OurielOhayon

ICQ leaves America and goes to Russia. What a shame for Israel!

It was clear it was coming. And it is i think a good thing.

DST [major investor in Facebook, Zynga among others] is acquiring ICQ for $187m (about 3 times less than it was acquired as...)

I knew this was the most likely acquirer simply because ICQ has a very strong footprint in Russia thanks to a deal with Rambler, already owned by DST. But ICQ was already very strong prior to that Deal. Microsoft Messenger and others never really made it there and ICQ was one of the top downloads all categories included. So going to Russia is kind of logical.

Here is one of the rare Israeli Internet startups that could have become a real giant, moving as a subsidiary of another Giant.

Good news. But also a bad news.

When an iPad becomes a (close to real) Piano

Really Magical (same app used by Lang Lang in his now famous encore)

Yalla! Bring your iPad over to israel

Was about time. The so called ban disguised behind the so call technical reason is over http://bit.ly/b56Ic4 Good timing. 1day before our iPad meetup

Likes and Dislikes

note: writing this from an iPad, sorry for the typos and link omission

Yesterday Facebook a big thing. An opportunity to distribute and agregate our tastes on the web via a "Like" button. You see something you like, fantastic. Rate it. We're all going to rate the web on IMDB, on CNN and probably soon on iTunes and the App Store (great news btw for Appsfire)

This is a tremendous step toward grading and surfacing interesting stuff in your social graph and building an alternative to traditional search engine (see who i am talking about?)

But Facebook is missing something even bigger. The key to any rating is the ability to burry or surface dislikes. FriendFeed always missed that opportunity (so does google buzz). But i believe most people are VERY interested in what their social entourage does not like. Because it helps them decide better on things.

Many times i want to express a dissatisfaction and Facebook, will in a way, censor that. A dislike button is as important as a like button

I don't want to live in a web where all is nice, shiny and glamour. I want to the web to come to me via my friends, for good or worse

The social graph is in its infancy. Making a baby smile is more important than asking him what he does not want. Step 2 will get there. Like any teenager, expressing your taste comes as a result of some form of negativity.

Facebook will have to move to that Hegel-ian step (sorry for the reference to the german philosopher without a link)

Sent from my iPad

the latest cool stuff to add to your email, until you get an iPad, originally uploaded by ourielohayon.

The latest cool stuff to add in your email signature to easily and cheaply impress your friends and colleagues (and in addition not having to justify why your answer is short). Until you get an iPad

This signature should become pretty popular in Israel.

PS: was already tried with the iPhone, but i find it cooler here.

First impressions of the iPad, announcing the Israeli iPad meetup

I have been using the iPad intensively for over a week. I love it, it will be a big category of product.  here are my personal observations

If you want to learn more register at the very 1st iPad Israel Meetup in Tel aviv, next monday 26th here 

i LOVE

> the gorgeous screen

> the speed. Speed is the killer app in anything. specially in mobile devices

> Battery life. Man, this is not a myth. Real long likfe!

> the awesomeness of some apps (Marvel, Youtube, Instapaper, iWorks are gorgeous) 

> the incredible experience for viewing and browsing pictures. On that they were right at Apple: this is THE best experience to date. Any device compared together

> The email client. Although gmail version for Safari is not bad either

> gorgeous news apps: reuters, nyTimes, WSJ. Blowing

> The sound quality of the speakers, better than my macbook pro

> amazing apps for music sheets (which i anticipated). But none has a good page turning experience. not fast enough, not precise enough

> speed of sync is way faster than the iPhone> you load movies in seconds

> Gmail notification: for some reason the iPad is the first to alert me when a new email arrives. Even fast than Gmail on Chrome itself!

> That google map "find me" works even without 3G (thanks to Skyhook) 

> Bonus: it works GREAT in Israel and so far no neighbor or wifi-cafe has complained that i screwed up their network. I was not yet contacted by Israeli secret service on that matter.

In 1 word. The Experience is awesome and you can only realize it once you've touched it. not before. don't try to even begin to imagine.

i DO NOT LIKE

> The touch glass. gets dirty real fast (even with clean hands). Unlike the iPhone, very very very very very hard to clean up

> The App store browsing experience. Worse than on the iPhone. Built to gear users towards featured apps and not enough freedom to discover (browse by rating, price,...)

> the lack of iPad specific apps > will change soon. but only 3k or more apps for now all categories included

> Can't get used to the keyboard. it is big but not convenient enough to write on. A patent with keys on the side (as you are holding the iPad) should fix this

> Unlike the iPhone, no great twitter app. not yet.

> All my iPhone apps are mostly useless. some for features (no camera, gps,..) some because of the way they look

> I bought a VGA connector, thinking i could connect my iPad to my TV or Computer screen. Wrong. It only works with Videos and iWorks. You won t be able to view your iPad on your TV. yet [ the problem is that nothing on the packing indicates this limitation]

HOW DO I USE IT?

This is what i was wondering, since i already have a macbook air and an iPhone and was wondering if this would have some space in my life.

> i use it every day, several times a day. Not as much as my laptop

> the best moment for using it for me is: in outside meetings, in conferences, and at home on the couch and yes,.... as a secondary/third screen at work to view my tweet, emails while working on something else

> I use it mainly for: reading emails, browsing news, twitter and the web

> i use it to read and play music on my piano

> it replaced 100% my computer for viewing pictures, but won't replace my laptop (maybe in short travels)

> it has become my primary device to read news

> i am not using it for reading books. i stopped reading books while a ago anyway

> when the catalog will become bigger it will become my primary device to read comics

ISAI

I was happy that ISAI came to light 2 days ago. ISAI is an early stage fund in France i have been working on for more than a year with other french entrepreneurs and it has now taken form.

The news has been extensively covered (also here)

ISAI is precisely a web entrepreneur fund, for which we raised 24m Euros (or 33m USD) - which can be considered small size compared to traditional VCS. I could spend 2 paragraphs explaining why this is a unique approach but instead i'd stick to a few facts. 

• ISAI is run by entrepreneurs: people who created web startups and still run web startups. A foot on the ground
• ISAI funding come for a good half from some of the most successful entrepreneurs in France (over 60), the rest from traditional LPs
• It fills a major gap in early stage funding for web startups, something i have closely observed for the past 4 years when i was doing TechCrunch France
• ISAI will invest in web startups, mainly in France, between 500k to 1.5m Euros in young companies where the concept has already been proven, even if revenues are not there yet.
• We'll obviously add a lot of value by our experience and network, but i guess any VC can say that. we'll just have to prove it.

I am one of the main cofounders and will spend a little part of my time on it as part of the investment committee, although the shop will be run on a day to day by the great Jean David Chamboredon (ex-3i GP, with an impressive track record) and Christophe Raynaud (i have known for years). When i decided to start again i knew this would be something i would like to keep on doing.

ISAI is the type of fund that is missing in Israel. Something i have been expressing the need for in the past. I believe it will eventually happen here.

I immediately accepted to participate in it when Pierre Kosciuscko Morizet (PriceMinster CEO, 2nd largest ecommerce site in France) and Christophe came to me with the idea. It is part of a global trend that we re observing of entrepreneurs fund, something the market was asking for and that started in the US (Ycombinator, Techstars, Founder Collective, Profounder Capital, Founders fund,....)

I am excited by this new opportunity. We are about to announce soon our first deal which will illustrate our mission.

Now is a good time to start a new company in France [ this is why i chose to also...]. Now was a good time to start ISAI.

The only iPad you're allowed to import to Israel

The only iPad you're allowed to import to Israel, originally uploaded by ourielohayon.

this whole story is actually not so funny.

I would bet the so-called technical reason mentioned to stop the import of iPads is only a fake hiding a simple lobbying operation from cell operators or other retailers who do not really want to see what happened with the iPhone before they closed a local deal with Apple: a massive import of devices that would harm their commitment to the Cupertino company [before the iPhone was officially sold in Israel, 2 years after the official launch, about 50k iPhones were already i Israel according to some sources]

Square experience: awesome

Today i paid for a coffee using square, an App transforming the iPad in an payment terminal . It was an awesome experience. Reminded me a lot of the payment experience you get in the Apple Store. I received instantly a receipt on my email adress which is archived and searchable.  The future of payment is being shaped right now. 

Here a video demo:

The reason i am holding the iPhone below is not to pay, but to shoot the video you are seeing above :)

iPad: first experience

iPad, originally uploaded by ourielohayon.

Like touching velvet for the first time. Totally awesome