Herbert Samuel restaurant in Tel Aviv

Yesterday, we visited “Herbert Samuel” restaurant in Tel Aviv. The location is a bit strange, it is not in the restaurant “heart” of Tel-Aviv. You need to actually drive there. (Unless you are staying in David Inter-Continental).

Started with a few Tapas Options: Anchovy,  Squid with Beans and Tehina, Parma Prosciutt, and the wonderful bread. Very good dishes.

For main course we took: White Lasagna for me, Risotto for Mika. Again wonderful, though a bit heavy for our taste.

Highly recommended

Are Japanese Actually Jewish?

Japan probe features the following story :
Are Japanese actually descendants of one of the Jewish Lost tribes. This story re-surfaces once in a while, and there was even a book describing the similarities between the Shinto and Jewish religion.

I have a firm belief that it is not true. Although we don’t really know what ever happened to the 10 tribes, Jews appear here and there (India, Ethiopia, Myanmar), I don’t really think no book, or Hebrew writing exists in Japan.

It is a nice story, anyway.

Google's Android

Played a bit with Google’s Android Mobile Platform.
Looks OK, seems to work, the eclipse Plugin is OK, the simulator actually works, though I experienced a few glitches.

BUT, Can Google really have success with this one? I doubt it, iPhone User interface is 10 times better, Symbian is out there for a long time, Windows Mobile is De-Facto operating system for Smart phones. I believe the answer is NO!

And one more funny thing, if you search for “Android” in Google, the first result is “Open Handset Alliance” web site. Did they tweak it, so it looks like it is really an alliance?

Sprint and Clearwire cancel Joint WiMAX plans

All over the news (OK, the WiMAX related websites). Sprint and Clearwire have decided to cancel their joint WiMAX Partnership.
Is this the first step before Sprint cancels all WiMAX plans?

Who knows? But it currently damages all WiMAX related stocks, around 4% drop yesterday for both AIRN and ALVR.

Canon SD870 IS

Just bought a Canon SD870 IS camera. The camera is also called IXUS 860 IS, and in Japan IXY Digital 910IS.

Quite happy with it, though I am not too happy with the price I paid was way too expensive.
Amazon Japan sells it for 34,000 Yen (~ 310$), and we could find it for about 30,000 Yen (~270$). The price I paid in Israel is 1660 NIS (432$)!!!. Amazing, isn’t it.

And they say Japan is expensive.

Audio-Technica ATH-ACN7

Have recently acquired Audio-Technica’s active noise cancellation headphones, the ATH-ACN7.
List price is around 220$, but could get it for 130$ from Amazon. Was first thinking on buying the Bose headphones, but decided to save some money (for other gadgets).
This gadget improved my flights experience: airplane noise is bearable, and I can actually hear the music. Can sleep better, and feel more refreshed after long flights (most of my flights are longer than 10 hours).

Highly recommended!

Radiohead – In rainbows – free download

Listening to the new Radiohead album, “In Rainbows”. I read a report that although it is available for free, or rather, for the amount you would like to pay, most people still download it “illegally” using file sharing programs.

I decided on the following strategy:
1) Get it for free, which I did: Went to the Inrainbows website, committed on paying 0 pounds, and downloaded it for free. 2) If I like it (which I do), will go back there and either pay for the album or buy the Box set.

How much should I pay?

ITU approves WiMAX as new IMT-2000 Standard

A very “techy” title, but what does it really mean?
First, a few pointers:
ITU approval, WiMAX Forum Press Release, Unstrung news.

Unstrung explains:
“News that WiMax is now officially a member of the IMT-2000 family of 3G standards should make it easier for operators to deploy networks in markets where spectrum is allocated specifically to IMT technologies.
and
Initially this ruling will affect the so-called “UMTS Extension Bands” — frequencies at 2.5 GHz to 2.6 GHz. European regulators are due to start allocating this spectrum from January 2008.”

Overall, very good new for all the companies pushing WiMAX, and especially Intel.

disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. (I am working for a WiMAX equipment vendor).