Take note

Years ago, after I fibbed my way into a reporter’s job at MacWeek, the once-legendary Apple news weekly, I was really shocked at how my predecessor stored their contacts and calendar.

To get the job, I’d pretended I was far more tech savvy than I actually was.

Although I’d used a Mac for several years at that point, I was definitely not a power user (I found out later that they saw right through it).

But I was expecting the staff of MacWeek — a scoop factory that was the Mark Gurman of its era — to be well-versed in advanced computer use.

To help me get started, my predecessor — who ‘d moved up to a prestigious mainstream publication — kindly gifted me their old contacts. It included Apple PR people, friendly staffers, industry analysts, startup CEOs and the like — anyone and everyone who might be able to break news about the company or provide expert commentary.

I was expecting some kind of sophisticated database or a contacts file with cross-references and detailed notes. Instead what I got was a simple text file with a long list of names, phone numbers and email addresses — and it wasn’t even alphabetical.

What the heck, I thought. This is even more basic than my own address book.

It was the same with their calendar, which was just another text document with a list of conferences, anniversaries and other important dates. At least it was in chronological order.

It reminds me of the same way I currently use the Notes app on my iPhone.

The Notes app is my external brain. I dump everything into it, from shopping lists to reminders, even some passwords! I have lists of books and movies I one day plan to read/watch. Great quotes or nuggets of wisdom I stumbled across. Copies of pictures or artwork I like. Recipes. Car maintenance schedules. I have 696 notes, stretching back years.

My notes are an enormous mess and not organized in any way. I rely on search to find anything. Ofc, this is absurd because I’ve forgotten about almost everything I store in there. The other day I stumbled across a half-written Alien screenplay idea I‘d completely forgotten about (Surprisingly, it wasn’t terrible).

I am aware that there’s a much better way. Shopping lists, for example, can be formatted as checklists that can be ticked off — a trick I have yet to master.

There are some handy new features coming to Notes in iOS 27, that no doubt I will completely fail to learn. Don’t be like me.

Also in today’s newsletter:

— Leander Kahney, EIC.

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