Israeli company nominated in six categories in APEX annual survey. Competitors include 69 airlines from 37 countries

Will El Al win the “airline Oscars”, held annually by the APEX organization? According to a document received by the Israeli airline’s management in recent days, the company is nominated in six different categories in a survey examining the flight experiences of different airlines’ passengers.

Some 60,000 passengers from all over the world took part in this year’s survey, which included about 70 airlines from 37 countries. The respondents were asked to rate their flight experiences according to different variables, including food, service and in-flight entertainment.

Ful story Via Ynetnews

After losing two infants due to complications with their immune systems, a Palestinan woman works works with Israeli doctors and a Gaza reporter to try and save the life of her recently-born child who is suffering similar problems. Over the course of 18 months, the reporter documents the surreal and unbelievable events that transpired and that give hope for the fate of the region in this extraordinary true story.

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1st Prize: Tel Aviv DOC 2008

Is an EMMY next?

“As scientists we have duty to create bridges among different nations,” says professor; Israeli student wins gold medal first time since 2003.

Israel hosted the 12th Asian Physics Olympiad last week for the first time in the competition’s history, and an Israeli student was among the gold medal recipients for the first time since 2003.

Initiated in 2000 in Indonesia, the Olympiad is an annual physics competition for high school students from the Asia and Oceania regions. Each participating country can send up to eight competitors, according to the contest’s official website. Throughout the week-long competition that occurred this year at Tel Aviv University and was co-hosted by the Education Ministry, the students were given physics problems of both theoretical and practical natures that involved extensive use of calculus, mechanics, thermodynamics, molecular physics, oscillation and waves, electricity and quantum physics, among other subjects, the syllabus explained.

Gal Dor, from Ahad Ha’am High School in Petah Tikvah, was among the 16 gold medal recipients, while Asaf Rosen from Motta Gur High School in Modi’in was one of 10 to earn a silver medal. Both Gur Peri from Rabin High School in Mazkeret Batya and Ben Akiva Feinstein from Rabin High School in Modi’in received bronze medals, according to the official results.

Aviv Frenkel from Yad Leibovitz High School in Netanya and Keren Ben Zvi from Lady Davis High School in Tel Aviv received Honorable Mentions.

This year, representatives from 14 countries participated: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand and Vietnam – with a total of 120 students.

“As scientists we have the privilege and the duty to create bridges among different nations, different religions and different societies,” wrote Prof. Yaron Oz – chairman of TAU’s School of Physics and Astronomy and of the Olympiad Academic Committee – in a welcome letter to all the students. “The Physics Olympiad is one such beautiful bridge.”

“Excellence will fuel the human development engine and is a condition for the existence of the most advanced and enlightened societies. You students are exemplars for your generation,” Education Minister Gideon Saar told the competitors.

Prof. Ming-Juey Lin, the olympiad secretariat president, said in a statement that this year’s competition was “the most successful Asian Physics Olympiad that has been held to date.”

Out of the contest’s 65 total gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention medal winners, China and Taiwan took the lead, each with eight award recipients (all eight for China were gold), followed by Singapore and Thailand with seven each. Israel and Russia received six medals each, according to the results. Participants from India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam also won prizes.

Next year’s event will be held in India, the competition’s website said.

Source: Jpost.com

Onavo gets Best Mobile Company, Public’s Choice awards at Next Web Startup Rally in Amsterdam for application lowering mobile roaming costs

Israeli startup company Onavo, which has developed a cellular application helping lower mobile roaming costs, won the Best Mobile Company and Public’s Choice awards at the Next Web Startup Rally of TheNextWeb blog, held in Amsterdam last week.”Everything we do with smartphones consumes mobile roaming,” explains Guy Rosen, one of the company’s founders, “including applications, using a browser or receiving emails.

“But mobile roaming costs money. When I’m in Israel I have limited roaming packages, and abroad all the more so, the prices are astronomic.”

Rosen, a cloud computing expert, founded the company with his friend Roi Tiger, who was formerly at device manufacturer Modu.

“During the conference in Amsterdam we launched an application which saves money by compressing the iPhone’s data transfer,” Rosen explains. He says the application is capable of doubling and tripling the roaming package.

Onavo’s technology is capable of taking a certain amount of data required for mobile roaming – and shrink it. In addition, the application shows the user the amount of information consumed by each application.

Some 500 companies applied for the Next Web Startup Rally and about 20 reached the final, which was held last weekend.

Following the awards, the small Israeli company received massive media exposure, including articles in Time and the Wall Street Journal. Important technology blog TechCrunch even defined the company’s application as a “must download”. The application is currently free. According to Rosen, the small startup does not fear resistance by the cellular companies.

“They too are looking for a solution which will make people travel with their phone and not turn it off, and not purchase a local SIM either. On the interior level, mobile roaming has created an overload on the networks, and any solution reducing the load is welcomed.”

Source: Ynetnews.com

SUNDANCE REVIEW: Israeli Film ‘Restoration’ a Quality, if Somber, Picture That Could Find Art-House Success

The film, part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, is the kind of small-scale, well-crafted story that used to be a staple of European cinema and is rarely seen nowadays, at least in the U.S.

PARK CITY — An Israeli film more about the internal state of its characters than the state of the country, Restorationis the kind of small-scale, well-crafted story that used to be a staple of European cinema and is rarely seen nowadays, at least in the U.S. It’s still a potent formula in the hands of fine actors and a director like Yossi Madmony who knows how to slowly build a story with small strokes and telling details. This kind of quality, if somewhat somber, picture could find some success at what remains of art houses and enjoy a solid afterlife in home viewing.

Veteran Israeli actor Sasson Gabay plays Fidelman, an old-fashioned wood restorer who is lost after his partner of 40 years passes away. With a perpetual two-day growth and a scowl on his face, Fidelman is as broken down as the shop he runs in an old section of Tel Aviv. Since the death of his wife and growing distance from his son Noah (Nevo Kimchi), Fidelman seems to have little connection to the world beyond the sawdust of workplace.

But this is not exactly a booming business and Noah is eager to turn the property into apartments, further alienating father and son. Even the pregnancy of Noah’s wife Hava (Sarah Adler) does little to lift the old man’s spirits. Against all odds, he is holding on to the life he has known for years, and something has to change.

When that change arrives it’s hardly noticeable. Fidelman hires Anton (Henry David) to help him clean up and do menial work around the shop. He’s a mysterious young man running away form his family’s wealth and his past as an accomplished musician. It’s never really explained what has set him on this path, but gradually he and Fidelman form a fragile bond, replacing the one missing with his son. Further complicating this triangle is an attraction between Anton and Sarah.

As Fidelman’s finances become more desperate, Anton discovers an antique Steinway piano in the store that could solve all their problems if it can be restored. But that requires a recast metal frame and delicate scrapping and staining, work that brings the old man and his helper closer together.

Madmony moves things along at a deliberate pace, calibrating the subtle emotional swing. At the center is Gabay’s reserved but powerful performance, building to the point where he will have to choose between his spiritual son and his biological son. He is able to suggest a world of hidden feelings by just shifting his gaze. And cinematographer Boaz Yehonatan’s old world lighting effectively adds to the dark, brooding tone.

Ultimately, the film is more about Fidelman’s restoration than the piano’s. The story feels so real that one can imagine it continuing after the film is over. Life goes on.

Venue: Sundance Film Festival, World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Production companies: Yezira Ivrit
Cast: Sasson Gabay, Henry David, Nevo Kimchi, Sarah Adler, Ruth Borenstein
Director: Yossi Madmony
Screenwriter: Erez Kav-El
Producer: Chaim Sharir
Director of photography: Boaz Yehonatan Yacov
Production designer: Yoav Sinai
Music: Avi Belleli
Costume designer: Keren Ron
Editor: Ayala Bengad
No rating, running time 106 minutes

Source: Hollywood report

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