The Yugabyte Database team has released updates, including a new version of the database (1.0.5) that adds Cassandra-compatible YCQL features and Redis-compatible YEDIS features such as authentication support using passwords and safety flags to disable dropping data inadvertently. The team also announced support for Google Container Engine (GKE) and compared YugabyteDB with other Google Cloud databases like Spanner. Additionally, the team is hiring a Developer Advocate and has released new documentation and blog posts on various topics related to YugabyteDB.