Douglas Schumacher

Description: It's another (sped-up) retro video game...Gizmos & Gadgets!, a game that I first played in elementary school. Tomorrow I'll be summarizing the long-anticipated Moto X event over at http://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com.  See you there!

Description:   Since I'm in a rush today, here's a two-minute summary of what Google talked about at their press event today. This includes Android 4.3, the Nexus 7 2nd Generation, and the Chromecast. Those products can be bought via Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/devices... Watch the whole event:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsdrk... I'll be sharing my thoughts at  http://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com   soon. See you there!

44 years ago today, two American men were sitting inside a capsule landed on Earth's only natural satellite-the Moon.  I can only imagine how stressful that next 21 hours was as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of "The Eagle" just hours after landing, collecting samples and taking photos that amazed the world.  And did I mention they did this on THE MOON?  Apollo 11 was a true example of moonshot thinking.  It set records, allowed for more space research, effectively ended the Space Race, and inspired millions of people to pursue science. (I think I might still have a Neil Armstrong moonsuit I made for a speech about him in 3rd grade.)  We need to thank all the scientists, engineers, politicians, and, of course the three astronauts that spend 8 days on the journey.  They showed that hard work can help reach what may seem like an unobtainable goal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spe

As the calendar has now made it into the second half of summer, my activities are starting to pick up again.  Most notably, Driver's Ed started Monday, and I've been having soccer practice twice a week for a couple of weeks.  And, oh yeah, 4-H projects for the county fair next week.  The deadline is kind of catching up to me to complete the 20 projects I signed up for.  So instead of me typing out a whole new post, I'll just share one of my completed projects. (If the document doesn't render correctly, open this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nfV9u5HNij03NJd0zCf-k4oxoUhCXYqbcH7jVnWX1h4 ) This project outlines my recreation of the village of Stetsonville, located in Wisconsin, in the new version of SimCity.  It is designed to inform the general public about using simulation games to represent real life. Thanks for reading today and I'll be posting a gaming video tomorrow on YouTube.   See you there!

Today my August copy of  +PCWorld  arrived...with a cover saying: While this is certainly not the first publication to go all digital, it is the first one that I've been subscribed to that is doing it.  This is how my initial experience was. So I went on and activated my Digital Pass, and attempted to get my subscription for my computer though Zinio.  I typed in my email to activate my subscription...and received an error.  I wasn't too surprised by this just because I figured that tons of people were doing the same thing I was.  The page prompted me to call PCWorld support-but the LINE WAS BUSY!  I have never heard of a support line being busy and not being able to connect at all.  So as I type this...I haven't seen the digital PCWorld yet.  And I really want to. I would consider myself a fan of digital printing.  With so many mobile devices and computers, why not save the massive amounts of paper and time spend delivering it?  Sure, it is prone to difficulties

Description:  I play SimEarth today (at 2x the normal speed, of course) and I start to terraform Mars...if the planet doesn't freeze over first!  Be sure to check out Monday's vlog about my trip and yesterday's Live Tile post over at h ttp://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com .  I'll see you back over there tomorrow for a new post!

When Windows Phone 7 was released late in the fall of 2010, it showed a new direction of Microsoft's core design strategy.  A major part of this was live tiles.  They now appear in Windows 8, WP8, and Xbox Start Screens.  Back at its announcement, dynamically updating boxes on a screen showing you the latest data available to the app seemed like a whole new idea...but was it? Many might point to Android's widget ability, included by Google since version 1.0, two years prior in 2008.   Even though I don't see this a direct descendant to the Live Tiles, there is a software platform that included updating tiles on a homescreen since 2006.  There is a good chance you even own one of these devices: The Nintendo Wii. Yes, that's right.  During my research on this topic, the Wii's main screen was the first mainstream use of a "live tile."  The Forecast, News, Nintendo, and Everyone Votes channels all are not only animated, but pulled data though WiiConnec

Description: After taking last week off, I am proud to present my trip to SoCal for the FBLA National Leadership Conference. If you want to view different parts of the video, click on the numbers below: 0:00  Intro 0:17  Traveling to California 1:41  Thursday Afternoon (Opening Ceremony) 2:33  Friday (Disneyland) 3:07  Saturday (LA Tour) 4:15  Sunday (Beach & Awards Ceremony) 6:47  Monday (Traveling back to Wisconsin) 7:39  Final Thoughts I am aware that not all my pictures matched up when I was talking about them...and there are not very many videos because I wanted my memory to the video of the trip. I hope you enjoyed this! If you have any questions, please ask! I'll see you tomorrow at Douglas Blogs ( http://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com ) with a new blog post!

Description:  A vlog about a "User's Manual" translation fail as I'm on my way back home.  Talk to you tomorrow at http://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com!

Description:  As I'm in California, enjoy this gaming video of me playing Need For Speed: Most Wanted at TWO TIMES normal speed!  I'm horrible on this first stage... Read this week's posts at: http://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com Inspired by Hank Green's CLOP 2X Video!

Just a quick reminder that I'm hanging out on Google+ at 11am CST this morning.  Come to discuss random stuff and have some fun.  You can circle me here ...and talk to you then.  If not...I'm off, but scheduled posts are still coming everyday following Operation Storm as I'm gone.

As I was browsing though the FBLA NLC master schedule yesterday, finalizing my plans, I noticed that all the testing events had the word "ONLINE" printed next to them, including mine- Introduction to Business.  I could only assume this means that I will be traveling all the way to California, essentially, to take a multiple choice test on a computer sitting somewhere in the Anaheim Convention Center.  Huh? It is certainly not my favorite activity to travel.  For me, it is the actual transportation part that bothers me.  For every voyage I've taken, you have to sit there and basically do nothing either on the ground or up in the air six miles and try to relax for one, two, five hours at a time.  You can try to be distracted by technology, or a book, or the world around you-but nothing can take your mind off the topic of "Why am I doing this?" As much as traveling has been a part of humanity, why do we still have to feel this way?  Or more importantly, why,

Description:  All about what is going to happen this week with Operation Storm.  It is boring! See you tomorrow at http://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today's SimCity video is also up on my YouTube channel.

Description: Thunderstorms moved into my area early this morning, dumping TWO INCHES of rain in the matter of an hour.  My electricity was out for 2.5 hours this morning, but luckily it was back on in time to upload this.  More storms are predicted for the next week, and Operation Storm does say I will livestream severe weather events...so be watching for that and a SimCity livestream sometime this weekend. Read this week's posts: http://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com Last year's summer flood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpjQvYqXVn0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blog Note: As it will keep raining this weekend, I fear that there will be an even worse flood.  But for now, the waters have backed down from the peak-when I took the video.

Yesterday I ended up in a Best Buy store while looking for a new family camera.  A walked in, borrowed though the camera section, and then headed out of the store to compare prices with the nearby Radio Shack and Walmart.  I was honestly surprised that I ended up heading back to Best Buy ten minutes before closing  to purchase one of the cameras that I had looked at.  The camera was a Samsung ST150F. Cue the review... It's a selfie...about the camera. The Samsung ST150F was released in March of 2013 as the cheapest point-and-shoot in the Samsung SMART Camera lineup.  While it normally sells for $129.99, I got mine $55 off, only costing $74.99.  How? It was an "open-box computer", meaning that it was a display model in the store at one point but was then repackaged to be sold.  When I bought it yesterday, it was in perfect condition with all the accessories.  If you are looking to save money on electronics, watch for certified refurbished and open item deals. (But th

Watch live video from dougaschu on www.twitch.tv I'm livestreaming SimCity today starting around 11:15am CST in the box above.  Tweet me with questions and comments, since I cannot see the Twitch chat.  See you then! Wednesday's livestream ended up failing because of technical difficulties.  Thank you to those who did show up...and a special livestream will occur this weekend.  See you then.

If you watched yesterday's vlog, you would know that I headed to the dentist today.  No cavities, everything was fine.  The problem, though, occurred as I was sitting in the waiting area before leaving.  If you've ever been at a dentist (which I hope you have-eww), you would notice that there is always a radio playing over speakers in the background-quiet enough so that it doesn't bother anyone but loud enough to keep the patients' auditory systems occupied.  This is key to what happened to me today. I happened to be in between Can Knockdown 3 levels when I heard six lyrics that anyone on the Internet knows well.  I'll just say that they rhymed with "Ever showing moo comparative true sup..." If you can't figure it out, here's a hint.  Post your guesses in the comments below.

Description: I discuss softball and why it is not my sport. That is all. New post tomorrow over at http://www.dougaschublogs.blogspot.com

Description: Today's vlog covers a new forecasting service, gives an outlook for next week's weather, and reviews week two of Operation Storm. Join me back here on Monday for a new video. Thanks for watching! Read this week's posts: http://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com

*A friendly warning to my readers: I was disappointingly uninspired today, resulting in a rant to be written.  Thank you.* Today I would like to bring up Twitter's largest annoyances to me.  The first is the so called "quote" accounts.  They tend to post something about comedy, true facts, or tendencies of life.  The few that I do follow are generally pretty good, except in the last month.  I've noticed quite a few regurgitated tweets from themselves just a few days ago, but also there are so many sponsorships!   Half of my stream is filled with "Retweet this in 5 minutes for 10000+ followers" or are a catchy title followed by an unrelated link to ask.com.  I'm not sure if there is like one person who manages all of the so-called "quote" accounts, because if there is, they need to stop doing so much cross-promotion to accounts like "Girls Life" that I don't care about!  It bothers me that their content looks good one minute

 My SimCity livestream was recorded in SD and you can watch it below. Thank you and see you tomorrow right here for a new blog post. I'm very sorry that the livestream is starting late, but it is a computer problem that I'm working on.  When I do start (within 20 minutes?), you can watch it below.

At noon yesterday, Apple kicked off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference with a keynote where they talked about a few key products.  My video above quickly goes over most of them.  If you're interested in more info, keep reading... OS X Mavericks Apple is steering away from a cat name for OS X (10.9) Mavericks.  The update, mostly likely to be $20, includes synced notifications, App Nap along with other performance and power saving features, along with new desktop apps of Maps, iBooks, and iWork with iCloud (also available on PC).  Better multiple display options and file tagging is also new.  It is releasing this fall. Read more at: http://www.apple.com/osx/preview Personally, I've never used OS X beyond what is required at school, so I cannot form any major opions on Mavericks.  I will say, however, that this appears to be a minor upgrade (vs iOS 7-see below). New Hardware Although we only got a preview of the new Mac Pro (see video), Apple went ahead an

Description: Today is Day 4 of Operation Storm, a Monday as well, so here is a vlog in which I try some different foods and discuss what might happen at Apple's WWDC at 12pm today. (Filmed in the morning, plus 4 hour upload). There is a bonus video coming this evening detailing what did happen at WWDC, along with a blog post tomorrow over at http://dougaschublogs.blogspot.com. See you there!

Today, June 7th, at 12pm CST, I will be covering the Google Chrome Mobile event LIVE in the Chatroll box below.  Join me for the latest. *UPDATE* The liveblog box has been removed.  The event happened to be about Chrome Roll-It, so nothing too exciting happened.  Watch on Monday for a recap on Apple's WWDC.

What is there to say?  I am back to the (public) internet with tons of new content this summer.  With your help, I'm going to hit the Internet like a storm. Starting June 5th (yesterday), the schedule goes as follows: Mondays: New Vlog Prepare to see my thoughts in a video form, uploaded to YouTube . Tuesdays: New Blog Post Come see my expanded talk, in text form, on this blog . Wednesdays: Hangout Party (1st/3rd), SimCity Live (2nd/4th) On the first and third Wednesdays of the month, be part of a Google Plus Hangout Party. The opposite Wednesdays, I'll be playing SimCity live on Twitch while answering Twitter questions.  Times are TBD. Thursdays: New Blog Post Fridays: New Vlog In addition, I'll be liveblogging/livestreaming major tech announcements and Wisconsin severe weather events all summer long! I am also taking a trip to California at the end of June, so be ready to hear about that. ------------------------------------------------------------

BACK IN 2012 Since 2010, US cell carriers have been working on building next-gen, faster data networks.  In the start, Sprint bet on WiMax technology, while Verizon went for LTE.  AT&T and T-Mobile worked on HSPA+ (which is technically super-fast 3G).  Fast forward to 2012, and the "Big Three" have 4G LTE networks, and even regional carriers are getting into the fast lane.  For a large portion of Americans, these networks are at their disposal...but rural customers are still in a waiting game. I've mentioned before that I live in North-Central Wisconsin and I happen to live within "cell coverage distance" of Highway 29, a main highway connecting Green Bay, Wausau, Eau Claire, and eventually the Twin Cities.  This is a main corridor, and so cell coverage is easy to come by nearby.  By that I mean that Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint have networks along it...T-Mobile has no network at all  built beyond western WI. Around here, about 90% of people own a phon