Auf einer italienischen Piazza einen Espresso trinken... Im Winter vor dem Kamin einen guten Whisky mit einer passenden Zigarre verkosten... Ein feines Essen mit einem edlen Wein krönen... Genuss hat viele Facetten. Einigen davon widmet sich das Unternehmen Premium-Handelswaren GmbH aus St. Gallen, das mit seinen Premium-Shops ein breites Genuss-Angebot aufgebaut hat. Über das Portal www.premium-shops.ch gelangt der Interessierte Besucher in drei Online-Shops für Zigarren, Kaffee und edle Weine:
Premium-cigars.ch ist der Shop für Zigarren. Im Mittelpunkt steht hier die legendäre Havanna, die handgefertigte Premium-Zigarre aus Kuba. Die meisten Kenner und routinierten Zigarrenliebhaber verweisen auf Havannas, wenn sie nach ihren Lieblingszigarren gefragt werden. Der Grund dafür ist beim speziellen, vollmundigen und aromatischen Geschmack des kostbaren kubanischen Tabaks zu suchen. Wie ein guter Wein entwickelt eine Havanna komplexe Aromen, die sich im Rauchverlauf ändern und die durch eine professionelle Lagerung im so genannten Humidor, einer Schatulle, in der ein karibisches Klima mit einer hohen Luftfeuchtigkeit simuliert wird, verfeinert werden können. Selbstverständlich sind deshalb auch Humidore für grössere und kleinere Budgets bei Premium-cigars.ch erhältlich. Auch Zigarren aus anderen karibischen Provenienzen haben einen treuen Anhängerkreis; diese Zigarren, die vor allem aus der dominikanischen Republik, Honduras und Nicaragua stammen, zeichnen sich in der Regel durch einen milden, eher feinwürzigen Geschmack aus. Auf jeden Fall wird klar: Hier geht es um ein Genussmittel, um Aromen, Düfte und um kunstvolle Handarbeit. Mit dem Suchtmittel Tabak hat die Premium-Zigarre nicht mehr viel gemein.
Der Wein, eine Genussmittel mit Jahrtausende alter Tradition, ist aus unserem heutigen Genussrepertoire kaum noch wegzudenken. Was an diesem Getränk fasziniert ist die enorme Vielfalt der Erzeugnisse: die Eleganz und Würze der Weine aus Frankreich und die Rasse der Italiener, die vornehme Zurückhaltung der Nordländer und die Leidenschaft aus Spanien. Alles Erzeugnisse, die aus „einfachem“ Traubensaft hervorgehen. In diese Welt bringt die Weinhandlung Premium-wein.ch etwas Ordnung und Auswahlhilfe. Mit einem kleinen aber feinen Sortiment, das vom Schweizermeister im Weindegustieren Eduard J. Graf zusammen gestellt wird. Hier darf auch der weniger routinierte Weingeniesser vertrauensvoll zugreifen und der Hand bzw. Nase des Meisters vertrauen. Eine Spezialität von Premium-wein.ch ist neben einer Weiss- und Rotwein Auswahl das Dessertwein-Angebot, das süsse Weinperlen aus Österreich und Italien umfasst.
Premium-kaffee.ch, eine Spezialitäten-Shop für exklusive Kaffeeröstungen, komplettiert das Angebot der Premium-Shops. Kaffeeliebhaber und ambitionierte Baristas finden hier die Grundlagen für den perfekten Espresso. Viele Röstungen importiert Premium-kaffee.ch direkt aus Italien: z.B. Izzo Caffè, Caffè Costadoro oder Caffè GM. Andere Spezialitäten stammen aus Schweizer Rösterein, dazu gehört natürlich Illy aus Thalwil, oder auch Blaser Cafe. Was man im Zusammenhang mit Gourmet-Kaffee und dem Namen Illy wissen muss: Was auf der ganzen Welt Illy heisst, heisst in der Schweiz Amici. Das ist deshalb so, weil ein Sohn der Illys aus Italien vor einigen Jahrzehnten in der Schweiz eine von Illy-Italien unabhängige Rösterei in der Schweiz gründete. Die unabhängige Illy-Rösterei besteht bis heute, der Illy-Sohn ist aber inzwischen aus dem Schweizer Geschäft ausgestiegen, weshalb die Marke in der Schweiz nichts mehr mit dem Illy-Kaffee der übrigen Welt zu tun hat, aber gleichwohl für sehr feinen Kaffee steht. Premium-kaffee.ch führt beide Kaffeesorten im Sortiment.
Was alle drei Shops verbindet, ist der Premium-Service des Unternehmens: Geliefert wird gegen Rechnung und portofrei, alle Produkte genügen höchsten Qualitätsanforderungen und unterliegen der Garantie des Unternehmens, die eine portofreie Rücksendung von nichtzufriedenstellenden Produkten beinhaltet. Die Verbindung der drei Genussthemen hat für die Kunden der Premium-Shops den Vorteil, dass Produkte aus den unterschiedlichen Bereichen gemeinsam bestellt werden können. Die Lieferung erfolgt gemeinsam und bequem per Priority-Paket.
26.05.2009
Russian Investment Group offers to invest in Facebook
The Russian Internet Investment Group “Digital Sky Technologies” has offered to invest about 200 Million US-Dollar in the social networking portal Facebook. Founder Mark Zuckerberg has declined to comment whether the deal will go through or not but is intensely looking out for new investors.
13.05.2009
The White House takes to Facebook & Co.
The US-President Barack Obama is launching a presence on a variety of social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The Web 2.0 administration is giving the White House an unfiltered communications channel to the public at large.
22.04.2009
Microsoft negotiates partnership with Yahoo
Microsoft, the largest software company worldwide, have resumed talks about a cooperation with the internet company Yahoo. According to recent media reports, they are discussing about a partnership in the field of internet search and advertising. It is still unclear whether the companies will reach a deal.
07.04.2009
Firefox presents its individually designable user interface
Thanks to an additional program called Personas, the Firefox user can now arrange the interface of their browser individually. With Personas, the user can choose hundreds of artist-created designs from sports, fashion or music categories, seeded with new styles from leading brands and gifted designers.


20.02.2009
Social Media activities are gaining importance
1’000 marketing specialists from Europe, Asia and the USA have agreed that the integration of social media activities in the framework of the classical marketing mix is visibly to grow. The aim of the companies will be to profit from the enthusiasm of internet users on the new social media activities in form of information transfer, internal and external communities as well as real-time applications.

15.01.2009
Over one million Internet-Users in December 2008
According to the latest figures from the market research institution ComScore, the Internet usage in December 2008 exceeded the one million mark. With approximately 41percent most Internet-Users are found in Asia, directly followed by Europe with 28 percent. The third position face the Americans with 18 percent.

15.01.2009
Games will dominate the entertainment landscape
Online games were prospering as interest in almost every other category of entertainment declines. According to the expectations social gaming, more interactivity and better technology will help gaming dominate the entertainment landscape in future. Over a four-year period the online game industry grew by 40%.

22.12.2008
Microsoft launches iPhone program
Microsoft has launched a freeware graphics viewer for iPhone users, so that they can view large images directly on their mobile phone. The free application allows images stored on the Internet to be quickly browsed per 3D accelerated deep zoom system.

10.12.2008
Facebook users hit by virus
120 million Facebook Users are targeted by a virus
designed to get hold of sensitive information like credit
card details. The virus tricks users by sending a
message to people's inboxes, pretending to be from a
Facebook friend, telling them to be in a video. For
playing the video the users get asked to download the
latest version of Adobe Flash Player. If they do, the
virus attacks the computer.

10.11.2008
Warning over the danger of online painkillers
Experts have carried out a study which shows the
wide availability of strong painkillers over the internet
and warned of the dangers of purchasing drugs online.
The number of unregulated suppliers operating online
is growing continuously and usually they have no
professional qualifications or healthcare expertise. The
Government now warned that buying medicines online
could have serious consequences.

03.07.2008
Stop Piracy in Switzerland
“Piracy has steadily increased”, writes the official press release of the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss administration is counterfeiting this issue since July 1. The problem of product piracy became more important in the last years because of the Internet and because of the technical possibilities. With the new law that is active since July 1 protection of intellectual property rights will be better.

05.06.2008
Rhaetian Railways: Candidate for World Heritage
The Swiss universities of applied sciences are giving away their first bacholor diplomas. In the coming months the first graduates are heading into job markets with their bachelor diplomas from universities of applied sciences. The new curricula have been set three years ago. The gradautes will be integrated in work process.

20.05.2008
The First Bachelor Diplomas
The Swiss universities of applied sciences are giving away their first bacholor diplomas. In the coming months the first graduates are heading into job markets with their bachelor diplomas from universities of applied sciences. The new curricula have been set three years ago. The gradautes will be integrated in work process.

28.04.2008
Swiss Bear Shot
The bear JJ3 in the Swiss Alps was shot because it was a risk for the people who lived in the area. The bear was shot after the risk plan for bears, which was invented in 2006 as a reaction to the bear that came to Switzerland in 2005. Wild life is a big risk for agriculture: hungry bears steal lambs.

23.04.2008
The Club of Rome Relocates to Winterthur
The Club of Rome has decided to move from Hamburg (Germany) to Winterthur (Switzerland). The move to Winterthur has been discussed for a long time. In a first time, the Club of Rome wanted to move to Zurich itself but a Referendum made impossible the move. Now Robert Heuberger makes possible the move with private goods: He guarantees to spend 360,000 CHF a year in a period of five years. The Club of Rome will open up the main office in Switzerland.

11.04.2008
Del Ponte Cannot Promote Her Book
Carla Del Ponte, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal is not allowed to do her book presentation. As an official Swiss representative, Del Ponte is not allowed to give a speech about her new book “The Hunt: Me and War Criminals.”

02.04.2008
University of Zurich: 175th Birthday
This year, the university of Zurich is celebrating its
175 year's birthday. With many activities throughout
the whole year, science meets the public. The slogan
that leads through the year is the following:
Share knowledge (Wissen teilen).
Professors of many disciplines show their knowledge
and their way of doing research in blogs. A big
service for the public just for the grace that the public
offers the possibility to maintain the university.

01.02.2008
Radio and Television licences
The Federal Office of Communications has received 75 applications for the 41 licences that are available for VHF radio. The projects that were handed in have to be checked and therefore a hearing will be organised. The projects will be chosen in the mid’s of the year 2008. This application is attractive for 34 applicants: Those receive money from the radio concession..

07.01.2008
Communication Prize for the VBS
The VBS (Department of Defence and Sports of Switzerland)
has won a prize for their communication
skills.
The centre for electronical media has won the
“Master of Communication 2007”. This prize is
another one for the VBS
since it has already a good
kudos for its films: In many international competitions,
the VBS has carried off prizes.

04.12.2007
Political Relevance of Blogs
A broad survey of blog mentions in Swiss medias has led to the discovery that the relevance of blogs for a broader public is not given. The Master thesis in political sciences has analyzed the most important newspaper-entries about blogs. From this data, the longer attended assumption had to be affirmated: blogs are just active like volcanos in the little contexts and not the broader of society. The impact of blogs on politics is insignificant.

23.11.2007
33rd America's Cup Postponed
On 22 November, the America's Cup organisation has stated an official press release that reports that the 33rd competition of the America's Cup must be postponed. Due to legal uncertainties between the title defending team Alinghi from Switzerland and BMW Oracle, Germany's team, the race will not take place in 2009.

19.11.2007
Exhibition on The Swiss Myth of Tell
William Tell, the mythical figure of Switzerland par excellence has stood as source of inspiration for centuries. A new exhibition of the Swiss National Library in Berne shows the influence of the myth of Tell on advertising art. The library shows many pictures and posters of its own collections.

14.11.2007
More News For Switzerland
Switzerland has recently gotten a new news radio. With DRS 4, Swiss people are able to receive news just in time. The new radio program is also introducing the new DAB frequence to Swiss households. This program can only be received with DAB, cable or the Internet, there is no more available via the traditional short wave way.

06.11.2007
2 Million Copies of Leopard Sold
Apple has sold nearly 2 million copies of its recently launched operating system Leopard. For a market comparison: Microsoft, market leader in operating systems for computers, has sold 20 million units of its new system Windows Vista in the first month after the release.

25.10.2007
Swiss National Library Archives Web Pages of Elections 2007
For the first time in Internet and state history of Switzerland, the National Library of Switzerland archives the web pages from parties, who are in electoral competitions. It is the purpose of the library to archive everything written, that is produced in Switzerland. Scientists can access a broad choice of Swiss publications over a waste period of time.

14.09.2007
University of St. Gallen Starts Research for Disabled Persons
One of the most difficult questions about disabilities in society is now in research at the University of St. Gallen: How should disabled persons be integrated in society? The scientific approach is focused on the economic point of view. This research can be realised due to cooperation with the myhandicap foundation.

07.09.2007
Swiss Youth is Interested in Global Development
The last contest of Micheline Calmy-Rey shows it: Swiss youth is interested in their future. The contest was launched in February 2007 and over 100 projects with huge potential were sent in. Now the President of Confederation has to choose between these projects: Which ones are the most social? Which is the most outstanding project? Prizes worth a total of 25000 CHF will be given to the best ones.

31.08.2007
Cities – An Indicator for Social Development?
Cities are built in every place, where many people meet. Centralisation is one of the most striking developments of industrialisation but even existed in the Middle Ages or in early civilisations. Cities could be seen as a factor, indicator or effect of specialisation of jobs: people can learn the thing they really like to do and make their living of it. And cities also need respect for people: Where so many people live not everybody can live the way he wants, he has also the will of others.

17.08.2007
Andreas Spillmann New Director of the Swiss National Museums
Andreas Spillmann is the new director of the Swiss National Museums. After his studies he began a career as actor for theatre but soon took up studies in economy. He already had important positions in cultural environments and will be an important person for the new positioning of Swiss museums.

10.08.2007
Harry Potter 7 in the Internet
Harry Potter’s internet story opens a new chapter: Not only was the book scanned and published before the book came into stores, now a French student has published his own French translation in the internet. Perhaps this shows a new trend, which should be followed by the editors: Pre-publication of the books in the Internet to make happy their readers.