CTech’s Sunday Roundup of Israeli Tech News
Defense contractor Rafael nearly doubles bid on Israeli drone maker Aeronautics; Facebook gearing up for Israeli elections, and for the politics behind it
14:0013.01.19
Defense contractor Rafael nearly doubles bid on Israeli drone maker Aeronautics. Rafael and businessman Avihai Stolero offered to acquire Aeronautics at a valuation of $231 million, nearly twice as high as their $116.6 million bid rejected by the drone maker in August. Read more
Aeronautics' Orbiter. Photo: Aeronautics' catalogue
Facebook gearing up for Israeli elections, and for the politics behind it. In October, Facebook’s government and politics outreach manager, Sean Evins, met with the chairman of Israel’s parliamentary elections committee. Read more
Opinion | Netflix’s Bandersnatch brings up ethical questions about BMI prosthetics. Can brain-machine interface prosthetics hijack the free will of users, like the viewer does the protagonist of Netflix’s new interactive film? And if yes, who is responsible for the resulting actions? Read more
Daimler to integrate Otonomo’s data collection technology in Mercedes-Benz connected cars. As part of the collaboration, Mercedes-Benz customers will be offered customized services according to their use of the vehicle, including usage-based insurance policies and on-demand fueling or charging. Read more
Teva settles 14-year Medicaid pricing fraud lawsuit in Illinois. The Israeli drugmaker agreed to pay $135 million to bring the allegations to rest. 46 other pharmaceutical companies were also named in the suit. Read more
Philips partners with Israeli sleep analysis startup sleepRate. SleepRate’s mobile app uses off-the-shelf sensors such as fitness belts and smartwatches to tracks sleep patterns and detect sleep problems. Read more
Opinion | Fake pictures are worth much more than a thousand words. Jim Acosta’s temporary removal from the White House Press Corps in November 2018 brought to consciousness a much more serious issue: deepfakes, an emerging technological reality wherein any video that we assume to be a true representation of reality could have been altered, or even wholly faked. Read more
The number of Israelis going abroad is at an all-time high. 8.5 million departures were recorded in 2018, 7.8 million of them by air. Read more
Japanese insurer Tokio Marine joins SOSA innovation hub. Tokio Marine is looking primarily for strategic investment opportunities in Israeli cybersecurity, AI, and fintech startups, according to a company executive. Read more
News briefs
Medical research company Genae acquires Israeli company MedicSense. Read more
Payment technology company SafeCharge reports 24% revenue growth in 2018. Read more
