Ben Thompson, writing at Stratchery:

This is the bet: while in the 1990s the complexity of the Internet made it difficult for businesses to go online, providing an opening for IBM to sell solutions, today IBM argues the reduction of cloud computing to three centralized providers makes businesses reluctant to commit to any one of them. IBM is betting it can again provide the solution, combining with Red Hat to build products that will seamlessly bridge private data centers and all of the public clouds.

IBM believes their play to staying relevant in the “cloud” era, if you’ll call it that, is to acquire RedHat. Good luck to them. The tweets about the acquisition are fantastic:

"Bureaucratic, old-school legacy software vendor which survives on services revenues in massive acquisition shock as it is purchased by IBM" – @lproven

— David Gerard (@davidgerard) October 29, 2018

Dear Red Hat staff, congrats on your new home in IBM. This IBM memo may be useful.

"Do not interact with [CEO] Ginni or the group unless they approach you first. This means no selfies, no bathroom run-ins, elevator pitches, or water fountain soirees…"https://t.co/40bBw3rSSt

— The Register (@TheRegister) October 28, 2018

Thanks to Jason Kottke, I came across CBC Uncover: Escaping NXIVM:

NXIVM calls itself a humanitarian community. Experts call it a cult. Uncover: Escaping NXIVM is an investigative podcast series about the group, its leader Keith Raniere and one woman’s journey to get out.

This is a great podcast and if you liked Serial, Making a Murderer, and others like it, definitely check it out. It’s available on just about every podcast platform you can think of.

Netflix comes at us with a new tale about Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. Coming November 9th to the service and select theaters, this is Outlaw King. 

As a part of his latest special, 100% Fresh, out now on Netflix, Adam Sandler drops a beat on about what most of us carry always: a phone, wallet, and keys.

Killer reporting from Daisuke Wakabayashi and Katie Benner over at The New York Times:

Mr. Rubin was one of three executives that Google protected over the past decade after they were accused of sexual misconduct. In two instances, it ousted senior executives, but softened the blow by paying them millions of dollars as they departed, even though it had no legal obligation to do so. In a third, the executive remained in a highly compensated post at the company. Each time Google stayed silent about the accusations against the men.

Shocker. However you interpret this, Rubin denied the coercion on Twitter, but not the payments.

The article goes into detail about a host of other accounts too:

In 2013, Richard DeVaul, a director at Google X, the company’s research and development arm, interviewed Star Simpson, a hardware engineer. During the job interview, she said he told her that he and his wife were “polyamorous,” a word often used to describe an open marriage. She said he invited her to Burning Man, an annual festival in the Nevada desert, the following week.

Um, creepy?

At Mr. DeVaul’s encampment, Ms. Simpson said, he asked her to remove her shirt and offered a back rub. She said she refused. When he insisted, she said she relented to a neck rub.

“I didn’t have enough spine or backbone to shut that down as a 24-year-old,” said Ms. Simpson, now 30.

A few weeks later, Google told her she did not get the job, without explaining why.

…She said the official asked her to stay quiet about what had happened, which she did — until Mr. DeVaul’s public profile began rising in articles in The New York Times and The Atlantic.

I don’t want to spoil too much of this. Just read it. It’s really good.