This page includes a list of the hardware, software, and tools I use daily for work, life, and everything in between. Originally inspired by Wes Bos’ /uses page and fueled by the broader uses.tech movement.
Hardware
The gadgets I trust to keep me powered up and plugged in every day.
- Mac mini (2018) — my everyday workhorse.
- MacBook Air (M1, 16GB RAM, 2020) — serves as my backup and travel machine.
- Acer XR342CK Pbmiiqphuzx 34″ Curved QHD Monitor — primary external display, anchored with an Amazon Monitor Arm Mount.
- Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID — simple and reliable.
- Apple Magic Trackpad — preferred over a mouse for comfort.
- Blue Yeti Microphone — for calls and recordings, mounted on a Compass Boom Arm with a Blue Radius III Shockmount.
- Logitech C922x Webcam — for video calls and recordings.
- Heritage Georgia Barnwood Desktop and Fully Jarvis Adjustable Standing Desk Frame —for my standing desk setup.
- Trobing Balance/Standing Board — used while standing at my desk.
- Generic Office Chair with Upgraded Roller Blade Wheels — makes rolling around the office much easier.
- iPhone 16 Pro — my primary photo device and digital tether to all things work.
- Kindle Oasis — primary e-reader for now, awaiting shipment of my Daylight Computer DC-1 which might replace it.
Software for work
Apps, tools, and local environments on my two Macs that keep the chaos organized, my workflow humming, and make building a lot less painful.
- macOS — generally running the current stable release.
- Firefox — primary browser, because its open source.
- Wavebox — bundles Gmail and Google Calendar into a single open source app on desktop and keeps this outside browser tabs.
- Slack — primary communication app for work, like it or not.
- Homebrew — package manager; I track my setup in this Brewfile repo.
- Visual Studio Code and continuing to trial Cursor — local IDE and AI pair programmer / coding assistant.
- LocalWP and WordPress Studio — primary and secondary local development environments.
- iCloud Notes — personal notes with work notes sprawling everywhere from Google Docs to AI note-taking services to Leapsome to who-knows-where-else.
- Cloudup — image sharing, though still waiting for the paid tier to expand beyond 1k images.
- iTerm2 — terminal.
- Bartender — to keep my Mac menu bar tidy.
- Divvy — for window management.
- GPG Keychain + Keybase — for encryption and secure communication.
Software for daily living
The apps that quietly, but critically, keep my day moving.
- Various messaging apps for different audiences and purposes; Signal (professional messaging), iMessage (family and friend comms), and WhatsApp (random personal groups).
- Amazon Music — primary music streaming service, preferred over Apple Music or Spotify.
- Pocket Casts — primary podcast app though occasionally forced to use Spotify for exclusives there, sigh.
- Kindle — for reading ebooks on the go, sync’d nicely to my Kindle Oasis.
- Google Maps — preferred mapping app over Apple Maps or Waze.
- Artkive — used for archiving my kids’ artwork digitally, been using for over a decade. I keep a select few originals each school year and, gulp, recycle the rest; sorry kids, I love you but you create a lot of art.
- Paprika — for recipe tracking and grocery lists.
Workflow
How I split my workspace to keep the important stuff front and center.
I don’t use a traditional to-do app. Instead, I stick to a simple analog system: 3×5 index cards. I create a separate card for each project, using a bullet journaling style (dots for tasks) to track progress. Every day, I stack rank the cards to prioritize which projects and tasks get my attention.
I generally split my external monitor into three vertical zones:
- Left: Slack and Amazon Music
- Center: Firefox, Google Meet, Signal + iMessages
- Right: Wavebox and iCloud Notes
This setup helps me stay focused during the day without flipping between too many windows.
Fitness & Outdoors
Keeping my health, hikes, and hustle on track.
- Oura Ring Gen 4 — for fitness and sleep tracking.
- Strava — for tracking runs, rides, and swims.
- AllTrails — for hiking and trail planning.
Photography
Keeping it simple, snapping on the go, and editing just enough.
- iPhone Camera — simple but powerful.
- Google Photos — preferred for photo management over Apple Photos.
- Pixelmator Pro — light photo editing when needed.
Backups
Making sure I don’t lose anything important.
- Dropbox — primary cloud backup, for now.
- Google Drive — secondary cloud backup, aiming to consolidate soon somehow between these two.
- Synology NAS — onsite backup connects to the above two.
Social
Where I hang out online, ranked by how often I’m actually there.
WordPress Stack
Where my sites live, what powers them, and what keeps them running smoothly. I’m especially interested in tools that support the IndieWeb and Fediverse, helping build a more decentralized, user-controlled web.
- WordPress — runs the entire operation.
- WooCommerce — used for e-commerce setups.
- Twenty Twenty-Three Theme — currently powering jeffpaul.com.
- Twenty Twenty-Five Theme — the next evolution after upgrading to WordPress 6.8.
- ActivityPub — helps federate content to the broader fediverse.
- Akismet — keeps spam in check.
- ClassifAI — adds AI support for content suggestions and moderation.
- Friends — creates a lightweight, private social network.
- Gutenberg — offers the latest and future block editing experience.
- IndieAuth — adds decentralized login and identity features.
- Insert Special Characters — makes it easier to drop in proper symbols and glyphs.
- Jetpack — brings extra performance, backup, and security features.
- Micropub — allows posting from Micropub clients.
- Performance Lab — a playground for core performance experiments.
- I’m still exploring and seeking strong, open solutions for automated publishing to Bluesky, Mastodon, and LinkedIn. Currently using Autoshare for Twitter/X, but open to better options.
Always evolving. I’ll update this page as things change.