Archive for category Como
Gardens of Lake Como Update 1.2
Posted by Albegor in Como, Gardens Lake Como, Mobile, Software on April 5, 2012
The second update of the app Gardens of Lake Como – west branch is on the AppStore.
It’s a big update, since the app is now in universal binary format, which means optimized both for iPhone and iPad, and the interface graphics, the offline map and the photos are in high resolution, up to four times better compared to the previous version.
Owners of iPad and Retina display devices such as iPhone 4, 4S and iPod Touch 4th generation will be able to enjoy the new graphics at its best.
Among the new features there’s also the ability to add a gardens to your favorites and share it by email, Facebook or Twitter.
I also added new photos taken from the boat, thanks to Marco Leoni, and from the seaplane, thanks to Cesare Baj, President of Aero Club Como.
The new graphics made the size of the app grow up to about 40mb, but fortunately Apple recently raised the download limit under 3G network from 20mb to 50mb.
There’s no such limit when under Wi-Fi.
Since the “likes” on the Facebook page dedicated to the app are still a few compared to the number of downloads, I added a link on the main screen of the app. In this way the Facebook page, where I post themed news and updates, is easier to reach.
The touristic season on Lake Como is now open: download the app and visit the gardens!
Business Storytelling Course in Como
I have an interest in storytelling applied to mobile devices since some years, from 2005, when I started working on audio-video guide systems for museums and exhibitions.
So, I’m pleased to inform you about the business storytelling course organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Como and curated by Francesca Marchegiano, an expert of the matter and also author of theatrical and narrative shows for children.
Storytelling skills are very useful in different business contexts: for example, being able to tell your mission in a clear and catchy way on your company’s website, is nowadays a sign of professionalism and great care about communication for potential customers.
After all, the famous Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement address wouldn’t have been the same if he didn’t start with: “Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.”
The course will be held at Mulini di Baggero, in Merone, in the province of Como, an area recovered from a completely restored 1722 mill.
Participation is free, but limited to the first 25 requests until march 12, so hurry up if you’re interested.
Good luck to Francesca for the course!
Gardens of Lake Como Update 1.1
Posted by Albegor in Como, Gardens Lake Como, Mobile, Software on March 2, 2012
The first update of the app Gardens of Lake Como – west branch is available on the AppStore.
The update fixes a bug found on older iOS devices when exiting the online map, if they were low on memory .
Another bug, caused by the rush to be ready for the BIT fair, was about the presentation of the same text when a garden was selected from the offline map.
Thanks to my friend and mentor Alessandro for reporting it.
I’ve also updated some photos, such as the Villa del Balbianello ones, taken by Diego Cottino, a magic place where some scenes of Star Wars: Episode II were shot.
This spring I’ll visit some gardens included in the guide, both for personal curiosity and to take new photos that will be added to the app.
Photos you’ll better appreciate in the next version of the app, where graphics will be optimized for iPad and Retina display devices such as the iPhone 4.
It’s one of the advantages of digital technologies: an app can be quickly updated, a paper guide not at all.
The initiative is appreciated and the downloads go up. Personally I think it’s reassuring seeing that, although the bad economic crisis, there still are companies and public institutions ready to support innovative projects such as this.
See you to the next update!
Gardens of Lake Como – west branch 1.0 Released!
Posted by Albegor in Como, Gardens Lake Como, Mobile, Software on February 21, 2012
What’s the first word that comes to your mind when thinking about visiting a park or botanic garden?
For me it’s relax!
I don’t have any “green thumb” knowledge, so I couldn’t distinguish among different species of plants and flowers.
But the multitude of colors, the harmony between nature and the gardener’s work (I’d say art), are things you can appreciate even if you aren’t a botanical expert.
And you can appreciate them even more when there’s a unique panorama on the background, such as the one of Lake Como. 
It’s a personal opinion confirmed by data, indicating a constant growth of the so-called Horticultural tourism, from abroad to Italy.
For these reasons I was pleased to work on the app Gardens of Lake Como – west branch, the digital edition of the paper guide made last year by the Chamber of Commerce of Como and the Province of Como, with contents by Great Italian Gardens.
This work gave me the chance to discover some gardens and parks I didn’t know and I haven’t visited yet.
For example The Garden of the Valley, hidden pearl of the nearby Cernobbio, maintained with passion by Mrs. Pupa Frati.
While designing the app interface I followed the essential style and the colors of the new logo made for the brand “Lago di Como”, presented at BIT in 2011, the international tourism fair held annually in Milan.
During this year’s edition of the fair, at the Regione Lombardia/Province of Como stand, there was a preview of the app about the gardens, more user friendly and updated than the paper guide, at least for those with an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
I hope the app will be useful to discover the gardens of the area around Como, reaching more tourists, both from Italy and from abroad, than any paper guide could.
It’s free. Download it and, if you like it, please spread the word about it!
Blog Lifting
Rather than a lifting, I had to do a plastic surgery operation to the blog!
It’s a metaphor to say that I had to work a lot to fix it: I rebuilt the whole database since I couldn’t access to the WordPress control panel any more, I suspect due to a non up-to-date installation or a buggy plugin.
So I checked and fixed all the 219 posts I wrote until now, both in italian and english, fixing broken links in the process.
Reading all the posts recalled me why I’m blogging: to collect memories and experiences I lived in first person and share them, hoping they can be useful to others.
Among the “dearest” posts, for example, there’s the one I wrote for the loss of my cat Willy.
Or the one with the videos of my first interview on TV… ehi, how long ago? I looked like a boy! 
Or event the one I wrote when I came back from the Vespatour… well, each post has a meaning, a little story to tell.
We’re living in times where looks are everything, even too much, so I tried to choose a simple but attractive theme, customizing Fusion by digitalnature.
Useful are the two accessibility functions on the top right of the page: clicking on Aa you can chance to font size, while <> changes the page width.
I couldn’t do without a plugin to manage sharing options on main social networks, and I choose the one made by LinksKu.
I hope you appreciate the new look, but that contents are the motivation for you to come back.
L’Aquila Will Fly Again!
I can say it out loud after a week spent at Campo Globo as volunteer of the civil protection and member of ANA of Como.
Campo Globo was one of the 170 tent camps built for the earthquake emergency in Abruzzo and took its name from the nearby store in the Coppito zone.
Once there, I worked at the camp office, the place where the Alpini managed the camp and thus where I was able to see different aspects of the situation.
Together with three volunteers of La Spezia’s ANA, Enrico, Attilio and camp-chief Alberto, we worked all day long from august 29th to september 5th, trying to respond to all the requests coming from the 930 residents, other than from Italian Navy and Army officers who excellently managed the two kitchens of the camp.
The human side of the experience has been the most important one: talking to people from L’Aquila and listening to their unfortunate stories and wishes to start over gave a precise meaning to the feeling of solidarity that made me leave for Abruzzo.
However, being able to see the ruins of the city center left a sense of sadness deep inside me. It wasn’t like watching them in photos or on TV at all: it will really take a lot of time for the reconstruction…
The photos I posted were mostly shot at the camp, since you can find those with the ruins pretty anywhere and they do not really deliver the actual dimension of the destruction of the buildings.
My best wishes to all the people I met during that week: the Scuola del Genio and San Marco officers, the great Alpini, and the camp residents with a soul stronger than any earthquake!
As San Marco officers wrote on the sail in the picture: The lion wants it, L’Aquila in his heart.
3rd National Vespa Meeting Town of Como
500 Vespas charging on the streets of Como, the third edition of a great show, organized by the Vespa Club of Como on june 29.
It was an intense day: from the “Vespinta – throwing the Vespa” quiz game, to the parade on the streets of Como, to the aperitif in Brunate, to the lunch at the restaurant Gnocchetto in Tavernerio and to the award ceremony with prizes for the numerous Vespa clubs and the Vespazza, the hottest Vespa-girl!
For me it was the second meeting organized by the club I’m a member of, and just as two years ago, my duty was to take photos. This year however, Chiara, a friend of mine, took care of it, while I was driving my Vespa and stopping in places where she could take the best shots.
Here there are the three most significant photos for me, the rest is in the dedicated gallery.
Long live to the Vespa Club of Como! 
Microblogging on Facebook
As much as WordPress changed the way I managed and presented the blog, Facebook is now changing another fundamental component: the update rate!
I often find myself microblogging on Facebook by updating my status or filling the wall in a quick and easy way, just what I needed in order to highlight what I wasn’t able to through posts on the blog, even if visibility is limited to the network of friends.
In my opinion Facebook follows the 80/20 rule pretty well: for 20% of the time you typically use it to “nurture” your ego and for 80% to look at your friends’ activities!
More or less this is my relation with a tool that in Italy is fast-growing in popularity, is generating discussions about the rise of new forms of dependence and privacy issues, but that has such a strength to be able to bring many new users on the web: without knowing it, they became micro-bloggers!
Ciao Willy!
It’s incredible how we can build a relationship as close as with a family member with a creature so different from us human beings!
It happened with my cat Willy, and now that an obscure incurable illness has taken him away, all that’s left is the memory of the best moments spent caressing him, playing hide and seek, and why not, replying accordingly to his mewings.
Found 9 years ago in the area where they were building the Dadone complex in Como, Willy – the reddish tiger, become the family’s pet, a catalyst of our relations in times of trouble and in the course of time showed us that “divine feline detachment with which he measured himself with the things of the world”.
The quote is by Federico Roncoroni and comes from his Amici Mici published by Edizioni Ulivo, as are these lines that Willy certainly knew:
The true owner
A cat you believe you own
and he just to please you
makes you believe
he loves to be owned.
Actually
the truth lies elsewhere.
You do not own a cat,
ever:
the cat owns you.
Now that you know it,
never forget it:
you are the cat
of the cat you own.
Thanks to all my dear friends who stood by me in such a difficult time.
In Moscow with the Virtual Tailor of Cernobbio
Posted by Albegor in Como, Net-Tailor on February 7, 2008
Who could have ever said that I would had to install a remote station of the Net-tailor system in Moscow?
And yet we did it, everything went ok fortunately. On last saturday, together with Cleto Orefice, I flew to the russian capital and in the following two days I installed and configured the IP camera that will allow Cleto to remotely take measurements and do suits fittings for Styleguide’s customers, a company taking care of the image and style of rich people.
There were a lot of uncertainties before leaving, both from the technical and human point of view, mixed together with the appeal and mystery of a big city such as Moscow.
It wasn’t easy, but everything went well thanks to Styleguide staff, in particular their young manager and founder Ivan and his assistants Nadia and Viktoria.
Thanks to them we had the opportunity to appreciate some of the Moscow wonders, as you can see in the gallery of photos I shot.
Really a great experience!
I’m happy for Cleto, since his investment to make the Net-tailor system is beginning to generate profits.
Who knows where we’ll go to install the next station…