One thing worth highlighting in the post is that Phoenix now uses Ecto 3.0. This latest version of Ecto separates Ecto's data mapping and validation from Ecto's SQL adapters. Practically this means you can use Ecto's changesets when you either don't need persistence or aren't using a SQL database.
Additionally there are a number of features that make Ecto 3.0 a great release: http://blog.plataformatec.com.br/2018/10/a-sneak-peek-at-ect...