A couple weeks before moving to Geneva I felt like a kid before Christmas determined to uncover what gift she got before it made its way under the tree.  Days before departure, I decided to check out my new neighbourhood with Google’s Street View application. 

I walked past the grounds at the Palais des Nations and strolled through the streets in Carouge. I even made it to my new doorstep and was thrilled by its appearance until I turned around and realized I had signed a lease on a place that was deep in the heart of the red-light district. I immediately snapped out of my virtual daydream and pretended the whole online preview never happened.

A few months back – and one new apartment later – Switzerland’s Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, Hanspeter Thür, scolded Google and its Street View application for not taking the necessary steps to protect the privacy of individuals.  For him, Google was not doing enough to blur faces or hide license plates. Others have noticed that Street View captures not only a person’s whereabouts but their misadventures as well. He demanded that “Google Inc. immediately withdraw its online service Google Street View concerning Switzerland”.  Needless to say, Google didn’t exactly feel threatened and Switzerland’s Street View held strong.

Earlier this week, vows of action were renewed as Thür announced that Switzerland will be taking Google to court.

It’s widely known that Switzerland upholds a tradition of privacy. It’s in their banks, their family lives and in the tendency for most of its cities to practically shut down by 8pm on weeknights. So is it really a surprise that the Commissioner now plans to take the multimedia empire to court over Street View?

Google has all but brushed the concerns aside saying that it plans to “vigorously contest” the case once it is brought to court. Now you know when Google says “vigorously” what they really mean is that will make Swiss bank accounts look modest with the team of lawyers they plan on hiring to keep cameras rolling on in Switzerland.

Street View even has Google CEO Eric Schmidt reassure us all on Fox News (do yourself and your mind a favour and just skip ahead to 4:55) that it’s trying not to cross the “creepy line”. Oh well in that case…

No, it’s really not all that surprising at all.

It’s a scene fit for a Hollywood thriller: a machine that resides deep below the earth’s surface has been crafted to recreate the Big Bang and provide researchers with the answers to all the mysteries of the universe.

Everything goes according to plan, except for one warning that scientists brush off as minor: bird-delivered breadcrumbs.

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Geneva is the exception to the Swiss rule. While here, one doesn’t hear cowbells ringing in the distance nor are there chocolate shops around every corner.

swiss-image.ch/Marek Vogel © Switzerland Tourism

Swiss flags aren’t hanging off the sides of buildings and mountains can only be found from the tops of certain hills in the city - on really clear days. This is why I’ve found myself venturing out of the city in search of many of those Swiss stereotypes I’ve come to know and love.

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You’ve probably heard this old joke before: in heaven the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and it’s all organised by the Swiss.

In hell the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and it’s all organised by the Italians.

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This week sees the launch of the latest upgrade to a long-serving product we know only too well. Critics hated the old version and there have been years of development work to get the new one just right.

(Click on the picture to watch the video!)

So what do we think of Bern’s new Bear Park?

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The Swiss have qualified for the World Cup. A nation celebrates.

Er, no it doesn’t, actually. Life went on pretty much as normal on Thursday, the day after Ottmar Hitzfeld’s team secured their place in South Africa next summer.

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