In this Screaming in the Cloud episode, Corey welcomes Dana Mattioli, author of 'The Everything War: Amazon's Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power.' Together, they discuss the themes of her book, exploring Amazon's extensive reach and influence across multiple sectors, its profound impact on competition, and the ethical concerns surrounding its aggressive business practices. They also discuss Amazon's internal culture, intricate relationships with government entities, and strategic maneuvers within the corporate world.

Show Highlights:

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:39) - The vast expansion of Amazon and its impact on modern society and corporate strategy

(05:31) - Amazon's internal profit strategies

(07:04) - Amazon's growth: Intentional strategy or opportunistic expansion?

(13:51) - Amazon’s competitive and controversial tactics against startups and innovators

(16:25) - Amazon's workplace culture and systemic issues leading to unethical practices

(20:49) - How Amazon leverages customer data to maintain competitive advantages

(25:17) - Amazon's interactions with the government and its public relations strategy

(29:28) - Amazon's ethical practices and the real-world impacts

(32:00) - Amazon’s use of algorithms like Project Nessie to manipulate market pricing

(36:28) - Corey critiques Amazon’s internal product strategies

(38:29) - Amazon’s market dominance across various sectors

(40:57) - Antitrust enforcement and their effects on modern digital monopolies

(44:04) - Potential critical responses from Amazon insiders about Dana’s book

(45:50) - Closing thoughts and where to find Dana

About Dana:

Dana Mattioli is a Wall Street Journal reporter based in New York, focusing on Amazon's business practices, market power, and antitrust issues. She authored "The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power" and was a 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist for her investigative work on Amazon. Dana won the 2021 Gerald Loeb Award for Beat Reporting and the WERT Prize for business journalism. Previously, she covered mergers & acquisitions, including Pfizer’s $150 billion Allergan deal and the Dow-DuPont merger, which won a Gerald Loeb Award in 2016. Dana began her career at the Journal in 2006 after graduating from American University with degrees in journalism and literature.

Links referenced:

Dana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-mattioli-7b09779/

Dana’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanaMattioli

Dana’s Book, The Everything War: Amazon's Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-everything-war-amazon-s-ruthless-quest-to-own-the-world-and-remake-corporate-power-dana-mattioli/20335592

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Prowler: https://prowler.com

In this episode of Screaming in the Cloud, Corey Quinn is joined by Rachel Stephens, a Senior Analyst at RedMonk, for an engaging conversation about the profound impact of AI on software development. Rachel provides her expert insights on programming language trends and the shifts in the tech landscape driven by AI. They look into how AI has reshaped coding practices by automating mundane tasks and offering real-time assistance, altering how developers work. Furthermore, Corey and Rachel examine the economic and practical challenges of incorporating AI into business operations, aiming to strip away the hype and highlight AI technology’s capabilities and constraints.

Show Highlights:

(00:00) - Introducing Rachel Stephens, Senior Analyst at RedMonk

(00:28) - The Humorous Nemesis Backstory

(03:42) - AI, focusing on its broad impact and current trends in technology

(04:54) - Corey discusses practical applications of AI in his work

(06:00) - Rachel discusses how AI tools have revolutionized her workflow

(08:12) - RedMonk's approach to tracking language rankings

(10:29) - Public vs. Internal Use of Programming Languages

(13:09) - Rachel and Corey discuss how AI coding assistants are improving coding consistency and efficiency

(15:55) - Corey challenges the purpose of language rankings

(20:51) - AI tools affecting traditional data sources like Stack Overflow

(26:28) - The challenges of measuring productivity in the AI era

(29:21) - The macroeconomic impacts on tech employment and the role of AI in workforce management

(36:33) - Rachel and Corey share their personal uses and preferences for AI tools

(39:25) - Closing Remarks and where to reach Rachel

About Rachel:

Rachel Stephens is a Senior Analyst with RedMonk, a developer-focused industry analyst firm. She focuses on helping clients understand and contextualize technology adoption trends, particularly from the lens of the practitioner. Her research covers a broad range of developer and infrastructure products., Rachel Stephens is a Senior Analyst with RedMonk, a developer-focused industry analyst firm. She focuses on helping clients understand and contextualize technology adoption trends, particularly from the lens of the practitioner. Her research covers a broad range of developer and infrastructure products.

Links Referenced:

RedMonk: https://redmonk.com/

Rachel Stephens LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelstephens/

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Prowler: https://prowler.com

On this Featured Guest episode of Screaming in the Cloud, Corey is joined by Sandy Bird, Co-Founder and CTO of Sonrai Security. The two discuss the current state of cloud permissions security, and Sandy details the company’s breakthrough Cloud Permissions Firewall which promises fast and scalable cloud least privilege all with one click. Corey and Sandy also talk about bunk AWS tools in this space, the insanely high “zombie” population in the cloud, and how Sonrai works for companies of all sizes.

Highlights:

(00:00) Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with Corey Quinn

(00:50) Sponsored Ad

(01:32) Exploring Sonrai Security's Mission and Challenges

(03:38) Introducing the Cloud Permissions Firewall Concept

(05:59) Comparing Cloud Providers' Permissions Models

(09:49) Sponsored Ad

(10:12) Addressing the Zombie Identity Problem

(16:44) Scaling Solutions for Different Company Sizes

(20:10) Navigating Cloud Security Challenges

(23:38) Innovative Approaches to Permission Management

(25:27) Optimizing Permission Requests with Statistics

(27:04) Improving Cloud Security with Permissions on Demand

(35:15) Concluding Thoughts and Contact

About Sandy:

Sandy Bird is the co-founder and CTO of Sonrai Security, helping enterprises protect their data by securing cloud identities and access. Sandy was the co-founder and CTO of Q1 Labs, which was acquired by IBM in 2011. At IBM, Sandy became the CTO for the global security business and worked closely with research, development, marketing and sales to develop new and innovative solutions to help the IBM Security business grow to ~$2B in annual revenue. He is a trusted and experienced cloud security expert.

Links referenced:

Sonrai Security Website: https://sonrai.co/screaming-cloud

Free 14-Day Trial: https://sonrai.co/screaming-trial

Sandy’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-bird-835b5576/

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Sonrai Security: https://sonrai.co/screaming-cloud