💥 The day Amazon broke the internet

Welcome to your Tuesday, {{first_name | friend}}. We’re so used to paying for subscriptions, upgrades and “pro” versions, but one guy took a totally different route. He created something millions of people rely on every day, then gave it away for free. Pure function with no strings and no ads.

🤑 And it ended up making him very rich. Can you guess what legendary software was originally created and shared as a free tool and later sold for $19 billion? Was it A) Dropbox, B) WhatsApp, C) WordPress or D) Linux? Take your best shot, and find the answer at the end! 

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If Zoom wouldn’t connect, YouTube froze or your smart home went dumb yesterday morning, it wasn’t just you. Over 11 million people reported issues with more than 2,500 big name apps and services.

The reason? A huge outage at Amazon Web Services, better known as AWS. Let me explain what all this means in plain English.

Think of AWS like the engine under the hood of your favorite apps. You don’t see it, but it’s running everything.

When a company like Netflix, Zoom, Snapchat, Fortnite, Coinbase, Ring, Signal, your smart fridge or even Alexa herself needs a place to store data or run software, they don’t build a bunch of servers in their basement. That’s expensive and complicated.

Instead, they rent computing power from AWS, Amazon’s cloud. It’s kind of like how we don’t all own water wells anymore. We simply turn on the tap, and water flows. AWS is the tap for the internet.

One of Amazon Web Services’ major data centers on the East Coast had a meltdown. Because AWS is the backbone of so much of the internet with $80 billion in annual revenue and 23 million big-name customers, that one failure set off a domino effect.

The root cause? It came down to a glitch in the system that checks whether AWS’s internal tools are running smoothly. Major hiccup. 

On top of that, add a DNS problem. DNS is the internet’s phone book. It translates web addresses into the behind-the-scenes numbers that tell your browser where to go. When that breaks, your device can’t find anything, even if it’s still there.

So with AWS’s tools out of sync and DNS stumbling, thousands of apps and websites went down or slowed to a crawl. Talk about a full-on cloud migraine.

The internet is built on a few major cloud providers: AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. When one has a problem, it affects everything connected to it.

That’s a lot of eggs in one digital basket. Most companies use these services because they’re fast and affordable, but it also means a single failure can take down half the internet. 

But now you know why yesterday AWS cloud engineers were sure happy to have their thunderwear on. Imagine getting that call from Jeff, “What the hell is going on over there?!?”

A scammer says your money’s in danger and tells you to move it through a crypto ATM. You send it, it’s gone. What most people don’t know? The ATM companies profit, too. I talk to Jesse from Texas, whose business was hijacked by scammers. Plus, signs someone’s cheating online and old tech worth real money.

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🚔 Porchlight confidential: It’s gotten easier for over 5,000 police departments to request your Amazon Ring doorbell footage. It’s “voluntary,” but yeah, expect more “Hey, neighbor, mind if we peek at your porch?” alerts. Btw, your Ring doorbell isn’t limited to recording a little area. Depending on the model, it can capture about 155° to 160° horizontally and up to 90° vertically. That means the camera sees a big chunk of your porch, sidewalk and part of the street. Welcome to suburbia, surveillance edition.

Sky’s getting crowded: SpaceX has launched over 10,000 Starlink satellites, and Elon’s only a third of the way done. Around 8,600 are still in orbit, beaming internet from space while the rest burn up in the atmosphere. Good news for internet in the sticks, but terrible for astronomers.

👁️ Bionic book buddies: Get this, a paper-thin electronic implant is helping people with macular degeneration see again. It’s called the Prima implant, and they tuck it under your retina, then pair it with fancy AR glasses that beam images straight to your brain. The sight of 84% of people was restored after being fitted with the device. Wild. Blink to accept terms and conditions.

Know the best times to post: On LinkedIn, you want to post Tuesday through Thursday between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., when people are active but not overwhelmed. Avoid late nights, weekends and Friday afternoons. Your post deserves better than getting buried in scroll fatigue. You can post a job for free using this link.* 

🔢 The great “six seven” uprising: Middle schoolers are possessed by a two-number demon. Say “six seven,” and the room explodes (paywall link). Kids shriek, wave their hands, total meltdown. It started as a TikTok meme tied to rapper Skrilla’s song “Doot Doot (6 7),” and now teachers avoid even saying the numbers, though they must be happy it’s not 69.

Want to be a “breaking news” anchor? The Citizen safety app announced it’ll pay you, up to $400, to livestream nearby emergencies. Fires, crimes, chaos? Grab your phone and hit “Go Live.” Along with pushing real-time alerts, the app is basically turning users into freelance local news crews. No word yet on how to sign up. 

🔑 Bet you never tried this! So a Montana woman’s car key stopped working, battery fine, dealership stumped. She asked ChatGPT, which told her to hold the fob under her chin. Yes, really. She did, and her truck unlocked instantly. Turns out your body’s 60% water, and radio waves love that. Congratulations, you’re part car antenna.

Maybe a little tough love is what your chatbot needs to shape up. Here’s why being a little mean to ChatGPT or your other fave chatbot might actually help.

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⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Social media apps update often, and your privacy settings can reset without you knowing. Each month, check who can see your posts and tag you under Profile > Settings > Privacy. 

⛽ Save on gas with Amazon Prime: Until Dec. 26, Prime members save 25¢ per gallon on Fridays. Download the Earnify app, link your Amazon account and find a bp, Amoco or ampm station in the app. Then use the app at the pump to apply the discount. Bonus: After the promo, you’ll still get 10¢ off per gallon. Nice.

Add multiple emails to Outlook: You can connect Gmail, Yahoo or any other account to Outlook. Go to Settings (top right) > Accounts > Your accounts > Add account. Enter your email, tap Continue and sign in. Grant access, then select Open Outlook when prompted, and your new inbox will appear in the left panel.

🔊 Fix crackling laptop speakers: Open Device Manager > Audio inputs and outputs > find your speaker > right-click > Update driver > Search automatically for drivers. No luck? Go to Settings > System > Sound > More sound settings > Playback. Select your speaker > Properties > Advanced, untick Enable audio enhancements, then hit Apply and OK.

Translate pages in Chrome: Chrome can automatically translate websites for you. Click the three-dot menu (top right), go to Settings > Languages > Google Translate, and toggle on Use Google Translate. Then choose your preferred language under Translate into this language. Voilà, you can read foreign pages.

📍 Share your location in Google Maps: Let friends or family see where you are in real time. Open the Google Maps app, tap your profile icon in the top right, then go to Location sharing > New share. Choose how long to share (like 2 hours), then pick who to send it to. FYI: You can also select Share via link for others.

Mark Zuckerberg’s come a long way from his Honda Fit and Pagani Huayra. These days, the Meta CEO’s daily driver is a Cadillac CT5‑V Blackwing, a 668-horsepower, six-speed manual monster that can top 200 mph.

Yup, he drives it himself. No chauffeur, no electric virtue-signaling. Just pure Detroit muscle with a clutch pedal.

🛞 It’s one of the last gas-powered beasts still built with a stick that’s loud, fast and gloriously impractical. A car for someone who wants to feel something.

Sticker price starts around $96,000, but loaded? You’re looking at $110K and change. That’s about four minutes of “work” for Zuck or one full EDM track on the playlist.

😅 And because I can. How do you get your Cadillac to the second level of a mall? You use the Escalader. (lol)

The answer: B) WhatsApp. Yep. WhatsApp started as a simple, ad-free messaging app with no gimmicks, no fees, just reliable communication. Its cofounder Jan Koum grew up in Ukraine without running water, and he swept grocery store floors before teaching himself to code. He hated ads so much, he even taped a “No Ads!” sign to his desk. In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion. Such a great story.

Bill Gates once said it’s hard to give away 100 billion dollars. Then he got divorced.

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This is the #1 free tech newsletter in the United States. Tomorrow, I’m talking about how loyalty apps might be a fast track to getting your data stolen. You need to know this.

🔋 Power on through your magnificent day. I’ll meet you here again tomorrow. I can’t wait! — Kim

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Photo credit(s): Bing Image Creator, Cadillac

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