Number 15, this time we look at some AWS news, a Google Pay design overhaul, Reddit users and Salesforce’s acquisition of Slack.

AWS News

One of the biggest stories to come out recently was AWS went down for a prolonged period knocking many sites offline. AWS is Amazon’s web infrastructure service which is used by scores of the world’s biggest apps and websites, hosting them with on-demand cloud computing platforms. Some of the affected companies included Adobe Spark, Flickr and Glassdoor.

In more positive AWS news, Amazon have also launched EC2 Mac instances, adding the Mac Mini to their cloud. This will mainly be used by developers wishing to test their iOS and Mac apps. However, they aren’t cheap compared to the competition! The instances will cost roughly $26 per day to run, compared to around $60 per month for other smaller Mac instance providers.

Google Pay Redesign

Google has started rolling out a major redesign of its app in the United States recently, keeping its core features but also adding an emphasis on helping people to manage their personal finances.

Google said in their blog post:

The new app is designed around your relationships with people and businesses. It helps you save money and gives you insights into your spending. It’s built with multiple layers of security to keep your money and information private and safe. And in 2021, it will give you the chance to apply for a new kind of digital bank account with trusted financial institutions.

Google Pay

The app will have a distinct social feel to it. Instead of showing stacks of cards like it does currently, instead it will show friends and businesses you transact with often. Offers and loyalty programs will all be present, displayed in an instant-messenger like style.

Reddit posts daily active users

The popular internet forum and message board, Reddit, last week exposed its daily active user numbers. The social media platforms said that it averaged 52 million daily active users in October 2020, up 44% from the year earlier.

This number is dwarfed by Facebooks daily active users, which the Wall Street Journal reports were 1.82 billion in September 2020. The numbers shown by Reddit are meant to encourage advertisers to spend on their platform to reach their vast audience.

Salesforce acquires Slack

Salesforce, the American cloud-based software company and maker of CRM systems announced last week that they were acquiring Slack in a deal worth $27.7 billion.

In a blog post addressing the deal, Salesforce said “Combining Slack with Salesforce Customer 360 will be transformative for customers and the industry. The combination will create the operating system for the new way to work, uniquely enabling companies to grow and succeed in the all-digital world.

This is an interesting deal given the numerous software integrations that Slack already has. It provides an opportunity for Salesforce solutions to be integrated even more, providing customers with one central place to work.

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Newspapers and coffee Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash - iPhone and tablet Photo by Obi Onyeador on Unsplash -