Israel Active

One of the gifts presented to the US President by Israel’s Prime Minister was a gold-plated silicon chip etched by Technion scientists with the US and Israeli declarations of independence. The chip was affixed to a Jerusalem stone dating to the Second Temple Period (1st century BCE to 1st century CE).

Following in the footsteps of Microsoft, iApps (Israel’s largest mobile application developer) has started its own incubator for developers at its Herzliya HQ. iApps Booster is the only incubator in Israel dedicated to building mobile apps.

Thirteen young Jewish men from Morocco joined 25 existing Moroccan engineering and hi-tech students at the Machon Lev academic institution in the Jerusalem College of Technology. Most will immigrate to Israel upon completing their 4-year degree course.

For the second year running, Nir Goldshlager is the No. 1 name in Facebook’s security “hall of fame”. Goldshlager uncovered a major security flaw that allowed hackers to take control of accounts. When Facebook fixed the breach, Nir discovered a second major problem in the “corrected” code.

(Thanks to Michael and Jane) Adi Sharabani, CEO and co-founder of Skycure, has proved that an attacker could retrieve sensitive information (including the victim’s exact location) and even control the victim’s phone – e.g. quietly changing their GPS destination while driving.

A new video showing the work of Israeli start-up Young Engineers that won Amir Asor the “Youth Business International Entrepreneur of the Year” award from Britain's Youth Business International non-profit organization. Children use LEGO toys to grasp the principles of software engineering.

Netanya students won top three prizes at the Intel-Young Scientists competition. Victor Isserov of the Shai Agnon School was joint top with his project on the quantum characteristics of ions and the development of quantum computers. Victor will represent Israel in the EU science competition in Prague in September.

The Amal network of technical high schools held a nationwide online detection and hacking race at Cisco’s R&D center in Netanya. The goal is to equip a new generation of top-tier computer experts with the skills to benefit Israel and successfully compete in cyberspace.

The Start-Up Nation is hosting a Mini-Maker Faire, “a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement.” “Making” is the process of taking common household items and “upgrading” them into a new product or technology. The Makers of today are the high-tech inventors of tomorrow.

Rafi Koren, a lemon farmer from Moshav Avigdor near Kiryat Malachi has invented a product that prevents the spread of Mal Secco, a fungal disease affecting citrus trees that has been known to kill entire lemon groves.