My Tech

I am frequently asked what technology I use. Below I will detail the hardware and software I use. As I am a technology professional and avid gadget enthusiast, these devices regularly change. I will do my best to keep the information on this page current. I am not endorsed or supported in any way by any of the companies I recommend on this page. I recommend these products because I use them myself and I believe you will enjoy using them too.

Computers

Desktop

My current desktop is a custom built system with an EVGA nForce 780i SLI motherboard, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 processor, 8GB of Crucial Ballistix memory, 2 EVGA GeForce 9800GTX SSC video cards in SLI, a 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drive, a 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive, a Gigabyte Odin 800 watt power suppy, and a Dell 2408WFP monitor. All of this fits quite nicely into the Cooler Master Cosmos S case. This computer is running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

I use a Logitech G15 gaming keyboard, Logitech MX Revolution mouse for general use, Creative Gamer HD7600L mouse for gaming, Belkin n52te, and Logitech Z-5500 speaker system.

Laptop

Currently I am using an Asus G51VX-X1A gaming laptop. This sports a 15.6″ LED display, Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 processor, 4GB of memory, 320GB 7,200 RPM SATA hard drive, and a Nvidia GeForce 260M graphics card. This computer is running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

I also have an older HP tc4200 convertible tablet that I use when I need to carry a smaller/lighter device with longer battery life.  This has a 12.1-inch XGA display, Intel Pentium M processor, 2GB of memory, 40GB 5,400 RPM hard drive, and an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 integrated graphics card. This computer is running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit.

I use a Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX when I am on the go with the laptops.

Servers

I have two servers that I run at home. One is a HP MediaSmart EX475. This server stores all of my documents and media files. It currently has 4TB of storage. The other is a home brew PVR system which runs SnapStream Beyond TV. The MediaSmart server runs Windows Home Server, while the Beyond TV server runs Windows XP.

Portable Devices

Mobile Phone

My current device is the Android powered htc EVO 4G on the Sprint network.

Media Player

The EVO 4G doubles as my portable media player.

Internet Tablet

I also have a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. The N810 runs Maemo OS2008, which is a based on the Debian Linux distribution and is optimized for mobile devices. My use of this device has gone down since I acquired the Zune HD. My criticism of this device is its rudimentary browser and slow processor. These two combine to make for a painful mobile browsing experience. On the other hand, having a portable Linux device allows me to perform tasks on the go that are not possible with the BlackBerry or Zune.

Digital Camera

I have had the same digital camera for the past few years, a Sony Cybershot DSC-T9. I love this camera for its size. In the proper lighting conditions the image quality is superb. It is extremely portable and easily fits into any pocket. My two complaints are poor low light image quality and limited 3x optical zoom.

USB Flash Drive

I have an IronKey 4GB usb flash drive for keeping my files securely with me on the go.

Software

Operating System

I work, live, and play in a Microsoft world. Windows does everything I need to. While I have tried Linux, I cannot say that Linux and Mac do everything I need them to. The computers in my house run various flavors of Windows 7, Vista, and XP.

Productivity

I use Microsoft Office 2007 and Google Docs for document editing. For email and calendar, I use Google’s Gmail and Calendar services respectively. Google Reader is my content aggregator of choice. I do use Outlook for the sole purpose of syncing contacts with my BlackBerry. I prefer Notepad++ for editing scripts (VBScript/Javascript) and text files.

Communications

Google Chrome is my browser of choice, which I recommend everyone should try. Chrome is an extremely fast web browser based on the WebKit open source browser engine.

I have a Google Talk account and use the native Google Talk client to connect on the PC and BlackBerry.

I utilize Facebook to keep in contact with friends and family. I initially used Twitter to share my thoughts, however I have now switched gears and only use Twitter as an aggregator. TweetDeck is my Twitter application of choice. I like it because I can separate accounts that I follow into groups. Friends, news, and services are examples of this.

Utilities

I also use Ahead Nero 8 for CD/DVD creation, ISO Recorder, SlySoft’s Virtual CloneDrive, Tera Term Web, VMware Workstation, 7-zip, VLC player, RealVNC, JAM Software’s TreeSize, Sysinternals Suite, GRC’s SpinRite and ShieldsUP, and Memtest86+.

Gaming

Currently I am actively playing Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands, and Star Trek D-A-C. I use and recommend Valve’s Steam game distribution platform.

Security

My network firewall is a Cisco RVS4000 gigabit security router. I use and recommend Microsoft’s free Security Essentials anti-virus software. It is a no cost, low overhead, and nag-free product. My computers at home do not run a software firewall. My laptop however does have the built-in Windows 7 firewall enabled.

Last Update: 07/22/2010