Who are you, and what do you do?
My name is Casey Liss. I’m a podcaster, app developer, and writer based out of Richmond, Virginia, USA.
I host two podcasts: the Accidental Tech Podcast with Marco Arment and John Siracusa; I also host Analog(ue) with Myke Hurley. ATP is a tech news/discussion show, largely focused around Apple, but we’ll cover anything that interests the three of us. Analog(ue)... I still don’t have a good elevator pitch for, over ten years on. It’s Myke and I hanging out. (I know, I need to workshop that pitch.)
I also am the sole developer of a trio of iOS apps; Callsheet is a front-end to The Movie Database. Think of it as kinda-sorta being like IMDB, but with a community-run database and with an app written by someone with taste. MaskerAid is a way to quickly and easily overlay faces in photos with emoji, for privacy or for fun. Peek‑a‑View is a read-only photo gallery, so you can hand your phone to a toddler (or coworker) with no worries about them deleting things, or seeing things they shouldn’t.
I have a website as well; I usually post a couple times a month.
What do you use to get the job done?
My primary computer is a 14” M3 Max MacBook Pro, with 64GB of RAM and an 8TB SSD. I’ve had this computer since it debuted a couple years back, and it’s incredible. I have the power — more, actually! — of my retired iMac Pro, but I can take it with me. The battery life is great, and it’s so nice to not feel neutered (outside of screen real estate) when I’m on the move.
When I’m at home, that Mac is connected to three 5K screens: 2x LG UltraFine 5Ks, and an Apple Studio Display. I bought the first LG secondhand from a friend, and then one was "bequeathed" to me by a different friend who just wanted it out of his house. I bought the Studio Display because the LGs are... really not very good. I never intended to go 2-up, much less 3-up, but since they’re already here, I figured why not? I’ve actually come to really love having all this real estate; I feel extremely claustrophobic, so to speak, when I’m working on just my MBP screen.
(The MacBook Pro sits closed, in a 12 South BookArc, when docked at home)
Most of the things I connect to my Mac at home are actually connected to a CalDigit TS5+. I had a TS4 before it, and the TS5+ adds 10Gb ethernet, which is amazing when moving files on/off my network-attached storage. For podcasting, I use a MixPre-3 II as an audio interface. It takes in the XLR from my microphone — via a Rolls MS111 mute switch — and connects to the CalDigit via USB-C. And speaking of microphone, I’m presently using a Shure Beta 58A. I use Beyerdynamic DT770 Pros to listen to my co-hosts when I’m podcasting.
Also plugged into the CalDigit is a stereo pair of Sonos Era 100s; they are in turn connected to a Sub Mini.
For data storage, my NAS is Synology DS1621+. I was a Synology evangelist for the longest time, but I’m starting to fall out of love with them. Their insistence on using first-party drives is a real turn-off. I don’t plan to replace this anytime soon, but when I do, I’ll probably go a different direction.
My networking stack was previously Eero, but I’ve recently moved into an all-Ubiquiti setup. My main router is a Cloud Gateway Fiber; I have 2x U6-LRs, as well as a U6 Pro for Wi-Fi. My main switch behind the CGF is a USW Lite 8 PoE, with a Flex Mini in the bedroom and a second Lite 8 in the entertainment center. I also use a G4 Doorbell Pro and a G4 Instant with Unifi Protect.
I use an iPhone 16 Pro — my last-year’s iPhone — as a webcam using Continuity Camera.
I also have an M1 Mac mini to serve Channels and Plex, as well as a Beelink N95 for homelab stuff.
I use a Herman Miller Jarvis sit/stand desk.
When I work outside the home, I will use either a now-discontinued portable monitor in concert with my MacBook Pro, or, occasionally, Mac Virtual Display on my Vision Pro. Generally, though, I don’t want to be that guy, so I just stick with my portable monitor.
For recording ATP, we use Zoom to talk with each other, Audio Hijack to record our local audio, Dropbox to share files with one another, Textual for our IRC chat room, a bit of software I wrote to capture titles that listeners suggest, Google Docs for our internal show notes, and a CMS that my co-hosts wrote to host the site.
For Analog(ue), it’s mostly the same, but we use Discord for the chat room, and some other custom software that I didn’t write for capturing titles.
When writing code, I’m mostly in Xcode, often in concert with Prompt and, lately, Claude Code. I do most of my work in git using Tower, but will occasionally drop into the command line as well.
When writing for my blog, I use Visual Studio Code. The blog is powered by software I wrote a decade ago, but haven’t had the need (and thus, the desire) to mess with since then.
Naturally, there’s a trillion other utilities and small apps I use to do my job, but the above does the majority of the work.
What would be your dream setup?
Honestly, mostly what I’ve got going right now. Of course I’d love a new MacBook Pro, and it’d be nice to get rid of these LG 5Ks, but in day-to-day use, they’re more than fine. I’d also love a proper webcam, that gives natural bokeh, but ultimately that’s more than unnecessary.
I kinda wish I had a proper office to go to — something outside my home — but I’d want a dedicated space where I could properly set up my desk, and that means a very expensive lease, rather than just a coworking space. For me, that’s a nonstarter, even in a reasonably cheap place to live like Richmond is.
I also wish I had faster internet to the house. I don’t need more than a symmetrical gigabit connetion, but more than a gigabit sure would be swell.
But really, I’m extremely lucky to have been able to build this setup over the last 8 years of being independent, so I’m not actually complaining. :)