The votes are in, and it’s official … Aha has won the 2012 CTIA E-Tech award for Social, Media & Entertainment Mobile Application.  And not to get all “humblebrag” on you, but coming away with an award like this with competition from the likes of Disney, Washington Post, and even Team COCO, is a really weird experience.

It would have been nice to bring home a 2nd award, but as they always say … it was an honor just being nominated (and much easier to accept seeing as how we won one anyway!).  You can read more about it here.

-Ryan

CTIA E-Tech Finalist

Like LeBron said, “Not one, not two, not three.”  OK, well actually it is two.  Aha is up for TWO awards this year in the CTIA E-Tech awards.

What does CTIA stand for, you ask?  That is an excellent question (I asked the same thing).  And it may surprise you that no one seems to know for sure.  But that doesn’t matter.  CTIA is a wireless association representing a wide variety of interests on behalf of the international wireless telecommunications industry (thank you Wikipedia).  We don’t care if they use an acronym that isn’t really an acronym.  WE WANT TO WIN THIS!

Here are the categories (with links to voting):

• Mobile Applications: Automotive, Safe Driving & Transportation
• Mobile Applications: Social, Content, Media & Entertainment

Be sure to vote in each category, because we want to win NOT ONE…

-Ryan

In celebration of the Hindu spring festival many of us around the office took part in the main custom associated with Holi … the application of colored powders

Aha gets down with Holi

A dramatic redesign, featured content, internet radio, music services, audiobooks, and even more podcasts.  All available on your smartphone from a single, simple, interface.

Stay tuned for more updates, but in the meantime be sure to hit up either the iTunes App Store, the Android Market, and Amazon App Store.

-Ryan

Also, Kenwood will integrate Aha into its products joining Pioneer in the automotive aftermarket head unit category. Aha’s content selection on the Aha platform will soon expand to tens of thousands of stations thanks to partnerships we just announced with with CBS Radio, MOG, Rhapsody, Slacker, AOL Shoutcast and many others. We’ll also launch new apps for iPhone and Android soon.

We’ve come a long way since last year’s CES show, and are excited to be able to share all this news. There is lots of great stuff underway that we can’t talk about yet, so look forward to more news this spring. This week, we’ll be here in Vegas hanging out in a cool new BRZ and showing everyone what the future of connected infotainment looks like.

Robert Acker
General Manager, Aha

Santa is rocking out

It seems amazing, but it’s been a full year since we Harman snapped us up and moved us to our new digs in downtown Palo Alto.

With all the dust settling last year (and since we were without furniture) we didn’t even have a chance to deck the halls.

Fortunately we had plenty of time this year, and our efforts have compelled an early visit from jolly old St. Nick.

After stopping by the Starbucks downstairs, the old guy swung through to show us the headphones he’s been rocking in his sleigh.

We’re still waiting to see if we get any visitors for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Soyal, Winter Solstice, or Yule.

At the very least I’m hoping we can scare up a Festivus Pole by Friday (fingers crossed).

Happy holidays from the Aha Team!

-Ryan

The most important update is for anyone out there who is connecting to a compatible Pioneer system.  Some of you out there have reported repeated pause issues when playing Aha content on Pioneer, and as it turns out it stems from a Pioneer bug with iOS5.

We were able to work with Pioneer to find a workaround and incorporate a tweak to our code that prevented them from having to release a full fledged head unit update … and that tweak went out with today’s update.  That won’t fix the Pioneer bug for all interaction with Apple apps, but it should fix it for Aha.

The other changes won’t be as noticeable, as they involve optimization for a variety of iOS5 things.  So for big whizbang excitement you will need to wait for the massive overhaul that is “coming soon”.

So get that phone out and make sure you check for updates!  And of course enjoy the holiday weekend!

-Ryan

If you’ve been looking for a chance to WORK IT on something new, different, and exciting, you should take a look at our jobs page.  We’ve been growing, but still have some positions to fill.

And if you need a reminder on some of the reasons you might want to work here (besides the whole reinventing the way people consume media), here’s a list:

• Employees get a PHAT discount on a wide variety of Harman products (that includes JBL, Infinity, & AKG)
• We run a Mac shop, so your computer won’t be lame
• Every employee gets to program a mix station for the Aha Community
• Competitive salaries
• 401K matching
• Well stocked kitchen with breakfast, snacks, and drinks
• Health, vision, dental, and life insurance
• Generous PTO and Vacation days

While in town for the event, Robert (our Aha GM, and the fearless leader mentioned above) also participated in a digital town meeting focused on the the emerging Connected Lifestyle.

There are a lot of interesting things covered during the session.  Definitely worth a look!

-Ryan

Find that video, and all of our other recent videos, on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/aharadio.

-Ryan