Move over, Spider-Man! Spider silk can be used to build armor and repair nerves

When you picture the kind of next-gen materials that excite scientists, chances are spider silk isn’t near the top of the list. As it turns out, however, the unusual mechanical qualities of spider silk — ranging from its high tensile strength and toughness to its lightweight flexibility — make it an extremely versatile material.

Here are some of the amazing things researchers are using spider silk for right now. And, no, despite what you’ve read in Spider-Man books, catching supervillains isn’t one of them!

Delivering life-saving drugs

Immune cells that ingested spider silk nanoparticles (in green). The endosomes – the part of the cell in which the nanoparticles release the vaccine – appear in blue. Laboratoire Bourquin/UNIGE.

Could spider silk one day help battle cancer? Quite possibly, if one recent Swiss-German project is to be believed. Researchers have developed microcapsules made of balled-up artificial spider silk, which could soon be used to deliver vaccines directly to patients’ immune cells to fight cancerous tumors.

“Spider silk is light and very resistant,” Professor Carole Bourquin, a specialist in anti-tumor immunotherapies who worked on the project, told Digital Trends. “It does not induce any inflammation or immune reaction in itself. We found that amazingly the microparticles can withstand high temperatures of more than 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) for several hours. This suggests that they may protect vaccines in developing countries where refrigeration is frequently a problem for conventional vaccines.”

Creating better hearing aids

Researchers from New York’s Binghamton University are using spider silk to improve the quality of hearing aid microphones. The idea is that ultra-sensitive spider silk can pick up the velocity of air instead of just its pressure, due to its extreme thinness. By coating the spider silk with gold, and placing it in a magnetic field to obtain an electronic signal, the researchers were able to create a microphone able to operate at an impressive range of frequencies.

“Today’s miniature directional microphones sound bad because their response varies strongly with frequency,” Ronald Miles, a professor in Binghampton’s department of mechanical engineering, told Digital Trends. “They tend to lose low-frequency sounds and respond mostly to very high-frequency sounds. Our technology will enable the creation of directional microphones that have audiophile quality. We’ve shown that their frequency response is flat from 1 Hz to 50 kHz. This has not been possible until now.”

Helping repair damaged nerves

Spider Silk at the microscopic level

In addition to better hearing aids, spider silk has other potential applications for people with disabilities. In Austria, researchers are investigating the use of the ultra-strong spider silk of the golden orb-weaver spider from Tanzania to help heal severe nerve injuries. The microsurgical technique involves filling veins with spider silk to help guide nerves as they repair.

“Unfortunately, most materials have the effect of inhibiting nerve growth,” Christine Radtke, a professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Austria’s MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital, told Digital Trends. “Spider silk, on the other hand, is a material that nerves love. They will attach to it, and then follows the fibers directly. It’s like a rose trellis.”

Making impact-absorbing body armor

A batch of artificial spider silk fibers. Lena Holm

Researchers from the U.K.’s University of Cambridge have designed artificial spider silk which could be used for creating ultra-lightweight, but incredibly strong shields. In tests, their material has been shown capable of dissipating close to 70 percent of the energy if impacts.

This is a property real spiders need to have in their silk to absorb the impact of insects hitting their webs. Potential applications for this technology include everything from impact-absorbing helmets for cyclists, football players, and skateboarders to potential armored vests for use by police or soldiers.

Creating fake skin

Graphic showcasing spider silk’s utilization in creating artificial skin

In the comics, Spider-Man has occasionally dealt with broken or injured arms by creating a sling for himself out of spider web. Researchers from Sweden and India recently took this idea one step further by using spider silk to develop wound dressings and even artificial skin to help heal wounds.

The dressings could be used to treat chronic wounds like diabetic foot ulcers, while the artificial skin could be used for skin grafts in the case of critical third-degree burns. It could also be employed as a skin substitute to screen certain drug molecules for the cosmeceutical industry. Noted scientist Peter Parker would be proud!

Producing even stronger spider silk

You know what material is even more versatile than spider silk? That’s right: graphene, the 2D wonder material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms laid out in a hexagonal arrangement. While spider silk is impressively strong, graphene is in another league entirely — being touted as the strongest material known to exist, 200x the strength of steel.

In their efforts to make new supercharged version of regular spider silk, researchers at the University of Trento, Italy fed spiders a diet partially comprised of graphene — and then watched what happened. The nanomaterial-laced silk wound up being 3x the strength and 10x the toughness of the silk spiders produce in the wild.

No applications have been demonstrated yet, but it’s easy to imagine how this could be deployed in conjunction with some of the other use-cases on this list.

Making the clothing material of the future

With spider silk’s combination of stretch, stretchiness and sustainability, there’s no wonder it’s in demand from clothing designers. While it’s still somewhat uncommon, spider silk has already attracted the attention of some big names in the industry.

Previously, we’ve written about a fully biodegradable spider silk shoe developed by Adidas, as well as a North Face prototype “Moon Parka” jacket that’s made out of much the same material. How long before spider silk starts showing up elsewhere on the high street?

Helping astronauts move in microgravity

This one’s really more of an honorary mention, because it doesn’t include real spider silk — but, rather, is inspired by the way that spiders spin silk to move around. Created by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the so-called Orbit Weaver device is a Spider-Man-style web shooter designed to let astronauts more easily pull themselves from location to location in zero or microgravity conditions.

“The device shoots a string out with a magnetic tip,” Xin Liu, the arts curator at the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative, told Digital Trends. “Once the tip is in contact with a steel panel, it secures the attachment due to magnetic forces. Then the device will rewind, like a fishing spoil but reversed, and drag the wearer. Because you are technically weightless, it doesn’t need much torque to pull a person around with such a small device.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Spider silk microcapsules could deliver vaccines to help battle cancer
• Spider silk could be used to create artificial skin to help heal wounds
• Sorry, Spider-Man! Newly developed bio-fiber is even stronger than spider silk
• Moving around in zero gravity is hard. MIT’s solution? Spider-Man’s web shooter
• ‘Spider-Man’ hands-on preview

How to care for your laptop’s battery

Who doesn’t have a love/hate relationship with their laptop battery? It lets us be mobile, but it also chains us to that little battery life gauge and the dreaded decay of performance as time goes on.

But by following certain best practices, you can move the relationship more firmly toward the “love” side.

Save cycles, save your battery

All laptop batteries are built to handle a certain number of charge cycles, usually somewhere around 500 full cycles — and sometimes even more. Essentially, a charge cycle equals one full discharge down to zero percent and then a recharge back up to 100 percent. A discharge down to 50 percent and then back to 100 percent would equal half a cycle. Over time, each charge cycle decreases a battery’s capacity from its design specifications, meaning that the fewer times you drain it, the longer the battery last — all other things being equal.

And so, where do you start? You can begin by visiting the power settings corner of your laptop and learning how your battery works, and what battery settings to enable. Also, pay attention to hibernation modes. Ideally, you want your laptop to enter into hibernation before the battery is totally drained — as well as during downtime when you won’t be using the laptop for a while.

To save even more power, take a tour of your apps and quit any that are running in the background and steadily eating into your battery life. On Windows 10, for example, we suggest you search for and enable the Battery Saver. This mode will automatically turn on when your laptop reaches around 20% battery life (more down below on why this is particularly important). This will automatically block background apps, keep your features like Calendar from syncing or pushing notifications, lower screen brightness, and other various changes that will conserve your battery so you can get to an outlet ASAP.

For MacBooks, look into enabling Power Nap so you can put your Mac to sleep without worrying about it skipping important tasks, allowing you to save more battery life. Enabling automatic graphics switching can also help Macs save energy by switching to a lower graphics mode when engaged in simple tasks (like text-based work where graphics aren’t as important).

There are plenty of manual changes you can make here, too. Cloud storage services or video players that you aren’t using can be safely shut down, too. You can also manually reduce the amount of power you’re using by shutting off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you’re not using them, turning off optional features such as keyboard backlighting, and generally reducing the number of components burning power. Both Microsoft and Apple have guides explaining the process further.

Keeping your battery in zone

FrameAngel/Shutterstock

In ancient, less enlightened times, there was a problem called “battery memory” that caused nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries to “forget” their full charge capacity and start charging at lower and lower levels. This problem doesn’t exist any longer thanks to modern lithium-ion batteries, but it has led to a lot of poor advice and arguments about battery care based on outdated information. It’s time to clear the air.

Contrary to some recommendations, you don’t need to completely discharge a lithium-ion battery and then recharge it to somehow reboot or calibrate it – this is a destructive practice that’s very hard on your battery. Whether or not it’s a smart idea to perform a complete discharge a couple of times a year remains an unanswered question. Generally, the consensus seems to be that letting your battery discharge (without bottoming it out — aim for around 20 percent) and then charge it when possible is the best practice.

Next, there was a time when users were advised to refrain from keeping their devices plugged in, based on the idea that letting a battery charge to 100 percent could wear the battery out more quickly. Today, however, modern devices are designed to stop charging at 100 percent and thus keeping them plugged in doesn’t impact the battery’s lifespan, according to Battery University.

As with many battery-related questions, the issue of keeping your laptop plugged in when it’s reached full capacity is hotly debated, and so there’s nothing wrong with turning your machine off and unplugging it. If you’re going to store your laptop for an extended time without using it, then discharge or charge it to 50 percent before putting it away.

Generally speaking, the best thing you can do for your lithium-ion battery is to avoid letting it discharge below 20 percent. Plug it in and charge it when you can, and then rinse and repeat. The good news is that with modern batteries and systems there’s really not much else you need to do — except perhaps reasonably expect that your battery will eventually start losing its overall capacity.

It’s getting hot in here, so hide your batteries

Today’s lithium-ion batteries are durable, but they can only take so much heat. For example, if you are charging your battery and it starts to get overly warm, perhaps because the CPU or graphics processor is working hard or the environment is overly hot, then shut the device down and pop the battery out if possible. Give it a break so that it can cool down or you can move to someplace with a lower temperature. Of course, many modern laptops have sealed batteries, in which case shutting the machine down and letting it cool is highly recommended if maximizing the battery’s lifespan is your concern.

Likewise, keep the laptop off of your lap. If testicular damage and discomfort weren’t good enough reasons, then with many machines you’re also making the problem worse by blocking vents. You’ll want to make sure that both vents that pull in cool air and those that expel hot air are able to do their jobs.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you should avoid placing your laptop anywhere it might become hot. That includes your car on a hot summer day, beneath a window that gets direct sunlight, or near a space heater. Unusual conditions such as these can do a lot of damage to a battery in a short period of time, though you may not realize it immediately.

Cold temperatures usually aren’t a problem down to a certain point, and storing a battery in a cool place is recommended, but don’t leave your laptop in freezing temperatures. Too much cold can also kill the battery permanently or reduce its lifespan.

If you want to watch temperature even more closely (say, you live in a particularly hot climate), then there are a number of apps you can run that will monitor laptop heat. This includes CoreTemp and Real Temp for Windows, which you can download for free.

Software and your battery

Finally, a note about your software — keep it updated! Companies work hard to improve the way that programs use power via software updates. The same operating system on a later patch could use significantly less battery power, giving your battery a longer lifespan without changing anything else. And so, review your OS and keep your machine — and its battery — on a healthy diet of updates.

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What you missed this week on CordCutters.com

Reviews, contests and more!

Here’s the thing about the future of streaming video: If you’re only doing it on a TV, you’re already behind the curve. I say that being a relatively old guy (as in older than 20) and being someone who most often does the cord-cutting thing on a display of no less than 43 inches.

My kids, meanwhile, watch anything and everything, whenever and however than can. On a phone. On a Fire HD tablet. On a (much better) iPad. On Roku. On Apple TV. On Shield TV.

The point is they switch from one to another as if there are no mental barriers for doing so. And for them, there aren’t.

So it’s been fun watching them over the past week with the new Lenovo Smart Display. They’re used to having Google Home(s) in damned nearly every room of our house. And the Amazon Echo Show is usually in sight, too. But Google definitely brings something more to the table. Especially with live TV and the built-in integration of YouTube TV. (Providing that you’re a subscriber, of course.

There will be plenty more on both Android Central and CordCutters.com regarding not just the Lenovo Smart Display, but all the (lowercase) smart displays. It’s that important of a new category. Now Google and its partners just have to sell it.

Read the full CordCutters.com review of the Lenovo Smart Display

Here’s what else you missed this week on CordCutters.com:

• Inside? Outside? Upside down? Where’s the best place to put an over-the-air antenna?
• Speaking of OTA TV — can you run it and an internet connection on the same line of coax?
• We’ve got a winner for our Amazon Fire TV Cube giveaway.
• And we’re now giving away a Mohu Blade antenna and AirTV OTA streaming tuner!
• The Tablo OTA streaming tuner has added 5.1 surround sound.
• An oldie but a goodie: The Apple TV Aerial screensavers are gorgeous on Android TV.

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• The hardware you need
• All about streaming services
• What channels are on which service
• FREE over-the-air TV
• How to watch sports
• Join the discussion

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How to control your TV with Amazon Echo

Amazon Echo can replace your remote control, with a little help.

As nice as it would be for every television to include a simple local network access function, most TVs still rely on good old-fashioned Infrared (IR) to receive commands. This isn’t the best news for someone looking to convert their living room into Smart Home 2.0, but there are some tools available that make this a little easier to deal with than you’d think.

For example, you can pair a Logitech Harmony Hub and an Amazon Echo to create a totally voice controlled television. Here’s how you set it up!

The Harmony line from Logitech has been the best option for universal remotes for a long time, but recently the company has moved from baking all of those smarts into a better remote control to building a hub that controls way more than just the TV. On its own, Harmony Hub can give you the ability to control just about anything connected to your Wi-Fi network as well as anything you can control with IR in a single app. You can even build little scripts inside of Harmony, so a single button press turns on the TV, sets the input you want to be on, and can even be activated on a schedule. It’s an impressive setup, made all the more impressive when you add an Amazon Echo.

Starting your smart living room conversion is fairly easy. Set up your Harmony Hub anywhere that lets you mount the IR sensor pointed right at the television. It doesn’t have to be close, but if you want to set Harmony up with your entertainment center, you can. After it is set up and connected to your network, you can add Harmony to Alexa just like any other skill.

Open your Alexa App.
Go to Home, then Skills.
Search for Harmony.
Select the blue icon that appears.
Enable the Harmony Skill.
Log in to Harmony from the Alexa app.

Once Alexa is connected to Harmony, you have the ability to turn the television on and off automatically. Just about everything else requires a little bit of extra work. Harmony is aware of what channels are available with your provider, but you can’t just ask for a specific channel out of the box unless your television is connected directly to cable. If you use an HD cable box that connects via HDMI, or something like a TiVo, you have to create actions in Harmony under the Smart TV settings.

Volume control is now available through Alexa through multiple command types. You can simply ask for the volume to be turned up, or you can specify an increase or decrease by specific increments between 1 and 20. Alexa currently does not have the ability to switch inputs through Harmony without actions, but an IFTTT trigger can be set up to allow this. Harmony and Alexa are being better integrated all the time with updates, but right out of the box this is a great way to control your television with your voice.

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Update July 2018: This article has been updated with the best tools for using your Echo to control your TV time!

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No Man’s Sky for PlayStation 4: A Beginner’s Guide

No Man’s Sky NEXT drastically changed the game, so here’s a beginner’s guide to help you get started

With the release of No Man’s Sky on Xbox One the game is finally getting the second chance that it deserves. It notably suffered a controversial initial launch on PS4 in 2016 after its marketing promises didn’t live up to the final product. The game’s biggest update yet, NEXT, means to change this.

Whether you’re just jumping into No Man’s Sky for the first time or have been here since the beginning, you may be confused as to where to begin now. Here are some tips to get you started on your journey.

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First or third person

Such a simple aspect can make a world of difference. NEXT introduces the ability to play No Man’s Sky in third person. Your game might start you out in third person by default, but should you want to change your camera view, here’s how:

Press down on the D-pad
Scroll to Utilities all the way to the left, then select it by pressing up on the D-pad
Once the secondary menu opens up, find ‘Toggle camera view’

The same can be done while in your starship.

You’re all alone on a strange planet. What to do first?

No Man’s Sky features a nearly limitless amount of procedurally generated planets (18 quintillion, to be exact) so it’s impossible for me to guess what hazards you’ll face immediately after beginning your game. Will it be toxic rain? Oppressive heat? Radiation? The possibilities are endless, and that’s what makes jumping in so intimidating. It’s easy to think you’ll get screwed by starting out on a bad planet if you’re unlucky. And considering the amount of planets there are, there’s a good chance you just end up in a dump. But fear not! There are quick and simple solutions.

Unless you’re jumping into its Creative mode, I recommend starting on Survival, which is what the game considers its Normal mode. Once you’re set onto a planet, you’ll immediately know what hazards you are dealing with.

Gather Materials

You might want to charge up your Hazard Protection System when the game tells you its shields are falling, but your first order of business should actually be searching for Ferrite Dust.

Before wandering around aimlessly, search for small rocks near you. These may look different on every planet, but they’re easy to spot. You’ll use your multi-tool mining beam to gather Ferrite Dust from these. After you gather enough Ferrite, which takes less than a couple of minutes, you can repair your Scanner. This may be the point where you’ll want to acquaint yourself with the game’s menus, but if you’re saving that for later, simply drag your cursor over the Scanner in the multi-tool menu where you view your resources and repair it as prompted.

Charge equipment

The bottom left of your screen displays two bars for life support and your exosuit’s Hazard Protection System. Near the beginning of your journey, the latter will be your most pressing matter between the two. Go into your inventory again and find your Hazard Protection Shielding (this should be in one of the first slots in the first row). Hover over it and information will pop up telling you what resources charge that specific item. With your Scanner now fully repaired, you can press the left thumbstick to scan your environment. Symbols will then appear denoting the elements that can be found within range of your Scanner. If you need to charge it with Sodium, for instance, you’ll see a waypoint with the symbol Na.

The same steps can be followed to charge your mining beam. See what elements it needs to charge, scan your environment, and follow the waypoints to your destination.

The gameplay loop in this regard is very cyclical and involves gathering resources frequently. When you eventually make your way to your crashed starship (the Scanner will detect this the first time you use it), you’ll need to find even more complicated elements and craft different materials to get it back up and running.

Don’t instigate fights

This sounds like common sense, but don’t start fights you’re not ready for. You’re already at a disadvantage when starting out and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by enemies who could have been avoided. You might see some robotic Sentinels scanning the area. Don’t attack, just stay out of their way! If you kill one, reinforcements will follow. And if you haven’t gathered enough materials to charge your tools, you’ll be outmatched. Your HUD should warn you when an enemy is near so you can avoid them.

Acquaint yourself with its menus

They’re dense, but important. No Man’s Sky is almost a test in micromanagement skills.

No Man’s Sky contains various menus for your inventory, missions, discoveries, guide, options, and more. Unless you’re interested in the more granular details of your journey or want a more in-depth guide, stick with the menu that displays Exosuit, Starship, and Multi-Tool for now— though the Guide will be useful should you need more specific help regarding its gameplay.

It’s within these menus that you’ll spend the most time during the opening hours of No Man’s Sky. This is where you’ll see what resources you have available, what can be crafted, and what can be repaired. All of the symbols may look overwhelming, but I promise they’re not.

Recover lost items

If you do find yourself meeting an untimely demise, you can still recover your lost items. A waypoint will pop up on-screen labelled “Grave.” Just follow the waypoint until you’re at the site where you died and you can gather any items you lost.

The good news about dying early on is that there isn’t much at stake and you’re not losing a lot of progress.

Start all over

Worse comes to worst and you hate your starting planet? Create a new save file and you’ll be plopped onto a whole new one. You have several save files so you can keep doing this as long as you’d like until you’re on a planet you’re comfortable with.

Creative mode

Don’t be afraid to start in Creative mode to get a better feel for the controls and gameplay before diving into the deep end. A lot of “hardcore” gamers tend to scorn the idea of easier modes, but there’s nothing wrong with wanting less of a challenge so you can enjoy a game.

You’re all set!

When you’re accustomed to the game you may want to know what exactly NEXT brings to the table to its complete experience. For that, hop on over here and read everything you need to know about No Man’s Sky NEXT.

Now go forth and have fun! If you have any other tips, let us know in the comments.

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PlayStation 4

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Chef knives, power strips, car mounts and more are all discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on the PlayStation VR Doom bundle, Dyson’s air purifier, the official Fallout cookbook, and more! Most of these prices will be gone when the day ends, so don’t miss your chance to save big!

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If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

N.Y. state withdraws approval of Charter and Time Warner merger, boots Spectrum

The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) has withdrawn its approval of the Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable merger. According to a PSC release, the revocation is for specific cause, namely that Spectrum, the name of the merged entity, failed to deliver specific benefits to New Yorkers that were among the conditions upon which the merger was approved, the PSC says.

In addition to rescinding its approval of the Charter and Time Warner merger, the commission also filed an enforcement action in the New York State Supreme Court to seek $3 million in penalties for past failures and continuing noncompliance.

The PSC listed five areas of Charter’s alleged misconduct:

• Repeated missed deadlines;
• Attempts to avoid obligations to rural communities;
• Unsafe practices;
• Failure to fully commit to the merger obligations; and
• Purposeful obfuscation of its performance and compliance obligations.

Concluding that Charter “was not interested in being a good corporate citizen” and that the Commission could no longer allow it to operate in New York, the PSC stated its actions address the failings and are meant “to ensure New York has a partner interested in the public good, not just lining its pockets.”

Commission Chair John B. Rhodes said, “Charter’s noncompliance and brazenly disrespectful behavior toward New York State and its customers necessitates the actions taken today seeking court-ordered penalties for its failures, and revoking the Charter merger approval.”

Conditions of the 2016 merger included extending service availability to 145,000 underserved homes and businesses in less populated areas of the state within four years and upgrading network speeds to 100Mbps by the end of 2018 and 300 Mbps by late 2019.

According to the PSC, not only has Charter failed to meet the conditions of the approval, the company also has claimed it is not bound by the terms of the approval. The Commission also said that charter tried to pass the blame for the failures to other companies, including utility pole owners.

In addition to not meeting deadlines, the PSC also said Charter falsely claimed it was meeting and exceeding its commitments in advertisements, leading the Commission to file a false advertising claim with the state attorney general’s office.

Charter now has 60 days to file a transition plan for an orderly transition to one or more successors. During the 60 days, Charter is obligated to continue service uninterrupted.

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Here’s why the NVIDIA Shield TV is still being updated after three years

The best Android TV product is also one of the best-supported Android products ever.

We all love the Shield TV around here. It’s almost universally thought of as the best way to get Android on your TV, isn’t outrageously expensive, and has enough power to stream your 4K HDR content without sputtering or complaining. It’s also a decent gaming console and makes for a heck of a streaming server when you use Plex or Kodi. It’s one of those rare gadgets we buy that does what is advertised and more; you’ll get your money’s worth from a Shield TV.

Another thing that isn’t talked about as often is the level of support NVIDIA gives the Shield family and the Shield TV in particular. Released in 2015, it’s one of the few devices that have been updated to Android Oreo and the only three-year-old device that didn’t come directly from Google to have it. And it didn’t “just” get the Oreo update; NVIDIA stopped work and then went to Google with concerns about why Oreo on Android TV wasn’t awesome and the two companies worked to fix that. Then NVIDIA sent out an Oreo update. That kind of support is almost unheard of.

So why and how does NVIDIA do it when most other companies making Android-powered gadgets can’t or won’t? There are two parts to that answer, and both are pretty simple ideas.

Make one great product

NVIDIA is first and foremost a chip maker. It sells a few things like reference model video cards for computers, developer boards to support the company’s AI platform, and you can buy a $69,000 compact supercomputer designed to act as an AI workstation if you have the itch for one. These are halo products designed to show what the company’s main business — powerful GPUs — are capable of.

Fewer products means developers have the time to care about them.

NVIDIA also, of course, sells the Shield TV. The company has dabbled in Android a bit but quickly exited once it learned how hard it can be to dabble and profit at the same time. The Shield TV exists to showcase NVIDIA’s ARM SoC and the company’s various gaming services, such as Game Stream. Maybe NVIDIA could conquer the Android world if it really tried, maybe not. We don’t know because it’s not trying to; it sells one Android device that happens to show off other things the company has to offer.

That means the people who do the designing and thinking and developing have one thing to focus on improving and supporting. One thing to be, for lack of a better word, proud of. When your company makes hundreds of different Android products, it’s impossible to give each and every one the love it deserves. Even Samsung, the undisputed king of Android, has to spread time and energy between a dozen devices (and has done a marvelous job lately, kudos all around) and can forget about the rest once in a while.

When a bug or problem with the Shield TV pops up, the right people get the right amount of time to fix it promptly and sent out to us. That can’t happen when there are too many things getting shipped out the door.

Make everything inside your great product

NVIDIA is in a rare position with the Shield TV that puts them alongside Apple and Samsung — the company makes the components inside the device that require attention. Like an iPhone or Galaxy S9, you’ll find bits and pieces from other semiconductor companies or even rivals like LG inside, but the core component that gets “in the way” when it comes to updating and supporting software is the chipset. NVIDIA, of course, powers the Shield TV with its own Tegra X1 processor and 256-core Maxwell GPU. You can debate the strengths and weaknesses of the arrangement, and both are there to debate, but the company having control over the hardware means the future of the device is entirely in its own hands.

The Shield TV is built with and powered by NVIDIA parts.

When Android is updated to a new product version, like the jump from Nougat to Oreo, developers have to work on the code that lets the chipset components interface with the system. For the most part, and NVIDIA is no exception here, that code is closed source and only the company that built the component can do it. Most companies that build consumer products source things like a processor from another company that specializes in building them.

I mentioned above that NVIDIA is first and foremost a chip maker — it has complete control over every piece of code needed to build any software for the Shield TV, including a new version of Android. Or a quick fix for an ugly bug. Or a regular update cycle that improves things like Bluetooth performance or device I/O speeds. Just as the company does for the chips used in video cards, it sends out regular maintenance updates that keep the Shield TV running amazingly well. And when it’s time for a bigger update, there’s nothing in the way from making it a reality, either.

I have no idea if the Shield TV will see Android P whenever Google has it ready for the Android TV platform. I’m not even going to speculate on that here. But I will say I wouldn’t be shocked if it happens. The company has the means and the desire to make the Shield TV a product you’re happy you bought.

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• Join the forum discussion
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VideoLAN was right to ban Huawei phones from downloading VLC, but it’s users that lose

Huawei is the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

Huawei makes a lot of phones — 155 million in 2017, according to IDC. As of July 15, none of those or any other “recent” models from Huawei can download the VLC media player from the Google Play Store because VideoLAN, the developer and publisher of VLC, blacklisted the brand stating Huawei’s software’s “ridiculous policy of killing all background apps” as the reason.

PSA: @HuaweiMobile phones are now blacklisted and cannot get VLC on the Play Store.Their ridiculous policy of killing all background apps (except their own) breaks VLC audio background playback (of course).See https://t.co/QzDW7KbV4I and many other reports…@HuaweiFr

— VideoLAN (@videolan) July 25, 2018

It’s important to note that VideoLAN has still allowed for the VLC app to be downloaded directly from its website and sideloaded on all these Huawei phones. It’s also worth reading the entire Twitter thread to see shocking behavior from whoever is running VideoLAN’s account, including the sentiment that users installing malware is less important than VLC receiving “bad notes” which I assume means poor reviews — VideoLAN is a French company and web translation apps are horrible.

Google also will restrict background use of an app with Android P — after you say it’s OK to do so.

Huawei’s version of Android has a bad habit of aggressively killing off applications that want to run in the background, even those that follow all the rules and best practices. Since VLC is primarily a music player, it will spend much of its time in the background playing music. On Huawei phones, it can’t because it gets killed off.

A few things to get out of the way. Regarding the LGPL: VideoLAN is not violating the license by restricting the usage of an application covered under it. It is restricting the distribution by removing the ability to install from Google Play, but users of Huawei phones are still able to download and install the app manually. It’s also important, for reasons we’ll get into shortly, to understand that VideoLAN is a volunteer group and VLC is an open source project that makes no money.

This whole thing is a bit crazy. On one hand, you have Huawei, which is a billion-dollar business that can’t seem to build Android correctly according to Google’s rules. VLC runs the correct background service APIs and is a completely normal Android app. Huawei kills it because it’s not whitelisted by the company.

On another hand, you have VideoLAN, which used the nuclear option and blocked millions and millions of phones from downloading VLC through Google Play. Finally, you have disgruntled users who think VideoLAN should be educating users how to fix what Huawei purposefully breaks — even though VideoLAN is a not-for-profit company consisting solely of volunteers.

Huawei is shipping broken phones. Google is certifying them for use of the Play Store. You are getting the short end of their stick.

Huawei, fix your shit. That needs to be said before anything else and loudly. At least stop killing apps that hold audio focus if you insist on breaking Android. We should also wonder why Google allows them to do so and still certifies these devices for the Play Store …

But this isn’t about a poor user experience. This is about ratings in Google Play. When a large number of users who downloaded your app are asked to rate how much they liked it on a scale of one to five, and that app doesn’t work as expected, the rating is going to plummet. I know about VLC and VideoLAN, as do many of you reading this. But others who don’t will look at the app rating to help them decide if they should give it a try. I’ve looked at ratings for apps I didn’t know anything about and you probably have too. Those ratings mean something. Even if you think VideoLAN jumped the gun here and did things a bit prematurely (I do) you can’t blame them for doing it. They had no choice.

The good news is that after failed attempts at a resolution, Huawei and VideoLAN may soon reach some sort of solution. The bad news is that any solution that comes from Huawei will take months to reach your phone.

We finally got an answer from Huawei.We hope to find a solution on this, in the next few weeks… https://t.co/8YWU3uHBvZ

— VideoLAN (@videolan) July 26, 2018

Just another week in Android land.

Best Android Phone With Removable Battery in 2018

• Best overall
• Best for less

Best overall

Moto E5 Play

See at Verizon

The best phone with a removable battery is one of the cheapest phones you can buy, the Moto E5 Play. That’s partly because removable batteries are becoming harder to find in high-end phones, but also because, irrespective of that aspect, this is a very good phone for the $70 that Verizon charges on prepaid. It’s also under $100 at most other carriers, including Cricket, Boost, Sprint, and Virgin.

The 2800mAh GK40 battery is the same one found in the Moto E4 and Moto E4 Play, which means you can easily find replacements online if you so desire.

Bottom line: The Moto E5 Play is a no-nonsense, well-made plastic smartphone with a capacious 2800mAh removable battery.

One more thing: You’ll also find a fingerprint sensor on the phone’s back where the Motorola “batwing” logo is, which is awesome.

Why the Moto E5 Play is the best

Here’s the thing about phones these days: they have large, built-in batteries because that’s how companies lower costs and keep the cells large. But with the Moto E5 Play, Motorola still wants people to have their cake and eat it, too. The 2800mAh cell inside the Moto E5 Play offers all-day battery life, and it’s really easy to find replacements, too, should you need a second.

The 5.2-inch display is big and bright enough to get everything done without squinting, and there’s an 8MP camera on the back to capture any photos you might want to keep. The removable back is also made of sturdy, textured plastic, making the phone easy to grip when it’s in your hand.

Best for less

Moto E4

See at Amazon

Last year’s Moto E4 is still available for those who don’t want to go through a carrier. It has only minor differences to the 2018 version, and they’re not significant in day-to-day use. Specifically, there’s a front-facing fingerprint reader and, as a result, a slightly smaller display.

Bottom line: The Moto E4 is cheap and cheerful, and available unlocked through Amazon, which is a bonus.

One more thing: If you’d rather not bother with a second battery, the Moto E4 Plus is just as good and has a 5000mAh internal battery.

Conclusion

There’s just something about a removable battery, and Motorola has once again come through with the best options for budget users. You won’t be able to find any high-end phones with removable batteries these days, but if you can live with a slightly slower phone, the Moto E5 Play is an awesome option.

Best overall

Moto E5 Play

See at Verizon

The best phone with a removable battery is one of the cheapest phones you can buy, the Moto E5 Play. That’s partly because removable batteries are becoming harder to find in high-end phones, but also because, irrespective of that aspect, this is a very good phone for the $70 that Verizon charges on prepaid. It’s also under $100 at most other carriers, including Cricket, Boost, Sprint, and Virgin.

The 2800mAh GK40 battery is the same one found in the Moto E4 and Moto E4 Play, which means you can easily find replacements online if you so desire.

Bottom line: The Moto E5 Play is a no-nonsense, well-made plastic smartphone with a capacious 2800mAh removable battery.

One more thing: You’ll also find a fingerprint sensor on the phone’s back where the Motorola “batwing” logo is, which is awesome.

Updated July 26, 2018: This article was updated to remove the LG V20 and Moto G5, which are no longer sold. We now recommend the Moto E5 Play and Moto E4, two great budget phones.