Israel’s hi-tech scene was in a bit of a lull during the week of June 29, 2008, perhaps because of July 4th in the United States. The biggest news was about Google AdWords killer, Peer39, which has a semantic search engine that brings back more accurate results and can thus display better ads. It also has the ability to differentiate between positive and negative contexts of words. After Peer39, Microsoft made headlines with two announcements. The first announcement was that it has partnered with Ben-Gurion University and the second was that MSN Israel will now be controlled fully by Microsoft and no longer jointly with Internet Gold. There was also a lot of technology investment-related news that took place. For these and the rest of the 12 technology-related headlines from the week of June 29, 2008, as well as a special bonus check below.
Technology
Microsoft and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announce agreement
A First Look Inside Peer39 & Its Semantic Advertising Technology
Microsoft to take full charge of MSN Israel
Alvarion® Sets Off First Mobile WiMAX™ Internet Service in the U.S.
Business
Cleantech Index (CTIUS) Expands Globally, Adds 33 New Companies
Israel’s high-tech culture must rejigger, VC says
Options trade points to stronger shekel
VMware Completes Acquisition of B-hive Networks
IncrediMail and Google Sign AdSense Direct Agreement
Miscellaneous
What Determines the Price of Oil?
Destination: San Francisco. And Still NoGoBoingo
Bonus
This past Tuesday, popular Israel Web 2.0 blog, the.co.ils hosted its annual web startup competition, TWS2008. Ten Israeli Web 2.0 companies were selected by an impressive list of judges and gave brief presentations about what they do. Some of the winners included, Nuconomy, Dapper, HiveSight and WorkLight. WorkLight securely brings personalized Web 2.0 into the enterprise. Here are two video clips of part of WorkLight’s presentation:
About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.
