On this page there’s just a bit on what hardware, software and gadgets as such I’m running right now, and yes, this is all a bit techie:

Computing Hardware

2011 Mac Mini - Dual Core i5 2.5GHz, 8GB RAM, AMD HD 6630M, 500GB Hitachi HDD. (Bought Sept. 2011!)

I also have a MacBook from October 2006:
MacBook – Core Duo 2GHz, 2GB RAM, Intel G950, 64GB Crucial m4 SSD.

The current incarnation of my continually self built desktop PC:
CPU: Athlon 2 X4 645 (Quad Core 3.1 GHz – June 2011)
RAM: 12GB DDR3 (Sept. 2009 & Dec. 2011)
Mobo: ASRock M3A785GMH (Sept. 2009)
Graphics: Kuroutoshikou ATI HD 5750 (May 2010)
Sound: Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Audio (May 2011)
Misc.: Enermax fans, and Antec Earthwatts 430 PSU.  2 * 1TB Western Digital Green drives. (Sept. 2009)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.  Virtualboxes : Ubuntu server as a LAMP server.

As most of what I do is textual, I don’t need any overly expensive hardware or software – I write in either the browser into WordPress, or Evernote, or a text editor like BBEdit or Notepad++, saving into a Dropbox folder. When I’m working on a short story though, I like to break out Scrivener. What gaming I do is on the consoles for the most part, with some more casual games on Steam. For videos, I tend to use Vimeo, though I’ll probably get round to putting them on YouTube at some point.

Other current gadgets:
- 6th generation iPod Classic 80GB (~2006)
- iPhone 4 32GB (Softbank-free with contract extension) (August 2011)
- 3rd generation wi-fi Kindle (Sept. 2010)

Miscellaneous

I ride a 2006 Honda CB400 SF motorbike – a nice simple bike which is great for getting out into the core of Japan, and meeting the people. I do have a license for a larger bike, but have not got around to sorting a bigger bike out! I recently replaced my 10 year old GT Aggressor mountain bike with a newer Trek Kaitai model. Four wheels good, two wheels better.

To enjoy the mountains, I have a near decade old Nitro Atlas 64 snowboard and all the jackets and such for a few days on the mountain.

Computer Cupboard

It’s all very IKEA at the moment!  A Galant model desk in black-brown with white A frame legs. I have it at 750mm which is a little higher than the standard 700mm. Screwed into this I have two Signum cable management systems which I privately hate, and on one end, a raised shelf, with the printer on top, and the scanner underneath, which I slide out when I want to scan something.

I also have a Forsa desk lamp, with a Sharp LED bulb in it for some additional white light (the room lighting is a couple of diffused LED ceiling lights are warmer coloured. We also have a lot of bookshelves in there.