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Whidbey Island, April 2009
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Politics, economics, and other mental flotsam from the mind of Joseph R. Jones

 

What I use...

Feb-222010
Inspired by my friend Paul's "What I use" page on his site, I figured I'd post a quick summary of the tools and software I use on a regular basis.

Computers
My main machine is a new 27" quad-core iMac, with 8GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive.

My main home laptop is an older MacBook (white) with a Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM and a 160GB HD.

My work desktop is a Dell Precision workstation with two quad-core Xenon processors and 16 GB RAM. It's got dual Dell 27" displays.

My work laptop is a Lenovo X200 MultiTouch Tablet PC.

I also occasionally use an ancient HP TC1100 TabletPC and an Acer Aspire One netbook, both are soon to be replaced by an iPad.

My wife uses an HP 17" laptop.

PC/Mac Software
My main tools on the PC are Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word-- all version 2010 RC. On the Mac, I use Mac Office and Mail.App/iCal/Address Book synced with Exchange. I also use VMWare Fusion on the Mac to enable me to switch seamlessly between PC and Mac apps. It works flawlessly on my iMac-- I allocate 2 cores to the PC side, and 2 cores to the Mac side.

For taking notes, I use Evernote for personal stuff, and OneNote 2010 for work stuff.

I use iTunes for music/movies/etc. and iPhoto to manage our photo libraries. I buy a lot of content from the iTunes store-- it's our main way of renting movies. I also have several hundred audiobooks from Audible.

For occasional development, I use VisualStudio 2008, but am playing around with the 2010 RC.

I use Microsoft Security Essentials on the PC to keep everything safe.

Mobile
I love my iPhone 3GS (32 GB). It's the best mobile device I've ever owned, bar none. I also have a Zune 80 and a couple other mobile devices, but I must confess I almost never use them anymore. The iPhone does everything I want it to do.

I am pretty enamored with my Amazon Kindle, which is the previous generation. I've thought about buying a new one, but I'll wait to see how I like reading on the iPad, and if Amazon comes out with a Kindle 3 in response.

Home Electronics
I get my TV and Internet connectivity from Comcast... 50 megabits down, 10 megabits up. It's really fast-- I never feel constrained by bandwidth.

I have a great Hitachi HDTV that's getting old in the tooth (it was great when new-- it was the first 42" plasma with 1080i and HDMI ports, but it's getting close to being due for replacement with a newer unit.)

My TiVo HD is awesome-- it's one of the main technologies introduced in the last decade or so that I truly couldn't live without.

I also use an Apple TV for watching movies and podcasts on the big screen.

I also have an XBox 360-- it's an "Arcade" unit but with all the add-ons (wireless controllers, hard drive, remote control, etc.) because it was a ship gift, and I can get all the accessories cheap at the company store. The only downside is the lack of an HDMI port, but my TV only has 2 HDMI ports anyway.

 
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