Submitted by Catharine

Start-ups should be nicknamed “Sprint-Ups” because, like most other emerging companies, we find ourselves working super hard in sprints that end up feeling like a marathon.

I’m starting to notice that our Twitter & Blog activity is sparse when we’re busily working towards a goal / deadline. So seeing that we’d gone two weeks since our last Tweet, and umm…two months? since our last blog post, I thought we’re due for an update. We’re so excited to announce a few awesome developments:

1. The Gallaudet University Campus Tour is live on the Keen Guides website (www.keenguides.org/gu), available in American Sign Language, Sign Language with Spoken English, Spanish, and Cued Speech. The podcast download on iTunes is forthcoming.

2. Content Partner in Washington, D.C., WETA TV Station: In our research to learn about existing video content currently out there, we discovered that the PBS affiliate network, WETA has a wealth of editorial, dynamic, awesome short-format videos of over 100 points of interest in Washington, D.C. We approached them about doing a pilot to test a third distribution channel, mobile, through a Beta pilot of our iPhone application. (Currently, their content is displayed on TV and Web.) For the first phase of this partnership, WETA is distributing 50 videos around Washington, D.C. through our application, so we are excited to share a robust library of content, along with our National Mall tour content videos done in coordination with DC by Foot.

3. Sneak Preview: iPhone App: Last but certainly not least, version 1.0 of the Keen Guides application is ready for testing. Before we release to Apple, we are looking for people who have an iPhone and an interest in learning some great history about Washington, D.C. If you are interested, please sign up using this form. We will send out information about downloading the test version of the iPhone application by February 1st. To participate in this sneak preview, you’ll have a chance to test all the links, to make sure everything works well, and that there aren’t any scary, mean bugs lingering around in our application. And of course, we want to make sure it’s as user friendly as possible!

Finally. Once we get our application approved by Apple, We’ll launch our Beta pilot in Washington, D.C., Austin, TX, and Winston-Salem, NC! If you’re in one of those cities and want to be alerted when these are tours are available at a site near you, send us an e-mail and simply say, “Keep Me Updated” in your subject line. (Or something along those lines!)