PostgreSQL 9.4 Beta 1 Released

Beta 1 of PostgreSQL 9.4 has been released. If you're interested in previewing the new features (and there are quite a few) of Postgres 9.4, take a look. According to the announcement from PostgreSQL.org, the new major features are as follows:

• JSONB: 9.4 includes the new JSONB "binary JSON" type. This new storage format for document data is higher-performance, and comes with indexing, functions and operators for manipulating JSON data.
• Replication: The new Data Change Streaming API allows decoding and transformation of the replication stream. This lays the foundation for new replication tools that support high-speed and more flexible replication and scale-out solutions.
• Materialized Views with "Refresh Concurrently", which permit fast-response background summary reports for complex data.
• ALTER SYSTEM SET, which enables modifications to postgresql.conf from the SQL command line and from remote clients, easing administration tasks.

And there are quite a few minor changes as well, ranging from aggregate performance improvements to new functions for arrays and tables. You can find all the details on the new features in the release notes, or just download the beta and start exploring!