Ten European startup stars, 10 days in Israel

Click To View Video

Prepare for the next startup seminar in Israel: Start Tel Aviv, coming up in October 2013.

This video from 2012's bizcamp in Tel Aviv should help you get an idea of what to expect in this year's Start Tel Aviv.

Winners of competitions in nine countries were treated to Startup Bizcamp in Tel Aviv, coming away impressed by the city's 'ecosystem.'

Sessions with top Israeli high-tech professionals and startup entrepreneurs marked the inaugural Startup Bizcamp, a different look at Israel for 10 select young business upstarts from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the city of Tel Aviv and the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Jaffa ... invited participants from nine countries in Europe after they participated in competitions in their own countries," explains spokeswoman Galit Peleg.

Daniel Calvo, the winner from Spain, relates on this video: "It's nice to be here because it's a very cosmopolitan city, with both tradition and new buildings and new technologies and startups. You have a great ecosystem here for entrepreneurs."

"It's amazing seeing the collaboration, the interaction between the Europeans [and] the Israelis," adds Avner Warner, director of International Economic Development at Tel Aviv Global City Administration, a project of the municipality.

"It's a way for us to learn about the culture of the country, the culture of the startups, and how we can work together, how we can network together," says Jean-Francois Chianetta of France.

Please credit the MFA for any use of this video.

AOL partners with Israel’s Taboola

American Internet giant signs agreement with Israeli startup for integration of recommended video content on group’s websites, replacing deal with another Israeli company

American Internet giant AOL has signed an agreement with Israeli startup company Taboola for the integration of recommended video content on the group’s websites.

Meanwhile, AOL has given up on the services of Taboola’s archrival, Israeli company Outbrain, Yedioth Ahronoth has learned.

Outbrain and Taboola are active in a similar field: Recommendations for content appearing on websites. On news websites, for example, there are links at the bottom of stories leading to other articles which may interest the readers. These links are selected through advanced algorithms developed by the companies.

Outbrain is a more veteran company with more experience in the field, and its customers include TIME, CNN and Reuters. Taboola is smaller, and the new agreement with AOL is an important step for the company.

As part of the agreement, AOL Group’s content websites, like The Huffington Post, will present recommend videos to their readers at the bottom of stories, which will be selected using Taboola’s technology.

AOL initially turned to Outbrain with the cooperation proposal, but was turned down. According to the AOL-Outbrain deal, the companies were slated to cooperate since early 2011, but until now AOL has not acted on the agreement.

Source: Ynetnews.com

From Chicago to Jerusalem: The Jesse White Tumbling Team

Click To View Video

The Jesse White Tumblers thrilled spectators at the outdoor Mamilla Mall, located just next to the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. Their high-flying moves were electrifying as the tumblers seem to defy the laws of gravity.

The Tumbling Team originates from the Chicago area and was founded in 1959. Internationally known, the Jesse White Tumblers have even appeared in the inaugural parade of President Obama. They are frequent performers at the half-time shows for the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and Major League Baseball games. Their TV appearances include "Late Night with David Letterman" and "The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno." The Tumblers also performed in the perennial favorite teen movie "Ferris Buehler's Day Off."

But founder and coach Jesse White did not establish the Tumblers to gain fame. He wanted to provide recreational, athletic, educational and cultural enrichment for the young athletes. Team members must not only be able to perform the awe-inspiring exercises, they have to follow Coach White's strict rules, which include maintaining their school average and staying away from drugs and gangs.

Please credit the MFA for any use of this video.

New Israeli record: Painting fetches NIS 31M

Tali and Meshulam Riklis. ‘Our most expensive painting is a Francis Bacon’ Photo: Rafi Deloya

Billionaire Meshulam Riklis sells Amedeo Modigliani’s ‘Portrait de Anne Bjarne’ to Jewish French businessman for some $8.5 million

The most expensive painting sold in Israel exchanged hands Tuesday for NIS 31.4 million (about $8.5 million).

The painting, Amedeo Modigliani’s “Portrait de Anne Bjarne” from 1919, was sold on the phone to a Jewish French businessman. The seller is Israeli-American billionaire Meshulam Riklis, who had kept the expensive piece of art at his home in the United States.

Riklis bought the painting 30 years ago in New York for about $1 million.

“This isn’t our only Modigliani,” Riklis’ wife Tali said Tuesday. “Neither is it the most expensive painting we own. That titles goes to a Francis Bacon.”

Continue reading via Ynetnews

Saz: Arab-Israeli Rapper and Reality TV Star

Click To View Video

http://www.israel.org

Saz, born Sameh Zakut, is a well-known Arab-language rap and hip hop musician. His appearance in the docu-reality show "Living in La La Land" - which follows the attempts of six prominent Israeli performing artists to break into the American music scene -- brought him to the attention of mainstream Israeli music lovers. Yet Saz has chosen to remain faithful to his roots, believing that rap is the common ground of musicians in the Middle East. In his words, "music is our religion."

Never shy about demonstrating his pride in his hometown, Ramla, rapper Saz takes his inspiration from his surroundings. Growing up in this central Israeli city, located not too far from Tel Aviv, Saz realized that the greatest thing about Ramla is its semblance to a mosaic, one composed of different religious and ethnic groups. While Ramla has a Jewish majority, its Arab minority - Christians and Muslims alike - play an important role in the city and Saz is an icon in Ramla.

Visit the MFA's Social Media Channels:

Facebook -
http://www.facebook.com/IsraelMFA
http://www.facebook.com/IsraeliVibe

Twitter -
http://www.twitter.com/Israel
http://www.twitter.com/IsraelMFA

Find us on Instagram:
@IsraelMFA - http://instagram.com/israelmfa
@StateofIsrael - http://instagram.com/stateofisrael

Please credit the MFA for any use of this video.

Google to buy Waze for $1.3 billion

Waze founders (from right to left) Samuel Keret, Amir Shinar and Ehud Shabtai, and CEO Noam Bardin (Photo: Tzvika Tishler)

Israeli startup to be acquired by Internet search giant following failed talks with Facebook. As deal still in due diligence stage, its value is subject to changes

Further success for Israeli high-tech: Google and Waze have agreed in principle on the price of a deal which will see the Internet search giant acquire the Israeli developer of a successful navigation software.

The expected deal, valued at $1.3 billion, is still subject to due diligence, which means the transaction has yet to be finalized and is open to changes.

The negotiations between Google and Waze were revealed about two weeks ago on the Bloomberg website, likely several days after Facebook ended negotiations to acquire the Israeli startup company.

According to estimates, Waze’s development center will remain in Israel and will be run by the Israeli staff in the coming years.

The company’s founders can mark this as an achievement, after insisting during the negotiations with Facebook that the company will remain in Israel. The talks failed after the social network demanded the company’s liquidation.

This is an achievement also in the talks with Google, whose acquisition of two other companies in Israel – LabPixies and QuickSee – led to their liquidation. Those two small companies had 10-20 employees, only few of whom were integrated into Google’s development center in Tel Aviv.

Waze’s offices will likely remain in the city of Raanana, and the management will be able to run it for two to three years, including its HR policy.

Google most likely turned to Waze in the midst of its negotiations with Facebook, which were first revealed by Calcalist, causing the talks with the social network to hit the brakes. Waze may have even given up on the deal with Facebook knowing that Google was already in its pocket.

Waze was founded in 2007. Noam Bardin, who lives in the United States, serves as its CEO. The company’s application is considered the world’s biggest social network-based navigation app thanks to 45 million users and a market share of 10% of all navigation apps in the US.

In the past year, Waze tripled its number of subscribers from 15 million to 45 million, and in March alone it had 1.5 million downloads around the world.

Waze is today the second most popular map and navigation app in Apple stores, after Google’s map service, in the US, Canada, France and Australia.

Source: Ynetnews.com

IDF Soldiers Wish President Peres a Happy Birthday

Click To View Video

Happy Birthday, Mr. President Shimon Peres! We congratulate you on your 90th birthday and thank you for your continued leadership of the State of Israel.

For more from the IDF:
http://www.idfblog.com/
http://twitter.com/idfspokesperson/
http://www.facebook.com/idfonline/
http://www.idf.il/english/

Israel tops world ranking of smartphone usage

Survey shows Israelis use their smartphones just about anywhere; rising number of Israelis apt to use smartphones during social gatherings.

A young woman was sitting on a bus this week and a man in his 40s walked toward her. Engrossed in his smartphone, he was desperate to sit down to take care of the urgent matter on his screen. When he sat down, the woman saw what was so important: He wanted to finish the level on Angry Birds. After a few seconds, she went back to her cellphone to continue her game of Dots.

That’s the way a bus ride looks these days; so does waiting in line or even walking down the street − an endless bumping of smartphones connected to people with hands.

A recent survey conducted by Google and Ipsos MediaCT shows the same trend. Carried out in the first quarter of the year, taking in 1,000 smartphone users ages 18 to 64 in dozens of countries, the survey found that 57 percent of Israelis have a smartphone − compared to 35 percent last year.

That figure makes Israel a world leader in smartphone saturation. In Germany, by comparison, the figure is 40 percent, in France, 42 percent and in Spain, hot on Israel’s heels, 55 percent have smartphones. The only country that overtakes Israel is Britain, where 62 percent of the population have smart phones.

Israel also leads in smartphone usage: According to the survey, 93 percent of Israeli smartphone owners use it to surf the Web, as opposed to 83 percent in Britain, France and the United States. Among Israeli owners, 48 percent use the communications tool to watch full length TV programs.

The survey also looked at the social habits of smartphone users, revealing a somewhat worrisome trend. In 2011, only 16 percent of Israelis felt comfortable using their smartphones at social gatherings, but by this year, the figure had vaulted to 50 percent.

Coffee in one hand, phone in the other

A similar rise was noted in the use of smartphones in coffee shops. In 2011, only 30 percent said they held their coffee in one hand and their phone in the other; in 2013, 54 percent did.

In fact, Israelis use their smartphones just about everywhere: at home (87 percent‏), at work (77 percent‏), and while riding to work or walking down the street ‏(72 percent for both‏). Half of those polled said they use their smartphone while watching TV, and after seeing a commercial, 53 percent looked up a product on their phone.

Smartphones are also being used to help shoppers make decisions − 64 percent said they use it while shopping for everything from the calculator to comparing prices to asking friends’ opinions on a potential purchase. In the United States, that figure was 58 percent and in Germany, 41 percent.

One area where Israel lags behind users in other countries is making purchases online with their smartphones. The Americans lead the world in that regard, with 46 percent reporting they do commercial transactions with their smartphones, compared to 39 percent in Britain and only 31 percent in Israel.

Source: Haaretz.com

Top UK biomed executives arrive in Israel

Delegation of British pharmaceutical companies, organizations participating in international biomed conference in Tel Aviv. ‘Coupling of Israeli innovation with experienced British industry will be of enormous benefit to Israel companies,’ says British ambassador

A delegation of British pharmaceutical and biomed companies and organizations, headed by senior officials, has arrived in Israel to participate in the international biomed conference (ATIA- ILSI) taking place this week in Tel Aviv.

The delegation is made up of 20 members and is organized by the British Embassy in Israel, the UK Israel Tech Hub and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).

Among the members attending the event are representatives of the NHS- the British health services, NIHR- the British institute for Health Research, NICE- the National Institute for Excellence in Health, NOCRI- the NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure.

The British Embassy is displaying in pavilions #29-32. British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould, together with MP Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office minister, honored the event with his presence on Monday.

The members of the delegation were to hold a series of meetings with Israeli firms in search of cooperative ventures in development and the use of the UK as a springboard to Europe and the world at large.

“Through highlighting the world class offerings of the UK’s clinical research infrastructure, NOCRI is determined to develop and strengthen genuine collaborative partnerships between the UK and Israeli life science industries,” said Professor William Rosenberg, scientific advisor to NOCRI.

“Streamlined access to the NIHR’s technologically-advanced R&D facilities and skilled clinical research workforce can provide Israel companies with the support and backing required to develop patient-focused health treatments.”

According to Ambassador Gould, “The coupling of Israeli innovation and entrepreneurship with world class and

experienced British industry will be of enormous benefit to Israel companies.

“They will benefit from access to government programs that support companies in their initial stages, from the option to commercialize technology and develop it together with international pharmaceutical companies working in Britain.”

Source: Ynetnews.com