So I’ve been promising Fabio for literally a half-decade now that one of these days I’d hook something up in Italy, and after an embarrassing number of hiccups, false starts and blind alleys it looks like the occasion has finally arrived. I’ve been asked to speak at Transmitting Architecture, the 23rd UIA World Congress of Architecture, in Torino in July, and I am delighted to finally be able to say “yes.”

This looks like it’s going to be an unusual gig, almost the inverse of last week’s Royal Society talk. Where that was a space specifically reserved for discussions of ubiquitous computing, I have a feeling the topic is going to be relatively marginal to the everyday concerns of this particular crowd of architects and architectural theorists - in other words, a tough sell.

Well, we’ll see. Point is, I’m now at last able to make good to my various commitments to those of you in Italy who have wanted me to come speak there over the years, with apologies for having let you down so often before. And thanks, as always, to Nicolas for whatever behind-the-scenes magic he so effectively wrought.