Dateline Jerusalem – Apologies for not having an essay last week. My computer was on the fritz. Technology should make things easier. For a dinosaur like me, everything seems more complicated as time goes on. However, without Israeli technology, the world would not be so technologically advanced. Thank you, Israel. Although I protest a lot, I do not know what I would do without these Israeli inventions. It is hard to imagine that not long ago I lived without a cell phone or computer.
The very first cell phone in the world was developed in Haifa, at Motorola's largest research and development center. Israel also developed the first camera chip used in cell phones, and Israeli companies invented SMS and voice mail technology systems. Motorola, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, and IBM chose Israel as their first R&D facilities outside the States. Yet my android cell phone drives me crazy. I often want to return it for the simple phone I used to own.
Number, Please?
In Israel everyone is on a cell phone, very young to the very old. At the bank or a government office, if the cell phone rings, the customer is ignored while the teller or clerk carries on a personal conversation. Similar to the U.S., holding a cell phone while driving is prohibited. It is not unusual to see cars pull onto sidewalks for the driver to carry on a conversation. That is why I often walk down the middle of the street. It is safer than walking on the sidewalk. One cannot walk in town without seeing a cell phone at the ear of a pedestrian. There is a story about soldiers giving away their position to the enemy, ordering pizza delivery via cell phone while on the front lines.
Israel has the highest percentage of home computers per capita in the world. Rehovot, where I live, had the first locally built electronic computer designed and constructed at the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1954. Not only was it Israel's first electronic computer, but one of the first in the world. We can thank Israel for the first Internet instant message service, invented by four young Israelis who sold it to AOL for its AOL Instant Messenger service. Facebook acquired the Israeli mobile application platform “Snaptu,” and Google bought for its search machine an Israeli system that predicts what the user is searching for by just plugging in a few letters. Today, with so much identity theft and computer hacking, what would we have done without Israel developing the first computer anti-virus and network firewall security software?
Other Israeli inventions include the first flash drive, Intel's Dual Core Processor, Disk-On-Key memory sticks, Windows NT operating systems like XP and Vista, Pentium MMX chip and Centrino mobile technology designed by Intel Israel, VOIP technology like Skype and Digital Voice, system software, wireless computer chip technology for Wi-Fi, the algorithm used to compress computer files to zip files invented at The Technion, and a GPS social satellite navigation system. I would be at a complete loss without emails, their algorithm invented at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva.
On one hand the world relies on Israeli inventions. On the other, it wants to divest from Israel by boycotting its products, universities and academic institutions. Why should I be surprised. Israel's staunchest enemies are the first to avail themselves and their families of Israeli medical and scientific technology, treatment and facilities.
L'hitraot. Shachar