A few months ago you may remember that I took a trip to Cambridge, UK and had the chance to talk to a great group of entrepreneurs, VCs, and other folks in the startup industry over there. Whenever I get out of the office I always find that a few fun, unexpected things happen along the way. This time around, one such unexpected thing was an invitation to speak at the MIT Forum in Tel Aviv, Israel.
As luck would have it, a very good friend of mine from school, Lior, had earlier invited me to his wedding in Tel Aviv. He incidentally just launched a project of his over at Google…Sky…you should check it out! Two fantastic reasons to visit Tel Aviv…I was sold. San Francisco to Tel Aviv is a very very long flight. The fastest flight I could find would get me there in 16 hours and would then take 18 hours to get me back…ouch! Time to get ready for some serious jetlag!
Tel Aviv turned out to be a fantastic city. People are out on the streets at restaurants and cafes all hours of the night (I wish San Francisco would stay open as late!). There’s a ton of technology and internet activity happening in Tel Aviv too. ICQ, an instant messaging service that meebo supports and which is now owned by AOL, is based in Tel Aviv. A bunch of other very large companies, like CheckPoint, have also come out of Tel Aviv. While there I got to meet a bunch of startup folks, from the FoxyTunes guys to Nir over at BlogTV.
The MIT Forum was also a ton of fun. Ayla managed the event incredibly well. It looked like about 150 people came! I spoke about starting up a company from scratch. Ariel, who was the CEO of ICQ for 5 years and who is now the CEO of SpeedBit, also spoke about forming and growing a company. I also got to meet Elan, who joined Ariel and me on a panel and who was the founder of iMesh…wow!
And of course, I attended Lior and Keren’s wedding…right on the Mediterranean Sea in the Port of Tel Aviv. They got married on a stand that extended from the railing out over the water with Tel Aviv in the background. Pretty darn neat!
Seth
[ comments ] [ past blogs ]
September 8th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Wonderful. Now can you focus on getting Meebo to quit crapping out? While you’re traveling the world hobnobbing with your fellow internet gurus, your site is sputtering.
The trips, mayoral town hall gatherings, etc., are great and all, but what we’d really the little pop-up on the main page to tell us is what’s going on with Meebo’s servers on any given day.
LeChaim,
Phil
September 8th, 2007 at 8:29 am
hi my name is kyle and im wondering how to add people to my msn
September 8th, 2007 at 8:29 am
hey phil – we’ve heard increased reports of connection issues, but haven’t been able to isolate it on our side. where are you connecting from? which browser are you using? which IM network(s) do you sign onto? is all of meebo disconnecting, or only your connection to the IM network? thanks! seth
September 8th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Israel would be a fantastic place if they were not practising aparthied and racisms against Muslims and arabs. Lets not forget about the treatment of black Jews in Isreal. Do your homework…
September 8th, 2007 at 9:37 am
k. real – GET REAL!!
There is no racisms in Israel. the arabs in israel have much better life then any arab counrty and thats why they are still in israel.
the issue that you are talking about is with the Palestinians who wants the israeli land and do not want to compromise for peace.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Great!!! everyone in the whole world gets to enjoy the beauty of Palestine except Palestinians….
Hey if you call living in fear, and being butchered everyday “a better life” well, I really don’t want to know what’s worse…
Oh darn it!!! Did everyone fail history????
Some people need to do their homework, and revise history better…
September 8th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Israel?? I think you mean the running base of the Zionist entity. That is, the racist and apartheid “state” that K.Real is referring to.
It’s a shame that Israel produces some wonderful technologies that allow people all over the world to unite while its own policies at home toward anyone that is not a European Jew amount to a slow but definite ethnic cleansing regime.
Boycott Israel.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
I actually live in Israel and go on meebo every day.
LOL at everyone here being ‘political’ – we can talk it through if you visit me.
How was your trip, Seth?
September 8th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Spelled company wrong near the end…..lol. I just had to. I’m a spelling addict.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
well, my bad. in the middle where u say lots of large companies come out of Tel Aviv. You put copanies. Unless its spelled that way on purpose. lol
September 8th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
A bunch of other very large copanies… typo.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
loser… lol
September 8th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
isreal is the violent ont not the palestinians they hav a right to their land and they don’t need any1 taking their land from them
September 8th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
well idk wat to say but this good luck
September 8th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
You should Visit Beirut and see the nite life they have there…
September 8th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Damn, Seth, you might have told us ahead of time. I would have come to meet you at the forum.
Hope you enjoyed yourself in Israel.
September 9th, 2007 at 12:26 am
I have talked to all sides -> palestinians, israelis, israeli arabs, black jews… There are always going to be grievances in societies and especially societies at war. Sure there is discrimination going on (like in all other countries) but Apartheid?? You gotta learn your history guys!! Check up the definition b4 u chat nonsense. I see the discrimination in Israel … I still love the country. ALL humans are racists and boycotting Israel makes u one 2. (Or u boycotting NK 4 their concentration camps?) The funniest thing about this -> the more u despise Israel, the less they care…they’re used 2 being hated
September 9th, 2007 at 1:05 am
Seth, I hope you enjoyed your visit… and I am not surprised to see this thread has gone political. I’ve been living here for three years, and I can assure you, there is no apartheid here.
People, check out your facts before you go spewing lies on the net. Sure, Israel has it’s problems and we’re working on resolving them, with a partner that wants to resolve them too. Take a look on your home turf before bad mouthing mine.
Oh, and while I have your attention, meebo rocks.
September 9th, 2007 at 1:30 am
hi there is meebo ike yahoo too. wat is the good thing of using meebo?
September 9th, 2007 at 2:44 am
Pity I didn’t know you were coming to visit, Seth. I would have liked to greet you in person — I am a big Meebo fan.
To our detractors: no, we don’t have apartheid here. Nothing like it. Women — both Jewish and Arab — can drive, every citizen can vote, and our inventions benefit the world — ICQ was invented by a few Israeli guys!
Our country is not perfect, but then, no country is. Do some real research before you start spewing hatred all over the Net… and it would also help if you would learn to spell.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:17 am
I mean I understand that some people don’t watch the news, but I was unaware that citizens of Israel had no idea what is going on in their own country. Reading this on some comment isn’t going to change your lives, but if you just considered getting your news from independent, and not state run, news sources, you may change you minds about what is really going on in your country. Ever heard of the West Bank and Gaza? What is going on there is nothing but ethnic cleansing.
And the wall that separates the Palestinians (from whom I won’t say you stole the land, but just didnt take it away nicely), and the new residential areas which are being sold cheap to anyone who would live in them, is resoundingly similar to the Berlin Wall. The terrorists that are bred in these areas, are probably due to the poor living conditions that they are subjected to (including lack of water). The world doesnt know about it because the press are not even allowed in there most of the times. But just for the sake of living in your country, you might want to know about what is really going on, before you accuse anyone of false hatred. Maybe this is just a wakeup call.
September 9th, 2007 at 5:39 am
hey Biz Guy
I guess you mean by Israel the occupation of Palestine…
I’m sure what you’re talking about
September 9th, 2007 at 6:27 am
Ironic that a company named “CheckPoint” would find it easy to open up shop in Israel…
September 9th, 2007 at 7:32 am
hola eres un bobo yo hablo spanish ok????????
que boleta
September 9th, 2007 at 7:37 am
a trip to ghana.for the greatest fetival which has never happened.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:39 am
You guys are hilarious. Seth, did you know what you were getting into when you posted your blog? I would love to visit Tel Aviv. It’s truly too bad that every one gets so hot an bothered about politics. Live you life people! Regardless of what you guys say, nothing will change until the people in power from both sides decide it’s time for change. Don’t forget it’s the powers that be that dictate everything so chill out and enjoy what you have while you can.
I love Israelis and Palestinians. I have friends from all over the world, with different religions too-Christians, Jews, Muslims, Atheists Buddhists…. It’s about the people. Appreciate them for who they are for goodness sake. Maybe after all is said and done we can truly start living in harmony.
Cheers.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:41 am
You guys are hilarious. Seth, did you know what you were getting into when you posted your blog? I would love to visit Tel Aviv. It’s truly too bad that every one gets so hot an bothered about politics. Live your life people! Regardless of what you guys say, nothing will change until the people in power from both sides decide it’s time for change. Don’t forget it’s the powers that be that dictate everything so chill out and enjoy what you have while you can.
I love Israelis and Palestinians. I have friends from all over the world, with different religions too-Christians, Jews, Muslims, Atheists Buddhists…. It’s about the people. Appreciate them for who they are for goodness sake. Maybe after all is said and done we can truly start living in harmony.
Cheers.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Well I’m sure we’re all surprised that a political debate arose out of this one…
I’m glad you enjoyed Israel, Seth. It’s a fantastic and beautiful place.
I don’t even know where to start with countering all the stupid remarks made on this.
Like Rahel mentioned, Israel provides all of its citizens with more rights than most countries do. Hell, they provide Arabs with more rights than some Arab countries do. Arabs are even allowed to join the Israeli army. Where else do you hear of such a thing? You think if the Arabs were given Israel they’d be even a quarter as generous?
“The terrorists that are bred in these areas, are probably due to the poor living conditions that they are subjected to (including lack of water).”??
No, that’s called brainwashing, my friend. Poor living conditions? You think life was any better before the Jews moved into Israel? Who do you think irrigated it and built it up and turned it into the beautiful cultivated land it is now? Israel used to be a near-wasteland. It seemed like the Arabs weren’t even interested in it until the Jews started moving in.
As for killing Palestinians… I never condone killing, unless the person who is killed did something to deserve it. But from another standpoint, even a dog knows to fight back when he’s attacked. If there are people bombing you, you take them out. And if they use their own people as shields, what can you do? You still *have* to take them out, otherwise they’ll just continue. At least Israel tries to minimize the civilian casualties. If they were really as horrible as they’re made to sound, they would bomb whole streets to get rid of terrorist leaders without concern for civilian life.
But meh… I just felt a need to rant. Would be a lot better if we could all just get along… I’m Israeli and I have Arab friends, there’s no reason why it can’t work out if people actually wanted it to. If not for extremists, this world would be a much better place…
September 9th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Hey hey…cannot believe it…I was wondering posting something about meebo…some technical stuff…but wow ! wow….is it possible there is ALWAYS people arguing about politics ? So funny. Hilarious. A little bit..stupid ?
Israel…aparheid ? Crazy, been in Israel two months and muslims get better there than in Italy ! ok stop.
Ah..opps…by the way..MEBOO is great ! Thanks to MEEBO founder, greetings from Italy
.
September 9th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Hi Meebo folks-
I’m one of the growing number of librarians using your MeeboMe as a way to communicate with patrons. First of all, thanks for this wonderful Internet tool!
We seemed to have had an interruption in service yesterday (Saturday) and earlier today (Sunday). We couldn’t log on to our MeeboMe account. Was that just an aberration, or is it something that regularly happens? Was there some problem or was it maintenance?
In general, we really like how MeeboMe works, although it would be better if the ‘typing’ notice would be active during this service, as it is when you are IM-ing with a regular Meebo account chatting with buddies.
Thanks in advance, for any response.
Linda Draper, MSLS
Shiffman Medical Library
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI USA
P.S. Did you pick up on the fact that I’m a big Meebo fan? I really, really am.
September 9th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
You guys must have just come out of your mothers wombs because it seems that the light on the outside is too bright for you to keep your friggin eyes shut.
Of course Israel is going to show you its “prettier” side. Im an arab, not a Palestinian, living in Europe, and I still know what is going on. Not because i’m an arab, but because i understand enough not to make CNN my primary news source. No I havent been to Israel, although I know what its like from my israeli-palestinian friends. Sure they had a normal life in the city, that isnt the question. And to correct some of you, they are NOT all allowed to enter the army. Specifically the muslims are not allowed to enter, only some of the christian faith are. Secondly, they are consistently given lower wages and lower positions than their jewish counterparts. But that still isnt the real problem.
The real problem is what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank, and if anyone really wants to know the truth before spewing crap on every debate you can find, get your information from an independent news source such as http://www.informationclearinghouse.info for a start. If you cant read or are just too accustomed to getting your education from the TV, buy the documentary “occupation 101″ (or try to find it elsewhere), whose subject is just on this topic. But please for the love of God, stop ranting on and on like you know what you’re talking about, because “you have an arab friend”, most arabs know very little of the truth just like the rest of the world. Get the info, and then speak.
PS: Meebo rocks
September 9th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
A shame that there was no Meebo Israel get-together, I know people on all sides of the problems here in Israel that use Meebo, and would have attended peacefully, and would do as Meebo is meant to help do: COMMUNICATE
September 9th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
can’t go there.goverment policy.f**k off
September 9th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
yah u shouldnt go cause isrealis r really bad and they r all bad ppl 2 b around wit so yah u r goin to b wastin ur time if u goin there 4 fun unless ur goin there 4 palestine then yah ur wastin ur time wit a bounch of isrealis that r worthless!!
September 9th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
yah i agree wit the person that said r u kidding!!
September 9th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
but im palestinian
September 9th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
yah and if u isrealis think yall r goin 2 win u guys r dreamin cause im comin 4 yall!! no joke!! but thats when i get older @ least!!
September 9th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Could you please fix this bug? (http://forum.meebo.com/viewtopic.php?t=15586) Many of us (librarians) are using meebo to run public IM reference services and are having the same problem with our meebome status not showing up as online when, in fact, we are. It doesn’t seem like anyone is weighing in on the meebo bugs forum when we have problems. Thanks.
September 9th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
some you people need to reference the dictionary for the definition of some of the spiteful words that you are misusing regarding Israel.
I personally think that no country is without flaws but Israel is trying and is awesome…
and these are the words of an well educated black African Jewish woman.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Hey cool it down guys, seth was just telling how he enjoyed tel aviv no prob with that right? Let’s not put any political issues here. After all, Israel is not the worst country at all. Our own main land has its own terrorism issues or has its downside so we should not judge one unless we personally visit the place right?
September 9th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Did you take some photos in/around Israel?
September 10th, 2007 at 1:50 am
oooh fun! i am going to tel aviv for school next semester, can’t wait!
September 10th, 2007 at 2:01 am
actually you’re right Hilarity, the subject has moved into politics. I don’t prefer that either but actually we are talking about a holiday in an occupied land… see what JOJO said
Hey MEEBO wouldn’t it be nice to have a trip to any other meditarian country… what about Spain, France, Turnkey, Egypt, Syria and list is long… may be Tunisia?…
September 10th, 2007 at 6:12 am
very good to be there !!!!!!!!
September 10th, 2007 at 10:50 am
To all the political commenters – this is not the place. I’d recommend http://www.politicalcrossfire.com/ for a great POLITICAL debate site. But this is Meebo.
Seth – rock on! Meebo rules.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:44 am
israel rules, down with hesbollah
September 10th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Seth, glad to hear you had a great time in TA. Too bad you couldn’t round off your trip with the Black Eyed Peas show last night which was absolutely fantastic!! (but would you expect anything less?) I share your sentiment about the Tel Avi night life and relate to the jet-lag! Went back to visit my hometown of Vancouver recently and was bewildered with a bout of reverse culture shock when I drove around a ghost town of a city at 10pm. 10 pm! I just wanted coffee. In Jerusalem cafes only start to get busy at 11. ah, Israel.
Come visit again soon. Make a meebo party!
September 10th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
yah i hate u isrealis!!
September 10th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I agree with Z. I am a student currently studying is Israel. I have traveled, not *all* around Israel, but I’ve been to a good chunk of it. And trust me, all you nay sayers are full of it. The Arabs rely on Israel for everything from food to water to electricity…and even after everything they do, Israel still gives it to them. No one can say that Israel doesn’t try for peace..there have been tons of peace plans (most of them involving Israel giving land away) that have all fallen through. Why? because the terrorists don’t want peace. As hard as it is for any civilized person to believe, they just don’t. We should all know that from the unprovoked 9.11 attack. Arabs are allowed to join the army, and even be part of the government.
Israel wants to kill? thats also BS. If they wanted to, they would have done it a long time ago. Instead of sending their boys on undercover (and very dangerous) missions to take out single targets, they could be bombing whole city blocks (which, counter to how the liberal media likes to portray, they don’t). Don’t say Isralies are violent people. I remember one night (at 2 in the morning) standing less than 100 feet away from the wall between the arab and jewish side of Hebron and talking to a soldier on guard duty. He did not hate arabs. Imagine being alone in one of the most dangerous cities, at night like that, and still not hating arabs. Another thing in Hebron…the cave of Machpela is a holy site for both Jews and Arabs…but the Arabs control almost 80% of it, and no jews are allowed in. Not just that, they get to live in almost 80% of the whole city, while the jews are left with very little, betrayed by their own government…who in it’s hast to show good will gave away most of the city (which is Hamas controlled) to the arabs. I’m not going to say that Arabs are violent, but when I was walking on a hill over looking the arab area (which has water and light thanks to Israel. Never in a million years could they make and use their own power..even with so many oil rich arab countries who could for sure donate as much money for humanitarian supplies as it does for weapons) and every few seconds there were gun shots. both auto and pistol). No where, even in the ‘bad’ places in Americaa have I heard so many gun shots. Even in the slums of TelaViv. And there is no way that they were all from weddings.
I could go on and on, but I know this is falling on deaf ears anyway.
so if you take anything from this, know that it’s not all that the anti israel propaganda makes it out to be
September 10th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
you´re very handsome
September 10th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I think in as much as so many issues are raised here. I will still love to be in Isreal. All those castigating Isreal community let the sinless cast the first stone. I buy the ideal that all countries has their own unique fundamental problems.
September 10th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Kyle which messenger do you have?…how old are you…i would let you add me on msn…but you dont know how…l0l…&& yyea israel sounds fun..i learned about that in a book…it`sz interesting
September 10th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Hey! You guys at meebo are doing a great job! Congratulations! I’m telling as many people about meebo as i can. And i’ve already recommended a handful. =)
October 5th, 2007 at 7:14 am
hi,i am nick and i like you as a person, i want to know you better
October 7th, 2007 at 6:21 am
i think you have to live you life be for ne think
October 11th, 2007 at 2:15 am
I think so ;p
October 11th, 2007 at 2:15 am
;P