Uses

If you’re anything like me you probably love to talk about the tools that you use to do your work every day. This page serves as a living document of the things I use every day.

👨‍💻 Desktop apps

I use a lot of apps throughout the day but these are the ones I use the most.

• iTerm2: I work in the terminal 80% of the time, why not pick the best terminal app?
• Vim: I recently (finally!) switched to Vim fulltime. My .vimrc is public.
• Amphetamine: I use my laptop like a desktop, so nothing should ever sleep. This handy tool prevents that.
• SSHuttle: forwards my network traffic over a secure SSH tunnel.
• AWS CLI: I use the AWS CLI for all sorts of work, mostly because I don’t like clicking around in the web UI all the time.
• Tweetbot: not sure if it’s still the best Twitter desktop client, but it’s what I’m used to and it syncs nicely with my iOS devices.
• Things: the only todo app that actually looks good on Mac and iOS.
• 1Password: 1Password really is a life saver. I couldn’t possibly live without it.
• Slack: work related stuff goes here.
• Reflex: prevents macOS from hijacking the media keys.
• MacDown: I’m a heavy user of MarkDown and the split view feature is a life saver.

📱 Mobile apps

• Spotify: this is my only source of music in the car and in the office, I can’t stand listening to the radio.
• Flitsmeister: realtime traffic information and warnings about speed traps. If you’re as much on the road as I am this is a no-brainer to have installed.
• Instagram: I love taking pictures, but not as much as looking at them.
• Overcast: to kill time in the car I listen to podcasts all the time.
• Google Photos: automatically creates a backup of my photos and reminds me of cool stuff that happened years ago.
• Authy: stores my MFA keys so that I don’t have to carry a bunch of physical ones.
• Apollo: the best Reddit app at this moment, with a nice native looking design.
• WaterMinder: reminds me to drink more water, which I sorely need in my life because I’m really bad at it.

⌨️ Hardware

In terms of hardware I try to maintain a fairly simple setup. I don’t have too much stuff because otherwise everything gets outdated really quickly.

• MacBook Pro 15” (2015): this is a laptop from work. It has an Intel i7, 16GB of RAM and a dedicated graphics card and that’s more power than I’ll ever need. It’s like having a very thin, good looking, supercomputer that I can carry with me.
• MacBook Pro 15” (2018): this is our family computer, with some overkill specs like a 6-core i7, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a Radeon Pro 650X. This machine is used for gaming, side-projects, and everything else not related to work.
• iPhone 7 128GB: this is the best phone I’ve ever had. The matte black finish is gorgeous and I never run out of space.
• Magic Mouse 2: it’s not the best mouse in terms of ergonomics but it’s easy to carry around. I switch from the trackpad to the Magic Mouse regularly in order to prevent RSI.
• Magic Keyboard: this might be controversial but I honestly think this is the greatest keyboard ever produced.
• AirPods: I never knew I needed AirPods until I actually bought them. They are truly magical in that they sound nice, the user experience is awesome, and they aren’t as ugly as I thought they would. AirPods feel like they shouldn’t exist but they do.
• Apple Watch Series 3: this is another one of those “I didn’t know I needed it until I tried” products. My Apple Watch is now an important part of my life, keeping me healthy by daily reminders to stand/walk more and drink more water.
• Sonos Beam and Sonos One: Music around the house, speaks for itself. I do however always want to buy more Sonos stuff.

👾 Other

• The North Face Vault backpack: I recently got this backpack as my daily driver for work and leisure. It’s comfortable, has a lot of space and looks good too.
• Nintendo Switch: This is not work related but it keeps me sane throughout the weeks. I love playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. It’s by far my favourite console of all time mostly because I can take it anywhere. My PlayStation 4 has been collecting dust ever since I got myself a Switch.
• Xbox One X: the fastest console on the planet. I love its design too.