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NoWait restaurant app going national
January 3, 2014 2:58 PMWaiting for ashtray-sized restaurant pagers to sound off before hungry toddlers do could become a distant memory if a local smartphone app's national launch models its Pittsburgh debut.
NoWait, an iOS app that lets consumers search restaurant wait times, add names to waiting lists, check their place in line and receive texts from restaurants when their tables are ready, will be available throughout the country early this year, said Ware Sykes, CEO of the Oakland-based company.
Founded by a group that includes Carnegie Mellon University graduate Robb Meyer as an Alpha Lab company, in 2012 NoWait raised $2 million from a group of investors that includes South Side-based Birchmere Ventures. In September, the company raised an additional $2 million from an unnamed investor.
Preparation for the national launch comes less than six months after the app was released in Pittsburgh, in large part because of what Mr. Sykes called a "phenomenal response" locally.
When the app was released in September, it was connected to five area restaurants. Today, the app has a 97 percent approval rating, operates in more than 50 local restaurants and has seated thousands, including nearly 50,000 people in the first two weeks of December. Additionally, since September the app has cut its users' average wait time for a seat down from a high of 90 minutes to around five minutes.
"We're giving people the most precious thing in life back: their time," said Mr. Sykes.
With the integration of social media features that tell friends where you are waiting in line and sends Facebook or Twitter messages to friends telling them their name has been added to a wait list and an option to see which nearby restaurants are using NoWait, Mr. Sykes said the app is at an ideal stage for national growth.
Combined with the fact that national chains such as Chili's and TGI Friday's have used the NoWait app to seat more than 25 million diners since 2012, the company is hoping its existing reputation will help it make headway as it rolls out in new territories.
"The app has the ability to not only solve a great number of problems for consumers, but to also drive consumption for business owners," he said.
The app is hitting the national scene during a time when contenders such as San Francisco-based OpenTable and Tulsa, Okla.,-based DinerConnection are vying to take over the space.
One advantage Mr. Sykes said NoWait has over its competitors is the fact that it features an analytics platform that allows chains to make comparisons between individual restaurants. Also, the option to use a customizable floor plan to help hosts manage the flow of guests via iPad and a new option allowing consumers to suggest restaurants that should be using the NoWait app are designed to increase the number of guests per day and promote growing restaurants among thousands of users.
A flexible pricing plan that ranges from $59 per month for restaurants with up to 500 wait listed patrons to $199 per month for places with 2,500 patrons is another feature Mr. Sykes said gives NoWait an edge.
For local chains such as Burgatory, which has locations in Fox Chapel, Robinson and a Burger + Shake Stand in Consol Energy Center, the app has helped to manage customer seating without drastically changing the way hosts normally work, said manger Jimmie Kuhl in a press release.
"At first we were a bit nervous to use NoWait, thinking that we would be losing control over our wait lists but we found that the app was far better than we are at quickly and efficiently seating customers," he said.
Although Mr. Sykes said the company hasn't hammered out the details of its national launch and hasn't released the names of the next cities that will receive the app, he said consumers should expect to see NoWait across the country well before the spring.
With an Android version of the app slated to be released in the next few months, Mr. Sykes said he expects the outstanding growth seen in 2013 to extend through the new year.
"We were seating 700,000 users per month in January 2013. In January 2014 we expect to seat close to 3 million per month," he said.
Deborah M. Todd: email@example.com or 412-263-1652.
First Published January 2, 2014 11:37 PM


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The South African Solms Family Tree
The following is an account of the South African branch of the House of Solms. The progenitor of this branch of the family is Johann Adam, from Nackenheim (near Mainz), who emigrated to the Cape in 1838. His ancestors are enumerated in Part 1, his descendants in Part 2.
Part 1
This is an account of the direct ancestors of Johann Adam. No sustained attempt is made to follow collateral genealogies. The link between the first identified member in the continuous record of his branch (Peter von Solms) and the older lines of the House of Solms is somewhat obscure.
The father of Bartholomaeus, Nikolaus and Peter von Solms – the three sons with which the continuous record of the South African Solms genealogy begins – is thought to have moved to the Catholic domain of Olm (near Mainz) between 1551 and 1575, possibly in response to the introduction of the Lutheran confession in the county of Solms in 1555. This ancestor appears to have been a member of a group broadly referred to as the 'Herren von Solms'. The Herren von Solms were a heterogeneous group of nobles who governed on behalf of the Grafen [Counts] of Solms in various parts of their territory during the Middle Ages.
Members of this ministerial group who are the most likely direct ancestors of Peter von Solms and his brothers are identified in the genealogy below. These vassals of the Grafen of Solms (and Nassau) were descended from the Solms-Königsberg line, the title in which became extinct in 1364/5. The progenitor of this branch was Marquard IV, who entered into an inappropriate union in the early 14th century and whose children were therefore untitled. The account begins with an enumeration of the direct ancestors of Marquard IV, who are among the earliest recorded members of the the House of Solms (a more comprehensive genealogy of the entire family is provided in the parallel account of the complete House of Solms) and continues with an account of the direct descendants of Marquard IV, which leads on to the South African branch of the family:
Click here to view the Family Tree SA Part 1
Part 2
The South African branch of the Solms family arose when Johann Adam [188.8.131.52.188.8.131.52. above] and his five surviving children arrived in Cape Town on 3.11.1838. The following is an account of his children and their subsequent issue. (The family arrived in Cape Town on the 'Arab' – a British barque – which sailed from The Downs on 13.8.1838, en route to Mauritius. It subsequently sank in Table Bay off Woodstock Beach, on 1.6.1850, on the return leg of a similar voyage; its wreckage now lies beneath reclaimed land.)
Click here to view the Family Tree SA Part 2
Take a Solms-Delta Social History and Wine or Archaeology and Wine farm tour to discover the diversity and heritage of the Solms-Delta Wine Estate.

subset: commoncrawl


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Forums >Technical Support>Delete "quality" rating?
Gandalf the Grey
Running ... just keep running! Fancy a holiday running in the French Alps?
Sure, if you have a moment I would appreciate it if you could delete it from my 6/11 workout. But only if you have a couple minutes free.
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I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
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David Finkle • New York City • Apr 29, 2012
The story remains the same as Scottish warrior Macbeth (Ty Jones), whose battlefield promotion to Thane of Cawdor feeds his "vaulting ambition" -- is egged on by his wife, the even more homicidal Lady Macbeth (Melissa Friedman), to take on more power. So he decides to get his hands bloody by slaying reigning monarch Duncan (Richard Easton, seen only in flat-screen television footage) and thereby claiming the guilt-inducing crown.
Jones -- who played Henry V for the Classical Theatre of Harlem -- knows how to do fiery well, Whenever the murderous Macbeth loses his temper, Jones shakes the compact stage on which a movable staircase dominates. He hits his spirited peak in a dance at the banquet he and his spouse prepare where the slain Banquo (Rhett Henckel) appears to him and throws a wet blanket on the proceedings.
Unfortunately, Jones is less effective when he goes contemplative. Told of Lady Macbeth's demise -- news that prompts him to talk about life being "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" -- Jones blandly reacts as if he's just been informed his BMW is out of commission and won't be ready for two or three days. Nonetheless, Jones takes great care with the music in most of the Bard's speeches, as do Friedman, Henckel, Lori E. Parquet as Lady MacDuff, and Scott Kerns as Malcolm.
The constant presence of the three witches (Aime Donna Kelly, Julian Rozzell Jr., and James Wallert) proves to be one of Russell's best ideas. Whether watching the action or participating in it -- as when they surround Lady Macbeth who's imploring the gods to "unsex me now"-- they add eerie atmosphere. More than that, the trio of performers demonstrates their versatility by portraying other characters (although having Kelly grace the banquet scene as a pouf-garbed rock singer is not a great idea).
Conversely, Russell has the characters run boisterously up and down the lone aisle far too often, and using the television to impart developments in the action is becoming a theatrical cliché that should be avoided.
Perhaps Russell's most commendable addition is that in addition to a large soft-focus mother-child mural which set designer Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams features on the upstage wall, he more than once broadcasts a photograph of the Macbeths in happier times holding a child. Although Lady Macbeth mentions offspring when she's demanding to be denatured as a woman, most Macbeth productions disregard the couple as parents. That innovation alone makes this offering memorable.
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The Angolan government is preparing to name a new chairman of the Board of Directors of the Angola Sovereign fund and draw up the fund's investment policy, a Fund director said in Luanda.
In a statement cited by Angolan news agency Angop, Director José Filomeno dos Santos said that the government was also preparing the Fund's investment strategy, and would continue working on preparing the institution's professional management.
Dos Santos said that the Fund's investment policy had been delayed by the late approval of the 2013 State Budget by parliament and the 2012 general elections.
According to Santos, regular and up to date information will be provided to the market about the activities of the Sovereign Fund.
The fund's 500 billion kwanzas (US$5.183 billion), currently controlled by the Angola National Bank, will mainly be used for investments in infrastructure.
The Angolan Sovereign Fund (FSDEA) is an autonomous fund that is entirely owned by the Angolan State, and was set up based on international governance standards and will gradually diversify its investment portfolio in a number of sectors and types of asset. (macauhub)
Related News:
- Angolan government presents Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund
- Angolan government informs IMF it is preparing legal framework for future sovereign fund
- Angola plans to launch sovereign fund to manage oil revenues
- Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund set up with initial funding of US$5 billion
- Chinese sovereign fund aiming to increase investment in Brazil


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text: (Hubert) Sonny Hine Age: 69horse trainer whose 52-year career peaked with Skip Away, horse of the year in 1998; had a knack for turning modestly priced horses like Skip Away, Big Bet, and Skip Trial into major stakes winners; trained 924 winners from 5,593 starters, and earned $28,805,820 in purses; began his training career in 1957; also trained 1981 sprint champion Guilty Conscience, Cojak, Technology, Norquestor, and Dawn Quixote; former investigator for the State Department and a fingerprint specialist for the FBI. He died of complications of pneumonia but had been battling cancer since 1996. Died: Miami , Mar. 17


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Latest Gear Live Videos
CES 2008: Steamer is Two Roombas in One
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: CES, CES 2008, Household, Misc. Tech
There can never be enough cleaning bots. So, in addition to iRobot's roomba and scooba on the market, there is now one gadget that Hanulkid claims can do both. The bot can sweep door sills up to 1.5 cm high, and features IR, PSD, 3-way gyroscope, geomagnetic, and humidity sensors. When the Steamer has finished sucking up all that dirt, push a button and it will deep clean your carpets. The vacuum/steam cleaner needs 2AA batteries and comes with remote. Four hours of recharge time will give you 2 continuous hrs. of operation. Check with Hanulkid for price and availability.
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Good cruise down under...but could have been better: Celebrity Century Cruise Review by presnat
Overall Member Rating
Good cruise down under...but could have been better
Destination: Australia & New Zealand
Embarkation: Sydney (Australia)
On the downside, there were some significant deficits from the service that we have previously experienced on other Celebrity cruises. We had a VERY loud clanging of a loose ladder outside our cabin that took three days to get fixed, in spite of assurances twice that it had been fixed when it hadn't--a clear breakdown in communications between staff members. We found the Customer Service staff mostly followed the complaint response "script" without really being able to get anything done--both for More this problem as well as a poorly executed shore excursion at Hobart. The Captains Club rep just shrugged it off! They did move us to an inside (lower classification) cabin so that we could get some slee--not a very sastisfactory solution. Also there was a very rough tendering into Akoroa port because of high waves and rain, and Celebrity did offer a free drink to everyone the next evening--a nice touch.
The ship seems to be showing its age, like the loose ladder. The tender boats were in poor shape, so that there was only one remaining seaworthy boat by evening, which resulted in delays of over two hours (waiting on shore in the rain).
Our overall frustration with the cruise was tempered by the realization that bad weather during most of the cruise compounded the problems. I believe we would have probably enjoyed the cruise much more with good weather. Maybe we'll give Celebrity another chance?
One issue that we disagree with Celebrity's policies is that they prioritize the ship's shore excursion passengers over independent travelers for tendering into port. This results in extended waits for most passengers while the tender boats go with only ship excursion passengers. That seems to be self-serving for Celebrity (if you want to get to shore, you better book a ship excursion). Less
Published 01/11/12
Port and Shore Excursions
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