Introducing Israel in the 21st century

ISRAEL21c is a nonpolitical, nonprofit organization that informs Americans about 21st century Israel, its people, its institutions and its contributions to global society.

ISRAEL21c uses a range of communication channels to aggregate and disseminate compelling information to the American public about the Israel that exists beyond the pervasive imagery of conflict that characterizes so much of western media reporting. Our goal is straightforward: to strengthen the vibrant and enduring partnership between the United States and Israel, and between Americans and Israelis.

ISRAEL21c is a Silicon Valley-based organization with a national scope and reach. Its Board members and network of supporters include a diverse group of American business and community leaders whose lives have been focused on the advancement of efforts and innovations that improve our way of life in the United States and around the globe.

So check it out at Israel21c !

Israeli startup turns organic waste into energy

After you've enjoyed a tangy olive, don't throw away the pit - it could soon be providing a clean, green answer to heat and electricity production, thanks to technology developed by Israeli start-up Genova, now setting up its first pilot plant.

Source: Israel21C

The company, which was founded in September 2004, is headquartered in the northern town of Karmiel. The drive takes you up through a lush, verdant landscape, a fitting introduction to Genova's environmental philosophy of "waste not, want not." Biomass - organic waste - is generated as a by-product of many types of industry worldwide, such as forestry, and crop and livestock farming. The biomass is generally transported at great cost to a landfill to rot, or it is burned; both rotting and burning create methane, a greenhouse gas which plays a major role in global warming. However, if harnessed properly, methane can be a very valuable source of energy.

With increasing concern over the supply of fossil fuels for electricity generation, as well as the environmental implications of burning coal and oil, why not do something useful with biomass, thought Dr Yuri Wladislawsky, an engineer and the founder of the company, who emigrated to Israel from Tblisi, Georgia, in 1996.

Wladislawsky decided to focus first on the biomass produced from the olive presses that are a feature of the Middle Eastern landscape, "because olive waste is difficult waste to process because of the pits," explains Yonat Grant, an industrial engineer who is the CEO of the company, which has two other employees as well as Wladislawsky and was set up within the Misgav Technology Center incubator, where it will stay for another year. If the company can succeed with olive waste, she says, then any other biomass will be simple in comparison.

First, the olive waste is heated and dried and then it is introduced into the reactor. Here it undergoes two processes, pyrolysis and gasification, which involve the biomass being heated to 800 degrees centigrade, at which temperature its molecules break down. A combination of high-calorie gases including methane and carbon monoxide are produced which, because they are lighter than air, flow upwards through a pipe into a standard gas turbine to generate electricity in the usual way. The other by-product is coke, which can be turned into the active type of coke that can be sold for use to power air conditioners or as filters for various substances.

Harnessing the power of biomass is not a new industry and there are a number of companies around the world who are attempting to show that biomass can replace some of the fossil fuels we use, but Genova's technology employs a novel technique, which the company prefers not to disclose, for maintaining the high temperatures needed for the process. This technique means that "only ten percent of the electricity we produce is used to power the [olive waste conversion] process," Granot told ISRAEL21c. "The process is 90% efficient. Our competitors are only 50% efficient, at best." Thus, where the cost of a kilowatt/hour is 9 cents for the company's competitors, Genova's cost is only 2 cents per kw/h.

This high efficiency and low cost has attracted much attention, piquing the interest of the Israel Electric company, Israel's sole electricity provider. "Israel Electric is looking for alternative sources of energy, not for economic reasons but for environmental ones, for society," says Granot. Israel Electric has added a $60,000 investment to the NIS 1.4 million (approx $300,000) that the company receives from the government-run Misgav incubator over the two years of its stay. Genova will be relocating to Misgav shortly.

Genova already has a fully-working prototype to prove that the patent-pending concept works, and is now planning its first pilot project, a 200 kw/hour plant in the Druze village of Julis in northern Israel. The plan is that olive waste from Julis' olive oil press will be fed into Genova's reactor and produce enough electricity to power the press, so it will be self-sustaining.

"For 8000 hours, which is one year of production, we need 1600 tons of waste," explains Granot. An olive press usually produces waste which is one-third of the weight of the olive oil produced, so 1600 tonnes of waste would be produced from a press making 4800 tons of olive oil. The press in Julis is a little smaller than this, so some waste will be brought in from other presses.

"The plan is to build [the pilot reactor] for the next olive season, which is September/October 2006," says Granot. Genova is now looking to raise $1.25 million to pay for the pilot project and for marketing and sales of the reactor, which could be on the market in 2007.

There is an interested investor in California, famous for its wine industry and where environmentally friendly electricity production is being encouraged and subsidized, who asked to see if Genova's reactor works with vineyard waste products.

"We tested it with wine waste from the Carmel Mizrachi vineyard, and we proved it works with wine," says Granot. "For the US, we have proved that we can do it for any kind of biomass - wine, corn, sunflowers."

There is also interest coming from Australia, which has a flourishing olive oil industry. Genova, whose focus is on small reactors, not larger than 200 kw/h, with processing of the biomass on site to avoid transport costs, will first target Europe. "There are 2000 olive presses in Spain, for example," says Granot. And then there are Greece, Italy and all the other olive oil-producing countries, where governments are actively encouraging biomass conversion. Genova will sell them a 200 kw/h reactor for around $300,000, which the press will earn back in less than four years.

"It will pay for itself," says Granot.

So the next time you have a martini, hang onto the olives - they could be heating your house.

Combined value of Israel's top 100 companies grows 20 percent in 2005

According to a recent report by Dunn & Bradstreet, the combined value of Israel's top 100 companies grew 20 percent to $100 billion in the first nine months of 2005, with Teva once again heading the list of the most financially sound companies in the country, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Teva was followed by Bank Hapoalim, Israel Electric Corporation, Israel Chemicals and Bank Leumi, respectively, in the top five rankings. Israel Corporation took sixth place, while Oil Refineries (Bazan), Amdocs, Bezeq and IDB Development Corp. completed the top 10 list."The majority of holding companies are publicly traded and owe their growth to the continued positive trend in the capital markets, said Reuven Kuvent, general manager, Dunn & Bradstreet Israel. "Real estate companies are enjoying a reawakening in the market and their performance was boosted by increased participation of Israeli firms in the international market.”

RFID Production To Increase 25-Fold In Four Years

By far the biggest RFID segment will be supply chain management, the In-Stat survey says.
Source: Informationweek

SAN FRANCISCO — The number of RFID tags produced worldwide is expected to increase more than 25 fold between 2005 and 2010, reaching 33 billion, according to market research company In-Stat.

Total production of RFID tags in 2005 reached more than 1.3 billion, according to a recent report.

RFID production will vary widely by industry segment for several years — for example, RFID has been used in automotive keys since 1991, with 150 million units now in use, a quantity that greatly exceeded other segments until recently, according to In-Stat (Scottsdale, Ariz.).

"By far the biggest RFID segment in coming years will be supply chain
management," said Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst, in a statement. "This segment
will account for the largest number of tags/labels from 2005 through 2010."

Nogee added that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, spurred this projected growth by mandating that its top 100 — then later its top 300 — suppliers begin employing RFID.

According to In-Stat, its recent report on the subject, "RFID Tags And Chips: Opportunities in the Second Generation," concludes that the spread and use of RFID in most sectors will be largely determined by cost, which is dropping quickly for both RFID tags and labels.

The report also finds that pharmaceutical companies are investigating using RFID tags to reduce counterfeiting and black market sales, and that courts and governments around the world are currently in the process of examining RFID-related privacy issues, according to the company.

In-Stat said the report also contains estimates and five-year forecasts for the number of tags produced and revenue earned from tag sales, broken down into several segments. In addition, the company said, the report contains estimates and forecasts for tag/label average selling price for each segment.

Google's Shadow Payroll Is Not Such a Secret Anymore

FEELING depressed because you missed out on Google's stock bonanza? Not to worry. Just get on the company's shadow payroll.

Source: NY Times

Hundreds of thousands of people have essentially done just that by starting blogs, forums or other informational sites and getting paid for posting ads on Google's behalf. And while the money they earn might not be enough for them to buy, say, a share of Google's stock, such revenues are growing.

The trickle-down effect from Google does not stop at fledgling entrepreneurs. A growing number of rank-and-file contributors to Web sites are also profiting. Consider Digital Point Solutions, a software company in San Diego, which publishes an online forum (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/) frequented by about 15,000 users.

Any one of them who starts a new forum discussion topic receives half of the advertising revenue paid to the site by Google for ads on the front page of that topic section. (The discussion's creator then splits his share with others who post messages.)

Google does not actually advertise on the Digital Point site. Rather, through Google's AdSense program, it places ads on the forum, similar to the ads that appear next to search results on Google.com. Google scans the information on the forum's pages, then posts related ads. If the discussion is about computer hardware, for instance, ads for DVD drives might appear.

Google pays Digital Point about $10,000 a month, depending on how many people view or click on those ads, said Shawn D. Hogan, the owner and chief technology officer of Digital Point.

Mr. Hogan said he started the revenue-sharing approach in 2004 "as kind of a marketing gimmick."

"But everyone seemed to think it was a cool idea," he said. "I saw a lot of other sites doing the same thing maybe six months later."

Mr. Hogan said it was difficult to say whether the financial incentives had made the forum's participants more active, because its growth rate was about the same before and after it started paying users. Either way, the payoff is meager. "In the best-case scenario, someone might make $50 a month, so they're definitely not quitting their jobs to do this," he said. "But it might be enough to buy a nice dinner."

One area of concern, Mr. Hogan said, was whether the forum's participants would skew their postings to earn more money. For instance, since advertisers in certain categories, like sexual-performance drugs, pay much more to place their ads on Google and its affiliated sites, you might expect technology discussions to randomly veer in that direction.

"But that hasn't happened, thankfully," Mr. Hogan said. "Probably because there isn't that much revenue in it for them."

That could change, as more marketers adopt this approach, which Yahoo also offers. Google's advertising network sales, which come largely from its AdSense advertisers, reached $675 million in the third quarter of 2005, the last period for which Google reported results. That figure was up 76 percent from a year earlier. AdSense generates slightly less revenue than Google's primary revenue engine, its search Web sites, which sold about $885 million worth of ads in the third quarter of 2005, a 115 percent jump from the previous year.

Google.com and the company's foreign search sites contribute more to Google's bottom line than AdSense, because for every dollar the company brings in through AdSense and other places that distribute its ads, it pays roughly 78.5 cents back to sites like Digital Point that display the ads.

But in some ways, search advertising has a more limited horizon, since the number of advertisements a company can display is limited by the number of searches its users conduct. Internet users continue to increase their reliance on search sites, and Google in particular, but the rate of growth is in the single digits.

By contrast, millions of small sites have not yet signed up for Google's AdSense program, which was introduced in 2002. AdSense quickly gained a following among bigger companies with an online presence, like the Weather Channel, as a way to supplement their advertising deals and populate more obscure pages with paid ads. But as more small sites use the Internet to post photos, journals and other material, the number of pages that can carry new Google ads is growing quickly.

That's what makes AdSense one of Google's most compelling long-term bets, said Charlene Li, an online media analyst with Forrester Research. "I've called Google the one-trick pony for a long time, and for the most part they still are," Ms. Li said. "But they really see AdSense as the next frontier."

To that end, the company has refined the program significantly, with various features intended to attract more advertisers and publishers. For instance, as of late last year anyone who created a blog with Google's Blogger service was automatically enrolled in the AdSense program.

"Before that, it was quite painful to figure out," said Gokul Rajaram, the business product manager for AdSense, "so over the last few months we've seen a sharp uptick in bloggers using AdSense."

For AdSense advertisers, some of the more significant improvements began last June, when Google started allowing marketers to select vast groups of sites on which to advertise, as Paramount Pictures did last year when it chose 100 small sites with hip-hop-oriented content to promote its movie "Hustle & Flow."

Late last year, Google also gave advertisers the ability to display graphical ads on sites within the AdSense network of publishers, as well as the ability to pay different (typically lower) prices for AdSense ads than those available on Google.com. The company will not disclose how many advertisers have joined the program - "thousands" is all it says - but analysts said marketers were quickly warming to it, thanks in part to the recent upgrades.

More advertisers, of course, mean more money for publishers, many of whom would simply not publish if it were not for AdSense, Ms. Li of Forrester said. "Before, if I wanted to put advertising on my site, I'd have to hire ad salespeople, process orders - there's no way," she said. "This has taken away a huge barrier in publishing and made it viable for people to make a couple dollars, or thousands of dollars."

Israel: Waterworks for the World?

With decades of experience managing this precious natural commodity, it hopes to become the Silicon Valley of water-management tech

Source: BusinessWeek online

For decades, water has been an extremely precious commodity in Israel. And over the years, the Jewish state has developed numerous technologies to deal with severe water shortages.ֲ Already, 60% of the country's sewage water is recycled, and in September, the world's largest desalination plant was opened along Israel's southern Mediterranean coast. Now, new ventures are sprouting up to develop technologies for a global market where demand is growing rapidly. Israel is looking to exploit its expertise and become a major player in the global market for water technology.

"The water industry is where the telecommunications industry was 20 years ago, highly regulated and on the verge of a major change," says Ori Yogev, chairman of Waterfront, a newly formed industry lobby made up of academic institutions, the state-owned water utility, and private companies. His goal is to turn Israel into water technology's equivalent of Silicon Valley, with $5 billion in water-related exports by the end of the decade.

Last year, the global water industry chalked up sales of $400 billion and is growing annually at a healthy 7% clip.ֲ But the industry's technology segment is growing at double that pace and already accounts for a quarter of all revenues. Israeli companies that focus on desalination, drip irrigation, and water purification witnessed a 30% jump in export sales in 2005, to $810 million. Other global players in the water business include French giants Veolia Environnement (NYSE:VE - News ) and Suez (NYSE:SZE - News ).

A RISING TIDE.
The huge potential has already started attracting the attention of multinational corporations.ֲ In November, 2004, General Electric (GE ) paid $1.1 billion for U.S. based Ionics, a leading player in the desalination and water reuse and recycling fields. Two months earlier, Germany's Siemens (SI ) acquired U.S. Filter Corp. for $1 billion as part of its strategy to expand in the water and wastewater-treatment area.

Israel is already a world leader in desalination.ֲ A $200 million plant built by Israel Desalination Enterprises and France's Veolia Water is supplying drinking water to much of Israel's southern Negev region. Water produced at a string of desalination plants planned for the Mediterranean coast is expected to meet 15% of the country's needs in 2008.ֲ

IDE has developed a technology called reverse osmosis, which produces a cubic meter of water for about 60 cents, substantially lower than existing plants.ֲ "We're now seeing annual growth of 30% to 40% in the desalination market due to demand in places like the U.S., India, China, and Spain," says Avshalom Felber, president and CEO of IDE. The Israeli company recently won contracts to supply desalination plants to Spain and India.

BIG DRIPS.
Israeli companies are also big players in the field of drip irrigation, controlling about half of the estimated $1 billion to $1.5 billion global market. Local experts note that drip irrigation -- a method used to water crops in arid and semi-arid climates -- is used on 60% of the agricultural land in Israel, while the U.S. figure is only 6%.

"We've witnessed 15% annual growth in the past four years and expect the trend to continue," says Erez Meltzer, president and CEO of Netafim, the world leader in drip irrigation, with 2005 revenues of $350 million.ֲ But the real explosion in demand, as Meltzer sees it, will happen when water subsidies for agriculture in countries like the U.S. and Australia are phased out or eliminated.

The big change in the past few years is the establishment of dozens of startups focusing on the development of new water technologies. The process is reminiscent of the early 1990s, when Israel's high-tech industry took off with the backing of a nascent venture-capital industry.

PLANTING SEEDS.
"We're starting to see substantial deal flow of startups focusing on water-related technologies and interest in investing in this sector," says Nir Belzer, senior partner at Millennium Materials Technologies Fund. The Tel Aviv-based fund is in the process of raising $100 million for its third offering focused on water, energy, and environmental ventures.

In the past, a lack of exit options led venture funds to steer clear of the water sector. But Belzer believes this is rapidly changing with the growing interest of huge corporations and stock markets in water technology. On Dec. 5, Amiad Filtration Systems raised $11.4 million on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

The Israeli government is also taking a more positive view. The chief scientist of Israel's Industry & Trade Ministry has decided to fund water projects at two of the country's 24 incubators for seed-stage ventures. Up to now, funding has focused on software, telecommunications, biotech, and life sciences.

COOPERATIVE VENTURE.
In addition, the state-owned Mekorot water utility has agreed to serve as a testing ground for new technologies.

"We'll identify the needs, test the technology, and commit to purchase," says Mekorot Board Chairman Booky Oren. This kind of close cooperation is expected to open a lot of doors for many of the startups. Mekorot is already testing about a dozen new locally developed technologies.

One startup that has already received a local stamp of approval is Atlantium, a company based in Bet Shemesh that plans to start exporting its novel technology for disinfecting municipal and industrial waste in 2006. "We're looking for $6 million in sales next year and a three-fold increase in 2007," predicts Atlantium President and CEO David Waxman. He bases his upbeat forecast on the growing demand for nonchemical solutions in the $5 billion global market for water disinfecting.

Israel hopes to become a key player in the fast-growing global market for new technologies such as those developed by Atlantium. It won't be easy, as local companies will no doubt face increasing competition from huge corporations entering the field. Success will likely depend largely on close cooperation between the government and the private sector in marketing Israel's years of expertise.

Roof Wanted for Google Maps Ad

GOOGLE'S online satellite pictures may have opened a new area for advertisers to boldly go where none have gone before.

Source: The Inquirer

Call Target immediately and tell them you have a rooftop just waiting to be painted—for just a measly $10,000 or so. You see, it looks like advertisers have realized that with Google’s online satellite pics on Google Maps, there is a completely untapped space for more eyes to see their logos. And though this (perhaps fake) pic is of a Target store, why not lease out your own rooftop? Or even a bald head. It does give me a creepy feeling to think that this is the next step in our over-advertised world, but only until I start thinking of all the cash that’s gonna be rolling in once I join the Google AdRooftop network.

Have a better look at your health - from the inside!

The PillCam, a video capsule that patients swallow, helps doctors evaluate gastrointestinal conditions
Once swallowed with water, the PillCam takes about 2,600 color pictures inside the body. After 20 minutes, the doctor can evaluate the video images and make a diagnosis.
Source: Houston Chronicle

Almost 50 years ago, Catherine Kent scratched hot dogs off her list of favorite foods.

She was 22 and pregnant, and hot dogs caused a burning in her throat, gas and an unpleasant aftertaste. It seemed a minor sacrifice until the list of proscribed foods grew to the point where only the blandest spared her a case of heartburn.

"No soda. Nothing with tomato sauce, though fresh tomatoes were all right. Definitely no hot or spicy foods, which was too bad. It got so I couldn't eat much of anything without a problem," said Kent, 71 and retired as an office assistant from Shell Oil.

For decades, Kent dosed herself — sometimes four times a day — with bicarbonate of soda and over-the-counter antacids. Those offered effective but short-lasting relief.

In 1994, she saw Dr. Krishnamurthy Shivshanker, a clinical associate professor of gastroenterology at the Baylor College of Medicine. He inserted a thin, flexible, lighted scope down Kent's throat and found her esophagus irritated. It did not, however, show signs of Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous condition that afflicts 700,000 people in the U.S.

"We are seeing increased incidence of Barrett's. It used to be 20th or 22nd on the list of cancers. Now it is eighth or ninth," Shivshanker said.

Kent is one of 19 million Americans with chronic heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux disease who feel a burning sensation behind the breastbone or in the neck and throat. The discomfort is caused by stomach acid refluxing or splashing into the esophagus. Kent takes Protonix, one drug in a large, heavily advertised category called proton pump inhibitors, to ease the condition.

No medications exist to reverse Barrett's esophagus, though treating the underlying GERD is thought to slow the disease. Kent, like others with GERD, is urged to avoid fatty foods, alcohol and other irritants.

Last year, Shivshanker added a new, noninvasive weapon to his gastroenterological arsenal. Instead of the traditional endoscopy, with some patients he uses the PillCam, a plastic capsule about the size of a large vitamin pill that is fitted with video cameras at each end.

The patient is not sedated, as in an endoscopy, but simply swallows the pill with water. It progresses down the esophagus and takes about 2,600 color pictures at a rate of 14 per second. After 20 minutes, the doctor evaluates the video images and makes a diagnosis. The disposable capsule is passed naturally, usually within 24 hours.

Kent underwent the brief procedure in September: "I popped in the office, I popped the pill, then I popped out again."

Shivshanker found no evidence of Barrett's esophagus and no further damage to the tissue in Kent's throat. She remains on Protonix and continues to watch her diet.

"The patient does not take off time from work and does not need to be driven, and yet the results are as good as an endoscopic exam. It could not be more convenient," Shivshanker said.
"I'm 71 years old, and I had no idea you could swallow a pill and have pictures taken of your insides," Kent said. "They've come up with so many things during my life."

Put your business on TV

Think it's tough getting local advertisers to embrace Internet advertising? Try TV advertising. The complexities and cost of producing a video and buying air time are too daunting for most small business owners. Spot Runner, a start-up that comes out of its closed beta today, is aiming to change that. It's developed a unique self-serve, web-based ad-buying system for TV. Think AdWords, but for TV ads.

Source: Silicon Beat
The service works like this: The local business owner goes to the Spot Runner site, picks a business category and then chooses from among thousands of generic, pre-taped video ads. Each ad comes with pre-written voice-over text that can be customized (see screen shots below). Once the business has picked an ad, it tells Spot Runner how much it wants to spend on air time and which media markets it wants the ad to run in. Spot Runner comes back with a media plan. It then completes the production work of the customized ad, buys the air time and gets the video into the hands of all the pertinent networks. Later, it sends the advertiser a report of where all the ads ran and when.



Co-founder David Waxman says the advantage of Spot Runner over a regular ad agency is lower cost and the speed and ease of the self-serve site. The professionally produced ad costs about $500, compared to several thousand dollars otherwise. The airtime itself is extra, of course, and Spot Runner takes a commission. Waxman envisions the service opening new doors for small businesses that maybe never would have considered TV advertising before.

"There's too much friction for a local business to get on TV,'' he told us
yesterday. "We wanted to make TV available and let these guys compete on TV. Our mission is to use the Internet to put the power of TV in the hands of
everyone.''

Waxman says the ads can show up anywhere that a regular ad agency can place them, such as reputable cable networks Discovery Channel and ESPN. "It's definitely not second-tier stuff,'' he says. "There's no media that is inaccessible.''

The business model is straightforward. SpotRunner charges for each ad video and takes a commission on the media buy.

The commercials are slickly produced, and offer a quality that would otherwise be unaffordable for many businesses. But the cookie-cutter template concept may not appeal to everyone. Waxman notes that customers can seek to have exclusive use of an ad in a certain market - you wouldn't want your pizza parlor ad to look the same as your competitor's. Outside of their markets, businesses shouldn't care if a pizza parlor across the country is using the same general ad.

We asked if businesses would be able to supply their own video. Not now, Waxman said. But he implied that would come. (UPDATE: Turns out companies can supply their own video.)

The company is based in LA, although Waxman is based up here in the East Bay. His co-founder is Nick Grouf. The two of them built and sold two other companies, People PC (it went to Earthlink in 2002) and Firefly Network (sold to Microsoft in 1998). SpotRunner has taken a $10 million round of funding from Battery Ventures, Index Ventures and an unnamed third investor.

Israeli device to help Diabetic patients

Integrity Applications' GlucoTrack is a non-invasive, triple cross-checking device for measuring blood glucose levels.Diabetes now affects approximately 7% of the world’s population. As of today, over 190 million people have diabetes, and the disease is spreading worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) says the proportion of diabetics has grown substantially worldwide, and the number of patients in the Middle East also is expected to double by 2025.

Source: Globes

Diabetics have to cope with multiple daily injections to measure their blood sugar level, and balance it accordingly. The process is painful, uncomfortable, bothersome, and in some cases causes paralysis in the fingertips. Because of the pain of injections, many diabetics forego measuring their glucose level as often as they should, which results in a cumulative imbalance, complications, and a high cost to their health.

Anyone who personally knows a diabetic knows that they and their families have for years yearned for an elegant non-invasive solution that would relieve them of the painful routine of repeated injections. Numerous non-invasive devices have been developed over the years, including wrist monitors, which promise to solve the problem. But the good news has turned out to be false hope, because the measurements were imprecise and the devices had to be frequently recalibrated, ultimately forcing the manufacturer to recall them.

The result is a growing market need for a non-invasive device for diabetics. A group of Israeli entrepreneurs spotted this market niche and founded Integrity Applications Ltd. in September 2001. The company set a goal of developing an innovative, reliable and accurate non-invasive device for measuring blood glucose levels. The result is GlucoTrack.

Integrity Applications co-founder CEO Avner Gal, who is a candidate for the entrepreneur of the year award 2005/06, says one of GlucoTrack’s unique features is its reliance on integrating three independent technologies.

“Globes”: Why are three separate measuring technologies needed?

Gal: “The human body is a complex target, as well as that demands extreme accuracy. We understood from the outset that using only one measuring technology would be inadequate. Optimal accuracy can only be achieved by using a number of separate and cross-checking measuring methods. It should be noted that we have a US registered patent for the combination of the three technologies and the processing algorithm that supports them. We’re now registering the patent in other countries.”

Are there competitors to GlucoTrack?

“Of course. Both the clear need for a non-invasive measuring solution and the huge market ($6-9 billion a year) translate into a situation where everyone wants to be, and reap the fruits. Dozens of companies sprang up using optical measuring technologies, which failed in practice. As of today, ten companies worldwide are trying to develop a solution, but we’re unaware of any product likely to reach the market in the foreseeable future.”

What makes GlucoTrack different? What’s its advantage over similar products?

“In addition to its high level of accuracy, our device has a huge advantage in calibration. Whereas similar devices require frequent recalibration, ranging from every few hours to every few days, GlucoTrack only has to be recalibrated once a month, by a simple, easy-to-use way. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, our product is the only one on the market that makes spot checks. In other words, the results appearing on the screen reflect glucose levels at the time of the measurement, just like a conventional glucometer. The next-generation device will include both spot checks and continuous measurements.”

Have regulators approved the product?

“The European regulator has approved formal procedures, and it is now undergoing approval procedures at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The next stage is to gather clinical data at several sites worldwide, after which formal approval will come.”

At what stage of development are you?

“Two generations of prototypes have been developed so far, and their results in preliminary clinical trials are very promising. The final model has already been developed, and we now making 100 units for official clinical trials. We expect a market launch in Israel and Europe in the second half of 2006, and a year later in the US.”

How much money has been invested in developing GlucoTrack?

“Almost $2 million has been invested so far, without taking into account, the months of work without pay, or only token pay.”

That’s not a lot, compared with investments in competing products. How do you explain it?

“We were, and are, very modest, calculating, and scrupulous about small and large expenditures alike since founding the company. We took care to honor investors’ money, and not go out and party at their expense. Money invested until now has gone solely to net R&D needs. In other words, our approach was to avoid reinventing the wheel, and to concentrate on applications.”

What characterizes your investors? Will you seek more investors?

“Bucking normal practice, Integrity Applications focuses on private investors, and we intend to continue this approach. We’re now holding another financing round of $1.5 million, which ought to be our last round. We prefer strategic investors with strategic capabilities.”

New laws needed for nanotech safety?

WASHINGTON--The risks posed by nanomaterials remain largely unknown, but now is the time for the U.S. government to begin drafting regulations addressing the tiny particles, a former Environmental Protection Agency official said.

Source: (click for PDF), J. Clarence Davies, who served as an EPA assistant administrator in President George H.W. Bush's administration, suggested that new laws tailored to such products are the surest way to protect health and environmental safety, boost consumer confidence and allow the young industry to flourish.

Insufficient government oversight could hinder consumer confidence and lead to a "public rejection of the technology," Davies said at a press conference here on Wednesday.

Davies' report, called "Managing the Effects of Nanotechnology," was produced by Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, for which he is now a senior adviser. The nanotech project runs under the auspices of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a nonpartisan research group established by Congress as part of the Smithsonian Institution.

Nanotechnology involves work with chemicals at an unimaginably small scale, yielding substances that measure between one and 100 nanometers. (For comparison's sake, a human hair measures about 100,000 nanometers in width.)

Scientists in recent years have been exploring ways to use the technology to concoct fumeless paint, detect cancer and even cure smelly feet, among other things. The National Science Foundation estimates that by 2015, the global marketplace for items that use the technology will reach $1 trillion and the industry will employ 2 million workers.
But as progress zooms ahead, a number of industry groups and the U.S. government have acknowledged that not enough is known about the potential health risks carried by the tiny particles.

Existing laws are inadequate to address such risks because they make "a lot of assumptions that don't apply to nanotechnology," Davies said. One example, he said, lies in the Toxic Substances Control Act, passed by Congress in 1976 with the intention of preventing the marketing of potentially harmful new chemicals without proper oversight. Because that law bases some of its requirements on the chemicals' weight and volume, he said, it becomes impractical where minute nanomaterials are concerned.

In the short run, it may be possible to adapt laws such as the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act--all of which regulate potentially risky materials--to nanotechnology. But "patching up the existing framework is going to be a much more difficult job than starting over again," Davies said.

Extent of risk
No research has been able to conclude that, without a doubt, nanomaterials cause health risks. Some researchers, after experimenting on mice, have speculated that build-up of nanoparticles in the human body through inhalation or other exposure could lead to health problems. Many researchers believe the greatest risk is for people who will work with nanomaterials, rather than the general public who use the products.

Businesses are wary that unfounded fears could lead U.S. politicians and regulators to embrace the so-called "precautionary principle," or the idea that new technologies should be banned or regulated unless they can be proven safe.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said (click for PDF) that production of nanoparticles is limited and that existing laws are sufficient to protect the public.

But Davies suggests in his report a broad framework for a law governing nanotechnology products. First, the government agency in charge, likely the EPA, would need to establish strict testing and reporting requirements, preferably aligned with international standards. All nanomaterial makers would have to submit a "sustainability plan" detailing any risks with their products and what makes those risks "acceptable." Finally, the government agency would review that plan and rule on whether the product in question could go to market.

David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, was quick to note that the document "is not an advocacy piece for new legislation." He did add, though, that in the coming decades, "the idea of a new law is not a radical proposition."

Congress has already begun exploring the issue of nanotechnology safety. In November, the U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee convened an exploratory hearing at which Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, a New York Republican, said further research on the topic should be an immediate priority. The Environmental Protection Agency, for its part, has not yet had a chance to review the report, Susan Hazen, the acting assistant administrator for the agency's Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, said in a statement sent to CNET News.com.

Hazen said the EPA is "moving expeditiously, but cautiously, on this emerging issue." She added that existing laws provide the agency with "a strong framework for ensuring that industrial nanoscale materials are safely manufactured and used." The agency is working with a wide range of interested parties to ensure that the technology is developed in a responsible way and that it produces benefits, she said.

The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, which oversees the work of about a dozen federal agencies on the topic, said it, too, was unconvinced of the need for new regulations, adding that "not enough is known to make wise and informed decisions about regulatory needs at this time."

Up and runnning: Newsvine - The first news social network

Newsvine is a news bookmarking-social network-digg kind of service. I am mentioning the site since it's the first serious try to create one big blogging network based on news analysis and commentary. The great majority of stories you read on major news sites come from The Associated Press. Newsvine gets its articles from both a wide array of Assosiated Press sites like CNN, MSNBC, ESPN (hundreds or thousands per day) and Newsvine authors as well as any story from around the web that a Newsvine user finds interesting.

As a registered user one can post his own articles, comment on others and start a chat room. Users are encouraged to write their own columns and recieve 90% of the ad-revenue generated from their work. There are no ads displayed in the beta stage of the service.

Sounds great. Now what?

Newsvine is currently running on a beta version that I was invited to test, but if you'd like to check it out, just leave me a comment and I'll shoot you an invitation.
you can check out my Newsvine page here.

TI puts M-Systems flash drives into car audio solution

Texas Instruments performance audio manager Dave Maples: DOC H-series presents an attractive, easy-to-integrate storage solution.

Source: Globes

M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers (Nasdaq: FLSH) has announced that Texas Instruments (TI) has integrated M-Systems' DOC H-Series embedded flash drive (EFD) into its high-speed encode and playback solution for car audio applications.
With its high speed encode and playback solution, Texas Instruments provides a comprehensive software suite running on an Aureus DA710 audio digital signal processor (DSP) to provide a feature-rich, cost-effective software and hardware solution for automotive entertainment applications.

M-Systems says that its DOC H-Series EFDs provide a highly reliable and robust embedded memory solution to answer the growing demands for solid-state storage within automotive audio systems. According to the company, the unique combination of DiskOnChip EFD architecture, MLC NAND flash media and M-Systems' TrueFFS flash management technology results in a cost effective, high-performance product with a high level of reliability suited for the demanding profile of automotive audio applications.

"The automotive audio and infotainment market is demonstrating a dramatic increase in demand for solid-state multimedia-related storage. Cars' dashboards are essentially being reinvented as a hub of quality multimedia entertainment," said Dave Maples, Performance Audio Manager, TI. "For developers of such car audio systems, a long product life span as well as ruggedness, endurance, high performance and reliability are essential requirements. DOC H-series presents an attractive, easy-to-integrate storage solution, making it a perfect pairing partner to our DA710-based high-speed encode and playback development platform for car audio."

A good year: 99 companies raised $890m in 2005

Fortune smiled on Israeli high tech in 2005.

Source: Globes
The improvement in economic and security was a favorable factor. A window of opportunity for Nasdaq issues emerged, despite the draconian provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US. Foreign companies made quite a few acquisitions in Israel, and venture capital funds expands their activities here. Benchmark Capital finished raising $250 million, and Sequoia Capital finished raising $200 million. Greylock opened an office in Israel headed by Erez Ofer, and Venrock Associates opened an office led headed by Ohad Finkelstein. Other new offices included those opened by BlueRun Ventures, run by Yossi Hasson; Vantage Point Venture Partners (Shai Beilis and Nir Linchevsky); and Canaan Partners (Izhar Shay).


On the other hand, the survival of the fittest process wreaked havoc among funds in Israel over the past year. Concord Ventures failed to raise a follow-on fund for the second straight time, the partners in Israel Seed Partners decided to dissolve their fund and go their separate ways, and Evergreen Partners secondary fund Harvest Fund and Tamar Technology Venture Fund dropped out of the race.

Investment boutique LEAP Capital , managed by former Bear Stearns managing director for Israel Gerald Segal, has conducted the first study of Israeli high-tech and venture capital activity. LEAP says that 99 start-ups raised $890 million in 2005, compared with $855 million raised by 107 companies in 2004. As usual, the communications sector accounted for the largest share of the market -- $328 million, 38% of the total. Medical equipment start-ups raised $147 million, 16% of total investment, and software companies raised $126 million -- 14%. Chip industry companies raised 12% of investments, and biotechnology start-ups 11%.

According to LEAP, Pitango Venture Capital was the most active fund in 2005 with 20 investments, and led the financing round in eight of those investments. Next on the list is Gemini Israel Funds, with 10 investments, followed by Star Ventures with nine, Jerusalem Venture Partners with eight, and Carmel Ventures with seven.

Sequoia was the most active foreign player, with seven investments; it led the financing round in three of those investments. Other foreign investors who made more than one investment included Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, Azure Capital Partners, Duchossois Technology Partners, OrbiMed Advisors LLC, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Israel in 2005 totaled $12.1 billion, compared with $1.7 billion in 2004 and an all-time record of $13.8 billion in 2000. As s in 2000, when Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) acquired Chromatis Networks for $4.8 billion, a single deal accounted for the majority of the M&A total in 2005 Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) acquired IVAX Corporation for $7.4 billion.

raising a total of $557 million. Seven of these were floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London, and six on Nasdaq. Including companies whose core business is non-technological, 22 Israeli companies raised $961 million. Capital raised by Israeli companies in secondary issues totaled $730 million, including $220 million by Syneron Medical Ltd. (Nasdaq: ELOS) and $213 million by NICE Systems (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE).

The Top Ten Lies of Venture Capitalists

Venture capitalists are simple people: we've either decided to invest, and we are convincing ourselves that our gut is right (aka, “due diligence”) or there's not a chance in hell. While we may be simple, we're not necessarily forthcoming, so if you think it's hard to get a “yes” out of venture capitalist, you should try to get a conclusive “no.”

Source: Let the good times roll

This is because there's no upside to communicating a negative decision. Entrepreneurs will simply hate us sooner--instead the game is to string along entrepreneurs in case something miraculous happens to make them look better. (An example of a miracle would be Boeing approving a $5 million purchase order.)

Alas, entrepreneurs are also simple people: If they don't hear a conclusive “no,” they assume the answer is yes. This is an example of the kind of breakdown of communication between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs that causes much pain and frustration for entrepreneurs.

To foster greater understanding among the two groups, here is an exposé of the top ten lies of venture capitalists.

1) “I liked your company, but my partners didn't.” In other words, “no.” What the sponsor is trying to get the entrepreneur to believe is that he's the good guy, the smart guy, the guy who gets it; the “others” didn't, so don't blame him. This is a cop out; it's not the other partners didn't like the deal as much as the sponsor wasn't a true believer. A true believer would get it done.

2) “If you get a lead, we will follow.” In other words, “no.” As the old Japanese say, “If your aunt had balls, she'd be your uncle.” Well, she doesn't have balls, so it doesn't matter. The venture capitalist is saying, “ We don't really believe, but if you can get Sequoia to lead, we'll jump on the pile.” In other words, once the entrepreneur doesn't need the money, the venture capitalist would be happy to give him some more--this is like saying, “Once you've stopped Larry Csonka cold, we'll help you tackle him.” What entrepreneurs want to hear is, “If you can't get a lead, we will.” That's a believer.

3) “Show us some traction, and we'll invest.” In other words, “no.” This lie translates to “I don't believe your story, but if you can prove it by achieving significant revenue, then you might convince me. However, I don't want to tell you 'no' because I might be wrong and by golly you may sign up a Fortune 500 customer and then I'd look like a total orifice.”

4) “We love to co-invest with other venture capitalists.” Like the sun rising and Canadians playing hockey, you can depend on the greed of venture capitalists. Greed in this business translates to “If this is a good deal, I want it all.” What entrepreneurs want to hear is, “We want the whole round. We don't want any other investors.” Then it's the entrepreneur's job to convince then why other investors can make the pie bigger as opposed to re-configuring the slices.

5) “We're investing in your team.” This is an incomplete statement. While it's true that they are investing in the team, entrepreneurs are hearing, “We won't fire you--why would we fire you if we invested because of you?” That's not what the venture capitalist is saying at all. What she is saying is, “We're investing in your team as long as things are going well, but if they go bad we will fire your ass because no one is indispensable.”

6) “I have lots of bandwidth to dedicate to your company.” Maybe the venture capitalist is talking about the T3 line into his office, but he's not talking about his personal calendar because he's already on ten boards. Counting board meetings, an entrepreneur should assume that a venture capitalist will spend between five to ten hours a month on a company. That's it. Deal with it. And make board meetings short!

7) “This is a vanilla term sheet.” There is no such thing as a vanilla term sheet. Do you think corporate finance attorneys are paid $400/hour to push out vanilla term sheets? If entrepreneurs insist on using a flavor of ice cream to describe term sheets, the only flavor that works is Rocky Road. This is why they need their own $400/hour attorney too--as opposed to Uncle Joe the divorce lawyer.

8) “We can open up doors for you at our client companies.” This is a double whammy of lie. First, a venture capitalist can't always open up doors at client companies. Frankly, he might be hated by the client company. The worst thing in the world may be a referral from him. Second, even if the venture capitalist can open the door, entrepreneurs can't seriously expect the company to commit to your product--that is, something that isn't much more than a slick (10/20/30) PowerPoint presentation.

9) “We like early-stage investing.” Venture capitalists fantasize about putting $1 million into a $2 million pre-money company and end up owning 33% of the next Google. That's early stage investing. Do you know why we all know about Google's amazing return on investment? The same reason we all know about Michael Jordan: Googles and Michael Jordans hardly ever happen. If they were common, no one would write about them. If you scratch beneath the surface, venture capitalists want to invest in proven teams (eg., the founders of Cisco) with proven technology (eg., the basis of a Nobel Prize) in a proven market (eg., ecommerce). We are remarkably risk averse considering it's not even our money.

10) I'm at a Starbucks in Hawaii writing this blog. I've been at it for ninety minutes. I don't have my charger with me. My PowerBook is out of gas. You're going to have to be happy with the top nine lies of venture capitalists until “Dear God” ships the PowerBook Vaio.

Tiny crystals promise big benefits for solar technologies

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have discovered that a phenomenon called carrier multiplication, in which semiconductor nanocrystals respond to photons by producing multiple electrons, is applicable to a broader array of materials that previously thought. The discovery increases the potential for the use of nanoscrystals as solar cell materials to produce higher electrical outputs than current solar cells.

Source: Los Alamos National Laboratory

In papers published recently in the journals Nature Physics and Applied Physics Letters, the scientists demonstrate that carrier multiplication is not unique to lead selenide nanocrystals, but also occurs with very high efficiency in nanocrystals of other compositions, such as cadmium selenide. In addition, these new results shed light on the mechanism for carrier multiplication, which likely occurs via the instantaneous photoexcitation of multiple electrons. Such a process has never been observed in macroscopic materials and it explicitly relies on the unique physics of the nanoscale size regime.

According to Richard Schaller, a Los Alamos scientist on the team, "Our research of carrier multiplication in previous years was really focused on analyzing the response of lead selenide nanocrystals to very short laser pulses. We discovered that the absorption of a single photon could produce two or even three excited electrons. We knew, somewhat instinctively, that carrier multiplication was probably not confined to lead selenide, but we needed to pursue the question."

Lead project scientist Victor Klimov explains, "Carrier multiplication actually relies upon very strong interactions between electrons squeezed within the tiny volume of a nanoscale semiconductor particle. That is why it is the particle size, not its composition that mostly determines the efficiency of the effect. In nanosize crystals, strong electron-electron interactions make a high-energy electron unstable. This electron only exists in its so-called 'virtual state' for an instant before rapidly transforming into a more stable state comprising two or more electrons."

The Los Alamos findings point toward practical photovoltaic technologies that may utilize such traditional solar cell materials as cadmium telluride, which is very similar to cadmium selenide. Other interesting opportunities may also be associated with the use of carrier multiplication in solar-fuel technologies and specifically, the production of hydrogen by photo-catalytic water splitting. The latter process requires four electrons per water molecule and its efficiency can be dramatically enhanced if these multiple electrons can be produced via a single-photon absorption event. More information on Los Alamos quantum dot research is available at http://quantumdot.lanl.gov/ online.

Interesting site: Venture Capital Conferences

There is still a lot of room for improvement, but this interesting site lists with no charge Venture Capital conferences around the world.

goto: Venture Capital Conferences

Philips Israel develops innovative computer imaging system

The first clinical trial of the new system is taking place at a large medical center.

Royal Philips Electronics’ (NYSE: PHG; Amsterdam: PHI) Haifa-based subsidiary Philips Medical Systems has devised a new computer imaging technology, the first of its kind in the world.

The new technology uses energy receivers operating at several levels simultaneously. Philips invested millions of dollars in developing the system. The first clinical trial of the new system is taking place at a large medical center.

Philips Medical Systems Israel head Shlomo Catran said that development of the new system originated in growing demand from doctors. ”Philips’s accumulated know-how in CT systems is being translated into technological innovation at the level of x-ray data transmission and reception, and computer processing of their results.

The Haifa development center is leading this effort, and the Israeli medical system has the privilege of being the first in the world to be exposed to the new technology,” he said. Catran added that another significant innovation developed by Philips was whole body scanner and diagnostic system, which provided images an entire organ within the body.

How To NOT Write A Business Plan

Entrepreneurs often ask me for a sample business plan they can use as a model for their fundraising efforts. They are surprised when I send them a powerpoint file.

Source: Who has time for this?
Read till the end and see an example....

It's always a good idea to put down on paper your plans for the business, so that your team can build consensus around objectives and metrics. Make it as thick and wordy as you like (though show some restraint--over-modeling the future only wastes your time). I'm sure that Brad Feld's upcoming series on business plans will become the authoritative online reference for this kind of internal operating document.

But my advice is to never send a document like that to a VC.

Keep in mind that you are not alone--entrepreneurship is thriving around the world. In fact, we assess about 100 times as many investment opportunities as we fund, so as everyone knows, it's hard to get a VC's attention. It's not exactly true that all VC's are stupid (not exactly), but we do not have the luxury of an attention span. Drop a thick document on a VC, and it will, wrapped in good intentions, go straight to The Pile.

The Pile is a dark, evil tower--impervious to attack--that looms over every VC's desk. My Pile, like many, is constructed out of business plans, white papers, analyst reports and scientific journals, waiting to be read with quiet thought and deliberation... Who Has Time For This? My only opportunity to curb the Pile's growth is airline travel, where I have some downtime to chip away at it (that is, until I can email and Skype using on-board WiFi). You'd think that with the recent surge of VC activity in Asia, we'd really have time to work down our Piles, but instead our Piles only grow taller, fortified by new material imported from China and India.

That's why nothing slows down a VC as much as a comprehensive business plan. Powerpoint presentations, in contrast, can be quickly emailed and skimmed, eliciting much faster indications of whether there is a fit. And if there is a fit, the VC will have an easier time educating the firm about the opportunity. So powerpoint plans greatly increase your chance of getting a term sheet, or at least the dignity of a quick No.

I was first exposed to this notion in 1995 by a super smart CEO, whose name I regretfully forget. His company (Eo Networks, I think) developed fiber termination units optimized for rural networks. He was walking me through his slides, and when I asked him for his business plan, he pointed to the laptop, looked me in the eye, and said, "this is my business plan." I thought, What? Oh. Okay.

So here are my specific tips on constructing a business plan...

Your presentation should not exceed 10 slides. The appendix can include as many slides as you want. The more the better. Nothing beats responding to some VC's question with a slide from the appendix. Sales productivity? Here are the historical numbers. The competitor's software? Here's a screenshot. Most operating details will remain safely ensconced in the appendix, eliminating unnecessary friction in the presentation.

You might structure the 10 slides as follows:

1. The cover slide should offer complete contact info, and a tagline if you've got it. One of the benefits of a powerpoint plan is that it forces you to perform the critical exercise of describing the business in very few words.

2. A mission statement is a good idea to present, unless it's rather obvious from the tagline (as in BlueNile.com: Education, Guidance, Diamonds and Fine Jewelry). Select a mission statement that is achievable, but not yet achieved.

Bad mission statements:"To create the world's largest software company." [too broad and unrealistic to practically guide decision-making]

"To develop the world's best technology for defending DNS servers from worm attacks." [er, you said you've already done that, right? Mission accomplished!]

A clear mission statement also includes a clear idea of what the startup will NOT do. Here are some nice ones...

"Healthia will operate America's most widely used comparison shopping portal for consumer driven healthcare, enabling businesses and their employees to choose health plans, ancillary health benefits, and medical services objectively and transparently."

"Prolexic will create and dominate a new network service category that defends web applications from distributed-denial-of-service attacks."Sometimes the white space on the slide is filled with customer logos or testimonials.

3. Introduce the team. On one slide, highlight the backgrounds of the key members of the team, and any directors or advisors (not too many) who bring something special to the startup. Explain verbally whom you intend to add to the team in the next year. (If that includes a CEO, say so up front, without waiting to be asked.)

4. Without yet getting into your product or service, describe the nature of the problem you address. Emphasize the pain level and the inability of incumbents to satisfy the need.

5. Introduce your product, and the benefits (which should obviously address the market problem you just described).

6. Elaborate on the technology or methodology you have developed to enable your unique approach. If appropriate, mention patent status.

7. Show off early customer or distribution progress: numbers, logos, testimonials.

8. Sales strategy. Show the expected cost of customer acquisition.

9. Competitive landscape. Be sure to anticipate competitive responses (before the VC does), and never deny that you have competitors, no matter how unique you think you are. Really, it's okay to compete. Even against Microsoft (as Flock will prove).

This is also a good slide on which to show market size estimates.

10. Earnings Statement, historical and forecast. For each time period, add headcount and cash balance. It should be clear how you expect the company to perform top line and bottom line three years out, and how much capital will be required now and later. Prepare lots of backup slides to illustrate the assumptions behind these financials.

Okay, so you might need an 11th or even 12th slide to cover all the financials, to describe the follow-on businesses that may arise, or to provide a timeline if you have a complex product road map.

Ideally, find the opportunity to walk the VC through your powerpoint plan in person, or at least by phone. If not, at least find a mutual friend to persuade the VC to review the powerpoint on his or her own.If it's helpful, comment on this post with a link to a powerpoint plan that you have crafted along these guidelines--I'd be happy to publicly critique one such powerpoint, and others might weigh in, too.

Example: Sprout it business plan

Google Awarded Patent To Make Data Move Faster to Wireless Phones and Devices

News from Alexadria, Virginia (home of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) today that Google has been awarded a new patent in the wireless arena. It's far from search related but we still thought it was worth a mention since it's Google is a company many of you watch closely (understatement). From the way the patent reads (I'm far from an expert), it seems that Google has developed technology to make more data accessible at faster speeds on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) systems.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Could licensing this technology to various wireless providers be a new revenue stream for Google?

Title: Baseband direct sequence spread spectrum transceiver
Application Filed: January 26, 2001
Application Awarded: January 3, 2006


Abstract:
A baseband direct sequence spread spectrum CDMA transceiver. The data signal is modulated with a Hadamard function having pseudorandomly scrambled rows. This data signal is then broadcast baseband, absent a carrier, by a relatively short, mismatched antenna. The baseband signal is spread out across the DC to 30 MHz spectrum. A low noise, high gainbandwidth product amplifier boosts the baseband RF signal. A correlator/servo system is used to actively cancel the transmit signal from the received signal. Consequently, the same antenna can be used to receive incoming baseband RF signals as well as transmit baseband RF signals, thereby providing full duplex operation.

From the Background of Invention:
The advantages of CDMA carry over into high-speed wireless digital access. Increasingly, wireless digital applications are being used to access digital data (e.g., the Internet, intranet, multimedia, business data, etc.) at high speeds. With high speed wireless access, mobile users can obtain instant access to the Internet, business data (e.g., stock market quotes, sales reports, inventory information, price checks, customer data, emails, pages, etc.), and other real time data (e.g., traffic updates, weather information, sports news, etc.). The goal is to provide cellular handsets, personal digital assistants, portable communications devices, etc. the ability to transmit and receive digital data as well as make conventional telephone calls. The trend is towards ever faster mobile data speeds to meet customer demands. With greater data speeds, it is possible to provide even more data to more users. Recent CDMA based standards such as IS-95 and 3G are proposing increased data rates and capabilities.

Online Shopping Hit New Highs in 2005

Holiday shoppers spent more online in 2005 than they did in 2004, continuing to steadily steal market share from brick-and-mortar shops, according to a report released last week by Goldman Sachs, Nielsen/NetRatings, and Harris Interactive.

Source: Yahoo News

Holiday shoppers in the U.S. spent $30.1 billion from late October until December 23, a 30 percent increase over the 2004 holiday season, according to the report, which surveyed 8600 shoppers in the U.S.

Online spending made up 27 percent of total spending during the holidays, up from 16 percent four years ago.

Brick-and-mortar shops attracted 68 percent of holiday spending this year, down from 72 percent last year, the report found.

Popular Items

This was a good season for computer hardware and peripherals, with online sales in the sector growing 126 percent to $4.8 billion in spending. But clothes were still the most popular item bought online during the season, with spending reaching $5.3 billion on the segment, according to the report.

Consumers spent less online on toys and video games this year, with the category sinking 9 percent compared to 2004.

The study also found that consumer satisfaction with online shopping is slowly creeping up, with 64 percent of those surveyed saying they were satisfied with their experience, compared to 61 percent in 2004.

CES Innovations 2006 Awards Honorees

Since 1989, the prestigious Innovations Design and Engineering Awards have given consumer technology manufacturers and developers an opportunity to have their newest products judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, independent engineers and members of the trade press.

Source: CES

Now in its ninth year, the Best of Innovations Awards are given to the most highly honored products in all facets of the consumer technology industry. See the special display in the Las Vegas Convention Center Grand Lobby during the 2006 International CES.

Check link for award winning products.