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Good Morning! Unity's trying to make amends with game devs by rolling out Unity 6, packed with performance boosts and new features - but will it be enough to rebuild trust? In a bold move for open-source and cloud computing, Microsoft has released OpenVMM, a cross-platform Virtual Machine Monitor written in Rust that could shake up the virtualization game. The API-first approach is taking the dev world by storm, with faster development times and even revenue generation.

— Forrest Knight & Meghanadh Vasireddy

Unity 6 Drops: A Fresh Start for Game Devs?

Unity's been in hot water lately (remember that Runtime Fee fiasco?). Now, with new CEO Matt Bromberg at the helm, they're trying to patch things up with the dev community. Unity 6 is their olive branch, and it's got some tasty treats for us.

What's New:

• Performance Boost: We're talking up to 4x CPU performance improvement. How? They've cooked up some nifty tricks like the GPU Resident Drawer and Render Graph for Universal Render Pipeline (URP).

• Multiplayer Magic: Streamlined workflows for all you multiplayer mavens out there.

• Mobile Web Targeting: Because who doesn't want their game running smooth on mobile browsers?

The Long Game: Unity's not just dropping and running. They're promising at least two years of support after the next major version hits. Plus, they're introducing a new update strategy with three flavors:

1. Major releases (like this one)

2. Patch releases (bug squashers)

3. "Updates" (new goodies without breaking stuff)

Unity's also beefing up their community presence on Discord and their own forums. They're aiming for better communication and faster feedback loops.

So, what's the verdict? Unity 6 looks promising, but can it rebuild the trust? Time will tell. In the meantime, why not take it for a spin and see if it lives up to the hype?

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Microsoft Goes Open Source with Cross-Platform VMM in Rust

Microsoft has just open-sourced OpenVMM, a modular, cross-platform Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) written in Rust. This move marks a significant step in Microsoft's commitment to open-source development and cloud computing innovation.

OpenVMM introduces a novel approach to virtualization with its "paravisor" architecture. Unlike traditional hypervisors, OpenVMM runs within a guest VM at a higher privilege level (VTL2), providing enhanced security and isolation for cloud workloads. This design allows for fine-grained control over resources and improved attestation capabilities.

Technical Highlights:

• Built on Rust, leveraging its memory safety and concurrency features

• Modular architecture with separate crates for different components

• Supports cross-platform development, aiming for Linux KVM integration

• Implements a strict unsafe code policy, enforced by CI

Impact: For cloud providers and enterprise users, OpenVMM offers a new level of flexibility and security in virtualization. Its open-source nature invites community contributions and scrutiny, potentially accelerating innovation in this space.

While still in its early stages, OpenVMM shows promise for reshaping cloud infrastructure. Microsoft is actively seeking community engagement, with detailed contributing guidelines already in place. As the project evolves, we can expect to see new features and optimizations that could influence the future of virtualization technology.

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API-First Approach Gains Traction Among Developers

Remember when devs used to plan out entire apps, including APIs, all at once? Well, times are changing. The API-first approach, where APIs are the foundation of development, is becoming the new norm. In 2024, a whopping 74% of developers are following this method, up from 66% last year.

What's New:

• Faster Development: 63% of devs can now crank out an API in under a week (up from 47% last year)

• Quicker Recovery: API-first teams typically bounce back from failures in less than an hour

But it's not all smooth sailing. Devs are still battling some familiar foes:

• Inconsistent documentation (39% say it's their biggest roadblock)

• Collaboration hurdles, especially with non-technical team members

APIs aren't just technical enablers anymore – they're becoming serious money-makers. Get this: 62% of respondents are generating income from their APIs, with a third reporting that APIs make up over half of their total revenue. Not too shabby!

AI's Impact: With the rise of AI, we're seeing a 73% bump in AI-related API traffic. It looks like we'll need to start designing APIs not just for humans, but for our AI buddies too.

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🔥 More Notes

• Zscaler highlights security trends challenging developers

• AI bots easily bypass some social media safeguards, study reveals

• Compare Mode in Google AI Studio: Your Companion for Choosing the Right Gemini Model

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