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A New Facebook Software Helps You Enlarge Your Facebook Community!

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A new Facebook application developed by Researchers at the Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science, enables using a laptop computer, without being connected to the Internet, to detect Facebook friends who have also installed it. Imagine being stuck in an airport and still being able to network, chat, share files and directories, play collaborative games, or actually meet face-to-face with those previously "virtual friends". The Software enables one friend on Facebook to find another friend, or a friend of a friend, who happens to be in his or her vicinity. The Technion has applied for a patent for this innovative development.

A year ago, researchers from the Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science developed software that enables direct communication between computers and notebook computers using WiFi without an intermediary agent such as Internet service provider. The Technion researchers made the software available at no charge to computer users worldwide.

Back then, direct communication between computers was not widespread because it was very complicated, entailed a long process of data entering and clicking on many keys - so much that even professionals shied away from it. The Technion researchers’ new software also offers applications that did not exist previously.

The software was developed in the framework of the doctoral dissertation of Vadim Drabkin, Gabi Kliot and Alon Kama, under the direction of Prof. Roy Friedman of the Faculty of Computer Science. They built a user-friendly application platform that enables simple communication between computers in close proximity (a range of tens of meters or up to 900 ft). It can be used to transfer dozens of digital pictures from one computer to another in less than a minute, to carry on chats or to play multiplayer games, such as chess.

“For example, employees who go abroad on company business may be seated separately from one another in the airplane. With this software, they can work together on their presentation during their flight,” says Prof. Friedman.

The software is called WiPeer, and since it was published, 50,000 downloads have been registered.

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Now, doctoral students Vadim Drabkin and Gabi Kliot, together with students Lior Biran and Tomer Einav, also under the direction of Prof. Roy Friedman, have added a new development, called “Peersonalizer” (personalizing a network friend). Peersonalizer uses a technology that can be applied to social networking sites other than Facebook, like MySpace, Friendster and LinkedIn

“Students can thus expand their network of acquaintances on campus,” the researchers explain. “A businessperson waiting in an airport can meet a friend of a friend who is also waiting in the terminal for his plane and thus expand his circle of business acquaintances. Of course, it is possible to implement this functionality for additional social networks.”

In the future, it will be possible to use this method on WiFi-enabled mobile phones, such as the iPhone, without the need for an intermediary such as a cellular phone company. Additional planned features include the ability to search for nearby Facebook users based on profile matching. The technology can also be used for dating applications that utilize both proximity and social profiles.

The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is Israel’s leading science and technology university. Home to Israel’s winners of the Nobel Prize in science, it commands a worldwide reputation for its pioneering work in nanotechnology, computer science, biotechnology, water-resource management, materials engineering, aerospace and medicine. The majority of the founders and managers of Israel’s high-tech companies are alumni. Based in New York City, the American Technion Society (ATS) is the leading American organization supporting higher education in Israel, with 22 offices around the country.

you can download the WiPeer from here.

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Ronaldinho out Assulin In? Meet The New Leo Messi!

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Israeli young football player Gai Assulin is going places, no doubt. His coach in the second team of Barcelona talks about it, the first team’s president counts on it, and his family, that has already rejected some very tempting offers from other teams, simply knows it. The dream seems closer than ever - an Israeli football star in the first team of Barcelona, one of the leading football clubs in the world.

Assulin is currently living with his father, Eli, in the center of the Catalonian city. Seeing his son playing in the "Camp Nou", maybe the most famous football stadium in the world, was his dream ever since his son’s coaches told him, when the talent was only 10 years old, they have never seen such a potential. In 2003, when Gai was only 12, his father contacted the person in charge of recruiting new talents to Barcelona, and offered his son to take for the annual young talents’ tournament in neighboring Andora. The Spaniard, who has seen a talent or two in his lifetime, watched the Israeli child dribble and kick the ball, and had only one request from his men - bring this child to Barcelona, as fast as you can.

 

Last year, Gai received offers from leading clubs in the English Premiership, including Chelsea and Arsenal. It seems like the Catalonians had no real reason to worry. Although they have lost some young talents in the last couple of years, Gai and his father had no intention to leave Barcelona for money. It seems they have made the right choice: the young Israeli star graduated from Barcelona’s youngsters’ team and joined the second graduate team in the third league of Spain. Gai, the youngest player in the league, is already considered to be one of the best players in his team. In fact, he even played for the first time with the first team in September in the Catalonian cup. Surely he can’t forget these 45 minutes, playing next to some of the biggest football stars in the world.

Soon Gai will have to make a big decision regarding his future. Gai was recently called up by the Israel national football team for their friendly match against Chile. He debuted for Israel by replacing Yossi Benayoun in the 78th minute of the friendly. By playing in this match, he broke Ben Sahar’s record for youngest national team debut by 195 days.

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Making Social Games And Social Community

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While it seems like there aren’t many fresh-minded, dynamic and young spirited companies left around, a new young and decisive start-up named FUN Development Games arises and does some great stuff.

FUN launched their new website and product this week. The product – a social gaming platform, offers some good and innovative news to the players on the net. it’s free- to- use, download- based and therefore faster and more stable than other web-based games, holds a large variety of games (which grows rapidly since the guys in FUN are constantly working on new games), very user friendly, multi –lingual (for the moment English and Hebrew) and enables a huge number of players to meet up while playing.

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The company’s offices are located in the eastern industrial park of Hod-Hashron near Tel Aviv. Among its employees you may find developers, graphic designers, content and marketing personnel. Co-Founders are Avi Kenigsberg and Ran Sibony.

Kenigsberg, the product manger and CEO of the company, owns a vast experience in network game development. Among other companies he worked for, he was one of the three co-founders of InterLogic , the company behind the brands Play65, Gammon Empire and Play89 –all websites and application which changed the way the gaming world looked like. After starting it, Kenigsberg became the CTO of InterLogic, which was sold 18 months after its establishment.

Kenigsberg claims, that even before he started-up FUN, he knew exactly who would join him and work in it – the best people in their fields. The company, according to him, is aiming at being the leading site for interactive games. From his experience, the innovation brought by AllFun is huge – all that is left is discovering it.

Sibony, VP Marketing and Business Development of FUN, has a long term experience of business consultants and development as a senior business consultant of ZOOZ and also owns a business consultant firm. The majority of his efforts is now invested in promoting AllFun and distributing it over the net. According to him “AllFun is the hottest new thing in the gaming world. Players are constantly looking for a place to play, with friend, on-line, everywhere and for free”

Sibony says, that so far the company has used owners’ finance, and now after launching, it is about to search for fund raisers, mostly for marketing and development purposes.

The people in FUN believe that in a short while, they will reach the critic mass of players, so that you will always find someone to play with on AllFun. To keep up the high quality of the product and most importantly, the good spirit – the company’s employees are spending much time on playing. What a way to go through a work day!

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A New Bewitched Road In Israel Has Been Found

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The First Bewitched Road In Jerusalem. Thanks To Dribal.com (In The Photo: Road No. 1 To Jerusalem, And Road 38 Is The Bewitched Road)

Would you believe it if we told you that there’s a certain spot in Israel, that if you drive your car there and leave it in Neutral or just release your foot from the breaks, despite standing downhill, your car will start moving backward?

And would you believe us when telling you that there is more than one such spot in this enchanted country?

Well, for all your doubters, you’re welcome to try it yourselves, and drive either to road no. 65 in the lower Galilee area at the north of Israel, or to a small road in Jerusalem, located under the Armon Hanatziv Promenade in the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood of Jerusalem. Both of these “bewitched roads” will provide you with a similar thrill – having your visual and physical perceptions conflict.

Of course there’s a scientific explanation for this bewitched roads phenomenon (there always is, isn’t there?). The explanation lies in an optic illusion caused by the physical features of the landscape around these roads. Whether it’s a hill, a mountain, a valley or a building that is situated near the road, when looking at them and comparing them to the road it appears to extend in a certain slant. But the actual slope, compared with the actual terrain, is spread the other way around.

We’re sorry if we’ve disappointed you, those who prefer to believe there’s still some magic left in this world of ours. But whether you’re a believer or a down-to-earth realist, you’ll still like to see it for yourself and put your perception to the test. Make sure you include the lovely Galilee road or the small Jerusalem neighborhood in your Israel road trip, to enjoy a bit of magic as experienced in one of these bewitched roads.

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Angela Merkel’s Historical Visit to Israel

 

A historic visit to Israel of several members of the German government, lead by Chancellor Angela Merkel, was recently concluded. The visit included a joint cabinet meeting that was held in the Israeli Knesset, in which mutual praises were exchanged by the two heads of states, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Chancellor Merkel. Due to the sensitive history of the relationships between the Germans and the Jewish people, the visit has caused quite a lot of fuss both in Israel and in Germany.

Merkel, the first German head of government to address the Israeli Knesset, used the opportunity to pledge her unwavering support for the Jewish state on the eve of its 60’s birthday, having been founded shortly after the Nazi Holocaust in World War II. She also criticized Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel and Iran’s threats against Israel’s existence.

In Germany, newspaper editorials actually praised Merkel’s conduct in Israel, but they also warned that Germany must not appear too pro-Israeli, as this might interfere with its ability to play a mediating role in bringing peace to the Middle East.

On the Israeli side, several angry voices were heard regarding Merkel’s speech in the Israeli Knesset, which was to be held in the German language. Several members of the Knesset voiced their opinion about the lack of sensitivity shown by the decision to enable that speech, especially toward the living Holocaust survivors, for whom the German language represents their worst oppressor. Those Knesset members chose to skip the event in order to stress their disapproval.

Perhaps in regards to that controversy, Merkel chose to open her Knesset address in a short speech in Hebrew, saying that the Nazi Holocaust causes her and her fellow Germans to be filled with shame. Her speech was made at the end of a 3 days trip to Israel which included a visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.

The historic visit was sealed with a joint statement by the two cabinets indicating the strengthening of the political, cultural, economic and social relations between Germany and Israel, which included a signed agreement instituting future annual meetings at prime ministerial, ministerial and cabinet levels.

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Make Your Meetings Quick And Easy To Schedule

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ScheduleOnce is a dead-simple web 2.0 service that helps you find a time for your meeting with absolute accuracy across all time zones and daylight saving changes. The service is specifically designed for those hard-to-schedule meetings with multiple time zones, many invitees and different calendar systems.
ScheduleOnce is based on a patent-pending method that converts timeframes with absolute accuracy across any combination of time zones and daylight saving changes. When scheduling meetings with ScheduleOnce you can rest assured that all invitees receive the correct time, anytime in the year and anywhere on the globe.

Why do I need ScheduleOnce? I just email my invitees about the meeting…

…and they email back, and you send another email, and then there’s a phone call, and someone’s canceling at the last minute, and… With ScheduleOnce you find the optimal time to meet fast and with no hassle.

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Why do I need ScheduleOnce? I can use a facebook event…

A facebook event only tells you which of your invitees will make it. ScheduleOnce helps you find the optimal time for the meeting, and you’ll know in advance who’s free to participate.

Why do I need ScheduleOnce? I’m already using outlook…

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Daylight saving time started in most of the US this Sunday. It starts in Europe on the 30th and ends on the 29th in Australia. Everybody’s moving their clocks, and if you have a virtual meeting with anyone who’s outside your time zone, you could be in a mess. ScheduleOnce is the only tool that solves this problem, and converts times with absolute accuracy.

You can Watch the introduction video, and sign up to the service. from my opinion and Regardless of the calendar system you use, ScheduleOnce can make your meetings quick and easy to schedule then any other service.

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