Holiday Technology Thanks 2013

I think the holiday season is a good time to stop and appreciate the stuff that makes life more enjoyable. But stuff doesn’t have any feelings. Instead, I’d like to thank the folks behind the stuff I like.

In general, I’m thankful for all of the developers out there that care about what they make. But I’m particularly thankful for the people that make the things that I use all day everyday.

Ole Moritz makes Editorial and Pythonista. He sweats every single detail. I wish he ran a division at Apple.

Craig Scott makes iThoughts, which I use everywhere all of the time. He’s been making it for years and it keeps getting better when it doesn’t need to.

Thanks to everyone behind Audible and guys like George Guidall that make audio books my favorite media format.

Thanks to Greg Pierce who makes Drafts and Terminology. I love these.

Thanks to the Evernote team for making something so incredibly and broadly useful.

Huge thanks to everyone at Dropbox for doing what Apple could not; making my data work everywhere that I work.

Zite is where I find a lot of interesting stuff. It’s kind of amazing that it works as well as it does. I wish I could pay them because they make my evenings better. Thanks to everyone involved.

Day One is my time travel device. I put things in this application that I have never revealed to any human. I could write these things in any app, but I’m thankful I get to write them in Day One. Thanks to Paul Mayne, Ben Dolman and everyone else that make it awesome.

Pinboard is the evolution of bookmarking. It’s bookmarking without thinking about bookmarks. I use the service every day. I’m glad Yahoo shit the bed with Delicious so that I could have Pinboard. I’m also glad that Maciej is so terrific.

Twitter is great. They suck sometimes but I’ve connected with awesome people because of Twitter. I’m happy it exists and doesn’t suck more. Thanks to the folks at Twitter that are fighting the good fight.

I use ADN for most of my private messaging with my collaborators. It works great since they are all nerds and know what ADN is.

My Synology drive has given me more value per dollar spent than just about any other computer device. I’ve only cracked the surface of what it can do. If there are more than robots at Synology, then I thank them.

Erik Hess is a great designer. He designed Macdrifter.com, NerdQuery and Technical Difficulties. He’s also been my partner in podcasting for many months. I’ll ride his coat tails until he figures out that he’s getting a raw deal. Awesome guy.

Merlin Mann entertains me every week and usually gives me something good to think about. Holden Caulfield would like him.

I star and bookmark everything Dr. Drang does. What a great nerd.

Ars Technica is some of the best writing around. They actually hire people that do research before writing. Thanks to the writers and editors.

The Loop Insight is just a no-bullshit link blog. It’s 50% personality and 50% “take it or leave it.” I like them.

Macstories is proof that you can make a living off of credibility. How great is that! Cheers Viticci

All of this is just a tiny bit of what I’m thankful for. I’m most thankful that I get to have a lifestyle where this stuff matters to me.