January 2, 2009

Not only have I voted (frequently) for Evernote for a Crunchie for Best Mobile Startup, but it gets my personal vote for favorite app of the year.

When Nancy first told me about Evernote over on the Iambic forums, I was not only sceptical, I was downright confused. Describing or defining Evernote as a “web clipper” does it a grave injustice. I use Evernote for so many things now, I would be totally lost without it. One of my favorite uses? Jotting down phone numbers. Did you ever make a 1-800 call, only to be told that you need to call their other 800 number? “Do you have a pen?” Umm..no, but I’m sitting at the computer. I have a note in one of my Evernote notebooks with at least 35 phone numbers for various Sprint contacts. Do I need them all in my Contacts in Outlook or on my phone? Of course not. But I do need to save them somewhere, and that is one of those places where Evernote excels.

I keep lists in Evernote. Every article/review/editorial I’ve ever written for any website is catalogued in Evernote. If you’re curious, those are in a public notebook so that anyone can peruse my thoughts. You can also find odd bits like song lyrics, the Saints 2008 schedule, and a list of the top ten WM hacks on Treo Central. Notice, though, this is my public notebook. You can keep things private, or you can post public notebooks to share with whomever you wish.

Did I mention that Evernote is free? Just thought I’d throw that in there, because even if you don’t appreciate what you can do with it, it’s worth trying for free. I keep Evernote on my laptops and on my desktop at school. They are all in sync. This was, actually, the single feature that sold me on Evernote. If I’m sitting at home and I suddenly think of a particular topic or question I want to ask on a quiz, I just put them into an Evernote…where I find them at school. It’s really much easier than emailing those things to myself, or even trying to create a memo or task on my handheld.

I also use Evernote for webclipping (thanks Nancy!). I surf onto a page and find a photo I’d like to use, I just hit “print screen” which now brings up Evernote’s clipper. Size the box around the image I want to keep, tap save, and the image is stored as a .png in a new note (or I can merge it with an existing note). But the really nice feature here, is that I can click on that note and Evernote will convert the image to a .jpg for me so that I can use it elsewhere. I also use the clipper every time I make an online purchase and am recommended to “save this receipt page for your files.”

There are, by my math, three versions of Evernote. The first is web based. You can log onto your Evernote account from any computer that is connected to the internet and see all your notebooks and notes. The second is a stand alone application for your desktop (Windows and Mac versions available). Personally, I like stand alone apps that don’t require the real estate of my web browser. There is even a Sandisk U3 version, so you can carry it on your thumb drive if you prefer not to install to a computer. The third is the app for your handheld, and now comes in flavors for Windows Mobile, iPhone and iPod Touch. I’m sure a Blackberry version can’t be far.

40MB a month is a lot of notes and pictures. Of course, if you’d like more, Evernote now has a premium service for $5/month or $45/year which gives you 500MB/month and SSL encryption. The extra space (and SSL) is worth it if you use my other favorite use for Evernote: attaching documents. Just drag a document, photo, or audio file onto a new or existing note and you have access to that file. This has become extremely helpful in lesson planning, as I find those things at home (online) that I normally can’t access from school.

I highly recommend giving Evernote a try – you have nothing to lose, and everything (notes, pictures, etc.) to gain. And don’t forget to throw Evernote a vote or two for a Crunchie!

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