BGR Daily Breaking Stories

Daily Headlines TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015

Galaxy S6: AT&T and Sprint teasers go up as Samsung intensifies marketing push Soon after T-Mobile published its Galaxy S6 registration page on its website, including an official press render showing the profile of the Galaxy S6 Edge model, both AT&T and Sprint put up similar pages, each having the same image customized in their respective colors. At this point, it’s more than clear that Samsung plans to put some serious marketing efforts behind its Galaxy S6 devices, as three of the top four U.S. mobile operators are already running teaser campaigns for the unannounced phones.  MORE → 11 great Google apps you’ve probably never even heard of To look at early versions of Android, when Google first began to truly embrace mobile, you would have never guessed that the company would eventually be responsible for some of the best and most beautiful apps on the planet. Today, however, apps like Gmail and Google Maps are the best and most widely used applications in their respective categories, and Google continues to wow us with its app quality each time new updates roll out or new apps are launched. As much as you rely on the Google apps for computers, Android and iOS that you currently use, however, there are a slew of apps Google makes that you have probably never even heard of.  MORE → Secret Apple acquisition uncovered as company looks to regain music dominance When iTunes was first unveiled nearly 15 years ago, it was a revolutionary product — all your music available in one place. As time has moved on, other platforms, including Pandora, Spotify and others have eaten away at iTunes, as digital streaming has replaced the download. However, Apple isn’t going to go quietly, as the company has said “music… is deep in our DNA.”  MORE → Apple Watch’s only real competition looks stunning in this new video We do not yet know everything there is to know about Apple’s upcoming debut entry into the smartwatch space, the Apple Watch. What we do know, however, is that rival smartwatches to date have not been well received at all at this point. Total quarterly global smartwatch sales are still said to number in the hundreds of thousands at this point, so Apple will almost certainly surpass lifetime smartwatch sales of any given rival during the Apple Watch’s first few months of availability. To be fair, smartwatches have been pretty lackluster until now, and there really isn’t much of a reason to consider buying any device that has been released at this point. As we recently reported, however, that is about to change.  MORE → HTC’s master plan comes into focus HTC has started recovering from its sales slump of the last few years but the company knows that to keep gaining momentum it will need more than just smartphones. CNET’s Roger Cheng has a lengthy profile of HTC’s plan to remake itself from a company that’s known primarily for smartphones to a company that makes a plethora of interesting tech products, including both hardware and software.  MORE → Apple Pay in Europe: Visa to add crucial security element to cards It’s only a matter of time until Apple’s iPhone and Watch payment system will be available in other markets than the U.S., and Visa Europe confirmed it’s rolling out a crucial security feature for cards issued in Europe, which seems to pave the way for an imminent Apple Pay launch in the region, at least according to a new Reuters report.  MORE → The funniest thing you’ll see today: Teens react to The Last of Us (again) We’ve shared several videos from The Fine Brothers’ REACT channel, but none have been quite as dramatic as the group of teenagers reacting to the opening scene of The Last of Us. It’s one of the most affecting scenes in any game of the past several years, and the video stirred up enough interest to turn the play through into a longer series. This past weekend, we finally got to see part 2.  MORE → Has Google found the secret for giving Google Wallet new life? Google Wallet never caught on like Google had hoped but the company now thinks it’s found the secret recipe for giving it fresh life: Partnering with mobile carriers and buying up parts of their own SoftCard platform to integrate with Google Wallet.  MORE → Google Glass 2 prototypes reportedly already in the hands of developers Despite the fact that Glass was all but a complete misfire for Google, the project isn’t going away any time soon. Earlier this month, Tony Fadell told The New York Times that “future products” in the Glass line won’t be subjected to the same public experimentation as the first-generation model. So we probably won’t see “Google Glass 2” at every tech event in 2015, but if a report from 9to5Google is to be believed, prototypes of the new version of the device might already be in the hands of developers.  MORE → Don’t expect new Toyotas to come with Apple CarPlay support anytime soon Though CarPlay was originally introduced at WWDC 2013, Apple’s iOS based infotainment system hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm. This is partially due to the fact that the auto industry tends to move at a snail’s pace relative to the tech industry.  Compounding matters is the fact that some companies aren’t exactly sold on CarPlay in the first place.  MORE →