Tools of the Trade: A Day in My Tech Life
By Dr. Jack Follis—Earlier this week Apple announced their latest iPods. As someone who uses their iPod Touch on an almost daily basis, and as a tech geek, I have been waiting for this announcement for the past year. While trying to decide if I should upgrade, I began thinking about the tech products I use regularly. Since I’m always curious about what tech products others use regularly, I thought I’d share what I use.
Home Office/Workstation Setup
Spending a good part of each of my days in front of a computer makes it important to have a good workstation. Below is a picture of my setup at home.
The setup consists of a Dell desktop computer (not in the picture – its’ underneath the desk) connected to two ASUS 23.6” monitors, a 17” laptop, and a 13” MacBook Pro. The main computer that I use is the laptop. It’s a three year old HP laptop running Windows 7 (which will be upgraded to Windows 10 when it becomes available) that I mainly use for browsing the internet. I also use it for simple projects and preparing lectures. The MacBook Pro is a 2013 version that I use for writing, streaming videos, preparing lectures and some basic data analysis. The desktop is my main work machine. I use this for writing code, data analyses and preparing lectures. Having the two monitors allows me to view multiple windows simultaneously, which is extremely helpful when exploring/visualizing data, reviewing spreadsheets or creating data sets. Since the monitors have multiple inputs, it allows me to connect the laptop and the MacBook to one of the monitors for extra screen real estate.
My Gear Bag
In addition to the tech for my home office, I have items that I carry with me to the office each day or to do work – an iPad Air (seen in the home office picture) and a Dell XPS 13 laptop. The iPad Air is something that I also use at home. One of the main uses of my iPad is for checking email (especially at home). I also use it for reading, web browsing, media, and, from time to time, creating PowerPoint slides. My favorite apps for reading the Kindle apps for books and Goodreader for reading PDFs and other documents.
The laptop is a recent purchase that replaced a Samsung hybrid (Windows 8 tablet+keyboard). While the Samsung was a decent machine, it did not have the memory, processing power or screen size that I need when working on presentations or analyses. The Dell is a touchscreen laptop that has a 13” screen in an 11” body, which is nice for mobility. So far I have been satisfied with this new laptop. The Samsung will be put in storage, as it a really good device for recording lectures since it has a touchscreen and stylus.
Other Gadgets
As noted above, I have an iPod Touch that I mainly use for listening to music. While at home or in my office, I connect it to a Bose Soundlink Mini Bluetooth Speaker. In addition to playing music, I use if for taking pictures, reading, recording audio and video, and playing games. Even though what I use the iPod Touch for I could easily do with my phone and/or iPad, I really like the size of it and don’t worry if I forget to charge it.
My current phone is an ASUS Zenfone II. I recently purchased this phone since it is an unlocked phone and has nice specs at a decent price. The main things that attracted me to this particular phone were the Intel processor and the 4 GB of RAM. This phone runs very smooth and fast. Since I prefer phones with larger screens, the 5.5” screen is satisfactory (my previous phone was a Sony Xperia Z Ultra which has a 6.5” screen). The one issue I have with this phone is the short battery life. This will hopefully be corrected with the next Android operating system upgrade.
In addition to the iPod and phone, I also have a smartwatch that I use everyday. I purchased a Moto 360 a couple of months ago because it was on sale and I was curious. What I’ve learned from wearing it regularly is that I mainly use it for checking for notifications (emails, texts, reminders) and for checking the time. The health tracking ability of smartwatches are probably their best aspect at this point in time.
Final Thought
Even though I do own a lot of different tech products, the one tech product I keep coming back to is probably the oldest – pen/pencil and paper. And my new iPod Touch will be here in a week.
Some Old Toys that I Keep Around
UST -Assistant Professor of Mathematics