Evernote is a new web-based application that’s been getting rave reviews. It allows you to grab text, webpages, or pictures from your desktop, laptop or web-enable smart phone (including iPhones) and store them online with the text (including text within pictures) searchable. It’s at its best with people who operate from multiple locations on multiple computers, since it makes it easy for you to grab a webpage while you’re at the library and make it available on your Mac when you get home. If you’re an author doing research, that’s great.
Watch their introductory video at their website for a better description than I can give:
Until recently, the beta was private. You needed to get an invite from someone who was in to get in. Just this morning I discovered that’s no longer true. You can now sign up online. Just follow the Create Account link.
Like many such services, the basic service is free. If you’re mostly uploading text, that’s all you’ll need. If you’ll be uploading more than a few hundred photos or web clips a month, you’ll want their $5/month premium service. Details at:
I just signed up myself. It seems to be just what I need for things I come across when I am at the public library with my laptop. I’ll post more after I get familiar with it.
Crikey… That does look bloody cool. I’d probably never use it myself (one more thing to manage), but that is a mighty fine piece of software, and I doff my cap to them.
Best,
Keith
I’ve been using this for a while and love it. It’s very handy for all sorts of things, especially the iPhone app since it gives a voice memo feature that the iPhone itself lacks. The syncing between computers (and iPhone) is great - my info is always there at hand.
As soon as the premium edition was available, I signed up. (The premium version gives you unlimited upload, while the free version has a monthly quota.)
While it looks sort of cool, Scrivener provides that part of Evernote I think I would use, since I don’t need syncing between many machines, and, well, I can’t really imagine snapping photos of handwritten sticky notes or tickets so they could be OCR’ed in the cloud. I guess I must not yet be living the fully modern life.
Scrivener’s clipping service does the one thing I suppose I would do most often with Evernote, i.e. select bits of web text (occasionally with images) and nab it for later examination.
So, I just have a keystroke set up to clip my selections to a particular Scriv project that I use for the purpose (opening it if necessary beforehand). Between this function (to collect stuff to a dedicated Scriv project) and Tofu, I just don’t do any substantive reading in my web browser any more.
The tricky thing about all web apps for me is that in order to use them you have to be online. But in order to get any writing done I usually have to be off line.
That’s one reason I’m enjoying using Evernote so much. There is a version that is on your computer, so when you are online, you can sync with the web app, and when you are offline, you can still access all your information (up to the last sync). I’m finding it very handy for all sorts of things, which surprised me because I was expecting to occasionally use it for a few research-related info bits.
One instance that I’m finding invaluable (and that is research related) is that Evernote is acting like a superb substitute for Google Notebook (I don’t use Firefox). I can just save a page to Evernote and it’s accessible from almost anywhere. I’ve been using this a lot with Google Books so I can have the reference pages I need without having to download a 20+MB PDF. (I’m lovin’ all those 19th century books that are now available.)
Even more so, you can install Evernote on your Windows Mobile or iPhone and bring the notes with you literally everywhere. You may also take new notes and it will sync right away. I tried it with the iPhone and it worked flawlessly with text notes, camera pictures and audio notes. The paid version should even OCR written notes that you shoot with the phone’s camera and make them searchable (I haven’t tried this, I seriously doubt that any OCR system would be able to read my handwriting anyway).