Shai Tubali is a some-what familiar name in the media, because unlike other nutty cult leaders, he published a successful book, and his name is also known from the time he served in Galey Tzahal almost two decades ago. His cult is quite small, reported to be under 30 followers these days, but several news sources (Yediot, Channel 2) have published worrying stories about the way he abuses his flock. One of the people who also wrote about him several times is reporter, blogger and newage academic Tomer Persico. Of all the publications, Tubali decided to skip the national media and pick on Persico and hit him with a 220K NIS libel suit. More Info (also in Hebrew) in NRG.

This just sent via email to Better Place:

Dear Sir/Madam

I would venture a guess that many of your early adopters (or switch-registrants for now) are also gadget lovers or at least tech savvy. Most of them walk around with a smartphone with a GPS or at least have a GPS in their cars. The idea is that by submitting you their GPS data from driving their gas cars they could get your estimates on car usage and maintenance patterns, and have a better idea on the EV experience ahead. Better Place can use this as a market research as well as active marketing tool, of course.