Things I use
I tend to obsess over having the perfect setup for whatever work/play I plan to be doing. It's very likely just another way to procrastinate. I tell myself this has improved over time, but it may also be the result of technology becoming easier to use. Anyways, if you're already here - let's compare notes. This was last updated December 2025.
Hardware
Macbook Air M3 - I'm using Macs since getting my first laptop in 2008. I used to care very much about what model I have, and I was upgrading frequently to make sure I have the latest breakthroughs available. Getting my first laptop with a retina display was super exciting, a feeling that only returned almost 8 years later with Apple Silicon. Since M1, my computing needs are pretty much saturated. Great performance, wakes up rapidly, all day battery, good for even heavier stuff like video editing.
iPhone 13 - similarly, I was upgrading my phone every year. But with the marginal changes we see today - it now seems pointless. I've been meaning to upgrade every year for the last 3 but every time the improvements don't come close to justifying it. I might upgrade next year if only to get better battery life.
Dell 27" QHD monitor - I prefer the single monitor lifestyle. I don't want air to be leaking between my pixels. The next breakthrough I'm waiting for is a high density screen with this same form factor and a reasonable price tag.
Airpods Pro - a very nice piece of industrial engineering. Adaptive mode is a favorite as it cancels noise without that isolated feeling. I love using them the most for listening to podcasts while vacuuming the house in silence.
Sony WH1000XM4 - To signal colleagues that I don't want to be interrupted, and for obliterating jet noise on flights. They also sound pretty good. Too bad Sony requires installing their janky app to be able to use some of the functionality.
Logitech MX keys + MX mouse - I care very much about my typing experience. I tried a few mechanical keyboards but didn't fully explore that area since I'm very likely to distract myself with it and spend too much money on overcustomization. This is a nice feeling, well made keyboard. I like the multi-device feature.
Desk Shelf - I Ikea-hacked a shelf to put on my desk. It helps keep my monitor in level with my vision and clears valuable real estate for my laptop, audio interface, and a bunch of assorted desk mess.
Desktop Studio Speakers - I got my M-Audio BX5 Carbon about 12 years ago as part of my lifelong quest to get all the music gear I need to actually start making music. It's still ongoing. They sound pretty good and can get as loud as needed.
Software
Todoist - Together with Obsidian, this is the core of my operating system / exo-brain. I've been using it for the last 8 years. It's nothing very special, but it does the job without failing and has sensible defaults. At the time of writing, I have completed 18446 tasks on a 1706 day streak. Everything goes in here so that I can free my mind to think about stuff other than what I have to do next.
Obsidian - for me, writing is remembering and writing is thinking. This is my notebook of choice. Again - nothing very fancy, it just works and manages to avoid enshittification. I’ve likely written the equivalent of several novels in the form of meeting notes, status reports, barely half-baked ideas and random thoughts.
My home cooked RSS reader - it's so great to be able to be in control of your digital media diet. I used a bunch of RSS readers over the years, notably Google Reader, Feedly, The Old Reader, Inoreader, and probably a few I forgot. The LLM revolution allowed me to finally spend a reasonable amount of time to just build exactly what I need. No fancy paywalled features and AI summaries.
Raycast - a recent addition, replacing a few other things with one solution. I use it for launching apps, managing my clipboard history, using snippets, and taming the windows on my display. Works nicely so far.
Writing Code
A typical app I write for personal usage will be a Node.js express backend with Postgres for persistence and a Vue / vanilla frontend. This is tech that I know pretty well and still works. I use VS Code with the Cline agent thing, and OpenRouter for when I need to interact with LLMs. I deploy my code on either Google Firebase or Railway depending on the use case.
3D printing
My partner gifted me a Creality Ender 3 V3 SE which allowed me to get into actually manufacturing stuff at home. It's definitely a magical feeling. I use OnShape to model stuff, and I slice my prints with Prusa Slicer. There's obviously a lot of headroom left for upgrades to my makers kit, but I'm already quite happy with how I can fix really weird, otherwise unnoticeable issues around the house.