Did you Shvoong your homework today?

Shvoong Homework is a new product for students. Shvoong Homework is designed to assist students of all ages manage and organize their homework. Instead of using messy and disorganized notebooks, students can use Shvoong Homework to type-up their schoolwork, keep it organized, and then share it with individuals or groups of classmates, the entire class, students from other schools entirely, or no one at all.
Students can now create a timetable for their personal classes and for scheduling exams. They can create an unlimited number of notebooks for class notes, homework, summaries, and exam preparations. The new product can definitely help out students world-wide, Shvoong supports 30 languages!

Shvoong the world-wide center for abstracts, summaries, reviews and short essays has also partnered up with Yedda the social knowledge search, to provide readers with a Q&A area. Now, on every article written and posted on Shvoong readers can ask related questions, get answers from the community and explore frequently asked questions.

Technorati Tags: shvoong homework students israel yedda

Discuss anything on Youfig

At youfig small groups of 8 collaborators are assembled into groups and are given a dedicated workspace to discuss any topic. Starting a discussion is quick and easy. After creating the topic youfig will suggest other knowledgeable collaborators to help you out with figuring, planning or brainstorming your topic.
In addition to collaborating with the other group members through the discussion board youfig lets you create a document on the topic which can be exported to txt or html format.
Once a topic is closed collaborators are asked to rate each other's contribution to the topic and also to vote whether they agree with the team's collaborative output. The more you contribute to discussions the more points you can earn, points are shown on your profile and are used by others to evaluate your participation.
I found youfig to be a very comfortable environment to discuss anything with other people.

Technorati Tags: youfig collaboration discussion israel web 2.0

Zoozla try to simplify digital life

Israeli based Zoozla has created a simple desktop application for easily managing your uploads and publishing your content. Currently its in beta and only supports Youtube, Revver, Gallery and Flickr. By selecting one of these sites you can upload files directly to your account. It seems as if they plan to support additional sites like Facebook, bebo, Vox, Photobucket, etc.

They've added some other features to the application that allow you to notify your friends by email when publishing new content, create quick contact lists, resize images.
Try it out, very simple indeed and can save you some time.

free download

Technorati Tags: desktop flickr revver israel web 2.0 youtube zoozla

iMedix invites for you!

iMedix the medical search engine which I covered two month ago has begun alpha stage. The service is currently available by invitation only and is gaining members very quickly according to the founders.

iMedix search results combine health information from top sources across the web and from peoples health blogs. The interesting part about iMedix is the health blogs results which are posts written by people with similar conditions you searched. Each member gets a blog to share thoughts and health experiences.
The Blog Lobby is where you manage your posts and once you're ready to publish you can decide which communities will benefit from your post the most. So lets say you suffer from Chronic Urticaria God forbid!, the best community to share your stories with would be the Allergies community.

I think that once users begin to actively build the communities and heavily participate in the blogging, the search results will be enriched and the posts will significantly add value.

I've got 50 exclusive alpha invitations to give out. So if you want to join and be one of the testers just email me or leave a comment with your email address and I'll send you one.

Photo of the proud and healthy iMedix team.

Technorati Tags: health imedix medical israel web 2.0 search engine

Think you know football? Join playSPEX!

Last November bp Interactive closed an investment from LGiLab for their first project and now the playSPEX site is open for early registration! playSPEX - "The sports exchange" are operating in the fantasy sports area where others are playing, others like Yahoo, CBS, ESPN and Fanball.

Fantasy sports are very popular in the US with over 16 million players, so by the heavy British accent of the playSPEX flash video announcer I can only assume playSPEX are targeting the European/English market which are know to be sports fanatics.

In the meantime if you're a fantasizer sign up and get ready for the upcoming season. playSPEX promise to send real cash to your credit and then you can use your cash credit in order to purchase your favorite players from the sports exchange, build your virtual dream team and join the challenge or sell your free players to others and earn real cash profits.

playSPEX is expected to launch in 2007. See you on the court.

Technorati Tags: playspex bp interactive lgilab fantasy sports web 2.0 israel

blogTV - broadcast yourself!

With a slick design and an extremely easy to remember domain name blogTV is live! blogTV is a great place to broadcast yourself just by plugging in a webcam and starting your own TV show. Some of the features included are online interaction between the broadcasters and the viewers, recording and archiving broadcasted shows. blogTV allows the viewers to bookmark, email, subscribe, embed and rate the videos. The .com joins the two previously launched sites. Canadian blogTV - a social network destination developed specifically for Canadians to showcase their talents and the Israeli blogTV powered by Tapuz, Israels leading portal. Tapuz are the creators behind the blogTV project.
So, if you want to create live reality shows or watch other people offering their reality shows go to blogTV.

Is blogTV going to become a vlogging platform by providing the members with a blogTV sub domain name and by allowing the vlogger to fully control his own vlog space? just like blogging...

Technorati Tags: blog blogtv israel tapuz web 2.0 vlog

iMedix - Health belongs to the people

I can't think of more crucial topics that require knowledge sharing than health and medicine. This is definitely a space where many people have many questions and fears. Naturally, they are seeking answers from the community.
iMedix are soon launching a medical search engine based on user generated content.

Iri Amirav tells me today about iMedix (formally Remedix). Iri Amirav and Amir Leitersdorf, founders of iMedix are both experienced entrepreneurs. Iri previously served as Marketing Director at Metacafe and Amir as CTO at Movota which was acquired by Arvato mobile and prior to that as CTO at Tapuz search engine.
He says they plan on revealing a new user experience to medical search. The search engines dynamic learning algorithm provides the user with information relevant to him/herself and this is determined by the users ranking.

Two types of results are provided:

1. Reliable health information from the top sources across the web
   
2. Information from people who share health experiences similar to the person searching

Iri explains that currently only 16-18% of users searching for medical information are satisfied with the results and that their solution will increase these results by creating a social network that enables people to share health issues.

In the future I think leveraging these strong capabilities by allowing users to recommend and rank doctors specializing in a related medical area would provide the users with an added value in the real world. This way users would benefit from the community's medical treatment experience.

iMedix is in alpha and is soon to launch. Sign up for their launch alert.

Technorati Tags: health imedix medical israel web 2.0 search engine social knowledge social network

Coming soon...

Three more Israeli based super stealthy Internet startups I bumped into lately are Remedix, Kitchenbug and Digital Blonde. I don't have allot of details but they all look interesting.

Remedix is a community oriented health search engine, enabling consumers to easily find, contribute and share information with other people. The companys proprietary search algorithms and learning system technologies allows people to make better health-related decisions and provide them with information regarding their health.

Digital Blonde are creating an online music production school. They want to teach musicians how to produce music, help them promote it and give them the knowledge. Head over to the website and watch how former MTV Star Becky Griffin pitches the company.


Kitchenbug is in private alpha and it involves food obviously. Just looking at the photos from the landing page made me hungry.Sounds tasty.
I hope it's not too early but all three are launching soon. Stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: beta alpha stealth mode israel web 2.0 kitchenbug digital-blonde remedix

5min, Sharing your knowledge by video

Another user generated video site joins the crowd.
5min are creating a place for users to find and post short how-to videos in any field, a place to share your knowledge. They plan to create a Videopedia. Their approach is similar to videojug that have been around and aim at targeting the same niche.

There is one very attractive feature that 5min have and the others don't - a Smart Player! The smart player enables the viewer to watch the video in slow motion by controlling the speed, zoom in and out, view the video frame-by-frame, smoothen the video quality and other functionalities. The smart player is flash based and gives the feeling of a video editing dashboard. During upload the creator can enhance his how-to video by adding a textual storyboard to the video.

5min can stand out from all the other video sites and compete so why are they limiting to explanatory videos?
They have something unique. There are many times I want to slow motion or zoom in to the strange youtube or metacafe videos I get and they are not how-tos.
The site is still in beta, therefore the embed code for the 5min player isn't enabled yet. So here's the link to the most viewed video.

Technorati Tags: 5min video knowledge israel

SemantiNet - Connecting the dots...

After reading the article published in TheMarker
about the new Israeli startup by Yossi Vardi I rushed to
see what its about. Ya, you guessed right it's in stealth
mode and there's nothing really to see except for an
opening blog post describing a futuristic universe from the day it was created till the days Semantic technologies were evolved. The Semantic Web - Actually quite an interesting bit. You can only imagine onCharm the first product to be released by SemantiNet.

Semantinet develops a semantic framework solution that allows for rapid deployment of web-mashups, applications and services.

According to TheMarker, Tal Muskal the person behind the idea approached Vardi 6 month ago and presented the technology he's been developing for a couple of years. Tal says it wasn't difficult convincing Vardi to invest after showing him a prototype of something that was kind of working. He also said that they soon plan on getting more funds.
Keep an eye out and if you hear anything let us know.

Technorati Tags: semantinet yossi vardi semantic web oncharm israel

FMS vs. ZMS

After Zlango and their icon-based language (ZMS), now comes Fontip with MyFont - a font messaging service (FMS). Both are offering a next generation text messaging enhancement to the heavy sms users as a downloadable java application to the mobile device.
Both products are similar in essence and are targeting the same market but are also different obviously. One has created an unusual icon language and the other has created a collection of designed fonts.
I couldn't help noticing the similarities when first reading about Fontip on De Gardener.

Both companies are based in Israel. Is this becoming an Israeli niche and where else is text messaging headed?

Technorati Tags: fms fontip israel mobile zlango zms

the.co.ils Web Startup 2007

Great initiative by the.co.ils blog founders. The TWS 2007 event is where any Israeli Web 2.0 startup can compete for being selected as one of the 10 best and having the opportunity of presenting their web project in front of a very respectable group of judges and eventually to collect some cash.
The event is open for anybody that wants to take part as a contester or as a viewer. It should be a great place to come together with web entrepreneurs, VCs, angels and web professionals.
Not only can the 10 finalist take a shot at approaching the investors...anyone can.
The TWS 2007 is going to bounce the Israeli websphere and position it globally.

Technorati Tags: the.co.ils israel tws2007 startup entrepreneur

Yedda raise $2.5 million

Yedda announces a $2.5 million financial round.
Congratulations Yedda!!!
see more on globes.

Technorati Tags: yedda israel

Israeli Gymalaya sold for 217 million USD

Four of Gymalaya's co-owners managed to fulfill the Israeli dream. They sold their startup company to an American corporate for 217 million dollars. Now they can make all their fantasies come true.
This is the story of the new comic drama "Mesudarim" ("financially secure" in Hebrew) on channel 2, about four buddies. Playing the roles of CEO (Asaf Harel), VP Marketing (Asi Cohen), Chief programmer (Erez Kliener) & Designer (Maor Cohen).

Watch the first episode here. Even if you aren't a Hebrew speaker watch the first minute and a half as they get the dramatic phone call.

Indeed the ultimate dream!

Technorati Tags: channel 2 hebrew israel mesudarim startup tv

Beshutaf brings social networking to life

Beshutaf is another local Israeli social network that's seems to be in stealth mode. Unfortunately I don't have an invitation but this is what their login page says after translating it from Hebrew.

Sharing starts at childhood, sharing cards, sharing cloth, sharing bicycles.Thats the all time childhood wisdom. The simple wisdom that says, sharing talent, energy and resources eases life and connects between people. The wisdom that most of us abandon later when growing up.

We want to create a real human community that will gather groups of friends and individuals that will enable them to collaborate on day to day basis while having fun and in a trusted atmosphere, not only virtually but significantly in our daily reality.

Sounds good but how do we do this? Someone signs up and creates his profile, invites his friends that create their profiles and so on, in no time all your groups of friends can be members on the site.

and then what? Friends easily communicate within the community, group or individually. The site is our "home" and anyone can be invited. Parties and events can be organized, want to look for an apartment, want to buy an old couch, get recommendation for trustworthy professionals, to screen a movie, to play a song, write a column,fight for justified purposes, volunteer, ask for a ride or just take a peek at some photos from a trip you took together.
We really believe that a big part of things you want to do can be done in a more fun way, efficient,wiser - beshutaf (shared, together)

Bringing the online social networking out to the real world is a great idea. I really think this could succeed in a place like Israel where everyone is relatively close and where distance isn't an obstacle.
Sources say Beshutaf are about to launch in the near future with a big event. So stay tuned!

Bona - Social network for high school students

Lately I'm seeing first signs of how local social networks are emerging and are penetrating Israel's web sphere. One of them is bona. Bona is the first verified social network in Israel for high school students. There are two ways of joining, one is by invitation and the other a bit strange is by a hidden code located in the high school student phone book supplied to each student by the school. Bona are aiming at making their network more intimate and safer by this precaution. The approach is a bit naive in my opinion considering the high school phone books to be accessible by any person.
Bona is a kind of MySpace Facebook combo focusing only on high schools, my estimation is a population of 200 thousand in Israel.
The bona user profile page reminds me of the MySpace layout. You've got your photos, tags, friends, classmates and of course you can play around with the page layout and background.
I'm not sure if the Israeli internet users are ready for the online socializing yet but who knows it might catch fire.

Oh ya, bona in Hebrew means 'come on'.

Cool facts about Israel

Watch this video - A great combination of Israel's best scenery put together with some of Israel's best hi-tech achievements in one slide show. I would call it amazing!

Joe's Giveaway giving 1 million dollars

This guy Joe has a really nice game running here and very simple too. Inspired by Alex Tew owner of the Million Dollar Home Page Joe came up with a free game that lets everyone take a chance at winning 1 million dollars. His first site Mehalek (Giveaway in Hebrew) succeeded in creating a buzz around Israel so this time he's going world wide.
The whole idea of the game is a counter that's displayed on the home page and that needs to reach 100,000,000 points by accumulating all user clicks. Each user is allocated 5 clicks a day (first click is used when entering the site for the first time each day). The prize goes to the user that makes the counter reach the destination.
Joe says in his blog that he's planning on getting the money for the prize from sponsors and advertisers. He's got the time... :-) because for reaching 100,000,000 points he's going to need some more users to click his machine, at the moment there's 934 points.
I say that if he gets the right publicity and the word spreads it should work. On any case lets all give 4 clicks a day because the real race begins at around 99,999,000 points...
Oh ya, he's added a clan feature that lets you join forces with others and that way increase your chances of winning and of course splitting the prize if you win. Good luck!

Israeli 1090 is a Limbo clone

Israeli based Scepia a leading web development company has launched 1090, a lowest unique bidding auction. The idea is simple; the bidder with the lowest unique price wins the auction. Scepia claims that it's their initiative but actually it's been done before by Limbo (in the US) which was launched earlier this year.
For now 1090 auctions off one or two different tech devices per day like iPods, digital cameras etc.
The user places a bid for a specific item via SMS and is charged 3.5 shekels by his cellular operator. In return the bidder receives a message saying that the bid didn't win and that the winning bid is between x to y, this is where you try and stop yourself from bidding again. I have to admit its very tempting. The idea of course is to keep you bidding as much as possible, well you're actually limited to 100 bids per auction according to the FAQ on the site probably because of online gambling restrictions ...
After my three unsuccessful bids for an iPod I discovered annoyingly that they keep sending me alert messages to my phone notifying me about future auctions that are about to end.
1090 is a local Israeli clone of Limbo, a kind of a gimmick that will drag many believers to spend a lot of money.