Tech Tips, Tricks & Trivia

From the excellent Microsoft whitepaper on Azure Integration Services[PDF] - Azure Integration Services is an integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) solution for the modern hybrid world. Designed for mission critical enterprise integration, Azure Integration Services include: * API Management for publishing and managing application APIs * Logic Apps for graphically creating workflows * Service Bus for enterprise messaging * Event Grid for event-based communication Just like Event Hubs, Azure IoT Hub is built for massive data ingestion. It’s specifically geared  toward handling the enormous volume of data messages from devices on the Internet of Things, like smart thermostats and sensors in cars.  Images from the  Azure Developer Guide Also see:  Free Azure related eBooks, Whitepapers from Microsoft

This Week I Learned - * In a GigaOm study comparing throughput performance between SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines and SQL Server on AWS EC2. Azure emerged as the clear leader across both Windows and Linux for mission-critical workloads, up to 3.4 times faster and up to 87 percent less expensive than AWS EC2.  A key reason why Azure price-performance is superior to AWS is Azure BlobCache, which provides free reads . Given that most online transaction processing (OLTP) workloads today come with a ten-to-one read-to-write ratio, this provides customers with significant savings. * AzureCharts.com provides a visual digest of vital info related to Azure Services. It can answer these questions faster than if you had to look it up in the Azure documentation  - >> Is a particular VM instance type available in all regions? >> Is a service Generally Available or in Preview mode? In how many regions is it available? >> What are all the Azure servi...

In The Gene: An Intimate History , the oncologist-author Siddhartha Mukherjee amazed me with his passionately compelling and masterful storytelling of genes and genetics just like he did with his earlier award-winning book  The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer Mixing science and history in an engaging way, the book offers a new multidimensional  perspective to appreciate otherwise dry academic topics.  It provides simple answers through explanations that are relatable and accessible even to non-scientists. It tells the inspiring stories of legendary scientists (like Mendel) who failed to achieve conventional milestones of success but marched on nevertheless. It was a discovery to me that Gregor Johann Mendel who is considered "the father of modern genetics" achieved that recognition posthumously - three decades after he passed away! He is now on the top of my list of science heroes! Paraphrased notes and excerpts: It is a testament to the ...