And in the app itself, pretty soon you’ll notice red roses (5 pts), red heart balloons (3pts) and pink heart balloons (2 pts) scattered around the map in honor of the holiday. Munch as many as you can to rack up a few extra V-Day bonus points, and drive to where you need to be with a little Love-on-the-brain, as you go. And even after you get there…

Alrighty guys, here’s a real good one…

So, you already know how Waze is all about getting you to where you wanna go in the smartest way possible, but now we wanna ask you that question on a bigger scale: Where do you want to go around the GLOBE?! Dream big cause now’s your chance to snag a ticket to anywhere in the world for you + three friends! (Up to a $2000 value, each, if all four of you are registered Waze users before February 1, 2012)

It’s suuuuper simple to participate, all you have to do is:

• Click here to log in to the ‘With Waze You’re Going Places’ contest app on Facebook. Note that you’ll need to like the Waze FB page to get going, if you haven’t already…
• Create a group of three friends and invite them to participate with you in the contest. Note that this part is in two steps – you’ll first need to select the friends from your friend list to create the group, then you’ll need to click each of their pictures individually to send an actual invite. When all three of your friends log in to the contest app, your group will be complete.
• (Optional) Have each of your +3s become a registered Waze user before February 1, 2012. This will up your budget from $1500 to $2000 each, if your group is selected as the winner.

That’s all there is to it! The best part about it all? You can enter as many times as you want to increase your chances to win, each time with a new group of +3s. So, whatcha waiting for? Start creating your groups right now!

Note that the winners will be announced on February 2, 2012 on the Waze Facebook page…

UPDATE: Here are the winners! Congratulations US Wazers, Faith L.K., Dan K., Damien N., and Terry L. K. – you guys are goin’ places, keep your eyes open for an email from us…

And now, the fine print:

ELIGIBILITY:You must be 18 years of age or older to enter the Waze Inc. (Hereby “Waze”) ‘Going Places’ contest. PERIOD: Waze’s ‘Going Places’ contest runs from 12:01AM EST on December 8, 2011 thru February 1, 2012 23:59 EST. PARTICIPATION: Participants must have a Facebook profile that reflects their real name to take part in the contest. Any participant has the right to cancel his or her participation in the contest by clicking the ‘Remove App’ button. Note that a person can join more than one group but the same person cannot join the same group more than once. Different Facebook accounts for the same person within one group will disqualify the whole group. PRIZE RESTRICTIONS: Winners will be picked at random on January 2, 2012. The four winners do not need to travel to the same destination at the same time, but must book their ticket within 6 months of winning prize. Prize is for flight only. Any amount left over will be void. 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 contest or any contest 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 contest, 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 contest.  CONDITIONS: This contest 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 contest 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 contest 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.

As we’re getting ready to gather ’round the table and count our blessings, now’s an appropriate time to lend a hand to those less fortunate, don’t you think?

Here’s one way to do your part: simply ’Like’ the Waze FB page (if you haven’t already) and ‘Share’ the specific FB post with the above graphic on your wall by clicking the ‘Share’ button on the bottom of the post. From today through to the end of the day on November 24, for each ‘Share’, we’ll donate 25 cents to Feeding America (up to $5,ooo), for the benefit of those who face food insecurity not just on Turkey Day, but every day. Doing your part is as easy as a quick click of the mouse – we hope you guys will join us to help make a difference this holiday season!

You guys have been such great members of our online community, we wanted to find a way to give a little something back. We think we’ve found it.

Starting Monday September 12, waze is going to be looking for a fan of the week on our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/wazeapp) and a follower of the week of our twitter page (www.twitter.com/waze).

Each week we will select both a fan and a follower who we feel has stood out in an a-waze-ing way (funny no?) and send them an awesome piece of swag!

Waze you can earn brownie points on Facebook: Liking and commenting on our posts, sharing our content, putting nice things on our page wall, tagging yourself in waze pictures (when applicable), tagging waze (@waze) in your status updates, making us smile etc.

Waze you can earn brownie points on twitter:  Reply, Re-tweet, and by being a super-enthusiastic waze brand ambassador of course.

To celebrate our first week we’re gonna be giving away some beautiful waze sunshades (as seen in the pic below) to our fan and follower of the week.

So what are you waiting for??? Like and RT away!!

As most Angelenos know already, Carmageddon is almost upon the city of Los Angeles. From July 15-17, the main north/south traffic artery – the 405 – will be closed from the 101 to the 10 freeways, creating one of the biggest traffic disasters in the city’s history…hence the name.

But fear not, LA folks, Waze is on the case. And the good news is that in situations like this, Waze is actually at its best!  Since our maps are 100% live, as drivers share real-time traffic information, the whole local driving community benefits. Other apps might not even register the 405 as non-operational, whereas, with Waze, you’ll get up-to- the-minute traffic and road closure information, as well as the *best* 405 bypassing routes at any given moment. Plus, the more you drive with Waze open during this time, the more you’ll contribute to The Carmageddon Resistance, a grassroots band of LA drivers out there fighting traffic wherever it is found.

Anyone who’d like to participate in the Carmageddon Resistance, can follow it on Twitter – @BeatCarmageddon -  where they’ll gain access to round-the-clock communiqués keeping them up to date on:

• Real-time traffic updates
• Travel time for effective alternative routes via the Canyons
• Other up-to-the-moment, relevant LA road info.

We’ve also put together a website where LA drivers can get Carmageddon-resistant routes, that will take the 405 closure into consideration starting July 15. It’s a link you’ll really want to share with your friends – especially those without smartphones who can’t get this information directly from the Waze app…

Contribute to The Carmageddon Resistance!

• Make sure to open Waze whenever you get into the car
• Take an active role and share road reports as you encounter accidents, heavy traffic, speedcams or any kind of hazard along your way – you’ll be helping out the wider driving community in LA with this information, not just local Wazers (Extra karma points!)
• Spread the word. “Like” the resistance on Facebook, share www.BeatCarmageddon.com with your friends and for those with smartphones, ask them to download Waze to help strengthen the amount of real-time information coming in from drivers on the road. After all, as always, the more people who use Waze, the better it gets!

We’ve also partnered up with ABC7 news to help spread the word. Check out the very cute promo, below, alongside other local  news coverage of Waze’s role in preventing Carmageddon chaos:

Thanks for your patience everyone! We were finally able to extract the winners and the lot of you are from all over, which is an exciting testament to waze’s global growth. A big congratulations to these users on their win: iann from Australia, Mee2 from the Czech Republic, ramik79 from Italy, partycat from the UK, mapcat, deejamahl & mizter6 from the US, PYJ59 from France, tomdler from Germany and hartvarken from the Netherlands – check your inboxes for an email from us  :)

The people have spoken! Of the 19 complete submissions in our Video Demo Contest, a few thousand of you made your voices heard picked the video demos submitted by Walter from the US, Andrey from Belarus and Ian from the UK. Congrats fellas! You can check out Walter’s above, who came in #1, and check out the rest of the submissions here, at least for the next few days. Many thanks to everyone for your participation, as always you guys did a great job!

]]> http://www.waze.com/blog/video-demo-contest-closes-3-wazers-are-awarded-ipad2s/feed/ 4 http://www.waze.com/blog/short-delay-in-announcing-easter-goodiehunt-winners/ http://www.waze.com/blog/short-delay-in-announcing-easter-goodiehunt-winners/#comments Sun, 24 Apr 2011 08:18:38 +0000 Alli http://www.waze.com/blog/?p=3824

Even though you guys seem to still be running over the Easter bunnies and Easter eggs with delight, we just wanted to give you a heads-up, letting you know that there’ll be a short delay in announcing the winners of the goodiehunt. We hope to get the list of those who have won up at some point on Tuesday, and if we’re not able to, we’ll update this blog posting to keep you in the loop. Have fun with it in the few hours left to munch!

UPDATE: We’re not going to be able to announce the winners today, in the end. We’ll do our best to make that info available on Wednesday – thanks for your patience, everyone!

Remember the fun you had participating in easter egg hunts as a kid? Well, now’s the time to reenact those happy memories out on the road with Waze’s Easter Roadgoodie Hunt. Grab the kiddies (if you have any) and hit the road with the intention to collect the full set of five goodies. For each complete set you munch, you’ll get one raffle ticket for your chance to win a brand new iPod Touch! We’re giving away 10 of ‘em, so the chances are pretty sweet this time around…

Here’s how to participate:

• Download the newest version of Waze by visiting the iPhone Appstore, the Android Market, or your device’s app store.
• Make sure you’re a registered user with a valid email address on file – you can check or update this under ‘Settings’
• Then simply munch as many road goodies as you can! This time around we have bunnies (5 pts.), Easter baskets (8 pts.), blue eggs (10 pts.), pink eggs (20 pts.) and the slightly more elusive golden eggs (25 pts.). Note that the more points each goodie is worth, the more rare it will be on the map.
• For each complete set of five you’ll be awarded one raffle ticket. There is no limit to the amount of complete sets (and therefore raffle tickets) that you can rack up for yourself. Be aware that after munching one kind of road goodie, you can collect the same roadgoodie again and it will count towards your next set.
• At the end of the game, we’ll conduct a raffle among all eligible users, and will give away 10 brand new iPods (Touch 8GB).

During the contest, if you’d like a status update to better know where you stand, simply log onto the ‘My Dashboard’ section of the Waze website to see:

• How many complete sets of 5 you have
• How many days are left in the contest
• How many goodies are needed to complete your next set of 5 - and which roadgoodies those are.

The easiest and safest way to visit your dashboard is on www.waze.com/dashboard (for US and Canada) or world.waze.com/dashboard (for anywhere else in the world), and we recommend logging into your dashboard from a computer, rather than from your smartphone. Note that you’ll need to log in to the dashboard using your waze username and password. If you don’t remember your username, check under Settings>Profile in the Waze app for that information – you can also register there if you haven’t done so already. ‘My Dashboard’ is also the place to update your email address if it has changed since the time that you initially registered with us. Lastly, if you don’t recall your password, visit www.waze.com/forgot_password.

That’s about it!

We’ll let you guys go for the gold all the way through Sunday, April 24^th, and we’ll draw the winners and announce them here on the blog, April 25^th. Hope you have lotsa fun out there searching for bunnies, baskets and eggs and feel free to let us know what you think about this new kind of contest in the comments section below…enjoy!