* Posts by Sterling Udell

13 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jun 2007

Palm fishes for devs with $1m lure

Sterling Udell
Stop

They're offering money for the TOP apps?

Kinda says it all, doesn't it? The top-selling apps should be making good money just by virtue of being - wait for it - the top-selling apps. So clearly the only way to make money from Palm's app store is for Palm to pay you itself. Is it any wonder that mobile developers are staying away in droves?

As a mobile dev myself, the only viable opportunities right now are iPhone (for current installed user base) and Android (for growth potential). My time is too valuable to invest in Palm's shaky future.

Acer unveils Android-based 'Liquid' A1

Sterling Udell

Not same phone in pics

@Thomas K., the first pic is clearly marketing-department propaganda, while the second is a real snap from an El Reg hack. Ergo, no, they're not exactly the same phone.

Subaru set to show stylish hybrid

Sterling Udell
Go

I like...

...but with that white interior, it's a good thing Subaru's now making Outback Detergent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdDRyDAtLYo

Man hooks home into Twitter

Sterling Udell
Pint

Can't believe nobody's said anything yet...

..about a central tweeting system?

Or maybe it just hasn't made it past the Moderatrix.

BMW unwraps electric Mini

Sterling Udell
Boffin

You give too much credit to the Sauber F1...

...regenerative braking has been commonplace on EVs for a loooooong time.

I like the specs on this one, but for me it bears a strong resemblance to GM's ill-fated EV1. 2-seat, decent range, decent acceleration, lease only... Let's just hope BMW has enough sense to keep this incarnation alive. Virtually EVERY family's second car should be electric.

Research: Wind power pricier, emits more CO2 than thought

Sterling Udell
Go

Gas plant startup

Another blindingly obvious point here. Given the article claims the UK could run off pumped storage hydro (like Dinorwig, or the Tanygrisiau station I can see from where I'm sitting) for 1-2 days, surely that's enough time to start any gas turbine plant nice and gradual-like? So you don't need to forecast the wind days, or even hours in advance. Pumped storage hydro can ramp up in seconds, so they tell me, and could clearly cover the time it takes to spin up the gas turbines.

Combine that with the other options for storage, plus better use of intermittent power (as other commenters have pointed out), and there's little doubt that we can happily use the output of all the windmills we can build.

Star Trek XI teaser trailer beams onto web

Sterling Udell
Boffin

Kudos

...for posting this on Reg Hardware!

Music DRM 'dead by next summer'

Sterling Udell
Thumb Up

Why lossy?

The article said it best - people know MP3 works everywhere. "Plays For Sure", to coin a phrase. They don't know that about ANY other codec.

Besides, the losses in a 256kbps MP3 are inaudible to 99.999% of the public. Probably more in a true double-blind test, certainly for the bulk of music being recorded and sold today by the major labels.

Sure, a lossless codec would be better - but better to have DRM-free MP3s than what's been available up until now, DRM'ed *and* lossy. One step at a time.

Thousands snared by malware warning from big-name websites

Sterling Udell
Alert

Ran into this myself

on Monday at businessweek.com - a real, mainstream magazine site. Banner ad popped up the warning described in the article and automatically redirected me to malware-scan dot com (note: DO NOT VISIT THIS URL). I immediately shut the browser window and thought, "Was it really Business Week that just spammed me?" So I tried their site again, and this time had no trouble - which I now understand to be the intermittency of the attack, also described here by El Reg.

So yes, let's be careful out there.

@Steve Roper: I'm a JavaScript developer by trade, so running NoScript isn't exactly an option for me. Additionally, I take the position that JS seriously enhances the web experience (ever heard of AJAX?), so IMHO it's worth the small risk. Plus NoScript apparently won't always protect you from this attack anyway...

Yahoo! assists! searches!

Sterling Udell

Shows why they're in second place

Sorry, Yahoo... you've only just introduced this, and Google's been doing it for how long now? A year? Two? Quite a shame, really, given that this is actually typical of the good, free UI tools Yahoo's been supplying the JavaScript community with for the same sort of time period.

Microsoft: New Live Search 'as good as Google'

Sterling Udell

Good point

Right now, a MS Live search for "firefox" does turn up the FF download page - but not until the 4th result. The first result, perversely enough, is from MSDN.

OTOH, a Google search for "internet explorer" returns the MS download page for IE as the first result.

Kinda says it all, don't it, about whose interests each search engine puts first.

Boffins build bendy paper battery

Sterling Udell

Volts are easy

...I can generate lots of them just walking across a carpet. So forgive me if I'm not too impressed by 2.5 volts from a postage stamp.

What about amps? Better yet, what about watt-hours and power densities? Those are what will get my attention - and what they'll need before they can claim to power anything, from a phone to a car.

Europa heralds total Eclipse

Sterling Udell

Wow...

This article has one of the highest acronym-to-content (ATC) ratios I've seen on El Reg in a long time. Well done!