Israeli Innovation 3

Look wise guy...go stick it is the same in any language!

Haifa-based company called Lexifone is releasing its star product this month, “an advanced automatic interpretation/translation software, all without the need for an Internet connection or even a Smartphone.”
Lexifone’s technology allows people to have regular conversations, in different languages. When one party speaks, what they say is automatically translated into the other person’s language and vice versa.
The service will begin with English, Spanish and Italian and  the company plans on rolling out many more languages in the near future such as French, German, Portuguese, and major East Asian languages like Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
Lexifone differs from other similar softwares in a variety of ways. Unlike Smartphone apps like Google Translate, Lexifone does not require an internet connection. All that is needed is a standard telephone connection either through mobile, landline or VoiP. It also allows for continuous automatic translation, which most applications cannot do.
The technology works through Lexifone’s own computer servers, which run a sophisticated speech recognition software that understands and speaks a variety of languages using a collection of “voice dictionaries.” The service is activated by first calling into the Lexifone server and then connecting to the person you want to call.
“The beauty [of Lexifone] is that the technology is separate from the user experience – often you have to adapt yourself to a technology, but here the tech is behind the scenes. You just talk and you get an answer,” says Forest Rain Marcia, Lexifone’s Director of Marketing Communications, who proudly states that she herself does not own or need a Smartphone.
Lexifone was initially trying to appeal to businesses that want to expand their clientele, but the company realized that their product could help people and organizations of all kind – including international call centers or health and municipal services.
Marcia claims that through Lexifone, “there is no language gap anymore because everyone stays in their own language.”
Lexifone picks up on different dialects or speech impediment, Marcia says. “The technology takes into account a range of different accents within a language, but one must speak naturally.”  Lexifone also offers the option of verifying if a statement was understood correctly.
Lexifone was originally founded as the brainchild of entrepreneur and CEO Dr. Ike Sagie while at a technology incubator in Haifa, who combined his passionate interests of technology, linguistics, and economics. Sagie was a scientist at IBM Research Labs Ike who turned to entrepreneurship by co-founding in succession Attunity (NASDAQ: ATTU), Sagie Research and his latest – Lexifone.
“At Lexifone we put people in the center. It’s all about communication. And an easy, effective user experience. They go hand in hand,” says Sagie.

The price for the service depends on whether one is providing for individual or group use although official prices have yet to be released. (Nocamels).
(Photo: Copyright Control).

Israeli Innovation 2

Not just a green thing!

Although tobacco in the form of cigarettes is generally recognized as being a killer of millions, the plant has been used by Hebrew University researchers to produce an effective anti-malaria drug.


A genetically engineered form of artemisinin, a natural compound that produces large quantities of the anti-malaria drug – was announced Sunday by the Yissum Research Development Company – the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s technology transfer company. The biosynthesis method – a novel way of producing Artemisia annua, which is naturally produced by sweet wormwood plants – was developed by Prof. Alexander Vainstein and the research was published as a letter in the latest issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Combating malaria is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals described in the UN Millennium Declaration signed by all UN members 11 years ago. An important way to control the deadly parasitic disease that affects mostly the Third World is prompt and effective treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies. (Nocamels).
(Photo: Copyright Control).

US And Israel: Major Joint Exercise...Are You Listening Iranian Regime?

By shear coincidence, something I've been Blogging on about for some time is thankfully coming to pass...
US commander visits Israel to finalize plans for exercise this spring; thousands of US soldiers will be deployed in Israel, IDF command post to be erected at EUCOM HQ in Germany.

Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this coming spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.
Last week, Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.

The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces for the event of a future large-scale conflict in the Middle East. 


The US will also bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and shipbased Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel to simulate the interception of missile salvos against Israel.
The American systems will work in conjunction with Israel’s missile defense systems – the Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome. Gorenc came to Israel for talks with Brig.-Gen. Doron Gavish, commander of the Air Force’s Air Defense Division. He toured one of the Iron Dome batteries in the South and the Israel Test Bed lab in Holon where the IAF holds its interception simulation exercises.

The IAF is planning to deploy a fourth battery of the Iron Dome counter-rocket system in the coming months and is mulling the possibility of stationing it in Haifa to protect oil refineries located there.

The IAF is also moving forward with plans to deploy Rafael’s David’s Sling missile defense system, which is designed to defend against medium-range rockets and cruise missiles. Rafael recently completed a series of successful navigation and flight tests of the David’s Sling’s interceptor and plans to hold the first interception test by mid-2012. (Jerusalem Post).

Also...Italian And Israeli Air Forces In Joint Exercises!

The Israeli and Italian Air Forces wrapped up two weeks of joint maneuvers on Friday, just a month after the IAF flew to Sardinia for similar drills. The forces practiced dog fights, bombing runs and long-range interceptions. The two-week drill ended on Friday and was held at the IAF Uvda Base near Eilat. The Italians arrived in Israel with the Eurofighter and the IAF participated with its F-16 and F-15 fighter jets.

Lately, Israel and Greece have also stepped up their military co-operation. The Israeli Air Force has been given access to carry out joint and solo exercises in Greek air space.

(Photo: Copyright Control).

Egyptian Update: So...This Is The Arab Idea Of Spring!

Hey!...Don't knock the 7th century...it was
far -out for us in
the Islamic Death-Cult Crew!

The Salafis represent a fundamentalist religious stream that seeks to create an Islamic state according to strict social codes and a legal system based entirely on Islamic law: e.g. The hand cutting off bit, women no-class citizens buried up to their waist and stoned for...well anything their lord and master doesn't like.The various Salafi parties have so far been the biggest surprise to the NYT/Guardian UK and other bewildered bastards on the Left. In the Egyptian parliamentary elections, taking about 30% of votes, placing second only behind the Muslim Brotherhood, which has acquired around 40% So instead of the mear 60% they have batted it up to a biggy 70%! 
So... no more guess work as to how many mad tossers are running around the pyramids with their "Fuck You Westie" tee shirts on. 
Obama, Oval office 8am: Memo to my money printing dept: 'Keep the green backs flowing to my new friends in Egypt. Yep...that's $3 billion a year...you didn't read it wrong'! 
(Photo: Copyright Control).

Mystery Stones: The Quarry Of Stonehenge?

Stonehenge.

The mystery of the exact site of the quarry...that question may soon be answered as further research is conducted at the quarry site. If evidence can be found of human quarrying, little doubt will remain that the huge, four tonne stones were either loaded onto barges and sent around St. David's Head or carted directly across the mountainous terrain that sits between Stonehenge and the quarry site.
The researchers found the quarry site by a collecting and analyzing rocks in Pembrokeshire, looking for a match with the rhyolite debitage rocks at Stonehenge. When close matches were found, they took a closer look using petrography, a means for comparing mineral content. They kept up their search till they found specimens that were 99% identical to those at Stonehenge, a sure sign that the two were from the same place. The two believe their findings mean they have pinpointed the place where the Stonehenge rocks came from to within seventy meters.
News of the find has been greeted with excitement the world over - such is the connection people feel with the mystery that is Stonehenge, the circular monument believed to have been built from the period 3000 BC to 1600 BC by early people for an unknown reason. The outer bigger stones, called sarsens, are believed by most archeologists and historians to have been hauled to the site some two hundred years after the bluestones, and came from a much closer place; somewhere in Marlborough Downs, just twenty miles to the north.
If it can be proven that the rocks were in fact quarried by people, likely many other scientists will join in the debate that will no doubt ensue in attempting to explain how such a primitive people could have achieved such a feat as transporting such big and heavy stones such a great distance, and why.
© 2011 PhysOrg.com

Angel Of The North...

Angel of the North

To be found in Northern England...
(Photos: Copyright Control).

Did Illegal Logging Contribute To This Disaster?

The disaster agency  in the Philippines said more than 338,000 people in 13 provinces were affected by the disaster, with nearly 43,000 still in schools, churches and gymnasiums.
More than 10,000 houses were damaged by the typhoon and the flash floods, of which nearly a third were ruined. Many schools, roads and bridges were also badly damaged.

Typhoon relief. (Photo: Copyright Control).

More than 15 million pesos ($340,000) worth of crops, mostly rice and corn, were damaged, but the Agriculture department said losses were minimal as the crops were in the early planting stage.
Aquino said the government can also access funds from multilateral financial institutions, including $3 million from the Asian Development Bank and about $500 million in low-interest loans from the World Bank.
Survivors said huge logs thundering down mountainsides crushed residents. Television footage showed many recovered bodies with arms or hands raised as if reaching out for help or clinging on to something.
Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were struggling to prevent disease from spreading in evacuation centres, with construction proceeding quickly of burial vaults and plots in public cemeteries to bury decomposing bodies.(C.S.Monitor).