notes Archives

Your A+ checklist

🔔 School’s almost back in session. I’ve done the homework for you.

✍️ Jot this down: Snag a set of gel pens (20% off, six-pack) for journaling, note-taking or doodling during class.

📑 Get out of a bind: These ring binders (20% off, four-pack) double as cheat sheets. You didn’t hear that from me.

📝 Note to self: One college-ruled notebook (41% off, six-pack) per class = zero confusion.

🛏️ Dorm-approved: Drift off after that 2 a.m. study sesh on silky-soft bedsheets (18% off).

📦 Bin there, done that: Stackable storage bins (25% off, two-pack) tell your roommate, “That’s mine.”

💯 Extra credit: There’s a whole backpack’s worth of back-to-school deals waiting for you on my Amazon page.

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

AI note takers

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Artificial intelligence can take notes, assign tasks and organize your whole meeting. Here’s how to set it up.

It takes an AI village: X is getting more AI slop. It will now allow AI to write Community Notes, but only if humans give them a thumbs-up. You’ll see them labeled as AI-written. Bots are no longer just spreading misinformation, now they’re trying to clean it up, too.

Two notes

That’s all it took to write the world’s most terrifying tuba solo. Jaws turns 50 this month, and all composer John Williams needed was just E and F played faster and louder. This helped create a shark so scary, we thought twice about going in a swimming pool.

Mac multitasking trick: Hold Command (⌘) to use background windows without switching focus. For example, if Safari is in front and Notes is behind it, hold ⌘ and drag a corner of the Notes window to resize it without bringing it forward. You can also select text in the background this way.

The ‘Case of the Mondays’ savings

✏️ I found some neat stuff to help you kick off your workweek:

Put this knitted potato (30% off) on your desk for some cute motivation.
Snag a rotating organizer ($10) to grab a pen from any angle.
Feeling chilly in the office? Warm up with a lap blanket ($35). Click the coupon for 10% off!
For my cat lovers, here’s an adorable note dispenser (33% off).
Grab a memo board ($7) to keep your notes nice and organized.

🛒 Before you check out: Hit up my page for other great things you didn’t know you needed. Happy scrolling!

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

Get to the point: Cut to the chase if you’re adding special instructions to your online order. If there’s a gate code, for instance, start the message with “Gate code 1234” (or whatever your code is). Often, those notes get cut short for the delivery person, so put the important stuff right up front.

🎭 Who owns your face? Get this. Denmark’s rewriting copyright law to give people ownership over their face, voice and vibe. Yes, really. If a deepfake of you pops up without consent, you can make platforms take it down. It’s the first law of its kind in Europe, and the U.S. might want to take notes. This will be ID theft in 2035.

Resize Quick Notes on iPad: Need more space to read or jot something down? When a Quick Note is open, pinch outward with two fingers (just like zooming in on a photo) to make it bigger. To shrink it again, pinch inward. You can also drag it to any corner and keep working in your app.

📌 Stickies on Mac: Doing research in Safari and want to save bits as you go? Highlight any text and press Command + Shift + Y to turn it into a sticky note. You can drag it to the side while you work. When you’re done, go to Stickies > File > Export All to Notes. It’ll be saved under Imported Notes.

🧨 Military-tech frenemies: Meta and its exiled VR golden boy Palmer Luckey are now building souped-up VR headsets for the U.S. Army. It’s part rebrand, part redemption arc and fully dystopian. Move over, Xbox Live, tactical goggles now have patch notes.

Copy text with your iPhone camera: Go to Settings > General > Language & Region and turn on Live Text. Then head to Settings > Camera and toggle on Show Detected Text. Open the Camera app, line up the document and tap the Live Text icon. Now grab the text and paste it into Notes.

Save links with Quick Note: Browsing a website on your iPad and spot something you want to remember? While you’re on the page, swipe diagonally from the bottom-right corner to open a Quick Note. Tap Add Link in the top-left corner, then hit Done. Later, open the Notes app, tap the link and pick up where you left off.

📝 Instead of Google Keep or Apple Notes: Try Notesnook. It’s end-to-end encrypted and lets you export to other apps. Unlike some companies, Notesnook won’t use your stuff to train an AI chatbot.

Robot strawberries: In Virginia, a vertical farm is growing 4 million pounds of strawberries a year indoors, on two-story towers, with no soil, no bees and a whole lot of AI. The system analyzes 10 million+ data points a day. It’s less “Old MacDonald,” more “Black Mirror: Produce Edition.” Can’t wait for my future salad to come with bug patch notes.

📱 Seeing double: Need to check your notes while writing an email? Android lets you use two apps at once. Go to Recent Apps, press and hold the first app you want, then choose Split screen. Tap your second app, and a black bar will separate them. Done? Drag the black bar to the app you want to close.

🤖 Bots in session: Turn your chatbot into your private tutor. Studying for a test? Just say, “I’m a [grade level + subject] student prepping for a [topic + test type]. Based on my notes below, make a practice test to help me study.” Now you’ve got a custom quiz.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Snap a photo of handwritten notes and upload it to Notion AI or ChatGPT with Vision. It’ll convert it into text or a to-do list. Finally, your chicken scratch notes get their PhD.

📄 Scan text into Notes on your iPhone: Open the Notes app, tap the Paperclip icon above the keyboard and select Scan Text. Now, point your camera at the text you want to capture. Once it’s detected, tap Insert to drop it right into your note. Quick, easy and no typing needed!

⌨️ Shrink the keyboard on iPad Notes: The on-screen keyboard takes up half the screen, which gets frustrating when you need to scroll. Sure, you can hide it, but then you can’t type. Instead, pinch inward on the keyboard to shrink it into a small, floating version. It’s way easier to work with.