Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm Joshua Topolsky. I'm the co-founder and Editor-in-chief of The Verge, a columnist for the Washington Post, and I go on late night TV sometimes.
What hardware do you use?
MacBook Air 13-inch, Core i7, 4GB of RAM, 256GB SSD. I don't use an external monitor (though I have recently toyed with the idea of a three-screen setup). I prefer an economy-size hardware footprint.
When I take pictures, I tend to use a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 with a 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens. I also use a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 occasionally. I encode video with a turbo.264 HD dongle.
I use an LG VL600 LTE stick (on Verizon) when I need cellular data.
For a phone, I'm currently using the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (HSPA+ version), and will be switching to the Verizon LTE model when it becomes available. I rarely use a tablet, but when I do it's an iPad 2.
I used to carry a Logitech M555b Bluetooth mouse, but I recently smashed it.
I backup to a Time Capsule which also serves as the router in our house - hey, better than no backup at all. Luckily, most of the truly vital stuff is in the cloud.
And what software?
Overflow and Alfred for launching / quick access to files, folders, and commands. Typinator for text expansion. Better Touch Tool for window snapping (a la Windows 7 - the best part!). Dropbox for storing crucial files I need to get at from anywhere. I use Fantastical for quick calendar additions, and I couldn't live without Slingshot, which is a screen capture utility that uploads right to my server without any bloat. I sync some of my data to-and-from my Mac via Spanning Sync.
Handy utilities that come to mind include Path Finder, AppCleaner, EasyBatchPhoto (a great batch photo editor), and Growl (the old version, not the terrible new App Store one).
I communicate in realtime via Adium (Google Talk), Textual or Colloquy (IRC), and the native Twitter client.
As a man with a Gmail addiction, I use Mailplane (a wrapper) to access email - I run two instances at a time. I also have a few Fluid-instances for Google Docs, Calendar, etc.
For writing I generally rely on TextEdit (in plain text mode), though I work on longer-form pieces in an application called Compositions, which is subtle, elegant, and seems to be bug-free.
I edit images in Photoshop or Preview (Preview is excellent for most minor tweaks). I occasionally use OmniGraffle to wireframe. I pretend to understand CSS or HTML in Coda.
For storing images and notes, I use Evernote with associated browser plugins.
I browse in Chrome.
What would be your dream setup?
I am continually working on downsizing my setup. Even though I mentioned the idea of having three monitors on my desk, my real goal is to make things smaller, faster, and lighter. I'm currently on the hunt for a smaller camera and a bag which is perfectly designed to hold just what I need but doesn't look like crap.
I want to carry as little as possible when I'm traveling, and reduce complications when I'm working. I want the gear to get out of the way.