This Week I Learned - Week #281

This Week I Learned -

* Entity group transactions provide Azure Table with a limited form of the atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability (ACID) semantics provided by relational databases.

* Every Azure subscription has default CPU quotas: 1) Total virtual processors per region 2) Number of virtual processors per series in a region. You can see your usage versus the limits under Subscriptions > [Subscriptionb] > Usage + Quotas.

Azure reservations helps you save money by pre-paying for one-year or three-years of virtual machine or SQL Database compute capacityCustomers with active Software Assurance can save up to 55 percent (on region, instance size, and performance tier) using Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server with the new vCore-based purchasing model in SQL Database. Azure reservations don't auto-renew.

* Besides AWS EC2, Reserved Pricing applies to 6 other AWS Services - RDS, DynamoDB, CloudFront, ElastiCache, RedShift, Elastic MapReduce

Google Cloud Datastore is a highly-scalable NoSQL database which supports ACID transactions

You can have up to 2000 RBAC role assignments in each subscription.

Google API Explorer can be used to view & test Google services offered as APIs

* The native git transport uses TCP port 9418. However, git can also run over ssh (often used for pushing), http, https, and less often others. For ssh:// , default port is 22 while for git:// , the default port is 9418

* Google's list of open source projects is pretty big

Apple and Google launched their app stores in 2008, and they soon grew into powerful marketplaces that matched the creations of millions of independent developers with billions of smartphone users. In exchange, the companies take up to 30 percent of the money consumers pay developers. For most of the decade, the companies won praise for helping to build an app economy that’s projected to grow to $157 billion in 2022, from $82 billion last year. But more recently, smartphones and apps have become so important for reaching customers that these app stores have been criticized for taking too big a share of the spoils. Rather than supporting innovation, Apple and Google are being talked about as tax collectors inhibiting the flow of dollars between creators and consumers. The companies handle identity and payment details, taking friction out of the sign-up process. Promotion inside their app stores can transform a company’s fortunes overnight. On iPhones in the U.S., Netflix was the No. 1 entertainment app by consumer spend and the most downloaded entertainment app on the Google Play store over the last 90 days, according to App Annie, which tracks the industry. In defense of the app store model, Apple and Google have highlighted their ability to filter out fake apps and malicious software, and to distribute apps widely.  Netflix said it’s testing a way to bypass Apple in-app subscriptions by sending users to its own website. Currently, Netflix users on iPads and iPhones can subscribe via the App Store’s in-app-purchasing system. This makes subscribing simpler, but also gives Apple a 15 percent cut of those subscriptions - Bloomberg

Google’s Alphabet Inc. employs hordes of ...red-badged contract workers in addition to its full-fledged staff , who wear white badges. Earlier this year, those contractors outnumbered direct employees for the first time in the company’s twenty-year history.... Alphabet reported 89,058 direct employees at the end of the second quarter.  In an emailed statement, a Google spokeswoman said the company hires TVCs or “temps, vendors and contractors” for two primary purposes. One is when the company doesn’t have a particular expertise in-house, such as shuttle bus drivers, quality assurance testers and doctors. Another is for filling temporary positions to cover for parental leave or spikes in work. Under Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat, Alphabet has tightened its once freewheeling spending. Yet the company hasn’t stopped its appetite for expensive engineers, who can easily fetch $1 million a year or more. That decision necessitates more contractors. Every company division must petition for a budget and staff headcount. Talented engineers are pricey and take bites out of the budget. To compensate, managers will then fill out staff with TVCs... - IT Pro

* The Amazon Pay statement available through the Amazon.in store doesn't show info about transactions but they can be viewed through AmazonPay.in

* With over 2 million emigrants, Kerala bags over 19% of remittances into India.

* "...as a repressed Brit, I like to eat my emotions"

Comments