Saint Louis Technology Computer News » Business

Review: Motorola Droid Bionic

Net-Net Editor — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:55:01 +0000

Motorola does it again with the Droid line of phones. This time with the Bionic. This phone is well constructed. I won’t inundate you with endless specifications and feature-sets. I will, however, briefly highlight the more powerful attributes that will benefit you.

The first thing is size. It is too large to put this baby into woman’s pants pocket. The Bionic surprisingly weighs in at 5.6 ounces. The original Droid weighed 6 ounces, was smaller, and roughly a 1/16th of an inch thicker. The original Droid did have an external slide-out keyboard and explains the difference in weight.

The Bionic is 100 percent touch screen with no physical keyboard. It features 4G data speeds and dual processors. The processors measure at 1GHz. There was no feel of sluggishness while using the phone. The screen is scratch-resistant with a dual-layer anti-reflective coating. Time will tell if the screen can handle the abuses of daily use, but the “anti-reflective” feature wasn’t too helpful. There was enough reflection to dispute that claim.

The phone carrier is Verizon Wireless. Verizon rates as the fastest 4G carrier of 2011 in the St. Louis, MO area. So, you are in the fast lane if you use this phone in Saint Louis, Missouri. In my opinion, Verizon is the best carrier for the St. Louis area. I’ve used Sprint, AT&T and Verizon.

The detailed features are as follows: 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and 16GB on the microSD card (included), 1080p HD video, 8 megapixel camera (seriously), Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and the CDMA network type. CDMA means don’t think of using it on AT&T. The reported battery life is 650 minutes talk time and 200 hours in standby. In other words, make sure your charger is near if you plan on using it for heavy data. That is the determinant when factoring the real battery life.

The phone is intuitive enough for the beginner who has not experienced the Android operating system. If you are coming from an iPhone background, you may feel it isn’t as polished. Apple always wins in that department. However, the Android OS is fast, powerful, and smart. The phone was 100% correct while testing voice recognition. Earlier versions of Android were at 97% accuracy.

Pros: light, super fast, great display area, HD output with native 1080p, and beautiful camera results.

Cons: too big for small pockets and the screen’s anti-reflective feature wasn’t all that anti-reflective

Rate: 4.5 out of 5

Two Missouri Technology Companies Combine

tony — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:11:48 +0000

High-Tech Communications, Inc., has merged two Missouri based businesses, Q Audio & Video and Microcomputer Services of Sikeston and Caruthersville. Jim Woods’, President of High-Tech Communications Inc., goal was to bring about faster, more reliable computer services for the areas that the company will help.

The merge has brought 40 employees together. High-Tech Communications, Inc. will be able to complete large tasks quickly because of their increased workforce.

High-Tech Communications, Inc has been in business since 1996 and has locations in other states such as: Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kentucky.

Microsoft Will Stream live TV on Xbox 360

tony — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:38:05 +0000

Microsoft announced at E-3, a video game expo convention that they provide live, streaming , TV for Xbox Live subscribers. Microsoft also mentioned that they would be partnering with media giants such as Youtube and Bing. Microsoft did not release what the number of networks available to be viewed.

They also announced at the expo that new games like Halo 4 and Gears of War 3 would be released in 2012.

E3, also known as Electronic Entertainment Expo, is a convention where video game developers can present their games and related hardware. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) presents the show to the industry.*

Source: Wikipedia

IBM Brings More Jobs to Missouri

tony — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 06:13:57 +0000

The technology company, IBM opened a new location for business in Columbia, Missouri as of May, 20th 2011. This new location is estimated to bring forth about 800 new jobs. The Columbia opening proceeds a similar opening in Dubuque, Iowa that created about 1000 jobs for the area. The new location in Columbia is designated as a delivery service center.

The new facility will have a partnership with the University of Missouri-Columbia. The partnership will provide jobs for student graduates of Mizzou. This will further strengthen the bond that has already existed between the two establishments

Streaming Media Leads In The Type Of Internet Usage

tony — Wed, 18 May 2011 03:41:02 +0000

Sandvine Inc reports media viewing, such as Netflix’ instant movie and television programs, now surpass general web surfing. This is measured by the type and amount of media consumption. A quarter of Internet users subscribe to instant media viewing. Thirty-percent of traffic is streaming media whereas 17% is general web surfing in the typical residential home during peak evening hours. Netflix membership has increased steadily nearing 24-million user accounts.

Generally, overall Internet usage has not increased or decreased significantly. It is how the Internet is used that has changed. Multimedia and streaming video are the types of bandwidth that are increasing. A growing trend amongst telecommunication companies is imposing bandwidth caps. According to the telecommunication companies the caps are necessary for other customers to continue web browsing. Caps are now being challenged in the courts and will take years to resolve.