Spark Armada by Nir Ofir

The new XBOX is for Babies

I don't know If this is the real new logo of the XBOX 2 but it looks very similar to a the logo of a dutch baby strallers company called Bugaboo.

I found Found City

"FoundCity is a collective mapping tool. It allows everyone in a city to map the interesting things they discover throughout the day to a dynamic on line map, where they can then compare their points of interest with other people's points"

I believe Found city is the Next generation of tour guides and Travel books for people that wants to tour cities not like a tourist but like locals. Being able to use a location based FoundCity in my Cell phone is like Using Manhattan streets as a browser: 3D Web Surfing.

Cool!

Via [herbert.groot.jebbink.nl]

GMAN: Xbox = "Bad Box" in Japanese

GMAN Writes on his blog:

"X" in Japanese means "no, bad, don't want it, wrong....When you mark something you either mark it with a circle "O" pronounced "maru" to mean "yes, I'll take that, correct" or with an "X" for "no, bad, wrong, don't want it...Batsu is also a kanji character, which means punishment or penalty"

Link: GMAN: Xbox = "Bad Box" in Japanese.

I guess this not the only reason the X-Box will not succeed in Sony's kingdom.

Some more examples of bad branding/Naming disasters in foreign countries:

Grated Fanny is a Tuna brand from Latin America
Shuma (The Hebrew name for a mole) is a brand of a KIA car
BIMBO is Spanish bread
BUM is a Spanish potato chips
Cock Soup is a Latin American packet soup
Dokkere Basterd is Duch sugar

Ginger number 2?

From time to time I have an idea that can be a great Gizmo. Usually I loose my interest in it and leave it hanging just before the manufacturing phase. I guess I need help from retail and manufacturing experts (anyone?).

Guess what is this Gizmo. I will reveal the secret exactly in a week from today (It is a good time to introduce my RSS Feed with your favorite RSS aggregator)

We want Hebrew in our iPOD!

Apple does not support Hebrew in  iPODs. Edo Mendelson, an Israeli developer has programmed a free application that enables using Hebrew font on the iPOD. "Yeda", Apple disributer in Israel,  doesn't support any of the iPODs that needs technical support after using his software.

Meanwhile, A group of Israeli iPOD fans have started a petition calling Steve Jobs & Apple to support Hebrew in their product. 200 supporters have already signed it.

For financing the work on his software, Edo is starting to sell branded blank DVDR/CDR media:

Why am I here?

It was a sunny morning at Tel Aviv old harbor. Me and my guest, Loic le meur, just finished our breakfast. I needed to get back to the office and Loic chose to stay and read some emails in his new temporary office.

Just Before We shook hands and Promised to stay in touch Loic told me:

"Why don't you write a blog in English so I can catch up with what you are doing down here"

I asked him if he can recommend me on good blogging software and, for some reason, I am here! :-D

Actually, it wasn't the first time I considered writing a blog in English. My reasons of writing an English blog are:
1.International recognition:  I'm a little frustrated that the stuff that we are doing here stays here. I mean that almost no one can get information about Digital lifestyle, Social software, Blogging and Internet Innovation in Israel.

2. Networking: I wish to know more people that are dealing with the above issues like me, every day and in every aspect of their work and life. There are not a lot of Israeli colleagues that I can share my Ideas with(Or maybe they just not visiting my Hebrew Blog).

3. Conversation: I'm looking for a place that other people will read (what's on) my mind and will respond to it as if we are long time friends, without any barriers.

 

 

 

Who am I?

My Name is Nir and I'm excited to be here.

If I can remember correctly, I felt almost the same 10 years ago when I was the Newest citizen of geocities.com. Learning HTML so I can build a website for my melancholic short stories. That was my first encounter with the Internet.

Today, I am 29 years old and I find myself in the other side of the screen - I'm the Editor in chief of Tapuz.co.il, Israel's Community focused portal. Tapuz.co.il Supplies services that gives the Israeli web surfers a chance to express themselves and connect to other people (via Blogs, Forums, Chat, Blog TV, Dating) without any technical background and, for free!

On my everyday routine I work on a large variety of projects. Web Development and Content.  The focus on most of my projects are ways to connect people over the net and in the "real" world.

Tommorow I will tell you why I decided to publish an English blog  (I have a Hebrew one) and I will describe what this blog will be for me and (I hope) for you in the near future.

Hello World!

This is the unofficial first post on my Blog at TypePad. I'm writing this post only to test the design of my new blog. I promise that when time will come I will update this blog with very exciting content . But first, I want you to forgive my notsogood English.

I will leave you with the original picture that I used as a banner to my blog. It was taken in Barcelona last summer. It is a Graffiti: