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'Coon Cave
Paypal Leaving Libra is a Relief
I'm not a big fan of Paypal. Unfortunately, I'm pretty much forced to do business with them. Having to deal with Libra as well, would be even worse.
Play Store Apps for Free
'Can I use Raccoon to download paid apps for free?' - Ok, it's a question that pops up now and then, so we probably have to talk about it.
Google Play Store App Download
Some of you (=Huawei customers) might be wondering how to get the Google Play Store APK itself. It must be on Play, right? After all, it does update itself from there…
Are you thrilled for Microsoft’s Surface Duo? I’m not. But then again, I still remember Microsoft from the Gates/Balmer era and the Duo looks suspiciously like the good old Embrace, Extend and Extinguish tactic and hype marketing.
Beware of Google Play Pass. This is basically SaaS aka, lock your own data away in their systems, then rent access to it. Yes, it’s mostly games for now, nothing to be held hostage, but hey, looking unsuspicious is the very definition of bait, isn’t it?
Speaking of Split APK download, Linked In uses it, too. Well, it’s Microsoft. What do you expect? They never understood security. I mean, even Facebook gets this one right.
Oh, cool, Huawei actually did try to sneak past Google’s ban. And even in a more sophisticated way than I thought: Instead of simply preloading Gapps, they created an API and an app, allowing the user to sideload it.
Futile attempt, of course. As of today, the Mate 30 no longer passes Safety Net (as expected). So why go through all of this trouble? My guess would be that without the Gapps software being present on the phone, it can’t be confiscated by customs.
Just came accross a banking app that is delivered as a split APK. Seriously?! Shit for brains? Slept through cryptography 101?
If your app must communicate over an encrypted channel, then you must NOT use the split APK format. The very fact that Play asks you for your signing (=private) key should ring a bell.
Could Google lock Huawei out of Play?
Well, Trumpelstilzchen won (this time). The Huawei Mate 30 won't come preloaded with Google Apps, meaning it will pretty much not come at all. But what if Huawei decided to simply ignore the embargo and ship with the Gapps suite anyway. After all, the company is based in China, way outside of US jurisdiction. Could Google lock Huawei out of Play if push came to shove?