From TeleNav

Tired of the same old voice giving you GPS directions day in and day out? Looking for another way to get into the holiday spirit? We have just what you need …

Beginning today and running through the month of December, we are offering Santa’s voice for just $0.99 and we’ll donate ALL proceeds to Toys for Tots. So now you can get Santa to help guide you around this season and help children in need at the same time.

You can purchase and download Santa’s voice either via your phone or our website:

Via your phone:

• Launch TeleNav GPS Navigator
• Select “Share and More”
• Select “Preferences”
• Select “Navigation Audio”
• Select “Guide Tones”
• Select “Santa Claus”

Via our website:

• Go to TeleNav.com
• Select “My TeleNav” on the top right (you’ll need your PIN number to login)
• Select “My Settings”
• Select “Device Settings”
• Select “Santa Claus”

The Santa Clause voice is only compatible with TeleNav GPS Navigator v. 5.5 and 5.8. To find out which phones support these versions, click here.

No, Santa won’t yell at you (Todd’s version is..umm..unique) if you decide to ghost-ride (although please don’t – we don’t condone it!). Here is a sample of what the TeleNav GPS Navigator Santa voice sounds like.

Thanks for helping us support Toys for Tots! Please drive safely!

Waze is currently available in the Android Market and it has been receiving regular updates. The service provides free turn-by-turn navigation with voice guidance and real time traffic updates. They recently released clients for iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Symbian which has resulted in a major increase of people using the service. If you are unfamiliar with Waze, check out their guided tour.

I am a big fan of Waze because they are actively involved with the community and they routinely host fun contest. Check out their latest challenge to win a $100 iTunes giftcard.

Give Waze another look if you tried out the early beta.

Goblins and monsters and pumpkins, oh my! It’s Halloween time and what better way to celebrate than to offer something sweet to our favorite trick-or-treaters out there? How about a $100 iTunes giftcard and an awesome candy goodiebag? Interested? Well, read on…

How to Participate:

1. Downloaded waze to your phone – you can do so on our download page.
2. Enter your Twitter account info by visting waze’s ‘Profile’ section, under ‘Settings” in the app once it’s on your phone. Make sure that the feature is turned to ‘on’.
3. Send a road report by clicking ‘Report’ on the bottom of the main waze screen and following directions from there. Road reports can be anything you’d like to report from the road – hazards, speed cams, police traps, etc.
4. Done! Your report will be tweeted automatically to your followers, entering you one time in the contest.

The contest begins immediately and the first winner will be picked from road tweets happening from the time of posting until 4am PST on Thursday morning. Each additional winner will be chosen for the following 24 hour periods – 4am PST on Thursday, October 29 through 4am PST on Friday, October 30, and so on, through 4am PST on Sunday, November 2, 2009.

We will announce the winners on Twitter, so make sure you’re already a follower of @waze. For complete details, see the Waze blog.

If you are in the Halloween mood, don’t forget about our scary Android wallpapers.

1. Google already collects anonymous bits of information from mobile phones

It is no secret that Google collects data from your phone. They currently use this information to crowdsource the live traffic data on Google Maps.

Google specified which devices this affects over at ReadWriteWeb:

Google Maps products that include location services will make use of this information for traffic. This includes the downloadable Google Maps for Mobile product for mobile phones as well as the Google Maps application for Android phones. One exception is the maps functionality that Google provides for the iPhone – the iPhone does not provide any location data that is used for traffic crowdsourcing at this time.

Remember this screen?

2. Google is building their own map data

Everyone tried to debunk my original prediction by pointing out Google has a multi-year deal with Tele Atlas to use their map data. According to Forbes, Google ended that licensing agreement in early October, but will continue to use Tele Atlas for international maps.

Instead, Google will use data collected from their Street View cars and crowdsource the rest from mobile phones. This is a similar approach we have seen from Waze. Google has the clear advantage of pre-installation on most Android phones.

ReadWriteWeb was able to confirm that Google collects route data:

According to Dave Barth, the product manager for Google Maps, Google will “find the start and end points of every trip and permanently delete that data so that even Google ceases to have access to it.”

If you want more proof Google is using their own map data, just visit Google Maps and look in the bottom right corner.

Go to maps.google.com and check for yourself.

3. Google allows you to make map corrections

Waze issued a direct response on Google’s crowdsourcing efforts by claiming Google was only using passive sources for data collection, but things have changed. Google now allows you to make map corrections.

4. Turn-by-turn directions are available on the Verizon Motorola Droid which features Android 2.0

Verizon worked with Motorola and Google to include a navigation app with their Android phones that is powered by Google Maps.

A source with access to a Droid phone shared their experiences:

There’s an app on the Sholes called Navigation that does exactly that: GPS based turn by turn directions, using the Text to Speech library available in Android 1.6/2.0. It even does the tilted map view similar to most commercial GPS units. I think personally the neatest feature in it is that it ties into the Global Search functionality of the phone, so from the home screen, you can tap the search widget’s “speak” button, say “Directions to San Francisco” and it’ll load, calculate where you are, confirm you want “Directions from here to San Francisco”, and when you say “yes” it goes to it.

This feature was spotted on the Motorola site, before it was quickly taken down.

Verizon Droid users will have access to turn-by-turn directions.

5. Google will enter any market where they can sell ads

If anyone can monetize GPS navigation software, it is Google. The map data they are collecting could also open up new revenue streams as they compete directly with companies like Tele Atlas and Navteq.

Google has shown a willingness to jump into any business. They are rumored to be launching a music service this week and also offer their own Android phone in retail stores. Carriers control which software runs on their phones, but if Google bypasses the carrier, they can include whatever they like on the device.

Conclusion

If Google is allowing Verizon to use their maps data for spoken turn-by-turn directions, it is only a matter of time before we see a similar service on other Android devices. I was hoping we would see this navigation service coincide with the release of Android 2.0, but it appears Google is still hard at work on it. Look to 2010 for this service to begin appearing on mobile phones.

What features would you like to see included with Google’s GPS navigation software?

“We cannot ignore such a successful platform as Android. HTC is an important partner of ours and Android is becoming increasingly important too.”

It appears the relationship between Google and TomTom is growing.  Tele Atlas, who was taken over by TomTom in 2007,  recently signed a 5 year extension with Google to provide map data for Google Maps.  The agreement gives Tele Atlas access to updates and corrections made by the Google Maps community.  When you put the pieces together it looks like we might see a service similar to Waze.

When questioned about support for BlackBerry devices the TomTom VP responded, “I do not question the opportunity that RIM might offer but we know that a satnav device needs to have a large touchscreen and voice commands to be able to work for turn-by-turn navigation. We come from a PDA background and we know what will work.”  RIM has offered some touchscreen phones like the BlackBerry Storm, but the majority of their devices feature smaller QVGA displays.

When questioned about a possible TomTom phone, no comment was offered.  It will be interesting to see what they do with their rival Garmin about to launch an Android phone(made by Asus) later this year.

Check out this video of the iPhone version of TomTom to see what is in store for Android users.

Could TomTom be making an apperance on Android soon?

[via Pocket-lint]

Free voice turn-by-turn directions

One of the big complaints with the free GPS service was the lack of voice directions while driving.  A recent blog post reveals that Waze will soon be adding this feature and sponsoring a “voice-off” contest to allow the community to submit their voices.  Look for this contest over the coming weeks.

Waze coming to new platforms

All the maps and traffic information found in Waze is generated by the community.  When there are more people wazing in your area, the application becomes more useful.  It is exciting to read that Waze has plans to release clients across all major smartphone platforms.  The larger community will be a huge plus and help to offer more accurate and up to date information.  Platforms that are set to receive Waze include iPhone, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Blackberry.

Win a myTouch 3G phone

“Waze across America” is a new contest that launched today to encourage more people to try Waze.  All you have to do is download Waze and submit a road report to be entered into the contest.  Winners will be selected from 1 out of the first 100 road reports for each state.  For complete contest information, visit the Waze blog.

Get involved

If you would like to get involved with the Waze community, there are a number of ways you can help.

• Visit the official forums to report bugs and request new features.
• Use the updated map editor to make corrections in your area and apply to become an area manager.
• Continue driving with Waze to help update their live maps
• Help spread the word about Waze to others by getting their latest updates from Twitter – @waze

Waze is constantly evolving which makes it one of my favorite GPS apps.