Bake Yourself Mr. Right
What do women want? To bake themselves a man! And the right one, at that. Because in real life, you rarely come across one. To finally put an end to this misery, the German fashion company Orsay now offers the magic baking mix for you on its website: Mix up your very own Mr. Right in the Orsay Lounge. It’s all up to you. Four heads, torsos, and pairs of legs are available to create your very own Mr. Lover-Lover. And that’s how almost every dream becomes reality: from the presidential candidate to the six-pack-abs-casino-winner-cold-shower-wet-shaver to the mother-in-law’s dream guy. And if the mix is just right, you can even have it all at once. The whole thing feels just like real life—because even there, «women» regularly wonder how that head fits on that body. There are a total of 64 head-body-chassis combinations to choose from. Could you also “bake” yourself a (handsome) clever president or a (handsome) nice building manager this way? Now that would be something!
But anyone who finally decides to bake the freshly mixed man until he’s crispy for immediate consumption is in for a rude awakening: Even at Orsay, all the men are half-baked. Because the story of Prince Charming is just a fairy tale! Damn it all! And for that, I spent two (lovely) hours evaluating the most beautiful combination of body parts and ended up with nothing to show for it? That’s just hilarious.

Sticky Lipstick
It’s already 40 years old—the Pritt Stick from Henkel. It hit the market in 1969 as the first adhesive in a handy stick form. Today, it’s an indispensable part of many offices and households in 121 countries. Pritt has even been to space on an expedition. Incidentally, the glue owes its practical shape to the lipstick.

Since January 20, Tele Top has expanded its broadcasting area to Zurich, as permitted by its new license. The license-exempt TeleZüri also began to expand in (almost) all directions. Due to this new constellation, it was clear that the TeleNewsCombi (TNC) advertising pool would need to be reorganized. TNC promptly reorganized itself as of July 1: Tele Top, the only non-publisher TV alongside TeleBasel, was shown the door. The main argument: the territorial overlap with TeleZüri was becoming too large, leading to double bookings and parallel broadcasts of joint TNC programs.
Tele-Top founder Günter Heuberger expected this. That's why he already made the budget without TNC income in his license application, he says. From the summer, he will launch his own combined offer: Anyone who books Tele Top in addition to at least one other regional TV will receive a 20 percent discount on the Top rate. Heuberger is already doing something similar with Radio Top.
But the new TNC will not last long. Three licensing decisions are still pending (Aargau, Central Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland). Depending on the outcome, up to two stations per region will (continue to) broadcast in future. The future is uncertain. In the medium term, Upper Valais will also be added, which will be newly developed with regional TV. Finally, the fact that almost all regional TV stations in German-speaking Switzerland are experiencing declining reach in their core regions is also fraying nerves. This can only be temporarily concealed with territorial expansions.
Because of all these imponderables, it is incomprehensible why the TNC is already excluding a member. And with a flimsy argument to boot. This is because the expansion of TeleZüri - even without Tele Top - leads to considerable overlaps with TeleOstschweiz, TeleSüdostschweiz and Tele Tell. Not to mention the previous overlaps with Tele M1 in the Baden area. This is tacitly accepted in the TNC. Rumor has it that nobody dares to protest against Tele Züri. Whereby, of course, pecuniary self-interest also plays a role.
However, the top spot is likely to be detrimental to the regional TV genre. Just take a look at the radio market. There, the same agitators largely proceeded according to the same motto: Integrate publishers' radio stations, exclude stations from non-publishers and competition in the Zurich market. Genre thinking and customer orientation fell by the wayside. The result: a disaster. Logical, because such dodges are poison for the genre. They stir up mistrust. Now, however, history seems to be repeating itself for regional TVs.
The industry doesn't want to talk about it. Rolf Bollmann, Head of Media Zurich & Northeastern Switzerland at Tamedia, remained unreachable for days. André Moesch from Tele Ostschweiz as well. And Roland Baumgartner from AZ Medien (Tele M1 and Tele Tell) was reluctant to answer. When asked why he accepted that TeleZüri was straddling the fence in Central Switzerland on such a massive scale, he brushed it off with the remark that the Tamedia station would remain oriented towards Zurich. That is why it is more of a supplement and not a competitor for Tele Tell in Central Switzerland. Similar experiences had been made in the Baden region with Tele M1.
But with a view to the future regional TV landscape, wouldn't a modular regional TV pool be more suitable for the genre and customers than a rigid TNC? Also more suitable for the AZ Medien stations, considering that they could face competition in Aargau and Central Switzerland.
Baumgartner reacts gruffly. The new TNC is definitely customer-oriented, he counters. And he doesn't like reading coffee grounds.
Markus Knöpfli

Broadcasting area of TeleZüri without a license from spring 2009

The St. Gallen publishing house Metrocomm is launching Ostnews.ch, a daily newspaper for Eastern Switzerland on the Internet. With immediate effect, the Internet portal will provide free information seven days a week on events from the whole of Eastern Switzerland. The previous St. Gallen information portal Stadt24.ch will be integrated into Ostnews.ch. The two other strongly local sites Appenzell24.ch and Thurgau24.ch as well as the national medium Polizeinews.ch will remain.
The existing regional portals will be given a new design and additional functions once the new service is launched. The basic structure and navigation will remain the same. The most popular articles will be listed and sections for topic dossiers and background articles will be set up. Interactive elements such as reader surveys will also be introduced. The integration of film or sound contributions in collaboration with various production partners is also planned.
The medium is financed entirely by advertising. According to a press release issued on Tuesday, the advertising prices have been deliberately set well below those of other sites in Eastern Switzerland in order to enable small companies to have a presence.

Tobacco advertising in public spaces will be banned in the canton of Ticino in future. The cantonal parliament approved a corresponding ordinance on Tuesday by 58 votes to 14. Sponsorship commitments for temporary events such as the jazz festival in Ascona or the film festival in Locarno are exempt from the advertising ban. A corresponding motion by the FDP was approved by 43 votes to 18.
Similar provisions now exist in 15 cantons. The canton of Geneva made the start in 2000. The aim of the measure is to discourage the population from smoking. This is because the tobacco industry's advertising is very effective, Health Director Patrizia Pesenti (SP) told SDA.
With the advertising ban, the canton confirms its restrictive stance on smoking. Ticino was the first canton to introduce a smoking ban for bars and restaurants. This was approved at the ballot box on March 12, 2006 with 79.1 percent of the vote in favour. After a one-year transitional period, the smoking ban came into force in April 2007.

Star TV is further expanding its sports program. In future, the private broadcaster wants to offer more of a platform for national sport. In addition to international sporting events such as Fresstyle events, beach volleyball or the Red Bull Air Race, domestic events will also be broadcast during prime time between 8 and 10 pm. Background reports on events and people will also be included in the existing magazine programs.
The expansion has been planned for some time, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. Cooperation agreements for over 80 sporting events have already been concluded and further talks will be held with associations and sports organizers in the coming weeks. The range of sports on offer is to be continuously expanded.

Flowcube Communications was commissioned by Hunter Douglas Switzerland to handle public relations for the Luxaflex brand. The mandate includes media relations and management of the press office as well as communications consulting for the management of Hunter Douglas Switzerland, a subsidiary of Hunter Douglas headquartered in Rotterdam. Hunter Douglas is a window coverings company and manufacturer of architectural products. Interior shading systems are produced under the Luxaflex brand name.
The Zurich-based PR agency Flowcube Communications, with headquarters in Zurich and a branch office in Milan, serves national and international clients from various sectors such as design, architecture, real estate, hotels, retail, healthcare, lifestyle, fashion and jewelry. The agency currently has nine employees and around 10 press offices. The owners and managing partners are Maja Amrein and Alfredo Schilirò.

The first copies went over the counter on September 15, 1969, and today several billion have been sold. Now 40 years old, the Pritt glue stick is not only sold in 121 countries, but is also a well-known brand wonder. And for many, it is probably a childhood memory, especially the smell. It owes its shape and twist mechanism to the lipstick that inspired the development of the technical innovation (there were no glue sticks before).
In addition to changes to the adhesive (now without petroleum), it has since undergone changes to the exterior in particular, which, it has to be said, have not been so good for it. While the two early models are characterized by geometric clarity and a certain retro chic, the outer shell of the newer models is becoming increasingly confusing. But the thing will remain a brand wonder, if only because of its very USP.

The bilateral agreements have already had their first positive effects: although fewer advertisements were placed in Swiss newspapers in January than in December 2008, the decline was limited at 1.6 points thanks to the large number of referendum and election advertisements. In particular, the referendum campaign on the free movement of persons was able to limit the downturn in the index.
The index compiled by Publicitas fell from 89.9 to 88.3 points in January. According to information from Publicitas on Monday, the individual advertising categories once again felt the negative effects of the deteriorating economic situation. Major distributors, banks and car importers have drastically reduced their advertising expenditure.
The job advertisements sub-index fell by 6.8 points to 179.7 points. According to Publicitas, this development and the increase in unemployment reflect the increasing deterioration in the labor market situation. The real estate advertisements sub-index continued to be less dynamic. It fell by 1.2 points, from 69.0 to 67.8.

Facebook has triggered a wave of criticism and resistance with the change to its terms and conditions. According to the new terms of use, the network can freely dispose of any type of data and continue to use it as it wishes, even if a member has long since logged out of the platform.
Facebook has always reserved the right to use user data, but the fact that information from former members can also be processed without restriction is now causing great displeasure among users and data protectionists. Previously, it was possible to log out and delete all profile data.
The provisions, which were amended on February 4, initially went largely unnoticed. According to the media service Pressetext, the general public only became aware of them when a consumer protection organization in the USA drew attention to them last Sunday and scrutinized the terms of use in detail.
Within a very short space of time, protest groups have formed within the social network, but also outside it in Internet forums and blogs. There were similar scenarios when the community portal StudiVZ changed its terms and conditions in order to market its members' personal data. The only difference: StudiVZ informed its members in advance via email about the new terms of use.
However, platform founder Mark Zuckerberg is trying to appease the situation and is offering the prospect of clarification - simpler terms of use. "Our philosophy that people own their information and control who they share it with remains the same," writes Zuckerberg in an official blog post.

According to the new Radio and Television Act, licensed FM radio stations and regional television stations must have their quality assurance systems regularly audited in future. OFCOM has now approved four external companies to carry out these evaluations: Certimedia (Geneva), Media Quality Assessment MQA (Zurich), Mediaprocessing (Zurich) and Publicom (Kilchberg ZH). The first evaluation results should be available from fall 2009.
The recognition procedure was opened in September 2008. By the application deadline in mid-November 2008, OFCOM had received a total of six applications.

A magazine has been added to the Kulturpool: the Liechtenstein-based KuL has joined the four cultural magazines Programm-Zeitung (Basel), Berner Kulturagenda, Das Kulturmagazin (Lucerne) and Saiten (St. Gallen). The Kulturpool is published with a total circulation of 196,874 copies and provides around 260,000 readers with a comprehensive cultural agenda for each region.
The range of advertisements and promotions in the magazines is aimed at cultural providers that organize events with a national reach - museums, exhibitions, festivals, concerts or theater performances. In addition, nationally active companies that want to be present with their products in a cultural environment in the regions of Basel, Bern, Central and Eastern Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein are also targeted. Advertising must be booked once and appears in all five cultural publications.
You can find everything about the expanded culture pool on the new info page Kulturpool.biz.

The live broadcasts of the World Ski Championships in Val d'Isère attracted a large audience thanks to the Swiss medal successes: With up to 974,000 viewers and a market share of 75.7 percent, the men's downhill was the most-watched World Championship race. An average of 415,000 people watched the races on SF Zwei. This corresponds to a market share of 58.3 percent. In total, Swiss television covered the 14-day Alpine World Ski Championships in Val d'Isère for more than 42 hours.