You’ve probably seen references to TCP and UDP when setting up port-forwarding on a router or when configuring firewall software. These two protocols are used for different types of data.

TCP/IP is a suite of protocols used by devices to communicate over the Internet and most local networks. It is named after two of it’s original protocols—the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP). TCP provides apps a way to deliver (and receive) an ordered and error-checked stream of information packets over the network. The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is used by apps to deliver a faster stream of information by doing away with error-checking. When configuring some network hardware or software, you may need to know the difference.

What They Have In Common

Both TCP and UDP are protocols used for sending bits of data—known as packets—over the Internet. Both protocols build on top of the IP protocol. In other words, whether you’re sending a packet via TCP or UDP, that packet is sent to an IP address. These packets are treated similarly, as they’re forwarded from your computer to intermediary routers and on to the destination.

TCP and UDP aren’t the only protocols that work on top of IP. However, they are the most widely used.

How TCP Works

TCP is the most commonly used protocol on the Internet.

When you request a web page in your browser, your computer sends TCP packets to the web server’s address, asking it to send the web page back to you. The web server responds by sending a stream of TCP packets, which your web browser stitches together to form the web page. When you click a link, sign in, post a comment, or do anything else, your web browser sends TCP packets to the server and the server sends TCP packets back.

TCP is all about reliability—packets sent with TCP are tracked so no data is lost or corrupted in transit. This is why file downloads don’t become corrupted even if there are network hiccups. Of course, if the recipient is completely offline, your computer will give up and you’ll see an error message saying it can’t communicate with the remote host.

TCP achieves this in two ways. First, it orders packets by numbering them. Second, it error-checks by having the recipient send a response back to the sender saying that it has received the message. If the sender doesn’t get a correct response, it can resend the packets to ensure the recipient receives them correctly.

How UDP Works

The UDP protocol works similarly to TCP, but it throws out all the error-checking stuff. All the back-and-forth communication introduce latency, slowing things down.

When an app uses UDP, packets are just sent to the recipient. The sender doesn’t wait to make sure the recipient received the packet—it just continues sending the next packets. If the recipient misses a few UDP packets here and there, they are just lost—the sender won’t resend them. Losing all this overhead means the devices can communicate more quickly.

UDP is used when speed is desirable and error correction isn’t necessary. For example, UDP is frequently used for live broadcasts and online games.

For example, let’s say you’re watching a live video stream, which are often broadcast using UDP instead of TCP. The server just sends a constant stream of UDP packets to computers watching. If you lose your connection for a few seconds, the video may freeze or get jumpy for a moment and then skip to the current bit of the broadcast. If you experience minor packet-loss, the video or audio may be distorted for a moment as the video continues to play without the missing data.

This works similarly in online games. If you miss some UDP packets, player characters may appear to teleport across the map as you receive the newer UDP packets. There’s no point in requesting the old packets if you missed them, as the game is continuing without you. All that matters is what’s happening right now on the game server—not what happened a few seconds ago. Ditching TCP’s error correction helps speed up the game connection and reduce latency.

So What?

Whether an application uses TCP or UDP is up to its developer, and the choice depends on what an application needs. Most apps need the error-correction and robustness of TCP, but some applications need the speed and reduced overhead of UDP.

Unless you’re a network administrator or software developer, this shouldn’t doesn’t affect you too much. If you’re configuring your router or firewall software and you’re not sure whether an application uses TCP or UDP, you can generally select the “Both” option to have your router or firewall apply the same rule to both TCP and UDP traffic.

Should you leave your laptop plugged in and charging when you’re not on-the-go? What’s best for the battery? It’s a tough question, and there are quite a few contradictory recommendations out there.

You Can’t Overcharge the Laptop’s Battery

It’s important to understand the basics of how the standard lithium ion (Li-ion) and Lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries in modern devices work. There are a lot of battery myths out there.

There’s no way to “overcharge” these batteries. When you get to 100% charge and leave your laptop plugged in, the charger will stop charging the battery. The laptop will just run directly off the power cable. After the battery discharges a bit, the charger will kick into gear again and top the battery off. There’s no risk of damaging the battery by charging it over its capacity.

All Batteries Wear Down Over Time (For a Few Reasons)

Your laptop battery will always wear down over time. The more charge cycles you put the battery through, the more it will wear down. Different batteries have different ratings, but you can often expect about 500 full charge cycles.

That doesn’t mean you should avoid discharging the battery. Storing the battery at a high charge level is bad for it. On the other hand, letting the battery run down to completely empty every single time you use it is also bad. There’s no way to just tell your laptop to leave the battery at about 50% full, which might be ideal. On top of that, high temperatures will also wear down the battery more quickly.

In other words, if you were going to leave your laptop battery in a closet somewhere, it would be best to leave it at about 50% charged capacity and make sure the closet was reasonably cool. That would prolong the battery’s life.

Remove the Battery to Avoid Heat, if You Can

Here’s one clear thing: Heat is bad. So, if your laptop has a removable battery, you may want to remove the battery from the laptop if you plan on leaving it plugged in for a long time. This will ensure the battery isn’t exposed to all that unnecessary heat.

This is most important when the laptop runs very hot—like a powerful gaming laptop running demanding PC games, for example. If your laptop runs fairly cool, you won’t see as much benefit from this.

Of course, many modern laptops don’t have removable batteries anymore, so this tip won’t apply in those cases.

But Should I Leave It Plugged In or Not?

Ultimately, it’s not clear which is worse for a battery. Leaving the battery at 100% capacity will decrease its lifespan, but running it through repeated discharge and recharge cycles will also decrease its lifespan. Basically, whatever you do, your battery will wear down and lose capacity. That’s just how batteries work. The real question is what makes it die more slowly.

Laptop manufacturers are all over the place on this. Apple used to advise against leaving MacBooks plugged in all the time, but their battery advice page no longer has this piece of advice on it. Some PC manufacturers say leaving a laptop plugged in all the time is fine, while others recommend against it with no apparent reason.

Apple used to advise charging and discharging the laptop’s battery at least once per month, but no longer does so. If you’re concerned about leaving your laptop plugged in all the time (even if it’s a PC laptop), you might want to put it through a charge cycle once per month just to be safe. Apple used to recommend this to “keep the battery juices flowing”. But whether this will help depends on the device and its battery technology, so there’s really no one-size-fits-all answer.

Occasional Discharge and Recharges Can Help “Calibrate” the Battery

Putting your laptop through an occasional full charge cycle can help calibrate the battery on many laptops. This ensures the laptop knows exactly how much charge it has left and can show you an accurate estimate. In other words, if your battery isn’t calibrated properly, Windows may think you have 20% battery left when it’s really 0%, and your laptop will shut down without giving you much warning.

By allowing the laptop’s battery to (almost) fully discharge and then recharge, the battery circuitry can learn how much power it has left. This isn’t necessary on all devices. In fact, Apple explicitly says it’s no longer necessary for modern MacBooks with built-in batteries.

This calibration process won’t improve the battery’s lifespan or make it hold more energy—it will only ensure the computer is giving you an accurate estimation. But this is one reason you wouldn’t to leave your laptop plugged in all the time. When you unplug it and use it on battery power, it might show you incorrect battery life estimates and die before you expect it to.

Your laptop’s battery isn’t going to last forever, and it will gradually have less capacity over time no matter what you do. All you can do is hope your laptop’s battery lasts until you can replace your laptop with a new one.

Of course, even if the capacity of your laptop’s battery declines, you’ll still be able to keep using it while plugged into a power outlet anyway.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai just publicly called on Apple to activate the FM receiver chips found in iPhones for public safety reasons. Many Android phones also contain dormant FM chips. But, if your phone has an FM receiver, why can’t you already listen to the radio on it?

There’s one quick issue with Ajit Pai’s request: As Apple noted, the iPhone 7, iPhone 8, and iPhone X don’t even have an FM chip. But the iPhone 6s and older iPhones do. So why haven’t we been able to listen to the radio on these phones? Could Apple just enable radio functionality with a software update?

Why Is That FM Chip Even There?

Most people probably aren’t aware that older iPhones (and many Android phones) even have FM radio receiver chips in the first place. After all, no iPhone has ever been able to function as an FM radio, although some Android phones have.

So why did Apple choose to add that FM radio hardware in the first place, if Apple doesn’t plan on actually using it? The answer is that Apple didn’t choose to add the FM radio hardware—not really.

Despite Apple’s marketing, which would lead you to believe each part inside the iPhone was designed and manufactured by Apple itself, they aren’t. On an iPhone 6s, the LTE modem for connecting to the cellular network was created by Qualcomm. You can see this if you look at teardowns done by websites like iFixit, which rip apart devices and identify their various components.

Specifically, Apple chose to use the Qualcomm MDM9635M LTE modem for the iPhone 6s. This Qualcomm part comes with FM radio receiving functionality included, as many other Qualcomm modems do. It’s just easier for Qualcomm to include all these features in its hardware and allow device manufacturers to disable them as needed.

Apple didn’t ask for this FM radio receiver hardware and had no plans to use it, so Apple just disables and ignores it. The FM radio receiver may be more commonly activated in developing countries where the ability to listen to radio on a smartphone is in higher demand. You can find it on some Android smartphones in the US, too. But the manufacturer has to choose to enable it.

Why Apple Can’t Enable It Just By “Flipping a Switch”

Apple can’t simply roll out a quick software update that enables the FM radio functionality on the iPhone 6s and older iPhones. We don’t know all the limitations, as Apple is just pointing out that the iPhone 7, iPhone 8, and iPhone X can’t support this in hardware. But, even on an iPhone 6s, Apple would have the following issues to deal with:

The FM chip may not be physically connected in a way that even makes it possible to enable. Only Apple actually knows whether this is true and how difficult it would be to connect.

The underlying chipset firmware would need to be updated.

The FM radio functionality would need testing to ensure it didn’t cause any problems with the iPhone’s cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth reception.

Apple would have to add a Radio app to iOS so users could use the radio.

Enabling the FM radio, even if it were physically possible—and we don’t know if it is—would be a major project for Apple.

But Why Wasn’t It Hooked Up In The First Place?

So iPhones and various Android phones have FM radio hardware just because it’s a standard part of the modem, and they can’t easily enable it after the hardware was released. But that leads to the question: Why wasn’t it enabled in the first place?

This leads us into the realm of speculation, of course. But it’s clear that there are economic incentives for not enabling the FM radio. For Apple, the lack of FM radio functionality pushes iPhone users towards services like Apple Music, Beats 1 Radio, and iTunes. For cellular carriers, the omission of FM radio encourages customers to stream music via the cellular network and use more costly data.

Or, perhaps Apple just didn’t want to put the man-hours into supporting the hardware and software. Let’s be honest: Consumers in the USA haven’t exactly demanded FM radio functionality in their phones. It’s still possible to purchase phones with this feature, and it’s especially common in cheaper Android phones. Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 phones still include an FM radio receiver, but Samsung didn’t even bundle an app that lets you use it. If you download an FM radio receiver app from Google Play, you can listen to FM radio on the latest Galaxy phone. But this isn’t a feature even Samsung thinks is worth mentioning. If this feature was in high demand, it might be more common.

Should FM Chips Be Required and Enabled?

The big argument for enabling FM radio functionality is public safety. FM radio receiving functionality would allow people to receive emergency broadcasts in the case of natural disasters like Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, even when the cellular network goes down.

The National Association of Broadcasters, which represents radio and television broadcasters, has asked manufacturers to enable the radio functionality on their phones. Congress has held hearings on this in the past, too. But former FCC commissioner Tom Wheeler decided not to require smartphone manufacturers to include this feature, a decision even current FCC commissioner Ajit Pai agrees with.

Ultimately, people don’t seem to care much about this feature. Consumers are voting with their dollars. If the FCC commissioner and government want manufacturers to enable FM radio functionality on their phones, they’ll probably have to introduce a law or regulation requiring it.

Of course, it’s also possible that a massive change in public sentiment will lead customers to demand FM radio functionality, which is what the FCC commissioner seems to be hoping for. That just doesn’t seem very likely at the moment.

Apple is working on a redesigned iPad that would remove the device’s home button in favor of the new Face ID system introduced on the iPhone X. Bloomberg reports that the new iPad, which will feature a display size “similar” to the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, is likely to be released “later next year.” An improved Apple Pencil is also under development and expected to launch alongside the updated tablet.

Just as it did for the iPhone, getting rid of the Touch ID home button will allow Apple to trim the iPad’s bottom bezel closer to the device’s edge. This would result in a more immersive screen that fills nearly the entire front of the 2018 iPad. The company reduced the iPad Pro’s side bezels significantly with the 10.5 model that went on sale in June. Bloomberg’s report doesn’t confirm whether or not it would have the iPhone X’s signature “notch” up top, however.

Current iPads still use a physical, clicking home button — and that feels a touch out of date after last year’s iPhone 7 switched to a non-moving button that simulates presses with vibration. Apple did the same thing with the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus this year.

Apple is unlikely to use OLED for the 2018 iPad lineup and will stick with LCD, according to the report. “Technical and financial constraints” are preventing the same display technology transition that the top-tier iPhone made this year. Samsung utilizes high-resolution OLED screens both for its Android-based Galaxy tablets and the 12-inch Galaxy Book that runs Windows. But those products don’t sell at nearly the same volume as iPads, so the “constraint” would likely be whether Samsung can produce enough screens for iPad demand. And if Samsung Display can’t, it’s doubtful that LG or other supplies could.

Other details about the next-generation iPad remain a mystery. Will it also change to a glass back to allow for wireless charging? Will we finally get an iPad that’s water resistant? (I think I’d value that more than Face ID, personally.) Bloomberg estimates that the launch is about a year out, so we might not see it until fall 2018, and the report warns that Face ID integration could be nixed due to supply issues between now and then.

Last month, Intel introduced the first 8th Generation U-series Core processors aimed at thin and light notebooks. Most folks, however, have been waiting for Intel to unveil the first desktop processors based on the 8th Generation Intel Core processor family. According to a new report, Intel is likely to launch the first desktop “Coffee Lake” processors on the 5th of October. Since the new processor family comes with an increased core count compared to the previous generation, Intel is expected to price the new processors at a premium.

As always, the initial lineup is expected to be very limited, although we are expecting to see at least four new processors with six cores and a few quad-core SKUs as well. In Europe, the entry-level Core i3-8350K will apparently be priced at 199 EUR (Rs.15,300 approx.). The more powerful Core i5-8600K is expected to be priced at 299 EUR (Rs.23,000 approx.), while the mighty Core i7-8700K will be priced at 419 EUR (Rs.32,200 approx.).

SKU Cores/Threads Core Clock Max. Turbo L3 Cache TDP Memory
Core i7-8700K 6/12 3.70 GHz 4.70 GHz 12MB 95W Dual-channel DDR4-2666
Core i7-8700 6/12 3.20 GHz 4.60 GHz 12MB 65W Dual-channel DDR4-2666
Core i5-8600K 6/6 3.60 GHz 4.30 GHz 9MB 95W Dual-channel DDR4-2666
Core i5-8400 6/6 2.80 GHz 4.00 GHz 9MB 65W Dual-channel DDR4-2666

Initially, consumers will be limited to motherboards based on the Z370 Express chipset, which does support overclocking. The mainstream H370, as well as the value-oriented H310 chipset-based motherboards, are expected to become available later this year. For the enthusiast segment, Intel is rumored to debut the Z390 chipset in the second half of 2018. All of the new chipsets use the LGA 1151v2 socket, making them compatible with the Coffee Lake processors. A few upcoming motherboards based on the Z370 chipset have started leaking online already, so we can expect these new boards to be made official alongside the desktop Coffee Lake processors early next month.