Archive for category Como
i-muse Featured on EspansioneTV
20 minutes on TV really flew away! đ
We’ve been interviewed on ZeroTreUno, the daily feature of the local broadcaster EspansioneTV, to present the project weâre working on, i-muse, the PDA guide for museums and art exhibitions.
Elda De Mattei, the presenter, made us feel at ease and allowed us to illustrate the project in its various aspects, from the technology to the graphics and the contents, an argument for each one of us.
Although we would have loved to tell more weâve been very satisfied of the final result. đ
For me it wasnât the first time on TV, since I attended NetcafĂ© on Telelombardia in 2003 after I won an award for Ecpc, a software for Euro coins collectors, but this time I wasnât alone.
So the message has been delivered: we have a winning product, ready for the market in a short time. đ
Flavio Oreglio in Como for Il Sole
Could something ever exist better than doing charity while having fun? đ
I donât think so, especially in these times, but itâs exactly what will happen on sunday evening if youâll come to the Teatro Sociale in Como where Flavio Oreglio, the great cathartic poet from Zelig, will perform in a musical show whose profits will go to Il Sole, the local Onlus working on distance adoptions and international cooperation projects.
Their project Reborning Flowers, aimed to give psychological support to child victims of rape in Addis Abeba in Ethiopia, is having a difficult time due to the critical situation in the area and I think Flavio will talk about it during the show. Another reason to contribute to such a delicate project while spending a special evening, not only different.
Tickets go from 25 to 10 Euros.
Mrs. Olivia Piro, Il Soleâs president, yesterday evening told me sheâs dreaming of a theater at full⊠letâs help her making the dream come true! đ
Mens Sana In Corpore Sano at the Palestra 100
Romans had a pretty deep knowledge about the search for harmony between mind and body to keep ourselves in shape and feeling active and lively. So why donât try listening to our wise ancestors? đ
I was really missing this kind of harmony, but since I tried going to the gym to put back in shape my back, aching due to long hours spent working with the PC, I finally understood the true meaning of that phrase.
Recently it has been thanks to the Palestra 100 that I realized how much a pleasant environment can help physical training.
The three months I spent at the gym before leaving for the Vespatour have been really invaluable to engage in such an intensive and often tiring journey.
Because of this Iâd like to thank the people who made pleasant the experience at the gym. From Angelo Sguazzero, the director, a former hundred meter runner and athletic trainer in some Serie A Italian football teams, who with his interest for psychology applied to physical training really surprised me about things very few trainers even take into consideration.
Also thanks to his daughter Silvia, a former dance champion, and to Elisa I learned to do stretching by breathing correctly, a thing that has now become a good early morning habit. Not to speak about the other trainers and the fantastic SPA (Salus per aquam) area, a real relax paradise. If the hydromassage, the sauna and the turkish bath are not enough, there are Veronica e Tania, two massagers able to make your back melt! 
Itâs not the cheapest gym in Como at all, but itâs really worth it in my opinion.
These arenât words written for convenience or hidden purposes, it’s actually an appreciation for a place where I find myself at ease, so Iâll be happy if this post will be useful in promoting the gym.
I sent them one of the only two postcards (the other one ismore personal) I wrote and sent during the Vespatour to thank them for making me understand what actually means Mens sana in corpore sano. đ
End of The Year Thought 2006
Posted by Albegor in Como, i-muse, Net-Tailor on December 31, 2006
Making a sum of a whole year?
365 days I lived more dangerously than ever? đŻ
Well, a lot of things happened: the turning point on the project now called i-muse thanks to the two guys I put on alert with a simple SMS on last New Yearâs Day, the hard work on the Net-Taylor innovation project for the Sartoria Orefice, the Vespatour, the summer solo-tour on my Vespa around Italy that opened my eyes on the beauties of our country, some books that made me change – not because theyâre miraculous, but because I read them while I was ready to change -, the suffering for a love affairâŠ
All of this while I was still working as a waiter in a local pub whose owner had the kindness to kick me out after an apocalyptic night, with no appeal and as I was the last one who got working there. A rudeness I did forgive but not forgot, since it has been a work which gave me much more than it may appear to whoever looks at it with the eyes of the right-minded. đ
All in all a lot of things that made me grow up. And the more I think about where I am now, the more Iâm sure that nothing could have happened if I hadnât been involved in the project of the Sartoria Orefice, where I found people so kind to confront and work with on an delicate innovation project which is now considered as a case study, a project that made me grow up both professionally and humanly.
As always, itâs a combination of positive factors producing excellence, while a negative one is enough to unleash Murphyâs law! đ
Even the last year I wrote an End of the Year Thought 2005, but I didnât published it, a sign of a not too happy period. I do it now on the new blog since I saved it in my notes. I invite you to read it because itâs still current, unfortunately.
I wish you a happy 2007, the year of the pig! đ
Weâve Been Incubated!
Ok, itâs a bad expression which can give cause for never ending witty remarks, but for the three of us, me, Luca and Guido, recently awarded at the Startcup 2006, the regional contest for startup creation, the meaning is pretty clear: other than the cash prize by the Chamber of Commerce of Como, our real target was the incubation! đ
Weâre now hosted (incubated!) in the startup accelerator of the Polo Regionale di Como of the Politecnico di Milano.
We finally have an office, at the third floor of the building in Piazzale Gerbetto, where we can continue working on the project we started powered only by enthusiasm and hard work, aiming since the beginning to a result of excellence.
The office is fully operative by now from a technical point of view, while we still have a lot to do for what concerns furnishings, especially after weâve seen how the girls of Ciren and Urbano Creativo, neo-incubated at the second floor, set up their office.
We really need a female touch for that!
Professor Negrini, who gave us the award at the Startcup, told us this was his office before he moved to the Politecnicoâs building in Via Anzani. Really a privilege considering how much I think highly of him.
During the introductory meeting of the new startups he used a very motivating expression: âNow youâre entrepreneurs!â he told us.
Personally I do rely a lot on the network of competences that can be established among the ten startups now incubated in Como and itâs actually a pleasure being able to discuss and relate with other companies operating in the same sector. From these relations new interesting opportunities can be generated.
After the pizza-dinner with Luca and Guido to celebrate our first meeting in the office, as you can see in the pic, and the usual tea break at 17 ĂČ clock with MetalCâs staff at the third floor, we can say that being incubated is not a bad thing at all! đ
What the Hell is This?
If you got here on the blog for the first time thanks to the flier I gave out during these days it means it worked! đĄ
It made curious whoever noticed it to get him on the Internet and have a look at what it was really about.
The graphics of the flier is the result of the suggestions by some friends and it ties up the three elements composing my logo with the arguments of the blog: a stylized hand inspired by the painting of the Creation by Michelangelo visible on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel represents my passion for creativity in all its forms, the arrow has the shape of the Lake of Como since I like writing about arguments related to my town, and the disc has a series of abbreviations the informatics technology is full of and which often make the usersâ life a mess instead of simplifying it. For this reason the names of the Donald Duckâs nephews, Qui, Quo and Qua, put some irony about the technology paradox. đ
Finally I can leave the obsolete structure of the old blog and start using the new one thanks to the WordPress platform, powerful and flexible at the same time.
Thanks to the Gengo plug-in for example, I can write posts both in italian and english and the the user automatically view them according to his browserâs language setting. You can read the posts in the other language by clicking on the link on the right panel listing the most recent posts.
Not to mention the organization of the numerous post in categories, six for now: Como, Euro coins, Mobile, Net-Taylor, Personal, Software and Vespatour 2006, or even the possibility to browse the whole archive containing 240 posts, month by month, up to the first one I wrote on july 16, 2003, or searching for a specific word inside the whole blog.
Last but not least is the chance to leave comments. Finally you can keep in check my bad tongue whenever I really go over the line! đł
Or simply you can have your say about an argument of interest to you. Discussion is the salt of communication, even if weâre all a bit stunned by too much TV, mobile phones or even the Internet itself. đ
Thereâs still some work to be done to complete the graphics of the theme and new pages to add, but itâs a bit like moving into a new home after all: a thing at a time itâs even funnier.
Thanks for your visit! I hope youâll get back because you like the blog contents and not only the container, WordPress, which is really useful and makes the blog user friendly.
To do that you could keep in mind the address – but itâs proven, it doesnât work well -, or you can subscribe to the updates notification service. You can also use the RSS feed and Iâll wrote more about this soon.
Iâve already got about ten sparkling post drafts to publish in the next days⊠BrrrâŠletâs shudder together!*
*A quote from Marina Massironi, an italian comedian. đ
The Virtual Taylor in Cernobbio on Rai Due
Posted by Albegor in Como, Net-Tailor, Software on November 23, 2006
Here is the video of the interview recorded for the Non Solo Soldi (Not only money) TG2âs feature which sees The Virtual Taylor in Cernobbio as protagonist, this almost mythological hero lost inside the fog of Lake of ComoâŠ
Even I am used to call him like the press did until now, although at the taylor shop they prefer the exact reference to Sartoria Orefice for marketing reasons.
Maybe itâs better as it is, people remember more easily the fable of the virtual taylor taking measurements using a camera over the Internet.
The TV interview made everyone in the taylor shop excited and in the video, other than the staff at work while Cleto Orefice is describing how the system works, you can spot me in the recording running on the left monitor.
We recorded that while I was trying the suit they made ( sculpted is the most appropriate metaphor đ ) to measure for me.
Really a marketing hit for the taylor shop and the people involved in the project.
Enjoy!
The Future is the Taylor in Cernobbio
Posted by Albegor in Como, Net-Tailor, Software on November 18, 2006
This title, chosen an interview to Raffaello Vignali, president of the Compagnia delle Opere, published in the November issue of the magazine Business People, is emblematic and it means only one thing: the innovation project related to the taylor shop Sartoria Orefice in Cernobbio I took care of from the beginning to the end, with the coordination of the Centro Volta, has become a success case! đ
An example to follow for italian small businesses which are hearing a lot of talk about innovation, would like to start these kind of projects, but they donât know which way to turn.
I canât spare a criticism for the sentence: âHere Hewlett and Packard or Bill Gates couldnât have existed, since in Italy if someone starts a company inside a garage the Asl (the local sanitary inspection service) comes and forces them to closeâ⊠a clichĂ© often used to hide the real problems of the new ICT startups.
Vignaliâs interview is actually centered on the issues italian business class has to face to follow the difficult path of innovation, in order to be able to maintain the competitivity of the Made in Italy product in a globalized market, and also on the benefits generated when an innovation project comes to a good conclusion, using the âTaylor in Cernobbioâ as example, although in the interview the project is described generically with some mistakes about the systemâs working.
A working that has been well explained on thursday morning by Cleto Orefice when a Rai troupe, headed by journalist Sandra Cecchi, went to the taylor shop to record an interview for the Non Solo Soldi (Not only money) TG2âs feature, broadcast from monday to friday at 10:30 on Rai Due.
The TV interview will last only a few minutes, but it will be the first time the system will be shown in public. Really a must see to understand how a taylor working in the same way for 5 generations learnt to use a PC and Internet, not only to simplify his work, but also to make his business grow with perspectives which are probably still beyond estimation.
Although Iâm more at ease with textures rather than fabrics ;), by now I could almost say Iâm a “taylor” too if you consider the analogy with artigianal work I already blogged about, so it will be a real pleasure following the evolution of the Sartoria Orefice.
in_rete 2006miniartextilcomo
It almost seems like a tongue-twister and actually I rarely manage to correctly pronounce the name chosen for the local exhibition devoted to contemporary textile art, now at the 16th edition. This year there are 11 locations in the town of Como dedicated to the exhibition.
The richest installment is inside the ex-church of San Francesco where next to some pretty suggestive pieces such as the army of silk frogs coming down from a wall of the right aisle, thereâs a section dedicated to Net Art curated by Domenico Quaranta, in which the threads composing the virtual fabrics are generated by software algorithms.
Not by chance the term in_rete (networked) is part of the exhibition title.
The apse hosts a suspended metal structure on which are placed 54 little works, minitessili, among which you can notice the Protocolli di Rete (network protocols), a globe made with bamboo by Ilaria Giussani, a friend working at the Museo della Seta recently awarded with the Premio Arte 2006.
At the museum Ilaria allowed me to take a picture of the installment Food for the Spirit by Anna Moro-Lin & Verdeaqua you can see below. The mise en place on the table is really creative and original, while Ilaria prefers the works of Marie Rose Lortet, also exposed in the museum.
Pretty imposing is the work of Akio Hamatani at la tessitura. It almost seems like a hull of a big ship suspended over the water⊠could it be some sort of ark ready to sail taking away all the beasts in Como? đ
I donât want to say anything more to leave you with enough curiosity to visit the exhibition.
Even too often the people of Como seem to ignore this kind of events and due to the factor âI can go there whenever I wantâ they end up procrastinating the visit until they loose the opportunity to do it.
Thereâs time until November 12.
After this link between textile art and digital graphics the next time Iâll get the chance to explain what a texture is Iâll use the pixel weaving metaphor! đ
Bike Meeting at Ghisallo
A nice sunny day pleased a few thousand of bikers who met in Magreglio, near the Madonna del Ghisallo sanctuary, a special place for me since itâs tied to the summer camping days spent in that area during adolescence. It was also my first meeting together with Vespa Club Comoâs friends.
We left early in the morning from the rendezvous point in Como and we reached Magreglio parading with the hundreds of bikers already there. Then we moved to Civenna where they celebrated the commemoration of the motorcycling fallens.
The bike that impressed me the most was a beautiful 1929âs Moto Guzzi.
I wanted to visit the recently inaugurated Museum of Cycling near the sanctuary. A new and well done structure, but the price of the ticket was discouraging to say the least: a couple of Euros less than the ticket for the Vatican Museums o the Uffiziâs Gallery, booking included. With all the due respect for the history of cycling (Iâm still using a speed bike older than me ;)) I doubt there was the Stendhalâs syndrome waiting for me at the museumâs exitâŠ
On the journey back home, I went a bit of the way in the middle of a group of bikers riding Harleys, almost a sort of provocation after the letter I wrote to the local daily newspaper about Clooney and his bike.
Who knows, maybe he was there among the 4000-5000 bikers that day!