Refresh Roundup: week of April 23rd, 2012

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of April 23rd, 2012

Refresh Roundup: week of April 23rd, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Logitech introduces spill resistant keyboards for the feds, prevents Bauer flip-out

Logitech might be in the midst of a corporate revolution, but it still has time to produce peripherals just for the G-men (and women). The Swiss company has produced a keyboard and mouse that satisfy all TAA guidelines and, most importantly, answered "no" when asked if they are, or were ever a member of the communist party. The pairing can be picked up by federal IT buyers for $35 and are fully "spill resistant," so we can't blame the forthcoming robopocalypse on a wayward cup of coffee.

Continue reading Logitech introduces spill resistant keyboards for the feds, prevents Bauer flip-out

Logitech introduces spill resistant keyboards for the feds, prevents Bauer flip-out originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday Links (Theagitator)

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Chris Brown?s Dog Breeding Scandal Grows

Chris Brown can’t catch a break, even when it comes to his dogs. There is a scandal brewing again, but this time it’s hard to tell if he has even done anything wrong. All that has happened is that Chris Brown posted a picture of himself with some puppies and even tried to sell one or two of them on a breeder’s website. Next thing you know PETA is making statements about it. First off, I’m no big fan of his. All I had to see was the picture of Rihanna after the beating he was convicted of giving her. It’s just disgusting. To me, there is no such thing as “snapping” to the point that you do that to someone. But that was the past. Since then, every publication from TMZ to the Florida Alligator have completely destroyed his every move. He can’t even Tweet something without getting owned. I usually like it, and I think it’s well deserved. This puppy conspiracy has me a little confused. According to reports, he could be breeding pit bulls for profit. Sure, that’s a pretty low thing to do. There are way too many of them, and let’s be honest, the Hip [...]

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Hardware Start-Ups: Join Us In Hardware Alley At TechCrunch Disrupt NY

TechCrunch Disrupt is all about start-ups but we often give short shrift to hardware-based companies. Well, that's about to change because we're now running Hardware Alley, a one day exhibition of some of the coolest hardware start-ups in NY and beyond. Running a Kickstarter project? Building a better mousetrap? Creating something cool out of scrap metal and wires? Register as a Hardware Alley exhibitor. You'll get admission on the last day of Disrupt, May 23, a table to show off your goods, and access to some of the most interesting people (and most interesting VCs) in the world. We'd love to have you.

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Johnny Depp 'Created' His Tonto For 'Lone Ranger'

'He's not the servant that he was in the radio series,' producer Jerry Bruckheimer tells MTV News about Depp's character in Disney film.
By Josh Wigler, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Johnny Depp
Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/ Getty Images

Don't let the title deceive you: "The Lone Ranger" is all about Tonto.

Well, perhaps the movie isn't all about Johnny Depp's wildly imagined Native American hero, but he'll certainly be at the forefront of the upcoming Disney blockbuster from director Gore Verbinski. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer told MTV News as much at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, revealing that while "The Lone Ranger" is heavily focused on the masked gunslinger (Armie Hammer), Depp's Tonto will play a pivotal role in relating that story.

"It's him telling the story of the Lone Ranger. ... It's his voice," Bruckheimer explained of how Depp's Tonto steps into the spotlight of the story. "He's not the servant that he was in the radio series and television series. He's quite a different character."

Even if Tonto weren't at the center of the film, the visuals of the character alone would make him impossible to ignore. Depp recently spoke at length about why his Tonto looks the way he does, saying he drew inspiration from a Kirby Sattler painting.

"I think Johnny creating that character, he did it on his own," Bruckheimer told us. "He went out with his makeup people and found an iconic image that he loved and created it for himself. He did the makeup, showed me a picture and said, 'Let's go make this movie.' It just took a while to convince Disney to go make it!"

Indeed, not long ago, "The Lone Ranger" very nearly rode off into the sunset before it even got on the horse, when Disney threatened to pull the plug due to budget concerns. Those issues were ultimately ironed out, and "Lone Ranger" will ride on with a huge scope intact, budget cuts be damned.

"Minor things [were cut], nothing anybody will miss," Bruckheimer said about how the cuts affected the film. "The whole wonderful train sequences are still there. It's a big movie. It really is.

"It has some fantasy elements in it. It's grounded, but there are spiritual elements to it," the producer continued about the film's tone. "It's its own thing. It certainly has elements of humor, which Gore brings to everything he does, and great action as well. It's kind of like 'The Odd Couple' meets 'The Wild Bunch.' "

Of course, the reteaming of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trio of Verbinski, Depp and Bruckheimer begs the question: Will we see "The Lone Ranger" ride again in future movies? Bruckheimer wasn't sure if this film would launch a franchise or not, but he admitted that he "didn't know 'Pirates' was going to be a franchise" either.

"Hopefully this one's going to work, and if they allow us to make more, we'll make more," he said.

Check out everything we've got on "The Lone Ranger."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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NASA READIs early detection GPS network, aids first responders with earthquake warnings

After tacking space shuttle Discovery onto the back of a 747, the brainy gang over at NASA's READI for a new challenge -- earthquake detection. The agency's GPS-monitoring system, known as the Real-time Earthquake Analysis for Disaster Mitigation Network, is being tested with the goal of more accurately detecting the scale of quakes and, consequently, getting tsunami warnings out as soon as possible. The setup, made possible by a partnership between the Department of Defense, the National Space Foundation, and the United States Geological Survey, works by measuring ground displacement in real-time to provide a faster, more detailed assessment of imminent damage, thereby giving first responders a head start on determining aid. So the next time you look up to the night sky and wish upon a tracking star, keep in mind that sometimes privacy-skewing, positioning tech could just save your life.

NASA READIs early detection GPS network, aids first responders with earthquake warnings originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jennifer Aniston Doesn't Care About Brangelina Proposal

Don't expect Jennifer Aniston to make a public statement about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's engagement anytime soon!

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Mobile Nations podcast, 3:30pm ET/12:30pm PT/8:30pm BST ? Come chat!

The Mobile Nations podcast is a GO! Come chat with the editors from Android Central, CrackBerry.com, iMore, webOS Nation, and WPCentral. It's a cross-platform podcastapalooza, and we want to hear from you! Chat now!

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Jon Jones, Rory MacDonald and more: UFC 145 pictures

Check out Tracy Lee's pictures from Saturday night's bouts, including Jon Jones' title defense, Rory MacDonald's win, Ben Rothwell and Michael McDonald's knockouts and more.

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Buffer Has Scheduled 10M Social Updates And Signed Up 180K Users

When we last covered Buffer, a service for scheduling your social media sharing, the startup had just raised $400,000, and its founders were relocating from San Francisco to Hong Kong due to expiring visas. It sounds like the immigration situation hasn't been entirely resolved, and most of the team is still in Hong Kong ? but on the bright side, Buffer's growth has continued. Buffer is designed for marketers and other folks who want to maintain an active social media presence without actually spending every second of their day on Facebook and Twitter. You can load the service up with content that you want to share, then it automatically gets posted throughout the day. Co-founder Leonhard Widrich tells me that on Monday, Buffer posted its 10 millionth update. The service is now posting one update every second.

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Supreme Court To Hear Arguments On Arizona Immigration Law ...

Sahil Kapur April 23, 2012, 11:57 AM

Lest anyone think the Supreme Court is done playing with political dynamite this year: Next up, the Obama administration asks the justices to quash Arizona?s immigration law, a measure that has sparked intense protests, boycotts and even rap songs.

The high court will hear oral arguments Wednesday on whether the state?s tough law ? which permits police to check people?s legal status during lawful encounters, and makes it a crime to look for work without legal status ? passes the constitutional test. Lower courts have sided with the administration and blocked its key provisions.

?This should be an easy case for the federal government,? said Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA School of Law. ?Under longstanding precedent, the federal government has plenary authority over immigration. Yet here Arizona has imposed its own view of how immigration law should be enforced.?

The core legal question is the extent to which states are empowered to make immigration laws, a turf constitutionally reserved for the federal government. The administration argues that Arizona?s law coerces it to take a harder line on undocumented immigrants. Gov. Jan Brewer?s legal team frames the statute as an effort to cooperatively assist the federal government in dealing with an immigration system that is widely regarded as broken.

The case has important implications for the 2012 election, as Hispanic voters, a key constituency, strongly reject the law. Mitt Romney has spoken out against the government?s legal challenge but is also distancing himself from the law itself, an equivocation Obama has seized on to paint his opponent as sympathetic to racial profiling.

The most controversial part of the law allows police to demand to see evidence of a person?s legal status during lawful encounters, even unrelated to immigration, if they perceive the individual to be an undocumented immigrant. Civil rights groups warn that the law will primarily burden Hispanics, even those who are in the state legally.

Politically, Romney is walking a tight rope: It?s not clear he can appease Hispanics without agitating the restrictionist elements of the conservative base, whose votes he is also relying on. Obama?s campaign will be able to tout a rebuke of the law as a huge victory on behalf of Hispanics; a pro-Arizona decision would be a major setback for the president, but it would be risky for Romney to endorse such a ruling regardless.

Polls suggest the general public is supportive of Arizona?s law, largely out of frustration with Congress?s failure to reform the nation?s immigration system. Similar laws in five other states ? Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah ? could be affected by the ruling.

The case will be argued by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli and, on the side of Arizona, famed D.C. lawyer Paul Clement ? a rematch after the two squared off in health care arguments. Justice Elena Kagan, who was Obama?s solicitor general when the lawsuit was filed, has recused herself. The remaining eight justices will decide how much of the law can stand. A 4-4 tie would affirm the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals? ruling against its key provisions. The decision is expected by the end of June.

Arizona, Barack Obama, Donald Verrilli, Immigration, Jan Brewer, Mitt Romney, Paul Clement

Sahil Kapur

Sahil Kapur is a congressional reporter for TPM. He previously covered politics and public policy for numerous publications including The Guardian and The Huffington Post. He can be reached at sahil [at] talkingpointsmemo.com.

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Samsung details Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades for American carriers

Samsung has published a list detailing which carrier variants of its phones and tablets will be blessed with Android Ice Cream Sandwich. While Sprint's Nexus S 4G is already enjoying the latest Android OS, the update will also arrive on the Now Network's Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch. From Verizon, both the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 7.7 will get the upgrade, accompanied by the WiFi variants of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and the Galaxy Tab 8.9.

On AT&T, ICS is confirmed for its Galaxy S II, the Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy Note, Captivate Glide, Nexus S and Galaxy Tab 8.9. T-Mobile customers, however, lack a similarly breathless list of upgradable hardware, instead Samsung says it will aim to upgrade "eligible devices" in the coming months and will "provide updates as we have additional details to share." Which all sounds like those updates aren't coming to Big Magenta any time soon. Samsung vows to update the list with more details as they arrive, which is available at the source below.

Samsung details Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades for American carriers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SayHi Translate: An Interpreter Inside Your iPhone [App Of The Day]

If you're traveling in Brazil and you'd like to ask your cab driver which bar in Rio serves the best caipirinha, you're going to need to know Portuguese. Thumbing frantically through a phrasebook is difficult, and you might not string the sentence together properly. And would you even understand your cabbie's answer? SayHi Translate solves all these problems with a super simple voice translator. More »

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Gotye Calls 'Glee' Cover of His Song "Dinky and Wrong"

Apparently not everyone loves the Glee versions of their songs. Australian singer Gotye (whose real name is Wally de Backer) isn't a huge fan of the Darren Criss and Matt Bomer duet of his hit single "Somebody I Used to Know."

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AP Photos: Earth Day observed around the world

A May Apple grows in Moreland Hills, Ohio, on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

A May Apple grows in Moreland Hills, Ohio, on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

A Kashmiri potter makes earthen pots at his home on the outskirts of Srinagar, India, Sunday, April 22, 2012. April 22 is observed as Earth Day every year as a tool to raise ecological awareness.(AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

An Indian rag picker walks through contaminated water flowing out of an industrial unit in Jammu, India, Sunday, April 22, 2012. April 22 is observed as Earth Day every year as a tool to raise ecological awareness. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

An Indian boy takes a dip in the polluted waters of the Yamuna River in New Delhi, India, Sunday, April 22, 2012. April 22 is observed as Earth Day every year as a tool to raise ecological awareness. (AP Photo/ Mustafa Quraishi)

A boatman sleeps in his boat anchored in the polluted waters of the River Buriganga in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, April 22, 2012. April 22 is observed as Earth Day every year as a tool to raise ecological awareness. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)

An Indian boy plays in the polluted waters of the Yamuna River in New Delhi. Women wearing leaves and flowers ready for a celebration in Barcelona. A girl holds a poster calling for water conservation amid a rain storm in Washington.

The 42nd Earth Day is being marked all over the world today and AP photographers were there to capture it.

Associated Press

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Facebook Buys AOL Patents From Microsoft For $550 Million In Cash

Although Facebook didn't buy AOL's patent portfolio the other week -- it was sold to Microsoft for $1 billion -- it's going to get a good portion of those patents anyway: Microsoft and Facebook today announced that Microsoft would be selling Facebook 650 of the 925 patents that it bought from AOL to Facebook for $550 million in cash. It will also get a license for the remaining 275 patents that Microsoft bought from the AOL portfolio, which Microsoft will continue to own. Microsoft also has a license for the 300 patents that AOL still owns. At this point, Facebook will not have a license for those patents still owned by AOL. The deal gives Facebook a much stronger position in the world of patents, where it had been weak up to now and has been facing lawsuits, most notably from Yahoo, over infringement.

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When AI Gets Too Smart, It'll Be Dumb Again [Humor]

What will we do when artificial intelligence becomes self-aware? Nothing! It'll be too caught up with the existential issues that sentience brings with it to do anything more than marvel at its own intelligence. Maybe. [xkcd] More »

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