On occasion I get asked what tech stuff I use, so here’s what I currently use for personal stuff (last updated May 2025). This stuff is what works for me, but your mileage will vary!

Computer: My personal daily driver is a Space Black 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Max chip and 128 GB RAM. This is an insanely overkill computer, but fantastic for the types of creative projects I do. The Space Black color looks pretty cool, but then my work issued me a Space Black 14-inch MacBook Pro as well for work stuff, so now I'm in the silly situation of having two visually identical laptops on my desk. Maybe I should have gotten the silver color for my personal laptop after all. For Windows and Linux dev, I have a custom-built PC with zero RGB lighting.

Mouse: At home, Logitech MX Vertical for the right hand, along with a Apple Magic Trackpad for the left hand. I’ve found that the vertical mouse plus trackpad setup has helped a lot with reducing wrist strain. On the go, Logitech MX Master, just because it’s a little bit smaller and therefore travels a bit better.

Keyboard: Keychron K5 Max with low profile Gateron Brown switches. My wife finally convinced me to join her in the mechanical keyboard world, but coming from a vanilla Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad, I wanted something with a similar Mac-native layout and with a relatively low profile.

Headphones: At home or in the office, Apple AirPods Max or Audio Technica M40x, depending on what I’m doing. The AirPods Max are nice and convenient, while the ATH-M40x is probably the best studio-style sound one can get for the price. On the go, Apple Airpods 4 with ANC; the ANC works far better than I would have expected.

Monitor: Philips Brilliance 27B1U7903. Definitely a clunky name, but the monitor itself is fantastic. It’s a 27 inch 4K monitor, but its main party trick is that it supports 1400-nit HDR using a mini-led array with 2304 dimming zones, which is incredible for doing photography and CG work. Essentially a miniature Pro Display XDR for a fifth of the price, and the design is nice and understated, unlike most of the crazy over-the-top gaming monitors out there.

Editor: Mostly VSCode, but sometimes Sublime Text or Neovim. To be honest, VSCode is just okay, but its remote development plugin is a killer app for me at both home and work. For web stuff, Nova by Panic.

Reading: Feedbin for RSS with Reeder Classic as a desktop app, Instapaper for read-it-later, Bookends for collecting and organizing academic papers. Physical books whenever possible, Kindle Paperwhite otherwise.

CG Software: For personal art projects, I mostly use a combo of Maya, Blender, and Houdini, and render everything using Pixar’s RenderMan.

Camera: Nikon Z8 (which is ludicrously overkill but I really like it) for most things, Fujifilm X-M1 when I need something small that I can just throw in my backpack. Or, if I don’t want to carry a camera around, just my phone running Halide.

Lenses: My go-tos on Nikon Z-mount are the Nikkor Z 50mm ƒ/1.4 (an astounding fast prime for the price) and Nikkor Z 24-120mm ƒ/4 S (really versatile). My current go-tos on Fujifilm X-mount are the Fujinon XC 35mm ƒ/2, which might be the best ultra-small ultra-lightweight lens I've ever used, and Viltrox's Pro 27mm ƒ/1.2 and Pro 75mm ƒ/1.2 lenses, which are behemoths in size but astoundingly sharp with enormous apertures and well worth the weight in my opinion. That all being said though, my favorites are three manual lenses that all produce amazing swirly bokeh: the Helios 44-2 58mm ƒ/2, the Asahi PENTAX Super-Takumar 50mm ƒ/1.4, and a Zeiss Kipronar 105mm ƒ/1.9 projector lens that I custom modified to use M-mount. I adapt the manual lenses to the Z8 using a Techart TZM-02 autofocus adapter, and to the X-M1 using a Fotodiox Pro PRONTO M-to-X autofocus adapter.

Photography Software: Adobe Lightroom Classic. I used to use Aperture but like many others fled to Lightroom when Aperture was discontinued.

Gaming: To be honest, I don’t have much time anymore to do much gaming, but when I do, it’s often just Minecraft Java Edition, or something fast and fun on Playdate, such as Gun Trails.

Sports: This is not tech, but it's my website and I can do whatever I want. Dodgers Baseball (I've lived in Los Angeles for over a decade now), Phillies Baseball (Grew up in Philly), Eagles Football (see previous).