I'm excited! The idea of managing the editorial content of an online newsletter in a market that I actually know something about is very exciting. Those of you that know me, know that I have been a web aficionado since Netscape was knee high to MOSAIC.

It seems like only yesterday that Ron Daniels was asking me if I thought a daily newsletter covering the world of electronics manufacturing or semiconductor packaging would have any legs. He and I both wondered if there would be any interest in a daily or weekly newsletter agglomerating and linking readers to key industry stories of the day.

Well that was over five years ago and Ron and Jeff Ferry proved to me and all of you who check out Circuitnet every day that it's become a "must-read" for industry information. Following Ron's untimely passing, Jeff Ferry and his new partner, Ken Cavallaro continued to push the electronic newsletter concept with great new original content. We've also launched Newsletter Station, a unique new service to help any business publish a content filled email newsletter.

What's the next big idea for "Semiconductor Packaging News"? That idea, whatever it is will have a lot to do with you, our readers. We want to make "Semiconductor Packaging News" your premiere resource for news and information in the world of semiconductor packaging. In order to achieve this goal we need to hear from you, and you need to tell us what you want to see in the only daily newsletter focused on semiconductor packaging that will help you keep up with this dynamic industry.

Send us ideas that you feel would improve the newsletter. One of the great things about the internet is that it lets us try lots of things and fine tune them as we go.

So lets talk and make some news that expands our knowledge of the semiconductor packaging process, and all things related to the production of all those electronic packages that make the world of electronics go round.

Industry Buzz

While many of us were away enjoying Independence Day here in the US, the industry continues to make news;

• Pierre deVillemejane CEO of Speedline Technologies said goodby, according to an inside source he resigned last week. as Speedline continues to evolve with the ITW group, change is inevitable.

• Semicon West is rapidly approaching (July 16-19) and the "back-end assembly" process which has been in the new West Hall of the Moscone Center the past two years hopes the third year is the best yet. The Packaging side of the show has been disappointing the first two years since it moved from San Jose.

• Microsoft announced that they were setting aside one billion dollars to pay for service they were going to have to perform on their recent release of XBOX 360, an issue that is sure to reverberate across the entire value chain from materials and equipment suppliers to board test and EMS companies.