Category Archives: Switzerland

Reverse Engineering of a Not-so-Secure IoT Device

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The ‘Internet of Things’ is coming! It started as an overused marketing hype with no real use case (who needs internet connected fridges? Who wants the internet connected toilet paper?).

New ‘things’ start to pop up, useful or not: From smart bulbs (Philips Hue), thermostats (Nest), smart TV (Samsung and others) up to voice assistants (Alexa, Cortana, Google). You might even have installed one of these, right? What about temperature and humidity sensors? Probably there is nothing wrong with that?

But what would you think if one morning you find a strange unknown device installed under your working desk, connected to the cloud and internet?

IoT Device attached under a working desk

IoT Device attached under a working desk

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Weissdorn/Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

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I like the Crataegus or ‘Hawthorn’. The small white flowers of the white variant are not really spectacular alone, but together they build a beautiful ensemble:

Weissdorn

Weissdorn (click to enlarge)

The Hawthorn provides food and shelter for many birds. And according to legends, they are associated with fairies.

Happy Flowering 🙂

Dandelion, Snow and Mythen

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The long Easter Weekend has its benefits, beside of preparing lecture material and writing up geeky technology articles :-). I love that view with meadows sprinkled with all the Dandelion, and the snow-covered mountains in the back. Back on the left the peaks of the Mythen.

Mythen Panorama

Talkessel Schwyz (click to enlarge)

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Hiking around Waldisee and Salisee

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The heat wave in Switzerland is still going on, and the best way to escape it is to go up to the mountains and higher lakes. This hike is going up to the Waldisee: a lake high at the end of the Bisistal, Canton Schwyz, Switzerland.

Waldisee

Waldisee

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Four-Lake-Hike: Engelberg – Melchsee-Frutt

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Switzerland has many lakes, the “4-Lake Hike” in the Jochpass region is probably one of the most beautiful hikes in the central part of Switzerland: beautiful flora, stunning mountain and lake views in the mighty Mt. Titlis area.

Trüebsee

Trüebsee

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Hiking the Grossbodenkreuz and around the Glattalpsee

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It is summer time in Switzerland, and the best time of the year to hike in the Alps and mountains. This time I’ll share with you our journey around the Glattalpsee (Lake Glattalp). Expect stunning views of Swiss mountains, flora, fauna and curious critters:

Kühe auf Glattalp

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Klöntalersee

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The Klöntalersee is a lake in the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. The lake has a size of about 3.3 km² and has been created by a prehistoric rock slide after the last ice age. From 1908 on it is used as a reservoir for electricity production. The picture below is from the Schwammhöhe looking down to the lake.

Klöntalsee from Schwammhöhe

Klöntalsee from Schwammhöhe

Happy Klöntaling 🙂

Winter Wonderland Melchseefrutt

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Winter is coming to an end, but there is still lots of snow up in the higher mountains. This weekend we spent in Melchsee-Frutt, a mountain resort village at 1920 m above sea level in the Swiss Alps, still covered by 3-4 meters of snow. Technically the Winter season closed this weekend, but it is still ‘Winter Wonderland’ up there. The lakes are covered by snow and ice, and it is beautiful to stroll around in this wonderland. Enjoy!

Melchsee-Frutt

Melchsee-Frutt

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All Saints Day with the Stoos Ridge Hike

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The ‘All Saints Day’ (Nov 1st) is a public holiday for some parts of Switzerland. And because I’m lucky to live in that part and because it could have been one of the last days with excellent hiking conditions, I wanted to hike a trail which has been on my bucket list for a very long time: the ‘Gratwanderweg’ (ridge hike) on the Stoos.

Ridge Walk

Ridge Walk

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Oeschinen Lake

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This hike has been on my ‘must-hike’ list since last summer, and when I saw UrÅ¡ka writing about recently, it got definitely on my top list of things. The Oeschinen Lake (German: Oeschinensee) is a beautiful lake in the Bernese Overland, Switzerland, east of Kandersteg, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site:

Öschinensee from Heuberge

Oeschinensee view from Heuberg

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