Hey Everyone. We’re really excited to announce the launch of our newest ’super social’ version, featuring really cool Twitter and Facebook integrations. We’ve taken advantage of Twitter’s new extended geo-capabilities to maximize the real-time, user-generated information that will be available to you on the map, and with the Facebook integration, you’ll have a lot of fun seeing your friends wazing around you. Here, each part in a little more detail…

Twitter

As you already know, waze is all about reporting on real-time road information, and now with our new Twitter integration, we’re takin’ it to a whole ‘nother level. This version will feature geo-tagged tweets right there on the waze map. This means that if someone tweets that they’re stuck in traffic, it will appear almost immediately on the waze map with a road report pin along with a little ‘t’ icon to indicate that the report came from a Twitter user. And if you’re using a Twitter client and would like to ensure that your road-orientated tweets are picked up by the waze system, make sure to use this hashtag: #wazelive

Incorporating tweets onto the waze is going to expand our coverage of real-time road events significantly, plus, the coolest part is that the Twitter integration functions two ways – once you input your Twitter details under Settings, you’ll be able to respond directly to tweets (on waze and Twitter, simultaneously) by commenting on the road report, turning waze, essentially, into an on-the-go Twitter client – one that also provides directions. Pretty neat, eh?

Facebook

There will finally be faces on the map, so you can now see who is actually wazing around you! We think you’ll really like that, and if you want to share your Facebook name/profile picture, all you have to do is visit your user profile and enter your FB details. Doing so will also connect you with all of your Facebook friends who are using waze as well. This means, you’ll be able to see your FB friends on the map with a little ‘f’ icon next to their waze mood, and will be alerted when one of them is somewhere nearby.

If you like, you’ll have the ability to post your whereabouts onto your Facebook wall as a status update, and if you’re not into that you can adjust your setting accordingly to disable that function. And, if you’re the competitive type, you’ll really like the ability to see how you stack up against your FB friends on the waze scoreboard’s Facebook tab.

So, what do you need to do?

*  Download the new version.

*  Make sure your Twitter and Facebook details are on file.

*  Use the #wazelive hashtag to ensure your tweets are picked up by the waze system.

*  Have fun with the new functionalities! If you have any comments, or questions, please feel free to be in touch: alpha@waze.com

The new iOS4 for iPhone will be a great boost for location and navigations applications. It allows apps to run in the background while giving users the ability to simultaneously conduct other important tasks such as sending and receiving calls, all while still hearing turn-by-turn voice instructions. This new iPhone functionality is especially important for crowdsourced apps, such as waze, that rely on our users to passively provide their GPS and traffic data, so for us, it is key that users can now speak  on the phone while remaining connected to our app.

This great functionality comes with a price, though. Navigations apps, known for their heavy data consumption, can be forgotten in the background and significantly drain battery.  While some simpler implementations require the user to manually disconnect the app, waze has a different approach to background processing and shut down. When waze goes into the background, algorithms are applied to detect whether or not the device is in motion. Following a long standstill, waze will automatically close itself when it determines that you are no longer using the app, avoiding needless data and battery consumption.

Not only is waze cute, but it’s smart, too!

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…or, at least those of you with Blackberries…waze is now available in an early beta version on the following Blackberry devices: 8900, 9000, 9630 and 9700 – hallelujah!

To celebrate the occasion, we’re conducting a worldwide berry hunt for all users, on all smartphone plaforms – and for those of you who collect the most points from berries alone, a brand new iPad is all yours!

Here’s what you need to know:

* The contest will start on Tuesday, May 4 and run until Thursday May 14, 2010

* Winners will be able to choose either a 32GB Wifi-only version or the 16GB Wifi+3G iPad

* The wazer who collect the most points during this timeframe from blackberry road goodies alone will be the winner. We’ll have two concurrent competitions – one for users in the US/Canada, and one for users in all other countries, worldwide.

* Note there are 2 delicious kinds of berries - regular ones, worth 2 points, and super-charged star berries, worth 6 points…

Wishing you lotsa fun while you’re out there huntin’ for berries!

PS – note that this is an early beta release and there still may be a few kinks. If you need any assistance or would like to provide us with any feedback, feel free to drop us a line at alpha@waze.com. And now, the fine print:

ELIGIBILITY:You must be 18 years of age or older to enter the Waze Inc. (Hereby “Waze”) treasure hunt.  TREASURE HUNT PERIOD: Waze treasure hunt begins at 09:00 EST on May 4, 2010 and ends on May 14, 2010 23:59 EST PRIZE RESTRICTIONS: Each winner is responsible for any applicable taxes. Prizes listed are subject to its general availability on the market. In the event of non-availability on the market, Waze will provide a similar or equal compensation. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: By participating, participants agree to release, discharge and hold harmless Waze and its partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, agents and their employees, officers, directors, and representatives from any claims, losses, and damages arising out of their participation in this treasure hunt or any treasure hunt related activities and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any prize awarded hereunder. Waze reserves the right under its sole discretion, to cancel, suspend or modify the terms of the treasure hunt, in whole or in part; and the right to disqualify any participant in the event of tempering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes which in Waze sole opinion corrupt or effect the fairness, integrity, legality or proper conduct of the treasure hunt.  CONDITIONS: This treasure hunt is subject to federal, state, provincial, territorial and local laws and regulations. Certain restrictions may apply. Void where prohibited. Waze makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, directly or indirectly, regarding the prize delivery and Waze is not responsible for prize delivery being late, lost, stolen, damaged, mutilated, incomplete, illegible, misdirected, or postage-due. Participants also agree (a) to be bound by these Official Rules; (b) that the decisions of the judges are final on all matters relating to the treasure hunt; and (c) In the event that the selected winner(s) of any prize are/is ineligible or refuses the prize, the prize will be forfeited and Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may choose whether to award the prize to another winner.GOVERNING LAW/DISPUTE RESOLUTION: This treasure hunt shall be governed by and interpreted under the laws of the State of New York without regard to the conflict of laws doctrine of any jurisdiction; and any disputes, claims or causes of action shall be resolved only in a state or federal court located in the County of New York, State of New York. Any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of pocket costs incurred and under no circumstances will participants be permitted to obtain awards for and participants hereby waive all rights to claim, punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages other than for actual out-of-pocket costs and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.

Hey Y’all – just a quick head’s up that a new iPhone version dropped today.  Here’s what it includes:

• A  ‘report  abuse’  feature - the  community’s  growing  and  there’s  many interactions  taking  place.  As  can  be  expected,  there’s  always  some  people  who  take  advantage  of  the  system,  so  we’re  enabling  users  to  flag  inappropriate  users.  Above  a  certain  number  of  reports  by  different  users,  a  user  will  automatically  be  disabled  from  pinging.



• An  improved,  and  much  better‐looking  navigation  bar - allowing  bigger  texts  and  ETA.
• Auto-update your  Facebook  status  – just  like what  we  do  for  Twitter.  In  the  future,  we’ll  use  Facebook  Connect  for  many  cool  features  such  as  showing  your  friends  on  the  scoreboard,  etc. – so stay tuned to the blog for more information, as we have it…



• Adding  street  name  &  house  numbers  from  client – note that this  feature  is  available  in  Grid  countries  only,  and  will  be  developed  later  for  additional  purposes.
• Spread  the  word – We  need  as  many  wazers  as  we  can  on  board  and  we  need  your  help  to spread the word, so we’ve  added the ability to invite  your  Facebook  friends  (in  the  future  we’ll  enable  showing  your  friends  in  the  client)  to waze and  to  let  you  review  waze  on both the  Appstore  and  Chomp, a  great  new  app  for  user  reviews  of  iPhone  apps.

That’s about it this time around. Make sure you hop over to the Appstore and update waze so you’ll be running with the newest version next time you hit the road…

Here’s what it includes:

A contributors scoreboard

Finally! The scoreboard serves to put your points in context. With it you’ll see how you stack up against others in your state/country – and worldwide – according to rank and points.

You can view a daily updated status report, showing top contributors for the current week, or an overall aggregated view. What’s cool is that it shows trends and mobility:  top contributing users in your state/country, plus who’s going up or down in rank.

As a global community, the part we like the best about the new scoreboard is the world view, where you’ll be able to see the top contributors worldwide. Note, however, that the initial release still hasn’t merged user databases, so the ‘All’  view won’t include the US and Canada for those outside of those countries, and for those in the US or Canada, the ‘All’ section will consist of the US and Canada only.  As you know the points system is new, so if find anything wrong with your points let us know. We hope to merge the user base data bases soon and provide a unified ‘World’ view. We’ll also add other cool functionalities in next version, so stay tuned!

Personalized alternative routes

Since waze is geared towards commuting and everyday driving in places you already know, we think that the ’standard’ system-calculated routes don’t quite cut it. You already know the different alternative routes for getting to work or home, and you have your specific little reasons why they are YOUR preferred routes, not necessarily the fastest or shortest. The question you usually are asking yourself at the start or close of the day is which one is best right now, right?

So, we’ve introduced personalized alternative routes. Waze will learn the different routes you take to frequent destinations and will tell you which one is most optimal at any given moment. Until waze learns your preferred routes, or if you are driving to non-frequent destinations, waze will show you the  alternative routes,  based on real time traffic,  which is also cool, but not as cool as the personalized ones

How can you make sure waze learns your routes quickly? Well, first off, it takes two to three times traveling each route for waze to learn it. Make sure you start waze and program in your destination point before you start the drive. As you can tell this is a pretty complex feature, and it may take a bit of time to fully mature, so please bear with us. And as always, your feedback is essential. Please leave any thoughts or questions you might have in the comments section, or email alpha@waze.com.

Tell A friend

Now wazers on iPhone can tell their friends about waze with a convenient email, ready to send to your contacts. Click the arrow on the bottom right of your screen, then the small envelope, to enter your friends’ email addresses.

Why did we change anything to begin with?

Well, the old points system didn’t properly reward active user contributions that help everyone. For instance, road munching was given a significantly higher amount of points, as compared to road reporting or map editing. These actions serve to benefit the community at large, and as such, should be given the point-weight that they deserve – dontcha think?

Also, overall the number of points was just getting way too high and hard to follow, so the new system will remedy that issue, too.

So, what’re the actual changes we’re talking about?

A smaller number of points will be granted for each action, and more points will be given for activities that benefit the community, overall. Wanna really amp up your points? Go ahead and edit the map on your computer or report hazards, etc. on the road. The more you contribute to the driving community in your area, the more you earn!

And how will this change affect your existing points?

You’re going to notice a difference. Your points will be lower and your rank might have changed, too, but for some perspective, our users with the highest amount of points will now be hovering somewhere around 150,000 points. Fear not, though, we’ve kept a log of all user events and each of your actions have been retrospectively recalculated based on the new system.

So, what now?

Ummm…lunch? Or, you can look forward to our next version. It’ll include a cool new scoreboard that will show you your points, plus how you rank in your region, as compared to the others in your driving community. Nothing like some friendly competition to motivate the most active of you to really get out there and help make the waze experience the best it can be in your area!

If you encounter any difficulties or would like any further clarification, as always, you can feel free to contact us at alpha@waze.com.

That's Yael figuring out how to make the perfect product

We’ve just submitted a new version to the iPhone Appstore and, similar to our newest Android release, this new version will have some very significant performance updates. You’ll notice that all functions will perform much faster than before and since the update is designed to use less resources, running waze won’t drain your battery like it might have in the past. We’d be happy to hear what you think, and if you notice the difference…

In addition, the new iPhone version will include the Ping-a-Wazer feature, too. We’ve already seen folks having a lot of fun with it on Android, but again, a reminder – though you can ping a wazer and it may appear as a private conversation, it’s not. All chit-chats are publicly viewable, so use your best judgment, wazers! It may take about a week +/- for approval from the Appstore, but it shouldn’t be too long now and we’ll update you here on the blog once it’s good to go…

Beyond the stuff that’s coming down the pipeline in the near future, we’re also thinking ahead and having plenty of meetings (in our white lab coats, of course) to discuss how to take waze to the next level, so make sure to stay tuned…

And lastly, if you didn’t already know it, the waze badge on Foursquare is now up for the taking (and has been for a few weeks). All you have to do is check in to anywhere on Foursquare via waze three times and – poof!- it’s yours…

Happy to announce that we’ve got a new version up on the Android Market, to be followed soon by a similar version  on the iPhone Appstore – more info on that, once we have it…

First off, this version has some significant  performance improvements including way better UI responsiveness and lower memory use. We hope that you’ll notice a big difference the next time you start wazing…

But the fun bit is this – we have a cool new feature to unveil: Ping-a-Wazer, where you can ping other wazers to get the ‘word on the street’ on what’s happening in other locations. Just look for the wazers with a blue bubble on top of their avatars – this means that they agree to be pinged.

Important to note: If you’d like to make yourself available to be pinged, too, visit the profile section, under settings, and click ‘I agree to be pinged’. Without changing these settings, you will not be shown as available for chat.

Note that for safety, just like with other waze reporting features, typing is disabled while the car is in motion, but go ahead and ping a wazer before you set out on the road, at those annoyingly long red lights, or from the shoulder of the road – and have fun with it!

Lastly, though your message will pop up on the screen of the user you pinged, make sure to keep in mind that all conversations are publically viewable under ‘chit chat’ – so be good! 

 

Foursquare Integration – We’re super excited to announce our integration with Foursquare, a popular new location-based geo-gaming app that’s getting a lot of buzz. Users of both apps can now ‘check in’ to various locations on Foursquare via the waze client – a feature that’s we hope you’ll really like! If you’re not already familiar with Foursquare, you’re definitely gonna want to check this one out…

‘Road Goodies’-  As you know, waze recently added ‘road goodies’ – small icons worth bonus points – and the just-released holiday version features adorable wintery ‘road goodies’ including snowflakes (worth 50 points) and candy canes (worth 100 points), scattered all over the map.

Holiday Treasure Hunt – We also have a holiday treasure hunt running, where little treasure chests scattered around the map will open to reveal real-world prizes! (See the next blog post for more details…)

Multiple Language Support –  And last, but not least, the new holiday version also includes Spanish and Italian support, both on the client interface as well as the audio navigation prompts. These translations were fully undertaken by waze community members, and we’re turning to the rest of you to help out with the waze translation project. Check out the waze Wiki for more information on how to get involved. We’re currently working on Bosnian, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Russian – but feel free to add any language that you wanna be wazing in!