trapster
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One of Waze's earliest rivals is calling it quits
If you were quick to embrace smartphones as navigational tools, you may know Trapster. It gives you crowdsourced alerts for speed traps, road hazards and other conditions that can affect your commute. Unfortunately, you won't have access to it for much longer; Trapster will shut down in the next few weeks after looking at its "ongoing investments." We've reached out to the company for more details on what's happening, but it's easy to see why it might close up shop. One of its main rivals over the years, Waze, is now under Google's wing -- it's difficult to imagine most crowdsourced location services competing against a company with that much clout. The news is undoubtedly sad if you're a loyal fan, but you'll at least have some alternatives (including Waze and Cobra Electronics' gear) for keeping tabs on driving conditions.
Trapster 3.0 helps you avoid speed traps, encourages safety first
Speed limits, highway patrol, other drivers, it can all be such a bummer -- especially, if you're sitting back in one of these. With a little crowdsourced aid, however, and a free Android app, you can still fulfill that need for excessive speed. Recently released on the Android market, Trapster's v3.0 update refreshes the look of its checkpoint alerting mobile app and throws in some new features for good measure. In addition to the cleaner UI, there's also a new homescreen widget that lets you vote on upcoming traps and terrain maps to complement the existing standard and satellite versions. But the real standout feature here is the inclusion of a real-time speedometer that should have the heavy-footed reaching for that brake more often. The new function alerts drivers with color-coded warnings should their speed demon ways get the best of the road's limit. Alright, so the app may discourage your burnt rubber predilections, but that shouldn't stop you from hitting the source link to download this ticket-avoiding application.
Speed trap checker Trapster for iPhone updated to 4.0
We've mentioned Trapster once here on the site before, but we haven't really covered it in any depth yet, I believe. It's the official iPhone app [iTunes link] for an online database of speed traps, so that you can get fair warning when the police are checking speeds in a certain part of town. It's a very popular app with over 3 million users already (and if you're constantly looking to dodge speed traps, you've probably already heard of it), but as with all community databases, one of the questions is always confidence: is the information you're getting true, or is it a perception that could be wrong? The company has just released version 4.0 out onto the App Store, and most of the upgrades are designed to help you out with confidence in their listings. There's a new feature called Patrol, which will show you just how recently another Trapster user has driven down the same road you're on, which means the information there is much more recent. Another mode called Caravan will actually let you watch the locations of friends or other users in real-time, so if you're road-tripping with friends, you can track your trip together. There's new Facebook and iPhone connections, and lots of new "trap types," so you can even track accidents, construction zones, or just mark off dangerous intersections. Sounds good, and even better, the app is completely free. The only issue we've heard from users so far is that the app can use battery power like crazy (given that it's tracking GPS and sending information back and forth constantly), but if you've got a car charger going while you're driving around, that shouldn't be an issue. If you do a lot of traveling with your iPhone, it's definitely worth a look.
Dash opens platform up for third-party developers
No need worrying that as much as you'd like to change the Dash Express, you can't. Because you can, savvy? Announced today, Dash Navigation has cracked its platform open for third-party developers and simultaneously launched the industry's first dynamic API program at O'Reilly's Where 2.0 Conference. Dash is hoping that eager devs will spend time crafting DashApps, which would theoretically provide web-based content to consumers while still in the car. The outfit also took the wraps off of the first five partner-created applications, which give Express owners Coldwell Banker Home Search, myFUNAMBOL Calendar, BakTrax Radio, Trapster and MyWeatherBug buttons. Unfortunately, details beyond that were slim, but you certainly tag the read link to learn more about the aforesaid few that are already created.
