An Israeli company has developed an application that empowers you, the consumer, when it comes to buying steak, burgers, or any other meat product. Bachtochem, one of Israel's leading food analysis firms, is working on building the world's largest database – of cattle DNA. The information in the database allows Bachtochem to trace the provenance of any piece of meat on supermarket shelves.
WRNTY (a take off on the word “warranty”) provides the world's first hi-tech warranty service for independently owned (as well as mid-sized chain) retail establishments, automatically processing warranty information on products as they're purchased.
Israeli startup Plimus, which works with thousands of of vendors and affiliates who sell virtual goods all over the internet, is now the world's largest independent online reseller of virtual goods. Vendors have flocked to Plimus – giving it some $200 million in sales for 2010, with the company growing in terms of vendors and sales some 40%-50% in each of the past five years.
An Israeli startup called GridOn Systems is marketing a technology developed at Bar Ilan University to regulate electrical networks, preventing shorts and other problems – thus stabilizing the electrical grid, and protecting our refrigerators, washing machines, TV sets, computers, and any other item that gets plugged into the wall.
Besides being unhealthy, excessive noise makes it hard to work. Israeli researchers, led by Bar Ilan University, and a number of startups in the country are doing groundbreaking work in getting rid of the "static" and annoying noises that interfere with real communication - both over the internet, and in real life.
While many folks are savvy enough to protect their computers and networks from hackers, they often neglect a far greater security risk - their cellphones, which are open to hacking and eavesdropping without protection. Israeli startup Tikal Networks helps keep your secrets a secret with its Cryptone cellphone security system.
Who will invest in the ultimate startups – the places where the magic begins? Those entrepreneurs have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is in school. Companies like Rad Communications and Radware, who were once startups themselves, take the longer view and invest in the country's true “startups”: Elementary schools, high schools, and universities.
Israel's NTTM enables anyone to have a 'name number,' allowing others to dial them by choosing a letter, rather than a number, combination. What's more, the system is virtually unlimited, allowing anyone to adopt any user name they want, with spaces or symbols between the first and last name.
Old technologies can survive in a new world; they just have to learn to adapt. The experience of Israel's Focus Telecom shows that "traditional" landline and cellphone companies can survive in a world of IP telephony - to the benefit of their customers, and themselves!