Bas' Take on Tech: Edge Computing, Digital Markets Act, Job Data
In this issue, we will have a look at the end of Vercel's edge computing, the Digital Markets Act, and Hacker News "Who is hiring" data.
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🌐 Edge Computing: Vercel reverts to Node.js
Vercel is reportedly reverting all edge rendering back to Node.js. The idea behind “edge computing” is that the server processing a user’s request is geographically as close to the user as possible, thus minimising response time by reducing network latency. If the request hits a static file, like an image or a CSS file, it’s relatively easy to replicate these files across the globe and the server can send the file requested very quickly. That’s basically how CDNs work.
In Robert Boedingheimer’s talk about web performance that he gave back in February at THAT conference, he mentions that latency is way more crucial to the performance that a user experiences than bandwidth.
So, the next idea is that instead of serving static files on distributed mini servers, we could bring a runtime “to the edge” and have it code executed close to the user, too. This is what’s called “edge computing”.
The only problem here is that the name (and the idea) is somewhat misleading: In most cases, the bottleneck is the connection to the database, not the computing power: A vast majority of the code executed “on the edge” is for retrieving data from a database. If the database itself is not located near the user that adds another round-trip to the database server for each query.
For relational databases (or databases that are designed for ACID in general), replication is way harder because of the CAP theorem.
If we assume a latency of 100ms for the connection between the user and the edge server, and an additional latency of 300ms between the edge and the database server, a request with just one query would have a total latency of 400ms, adding 300ms for each additional query.
If the site was delivered by a server near the database server (but far away from the user), the perceived performance would clearly be better.
The CAP theorem states that in a distributed computer system, it is impossible to simultaneously guarantee consistency, availability, and partition tolerance; only two of these properties can be achieved at any given time. Hence, replication to other locations must guarantee the consistency of the data. In some NoSQL databases are designed to guarantee “eventual consistency”, replication is easier.
So, the combination of “edge computing” and “a database” is not the problem here. The problem is the data is not being replicated like the code.
There are solutions to this problem, for example:
📊 Sneak Preview: Job data
I had a couple of follow-up coffee chats with people I talked to back in 2022. The conversations were very insightful again (and if you’d like to chat with me, I’d appreciate it if you’d book a slot in my calendly).
However, the perception of the current economic situation was surprisingly different for each person I’ve talked to.
So, I decided to have a look at some data. I started analyzing the job postings on Hacker News and collected other economic data from different sources.
I’m still not done with the analysis, but here are some preliminary findings:
The oft-cited story of overhiring during Covid and the subsequent job cuts is supported by the data
The situation appears to have stabilized since the second half of 2023, albeit at a low level
In other news, Walmart’s Ibotta IPO’d with a rise of 17% on the first day.
Expect a more detailed analysis of the job data in one of the next newsletter issues.
🇪🇺 EU: Digital Markets Act
The Digital Markets Act in the EU has been applicable for almost a year now, but I haven’t covered it in my newsletter, yet.
The regulation stipulates that corporations with a market capitalization of more than 80 billion Euros are to be classified as digital gatekeepers if they control at least one platform.
In the first phase, these gatekeepers were announced:
Alphabet Inc. (Google)
Amazon
Apple
ByteDance (TikTok)
Meta Platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Threads)
Microsoft (LinkedIn, Windows)
In essence, it is about ensuring that a platform’s own services are no longer given preference on the respective platforms. It is therefore about “linking” services. For example, Google has switched off access to Google Maps from its own Google search. Instead of a link to Google's map service, a non-clickable preview image appears at best.
What's going on? Is it a mistake? Has Google deliberately made its search worse? No! The reason is compliance: It is part of the changes that Google had to make for the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). More than twenty functions in Google Search have been completely removed or at least significantly adapted. Google explained this around two months ago, but without giving any specific details.
While the change to Google Maps integration seems to annoy end users in particular, other DMA adjustments to Google Search are controversial, too. The mandatory changes to Google Flights, Hotel and Travel are not to everyone's liking either. After all, they have unpleasant side effects.
A few weeks ago, several European airlines and hotels warned that Google's DMA adjustments could harm them. The reason: previously they were able to advertise their offers directly via Google, but now searchers are increasingly landing on intermediary platforms such as Booking or Expedia. Hotels and airlines now fear that the change could cost them up to 50% of their previous traffic.
Additional requirements for restricting access to porn will apply soon as well, according to the EU.
At least, there is a Chrome extension to bring the Maps link back and the first alternative App Store has launched for iOS.
📰 More headlines
🚀 What else?
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