Weekly Cloud Info #W46 - 2024

November 15, 2024

Hi!

This week's cloud highlights: Amazon DynamoDB slashes on-demand and global tables pricing by half, while introducing warm throughput for proactive capacity management. Google and OpenAI make strides in AI with conversational search and an autonomous agent, and AWS adds new control policies for resource access management.

Have a great read. ☕

📰 Top picks of the week

Amazon DynamoDB lowers pricing for on-demand throughput and global tables by half

Two major price reductions by Amazon DynamoDB: a 50% reduction in pricing for on-demand throughput, and up to a 67% reduction in pricing for global tables.

Amazon DynamoDB introduces warm throughput for tables and indexes

Warm throughput and pre-warming for tables and indexes. Warm throughput provides visibility into the number of read and write operations a DynamoDB table can readily handle, while pre-warming allows you to proactively increase the throughput capacity to meet future traffic demands.

Amazon introduced Resource Control Policies (RCPs), a new type of authorization policy in AWS Organizations

This article introduces resource control policies (RCPs), a new type of authorization policy in AWS Organizations that can restrict external access to resources at scale.

AWS introduces service versioning and deploymet history for Amazon ECS services

Amazon ECS now enables users to view service revision and deployment history for long-running applications, simplifying tracking and troubleshooting deployments.

With the new listServiceDeployments API and AWS Console, users can monitor deployment details, including timestamps and revision information.

Additionally, they can access specific service version configurations through the describeServiceRevision API.

This feature is available for deployments after October 25, 2024, across all AWS regions.

Amazon CloudFront no longer charges for requests blocked by AWS WAF

Effective October 25, 2024, all CloudFront requests blocked by AWS WAF are free of charge.

With this change, CloudFront customers will never incur request fees or data transfer charges for requests blocked by AWS WAF.

This update requires no changes to your applications and applies to all CloudFront distributions using AWS WAF.

Microsoft Azure AKS Advanced Container Networking Services is now GA

Microsoft’s Advanced Container Networking Services provides deep network observability and advanced security, including granular policies and DNS-level controls via Cilium, enabling improved troubleshooting, secure communications, and consistent performance. Organizations like H&M Group and Ferrovial use these tools to manage network traffic, enhance security, and streamline issue resolution within Kubernetes environments.

Google is testing a feature for real-time conversations within Search

In response to OpenAI's ChatGPT Search, Google is testing a new real-time, conversational voice-to-search feature in its app, allowing users to ask follow-up questions without restarting the process. This update enhances Google's existing voice-to-search by making it contextual and continuous, delivering AI-powered summaries and links for each query.

Although not yet publicly available, this feature reflects Google’s efforts to stay competitive in AI-powered search.

Google Cloud deepens its commitment to security and transparency with expanded CVE program

Google Cloud is enhancing transparency by issuing CVEs for critical vulnerabilities in its products, even when customer action isn’t required.

This step supports software security by allowing customers, enterprises, and government agencies to track vulnerabilities effectively.

A new “exclusively-hosted-service” tag will clarify when Google Cloud vulnerabilities don’t require customer action.

Google Cloud's CISO emphasizes their commitment to proactive security measures to help counter threats across the IT ecosystem.

Mistral launches a moderation API

Mistral’s new moderation API, powered by the Ministral 8B model, categorizes text in nine safety areas for customizable, scalable moderation.

While highly accurate, it’s still a work in progress and may carry inherent biases. Mistral also launched a batch API for 25% cost savings on high-volume requests.

The company continues collaborating with clients and researchers to enhance AI safety standards.

OpenAI is launching an AI agent that can do work for people

OpenAI is developing an AI agent, codenamed “Operator,” that can perform tasks like coding and travel booking on behalf of users, to be released as a research preview and API.

They are also working on a tool to execute tasks within a web browser.

Microsoft’s Copilot AI and Meta’s AI Studio similarly focus on autonomous agents, with leaders envisioning AI assistants integrated across businesses.

OpenAI also recently enabled web search in ChatGPT, offering conversational responses with linked sources.

❤️ You might also like

  • Microsoft is a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Application Platform LINK

  • Google DeepMind releases AlphaFold 3 for scientific use LINK

  • Announcing new APIs for Amazon Location Service Routes, Places, and Maps LINK

  • Hugging face smol-tools, a collection of lightweight AI-powered tools LINK

  • Amazon confirms employee data exposed in leak linked to MOVEit vulnerability LINK

  • Amazon ready to use its own AI chips, reduce its dependence on Nvidia. LINK

🎁 This week hidden gem

22 O’Reilly Coding Cookbooks worth over $1000 for around $20 right now through Humble’s Book Bundle and support charity LINK

Send “GIFT” to [email protected] to receive all of this month's hidden gems within next 2 hours.

🏁 Enjoy this newsletter?

Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.