Links for Monday February 8^th, 2010

• Qisda promises smartphone with 1280x1024 display: Can you image what it would be like if Apple made an iPhone with a 4", 1280x1024 screen? That's better than 720p resolution. Mind == blown.

• This Car Runs on Code: Interesting look at how software lies at the heart of the modern automobile:

  "Even low-end cars now have 30 to 50 ECUs embedded in the body, doors, dash, roof, trunk, seats and just about anywhere else the car’s designers can think to put them. That means that most new cars are executing tens of million of lines of software code, controlling everything from your brakes to the volume of your radio."

  Also interesting that GM was the first manufacturer to add a CPU & software to a production car.

• Minimalist Star Wars posters: Fantastic posters, inspired by Star Wars, by Justin Van Genderen. (via GeekSugar)

• Rhapsody and blues: Great article from 2008, by John Siracusa, which examines the Adobe/Apple rift. A rift which continues to this day, as evidenced by the lack of Flash on the iPhone and iPad.

• Solar Panel Drops to $1 per Watt: Is this a Milestone or the Bottom for Silicon-Based Panels?: Interesting look at the current state of solar panels. There is some smart work, and some smart research going on. Clearly there is hope for the future.

• Following the open trail: Adobe says that they can't open source the Flash player, due to their use of the h.264 codec (smells fishy to me). However, they claim that anyone is free to implement their own player:

  "The Flash file format (SWF) specifications are open and unrestricted, so any company - even Apple - can build their own Flash Player if they want. Also freely available are related specifications for the Flash ecosystem: RTMP, FLV/F4V, AMF, and MCD."

  Interesting possibility. But if Apple made their own Flash player, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of code once in Flash, run everywhere?