Oh, how things have changed. This quick decade-at-a-glance from i09 sums up the last ten years with numbers. So what’s changed? Technology has gotten unimaginably smaller and better — just look at the differences between an iMac in 2000 and an iPad in 2010. The world’s population has grown, and for the first time more people live in cities than in rural areas. China’s electricity consumption has quadrupled. And the costs of technology are becoming more apparent than before. But really, the data speaks for itself. Well happy new year, lets keep running this poor planet into the friggen ground WOO HOOOOOOOOOO.

Today is a huge day for zootpatrol. We are very excited to announce that we have been selected to become a featured website on Pulse News Reader, the #1 news application for the iPhone, iPad, and Android. Pulse is a spectacular designed application that allows you to chose and transform your favorite websites and news sources into a colorful and interactive mosaic. For instance if you add zootpatrol to your feed, each one of our posts is represented by large thumbnails, as we post throughout the day the feed updates itself and you are able to scroll through the thumbnails horizontally. When you click on a thumbnail the story will open up within the application, letting you stay within the app and making you not have to jump around websites. Pulse redefines news, giving you the opportunity to experience the news you desire from traditional sources, your favorite blogs and social networks – all in one beautiful interface. Trust us on this we aren’t telling you to download this app just because we are featured now, take our word you will fall in love with Pulse, we did. So if you have an iPad, iPhone, or Android device, you can go to the Pulse website here and download the app, or just go to the app store or market on your phone and search “Pulse News Reader”. We’d like to also personally thank everyone at the Pulse team especially Cristina who had to put up with our 8 billion emails back and forth for a month getting things together, THANK YOU! So go grab Pulse and get your read on zoot nation.

Check below for screen-shots of zootpatrol in action on Pulse, and to get a better idea how it looks and works.
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Blackberry debuted it’s competition for the Ipad yesterday, unveiling the Playbook.   It’s 2 inches smaller, but boasts a 5MP camera on each side and supports Flash which the Ipad doesn’t.   It also will support 4G and has more RAM 1G compared to 256MB for Ipad.  But of course it takes a huge hit with lack of applications and who knows what the browser will be like.   Price has not yet been revealed but it should drop in early 2011. Samsung is set to release its tablet, “Galaxy”, in 2011 as well.

Chart created by http://www.9to5mac.com

Research In Motion announced yesterday that they will be dropping an updated operating system for Blackberry’s within the next quarter.  Blackberry 6 OS as it’s called will have some long awaited updates for BlackBerry.  It is not official that it will be offered to existing Blackberry phones, but strongly implied that it will be.  The new OS will be very similar to the Storm OS and have much more of Iphone feel to it.  The most crucial upgrade is the web browsing update.  The current browser sucks compared with the droid and iphone browsers.  The new browser uses WebKit, a company acquired by RIM and the same engine that run’s Safari Browser for Apple.  Here’s the demo released by RIM.  Personally, I would rather see it with an actual phone instead of this computer generated demo because there might be some serious disappointment when it actually drops.

Apple debuted it’s first commercial for the Ipad during last night’s Oscars.  Looks like they are pushing it as direct competition for your laptop.   Check it out.

So today is the day of Apple’s big announcement, which I dont really give a crap about because I’m not into all that Apple stuff aka cool technology, fast reliable products, virus free gadgets, I’ll stick to my PC machines all day. Steve Jobs made one of the most anticipated announcements in Apple history: the iPad, pretty terrible name if you ask me, sounds like something a girl should stick between her legs if you know what I mean. The hardware and software had event attendees up on their feet applauding. Before we get into a deep run-down of the device, here are some specs you need to know right off the bat.

-0.5″ thick and 1.5lbs light
-9.7″ IPS display, capacitive multitouch touchscreen
-Built-in accelerometer, mic, 30-pin connector, 802.11n Wi-Fi, compass, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
-10 hours of battery life and one month standby time!
-1GHz Apple A4 processor
-16GB, 32GB and 64GB Flash storage

On top of all this, the iPad will run the applications you already have for the iPhone. It can appear on the screen one of two ways: pixel for pixel accuracy in a black box or pixel double it and run the application in full screen. Typing on the iPad was made to look like a breeze with a large software keyboard that pops up on the screen when typing is required. That ought to give you all a taste of things to come as the event is still very much in progress.

Update: The lowest price point is $499.99 plus date plans from a carrier.

So by my count there has officially been 4,652 “iPhone Killer” cellphones that have been released since the iPhone came out. Also to my count, zero have even came close to comparing with the iPhone. I have used them all Blackberry, Samsung, Palm, you name it, and to be honest with myself, and everyone else, the iPhone is the best phone you can buy, bar none, until now…..maybe. Powerhouse companies Verizon, Google, and Motorola have all teamed up to put out the Motorola Droid. Our friends at Boy Genius Report released the first hands-on with the Droid and it was as excellent experience throughout.

So first off when is this thing dropping, in 7 years? No, it is actually going to be available for Verizon customers only, in a few weeks, so hold out on using your 1998 Nokia for a little bit longer, just keep playing Snake and chill out. Droid will be the most advanced Android device on the market as far as specifications go. Software too, as it’s the only one said to be running Android 2.0 until months from now. There’s a 550MHz Texas Instruments OMAP3430 processor, separate PowerVR GPU, 256MB of RAM, CDMA Rev A., Wi-Fi, GPS, a digital magnetometer, accelerometer, proximity sensors, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash, notification LED, four touch-sensitive navigation buttons, a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB port — jesus. The 3.7 inch display powers a 854×480 resolution image and shows off Android’s true colors.

The truth is we can go on for days about the powerful specs this bad boy has, but you can go to this detailed report by Boy Genius to get the full review. One thing I was excited about although it’s just an accessory is the charging dock/media station. I have pretty much this exact docking station for my Blackberry Storm, but I had to pay $40 for it.

In conclusion the Motorola Droid probably won’t be as good as the iPhone, as much as I hate to say it. Having a phone powered by Google though makes it a worthy competitor and the sky is the limit with software updates and applications available, which makes the playing field even when facing off against Apple.

Lets be clear about one thing, I am Black Berry for life. All these people jumping on the iPhone band wagon really piss me off, and this app non sense that is going on is even worse. 90% of the apps that are for sale are pointless bullshit that only costs you money and take up space on your phone, but people download them anyway I guess so that they can show off their apps to their iPhone loser friends. With that being said, this is an app I would actually buy. What could be better than the look on some poor saps face when while sitting in traffic, they looked over and saw some crazy road rager squeezing off shots and screeming about traffic. I love how this app even lets you load up your clip before going all Charles Bronson on bystanders.

So you dig your ipod and you love your macbook.  What if you could have the best of both worlds?  Apple’s “Tablet” is the answer.  The Tablet has been speculation for over a year now with little to zero information leaked.  With Steve Jobs back in good health rumors are spreading that Apple will announce the Tablet in September with a launch date of November or early Q1.  There are no real pics of the Tablet yet, just mock ups.  10 inch screen and sleek is what it’s expected to look like, with a touch screen of course.

Rumored to be a leaked pic of the actual Tablet.