Though I wander around a lot, this site really is about thin film manufacturing issues. To prove it, I've posted a new article in the Features section, about the increase in capital payback times for semiconductor manufacturers. Many thanks to AmberWave Systems for permission to publish this analysis.

1200 words yesterday, 80,985 since January 1. And yes, Jeri, this means I've been left in your dust. For now.

Where have we heard this before? Taipei Times reports that new foundry market entrants are driving capacity up and prices down, threatening the profits of existing foundries. The commoditization of first memory and now logic manufacturing is great news for chip customers, but not so great for the companies who have to support increasing technology costs with decreasing profit margins.

1950 words since my last update, 79,785 since January 1.

SiliconValley.com columnist Dan Gillmor is writing a book about the intersection of technology and journalism. The outline makes interesting reading. Some things to think about, whether you agree with him or not.

I promised to limit the war stuff, but this is excellent. dhartung at Metafilter posted a whole bunch of links
about pre-Hussein civil society in Iraq, internal opposition to Hitler and Stalin, and other related topics. Lots of material to dig through--I've barely skimmed the surface--but worth the effort.

The Matrix is coming back, and the sequels hope to redefine special effects as thoroughly as the original did. This time, the effects team built a Matrix.

Update: Just found a thread on Metafilter dealing with this article, including some comments by the author. Of interest primarily to special effects and/or Matrix fans.

Congratulations to the staff of The Wall Street Journal, which won a Pulitzer prize for its in-depth coverage and clear explanations of last year's corporate scandals.

As a group, this year's Pulitzer winners demonstrate what good journalism can accomplish, and why it's important. It's worth taking a few minutes to read through some of the entries.

3550 words since last update. 77,835 since January 1. I'm planning to attend the MRS Spring Meeting later this month, which will probably cut into my total. I'm more concerned about my backlog of rough draft material needing revision, though.