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Waze app will now alert you when driving over the speed limit

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The Waze maps app— the one Google acquired a few years back to improve its own mapping services—today announced a new features that will warn drivers when they are driving over the speed limit. 

Now when you’re using the Waze app to navigate, you’ll automatically see a visual warning (pictured above) if you go over the speed limit, and you can also manually set audio warnings for reaching the limit or hitting 5, 10 or 15% over.


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Google patent covers using vehicle sensors to detect road quality, improve Maps

Google-Patent-road-qualityAs first spotted by AutoBlog, Google was recently granted a patent covering a system capable of detecting road quality conditions, which in theory could allow it to deliver warnings of potholes and other road quality issues to its users.

The patent describes using a number of sensors in the vehicle, in addition to  potentially adding other sensors to a vehicle’s shocks and elsewhere, and transmitting the data through a mobile network. Google would in return use the data for Google Maps to improve driving directions and potentially warn users of dangerous road conditions. It’s also data that would undoubtedly come in handy for Google’s self-driving car project.

Google Maps already offers similar warnings for things like accidents, construction, road closures, and more via user submissions in the Waze mapping app it acquired along with a few other sources. But having data compiled directly from the vehicles would likely allow it to have more accurate and up to date data for much larger areas compared to user submitted data.

You can view the Google patent in full here.

Winter is coming: Yahoo Weather app adds near-term rain and snow alerts

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Yahoo is today updating its Yahoo Weather app for Android with near-term rain and snow alerts (not that we needed a reminder that summer is nearly over). With the updated app, users will receive alerts for rain and snow 15 minutes before an expected downpour.

In addition to the new weather alerts, Yahoo notes that the app is now more accurate with improvements made to the methods it uses to “determine and serve forecasts.” As an example, Yahoo says the app will now “even zoom in on microclimates.”

The updated Yahoo Weather app with rain and snow alerts, version 1.8, is available for Android on Google Play now.

What’s New in Version 1.8

Introducing new weather alerts around the world!

Yahoo Weather, our beautiful and intuitive weather app, will alert you 15 minutes before rain or snow is expected so you can grab your jacket, boots and umbrella!

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Google rolling out Classroom notifications to Android and iOS apps

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We shared last month that a number of changes were coming to Google’s Classroom service for educators and students, and now Google says that one of those changes is rolling out now: mobile alerts. Google says that the Classroom app for both Android and iOS will gain support for mobile notifications this week.

For instance, students will be alerted immediately when they receive new assignments or grades, notes from teachers, comments from fellow classmates, and more—allowing them to stay on top of their schoolwork even more easily.

To support the new notifications feature, Google released an updated version of its Classroom app for Android on the Play Store and iOS on the App Store this week. Google first announced the new alerts feature for Classroom, which it launched last year to help teachers and students manage classwork, alongside other upcoming changes coming to Classroom including a new developer API, a share button for sending work to other services, and the ability to re-use assignments.

Google Alerts redesigned with modern look and alert suggestions

Google Alerts

Google Alerts quietly received a redesign overnight, gaining a brand new user interface that closer aligns with the appearance of other Google web services. In addition to a streamlined user interface, the service is also more automated now and offers alert suggestions for your name and email address, popular tech companies, athletes, celebrities, countries, places, industries and more. 
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Google rolling out live event alerts in search results for YouTube and Hangouts

Google Live Events Search

Google has began rolling out an experimental feature on its search engine that makes it easier to find live events on YouTube or Hangouts on Air. A live event will begin showing up in search results up to 3 hours before it starts, providing users with a link that takes them to the event page to watch. A card-like box appears at the top of Google when searching for the name or author of live events. 
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Google Now will alert you when nearby shops have products you’ve been searching for

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If you find yourself constantly searching the web for new toys, you’re really gonna dig Google Now’s newest trick. As a follow up to a recent update that helps you locate stores while cruising the mall, this new software push takes things to another level. Starting today, Google Now will display a product information card whenever you’re near a shop that carries an item that you’ve been searching for online.


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