Of course, there is Whatsapp and Whatsapp is great, I hear you say. But ZMS is way cooler as it introduces a lot of new interesting features such as the choice of the date and hour you want the receiver to get their message as well as sending photos and videos!

With ZMS it is also possible to post public messages that everyone that is at some place and that you have selected can see, a bit like foursquare.

ZMS is Swiss made! You can already download it for iPhone in the App Store. The version for Android will be coming soon.

To follow news on inZair, you can visit their web page, join their Facebook community and follow them on Twitter !

Who has already tried ZMS? What do you think?

Felipe Novoa, lifestyle blogger for coolbrands.ch

And one of our buzzmakers is currently participating in the evening class on creating jewellery that Cédric, the inventor of mood, organizes in his workshop. So I thought why not just peak around to see how they progress?

The thing is: once mood, always mood! And so I couldn’t resist getting myself another add-on. The buzz add-on as it happens, quite matching the occasion.

For those of you that don’t know it yet: the particularity of mood is that you get a “base” at the start and can then slip on it whatever add-on you like, corresponding to your mood. I must have about a dozen of them already: Monday, Tuesday… red, blue, green, carbon, wood, silver, engraved, studded or plain. Every day its mood, every occasion its attitude! The possibilities to express yourself are manifold. Many have tried to copy the concept. But there is only one original: mood!

Anyway, so I am in the shop just as the evening class commences. Today, the participants are working on the rings they have designed themselves and it makes me happy to see them all proud of what they have achieved already! 

Perhaps next time I’ll pass, the rings will be finished… then, they’ll move on to creating earrings and key chains with their digital imprints. Awesome! I want one, too!

If you are interested in discovering the art of creating jewelery and want to design and produce some of your very own, this course might be for you!

Next class: 13th March – 20th April, Tuesdays and Thursday, from 6.30 to 9.00 pm. Subscribe!

E., lifestyle blogger for coolbrands.ch

Anyway, a few days ago, I was in town with some friends one evening and I told them about my plans for the weekend and blow me down if they didn’t immediately start reeling off several places of interest in La Chaux-de-Fonds, one after the other, tourist sites, historical, architectural venues, etc. It was like being at a La Chaux-de-Fonds brainstorming session: the crematorium, stained glass windows, Neuchâtel rocks, Art Nouveau, Le Corbusier, UNESCO, chessboard townscape, museums, staircases, parallel streets, the Villa Turque!

So, armed with a list of keywords scribbled on the back of a restaurant tab, I entered a few new searches on Google and I was amazed to find that one of the city’s main attractions is the fact that its streets are laid out in the form of a chessboard, earning the city its inclusion in the UNESCO world heritage list since 2009. A regimented, outward-facing layout of grid-like precision structured around parallel lines and right angles… well, that’s plenty enough to get me going. I love to stretch my legs and walking around a city helps me get to know and understand it better. La Chaux-de-Fonds now holds a few good surprises in store for me… not to mention walks…

Felipe Novoa, lifestyle blogger for coolbrands.ch

For more details on La Chaux-de-Fonds, visit the site web or join the city’s Facebook community!

Typically English decor, lots of wooden panelling and Brit style furniture. I’m greeted warmly at reception and they offer to take my jacket. I’ve only just taken a seat by the window when I’m immediately asked if I’d like a nice hot drink.

Next comes the buffet experience. Hot, cold, sweet, savoury, in a word there’s a huge array on offer, something for all tastes. Bacon, scrambled eggs and sausages, as well as croissants, buttered bread and breakfast cereal. Oh, and I should also mention the cold fare, including salmon and various cuts of meat. Plus, you can choose from several types of fruit and fruit juice. You can even ask for a fried egg… you should see the way you’re treated!

Great surroundings

OK, so, turning up, as I do, around 11 o’clock, I’m able to eat in quiet, low-key surroundings with a little harp music to match the mellow mood. The service is welcoming and the staff willing to oblige.

But the true killer detail is obviously the chance to savour a glass of Champagne! Preferably on a full stomach. An atmosphere of discreet luxury is a promise delivered in this hotel. The perfect ‘cool’ place ideally located for a little post-prandial stroll around the lake’s edge.

If you want to round off the week nicely and dispel the Sunday blues, the ‘late riser’s’ Champagne breakfast at the Hôtel Bristol is just what the doctor ordered.

Sebastian Oreiro, buzzmaker for coolbrands.ch

Of course, Escada’s summer collections are sheer bliss, and Féérie by Van Cleef & Arpels is very agreeable, too.

The luscious, juicy hint of pear with its added zingy, citrus bite, however, offers such a modern appeal to a fragrance that I think it should become a national institution as a real spirits-lifter and maybe even free on the National Health!!!

Petite Chérie by Annick Goutal put this particular fruit in the spotlight a long time ago and won all our hearts with its tactile round bottle. Fan di Fendi, on the other hand, takes pear and adds a white leather and patchouli accord to give it a little character.

But it’s John Richmond that decided me: it’s a convincing fragrance for the trendy young dynamic woman-about-town with a hectic calendar. Pear combines with a floral bouquet including white lily and daffodil for femininity, while amber and sandalwood lend warmth and sensuality. It’s my Chloé’s all-time fragrance. Too bad if she feels like a change, I’ll still go on giving her a bottle every year. She wears it with such flair.

Seeking an alternative for spring and summer?

Versace’s Yellow Diamond: a citrus cocktail gives this fragrance its zingy, invigorating appeal with a freesia and lilac accord lending it a fresh and slightly ‘sappy’ floral heart and precious musk and amber base notes to offer serenity … It comes in an exquisite gem of a bottle topped with an impressive-looking cap faceted in the shape of a pale yellow diamond. The packaging concept is a clear reflection of the brand’s Baroque universe.

This article comes to you courtesy of Sandra Guedj, director of ‘les eXperts’, Swiss temporary work agency specialising in luxury, fashion and beauty.

Other than that the #buzzmaker page has been created. If you would like to test cool products for free and want to become a buzzmaker for coolbrands.ch you can simply click on the page, get familiar with the concept and, if interested, subscribe by e-mail.

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Possible. But FREITAG, the Swiss brand that is famous for its bags of recycled truck tarps, helps you get a grip on finance. Sure, the F57 ALAN – newest arrival in the brand’s portfolio – might not actually help you make money, but what is does, however, is allow you to spend it in style!

The F57 is a card-holder designed to hold about 8 cards. Like all the other products from FREITAG, the it is also made of used tarps. Inside you find a quick-draw tab. That is really quite a smart invention by FREITAG because it allows you to get all your cards out at once by pulling the tab. I’ve seen that the first time when my man got himself the FREITAG sleeve for his iPhone4.

With a name like F57 ALAN you would think that this item is destined for men. But when you look at the range of colours available (oh, there’s pink as well!) – plus the mention “robust and shopping-proof” – you can be sure that the ladies will be delighted by it, too!

The brand was founded in 1993 by two brothers from Zurich called Markus and Daniel Freitag and has turned into a real Swiss success story. The idea was quite simple: produce an urban bag that is solid, functional and water resistant making it ideal for biking. The brand aims for sustainable development on the long term: not only are the products made by recycling used truck tarps, the material is also washed by rain water and not industrially. Every FREITAG bag is a single piece, cut by hand, made of tarps that have put several thousand kilometres on the motorway behind them.

Today, FREITAG is known from New York to Tokyo and brilliantly represents Swiss Made quality and design.

This article is proposed by Hasina Andriamanalina Christen, fashion designer and founder of Paprika Rose Homewear.

For further information on FREITAG, please visit the brand’s webpage or join their Facebook community!

coop@home: little helper in the case of an empty fridge

Well, life is hectic and time is short. Personally, I find nothing more annoying than wasting my time fighting my way through busy supermarkets, queuing at the till and carrying heavy shopping bags home. That’s why the coop@home app comes in so handy! Whether on the train, at home or on the way to some place: click click click, and I can put all my favourite products in the virtual trolley and – click again – have them delivered fresh and on time to my front door whenever I desire. The best: I enter “freefrom” and in a second Coop’s entire lactose free assortment is displayed, which is particularly useful for me. And: shopping lists can be composed so that you don’t have to start all over again every time you go on your virtual shopping stroll. Saving time doing my weekly shopping = having more time to myself. That’s what I call lifestyle!

BoomBoom! App: for moments of Guerrilla Goodness

In a time where one has the impression that only bad or sad news are being diffused on TV, where cigarette buds are thrown on the street without consideration and plastic stuff left everywhere polluting the environment, the BoomBoom! App is surprisingly refreshing. What is it all about? Any act of underground goodness can be posted here. Example: somebody charges the parking meter for you so you won’t get a fine, a colleague is particularly nice or somebody helps an elder lady over the street, then – hopp! – use your BoomBoom! App and dedicate a little post to them. Not to be underestimated also: reminding yourself of your own goodness. Have you done good today or has somebody been really nice to you? If so, you have experienced BoomBoom! And like a boomboomerang, so the rumour goes, all the good we are doing is coming back to us. So be good and multiply!

Paperboy: from print media to the web

The kooaba Paperboy App really isn’t a bad idea at all. It makes print media interactive. You particularly like an article in your favourite newspaper or magazine? Then – click, snapshot – and the app connects you with digital extras on the web. In that way you can post interesting articles on Facebook, get background information or save articles for reading them later. Although the technology is not yet available for all newspapers and magazines more and more of them are working with kooaba. In Switzerland the following can currently be used with the Paperboy App: 20 Minuten, Blick, Blick am Abend, Die Weltwoche, Eurosoccer, Kinki Magazin, NZZ am Sonntag, Sportwoche and STUmag. But also annabelle; and that is where I actually found out about the App.

PurePeople: celebrity news pushed to your iPhone

What’s happening in the world of the rich and famous? What’s the gossip about this and that star or starlet? The PurePeople App delivers info about what is hot directly to my iPhone. I think at the moment it is only available in French and English but – voilà voilà – when you are knee-deep in stress, sweating over your project plan or just had an argument with your beloved, then knowing that – ding ding ding: Angie and Brad are enjoying some beach fun in Hawaii – makes a welcome change. Shallow? Absolutely! Love it.

Status Hopper: what do I say to whom online? Easy! 

So, let’s go back to the real, digital, virtual world. Virtua, a Digital Agency based in the French speaking part of Switzerland has developed the Status Hopper App. At „Le meilleur du Web“, a competition that aims to select the best web projects, the Status Hopper has won first prize in the category „Technology & Innovation“. This is why I had to have it, obviously. You can connect several different of your online accounts with this App and from a dashboard like interface you can manage your status updates according to the target audience in a specific channel. The secret: not one post for all, but the right post for all in a particular channel. That’s indeed quite useful as you don’t want to say the same thing to your LinkedIN connections as you would to your Facebook friends. That is particularly true on a Saturday night when you had a little drink or two already. You see what I mean? And whose idea was it? Yannick Burky the man is called!

What Apps have you got on your smartphone? Which ones are particularly cool, funny or useful? Let us know!

E., lifestyle blogger for coolbrands.ch

Very few people take their breakfast here this morning, only a couple of business men and women that pass by quickly. Other than that just a table with people that have obviously met to talk about business and who take the time to appreciate the moment.

The atmosphere is comfy, accompanied with life harp music. I savour the buffet that is composed of high quality ingredients. A special mention goes out to the freshly pressed orange juice! Also at discretion: delicious salmon, scrambled eggs, something savoury, something sweet, and, of course, the classic cortege of scones and pastries… You can have fried egg and hot drinks freshly prepared. All you have to do is ask one of the friendly staff for it. I have particularly liked the hot chocolate as it is distinctive, not as average as you often find it to be elsewhere. The choice of different teas is also remarkable.

The champagne is available at the buffet, chilled and at discretion it contributes to the convivial, festive atmosphere. However, better not overdo it when your stomach is still empty!

If you have something to celebrate or simply want to escape the rat race, if you want to be pampered, talk business or change from the usual breakfast of filtered coffee and dry bread, the breakfast at the Bristol (CHF 36.- ) is for you! On the weekend it is recommended to reserve, though.

Clotilde Marsault, buzzmaker for coolbrands.ch

Or at least that is what the ChocoTechnologists of MAISON CAILLER want to prove, by allowing us to discover our „Chocolate Personality“, via their newest invention, the ChocoTasteur®.

MAISON CAILLER: personalized chocolate

Independent of the season or the occasion, chocolate is always top on the list of favorites when it comes to presents. Be it for saying “Thank you”, “Happy Birthday” or “Happy Easter”, chocolate is sure to delight adults and kids by its variety and taste.

The newest innovation in terms of chocolate is brought to us by MAISON CAILLER. Pioneer with the Swiss chocolate industry MAISON CAILLER revolutionizes not only chocolate as such, but also the communication around it. Chocolate becomes at the same time more intimate and more technologic than ever. Everything starts with the Internet…

Now you can order ChocoTasteur® for yourself or your loved ones on www.MaisonCailler.com. As soon as the gift box with the tasting chocolates arrives with the recipient, they can try the different chocolates and register their taste preferences on the same website. Thanks to the procedure developed by MAISON CAILLER’s ChocoTechnologists, their chocolate personality is then instantly revealed.

But the experience does not end here! Within 48 hours your loved one will receive a box with chocolates that, after having analyzed their preferences, will correspond exactly to their tastes. Simply a perfect gift: personalized and intimate!

The only thing left to do is to savor those delightful chocolates, to let them melt in the mouth and to enjoy a perfect moment of cocooning. Or perhaps, you feel like revealing a bit more about yourself? Then why not offer the chocolates corresponding to your own personality…

Felipe Novoa, lifestyle blogger for coolbrands.ch