Editor's letter,

Rosh Hashana is upon us, and it is time to look back on the year that has passed, and forward to the year that is ahead. Thank G-d, the Israeli economy is strong and growing, and the talk of another summer war thankfully turned out to be wrong.

Here at illuminea, we've been working on some exciting projects, and wanted to give you an update. We have an amazing speaker from a leading negotiation consultating firm in Washington D.C. who will be speaking at the next Entrepreneur Breakfast meeting on "Best Negotiation Practices." We also launched our new Israel media site, israelplug, which reached the home page of digg, a large social media site, on the day we launched it, drawing over 30,000 readers within 48 hours.

Read on for more details regarding the above, plus links to articles on marketing and new media, such as blogging and facebook, and more.

May we all know peace and prosperity in this coming year of 5758!

Shana tova,

Miriam Schwab

Learn about "Best Negotiating Practices" with Ruth Shlossman from Washington DC's Watershed Associates

Ruth Shlossman, Principal at Watershed Associates in Washington, DC, will be speaking at the upcoming Entrepreneur Breakfast meeting in Jerusalem on Monday September 17, 2007. The topic of the lecture is "Best Negotiating Practices…Learn the basic, universal, key negotiating practices that create a win-win outcome."

Watershed Associates provides consultative training in negotiation skills worldwide, and counts among their clients Coca-Cola, General Electric, NASA, and Rolls Royce, to name just a few of the global corporations on their client list. Ruth has over 20 years experience in leadership, sales and consulting.  She has trained thousands of people in the art of innovation, negotiation, sales negotiation, and bargaining with emotional intelligence.

In my opinion, this is an opportunity not to be missed! To find out more details, and to RSVP, go to the Entrepreneur Breakfast site.

illuminea launches new media site on israel, israelplug - reaches digg home page

On August 9, we launched a new media site aimed at becoming a premium source for information on innovations coming out of Israel: israelplug. israelplug achieved digg stardom almost immediately when it reached digg's home page that evening. As a result, over 30,000 people visited the israelplug site within 48 hours of launch, providing an invaluable boost to the fledgling site.

israelplug reports on Israeli "news" and innovations that you wouldn't get anywhere else (or at least not on any respectable sites). So far, israelplug writers have reported on Elvis, time travel theory , John Cleese's anti-semitism, a cafe where you can order a flamenco dancer with your coffee, and a flying car.

israelplug also writes about business and technology, and has a useful resources page with links to hand-picked sites on Israel. Our videos page makes it easy for you to see great Israel-related videos all in one place, and you can stay up-to-date with Israel-related events around the world on the Events page.

So if you want to read news about Israel that makes you smile (yes, you heard what I said), check out israelplug, and don't forget to subscribe to the RSS feed or email updates!

Everyone's talking about it, but is it good for business? facebook.

facebook is one of those phenomena that has everybody talking. "I saw you on facebook," "Send me a message on facebook," "I liked your new pictures on facebook." facebook is amazing in that it has managed to become a part of our extra-Internet lives.

But is it good for business? Isn't it a little too personal to be professional? These are legitimate questions, which I address in one of my recent blog posts: Facebooking for business. Check it out, and make sure to watch the video at the end. I was singing that song for weeks after I saw it.

Useful links

• When searching Google, we tend to just punch in the words we think we're looking for, and press Enter. Thanks to Google's genius, this works most of the time, but we could save time and effort by finetuning our search skills. Read Ten Tips for Smarter Google Searches" to learn how ...
• If you're considering taking up blogging, or already have one and want to improve, why not learn from one of history's greats? See Copyblogger's "The Mark Twain Guide to Better Blogging." I highly recommend adding Copyblogger to your RSS reader, or subscribing to his email updates - that guy is awealth of information.
• Gian-Carlo Rota gives us his wisdom on educating and education, based on his experiences at MIT. His 10 Lessons of an MIT Education include You learn what you don't know you are learning; By and large, "knowing how" matters more than "knowing what"; and You don't have to be a genius to do creative work. All so true, so be sure to check it out!

Shana Tova!

illuminea provides English content services to Israeli businesses for marketing and development purposes. Our services include content for web sites, brochures, newsletters, presentations, and more.

illuminea also maintains a blog dedicated to the challenges and satisfactions of running a small business in general, and in Israel in particular. Take a look at the illuminea blog here.