With JPEGmini for Mac, users can optimize full photo albums simply by dragging them onto the app. The optimized photos retain the full quality and resolution of the original photos, but are much smaller in file size, so they can be shared much faster with friends and family via email or on social networks. Users can also choose to optimize their whole iPhoto library, or a complete internal or external drive, to free up hard drive space.

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How it works

JPEGmini technology has two main components: The first is an image quality detector, which imitates the perceptual qualities of the human visual system, to determine the maximum amount of compression which can be applied to each individual photo without causing visible artifacts.

The second is a unique JPEG encoder, which adapts the JPEG encoding process to the original photos, creating the most compact representation of the photos that is possible under the JPEG standard. Combining these two components enables JPEGmini to achieve an extremely high recompression ratio of up to 5x, or 80 percent reduction on digital photos, depending on their resolution.

JPEGmini's Mac app

“After 3 years of extensive research, and 19 patent applications, we are proud to bring our JPEGmini technology to the mass market with the introduction of JPEGmini for Mac,” said Sharon Carmel, ICVT’s Founder and CEO who founded Emblaze in 1994. “We look forward to empower users around the world with faster photo sharing, and more efficient use of local and online storage.”

JPEGmini for Mac supports personal photos with a resolution of 2 to 17 Megapixels.

Founded in 2009 and backed by private investors, ICVT is developing another optimization technology named VIDEOmini, designed for H.264 video streams.

Photo by rolands.lakis

Researchers from Tel Aviv University drew these conclusions after studying the attitudes of about 150 people in Israel.

Eran Toch, from the school’s department of industrial engineering, said in statement that smartphone users tend to have an illusion of being in a “privacy bubble” when using their devices in public.

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More talking in public

The research found that people with smartphones were 70 per cent more likely than those with less advanced cellphones to think their devices gave them a fair degree of privacy when using them in public.

Smartphone users were also 20 per cent less likely to think talking on their devices in public bothered other people, and 50 per cent less inclined to be annoyed by other people using their phones, the study found.

Toronto tech-trend analyst Alan K’necht, a partner at Digital Always Media, said such cultural tendencies found in the Israeli study also hold true in Canada.

“I see it all the time,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard conversations, thinking, ‘You shouldn’t be having that conversation at the grocery store or on the street corner.’ ”

Tech-savvy generation

K’necht said it’s probably not so much that certain types of cellphones transform people’s personalities, but those predisposed to react to phone calls, emails and texts right away are more attracted to smartphones. He added that a higher proportion of young people have smartphones than older people, and that could be a factor in the study’s findings.

“There’s a generation that has grown up very tech savvy and has this sense of immediacy and response, and the only way to do that is to respond immediately — take the call in meetings, respond to texts and tweets and emails on the fly.”

Another of the study’s authors, Tali Hatuka from Tel Aviv University’s geography department, suggested that public spaces be re-designed in such a way that there are designated areas for phone usage, and other areas where it’s not allowed.

K’necht said it might be worthwhile to have more phone booths in public spaces, such as restaurants, where people bring their own phones.

“If the venue wants to provide the old-fashioned phone booth where you can go and sit down in a little cubbyhole and chat, there might be a marketing opportunity,” he said.
…

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Via Postmedia News
Photo by FaceMePLS

The app automatically identifies your friends by name before or after you take their photo. In most cases, KLIK can identify the person in the frame before snapping the photo, and the name will then appear directly over their face in the camera’s viewpane.

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The production release of the application incorporates a new Learn mode that allows users to instantly train the system and improve recognition. Learn mode acts as a training mechanism helping KLIK to better recognize that face for future recognition and tagging. It also serves as a means for manually adding someone to the group of recognizable faces.

Face filters

In addition, KLIK incorporates new custom photo filters, called “Face Filters,” designed specifically around photos with faces. While most photo filters apply their effects to the entire photo, regardless of its content, Face Filters are dynamic based on the location, size and number of faces in a photo.

The company also offers a platform for developers and publishers  who wish to instantly integrate social networks, photo sharing sites and search engines. By using the platform they can automatically detect and recognize faces in photos and create their own original apps that leverage the facial recognition technology, algorithms and access to tagged faces.

To use the app, users need to configure it with their Facebook account, so that it can have a database that serves to identify their associates and friends. If KLIK can’t figure out who someone is, users can manually tag them and the app is can then recognize them in future images.

KLIKS' Face Filters feature

Photos taken with KLIK can also be shared on Facebook and Twitter or via email. The app also offers feeds of nearby photos and friends’ photos, tagging photos from the camera roll, and social sharing to Facebook, Twitter, email, and publicly on KLIK itself.

KLIK has a some of privacy levels built-in, as the app will only identify people a user has previously tagged or people in a user’s social network who have already agreed to connect and share with the software’s owner.

Face.com was launched in 2007 and has offices in Tel Aviv and New York.

The WatchLock – a lock enforced with special GPS and cellular chips – allows owners to track its location anywhere in the world, and send them a text message should anyone try to pry it open.

The system is the first of its kind in the world and is one of the leading candidates for the IFSEC 2012 innovation awards.

Held in the UK in mid May, IFSEC is the largest annual security event in Britain and one of the most prestigious in the world.

WatchLock looks like a slightly oversized version of a standard lock, but its unique system sends out its location at any given time.

The system keeps a log of every time the lock is opened and should anything but its key be used, it alerts the owner by SMS or email immediately.

The locator system is not power-dependent, making it ideal for securing remote locations or moving objects, such as trucks or containers.

To continue reading this article, click here
Via Ynet News
Photo by MutlitLock

The concept of the game is that the player helps a virtual granny dust off her piano from invading germs. While doing this, the user is learning the musical notes and rhythm of a piano, gaining knowledge while practicing.

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The app lets users play popular and entertaining songs at their own pace, collecting points and bonuses as they increase their experience. The game can also be played in conjunction with a real piano. In case the player doesn’t have a real piano at home, a 3D virtual keyboard comes with the game.

Virtual piano for every age

Piano Dust Buster is not the only application that helps users learn an instrument. Rock Band and Wild Chords are just some of them. But what sets the Joytunes app apart is that it does not require an physical instrument.

“We want this game to be embraced by music teachers, children and parents as a wonderful introduction to music,” says Yuval Kaminka, JoyTunes co-founder and CEO. “Children sometimes think of piano practice as boring, but as every music teacher knows, practice makes perfect. Piano Dust Buster uses engaging gaming dynamics, that are fun, interactive, and will keep them learning and practicing,” he adds.

Learning to play with Dust Buster

The current music catalogue includes a variety of songs with degrees of difficulty, from classical to pop favorites and folk tunes, including such classics as “Fur Elise,” “The Entertainer” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” The game also has a mode for beginners to help them learn how to read sheet music.

Kaminka says that “85 percent of adults surveyed wished they knew how to play an instrument. Now parents and other adults can ‘dust off’ their old pianos and recapture the magic of playing music.”

The iPad game is free for now, but a future revenue model is to sell additional content and songs for a fee.

JoyTunes, based in Kfar Saba, Israel, was founded in 2010. The team is made up of developers, musicians and music educators. The company is privately funded by Genesis Partners, Founder Collective, Joe Lonsdale and individual angel investors.

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In the year since its release, iOnRoad has won four awards, including a top design and engineering award at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. So far, half a million people have downloaded the free app for their Android phones, a number that is guaranteed to shoot up when the app becomes available for iPhone and iPad in the near future. And most importantly, said Atzmon, “I constantly get letters from people telling me that the app saved their life.”

Using augmented reality technology, iOnRoad pairs the usual smartphone hardware — GPS/location services, cameras, and accelerometers — with advanced algorithms that turn the phone into an intelligent road safety system that will warn drivers of dangerous situations on the road. Made for mounting on your car’s windshield (the iOnRoad site has links to Amazon and other online stores where you can buy mounting equipment cheap), iOnPhone’s main purpose is to keep you from getting into a collision.

For example, when you get too close to the car ahead of you, iOnRoad will issue a video warning in yellow if you’re a little too close, or in red if you’re way too close, along with an audio warning. The app also measures your “headway distance,” telling you how much time you have before you’re in danger. iOnPhone tells you how fast you’re going, and lets you know when you’re exceeding the speed limit. The app also gives you a “personal web dashboard,” on which you can play music, make a phone call, or check a map with a single touch and with minimal distraction from your driving.

Besides all that, iOnRoad lets you help out other drivers by taking photos of road hazards or bad drivers and uploading them to Facebook. The app assigns points for safe driving, and you can compete against other iOnRoad drivers for the title of safest driver. And, the app will also, if you ask it to, record your parking spot (both with GPS and a photo), and guide you back to your vehicle using a directing arrow on a map.

Atzmon, a computer graphics veteran, developed iOnRoad during the course of his work at his other company, called PicItUp, an alternative search engine that lets you easily find graphics and images online. PicItUp is still active, and has helped online retailers large and small enable customers to more easily find the products they are looking for.

iOnRoad’s safety features sound somewhat similar to another Israeli road safety innovation, called MobileEye, which also prevents crashes by detecting when you are getting too close to other vehicles on the road. But Atzmon believes that his implementation is better. “MobileEye is a hardware system, and needs to be installed in a car by a professional.

iOnRoad's smartphone display

But anyone can download our app and begin using it immediately, so it’s much more accessible.” And currently, iOnRoad is the only software-based solution of its kind. Atzmon, understandably, can’t cite statistics about how many accidents iOnRoad has actually prevented, but he suspects that the number is high. “Over the past year, we’ve seen how the number of per-driver crash warnings has gone down significantly, indicating that drivers who are using iOnRoad are driving more safely.”

Those increased safe driving practices could one day turn into insurance savings, as well. iOnRoad already uses a point system to rank driver behaviors, with the best drivers getting the highest points. Atzmon foresees a scenario where drivers can voluntarily opt in to an insurance company monitoring program that will provide discounts to safe drivers, based on the iOnRoad system. “Insurance premiums are high for everyone, because the good drivers have to carry the bad ones,” said Atzmon. “Why should the good drivers be punished? I think we would be able to decrease premiums for two thirds of all drivers using iOnRoad.”
…

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Via The Times of Israel
Photos courtesy of iOnRoad

An Israeli startup named RayV, which unveiled its technology in March 2012, now hopes to introduce the next generation of TV and VOD, based on cloud technology.

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No Buffering

RayV’s patented technology is called RayVPlayer and allows enhanced HDTV cloud streaming on all IP devices – from Connected TV’s to PC’s, tablets, and smartphones. According to the company, their technology enables users to watch television content, live or on demand, in high speed and with no buffering time.

In addition, users can browse, chat and interact simultaneously on their device, without disrupting the viewing experience.

“The communications infrastructure has improved greatly in the past 18 months, especially in Europe, and it’s now much easier to reach the billion smartphones and tablets in the world today,” explained Shlomi Cohen, CEO and president of RayV, while unveiling his company’s new technologies at the Israel Conference.

According to RayV, having many viewers watching the same show does not damage broadcast quality; it can actually enhance it, since with more viewers the broadcast signal is strengthened.

A Personalized Experience

The RayV Player can be used as a plugin embedded in a web page, as a standalone desktop application, or as a widget within another application.

The RayVPlayer

It allows users to watch up to four different channels simultaneously, all on the same screen with a split-screen feature, as well as a fast zapping bar that enables easy navigation between multiple channels.

The social aspect of RayV’s platform provides users the ability to connect with friends on Facebook while watching live TV streams, to retweet the channel to friends, to join chat rooms and play games with other viewers in real-time.

RayV’s Player is applicable for computers with Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems, smartphones based iOS or Androids, Game Consoles and Connected TVs.

Licensed Streaming

All content streamed through the player is licensed by RayV. In fact, the platform developed by the company is not intended for direct marketing to viewers. RayV is targeting companies that deliver video broadcasts, such as cellular companies and content providers.

RayV delivers end-to-end services, including infrastructure and customized players. It charges providers by the user and currently streams 200 channels to over seven million people in the United States and Europe.

RayV has recently announced that it will be signing a partnership with LG, to integrate the player in LG devices.

The Tel-Aviv based company is backed by Magma Venture Partners, Accel Partners and Ron Zuckerman. According to Israeli website Calcalist, the startup has raised approximately $40 million.

Photos by RayV

Yotpo is an Israeli startup that says it can sift through the maze of online reviews and find those most relevant for you, with reviews of people in your social network at the top.

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Personalization algorithm

After looking through all the reviews on an item, Yotpo’s algorithm gathers several opinions and creates targeted excerpts for users. Its filtering is based on parameters such as user rankings or the reviewer’s relation to the searcher, based on the user’s online social profile.

Bloggers who write reviews can integrate Yotpo into their website, so that their posts can be scanned by the company and brought to users’ attention.

Yotpo’s says its platform can also be used by eCommerce sites, as it allows them to show their potential buyers real-time, aggregated reviews from across the web – “giving them confidence in their purchase.”

“We reached a catch-22-situation in which you cannot lure people without the content, and the content cannot be created without people. Our solution to that problem was to create this platform, which will have couriers throughout blogs and eCommerce sites,” says Yotpo’s cofounder Omri Cohen.

Trusting the people we know

The Tel- Aviv based startup was founded 14 months ago by Tomer Tagrin and Omri Cohen, while both were still students at the University of Tel-Aviv and working from Tagrin’s apartment. Three months after launching the Yotpo, the startup received $800,000 in seed funding.

The company’s unusual name stands for “Your Opinion, The Public Opinion” and was started after an online purchase turned out to be disappointing. Tagrin tells NoCamels a group of friends pooled in resources to buy a photography-loving friend a camera.  ”It wasn’t as great as it sounded on the internet,” Tagrin says.

“We looked back to see where we got it wrong and realized we were listening to people we don’t really know,” Tagrin says. “We don’t really know if they are using a real profiles, if they are working for the seller, what they really know about cameras and if they are part of our social graph.”

Changing the exposure to data

While users can install this platform for free, the two Israeli entrepreneurs plan to monetize their company by using the data created on their platform. “Let’s say a user was looking for a skirt. Next time she will enter a site for clothes, the first thing she’ll see will be skirts. That is a valuable asset for those who make the big calls in a way to help them establish their social graph of top costumers,” Tagrin says.

The two say they are planning to dedicate the upcoming year to better understand the market and build a “content machine.”

Rammi Attias says he uses the power of groups to get prices to drop. The site automatically scans the market for the best deals and then negotiates further. If a hundred people are negotiating for the same service, Attias says, the provider is more likely to drop his price than for one person.

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Attias laughingly says he drew his inspiration from reading King Solomon’s famous monolog in chapter 4 of the book of Ecclesiastes: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor… A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Turning bills into a tolerable experience

“I thought about this idea about four years ago when I began to feel I’m losing control of my bills,” he told NoCamels NoCamels. “You give your credit card information to many companies who are your monthly service providers and between the different services it just becomes so much – it’s hard to keep track of.”

For Attias, it was only natural that people with a mutual interest understand the power of social networks for everyday needs. “I think social networks today are rebuilding the ability to reorganize and restore the power of the group,” he adds.

Registration to the site is free of charge. After signing in, users tell the site which bills they are interested in reducing. The site charges a 10 percent fee of the amount which the consumer saves on deals. “In other words, we don’t charge the consumer directly. However, since when a group forges – a price is struck that would not have been possible as an individual, we will charge 10 percent of the savings made possible by our website,” explains Attias.

So how much can a family save on their annual bills, using Better Two? According to Attias, “anywhere between NIS 20,000 to 40,000 thousand ($5400 -10,800) per year, for about 20 bills.”

The site is currently available only in Hebrew, but Attias aims to create a platform that will be accessible worldwide.

On the market since the beginning of the year, Better Two says they already have 5,500 registered users on their website.

Photo by brendan.wood

But marketing your product properly can definitely bring you closer to that goal.

A Tel Aviv-based startup called BuzzDoes offers a new mobile marketing platform that incentivizes users to promote apps.

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Spreading the word

By means of a simple code, Buzzdoes’ technology allows for the addition of a special button to the developer’s application. This button appears on the screen of the application, based on the developer’s design.

App users who click the Buzzdoes button can recommend the application to friends from their contact or Facebook lists. Their friends then receive the recommendation by email – and in the future it will be possible to send a SMS or WhatsApp message.

The Buzzdoes screen allows users to see which apps their friends are downloading, thus adding a social element to the application search process.

Earn by sharing

Users who share the app with their friends are automatically rewarded with points that the company says can later be exchanged for cash via PayPal. Users also have the option to donate these points to charity instead.

The service is able to detect when a new user downloads an app following a recommendation he received via BuzzDoes. Users are then rewarded for every download that occurs as a result of their recommendation.

Pay per download model

Developers are billed per actual download that results from the BuzzDoes recommendation of one of the users.

The BuzzDoes screen

The button operates as a drop-in software development kit (SDK) and can be uninstalled. The addition of the Buzzdoes’ SDK is free until the application actually receives new users. In that case, the developer must choose how much the users are going to be rewarded. The reward costs starts at $0.25 per user download and can be increased by the developer at any time. This reward will be given in the form of points to the user that recommended the app.

Assaf Kolirin, BuzzDoes founder and CEO, tells NoCamels: “Today’s app marketing methods are either expensive or inefficient; developers want useful and cost effective ways to distribute their apps.”

“I know the marketing challenges facing developers from my personal experience as an app developer in the past. I have learned how competitive it is and have therefore created an efficient solution for app exposure and distribution,” he adds. “Our apps’ social feature also serves as an advertisement area, giving a new revenue stream,” he adds.

Honored in France

With CTO Lina Bachar Kirshon as a co-founder, Buzzdoes was honored as the most promising start up in the “Lady Pitch Night” competition in France this past month. The competition was held by La Cantine (Silicon Sentier), Orange France, and Girls in Tech, which promotes entrepreneurship among women in Silicon Valley and in various countries.

Last year, Bachar Kirshon founded Buzzdoes together with Assaf Kolirin. The company unveiled its service at the Apps World conference in London, in November 2011. It has already secured $750,000 in seed funding from Proxima Ventures and angel investors in Israel and South America.