Facebook Driving Deal to Buy Israeli Navigation App Waze

Posted: Thu, 05/09/2013 - 10:42 | Posted by: Rabbi Jason Miller | Jewish Techs

Let the jokes begin. From the people who wandered in the desert for 40 years comes the best navigational app so far. Waze, an Israeli crowdsourced navigation mobile application, has been growing in popularity over the past couple years. And in the past half a year there have been more than a few rumors that Waze was on the verge of being bought by Apple and Facebook. Those deals never materialized and some say it was because Uri Levine and his investment partners at Waze were holding out for more.

In Memory Of A Mother Who Loved The Shema, A New Bedtime App For Kids

Posted: Fri, 04/19/2013 - 09:34 | Posted by: Rabbi Jason Miller | Jewish Techs

One of my favorite times of each day is my children’s bedtime. I enjoy watching them perform the nightly rituals before bed and then I join them in saying the bedtime Shema prayer. I recently spoke with kindergarten students and their parents at my children’s day school about Jewish bedtime rituals. For the second year, I heard parents tell me about their own enjoyment in tucking their children into bed. It’s a special time for parent-child bonding, so many of them explained. And Judaism recognizes the opportunity for both spirituality and education during these precious few moments before falling fast sleep.

Kindle Your Judaism: Growing Jewish Literacy Through New Technology

Posted: Thu, 03/07/2013 - 16:36 | Posted by: Rabbi Jason Miller | Jewish Techs

Ask most rabbis what their number one recommendation is for "saving" the Jewish future and they will point to Jewish literacy. Helping young Jews become more literate about Jewish history, culture and religion is a top priority for Jewish leaders on college campuses. The way to do this is by getting them to read books about a whole host of Jewish themes and topics. Rather than telling college students to read a history of the Jewish people and having them feel like they have one more 4-credit course to take, innovative Jewish educators are envisioning new ways to encourage Jewish literacy. I was impressed when I learned of a new program being implemented at Brown University to get college students excited about reading books with Jewish themes.

Hitler Slips Into A Google App Store

Posted: Tue, 01/22/2013 - 10:35 | Posted by: Rabbi Jason Miller | Jewish Techs

Apple has been criticized by mobile app makers for the difficult process involved in getting their apps into the AppStore. The reason for all the red tape in this process, however, is so Apple can approve each app for content ensuring there is no hate speech or racist material in the app. In France, Apple has even removed an app that was in violation of that country's strong policy on anti-Semitism.

NoahPozner.com - Exploiting A Tragedy

Posted: Wed, 12/19/2012 - 22:24 | Posted by: Rabbi Jason Miller | Jewish Techs

When the names of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut were announced, Jewish media outlets immediately published articles about the youngest victim Noah Pozner, the 6-year-old who was laid to rest earlier this week in a traditional Jewish funeral.