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Cooler Master ML360 Sub-Zero Review: Frigid Temps for LGA1200

Our Verdict

The Cooler Master ML360 Sub-Zero appeals to enthusiast system builders burdened with deep pockets, seeking sub-ambient temps and ease of installation. It does well, but also comes with some distinct caveats.

For

Easy install
Single digit (or lower) idle temps can be possible
New high-flow pump

Against

Expensive
Supports only LGA1200
Under sustained loads, doesn’t cool overclocked CPUs as well as normal AIOs
High power draw during use

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Features and Specifications

The terms Peltier and thermoelectric (TEC) cooling have brightened the eyes of many would-be overclockers over the years, with the promise of sub-ambient cooling under the highest of loads. But with these solutions often came the demand for required liquid cooling systems and a dedicated power supply to in order to operate, keeping them off the list of best CPU coolers for most people. The thermoelectric cooling of yesteryear was certainly interesting and saw scattered use in the most committed of overclocking and cooling forums on the web.

Enter the Cooler Master ML360 Sub-Zero, a 360mm AIO with a built-in thermoelectric cooling plate powered by an 8-pin auxiliary adapter from a standard PSU. If your power supply has the rating and available power cables, it can support this cooler in your build. Well, your system also has to be an Intel 10th Generation Intel CPU seated in a socket LGA1200 motherboard, since the Sub-Zero is limited to a specific list of hardware. Support for Rocket Lake-S will of course come once those CPUs arrive.

Ironically, while the cooler is advertised as being a Cooler Master and Intel partnership, which encourages the use of Intel’s powerful desktop overclocking software suite, Cooler Master recommends against overclocking powerful i7’s and i9’s with this cooler and suggests sticking with single core overclocking or factory boost speeds. It performs well in some respects, but this isn’t the uber-overclocking device that enthusiasts have dreamed of with peltier coolers of the past.

Specifications

The Cooler Master ML360 Sub-Zero looks the part of an ultra-high end cooling solution, with its sleek blacked-out design and a touch of opulence from the chromed Cooler Master silhouette logo across its brushed pump face. A single LED indicator light illuminates the lower corner of the pump housing, offering the working status of the cooler’s Peltier cooling system. HAL-9000 would be proud.

Thickness	1.10″ / 27.9mm (2.25″ / 57.15mm w/fans)
Width	4.75″ / 120mm
Depth	15.5″ / 394mm
Pump Height	3.75″ / 95.3mm
Speed Controller	BIOS/Software
Cooling Fans	(3) 120 x 25mm
Connectors	(4) 4-Pin PWM,
	(1) 3-Pin tach,
	(1) SATA
Weight	82.5 oz / 2340g
Intel Sockets	LGA1200 (only)
AMD Sockets	N/A
Warranty	5 years
Web Price	$350

Features

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Box contents for the ML360 Sub-Zero include just enough mounting hardware for Intel’s LGA1200 platform CPUs, allowing for the Peltier unit atop the CPU socket to have the tension screws integrated into the housing. A motherboard backplate, threaded standoffs and SATA power cable are included to keep things mounted and powered up, while a micro USB to 9-pin header provides the link to your best motherboard. For now at least, software support with Intel’s Cryo Cooling Technology is limited to the following silicon: i5-10600K, i5-10600KF, i7-10700K, i7-10700KF, i9-10850K, i9-10900K and i9-10900KF.

Cooler Master covers the ML360 Sub-Zero for a warranty period of 5 years.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The ML360 Sub-Zero makes use of an integrated Peltier or thermoelectric cooler (TEC), a specialized semiconductor which makes use of DC current to create a temperature differential between specific electrical junctions, using high volumes of current. In short, one side of a Peltier gets very cold while the other gets quite hot. The ML360 Sub-Zero relies on the cold side to maintain cooling against the integrated heat spreader (IHS) of the CPU, while the hot side is cooled by the rest of the AIO cooler itself.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

As an example, the cooler can easily get idle CPU temps down to actual freezing temperatures, far below ambient room readings. Normal air or liquid cooling can never allow a processor to reach sub-ambient temperatures due to the physics involved, but phase change and thermoelectric cooling makes this possible.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Requiring the use of an 8-pin auxiliary power, often used to power graphics cards, the ML360 Sub-Zero uses DC power from your power supply to power the thermoelectric Peltier cooling unit. This also requires a beefy power supply, as the cooler alone is rated to draw up to 200w by itself. So make sure to account for overall system load usage and count on investing in a high-quality, high-wattage power supply.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The base of the ML360 Sub-Zero ships with a pre-applied patch of thermal compound over a base shaped like a copper pyramid with a leveled, plateau face. Power cables from the Peltier DC controller extend down the side of the cooler, where they meet the TEC at the base.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The perimeter of the cooler features an integrated rubber boot, which is designed to create a barrier or curtain around the CPU socket once the cooler is installed. This is meant to prevent comparatively warm ambient air from circulating near the base of the copper cold plate, allowing condensation to collect near the motherboard socket. This has long been the danger of Peltier coolers, as temperature differentials causing water to form on exposed electrics is obviously very bad. The angled copper base is the area where the greatest threat of condensation or frost collection might occur and possibly drip onto motherboard circuitry below. Hence the rubber barrier around this area.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Cooler Master utilize a new pump design, which is situated in-line between the Peltier unit and radiator. The pump itself is quite significant in both size and mass, giving every indication that it is far more powerful than what is used in standard, everyday AIOs. In fact, when accounting for noise levels, strength of vibrations and tubing pulses, it appears to encroach into custom watercooling pump territory, although this claim would require several standalone tests to confirm.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

A trio of 120mm PWM fans and an aluminum radiator make up the heat exchanger portion of the ML360 Sub-Zero. The cooling fans are devoid of any aRGB/RGB lighting effects, sticking instead with a stealth theme for discreet sub-ambient operation.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The flattened of the cooler is expertly milled to rest atop your favorite Intel LGA1200 socket CPU.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

This milled base provides for a quality mount for the ML360 Sub-Zero, making for an even distribution of thermal compound when tension is applied during the cooler installation.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

With the ML360 Sub-Zero up and running and with Intel’s Cryo Cooling Technology software installed, operation of the thermoelectric cooler is relatively simple. Select the service icon in the taskbar and choose whether to run in Cryo or Unregulated mode.

Cryo mode is the standard cooling mode when the system is under standard loads, beyond idle desktop or light web browsing. The Peltier unit will cycle into this mode and briefly off as needed based on environmental variables to maintain system safety and prevent condensed water from collecting.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Unregulated mode allows the cooler to operate to full effect, which does prompt a warning box that condensation could collect around the cooler and the motherboard, causing permanent damage. In short, clicking the box to acknowledge this warning is the electronic form of signing a waiver and understanding the consequences. Unregulated mode is typically reserved for brief sessions of cooling where an all-out assault on thermals is required.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

As 360mm coolers go, the Cooler Master ML360 Sub-Zero radiator fits a normal mount location as any other AIO we’ve tested. The standalone pump uses a pair of machine screws to mount within a set of standard chassis eyelets. While USB link cables are rather common for many AIOs, having an additional power cable running to your cooler adds a bit of extra clutter to an otherwise uneventful installation.

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Features and Specifications

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Lime says it will spend $50 million on a huge e-bike expansion

Lime is getting back to its roots. The scooter company formerly known as LimeBike says it will invest $50 million to grow its shared electric bicycle network, including adding a new model of bike and doubling the number of cities in which it operates.

Lime got its start with shared bikes, only to quickly pivot after Bird first introduced the concept of dockless electric scooters in 2017. The company dropped the “bike” from its name and started phasing out its bikes in 2019. But the following year, Lime acquired bike-share company Jump from Uber, and suddenly, bikes were back on the menu.

Now, the company is doubling down on shared electric bikes, with plans to launch in “a dozen” new cities in North America by the end of the year, as well as dozens more in Europe and other markets. In total, the company plans to have its bikes in 50 new cities by the start of 2022, roughly quadrupling its fleet size.

The $50 million investment will largely go toward designing, manufacturing, and assembling its next-generation bike, which will start rolling out this summer. The new model will come with a more powerful 350-watt motor and a swappable battery capable of up to 25 miles of range.

The battery is also interchangeable with the ones that power Lime’s Gen4 electric scooters, allowing for a standardized battery charging operation. A two-speed gear shifter will help with those hill climbs, and an integrated, electronically controlled hub lock will help keep the bike safe from theft and vandalism.

There are other new features on the bike: the handlebars are being replaced with ones similar to Lime’s scooters, there’s a phone holder in the front basket, and the bike will be able to hit speeds of up to 20mph (depending on local regulations). It weighs 72 pounds, which is heavier than the 65-pound electric Citi Bikes.

Lime will keep its cherry-red Jump bikes in operation, with no plans to phase those out in favor of the new Lime-branded e-bikes. The company has stated that it wants to be a multimodal provider of many different types of low-speed, electric vehicles. Last year, Lime added pedal-less e-bikes from Wheels to its app in several cities as part of a new effort to integrate third-party micromobility providers. And recently, it announced plans to introduce electric mopeds in Paris and Washington, DC.

The new investment in e-bikes comes as cycling is surging around the globe, with bike sales — and especially e-bike sales — hitting record numbers. Legislation has been introduced in the US to make e-bikes more affordable. And bike-share systems are adding more electric models to their fleets in the hopes of attracting more members. Lime says its customers took more than 2.5 million rides on its e-bikes last year, with the company expecting that number to grow significantly in 2021.

Lyft reinvents calling a cab

Lyft is admitting that some part of traditional taxi services are worth emulating today by letting people in select Florida cities book Lyft rides with just a phone call. The new “Call A Lyft” feature should be “perfect for seniors and folks without access to the Lyft app,” says Lyft.

Calling 631-201-LYFT (631-201-5938) between 8AM-8PM ET on Monday through Friday will let a potential rider book a ride. Lyft says that it will tell riders the full price before confirming and send texts to track the ride once it’s paid for and booked. It should be familiar to anyone who’s ever called a cab, though Lyft notes drivers are not expected to offer assistance getting into a car and wheelchair accessible rides aren’t available at launch. Call A Lyft also requires a phone with support for SMS messages.

Lyft isn’t the only ride-sharing company to fall back on phone calls. Uber experimented with a similar feature in 2020, allowing customers in Arizona to dial 1-833-USE-UBER to book a ride. Prior to both companies falling back on taxi service tactics, companies like GoGoGrandparent stepped in as an intermediary for ride-sharing and food delivery companies, allowing older folks to dial a phone number and have someone else handle the apps.

Lyft and Uber pushed out traditional taxi and cab services with a theoretically easy-to-use service and a large pool of drivers, but Call A Lyft illustrates that sometimes the old methods were that way for a reason — because they worked.

Call A Lyft is available now and Lyft has a full list of supported cities on its site.

Instacart, Uber, Lyft, Postmates, and DoorDash totally conned you into paying for Prop 22

Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Postmates spent over $200 million campaigning for Proposition 22, the most expensive ballot measure in California history, successfully convincing voters that they couldn’t properly pay and protect their workers if they were forced to classify them as full employees — at least, not without cutting back service or substantially raising the price you’d pay.

But now the dust has settled, every single gig economy company that backed Prop 22 has raised those prices anyway. Instacart was the last to join the bait-and-switch today, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carolyn Said, who previously told us in January exactly how much some of these companies are charging Californians to pay for worker benefits: $1-$2 per meal with Uber, $1.50 with Grubhub, up to $1.50 per ride with Lyft, and a whole additional 3 percent increase per order with Instacart (for a total of 8 percent, though it doesn’t apply to the company’s “Express” subscription plan yet). Postmates is charging as much as $2.50 extra per order, our sister site Eater reported.

Instacart threatened price increases if they lost Prop 22.

Now that they won, they’re raising them anyway.

Gig corporations have no shame.

We cannot let them roll this horrible law out to other States. pic.twitter.com/FAF9LJ91yA

— Gig Workers Rising (@GigWorkersRise) February 19, 2021

Instead of paying their workers, gig corporations pumped $200M to pass prop 22, claiming the worker protections guaranteed under the law would force them to drive up cost & pass it on to customers. Well guess what? They did it anyways. It’s honestly disgusting at this point. https://t.co/tMH2jBjWPE

— California Labor Federation (@CaliforniaLabor) December 14, 2020

Just to be clear, these companies explicitly pushed voters into supporting Prop 22 to avoid higher prices. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi publicly said prices would increase between 20 and 40 percent in big California cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, and up to double in smaller towns. In California’s official Voter Guide, which accompanied mail-in ballots, supporters of the bill warned there would be “significantly higher consumer prices” if Prop 22 failed to pass.

Companies like Uber and Lyft succeeded in part due to those scare tactics, and by appealing to voters that they could help workers get more protections and higher pay this way instead of potentially putting those workers’ jobs at risk. (It probably didn’t hurt that the app companies bombarded both drivers and passengers with messages using their own apps, which triggered a lawsuit from drivers who claimed Uber was bullying them.)

But there’s still an open question whether Prop 22 is actually helping workers, regardless of how much more we’re paying to supposedly make that happen. The Guardian reported yesterday that some drivers claim pay has actually fallen and the job has become less reliable.

In the UK, Uber just lost a five-year legal battle today over a similar issue, which will give workers there a guaranteed minimum wage, paid holiday, and other protections (though they will not necessarily be “employees”). But here in the US where Prop 22 succeeded, it’s opened the door for other parts of the country to potentially replace many regular employees with contractors too. Bloomberg has a good piece you should read about what that future might look like, for better or for worse.

Uber loses final appeal against drivers’ employment status in UK

Uber has lost the final appeal in a long running UK legal battle over whether its drivers are self-employed or legally-recognized workers with all the attendant rights, Bloomberg reports. The ruling is the conclusion of the company’s five-year legal fight in the country and a major setback for Uber that could affect all gig workers in the UK, regardless of employer.

The ruling could have a significant impact on the UK’s estimated 4.7 million gig economy workers, affecting not just tech giants like Uber and food delivery firm Deliveroo, but also less well known companies like couriers CitySprint and plumbing outfit Pimlico Plumbers.

In response to the ruling, Uber’s regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe Jamie Heywood said that the company respect’s the court’s decision, but added that it “focused on a small number of drivers who used the Uber app in 2016,” and that the ruling doesn’t reclassify all of its UK drivers as workers.

“Since then we have made some significant changes to our business, guided by drivers every step of the way,” Heywood said. “These include giving even more control over how they earn and providing new protections like free insurance in case of sickness or injury. We are committed to doing more and will now consult with every active driver across the UK to understand the changes they want to see.”

In a blog post, Uber said that the ruling classifies the drivers as “workers” rather than “employees,” which is a legally distinct category. It also says that certain elements of its service which were described in the judgement no longer apply, including penalties for drivers who reject multiple trips.

The original case against Uber was brought in 2016 by two drivers for the company, James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam. They argued that Uber controlled nearly all the aspects of their working conditions, including who they could accept for rides and how much they would be paid, meaning the company was acting as their employer.

Uber lost three cases against Farrar and Aslam in 2016, 2017, and 2018. But today’s judgement from the Supreme Court, the UK’s final court of appeal, ends their legal options. The dispute will now return to a specialty tribunal, according to Bloomberg, which will decide how much to award the 25 drivers. Uber also faces another 1,000 similar claims that had been stayed pending today’s ruling.

In a statement, the GMB Union, which helped bring the case against Uber, welcomed the “historic” win. “The Supreme Court has upheld the decision of three previous courts, backing up what GMB has said all along; Uber drivers are workers and entitled to breaks, holiday pay and minimum wage,” Mick Rix, GMB national officer, said in a statement.

“Uber must now stop wasting time and money pursuing lost legal causes and do what’s right by the drivers who prop up its empire,” Rix said, adding that the union now plans to work towards helping its members claim compensation.

Google Maps will now let you pay for public transportation and parking through its app

Google Maps is adding a couple of new useful features: the ability to pay for parking or buy a train ticket right from the app.

Google Maps is integrating two mobile parking payment services into its app, Passport and ParkMobile. Both offer the ability to find, pay for, and replenish parking meters or parking lot fees through a smartphone app. Now, those features will also be available in Google Maps. According to the company:

Simply tap on the “Pay for Parking” button that appears as you near your destination. Then enter your meter number, the amount of time you want to park for, and tap “Pay.” Need to add more time to your meter? Easily extend your parking session with just a few taps.

The ability to pay for parking in Google Maps will be available in 400-plus cities in the US, including Boston, Cincinnati, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC, and more, Google said. Android phone users will get the feature first, with iPhone owners soon to follow.

Paying for public transportation will work much in the same way. If you are searching for transit directions in Google Maps, you’ll see an option to purchase tickets appear alongside your results. Similar to the pay for parking feature, customers will need to have a Google Pay account linked to a valid credit or debit card to make the transaction.

Then, customers can use their phone — either in a tap-to-pay situation or by showing a digital ticket to a conductor — to ride public transportation. And in places like the San Francisco Bay Area, customers will be able to buy a digital Clipper card directly from Google Maps. The feature will be available to use in over 80 transit systems around the world, Google says.

A number of transit agencies around the world have modernized their fare collection methods to include contactless or tap-to-pay mediums like Google Pay and Apple Pay. Some that rely on weekly or monthly passes, like London’s Oyster card or San Francisco’s Clipper card, have also started working with Apple and Google Pay to integrate those payment passes in their apps.

It’s the latest feature in Google Maps’ ongoing effort to make itself more user-friendly for commuters and transit riders. In 2019, it added new transit crowdedness predictions, allowing customers to see how crowded their bus, train, or tube is likely to be before heading out on their commute. It also added a feature that pairs transit directions with biking and ride-sharing options so customers can get directions using a variety of transportation modes.

Google isn’t the only tech giant attempting to appeal to transit riders. Uber and Lyft have both recently started integrating transit directions into their respective apps. Customers who live in Denver can even purchase train tickets using their Uber account. Both companies are building sophisticated algorithms that rely on reams of data from transit agencies pertaining to routes and schedules. Moreover, it’s a race among tech giants to become a one-stop shop for transportation.

Revel introduces a $99-a-month e-bike subscription for NYC residents

Electric moped rental company Revel is expanding its product lineup to include monthly e-bike subscriptions for residents of New York City. It’s the latest company to try to capitalize on the e-bike boom by shifting to a Netflix or Spotify subscription model for transportation.

For $99 a month, interested customers can get a stylish electric bike manufactured by NYC-based e-bike company Wing delivered straight to their door. The price also includes complimentary maintenance, including flat tires fixes, loose chains repairs, or brake upkeep. Service requests can be submitted via Revel’s smartphone app, and Revel says a repair technician will respond within 24 hours. The company will also supply a bike lock and educational material to help subscribers navigate New York City’s less-than-bike-friendly streets.

In an interview, Revel CEO Frank Reig said he watched his fellow New Yorkers embrace cycling in much greater numbers during the early months of the pandemic, and was determined to meet that demand with a product of his own.

“We’ve been listening to our users to understand what they want and what they need,” Reig said, “and being ready to deliver a vehicle at a time when it couldn’t be more needed for a city like New York.”

It’s an interesting move from Revel, the shared electric scooter company that has been operating in New York City since 2018. But it’s also very much in line with where things are headed for micromobility companies that survived the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scooter company Lime recently added electric mopeds to its lineup, as well as e-bikes after acquiring Uber’s bike-share company Jump. Bird also dabbled with electric bikes and mopeds before deciding to stick with scooters.

With e-bikes typically costing between $1,400 and $3,000, subscriptions are seen as a more affordable alternative to personal ownership. The founders of SoundCloud recently launched an e-bike subscription service in Germany called Dance. Swapfiets is another service that is well-established in some European markets. The Dutch company just recently added e-bikes to its roster of products and launched in Berlin in July. And in the US, Bird and Lime have been experimenting with subscriptions for its electric scooters, with mixed results. Another company, Unagi, offers its electric scooters for $39-a-month in some US cities.

Subscriptions have been a mixed bag for the auto industry. Ford walked away from its service last fall following low demand. Cadillac shut down its service, Book, in 2018, only to resurrect it several months later with fewer options. BMW recently discontinued its $2,000-a-month Access by BMW service.

Revel’s in the shared moped business; why not something similar for e-bikes? Asked whether Citi Bike’s exclusive contract with the city of New York meant Revel couldn’t have launched a shared e-bike service, Reig said Revel wanted to avoid blocking the sidewalks like most scooter companies. “We don’t want to be on the sidewalk,” he said.

It’s also Revel’s latest effort to grow beyond mopeds. The company recently announced plans to building a DC fast-charging station for electric vehicles in New York City, where it is based. Revel first launched its shared moped service in Brooklyn in 2018, eventually expanding in Manhattan and Queens. And it has been growing ever since landing a $27.6 million investment from a group of backers including Ibex Investors, Toyota AI Ventures, Blue Collective, Launch Capital, and Maniv Mobility.

Now the company is ready to branch out into a new mode of electrified transportation, though not too divergent from its fleet of battery-powered mopeds. Wing has been making and selling e-bikes since 2018, when it first released its stylish, VanMoof-looking Freedom model. Its latest models, the Freedom 2 and Freedom X, are cleaner versions of that original bike.

The Freedom 2 includes an integrated 36-volt battery and a 550W Bafang hub motor. It has a top speed of 20 mph and a range 60 miles, depending on which power setting you’re in. The Freedom X includes the same parts, as well as a hidden digital display and torque sensors that regulate the motor based on how hard you’re pushing the pedals.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Seth Miller founded Wing after his first e-bike was stolen from in front of his office building. The company that manufactured the bike had disbanded, so he started researching different suppliers. He soon discovered that a majority of the e-bikes sold in the US are just cobbled together from a variety of off-the-shelf Chinese-made parts found in a catalog. It sounded simple, so Miller figured he’d try it himself. (The Verge reviewed the original Freedom in 2019 and found it to be a stylish and affordable ride.)

“We couldn’t be more excited to partner with a fellow NYC company that shares our vision for modernizing and electrifying urban transportation in an environmentally friendly way,” Miller told The Verge. “Simply put, New York is better with bikes.”

Mopeds are arguably a faster way to get around than e-bikes, but they can also be more dangerous, especially for novice riders. Revel was forced to temporarily shut down its service in New York City last year after two customers were killed and one was critically injured while riding the shared electric mopeds. The company eventually resumed service with new protective measures for riders like a mandatory in-app safety test and a requirement that all riders take a selfie of themselves wearing a helmet before they’ll be allowed to ride.

Revel is also partnering with helmet company Fend to offer a discount on its foldable bike helmets. The e-bike subscription service will be called Coast by Revel and interested customers can joining a waitlist, after which Revel will start delivering bikes starting in March.

Toyota teams up with Aurora and Denso on robotaxi development

It’s 2021 and we’re still finding unique ways to pair up to develop self-driving cars. The latest is between Toyota, AV startup Aurora, and auto part supplier Denso. The three companies will join forces to develop a fleet of robotaxis, with the first hitting the road by the end of this year.

It’s a big get for Aurora, the scrappy AV startup founded by Chris Urmson, the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, among others. Toyota, which outsold Volkswagen in 2020 to reclaim its status as the biggest automaker in the world, is one of the few car companies that has yet to pair up with an autonomous vehicle startup. Denso, which spun out of Toyota in the mid-20th century, is one of the largest auto suppliers on the planet. So Aurora is now officially rolling with the big dogs.

The companies plan to develop and test driverless vehicles equipped with Aurora’s self-driving hardware and software stack, starting with the Toyota Sienna minivan. “By the end of 2021, we expect to have designed, built, and begun testing an initial fleet of these Siennas near our areas of development,” the companies said.

Once they finish testing, the companies will begin mass producing autonomous vehicles for a full-scale ride-hailing operation. According to Aurora:

It brings our companies together to lay the groundwork for the mass-production, launch, and support of these vehicles with Toyota on ride-hailing networks, including Uber’s, over the next few years. As part of this long-term effort, we’ll be exploring mass production of key autonomous driving components with Denso and a comprehensive services solution with Toyota for when these vehicles are deployed at scale, including financing, insurance, maintenance, and more.

Aurora recently grew its ranks of engineers after acquiring Uber’s self-driving car division late last year. The startup sent offer letters to about three-fourths of the ride-hailing company’s Advanced Technologies Group, which is based in Pittsburgh and Toronto, according to TechCrunch.

Toyota has largely kept its self-driving car tinkering quiet. The Japanese company has released some information about its test vehicles and the types of sensors it’s using, but we’ve seen very little of the cars in operation. Toyota was planning to offer a limited ride-hailing pilot in downtown Tokyo during the 2020 Summer Olympics, but that was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The automaker also recently invested $400 million in Pony.ai, a self-driving startup based in the US and China.

Toyota has developed a self-driving software called “Chauffeur,” which ironically was also the codename for Google’s self-driving project under Urmson. Toyota’s software is “focused on full autonomy, where the human is essentially removed from the driving equation, either completely in all environments, or within a restricted driving domain.” Toyota has a second product called “Guardian,” which is essentially an advanced driver-assist system akin to Tesla’s Autopilot. Neither is being offered in any production car today.

Toyota Research Institute, the automaker’s Silicon Valley-based division, has been conducting tests at its Ottawa Lake, Michigan, closed-course facility for a number of years. In 2018, Toyota agreed to invest $500 million in a joint self-driving project with Uber, but that investment is now moot as Aurora owns what’s left of Uber’s AV division.

Deliveroo vs Just Eat vs Uber Eats: UK delivery apps compared

(Pocket-lint) – Getting meals delivered to your home, whether it’s a pizza, takeaway, sandwich or anything else under sun, has become an absolutely normal thing in the UK after just a few years.

It’s actually quite difficult to imagine a time before the widespread availability of delivery apps, but they’re here now and we’re thankful for it. That said, there are three really big options in the UK, and you might be stuck deciding which to actually go for. Here we’ll run you through Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, to let you know what’s different about each.

Deliveroo

Deliveroo

Download on iOS | on Android

Deliveroo is the biggest name in delivery for a reason – it was one of the very first services that really took off, and certainly has the slickest experience to offer up to users.

It’s simple to get started – you just download the app to your phone, then put in some details to create an account and let it know where you’re located. You’ll then be able to see what sort of food you can get from your area, each with its own rating, menu and information about how far away it is, and when you can expect the food to arrive if you do order.

The range of takeaways available is huge, and big brands like KFC and McDonald’s are also on board, so you’re unlikely to be short of places to choose from, especially if you’re in a city.

Once you’ve picked, there’s a small service fee and a delivery charge, although you can opt to pay £3.99 each month to waive the delivery fee over a minimum amount – the maths on that being worth it will depend on how often you order and in what quantities!

Just Eat

Just Eat

Download on iOS | on Android

Just Eat is another major player in the delivery space, and actually has far more options on its books than Deliveroo, having been on the scene a bit longer. The app isn’t quite as slick as Deliveroo’s, though, in particular lacking the ability to see where your order or delivery person actually is to get a sense of how imminent it is.

However, because many restaurants take advantage of the app’s ability to waive delivery charges or hold discounts, you can often find really affordable and knocked-down prices on Just Eat that wouldn’t be matched elsewhere.

It’s also fairly common for smaller, independent eateries to be on Just Eat but not Deliveroo yet, in our experience, which can make it a good way to find local favourites without leaving home.

Uber Eats

Uber Eats

Download on iOS | on Android

Finally, we come to Uber Eats, a pivot from Uber that took many people by surprise when it was announced but makes sense when you think about the logistics of routing drivers around being fairly similar whether they’re ferrying food or people.

It’s a separate app in the UK to the ride-sharing service, which isn’t true in the US, and has a fairly slick UI that lets you quickly and easily filter restaurants by type of food and proximity, both of which can be very handy.

It’s not always the cheapest place to find food but, perhaps because it’s not got a huge market slice yet, Uber Eats does often run promotions to give you free credit or discounts, helping to cut costs, so it’s always well worth checking out the app to see what’s available near you.

It’s possibly worth noting that Uber Eats doesn’t have quite as widespread a network, either, so if you don’t live in a town or city you might find it short of options!

Verdict – which app is best?

When it comes to which app is best overall, we’re going to have to be a little non-committal. That’s because the key variable behind which you’ll get the most mileage from is likely to be the one that has the best local eateries signed up.

If everything were totally equal on that front, we think Deliveroo would be the top dog based on its app’s slick UI and features like being able to track your rider’s journey. However, what it really comes down to is how good (and fairly priced) the food in your area is – if the apps even have any options near you. The only way to find that out for yourself is to download them and have a go!

Writing by Max Freeman-Mills.

Amazon plans to install always-on surveillance cameras in its delivery vehicles

Amazon plans to install high-tech video cameras in its delivery vehicles in order to better monitor the behavior of drivers as they deliver packages, according to a new report from The Information.

The hardware and software will be supplied by Netradyne, a California company behind a platform called Driveri that uses cameras and artificial intelligence to analyze a driver as they operate the vehicle. The camera then gives real-time feedback — including automated suggestions like “distracted driving” and “please slow down” — while collecting analysis that is used to later evaluate drivers during their shifts, the report states.

An unlisted, week-old video hosted on the website Vimeo details the partnership. It’s narrated by Karolina Haraldsdottir, Amazon’s senior manager for last-mile safety, and outlines the company’s goals as reducing collisions and holding drivers more accountable for mistakes on the road. The initiative mirrors one Amazon has taken with its long-haul trucking fleet, in which SmartDrive cameras monitor freight drivers for signs of fatigue and distracted driving, according to a separate report from The Information.

The marketing video showcases how the cameras record “100% of the time” (though without audio and not viewable live) and upload footage to a dedicated safety team for review if any one of 16 signals is triggered through an incident happening on the road or an action the driver takes. The driver is able to manually disable the camera, but only when the ignition is off. Drivers are also allowed to manually upload footage when they choose to.

Screenshot by Nick Statt / The Verge

“We’re always searching out innovative ways to keep drivers safe. That’s why we have partnered with Netradyne to help make improvements to the driver experience,” Haraldsdottir says on camera. She describes Netradyne as the first company to merge AI with video “to create industry-leading safety systems, reducing collisions by a third through in-cab warnings and another third through improving driver behaviors.”

Haraldsdottir says Amazon wants to “set up drivers for success and provide them support for being safer on road and handling incidents if and when they happen.” But The Information talked with some drivers who are concerned that the use of Netradyne’s technology might constitute unfair and invasive surveillance and place even further burdens on them as they try to meet tight deadlines.

Screenshot by Nick Statt / The Verge

Amazon has historically relied on last-mile operators like the US Postal Service and UPS to get packages to customers’ doorsteps, but the company has increasingly begun using its own growing logistics network of airplanes, trucks, and delivery vehicles to cut costs. For last-mile deliveries, that has included both third-party delivery companies Amazon contracts directly and a growing platform of Uber-like workers using their own vehicles under the Amazon Flex platform.

As part of this network, Amazon operates a fleet of tens of thousands of delivery drivers all over the country that, as part of these third-party firms, are not technically company employees. Nonetheless, these drivers operate Amazon Prime-branded vehicles and are subject to any restrictions or monitoring the company puts in place in many ways similar to the intense control Amazon exerts over its warehouse workers. That includes minute-by-minute surveillance via mobile app of where a driver is on their programmed route and whether they’re falling behind schedule.

Screenshot by Nick Statt / The Verge

Those monitoring tools appear to also include new Netradyne cameras, although The Information says it’s not clear when Amazon intends to install the cameras and how widespread throughout its delivery fleet they’ll be. “We are investing in safety across our operations and recently started rolling out industry leading camera-based safety technology across our delivery fleet,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Information in a statement. “This technology will provide drivers real-time alerts to help them stay safe when they are on the road.”

In using its own network of both professional and civilian delivery drivers, Amazon has faced scrutiny in recent years for prioritizing speed and consumer convenience over the safety of delivery personnel, while at the same time placing increasingly onerous burdens on its drivers dictating the route they take and the order in which they drop off packages to avoid delays.

Last fall, Amazon was caught surveilling contract Flex drivers in private Facebook groups to see whether some were planning labor actions like work stoppages or strikes. In March of last year, Amazon came under fire for declining to pay Flex drivers forced to stay home due to the coronavirus, despite Uber and Lyft opting to compensate their drivers.

Amazon delivery drivers have also caused dozens of accidents over the last half-decade, including some that resulted in deaths, but the company often avoids liability for the accidents due to the way it employs third-party firms and independent contractors, reported The New York Times in 2019. Just earlier this week, Amazon was ordered to pay more than $61 million to Flex drivers as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over wage theft allegations.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

33 Spotify tips, tricks and features

(Image credit: Spotify)

As of February 2021, Spotify boasts 155 million Premium subscribers and 345 million monthly active users. The platform has long been the world’s most popular music streaming service, and with good cause – it got in on the ground floor and its simple interface and vast library make it a compelling choice even in the face of stiff competition from Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, YouTube Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and others.

But are you getting the most from your Spotify membership?

We’ve compiled a list of our favourite Spotify features, tips and tricks to help you get the most out of the service – from mastering offline listening to getting the best possible sound quality, sharing your music to filtering your recommendations. Some of these are only for Spotify Premium subscribers only though, so if you want the full experience, you’ll have to cough up the £9.99 per month…

Spotify Connect: what is it? How can you get it?
Tidal vs Spotify: which is better?

Set up

1. Get the best sound quality

First things first: head to the settings menu (below your account name, top right, and although it’s set to ‘automatic’ by default, you can change the music quality – choose Low (24kbps), Medium (96 kbps), High (160 kbps) or Very High (320 kbps). Admittedly, these aren’t going to sound as sweet as lossless Tidal Master or Qobuz files, and taking the Very High path might take up more of your data allowance to stream. But that’s a small price to pay for better listening.

2. Save music for offline listening

Spotify Premium users can download tracks to listen to offline. Not only does this save you valuable data, it also means you can listen where you don’t have mobile reception. Win-win. Save your playlists in the best possible quality, naturally. Hit the three dots then select ‘download’ on Android, or select the playlist then hit ‘download’ at the top on Apple.

3. Create a new playlist

To create a new playlist, head into the playlist category in ‘Your Library’. At the top you’ll find an music icon with a plus sign on it (Android), or tap ‘Edit’ and then ‘Create’ (iOS) start your brand new playlist. On the desktop app, you’ll see a plus-sign and ‘New Playlist in the bottom-left, underneath any playlists you’ve already created.

4. Transfer your music from other apps

You can transfer your existing playlists on other music services to Spotify. The Soundiiz website is a great way to get it done and supports all the services you’d expect.

Interface

5. See your stats

Click on your profile icon in the top left to see who’s following you and who you’re following. It will also show your most recently listened-to artists and public playlists.

6. Sort your now-playing queue

Cue tracks in Spotify by selecting ‘add to queue’ from the three dots next to the track title. On iOS? You can also swipe right on a track to add it to your now-playing playlist.

7. Search for your favourite tunes

Want to find a track from your own library? On mobile, pull down on the screen when you’re in any of the sub-categories (albums, playlists, artists) in the ‘Your Library’ tab to reveal a search bar at the top, complete with filter options. This searches your own saved tracks rather than the whole of Spotify (which is done via the main ‘Search’ icon at the bottom).

8. Listen using the web interface

Not allowed to install software on your work computer? No problem. Head to play.spotify.com and you can listen without installing the Spotify desktop app (or relying on your phone). Take that, overzealous IT department.

9. Master keyboard shortcuts

Did you know you can control Spotify using just your keyboard? The Space bar is play/pause, next track is Control-Right (Control-Command-Right on a Mac), back is Control-Left (Control-Command-Left on a Mac), Volume is Control-Up or -Down (Command-Up or -Down on a Mac) and to create a new playlist press Control-N. And that’s just scratching the surface.

Check out the full list here.

Organising your music

10. Build your own library

There are a couple of ways to build your music library. Adding your favourite tracks to playlists is one way, saving music to your own library is another. Add tracks, albums, artists radio stations, podcasts and playlists by hitting the plus/save sign (either next to the song in the desktop app, or by tapping the three dots on mobile), then access your music via ‘Your Library’.

11. Add music that isn’t on Spotify

Missing out on those artists that are absent from Spotify? Add them yourself. Go to Spotify’s ‘Preferences’ on the desktop app, scroll down and click ‘Add a Source’, then select a folder containing your own music files. You can then see them in your Spotify library – they’ll be under ‘Local Files’ in the left sidebar.

12. Recover a deleted playlist

Spotify’s Account website can help restore playlists that you’ve deleted. Log in, go to ‘Account Settings’, and select ‘Recover Playlists’. Hey presto.

13. Find clean and explicit versions of songs

If you think a lyric sounds unlike the witty line you remember, chances are an expletive was swapped out in favour of a less explicit word. Spotify can help you track down the original. Scroll down and select the pull-down menu on the right-hand side. If it says ‘1 More Release’, that could well be the explicit version.

Music curation

14. Follow some friends

Is your pal always first with the best new music? You can piggyback off their hard work by following them on Spotify. This way you’ll be able to see what they’re listening to, and pass those killer tracks off as your own discoveries. (We suppose they are, in a way.) Select ‘Find Friends’ to locate them, and instantly expand your listening.

15. Share music with friends using Spotify Codes

Spotify Codes is another way to share music. Scan a code on your friend’s phone to download a tune, or import a code posted by an artist to hear their latest single. You can also scan a code from a poster, flyer or billboard. Tap the ‘…’ context menu next to a song, and you’ll see a Spotify Code appear at the bottom of the album artwork. Use the ‘Camera’ icon to scan it, or tap the Code-enhanced artwork and save it to ‘Camera Roll’ for uploading to a social network.

16. Make a collaborative playlist

Maybe you’re putting together a set list for a friend’s wedding or a party. Start a collaborative playlist and everyone can chuck in their tuppence-worth, no matter how misguided. Right-click on the playlist name, and it’ll give you the option of making it collaborative. Then grant friends access to it, and brace yourself for some terrible choices. Alternatively, you can make a playlist secret, too.

17. Let the Radio option open your ears to similar artists

Stuck for what to listen to? ‘Radio’ can help. On desktop, select it from the left-hand pane, then choose ‘Create new station’ and pick an artist, album or playlist you like. Radio will then serve up a selection of artists/songs similar to your choice, that you’ll (hopefully) like. On mobile? Hit the three dots top right when on an artist, album or song and then select ‘Go to Radio’.

18. Filter out the chaff

Yes, of course you want to listen to James Brown. No, you don’t want anything from his Lost ’80s years. Thankfully you can filter out the wilderness era. Type the artist name in the search bar followed by the years that you want to hear (with no spaces). For example “James Brown year:1970-77”.

19. Sort out your search

Use the word “Not” after your search term to omit artists you don’t want, and the “+” symbol or “And” to include those you do.

20. Listen to Spotify’s Weekly Discover Playlist

This is a playlist of 30 tracks Spotify compiles based on your listening habits. It tends to be scarily good. It updates every Monday and sits in the ‘Made For You’ section (or in Browse – Discover, or you could simply type ‘Discover Weekly’ into the search bar). There’s also the Release Radar playlist that updates every Friday with brand new music releases.

21. Listen to your Daily Mixes

Too impatient to wait a whole week? Spotify now offers six Daily Mix playlists that are tailored to users’ listening habits.

22. Check out the What Hi-Fi? playlist

And we have to mention our own playlist… Each month, we update our Spotify playlist so you can see what we’ve been listening to over the past four weeks. It’s a great mix of tunes we use to test our review kit, as well as a few personal favourites from the team. You know it makes sense.

Connecting other devices

23. Listen through your home cinema speakers

Using the Google Chromecast streaming dongle, you can play Spotify through the speakers attached to your TV. Just select ‘Chromecast’ from the ‘Devices Available’ section of the Spotify app and get playing.

24. Control it with your voice

Good news. The Amazon Echo and Echo Dot speakers play nice with Spotify. Just connect your Spotify account in the Alexa app, and then start barking commands like “Alexa, play me some Bowie on Spotify!” and the Echo will do as it’s told. You’ll be grooving to Let’s Dance in no time. If you set Spotify as your preferred streaming service, you won’t even need to request Spotify by name, either. Apple users can control music playback by asking Siri, too.

25. Send music to your speakers with Spotify Connect

Premium subscribers can use their phone as a remote control and play music on connected Spotify Connect speakers, such as Sonos – although certain devices (the PlayStation 4, for example) are happy to work with Spotify Free. Play a song on your phone and make it fullscreen. Select the ‘speaker’ icon at the bottom of the screen, then select your speakers. Instant house party.

26. Listen in your Uber

Connect your Spotify account in the Uber app and you can then take control of your car’s stereo (assuming your driver has allowed it). They’ll love your choice of music, we’re sure…

More features

(Image credit: Spotify)

27. Share songs instantly with anyone

Heard a song you just have to send to a friend? Tap the three dots, then ‘Share’, then send it on to the social media platform (Facebook, Instagram Stories, Skype even), your WhatsApp groups, or simply copy the song link.

28. Preview music on iOS

Tap and hold the title of a track, album or playlist, and you’ll get a preview. On a playlist or album you’ll see the first five tracks – slide over each piece of cover art and you can preview each song.

29. Use private listening to hide your guilty pleasures

Not everyone needs to know about your love of Wang Chung. If you want to keep your listening private, click ‘Settings’ (top right), then ‘Private Session’ on Android or ‘Settings’ then ‘Social’ then ‘Private Session’ on iOS. That way, friends won’t know you’ve spent all morning blissing out to big-haired saxophone-heavy ’80s cheese.

30. Make a playlist tailored to your running speed

Spotify can also pick tracks that are close to the same tempo as your running speed. Start running, pick a running playlist from the ‘Browse’ screen, and Spotify will use your phone’s sensors to select songs to suit your stride. See it in action here.

31. Link to a specific part of a track

If there’s a great solo you want to alert someone to, you don’t have to tell them to skip to 2:53 in the track. Just send them a link and they’ll jump right in at the relevant part. On desktop, copy the track’s URI (uniform resource identifier) by right-clicking the track and selecting ‘Copy Spotify URI’. Then paste it into an email or text message, and add ‘#time2:53’ to the end. When the respondent clicks it, they’ll be transported to exactly the part you were talking about. Magic.

32. Find out about live gigs

OK, large gatherings aren’t the thing right now, but looking ahead: Spotify can help you see your favourite act in the flesh. To see when an act might be playing near you, click ‘Browse’ on your desktop app, then ‘Concerts’ to see which acts you’ve listened to are playing nearby. Going to be out of town? Just change your location to see what’s happening near you.

33. Listen to podcasts

Did you know you can listen to your favourite podcasts on Spotify? Well, now you do. Head to ‘Browse’ and then ‘Podcasts’ (on desktop) to follow your faves, and go to the Podcasts section in ‘Your Library’ to find all your saved podcasts.

Best music streaming services 2021: free streams to hi-res audio
11 of the best Spotify playlists to listen to right now
25 of the best podcasts on Spotify
Listen to the What Hi-Fi? playlist

Amazon Music Unlimited vs Spotify: Which is best?

(Pocket-lint) – The rise of Amazon Music Unlimited has gone hand-in-hand with the explosion in the use of Amazon Echo speakers and Alexa, its digital assistant. It integrates seamlessly with Echo devices, while also working just like any other streaming service on your phone and other devices.

Spotify is probably the first service you think of when you think of music streaming – it’s been around the longest, integrates with loads of services, and has some very clever features.

But which service is best for you – Amazon Music or Spotify? We’ve looked at the features of both, how much Spotify and Amazon Music cost, and how you can access them to help you make your ultimate decision: Spotify or Amazon Music Unlimited?

Want to check out other options such as Apple Music or Tidal?

Amazon Music Unlimited vs Spotify: Prices compared

Amazon Music Unlimited is available with several different pricing tiers available. To help you get to grips with Amazon Music Unlimited and to decide if it’s the right service for you, Amazon offers a 30-day free trial.

If you don’t subscribe to Amazon Prime, a Music Unlimited membership will cost you £9.99/$9.99 a month, but if you do have a Prime account then you’ll only pay £7.99/£7.99 a month or £79/$79 for the whole year.

Subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited UK
Subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited US

Amazon also offers a membership for £3.99/$3.99 a month but you can only stream music through the Echo speaker or Echo Dot. Note that you can only use the £3.99 month Echo membership on a single Echo device and it can’t be transferred. If you have multiple Echo devices in your home and want to use Amazon Music Unlimited with all of them, you’ll need a regular individual membership. There’s also a Student membership at $4.99.

A Family membership is available for £14.99/$14.99 a month for up to 6 family members or £149/$149 for a year.

Spotify has a much simpler pricing structure with just three tiers: a free, ad-supported tier and a Premium tier that costs £9.99/$9.99 month. Again, there’s a 30-day free trial.

Spotify also offers offer a family subscription plan which costs £14.99/$14.99 month for you and up to five family members. Each member gets their own personal account.

Students can also get a discounted membership for just £4.99, but they have to sign up through UniDays or NUS Extra.

Sign up for Spotify

Amazon Music Unlimited vs Spotify: Devices

While Amazon Music can be played on a wide range of devices, it’s in connectivity that Spotify has a killer feature – Spotify Connect. And even though Amazon now has Alexa Cast – enabling you to cast to a variety of Alexa or Bluetooth devices from within the Music Unlimited app – it’s not quite as flexible as Spotify Connect.

Spotify Connect enables you to control what is playing on any Spotify Connect device or Spotify app, from any other. That means you can use your desktop app to control Spotify on your Echo, you can pause it on your phone, find something else and play that on your PC instead. Each app gets to control the music wherever it’s playing.

Amazon Music Unlimited is accessible through the Amazon Music app. The app can be downloaded on iOS and Android devices, as well as Mac and PC. You can also access it through a Web player in your browser and through the company’s Echo devices and Fire tablets. You can also play music through a Sonos multi-room system or Roku media streamer.

Amazon has also said that select BMW and Mini cars are Amazon Music-enabled and provide access to the service through its infotainment system when connected to a smartphone.

Spotify is available almost everywhere, there’s an app for iOS, Android, PC and Mac but is available via Spotify Connect on a list of devices that’s almost too long to put here. You can get a Spotify app on select TVs from Panasonic, LG, Sony, Samsung, B&O and Philips while Spotify works with stacks of audio products including those from Bose, Sonos, Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha, Pionner, Naim, Libratone and Revo.

A wide range of car manufacturers, as well as Uber, have either built-in access via Spotify Connect, Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. The Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox One have apps for Spotify, along with Google Chromecast and Chromecast Audio. Check out this full list of Spotify Connect Devices.

We’ve mentioned both on Amazon Echo devices – while Amazon Music is slightly better integrated, Spotify plays natively too, so there isn’t a huge difference in experience.

And, naturally, you can always stream either from your phone to a Bluetooth speaker or another Bluetooth-enabled device.

Amazon Music Unlimited vs Spotify: Which offers better sound?

Amazon hasn’t revealed the streaming bitrate quality of its library, but we’d have a guess and say it will be 320kbps as this would put it on par with Spotify.

Spotify reserves 320kbps streaming for its Premium tier. It’s called “extreme quality” on mobile. If you use the free tier and listen on a mobile, you can choose between 96kbps normal quality or 160kbps high quality. The same 160kbps streams are called standard quality on a computer.

However, Amazon also offers a premium tier called Amazon Music HD, which unlocks lossless music at a higher quality, for audiophiles. It’s pricier, and has a more limited library, but is a great way to get higher-quality audio, so that’s a major leg-up over Spotify for now.

What is Spotify Spotlight and how does the new format work?

Amazon Music Unlimited vs Spotify: Other features

Radio

Both Amazon Music Unlimited and Spotify offer personalised radio stations based on artists and tracks you like.

Both have mood-based playlists and a list of auto-generated stations and you can also choose to start a station based on an artist or song you’re currently listening to. These can also be accessed on Echo devices.

Playlists

Both services will let you create your own custom playlists you can then share with friends, or you can save curated ones to your collection.

Discovery

Amazon’s Music app and the web player have a recommended section which serves up albums and playlists that it things you’ll like based on your listening habits. The Music app itself has had a major redesign, and now claims to make music discovery easier than ever before.

Spotify meanwhile has a feature called Discover Weekly, which is an automatically curated playlist of songs that it thinks you’ll like based on your listening habits. It’s updated every Monday morning and from our experience, we’ve always liked what we’ve heard.

Assistant

Because of the integration with Echo devices, Amazon Music Unlimited can be used with Alexa. You can ask Alexa all manner of questions to get the music you want, such as “play music for a dinner party” or “play Britney Spears greatest hits” and so on.

Spotify has no built-in assistant as such, but can be controlled with Alexa or Google Assistant – so you can simply ask for the music you want “on Spotify” and it will play.

Offline

Both Amazon Music Unlimited and Spotify offer offline playback. Amazon offers it as standard but you can only download songs from Spotify if you subscribe to the Premium tier.

Amazon Music Unlimited vs Spotify: Which is best?

If you already have an Amazon Prime membership and you’ve bought an Echo speaker or Echo Dot, paying just £3.99 a month makes it incredibly worthwhile if you just want playback on your Echo – certainly cheaper than paying for a full Spotify subscription. And the cheaper price for Prime members mean Amazon Music Unlimited is a no-brainer if you already have a Prime membership.

Subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited UK
Subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited US

But if you aren’t within the Amazon ecosystem already then Spotify is our pick. Spotify is available almost everywhere and offers a free tier. It’s worth noting that while the free tier still lets you listen to Spotify’s entire music catalogue, it does come with some limitations on where and how you can play your music, restricting downloads and so on.

It helps that Spotify is incredibly easy to use, sounds good and has some incredibly useful music discovery features. We also rate Spotify Connect – it’s the best system if you have a range of different speaker types.

Sign up for Spotify

Also why not check out these Spotify tips and tricks, if you want to level up your experience.

Writing by Max Langridge and Dan Grabham. Editing by Max Freeman-Mills.

The best SSDs and hard drives 2021 Top portable external drives for your Mac or PC

(Pocket-lint) – With more and more laptops and devices being equipped with flash memory, that often means it becomes too expensive to get a good amount of storage built-in.

And, with so many more of us travelling around for work, working from home or needing to use more than one machine, it’s more important than ever to have an external drive of sorts.

Thankfully, there’s a lot of them around. And most of the portable options are small enough to go in a pocket.

There’s both SSD (solid state) and HDD (more traditional style hard-drive), with the former being a bit more expensive, but also faster, smaller and more portable. They’re also more likely to last you a long time because there are no moving parts. For editing movies and photos on an external drive, nothing really gets the job done like an SSD.

SSD vs HDD: What’s the difference between flash storage and traditional hard drives?

SSDs – Small and speedy

We’ve tested each of the following, using each of them to edit 4K video footage in Final Cut Pro, keeping the original files on the external drive, and each of them performed really well, with no real frame-drop issues, slow export or render times. So, regardless of which of the following you get, you’ll enjoy the speediness and efficiency.

Judging them based on portability, design, performance and value for money, here are our top picks.

How to improve your gaming performance with blazing-fast NVMe SSDs

Our top external drive recommendation

Pocket-lint

Samsung T7 Touch

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The Samsung T7 Touch is the latest in ultra-fast portable drives from Samsung that joins our list and replaces our previous favourite – the T5. With the T7 Touch, Samsung has taken the brilliant foundations of the previous drive and improved upon them. Not only is the transfer speed of the T7 almost double that of the T5 (at up to 1,050 MB/s) but it’s also interesting in other ways too.

This is a drive that’s designed to blur the lines between professional and personal use with the inclusion of AES 256-bit hardware data encryption and a fingerprint sensor/password setup. It includes both USB type-C-to-C, USB type-C-to-A cables in the box and software for Mac, PC and Android phones too. Using that software you can set a secure password and scan your fingerprints to secure the drive so no one else can access it. Plugged in without scanning it simply won’t show any files on the drive.

You also have the option of registering as many as four different fingerprints, meaning you can scan your preferred fingers or give access to family or team members with ease.

All this is rounded off in a durable, aesthetically pleasing aluminium housing with a nifty “Motion LED” light around the fingerprint reader. The T7 Touch is a brilliant balance of speed, portability and security that we love and are sure you will too.

Pocket-lint

WD_Black P10

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The WD_Black P10 is one of several variants of external SSDs Western Digitial has designed specifically for gamers. This drive comes with a robust, snazzy-looking housing that includes an aluminium top for passive cooling goodness. It’s available in several size formats and offers extra space for your games.

An external drive like this is a brilliantly simple way to upgrade your storage space for more games without messing about with internals. We’ve written before on how to upgrade your PS4 and Xbox One using this sort of drive and the WD_Black range is an awesome option. The bonus of the P10 is it’s plug and play. We used it on PC, installing a multitude of Steam games, then booting them straight from the drive with reasonable speed. The P10 isn’t the fastest of the line-up (that honour goes to the P50) but it is a brilliant balance of speed, size and value for money.

If you want something faster, the P50 is a niftier option with a rear/write speed of 1980MB/s and USB SuperSpeed 20Gbps too. While if you need insane amounts of space there’s the D10 which offers up to 12 TBs of storage space and can hold as many as 200 games.

Pocket-lint

Seagate FireCuda gaming SSD

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Gamers love RGB and speed. At least that’s what Seagate seems to be saying with this external FireCuda Gaming SSD. A drive in a solid, robust casing that’s rubber backed and sports a customisable RGB lighting strip.

This is a compact drive you could easily slip in your pocket, but it’s also a great looking bit of kit with up to 2TB storage space and as much as 2,000MB/s max speed with USB 3.2 gen 2×2 tech.

Fast, fabulous and a fantastic addition to your gaming setup.

Pocket-lint

ADATA SE800 External Solid State Drive

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The ADATA SE800 is a compact, lightweight, blazingly fast portable SSD. This is an external drive that comes in a uber-snazzy looking protective shell that looks like it’s made of brushed aluminium. That shell is also IP-68 rated, meaning that (as long as it is properly sealed) it’s waterproof, dustproof and shockproof too. So your data is safe if you happen to take a soaking while carrying it or accidentally drop it into a small body water – the bath, a puddle, a river, the toilet. We’re not here to judge.

This drive isn’t just about looks and waterproofing though, it’s also a powerhouse. Thanks to USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C connectivity, it’s able to transfer data at speeds of up to 1,0000MB/s making it one of the fastest drives on this list. It comes bundled with both a USB 3.2 Type-C to C cable and USB 3.2 Type-C to A cable meaning it will also connect to basically anything you own with ease too.

Pocket-lint

Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD

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Testing the transfer speeds from our MacBook Pro desktop to the Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD, we got virtually identical results to the Samsung. The same 9.3GB collection of files was transferred in 20.66 seconds, and the discrepancy easily ignorable, and probably explained by the pace of human reaction, rather than the speed of the transfer itself.

So performance is essentially as good, but there’s one real reason you might want this over the Samsung: design. Not only is the Sandisk (somehow) considerably smaller and lighter than the T5, but it’s also got some water and dust resistance.

You can’t submerge it, but it’ll survive the odd accidental splash. As a bonus, it also has a handy little cutout in the corner to feed a carabiner through so you can attach it to your keys if you want to.

Pocket-lint

Gtech G-Drive Mobile SSD

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The G-Drive Mobile SSD is taller and thicker than either the Samsung T5 or Sandisk Extreme SSDs, but what it lacks (slightly) in portability, it more than makes up for in durability. Its external surfaces are covered in a shock-absorbing plastic/rubber material, ensuring that it can survive falls up to three metres. What’s more, it has IP67 rated water and dust resistance, which means it can survive in up to one metre of water for up to 30 minutes. As a bonus, you also get a limited five-year warranty as standard.

You don’t really lose out on performance either, with Gtech claiming up to 560MB/s transfer speeds. Testing using the same selection of files, the G-Drive Mobile SSD took 24.4 seconds to transfer. We tested it a few times just to be sure, and it was consistently around four to five seconds slower than the previous two drives, despite claiming faster top speeds. Still, it’s hardly slow, just not quite as fast as the T5 or Sandisk Extreme.

Pocket-lint

Samsung X5 Thunderbolt drive

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If you want a stupendously fast external drive, look no further. The Samsung X5 is it, featuring sequential read speeds up to 2,800MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 2,300MB/s. Using the same 9.3GB collection of seven video files, we tested the transfer speeds and were blown away. Those same files that take 20-25 seconds on the previously mentioned drives took less than 6.5 seconds on the Samsung X5.

You may be wondering, why with those speeds is it not our top recommendation? Two simple reasons: it is pretty expensive, and it only achieves those speeds if you use a Thunderbolt 3 port on your Mac/Laptop. If you can afford it, and you have TB3 ports on your computer, it’s well worth it. It’s so ridiculously fast.

Taking a different approach to the T5, Samsung clad the X5 in plastic, but in the form that looks more like the outer shell of a sports car than an external drive. What’s more, inside it has a protection guard built from magnesium and a heat sink to ensure the NVMe SSD inside is kept at a temperature below 45 degrees C.

All of this innovation and design comes at a cost, both literally in terms of cash outlay and in portability. It’s not exactly huge, but it’s three times heavier than the Samsung T5, and considerably taller, wider and thicker. Still, it’s not difficult to carry around and comfortably fits in a pocket.

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LaCie Rugged SSD

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As SSD standards go, the LaCie is big and bulky but – as the name suggests – it’s very durable. It can survive drops up to 2 metres, and conforms to Military Standard 810-F. It’s recognisable instantly too, thanks to its bright orange chunky, texturised silicone outer casing that absorbs all the shocks and bumps you can throw its way.

Don’t confuse its chunky, hefty looks for slow pace though. It’s just as speedy as most of the others on this list, thanks to that SSD storage. Using our same selection of video files, it transferred them in around 20.2 seconds, bringing it up to speed with the Samsung T5 and SanDisk options.

As a bonus, for those who still have computers rocking the old style Thunderbolt port, it has one of those connectors built into the unit, wrapped around safely in the rubber sleeve.

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Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim

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As external HDDs go, the Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim has a lot going for it. It’s attractive, covered in a dimpled sheet of aluminium and – as the name suggests – it’s really slim.

It’s compatible with both Windows and mac OS, and is very affordable compared to the SSDs in the list above. While the speeds aren’t quite fast enough for live editing of RAW photos or 4K video, the transfer speeds are reasonable. We got those same video files as we’ve been using previously, dragged them across, and they’d written to the drive in around 1min 18 seconds.

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Toshiba Canvio Basics Portable HD

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If you’re looking for really great value for money, the Toshiba Canvio Basics is one way to go. It’s compatible with USB 3.0, so it’s not a snail, and it’s compatible with Xbox and PS4, although it is formatted to NTFS for Windows machines, rather than the system Mac uses. It can be reformatted to work with Mac, however, or you can download plugins to make your Mac read NTFS-formatted drives.

In our file transfer test, it was slightly faster than the Seagate Backup Plus, but not by much. The 9.3GB collection of videos transferred across in around 1min 12 seconds.

Writing by Cam Bunton. Editing by Max Freeman-Mills.

Lime adds electric mopeds to its lineup of scooters and bikes

Lime is adding a new member to its family of shared electric vehicles: mopeds. The mopeds are being offered as part of a pilot program to test whether Lime’s customers prefer vehicles that are faster, heavier, and arguably riskier to ride than your average kick scooter.

The mopeds can be rented via Lime’s smartphone app, just like the company’s e-scooters. Lime is still finalizing the price per mile for the mopeds, but it intends for it to be competitive with other shared mobility services.

Other scooter companies have flirted with expanding their product lineups to include mopeds, but Lime insists its pilot will presage a larger rollout in the spring. To start, Lime will be introducing mopeds in the coming months in just two cities: Washington, DC and Paris. The company plans to spread 600 mopeds around the US capital, while the number that will be rolling out in Paris is still to be determined. The mopeds will likely start hitting the streets in early March.

The mopeds are manufactured by NIU, a Chinese company that also supplies mopeds to New York City-based mobility company Revel. NIU’s mopeds typically get between 25–100 miles of range. Lime’s mopeds will be speed limited to 28 mph and can be controlled and monitored via wireless connectivity.

The mopeds are intended to lend credibility to Lime’s claims of being more than just another scooter company. The company sees itself as a “platform” for different types of low-speed, electric-powered mobility. Last year, Lime added pedal-less e-bikes from Wheels to its app in several cities as part of a new effort to integrate third-party micromobility providers.

Lime CEO Wayne Ting claims his company is “the first micromobility provider to offer three vehicles on one platform.” (Gotcha, a 12-year-old company based in Charleston, South Carolina, previously offered electric kick scooters, seated scooters, bikes, and trikes on its platform. The company was recently acquired by another scooter company called Bolt.)

Mopeds are arguably a faster way to get around, but they can also be more dangerous, especially for novice riders. Revel was forced to temporarily shut down its service in New York City last year after two customers were killed and one was critically injured while riding the shared electric mopeds. The company eventually resumed service with new protective measures for riders like a mandatory in-app safety test and a requirement that all riders take a selfie of themselves wearing a helmet before they’ll be allowed to ride.

Lime is hoping to avoid a similar tragedy by embracing a number of safety measures right out the gate. Riders will be required to take a multichapter rider safety course, developed in partnership with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. The test has been “optimized for learning retention,” Lime says, and must be completed before any user can begin a ride. Customers will only be required to have a driver’s license — not a motorcycle license — in order to ride.

Each moped also comes with two helmets, one big and one small, which are locked away in a cargo compartment at the back. Lime will have three different checkpoints to ensure riders can’t get away with cruising off without wearing a helmet. Riders will be required to take a selfie of themselves wearing the helmet, and there will be a prompt in the app to confirm the helmet is being worn. Also, the helmet compartment includes an infrared sensor that can confirm whether the helmet has been removed.

Helmets will be cleaned every time a member of Lime’s operations staff handles the moped — which will likely amount to once every three days or so. Lime will also offer head covers in each helmet for extra protection.

Lime will also provide free 45-minute in-person lessons for all riders, taught by certified motorcycle instructors in small class sizes. According to the company, the lessons are designed to help riders get comfortable with maneuvers such as braking, turning, and parking.

“Lime will take strict enforcement measures for repeat safety violators, including removal from the platform, to avoid putting themselves and other road users at risk,” the company says.

Lime isn’t the first scooter company to dabble in mopeds. Bird introduced moped-style e-bikes, likely made by California-based e-bike company Juiced, in Los Angeles in 2019 and Austin in 2020. Also in 2019, Uber teamed up with French startup Cityscoot to integrate around 4,000 of the company’s mopeds into Uber’s app in Paris.

AMD Threadripper Pro Listed at $6,000 for 64 Cores, $3,000 for 32 Cores

(Image credit: AMD)

AMD recently announced that it’s Threadripper Pro processors will come to retail outlets, but the company hasn’t listed the official pricing yet. Seeing these chips come to retail outlets is a nice addition after they debuted for the first six months in uber-expensive pre-validated systems, like the Lenovo ThinkStation P620 that we recently tested with the flagship Threadripper Pro 3995WX. Thanks to a listing of the Threadripper Pro part numbers (via @momomo_us), we’ve now tracked down retail pricing at Compusource. AMD hasn’t released official pricing for the Pro models yet, so it is possible that these are placeholder listings. However, the pricing aligns with our expectations.

At Compusource, you’ll have to cough up $6,086 for the 64-core 128-thread Threadripper Pro 3995WX, $3,043 for the 32-core 3975WX, and $1,253 for the 16-core 3955WX.

	MSRP/RCP	Cores / Threads	Base / Boost (GHz)	L3 Cache (MB)	PCIe	DRAM	TDP
Threadripper Pro 3995WX	$6,086	64 / 128	2.7 / 4.2	256	128 Gen 4	Eight-Channel DDR4-3200	280W
Threadripper 3990X	$3,990	64 / 128	2.9 / 4.3	256	88 Gen 4 (72 Usable)	Quad DDR4-3200	280W
EPYC 7442	$6,950	64 / 128	2.25 / 3.4	256	128 Gen 4	Eight-Channel DDR4-3200	225W
Threadripper Pro 3975WX	$3,043	32 / 64	3.5 / 4.2	128	128 Gen 4	Eight-Channel DDR4-3200	280W
Xeon 8280	$10,009	28 / 56	2.7 / 4.0	38.5	48 Gen 3	Six-Channel DDR4-2933	205W
Intel W-3175X	$2999	28 / 56	3.1 / 4.8	38.5	48 Gen 3	Six-Channel DDR4-2666	255W
Threadripper 3970X	$1999	32 / 64	3.7 / 4.5	*128	88 Gen 4 (72 Usable)	Quad DDR4-3200	280W
Threadripper 3960X	$1,399	24 / 48	3.8 / 4.5	*128	88 Gen 4 (72 Usable)	Quad DDR4-3200	280W
Xeon W-3265	$3,349	24 / 48	2.7 / 4.6	33	64 Gen 3	Six-Channel DDR4-2933	205W
Threadripper Pro 3955WX	$1,253	16 / 32	3.9 / 4.3	64	128 Gen 4	Eight-Channel DDR4-3200	280W
Ryzen 9 5950X	$799	16 / 32	3.9 / 4.9	64	20	Dual DDR4-3200	105W

While Threadripper Pro pricing is eye-watering, you’ll get plenty of expanded functionality for your hard-earned dollars. AMD’s powerful Threadripper Pro processors represent the ultimate in workstation power, easily beating the standard consumer-geared Threadripper chips in workloads that prize memory throughput. The chips rock up to 64 cores, 128 threads, and support up to 2TB of memory spread out among eight memory channels, not to mention 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity.

Threadripper Pro retail pricing is much friendlier than what we see with OEM systems, too – for instance, it costs $7,000 just to upgrade from the 12-core 3945WX in a Lenovo system to the 64-core 3995WX.

At $6,086, the Threadripper Pro 3995WX commands a $2,100 premium over its consumer counterpart, the 3990X, but falls in line with pricing for AMD’s EPYC 7442 data center chip that comes with similar accommodations. That’s probably to prevent cheaper workstation chips from cannibalizing AMD’s data center EPYC models.

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The 32-core 3975WX lands at $3,043, a $1,000 upcharge over the consumer Threadripper 3970X. Curiously, AMD left a 24-core Threadripper Pro model out of the new lineup.

The 16-core 3995WX lands at $1,253. The Threadripper Pro 3995WX doesn’t have a 16-core Threadripper counterpart, instead, it competes with the $799 Ryzen 9 5950X that slots into mainstream motherboards. For $454 more, the 3995WX offers up four times more memory channels and 108 more lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity, but you’ll have to pay handsomely for a workstation-class motherboard to house the chip. And you’ll miss out on Ryzen 5000’s stunning single-threaded performance.

You’ll need a WRX80 motherboard to unlock the best of Threadripper Pro, but never fear, ASUS has listed the Pro WS Sage SE on its website and we should learn pricing and availability soon. This motherboard represents the ultimate in PCIe – it comes with seven PCIe 4.0 x16 slots and eight memory slots. The board also comes with a 16-phase power delivery substem, supports RDIMMs, and has a BMC chip for remote management.

Gigabyte also has its WRX80-SU8 waiting in the wings, but the details are slight. We know the massive board (most likely E-ATX) also has seven PCIe slots and BMC features, two 10 GbE ports, two GbE ports, and a 7.1-channel audio system.

If you want to see how these chips compare to standard Threadripper chips in a ton of benchmarks, including gaming, head to our recent review.