Quick note to report.  Some users may have noticed that custom road segmants within My Traffic were including the city names twice.

Our tech folks rooted out the cause of the issue, but if you were impacted you will need to remove and re-add the custom segments.

Sorry for the iconvenience.

Ryan

Aha Community Czar

Hi everyone. Quick heads up that we noticed some connection issues this afternoon. Apparently AT&T was unable to resolve the connection with us when users were booting the app.

Everything appears to be back in order now, so if you are still having problems please let us know (support@ahamobile.com) or twitter (twitter.com/ahamobile).

Thanks for your patience!

-Ryan

In case you haven’t heard (or checked your App Store app lately) our latest version of Aha has hit the App Store and is ready for download.

You won’t see any major visual changes in this release, but we did make some pretty significant speed and stability updates…so you’ll want to make sure you get it.

And now…on with the show!

Misc. & Awesome (do we have a love connection?)
guest_00V8DVR – You lookin’ good!
OcLove – Thanks, I’m flattered

Caraoke
jaybesauceda – Heavenly
TacoTruc – I’m a Barbie Girl

Traffic
trichdelish – A lot of traffic, so good luck – NY Tri-State Area
latinqueen – Going to Macy’s to see Santa – NY Tri-State Area
imi3usy – Exit ramp is clear… – NY Tri-State Area

#%& DRIVERS!
Nonny – Rubbernecking… – Atlanta Metro Area
OcLove – That’s all we need – Los Angeles / Inland Empire (EXPLICIT)

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

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

*************************************

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

Our first official update should now be hitting the iTunes App Store servers, so I’m here to tell you about it.

Not only do we have the standard assortment of bug fixes (some UI tweaks, some minor stability issues, etc.), but we were able to address one of the more frequent requests from a fair amount of users … iPod playback from within the app.

It turns out that I’m in the minority of iPhone owners, in that I typically use one of my many iPods for music, and there are a great many of you who like to use your iPhone for one of its original key functions (an iPod).

Unfortunately for those using the iPod app, whenever audio was triggered within Aha the iPod would stop, and users would need to exit Aha to get the music playing again.  Well, not anymore!  Aha and the iPod app are now playing nice with one another.

To activate the controls you have to do two things:

• Make sure you’ve downloaded the latest version of Aha (v1.1.0).
• Enable controls from SETTINGS > My Preferences > Music Controller (ON/OFF).
• Tap the small music note on the lower left corner of the Shout record button
• Tap “i” to select some music to play

And there you have it.  Music controls from within Aha!  Let us know what you think at twitter.com/ahamobile!

Ryan
Community Guy

Hello again from the land of Aha.  I’ve got a fresh collection of shouts to showcase, as well as some exciting performance news.  First the performance news.

Not only are we always working on ways to improve the “client” (the actual app that downloads to  your iPhone) but we are also always working on improvements to our servers.  Earlier this week we rolled some changes to our server side that should not only give you faster startup times when you launch, but also a nice boost to the speed that content gets delivered from the servers to the client.  All in all you should be noticing that things are a little “snappier,” so to speak.

Anyway, said snappiness means it’s even easier to start the app and record some shouts.  So you, too, can be a featured player in our SHOUTS OF THE WEEK!  Users who have matched their Aha ID to their Twitter ID (or who provide their Twitter ID separately) are linked appropriately.

Misc. & Awesome
PondaBaba – Pedestrian in the shadows
Wayne – Fuzzy Wuzzy Worms
AdmiralAckbar – Changed lanes

Caraoke
@maliwat – Easy Lover
guest_05BMAO2 – I believe I can fly

Traffic
admrl – RoadBot ain’t lying
@djwhelan – Today is not a good day (on the 5)

#%& DRIVERS!
mr – Put your lights on!
Rob – Cab drivers

And don’t forget, we still have plenty of iPhone Car Chargers to give away! Just leave two shouts, 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

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