News reports out of Israel say Facebook is in talks to acquire traffic-information service Waze for as much as $1 billion, but Google will be making a big mistake if it doesn’t try to top that offer. Read more »
If a certain number of Waze users report the same closing, the app will automatically start re-routing all users around reported road closures. Read more »
The mobile platform wars heated up in a big way as 2012 came to a close. Among other trends, Microsoft launched Windows Phone 8, Android’s dominant market share grew, and mobile commerce reached record highs during the holidays. Read more »
A group of researchers from an Israeli university used data from Waze to determine the country’s most-accident-prone areas and how they correlate, or not, with a notable police presence. It’s just one of many efforts using ballooning data from drivers and devices to try and make sense of city traffic. Read more »
CEO Tim Cook recently said the company is fixing its Maps app through software updates, but also vaguely mentioned a “huge plan to make it even better.” What is that plan? Maybe a smart acquisition of a small social navigation company. Read more »
Moovit is trying to be the Waze of public transit by offering a crowd-sourced transportation app for bus and train commuters. The system hopes to provide more accurate estimated time of arrivals and better updates on upcoming travel conditions. Read more »
The “mobile first” philosophy is under way today. That means a new generation of mobile-centric data centers will arise over the next three years, with chips, servers, and power architectures customized for mobile workloads. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Crowd-sourced navigation app Waze is launching its own ad platform, allowing advertisers to insert ads that users can see on their maps and search results when they navigate to their destination. Waze believes these “location-guided” ads can succeed because they incorporate where a user is headed. Read more »
Crowd-sourced mapping and navigation app Waze is getting a lot more social by allowing people to share their location, request rides and see which friends are navigating to the same place. The service is now up to 29 million users. Read more »
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: Apple’s biggest supplier admits breaking China’s underage hiring law, profile of a maps app that’s taking advantage of Apple’s failure, and teardowns of the Lightning connector and iPod nano. Read more »
These are the companies, startups and giants alike, that are changing or could potentially change the mobile landscape in the most profound ways. Read more »
MightyText won Qualcomm’s QPrize event yesterday, but the IP texting app and the nine other finalists are also a microcosm of Qualcomm’s views about what mobility can bring to computing and how to design for mobiles. Read more »
Waze, the crowdsourced traffic app, is trying to save people money as well as time. The company is unveiling a discount fuel service that lets users receive 5-10 cents off each gallon they buy from more than 200,000 gas stations across the country. Read more »
Waze users on the iPhone will be able to operate hands-free, leveraging the phone’s proximity sensor to initiate commands. Users who normally keep the app running while driving to stay abreast of traffic conditions will now be able to navigate or report accidents or traffic. Read more »
Pioneer’s new $599 AppRadio2, a smart, 7-inch capacitive touch display radio supports both iOS and Android phones. It includes an external GPS, rear-camera input, and of course, smartphones with compatible apps. Looks like a great way to get Pandora, Waze, or Rdio integrated with your car! Read more »
After its successful showing during LA’s Carmageddon, Waze, a crowdsourced traffic data app, is now launching a broadcast partner program to allow local TV stations to tap into its data and leverage the app to engage consumers. It is a validation of crowdsourced data and reporting. Read more »
Waze, the smart crowd-source traffic information application, has picked up $30 million in a Series C round of funding as it looks to capitalize on a burgeoning international opportunity, particularly in China. The company has also hit 7 million users around the world. Read more »
While almost no one is looking forward to Los Angeles’ so-called Carmageddon, an upcoming closure of a busy freeway, crowd-sourced traffic app Waze sees an opportunity to shine. The company is teaming with the local ABC affiliate to beef up ABC’s real-time traffic information for drivers. Read more »
Location-based shopping services (LBS) have made many headlines recently, and studies have shown that users actually like receiving ads and offers well-targeted to their interests. Couple that with an influx of Tier 1 venture capital and the show-stopping Facebook Places, with which several startups have already joined forces, and it’s no wonder LBS is suddenly such a hot topic in the mobile sector. That doesn’t necessarily mean LBS shopping apps will be easy to implement. A number of challenges — privacy concerns, scaling issues and check-in integrity among them — provide a potential barrier to widespread adoption. This note examines both the drivers and inhibitors for making location-based shopping services a mainstream phenomenon, and includes focused profiles of Facebook, Twitter, Google, Loopt, Foursquare, BrightKite, Whrrl, Gowalla, Plancast, Groupon, AisleBuyer, Bizness Apps, Offeretti, ShopAlerts, Shopkick, Bakodo, Stickybits, Yelp!, Geodelic Sherpa, WHERE, MyTown, InCrowd, SCVNGR, Waze and Layar. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Waze today launches version 2.0 of its social-based navigation and mapping application, adding a number of small changes and one big feature. The new Waze Groups allows users to create small groups that can easily share traffic information and track the location of group members. Read more »
