What’s on your desk, Jay Peters?

What’s on your desk, Jay Peters?

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The Verge lives by news, and Jay Peters is one of the news writers who keeps it going – look for the latest information on what’s going on in technology, entertainment and culture and write it down for the site. As with the rest of us, Jay has done most of his work from home over the past year – that’s how he does it.

Tell me a little about yourself. What is your background, and what do you do it for? The edge?

I’m a news writer here at The edge, and I’m happy to discuss all sorts of things in technology, games, entertainment and more. On a given day, I might write about things like the iPhone 13, Pokémon gadgets, Marvel movie titles, Fortnite skins, or even the Monopoly Longest Game Ever version.

I had a bit of a path to this job. From university I worked in technology PR and started writing about technology Technical theme, and connected The edge in August 2019.

How did you decide where and how to set up your workspace?

It took years to get the setup to where it is now. I experimented with different desks, mice, keyboards, laptops, monitor arms, and even at one point attached the Nintendo Switch dock with one velcro to one of the legs of the desk. And I’m always busy with my setup, so anything I set up right now can change along the way.

As for where the desk is, it was a lucky coincidence that my current apartment has a corner that has the perfect size for this desk and the dresser (which contains things like game controllers and my notebook).

What adjustments did you have to make to work from home and how do you handle distractions?

My wife and I have been working from home since 2017, which is why our physical work environments have not changed much due to the pandemic. However, because we live in a studio, we have to communicate about our schedules and meetings every day so that we cannot make phone calls at the same time.

To avoid distractions, I usually insert my AirPods Pro without sound. It’s often enough to turn things around so I can stay focused. But if I need some white noise, I’ll turn on this extensive YouTube video featuring environmental noise from the USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation. This has been my thing for years. And if I fancy music, I’ve been watching lo-fi remixes of video games ever since.

Tell me a little about the desk itself, which I think is a sitting / standing bench. How did you choose it?

This is a fully Jarvis desktop. I used a sitting / standing table at my PR job and got used to being able to switch back and forth, and when I stand, I make myself feel less lazy to park in front of a computer all day. I also find that the link between sitting and standing relieves back pain and helps with a repetitive strain injury (RSI) in my wrists that first flared up a few years ago.

One of the best additions I got for the desk was the programmable memory unit, which allows me to tap a button to adjust the desk to my sitting and standing position. I also got the wheels (wheels) so I could send them to me and my wife’s lounge chairs, which are right behind the desk. I can bring the desktop, adjust the monitor a little lower and then use it to watch movies and play video games.

You seem to have less desk space than most desktops we’ve seen from your colleagues.

Space is high in my studio, so a smaller desk now works better for me. I’m also happy that I can technically do all my work with a laptop, so I do not need a larger desktop – though a keyboard, mouse and monitor make it much easier!

This is really an interesting desk chair.

This is the Capisco chair from HÅG, and I thought so too when I first saw it in Fully’s online store. I did not intend to buy it because of the price, which starts at $ 829. But I tried it out at the Fully showroom in Portland and it was my favorite chair there, and I jumped at it. Every day I am glad I did it because I can sit in it comfortably for hours and it helps a lot with my posture.

Okay, now it’s time to talk about your technology. Let’s start with your computer.

I have a new 13-inch MacBook Air with Apple’s custom M1 chip inside. This is a fantastic machine. The only upgrade I added was 16GB of RAM. I have not added any memory on board because most of my digital life is stored online.

The monitor is an Asus VS228H-P with a 21.5-inch screen. My Amazon account tells me I already bought it in 2015, but even though it’s old, I’m still very happy with it. (I will admit that I thought it was a 24-inch screen for uh, years.)

It was connected to a Huanuo monitor mount, and I bought it because it was the highest I could find.

This is a very interesting screen layout. How did you decide on that? Does it work well for you?

I use a single monitor because I am too easily distracted if I have more than one. But I would like to one day upgrade to something bigger or maybe even an ultrawide (especially now that I know I have a 21.5-inch monitor instead of a 24-inch).

The extremely high mounting of the monitor has two purposes: it helps a lot with my posture and is very adjustable, which means I can bring it to a lower height when I sit on the chairs behind the desk.

Tell us a little about the mouse on the right side of your keyboard.

This is the Contour Unimouse. My wrists can hurt when I use a ‘flat’ mouse for two minutes, so I spent a lot of time and money trying out different vertical mice to see which one suits me best. I like the Unimouse a lot because it’s just as high – the company’s website says it’s 70 degrees.

The mouse pad is the VictSing Ergonomic Mouse Pad. I do not remember why I chose it over others, but it works well for me and it is cheap.

You’re the second person I’ve seen use a split keyboard. Do you find it better than a traditional keyboard?

I do! This is the Kinesis Freestyle Pro with the additional tent accessories and wrist pads. I happily used the ergonomic keyboard from Microsoft for years and also tried other ergonomic keyboards like the Kinesis Advantage2 QD and the ErgoDox EZ. But the Freestyle Pro feels just the best to me.

I also like that I can program specific keys for macros. On the left side of my keyboard you can see that I have pieces of Post-It notes on a rough tape over some of the keys – the pieces are a reminder that I programmed the keys, such as Command + L around the link in the URL bar of my browser.

How about your other technology (headphones, speakers, etc.)?

During the work day, my AirPods Pro almost leaves my ears – they are comfortable, sound good and work very well with my Mac and iPhone. I have only one criticism: unlike the original AirPods, the AirPods Pro tends to fall out when I talk or eat. Hopefully Apple will adjust the fit of the AirPods Pro a bit for the next model.

My webcam is the Logitech C920 HD Pro. It’s great and much better than my MacBook Air’s webcam.

My USB-C hub is the Totu 13-in-1. It’s honestly too much for my needs, but it works well. Sometimes, however, it gives a squeak of dogs which is really annoying. And the boot is a Choetech boot. It works well enough, even though it charges my iPhone very slowly and sometimes I have to move my devices a bit until the charging indicators turn on.

To the left of my desktop are my PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch. I mostly only owned Nintendo consoles recently, so I spent a lot of my pandemic free time catching up with older PlayStation and Xbox games on the PS5 and Series X. (I am currently tearing 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.) They all sit on an IKEA Malm chest of drawers.

And throughout the day, I drink water from my reliable Hydro Flask water bottle. However, I swapped the cap for a Klean Kanteen Sport cap, which I think is less than Hydro Flask’s sports hat.

When you submitted the photos, you apologized for the catharsis on some of your devices. Tell us about the cat!

Meet Gouda! He is an exotic short hair of eight years and his tongue never goes into his mouth. But do not be fooled by his cuteness, he is full of problems. He likes to knock small objects off counters and wake my wife and me thirty minutes before the alarm goes off. But we love him very much anyway.

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