Tweakers

Tweakers (formerly called Tweakers.net) is a Dutch technology website featuring news and information about hardware, software, games and the Internet. The name is derived from the verb "tweaking", which is a word geeks use to refer to optimisation of hardware.

Tweakers
Available inDutch
OwnerDPG Media
Created byFemme Taken
URLtweakers.net
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Launched30 September 1998 (1998-09-30)

Tweakers has grown substantially since its conception.[1] Nowadays, it publishes news, reviews, features and video reports about technology subjects, with a strong focus on the Netherlands and Belgium.

Tweakers has more features for the computer enthusiast, such as reviews, bi-monthly Best Buy guides, a classifieds section for jobs and used hardware, the Pricewatch and the Shop Survey, among others. While the majority of the reviews are written in Dutch, several articles covering non-standard topics are translated into English.[2]

Tweakers currently has more than 1.000.000 members and its forum has over 29 million posts.[3] It has won several awards, including "(Dutch) website of the year" in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.[4]

History

The website was founded in 1998 by Femme Taken, a computer enthusiast, under the name World of Tweaking as a student's hobby project to offer a Dutch alternative to hardware review sites like Tom's Hardware Guide.[5]

As of March 2006, Tweakers has been taken over by the Dutch media conglomerate VNU, now known as The Nielsen Company.[6][7] However, VNU Media has become owner of the website after The Nielsen Company had sold its Business Media division to private equity firm 3i.[8]

In October 2012, Tweakers launched a new design,[9] designed by Femme Taken, the founder. However, the new design met with criticism from their community.[10] A couple of days later, Tweakers launched a new feature which enabled the community to change the appearance of the website.[11]

The current responsive design was introduced on 6 January 2014.[12] The Android and iOS apps were removed from their respective stores on 7 October 2014.[13]

In February 2014 Tweakers significantly improved the price comparison tool for sim only contracts.[14]

In June 2014 Tweakers added prices of Belgian webshops to the Pricewatch, which now shows prices from Dutch and Belgian webshops.[15]

In April 2015 Tweakers launched a completely new logo to be uniformly used throughout the website.[16]

Gathering of Tweakers

An important area of the site is the forum. Tweakers's forum is known as the Gathering of Tweakers (often abbreviated as GoT). The forum is mainly focused on technical subjects and tries to maintain a relatively high standard of posting. It has a fairly strong moderation policy, especially when compared to other online discussion forums. Users of the forum are strongly urged to read the FAQ and to have invested a fair amount of his/her own time into finding an answer, either on GoT using the search tools, or anywhere else on the Internet, before asking a question.[17]

Tweakers Awards

Tweakers Awards (formerly known as "Tweakers Gouden Steeksleutel Awards" 2007 to 2011[18]) is a contest in which members can choose the best products from different technology categories.

Tweakers Awards 2014-2015[19]
CategoryProduct
Best televisionSamsung HU7500L
Best monitorDell UltraSharp 27 HD 5K
Best headsetSennheiser HD-650
Best compact cameraSony Cybershot RX100 III
Best system cameraNikon 1 V3
Best DSLR cameraCanon EOS 5D Mark III
Best laptopApple MacBook Pro
Best anti-virus softwareMicrosoft Security Essentials
Best operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Best printerHP Officejet Pro 8610 e
Best processorIntel Core i7-5960X
Best motherboardAsus ROG X99 Rampage V Extreme
Best graphics cardNvidia GeForce GTX 970
Best SSDSamsung 840
Best videogameGTA V
Best gaming ConsolePlayStation 4
Best newcomerNetflix
Best user reviewerTERW_DAN
Best NASSynology DiskStation DS415+
Best home automation manufacturerNest
Best routerLinksys WRT1900AC
Best mobile providerVodafone
Best ISPZiggo
Best smartphoneApple iPhone 6
Best tabletApple iPad Air 2
Best web shop NLCoolblue
Best web shop BECoolblue

References
  1. "Tweakers.net viert tiende verjaardag!" (in Dutch). tweakers.net. 2008.
  2. "Reviews met tag English". Tweakers.net. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  3. "Tweakers passeert mijlpaal van 500.000 geregistreerde gebruikers" (in Dutch). tweakers.net. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  4. "Website van het Jaar winnaars!" (in Dutch). Websitevanhetjaar.nl. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. "De geschiedenis van Tweakers.net: ontstaan en hobbyfase" (in Dutch). tweakers.net. 2008.
  6. "VNU Business Media Europe neemt Tweakers.net over" (in Dutch). Tweakers.net. 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  7. "VNU Business Media Europe acquires leading Dutch online technology site, Tweakers.net". VNU Business Media Europe. 2006. Archived from the original on 20 March 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2015. ()
  8. "3i agrees buyout of VNU Business Media Europe". 3i.com. 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  9. "Tweakers.net maakt plaats voor Tweakers 7 - Beeld en geluid - .Plans". Tweakers. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  10. "Een dag met Tweakers 7 - Beeld en geluid - .Plans". Tweakers. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  11. "7: de puntjes op de i - IT Pro - .Plans". Tweakers. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  12. "introduceert responsive design - IT Pro - .Plans". Tweakers. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  13. "Development-round-up - Iteratie #58 - IT Pro - .Plans". Tweakers. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  14. "vernieuwt sim-only-prijsvergelijker - Tablets en telefoons - .Plans". Tweakers. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  15. "breidt Pricewatch uit - Ook in België willen we de beste zijn - IT Pro - .Plans". Tweakers. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  16. "Tweakers tweakt logo - nieuw logo voor hetzelfde Tweakers". Tweakers. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  17. "Gathering of Tweakers FAQ". Gathering.tweakers.net. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  18. "Gathering of Tweakers FAQ". Gathering.tweakers.net. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  19. "Tweakers Awards 2015 Winners" (in Dutch).
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