Waymo will battle Uber with its own self-driving trucks

Google was one of the first companies to show off self-driving car tech, but it’s pretty late into the autonomous truck game. Well after companies like Daimler, Komatsu and Uber unveiled their own platforms, Waymo has started testing a single truck on public roads, it told Buzzfeed and Reuters. “Self-driving technology can transport people and things much more safely than we do today and reduce the thousands of trucking-related deaths each year,” it said in a statement.

The work is preliminary at the moment, as Waymo referred to it as “a technical exploration into how our technology can integrate into a truck.” Others, meanwhile, are into more advanced testing — Daimler, Volvo and others participated in an advanced autonomous “platooning” convoy challenge, for instance.

However, it may be arch-rival Uber that most motivated Waymo. The two companies are locked in pitched court battle, with Waymo having sued Uber for allegedly stealing some of its self-driving ideas. Uber’s tech comes via its purchase of Otto, a self-driving company founded by Anthony Levandowski, one of Google’s key self-driving executives. Earlier this week Uber fired Levandowski, shortly after federal prosecutors recommended an investigation into the alleged IP theft.

Despite all the problems, however, Uber has a lead over Waymo in the self-driving truck game, having done a 200-mile beer run in Colorado with no driver intervention. It also arguably has a big head start in logistics, having already developed an extensive ride-sharing network for its Uber passenger service.

Source: Reuters, Buzzfeed

Apple Park’s Senior Arborist Recalls Meeting Steve Jobs, Sourcing 9K Trees Over 7 Years

Although Apple Park has opened to a small group of employees, the site’s buildings and landscaping remain in ongoing construction around the campus. In a new interview with Backchannel, Apple Park’s senior arborist, David Muffly, has provided insight into the work it’s taken to choose, locate, and plant 9,000 trees at Apple Park, as well as detailed his first interactions with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Jobs discovered Muffly’s work during walks he would take around a large satellite dish on Stanford’s campus, admiring as he went hundreds of native oak trees along the path. He made Apple headhunters find the arborist responsible for planting the trees, leading to Muffly, who at the time was working a job pruning lemon trees in Menlo Park.

David Muffly
The two were said to have hit it off “within 20 minutes of meeting,” where Jobs described what would see a grand opening seven years later as Apple Park. Muffly and Jobs met in 2010, and in 2011 Muffly was granted the official title of “senior arborist” at Apple.

Within 20 minutes of meeting, it was clear that the arborist and the technologist were on the same wavelength about trees. Jobs told Muffly that he wanted to create a microcosm of old Silicon Valley, a landscape reenactment of the days when the cradle of digital disruption had more fruit trees than engineers.

In one sense, the building would be an ecological preservation project; in another sense, it’d be a roman a clef written in soil, bark, and blossom. Muffly, who had been sensitive to the native growth of the region for years, got it immediately. “That’s what I’ve been doing — planting fruit trees, oak trees,” he said.

Eventually, Muffly was shown early design drawings of Apple Park and the arborist realized the full scope of the project. While thousands of workers would be focusing on the construction of the campus’ architecture, he and a small team of landscaping experts would face the full brunt of responsibility for what Jobs considered one of the most important parts of the site: the trees.

And he began to get a sense of the massiveness of the project — hundreds of architects and untold numbers of contractors would wind up working on the building, an edifice that might well become as iconic to California as the pyramids are to Egypt. But the campus itself was meant to be a statement on nature. And that would be his job.

Yeah, there’s that building, he thought. But there’s a lot more trees than buildings. There’s going to be, like, 5,000 people making that building. And it’s going to be just me and my friends doing the trees. “So right off the bat, I was like, Whoooaa. This is as real as it gets.”

Muffly eventually began working with Philadelphia-based landscape architecture firm The Olin Studio to make Jobs’ vision a reality at Apple Park. The team agreed that Apple Park should be stocked with trees and greenery “that might thrive in drought conditions brought about by climate change,” as well as diversifying the variety of trees on the campus with native trees as the backbone of the ecosystem and then less common genetics dispersed throughout Apple Park.

As Muffly worked with Jobs in the early planning of Apple’s new campus, before the late CEO’s passing in 2011, he was impressed with Jobs’ knowledge of trees. “He had a better sense than most arborists,” Muffly said, and at his official pitch to the Cupertino City Council, Jobs promised an increase from the 3,700 trees on the site to 6,000 before the project’s completion.

To fill the revised goal of 9,000 trees on the site, Muffly eventually scoured Christmas tree farms across California.

…When Muffly began his work, he realized that nearly all the (non-indigenous) existing trees would have to go. “It was all junk trees and parking lots here,” he says. “So it was a long process. Over the next year or so. I surveyed the trees and picked out about a hundred of them that I felt were worth moving. And we had to stretch to get a hundred out of the [roughly 4,000] existing trees.”

Muffly looked at the redwoods at some abandoned Christmas tree farms up on Skyline, but the soil was too rocky to grow them to Apple’s specifications. “So I sent all my little tree elves to help me, telling them we need big trees we can transport to the site. Next thing I know we’re finding these in two abandoned Christmas tree farms in the Mojave Desert, Yermo, and Adelanto. Who knew there were Christmas tree farms in the Mojave?” Apple actually bought the Yermo site.

All of the landscaping work for Apple Park eventually created shortages for other companies attempting to buy trees in the area, with a report by the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this year stating that, “Buying trees is a surprisingly cutthroat business.”

In a behind-the-scenes look at Apple Park last month, one architect reminisced about Jobs’ particular fondness for trees: to the late CEO, “trees were the most beautiful bits of art,” said architect Stefan Behling. “He used to say, ‘The most amazing thing about trees is it doesn’t actually matter how rich you are: You can never buy a really old, beautiful tree.’”

You can read the full Backchannel interview with David Muffly right here.

Tags: Apple Park, Steve Jobs
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Samsung Dex Station review

Research Center:
Samsung DeX Station

Visiting your company’s satellite office? Carrying your work laptop can be cumbersome, which is why Samsung’s alternative is its smartphone — the Galaxy S8 — paired with the Dex Station. The little hockey puck-like docking station turns the company’s latest flagship into an Android desktop operating system, like Microsoft’s Continuum for the not-so-popular Windows Mobile platform.

It’s surprisingly effective, though there are a few kinks. It’s worth a buy if you do travel to other offices a lot, and don’t want to carry your laptop around. But for every workstation, you’ll need a mouse, a keyboard, a monitor, and the Dex Station. If you don’t have those peripherals lying around, acquiring them can be quite expensive — especially if you don’t have the Galaxy S8 as well.

Let’s take a deeper dive.

The docking station

The all-black docking station looks like a generic computer peripheral, which is good because it blends in well with most desktop workstations. Push the top down and the other end slides up like a kickstand — this reveals the USB Type-C plug where the Galaxy S8 will dock.

The pushed-up kickstand doubles as a built-in cooling fan to prevent your smartphone from getting too hot. It does the job, as we’ve hardly felt the S8 get anywhere near hot.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

On the back of the Dex Station, you’ll find two USB Type-A ports, along with a Type-C, an HDMI, and an Ethernet port. The HDMI port plugs into your monitor, and the Type-C port charges your phone via the. The rest are free for plugging in other peripherals, but you can also use the smartphone’s Bluetooth capability to connect wireless devices like keyboards, and speakers.

Speaking of speakers, you won’t be able to connect wired desktop speakers — you’ll have to opt for a Bluetooth speaker, or wireless headphones. You can’t plug in earbuds into your phone, because the S8’s headphone jack is on the bottom. With no speaker connected, the audio comes out of the phone — it gets loud, and doesn’t sound bad at all.

Plugging the phone in isn’t the easiest process as it can take some finagling to get the position right. But once docked, you’ll see the Dex interface crop up on the monitor in less than 10 seconds. Unplug your phone, and it will take under 10 seconds to get your normal home screen back. The delay is small enough that it doesn’t make much of an impact, but if you wanted to grab your phone to send a quick message and put it back — the delay may be a little annoying.

The interface

The desktop version of Android — at least, Samsung’s version — looks a lot like desktop operating systems such as Windows 10 and Google’s Chrome OS on Chromebooks. A few app icons sit on the desktop home screen, and the bottom left houses navigation buttons: Apps, recently used apps, and Home. On the right is a system tray, where you can access notifications, along with your regular status bar icons such as battery life, Wi-Fi, the date, time, and more.

Apps open quickly, web pages load really fast — we can’t complain about performance.

Apps open quickly and web pages load really fast; we can’t complain much about performance. We haven’t seen any web slow down that we wouldn’t see on another device. We’re surprised at the speedy, mostly lag-free performance — and it’s all thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor powering the S8.

But you can’t do everything you’d expect to do on a desktop computer. Only a certain number of apps are compatible in this desktop mode — that means they open in a full-screen window, they are resizable, and you can right click in them to perform actions like on a traditional desktop. Most of Samsung’s apps are supported, such as Calendar and Email, along with certain third-party apps like Adobe Lightroom and Microsoft Word.

If there’s an app you use and it’s not supported, we found it better to use the web version (if there is one available) rather than using the Android app. Unsupported apps are still accessible, but they open in a small, phone-like window, and you can’t make it bigger or resize it.

Even if your app is supported, it will clearly just be the smartphone version ported over to a bigger size. Adobe’s Lightroom app, for example, suggests gestures as quick actions, and the interface isn’t the most intuitive on such a large monitor. It’s manageable, and a good resource for when you need to edit a few photos, but it’s not as easy-to-use as the traditional Lightroom desktop app.

Still, it’s nice to be able to quickly jump into apps such as Facebook Messenger to respond to friends (chat heads are also available, though limited to a certain quadrant of the screen), or Google Photos to share a photo. You can even perform phone-only functions like placing calls, and texting. Thankfully, keyboard shortcuts are supported in Android, so you can Alt+Tab to switch between apps, Control+C to copy and Control+V to paste text, and more.

We mostly browsed the internet using the Samsung Internet app, which is likely all you need. Why not Chrome, or another Android browser? Because, for now, Samsung Internet is optimized better.

Samsung’s internet browser

Samsung’s internet app performs like most desktop browsers, even supporting extensions and ad-blockers. It consistently opens up every website in desktop mode, can handle multiple tabs, and it’s fast — especially scrolling on web pages. You can also save passwords for websites like Chrome’s Autofill — this is done with Samsung Pass, and it will ask you for fingerprint, iris, or facial authentication. We recommend the latter two, because fingerprint authentication is awkward when the phone is docked.

To nitpick — the browser doesn’t look modern, and it doesn’t have features on other browsers like pinning tabs, or even the ability to pull out a tab to make a new window.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Regardless, we found our web experience with the Samsung Internet browser more than satisfactory. It’s not necessarily a browser we’d want to use or for long periods of time, but it does the job for work.

Warranty information, price, and availability

Samsung offers a standard 1-year limited warranty on the Dex Station from the date of purchase. You’re protected from manufacturing defects, but accidental drops and damages won’t be covered.

It costs $150, and you can buy it directly from Samsung.

Samsung DeX Station Compared To

Insta360 Air

LG Hi Fi Plus

Ampy Move

Vortex Kid’s First Robot

Tangible Play Osmo

Neo Smartpen N2

Wonder Workshop Dash & Dot

Motrr Galileo

Typo keyboard case

Moga Pro

Hasbro My3D

Iomega SuperHero

BlackBerry Presenter

Callpod Chargepod

Griffin Elan Holster

Our Take

The Dex Station is a great option for people who own a Galaxy S8 — moreso for people who travel to various offices, and don’t want to be weighed down by a laptop. You’ll need to have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse set up beforehand though, so you’re ready to go when you arrive.

If you have an S8, the Dex could also be a handy place to dock your phone at home for use as a supplemental desktop workstation, alongside your laptop or computer (if you have a spare monitor, keyboard, and mouse).

Is it worth buying the Galaxy S8 for the Dex Station? Again, if you’re the type who frequents other offices and doesn’t want to carry a laptop — and you’re interested in Samsung’s latest flagship — then yes. We’ll have to wait and see whether more app developers will add full support for the Dex interface, but don’t expect major improvements here any time soon.

Is there a better alternative?

The cost of using the Dex Station is $150, but seeing as you need the Galaxy S8, you’ll have spent $900 just to get started. If you don’t have a monitor, keyboard, or mouse, then you’ll need to shell out for those peripherals too.

You may be better off grabbing the $450 Samsung Chromebook Plus (or Chromebook Pro), which is very lightweight, or another Windows-powered Ultrabook. While you’ll have to carry it around, you can at least get a full desktop experience for a cheaper, or comparable price.

How long will it last?

The docking station itself won’t move from your desk, so we don’t expect it to see any accidental damage from drops like a smartphone. Since it’s mostly just a dock, we think it will last at least four years, but the Galaxy S8 should last you three to four years before it’s completely shot.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you already own a Galaxy S8 and you often travel to other offices, it may be worth your time to grab a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and the Dex Station to get some casual work done without needing to lug around a laptop. Heavy-duty PC users should steer clear.

Samsung Dex Station review

Research Center:
Samsung DeX Station

Visiting your company’s satellite office? Carrying your work laptop can be cumbersome, which is why Samsung’s alternative is its smartphone — the Galaxy S8 — paired with the Dex Station. The little hockey puck-like docking station turns the company’s latest flagship into an Android desktop operating system, like Microsoft’s Continuum for the not-so-popular Windows Mobile platform.

It’s surprisingly effective, though there are a few kinks. It’s worth a buy if you do travel to other offices a lot, and don’t want to carry your laptop around. But for every workstation, you’ll need a mouse, a keyboard, a monitor, and the Dex Station. If you don’t have those peripherals lying around, acquiring them can be quite expensive — especially if you don’t have the Galaxy S8 as well.

Let’s take a deeper dive.

The docking station

The all-black docking station looks like a generic computer peripheral, which is good because it blends in well with most desktop workstations. Push the top down and the other end slides up like a kickstand — this reveals the USB Type-C plug where the Galaxy S8 will dock.

The pushed-up kickstand doubles as a built-in cooling fan to prevent your smartphone from getting too hot. It does the job, as we’ve hardly felt the S8 get anywhere near hot.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

On the back of the Dex Station, you’ll find two USB Type-A ports, along with a Type-C, an HDMI, and an Ethernet port. The HDMI port plugs into your monitor, and the Type-C port charges your phone via the. The rest are free for plugging in other peripherals, but you can also use the smartphone’s Bluetooth capability to connect wireless devices like keyboards, and speakers.

Speaking of speakers, you won’t be able to connect wired desktop speakers — you’ll have to opt for a Bluetooth speaker, or wireless headphones. You can’t plug in earbuds into your phone, because the S8’s headphone jack is on the bottom. With no speaker connected, the audio comes out of the phone — it gets loud, and doesn’t sound bad at all.

Plugging the phone in isn’t the easiest process as it can take some finagling to get the position right. But once docked, you’ll see the Dex interface crop up on the monitor in less than 10 seconds. Unplug your phone, and it will take under 10 seconds to get your normal home screen back. The delay is small enough that it doesn’t make much of an impact, but if you wanted to grab your phone to send a quick message and put it back — the delay may be a little annoying.

The interface

The desktop version of Android — at least, Samsung’s version — looks a lot like desktop operating systems such as Windows 10 and Google’s Chrome OS on Chromebooks. A few app icons sit on the desktop home screen, and the bottom left houses navigation buttons: Apps, recently used apps, and Home. On the right is a system tray, where you can access notifications, along with your regular status bar icons such as battery life, Wi-Fi, the date, time, and more.

Apps open quickly, web pages load really fast — we can’t complain about performance.

Apps open quickly and web pages load really fast; we can’t complain much about performance. We haven’t seen any web slow down that we wouldn’t see on another device. We’re surprised at the speedy, mostly lag-free performance — and it’s all thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor powering the S8.

But you can’t do everything you’d expect to do on a desktop computer. Only a certain number of apps are compatible in this desktop mode — that means they open in a full-screen window, they are resizable, and you can right click in them to perform actions like on a traditional desktop. Most of Samsung’s apps are supported, such as Calendar and Email, along with certain third-party apps like Adobe Lightroom and Microsoft Word.

If there’s an app you use and it’s not supported, we found it better to use the web version (if there is one available) rather than using the Android app. Unsupported apps are still accessible, but they open in a small, phone-like window, and you can’t make it bigger or resize it.

Even if your app is supported, it will clearly just be the smartphone version ported over to a bigger size. Adobe’s Lightroom app, for example, suggests gestures as quick actions, and the interface isn’t the most intuitive on such a large monitor. It’s manageable, and a good resource for when you need to edit a few photos, but it’s not as easy-to-use as the traditional Lightroom desktop app.

Still, it’s nice to be able to quickly jump into apps such as Facebook Messenger to respond to friends (chat heads are also available, though limited to a certain quadrant of the screen), or Google Photos to share a photo. You can even perform phone-only functions like placing calls, and texting. Thankfully, keyboard shortcuts are supported in Android, so you can Alt+Tab to switch between apps, Control+C to copy and Control+V to paste text, and more.

We mostly browsed the internet using the Samsung Internet app, which is likely all you need. Why not Chrome, or another Android browser? Because, for now, Samsung Internet is optimized better.

Samsung’s internet browser

Samsung’s internet app performs like most desktop browsers, even supporting extensions and ad-blockers. It consistently opens up every website in desktop mode, can handle multiple tabs, and it’s fast — especially scrolling on web pages. You can also save passwords for websites like Chrome’s Autofill — this is done with Samsung Pass, and it will ask you for fingerprint, iris, or facial authentication. We recommend the latter two, because fingerprint authentication is awkward when the phone is docked.

To nitpick — the browser doesn’t look modern, and it doesn’t have features on other browsers like pinning tabs, or even the ability to pull out a tab to make a new window.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Regardless, we found our web experience with the Samsung Internet browser more than satisfactory. It’s not necessarily a browser we’d want to use or for long periods of time, but it does the job for work.

Warranty information, price, and availability

Samsung offers a standard 1-year limited warranty on the Dex Station from the date of purchase. You’re protected from manufacturing defects, but accidental drops and damages won’t be covered.

It costs $150, and you can buy it directly from Samsung.

Samsung DeX Station Compared To

Insta360 Air

LG Hi Fi Plus

Ampy Move

Vortex Kid’s First Robot

Tangible Play Osmo

Neo Smartpen N2

Wonder Workshop Dash & Dot

Motrr Galileo

Typo keyboard case

Moga Pro

Hasbro My3D

Iomega SuperHero

BlackBerry Presenter

Callpod Chargepod

Griffin Elan Holster

Our Take

The Dex Station is a great option for people who own a Galaxy S8 — moreso for people who travel to various offices, and don’t want to be weighed down by a laptop. You’ll need to have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse set up beforehand though, so you’re ready to go when you arrive.

If you have an S8, the Dex could also be a handy place to dock your phone at home for use as a supplemental desktop workstation, alongside your laptop or computer (if you have a spare monitor, keyboard, and mouse).

Is it worth buying the Galaxy S8 for the Dex Station? Again, if you’re the type who frequents other offices and doesn’t want to carry a laptop — and you’re interested in Samsung’s latest flagship — then yes. We’ll have to wait and see whether more app developers will add full support for the Dex interface, but don’t expect major improvements here any time soon.

Is there a better alternative?

The cost of using the Dex Station is $150, but seeing as you need the Galaxy S8, you’ll have spent $900 just to get started. If you don’t have a monitor, keyboard, or mouse, then you’ll need to shell out for those peripherals too.

You may be better off grabbing the $450 Samsung Chromebook Plus (or Chromebook Pro), which is very lightweight, or another Windows-powered Ultrabook. While you’ll have to carry it around, you can at least get a full desktop experience for a cheaper, or comparable price.

How long will it last?

The docking station itself won’t move from your desk, so we don’t expect it to see any accidental damage from drops like a smartphone. Since it’s mostly just a dock, we think it will last at least four years, but the Galaxy S8 should last you three to four years before it’s completely shot.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you already own a Galaxy S8 and you often travel to other offices, it may be worth your time to grab a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and the Dex Station to get some casual work done without needing to lug around a laptop. Heavy-duty PC users should steer clear.

AMD Ryzen 7 CPUs get a price cut just before Threadripper rips into the summer

Why it matters to you

AMD is increasing the performance per price ratio by reducing the cost of its three Ryzen 7 desktop processors ahead of the Ryzen Threadripper launch this summer.

AMD’s angle when promoting its new Ryzen desktop processors involves showing customers how much performance customers will see for the price. The company talked for months about how its fastest, eight-core chip barely outperformed a similar chip produced by Intel, but for half the cost. Now just over three months after Ryzen’s arrival, that performance/price ratio just got better thanks to a price reduction of the three high-end Ryzen 7 desktop processors from AMD.

Here they are via Newegg:

Ryzen 7 1800X
Ryzen 7 1700X
Ryzen 7 1700
New price:
$450
$350
$315
Previous price:
$500
$400
$330
Architecture:
Zen
Zen
Zen
Cores:
8
8
8
Threads:
16
16
16
Total L1 cache:
768KB
768KB
768KB
Total L2 cache:
4MB
4MB
4MB
Total L3 cache:
16MB
16MB
16MB
Base speed:
3.6GHz
3.4GHz
3.0GHz
Boost speed:
4.0GHz
3.8GHz
3.7GHz
Power usage:
95 watts
95 watts
65 watts

News of a price reduction for AMD’s three Ryzen 7 processors shouldn’t be all that surprising given the bombshell the company dropped during Computex. AMD revealed a new set of Zen-based desktop processors arriving this summer called Ryzen Threadripper, sporting up to 16 cores and 32 threads. Given many PC gamers just overhauled their desktops to support the slightly-over-three-months-old Ryzen 7 chips, news of an even meatier set of CPUs was likely a blow to the gut.

With the launch of Threadripper, AMD is introducing the new X399 platform supporting the massive chip, 64 PCI Express Gen3 lanes, quad-channel memory, and eight memory slots (DIMMs). Consider Threadripper to be Ryzen 9 to some degree, only AMD is probably sticking with the thread-ripping name rather than continuing the numbering sequence due to the new X399 platform to eliminate confusion. Despite mentioning only the 16-core chip, AMD may likely introduce smaller versions of 10, 12, and 14-core capacities over time.

How much AMD’s 16-core Ryzen Threadripper will cost is unknown for now. Since it has double the count of the current Ryzen 7 chips, the top-of-the-line model could very well cost $900. By comparison, Intel’s rival Core i9 lineup will cost up to $2,000 for the 18-core model, and $1,700 for the 16-core version. But with AMD keeping its sights on the competitive performance/price ratio, $900 for the 16-core Threadripper may be a good estimated guess.

Chopping the prices of current products prior to the launch of a new wave is nothing new. AMD isn’t exactly cleaning house to make room for the Threadripper chips, but the firm may adjust the prices of its high-end chips for a broader performance/price appeal when the Threadripper processors arrive this summer.

Currently, AMD sells the three eight-core Ryzen 7 processors along with four Ryzen 5 chips: the six-core 1600X, the six-core 1600, the four-core 1500X, and the four-core 1400. AMD’s Ryzen 3 family won’t even make an appearance until the third quarter of 2017, serving the low-end desktop market. These will supposedly consist of the 1200X, 1200, and 1100 quad-core chips in the low 3GHz base speed range.

How to connect your favorite music to Alexa

Listening to music with Alexa is as easy as connecting the app you want to use!

Most of us spend some time every day listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks. For some folks, it’s how they workout at home, while others like to lounge on the couch and listen to a good story after a hard day at work. It doesn’t really matter why you want to listen using Alexa and your Amazon Echo, just that you know how to do it when you are ready to relax with some tunes.

• How Alexa lets you listen to your music
• How to connect a music app to Alexa

How Alexa lets you listen to your music

Alexa has tons of great features that you can use to stay up to date on the news, weather, and more. It also allows you to connect a variety of music and audiobook apps, so that when you want to listen to some music you’re good to go. This should only take a few short minutes, and it’s all done from within the Alexa app.

From within the app you can connect 6 different music specific apps, 2 different audiobook apps, and even Dish for video. You just need to take a few minutes on your phone to link the accounts so that Alexa can access the music you’ve already saved or liked in those apps.

Now it is worthwhile to mention that not every music app is available to link with Alexa, and once you have linked an account you’ll want to adjust your default music apps from within the settings. This is so that when you tell Alexa to play an album, she accesses music from the correct app, rather than always trying to use Amazon Music.

How to connect a music app to Alexa

Open the Alexa app on your phone.
Tap the overflow icon in the upper left corner.

Tap Music, Video, and Books.

Tap the music app you want to link.
Tap Link your Account.

Log in to the account you want to link.

Tap Okay to link the account.

Are you listening?

Have you connected a music app to Alexa? Is this how you like to listen to music or podcasts when you’re at home? Be sure to leave us a comment below, and let us know about it!

Amazon Echo

• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

Amazon

Polk Magnifi Max SR soundbar gives 5.1 sound in a compact package

American audio manufacturer Polk Audio has announced the Magnifi Max SR soundbar, with the SR representing the fact it has surround speakers for a more authentic 5.1 surround sound experience.

Design-wise, there’s not a huge amount to differentiate the Magnifi Max from other soundbars. It’s a black bar with an 8-inch wireless subwoofer. Inside the main bar you’ll find two tweeters and five full range drivers, coupled with Polk’s proprietary Voice Adjust and SDA Surround technologies.

The voice adjust technology works in a similar way to a centre speaker in a conventional 5.1 surround sound system. It boosts the vocals in both music and movies, to project them toward the audience, without being drowned out by the surrounding bass. The SDA technology meanwhile helps the ‘bar to emulate a surround sound effect from a single unit, if you don’t have the wireless rear speakers.

Pocket-lint

The Magnifi Max SR has full Dolby Digital and DTS decoding onboard, although it’s not Dolby Atmos compatible. Instead, it can faithfully handle any 5.1 soundtracks thanks to the two wireless rears mentioned earlier. The only cable they need is for power, but then they connect to the main bar via a mesh network, which keeps lag to an absolute minimum.

Connections include three 4K compatible HDMI inputs, digital optical and an auxiliary input. The Polk Magnifi Max SR will be available from August for £649. You will also be able to get the soundbar without the two surround speakers for £499.

Google Chrome to get own built-in ad blocker

Google is working on its own ad blocker, that it will build into future versions of its Chrome browser.

At present, the AdBlock Chrome plug-in is one of the most popular downloads for the browser by far, but it has a cavalier approach to blocking advertising, which doesn’t help content creators and websites (such as Pocket-lint). It shuts out all ads on a site.

Google’s idea is different. It will eliminate adverts that it considers a nuisance and intrusive, but will leave “compelling, useful and engaging” online commercials.

The software giant has joined the Coalition for Better Ads, a group that strives to make online advertising meet higher standards. That way visitors won’t find it necessary to block all adverts, just those that blare music or get in the way of the content they enjoy.

And in that case, websites will be able to serve their visitors better and still retain a financial model that includes advertising.

Google’s plans were revealed by the Wall Street Journal, that claims online publishers will have six-months to get their sites in order before blocking any ads on the domain. They will also have access to a Google tool to help determine which adverts are considered worthwhile and which should be binned.

Ads currently on the unacceptable list include pop-ups, videos that auto-play with audio, adverts that appear before a website loads and full-screen scrollover ads on mobile.

The Chrome ad blocker is expected to be launched by the start of 2018.

Amazon Echo gets cool new features, check out what Alexa can do now

Amazon has introduced a couple of major new features to Alexa, to be used through compatible devices such as the Amazon Echo. They are available in the US currently and are coming to the UK and Germany soon.

There are two main features added: Reminders and Named Timers.

Reminders enables users to ask Alexa to set a reminder for a specific date and time, so that they don’t miss an upcoming event.

A reminder can be set through a simple contextual sentence, such as, “Alexa, remind me to pick up the dry cleaning on Thursday at 5pm.” The blue light on an Amazon Echo, for example, will then glow blue at 17:00 hours on Thursday that week. Alexa will also give you a verbal nudge.

You don’t even need to set reminders so far ahead. You can use it for daily chores like cooking or laundry by saying something like, “Alexa, remind me to change the laundry in 40 minutes.”

Reminders can also be set or altered through the alerts and alarms section of the Alexa app.

• Amazon Echo: What can Alexa do and what services are compatible?
• Amazon Echo vs Amazon Tap vs Echo Dot vs Echo Look vs Echo Show: What’s the difference?

Named Timers are also handy for daily tasks, cooking especially. You can set multiple timers and get Alexa to name each one in turn. For example, if your pasta takes longer to cook than garlic bread, you can set one timer for the garlic bread and one for the pasta. Alexa will then tell you when each is ready.

You can alter and cancel active timers by voice or in the app. You can even ask Alexa how long a timer is left to run.

The Amazon Echo is currently £149.99 in black or white on Amazon.co.uk. It costs $179.99 on Amazon.com in the States.

V-Moda Forza Metallo Wireless review: Jaw-dropping sound from new neckband earphones

V-Moda has won accolades and superlatives from all sectors for its big on-ear and over-ear headphones. The in-ears have been around a little while, but somehow have been a little outshone by the bigger sibling. And with the V-Moda Forza Metallo Wireless, we may just have found one of the best pairs of neckband style earphones available. 

V-Moda Forza Metallo Wireless review: Design

• Sweat/weather resistant
• 3 pairs of sports fins
• 8 pairs of tips – XS, S, M, L
• 22.5 grams

V-Moda earphones are instantly recognisable for their stylish, eye-catching design. Specifically, on their big over-ear headphones, the chunky hexagonal cans are easy to distinguish from their competition. This same design appears on the in-ear Forza Metallo too, except the earbuds are naturally much smaller. Indeed, they’re impressively tiny.

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If the basic design hasn’t got quite the level of flair you desire, you can also buy 3D printed caps to slip over the top.

Unlike most members of the recently developed “neckbud” family – which features the likes of the Bose QC30 and Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear Wireless – the Forza Metallo’s neckband doesn’t extend all the way around your neck.

Rather than have a relatively thick collar made of plastic covering resting around your shoulders, the V-Moda has a single elongated hexagonal plastic housing that sits on the back of your neck. The idea is that you can hide it under a shirt collar if you want to. As a bonus feature, there’s a vibrate motor inside which vibrates when powering up and down, or when you’re receiving a call.

The rest of the Forza Metallo’s neckband is made up of what is essentially some thick and fairly rigid cabling, which still offers some flex. It sits almost unnoticeably on the shoulders. More importantly, it’s a durable design that makes it very hard to break and – while it’s easy to bend and flex – it always keeps goes back to its original shape. V-Moda calls this Titanium Traplock Ergonomics. 

Of the neckband style headphones we’ve tested so far, these are by far the least obtrusive and most comfortable to wear. You still get the freedom of movement, thanks to the slack in the earbud cable, but you don’t get the full collar made of chunky plastic.

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Right at the end of this neckband on both sides are inline controls, each shaped like elongated hexagons to keep with the brand image. The left control has the power button, which also doubles as the pairing button. On the right are the three buttons with the usual set of functions.

The middle button plays and pauses music, as well as accepting and ending calls. You can also skip forwards by double-pressing it, and skip backwards by triple pressing. Top and bottom buttons, as you’d expect, adjust the volume. Despite these button being close together, we found it easy to tell them apart by touch alone, thanks to their placement and texture.

One other minor thing with the buttons we enjoyed – probably more than we should – is that the power button powers the earphones on and off with a single press. No pressing-and-holding for a few seconds and waiting to see an LED light. Click and it’s on. Click again and it’s off. Easy.

While they might not look like sports headphones, V-Moda has built the Forza Metallo Wireless to outlast even your sweatiest workouts. As well as being finished with a protective nano-coating against sweat and rain, they come with different sized “sports fins”. These hold onto the inside of your ear to keep them fitted securely. In our testing, they worked well, and because the material used is quite flexible, they don’t feel uncomfortable at all. Not once did they feel like they would slip out.

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As well as the sports fins, the Forza Metallo come with eight pairs of eartips. There are two each of the usual small, medium and large sizes, but there’s also the very tiny extra-small tips which just about cover the ends of the drivers.

When in the ear, they close you off from outside world very effectively. That does mean quite a snug in-ear fit that might be uncomfortable for some. There’s definitely that sense of the “need to pop my ears” when the air is squeezed in. Despite this, we were able to wear them for a few hours at a time without experiencing any real discomfort.

V-Moda Forza Metallo Wireless review: Performance and Battery

• 10 metre range
• 10+ hours battery
• Fully charged in 90 minutes
• Pair two devices

Like its big brother, the Crossfade II Wireless, the Forza Metallo is equipped with Qualcomm’s aptX connectivity technology. That means you get high quality audio – sadly not Hi-Res – and a rock solid, reliable Bluetooth connection. In our testing it didn’t drop its connection once. And, as a kicker, it’s capable of being paired to two devices simultaneously.

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Similarly, the battery life is pretty impressive too. V-Moda claims 10 hours or more of playback from a full charge, which puts the Forza firmly in the same territory as the Powerbeats. Sadly there’s no app to give you an accurate view on the battery level, but you do get a little indicator in the iPhone status bar. Even after between four and five hours of listening to music through Spotify, the battery indicator still showed it was more than half full, so we’ve found the 10 hours playback claim to ring true.

Real life battery usage will vary depending on what you listen to, and at what volume, but our testing suggests you should be able to get through your daily commutes for a full week without needing to plug them into a power outlet. When you do plug them in, they use “quick-charge” to give you a full top up in 90 minutes, or two hours worth of juice in just 15 minutes.

V-Moda Forza Metallo Wireless review: Sound

• Qualcomm aptX
• 5.8mm micro hi-res driver
• 10Hz – 22,000Hz frequency response

V-Moda hasn’t ever been a company seeking to offer a flat, audiophile grade sound from its earphones. But it does, somehow, create an addictive signature that’s a very good listen.

What impressed us is how these small 5.8mm micro hi-res drivers handle bass. With a frequency response of 10Hz-22,000Hz they can get down into the really low frequencies, and when there is some really deep bass in a track, these earphones cope well. It’s loud and full, and doesn’t buckle under the pressure.

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For some, the overall sound might be a little too bass-heavy, but despite its bassy nature, the middle and high frequencies are well catered for too. The balance seems just as suited to guitar solos, vocals and backing instruments as it is to bass. You can hear all the little details in the audio, which almost makes you forget that they’re not Hi-Res certified. “CD Quality” here sounds plenty good.

Unlike more expensive earphones, the V-Moda in-ears don’t feature any electronic-based noise cancelling. With that said, we found that the earbuds fit tightly enough to all but kill any ambient noise. We would recommend trying all the different ear tips because this snug fit and seal is essential for the sound quality and noise isolation.

Verdict

Of all the neckband earphones we’ve tried so far, the Forza Metallo are the pair with the fewest compromises. The design is subtle and attractive, with a well designed neckband that can be easily hidden. The sound is fab, too, enveloping you in the music with enough bass to keep even the most enthusiastic dubstep fans happy.

With the solid wireless performance, battery life and sensible approach to inline controls, it’s hard to find a negative point to say about the Forza Metallo Wireless. The only gripe we think many will have is that “sealed in” sensation when you push them into your ears – but it’s not extreme enough to dissuade our recommendation.

Indeed, we’d go one better than recommending as these in-ears sound simply ace. And all for less than $200. That’s a bass-banging bargain.

Alternatives to consider

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Sennheiser Momentum in-ear wireless

One of the major benefits of the Sennheiser neckbuds is the CapTune app which lets you fine tune the audio to suit your preferences. They’re a similar price to the V-Moda earphones, and have a collar covered in soft, sheepskin leather. The eartips are a little less invasive, the battery life is the same and the default sound isn’t as bassy heavy as V-Moda’s. 

Read the full article1: Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear Wireless review

Bose QuietControl 30

Bose’s high-end QC30 earphones also use the now-popular neckband design and feature an impressive active noise cancelling system. Bose’s app also makes it easy to fine-tune how much ambient noise you want to let through. Sound quality is great to, and the wide cone-shaped tips are very easy to wear. These will cost you £100 more than V-moda’s pair though, and are noticebly chunkier. 

Read the full article: Bose QuietControl 30 review