Hadoop: Amazon’s New Parallel Data File Thingy

OK, it's time for me to admit something.

I'm a bit of a tech, gadget, and internet marketing nut.  There are times, however, when a news item appears that flies just over my head a bit.

Such was the case today when Amazon added something called Hadoop to its Amazon Web Services lineup.

What is Hadoop?  That's where things get a little cloudy, forgive the pun.

Erick Schonfeld over at TechCrunch called it a "file system" and was then called out by some commenters.  To his credit, he updated the post, calling Hadoop a web-scale data processing engine with Amazon Elastic MapReduce.

Apparently, Hadoop emits a tacheon burst which then repairs any rifts that may have been created in the space-time continuum and recharges the dilithium crystals, thereby returning the Enterprise D and her crew to the correct time period.

Oh wait, that was from something else.

Amazon Elastic Map Reduce was clarified like this: It is a framework for accessing data stored in file systems and databases

Another commenter clarified Hadoop thusly...

"Not a file system at all. Not a database. It’s a distributed parallel data processing engine."

At that point, I decided not to blog about the technical aspects of whatever the hell this thing is.  I think our readers here like to be kept up to date with the latest tech announcements, internet marketing news, and current buzz.

This is not a tech class.

All I can tell you is that Amazon seems to have added something pretty cool to its web services package.

If you want to read more about Hadoop, you can do so here.

If you know a little more about it and want to write it up in the comments or by dropping me a line, feel free to do so and I'll add it to this post.

UPDATE: You may find a little more enlightenment by reading this post by Paul Miller at CloudOfData.com.   You can also read more about it on the Amazon Web Services blog here.  Try not to let your brain explode.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Announcing Amazon Elastic MapReduce (aws.typepad.com)
• Amazon Public Data Sets bring the Cloud of Data closer (cloudofdata.com)
• How to Turn Cloud Computing Into Big Business - A Peek Inside Amazon Web Services (xconomy.com)
• Amazon Web Services Rolls Out New Pricing Model For EC2 (techcrunchit.com)

It's nice to see you again! Thanks for reading Blippitt. What do you think of this story? Be sure to leave a comment below.

Technorati Tags: Amazon Elastic MapReduce, Amazon Web Services, Erick Schonfeld, Hadoop, TechCrunch

Related Stories on Blippitt:

• WTF Is Google’s Eric Schmidt Talking About?
• Leo Laporte to Mike Arrington of TechCrunch: “Screw You!” (Video)