Cool article in latest Wired...

[CTho9305]

I don't know if it is online... it's about cheap synthetic diamonds. They're mostly interested in jewerly and semiconductors, but it's also interesting to note that diamonds conduct heat about 5x better than copper. Maybe some of you crazy overclockers will get diamond waterblocks one day .

 

[fs5]

link
it's online, I just read it last night paper version, so I don't know if it's the same.

cliffnotes
basically 2 companies are MAKING diamonds, LARGE ones, 3 carats and larger. The first company, Gemesis makes a 3 carat perfect yellow diamond in 3 days. Colorless will take longer (ironic since yellow ones are rarer in nature). The second company, Apollo diamond, is using a different process that makes diamond bricks. Usefull for making diamond wafers which in turn can be made into diamond chips! Eventually the entire industy will have to move away from silicon if Moore's law is to continue. (barring a dramatic shift in the way we design and make computers.)

De beers cartel is pissed naturally. Good those bastards need competition.
/cliffnotes

Interesting article if you got the time to read it. contains interesting facts about the de beers cartel for people who don't know already. Such as they're a monopoly, the maintian HUGE stocks of diamonds but keep supply down to keep prices high, etc...

 

[LordJezo]

Ooo.. thanks.

You reminded me I needed to resubscribe.

Danke.

 

[MaxDepth]

BUMP for the shocking realization that I can buy a ring for less than 12 grand.