Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm Emily Nagoski, I'm a sex nerd - an educator, researcher, and writer. Point of pride: I have the lowest Erdős number of any sex educator in the world. Most recently I wrote a book called Come as You Are, and these days I'm traveling all around, talking about the book, teaching about the science of sex, and generally trying to make the world a better place for people who have genitals.
What hardware do you use?
I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 2. My marital euphemism brought it home one day when, as I was in the middle of writing the book, my laptop (a horrible Dell) suddenly died. I was distraught and helpless and he went out and came back and handed me this small, fast, simple thing, and I've loved it ever since. The screen is cracked by now, the keyboard magnet not perfectly reliable, and does occasionally just shut off sometimes, but it's part of my soul. I'm a PC.
My personal phone is a Nexus 5; my journalists-are-calling-me phone is a Moto G. I fucking love that Nexus 5; I've had the screen replaced twice. The Moto G is just okay, sorta slow and lumpy compared to the Nexus. Also, when I talk to journalists I use a pretty hardcore bluetooth headset.
I travel with a battery that takes more than 12 hours to charge but then holds its charge forever and will charge a phone four times. Full charge in under two hours. Good stuff.
I also travel with the marital euphemism's iPad mini, with which I listen to audiobooks while I drive, and play Threes when I'm exhausted in hotel rooms.
The chair I write in is a Varier Thatsit Balans. When I was in my Masters program, at the end of every semester I would get debilitating back pain from all the sitting. My whole lower back would just seize up. I'd lie on the floor, on my back, with my knees to my chest, like a turtle stranded there, and I'd start laughing at how ridiculous the situation was and that just made my back hurt more. By the time I started my PhD, I had learned not to use chairs. I would sit either on the floor or else on an inflatable ball. Now I have this awesome chair, which I highly, highly recommend. When you sit for 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, as I did while I was finishing the second draft of the book, your chair matters, right?
When I record podcasts, I use a Yeti with a pop filter.
And what software?
Is Google Scholar software? That. And Chrome.
Gmail for all my email - I've started using Inbox and find it very convenient and helpful. Office for all my documents - Word and Excel, mostly. I'm telling you: I'm a PC. And Dropbox, which wormed its way into my life and now I can't get it out.
I use HootSuite when I need to plan tweets. I use Photo Grid to make composite Instagram photos.
What would be your dream setup?
Ideally, I'd have every medical provider in the country chained to chairs in a massive auditorium, where I had a stage, a microphone, and a copy of my book. I'd read it to them - all 104,180 words - and they'd never again tell a woman she's diseased just because she doesn't experience spontaneous desire.