Nine new AWS Public Datasets are now available for researchers and developers interested in machine learning, environmental science, geospatial, astronomy, cybersecurity, and housing. 

AWS Step Functions is now available in AWS China (Ningxia) Region, operated by Ningxia and AWS China (Beijing) Region, operated by Sinnet. AWS Step Functions makes it easier to coordinate the components of distributed systems, serverless applications, and microservices using visual workflows. Building applications from individual components that each perform a discrete function lets you scale and change applications quickly.

Analyze operations now run automatically on your Amazon Redshift tables in the background to deliver improved query performance and optimal use of system resources.

Amazon ElastiCache adds support for Standard Reserved Instances (RI) for M5 and R5 nodes, providing flexible payment options and cost savings to meet your business needs. RIs give you the option to reserve an ElastiCache node for a one- or three-year term including No Upfront, Partial Upfront and All Upfront payment options. 

AWS IoT Core extends support of the Custom Authentication feature to the AWS Mobile SDK for iOS. Now, you can reuse existing authentication mechanisms that you have already invested in to connect iOS devices to AWS IoT Core. You can utilize bearer token authentication strategies, such as OAuth, to connect to AWS IoT Core, and not rely on a X.509 certificate as the means to connect iOS devices.

You can now log user actions taken in AWS Elemental MediaLive using AWS CloudTrail . When CloudTrail is enabled, you can access a comprehensive log of all public API calls made to MediaLive through the AWS Management Console, AWS SDKs, or the AWS Command Line Interface, providing an audit of actions for troubleshooting.

AWS Cloud9, a cloud-based integrated development environment (IDE) that lets you write, run, and debug your code with just a browser, is now integrated with AWS CloudTrail, enabling you to more easily track changes made to Cloud9. CloudTrail captures these changes and delivers the log files to an Amazon S3 bucket you specify, giving you visibility into Cloud9 environment creation and deletion.

My reason for getting a filament-style 3D printer was to make a bicycle lamp, based on ideas that had been settling for one to be printed by a commercial selective laser scintering (SLS) service. And what fun I have had for £100 (plus £30 for printing filament) – far more than I envisaged – although …

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Couldn’t resist mentioning one more thing about 3D printing. My little printer has a malady that afflicts even some quite expensive printers – z-wobble. The z-axis of a 3D printer is the vertical axis, so to travel in the z-direction is to move through the layers rather than along them. Z-wobble is usually spotted when …

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Survey reveals that there is at least a psychological effect, if not a biological one, in the workplace