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Introducing VillageSQL: A New Path for MySQL in the Agentic AI Era

https://villagesql.com/blog/content/images/size/w1200/2026/02/VillageSQL_PrimaryLogo_Vert_Light–1-.png

MySQL is the world’s most popular open-source database by many measures but a persistent innovation gap has emerged. This gap causes developers to select other databases over MySQL for new application development, particularly when AI is involved. Today, we are launching VillageSQL to close that gap and empower the MySQL community by enabling permissionless innovation via extensions. VillageSQL is the innovation platform for MySQL and is focused on giving MySQL a new path for the agentic AI era. 

VillageSQL Server for MySQL is an open-source tracking fork that is a drop-in replacement for MySQL. It introduces an extension framework that includes custom data types and custom functions (with custom indexes coming soon). This extension framework unlocks rapid innovation for existing MySQL installations. It also allows developers building AI, agentic, and enterprise applications to choose MySQL without waiting for new features in future releases.

Ready to try it out? VillageSQL Server is now available in alpha.

The MySQL Innovation Gap

In recent years, much of the innovation and community development with open-source databases has focused on the PostgreSQL ecosystem. PostgreSQL development is governed by predictable community guidelines and the database supports a robust extension framework. An extension, framework like those found in many open-source projects such as PostgreSQL, Jenkins, or Grafana, enables developers to implement and publish new functionality to extend and modify the core of the project. Extensions don’t require broader agreement of the community before publishing. This is a powerful, permissive dynamic that unlocks the creativity of the community.

At the same time, gaps exist in MySQL’s functionality that have hindered its relevance with AI-era workloads. For example, there is no built-in implementation of vector search that retrieval augmented generation (RAG) use cases require. MySQL supports limited extensibility via plug-ins and components, but their limitations have hindered innovation in the MySQL ecosystem. 

Introducing the Extension Framework for MySQL

We founded VillageSQL with the mission to empower the MySQL community by enabling permissionless innovation. VillageSQL Server is a tracking fork of MySQL. It is a drop-in replacement and supports adding new functionality through extensions. While MySQL supports, and has benefited from, a plugin architecture and a component framework, we believe extensions offer a more holistic and structured approach to extending the database. Installing extensions is simple and MySQL-idiomatic (or, what we call, “Myonic”). 

We are launching a handful of extensions we thought were interesting. These extensions enable AI prompting via SQL functions, along with support for UUIDs, network addresses (IPv6/MAC), cryptographic functions, and a complex number data type. Our roadmap includes new AI features like vector indexing and optimized vector search. We’ve designed VillageSQL so developers can build and share their own extensions, and we can’t wait to see what the community builds next.

How it Works: "Myonic" Extensions

We define an extension in VillageSQL as a single packaging of extended types, indexes (coming soon), and functions that work together as a cohesive logical unit. Developers deploy these logical units as external repos or compiled dynamic libraries. A database administrator can copy the extension file into the VillageSQL extensions directory and run the SQL command ‘INSTALL EXTENSION_NAME’ to add the extension’s functionality to the database engine.

# Install UUID extension
INSTALL EXTENSION ‘vsql_uuid’;

# Create a users table with UUID primary key
CREATE TABLE users (
id UUID PRIMARY KEY,
username VARCHAR(50),
email VARCHAR(255),
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

This release is intended to provide developers with a preview for experimentation and feedback, not production workloads. For a look at where we are headed, including the path to a production-ready release, see the roadmap.

It Takes a Village

At VillageSQL, we believe in a community-driven approach. This means empowering and supporting contributors across developers and companies to allow self-directed implementations of extensions. Join the village today by writing and contributing extensions, reviewing documentation, submitting bugs, etc. on GitHub. Connect with us on Discord. Subscribe for updates over email here.

We are very excited to see where the MySQL community takes this project, but we already know “it takes a village” to be successful. 

To get started or learn more, go to villagesql.com/.

Dominic Preuss (Village Steward/CEO) and Steve Schirripa (Village Architect/CTO) – Co-Founders

Planet for the MySQL Community

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How to stream the 2026 Super Bowl for free: Patriots vs. Seahawks time, where to watch and more

https://www.yahoo.com/news/video/watching-super-bowl-sports-commercials-211907376.html?format=embed&region=US&lang=en-US&site=news&player_autoplay=false

The 2026 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks will air on NBC this Sunday, Feb. 8. The game will also stream on Peacock. If you don’t have NBC over the air and don’t subscribe to Peacock, there are still ways to watch Super Bowl LX — and Bad Bunny’s history-making halftime show — for free. Here’s how to tune in. 

How to watch Super Bowl LX free:

Date: Sunday, Feb. 8

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

Location: Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

TV channel: NBC, Telemundo

Streaming: Peacock, DirecTV, NFL+ and more

2026 Super Bowl game channel

Super Bowl LX will air on NBC. A Spanish-language broadcast is available on Telemundo. 

How to watch the 2026 Super Bowl for free

You can stream NBC and Telemundo on platforms like DirecTV and Hulu + Live TV; both offer free trials and are among Engadget’s choices for best streaming services for live TV. (Note that Fubo and NBC are currently in the midst of a contract dispute and NBC channels are not available on the platform.)  

What time is the 2026 Super Bowl?

The 2026 Super Bowl kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, Feb. 8. Green Day will be performing a pre-game special starting at 6 p.m. ET.

Who is playing in the Super Bowl?

The AFC champions, the New England Patriots, will play the NFC champions, the Seattle Seahawks.

Where is the 2026 Super Bowl being played?

The 2026 Super Bowl will be held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., home of the San Francisco 49ers.

Who is performing at the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show?

Bad Bunny is headlining the 2026 Super Bowl halftime performance. You can expect that show to begin after the second quarter, likely between 8-8:30 p.m. ET. Green Day will perform a pre-game show starting at 6 p.m. ET. If you’re tuning in before the game, singer Charlie Puth will perform the National Anthem, Brandi Carlile is scheduled to sing "America the Beautiful," and Grammy winner Coco Jones will perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing." 

More ways to watch Super Bowl LX

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/how-to-stream-the-2026-super-bowl-for-free-patriots-vs-seahawks-time-where-to-watch-and-more-124512202.html?src=rssEngadget

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Vector: The easiest way to plug Vue in Blade

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You know that feeling when you’re building a Laravel app and you just need a tiny bit of reactivity? A counter. A toggle. Something that feels overkill for a full Vue component but too annoying for vanilla JavaScript?

I kept reaching for Alpine.js, which is great, but I wanted Vue’s Composition API. The ref(), the computed(), the familiar syntax I already know. So I built Vector.

What Even Is This?

Vector is a Laravel package that lets you write Vue directly in your Blade templates with zero ceremony:

<script setup>
 const i = ref(0);
</script>

<div>
 <button @click="i++">Click Me</button>
 <div>
 Count: @
 </div>
 <div v-if="i > 5">Success!</div>
</div>

That’s the whole thing. No build step for your components. No separate .vue files. No special directives wrapping your code. Just a <script setup> tag and you’re done.

How It Works

The <script setup> tag gets transformed at compile time. Vector treats the element immediately after the script tag as your Vue template. Everything inside that element becomes reactive, and anything outside it remains regular Blade.

  1. Blade’s precompiler finds your <script setup> blocks
  2. Extracts your variable declarations
  3. Mounts Vue on the next sibling element

The key part is the variable extraction. It parses const, let, and var declarations and auto-returns them to the template. You write normal code, it figures out the rest.

Escaping Blade Syntax

Since Blade also uses for output, you need to prefix Vue’s mustache syntax with @ to prevent Blade from processing it:





@

Alternatively, use Vue directives like v-text which don’t conflict with Blade:

<span v-text="count"></span>

Installation

composer require brunoabpinto/vector

Add Vector to your Vite entry points in vite.config.js:

plugins: [
 laravel({
 input: [
 "resources/css/app.css",
 "resources/js/app.js",
 "resources/js/vendor/vector.js",
 ],
 // ...
 }),
],
resolve: {
 alias: {
 'vue': 'vue/dist/vue.esm-bundler.js',
 },
},

Add @vectorJs before your closing </body> tag in your layout:

<body>
 

 @vectorJs
</body>

That’s it. Vector auto-publishes its runtime, and @vectorJs loads it where you need it.

The Trade-offs

Let’s be real about what this is:

Good for:

  • Quick interactive elements
  • Prototyping
  • When you want Vue’s API without Vue’s ceremony
  • Laravel apps that are mostly server-rendered with islands of reactivity

Not great for:

  • Complex component hierarchies
  • When you need proper SFC features (scoped styles, etc.)
  • Large-scale SPAs (just use Inertia at that point)

Try It

The package is available on GitHub. Star it, fork it, tell me it’s an abomination. Whatever feels right.

composer require brunoabpinto/vector

Laravel News Links

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Say Hello To GoogleSQL

BrianFagioli writes: Google has quietly retired the ZetaSQL name and rebranded its open source SQL analysis and parsing project as GoogleSQL. This is not a technical change but a naming cleanup meant to align the open source code with the SQL dialect already used across Google products like BigQuery and Spanner. Internally, Google has long called the dialect GoogleSQL, even while the open source project lived under a different name. By unifying everything under GoogleSQL, Google says it wants to reduce confusion and make it clearer that the same SQL foundation is shared across its cloud services and open source tooling. The code, features, and team remain unchanged. Only the name is different. GoogleSQL is now the single label Google wants developers to recognize and use going forward.


Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Slashdot

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Rotating Marble Machine

https://theawesomer.com/photos/2026/02/rotating_marble_machine_t.jpg

Rotating Marble Machine

This desktop marble machine by MaKim Projects features a rotating tower that keeps things rolling all day long. After its steel spheres roll down a series of twisting and spiraled ramps, they return to the top on its illuminated corkscrew elevator. Want your own? The 3D model is available on MakerWorld, with a parts kit for sale on the Bambu Lab store.

The Awesomer

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The Computer History Museum’s New Online Portal Is a Nerd’s Dream Come True

https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2026/01/computer-history-museum-1280×853.jpg

The Computer History Museum, based in Mountain View, California, looks like a fine way to spend an afternoon for anyone interested in, well, the history of computers. And if that description fits you but you’re not in California, then rejoice, because CHM recently launched OpenCHM, an excellent online portal designed to allow exploration of the museum from afar.

You can, of course, just click around to see what catches your eye, but if that feels too unfocused, you can also go straight to the collection highlights. As you might expect, these include a solid selection of early computers and microcomputers, along with photos, records, and other objects of historic import. Several objects predate the information age, including a Jacquard loom and a copy of The Adams Cable Codex, a fascinating 1894 book that catalogs hundreds of code words that were used to save space when sending messages via cable. Happily, there’s a full scan of the same book at the Internet Archive, because the CHM’s documentation on the latter is rather minimal.

Klystron
Kylstron mounted on a wooden base © The Computer History Museum

This is the case throughout the site. In fairness, OpenCHM is still in beta, and hopefully the item descriptions will be fleshed out as the site develops—but as it stands, their terse nature means that some of the objects on show are disappointingly inscrutable. For example, it took a bit of googling to work out what on earth a klystron is, and the CHM’s description isn’t much help, noting only that “This item is mounted on a wooden base.” (For the record, a klystron is a vacuum tube amplifier that looks cool as hell.)

Still, such quibbles aside, there’s a wealth of material to explore here, and on the whole, Open CHM makes doing so both easy and enjoyable. It provides multiple entry points to the collection. In addition to the aforementioned highlights page and a series of curated collections, there’s something called the “Discovery Wall”. This is described as “a dynamic showcase of artifacts chosen by online visitors”, and it’s certainly interesting to see what catches people’s attention. At the time of our virtual visit, items on display on the Discovery Wall included an alarmingly yellow Atari t-shirt from 1977, a Tamagotchi (in its original packaging!), a placard from the 2023 Writers’ Guild strike (“Don’t let bots write your shows!”) and a Microsoft PS/2 mouse, the mere sight of which is likely to cause shudders in anyone with memories of flipping one of these over to pull out the trackball and clean months’ worth of accumulated crud from the two little rollers inside.

Apple Mouse prototype
Prototype Apple Mouse © The Computer History Museum

Perhaps the single most poignant item we came across, however, is a copy of Ted Nelson’s self-published 1974 opus Computer Lib/Dream Machines, which promoted computer literacy and the liberation Nelson hoped it would bring. The document is strikingly forward-thinking—amongst other things, it predicted hypertext, of which Nelson was an early proponent—but the technoutopianism on display seems both charmingly innocent and painfully naïve today. “New Freedoms Through Computer Screens”, promises the rear cover. If only they knew.

Gizmodo

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If You Actually Got Struck by a Lightsaber

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If You Actually Got Struck by a Lightsaber

When people in Star Wars get killed or dismembered by a lightsaber, it’s a pretty neat, tidy, and speedy event. But the morbid Mr. Death explains what’s more likely to happen to a human struck by a 20,000°C plasma beam when taking real-world physics into account. It sounds quite awful compared to what we’ve seen on screen.

The Awesomer