We've kept secret for two years which developer built the app/site you're using right this second, and there's a reason for it: We preferred to make the announcement with a boom.

Well, here goes.

BoomPress, a wholly independent venture that was the combined brainchild a couple years back of Steve Baleno at Verona-based The Dev Shop and myself, is finally ready to make this exceptional, custom product available to the public. Meaning all journalists, all news outlets, all entrepreneurs, anyone anywhere whose business would benefit from a state-of-the-art subscription platform.

Before I get going on the backstory, if anyone reading this is interested in the product, here's where to go for more information.

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BOOMPRESS

Also before I get going, to clarify, BoomPress and DK Pittsburgh Sports aren't connected. To reiterate, it's a wholly independent venture. I was involved at the outset, and my wife Dali's on the board, but otherwise we're a customer just like anyone else. Same goes for the other two similar ventures we brought on board for the early phase, our longtime friend Greg Bedard's Boston Sports Journal and the Austin-based soccer site Striker.

This was born from need, as most business ideas are. As longtime readers can attest, our No. 1 problem for the first half-decade of our existence was our tech. We grew too fast, we didn't have the funding to build something custom, so we just kept grafting onto a bland, flat WordPress site that couldn't come close to keeping pace with our growth. So our readers got angry, got disillusioned and, in some cases, walked away.

Dali and I spent much of 2019 engaged in advanced talks with Yahoo! about using our site as basically a template for a national expansion, but that went poof late that summer when Verizon, the parent company, pulled the plug. And it was right there, after a related meeting in L.A., that she and I pledged we'd solve this problem ourselves, once and for all.

Long story short: Steve and I came up with the concept of creating a platform that first suited us but also could be tailored to others. The new company, BoomPress, would learn from all of our experiences from both the editorial and customer ends. And we, of course, would wind up with the platform we've always wanted, which we did almost a year ago now.

We've had countless people across the continent ask us how we've done what we've done, and our reflexive response has always, always been to be sure you've got the tech lined up first. Now, we're able to give a much more substantive answer. 

Because BoomPress offers everything that's visible on our app/site, in addition to:

• Dedicated maintenance
• Monthly, affordable rates
• Pick what you want/don't want
• Pricing scales to your traffic
• Customize as much as desired

Dali, Steve and Adam Bertram are BoomPress, and they're eager not only for new business but also to keep this one -- DK Pittsburgh Sports -- growing. As such, the main tech dude, Adam, will begin maintaining a special presence here in our Asylum, popping in to answer any tech-type questions anyone might have. Now, that won't replace the need to email Help@DKPittsburghSports.com for your specific issues, but it's cool to have for more overarching facets of what's being built.

Also, Adam's maybe the nicest guy on the planet:

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FOR DKPS

Adam Bertram, chief technical officer at BoomPress and all-around awesome dude.

He's a big fan of our sports teams, too. And like so many people who've become connected to our company over the years, he started out as a subscriber.

It's been a long, tiring road to get to this stage, but I can honestly say it was worth it to have come away with the BoomPress concept while retaining our own independence in every way. And it's that much more encouraging to know that Adam and everyone are passionate about pushing this so, so, so much further than what we've seen already.

As ever, I'll be in the Asylum, too, to answer any questions on this.

WEEKLY APP TIPS

Sharing ways to make your app experience even better:

• We have NFL data!

Just in time for kickoff, we've activated NFL standings, the Steelers' statistics and the Steelers' schedule, all easily accessed on our team page.

We're pretty proud of these packages, to be honest. Working with Adam, I handpicked all of the categories you see, custom-creating the packages I felt would be best-suited for our readers. From there, Adam really made these things hum. They're updated around the clock, they're clean, easy to toggle and sortable.

• Even beyond the stats, use our team pages! I know that should be obvious, and I further know that we've got more people using them than ever. But I still get lots of feedback about how this story or that story on someone's favorite team was hard to find on the home page. Simple solution: Tap the Steelers, Penguins or Pirates logo on the bottom of the app and -- boom! -- there you go. The app transforms into a Steelers, Penguins or Pirates app just like that. And on our website, the team pages can be found on the big bar across the top.

• USE ... THE ... BLUE ... BAR! This is the bar that spans the horizontal middle of the app's home page, and it features three other easy-to-access options, our TODAY schedule which includes the latest What's Brewing and staff locator map, plus separate tabs for all our VIDEOS and PODCASTS. Because of the sliding function to the content, it's simple to move through all four options.

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