We’re celebrating Hanukah in Israel right now and given all the fun and festivities going on, we thought it would be a good time to look back over the past few months and highlight some of the tech trends we’re seeing in startup land in the Startup Nation.

As a caveat, these trends are based upon our deal flow – what we’re seeing on the ground. >>Read about the first trend we highlighted: social driving.

So, Happy Hanukah and enjoy.

Trend 2/8: The Quantified Self

The problem: Our bodies are imperfect. We spend a lot of time, energy, and money reading self-help books and going to doctors in an effort to change that. People want to improve physical and mental performance and mood states, but many times don’t know where to start.

The solutions: As personal electronics and big data converge, we’re seeing a growing movement to track what we do with our time and bodies. Once we quantify ourselves and track inputs (what we eat), our various states (oxygen levels) and performance (mental and physical), we can begin to optimize ourselves. By correctly logging our lives, we can begin to hack our behaviors.

  • GreenRoad: With a product suite that includes in-car hardware and smarphone apps, Israeli GreenRoad is all about improving driver performance and safety. It does so by providing simple feedback to drivers so they can optimize their behavior accordingly.
  • Nike+:  More than an athletic apparel company, Nike’s all about improving people’s self image. It’s aspirational. Nike+ is the firm’s concentrated effort to address the athlete’s quantified self. With its Fuel Band and apps for smartphones, Nike+ enables people to track their physical activities throughout the day, set goals, and share that information with its community.
  • Alcohoot: This app developed in Israel wants to ensure you never drink and drive. A breathalyzer that connects to your smartphone, Alcohoot calculates your blood alcohol levels, tracks your drinking trends and can even order you a taxi when you’re too sloppy to drive.
  • Fitbit: Fitbit’s One product connects wirelessly to your smartphone and tracks both your daily activity (steps, distance, etc.) and your sleep. You can set goals, all in an effort to bring greater fitness — and wellness — into your life.
  • Fooducate: The Tel Aviv-based startup encourages better and healthier eating by crunching the ingredients in the food we eat. The firm’s Diabetes app is like having a personal dietician on speed dial. It grades your groceries, explains what’s really inside each food, and offers healthier alternatives.

The future: The tie-in between hardware and the smartphone is getting tighter and tighter. People are getting more comfortable logging their day’s activities, examining them, and in certain cases (like dieting and exercise), sharing them with others. From improving our sleep to exercising more to eating better, we’re still in the early innings of the move to the Quantified Self.

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>>Read about the first trend we highlighted: social driving.

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