With all the hi-tech help out there for people who need to lose weight, it’s amazing how high the obesity rate is in “the lands of plenty.” That phenomenon has not passed by our little homeland;  now that Israel is a member of  the OECD, we, too have “grown,” and a recent OECD poll says that Israel is  the eighth “fattest” country in the world, by percentage of population! I guess if you start your day off with an Israeli breakfast (you know the kind I mean), move on to …

There seems to be little separating the fat from the fit – just a letter. And they’re both vowels! If only the gap between the two in real life were as easy to bridge as it is in the alphabet! But, sadly, flipping that vowel takes a bit of work – work that many of us just aren’t up to. Especially now, during the winter, when our ancient hoarding tendencies come to the fore, and we eat more.
If you want to get rid of that winter “spare tire,” there’s plenty …

For years, they’ve been making things smaller – and now, all of the sudden, they pull a “biggening” on us. Home stereos begat boomboxes, which begat Walkmans – which eventually evolved into teeny-tiny iPods. Similarly, desktop computers begat laptops, which turned into netbooks – and eventually, iPhones and other touchscreen smartphones, which owe more to computers than to cellphones.
But instead of taking the next logical step forward and making something even smaller, they decided to chuck miniaturization – and come out with something bigger. Now, the new “in” device is …

Making aliyah is exciting for every member of the family. The new home, the Jewish environment, the Shabbat atmosphere, learning Hebrew – it’s a time of excitement for parents and kids alike.
But there’s one member of the family who may be less than thrilled – your laptop. That’s because it knows that if anything goes wrong, it may have trouble getting itself fixed in a land where “international warranty” doesn’t always translate properly.
Over the years, I’ve gotten emails from readers on all sorts of topics, but one of the most …

There’s a whole new raft of iPods out there, smaller, prettier, and sharper sounding than ever. On the other hand, there’s a small, nascent backlash out there against iPods, and Apple products in general. Recently, for the first time, Sony Walkman devices outsold iPods in Japan, and internet chatter against Apple seems to be at an all-time high. And then there’s  http://anythingbutipod.com/, which purports to be a rallying point for the anti-iPod crowd.
But whether you use an iPod or a “Brand X” device to listen to music – or just …