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As if it weren’t already a breeze to spend money on Amazon, the retail giant’s updated Amazon for iPhone app just made it even easier to instantly shell out for wares. The latest version of Amazon Mobile, 1.2.8, contains a barcode scanner in its search screen. As with barcode scanners in other mobile apps, Amazon [...]

Amazon Web Services has introduced Reserved Database Instances, a new way to pay for its cloud-based Relational Database Service (RDS), the company said on Monday. With Reserved Database Instances, users can make a one-time, up-front payment to reserve a database instance in a specific region for either one or three years, according to Amazon. In [...]

The reported problems Amazon had last week in negotiating a contract with Eli Lilly point to a disconnect between what cloud providers offer and what large enterprises expect — though some analysts say they also reflect a lack of flexibility at Amazon. Last week reports surfaced indicating that Eli Lilly, a marquee customer of Amazon’s [...]

Two men who led one element of Amazon’s successful cloud-computing services have launched their own a start-up called Nimbula focusing on a private version of the technology. Cloud computing takes several forms, but Amazon Web Services generally delivers building blocks available over the Internet that developers can use to construct their own higher-level services. Nimbula, [...]

Amazon Web Services’ content delivery network service CloudFront can now transfer data over an encrypted HTTPS connection, but users will pay more than if they transfer it via HTTP, Amazon said on Monday. CloudFront can be used to distribute all files that can be sent over HTTP, including images, audio, video, media files, or software [...]

Cloud architecture has to be defined in a way that allows applications to move around, or clouds can become the mother of all lock-ins, warned Red Hat’s CEO James Whitehurst. Once users get stuck in something, it’s hard for them to move, Whitehurst said in an interview. The industry has to get in front of [...]

Offering a direct competitor to a widely used Amazon.com service, Google on Wednesday launched an early version of an Internet-based storage system. As with the better established Amazon Web Services (AWS) option called Simple Storage Service (S3), Google Storage for Developers provides a mechanism to tap into data that Google houses and keeps safe and [...]

Amazon Web Services has added a new high-availability feature called Multi-Availability Zone (Multi-AZ) to its cloud-based Relational Database Service (RDS), the company said on Tuesday. The addition of Multi-AZ provides better database availability by automatically configuring a standby copy of the database, which is stored in a different physical location from the original in Amazon’s [...]

If cloud computing services offer the tremendous benefits and flexibility that executives promise, why doesn’t Amazon Web Services (AWS) charge more for them? It’s not just that they may be kind-hearted people: AWS is looking to build economies of scale and set low prices that act as a barrier to entry for new competitors. Service [...]

IBM bolstered its data-integration portfolio Monday, announcing the acquisition of Cast Iron Systems, which focuses on connecting on-premise systems with cloud-based software. Cast Iron’s capabilities will help IBM customers build hybrid clouds that combine on-premise applications, public cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services, and private cloud deployments. Its technology is available as a physical or [...]