Lilbits 373: Huawei gets (some sort of) a reprieve

After placing Huawei on an “Entity List” earlier this year and prohibiting US companies from selling products to the Chinese electronics giant, the Trump administration is easing restrictions… or something.

After meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping a few weeks ago, US president Donald Trump announced the US would “remove some curbs on Huawei” and allow the company to buy some goods from US companies.

It wasn’t clear at the time exactly what that meant. Now it’s… a little more clear. But just a little. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says Huawei’s still on the Entity List, but that the Commerce Department would “issue licenses where there is no threat to US national security.”

What that means is anyone’s guess — it’s unclear which products will be allowed and/or prohibited. So it’s not surprising that all signs point to Huawei continuing to hedge its bets by, among other things, developing its own operating system that could be used in the future as an alternative to Google Android.

Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.

• U.S. to approve sales it deems safe to blacklisted Huawei [Reuters]
  US officials confirm that US companies will be able to sell some products to Huawei “where there is no threat to U.S. national security,” despite Huawei remaining on the Entity list. But nobody knows what that means. Chips? Software? Etc?
• Chuwi LapBook Plus Review – a 4K Laptop for $440 [NotebookCheck]
  The Chuwi LapBook Plus is be one of the most affordable laptops with a 4K display due to its sub-$500 price tag, but according to a review from @notebookcheck you still get what you pay for — and in this case that means lousy performance and battery life.
• Raspberry Pi 4 USB-C cable problem officially confirmed [TechRepublic]
  Raspberry Pi co-founder Eben Upton acknowledges that some USB-C chargers won’t work with the Raspberry Pi 4, says future revision could fix the issue, advises using non-e-marked cables with current hardware.
• Microsoft rolls out Build 15254.575 for Windows 10 Mobile [MSPowerUser]
  Huh, Microsoft just rolled out an update for Windows 10 Mobile. It’s just a bug fix update, but I still wasn’t expecting to see much movement on this front now that Windows Mobile is pretty much dead.
• Canon Stabs Tradition in the Back With Camera That Supports Vertical Video [Gizmodo]
  Canon’s new G7 X III is a $750 camera that… can shoot vertical video (as well as landscape video).
• Nintendo Switch Lite may have a new NVIDIA Tegra X1 chip (and the original Switch might be getting it too [The Verge… and other sources]
  When Nintendo unveiled the Switch Lite today, the company promised it’d get slightly better battery life than the original Switch, despite its smaller size. AnandTech speculated that could be due to a new version of the Tegra X1 processor. The Verge pretty much confirms it… and spotted FCC paperwork suggesting the original Switch is getting a new system-on-a-chip, a new type of NAND memory, and a new board design. That could mean better energy efficiency for everyone… and a less hackable Nintendo Switch, among other things.
• StarCraft Cartooned [Blizzard Shop]
  Ever wonder what StarCraft would look like if it was animated like a silly cartoon? Now you can play it that way thanks to a $10 StarCraft Cartooned mod for StarCraft remastered. It’s kind of amazing.