Uses

On this page you will find what Hardware and Software I am currently using. I use a very minimalistic setup so my list is quite short.

Hardware

MacBook Air M1 2020 16GB is my main driver. It has amazing performance, lasts all day long and is super lightweight. I do not use an external monitor as I love the constraint of needing to use one screen. My MacBook wanders between my kitchen table, a shelf that I misuse as a standing desk and my couch. I elevate it to eye level for improved ergonomics using a paper box and a book about baking. I hope I will find a nice looking stand at one point that has the perfect height.

Apple Magic Mouse 2 is a good mouse with a horrible charging experience. Why would you put the charging plug on the bottom of the mouse 🙈. My table is made of old ship wood with a glass plate that conflicts with the mouse infrared lights—I, therefore, use a thin book as a mouse pad.

Planck EZ is my main keyboard. It is a 40% ortholinear mechanical keyboard. The Planck EZ uses a “layer system” that allows re-using the middle row of the keyboard for letters, signs and numbers—it just makes so much sense after using it once. I use a Colemak layout to better distribute typing between my hands. This setup fixes two unnecessary fragments of the typewriter area: staggered keys and the QUERTY layout. Due to the small size of the keyboard, I have almost no horizontal space to reach my mouse. I feel less strain on my hands typing on this setup compared to my Mac keyboard. My next upgrade will be a Let’s split as soon as I find a suitable kit.

Pixel 3A is my only smartphone. It was cheap, has good battery life, an ok display and an amazing camera. I want to upgrade at some point for a better display as I read a lot on my smartphone.

Google Homepod is my main Kitchen radio. It came for free with my Google Pixel 3A. I dislike the idea of having a microphone in my personal space at all times, but it is perfect as a kitchen radio.

Software

Atom is my main code editor. The moment I used it for the first time I fell in love with it. It is minimalistic, yet allows to be extended in every possible way with plug-ins. I tried innovative code editors like Vim and full IDEs like VS Code—as much as they bring value I always come back to the simplistic Atom. Additionally, it works well in conjunction with GitHub Desktop. The only modifications I use is a default font (JetBrains Mono) and the Prettier package.

GitHub & GitHub Desktop is my main way to organise and version tech projects. As much as I like using the Terminal to look like a hacker—Github Desktop makes using Git intuitive and straightforward. It is just so simple to change branches and to browse commits. I also use it to launch projects in Atom and Terminal. For me, it is much faster than ‘cd-ing’ to a project folder in my Terminal. Also, GitHub evolved a lot with amazing collaboration tools. I can see a future where GitHub becomes the main driver of organisations.

Dropbox is where I store my important files. It is cross-platform, worked reliably for ages and is easy to use.

Lastpass is where I store my critical credentials. Using a Password Manager takes a lot of load from my brain. I also use it to store some important documents like my vaccination pass so that I can access them in case someone steals my purse on a trip.

YouTube Music is what I use to listen to music. It works on all platforms and finds almost all songs I like. I can even use it on a Google Home device as a voice-controlled kitchen radio and I can access it in an incognito window on my work laptop.

Audible is what I use for audiobooks. I desire to find an alternative, but it just has all the audiobooks I want to listen to.

Chrome, Safari and Firefox are all in use for testing purposes. I would love to use Safari as my primary browser. Unfortunately the developer console, extensions and reliability can’t compare to Chrome, so I tend to fall back to Chrome every time I try something else. My default extensions are Adblock Plus, Distraction-Free YouTube and Grammarly. This combination makes browsing the web just 100% better.