You may know that Israel developed the first cell phone. Now it seems they are also leading the way for radically improving the quality of photographs that you can take on that phone.

An Israeli technology firm, Eyesquad, that specializes in developing micro-imaging products has recently been bought (for $18 million) by Tessera, a leading US provider of miniaturization technologies for the electronics industry.

The technology that Eyesquad has developed will allow cell phones with cameras to provide features found today only in digital cameras - high quality images, optical zoom, automatic focus, and close up images, all without changing the lens of the cell phone camera.

We all carry cell phones these days, and with what the future has in store for us, we will be able to capture high quality images as spontaneously as they occur … I’m excited!

Read the story on Israel21c , or on isrealli.org, after the jump.

He may have gone to the Oscars with his mom, but on Sunday Oscar-nominated Leonardo DiCaprio landed in Israel with his supermodel girlfriend Bar Refaeli, on a flight from Frankfurt, believing that this way they could avoid media attention.

Little did the famous couple know, aboard their flight was a group of Israeli journalists returning home after seeing “Mamma Mia” (which, incidentally will be staged in Israel soon as well).

From the minute the famous couple set foot in Israel, a paparazzi race began. According to the Jerusalem Post, Guy Pines, host of the country’s most popular entertainment TV show, went as far as to rent a helicopter to survey the scene from the air — standard paparazzi procedure abroad, but a first for Israel.

So far the results have been disappointing: a few shots of Leo, covered almost completely in a baseball hat. Reports mention that Refaeli wanted to show Leo around her country, meet her people and learn about her heritage.
Their first stop was at the Yad Vashem museum where the couple and Bar’s family were given a private tour after closing hours.

This was followed by a visit to the Kotel and the underground tunnels. According to the article, the tension rose between Leo’s bodyguards and photographers who were waiting at the tunnels’ entrance for the perfect photo.

DiCaprio also had a taste of the unique night life in Tel Aviv at a club where Bar’s brother was celebrating his 31st birthday.

That’s what we know so far about Leo’s visit to Israel which made it to “Page Six” of the New York Post.

Read more about Leo and his Israeli Supermodel girlfriend here.

Ever wonder who came up with spinach as Popeye’s miracle food? Didn’t it seem strange watching the sailorman crank open the can and dump those green leaves into his mouth, shortly followed by a tremendous bulging of his muscles and, of course, his subsequent saving of the day?

I mean, it just kind of reeks of subliminal messaging, parents using cartoons to get their kids to eat their vegetables.

Well, it turns out that those cartoonists were on to something. But instead of the spinach making Popeye’s muscles grow, it was actually making his prostate shrink…not that they could really make that a cartoon-worthy secret superpower, but it works out well for those of us in the real world (with a prostate, that is).

According to researchers at Bar Ilan University in Israel, the antioxidants in spinach slow the growth of cancerous tumor cells. The leading researcher on the project, Dr. Shlomo Bakshi, has said that it can even stop the development of cancer in the tumor.

After spending a good deal of time feeding spinach to mice with prostate cancer, (which I’m sure was an experience in and of its own), the mice showed a 70% reduced rate of death by the cancer.

The bad news is that if you want to be a stickler for prostate cancer prevention, you need to be eating soybean protein, also having been shown to reduce the threat of the cancer.

You may not have a superhero for that one – but you still have Popeye and his spinach. The Bar-Ilan study was published in the ‘FEBS Letters’ (of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies), and is the first research to link spinach and this phenomenon.

Thanks to the Jerusalem Post for bringing this story to our attention – the full story can be found here.

The incredibly talented dance troupe Batsheva is one of Israel’s most successful and recognizable cultural exports. They are highly regarded by modern dance lovers the world over (and also by those folks who don’t know their pirouette from their pivot turn).

On the two occasions that I have scored tickets to a show, I have sat in my seat transfixed by the motions of the dancers’ bodies. It’s something you really have to experience to believe.

These unique dance movements are the product of a technique known as “Gaga”, and created by Ohad Naharin, the artistic director of Batsheva.

He first came upon the concept of Gaga while suffering an injury, and was forced to find new ways to move his body while dealing with pain.

Gaga is now the daily routine Batsheva dancers go through as training and rehearsal. It is a technique rooted in unblocking the body, freeing dancers to move with unprecedented control and releasing untapped reserves of agility and metaphysical connection.

Now this technique is being brought to the wider world.

New Yorkers have the opportunity to try Gaga at a series of classes at the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet facility in Chelsea.

Naharin has sent two assistants to New York to teach classes in his original Gaga technique, while the man himself will be arriving to teach at the end of March.

The Beatles never performed in Israel but the son of legendary John Lennon, Sean, will be performing on March 10th at the Hangar in Tel Aviv. Sean Lennon is on a tour promoting his second album titled “Friendly Fire” 8 years after the release of his first album “Into the Sun” in 1998. His latest album has been well received in Israel and especially “Parachute” which is played heavily by local radio stations.

Sean recently gave a good interesting interview to the Jerusalem Post in which he talks about his first music lessons, his childhood, his relation with his mother Yoko Ono, about how he finds it easy to express personal thoughts in his songs. As for Israel, he says that it “is for him- and to so many people- one of the most important points on the whole planet. I feel really lucky that I get to come to places like this as part of my work”.

Here’s the story from the JPOST.

Wow, I guess it is true; there is a blog for everyone about everything. Sure, we love hummus just as much as the next Israeli, but never did we think that it would be bloggable? Well, we were wrong, oh so very, very wrong…

Humus101 - Humus Secrets

Is it Humus, Hummus or Houmous? we have it all.

Everbody in the middle east eat Hummus. Although considered an Arab dish, Israelis too consider it to be their national delicacy. In recent years, hummus has gone global, and you can find it anywhere in the world - sometimes reffered to as ”Houmous“ or ”Humus“.

This blog is about Hummus, regardless of sex, race, religion or color. It is about the love for Hummus and the things you can do with it - including making it yourself. We‘ll share with you our recipes, amaze you with some uncommon Hummus trivia facts, and suggest recommended restaurants where you can eat Hummus throughout the world.

Each year, in recognition of Black History Month the Consulate General of Israel in New York together with the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Jewish National Fund, pays tribute to the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by honoring an individual who embodies his spirit and ideals.

This year, the honoree chosen was Reverend A.R. Bernard Sr., a popular spiritual leader and founder of the Christian Cultural Center (CCC) in Brooklyn.

The CCC was filled with the Reverend’s congregants, friends and delegates from the Israeli and Jewish organizations, who witnessed the moving collaborative performance of the CCC Choir and Israeli award-winning international soloist Ariela Kalif-Carmi.

What do food, shopping, self-sacrifice, and phone messages have in common?

It’s not a trick question. The ultra talented students at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa. went out on the street to find how Israelis feel you can tell when someone loves you or when you love someone. The answers are, well, varied…

I’m not sure how much many of you know about particle physics or of the FOUR FORCES (dark side included), but I’m sure a few of you read Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons, and remember the secret humongous particle accelerator in Geneva where scientists were trying to discover the secrets of the universe- well here’s the dibs on the real thing…

From the JPOST:

Two Israeli physicists - Prof. Shlomit Terem and Prof. Yoram Rosen of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology - are among 1,700 from 150 universities in 30 countries who are building a giant sensor that will be part of the world’s largest particle accelerator.

The sensor, called Atlas, will be completed and installed at the facility near Geneva before the end of 2007.

“It may be that during its first year of operation,” said Terem and Rosen, “we will discover phenomena that will completely change our world view - and if not, we will have another 15 years to get a good picture of the structures and materials in nature and the secrets for the Four Forces of Nature.

This last weekend marked the Jewish festival of Purim. So naturally, I spent the weekend explaining the story behind Purim (or, Jewish Halloween) to people who had never heard of it.

And since I can be a bit of a geek, I chose to delve into the biblical significance, rather than the cultural.

I explained:

“It was the story of an ancient attempt at Jewish genocide in Persia. A king being advised by an evil man was going to kill all the Jews, but then he married a beautiful girl named Esther, whose uncle was a Jewish leader. Using her charisma, Esther managed to persuade the king to hang the evil advisor, instead of all the Jews. And so we eat this triangular pastry which represents the evil advisor’s ears, called Oznei Haman (or hamentaschen, in Yiddish).”

Of course, this was the explanation I was taught year after year in Hebrew School as a child.

Ask an Israeli, and they will probably tell you it’s one of their favorite holidays. They dress up in outlandish style, go to crazy parties and swap sweet treats with friends.

As for the American traditions, who better to get into the spirit than Madonna, or should I say Esther — the famous Purim Queen!

This year, Madonna (I mean, Esther) dressed as a flapper, while husband Guy Ritchie hammed it up as a 70s style mustachioed policeman. Someone arrest him, please!

Check out the pictures from TMZ.