local.ch blog

Sunday 12 May is Mother’s Day – that one day of the year when mothers are officially honoured. For this special day, we have a few tips for you.

Brunch is a classic way of celebrating Mother’s Day. A beautifully set table with delicious treats prepared by the children is sure to bring a smile to every mother’s face. But such an occasion often means that, the next day, the kitchen isn’t quite in the state that she’s used to…. An alternative is, of course, brunch at a nice restaurant. Here are a few recommendations from our restaurant magazine for you.

Are you visiting your mother by train and would like to get her some flowers at the station? Find out how to reach a florist (and other shops) in and around the station here.

You’ve managed to host brunch successfully, but cooking a fine evening meal with your siblings looks like it could end in an over-competitive explosion in the kitchen? How about going to a nice restaurant? You’ll find various search options in our restaurant guide.

Have you forgotten to reserve a table and are already out and about? Find a restaurant quickly and easily using our app – you’ll find this works best if you tap “Near me” and then “Restaurants”. If you’re in Zurich but want to find a eatery in Biel, you can easily change your location at the top. Some restaurants make booking even easier – just reserve through the app. For others, all you need to do is click on the telephone number to be connected to the restaurant to book.

P.S. If you’re struggling to get your kitchen back in shape, you’ll find a helping hand in the “Cleaning” category under “Near me” and “Services”.

The traditional Queen Fights are taking place this weekend in Aproz, Valais. The black Herens cows will be competing for the title of strongest cow. local.ch is supporting this traditional event and donating the winners’ bells (cowbells) in the 1st category and for the final fight to determine the Queen of Queens.

Never seen a cow fight and can’t really imagine it? The battles between the cows usually end without injury and serve the purpose of determining the dominant cow and the rank within a herd. Find out more about this Valais tradition in this video by swissinfo.ch:

More information about the event and the programme can be found here.

We have managed to get Kevin Fickentscher, reserve goalkeeper of FC Sion, and Bob Mongrain, coach of HC Sion, on board as ladies-in-waiting – or, should we say, pages of honour. They will represent local.ch in Aproz and hand over the bells.

RTS will be reporting live on the cow fights in Valais from 3.55 p.m. on Sunday. The awards ceremonies are scheduled for 4.30 p.m. (1st category) and 5.30 p.m. (Queen of Queens).

We hope that everyone from Valais and beyond will have lots of fun during this unique event.

The holder, FC Basel, will be meeting Grasshopper Club Zurich on Whit Monday at the Stade de Suisse. Do you want to win two of 50 tickets for this final?

20 May 2013 promises to be exciting! The two teams will be meeting in a cup final for the 5th time. In three of the four matches played so far, Basel took the cup home.

A bad omen for GC? But Grasshopper Club Zurich has hogged the cup longer than anybody else so far. GC has won the cup 18 times and reached the final 30 times. But the last time they featured in the final was in 2004.

Basel, on the other hand, has been involved in 6 of the last 15 finals, and has won all of them. The “series” against GC began in 2002. Can the holder continue this series?

As a sponsor, we are looking forward to this football afternoon. We will be delighted to take a couple of you to the stadium – you can win 25 x 2 tickets from us. Simply fill in the form to take part. As usual, you can only enter once and our employees cannot participate.

We wish you all the best of luck and an exciting game!

Competition conditions: The closing date is 15 May 2013. local.ch will draw the winners and inform them in person. No correspondence will be entered into regarding the competition. There is no right of appeal. The winnings cannot be paid out in cash. Your data will not be used for advertising purposes or disclosed to third parties.

With the new local.ch iPhone app, you can now explore places where you don’t happen to be. Version 4.60 also includes many smaller improvements and enhancements.

Mathias Vettiger has been working as Audience Manager in local.ch’s Mobile Team since April 2013. He is therefore responsible for everything that affects the users of local.ch’s mobile services. In this blog, he summarises the new features of Version 4.60 of the iOS app.

The category search is one of the most popular functions in the local.ch app. Whether it’s a restaurant, a hair salon, a tradesman or a perfume shop – the app always has a suggestion. As a new feature, you can now change your location in the category search. This enables you to find a restaurant in Neuenburg while still at Bern train station, for example.

And it couldn’t be easier: in the category search, tap “Change location” at the top, search for the desired town/city or move the map, then tap “Done” to arrive at your destination virtually.

How to change the location in the iPhone app: in the category view, tap “Change location”, move the map or search for the town/city, then tap “Done”.

Other new features:

• You now navigate horizontally between individual entries, rather than from top to bottom. This allows you to navigate between restaurants in a list, for example. Simply swipe to the left or right, or use the arrows at the top of the screen.
• Route planning is now possible with the Google Maps app. Inside an entry, simply tap the arrow at the bottom of the screen and select “Plan route with Google Maps”.  If Google Maps is installed, the app will open automatically; if not, Google Maps will open in the browser.
• You can now display embedded websites in full-screen mode in the iPad app. This allows you to enjoy 360-degree views of businesses in full splendour (like the restaurant Casa Ferlin in Zurich).
• You can now refresh categories and special offers with the “pull to refresh” feature, which is found in many popular apps.
• We have also improved the appearance of offers, icons and pictures.

The latest version of the local.ch app requires iOS version 5 or later.

We hope you like the new features! If you don’t yet have the app, click this link to get the latest version for free: Download

You can sometimes earn money quickly with local.ch. The advertising possibilities that we offer are certain to boost the income of some SMEs. But over the next few days, YOU will have the opportunity to earn 500 or even 3,000 francs in less than two minutes!

In theory, 500 to 3,000 francs in less than two minutes would constitute a monthly income of between 10 and 65 million francs. This would surely make one or two bankers or pharma CEOs jealous, despite their additional bonuses…

So, what do you have to do?

• Start our app
• Search for “Number 1″
• Click on the local.ch logo between the input field and the search results
• Complete the form

Why are we doing this? As a reward to you for using our services so often and recommending them to others! We would like to thank you again for our Swiss record in March of 4,117,000 unique clients. A total of 10,000 francs in cash is up for grabs again by 30 April:

1st prize CHF 3,000
2nd prize CHF 2,000
3rd prize CHF 1,000
4th – 11th prizes: CHF 500 each.

If Lady Luck wasn’t on your side last time, try again today with the Seven Lucky Gods from Japan ;)

Good luck!

Terms and conditions:

The contest is free and without obligation to buy. Only persons resident in Switzerland or Liechtenstein are eligible. The data will not be used for marketing purposes or passed on. Employees of local.ch and partners in charge of the competition are excluded from participation. The closing date is 30 April 2013. Winners will be notified in writing. No correspondence will be entered into about the competition and the draw. There is no right of appeal. The winnings can also be paid out in cash.