 So, here we go again. Just ahead of the (now online) launch of Huawei’s next flagship, the P40, all attention turns to the impact the loss of Google will have on its sales and the workarounds available to solve the problem. Huawei hasn't given up hope of restoring Google to its new devices, and Google certainly wants the same, but until there’s a change in Trump’s blacklist, this is the path Huawei is on. We’ve been here before, of course. Last September, just ahead of the Mate 30 launch, there was lots of talk about workarounds and quick fixes. With the device in the market, talk of simple workarounds stalled and security concerns for the mainstream users won out. Sales of the device also stalled outside China. Huawei has spent the intervening months pushing its Huawei Mobile Services alternative to Google, with financial incentives for developers to jump on board. But Google is still Google, and there is no real alternative yet. As previewed for Forbes.com by David Phelan, the P40 shows every sign of being another standout hardware achievement for Huawei. But the reality is that the world outside China is not yet ready to buy a non-Google Android phone en masse. Yes, there are clunky ways around, but no, not everything will work. And there are inevitable user complexities and security concerns in trying something new. Google even took the surprise step of warning users not to try these dangerous methods. And so bear all that in mind with the latest whizz-bang workaround to hit the web. Surfacing first on Twitter and HuaweiBlog.de and picked up by Gizguide and others, there is apparently a new quick fix that makes it “even easier” to install GMS, the package of Google apps and underlying services that sits atop the basic Android OS. This is a grey area, to say the least. GMS is not licensed for new Huawei phones. So if you run this solution on a Mate 30 or P40, you are in breach of that license requirement and do not have any of the usual protections you would expect. Nor can you guarantee the software will not be switched off at some point, as happened to the well-known “LZPlay” Mate 30 workaround last year. HuaweiBlog.de says that “despite our extensive tests, app appraisal and observation of possible illegal account activity in the days after the installation, we received a legitimate security notice.” The blog does acknowledge that “we have not been able to test whether this will lead to restrictions in subsequent use.” This is notable because it seems so easy. How the app is circumventing Google security is unknown. There were implications last year that Huawei might overlook certain bypasses—their consumer head Richard Yu essentially promised users a fix—but this was all quickly shut down by Google and then Huawei. Follow this thread on OUR FORUM.
 The major and monthly updates to Windows 10 can be a headache for some people. From the infamous blue screen of death errors, installation issues, reduced performance, and data deletion bugs, installing Windows update isn’t a seamless process for everyone. Windows 10 KB4540673 is the latest update and it was released on March 10 with security fixes. The March Patch Tuesday update is a low-key release and there are not too many changes, but it appears that the patch is still causing a series of problems for some people. The most recent cumulative update for the Windows 10 version 1909 and 1903 is causing the blue screen of death on some devices, according to user reports. Only a small subset of consumers appear to be impacted, but the number of reports is growing. Concerns over Windows 10 KB4540673 cumulative updates were documented in our comments section and other forums. “After installing it I started having BSOD every time I started my PC. The only solution I had was rolling back to a previous restore point of some days ago.,” explained the post author in our comments. “This March update installed automatically on my devices and it leads to BSOD errors on my gaming PC and my work laptop,” another user wrote. These user reports suggest that the issue is only due to compatibility issues with KB4540673. As we noted, consumers in other forums also reported seeing the issue with Windows 10’s newest patch. A discussion on Reddit also confirms the issue happens on some devices. For example, as one Redditor notes: “Not sure if this is the same problem given mine auto-updated to KB4540673 (not KB4535996), but after the update, my desktop PC was hanging on the BIOS/UEFI loading screen. I couldn’t get past POST to even attempt booting into Windows or Safe Mode”. “Installed KB4540673 today got a blue screen while playing CS: GO,” another user noted. “In all fairness, as annoyed as I am that my laptop is completely crashed right now over this update,” one poster noted in Microsoft’s forums. Some users have also claimed that this update could take a really long time to install, while others have reported installation issues. “It doesn’t install here. It restarts and says that the update wasn’t installed,” a reader told us. “I have the same issue. Only mine doesn’t go far as 1% and it won’t allow the other updates to download so I really don’t know what to do. Like I’ve had my PC opened all day and is still 1% not gone up at all,” a user wrote. One user also claimed that this patch once again causes a temporary user profile bug. It is worth noting that only a subset of users with unknown PC configuration reported these problems and it’s unclear just how widespread this issue is. For more refer to OUR FORUM.  Multiple sources familiar with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA)'s plans have confirmed to Ars Technica that the organization, which is responsible for the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), will soon cancel the three-day expo. Like in prior years, E3 2020 was scheduled to play out in early June as a three-day event at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Shortly after we received the tip, indie game publisher Devolver Digital posted a brief, ominous message on Twitter: "Cancel your E3 flights and hotels, y'all." The ESA had not made any announcements about E3 2020 at that time. One source who spoke to Ars on background said they'd heard the news of E3 2020's cancellation "directly from ESA members" and that an official, public statement on the matter "was supposed to be today [Tuesday, March 10] and slipped." Representatives for the ESA did not immediately respond to Ars Technica's questions about the state of E3 going forward or whether the event's seismic shift may instead mean a delay, a move to a completely different venue, or a wholly virtualized, live-streamed event. Exactly why the event will be canceled is not clear at this time. Late last month, the ESA addressed concerns about the spread of coronavirus and its impact on major 2020 expos around the world by insisting that it "continue[d] to plan for a safe and successful E3" while otherwise "monitoring and evaluating" its potential impact on events held in Los Angeles. Following that announcement, E3's contracted creative directors, the merchandise and events company iam8bit, resigned from its post after five weeks on the job. That news followed a February announcement that longtime E3 collaborator Geoff Keighley would not be participating in this year's expo. More so than the organizers and headlines, E3 has always been about the games—but even that fact has been a sore spot, as E3 has seen major game publishers bow out in recent years. Activision-Blizzard became an unreliable attendee starting in 2016. EA officially ditched E3 in 2016 to operate EA Play, a standalone event timed alongside E3, on an annual basis ever since. While Nintendo has regularly had a major booth on the E3 show floor, the company hasn't hosted an E3 keynote event for some time, choosing instead to host pre-filmed Nintendo Direct presentations on YouTube. Sony's absence in 2019 was considered particularly major, given that it's the producer of the world's best-selling home gaming console, and its E3 2020 no-show seemed even more glaring in comparison, thanks to a new PlayStation 5 console expected to launch later this year. Follow any Conference Cancellations by visiting OUR Forum. |
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