Waze – Brilliant or Daft?

Waze is a free navigation app for iPhone and Android where the maps are created by the users as they drive around.  Data goes two ways, so updates on traffic conditions are collected automatically by road speeds of users.  Users can also directly report changes, incidents etc., as they drive.  Watch the demo:

There are very few roads in Worcester shown, so the question is, does one wait for other people to populate the map, then when it’s useful, join in, or do the honourable thing and help create it?  Watch the demo here.

I can imagine though, roads through (say) the Scottish Highlands might take a while to fill in, which would make it useless for navigation in out-of-the-way spots.

It is however, a very interesting concept that would at least do away with TomTom’s £40 map and speed camera updates!  It’s one of those things that will either work brilliantly or not at all.  I can’t make up my mind which this is!

Diaspora

Diaspora is a project by four NYU developers who hope to build an open source social network that will allow users to fully control their online privacy and identity.

Born out of the recent Facebook privacy farrago, these four students thought it would be a great idea to create a Facebook alternative.

They launched the idea on Kickstarter, looking for $10,000 backing so they could work on the idea.  As I write this they have raised over $173,000.  That right, they’re 1730% funded! I’m one of those backers, and if you want to be another, you have to act swiftly.

What this does say is, there are an awful lot of people who just don’t trust Facebook any more – and frankly who can blame them?