Stuff Brett Uses
This page contains affiliate links to things I use frequently, if not daily. It’s not an attempt to trick you into buying things to make me money. I just really love this stuff, and these companies happen to offer me a little payout when I get other people to also love this stuff.
- Setapp
- I have an app (Marked) on Setapp, but I also use about 30 apps on the service right now. It’s well worth the $10/mo, and using the Setapp version of apps you already own (I wrote a script to help with this) also offers recurring support to your favorite developers.
- Tower
- Tower is the best Git GUI app on the market. If you use Git version control for anything (including working with GitHub Pull Requests), do yourself a favor and get Tower.
- Sanebox
- My email sanity wouldn’t work without Sanebox. It helps me achieve Inbox Zero every day. I wouldn’t want to have an email address without it.
- MindMeister
- I do my local mind mapping using iThoughtsX on Setapp, but when I want to share a map or work collaboratively, there is no better solution than MindMeister. LOVE IT.
- Fathom Analytics
- Because I value my readers’ privacy, I stopped using Google Analytics a long time ago. To get just the info I need for advertisers and my own design decisions, I use Fathom, which doesn’t track any personal information. If you run a website and are even a little turned off by Google’s privacy practices, check it out.
- CleanMyMac3
- This is not the malware you’re thinking of. It’s a solid, reputable, and highly effective app for cleaning up your hard drive, performing system maintenance, and keeping your Mac in tip top shape.
- Backblaze
- I’ve lost data before, and I make every effort never to let that happen again. Backblaze is my favorite solution for offsite backups. It’s inexpensive, fast, saves version history, and it’s super easy to recover your files one at a time or en masse. I used to use their B2 storage with Arq, but the Backblaze app has gotten so good (light on CPU, wifi network exclusions, and good network throttling) and the recovery is so easy, there’s no reason not to just use it.
- ScreenCastsOnline
- A font of useful videos and tutorials extensive enough that anybody can find new things to learn.
- Descript
- I do all of my podcast and video editing in Descript, which allows you to edit audio and video by editing a text transcript. Just select text and hit delete to trim, pull together pauses, even build AI voices to patch in missed words. It’s amazing.