architecture Archives

Winsage

June 6, 2025

Windows Weekly 935: Don’t Spritz Yourself

Leo and Paul discuss various topics on the latest episode of Windows Weekly, including Notepad, updates in Windows 11, Microsoft 365, artificial intelligence, and Xbox gaming. A new free newsletter offers time-saving tips and complimentary Field Guides for Windows 11 and Windows 10. Microsoft is reorganizing its AI initiatives and phasing out password management features in the Microsoft Authenticator app. The upcoming June 2025 update for Outlook will introduce new features, and Microsoft 365 Copilot now has general availability for Research and Analyst AI agents. The New York Times has licensed its content to Amazon, and Samsung is reconsidering its partnership with Gemini. Microsoft has delayed the launch of its first-party Xbox and Windows gaming handheld and has secured its first agreement with a game studio union. J Allard, a former Microsoft executive, is among many ex-Microsoft leaders now at Amazon. A tip suggests replacing OneDrive/Google Drive with a NAS, and Microsoft Edge 137 is highlighted as a significant update. Photoshop for Android is now available for free during its beta phase.

AppWizard

June 5, 2025

New flagship smartphone makes PC gaming on mobile smoother than ever

RedMagic is set to launch its flagship gaming phone, the RedMagic 10S Pro, in global markets after its unveiling in China. The device features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version chipset and a dedicated RedCore R3 Pro gaming chip, allowing for enhanced gaming performance with up to 120FPS. It includes an advanced ICE-X cooling system with Liquid Metal 2.0 technology, which improves thermal management. The phone has a 6.85-inch BOE custom AMOLED 1.5K display with a 144Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, alongside a 7,050 mAh battery supporting 80W wired charging. The camera system consists of a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and a 2-megapixel camera, plus a 16-megapixel front camera. Pricing for the RedMagic 10S Pro starts at €649 for the 12/256GB model and goes up to €999 for the 24GB/1TB model. Pre-orders will be available from June 12 to 17, 2025, with general sales starting on June 18. The phone will be available in various regions, including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, GCC countries, Latin America, and the Middle East, with some countries receiving it at a later date.

AppWizard

June 5, 2025

I’m hooked on this free Google app that transports me to different countries from my couch

Saeed Wazir, a daily user of Google apps, discovered the Google Arts & Culture app, which transformed his perspective on art. Initially hesitant about the Visual Arts feature, he found it engaging due to its diverse collection of artwork and user-friendly interface that allows for casual exploration. The app offers a Nature feature showcasing breathtaking locations, a Food feature highlighting unique dishes and culinary traditions, a Travel feature providing virtual visits to various landmarks, and a Design section displaying historical artifacts and inventions. Wazir appreciates the app's extensive features but notes that its cluttered interface can be challenging to navigate, and some sections may not resonate with him as much.

AppWizard

June 5, 2025

MVRDV’s ‘Out of the Box’ Project Looks Like a Building Pulled Straight from Minecraft

A new residential tower named Out of the Box, designed by Dutch architecture firm MVRDV, is being built in Taipei’s Tianmu neighborhood. The 25-story structure reaches a height of 250 feet and features a dynamic facade with box-like protrusions that create additional living spaces such as balconies and terraces. MVRDV utilized digital scripting to navigate Taiwan’s building regulations, allowing for a balance of sunlight and privacy. The design includes a small number of repeating apartment types with variations due to the protruding boxes. The tower aims to foster community by providing private outdoor spaces in a humid subtropical climate. It is clad in marble, enhancing its sophisticated appearance while integrating with planned greenery to create a vertical garden.

Tech Optimizer

June 4, 2025

Migrate Google Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL to Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora using pglogical

PostgreSQL is a popular open-source relational database used by enterprise developers and startups, enabling rapid prototyping and supporting mission-critical applications. Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition facilitate easy setup, operation, and scaling of PostgreSQL deployments in the AWS Cloud, automating administrative tasks like software installation, storage management, and backups. The pglogical extension, compatible with PostgreSQL versions 9.4 and higher, allows for asynchronous replication and is supported on RDS for PostgreSQL and Aurora PostgreSQL from version 12. It uses a publisher/subscriber model for logical streaming replication. To migrate a PostgreSQL database from Google Cloud SQL to RDS for PostgreSQL or Aurora PostgreSQL, users must configure the primary database in Cloud SQL, create a PostgreSQL user with replication privileges, enable logical replication parameters, and create the pglogical extension. The RDS instance also requires a special user for replication, enabling logical replication parameters and creating the pglogical extension. Known limitations of pglogical include the inability to replicate primary key changes directly, the need to manually transfer extensions, and the lack of support for materialized views and large objects. Workarounds involve using surrogate keys for primary keys, manually creating extensions, and converting large objects to bytea columns or storing them in Amazon S3. DDL statements are not automatically replicated, but can be queued using the pglogical.replicate_ddl_command function.

Tech Optimizer

June 4, 2025

Snowflake to acquire Crunchy Data to enhance Postgres for AI

Snowflake plans to acquire Crunchy Data, a provider of open-source Postgres technology, to enhance its AI Data Cloud with a new database platform called Snowflake Postgres. This platform will offer PostgreSQL compatibility while ensuring governance, security, and operational standards for enterprise-grade AI applications. The demand for secure, enterprise-ready PostgreSQL solutions has increased, and the integration of Crunchy Data is expected to meet these needs, particularly in regulated environments like FedRAMP. PostgreSQL is widely adopted, with 49% of developers using it, and Snowflake's Postgres offering aims to streamline the development and scaling of AI applications. Crunchy Data will bring features such as access to performance metrics, scalable architecture, and a user-friendly interface. Organizations using PostgreSQL, including Snowflake partners like Blue Yonder and LandingAI, are expected to benefit from improved development and operational efficiency. Snowflake will support Crunchy Data's existing customers post-acquisition and engage with the PostgreSQL community. Snowflake Postgres will be available in private preview, pending regulatory approvals.

Tech Optimizer

June 2, 2025

Streamline code conversion and testing from Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle to PostgreSQL with Amazon Bedrock

Organizations are transitioning from legacy database systems like Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle to open-source alternatives such as PostgreSQL to reduce costs and enhance scalability. This migration process involves several steps, including schema conversion, business logic transformation, data migration, application changes, and performance tuning. Amazon Bedrock aids this process by automating schema and code conversion, data transformation, identifying code compatibility issues, and generating test cases for validation. The migration challenges include adapting database objects to PostgreSQL's syntax, converting stored procedures and functions, executing ETL processes for data accuracy, modifying application code, and optimizing performance. Amazon Bedrock utilizes generative AI to simplify these tasks, significantly reducing manual effort and errors. An example of code conversion from Microsoft SQL Server to PostgreSQL is provided, illustrating how to convert a stored procedure into a PostgreSQL function while generating corresponding test cases. The process involves using the Amazon Bedrock chat interface to submit prompts for conversion and validation. To support the migration, table creation scripts for the Employees and SalaryUpdateLog tables are included, along with test data that covers various employee scenarios. This data allows for comprehensive testing of the converted function, ensuring it correctly applies salary updates based on specified criteria.

Tech Optimizer

June 2, 2025

Databricks $1B Neon Buy To Build World’s ‘Best Postgres’ Tech, CEOs Explain

Databricks has acquired Neon, a startup specializing in serverless Postgres, for one billion dollars. This acquisition aims to help businesses dismantle data silos and enhance AI capabilities. Currently, over 80 percent of databases on Neon's platform are generated by AI. Neon, founded in 2021, offers a fully managed serverless Postgres database and has been recognized as one of the top developer databases. The integration of Neon's technology with Databricks' platform is expected to improve efficiency for developers and enterprise teams, reduce performance bottlenecks, and lower costs. The acquisition is set to finalize later this year.

Winsage

June 1, 2025

Microsoft has been working on CorePC for years, but what is it?

CorePC is an initiative by Microsoft aimed at overhauling the existing monolithic NT architecture of Windows, which has been in use since the 1990s. It seeks to implement a modular framework that allows for customized builds tailored to specific user needs, moving away from the "one size fits all" model. CorePC will introduce state separation of OS components on distinct partitions, enhancing security and streamlining updates. The initiative is expected to reduce system bloat and may lead to the revival of Windows-powered smartphones and tablets with better ARM processor integration. An official launch date for CorePC is not yet available, but it is anticipated to be part of the successor to Windows 11.

Winsage

May 31, 2025

New Malware Compromise Microsoft Windows Without PE Header

A new strain of malware has been operating undetected on Windows systems for several weeks, utilizing advanced evasion techniques that corrupt its Portable Executable (PE) headers to avoid detection. Security researchers discovered this malware embedded in the memory of a compromised system during an investigation, using a 33GB memory dump that revealed its presence in a dllhost.exe process with process ID 8200. The malware, classified as a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) by Fortinet, employs batch scripts and PowerShell commands for its attack and has capabilities for screenshot capture, remote server functionality, and system service manipulation. Its command and control infrastructure uses encrypted communications, complicating detection efforts. The malware's distinctive feature is the deliberate corruption of DOS and PE headers, which hinders reverse engineering and complicates the reconstruction of the executable from memory dumps. Researchers had to manually locate the malware’s entry point and resolve complex import tables for it to function in a controlled environment.