For The Fun Of It

I still need an anything bucket, and nothing fills that gap like my old friend Yojimbo. I was an early adopter of Yojimbo, back with version one, and I upgraded faithfully for version 2 and version 3, but I held off for a long time on version 4. In the mean time I tried Evernote, DEVONthink, Pinboard, and just the file system to fill the void that Yojimbo filled so gracefully. No more, I’ve come home, and it feels great to be here.

Back before I used a Mac for work, I used it for fun. It was fun to grab random stuff off the web that I wanted to keep and save. I like collecting things, mainly maps, pictures of old 60’s era Volkswagens, and British motorcycles. I also like to grab quotes I’ve found inspirational, designs that I love and want to go back to, funny pictures of cats and dogs, and whatever other random thing catches my eye.

When I bought my first iPhone, I found that I wanted to be able to collect things on the go as well as on the web. Pictures of artwork at a store, or a quick note about a blender. Without a proper Yojimbo client for iOS, most of that stuff was lost. I tried to use Evernote or DEVONthink To Go, but neither tool really clicked with me.

Nothing else works like Yojimbo. The web clients like Pinterest are too slow, and Pinboard is too basic. I can’t just browse through pictures of things in Pinboard. I really don’t like having to rely on the web. As long as I have a Mac I can get to my Yojimbo database, one way or another.

Yojimbo feels right. Not for work, not for a project management system or detailed information store. That’s not what I use it for; I have a system for that. Yojimbo is for everything else, all the fun stuff that I find and want to keep. In the end, Yojimbo 4 works great, and recaptures some of the magic that made me fall in love with the Mac. I keep it just for the fun of it.