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My setup

Here’s some of the software and hardware I use, last revisited on Jan 17, 2024.

Note-taking. After several years on the sidelines, I finally embraced digital to get on top of my to-do pile. Out with the thick red Moleskine yearly planner, in with Things 3. I had tried Apple Reminders sporadically before, but Things has better ergonomics, fast sync between devices, and an effortless GTD-ish workflow.

Longer notes and reference information go in either iA Writer or (increasingly) Obsidian, both apps operating on the same set of Markdown files in a dedicated Dropbox folder.

Media diet. My daily browser is Firefox. I subscribe to feeds with NetNewsWire.

I listen to music in Apple Music and purchase it on Bandcamp. I’ve been keeping a list of my favorite records each year since 2014.

Development work. I write code in Sublime Text, and prep the Git stuff with Sublime Merge. For FTP / Amazon S3 I’ll reach for Transmit, but generally prefer to either rsync or rclone into remote hosts.

Design work. Most design production happens inside the Adobe suite. In order of fondness: Illustrator for vectors and one-off layouts, Photoshop for pixels, InDesign for books. (I’m warming up to the Affinity suite, but don’t see myself using it for day-to-day work at the moment.)

Utilities. Whenever it’s time to upgrade my MacBook Pro, I am struck by selective amnesia and end up with the entry-level disk option, so free space is always in short supply. Apps like Gemini 2 and DaisyDisk, as well as a slew of tricks, help me manage it.

On my desk. I keep the laptop perched on top of a Nextstand K2, and use an external Apple keyboard and trackpad.

Phone apps. On my phone I use Halide to shoot raw and Evernote Scannable as a first step in digitizing documents. I keep my tinnitus in check with db Meter.