Facebook in talks to offer 1 Billion for Waze
We are beyond flattered at the Twitter Buzz regarding our coverage of Waze a revolutionary traffic app, in our web series “Startup Life” back in October 2012. A Total Disruption prides itself on covering some of the most brilliant innovators in the technological world and Waze is definitely one of them. Forbes announced this week that “Facebook is in talks to buy Waze for $1 billion dollars.” We found this article regarding our original coverage and had to share the good news!
I came upon @Waze – the revolutionary traffic app – while watching this awesome new You Tube channel A TOTAL DISRUPTION @totaldisruption which, I come to find, is the latest work of Ondi Timoner (@onditimoner) the genius filmmaker who won the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize twice for We Live in Public and DIG! But wait, back to Waze, which has changed my life.
It’s no wonder that Facebook is in talks to buy Waze. Have you tried Waze? As A TOTAL DISRUPTION @totaldisruption by @ondtimoner points out, it uses all of us and the data we provide by driving our cars, to gauge the average speed of routes, to discover new routes, and even to notify you if there are police on the road. You get the top choice for route, and then have the option of seeing three more alternative routes, and if your route suddenly has an accident or construction, Waze will reroute you. I have been down streets I didn’t know existed thanks to this brilliant team of engineers in Israel and Palo Alto.
Here’s the facts. When you go on Apple Maps or Google Maps, you don’t get any notification about potential hold ups or any active suggestions on how to best get where you are going. By using this the Waze app, you literally save 10-15 minutes of driving everyday! A Total Disruption’s video goes into how that actually works. This is more time we can spend with our family, working, or even online raving about Waze. Apple Computers, buy Waze if you know what’s good for you!
Aside from the fact that Waze has disrupted maps and navigation where Google and Apple could not, there is all the good press Facebook will get from associating with Waze. My favorite part of the video @onditmoner and @totaldisruption made, reveals that Waze is responsible not only for saving us our most precious resource, time, but also contributing significantly to reducing the carbon emissions brought about by daily drivers. As youtube.com/atotaldisruption points out, with roughly 40 million users (and now more) Waze is saving more than 9 Billion pounds of CO2 being put into the atmosphere every year by saving these users 2 Billion hours of commute time! And the only thing you have to do to contribute is to open the app as you are driving. You can earn points if you go ahead and indicate when you see a cop or if there’s an accident, but you don’t have to do these things to benefit from Waze. As A TOTAL DISRUPTION puts it: Waze is reshaping the way we drive and the way we navigate our world.
@onditimoner how do you always know what is the next breaking thing? Seriously, if you want to know about the next hottest app or site or piece of technology subscribe to youtube.com/atotaldisruption. They are constantly featuring the best stories about innovators, and the next big thing will be there first!