[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem – I finally have made it into the 21st century. I bought an Android phone, having used the least expensive, simplest camera-less phone for the last 5½ years in Israel. Being in a country whose technology has made life in the world much easier, I should have taken advantage long ago of Israel's inventions and innovations. Considering I did not even own a computer when I opened my law office 25 years ago, and did not know how to use a computer until a few years after I bought one, it is no wonder I would be behind the times with a cell phone. Call me a dinosaur, old-fashioned, computer illiterate. I answer to all three.
Israel can be credited for the technology of cell phones. In fact, Motorola, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco and IBM chose Israel for their first R&D facilities outside the United States. The first cell phone in the world was developed in Haifa, at Motorola's largest research and development center. Israel developed the first camera chip used in cell phones. Israeli companies invented SMS and voice mail technology systems, too.
As for computer technology, Microsoft-Israel developed most of the Windows NT operating system software. Almost all of Windows NT was programmed in Israel as were other Windows programs, such as XP and Vista. The brain of the first PC was Intel's 8088 processor. Intel-Israel designed the Pentium MMX Chip and wireless chip technology for Wi-Fo as well as Centrino mobile technology. For a mere $400 million, America-On-Line bought out the ICQ program, an invention of four young Israelis who founded the Mirabilis Company in 1996. Mirabilis had only one investor who believed in these young Israelis. Eighteen months later it became the first instant messaging program, the well- known AOL Instant Messenger. The first anti-virus and firewall security software were developed in Israel, as well as voice-mail and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology, such as Skype and Digital Voice. Google's search machine is an Israeli invention. I would be at a complete loss without emails, their algorithm (code) being the invention of an Israeli at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva in 1980. Two Israelis at the Technion University are credited with the algorithm used to compress files into zip-files. The Disc-on-Key by San Disc was invented by an Israeli using flash memory and USB drive interface. No wonder Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita. As for cell phones, there is a story about soldiers giving away their position to the enemy because they ordered pizza by cell while on the front lines.
Learning How to Operate
Until recently, there were cellphone market restrictions in Israel. But a new law came into effect and almost 500,000 Israelis changed their cellphone provider. Of course, it took me a while to do so. Now I have unlimited phone calls within Israel, and to Canada and the U.S., including calls to cell phones there. I have unlimited calls to landlines in 29 other countries. I also get unlimited Internet. So I switched to a new provider and purchased the new Android phone. My new monthly fee is almost one-quarter of what I had been paying without all the benefits.
Although I own an Android, that does not mean I know how to use it. At first, I could not figure out how to answer the phone. Now that I have that down pat, I do not know what I am doing wrong when I have a conversation. I seem to be disconnecting the calls. It is driving me crazy. My friends are quite annoyed. Like everything else, eventually I will learn, probably when it becomes obsolete.
Where would the world be today without Israeli computer and cell phone technology? It is difficult for me to fathom that once upon a time it did not exist.
L'hitraot. Shachar
