Book read: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I watched the recent film and kept hearing that the book was great so I gave it a go - a very different story to the book, more detailed and more cultural references, a really good read:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9969571-ready-player-one

Cisco sell off beleagured SPVSS (aka NDS)

Finally it's happened Cisco's 4 years of mismanagement of the SPVSS business unit is at an end.

Permira are buying it back at a knock down price.

Here's the sanitized press release

https://investor.cisco.com/investor-relations/news-and-events/news/news-details/2018/Permira-Funds-to-Acquire-Ciscos-Service-Provider-Video-Software-Solutions-Business/default.aspx

And from one of the people who mis-managed and rode on the back of it:

https://blogs.cisco.com/news/service-provider-news

All sounds like a great plan that they always intended - but in reality a disastourous acquisition that destroyed the existing business...

Book read: Being Mortal by Atual Gawande

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20696006-being-mortal

Book read: Better - A surgeons notes on perfomance by Atul Gawande

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213233.Better

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ benchmarks

Interesting benchmarks on the upgraded Model B+

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=raspberrypi-3-bplus&num=1

It's interesting to see what benchmark tools they use

BBC Caroline Wyatt

 Interesting article on Caroline Wyatt a former BBC correspondent with MS:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/caroline_wyatt_multiple_sclerosis

Cisco campus 2015

An article from 2015, but a little tour of the Cisco campus.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/secret-places-at-ciscos-headquarters-2015-10

It looks glorious, but it's a dystopia - there is a large gap between how things are and how things are portrayed.

It does feel like a lot of money wasted, a "300 strong" disaster relief team doing work for free, feels like excessive advertising - more good could be done by donating money when disaster strikes!