A bee links to the Internet

Mobile Swiss beekeepers fear for their bees. A virus is wiping out entire colonies. One man's sorrow, another man's joy. While one bee fights for its survival, another is spreading throughout Switzerland. We are talking about BeeTagg, a honeycomb-like pattern that can be read with the help of a cell phone camera and links to the web. According to its own advertising, this is the best way to retrieve content from the Internet using a cell phone. And the BeeTagg is on course for expansion. Switzerland Tourism has launched a special stamp as part of its winter campaign. The subject is a BeeTagg. But the honeycomb pattern also populates entire regions in the Appenzeller Vorderland. Over 60 hiking signposts and over 60 PostBus stops have been equipped with the BeeTagg. With just one click, travelers can call up the Postbus timetable. Incidentally, Werbewoche tested the technology. With moderate success. The service is not that easy or smooth to use. Nevertheless, we predict a great future for the technology, because the mobile bee takes away tedious typing work. We will find out how the other bee is faring in the spring at the latest. (cl)