now hear this...

I recently tried to install a tool that is supposed to sync my treo with songs from an iTunes playlist. Sounds like a great thing. Read about it in a few places. Downloaded it, installed it, tried it - but it doesn't work. Read on (text file, sorry) to read what I think of this tool, and why you should not use it, and why people should be more careful in spreading news about new products.

OK, the first four are mostly for Israelies:

• Israeli proxy: I use it for YNet, but if you know of other israeli sites that require a proxy let me know and I'll add them. Set your automatic proxy to http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~arielbaz/proxy.pac and restart your browser.

• Hummus / Hoomoos / Humus / Food: Two places:
  Hoomoos Asli, 100 Kenmare street (it's actually the corner of Lafayette and Spring) to get the Jaffa feeling. And if you agree with my taste, don't believe the things they say on Rainbow, 26E 17th street - it may be good, but not really good.
  Hummus Place, on St. Marks street between Ave A to Ave B.

• Israeli (and general) music: try http://radio.walla.co.il - dozens of fresh good albums streaming to your computer. Anyway you're online all the time, aren't you?
  Of course, you can go directly to Berry

• E.T. call home: An excellent voice quality, and cheap prices. The funny-named Halo Polska cards (search for it on the search box) will give you > 540 minutes of calltime to Israel for $9.50. PIN arrives by email seconds after order. First use requires authorization, better do it during business hours and call them immediately to authorize.

• Palm Tungsten E: Do you own it? Isn't it a cool one? Did you know it charges from the USB cable, so you actually don't need the charger?
  Palm Zire 72: Now that I broke the T|E.. it also charges from the USB cable, but does anyone have a decent, comfortable and small screen cover/carry case?

• Internet shopping: Lean back and let Ben do the hard work.

• Image viewer/convertor: Use IrfanView and live better.
  Anyone knows of a good freeware image editor of the same quality?

• Adobe Acrobat reader speedup: Acrobat 3 was a bit useful, 4 was good, 5 became too big, and 6 is a monster that takes forever to load, loads at startup zillions of stupid plugins that I don't need, never really gives me back the 20+ MB of RAM it needs (WHY??) and makes me actually hate pdf documents. The Adobe Reader SpeedUp slightly improves the plugin load time issue.
  A simpler "DIY" solution is here.
  Still, I don't like acrobat reader.

• Capuccino: Basically, I would say the situation in New York is pretty bad. but...
  There are two local branches of the superb Tel-Aviv-based espresso-bar Sicaffe, that offer some hope and amazing latte art. I have yet to check on their location on 29 John st., but here are some pictures from what I had at 964 Lexington Ave. (between 70 and 71 st.)
  Another excellent place (but only for latte! for some reason, they insist that capuccinos must be bad) is Joe cafe, located at 141 Waverly Pl.