Archives for December 2006

Christmas Tree Disposal

26 December 2006 | DPW | No Responses

A public service announcement from the Worcester Department of Public Works and Parks:

CHRISTMAS TREE DISPOSAL

Worcester residents may dispose of their Christmas trees at one of the three drop-off sites December 26th through January 13th. The sites will be open daily, weather permitting from 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Christmas trees will not be collected at the curb. No yard waste will be accepted at the sites during this time—only Christmas trees.

3 Drop-Off Sites:

  • Millbury Street (formerly Ballard Street, next to the VFW Post)
  • Chandler Street (in the parking lot across from Foley Stadium)
  • Clark Street (near East Mountain Street intersection)

Elm Park Neighborhood Association

16 December 2006 | Media | No Responses

As indicated in the comments, ParkingBan received mention on the Elm Park Neighborhood Association Web site. If and when you see ParkingBan in the news, post in the comments or send a note to media@parkingban.org.

WoMag

14 December 2006 | Media | 1 Response

ParkingBan received coverage in today’s issue of Worcester Magazine.  An excerpt:

Which leads us to the worst part of winter parking in Worcester: figuring out exactly when the declared parking ban is on or off or what-have-you on your street. To that end, there’s a new solution: Two WPI grads have created ParkingBan.org, a site that promises to alert users to parking ban info., weather updates, and news by way of instant message, text message, or e-mail.

Read the full article on worcestermagazine.com.

The spacing will get you every time

13 December 2006 | Updates, Technology | No Responses

There are some issues with spacing for users of the most recent version of AIM.  Apparently, a space character is added to the beginning of every outgoing message.  ParkingBan can interpret these spaces on most messages it handles, but on certain specific commands (weather requests or learning, for example) it gets confused.  We’re working on this issue, and it should be resolved shortly.

Weather 01609

13 December 2006 | Updates, Technology | No Responses

ParkingBan: I’m getting smarter every day.

To get your local weather current conditions and forecast, send me a message in the form weather ##### where ##### is your five digit ZIP code. If I know your city, I’ll respond right away with the most up to date weather information that I have!

Thank you to all of my friends who have been teaching me new things! I really am getting smarter every day.

Stay tuned for even more new features and feel free to make suggestions.

Happy Parking!

Strength in Numbers

11 December 2006 | Technology | No Responses

DrTNOVA: Do you like statistics?
ParkingBan: Probably.

I’m excited to share some data regarding the 2006 launch of ParkingBan! Instant message traffic to ParkingBan increased sharply the first day the bot was online and again when WPI TechNews ran an article about ParkingBan v2.0. There’s stronger correlation with this year’s model to demonstrate an increasing growth in conversations over last season’s launch. While these models certainly have not been evaluated for significance, nor standardized for the increased number of users, it’s my hope to share some of the technology behind ParkingBan. Stay tuned for more, and Happy Parking!

First snow

5 December 2006 | Weather | No Responses

The first snowflakes of the season arrived in Worcester around 10:15 a.m. yesterday.  Really only flurries and no accumulation, but winter is upon us.  Again today it is cold, and snow is flying!

It’s back!

5 December 2006 | Updates | No Responses

As of this morning ParkingBan is back online! Just about everything is working, but please be patient as there are a few bugs to work out.

Keep in mind that if you have never before spoken with ParkingBan, you will be asked for some information. This information is kept private and is used only to personalize your experience and notify you if you so choose in the setup. Read the terms of use for full details.

If you encounter errors, please notify us of them via the contact page or via e-mail.

MSPaint: Taking ParkingBan by Storm

1 December 2006 | Uncategorized, Updates | No Responses

Thanks to Mike DiDonato for his MSPaint work in creating the ParkingBan banner image!  Welcome Mike D. readers.

Weather is not an exact science

1 December 2006 | Updates, Weather | No Responses

NBC Nightly News last night pointed out that weather is not an exact science.  That explains why so many times you’ll hear people complaining about incorrect forecasts.

Well, unfortunately, ParkingBan is not an exact science either.  Although the parking ban season starts today, ParkingBan is not quite ready for action.  Go ahead and add ParkingBan to your buddy list; it will be online soon.

Hey, at least it isn’t snowing yet!