After getting out of the memory business years ago, Intel is getting back in. IM Flash Technologies LLC, a joint venture with Micron, will make NAND flash for, among others, Apple. Currently, Samsung is the dominant supplier, with 54% of the market.

Wow, have I really been gone that long? Sorry about that...

I've mostly been getting kicked up one side and down the other by a study on flexible photovoltaics. Major progress has been made, but it will still be looming for most of December.

I'm also researching an article on post-CMOS technologies. Mostly I'm finding out that there aren't any. There are plenty of potential CMOS extensions, but nothing that looks likely to replace the IC industry's workhorse.

I've written 5300 words since the end of October, giving me 79060 for the year. And miles to go before I sleep.

They say that you should always get a second medical opinion before having surgery or undergoing other radical treatment. That's true, but if the two opinions differ, people tend to rely on the one they like better, even though it's not necessarily the correct one.

The same thing seems to have happened in the run-up to the Iraq War. The administration didn't like the CIA's conclusions, so it relied on Douglas Feith's now infamous Pentagon unit, which happened to be staffed by people with no formal training or experience in intelligence analysis.

This is roughly analogous to ignoring advice from the Chief of Surgery at Massachusetts General, in favor of advice from a guy who reads WebMD a lot.