Stuff I use

Mirra Chair

I invested in a Herman Miller chair when I was 22, as I figured I’d be spending 20 years at a computer and I didn’t want back problems. 20 years later it’s still going strong, as is the back. Admittedly the former has needed one replacement seat pan and one new set of castors.

I think they only make the Mirra 2 now, but there are plenty of second-hand Mirras around.

Ultimate Hacking Keyboard

This is really quite a luxury, but I cannot imagine a better keyboard. The keys, the config, the intertia of the thing. It has two built-in mice, because why not, and you can set up any shortcut imaginable. I find the split layout super ergonomic, too. Every day I start typing and am immediately pleased.

It’s very much for the tech aficionado: the configuration is not for the faint of heart – particularly the new UHK 80. Ask yourself this: how much interest do you have in flashing your keyboard firmware? If non-zero, have a look.

Shokz bone-conducting headset

So light you barely know they’re there. Bendy and robust. Bone-conduction is cool and feels weird for 10s then fine. Keeps your ears free. Mic works fine. I usually have a set in my bag.

Home Assistant Green

A central hub for all smart home stuff and, increasingly, any source of data. The Home Assistant Green is a self-contained device that plugs into your router – so you don’t have to set it up yourself.

With the phone app you can control all your lights, and indeed anything controllable. Hook into your Octopus electricity data, your boat inverter, your networking kit. Extremely clever, extremely timesinky, extremely useful.

Automate everything! You can tinker forever and in my experience way beyond the time you should have started doing piano practice.

I suggest: start with smart bulbs, because lights are fun. Then smart plugs temperature sensors, door sensors, presence sensors, smart plugs, do-anything buttons. Excellent fun. If you like it, get a tablet and put a Dashboard on it.

Not for the faint of tech heart: needs willingness to play and know/learn what an API key is.

49″ Ultrawide monitor

Easily my best hardware purchase of the last few years. The equivalent of three monitors, but psychologically easier. Use with Windows PowerToys for maximum effect. Beware it will ruin you forever.

Fuji X100V

Awesome pocket camera that I have in my coat at all times. It’s solid as hell, takes lovely photos, and is great for experimenting. I wish it were quicker to transfer photos. Note it’s very much a photographer’s camera, with all the dials and controls for customising on the fly.

Canon R5

I cannot imagine ever needing a better camera. 5y old now, but basically perfection. I used it to take pictures from the Cessna, and while pixel-peeping we reckoned the bottleneck on image quality was the atmosphere. It’s too big and heavy to always have with me, which makes me sad – but when I use it it’s a thing of beauty.

Anker 120W Wall Charger

Charge all your devices at max speed – it’s faster than you think. Make sure to get a cable that can match 120W – a lot of the cables that come with phones cannot.

Anker 24,000mAh 140W Battery

It’s big and heavy, but it can fully charge my laptop – or my phone 7 times over. I use it at conferences and meetings where I’m editing photos or creating mailings in a corner. It’s very nice that it shows its current percentage, along with estimates of how long it’ll take to empty at current rates. Again, get the right charging cables.

I usually have this in my bag – it’s useful often enough that the weight is worth it.

A decent laptop

My awkward advice to all laptop purchasers is: if you use it regularly, buy the best you can afford. Often that’s going to be a Mac, due to the failure of the PC market to signpost good tech.

Do not, do not, do not buy a £350 pc laptop. £700 up, sorry. If you want a PC, calibrate on the price of a MacBook. Something equivalent price: very good; a little less: fine; lots less: no.

Mine is an HP Spectre, but good buys shift with the wind.

A webcam that supports Windows Hello face recognition

If your webcam supports Windows Hello face recognition, you can just sit down and it’ll sign you immediately. No password needed. This needs a special webcam with depth sensors. Lots of laptops have this, but few desktop webcams. I have an old Logitech Brio, but there are various others.

Stream Deck

Do you need to do stuff on your computer by pressing a single button? Probably not. It is cool? Probably not. Will you like it? Probably yes.

Starlink

I know, but if you can get over it then this is magical tech. Plug it in, point it at the sky, and whoosh: 200mb internet. I’ve had a need for three in the last two years, and they have worked flawlessly and immediately.

The Standard has a separate router. The Mini is self-contained. There’s currently a deal to get a Mini for £5/month, and part of me wants it just to have in the car for emergencies. I just don’t know what those emergencies would be.

Ubiquiti network kit

Life is too short for crap wifi. The Dream Machine Pro is a great router that I have to restart like once a year, and it supports everything I ever need for home wifi. If I ever get unifi cameras, they’ll plug right in.

You can also plug-and-play extra wireless access points across your house, and they’ll just talk to each other and Just Work. Do not ever buy third-party wifi extenders, ever, ever.

I have a bunch of people set up with these. I can debug the office, my home, and various other family members’ networks from my phone.

Kindle Paperwhite

Self-explanatory. The ones from the last couple of years are way less laggy.

Twinkly Christmas lights

Control your Christmas lights from your phone, set whatever colours and patterns you like, and make 3D scans of your tree so that the patterns look right on it. I find them joyous.

Claude Code with Opus 4.5

By far the most revolutionary tech of 2025. Transformative for work. Actually genuinely truly has had major positive impacts on my life and stress levels. If you are building internal tools at work, and know what you’re doing, you can build anything you want.

Surely surely going to be visible in GDP before long. Opus 4.5 – released last week – is a beast and perhaps the tipping point from ‘shepherding an unruly child savant’ into ‘liaising with an easily-distracted junior colleague’.

ChatGPT 5.1 Thinking

£20/month for a little robot buddy who tries very hard to help me whenever I need help, and researches whatever I need researching. More magic tech, and increasingly invaluable.

1Password

My preferred password manager. A little pricey, but worth it for user-friendliness and family-sharing features. No password managers are easy to use, but this is the best one. Even if you’re technical, how much would you pay to not fight KeePass? Repays an hour of learning how it works.

Notion

Organization/productivity tool that can do anything you throw at it. Learning curve is moderate, but the view from the top is great.

I’m not 100% there yet, but every time I try it out I’m pleasantly surprised. I find increasing uses for it and the AI integrations are getting to the point where you can say ‘add this to my shopping list and categorise it by type of shop’ and it just does.

We use it at work for some internal documentation, and to create The Easiest Possible Way of Logging Tickets.

Directory Opus (Windows)

A Windows File Explorer replacement that actually works. I use it all day every day. Multiple panes, tabs, bookmarks, stats, previews – stuff you didn’t realise you couldn’t do without. Doesn’t crap out when you need to do anything complicated / heavy, unlike most similar tools.

Successfully walks the fine line between a power-user tool with 8000 options, and having a decent UI. Good design, endless list of features. I’ve barely scratched the surface.

You Need A Budget

The only budgeting software that’s ever worked for me. Unintuitive at first, but great once you get your head around what it wants you to do. Watch some YouTube videos to get a feel for it.

Note this is about budgeting rather than forecasting – it’s making sure you have money for what you need, not showing precisely how much you’re going to have at any given point.

Windy

My favourite weather app. Massive overkill if you aren’t into weather, but I found it when I was learning to fly and never looked back. Has any bit of weather data you could imagine, including the paid-for european ECMWF forecast. Also rain radar, soundings and skew-T diagrams, and all local weather stations. £20/year subscription gives you hourly forecasts and 10-day predictions.

Newsblur

RSS reader with an iPhone app. I’m a long-time subscriber, and use it multiple times daily. Works well.

Backblaze backup

Install it on your computer and you are done: your computer is backed up. $99/year. Do not lose all your files for the sake of £6.25/month – I have seen it happen and it is worse than you expect. I have yet to use it in anger, but the day will come.

Overcast podcast player

Podcast player if you want a bit more control over what’s going on. I use it daily.

TripIt Holiday Planner

Forward TripIt all your booking confirmation emails and it’ll put all the info in one place. You see all the booking codes, timings, receipts etc in one app, which you can share with someone else. It’s pretty reliable, but it’s worth doing a pass to make sure everything’s correct.

Paid version will track your flights too. I always forget it exists until I’m planning a trip, at which point everything seems that little bit easier.

The Body Coach App

~30min workouts at home, with an escalating ladder. Not macho, not gym-culture-y – just friendly and all about physical health rather than weight or strength directly. Joe Wicks is the reason I am relatively fit, and certainly the only reason I would have ever started weight training.

Monzo

Thoughtful banking. For example: you can set up security such that if you want to transfer over £x you have to either be in one of a list of specific locations, or have named approvers confirm it. And: shows you in the app whether they are currently calling you. I’m yet to have any problems with them.

Max Plan gives you travel/phone/breakdown insurance.

Tailscale

I have done my time in the trenches with VPNs and remote connections. Time for something easier. I was late to this, and very pleased to find it working without much effort. The access controls are a little challenging – watch some videos.

Subscription to The Verge

They’re a bit too cool for school sometimes, and sometimes Nilay Patel has to drag the nuance out of hot-button discussions. But they cover everything and they’re (particularly Nilay) very insightful. Like any tech outlet you can disagree with a lot, but it’s a great way to keep up – push it in to Newsblur – and have your ideas challenged. They have a good ethics policy, and The Vergecast is regularly excellent. Subscription gives you more articles, full-RSS feeds, and ad-free podcast feeds. Plus I am happy to support decent tech journalism, because god knows there’s a dearth.

Subscription to Ars Technica

For tech coverage that’s less broad but more technical, Ars Technica was always the best and has somehow kept up a standard for years. They perhaps rely on syndicated content more than they used to (from Wired etc), but when they’re good they’re still very good. I’m a long time subscriber, which gets you full RSS feeds and ad-free pages.

Stripe

We recently fully moved over to Stripe at work for handling payments and my god are they good at it. Their tech tools and documentation are just so honed. I have also dealt extensively with their support, and found them knowledgeable and interested in helping. If you need any kind of online payment system, I recommend.

Travel Duffel

Absolute workhorse. Mine’s been crammed into every storage compartment imaginable, and hurled around by airlines, and there’s barely a mark on it. I have the 65L, which is a lot of space.

It’s less good for carrying long distances due to the inexplicably bad handles, but is great for throwing in the car and between hotel rooms.

Messenger Bag

Daily workhorse. Similarly gets thrown around trains, planes, and offices. My previous one lasted 7y. Fully waterproof – I recently got caught in a massive downpour and my laptop and Leuchtturm were fine. Beware most people cannot quickly figure out the latch, including airport security staff. Maybe a touch too small – I wish they’d bring back the 15L version.

Backpacks

If you are the sort of person who will watch a half hour video about the features of your backpack (I am), these are worth a look.

As well as doing all the basics right – they’re actually waterproof, the zips are solid, they take a battering – they are thoughtful, with zips down the side for easy access, well-placed pockets, solid clasps, and hidden straps and attachment points.

I gambled that they would last a long time, and 5y later it’s going fine. I have a 30L Everyday Backpack and a 45L Travel Backpack. The latter will merrily cover a week away, unless you put a travel piano in it.

Tech pouch and wash pouch

These are basically the same pouch. I use for former for an on-the-go tech kit, and the latter is good for keeping in the duffel. Has thoughtful touches like a hook and zip/magnetic pockets. Some people find them a bit bulky – I think there are small versions now.

Packing cubes

Probably it’d be cheaper to get generic ones, but hey – these work great. They expand, there are two compartments so you can store used clothes separately, and they’ve lasted a few years so far. And the dimensions inherently fit into all the above bags.

iPhone case with loop

I’m a fan of bigger phones, but the iPhone 16 has edged over into just-too-heavy-for-pinky-to-support. This case is sturdy, and has a loop. It’s also nice – multiple people have commented that the case is good quality. The loop is not cool, but neither am I.

Soundbrenner metronome and practice tracker (iOS)

The top-left icon on my iPhone home screen.

I’ve been on grade 7 for a while, and Soundbrenner keeps me honest about how long I’ve spent practicing. It also does all the metronome timings you could want.

Folding 88-key keyboard

A full-size keyboard that folds up into 4! It’s not pressure-sensitive, so it’s no good for playing proper music – but it’s fine for practicing scales when away from home (if, say, you are panicking about it). It’s still bulky, but is just small enough that you can take it on holiday with some packing effort.

Roland RP501R CB Electric Piano

6.5 years old now, and still going strong. Pride and joy. You don’t realise how nice it is till you play other electrics. The keys aren’t plasticy, the speakers are good, the metronome and recordings work well. It has bluetooth, though I haven’t used that much.

Last year I spent a morning practicing on a £55k grand piano (because in exams they throw a grand piano at you in exams despite them feeling v different) and while obviously better and mechanically beautiful I did not feel that my Roland came off badly. Also you don’t need to tune it.

Jetstream SXN-210 Pens

The absolute best everyday pen. £9 for 3, but worth it. Wirecutter recommended these, and I have had much delight in buying them for people and…waiting. Most of the time I get a message a month later. I bought a load for the office and watched them spread like wildfire. Buy them and never go back.

Leuchtturm notebooks

This year I successfully cultivated a habit of having a notebook by my side all day. These are solid, have nice thick paper, page numbers, line spacing that treats you like an adult, two page markers, and even little stickers for archiving later. I like the Classic Notebook, but they have a million options. I’m on my fourth now, and all have survived being thrown around bags, offices etc. Get the pen loop XL and a SXN-210 and you’re golden.

Blundstone boots

I discovered these in early 2021 via Adam Savage, and they’re all I’ve worn since. The holy trinity of comfy, hard-wearing, and working as well for the office as for walking a coastal path. Quiet, too. They’re everyday-waterproof, with some models having higher specs.

I walk a bit funny and most boots wear out on one side faster than the other – these do too, but an order of magnitude more slowly.

Bellroy Sleeve Wallet

Bellroy’s leather wallets feel nice, look good, and age pleasingly as the leather gets battered. The slim ones fit in a pocket without discomfort. I have a sadly-discontinued Micro Sleeve which fits 8 cards, but there’s a Card Sleeve which isn’t too dissimilar.

Alaska Bear sleep mask

The boat is not very lightproof. This £9 mask gets me an extra 2h of sleep at the height of summer, and you can barely feel it.

BaByliss Super X-Metal Stubble and Beard Trimmer

High quality, fast, and charges via USB-C – which saves you carrying yet another charger. I was sceptical it could be worth it, but I was wrong – it just works better.

Remington HC4250 Shortcut Pro

There are plenty of good head shavers if you want to go full Lex Luthor, but if you want a little stubble you’re mostly limited to those tiny clippers that hairdressers have. The Remington is much wider than the regular clippers, and is curved to the shape of your head. It also has a battery, which drives the clippers as strongly as when they’re plugged in (unlike its weaker non-Pro predecessor). Doesn’t charge via USB-C, sadly.

Tweezerman G.E.A.R For Men Mini Hangnail Squeeze and Snip Nipper

Extremely tiny and extremely handy. I have two – one lives in the wash pouch. I assume it has a silly name because ‘nail clippers’ are for girls.

AirTags

Obvs. Cannot recommend enough the security of knowing your bag is in the plane with you before you take off.