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Find My iPhone leads to a late-night chase in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv resident Ori Goshen realized the benefit of Find My iPhone when an unexpected late-night car ride left him without his iPhone. Goshen hopped into a car with two strangers and gave them directions, using his iPhone, in exchange for a ride closer to his apartment. (Bad decision? Quite possibly.) What started out as an innocent ride turned into a nightmare when the two men began quizzing him about places to find some sordid late night activity. At his first opportunity, Goshen bolted from the car to head to his apartment and immediately realized he'd left his iPhone in the car seat he'd just vacated. Arming himself with his Mac notebook and an Android handset, Goshen went on a hunt for his phone using the maps on Find My iPhone and Google Maps. Undaunted by the late hour, Goshen took to the streets of Tel Aviv with phone and notebook in hand. Guided by his phone's GPS coordinates, he came upon the car sitting at a red light. Goshen hopped in the back seat and asked the shocked men for his iPhone. They claimed to have no knowledge of the phone, but Goshen rang the iPhone using the remote ring feature. He quickly snatched the ringing phone from the front seat and bolted out of the car as fast as he could. After arriving home from his adventure-filled recovery mission, Goshen savored the moment with a frosty beverage and some hard-won life lessons.
Woman tries, fails to smuggle 44 iPhones into Israel
Sigh. We don't know whether to congratulate the enterprising spirit of this venture or to bemoan the sad state of a world where a 60-something-year old lady feels compelled to turn into an iPhone smuggler. Either way, Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport has given us a pretty good reason for the use of full body scanners, which revealed the woman in question was strapped with 44 iPhone 4s all around her body. Dressed in traditional Georgian attire, the lady had some struggles walking around, which raised suspicion and got the officials to run her through the machines. Guess this gives us a whole new definition to the phrase "stocking stuffer," eh? [Original image credit: buystoreshelving.com]
Modu closing up shop in February
Looks like the bad news just got worse for Modu fans. According to reports from Israel, Modu, maker of impossibly small modular handsets, will be forced to close its doors in February as it attempts to payback debt and the salaries owed to its workers. Ironically, the news will likely spark an increase in demand as nerds battle to curate an elusive Modu W for their vintage gadget collections.
El Paso resident finds Mexican Orbiter Mini drone in his front yard
When discussing drones, we usually think of the Af-Pak theater (or perhaps joy ridin' UK teens), so it was with some amusement that we heard about a little border excursion that a Mexican UAV made into American airspace a few days ago. According to reports, the device -- believed to be an Israeli-made Orbiter Mini -- was being operated by the Mexican government (on its side of the border) when it experienced some sort of "mechanical malfunction" and crossed over to El Paso, Texas, where it was discovered on a resident's front lawn last Tuesday. The Orbiter Mini, manufactured by Aeronautics Defense Systems, has a six foot wingspan and will stay in the air up to four hours.
ReWalk exoskeleton on sale in January, for a price you can't afford
We've had our eyes on Argo Medical Technologies' ReWalk for a couple years, ever since the exoskeleton walked into view with a gait (and a sound) eerily reminiscent of RoboCop's. The device weighs seven pounds and features two leg braces with motorized joints and motion sensors, a harness, and a backpack for holding the computer that controls the device and a battery that should last a good three-and-a-half hours. In addition to giving paraplegics the ability to walk, this bad boy can be used to treat the health complications of those who cannot walk on their own, including digestive, cardiovascular, and circulatory issues. After clinical trials in the US and Israel, the device is due to go on sale to rehab centers worldwide this January. The cost for one will be in the $100,000 mark.
EU providing $21 million grant to IBM and others, funding research into cloud storage
Clouds are beautiful things that fill our skies with wonderment, and as it turns out they make awfully good places to store our precious data, too. In that way European Union wants to make them even better, providing a €15.7 million (that's $21.4 million US) research project called Vision Cloud. It's set to tackle a number of related storage issues, including the ability to run applications within cloud storage, proper auditing and access restriction, and mobility of said data, so that it can be accessed from anywhere. IBM's Haifa, Israel think tank is going to be leading the effort, while Siemens and SAP will be playing nice too. Really, when you're getting paid to think about clouds, how would it be possible to not play nice?
Israel to activate SMS-CB missile alert system next year
This one's been talked about since the middle of last year (at least), but it looks as if the time for contemplating is over and done with. It's bruited that the Israel Defense Forces will be moving forward on a plan to light up a new cellular system that will blast out SMS-CB alerts to citizens if and when a missile is fired in the direction of Israel. Just over $7 million will be invested, with the application itself being jointly designed by eVigilo and Ericsson. If all goes well, it'll be operational in June of 2011, and it's just one aspect of the country's effort to consolidate all emergency alerts into one centralized system. We're told that the blasts would be sent in a variety of languages, and there's even potential to send 'em to TVs, radios, websites and "billboards." And unlike various other SMS emergency alert systems that have been implemented, these would actually differ based on how the threat was forecasted to affect different geographic regions. Something tells us eVigilo's going to become a multinational company in no time. Update: eVigilo pinged us with a few extra details surrounding the service. For starters, it'll be using SMS-CB (read: not standard SMS) in order to circumvent core networks that tend to collapse during emergencies. This will enable the messages to bypass any congestion and hit all users at around the same time. The alerts would be delivered geographically, not to a specific number of users, with tests proving that "millions" could be reached within 20 seconds over 3G. Besides broadcast over mobile networks, the company will also connect to the national TV network using DVB and offer also DAB reaching digital radio subscribers. Additional capabilities will be given through multicast over IP (Billboards, Variable Message Signs and social networks).
Transparent material developed that's twice as strong as Kevlar, infinitely weirder
Scientists in Israel have developed a transparent material with "the hardest organic nanostructure known to man," according to Discovery News. Based on artificial proteins similar to (and simpler than) the beta-amlyoid proteins that have been linked to Alzheimer's disease, and covered with transparent nanospheres, the new material is very, very strong: in order to cut it, a diamond-tipped probe would have to apply twice the pressure it would take to cut Kevlar. Researchers see it being used for anything from bulletproof armor to reinforced steel -- but don't throw out your old body armor yet! It could be years (if not decades) before this comes to market.
Northrop Grumman's CaMEL 'bot features one .50 caliber gun, loads of class
When the dream factory that is Northrop Grumman needed to up the "wow factor" at its Association of the U.S. Army's Washington conference booth, it did what plenty of CES exhibitors wished they could do: it weaponized. Hence, the deadliest CaMEL yet. The acronym stands for Carry-all Mechanized Equipment Landrover -- think of the BigDog robot, but with treads instead of legs. The motorized platform will hump up to 1,200 pounds of gear at seven miles per hour, and as Spencer Ackerman at Wired points out, over sixty of them have been sold to the Israeli military. But the above pictured CaMEL is the only one floating around with armaments: in this case, a .50-caliber M2 machine gun. The gun is fired remotely, via touchscreen controls, and the platform itself could support any number of weapons including the M249, the MK19 grenade launcher, or 30mm cannon. Which kind of proves a pet theory of ours: if you build it, eventually someone will mount a gun on it.
Google posting the complete Dead Sea Scrolls online
Amateur historians and lovers of the Aramaic language, you are in for a treat: It looks like Google has hashed out a deal with the Israeli Antiquities Authority to scan the complete Dead Sea Scrolls using multi-spectral imaging technology developed by NASA, and place them online for your reading pleasure. Indeed, not only will the hi-res imaging place the scrolls in the digital domain, it might also uncover new letters and words previously unseen when the things were photographed using infrared tech in the 1950s. Alongside the online database of the text, Google plans to include translations and other related documents. You can look forward to seeing the first images become available in the next couple months, with the project taking five years or so to complete.
MasterPad prototype marries Windows 7 to 11.6-inch IPS screen (video)
Check out this 14mm-thin contender: built by Pegatron and still at the prototype stage, the MasterPad looks to be the embodiment of Steve Ballmer's incoming armada of desirable Windows 7 tablets. It sports an 11.6-inch IPS screen, which accommodates a 1,366 x 768 widescreen resolution, a 1.3 megapixel webcam plus mic, two USB ports, a memory card reader, an accelerometer, mini-HDMI port, 3G connectivity, and 32GB or 64GB SSD options. All that hi-tech goodness is wrapped up in a magnesium and aluminum alloy body, weighing 990 grams. There are some less cutting edge specs, like the disappointing 2-cell battery that will only get you 5 hours of use and the 1.66GHz Atom N450 CPU -- but we're being promised 1080p video playback and Flash compatibility are ready to roll, and our machine translation hints at an additional HD video-processing chip. The early hands-on experience seems to have left the Israeli journos impressed, and their homeland can expect the MasterPad to arrive "in the coming months," with an Android version also in the works. See it on video after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Image courtesy of Nitsan Saddan, Ynet
iBan lifted in Israel, personal imports of iPads now permitted
That didn't take long. After complaints from would-be iPad users, and subsequent Wi-Fi testing, Israel's Ministry of Communications has now declared the iPad to be safe and sane for use there. Last week's ban, which resulted in some iPads cooling their oleophobic heels in customs storage, never made a lot of sense to begin with -- the iPad was already a well-behaved device under EU wireless rules, which are conformant with Israeli standards. Ynet News reports that travelers may now bring one iPad per person into the country, and any confiscated devices will be returned to their owners. Official sales of the iPad in Israel have yet to be announced by iDigital, the country's only Apple distributor. Thanks Jehuda!
Microsoft gives us a look through Project Natal's eyes (video)
Ilan Spillinger, Microsoft's Xbox 360 VP, was on hand in Tel Aviv yesterday for a showcase of Project Natal. Although there wasn't much in the way of groundbreaking stuff, the resulting video does show off the motion control system's gender recognition (done through Natal's facial recognition ... you filthy child) and ability to track two players within the frame at the same time. A tipster from the audience tells us that earlier lag issues have been eradicated, although some jitter was indeed apparent when the second person stepped into Natal's field of vision. Either way, it's looking like Microsoft's Xbox 360 peripheral is progressing well toward its release near the end of this year. Go past the break to see for yourself. [Thanks, Roy]
Israel blocks iPad imports over Wi-Fi concerns
Israelis had to wait a long time for the local launch of the iPhone; it was late last year before the country's three cell carriers began selling it, and some estimates indicated more than 80,000 unlocked phones were already in use there. With that kind of pent-up demand for iStuff, you'd think that scores of travelers would be trying to bring their US-bought iPads to Medinat Yisrael ahead of the official launch. Unfortunately for those would-be "ChaiPad" users in Israel, there's a problem at the gate: customs agents have been instructed to prevent iPads from entering the country. Israel's communications ministry hasn't given the iPad the necessary Wi-Fi clearance to operate domestically, although the chip in the iPad has already been used in scores of approved devices. Word of the ban hadn't made it up to the communications minister's office in advance, according to the Haaretz newspaper, and the announcement caused a hubbub. Update: Commenters point out that the iPad is already compliant with European Union regulations for wireless, and Israel uses the same standards, so there shouldn't be any technical or regulatory obstacle to using iPads there. It may be months before iDigital, the official Israeli distributor for Apple products, has a localized version of the iPad ready for sale domestically -- especially with the worldwide delay in rollout announced this morning. A flood of US iPads making aliyah via luggage and briefcases would certainly put a crimp in future sales. Thanks B.
Ben-Gurion University's wall-climbing robots scale defenses, haunt nightmares, stain faux-finishes (video)
We've seen plenty of prototype mechanisms for autonomous dealies that can scale the straightest of walls, but never have we seen so many gathered together into what can only be called a festival of disconcerting feats of robotic ingenuity. One uses magnets, one has little claws, and one uses integrated hot glue guns that would leave you with no doubt that something sticky had been exploring your walls. They were all developed by a team of engineers working with Amir Shapiro at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, where he studies biomimetrics: technology that tries to do what animals do. Applications for all this? The Israeli military is apparently quite interested, a force that we will be working extra hard to stay within the good graces of from now on.
3G GSM encryption cracked in less than two hours
Looks like all that GSM code-cracking is progressing faster than we thought. Soon after the discovery of the 64-bit A5/1 GSM encryption flaw last month, the geniuses at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science went ahead and cracked the KASUMI system -- a 128-bit A5/3 algorithm implemented across 3G networks -- in less than two hours. If you must know, the method applied is dubbed 'related-key sandwich attack' where multiple values of known differentials are processed through the first seven rounds of KASUMI, then using resulting quartets that are identified sharing key differences, subkey materials can be obtained in round eight to build up the 128-bit key. Sure, it's hardly snooping-on-the-go at this speed, but worryingly this was only an 'unoptimized implementation... on a single PC.' At the same time, the paper condemns the presumably red-faced GSM Association for moving from MISTY -- a more computationally-expensive but much stronger predecessor algorithm -- to KASUMI. Guess we'll just have to stick with Skype.
iPhone in iPhone app is useless, but mesmerizing
Here's the premise: you take a good old fashioned augmented reality setup, the likes of which we've seen all over the land, and attach a three-dimensional, rotatable iPhone to it. Not impressed yet, are you? Neither were we, but there's some secret sauce to this one: you can actually launch apps on the simulated iPhone. That extra layer of interactivity makes the video after the break a lot more fascinating than it has any right to be, though it's worth pointing out that we don't think the apps are actually usable -- they just give the illusion of launching. Anyhow, don't wait around while all the cool kids are watching it, go have a gander yourself.
Border security guards kill -- literally kill -- a MacBook (update: video!)
Young American woman travels over to Jerusalem to meet some friends, see the sights, live the life. Overzealous border security officers ask her a bunch of questions, take issue with her answers, and a few well-placed bullets later she is allowed entry into the country with a somewhat altered MacBook in tow. So what can we all learn from this incident? Firstly, back up all the data you consider important; B, Israeli policemen don't mess about; and 3, distressed laptops look gorgeous no matter how they got there -- just look at the way the glass trackpad has wrinkled up from the force of the bullet penetrating near it, it's a borderline work of art. The young lady in question has been promised compensation, but lest you think this is a one one-off you can see pictures of an equally dead Dell at the Flickr link below. We've got a couple more close-ups of the ravaged MacBook after the break. [Thanks, Itai N.] Update - We've tracked down a video interview with Lily herself, which shows off a few more angles of the former MacBook and current article of modern art -- check it after the break. P.S. - As always, we encourage a discussion. A sensitive, intellectual, worldly discussion. If you can't infer what it is we're asking of our dear readers tempted to intone on this matter, then please skip commenting on this thread, mkay?
Roomba saves child from deadly Viper, challenges Tango to a fight
We've always known that the Roomba was something of a bad-ass -- iRobot, after all, has quite a reputation within the defense industry -- so we weren't surprised when one of the autonomous vacuum cleaners took down a certain Vipera palaestinae (a venomous snake found in the Middle East). Considered a leading cause of snakebites within its geographic range, the snake was found mangled 'round one of the robot's rotating brushes when Eli and Efi Frida returned to their home in Galilee, which they share with their two children, aged four and seven (as well as several cats and dogs). "We were very lucky," said Eli, "If the snake would have hid in the house and bitten one of the children it could have ended badly."
Modu actually launches in Israel, gets hands-on treatment as proof
You know, we really didn't believe it at first, but looks like Modu has finally launched in some part of the world, and just as rumored, the inaugural carrier is the Israel company's local network Cellcom. Likely because they knew we still wouldn't be convinced, the crew at Mobo have gone hands-on with the phone. All in all, no difference from what we saw back in February -- jackets and all -- but hey, it's crossed a major threshold and hit "retail product" status. So is it time to talk about touchscreens yet?
