BGR Daily Breaking Stories

Daily Headlines WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Petition asks FCC to block Comcast-TWC merger just because TWC is so awful Comcast and Time Warner Cable both have horrible reputations for customer service but is that alone a reason to block their proposed merger? Ars Technica reports that a new petition filed with the Federal Communications Commission by telecom analyst Bruce Kushnick of the New Networks Institute argues just that.  MORE → This cool new free app brings Apple Pay where it has never gone before Apple Pay and other mobile payment services like it represent the future of payments in the United States and elsewhere. We have discussed that future a number of times here on BGR, most recently while covering a nifty new “smart card” called Coin that will soon try to replace every credit and debit card in your wallet while solutions like Apple Pay get off the ground. It will indeed be some time before Apple Pay is accepted in the majority of stores we visit each day, but Apple Pay is about much more than just retail shopping. We have seen a few novel apps that take advantage of Apple Pay pop up in recent months, and now there’s a new one that iPhone users should definitely check out.  MORE → The best indication yet that The Pirate Bay is about to make a huge comeback A few short weeks ago, it seemed like The Pirate Bay might be gone for good. Then things took a turn in torrent fans’ favor when the site’s homepage came back online along with a digital timer that began counting down to February 1st. A hidden video of Arnold Schwarzenegger saying “I’ll be back” in Terminator 2: Judgement Day was an obvious suggestion that the service would indeed be making a comeback, and now it looks like it has taken a huge step toward finally making that comeback.  MORE → Bloomberg report uncovers key Galaxy S6 details – and possible release timing More bad news for HTC: it looks like Samsung’s next-generation flagship phone is going to rain on the HTC One M9’s parade. HTC is set to debut its most important Android smartphone of the year during a press conference on March 1st. A recent leak likely exposed the actual HTC One M9 for the first time and while it’s still a beautiful handset, it appears as though HTC is going to run into the same major problems it ran into last year when it comes to sales. Now, it looks like an even bigger problem will arise for the HTC One M9: Samsung’s Galaxy S6.  MORE → Apple’s latest acquisition could make Beats Music even better Apple revolutionized the music industry with the iPod and iTunes, but leadership is cyclical and the company fell behind the times as streaming music services like Pandora and Spotify grew more popular. iTunes Radio was Apple’s first real attempt to bring music streamers back to the Apple camp, but it apparently didn’t have quite the impact Apple was looking for… so it bought Beats for $3 billion. Now, Apple has made a new acquisition — a much smaller one, this time — that will reportedly become an important part of the company’s Beats Music streaming service.  MORE → These 20 cars just sold for a ridiculous $115 million at auction Think that $100,000 BMW your neighbor just bought is overpriced? What if we told you that a single car just fetched a price of nearly $10 million at a recent auction in Arizona? Gooding & Company held an automobile auction this past weekend in Arizona and the 20 priciest cars sold for a staggering $115 million, combined. Of course, we’re not talking about Fords and Hyundais off the line here. We’re talking about rare and exotic collector cars that are among the most desirable automobiles in the world.  MORE → Video reveals Taylor Swift’s secret tricks for getting ‘Shake it Off’ stuck in your head Even the haters who hate, hate, hate Taylor Swift may have found themselves singing “Shake It Off” against their wills at one time or another and it turns out there’s a very good reason for this. Dean Olivet, a YouTube user who regularly uses music theory to break down top pop songs, has posted a video breaking down why “Shake It Off” is so annoyingly catchy, and it’s a must-watch for anyone who’s ever wondered how pop songs are crafted.  MORE → It’s not just Apple – it looks like Xiaomi is ripping off the Moto X now too Give Xiaomi credit — it’s willing to rip off lots of different sources and not just one. In this report on Lowyat.net, we noticed this picture of one version of Xiaomi’s Mi 4 whose rear panel bears a striking resemblance to the wooden version of the Moto X.  MORE → Why Windows 10 may not fix Windows Phone’s biggest problem Microsoft this week is going to unveil some crucial new details on Windows 10, reportedly including a single code base that will make it much easier for programmers who write desktop Windows apps to write apps for Windows Phone. While one line of thinking right now is that this will help Microsoft close its “app gap” with iOS and Android, Jan Dawson makes a strong case that it won’t do anything to improve Windows Phone’s comparative dearth of quality apps.  MORE → The funniest thing you’ll see today: Teens freak out playing a horror game on the Oculus Rift The Fine Brothers’ REACT channel has provided us with hours of entertainment over the past few years, but one of their most recent videos might be the funniest yet. Over the weekend, the latest gaming-centric video was published on the REACT channel, featuring a group of teenagers, an Oculus Rift and a terrifying game called Affected: The Manor. MORE →