Our Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects of the week are usually, no matter how tenuously, connected to the Mac or iOS. This week’s featured project is a little different. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for robots. Heck, I’m a geek, big surprise right? I also have another soft spot for programming. I am all for teaching beginning programming to kids in school. Here’s a project that combines both: Sparki – The Easy Robot for Everyone!

From the Sparki Kickstarter webpage:

Sparki is an affordable, easy to use, and fun intro to programming, electronics, and robotics for all ages (11+). It is simple enough for beginners, while being feature-packed enough to be a must-have for pro-users. Sparki is your chance to have your very own robot, completely open source and available to do your bidding.

Sparki works right out of the box with the included remote control. You can also write your own programs. Just plug Sparki in via USB, install the custom-enhanced Arduino software and try any of the dozens of example programs before trying your own. There are programs to control every sensor and actuator on Sparki:

• 1x Ultrasonic distance sensor (get distance from Sparki to walls/objects)
• 1x 3-Axis Accelerometer (pick-up detection, fall detection, hill climbing)
• 3x Light-sensing phototransistors (light following, darkness seeking)
• 5x Line-following and edge detection sensors (mazes, line follow, sumo)
• 1x IR bounce for gripper (detect things in the gripper)
• 1x 128×64 Graphic LCD
• 1x RGB LED (RGB = generate any color!)
• 1x Buzzer (beeping, booping, and musical tones!)
• 1x IR Transmitter (like your TV remote control)
• 1x IR Receiver (like your TV)
• 1x IR Remote control (lots of buttons to control Sparki with)
• 1x TTL Serial port for expansion (talk to an Arduino/Raspberry Pi)
• 1x Port for Bluetooth Serial Module (not in all rewards)
• Powered by 4xAA batteries (rechargeable or alkaline)
• 2x Geared stepper motors (precise, measured movement down to millimeters/ sub-degrees)
• Marker holder for drawing:

This looks like a great project for folks who want to learn robotics programming, or want to give a loved one a beginning opportunity to learn about it.

I may have to pledge to the project just to get to play with one of these. They had me at “marker holder for drawing.”

Pledge levels run anywhere from $2, (You get a ArcBotics Sticker as a thank you for your support), all the way up to $450 or more, (You’ll receive a Classroom Pack for Educators with 5 non-Bluetooth Sparkis, a classroom material pack and 1 hour of 1-on-1 video chat instructor training.)

Be sure to visit the Sparki website and check it out. If you, or your kids are at all interested in robotics, Sparki might be the Kickstart for you.

Have you seen, or even better yet do you have, a current Kickstarter or Indiegogo project you’d like us to check out? If you do then drop me a line at chris@mactrast.com. Tell me all about the project, and why you think it would make a good subject for a future Kickstarter/Indiegogo Project of the Week. If I agree, I’ll contact you for more information.

Do you ever find yourself complaining about something like a certain movie not being available on Netflix, or that your Internet speed is 0.5 Mbps slower than it was yesterday? These are called first world problems. And brother and sisters, you are not alone.

These kids and their Kindles and iPads! Why in my day we had to turn the pages by hand! Oy, the paper cuts!

It’s called fast forward…

MacTrast editors have small hands, it’s been documented. And you know what they say, “Small hands… Small gloves!”

Nothing worse than running out of stuff to look at on the Internet… It makes being at the office too much like work!

When I worked at the Scottsdale, AZ Apple Store, a society matron actually asked me if her 2 carat diamond earrings could harm her iPhone.

Turns out, you can be too thin!

This weeks Weekend Funnies are from our friends at ZAGG. Be sure to visit their blog for more entertainment in this vein.

Wallpaper Weekends is a series that works to bring you stunning, high quality wallpapers for your iPad, iPhone, and/or iPod Touch.

The summer is fast approaching and it is already too warm for my taste. Unable to stop thinking about the heat, this weekend’s wallpapers are inspired by the sunlight.

Wallpaper Weekend Posts

If you would like your talents debuted on MacTrast or can point us in the right direction, contact @jim_gresham, who curates the Wallpaper Weekend section of the MacTrast webpage!

Download Instructions

From your iPhone 5 or iPod Touch, link to the full resolution image by tapping the individual images. When the new window opens, tap and hold on the image until the “Save Image” option appears. Saving the image will place your new wallpaper in the Camera Roll. From your desktop, link to the full resolution image. Right click and save the image to your iTunes photo sync folder.

Earlier, we told you about a major new update to Pixelmator, a popular and affordable Photoshop competitor for Mac. The update introduced over 100 new features – and Pixelmator’s customers were swift to show their appreciation by downloading over 500,000 copies of Pixelmator 2.2 in just one week!

From the Pixelmator blog:

A whopping total of 500,000 downloads in just a single week have made Pixelmator 2.2 Blueberry our most successful release ever. Again. Only this time, the number of downloads was double that of Pixelmator 2.1 Cherry, which had “only” 250,000 downloads in two weeks.

And as if that wasn’t enough already, you surprised us yet again. Thanks to you, Pixelmator is now the highest rated app on the Mac App Store—a complete five-star app.

Thank you so much for all of this!

The update also set a new record as their most successful release to date! The previous record was held by Pixelmator 2.1, which hit 250,000 downloads in two weeks. The update came out last Thursday, and is highly recommended whether you’ve tried previous versions or not. It’s available now for $14.99 from the App Store.

Congrats, Pixelmator!

• Pixelmator 2.2 (Direct Link)

Skype release a significant update to their Mac video client this week, adding a number of improvements and fixes. I’m particularly thrilled with the improved chat scrolling, which fixes a gripe I have had with Skype for Mac for a long time.

Here’s Skype’s change log (from the official Skype blog):

New features and improvements in Skype 6.4 for Mac include:

• Infinite chat scrolling
• Improved find from a chat conversation
• Improved file transfer
• Improved send and receive contacts
• Support for Simplified Chinese

And a description of the improved chat scrolling:

Infinite chat scrolling

We have introduced a new way of loading history. Each time you scroll upward, more and more messages will be loaded from history. Scrolling is motion sensitive, the faster you scroll the more messages load. To jump back in history. Ctrl + click anywhere (or right click) in the chat and select “Jump back “ and select the period you want to jump back to. We have also separated dates from the timestamps and created date sections instead to make it more visible in the chat. Skype will index all chat history when you first login and consume less resources after indexing completion.

While there aren’t any truly major changes in the update, it does a nice job of fixing a lot of minor gripes with previous versions, and is a highly recommended update. For more information, visit the Skype blog. The update can be downloaded directly from Skype’s website.

As Intel CEO Paul Otellini steps down from his post today, The Atlantic has published a lengthy profile of the outgoing CEO. In the article, Otellini reveals what might have been: He says that he personally shot down a chance to put Intel processors inside the original Apple iPhone.

The Verge:

He tells The Atlantic, with regret: ”We ended up not winning it or passing on it, depending on how you want to view it. And the world would have been a lot different if we’d done it,” Otellini told me in a two-hour conversation during his last month at Intel. “The thing you have to remember is that this was before the iPhone was introduced and no one knew what the iPhone would do… At the end of the day, there was a chip that they were interested in that they wanted to pay a certain price for and not a nickel more and that price was below our forecasted cost. I couldn’t see it. It wasn’t one of these things you can make up on volume. And in hindsight, the forecasted cost was wrong and the volume was 100x what anyone thought.”

“My gut told me to say yes,” Otellini added.

It could be considered questionable that Intel ever was really a front-runner in the iPhone CPU sweepstakes, given their struggle to produce low-power smartphone chips. However, rumors did abound around the time of the iPhone’s introduction that certainly suggested they were in the mix.

The day after the iPhone was announced, Reuters quoted an unnamed Apple Germany executive that Intel would be inside the iPhone. The story was withdrawn the same day, but later that year Intel claimed that the company’s Silverthorne chip, later to known as the Intel Atom, would be used by Apple. It’s also possible that Intel may have had a shot at simply acting as a foundry for Apple’s system-on-a-chip.

It’s unknown how close Intel actually came to making a deal with Apple, but the loss is apparently one of the great regrets of outgoing CEO Otellini.

Apple has apparently decided it will no longer be a part of any desire Facebook users may have to “Bang With Friends,” and has removed the slightly notorious app from the App Store.

The Verge:

There’s no word on why yet — the Bang With Friends site simply says that “we’re working with Apple to get BWF back into the App Store shortly.” Given the app’s risque subject matter, we’re not entirely surprised to hear that it’s gone, but we’re reaching out to Apple and the app’s developer to find out more.

The app helped users anonymously pick which of their Facebook friends they’d like to “bang with,” or “hang with,” and then would notify them if there was a match.

If you would still like to be able to — you know what — you can use the BWF Facebook app available at the BWF website.

We reported last week that Apple was still finding it rough going in its attempt to convince major record labels to come on board its planned “iRadio” streaming music service. Sony and Warner were reported to be holding out, even though market king Universal had agreed to terms. Now, many are wondering how did Google announce its own music service ahead of Apple?

The Verge, via MacRumors:

For starters, Google chose to offer a standard subscription music service very similar to those built by Spotify and Rdio, and that meant the terms had largely been established, according to multiple sources close to the talks. Apple, on the other hand, is pioneering a hybrid web and radio service — one that resembles Pandora but melds it with some on-demand features, the sources said. The licensing agreement had to be created from scratch.

The report’s sources also claim that number four music publisher BMG is also holding out on agreeing to Apple’s terms. Although there is still significant momentum behind iRadio, and many parties involved would like to get everything signed and sealed as soon as possible, it’s quite possible Apple may not be able to kick-off the service at next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

What is #Friday5?

#Friday5 is a weekly giveaway that rewards 5 of our Twitter followers with a free copy of either a Mac or iOS app each and every Friday! Cool huh? But wait, there’s more…. one of the lucky five will also pocket a $20 iTunes voucher! Hurrah!

#Friday5 – Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, Home and Student Edition

We have hooked up a local retailer to give away 5 copies of Microsoft Office 2011 Home and Student Edition – a powerful office suite for the Mac!  The student edition of Office 2011 for Mac would normally set you back $139, but we’re giving away 5 copies today for free! Hooray for surplus retail licenses!

To enter the giveaway all you have to do is follow @macdrops (our new giveaways and discount deals Twitter account) and RT the below message on Twitter.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 is this week’s @MacDrops #Friday5 – a powerful office suite for OS X! http://mctr.st/WNbTsE

About Office for Mac 2011, Home and Student Edition

Office for Mac 2011 includes Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel. The prize will be an activation code for Office for Mac 2011, along with a download to install the software. Here’s how Microsoft describes Office for Mac 2011 on their website:

Create professional documents and presentations with the most-used productivity software for the Mac. And since Office for Mac 2011 is compatible with Office for Windows, you can work on documents with virtually anyone, anywhere.

Whether you’re looking to share files or work together online, now you can do it with complete confidence, knowing that Office for Mac is most compatible with Office for Windows. With Office being used on more than 1 billion Macs and PCs worldwide, you can work with practically anyone you want, how you want, wherever you want—with no worries.

Create great-looking documents in a snap. Office for Mac 2011 offers the most complete feature set, with everything you’d expect from top-of-the-line software. If delivering impressive, professional-looking documents matters to you, then you need Office for Mac 2011. There is no substitute.

WINNERS!

Congrats to @kebabjones76, @jolifford, @of_murder, @bwarholak, and @ElKotaLoca1499! They won a copy of Office for Mac 2011 in today’s #Friday5! And an extra congratulations to @ElKotaLoca1499, who also won a $20 iTunes voucher!

The Winners

We will pick out the 5 app winners at random, and we will also reward one of the lucky 5 with a $20 iTunes voucher. The competition is open to everyone (there is no regional restriction).

The competition runs for two hours after this post is published. Winners will be announced on this page and on Twitter.

In order to claim the $20 iTunes voucher you must have an iTunes account. If you do not have an iTunes account (or can’t create one) we will draw another winner at random from the four remaining app winners and reward one of them with the voucher.

If you want to have your app featured in an upcoming #Friday5 giveaway, email cormac@mactrast.com.

The U.S. Air Force’s purchase of 18,000 iPads for use as electronic flight bags could save the armed forces branch more than $50 million over the next 10 years.

iPad in use by the Air Force Air Mobility Command. Credit: James Rogers.

AppleInsider:

Using lightweight iPads instead of heavy paper flight manuals will amount to $750,000 annual savings on fuel alone, a spokesman for the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command said in an interview with James Rogers of The Street. And the AMC will no longer have to print those flight manuals either, which will save a whopping $5 million per year.

Manager of the AMC’s electronic flight bag program, Major Brian Moritz, stated the Air Force expects the iPad to help save $5.7 million per year,  resulting in savings of “well over $50 million” over the next 10 years.

“We’re saving about 90 pounds of paper per aircraft and limiting the need for each crew member to carry a 30 to 40 pound paper file,” Moritz said. “It adds up to quite a lot of weight in paper.”

The switch from paper manuals to the iPad could cut up to 490 pounds in weight from a C-5 aircraft.

Approximately 16,000 3rd-generation iPad with Retina display devices are now in use by AMC crew, said Rogers. The remaining 2,000 units are said to have been deployed across other Air Force units.

In his interview with Politico, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared some new information about the new “Built in the USA” Mac model that will be officially announced later this year. Cook says that not only will the new machine be assembled in the U.S., it will use many components from domestic suppliers as well.

Politico, via MacRumors:

And Cook is also promoting a $100 million investment in domestic manufacturing, where the company will begin producing a new version of a current Mac product later this year.

“We’re going very deep in this project,” Cook said, noting that not only will the final product be manufactured in the U.S., but so will many of its components. Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Florida and Kentucky are among the states he mentioned as having parts and assembly located.

Cook noted in an interview with Brian Williams late last year that Apple would begin manufacturing an existing Mac line exclusively in the U.S. beginning in 2013.

Speculation about which Mac will receive the “Made in the U.S.A.” tag has ranged from the Mac Pro, which is long overdue for a major update, down to the Mac mini.

Availability of Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air has begun to dry up at major authorized retail sellers, leading to speculation that the ultraportable notebook just might possibly be due for an impending product refresh.

 AppleInsider: 

The popular 13-inch MacBook Air with a 1.8-gigahertz processor and 256-gigabyte solid-state drive is currently out of stock at resellers Amazon, B&H, MacConnection, and MacMall. In addition, J&R is currently advertising that the thin-and-light notebook is only available for purchase in its brick-and-mortar stores. 

Intel’s next-generation Haswell processors are set to launch in a matter of weeks and Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference will kick off soon after. Taken along with the dwindling availability of the MacBook Air, can a refresh be far behind?

Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities said last month that Apple is apparently planning to introduce new MacBook Air models featuring Haswell processors at WWDC. He expects the refreshed models to go on sale before the end of June.

The CW television network announced on Thursday that it’s content will soon be available for streaming on Apple’s popular Apple TV. The CW was previously available on Microsoft’s Windows and Xbox platforms.

AppleInsider:

Company CEO Mark Pedowitz made the announcement at The CW’s yearly upfront presentation in New York, reports Deadline, saying the network’s TV Now apps will soon hit Apple’s set-top streamer.

The CW derives 20% of its viewership from digital sources. The number will only rise with the addition of the Apple TV’s user base.

The CW will be a full-fledged app on the device, and will be ad-supported. No cable authentication will be required to view the CW content, which will include full episodes available the day after its original airing.

The CW Network also offers an iOS app that is available FREE on the App Store. [DIRECT LINK]

The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Friday that Apple devices running iOS 6 or later have been approved for access to its secure government networks.

AppleInsider:

In a statement released by the Defense Department, the U.S. government confirmed that iPhones and iPads running Apple’s latest mobile operating system are now cleared for use on its networks. The approval, which was expected, is part of a military plan to allow employees the flexibility to use commercial products on secure government networks.

The Pentagon gave indications last week that approval was forthcoming. The OK comes two weeks after similar approvals for Samsung Galaxy and BlackBerry 10 devices.

The new rules allow defense department employees to use the latest Apple devices, along with Samsung Knox-compatible units, and BlackBerry handsets running the company’s new BlackBerry 10 platform.

Safety and security in the form of things like passwords, credentials, and credit cards is an everyday issue. It can get overwhelming trying to keep track of and remember important personal information such as usernames, business cards, and account or credit card numbers. Even if you were able to manage a number of different accounts individually, to keep it more organized you would want something that may be more safe and time-saving.

Safecard ($5.99, App Store Link) from Werasoft does all this and more efficiently and securely by allowing the user to archive and search personal and sensitive data such as credit cards and passwords to more simpler items like coupons and notes.

Overview

Safecard is an innovative app with a great interface that helps you remember all your password and accounts with a great deal of security. To make sure nobody can easily log into the app and steal your info and data from your device, the app uses Military-Grade 256-bit AES encryption. Furthermore, if you fail to enter your five-digit password 10 times, the app will immediately delete all your credentials, info, and data for security purposes. Even though all your information is backed up to iCloud, the developer, Werasoft doesn’t back any data on their servers.

Adding any kind of card is pretty simple. You first take a photo of the front and back of the card, and then enter the account information. For things such as passwords, you can just upload a photo such as a Facebook logo or you can also choose a color. After that, you input your basic account information such as your username, password, name of the site, and notes if you so choose.

To find different accounts easier, you can organize them into categories so you would have a category for credit cards, business cards, passwords, etc. It helps navigating the app a lot easier, but even more so, it gives the app a great user experience.

When I first opened Safecard, I noticed how much it resembled Apple’s iOS native app, Passbook. There are a lot of visual similarities so I think of Safecard somewhat as Passbook but for passwords. When you first launch Safecard, you’re presented with a brief tutorial describing how to add info to the app and inputting your master password. Navigating Safecard is very simple since there are only a few screens to navigate in-between. If you don’t feel comfortable saving your info, passwords, and data to iCloud, it can easily be turned off from the settings in the app. You can also turn off ‘auto-destroy’, the feature in Safecard that deletes all your data after 10 failed logins.

Conclusion

Safecard is a simple and handy security app with tons of great features. For the amount of time I used Safecard, what stood out to me the most was the user interface, which seems like a major part of the app. All the animations and gestures are really well done and they feel natural or familiar in the sense that if you’re familiar with a lot of the gestures on iOS and native Apple apps, you would easily be able to work your way around Safecard.

In the newest update for Safecard, there is now an unlimited amount of cards you can save and create whereas in the previous version you were limited and if you wanted even more cars, you would have to buy them through IAPs. If you’re in need of a productive way to manage your passwords, notes, and accounts; check out Safecard on iOS.

Price: ($5.99, App Store Link)

Rating: 4.5/5

Rating: 4.5/5

Pros: 

• Great interface, animations, and gestures
• 256-bit AES encryption
• iCloud support, which can also be turned off if you aren’t comfortable sharing data between devices

Cons:

• Not as many options or features as other password and card managers

Mere weeks after the launch of Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, It’s being reported that Apple is attempting to add the device to the patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung in the United States.

FOSS Patents, via MacRumors: 

The filings reveal a major new disagreement: Apple has analyzed the Galaxy S4, Samsung’s new top-selling product, and “has concluded that it is an infringing device and accordingly intends to move for leave to add the Galaxy S4 as an infringing product”. Apple’s current list of 22 accused products does not include the S4, but a footnote contains the statement from which I just quoted. Apple says it will drop another product from its list of 22 accused products once it has permission to add the S4 to this litigation.

Judge Lucy Koh has already ordered both Apple and Samsung to narrow their case, which is expected to go to trial in March 2014. Ultimately each side is being required to limit their cases to ten targeted devices, however the current stage does allow each company to carry 22 devices on their lists.

The two sides have major disagreements over what constitutes a single product, with Samsung arguing that each carrier version of its devices should count as a separate product, seeking to gain an advantage because of its significantly larger number of devices when compared to Apple’s lineup.

Although the legal spat between Apple and Samsung has been focused on mobile devices until now, Samsung’s counterpunches have sought to bring Apple’s Mac lineup and services into the dispute for what they claim is the infringement of a patent related to multimedia synchronization across devices.

With Apple’s next-gen iPhone 5S widely expected to feature a similar overall design to the iPhone 5, most of the changes and improvements are likely to be under the hood. Numerous part leaks over the past months have clued us in to some of the likely internal changes – including a new set from BGR, showing significant internal changes, a new vibration motor, and multiple colors of Micro-SIM slots, which may suggest more colors than just black and white for the next handset.

The leaked parts also include a earpiece and loud speaker bracket, a WiFi flex cable, and more. For the most part, these images support previous hardware leaks. Many of the parts are significantly smaller, as well, suggesting that Apple may be trying to free up additional space in the 5S, likely for a larger battery (or perhaps something unexpected?)

While part leaks should be taken only at face value (they could easily be fakes, or parts for a prototype), the fact that so many part leaks seem to be agreeing with one another is at least significant enough to raise a few eyebrows. What are your thoughts?

For more details, check out the original post over at BGR. Apple’s next-generation iPhone is expected to launch this fall alongside iOS 7 (which is also expected to see a significant overhaul).

We told you earlier this week that ABC was preparing to stream live TV via its iOS app to users residing in New York City and Philadelphia. Today the updated ABC app has hit the App Store, and it marks the first time a major network has offered an experience like this in an app.

 9to5Mac:

The ABC Player is now called “Watch ABC” and with it comes the new live TV experience as well as the full length on demand episodes that were previously available. The new live streaming service will also be available to users on Kindle Fire and online at ABC.com.

Live video will initially be limited to Philadelphia and New York City, and as of July 1, users will have to verify their “eligible TV provider account for continued access.” Eligible cable providers currently include Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, AT&T U-verse, Charter, and Midcontinent.

ABC has plans to roll out the app to other markets over the summer including: Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham and Fresno.

The Watch ABC app is available FREE for the iPhone and iPad in the App Store. [DIRECT LINK]

Apple has just released a significant update to iTunes, version 11.0.3, featuring a completely redesigned MiniPlayer, a gorgeous new “Songs View” that highlihgts album artwork, better support for multi-disc albums, and more. My favorite part is that the new MiniPlayer can be expanded to show an entire playlist (screenshots below via 9t05Mac)!

From Apple’s support site:

About iTunes 11.0.3

This version of iTunes comes with several new features and improvements, including:

• New MiniPlayer. MiniPlayer now includes a beautiful new view that showcases your album artwork. In addition, a progress bar is now built right into MiniPlayer.
• Improved Songs View. You can now enjoy your album artwork while in Songs view.
• Multi-Disc Albums. Albums with multiple discs now appear as a single album.

This update also provides performance improvements when searching and sorting large iTunes libraries.

The weighs in at 187.50MB, and is available immediately  through Software Update, as well as direct download from Apple’s support site.

Apple is paying shareholders a slightly larger quarterly dividend than previously announced. Thursday, the company will be distributing over $2.867 billion in $3.05 per share payments across the company’s 940 million outstanding shares. The Cupertino firm had initially stated that it would pay its shareholders a $2.65 per share dividend.

AppleInsider:

Flush with billions in cash it simply can’t spend fast enough, Apple first announced plans for a dividend program a year ago last March, alongside a $10 billion share buyback program. It was the first time the company had paid a dividend in 17 years.

Shareholders “of record” on Monday May 13 will be paid today. However, any shares changing hands must settle first, making May 8 the last day to have bought a share to qualify for the current dividend.

In its last earnings conference call, the company’s chief executive Tim Cook announced that, after paying out more than $10 billion over the past year in dividends, the company would launch “an aggressive plan that more than doubles the size of the [existing] capital return program” beginning this quarter.