BGR Daily Breaking Stories

Daily Headlines MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

Stunning renders show 12-inch MacBook Air next to 12-inch iPad Air Plus The rumored 12-inch MacBook Air and 12-inch iPad Air Plus/iPad Pro are reportedly launching later this year, as recent reports have confirmed major details about Apple’s newest MacBook model. Because the two different devices will be somewhat similar when it comes to size and build quality, some users may actually have a hard time choosing between them, and designer Martin Hajek has come up with a variety of 3D renters showing what these products may look like.  MORE → T-Mobile wants to help you score cheaper smartphones – here’s how Looking to buy even cheaper smartphones? T-Mobile’s got you covered under the new Score! plan — yes, strangely enough the “Un-carrier” has a plan which you’ll have to pay every month to get cheaper access to some of the hottest smartphones in its stock. Fortunately, the plan only costs $5/month, and it’s still less expensive than paying full price for your next smartphone.  MORE → Just when you thought Comcast couldn’t get any worse… We really shouldn’t be surprised by nightmare Comcast stories anymore… but somehow the company keeps coming up with creative ways to deliver terrible service. The Philadelphia Inquirer brings us the story of Louis Moravec and Susan Thauer, two Philly residents who had an impossible time getting Comcast to actually come out to their new place and hook them up with Internet services. In fact, what should have been a simple one-afternoon process ending up taking three weeks and an estimate 50 hours on the phone with Comcast customer service representatives.  MORE → Forget 1Gbps – the cable industry says you don’t even need 25Mbps There are times when it’s easy to picture cable companies as Mr. Bumble, the orphanage headmaster in Oliver Twist (i.e., “Please, sir, I want some more bandwidth!” “MORE BANDWIDTH?!!!??!”). We bring this up because Ars Technica has spotted a new FCC filing made by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association in which the cable lobbying group argues that the average consumer doesn’t even need a connection speed of 25Mbps, let alone faster ones like the 1Gbps connections offered by Google Fiber.  MORE → Galaxy S6 reportedly getting a special version of the Snapdragon 810 After many reports claimed that Qualcomm encountered performance issues with its 2015 64-bit octa-core flagship processor, the company has once again denied that the chip has overheating issues, The Wall Street Journal reports. At the same time, sources familiar with the matter are also saying that Qualcomm is making a different Snapdragon 810 SoC for the Galaxy S6, even if there aren’t any heat issues with the current one.  MORE → Walmart takes on Chromecast with even cheaper, simpler streaming stick Walmart’s quietly launched Vudu Spark is the latest Chromecast competitor, a device that’s supposed to be about as big as Google’s streaming dongle, but even cheaper. However, it appears the stick might have more limited powers than the Chromecast also, as GigaOm reports.  MORE → This tiny gadget turns your ordinary sink into a high-tech washing machine With almost a month left in its Indiegogo campaign, Dolfi has already topped its $100,000 goal by more than $25,000 by convincing many backers to invest in its interesting clothes-washing technology. Dolfi is a tiny device, about as big as a smartphone, that can wash delicate clothes by itself using ultrasonic technology to remove dirt from clothes that are immersed in a sink or other container with water and washing powder.  MORE → See what Skype will look like on Windows 10 This week has been packed with Windows 10 news already, but Microsoft isn’t done showing off its new operating system quite yet. On Thursday, the Skype team revealed what its chat service will look like on Windows 10 and discussed how the program will be improving as it makes its way to the next generation of Windows devices.  MORE → We may be about to learn Google Fiber’s next destination Google is taking its sweet time figuring out where it wants to launch Google Fiber next but DSLReports’s Karl Bode thinks he may have the answer.  MORE → LG: Android 5.0 Lollipop update is ‘coming soon’ to the G3 It’s been a long, arduous wait, but the good news is that it’s nearly over. LG announced on Friday that the Lollipop update for G3 smartphones is “coming soon.” How soon, we’re not sure, but considering the fact that the update is already live on the G3 in other territories (and has been for weeks), it shouldn’t be much longer.  MORE →