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 desktop 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 Synology 5-bay DiskStation DS1522+ NAS for backup.

Each desktop is 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 (and love) a Keychron Q1 Pro keyboard with a Logitech MX Anywhere mouse.

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.