Consumer News: Halloween celebrations can add to your utility bill

Many major websites, including Amazon, went dark

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• A widespread Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, knocked dozens of major sites and apps offline worldwide, from Amazon and Prime Video to Snapchat, Roblox, and financial platforms.

• AWS said the incident centered on its US East (Northern Virginia) region, with core services showing significant signs of recovery by early morning U.S. time.

• The disruption reignited concerns about the worlds dependence on a handful of cloud providers as ripple effects hit banks, telecoms, airlines, and government portals.

A major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) early Monday spilled across the internet, temporarily breaking access to Amazons own storefront and Prime Video, along with widely used apps including Snapchat, Signal, Roblox, Fortnite, Zoom, and Slack.

Impact spilled into finance (Coinbase, Robinhood, Venmo), transportation and telecom (major U.S. carriers; some airline systems), and connected-home tools such as Alexa and Ring.

AWS status communications and outside monitoring pointed to problems concentrated in the companys U.S. East Coast hub, commonly known as US-EAST-1 in Northern Virginia. The Guardian reported DynamoDB, AWSs managed NoSQL database, was among services experiencing degraded performance, a pattern that can ripple across any customer application relying on it.

How the outage unfolded

Reports began rolling in around the start of the U.K. workday (about 8 a.m. BST), with spikes in error rates and latency noted by AWS and third-party trackers. By 5:27 a.m. ET AWS said it was observing significant signs of recovery, and by shortly after 6:00 a.m. ET most affected services were reporting improvementthough some customers continued working through backlogs.

The number of impacted services spanned consumer, enterprise, and public-sector platforms. Games including Fortnite and Roblox, social and messaging apps like Snapchat and Signal, and Amazons own Alexa and Prime Video were among the most visible outages.

Financial services, major U.K. institutions (HMRC), and even market-data providers saw disruption, underscoring AWSs central role in the digital economy.

Why this matters

Cybersecurity and internet-governance experts emphasized that Mondays incident, while apparently an IT failure rather than an attack, highlights systemic risk from concentration in a few hyperscale clouds.

When a core database or identity service hiccups in a dominant region, the blast radius can leap continents and sectors within minutes. Calls for diversified architectures, multi-region resilience, and contingency plans are likely to intensify following this event.

Mondays outage is one of the broadest internet disruptions since the 2024 CrowdStrike incident that crippled systems worldwide. It will add pressure on cloud customers and regulators alike to stress-test failover strategies, decouple critical functions where feasible, and improve transparency around dependencies many end users never see until everything stops.

"Incidents like this show how much of our daily life now depends on a few big tech providers. When one of them has a problem, it can bring down internet access for millions. The problem is centralisation," saidRobJardin, chief digital officer atcybersecurityexpertsNymVPN,"Outages of this scaleexpose our over-reliance on centralized infrastructures. The internet was originally designed to be decentralised and resilient, yet today so much of our online ecosystem is concentrated in a small number of cloud regions. When one of those regions experiences a fault, the impact is immediate and widespread.

The same centralization of internet service provisions in private hands is what enables governments to command internet shutdowns for political reasons, blocking access to information for entire countries. And for ordinary internet users, it means vulnerable points of failure for hackers, data leaks, and impacting technical breakdowns like we are seeing today," Jardin said in an email to ConsumerAffairs.

Financial toll

The financial toll of the widespread outage is huge, with damage estimates hovering around $75 million per hour. Tenscope, a system design agency, provided this breakdown of the estimated hourly losses:

* Amazon: $72,831,050 per hour
* Snapchat: $611,986 per hour
* Zoom: $532,580 per hour
* Roblox: $411,187 per hour
* Fortnite: $399,543 per hour
* Canva: $342,466 per hour
* Slack: $194,064 per hour
* Reddit: $148,402 per hour

"These financial losses are staggering, but they're only half the story," said Jovan Babovic, co-founder of Tenscope. "From a user experience perspective, an outage is the ultimate trust-killer. It instantly erodes all the goodwill your brand, design, and marketing have worked to build."

"Users who hit a dead page don't just patiently wait," Babovic explains. "They get frustrated and often turn to competitors. This isn't just an infrastructure failure; it's a user experience failure. It shows that resilience planning, designing for what happens when things go wrong, matters just as much as getting the interface right when everything works."

The financial estimates provided in this analysis were calculated by Tenscope based on last year's publicly available revenue data for the affected companies, divided by 8,760 to determine hourly revenue loss during the AWS outage.

There are also higher deductions and bigger credits next year

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• The IRS is raising standard deductions for 2026 up to $32,200 for joint filers and $16,100 for singles along with larger credits for families, adoptions, and employer-provided childcare.

• The top tax rate remains 37%, but income thresholds in all brackets are increasing slightly, meaning many taxpayers may owe a bit less.

• Bigger Earned Income and childcare credits, higher limits for FSAs and commuter benefits, and modest estate and AMT increases will offer additional tax relief in 2026.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the 2026 tax brackets and other key updates that will affect the returns Americans file in 2027.

The changes, outlined in Revenue Procedure 2025-32, include increases to standard deductions, tax credits, and income thresholds all shaped by the recently passed One, Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBB).

The standard deduction the amount most taxpayers can subtract from their income before paying federal taxes is going up again in 2026:

• $32,200 for married couples filing jointly

• $16,100 for single filers and married individuals filing separately

• $24,150 for heads of households

Thats a small boost over 2025s amounts ($31,500 for joint filers, $15,750 for single filers, and $23,625 for heads of households).

Tax brackets shift slightly

The top federal tax rate stays the same 37% but the income thresholds for each bracket are rising slightly to account for inflation.

For 2026, single taxpayers earning more than $640,600 and couples earning over $768,700 will still fall into the top bracket. The other brackets look like this:

• 35% for incomes over $256,225 ($512,450 for couples)

• 32% for incomes over $201,775 ($403,550 for couples)

• 24% for incomes over $105,700 ($211,400 for couples)

• 22% for incomes over $50,400 ($100,800 for couples)

• 12% for incomes over $12,400 ($24,800 for couples)

• 10% for incomes below those levels

Bigger breaks for families

Families and working parents will see a few notable boosts:

• Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): The maximum credit for taxpayers with three or more qualifying children rises to $8,231, up from $8,046 in 2025.

• Adoption Credit: The maximum credit for qualified adoption expenses increases to $17,670, and up to $5,120 of that amount may be refundable.

• Employer-Provided Childcare Credit: The OBBB dramatically raises this benefit from $150,000 to $500,000, or $600,000 for small businesses that offer childcare support to employees.

More adjustments for everyday expenses

A handful of everyday tax-related items are also increasing for 2026:

• Commuter and Parking Benefits: The monthly limit rises to $340.

• Health Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA): Workers can contribute up to $3,400, and unused balances up to $680 can roll over.

• Medical Savings Accounts (MSA): Deductibles and out-of-pocket limits rise slightly for both single and family plans.

• Foreign Earned Income Exclusion: Expats can exclude up to $132,900 of foreign income, up from $130,000.

• Gift Tax Exclusion: The annual limit remains $19,000 per recipient, but gifts to non-U.S. citizen spouses increase to $194,000.

Whats not changing

Some parts of the tax code will remain frozen:

• Personal Exemptions: Still set at $0, a rule made permanent under the new law.

• Itemized Deductions: The old limits remain repealed, but high-income taxpayers in the top bracket will still face a cap on the tax benefit.

• Lifetime Learning Credit: Income phaseouts remain at $80,000$90,000 for single filers and $160,000$180,000 for couples.

• The estate tax exemption increases to $15 million, meaning most estates wont owe federal tax unless they exceed that amount.

• The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) exemption goes up to $90,100 for single filers and $140,200 for joint filers.

What it means

Most Americans will see small but steady relief in 2026, especially families with children or employers offering childcare support. While the top tax rate hasnt changed, the higher income thresholds and deductions mean many people could owe slightly less next year.

Many major websites, including Amazon, went dark

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• A widespread Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, knocked dozens of major sites and apps offline worldwide, from Amazon and Prime Video to Snapchat, Roblox, and financial platforms.

• AWS said the incident centered on its US East (Northern Virginia) region, with core services showing significant signs of recovery by early morning U.S. time.

• The disruption reignited concerns about the worlds dependence on a handful of cloud providers as ripple effects hit banks, telecoms, airlines, and government portals.

A major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) early Monday spilled across the internet, temporarily breaking access to Amazons own storefront and Prime Video, along with widely used apps including Snapchat, Signal, Roblox, Fortnite, Zoom, and Slack.

Impact spilled into finance (Coinbase, Robinhood, Venmo), transportation and telecom (major U.S. carriers; some airline systems), and connected-home tools such as Alexa and Ring.

AWS status communications and outside monitoring pointed to problems concentrated in the companys U.S. East Coast hub, commonly known as US-EAST-1 in Northern Virginia. The Guardian reported DynamoDB, AWSs managed NoSQL database, was among services experiencing degraded performance, a pattern that can ripple across any customer application relying on it.

How the outage unfolded

Reports began rolling in around the start of the U.K. workday (about 8 a.m. BST), with spikes in error rates and latency noted by AWS and third-party trackers. By 5:27 a.m. ET AWS said it was observing significant signs of recovery, and by shortly after 6:00 a.m. ET most affected services were reporting improvementthough some customers continued working through backlogs.

The number of impacted services spanned consumer, enterprise, and public-sector platforms. Games including Fortnite and Roblox, social and messaging apps like Snapchat and Signal, and Amazons own Alexa and Prime Video were among the most visible outages.

Financial services, major U.K. institutions (HMRC), and even market-data providers saw disruption, underscoring AWSs central role in the digital economy.

Why this matters

Cybersecurity and internet-governance experts emphasized that Mondays incident, while apparently an IT failure rather than an attack, highlights systemic risk from concentration in a few hyperscale clouds.

When a core database or identity service hiccups in a dominant region, the blast radius can leap continents and sectors within minutes. Calls for diversified architectures, multi-region resilience, and contingency plans are likely to intensify following this event.

Mondays outage is one of the broadest internet disruptions since the 2024 CrowdStrike incident that crippled systems worldwide. It will add pressure on cloud customers and regulators alike to stress-test failover strategies, decouple critical functions where feasible, and improve transparency around dependencies many end users never see until everything stops.

"Incidents like this show how much of our daily life now depends on a few big tech providers. When one of them has a problem, it can bring down internet access for millions. The problem is centralisation," saidRobJardin, chief digital officer atcybersecurityexpertsNymVPN,"Outages of this scaleexpose our over-reliance on centralized infrastructures. The internet was originally designed to be decentralised and resilient, yet today so much of our online ecosystem is concentrated in a small number of cloud regions. When one of those regions experiences a fault, the impact is immediate and widespread.

The same centralization of internet service provisions in private hands is what enables governments to command internet shutdowns for political reasons, blocking access to information for entire countries. And for ordinary internet users, it means vulnerable points of failure for hackers, data leaks, and impacting technical breakdowns like we are seeing today," Jardin said in an email to ConsumerAffairs.

These chemicals are hiding in cookware, fabrics, cosmetics, and cleaning products

• PFAS, or forever chemicals, are linked to cancer, fertility issues, and weakened immune systems.
• These chemicals are hiding in cookware, fabrics, cosmetics, and cleaning products.
• Experts say small changes in what you buy and use can significantly reduce your risk.

What is it and does itmatter?

Youve probably heard of PFAS short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances nicknamed forever chemicals because they barely degrade in the environment. Once introduced, they persist in soil, water, and even human blood for decades.

Research shows that about 97% of Americans already carry PFAS in their bloodstream, according to national health surveys. These chemicals are linked to cancers, hormone disruption, developmental delays, and reduced fertility.

The bad news: PFAS are intentionally added to common consumer products everything from nonstick pans to waterproof mascara to make them resistant to water, oil, and heat.

The good news: You can reduce your exposure dramatically by changing a few purchasing habits. The non-profit PIRG, has some suggestions"

Step 1: Stop bringing PFAS into your home

You dont have to toss everything you own. The first step is simply avoiding new products treated with PFAS.
When shopping, watch for words like nonstick, stain-proof, grease-resistant, or waterproof. And check ingredient lists for terms such as PTFE, perfluoro, or polyfluoro all chemical cousins of PFAS.

Step 2: Go old-school with your cookware

That slick, easy-slide frying pan may use PFAS-based coatings like Teflon (PTFE). When scratched or overheated, they can release PFAS particles or fumes.
Safer options include stainless steel, carbon steel, or cast iron cookware. If youre still using nonstick pans, keep them at medium heat, use non-metal utensils, and replace them once the coating peels or flakes.

Step 3: Watch your baking paper

Many baking papers and fast-food wrappers are treated with PFAS to resist grease. Choose uncoated parchment labeled PFAS-free, or reusable silicone baking mats instead they last for years and eliminate waste.

Step 4: Skip stain-resistant tablecloths

Easy-clean or spill-proof tablecloths often have PFAS coatings. Washable cotton or linen tablecloths or cork placemats are safer and more sustainable.

Step 5: Be wary of cleaning sprays

Some household cleaners use fluorinated ingredients. Look for Green Seal or Safer Choice labels, which exclude PFAS.
For most messes, soap, water, and a little vinegar or baking soda work just as well. (Never mix vinegar and hydrogen peroxide the combo can release harmful fumes.)

Step 6: Check your raincoat

Outdoor jackets and rain gear often use PFAS-based durable water repellents. Many brands now offer PFAS-free shells look for labels that say so when you shop or re-treat your coat.

Step 7: Look at your dental floss and makeup

PFAS are sometimes used to make dental floss slick or mascara waterproof. Researchers found PFAS in nearly three-quarters of waterproof mascaras tested.

Check labels for PTFE or fluoro- ingredients, and opt for PFAS-free floss and cosmetics. Plant-based or silk floss, refillable glass containers, and natural mascaras are safer choices.

Step 8: Lipstick can be a hidden source

Some lipsticks use PFAS for shine and staying power but that means you could be ingesting them throughout the day. Avoid products with perfluoro or polyfluoro ingredients, and choose PFAS-free cosmetics instead.

Why cutting PFAS matters

PFAS isfound in food, air, dust, and drinking water. Even small daily exposures can add up over time. Reducing PFAS in your home means less of these chemicals in landfills, waterways, and ultimately, human bodies.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates at least 158 million Americans currently have PFAS in their tap water. While individual steps help, larger regulatory action is critical.

Environmental groups are urging Congress to support the PFAS National Drinking Water Standard Act, which would make EPAs limits on six common PFAS legally binding.

How to protect your family from PFAS

Small switches, big difference

• Cookware: Replace nonstick pans with stainless, carbon steel, or cast iron.

• Food contact: Use PFAS-free parchment or silicone mats.

• Cleaning: Choose Safer Choice or Green Seal certified products.

• Clothing: Opt for PFAS-free outdoor gear.

• Cosmetics: Avoid waterproof or longwear formulas with PTFE or fluoro- ingredients.

Quick checklist: What to do right now

Audit your kitchen and bathroom.
Check cookware, floss, cosmetics, and cleaning products for PFAS-related terms.

Buy PFAS-free when you replace items.
You dont need to purge just make safer choices going forward.

Filter your drinking water.
Activated carbon and reverse osmosis systems can reduce PFAS.

Support regulation.
Urge your representatives to back the PFAS National Drinking Water Standard Act.