why the hell isn't there someplace like this in silicon valley?
OK, maybe 5-10% of the size and obviously here it would not be full of knock-offs and thus cost twice as much. But even so. There's something flat-out wrong with the fact that parts from US companies can't be bought in retail bulk inside the U.S. And I can't help but believe that this slows down innovation here; I've been curious about custom cellphone possibilities for years, but a week's turnaround every time I need a part, and $120 dev kits for $25 worth of parts, makes it a much more complex task.
And of course, the idea of chips being recovered from machines instead of landfilled is pretty appealing; obviously the transport and labor costs here would be prohibitive, though I do wonder if we could establish an electronics recycling stream going to Mexico if that would be cost effective. Of course, that would involve upgrades in US recycling policy, but those have been inching forwards for years anyway; as prices of raw materials inevitably increase, we'll move faster. And chip product cycles might slow down as more components reach "good enough" status, though I'm not entirely sure that old chips are much cheaper than new ones to make.
I'm curious how one avoids the knock-offs in China, though. I mean, ok, you can carry a laptop and a meter, but many components would be tricky to test. Maybe if you go there often enough, you get to know the individual merchants, and I suppose if you're a good enough repeat customer, returns or exchanges might be possible... I'm sure speaking the language makes a big difference...
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Date: 2008-04-04 06:45 pm (UTC)OK, maybe 5-10% of the size and obviously here it would not be full of knock-offs and thus cost twice as much. But even so. There's something flat-out wrong with the fact that parts from US companies can't be bought in retail bulk inside the U.S. And I can't help but believe that this slows down innovation here; I've been curious about custom cellphone possibilities for years, but a week's turnaround every time I need a part, and $120 dev kits for $25 worth of parts, makes it a much more complex task.
And of course, the idea of chips being recovered from machines instead of landfilled is pretty appealing; obviously the transport and labor costs here would be prohibitive, though I do wonder if we could establish an electronics recycling stream going to Mexico if that would be cost effective. Of course, that would involve upgrades in US recycling policy, but those have been inching forwards for years anyway; as prices of raw materials inevitably increase, we'll move faster. And chip product cycles might slow down as more components reach "good enough" status, though I'm not entirely sure that old chips are much cheaper than new ones to make.
I'm curious how one avoids the knock-offs in China, though. I mean, ok, you can carry a laptop and a meter, but many components would be tricky to test. Maybe if you go there often enough, you get to know the individual merchants, and I suppose if you're a good enough repeat customer, returns or exchanges might be possible... I'm sure speaking the language makes a big difference...