Another week, another batch of shouts.  I must say, however, that it’s getting harder and harder to keep track of all of the good ones, what with all of the new users each week.  That’s where you can help.

You may have noticed the little icon on the bottom right corner of every shout.  Some have thought it was some sort of cartoony hairbrush, or maybe even a turtle, but it’s actually an option to leave a rating.  If you like a particular shout, just tap the icon and it will turn into a green, thumbs-up.  Tap twice and it thumbs it down, or three times and it goes back to neutral.

This will help me better understand which shouts you all think are worthwhile, or which ones you think are garbage.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some top of our top Shouts (disclaimer: employees of Aha, their friends, their family, or their pets, are totally eligible for TOP SHOUTS honors). Users who have matched their Aha ID to their Twitter ID (or who provide their Twitter ID separately) are linked appropriately.

TRAFFIC

• @ed_roberts – Accident on Eastbound & Atlantic and Paramedics on the scene
• Eric – Child Traffic Reporter 1 & 2

CARAOKE

• guest_05G78DP – You Give Love a Bad Name
• chucky – Comfortably Numb
• @christy798 – I Gotta Feeling

#%& DRIVERS!

• dkman – Bad driving is viral
• shoutcaster – C’mon Dude!

And don’t forget, we still have plenty of iPhone Car Chargers to give away! Just try to leave two shouts a day over the next week, send us some feedback (either an email or a feedback shout), and send your details to either blog[at]ahamobile.com or contests[at]ahamobile.com!

Ryan
Community Guy

I would definitely not call any of you guinae pigs (that’s what our beta testers were for), but as early adopters you have a very unique (and exciting) opportunity.  The Aha gang is working feverishly to add maps for new regions, as well clear up bugs and tweak the user experience of the app.  This is where you come in (and could also get an iPhone charger for your time).

We want all the feedback you are willing to give us, and since we don’t know how you like to give feedback…we have tried to cover all bases.  Here is the the list of all the ways you can tell us how much we rule, or what we need to change.

In App – This is the easiest way.  Simply record a shout while in the app, and swipe all the way to the right when you are deciding where it should go.  The last option looks like a little notebook and is called “Feedback Shouts.”  Select that option and we’ll get a special email informing us of your feedback, and you’ll even get a copy to hear what you had to say.

Twitter – We are constantly watching the twittersphere for any mentions of Aha.  Just address us in the tweet (@AhaMobile) or hashtag us (#AhaMobile) and we’ll be sure to get back to you.

Get Satisfaction – a great site that enables companies to connect with their users to help solve problems and share information.  You can see what issues or questions others may have had (and fixed) or let us know that something major could be up.

Facebook – For the most part this is a place to get updates from us, but if you ever feel the need to share a thought or issue you can try here as well.

Email – Good ol’ fashioned email harkens back to an almost quaint time.  Back when Y2K was scary, and you could register for an email address without adding 5 numeric characters to your name.  We use this too, and you can drop us a line at feedback[at]ahamobile.com or support[at]ahamobile.com.

And don’t forget, if you download Aha, register, leave just TWO shouts (of any kind) and then also send me some feedback, you can get a free iPhone Car Charger (while supplies last).

So don’t hesitate!  We want to know what you think.

Ryan
Community Guy

I’m only one week in with this whole Shout promoting business, and cousin…business is a boomin!  Now that we have expanded to new areas, and drummed up some more users, the content quality is definitely going up.

I’ve even decided to add a new section of randomly fun or interesting shouts called MISC. & AWESOME.

That being said, I’m still seeing a fair amount of shouts ending up in the wrong areas.  So be sure to swipe to the appropriate destination when you finish recording.  If it’s time sensitive and about traffic, send it to Traffic.  If it’s general, send it to your local Public Shout room.  If you are singing or ranting, that goes to Caraoke or #%& Drivers! (respectively).

And of course, if you have feedback for us you can always swipe to far right and send us a Feedback Shout.  The order never changes, but don’t forget that it should always default to whichever room you were in when you recorded (so you won’t always have to swipe).

Anyway, without further ado, here are some top of our top Shouts (disclaimer: employees of Aha, their friends, their family, or their pets, are totally eligible for TOP SHOUTS honors).  Users who have matched their Aha ID to their Twitter ID (or who provide their Twitter ID separately) are linked appropriately.

MISC. & AWESOME

• @tivoboy – Page 1
• AdmirarAckbar – It’s a TRAP!

TRAFFIC

• Russell – Accident on 280S
• tito – There’s a “freshy”
• chinatbag – Construction on 280

CARAOKE

• vbv – You Found Me
• @Yank – Run-Around
• @christy798 – Is That a Tear

#%& DRIVERS!

• Matt – Fantasize about smashing…
• Sven – Signal please!

And don’t forget, we still have plenty of iPhone Car Chargers to give away!  Just try to leave two shouts a day over the next week, send us some feedback (either an email or a feedback shout), and send your details to either blog[at]ahamobile.com or contests[at]ahamobile.com!

Ryan
Community Guy

We all know what you’ve been thinking.  Where does (California based) Aha get off only offering road and traffic support to users within the borders of the Golden State?!?!?  I mean who do we think we are anyway!

Well, I hate to rain on your jealousy parade (by the way, did I mention it seldom rains here), but California is no longer hording all of the Aha coverage support.  The expansion of Aha has officially begun.

Starting today Aha has expanded road and traffic coverage to the following metro areas:

• Dallas and San Antonio, TX
• Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Miami Beach, FL
• Seattle, WA
• Washington D.C.

What this means is that users in these metro areas, as well as those in California, should be able to view detailed information for the major roads in their areas, as well as create custom segments for the roads they care most about.

We will continue to add coverage for more cities in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned, but in the meantime you can check out the Traffic feature demo to get a little more detail about how to add custom segments of your own.

Ryan
Community Guy

Yes, you read that right.  Keeping your iPhone charged has never been easier!  All you have to do is install the Aha app on your iPhone, register, and leave some Shouts (short voice notes).

How many Shouts, you ask?  Only TWO shouts a day over the course of a week.  Considering each Shout only takes a few seconds to leave, it’s not a huge time commitment.

However, if you don’t want to wait a week to get the ball rolling on your charger I have something even speedier for you.

The next 20 users who leave TWO shouts (any type) and then follow with a Feedback shout (when you are on the Send screen it’s the option on the far right) get a charger.  The feedback can be positive or negative, but just make sure you let us know what you think of Aha.

After you’ve done that you can leave another Feedback shout with your contact info (make sure you send to Feedback, and not to one of the public Shout areas) or drop me a line at blog[at]ahamobile.com.

Ryan
Community Guy

It’s nice to see so many new members joining us in the Aha Community, but it seems so far that some people are having a little trouble getting the hang of shouting.  Unless of course the assortment of silent shouts I’ve been seeing were actually intended.

So to give everyone a little guidance, and also to introduce what will become a recurring blog topic, here are some TOP SHOUTS FROM THE WEEK!!!

Before I proceed, I’m sure you are already asking, “How do I get one of my shouts listed in TOP SHOUTS?!?!?!”  For the time being I will serve as the sole “Gatekeeper” for inclusion on this prestigious list.

If you would like to nominate a shout you can drop me a line at blog[at]ahamobile.com.  You may also consider bribery (maybe a blu-ray player?  how about a kindle?).  You can even score points if you can accurately tell me who the Keymaster is, and who he is trying to release.

Anyway, without further adieu ado, here are some top of our top Shouts (disclaimer: employees of Aha, their friends, their family, or their pets, are totally eligible for TOP SHOUTS honors).  Users who have matched their Aha ID to their Twitter ID (or who provide their Twitter ID separately) are linked appropriately.

TRAFFIC

• Tito – http://ow.ly/jZ1e
• @cjw333 – http://bit.ly/E81mY
• theroadvirus – http://bit.ly/T0SuM

CARAOKE

• bboy – Beat It!
• @Yank – I Got a Man!

#%& DRIVERS!

• @djwhelan – Parallel Parking
• David – Bus in the fast lane

And don’t forget, users can get a free iPhone Car Charger!  All they have to do is average TWO shouts a day over the next week, and send me your account details to either blog[at]ahamobile.com or contests[at]ahamobile.com!

Ryan
Community Guy

Hi everyone.  My name is Ryan, and I’m the guy you will probably be running into most often if you visit this blog, our twitter feed (twitter.com/ahamobile), our facebook page, or anywhere else in the webosphere.  I’ll be wrangling up other people to chime in from time to time, but hopefully you’ll find my presence soothing.

Anyway, during our first few days since hitting the app store we’ve received some extremely positive feedback (thank you Venture Beat), but I’ve noticed a few questions that might need to be answered.  Also, there are some known issues that I can assure you we are already working on.

Here are answers to a few questions, but stay tuned to the blog for more.

Can I remove the roads that appear at the top of Traffic?
No, but if you look closely you will see that those roads are frequently updating.  The app identifies where you are and gives you a snapshot of segments, in both directions, of any major roadways that are nearby.  If those segments aren’t to your liking, or you have some roads that you always want to keep an eye on, you can always create your own custom segments by tapping the “i” in the top right corner.  Once added, these segments always appear below the yellow line (beneath your automatic segments).

I live in (insert state other than California), why can’t I add custom road segments?
Only users in CA will be able to add custom road segments at this time, however we are working to expand coverage considerably in the coming weeks.  In the meantime you should still be able to create a Traffic room that covers your region.

I’m in California, and I still can’t find the exit I’m looking for?
Our goal is to cover as many exits as possible, but there may be some that we missed.  If you have one to report please shoot us an email, with the details, to feedback[at]ahamobile.com.

Here is a list of some of the known issues that we are already working on for our next release.

Aha 1.0 – Known Issues

• Official regional support is limited to California, but users in other areas will still be able to use the app with limited functionality.  For example, users in unsupported areas will be able to listen to and leave shouts, and will have a local Traffic room, but will not be able to add custom road segments.  We are working hard to make Aha available US wide and will be adding new regions weekly.
• When listening to the iPod application and launching Aha, the iPod audio will continue to play even inside the shout rooms. In order to stop the iPod audio you may either pause the iPod audio by double clicking the home button or leave the Aha application, stop the audio and re-launch Aha.
• The explicit filter is not fully functional at this time, so users who have enabled filtering may still encounter shouts containing explicit language.  We apologize for this and are working to resolve it soon.
• Aha does not currently support Bluetooth interaction, but we are working on it (stay tuned).

Ryan
Community Guy

Have you ever found yourself slowing down in traffic and wished you knew what the drivers around the next bend were seeing out of their windshields? Maybe it’s a field of break lights and you should take that exit you are about to pass, or maybe traffic is moving again ahead and switching to surface streets will end up costing you 20 minutes of time you don’t have.

The only thing you can be sure of is whatever you choose to do will end up being the wrong choice. Fortunately, Aha has arrived to help you answer that very question…as well as many others about the road around you.

People have more ways than ever to access information while in a car, but most of them are too dangerous to safely use while driving. We believe that when you are behind the wheel, less really is more, so Aha strives to deliver just the information every driver wants, prefiltered for their preferences and location. We also deliver it in a new and better way.

For example, rather than having you try to study colored lines on tiny maps, we let you hear traffic reports from drivers ahead of you, combined with audio reports we create from data we get from the leading provider of traffic data (INRIX). Rather than having you run a search and sort through the results, just let us know you are hungry and we’ll constantly monitor the road ahead of you and let you know when you are within “spitting” or “throwing” distance from a restaurant that meets your minimum preset criteria.

We are NOT a navigation application, so don’t expect turn-by-turn directions. Instead, we are focused on giving you the information you need to safely make decisions while driving to a destination you already know how to get to, the situation that most of us find ourselves in 95% of the time.

Aha’s unique feature set (please pardon my transition to marketing/sales speak here) includes:

• Listen to Live, Personalized Traffic Channels:
  Like a radio station dedicated to the roads you care about, Aha lets you listen to traffic “Shouts” (or voice notes) from other drivers without taking your eyes off the road. Aha also uses best-in-class INRIX traffic data to tell you how traffic is flowing and alert you to congestion or accidents on the major road segments around you, without requiring you to study a map.
• “Shout” Out Your Own Traffic Reports:
  Tap the bottom section of any driving screen and you can and share a 15-second traffic report to help the drivers around you. Your Shout automatically feeds into the road and city-specific Shout Rooms based on your current location.
• Get “Nearby” Alerts for Things You Care About:
  Are you hungry, want to grab a cup of coffee, or need to take a bathroom break? Select “yes” to any of those questions and Aha’s “Nearby” function alerts you to places along the way, like restrooms from SitOrSquat or highly rated restaurants from Yelp. Aha will also alert you to red-light and speed cameras as you approach them, using data from PhotoEnforced.com. At 65 MPH, less is more, so Aha only gives you the relevant results pre-filtered for your preferences and location.
• Be Entertained in the Car!
  Aha also wants to make driving fun. For example, the “Caraoke” Shout Room lets you send out a 15 second recording of your radio sing along, then get rated by other drivers. In the “#%& Drivers” Shout Room, let off steam by venting about a bad driver or your frustrating commute.

Thanks for stopping by, and joining us on the ride.

Robert Acker
CEO, Aha Mobile