BGR Daily Breaking Stories

Daily Headlines FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Everything you need to know about Amazon’s crazy Black Friday doorbuster deals Amazon has announced its Black Friday 2014 sale plans, joining the many other retailers competing fiercely for customers’ business on the most important shopping day of the upcoming holiday season. The giant retailer said in a press release that it plans to offer users eight days of Black Friday deals, with a new deal being listed every ten minutes starting with November 21st.  MORE → Video: This is what Android Lollipop looks like on the Galaxy S5 Google’s latest Android update, Android 5.0, is hotly anticipated for a number of reasons. The most obvious is the bold new look of Material Design, which uses bright colors, layering and subtle shadows to create a user experience akin to interacting with real physical materials. The new look rockets the Android platform into the future, and it is supported by a number of great new features such as multiple user support, a new notification system and battery life improvements. The wait for Lollipop is painful indeed, but now we can tide you over with an in-depth video that gives you an early look at Android 5.0 running on a Galaxy S5.  MORE → Walmart’s pre-Black Friday sale kicks off with huge savings After announcing on Wednesday that it’ll offer a week of extended pre-Black Friday deals starting November 21st, with special prices on some hot items including the iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6, Walmart has kicked off it’s big sale with official prices on other electronics that tech fans might be looking for this holiday season.  MORE → How to boost Nexus 6 performance… and why you can’t do it just yet Google’s recently released and hard-to-find Nexus 6 is likely the company’s best Nexus smartphone to date, but it can of course still be improved. In fact, when looking at storage performance, AnandTech discovered that because the Nexus 6 comes with full data encryption, its read and write memory performance has taken a significant hit.  MORE → You might get an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus this Christmas after all During its latest earnings call, Apple revealed that it’s selling every iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus it can make, suggesting that some buyers might not be able to get their desired iPhone 6 model in time for the holidays, as the company wasn’t sure when it’ll be able to catch up with demand. Since launching the new iPhones, Apple’s estimated shipping times for orders placed on its online store reached seven to ten business days for the iPhone 6 and up to four weeks for the iPhone 6 Plus, no matter what capacity versions, colors, or carrier options, without seeing any improvement.  MORE → Complex Android malware believed to have infected up to 4.5M smartphones in the U.S. As many as 4.5 million American Android smartphone users may have been fooled into somehow downloading a complex malicious program on their devices since January 2013, The New Yok Times reports, citing security company Lookout.  MORE → Video: This Apple Watch app will tell you when you’re going to die Remember Deadline? That sweet $0.99 iPhone app that uses various tools at its disposal to tell you when you’re going to die, and even offers you a timer so you know how much time you have left on Earth? Well, Alaric Cole, the developer behind Deadline, has already put the WatchKit SDK Apple released earlier this week to good use to come up with a test version of Deadline, recording a short video using the iOS Simulator to show it in action.  MORE → Video: You must watch this hilarious mashup of Far Cry 4 and Goat Simulator Goat Simulator has been one of the surprise hit games of the year, as many gamers have seemingly relished the opportunity to assume the role of a maniacal goat who’s bent on wreaking havoc and creating destruction all around him. However, YouTube user Robbaz has created a hilarious video using the map editor feature in Far Cry 4 in which one man takes revenge on all goatkind by invading their secluded home base deep in the mountains and killing their grand leader.  MORE → Apple is still hard at work making Apple Maps usable Apple Maps still might not be the best mobile mapping service available for the iPhone, but Apple is doing everything in its power to give its users a reason to stick with the first-party app. The team at Apple Maps Marketing reports that it attempted to submit a client with a few hundred locations to the Apple Maps Connect service, but was rejected as Apple is only accepting submissions involving at least 1,000 locations.  MORE → Google just agreed to a major settlement with an Apple-backed patent consortium While the smartphone patent wars have (thankfully) cooled down a lot over the last year, that doesn’t mean major tech companies aren’t still suing one another over patents on a pretty frequent basis. Reuters reports that yet another major patent lawsuit is now in the books after Google agreed to settle with Rockstar, a patent consortium with backers that include Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry and Sony. MORE →