Archive for September, 2005
IComo: The Factory of Ideas
Last thursday, I attended the IComo: La Fabbrica delle Idee (the factory of ideas) in Villa Olmo, an event organized by the Centro Volta and the Chamber of Commerce of Como and presented as a matching point for technology innovation aimed at local small and medium companies willing to innovate by exploiting new ideas to be able to remain competitive on the market.
The subjects of the presentations ranged from robotics and automation to new manufacturing techniques such as MIM (Metal Injection Moulding), but included also a presentation about RFID technology by a HP manager, as well as a brief overview of the future of information technology by Intel which included mobile devices.
My collaboration with the Centro Volta is already generating positive results. We’re starting a project committed by a small artigianal enterprise who was searching for a partner to take care of the development of their innovative idea from both the hardware and software sides.
It looks very stimulating, but at the same time we recently completed the due diligence study for the project I submitted some months ago and it appears we’ve found the right contacts to make it real, something that appeared difficult to me at first.
Looks like I’m building a busy schedule for the next months, but that’s what I wanted when I first got in touch with the staff of the Centro Volta, so I can’t complain at all! 😉
Reorganizing Thoughts and Things
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Books, Mobile, Software on September 23, 2005
That’s what I did in these summer months: reorganizing things in my studio, as well as reorganizing thoughts and relaxing my mind with some good books to get ready for the incoming months.
Among the books I read the most entertaining was Joel on software, a collection of the writings by Joel Spolsky, CEO of Fogcreek, originally posted on his blog. It contains views, comments, rants and raves about software development so brilliant that I found myself exclamating a “That’s so true!” after reading many articles. 🙂
Software development is unlike any other artigianal work, it’s pure design, as Joel states, that’s why the skills needed to be a good programmer or even a program manager are peculiar.
I also read a couple of books about personal leadership and social relationships. Another one was much more related to mobile devices, Windows Mobile Guida Pratica, a beginner’s guide about devices with the Windows Mobile OS, written by the italian developer Massimo Mangia.
I met him the last evening in Como with great pleasure, since there are only a handful of independent developers in Italy, and you can imagine how much such occasion can be special when guys like us get the chance to share their views and problems about a job they do with passion. 😉
So, a pause from actual coding work to recharge batteries and get ready for the next months which look busy.
More about that in the next post.