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At the beginning of January I tend to set my top resolutions for the year, a way to focus on what I want to achieve. If AI and cloud computing solutions are on your list, consider creating an AWS Free Tier account to get up to $200 in credits and 6 months of risk-free experimentation with AWS services.
During this period, you can explore core computing, storage, database and AI/ML services, plus access to over 30 always-free services with monthly usage limits. After 6 months, you can decide whether to upgrade to a standard AWS account.
Whether you’re a student exploring career options, a developer expanding your skills, or a professional building with cloud technologies, this hands-on approach allows you to focus on what matters most: developing real expertise in areas you’re passionate about.
Last week’s launch
Here are the news that caught my eye this week:
- AWS Lambda – Now supports building serverless applications using .NET 10 as a managed runtime as well as a base container image. AWS will automatically apply updates to the managed runtime and base image as they become available. More information in this blog post.
- Amazon ECS – Adds support for tmpfs connections to Linux jobs running on AWS Fargate and Amazon ECS managed instances in addition to the EC2 execution type. You can use tmpfs to create memory-backed file systems for your container jobs without having to write data to job storage.
- AWS Config – Can now discover, assess, audit, and repair other types of AWS resources across key services including Amazon EC2, Amazon SageMaker, and Amazon S3 Tables.
- Amazon MQ – Introduces HTTP-based authentication for RabbitMQ brokers. You can configure this plugin on brokers by making changes to the associated configuration file. It also now supports certificate-based authentication with peer-to-peer TLS for RabbitMQ brokers.
- Amazon MWAA – You can now build Apache Airflow version 2.11 environments using Amazon Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow. This release of Apache Airflow introduces changes to help you prepare to upgrade to Apache Airflow 3.
- Amazon EC2 instances – M8i, C8i and C8i-flex, R8i and R8i-flex, and I7ie are now available in additional AWS regions.
- AWS Client VPN – A new quickstart reduces the number of steps required to set up a VPN client endpoint.
- Amazon Quick Suite – Added integration for AI agents and its built-in action library. These now include GitHub, Notion, Canva, Box, Linear, Hugging Face, Monday.com, HubSpot, Intercom, and more.
Another update
Here are some other projects, blog posts and news that caught my eye:
Upcoming AWS events
Join us on January 28th or 29th (depending on your time zone) for Best of AWS re:Invent, a free virtual event where we bring you the most impactful announcements and best sessions from AWS re:Invent. Jeff Barr, AWS Vice President and Chief Evangelist, will share his highlights during the opening session.
There’s still time until January 21 to compete for $250,000 in prizes and AWS credits in the Global 10,000 AIdeas Competition (yes, the second letter is I as in Idea, not L as in similar). No code needed yet: simply submit your idea, and if you’re selected as a semi-finalist, you’ll build your app with Kiro within the AWS Free Tier limits. In addition to cash prizes and a potential starring role at AWS re:Invent 2026, you’ll gain hands-on experience with next-generation AI tools and connect with innovators around the world.
If these opportunities interest you, join the AWS Builder Center and learn with builders in the AWS community.
That’s it for this week. Check back next Monday for another weekly recap!
– Danilo