Tag Archives: The IT Examiner

Solar panels are not us

Posted on February 24, 2009 | 1 comment

NICE PIECE on the Examiner today – yeah, I’m biased – about solar panels from Subhankar Kundu. The semiconductor companies are cheesed off with the Indian government not helping them enough.

We had a chat about this. A fab costs $2 billion at least to build. Orders are falling, falling, falling. This is the first time the clearly cyclical semi business has experienced this. TSMC is at 40% capacity. So will the fabs shift to producing polysilicon for the solar panel business? It’s not so easy. All it will take is for photovoltaic panels to become cheap and the famous Moore’s Law will kick in. And countries like India which have heaps of sun will benefit.

Will it happen?  Probably not for a good while. It’s a crying shame. ♦

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Indian Independence Day means work for most

Posted on August 15, 2008 | 1 comment

TODAY IS Indian Independence Day, marked in most cities in India by formal celebrations.

But while the banks, the civil servants and the fortunate have the day off, and so a long weekend, life here in Bengaluru seems to be throbbing normally. A quick walk down 100 Feet Road demonstrated that this afternoon. And crossing the 100 Feet was as fraught as any normal day in India.

At the Examiner, the hacks have today off, so the site is being kept up to date by yours truly and the assorted stringers we have. I’m packing, ready to fry out to San Francisco for the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, so quaffing my last Haywards 5000 for about a week before I return to Bengaluru.

I’ll be close to 12 hours behind my Indian hacks next week, so will be dislocated in time, space and culture. I will also be competing to some extent against the previous two plaices – the INQUIRER and The Register. I am sure to meet Charlie Demerjian and some other old pals.

See you on the other side of the bigger Pacific pond! ♦

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Examiner to compete with INQster, Rogister@Intel

Posted on August 14, 2008 | 3 comments

I FRY OUT of Ole Bengaluru tomorrow, via Singapore, to the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) which is being held next week at the Moscone, a beggar of a place.

It will be a long fright, but I am up against the challenge to end all challenges. I will be competing with three or possibly four hacks from the INQster to bring news from IDF to our global readership.

Goodness knows how many Rogister people will be there. That rag is now, thankfully,  a very distant memory of 14 years ago. The INQ has whitewashed me out of existence. So has the Rogister. I don’t mind, ‘cos Wikipedia continues to tell its own version of history.

I sold my shares in the Reg back to an adsales geezer, flogged the INQster to VNU, and seem to have generated loads of jobs in the process. It was something of a coup hiring Paul Hales at the INQster to work for VNU again, we’re sure you will agree.

In America, I will be 11 and a half hours behind Ole Bengaluru. My loyal team of hacks in India will no doubt pick up the slack and deliver stories to the world that the INQster and the ROGster can only dream about, the little bunnies that they both are.

Lest you think I am in the slightest bit bitter about the Register and the INQUIRER, I’m not. Far from it.  I am satisfied at a good job well done. And I am looking forward to challenging them both at IDF!  ♥

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