Happy Turkey Day to everyone out in Aha land.  Hopefully you all had safe travels en route to see all of your family and friends this weekend.  And if you used Aha during any of your driving you no doubt noticed that DRAMATIC improvement to the launch time (announced earlier this week).  With any luck that means you are leaving a ton of shouts, and hearing all sorts of great shouts from others.  This leads me to the SHOUTS OF THE WEEK (one day early, because I know you will all be out shopping tomorrow!).

Misc. & Awesome
guest_069IMVK – Old McDonald, Rockabye Baby – Tri-State Area

Caraoke
mickey14 – If I Ain’t Got You
@yank – Play Your Part (Pt 2)

Traffic
redbeardeddevil – Traffic is stop and go – Charlotte Metro Area
NewYorkDevil – Expect some congestion – Tri-State Area

#%& DRIVERS!
jules – I hate when people speed up… – Las Vegas/Paradise – EXPLICIT
ibrahim – It says wrong way – Metro Detroit
bc – they won’t hurry up – Metro Atlanta

Ryan
Aha Community Czar

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you launch Aha it can take so long to start that you feel like you are requesting a flyby from the tower, and all you keep hearing is…

“That’s a negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.”

(Ok, I’m guessing that is a not the movie quote that comes to mind, but why should Facebook be the only site that gets to drop in random Top Gun quotes for kicks!?!?)

But just imagine if the time from app launch to when it finishes its initial load were to be so dramatically improved that you would never even have time to think about asking to buzz the tower (last one, I promise).

We’ve heard from some users that initial load can sometimes feel like an eternity, so I’m delighted to share that we have made updates to our systems that should result in a SIGNIFICANT improvement in that department.

Not only have we made some updates to our back-end (changes that you should benefit from right away), but we’ve also completed some tweaks to the iPhone app itself (already submitted and awaiting approval) so be on the lookout for an App Store update.

Something else to be on the lookout for in the coming weeks is the addition of new types of incident information in Traffic.  Soon we will be including alerts for traffic events like bridge and road closures as well.

So please take a look at the improvements, and don’t be shy about letting us know what you think.

Ryan “Merlin” Knight
Community Czar

I’m going to go light on the pleasantries again this week.  Just a quick reminder that you can also find us at twitter.com/AhaMobile, GetSatisfaction/AhaMobile, and facebook.com/AhaMobile.  If you want to shoot us some feedback, ask for help, or just mingle with some other users, any of those will do the trick.

On with the top shouts!

Misc. & Awesome (because no week is complete without a rubberneckers comment)
roggen – I love rubberneckers – Provo-Orem, UT

Caraoke
eddifus – Barbara Ann
guest07O8363 – Back where I come from

Traffic
Wayne – car broken down in the far left lane – Los Angeles / Inland Empire
ATLPapiChulio – Shouln’t you be at work already? – Atlanta Metro

#%& DRIVERS!
Nonny – It’s so others can see you! – Atlanta Metro
AhaRyan – …with their kids in the car??!!? – SF Bay Area

Ryan
Aha Community Czar

Yes… in case you haven’t noticed it is Friday the 13th.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to dress up in a hockey mask and terrorize any camp counselors, but I will terrorize you with the latest installment of the SHOUTS OF THE WEEEEEEEEEK! (MUAH MUAH MUAH).

Misc. & Awesome
guest_00HOUGL – Leeeroy Jenkins!!! (a nod to the viral video legend)

Caraoke
Roaddoggette – When Doves Cry
guest_02QLJUS – Party in the U.S.A.

Traffic
CaveMaster – Lightening up – Tri-State Area
wk – Fairly stop and go traffic – SF Bay Area

#%& DRIVERS!
sirhc22 – I wish the rain would go away – Richmond, VA
grim – It’s called a passing lane! – Greater Orlando

Ryan
Aha Community Czar

I don’t want to overwhelm you guys with too much media this week, but this one seemed fun enough to share.  Especially since it highlights (rather humorously) how certain activities can be so distracting for drivers.

That’s why we have worked to make the Aha interface so simple.  In some ways as simple as a regular old car stereo, and much less attention sapping than many of the newer combo stereo/navigation systems (nothing quite like trying to navigate with touch screen arrows while leaning awkwardly toward the middle of your dashboard!).

Anyway, here is the clip…enjoy.

Couldn’t resist sharing this awesome shout today.  For anyone who may not understand the context, I’ve included the video that inspired it.  It’s long, but you can skip ahead to about 1:20 if you want (though you’ll regret it). Also, be advised that there is some NSFW language during certain parts of the clip.

guest_00HOUGL – Leeeroy Jenkins!!!

In honor of my formative musical years (mid 90′s through the early 00′s) I selected two “classics” for the Misc/Awesome shouts this week.

It’s amazing how nostalgic it makes me when I hear others belting out songs that remind me of high school and college.

Anyway, here are the top shouts!

Misc. & Awesome
sniderman – Bling Bling (an old favorite of mine, plus he has a great profile pic)
switch – It’s so hard to say goodbye (also a favorite from my youth)

Caraoke
cwbysinger – Forever and Ever, Amen
incogkneetoe – Best for last

Traffic
CaveMaster – You’re gonna be sittin’ for a minute – Tri-State Area
aw – Looks like an accident – SF Bay Area

#%& DRIVERS!
roggen – STAY HOME! – Provo-Orem, UT
Julianka – Move it! – Greater Seattle Area
Tiffany – Hey rubberkneckers – Greater Sacramento

Ryan
Aha Community Czar

Some of the folks who have linked their Aha account to either Facebook or Twitter may have noticed recently that the speed we were attaching to your messages was sometimes a little off (in some cases it was even off by about half).

Well I have some good news to report, because we tracked down the issue and got it cleared up.

If you haven’t yet linked your Aha account to Facebook or Twitter (or both), you can get setup by visiting ahamobile.com/services.  Keep in mind that if you already have your Twitter updates being sent to Facebook, you may run into duplicates if you send your Aha shouts to both at the same time.  Check out the video to learn more!

Ryan
Aha Community Czar