This page serves as a frequently updated list of software and web services that I use on a regular basis. It’s stuff we’re using in and around the house, stuff we rely on and trust, for the most part. You can also read about computer systems, computer peripherals, other hardware as well as stuff I’m just messing with.
(Last updated Februrary 22, 2026)
An axiom of living in a digital age run by companies that often don’t serve our best interest: keep your apps cross-platform. Not always possible, maybe not always preferable in every case, but a goal to strive for. Almost every desktop app listed here has versions on both Mac and Windows.
For example, for almost 15 years, I used an email client called Postbox, which allowed me easily to shift my massive archive of old emails from Mac to Windows and back to the Mac. Then in the fall of 2024, the app was sold and discontinued. Ouch. So far, since then, I am using Mozilla Thunderbird, which can handle my email history that now stretches back over four decades. Thunderbird is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux on the desktop. The interface is a bit crowded, the search function seems meh, and I had to change some default behavior. But it’s fine. Now I am freaking out that Gmail is soon discontinuing POP3 support. Crossing that bridge shortly…
For everyday web browsing, I am still using Google’s speedy Chrome browser, now at version Version 145.etc.etc.etc for those of you keeping score at home. In my Chrome extensions, you’ll find buttons for Evernote, 1Password, and (lately) Standard Notes. As of March, 2025, I stopped relying on Google search and started paying for Kagi (which is pronounced with a hard G, I am reliably informed). Better, cleaner results without ads and “sponsored” listings.
Writing about tech in the current era requires writing a lot about AI companies and their various apps. I tinker with many and try to rely on none. For a while, I had a premium subscription to ChatGPT but in January, 2026, I switched my paying account to Google Gemini. It is…useful.
In late 2022, thanks to the horrific behavior and decisions of a certain billionaire tech tycoon who shall not be named, I stopped posting on Twitter and switched to Mastodon. I’m hosting my “toots” on a server specifically for journalists, so your pick may vary. I was also posting on Threads, when surprise, surprise, another certain billionaire tech tycoon who shall not be named starting making terrible decisions. So, I’m ignoring Threads and trying BlueSky, where my handle is, as usual, ampressman.
This blog is written and posted with WordPress because it has so many useful features and better integrates with the tagged world at large. Kudos to my web hosting service, Bluehost, for making WordPress installation easy and free. Comments go through Disqus, aiding the conversational flow. I’m loving all the new features WordPress granted to us self-hosters in its Jetpack plug-in in March, 2011. And the WordFence plug-in keeps the bad guys out. Someday, I’d like to switch to something lighter and more modern, with cheaper hosting. Someday.
Backing up…we all dread it, we all hate it, we all have to do it or we’ll be sorry. Apple gave us Time Machine and Microsoft has a decent copy, called File History. It’s not quite as auto-magical as Time Machine and has some annoying limits on which files can be included but it will do. For off-site backup, I had to switch from Mozy, which I joined in April, 2007, to CrashPlan, which I blogged about on February 1, 2011. I also use DropBox and iCloud for syncing files that I’m working on or need to access quickly on multiple machines.
Note taking is a critical need. I was never been completely satisfied until I hit upon Evernote, which can suck in notes, web pages, scanned photos of business cards, PDFs, and pretty much anything else I’ve thrown its way. Even more amazingly, all my stuff is accessible through client software on the Mac, PC, iPhone, Android, or Evernote’s web site. I reviewed Evernote on January 22, 2010. There has been a growing chorus of complaints about Evernote over the years, particularly due to feature bloat and the resulting performance degradation. Things seemed to get worse and then better after they were bought by notorious software private equity outfit Bending Spoons in 2022. Then came the price hikes. Facing a doubling in annual cost at the end of 2025, I tried to migrate to Standard Notes. But I couldn’t get my gazillion notes exported (at Evernote’s limited rate of 100 at a time!) in time and had to pay the piper. Stay tuned.
For photo management and editing, I rely on Adobe’s Lightroom Classic. I am particularly grateful for its many integrations, at the beginning of each new year, when I pick the best photos of the prior year and print them in a book from Blurb. I wrote a lengthy blog review of Lightroom on May 8, 2007. I upgraded to version 2.0 in August, 2008 and to 3.0 in 2010 and to 4.0 in 2012. In early 2026, I’m using Classic, not CC, version 15.1.
For password management, I used to use Wallet by Acrylic Software but they had no Android version when I switched smartphones in the fall of 2010. Now I’m using the wonderful 1Password, which seems to have a version for every operating system on the planet.
For almost all writing, professional and not, I am using iA Writer, one of the simplest word processing apps on the planet. It comes in versions for every OS, syncs files via the cloud, and handles markdown syntax. That means I don’t use Microsoft’s Office apps much anymore. But I will never stop saying good things about Excel, the program that made me look like a computer genius back in 1989 and still sets the bar for ease of use and super-powered features, in my opinion, and that’s pretty rare.
I am not the world’s greatest authority on mobile apps. On the iPad and iPhone, some of my most-used apps are Feedly, Strava, Outlook, Spotify, Timepage, and YouTube. On Android, I use a lot of the stock apps from Google. I’ve assembled my online scifi book catalog at LibraryThing. For subscribing and listening to podcasts, I’m using the excellent Pocket Casts.
Other stuff: Systems, Computer Peripherals, Other Hardware, Just messing with
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