Another day, another Traffic Shout winner.  This time we have someone who found the time to update San Jose drivers of an issue just off the freeway.  Keep in mind that even though we currently support freeways and exits/intersections, you can always leave Traffic shouts that will appear in the regional traffic room.  MiniVanDad ran into a nightmare just off of the 280 & Winchester Blvd Exit.

MiniVanDad – It’s all bad… – San Francisco Bay Area

Just a reminder … we are almost half-way through the Traffic Shout contest.  Don’t miss your chance to get your shouts in for a chance at a free $100 iTunes Gift Card.

For complete details on rules and stuff you can visit our Facebook page, or the Aha website.

Good luck!

Ryan
Community Czar

We are one day into our 2nd week for the Traffic Shout of the Day contest and I think it’s fitting that on a holiday created to honor an explorer, we have a shout from a user whose name bears a striking resemblance to one of the all-time great American explorers … Clark Griswold Ghryswald (of Vacation fame).

Ghryswald – Get off at 89! – New Hampshire

Sadly it wasn’t much of a Holiday Road for our Ghryswald, but hopefully his warning helped other New Hampshire drivers avoid any major problems.

Still plenty of time to get involved (today, and during the rest of the contest), so get those traffic shouts in. All you have to do is touch the microphone at the bottom of the screen, record a short message about the current traffic conditions where you are (good, bad, neutral, whatever), and when the recording is done make sure you are on the Traffic Reporter option before SENDING.

And of course, you can’t forget to register (under Settings), but that almost goes without saying. Even if you record a shout before registering, but register by the end of that day, all of your earlier shouts from that day will become eligible for the day’s prize.

For complete details on rules and stuff you can visit our Facebook page, or the Aha website.

Good luck!

Ryan
Community Czar

Week one of our Traffic Shout of the Day contest is complete, and our fifth winner hails from the Dallas/Forth Worth area.  Don’t be fooled by his username, because it’s obvious from the clarity of sound and information that Indifference cares about quality shouts.

Indifference – Traffic begins to open up… – Dallas/Forth Worth MetroPlex

Still plenty of time to get involved (today, and during the rest of the contest), so get those traffic shouts in. All you have to do is touch the microphone at the bottom of the screen, record a short message about the current traffic conditions where you are (good, bad, neutral, whatever), and when the recording is done make sure you are on the Traffic Reporter option before SENDING.

And of course, you can’t forget to register (under Settings), but that almost goes without saying. Even if you record a shout before registering, but register by the end of that day, all of your earlier shouts from that day will become eligible for the day’s prize.

For complete details on rules and stuff you can visit our Facebook page, or the Aha website.

Good luck!

Ryan
Community Czar

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So much to share this week, so I’ll dispense with the typical pleasantries and tomfoolery.

We are almost through our first week of the three week Traffic Shout of the Day contest.  Announced winners for the first three days were:

RandR – Major stand still – Greater St. Louis Area
jaybsauceda – Be vigilant! – Greater Houston Area
stefonee – …an especially easy ride – Greater Chicagoland Area

…and our winner for day 4 is:

Wayne – Should clear up – Los Angeles/Inland Empire

Congrats to Wayne for his clear and detailed report.  Your card is on the way.  For everyone else, there is still plenty of time to get in on the fun.  All you have to do is register for Aha and leave a traffic shout.  There are 11 prizes left to give out.  You can see complete rules and details at facebook.com/AhaMobile.

In other news this week, Aha was awarded with a lovely trophy for snagging the Next-Generation Applications & Services prize at the Location 2.0 Summit this week. We are all very excited to have our first actual trophy for the office.  Now all we need is a trophy case.

And without further ado, here are this week’s top shouts. Enjoy!

Misc. & Awesome
guest_07JSEAI – Fat man in a little…car? (Tommy Boy)
guest_00O26S9 – ABCDEFG

Caraoke
guest_00LBMG6 – Unfaithful
@Yank – 3030
@jaybsauceda (not just a traffic reporter) – The Gambler 

Traffic
See above

#%& DRIVERS!
JoeMerc – Move your #%&! out of the way! – EXPLICIT
Indifference – The light’s GREEN!!! – EXPLICIT
Bud – Who gives them a license?!?!

Ryan
Aha Community Czar

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Day 3 of our Traffic Shout of the Day contest is behind us, and I’m happy to report that I have proof that we embrace all genders when it comes to our contests.

Our first female winner hails from the Greater Chicagoland Area, and not only reports on traffic problems…but offers an alternative.

stefonee – …an especially easy ride – Greater Chicagoland Area

Still plenty of time to get involved (today, and during the rest of the contest), so get those traffic shouts in.  All you have to do is touch the microphone at the bottom of the screen, record a short message about the current traffic conditions where you are (good, bad, neutral, whatever), and when the recording is done make sure you are on the Traffic Reporter option before SENDING.

And of course, you can’t forget to register (under Settings), but that almost goes without saying.  Even if you record a shout before registering, but register by the end of that day, all of your earlier shouts from that day will become eligible for the day’s prize.

For complete details on rules and stuff you can visit our Facebook page, or the Aha website.

Good luck!

Ryan
Community Czar

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Day 2 of our Traffic Shout of the Day contest has wrapped up, and I’m back with the latest winner.  Today was a much tougher call than yesterday, but after much deliberation from the Aha team we are prepared to award the top shout to…

jaybsauceda – Be vigilant! – Greater Houston Area

There were a lot of great shouts, but Jay’s detail and clarity ruled the day.  If  you didn’t win you should heed Jay’s advice, and BE VIGILANT, for there are still 13 prizes left to give.

And there is still plenty of time to get your Traffic shouts in for today. Shouts don’t have to pertain to rush hour, or even freeway traffic. Anything that you think is useful or informative (possibly entertaining) can win.

Only registered users are eligible, so make sure you register with a valid email address. For complete details on rules and stuff you can visit our Facebook page, or the Aha website.

Good luck!

Ryan
Community Czar

Day 1 of our Traffic Shout of the Day contest is in the can, and we have our first winner.  Congrats to RandR for leaving the Best Traffic Shout for Monday.  His shout was clear, had good sound levels, and we are certain was helpful to the folks in the Greater St. Louis area.

There is still plenty of time to get your Traffic shouts in for today’s prize.  Shouts don’t have to pertain to rush hour, or even freeway traffic.  Anything that you think is useful or informative (possibly entertaining) can win.

Only registered users are eligible, so make sure you register with a valid email address.  For complete details on rules and stuff you can visit our Facebook page, or the Aha website.

Good luck!

Ryan
Community Czar

As promised, I’m back with news of an exciting contest for all you Aha users out there.  We’ve got a lot of new folks using the app, and we want to get you revved up to leave some good traffic related shouts.

That’s why we are offering a $100 iTunes Gift Card for the best Traffic Shout of the day (M-F) for the next three weeks.

Here’s the scoop:

With Aha, everyone can be a traffic reporter, and we are going to reward the most useful and entertaining traffic shout each day (M-F) for the next three weeks with a $100 iTunes gift card.

All you have to do to enter is download the free Aha app to your iPhone, register in the application with your e-mail address, and then use Aha to leave traffic shouts about the traffic around you. Each business day for the next three weeks we will listen to the previous day’s traffic shouts and select a new $100 winner.

Basic Rules

• You’ve got to have an iPhone and downloaded the Aha app
• Register for an account (with a valid email address) under Settings
• Leave a traffic shout using Aha
• Try to make it useful and/or entertaining
• Must be 18 or older (or have consent of a legal parent/guardian)
• Check out our Facebook page for complete rules and details

Good luck to everyone!

Ryan
Aha Community Czar

UPDATED: Everything should be back to normal now.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

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We’ve had such an amazing response from users this weekend that our poor servers are struggling to keep up. We will be performing maintenance this afternoon, which may result in spotty performance for some users.

We are also aware that many users are now receiving error messages when attempting to register. We are working on the problem, but want everyone to know that they can still continue to leave shouts. When you are able to successfully register all of your previous shouts will be re-labeled with your new username.

Sorry for any frustration this is causing.

-Ryan

Hopefully you are all noticing the massive influx of shouts today.  It’s amazing what a national launch can do for user activity.  Anyway, we are working furiously to make sure that our systems keep up with the demand, and that when users send shouts to the wrong area…we move them to the correct one.  Given the number of shouts I’ve moved today, a brief refresher may be in order.

Shouts cheat sheet:

• Traffic – Local traffic report. This is for updating other drivers with timely traffic news about slowness, accidents, or even that things are clear.
• Local – General interest/discussion, or perhaps traffic info that isn’t as time-sensitive.
• Caraoke – Sing along with your favorite song and let everyone else hear.
• #$@% Drivers – Vent about the crazy or annoying behaviors of other drivers.  Let it out here, rather than running them off the road.

Now that everyone is up to speed on shout protocol, I can get down to the nitty gritty on the CONTEST. With Aha, everyone can be a traffic reporter, and we are going to reward the most useful and entertaining traffic shout each day (M-F) for the next three weeks with a $100 iTunes gift card. That’s right…$100 iTunes cards.

I’ll be sharing more news and details in the next few days, but be ready because it starts Monday morning.  Keep your ears peeled (if you can peel eyes why can’t you peel ears too?) for announcements in local Shout rooms, as well as updates on facebook.com/AhaMobile and twitter.com/AhaMobile.

Speaking of Facebook & Twitter.  In case you missed it, you can now link your Aha account to Twitter and/or Facebook, so that your shouts are automatically shared with your networks.  Honestly, you haven’t really lived until you have posted your own voice directly into your friends’ news feeds.

And without further ado, here are this week’s top shouts.  Enjoy!

Misc. & Awesome – WARNING – EXPLICIT
@antecoyote – I have to …. and there’s like no trees
olzdaddy – Just let ‘er rip!

Caraoke
guest_07S6BDV – Picture and Hypnotize
kennyG – Feelings
@BaltimoreTom – What’s Going On?

Traffic
DrJeter – It’s a fresh one
1BevoFan – Avoid the homecoming traffic

#%& DRIVERS!
Bee – That’s all I want to know! – EXPLICIT
mindjam – That’s the accelerator…PUSH IT!!! – EXPLICIT

And don’t forget to keep your eyes and ears open for next week’s Traffic Shout contest.  $100 iTunes card each day to the best shout.

Ryan
Community Guy