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Articles by Brian Beach
Your Guide to the Developer Tools Track at AWS re:Invent 2026
AWS re:Invent 2026 is almost here, and if you’re a developer, the Developer Tools (DVT) track is where you’ll want to spend your week. This year is all about agentic development, from multi-agent workflows to autonomous agents that keep working while you sleep. And CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, and full-stack development are still well represented. Here’s your essential guide to the week.
Amazon Q Developer end-of-support announcement
When we launched Amazon Q Developer, our goal was to bring AI assistance directly into the developer workflow. Customers adopted Q Developer across VS Code, JetBrains, Eclipse, and Visual Studio, using it for code generation, debugging, and chat-based guidance. Q Developer proved that AI belongs in the inner loop of software development. Over the past year, we’ve learned that the most impactful AI developer experiences go far beyond code generation and completion.
Your Guide to the Developer Tools Track at AWS re:Invent 2025 | Amazon Web Services
AWS re:Invent 2025 is just around the corner, and if you’re a developer looking to level up your skills, the Developer Tool (DVT) track has an incredible lineup waiting for you. From CI/CD pipelines and full-stack development to Infrastructure as Code and AI-powered coding agents, this year’s sessions will help you build faster, smarter, and more efficiently. Here’s your essential guide to navigating the week.
Nebraska Net Farm Income Projected to Increase by 42% in 2025
By Brian Beach Despite tariff concerns and low grain prices, Nebraska agricultural producers are on track for a good year overall. Net farm income in the state is projected to reach $8.42 billion in 2025, up from $5.94 billion last year, according to the Fall 2025 Farm Income Outlook from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Missouri.
Here’s What Nebraska Cattle Producers Think About the USDA Beef Industry Plan
By Brian Beach After receiving backlash from ranchers over a potential beef deal with Argentina, the Trump administration unveiled a plan this week to “fortify the American beef industry.” The new policy plan, announced by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Wednesday, focuses on three priorities – protecting and improving the business of ranching, expanding processing, consumer transparency and market access, and building demand alongside domestic supply.
Medical marijuana advocates criticize restrictions on cannabis access at hearing
Some said the ban on marijuana flower is blatantly unlawful, given the ballot initiative’s language legalizing of marijuana for medical purposes. “The people wanted to be able to possess cannabis for medical purposes up to five ounces, including flower and plant,” said State Sen. John Cavanaugh.
Nebraska policymakers share how state funding shifts could impact their budgets
Gov. Jim Pillen has a goal of cutting 10% from the state’s general fund in the upcoming year, which would amount to around $500 million in cuts. At OpenSky Policy Institute’s Fall Symposium Thursday, Pillen’s policy research director Kenny Zoeller said the ambitious plan comes following years of unprecedented growth in general fund receipts, which includes corporate income tax, individual income tax and sales tax.
US Trade Official Visits York to Share Trump Administration Plan for Ag Exports
By Brian Beach It’s been a rough year for Nebraska crop producers, with low corn prices and China’s refusal to buy soybeans leaving many producers in the red, despite relatively high yields. But speaking in York on Wednesday, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg said there are big wins on the horizon for American agriculture.
AWS named as a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for AI Code Assistants | Amazon Web Services
We are excited to share that AWS has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for AI Code Assistants for the second year in row. This recognition highlights for us Amazon Q Developer’s commitment to innovation and delivering exceptional customer experiences. We believe this Leader placement showcases our rapid pace of innovation, which makes the whole software development lifecycle easier and increases developer productivity with enterprise-grade access controls and security.
"¡Mentiroso! ¡Tax the rich!"
El New York Times cuenta estos días que la mayoría de políticos republicanos están rehuyendo los debates en público y los encuentros en ayuntamientos con los vecinos a los que representan. Quieren evitar enfrentarse a figuras demócratas y responder a las preguntas difíciles de su electorado, gran parte de él descontento con las primeras medidas que ha tomado Donald Trump durante este mandato. Sin embargo, uno de ellos sí se ha atrevido a subir al estrado.
Overcome development disarray with Amazon Q Developer CLI custom agents | Amazon Web Services
As a developer who has embraced the power of the Model Context Protocol (MCP)to enhance my workflows, I’m thrilled to see the addition of custom agents in the Amazon Q Developer CLI. This new feature takes the capabilities I’ve come to rely on to a whole new level, allowing me to seamlessly manage different development contexts and easily switch between them.
Rep. Don Bacon introduces bill increasing penalties for attacking public safety officers
Congressman Don Bacon introduced legislation Thursday that would increase criminal penalties for anyone convicted of killing or conspiring to kill public safety officers. The so-called “Back the Blue Act” would also create mandatory minimums for assaulting a federally funded state or local law enforcement officer, which could include a firefighter, chaplain, federal judge or rescue squad member. If a death occurs, there is a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years.
Rep. Don Bacon introduces bill increasing penalties for attacking public safety officers
Congressman Don Bacon introduced legislation Thursday that would increase criminal penalties for anyone convicted of killing or conspiring to kill public safety officers. The so-called “Back the Blue Act” would also create mandatory minimums for assaulting a federally funded state or local law enforcement officer, which could include a firefighter, chaplain, federal judge or rescue squad member. If a death occurs, there is a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years.
Officials provide more details on Omaha ICE raid
Nebraska elected officials weighed in Wednesday on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid Tuesday at an Omaha meatpacking plant. ICE went to Glenn Valley Foods Tuesday morning and detained more than 70 people for suspected immigration violations and using fraudulent documents. Though the raid sparked protests and criticism of the federal government, U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts said President Donald Trump was elected to secure the country’s borders and stop the flow of illegal immigration.
Exploring the latest features of the Amazon Q Developer CLI | Amazon Web Services
It’s been a few weeks since my last post about the Amazon Q Developer Command Line Interface (CLI), and I’m excited to share all the great new features and improvements the team has been working on. The CLI has been evolving rapidly with a focus on enhancing user experience, improving context management, and adding powerful new capabilities. In this post, I’ll walk you through the most significant changes that make the Amazon Q Developer CLI even more powerful and user-friendly.
Intelligent coding at your fingertips: Introducing an agentic coding experience in your IDE | Amazon Web Services
Back in March, I wrote about the new agentic coding experience within the Amazon Q Developer CLI. Recently, Amazon Q Developer announced that it has added a similar experience to the integrated development environement (IDE). Agentic coding in the IDE allows you to work with Amazon Q Developer to read and write files locally, run bash commands, build code, and more in near real-time through natural language conversations.
April 2025: A month of innovation for Amazon Q Developer | Amazon Web Services
As April 2025 comes to a close, I’m amazed by the innovations that Amazon Q Developer has launched in the past few weeks. Generative AI is evolving fast, enabling developer experiences that were just not possible a few months ago. Each new launch helps make Q Developer the most capable generative AI–powered assistant for software development. Let’s explore the announcements from April.
Extend the Amazon Q Developer CLI with Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Richer Context | Amazon Web Services
Earlier today, Amazon Q Developer announced Model Context Protocol (MCP) support in the command line interface (CLI). Developers can connect external data sources to Amazon Q Developer CLI with MCP support for more context-aware responses. By integrating MCP tools and prompts into Q Developer CLI, you get access to an expansive list of pre-built integrations or any MCP Servers that support stdio.
Announcing the European region for Amazon Q Developer | Amazon Web Services
As I sat down to write this post, my daughter called from the top of the Eiffel Tower on a trip with her high school class. While she excitedly pointed her camera toward the Parisian skyline, I was struck by how technology has transformed our concept of distance. Her world, at eighteen, is infinitely more connected than the one I knew at her age. I couldn’t help but smile at the timing of this call, because today Amazon Q Developer is expanding to Europe.
Announcing inline chat in Eclipse with Amazon Q Developer | Amazon Web Services
Earlier today Amazon Q Developer launched inline chat in the Eclipse IDE (in preview). In this post, I’ll walk you through how I’ve been using this powerful new capability to streamline my Java development workflow, from refactoring existing code to optimizing performance-critical methods. Whether you’re a seasoned Eclipse veteran or just getting started, you’ll see how Amazon Q Developer’s advanced AI-driven tools can supercharge your productivity across the entire software development lifecycle.
Speaking Your Language: Expanded language support in Amazon Q Developer | Amazon Web Services
As the world of software development becomes increasingly global, the need for tools that support multiple languages has become paramount. Today, I am excited to announce expanded language support in Amazon Q Developer. In this post, I explore the recent expansion of language support in Amazon Q Developer, a powerful platform used by developers worldwide to discuss architecture, create documentation, design interfaces, and build applications.
Customizing C# and C++ with Amazon Q Developer | Amazon Web Services
Amazon Q Developer recently added support for customizing C# and C++ suggestions based on your company’s codebase. This blog post explores how developers can tailor the AI assistant to provide accurate inline suggestions and contextual code understanding for their C# and C++ projects. You will learn how to leverage customizations to boost productivity, streamline development workflows, and unlock the full potential of Amazon Q Developer across your codebase.
Nebraska Ranchers, Feedlot Owners Passionate About Change to Brand Inspection Requirements
By Brian Beach It’s a windy March afternoon in Nebraska’s Medicine Valley. On a ranch an hour south of North Platte, flat prairie quickly gives way to steep ravines. Cedar trees dot the landscape. And of course, there’s plenty of cattle grazing the countryside. Marie Farr runs this cow-calf operation along with her husband and son. It’s ranches like this where cows are bred and give birth to calves.
Watch the recordings from AWS Developer Day 2025 | Amazon Web Services
Software development is undergoing a seismic shift, driven by the transformative impact of generative AI. This powerful technology is redefining how developers work, what they build, and who can become a developer. At the AWS Developer Day 2025, we discussed how AWS is empowering developers to embrace this evolution through their generative AI developer tools. Developers got a first-hand look at exciting product launches, updates, and insights from AWS leaders on the future of software development.
Announcing support for upgrades to Java 21 in Amazon Q Developer | Amazon Web Services
On February 14, Amazon Q Developer announced support for upgrades to Java 21. As a Java developer, I’m excited about this new capability, which will make it easier for me to keep my applications up-to-date and take advantage of the latest language features and performance improvements. In addition, the latest version of Amazon Q Developer includes improved summarization and recommendations that simplify the upgrade process and increase confidence in the results.
Take control of your code with Amazon Q Developer’s new context features | Amazon Web Services
In this blog post, I dive into the powerful new features of Amazon Q Developer that empower developers to take full control of their development workflow. These features, currently available in Visual Studio Code, allow you to leverage workspace context, explicit context, prompt libraries, and project rules to streamline your software projects, maintain coding standards, and boost your overall productivity.
Introducing the enhanced command line interface in Amazon Q Developer | Amazon Web Services
Earlier today, Amazon Q Developer announced an enhanced CLI agent within the Amazon Q command line interface (CLI). With this announcement, Q Developer brings the latest agentic experience to the CLI that provide a more dynamic, interactive coding experience that works with you, and iteratively makes changes based on your feedback.
Nebraska Officials React to Trump`s Nominee for Secretary of Agriculture
By Brian Beach The CEO of a conservative think tank was nominated as President-Elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture over the weekend. Brooke Rollins founded the America First Policy Institute in 2021 in order to advance Trump's public policy agenda. During Trump's first term, Rollins led the administration's Domestic Policy Council. Rollins was not among the names reported as potential nominees early on in the search. Late last week, former Georgia Sen.
Mike McDonnell announces run for Omaha mayor
The Omaha Firefighters Hall was packed with supporters Thursday as Mike McDonnell set forth a vision for his mayoral campaign. The South Omaha state senator and former Omaha fire chief promised to be a mayor who listens, drawing a contrast between himself and current Omaha mayor Jean Stothert. “Right now we have a mayor that, it's not leadership by listening," he said.
Introducing the new Amazon Q Developer experience in AWS Lambda | Amazon Web Services
AWS Lambda recently announced a new code editor based on Code-OSS. Like the previous version, the new editor includes Amazon Q Developer. Amazon Q Developer is a generative AI-powered assistant for software development that can help you build and debug Lambda functions more quickly. In this post, I provide an overview of Amazon Q Developer’s integration into the new built-in code editor. Introduction AWS Lambda first supported Amazon Q Developer in 2022 (previously known as Amazon CodeWhisperer).
How to identify inactive users of Amazon Q Developer | Amazon Web Services
Generative AI is leading to many new features and capabilities. As a result, your employees may not know about all the new tools you are deploying. I was recently working with a customer that had deployed Amazon Q Developer for all their software developers. However, many developers didn’t know they had access to the productivity companion.
A Republican push to change how Nebraska awards its electoral votes stalls
The Nebraska state lawmaker at the center of the debate over whether the state will switch to a winner-takes-all system in the Electoral College says he will not support the effort.
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