Feb 27 2008
Must Have Application -Evernote
The other day I saw an article on TechCrunch about and online application called Evernote. The promise of Evernote is that it will be an online extension to your memory. You can copy pictures text and audio from anywhere (web, email, documents, etc.) and save them as notes in Evernote. Then, when you want to recall a note you can use the search functionality. Where it goes beyond other note applications is that you can search for text within images!
At the moment they currently have interfaces for the web, windows desktop, mac desktop [ed: sorry, not yet!] and windows mobile devices (phones). It is also possible to email notes to Evernote, so you can email images from a non-windows mobile device but they are promising a J2ME application soon.
Why is this so good? Imagine you’re out to dinner and order a bottle of wine. You really like it and would like to buy some for at home. Rather than try to remember the name of it and the year, just whip out your mobile, take a picture of the label, tag it and send it to Evernote. At some point in the future you can then search Evernote to get the label image back.
At the moment they are only running an invitation only preview so I recommend everyone signs up for an invitation now! My invitation came through today and I’m already making good use of it. I can’t wait until they release the J2ME version for Java mobiles, and when Apple finally releases a 3G enabled iPhone I will finally be able to do away with the old grey-matter 
Out of interest, why don’t you just take the photo of the label (or write a note in your phone, as many phones seem to have these days) and do away with the need for yet another web service altogether…. I guess it’s a bit too “Web 2.0″ for my tastes… it’s a bit like delicious… I like it and all, but all these things seem to do is disperse information all over the place and you actually need to remember that you have something saved there and… well you get the point.
I know your “doing away the grey matter” comment was tongue in cheek, but I think it’s becoming a serious problem…. I find my memory and even ability at simple logic tasks / puzzles is getting worse and worse all the time and a part of that is due to increased use (and reliance on) time-saving / effort-saving apps and services such as this.
(That’s why I insist on playing Scrabulous and sudoku all day… to try and keep my shit quick. Well that’s my excuse anyway…!)
I guess it’s fair enough saying taking that line if you have a good memory to start with but people like me aren’t so lucky. In the past I have used my phone for taking pictures of things I want to remember or for storing notes, and I’m forever making lists and todo lists, but all of these things aren’t search able. I have to remember when I left the note or I have to search through images to find the one I want. Rather than dispersing information I think Evernote is actually bringing it together in a more accessible form.
Talking of Scrabulous, I’ve just installed on my facebook account… if you fancy a game