OurielOhayon

Incredible Yaron!

I invite you to discover 3 videos of Yaron Herman [disclosure i create this wikipedia page a while ago], The israeli jazz pianist, the Israelis forgot to discover, who is gaining an amazing awareness and success abroad. Yaron is a great friend of mine, we must talk like every single week no matter where he is in the world. He never finishes to surprise me. His musical energy is unusual - i knew it before we became friends - and musicians like that too.

He recently got a great review in AllAboutJazz, The "TechCrunch" of jazz where is answers tell a lot about the simplicity and sophisticated side of his personality.

I invite you to discover 3 parts of a program that ran on national TV this week end in France. In the first he plays Message in the bottle (Sting), Toxic (Britney Spears) And Heart Shaped box (Nirvana). In the second a stunning variation on the famous theme of Beethoven's 5th and finally a gorgeous duo with a french rap singer Passi, i did not know but i think i will like...

Who will produce the "Mad Men" of VCs?

At the beginning of my career i worked briefly for one of the biggest ad agencies in the world, Saatchi&Saatchi. To be honest i did not like it so much. I worked as an account manager and felt not enough in control between the creative force in the agency and the customer finally deciding on whatever you recommend. But it was a great experience. And i am still fascinated by this industry.

It was with deep interest i discovered years later "Mad Men" one of the best TV show on the birth of the ad industry in Madison Avenue, NYC [Hence Mad Men]. I highly recommend it and the season 2 i just finished is elegant and brilliant.

As i was watching Mad Men, i could not help thinking, that somewhere someone is already thinking about doing an equivalent for the Venture Capital World. After all nearly all the secretive industries had their series, lawyers with Shark and the amazing Damages (season 2 a bit disappointing), Doctors and surgery with ER and Nip/Tuck.

So when is someone going to wake up and make one decent show on the birth of Venture Capital ["Men Men" - for Menlo park Men? ]. I am not an expert of this industry but i am sure there is enough material to create an holywood grade, 24 like, scenario on this. I see around me, people are fascinated by the VC world and its mystery. Imagine the echo effect you'll get on the net once this series is out there?

HBO are you listening?

PS Aaron sorkin is already producing a movie on facebook to be directed by david fincher i head

For France24 (French CNN) i live in "Palestine Time"

I am publishing this post after having sent an official complaint to France24, the French equivalent of CNN available on cables in Israel and other countries.

I was surprised and shocked yesterday to discover that they are announcing their programs by a time zone i did not know until they created it. According to France24 Israeli citizens live in "Palestine Time".

Now let me be clear. I want a Palestine state near by Israel - i pray for it - really. But i have no bloody idea what "Palestine Time" means today. Where does it start? Where does it end? GMT+X ? Who is deciding what the X is? [i could not find any reference to is here]

I live in Israel, i pay for this channel in Israeli shekels, i don't want to hear about Palestine Time, as if it was an official standard everybody already know and agreed on. It is simple a pure one-sided convention by the owner of France24. Actually, you know what? I don t mind being referred to a time zone that is not "Israeli" but if they want to really give a Palestinian color to their announcement (why not after all?) Say "Gaza Time" or "West Bank Time" or better "Palestinian Territory local time". Palestine, unless someone points to another direction, is not yet a state and not even a clear geographic zone (they are also palestinians in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt).

So, dear France24, just change it. Make your spectators a favour and show us you have a little idea of what you are talking about - since this is what you are supposed to do.

Palestine Time - is something we all wish - but it does not exist, yet. Period

ps: if you agree with me, please leave a comment here, since i pointed the Direction of France24 to this blog post. You can also send them a sweet note on Twitter on @France24 or by email [email protected]


Technorati Tags: france24 israel tv cnn palestine gmt

Congrats to Boxee

I recently met Boxee team in NYC, a few months after i was trying their Media browser app. I was not a big fan of the first version, but the last version convinced me, even though it is still to be improved, that the future of TV will depend on the ability to surf content whatever the source is (local, online), just like on the web.

They just raised a nice round from USVP and Spark. When i met Avner, the CEO they had just received their term sheet and of course he did not disclose the identity of the investors. But knowing Fred Wilson's habit to blog about things he's going to invest in i had a feeling it was USVP. I had a great time with Avner and his partner. I really wish them a lot of success. Boxee has R&D based in Israel. I wish an Israeli VC did this round since the team is mainly israeli but i don't think they lost on the way to fund raising :)

At this stage. i think boxee is still too complex to install on TVs which is the big piece of cake. The key success factor will be to feed consumers with such a TV OS without installation, download or set up process. Meaning key partnerships with hardware and cable cos. There is no reason our TV with prehistorical EPG (electronic programm guide) does not evolve to something more sophisticated.

Someone could help this move faster. Boxee could be this one

Technorati Tags: boxee tv

Did you like the CNN hologram? Made in Israel

Yes indeed. This is  hologram technology was created by SportVu an Isreali startup that is surely underfire now given the visibility of the election night on CNN. Good Stuff



Technorati Tags: cnn hologram israel

Watch Damages

i have seen so many movies and tv shows that my level of expectations but also anticipation in guessing the end before the end of a movie has raised dramatically over the years. And i have a hard time finding good stuff for me on TV. Even when the content is good.

Since heroes i did not manage to hook to any TV series. I enjoyed recently Mad Men, which has some nice actors and good story telling about the ad industry in the 60s, i could not hook to "the closer", acclaimed everywhere.

However there is one series which is really on top: DAMAGES. It is so smart, so well written that i was under shock from the first episode (out of 13). I won't spoil anything. I just can say that this is a story of dirty highly ambitious lawyers that are ready to nearly anything for their career. I am not afraid to qualify this show of masterpiece and i cannot wait for season 2. Glenn Close is just stunning is that series.

I don't ask you to believe me. Just watch the first episode. you'll be hooked immediately.

Technorati Tags: damages glenn close tv show

Israelis non-HighTech business successes Abroad

In matters of business, Israel is not only good at exporting high tech successes. Since i arrived in this country i am observing more brands being present successfully abroad. A few examples

:: Food: Israel makes on of the best cafe in the world. ArCaffe one the israeli network has open in the heart of Paris a successful shop. Max Brenner, a local chocolate bar, is also expanding both in the US and Australia. It is a matter of time before some of the other coffee networks (Espresso Bar, CafeCafe, ..) will gun for global expansion (specially the USA addicted to the StarBucks coffee soup)

:: Cosmetics: Ahava is a case study for Israelis on how to build a strong unique international brand from Israel. This cosmetic company makes beauty products from the dead sea and sells worldwide (even can hire international stars like L'Oreal does)

:: TV shows: Hakatsefet a TV game was licensed (to Endemol i think)internationally. Now The TV series Betipul will be adapted by Mark Whalberg (actor and producer of Entourage) for HBO. Below the trailer of upcoming "in Treatment"

 

:: update Music : How could i forget the field that is most important to me with the Internet. There are International Music stars coming from Israel. Not always famous in Israel. But pretty famous abroad. Specially in Jazz. Avishai Cohen (Bass), Avishai Cohen (Trumpet), my friend Yaron Herman (piano)  Yael Naim (Very well known in France, song voice of MacBook Air Ad and totally unknown in Israel) and Anat Cohen (sax). In classical music the list is also noteworthy: Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Shlomo Mintz, ..

There are certainly more examples (when i was in eastern Europe i saw shops by Kenvelo) and this is a strong indicator that, although not as obvious as it may be, we have in Israel a strong know-how in building international brands and not only high-tech.

Because of the small size and multi-cultural nature of this country i even think we have some of the best resources and brains in order to produce world class products and address international markets.

More examples will come soon, i am sure

Technorati Tags: israel, marketing, betipul, hbo, arcaffe, ahava, business

Hilarious: What "24" could have looked like 10 years ago

Glad they waited a few years more to do it...

 

Technorati tags: 24, tv

NewTeeVee Live Conference on the future of TV

My friend OM Malik is setting next november 14th a great conference in San Francisco on the future of TV: NewTeeVee Live. By the list of speakers i can only say this is going to be a killer conference and would certainly recommend you to go there if you are in the area.

There are a few israeli startups trying to revolutionnize the TV landscape. Just to mention some of them, Metacafe, Knocka.tv, Rayvee, HiroMedia, BestTV, Aniboom, Tvinci and a lot more

The Israeli TV Channels also deeply understand the necessity to adopt the web faster and prepare gigantic local initiatives (is that going to be fast enough?).

It looks like Israel would have a lot to say and learn about in that conference

If you wish to go there you can use a promo code to get a 100 USD discount: techcrunch

Technorati Tags: newteeveelive, ommalik, internet, television

Rosh Pina festival and the future of TV

This year was the celebration of the 40th year of Television in Israel. Rosh Pina TV festival was there for the whole industry to meet up. I went there for a day to get a "feel" of a space i should know more since i believe the future of TV is the internet and conversely.

 

I met there a few startups and investors. Gemini was one of the sponsors. This was the opportunity the real faces of the people i see from time to time on tv.

They even organized, like the in the web conferences, a kind of "TV scenario competition" with jury members and so on... I was really disappointed by this part where the writers had to present and "sell" their work to be funded. One thing is sure, writers can write some times, but they can't "sell" (same thing goes also sometimes with startups). But overall this seemed to be a very good event. i am glad i went there.

I am not sure what the future of TV is going to look like and i did not attend the festival until the end to hear that

But I have recently installed YesMax at home. A kind of equivalent to Tivo. From that moment, What i started to realize is that TV is becoming more and more like a  computer (hardware, OS, functions...) and that the viewer will have very very very soon way more control on what he sees and will be less dependent on the agenda imposed by the channels (not referring here to VOD). He will be able to bypass advertising (i already do), choose the programs he only wants to see, never miss something he wants.....This is going to affect very seriously the TV industry in the next 5 years - starting the by sacred "rating"  (it already does in the US with Tivo and in France with Freebox)

Nothing to do with the post - On the way back we stopped at a fantastic arab restaurant called Albabour on Road 6 after MusMus (above pics of the owner and some salads). I really recommend it.

ps: sagi has more on the festival

Technorati Tags: tv, television, roshpina, israel, internet, yes, yesmax