Israel is home to a burgeoning tech industry, but the country’s broadband infrastructure hasn’t really been able to keep pace. In terms of broadband penetration, in fact, Israel ranks just 21st out of 34 developed nations, according to statistics gathered by the OECD. All this may be changing, however, now that the country’s state-run electric company has announced plans to create a new national broadband network. According to the AP, the forthcoming network will use so-called fiber to the home (FTTH) technology, which is capable of providing connections at speeds of between 100Mbps and 1Gbps. That would be about ten to 100 times faster than the connections most Israelis have today, and could offer obvious benefits to a wide array of businesses and industries. The electric company is aiming to have 10 percent of the country connected to its new network by next year, and to have two-thirds covered within the next seven years.

Back in July, Jawbone did something puzzling. The company, best known for its Bluetooth headsets, teased a photo of a colorful wristband called the Up — a deceptively simple thing that could purportedly track your eating, sleeping and exercise habits. The outfit left out a few teensy details: the price, shipping date and, the biggest riddle of all, how it works.

At last, the company’s ready to talk specifics. We just got word the Up will be available in the US November 6th for $ 100, and will continue its world tour on the 17th. With that price, it’s well-matched against the clip-on Fitbit Ultra tracker, and indeed, they have some key features in common — namely, a step counter and a few requisite social networking features. But with a sensor that knows when you’re in deep sleep and a mobile app that can identify photos of food, it has a few unexpected tricks that could give devices like Fitbit a run for their money. We’ll be getting one to test very soon, but in the meantime, join us past the break to learn more.