Everyone knows that Israel is a nation of innovation and impressive developments. It is known as the “Start-up Capital of the World”. But do you know where to look for Israel in your daily life?
Look for Israel in your daily life in your car: Waze
Today, Waze is owned by Google and is one of the most popular map apps around. It started however as am Israeli invention. It was named “FreeMap Israel” and was a community project started in 2008 by programmer Ehud Shabta.
When it was decided it should be marketed to the masses, the name was changed to the known Waze. Google bought it five years later in 2013 and paid nearly 1 billion dollars. Next time you are using Waze to get somewhere, think of Israel!
Look for Israel in your daily life on your phone: Voicemail and cell phone cameras
Look for Israel in your daily life at the doctor’s office: PillCam
Known as “PillCam”, this ingenious invention allows you to swallow a pill and have medical images taken throughout the digestive system as it makes it’s way out. This medical device is a fantastic improvement upon other tests that involved either unclear images of the outside of the system or more invasive procedures like endoscopy and colonoscopy which require sedation or anesthesia.
The Pillcam has now been used millions of times, allowing for earlier detection of many issues including Chron’s Disease, colon cancer and others.
Look for Israel in your daily life in your garden: Drip Irrigation
If you are a gardener, chances are you’ve at some point had or at least wanted a drip irrigation system. The drip system was invented in Israel! Simcha Blass noticed a tree that had not been watered was growing well and then found a broken pipe was slowly feeding water to the tree. He and his son started working on a system that would allow all of their plants to be fed water the same way and in doing so completely changed modern agriculture.
The drip system helped make Israel more of a breadbasket as it allowed the most efficient watering of plants, utilizing Israel’s most precious resource in the best way possible.
Today you see drip systems around the world, and probably even somewhere in your own yard.
Look for Israel in your daily life on your computer: Firewalls and USB Flash Drives
Technology continues to be a bigger part of our every day lives. We pay bills online, our medical records are all electronic and the amount of personal data available electronically is staggering. With this increase came the increase of nefarious attempts to try to steal this information. So what is to be done?
In 1996, Gil Schwed and Nir Zuk released the first commercial firewall to prevent malware through their Israeli company, Checkpoint. The technology is now relied on throughout the world by businesses, medical providers, the government and individuals to maintain security and privacy.
USB flash drives, also known as thumb drives, have become ubiquitous with computing. It is simple to just have a small thumb drive and have it hold countless amounts of information, right in the palm of your hand. Prior to the thumb drive, floppy discs were the way to hold information. Floppy disks were unable to hold much and were easily damaged. In 1999, Israeli inventors were awarded a patent for the flash drive and it immediately was a hit.
To understand how much of an improvement this was, a floppy disk could hold about one mp3 song file. A 512gb flash drive that is literally the size of your thumb holds about 77,300 songs. Thank Israeli ingenuity!
We wait to welcome you to Israel so you can understand the people and place that inspires such amazing ideas! Contact our friendly tour operators soon so you can begin planning your adventure!
