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Dear visitor, please check for new posts at: http://www.ben-joseph.com. My blog moved there.

Project Better Place: Israel first country to deploy electric cars

This weekend I read a very interesting article about a venture named, Project Better Place, in the English weekly newspaper JC.

The article “Could this car drive oil power to a stop?” is about the unique project to make the world a better place. The State of Israel has become the first country, and Renault-Nissan the first automaker, to announce their partnerships with us to begin a mass deployment of electric cars.

Renault Nissan Project Better Place

The official website of Project Better Place states: “Project Better Place is very excited that the State of Israel has become the first country, and Renault-Nissan the first automaker, to announce their partnerships with us to begin a mass deployment of electric cars. We believe that it is past time to begin making it possible for consumers to choose an electric vehicle that is much less expensive to operate, does not emit pollution or greenhouse gases and provides a better driving experience from their current automobiles. The State of Israel has shown foresight in implementing an appropriate tax policy, and setting out a vision by which it can become the first industrialized nation to end the stranglehold of oil on its economy and environment. Renault-Nissan, likewise, has shown great vision and leadership , when agreeing to become the first major automaker to produce electric vehicles on a mass-scale to integrate with our infrastructure . We look forward to working with them to replace hundreds of thousands of polluting cars with new electric vehicles, for a cleaner and safer world.”

This concept is set-up by Shai Agassi (as far I know, not related to Andre):

Shai Agassi

“Shai Agassi is the founder and CEO of Project Better Place, a company focused on the early 21st century’s biggest challenge – a scaleable and sustainable personal transportation system.  In this role, Agassi works directly with governments, finance, automobile manufacturers and technology companies to install, scale, and operate a regional and global infrastructure necessary for electronic vehicles.

With a personal passion in solving large-scale social and environmental issues, Agassi believes in utilizing technology and capital markets to address the challenges of sustainability and climate change.  With Better Place, he will manage the operation of international electric vehicle fleets by investing in, installing and operating countrywide charging infrastructures for electric cars, as well as working with partners to make the cars available.

Most recently, Better Place and Renault-Nissan announced a partnership that will enable electric vehicles to be mass produced for the Israeli market as announced by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert President Shimon Perez in January 2008.  Better Place is in discussions with multiple auto-makers and countries as they seek to move more markets off of oil and onto an electric recharge grid operator model.

Before founding Better Place, Agassi was formerly president of the Products and Technology Group at SAP AG and a member of the SAP AG Executive Board (2002 – 2007).  In these roles, Agassi was responsible for both the global development of the SAP product line and SAP’s portfolio of industry-specific solutions. While at SAP AG, Agassi spearheaded the development and release of SAP’s successful platform strategy; led innovations that helped the company grow into a market leader, and set the stage for the future of business software.

As a serial entrepreneur, Agassi has developed and cultivated several technology companies. During his career, Agassi founded Quicksoft Media and QuickSoft Ltd as well as TopTier Software and TopManage, which were both acquired by SAP.

Agassi is an active member of the Forum of Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum where he focuses on climate change and transportation issues.

I added Shai’s blog The Long Tailpipe to my blogroll. Make sure to visit his blog and the official website of Project Better Place:

www.projectbetterplace.com

Triple C: Cool Car Commercials

As written here before, I love cool advertisements and commercials, hereby come cool car commercials: Triple C rating

European Elegance: Audi RS6 2008 – “Gymnastics” TV commercial

American Power: Michael Bay’s Commercial Chevy Cars Carrier

An oldy, but a goody: Every boys dream > Porsche

If you have a favorite, please do share!

 

Coach on e.factor

This week I had the honour to become a coach on this amazing website for entrepreneurs:

www.efactor.com

If you are an entrepreneur or are looking for finance opportunities to become an entrepreneur, make sure to sign up. The site is a true international platform with web 2.0 applications that wants to connect entrepreneurs.

If you have any questions or want me to send you an invite, drop me a line!

All you need is… Alon

This week I saw this billboard at Schiphol Airport:

Does ING really think that all the information you need is ALON…?

Infotainment: The Forgotten Refugees

A very interesting documentary about Jews in the Middle East, called: “The Forgotten Refugees”.

In 1945, there were up to one million Jews living in the Middle East and North Africa outside the Palestine Mandate – many living in communities dating back more than three millennia. Today, there only remain several thousand.

Who are these Jews?  What precipitated their mass-exodus in the 20th century?  Where did they go?  And why don’t we know their stories?

Cool Ads

As I have written before, I love cool ads, hereby I want to share some with you:

1. WHO SAYS BUSES AREN’T COOL?

Quit Smoking

Dogs Love Buses

Say Cheese!

No Smint, No Kiss!

Jaws travels by bus

EyeBus

Buses love DJ

AAAAUUUUWWWW!

2. CoolBags
Shop-a-Rope

Hang-a-Bag

I’ve got a headache!

Don’t mess with me!

Kiddie Bag

3. HotCups
Lips at work

Starbucks Teeth

The Blog Game: Tag! Your it!

This week I have been tagged by my (digital) friend, Harry Bishop, from Canada (http://www.harrybishop.ca). It wasn’t clear to me exactly what it meant, but if you read the rules, it is a rather fun concept. I renamed it: “The Blog Game”.

The rules are:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules;
2. List EIGHT random facts about yourself;
3. Tag EIGHT people at the end of your post and list their names;
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged; and,
5. E-mail your tagger, the link to your post.

When I got tagged, I had no idea what to share, so I am going to share 8 random facts that pop-in to my head:

1. You might have guested what my passions are (looking at my blog and career choice), but I have a virus! I am mad about watches/mechanical movements/watchmaking. That is the reason I initiated the blog WatchFreaks couple of months ago. From the start we received positive feedback and the group of visitors grows steadily every day.

2. If people need to guess where I was born, looking at my name, the largest chance is that people will say Israel. Although my roots go back to the Jerusalem of King David, I am born and raised in Amsterdam (The Netherlands, Europe), where I still reside.

3. Talking about names, almost everybody gets confused about my double family name: Ben Joseph. Most people think Ben is my middle name. My family name means Son of Joseph in Hebrew. So, my complete family name is BEN JOSEPH and first name is: Alon, which means “Royal Oak” (yes, like the watch).

4. A lot of people question me about the meaning of the slogan of my blog: “Strong as a Tree”… If you paid attention at fact #3, my name is also used for a tree: an Oak

5. My favorite dish/food is: Almost anything that comes of a BBQ! Especially a good juicy steak.

6. My direct circle of friends know that I love quotes, so hereby one of my favorites, an oldy, but a goody by C.G. Jung: “Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you!”.

7. My favorite (dream) car: Lancia Flaminia Zagato Supersport.

8. Last, but certainly not least, a question that is asked many times: My favorite watch. That I currently own, the IWC Portuguese Chrono Rattrapante. My dream watch: F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain.

I hope that you enjoyed my scribbles. Now I am tagging to following people that I think have something interesting to share:

1. Natalie Shell of Think Talk Walk- My friend that was one of the first persons in my direct group of friends with a dynamic blog.

2. Guilda Moussazadeh of Funfair – The first member in my family that started blogging.

3. Robert-Jan Broer of Fratello Watches – My partner-in-crime on WatchFreaksBlog.com.

4. Tom Mulraney of The Watch Lounge – My Australian (digital) WatchFriend.

5. Suzan Fluitman of ONLuxury – The Dutch Online Luxury Guru.

6. Schelly Talalay Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe – The expert on Jewish Genealogy.

7. Doron Krant – My buddy who doesn’t blog yet, but urgently needs to. He always finds the newest info/FunStuff & shares the coolest things with all his online contacts. He already owns the domain: Krantee.com (keep posted)!

8. Steve Fritsche of SteveFritsche.com – My Photography Friend, who doesn’t have a blog yet, but now that I have tagged him, he needs to!

For all the people that don’t have a blog yet, I advise them to logon to www.wordpress.com and get a free account. You can be blogging within 5 minutes!

Tipping Points in Commercials

I love cool adverts, especially commercials made on film. I will never forget when BMW launched the BMW Movies website in 2001 and had independent (famous) movie directors create short movies where a BMW car is the main character. Unfortunately, the website is off line, but you can find may of them on YouTube, one of my favorites is “Star” directed by Guy Ritchie, and starring a BMW M5, Madonna (Yes, Guy Ritchie’s wife) and Clive Owen:

But also make sure to check out: “The Devil“, featuring James Brown and Clive Owen, made in 2002 and “The Hostage” directed by John Woo (also made Hollywood blockbuster “Face/Off”).

A book that made an impression on me is “The Tipping Point” by Malcom Gladwell and I believe that the directors of the folling amazing commercials also read this book:

New Ford Focus – “Beautifully Arranged”

New Honda Accord – “The Cog”

Guiness Beer – “Tipping Point”

What is your favorite commercial displayed here? Mine “The Cog”, but I find the Ford advertisement very elegant and fun. Last, but not least, the Guiness advertisement is also very breath taking! If you have any favorites, please do share

Ace & Dik Shutter

Since last Monday (February 11th, 2008), Ace & Dik Jewelers on the Van Baerlestraat will enlighten watch fans after opening hours with an IWC watch of about 2 by 3 meters big

The translation of the slogan is: “This watch will run as long as you will. Plus seven days.” This reffers to the patented 5000-movement that has been designed by IWC and is manufactured in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.