Amazing iPhone Tip: You Have A Free Scanner! August 20, 2019August 20, 2019 But first . . . Tamara Hendrickson: “This CNN quiz on combatting climate change is harder than it seems and I learned a few things.” → Me, too! Here I’ve spent half the summer plotting against the bamboo that’s overtaken my yard (imagining its skinny little leaves do little to eat CO2) and now it turns out this is exactly what I should not be doing. Also . . . I hope you’ve read Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk and Andrew Yang’s The War On Normal People, among other really important things this summer (the Mueller report!). But for pure end of summer fun and wonderful writing — even better listened to than read, because the reader does such a good job — I commend Eric Poole’s Excuse Me While I Slip Into Someone More Comfortable. And now . . . Why didn’t I know about this sooner? If you have an iPhone, open its NOTES app (likely in your Utilities folder; or search for “notes” and it will show up). Then touch the plus sign at the bottom of the screen. Select scan documents. Lay the document out on the table and take a picture of each page, as prompted. It scans them just the way your giant printer/scanner would and, when done, email or text the file to yourself or anyone else. Because it’s sent as a scan rather than a photo, it will be easier to read . . . and because you probably have a PDF reader on your computer, you can convert it to a Word document, in case (say) your goal were to insert excerpts from it into your next newsletter without having to retype it. (Thanks again, Brian.) While we’re at it (and in case you forgot) . . . if your iPhone ever suddenly goes black and won’t turn back on, even though you had battery life remaining, just briefly press the UP volume and then the DOWN volume buttons, then press and hold the on/off button for 10 or 15 seconds until the apple logo appears and you know you’re back in business. More iPhone tips if you missed them the first time. And don’t forget Mark Jansen’s hold-down-the-space-bar-to-turn-the-keyboard-into-a-trackpad tip.