If you came of age during the 1980s, you’ll recall Michael Keaton’s innovative morgue worker and idea man, Bill Blazejowski, from the movie “Night Shift.”
Here’s one idea: “What if you mix the mayonnaise in the can, WITH the tuna fish? Or… hold it!….I got it! Take LIVE tuna fish, and FEED ’em mayonnaise! Oh this is great.” Then, speaking into a tape recorder, “Call StarKist!”
Most people don’t carry tape recorders, but they do have an iPhone. And with a great app called Idea Organizer, you can feed plenty of ideas into your iPhone. The beauty of Idea Organizer is that it offers three ways to input ideas: by voice, text or photo. The ideas are catalogued by type and listed in the order they were entered.
As a journalist, I often carry a small notebook with me to jot down ideas. But I’m a tad forgetful (where did I leave those notes?) and that’s where Idea Organizer helps me out. I use the text and voice tools with equal measure: voice to record an idea if I’m walking and text if I’m on the bus. I haven’t used the photo tool much, but I suspect it will come in handy for the holiday season: use Idea Organizer’s photo tool to snap shots of potential gifts while you’re out and about. When the time comes for buying, you’ll have a ready-made pictorial list to refresh your memory.
The app taps into the iPhone’s built-in voice recorder and camera, and those tools — plus the Notes app — can be used separately for the same idea-creating functions. But by tying them together, you’ll remember to use your iPhone to speak, write or capture all those ideas that pop into your head.
Even idea man Bill Blazejowski wouldn’t have to worry that he gets “so many ideas that I can’t even fight them off!” All he would need to remember is to pick up his iPhone.
