Amazon Web Services has announced the creation of faster chips, the latest generative artificial intelligence capabilities to increase productivity and the general availability of Amazon S3 express one zone – its latest high-performance cloud storage service – to boost its portfolio as it wrestles with companies like Microsoft, Oracle and SAP to increase its market share.
“The cloud is for everyone … customers of all sizes, all industries and from all regions are using AWS cloud,” Adam Selipsky, chief executive of AWS, said at the company’s annual re: Invent event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Leading enterprises are using AWS cloud. Our clients come from various industries including financial services, health care and automotive.”
Cloud computing experts, customers and technology enthusiasts have descended on Las Vegas to attend the event, which runs through December 1.
The new Amazon S3 express one zone is the lowest latency cloud object storage available and customers can also scale their storage up or down as needed.
It offers data access speed up to 10 times faster and costs up to 50 per cent less than Amazon S3 standard, Mr Selipsky said.
Amazon S3, which was launched 17 years ago, is one of the most popular cloud storage service, with millions of customers around the world. It holds more than 350 trillion objects and averages more than 100 million requests per second.
It is well-suited for emerging use cases – such as machine learning and AI training, interactive analytics, financial model simulations, real-time advertising and media content creation – that require writing and gaining access to data millions of times per minute.
Amazon S3 express one zone aims to deliver the “fastest data access speed for the most latency-sensitive applications and enable customers to make millions of requests per minute for their highly accessed data sets”, while also reducing request and compute costs, said James Kirschner, general manager of Amazon S3 at AWS.
AWS, the world's biggest cloud services provider, had good momentum in sales in the September quarter. Its revenue reached $23.1 billion in the third quarter of the year, rising annually by more than 12.2 per cent.
The company also announced the next generation of two AWS-designed chip families – AWS Graviton4 and AWS Trainium2. The new chips intend to deliver “advancements in price performance and energy efficiency” for a range of customer workloads, including ML training and generative AI applications.
Graviton4 provides up to 30 per cent better computing performance and 75 per cent more memory bandwidth than the current generation Graviton3 processors.
It marks the fourth generation of chips by AWS in five years and is the “most powerful and energy efficient chip the company has ever built” for a broad range of workloads, AWS said.
While Trainium2 is designed to deliver up to four times faster training than the first-generation Trainium chips. It can train foundation models and large language models in a fraction of the time, while improving energy efficiency up to two times, AWS said.
“Silicon underpins every customer workload, making it a critical area of innovation for AWS,” said David Brown, vice president of compute and networking at AWS.
“By focusing our chip designs on real workloads that matter to customers, we are able to deliver the most advanced cloud infrastructure to them.”
The 12th annual re: Invent event features speeches, innovation talks, builder labs, workshops, demos and service announcements. Nearly 50,000 attendees are attending it in person, while 300,000 are following the event online.
AWS also announced new generative AI capabilities in Amazon Connect – the company’s cloud contact centre that enables organisations to deliver better customer experiences at lower costs.
Powered by large language models, the new features aim to transform how companies provide customer service, AWS said.
For example, Amazon Q in Connect will provide agents with recommended responses and actions based on real-time customer questions, for faster, more accurate customer support.
Amazon Connect contact lens helps to identify the essential parts of call centre conversations with AI-generated summaries that detect sentiment, trends and policy compliance.
Another feature Amazon Lex enables contact centre administrators to create new chatbots and interactive voice response systems in hours by using natural-language prompts. It could improve existing systems by generating responses to commonly asked questions.
The contact centre industry is poised to be “fundamentally transformed by generative AI”, offering customer service agents new ways to deliver personalised customer experiences, said Pasquale DeMaio, vice president of Amazon Connect at AWS applications.
“Yet few organisations have the advanced machine learning expertise to easily harness this technology and apply it to their operations.”
The company also announced Amazon Q, a new type of generative AI-powered assistant tailored to provide actionable information in real time to “streamline tasks, speed decision making, and spark creativity, built with rock-solid security and privacy”, Mr Selipsky said.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
HWJN
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What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
Going grey? A stylist's advice
If you’re going to go grey, a great style, well-cared for hair (in a sleek, classy style, like a bob), and a young spirit and attitude go a long way, says Maria Dowling, founder of the Maria Dowling Salon in Dubai.
It’s easier to go grey from a lighter colour, so you may want to do that first. And this is the time to try a shorter style, she advises. Then a stylist can introduce highlights, start lightening up the roots, and let it fade out. Once it’s entirely grey, a purple shampoo will prevent yellowing.
“Get professional help – there’s no other way to go around it,” she says. “And don’t just let it grow out because that looks really bad. Put effort into it: properly condition, straighten, get regular trims, make sure it’s glossy.”
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
SPECS
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
Results
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AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Freezer tips
- Always make sure food is completely cool before freezing.
- If you’re cooking in large batches, divide into either family-sized or individual portions to freeze.
- Ensure the food is well wrapped in foil or cling film. Even better, store in fully sealable, labelled containers or zip-lock freezer bags.
- The easiest and safest way to defrost items such as the stews and sauces mentioned is to do so in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
MATCH RESULT
Al Jazira 3 Persepolis 2
Jazira: Mabkhout (52'), Romarinho (77'), Al Hammadi (90' 6)
Persepolis: Alipour (42'), Mensha (84')
