Blog

Dev diaries, release notes, and field reports from building iXnote.

• Release Notes

  iXnote 26.005

  On-device AI models and seven-day transcripts

  FollowAlong now runs the latest open-source AI models entirely on your device, and I moved it off Apple's own models on purpose. What shipped, and the decision behind it.

  14 July 2026
• Field Notes

  How to use AI to study and actually remember

  Do your AI-enhanced study tools make you pay attention?

  AI can hand you a folder that looks like a term's work from a lecture you never watched. The single test I use to judge any study tool, and why iXnote leaves the thinking with you.

  5 July 2026
• Field Notes

  Context is all you need

  The thing that slows you down isn't memory. It's context.

  The thing that slows you down between meetings isn't memory or attention. It's context. Why I think a context assistant beats one more note-taking app.

  25 June 2026
• Field Notes

  Why I stopped saying knowledge graph

  20 years telling teams to lead with the benefit. Then I spent five doing the opposite.

  A product manager of 20 years, and I still spent five years explaining personal knowledge graphs and graph RAG to busy people. The blind spot, and the fix.

  24 June 2026
• Field Notes

  The tax you pay between meetings

  Context-switching is a cost nobody puts on the calendar.

  Context-switching is a cost nobody puts on the calendar. What the gap between back-to-back meetings really takes from you, and what actually helps.

  23 June 2026
• Release Notes

  iXnote 2.2

  Sharper context, the graph on iPhone, and import

  iXnote 2.2: FollowAlong reads your context more accurately, the full graph comes to iPhone, and Pro can import from Obsidian, XMind, OPML and CSV.

  21 June 2026
• Dev Diary

  WWDC 2026

  What Apple just announced for its on-device models

  Apple put a 20-billion-parameter model on the iPhone at WWDC 2026. A dev diary on how the sparse architecture works, what it might fix, and what I want to test.

  15 June 2026
• Release Notes

  iXnote 2.1

  Introduces the FollowAlong feature

  iXnote 2.1 introduces FollowAlong, your assistant in meetings: it surfaces the right context live as people talk. Plus a native Mac app, transcript export, and faster sync.

  14 June 2026
• Dev Diary

  Testing Apple's LLM

  What surprised me when I ran real meetings through the rig

  I built the rig, then ran real meetings through Apple's on-device model. The honest results, including the one failure I'd have bet money on and got wrong.

  1 June 2026
• Dev Diary

  Responsible LLM Use

  Starts with a good test rig

  Before trusting a keynote, I built a rig to test Apple's on-device model. A dev diary on the test harness, and why responsible AI integration starts there.

  16 May 2026
• Field Notes

  Capture less, remember more

  The case for taking the fewest notes you can

  I take the fewest notes I can on purpose. The memory science behind why minimal, hand-made notes stick better than any full transcript.

  1 May 2026
• Field Notes

  The notes you didn't ask for

  How connected cards space your memory for you

  The most useful thing iXnote shows me is something I didn't go looking for. How connected cards quietly do spaced repetition for you.

  8 May 2026
• Field Notes

  Connection is encoding

  Every link you make is a memory you're building

  When I make a card, I link it. The research on elaborative encoding, and why every honest connection is a memory you're building.

  16 May 2026