Pittsburgh Innovates

 
While apps may be so yesterday, they just keep coming. Here’s a roundup of some of the latest ones rolling out of Pittsburgh.
 
In a unique spin on tracking a woman’s fertility, local software company TRA Partners has released an app to help men stay abreast of their partner’s ability to conceive. Called Rhythm Daddy, it allows guys to follow their partner's monthly cycle, sending them funny updates through texts or alerts, whether a couple hopes to get pregnant or wants to “dodge the bullet.”
 
Share Closet is an idea in development by two Pittsburgh women. The app, to launch later this year, will allow friends to share and swap clothes with one another or sell items they no longer need.
 
Can you say goodbye, parking tickets? ParkIt Pittsburgh came out of Steel City Codefest as a parking app that connects users with the city’s new metered parking system, a handy tool if you’re down the street and need to give yourself more time. Pay for parking anywhere in the city using your phone, see your remaining time allowance and receive notifications when you’re running low.
 
This one was created out of sheer laziness: Flippoo allows user to flip unwanted tasks to anyone who is looking for a little extra money. Pitt marketing student Alec Davis created the app as a way to make campus living easier. Need someone to grab a library book for you and drop it off? Flippoo it.

From the team that brought us HitchedPic, the app for those heading toward matrimonial bliss, comes a new release called Baby Patches, to capture and share all the beautiful moments with your baby. 

Clique Vodka has launched a new DrinkyPal app. As with their previous app, users who are enjoying a night on the town can access a list of the nearest taxi companies and hotels, a safer alternative to drinking and driving. Now you can also book a hotel room directly from your phone and call the taxi company directly.
 
Here’s one for the busiest of professionals who needs to prioritize who can and cannot reach them. Selective Disturbance comes to us from 4C Design Works in Pittsburgh. Touted as a “business productivity app,” it integrates with iPhones' Do Not Disturb feature and allows users to pick who can and can’t get through while blocking the rest of the noise. It also syncs with Microsoft Exchange contacts.

And finally, Pittsburgh's own weather app, Swackett, turned two with the release of an iPad app featuring models wearing American Eagle outfits.

Now, can we do something about this weather?

Writer: Deb Smit

Each week Pop City reports on hiring and company news in the region.
 
Omnyx Integrated, a division of GE Healthcare developing digital pathology solutions, is hiring 11+ for a variety of positions at its Pittsburgh corporate headquarters: principal quality engineer, technical support engineers, senior scientist, product management vice president, materials manager, design/ drafter, master technician and project coordinator/specialist.
 
WQED Multimedia is looking for a director of local and national on-air fundraising and production. The ideal candidate will oversee, produce and strategize all local and national fundraising efforts in raising upwards of $2.5 million for the organization. A minimum of five to 10 years in fundraising is necessary.
 
Alung Technologies, a provider of advanced respiratory support solutions, is hiring an executive assistant/HR coordinator. The position will be responsible for coordinating administrative and human resource matters and performing administrative functions.

Compunetix in Monroeville is hiring a technical writer/trainer to work with technical staff in preparation to write technical documents as well as conducting operations training on audio/ video conferencing products.

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is seeking a conservation professional to manage a large, complex conservation project in the Laurel Highlands portion of the Central Appalachians ecosystem, including Ligonier Valley, through permanent land conservation. Productive working relationships with community leaders and public private agencies are key. The job requires working out of the Ligonier office two days a week.
 
Immunetrics, a Pittsburgh bio-simulation company developing “silico” modeling, is looking for a mathematical modeler. The company’s modeling technology provides critical information to accelerate and improve drug discovery and development.

UPMC is hiring a senior systems analyst to support the PUH-Health Information Management Department for its Melwood Building location. 

Construction Junction is seeking an administrative assistant to provide office services for general operational and fundraising purposes. The job will initially be 16 hours a week but the schedule may vary to accommodate Big Pour, CJ’s annual fundraiser.

Have hiring news? Email Pop City and send the links.
 
Writer: Deb Smit

A new consortium of companies in Pittsburgh are joining forces to establish the region as a major hub for "big data" with the official launch of Pittsburgh DataWorks this week.
 
In stealth mode since last fall, DataWorks surfaced two weeks ago at the MIT Forum held at IBM in Squirrel Hill. IBM initiated the idea and is joined by five founding members: Carnegie Mellon University, Google, Management Science Associates, University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Medical Center.
 
A long list of private companies and economic development organizations are on board as well.
 
Pittsburgh companies and universities are already working and established in this space, explains Bob Monroe, associate professor at the Tepper School of Business at CMU and member of the DataWorks advisory board.
 
This is the logical next step, bringing everyone together and unifying the effort to establish southwestern Pennsylvania as a leading region for this industry. By 2014, big data will gain an $81 billion foothold in the market and create 1.9 million jobs in the U.S.
 
“The opportunities are huge,” says Monroe. "As a region, we have many of the assets that will help us to become a capital for big data.”
 
DataWorks will share space in the business incubator Rev Oakland. In addition to promoting the region as a leading destination for big data education, the initiative will develop research, entrepreneurial and regional economic development opportunities.
 
The coming out party will be held Thursday, March 21, at the University Club on Pitt’s campus from 6 to 8 p.m.
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Bob Monroe, Saman Haqqi, Pittsburgh DataWorks

Hackers say they can teach a monkey to hack a computer in a few hours, which is disturbing news to anyone who makes a living online.
 
Having recently suffered two cyber attacks—an email and Twitter account—I sought advice from a cyber savvy friend at Wombat Security Technologies in Oakland, a CMU spinoff and expert in the area of cyber security training and filtering solutions for businesses and employees.
 
Phishing attacks rose a whopping 59 percent in 2012 from the previous year, says Amy Baker, marketing director. Phishing is the fraudulent act of sending emails that pretend to be from a legitimate company or person but are actually breaking into and confiscating your personal information.
 
“It’s just one of many problems,” she says.
 
Wombat Securities shared a few key tips on the top ways to safeguard your online business culled from their vast training library.  
 
Browsing
Just because you Google for something doesn’t mean you will land on a legitimate website. Check urls and learn domain names. There are many dangerous websites in cyberland. CNN.net, for example, is not the same as CNN.com.
 
Don’t allow your browser to remember your passwords; they can be retrieved by other people. And don’t save credit card information on websites.
 
 
Email
Be alert for emails that address current events or the scandal of the moment. Many contain links that lead to websites with malware.
 
Don’t assume your friends or colleagues are sending you safe links or attachments. If you receive a suspect link from a friend or colleague, delete it immediately. If your email is infected, change your password right away. You might need to shut the account down and create a new one.
 
Passwords
This is an important topic, Baker says. If you think you have a great password, think again. Lists are circulating in cyberspace with the top passwords of all time and yours could be on it, especially if it contains the word “monkey,” the numbers 123456 or the letters qwerty.
 
Vary your passwords across sites. Create online banking and purchasing passwords that are different from general website passwords. Strong passwords are key: the strongest ones contain at least eight letters and include uppercase letters, symbols and numbers.
 
The hardest passwords to crack are password families and ones that string multiple words together, like redcar and bluecar or mojomama and mojopapa with a few numbers and symbols tossed in.
 
Social Media
Cyber criminals are having a heyday with your social contacts. Everything you post on social media, no matter what your privacy option, is in the public domain. People have lost their jobs from a tasteless or thoughtless post, says Baker. Set boundaries on your online persona.
 
Wombat’s co-founder Lorrie Cranor recently published a “Guide to Facebook’s Privacy Options” in the Wall Street Journal, a great read for anyone wishing to stay abreast of this fast-moving area of social media.
 
Don’t share information that sets you up for identity theft: your birthday and year, place of birth, address.
 
Text Messaging
Beware of sms-phishing: fake text messages that look like they’re from your bank or a company but are really just trying to harvest your passwords when you follow the link and login.
 
Make sure the apps you download are legitimate. Check reviews for malware ratings. Amazon and Apple apps are generally safer than apps from noname stores.
 
Beware of free WiFi
When you use a public WiFi network that’s unprotected, anyone can eavesdrop on your conversations. Look for password protected sites. If you must use an unprotected network, only visit websites you know are secure and don’t enter sensitive information like passwords.
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Amy Baker, Wombat Security Technologies

The toxicology of the chemicals contained in fracking fluid—proprietary ingredients used by the industry in the drilling of the Marcellus Shale—is the focus of a study now underway at Duquesne University.
 
Dr. Fred Fochtman, director of forensic science and law in the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, and his research team received $193,000 to conduct a toxicological study of the chemicals.
 
Weatherford US, an international oil and gas service company, awarded the grant. The results will be used as documentation to be shared nationally and internationally, the researchers say.
 
The study will investigate 752 “chemical entities” and provide a detailed analysis of how the chemicals are used, including whether or not the elements are carcinogens.
 
The list was taken from a Congressional committee and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is reviewing the fracking ingredients in an attempt to find ways to minimize the environmental risk. A study of the 14 largest oil and gas service companies from 2005-2010 revealed that 2,500 products were used, made up of some 750 chemicals.
 
The identified chemical elements include toxic and/or cancer-causing elements, some of which are regulated under federal and state regulations, some of which are not, the researchers say.
 
“Even a minute amount can be dangerous depending on what it is and how it is used,” says Fochtman.
 
“We’re primarily interested in finding out what these chemicals are, (determining) what hazard do they pose, what is known about their toxicity and putting them into a volume available to anyone working in this area,” he adds.
 
The researchers say the results will adhere to scientific findings and not become a political tool, even though the study was funded by a gas service company.
 
“It’s a tribute to them that they’ve left us alone completely,” says Paul Carlson, a member of the toxicology team. “They haven’t tried to influence us in any direction. Our marching orders are to call it what it is. If it’s a carcinogen, it’s a carcinogen.”
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Fred Fochtman and Paul Carlson, Duquesne University

Imagine the power of billions and billions of data bytes in the cloud that are leveraged to not only solve problems but predict the future. Such is the promise of “big data,” the bold frontier of data mining.
 
Pittsburgh startup Powered Analytics hopes to tap this data mother lode. By developing a cloud-based platform to assist a wide range of industries, the startup, currently in Alpha Lab, hopes to be among the first to establish itself in the business intelligence market, which is estimated to gain an $81 billion foothold in the market by 2014.

And if that isn't exciting enough, Pittsburgh companies have joined forces and launched DataWorks, a partnership of local companies--including IBM, Avere, CMU, Pitt, UPMC and Management Scientist Associates--who are rolling out big plans to make Pittsburgh a hub for "big data." (More on this next week.)
 
From the dawn of man the world has generated about five million terabytes of information, explains Collin Otis, co-founder and Pitt grad who previously worked in the aerospace industry on scientific prediction methods for propulsion applications.
  
“As a society we now generate about that much data in two days.” 
 
Welcome to the next paradigm shift.
 
“There’s an opportunity to really change the world doing this on a massive scale,” says Otis. “You can solve amazing problems with this technology.”
 
For example, auto manufacturers can sift through warranty, recall and service data on a specific model and flag potential mechanical problems before they become a costly issue.  Computers can identify a pattern long before humans, he says.
 
While very new, Pittsburgh is well on its way to becoming a hub for data mining and machine learning. SAP, one of the largest providers of statistical analysis, recently acquired Smartops; IBM, which acquired Vivisimo, and Google are both working on it.
 
It’s the holy grail of business intelligence applications, yet only about 3% of all companies are leveraging this data, Otis says.  
 
It’s not an easy space to get into. The startup has two employees, two interns and received more than 100 applications for its one job opening.
 
“I wanted to work in an industry with an opportunity to make a big impact,” Otis says. “The endgame is to become a global leader in predictive analytics.”
 
Writer: Debra Smit
Source: Collin Otis, Powered Analytics

Announcing the newest accelerator for entrepreneurs, The Hardware Store, opening in Mt. Washington in a formerly boarded up —what else—hardware store.
 
Unlike the other accelerators opening up around the city, this one is tailored specifically for media freelancers. It offers a space close to the city and is equipped with video-making technology, explains Jason Kambitsis, executive director of the Mt. Washington Community Developing Corp. (MWCDC).
 
The Hardware Store, located on Warrington Avenue, has 25 desks and a 20-foot green screen. The Mt. Washington Community Development Corp. will facilitate the space and Pittsburgh startup @crowdasaurus will be the first tenant and will manage the day-to-day operation.
 
The developer, RE360, is providing the space and making the necessary updates to the property.
 
“All these startups need good media and media content to sell their brand,” says Kambitsis. “We think if we smoosh everyone together we can not only save them money but (help them to) generate good media content. We’re making it work because, at the end of the day, getting a business open there will be extremely beneficial for the neighborhood."
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Jason Kambitsis, MWCDC

While many women in business today are successful, they often struggle when it comes to growing their businesses to greater profitability. 
 
A new program at Chatham University’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE) hopes to change that. CWE MyBoard is helping women entrepreneurs to not only succeed in the startup of their business but to sustain and grow it, which is often the hardest part.
 
Statistics show that while 50% of privately held companies in the U.S. are owned by women, only three-fourths of those women grow beyond $50,000 in gross revenues. MyBoard strives to make a difference by helping women gain the confidence they need to take on greater risk, hire more personnel and raise the necessary financing to push their businesses toward the $1 million mark, says Rebecca Harris, director of CWE.
 
MyBoard, an extension of the programming already offered by CWE, has paired 10 mentees with successful professionals who are serving as mentors, both women and men. The virtual platform offers the flexibility to meet at convenient times for everyone.  
 
“Being an entrepreneur myself, I wanted to make sure I had the time (to be a mentor),” says Gloria Blint, president and CEO of Redhouse Communication. “It’s a very cool way of maximizing people’s time. When professionals get involved, you want to be both effective and productive.”
 
Beth Slagle, an attorney with Meyer, Unkovic & Scott, serves as a mentor to Chef Kate Romane’s of the popular Highland Park restaurant E2. The program is helping Romane tackle the many business issues involved that will elevate her business to the next level, Slagle says.
 
The program is assisted through funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation with additional support from both the Alcoa Foundation and Bridgeway Capital.
 
Writer: Deb Smit

Image: MyBoard mentors and CWE Staff members meeting with mentee Kate Romane of E2 restaurant.

Each week Pop City reports on the latest hiring news in the region.
 
Wexford-based software company Co-eXprise is expanding its team. The company hired 17 in 2012 and currently has three openings for a sales director of the western region, a junior software engineer and a system administrator engineer. The firm provides sourcing software to manufacturers to facilitate their businesses.
 
CMU spinout Flashgroup, founded by two CMU professors, is exploring ways to facilitate a faster-paced social network. The company is hiring three: Python developer for NLP Analytics; a system administrator and a UI/UX designer. Those adept in IT need apply.
 
Mind Over Media, a Pittsburgh marketing strategy firm, is hiring a facilities technician, a key role that will support video and post-production needs. The firm creates multi-channel products for higher education, college athletics and the corporate sector.
 
Little Earth Productions, the South Side company that makes cool purses and recently landed a big contract for the Terrible Towel, is looking for a marketing associate to assist with marketing and the promotion of licensed sports accessories.
 
ShowClix is on the lookout for a director of marketing. The ideal candidate will provide leadership, training and management to the ShowClix marketing team and be able to juggle multiple projects (in the air) simultaneously.
 
The Pittsburgh office of Bombardier is hiring a technical writer/ editor intern to author sections of manuals and smaller documents. The job requires editing and publishing operation and maintenance manuals, illustrated parts catalogs and training documentation as well as assisting in other technical writing duties.

Have hiring news? Email Pop City the details and include the link.
 
Writer: Deb Smit

PittsburghTODAY released its 2013 Today & Tomorrow report and the news across many sectors is enlightening.
 
With the economic recovery still underway in much of the country, Pittsburgh is the only benchmark region out of 15 that has experienced job growth and housing price appreciation. In addition, the labor force is at an all-time high and young people are returning and staying in the region.
 
Southwestern Pennsylvania continues to be one of the most affordable places for moderate-income families to live. A Brookings Institution study says so too, listing Pittsburgh as one of three cities in the U.S. to have recovered from the deep recession that began in 2007.
 
The region, however, has work to do in several areas, including transportation, the environment and issues pertaining to diversity, particularly in helping African Americans in the region to achieve the same quality of life as whites.
 
Among the highlights:
 
Population: It has been official but bares repeating: the region is attaining and attracting young talent. The region’s population of 20- to 34- year-olds grew by 7% over the last five years and is expected to grow another 8% in 2020. Three decades earlier the region was losing more than 50,000 people than it was attracting, mostly young adults.
 
Jobs: Jobs grew by a non-seasonably adjusted 1.7 percent in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) from November 2007 to November 2012. Certainly not robust, but it was better than any of the Pittsburgh TODAY benchmark regions. Pittsburgh was the only region to post job growth over that period.
 
Tourism: Visitors to Southwestern Pennsylvania pumped $8.1 billion into the local economy in lodging, recreation, retail, food and beverage, transportation and other spending during 2011,the latest year the full data was reported. This is a 9.6% increase over 2010.

Housing: Pittsburgh was the only region in which the 5-year housing prices rose from 2007-2012.
 
Environment: While fine particle pollution is slowly decreasing, and met federal air quality standards for the first time in 2011 since the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, smog and sewage spills and the health of our rivers remains an issue.
 
Fracking: Across the region, a survey shows that far more residents are convinced of the economic potential of the Marcellus Shale gas industry than are against drilling for it. More than 70% of those surveyed believe that gas drilling is boosting the local economy.
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: PittsburghTODAY

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a ball flying through the air, here's your chance.
 
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have collaborated on a camera and embedded it in the side of a foam-encased football, giving spectators a ball’s-eye view of what it’s like to spin through the air at great speed. (Watch it.)
 
Right now, it looks like your last migraine.
 
CMU researcher Kris Kitani agrees that the camera is far from ready for primetime. But he thinks it has tremendous potential with further development to be both useful and entertaining.
 
“If we can get stable video to the audience it could provide another way that spectators can enjoy football,” he suggests.
 
BallCam was developed as part of a larger study of digital sports. While other researchers have created multiple, throwable cameras that produce static images or stabilized video, this is the first system to use a single camera with a narrow field, which generates a more dynamic, wide-angle picture.
 
Stitching software is often used to discard the upward frames and stitch together the remaining frames to eliminate the distortion caused by the ball’s rotation.
 
The researchers are considering several possibilities. BallCam could be used as a training tool to capture information that might be useful to coaches or trainers. Or it might add interesting special effects to TV or movie productions.
 
Or perhaps it can be a mobile phone app that gives users a physical jolt every time a long pass by Ben Roethlisberger is caught.
 
Kitani’s last project was a mobile app that assists the vision impaired. With training, researchers found that images could be created with music to help people recognize basic shapes through different musical sounds.   
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Kris Katani, CMU

An important (and free) two-day forum will take place in Pittsburgh this month that will highlight the region’s innovation sector and solicit bold ideas to drive economic success across the country.
 
The Small Business Administration will host Small Business and Government: Maximizing Entrepreneurship, Driving Innovation on March 12^th and 13^th.  Winslow Sargeant, Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA, will be the keynote speaker both days.
 
Sargeant, a former venture capital executive with a background in engineering, is a presidential appointee and a national voice for small businesses.
 
Pittsburgh was selected as the first place to initiate this latest conversation in Region Three because it is considered a “rock star” city that is hitting its stride in the technology and innovation sector, says Ngosi Bell, Region Three advocate for the SBA.
 
“Pittsburgh has gone through a renaissance. Cities are looking at it and learning from a community that has rebuilt itself on so many levels,” says Bell. This includes the creation of not just a vibrant technology and innovation community, but a region that is leveraging technology to develop lifestyle solutions.
 
“You have a wonderful continuum of innovation that covers many aspects of human life, which makes it conducive to this kind of conversation,” she adds.
 
The two-day forum will include five panel discussions each day, all focusing on a different technology sector: life sciences, health care, manufacturing, energy, young entrepreneurship, high tech Innovation, information tech and urban entrepreneurship, advanced tech and manufacturing, chemical, women and minority entrepreneurship.
 
The event is free and open to the public. It will be held March 12-13 at the University of Pittsburgh Joseph Katz Graduate School of Business in Mervis Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. For tickets, click here.
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Ngozi Bell, SBA

Winston Sargeant courtesy of Innovation Works

Each week Pop City reports on the latest in company and hiring news.
 
Pittsburgh Google in Bakery Square, the office with theme-park seating and a ceiling hammock, reports three new job openings that sound like engineers on a buying spree, but actually have more to do with online advertising and data feeds: partner operations specialist, shopping; partner technology manager, shopping and partner solutions manager.
 
Pittsburgh-based insurance company Highmark has 17+ openings across several departments:  accountants, case management support specialists, business analysts, registered nurses, practice managers, health coaches, fraud analysts, software services and more.
 
Highmark is also seeking energetic college undergrads and grads for a variety of internships: a finance undergrad intern, pharmacy undergrad interns and graduate interns. All will gain hands-on, practical experience through direct exposure to the business and day-to-day operations.
 
Mylan, the Canonsburg-based pharmaceutical company, has six new postings: tax analyst, copy editor, executive assistant, internal audit staff, legal secretary copy writer. 

Mylan also is looking for a market research intern to support the daily priorities of the global creative function within the marketing department.
 
PNC Financial Services is looking for a manager of external communications. The position involves building a positive external image and reputation for PNC through strong communication to key audiences, primarily new media representatives.
 
Immunetrics, a Pittsburgh bio-simulations company in the drug discovery space, is hiring a software engineer with a minimum of two years experience in the industry.
 
The Ellis School in Shadyside is looking for a director of development, an enthusiastic professional to work with the school’s leadership to assist in the strategic planning process and plan for its Centennial celebration in 2016.
 
Newton Consulting is hiring a director of digital marketing. The ideal candidate will be a power user of social media communities, network and tools with a solid understanding of how to increase the company's visibility, influence, interaction and sales acceleration through online networks. 
 
The Fairmont Hotel downtown has full-time openings for 15+ people: receiving clerk, receiving/purchasing manager, assistant front office manager, paymaster/labor analyst, income audit/general cashier, assistant banquet manager, concierge, steward and cooks.

Have hiring news? Email Pop City and include the links.
 
Writer: Deb Smit