“Divisible gold ‘Combibar’ can easily be broken into one gram pieces and used as payment in emergency.”
“Economist Intelligence Unit has calculated where are the best places to be born in 2013. Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. Not surprising, Switzerland, perhaps the freest country in the world, tops another list of best country to live in.”
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/01/where-to-be-born-in-2013.html
“Robotics engineers say that they can build a humanoid robot ‘boy’ that will help with everyday tasks within nine months. The childlike ‘Roboy’ will have special artificial muscles and tendons, and is designed as a companion and helper for sick and elderly patients. A team at the University of Zurich’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, headed by professor Rolf Pfeifer, has enlisted up 15 project partners and more than 40 engineers in the creation of what they hope will be the most advanced humanoid robot ever built. Pfeifer said that the team hope Roboy will be a model for ‘service robots’ that work alongside humans.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/28/scientists-say-robot-boy-can-be-built-within-nine-months/
“Researchers at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control (IDSC) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich have created a juggling robot, the so-called ‘blind juggler,’ which, in spite of its lack of visual sensors, is capable of flawlessly juggling a ball or balls for hours. The robot was designed by Philipp Reist and Raffaello D’Andrea and uses only mechanical sensors in its paddle, which is slightly curved. The robot registers nine different aspects of each bounce of the ball, including speed, angle and spin.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/22/blind-juggling-robot-keeps-balls-in-the-air-for-hours/
“Private investors in Switzerland, Austria and Germany are lining up to buy gold bars the size of a credit card that can easily be broken into one gram pieces and used as payment in an emergency. Now Swiss refinery Valcambi, a unit of U.S. mining giant Newmont, wants to bring its ‘CombiBar’ to market in the United States and build up its sales presence India – the world’s largest consumer of gold where the precious metal has long served as a parallel currency. The ‘CombiBar’ – which has been dubbed a ‘chocolate bar’ because pieces can be easily broken off by hand into one gram squares.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/21/swiss-gold-idUSL5E8NL4N820121221
“I greatly admire Switzerland’s ‘debt brake’ because it’s really a spending cap. Theoretically, taxes could be hiked to allow more spending, but that hasn’t happened. The Swiss are very good about voting against tax increases, so the politicians don’t have much ability to boost the revenue trendline. Since the debt brake first took effect in 2003, the burden of government spending has dropped from 36 percent of GDP to 34 percent of economic output – a rather remarkable achievement since most other European nations have moved in the wrong direction.”
“A startling Thanksgiving Day gift awaited Americans in Switzerland, green card holders and even non-US spouses of Americans who have bank accounts with UBS. The Swiss bank sent Americans a form where they agree to renounce protection under Swiss data protection laws ‘to the extent necessary for reporting …and any other information regarding the Relationship which may be requested or required by the IRS.’ Signatures required include those of Swiss citizens who do not have US citizenship and have never held of green card or lived in the United States, but who have an American spouse and joint bank accounts, including mortgages.”
“Switzerland’s middle class has never enjoyed as much income as it does today, but the richest and poorest groups of the population have seen theirs grow more substantially. Sixty to 80 per cent of the Swiss population are considered middle class. A couple without children with a revenue between SFr67,000 ($70,800) and SFr150,000 belongs to this category, as does a couple with children and income between SFr94,000 and SFr210,000. Over the past 20 years, real income for the Swiss middle class has increased six to eight per cent, better than in most other countries.”
“The French tax officials reportedly travel to Switzerland with a friend or family member when they are supposed to be officially on holiday. They use private credit cards for all purchases in Switzerland and to avoid being caught by Swiss customs or radars, the officials purportedly use cars with interchangeable number plates or take a train. Once in Switzerland they travel around to make sure Swiss-based companies allegedly belonging to French citizens actually have real offices, employees and clients.”
“US tech giant Apple has dished out 20 million Swiss francs ($21 million, 17 million euros) to compensate Swiss national rail operator SBB for using its famous clock without permission, a Swiss daily reported Saturday. The company agreed in October to pay the lump sum so it could continue using SBB’s Swiss-designed station clock face on its iPads and iPhones, the Tages-Anzeiger daily reported on its website, quoting several unnamed sources.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/10/apple-pays-swiss-rail-21million-over-clock-dispute-report/