Uses This

Who are you, and what do you do?

I'm a marketer by day and nerd by night. As the self-appointed Chief Nerd Herder for dorkbyte.com, I blog about science, technology and art. I hack, make and dream and try to encourage my readers to do the same, regardless of their level of experience. I'm more of a generalist than an expert in anything, but that doesn't stop me from trying out new science projects and learning as much as I can from those around me. I look forward to the day I can hold an electric saw and people don't run out of the room screaming in abject fear. We're not quite there yet.

When I'm not behind a computer I can be found making robots, solving puzzles, tinkering with my ham radio or running around San Francisco playing alternate reality games.

What hardware do you use?

I've got a beat up 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo white Macbook. It has travelled halfway across the world with me and is falling apart at the seams...literally. I also have a beautiful 24-inch widescreen monitor from Dell.

I finally caved and purchased a smart phone after my phone company (Helio) went out of business. I went with a Samsung Moment which is running Android.

I have two cameras: a Nikon D40 and a Canon PowerShot SD1100IS 8MP. I generally keep the PowerShot with me at all times for quick photos on the go. The Nikon comes out for dedicated photo walks.

I own two telescopes: An Orion SkyQuest XT8i Dobsonian and a Galileoscope. The XT8i has an 8-inch mirror and is awesome for seeing deep into the sky. It is also about 5 feet tall and 70-lbs with the base so that only comes out for special occasions. The Galileoscope is a limited edition DIY telescope with a 2-inch diameter. It was created for the 2009 Year of Astronomy. It's small enough that you can hold it with your hands but it can also be affixed to a tripod.

In my electronics kit, I have a soldering iron which I use to construct everything from a TV-B-Gone to my own electrical component jewelry.

To round out my nerd cred, I use an Elecraft K2 HF amateur radio.

I nearly forgot. I have a Wii which I use to stream Netflix. Prior to that I was using it to play Dance Dance Revolution, but after some rather overzealous stomping around, I injured my knee and have had to resign myself to the fact that I am no longer 13.

And what software?

Google, Google, Google: Gmail. Google Calendar. Google Reader.

I go between Firefox and Chrome for web browsing and use Grooveshark for streaming MP3's.

dorkbyte is created with Wordpress and hosted by yours truly. My writing can usually be found on a Google Doc or in a wiki. I am a huge wiki advocate and really would love to see more business users adopt them. I have a free PBWorks account for my community projects which I use to collaborate with others: robot builds, puzzle challenges and other competitions.

In terms of actual software, I use Picasa to edit and store photos, Audacity to record audio and TextMate for dabbling in Ruby and Python. I really enjoy Skitch for marking up pictures and Balsamiq for creating mockups.

What would be your dream setup?

I'd like a second 24-inch monitor. I'd also like a laptop with a 19-inch collapsable screen that weighs less than 2 pounds. Somebody call Apple and put in an order for that. But barring that, I'm really OK with my old laptop.

Uses This is supported by ZSA, makers of the Moonlander, ErgoDox EZ and Planck EZ keyboards. They also publish an awesome newsletter.