FlightTrack Pro – At Last A Useful App

We are approached all the time by people/companies to blog about their products, apps and just about anything relating to technology. I myself do this for Payoneer so understand their good intentions but I need to believe in the product in order to blog about it. This is an open invitation for anyone to pitch us something but we need stories that are interesting and/or relevant to us and our readers. I think that makes sense, agreed?

 

Itinerary for Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress

With the Mobile World Congress approaching, the list of new mobile innovations just keeps getting longer. There does not seem to be one particular handset that is going to make the most amount of noise, and if there is such a device, it has not been leaked to the press. So I thought I would round up a few of my favorite stories from the last week or so regarding what we will be seeing in Barcelona next week.

 

Microsoft Finally Gets It Right

Although I have been bashing Microsoft’s newest $300 million “I’m a PC” campaign, they have finally got one right. This is a very cute and convincing ad that is targeted with a very simple and engaging message.

 

Jerusalem Twestival

Hi All,

I just got my ticket to the Jerusalem Twestival taking place this Thursday February 12, 2009.  The event takes place in 180 cities worldwide and raises money for Charity:Water which provides clean drinking water to villages in Africa. There is a 50 shekel donation for the event and you can be sure the money is going to a good cause.

The event will include:

* Real-time broadcasts of various Twitter feeds integrating text, video and photos from our event and events across the globe projected on walls/screens
*Selected Cleantech companies will have tables around the room as part of a “micro-expo”
* We will have additional (fun) activities around the room and outside including an innovative Twitter Bubble Adventure with giant bubbles
*Live music performances from HaMekor, Yitzchok Meir, Noah Lubin.
*Cash wine bar and beer
* “Tweetorials” for attendees to learn to use Twitter in new and different ways, and new users to sign up for Twitter on site.

I recommend everyone  come, hang out, have some fun for a good cause, and enjoy the power of Twitter. If you want to meet, make sure to contact me before so I know to look out for you.

Sign up here

Official press release

Looking forward to seeing you all there,

Aryeh

 

Some Amazing New Startups

I could not agree with Aryeh more, it was really nice to see all competition put aside for the night and a room full of people, some highly successful, some working on becoming highly successful, there to just try to lend a hand. They had U.S lawyers there to give legal advice on starting a company, they were offering all members of TechAviv office space in various cities to get their company started, and assistance in job placement using TechAviv’s community. It was a truly inspirational night.
Now, down to the details.

 

The 2008 Darwin Awards

Hi All,

This is off topic but a good laugh. I’m not sure if this stuff is true but still its funny.

1.  When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach , California , would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.

And now, the honorable mentions:

2.  The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine and, after a little shopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef’s claim was approved.

3.  A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4.  After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn’t discovered for 3 days.

5.  An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6.  A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer… $15. [If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?]

7.  Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he’d just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8.  As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, “Yes, officer, that’s her. That’s the lady I stole the purse from.”

9.  The Ann Arbour News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti , Michigan , at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn’t open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren’t available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away. [*A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER]

10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home’s sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he’d ever had.

-Aryeh

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Toshiba Comes, Sees, and Conquers

As I woke up this morning, I was happy to discover that the entire Web (OK, at least all the geek sites that I visit first thing in the morning) was covered with a story about a truly amazing new cellphone. I was pretty surprised that this new cellphone does not originate in the Apple kingdom, not Palm, not Samsung, not even Nokia.

 

Perfecting Twitter

The topic of this post is a sensitive one, how to improve Twitter. The reason it is sensitive is that Twitter is already hands down the most addictive and enjoyable website on the current worldwide Web, and talking about its imperfections, even though there might be a few, is like discussing what would make Vanilla Haagen Dazs ice cream even better.