supplying a site like Amazon with our credit card information. Similarly, many of us check our bank accounts online, and pay bills at web sites. We all believe (hope) those sites are secure, and that the people running those businesses are taking all the precautions possible to protect our data.

But are we? According to Salem, more people than ever are falling for targeted hacker e-mail, where you respond to a link in a message and are taken to a site where something like a keylogger is installed remotely on your computer. The keylogger sends data back to the hackers, who then analyze your keystrokes looking for the “golden ticket” – your credit card number, Social Security number, or any other bit of information that can help them eventually trick you into revealing that information.

Sooner or later, Salem said, they get what they want, by coming up with a message that is so precise, so suited to your situation, that you really believe it came from your boss, sister in law, or anyone you believe the hackers couldn’t possibly know about. Of course they couldn’t – unless they were able to peer into your e-mail, instant messages, and so on.

And if you think it’s just not worth their time to pursue your info – why, you’re underestimating your true value. It’s certainly worth a couple of hours of work to get enough information on you; after all, even in these days of the dogged dollar, $695 is nothing to sneeze at! Ask Nikolai (you see this video after the risk assessor finishers analyzing you, so you can get an idea of just who would be interested in buying your identity in an online auction!).

Not to take away anything from Microsoft on its big day – everyone seems to love Windows 7 – but $179 for an upgrade? I mean, you don’t have Vista, right? You’re going to be upgrading directly from XP, which means you’re going to have to pay the upgrade fee, if you want the upgrade.

From what I read, MS doesn’t expect that much upgrade business from upgraders anyway; the bulk of Win7 users will get their first taste of the OS when they buy new desktops and laptops, where the cost of the system will be absorbed into the price of the computer. Of course, Microsoft will still be getting its $179 (or whatever they are charging for the OEM version of Win7).

Why do software companies issue new versions of their programs – or operating systems? Well, there are incremental improvements, security upgrades, and compatibility with new hardware. But honestly, all that could be accomplished in the context of an existing OS, via patches (a concept MS is certainly familiar with). But then they wouldn’t be able to collect $179 from users, would they?

So we know why the OS distributor sends out upgrades. But if the system works on your computer, why would YOU want to upgrade? As good as Windows 7 is, the “upgrade 1.0” rule – as in, don’t be the first on your block to install something brand new – still applies. And even if you install something tried and true, it takes weeks – many months – to get things working the way you want. So, if Microsoft XP works, why not just stick with it?

Well, because MS won’t let you; eventually, you have to upgrade, because they are going to stop issuing updates and patches for the “old” OS. I still have a machine that runs Windows 2000 – and which I have no intention of upgrading – but other than security patches, MS has stopped issuing performance upgrades long ago. The same thing is going to happen with XP – despite the fact that if you took a poll, I am sure the majority of people would rather stick with what they know.

But what if you could upgrade XP indefinitely – if you could ensure that it was up to day in fighting viruses, and was able to support new hardware as it came out? Under those circumstances, you could probably save yourself $179 – and a lot of hassle, too!

Unfortunately, there’s little you can do to prevent MS from phasing out XP. But if you like the way XP works and you want to keep it’s “look and feel” – and you don’t mind investing twenty five bucks – you might be interested in the very XP-like operating system made by an Israeli company with the unlikely name of “Affordy” (as in, “here’s a version of ‘Windows’ you can afford!)

Affordy’s Titan LEV (Linux Extended Version) looks and feels a lot like Windows XP, runs Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and many other Windows programs you’re familiar with, and can even run MS Office – but it’s not Windows. It’s a souped-up version of Ubuntu Linux, built specifically to make Linux palatable for Windows users. The difference between “real” XP and Affordy XP is that the Affordy people will be maintaining their OS, issuing upgrades and integrating programs into the OS, making it a “living thing,” unlike the case with Microsoft’s now-defunct OS.

The programs, by the way, are mostly open-source, but come pre-installed with the OS. The whole thing is “XP Compatible” – meaning, according to the company, that you can receive and edit a file from Windows or send a file to a Windows based PC, print onto a network printer connected to a Windows PC, and operate Windows and DOS programs.

According to Israel-based Affordy, the hassle of tracking down and figuring out how to install applications that work the way Windows users are accustomed to has been one of the major reasons why Linux hasn’t really taken off among consumers, among other reasons. “ Users who were used to a certain application could not find a suitable Linux replacement.  There are about 23,000 open source programs.  Finding and installing the right program takes time, expertise and experience,” the site says. You can even buy a laptop or desktop from these folks (including the super-cheap Coby netbook pictured below) with the Titan OS preinstalled – or just buy the OS on disc for about $25. Last I checked, that was $154 less than $179 – not a sum to be sneezed at in today’s economy!

Once again, Israel is left out in the cold. The 100 countries that Amazon will be selling its new international version of the Kindle to does not include Israel. If you’re willing to go to Cyprus, though, they’ll be happy to sell you one. But you still won’t get all the content of the American version.

The Kindle, of course, is Amazon’s nifty e-book reader that lets you buy and download books, magazines, newspapers etc. directly from the Amazon bookstore to your Kindle device. Beginning October 19, an Amazon statement says, the “Amazon Kindle is now for sale to customers in more than 100 countries…’We have millions of customers in countries all over the world who read English-language books,’ said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO.  ‘Kindle enables these customers to think of a book and download it wirelessly in less than 60 seconds.’”

Why not Israel? We’ll get to that a little later. First, though, I have to give props to Amazon as one of the few U.S. online stores willing to take Israeli credit cards. If you’ve ever tried to order anything using an Israeli card from any department store site, Wal-Mart, Buy.com, and a slew of others, you’ve felt the burning shame of rejection. Not at Amazon, though, which is open-minded enough to take the money you’re offering them for whatever it is they’re selling. They’ll even ship many (but certainly not all) items to Israel. But you can order anything with your Israeli credit card and ship to a U.S. address (if you don’t have one, try http://www.mustop.co.il/).

So you’d think that Israel, with its large community of English language speakers and readers, would be a natural for the Kindle. But not so fast; digital rights aren’t the same as “traditional” rights, as far as purchasers and suppliers are concerned. Just like you can’t buy music from the iTunes store if you’re doing it in Israel (you can’t even download the free music on the iTunes site!), you can’t buy MP3s from Amazon. But, you can order any CD you want and have it shipped here. Why? Because of fears of piracy, many music publishers fear selling outside the U.S., where DRM laws may be more lax.

That’s understandable. But the story with Kindle is somewhat different. Although e-books (and Kindle books) can be pirated, anyone downloading them directly to the device must be registered with Amazon, and the device must be registered as well. Of course, you can easily load stolen e-books (in .txt format) on a Kindle, but you could do that anyway, with a Kindle or any other e-book reader, or even on your computer. In other words, it’s not the Kindle sales model that is the problem here; that’s rock solid, and there would be no reason for publishers to fear piracy using the Kindle download model. Besides, most pirates aren’t going to bother to spend $300 for the Kindle anyway, when there are far cheaper alternatives for reading e-books (like on your cellphone).

So what’s the issue? I got a hint from a New York Times article on the story, where the author writes the following: “One challenge for publishers is navigating complex foreign rights issues: Books are often published by different companies and bear different prices in each country.” In other words, there are pre-existing agreements between distributors of books for publishers, and those distributors will want a piece of the action.

In Israel, the chief distributor of English language books is Steimatzky. A few years ago, you may recall,  a mini-scandal erupted when an importer began buying best-selling books in the U.S. at wholesale prices and shipping them to Israel – and was still able to sell the books at significantly lower prices than Steimatzky did. And Steimatzky screamed bloody murder, threatened to sue – and, pulling out its trump card, threatened to withhold sales from stores that bought books from this importer (an act that would be illegal in lots of places). All this, because they had more or less cornered the market on book imports, and weren’t willing to share. You can witness for yourself the power of Steimatzky’s near monopoly by taking a ride to the Bnei Brak Industrial Zone (near the Ayalon Mall), where you will see one of the biggest warehouses of any type in Israel – bearing the name Steimatzky. Is that the reason Amazon won’t/can’t sell the Kindle here? I can’t say, as I don’t have any inside info. But is Steimatzky likely to ask for a piece of the action? I wouldn’t be surprised.

One of the great things about a smartphone is the ability it gives you to connect to the wider world – through its data connection. And now, with relatively fast 3G internet networks, you can really hook into lots of great services. While the iPhone usually gets most of the glory, plain old Symbian or Windows devices can do most of us just fine.

For instance, I like having the option of hooking up internet phone calls on my cellphone using Skype. Skype has an application, called Skype Lite, which lets Java phone users dial into Skype via a regular cell phone call, with the call forwarded from the local connection to your Skype contact anywhere in the world. That’s a great way to save on international phone calls, but if you want to avoid the phone call charge itself, you can make a free Skype call using your smartphone, if you’re using a wifi connection. What if there’s no wifi? A smartphone lets you easily switch between the different connection options, such as WAP or 3G.

My Nokia 5800 phone is a Symbian device, and as of now Skype doesn’t have a native application for Symbians. So, I use an app called Nimbuzz, which very neatly lets you connect with your Skype account and call your contacts – as well as your the contacts in your phone book (I used Fring for awhile, but found Nimbuzz to be much neater in its approach).

Other notable apps that let you hook up with the rest of the world: Qik, a great app that lets you broadcast (via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook) whatever is happening around your phone live to the rest of the world; vTap, a video sharing site for mobiles; and Waze (http://www.waze.co.il or http://www.waze.com), which uses your phone’s GPS settings to determine where you are, and informs you of traffic problems or speed traps in your area.

As I wrote in the Jerusalem Post, you can connect to services like these via wifi, or 3G. But when using cellular internet, you are being charged by the kilobyte for all data you transfer on the network. For Orange customers, for example, the basic surfing package gives you almost unlimited surfing within the Orange site network, but once you try and connect to the rest of the world, you find that the 30 MB in data transfer you get with the basic NIS 21 package just isn’t enough.

Unfortunately, the concept of unlimited data connection is unknown in Israel, unlike in the rest of the world. On the other hand, the commensurate cost of the data connection is cheaper, because you get to choose from one of four data connection packages, so you can decide how much or how little you want to spend. Fortunately for me, I’m able to do a lot of my work in wifi-friendly environments, so I use my phone’s wifi connection to connect to most of the cool services I use. But having that 3G backup “insurance policy” is essential; for example, I was able to use soft modem Joikuspot to get my work done while helping my wife keep vigil recently at the hospital for a sick relative.

Having already received a warning that I was running out of allocated data time, I decided to upgrade from the 30 MB to the 150 MB package, which costs NIS 41 a month (to fund it, I dropped the GPS, which was NIS 21 a month, so my bill is essentially the same). The next package in the series, 5GB of data connection time, should put paid to any concerns I would have about going over the transfer limit; but that package is NIS 81 a month.

Since I don’t want to pay any more on my monthly bill than I already do, I didn’t upgrade to the 5GB plan – but if I could drop another NIS 40 in existing services that I don’t need as much, I would. Unfortunately, since most of my bill consists of set charges (for minutes and SMS usage), there’s almost nothing I can cut out without going to a different call package. But if I could shave off some of that cost – maybe take a package that doesn’t include 200 free SMS messages (I don’t use nearly that many), I could cut down the talk package and apply that money to the data package.

So here’s what I’m planning to do: I’d like to call Orange and figure out what the absolute cheapest package they offer is, and figure out whether signing up for that, along with the 5 GB data package (or even the 20 GB package, for NIS 80), comes out cheaper. My wife, for example, pays a basic charge of NIS 8.57 per month, and then by the minute (about 60 agurot). Which sounds expensive, and would be if I used it to talk the 200 plus minutes a month I usually use my cellphone. But – what if I were to make all my calls using Nimbuzz/Skype? I’d still have to pay SkypeOut minutes if I call non-Skype customers, but maybe that would be cheaper than paying for the cell phone minutes.

And even if it cost the same (I suspect it would), I would have the greater flexibility of being able to use the data package anyway I wanted, which is much more efficient than having services I don’t really need or want (extra SMS messages, which Orange is always giving away for free anyway – their latest promo was 1,000 free messages in honor of Ramadan!). With 5GB (or 20GB!) of data connection, I wouldn’t even have to use Skype; I could contact everyone directly on Facebook, Messenger, or e-mail, with actual talking over Skype taking place only when necessary (how many times do we just need to convey information, as opposed to getting into a conversation, when calling colleagues, customers, etc.? That’s why SMS messages are so popular!). If nothing else, this would be a cool topic to write about. I figure I could get three columns out of it!