BGR Daily Breaking Stories

Daily Headlines WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015

This is the harshest take on the Apple Watch I’ve read yet… and it makes some very strong points I don’t think the Apple Watch is going to be a “flop” by any stretch of the imagination, although I also think anyone who thinks Apple will sell 50 million units of the first-generation model this year is fooling themselves. Vox’s Danielle Kurtzleben has posted a very harsh take on the Apple Watch that makes some very strong points on the new device, even though I’m not nearly as pessimistic as she is about its long-term prospects.  MORE → Huge leak: iPhone 6s may come with crazy new display tech – and a crazy new color option A new report from The Wall Street Journal claims that Apple may have some interesting surprises in store when it unveils its next-gen iPhone lineup later this year.  MORE → Hands-on Apple Watch review roundup When Apple first unveiled the Apple Watch this past September, the demo units journalists were allowed to play with weren’t fully functional, which is to say they mostly contained pre-roll demo videos. So sure, everything looked great, but it’s impossible to truly assess the value of a new product without giving it a proper spin. Following Apple’s special media event on Monday, Apple finally let members of the press play with, to a certain extent, fully baked Apple Watch devices. So without further ado, here are the first Apple Watch reviews from the folks who have actually gotten a chance to use them at length.  MORE → Apple services are currently suffering a major outage Multiple Apple services are currently suffering a major outage, according to numerous accounts from users. Users have flocked to Apple’s own support forums and Reddit to discuss the outage, which appears to be impacting several different Apple services including the iOS App Store, Mac App Store, iTunes Connect, TestFlight and iBooks store. Additional Apple services may be impacted, as the issue appears to be affecting all services that require a log in.  MORE → House of Cards Season 3 was filmed in stunning 6K Always looking to stay ahead of the curve, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings in early 2014 announced that all Netflix original shows would be recorded in 4K. Now comes word that Netflix is looking to push the envelope even further, with The Hollywood Reporter reporting that the recently aired third season of House of Cards was shot in 6K. While 4K content, a visual marvel in its own right, boasts 4 times as many pixels as traditional 1080p HD content, 6K boasts approximately 9 times as many pixels as traditional HD. I suppose the next best thing to watching House of Cards is feeling as if you’re right there in the Oval Office with Frank Underwood himself.  MORE → Swatch co-inventor: Apple Watch will usher an ‘Ice Age’ for Swiss watch industry While Swatch co-inventor Elmar Mock doesn’t think Switzerland’s watch industry is completely doomed like Jony Ive reportedly does, he does see some potential dangers for Swiss watchmakers from Apple’s first wearable computer.  MORE → Apple’s removes glowing logo from new 12-inch Retina MacBook Apple may not have announced the long-desired Retina MacBook Air during Monday’s media event, but it arguably did one better when it introduced a brand new 12-inch MacBook with Retina Display. The new MacBook is impossibly thin and incredibly light, measuring in at just 2 pounds. Apple’s new MacBook is notable not just for the features it has, but also for the features it lacks. Most notably, the new MacBook completely does away with the beloved MagSafe adapter and instead opts for a one-port-fits-all approach with USB C.  MORE → Xbox One March system update is available to download now Microsoft announced on Monday night that the March system update for the Xbox One had begun rolling out, bringing several new features and improvements to the console. The most notably inclusion is the ability to take screenshots, something Xbox fans have been requesting since the console launched in 2013.  MORE → Samsung is spending an insane amount of money to beat Apple to the ‘next big thing’ Samsung hasn’t had the best year financially but it’s not slowing down its spending on R&D. BusinessKorea reports that Samsung spent an astonishing $13.8 billion in research and development in 2014, the single largest R&D investment in the company’s history.  MORE → Start your engines: GTA Online Heists are now live in GTA 5 Over a year after launch, Online Heists have finally hit Grand Theft Auto 5. The update finally rolled out last night — nearly 5 gigabytes of anticipation that have been eluding GTA 5 players for months. We still haven’t had a chance to play through a heist ourselves, but the feedback has been universally positive from those who got an early look at the new mode.  MORE →