Just a bit of zeitgeist pasted from a conversation…
…Another well worth mentioning is Perplexity. Their pitch is that it’s built for research, the immediate upshot of which is that the results are organized to lead to your likely next questions. The main features are: 1. it actively searches the web as well as generating from LLM’s, and 2. included are links to real web pages supporting the output.
Again with the controversy and likely copyright infringements, but the tools are incontrovertibly useful, astonishingly so. Even the stuff in Apple’s latest “Intelligence” feature set has some nice quick “please capitalize and punctuate this nonsense so I don’t have to” abilities that I use. I don’t yet pay for any subscriptions, only the backend API’s. I am able to get most of what I want for free, although I have considered paying for Anthropic’s Claude mostly just to see what it will do, choosing that one for the reasons we discussed.
I also run a couple of large language models locally on my Mac both for fun and when I don’t want the material out in the world.
One comparative point I wanted to highlight: While these are all, for so many purposes, interchangeable, they each have their moments in the sun. And in this moment, Google happens to have just released a new model that has received praise, and they are offering 2.5 Pro to all accounts both free and paid as “experimental.” This dropdown menu gives you a good idea of how the different models might be used:
To me it’s a sign of how young this technology is that we have to think about which tool is right for the job.
I have to acknowledge here and now how little I like the term “AI” in this context — and for different reasons the movie of that name that Kubrick pawned off on Spielberg — and wish Apple could have kept using “machine learning.” It does not help that now the companies are bandying about “AGI” (“G” for “general”) to represent Kurzweil’s singularity. There is so much nonsense and jazz-hands and jibber-jabber about it, not to mention legitimate concerns and fears, but as that seems true for bloody well everything these days, I’m content using this amazing stuff for what it actually does do very very well.
Finally, the thing I really want it to do is read my whole computer of my own text, and either answer queries about that or spit my own words back out at me, so I can say, for example “repeat what I wrote Lucy about AI last week.” Apple purported to be working on that, but appears to have been failing in that effort, so much so that they have done some reorganization to address the lack.
If you ever write anything longer than emails, do yourself a favor: Download [Byword](http://bywordapp.com) on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
A Boon to Writers
If you ever write anything longer than emails, do yourself a favor: Download Byword on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
Byword is built for editing text and Markdown files. It’s simple, pretty, and clean. It’s my favorite place to write.
As mentioned in Part I, text editors like Byword work best used in conjunction with a “cloud” service such as Dropbox or Apple’s iCloud. Syncing with the cloud lets you start a document on your iPhone, and finish it on your Mac. Or whatever device you have handy. Instant access to all your important text.
Byword is by no means your only option. But if you are just joining the Revolution in Text, I think it’s the best place to start.
Mac
Byword on the Mac is real straightforward: It’s just an app like Word or Pages. It’s job is to open and save plain text files from anywhere on your hard drive. But I would encourage you to start working in the Text folder you created in Part I.
Open Byword, and tell it to connect to your Dropbox account.
Then go back a level, and tap on Settings > Dropbox Setup > Folder, and choose the “Text” folder you created in Part I. Tap Done, and then tap on Dropbox to see all your text files.
Magic in an asterisk
But how do you make it look good? Look what a few well-placed asterisks can do:
Those characters use a really simple idea called Markdown. It’s easier to learn than making popcorn.
Links and images are also easy:
Here’s the kicker: Byword knows all these codes, and inserts them for you. Even on your iPhone. It’s as easy as any word processor, but without all the cruft — or the cost — of Microsoft Word.
What then?
“Great, fine,” you say, “but what do I do with that nicely formatted text?”
Easy magic! Byword automatically translates Markdown into formatted text (Rich Text Format or .rtf) and also HTML. You can copy formatted text straight from Byword into an email, or into Pages or Keynote. Bloggers can copy HTML to paste into a WordPress post. And if you use Squarespace (and you should totally use Squarespace), you can use Markdown directly in your web site and blog posts.
Markdown has gone viral among nerds, but I am here to tell you that it’s the writing tool for anyone at all.
Come to my presentation at BlogItSA! to learn more!
Note: Before you read this, you owe it to yourself to head over to Dropbox and sign up for a free account. It will be the best thing you’ve done on your computer all month. There is a video on the front page of Dropbox.com to explain why.
Besides straght use of its core feature—syncing your files and data between all your devices—my tip-top favoritest thing I can do with Dropbox is edit plain ol’ text files. Whether I start them on my iPad or Mac or iPhone, once they’re saved into Dropbox, they immediately show up everywhere else.
Johnny Depp as the lonely writer in Secret Window
That may sound mundane, but trust me: this is cutting-edge stuff! Writers have always been chained to big clunky mechanisms. From ink-and-parchment to typewriters to the first massive “portable” computers (with their 5-inch screens) to modern laptops, we’ve never had true mobility, the liberty to change our writing environment at a whim. The archetype of the lonely author—in his favorite bathrobe, seated in his library pounding away at his keyboard—may go the way of the telegraph and the horse-drawn carriage.
My goal for my own writing life is to find my own perfect environment, not a physical one, but an undistracting digital space, where I can find all my drafts and finished pieces, no matter where I may find myself. Dropbox has become the key to that.
The right to write
Since finding this solution of plain text, synced with Dropbox, I’ve tried and recommended several different text-editor apps for the Mac and iPad. Elements, Nebulous Notes, OmmWriter, and Apple’s TextEdit have served me well (at least, when Elements wasn’t throwing frustrating error messages that forced me to quit and even reinstall the app). Meistergeek Brett Terpstra has supervised an insanely comprehensive matrix of all the text apps in iOS.
Just recently, however, my best writing app for the Mac has made it to iOS. Byword is just fantastic: clean, simple, and with just the right features to make me kick everything else to the curb, at least for the moment.
Byword in full-screen mode
Byword’s default mode on the Mac is full-screen, hiding all other windows and toolbars behind a light-cream shade.
It behaves similarly on the iPad; the few buttons and controls are designed in faded grey, and the developer has included only the most important features and preferences, eliminating the urge to fiddle rather than write.
If I create a document on the Mac, which I can do in any text editor, I just save it in my Dropbox folder. I have linked my Dropbox account to Byword on iPhone and iPad, so it sees any text file in any folder there. Whatever edits I do get automatically synced. With Lion on the Mac, I don’t have to remember to hit Save.
This easy, no-save syncing is simply impossible with Microsoft Word. I haven’t used Word for writing in years.
When I’m ready to ship, I can just copy and paste, or email straight from the iOS app, or from the Mac file system, as an attachment, or as plain or formatted text.
The real magic
Wait, did I just say formatted? Indeed I did. For this is the big new tip for modern writer: you can format a plain-text file. Bold, italics, bullet lists, web links, even web images and footnotes…you can do it all.
The secret is Markdown. Markdown is a set of simple text codes you can use to indicate formatting. It takes just minutes to learn, and once you’ve got it, it’s yours forever.
One asterisk on either side of a *word*, for example, means italics. **Two asterisks** is bold.
Use asterisks or plus signs to make a bulleted list, so…
* my first item
* my next item
* my last item
…becomes…
my first item
my next item
my last item.
You can read the full set of syntax on Daring Fireball, the excellent web site of Markdown creator John Gruber. I recommend that you start with the basics. Everything after that is pure gravy.
Once you’ve finished writing and editing your doc, all that’s left is to ship it. I mentioned that you can email text directly out of Byword. BUT…if you format with Markdown, you can send email that’s all kinds of pretty, in ways that Apple’s Mail app just won’t do.
For bloggers, Markdown changes everything about generating a post, because it will convert all your formatting into sweet, sweet HTML code to be pasted into WordPress or your choice of platforms. My favorite CMS, Squarespace, even lets you edit in Markdown directly on your site.
Power editing
Back to Byword: The biggest reason I landed on Byword as my go to composer is how super-smart it is about Markdown. There are quick shortcuts to the most common codes, and special behaviors to make the syntax even easier.
If, for example, I’m editing a numbered list with “1.,” “2.,” etc., I just hit return after each line and the next number is generated. Ditto for bulleted lists. Also, on the Mac, all the Markdown codes fade into the background, and keyboard shortcuts will insert codes for bold, italics, links, lists, and images.
Copy rich text from Marked
Always-on preview: I have just one more Power Tip. Once you have started using Markdown, it is worth popping on over to the Mac App Store and picking up Marked for $3.99. Wen you open a Markdown file in Marked, you get a constantly updated preview of your formatted file. This is as opposed to hitting Preview in Byword every few minutes to see what your end result will look like. Marked also offers the best HTML and rich-text export for pasting into email or your blog.
The end result
I guarantee, if you follow these simple recommendations, the combo of Dropbox + Byword + Markdown will rock your writing world. I wish you a happy life of letters!
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