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Waze could tempt you from Google Maps with these super-useful driving alerts
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Waze will receive a nice quality-of-life update that’ll help you drive around more safely as well as let you know of any recent changes to the road.

The patch is slated to be released on Android and iOS devices across the globe, but the rollout won’t happen all at once. Instead, the six features will come out in pieces throughout the coming months. It’s a little complicated, but once you break the announcement down, it all makes sense.

When it comes to safety, the app will notify you in advance of any emergency vehicles on your route. That way you’ll know when to shift lanes or take a detour. This tool is currently making its way to users living in the US, Canada, Mexico, and France, with, Waze promises, more countries coming soon.

Waze's new speed limit and emergency vehicle alerts

(Image credit: Waze/Google)

Our favorite update out of the bunch has to be Waze deciding it'll shout out upcoming changes to speed limits in case they’re about to suddenly decrease. It's a pretty helpful tool whenever you want to avoid getting caught in a speed trap. Third, the developers are expanding hazard detection to include speed bumps, sharp turns, and toll booths. The speed limit warnings as well as the hazard detection upgrade are currently rolling out to all users. 

This next set of features is scheduled to launch down the line.

Normally, whenever someone opens a navigation app, it’s because they want to get to their destination ASAP. Well, later this month, you’ll be given the option to take more scenic routes. They may not be the fastest way to get home, but at least, you'll have the opportunity to take your favored path instead.

Most drivers can agree that finding a place to park in a city can be an utter nightmare. To make finding the sweet spot less stressful, Waze is teaming up with software company Flash to provide information on parking garages. The app will tell you how much it costs to park at a location, whether it’s covered or open to the elements, if there’s a valet, and more. 

The announcement states the new data feed is seeing a limited release. It will provide info on a select group of 30,000 parking garages across major cities in the United States and Canada.

Waze's new parking garage feed and alternative routes tool

(Image credit: Google/Waze)

The last feature will teach people how to navigate a roundabout. Waze states they’ll point out when to enter, when to switch lanes, and “where to exit”. Android users will receive the roundabout tool later this month, however, iPhone owners will have to wait until later in the year to get the same upgrade.

We reached out to Google, which is Waze’s parent company, asking if there are plans for future expansions and if it’s going to add the same features to the app’s web page. This story will be updated at a later time.

Waze's latest patch looks like it'll keep a lot of people safe, but accidents happen all the time. To keep your insurance rates from skyrocketing, check out TechRadar's list of the best dash cams for 2024. You never know when you'll need one.

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Google Alerts accidentally circulating malware among users
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Fraudsters are using black SEO, Google Sites and spam pages to push fake data breach notifications impersonating big name companies in an effort to distribute malware and scams.

As reported by BleepingComputer, Google Alerts help to spread these fake notifications as the service monitors search results looking for user-defined keywords. To spread their malware, the scammers either created pages or used compromised websites to combine the term data breach with well-known brands.

The news outlet has seen fake breach notifications for many companies including EA, Dropbox, Hulu, PayPal, Target, Mjoang and more. However, what ties all of these companies together is the fact that they have all fallen victim to a data breach in the past.

If a user clicks on any of the links picked up by Google Alerts, they end up going to pages with fake giveaways, download offers for unwanted extensions and malware. The fraudsters have made it harder to detect their malicious behavior though by making it so that these pages don't directly reveal the true nature of their campaign. Instead, users may see a “page not found” error or a text-filled page created to promote a fake data breach.

Ranking higher in search results

BleepingComputer also discovered a hacked website containing a directory with around 2,000 text files which contain specific keywords in order to promote a topic in Google's search results. The information inside these blobs of text was copied from public sources and covers a wide variety of subjects. When a user searchers for a certain topic online, the scammer's results rank higher in search results and are more likely to be clicked on.

In addition to using compromised websites, the scammers may also set up their own pages and in many cases they used a free tool from Google called Google Sites to do so. When a user clicks on a Google link for one of these fake pages, the link actually redirects them through multiple addresses before the final site is reached.

The scammers also used fake Adobe Flash update notifications to spread their malware. These fake alerts popped up in both Google Chrome and in Mozilla Firefox. Fake giveaways were also used by the scammers to lure potential victims.

To prevent falling victim to these scams, users should remain alert online, especially when clicking on links in search results, and remember that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Via BleepingComputer

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