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Amazon's Latest Money Pit and Microsoft's Storage Crisis
What's scarier than your credit card bill after the holidays? Big Tech's plans for 2025...
Wassup! It's January 14th, and exactly 21 years ago, a mysterious figure named Satoshi Nakamoto dropped Bitcoin like Oprah Winfrey drops free cars. Through a casual post to The Cryptography Mailing List (the Discord of its time), they unleashed what would become the world's most anxiety-inducing dinner table conversation topic.
A week earlier, they'd mined the first 50 bitcoins, known as the Genesis Block—not to be confused with Sega Genesis, though both have similarly devoted cult followings. Today, Bitcoin isn't just open source code anymore. It has evolved from "magic internet money" and spawned an entire industry of people trying to explain crypto to their parents at holiday dinners.
Amazon Throws $11B at AI Data Centers (Because Money Grows on AWS Trees)
Amazon—apparently finding $11 billion in Jeff Bezos's old space suit pockets—is pulling a Tony Stark and building new data centers in Georgia.
According to their "Global Infrastructure map" (which we suspect is a fancier name for a Google Map with AWS stickers), Atlanta currently hosts an AWS edge location rather than a full data center campus. That's about to change.
The announcement follows Microsoft's commitment to spend $80 billion on similar infrastructure this year. You know what they say: when your competitor is burning money on AI, you better start your own bonfire. AWS claims these facilities will handle "various workloads," but we all know what that means in 2025—training more AI models to write mediocre poetry and generate images of cats wearing spacesuits.
Microsoft OneDrive Users: Your Data's About to Pull a Disappearing Act
Microsoft is about to go full Thanos on your OneDrive data, planning to snap unlicensed accounts out of existence after 93 days of inactivity.
Like that USB drive you lost in 2015, your files will vanish into the digital void after another 93 days in the recycle bin. Want to pull a UNO reverse (time) card and get your data back? That'll be $0.60/GB plus a $0.05/GB monthly fee—making this the most expensive time heist since "Avengers: Endgame."
At this rate, Microsoft will soon launch Xbox Game Pass Premium Plus Pro Max Ultimate, a subscription to manage your subscriptions' subscriptions.
(Human Editor's Note: Yes, we went hard on the Marvel references. What can we say? We're still not over watching Peter Parker turn to dust. At least he got 5 years — Microsoft's only giving you 93 days.)
Your Fitness Data is Everyone's Business (Literally)
Looking to get fit in 2025? Here's a workout for you: running from data collectors.
According to Tech Radar, a new study from Surfshark – one of the leading VPN services on the market – reveals that 80% of popular fitness apps are sharing your personal data with third parties. Strava and Fitbit lead the pack, collecting 84% of all potential data points. So while you're counting steps, they're counting profits from your personal information.
It's like having a personal trainer who moonlights as a Japanese game show producer—everything you do ends up being shared with an audience you never signed up for.
Here's the real kicker: those "free" fitness apps? They're actually charging you in data. Surfshark's research shows free apps share significantly more data with third parties than their paid counterparts. Turns out "there's no such thing as a free lunch" applies to your workout tracking too. If an app doesn't give you the option to limit permissions, maybe it's time to question what they're really training – your body or their AI?
🗳️ Research Poll
Hey ByteSizers! Quick question for ya:What would you love to see more of each week? |
⚙️ Tool Time
We recommend WhatPulse.
A delightfully nerdy productivity tracker that's like Google Analytics for your keyboard-smashing habits.
Think of it as a FitBit for your digital life, minus the data-selling shenanigans that made us grumpy in our fitness apps story above.
What it tracks:
Your keyboard's most-abused keys (hello, ctrl+z)
Which apps are eating your precious hours
Bandwidth usage that'll make your IT team proud
Mouse movement patterns (for science!)
Your productivity scores (or lack thereof)
Why data nerds will love it:
Detailed analytics that would make a PostgreSQL admin blush
Heat maps of your digital habits
Totally-not-addictive leaderboards
Proof that yes, you really did spend 8 hours debugging that one line
Competition with other techies (because everything's better with points)
It's like getting Reddit upvotes, but for your actual productivity. And unlike certain AI-powered tools, it won't try to predict your next keystroke—it just judges your current ones. Silently. Like a disappointed parent.
And yes, we know what you're thinking – this is giving off some serious 1984 vibes if your employer gets their hands on it. But for personal use? It's the perfect New Year's resolution accountability buddy.
And unlike certain cough AI-powered cough productivity tools, WhatPulse doesn't try to predict what you want or autocomplete your keystrokes. It just sits there, quietly judging how many times you've rage-quit Eclipse today. Because sometimes, the best tools are the ones that show us exactly who we are—even if that means confronting how many hours we've actually spent watching GeoGuesser videos.
This gem comes recommended by EE legend Andrew Hancock (you might remember him from our very first issue — the VMware expert who keeps bees, because one type of buzzing technology wasn't enough).
👨💻 Job Opportunities
Here's a role for someone who treats CMMC Level 1 compliance like it's their favorite House of the Dragon scenes. (Here's ours.) You'll be running a colocation facility that serves 200+ clients, juggling legacy systems and cloud migrations with the precision of someone who's completed Dark Souls without dying.
A position for those who can navigate Microsoft's labyrinth of products with the confidence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. You'll need to maintain zen-like composure while users share screens that look like they're auditioning for r/techsupportgore. Bonus points if you can explain why "clear browser cache" fixes everything without sounding like an NPC dialogue option.
🛩 Industry Moves
Verizon Wins US Air Force Contract Despite Recent Oopsie
Remember that whole Salt Typhoon breach? The Air Force doesn't seem to mind, awarding Verizon a contract to upgrade networks on 35 bases. It's like giving your keys back to someone who just crashed your car, but make it cybersecurity.
The contract covers 24 states and D.C., proving that in the world of military contracts, memory is shorter than Ted Lasso's goldfish. Nothing says "we trust you" like handing over military infrastructure to a recently hacked provider.
Nvidia Hints at Desktop CPU Plans
Nvidia's Jensen Huang is playing coy about their CPU plans like a teenager hiding their finstas ("fake" instagram accounts, phone your Gen-Z for help on this one). At CES, he dropped hints about Project Digits, a $3,000 personal AI supercomputer that's basically a gaming PC with a PhD. The company is clearly plotting something bigger with their new Arm-based CPU, developed with MediaTek.
It's giving us strong "this isn't even my final form" vibes, as Nvidia seems ready to be coming for Intel and AMD's lunch money.
Indian Government Websites Still Redirecting to Scams
Imagine if 90+ government websites accidentally started popping up those "hot singles in your area" ads…
According to TechCrunch, that's exactly what's happening in India, where official .gov sites are still redirecting visitors to betting platforms and scams. CERT-In, India's cyber agency, is approaching the problem with the same level of care as Stephen A. Smith. Even Google's indexing these redirects, making this the most successful government program nobody actually planned.
💽 Data Upload
And there you have it—another week where Big Tech reminded us that if something's free, you're probably the product. Stay skeptical, friends, and we'll see you next Tuesday with more unfiltered tech truth.
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