The Lightning Guitar by ArcAttack

After seeing ArcAttack perform, I’m literally speechless. Let’s just say their performance is like something you’ve never see before. Before we get deep into it, we’ll start off with simple terms: These dudes play a guitar in which the actual harmonics are created by lightning arcs from two massive Tesla Coils. Yes. The little metal dude standing in between two giant Tesla coils is actually controlling ever bit of the sound from his super geeky guitar. Crazy shiat. Hop inside to get deeper into the madness and to see a few videos of it all in action, starting with their America’s Got Talent audition and ending with a bad ass cover of the Star Wars Imperial March…1,000,000 volts and all…

Trillian beta for Android released. All other multi-IM apps now irrelevant.

Sorry folks. That’s all she wrote. With tonights release of Trillian beta for Android, every single multi-IM client has become irrelevant. The feature set on Trillian beta rivals many long time established names such as eBuddy and Meebo while also looking leaps and bounds more polished and “professional”. Obviously being a multi-IM account app means multiple accounts are aplomb and handled seamlessly. Speaking of accounts, Trillian beta supports: AIM/MobileMe, Facebook, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, WLM, MySpaceIM, and Yahoo Messenger. That pretty much covers them all — all the popular ones anyway.

Besides account support, you can sort contacts by name or status (they’re already sorted by account as well), hide/unhide offline contacts, show/hide avatars, enable/disable sounds, vibrations, and trackball lights, push email alerts for when Trillian is suspended, user customizable status, and one hell of a nice UI to boot. The Trillian team delivered a very nice product. And remember, this is just a simple beta. Over the come weeks, things can only go up.

Trillian for Android is currently non-market only meaning non-rooted users of AT&T (and other similar carriers) will have to hurry up and wait longer. But for those who have the ability for non-market installs, point your scanner app at the nifty little image to the right and get ready. In all seriousness, no other Android multi-chat app compares. Try it out and let us know what you think!

RIM replacing flagship 9700 Bold with not so flagship R027 (9750)

Quick and succinct updates are a good thing — in the software world that is. For hardware, fast updates can also be beneficial. In RIM’s case, it’s a death sentence. Take for example, the slide above showing off the freshly leaked R027. It’s essentially a Bold 9700 with OS 6 coming standard, 512MB of RAM (up from 256), and a 5-megapixel camera ’round back. That’s it. That. Is. It. Nothing else.

If it sounds like I’m a bit distraught…well…it’s because I am. I’m putting the BlackBerry Torch through its paces right now and am actually quite impressed. It’s not earth shattering to the point that it’s going to upset Android or iOS. But it’s easily RIM’s best product. I’ll even miss this little beaut when I have to return it in the coming weeks. So why return to this half assed refresh mumbo jumbo right after the Torch? Honestly RIM, that line about the “powerful 624MHz, (two-year old) processor” has got to go. You’re not fooling anyone.

It’s disappointing to see RIM getting stuck in a Nokia-esque syndrome, believing that fast and furious small (very small) updates are going to bring in the loyal followers and cash. But it’s not. There really isn’t any reason to upgrade to the R020. Simple as that. Please, RIM. Create something new and original. Wow me.

Intel picks up McAfee for $7.7 billion

Of all the tech matrimony’s I could dream up, Intel and McAfee is not at the top of my list. But that’s precisely what’s happening. The way McAfee currently does business is by paying distributers (pc manufacturers like Dell) to pre-install their security software before the PC is shipped out. Perhaps Intel is looking for some type of hardware approach to security so they don’t have to pay distributers and partners for the right to include their own security software…err…hardware. Even still, unless Intel has some crazy awesome plan for security-based hardware, this acquisition seems kind of pointless.

All things considered, it still seems like a slightly odd and off kilter acquisition from team Intel. Anyone equally miffed? Maybe the press release will clear things up for you…

After Gingerbread comes…Honeycomb.

One little thing about Android that is kind of neat is that each new release carries a general revision name that is different from most — titled after desert. First it was Android 1.5 (Cupcake), then 1.6 (Donut), 2.0 (Eclair), 2.1 (Flan), 2.2 (Froyo), and finally, the upcoming Android 3.0 is believed to be called “Gingerbread”. But that’s not Android’s last stop. No sir, not by a long stretch.

According to multiple sources of TechRadar UK, the next iteration of Android after Gingerbread will take the name “Honeycomb”. Honeycomb isn’t exactly a desert in the purest sense. At least I don’t normally munch on the golden stuff when I get a craving for sweets. Nevertheless, Google looks to be continuing the sweets-based naming scheme as the platform moves forward. Unfortunately, other than an official model number 3.1 or 3.2, that’s all we know for now. No other details or specs of Honeycomb were mentioned besides the name itself.

I’m still waiting to see how Android 3.0 re-invents the platform visually. With all these Android skins being slapped on devices as of late, I’m dying for some stock Android love. You?

For the real nerds: History of the Internet Infograph from ’62 to ’09.

I’m kind of a nerd if you can’t tell. Part of that nerdiness is soaking in as much technology-based information that I can. What is more technology focused than the internet? It’s enabled and created countless ideas, products, and services. And still, decades after its inception, it’s still a growing giant. So without further adieu, jump inside for a lovely little infograph (We love infographs…) that breaks down the history of the internet all the way back from the “Intergalactic Network” of ’62 to the modern mobile web surfing days of ’09…

Sneak a phone into a UK prison? The dogs will be watching…err..sniffing…

Dogs have long been used by police forces for means of identifying drug paraphernalia. It seems the nose…knows. You can’t fool a dogs olfactory senses as they’re really, really sensitive. But good ‘ol fido will have to put off retirement a bit longer because police forces in the UK, South Wales specifically, have trained one of their 5-year veterans to sniff out not only drugs, but phones too.

He goes by the name of “Max”. This 5-year member of the South Wales police force recently completed an intense 2-week training program outfitting his canine body with the ability to distinguish phones from prison suspects. The really cool part is that it’s not just “phones” in the literal sense. It seems dear old Max can even make out individual SIM cards and batteries too!

With prisons around the world having increasing trouble detecting electronic equipment, having a reliable resource like Max is a big help. Here’s to another five years pup…

**Image is not really Max…**