gear
The gear I use in my every day life. What computers/software/technology do you use in your daily life? Send me an email.
MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro is the hub of my digital life. All of my music, photographs, videos, projects, and documents are all stored and manipulated on this beautiful piece of technology designed by the good people at Apple. The first Mac I owned was a iMac G5. Unfortunately, it was only with me for a short time as it soon found its way on to eBay after Apple announced the move to Intel. And for those fellow geeks out there the specs on my Pro: 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB of RAM, GeForce 8600 GT 256MB, 160 GB 7200RMP HD.
Water Cooled Server
The Ubuntu linux server's job is to store backups of all of my digital media, but it is also more than just a server. I originally built it in 2006 as a gaming machine (I spent a lot more time gaming back then). In January of 2007 I wanted a new computer, but without spending a thousand plus for new hardware, so instead I built a custom case and water cooling solution. In effect, the computer looked new and ran faster as the water cooling allowed me to over clock the hardware. For pictures of the build process head to the photos, and for the geeks: AMD X2 4400+ 2.2Ghz stable OC at 2.5Ghz, 3 GB RAM, GeForce 7800GT 256MB, WD 36GB Raptor HD x2 in RAID 0, WD 500GB HD for archives.
Coda
When I first got into web development and programming I used the simple and free TextWrangler, but I was soon looking for something more powerful and aesthetically beautiful (TextWrangler is pretty bare). Meet Coda; a one window development environment from Panic (also the makers of the awesome Transmit). I love Coda because it allows me to code, ftp, and access the terminal all in one window. Now those who might compare it to Dreamweaver are wrong in doing so; Coda is not a WYSIWYG editor. One window web development at its best.
Aperture
Aperture is to my photo library as newsgroups are to pirates. While I could have used the free iPhoto that came with my Mac, Aperture is much more powerful and allows me to easily work with RAW files. I joined the party at Aperture 1.5, which was often considered worse than Adobe's Lightroom as it tended to run slow when storing a massive photo library. Since upgrading to the Aperture 2.0, I can directly import RAW files from my Canon G9 (which was previously unsupported), and easily browse and manipulate my 35+ gigs of photos.
AKG K701 Headphones
If you're the kind of person that listens to 128kps MP3s that you bought from the iTunes music store then these headphones are probably not for you. The AKG K701s are made for audiophiles, so if your the type that has a hard drive full of FLAC or lossless recordings then these are the headphones for you. While they are on the pricy side (currently $250+), they are well worth every penny and then some. Like most high-end headphones they take a couple hundred hours to "break in", but once they are the highs and the lows are amazing. You'll dread when you have to plug in those crappy iPod headphones next time you head out the door.
iPod
While many use their iPods as a mobile music library, I use mine as more of a mobile information library. Partly because my music library is too big, but also because most of the content on my iPod consists of podcasts and audiobooks. So instead of playing the latest tunes, it is usually playing the latest release of TWiT, MacBreak Weekly, or an audiobook.
Canon Powershot G9
The Canon G9 goes just about everywhere with me. Never know when that perfect shot will appear. I was going to buy a DSLR (which the low-end models are comparatively priced to the G9), but I didn't have a point and shoot that I could carry around with me. The best way to describe the G9 is to think of it as an almost DSLR quality camera that can fit in your pocket. This camera has full manual control and can shoot in RAW.
Moleskine Notebook
I've tried many of the digital solutions to GTD and to-do lists, but most of them required you to organize your life according to them. Well, I would rather organize my life how I want, so that is were the Moleskine notebook comes in. I use a Moleskine as an analog organizer. That's right, good old fashion pen and paper. My Moleskine goes everywhere with me. If a random idea pops into my head, then I pop out the Moleskine and write it down. If I have a new task or project to work on, then into the Moleskine it goes. And there's something about that feeling you get when the fountain pen glides across the silky smooth pages of a Moleskine.
What computers/software/technology do you use in your daily life? Send me an email.