OurielOhayon

Gmail Wish List

I agree with jason Gmail is the best webmail ever, by far. Those new features could be really cool in Gmail

1. Please let me pay you $100 a year for 10 gig.
2. Please let me sort my email by file size.
3. Remove attachments but keep the email feature (good one Ew!)

I add a 4th and 5th and 6th

4. let us read video/mp3 attachement directly without download (this should be easily feasible with YouTube or mp3 flash plugins like DewPlayer)
5. Add autocorrect in search. When i search email i sent to “Laurent” and i write “Larent” please suggest “Did you mean Laurent”. Since text is indexed and you do that with Google, why not in Gmail?
6. Allow full POP3 email integration and not that weird redirect features….

Interviewed in LesEchos on IMs

Thanks to Capucine Cousin from the french newspaper Les Echos (equivalent of Financial Times) for interviewing me on the new generation of Instant Messengers a space i used to work in while i was at icq and that i am following closely now within TechCrunch.

This space is going through dramatic wave of innovations led mainly by small startups like ebuddy, meebo, mabber or tangler i had the pleasure to meet recently.

Stop relying on/using Alexa

I said it often, and still discuss with too many people bringing Alexa as a reference.

Om Malik explains it better than me. Alexa IS NOT RELIABLE AND EVEN WRONG. Period

Why so many use/mention it then? because it is free. And if you don t have money to buy reliable analytics from Hitwise, Nielsen or Comscore use Quantcast or Compete and compare them all.

this is a special message for whoever i will meet in the close future…

Very smart new flickr feature

I don’t care flickr is not mainstream, they are the best photo hosting service ever.

Here s another proof of smart innovation: a data feed on camera usage. I can see too smart usage of that data

• e-commerce showcase for users to decide on their next purchase
• market research companies that will want to know more behind those data (and will be ready to pay for it certainly)

Available here. Should inspire all other hosting companies.

What makes a good user interface

User experience is the secret sauce. What makes a difference between 2 services operating the same idea? the User experience. Gmail vs whoever for exemple has the best user interface ever. However some have exceptions (myspace vs bebo for example). Those are very rare.

Simplicity/usage/speed (yes speed) are critical. Easy to say but not to implement and less to understand. Most entrepreneurs i meet search for this skill that will make their website better. So i decided to try to understand what is behind this secret sauce.

I currently read a good book about user interface. Really interesting with simple universal truths and tips. It is called Designing interfaces and edited at O’reilly editions. I really recommand it to all entrepreneurs and any website owner. I personnally find that most israeli websites are awfully designed and that we are not good at building great UI (user interface) with some exceptions of course.

In this book i discovered an amazingly designed website in flash about Tall building hosted  by the MOMA. Wonderful fast experience.

The true face of BORAT

As i said, this is one of the funniest thing i have seen so far. But behind Borat is a very articulate man. Below a video of the creator and actor playing BORAT, Sacha Baron Cohen.

A total different character. I even read he has a phd in human relations from cambridge.

If you don't know him yet, discover the "Borat phenomenon"

While i was in the US i had the chance to see the movie “Borat” a totally unpolitically correct character coming from Kazakhstan and visiting America (“US and A” as he says) with very rough manners very bad english and hilarious attitude.

I did not know it was already a very popular figure born in the UK from half israeli Sacha Baron Cohen. This is probably the funniest movie i have seen in a long time. The movie is already #1 in the US with 67m USD revenues the first week end (production cost is below 2 million dollars!)

If you don’t know what i am talking about i invite you to preview Borat clips (i have a playlist here)on YouTube or just visit his funky website. Below an hilarious show where is trying to learn the american way of dating. Sensitive soul, don t watch.

 

Google acquires Talents2.0 in Israel

iRows founders have been hired by Google and the service will shut down soon. Announced in TechCrunch revealed by thecoils.

I expect this to be the first move of a long series. Many innovations in israel, but many with no business perspective (many reasons among which: us competition, no business model…). So those services will become “cheap” targets for Google

Well done to iRows team

The limits of adsense

Adsense is a fantastic model. Truely. But now i discover my blog is promoting other seed investors in Israel (see adsense on the right on screenshot). I am not sure i could say those are "competitors" or that even the promotion is good enough to take us deals away, but a model that does not let you keep control on what advertiser is displayed is kind of "not good enough".

And i can imagine many other bloggers like me that would think the same

So let s wait for Adsense 2.0

IsraelWebTour : the movie

Seen on Danny’s Blog, the movie of IsraelWebTour i joined the second day.

Although i missed first day i heard great things about it. I wished you guys have streamed/podcasted the whole session.

ps: danny you need to have the youtube movie converted to mp4 first before uploading it to esnips