It’s bad enough when you buy a computer or other electronic device overseas and try to get the Israeli representative to honor the international warranty. But it’s almost as tough getting them to honor the warranty on products you bought right here!
Stop me if this sounds familiar: You buy a product from a local electronics store, and decide you don’t want it – or find something wrong with it. You bring it back to the store, where you are subjected to an interrogation by a clerk, who demands to know …

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 …

Ten thousand songs. That’s how many I figure I need for my radio station.
This is a station that won’t be found on the AM or FM band, though – it’s exclusively for my use. My 10,000 songs have a home on my computer’s hard drive, and I’m be able to listen to them either directly on the computer, or the other computers in the house – or even through my cell phone. And to get the music I need for my station, I’ve been busy downloading songs off the internet …

D’ja ever notice that somehow, some way, no matter what you do, you always end up spending more on your cell phone bills than you expect to? No, this is not the opening to a Seinfeld routine (although I bet he has one on the subject!). But it’s a situation we’ve all become familiar with: The cell phone companies present us with “plans” that include free minutes, free chat, free internet – free! – but we somehow end up paying the same, or more, with each subsequent plan!
How could this …

“We are of the same race and blood, and cooperation will bring great prosperity to the land,” wrote Emir Feisal to Felix Frankfurter in 1917. Feisal was known for his affinity to the Zionists who had begun streaming to the Holy Land; in 1919, he signed a cooperation agreement with Haim Weizmann, to whom he wrote that he was “mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish people.”
But Feisal’s proclamations of kindredness with the Jews was more than lip service to a commonly …