Just in case you’re curious, here’s a description of the various hardware and software I use to work and play.

This is a work in progress, but over time should reflect the entirety of my toolset. My hope is to keep this up-to-date because things change regularly. If there’s something you’d like to know and you don’t see it here ask in the comments at the bottom of the page!

I realize that the following is a ridiculously large menagerie of gear. That’s an occupational hazard. I review more gear than the average bear, but I do keep the stuff that suits me best. One small point, I almost always buy all the gear I use. I generally don’t ask for or use review units or loaners. I think it gives me a more realistic idea of what owning this gear is like, and this way I’m not beholden to anyone. Any exceptions are indicated below.

Home Studio

I have a ~400 sq ft office in the attic of our house with several book shelves two huge desks – one for personal stuff and one Corsair Platform 6 Creator Desk for streaming. Attached to the Corsair are three Sony FX-30 cameras, two Elgato Duo Key Lights, a KinoFlo Diva-Lite 41 LED key light. I have two M1 Mac minis and a M3 Max MacBook Pro on the desk for streaming. The cameras are connected to a BlackMagic ATEM Mini Extreme 8-port video switcher. I use the surprisingly excellent RodeCaster Duo mixer for audio mixing. The Aphex effects on the Rode do a great job of noise reduction and processing.

My home studio setup

There’s a comfy armchair I’ve had for years, a massive couch and coffee table and a home theater setup. Including a 65" LG OLED TV connected to Denon AVR S910W A/V receiver which feeds it signals from an Nvidia Shield 2, an Xbox One S, and an Apple TV. We don’t have cable TV - everything is over-the-top. I use Elac Debut 2.0 bookshelf speakers here in a 3.1 system.

I have Apple’s AirPods Pro and Max but my preferred headphones to use with this system are the wired HiFiMan HE-560s.

Computers

The Giant 55-inch OLED Display

Sitting on my personal desk in the office are:

  • 2024 Mac mini with M4 Pro, 64GB RAM, and a 2TB internal drive connected to a 4TB OWC Express 4M2 Thunderbolt 3 external drive,

  • Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 gaming desk top from April 2021
    Ryzen 7 5800 X (8-core, 32MB Cache 4.7GHz)
    Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 10Gb G DDR6X
    128GB Dual Channel DDR4 XMP at 3400MHz
    2TB M.2 SSD
    2 TB SATA drive
    Dark Side of the Moon chassis with High-Performance CPU Liquid Cooling and 1000W Power Supply I use a 5TB Drobo Mini for backup.

Each connected to a 55" Alienware 120Hz 4K gaming monitor. I switch devices using the remote control that came with the monitor.

Audio goes to a pair of Audioengine 2 wired speakers with an Audioengine S8 subwoofer beneath the desk. I use an Alienware 310K Mech. Gaming Keyboard and 510M RGB Gaming Mouse mostly to play Valheim. The Dell dual boots Manjaro Linux and Windows 11.

When I’m not sitting at my desk, I primarily use one of my more portable devices:

  • A 2022 M2 MacBook Air 14" with 24 GB RAM and a 2 TB SSD (these days my go-to device)
  • A 2023 M4 iPad Pro 12.9" with the Magic Keyboard.
  • A 2024 A17 iPad mini
  • A 2023 Kobo Libra Colour e-reader

There’s also a 2016 17" System76 Oryx Pro i7/32GB/2.5TB/GTX980 laptop. It weighs about 10 pounds but I don’t have the heart to put it down. It’s running Manjaro Linux Gnome Edition.

All my systems have synced Document, Source Code, and dotfile directories using the excellent and free open-source SyncThing. I keep system build instructions and scripts in Notion which I also use for fancy note-taking. For day-to-day notes, to-dos, and lists I use emacs org-mode.

Smartphones

My daily carry is a T-Mobile iPhone 16 Pro Max in a gray Peak Design Every Day case. I also own a Fi-based Google Pixel 9 Pro Android phone to keep up with Android developments. I’m wearing a Apple Watch Ultra which I love.

Cameras

I’ve gone through a lot of cameras. I started in my 20s shooting and processing Tri-X with a beloved Nikon FM film camera. Once digital became a thing I shot with Olympus, then Canon, then Sony bodies. I gave the 5D Mark IV to my son to start his TikTok career (a good investment) and I still use the Sony glass for streaming.

Now at the end of my photography journey I’ve settled on two cameras: the Leica Q2 with a fixed 28mm f1.7 lens, and a Leica M11-P rangefinder with a 50mm f0.95 Noctilux lens.

My beautiful Q2 in a Pelle case

I carry the Leicas in beautiful cases and straps from Angelo Pelle.

A/V

For Zoom calls and audio recording on the iMac, I use a Heil PR-40 mic. It’s connected via USB using a SoundDevices MixPre-3. As I do in the studio, I use custom-molded in-ear monitors from JH Audio or AKG K240 headphones.

Internet

I recently upgraded my home network to Ubiquiti gear including the Ubiquiti UDM Pro Max 10 Gbps Cloud Gateway, a Ubiquiti USW-Pro-Max 48-port PoE switch, and four Ubiquiti U6 Enterprise wireless access points connected to Comcast 1400/40 Business Internet. All the various media centers and computer workstations are hardwired with Ubiquiti PoE managed switches.

Now that we’re streaming from home I have a redundant Internet connection via Starlink. The UDM-Pro-Max fails over automatically within a few seconds should Comcast drop out.

My Ubiquiti rack

Transport

When the weather’s nice, I ride around on a Radpower electric bike, the Rad City Step Thru.

I drive a leased 2023 BMW i5 E40 and love it. Lisa has a 2022 electric Mini Cooper. We really like electric vehicles.