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 Kingston HyperX memory, EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card, EVGA GeForce 9500 GT video card, a 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drive, a 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive, a Gigabyte Odin 800 watt power suppy, a Dell 2408WFP monitor, and two Dell 1908FP monitors. 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, Cyborg R.A.T. 7 gaming mouse, 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 use a Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX when I am on the go with the laptops.
Servers
I have a HP MediaSmart EX475. This server stores all of my documents and media files. It currently has 6TB of storage. The MediaSmart server runs Windows Home Server.
Portable Devices
Mobile Phone
My current device is the Android powered HTC ThunderBolt on the 4G LTE Verizon Wireless network. It is currently running CyanogenMod 7.1.1 on Android 2.3.7.
Media Player
The ThunderBolt doubles as my portable media player.
Reading Device
I have a graphite 3rd generation Amazon Kindle. This is the Wi-Fi only model as I do not believe 3G access on a reading device is necessary. I have only owned this about a week, but find it to be great for reading. More on the Kindle to come…
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
My digital camera is a recently acquired Nikon D5000. I purchased the kit which came with both 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and 55-200mm f/4-5.6G VR lenses. I have Sigma DG 52mm Multi-Coated UV filters on both lenses. In this camera is a SanDisk 16GB Extreme SDHC Class 10 30MB/s memory card. My flash is the Nikon SB-400 and I have the Caselogic SLRC-206 SLR Camera and 15.4-Inch Laptop Backpack.
My point-and-shoot camera is 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.
I have Google+ and Twitter accounts to communicate with family/friends and to act as a content aggregator for news feeds. 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 1/2 and Alien Swarm. I use and recommend Valve’s Steam game distribution platform.
Security
My network firewall/router/wireless access point is the Cisco/Linksys E4200. 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: 10/13/2011
