Amazon’s cloud computing infrastructure has seen tremendous growth and is silently becoming a core element of the Internet. According to research from DeepField Networks, one-third of the millions of users covered by the study visited a website that uses Amazon’s infrastructure each day, WIRED reported on Wednesday. While most people still think of Amazon mainly as an Internet retailer, the company is quietly becoming “a massive utility” that is responsible for 1% of all Internet traffic in North America, according to Craig Labovitz, the co-founder of DeepField Networks. “My mother, for example, has heard of Facebook. She’s heard of Google. She buys stuff from Amazon. But I don’t think most people realize just how pervasive Amazon is becoming,” he said. “The number of websites that would now break if Amazon were to go down, and the growing pervasiveness of Amazon behind the scenes, is really quite impressive.” The company stored 762 billion objects in its S3 storage cloud last year, three times the number of objects stored 2010, and it operates several data centers on the West Coast, across Europe, and in Virginia, Singapore and Tokyo.

Read

Jumping out of a moving vehicle just before it plummets off a cliff is standard stuff for action movies and James Dean impressionists, but actually seeing it happen in real life is breathtaking. A tow-truck driver in Norway did just that, though, when the heavy truck he was towing slipped off the icy road. More »

This is OK Go's latest video, Skyscrapers. It's not as crazy as their previous stuff, but it is beautiful anyway. I like to watch this couple dance through all the colors of the rainbow—I wish I could dance like that in a never ending night. More »

This rad little stop-motion video made by Australian design firm Messy Design is an awesome, creative use of everyday things. But really, you're a design firm and you left the tripod legs and extension cord in the shot? Tsk tsk. Maybe they're called Messy Design for a reason. [Laughing Squid] More »

Continue reading Pioneer launches its 2012 VSX AV receivers lineup, available now starting at $249

Pioneer launches its 2012 VSX AV receivers lineup, available now starting at $249 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Pioneer  | Email this | Comments

Facebook already built its own data center and its own servers. And now the social-networking giant is building its own storage hardware - hardware for housing all the digital stuff uploaded by its more than 845 million users. More »

This week may not have been incredibly packed with news in the mobile world, but it was still easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of January 23, 2012:

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of January 23, 2012

Mobile Miscellany: week of January 23, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

This week may not have been incredibly packed with news in the mobile world, but it was still easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of January 16, 2012:

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of January 16, 2012

Mobile Miscellany: week of January 16, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

This week may not have been incredibly packed with news in the mobile world, but it was still easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of December 26, 2011:

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of December 26, 2011

Mobile Miscellany: week of December 26, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of December 19, 2011:

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of December 19, 2011

Mobile Miscellany: week of December 19, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of December 12, 2011:

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of December 12, 2011

Mobile Miscellany: week of December 12, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Getting stuff done is easy when you have three things to do. When that number hits about 25, it gets a bit more difficult to remember when and where you're supposed to be. We can help you save a little cash while getting your life in order. And while you're at it, add some time to play a puzzle game and pretend to be a bug. All work and no play... More »

Getting stuff done is easy when you have three things to do. When that number hits about 25, it gets a bit more difficult to remember when and where you're supposed to be. We can help you save a little cash while getting your life in order. And while you're at it, add some time to play a puzzle game and pretend to be a bug. All work and no play... More »

It's the stuff of slow-moving robopocalyptic nightmares: a 'soft robot' designed by a team of Harvard scientists that draws inspiration from invertebrates like worms and starfish. The wired 'bot is made from a flexible elastomer material that allows it to squeeze into spaces that are inaccessible for more traditional robots. Inside are chambers that inflate and deflate, allowing the thing to undulate forward. Definitely check out the robot in action after the break.

Continue reading Harvard-designed 'soft robot' shows you how low it can go (video)

Harvard-designed 'soft robot' shows you how low it can go (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink BBC  |  PNAS (registration required)  | Email this | Comments

MC Hammer already proved that you only need one hit record. But can you get by with just one search engine? Not if you believe his pitch to the Web 2.0 Summit this week, which promoted a "deep search" technology called WIREDoo. The rapper-approved tool emphasizes relationships rather than keywords, which yields very different results to Google's. Type in 90210, for instance, and instead of pages of links about the TV show, the pre-beta WIREDoo brings up stuff about the neighborhood -- schools, homes, the crime rate and other supposedly useful information. You'll find the full presentation after the break, but don't expect any nostalgic dance moves -- Hammer is serious about this, just like he was about those revolutionary tablets.

Continue reading WIREDoo search engine gets running man stamp of approval (video)

WIREDoo search engine gets running man stamp of approval (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  Information Week  | Email this | Comments

There's an endless list of reasons why you should probably just quit smoking. But quitting isn't easy, so the WISPR promises to deliver everything you love about cigarettes, with a bit less of the stuff that could be killing you. More »

You know what, Apple? You're not the only ones with a revolutionary new product that actually looks the same but maybe there's some different stuff in there. Subway's coming strong with a hot beef-injected Meatball Sub 4S. More »