Pittsburgh Tech Beat

Austin Orth

News and analysis of the Pittsburgh tech scene. https://www.pghtechbeat.com/ www.pghtechbeat.com

  1. MAY 4

    The Monthly Beat - May '26 Edition

    Good morning and May the 4th be with you everybody! Hope you’ve been having a great start to the warm months despite how insanely cold it was this past weekend. I covered the first half of April in my last post, so this is another shorter one, but let’s take a look at what went down in the back half of the month. Pittsburgh Tech Beat is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. What Happened the Back Half of April * Astrobotic set what is believed to be a new record with a 300 second hot fire of a rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) (pictured above). What is the difference between an RDRE and a conventional rocket engine? Well, “unlike conventional rocket engines, RDREs combust propellants using supersonic detonation waves that rotate around the engine’s ring-shaped outer body.” If you want to see it in action, the company shared a video of the test on YouTube straight from the NASA facility where it happened down in Alabama. It looks so freaking cool. * Technical.ly broke a story about a local startup founder using an undisclosed LinkedIn alias to conceal his criminal past. Founder Michael Riley appears to have been using LinkedIn under the name “Michael Reilly,” which could be a violation of Megan’s Law since Riley was on supervised release after pleading guilty to the charge of possessing child sexual abuse material. Between this and the four felony charges against Govini founder Eric Gillespie for child sex crimes late last year, the reality of criminals lurking among our local tech leaders is deeply concerning to say the least. But I am thankful for the journalists at Technical.ly who reported on this most recent case and the law enforcement response in both cases. Let’s hope this is the end of it. * Local universities Pitt and CMU are teaming up with Penn, Penn State, Drexel, Lehigh, and Temple Universities for a statewide AI initiative dubbed “Keystone AI + Quantum Factory.” There were a lot of statements from a lot of different people about this one, but essentially the idea is that the universities will share infrastructure to host AI and quantum computing, empowering not only their students and employees, but also startups and businesses across the state through strategic partnerships. The initiative’s corresponding website looks like it was slapped together by an AI, with several visual issues on both mobile and desktop, but I’ll be keeping tabs on it for any substantive progress towards these lofty goals. * The NFL Draft-adjacent Forge to Field AI Pitch Competition, featuring billionaire Mark Cuban, resulted in $1.8 million in funding designated for Pittsburgh startups. The competition was supposed to center on sports technologies, but it looks like there were a lot of folks that just spun their already-existing startup to sound sports-y (fair play, in my opinion, with Cuban in attendance). The two startups that seemed to be actual sports technology, though, were ServeSense, a startup building a sensor that fits inside the handles of tennis racquets, and Sensi Fit, a startup building sensors to easily generate data from athletic training drills. Both seem like great ideas, but my stickler self can’t help but notice that neither website has a favicon. Yinz better fix that if you expect more funding; it’s not hard! * And now for a couple quick hits. Niche announced a partnership with consulting group Huron to combine Niche’s real-time student intent data with Huron’s enrollment and tuition revenue forecasting. Seems like a good fit. * Aurora is expanding their partnership with Hirschbach Motor Lines to add 500 more driverless trucks to their arsenal. Hirschbach’s CEO is quoted saying, “The Aurora Driver will handle the lengthier, less desirable routes, providing our drivers with greater flexibility. It’s a win-win.” * And finally, a meta-note: the Post-Gazette’s new owners, the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, have laid off 40-50% of the paper’s staff. My blog stands on the shoulders of so many great local journalists, and while it is encouraging to know the paper will still be around, fewer staff means less coverage of local issues, which negatively impacts everyone. My heart goes out to those who have lost their jobs. For the Days Ahead * Looking for a weekly hangout with other folks who are interested in technology and entrepreneurship? Technically Coffee is a great one, 8am every Friday at Bakery Square. Sign up here. * May 14th, ProductTank Pittsburgh is doing a meetup about vibecoding. If you haven’t vibecoded anything yet, you need to get there. It’s super fun. Register here. * And in case you didn’t get enough Product-type action there, Product Camp Pittsburgh 2026 is Saturday, May 16th at La Roche. I have never been, but I’ve heard great things! Sign up here. * Robotics and AI Discovery Day is back this year on September 16th at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center! I had an amazing time at last year’s event and plan to attend again this year. Sign up to attend or exhibit here. * Do YOU have an event or product launch you’d like to share on this very newsletter? Please hit me up! Keep an eye out for a bonus post this coming weekend, but for now, have a wonderful start to your week! —Austin Pittsburgh Tech Beat is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Built by Muster Systems LLC Get full access to Pittsburgh Tech Beat at www.pghtechbeat.com/subscribe

    7 min

  2. APR 20

    The Monthly Beat - April '26 Edition

    Sorry for the delay on this one. Life is still so busy. But hey, here we are with a shorter one. And when the next one hits in May, I swear it will drop at the beginning of the month, and we’ll be back on schedule. For now, enjoy this collection of the most interesting news from the past few weeks! Let’s dive in. Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Subscribe for free (or optionally paid) to receive new posts and support my work. What Happened the Past Few Weeks * Skild AI announced a few new partnerships, including one with NVIDIA and Foxconn which will have its “robot brain” powering the assembly of NVIDIA’s flagship Blackwell chips. Currently, this task is done by humans at Foxconn, a factory notorious for its lack of care for humans. So sadly, it’s not astounding that folks are trying to remove humans from the equation entirely. Skild now also has its eye (or rather, A-eye?) on replacing humans in warehouses with its acquisition of Zebra’s robotics division. You may know Zebra for the scanners they make, which are used in most Walmarts to determine how many energy drinks teenagers stole. * Abridge is now moving into the controversial prior auth space with Highmark Health and AHN. For those unfamiliar with what “prior auth” is, it’s short for “prior authorization” for medical insurance coverage and it’s the reason Luigi Mangione became an alleged murderer. Prior auth is widely viewed as problematic and unethical, as it often results in the delay or denial of care. Many companies, now including Abridge, are trying to develop AI to make the process more real-time, but depending on the implementation, it can actually cause more patients to be unjustly denied care (as in Mangione’s case.) One can only hope that Abridge will do right by patients and providers, but I am sus as always. * Ok, last bummer I swear. The Pittsburgh International Race Complex was sold for $50 million and will likely be the site of—you guessed it—a new data center. Over 400 acres, including the track were purchased by an LLC with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, a well-known tax shelter. The LLC appears to be a subsidiary of a data center company, as real estate documents were signed by the president of Provident Data Centers. The Post-Gazette piece linked is a sad, but great read, highlighting the perspectives of affected community members. At the state level, the PA House of Representatives just passed a bill to improve data center regulation, but Republicans seem to be on track to kill it in the senate before it can become law, given their current rhetoric. * Alright, with the bummer stories out of the way, let’s get to some fun stuff. Aurora, Duolingo, and Gather AI all made Fast Company’s 2026 Most Innovative Companies list! Congrats to all of you Aurorans, Duos, and Gatherers. Well-deserved (although the folks that bought Duolingo stock at $540/share last year are still in my prayers.) * Local startups Meter Feeder and Mapless AI are going to make autonomous vehicles (AVs) pay for parking, just like the rest of us! When an AV pulls up to a curb and shifts into Park, it’ll send a request to Meter Feeder’s API to calculate the cost and pay the city. Good to see our new robo-chauffeurs paying their fair share. * Speaking of AVs, Waymo is soon rolling out pothole detection in Pittsburgh. The company will make this data available to both the city and Waze users, making it easier for the city to find and repair potholes and for drivers to avoid them. * PGH Lab, “a six-month paid program for local startups to test new technologies and services with the city government,” has announced their latest cohort. The four startups include technologies such as underwater robots, drones, mapping systems, and (of course) AI. Best of luck to all involved! * Pittsburgh-based Niche.com released their 2026 Best Places to Live, with Atlantic Station, GA coming in at #1. Places to Live is such a beloved Niche feature, and it’s always fun to see how Pittsburgh neighborhood rankings change each year. My neighborhood of Bellevue came in at #3,107 with our lowest grade being in Crime & Safety. If you’re in Bellevue, please stop doing so much crime so we can get to #1. K, thanks. * Speaking of #1, last but not least, we had the #1 Trending GitHub Developer, Pittsburgh’s very-own Nate Brake on the blog recently. If you didn’t catch his piece, definitely give it a read or watch the video. He implemented a fantastic idea that puts purpose-built AI in the hands of ordinary folks working in the trades. For the Days Ahead * Tomorrow, Pittsburgh Robotics Network will be hosting their Robotics & Tech Happy Hour at The Reserve. Tickets are $20 for tech professionals. Sign up here. * Looking for a weekly hangout with other folks who are interested in technology and entrepreneurship? Technically Coffee is a great one, 8am every Friday at Bakery Square. Sign up here. * This Friday and Saturday, I’ll be volunteering at the 2026 NFL Draft! My assigned role as a wayfinder is on the North Shore. If you see me, please come say hi and feel free to ask where the hot dogs or the nearest bathrooms are. Excited to rep our city and see Wiz perform Friday night! * May 14th, ProductTank Pittsburgh is doing a meetup about vibecoding. Please, product people, filter your prototypes for slop before handing them to engineers and register here. * And in case you didn’t get enough Product-type action there, Product Camp Pittsburgh 2026 is Saturday, May 16th at La Roche. I have never been, but I’ve heard great things! Sign up here. * Do YOU have an event you’d like to share on this very newsletter? Please hit me up! One Final Note You may have noticed that I’ve enabled optional paid subscriptions on the blog. As you can probably imagine, even with AI assistance, researching and curating the most interesting local tech news for this blog takes time and effort. It takes even more time and effort for me to write about it, since I never use AI assistance for the writing portion to establish trust with you, the reader, in my authentic voice. At the same time, I’d like to do more with this blog, including more interviews, podcasts, and in-person investigations. Towards that end, my latest posts will remain free, but posts older than 1 year will now be behind a paywall for folks who want to dig into the archives. If you choose to become a paying subscriber, you will gain immediate access to the archives and be supporting future content. I love this city and want to see its budding tech community recognized for the absolute gem that it is. So if you’re with me, and you want to see this blog/podcast become an even better source for coverage of the local tech scene, please consider a paid subscription. Thank you, as always, for your support. That’s it for this month. Have a great week! —Austin Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Please subscribe for free (or optionally paid) to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Pittsburgh Tech Beat at www.pghtechbeat.com/subscribe

    8 min

  3. MAR 16

    The Monthly Beat - March '26 Edition

    Good morning! I am back from a distant land, recovered from jet lag, and ready to write this post now. The new PIT airport is great though, and contrasts strongly with Chicago’s ORD, most of which feels like a crowded alleyway wrapped in plastic. Anyways, let’s take a look at what’s been going down in the local tech scene. Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. What Happened the Past Few Weeks * The CMU Robotics Innovation Center (RIC) was officially opened in Hazelwood Green (pictured above). Several CMU big wigs, leaders from Hazelwood community organizations, and Governor Josh Shapiro were in attendance for the robot-assisted ribbon-cutting ceremony. The space is huge, and is the target for $1.5 million state grant to fund a “Physical AI Accelerator” to host collaboration among local startups and CMU researchers. * Shortly after the RIC was opened, CMU announced a big event for the space in partnership with the AI Strike Team: they’re bringing in Mark Cuban for a $1,575,000 sports technology pitch competition the day before the NFL Draft. The event is invite-only (I’ve been poking some of my contacts to see if I can get in, we’ll see.) If you’re interested in pitching, though, you can submit an application on this page. * FieldAI, a company focused on embodied AI in robotics, is the first firm to inhabit the CMU RIC. They were featured heavily in the opening ceremony, and they appear to have the same general goal as Skild: building a universal robot brain that can operate any sort of hardware. They are also hiring like crazy. * Speaking of hiring, Gather.ai landed $40M in funding to help with their global expansion, platform development, and scaling their team. They did not disclose their new valuation, but their hiring page is showing some new roles for those who may be interested. * Aurora continued to expand their driverless trucking operations across the Sun Belt. Aurora driverless trucks are now on the roads between Dallas and Houston, Fort Worth and El Paso, El Paso and Phoenix, Fort Worth and Phoenix, and Dallas and Laredo with a perfect safety record thus far. The company has also updated its software to handle more inclement weather, stating that “inclement weather of all types constrained Aurora’s driverless operations in Texas roughly 40% of the time last year.” * Technical.ly published updates to their AI data center project tracker page, showing some progress in a few cases. Notably, there doesn’t appear to be any publicly announced progress towards Anthropic’s $1 million partnership with CMU, and a project engineer said electrical work may begin this spring on the $15 billion, 700-acre data centers near Carlisle. * Just across the state line, West Virginia University Medicine is expanding its use of Pittsburgh-based Abridge’s AI medical transcription systems. The software is saving doctors about 11 minutes per day and “staff who use Abridge also report feeling less stressed or burnt out,” according to Dr. David Rich, Chief Medical Information Officer at WVU Medicine. * Also in health tech, Xlue, a local startup developing cancer-catching AI, had a great profile piece in Technical.ly. The company has been training its models on health records in Taiwan, and the models are now able to predict cancer with 50-70% accuracy. They are hoping to partner with UPMC soon to gain secure access to more health records with which they can continue to improve accuracy while maintaining patient privacy. * Meanwhile, up in Troy Hill, startup BioInterphase just moved into to the old Troy Hill firehouse after a beautiful renovation. According to the article, though, the firehouse is rumored to be haunted, and “a medium who the team had come through the space recently said the rumors are true.” The building is apparently inhabited by three protective spirits; hopefully the company can appease them. * Local web designer guru Brad Frost shared a fantastic video essay on this moment in AI (you can also read it as a text post if you prefer that!) Definitely worth a watch/read if you’ve been trying to process the cognitive whiplash of current events. * Last but not least, Astrobotic has been awarded a contract by Italy’s space agency to develop a lunar wheel. I’d love to see a lunar Ferrari rocking a set of these: For the Days Ahead * Looking for a weekly hangout with other folks who are interested in technology and entrepreneurship? Technically Coffee is a great one, 8am every Friday at Bakery Square. Sign up here. * This Wednesday, Pittsburgh’s local chapter of getWITit is holding an event entitled Women in Technology: Perspectives Across Career Stages at BNY. The event will be a moderated panel discussion featuring women from many different stages in their tech careers. Sign up here. * This Thursday’s AI@Work meetup is sold out. This is without question the best local AI meetup geared towards folks actually building things with AI. If you’re interested in joining the community and/or attending the next meetup, sign up here. * Also this week, there’s a high school robotics competition at the convention center downtown. Admission is free! You can view the schedule here or watch the livestream at the links shown here. * Coming up next week on March 26th, PyData has another event at CoLab18 called An Unexpected Journey: Life Lessons from Conquering Tesla Solar with Python, a talk about “the unexpected lessons you learn when you trust your instincts and refuse to accept ‘it’s working fine’ as an answer.” Sign up here. * Just before the NFL Draft, Pittsburgh Robotics Network will be hosting their Robotics & Tech Happy Hour on April 21st at The Reserve. Tickets are $20 for tech professionals. Sign up here. * If you want an easy way to be notified of local tech events more often than monthly, check out this Luma calendar hosted by Charles Mansfield III. It rocks. * Do YOU have an event you’d like to share on this very newsletter? Please hit me up! That’s it for this month. Have a great rest of your week! —Austin Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Please subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Pittsburgh Tech Beat at www.pghtechbeat.com/subscribe

    8 min

  4. FEB 12

    The Monthly Beat - February '26 Edition

    Good morning! The snow piled up everywhere around the city is finally melting. Now that my pipes have unfrozen, I can finally get around to writing this blog. While everyone may have been staying in during this cold weather, Pittsburgh tech companies were on the move. Let’s get into it. Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. What Happened the Past Few Weeks * Tech stocks have been getting cooked by AI fears, with Duolingo being the biggest loser from its 52-week high based on the above data from Deutsche Bank. A little over a year ago, I reported on how executives at Duolingo were saying “AI” a bunch, then selling all of their shares at an historically high price. In that post, I theorized that the selloff was a tacit acknowledgement from leadership that their stock was significantly overvalued from their “AI” posturing. We will likely never know whether the timing of this selloff was coincidental or intentional, but the market seems to have agreed that the stock was, in fact, overvalued. Could it come back? Is there any way to disable Lucy? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments! * Wabtec expanded their operations in eastern India with a new service model that leverages existing Indian Railways infrastructure and staff. The company will be providing maintenance, supervision, material and warehouse management, shed control, logistics, and remote diagnostics to Indian Railways operators. Wabtec also landed a massive order from New York’s MTA for new hybrid locomotives loaded with the latest sensors and safety technology. * Niche.com quietly laid off a few employees, bringing its headcount back under 300 for the first time in several years. Discovered this initially through posts on LinkedIn and confirmed with sources. After its new college cost comparison tool was featured in the New York Times, the company is seeking to streamline its operations to become more profitable. * Aurora is now integrated with McLeod Software, allowing more carriers to use its autonomous trucks to handle shipments. McLeod makes Transportation Management System (TMS) software that allows users to manage and book trucking capacity. Now, anyone who has a subscription to Aurora Driver can “tender” (today I learned what this means in trucking, and it’s not referring to delicious fried chicken) shipments in their McLeod TMS to be handled by autonomous trucks, removing the need for separate web portals, etc. * Technical.ly published some pretty great Pittsburgh-based interview pieces this past month, including one of the City of Pittsburgh’s CIO who resigned after 8 years. Favorite quote from this one was, “Pittsburgh is not able to keep up with the salaries for high-tech IT workers… The further behind they get with that, the harder it becomes to fill those positions.” Max Polec, a well-known local startup coach who is now leaving Pittsburgh, also did an interview in which he clapped back at local critics, saying “I started my first business at 15. I’m 30 now. Do the math.” Finally, local CEO Cara Jones, who is using AI to fight human trafficking at Marinus Analytics, did an interview sharing her story. Her advice to founders: “As long as you’re making forward progress, and you’re making an impact, stay the course.” * Pittsburgh tech companies had a good showing at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. According to the Post-Gazette, Strip District-based Aurora, Canonsburg-based Ansys/Synopsys, Bloomfield Robotics in Lawrenceville, North Side-based Bucket Robotics, Hazelwood-based Motional, Squirrel Hill-based Hellbender, and Westinghouse in Cranberry were all in attendance. I would also like to be in attendance next year if anyone has an extra ticket? * Speaking of the Post-Gazette, on a meta note, I had the chance to attend this Pittsburgh Tomorrow event about the future of Pittsburgh journalism with the Post-Gazette announcing its closure. The event featured a panel of local leaders from the journalism community—WESA, The Trib, Public Source, Pittsburgh Courier, and more represented. I’ll have some more thoughts to share on this in an upcoming post, but looks like a billionaire is already swooping in to buy the Post-Gazette. * Local open source guru Chad Whitacre shared a post and documentary he released last month on how open source software can help fight tyranny. A great and hopeful watch! * Last but definitely not least, local physician Desmond Daley published a fantastic opinion piece entitled Pittsburgh’s AI skepticism isn’t ignorance. It’s memory. I’m not going to spoil it here, but it’s a must-read. For the Days Ahead * If you’ve been messing with AI lately, you’ve probably heard of Claude Skills. Local AI technologist Ian Cook built a hub for Claude Skills made by Pittsburghers: Skills N’At! You can try other people’s Skills that have already been uploaded or even submit your own on the site. Give it a try! * Got no plans TONIGHT? There’s an open mic night for local tech founders, researchers, and technologists to pitch companies and share ideas at that new coworking space in Hazelwood Green. Sign up here. * Looking for a weekly hangout with other folks who are interested in technology and entrepreneurship? Technically Coffee is a great one, 8am every Friday at Bakery Square. Sign up here. * Monday, February 23rd, Code & Supply is hosting their recurring Build Night, a time to get together with other folks and build stuff with code at Avenu: Meyran. Sign up here. * Wednesday, February 25th, PyData Pittsburgh’s first event of 2026 will be Characterizing the Transient Universe with the Pitt-Google Alert Broker. Learn about cutting-edge AI applications in astronomy while exploring one of Pittsburgh’s most fascinating scientific landmarks, the Allegheny Observatory (tours will be offered after the talk)! I was at last year’s talk at the observatory, and I cannot recommend this enough. Sign up here. * Coming up on March 26th, PyData has another event at CoLab18 called An Unexpected Journey: Life Lessons from Conquering Tesla Solar with Python, a talk about “the unexpected lessons you learn when you trust your instincts and refuse to accept ‘it’s working fine’ as an answer.” Sign up here. * Do YOU have an event you’d like to share on this very newsletter? Please hit me up! That’s it for this month. Have a great rest of your week! —Austin Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Please subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Pittsburgh Tech Beat at www.pghtechbeat.com/subscribe

    8 min

  5. JAN 6

    The Monthly Beat - January '26 Edition

    Good morning and welcome back to the Monthly Beat. This month, I’ll be covering the most interesting pieces of news from both November and December 2025, local events you’ll want to check out in this brand New Year, along with some articles that were featured right here on this very blog! Let’s take a look at the tail end of 2025. Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. What Happened over the Holidays * As Allentown loses its T run and Pittsburghers generally continue to lament the lack of public transportation funding, Waymo has announced the expansion of its driverless taxi service to Pittsburgh. Gleefully appropriating the word “yinz” for their ad copy with a “Yinz ready to ride?”, the company says that several members of their team are already Pittsburgh-based and the city “has a special place in autonomous vehicle history.” While they are currently authorized to operate with a driver onboard in Philly, Waymo has yet to secure a compliance license from PennDOT to operate with or without a driver in Pittsburgh. * 10 years after its merger, Swedish assistive communication tech company Tobii Dynavox opened a new office in Coraopolis. This was a pretty lowkey headline, but I think it deserves a spotlight here because it’s a great Pittsburgh-centric tech story. Dynavox was an assistive device tech company founded and headquartered here in Pittsburgh that had some financial issues while competing with, well, the iPad. Tobii, a Swedish company that was also competing in the assistive technology space, saw a ton of value in Dynavox, and they offered to acquire it about 10 years ago. Fast-forward to now, the combined company employs over 300 people locally, and they’ve chosen to open a new office here in Pittsburgh rather than move elsewhere. * Astrobotic secured a $17.5M bag to develop reusable rockets. This infusion of funding “will accelerate development of both its Xodiac and Xogdor platforms, with three distinct vehicles in development.” (Is that… a reference to Trogdor the Burninator with an “X” swapped in for the “T”? Because if so, a multi-million dollar project is named after Trogdor and that’s hilarious.) * Previous shopping mall and beloved Pirates fan parking spot Nova Place is the latest thing to be marketed as a potential spot for an AI data center. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I’m just going to quote the Post-Gazette article here: “Jeremy Kronman, vice chairman of CBRE’s Pittsburgh office, said listing the complex as a data center site rather than an office complex is a ‘pricing exercise’ meant to assess the property’s value as demand for data centers surges.” So in my opinion, this is at best a bad joke and at worst bubble behavior. * Speaking of AI, remember that “AI Strike Team”? They’re rebranding as “Strike Team 2.0” after shaking up their roster of executives. After taking credit for bringing Waymo to Pittsburgh (Side note: Show me the receipts, please. Waymo already had employees here for 10 years. While they seem to feel positively about the team, I’m not exactly sure what the team did.), and posting a few photos in suits, they now have many more actual tech people on the new roster. No one has a silly job title like “Senior AI Strategist” or is talking about “Stargate” anymore, so that’s probably a good sign. * And now for some quick hits. Synopsys is laying off 10% of its employees after acquiring Ansys. The layoffs are set to occur early this year, and it’s unclear how many of them will be of folks in the Pittsburgh area as of yet. * Gobble gobble! Just after Thanksgiving, Wabtec acquired Frauscher Sensor Technology Group for €675M (roughly $787.73M). The acquired Austrian company, with 700 employees located in 15 countries, makes railway signaling technologies that Wabtec is eager to incorporate with their other train tech. * Shortly after scoring a $3M contract to make AI drones for the military, AI company VISIMO filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Their reason for filing is perhaps a harbinger for the financial fates of other AI companies in 2026: “Continuous increase in debts”. * ICYMI, Pittsburgh-local software engineer Sean McPherson shared an opinion piece here on the blog, categorizing varying perspectives on AI. I’ve personally found this chart helpful in navigating conversations about AI with folks who think differently than I do about the technology. * Last but not least, I reported on two really incredible local events from the past two months, Pittsburgh Robotics & AI Discovery Day and CMU ETC’s Fall Fast. Check out those posts below if you’re interested! For the Days Ahead * Looking for a weekly hangout with other folks who are interested in technology and entrepreneurship? Technically Coffee is a great one, 8am every Friday at Bakery Square. Sign up here. * The best local AI builders group, AI@Work, is having its 1-year anniversary event January 22nd at 5:30pm. I unfortunately will be out of town for an on-site, but I will absolutely be there in spirit. The past year I’ve spent with this group has helped me not only build out a solid working relationship with AI agents, but also make sense of the whirlwind of change we’ve all been experiencing. Sign up here. * ProductTank Pittsburgh is hosting a workshop on service blueprinting, January 29th, from 6-8pm at the CMU Integrated Innovation Institute. “Susanna Zlotnikov will introduce what service blueprinting is, why it matters, and how teams can use it to tame complexity, align decisions, and spark innovation opportunities.” Sign up here. * Do YOU have an event you’d like to share on this very newsletter? Please hit me up! That’s all for now. Have a great start to your New Year! —Austin Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Please subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Pittsburgh Tech Beat at www.pghtechbeat.com/subscribe

    7 min

  6. 09/09/2024

    The Monthly Beat - September '24 Edition

    Good morning! Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend. This month’s edition is coming a little later because of the holiday and because, well, you know how it is with folks trying to squeeze 5 days of work into 4. As always, lots to talk about from this past month. Let’s get into it. What Happened in August The Big Story In a scathing post, the folks behind Pittsburgh Startup News (PSN) pulled back the curtain on a spout of infighting among local tech leadership. The post details how XchangePgh, a prominent former tech entrepreneurship initiative, was essentially forced out of existence (hence the 403 Forbidden error on their TLD) by a conglomerate of the current City administration, Google Pittsburgh, Walnut Capital, Pittsburgh Tech Council, and other groups. Then, that same group of corporations and government officials launched a website for an upcoming “Tech Week Pittsburgh” which rehashed some branding elements from XchangePgh. PSN ends the post advocating for a more community-focused effort, labeling the current direction as little more than a corporate PR stunt. At the time of my writing this, it looks like “Tech Week Pittsburgh” has since modified some of the branding to distance it from XchangePgh. Outside of that, I am just shocked at how bad the website looks while having Google prominently displayed as a sponsor. Outside of that, while this definitely seems like a highly opinionated piece, I think the PSN folks do make some good points. Lastly, I should say PSN posted this on September 3rd, but I felt I should include it early here rather than wait till next month’s edition. The Headlines * Local technologist Adrian Jones’ augmented reality app, Looking Glass, which allows users to experience Black history as they walk around Pittsburgh, exited Beta this month and is now available on iOS. This is a super cool concept and really does a lot to unearth the hidden history of Pittsburgh. I highly recommend you give it a try if you’re on iPhone. It’ll be available on Android later this year. * Local frontend dev Brad Frost and several other notable frontend folks rocked out at Mr. Small’s for the Frostapalooza benefit concert. Ryan Trimble of css-tricks.com said, “At times it felt like the Wu-Tang Clan of CSS on stage.” * Economic adviser to President Biden, Lael Brainard, quietly visited the ARM Institute at Mill 19, a former steel manufacturing site that has now been transformed into a center for robotics innovation. The visit highlights Pittsburgh’s growing national reputation as a robotics hub, even though we didn’t get the “tech hub” designation from the feds earlier this year. * Duolingo published a blog post detailing their engineering interview process. To me, this all sounds like an absolute pain in the ass and a waste of time. Would love to hear what you think in the comments, though! This month, Duolingo also reached a deal with Sony to feature licensed music in their app. * Ed-tech company Niche.com announced that over 100 colleges have now joined its Direct Admissions program, which provides prospective college students with real-time acceptance and scholarship offers. Nearly 930,000 students have received at least one acceptance and scholarship offer through the program. * Astrobotic published a report detailing the reasons behind its lunar lander failure. It states that “the most likely cause of Peregrine’s anomaly was the failure of a singular helium pressure control valve, called PCV2, within the propulsion system.” In the wake of the lander failure, the company is now turning its attention to building a solar array for NASA. * In AI news, healthcare megacorporation Kaiser Permanente has now contracted with local AI transcription company Abridge to provide ambient scribes at its clinical locations in 8 states and D.C. The move is being hailed as “the biggest rollout of generative AI in healthcare so far.” Abridge was also featured in Politico recently for developing regulatory policies and standards around their AI. * For some morning reads, NEXTPittsburgh published a couple of tech pieces this month—one showcasing the growing level of Pittsburgh-based startup investment and the other profiling a local law firm that has just introduced its first AI assistant. On the AI assistant, the firm’s CTO says, “We just haven’t gotten to the point where we’re comfortable opening it up to other law firms yet.” So you’re safe (for now) from being thrown into jail by an AI. * Now for a few quick hits. After a $6 million fundraising round in June, local crowdfunding platform Honeycomb Credit just launched their mobile app, which is now available on iOS and Android. * Velo.ai was awarded $200k by the US Department of Transportation to improve transportation safety for cyclists through data collection and their bike-mounted AI system. * Technical.ly published their “ReaLIST Engineers” of 2024, a list of local engineers honored for their contributions to their companies and the surrounding community. * Finally, PublicSource’s Atiya Irvin-Mitchell interviewed Pittsburgh-based writers who are concerned that unfair AI practices could jeopardize their craft. For the Months Ahead * September 25th at 6:30pm, Code & Supply is hosting a Résumé Build Systems talk “to inspire you on how to productionalize your résumé or CV pipeline” followed by another Build Night on Monday, September 30th. * October 14th, CMU is hosting an AI summit at Bakery Square with some big names in attendance. * As mentioned earlier, Tech Week Pittsburgh is apparently October 14-17th, but the site still looks like trash and has no info on it, so we’ll see what happens there. * As always, I’m looking for guest writers and podcast interviews! Do you have a local Pittsburgh tech topic you’d like to wax poetic about? Hit me up! Spoiler alert: It’s not a paid gig, but I would be more than willing to host or repost your piece if you want to publish it somewhere else as well. And that’s it for this month. I’ll see you 30 pumpkin coffees from now! —Austin Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Please subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Pittsburgh Tech Beat at www.pghtechbeat.com/subscribe

    8 min

  7. 08/01/2024

    The Monthly Beat - August '24 Edition

    Good morning! Hope you all are having a fantastic summer. As I’m writing this, I am recovering from COVID-19, so I’m blaming any mistakes in this month’s edition on brain fog and too much DayQuil. Otherwise, it’s been a great summer for me, but a mixed bag for the local tech scene. Let’s get into it. All companies are local to Pittsburgh, unless otherwise noted. What Happened in July * A botched CrowdStrike software update crippled businesses and public services around the world, and Pittsburgh was no exception. PRT riders couldn’t purchase new tickets on the mobile app, the Pittsburgh Zoo had to go cash only, and the Bridgeville DMV had to close entirely for several hours. (If your local business was affected by the CrowdStrike incident, I would love to hear your story in the comments!) * In a huge blow to Astrobotic, NASA canceled their plans to use their lander for their moon rover mission. The blame was placed on increased costs ($433.5M → $609.6M) and testing taking too long—classic. Despite this setback, Astrobotic still plans to launch the lander as a demonstration, and it now has about 1,000 pounds of spare cargo space that it’s looking to fill. Personally, I think it’d be sweet to send an IC Light or some other yinzer stuff up there, provided it wouldn’t burst open while exiting the atmosphere. * A staple of the Pittsburgh city skyline, 4Moms, has now been acquired by global baby products company UPPAbaby. There’s no word yet on whether or not they’re giving up that office space or laying off staff as part of the deal. * Skild AI, a local artificial general intelligence robotics startup founded last year by two ex-Meta AI researchers, is now valued at a massive $1.5 billion. The company is using massive data models to train robots to do things like humans. * Warehouse automation company Lucas Systems announced the launch of their new AI-powered Dynamic Slotting product. What does that even mean, you ask (don’t worry, that’s what I asked too)? Slotting is the process of organizing warehouse inventory to maximize efficiency, or, in other words, putting things where they’re easy to get to. So by using Dynamic Slotting, you’re having an AI choose where you store various items rather than having a human make those choices, which Lucas promises will deliver a 20–40% increase in overall throughput. * Duolingo acquired Hobbes, a Detroit-based animation and design studio. The acquisition will form a new twelve-person in-house motion design team to add more fun to their product. * Speaking of Duolingo, the PTB Good Read of the Month Award goes to this essay about Pittsburgh tech scene by Noelle Mateer. I tried to skim this one initially and got totally lost because of how much it jumps around. Once I sat down and read it straight through, it hit different. I’m definitely interested in what other folks’ thoughts are on this one in the comments. * In local government tech news, PublicSource published a piece that looks into how the City of Pittsburgh is regulating the use of AI. The City is actively evolving its policy based on the recommendations of the 250+ municipal agencies that make up the Government AI Coalition, a group founded by the City of San Jose, California. * Also in tech-adjacent local government news, the vote on whether or not to expand Bakery Square got pushed back to September 3rd. TL;DR: Walnut Capital doesn’t want to pay for infrastructure changes, and the Pittsburgh City Planning Commissioners said “pause.” * Near Earth Autonomy is teaming up with Honeywell and Leonardo to fully automate helicopters for the Navy. The helicopters already have an autopilot system made by Honeywell, but this project will both enhance its in-flight capabilities and automate take-off and landing. * Carnegie Mellon and Meta are partnering up to make a wearable wristband that translates muscle signals into computer input. The goal of the project is primarily “to enable people with different motor abilities to perform everyday tasks and enjoy gaming in digital and mixed reality environments.” * You might remember Abridge, the doctor voice-to-text AI company, from a previous Monthly Beat. Well, now they’re expanding the product to serve nurses as well. * Northside-based XYCOM, in partnership with the UK-based Watson Institute, is building immersive learning environments for students with special needs. Check out the article for some photos of a few of the environments here in Pittsburgh. For the Months Ahead * Pittsburgh Startup News posted an updated version of their top Pittsburgh coworking spaces if you’re a remote worker and looking to get out of the house. I’m thinking about trying out Alloy26 here soon. * August 17th, local frontend dev Brad Frost is throwing Frostapalooza, a benefit concert featuring the musical performances of several other local devs. See the full lineup and get tickets here! * August 26th, Code and Supply is hosting another build night at the Code & Supply Community Center. Build Night is a time to get together and build some awesome stuff with code! * October 14th, CMU is hosting an AI summit at Bakery Square with some big names in attendance. * I’m still looking for guest writers and guest podcasters! Do you have a local Pittsburgh tech topic you’d like to wax poetic about? Hit me up! Spoiler alert: It’s not a paid gig, but I would be more than willing to host or repost your piece if you want to publish it somewhere else as well. That’s all for now! Make the most of this last month of summer! —Austin Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Please subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Pittsburgh Tech Beat at www.pghtechbeat.com/subscribe

    8 min

  8. 07/02/2024

    The Monthly Beat - July '24 Edition

    Good morning! I want to start this month’s post off with a huge thank you to each of you who have subscribed to this little blog of mine in the past year. You’ve made the headlines, specifically this one: Pittsburgh Tech Beat Reaches 100 Subscribers The Origin Story (feel free to skip to get to the news) Last year, I realized I had been living in Pittsburgh and working in tech locally for 7 years, but I had no idea what cool things local companies were doing outside my employer. I scoured the web, looking for a central place where I could read news from the local tech scene, and found a few reliable sources. However, the combination of annoying user interfaces, sans-serif fonts, and stories about boring corporate things left me wanting more. So I just started writing down the most interesting highlights of what I was already reading, putting it all into this cool new platform called Substack that I had just discovered from reading economics blogs. Then Substack came out with podcasts, so I started putting a voiceover on every post. Self-promotion has always felt weird to me, so I really only mentioned the blog to my friends and coworkers when they asked what was new with me. Then, this year, Patrick Harrison over at PyData Pittsburgh graciously emailed me out of nowhere and offered to suggest my blog on PyData’s Substack (Thank you, Patrick!!). Since then, it seems word of mouth has really spread, and I’ve been getting new subs every week. So thanks again for subscribing! I hope this blog continues to be a helpful resource and/or a mildly interesting read for you with your morning coffee. Without further ado, here’s the news. All companies mentioned are local to Pittsburgh unless otherwise noted. What Happened in June * The Wall Street Journal published an article publicizing how Westinghouse is helping Ukraine replace their nuclear reactors. Essentially, Westinghouse has been supplying Ukraine with fuel bundles that are compatible with all of Ukraine’s reactors and is now helping Ukraine develop the capabilities to manufacture that fuel itself. In addition, Ukraine is going to be building 9 new reactors designed by Westinghouse. * Apollo Neuroscience, a new Pittsburgh-based wearable tech startup, wants your employer to buy you a vibrator. No, not that kind of vibrator. This one goes on your wrist and makes “personalized soothing vibrations to restore sleep and energy, improving employee wellbeing and reducing burnout.” Pretty cool, but, to you employers out there, may I also suggest another solid way to avoid employee burnout: raises? * AI-powered medical transcription company Abridge made it onto TechCrunch this month. The article is a glowing review of the company and its software, which leverages an LLM to help doctors easily take notes. Two highlights I found were that “large hospitals are… buying multi-thousand seat licenses of Abridge” and “earlier this year, Abridge gained a right to be integrated inside Epic.” Epic is being used more extensively by UPMC locally, so it’s only a matter of time before your and my doctor’s notes end up in an LLM. * Technical.ly published a piece revealing that Duolingo’s taco shop made $700k last year. Have you been there? Is it good? $700k good? Let me know in the comments. I haven’t been there yet, as I have a Condado way closer to me, so I usually just hit that up when I want tacos. * Titan Robotics, a local company specializing in robots that remove paint from jet planes, has decided to relocate to an office outside the Pittsburgh airport. Honestly, I had never heard of these folks before this month, and it’s super cool to see a startup like this choosing to stay in Pittsburgh after growing. * Ekto VR, a local VR startup, patented its System and Method of Robotic Virtual Reality Footwear this month. Here’s what may be your next pair of real-life kicks for you to show off your $10,000 in-game Jordan’s with full mo-cap: * Aurora announced a partnership with Uber Freight that they’re calling “Premier Autonomy.” There’s a lot of jargon in this press release, but essentially, customers of Uber Freight will be able to order shipping on trucks that leverage Aurora’s autonomous trucking systems by the end of this year. All of this shipping will only be available in Texas at first, where (conveniently) Aurora has already been testing their self-driving technology. * NextPittsburgh published a great profile piece on Neuraville, a new artificial general intelligence (AGI) startup in Oakland that is using robotic toys to train people on how to use AGI tooling. In case you want to play with some of their stuff yourself, here’s their open-source AGI GitHub repo, and you can try out their Neurobotics Studio software here. * Everyone loves observability these days, and now you can have observability into the health of downtown Pittsburgh with IndexPGH. There are a bunch of dashboards on there, so go ahead and throw one up on that kiosk TV next to that big spike in latency on your Grafana dashboard that’s about to page someone! * Ansys announced a new SaaS product that allows engineers to simulate and design powertrains for electric vehicles. It estimates metrics like drivable range based on a number of components, including the car’s battery, motor, inverter, and transmission. * CoPilot Fitness, a Pittsburgh-based fitness app startup offering one-on-one trainers, has now rebranded to Trainwell to avoid confusion with other notable copilots. Smart move. * Researchers at Pitt helped develop light-controlled artificial maple seed robots. Yeah, they’re wild. * PyData Pittsburgh hosted a talk from Dr. Rory Brenner at CMU: Radically improving neural networks with insights from modern neuroscience. Key takeaways and speaker decks are available through Pittsburgh Startup News at the link! * Last but not least, Astrobotic revealed their simulated lunar surface for lander testing, and it looks like something out of the Hideo Kojima video game Death Stranding. Seriously, I can’t stop thinking about it. Here’s a photo of the simulated surface and a screenshot from Death Stranding for comparison. For the Months Ahead * Code and Supply has three events this July being held at the Code & Supply Community Center: * Software job hunting in 2024 "does not meet expectations" so let's rant about it is an experimental event to share frustrations and celebrate the successes of job hunting, on Tuesday, July 9th, at 6pm. * Crafting Clarity: Enhancing AI with Conversation Design (w/ WtD PGH) invites you to join local tech writer Emily Ferris as she explores the challenges and opportunities for technical writers collaborating with teams to build and document AI systems on Tuesday, July 16th, at 7pm. * Build Night is a time to get together and build some awesome stuff with code on Monday, July 29, from 6-8:30pm. * Local frontend dev Brad Frost is throwing Frostapalooza on August 17th, a benefit concert featuring the musical performances of several other local devs. See the full lineup and get tickets here! * I’m still looking for guest writers and guest podcasters! Do you have a local Pittsburgh tech topic you’d like to wax poetic about? Hit me up! Spoiler alert: It’s not a paid gig, but I would be more than willing to host or repost your piece if you want to publish it somewhere else as well. Annnnd that’s it for this month! Hope you all have a great Independence Day. I’ll see you in a month. —Austin Thanks for reading Pittsburgh Tech Beat! Please subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Pittsburgh Tech Beat at www.pghtechbeat.com/subscribe

    10 min
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About

News and analysis of the Pittsburgh tech scene. https://www.pghtechbeat.com/ www.pghtechbeat.com

Information

  • Creator
    Austin Orth
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Austin Orth
  • Show Website
    Pittsburgh Tech Beat