It’s always fun to see how other people use new tools to get their work done. Inspired by usethis.com’s series of interviews, Takaaki has written up a really neat piece about exactly what hardware and software he uses in his daily life. I would LOVE to read more of these because it gives you so many crunchy tips that you can steal and adopt as your own.
So in the interests of sharing how I get things done, here’s my ’set-up’:
Hardware
I’m rockin’ a 13 inch Macbook, circa early January 2008. I bought it just after before I quit working for a PC company back in China. Yes, I’ve been on both sides of the Mac/PC fence and I’ve made my choice. This laptop has a pitiable 80G harddrive, but it’s not running Windows so all is well. I also have a 500G Maxtor external drive for storage and Time Machine backups. It has four partitions: 200G for media, 150G for random files, 80G for Time Machine, and the remaining space is for the wife.
iPod(s): I have a 8G iPod Nano (fourth generation), but I almost always opt for my iPod shuffle whenever I go out because the battery goes on forever and I can clip it just about anywhere. I usually autofull it with the 15 most recent podcasts that have come down in iTunes using a smart playlist and some applescript. For anyone who want to see what podcasts I subscribe to, you can download my OPML file here (File> Library> Import Playlist to add). I had been using my Nano to record my runs with the Nike+ sports kit, but the battery life has become too much of an annoyance.
Phone: As for my phone, many of you will be surprised to hear that I do not have an iPhone. Sadly I have a HTC Diamond that runs Windows Mobile. As you might expect, I’m anxiously awaiting a stable Android build. It’s not my fault, really it’s not… Either way, I don’t use my phone too much as most of my work is done at home.
Pen Tablet: I use a Bamboo pen tablet on occasion, usually whenever I’m in Photoshop or if my hand gets tired (no jokes please) from the trackpad.
See for yourself: With apologies to Danny Choo and his desktop porn, I’m going to throw out this photo of my workspace unaltered. It’s a bit of a mess, but it is what it is — and it works.
Software
I’m currently running Mac OSX 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard), and I’m pretty picky about which apps drop onto it due to the afore-mentioned tiny hard-drive. I’ve listed my preferred Mac apps in full here although this list is always evolving. Though I have both MS Word and iWork, most of my writing and editing work is done on Google Docs.
I store pretty much everything in Dropbox. Dropbox has replaced my ‘Documents’ folder and it has made reinstalling my operating system completely pain free. I like to reOS quite often, and this is why I can get by with such mediocre hardware specs! I have shared folders set up with about 6 or 7 people, and it really helps when moving files around. If I could make love to an application, it would surely be Dropbox.
I use Skype Out sometimes to do telephone interviews, and Skype Call Recorder helps with note-taking as long the other second party agrees.
Mail, Calendar, & Browser: I use Gmail through Apple’s Mail app, and I’ve synced Google Calendar with Apple’s iCal. Chrome is my primary browser, with occasional guest appearances from Firefox. I’m not a fan of Safari.
Bookmarks: I use the delicious bookmarket (and sometimes Publish2), and my stash of online bookmarks is fast approaching the size of the Library of Alexandria. Delicious is also my to-do list, as I bookmark certain pages privately as ‘write-[insert publication here]‘.
RSS Reader: I use Netvibes.com, Google Reader, and IM notifications in Adium via notify.me. For finding and monitoring information sources for pieces that I write, I use my own custom-made (read ‘raggedy-ass’) feed tool embedded within Netvibes. Yahoo Pipes and Dapper enter the equation sometimes too.
Dream Setup: I’d like a really powerful iMac. But to be honest, until I get into serious photo and/or video editing, I don’t really need that kind of hardware yet. I just picked up some extra RAM courtesy invisiblegaijin, so I should be good for a while. An iPad would actually be nice for when I need to move around. Or maybe an iPhone? I can’t decide…
A nice DSLR is actually higher on my list, so hopefully I can tick off that item first. More storage for my Dropbox would be nice, but I’m at 4G right now which is about all I need for documents and images. Oh, I’m also really in need of more sources for Japan and China-related tech stories. It would be super-awesome if some peeps would send me some links (via mail, twitter, delicious).
So that’s how I get stuff done. I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions on how I can do it better.
How do you write anchor tags? I use Markdown everywhere, and turn it to HTML when necessary. Do you use “Insert Link” in Google Docs? In other words, how do you manage links when you are writing?
When you submit your writing to a publisher or someone, what do you send? Word format, plain text, RTF format or what?
When I use anchor tags on this blog, I’ll usually input them manually. Painful, but I don’t do it often. You seem to be doing this far more efficiently with Textmate. I used to use a text replacement software called Texter (http://1rick.com/texter) in my last job on a Windows machine. It was not great, but helped speed things up a little bit.
For most of the writing I do, I have direct access to CMSs. So links are easy. When I submit to print publications (seldom) there are no links needed. I have a few gigs where I need to submit word docs, but I usually edit them in Textedit or Google Docs and then save as .doc format.
Texter looks like a TextExpander replacement. Cool.
Markdown is not TextMate-specific. Just one of the lightweight markup languages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_markup_language
I should do something like this for my work setup. Just added Ubuntu running in Vbox on Vista to the mix. When I bring in my laptop, I now have three operating systems on two machines running at the same time. There’s probably 40 browser tabs (in four browsers) open at any given time.
Btw, I remember when your tiny hard drive was a 10-gb clunker. Those were the days.
@Chris Yeah, I’d love to read yours. Speaking of Ubuntu, it would be interesting to hear from Alex and Tom as well (although word on the street is that Tom has gone Mac too.
Why are you using Ubuntu? For terminal?
Hello.
I use Ubuntu on an ASUS laptop. Inside Ubuntu I can run VMs with Windows for Windows only stuff, which is pretty much nothing. I prefer running Ubuntu in Windows, rather than the other way around, simply because I prefer living in Linux – more tools, more usability, faster.
I also use Dropbox to store stuff too. It has really nice integration with Ubuntu.
Well done for showing your work space in it’s “true colours.” I like to see things how they really are, the cup of coffee next to my desktop is probably what helps me get most of my work done.
If a DSLR is high on your wish list, I can help you out and take you to some of the places in town with the best deals. Some people will say Canon, some will say Nikon, but the good thing about Tokyo is you can have a good play with everything (no jokes again) before you buy. I prefer canon, I think the lenses are better (if you get the top of the range ones), but at the same time Nikon bodies these days are excellent.
Thanks Will. I expect I won’t be too picky with my first camera, although I’m sure 6 months in I’ll be second guessing my choice. That seems to be how all my purchases go.
Thanks for offering your advice. And keep up the good work on your blog, because that’s a pretty solid stream of advice as well.