AWS Bites Podcast #136: 20 Amazing New AWS Features
Date: November 29, 2024
Hosts: Eoin Shanaghy & Luciano Mammino
Episode Overview
In this pre–re:Invent episode, Eoin and Luciano break down their top 20 AWS announcements from the last few weeks—without mentioning generative AI. Instead, the focus is on significant improvements across serverless computing, databases, networking, developer experience, and pricing. The hosts share personal reactions, technical deep-dives, and contextualize what each update means for cloud builders.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Step Functions and JSONata
- [01:49] Eoin discusses the switch from JSONPath to JSONata in AWS Step Functions.
- State can now be stored in 10 MB variables (each up to 256 KB), which can be shared between steps rather than always passed through.
- JSONata offers much more powerful data transformation, string manipulation, and math functions.
- There’s a new console feature to generate SAM and CloudFormation templates from the visual workflow editor.
“Jsonata is much more powerful than jsonpath... and there's lots of like online playgrounds you can use to get familiar with it.”
— Eoin [01:49]
2. Serverless Runtime Upgrades for Lambda
- [02:53] Node.js 22 and Python 3.13 are now available in AWS Lambda.
- Node.js 22 includes native fetch and experimental
requirein ESM, which solves a major compatibility headache (especially for libraries like Midi). - Python 3.13 adds many improvements; Eoin notes that "removing the GIL" (global interpreter lock) is now in early experimental status for Python, but not available on Lambda yet.
- Node.js 22 includes native fetch and experimental
“Node.js 22 gives you native fetch, so you don't need to do polyfilling anymore... you can still require CommonJS modules even in ESM mode.”
— Luciano [02:53]
3. Aurora Serverless Now Scales to Zero
- [06:03] Aurora Serverless v2 can now scale to zero, addressing a longstanding criticism.
- Startup takes about 15–20 seconds when scaling back up.
- It’s now feasible for development environments, not just production.
“When Aurora Serverless v2 was announced... everyone was basically saying well this is not really serverless because it doesn't scale to zero. And now this is no longer the case.”
— Luciano [06:03]
4. Lambda SnapStart for Python & .NET
- [07:04] Now available beyond Java, SnapStart drastically reduces cold start times for Python and .NET functions.
- Their internal benchmarks showed up to a 4x speed improvement.
- Caveats: Only for published versions (not
$LATEST) and only for ZIP packages (not OCI containers). - For Python/.NET, SnapStart is a paid add-on.
“With some heavy enough Python functions, we were able to get a 4x speed up, which is pretty impressive.”
— Eoin [07:04]
5. Performance and Pricing in S3
- Mountpoint for S3’s new feature: Use Express One Zone bucket as a read cache—boosts read performance up to 7x but at the expense of zonal durability.
- S3 now allows appending data to existing objects (new
offsetheader in PutObject). - The bucket limit per AWS account is now 1 million (first 2,000 included free).
- S3 now allows appending data to existing objects (new
6. DynamoDB Price Cuts
- [09:43] On-demand throughput for DynamoDB is now half-price; global tables are one third the previous price.
- For most use cases, on-demand pricing is now much more attractive and less likely to require switching to provisioned mode.
"I always try to use on demand but then I'm always a little bit concerned about price in production... I think now we are getting a little bit closer to that vision."
— Luciano [09:43]
7. Application Load Balancer (ALB) Custom Headers
- ALBs can now inject custom headers into load balancer targets. Simple, but can unlock useful patterns for proxying, tracing, and debugging.
8. Amazon Cognito: Features & SaaS-style Pricing
- [11:11] Cognito receives substantial updates, including pricing tiers:
- Three tiers: Light (legacy), Essential (new features), Plus (enterprise).
- New managed login UI with drag-and-drop customization.
- Passwordless authentication options via passkeys, magic links, SMS.
- Free tier: 10,000 monthly active users (all but enterprise features).
- Additional packages for things like machine-to-machine authentication or higher throughput.
- Essential tier is about 2.5x more per user than legacy; enterprise adds about half a cent per MAU.
"The plus tier is essentially for enterprise pool features like compromised password detection, audit logging and risk-based adaptive authentication…"
— Eoin [11:11]
9. VPC Block Public Access
- [13:57] Like S3 Block Public Access, but for VPCs—centralized, account-wide enforcement of no internet access, regardless of gateways.
- Great for security baselines.
10. ECS + VPC Lattice: Simplified Integration
- ECS can now plug into VPC Lattice directly (no ALB required), reducing cost and complexity.
“You can now plug ECS directly into Lattice without a load balance. So yeah, again, check out the announcement in the show notes if you're curious to find out more.”
— Luciano [13:57]
11. Resource Control Policies (RCPs)
- [15:02] A new policy type for fine-grained resource governance, like denying S3 bucket access outside your organization, without babysitting every bucket's policy individually.
12. EventBridge Speedup
- [15:02] EventBridge latency drops by 90% (delivery in ~130ms), closing the gap vs. SNS or Kinesis for event-driven architectures.
13. AppSync Dedicated WebSocket Support
- [16:23] New AppSync Events service offers dedicated, easier-to-use WebSocket support for GraphQL subscriptions—complementing (and simplifying) prior methods (IoT, API Gateway, AppSync GraphQL over WebSockets).
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- On JSONata vs. JSONPath: “Jsonata is much more powerful than jsonpath... and there's lots of online playgrounds you can use to get familiar with it.” ([01:49], Eoin)
- On Node.js 22’s ESM support: “...use midi5 and stay up to date with the latest version and still use CommonJS if you have to.” ([02:53], Luciano)
- On Aurora’s new capability: “Now you can scale to zero and scale back up again. Basically takes around 15, 20 seconds.” ([06:03], Luciano)
- On SnapStart speedups: “With some heavy enough Python functions, we were able to get a 4x speed up, which is pretty impressive.” ([07:04], Eoin)
- On DynamoDB’s lower prices: “I think now it's going to be easy for most people to just stick with on-demand throughput and have reasonable prices.” ([09:43], Luciano)
- On Cognito’s new tiers: “It was a pretty unexpected move because AWS has given Cognito a lot of attention and just announced a whole lot of new features.” ([11:11], Eoin)
- On Lattice & ECS integration: “Now that Fusion is finally here… you can now plug ECS directly into Lattice without a load balancer.” ([13:57], Luciano)
- On EventBridge: “Performance has now improved massively, like over 90% I think... So hats off to the EventBridge team.” ([15:02], Eoin)
Timestamps of Important Segments
- [01:49] Step Functions with JSONata & console export features
- [02:53] Lambda: Node.js 22, Python 3.13, and ESM/require improvements
- [06:03] Aurora Serverless scales to zero
- [07:04] Lambda SnapStart for Python/.NET, S3 Mountpoint new caches & features
- [09:43] DynamoDB & global tables price reductions
- [11:11] Cognito new features & SaaS pricing tiers
- [13:57] VPC Block Public Access & direct ECS-Lattice integration
- [15:02] Resource Control Policies & EventBridge speedup
- [16:23] AppSync Events WebSocket support
Episode Tone
Conversational, enthusiastic, and practical—providing both the technical why/how and hands-on developer context for each new AWS feature.
Final Thoughts
This rundown gives listeners a quick but deep technical orientation to this month's most interesting AWS platform announcements (minus GenAI), with a focus on what actually improves serverless and infrastructure day-to-day. For cloud engineers eagerly awaiting re:Invent, it’s a helpful primer on what to test-drive now and what might change your architectural decisions in 2025.