WAZE App

MIke R

Senior Insider
took this baby literally out for test drive this weekend.....wow....not only did it give me accurate turn by turn voice directions...BUT... via voice messages told me about cops with speed traps.....accidents....construction....bad weather..the works...all accurately..

this one is a keeper..won't even turn on the Garmin anymore
 
Great for local traffic. I thought I knew the best way to get to places I go routinely, but this saves me a few minutes.
 
took this baby literally out for test drive this weekend.....wow....not only did it give me accurate turn by turn voice directions...BUT... via voice messages told me about cops with speed traps.....accidents....construction....bad weather..the works...all accurately..

this one is a keeper..won't even turn on the Garmin anymore

Yeah.. great app. Saves tons of time in our SoCal Traffic when things don't go right. Happy to have them as a Qualcomm Ventures investment :wink2:
 
[h=1]Google Near Buying Traffic App Waze[/h]

[h=3]By AMIR EFRATI[/h]Google Inc. is on the cusp of paying more than $1 billion for navigation and traffic application Waze Inc., said a person familiar with the matter.
The deal could be announced as soon as this week, the person said.
It would bring an end to months of speculation surrounding the fate of the five-year-old Waze, which attracted other suitors including Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc., people familiar with the matter have said.
Representatives for Google and Waze declined to comment on the talks.
For Google, Waze could help the Internet giant boost its own navigation offerings around the world.
Waze, a free app available on Apple devices and those powered by Google's Android mobile operating system, promises to help the more than 45 million drivers who use it, according to Waze's website, to "outsmart traffic and get everyone the best route to work and back, every day." Waze has said people in 193 countries use the app.
Waze was founded in Israel and has around 100 employees, including a large research-and-development team in the country. Its chief executive officer and other top officers are based in Palo Alto, Calif., and the company also has some employees in New York.
The terms for Google's possible Waze deal were reported earlier by Israeli news publisher Globes.




 
A year or two ago I tried out Waze and it happened to be eastern. One could collect eastern eggs by driving certain routes and we thought it was fun. The next week we were disappointed when there was nothing to collect, and I forgot all about it..


When we visit the Infinity Loop last week, the friend who invited us there checked it out to recommend a route back to SF (on his iPhone, obviously). I used it on the Android tablet en route and we avoided all the traffic jams.


The other late evening when we arrived back to Helsinki, I was expecting the usual at the taxi stand; a typical finnish taxi driver who hardly speaks, throws the luggage into the trunk of his few months old E-class Mercedes Benz and knows where our home street is. He doesn't say a word unless we start the discussion, if there's a silence for a few minutes he'll turn on the radio. (They do have a navigation with pretty damn good navigation on the taxi order/information system, I've always envied it compared to the Garmins, TomToms and phone nav apps.)

Instead we got a driver from Algeria, who was pretty welcoming and talkative. He had a 10" tablet attached to the middle console and had Waze running on it. It was still a few months old E-class Mercedes Benz and he did know where our home street was without the map (he had lived here 17 years already and one has to know a lot of streets to get a taxi permit). He used Waze to avoid traffic jams and mobile speeding cameras, and to show foreign customers where their hotel is, what's nearby, etc.

The rest was the usual, no tips, you pay the exact amount to the cent and credit/debit card payment is the standard (there's no line for tip).
 
I find it useful for traffic avoidance...when I remember to open it on the phone instead of the standard navi...
 
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