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Google Maps may finally show how much your tolls will cost
It would be a huge help to anyone trying to get around as cheaply as possible
Google constantly tweaks its Maps program to make it more useful for users (and, admittedly, all the businesses that pay to advertise in the app and on the web). According to a message sent to members of the Google Maps preview program, the next major feature to be added will be automatic display of prices for tolls on roads, bridges, and other potentially expensive additions to your navigation route.
Winter can be brutal for commutes. Between the snow, ice, wind, and rain you're almost guaranteed to run into unfavorable road conditions while you're out and about. Waze seems to have noticed this, as a new feature was just announced: snow warnings for the app, which include reporting unplowed roads and ice that's present on the route.
Over the last few years, Waze has partnered up with quite a large number of music and podcast streaming services to make listening to audio while navigating easier and less distracting. Tidal users can finally join in on the party, as the two companies have announced that they're teaming up to bring playback controls to Waze and turn-by-turn navigation to Tidal.
Google started rolling out the new Android Auto earlier this month, and it's an overall improvement. You should have the updated interface already, but we've heard from a number of Android Auto users who haven't seen the update appear automatically. Luckily, there's a quick fix.
Ever since Google bought Waze, we've feared that the company might kill off the app and roll a worse version of it into Google Maps, as is sometimes the case with other services it owns (looking at Nest right now). But Waze is alive and well, and Google keeps adding useful new features to it, such as the Google Assistant and a carpool service. Today, Waze is also gaining support for the podcast app Castbox.
As usual with the last few years of I/O, Google took a chunk of time to talk about Assistant. While there are some other really interesting pieces, one that is sure to make people happy is that Assistant is coming to Waze.
JBL is bringing Google Assistant everywhere this year, from speakers to soundbars, displays, headphones, and more. The latest addition to its line-up, the JBL Link Drive, is meant to help you use Google Assistant while driving, but without taking your eyes off the road or fiddling with your phone.
IFA 2018 may be over, but there are still some interesting tidbits of news worth mentioning. One of the stands we visited briefly in Berlin last week was that of German Autolabs to see an interesting new product. It may resemble a Nest Thermostat, but Chris is actually a digital assistant for your car.
The Google Maps team seems to be trying out different layouts and options for its bottom tabs. Most users have three tabs (Explore, Driving, Transit), in the US and other select countries you also have the For You tab, some users are starting to see another separate tab for the Map, and I just came across this other design with a combined Commute tab.
You open a maps application, you expect to see a map of where you are. It's common sense, yet we have to start this news article with this pretty basic knowledge bit. The reason? Whoever is behind the latest Google Maps server-side test seems to have missed that "Map app making 101" lesson and went free-styling with their own ideas.
The single largest omission present in Google Maps Go (and, in part, Android Go) was the lack of proper navigation support. If you tried to use the app to get turn-by-turn directions, you were pretty much out of luck, as it would just point you to the more fully-featured Google Maps app—basically defeating the purpose of a "maps" app, in my opinion. Well, Maps Go still can't do navigation, but Google has seen fit to break that functionality out into yet another Go app: Navigation for Google Maps Go.
The Pixel 2 launched with many neat tricks under its belt, one of which is the option to automatically turn on Do Not Disturb while driving. Later on, Google opened up the smarts behind this to developers with the Transition API, letting them easily implement a real-world activity detection algorithm into their apps. And we're now reaping the benefit: Driving Detector is a new application that turns on Do Not Disturb automatically when driving, using the official API, and it works on non-Pixels too.
The Pixel 2 has a handy feature that allows the phone to turn on Do Not Disturb when it detects its user is driving a car. The trick is enabled by a tool called the Transition API, which uses algorithms to recognize different types of real-world activity. Google announced Tuesday that the Transition API is now available for use by all Android developers.
If you think it looks like a miniature Echo Dot for your car, you're basically spot on. The Garmin Speak is a GPS navigation unit with Amazon Alexa built-in. It was announced yesterday and is the first in-car device of its kind to add Alexa capabilities. At just an inch and a half, it's tiny, and yet it offers the same turn-by-turn GPS navigation as Garmin's other products while also including Amazon's smart assistant.Garmin Speak will hook up to your car stereo speakers, giving a voice to the device and allowing you to ask Alexa to stream music, tell you the weather, or read you the news. And to get directions, you just have to say "Alexa, ask Garmin for directions to..." There are also interactive games if you need to entertain the family on a long trip. Another useful application is the control of smart home devices remotely. If you forgot to turn your lights off, no problem, just ask Alexa to turn them off.
If you've ever sampled the BBC's excellent radio output, there's one app you really need in your life: BBC iPlayer Radio. It's a one-stop shop for all BBC radio shows, from sport to comedy to current affairs, and while the app may have its quirks, it's still a mostly good experience on Android.
It's 2017, and we still don't have commercial flying cars, affordable jet-packs, or even automated package delivery. But thanks to HUDWAY, at least one sci-fi mainstay has made its way into the consumer market. Today the company launched a Kickstarter for its newest product, an affordable heads-up display called the HUDWAY Cast.
A new update to Google Maps is rolling out to the beta channel members right now, and like so many previous releases, there are a few new features to check out. First, the Q&A feature from the last teardown of Maps is live. Drivers will soon be able to see a monthly report of their behavior right inside the app. If you're running an Android O developer preview, the first thing you can look forward to is the addition of Picture-in-Picture support. Also for Android O are a pair of new notification channels to get better control over navigation-specific information.
If you enjoy listening to music or podcasts while driving, you may be using Android Auto and Google Maps in conjunction with Google Play Music, Pocket Casts, or Spotify. But those of you who prefer Waze for directions and traffic updates may often find themselves juggling it alongside their audio app throughout the drive. That's neither easy nor safe, but it's about to get better.
A dashcam is one of those things that seems only slightly important until about five minutes after a fender-bender, wherein it becomes retroactively essential. Even so, those dashboard-mounted cameras don't grown on trees, so most cars in the US still aren't equipped with them. Nexar, a new Android app that's currently in "unreleased" status on the Play Store, aims to fix that. It turns any Android device into an AI-powered dash cam - all you need is Android 4.1 or later, a rear camera, and some way to mount it in your vehicle.
There are some missing features in Android and some of Google's apps that are simply incomprehensible. Speed limits are one of them. In countries where speed limits are enforceable by the law and mandatory to respect (ie not here in Lebanon), it's quite unfathomable to me that you would be using a routing and navigation app that didn't show you the speed limit of each road you were taking so you could drive safely and lawfully. But Google Maps didn't have that and it's not until v9.35 beta from a couple of weeks ago that Cody found the first signs of speed limits support inside the app's APK.