Servage Magazine

The concept of having a desktop and laptop computer has been necessary for most developers over time, because desktops over great advantages that laptops simply don't have - among others performance and screen size. Ergonomics are simply better, work is more efficient. Laptops have been trying to compete with desktops for a decade or so, but only in recent years are they starting to become a real alternative. Having only a laptop removes the hassles of synchronization of data, the cost up purchasing and maintaining two systems in parallel etc. Apple recently introduced updated models in their Macbook Air line. Eventhough these models are ultra portable laptops with small screens, their performance ...

We have tons of cool gadgets to choose from when purchasing new stuff. Regardless if we need it or not, we find ourselves facing decisions every time we buy something. Getting a new computer is not an easy task. It could generate philosophical questions of the perfect computer environment. Which devices do we need? What should they do? And how can they interact? Being sightly overwhelmed with the recent development with tablet computers, I am starting to consider purchasing one. But does it really provide any addition to my life, exceeding the first few days of excitement over a new toy? I'm not sure. What do I really need? I come from ...

I've previously fought the degradation of system performance on my Mac computers, specifically due to slower hard drive performance. Earlier I attempted resolving this by approaching the problem from a fragmentation perspective. Testing different tools on my machine, I learned that my system was quite fragmented, even though Apple always says that their OS defragments the system continuously, making specific defragmentation unnecessary. Back then I ended up with a Time Machine restore, which worked out surprisingly fast - despite others who have reported very time consuming Time Machine restore processes (on a sidenote, I have experienced such a slow restore on another machine in the meantime. I believe the restore ...

During the past months I've been trying to research what new TV's to buy. Moving from a place that only served analogue cable broadcasts to a new area with both digital cable (DVB-C) and digital terrestrial (DVB-T) broadcasts, I faced some decisions to be make. First of all I needed a new TV, because my old 32 inch LCD model didn't have a digital tuner. Deciding between DVB-C and DVB-T for the new TV wasn't an issue, because most modern TV's I was looking at actually have both. Finally, I decided to go with DVB-C, because the local cable provider had a better offer than the local terrestrial provider. So, ...

It's time for a little hardware review again. Often hardware fulfills it's purpose and works acceptable, but sometimes I'm just surprised how big the gap between the expected and actually experienced value of a product. Take the Logitech Harmony One universal remote control as an example. I find a lot of ads for this type of product from Logitech at the moment, so I guess they are pushing the technology now. And honestly, the concept is pretty damn smart. Instead of having one remote for each of your electronic devices, you just need one. And instead of programming them individually to achieve a certain goal, you use activities. That means ...

The world of TV is increasingly merging with the Internet. Numerous TV manufacturers have models with Internet access for some apps, DLA clients for content sharing etc. Now one of the most popular media center softwares gets it's own box, ready to run: Boxee. A set top box to play content from storage in your own network or the Internet isn't really a new thing, but Boxee still introduces or combines a few cool old and new ways of doing things. The shape, the remote, the software. I'm sure it's a pretty neat device, but is it really needed? I mean, for you as developers of web content, ...

Personally I have to admit that I am quite the little Apple maniac when it comes to IT products. A topic that often raises many eyebrows, when getting into the classic Windows vs. Linux vs. Mac discussions... Normally being quite faithful and happy with Apple's products, I also have to admit that they in my opinion have failed miserably at least once in recent history! Namely with their so called Mighty Mouse. The concept seemed pretty good. Take a regular mouse, make it look good, and ad a scroll-wheel that enables vertical and horizontal scroll. Unfortunately the wheel constantly clutters up with dirt, so it won't work properly after a while. The buttons sometimes didn't react ...