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Evernote for Windows gets Skitch-like annotation tools
If you use Evernote religiously, chances are you've got more than a few snapshots and screen captures saved. To make it easier to edit and annotate those photos, Evernote has fully absorbed Skitch's features into its Windows app. We're not talking about being able to open an image on Skitch from Evernote like on the Mac version -- we're talking about being able to crop, resize, add arrows, shapes and text on photos from within the note-taking app. You simply need to hover your mouse over a pic and click the Annotate button that pops up on top to access those features. Other than that (and stability fixes), you should also be enjoying much, much faster syncing if you're a business user, assuming you didn't get that upgrade when it launched.
Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with premium app subscriptions worth over $600 (updated)
After powering the world's most retweeted tweet, Samsung has also revealed a suite of app-based upgrades that future GS5 owners will receive, free, alongside their new smartphone. While Evernote and LinkedIn's premium services only extend to three months, we have no complaints about six free months of the Wall Street Journal and year-long access to Bloomberg's Businessweek. The Galaxy S5 will also include a year of Runkeeper Premium, as well as limited-time premium services for Map My Fitness and Skimple. There's no Dropbox this time, but there is 50GB of free cloud storage -- for six months -- from Box. Also, in case you forgot about the Galaxy S5's heart-rate sensor, you'll also pick up a year's subscription to Lark's personal wellness app, which will plug into (and monitor) all your health metrics... until you're ready to pay another 36 bucks to extend the service. But then, who can put a price on good health? Update: Samsung has provided us with more details about Gifts. Dropbox will be included after all, providing you with 50GB of free storage for two years. That alone bumps the package's total value up to $600. For a full list of Galaxy S5 upgrades, make sure to hit this link.
You'll be surprised by how naturally Evernote wants you to search
Products like Evernote provide an invaluable resource for collecting notes, letters, recipes and every other form of important random information we want to keep track of. But search has always been a formal affair, requiring you to know what you're looking for if you want optimal results. This is great for specifics or if you don't have a lot of notes, but what about general information? What about the times you just want to find a bunch of related items? What about the power users with overflowing notebooks? Today Evernote for Mac has launched a new feature called Descriptive Search that targets exactly those users. Using a powerful new search engine, Evernote now allows you to describe what you want to find using common terms. If you search, "Christmas photos since 2010," the algorithm will pull up every note since 2010 that has the tag "Christmas." Want to find your aunt's vegetable soup recipe? Simply type in, "Vegetable soup recipes." Need to pull up a document you worked on last week? Search, "Excel documents from last week." No need to go through menus or switch between notebooks. Just tell it exactly what you want. You can now search via dates, attached documents, images, audio, notebooks, tags, web sources like email, types of content and even the apps, devices or places a note was created at. Evernote is launching Descriptive Search exclusively on Evernote for Mac, with other versions of Evernote getting the update in the near future. Currently the feature is only available in English, but more languages will be added soon. Descriptive Search works regardless of if you're a free or Premium user, so go update your apps and get to searching.
Evernote for Mac now lets you search using everyday language
Evernote syncs gobs of content these days, and that can make it tricky to find what you're looking for without some clever search tricks. However, those data hunts just got much easier with an updated version of Evernote for Mac. The app is the company's first to let you search using common language; you just have to include the relevant criteria, such as the location, time or any attachments. Look for "notes from phone created last month with audio," for example, and you'll get just those recent voice memos. There's no mention of when other Evernote apps will get their turn at the refined search engine, but Mac users can start downloading today.
Daily Roundup: Xperia Z1 Compact review, Facebook Paper and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Evernote adds a wealth of customization features with new iOS app update
Evernote is a powerful tool for keeping track of ideas and to-do-lists, but for years it's lacked any substantial customization options. That weakness has been fixed today with a new update for its iOS app, bringing both aesthetic and functional options for meeting your specific needs. On the design front, users can now choose between three different color themes: light, dark and classic green. Once you've picked out your new color scheme, it's time to customize your home page, by adding, removing and rearranging which sections appear when you log on. If you find yourself searching Tags more often than Notebooks, rearrange where they show up on your home page. The updated app also allows you to choose what metadata details are shown, including notes, tags and notebooks. Evernote has also finally added the ability to see your sync's status, particularly useful for when you're saving notes while traveling through areas with a weak signal. On top of the new customization features, the app has been given a fresh coat of paint, updating its look to fit even more into iOS 7. You can view a demonstration of these new features in Evernote's launch video below. Then head over to the app store to pick up the update.
Make Evernote your own with its latest iOS update
Just look at those three totally different -- well, kinda different -- versions of Evernote for iOS above. That's Evernote illustrating just how distinct you can make the latest version of its popular productivity app, from color themes to sections to where it syncs. Oh, and if it weren't already apparent, the latest update brings an even more distinctly iOS 7 look to Evernote; that's an intentional evolution, as today's update is emblematic of changes that users requested "ever since we launched our iOS 7 redesign," the team says. Not convinced it's worth your precious MBs? Head below for a video tour of all the changes.
SwiftKey's new iOS note-taking app syncs with Evernote
Will Apple ever open up its mobile platform to allow the use of third-party keyboards? Y'know, customizable boards that have features like clever word-prediction algorithms and finger-swiping gestures? Despite CEO Tim Cook's suggestion last May that we might see iOS open up more in the future, we've seen no strong indication that alternative keyboards are even on the drawing board at present time. Fortunately, some developers are finding small workarounds to this dilemma: Even though they aren't allowed to change the keyboard on the platform level, it's possible to do so within third-party applications. Fleksy is a prime example of a company that's thinking outside the box, opening up a developer kit allowing third parties to incorporate the Fleksy keyboard into their own app. SwiftKey is also making the jump to iOS, but it's taking a different approach: The keyboard maker just announced SwiftKey Note, a note-taking app that's integrated with your Evernote account. This is great news for current Evernote users, and it may even be enough of an incentive for newbies to try it out. Using the new Note app, you'll be able to create notes that sync up with the account on your desktop or other mobile app. But what's more important is that you'll have the help of SwiftKey's trusty and faithful word-prediction engine combined with the look of the default iOS 7 keyboard. We've got a gallery, video and additional impressions after the break.
Evernote now syncs your documents four times faster
Syncing Evernote content was quick when most users had just a handful of notes, but times have changed -- many people are now transferring pictures, presentations and web clips. The company may keep up with that seemingly insatiable demand, though, as it just launched a brand new sync engine. The improved infrastructure syncs data roughly four times faster than before. You may not notice a difference if you're a casual user, but veterans and Business customers should see the impact right away. This isn't the end of the story, either. Evernote is updating its native apps to make better use of the engine, and developers will get to take advantage of the upgrade in the future.
EverMemo is an Evernote memo app for sporadic note-takers
EverMemo is a basic note-taking app with one crucial feature -- every time you create a note, it is automatically uploaded to your Evernote account. It's meant for Evernote users who want a lightweight note-taker instead of the full Evernote client. EverMemo has a barebones text editor that allows you to enter text, add a list and indent paragraphs. There's also a checkmark to save, and undo/redo buttons for error correction. There are no formatting options to change the font style or size. The app uses gestures throughout the interface to navigate. You can swipe from left to right to uncover the right-hand navigation bar. Swiping on a note brings up a menu that allows you to archive it, pin it to the top of your notes or change its color from white to a variety of options. Selecting text and swiping left or right allows you to move the cursor through the word one character at a time. It's a simple and easy-to-understand UI. Though the app captures the essence of flat design, there are a few UI flaws -- the "new memo" and "Share to Mocha" buttons at the top are small, which makes them difficult to tap. I also find it odd that one button is all lower-case and the other is capitalized properly. The "new memo" button is also a light gray color, which does not stand out well from the white background. Besides Evernote, EverMemo also has a community noteboard called Mocha. Mocha allows you to post your notes for other EverMemo users to see. It's meant to be a place where users can share ideas and inspiration, but I found it to be cluttered with test notes and people's random thoughts. There wasn't anything exceptionally useful in this feature and I wish it was an option that I could turn off. EverMemo is great for those who need to jot down notes quickly and want them to sync automatically to their Evernote account. The EverMemo app is available for free from the iOS App Store. There are no ads, but it does have in-app purchases to enable features like reminders, calculator and more.
Equil JOT nabs Evernote integration for easy scribble cataloging
Equil's JOT smartpen made its debut back in the fall, but here at CES the $150 accessory is expanding its tool set. The company has just announced that its writing utensil now plays nice with Evernote. Thanks to the productivity software outfit's API and the Equil Note iOS app, users can now beam their doodles and important transcriptions to the cloud quickly and easily for safe keeping. If you're an Evernote user looking to take the leap, the JOT is now available.
Daily Update for January 6, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some of the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Morning news roundup for January 6
Welcome to the first Monday of 2014 -- officially the most depressing day of the year. But if going back to work in bitter, cold weather after the fun-filled holidays has you down, it could be worse: You could be getting sued, like Ryan Seacrest, which leads our morning news roundup for January 6. BlackBerry sues keyboard maker for iPhone keyboard that hasn't shipped. What happens when "media personality" Ryan Seacrest makes an iPhone keyboard that resembles the one found on a BlackBerry? He gets sued, of course. Chitika holiday usage share numbers reveal people like iPad and iPhones as gifts. This is a big "duh," but here is some hard data showing Apple had a good holiday season as far as the iPhone and iPad are concerned. New Mac Pro CPU can be upgraded. OWC found that the Intel Xeon E5 processor in the new Mac Pro was socketed and removable, potentially allowing for processor upgrades in Apple's pro desktop in the future. Could this mean Apple doesn't plan to update the actual hardware for years to come? Apple acquires SnappyLabs. Apple has officially made its first acquisition of 2014 in the purchase of the SnappyCam app, which allows users to take burst photos easily. Of course, if you haven't already bought/downloaded SnappyCam, you're out of luck -- the app has been removed from the App Store. Evernote CEO responds to claims of buggy software. Think Evernote has taken a turn for the worse in the past year? You're not alone. Evernote's CEO agrees -- and promises to fix it. Today is the last day of Apple's 12 Days of Gifts app. The gift? The Sweet Summer Sun, Live in Hyde Park 2013 (Live) mini-album by The Rolling Stones.
Evernote CEO pledges to refocus on core features and fix buggy, confusing apps
There are several people here at Engadget that might actually die (or at the very least be unemployed) if it were not for their Evernote accounts. Which makes it all the more painful when the service lets us down by failing to sync notes or falling prey to hackers. Jason Kincaid, formerly of TechCrunch, posted a rather lengthy tirade on his blog about such an instance, in which the iOS app produced corrupted audio notes that were completely unplayable. And during the troubleshooting process with Evernote support, Kincaid came across a bug that captured entire notes in plain text in its log files -- the very files that a support person request when trying to diagnose a problem. Let's just say the self-proclaimed power user was understandably incensed. Well, the post caught the attention of Evernote CEO Phil Libin, who admitted that perhaps the company had focused too much on adding features and expanding its user base at the expense of the core experience. But those days are over Libin proclaimed. In fact, he says the staff quietly shifted its focus back to squashing bugs and improving stability a couple of months ago, but that there was still plenty of work to be done. In addition to boosting performance and fixing broken features, he says updates will be rolling out over "the next few weeks" that will greatly improve and simplify the user experience. He specifically said the engineers and designers will be targeting note editing, navigation, search, sync and collaboration features across all platforms. 2013 was a big year for Evernote, and it's safe to say it endured some growing pains. Lets just hope that 2014 is the year it grows up -- without getting too big for its britches.
Microsoft's OneNote Android app updated with native sharing and widgets
Since its major overhaul back in July, Microsoft's OneNote Android app has languished while the company built out the Windows version of its note-taking tool. That changed today after Microsoft pushed live a new update to the Play Store, which includes new sharing and widget features that Microsoft believes will help you get "more things done in less time." The updated app now integrates with Android's built-in sharing intents, allowing you to pull up a native sharing menu inside apps and immediately add new content to your OneNote account. Microsoft's also added a new OneNote widget, embedding options to let you view your most recent photos, recordings and notes, add new content and pin homescreen shortcuts to your favorite pages or notebooks. With its revamped UI, the Android app is almost at feature parity with OneNote for Windows 8.1, giving us a real reason to consider it over rival note-taking apps like Evernote.
Evernote for BlackBerry 10 updated with sharing, offline notebooks and more
Yearning for more from BlackBerry 10's Evernote experience? You got it. The service just updated its native BB10 app with improved performance, more security and a small collection of overdue features. Namely, Evernote has given users the ability to share notes from within the app, both to friends and with other apps installed on the device. The reverse works too: data from other Apps can be shared and saved to Evernote using BB10's regular share dialogue. Premium users can also save their notebooks for offline use, and the introduction of a new lock feature secures content with a four-digit passcode. Oh, and the team has enabled Universal Search too, which lets users search their Evernote account from anywhere on the device. Game changing features? Maybe not, but we won't scoff at the update. Check out the company's official blog for more details.
Best Mac apps of 2013: Talkcast recap
On this Sunday's TUAW Talkcast, several Mac pundits picked out their favorite Mac apps of 2013. Our own Michael Rose convened the panel, including GeekBeat TV host Benjamin Roethig; TUAW TV Live host Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd (who hates snow); longtime TUAW contributor, app developer and podcaster Brett Terpstra; and the managing editor of The Mac Observer, Jeff Gamet. The show will be available on iTunes momentarily (and streamable from Talkshoe), but in case you want to speed up your app sampling, we've recapped the app list here. To best highlight these apps, I will list them alphabetically with links and relevant quips contributed by the host and guests. All of these apps are compatible with OS X 10.8 and 10.9, and reasonably priced. Some of them work with older systems, also. Also, be sure to read Brett's own list of his favorite apps of 2013, over at brettterpstra.com. Best Mac Apps of 2013 1Password 4 from AgileBits Inc. (On numerous people's lists.) Jeff called it "magically awesome." Brett notes that it stores your passwords and personal information (including credit card numbers, software license keys and more) and "makes storing and generating [the items] just simple." The popup that used to only work in browsers now works anywhere on your Mac; that way, you don't have to open the main 1Password app nearly as often as before. AirServer 5 from App Dynamic. An AirPlay receiver for Mac and PC. Can mirror your display from iOS devices. "Great for demoing iOS apps, and a more professional feature set than Reflector" -- Mike Rose. Alfred v2 from Running With Crayons. A free, hotkey-based launch controller that also can initiate a quick web search and offers a number of other capabilities (offered by Doc Rock; he referred to it as one of his household servants). This one received a TUAW Best of 2011 for Mac Utility apps. Adobe Edge Code and Edge Inspect Combo. Doc Rock uses these programs with his Creative Cloud subscription. Edge Code is a HTML and CSS editing tool. Edge Inspect is an inline editor of code, which while working on a line, the meta key will open up accompanying files in a modal box, so they can be adjusted without leaving your main HTML file. "It's amazing," according to Doc. Bartender from Surtees Studios Ltd. (Offered up by Brett Terpstra and Jeff Gamet.) "Bartender is a lifesaver." It lets you control which menu items show up on your menu bar, and lets you rearrange them at will. Bartender was also written up on TUAW as a Friday Favorite while it was still in beta. BeamApp from BeamApp UG. Brett noted this Mac and iOS tool for quickly sending phone numbers, songs, maps and more between your devices and your Mac. Mike pointed out DeskConnect, which has some of the same functionality but also allows you to send files (PDFs, presentations, Word docs) between the Mac and your iOS device in a jiffy. BetterTouchTool by Andreas Hegenberg. A free utility for OS X 10.7 and above that lets you configure gestures for your mouse and trackpad. Brett says he uses two Magic Trackpads and can set them up to do just what he wants. CheatSheet from Media Atleier. This free utility uses the command key to show you all available shortcuts for an app. Not available in the Mac App Store because it cannot be sandboxed. See Media Atelier's blog for the explanation. Clarify 1.1.3 from Blue Mango Learning Systems. A great tool for quick and easy documentation. You can capture an image, edit it and add text, all on one place. You can read about Clarify's first iteration in TUAW's Daily Mac App feature from 2011. Clef and Waltz. Mike Rose pointed out this new take on password and authentication management; just point your iPhone at an animated barcode patch and it lets you into the target site, removing your need to remember passwords. Although relatively few sites work with Clef, the new, independently developed Chrome plugin Waltz expands it to work with Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox and more. Clyppan by Ole Morten Halvorsen. It stores all your clipboard clippings, letting you recall them with a quick keystroke. Not new, but very useful. Coffitivity from coffitivity.com. Both Jeff and Mike called out this menubar tool. A certain amount of ambient noise can help stimulate creativity, so folks who work in silence may benefit from running Coffitivity, which adds background and ambient noise from a coffee shop. Downie by Charlie Monroe. Web video and YouTube downloader "that actually works." Downie actually suports 120 different sites, and Mike noted that it's replaced older tools like Grappler and EVOM for him. Everpix. This made the list despite the photo storage service closing shop earlier this year. "It was a fantastic app while it lasted." You can read the story of Everpix's closure from Megan Lavey-Heaton on TUAW. Evernote from Evernote Corporation. It's a note taking app that can do many things and Michael notes that it "keeps getting more useful." Jeff Gamet also notes that the Jot Script Evernote Edition (US $75) is more like writing with a real pen as opposed to a stylus. It's got a hard tip and clicks on the iPad, which is his only complaint. Fantastical 2 from Flexibits Inc. This is billed as "calendars and reminders done right." Jeff notes that additional plain text entry options, multi time zone and dictation support have been added. You can read TUAW's review from Victor Agreda to learn more. Final Cut Pro X from Apple. Listener John Brown suggested Apple's flagship 64-bit video editing application. John noted they've made it quite simple for most people to use and refers to it as "remarkable." Doc Rock also notes that it is "a major step forward" and "a great application." This week's 10.1 update added optimizations for Apple's new Mac Pro desktop. Hazel from Noodlesoft. Doc says this pairs up with Alfred as his "domestic help" and notes that "it does a really good job of keeping icons on desktop organized," plus it can move files around based on a variety of file attributes that you set. MailMate from Feron. An IMAP email client with an impressive array of features. "It does everything I need it to," says Brett, who describes it as "the TextMate of email." Marked 2.2 from Brett Terpstra. We couldn't let the show go by without a hat tip to Brett's own Markdown preview tool, very much improved in the 2.x version. MindNode Pro from Ideas On Canvas Ltd. Both Mike and Brett called out this Mac and iOS mindmapping tool for its speed, easy interface and good-looking output. Mouseposé 3.2.4 from Boinx Software Ltd. Updated in December, it's a useful mouse pointer highlighting tool for demos and presentations. "A lot of my colleagues use tools like OmniDazzle or Zoomit for remote presentations," says Mike, "and whenever I pull out Mouseposé everyone on the call goes 'oooh, ahhh.'" OmniPresence from The Omni Group. For users of OmniGroup's apps. It's a free service and menu bar item that offers file syncing between devices. "It makes all of the changes between your files appear everywhere," says Jeff, but without the limitations and aggravations of iCloud. PollEv Presenter app from Poll Everywhere. SMS-based polling service that works with PowerPoint or Keynote to show live polls in real time. Mike calls it one of his go-to tools. Popclip from Pilotmoon Software. (Offered by Doc Rock and Brett Terpstra.) A $2 app that shows up when you select text with your mouse or trackpad -- simulating the iOS text selection experience.. ReadKit from Webin. RSS reader; Brett says it's "simplistic and powerful, and it supports every RSS system you can think of, and makes my life easy." RocketDocs. This single-session browser tool is specific to the Google Drive/Google Apps productivity tools. Mike says it's often easier than setting up Chrome for Docs use, and keeps your editing sessions away from general browsing. Shush from Mizage. A cough button for your Mac, so that you can mute yucky noises when recording audio. Works in FaceTime, iChat, Skype, Podcast Capture and more. Both Mike and Brett enthusiastically recommend it -- Mike even used it during the show, and blocked every snuffle and cough! We welcome your suggestions for the best Mac apps of 2013 -- let us know in the comments or on Facebook.
Evernote for Android graced with refined note editing, external keyboard support
Sure, the year might be winding down, but the folks at Evernote have still managed to sneak in another update for their Android app. By wielding the upgraded application, users can edit notes without fear of losing text styling they've applied in the program on other platforms, and view attachments in-line with their digital scrawlings. External keyboard support has been baked in as well, alongside recognition for key shortcuts for creating notes, bullets, numbered lists and to-do entries. With the refreshed software, enterprise users can even access their business notes from the home screen and select a preferred notebook for new jottings they create. To grab ahold of the app, head to the bordering source link.
Evernote adds new premium features including business card scanning and presentation modes
Evernote improved its business offerings today with an update for its iOS app that affects Evernote Premium users. The Premium service, which costs US$5 a month or $45 per year, already offers improved collaboration, storage, searching and offline work options for users. Now subscribers will be able to use their iOS device to scan business cards and make presentations. Using the iPhone or iPad camera, Premium users can scan business cards, which the app automatically turns into an editable contact note. By connecting to your LinkedIn and Address Books, you can get even better results. The app can also be set to automatically email your contact information to new contacts you add. Regular Evernote users can try this feature out for free on up to five business cards. You can preview the feature in the video at the bottom of this story. The new presentation mode allows subscribers to present their notes to an audience either over AirPlay or via a cable. By tapping and holding on something important in a presentation, users can bring up the "laser pointer" tool to highlight it for viewers. Additionally night and day modes are available by pressing the sun or moon icons on the top-right of the screen. This feature will be available to all users for a 14-day free preview. Finally, Evernote Business users are getting the option to access quick notes for either their personal or business accounts. A Business membership costs $10 a month. You can find the new update in the iTunes store now.
Skitch for Mac adds resolution controls for Retina display captures
Looking to save some space with those high-res screenshots you took on your Retina machine? Skitch for Mac now allows users to chose between 144 DPI and the regular 72 DPI screenshots on those more pixel-dense displays. The new feature can be toggled via the file type menu at the bottom left of the app's window and doesn't affect the size of files sent to Evernote. Those larger screen captures are labeled "Hi-Res" the moment they're snapped and the software remembers your settings preferences as well. You can start slimming down your image library now, as the update is currently available via iTunes.
