web services

One of the safest and simplest computer-security measures available is also one of the least used. Two-factor authentication adds a layer of protection to the standard password method of online identification. The technique is easy, relatively quick, and free. So, what's the problem?

Critics are quick to point out the shortcomings of two-factor authentication: it usually requires a USB token, phone, or other device that's easy to lose; you sacrifice some privacy by having to disclose your telephone number to a third party; and it is subject to man-in-the-middle and other browser- and app-based attacks.

Still, for online … Read more

Amazon has posted an apology for a disruption in its cloud services that hobbled Netflix's streaming services on Christmas Eve and said it is taking steps to prevent future disruptions.

Although Amazon's explanation of the outage didn't identify Netflix by name, the streaming service blamed Amazon Web Services last week for an outage that affected "many but not all devices" across the Americas.

"We want to apologize," Seattle-based Amazon said in its statement. "We know how critical our services are to our customers' businesses, and we know this disruption came at an … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- Just minutes ago, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos likened Amazon Web Services to everything from Toyota's lean manufacturing methods to something slightly closer to home: the Kindle Fire business model.

Bezos took to the stage with Amazon CTO Werner Vogels here at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent conference, acknowledging that retail is a low-margin business and insisting that he's sticking to that game plan with AWS. "High margins cover a lot of sins," Bezos said. "We wouldn't know how to do a high-margin business. Low margins keep you aligned with … Read more

Amazon is suing its former Amazon Web Services sales chief after he moved to Google, a purveyor of rival cloud goodness.

The online retailer turned tablet maker and cloud giant filed suit against Daniel Powers in mid-October, claiming that his move to Google violates a noncompete clause in his employment agreement that prevents him from working for the competition for 18 months after leaving Amazon. Amazon also claims the move to Google violates his severance package of $325,000.

According to Powers' LinkedIn profile and the lawsuit, he worked at IBM for two decades before taking over its cloud computing … Read more

People who know me know I don't like paying for anything. If there's a free (or at least cheaper) alternative, you can bet I'll take it. I am, after all, a cheapskate.

That said, there are a handful of Web services I consider to be great values -- so great, in fact, that I actually don't mind paying for them. Well, OK, I'd rather get them for free, but they don't make me cringe the way I do when paying for, say, phone service and cable TV.

My three worth-the-money picks:

1. Followupthen

I'… Read more

The first time I heard someone say "Everybody has a book in them," I recommended that they see a doctor right away.

At least that explains all those books I've read that appear to have traveled through the author's colon. Writing can be painful, but there are limits.

Lots of people have unpublished novels and other book-length documents sitting forlornly on their hard drive, waiting and waiting for an audience. If your magnum opus (or even half-pint opus) is a Word document that's ready for the world to fall in love with, give the free … Read more

Amazon Web Services' prolonged down time over the weekend was caused by lightning, according to the company -- but was lengthened by software bugs in the cloud provider's infrastructure.

The bugs, disclosed by Amazon in an analysis of the failure, show how the size at which cloud providers operate can make them acutely vulnerable to failures in their software systems -- and acts as an object lesson of Google's statement that "at scale, everything breaks."

According to Amazon, its cloud in its U.S. East region (10 data centers split across four availability zones) was … Read more

Parts of Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered an outage on Thursday that led to a spread of high-profile sites clocking off the Web for the evening.

Amazon was quick to update its cloud status -- its first update at 8:50 p.m. PT -- stating the problems were due to a power outage in a Virginia data center.

At 3:26 a.m. PT Friday, the company said that the problem had been resolved and that service was again operating normally. It also advised: "Customers with impaired volumes may still need to follow the instructions above to recover … Read more

Developers who use Amazon's Web Services now have a new way to bring search into their applications.

Launched today in beta mode, CloudSearch offers a full-blown search service in the cloud that developers can build into their apps. Using the AWS Management Console, developers create a search domain, upload the data that they want searchable, and then CloudSearch indexes the content, according to Amazon.

Like other cloud-based services, CloudSearch is also scalable, so it can expand as the amount of data increases. Developers can also tweak key settings and parameters without having to upload the data again.

Amazon's … Read more