Archive for May, 2010
My top Mac apps for web development
May 13th
I’ve seen many blogs from colleague web developers sharing their top 10 mac apps or something like that, I always find it interesting to read what applications they use. So here I am sharing my top applications I use daily for my work.
I am not putting the apps in a Top # order but in order how many times I use it, or the importance for the app to me.
Coda
Coda is in my eyes the holy grail of web development apps in the genre Text editors, but it’s so much more then just a text editor. Many people prefer Text Mate, I’ve tried that too, but once using coda u never go back. Hehe. Coda is lightweight and fast to use, It has build in Sites to save your sites obviously, very easy to use. And it has a build-in preview option, but I don’t use that, I prefer switching to Firefox. What I do use is the build in Books option, this lets you view for instance the PHP documentation, and you can easily search the books. For more information about all functionalities of coda like Sites, Preview, CSS, Terminal and Books visit their website.
Trying out Apple’s Magic Mouse
May 12th
I needed a small keyboard for my new HTPC, so I bought the new wireless keyboard from Apple. While I was at it.. I saw the Magic Mouse. I’ve had a mac since 5 years now, and mac accessories too, but I always had a ugly logitech mouse next to the keyboard. So now I’m trying out the new Magic Mouse. First impressions are good, it feels good in the hand and it responds better then I expected. The smooth scrolling is nice too, but sometimes when I’m reading an article I accidentally scroll down because my hand rests on the mouse. That’s annoying but need to learn to keep my hand still I guess 
Project #2: Building an HTPC with Snow Leopard 10.6 and XBMC
May 2nd
I had fun building the Xen server in my first project, since that one is completed it is time I start with project 2! Building an HTPC with Snow Leopard 10.6 and XBMC.
I’ve been using my Xbox 1 chipped with XBMC for over 4 years now, and it has served me some good times. But as the movie quality keeps improving, or increasing in size, the Xbox doesn’t have what it take’s anymore. For example, viewing a movie in 1080p quality is simply not possible. Mostly because the file format MKV is not supported, or weakly supported.
A friend of me was talking about his new HTPC running on Snow Leopard with XMBC and it got me thinking, running Snow Leopard om my TV sounds good to me anyway. And being able to finally view Full-HD movies on my TV (witch it has never done before) is something i really want, I’m done watching crappy DivX’s.
Of course it never comes cheap, for a reasonable priced hardware configuration you come somewhere near 400 – 450 euro’s. And if I want a nice casing that fits next to my amplifier it costs me even more. The same goes for ’sound reduced’ hardware. So I think I’m just going with the average hardware and put this in a basic casing, and hide it behind my couch Maybe put some sound reducing stuff in the casing to reduce the annoying fan noise.
- Edit, Turns out HTPC casings are not that expensive after all. Found one for 60 euro’s, Looks like it’s going to be next to my amplifier afterall 
