nvNotes is a note-taking app for iPhone that was inspired by apps like nvALT, Notational Velocity, and more recently, the new Writer Pro. This is one of those apps that mostly stays out of your way so you can focus on what's really important: your notes. The few features that come into play while you're writing are: Word and character count. A…
Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is one of those books that I've always heard about from other writers, but I didn't get around to reading it until very recently. I wish I'd gotten around to it sooner because it's truly a fantastic book. In it, King talks about the events that led to him becoming a writer, which…
Eastgate, the folks behind note-organization app Tinderbox, have put on a winter holiday sale featuring several awesome writing apps for the Mac. The sale includes Tinderbox itself, Scrivener, Scapple, DEVONthink Pro, and Nisus Writer Pro. In each case, you can use the promo code WINTERFEST2013 to get 25% off the normal price. These are some great apps for writers (especially Scrivener) so…
Sometimes a new writing app comes out that has everybody talking about it for a while. Right now, Writer Pro, the successor to the ever-popular iA Writer, is the new hotness. This app is designed around the four basic stages of any writer's workflow – note-taking, writing, editing, and reading – each of which is represented by a different typeface and color.…
Wipebook is a Kickstarter project that essentially combines a paper notebook with a dry-erase board. Each page is its own mini-whiteboard, meaning that you can leave your sketches and/or notes as long as you want, then easily erase them whenever the time's right. The entire notebook can be reused over and over, so you don't have to keep buying new notebooks whenever…
MarkDrop is a new text editor for Mac OS X (10.8 and above) that combines Markdown with Droplr for easy sharing and storage. The left pane, with its monospaced text and format-highlighting, is where you'll do your writing. The right hand pane provides a real-time preview of your Markdown output. Once you've composed something in MarkDrop, it can be saved directly to…
I'm one of those people who always finds a way to lose pens, no matter what I do. I'll leave one in a specific spot, only to find that it was somehow magicked away the next time I need it. The Move Pen is a Kickstarter project that might help me out a little. With a built-in attachment point for keychains and/or…
As someone who does nearly all of my writing from an iPad, I've been very happy with my Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover. I like the feel of the keys and the way it protects my iPad when it's closed, plus I haven't yet needed to charge the thing once in the six months I've owned it. But it's not without limitations. The…
Something I've noticed a lot of in the last few years is a renewed interest in the old-school, ritualistic style of shaving, often referred to as "wet shaving". Guys are tossing out their modern shaving stuff in favor of the kind of gear their grandfather might have used back in the day, and in turn they're getting a much more relaxing and…
The latest edition of the Field Notes COLORS lineup is here just in time for the holidays, and it's called "Cold Horizon". With glossy blue covers whose colors blend into one another across the set when they're arranged side-by-side, these notebooks certainly evoke the winter spirit. The pages of each book – which are tinted light green, light blue, and cool gray,…
FiftyThree has just made another leap into the world of physical goods with a gadget called Pencil. Pencil is essentially an iPad stylus, but one with special features designed for use with their popular sketching app, Paper. Simply touch the stylus tip to the screen while Paper is open, and it will automatically pair via Bluetooth. From there, the app will be…
One of my favorite apps (and one of the best reasons to own an iPad) is Paper by FiftyThree. Combined with a Cosmonaut stylus, it's a super fun way to doodle, sketch out ideas, and generally make awesome stuff. And now, FiftyThree has partnered with the people at Moleskine so that you can have your Paper notebooks custom-printed in Moleskine form, directly…
In addition to their "Pony Express" leather pouch, the guys at Field Notes have added a beautiful new product to their lineup of leather goods: the "Everyday Carry" Memo Book Cover. Made of soft, vegetable-tanned cowhide leather, this cover sports inner pockets that can hold a Field Notes notebook along with other carryables, such as cash and a couple of credit cards.…
Thanks to a guest review on the Pen Addict blog this morning (written by Garrett Kubat), I got to find out about a cool new notebook called reNote. It's made by the same guy behind the Pour Mason and the CINCH Wallet. The reNote is made of re-used materials, with covers that are actually cut from food and drink cartons, and pages…
Nock Co. is a new startup by Jeffrey Bruckwicki and Brad Dowdy focused on creating beautiful, functional pen accessories. Their initial Kickstarter project features numerous products. Ranging from the The Chimneytop, a mini pop-up case with a single zipper for 6-7 pens to The Brasstown, a zippered roll case for pens, pencils, small tools and more. All of Nock Co's items are…
Brett Terpstra's awesome Markdown-preview app for Mac, Marked, has been updated to version 2. For those who don't already know, Marked acts like a sort of extension for any Mac text editor, allowing you to preview your Markdown-formatted plain text in its rich-formatted state, every time you save your document. The preview can be customized to look however you like, even as…
A handcrafted combination leather wallet + notebook cover.
Editorial for iPad, released just this morning, is a long-awaited Markdown text editor and workflow automation tool for iPad — and boy, is it a doozy. Developed by Ole Moritz – the guy behind the popular Pythonista app for iOS – Editorial looks like your typical iOS text editor on the surface. It has the requisite support for things like Markdown previews…
Written by our fearless editor Shawn Blanc, Delight is in the Details is an audio book, eBook, and interview series for people who make things. The focus is on addressing the finest goal a person in our industry can have: to create substantive work that delights and excites our audience. To that end, this book bundle contains eight audio interviews with such…
Yesterday, the guys at Typography.com introduced a webfont project they're calling Cloud.typography, and it looks fantastic. This appears to be their answer to services like Typekit, and includes the entire H&FJ typeface collection. You know how the default fonts in Check the Weather and Vesper are Idlewild and Ideal Sans, respectively? Yeah, they're both included with this service, along with a lot…