Menu Bar Utilities

• Keep Computer Awake: Lungo - A utility to prevent your computer from going to sleep.
• Launcher for IDE Projects: JetBrains Toolbox - An app launcher for all your JetBrains development tools and projects.
• Color Picker and Palette Manager: Sip - A tool to collect, organize, and edit colors.
• Password Manager: 1Password - My password manager of choice.
• Manage Menu Bar Apps: Bartender - An app to organize and hide menu items.
• Launcher and More: Alfred - Boost your efficiency with hotkeys and keywords. Search your Mac and the web.
• File Backup and Sync: Dropbox - My primary file backup service.
• Temporary Holding for Files and Notes: Unclutter - A new handy place on your desktop for storing notes, files, and pasteboard clips.
• Window Manager: Divvy - An elegant and quick window management tool.
• Custom Key Mapping: Hammerspoon - A tool for powerful automation of OS X. I use this to map my caps lock key to F19.
• Custom Actions and App Launching: Karabiner Elements - A robust and stable keyboard customizer for macOS.
• Clipboard Manager: Paste - keep, search, and organize everything you copy on your devices.
• Emoji and GIF Access: Rocket - A faster way to use emojis and gifs.
• Design for Visual Impairments: Contrast - A design tool to ensure the accessibility of your web and mobile apps.

Design Tools

• OSX and iPad Drawing: Mockup - A simple app to create mockups and wireframes.
• Design and Prototyping Tool: Figma - My primary design app these days.
• Image Optimizer: ImageOptim - Optimizes your images in batches by drag and drop or automation.

General Utilities

• Calendar for OSX and iOS: Timepage - A beautiful calendar app by Moleskine Studio.
• Daily Browser: Arc - A modern browser that reimagines what a browser can be. This has been a vast improvement in my process.
• Development Browser: Firefox - I’m unsure why, but I rotate between Firefox and Chrome as my dev browser.
• Capture Video or GIFs: Kap - Easy to use GIF and video capture tool.
• Clean Unwanted Files: AppCleaner - Uninstalls all the app cruft and itself.
• Access Windows Machine from Mac: Moonlight - Access my PC desktop from my Macbook.
• Music: Spotify - A digital music service that gives you access to millions of songs.

Communication Tools

• Personal Email: Hey - The best email service available (IMO).
• Work Email: Spark - An intelligent email client for your work.
• Chat/Audio/Video Communication: Slack & Discord - My two primary chat tools.
• Alternative Chat: Trillian - For that one friend we all have who doesn’t use Slack or Discord. 😆
• Video Calls: Zoom - Video and audio inputs have been much more stable for me compared to Hangouts or Teams.

Development Tools

• Containerization Platform: Docker - A set of platforms as service products that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers.
• IDE: WebStorm - My preferred IDE.
  • Plugins: GitHub Copilot, GitToolBox, IdeaVim, JSON Sorter (OCD much?), Rainbow Brackets, WakaTime
• Editor: VSCode - For random tasks or to help coworkers debug an editor issue.
• FTP: Transmit - For the rare times I need FTP.
• Visual Git Interface: Fork - I handle most git processes through the command line, but a visual editor is sound when picking apart changes.
• Terminal Emulator: iTerm2 - Specifically creating a hotkey window with panels for all needed processes.
• Node Version Manager: N - A Node version manager.
• Project and Issue Management: Linear - It is the best UX of any issues application I have used.

Knowledge Management

• Short-term saving: Pocket - Save and organize articles, videos, and more.
• Organize Everything: Notion - Everything is here, from my pet’s vet history to lists of home service providers I use to long-term plans.
• Long-term Bookmark Storage: Pinboard - A fast, no-nonsense bookmarking site.

Hardware

• Monitor: Samsung Curved 49-inch - Pro tip: I’ve found that for very wide screens, it can help to position it a little lower than usual and then tilt it slightly up.
• Webcam: Insta360 - I’ve tried many different webcams looking for a great picture, etc. Even so far as to buy a Canon M50 and a good lens. But none have been so easy to use as the Insta360. The tracking is a nice feature in casual settings. Whiteboard mode is excellent for remote work.
• Desk: Uplift Desk - Uplift motorized standing/sitting desk with a whiteboard top. I should have done the whiteboard desk much sooner. It is very convenient.
• Custom actions: StreamDeck MK2 - Customizable LCD keys to control apps and platforms.

Services

• Time Tracking: Wakatime - Helps keep track of coding time for personal insights.
• AI Service: ChatGPT - I use this for exploring code, debugging, brainstorming, and writing.
• Writing Assistant: Grammarly - Improves my writing across various platforms.

Things I’m Going to Stop Using

• Window Manager: Rectangle - While it is fantastic, I like the simplicity of Divvy. It is as fast to use in almost all of my use cases and only requires a single shortcut. Historically, I’ve always had a bunch of keyboard shortcuts for window management, but as my monitor continually grows, so do my desired configurations.
• Snippet Management: Cacher - As AI and intelligent autocomplete become more prevalent, I no longer use a dedicated snippet manager.
• Keep Computer Awake: KeepingYouAwake - Switching to Lungo since it is from the same developer as Dato.

That's the rundown of my current toolkit as we navigate the tech landscape of 2024. I hope you find some gems that fit seamlessly into your workflow or inspire a fresh approach. Here's to efficient and inspired working in the year ahead! 🍾 🚀