My Toolkit

Hardware

My primary machine is an Apple iMac, 2010, running OS X 10.6. I switch between that and a 13" Macbook circa 2007, also running 10.6 [1]. It usually comes with me whenever I head out to cover tech events, as does my Canon Kiss X50 (aka 1100D, T3). I’m just starting out with photography, and this is sort of a baby DSLR – but I’m liking it. Lenses to date: 50mm f/1.8, 85mm f/1.8 [2].

Software

• TextMate - This text editor is a favorite among programmers, but I use it daily as my word processor and blogging interface
  • Blogging bundle (learn more about how I use it for Wordpress blogging here)
  • Live blogging and stock ticker Bundle - Some snippets and commands that I use frequently in my work for Penn-Olson.
• Google Chrome - still my browser of choice, by far.
  • Chrome extensions:
    • Imgur - Great for sharing images quickly
    • Markdown Generator - Gives you a Markdown link of the current page on your clipboard
    • OS X Markdown service tools - A number of Markdown services from the amazing Brett Terpstra, but most importantly it gives you Markdown links from all open Chrome tabs
    • Awesome Screenshot - Particularly useful if you need a full-length screenshot of a web page.
    • Rikaikun - Mouse-hover Japanese dictionary
• Colloquy - This IRC client is open at all times for real-time communication with everyone at Penn Olson in our ‘virtual newsroom.’
• Dropbox - Backs up all my necessary documents.
• Notational Velocity - Like Evernote, but better. Plain-text notes synced across multiple machines via Dropbox.
• Echofon Twitter client
• Skype
  • Skype Call Recorder - Great for recording interviews with people in remote locations.
• Adium - Solid all-purpose instant messenger program.
• VLC - Great all-around media player
• MAMP - for local web development, which I don’t do often, but often enough to need this.
• Skitch - Handy for annotating screenshots
• iPhoto for photo management

Scripts

• Dropbox public link script - Sends file to Dropbox public folder, and copies public link to clipboard
• iTunes latest podcast script

Bookmarklets

• Google Advanced Search - A domain-restricted search, that really comes in handy on Penn Olson to see what we’ve already written on a given subject.
• BlackBird Tweet Embeds - Twitter now has a new embed function, but I still kinda like this one.
• Facebook share - Handy for quick sharing to Facebook
• Add to Delicious - Yup, still using delicious. Although not quite as much now thanks to Notational Velocity.

Web services

• Google Docs - At Penn-Olson we do a lot of collaborative editing in docs. Google Spreadsheets is also invaluable for storing and charting key data, as well as occasional web scraping.
• Grooveshark - For when I need some tunes.
• Google Reader - My newsreader of choice. The keyboard shortcuts make it easy to plough through lots of info quick.
• Ifttt.com - This is particularly useful when used to direct a Google Reader bundle feed to Gchat, and then to Adium. Essentially it’s a real-time news wire, with Growl alerts popping up whenever something is published.
• Delicious - Still my favorite place for bookmarks.