storage Archives

Tech Optimizer

June 23, 2026

Meta pauses controversial employee-tracking program after security review

Meta has suspended its employee-tracking program after an internal security review revealed excessive accessibility to sensitive data collected from staff laptops. The program, part of the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), aimed to gather detailed information on employee interactions with work devices, including mouse movements, click locations, keystrokes, and screen content. Concerns arose regarding the privacy and security of the collected data, which included AI prompts, transcriptions, private conversations, and performance-related information. The initiative faced backlash, particularly after an engineer criticized "laptop surveillance," leading to a petition for its termination. The monitoring software was deployed on US workers’ laptops without an opt-out option, capturing comprehensive behavioral datasets. The situation highlighted significant legal and regulatory challenges, as well as the risks associated with managing sensitive data. Access controls, data minimization, and retention policies are critical to mitigate potential breaches.

AppWizard

June 23, 2026

The Steam Machine’s price has finally been revealed, and it’s not cheap

Valve has announced the pricing for its Steam Machine, with the entry-level 512GB model priced at ,049 without a controller. There are four configurations available: - 512GB model without a controller - ,049 / £879 - 512GB model with a Steam Controller - ,128 / £938 - 2TB model without a controller - ,349 / £1,149 - 2TB model with a Steam Controller - ,428 / £1,208 The pricing reflects recent market trends, including a 40% price increase for the Steam Deck. The specifications for the 512GB model include a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 CPU, semi-custom AMD RDNA3 GPU, 16GB DDR5 RAM, 512GB NVMe SSD, and support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. Registration for interest in the Steam Machine is open until June 25th at 10 AM PT.

AppWizard

June 23, 2026

Sand: Raiders of Sophie is like Sea of Thieves on land, but even tougher for solo players

Sand: Raiders of Sophie has entered early access. It is a first-person base-building extraction shooter set in outer space, featuring customizable walking bases called tramplers. Players can construct their own tramplers or use pre-existing models, equipping them with various weapons and ammunition. The game includes both player-versus-player and PvE elements, with NPCs guarding lootable locations. Players can join solos-only servers for a more strategic experience. After gathering loot, players must transport their trampler to an extraction point, which involves climbing a tower to initiate the extraction process. Initial experiences have included server issues and challenges during gameplay.

Tech Optimizer

June 23, 2026

Millisecond Latency at Scale: Why Our ML Feature Store Runs on Snowflake Postgres

Organizations are consolidating their fragmented database environments with Snowflake Postgres, phasing out outdated systems and simplifying multivendor setups without extensive code rewrites. Ericsson migrated four legacy databases to Snowflake Postgres, achieving a 99% reduction in data processing time. SimCorp's transition to Snowflake Postgres resulted in a tenfold increase in disk operation speeds. Sigma Computing provides real-time analytics using Snowflake Postgres, eliminating the need for external systems. BlueCloud supports low-latency transactional workloads and analytics on a single platform. Superblocks enables developers to create full-stack applications using Snowflake CoCo, leveraging SQL tools against live data. Snowflake Postgres is approximately four times faster than Databricks Lakebase and has a 99.95% published uptime SLA. It operates on Postgres 18 and accommodates up to 64 TB of storage, surpassing Lakebase's 16 TB limit. Snowflake Postgres simplifies management with in-place major version upgrades and supports standard logical replication, enhancing flexibility for data movement and integration.

AppWizard

June 22, 2026

Steam Machine review: Valve’s underwhelming living-room PC has a serious price problem

The Steam Machine is a compact gaming system measuring 16.5 × 15.5 × 15.3 cm, designed to run SteamOS and provide access to the Steam library while offering a user experience similar to consoles. It features a custom AMD CPU with six cores and twelve threads, 16 MiB of L3 cache, and a maximum clock speed of 4.86 GHz. The system includes 16 GiB of DDR5 memory and a discrete Radeon graphics unit with 8 GiB of GDDR6 video memory based on the Navi 33 architecture, operating with 28 compute units and a power budget of 110 watts. Storage consists of an NVMe drive with approximately 1.9 TB of space and a zram swap of around 7.6 GiB. The Steam Machine runs SteamOS 3.8.9 in its x86-64 version, allowing it to function as either a Linux PC or a gaming interface. Connectivity options include one HDMI 2.0 port, one DisplayPort 1.4 port, four USB-A ports, a USB-C port, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3. Its hardware is aligned with PC architecture but lacks the customization options of a bespoke system.

AppWizard

June 22, 2026

The Steam Machine is the most ambitious game console I’ve ever played

The Steam Machine retails starting at ,049 without a gamepad and ,128 bundled with one. Its performance does not significantly exceed that of the 5.5-year-old PS5, which offers sharper visuals in certain games. The Steam Machine operates more like a console than previous iterations, featuring a compact design and compatibility with modern gamepads. Valve claims to sell its components at cost, having negotiated with suppliers during a memory supply crisis. Users have reported technical issues, such as problems with the Steam Controller, sound output, and game downloads. The device requires manual adjustments for settings, lacks user-friendly configurations, and has questionable reliability with its sleep function. Valve plans to support AMD’s FSR 4 upscaling and is working on graphics driver updates. The Steam Machine is positioned as a versatile gaming and computing solution, but its limitations highlight the need for further refinement.

AppWizard

June 22, 2026

Steam Machine pricing starts at $1,049 for 512GB model

Valve's Steam Machine is now available for pre-order, with two versions priced at ,049 for the 512GB model and ,349 for the 2TB model, which includes a Steam Controller. The device runs on SteamOS and can play PC games, functioning as both a console and a desktop computer. Its compact design allows for easy integration into home environments. The pricing has been influenced by component shortages due to demand from AI sectors. Valve has stated that it does not follow the traditional console model of selling hardware at a loss, aiming instead for an open ecosystem. Insights suggest that the target price for the Steam Machine may have shifted significantly due to rising costs.

Tech Optimizer

June 22, 2026

The database that refused to die: How Postgres survived its own creators

Postgres, originally developed by Michael Stonebraker in the early 1980s, is an open-source database system that evolved from Ingres. It was designed to handle complex data types and introduced user-defined data types, operators, and functions, leading to the support for abstract data types (ADTs). The initial commercialization of Postgres occurred through a startup named Illustra, later acquired by Informix. In 1995, graduate students Andrew Yu and Jolly Chen revived Postgres, transitioning it from QUEL to SQL, resulting in Postgre95, which evolved into PostgreSQL. Today, Postgres is one of the most popular database systems globally, known for its extensibility and high code quality. However, it currently lacks features like file-level encryption (TDE), which are standard in commercial systems, relying instead on the operating system for encryption. Efforts to implement TDE have faced challenges due to the complexity of required code changes.

AppWizard

June 22, 2026

Valve Wants You To Know The Steam Machine Isn’t A Video Game Console: ‘We Think Of It As An Extension Of PC Gaming’

Valve's Steam Machine is positioned as an extension of the PC gaming experience rather than a traditional video game console. The device starts at ,050 for the 512GB model, contrasting with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, which retail for around 0, and the PS5 Pro at 0 for a 2TB SSD. The maximum storage option for the Steam Machine is 1TB, priced at ,350. Valve emphasizes a more open gaming ecosystem, differing from the conventional model of selling hardware at a loss. The company collects a 30 percent platform fee on games sold through Steam but aims to remain outside the traditional hardware competition.

AppWizard

June 22, 2026

The Steam Machine is the start of an even more expensive future for game consoles

Valve's Steam Machine is priced at ,049 for the 512GB model and ,128 with a Steam Controller. The 2TB version costs ,349 or ,428 with the controller. In comparison, the 2TB Xbox Series X retails for 9.99, the PS5 Pro for 9.99, and the upcoming Switch 2 is expected to launch at 9.99. The Steam Machine offers access to Steam's extensive library of games and is positioned as a premium option in a market with rising hardware prices. Recent data shows a 46% decline in PS5 sales year-over-year, coinciding with a price increase to 9.99. Xbox is developing "Project Helix," a device between a console and a PC, but pricing concerns have led to a reevaluation of its vision.