May I suggest that you follow the Pittsburgh Zoo on Twitter:
This also allowed me to use the “Charlie Sheen” tag. I feel fulfilled.
What you’re looking at is the screen that greets the user when you open up iBurgh. I’ve tried to use it before, but without success, however this morning, I successfully submitted unsafe sidewalk conditions.
It’s an extension of the city’s 311 service, I’ve called that before to report a nasty pothole, and to their credit, a few days later, it was taken care of, so I’m hoping this has the same affect, although with the coming snow, I’m not sure.
Like I said, I’ve tried to use this app once before, but it seems to take the GPS a long while to find itself, so I hope that in a future release that gets worked out, or better yet, users are able to add pictures from their album. Right now, you have to take a live picture and then upload it, or lose the picture. That could potentially be unsafe.
The developer, YinzCam, also has apps for Heinz Field (you have to be inside to use it on game day) and the Penguins (news, videos and extra cameras if you’re inside the Consol Center). They do really awesome work, make sure to check them out in the Android Marketplace or the iTunes App Store.
And I love it!
Whoever is in their social media department deserves a raise:
See the rest of the series here and my post about their awesome Twitter feed here.
Sadly, it looks like someone in a legal department had a hissy fit. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
The new manager (at least I think she’s a manger) working here tonight is really, really loud. She’s at the far end and I can hear her around the corner and through my headphones. Also, four of the five of you wearing jerseys are wearing 43, and that’s pretty awesome!
Remember when I posted about Conflict Kitchen and how they needed our help on Kickstarter? I like to think I really helped. That story got passed around by a bunch of people, even Bill Peduto (Thanks, Bill!), and they made their goal.
Now here’s the deal. I gave money because it’s a really awesome project that I wanted to support. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, that’s what charity is for, to help others. However, I gave a specific amount because of what the backer gifts were. I love music, and am interested as to what contemporary Iranian music is. I also really wanted to read the facts and see the layout of the food wrappers, since I wasn’t able to get down during Kubideh Kitchen.
But still, I have not seen any of those. I’ve tried contacting both Conflict Kitchen and Waffle Shop, but to no avail. Maybe they’ll read this and maybe I’ll get my stuff. I sure do hope this is resolved.
More cuts are coming, in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the chart. No specific details yet, so we’re left to wonder what “Service Reduced” means for each of the 50 or so routes. And to be fair, some will actually see “Service Increased,” so there is still reworking of the TDP going on (which from my perspective can only be a good thing).
We were told before, and I wrote about the fact (and at the time, I was optimistic that these cuts would not happen), that PAT loves to play the victim: but who they point the finger at has changed. It used to be the State. PAT wrote on their blog:
It is the most responsible option available at this time — short of resolving the statewide gap in transportation funding.Port Authority, along with other stakeholders in the Commonwealth’s road, bridge, mass transportation and overall transportation network, continues to seek a meaningful discussion with the new State Administration and Legislature starting in January about long-term transportation funding.
But if you read the FAQs about these cuts, we get a different version of the story:
The State Legislature took a bold step in 2007 by creating a dedicated transportation funding source in Act 44. Unfortunately, the federal government denied the state’s plan to toll Interstate 80, which has created this statewide shortfall.
I guess at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which government you blame, as long as you blame government.
But I think what saddens me the most, is this overlooked (and in my opinion, buried: it wasn’t even mentioned in their blog post) fact:
The buses I usually take come from Harmar Garage, and except for two, all the drivers I’ve met are awesome, kind and go out of their way for the riders. There will be many that I will miss, not to mention the mechanics, traffic coordinators and office staff at Harmar. I think this is the biggest shame of the whole situation.
More information will be released here as PAT makes it available.
Just a quick note to everyone: we’re back!
Something went kaplooie with the Metblogs database and we were down for about a week and a half. We’re back up though, and I’m very glad to be back. Five stories were lost, but I had saved copies of them elsewhere, so they now appear below (although one is missing a graphic I deleted, and another is missing the links to two videos). Some things are still being worked out, videos that were embedded I don’t think are working at the moment, so I’ll adjust accordingly. The comments from those posts are gone (at least I think), which is a shame, there were some nice conversations going on in the YinzCam and Conflict Kitchen posts. But, we live to blog another day, so I couldn’t be happier. Once again, I would like to make mention of my post, “A note on Metblogs.”
Also, in case you hadn’t noticed, the Steelers are playing in the Super Bowl this weekend. I had a bunch of things to post about that, I’ll try to get a Steelers recap post up later today.
As always, thanks for reading.
Okay, I’m not a huge football fan. Don’t get me wrong, I will only root for the Steelers, but as a general rule, I don’t like football, I’d rather watch hockey (or soccer, or the Olympics). I’ve watched very few minutes of football this season, but of course, I’ll be watching this Sunday.
So I decided that this year, even if I didn’t watch the games (and since they were winning, I’m going to assume that me not watching is what propelled them to victory), I would still try to be more involved somehow. Really, my goal was to be able to have a conversation at work about the games. You know, instead of my deer in the headlights stare.
It was suggested that I check out ‘Yinz luv da Stillers’ on Youtube, and it’s amazing. Also, I’m probably the last one to realize this, but Jim Shearer is on VH1, so that was cool to see him this morning while I made a sandwich.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q2idq2NPG4[/youtube]
I apologize for the lack of embedding, still getting all the dust settled…
Next up, is Coke Cheers. Coke is going to donate a whole bunch of money to the local Boy and Girls Club, but right now, Green Bay is way out in front of us. Go check it out and add your cheers and support a great cause. Beating Green Bay. Oh yeah, and the children.
And lastly, Twerrible Towel. With a little bit of magic (that I will let Ginny explain through her interview here), anytime the hashtag #steelersnation is used on twitter, a real-life Terrible Towel is waved automatically. It’s been fun to watch, which you can do here. No go to twitter and get cracking!
I’ll be back next week with Pens news, a lot going on between goalie fights, the upcoming trade deadline and Malkin’s injury, there is a lot to cover. But for now, we all bleed black and gold for the Steelers.
I wrote a few weeks ago about the awesome Pittsburgh app creator that made iBurgh, which has helped make my commute safer. Today, I’d like to highlight an app creator that has added a cool fun way for businesses to interact with customers.
Levlr is based in East Liberty and crated the Levlr platform, which allows brands to interact with their customers and fans. Their highlight application is Beerby (rhymes with Near by), and allows users to track and find beer.
Bars and restaurants are able to put their beers lists in the system (or patrons can add drinks and tag their locations as they drink), and players log their drinks and earn achievements, known as Badgers.
I’ve linked up with a couple friends, and it’s an easy way to discover new craft and micro brews by seeing what they’ve recently drank. I”m not going to lie, it’s always a fun rush to see your name at the top of the list of a beer. I don’t have an xBox, so these are the only Achievements I can really work on!
The folks at Levlr are also really awesome, always adding special new Badgers, setting up meet ups around Pittsburgh and being amazing advocates for breweries large and small.
Beerby is available for both iPhone and Android, and the Levlr platform is in testing, but if you’d like your company to get involved with it, make sure to check it out!
Coming up later this week, I’m heading to East Liberty for a special preview of Quantum Theatre’s latest production, “Maria de Buenos Aires.”
Quantum has been gracious enough to once again reach out to local bloggers and invite them to a preview of their 2010-2011 season which features their neighborhood initiative. I’m looking forward to it, and think I’ll be taking a few trips on the East Busway to do it this time, so I’m sure that will provide an entertaining post as well.
Check back later this week for (hopefully) some pictures and a write up of the East Liberty YMCA and Quantum’s latest production.
