Uses
1st: 26 July 2024 • Last Updated: 09 February 2025 • 4 min read
Hardware
- Recently I upgraded from my Macbook Air M1 8GB to the base version of the Mac Mini Pro. I kept the MacBook Air for mobility.
- 🖥️ External LG UltraWide LG 29” 29WK600-W. Not a great one but it works as a wide second screen.
- ⌨️ Since I upgraded my Mac, I had to lean on a Logitech K380 I had laying around.
- 🐭 I also had a Logitech MX Anywhere 2S around so I’m using it for now.
- 📱 iPhone 13 Pro.
- I also have an old Macbook Pro 2010 laying around that serves a Plex server for media content and an eventual study notebook for my bass practicing.
Software
- As I mentioned, I use macOS for my O.S.
- Raycast as my launcher. I cannot stress enough how this tool is a game changer for macOS. I’ll right a separate post on it.
- Jetbrains Tools as main to-go development tools. I love the productivity that it brings. Since on my side projects I need to develop in PHP, JS, Java and Python, I pay for the “All Products Pack”. It worth every penny.
- Arc as my main browser. It used to be Firefox. But once you go Arc, you never go back.
- Spark Mail is my mail app. I have 2 main mail accounts and I like to keep things simple and have all my mail in one place. Apple Mail is so dated that I can’t even look at it.
- NotePlan - Tasks, Notes, and Calendar Also migrated out of UpNote. It’s fine looking, well written and nice to use. Unfortunately it lacks a development roadmap. The software author(s) are very secretive and conservative about future features. Also, and the main reason, I needed a note taking app that integrated with Apple Reminders/Calendar. NotePlan does that very well. The main editor is not as good as UpNote’s but the developer is very responsive and caring about the software and the community. Also, programmable plugins!!
- 1Password as my password manager. I pay for the family plan and it’s a nice tool. I was disappointed when they moved to a non-native interface. And I also abandoned the browser extension since it’s too intrusive and it’s buggy as hell.
- Shottr it’s a CleanShot X alternative. It has almost all the same functionality but it costs a lot less.
- iTerm as my terminal app. Willing to switch to Alacrity for simplicity. Update: I tried Alacritty but saw no reason to shift to it.
- I use Alt Tab as macOS alt-tab replacement. Mainly because macOS native alt-tab doesn’t bring hidden/minimized windows to front. Raycast’s application hotkey’s are becoming my main app switcher. Just need to make my brain feel natural with that.
- I migrated from Bartender 5 to Ice after the not-nice movement when they sold the company. I could not rely on that anymore.
Services
- Fastmail is my primary email provider. I migrated from Gmail 2 years ago and I don’t have any regrets.
- Gitlab as my code repository and CI/CD. I use their free tier and I have my runners on Linode VPSs.
- Linode is where I host everything for my side projects.
- Cloudflare for domain names registration. I used to use Namecheap but I’m migrating off of them since I heard a lot of bad stuff coming from them.
- RegistroBR for domain names registration in Brazil since they’re the official place where you can register .com.br tld’s.