[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem – At 5 a.m. in Israel, it is 7 o’clock the night before in California. Israel is 10 hours ahead of California. My oldest daughter awakened me about 4:30 a.m. to inform me of my granddaughter's dance recital in a half hour. She knew that waking me up at that hour was okay because I would have been disappointed if I had missed seeing my granddaughter perform. The dance company arranged to have the recital broadcast “live” for those friends and relatives who could not attend the show. Sitting in the comfort of my apartment, 8,000 miles away on a different continent, I was able to view my 7-year-old granddaughter dancing up a storm. Isn't technology wonderful?
Since I am computer and technology illiterate, I have no clue what was involved in getting the entire dance recital videotaped and shown on the internet as the dancers were performing live. I had a hard enough time figuring out how to zoom into the picture so I could locate my granddaughter. A good thing that she has dark brown hair. That narrowed it down to three girls. The rest of her class are all blond. For the father-daughter dance, I looked for a dad with a beard dancing with a child with brown hair. The entire experience brought back great memories of when my daughters took ballet, tap and dance lessons. I remember once I could not find my youngest on stage with her class. Suddenly, this midget of a child (she was very small for four years old) came out solo from behind the curtain doing tumbling and somersaults across the stage. What a thrill. I am a klutz, but my son and daughters luckily do not take after me.
Much technology we take for granted today was developed or invented in Israel. However, the price for the same computer here is twice what it is in the U.S. I tend to buy most of my computer and printer needs at a nearby store. They are so honest that they often tell me t I should buy things when I am in the States because they cannot compete with the prices there. I know that if I have a problem, no one can compete with them for service. Once their son came to install my printer, and he ended up fixing my digital picture frame for no charge. Israelis are often considered rude or unfriendly. I think it is a misunderstanding of cultural norms. The Israelis I know are very helpful. Once the man delivering my groceries saw I was having trouble with my TV, He asked if he could help me. He called the cable company for me and asked them how to fix the problem. Within minutes I had a working TV. Another example occurred when I was at the pharmacy. My packages were bulky and heavy. The woman working the register told me it was too hot for me to walk home with them. She insisted on driving me home. She would not allow me to say “no.” I must admit an air conditioned car is a lot better than 97 degrees with high humidity. Of course there was my taxi driver who drove all over town at night for no charge trying to find somewhere that was open to get me crutches when I fell a couple of years ago.
As for Israeli technology, where would we be without wireless laptop computers, camera cell phones and instant messaging? It is hard to imagine I grew up without these inventions. We can thank Israel for the first internet instant message service that was invented by four young Israelis and bought by AOL. Facebook acquired Snaptu , an Israeli mobile application platform. Google bought an Israeli system that predicts what the user is searching for by just plugging in a few letters. Other Israeli inventions are Intel's Dual Core Processor, a GPS social satellite navigation system, the first computer anti-virus program and memory sticks (Disk-On-Key). The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, and Windows NT operating systems like XP and Vista were developed by Microsoft Israel. Pentium MMX chip or Centrino mobile technology was designed by Intel Israel. Voice-mail and SMS were also developed by young Israelis. Other Israeli inventions include VOIP technology like SKYPE and Digital Voice, network firewall security software, system software, wireless computer chips, Wi-Fi, the first camera chip used in cell phones, the algorithm used to compress computer files to zip files, and a myriad of other innovative inventions that make our lives so much easier.
L'hitraot. Shachar