#innovation

Illumina is cash-rich, yet it continues to cut employee RSUs, benefits, and jobs—not because it lacks funds to reinvest in R&D, but because its CEO and CFO behave like career executives rather than visionary leaders. They run the company like accountants, prioritizing Wall Street expectations, margin commitments, and potentially their own margin-linked stock compensation over employees, innovation, and long-term growth.

Digital Packaging was the next big evolution for X. New vertical with high margins and market share opportunities. As with the Ethernet, the mouse, windows ui etc the C Suite quickly cancelled the effort as well as cancelled the igen platform into the ether.

Now former major clients are running completely competitive gear doing digital packaging in addition to their declining base volume with a net growth in volume you.

Think about it. Strong sell.

I am on the outside, i was discarded earlier in the year.

I was just watching the Cisco Live Melbourne key note - i enjoy self flagellation

Are any of the products real? At my new job could i buy and deploy AgenticOps? Or it is the same vaporware as HyperShield or LizSoft2.0?

All the old-timers seem to be stuck in a modem-era mindset. What else can we expect? No fresh thinking, no new ideas, and no appetite for innovation. It’s always a catch-up game, following what other companies are doing and staying 3–4 years behind the competition.

How many org models does it take for us to realize maybe the same leaders who have been here for twenty years don’t get want people want to wear anymore

Zero innovation. Everyone just works on improving what has already been done.

ExxonMobil turned an oil refinery byproduct into a drilling breakthrough… then some wells produced 20% more oil - my take

ExxonMobil has developed a new drilling technique that could significantly increase the amount of oil recovered from America's shale formations. By transforming petroleum coke, a byproduct of oil refining, into lightweight grains used during hydraulic fracturing, the company aims to keep more underground fractures open and release additional trapped oil.

According to the video, the technology has been used in more than 100 wells in the Permian Basin, with some tests showing recovery improvements of up to 20%.

The video also explores America's record oil production, longer horizontal wells and how the Trump administration is seeking to expand U.S. energy exports and influence in global markets.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/exxonmobil-turned-an-oil-refinery-byproduct-into-a-drilling-breakthrough-then-some-wells-produced-20-more-oil-my-take

T-Mobile US hunts for engineers as humanoid efforts broaden

https://www.sdxcentral.com/news/t-mobile-us-hunts-for-engineers-as-humanoid-efforts-broaden/

Still working like it is 1990s.

Ford CEO Jim Farley says the company's next generation of electric vehicle technology could give Ford a significant efficiency advantage over Chinese automaker BYD.

Speaking during Ford's Q3 2026 earnings call on October 29, Farley claimed that Ford's new electric motors, gearboxes and inverters are approximately 30% more efficient than BYD's.

According to Farley, the improvements are part of Ford's efforts to develop more efficient electric powertrains while keeping vehicle costs under control.

The potential impact goes beyond efficiency. Higher powertrain efficiency could allow Ford to achieve competitive driving range with smaller battery packs, potentially reducing one of the biggest costs of manufacturing electric vehicles.

Farley's comments also come as Ford prepares to introduce its new Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) platform, which is expected to underpin the upcoming Ford Fathom, an electric midsize pickup with a starting price of $28,350 in the United States.

Cisco chief found a 27-year-old ex-founder ‘buried away in the organization doing something unstrategic’—now the Gen Zer is rewriting 98% of its code"

https://fortune.com/2026/10/30/cisco-president-jeetu-patel-gen-z-27-year-old-unlimited-ai-tokens-rewrite-legacy-code-entry-level-jobs/

Anyone else exhausted by the endless LinkedIn parade of “So excited!” “So refreshed!” “Feeling energized about the future!”?

At this point, it’s almost comical. Same tired narrative. Same recycled buzzwords. Same leadership speeches. Different day.

Dear B and the entire chorus of executives who seem to love hearing themselves talk:

For the love of God, stop talking and START DOING.

Employees are tired of broken promises, broken systems, and being told brighter days are ahead while watching money pour into AI initiatives designed to reduce the very workforce that built the company. And real talk every cost saving measure you try well hmmm hasn’t worked yet.

How many years does it take to figure this out?

You refinanced the debt. Congratulations. But refinancing debt isn't fixing a business. Where's the innovation? Where's the growth? Where's the strategy that actually sets you apart?

Instead, it's the same playbook. Watch what Aya does. Watch what AMN does. Copy, paste, repackage, and call it visionary leadership.

That's not innovation. That's imitation with a fancy title.

Meanwhile, executives are traveling, attending conferences, posting about how inspired and invigorated they feel, and celebrating their latest leadership revelations.

How wonderful for them.

But what about the people doing the actual work? The people trying to sell a product, navigate broken systems, retain relationships, and keep the business moving while leadership continues to confuse motivational speeches with measurable results?

Here's the uncomfortable truth: A title doesn't make you valuable. Results do.

And when the dust settles, the same executives preaching loyalty and resilience will polish their résumés, leverage those impressive titles, and move on to their next opportunity. Another company. Another transformation. Another chance to dismantle what someone else worked years to build.

At its core, staffing is a sales business. You have to sell your service, your people, your relationships, and your value.

And frankly, if the company is struggling, maybe it's time to ask why the people at the top aren't successfully selling any of it.

Employees aren't asking for another inspirational LinkedIn post. They're asking for competent leadership, functional systems, meaningful investment in people, and a strategy that produces something other than another round of applause in the boardroom.

Talk is cheap. Apparently, so is the value placed on the people who built Medical Solutions.

And to the employees still holding everything together: don't confuse loyalty to your coworkers with an obligation to remain loyal to leadership that hasn't earned it.

Because when the ship starts sinking, don't assume the people telling you to keep rowing are planning to stay aboard. How many have sailed off already???

I'm not too close to this product. After seeing the overhype for clover and the seemingly total misunderstanding of the market it plays in by management, is commerce hub going to be better? Have heard mixed things so far internally but Im atleast relieved they're moving more towards ecommerce as opposed to in store payments with clover

Watching live NetSuite SuiteWorld. Awesome AI enabled features. NetSuite's pride, competitors envy! No more layoffs in NetSuite BU.

https://youtu.be/2Q1UG9wYgc0?is=6ndF0M5KPe2Mmy6c

Our boss has been nonstop stalking about the mistakes of the past while his own focus for two plus yrs has been all commerce and transactional - selling to wholesale, as many running shoes as he can (like Vomero 18 which was created 2-3 yrs ago). Now thinks the answer is more layoffs and offshoring while ushering in leaders from Walmart, dr-g companies, McDonalds and more. There a reason the stock's in the 30s. No belief in the company's FUTURE looking vision. Focus needs to shift fast to the consumer, innovative product, and inspiring across sport culture, or we only go down more from here.

Yann LeCun could replace Amazon's ENTIRE AGI division with agents. Think about it... Swami has only been doing AI for the past 9 years with a limited academic background in AI. And AI still hasn't delivered on its promises!

American Express is reducing its global workforce by 5%. This amounts to approximately 3,840 job losses. The company cited a need for greater agility and efficiency. These changes are intended to accelerate innovation. The layoffs are a direct result of integrating artificial intelligence systems.

New York, New York

https://www.fastcompany.com/91629156/american-express-layoffs-today-amex-slashes-jobs-ai-push

It is very unfortunate that the culture of US bank is eroding, they are laying off 50-100 employees every month consistently and sometimes more to stay under the radar.This means existing employees are very insecure and just trying to survive vs. doing their best work. A lot of layoffs about 93% are lower level employees who do all the work, the upper management is very disconnected with what's going on at the ground level.I somewhat respect Gunjan's leadership and vision but she has no idea what the 1 and 2 level down are doing, the leaderhip needs a complete overhaul.
it is a good bank and the effect of how they are managing it today will show up in the next 1-2 year. Instead of doing the right thing and being ethical and focusing on the customer, they are only interested in reducing expenses and not in a pragmatic manner and at some point when innovation, customer service and obsession erodes completely, it will show in the results.

With so much push on AI how will the software solutions like idrac Vrail PPDM survive? Are they advancing and moving forward? Customers happy?

A software company has recently reduced its workforce, occurring shortly after announcing an increased focus on artificial intelligence. This move is seen as a potential real-world demonstration of AI's impact on employment. The company previously held an "AI Week" to train employees on new technologies. Last month, it also acquired another AI-focused firm to accelerate innovation. The exact number of employees affected by these layoffs has not been disclosed.

Colchester, Vermont

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/a-colchester-tech-firm-has-been-leaning-into-ai-on-tuesday-it-announced-layoffs/

Compare this to people from NVIDIA, Anthoropic, OpenAI, and Grok discussing AI with these persons invited by OT at OT World 2026. I know one thing: they are unfamiliar with artificial intelligence.

They continue to use the old definition of AI. One suggestion they made was to regulate or audit/monitor these AI. If you look at what NVIDIA CEO mentioned yesterday.

"There's nothing to regulate if the industry doesn't thrive."
"You can't regulate if there's no technology."
"We should be regulating the applications right away."

Time has passed the Copper Cone Heads........
Time has passed the Fiber Fanatics.......
Stankey still running plays from the 1980s.......
ATT is The Sears of Communications......

For those of us who have not been there. What exactly is this other than office space and people? The video promos make it look very futuristic, cutting hedge CIA/MI5 type vibe, keen to understand what it looks and feels like and is it locked down, restricted access etc and as military grade as they are making out.

https://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-president-jeetu-patel-personal-ai-agents-cancel-subscriptions-2026-10

Maintenance guy’s perspective here...

Pepsi Blue. MTN DEW Flamin’ Hot. Clearly somebody at Pepsi isn’t afraid to start pulling tools out of the toolbox.

And honestly, I like that.

Big brands have to experiment. Not everything is going to work, but I’d rather see a brand keep trying new things than just keep turning the same pricing and promotion knobs.

Sometimes the fix is simple.

Sometimes you’re 5 trips to Home Depot in and still trying to figure it out.

https://x.com/news2082680/status/2109856659099271249?s=46

#NVIDIA teams up with #Cisco to develop a 400G-per-lane optical transceiver module and opens Vera Rubin rack designs at OCP.

Kaumil Gajrawala
Analyst, Jefferies LLC Q
Hey, everybody. First of all, Jamie, thank you for all your help over the, I guess, what's now been decades. And
Ramon, a question on the asset base and sort of following on with some of the answers to your questions on one
North America maybe being regional, a focus on agility, a focus on being fast. A lot going on in terms of
innovation and rightsizing. To what degree are you open to the idea of franchising some of these operations on
the beverage side, particularly maybe just from a regional perspective because it feels like many of the intentions
of what you're looking to accomplish, some of could be moved along by pushing sort of a re-franchising initiative.
So curious what you think about that. Thanks.
.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Ramon L. Laguarta
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo, Inc. A
Yeah, listen, we are – Kaumil, as I said, we're going after growth and margin with high speed and a very strong
sense of urgency. We are – at this point, we're open to all the ideas and we appreciate all the perspectives to
create shareholder value. So we'll listen, we'll do what's best for PepsiCo.

https://investor.pepsico.com/docs/default-source/investors/q3-2025/q3-2025-pep_transcript_kza87jr4cih3omqu.pdf

When Shell was still Dutch it wasn’t perfect either. People always looked out for their own but the culture was better: less brutal when it came to reorgs, more care for people and a lot more innovation and entrepreneurship instead of just cutting cost. Shell has definitely gotten worse since the center of gravity shifted from the Netherlands to London. Looking back though, hiring your own isn’t a Dutch trait. Everyone does it, with India now leading the pack.

That's the new thing!

https://nypost.com/2026/10/16/business/elon-musks-three-word-reaction-after-unveiling-tesla-roadster-flying-car-that-hits-60-mph-in-under-a-second/

This is what innovation is all about. Wow.

Tesla stock will hit $500 per share by year end.

Build a flying car

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Deien_7ONHV/?psln=dWtneWFkNG5nYXB5

Seriously, we think “spectrum” is our moat? Good luck.

🤭

🤭

I guess that'd be the only way to survive. Anyone up for building a rocket?

After a long hiatus, this sh1t is coming back to the factories again. The senior leadersh1t is running our of ideas and restarting old programs.

I think culture can hurt the bottom line by making a large organization slower, more expensive, and less willing to challenge its own assumptions. I don’t think this is uniquely a Comcast problem, or necessarily anything nefarious. It is a natural challenge for any huge and complex organization. Successful companies accumulate processes, structures, and expertise that made sense at the time, but eventually those same things can become difficult to question or unwind.

There is also a huge disconnect between calling ourselves a “technology company” but operating with the risk tolerance of a behemoth/incumbent. Being a technology company means experimenting, taking calculated risks, failing fast when appropriate, and being willing to challenge established thinking. We obviously cannot operate like a Silicon Valley startup given the scale and critical nature of our network, but there is a difference between being appropriately cautious about operational risk and being culturally resistant to questioning the business itself - which is the single biggest culture issue we have now with tenured leaders who have been on a journey of building a media/distribution giant for a decade plus.

You can see the financial impact in our product strategy. We have built a premium, highly engineered product and cost structure in a market where many customers increasingly value simplicity, reliability, and price. Customers do not necessarily care how advanced the underlying technology is. They want internet that works, supports Netflix and FaceTime, and does not cost a fortune. That helps explain why fixed wireless, satellite, and other lower-cost options are gaining ground.

The result is ultimately an economics problem. Entrenched structures, long development cycles, territorial thinking, and a reluctance to challenge established assumptions can make us slower and more expensive while limiting our ability to respond to the market. There are probably opportunities to simplify the product and pricing strategy and rethink what we should build internally versus outsource, but doing that requires some uncomfortable examination of how and why we operate the way we do.

That is not an argument that Comcast has a uniquely bad culture or that everyone needs to start acting like a startup. It is an argument that organizational inertia has a real economic cost, even when it comes from reasonable decisions and nobody is acting with bad intent. If we want to compete as a technology company, we need more room for experimentation, calculated risk, and challenging the status quo/entrenched mindsets. Otherwise, the cost of the culture hits revenue, margin, and market share.

Perfectly said, @br+1m2dfa4bq.

What will happen to Quantum Laureates once it becomes a commodity. How will they be absorbed in margin pressured healthcare sector. It will be fun to watch all these Harvard/MIT inventors getting canned.