These are the things that I use on a regular basis.
Furniture
My desk chair is a Herman Miller Aeron. It is great.
Hardware
I have a MacBook Air M2 (2022) as my main machine.
My printer is a Brother HL-L2320D monochrome laser printer.
My eBook reader is a Kobo Libra 2.
For audio, I have:
- a pair of Audio Engine A5 speakers (on my desk)
- DT 770 Pro headphones
- a Blue Yeti microphone on a flexible arm
I connect all my equipment using a CalDigit TS3 Plus Thunderbolt station.
I have a Dell U3423WE ultra-wide display.
Input devices:
- My keyboard is a ZSA Moonlander.
- My pointing device is a Kensington Orbit trackball with scroll ring, replacing my Evoluent VerticalMouse 4.
My photo camera of choice is the Sony α6400.
I used to have a Fitbit, and then I lost it.
My primary fountain pen is the Kaweco Classic Sport.
Operating system
I am a long-term user of Apple hardware and software, and so I use macOS as my daily driver.
I am using the Colemak keyboard layout.
Desktop apps
OmniGraffle (macOS) is the best diagramming tool I know of. It isn’t cheap, but I find the price tag to be worth it. I use it to impress my coworkers.
Zed (cross-platform) is my editor of choice.
NetNewsWire is my RSS reader.
Firefox is my main web browser at the moment. I used to use Safari as my main browser.
For link checking, I use Integrity and lychee.
I use Zotero to collect everything I cite on my web site.
For budgeting, I use Actual. Previously, I was using YNAB.
Utilities:
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Alfred (macOS) is not just an app launcher for me; I have a handful of custom workflows to
impress my coworkersbe more productive. -
Moom (macOS) is my window manager. Before, I used Rectangle.
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I use KeePassXC as my password manager. Previously, I was using 1Password.
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I use Flow (app) to keep my focus.
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I use Things 3 for managing my to-dos, but I’m playing with OmniFocus.
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I use uBlock Origin and blocky (defence in depth!) so I never have to see ads.
Writing:
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I use Scrivener for any serious writing projects.
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I use iWriter Pro for shorter-form writing. I like how distraction-free it is.
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I use (beat) for writing screenplays. Not that I do that often.
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Bear is my note-taking app of choice.
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Occasionally, I’ll use Obsidian for specific projects. But not very often.
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I use Scapple to bring order to my thoughts. There’s some overlap with OmniGraffle.
Services
Fastmail provides excellent email, but also contacts management, calendars, web hosting and DNS management.
I use Buttondown for sending newsletters.
For backups, I use restic, Time Machine, and Arq.
Tailscale is helpful for accessing my home network when I’m out and about.
Fonts
See also: Fontroll and Typefaces wishlist.
My favourite monospaced (code) font is Iosevka.
The serif fonts I like most are Valkyrie and Charter.
I’ve recently began to like Courier in the form of Courier Prime.
I am also fond of (font of? ha ha) Atkinson Hyperlegible.
CLI tools
fish (shell) is a fast, easy-to-use shell that has sensible defaults. I have barely customized it.
ripgrep is my command-line grep alternative of choice.
beancount is what I use to track my financial activity.
pandoc is a good tool for converting documents in lightweight markup languages to and from other formats.
Homebrew is my package manager of choice.
WeasyPrint is an excellent tool for producing quality PDF files from HTML pages.
pv (Pipe Viewer) is indispensable when dealing with large files on the terminal.