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 Apple MacMini - Dual Core i5 2.5GHz, 8GB RAM, AMD HD 6630M, 500GB Hitachi HDD, OS X 10.8.* (Bought Sept. 2011)

I also have an old MacBook from October 2006 – still feels not too bad for speed with a cheap SSD inside it: Core Duo 2GHz, 2GB RAM, Intel G950 graphics, 64GB Crucial m4 SSD. It’s begun to attract stickers…

The current incarnation of my continually self built desktop PC:
CPU:  Intel Core i5 3470 (Jan. 2013) , RAM: 8GB Corsair DDR3 (Dec. 2011), Mobo: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP (Jan. 2013) , Graphics: Gigabyte HD7770 OC 1GB (Jan. 2013), Sound: Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Audio (May 2011), Misc.: Enermax fans, and Antec EarthWatts 650 Green PSU (Jan. 2013).   It has OS/apps on a Crucial 256GB m4 SSD (Sept. 2012) and data on Western Digital Green drive. (Sept. 2009). Case: Lian Li PC-7a Aluminium  OS: Windows 8 64bit.

Storage Server

After a few years with a trusty Buffalo 1 disc 2TB NAS drive, I’ve just built (May 2013) a basic Windows Home Server:  CPU: AMD A6-5400K, RAM: 8GB Corsair XMS3, Mobo: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4M , Graphics: None – on CPU, Sound: None – onboard, PSU: Antec Earthwatts 450 Platinum PSU, Case;  Fractal Design Define R4 case. Discs: Samsung 840 120GB SSD for OS, 4 * 2TB WD Green HDD (in 2 disc pools for 4TB * 2)  OS: Microsoft Server 2012

Software:

Most of the textual things I produce are done in a straight text editor like TextEdit, BBEdit or Notepad++. For assembling these bits, as well as actual writing, I use Scrivener – it’s a fantastic application. As I move machines, I tend to keep work in progress on Dropbox or Evernote.

Video editing I do in iMovie, and I tend to use Vimeo for web availability. I’m currently using iPhoto to organise photos, and an old copy of Photoshop Elements 8 or Paint.net for image creation and such. For music, I’m using iTunes on Mac, Foobar2000 on Windows.

Also, I keep a Microsoft Technet account as I find it useful having access to that kind of thing. All of my e-mail is run via my own domain names, but uses Rackspace Mail as a backend.

Hosting

This blog is housed on WordPress.com, but I also have some space at PairLite (part of pair.com) for some personal projects and experiments.

Other gadgets:

• 6th generation iPod Classic 80GB (~2006)
• 3rd generation wi-fi Kindle (Sept. 2010)
• iPhone 4 32GB (Softbank-free with contract extension) (August 2011)
• Asus Nexus 7 tablet (November 2012)

Outdoors

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! In 2011 I picked up a Trek Kaitai bicycle which I also like to get out on – four wheels good, two wheels better.

To enjoy the mountains, I have a decade old Nitro Atlas 64 snowboard, some Flow bindings for a few days on the mountain. I also ski a bit, on some discounted Head Cube 10 ski boots I picked up, and an old pair of carving skis I got from a friend.

The Audio and the Visual

I have a Nikon D3200 dSLR which I bought in October 2012, having sold my trusty old D40 (from 2006!), I have 2 lenses (a 35mm and a 55-200mm zoom), a GoPro HERO2 which I like to play with, and a Canon Ixy 30 S point and shoot. I also have a Zoom H1 audio recorder, as sometimes I just want to capture the sounds, and not the sights.

Gaming

I do a lot less gaming nowadays, and that is on the consoles for the most part – I have an XBox360, a Wii and a PS3, not to mention a Nintendo DS somewhere – with some more casual games being played through Steam. It’s something I don’t have a lot of free time for of late.