No Camels

Jay-Z Backed Powermat To ‘Revolutionize’ Wireless Charging?

Anouk Lorie & Tiffany Stelman, NoCamels — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:04:57 +0000

My friend got an iPhone 4S. She could not stop bragging about it and all the amazing apps she now uses “every.single.minute.of.the.day.” I know that to be false. How? Because the iPhone 4S battery doesn’t last a whole day. In fact, it doesn’t even last a few hours if you use a data-loaded application. On the way from Tel Aviv to Mitspe Ramon in the Israeli desert, my other friend with an iPhone 4S (what’s wrong with he good old Nokia!?) used Waze, the free Israeli GPS navigation app. It showed us where there’s a cop, where there’s traffic. It was awesome. Until the iPhone dropped dead, two hours in.

Needless to say, smartphones are great, but for their short battery life.

That is, apparently, where Israeli startup Powermat comes in. It develops cable-free charging surfaces for electric devices. Plop your phone onto the mat (it looks like a mousepad) and it automatically starts charging.

Since Powermat’s launch 2009, the company has gone a long way in improving its technology and creating major partnerships, with Proctor & Gamble, for example and with popular American rapper Jay-Z.

In September 2011 Powermat announced a joint venture with Proctor & Gamble – the company that owns Duracell. Together, the two are hoping to shape a wireless charging revolution under the Duracell-Powermat brand.

“One of the key benefits of entering into the joint venture is the ability to leverage our global reach and branding capability,” says Scott Eisenstein, Powermat’s VP of public relations. This month it was reported that the company is raising $30-40 million in a financing round.

In addition, American rapper Jay-Z has signed on as the spokesman for Duracell- Powermat and has joined as an investment partner. “You can look to him to be the face of wireless power going forward,” says Einstein. (Nothing less.)

According to Eisenstein, “We are trying to introduce our technology to a larger audience and Jay-Z speaks to a generation that is poised to bring about the wireless power revolution.”

So how does Powermat actually work? The technology uses magnetic induction. It creates a magnetic field and transfers energy within that field. Eisenstein explains that “Duracell-Powermat is a two-part offering: we attach a cover to the user’s cellular device that contains wireless capabilities. The second part is the mat itself. The user places the Smartphone directly on the mat, resulting in maximum efficiency of the energy transfer.”

Powermat’s technology also senses when a device is fully charged, and then halts power delivery, thus eliminating energy waste. Einstein says that “due to the fact that the technology operates on energy, there is no radiation emitted by the process of wireless charging. There is no possibility for electrocution, fires and it is even possible to work the technology under-water.”

Last year, Powermat announced a collaboration with General Motors. Eisenstein says that this collaboration “is moving forward, starting with the 2013 line of cars. The cars will have Duracell-Powermat wireless capabilities built-in and they will be available later on in 2012. GM plans to eventually introduce wireless capabilities to its entire fleet.”

Powermat is pursuing standardization in wireless charging with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), called the Power Matters Alliance (PMA). “The IEEE are setting a standard for wireless power for the average consumer in conjunction with many other companies, including General Motors, Proctor & Gamble, Facebook and Google to make power not only wireless but also smart,” says Eisenstein.

Powermat recently exhibited a new line of products which represent the company’s future plans, such as the Powermat backup battery. “It lets you charge on the Powermat and take wireless power with you, so that you can basically charge when you are in an open field,” adds Eisenstein.

Eisenstein mentions that the company plans to expand into global markets, including Israel.

Photo courtesy of Powermat

Israeli Startup Develops European Tsunami Alert System

Merav Turel, NoCamels — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:33:47 +0000

Israeli startup eVigilo is collaborating with the European Commision to develop a Tsunami alert system. The company announced recently that it will integrate its Alert and Distribution Center (IADC) with the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) – a web-based platform that sends automatic e-mail or SMS messages in cases of disasters that require international humanitarian intervention.

eVigilo developed a mass alert platform that according to the company can reach millions of people in seconds, to improve personal safety and save lives. The company was previously chosen by the Israeli Home Front Command to develop Israel’s national alert system, called “National Message”.

In the event of an incoming tsunami wave, software used by the GDACS will automatically calculate the results of tsunami propagation and alert the international responder community via SMS or e-mail.

After receiving Tsunami notifications from the GDACS or from national authorities, eVigilo’s Alert and Distribution Center will send geo-targeted internet and mobile alert messages across multiple channels, such as mobile, TV and radio networks, sirens, billboards and pagers.

eVigilo says it enables the authorities to maintain interactive communication with the populations in danger through dedicated Smartphone applications. These applications will allow the populations to respond to messages received and send “Panic Messages” to the authorities when they are in distress. Authorities will then be able to locate those messages on a map using eVigilo’s technology and execute required rescue effort, the Israeli company says.

Testing of the joint-system will be executed in Portugal, in collaboration with the local Civil Protection authorities and the local municipality.

“Informing the public in times of crisis is crucial to prevent panic and manage the population effectively,” says eVigilo’s CEO, Guy Weiss. “We are confident that this project will be adopted by additional municipalities, helping us to expand our Safe-City agenda to increase the personal safety and security of the population.”

Photo by CECAR – Climate and Ecosystems Change Adaptation R

Friendship Park: A Playground For Children With Disabilities

Erik Sahlin, NoCamels — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:51:21 +0000

The “Friendship Park” in Ra’anana, Israel, is not just any park. The playground, established within the Ra’anana City Park, was built in a way that allows both disabled and non-disabled children to enjoy all facilities.

The park and all its equipment was adapted for children and adults with special needs. This includes paths, swings and carousels that can accommodate a wheelchair, as well as adaptations for children with hearing and sight impairments.

Even though the playground is designed to accommodate children with special needs, it is an inclusive park, where all children can come and play together.

The unique model developed in Ra’anana consists of a social program that includes afternoon and weekend activities, as well as workshops in primary schools to promote acceptance of those who are different.

Following the park’s inauguration in 2005, other municipalities in Israel are looking to create similar parks. But the Friendship Park in Ra’anana is drawing more than just local attention: it is gaining international recognition as well.

Most notably, last year, Ecuadorian Vice President Lenín Moreno Garcés – who is bound to a wheelchair himself – visited the park. He expressed interest in the park’s concept and according to Beit Issie Shapiro, which developed the concept, he is planning to construct over several similar playgrounds in Ecuador.

Ecuador is one of several countries that showed interest in the program. “We received applications from different countries that have heard of the park and requested assistance in establishing their own,” explains Ronen Cohen from the Beit Issie Shapiro.

Cohen tells NoCamels that “they chose to turn to us because of our model’s unique combination of physical accessibility and structured social inclusion activities.”

Orian Gal playing at the park (by Erik Sahlin)

One of the children playing in the park is Orian Gal – a nine-year-old boy who suffers from epilepsy and psychomotor impairment, which leads to a reduction in the speed of thought and difficulty or slowness in movement and speech.

Orian regularly comes to the park together with his brother, Rom, and his sister, Yali. “To play here is good for him. His favourites are the slide and the swings,” says his father, Shay Gal, “Our only concern is for Orian to feel happy.”

Outbrain To Use $35M Funding To Expand Content Discovery Platform

Merav Turel, NoCamels — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:46:27 +0000

Most of us surf on multiple websites during one typical online session – starting with one page and bouncing on to the next. Along the way we often encounter hundreds of pages and links that are of no interest to us. Content Discovery Platforms are based just on this realization. They aim to direct readers to content they predict are in their fields of interest.

Outbrain, an Israeli startup founded in 2006 by Yaron Galai and Ori Lahav, is establishing itself as one of the leading content discovery platforms. Their goal, they say, is “to help people discover new online content and to help web publishers and bloggers grow their business by doing right by their readers.”

Outbrain’s widget allows online publishers to recommend additional content to their site’s readers, by placing links to more content at the bottom of pages. Some of these links offer content from the publisher’s own website, while others direct readers to external webpages by other publishers.

The main challenge, says Outbrain, is in personalizing the recommendations, making sure the content is of interest to each individual user. Outbrain’s platform uses algorithms that analyze what people look for in blogs and articles, in order to refer them to other content they might otherwise not hear about.

CEO and co-founder Yaron Galai tells NoCamels: “We started with only one simple algorithm. We now use 30 different types of complex algorithms. For each recommendation all 30 algorithms compete with one another and the winner is the recommendation you ultimately see at the end of the page.”

Galai says Oubrain is different from other platform in two ways. “While many online recommendations systems are based on the assumption that if you’re interested in one thing, you’ll want to read about that same thing on other websites, the Outbrain model evaluates a person’s interests and ultimately presents only content that the reader might find ‘interesting’ – and is not necessarily similar to other viewed content.”

Another difference, Galai says, is that publishers who install the Outbrain widget have the option to direct readers to other suggested stories on their own website for free. They can also choose to post external links to other sites on the web. Every time a reader clicks on an external link, both Outbrain and the publisher get paid by the website the user has been directed to. This website, in turn, pays only for the traffic it receives this way.

According to Outbrain, the widget is installed on over 70,000 blogs and websites, running over 30 billion recommendations a month, and generating over 200 million monthly clicks. Among its users are some major content publishers such as CNN, AOL, The New York Post and Sky News. The company’s technology will soon be in use by TF1, France’s national TV channel.

Outbrain is headquartered in New York with an R&D department in Netanya, Israel and other satellite offices in San Francisco, Washington, DC, Chicago, London, Paris and Hamburg.

The company announced recently that it has secured $35 million in a funding series led by Index Ventures, bringing their total funding to $64 million. Galai tells NoCamels the company will focus on investing in both business development and global expansion.

Photo by SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget

Study: Cake For Breakfast Is Good For Your Diet

Fox News — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:17:34 +0000

Good news for the kid in you: Not only can you eat cake for breakfast, doing so may actually help you keep weight off, a new study suggests.

In the study, obese participants who ate a breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates that included a dessert were better able to stick to their diet and keep the pounds off longer than participants who ate a low-carb, low-calorie breakfast that did not include sweets.

The findings suggest that both meal timing and meal composition play a role in weight loss. Carbs and protein eaten at breakfast may keep us full throughout the day, plus allowing ourselves some sweets helps to stem cravings for these foods, said study researcher Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, of Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Nutritionists said they have mixed feelings about the study. Some say dessert for breakfast is a diet no-no, and could actually increase your cravings for sweets.

“I would never, in a million years, recommend cookies or cake for breakfast,” said Katherine Tallmadge, a registered dietitian and author of “Diet Simple” (LifeLine Press, 2011), who was not involved in the study.

Others said eating something sweet at breakfast is all right, as long as it’s part of a healthy diet.

Photo courtesy of o5com

But the experts agreed, a large, balanced breakfast can help maintain weight loss. A substantial breakfast can suppress your hunger cravings and make you less likely to gorge the rest of the day.

“The last thing you want to do is get to an evening meal, and be starving,” said Heather Mangieri, a nutrition consultant and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “That’s the time that so many people overeat.”

Cake for breakfast

The study involved 193 obese adults, half of whom were randomly assigned to eat a large, 600-calorie breakfast that included a “dessert” item, such as a cookie, cake or donut. The other half ate a small, 300- calorie breakfast. Both groups consumed the same total daily calories — 1,600 calories for men and 1,400 for women. (The group with a big breakfast ate a smaller dinner, of 300 or 400 calories.)

After 16 weeks of strictly following this diet, both groups had lost about the same amount of weight. However, during a follow-up period in which participants were advised to stick to the diet, but could eat more if they were motivated by hunger cravings, the small breakfast group gained 24 pounds, while the big breakfast group lost 15 pounds, on average.

In addition, those who ate the big breakfast with the dessert had lower levels of the “hunger” hormone ghrelin, and fewer food cravings than those who ate the small breakfast, without dessert.

When we diet, we’re hungrier, ghrelin levels rise and there’s a decrease in our metabolism. A large breakfast that includes protein, carbs and sweets may counteract these changes, so people are able to maintain weight loss over time, Jakubowicz told MyHealthNewsDaly.
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Via Fox News
Photo by emilydp

Paralysed Woman To Complete Marathon Using Robotic Skeleton

Digital Trends — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:49:48 +0000

Paralysed in a horse-riding accident in 2007, Claire Lomas was told by doctors that she would never walk again.

But thanks to a special robotic suit, the 31-year-old Brit is now back on her feet. Lomas, who has been wheelchair-bound since her accident, is so excited by recent developments that she’s decided to take on a challenge that even most able-bodied people would balk at — a 26-mile marathon.

The ReWalk suit, described as a powered exoskeleton that provides user-initiated mobility, will help Lomas complete the course, taking place in London on April 22. Her immediate challenge is learning to walk using the robotic suit in the limited time she has left between now and the day of the event.

“It is physically hard work and incredibly frustrating at times to get the technique right, but when I make progress, it gives me a fantastic feeling,” Lomas told the Telegraph in a recent interview.

ReWalk’s creator, an Israel-based tech company called Argo, says on its website that a user can control the robotic exoskeleton through subtle changes in their center of gravity. Crutches are recommended, to provide extra stability and safety.

The technology comprises a number of motors and gears strapped to the user’s lower body, while sensors attached to the upper body help to control the motion. A computer, together with a rechargeable battery power source, is located in a backpack. Once mastered, a user can even use ReWalk to climb stairs.

When ReWalk detects the user moving their weight onto one foot, it raises the opposite leg and carries the user forward. Lomas says that she’s currently working on getting the rhythm right.

“I keep wanting to look at my legs to see what they are doing,” she told the Telegraph. There is so much to think about and the weight shift is subtle. You have got to learn how to do that and to do it efficiently – it is really frustrating at first. If you don’t get it right, the leg won’t lift. You can’t just strap yourself in and go, you have to work at it.”
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Via Digital Trends
Photo courtesy of Argo Medical Technologies Ltd.

New Blood Test Could Detect Cancer

Sivan Kriboshe (translation) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:59:47 +0000

Soroka hospital and Ben Gurion University in Be’er Sheva, Israel, are developing a unique method to detect various types of cancer through a simple blood test.

Researchers say that in a first trial conducted recently, they succeeded in detecting cancer in almost 90 percent of cancer patients tested.

“This is still a research in the early stages of clinical trials,” clarifies Prof. Joseph Kapelushnik, head of the Pediatric Hemato-Oncology department at the hospital. “But the purpose is to develop an efficient, cheap and simple method to detect as many types of cancers as possible.”

Doctors say it is imperative to increase early detection of cancer in patients, before it gets to advanced stages that must be treated with a long and difficult treatment.

Scientists around the world are working to find new methods to detect cancer; artificial noses that can identify a certain substance in cancer; techniques for discovering cancer antibodies; mammography to detect breast cancer; colonoscopy and fecal occult blood testing to detect colorectal cancer, for example.

Discovering cancer before it spreads

Prof. Kapelushnik and his research partners have developed a method that detects cancer cancer with blood tests, using infrared light beams. The researchers take a small amount of blood and insert it into a device they developed. Using this device, a spectrum of infrared light is beamed through the blood, enabling the researchers to estimate whether the patient has cancer or not.

At this stage, the researchers are concentrating their efforts on the detection of common cancer types, such as lung cancer and ovary cancer. Nevertheless, they also succeeded in detecting other cancers.

In the latest clinical trial, about 200 patients with various types of cancer were examined along with a control group. “We succeeded to tell them apart with 90 percent accuracy,” says Prof. Kapelushnik. “This is still a small number patients and we need thousands of people before we can say the new method actually works. In the meantime, though, we are optimistic about the results.”

Adapted from nrg
Photo by Thirteen Of Clubs

Dog TV: How To Turn Your Dog Into A Couch-Potato

Haaretz — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:40:46 +0000

Television really is going to the dogs, thanks to an Israeli media company.

Canines in San Diego, California, will now have a chance to be entertained by TV images of happy dogs, people playing soccer and relaxing piano music while their owners are at work. All of this can be accessed through a television network intended solely for dogs that was launched on Monday. “We love our dogs so much that we feel guilty about leaving them alone at home,” said Gilad Neumann, CEO of DOGTV.

He said the content is backed up by research, which shows that the programs on the network relax dogs and stimulate their imagination, thus keeping them healthy and satisfied.

The network is operated by Jasmine TV, a subsidiary of Yossi Uzrad’s Israel-based Jasmine Group international holding corporation.

Unlike other channels, every frame and every sound on DOGTV has been calibrated for all dogs, said Nicholas Dodman, the network’s chief scientist and program director of the animal behavior department of clinical sciences at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

Dodman said the network provides the visual and audio stimulation dogs need during the day, since dogs left home alone tend to be depressed. This is expressed in a loss of appetite or lack of interest in playing, especially when the house is empty.

The digital TV channel, which will run 24 hours a day, is currently being offered for free. It is broadcast by Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications.
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Via Haaretz
Photo by llimllib

Valentine’s Day Research: Hormones Tell If Your Love Will Last

Miller-McCune — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:30:40 +0000

There’s nothing like the bliss of a new romance. And yet, many experiencing such rapture find it disrupted by a nagging question: How do we know our love will last?

Newly published research suggests a possible answer: Get your oxytocin levels checked.

A team of researchers led by Inna Schneiderman of the Gonda Brain Sciences Center of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have just published a study examining the role oxytocin, commonly called the “cuddle hormone,” plays in the early stages of romantic relationships. While differentiating cause and effect is tricky, the researchers find a strong link between lasting relationships and high levels of the hormone.

Oxytocin, as they note in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, promotes trust, bonding and attachment — between adults, and between parents and their offspring. (Less appealingly, it can also promote ethnocentrism.)

Schneiderman’s study featured 163 people in their early to mid-20s, 120 of whom had recently initiated a love affair. (On average, their relationship had begun 2.5 months prior to testing.) All had their blood tested for oxytocin levels.

“New lovers had substantially higher plasma levels of oxytocin, as compared to non-attached singles,” the researchers report. “These findings are consistent with those reported for other mammals, particularly monogamous rodent species in which oxytocin has shown to play a critical role in the formation of pair bonds.”

Since they didn’t measure oxytocin levels before the relationships began, Schneiderman and her colleagues can’t say for certain whether they increased during the romantic bonding process, or whether “individuals with high levels of oxytocin are more likely to fall in love.”

Photo courtesy of Shagamaroo

Six months later, the researchers located 54 of the 60 couples and retested the 36 who were still together. Their oxytocin levels were still at the same high level, which either explains or reflects the fact they were still happily bonded.

Perhaps the most striking finding: “Couples who stayed together showed higher oxytocin levels at the initial period of romantic attachment” than those who broke up. “These findings suggest that oxytocin in the first months of romantic love may serve as an index of relationship duration,” the researchers write.

This brings to mind the intriguing possibility of oxytocin-enhanced relationship repair — couples counseling augmented by hormone injections. In previous studies, raising people’s oxytocin level (via nasal spray) “was found to increase bonding-related behavior, including … trust and empathy,” the researchers note.

That said, the study raises a chicken-and-egg question, since it isn’t clear whether high oxytocin levels lead to more closeness or whether romantic behavior increases oxytocin levels.

During their initial testing, the lovers were interviewed about their relationship and observed while talking together. The researchers found a correlation between oxytocin levels and their level of “interactive reciprocity” — which is to say, their responsiveness to one another and tendency to engage in affectionate touching.
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Via Miller-McCune
Picture by NatShots Photography

Startup Develops Floating Solar Farm

Yinnon Shraga, NoCamels — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:28:10 +0000

While solar energy companies throughout the world are competing for the relatively few vast land areas required to house solar farms, Israeli startup Solaris Synergy has found a new terrain to use. Instead of a land-based solar system, the company decided to develop a water-based technology. In other words: a floating solar power plant.

The company’s founders say they realized that the large lands required for thousands of solar panels are nearly impossible to find, especially in a small country like Israel. Solaris Synergy’s Business Development Manager, Dr. Elyakim Kassel, tells NoCamels: “In many countries there is a competition between land for construction and land for large solar farms. Our system comes as a solution to use water surfaces instead of using valuable land.” According to Solaris Synergy, any fresh, salt or waste water surface can be turned into a solar energy platform.

Solaris Synergy’s flagship product is a floating concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system – a system that concentrates a large amount of sunlight onto a small area to generate electricity by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity. The system features a modular design that supports power output ranging from several kilowatts to dozens of megawatts, depending on size.

According to the company, their solar-on-water solution dramatically lowers the cost of renewable energy production since the water surface is also used for cooling the solar panels. This cooling system keeps the silicon elements used as semiconductors at a low temperature and therfore increases their power generation efficiency and extends their lifespan.

Solaris Synergy was founded in 2008 and awarded an R&D grant from Israel’s National Infrastructures Ministry. The company is also backed by private equity funds in the United States. They recently got a permit from Israeli water company Mekorot to build their first facility near the city of Netivot.

The company says they are currently negotiating pilot projects with companies in the United Kingdom, France, South America and India.

Kassel addresses the challenges his company faces. “The main challenge, at the moment, is lowering the costs. People will not use our technology if it is not cheap enough.” He also admits that “as a small company, if we want to spread our technology around the world, we will have to join a global company.”

Kassel says they are not the only company focusing on energy on water. “The competition is good for us since it proves that we have a good idea. We just have to show that we are the best.”