startup Archives

Winsage

June 5, 2025

The First 5 Things To Do After Upgrading To Windows 11

Users are encouraged to transition from Windows 10 to Windows 11 as support for the former ends. The upgrade requires meeting minimum hardware requirements and can be initiated through Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. The taskbar in Windows 11 is redesigned with a centered Start menu, but users can revert to a left-aligned layout by adjusting Taskbar settings. Customization options are limited, but third-party applications can offer more flexibility. The Start menu features only Pinned apps and Recommended files by default. Users can customize it by unpinning apps, adding new ones, grouping them into folders, and modifying layout and color through Settings. To free up space after upgrading, users can uninstall unnecessary applications via Settings > Apps and delete Windows 10 installation files by navigating to Settings > System > Storage > Temporary files. Disabling unnecessary startup services can enhance boot speed, which can be managed through Task Manager. Privacy settings should be reviewed post-upgrade, with options available under Settings > Privacy & security to adjust permissions and disable data sharing features.

Tech Optimizer

June 4, 2025

Snowflake to acquire database startup Crunchy Data

Snowflake announced its acquisition of Crunchy Data, valued at approximately [openai_gpt model="gpt-4o-mini" prompt="Summarize the content and extract only the fact described in the text bellow. The summary shall NOT include a title, introduction and conclusion. Text: The recent trend of data company acquisitions shows no signs of slowing down, as evidenced by Snowflake's announcement regarding its acquisition of Crunchy Data. This strategic move, revealed late Monday afternoon, is estimated to be valued at approximately 0 million, although specific terms remain undisclosed as Snowflake has opted not to comment on the deal's valuation. Strengthening Database Offerings This acquisition is part of a broader pattern among major tech companies seeking to enhance their database capabilities, particularly in support of AI applications. Just last week, Salesforce completed its acquisition of Informatica, a company with decades of experience, to strengthen its data management tools for AI. Similarly, Alation acquired Numbers Station to provide its customers with AI agents capable of operating on structured data. Earlier this month, ServiceNow also made headlines with its acquisition of Data.World, further emphasizing the focus on AI-driven solutions. Crunchy Data specializes in providing tools for developers working with Postgres, an open-source object-relational database management system that is well-regarded for its compatibility with SQL. Over its 13-year history, Crunchy Data has collaborated with notable clients such as UPS, SAS, and Moneytree, as well as various public sector organizations, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The integration of Crunchy Data's technology into Snowflake's offerings will pave the way for the introduction of Snowflake Postgres, an enterprise-grade PostgreSQL database tailored for its customers and partners, such as Blue Yonder and LandingAI. This acquisition not only enhances Snowflake's database portfolio but also aligns with the growing demand for AI-driven solutions in the current technological landscape. Snowflake plans to make this new technology available in private preview shortly. Vivek Raghunathan, SVP of engineering at Snowflake, articulated the company's vision, stating, “Our vision is to deliver the world’s most trusted and comprehensive data and AI platform to our customers. Today’s announcement of our proposed acquisition of Crunchy Data represents another reason why Snowflake is the ultimate destination for all enterprise data and AI needs. We’re tackling a massive 0 billion market opportunity and a real need for our customers to bring Postgres to the Snowflake AI Data Cloud.” This acquisition follows Snowflake's launch of new connectors for PostgreSQL and MySQL in 2024, further expanding its capabilities. Additionally, Snowflake's acquisition of data management company Datavolo last year underscores its commitment to enhancing its data management offerings." max_tokens="3500" temperature="0.3" top_p="1.0" best_of="1" presence_penalty="0.1" frequency_penalty="frequency_penalty"] million, although specific terms are undisclosed. This acquisition aims to enhance Snowflake's database capabilities, particularly for AI applications, and will lead to the introduction of Snowflake Postgres, an enterprise-grade PostgreSQL database. Crunchy Data specializes in tools for developers working with Postgres and has collaborated with clients such as UPS, SAS, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Snowflake plans to make the new technology available in private preview soon. This acquisition follows Snowflake's recent launch of new connectors for PostgreSQL and MySQL and its acquisition of Datavolo last year.

Tech Optimizer

June 4, 2025

Snowflake Acquires Crunchy Data to Bring PostgreSQL to Its AI Cloud

Snowflake has acquired Crunchy Data, a provider of enterprise PostgreSQL solutions, to integrate its capabilities into Snowflake's AI Data Cloud. This acquisition aims to enhance AI agent and application development and deployment. It positions Snowflake to compete more effectively in the AI infrastructure market against companies like Databricks. The deal reflects the growing importance of databases in the "agentic AI" market. Snowflake welcomed around 100 employees from Crunchy Data during its Snowflake Summit conference. The acquisition highlights a trend among major platforms to control the data layer for AI agents, as evidenced by recent investments and acquisitions in PostgreSQL-related companies. PostgreSQL is favored by developers, with nearly half using it, due to its suitability for rapid, automated provisioning required by AI agents. Crunchy Data's expertise addresses Snowflake's need for enterprise-grade operational database capabilities, particularly for real-time data storage and retrieval. The acquisition signals a shift towards AI agents managing databases autonomously, with predictions that they will handle 15% of work decisions by 2028. Snowflake's PostgreSQL offering will enter private preview soon, potentially simplifying data infrastructure if it delivers on its promises.

Tech Optimizer

June 3, 2025

Snowflake to Acquire Crunchy Data to Strengthen AI Agent Business

Snowflake intends to acquire Crunchy Data to enhance its capabilities in artificial intelligence applications by integrating Crunchy Data’s open-source PostgreSQL technology into its AI Data Cloud. The acquisition, announced on June 2, is subject to regulatory approvals and will introduce a new PostgreSQL database called Snowflake Postgres. PostgreSQL is widely used by approximately 49% of developers and is valuable for organizations developing AI agents. The integration aims to improve deployment and operations for PostgreSQL users. Snowflake's Senior Vice President of Engineering noted that this acquisition targets a market opportunity valued at [openai_gpt model="gpt-4o-mini" prompt="Summarize the content and extract only the fact described in the text bellow. The summary shall NOT include a title, introduction and conclusion. Text: Snowflake has announced its intention to acquire Crunchy Data, a move aimed at bolstering its capabilities in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) applications and agents. This strategic acquisition is set to integrate Crunchy Data’s open-source PostgreSQL technology into Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud. The announcement, made in a press release on June 2, highlights that the acquisition's completion hinges on regulatory approvals and standard closing conditions. Once finalized, it will introduce a new PostgreSQL database, aptly named Snowflake Postgres, to the AI Data Cloud ecosystem. Enhancing AI Capabilities PostgreSQL, commonly referred to as Postgres, is a widely adopted open-source relational database, utilized by approximately 49% of developers. This technology is particularly valuable for organizations developing AI agents that rely on data stored within platforms like Snowflake. The integration of Snowflake Postgres is expected to facilitate quicker deployment and more efficient operations for users of PostgreSQL. According to Vivek Raghunathan, Snowflake’s Senior Vice President of Engineering, this acquisition addresses a significant market opportunity valued at 0 billion, responding to the pressing need for customers to incorporate Postgres into the Snowflake AI Data Cloud. Paul Laurence, Co-Founder of Crunchy Data, emphasized the importance of security and compliance in their offerings, which have established Crunchy Data as a trusted partner for organizations operating in regulated sectors. He expressed enthusiasm about collaborating with Snowflake, stating that this partnership will empower existing Postgres users to manage critical workloads with enhanced confidence and security on the Snowflake platform. This acquisition follows Snowflake's earlier announcement regarding the establishment of a new AI hub in Silicon Valley, designed to support developers, startups, and business leaders in their AI initiatives. Meanwhile, in a related development, Databricks recently revealed its acquisition of Neon, a database startup, further illustrating the competitive landscape in the AI and data sectors." max_tokens="3500" temperature="0.3" top_p="1.0" best_of="1" presence_penalty="0.1" frequency_penalty="frequency_penalty"] billion. Crunchy Data's Co-Founder highlighted the importance of security and compliance in their offerings, which positions them as a trusted partner for regulated sectors. This acquisition follows Snowflake's announcement of a new AI hub in Silicon Valley.

Winsage

June 2, 2025

Microsoft issues out-of-band patches for Windows 11 startup failure

Microsoft invests significant resources into patch testing prior to software release, but the complexity of modern software makes it nearly impossible to account for every potential scenario. Tyler Reguly, associate director of security R&D at Fortra, states that human intervention is required at large scales, and humans are fallible. The transparency of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) reports is limited, leaving stakeholders with only swift resolutions. When human error is identified, changes in processes or policies may be necessary, while edge cases can arise from various factors, especially in environments where hardware and virtualization intersect. Reguly notes the unpredictability of such systems and emphasizes the limitations of expecting comprehensive coverage in a complex technological landscape.

Tech Optimizer

June 2, 2025

Postgres Pro OpenTelemetry сollector

Alexey has developed the pgpro-otel-collector, an OpenTelemetry collector by PostgresPro, designed to gather metrics and logs from PostgreSQL databases. It collects PostgreSQL metrics using an internal metrics library, OS-level metrics such as CPU and memory usage, and PostgreSQL logs in CSV and JSON formats. The collector includes internal processors for batch processing and supports exporting to OTLP-compatible backends like Elasticsearch and Prometheus. Installation is straightforward, requiring configuration of the Postgres connection and data destination. The collector can gather a range of PostgreSQL statistics and supports advanced features like CFS and pg_wait_sampling. Future enhancements include support for additional system views, integration with Shardman and BiHA, collection of custom query-based metrics, and a Grafana dashboard. Alexey's background includes experience with various monitoring tools and a focus on PostgreSQL, leading to the creation of this collector.

Winsage

June 2, 2025

Microsoft Issues New Emergency Update For Windows Users

Microsoft has released an emergency out-of-band update, KB5062170, to address issues from the May 13, 2025 Windows security update (KB5058405), which failed to install on some Windows 11 devices, showing error code 0xc0000098. The new update fixes an issue with the ACPI.sys driver and is available via the Update Catalog. It primarily impacts enterprise environments, particularly virtual setups like Azure Virtual Machines and Azure Virtual Desktop, while home users are less affected. KB5062170 includes all enhancements from the May 2025 non-security preview update and supersedes prior updates, requiring a device restart after installation.

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.

Tech Optimizer

June 1, 2025

Supercharging vector search performance and relevance with pgvector 0.8.0 on Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL

The Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition has integrated support for pgvector 0.8.0, enhancing vector search capabilities significantly. This version achieves up to 9x faster query processing and delivers 100x more relevant search results compared to previous iterations. Key improvements in pgvector 0.8.0 include: - Up to 5.7x improvement in query performance for specific patterns. - Introduction of the iterative_scan feature, enhancing recall for filter queries requiring approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) index searches. - Improved cost estimation for more efficient query planning, allowing the selection of traditional indexes for complex filtered searches. - Flexible performance tuning with two modes for iterative_scan: relaxed_order and strict_order. Previous versions faced challenges with overfiltering, where combining vector similarity search with traditional SQL filters resulted in fewer results than expected. The HNSW indexing algorithm accelerates vector similarity searches by creating a multi-layered graph structure for efficient navigation. Iterative index scans in pgvector 0.8.0 improve query reliability and performance by applying filters during the scanning process, reducing false negatives and enhancing performance. The configuration options for iterative scanning include off, strict_order, and relaxed_order, with relaxed_order providing the best balance between performance and accuracy. In performance tests, pgvector 0.8.0 demonstrated substantial improvements across various query patterns, with significant enhancements in result completeness and recall. The database can now efficiently handle enterprise-scale applications, such as e-commerce and recommendation systems, with high performance and result quality even as product catalogs expand. Best practices for deploying pgvector 0.8.0 include using HNSW with recommended parameters, creating additional indexes on commonly filtered metadata columns, and tuning query parameters based on specific use cases. Operational best practices involve using Graviton4-based instances for optimal performance, monitoring and tuning slow vector queries, and considering partitioning for very large tables.

Winsage

May 31, 2025

Microsoft Warns Windows Users—Emergency Update Within Days

Microsoft is addressing issues with the May 13, 2025 Windows security update (KB5058405) that is failing to install on some Windows 11, version 22H2 and 23H2 devices. An out-of-band update is planned to be released shortly. A recovery error message indicating that “your PC/Device needs to be repaired” may appear, with the root cause identified as an ACPI.sys driver problem, potentially showing the error code: 0xc0000098. Most reports of this update failure have come from virtual environments, affecting enterprise users more than home users. Earlier in May, a similar emergency update was issued for Windows 10 users experiencing a BitLocker Recovery screen during the installation of a security update.