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, 8 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.
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.
Reading
- 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.