performance optimizations Archives

Winsage

August 3, 2025

Microsoft to Open-Source WinUI Components for Windows 11

Microsoft Corp. plans to open-source key components of the Windows 11 user interface framework, WinUI, over the next six months. This initiative aims to enhance transparency and collaboration, driven by demands from developers and the tech community. The process involves carefully disentangling publishable code from sensitive areas to ensure system security and protect intellectual property. Industry observers believe this could empower developers to customize Windows interfaces, potentially accelerating innovation in app design. Microsoft is adopting a phased approach, starting with isolating components and establishing new governance models for contributions. Developer feedback indicates cautious optimism, with hopes for quicker bug fixes and feature additions, though concerns about the scope of the initiative persist. Microsoft intends to share more details and potentially previews of open-sourced repositories on GitHub. Balancing openness with user data security and system integrity remains a critical challenge for the company.

AppWizard

July 23, 2025

WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers Benchmarks & PC Performance Analysis

505 Games has removed the review embargo for WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, which is developed by Leenzee. The game supports NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Generation but lacks compatibility with AMD FSR 3.0 and Intel XeSS. Benchmarking was conducted on a PC setup featuring an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D and various graphics cards. At 1080p with Max Settings, the AMD RX 7900XTX was the minimum requirement for over 60FPS, while the NVIDIA RTX 3080 and AMD Radeon RX 6900XT struggled. At 1440p with Max Settings, only the NVIDIA RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 provided a smooth experience. No GPU achieved stable 60FPS at Native 4K with Max Settings, with the NVIDIA RTX 5090 averaging around 54FPS. The game has performance issues, particularly with frame rates dropping significantly during in-game events. Adjusting graphics settings had limited impact on performance, and visual quality suffered at lower settings. The game features impressive graphics with Lumen GI and high-resolution textures, despite some low-resolution textures and minor shadow pop-ins.

Tech Optimizer

July 8, 2025

How TimescaleDB helped us scale analytics and reporting

At Cloudflare, PostgreSQL and ClickHouse are used as primary databases for transactional and analytical workloads. PostgreSQL is preferred for product development due to its speed, versatility, and reliability, with hundreds of instances running in various configurations. ClickHouse, introduced in 2017, allows ingestion of tens of millions of rows per second with millisecond-level query performance but comes with trade-offs. The Digital Experience Monitoring (DEX) product was developed with a focus on simplicity and rapid shipping, utilizing a team of three engineers and collaboration with other teams. DEX's initial launch included fleet status logs uploaded every two minutes and synthetic tests with usage caps, leading to a successful MVP launch ahead of schedule. The architecture included an HTTP API, PostgreSQL for storing configurations, and a React UI in the Cloudflare Dashboard. PostgreSQL was chosen for analytics due to its ability to handle structured logs, with a table created for device state logs lacking a primary key but optimized with unique and standard indexes for common queries. The UPSERT query was used for data insertion, and the order of columns in multicolumn indexes was optimized for performance. After launching DEX, the system scaled to 1,000 inserts per second, leading to performance degradation. Precomputed aggregates were implemented to improve query performance, resulting in up to a 1000x improvement. Table partitioning was considered but ultimately not pursued due to its manual management requirements. TimescaleDB was explored as an alternative to enhance query performance, offering features like automatic partition management, continuous aggregates, and compression. A side-by-side comparison with PostgreSQL showed significant performance improvements, particularly for longer time windows. TimescaleDB's integration allowed for efficient data retention and aggregation, simplifying the infrastructure. Following the success of DEX, other teams at Cloudflare began using TimescaleDB for analytics and reporting, consolidating data from various sources and managing high ingestion rates effectively by optimizing data handling techniques such as switching to COPY for bulk inserts and adjusting replication settings.

Winsage

July 6, 2025

Windows 11 Finally Overtakes Windows 10 as the Most Dominant Operating System

As of July 2025, Windows 11 has a market share of 51.77%, surpassing Windows 10's 45.02%. Windows 11 was launched in October 2021 and initially captured less than 10% of installations by the end of its first year. Its market share increased to 28% in 2023 and 36% by late 2024. Factors contributing to this growth include the impending end of support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, hardware upgrades by users, and attractive features of Windows 11. Over 700 million devices are currently running Windows 11.

AppWizard

June 24, 2025

MindsEye maker BARB confirms it is making layoffs

Build A Rocket Boy has announced a reduction in its workforce following the launch of its game, MindsEye. The company confirmed it has begun making certain staff members redundant but did not disclose the number of affected employees. They are seeking to reassign roles for impacted employees and have initiated a formal consultation process that may lead to further redundancies. The studio expressed its commitment to handle the situation with transparency and respect for employees, stating they will provide further details in the coming weeks. The decision aims to allow the company to focus on ongoing updates and performance optimizations for MindsEye and ensure its long-term success.

Tech Optimizer

June 16, 2025

Databricks rolls out Lakebase Postgres and Agent Bricks for AI-era apps

Databricks has introduced the Lakebase Postgres database layer to enhance its lakehouse architecture, facilitating AI applications and analytics on operational data. The company also launched Agent Bricks to simplify the development of automated AI agents. During the Data + AI Summit, CEO Ali Ghodsi emphasized the importance of transitioning from outdated systems to modern solutions for AI. Lakebase, powered by Neon technology, is a fully managed, Postgres-compatible database that supports data loading from over 300 sources. Databricks aims to unify operational and analytical systems for real-time decision-making. The summit outlined a three-chapter framework: establishing the lakehouse, integrating AI, and introducing Lakebase. Agent Bricks enables business users to create AI agents without extensive technical knowledge, while Managed Iceberg Tables support external engines and promise performance optimizations. Databricks announced partnerships with Microsoft and Google Cloud for deeper integration and AI model usage. The company is investing 0 million in AI education and plans to release Lakeflow Designer for no-code ETL capabilities. Databricks anticipates reaching .7 billion in annualized revenue by July, with a growth rate of 50 percent and plans to hire 3,000 employees in 2025. Lakebase is currently in Public Preview.

AppWizard

June 10, 2025

Google details its future Android 16 plans this year, and highlights new features

Google's developer blog details the upcoming Android 16 SDK release, set for a significant update in Q4 2025, with a Q3 update introducing the Material 3 Expressive redesign. The official launch of Android 16 on June 10 includes features such as "outline text" for Accessibility settings, Adaptive Apps for foldable devices, and consistent progress notifications. Beta testers can opt out of the program to receive the stable version if they haven't joined the Android 16 QPR1 Beta. Key enhancements focus on app experiences on larger displays, including adaptive functionality and real-time tracking for activities. Improvements in mobile photography include night mode scene detection and UltraHDR capabilities. Accessibility is improved with the new "outline text," and privacy features include defenses against intent redirection attacks and location masking when pairing devices. Additional performance optimizations involve 16KB pages and updates to JobScheduler and Android Runtime. The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL features a 6.8-inch display, advanced AI software, and a larger battery.

AppWizard

June 3, 2025

Minecraft Movie Streaming Soon on Max With Sources Pointing To June Date

The Minecraft Movie is set to stream on Max, with a potential release date of June 20, 2025, although this has not been officially confirmed by Warner Bros. Discovery. The film, directed by Jared Hess and featuring Jason Momoa, premiered in theaters on May 30, 2025. It will be available for digital purchase or rental on platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. Physical editions (4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD) are scheduled for release on June 24, 2025. In 2025, Minecraft modpacks are evolving, with a focus on technical modpacks and new gameplay experiences. Notable modpacks include "Biohazard: Project Genesis" and "Multiversal Archeology," which emphasize automation and resource gathering. Popular modpacks are introducing intricate quest systems, performance optimizations, and visual enhancements, including high-definition textures and dynamic lighting. Tools like CurseForge and packwiz are streamlining modpack creation and sharing. The Bedrock Edition has seen new modpacks like "Elemental Horizons" and "Survival Evolution." "Technological Frontiers 4" is currently the top-rated modpack on CurseForge. The 1.21 update has influenced modpack developments, leading to new dungeon exploration themes.

Tech Optimizer

May 21, 2025

Achieve up to 1.7 times higher write throughput and 1.38 times better price performance with Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL on AWS Graviton4-based R8g instances

Upgrading to Graviton4-based R8g instances with Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible 17.4 in an Aurora I/O-Optimized cluster configuration results in significant performance improvements. The new instances provide up to 1.7 times higher write throughput, 1.38 times better price-performance, and reduce commit latency by up to 46% on r8g.16xlarge instances and 38% on r8g.2xlarge instances compared to Graviton2-based R6g instances. The Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition now supports AWS Graviton4-based R8g instances and PostgreSQL 17.4, which introduces performance enhancements for I/O-Optimized configurations, optimizing write operations and batch processing. R8g instances offer up to 192 vCPUs and 1.5 TB of memory, supporting larger configurations and providing up to 50 Gbps of network bandwidth. PostgreSQL 17 includes vacuum improvements, eliminates the need to drop logical replication slots during upgrades, and expands SQL/JSON standards. Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible separates compute from storage, enabling independent scaling and maintaining six-way replication for durability, while processing changes as log records to reduce I/O operations. Performance benchmarks using HammerDB show improvements in throughput and commit latency across various workloads. For small workloads on 2xlarge instance size, throughput increased by 50.25% and commit latency improved by 33.87%. For medium workloads on 16xlarge instance size, throughput increased by 30% and commit latency improved by 17.44%. The most significant performance benefits arise from combining hardware upgrades from Graviton2 to Graviton4 with database engine upgrades from PostgreSQL 15.10 to 17.4. For small workloads, throughput increased by 70% and commit latency improved by 38.71%. For medium workloads, throughput increased by 70% and commit latency improved by 46.67%. Cost efficiency is also enhanced, with a 38% improvement in price performance and a 61.26% improvement in price-performance ratio when comparing Graviton2 and Graviton4 instances. Reserved Instances for Graviton4-based R8g instances offer additional cost-optimization opportunities.

AppWizard

May 21, 2025

Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1 starts rolling out with Material 3 Expressive

Google has begun the rollout of Android 16's first Beta, known as Android 16 QPR1 (BP31.250502.008), for enrolled users of the Pixel 6 series and newer devices, including Pixel tablets. This update features the new Material 3 Expressive UI, which enhances user experience with a focus on color, shape, size, motion, and containment. Notable features include Gemini's live notifications, improved screen recording, and a redesigned Settings app with color-coded icons. The update also includes bug fixes, performance optimizations, and August 2025 security patches. Users who have previously enrolled in the Android 16 Beta will receive this update automatically.