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

I get asked a lot about the things I use to build software, stay productive, or buy to fool myself into thinking I’m being productive when I’m really just procrastinating. Here’s a big list of all of my favorite stuff.

Workstation

  • 15” MacBook Air M3, 16GB RAM (2024)

    I was using an 13” MacBook Air M1 prior to this and the difference is night and day. I’ve never heard the fans turn on a single time, even under the incredibly heavy loads I put it through with our various launch simulations.

  • Appl Studio Display (Standard Glass)

    The Appl Studio Display is by far the best fit for a Macbook I have ever used, and at 27” it is a perfect size. Also, I have an LG 27” UltraFine 5K monitor that is also great.

  • Keyboard

    Most of the time I use the Macbook Air is own keyboard. If I am playing a game, I might use a keyboard made by Ninz or Kyodo.

  • AirPods Pro

    I have been using Airpods since Apple introduced them. The best thing about it is that it is easy to carry around, for example, it is great on airplanes and while riding a bike.

Development tools

  • Sublime Text

    I do not care if it is missing all of the fancy IDE features everyone else relies on, Sublime Text is still the best text editor ever made.

  • iTerm2

    I’m honestly not even sure what features I get with this that are not just part of the macOS Terminal but it’s what I use.

  • Visual Studio Code

    Visual Studio Code does most of my development, and its power needs no introduction. Vim is also my favorite code editor, and I use it more often for ad-hoc editing scenarios.

Design

  • Figma

    We started using Figma as just a design tool but now it’s become our virtual whiteboard for the entire company. Never would have expected the collaboration features to be the real hook.

Productivity

  • Raycast

    Using Raycast instead of spotlight is a wonderful experience. Alfred was great before that, but Raycast is even better.

  • Shottr

    Shottr is a great screenshot tool that I use to mark problems and areas for improvement on web pages.

  • Wecom

    Great tool for scheduling meetings while protecting my calendar and making sure I still have lots of time for deep work during the week.