Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Cisco give up on public cloud
Looks like Cisco are abandoning the idea of a public cloud offering. I am not surprised they started late, lacked conviction and never looked like they were going to step up to the big players in this market:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/13/cisco_to_kill_its_intercloud_public_cloud_on_march_31st_2017/
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Film: Arrival directed by Denis Villeneuve
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/
Just about worth all the hype. A thought provoking film about an encounter with aliens visiting earth and a linguist trying to communicate with them. All this is interwoven with sub plots concerning time and personal relationships.
Just about worth all the hype. A thought provoking film about an encounter with aliens visiting earth and a linguist trying to communicate with them. All this is interwoven with sub plots concerning time and personal relationships.
Royal Navy retire Harpoon
Interesting article on the retirement of Harpoon from the Navy.
http://arstechnica.co.uk/cars/2016/11/royal-navy-retiring-anti-ship-missiles/
And covered by The Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/16/royal_navy_harpoon_missile_2018_withdrawal_no_replacement/
http://arstechnica.co.uk/cars/2016/11/royal-navy-retiring-anti-ship-missiles/
And covered by The Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/16/royal_navy_harpoon_missile_2018_withdrawal_no_replacement/
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Book read: The Battle of the Atlantic by Jonathan Dimbleby
An excellent book that put the battle of the Atlantic in historical perspective with the rest of the war.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Royal Yacht II
There is a lot of talk about spending 100 million to replace the royal yacht as a vehicle for signing trade deals and diplomacy.
This feels like a terrible idea. It is another case of Britain framing its thinking in the past. Probably a past that is mis-remembered somewhat.
It is interesting how we think we can afford such a project. What we should be thinking of is how we modernise from here. We're about to give powers back to a Parliament that is in desperate need of reform.
This feels like a terrible idea. It is another case of Britain framing its thinking in the past. Probably a past that is mis-remembered somewhat.
It is interesting how we think we can afford such a project. What we should be thinking of is how we modernise from here. We're about to give powers back to a Parliament that is in desperate need of reform.
The Queen longest serving monarch
A fairly crassly reported story after the death of the Thai king yesterday that now make QEII the longest serving
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/13/queen-grins-as-divers-salute-her-arrival-at-military-barracks-fr/
The ridiculous sight of divers saluting the queen, what a stupidly subservient thing to be put up to do. The royal family must just laugh each time they go to events like this realising just how well their bread is buttered.
How about like Thailand we use the death of a monarch to rethink and reshape how the nation is setup and use it as a opportunity to modernise ourselves. I always feel our ancestors would be horrified to know how we've clung onto the past just for the sake of preserving tradition.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/13/queen-grins-as-divers-salute-her-arrival-at-military-barracks-fr/
The ridiculous sight of divers saluting the queen, what a stupidly subservient thing to be put up to do. The royal family must just laugh each time they go to events like this realising just how well their bread is buttered.
How about like Thailand we use the death of a monarch to rethink and reshape how the nation is setup and use it as a opportunity to modernise ourselves. I always feel our ancestors would be horrified to know how we've clung onto the past just for the sake of preserving tradition.
Anatomy of a US corporate: Cisco to outsource NDS
Only rumours but one I keep hearing, Cisco will outsource the european side of NDS - essentially running down the SPVSS business unit they spent so much money acquiring.
It has not happened yet but if it does it would be the admission that this was an example of buying something they had no idea of how to run.
A lot of the "leaders" bought in to run SPVSS were either quietly fired "looking for other opportunities" in Cisco speak. Or ran back to the US when they realised the company was never going to make the acquisition work.
Watch this space. I still think the smart money would be to sell it on to someone who cares (e.g Sky), rather than to some bottom line maintaining out source cowboys.
It has not happened yet but if it does it would be the admission that this was an example of buying something they had no idea of how to run.
A lot of the "leaders" bought in to run SPVSS were either quietly fired "looking for other opportunities" in Cisco speak. Or ran back to the US when they realised the company was never going to make the acquisition work.
Watch this space. I still think the smart money would be to sell it on to someone who cares (e.g Sky), rather than to some bottom line maintaining out source cowboys.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Film: Star Trek Beyond Directed by Justin Lin
http://gb.imdb.com/title/tt2660888/
I stopped short of reviewing this film immediately on seeing it. It is an all action film which completely trashes the Star Trek ethos in the hope of an unlikely blockbuster.
What is the Star Trek ethos, it's a mix of believable science with some discovery and adventure thrown in.
Star Trek Beyond just has scene after scene of improbable story line. Eventually this just washes over you, you have barely just got over the current ridiculous thing when something else immediately happens to beat it.
So Beastie Boy music to destroy the aliens anyone? Kirk riding a trials bike to distract the enemy?
The film also makes constant reference and homage back to the old series. It really does not need to do this, it should be self contained and have the confidence to be it's own film.
This film could have been so much better given the money they spent. How about doing something like a large space battle - you always hear so much of the federation in Star Trek but you rarely see any of it.
I stopped short of reviewing this film immediately on seeing it. It is an all action film which completely trashes the Star Trek ethos in the hope of an unlikely blockbuster.
What is the Star Trek ethos, it's a mix of believable science with some discovery and adventure thrown in.
Star Trek Beyond just has scene after scene of improbable story line. Eventually this just washes over you, you have barely just got over the current ridiculous thing when something else immediately happens to beat it.
So Beastie Boy music to destroy the aliens anyone? Kirk riding a trials bike to distract the enemy?
The film also makes constant reference and homage back to the old series. It really does not need to do this, it should be self contained and have the confidence to be it's own film.
This film could have been so much better given the money they spent. How about doing something like a large space battle - you always hear so much of the federation in Star Trek but you rarely see any of it.
Friday, July 29, 2016
Book read: Postcapitalism By Paul Mason
I've watched Paul Mason on Newsnight since 2008 and the economic crisis. He quit there to move to Channel 4 where he could air his more well left of centre views. He writes about the effects of big business on indviduals, industrial decline, globalisation and abusive employment.
This books is very well researched, you might not agree with everything he says - but it gives a good history of how we got to where we are and what are the possible ways out that would build a better society for all and not just for an over privileged few.
This books is very well researched, you might not agree with everything he says - but it gives a good history of how we got to where we are and what are the possible ways out that would build a better society for all and not just for an over privileged few.
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Gimbal lock explained
Good video explaing Euler rotations and avoding Gimbal lock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc8b2Jo7mno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc8b2Jo7mno
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Film: Requiem for the American Dream directed by Peter D. Hutchison
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3270538/
A great hour long documentary exposing the failings of modern democracy with Noam Chomsky - in what was billed as his last long form interview sessions.
He links up so much from history showing where democracy is headed and the reasons why. There is so much crammed into just over one hour.
A great hour long documentary exposing the failings of modern democracy with Noam Chomsky - in what was billed as his last long form interview sessions.
He links up so much from history showing where democracy is headed and the reasons why. There is so much crammed into just over one hour.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Interesting article on Facebook reaction to Google Plus
Good insider view on how Facebook and narcissist Zuckerberg reacated to Google Plus. Really shows the deluded self centred nature of Silicon Valley:
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/how-mark-zuckerberg-led-facebooks-war-to-crush-google-plus
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/how-mark-zuckerberg-led-facebooks-war-to-crush-google-plus
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Great place to work - really?
If you did not already know the 2016 "best workplaces" in the United Kingdom has been announced.
http://www.greatplacetowork.co.uk/best-workplaces/best-workplaces-in-the-uk-large-category
In second place are McDonalds which may have some good ethics internally but is a blight on society by pushing unhealthy eating and leaving wider society with the bill.
Also high at fourth place is Cisco, claiming around 3200 people in the UK. Most of these will be from the disastrous take over of NDS. Most of those people are made to feel like the US corporate has a gun to their head - the minute results are bad they start firing.
I wonder how much employees are coerced into providing good feedback, I remember one time at Cisco the UK director leaving a global voice mail on everyone's phone "reminding" them of what a great culture Cisco was.
Nothing could be further from the truth! Narcissistic self-obsessed management, too much internal infighting meant that the company was slowly dying and surviving off buying out competition that looked a threat and then proceeding to run that down!
http://www.greatplacetowork.co.uk/best-workplaces/best-workplaces-in-the-uk-large-category
In second place are McDonalds which may have some good ethics internally but is a blight on society by pushing unhealthy eating and leaving wider society with the bill.
Also high at fourth place is Cisco, claiming around 3200 people in the UK. Most of these will be from the disastrous take over of NDS. Most of those people are made to feel like the US corporate has a gun to their head - the minute results are bad they start firing.
I wonder how much employees are coerced into providing good feedback, I remember one time at Cisco the UK director leaving a global voice mail on everyone's phone "reminding" them of what a great culture Cisco was.
Nothing could be further from the truth! Narcissistic self-obsessed management, too much internal infighting meant that the company was slowly dying and surviving off buying out competition that looked a threat and then proceeding to run that down!
Book read: Drone Theory by Grégoire Chamayou
I picked up this book as a bit of an impulse buy after watching Eye in the Sky. It is a philsohpical take on the nature of drone warfare and the silent revolution that largely is going unscrutinized because it is generally seen as a "good thing"
Far from it as the book goes into much depth and analysis on the ethics and nature of drone warfare, and the asymmetrical and unfair nature of drone combat.
A very dense and well argued text, well worth reading.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Film: Eye In The Sky directed by: Gavin Hood
An interesting film about modern day warfare with drones. It depicts the stark differences between those in the decision making process, the pilot in comfortable isolation, and the country where the drone is operating
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2057392/
I think in some ways the film made some points unknowingly. The ridiculously long multi timezone chain of command which was made possible by ubiquitous communications. We were perhaps intended to marvel how modern technology has made this possible, but for me it just felt like modern technology making a job ten times harder than it should have been.
Although it featured modern day drones it pointed to a future were micro drones are used for surveillance. I am not sure how far this is off, but it just shows how fast the ideas in this area are developing.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2057392/
I think in some ways the film made some points unknowingly. The ridiculously long multi timezone chain of command which was made possible by ubiquitous communications. We were perhaps intended to marvel how modern technology has made this possible, but for me it just felt like modern technology making a job ten times harder than it should have been.
Although it featured modern day drones it pointed to a future were micro drones are used for surveillance. I am not sure how far this is off, but it just shows how fast the ideas in this area are developing.
NFS mounting on a NAS
I recently had very slow performance performing a simple rsync command to backup my laptop home directory to a home made NAS.
At first I assumed slow network, or slow disk storage. But looking at the system monitoring showed under utilised network and the local write performance from "dd" was over 8MB/sec.
So something I should have remembered was the async flag in the NFS filesystem /etc/exports file:
/media/2TBDiskRaid *(rw,no_root_squash,async)
/media/2TBDisk *(rw,no_root_squash,async)
Without this writing many small files is excruciatingly slow. A quick edit of the file and exportfs -a - and the rsync starting to fly. It feels like this should be a default, those needing synchronous behaviour are probably the minority nowadays...
At first I assumed slow network, or slow disk storage. But looking at the system monitoring showed under utilised network and the local write performance from "dd" was over 8MB/sec.
So something I should have remembered was the async flag in the NFS filesystem /etc/exports file:
/media/2TBDiskRaid *(rw,no_root_squash,async)
/media/2TBDisk *(rw,no_root_squash,async)
Without this writing many small files is excruciatingly slow. A quick edit of the file and exportfs -a - and the rsync starting to fly. It feels like this should be a default, those needing synchronous behaviour are probably the minority nowadays...
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Anatomy of a US corporate: Acquisition Failure
The first question that entered my mind when Cisco bought NDS for $6bn was Why?
It certainly seemed like a shrewd move by Permira, who had being spinning a refloat rumour for a while. But what better way to sell off the company than to another company with a lot of cash sitting overseas. Looking back now it feels a lot like Permira saw Cisco coming.
What did Cisco think they were buying? To me NDS was a company entirely based around the production of smart cards for digital broadcasters. A lot of ancillary services existed for other areas of digital broadcasting - but NDS never really made big on this, it was all about enabling the per subscriber sales of smart cards.
That is not to say NDS was not looking at the future and the threat of over the top services taking over in the broadcast world. They had some niche technologies for OTT playback increasingly in a cloud context, but again nothing big and never going to be what the company was going to make money out of. They knew they had to adapt to stay relevant to the broadcasters, but were slow in doing so - just because you are too busy keeping what you have now working.
I think Cisco saw the OTT/cloud part of the business as bigger than it really was, and much of their valuation was in thinking it was all ready to deploy when in actual fact it was years away (by which time a more nimble competitor would have done it).
Cisco saw the opportunity to build another service provider business unit this time for video. The belief being that the reliance on services now turning back to the service provider infrastructure, hardware sales would follow. But really they ended up taking on a mid size company that was beginning to struggle to stay relevant, and inherited all of its problems rather than the expected cash cow that could serve the corporate giant with easy revenue.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Germany 2 - England 3
An unexpected comeback from 2 - 0 by a strangely resilient England.
My usual stance for England in big away internationals is to lay, since they are in a perpetual rebuilding phase. Hodgson has done well with the side, with a great qualifying record.
So my initial bet was to lay £10 @ 5.9 Win: £10 Lose: £49
When it reaches 2 - 2, I decide to cash out - England are playing like Germany and Germany like England!
The cash out does:
Lay England: £10 @ 5.9: Win: £10 Lose: £49
Lay Draw: £47.96 @ 1.23 Win: £47.95 Lose: £11.03
Lay Germany: £6.14 @ 9.60 Win: £6.14 Lose: £52.80
So overall we're covered with:
England Win: £47.96 + £6.14 - £49 = £5.10
Draw: £10 + £6.13 - £11.03 = £5.10
Germany Win: £10 + £47.95 - £52.80 = £5.15
My usual stance for England in big away internationals is to lay, since they are in a perpetual rebuilding phase. Hodgson has done well with the side, with a great qualifying record.
So my initial bet was to lay £10 @ 5.9 Win: £10 Lose: £49
When it reaches 2 - 2, I decide to cash out - England are playing like Germany and Germany like England!
The cash out does:
Lay England: £10 @ 5.9: Win: £10 Lose: £49
Lay Draw: £47.96 @ 1.23 Win: £47.95 Lose: £11.03
Lay Germany: £6.14 @ 9.60 Win: £6.14 Lose: £52.80
So overall we're covered with:
England Win: £47.96 + £6.14 - £49 = £5.10
Draw: £10 + £6.13 - £11.03 = £5.10
Germany Win: £10 + £47.95 - £52.80 = £5.15
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Ridiculous interview on leadership
From Harriet Green on Radio 5 Wake up to money this morning.
She finds herself at IBM heading up an Internet of Things/Education VP role.
She kept mentioning "Cognitive" and "IoT" like they were uptopias. Never mind the massive security risks on IoT, never mind the social upheaval on massive soulless automation by big business.
The interviewer who is usually good at separating their agenda from the real world issues failed this time. No mention of what a terrible cost cutting, profits and maintaining share price at all costs company IBM has become.
It is also killing itself slowly while maintaining excessive executive pay levels who under perform. That is a better reflection on the modern IBM that the interviewer should have already been aware.
Her obsession was also "leadership", endless leadership - what this leads to is a narcissistic management culture that competes and fights amongst itself continually, we certainly do not need more of that.
She kept mentioning "Cognitive" and "IoT" like they were uptopias. Never mind the massive security risks on IoT, never mind the social upheaval on massive soulless automation by big business.
The interviewer who is usually good at separating their agenda from the real world issues failed this time. No mention of what a terrible cost cutting, profits and maintaining share price at all costs company IBM has become.
It is also killing itself slowly while maintaining excessive executive pay levels who under perform. That is a better reflection on the modern IBM that the interviewer should have already been aware.
Her obsession was also "leadership", endless leadership - what this leads to is a narcissistic management culture that competes and fights amongst itself continually, we certainly do not need more of that.
Sunday, March 6, 2016
The Back and the Lay
Trading on betting exchanges has been around a long time, but is probably in decline because of the perceived complexity, and lack of competition meaning that the monopoly site can keep commission charges high. The promise over traditional bookmakers is more competitive prices, the betting site is just sitting as a middle man taking a commision on winnings and has no stake in the event outcome.
It is still an interesting thing to look at to understand the concepts.
If we have a backing bet of B and a lay bet of L at decimal odds of Ob and Ol respectively then the profit P made is:
Selection Wins:
P = B*Ob - L*Ol
Selection Loses:
P = L - B
The idea with trading is to back and lay during the lifetime of the event so that you build a profit if the selection wins or loses.
So the conditions for P > 0 are:
L > B - i.e. your lay bet stake must exceed your back stake
B*Ob > L*Ol - i.e your bet odss/stake must exceed your lay odds/stake
The conditions for the value of P being some sought after profit margin after first backing, now if the offs Ol are available:
L = B + P - builds in P as a profit on selection win
L = (B*Ob - P ) / Ol   - Tells us lay stake needed to profit P at the lay odds
Anatomy of a US corporate: Cisco
A feature of big US companies is the off shoring of large amounts of profit that they do not want to bring back to the US and face taxation on. Although never explicitly stated companies like the networking behemoth are continually acquiring companies in Europe as they seek to do something useful with the money. The intent is usually to take out a competitor, move into new market segments, and initially believing they can integrate the offering into Cisco's product line up.
Cisco are by no means the only company doing this, they have arguably being more successful than others but have had some spectacular failures in big acquisitions in recent years. Having being in one such take over I'll do a few blog posts analysing what happened and why they failed. One thing Cisco were not short of was confidence in their ability to integrate new business units, to the point of making you believe it was a well oiled machine. The truth is really a company that only runs on it's margins and numbers, completely over obsessed with how much profit can be extracted from the newly acquired entity.
Cisco are by no means the only company doing this, they have arguably being more successful than others but have had some spectacular failures in big acquisitions in recent years. Having being in one such take over I'll do a few blog posts analysing what happened and why they failed. One thing Cisco were not short of was confidence in their ability to integrate new business units, to the point of making you believe it was a well oiled machine. The truth is really a company that only runs on it's margins and numbers, completely over obsessed with how much profit can be extracted from the newly acquired entity.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Wireshark as non privileged user
For a long time I've run wireshark as root (bad idea I know). But I had the need recently to run some additional decoders, and found the following worked for setting up my user to be part of the wireshark group:
sudo groupadd wireshark
sudo usermod -a -G wireshark $USER
sudo chgrp wireshark /usr/bin/dumpcap
sudo setcap cap_net_raw,cap_net_admin=eip /usr/bin/dumpcap
There may already be a wireshark group on the system, so creation of this and the setcaps maybe unncessary as they will already be done.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Book read: The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century by Robert Lomas
A really good account of the life and discoveries of Nikola Tesla - the forgotten man in the application of electricity that we take for granted today.
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