Ford Cars Will Soon Start Using Waze

Ford Ecosport

After announcing that t was coming at CES and showing us a beta version in late January, Ford is finally rolling out Waze integration with its SYNC 3 infotainment system. iOS users with a SYNC 3-equipped car will now be able to “project” or “mirror” Waze onto the infotainment system, giving them full access to Waze’s maps as well as all of the crowdsourced information about traffic, hazards, and police alert that the app is known for.

To make it work, users need the Waze app and have to be on version 3.0 (or greater) of SYNC 3, with their phones running iOS 11.3 (or later). Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t run through CarPlay; Apple still wants you to use Apple Maps there. Instead, it runs on SYNC 3 via Ford’s AppLink, which is kind of like Ford’s own version of CarPlay.

Available on any SYNC 3 system

Like with, say, CarPlay, the Waze app will still be running on your phone in this situation. But the mirrored version that shows up on the infotainment screen doesn’t feel any worse off because of this (at least based on what I saw when it was running in beta at the beginning of this year). The only issue I had when I fiddled with Waze back then was that the experience was a little buggy, which is not surprising for a beta.

Otherwise, the icons are big and colourful, the interface was simple to navigate, and it even works with voice controls. Bringing Waze to the bigger screen for iOS users — something Android Auto users have enjoyed for a while now — helps add more choices to the mix. It’s also another small part of the effort Ford’s making to try and elevate its tech-forward image. The company also announced a deeper integration with Amazon’s Alexa earlier this year. On the driving side, it recently unveiled its driver assistance package, which will debut on the 2019 Edge SUV.

  

Google: YouTube Premium And YouTube Music Announced by Google

Google is breaking up its premium YouTube Red service into two new offerings: a YouTube Music streaming service, available either for free with ads or for $9.99 per month, and a YouTube Premium for original video content costing $11.99 per month.

YouTube Music is Google’s most direct competitor to Spotify yet, coming with “a reimagined mobile app” and a new desktop player, both of them designed specifically for music. The YouTube advantage, argues Google, is that it will combine all the official versions of songs with access to “thousands” of related playlists, remixes, covers, live versions, and of course, music videos. Google’s AI mastery is also being integrated into YouTube Music, with the promise that the app will discover songs either by lyrics or just a general description like “that hipster song with the whistling.”

Music discovery is literally front and centre in the new YouTube Music, with the app’s home screen dynamically recommending new listening based on your history, location, and activity. Air travellers might get Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, for example, while gym rats would get something a little more dynamic to keep their pump going. Google is emphasizing its diversity of playlists, too, which will also be used to suggest and surface new music for the user.

In terms of pricing, YouTube Music will be a direct match to all the major music-streaming platforms already available, costing $9.99 for the premium version, which adds background listening, downloads, and an ad-free experience to the free option. Anyone who already has a Google Play Music subscription gets YouTube Music as part of that membership. Play Music isn’t going away yet, though it’s hard to see what future purpose there will be to Google sustaining two services and apps that overlap to quite such a degree.

Google

 The $11.99 YouTube Premium gets you everything inside YouTube Music plus access to the YouTube Originals library of video content. Google promises it’ll expand the Originals selection with “more, bigger original series and movies,” including comedies, dramas, reality series, and action adventure shows from the UK, Germany, France, Mexico, and other countries. With YouTube Premium, you’ll be free of ads, able to play videos in the background or download them for offline playback.

YouTube Premium is the new name for YouTube Red, and Google is doing something nice for existing Red subscribers by not asking them to pay the new higher price. In countries where Red is already available, you can secure the $9.99 price by signing up now, before YouTube Premium has rolled out. That includes the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Korea, all of which are getting YouTube Premium “soon.” With the new service’s rollout, the following new countries will be added: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Google indicates that additional expansion will come later this year and beyond.

YouTube Music starts rolling out on Tuesday, May 22nd, to the existing YouTube Red markets, with the small addendum that in South Korea Google will only be offering a $9.99 YouTube Premium service. The other countries named will also get YouTube Music “in the coming weeks.”