A photograph of a large pile of pumpkins of many different sizes and colours, with orange, yellow, white and purple pumpkins. The words What I Use appear in the bottom left of the image.

I do things a little differently, tech usage wise, to how most proper tech people work. Put it down to being queer? I can do the vast majority of what I need to do without needing a bunch of power.

Hardware for doing things

Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ my daily driver, a cheap tablet but with enough resources to get work done and still be able to play my games of choice very happily.

Royal Kludge R65 Keyboard mmmm, thocky!

Tecknet Bluetooth Mouse

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra

Software for doing things

Multiple browsers - Firefox Focus (default), Brave, Vivaldi, Firefox, Epic, SRWare Iron

Qwant Main search provider

QuickEdit+ for html, php, css file writing and editing

Simple Text Editor for markdown writing and editing

Termius SSH and SFTP client

Goguma IRC Client

Thunderbird Email client

Photopea.com graphics editing, all browser based and the closest thing to CS6 I've seen in ages, plus its free, what's not to like?

InShot video editor

CapyReader RSS client

Snapseed Photo editing

Signal Oh no, now I'm distracted from what I was meant to be doing, oh well...

Hardware for music things

Akai APC Key25 MKII MIDI controller

Akai Synthstation 25 with iPod touch docked retro music fun with more music apps that I can list

Korg Kaossilator Pro Instrument/tool/controller/fun light show that is a lot of fun to use

iRig Acoustic Stage Easy to use string instrument with soundhole mic

Zoom H2N Self-contained microphone with multiple switched patterns and recorder

Sony microphone Bought for a video project 20 years ago, turned out to be amazing quality for music recording and still my favourite mic

Martin 000 Jr Guitar

Martin Dreadnought Jr Guitar

Little Martin Are you seeing a pattern emerging here? Its a guitar

Various Ukuleles Its the happiest instrument there is!

Software for music things

Cubasis 3 A Digital Audio Workstation you can take anywhere....provided you don't want to be connected to anything from the list above

Koala A very good sampler

SuperSound Good for a swift and no-fuss single track audio file edit. Do I use it to turn people's audio notes into notification sounds? Little bit.

Korg Kaossilator As above but now as an app!

Hardware for reading

Kindle Paperwhite 4 Rock solid reliable and even better jailbroken

Fire Tablets Regularly on sale, regularly updated, no frills and reliable; they're ideal for comic and graphic novels, illustrated non-fiction books and to second screen an ambience video when I'm needing my main tablet or phone to be free for other things.

Software for reading

Kindle app Absolute ubiquity to access my library of past purchases

Libro.fm Audiobooks without the DRM? Count me in.

EZPDF Reader Horrible name, lots of good features for PDF reading

Moon+ Reader My current go-to for comic CBZ files

Hardware for gaming

Steamdeck LCD 256GB I was an early adopter and its still amazing, can run anything I throw at it and is great docked to the TV with the latest round of updates

Switch 1 OLED Didn't need one and then I discovered Mario Party

R36s handheld consoleInfinitely hackable retro gaming fun

Steam Controller Not the new one, the OG one; must be 14 years old now and its still doing absolutely great, its always worked well for me

Luna Controller This is a seriously beefy controller, high quality and works well

8BitDo Lite 2 For tablet gaming

Iine Chronos Controller For phone gaming, the recessed sticks mean you can just throw it in a bag or even a pocket and don't have to worry about breaking it.

Here's where we divert from the usual list for these sort of things, but they're still very much things that I use!

Card Decks that I use

Herbs and Plants Lenormand Oracle card decks are a tool to give yourself permission with. I lean heavily towards favouring those that are associated with growing things

The Sensory Herbal Oracle Herbs can be hugely beneficial in multiple ways

The Wisdom Of Trees Oracle Because I deeply love trees

Whispering Woods Oracle A good one card draw deck of messages from the woods which are particularly good for connecting with yourself and giving yourself that permission.

Skincare (We're really straying into less travelled territory now)

Plouise Foaming Facial Cleanser Fast, effective and with some really fun scents

Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic A really great moisturising toner that is often all the post-shower skincare you need if you've not been wearing makeup that day

Mitchell Eye Fly Sky High Skin Prep Eye Cream Best under eye cream I've found yet

Mitchell Skin Prep Keen Screen Lovely light moisturiser that's great under makeup

Mitchell Milk Mist Milk Water Spray Even lighter moisturiser in a spray format that is ideal for no makeup days

Mitchell Merry Dew moisturiser Current post-makeup removal moisturiser

Mitchell Pout Perfect Overnight Lip Oil Balm of choice

Mitchell Lip Stock Lip Oil Lighter day time lip oil when you need a lip boost

Plouise Protect Your Pout Fun flavours lip balm that's always on my keys

The Beauty Crop Grape Lip balm When you want a shot of colour with your lip boost

Margaret Dabbs Nail & Cuticle Serum Lovely for helping dry and brittle nails and for looking after your finger calluses if you play a stringed instrument

Margaret Dabbs Foot Cream Lets look after those heels!

Cosmetics (This could be a long list, so I'm keeping it just to the ones I'm actively using for an every day face or regular care)

Collection Cosmetics Power Gripping Gel Primer Just works, really, really well

Nyx Professional Concealer Correcting Stick Buttery smooth and blends out beautifully

Wet n Wild Bare Focus Tinted Hydrator An ideal weight of foundation for me

MUA Defining Clear Gel Mascara A great base to keep your mascara in place

Maybelline Sky High Mascara Mascara of choice this year, giving me great results

MUA Brow Definite Tinted Brow Mascara Keeps those brows well tamed and looking even

L'Oreal Infaillible 3 second mist setting spray Yes, its like hair spray for your face but wow does it keep it in place like no other setting spray does

The Beauty Crop Pore Filter Pressed Powder A pretty good translucent pressed powder that is in a mirror and sponge compact still, which is a favourite form for being able to throw into your handbag and easily touch up in the day. Sometimes we really do just powder our noses, you know.

By Lianne Lipstick and Lip liner Found the perfect everyday shade for me and that's exactly what I'm doing with it.

(I'm also trying out some new products for what I'm callling my fast fae face; it retains only the colour corrector and the setting spray from the list above and substitutes in Rimmel Multi-Tasker Blur Booster Primer and Rimmel Multi-Tasker Concealer for some super light skin coverage and then just a dab of Sihaya & Company lip colour)

Margaret Dabbs Pure Nails Strengthening Treatment Nail strengthener that is a lovely pale pink nail varnish too

Seche Vite Top Coat Hugely effective nail quick drying top coat

Subscription Services

omg.lol The best little village on the Indie Web

NearlyFreeSpeech.net Stunningly good value hosting for your Indie Web site

Netflix I need my Gilmore Girls and ATLA fix and with the games that are included now the basic package is close to an essential.

Ground News Jury is still out on whether or not I'll renew this, their AI Summary is....ugh

YouTube Premium A lot of YouTube gets watched in my home and with that being our only source of streaming music too then going ad-free on there is good for mind, body and soul.

Proton Duo If you're not the customer, you're the product and here I'm the customer.

Namecheap For domains, DNS and some email.

Dropout TV By far the best streaming service

Local Farm Shop supporting membership and water kefir deliveries Lets keep it local!

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LAST UPDATED: 2026-08-09