Recipe for Disaster
Recipe for Disaster
With the announcement of another export quota, maddog laments the unreadiness of nations who allow themselves to fall prey to national monopolies.
Today in the newspaper I read that China was considering limiting the amount of rare earth it exports to other countries. Since China produces about 97 percent of all the rare earth metals used in electronics, such as integrated circuits, LCD TVs, and other high-tech components, this limit would do two things: raise prices on all these components and force companies to build more electronics factories in China to skirt the limit on raw materials.
Although these rare earth elements exist in other countries, for a long time it has been cheaper to get them from China, so potential rare earth supplies in other countries were not developed. Because rare earths are used in relatively small quantities to build relatively high-value goods, their shipping costs were negligible. Now that the prices of these rare earth materials are rising, other sources outside China are being developed, but they will not be ready until 2015.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
News
-
ExTiX 22.9 Released with Support for Installing Android Apps
The developers of the ExTiX Linux Distribution have released a new version that includes added support to make installing and using Android apps on the desktop a breeze.
-
System76 Skips Pop!_OS 22.10 to Focus on COSMIC Desktop
In a move that is sure to raise some eyebrows, System76 has chosen to concentrate on COSMIC Desktop instead of staying in step with Ubuntu releases.
-
New Look for System76 Thelio
System76 has given their already stellar Thelio desktop computer a redesign by way of the chassis accent panel.
-
Ubuntu Software Store Rumored to Replace Gnome Software
An alternative to GNOME Software has been written, using Flutter, and it’s making enough noise that Canonical is rumored to be considering using it as the default.
-
A New Arch-Based Linux Distribution Has Arrived
Crystal Linux is a new distribution with the goal of bringing the power of Arch Linux to the masses.
-
Fedora 37 Beta Available
The Fedora development team announced the beta for version 37 of the open-source operating system would be released on time on September 13, 2022.
-
Salix 15.0 Offers Updates and a Modernized Look
Salix is a Slackware-based Linux distribution with a new look and a goal of being fast, user-friendly, and highly stable.
-
Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS Release Now Available
The latest point release of the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS distribution is now available and sports kernel 5.15.
-
MX Linux 21.2 Offers Improvements and Bug Fixes
MX Linux 21.2, aka “Wildflower,” is now officially available and is the second refresh of the MX-21 release.
-
Gnome Project Releases New Telemetry Data Collection Tool
The GNOME developers have announced the release of a new tool to collect anonymous information about your system.