Uses

Stuff I use. Inspired by uses.tech. Last updated .

Hardware

Desk Setup

MacBook Pro M3 Pro
Main work machine. In some sense, overkill for my needs. In another, not enough to run local models.
DELL S2721DGF
My only external display. I used to rock 2 or even 3 displays, but I like the focus these days. Decent for gaming as well with a 165 Hz refresh rate. I would like to to upgrade to something a little bigger though.
Keychron V1 Max
My first foray into mechanical keyboards. It’s a 75% layout which I find works perfect for my needs. Gateron Jupiter Banana switches. Swapped the keycaps for matcha keycaps from Osume.
Steelseries SenSei 310
It’s a mouse. It works. It has a decent polling rate for gaming. I would like to get something wireless at some point.
Windows PC
I have a separate Windows PC for gaming purposes. It’s something I bought for a symbolic price from a friend. We have a discord-server-turned-friend-group that likes to occasionally play Counter-Strike. A couple of times a year we also get together and have a WAN party. It has a NVidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super in it, that’s all I could say about it. Running Win 10 currently. Capable of running some image models locally at pretty slow speeds.
iPhone 11 Pro Max
I use the iPhone as a webcam, mounted to my monitor and connected via the Continuity Camera feature on macOS.
Desk, Chair etc
Nothing to write home about at the moment. Looking to renovate my home office as soon as it becomes financially viable.

Audio

Sony WH-1000XM3
Noise cancelling headphones that seem to really last. The newer models are more fragile, I think. I’ve replaced the ear pads but otherwise no complaints. Even the battery is still going strong.
Nothing Ear (2024)
Newest addition. Decent in-ears. And I really appreciate that Nothing has a parametric equalizer.
Logitech Pro X
The wired version. For use on my Windows PC, mostly for gaming. Decent gaming headphones. I like the DSP for mixing a decent voice signal.
Sony MDR-7506
The headphones for audio projects. An industry standard.
Focusrite Scarlett 4i4
A decent little audio interface with 2 XLR/quarter-inch inputs. By default, one is reserved for my mic and the other for electric guitar via a Strymon Iridium modeller pedal.
Shure SM57
The default mic on my desk. I had it before using it for calls. Works fine. But benefits from boosting the signal before hitting the audio interface.
Klark Teknik CM-1
A simple dynamic microphone booster. My SM57 runs through this before hitting the audio interface. Provides a decent clean boost to the signal. Much cheaper than a Cloudlifter.
Elgato Wave Mic Arm
Holds the microphone. Simple.
OBS
Now this is kinda niche. I do not have any outboard gear for mixing my mic input. So I use OBS for hosting VSTs (noise gate, compressor, eq, limiter) to process my voice signal. I then hijack the monitor output of OBS using this open source loopback solution called Blackhole. Then I use the virtual output created by Blackhole as the input signal for Zoom, Slack etc. I am currently working on a more lightweight macOS app for this.

Carry

iPhone 11 Pro Max
A pocket computer I use to browse the web and message my friends. Still going strong.
Kindle Voyage
A pocket book reader I use to read prose. One of these days I’ll get into jailbreaking it.
Leatherman Wave
A nice multitool to keep in your backpack.

Software

Development

VS Code
I have tried getting into Neovim, but haven’t achieved proficiency yet. I’m also not a developer by trade, so I think VS Code is fine for me.
Ghostty
Terminal emulator. I was a long time iTerm2 user and just switched recently. However, I cannot really tell yet if there are any meaningful benefits. Running oh-my-zsh in it, of course.
WSL
If I want to do techy stuff on the Windows machine, I use WSL.
Claude Code
My current clanker of choice.

Design and Media

Figma
For design stuff. I am looking into Penpot.
Inkscape
For working with vectors in a more detailed way.
GIMP
For simple image editing.
Ableton
My preferred DAW.
Audacity
For simpler audio workflows.
DaVinci Resolve
For video workflows. Mostly for memes.

Productivity

Zen
Current daily driver browser. It’s based on Firefox so I often have to switch to Chrome for newer features.
Raycast
A better alternative to Spotlight. I never got into Alfred, but I’ve heard great things about it.
Rectangle
Window management on macOS. I know Raycast has window management support as well, but I’m used to Rectangle.
Obsidian
For personal notes. It uses markdown which I am used to writing. I use iCloud to sync the Vault to my phone.
Inoreader
Current RSS reader. I am on the free tier. If I ever start exceeding that, I will more carefully compare other options. People say great stuff about Feedbin.

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