Software I use and other things I recommend.

I waste far too much time finding tools to build software, invest, stay productive, learn and attempt to solve procrastination. Here’s a list of all of my favorite stuff.

Workstation

  • 13.6” MacBook Air, M2, 16GB RAM (2022)

    I've been a Mac user since the first Intel Macbook in 2006. Apple Silicon is great for AI/ML & I love the portability of the Air.

Productivity

  • Apple Notes

    I've tried everything from Evernote to Obsidian, Reflect, Mem but nothing gets out of my way enough, loads fast enough or syncs robustly enough. I use Notion for work.

  • Reclaim.ai

    Smart meeting booking links, automated smart calendar blocking & habit scheduling. Combine with a nice calendar app like Cron to get the most out of it.

  • Things

    The best Personal task manager I've ever used. I've tried them all. For work nothing really stuck, Linear is OK but I end up using Notes or Notion instead.

  • Clay

    My memory for names is terrible, so I need a personal CRM. Clay is beautiful, I use it to remember things about people I've met, remind me to keep in touch & find experts in my network.

  • Banktivity

    Not perfect, but the best app out there for tracking personal finances on Mac in detail. Without this I wouldn't know if I had any money or where it was.

  • Texts

    New app, but I'm loving it so far. It's like a supercharged version of iMessage, with a focus on privacy and security and rolls DMs from WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter, LinkedIn & Discord into one unified feed. I'm using it for all my personal messaging now.

Development tools

  • VS Code + Copilot

    GitHub Copilot is great. I'm testing Cursor (VS Code fork with better Copilot integration). I'd like to try using Replit more. I spent a lot of time in fancy scientific IDEs like Matlab & Mathematica back in the day, so I got a bit spoiled & like full featured IDEs.

  • Warp

    AI enabled Terminal, because memorising bash commands is for robots.

  • Jupyter Notebooks

    The only way to explore and analyse data fast with Python. Colab is useful sometimes, Deepnote is great too, but I generally just run a notebook locally or on a remote server.

Learning & Investing

  • Goodreads + Kindle + Readwise Reader + Snipd

    Readling history & backlog is on Goodreads, primarily read books on Kindle & use Readwise Reader for everything else. Readwise also stores my book highlights but I'm yet to sync them anywhere consistently. I use Snipd for podcasts & saved snippets are synced to Readwise.

  • Public Markets

    As a general rule, all consumer investing apps in the UK are terrible. However, I use Interactive Brokers for my 'Trading' account, Interactive Investor for ISA & SIPP and Freetrade for losing money on meme stocks.

  • Financial Analysis

    I dislike news, and most financial analysis available to the public is poor compared with institutional grade research, but it's improving and I tend to consume it via newsletters like The Macro Compass, Howard Marks, The Morning Hark, the FT, Odd Lots & All-in Podcasts, Twitter & occasionally checking Fixed Income, FX & Equity prices.