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When AWSs US-East-1 region went dark in late October, followed just a week later by a Microsoft Azure outage, it was yet another stark reminder that even the worlds biggest cloud vendors are not immune to failures. A simple DNS failure in AWSs Route 53 rippled outward, knocking out applications, disrupting database services, and reminding us how dependent our tech infrastructure has become on a handful of cloud regions. With an inadvertent tenant configuration change, the Azure outage further highlighted the instability of some of these systems, once again demonstrating how small changes can have quite a large impact. With CyberCube estimating that the cost of the AWS outage could run between $38 and $581 million, the economic and operational toll of that outage cant be overstated. Thats especially true for smaller and midsize organizations that lack the resources to absorb multi-hour or multi-day downtime. For many businesses, this latest disruption exposed the hidden cost of cloud centralization: When one region falters, everything can grind to a halt. Outages are inevitable. Even AWSs own CTO has said as much: Systems will fail, so they must be architected to expect and withstand failure. Yet too many organizations still design as if the cloud itself is infallible. They assume redundancy, backups, and recovery are baked in automatically and discover far too late that they arent. The good news is that resiliency can be built in before the next failure strikes. PRE-OUTAGE DIVERSIFICATION: DONT WAIT FOR THE NEXT OUTAGE The first line of defense is simple in concept, but hard in execution. You must diversify before disaster strikes. Think of it as an investment portfolio. You wouldnt put all your money into one single account; its spread across a variety of options to give your investment the best chance of success. This means designing for failure across multiple availability zones or regions. AWS even recommends doing so in their AWS Well-Architected” guide. A well-architected system should be able to shift traffic from one region to another (say, US-East-1 to US-West-1) in seconds. Outages rarely take down multiple regions at once, so a multiregion architecture remains one of the most effective defenses against downtime. TURN TO MULTICLOUD AND ELIMINATE WASTEFUL SPEND Some organizations take this even an extra step further, distributing workloads across multiple cloud providers. Multicloud designs offer additional resilience, but they require significant complexity and technical skills, as well as potentially higher costs. The key here is to start small and move only your most critical workloads or control planes into redundancy. Then, once youve evaluated the complexity and costs involved, you can expand. Most companies will find multiregion diversification within a single cloud more practical, but whichever route they choose, the mindset must be the same: Assume something will break, and plan accordingly. Equally critical is identifying and eliminating wasteful technology spend. Not every workload needs to run in the most expensive, high-availability configuration. Through a proper business impact analysis, organizations can align investments with risk, spending where failure would truly hurt the business, and economizing where theyre able. For smaller firms, this understanding of whats mission-critical and what can wait to come back online is key to cost-efficient resiliency. BCDR TO MANAGE DATA CENTER AND NETWORK RESILIENCE If your organization has already diversified across different geographic regions or even different cloud providers, its crucial to recognize resilience does not end with those infrastructure choices. This is where business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plans come into play. Diversification helps reduce exposure. But without a tested plan to respond when things go wrong, even the most well-architected environment can falter. When youre prepared for anything, nothing can phase you. Whatever your organizations BCDR plans may be, an easy way to build your resilience is by testing those plans regularly. Netflix famously uses a tool they refer to as Chaos Monkey that randomly disables production instances to ensure systems can withstand unexpected failures. Theres no telling how or when the Chaos Monkey may strike. By intentionally injecting chaos, teams must build fault-tolerant architectures that can recover quickly and continue operating under stress. This is an extreme example. Smaller organizations can start with once- or twice-yearly tests, refining plans as they grow. Larger organizations may want to run these kinds of tests on a more frequent basis, like quarterly, before following in Netflixs footsteps. Either way, dust off the binder and give that plan an upgrade that accounts for any and every situation. A FORWARD-LOOKING RESILIENCE MINDSET Just as we dont build cities on single bridges, we shouldnt anchor the digital economy on a handful of hyperscaler regions. The recent AWS and Microsoft outages werent the first of their kind, and they certainly wont be the last. The difference between these and the next ones will be how prepared organizations are. The hidden cost of centralization isnt just downtime; its the fragility baked into modern digital systems. If youre not spending money up front in architecting for failures and outages, youll lose out on more in the long run. But with smart architecture and disciplined investment, we can turn past fragility into future resilience and save on costs in the long term. The next outage is not a matter of if, its when. The question is, will you be ready or caught flatfooted? Juan Orlandini is chief technology officer of Insight Enterprises.
Category:
E-Commerce
Melania Trump on Monday unveiled the holiday decorations for her familys first Christmas back at the White House, and her theme is Home Is Where the Heart Is. The decor also nods to next years 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and founding of the United States of America. Several dozen volunteer decorators from across the country helped deck the halls of the Executive Mansion with 75 wreaths, 51 Christmas trees, more than 700 feet (213 meters) of garland, more than 2,000 strands of lights, over 25,000 feet (7,620 meters) of ribbon, over 2,800 gold stars, more than 10,000 butterflies, and 120 pounds (54 kilograms) of gingerbread. A few things are different because President Donald Trump tore down the East Wing to build a ballroom hes long desired. This year, the official White House Christmas tree, which is always on display in the Blue Room, also honors Gold Star familiesthose that lost a member during active-duty military service. That tree was an East Wing fixture and the first one visitors encountered after they entered through those doors, but the building and a covered walkway, or colonnade, connecting it to the White House were demolished by Trump in October as part of his ballroom plan. Public tours, which had been suspended because of the construction, are to resume on Tuesday, but with a shorter route limited to just the State Floor, which includes the East Room; the Green, Blue and Red Rooms; the State Dining Room; the Cross Hall; and the Grand Foyer. The Library and the Vermeil and China Rooms on the Ground Floorone level below the State Floorwere cut from the tour route because of the construction. The White House expects tens of thousands of visitors for holiday tours, receptions, and parties before Christmas. Visitors will now enter through the North Portico doors on Pennsylvania Avenue using a new, semipermanent walkway and entrance. A statement from the White House said that Christmas is a time to celebrate what makes the U.S. exceptional and that, while every home has its own traditions, shared values unite Americans. In every community, we are lifted by simple acts of kindness that reflect the enduring American spirit of generosity, patriotism, and gratitude, the statement said. These moments remind us that the heart of America is strong and that ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is.’ Planning for the holidays starts months in advance, and the White House said Melania Trump chose every detail of the decor. Trees in the East Room are trimmed in patriotic red, white, and blue, and with national symbols, including golden eagle tree toppers, to highlight America’s upcoming 250th national celebration. The official White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room is decorated with gold stars honoring families that lost a member in the line of active-duty military service. The official tree traditionally recognizes each state and territory, and this years fir is decorated with ornaments showcasing the official bird and flower of each. The Green Room celebrates family fun, featuring large portraits of the first and the current presidents, George Washington and Donald Trump, respectively, each made from more than 6,000 Lego puzzle pieces. Thousands of blue butterflies decorate the Red Room and its tree in a celebration of young people and in tribute to Melania Trumps “Fostering the Future” initiative, which is part of her “Be Best” child-focused initiative, to support people who have been in foster care. A holiday highlight, the gingerbread White House on display in the State Dining Room shows off the mansions South Portico and offers a special glimpse into the Yellow Oval Room, a sitting room off the Truman Balcony in the presidents private living quarters on the second floor. It was made using 120 pounds (54 kilograms) of gingerbread; 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of pastillage, a sugar-based modelling paste; over 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of chocolate; and 5 pounds (2.2 kilograms) of royal icing. Part of the White House creche is on display in the Grand Foyer while the rest of it is undergoing a restoration overseen by the curators office. Most of the tree trimming and hall decking was done after the Trumps decamped to their Florida home early last week for the Thanksgiving holiday. They returned to the White House on Sunday. By Darlene Superville, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
The office is now officially the second most popular spot for swiping on dating apps, after home. Thats according to the latest survey from dating app Hily, as 74% of Gen Z and 92% of millennial daters admit to swiping on dating apps while at work. The survey says 45% of Gen Z and 57% of millennials swipe during lunchand 3% of Gen Z and 5% of millennials have no shame swiping through Zoom meetings. Dating itself is a full-time job. According to dating statistics from eharmony, around 80 million people in the U.S. are now using dating apps or websitesor about 30% of the adult population. A 2023 Pew Research Center report found that one in 10 partnered adults met their significant other on a dating app, and the numbers are even higher for young people. Swiping on company time is nothing new. Back in 2017, Tinder launched a Desk Mode feature that enables users to disguise their swiping on a work computer, switching the screen to a fake chart titled Meeting Notes, just in case the boss is nearby. The downsides of swiping at work, however, is the increased location-based likelihood of stumbling across one of your single colleagues’ profiles. (It is decidedly less sexy to swipe right on a colleague from across the room than to catch eyes over the coffee machine.) The workplace has long been a breeding ground for love and lust, even if HR mostly frowns upon dipping your pen in the company ink. It could be the start of a blossoming office romance, or make your next internal meeting rather uncomfortable. Just as Slack messaging has replaced water cooler banter, dating app conversations have replaced mid-day coffee shop trips or smoke breaks, Hilys relationship expert and clinical psychologist, Dr. Sabrina Romanoff, told Fast Company. Daily work life has always included breaks for socialization and the potential to meet a new partner, it’s just become more efficient, digital, and streamlined, just as our work has evolved in this direction. Romanoff doesnt see this as much different from replying to texts, or taking a cursory scroll on social media throughout the day, as long as people are able to compartmentalize these interactions, she said. And can easily shift back into work mode when they close the app. One third of dating app users have even turned to the apps to leverage professional or career-related reasons in the last year, like networking or angling for referrals, according to a new ResumeBuilder.com survey. Nearly 1 in 10 cited it as their main reason for using the apps, as the lines between work and life continue to blur. Even if you dont end up finding the one on company time, you at least might land a new LinkedIn connection as a consolation.
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E-Commerce
Starbucks will pay about $35 million to more than 15,000 New York City workers to settle claims it denied them stable schedules and arbitrarily cut their hours, city officials announced Monday. The company will also pay $3.4 million in civil penalties under the agreement with the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. It also agrees to comply with the city’s Fair Workweek Law going forward. A company spokeswoman said Starbucks is committed to operating responsibly and in compliance with all applicable local laws and regulations in every market where it does business, but also noted the complexities of the citys law. This [law] is notoriously challenging to manage, and this isnt just a Starbucks issue. Nearly every retailer in the city faces these roadblocks, spokeswoman Jaci Anderson said. Most of the affected employees who held hourly positions will receive $50 for each week worked from July 2021 through July 2024, the department said. Workers who experienced a violation after that may be eligible for compensation by filing a complaint with the department. The $38.9 million settlement also guarantees employees laid off during recent store closings in the city will get the chance for reinstatement at other company locations. The city began investigating in 2022 after receiving dozens of worker complaints against several Starbucks locations, and eventually expanded its investigation to the hundreds of stores in the city. The probe found that most Starbucks employees never got regular schedules and the company routinely reduced employees hours by more than 15%, making it difficult for staffers to know their regular weekly earnings and plan for other commitments, such as child care, education, or other jobs. The company also routinely denied workers the chance to pick up extra shifts, leaving them involuntarily in part-time status, according to the city. The agreement with New York comes as Starbucks union continues a nationwide strike at dozens of locations that began last month. The number of affected stores and the strike’s impact remain in dispute by the two sides.
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E-Commerce
Cat Murphy, a college student, has wanted to be a journalist since she was 11. Many of her friends don’t understand why. When they engage with the news if they do they hear a cacophony of voices. They don’t know who to believe. Reporters are biased. They make mistakes. Besides, why would you hitch your future to a dying industry? There is a lot of commentary Oh, good for you. Look what youre walking into. You’re going to be screaming into the void. You’re going to be useless,’ said Murphy, a 21-year-old graduate student at the University of Maryland’s journalism school. She is undeterred. And it’s also why she’s not surprised by the findings of a study this fall that documented negative attitudes toward the news media among 13- to 18-year-old Americans. The press rarely fares well in surveys of adults, but it’s sobering to see the same disdain among people whose opinions about the world are still forming. Words to describe the news media today Asked by the News Literacy Project for one word to describe today’s news media, 84% of teens responded with something negative biased, crazy, boring, fake,” bad,” depressing, confusing, scary. About half of the teens surveyed believe journalists give advertisers special treatment, make up details such as quotes, or pay or do favors for sources always or almost always or often, and about 6 in 10 say journalists regularly take photos and videos out of context. About one-third or less believe that reporters correct errors when they happen, confirm facts before reporting them, gather information from multiple sources or cover stories that help protect the public interest at least often practices ingrained in the DNA of reputable journalists. To some degree, teens reflect the attitudes they’re exposed to, particularly when the most prominent politician of their age has made fake news a mantra. Experts say few teens follow news regularly or learn in school about the purpose of journalism. Journalists don’t help themselves with mistakes or ethical lapses that make headlines. Opinionated reporters or commentators in an era of political division make readers wonder what to believe. Some of this (attitude) is earned, but much of it is based on misperception, said Peter Adams, senior vice president of research and design for the Washington-based News Literacy Project. Never picking up the news habit There are ways to turn things around, but it will take work. Many of Lily Ogburn’s classmates get their information from social media. Their parents didn’t watch or read news reports as they grew up, so they didn’t pick up the habit, said Ogburn, a senior at Northwestern University’s journalism school. Ogburn is the former editor-in-chief at the well-regarded Daily Northwestern student newspaper. The newspaper’s 2023 reports on alleged hazing and racism within the school’s football program led to the ouster of its coach. Still, she found some students don’t understand the newspaper’s role; they believe it exists to protect people in power rather than hold them accountable. She frequently had to explain what she did to classmates. There’s a lot of mistrust toward journalists, she said. But it has firmed her resolve to stick with the profession. I want to be a journalist that people trust,” Ogburn said, and I want to report news that makes people believe and trust in the media. The news industry’s financial troubles over the past two decades have hollowed out newsrooms and left fewer journalists on duty. Along with not seeing much legitimate journalism, young people frequently don’t experience it through popular culture unlike a previous generation, which learned in detail how Washington Post reporters Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein exposed the Watergate scandal in the Academy Award-winning movie All the President’s Men. When the News Literacy Project asked, two-thirds of teens couldn’t think of anything when asked what movies or TV shows came to mind when they think about journalism. Those who had answers most frequently cited the Spider-Man franchise or the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” Neither portrayal was particularly flattering. Upon retiring as editor of Newsday, Howard Schneider helped develop the State University of New York system’s first School of Journalism. But instead of teaching future writers, editors or producers, he became drawn to teaching non-journalists about being news consumers. Now the executive director of SUNY Stony Brook’s Center for News Literacy, Schneider wasn’t surprised about any of the recent survey’s findings, either. The negativity, the feeling that news is biased, is just a reflection of how their parents feel, Schneider said. The more exposed to news, legitimate news, the more their attitudes turn positive. He has developed news literacy programs for school districts. Students will say, I get my news from YouTube, he said. I say, ‘No, you don’t,'” and explains where the news originates and how to be discerning about what they see. Lessons from a news literacy class That’s one of the lessons that 16-year-old Brianne Boyack has taken from her course in news literacy at Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. She had little trust in news going in, but has learned the importance of double-checking sources when she sees something interesting and seeking outlets she’s found reliable. Her classmate, Rhett MacFarlane, applied what he learned in class to investigate when a friend told him the Louvre was robbed in Paris. I’ve learned that there is definitely fact-checking (in journalism), MacFarlane, also 16, told The Associated Press. You guys are professionals and you have to tell the truth or you’d be fired. I thought you guys just did whatever you wanted and chose what to say about a topic. Still, news literacy programs in schools are relatively rare. Schools already have a lot of subjects to cover to prepare students for the future. And, remember, journalists don’t have the best reputations. It can be hard for educators to stick their necks out for them. There’s an inertia here, Schneider said, and this is an urgent issue. At the University of Maryland, Murphy said she didn think there was an inherent hatred toward journalists among her fellow students. They dont have any experience reading journalism, she said. That’s where she sees the journalism industry needing to make more of an effort. One of the things she finds most frustrating about her chosen field is a resistance to change, particularly an unwillingness or inability to make meaningful use of social media. Theres very little movement in the direction of going to where people are, as opposed to expecting them to come to where you are, Murphy said. The only way to turn it around is going to be to switch to doing things that captivate people today, as opposed to captivating people 20 years ago. David Bauder, AP media writer
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E-Commerce