Archive For The “Israeli Tech” Category
Pharmaceutical R&D has huge barriers to entry. The cost is just too expensive for ambitious startups to even consider, on average about $2.5 billion just to bring a new drug to market. And there’s also a public interest cost which is seldom discussed. Namely, the cynical fact that drugs that can’t make much money are never developed. Hopefully, both of these impediments will lessen in the near future. Once again, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are at the forefront in the drive reduce the time and cost to develop new drugs. How? By letting the molecules do the talking.
See previous articles on artificial intelligence by Diane Israel. More on Diane Israel.
The following article was originally published in NoCamels.com
The cost of developing a new pharmaceutical drug, from the research and development stage to market approval, runs at about $2.6 billion, according to a 2014 report published by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) cited by the Scientific American. It also takes between 10 to 15 years.
Israeli scientists say they have developed a revolutionary smart method to discover and develop new drugs, based on artificial intelligence and machine learning, that will dramatically shorten preparation time and reduce costs.Dr. Kira Radinsky, a renown data scientist and a visiting professor at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and Shahar Harel, a PhD student at the university’s computer science department, presented their system late last month at the KDD 2018 conference in London, an annual event on Big Data and Machine Learning that draws prominent world academics and industry leaders.
Radinsky and Harel’s system seeks to tap into the modern-day, computerized processes of screening and selecting molecules with the greatest therapeutic potential – of which there are more than stars in the galaxy, making this an enormous task.
Their working hypothesis is that drug development “vocabulary” is similar to that of a natural language.
Harel said in a university statement that the system he and Radinsky developed, founded on artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning, “acquired this language based on hundreds of thousands of molecules.”
“We are essentially presenting here an algorithm which addresses the creative stage of drug development – the molecule discovery stage,” said Harel. “This capacity leans upon our mathematical innovation, which enables the computer to understand the chemical language and to generate new molecules based upon a prototype.”
The researchers instructed the system to propose 1000 drugs based upon old drugs and were surprised to discover that 35 of the new drugs generated by the system are existing, FDA-approved drugs developed and approved after 1950. Radinsky said in a statement that the system “is not only a means of streamlining existing methods but also entirely new drug development and scientific practice paradigms.”
“Instead of seeking out specific correlations based upon hypotheses we formulate, we allow the computer to identify these connections from within a massive sample size, without guidance. The computer is not smarter than man, but it can cope with huge amounts of data and find unexpected correlations,” she added.
Radinsky indicated that a similar computerized process is how, in another study, the scientists managed to find the unknown side effects of various drugs and drug combinations.
“This is a novel type of science which is not built upon hypotheses tested in an experiment, rather, upon data that generated the research hypothesis,” she said.
The Technion said in a statement that the breakthrough is particularly significant in light of Eroom’s Law, which asserts that the number of new drugs approved by the FDA should decline at a rate of approximately 50 percent every nine years. The term was coined in 2012 in an article published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery and is a reverse order of Moore, the name of Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel. Moore observed that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles every two years. In contrast, Eroom’s Law notes that each year, fewer and fewer drugs are marketed.
Dr. Radinksy projects that “this new development will accelerate and reduce costs of development of new and effective drugs, thereby shortening the time patients will have to wait for the drugs. In addition, this breakthrough is expected to lead to the development of drugs that would not have been generated with the conventional pharmacological paradigm.”
The system is currently being deployed for use in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies to further analyze the additional generated molecules, the scientists said.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
Portions and excerpts of this article were originally reported by NoCamels.com.
The town of Tel Aviv encompasses a sterling name as a sensible city, exploitation its influence united of the world’s ‘techiest cities’ to drive digital initiatives that function a blueprint for different municipalities. it’s conjointly celebrated because the epicentre of Israel’s startup system, sound into the entrepreneurial spirit of its residents for urban development.
In 2014, town was topped the “World’s Smartest town,” besting 250 competitory locations as well as London, New York, and capital of The Netherlands at the good town exposition World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. It remains a badge of honor and therefore the city’s efforts for good transformation have hyperbolic denary since then, nisus for digital revolution.
“Tel Aviv encompasses a technological savvy-ness that’s simple to implement. We’re exploitation that technology as a tool to serve each residents and guests. we wish to be attuned to their desires,” says Eytan Schwartz, chief operating officer of the city-sponsored Tel Aviv world initiative, a project started by the Tel Aviv Mayor’s workplace in 2010 dedicated to elevating the city’s world position as a business center of innovation and entrepreneurship, and as a magnet for foreign corporations, startups, visitors, and students from everywhere the globe.
Schwartz spoke to NoCamels on the sidelines of the DLD Tel Aviv 2018 Digital Conference in the week, wherever he tempered the “Tel Aviv good City” panel. The event is Associate in Nursing annual two-day conference lightness Israel’s distinguished technical school scene that’s a part of a four-day pageant thought-about one amongst the most important sophisticated meetups of the year.
Schwartz and a team of municipality leaders, that embrace Lior Meyer, deputy chief operating officer (marketing and communications) for Tel Aviv world, Liora Schechter, chief info officer of the Tel Aviv municipality, Yaron Klein, chief operating officer of Atarim municipal corporation, and Avi Tamir, co-CEO of the CityZoom Innovation Community, took the panel at DLD to to spotlight four comes that they assert saying} are fast the digitisation of town and enhancing its image.
The DigiTel network
Tel Aviv’s personalised digital communications network DigiTel, launched 5 years agone, may be a project Schwartz calls the “crown jewel” of municipality’s efforts to ascertain Tel Aviv as Associate in Nursing urban innovation leader.
Though the network has been around for a few time, its current goal is to “build up a info of content” which will interact each tourists and residents and facilitate them get the foremost out of their town in a very digital capability, he explained. The Tel Aviv good town folder says over 250 municipal workers from totally different departments feed information into the DigiTel platform so as to update users on services and data relevant to them.
The DigiTel platform conjointly caters to guests through the city’s mobile app, serving as a virtual guide with notifications of cultural events and recreational activities round the town. The municipality says it desires tourists to expertise Tel Aviv like locals, and that they will even get a bespoken check out what to try to to within the town by making a private profile.
“We wish to form a private discussion with folks,” Meyer says, “If one thing goes on within the town, why shouldn’t they realize it?”
DigiTel Residents’ Club and town Card
The DigiTel communication platform has conjointly been increased additional for town residents in keeping with chief info officer Liora Schechter. Residents, beginning at the age of thirteen, will sign on to be members of the DigiTel club and use a special town positive identification for discounts on town services yet as cultural, musical, and sports events. They conjointly get bespoken digital services (including special services for folks and dog-owners) and a novel personalised service that has necessary info regarding town through emails and text messages (including broad events, street closings, and construction.)
The municipality has been adamant regarding gap municipal databases to the general public. once this initial happened, town even launched a contest wherever residents may develop mobile apps for public use supported the open databases. Schechter says the move was a manoeuvre to create encourage residents’ proactive participation. With a profile, residents will actively participate within the improvement of their own neighborhood, municipal services and comes, and get involved within the dialogue regarding the management and style of varied areas of town.
The municipality says over sixty p.c of Tel Aviv residents square measure registered to the service.
The city’s Mediterranean outline is one amongst its most significant aspects, and its digitisation is important to the transformation of town, says Yaron Klein, chief operating officer of Atarim, a state- and municipality-owned corporation engaged with the look and development of traveler and recreation sites, art and cultural compounds, leisure areas, and different parts that promote commercial enterprise in Tel Aviv.
Klein says the beach, that runs fourteen metric linear unit north to Herzliya and south to the suburban area of Bat Yam, has to be “smart” as a result of it’s over nine million guests a year.
“It’s our biggest quality,” Klein says, and points out that whereas abundant has already been done to reinforce its style, with additional construction on its paseo, the installation of motorbike lanes on the bound, and therefore the upgrading of facilities just like the dockage and Gordon Pool, there’s still abundant to be done.
“The coast has become town front room, however it’s conjointly become the geographical point, wherever business choices square measure created,” he said. It’s over simply fitting WLAN on the beach, although he emphasizes that Tel Aviv has the widest wireless distribution of any Israeli town, with eighty affiliation zones.
Klein says the recent Jaffa Port, the traditional port of town of Jaffa that has blossomed into a contemporary mixture of fashionable restaurants and boutiques, art galleries, hip bars, and native trained worker, is that the concentrate of the new plans. the thought is to bring native corporations to the realm by fitting startup hubs and exploitation the port’s resources as well as its 10KW R&D station developed by Israeli company Eco Wave Power, that developed technology to extract energy from ocean and ocean waves and convert it into electricity.
Learn more about Diane Israel.
Smart City HUB
Startup hubs and shared workplaces in Tel Aviv-Yafo square measure everyplace. in keeping with Avi Tamir, co-CEO of the CityZoom Urban Innovation Community providing a support platform for designing and cooperation between governing body, native municipalities, investors, lecturers and multinationals, the municipality is additionally investment within the institution of accelerators, labs, incubators, and shared workspaces, in an attempt to form worth for startups in operation within the good town sector.
Tamir established a partnership with Barak Goldstein of the Kiryat Atidim sophisticated park in north Tel Aviv to create the situation the city’s official good town hub. The Israeli government has conjointly allotted regarding NIS a pair of.5 million ($689,000) to a national program to assist build cities in Israel and round the world smarter, beginning with Tel Aviv.
During the panel, Tamir mentioned the city’s plans for a comprehensive system for open innovation and highlighted the municipality’s efforts to figure with the sophisticated community, investing the quantity of foreign and Fortune five hundred corporations fitting look within the town.
Tel Aviv-Yafo’s groundbreaking digital transformation is steady rising and cities round the world square measure taking notice, the panelists aforesaid. throughout the discussion, Tamir noted that Tel Aviv’s good town zone project transportation hubs, labs, and workplaces, has already reached Associate in Nursing agreement with town of Berlin, that desires to partner with native startups, although he wouldn’t come in details regarding the deal.
Schwartz conjointly noted that Thane, a metropolitan town simply outside of urban center, Asian nation has taken Associate in Nursing interest within the municipality’s DigiTel platform and needs to use it for its own space.
“We square measure terribly proud to be Associate in Nursing example to different cities round the world,” Schwartz aforesaid, “This is one project wherever we discover the mix of technology and therefore the understanding of basic human desires blends dead for United States of America and will one thing special for the folks in Tel Aviv.”
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
The results are in. According to Wired, and subsequently published in NoCamels.com, here are the top 10 Israeli startups from a pool of hundreds of Israeli startups.
Among the hundred firms square measure ten “hottest startups” from metropolis (and Israel generally). In a piece light the Startup Nation’s monetary capital, WIRED UK’s assistant editor jazz musician Franklin-Wallis referred to as metropolis a “deep-tech powerhouse” that’s “beginning to shake off its name as Europe’s exit capital.”
Franklin-Wallis aforesaid that “a combination of robust technical education (backed by native entrepreneurs’ expertise within the Israeli Defense Forces), high levels of capital and a support network of serial entrepreneurs has established the city’s name for building innovative firms.” And Tel Aviv’s robust support for brand spanking new initiatives, its “vibrant, beachside flavor, various culture and robust international links, still attract first-time founders.”
Israel’s strengths in cybersecurity, computing, and laptop vision have place native startups “high on the searching lists of element Valley’s school giants in recent years.”
But that’s slowly ever-changing.
“The main amendment is that the transformation from startup nation to scale-up nation,” Eyal Gura, a serial angel capitalist and co-founder of equine Medical Vision, told WIRED. equine Medical Vision, that uses computing to browse medical scans to mechanically discover diseases, created WIRED’s list in 2015 .
“We’re seeing a replacement style of daring VCs and entrepreneurs attempting to scale firms to levels that haven’t been seen before,” he explained.
WIRED is slowly rolling out its high ten lists from cities across Europe (and more or less Europe, as Israel is technically in Asia) and therefore the “hottest startups” in Constantinople, London, Berlin, and Helsingfors, square measure already out there on-line.
Here square measure the highest ten from Israel:
Bancor
Bancor, Associate in Nursing Israeli-Swiss cryptocurrency startup that developed a virtual currency conversion platform, created headlines last year once it raised $153 million in mere 3 hours in Associate in Nursing ICO (initial coin offering). At the time, the corporate aforesaid it absolutely was the second-largest fundraising campaign within the blockchain business.
Founded in 2016 by Guy Benartzi, Eyal Hertzog, Yehuda St. Matthew the Apostle and Galia Benartzi, Bancor allows its users to instantly convert or trade their currencies. In April, Bancor free a crypto pocketbook that gives in-wallet conversion between quite a hundred cryptocurrencies.” In July, it lost some $23.5 million of cryptocurrency tokens in an exceedingly hacking attack.
CommonSense Artificial Intelligence
Founded in 2015, sensible artificial intelligence is Associate in Nursing exciting startup in retail school, that aims to assist on-line retailers provide on-demand, one-hour deliveries mistreatment artificial intelligence and computing. That’s autonomous robots sorting and getting ready delivery merchandise.
The company says its Amazon-style “micro-fulfillment-center is Associate in Nursing urban, machine-controlled fulfillment answer that mixes the advantages of native distribution with the social science of machine-controlled fulfillment, and is re-defining the method merchandise square measure consummated and delivered among cities.”
In April, Israeli media rumored that the corporate was elect by Israel’s largest pharmacy chain, Super-Pharm, to control a supply center in Israel someday later this year. the corporate has up to now raised over $26 million, as well as from Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Ventures.
Healthy.io
Tel Aviv-based Healthy.io aims to show smartphones into refined medical specialty devices capable of analyzing excretion samples.
Earlier this year, Healthy.io declared a replacement partnership with the U.S. National excretory organ Foundation (NKF) and Geisinger, one in every of the most important health services organizations in America, for a test mistreatment the smartphone-enabled home qualitative analysis device for chronic nephropathy (CKD) among patients with high force per unit area.
The company was elect among thirteen Israeli startups NoCamels referred to as “pioneers of innovation” to mark Israel’s seventieth day of remembrance.
LawGeex
LawGeex‘s software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform uses computing to change, review and approve the lawfulness of business contracts before they’re signed. it absolutely was supported in 2014 by Noory Bechor, a lawyer, and Ilan Admon, Associate in Nursing AI specialist.
Bechor told WIRED he came up with the thought when wasting hours reviewing documents. “Once you’ve seen many samples of a particular contract kind, the ideas keep continuation themselves,” he said. “I thought, ‘If this can be therefore repetitive, it will be machine-controlled.’”
“Think of it as functioning a similar method Associate in Nursing autopilot works with a pilot: we tend to pay attention of the tiny repetitive tasks, permitting them to target the strategic ones,” he added. The startup has offices in metropolis and ny and shoppers that embrace Deloitte, eBay, Sears and Farmers Insurance. it’s raised over $20 million in funds.
Lemonade
Israeli-founded, New York-based insurance startup ade has been reshaping the insurance market ever since it absolutely was created in 2015 by entrepreneurs Shai Winninger, a co-founder of Fiverr.com, and Daniel Schreiber, former president of Powermat.
The company uses behavioral social science and technology, investment computing and chatbots to deliver insurance policies and handle claims for users in sixteen states. Customers pay a flat rate and realize insurance plans through machine-controlled knowledge analyses. unwanted cash goes to non-profits chosen by customers, that ade says results in fewer false claims.
In late 2017, ade raised $120 million from the Japanese SoftBank cluster, conveyance its total funding so far to $180 million.
Lightricks
Jerusalem-based Lightricks helps amateur photographers and videographers master professional-style photo written material via its apps on Apple and golem.
The company’s Facetune, a portrait retouching application, reached Apple’s popular paid app in 2017. Lightricks is additionally behind the favored Enlight ikon written material app, that was Apple’s App of the Year in 2015, the No.11 bestselling paid iOS app in 2016, and winner of Apple’s prestigious Apple style Awards of 2017. each apps conjointly reached a No.1 rank on iOS charts in over one20 countries.
“Our goal at Lightricks is to relinquish aspiring artists unexampled fun and powerful inventive tools that look and feel sorcerous,” the corporate has aforesaid.
Lightricks has engineered variety of further ability apps, as well as video editor Videoleap and Quickshot. it absolutely was supported in 2013 by Zeev Farber, Amit Goldstein, Nir Pochter, Yaron Ingerman, and Itai Tsiddon.
Learn more about Diane Israel.
Missbeez
Founded in 2015 by entrepreneurs Maya Gura and Gil Bouhnick, Missbeez brings AI to its app platform, permitting busy customers to order beauty treatments and modus vivendi services to their homes or workplaces. The list of services includes manicures, pedicures, massages, spray tans, hair removal, hair styling, and makeup.
The company handles the providers’ payment, route coming up with, and schedules.
“Our mission is to make work opportunities for thousands of freelance professionals,” Gura told WIRED. Missbeez has offices in the metropolis, London, and Madrid.
Otonomo
Herzliya-based Otonomo, Associate in Nursing automotive knowledge services platform for autonomous and connected cars, says it “enables motor vehicle makers, quality service suppliers, and application developers to soundly share and integrate car-generated knowledge so as to create the driving expertise safe, smart, and convenient.”
It was supported in 2015 by Avner Cohen and mountain Volkow and has raised over $40 million so far. Investors have enclosed Aptiv (Delphi Automotive), hollow Technologies Capital, Hearst Ventures, Stageone Ventures, and Maniv quality. Otonomo conjointly incorporates a presence within the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
Vayyar Imaging
Vayyar Imaging developed revolutionary technology that may “see” through objects, as well as liquids and human tissue, to deliver 3D pictures, with a bunch of applications.
The school is getting used across business sectors as well as automotive, construction, agriculture, good homes, artificial intelligence and medical aid.
NoCamels rumored in 2017 that Vayyar’s sensor-based technology “can see through skin and tissue to discover cancer plenty, leaf through walls and build a 3D image of hidden structural foundations; or, it will be accustomed produce a sensible home that tracks the placement of persons needing care, moreover as their important signs as they move round the house.”
In May, Vayyar launched what it referred to as the “world’s most advanced millimeter-wave 3D imaging chip,” that provides a high-resolution, mobile, and cost-efficient 3D imaging answer. it’s raised virtually $80 million since it absolutely was supported in 2011.
Vayyar was elect among NoCamels’ 9 “superhero” startups for 2017.
Zeek
Tel Aviv-based startup Zeek developed a mobile platform that enables users to shop for gift cards and vouchers from major brands at a reduction and sell unwanted gift vouchers for money, providing an answer to the calculable $100 billion of unused gift cards globally.
Founded in 2013 by Daniel Zelkind, Itay Erel, and Ziv Isaiah, its investors have enclosed Waze’s Uri Levine, Qualcomm Ventures, and Scale-Up capital. the corporate incorporates a presence within the United Kingdom.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
I have written extensively about artificial intelligence (AI), noting its far-reaching tentacles, diverse applications, and ubiquities. But there’s a companion platform that has been raging for a few years now, and that platform is Blockchain.
Unless you’re a tech geek, you probably have a cursory at best understanding, having heard of it in news reports. The best way to put Blockchain into context is to understand its most popular application: Bitcoin. This cryptocurrency has caused volatile swings in the financial markets, has caused the biggest banks and lending institutions to take notice, even throwing millions in R&D to bone up on the technology.
More on Diane Israel.
What’s important to understand is the relationship between Bitcoin (and other lesser known cryptocurrencies) and Blockchain. Bitcoin runs on blockchain and currently needs blockchain to function.
As such, the marriage between AI and Blockchain is a natural one, although not necessary. The appeal, however, is the security features that blockchain promises, and the egalitarian way in which information is stored and distributed.
The Israeli Connection
Israeli startups are at the forefront of both of these sectors, receiving notable attention and investments from global players which are further propelling Israeli development in these industries.
As recently reported in NoCamels.com:
In Israel, the average investment per deal in AI grew five times in value, from $2 million in 2016 to $10.2 million in 2017. Subsequently, the growth in this sector is reflected in the overall investment numbers for AI in Israel, with the market growing from $55 million in 2016 to $472 million in 2017, according to the Geektime Annual Report 2017: Startups and venture capital in Israel, published in January.
A major setback.
For a few years now, financial institutions have been experimenting with Blockchain for its “very strong” security features. Not so fast, however. What was lost by most was FPI special investigator Robert Mueller’s recent charges filed against senior Russian military leaders, many of whom take their orders directly from Vladimir Putin. What the filing showed, in great detail, is how Mueller’s team was able to deconstruct the way in which the Russians used Bitcoin to pay for everything from website hosting, domain registration, and even paying for Facebook ads. According to many Bitcoin experts, the advantage of Bitcoin/Blockchain is its ability to remain anonymous throughout the transaction process. And while we still don’t know how Mueller’s team was able to attribute a Bitcoin account directly to its true owner is proof positive that the technology is vulnerable.
Netting it out.
What this means is simple. Blockchain may have some appealing features for the marketplace, but security isn’t one of them. As such, the fledgling marriage between AI and Blockchain may be short-lived and was never a necessary one.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
Our good friends at NoCamels.com put together this top 10 list of iPhone apps that are made in Israel. Without further ado, here they are. Enjoy.
World Series of Poker
Playtika’s World Series of Poker is one of the top grossing iOS apps, according to Sensor Tower app data market research. The Israeli-founded online games company, owned by a Chinese consortium but run independently from its Herzliya headquarters, has a number of popular titles including House of Fun, Bingo Blitz and Slotmania – and all regularly rank among the top-grossing games on Apple’s App Store.
Playtika, founded in 2010, is a pioneer in the free-to-play games on mobile platforms. The company has said it counts more than six million people in 190 countries playing its games.
Gett
Another ride-share app popular on the App Store is Gett (formerly GetTaxi). This Tel Aviv-headquartered company serves more than 120 cities across Europe.
In the US, Gett collaborates with Juno. Unlike other ride-hailing apps, Gett’s GPS-based app hails a licensed taxi to a pickup spot and not a random driver. Gett also offers in-app tipping.
Waze
The famous Israeli-developed navigation app, Waze, holds an average 4.8 out of 5 rating in the United States and as such is one of the highest rated iOS apps, according to app analytics firm Sensor Tower. Waze’s community-generated, real-time traffic updates have helped millions of people get to their destinations.
Learn more about Diane Israel.
Fooducate
If you’re looking for a nutrition tracker on the App Store, you’re likely to be directed to the Fooducate app. This free iOS (and Android) app helps people make better food choices. The New York Times, Oprah and the Wall Street Journal have all recommended this Tel Aviv-made app for keeping you healthier and knowing what is in your food.
Scan barcodes and Fooducate will tell you which products have less added sugar, trans fats or fewer food dyes. The award-winning app can track meals, track your hunger levels, give personalized nutrition tips, offer health and diet tips, and offer suggestions for healthier foods. Fooducate is one of Apple’s Best of in the iPhone Health & Fitness category.
24me
Apple, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, CNN and others have chosen 24me as the best iOS app for getting things done. The free personal assistant app puts your notes, calendars, chores and accounts all together for better management.
The company came into being in 2013, shortly after founders Liat and Gilad Hertanu had just welcomed their third child in four years. They needed a product that could help them manage their time. In 2014, the app already secured “Best of the App Store” by Apple. 24me also includes a smart algorithm tool to help you triumph over procrastination.
Couch to 5K Runner
Fitness22 has a series of health and fitness apps on the App store that are all geared to making the gym experience more accessible. The Israeli company, which launched in 2011, has 5/5 star ratings on the App Store and continues to be among the top-rated fitness apps.
Its most popular offering is the award-winning Couch to 5K Runner app, which trains you to run 5-kilometers in eight weeks. This mobile fitness and health company, formerly known as Clear Sky Apps, counts more than 50 million customers the world over using its apps for personal training. In addition to the 5K app, there are also training plans for 10K runs, marathons, as well as pre-made workouts, 0-200 situps and abs-building apps.
Facetune
Jerusalem-based Lightricks helps amateur photographers and videographers master professional style photo editing via its apps on the iOS App Store. The company’s Facetune fun portrait retouching application reached Apple’s No. 4 best-selling Paid app in 2016. “Our goal at Lightricks is to give aspiring artists unprecedented fun and powerful creative tools that look and feel magical.
Moovit
The Moovit public transit app is found on Apple’s prestigious list of the best iOS apps from around the world. The Israeli urban mobility data analytics company helps some 170 million riders in 2,200 cities plan bus and train trips from point A to B.
Earlier this year, Moovit announced a partnership with Mobileye, the Jerusalem-based driving-assistance technology firm (acquired by Intel for over $15 billion.).
VP Head of Global Communications at Moovit Steve Swasey told NoCamels that the collaboration would “improve the world’s urban mobility.”
VIA
VIA’s mobile ride-hailing app helps people get around. With shared transport now a megatrend in the transportation sector, Via’s goal in connecting multiple passengers going the same way is increasingly welcomed. So much so, in fact, that Via is valued at $1 billion. The iOS app holds an amazing 4.9 out of 5 rating on the App Store and has been called the “future of public transit.”
Lightricks
Lightricks is also behind the popular Enlight photo editing app, which was Apple’s App of the Year (2015), the No.11 bestselling paid iOS app in 2016, and winner of Apple’s prestigious Apple Design Awards of 2017. Both apps also reached a No.1 rank on iOS charts in over 120 countries.
Run Sausage Run
The Run Sausage Run mobile game app logged more than 21 million downloads in its first two months – and over 50 million downloads to date — thanks to an awesome logo and funny storyline. That it is made by TabTale, repeatedly ranked by AppAnnie analytics firm as a Top 10 Mobile Games Publisher, probably also helped in this astounding feat.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
The automobile industry is quickly changing. Ten years ago, companies like Tesla (and their many nervous investors) rolled the dice on 100 percent electric vehicles with battery technology nested inside. Since then, many manufacturers, including GM, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo, and Ford, did something few expected; they successfully created many successfully hybrid cars that reduced the demand for Tesla, at least indirectly. Meanwhile, Tesla struggled to meet production goals.
But all of this speaks to yesterday’s battle. Today, the battle is clear. Autonomous vehicles and virtually all brick-and-motor car manufacturers are looking elsewhere for this critical third part technology. And while Google may be the thousand pound gorilla in the room, many big players are going lean and more daring by securing contracts with a host of Israeli startups specializing in autonomous vehicle technology, not only the actual brain and IoT infrastructure that will also make this stuff work, but the safety concerns and simulations that ensure it will actually work.
Trade Show Dead (or dying)
This change in technology has also created a paradigm shift in how cars are marketed. Many of the biggest car manufacturers, including Volvo, BMW, Porsche, Mitsubishi, Land Rover, and Jaguar….. are skipping trade shows entirely, finding them “old hat” in the way new models and concepts are promoted.
Learn more about Diane Israel.
With no car heritage of which to speak, Israeli startups are seeking to carve a new tradition for the global auto industry, filled with groundbreaking ideas and technologies.
As such, you can find Regulus trailblazing cyber solutions to defend sensors in autonomous vehicles from being hacked, and Karamba Security and Argus Cyber Security securing connected cars, trucks and commercial vehicles from unwanted data breaches. Then there’s Autotalks, which specializes in vehicle-to-vehicle communications in autonomous driving, as it creates a niche for its pioneering ways to prevent on-road accidents.
There are some 400-500 Israeli tech startups in the auto tech arena today.
Connecting the dots through Analogy
Today, major airlines own (or rent) flight simulators to train their pilots. If you’re thinking what I did when I first heard this, does that mean that the pilot doesn’t actually fly a plane until it’s loaded with passengers? That’s exactly what it means. Flight simulators not only reduce training costs but also provide a level of training and emergency scenarios that could not be achieved by using an actual plane.
Autonomous vehicle technology, and in particular, the hundreds of Isreali companies who are developing these technologies, can be considered the flight simulators of the car industry, only that instead of training a pilot (driver) they are training a neural network.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
Talk to most anyone in the maritime logistics business and you’ll quickly feel like you stepped back 30 years. Even the very basics of communications, like reliable Internet connectivity across the high seas, logistical management or ERP, and all the other needs of running a large maritime fleet, each of which operates — or should operate — like its own city, is pretty backward. In other words, modern-day supply chain and logistics management haven’t reached one of the most critical supply chains in the world.
Some of these problems are matters of remote coverage similar to the spotty connectivity often experienced in rural areas. For sure, our great oceans are vast expanses of remoteness. But with hundreds of billions in products traversing them on any given day, you would think there would be a will to modernize. Indeed, the land-based technology the maritime industry needs, including broadband Internet, 4G wireless, ERP systems, data synchronization across disparate cloud servers, is proven and affordable. But not so on the maritime supply chain. In fact, it’s not uncommon for sea-to-land communications to go black over hundreds of miles of maritime travel. Now imagine that happening — and happening every day — with say the Ford Motor Company’s global ERP system. You can’t because it would never happen. The rest of the industry measure system down situations in seconds, even milliseconds. But in maritime, it’s measured in minutes and often hours!
Of the 6,000 Israeli startups, only a handful of them has a maritime focus. But the TheDOCK Innovation Hub, a maritime accelerator, is taking on the low-hanging fruit of maritime logistics with a vengeance, not just seeking parity with the rest of the world but to actually leapfrog its land-based counterparts.
Featured article: Artificial Intelligence, part 1.
TheDOCK recently partnered with Maersk for “opportunities to co-create the next unicorn in logistics within the areas of fighting food waste, enabling trade, securing supply chains and next-generation logistics.” The deal transcends the transactional as Maersk is looking for TheDOCK to provide complete solutions to all its maritime needs, looking for the accelerator to develop certain applications while identifying other startups who offer complimentary ones.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
Correlation may not be causation. Companies with a recent startup complexion may be able to move fast, but not this fast. But Facebook’s recent acquisition of Israeli startup Redkix demonstrates how the social media giant already knew it was in trouble before it suffered the largest single-day stock loss in Wall Street history.
The acquisition, on first blush, seems curious. Redkix flagship product is designed to connect the enterprise workplace, not exactly a social media application. As such, the acquisition gives us insight into where Facebook is branching out. Workplace collaboration, which is Redkix’s sweet spot, has little to do with social media. But what the two companies do share is collaboration. That’s what’s key here.
Other than that, further details were conspicuously absent in the announcement. So what’s really going on? With little information, analysts are forced to speculate beyond their comfort zones, myself included.
My bet is on broadening Facebook’s portfolio. If we learned anything from yesterday’s stock dive of Facebook it’s that the social media giant lives and dives by advertising. Recent changes to Facebook’s advertising platform really impacted sales as the algorithm change had an immediate negative impact on advertisers.
Said one startup marketer:
“We went from reliable and predictable Facebook ad spend ROI to zero! We thought there was a glitch in the program or something and even called Facebook to make sure everything was okay with our campaign. Once we verified the technical setup was good to go, but still no sales, we scratched our heads for a few more days and dug deeper, as deep as we could go, until we just shut down the campaign. It was that bad.”
So there you have it. If Facebook can’t deliver to its advertisers, yesterday’s historic stock dive with Facebook is no mystery. The company simply must diversify its offerings while, at the same time, fixing its advertising algorithm. In addition, now committed to transparency in privacy concerns, along with Mark Zuckerberg staying some rather stupid things of late, the many problems and challenges Facebook is facing are loud and clear.
See featured story: Artificial Intelligence, part 1.
Markets may not always be as efficient as we would like, but in this case, what happened to Facebook was no accident.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
While at times the evolution of technological innovation may seem chaotic with no clear purpose, goal or objective — many new technologies seem to come out of nowhere — there is an unseen hand at play. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations foretells of this somewhat mystical phenomenon whereby markets have their own agency, filling in market gaps as if a transcendental being was overseeing our economy. What Smith and many others who followed him neglected to notice, whether intentionally or not, is that real people with keen awareness of present conditions coupled with future need are these mysterious beings. In other words, we have discovered this unseen hand, and it’s us!
I’ll use applications that just about everyone is aware of to demonstrate who all of this works. It’s a bit of an oversimplification but appropriate for this demonstration.
- Microsoft Word released as a standalone application
- Microsoft Excel released as a standalone application
- Microsoft PowerPoint released as a standalone application
Then Microsoft Office released comprising all three with true integration that made interfacing with all three rather easy. In other words, innovations begin as separate entities but eventually and naturally consolidate into one integrated application.
I mention this because we are witnessing the same sort of stovepipe development and consolidation happening right now. However, this phenomenon is no longer constrained to applications but rather more vague concepts such as content and speed.
On the content side, artificial intelligence (AI) is the driving force. Note that there is real category confusion about AI that is to be expected. Legacy labels such as neural networks and machine learning are becoming meaningless because each overlap and can rightly be called AI, which depicts a consolidation of applications in real-time. Now couple that with what AI needs to allow for greater capabilities, ones that science fiction describes, and there we have it. Speed. And this increased speed, actually 20to 50 times faster than its predecessor, is coming through 5g wireless.
Long story short, if you want to see the future of tech innovation, keep your eyes on AI and 5G. Throw in the peripheral technologies of the Internet of Things (IoT), and the picture becomes clear.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
The history of computing has been largely a tale of developing amazing applications for which processing speeds were insufficient to make these innovations practical. In other words, the adage that “content is King” is only the case because of speed bottlenecks. But with 5G (fifth generation wireless technology) on the horizon, we may be on the verge of a new Monarchy. The Speed King.
Segments from the following were originally published by NoCamels.com.
What is 5G?
Fifth-generation wireless, or 5G, is the latest iteration of cellular technology, engineered to greatly increase the speed and responsiveness of wireless networks. With 5G, data transmitted over wireless broadband connections could travel at rates as high as 20 Gbps by some estimates — exceeding wireline network speeds — as well as offer latency of 1 ms or lower for uses that require real-time feedback. 5G will also enable a sharp increase in the amount of data transmitted over wireless systems due to more available bandwidth and advanced antenna technology. Thirty to fifty times fast than 4G. The impact will be revolutionary, making home appliances smart, surgical robots even smarter and more precise, drones ubiquitous and artificial intelligence downright scary!
Intel’s history
American PCU processing giant Intel dominates the PC and server processor market, netting about 80 percent of the market worldwide. But as far as the mobile revolution is concerned, Intel missed the boat. Previous attempts to enter the smartphone market have been mediocre at best. But it has had considerable success in entering the mobile market. And with 5G it plans to go from player to dominator. The company is in a transition, adopting a data-centric model that is all about 5G.
And Intel’s Israel operations are playing a key role in the overhaul. This means that its innovative products, already ubiquitous, will be even more so. “New hardware will basically be in all aspects: data collection by new sensors (e.g. Mobileye), communication (e.g 5G), computing (e.g artificial intelligence),” Ben Sinai says. An ambitious move into the mobile phone market is also in the offing, as it is “certainly an ingredient” in Intel’s wider vision.
And Intel Israel, he says, is a “very important design center of Intel Corporation, leading some of its strategic developments in the area of computing, communication, security and more.”
Automotive and cybersecurity
Intel also has another edge. Last year, the company acquired the Jerusalem-based Mobileye, a developer of cutting-edge autonomous driving technologies, for a whopping $15.3 billion. Mobileye is considered a leader in advanced driver assistance systems – including pedestrian detection, collision warning – aimed to prevent road collisions. The acquisition marked Intel’s entry into the vibrant automotive market, and the industry plays a central role in Intel’s vision for the future.
“Autonomous cars will need constant, fast communications, they will move in sync on their own network,” Ben Sinai says, envisioning a future with zero accidents, a better environment due to expected reduced car ownership, and a transformed transportation industry which he says will have to adjust to accommodate self-driving cars.
As for the potential dangers posed by mass connectivity, Intel, he says, “is always thinking about security, and established a division at the Intel management level dedicated to looking for breaches and vulnerabilities.”
The bottom line is this. Intel now sees how IoT (Internet of Things) is redefining what the end device looks like. It’s no longer just a computer or a smartphone, and intends to have its technology in all these things, pun intended.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com