waze

iPad Mini, 4th-gen iPad reviews

While CNET's New York office works to get power back after the storm, we're bringing you the Update show from our San Francisco office. Wednesday's top tech stories include:

- Apple judgement day: Read CNET's reviews of the iPad Mini and the latest full-size iPad. The Wi-Fi versions of the Mini and updated iPad arrive in stores on Friday.

- Give 4G connection to an iPod Touch with a $99 Freedom Pop sleeve.

- If you're buying the deluxe Wii U game console bundle, Nintendo has a perk for downloading games: 10% of every dollar … Read more

Crowdsourced navigation app Waze gets more social

Popular navigation app Waze rolled out an update with new social capabilities that makes it easer for users to find out where their friends are.

Version 3.5 of the app boasts a new design throughout, and it adds capabilities such as being able to see friends driving in a user's direction. It also makes it easy to share updates about ETA, as well as pick up friends and set spots to meet.

In addition, the app -- updated for Android and iOS -- now allows users to sign in via Facebook, send private messages, and look up useful … Read more

Few seem to heed Tim Cook's directions on mapping apps

For developers, getting noticed is more than half the battle.

At a time when the big operating systems have more than half a million apps available for sale, developers have an increasingly hard time breaking through. A whole industry has sprung up around "app discovery," offering developers ways to promote their work to an audience that likely wouldn't find them otherwise.

In such an environment, recommendations are essential. And it's hard to imagine a more valuable recommendation than a personal endorsement from the CEO of the world's most valuable technology company.

But less than a … Read more

Five free and mostly free iPhone navigation apps

Although there was much anticipation of Apple's native navigation app for iOS 6, reports of its performance revealed many flaws. If Apple Maps is not everything you had hoped, fear not, there are alternatives. Other companies have been doing navigation a lot longer than Apple, and their apps show much more refinement. Most are basically free, but you will need to pay a little for features such as voice prompts, traffic data, and downloadable maps.

Here are five free, or mostly free, iPhone navigation apps. … Read more

Waze social navigation stays in the game

Any developer making navigation apps for the iPhone has to be looking at the impending arrival of Apple Maps with fear, as it will come preinstalled on iOS 6 and offer turn-by-turn voice prompts for free. But Waze can make a few arguments why its navigation app trumps the upcoming Apple Maps.

The Waze app's initial focus was crowdsourced traffic, and it has evolved to offer full-blown, free navigation. Its social focus is something that Apple Maps will have a difficult time duplicating, but also limits Waze's usefulness in some areas. Waze's traffic features make it useful … Read more

Waze socializes navigation

Any developer making navigation apps for the iPhone has to be looking at the impending arrival of Apple Maps with fear, as it will come pre-installed on iOS 6 and offer turn-by-turn voice prompts for free. But Waze can make a few arguments why its navigation app trumps the upcoming Apple Maps.

The Waze app's initial focus was crowd-sourced traffic, and it has evolved to offer full-blown, free navigation. Its social focus is something that Apple Maps will have a difficult time duplicating, but also limits Waze's usefulness in some areas. Waze's traffic features make it useful … Read more

The incredible shrinking iPhone 5 dock

You ready to play the tech name game?

For starters, it's a juicy day for iPhone 5 rumors. The next iPhone could have a smaller dock connector with 19 pins, instead of Apple's typical 30-pin port. TechCrunch is reporting that three manufacturing sources say Apple will be using a port that's roughly the size of a micro USB. If there's truth to this, get ready to dish out money for new accessories. It won't fit that pretty little iHome charging dock anymore. (But hey, Apple fans always dish out money for new accessories. So no … Read more

Upgrade to Windows Phone 8? Not so fast.

It's a phone-tastic episode today:

Microsoft's new Windows Phone 8 operating system will be in new Windows Phones this fall, but existing Windows users won't be able to get the full upgrade. That's because the Windows Phone 8 OS requires better hardware, like multicore processors and NFC support. The next OS will also have more enterprise-friendly features and Nokia's maps. (Maps are becoming a new battle ground in mobile phones.) However, current Windows Phone users aren't completely ignored. There's a slight upgrade coming that gives the live tiles in the home screen new … Read more

Waze app update adds real-time gas prices, fuel discounts

There's already a lot to like about the Waze, the social GPS and live traffic app for Android and iOS devices. It saves you time with its turn-by-turn directions, saves you fuel by helping to avoid jams with its crowd sourced traffic data, and (possibly, most importantly) it doesn't cost a penny. With the new 2.3 update that should be hitting the app marketplaces today, Waze now moves toward actively saving you money by helping you and other drivers to find and buy the cheapest fuel around.

Starting in version 3.2, users will be able to … Read more