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Colm MacCarthaigh

@colmmacc.bsky.social
1.9K followers 351 following 217 posts

VP / Distinguished Engineer at Amazon Web Services. Also: Open Source and Apache, Cryptography, Irish Music, mediocre Photography.

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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
AI safety talk fixates on stopping rogue superintelligence. We should talk far more about building solid, benevolent assistants that help people flourish. Automation is always coming ... how lucky are we that AI can even recognize evil?
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
We pay the highest tier specifically to avoid ads. If we see an ad, we'll just cancel. Simple as that. For us, ads are non-negotiable. We can spend it on blu-ray box-sets for our kid if it comes to it.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I had a fun time putting on my ridiculous hard hat and talking about how we build datacentres and AI with Ella. datacentremagazine.com/podcasts/ep-...
datacentremagazine.com
Ep. 15: Why AI Infrastructure Must Stay Agile
AWS’s Colm MacCárthaigh explores cloud infrastructure, edge computing, AI demand, power constraints and why agility is critical at scale.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
O.k. but hear me out, iPhone Duo FaceTime looks perfect for chasing our toddler around while keeping him on camera with his grandparents. This could be a killer feature.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Cape Town vibes
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Reposted by Colm MacCarthaigh
Tommaso Gagliardoni @tomgag.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 06/08/2026
Uh-oh... eprint.iacr.org/2026/1591 Potentially worrying. Has anyone looked into it already? #cryptography #pqc #crypto #quantum #quantsec #postquantum #lattice
eprint.iacr.org
A Polynomial-Time Quantum Algorithm for the Dihedral Coset Problem
We present a polynomial-time quantum algorithm for the Dihedral Coset Problem (DCP). The algorithm is based on Regev's polynomial-time reduction of the Dihedral Subgroup Problem (DSP) to the modular subset sum problem, but uses a different technique to erase sample bits without use of a subset sum oracle. The algorithm can thus combine with Regev's reduction of lattice problems to DCP, improved by Brakerski, Kirshanova, Stehl{\'e} and Wen, to yield polynomial-time quantum algorithms for various lattice problems, such as finding a polynomial-factor approximation to the shortest vector in an $n$-dimensional lattice (SVP), and the ``learning with errors'' problem (LWE). The algorithm can tolerate a faulty sample rate as high as $1/O(\log{n})$, allowing the algorithm-reduction combination to efficiently solve, for example, SVP with a $\sqrt{n}$ polylog($n$) approximation factor, or LWE instances with $\alpha=\sqrt{n}$ polylog($n$).
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
static.klipy.com
DeLorean Time Travel Vanish
ALT: DeLorean Time Travel Vanish
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
At my last gig we had a company summer party planned. A big party on a Dutch beach. The time and location were fixed, but one of the notes in the invite was that there may or may not be beach volleyball because it depended on the tide. As if it were like weather.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
In Seattle, our nearly-three-year-old boy has been in two different lil' kickers soccer programs. One indoors, and one in a nearby park. Cheap and coached by teenagers. In Maine, our nephew has the same. It's much more accessible than baseball, softball, hockey, basketball, or American football.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
They say it's better to clean and tidy as you go, but if you put off cleaning and tidying until it just can't wait any more then you might die before that happens and just think you could have been wasting some of your final moments cleaning and tidying.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Why divide, when you can multiply?
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Reposted by Colm MacCarthaigh
LRB Bookshop @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk · 13/04/2026
samuel beckett was born on this day 120 years ago. astonishing to think that if he had survived, and could run 100m in 9.57 seconds, he would be not only the oldest but also the fastest man in the world - together with his nobel prize for literature, an astonishing trifecta
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Last year at a security review of a particular thing I brought out some pens and just kept writing the alphabet on paper until someone caught the visual metaphor. More pen testing. It amused me at least.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
The cycle is complete. If 'Rock and Roll Kids' were written today — with the same 32-year nostalgia as when it won Eurovision in 1994 — it'd be about Kurt Cobain, Riverdance, and ... Rock and Roll Kids. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohBO...
youtube.com
Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan - Rock 'n' Roll Kids | Ireland 🇮🇪 | Winner of Eurovision 1994
YouTube video by Eurovision Song Contest
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Last year, Jessica Lee Gagné was the first woman to win the Cinematography Emmy too. The best known photographer in the world is also a woman. This is a field that could be dominated by women within a decade or two. For our collective enrichment!
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
What if instead of geographic constituencies for the House of Representatives, we had demographic constituencies? Each representative elected by roughly equally-sized age groups, counting children with their parents or carers. Wonder no more ...
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Here for this 1000%
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Cherry blossoms fall before anyone could say what they meant to say
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
What is with YouTube these days? I pay for YT Premium, but there are so many bugs. It wants me to sign in again every day, yet somehow the sidebar is still personalized with my subscriptions and history. Trying to play a short in browser never works the first time, I get the next in the roll.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Costco was packed today during Super Bowl - busier than previous years, even when Seattle played. Our traditional hack is losing its clout.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Well worth a subscribe.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Seeing @cmatbaby.bsky.social on TrackStar is the venn diagram we all need. www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7tp...
youtube.com
Testing CMAT's Music Knowledge | Track Star*
YouTube video by Track Star*
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Saltwater ice here in Maine.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
A long time ago I disabled RC4 in Amazon's cryptography. A few days later I was woken up by a page from a testing team. Switching to AES had caused a battery runtime regression on some generations of Kindles. Like .. a few minutes less per charge. We found a fix, but no good deed goes unpunished!
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
I knew that Lopez had written an unreleased book for "Kermit, Prince of Denmark", a hamlet parody, but this goes far harder than I'd expected. That is a legit top tier broadway song. It'd be an instant classic. How many of these are just squirreled away?
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
CS programs should: (A) Use O(C) as notation instead of O(1)— 'constant' is clearer than '1'. Yes the entire field should change convention. It matters. (B) Teach Control Theory as a foundational subject.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Here's the recorded Twitch repeat of "Atoms of Emergence" where we dig into counter-intuitive emergent behaviors that drive metastable failures. A fine-grained deep-dive that shows how small changes can make a big difference in preventing long outages, plus my favorite graph ever! Feedback welcome.
youtube.com
0xF - "Atoms of Emergence"
YouTube video by Shuffle Sharding
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Live now and starting in 5 minutes at twitch.tv/colmmacc
twitch.tv
colmmacc - Twitch
Atoms of Emergence - Understanding emergent behavior in metastable failures and avoiding long outages
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
It's been years, but I'm bringing back my Twitch channel to repeat a session that many attendees said was their favorite of re:Invent. We'll do an interactive deep dive into emergent behavior, metastable failures, and how to prevent long outages. This Friday, 10AM Pacific time. twitch.tv/colmmacc
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
The "Star Trek: Kahn" radio play podcast is A+. The music is better than the series, the story arc and characters are much more complex. Creative sound editing too. Wrenn Schmidt and Naveen Andrews both perfectly cast. I hope the world makes more culture like this.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
A few of the reference slides from the "Atoms of Emergence" 500-level chalk talk I'm doing at re:Invent. Really looking forward to really digging into some of the surprising emergent behaviors in request response systems, metastability, and more!
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Ancient spells cast still Ignore prior instructions The old ways persist
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
@pluribuspod.bsky.social Love listening to your episodes. I think Carol is literally intended to be the most miserable person in the world ... left in the world that is. She's definitely more miserable than the pluribus, and the other 5 uninfected we've met.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Yesterday Sting's "Fields of Gold" played on an airplane as we boarded and it brought back such a great memory for me. 1/n
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Nobody gets their kicks on "rowt" 66.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
"Full throttle" means maximum speed .... but also minimum speed. Make it make sense.
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Reposted by Colm MacCarthaigh
Mt. Rainier 🏔(təqʷuʔmaʔ) @handle.invalid · 25/09/2025
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Glad to see Andor win, the writing is incredible. For something similar, there's @sannewman.bsky.social's "Julia", which is to Orwell's 1984 what Andor is to Star Wars.
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Reposted by Colm MacCarthaigh
SwiftOnSecurity @swiftonsecurity.com · 11/09/2025
tldr humanity needs to engineer buildings around filtered air replacement rate and it's not even that dramatic but for dramatic results
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
The center didn't hold. Now we have tinder boxes on each side of the Atlantic. The worst among us piling on more kindling. The best just trying to bear peace. All so that a tiny few can fuel petty dominions that will vanish in the wind. Make it make sense.
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Reposted by Colm MacCarthaigh
Cori @pnwcori.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
I love living here! Excited to continue to keep our family protected.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
If the Federal Gov is to take ownership stakes in US business, cities and municipalities should have ownership stakes in the sports teams whose stadiums they subsidize.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
The Albertsons in Magnolia has always reminded me of a Hopper painting. I think it might be the last in the city. It's to become a Safeway. www.flickr.com/photos/colmm...
flickr.com
Magnolia nights
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Space Needles
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Travis Swift is the perfect platonic name for an all-time all-American footballing superhero.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
Mozart's Symphony No 29 in A major (K.201) is the best Mozart. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3j5...
youtube.com
Mozart: Symphony No. 29 in A major, K.201 - Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra - Live Concert HD
YouTube video by AVROTROS Klassiek
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Recently spent days debugging our home cooling system. Turned out that a fresh air damper was burning out its motor and drawing 5V from the 24VAC control lines. That didn't leave enough voltage to activate the compressor relay, but only when the thermostat was also charging its internal battery.
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
In addition to the top level managing directors and members of the independent advisory board, every person operating the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will be an EU Citizen and an EU resident. www.aboutamazon.eu/news/aws/aws...
aboutamazon.eu
AWS European Sovereign Cloud to be operated by EU citizens
With the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, we are providing customers with a new, independent AWS Cloud which will serve the emerging digital sovereignty needs of highly regulated industries and public se...
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
How the CLOUD Act actually works. Reality is more boring and reassuring than the common folklore.
aws.amazon.com
Five facts about how the CLOUD Act actually works | Amazon Web Services
French | German At Amazon Web Services (AWS), customer privacy and security are our top priority. We provide our customers with industry-leading privacy and security when they use the AWS Cloud anywhe...
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Colm MacCarthaigh @colmmacc.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Every high performing engineering team is convinced their stuff secretly sucks. Not just relentless obsession with improvement, but actual shame and resentment about what holds their system together.
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