You're correct here, but I'd like to mention that recent advancements in HLS (High Level Synthesis) allow regular software programmers to write C code that is compiled directly to hardware logic. There are some new rules to learn, things don't always work as expected and debugging is completely different to debugging software, but my point is that it's definitely possible to write major logic blocks in C without writing a line of VHDL code. So not necessarily will everyone need to learn a HDL to be a part of this change.

Here, let me read the FAQ for you:

Q: Didn't BMW already use the name 'C-1'?
A: Yep, they did (as did Chevrolet, Citroën, and a variety of others). 'C-1' is just a working name for our vehicle; it will change as we near production.

Where did I say that the Israelis are superior to any other group? And in what culture is it considered bigotry to express pride of your own group's accomplishments? Cause it sure ain't so in the United WE'RE NUMBER ONE! States of America.

Suppose one would ask something like "why does the USA always get the gold medals in the Olympics running competitions?", to which someone would respond simply, "well, there are a lot of fast runners in America". This could lead to an interesting discussion as to why there are many fast runners in America, or what would attract particularly fast runners to immigrate to America. Or, someone like you would label the answerer a bigot, ending the discussion.

Anyway my claims were intended to counter your false accusations of an uneven playing field. Your sarcastic response indicates your views are unchanged despite having no factual basis. Is there further point to this discussion? I believe no one else is reading.

Your question would be valid if the US aid was a significant percentage of the Israeli economy. Google "us aid israel gdp", skim through a couple of articles and realize that while in the past US aid has been invaluable - and Israel is very grateful for it - at present it is a pittance and in the opinion of many experts not worth the costs involved (and one of the costs is having people with opinions such as yours). If Israel lost all US aid overnight and for some reason decided to continue spending that same amount of money on US equipment (rather than, say, switch to Linux, buy lower-cost weaponry from other countries etc.) taxes would rise by about one percent. Yeah, it would make headlines for a few days and people would bicker and complain like they always do and that would be that.

What...?

So let's just assume for the sake of argument that Israel wasn't surrounded by hostile neighbors and did not require its present defense budget. In that case it would neither require nor receive US aid. The Israeli technology sector would still exist as it is (except perhaps the weapons industry, which is not the subject here), but the US aid is now out of the equation. What would you then claim is the sinister "other factor" fueling Israeli tech?

I keep hearing this argument. It's annoying. The US gives Israel billions of dollars' worth in equipment for the military, not money. So the Israeli army uses American jets, ammunition and Microsoft software (yay for the NSA) on its computers. If you think this somehow translates to other money being freed to be invested in high tech, well, if that were the case we wouldn't have companies preferring to set up shop in Cyprus (such as Viber) due to better economic incentives. Finally if American dollars translate into technology development you'd expect the Egyptians to have flying cars by now, which isn't quite the case.

Why is it so hard for some people to accept that there are a lot of smart, creative, entrepreneurial, out-of-the-box thinking people in Israel?

Well, in my experience this kind of thing doesn't happen every 5 seconds; but if it does for you, the little lightning bolt offers a drop down menu in which you may permanently turn off that particular kind of auto-correct, so not all is doom and gloom.

Ctrl-Z is your friend.

It's for your car, not your cat, dude.

I believe a far more interesting story about Waze has eluded Slashdot:

Two Technion students reverse-engineered Waze's method for detecting a traffic jam, then created a network of fake clients that reported traffic patterns that caused Waze to mark as jammed what was in reality a perfectly empty road.

Sources: Jerusalem Post, Wired.

Obligatory Calvin and Hobbes: http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/05/25

Cool of you for finding the original link! I actually remember this being exhibited at the HUJI Open Day fair in 1999, and (as a prospective student) had a chat with Yael who explained a bit about how it worked. I'm happy to see that this little project has progressed.

Your criticism however seems out of place; if Yael is a Disney Research employee then this is a Disney Research invention, it is not "somebody else's". I'm quite sure that the team has not been sitting idly these past 14 years, and that the breakthrough in question is not what was shown back then but the fact that the technology is closer to being an actual product.

Flowers By Irene, man. Have you learned nothing?