Symbol Text

Did you ever wonder what your name would look like when spelled out using symbols from the periodic table?

Well I did (geek alert) and I couldn't find an appropriate application, so I decided to write a second UWA (Universal Windows App) that runs on almost any participant of the Windows 10 eco system.

Symbol Text Screenshot

You can download SymbolText from the Microsoft Store.

The app translates text into symbols from the periodic table. Example: “Fun” translates into “Fluorine, Uranium, Nitrogen”. The tiles generated contain the atomic number, the atomic weight and the name of the element.  It’s fun and it’s educational. This entertaining application uses fictional elements to cover the entire alphabet.

The resulting translation can be saved as a hi-resolution image (.png) with individual tiles being 800x800 or it can be directly send via email as long as the Mail is setup in "Default Programs".

The image can be used to create cups, T-shirts and other custom merchandise from online stores such as Zazzle etc.

Tuscany

What would be more relaxing than renting a farmhouse in Tuscany and exploring the wineries that put Italy on the culinary map?

That is exactly what we did with another couple who enjoys good wines even more than we do.

Our temporary Residence in Tuscany

This farmhouse was recently renovated and is part of the Castelfalfi Luxury Resort. The villa is on a golf course, which has its challenges due to the hills, lakes, streams and sand traps.
Castelfalfi itself is a very small medieval  town on top of a hill and offers stores, restaurants and a small grocery store that sells local specialties starting with cheese and salami tartufo, my favorite and also local wines.

Not having been there yet, we visited Pisa, which to our surprise was pretty cool and not too crowded. Maybe it has something to do with it being the off season.

Cathedral in Pisa

From our temporary home we took day trips and visited many of the hilltop towns that make Tuscany so charming. The distances are not to be underestimated due to the winding roads that go left, right, up, down and left and right again in an endless pattern.

We explored Livorno, Bolgheri, San Gimignano, Greve and Lucca, where we had our own private tour guide. He did a fantastic job and gave us a glimpse of the rich history and culture that formed Lucca.

Lucca

On one of these trips we got lost in Colle di Val d'Elsa where we discovered Arnolfo, and enjoyed a truly exciting dining experience, which one would only expect in a large metropolis like New York but not in the middle of Tuscany.

In Volterra we enjoyed the local art of carving Alabaster and in Montalcino we tasted Brunello, what else. And we didn't regret it at all.



Casanova di Neri

Cheers!

Japan

According to Wikipedia, Japan is the land of the rising sun. A Google search reveals that the sun rises in the East. How come we had to travel west-bound to fly from Chicago to Tokyo?

Japan has a very interesting history. Please check out this video for a brief and very funny overview.

We decided to visit Tokyo and Kyoto. The two cities that couldn't be further apart from each other. One is a mega city with about 35 million people living and working there. It seems we saw each and everyone of them. They all navigated trains and other "obstacles" with ease.



Tokyo by Night

Kyoto is rich in tradition and made us feel warm and calm. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay at a ryokan with an Onsen, which is a traditional Japanese guesthouse with a hot spring. For novices like us, the this guide was very enlightening. 

Instead of valet parking your car, our shoes were valeted when we arrived, since everyone leaves there shoes outside the guesthouse. When we went for a walk late at night, our shoes were ready for us. Don't ask me how they knew which shoes belong to which guest ... without a ticket.

 Most people have seen torii gates, a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of a shrine. One of the probably most photographed torii in the US is found at Epcot. However, there is no comparison what Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto has to offer. There are a vermillion torii gates that eventually lead to the shrine. A wonderful experience to walk all the way around. Tip: get up early in the morning and you won't see that many people, if you want to take a nice shot.

Torii Gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine

On the other side, wait until late afternoon to visit the golden temple so that you can fully appreciate the colors of this magnificent structure when the sunlight creates a reflection in the pond.

Kinkaku-ji

Despite (or maybe because) of the dense population in Japan, it was our experience that they are very friendly, kind and absolutely organized. There are so many other sites that we didn't see, I doubt that this will remain the only time we go there.

A Universal Windows Application

Ever since I attended the Build 2015 conference last spring I was tempted to write a new Universal Windows Application, which runs on a potential huge number of devices that are all part of a humongous eco system supported by Windows 10.

I don't always watch movies on my PC, but when I do, I use DarkScreen!

Here was my problem: My setup consists of a desktop with 2 rather large screens. When I watch a movie on one of the screens the second screen still shows the desktop and is very distracting. This app runs in full screen mode and blacks out the second screen or any other screen for that matter. The screen turns completely dark after a period of no activity on the DarkScreen window.

DarkScreen screenshot

 

Publishing the application to the Windows store was a very easy process and after about 12 hours the application was available for download to all users.

It was very unfortunate that Microsoft decided to unpublish the application, after a while of inactivity.