Writing is a lonely and sometimes unpleasant business. The machines that the late Steve Jobs helped to create at Apple have made the act of writing seem a little warmer, a little less deranged. Since 1987, all of my work has been done on Apple computers — my college thesis, my first piece of journalism, my first New Yorker essay, The Rest Is Noise, the little tribute I'm writing now — and I am eternally grateful for the help.