Category Archives: Central

Make/Do

I just recieved this email from the Handmade Arcade mailing list. I am super excited about this idea because I have become a big reader of the MAKE blog, which has all sorts of good ideas on how to alter your coffee maker to operate with your old nintendo controller.

Call for Projects for Make/Do For more info.
contact: Carin Mincemoyer – carin.mincemoyer@gmail.com

Wanted: Objects or activities that exemplify the do-it-yourself spirit for an exhibit at Future Tenant titled Make/Do.
Have you turned your old VCR into an automatic cat feeder? Made your old video games into musical instruments? Then you’re who we’re looking for. We’re interested in projects that alter mass produced products to do things that the manufacturer never intended, gizmos that solve problems in ingenious ways, and homebrewed answers to needs that would send most people to the local mall.
Who: Projects or proposals welcomed from artists, tinkerers, musicians, hackers, and do-it-yourselfers of all stripes.
About Future Tenant: Future Tenant, located at 801 Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, seeks to promote raw, innovative artistic expressions from all disciplines. You can check out the website at http://www.futuretenant.org/
Send your stuff: Send digital images, photos, slides, or proposals for projects to Carin Mincemoyer at carin.mincemoyer@gmail.com or mail to 2100 Mary Street #403, Pittsburgh, PA 15203.
The Deadline: Send materials by December 31, 2006. The exhibit will take place in March 2007.

PGH Trivia: Hill Street Blues

I was reading this article today from Bloomberg.com about liens on property in Pittsburgh, how much money is being made and how this complicates redevelopment.  Fun stuff, not so much (It is important stuff though and I reccomend you take a look at the article).  I learned this fun fact from the article – the Hill district was the inspiration for Hill Street Blues.  I did a double take and then went to check this out on Wikipedia (there is some amazing stuff on there).

The name of the show was based on Pittsburgh’s Hill District. Chief writer Steven Bochco attended college at the nearby Carnegie Institute of Technology and used the downtrodden Hill District as inspiration for naming the show.

The Wikipedia also has a page on the Hill District.

Pgh Tech Council: Customer-Led Innovation in Technology

I know the title of this presentation may seem overwhelming, but I am here to tell you that it is not. Over the summer someone posted to IheartPGH about a new company here in Pittsburgh called Spreadshirt. I was thrilled to discover Spreadshirt as they offer a super high-quality on demand printing, and I was not too happy with the IheartPGH t-shirts that we were linking to at the time. Long-story short I know work for Spreadshirt and write the Spreadshirt Blog, if you are interested in t-shirts, technology or what we often have for lunch check out Blog.Spreadshirt.com. Spreadshirt has recently hired Jana Eggers as the new CEO and she is great. (You can read and interview with Jana here). Not only is she knowledgeable about all things business she is a great person to talk with. Jana and I have had a couple of conversations about socially responsible business and she introduced me to Nuts about Southwest, which is the Southwest Airlines Blog that is very well written and offers some great business insight on customer service. So I highly reccomend joining the Pittsburgh Technolgy Council’s Breakfast Breifing on Dec. 6th.

Women in Technology Breakfast Briefing: Customer-Led Innovation in Technology By its definition, innovation yields new and surprising methods, products or services. But how do you find the surprises to truly wow your customers? Let the customers lead the way. Jana Eggers, U.S. CEO of Spreadshirt and founder of Intuit’s Innovation Lab, explains how to bring customers into your idea process as she shares stories of innovation success and failure. Event sponsored by Highmark. Morning coffee sponsored by On Assignment Lab Support.

Date: Wednesday, December 6
Time: 7:00 a.m. – 7:45 a.m.
registration, coffee and networking; 7:45 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.
breakfast; 8:15 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. program
Venue: Sheraton Station Square Hotel
Cost: $35 for Council members, $75 for non-members
RSVP: Council Events or 412.918.4229

Your $.02 could be worth a lot


Oh baby, if you want to see a better Pittsburgh then this is the event for you! I was lucky enough to attend an earlier version of this 2 summers ago and it was a very interesting and fun Saturday. I am still talking about the cab situation in Pittsburgh.
Anyhow – I am sure this event will be interesting and if you have an idea for something, anything (well as long as it involves Pittsburgh) then this is step one to getting the gears in motion. The good folks at the Sprout Fund have $100,000 to put into grants to fund some of these projects.
So big money aside, this will be a fun day with some fun people – I am planning on attending, and I think I am pretty fun.
Where can I get more info: Check out this webpage http://www.sproutfund.org/Default.aspx?page=engage.home
When: Sat. Sept. 9, 9am-4pm
Where: CAPA High School, Downtown Pittsburgh
How Much: Only $10 and that includes lunch!

From the Sprout Fund Website:

The Idea Round Up is the launch event for The Sprout Fund’s Engage Pittsburgh 2006 initiative.

Engage Pittsburgh 2006 will produce a community blueprint and involve citizens in developing ideas and implementing projects that will achieve positive regional change and broad-based community goals.

By combining dialogue with dedicated funding projects, Engage Pittsburgh 2006 promises to be like no other civic initiative to date.

Lead support for Engage Pittsburgh 2006 is provided by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

Free Spaghettii

I have never heard of this event. But I do like Spaghetti!
Apparently the people for KDKA have a free Spaghetti Breakfast in Market Square each year.
I would love to know some of the history of this event – if you know some information or have attended in the past – leave a comment or send an email!
Here are the details for this years event:
Friday, September 8th, 5am-9am, Market Square, Downtown.
Free Spaghetti Breakfast