What I Use 2011

Here is the updated list of the computers, gadgets and software I use on a regular basis.

Computer(s)

MacBook Pro

What a difference a few years make! While I used to be a hardcore Windows user, now I can’t stand it. I happily use my MacBook Pro and loath using Windows at all. I am running OSX 10.7 Lion and really love it. I don’t miss anything about my Windows system at all. I actually feel sorry for people forced to use Microsoft software.

iPhone 3GS

With iOS5 and all the bells and whistles my 3GS is an amazing computer. The phone continues to be sad, the system as a whole rocks. Planning on getting the 4S when my upgrade is available. The iPhone is hands down the best PDA/iPod/Camera/Tool ever created thus far. It’s easy to use, fast and convenient. 3G is patchy at best, but turn it off and the phone become ultra reliable.

Apple Magic Mouse

It took some time for me to get used to the design of the mouse. I still don’t love it, but the swipe gestures and overall usefulness of this mouse is second to none.

Ubuntu Home Server

I have a Windows Vista machine hooked up to my flatpanel TV. It is perfect for running movies and Netflix. I am also running Ubuntu 10.04 as a guest in VirtualBox as both an Apache server as well as a Samba server for network file sharing with my kids and wife.

Wii x2

The Wii has quickly become a first class citizen in our household. It used to be just for fun, but now with Homebrew we can play old games, DVDs and browser the network for photos. Both of my kids have Wii’s and with the Ubuntu filesharing they can watch movies and Netflix over the network.

Software and such

Browser: Google Chrome – I was a avid user of Firefox, but the memory usage in version 6 caused me to make a switch. Really the only feature I miss is the CSS view option from the web developer tool. Other than that it’s a better, faster browser in every way.

Messenger: InstantBird –  free open source project for connecting to all IM platforms (AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google) all in one application.

Development: I use Netbeans as my primary IDE as well as Google Chrome for debugging

Email and Productivity: I use Sparrow Mail as my main email client as well as LibreOffice as my word processor. I also use Google Docs for collaboration

Security: On the Mac I use ClamXAV