Your customized headlines for Sun, Aug 5, 2012

The big idea: How can executives (or any of us, for that matter) use what we know about inventory management to make better choices about personal consumption — and improve our lives by working toward new goals with the money saved?

There are plenty of note-taking apps for the iPad, but few are as versatile as Notes Plus, which lets users choose their pen style, insert photos from albums or the camera, insert and modify set shapes and record audio. Users can also export their notes via e-mail, iTunes, photos, Dropbox and Google Drive.

Larisa Thomason is a diehard liberal in a deep-red state, running a feisty Alabama political blog and donating thousands of dollars over the years to President Obama and other Democrats.

But two weeks ago, after opening yet another desperate fundraising e-mail from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Thomason decided she'd had enough: She clicked "unsubscribe."

The best that can be said about how Mitt Romney fared in July is that he survived. That has only raised the stakes for what the presumptive Republican presidential nominee needs to do in August.

July was not a good month for Romney. His foreign trip drew extensive and negative news coverage, although there were also some pluses, and it's not clear in any case that it will have any real impact in November. Back home, due to the daily combat between his and President Obama's campaigns, Romney sustained some damage.