service

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

Cell phone providers can be annoying. They do all sorts of unspeakable things like charge us for texts that cost them very little to send.

However, one gentleman seems to have enjoyed an extra level of irritation at the services provided by T-Mobile in the U.K.

I am grateful to TechCrunch for directing me to footage posted on YouTube that shows a gentleman in a T-Mobile store in Manchester, England, who expressed his displeasure a little too aggressively. … Read more

Apple could be changing how its brick-and-mortar stores are laid out, according to a new report.

Apple Store tracker ifoAppleStore.com reported yesterday that Apple is currently testing out a new Genius Bar layout in its stores. Rather than have the table run parallel to the wall at the back of the store, the company is considering turning it 90 degrees to make it perpendicular to that wall.

The blog claims to have obtained an image of the new layout, which shows a table stretched from the back wall, and flanked on two sides with stools. That effectively increases the … Read more

Uber, a company that lets people request private car service in select cities, is trying to appeal to a less-affluent customers by using non-luxury, hybrid vehicles, according to a new report.

According to Uber, which spoke with The New York Times in a story published yesterday, the hybrid service will kick off in San Francisco and New York on Wednesday. The cars will cost customers 10 percent to 25 percent more than a standard taxi fare between two locations. According to the Times, its premium service typically costs customers between 40 percent and 100 percent more.

Uber is one of … Read more

Live in an area prone to flash floods, hurricanes, blizzards? Smartphone users will soon get a severe-weather alert from the National Weather Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The new nationwide emergency alert system, called the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), sends 90-character text messages to smartphones of people facing extreme weather conditions. Severe weather defined by the NOAA includes tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes, extreme wind, blizzards and ice storms, tsunamis, and dust storms. Note that thunderstorms aren't on the list because they occur so frequently. … Read more

Oh good, I can get one second more sleep the night of June 30. In an effort to keep our extremely accurate atomic clocks in line with the more arbitrary nature of the way the world wobbles, we're getting a leap second this weekend.

Sure, it's not as dramatic as what happens during a leap year, but it's still exciting for clock aficionados, science geeks, and time lords. The leap second will be added to Coordinated Universal Time at the end of the day on June 30.… Read more

Verizon has reached a deal with T-Mobile to do an an Advanced Wireless Services spectrum swap, a deal that promises to add much-needed LTE capabilities to T-Mobile's network.

The deal would be dependent on forthcoming Verizon spectrum purchases, currently being scrutinized by the FCC. But, if the deals with SpectrumCo, Cox, and Leap go through, T-Mobile will get its LTE groundwork.

For iPhone users, this deal is particularly interesting, especially if you've already been using Apple's smartphone on T-Mobile's existing HSPA+ network. T-Mobile already offers tremendous support for the iPhone on its network even though it … Read more

Talk has been circulating recently about Google building an Infrastructure as a Service cloud computing platform in the near future. Now, GigaOM is reporting that it's possible the Web giant could be launching this service as soon as next week during the Google I/O developers' conference in San Francisco.

The tech news site is also saying that several people familiar with Google's plans have confirmed that Google will offer its current App Engine and storage with its forthcoming service.

The Web giant's platform will most likely compete with Amazon's EC2 cloud service, but it could … Read more

Amazon's "Amazon Studios" project has announced the first four TV series it will develop: three animated shows and a mockumentary, all of which were pitched by way of the Amazon Studios Web site.… Read more