Congratulations, you’ve made it to the 21st Century! We’ve got smartphones, smart cars, and smart mouths, but no smart batteries. Unlike our other tech, batteries lack any ability to think and they, as we have all experienced, die way too quickly. Solving this powerful problem is Watt-Learn, who just emerged from the Pittsburgh-based accelerator AlphaLab. Watt-Learn is using machine learning to give batteries the ability to think independently. So, when you need to manage power for things like getting the most out of your home’s solar + battery or have sufficient energy during a thunderstorm, batteries can make it happen without help.
To find out more about this innovative tech, we interviewed Watt-Learn’s CEO, Matt Maroon, and CTO, Matineh Eybpoosh.
While the Trump administration has been working to remove environmental protections and even swapping out the term “climate change” for “resilient,” Pittsburgh is addressing this global issue head-on. The Steel City, along with numerous U.S. cities and now 14 States have committed to the Climate Paris Agreement, which the U.S. federal government withdrew from earlier this year. In September, the City of Pittsburgh released a draft of its Climate Action Plan 3.0. The Plan calls for 100% renewable energy use and a dramatic reduction in emissions. The City Council is currently reviewing the Plan and may hold hearings or sessions before a final vote. With the lack of federal support and with the City’s commitment to the Paris Agreement, a global spotlight will shine on Pittsburgh as it addresses the issue of climate change. This past week alone, the City had a three-day climate change workshop headlined by former Vice-President and climate change advocate, Al Gore.
The draft Climate Action Plan 3.0 can be found here, and a summary presentation of the Plan can be found here. Follow @PLANPGH on Twitter for updates from the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning.
The video above was created by the Owl Me Not project run by Ben Wonderful. Owl Me Not seeks to simply explain that which is unknown, whether it’s an idea or an innovative business. Owl Me Not has partnered with IHeartPGH to produce videos on topics related to Pittsburgh, including a series on innovators. The project is currently in development, but the latest video can be found here. Feel free to reach Ben Aufill about the OwlMeNot project via email.
I was organizing/cleaning out my bookmarks bar this morning and I came across all kinds of links that I have saved. I’m not sure this video ever made it to the blog. But thanks to the folks at WTAE you can see what Pittsburgh was celebrating (and singing about) back in 1985.
Because Pittsburghers need their own special app. Meet Uncle Gordy.
This video is brought to you by the same guys who created Move Ya Jagoff, and they really like Pittsburgh. To our knowledge the Uncle Gordy App is not yet available in the iTunes store – but we hope to see something soon.
Pat Conway created this video to express his feelings about Pittsburgh Traffic to the tune of Maroon5’s Move Like Jagger. We think it is a pretty accurate representation of traffic in Pittsburgh.
