Links for 01-03-2013

• Amazon blames human error for Xmas Eve outage; Netflix vows better resiliency — Cloud Computing News - This demonstrates how difficult, perhaps impossible, it is to really ensure absolute availability in distributed systems.
• Cloud availability appears higher than enterprise data center uptime - Comparisons are difficult, both because the data on private data centers is sketchy and because the relevant number should really be application level availability.
• 'Pippin' is back, and surrounded by Broadway buzz - RT @americanrep: check out this great inside look at Pippin from the @HuffingtonPost!
• Microsoft Is Fast Turning Into A Sideshow - Forbes - What a takedown. RT @j0el: Roger Kay demolishes Microsoft - Forbes
• How The PCI Standards Will Really Die « PCI Guru
• Explore the Underwater Topography of North American Lakes with these Laser-Cut Wood Maps by ‘Below the Boat’ | Colossal
• How to Get Startup Ideas - "In 1995 I started a company to put art galleries online. But galleries didn't want to be online. It's not how the art business works. So why did I spend 6 months working on this stupid idea? Because I didn't pay attention to users. I invented a model of the world that didn't correspond to reality, and worked from that. I didn't notice my model was wrong until I tried to convince users to pay for what we'd built. Even then I took embarrassingly long to catch on. I was attached to my model of the world, and I'd spent a lot of time on the software. They had to want it!"
• Rethinking IT in the cloud computing era — Cloud Computing News
• Verizon Announces End of 900 Number Billing « iMediaConnection Blog - RT @textfiles: The end of 900 Numbers in the US. << Interesting. Hadn't thought of 900 #s in ages.