This is a living page. I try to keep it accurate, but I'm not the kind of person who upgrades often; most of this list changes slowly. If you're curious why I use something, the short answer is usually because it gets out of the way.

Daily hardware

  • Laptop — a 2021 M1 MacBook Air, 16 GB RAM. The fanless quiet is the real luxury; I forget the machine is there, which is the highest compliment I can pay a computer.
  • Phone — a mid-range Android, nothing worth naming. I keep it on Do Not Disturb by default.
  • Keyboard — a Keychron K3 (low-profile, brown switches). Tactile enough to feel, quiet enough not to annoy anyone in a library.
  • Mouse — a Logitech MX Anywhere 3. The hyperscroll wheel is the feature I didn't know I needed.
  • Headphones — Sony WH-1000XM4. Good noise cancelling, neutral sound, replaceable ear pads.
  • Notebook — a Leuchtturm1917 A5 dotted, with a Pilot G2 0.5. Paper first, screen second.

Software & tools

  • Editor — VS Code for most things, Neovim when I want to feel fast. Both configured minimally — I've stopped chasing the perfect config.
  • Terminal — the stock macOS Terminal with a slightly warmer background. Fish shell.
  • Browser — Firefox for daily browsing, Chrome for development. uBlock Origin everywhere.
  • Notes — Obsidian for linked notes and reading notes; plain markdown files in a git repo.
  • Spaced repetition — Anki, daily, for PSC prep and anything I want to actually remember.
  • Writing — this site is markdown in VS Code; longer drafts start in Obsidian.
  • Version control — Git, on the command line, pushed to GitHub.
  • Design — Figma when I need to share; otherwise a sketchbook.

Study setup (PSC prep)

  • Syllabus tracker — a single markdown file with checkboxes, broken down by paper. Low-tech, honest, hard to lie to.
  • Past papers — printed and bound, five years at a time. I mark them up by hand.
  • Revision cadence — spaced repetition in Anki (daily), one subject deep-dive per day, weekly review on Sundays.

Reading

  • E-reader — a Kindle Paperwhite, mostly for fiction and travel. Non-fiction I prefer in paper so I can mark it.
  • Sources — a curated RSS feed in NetNewsWire (open source, calm, no algorithm). I add slowly and prune ruthlessly.

What I don't use

  • A second monitor. I tried it for a year; I concentrate better with one screen and more keyboard shortcuts.
  • A smart watch. The phone already interrupts enough.
  • Most "productivity" apps. A notebook and a text file cover 90% of what they sell.

The best tool is the one you stop noticing. Most of this list is, ideally, invisible.