Podcast
LogiCast AWS News (Video)
Hosted by Logicata · EN
LogiCast, brought to you by Logicata, is a weekly AWS News podcast hosted by Karl Robinson, CEO and Co-Founder of Logicata, and Jon Goodall, Lead Cloud Engineer. Each week we hand-pick a selection of news articles on Amazon Web Services (AWS) - we look at what’s new, technical how-to, and business-related news articles and take a deep dive, giving commentary, opinion, and a sprinkling of humor.
Please note this is the video edition of the Logicast podcast. For the audio only edition, please check out https://logicast.podbean.com/
38episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Season 5, Episode 7: Serverless Streams, Sovereign Clouds, and Surprising Costs
Feb 1600:42:46Tap to summarizeIn Season 5, Episode 7, Karl and Jon are joined by - Kai (Huynh Le Nhat Nghia), AWS Community Builder from Vietnam. They discuss cross-account stream processing with AWS Lambda and DynamoDB - choosing between Amazon ECS Blue/Green native or AWS CodeDeploy for deployments - how AWS Support helped refund unexpected QuickSight charges - Amazon's $200 billion investment in AI data center capacity - growth of sovereign cloud spending in Europe - and once again the guys went off on a tangent about Jon's feet... 04:06 - Cross-account stream processing with AWS Lambda and DynamoDB This article discusses a new feature allowing simplified cross-account stream processing. It highlights use cases such as centralized data processing, shared services, and multi-tenant architectures. The feature provides improved security by maintaining data ownership in one place while allowing controlled access from other accounts. 10:13 - Choosing between Amazon ECS Blue/Green native or AWS CodeDeploy The article compares ECS native blue/green deployments with using AWS CodeDeploy. While ECS native offers simpler deployments, CodeDeploy provides more advanced features like canary deployments, bake periods, and lifecycle hooks. The choice depends on the complexity of deployment requirements. 19:44 - AWS Support refunding QuickSight charges A user shared their experience of unexpected QuickSight charges after a promotional period ended. AWS Support helped refund the charges. The article emphasizes the importance of setting budget alerts and understanding service pricing, especially after promotional periods. 27:00 - Amazon's $200 billion AI data center investment Amazon announced a $200 billion investment in data center capacity for AI, with plans to double capacity by 2027. The podcast discussion touched on whether this massive investment is part of an AI bubble and how it might be monetized in the future. 34:16 - Growth of sovereign cloud spending in Europe The article discusses the expected tripling of sovereign cloud spending in Europe, driven by concerns over data sovereignty and the US Cloud Act. The podcast touched on the challenges of truly sovereign clouds when subsidiaries are still owned by US companies.
Transcribe →Season 5, Episode 6: Security Groups, Space Centers, and Serverless Updates
Feb 1000:44:58Tap to summarizeIn Season 5, Episode 6, Karl and Jon are joined by Danielle Heberling, an AWS Hero, to dig into AWS Serverless updates from Q4 2025, including Amazon DynamoDB Global Tables now supporting cross-account replication, a new feature for displaying related resources for EC2 and VPC security groups, and IAM Identity Center now supporting multi-region replication. They also explore the feasibility of orbital data centers—before the conversation takes a fun turn as the guys debate whether data centers in space would technically be “in the cloud” or above it. 06:14 - AWS Serverless updates from Q4 2023 This article summarized various serverless updates from AWS in Q4 2023, including Lambda durable functions, Lambda managed instances, provision mode for SQS, ECS express mode, and other improvements. The speakers discussed the benefits of these updates, particularly highlighting durable functions as a significant quality of life improvement for developers. 14:53 - Amazon DynamoDB Global Tables cross-account replication AWS announced support for replicating DynamoDB Global Tables across different AWS accounts. The speakers discussed potential use cases, such as disaster recovery and data lake setups, but also questioned the necessity of this feature given existing workarounds. 21:31 - EC2 and VPC security group related resources display A new feature was introduced allowing users to view related resources for EC2 and VPC security groups in the AWS console. The speakers agreed this would be beneficial for operators, making it easier to understand and manage security group configurations across various services. 25:03 - IAM Identity Center multi-region replication AWS announced support for multi-region replication of IAM Identity Center configurations. The speakers discussed the potential benefits for disaster recovery and compliance scenarios, as well as how it might simplify break-glass access procedures. 33:04 - Orbital data centers The podcast concluded with a discussion on the feasibility of orbital data centers, prompted by an article where AWS's CEO called them "pretty far from reality." The speakers debated the technical challenges, costs, and potential benefits of space-based data centers, ultimately agreeing that while interesting, such technology is likely far off in the future.
Transcribe →Season 5 Episode 5: Layoffs, Lambdas, and Language Models
Feb 200:44:10Tap to summarizeIn Season 5, Episode 5, Karl and Jon are joined by Brian Tarbox, an AWS Hero. Together they discuss Amazon's recent job cuts and their impact on AWS community programs, Amazon Route 53 adding support for new top-level domains, increased payload size for serverless services, Amazon Bedrock's extended prompt caching duration, and commentary on AWS's future and potential challenges. Karl & Jon had yet another swag clash! 06:22 - Amazon Confirms 16,000 Job Cuts Amazon announced 16,000 job cuts, affecting various departments including AWS community programs. The cuts impacted senior roles and partner sales organizations, raising concerns about the future of community-building efforts and customer support. 14:36 - Amazon Route 53 Adds Support for New Top-Level Domains Route 53 now supports new top-level domains like .AI, .bot, and .moi. The speakers discussed that this change is likely due to the registrar behind Route 53 adding support, rather than AWS making significant updates to their service. 18:30 - Serverless Services Support Larger Payloads AWS increased the maximum payload size for serverless services like Lambda, SQS, and EventBridge from 256KB to 1MB. While this change can simplify some workflows, there were concerns about potential misuse and inefficiency in serverless architectures. 24:11 - Amazon Bedrock Extends Prompt Caching Duration Amazon Bedrock now supports 1-hour duration for prompt caching, up from the previous 5-minute limit. This change can benefit users with less frequent interactions or contexts requiring more time between steps, though it comes with different pricing. 28:02 - Commentary on AWS's Future (The Register article) The podcast discussed an article by Corey Quinn suggesting AWS might become less relevant as developers increasingly use tools that abstract away infrastructure decisions. The speakers debated the long-term implications of AI-assisted coding and its impact on cloud providers and developers.
Transcribe →Season 5, Episode 4: Streams, Serverless, and Supply Chain Security
Jan 2600:47:09Tap to summarizeIn Season 5, Episode 4, Karl and Jon are joined by Ran Isenberg*, an AWS Serverless Hero. Together they discuss AWS Lambda cross-account access for DynamoDB Streams, Lambda durable functions, and a CI/CD security risk identified in AWS CodeBuild. They also touch on the potential AI bubble (including comments from Amazon’s CEO), upcoming Amazon job cuts, and—somehow—Jon manages to steer the conversation onto chocolate-covered Custard Creams. 03:51 - AWS Lambda cross-account access for DynamoDB streams This feature allows Lambda functions in one AWS account to access DynamoDB streams in another account. The speakers discussed potential use cases but generally viewed it as a niche feature with limited applications. Concerns were raised about potential security risks and the breaking of contracts between services. 11:38 - AWS Lambda durable functions This new feature allows Lambda functions to run for longer than the previous 15-minute limit. The speakers discussed how it simplifies certain workflows that previously required step functions or other workarounds. They noted that while useful, it may not be necessary to migrate existing solutions to this new feature. 22:42 - CICD security risk in AWS CodeBuild A security flaw was discovered in AWS CodeBuild that could potentially allow attackers to gain access to repositories and pipelines. The speakers discussed the complexity of the exploit and emphasized the importance of monitoring CICD processes and supply chain security. 30:40 - Potential AI bubble The speakers discussed Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's comments on the possibility of an AI bubble. They agreed that there are signs of a bubble, including circular investments and unsustainable business models. Concerns were raised about the long-term profitability of AI companies and the impact on other industries, such as gaming. 39:36 - Upcoming Amazon job cuts The podcast discussed the impending job cuts at Amazon, affecting various departments including HR, sales, and Prime Video. The speakers expressed concern for affected employees and criticized the way the news was communicated, creating uncertainty for workers. *More about our guest - ranthebuilder.cloud
Transcribe →Season 5 Episode 3: Observability, Backups, and Sovereign Clouds
Jan 2000:48:15Tap to summarizeIn Season 5, Episode 3, Karl and Jon are joined by Matt Martz, Principal Software Architect at Definitive and an AWS Community Builder. They discuss AWS CloudWatch’s evolution into a unified observability platform with Apache Iceberg support; AWS Backup’s 2023 year in review and new features; five ways to use Kiro and Amazon Q to optimize infrastructure; the opening of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud; and Amazon’s plans for a data center site at a former power plant in the UK. And somehow, Karl managed to go off on a tangent about Lily Allen song lyrics… 03:54 - AWS CloudWatch Evolution CloudWatch has improved significantly over the years, becoming more competitive with third-party tools like Datadog and Splunk. The new Apache Iceberg support enhances its capabilities for log analysis and multi-account aggregation. While this may increase costs, it provides better insights into traffic and data usage. 11:29 - AWS Backup 2023 Review AWS Backup added support for new services like Redshift Serverless, Aurora PostgreSQL, and EKS. Key features discussed include automated restore testing, item-level search and recovery, and logically air-gapped vaults. The panel highlighted the importance of testing backups and the benefits of infrastructure as code for backup strategies. 20:25 - Kiro and Amazon Q for Infrastructure Optimization The article discusses five ways to use Kiro and Amazon Q for infrastructure optimization, including cost optimization, automated recommendations, and integrating optimization into development workflows. The panel discussed the benefits of using AI tools for infrastructure management and coding assistance. 33:00 - AWS European Sovereign Cloud AWS has opened its European Sovereign Cloud, designed to meet strict data sovereignty requirements for European businesses and government organizations. The cloud is physically and logically separated from the main AWS infrastructure, with European personnel and data centers. The panel discussed the implications and potential use cases for this specialized cloud offering. 40:21 - Amazon's UK Data Center Plans Amazon is planning to build a data center at the site of a former coal-fired power station in Didcot, UK. This represents a significant investment in UK data center infrastructure and demonstrates Amazon's strategy of repurposing brownfield sites for data center development. The panel discussed the implications of this development and the broader context of data center expansion in the UK.
Transcribe →Season 5 Episode 2: GPUs, Gremlins, and Growth
Jan 1300:51:37Tap to summarizeIn Season 5, Episode 2, Karl and Jon are joined by Allen Helton, an AWS Hero and ecosystem engineer at Momento. They discuss AWS raising GPU prices by 15% for specific instance types, accelerating cloud modernization with AWS MCPs and Quiro, AWS getting approval for three new data centers in Dublin, Ireland, Allen Helton’s blog post on optimizing image serving from S3, and recent layoffs at Amazon Web Services. And then the guys start debating whether it’s “champing at the bit” or “chomping at the bit,” completely derailing their discussion of AWS news. 04:04 - AWS raising GPU prices This is the first specific price rise from AWS in two decades, affecting certain GPU instance types. While it only impacts a small subset of users, it sets a precedent that could make future price increases easier. The move goes against AWS's typical strategy of only lowering prices over time. 11:28 - Accelerating cloud modernization with AWS MCPs and Quiro The article discusses how AI-powered tools like Quiro and AWS MCPs can help streamline cloud modernization processes. These tools can analyze existing systems, plan modernization efforts, and even assist in implementation, potentially reducing the time and effort required for such projects. 21:30 - AWS new data centers in Dublin AWS received approval for three new data centers in Dublin, Ireland. This expansion will increase capacity in the region, potentially leading to better service availability and possibly lower prices. The approval comes with requirements for power agreements with local energy providers. 27:48 - Allen Helton's blog post on S3 image optimization Allen shared his experience optimizing image serving from S3 for his blog. He implemented various techniques to improve Core Web Vitals scores, resulting in better performance and SEO rankings. The post highlights the importance of consistency in content creation and how it can lead to significant growth in readership. 37:30 - AWS layoffs Amazon has laid off several hundred employees from its AWS division as part of a broader effort to streamline operations. While the numbers are relatively small compared to AWS's total workforce, it's part of a trend of tech companies adjusting their workforce in 2024. The layoffs primarily affected tangential divisions within AWS.
Transcribe →Season 5 Episode 1: AI Investments, Leadership Changes, and Community Surveys
Jan 600:48:00Tap to summarizeIn Season 5, Episode 1, Karl and Jon are joined by Peter Sankauscas, an AWS Hero and User Group Leader. They discuss whether AI is replacing younger employees and what that could mean for businesses, OpenAI’s potential investment from Amazon, and AWS leadership changes — including Peter DeSantis’s new role. They also cover AWS flat-rate pricing plans for CloudFront and WAF, the 2026 Answers for AWS survey, and even ask whether AI data centres could be affecting the world’s weather. 04:47 - AI replacing young employees AWS CEO Matt Garman stated that replacing young employees with AI is a bad idea for businesses. The discussion highlighted the importance of junior employees for company growth, innovation, and diversity of thought. The speakers also touched on how AI is changing customer service roles. 15:04 - OpenAI's potential investment from Amazon The article discussed rumors of Amazon potentially investing $10 billion in OpenAI. The speakers debated the implications of this investment, including its impact on the AI industry and potential financial risks. They also discussed OpenAI's relationships with other tech giants like Microsoft. 19:38 - AWS leadership changes Peter DeSantis was appointed to lead a new organization focusing on AI models, the Amazon Nova portfolio, and AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). The speakers discussed the significance of this role and its potential impact on AWS's AI strategy. 26:37 - AWS flat rate pricing plans AWS announced new flat rate pricing plans for CloudFront and WAF, potentially competing with services like Cloudflare. The speakers discussed the benefits of these plans and how they might affect customer choices and costs. 35:02 - Answers for AWS survey Peter Sankauscas explained the annual community-run survey he conducts to understand trends in AWS service usage. He discussed new categories added for 2026, such as AI SDLC, and highlighted some interesting findings from the previous year's survey, including the adoption of Graviton and the popularity of DynamoDB. LInk to this years survey https://answersforaws.com/survey/
Transcribe →Season 4 Episode 46: Resurrected Repositories, Global Deployments, and DNS Recovery
Dec 1500:47:13Tap to summarizeIn Season 4, Episode 46, Karl and Jon are joined by Matheus Guimaraes, AWS Lead Developer Advocate. Together, they cover the AWS CodeCommit resurrection and roadmap, the AWS Builder Center wishlist feature, ECS Express for simplified container deployment, an ECR archiving tier for cost optimization, blue-green deployments in Aurora Global, and accelerated recovery in Route 53 to speed up DNS updates during outages. They also discuss a recent AWS outage and its impact, then wrap up by joking about launching a “Shot Clock Karaoke” segment in future episodes where they’d have to sing AWS parody songs against the clock. 09:51 - CodeCommit resurrection AWS brought back CodeCommit due to customer feedback and demand. It's now back in general availability with a public roadmap, including features like Git LFS support and expanded regional availability. The decision to resurrect the service was based on customer needs and integrations. 19:55 - AWS Billing Transfer AWS Billing Transfer for centrally managing AWS billing and costs across multiple organizations 24:32 - ECS Express ECS Express is a new mode that simplifies container deployment on Amazon ECS. It creates clusters with best-practice defaults, allowing teams to focus on container deployment without extensive setup. It's suitable for production use and can be customized later. 30:55 - ECR archiving tier Amazon ECR now offers an archiving tier for container images, addressing compliance needs and cost optimization. Images can be automatically moved to the archive based on usage patterns and easily restored when needed. 35:06 - Blue-green deployments in Aurora Global Aurora Global now supports blue-green deployments across up to 10 regions, simplifying database updates and migrations with minimal downtime. This feature extends to schema changes, potentially solving complex database DevOps challenges. 39:26 - Accelerated recovery in Route 53 In response to recent outages, AWS introduced an accelerated recovery feature for Route 53. This allows customers to continue making DNS updates with a 60-minute SLA even if a primary region (like North Virginia) is down.
Transcribe →Season 4, Episode 7 Maps, Stacks, and AI Tracks
Feb 18, 202500:38:58Tap to summarizeIn Season 4, Episode 7 Karl & Jon are joined by AWS Community Builder, Ryan Cormack. They discuss AWS Step Functions, reshaping AWS CloudFormation stacks with stack refactoring, AWS Verified Access support for non-HTTP resources, AWS's full-year profit and revenue growth, AWS documentation updates and future plans and the guys think Mark Zuckerberg's AI predictions are about as accurate as his metaverse hype – both seem to exist in a virtual reality! 05:43 - AWS Step Functions expands data source and output options for Distributed Map This update allows Step Functions to process different file formats from S3, including JSONL and delimited files (semicolon and tab). It improves the ability to handle large datasets and reduces the need for data manipulation before processing. The distributed map feature can now handle up to 10,000 concurrent executions, making it powerful for big data processing. 10:45 - Reshape your AWS CloudFormation stacks seamlessly with stack refactoring This new feature allows users to more easily break down large CloudFormation stacks into smaller, more manageable stacks. It addresses the issues of slow updates and potential errors in large stacks. While not entirely seamless, it provides a much-needed solution for those stuck with large CloudFormation stacks and offers a way to improve infrastructure management. 16:19 - AWS Verified Access support for non-HTTP resources is now generally available This feature allows users to connect to private resources like databases without needing bastion hosts or jump boxes. It provides a more secure, token-scoped access method integrated with single sign-on providers. While it requires a client on the user's machine and currently lacks Windows support, it's a step towards simplifying secure access to private resources in AWS. 23:25 - AWS sees full-year profit and revenue growth as AI and public cloud demand soars AWS reported significant growth in revenue (19% to $28.8 billion) and profits (up to $10.6 billion) compared to the previous year. The growth is attributed to increased demand for AI and public cloud services. While the exact contribution of AI services to this growth is unclear, the company plans to invest heavily in infrastructure to support AI and related technologies. 31:59 - AWS Documentation update — progress, challenges, and what’s next for 2025 AWS is improving its documentation with new features like decision guides to help users choose the right services. The company is also exploring AI integration to enhance documentation searchability and summarization. While AWS documentation is generally considered good, there's room for improvement in areas like search functionality and providing more comprehensive examples.
Transcribe →Season 4 Episode 6: DynamoDB, Dollars, and Disappearing Buckets
Feb 11, 202500:38:37Tap to summarizeIn Season 4, Episode 6 Karl & Jon are joined by AWS Community Builder, Dave Hall. They discuss Dynamo DB innovations, cost optimization highlights, migration to AWS MediaConvert, S3 Bucket security risks, AWS Lambda and Serverless computing and it looks like the AWS Community Builders are drinking 'Dirty Lambda' cocktails and playing buzzword bingo while nervously refreshing their renewal applications! 05:24 - 2024: A year of innovation and growth for Amazon DynamoDB They discuss various improvements to Amazon DynamoDB in 2024, including significant price reductions for on-demand throughput and global tables. Other innovations mentioned include zero ETL integrations with Redshift and SageMaker Lakehouse, and improvements to DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX). The speakers debate the practical value of some features like DAX, with Jon suggesting many teams may not need it. 12:19 - re:Invent 2024 Cost Optimization highlights that you were not expecting They discuss the unexpected cost optimization opportunities from re:Invent 2023. Key points include new features for Bedrock, intelligent tiering for FSX for Open ZFS, and improvements to SageMaker scaling. The speakers particularly highlighted the blurring lines between EFS and FSX, and the benefits of new auto-scaling capabilities for cloud applications. 20:03 - Migrating workflows from Amazon Elastic Transcoder to AWS Elemental MediaConvert They discuss the upcoming discontinuation of Amazon Elastic Transcoder and the need to migrate to AWS Elemental Media Convert. Jon explains the differences and advantages of Media Convert, including better codec support and higher resolution capabilities. The speakers emphasize the importance of this migration for users of Elastic Transcoder. 26:02 - Abandoned AWS S3 buckets can be reused in supply-chain attacks that would make SolarWinds look 'insignificant' They talk about the potential security risks associated with abandoned AWS S3 buckets, as these buckets can be reused in supply chain attacks. Dave explains that this is not a new issue and advises against exposing S3 buckets publicly, recommending the use of CloudFront as a protective measure. 31:19 - A Decade Of AWS Lambda — Has Serverless Delivered On Its Hype They discuss the adoption of serverless in enterprises versus smaller businesses, noting that perception might be skewed due to how costs appear on bills. They also touch on the lack of GPU support in serverless offerings and strategies for optimizing serverless costs.
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