What I Use
My computing setup has come a long way since the early 90s. I thought it would be fun to document the current setup here - who doesn’t love a good uses page?
The Desk
After a decade of using Mac Minis to avoid Apple laptop keyboards, I picked up a Macbook Pro 16” (M2 Max, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) in late 2023. Great machine! It mostly lives in clamshell mode, tucked into a Twelve South BookArc stand, but I love being able to use it around the house and outside when the weather is nice.
A big reason for the M2 Max was its ability to drive three 4K monitors:
- Center: 27” Dell P2715Q. Going strong since 2017!
- Left: 27” LG UN850-W. Comparable to the Dell in quality.
- Right: 27” Samsung Whatever. My partner’s employer sent her two of these for remote work, and despite looking like a potato compared to the other two, it does give me more pixels to work with 🤷🏻
A VIVO dual monitor arm mount keeps the two good monitors off my desk and makes it easy to adjust the height of the center screen when I’m standing or sitting with my Jarvis standing desk. And that Logitech C920 webcam atop the center monitor captures audio and video for my tutoring and Focusmate sessions.
My usual keyboard is a Kinesis Advantage keyboard, a birthday present to myself in 2012. (Fun fact: I’ve used the Dvorak keyboard layout since 2010.) I also have an Apple Magic Keyboard that’s occasionally the right tool for the job.
My workflow is keyboard-optimized, but I’m not mouse-free. I have a Kensington Expert Mouse to the left of my keyboard, the latest in a long line of ergonomic experiments. I often have an XP Pen graphics tablet to the right, too: the cornerstone of tutoring, but it’s also great for thinking through technical challenges.
For audio output, I use basic Apple wired headphones. Something wireless would be nice, but I’ve never seen something wireless that could handle 11 straight hours of tutoring with 100% reliability. (If I had a nickel for every time a student had to fumble around with wireless audio settings, I’d have a lot of nickels 💰)
Tying it all together is a CalDigit TS3 Plus dock. It wasn’t cheap, but the ability to make all this work with just two cables going into my computer is so nice. And the Anker USB 3.0 hub provides easily-reached USB ports - occasionally I need to unplug and replug something to get it working again.
I try to stand when I can, but for deep work, I prefer to sit. I’ve been using a Steelcase Leap chair since about 2010 - they had them in a meeting room in the Berkeley Statistics department, and I liked the way they felt.
Other Tech Hardware
I’m not a huge Apple fanboy or anything, but they do make nice things that work well and work well together…
My personal phone is an iPhone 13 Pro Max. I’m not a heavy phone user, so I rocked an iPhone SE for years. But when it was time for something new late 2023, I splurged and it’s nice! The camera is 🙌 and the screen is 🤩. I was worried about missing the home button, but after about four seconds of swiping to do things, it feels natural. (My work phone, in contrast, is an iPhone 8. If it can confirm tutoring session requests and send occasional Apple messages, then it’s good enough.)
I have a fairly recent 45mm Apple Watch. (Who knew that having timers on your wrist would be a killer app?) The StrongLifts watch app is nice, too.
My 1st gen AirPod Pros constantly impress me - the noise cancellation is great, and the sound quality is excellent. I’m also impressed, I suppose, that my ancient iPad mini 2 still powers on and even works pretty well for ebooks.
Software
On OSX, shoutouts to:
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Brave for most web browsing
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Cold Turkey to block distracting websites when it’s time to work
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Hammerspoon for window management and a bunch of other useful things
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TickTick for free, cross-platform task management
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Obsidian for note-taking and writing with Markdown, code blocks, etc.
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Miro for tutoring, solving technical problems, and light design work
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Alfred for launching apps and searching my files
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Anki for spaced repetition learning - if I’m serious about learning something, there will be Anki cards involved
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Fantastical for a lovely calendar experience
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SteerMouse to customize my Kensington mouse
On iOS, shoutouts to:
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StrongLifts for strength training (even if their plate algorithm is suboptimal)
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AllTrails for hiking
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Planta for houseplant management
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Overcast for podcasts
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Freedom to block distracting content
Other services I love include:
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Focusmate for accountability and productivity. FM makes a night-and-day difference in terms of my ability to get deep work done… some combination of the consistency principle, time blocking, and arcane magic? (If you’re interested in trying digital co-working, consider signing up via my referral link for a free month of unlimited sessions!)
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brain.fm for music while working. I don’t know if it actually helps me focus better, but combining this with Focusmate has been great for a few years.
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Monarch Finance for financial aggregation. I used Mint for years, but after they shut down in 2024, I switched to Monarch and it’s been great so far!
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Kiva for microlending and making the world a better place. I created an account and set up small, automatic monthly deposits when I graduated from BU. 15 years later, I’m in the 90+ percentile for lenders, having made about 90 loans to individuals in more than 30 countries.