Laut Alexa gehört bluewin.ch zu den 10 am meisten besuchten Webseiten der Schweiz (Rang 8). Und ist gleichzeitig die beliebteste, von einer Schweizer Firma betriebene.
Nun hat sich die Swisscom entschieden, das gesamte Design von Bluewin zu aktualisieren und ihr einen frischeren Look zu verpassen.

Gleichzeitig sollen möglichst viele Dienste von Swiscom in Bluewin.ch integriert werden. So verweisen viele Links direkt zum Swisscom Online-Kundencenter und das gesamte Swisscom Angebot ist in die Seite integriert/verlinkt.

Also äusserst nützlich finde ich beispielsweise die “CenterBar”. Dort sind viele wichtige Funktionen wie Telefonbuch (local.ch), Radio, Wetter, TV+Kino usw. zusammenfasst und übersichtlich dargestellt.

Zusammenfassend kann ich sagen, gefällt mir die aufgeräumte Seite. Sie wirkt sauber und trotz vielen Javascript Effekten nicht zu verspielt. Natürlich passt das neue Design mehr ins Corporate Design von Swisscom.
Leider fehlt jedoch eine Personalisierung. Ich kann weiterhin nicht auswählen, welche News-Bereiche mich nicht interessieren und diese ausblenden.
Ausserdem ist es etwas umständlich, zwischen den Hauptkategorien zu wechseln. Wenn ich beispielsweise einen Artikel in der Kategorie “Sport” lese, dann aber auf “Digital” wechseln möchte, muss ich immer über das riesige “Page-Down Popup” gehen.

Leider ist auch die “Seite Drucken” Funktion nicht wirklich nützlich. Neben der Werbung (die da definitiv nicht hingehört), wird das gesamte Seitenlayout, Navigation und der grosse Footer gedruckt. Definitiv eine Stelle, die noch verbessert werden muss.

Hier noch ein direkter Vergleich der alten, aktuellen Bluewin Seite und der Beta Version.

Artikel auf der aktuellen Bluewin Seite

Artikel in der Bluewin Beta

Die Beta-Version des neuen Bluewin-Portals ist frei zugänglich und kann über diesen Link erreicht werden. Wie findest du die Seite? Gut, schlecht? Was fehlt, was wurde gut gelöst? Feedback wie immer in die Kommentare

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Yes, after days and weeks of speculation, it seems HTC has finally committed to an Android update for the HTC Desire mobile phone. I have been using a leaked Android 2.2 with Sense for my Desire for a few weeks now. Not much has changed over Android 2.1.

The press release has some words about new features. I’ll explain some of them in this post and show you with the leaked ROM how they look and what they do.

HD Video (720p) recording
Quality is great. You get 24 fps, which is enough. Check out this example video.

App Sharing (Widget)
Nothing brand know (Barcode Scanner can do this as well).

Multi Language Keyboard
Very nice for people that write or type texts/emails/sms in different languages. In the lower left corner you can switch between languages, with a simple click.

iTunes Sync
I could not try this. The leaked ROM seems to miss that. Was never really an issue for me anyway. Question just is, how long will Apple allow this? They don’t like it, if other manufacturer tap into their ecosystem.

FM Radio UI Updated
Just a minor update. But the user interface has changed a little bit.

Move Apps to SD Card
Something a lot of people are looking forward. If an app developer allows it, apps can now be installed or moved to the SD card. This should spare you some space on the internal memory and allow you to install more apps. But there are currently very few apps allowing this.

Additional Widgets
HTC has added a few new widgets for changing settings. Namely WiFi, Mobile network, Hotspot and so on.

So if you want Android 2.2 on your Desire, head to
Settings -> About phone -> System software updates
If you own a branded device (most likely you bought it from Swisscom, Orange, Vodafone, Sunrise, …) you need a few more weeks of patience. Or you use a Goldcard to unlock your device.

Pre-Rooted updates will be available very soon. I’ll update if any news are out or a direct download link is available. Should not take too long

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It has been two years since UK based TechCrunch co-editor Mike Butcher has payed the Swiss startup scene a visit. My recordings of the elevator pitches have been viewed over 5000 times. Some more often like Poken, with over 600 views, others with only 14 views. Now that two years have passed, I thought it might be a good idea and look back. Were any of the startups successful? Are they still around? Have some exited or joined the dead pool? To answer this questions I have created the following list with a quick status update for each startup, which presented. The list is in no particular order.

• OptionRating: fabware, creating iPhone apps
• FundExplorer: renamed to ETFexplorer?
• Sobees: developed clients for Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others for various devices (iPhone, iPad, web)
• mixin: never heard much of them, no real update since May 2009
• groops: no progress or big update, seems to have stopped
• dixero: not sure, page still asks for pre-registrations, not a very active twitter feed, blank pages on website
• CulturePod: active, creating new interview and videos
• Cassiber: doing fine
• babyZbook: dead pool? no information found
• Zattoo: sold to Swiss news paper group TA Media
• yes: online radio with chat? still great domain name (yes.com)
• wuala: joined French based LaCie (manufacturer of hard drives), stores over 200 million files
• webnode: still running, not sure if this counts a Swiss startup
• W2ML: no idea…
• trigami: still located in Basel, still in the same business
• swisspoll: no clue, they don’t have a CEO or anything
• SwarmCast: no clue, last press release is from September 2009
• Starfruit: create/buy goods in Second Life and let them deliver to your real life, dead?
• six signs: no idea, no information found, dead?
• Semacle: no updates since August 2009, dead?
• routeRank: alive, no idea how well they are doing
• Profession Web: not sure, blog?
• procedural: doing pretty well, I suppose
• poken: personally still not a fan, funding over 2 million Swiss francs, now based in San Francisco
• playyoo: on autorun, last blog entry from August 2009
• NewsCred: still active in creating custom online newspapers
• LiberoVision: doing great, big presence in the 2010 World Cup
• kleWel: active, no idea how well they are doing
• key lemon: selling their software for CHF 19.95
• holistis: no idea, not a clue
• gbanga: product launched, expanding
• Faircustomer: selling stuff
• doodle: reporting 6 million unique users a month
• bluewatchdog: still active, product works on new devices/phones
• amiando: not really swiss startup, but doing great
• amazee: launched their white label product
• Supertext: doing very well

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Warning: This app is in no way official or approved by Zattoo. I have just spend little over 2 hours to create this app. The data usage is like 6 megabytes per minutes. So make sure you use Wifi or a data flat rate if you watch TV.

Requirements

• Android 2.2 (FroYo)
• Adobe Flash Player 10.1 BETA (in the Android Market)
• TV.Centerr (my app)

Screenshots

Download

Search for Zattoo or TV.Centerr or scan the QR code below. If you do not have Android 2.2 installed, the app will not show up!

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I have created an Android Zattoo app!

I admit it, one thing that Android phones are missing are apps for live TV. There is a native app for Zattoo or Swiss newspapers offer apps to watch and record TV. But now thanks to Android 2.2 and Flash 10.1 for Android phones, I can now enjoy the full repertoire of TV channels on the Zattoo website.

The steam is very smooth, steady and the audio is great. The only problem are HiQ streams. Those are not synced and the video is not smooth. Other than that my quick test seems to be good. So get yourself Android 2.2, the Flash 10.1 BETA 3 and enjoy some Zattoo TV.

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After the 2.1 port of Gallery3D I quickly fixed and compiled the 2.2 Gallery3D app for the 2.1 HTC Desire device.

All the nice features you have seen are working. See screenshots below!

Download from android.centerr.com or via QR Code

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First things first: Apple refreshed their Mac Mini computer. Nice upgrade I have to admit. But there is also a downside. And as so often it lies in the price…

Update: as journalist and Apple user Thomas Benkö just noted, are the new prices CHF 300.- higher than for the old system.

Of course the US and Canada prices do not include taxes (usually around 10-15%). But even with that added, the Swiss Mac Mini is 10% more expensive.
I am particularly sorry for my German friends…

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Top Five Men

Michael Raelert (GER) 3:47.47,2
Ronnie Schildknecht (SUI) 3:54.29,2
Olivier Marceau (SUI) 3:55.16,6
Romain Guillaume (FRA) 3:59.06,2
Masimo Cigana (ITA) 4:01.52,8

Top Five Women

Caroline Steffen (SUI) 4:19.29,5
Nicole Hofer (SUI) 4:25.25,4
Karin Thürig (SUI) 4:29.09,1
Simone Benz (SUI) 4:34.12,6
Eva Janssen (NED) 4:41.55,7

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This is fresh of the Google press. The free and Google Maps based turn-by-turn navigation is now available in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland. These countries join the already launched US and UK versions.
Thanks to this launch, Android owners in these countries have now a completely free and fast turn-by-turn navigation application on their handset.

Below I have pasted a few screenshots of a quick test on my HTC Desire phone.

The system is very simple to use. The biggest problem is, that it requires a data connection, to download the map for your navigation. Other than that, the system is very sophisticated and might be a real alternative to TomTom, Navigon and all those other navigation systems for your car.

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Steve Jobs is currently speaking at the WWDC in San Francisco. And he just announced renaming of iPhone OS to iOS. Makes sense. The mobile operating system runs on iPhone, iPad, iPod. But there is one problem.

iOS, or better IOS is an operating system owned and used by Cisco. True, go check out the Wikipedia article. I’ll wait.

So, how will Apple fix this?

Update: Thanks to Ed for the solution

“Cisco has agreed to license the iOS trademark to Apple for use as the name of Apple’s operating system for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad,” said Cisco spokeswoman Kristin Carvell

So Apple simply pays a boatload of cash to Cisco for the rights to use it. Surprised?

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Just a couple of weeks after publicly launching their new look & feel and less then a week after allowing people to use custom backgrounds on the Google homepage, they do another redesign. As of today, I see preview pictures next to search results. Check out the screenshot below.

To use this, simply append “&tbs=prv:1” to your search url as in this example (original URL).

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First, I am sorry for any strong language and (to) direct critics.

Android is my favorite open system of all time. Thanks to its open stack (Linux, Android, Google and OHA’s thinking) devices with Android are just incredible. As a developer you can do stuff you can only dream about on other devices and system (no finger pointing). There are over 50’000 applications in the app store. And most of them them work on all devices. The API level system Android has is great. If a device does not support an API level, you can not install it. No biggy here. Thats life (and did not say “fragmentation” )

But today I came across the Xing Android app. Cool, managing my Xing contacts on my Desire. Guess what? It does not work on any Android device besides Motorola’s Droid/Milestone. It just doesn’t launch. All you see is this screen.

Why you might ask? Because Xing has agreed on a exclusive deal, only allowing Milestone/Droid users to use the app before August 2nd. After that date, the app will be released for all phones.

I call this bullshit!

Why on earth should you limit any application to one specific device, if the hard- and software is capable of running it? I don’t give a sh*t about your exclusive arrangement with Motorola! Developers at Android put hours and days of work to make sure, devices with different versions of the operating system and API level can work together, and you just block any device.

End of Rant. Sorry. Calming down now…

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[Trigami-Review]

Bereits im Februar durfte ich die erste “Web 2.0″ Schoggi probieren und mich in das Konzept von mySwissChocolate einführen lassen. Seit dann sind einige Monate ins Land gezogen und das Team ist erfolgreich gestartet. Die ersten Schokoladen-Tafeln wurde verschickt, die erste Maschine musst ersetzt werden und neue Ideen werden kontinuierlich entwickelt und angeboten.
Die Idee hinter dem Produkt ist es, jedem Kunden seine individuelle Schokolade gestalten zu lassen. Dazu gibt es einen einfach zu bedienenden Online-Prozess. In einem ersten Schritt kann die Grundschokolade ausgewählt werden.

Bei jedem Schritt sieht man auf einen Blick, was die eigene Schoggi enthält. Und daneben auch gleich der Preis.

Bezahlung
Bezahlt werden kann ganz einfach mit PayPal oder in der Schweiz auch auf Rechnung. Sehr Kundenfreundlich!

Lieferzeiten
Da jede Schokolade von Hand gefertigt wird, kann die Lieferzeit etwas schwanken.
Ausserdem wird im Sommer deine Schokolade nur am Montag verschickt. Das liegt an den warmen Temperaturen. Sonst kann es passieren, dass die Schokoladentafel als flüssige Schoggi ankommt .

Kritik
Das grösste Hindernis finde ich persönlich die doch sehr hohen Versandkosten. CHF 8.- für eine Lieferung innerhalb der Schweiz ist doch relativ hoch. Und momentan ist die einzelne Schokolade immer noch teurer als aus der Migros. Natürlich ist es meine Schokolade, meine Kreation. Aber der Blick aufs Portmonee zählt leider doch.

Gutschein
Für alle Blogleser gibt es einen 10% Gutschein von mySwissChocolate! Einfach im Warenkorb diesen Code eingeben, und schon sparst du
4bd7ffd3cbe47

Meine letzte Schokoladenkreation

Titel: Sommerfrische, Mai 2010
Schoggi-Code: 4432, damit kannst du die genau gleiche Schokoladentafel bestellen.

» Jetzt zum Angebot

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More and more, Google decides to move away from their simplistic and minimalistic look. Some lucky people can now set a background for the google.com engine.

You can either select and upload your own pictures or choose from the galleries “Public Gallery”, “Editor’s Picks” or your own Picasa Web Album. In the public gallery you can search the Picasa online site directly within the popup. Any image, even those NSFW.

After some tests I would suggest you use a darker picture. The Google logo and links are white once you have selected a design. And if you photo is white, you can’t really see any links. I miss some sort of preview option. I would love to preview my choice, before selecting it. I have no idea how big the image is and which parts are displayed once I have selected it.

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Warning, HUGE screenshots

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