BGR Daily Breaking Stories

Daily Headlines THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Is the Galaxy S6 really an iPhone ripoff? Leaked comparison photo lets you be the judge Samsung has managed to make quite a name for itself over the years — in more ways than one. The company practically came from out of nowhere and skyrocketed to the top of the smartphone market in just a few short years, quickly becoming the No. 1 vendor in the world by shipment volume. Of course, the company borrowed a lot from Apple along the way, and it made a reputation for itself as a copycat as a result. Companies borrow from each other all the time, of course, but Samsung was probably a bit more blatant about it than it should have been — see this secret 132-page guide to copying the iPhone that Samsung made back in 2010 for an example. And now, it looks like Samsung might be back to its old tricks with the upcoming new Galaxy S6.  MORE → Here’s every new movie and TV show you’ll be able to stream on Netflix in March Over the next few weeks, we have not one, but two original Netflix series to look forward to. The third season of House of Cards begins (for real this time) on February 27th and then Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt premieres on March 7th. It’s a good time to be a subscriber.  MORE → Huge leak: Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge pictured for the first time If you thought the Galaxy S6 model that’ll sport a curved display would get similar software features as Samsung’s Note Edge phablet, then you might be in for another surprise. As SamMobile reports, the Galaxy S6 Edge might lack the special Edge functions available on the Galaxy Note Edge, as Samsung has apparently chosen a different approach to such displays. Even more interestingly, a handset said to be the upcoming Galaxy S6 Edge Samsung intends to announce this coming Sunday has just been pictured for the first time  MORE → Google Fiber’s chilling threat to cities: Do things our way or ‘enjoy your Time Warner Cable’ Google Fiber is a hugely ambitious project and because of this it requires a lot of help from municipalities where it’s launching. GigaOM reports that Google is definitely taking a “my way or the highway” approach to getting what it wants from cities and it knows exactly what button to push: It tells cities that if they don’t want to do things Google’s way, they’ll get stuck with having Time Warner Cable as their sole broadband provider.  MORE → You can make your Android phone (or iPhone) look like a Galaxy S6 right now There’s plenty of buzz surrounding recent leaks and rumors suggesting that Samsung’s next-generation flagship phone, the Galaxy S6, is shaping up to be another iPhone copy from the South Korean electronics giant. Nothing is certain until the handset is unveiled this coming Sunday, of course, and if the new S6 is an iPhone copy, we’re not so sure that’s entirely a bad thing. Speaking of copying, still have some time to wait between when the Galaxy S6 is announced and released, but anxious fans can make their current smartphone look like a Galaxy S6 right now.  MORE → Apple Pay is soon going to get the rival it needs Even though Apple was not the first handset maker to come out with a wireless payments product for mobile devices, the company’s Apple Pay service — available only on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus at the moment — became widely used in the U.S. surpassing existing NFC payment products that were already available on other platforms, including Android. Ars Technica has learned that Google is ready to respond to Apple Pay with a new product of its own that will apparently not replace Google Wallet, a service that’s hasn’t really taken off.  MORE → Some disappointed Android fans don’t want to believe recent HTC One M9 leaks are real Are the recently leaked videos of the HTC One M9 just part of an elaborate con by HTC to trick us into being disappointed before blowing us away with a completely redesigned monster smartphone next week? That is what one disappointed Android fan is saying in the wake of Tuesday’s massive leak of HTC’s One M9 promotional videos, which left them feeling that HTC had essentially mailed it in with its upcoming flagship phone.  MORE → Hilarious video shows what House of Cards would look like as an 8-bit NES game If you have any plans this upcoming weekend, you might want to cancel them. This coming Friday, the third season of House of Cards will premiere on Netflix and it’s a good bet that binge watching will be the name of the game for a good number of Frank Underwood fans over the weekend.  MORE → New Google Play update is every music lover’s dream come true Google announced on the Android Official Blog this week that the music storage limit for free Google Play Music users has been bumped up from 20,000 songs to 50,000 songs. You can stream or download any of those 50k songs to your phone, tablet, computer or Chromecast.  MORE → Gemalto confirms hack, but denies massive SIM keys theft Following reports that claimed the NSA and GCHQ may have targeted Gemalto, one of the main phone SIM cards makers, the company revealed that such attacks indeed took place in 2010 and 2011, though the hackers were not able to steal SIM keys, as had been reported by the media.  MORE →