Reading the tea leaves

I've added the Energy Outlook blog to my regular reading list. It's pretty dense, but a good window into issues like oil prices and alternative energy policy. I wouldn't say it's a must read for people interested in photovoltaics, but it's worth a look.

Comments Enabled (a note from the friendly system admin)

From your friendly sysadmin ...

Comment posting has been turned on again, if we get more SPAM beating our filters we'll need to disable it again without notice.

Priceless

Semicon West is just one day old, and I've already accumulated five thumb drives. I like them a lot better than paper press kits or even CDs. The materials are right there in electronic form, and when I'm done the thumb drives themselves come in very handy.

I remember the first time I ever saw one of those things, holding it in my hand and thinking "ubiquitous data." The most valuable part of any computer, from low-end PCs to massive server farms, is the data it contains. Flash memory puts that data in the palm of your hand, and that's why demand for flash seems to be perfectly elastic. The more people have, the more they want. An address book is useful, but having your favorite music and pictures of your family with you when you travel, that's valuable.

This is getting ridiculous

I was at a presentation this afternoon in which the Safe Harbor statement in the beginning itemized all 37 forward-looking statements from the presentation, then itemized all the uncertainties inherent in both the semiconductor industry as a whole and the particular company's outlook. It was almost as long as the presentation itself. I think lawsuit phobia is just a little out of control...

Coming soon to a web near you

Yep, it's shameless plug time. One of the reasons I've been so quiet lately is that I've been working on a study of thin film photovoltaics for NanoMarkets. The study takes a comprehensive look at the various thin film photovoltaic technologies, and considers how they are likely to match and expand the universe of applications. I'm quite proud of it.

Sow the wind...

Last year, President Bush pushed for a comprehensive immigration reform package. The bill lost, mostly due to hardliners in his own party who demanded, and got, a crackdown on illegal immigration. Now business owners are reaping the whirlwind.

The alliance between the socially conservative and fiscally conservative wings of the Republican Party has never been a comfortable one. So far it seems to be holding together, but the difficult economy tends to pit the two sides against each other. We'll see if the stress becomes a fracture over issues like immigration.

Senator McCain, meanwhile, is caught on the fault line. His own instincts seem to favor immigration reform, but he took a hard turn to the right after that position nearly cost him the nomination.

Around the blogosphere

The folks at Solid State Technology have invited me to maintain a blog under their umbrella, so I'll also be posting at http://thinfilmmfg.blogspot.com/. I expect that incarnation will be a bit more consistently on-topic than this one.