Welcome to above the clouds

GCP – Supporting research computing at Stanford and UC Riverside with HPC on Google Cloud
We are in the midst of a new era of research and innovation across disciplines and industries. Researchers increasingly rely on computational methods to drive their discoveries, and AI-infused tools supercharge the need for powerful computational resources. Not only is the speed of discovery accelerating, the workflows used to make these discoveries are also rapidly […]

GCP – AI-driven growth: AppLovin’s journey amplified by Google Cloud
AppLovin makes technologies that help businesses of every size connect to their ideal customers. The company provides end-to-end software leveraging AI solutions for businesses to reach, monetize and grow their global audiences. AppLovin has been exploring and harnessing AI for product and service enhancements across their ad platform to improve user experience across operations such […]

GCP – Intergamma elevates the in-store shopping experience with ChromeOS powered kiosks
Editor’s note:Today’s post is by Gerrit Klaas van der Vaart, Information Manager for Checkout, Loyalty, and Retention for Intergamma, based in Leusden, Netherlands. Intergamma is the largest DIY franchisee organization in the Benelux region, with almost 400 stores in the Netherlands and Belgium. The company’s stores are using ChromeOS devices to power kiosks where shoppers […]

AWS – Amazon SES now offers notifications for delivery improvement recommendations
Today, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) launched a new way to improve email delivery and engagement rates. SES’ Virtual Deliverability Manager will now proactively alert customers of gaps in sending configuration through Amazon EventBridge notifications. This helps customers quickly respond when sending configuration is incomplete, which helps increase email delivery and engagement rates. Read More […]

GCP – Finops Sketchnote 3 – Cost and value optimization on Google Cloud
If you’re looking for tips to optimize cloud costs, you’ve come to the right place! Remember, optimizing your cloud expenses isn’t just about cutting costs. It’s about knowing where to invest your money to maximize business value. The balance between value and cost is crucial. Instead of focusing solely on cloud costs reduction, you must […]

GCP – FinOps Sketchnotes 2 – Meet the FinOps team
Just as the Internet revolutionized our working practices, and social media rewrote the rules of marketing, Cloud FinOps is now reshaping the business landscape. As we shared in our introduction, with Cloud FinOps, your business can take full advantage of your digital transformation and the scalable, flexible infrastructure that the cloud provides while being efficient. […]

GCP – How Pinecone leverages Spanner’s familiar PostgreSQL to power its vector database
At Pinecone, we offer one of the leading vector databases, providing a fully managed, scalable, and easy-to-use platform for vector search. Used by a wide range of customers, including Fortune 500 companies and startups, our vector database helps to power a variety of applications. Recently, we migrated Pinecone’s underlying database engine to Spanner — here […]

GCP – How Google Earth Engine can inform more sustainable agriculture practices
Food and water security are among the most pressing problems facing the world today. According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world will see a 60% increase in demand for food by 2050. And according to the World Health Organization, since 2019, an additional 122 million people are experiencing hunger, due […]

GCP – How Stairwell uses Bigtable for cybersecurity
In 2006, Mike Wiacek stepped into Google’s Mountain View offices, beginning an almost 14-year journey. He founded Google’s Threat Analysis Group and co-founded Chronicle, an Alphabet cybersecurity venture now a part of Google Cloud. Today, Mike summarizes how his experiences as a Googler shaped the way he built Stairwell, his new company. While cybersecurity may […]
GCP – Connecting verifiable queries to smart contracts with Proof of SQL on BigQuery
Editor’s note: Today we hear from Space and Time, whose decentralized data warehouse and novel zero-knowledge (ZK) proof for SQL operations was recently integrated into BigQuery. Read on to learn more about how Space and Time is working to improve Blockchain-based smart contracts for the Web3 space, and how to use their technology within the […]