Pure Water

It is shocking to think that over 1.6 million children under the age of five die every year in the developing world from drinking untreated water. We were happy to learn recently however, of an Israeli company that has developed a simple and affordable device that could drastically change such disturbing statistics.

Called the Sulis Personal Purification System (after the Greek goddess Sulis connected with water and healing), the solution comes in the form of a small and lightweight unit that is designed to fit onto most universal bottles and instantly purify contaminated water.

Read more from our friends at israel21c here:

Sulis was a Greek goddess connected with water and healing, therefore it’s also become an appropriate moniker for an innovative new Israeli device which instantly purifies contaminated water.

The Sulis Personal Purification System (PPS) takes all the ingredients needed to transform dirty water into clean water - whether it be for stranded hikers, soldiers in the field, or victims of disasters - and has miniaturized the technology to fit into the top of a cork that can be plugged into virtually any size bottle, container or tap.

Continue reading Pure Water…

Maximum Israel

So Maxim might not be the most intellectual monthly or the magazine of record for that matter, but it is a damn fine publication if you ask the boys in this office. And since this whole thing was our idea to begin with we couldn’t be more pleased. Ladies and gents, we bring you news of our latest efforts to show a little more of Israel’s sexier side…

UPDATE: here and here.

From Yediot Aharonot:

The Most Widely Read Men’s Magazine in America is Doing a Spread on the Beauty of Israeli Women

Beautiful Israel

Israeli beauty is being drafted to Israel’s global public relations campaign. The goal? To show that Israel is not just a land of war and terrorism, but also one of beautiful women and the good life.

Recent research suggests that when American men are asked what they think of when they think about Israel there are three answers: a war zone, tough people, and beautiful women.
The Consulate General of Israel in New York has decided to harness the third answer – Israeli beauty – in order to launch a campaign aiming to present Israel as not just a country of blood and tears, but one of endless beauty in its streets and on its beaches as well.

The Foreign Ministry has reached the conclusion that presenting Israel’s image to young Americans as a youthful country with beautiful people will improve our image and bring tourists to the country. The Consulate in New York decided that the best address for the campaign would be ‘Maxim’, the most popular men’s magazine in the United States, reaching 2.5 million readers.

Continue reading Maximum Israel…

Bincohe in New Gitai Film

Unlike her co-star in the English Patient, Ralph Fiennes, and Leo DiCaprio who both came to Israel taking a break from work, academy award winner for best supporting actress in the English Patient, Juliette Binoche is in Israel for 10 days to continue the shooting of “Disengagement” with Israel’s most well known director abroad, Amos Gitai.

The film called “Disengagement” (to be released in 2008) is an Israel-French-Italian co production in which the French actress will be portraying a French woman who sets out on a journey to find her estranged daughter who was raised on a kibbutz. The story’s backdrop is set against the disengagement from Gaza and the riots in France.

Continue reading Bincohe in New Gitai Film…

The Fashion Market

TA’s first installment of its biannual Fashion Market was again a success this year and yes we’re a little late on this report, but we’re totally fashionably late, so we’re totally cool. The JPOST did a nice write up though and despite its poor choice of subtitle colors and caffeine infused editing the clip does a good job conveying the atmosphere as well.

Here’s a site with a list of Tel Aviv fashion houses .

Feasting on Israel’s fashion plate
By KARIN KLOOSTERMAN

Good-bye Paris, Milan and London. And who needs New York when Tel Aviv has its own hip fashion scene, brought into full spectrum light at the biannual Fashion Market?

For over a decade, the two-day event at the end of the winter and summer seasons draws tens of thousands of women and men - celebrities and commoners alike - looking to upgrade their wardrobe. They also come to see and be seen mingling among the 120 different Israeli designers - some on the way up like Ido Recanati, and others well established and internationally successful such as Sigal Dekel.

Continue reading The Fashion Market…

‘DD’ for Effort Ahiraz

Some crucial culinary news on the wires this morning that we must share. Hey, even if it doesn’t work out and goes the way of Starbucks, it is certainly worth a try, right? As Ahiraz mentions, this is a concept Israeli’s have been looking for, in fact, just the other day I was walking through Dizengoff and thought to myself, “where can I find some good breasts and a couple of wings?”

From Reuters:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. restaurant chain Hooters, known for waitresses in low-cut blouses and short skirts, will open its first branch in Israel this summer, in the Mediterranean seaside city of Tel Aviv.

“I strongly believe that the Hooters concept is something that Israelis are looking for,” Ofer Ahiraz, who bought the Hooters franchise for Israel, told Reuters Monday. “Hooters can suit the Israeli entertainment culture.”

At Hooters, waitresses the company calls Hooters Girls serve spicy chicken wings, sandwiches, seafood and drinks.

Continue reading ‘DD’ for Effort Ahiraz…

Coming Soon: Decorative Centerpieces from Tel Aviv

Tired of Israelis who don’t know their dinner spoon from their soup spoon? Fingerbowls from saucers? Who can’t make a simple decorative napkin-holder for thanksgiving using only stock paper, an Exacto knife, and a pencil?

If you are, have no fear: Martha Stewart has come to the rescue. According to our friends over at Ice news, Martha Stewart’s website is now available in Hebrew, bringing millions of Israelis access to her experience in homemaking. The people of the Holy Land will now be able to surf her site, watch her videos, and learn all about the art of entertaining, decorating a home, and all of that stuff. I’m sure it won’t be long before every Israeli household has at least one set of homemade felt fine china protectors.

Probably…

Check out the new Hebrew website here.

(For the English website, click here)

Free trip to Israel?!

“I will never forget those amazing 10 days I had in Israel”

“There aren’t enough words to describe how good this trip was!!!!”

“It is the most memorable and inspirational journey of a lifetime.”

“You couldn’t pay a million dollars for the experience I had on my trip to Israel.”

This is how alumni describe their Taglit-birthright Israel experience.

To date, 120,000 young adults from 51 countries have traveled to Israel for the first time on Taglit-birthright israel trips.

Would you like to experience the diversity of Israel - from ancient-modern Jerusalem to the rugged volcanic mountains of the Golan?
Want to enjoy the wide soft-sand beaches of Tel Aviv and party in the city’s best clubs? Would you like to float effortlessly in the Dead Sea and make a great network of friends?

All that and much more - here.

Parallel Worlds

There’s not much that we can really say to introduce this clip. The clip was made by students from the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa. The short video clip explores one of the most difficult questions in life. Well done.

Keeping an Eye on Your Back/Car/Bag/Fence/Mail

There’s a lot of talk these days about security. If you see something on the subway, you gotta say something. There are guys with machine guns walking around Grand Central Terminal, cops standing on every other street corner, even those random bag checks. But let’s face it: security is a tremendous job. You gotta watch everything, and you have to be on your game at all times. It’s a big job for those whose job it is to protect us, even those as good as the NYPD.

Enter ioimage and its newest security surveillance technology. Where from? Where else. If there’s one thing Israel is known for, it’s good security.

As was announced recently, ioimage is going to be providing the latest video surveillance technology to New York’s major airports – JFL, La Guardia, Newark, even Teterboro – in an effort to boost security there. What are they getting? A simply installed video system which monitors – simultaneously – perimeter fences, suspicious objects, strange-looking luggage, even illegally parked cars. Talk about multi-tasking.

Obviously, the inner-workings of the technology is a little more advanced than anything we can really handle. But I’ll leave you with this sentence from their release: ioimage’s intelligent video solution will serve as a key component in the project’s high-tech perimeter and video surveillance security system, which also includes advanced sensors and multi-sensor fusion, assessment subsystems and facility communications subsystems for complete site management at the airports.

Oh yeah.

Read more about it here.

Your Chance to Fly the Flag

Do you live in the great city of Manhattan? NO? Well, perhaps you’ll be visiting on March 23rd?

If that’s the case, you’ll be among the lucky humans who will have the chance to see Israeli band missFlag live in concert at the Lion’s Den in Nolita.

If you haven’t heard about them yet, missFlag is an Indie band from Jerusalem, Israel. The best part about them, aside from the music, is that they play in English.

While the band is reluctant to categorize their music into any particular genre the LA TIMES says missFlag “covers some of the same ground as Coldplay with the kind of sing-along choruses that could appeal to a large audience”. So there’s that.

Check out their MySpace site at www.myspace.com/missflag
missFlag was voted #1 on MySpace for 4 consecutive weeks by the MySpace community.

DETAILS: Catch missFlag next Friday, March 23rd, at 9:30 pm at the LION’S DEN, 214 Sullivan Street, Between Bleecker and West 3rd.
COVER CHARGE: $10. Mention missFlag at the door.

Not convinced? Watch their video on YouTube .