These are the tools I use most regularly and happily. They're things that make doing work possible, smoother, and more enjoyable. (last updated 03/10/2025)
To see other people's "Uses" pages, checkout /uses, a project that compiles pages just like this one. It's interesting to look through and see what other people use, maybe even discover a few handy utilities.
Hardware & Accessories
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MacBook Pro 16", 2023
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Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet — Using a drawing tablet instead of a mouse or trackpad has reduced repetitive action strains and prevented carpal tunnel syndrome.
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Keychron K2 — As a mac user, this was the easiest entry into mechanical keyboards
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WH-1000XM3 Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones — I live in these.
Mobile
- iPhone 16 – At this point, I feel like I'm post-caring about my phone. I wouldn't have upgraded except that I'm also not capable of not breaking my phone.
Furniture
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Ikea Trotten Standing desk – I went with the hand-crank version because I figured the cranking would just add to the sit/stand exercise regimen. The reality, however, is that it just stays in stand mode and when I want to sit I go to the couch.
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Herman Miller Aeron Chair – You shouldn't skimp on ergonomics. This chair is adjustable in every direction to get that perfect fit. To make it that little bit even more perfect, upgrade it with rollerblade wheels and you're cruising.
Apps
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WebStorm — The plugin ecosystem isn't as extensive as for VS Code, but everything else is better; better git tools, better typescript support, better UI. I suppose the price isn't better, and the copilot integration isn't as good, but I still prefer it.
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Firefox Develop Edition – The best of the browser dev tools, especially for CSS grid inspection, but it's a bit of a memory hog so I only use it for dev.
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Brave Browser — For listening to music on youtube.
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Arc Browser — My daily driver browser, it makes me better about tab management.
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Lastpass — 0 reused passwords. 0 weak passwords.
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Obsidian — This is one of my most-used apps. I use it for journaling and my GTD system and take all of my notes in it. It saves everything as markdown—so I'm not locked into a system. And I keep all the files synced in iCloud Drive so I can edit them on my iPad using the markdown editor of my choice.
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ColorSnapper — A menubar color eyedropper. It's amazing how often I use this.
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Alfred — I can't imagine not using it. I decided to use it after seeing it listed in on so many other people's uses pages. I've been using it a year and it has just become part of my muscle memory.
Services
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Netlify — For all my weekend SPA project hosting needs.
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Cloudflare — Cloudflare is offering the best price on domain name renewals—I've moved all my domains there.