Israel Innovation 2.0

During the week of August 10, 2008 investors and professionals from Massachusetts received attention for their interest in using their current relationships with Israeli technology companies to enter cleantech. Israeli air-conditioning company, Agam Energy Systems Ltd., announced plans to expand its operations to include developing fuel-efficience technology for car engines. Siano Mobile, a mobile TV chip maker raised $17.5 million and there was a call for more international conferences. VoIP companies, Spikko and Skuku, and several other companies also make up this week’s 14 Israel-related technology headlines. See the complete list below.

Cleantech
Mass. looks to strengthen clean-tech ties with Israel

IDE Technologies Signs Contract Worth Over 100 Million Euros to Supply a Desalination Plant to Australia

Agam to develop fuel-efficient car engines

Former Ormat VP joins solar start-up: Advanced Solar Power is developing thermosolar energy technology and has a prototype

M&A and Investments
Mobile TV Chipmaker Siano Mobile Silicon Lands $17.5 Million

Hi-tech companies raise $291 million in second quarter

Information Technology
IBM’s XIV storage lacks high-end features, analyst says

Numonyx may close California Technology Center

Haier to recruit over 100 for Israeli development center

Mon: Aladdin leads technology sector to gains

Miscellaneous
Combined Technologies From Continental and Mobileye Support the New Speed Limit Information of the New BMW 7 Series

Wanted: More International Conferences in Israel

Tired Of Mobile Phone Bills: Check Out This Israeli Start-up

Skuku – where mobile phones meets VoIP

Bonus
Also during the week of August 10, 2008, Israel Innovation 2.0 was included in Jacob Share’s JobMob blog entry featuring a visual list of Digital Eve Israel members who blog. Digital Eve Israel is a listserv for hi-tech professionals in Israel and is widely considered to be the best resource for English speakers looking for work and advice in the field. JobMob is the top blog with advice on getting a job in Israel in any field.

Related Posts
Company in Focus: Walla Communications Ltd.
Blogging platforms, Israeli professionals and the lack of Israeli company blogs
Company in Focus: XIV
Rumors of IBM being in talks to purchase Diligent Technologies Corp.

*About the Weekly Headlines image: The Star of David in the image was found on Flickr and is used under the Creative Commons license. It was originally uploaded by Flickr member, zeevveez. The overall Weekly Headlines image was designed by Lisa Damast.

Blogging is a phenomenon that isn’t just perceived as important in the United States, but in Israel, too. Back in October, I wrote a few posts about blogging in Israel and the different networks and platform technologies that I noticed being used. A lot of the attention I gave to blogging in Israel was in anticipation of attending the first annual WordPress Israel conference.

Recently, there was some discussion on the Digital-Eve Israel listserv (an email list for hi-tech professionals in Israel) about how to start a professional blog and which blog platform to use for it. In one of the posts, Miriam Schwab, CEO of Illuminea Marketing and Media and an organizer of the WordPress Israel conference, directed everyone to an entry on her blog about how a “really professional blog” is hosted on WordPress.

As there are several blog platforms aside from WordPress that are used by some highly-regarded professionals, including Blogger and MovableType, I decided to leave a comment disagreeing with the idea that “really professional blogs” are only on WordPress. I also included my belief that professionals just starting to blog should consider different platforms and that if the blog isn’t directly for their company, then it would probably be fine to start off on Blogger while learning the ins and outs of blogging.

Miriam’s response to my comment and Jacob Share’s short list of Digital Eve Israel members who blog (only 11!), piqued my curiosity as to how many Israeli companies (including VCs) that I have covered in my posts, have blogs. Surprisingly, and not so surprisingly, most of the companies I checked (especially the biggest companies, such as Teva Pharmaceuticals and Alvarion), don’t have corporate blogs. Many Israel-based venture capitalists on the other hand, do.

Here’s a list of a few of the Israeli companies that I have mentioned that do have blogs:
RedBend
eSnips
Metacafe
Gemini
Tvinci
Jajah
ooVoo
Aladdin
Commtouch

Here’s a list of some companies, including ones that I haven’t covered, that are noticeably missing:
Comverse
Commtouch
BluePhoenix
Magic Software
InfoGin
Alvarion
Vringo
Ness Technologies
Teva Pharmaceuticals
Voltaire

Update: August 8, 2008.

News:
According to a Globes article, Israeli Internet portal, Walla! is continuing to lose ground to the most viewed site in Israel, Google Israel.

Background:
Walla! was started in 1995 by Erez Philosoph and Gadi Hadar as an index of Internet sites. Today it is an Internet portal that offers news coverage of Israel and the rest of the world as well as additional original content in all of its portal fields. After going public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in 1998, Walla! worked with mobile carrier, Partner to create the first wireless portal for smartphone users in Israel in 1999 and merged with Israel On Line (IOL) in 2001. For several years, Walla! was the most visited website in Israel until Google past it last year.

Analysis: Walla! is the Israeli version of Yahoo!

In an entry posted earlier this year, Darnell Clayton of IsraGood alluded to Walla’s heading for the fate of becoming the Israeli version of Yahoo! I strongly agree that Walla’s history mimics Yahoo’s in several ways.

Since it tried preempting Google’s Gmail with its own free 1G e-mail account for users worldwide in 2004, Walla! has placed itself as a direct competitor to Google and has allowed its users to associate and compare its service with that of Google’s. So far, we all know who won that battle.

During that battle, Walla’s claim was that as Gmail was just starting, it would focus more on text and basics in email, whereas Walla’s email service was more established and allowed multimedia in addition to text in its email. Despite that campaign not working out, Walla’s most recent announcement is once again a multimedia claim.

According to a Globes article earlier this month, Walla! has launched a new “Video Talkback” feature to provide viewers with “the option of responding with video clips to programs and items appearing on the website.” What impact this will have on users on the site and if it will attract more viewers will need to be seen.

However, the marketing and target audience for it might be a little more different this time. Last week, a posting was sent to the Digital Eve Israel listserv about an opening at the company for an English-speaking marketing communications manager with a reply address to international marketing at the company. What Walla’s marketing department has planned for the next few months in response to Google Israel’s gaining ground and in support of its new “Video Talkback” technology will certainly determine whether Walla! can catch up to and possibly overthrow Google Israel and regain its title as most-viewed site or if it really will become the Israeli version of Yahoo!

No, there haven’t been any deals or ideas yet about Facebook opening an office or investing in Israel. But my experience at the WordCamp Israel blog conference yesterday and the announcement of Microsoft’s 1.6% buy-in into the social network, makes this a perfect opportunity to discuss how Facebook is still impacting the technology industry in Israel.

First, at one point during a panel discussion at the WordCamp Israel conference in Tel Aviv yesterday, a panelist asked the audience how many people are on Facebook. Nearly everyone in the room raised their hand. Then as a joke, since nearly a quarter of attendees were using laptops at the conference, the panelist asked how many of them were on Facebook even at that moment. At least 10 people raised their hands. Out of about 200 conference-goers, at least 5% couldn’t be away from it during the length of the conference. Basically, since Facebook opened the network to everyone, it seems that Israelis have been very quick to adopt it (there are over 100,000 members in the Israel network) and come to rely on it.

continue reading…