1) Siano Mobile Sillicon, an Israeli start up developing silicon receivers for the emerging mobile digital TV (MDTV) market, has created technology that will enable iPhones to receive digital TV. It’s a major announcement for the tiny company, who will be distributing the product through Apple and Japan’s mobile operator Softbank Mobile. More on this in an upcoming post. Alon Ironi, co-founder and CEO was formerly CEO of Emblaze Semiconductor and an EIR at Concord VC. This could be big.
2) SAI has an excellent post on Google’s path to Creative Destruction. One of the takeaways should be a great encouragement for entrepreneurs trying to drive innovation in an industry with senior players: “The company who is disrupting their business doesn’t look relevant to the billion dollar franchise, its often scrappy and unpolished, it looks like a sideline business, and often its business model is TBD.”
3) We’re all busy people, that’s why I like discovering online tools that increase productivity, here is my recommendation for the day: Pointy Haired Dilbert has a list of 200 excel tips, tricks and shortcuts. One that makes my life better is #34: To remove unnecessary spaces, use =trim(text). If we’re talking Microsoft Office, don’t forget Jeff Bonforte’s 20 tips to help you suck less at power point. First tip: Don’t use PowerPoint, use Apple’s Keynote 09 ($79)
4) Twitter officially enters the top 100 sites in the UK according to Hitwise, but the site itself is only part of the phenomenon. Dozens of apps and services have been developed around it. Is the exciment around Twitter is reaching the levels of the App store or Facebook’s platform? Get Smart Blog compiled a very useful list of Twitter tools. Bookmark, but refresh – the list seems to be growing by the day. (and don’t forget to follow @ediggs on Twitter!)
5) SundaySky’s founders tell Globes about the current market environment for entrepreneurs. It’s like a beauty contest they say, every start up is trying to score points with the judges (VCs). SundaySky recently raised $8 Million.
6) Election day in Israel today was described as a “celebration for democracy” with more than 50% voting rate. Compared to some of Israel’s neighbours, voting is a right, not an obligation and it makes me happy to see that so many have excersized their democratic rights. That said, where were the other 50%? The Israeli TV goes high-tech in its coverage, including the world’s largest touch screen measuring 103 Inch!.
7) Don’t blow a financing opportunity by approaching the wrong source. Brad Feld answers the question: VC or Angel Money? on Entrepreneur.com
8) Privacy is not what it used to be. Looky is an Israeli meta-search engine for dating profiles in Hebrew started by two Israeli students. Users looking for soul mates online can now define parameters and increase the number of fish in the pond. I wonder how many of the profiles overlap across networks. Ynet covers it in Hebrew. Copenda (also Israeli) was trying the same thing in English, but traffic seems to be low.
9) The VC Cafe Network on LinkedIn surpassed 3,000 members and I got an amusing error message from LinkedIn. You are welcome to join our community to network with fellow entrepreneurs and a large number of investors.
10) Even the largest Israeli start ups are afraid of 2009, says TheMarker. EyeBlaster, CopperGate, Balma Lasers and Superderivatives share their concerns and hopes for the coming year. (Hebrew)
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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