Car Home for Android Gets Personal

Car Home for Android turns your Android phone into a better driving companion by providing you with quick access to key applications on the go: GPS navigation, voice-activated commands, contacts, and more. Today, we’re releasing a new version of Car Home for Android which makes it easier to customize Car Home to get the information you need faster.

Now, you can also quickly customize the shortcuts to personalize Car Home with one-touch access to apps and information on your phone. Just select one of the icons marked “Add shortcut” to start creating your own shortcuts. You can also drag-and-drop or remove shortcuts by long pressing any of them.

You can launch Car Home by opening the app directly from your phone or docking your phone in a car dock, and now you can automatically switch to Car Home when your phone pairs with any Bluetooth™ device. Simply select “Settings” from the Car Home screen and select which of your paired Bluetooth™ devices you want to automatically trigger Car Home.

Want to customize Car Home even more? You can now set your own wallpaper for Car Home. Just select “Settings” in Car Home and choose a wallpaper that fits your tastes. You can also customize the color of the shortcut icons to really make the Car Home experience your own.

We’ve also made it simpler for Android developers to modify their existing applications to be compatible with Car Mode. Apps which support Car Mode will show up in a “Car applications” category so they can easily be identified by you and added as a shortcut.

The new version of Car Home for Android is available for Android 2.2. You can get the update from Android Market by searching for “Car Home” in Android Market or tap here on your Android device.

Don’t forget, while your Android-powered companion can assist you while you drive, please keep your eyes on the road and drive safely at all times!

Update 10/1/10 10:28 PST: The new Car Home is available for Nexus One and Motorola Droid. Visit our Help Center to learn more or send us your feedback and questions in ourHelp Forum. 

Google Map of Foursquare Check-ins

Real Time Check-ins Map

This Google Map displays in real-time the locations of Foursquare check-ins shared via Twitter.

The map displays the locations of the latest check-ins made to Foursquare. If nothing else the map is interesting in that it gives a rough guide of Foursquare's penetration around the world. At the moment Foursquare appears most popular in North America, Europe, South East Asia and Japan. However Foursquare seems to have made little penetration in South Africa.

Another potential use of the map could be to zoom in on your current location and check-out who is logging in on Foursquare around you.

Find a Cheap Flight with Google Maps

Trabber

Trabber is web service that searches online travel agencies, lowcost carriers, traditional airlines and hotel booking websites to find you the best priced flights and hotels.

Trabber has just added a new feature that uses Google Maps to display airfares. When you search Trabber without specifying a destination you can now view the offers on Google Maps. For example, you can search Trabber for all fares under $100 from New York and view all the possible destinations on a map.

The map markers on the map display the price of the flight. The markers are also color coded to indicate the quality of the offer. The darker the color the higher the discount compared with the mean value.

The map automatically updates the results shown so that when you scroll or zoom to different locations, new offers will appear dynamically around the selected destination.