Where do iPods come from? MacNewsWorld picked up an article from the British newspaper The Mail tracing the key components from original manufacturers all over the world to an assembly plant in China.

Wafer cleaning chemicals are pretty nasty, including highly concentrated acids and solutions with nicknames like "piranha." Handling them is difficult and dangerous, yet these chemicals are vulnerable to the same sources of contamination and degradation as milder chemistries. Metara's Sentry HCM system, introduced last week, automates sampling and analysis of harsh chemistries. Their electrospray time of flight mass spectrometer achieves 200 ppt detection limits for common metal ions, with 40 minute turnaround time. The system, the company claims, allows real time monitoring of harsh chemistries, without the hazards inherent in manual sampling.