A couple of Israeli students figured out a way to create fake traffic jams using the popular, Google-owned Waze GPS app. And while it sounds silly at first, these kinds of infrastructure hacks could have serious consequences as we depend more and more on data to help us get around town.
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Wouldn’t it be awesome if celebrities were the voice behind your turn-by-turn navigation? It would almost be as if they were right in the car with you! Well the good news for Waze users is that celebrities will be voicing turn-by-turn navigation for you thanks to a deal Waze and Universal Studios have struck up. In a bid to promote new movies as well as add some value to the popular app, the app will be utilized by celebrities who want to promote their movie. As it stands the first celebrity to lend their voice to the app would be Kevin Hart who will be starring in the upcoming movie, Ride Along, alongside Ice Cube.
Earlier this year Google announced that they had acquired Waze, which for those unfamiliar, is a mapping service that relies on user data to help construct maps with real-time traffic reports and updates, allowing drivers to potentially avoid areas that could be jammed. In any case it will be interesting to see which other celebrities will be hopping aboard the Waze bandwagon. What do you guys think? Which celebrity would you love to hear lend their voice to the mapping application?
Waze To Get Celebrities To Read Out Turn-By-Turn Directions original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Who wouldn’t want Kevin Hart yelling accurate but somehow disparaging directions at them while they’re trying to drive? No one. So Waze made a deal with Universal Pictures to get celebrities talking at us while we’re lost.
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GPS turn-by-turn directions are staid and boring, whether they are relayed by a male or female voice. Waze wants to give us what we really want, which is, quite naturally, driving directions delivered with the gravitas only Hollywood actors can bring. To that end, the social navigation company has partnered up with Universal Pictures to deliver some cross-promotional synergy that’ll have actors in forthcoming films acting as your virtual co-pilot. The first such star of the silver screen is comedian Kevin Hart (promoting the aptly titled film Ride Along), and you can get a taste of what Waze will be like with Hart telling you where to go in the video after the break.
Filed under: GPS, Software, Mobile
Via: VentureBeat
It may not have received the same amount of buzz as Instagram this morning, but social GPS app Waze is another hugely popular service that’s finally reaching the Windows Phone masses today. The free app brings over several of the same features found on other platforms, such as live routing, road alerts, the cheapest gas stations and live maps.
It’s interesting to see Waze — a navigation service acquired by Google earlier this year — now coming to Microsoft’s mobile OS. This is especially noteworthy given the choppy relationship Microsoft and Google have had in relation to services like YouTube and Exchange. While we don’t want to assume that more Google-owned products will be heading to the platform — especially given the fact that Waze was already working on a Windows Phone beta prior to acquisition — this is definitely a step in the right direction and hopefully will be followed up by other official Google services.
This post was updated to reflect the fact that Waze had a Windows Phone beta test in progress prior to the Google acquisition.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Source: Windows Phone Store
The app offerings for Windows Phones have slowly been growing since the launch of Windows Phone 8. Today, the underdog mobile platform finally gets Instagram and Waze, two huge titles on iOS and Android.
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These days, a mobile OS is only as good as its ecosystem, and no company knows this fact more than Microsoft. Its smartphone platform known as Windows Phone has had plenty of growing pains during the first three years of existence, which is mainly related to a limited number of big apps and game titles. Despite these struggles, Microsoft has slowly but surely been able to court heavy-hitting developers — even if only one or two at a time. Today, however, a gaping hole in the Windows Phone Store will be plugged, as Instagram will be available as a free download beginning today around 2pm ET.
The Instagram app, which will be available only for Windows Phone 8 (sorry, legacy users), will offer Live Tiles that refresh with new data on the Start screen, and will also come with support for fast-resume; sadly, there are quite a few features that won’t be available right away, such as video capture and uploading, photo tagging, viewing geotaxis and — arguably the most important — in-app image capture. Instagram explains that it wanted to get the app out to users as quickly as possible, so a few features had to be left out of the first version (which Instagram is calling a beta), but it assures us that future updates will come with plenty more functionality (as updates are often wont to do). Still, the addition of official support by Instagram is a good indicator of health for Windows Phone.
Update: Despite Microsoft’s and Instagram’s repeated assurance that in-app image capture would not be available, it appears that it’s actually included in the official app after all. Pressing the camera button takes you into the camera roll by default, but choosing the camera icon allows you to take a pic. Once you take the image, it auto-selects that shot and lets you upload it through Instagram.
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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Microsoft
When Google acquired Waze back in June, the Federal Trade Commission decided to investigate the deal to see if it violated antitrust regulations, and today, it looks like Mountain View is in the clear. According to Bloomberg’s sources (unnamed people “familiar with the matter,” naturally), the FTC will not interfere with the acquisition, as the $1 billion purchase isn’t seen as an aggressive act designed to stifle competition. The review’s outcome is indeed welcome news at Google, as the company can now proceed with integrating Waze’s crowd-sourced traffic and mapping capabilities with its own services. By this point, antitrust challenges must be awfully familiar to the folks at Google, but we’re pretty sure that winning them never gets old.
Via: The Verge
Source: Bloomberg
When Google acquired Waze, it said that it would keep the newly purchased company at arm’s length. Well, we now know exactly how separate Waze will be, at least for the foreseeable future. Google has promised the UK’s Office of Fair Trading that it won’t touch Waze’s business operations while the British regulator determines its authority over the deal. The search giant has also offered to warn if there are any substantial changes in staff, business plans or customer numbers for both itself and Waze. The terms may not last forever — if the OFT decides to review the acquisition, it can reject Google’s offer. For now, though, Waze will (mostly) remain a distinct entity.
Via: Bloomberg
Source: Office of Fair Trading (PDF)
The folks in Mountain View told us it was on the way, but now it’s official: Waze has updated its app to use Google as its default search provider. It’s a subtle change, mentioned only on the company’s blog, but it’s a strong show of good faith between the recently acquired traffic app and its new owner. The application’s Google Play page outlines the rest of its updates, noting that the search bar is now visible on the map screen, which itself has been updated with a smoother user interface. Waze has also been updated with full support for 1080p, and has laid the groundwork for auto-complete, which should roll out to users over the next few weeks. Users with a special love of Bing, Yelp or Foursquare can still search with those providers, of course, but we can’t fault Waze for giving its parent company a little love.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software
Source: Waze, Google Play, App Store
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