The senate chambers at the California state capitol building Richard Nieva/CNET SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After a long debate on the Senate floor, California legislators narrowly rejected a bill on Thursday that would have required anti-theft software to come preloaded and automatically enabled on all smartphones sold in the state. The law, spearheaded by California State …

Now playing: Watch this: Cracking Open: Samsung Galaxy S5 4:43 Samsung’s Galaxy S5 may not look all that different from the Galaxy S4 on the outside, but on the side it’s a completely different animal. There’s lots of hardware upgrades, a redesigned interior, and a whole new way to open the case and replace a broken screen. The S5 is …

A rendering of a possible iPhone 6 from graphic designer Martin Hajek. Martin Hajek/YouTube Will Apple outfit the next iPhone with a curved display? One source says yes. The iPhone 6 will incorporate a curved glass display that will stay flush against the phone’s new rounded corners, a new report from Macotakara claims. As described by MacRumors, the iPhone’s more …

Now playing: Watch this: Choose the right screen mode on the Galaxy S5 2:46 Most smartphone manufacturers don’t give users the option to make adjustments to the screen quality of their devices. While you can change things like brightness, there are no controls for altering the display’s color and contrast. Samsung isn’t like most manufacturers, however. The company is one …

A ‘Surface Mini’ smart cover as advertised on a Vostrostone Amazon page. The rumored tablet would be smaller than the 10.6-inch Surface that Microsoft sells now. Vostrostone Microsoft’s smaller version of the Surface tablet has been rumored since at least last fall, but an Amazon-affiliated site seems to be offering some hard proof. Electronics retailer Vostrostone has posted photos of …

Sony SS-CS5 bookshelf speakers Sony Sony’s been making a push with high resolution audio since late last year, labeling its own products with a “High-Res Audio” logo to indicate compatibility. Today Sony announced the latest product to get the “High-Res Audio” treatment: a new line of speakers called the Core Series. The new line consists of a traditional 5.1 speaker …

Broxxar There’s a new game clone, and it’s taking cues from two games, not one. Dubbed Flappy48, the game takes elements of Flappy Bird and 2048. Gamers are asked to work their way through gaps in blocks while collecting numbered squares. If the squares can be combined in a multiple of two, they’ll be combined and only one will need …

Sarah Tew/CNET When the news hit this month that Nike is winding down its FuelBand efforts, there were bold claims that the nascent wearable tech market, it would seem, was suddenly in big trouble. The more nuanced consensus is that current activity trackers are at worst a fad, turning glorified pedometers into flashy app platforms that don’t really change our …

N2Aos Earlier this year, N2A Cards offered Nook tablet owners the option of deploying Android 4.4 KitKat, effectively leveraging Barnes & Noble’s sweet hardware for a more traditional tablet experience. Now Kindle owners can get in on that action. N2Aos, the company’s Kindle-oriented offshoot, now offers KitKat for Kindle Fires. Previously, the best that Amazon tablet owners could hope for …

Nexus 5: Could a future version of the Nexus run on a 64-bit Qualcomm processor? Google Phone and tablet makers are rushing to embrace 64-bit designs, surprising even those executives behind the chip platform. Tom Lantzsch, ARM’s executive vice president of corporate strategy, spoke with CNET after the company reported first-quarter earnings on Wednesday. ARM supplies virtually all of the …

China-based telecommunications company Huawei will spend a serious amount of cash this year trying to improve its brand image. Speaking to Reuters in an interview published Wednesday, Huawei marketing vice president Shao Yang said his company “will spend $300 million on marketing” this year. That followed comments made last month by Eric Xu, Huawei’s acting CEO, who said that the …

The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset Oculus VR Facebook has gotten the OK from US antitrust officials to move forward with its purchase of Oculus VR, maker of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. The deal was apparently on a list, spotted by Reuters, of other proposed transactions that scored approval from the US Justice Department and the FTC. Currently …

DoubleTwist DoubleTwist, a San Francisco company with a self-proclaimed vision to “offer music without boundaries” is getting closer to achieving that goal with a new hack for Google Play Music. With some help from a DoubleTwist plug-in added to a Google application programming interface (API), users can stream Google Play Music to AirPlay-enabled devices, like the Apple TV. Google Play …

Apple TV. CNET Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook laid out some impressive numbers in making the case for why Apple TV is no longer a “hobby.” In total, Apple has sold 20 million units of the media-streaming box. Last May, Cook revealed that the company had sold 13 million units. By comparison, Roku has sold 8 million of its streaming-video …

Sarah Tew/CNET Despite the recall of Fitbit’s Force fitness tracker in February, the device maker is still out front — and its lead among wearable fitness trackers is growing, not shrinking. “According to the latest NPD Group Retail Tracking Service report, Fitbit’s market share is higher than it was before the launch of Force,” Fitbit said in a statement given …