Inspired by James Brooks I have put together a list of hardware, software and services I use regularly.
My personal laptop, since the pandemic this doesn't really get used at my desk as I leave my work computer on my desk all week.
My work laptop, this is the machine which now tends to stay on my desk.
I never used to like Trackpads but the first Magic Trackpad changed all of that, I make a lot of use of the gestures. Obviously the second version is a step up as it means I don't have to worry about replacing the batteries. I have a second Trackpad (and keyboard) which I use at work.
The first mechanical keyboard I brought, and after months of my colleagues complaining about the noise when on calls, several of them have switched.
The portable version of the K2, as I predicted in a previous version of this document, once I switched at home I had to switch in the office as well.
Hardware multi-factor authentication token, I use it for GPG, SSH keys and U2F.
After my iMac 27" died when we started working from home I decided to treat myself to an ultra wide large monitor, especially after having 2 monitors in the office; one of the best purchases I have made! Acts as a Thunderbolt dock so charges the laptop and connects my external drive.
Recommended by a friend who had the same monitor, I was hesitant as the reviews on Amazon seemed too good to be true but it turned out to be great, how internal cable routing and a USB3 port for easy access. I ended up buying their mount for my TV.
A physical mute button and status indicator light.
I mean, what is there to say? I'm a sucker for a big screen, I am also a sucker for putting up with Apple's shit... I had the XS previously but the lack of a 128GB option was annoying, 64GB was too small and 256GB was too big.
I've had the original iPad, an iPad mini, the 9.7" iPad Pro and now this one and it is far and away my favourite iPad; the constant size bezel, the magnet to hold on the Apple pencil and iPad OS make it great. Also use sidecar often, can't wait until Universal control becomes available.
Originally made up of Raspberry Pi 3B+ devices, I upgraded when I started hitting performance issues with experiments, and I can't believe how much more I can run on these. I use it for experimenting with Kubernetes, sure I could use something like k3d or spin up EC2 instances but there is something about having real, physical machines right in front of you which appeals to me. You can find my full setup in this repository.
Running Pi-hole, a network level ad blocker/dns server.
From the old cluster. Now runs Plex and Tautulli which run much better now than they ever did on my NAS directly. Also running Homebridge. In an Argon ONE M.2 Case with an SSD.
Previously ran Plex and Tautulli, along with storing rips of my extensive DVD collection; now just used for storing the rips. (Yes I know there are some awful things in there)
Replaces Virgin Media's awful router. A big step up, lots of nice features but also not 100% perfect either, if you set a custom DNS server it doesn't hand that address out to clients, but rather it's own... this means that Pi Hole wasn't able to record which clients were requesting which domains so I had to make the Raspberry Pi Zero W my DHCP server. I now have 3 of these around the flat.
Mostly used for things like getting OpsGenie alerts, music when running etc
AirPods for on the move or at the office, Studio for at home so as to not annoy the neighbours. I listen to music most of the time whilst working.
Replaced my previous Tile as they don't need a subscription for left behind alerts. Because I am an idiot and I have left my house keys at work 3 times, live on my own, not realised until I got home and it's a 90 minute round trip (the joys of living in London) 🤦♂️
Because as much as we all want to believe we only need USB-C, that isn't really how it works...
A fantastic standing desk with a built in drawer, a wireless charger and USB ports for charging. Mounted a Lamicall headphone stand on the underside.
Just a chair I brought from Staples, although it no longer seems to be available from them but still from plenty of other sites
I had the original HoverBar and it disappointed when it couldn't be used with the iPad Pro, so I was pleased with Twelve South released the new model. I have this mounted next to my screen and tend to have Slack and my email client running on it when working, or using Plex when doing other things at my desk.
To keep the laptop out of the way instead of taking up space on the desk.
I have 2 stereo pairs of these, one above my desk and one by my bed. Just using a cheap mount from Amazon
An Allcam Cable Slinky to keep cables tidy but free to move when raising or lowering the desk, with D-Line Cable Tidy Box to hide the power blocks.
Splat Stan Coaster just because someone asked about it on Twitter.
Probably the piece of software I have been using the longest, since mid 2007. Helps keep me secure, ensures I don't use the same password everywhere and makes it easier to use 2FA.
The first IDE I have used since Zend Studio 5; never managed to find another IDE I liked and refused to use PHPStorm for a long time until I saw an ex-colleague using it and realised how good it was... after disabling lots of plugins etc.
I no longer use it as much as I did, but still use it daily for files which aren't part of a project or large files.
Decided to try DataGrip after I won a JetBrain's license at PHPLondon a week after renewing my PHPStorm license
Much better than the default macOS terminal, I use the Afterglow theme along with Fish Shell.
An alternative to Postman, I prefer it due to the fact that you can use fields from a previous response in another request. I have also written a plugin to provide fake data for requests.
A documentation browser.
A replacement for spotlight to launch applications, run commands and much more. Heard many good things about it and when I finally tried it out I found out everyone was right.
A useful application for taking control of the Mac menu bar.
Lets me keep track of my money... although it is also scary to see how much you spend sometimes.
A must if you live in London
Been using this for years, great for tracking sleep and it integrates with my Hue lights to turn them on in the morning.
Tried a few other services but this is the fastest I have found, I use it when on public Wifi.
Been using it for years, never had any problems with it and it has some nice features, I particularly like the alias feature much more than Google Mail's equivalent; aliases have been useful quite often to block spam where an email has been either leaked by, or sold by, a site I have signed up to.
My hosting provider, not that I use it much anymore as I don't have a website.
Too much stuff to list...
Because I am paranoid... Although my paranoia turned out to be justified. WARNING: Don't read if you have trouble sleeping ;)
For when I am too lazy to cycle all the way to work, great for getting around London, popping to the shops and just generally fun to ride.
My main road bike, I used to cycle a lot but have been really lazy during the pandemic.
I have way too many boardgames, although I enjoy video games, board games are much more fun with friends.