performance improvements
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T-Mobile G2 gets its turn for Gingerbread, OTA rolling out now
The T-Mobile G2x was the attention-hoarder this week by getting Gingerbread, but where's the love for its older brother? After all, the G2 seemed to be left for dead as HTC's promise of a Q2 refresh was broken with nary a peep from the manufacturer. No need to feel nervous any longer, folks, as Android 2.3 is now rolling out as an OTA download. In addition to Gingerbread, the listed update will include WiFi improvements, SMS and email notification enhancements, Google Books, and a few cosmetic UI changes. The rollout process will run its course over the coming weeks, so you'll need to exercise just a wee bit more patience here. At least the G2 isn't falling into the depths of obsolescence yet; but for future reference, T-Mobile, please text us when you're running a bit late.
CCP acquires new FCP hardware to fight EVE Online lag
Insomnia can be dealt with in different ways. Some people count sheep. Others pop pills. For those of us whose eyes are prone to glazing over upon hearing computer-related techno-babble, reading a dev blog such as the new network performance-related piece from CCP might be just the thing we need to start nodding off. All kidding aside, though, EVE Online is continually waging a war against lag, and unlike multi-shard MMOs with servers spread across different physical locations, CCP's sci-fi sandbox is beset with numerous technical challenges stemming from its one-server setup. Making matters worse for the IT nerds at the Icelandic development studio is the fact that tons of people like EVE, and those people are constantly setting new concurrent user records and pounding the heck out of Tranquility. CCP Mort's blog entry details the company's newly purchased Flow Control Platform (FCP), which "ties in closely with our Edge routers; it monitors all traffic to and from the game cluster, has a BGP peering relationship with the Edge routers, and monitors the pipes to our providers for bandwidth and errors." The short version is that FCP is CCP's latest offensive in the ongoing lag wars saga, and the company remains committed to perfecting the EVE Online experience going forward.
Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle out now
The folks at Pixelmator have released version 1.4, named Sprinkle, and it's now available from their site or from directly within the app. They've got more performance improvements in here, and the big addition this time around is brushes: not only are there a host of new brush options in the app, but users can now also import Adobe Photoshop brushes. Users can now create and use document presets, and there's a new "clouds" filter that can be used to create realistic clouds and special effects. As usual, the update is free to registered users, or you can pick up a copy for $59.Pixelmator continues to impress as a powerful yet slim photo and image editor. I use it daily. I have recently had an issue with it not sticking to its own space in Leopard -- sometimes, when switching to or from the Space that Pixelmator is in, it'll drift off in front of the app that I'm working on, or not show up for a few seconds. But this update also introduces a few "performance improvements," so hopefully my issue is in there somewhere.
