My Life Stack

Audio

I'm what you'd call an amateur audiophile; if I can get high quality audio (or HiFi, in marketing jargon) for the current things I'm listening to, I will try— as long as it doesn't burst my budget. This reaches everything in my home, my bag and everything in-between.

Earbuds

I got the AUKEY EP-T31 earbuds on a complete whim when I was looking for something to use on-the-go (early in the pandemic) and for easy co-listening when on a plane with my partner. Now these are the ones I grab when I'm taking the pups on a quick walk or if I'm out and want to actively listen to a book as I'm working on something else in the home.

Headphones

My partner recommended that I get the Sony WH-1000XM4 and I'm so glad she did. Easily one of the best headsets I've used (although I haven't used many but I don't think I will after these). They have active noise cancelling which seems to work without your phone being nearby, which is

Home

In my living room, there's a Samsung Q60T soundbar set up to play in surround sound whenever it can. It's really simple to hook it up to another device since it has support for Bluetooth, USB (does anyone actually play audio from a soundbar off USB?) and over HDMI — this is how we pass through audio from the television. That with our wireless rear speakers and subwoofers make for a very immersive experience especially when watching something with a lot of spooky vibes or super enthralling.

Office

In the office, I have a Logitech z313 setup that's wired through my Yeti microphone on my desk. The subwoofer gives a nice richness to anything I'm playing, be it a game, music or video. This lets me listen to stuff on my desk and adjust its volume through my desk but also actively mute myself in a pinch. Oddly enough, this tends to fail a lot on my work laptop than my personal ones — +10 for Linux, I guess? I'd recommend the speakers, I've had them since 2018 with no issues!

Reading

As an attempt to become more of an avid reader, I make use of quite a few tools, both physical and digital. My main wants are:

1. Portability: I should be able to read the content from anywhere, even without access to a network.
2. Referential: It shouldn't be hard for me to link to content (either a cached copy or a quotation thereof).
3. Archive Friendly: If it can't be kept to an archive (either personal, private or in the commons), I don't want it.

These objectives led me to using the following:

Machines

One of the questions that tend to find its way into a conversation once we're talking tech: "what computer do you use?". I do appreciate people who don't assume or buy into monocultures impressed on society by companies, so thank you for asking! I have three laptops, two of which I own and a third loaned to me by my current place of employment.

Primary Laptop

I currently use the Framework laptop as my primary laptop of choice. It's a snug 13.5" that I can pop into my bookbag and its accompanying case with quite a bit of power. I do a lot of my initial project development on it and consider it my main machine. With my preferred operating system, I find it to be the most comfortable computing experience I've had. I also got a lavender dBrand skin to give it a bit of character— I find the sterile "silver" look to be very industrial. They have their reasoning but I think referring a recommended customization outlet would be great as well.

I haven't had a chance to see how responsive the fingerprint reader is—my OS does not yet make use of it.

Pinebook Pro

I'm a big fan of libre technologies as I see them as a way for anyone with a interest in technology a geninue and transparent means to see how things work. With that, I got the Pinebook Pro. I run different operating systems on it to see how performance plays against my other machines. It'd be inaccurate and disingenious to expect it to perform to the same level of a more modern machine. But I am consistently amazed at the speed and snappiness of the applications that I use on it. It has a lot of work left to be done on the firmware and from software vendors but it's a bright example of the future.

Apple© Macbook Pro

Only because my job currently doesn't offer the option of another machine, I've been provisioned an Apple Macbook Pro 13” — M1 edition . The keyboard's interestingly light to touch and remains relatively cool. That has been observed by making it hot in the easiest way - by running Docker. I don't have really much to say as I tend to use this machine in a "clamshell" state so comments on the hardware are limited. I also do find the operating system difficult to use (window management still wonky, SOL when things fails, etc).

Phones

Need to flesh out this bio but hey, I use them.

Nokia G10

I use the Nokia G10 for my personal use. Not much really to say about this device — it's durable (survived a few falls) but the screen's definitely cracked (as is the case for most phones with usage).

Pinephone

Like I mentioned before regarding the Pinebook, I really like and want to promote technology that helps people. I bought the Pinephone with a fingerprint reading case and a keyboard case that gives it a Sidekick-esque vibe. My hope is to transition most of my mobile computing needs to this device.

Storage

It'd be a bit ridiculous for me to mention all of the storage mediums I use. So instead, I'll just mention the esoteric ones I use on a semi-regular basis.

Portable Encrypted Hard Drive

I use the Aegis BIO 3.0 hard drive for things I want to keep encrypted (which should be everything, privacy is a right) and accessible to myself. It's on a conventional spinning HDD and uses my fingerprint to unlock. At half a terabyte of storage, I tend to get good mileage out of it. I keep backups of things I don't want to lose or leave unattended like clients' site and backups.

Home Office

I spend quite a bit of time at my desk for work, play and study. Thanks to my time in the tech industry, I've been able to invest heavily into my "build" to optimize for comfort and extended use. It's the place you'll most likely see me at if we're on a video call or I'm streaming, especially in the current pandemic.

Desk

Uplift 120 standing desk.