At the beginning of June I spent three days in Rome - The Eternal City. Three years ago I visited Paris, another famous European Capital. Despite the title of this post, my goal is not to decide which city is the best of the two, because I just think this is pointless. Each city has … Continue reading Rome vs Paris
Information society, youth, and sports
Introduction Last month I attended a public talk where the main guest was a former professional soccer [1] player, Fabio Rossitto. Currently, he works as a coach [2] of pro and youth teams. Even though I never played soccer seriously, I used to be a fan and I watched tons of games throughout my life. … Continue reading Information society, youth, and sports
Are we start-upping too much?
Nowadays, it seems that many people realize suddenly that they have a so far unknown entrepreneurial side and decide to start a new company. On the one side, this is undoubtedly positive. The attempts to put into practice new ideas can be a very powerful driver for the developments of new products and services for the … Continue reading Are we start-upping too much?
When part of the Silicon Valley was here
A couple of years ago I had the chance to meet Giovanni De Sandre, who has become a good friend of mine. He is one of the engineers who, under the supervision of Pier Giorgio Perotto, created the first ever desktop Personal Computer, known as Programma 101 (P101 for short). After retiring, he is used … Continue reading When part of the Silicon Valley was here
Tesla Model S test drive
Introduction A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to do a Tesla test drive in Padova. [1] The car I drove was a brand new Model S 90D, priced at € 125,000. I will not bore you with the list of the technical specifications of this car, as you can easily find hundreds … Continue reading Tesla Model S test drive
Italki and Other Tools
In this post, I would like to share some experiences about the use of italki and other tools I have had the chance to test lately. Technically speaking, italki is a platform where you can find professional teachers, paid tutors, and language partners to learn and/or improve languages. It is extremely flexible because you have … Continue reading Italki and Other Tools
Newspaper pages
3 April 2010 When I find myself poking around old sundries placed in the attic or in the basement, I often run into objects that were put aside, wrapped in newspaper pages. In these cases, I find sarcastically funny to read again the titles and some snippet of articles dating back to several years ago, … Continue reading Newspaper pages
Is Tesla’s master plan feasible?
Nowadays, Tesla Motors is on everyone's lips. They are not manufacturing cars, they are trying to revolutionize the mobility and use of energy on a global scale, as described in their master plan written by co-founder Elon Musk. [1], [2] Regardless of what you think about fossil fuels, climate change, etc., I think that the … Continue reading Is Tesla’s master plan feasible?
Playing with Bitcoins – Part I
Introduction Generally speaking, I'm a curious person, and I like to learn new things. Economics, finance, and technology are examples of fields that I find very fascinating. Therefore, I couldn't resist experimenting with one of the finance-related technologies that is currently on everyone's lips, the blockchain. Bitcoin cryptocurrency is probably the most famous application that … Continue reading Playing with Bitcoins – Part I
Photovoltaic data logger – Part III
Introduction This is the third post of this series. I'll describe here: The software that I have developed for the Arduino Mega board The IoT platform I have used to store and visualize the data collected on the field. Previous posts are available here and here. It is worth remembering that most of the choices … Continue reading Photovoltaic data logger – Part III
Photovoltaic data logger – Part II
Introduction In this post, I will briefly describe the hardware component of the project I introduced in this Part I. First of all, I have chosen to use Arduino Mega [1] because it provides four hardware UART interfaces. I have allocated them as follows: UART0 (Serial): used for informative and debug messages that can be … Continue reading Photovoltaic data logger – Part II
Photovoltaic data logger – Part I
Introduction I have been thinking for a while about a simple project that would allow me to combine two different needs. On one hand, I would like to experiment with some kinds of technology that I have not had the chance to play with so far, specifically: The tools used to build an Internet of … Continue reading Photovoltaic data logger – Part I
Lego Base
I have recently helped my friend Anna Brenelli to make the prototype she has designed and built for the graduation thesis of the Industrial Design course at the Iuav University of Venice, named Lego Base. The project is described in detail in this document. I have dealt—try to guess it ...—with the Electronics parts. Since … Continue reading Lego Base
Audiophiles
If you have been an Electronics student in your youth, audio amplifiers are probably one of the first practical applications of this discipline you have run into. When you understand the potential of Electronics, you become eager to build something with your hands. You know well that the satisfaction you get when you see your … Continue reading Audiophiles
The Italian goose that lays the golden eggs
In spite of Italy being a relatively small country both in terms of surface (about 0.2% of the earth's land area) and population (about 0.87% of human beings), it is the nation that has the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage sites (51 at the time of this writing). These astonishing figures indicate numerically how … Continue reading The Italian goose that lays the golden eggs
Basketball 1.0
I have been playing basketball for 30+ years. I started to play when I was about eight. I still play on the playgrounds, but I hardly feel the same enjoyment I used to. Of course I can't do anymore what I could do on a basketball court, but there is more: the style of playing … Continue reading Basketball 1.0
The Arduino effect (in other words: why real programmers are disappearing)
Arduino phenomena has to be credited for getting a lot of people familiar with Electronics and embedded systems. These people would probably remain just curious about these things otherwise. Similarly, smart phones - either Android or iOS - allow to move first steps in the world of software application development in a relatively easy way. … Continue reading The Arduino effect (in other words: why real programmers are disappearing)
Hello, world!
It might sound a little bit geeky, however I chose to use this famous expression to start my blog.
LLandre.com 