Also, Twitpic lives on thanks to Twitter, PS4 owners can share games online, selling the brutal truth for $10, and a meta Google Glass review.

Dirty Tactics Thwart Mobile Payments

@CVS_Extra I will be moving all of my prescriptions due to your greedy stance on #ApplePay. Good job losing a customer.

— drewmacleod (@drewmacleod) October 27, 2014

Apple has suffered a blow to its hopes of having Apple Pay accepted in all major retailers across the United States. It turns out that many of the big names, including Walmart, Kmart, Best Buy, and 7-Eleven, are building a competitor to Apple Pay called CurrentC. Which means these retailers are unlikely to support what is in effect a rival mobile payments system.

Rite Aid and CVS have actively disabled NFC (near-field communication) card readers in their stores to prevent customers from using Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and other mobile payments platforms. It has to be assumed this is a bid to keep CurrentC from being surplus to requirements even before it launches in 2015.

CurrentC works differently from Apple Pay, with the customer scanning a QR code into their phone to have the payment taken directly from their bank account. This is designed to cut credit card companies (and their processing fees) out of the equation. Which is why no banks are backing CurrentC.

As revealed by The Verge, Apple only has 34 official retail partners backing Apple Pay at the moment, and eight of those are brands owned by Foot Locker. So, despite the reams of publicity given to Apple Pay, Tim Cook and co. face an uphill battle in getting Apple's fledgling mobile payments system adopted. Let the dirty tactics commence.

The current MakeUseOf Poll is all about Apple Pay, so please take the time to vote and let us know whether or not you're personally backing Apple Pay.

Facebook Rooms Accused Of Copying Room

http://youtu.be/24pfsU_ZXHw

Just days after Facebook launched Rooms, the social network has been accused of copying a pre-existing app called Room. The non-Facebook app Room was launched in September, and, like Rooms, allows users to create anonymous chatrooms.

The creators of Room are convinced Rooms is a copy, with Damien Rottemberg, Co-Founder and CTO of Room Inc. telling 9to5Mac, “We’re sure this is not a coincidence. We don’t understand how Facebook, with all their lawyers, could have released an app with the same name and features. We don’t know … if something was leaked from VCs we were talking to that are very connected with Facebook, if it’s from high Facebook executives that we have on our Facebook friend’s list, friends of friends working at Facebook, or someone at Facebook that saw our app and thought it was cool enough to copy.”

The two apps are remarkably similar, but it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that two teams were working on similar apps at the same time. However, Rottemberg and his co-founder are thought to be “debating legal action.” In the meantime why not try both free apps to determine which of the two you personally prefer.

Twitpic Survives As Twitter Archive

Good to see Twitpic and Twitter getting along for the most part and preserving old photos. I have 700+ on mine for some reason!

— Darren R (@Kainz_UK) October 26, 2014

The Twitpic saga has come to an end, with Twitter taking control of the domain and photo archive. Twitpic announced in September it was shutting down because of a trademark dispute with Twitter. It then bounced back with acquisition offers, before finally conceding defeat. Now, Twitter has somewhat ridden to the rescue, meaning the archive will stay alive "for the time being."

PS4 2.00 Brings Share Play To PlayStation

http://youtu.be/ocJeVjGIFfY

PlayStation 4 owners will soon have the ability to share games online with their friends whether or not both parties own a particular title. Share Play allows friends to watch you playing a game, take control to help you with a tricky section, or even join in a virtual multiplayer session.

Share Play, as demonstrated in the video above, comes as part of the PS4 system software v2.00 update due to drop on Tuesday (Oct. 28). The one caveat to Share Play is a limit of 60 minutes, but it's unclear whether this applies to each game, each session, or each friend. Regardless, this is surely yet another reason to choose the PS4 over the Xbox One. But then I am a little biased.

Website Offers Brutal Honesty For $10

A new website is offering to be brutally honest with you for the princely sum of $10. According to KnowTechie, Brutal Honesty is the brainchild of Jordan Speizer, an unemployed software developer from California. For $10, Speizer will offer his honest assessment of whatever it is you're seeking an unbiased opinion on. And no refunds if you're unhappy at hearing the truth.

Google Glass Review On Google Glass

http://youtu.be/k9-ekDhkCn0

And finally, what better way to review Google Glass than by using Google Glass? Which is exactly what filmmaker Casey Neistat does in the video above. His assessment? He loves the camera, but the battery life absolutely sucks. Which is just one view among the many already expressed about Google Glass. [H/T Gizmodo]

Your Views On Today’s Tech News

Do you think mobile payments are the future or a fad? Is Facebook's Rooms too similar to Room to be a mere coincidence? Should Google give up on Glass?

Let us know your thoughts on the tech news of the day by posting to the comments section below. Because a healthy discussion is always welcome.

Image Credit: Bryan Brenneman via Flickr