rcmnd

Brent Simmons

Mac and iOS developer; created NetNewsWire and MarsEdit, co-created the JSON Feed format, and blogs at inessential.com.

13 things

Magic TrackpadHardware Apple

loved

I have a Magic Trackpad, which I love. I've become an Olympic-level swiper.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

Apple Extended Keyboard IIHardware Apple

loved

My most important piece of hardware, which I love even more than my trackpad, is my Apple Extended Keyboard II. If it ever breaks my career is probably over - not because I'd be unable to adjust, but because I'd be too heart-broken to even try.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

ackSoftware

loved

I use the wonderful and better-than-grep ack on the command line.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

Verilux Happy LightHardware Verilux

liked

a Verilux Happy Light, which I run for a few hours every morning, which keeps me even-keeled.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

Pilot Razor PointHardware Pilot

uses

A box of old-style Pilot Razor Point black pens.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

VimSoftware

uses

Most of this is just about switching to one text editor - Vim - for everything, including writing email, blog posts, notes, HTML, style sheets, and code.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

muttSoftware

uses

I've gotten as far as switching my most-used email account over to mutt, and I'm doing most of my writing and web coding in Vim, but I'm still using Xcode for Cocoa coding.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

MercurialSoftware

uses

For SCM I mostly use Mercurial (on the command line usually, though sometimes I use SourceTree).

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

BitbucketService Atlassian

uses

I use Bitbucket for repository hosting.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

DropboxService Dropbox

uses

DropBox has become my documents folder. I use Lighthouse for bug tracking.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

ConsolasSoftware Microsoft

uses

Somehow, just in the past few days, I've finally moved from Monaco to Consolas. I never thought I'd switch from Monaco. (I would have gone with Menlo, but it's a bit too blurry for me.)

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

xScopeSoftware Iconfactory

uses

I regularly use Safari, NetNewsWire, MarsEdit, Colloquy, iChat, Twitter for OS X, Instruments, iCal, xScope, LaunchBar, Keynote, Growl, FileMerge, Versions, iTunes, FastScripts, Transmit, OmniFocus, OmniOutliner, and LiveView Screencaster.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

AcornSoftware

uses

I use Acorn, Photoshop, and Preview for graphics.

His written "Uses This" interview, from his Glassboard years.

2012-02-17·usesthis.com ↗

Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.

The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.

A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.

The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.

The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.

What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:

Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.