Technology I use on a Daily Basis - 2016 Version



In the past, I've written about the technology I use on a daily basis (see bottom of page for links).

Here's my updated version for Spring, 2016.

I am a K-12 Education Strategist for CDW-G. In this role, I work with schools on selecting and implementing technology solutions to improve teaching and learning. I do a lot of research on best practices in education and technology and do a decent amount of traveling.

I'm a huge user of Google Apps and Evernote. They are my main work, and personal tools, and all of my devices work with them. Without these, I'm stuck. I also back them both up.

My day typically consists of email conversations and support with our account managers and customers, Google Hangouts with customers providing support, advice, strategy planning, training and professional development, and doing online research, as well as creating tools and resources, like presentations and reference materials. If I am traveling, I only bring my smartphone and my Acer Flip Chromebook and am able to do everything I need to with them. I have Citrix for my Chromebook so I can remote in to our system and access everything I need, including a Windows desktop.


My personal smartphone is an LG G4 running Android. I love it. I can do anything on it - email, web browsing, Google Apps, Evernote, messaging, photos, musics, etc. I is my go-to device. I have an spare battery and external battery for traveling, but the battery life is pretty good. It's also durable, as I've dropped it a few times and it's still here. My work smartphone is a Samsung Galaxy 7 which I use when traveling. I like it, but I like LG's software and screen size better. I use it as a mobile hotspot for my Chromebook while traveling too.


I have the same work and personal laptop - an HP Elitebook Folio 9470m with Core i5 processors and SSD drives. It's lightweight, powerful and works great. I use it at work with a docking station and two monitors. At home, I use my personal one for remoting into work via Citrix, and some other tasks, but mainly just for work tasks when working from home.


My travel device, home use and work use, is my Acer C738T Touch/Flip Chromebook. I have the 4GB Ram version. It's light, has a great battery life, and does everything I need it to do, including work offline. I use it for travel, conferences and off-site meetings. I use it at home sometimes when I need to type. I have both my personal and work profiles on here, with offline Drive access for both setup. I also have the Evernote Android app for Chromebooks on it, with offline sync enabled. I have also added the Google Play Movie/TV app so that I can download movies for offline viewing while traveling. This thing is amazing and has been replacing my need for any other devices.

I also have an LG GPad 8.3" LTE tablet that I got for free when I got my LG G4 smartphone. I use this at home for media consumption - Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Movies, Music. Great device.


Google Apps - for both work and home. Email, Chrome, Calendar, Drive/Docs/Sheets/Slides, Keep, Blogger, Sites - these are my main tools for work and personal use. All of my files are in Drive, and backed up on my personal laptop. I also use a Google account at work with my files in Drive. I have two work accounts - one for work itself (K12 team uses it), and a GAFE account for working with customers. I use a Google Sheet as my project management tool, with hyper links to Docs and other files. Each project gets a separate row, with notes, contacts, follow up tasks and more.



Evernote - this is my other main tool - web clippings, receipts, manuals, project management, important info, contacts, reference material and more. I have the Evernote clipper installed on Chrome and in Outlook. I also have the Evernote Scanner which I use to digitize everything that is paper based. It automatically scans both sides, very quickly, and then sorts things into the proper notebooks in Evernote based on what they are (document, business card, receipt, photo, etc). Great tool for going paperless.

Outlook and Lync at work for email and instant messaging. I have my work email and Lync setup on my smartphones also.

Sites and services I use include Feedly feed reader, Pocket, LinkedIn, TweetDeck, Google+ and Facebook. I spend most of my time on Feedly and Google+, researching and connecting with others.

That's really it. I rarely use anything else and I have different tools for different things - work, home, travel, fun.

Take a look back at earlier versions of this post to see what has changed over the years based on my job and the tech available. I've definitely changed with the apps I use and have less hardware. In fact, my Acer C738T Chromebook is slowly becoming the only device I really need, besides a smartphone.



Related:

Technology I use on a Daily Basis - 2015 Version

Technology I'm using daily as a School District CIO (2012)

Technology I use on a Daily Basis - updated for this year (Oct 2011)

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