The Kindle Sidekick

Not long ago, Grey and Myke from the excellent Cortex podcast released a new product called the “ Sidekick Notepad “. It’s a paper notepad, intended to go between you and your keyboard, for quick notes throughout the day. Here’s a photo of it from their site:

In listening to how it came together, it seems like a great little tool. It’s meant for those quick notes at your computer, but also to accompany you to meetings. I was vaguely considering getting one to play with, but hadn’t made the decision yet.

I already have a better version

That’s when I stumbled across a post on the /r/Cortex subreddit from a user that showed how he’s using a much more expensive version of the Sidekick — his reMarkable tablet.

It’s a very simple, yet overlooked idea. While I liked the idea of the Sidekick, it simply never occurred to me to just use my Kindle Scribe there instead. This could work with the Scribe or reMarkable, but also just with an iPad if you want. The iPad is a little trickier (both writing and battery life aren’t made for this), but could do the job.