Handy iOS tip

My background is in journalism and for me there is no greater motivation or tool to spark the imagination than settling down to a good magazine or book on a subject that I'm passionate about. At this point in my life, cycling and running have become an increasingly important pass time so I subscribe to several magazines on these topics.

I have graduated from listening intently for the letter carrier to arrive with my latest magazine to checking my Nook or Newsstand App for the that latest installment. In my world, this is one of the greatest innovations of our time: Fewer trees are killed and fewer boxes of back issues clutter my basement. My back issues are available digitally, at least in theory.

I say in theory, because I can never put my hands on those back issues. They are too often trapped behind stacks of old newspapers and other magazines or the Christmas decorations that can never quite find their way to where they should logically be stored the other 11 months of the year.

Not anymore. I discovered a handy iOS trick. When I come across an article I want to reference later, I take a screen shot of either my iPad or iPhone by pressing the on/off and Home buttons simultaneously. This puts an image of the page in my photo stream, which I then put into the appropriate notebook in Evernote.

And there you go, instantly accessed anywhere. No trees died. And I may never have to make another trip to Office Max to buy bankers boxes. And, no more disapproving looks from my wife when she sees those books come in the house.