Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.

The tools of my trade. Most of these are industry standard, and I love standards. In my other life I really enjoyed running Linux on recycled hardware and coding in VIM but since working full time I've gotten spoiled.

Workstation

  • 16” MacBook Pro, M1 Pro, 16GB RAM (2021)

    My personal laptop; equipped for development, productivity and fun. Loaded with Ableton Sutie, Parallels, Fedora and Windows 11.

  • 12.9” iPad Pro (2018)

    The indespensible digital notebook. One of my favorite hobbies is reading instruction manuals. You can't beat the utility of a full sized tablet. It may be getting older but it handles everything I throw at it.

  • Keychron C2

    Wired, mechanical, full size, Apple layout keyboard with blue clicky switches. Typing perfected for the modern age with a retro flair.

Development tools

  • PhpStorm

    Jet Brains' lightning-smart PHP IDE. Only the best will do when it comes to building and debugging PHP apps. With intelegent refactoring tools, hyperintegrated support for all the major front-end technologies and built in tools for SQL accept no substitutes.

  • Visual Studio Code

    When you want to tinker with JavaScript frameworks or pair program remotely you really can't beat Microsoft's attempt at cornering the free editor market.

  • Navicat for MySQL

    When you manage multiple production databases and need to easily manage data this tool is the swiss army knife of the DB world.

Design

  • Figma

    Prototyping designs is tough work for a developer but this tool makes it a little easier.

  • Adobe Creative Sutie

    When you really need to work with artists to get thoes icons just right accept no substitute. Maybe one day I'll learn Premier and start that sailing and camping youtube channel.

Productivity

  • GoodNotes

    I love handwritten notes and this app takes them to the next level. Marking up PDFs is indespensible.

  • Outlook

    The 700lb gorilla of the productivity world. There is no replacing Active Directory and Exchange for productivity in large organizations why not use the native client?