May, 2019 | CompuScoop.com

OOPS! People keep dropping their AirPods onto the subway tracks

Dan Uff May 12, 2019 0

“Depending on who you ask, Apple’s $159 wireless AirPods are either straight up amazing or the cheery manifestation of societal rot,” Jack Morse writes for Mashable. “One fact, however, is undeniable: People keep dropping these things onto subway tracks.”

“According to BART officials, the agency’s lost and found received 52 reports of lost AirPods so far this year,” Morse writes. “If the rate keeps up, the number could surpass last year’s total. In 2018, BART clocked 80 reports of lost AirPods.”

What we don’t track and what we do know happens frequently, is how often a Station Agent is told one has dropped and the agent contacts the Operations Control Center for work orders to go onto the track to retrieve it to the passenger. — Alicia Trost, BART communications department manager

“BART even has a special ‘grabbing tool’ used for picking AirPods (and, admittedly, other items) up off the tracks,” Morse writes. “A quick tour of the agency’s Twitter feed makes clear that BART officials have both become accustomed to riders dropping AirPods onto tracks and skilled at retrieving them. ”

Read more in the full article here.

How to take a screen shot on an 2018 iPad Pro

Dan Uff May 11, 2019 0

Sometimes, we need to take a screenshot of something on the screen of our iPad Pro.

Fortunately, Apple has made it semi-easy to do so.

Here’s how:

Navigate to the screen you want to capture.
Set up the view exactly the way you want it for the shot.
Press the Sleep/Wake button on the top of the iPad Pro and the Volume up button on the right side of the iPad Pro at the same time.

The screen will flash for a second. The screen shot will appear in the Photo’s app.

How to convert a Numbers File to CSV Format on a Mac

Dan Uff May 11, 2019 0

When working in the Numbers Spreadsheet app for Mac, sometimes we need to convert it to a CSV file for one reason or another. That's easy to do.

Here's how:

With the file open, choose FILE > EXPORT > CSV.
Choose where to save the file.
That's it!

You can also convert a spreadsheet to PDF or Excel using the same steps above.

Mercer University Student wins scholarship to Apple Conference

CompuScoop Staff May 10, 2019 0

A Mercer student will get to rub elbows with software developers this summer at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.

Brady Simon, a computer engineering major who just finished his junior year, competed in an app challenge and won a scholarship to attend the June 3-7 event in San Jose, California.

“It is prestigious, because they open up this scholarship opportunity to the whole world, and they offer it to few people,” said Dr. Donald Ekong, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Contestants had to build a simple, quick app using the Swift programming language. Simon created his own version of the classic snake game, in which a player directs a snake in eating objects and tries to keep it from running into its tail as it grows larger.

He went for a more modern look for his game, with the snake appearing in a gradient of colors. Players control the snake by swiping their finger across the screen of the device. The app keeps track of the top score, and special animations pop up when a player wins or loses.

“It’s kind of my first real Swift app that I built. It means a lot to me to have it win something,” said Simon, also a 2019 Goldwater Scholar. “I’ve been slowly adding to it and building up things, making it look nicer.”

Simon, from Rome, has been working on his app since last summer, when he started teaching himself Swift. He found out about the competition earlier this spring, and he adapted his snake game to fit the criteria. Simon said his love for programming comes from his father, who has a lot of software experience and encouraged him to apply for the competition. The pair plans to build an app together this summer.

The version of snake that Simon submitted for the contest had two modes, normal play and auto play, but he is working on adding a speed mode that gives players a time limit, as well as a multi-player mode.

“He takes initiative. I would make assignments on something, and he would go the extra mile,” Dr. Ekong said. “I might say, ‘Write an app that does A and B,’ and he would do A, B, C and D. I actually learned things from him.”

Simon’s scholarship includes a one-year membership in the Apple Developer Program, which will allow him to make his game available in the App Store. He hopes to have it published by the end of the summer.

During the conference, Simon will participate in student labs, attend seminars on building and improving apps, meet and network with app developers, and learn about the latest software Apple is developing.

“I feel like I’m most excited to meet the actual engineers behind the underlying technologies at Apple,” Simon said. “As a computer engineer, they’re kind of what we’re building toward, an actual engineering job. I think it’s going to be pretty inspiring.”

After he finishes his undergraduate degree, Simon plans to pursue a Ph.D. in computer engineering and a career as a computationally-oriented control researcher.

Source: Mercer University